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Reviewed by: Anna Bayerl, Junior High School Librarian Title: Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis Author: Susan Hood and Greg Dawson Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Year: 2022 Good for Grades: 4-8 Genre/Type of Book: Biography
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: Some violence. Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: I was searching for non-fiction written in verse. If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be: A story of courage and resilience.
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Review:
Zhanna Arshanskaya was born in the resort village of Berdyansk in Ukraine, USSR, in 1927. Although her parents did not have much, they were all gifted musicians, especially Zhanna and her younger sister, Frina. As a young child Zhanna was curious, brave, and an adventurer. At the age of three she was able to open the latch on the gate in the backyard fence and would spend the day wandering the village, exploring. A policeman would bring her home once he spotted her. At the age of five, her father began teaching her how to play the piano. When she refused to go to kindergarten, her father found her a piano teacher and she began taking formal lessons. She caught on quickly and became so good that her teacher arranged for her to play on the radio. Her life up to that point was magical.
The year Zhanna was born, Stalin came to power and because of his Five Year Plan, by the early 1930s the people of Ukraine were starving. Zhanna's father was continually arrested and released by Stalin's men because he was Jewish and did not join the communist party, so he was considered a traitor. They left Berdyansk and moved to Kharkov, where there was an active Jewish center. Her family was still poor, but both Zhanna and her sister, Frina received full scholarships to the famous music conservatory where they learned from the best musicians in the country and helped their family survive. In June of 1941 the Nazis marched into Ukraine and soon Zhanna and her family were forced on a death march. While marching through the forest toward a ravine where they knew they would all be shot, Zhanna'a father told her to escape if she could and when she found a chance, she was able to get away.
The book provides the account of her travels through the Ukraine, finding her sister alive, and then trying to survive the Nazis. They were able to change their identities at an orphanage that had taken them in, changing their names to Anna and Marina, however, overhearing the girls playing their lovely music, the Nazis decided to use them along with other performers as entertainment for officers and soldiers. The sisters were able to hide their Jewish identity throughout the war, but life was never easy for them. When the war was nearing the end they heard the Russian soldiers were marching into Germany and Zhanna thought they would be rescued. Frina, however, did not want to go back to Ukraine and Stalin's rule, she wanted to go to the American soldiers and get help from them, so that is what they did. This is a great story, full of adventure and courageous acts. Middle school students often like stories of the Holocaust and this will not disappoint them. I liked that it is the story of two girls from Ukraine so the reader learns about the conditions there under Soviet rule and then, how everything goes from bad to worse once the Nazis arrive. The book begins with a letter from Zhanna's granddaughter telling her grandmother about a school assignment for History class and asking Zhanna to tell her about her life when she was thirteen. After some hesitation, Zhanna begins her tale.
The book is filled with maps, photographs, the process used for researching the book, a list of the musical pieces that Zhanna and Frina played, fun facts about Hitler, Stalin and music, field trips and places of note, poetry notes, quote sources, websites, news reports and a bibliography. It is a biography in verse, so it may be more accessible to students who do not enjoy reading. It could be paired with Anne Frank's Diary, or some of the many fiction stories about the Holocaust.
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