Judy Chernak (Children's Literature)
A group of Australian children pass the time waiting for the school bus by telling stories. Anna is the best storyteller, and her newest tale is not only fascinating but also seems almost real, especially to ten-year-old Mark, who senses much more than just a fantasy. Could Hitler really have had a daughter, an imperfect child hidden away from the world, a little girl who loved her seldom-seen father and knew little, questioned nothing, he was doing on the outside? And did this mean that any child--Mark, for instance--shouldn't question a parent even if his family lived on land that originally belonged to Aborigines and somehow now was theirs? These two threads run simultaneously through this intriguing book for middle-graders, a well-written and believable invention that could really be true. Astute readers will pick up fairly early the implication that Anna has a personal involvement beyond just that of a storyteller, but the truth is kept hidden until the very end. This is a worthwhile book for both its story and the moral dilemmas it raises, and is courageous in leaving them for the reader to ponder rather than neatly solving them. 2003, HarperCollins, $15.95. Ages 8 to 12.

Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
One child tells an ongoing story to two others at a bus stop in the rain. That is all that happens, and all that needs to happen, in this quietly stunning novel, winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for 1999 and now published for the first time in the United States. The story Anna tells Mark and Little Tracey, as they wait for their school bus each day in a relentless Australian rain, is the story of what the life of Hitler's daughter would have been like if Hitler had had a daughter, a secret, hidden-away daughter with a disfiguring birthmark on her face, and a slight limp. She would have loved the distant, glamorous figure she called "Duffi," and only occasionally would she have gotten small, fleeting glimpses that "maybe things weren't always right." As Mark listens, mesmerized, to each installment of the story, he begins to wonder how he would react if he began to suspect that his own parents were involved in something wrong. And the unsettling answer he reaches is that he would do nothing. As his own parents grow understandably tired of his preoccupation with Hitler and its springboard to questions about moral issues raised by news stories today, the reader also begins to realize how the Holocaust could have happened--and how all of us could allow it to happen again. Jackie French provides a profound exploration, in a child's own terms, of what Hannah Arendt famously called "the banality of evil." 2003, HarperCollins, $15.99. Ages 8 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 10))
In this intriguing story of what-if by an award-winning Australian writer, friends wait for their school bus during weeks of incessant rains as they listen to Anna relate the tale of Heidi, Hitler's young daughter. While it starts as part of a storytelling game, Anna's story takes on a compelling life as details of Heidi's very privileged, very isolated life unfold. Initially the boys are excited about fighting and battles, but the view of war from Heidi's perspective raises disturbing questions about genocide and children bearing responsibility for a parent's guilt and vice versa. To the author's credit, there are no easy answers given for this moral dilemma. Heidi survives the bunker in the closing days of WWII, sees her governess desert her, and joins a family who emigrate to Australia. Astute readers will realize well before the end that Anna's story is not a made-up tale. In fact, it is her grandmother's childhood. A fresh, well-told, and sobering story that needs a wide readership. 2003, HarperCollins, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Betsy Hearne (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July 2003 (Vol. 56, No. 11))
Unlike the misleadingly coy glamour girl depicted on the cover, central character Anna evinces a reserved, serious manner as she recounts a strange historical episode as part of the “Story Game” with which several kids entertain one another while waiting for their school bus every morning. Their setting of rural Australia soon alternates with Nazi Germany, where a nanny responsible for Hitler’s unacknowledged and lonely little daughter moves her deeper into hiding as the Third Reich crumbles. Anna’s thoughtful friend Mark becomes obsessed with the tale of Hitler’s daughter; as unlikely as it seems, Anna appears to be recollecting facts with an incredible amount of detail (“It was only a story. . . . Just a story, nothing more. It wasn’t true--but there were true things in it”). In fact, it is the reactions of the listeners, two transformed and one belligerently clueless, that echo the past with contemporary themes. Mark’s ethical questioning is supported by a gripping drama that forces the reader to stretch toward new understanding, both of what is actually happening at the book’s conclusion, and of what it means. French’s style is precise and effective. Her descriptions vividly profile even secondary characters: “He was old, with a long salt-and-pepper moustache that looked like it would fall out if he blew his nose too hard.” As for Hitler’s secret daughter--the small dark girl with the limp and the terrible red birthmark disfiguring her face, the one with the kind heart and quick mind, the one provided with everything except the love she so desperately needed--she is unforgettable. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, HarperCollins, 128p, $16.89 and $15.99. Grades 6-10.

Lynn Evarts (VOYA, August 2003 (Vol. 26, No. 3))
A storytelling game on a rainy day at the bus stop turns quite thought provoking for Ben as his friend Anna weaves the tale of Hitler's secret daughter. Heidi lives with her caretaker in the country, and on occasion, Duffi, her father, gets time away to visit her. Heidi believes that her father keeps her hidden because of her lame leg and facial birthmark. She is completely ignorant of the war and its impact on her. As Anna's tale progresses, Ben finds that he has more and more questions about the evil of Hitler and why the German people supported a man who was killing so many innocents. As Anna prepares to end her story, the astute reader is left wondering whether the story she invented has some basis in truth. The issues French raises in this book are timely moral dilemmas relating to war and genocide. The Australian angle makes it even more interesting because after World War II, many survivors were sent there, adding some credence to the book's mysterious ending. Middle-level historical fiction or WWII buffs will enjoy Anna's story. Reluctant readers might appreciate the straightforward dialogue, and French's handling of the time shifts between the present and war time will not bother any level of reader. PLB $16.89. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2003 (orig. 1999), HarperCollins, 128p, $15.99. Ages 11 to 15.