Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Apr. 1, 2005 (Vol. 101, No. 15))
Whether dealing with the harrowing story of a Holocaust survivor or with the daily details of trying to be a real American girl, Sachs' story, based on the real-life experience of a Jewish teenager, unfolds quietly. In 1943 Nicole, 14, is at a friend's when the Gestapo arrests her family in her small French town. After the war she waits for their return, until, in an absolutely unforgettable scene, a weeping survivor tells Nicole that her parents and baby sister died in Auschwitz. At 17, Nicole emigrates to join relatives in the Bronx--not that they really want her--and she struggles to find work, friends, and a home of her own. The history is authentic; in fact, there may be too much about how Nicole shops, talks, and dates. It's the big picture that leaves the deepest impression, revealing that many Americans felt untouched by the war and didn't want to know about it. Without rhetoric, this novel ensures that readers learn the real history. Category: Books for Middle Readers--Fiction. 2005, Millbrook/Roaring Brook, $16.95. Gr. 5-8.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 5))
Fourteen-year-old Nicole happens to be away from home the night the Nazis come for her family. Alone, shunned by non-Jewish neighbors afraid to help her, she finds a series of temporary shelters in occupied France until at last the war ends. A year later, an Auschwitz survivor brings her the terrible news that her parents and sister are not coming back. Now 17, she makes her way to distant family in America and a new, unexpected set of challenges: Her cousins treat her poorly, and the language and culture confuse her as she tries to come to grips with her enormous loss. Other refugees and an unexpectedly kindly employer provide support, but in the end the personal strength that helped her survive the German occupation propels her into a life all her own. A sequel to the 30-year-old A Pocket Full of Seeds, this is a moving, believable story, told simply but rich in historical details that enliven and never overwhelm. A worthy addition to Holocaust literature. 2005, Roaring Brook, 160p, $16.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 12 up. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Janis Flint-Ferguson (KLIATT Review, March 2005 (Vol. 39, No. 2))
Nicole Nieman is living with her parents and younger sister in Aix-les-Bains, France in 1943. While she is spending the night with a classmate, the Gestapo raid her home and her family is dragged off in the middle of the night. She travels through France to live with an aunt who has herself escaped capture by the Gestapo, but who is not interested in raising her teenage niece. After surviving the war, Nicole comes to the US to live with relatives and begin a life that is very different from the European life of wartime. Nicole needs a job, new clothes, and a place to live. She reconnects with a former classmate whose family has also relocated to the US. Through her friend Rosette Segal, who calls herself Rose now, Nicole is able to begin the process of integrating into New York life. She finds a job in a chocolate store where her French accent adds ambiance and the perk of bringing home candy pleases her cousin's wife. Later she boldly enters into the business world despite her lack of secretarial experience. Nicole's nanve views of her new country are poignant as she maneuvers into an American culture that has not been devastated by war. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2005, Roaring Book Press, 160p., $16.95. Ages 12 to 18.

Susan Shaver (Library Media Connection, August/September 2005)
Nicole's life as a Jewish teenager in France seems no different than other girls her age, until she returns home after school during World War II to find her family taken by the Gestapo. When she officially receives word that her family hasn't survived the concentration camp, Nicole travels to America in September of 1947, where she moves in with her cousin's objectionable family in the Bronx of New York City. Nicole finds a job by claiming to know how to type. She makes new friends, buys new clothes, begins to date, and falls in love with banana splits and chocolates. After a year in America, where the road to making a new life and fitting in is not always easy, Nicole and her friend Simone finally put together what little they have to move into an apartment to begin a life on their own. Young adult and adolescent readers will relate to the emotions of Nicole and the loss of her family and home, following her story intently. Each chapter identifies the year and location of events. Efficient dialogue, attention to significant details, quick plot, and powerful character development immediately engage the reader in this fascinating story. Based upon the true story of Fanny Krieger, a friend of the author's, this is a truly memorable and touching story. Highly Recommended. 2005, Roaring Brook Press, 160pp., $16.95 hc.

Hope Morrison (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April 2005 (Vol. 58, No. 8))
Fourteen-year-old Nicole was sleeping over at a friend’s home that evening in 1943 when the Gestapo abducted her parents and younger sister. For three years she waits for them to return, holding on to hope as other concentration-camp survivors return to her French village and speak of the atrocities they experienced. When, finally, word comes that her entire family died in the camps, Nicole sets off for America, leaving behind the France of her memory. Based largely on the life of a longtime friend of the author (and begun in Sachs’ earlier novel A Pocket Full of Seeds, BCCB 3/74), the story bridges two worlds: the war-torn French countryside, where Jews live in silent fear, and the glowing lights of New York City in the late 1940s, where Nicole, then a young woman, learns about such delights as banana splits and double dates, gets a job working for Air France, and eventually moves out of her harsh relatives’ apartment and into a shared basement studio with a friend. The story is effective in both contexts; Nicole is a quiet, affable girl who experiences both pain and joy deeply, and her emotional and actual encounters move the story along at a steady pace. There is an innocence in the story’s tone, reminiscent of teen novels of a different era, that works to great effect in capturing the excitement of being a young adult in post-World War II America. An author’s note, detailing Sachs’ relationship to the inspiration for the story, is included. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2005, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2005, Brodie/Roaring Brook, 160p, $16.95. Grades 6-9.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2005)
In this sequel to A Pocket Full of Seeds, Nicole leaves France to move to America after learning that her entire family died in Auschwitz. Her Americanized cousins are unsympathetic and manipulative, and she struggles with loneliness and the language, but eventually the spirited teenager finds her way. Once past the rushed beginning, readers will find Nicole's moving story engrossing. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2005, Roaring Brook/Brodie, 150pp, 16.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Janice Mantooth (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews, (Vol. 18, No. 2))
LOST IN AMERICA is the story of a young French Jewish girl, Nicole, who has endured many hardships during and after World War II. Her family has been taken away to a concentration camp, and she is left alone. She was spared from being taken because she was staying with a friend. She carries this guilt of being spared with her the rest of her life. After the war, she finally immigrates to America, where she lives with her father’s cousin and his family. Things are not pleasant for her; she is not wanted and is treated badly. This is a very emotional story of a young girl in a strange new land. Fiction. Grades Junior high-High school. 2005, Deborah Brodie/Roaring Brook, 150p., $16.95. Ages 12 to 18.

Susan Allen (VOYA, August 2005 (Vol. 28, No. 3))
Based on a real story, this novel follows Nicole, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl from Aix-les-Bains, France, who by luck just misses becoming a victim of the Holocaust. After staying overnight with a friend who is to leave France in the morning, Nicole returns home to find her house ransacked and her parents and younger sister missing. Her landlady tells of the nighttime visit of the Gestapo and the removal of her family. After various trials, Nicole is finally allowed to stay as a boarder at her school, but her stay is short lived because as the allies advance toward France, the Germans order the closings of all schools. Nicole must then find her way across France to where a little-known aunt has hidden. Although the aunt and Nicole do not get along well, when France is liberated, they return to the apartment that the girl shared with her family. Learning the fate of her family, Nicole works with friends who have emigrated to the United States to find a sponsor for her own move. Her father's cousin volunteers, and Nicole moves to America where she works hard to learn English and the ways of American youth in the late 1940s. Nicole is a determined, resourceful girl. Her story rings true throughout, sometimes funny and other times poignant. Readers who pick up or are handed this book will long remember it and the real Nicole. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2005, Roaring Brook, 160p.; Appendix., $16.95. Ages 11 to 14.