Thomasania Leydsman (Children's Book and Play Review, September 2006)
Yellow Star is a story of fear, terror, mayhem, and a child's attempt to understand the incomprehensible. It tells of a child's experience during the Holocaust and is brought to life by the incredible writing of Jennifer Roy. This story is told through the eyes of a young girl, Syvia Perlmutter, who speaks to us in a powerful first person narrative. Roy's phenomenal use of free verse, allows us to see, hear, and feel the Holocaust through a child's consciousness. She manages to slip into the mind of a child and to grow with her as she tries to make sense of and comprehend her world and its madness. Based on the story of Roy's own Aunt Syvia, one of 200,000 Jews forced into a Polish ghetto during WWII, this book does for intermediate age children what Anne Frank's diary has done for older children. Syvia enters the ghetto in Lodz, Poland with her family in the year 1939 at age four and a half. She narrates the story of her family, the children, and others who attempt to survive the Nazi occupation. As family members and childhood friends disappear, Syvia's voice allows the reader to share the horror in an incredible, real, and moving way. Six years later, at the end of the war, Syvia is one of eight hundred survivors, which include only twelve children. Though Roy writes a text that can be successfully read and comprehended by younger children, the easy readability in no way diminishes its powerful message. This book could be paired with The Big Lie: A True Story, by Leitner, Leitner, and Pedersen and When the Soldiers Were Gone by Propp, to create a commanding text set to study and better understand the Holocaust and WWII. Rating: Outstanding. Reading Level: Intermediate. Category: Historical fiction. 2006, Marshall Cavendish, 227 p., $16.95. © 2002, Brigham Young University.

Greg M. Romaneck (Children's Literature)
During World War II, 270,000 Jews were herded into the Lodz ghetto in Poland. By war's end only 800 of those people had survived. Among the 800 survivors were twelve children. The true story of one of one of those survivors is told in this free verse tale of a young life in peril. Sylvia Perlmutter was four-years-old when the war started. When the Germans came to Lodz, her family could hardly imagine just how horrible they would be. Soon the Perlmutter family, as well as all the Jews in Lodz and surrounding areas, were crowded into a small walled off portion of the city. There, Sylvia and her family tried to scratch out a life for themselves. Over time virtually everyone they knew was transported out of the ghetto. Those people ended up in concentration camps where almost every single one of them died. The Perlmutters were both resourceful and lucky--they survived. Years later Sylvia shared her story with her niece, Jennifer Roy, and those stories became this moving work. Told in a free verse format, Yellow Star recreates the world of the Perlmutters as seen through the eyes of a little girl. Readers will encounter the tragedies and small pleasures of daily life that existed in those dark days. In the end, Sylvia and her family emigrated to North America and established a life that continues down through the generations of their family. The story of Sylvia and her family is an inspiring one and has been ably told in this poetic book. 2006, Marshal Cavendish, $ 16.95. Ages 10 up.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
Jennifer Roy conveys vivid images in an authentic, childlike voice as she tells the story of a young Jewish girl living in the Lodz ghetto in Poland during World War II. Syvia is four-and-a-half years old when the novel opens. She doesn’t understand why being Jewish matters, or why she and her family must go to the ghetto. It’s the first of many events beyond comprehension for the little girl, who will spend the next five-and-a-half years of her life there. Much of that time, Syvia is in hiding. Beginning in 1942, the Nazis began transports to remove children and the elderly from the ghetto. Syvia’s parents had heard the rumors of where those transports went, and they were determined she would not be on one. The little girl and her father hide in the cemetery during roundups, and she spends day after day alone, cooped up inside their small living space, using her imagination to transform dust balls beneath the bed into toys and companions. Jennifer Roy’s novel is based on the life of her aunt, who was one of only twelve children who survived the Lodz ghetto (there were only 800 or so survivors in all among the initial quarter million held there). Roy’s narrative is divided into sections by calendar year. She provides informational bridges at the start of each section to give readers background for the story as it continues to unfold. The fictional narrative, in Syvia’s immediate, innocent voice, is conveyed through poems that in and of themselves are a metaphor for the way childhood unfolds: as a collection of singular images and events. From these a memorable narrative whole emerges in a story in which individuals and relationships grow and change over time, just as a child’s understanding of the world also expands. CCBC Category: Fiction for Children. 2006, Marshall Cavendish, 227 pages, $16.95. Ages 10-13.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 6))
Syvia-the author's aunt-is too young to know what's happening, but she and her family have been evicted from their home and, with the other neighborhood Jews, have been relocated to the Lodz ghetto at the start of WWII. This novel-in-verse tells how Syvia and her family struggled to survive the war and describes their lives in the ghetto, Syvia being one of only 12 children who walked out at the end of the war. Poetry blends fact and fiction in a powerful format that helps make this incomprehensible event in history comprehensible for children. The fictionalized story is given context by brief nonfiction chapter introductions and is personalized by vivid characters who speak to a young-adult audience. Young readers will find this gripping tale that reads like memoir textured with the sounds, smell and sights of children in captivity. By telling this story so credibly and convincingly through the eyes of a child, the terror of the experience is rendered fresh and palpable for even the most jaded child reader. Classroom teachers might want to partner this book with Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed (2003). 2006, Marshall Cavendish, 256p, $16.95. Category: Historical fiction. Ages 10 up. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Spencer Korson (Library Media Connection, August/September 2006)
Imagine growing up in hiding so you aren't shot or taken away. Imagine playing with dust balls to occupy your day, and always being hungry. This is a touching book unusually told in first person free verse, based on the true experiences of a young girl (the author's aunt) in the Lodz ghetto of Poland during the Holocaust. Covering the years from the German invasion of Poland to the end of World War II, the story tells of Syvia's life between the ages of four and 10. When Syvia witnesses the shooting of people in the street, author Jennifer Roy captures the fear of the moment without graphic descriptions, as Syvia looks at her shoes to avoid attention. The fear of capture and being sent out of the ghetto is a constant as Syvia's parents and sister feed her, and conceal her by hiding her in a grave hole in the cemetery. Parts of the book are set off by brief descriptions of that time period, and the book concludes with an author's note to tell the reader about the family after their escape. A timeline at the close rounds this novel out as a strong educational selection for all ages. Highly Recommended. 2006, Marshall Cavendish Children's Books, 256pp., $16.95 lb. Ages 9 up.

n/a (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May 2006 (Vol. 59, No. 9))
The author’s grandmother, Syvia Perlmutter, was one of only twelve Jewish children who survived the Lodz ghetto in Poland. This free-verse novel based on her memories is a moving, harrowing tale from the limited, often uncomprehending perspective of a child. First sent to Lodz with her family at the age of five, Syvia spends most of the next six years in hiding, as the Nazis systematically root out and take away as many children from their parents as they can. After digging a hole in a nearby cemetery, Syvia and her father hide inside it while the Nazis raid their neighborhood. Later, when the less able-bodied (including any remaining children) are sent away on trains to so-called work camps, Syvia and other children are sequestered in a cellar by their parents; they manage to survive in hiding until they are liberated by the Russians in 1945. While periodic lapses into a more adult sensibility sometimes disrupt the child’s-eye view and reveal what is, in fact, a distance of many years from story’s events, other moments--such as Syvia’s wondering whether or not her doll is Jewish--are poignant in their naïveté. For the most part, the free-verse format suits the young narrator and subject matter well; the poems can either be read as snapshots of life in Lodz or as one continuous lyrical narrative that nevertheless clips along at a brisk pace. Readers searching for an accessible Holocaust novel will be absorbed by this haunting story based on true events. An introduction detailing the historical events and the author’s relationship with her grandmother is included, and a timeline is appended. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Cavendish, 256p, $16.95. Grades 6-9.

Marilyn Egner (The Kutztown Book Review, Fall 2006)
The author writes her aunt's recollection of life in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz, Poland, using first person voice, laid out in diary style, from a child's point of view. The story begins when she is 4 1/2 years old - it is 1939- and she learns of a need to leave their home and resettle in the ghetto. Ghetto life is revealed through diary-like topics of the day or snapshot headings, instead of dates and times. The story continues up to 1945, Liberation Day; the story being told by one of only 12 surviving children of the ghetto. The book, being told from a child's perspective, is appealing, in that the child is free to observe and comment on all happenings without constraints. The diary style keeps the story line moving, yet it is focused in-depth on the daily happenings and emotional struggles of this child and her family members. This book would be a good introduction to a very intense topic - a good springboard for the understanding and the discussion of the holocaust. Category: Realism. 2006, Marshall Cavendish Children's Books, $16.95. Ages 10 to 18.

KaaVonia Hinton Johnson (VOYA, June 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 2))
This wonderfully written first novel is based on the experiences of Syvia Perlmutter, one of only twelve children who survived the Lodz ghetto in Poland during World War II. Roy interviewed Perlmutter, who is actually her aunt, in 2003. Short "poems" and simple language appropriate for Syvia's age make the book a quick but poignant read. Syvia was four years old when her family reported to Lodz along with more than 270,000 others. In 1942, the Nazis began deporting children from Lodz to the Chelmno extermination camp. Parents were told that their children were being taken to safety, but Syvia's father suspected that the children would be killed and sought ways to hide her. The most inconspicuous hiding place was a graveyard where Syvia and her father lay in a shallow grave. When the final train departed Lodz headed for Auschwitz-Birkenau, only 1,200 Jews were left behind to clean the ghetto. Among them were twelve children whom they smuggled into a cellar. The survivors huddled together in 1945 while Russian soldiers bombed Lodz, but they were eventually liberated when the soldiers saw the reflection of their yellow stars of David. After five and a half years in the ghetto, Syvia spent her teen years in Paris and then later moved to Albany, New York. She now volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Social studies teachers and general readers will find the author's note, time line, and brief historical details prefacing each of the five parts of the book invaluable. This book is an essential purchase for school, public, and classroom libraries. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2006, Marshall Cavendish, 256p., $16.95. Ages 12 to 18.