White Bird by R.J. Polacio

R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder, has created a graphic novel, based on an interview Julian, Auggie's bully in Wonder, has with his grandmother.  Julian reveals to his grandmother his regrets for the way he treated people, and wishes he could go back in time to correct his errors. She confides that "We are not defined by our mistakes, but by what we do after we've learned from them." This becomes the theme of the story Julian's grandmother reveals when he asks her to tell the story of when she was a young girl in France during the German occupation of WWII. 

Julian's grandmother, Sara Blum, was a well to do Jewish girl in the southern region of France. Her father a surgeon and her mother a math teacher, she was admittedly spoiled, having everything she wanted, as a single child of two loving parents. France falls to Germany and suddenly life changes as German rule and French law starts herding the Jews and sending them to concentration and work camps. Sara has a false security at her private school, where unexpectedly all the Jewish students are removed. Sara hides, and is almost caught, when Tourteau, a fellow student on crutches disabled from polio, leads her safely out of the school and into his family's barn to hide. In hiding for years, Sara's and Tourteau's relationship grows from one where she teased and mocked him for his disability to one of mutual respect and friendship. While fiction, there is much historical fact and characterizations of real people.

Palacio shows her talent as the graphic artist as well as the author. The line drawings and coloring have a tone that lends itself to the seriousness of the narrative. Palacio provides more detailed explanations of events and terms in a glossary following. She admits to not being Jewish herself, but married to a Jew, and feels it is the responsibility of Jews, and non-Jews alike to remember the story of the Holocaust.

Mark's Book Picks Score: 4

Reading Level: 3.5 • Interest Level: 5-9 • AR Points: 2.0 • Lexile Level: GN440L • Publisher: Random House • Pages: 218 • Copyright: 2019 • ISBN: 978-0-525-64553-5