The Other Way Round (Lions)

Sorry, but I can't give you a review since this book and the other two of this order were a gift to my grandson in the USA. I know the delivery was in time and the package was okay. And I know my grandson loves those books written by Judith Kerr and being translated into English, especially since the holocaust was subject in his school.

This sequel to When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit jumps from age 12 when Pink Rabbit concluded to age 15. Anna and her family are coping, at times quite desperately, as refugees in London as war finally breaks out for England and then the U.S. This continuation of a young girl's coming of age in the midst of Hitler's attack on Europe, illustrates the hardships that Jews were confronted with who escaped Hitler's final solution. Since Anna's family were Germans, even though they would have been annihilated by the Third Reich, they were not allowed employment and other essential means for survival. How they survive, and Anna's and Max's (her older brother) coming of age in such conditions, are told, miraculously, without bitterness. I am now reading the final volume of Anna's story, A Small Person Far Away.

Continuing the story of When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit, The Other Way Around recounts the story of Anna's life in London. Well integrated into British life and the English language, Anna finds that now things are the other way around: it is her parents who need her to help them to adjust. In between marvellous descriptions of London in the Blitz, character portraits and historical information, Kerr creates a powerful and engaging story of an indvidual's struggle to find her own place in a world without roots.