The Hiding Game

Gr 2–4—This nonfiction picture book sheds light on Varian Fry, an American journalist who, with the Emergency Rescue Committee, helped Europeans escape Nazi rule. Fry and his assistant, Danny Bénédite (the author's great-uncle), facilitated the escape of thousands of refugees, including famous artists and writers such as Hannah Arendt, Marc Chagall, and Marcel Duchamp. This tale follows young Aube and her family as they flee the German army in France and find refuge in the Villa Air-Bel with Fry. Aube and her family are present during a raid on the villa, and they endure a long, cold winter before they escape via ship to South America. Aube is an ideal narrator, giving the events a childlike innocence that softens the harsh realities of refugee life, and Leonhard's illustrations are equally soft and gentle. The subject matter is likely to be unfamiliar to most readers, and the book might be used as a companion text in discussing the current refugee crisis. However, the narrative lacks a consistent thread, so it reads more as a collection of facts than a cohesive story, making it less relatable to its intended audience. The title ends abruptly with the attempted murder of the author's great-uncle by the Nazis, which could be confusing to young listeners and potentially upsetting because of the accompanying illustration.