When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit: A classic and unforgettable children’s book from the author of The Tiger Who Came To Tea

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a b Daniel Hahn (2015). The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature. Oxford University Press. p.622. ISBN 9780199695140. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016 . Retrieved 1 September 2016. I love the family. They’re flawed characters but good people and I loved them all. I appreciated that in Germany, and in Switzerland and France, and England, that they had people “100% on their side” – decent good people supporting them and not supporting Hitler’s policies. Teenage Anna is enjoying her new life in London, and looking forward to embarking on a secretarial course. But then her brother Max is interned as an enemy alien - and as the Blitz begins in earnest, she fears for the future of her family. Though on the surface this is a simple refugee story, seen through the eyes of a small girl, there are really three journeys in Pink Rabbit. The first is a literal one, in which the problems of temporary lodgings, making new friends and adapting to strange languages and cultures are described with a stoical humour. I reread this childhood favourite as a buddy read with Lisa Vegan. This was a wonderful book to read as a buddy read, so much happening in short chapters made it really enjoyable to discuss each day after reading.

Judith was awarded an OBE for services to children’s literature and holocaust education in 2012, the Booktrust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, and named Illustrator of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2019. Judith died in 2019, and her stories continue to delight generations of children. I found the book easy to read and that with Judith not referring to herself it was easier to read as it distanced my feelings from Judith. For her to write a book depicting the persecution her family were subjected to and for her to be able to write it with such grace and conviction when the story is about herself this is something she should be very proud of that. When I started reading the book I expected another sorrowful account of the worst time in history, but in the end I closed the book with a smile on my face and the thought that everybody should read this book to be encouraged to deal with change in a new way. (Me included!) Anna reflects on how she and her brother adjust to the different environments they encounter, how they struggle with different school systems and languages. My favourite part is when she almost gives up learning to speak French and then suddenly realises she can do it. When the family moves on to England, she has new confidence in her ability to adapt, and she starts out with the knowledge that she might not be able to understand a word right now, but if she gives it a couple of months, she will talk without any difficulty.

Suppose your country began to change. Suppose that without your noticing, it became dangerous for some people to live in Germany any longer. Suppose you found, to your complete surprise, that your own father was one of those people. My parents were wonderful. My brother Michael and I knew there wasn't much money but it didn't seem to matter much. They made us feel it was an adventure. I much preferred it to the sort of childhood I would have had had we had a so-called normal childhood. When we were in Paris we had this grotty, tiny flat and were looking out over Paris and I said to my father, 'Isn't it wonderful being a refugee!' [5] When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is yet another story belonging to the canon of Hitler and his atrocious Nazi regime. But what stands it apart is that it is a children's classic and it's written from the point of view of a young Jew refugee. Anna, age 9, is forced to flee Germany when the Nazis acquired power in Germany. Her father, a renowned author, had been highly critical of them and had written strongly against them, opposing them coming into power. But since the wind seems to blow in the Nazi's direction, he flees Germany and was soon joined by his family. Anna 9 and her brother 12, suddenly find them in strange countries, and though hard it may be, they must adapt as best they could for their new life as "refugees". There were some people who were bigots, and there were also a few heavy things for a middle grade book, including two things toward the end. One was unexpected for me and left me feeling very sad. I was expecting a bad outcome in this case but didn’t think it would come in this book (maybe in book two, if ever?) or happen in this exact way.

Judith Kerr did a fantastic job describing this part of the German history from the view of a Jewish family escaping from Nazi Germany. She finds a way of explaining things in a kids and teenager friendly way as well as delivering a story that is entertaining and nice to read. In some parts it is even funny and the reader forgets about the terrible things that have happened at the same time. El libro me ha impresionado, la verdad. Cómo en una narrativa cercana y por boca de una niña, la autora nos cuenta de semiautobiográfica la experiencia como refugiada. Judith Kerr is a writer and artist, who created classic books for young children. However, she also wrote some books for older children, young adults, and, I would maintain - not -so-young-adults, based around her experiences as a child in Germany in the early 1930s, daughter of a prominent, vocal anti-Nazi during the time the Nazis were beginning to gather power and mass support. These experiences gave rise to 3 fictional books, but books nevertheless drawing hugely on her own life, with the central character, Anna, aged 9 in this book, on the verge of leaving Germany just as the National Socialists are about to come to power. This book focuses on life in Germany through the eyes of the 9 year old, and on her refugee status as her family, with increasing desperation, work their way through Switzerland France and finally England in an attempt to find safety, a home, and employment. It is during their time in Switzerland that Anna becomes aware of the dangers she has left. She has to learn a new language and learn to fit into a new society and community without making it known she is Jewish. As seen in the above quote there is the stereotypical view of Jewish people and the view which has been influenced through propaganda and the media. Anna's friend Elsbeth does not believe she is Jewish because "she doesn't have a bent nose". It is this that I struggle to comprehend when it comes to this part of history. I can understand how people who are young and impressionable and those who were scared could share the opinion that Jewish people were evil but that leaves a large proportion of the country who were convinced that Jewish people were to play for the demise of Germany.

I would definitely recommend reading this book to other people and I look forward to reading the other books in the series Bombs on Aunt Dainty and A Small Person Far Away which I am sure I will in time. I really look forward to finding out what happens in the rest of Judith's/Anna's life. Si me preguntáis por la edad recomendada de lectura para este libro, diría que sería a partir de los doce años... Pero si el niño tiene alto nivel lector, probablemente desde los diez, pero siempre acompañando la lectura con un adulto, ya que hay reflexiones muy sutiles que nosotros les podemos hacer entender. I have read a good few books about wartime experiences, but `the child's experience' which Kerr recounts precipitated me into something more visceral, less intellectual. On arrival in England at night, their train stops, for the umpteenth time, at a small ill-lit station. La novela tiene ya unas cuantas décadas, pero todo lo que en ella se narra se puede interpretar comparándolo con nuestra situación actual. Nuestro país recibe refugiados y hay opiniones muy diversas en la sociedad sobre ello. No entraré a opinar personalmente, pero creo que el libro es una gran oportunidad de acercar a nuestros pequeños lectores una gran realidad, pasada, presente y por desgracia también futura.