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The Wrong Boy (2012)

by Suzy Zail(Favorite Author)

4.13 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

174203165X (ISBN13: 9781742031651)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Black Dog Books

review 1: Hanna Mendel has a bright future as a concert pianist. But all that changes when the Nazis occupy Hungary. At first her family lives alongside other Jews in a ghetto in Debrecen, but all of them are transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where Hanna and her older sister Erika do their best to survive after being separated, first from their father and then from their mother. They are allowed to take only a few possessions, and as a reminder of her past life, Hanna smuggles out a piano key. Hanna's former piano teacher spots her among the prisoners and suggests that she audition to play piano for the camp's commandant, a cruel man given to fits of rage. But the job also means more food for Hanna and for Erika so Hanna plays her heart out. While playing for the commandant and his ... moreguests, one of whom shows off a collection of teeth taken from the Jewish prisoners, Hanna gets to know the commandant's son, Karl Jager. He is kind and increasingly upset about his father's cruelty and does his best to help Hanna. As the Allied forces draw near and liberate the camp, Hanna is desperate to find her sister while also needing to hide from the reprisals of the Nazis who are intent on destroying as much evidence of their evil deeds as they possibly can. Readers will experience vicariously the deprivations of those concentration camps while also understanding how someone might be willing to do anything in order to survive. It's also worth considering how Karl manages to be totally unlike his father. The ending just may surprise readers since love pays no attention to what is supposed to happen in the world or to whom we are expected to hate.
review 2: This book attacks the Holocaust in an interesting and entertaining manner. I loved the description throughout this book. The characters really appealed to me and I felt so attached to them that finishing this book made me a little sad! I felt the shooting in this book fully exemplified the horrors of the era as well as what children were exposed to given the political and social climate of the holocaust. less

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