Hidden: A True Story of the Holocaust by Fanya Gottesfeld Heller with Joshua M. Greene

From Goodreads,

"In 1942, Nazi soldiers marched into Fanya’s town. She had to hide to survive."

Goodreads - Hidden: A True Story of the Holocaust

When I was in junior high and high school I feel like all we focused on was the Holocaust.  Year after year we read about it and discussed and dissected it.  After a few years of studying the Holocaust we all knew what had happened and why.  For me though, I always took this topic differently because my grandmother is German and was just a young girl when Hitler was in control.  She wasn't taken to a concentration camp and she was in no way responsible for what happened, but nonetheless I still feel like I have the slightest connection to the Holocaust through her.  She rarely speaks of the war, which is understandable.  There have been a few things that she has told me, and those things will forever stick with me.  One of the things she has shared was that the girl who lived next door to her was there one day and gone the next.  She can only assume what happened to her and her family.  It's the smallest connections that make me pick up books like this, even though I know they are all going to be the same general story over and over.

This book is a work of nonfiction that is told by Fanya Gottesfeld Heller.  It tells of a young Jewish girl and her family who goes into hiding during World War II.  The family ends up having to rely on people to help keep them hidden as they move from place to place trying to stay alive.

I have read quite a few books about the Holocaust, and some of them have been works of nonfiction.  This book was by far one of my least favorites.  The entire book was just Fanya and her family living in cramped quarters and hopping from place to place praying they wouldn't be found.  As I was reading I was constantly waiting for something exciting to happen.  There was absolutely no depth to this book and honestly everything about it lacked details.  I felt like all the people in the book were one dimensional and not real people.  I just find it hard to believe that Fanya's mother, father, or brother didn't have any wishes, hopes, dreams, or thoughts for themselves.  We didn't really even get a good description of the traits of these characters before they went into hiding.  The people in this book were real people, and I find it heartbreaking that they weren't all a little more developed in the book.

One thing that I did enjoy about this book was that it included a chapter to tel where everyone ended up.  We didn't have to sit and wonder what happened to all of the people from the book, because thankfully that was included by Fanya.  She chose to include reconnections with some of the people such as Hania or what happened to her brother Arthur.  I think that was nice to finally give the characters some realness, but it was a little late in the book to think about doing that.

This book is definitely written for younger students, but unfortunately I don't feel that any of my students would enjoy this book.  I think they would find it bland and boring.  I personally give this book 1 star.  It lacked details and character depth.  I would place in my library, but would find it very difficult to recommend to a student.