Black Radishes - Hardcover

Meyer, Susan Lynn

3.96

1,214 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385738811 ISBN 13: 9780385738811

Publisher: Delacorte Pr, 2010

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Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner Black Radishes is a suspenseful WWII/Holocaust story, in which one boy learns what it means to be Jewish and French at a time when everything is changing.

It is March of 1940. The French believe that their army can protect them from Nazi Germany. But is Paris a safe place for Jews? Gustave’s parents don’t think so. Forced to leave behind his best friend, the mischievous Marcel, and his cousin Jean-Paul, Gustave moves with his mother and father to Saint-Georges, a small village in the countryside.
During April and May, Nazi Germany invades one country after another. In June, the French army is defeated, and Paris is occupied. Saint-Georges is still part of the free zone, but the situation there is becoming increasingly precarious.
Then Gustave meets Nicole, a Catholic girl who works for the French Resistance. Along with her father, Nicole tries to find a way to smuggle Jean-Paul, Marcel, and their families into Free France so that they can all escape to America. It is Gustave, however, who comes up with a plan that just might work. But going into Occupied France is a risky thing to do when you are Jewish.
Inspired by her father’s experiences as a Jewish child living in France during World War II, Susan Lynn Meyer tells the story of a family’s day-to-day struggles in a country that may not be able to keep its promise of “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.”

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Review:

"An excellent recent novel that can introduce readers to a wider world. . . . Meyer builds the tension by using real-life events (detailed in an author's note) and creates in Gustave a very believable boy who behaves bravely when he must."-The Horn Book
"Meyer shines light on the bravery of Resistance fighters, and her story...[is] a gripping read comparable to Marilyn Sachs's classic A Pocket Full of Seeds, Carol Matas's Greater Than Angels, and Norma Fox Mazer's Good Night, Maman."-SLJ

"Partly based on Meyer's father's experiences, the story derives its credibility from the vivid details....This fine first novel could be read in conjunction with The Good Liar."-Booklist
"Meyer builds the tension by using real-life events (detailed in an author's note), creating in Gustave a very believable boy struggling to learn to cover up his emotions, who behaves bravely when he must."-Bulletin
"This debut novel, loosely based on the author's father's experiences, ...raises important questions about nationalism, equality and identity and fills a void in Holocaust literature for this age group."-Kirkus Reviews

"More than an account of Jewish survival in Nazi-occupied France, Black Radishes is an empowering, suspenseful story of a unique young boy with cunning, patience, and courage."-Francisco X. Stork, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award for Marcelo in the Real World

"A fascinating, deftly gripping tale that reminds readers, young or old, of events we must never forget."-Zilpha Keatley Snyder, three-time Newbery Honor winner and author of The Eygpt Game

"Black Radishes is a vivid and moving story about a Jewish family's efforts to escape the Nazis, seen though the eyes of a clear-sighted and sensitive young boy. Susan Lynn Meyer manages to capture the reader's interest from the start and keeps up the suspense until the last pages."-Annika Thor, winner of the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for A Faraway Island

"Black Radishes transforms the past into a gripping story. Gustave's growing maturity and loss of innocence perfectly mirror the mounting horrors he and his family experience."-Kit Pearson, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Awake and Dreaming

A Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner

A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year

An Instructor Magazine Best Kids' Historical Fiction Book

A Massachusetts Book Award Must-Read Book

About the Author:

Susan Lynn Meyer was born in Baltimore and grew up hearing her father’s stories about his French childhood and his family’s escape from the Nazis. She studied literature and is now a professor of English at Wellesley College, where she teaches Victorian and American literature. The author lives with her husband and daughter in Sherborn, Massachusetts. Black Radishes is her first novel.

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