Myron Levoy

Alan Silverman lives in New York City during World War II. He's a Jewish boy, and his favorite past time is playing stickball with his best friend, Shawn. But when a girl and her mother, Jewish refugees from Nazi occupied France, move into the building, Alan's parents ask him to try to make friends with Naomi, because she has been deeply traumatized by what happened in France before she came to New York. (She witnessed her father being bludgeoned to death by the Gestapo.)
At first, Alan agrees, with extreme reluctance. He's young enough to just see girls as sissies, who he wants nothing to do with. But he goes, trying to make friends with Naomi through an old Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist's mannequin he's had in his closet for years.
There is a good stretch of the book that focuses on Alan's attempts to bring Naomi out. At first, she ignores him completely, obsessively tearing paper into tiny shreds. But soon, she allows her own doll to talk to Charlie, though she still won't talk to Alan directly. Very slowly, she opens up to Alan more and more. And when I say "very slowly," this part of the book drags a little, yet, it is necessary to properly develop the characters for the rest of the book.
There are also issues between Alan and Shawn, because he's tried to hide his growing friendship with Naomi (a girl!) from his buddy.
The last third of the book picks up the pace dramatically, but what happens there is best read without spoilers.
Excellent. Can't quite give five stars because the first half of the book is so slowly paced that it drags a little.… (altro)

Holy cow. ?áThe only author I can think of who is writing books like this today is Sonya Hartnett. ?áThe cover of this is not a good indication of the book as a whole. ?áAnd yet I'm very glad I read this (even though I've read *lots* of WWII hist. fic. for children and am, tbh, burnt out on it) and do highly recommend it. ?áInterested readers might also look to Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli.

?áI definitely appreciate the light moments in here, for example when Alan and the librarian pretend that he's picking out books by color because he's going to use them for his building projects.
And I like his teacher, and wish we saw more of her:

Adults are such pains in the neck. ?áSo condescending. ?áThey think children are children. ?áAnd they aren't; that's the secret. ?áSometimes, I forget...""… (altro)