WAITING FOR ANYA

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A gripping historical adventure by a much-loved and award winning author.

'Waiting for Anya film is true to the plot and spirt of Michael Morpurgo's book. It reminds us that good and bad is never all on one side. A tearjerker' - Nicolette Jones

It is World War II and Jo stumbles on a dangerous secret: Jewish children are being smuggled away from the Nazis, close to his mountain village in Spain. Now, German soldiers have been stationed at the border. Jo must get word to his friends that the children are trapped. The slightest mistake could cost them their lives.

Michael Morpurgo: The Master Storyteller. Former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo needs no introduction. One of the most successful children's authors in the country, and loved by children, teachers and parents alike. Michael has written more than forty books and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children's Book Award and has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal four times. His novels have been adapted for film (My Friend Walter, Why the Whales Came) and stage (most recently, Kensuke's Kingdom for the Polka Theatre and Why the Whales Came for Alibi.)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Like the acclaimed Number the Stars , this well-plotted novel features a young Gentile hero battling the Germans in their war against the Jews. As it opens, Jo is guarding the sheep when his dog alerts him to a bear; Jo warns the villagers in his small French town and they kill the hapless beast. The theme here prefigures the more tragic hunt for human prey, while the bear chase itself brings Jo into contact with Benjamin, the reclusive Widow Horcada's Jewish son-in-law, who is hiding in her mountain home. Separated from Anya, his daughter, Benjamin hides other Jewish children and leads them to safety in nearby Spain. Jo is soon enlisted, bringing supplies to the widow's house. Then the Germans encamp in Jo's village, observing everyone and sealing the Spanish border. Jo's concern for the Jews is measured against his reluctant awareness that the German occupiers are not uniformly evil--in fact, the villagers' relations with the Germans form the most distinctive element of the story. Although some key elements are historically improbable (chiefly, a German officer's partial rejection of Nazi principles), the adventure of the Jews' escape into Spain is both gripping and temperate. Ages 10-14. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-9-- In a village in southern France, only a few miles from Spain, Jo discovers that the Widow Horcada is sheltering Benjamin, her Jewish son-in-law, who is helping to smuggle Jewish children over the border. He is also waiting for his own child, Anya, from whom he was separated. When a garrison of German soldiers is sent to occupy the village in order to stop the flow of refugees into Spain, Benjamin needs the cooperation of the entire village to save the children. What Jo and the others learn, though, is that the Germans are human and that there are more similarities than differences among them. Readers do not see battles, but will witness their effects when Jo's father returns a sick and bitter man; they do not see the horrors of the death camps--it is enough to know that those who are taken away will not be seen again. Everything is seen through the eyes of one young, compassionate boy. There are no villains and no larger-than-life heroes, just human beings following what conscience or duty tells them is right. In its understated style and gentle telling of a harsh lesson, the story is reminiscent of Lois Lowry's Number the Stars (Houghton, 1989). --Susan M. Harding, Mesquite Public Library, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 5-8. In an exciting war adventure set in occupied France, 12-year-old Jo helps a group of Jewish children hide from the Germans and then escape over the mountains to Spain. This has the enduring appeal of all such World War II rescue stories, from Serraillier's classic Escape from Warsaw to Haugaard's Chase Me, Catch Nobody [BKL My 1 80], in which ordinary kids are drawn into heroism and there's little doubt that the good guys are us and the baddies are them. However, Morpurgo adds a sobering realism to the escape adventure--Jo gets close to one of the German soldiers stationed in the village and sees that the corporal longs for peace as much as the villagers do. Jo's father returns from two years as a prisoner of war, and he's a broken, angry man, hard to live with ("Papa was back home and Jo wished he wasn't"). As the villagers, including all the children, take part in the daring rescue plan to outwit the German patrols and get the refugees over the border, the dark shadow of what the Jews are escaping from is also with them. In fact, the refugee leader and one of the children don't get away--they die in Auschwitz. Some plot details won't bear close scrutiny, but readers will be swept along by the action and by the generally upbeat view of the good that people can find in themselves. ~--Hazel Rochman

Horn Book Review

An action-packed historical novel that takes place during World War II in Vichy, France. Young shepherd Jo discovers that Widow Horcada's son-in-law is hiding Jewish children at her farm and smuggling them over the border into Spain. A gripping, clearly written story, giving readers much to ponder. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Lescun, France, during WW II is the setting for this latest work by the author of Mr. Nobody's Eyes (1990). Jo is a shepherd with a tendency to doze on the job--until a close encounter with a bear cures him while simultaneously leading to his acquaintance with Benjamin, son-in-law of the Widow Horcada, who lives up on the mountain. Meanwhile, Benjamin, waiting to be reunited with daughter Anya, leads other Jewish children over the mountains into Spain. The last-minute occupation of Lescun by the Germans threatens all; still, a final group of children are helped before Benjamin is captured and sent to Auschwitz with a child who refuses to be parted from him. Never depending on stereotype, Morpurgo builds a sort of magic-amidst-the-war oasis in his descriptions of region, seasons, village, and people. While harrowing journeys like these have become familiar, this particular story achieves special resonance in its depiction of the innocent and guilty living side by side, settling into uneasy alliances while learning the unwelcome lessons of war. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.