The Night War

January 15, 2024
This well-paced novel by Bradley (Fighting Words), set in 1942 Nazi-occupied France, poses thoughtful questions about religious divides and parallels through the experiences of 12-year-old Miriam Schreiber, a German Jew who fled Berlin for Paris with her parents after Kristallnacht. When all the Jews in her neighborhood are rounded up, Miri is separated from her parents and escapes with two-year-old neighbor Nora. Saved by a Catholic nun, the children are sent to Chenonceaux, where the Chateau de Chenonceau straddles the border of occupied France and French-controlled Vichy. Nora is given to a Catholic family, while Miri—pretending to be Christian and going by Marie—is sent to a convent school, where she discovers that two nuns are secretly helping to smuggle Jews across the border. Suffering from fear and anxiety and plagued by guilt for choices she believes she failed to make to save her mother and Nora’s father, Miri—aided by a mysterious, imperious elderly woman—takes on risky responsibilities. Miri’s highly credible emotions and actions make for a deeply sympathetic character facing increasingly dangerous and suspenseful circumstances; secondary characters are satisfyingly complex. All characters present as white; several are Jewish. A historical note concludes. Ages 9–12.

February 15, 2024
Grades 4-7 Paris, France. July 10, 1942. A Jewish refugee, 12-year-old Miri, is forced to flee Paris when gendarmes round up all the Jews in the city. She is helped in her escape with her neighbor's two-year-old daughter, Nora, by a sympathetic nun, who arranges transport to a small town in the French countryside. En route, Miri is separated from Nora and becomes desperate to find her and flee to Switzerland. Before that can happen, however, she--masquerading as a Christian--becomes a student at a Catholic girls' school. There, an elderly nun, Sister Annunciata, presses her into dangerous service as a guide, secretly leading refugees to the nearby Vichy border. To her surprise, Miri is aided by the elderly, imperious Madame Simone, who harbors an astonishing secret. Bradley has crafted a compelling historical novel told in Miri's apposite first-person voice. The book has a hint of magic that, while initially jarring, ultimately becomes as satisfying as the whole of this fine novel.

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Starred review from February 1, 2024
A young girl escapes a Nazi roundup and plots to flee occupied France. The year is 1942. Twelve-year-old Miriam Schrieber and her parents live in Paris, having fled Berlin after Kristallnacht in 1938. But the Nazis invaded France two years later, and Miri remains haunted by the memories of witnessing her neighbor Monsieur Rosenbaum being taken away. Now, the gendarmes are rounding up all the Jews in her neighborhood and putting them on buses bound for the Velodrome d'Hiver, where they'll await an unknown fate. Miri's parents are missing when the roundup takes place, and Madame Rosenbaum urges Miri to escape with Nora, her toddler daughter. The girls flee and are saved by a Catholic nun, who arranges to send Miri to a convent school in Chenonceaux. The village fortunately borders Vichy France, offering an escape route to Zurich, where Madame Rosenbaum's cousin lives. Nora is placed with a Catholic family, and Miri does her best to fit in with the other students. A desperate moment leads Miri to channel her fear into the courage required to help refugees seek safety across the border, while also plotting her own escape with Nora. This poignant story moves quickly but takes care to consider with sensitivity the excruciating choices Miri must make at every turn as she's torn between choosing safety and honoring her heritage and her convictions. A gripping, humane tale that examines what war demands of children and what it costs them. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 9-14)

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March 1, 2024
In 1942, French police in Occupied Paris rounded up over thirteen thousand French Jews and corralled them into a stadium; almost all perished at Auschwitz. Bradley's (The War That Saved My Life, rev. 1/15, and sequel) story begins just before the Jews are forced into the stadium, and Miri's neighbor thrusts her toddler into Miri's arms and tells her to run. Thanks to compassionate, quick-thinking nuns, the two end up in a village near Catherine de Medici's sixteenth-century castle, Chenonceau. Hiding in plain sight among summer boarders at a convent school, Miri (now known as Marie) grows familiar with the castle -- and with a ghost visible only to her, of Catherine de Medici herself. When Miri gets involved in rescuing refugees, Catherine repeatedly steps in to help her out. This is an engaging, imaginative yarn, and Miri's vulnerability and sense of responsibility give it emotional weight and contemporary appeal -- despite, or perhaps because of, the ways it stretches credulity. Given the ease of a few elements as well as a helpful ghost and Miri's talkativeness -- even when hiding from German soldiers only a few feet away -- the novel is something of an unlikely confection, like the fairy tale-esque castle at its center. Best read in tandem with more straightforward Holocaust accounts. Deirdre F. Baker

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from April 1, 2024

Gr 4-7-Historical fiction at its finest. In 1942 a brave Jewish girl escapes from a roundup in Paris and takes her neighbor's baby in a desperate flee to safety, hoping to be reunited with her family. Miri finds herself hidden in a Catholic boarding school in the town of Chenonceaux. She discovers that the nuns who are hiding her also work in the fledgling movement to help Jews escape Nazi persecution. The Ch�teau de Chenonceau spans the river Cher that separates Nazi-occupied France from Vichy France, and Miri undertakes several rescue operations through the castle despite the watchful patrols of Nazi soldiers. The layers of storytelling include the mystical presence of Catherine de Medici, who befriends Miri, and several memorable Catholic nuns. Two-time Newbery honoree Bradley is at her best here; this is a novel that brings layers of the past to life in a way, connecting readers to a historic era and showcasing the author's expertise as a gifted storyteller. VERDICT Bradley's latest masterpiece features a determined and daring heroine and details that bring the past to life. Readers will be wholeheartedly rewarded.-John Scott

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2024
In 1942, French police in Occupied Paris rounded up over thirteen thousand French Jews and corralled them into a stadium; almost all perished at Auschwitz. Bradley's (The War That Saved My Life, rev. 1/15, and sequel) story begins just before the Jews are forced into the stadium, and Miri's neighbor thrusts her toddler into Miri's arms and tells her to run. Thanks to compassionate, quick-thinking nuns, the two end up in a village near Catherine de Medici's sixteenth-century castle, Chenonceau. Hiding in plain sight among summer boarders at a convent school, Miri (now known as Marie) grows familiar with the castle -- and with a ghost visible only to her, of Catherine de Medici herself. When Miri gets involved in rescuing refugees, Catherine repeatedly steps in to help her out. This is an engaging, imaginative yarn, and Miri's vulnerability and sense of responsibility give it emotional weight and contemporary appeal -- despite, or perhaps because of, the ways it stretches credulity. Given the ease of a few elements as well as a helpful ghost and Miri's talkativeness -- even when hiding from German soldiers only a few feet away -- the novel is something of an unlikely confection, like the fairy tale-esque castle at its center. Best read in tandem with more straightforward Holocaust accounts.`

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)