Chil­dren’s

A Far­away Island

Anni­ka Thor; Lin­da Schenck, trans.
  • Review
By – October 31, 2011

In the sum­mer of 1939, Ste­phie and Ellie Stein­er are sent from Vien­na to Swe­den to escape the Nazi threat. They live on a small island off the main­land. Eight-year-old Nel­lie adjusts quick­ly, pick­ing up the lan­guage, mak­ing friends eas­i­ly, and enjoy­ing the com­pa­ny of her fos­ter moth­er, Aun­tie Alma and her two chil­dren. Twelve-year-old Ste­phie has a hard­er time. Her fos­ter moth­er, Aun­tie Mar­ta, is a strict and thrifty woman. Ste­phie miss­es her par­ents very much, and she wor­ries about them and how they will ful­fill their plans to emi­grate to the Unit­ed States. Ste­phie does well in school, but there is a group of girls who taunt Ste­phie and exclude her. Through an inci­dent with teas­ing, Ste­phie sees that her fos­ter moth­er cares and that she has a friend. She is much happier. 

Although this is a sto­ry about Jew­ish girls, the Jew­ish con­tent is lim­it­ed to anti-Semi­tism, and when the fos­ter moth­ers take the girls to church with them. When the singing and warmth makes Ste­phie cry because it reminds her of syn­a­gogue on Rosh Hashanah, Aun­tie Mar­ta is thrilled that she has embraced Jesus so quick­ly.” The pace is rather slow, set­ting the tone of how mis­er­able Ste­phie feels. The sto­ry ends abrupt­ly, with Ste­phie no longer feel­ing at the end of the world. An author’s note describes the his­to­ry of send­ing chil­dren to Swe­den dur­ing World War II. The book is the first of a four-part series about the Stein­er sis­ters. For ages 10 – 14.

Kathe Pinchuck, M.L.I.S., is the librar­i­an of Con­gre­ga­tion Beth Sholom in Tea­neck, New Jer­sey. She is cur­rent­ly the chair of the Syd­ney Tay­lor Book Award Com­mit­tee of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Jew­ish Libraries.

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