This ​“por­trait of the artist as a boy and young man” is the true sto­ry of a Jew­ish prodi­gy in pre-World War II Ger­many. Wolf began draw­ing as a very young child. Polit­i­cal car­toons were one of his spe­cial­ties, even while he was still a teenag­er. When Hitler came to pow­er, his com­fort­able fam­i­ly left Berlin for Pales­tine, where mem­bers of the fam­i­ly already lived. Wolf found it impos­si­ble to stay there. He went to Paris, against his family’s wish­es and advice, where the excite­ment of the art world was reward­ing for him. He was able to use his polit­i­cal car­toons against the Span­ish Civ­il War, and lat­er against Hitler’s regime. Wolf, a state­less French Jew (his Ger­man pass­port had expired) and his sick wife, were faced with a ter­ri­ble deci­sion in 1940, as the Ger­mans pre­pared to invade France. 

Robert Fol­lett, an author and friend of Wolf’s younger broth­er, Natan, wrote this book in col­lab­o­ra­tion with him. It is illus­trat­ed with over 200 draw­ings, paint­ings, and polit­i­cal car­toons cre­at­ed by Wolf dur­ing his short life and col­lect­ed by his broth­er. The illus­tra­tions lend a spe­cial dimen­sion of inti­ma­cy to this book. An unusu­al sto­ry of the Holo­caust, this book is rec­om­mend­ed for stu­dents in junior high and high school. It seems that the authors pro­ject­ed it as a book for adults also. For ages 12 and up.