Here is a sto­ry that is emo­tion­al­ly authen­tic with a bit­ter­sweet yet sat­is­fy­ing end­ing. Clau­dine is an eight-year-old French Jew­ish child liv­ing in the 1930’s with lov­ing par­ents and grand­par­ents, a charm­ing home, and a new doll bought despite the rag­ing World War II, whom she names Vio­lette and who appears to be her own age. Life is per­fect for her, but as we all know, it will soon change and dis­as­trous­ly so. Nazi occu­pa­tion of France incurs count­less hard­ships and dan­gers on the Jews, not the least of which, from Claudine’s point of view, is the wear­ing of a yel­low star on one’s clothes. In fact, she allows Vio­lette to choose whether or not to show the star by sewing a minia­ture one inside her coat. Claudine’s par­ents insist that she go to the Unit­ed States where her mother’s sis­ter awaits her, but a fire aboard ship as it approach­es the har­bor caus­es Vio­lette to be left on the ship. Despite her rel­a­tives’ kind­ness, Clau­dine remains in despair for her par­ents and yes, for her doll. Her father does sur­vive, and in a sur­prise end­ing, so does Vio­lette, inspir­ing Clau­dine to find a new way to be clos­er to the mem­o­ry of her moth­er. For ages 7 – 10.