Five-year-old Eliz­a­beth dis­obeys her moth­er; she goes to the Main riv­er; she can­not swim. She falls in. Nine-year-old Lot­ti, smart and a good swim­mer, knows she can­not leave to find adult help because she must keep her eyes on Eliz­a­beth and must find a way to save her. If she tries to do it by her­self, the ter­ri­fied child could drown them both. Lot­ti jumps in and, using Elizabeth’s tow­el, tows the lit­tle girl to shore where a pass­ing man helps lift them out of the water. A year pass­es. Hitler comes to pow­er. Jews, even chil­dren, face ter­ri­ble laws, includ­ing being for­bid­den to go to school. But an excep­tion is made! Eliz­a­beth is a gen­tile and Lot­ti, a Jew. Because Lot­ti saved a Chris­t­ian, the town saves her from the laws; she is allowed to stay in school. Soon, the sit­u­a­tion in Ger­many becomes even more dan­ger­ous and Lot­ti and her fam­i­ly emi­grate and set­tle in Israel. The two girls lose touch. Many years pass; Lot­ti dies. Her sis­ter goes from Israel to Ger­many to trace Eliz­a­beth. The old ladies meet in a restau­rant. Eliz­a­beth brings the tow­el, the very tow­el which had saved her, allow­ing her to lead a long, hap­py life filled with chil­dren and grand­chil­dren. A lit­tle girl, we see, saved gen­er­a­tions of a fam­i­ly. An off-the-beat­en-track Holo­caust mem­o­ry, this is a true sto­ry, illus­trat­ed with fam­i­ly pho­tos of Lot­ti and Eliz­a­beth. Local col­or, sad his­to­ry, sur­vival, and a brave, female cen­tral char­ac­ter add charm to the sto­ry of this hero­ic res­cue that brings love to two fam­i­lies Hitler hoped would become mor­tal ene­mies. A sus­pense­ful, bit­ter­sweet rec­ol­lec­tion, this book is rec­om­mend­ed for ages 6 to 10.