Katarina

by Kathryn Winter

Set in World War II Slovakia, an unforgettable first novel illustrates the struggles of Katarina, a Jewish girl running from the Nazis and believing in the protection of the saints of her newly found Catholic faith. Reprint.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Holocaust, World War II, Young Adult, Fiction, Historical, Childrens

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Hazel]

In this semi-autobiographical novel, eight-year-old Katarina is bewildered by the hullabaloo surrounding her Jewish heritage in World War II at Slovakia. Raised by her unobservant aunt Lena, Katarina knows next to nothing about her supposed religion and heritage. In public school, she's a Jew. In Hebrew school, she's a heathen. But in her heart of hearts, she's a Catholic.

Taught in secret by her stepfather's maid, Katarina knows the history of the saints by heart and even goes to mass. Her Catholic lessons prove valuable when her aunt and uncle pass her off as a Catholic and leave her with a peasant family, promising to return in two weeks time. When two weeks have come and gone several times over, the superstitious villagers grow fearful of the red-haired (rare in Slovakia) Katarina and begin to accuse her of cursing their livestock. And when they discover she is Jewish, they cast her out.

Left with nowhere to go, Katarina wanders from village to village, hungry and alone, constantly at risk. She eventually seeks refuge with her uncle's former maid, and it is Anka who comes up with the plan that saves her life. Throughout her three-year ordeal, Katarina is sustained by her faith in her saintly protectors, the unexpected acts of kindness and courage on the part of others, and her belief that everything and everyone she loves will be awaiting her at the end of the war.

By the end of the war, the number of survivors is less clear. Kathryn Winter has successfully drawn on some of the her own experiences growing up Jewish in World War II Slovakia to create a remarkable story that is as gripping as it is believable.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to see if it would be good to use with my fifth graders. I seem to be obsessed with reading books set during the time of World War II and that focus on the Holocaust. This one fell a little short. It is based on true experiences, which as always, makes the story heartbreaking. But, the character development of the main character, Katarina, was weak. She's an eight year old girl who is of Jewish heritage but is not practicing and knows nothing of her heritage. However, when they begin sending Jews away in Slovakia, her aunt and uncle leave her behind with a peasant family saying they will return in several weeks. After the two weeks come and go several times over, Katarina is sent away once her Jewish background is discovered. She is left to fend for herself on the streets and is ultimately saved by her step uncle's former maid who devises a plan to send her to an orphanage with false papers. Katarina remains there for the rest of the war sustained by her hope and faith that her loved ones will be waiting for her at the end of the war.

[Maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

KATERINA is about a little Jewish girl growing up during the Holocaust. She’s not old enough to understand what’s going on. She is separated from her family and is trying desperately to survive and adapt. Katerina’s main external conflict is, of course trying to survive. Her main internal conflict is figuring out if she’s Jewish, or protestant, or catholic.

When reading this book I was able to make a text to text connection. Katerina is like Bruno in THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS. Neither knows what’s going on most of the time. Both Bruno and Katerina are kind of naive and ignorant.

I would rate this book a two. That is probably because it is too young for me. Also the characters irk me. I would recommend it to somebody in about fifth or sixth grade. Or somebody who likes dumb characters.

[Cobygirl517 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book changes writing style and narratives so often, it gets kind of confusing at times. Not to mention, it is impressive how cruel almost everyone is to this innocent child, children and adults alike. Add on top of that the strange relationship she has with a puppet, and you wonder if she even has the capability to turn out not un-hinged. :/

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story of the Holocaust taken from the author's life in Slovakia. Really interesting that the girl is labeled as Jewish but has no identity with her religion or culture. One chapter was suddenly confusing as the author changed points of view several times. Not one of my favorites.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told from the point of view of a ten year old, this book doesn’t talk much about the actual experience of the war until near the end, and the way it goes back and forth between dreams and fantasies and real events is confusing.

[Sally906 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I selected this book because it was set in Slovakia – one of the places I will be visiting this year.

KATARINA had so much potential as a book but never quite made it for me as a great story. It was interesting to read about what being Jewish meant, many of the Jewish people who were caught up in the holocaust were not practicing Jews – in fact for some of them the first that they heard of their Jewish ancestry was when they were hauled off to a concentration camp. For many other millions it is a way of life, their faith, their reason for being. Katarina was Jewish only because she had been born to a Jewish mother, she had never followed any of the traditions of the faith and wasn’t even sure what being Jewish meant. She converts to Catholicism as it was real for her; it gave her hope and a focus. She is very young as well, so this added to her confusion of what was happening and why.

KATARINA was a quick read, and is semi-autobiographical – meaning the author put some of her experiences into the book. This is the only book written by Kathryn Winter.

[Mazzou B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually love world war 2 books, including historical fiction such as this one. However, Katarina really did not impress me. The writing style is tedious and confusing while the character herself is unlikable. Most of the book is about Katarina's crush on her older cousin Pavel. The degree of the crush was unpleasant and not sweet or cute. There is a lot about Katarina's thoughts and her going to see a witch woman and her letters to a friend and not much about the war. It is true that sometimes that is how real life was for Europeans during the war but I felt this book definitely lacked purpose. While I was reading it, I constantly wondered what the point of the book was.
For really good world war 2 fiction and biographies/memoirs, see my world war 2 shelf here on goodreads.

[Katarina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book for Christmas one year, because the title character has the same name as me. It was about a year or so before I read it, but I loved it... I just remember spending an entire afternoon curled up on my bed with a box of tissues, needing to know what happened to Katarina. It was a devastatingly tragic book for me-- my heart went out to her, especially because I realized the full horror of what was happening to her homeland, even if she didn't. That was the most tragic aspect of the book-- throughout, Katarina has such hope and faith. This was the first book that brought the Holocaust home for me.

I ought to re-read it...

[Samantha Li · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst WWII story I have ever read. So horribly and confusingly written.

[Gsmyles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was this historical fiction? Was this a combination of memory and fiction? I am not sure. I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book. It gave a good view from a child's perspective about what was happening during WWII in Slovakia to Jewish families-- even those that didn't practice the religion. It also gave a nice picture of people that put themselves at risk to help.... The ending of the book really was disappointing. First a Romanian soldier randomly appears into the story who is taking Katarina home-- a lewd companion is introduced for no reason...and then you have a flashback to making bread that has no correlation to an ending that has to do with the story. So what happens? You can guess that perhaps her family is not there? That the village is destroyed? That her home has been taken by Nazis or fascists? Where is Pavel? Does she ever reunite with the loving Mara & Martin from the orphanage? So many loose ends...especially if this is based on someone's partial memory.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like I've said in previous reviews, I'm not a huge fan of stories told from a child's perspective and I think I'm beginning to realize why. It's frustrating to me when the characters have no idea why something is happening when, as an adult reader, it's incredibly obvious. It's frustrating to me when the adults in the book withhold information from the child and as a result they continue to be in the dark. Children are intelligent and understanding. Yes this topic may have scared her, but at the same time, it would have helped her be more cautious and understand why people are treating her the way they are.

[Catharina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think people understand what this book tries to say. I was given this book when I was seven. I understood it, and felt her pain. Katarina doesn't know as much, because she's a fourth grader. She even admits this when she gets a little older. It's not ment to be a hardhit, but merely a girl's acount of how she saw the world. She was fighting an inner battle, and you have to look past the words and into the deeper meaning. Those of you who said you didn't like the book probably didn't actually read thouroughly. And besides, she's eight! She doesn't understand what was happening or why it was. She just missed her parents lik the child she is.

[Trina Edens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really it’s 3.5. I was drawn to this book because the main character nearly shared my name, and its plot deals with WWII. The first chapter was great, and I had high hopes. But the middle part is basically the child protagonist is just homesick and dealing with being a red-head in a school-like setting (no joke about the hair. It’s a big plot point.) There’s also a strong religious undercurrent throughout, and not just about Judaism. The protagonist learns a lot about Christian saints. Overall it was an alright read, but not what I was wanting.

[Tamara Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

i found this book a long time ago & wish i'd read it years ago. This was a powerfully moving story about a young girl in Europe living comfortably happy before WW2 interfered eventually taking control of her family's lives. The perspective of events written entirely through a 10yo's limited understanding brought the events to a new level of emotion for me. In some ways, it was similar to the idea of The Diary of Anne Frank but with somewhat different circumstances. Loved the book & think it should be read by many more ppl.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because my 10 year old grandson asked me to. I didn't like it much. It was difficult to follow sometimes. It also seems to be more of a girl book than a boy book. I know this doesn't always make a difference but my 10 year old boy would struggle reading the part about her crush on Pavel and a few other things. Interesting take on WWII from a child's view though.

[Donna Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I realize that this book was meant to be the recollections of a sheltered 10 year old who obviously didn’t seem to understand her situation, I found it very disjointed and confusing.

Maybe her “fantasy world” helped her survive the atrocities, but I’ve read many other books of survivors that were more compelling!

[Jennifer Wrage · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was from the point of view of a young girl in Slovakia during WWII. Although it was set in exciting places, I found the dialogue and self-reflection rather boring. Maybe it's because I have read so many of this type of book, but this one didn't really grab me.

[ElsaMakotoRenge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably would have enjoyed this book even more when I was 8 or 9 like Katarína is in the book, but I still really liked it! I think this is a great book to give a kid that’s wanting to read some WWII historical fiction or needs a WWII companion book for school or something.:)

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had this friend in eighth grade who recommended books to me. They were literally all depressing, Katarina included.

[Roberta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too slow for MS.

[Laura C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most fascinating part of this story is that it is semi autobiographical. That and what a child can survive.

I picked it up to learn a little more about Slovakia.

[Bobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of a Slovak girl who is Jewish during WWII

[Beth Radziewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad book based on the author's WW2 experience as a Jewish child. Kids should read this book.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sad story. I liked that she kept it in the voice of a child. I liked Katarina and her love of the Catholic saints.

[Sophia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't a big fan of this book for several reasons but I feel the need to mention how deeply uncomfortable I was with the paragraph long first person description of her pissing the bed

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should love this story. It is a Holocaust story set in Slovakia, a country that World War II stories are rarely set in. It is about the life of the author who was a Christian with Jewish ancestry who only learned about it when Nazis invaded. But this book wasn’t that good.

Katarina, the character, is insufferable. This was probably what the author was like when she was a kid, but that makes it even worse. Katarina is an eight-year-old who acts like a five-year-old, until she is a nine-year-old who acts like a twelve-year-old. She converts to Catholicism because a family servant with signs of sociopathy tricked her into it. And the writing is general is insufferable, not to mention the weird crushes and sexual elements that contrast with the youth of the main character awkwardly, even if they are realistic.

I cared about the events in the story, and it was appropriately heartbreaking for a Holocaust story, but the amateur writing and the badly developed main character ruined it for me. Not to mention how the content points to young adult despite the protagonist being so young.

[Roslin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book “Katarina” by Kathryn Winter, Katarina is a Jew during the holocaust. This book isn’t deep into detail of what most Jews had to go through during that time period, it’s not graphic or anything like that either. Katarina, her aunt and her uncle end up having to go into hiding for a long time and Katarina was so used to having to whipster when she talked, that when they went out of hiding she still whispered. She moves in with someone her aunt knows for a while so her aunt can do something very important and ends up getting moved around a lot. In my opinion Katarina was very lucky and in this book she says she wishes to be sent to a concentration camp because she didn’t want to hide anymore. Personally I didn’t enjoy reading this book as much as other holocaust books because it was mostly Katarina being ungrateful. Since her aunt and uncle were very wealthy she was so used to getting handed everything and she hadn’t experienced the real world. I think this is a very interesting book though, and it’s good for all ages.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book on a Thursday night, at a train station, and finished it 3 days later about a minute before I got home (I read while walking. It was that good). This page turner recalls the experiences of a Jewish child living in Slovakia during World War II who is forced to leave her home and hide in different places in order to survive. What I liked about the book, in addition to the vivid descriptions of the child's thought process, emotions, places and characters, is the interesting and thought provoking discussion on religious identity and how it is viewed and dealt with by the narrator and the people around her.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katarina is a young Slovakian, Jewish girl trying to survive during WW II. She is not religiously Jewish and is very confused by much of what is happening in the world around her. A heart-wrenching story about survival told through a child's eyes. This story is based on many of the author's personal childhood experiences.

At the end of the book it states, "only 11% of Europe's Jewish children survived the war". This book gave me a greater appreciation for how WW II impacted the Jews in all of the European countries surrounding Germany.