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Black Radishes
Black Radishes
Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner Black Radishes is a suspenseful WWII/Holocaust story, in which one boy learns what it means to be Jewish and French at a time when everything is changing.
It is March of 1940. The French believe that their army can protect them from Nazi Germany. But is Paris a safe place for Jews? Gustave’s parents don’t think so. Forced to leave behind his best friend, the mischievous Marcel, and his cousin Jean-Paul, Gustave moves with his mother and father to Saint-Georges, a small village in the countryside.
During April and May, Nazi Germany invades one country after another. In June, the French army is defeated, and Paris is occupied. Saint-Georges is still part of the free zone, but the situation there is becoming increasingly precarious.
Then Gustave meets Nicole, a Catholic girl who works for the French Resistance. Along with her father, Nicole tries to find a way to smuggle Jean-Paul, Marcel, and their families into Free France so that they can all escape to America. It is Gustave, however, who comes up with a plan that just might work. But going into Occupied France is a risky thing to do when you are Jewish.
Inspired by her father’s experiences as a Jewish child living in France during World War II, Susan Lynn Meyer tells the story of a family’s day-to-day struggles in a country that may not be able to keep its promise of “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.”
It is March of 1940. The French believe that their army can protect them from Nazi Germany. But is Paris a safe place for Jews? Gustave’s parents don’t think so. Forced to leave behind his best friend, the mischievous Marcel, and his cousin Jean-Paul, Gustave moves with his mother and father to Saint-Georges, a small village in the countryside.
During April and May, Nazi Germany invades one country after another. In June, the French army is defeated, and Paris is occupied. Saint-Georges is still part of the free zone, but the situation there is becoming increasingly precarious.
Then Gustave meets Nicole, a Catholic girl who works for the French Resistance. Along with her father, Nicole tries to find a way to smuggle Jean-Paul, Marcel, and their families into Free France so that they can all escape to America. It is Gustave, however, who comes up with a plan that just might work. But going into Occupied France is a risky thing to do when you are Jewish.
Inspired by her father’s experiences as a Jewish child living in France during World War II, Susan Lynn Meyer tells the story of a family’s day-to-day struggles in a country that may not be able to keep its promise of “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.”
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
June 4, 2017
A compelling historical read for kids, set in World War II Europe. There was enough danger and tension to keep my students on edge and enough cool historical details to keep me turning the pages.
Small, cool side detail: the main character, a young Jewish boy, has a map on his bedroom wall, and he paints countries blue, then paints them red when the Nazis take a country.
There is a sequel, but this book stands alone nicely and ends without super annoying cliff-hangers.
Small, cool side detail: the main character, a young Jewish boy, has a map on his bedroom wall, and he paints countries blue, then paints them red when the Nazis take a country.
There is a sequel, but this book stands alone nicely and ends without super annoying cliff-hangers.
October 8, 2010
This debut novel by Susan Lynn Meyer was inspired by her own father's experience as a young Jewish boy in Nazi-occupied France. The novel opens in March, 1940, as all Paris prepares for the possibility of war with Nazi Germany. Even the Eiffel Tower has been specially prepared--covered with a layer of dirty gray camouflage paint to disguise it from Nazi bombers. And as the Nazis get ever closer to France, conquering one country after another, anti-Semitism becomes more evident, as well. Young Gustave, too, can't help but feel the tension. The whole subject is hard for Gustave to understand--after all, his family is French, even if they are also Jewish.
While they wait for their visas for America, Gustave's parents decide to leave Paris for the countrywide, where it feels safer, but they have to leave behind Gustave's cousin Jean Paul and his best friend, Marcel. Nearly all their possessions have to be left as well, except Monkey, a stuffed animal that had been his since he was a baby, and a few favorite books, including The Three Musketeers. Gustave doesn't like his new home in Saint-Georges; the first boy his age that he meets jeers at him, calling him "Paris kid." He's not sure Saint-Georges will be safe for him and his family; but in a twist of luck, the village winds up just across the river from the Occupied Zone set up after the French surrendered to the Germans, and they wind up in slightly safer (for the Jews, in any case) Vichy France rather than Nazi-occupied France.
When Gustave meets Nicole, a Catholic girl from the village, he is finally able to make a friend--one who turns out to work for the Resistance. As conditions worsen in the Occupied Zone, Gustave's family hears news that foreign Jews in France are being rounded up and sent to prison camps, where they are dying, just because they're Jewish. Gustave's family is still waiting for the prized affidavit from their cousin in America, in order for their visas to come through. But how can they get their friends and relatives across the demarcation line, before they, too, are arrested? Can the Resistance help get them across? Gustave will have a critical part to play, as his quick thinking, and the German soldiers' fondness for black radishes, help them come up with a plot to outwit the German guards.
An Author's Note give some details about Meyer's own family history, explaining how real events from her father's life are interwoven into this novel. She explains how her father, born in 1929, the same year as Anne Frank, was one of the "lucky few," to escape Europe and survive the Holocaust. In this afterword, she points out some of the specific factors that helped her father get out, including the fact that his family was French-born, escaped first to the safer unoccupied zone, although no one knew it at the time, and also had relatives in America who could sponsor them.
This well-written and suspenseful book is well worth adding to school and public library collections, as it offers yet another perspective on the events of World War II, this time portraying the day-to-day struggles of an ordinary Jewish family in France in the early days of the war. Gustave and his friend Nicole are appealing heroes with whom young readers will identify.
Although the publisher recommends this book for ages 8 to 12, I personally would not give this book to children as young as eight unless they already have some familiarity with the Holocaust (and in general I think that's too young an age to introduce this complex and very disturbing subject). While the narrative doesn't take place in the concentration camps or contain as much violence as some books on the subject, there are many passages referring to the prison camps where the Polish Jews and then the Jews in France were being sent at the time of this novel, as Gustave himself struggles to understand what is happening to his country and his friends and family.
While they wait for their visas for America, Gustave's parents decide to leave Paris for the countrywide, where it feels safer, but they have to leave behind Gustave's cousin Jean Paul and his best friend, Marcel. Nearly all their possessions have to be left as well, except Monkey, a stuffed animal that had been his since he was a baby, and a few favorite books, including The Three Musketeers. Gustave doesn't like his new home in Saint-Georges; the first boy his age that he meets jeers at him, calling him "Paris kid." He's not sure Saint-Georges will be safe for him and his family; but in a twist of luck, the village winds up just across the river from the Occupied Zone set up after the French surrendered to the Germans, and they wind up in slightly safer (for the Jews, in any case) Vichy France rather than Nazi-occupied France.
When Gustave meets Nicole, a Catholic girl from the village, he is finally able to make a friend--one who turns out to work for the Resistance. As conditions worsen in the Occupied Zone, Gustave's family hears news that foreign Jews in France are being rounded up and sent to prison camps, where they are dying, just because they're Jewish. Gustave's family is still waiting for the prized affidavit from their cousin in America, in order for their visas to come through. But how can they get their friends and relatives across the demarcation line, before they, too, are arrested? Can the Resistance help get them across? Gustave will have a critical part to play, as his quick thinking, and the German soldiers' fondness for black radishes, help them come up with a plot to outwit the German guards.
An Author's Note give some details about Meyer's own family history, explaining how real events from her father's life are interwoven into this novel. She explains how her father, born in 1929, the same year as Anne Frank, was one of the "lucky few," to escape Europe and survive the Holocaust. In this afterword, she points out some of the specific factors that helped her father get out, including the fact that his family was French-born, escaped first to the safer unoccupied zone, although no one knew it at the time, and also had relatives in America who could sponsor them.
This well-written and suspenseful book is well worth adding to school and public library collections, as it offers yet another perspective on the events of World War II, this time portraying the day-to-day struggles of an ordinary Jewish family in France in the early days of the war. Gustave and his friend Nicole are appealing heroes with whom young readers will identify.
Although the publisher recommends this book for ages 8 to 12, I personally would not give this book to children as young as eight unless they already have some familiarity with the Holocaust (and in general I think that's too young an age to introduce this complex and very disturbing subject). While the narrative doesn't take place in the concentration camps or contain as much violence as some books on the subject, there are many passages referring to the prison camps where the Polish Jews and then the Jews in France were being sent at the time of this novel, as Gustave himself struggles to understand what is happening to his country and his friends and family.
April 15, 2013
I loved the integration of the French language into the dialogue. This would be a great book for a child who is learning French.
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February 27, 2020I read this book a few years ago and just recently read it again. All of the amazing feelings I got reading it those years before came flooding back. This book is an amazing mix of terror, sadness, suspense, and cliffhangers. It relates to my past and my family's past and I connect to the message of the book very well. I recommend this book to anyone who was a fan of "Making Bombs for Hitler".
November 19, 2018
the Book was wonderful and i learn a lot stuff about the book.
June 20, 2013
I loved Black Radishes. The main character, Gustave, was very much a normal little boy born in extraordinary and tragic circumstances. I really liked how the author wrote Gustave as a kid who doesn't quite see the real picture of what is happening to his country. He slowly realizes the depth of evil that has gripped France. When he is separated from his cousin and best friend, he begins to realize how ugly the war has become. Through his cleverness, he comes up with solutions that seem heroic and yet not overdone at all. I was particularly impressed with how real the setting felt, as well as the characters. This story is unusual in that it looks at one particular setting and situation of the era that is unique and really delves into the life during that time. Gustave is charming and brave and ordinary, but his circumstances and keen understanding of human behavior help him survive. This is a great story for kids just beginning to understand that horrible time in history. It doesn't get into too much information about the politics, because it's through Gustave's eyes, which feels just right for the intended age range of the reader, which is 8-12. Highly recommend.
October 27, 2011
Great historical fiction about a French Jewish boy who moves out of Paris to live in the countryside during the Nazi occupation of WWII. It is really written at a level in which children can understand. The main character, Gustave, is initially upset about things like having to miss out on the Boy Scouts' award, but as the story progresses he understands the gravity of his situation and is able to do simple and yet serious work for the French Resistance. The book is written in a child's voice, without too many graphic descriptions of the horrors of the era, but it is not naive. A really good introduction to WWII holocaust literature.
June 19, 2011
Drawing from her own father's World War Two experience, Meyer tells the story of eleven-year-old Gustave Becker, a French Jew caught in the crosshairs of Hitler's hellish vision for an Aryan Europe. Readers feel Gustave's confusion, his attempts to maintain order in his life (I love how he paints a map of Europe with red to signify the Nazis' takeover of nation after nation), and ultimately, his courage in a difficult time. I'm looking forward to a sequel...
August 10, 2012
Of late I have had lots of teachers looking for upbeat but realistic WWII stories to go along with their studies of Anne Frank or Number the Stars. This one fills that slot neatly and in a shorter book (always a request). Concealing his Jewish identity, helping out the resistance, and helping save his own family, Gustave's adventures fill Black Radishes with action and historical information as well.
March 3, 2018
I enjoyed this book mostly because it was about yet another aspect of WWII that I don't know much about. It was unique to read about living near an occupied zone and the constant fear of being free, but not really. This was a fast read.
February 17, 2012
Historical fiction about a Jewish family escaping Nazis in France. Different locale for this kind of story, boy protagonist. I liked it but not sure if there's enough action to get kids' interest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2013
Everytime I read another Holocaust book I say "no more" but I am glad I read this, as uplifting as a book on the subject can be. After all, we are all just people, right?
November 3, 2019
But You Know What's Really Amazing?
Monsieur Menier Wakes Up In The Occupied Zone, On The Other Side Of The River, Then Gets Up, Stretches, Takes A Little Stroll Through His House- And He's On This Side Of the River, The Free Zone.
Imagine How Convenient That Is For Monsieur Menier, Or How Convenient It Is For His Visitors.
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite - These Are The Values Of Our Republic.
Brotherhood. Unless We Treat Each Other As Equals And As Brothers And Sisters, We Can Not Have True Liberty.
// Black Radishes // Blue Hat - White Hat // Chateau Of Chenonceau //
TRAVELED TO // France - Paris - Saint-Georges - Chateau Of Chenonceau - Unoccupied & Occupied France
MET ALONG THE WAY // Gustave , Papa, Marcel, Nicole, Maman, Aunt Geraldine, Giselle, Philippe, Jean-Paul
May 3, 2017
Lord knows that as a child I was a huge fan of books about Jewish kids in WWII Europe. I mean, that was a genre that I always appreciated. Something seems to have changed in my adulthood, however; first I was disappointed in rereading Number the Stars, and now there's this. Since the plot of the book seems like it ought to have been interesting enough, and, bad a mood as I'm in, I was able to enjoy other books more than this one, I have to fall back on blaming, of all things, the prose. . . I assess prose on a graph with two axes - enjoyment and quality. Prose that is enjoyable and quality is beautiful, or one might even say "deathless." Prose that is not enjoyable but quality is pretentious. Prose that is enjoyable but not quality is usually. . . well, that kind of prose is the kind where you barely even notice that you're reading prose at all. It's an effortless mechanism for the transmission of ideas, so I call it transparent, because what you care about in reading is so much more the things that are being said than how they're said. Suzanne Collins is the paradigmatic example. This book, sadly, has prose that is neither enjoyable nor quality. One would perhaps call it opaque, premised on the analogy with transparent, but it's quite understandable, so that's not the right word. I give the example - on page 20, a character thinks of internment camps: "People died there from the cold, from hunger and diseases." On page 128, a different character says, "They're saying that people die there every day from the cold, from hunger, and from illness." I just find this clumsy - I mean, I guess this is a didactic novel for kids, but something like that trips me up in reading it.
June 7, 2024
Similar to the experience of those in Britain, some people moved away from Paris into the country to avoid bombings during World War 2. However, France was partly occupied by Nazi Germany. This book is about a family of Jews, living near the demarcation line after having moved from Paris. I was impressed with how this book showed the gradual progression of anti-Jewish laws on both sides of the line and how scary it was to live there at that time.
The main character, Gustave, is a boy who likes black radishes better than chocolate. I loved how he was offended and exploded when he learned that others use radishes with beer, rather than how he uses them to garnish soup. (p. 124).
Gustave was newly 11 years old at the beginning of the book and ages 1-2 years by the end. I don't know what age boy scouts begin in France, but it is 11 in the US. The book begins at a boy scout activity, which makes it seem that he'd been in scouts awhile.
Bicycles are only a minor part of the book. I thought it was creative to use multiple flat inner tubes stuffed in a tire to be usable when patches and inner tubes were unavailable due to war related scarcities.
Content considerations:
Gustave gets pantsed by a school bully.
Potentially sacrilegious - kids mock baptism by sprinkling water and saying the baptismal prayer.
Misc. Quotes:
"He said the word "Paris" in a mocking way, as if there were something ridiculous about it." (p. 41)
"His thoughts were fuzzy, and it took a long time for him to do anything, as if his brain weren't connected quite right to his body." (p. 74)
The main character, Gustave, is a boy who likes black radishes better than chocolate. I loved how he was offended and exploded when he learned that others use radishes with beer, rather than how he uses them to garnish soup. (p. 124).
Gustave was newly 11 years old at the beginning of the book and ages 1-2 years by the end. I don't know what age boy scouts begin in France, but it is 11 in the US. The book begins at a boy scout activity, which makes it seem that he'd been in scouts awhile.
Bicycles are only a minor part of the book. I thought it was creative to use multiple flat inner tubes stuffed in a tire to be usable when patches and inner tubes were unavailable due to war related scarcities.
Content considerations:
Gustave gets pantsed by a school bully.
Potentially sacrilegious - kids mock baptism by sprinkling water and saying the baptismal prayer.
Misc. Quotes:
"He said the word "Paris" in a mocking way, as if there were something ridiculous about it." (p. 41)
"His thoughts were fuzzy, and it took a long time for him to do anything, as if his brain weren't connected quite right to his body." (p. 74)
March 20, 2020
I really connected with this bit of historical fiction that takes place in France during World War II, when the Nazis occupied parts of France and started rounding up Jewish people. Gustave and his family are Jewish, and he and his parents decide to move south, away from the Nazis, while his aunt and cousins stay in Paris.
My grandparents were not Jewish, but they grew up in Germany during World War II and had no love for the Nazis. I can relate some of their stories to what happened to Gustave and his family in this book. I loved how the black radishes came into play, and also Gustave's stuffed monkey. I felt his heartbreak at letting a poor little girl keep Monkey, when he had already lost his cousin and his best friend. And I felt his fear as he encountered Nazis and Nazi supporters throughout the story. His parents, his whole world, could've been destroyed in a moment. A lot to deal with as a 12-year-old boy!
My favorite lines came near the end of the book, when Gustave asks his friend Nicole an important question:
"Why do you and your father do it, anyway, since you aren't Jewish?" he asked her suddenly. "Help people escape, I mean? Work for the Resistance? It's so dangerous."
All at once Nicole's sparkling eyes were intense and serious. "For freedom," she said fiercely. "For France. Because it is the right thing to do."
We would do well to keep this in mind as history often threatens to repeat itself. Be kind to your neighbors and do the right thing.
My grandparents were not Jewish, but they grew up in Germany during World War II and had no love for the Nazis. I can relate some of their stories to what happened to Gustave and his family in this book. I loved how the black radishes came into play, and also Gustave's stuffed monkey. I felt his heartbreak at letting a poor little girl keep Monkey, when he had already lost his cousin and his best friend. And I felt his fear as he encountered Nazis and Nazi supporters throughout the story. His parents, his whole world, could've been destroyed in a moment. A lot to deal with as a 12-year-old boy!
My favorite lines came near the end of the book, when Gustave asks his friend Nicole an important question:
"Why do you and your father do it, anyway, since you aren't Jewish?" he asked her suddenly. "Help people escape, I mean? Work for the Resistance? It's so dangerous."
All at once Nicole's sparkling eyes were intense and serious. "For freedom," she said fiercely. "For France. Because it is the right thing to do."
We would do well to keep this in mind as history often threatens to repeat itself. Be kind to your neighbors and do the right thing.
August 13, 2023
I've been wanting to read BLACK RADISHES for years, and I'm glad I finally sat down to do it. It's a wonderfully detailed historical fiction for tweens and teens about Gustave, a boy living (at the beginning of the novel) in Paris at the start of WWII.
This book has many strong points: 1) Unlike many other lauded Holocaust-related books for this age group, the protagonist is Jewish. 2) The characters felt very real as did the setting. 3) While there is a happy ending for the protagonist, there are mentions of unhappy ones for some of the other characters.
The one thing that made me uncomfortable is that while it makes sense for Gustave to not understand the magnitude of the horrors the Nazis were committing because it wouldn't have been known to him in the precise time and place the book is set in, it feels almost disrespectful to not have an epilogue which straight up says, "X, Y, and Z all died at the hands of that Nazis," with the deaths happening off-page.
I really wish this book would replace some of the other middle grade novels about the Holocaust used in classrooms today.
This book has many strong points: 1) Unlike many other lauded Holocaust-related books for this age group, the protagonist is Jewish. 2) The characters felt very real as did the setting. 3) While there is a happy ending for the protagonist, there are mentions of unhappy ones for some of the other characters.
The one thing that made me uncomfortable is that while it makes sense for Gustave to not understand the magnitude of the horrors the Nazis were committing because it wouldn't have been known to him in the precise time and place the book is set in, it feels almost disrespectful to not have an epilogue which straight up says, "X, Y, and Z all died at the hands of that Nazis," with the deaths happening off-page.
I really wish this book would replace some of the other middle grade novels about the Holocaust used in classrooms today.
February 14, 2020
March 1940 it's World War 2 all over and Germany is invading every where they can..Gustave and his family live in Paris,France and are Jews but due to all the bad stuff going on his parents decided to move from Paris to St. Georges-sur-Cher in the countryside leaving behind his cousin Jean-Paul and his best friend Marcel because they don't think there is any danger of the Nazis invading France but Gustave's family does and they are correct the Nazi Germans invade and take over most all of France including Paris where only Jean-Paul and his mother and little sister are..Marcel and his mother left going to the one place that was taken over by the Nazis..both famlies are sad because they don't know if Marcel and his mom were left out in the middle of the country with nothing or taken to concentration camps(which is what I beleive they were taken to) in the end u have to read to see how things went and what happened to them..good book was a historical novel
August 21, 2025
I liked that a lot of the story came from the author's family history. There are elements of it that I really appreciated in terms of a part of WW2 I knew less about. Specifically, the demarcation line in France and the progression of which countries fell to Germany as the war progressed. Told from the perspective of an 11 year old (he turns 12 in the story) I felt it conveyed his confusion at being both French and Jewish. As well as his family's close escapes and his loneliness as he leaves everything he knows behind in Paris and doesn't find welcome in the countryside.
I appreciated that it wasn't a graphic war story while still making me uncomfortable with how people were treated. I also felt it conveyed Gustave's parent's difficulty in following the increasingly unfair restrictions while deciding which ones to not follow, registering as Jews but not declaring all their assets for example.
I appreciated that it wasn't a graphic war story while still making me uncomfortable with how people were treated. I also felt it conveyed Gustave's parent's difficulty in following the increasingly unfair restrictions while deciding which ones to not follow, registering as Jews but not declaring all their assets for example.
July 20, 2017
Told from the point of view of Gustave, this novel illustrates the ever-increasing control the Nazi influence had on a young Jewish boy living in Paris. Gustave is forced to face many changes in his life, including his relationships with his classmates, having to move away from the only home he's ever known, and leaving nearly everything he owns--and everyone he knows-- behind, only to face new challenges in his new home. After learning to adjust to his new surroundings and meeting a friend, Gustave matures and learns that even seemingly insignificant items have a purpose for the things that matter most: family and friends. Black Radishes has a bit of action near the end, but you will want to keep reading to see how Gustave learns to cope with his situation.
October 5, 2017
This book has so much heart. The characterization is so well done I found myself entirely captivated by the fate of Gustave, his family and the many other characters woven into the story. I love that the book is based on true events from the life of the author's father- perhaps this is the reason for the wonderful emotional pull this book has. The story is heart wrenchingly real with so many climactic moments glimpsed through the eyes of a child. This author has a gift for being able to paint a picture with words. Unforgettable and definitely something I'll share with my own children.
October 31, 2018
This book is a historical fiction about a young jewish boy during the invasion of Germany into France during WWII. As far as capturing the history and the impressions those events would have on a 11 year old child, this book does a great job. The story line moves quickly and draws one in especially with the ominous threat of German soldiers taking the boys family away in every chapter, yet the story lacks depth. However, I think it is a great resource to introduce WWII to a child. It captures the real experiences of Jews in France without getting into the many graphic details of the war.
May 23, 2017
This was a very good World War II book. It told the story of the Nazi's invading France and having an unoccupied part and an occupied part, a story many people do not know. It also talks about how badly Jews were treated back then, and about the French Resistance smuggling people and food past the occupational line. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
September 6, 2020
Truly this is a great book for all ages. I really enjoy books set during World War II, and especially through the eyes of young ones. This book offered yet a new perspective that I had not yet known, and that I enjoyed very much. While it was fiction, it was based around real events and real experiences and was very well done. I recommend this book to both young and to adults as a quick, but touching read.
May 3, 2024
Black Radishes is an excellent YA book that deservedly won a Sydney Taylor award. It's about Gustave, who at 11, lives with his parents in Paris at the start of WWII and then leaves with them for the South of France right before the Germans entered Paris.
Meyer does a wonderful job with details and I wasn't surprised that the book is based on her father's experiences as well as others. She excels at seeing the war through a young boy's eyes. There was a scene with Gustave, his family and some German soldiers that shows how much he has grown up in 2 years that made me want to applaud, while still being sad that he had to do that so quickly.
Meyer does a wonderful job with details and I wasn't surprised that the book is based on her father's experiences as well as others. She excels at seeing the war through a young boy's eyes. There was a scene with Gustave, his family and some German soldiers that shows how much he has grown up in 2 years that made me want to applaud, while still being sad that he had to do that so quickly.
April 30, 2019
I thought the telling of this story was captivating. I couldn't stop reading and finished it in a few days. The book is amazing in that it doesn't depict the most horrible parts of the Holocaust, but causes the reader to feel them through the characters. It really was gripping in a way that some adult novels miss by liberally and visually describing those more terrible things.
December 6, 2019
Powerful telling of the experience of the Nazi occupation, grave anti-semitism, and a bit of the resistance in France from a child’s point of view. I had my 11 year old read it to balance Number the Stars, which he is reading again for school, a book I feel to be a woefully inadequate representation of the Holocaust for educational purposes.
April 28, 2022
A good addition to books about Jewish survival during WWII, told through the eyes of a boy. A solid book to recommend if you want to introduce a young person to this time without exposing them to explicit violence or trauma. It is there, but in a way that a Grade 5 - 7 student could handle, I think.
November 3, 2024
I have had this book for a long time and finally decided I needed to read it or get rid of it. I was glad I finally gave it a chance! It was an interesting perspective and I thought it was a good narrative for a young boy seeing a lot of awful things. It’s a great read for younger audiences to have an introduction to WWII
September 12, 2012
Black Radishes is another book that is based on the experiences of someone in the author's family during World War II. This kind of reality-based historical fiction often makes for an exciting, suspenseful story and Black Radishes is no exception. According to the author's note, Susan Lynn Meyer's father, grandmother and aunt were able to escape from France after its occupation by the Nazis, so she had lots of first hand material to create this stirring novel.
Black Radishes story begins in Paris in March 1940. As the German army gets closer to France, Gustave Becker, 11, and his parents, French Jews, firmly believe that the Maginot Line, the pride of France's border defense, will be able to hold them as bay. But even in Paris things are changing and now Gustave is beginning to experience some anti-Semitic feelings among the people there.
But when his parents tell him that they are going to leave Paris while they wait for American visas, moving to a village called Saint-Georges in the Loire Valley, Gustave doesn't want to leave despite the anti-Jewish graffiti and the Nazi's rapid advance in Europe. And he especially doesn't want to leave his friend Marcel Landeau and his cousin Jean-Paul.
Life in Saint-Georges is dull for Gustave, compared to Paris, with one exception. On their first Shabbat in Saint-Georges, Gustav is pushed into a fountain by a boy his age when he goes to buy the bread for that important meal, ruining the bread, his pride and any sense of safety Gustav may have felt there.
Meanwhile, the Nazis are rapaciously invading the country and country that spring of 1940 until they finally begin their invasion of France in June. Gustave's parents decide to leave Saint-Georges and head for the Spanish border.
But even in his father's truck, traveling is slow and difficult, the roads are clogged with so many people heading to the border. After traveling a few days and not making much progress, the crowd was attacked by Nazi planes machine gunning them. Gustave's parents decide to return to Saint-Georges. As luck would have it, when France was divided in occupied and unoccupied territory in the Armistice signed between France and Germany, Saint-Georges was right on the border of the unoccupied area, meaning that Gustave and his family could live in relative safety at least for the present.
In September life settles down, somewhat. Gustave starts school and discovers that his Shabbat tormentor is in his class. But he also meets and makes friends with Nicole. At home, there is nothing much eat because the Nazis take what they want from shops, homes and gardens, leaving little for anyone else. Gustave's father decides they will cross the border in his truck into occupied France and barter for some food, using the supplies he brought with him from Paris and his own Swiss ID papers. This works out well for them and they continue to cross the border for the next year and whenever they can, they make sure there a black radishes in view. They use they as a way to distract the German border guards, who like to eat them with their beer.
In the Fall of 1941, Gustave's mother finally hears from her sister in Paris, who tells them in coded language that things are getting bad for Jews there, that Gustave's friend Marcel and his mother are missing and they want to get away. Meanwhile, Nicole invites Gustave along for a bike ride to see the famous Chateau de Chenonceau, where her father works. It is a strange day out for Gustave, but it is the beginning of the part he will play in the French Resistance, along with his father.
How will they ever get Jean-Paul and his family out of Nazi-occupied France and to safety?
Meyer's realistic novel is an interesting coming of age story set in a time when coming of age happened quickly and young. The reader sees Gustave transformed from a boy who needs to carry his toy Monkey around in his pocket to see safe to a boy who takes dangerous action to do what is right. I liked that Black Radishes is set in the unoccupied part of France. So often, stories a set in the occupied part where there was so much more danger, but it is good to see that life wasn't easy in unoccupied France. Yet, Meyers depicts a very measured amount of violence and anti-Semitism as well as the fear, tension, cold and hunger that people suffered every single day in both parts of France throughout the novel making it an excellent choice for introducing Holocaust topics to young readers. Word is that Susan Lynn Meyer is writing a companion book which continues Gustave's adventures.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
Black Radishes has been give the following well deserved honors:
2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Award
2011 Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book
2011 Boston Author's Club Highly Recommended Book
2011 Massachusetts Book Award Must Read Finalist
2011 Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Young Adult Top 40 Book
2013 Shortlisted for the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award
Black Radishes was originally reviewed at http://www.thechildrenswar.blogspot.com/2012/09/black-radishes-by-susan-lynn-meyer.html/a>
Black Radishes story begins in Paris in March 1940. As the German army gets closer to France, Gustave Becker, 11, and his parents, French Jews, firmly believe that the Maginot Line, the pride of France's border defense, will be able to hold them as bay. But even in Paris things are changing and now Gustave is beginning to experience some anti-Semitic feelings among the people there.
But when his parents tell him that they are going to leave Paris while they wait for American visas, moving to a village called Saint-Georges in the Loire Valley, Gustave doesn't want to leave despite the anti-Jewish graffiti and the Nazi's rapid advance in Europe. And he especially doesn't want to leave his friend Marcel Landeau and his cousin Jean-Paul.
Life in Saint-Georges is dull for Gustave, compared to Paris, with one exception. On their first Shabbat in Saint-Georges, Gustav is pushed into a fountain by a boy his age when he goes to buy the bread for that important meal, ruining the bread, his pride and any sense of safety Gustav may have felt there.
Meanwhile, the Nazis are rapaciously invading the country and country that spring of 1940 until they finally begin their invasion of France in June. Gustave's parents decide to leave Saint-Georges and head for the Spanish border.
But even in his father's truck, traveling is slow and difficult, the roads are clogged with so many people heading to the border. After traveling a few days and not making much progress, the crowd was attacked by Nazi planes machine gunning them. Gustave's parents decide to return to Saint-Georges. As luck would have it, when France was divided in occupied and unoccupied territory in the Armistice signed between France and Germany, Saint-Georges was right on the border of the unoccupied area, meaning that Gustave and his family could live in relative safety at least for the present.
In September life settles down, somewhat. Gustave starts school and discovers that his Shabbat tormentor is in his class. But he also meets and makes friends with Nicole. At home, there is nothing much eat because the Nazis take what they want from shops, homes and gardens, leaving little for anyone else. Gustave's father decides they will cross the border in his truck into occupied France and barter for some food, using the supplies he brought with him from Paris and his own Swiss ID papers. This works out well for them and they continue to cross the border for the next year and whenever they can, they make sure there a black radishes in view. They use they as a way to distract the German border guards, who like to eat them with their beer.
In the Fall of 1941, Gustave's mother finally hears from her sister in Paris, who tells them in coded language that things are getting bad for Jews there, that Gustave's friend Marcel and his mother are missing and they want to get away. Meanwhile, Nicole invites Gustave along for a bike ride to see the famous Chateau de Chenonceau, where her father works. It is a strange day out for Gustave, but it is the beginning of the part he will play in the French Resistance, along with his father.
How will they ever get Jean-Paul and his family out of Nazi-occupied France and to safety?
Meyer's realistic novel is an interesting coming of age story set in a time when coming of age happened quickly and young. The reader sees Gustave transformed from a boy who needs to carry his toy Monkey around in his pocket to see safe to a boy who takes dangerous action to do what is right. I liked that Black Radishes is set in the unoccupied part of France. So often, stories a set in the occupied part where there was so much more danger, but it is good to see that life wasn't easy in unoccupied France. Yet, Meyers depicts a very measured amount of violence and anti-Semitism as well as the fear, tension, cold and hunger that people suffered every single day in both parts of France throughout the novel making it an excellent choice for introducing Holocaust topics to young readers. Word is that Susan Lynn Meyer is writing a companion book which continues Gustave's adventures.
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL
Black Radishes has been give the following well deserved honors:
2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Award
2011 Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book
2011 Boston Author's Club Highly Recommended Book
2011 Massachusetts Book Award Must Read Finalist
2011 Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Young Adult Top 40 Book
2013 Shortlisted for the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award
Black Radishes was originally reviewed at http://www.thechildrenswar.blogspot.com/2012/09/black-radishes-by-susan-lynn-meyer.html/a>
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