The Upstairs Room

The Upstairs Room #1

by Johanna Reiss

In the part of the marketplace where flowers had been sold twice a week - tulips in the spring, roses in the summer - stood German tanks and German soldiers. Annie de Leeuw was eight years old in 1940 when the Germans attacked Holland and marched into the town of Winterswijk where she lived. Annie was ten when, because she was Jewish and in great danger of being captured by the invaders, she and her sister Sini had to leave their father, mother, and older sister Rachel to go into hiding in the upstairs room of a remote farmhouse.

Johanna de Leeuw Reiss has written a remarkably fresh and moving account of her own experiences as a young girl during World War II. Like many adults, she was innocent of the German plans for Jews, and she might have gone to a labor camp as scores of families did. "It won't be for long and the Germans have told us we'll be treated well," those families said. "What can happen?" They did not know, and they could not imagine... but millions of Jews found out.

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

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1972

About the author

Dutch-born American writer presenting her Jewish childhood in the Netherlands during the Holocaust. The multi award-winning 1972 'The Upstairs Rooms', where she describes how she and her sister survived WWII in hiding, has remained a YA classic.

Her latest, 'A Hidden Life', is a memoir for adults: in it she writes of her childhood traumas and her late husband's sudden suicide.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful real life story of a young Jewish girl at the beginning of WWII. This story was based on the memories of 8yr old Annie who lives in Holland with her three sisters, her mother and father. This is a story of some wonderful people who took them in and hid them, risking their own lives and becoming as close to them as family. This felt like a realistic portrayal of the emotions a young girl would go through in such awful circumstances. It felt like this book was perhaps translated? I don't know, some parts didn't flow but we loved the story of their everyday life in hiding. Living on a farm they had slightly more freedom than some of the Dutch Jewish community in hiding but their circumstances were still overwhelmingly stifling for young people experiencing loss and living in fear. The end pages are very moving. I would love to know more about the family who took these girls in, they sounded like wonderful people.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this little book, but happened upon it at the library while my kids were at storytime. It is a true story of two Jewish girls who lived with a Dutch family, secretly, for two years at the end of World War II. The story is told from the younger girl's perspective and is related simply without excessive emotion or excessive explanations. Without embellishment you see the way events unfolded for the Jews in Holland as they faced uncertainty and then great fear when the Germans invaded and then occupied Holland.
The story doesn't go into a lot of detail about what happened to those Jews who were taken to camps and then killed. But it lies in the back of the mind of the reader throughout the story. What is remarkable is that the family who hid the girls grew to love them very much. This is a story about courage and relationships as much as it is about the war.
The author said she wrote the book to record her history for her daughters. As such, it is a touching book. I think it would be a good introduction to the Holocaust for younger readers.
In comparing it to The Diary of Anne Frank, I would have to say that Anne Frank's diary is much more intense because she lived in Amsterdam and the fear of being discovered was much more frightening. And of course, we know that Anne was caught and died at a camp. What makes The Upstairs Room different is that she survived and had to live with what had happened to her and many others. It seems she transcended her experiences and lived a good life.
But be prepared, the last page probably describes all the emotion, tension and fear of the two years of hiding in a sentence that somehow makes the impact that much more powerful than if it had been repeated over and over again throughout the book.

[Ginny Messina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the author’s own story—-written for her children—-of what it was like to live in a single room for three years, hiding from the Nazis, and losing precious years of childhood. She was 8 years old when she went into hiding along with her teenage sister. Because she lived this story and is a fine writer, Johanna Reiss does an outstanding job of depicting what a life in hiding is like for a child, especially one who doesn’t quite understand what is at stake. She also portrays her protectors—-an uneducated farm family--with warmth and honesty. They were frankly terrified and not very enthusiastic at first, but found themselves drawn into a commitment to keep the girls safe for the rest of the war against some incredible odds. Holocaust memoirs tend to be extraordinary, and this one is no exception.

[Becca Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to the kids for History as it's a story of a young Jewish girl who had to go into hiding in Holland during WWII. It's the author's true story and made very real through her writing. I loved the "Postscript" as the author shared her experience as an adult, taking her daughters back to Holland to see the house where she hid, meet the family that hid her, and see her old hiding place. It was emotional for me envisioning that.

[Mary Deacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book about two Jew sisters living in an attic to hide from Nazis. Great characters and an amazing story. This award winning book is a 'must read' for all ages. I can't wait to read that fallow up book.

[Librosconkylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read however I definitely wish it was longer and more in depth! Just a me thing

[Jungho L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Upstairs room was about a Jewish family during the Holocaust. They live in Holland when the war happens and they are forced to move away from their homes in order to be safe from the Nazi's. The family are split up later in the book and they go to other family's houses to hide from the Nazi. They are fortunate of not getting caught but they almost do. They survive the war and live happily every after.
I think this book was very fun to read because it was so well in detail. I felt like I was actually in the story. On part in particular was when the Germans came into a house to see if any Jews were hiding in there(which there were). It told us the noises, the Jew's feelings, and their thoughts when this event happened. Also this book was very interesting because I learned many new things about what the Jewish people had to deal with in the other family's home. Because in the story, in states that they always had to stay supper quiet and they weren't allowed outside. That was a fact I did not know about. Also that the Nazi's even took Jews from hospitals to concentration camps. This book made me feel more hatred towards the Nazi's and Hitler.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in mind tingling stories and are eager to know more about the Jewish life during the Holocaust because the story made me really anxious and it was very hard to predict and also because it taught us a lot about the daily Jewish life during the Holocaust. And also I would like to recommend this book to people who enjoy adventure books because there is a lot of fun and exciting adventures in this book.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think because I have read many books about WWII--fiction and non-fiction alike, this book for me pales in comparison to them. It is definitely an easy read, and of course the subject matter is interesting, but I felt like nothing really happened. The author didn't adequately convey the despair those poor Jews must have felt at having to hide for so long. If the characters were more endearing, and their development stronger, I would have liked this book a lot more.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this Newbery Honor book. Although it was interesting to get the perspective of a child and her experience & understanding (or lack thereof) of the situation she was in, the swearing really bothered me and made it a book I wouldn’t recommend to children or keep on my shelf. I don’t know many kids who would stick with this story anyway; it was rather boring - which accurately reflected the author’s experience - but even the parts that should have been suspenseful felt flat and detached. It was a basic survival story devoid of faith.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. So glad I happened on it.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Upstairs Room is a 1972 Holocaust survivor autobiography by Johanna Reiss documenting her childhood in occupied Holland during the Nazi invasion. The story begins in 1938, six-year-old Annie de Leeuw (Johanna) is listening to the radio with her family. She doesn’t understand everything that is happening, but she knows that the adults in her life are anxious. There is a war, and a man named Hitler is advancing through Europe. She knows that Hitler isn't a good man. The book begins with Annie trying to talk to her father, but he keeps telling her to be quiet he is listening to the radio. Annie tells us that Hitler has attached Austria to Germany. She says it wasn't a nice thing to do, at least it doesn't seem to be from the look of anger on her father's face. She says all anyone ever talked about anymore was Hitler. She says that Hitler must be a very important person in Germany, but he didn't like German Jews and is always bothering them. In Germany Jews can only buy food at certain hours, and they can be arrested for no reason and put in prisons called "camps". He told the German people to steal from the Jews, burn their property and arrest the Jews themselves. Luckily they aren't in Germany Annie says, they live in Holland. Nothing like that will happen in Holland. And we all know what happens in Holland.

And when all the horror comes to Holland some Jews leave, or try to. Some hide, or try to. And others get sent to these "camps", or try not to. Annie's father wants to leave but his wife refuses to go because of how much her head hurts. I am already greatly annoyed by Annie's mother. I have chronic migraine headaches. I get Botox injections for them, I take medications for them, and when my brain decides it's time for me to have a seizure I wake up with a terrible headache. And if the Nazis were about to arrest us all I would get up, pack our things, and get out. Later I was sorry for the way I felt about her, but I still wish she would have been able to leave.

But the Nazis are here and there is no longer any way to leave, and the only option left is to hide which is what they do. But they must now split up and the two younger sisters, Annie and Sini go together. Her father to another family, and her oldest sister stays with their sick mother. The girls come to love the family that took them in, but for two years they had to spend most of their time upstairs in the "upstairs room". Not only that, but if anyone comes to the house they must hide in a small space the family had built inside the closet, kind of a closet in a closet. And for two years this goes on. Whenever they are arguing with each other, upset with the family that cares for them, making noise, and I'm yelling "will you two please stop making noise", I try to remember these girls spent two years in that room upstairs. I can't imagine having to do that, at least without making a whole lot of noise and doing an awful lot of complaining. And with that I'm moving on to the next book. Happy reading.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did a book report on this in 5th grade, and was reminded of it when I read "Night" with my niece recently. I could not for the life of me remember the title, so I spent about an hour searching things I remembered from it all over the internet, and behold: the power of the 21st century brought this book back to me. I was as emotionally moved by it now as when I read it at age 10. But now I see the clever writing, how the sentence structure changes as the main character goes from age 6 to 13. Also, the dialogue becomes more internalized as she has less contact with other people. Even though I know everyone lives and remember the happy ending, I was sucked into the fear and boredom of Annie's days in hiding. I highly recommend this book to middle school readers.

[Bev Walkling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally written in 1972 this book tells the story of the author's wartime experiences in hiding in the Netherlands. It is told from the voice of the author as a young girl. Shortly before the war reached the Netherlands, Annie and her family believed that they were safe. Her mother had some form of kidney disease and was reluctant to even attempt leaving the country. Annie's father began looking for people who would help his various family members to hide out the war. Annie and her older sister Sini are moved around several times. They stay with the Hannincks first but when it becomes too dangerous are moved to a farm owned by Johan and his family. Here the girls will stay until the Canafians finally arrive in May 1945. Time must have been horribly long to them as they had to stay hidden indoors and be ready to creep into a small hiding place should the Germans suddenly arrive.

This book won an award in it's time. I am not sure if it would have such a strong appeal to modern day reader's like my grandchild. The language used by the Dutch family has a certain strangeness to it that I struggled with as an adult reader. I will have to wait to hear opinions from one who is approximately the same age as Annie was.

[Carolyn Scarcella · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I’m reading is called “The Upstairs Room” by Johanna Reiss. This book is for young readers followed the sequel for adults to read is called “The Journey Back”. The author wrote her firsthand account of the harrowing events, the constant fear, the struggle, and the resilience of the human spirit she has lived through during the Holocaust. Her family grew up in Winterswiijk, Netherlands. They were hidden like Frank family did. That town was liberated on March 31st, 1945. For three years she and her older sister hid in the cramped upstairs room of the Oostervelds family who was kind, the gentile people have offered them to stay at their remote farmhouse. In the story, her character as Annie that her family called her by the nickname. She was only 9 at the time, and her sister was 19 years old. This story makes me feel sad for people who went through the trauma process during the second war, and it made us wonder what other people did to risk their lives to keep safe around that time. As a result, did the gentile, the girls all have survived? You can decide.

[SashReads 🗾🎑🏞🌅🌄🌠🎇🎆🌇🌆🏙🌃🌌🌉🌁 · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.5

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good, told from the POV of an 11 year old girl in the midst of World War II, it strings deeply with emotions. Her fear, her understanding of what's going on, the everyday life affected by war and the mistreatment of Jews by the hand of Nazis, it is all portrayed so effectively and how it affected "normal people", I was touched to the core.

It's based on the author's own experiences so that gives it a real chill, I couldn't imagine what she went through during the time, separated from her family and living in hiding.

I enjoyed this book.

[Sienna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another really great book for readers who are interested in World War 2 and the Holocaust. Although the story doesn't portray such a vivid picture of the horrors of the Holocaust such as The Diary of Anne Frank does, it's still a very interesting and powerful story. If you like learning about the Holocaust but not the really sad parts, this is the book for you! The story takes place in Holland and is the true account (or biography) of a young girl named Annie living during the time when Hitler was taking over Holland and other countries and persecuting Jews. Annie and her family are Jewish and have to go into hiding. Only her mom stays behind because she is sick in a hospital. The rest of her family splits up in hiding so it will be less dangerous. Annie and her older sister Sini go to live with the Hanninks, a family who is friends with their family. Then one day the father of the Hanninks thinks that the Germans suspect them and so he takes them to someone else's house in a different town. The people they now live with are a couple and an old woman who live together in a farmhouse. The Hannink's father says he'll take the girls back after two weeks at the most, but he doesn't come back. The girls start to get used to living with the couple, Johan and Dientje, and Dientje's mother, Opoe. But life for them is still really dull because they usually have to stay in the upstairs room of the house all alone to be hidden from the Nazis. They soon become well bonded with the couple and old woman as if they were family. It's a beautiful story about the struggle and hardship of living in hiding and the relationships of people through human love.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book when I read it in about fifth grade! I remember being so touched when the author went to the house where she lived as a child during World War II, and she cried at the entrance to the hole in the closet where she had to hide.

Reading it from an adult perspective, I was amazed at some of the risks the family who hid the girls took but I understand they were just trying to help them get through. I think the fact that the man took the girls out to a field in a wheelbarrow and left them all day was a bit foolhardy! I was also shocked that after hiding for two years, the older sister decided she wanted to work as a made instead of staying in hiding. I am so glad luck was on their side though and the dad and three sisters survived and were able to reunite after the war.

The other thing that struck me was how they wrote that after people were gassed and then taken to the ovens, not everyone was dead already. Eek!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Netherlands

Told from the point of view of a girl born in 1932, this focuses on the tedium and fear that colored young Anna's life. There is mention of the concentration camps, but that aspect isn't dwelled upon. While this isn't action-packed, it does give another view of life for a Jewish child during those awful years.

[spoiler] I wanted to hear more about how the girls spent their days. There was minimal to read in the farmhouse, but didn't they make up games? Or do any needlework? Or invent 'exercise' maneuvers that they could do in small spaces? Anna had some math problems, but what about writing -- poetry, a journal, lists of some kind, or drawing?

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for the bookclub I am in and to be honest, when I found out this was what we were reading this month I was a little dissappointed. This is why it is very important not to judge a book by it's cover (or title or blurb). It turns out this is a very good book, following the story of two Jewish girls who live in hiding. It was very eye-opening. And this is a true story, an autobiography which is totally breathtaking. I really enjoyed this book.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it very much. The last chapter is really touching.

[Cambria · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Upstairs Room", a novel by Johanna Reiss, tells the powerful story of Annie, a young Jew who lives through World War II. It follows her life as she survives through the war. Annie de Leeuw is a seven-year-old girl who life changes in an instant. Before the war, she lived in Holland with her mother, father, and two sisters, Rachel and Sini. One day, a tree in the commons begins to give rules about what Jews can do and what they can't. They have regulated recreation hours, a law that forbids them to go to school, and a train that suspiciously picks up Jews to do works for the Germans. Many families around them begin to move to America. Annie, however, must stay in Holland to aid for her mother who is very sick. The war continues to grow along with the action that the novel contains as Annie and her sister Sini go into hiding. With the Germans searching for them, the book keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The book did, however, begin to get repetitive as Annie and Sini had some days where they did the same things over and over again. On the other hand, when you are in hiding, your activities are very limited. Overall, it was a very exciting novel that revealed many truths about the war and what was really going on. It gave me so much perspective on life and made me feel even more fortunate for what I have. I enjoyed "The Upstairs Room" and it will be a novel that I remember forever!

[Kristin Eoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the books I've read, this book is most similar to The Diary of Anne Frank. It's a memoir told with a lot of stream-of-consciousness comments, which makes the narrative frequently confusing because a lot of details and dialogue aren't explained very well. However, it's still amazing that Reiss could remember all of these events in the first place, considering she didn't record them in a diary when they first happened. A few parts of the girls' experiences are unsurprisingly harrowing, yet most of the book is a record of the stress and depression that plagued Annie and her sister Sini while hiding in an upstairs room for more than two years. It really places you in the mind of a young girl forced to endure harrowing circumstances. She makes a few mistakes, but luckily she and Sini are sheltered by an extraordinarily kind Dutch family whom they grow to love.

[Farhana Baki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this book so fondly. I picked it up one day and it has been one of my favorite tales. The story is about two Jewish sisters hiding out in a trap room behind a closet in the upstairs room (hence the title) of a helping family during World War II. They were trapped in the room for months hiding however one day the sisters risked to be outside and felt the warm glistening of the sun. I have an attachment to the sun, it's warmth and sense of freedom it imbues. I could not imagine the based on true event of this book ever happening to me. I appreciated the history, the suffering, and how the story was beautifully written about a horrible time in our history through the experience of two Jewish children. It's a book where the book is categorized as fiction but truly the story is a nonfiction.

[Tamara York · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t realize until I started that this is a memoir of the author’s own experience in hiding during WWII. It reminded me of a middle grades version of The Diary of Anne Frank, a comparison made by Elie Wiesel as well. This a gentler version and a great book for older elementary to middle school kids learning about WWII and the Holocaust. There is quite a bit of language that might bother some parents (damn and GD, repeated throughout from one character). Highly recommend.

[Brendanieto · Rating 3 out of 5]

La experiencia de los sobrevivientes del Holocausto se encuentran en muchas formas, pero hay pocas referencias de como se vivía la infancia durante este genocidio, solo por ese elemento, este libro es de un gran valor, ya que la autora relata su experiencia cuando ella era niña, la lectura es lenta, pero vale la pena.

Recomendado a jóvenes que quieren leer más del tema desde la perspectiva de los sobrevivientes y sus infancias

[Shan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is similar to Anne Frank but a different country. If this is read by children there would need to be A LOT of context given before (even I needed some research on Holland Jews). WWII is an important part of history but hard for elementary kids to appreciate. On the back of my book, it says "12UP"... oof! This book would be a hard swallow for a kiddo that young.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the true story of 2 Jewish girls who go into hiding during WW2 and even though it is a "young adult" book, it held my interest and kept my eyes flying across the pages to find out what would happen to these poor girls next.

[Holly Splawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t realize this was autobiographical until I finished the book and read the note at the end. Now I HAVE to read the sequel.

[BookRebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading this and so far so good I will see what it is about and tell you. So I am back and that was a amazing book about friendship and life and war. I highly recomend it to people who love to read books about wars.
Goodbye