Reviews

Rose Blanche by Roberto Gallaz

missmadamemoon's review

4.0

Another banned book. This one is about a young German girl during WWII. She starts sneaking food to people in a concentration camp. I think it's appropriate for the intended 9-12 age group. I was actually quite shocked with the ending. When the "enemies" are killed, she too is shot and dies. All of this is off page and strongly implied. I imagine this would be quite startling, if not confusing, to a young reader. Certainly no reason to ban it though. Like most meaningful books, it needs to be discussed with the children that read it. Overall, it's a really beautiful story about compassion.

chrissiereads's review

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

mehsi's review

4.0

The fourth book in my Banned Books Week list, and it was such an interesting and sad book.

I always have an interest in WWII and so when I spotted this book on a list with books that were often challenged/banned I knew I had to try it out. I wanted to meet Rose Blanche, find out about the secret, and see how she would react to it. And of course see why people were banning/challenging it.

We see how war comes to a tiny town where our MC lives, how tanks rolled in, how soldiers came to her town, how things got worse as time went on, and then she went into the woods to find out where a truck had gone (yes, she wanted to know more). I was really talking at my screen that it was a bad idea. I knew what she may find there.

But her reaction was amazing, yes, she was stunned, she was shocked, but instead of running, she helped. A lot of people would just have run. Even though food is getting scarcer, she tried her best. What a wonderful and magnificent girl. So brave.

The ending, OMG, I definitely hadn't expected that and yes, I had tears in my eyes.

At the beginning I was just interested, but eventually I had goosebumps while reading.

The art was just astounding, so many details. I would love to see what more this artist has done, I want more of his art.

Definitely would recommend this one to everyone. However, maybe not the youngest children, I think this may fit older kids better.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

kateponders's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

bookish_brenna's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

kim_j_dare's review

4.0

Spare text and gorgeous illustrations tell the story of one girl growing up in Nazi Germany who stumbled across the nearby concentration camps and decided to do something about the starving children she saw there. Poignant and heartbreaking.

solliereads's review

informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

I found this to be an insightful and poignant usage of children's picture books as a medium to tell such a sad story, exploring the perspective of a little girl named Rose Blanche on World War II in Nazi Germany, from beginning to end - transforming her from a passive bystander witnessing horrific acts, to being an active rescuer. Innocenti intended this book to create a dialogue about the Holocaust between children and adults, and I think this book does a good job at planting seeds for this.

beths0103's review

3.0

This book is structured very strangely. It starts off in first-person, with Rose Blanche narrating the story, but then halfway through, without any warning, it all of a sudden shifts to third-person. I found that to be very distracting.

librariandest's review

2.0

Interesting in that it never uses the words "Nazi," "Holocaust," or "Jew," and with really detailed, impressive illustrations. This book just didn't do it for me, though, maybe because I've read quite a bit of fiction about WWII and I know there's better stuff out there. Even though I didn't personally find it that moving, I would recommend it to younger readers, say, 10-13 years old, who aren't ready for Maus and The Book Thief.

beth_books_123's review

5.0

Beautiful read - 5*

Very detailed read which covers WW2. It is set in Germany and portrays the child's perspective of war. The concentration camp was dealt beautifully (well as beautifully as anything related to a concentration camp. Roberto Innocenti is the illustrator and Ian McKewan is the author - wrongfully not credited here.

You would need to know your class before you read this to children.