My Family for the War

WINNER OF THE BATCHELDER AWARD • In turns insightful and poignant, this powerful coming-of-age novel set in Nazi Germany shows how full life can be—even for a girl caught between worlds.

“Simultaneously beautiful, touching, and heart-wrenching.”—VOYA

“Intense drama about family, faith, guilt, love, and loyalty in wartime makes this an important addition to the Holocaust curriculum.”—Booklist, starred review

Escaping Nazi Germany on the kindertransport changes one girl's life forever . . .

Franziska Mangold is not Jewish. But in Hitler’s eyes, her Jewish ancestors are enough to make her the enemy. When her father is arrested by Nazis, she is smuggled out of Germany with hundreds of other children on the kindertransport.

Confronting her future alone with a single suitcase, Frances courageously pieces together a new life in London with Jewish strangers who soon become more of a family than her own parents. But being German in England isn’t easy, and Frances is once again seen as the enemy. Undaunted, Frances boldly faces questions of identity, family, and love head on. But how will she cope when the war ends and she must choose whether to stay with her new family or return to the people she left behind?