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10th out of 22 books
—
42 voters
Black Radishes
Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner Black Radishes is asuspenseful 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...more
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...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published
November 9th 2010
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
(first published November 1st 2010)
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Feb 15, 2013
Beverly
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
10-13 year olds
Recommended to Beverly by:
Indie Next List/indiebound.org
Black Radishes is a WWII historical fiction with a twist. Gustave and his family live in Paris. At first they think France is too strong militarily and too committed to liberty politically to succumb to the German army. Gustave believes in the French motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," and he believes all of the French people do too, so he is shocked when he experiences violent anti-semitism, and the French army is quickly defeated by the Germans. Gustave and his family escape to the country...more
Book Title: Black Radishes
# of pages: 228
Author: Susan Lynn Meyer
Genre: Historical Fiction
This book is about a French boy named Gustave. Gustave lives in Paris and his two best friends are Marcel and Jean-Paul. He is Jewish and the time period is World War II. One day he was returning from his boy scout group and sees written in chalk on the street, "France for the French! Jews out of France!" Then he returns home and finds out that he and his family are leaving Paris within the week! They move...more
# of pages: 228
Author: Susan Lynn Meyer
Genre: Historical Fiction
This book is about a French boy named Gustave. Gustave lives in Paris and his two best friends are Marcel and Jean-Paul. He is Jewish and the time period is World War II. One day he was returning from his boy scout group and sees written in chalk on the street, "France for the French! Jews out of France!" Then he returns home and finds out that he and his family are leaving Paris within the week! They move...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
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...more
Black Radishes story begins in Paris...more
Despite the abundance of historical fiction for children that deals with the subject of World War II, Meyer manages to offer a unique perspective of Jews living in France during the early 1940s when Germany invades. A country that prides itself on the values of liberty, equality, and justice soon cedes to the Germans and finds itself divided into occupied and unoccupied zones. During this tumultuous time just prior to occupation, eleven-year-old Gustave and his parents decide to leave their Pari...more
Jul 25, 2011
Phoebe
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Cheryl, Deborah, Valerie
Shelves:
historical-ww2,
juv
Gustave and his parents leave Paris for a small village just before the Nazis invade France. They hope that their safety will be ensured in a back-of-beyond, dusty little town, but they are Jewish and everyone around them is Catholic. Gustave misses his friends and his old life, and even though Saint-Georges is in the unoccupied zone, it seems that any day the Germans will discover the Jews in their midst. With family still in Paris, Gustave's family is not yet able to flee to America--but fortu...more
In the spring of 1940 the people of France naively believe that they will be safe from German invasion. As Hitler conquers surrounding nations, Gustave Becker's family knows that it is not safe for Jews. Entreating their relatives to escape Paris and move to the countryside of Saint-Georges, Gustave's parents leave behind their home and business in the hope of safety while family members remain in denial and stay in Paris.
By summer of 1940, the French army is defeated. While Gustave and his fami...more
By summer of 1940, the French army is defeated. While Gustave and his fami...more
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 Gu...more
gr 5-8 222pgs
1940-1941 Paris, France/St Georges, France. Gustave is shocked when his parents decide to leave Paris to go to the small village of St Georges. Gustave is sure that the French army can protect France from the Nazis. When the Nazis invade France, the country is divided into the occupied zone under Nazi control and the unoccuppied zone under the Vichy government. Gutave and his family are unable to find out his friends and family left behind in Paris. When they hear reports of how Fre...more
1940-1941 Paris, France/St Georges, France. Gustave is shocked when his parents decide to leave Paris to go to the small village of St Georges. Gustave is sure that the French army can protect France from the Nazis. When the Nazis invade France, the country is divided into the occupied zone under Nazi control and the unoccuppied zone under the Vichy government. Gutave and his family are unable to find out his friends and family left behind in Paris. When they hear reports of how Fre...more
Jun 07, 2012
Jill
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jill by:
2013 Caudill list
Shelves:
wwii
This was another WWII book set in Europe. This one, however, took place in France.
Black Radishes is the story of Gustave and his family, who are Jewish. At the beginning of the book, the Nazis are infiltrating other European countries, but France seemed to be safe for the time being. However, it quickly became obvious that France's army and leadership were not immune to Nazis. Gustave and his family escape from Paris to the south of France. He meets up with some Nazi sympathizers, but also with...more
Black Radishes is the story of Gustave and his family, who are Jewish. At the beginning of the book, the Nazis are infiltrating other European countries, but France seemed to be safe for the time being. However, it quickly became obvious that France's army and leadership were not immune to Nazis. Gustave and his family escape from Paris to the south of France. He meets up with some Nazi sympathizers, but also with...more
Very well-written account of a young Jewish boy's life in and eventual escape from occupied France during WWII. The author says the story is based on her own father's WWII experiences. The book would be a great addition to an upper elementary social studies unit on World War II, as it capably communicates the tension of the times without dwelling too deeply on some of the horrors. The young protagonist, Gustave, is very likable and the story is quite gripping. Memorable quote: Gustave asks his f...more
This book was not what I expected, which isn't a bad thing. It was nice to read a WWII book from a perspective not as prevalent in YA literature: that of a young French Jewish boy. The book captured the horrors of the war and how families were torn apart, scared, and how many different people put their lives at risk to save others. There was a good amount of action that got the book off the ground, but the character development seemed weak to me, and too many elements were left unexplained or dr...more
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, w...more
I liked how this book provided a new perspective on WWII and the Holocaust; a lot of the literature out there seems to be about Jews taken to concentration camps, while this story was about a family who escaped. I appreciated the invitation to think about what it would be like for a child to realize his beloved country didn't want him and that he would have to leave it behind. At the same time, I never felt connected with Gustave as a character; I wasn't pulled in by him in ways that I have been...more
I might be completely biased, since France during the Nazi occupation is one of my favorite topics and one I'd like to write about myself, but I devoured this YA book with complete and utter delight. My eleven year-old son did, too. While painting a vivid and informative picture of life under the Vichy/Petain regime and the trials of war-time survival, especially for Jews, this book was also a suspensful, entertaining adventure. I'd recommend it for any 'tween or adult interested in history, Eur...more
Gustave is the son of Parisian Jews, and on the eve of Nazi invasion of the city, his forward thinking parents flee to a small village in the countryside. Once the invasion begins in earnest, an attempt to flee the country fails, and the three return to the village only to discover that through chance they are just on the "right" side of the demarcation line between occupied and unoccupied France. Worried about friends and family left behind, and desperately trying to secure the affidavit that w...more
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...
A novel about WWII from the perspective of a young Jewish boy living in France sheds a different light on the events and the far reaching impact of the Nazis as the war unfolded throughout Europe. I appreciated following Gustave on his journey as he struggled with the war, his beliefs, and discovering a great deal about himself and the nature of people. A great piece of historical fiction to get wrapped up in.
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.
This was a great historical fiction book about world war II.
It was all about 3 French/jewish families that were treated horribly by their own French Government, which gave way to the Germans.
It is very interesting because it talks about the borders and how the Germans kept conquering countries one by one.
The characters are very well-developed; I can see why it was a 2013 Caudill Nominee:)
It was all about 3 French/jewish families that were treated horribly by their own French Government, which gave way to the Germans.
It is very interesting because it talks about the borders and how the Germans kept conquering countries one by one.
The characters are very well-developed; I can see why it was a 2013 Caudill Nominee:)
It's not that it's a BAD book - it's honestly okay. I have just read so many better books about this time period. I read My Family for the War last year - and those characters just blew me away. I enjoyed parts of this one, too, but I really hated that the author mentioned circumcision TWICE! This is a book geared toward young adults... WHY do that?!?!
Still a fine book, but I'm sure glad I didn't read it with my students!
Still a fine book, but I'm sure glad I didn't read it with my students!
A Mother Daughter Book Club selection. It was on the summer reading list for middle school, too:) This was a great introduction to a tough subject matter, The Holocaust. The narrator is the young boy fleeing with his family from the Nazis. It was suspenseful, but not too scary for the girls. We are hoping to read more historical fiction with the girls this school year:)
This may not be quite worth five stars, but I really did love it. Fantastic story, and it's a lot harder lately for me to get so engaged by a book. I had to take it with me to work to finish the last few pages, and then I put it immediately on the display shelf when I finished (and was really pleased to see it get picked up only a few minutes later). Such a good book.
4.5 stars: This book was really amazing. It was completely unique from other WWII books I've read. This book was not told from the perspective of a Jewish person in a concentration camp, or the perspective of a German person hiding Jewish people, but from the perspective of a French-Jewish boy who never lived in the central areas of the horror, yet his life was drastically altered by all of these events. I loved this as it made it really thought provoking and it showed you how this time of terro...more
Nov 14, 2011
emslibbooks
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
adventure,
adversity,
awards,
belonging,
diversity,
families,
fiction,
historical,
jewish_issues,
love,
ms_bognar,
nazism,
relationships,
religions,
sad_stories,
survival,
war,
holocaust
Narrated by a young Parisian boy, Gustave, whose family decide to move to the countryside as life becomes more dangerous with the approach of the Nazis to France. Based partly on the author's father's life, I really felt the sense of panic as things turned against them and every wrong move or word could result in death.
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This is a well-told children's story about occupied France from a child's point of view. It is a young adult book and provides a different viewpoint about war, the occupation, and anti-Semitism. It portrays well the fears and emotions that children, especially Jewish children, must have felt during that time.
Moving story that follows the struggles of a French Jewish family during WW II. They leave Paris and go to the French countryside in hopes of being safe, but danger is everywhere and in unexpected places. A well-written and thought-provoking juvenile historical fiction book. It's interesting to discover how the title "Black Radishes" fits into the story.
Extraordinary, especially considering the challenge of finding a completely novel twist on a drama set during Europe's long WWII nightmare under German occupation (in this case, France). Does a better job of making characters seem authentic than just about any WWII book I've read. Highly highly recommended.
Oct 07, 2012
Olivia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone who likes WW2
Recommended to Olivia by:
Librarian
Shelves:
rebecca-caudill-books-2013
This book is about a Jewish young boy who Lives in Paris,France during the time of WW2. He has to move away to the unoccupied zone of France where he becomes a large part of the French resistance.
HE soon realizes what it means o have a real family who cares and how serious this war will become.
HE soon realizes what it means o have a real family who cares and how serious this war will become.
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