Someone Named Eva: A Historical WWII Novel for Kids (Ages 10-12) About Identity and Survival in Czechoslovakia

by Joan M. Wolf

On the night Nazi soldiers come to her home in Czechoslovakia, Milada's grandmother says, "Remember, Milada. Remember who you are. Always." Milada promises, but she doesn't understand her grandmother's words. After all, she is Milada, who lives with her mama and papa, her brother and sister, and her beloved Babichka. Milada, eleven years old, the fastest runner in school. How could she ever forget?

Then the Nazis take Milada away from her family and send her to a Lebensborn center in Poland. There, she is told she fits the Aryan her blond hair and blue eyes are the right color; her head and nose, the right size. She is given a new name, Eva, and trained to become the perfect German citizen, to be the hope of Germany's future--and to forget she was ever a Czech girl named Milada.

Inspired by real events, this fascinating novel sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Nazi agenda and movingly portrays a young girl's struggle to hold on to her identity and her hope in the face of a regime intent on destroying both.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Holocaust, Young Adult, Historical, Fiction, World War II, Middle Grade

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

I write, I teach, I read books, I eat chocolate. I have been a public school teacher in Minnesota for a long time now. I have had the chance to teach just about everything (really), from primary ages all the way to adults.

And I am also a writer. Although I have written a LOT, I have published five books (so far.) Four of them are for teachers and one is for kids/young adults.

I feel really lucky to have found two jobs that keep me challenged and happy!

Reviews

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't blink or you'll miss it. The arrival of a noteworthy work of historical fiction for kids tends to work one of two ways. Either the marketing machine behind the book hits bookstores and libraries full-force, cramming said book down everyone's throats until they yield and make it a bestseller/award winner... or nothing happens at all. The book slips onto shelves without so much as a squeak, never insisting that anyone go out of their way to find it. "Someone Named Eva" belongs firmly in the latter camp. It's small and subtle and extraordinarily good. The kind of WWII children's fiction other authors should look to emulate, given the chance.

Eleven-year-old Milada remembers the night. The night when there was pounding on the door and Nazis in her Czechoslovakian home. The night when her grandmother pressed a garnet pin into her hand and told her to never forget who she was. But since that time Milada had a difficult time keeping that promise. Having been forcibly removed from her family and taken to a bizarre Nazi-run girl's school, Milada quickly learns the reason for her presence in the Lebensborn center; her shiny golden hair and bright blue eyes. Renamed Eva, Milada is part of a system intent upon turning her into a "good" German citizen. The kind of place where she can be taught the evils of the Jews, the glory of Hitler, and the joys of being adopted into a real German family's home. Based on events following the destruction of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, author Joan Wolf tells of the real Lebensborn center in Poland, the crimes it committed against an untold number of girls during WWII, and what it takes to stay true to your heritage.

Wolf is also very good at displaying the effectiveness of intense psychological brainwashing. When Milada says that, "it was hard to remember that I wasn't a Nazi, that I didn't want to be the Aryan ideal, that I hated Germany," you understand why she says this. The psychological damage inflicted on these girls must have been intense. Little wonder then that, as Wolf mentions in her Author's Note, "Very little has been written in English about the Lebensborn centers that housed kidnapped children, part of which may be due to the fact that so few children were found after the war." What's more, Wolf knows how to manipulate her reader so that we find ourselves in the same position as Milada. When she realizes with a shock that she can't remember her old name, I challenge you to remember it yourself. It's gone and as she wracks her memory, we wrack our own. Such a clever technique.

My mind makes me pair books together. That's just how it works. And at some point, mid-way through a read of "Someone Named Eva", I realized that this book should be paired alongside The Night of the Burning: Devorah's Story by Linda Press Wulf. Both take place during WWII, and they deal with very different adoption journeys. You could create an entire reading unit out of these two books alone. It's almost as if they were made for one another, so perfectly to they complement and contrast one another's themes. Before you do that, however, you must read this book first. It's Joan M. Wolf's first book for children, and I want it to get a proper amount of attention. Books like this one don't write themselves. For a good jolt of historical fiction to the brain, "Someone Named Eva" may well be one of the smartest books of the year.

[☽•☾-Grimalkin-☽•☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried while reading this book.
It was heart breaking and very powerful.
Honestly, I don't think I can add anything else right now as I need to mentally work through the horror of what I have just read.
Joan Wolf is a genius.
5/5

[shiloh · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is I’m devastated. Heartbroken.

[KayLee J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I currently finished Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf. This review is only about the theme of the story,which I like to describe by picking words to describe the theme. I think the the two words that best state the theme of the book are hope & bravery. The first is bravery because Milada was taken away from her family to go to a harsh German boarding school to learn German ways,the language, and life. As well as getting a new name,Eva. It was hard for her since she was Czech and hated the Germans for how they had caused a war and took over her country, especially her small village Lidice. She had to be brave to take on all her challenges that awaited her like being adopted,witnessing sad prisoner work camps,and other hardships coming. The other word, hope is because every night she never gave up thinking about her parents who would come for her. Sometimes she and her new friend Liesel would at night sneak into the school's chapel and talk about their lives before,their real names,and how they were certain they had their families looking for them. Another word that could describe this book heritage because with her starting out Czech as her daily life,then learning German as another daily life, and then having to learn Czech again since she had forgotten. Some text evidence to support this statement is she would everyday forget a little Czech and then have it be refilled with German. Many days, she realized she even forgot her real name. This book has great themes and I give it a Five star rating!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. It is a fictionalized account of a topic I had previously known nothing about--the kidnapping of Eastern European children (e.g., Polish, Czech, etc.) by Nazis to be placed first in Lebensborn centers and later to be adopted as "Aryan" children into German families.

This is a book geared for the juvenile audience. While there is very little in the book that details the horrors of the Holocaust, I think the topic itself would probably be incredibly terrifying to children. (Perhaps more so than even the subject of concentration camps because being taken from their family would be an idea that might be easier to comprehend--and thus be scared of--then the horrors of a camp.)

Here are a couple of articles about this topic (some better written than others, but I could find very little information about this policy):

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j...
General discussion of the Lebensborn project, discussing both the kidnapping of "Aryan"-featured children and the encouragement by Himmler for "Aryan"-featured women to get pregnant by SS and Wermacht officers.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j...
This article isn't incredibly well written but it's from an oral interview with a UNRRA worker, whose responsibility (in part) was to track down these children--her description is a MUST READ!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic...
Some inaccuracies in this article, but not bad.

[Nayna P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently reading Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf. I am not that far into the book, so there isn't much to tell you about the story part of it, but I'll try my best. This book was a recommendation by Mrs. Foley, its genre is historical fiction, it is placed in the time when the Nazis ruled. Milda is Jewish, and the day after her birthday the Nazis come. They separate the men and women of the village and take the men away. The women are taken into a gymnasium, wondering where the men of their family have been taken. They just found that the men are...that's as far as I got. I like how the author will use vivid words or a great description to pull you, I just never want to stop reading it. Plus it is a nice topic, not my favorite genre but I will think I, and everyone who reads it will enjoy this book. I have experienced going to a knew place, just in a different way. Sometimes it's dreadful, but in someways it can be great. I wonder if maybe the author experienced this, maybe that's why she picked this topic. So far out of a 5 star rating I would give the book 3 stars. I am hoping it's a great book and I can't wait to read the rest.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone Named Eva is by far the most moving and masterfully written book that I had read in a while.... This historical fiction novel tells the story of a young girl, Milada from a small town in Czech. Her life is blissful and peaceful, as the only effect the war has had in her small town is food rations for sweets and sugar. That is until one ordinary night when Milada is woken to the screaming sounds of her mother and the sharp cries of her sister. Milada rushes down to find German soilders, with guns pointed and faces stern, knocking down her humble home's door, and wrecking down all in their reach. It was clear, the German soilders would take no mercy. Milada is then ripped from her family because of her fair hair and blue eyes. She is renamed Eva, commanded to attend a strict and unforgiving German School and is forced to forget anything and everything of the life she loved. Though what broke Milada's heart the most is when she is faced with a grueling desicion... Wether to remain Milada and resist the soilders commands at all costs, or to embrace Eva and risk loosing who she really is....A small girl from Czech, alone and frightend, only wanting to see her family again.
This book is by far one of my all time favorites and beautifully illustrates the harsh times during World War II, especially for Milada the years 1942-1945. I think a one of the main reasons I loved this book so much is because I can make a deep personal connection to it. Even though my grandmother was much luckier than Milada, and her situation was slightly different, she too ran away form her home, Germany, and took the all famous ship to New York in World War. There she was first greeted with the all famouse Statue of Liberty and then sailed to Mexico, which is were I grew up. I also loved how it told it from Milada's prespective because that let me understand what she was really feelings, what stood out to her, and what she was afraid of... losing her true identity and along with it, her family. Everything about this book alowed me to really get to know and understand Milada's charachter. This book will make you cry, and will show you the true power of a family's love. It is also a great reminder to enjoy life, because it cold take a turn for the better or worse at any second. I especially recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction or books like A Night Divided which talks of a similar subject. This book also really reminded me of a siries called The Princess Diaries, because of its first person narration and a deep, more personal view on each different situation.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quiet, obscure historical fiction novel is absolutely gutting.

During World War II, many German families adopted blond, blue-eyed children from eastern Europe who had gone through Nazi reeducation to make them as German as their supposed Aryan heritage suggested that they could be. This debut children's novel imagines the fictional experience of a girl from Czechoslovakia who ended up in this situation, and the author's attention to psychological detail is extraordinarily impressive.

I first learned about the concept of these adoptions when I read the back of this book at the library years ago, and even though I have learned more details since, I always picture this cover whenever the topic comes up in my reading. However, even though this book has been part of my WWII knowledge for years, I never got around to reading it until the last two nights of 2019, when I wanted something short to read before the end of the year. I'm so glad that I finally prioritized this.

This novel is a little bit rough stylistically at times, since the author occasionally summarizes information that would have been better played out on the page, but it is extremely accurate to the circumstances and milieu of the time. I am amazed by how well the author recreated both obscure and familiar aspects of WWII history, and she fully demonstrated the main character's struggle to hold onto her beliefs, name, and identity through her Nazi reeducation and adoption.

In the author's note, Wolf explains that since little research exists about the reeducation facilities, she had to imagine many aspects of her character's experience there. However, because she based this part of the story on sources about Nazi education, it all rang incredibly, horrifyingly true. The author never taints the novels' emotional pull through historical manipulation, and even though her unflinching portrayal of harsh details may disturb readers who are too young and sensitive to handle them, the book's content remains suitable for its target middle-grade audience.

One reason why I never got around to reading this book before is because I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to its haunting premise, but I didn't need to worry. Despite its minor stylistic flaws, this book is a masterpiece of juvenile historical fiction and is one of the best World War II novels that I have ever read. Its nuance, sensitivity, solid research background, and memorable specificity all amaze me, and I highly recommend this title to older children, teens, and adults who are interested in this historical period.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone Named Eva (Joann M. Wolf)
Historical Fiction. Set in WWII Germany/Czechoslovakia/Poland. Milada is a young Czech girl. She just celebrated her 11th Birthday in May of 1942. Shortly after this celebration her home is invaded by Nazi troops and her family is separated. Her father and brother are taken away, while her sister, mother & grandmother are held at school. Once there the children are separated and inspected. Milada is segregated with other children, she notes the one thing in common, they all have blond hair and blue eyes. Soon Milada is put on a bus and taken away, leaving behind her beloved family.

She finds herself in a "training camp". Once there they are taught German and only allowed to speak this "Aryan" language. They are taught about Germany and how to be a "Proper German Woman" to follow in Hitler's plan to create a new Germany. Soon Milada is stripped of her name , identity and past...she is to be called Eva from here on. Yet inside she recalls her grandmothers words before she is take from the Nazi's....those words are: "Always remember who you are, and where you came from". Her grandmother slips her a special star shaped ruby pin, this become the only tie to her past, as she desperately holds on to it over the years.

A touching story of one girls plight to survive the Hitler Regime. I found this well written story to be fascinating, emotional and thought provoking. It tells of the lost small village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, which was invaded (by Germany Under hitler's command) and ultimately destroyed. Hundreds of people were killed, taken to concentration camps, to die of starvation disease or at the brutal hands of the Nazi troops.

But the main story is of the few Lidice children who were take from their home to be molded into what Hitler wanted as the "Perfect German". An emotional and heart felt story, leaving a lasting memory, of the little known village and its people, whom none of which were Jewish (most people relate to WWII and Hitler's regime, not knowing that other people besides Jewish, were taken and killed). Also included at the end is a website in memorandum of those lives lost in the small but not forgotten town, Lidice Czechoslovakia.

My Daughter did a book report (on Someone Named Eva) and after reading it I was compelled to read (the book) myself. I was not disappointed. And excellent read. I highly recommend to adults as well as young readers.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard so many good things about this book, and I wanted to really love it. I liked it. It was a compelling, personal narrative about a little known atrocity perpetrated against a village in Czechoslovakia. I would give it more like 3.5 stars.
Milada is taken from her family because is looks like the aryan ideal. Most of the other women and girls her age are sent to a work camp for the duration of the war, but Milada is sent for Germanification education in Poland. She is eventually adopted by a Nazi family near Berlin. She is renamed Eva for the length of the ordeal, and at times she forgets her name, and by the end of the war, she has forgotten completely her native language.
For the most part, I found the story well written and highly readable. The parts where she is at the reeducation center in Poland, I found the most difficult to get through, as the author was trying to fit so much information in, that the story suffered.

I read this on the same day as The Wall by Peter Sis. The Czech have suffered so much at the hands of their neighbors. It was a good combination, and would work well for anyone interested in readinga bout the the Czech during World War II and the Cold War. The two together are very affecting .

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

dans Someone named Eva nous suivont le destin d'une petite fille Tchèque enlevé par les Nazis à pour devenir une petite allemande aryenne.
Ce roman est fictif mais tiré d'une histoire vraie, pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale il y a eu effectivement le programme Lebensborn qui consistait à former une population aryenne aux traits physiques (yeux bleus, cheveux blonds...) et aux idéologies prônées par Hitler.
C'est le premier livre que je lis sur ce sujet et j'en suis très contente. L'histoire est contée avec innocence et délicatesse, ce qu'on peut attendre d'un roman jeunesse mais il reste très efficace pour le devoir de mémoire abordé avec les plus jeunes.

[Atley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and would highly recommend it. it is very inspiring how she finds happiness in places that you wouldn’t normally find it. It is also interesting. How the day-to-day life living in Nazi Germany. I would say that this is the book of the Year for me.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I've ended up studying World War II and the Holocaust so extensively throughout my school years that I'm surprised when I learn something genuinely new about the events that took place then, but Someone Named Eva offers a new glimpse into the horrors of the Holocaust. Milada, the main character, is one of many Czech children who were taken from their families - who were either killed or sent to concentration camps - in order to be "re-educated" and then adopted into German families. The main criteria that was used to choose these children was eugenics. Those with proper head and nose measurements, blonde hair, and blue eyes, were part of the Aryan race and therefore could be used to up the population of Germany, a goal that was obvious from the awards given to mothers for having three children or six children. Though the author acknowledges that conditions in the camps that these children were taken to are not well described due to a lack of survivors after the war, she still paints an interesting picture of what Milada's life there might have been like (forbidden to speak her native Czech ever again, with constant German lessons and propaganda fests, yet also receiving fairly good treatment food- and health-wise). When Milada is adopted into a family that lives right by Ravensbruck concentration camp, where it just so happens Milada's mother and grandmother were taken, the setting reminded me a lot of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (though admittedly, I've only seen the movie and haven't read the book).

The language of this book is fairly simple, so I think it would be good for some of my students who struggle in English, and it gives a really interesting glimpse into the life of someone who had to try to maintain her sense of identity and loyalty to her family despite intense social pressure and even good things about her adoptive family that aimed to convince her to do otherwise. It's an interesting book to be reading alongside The Queen of Water, where Virginia's constantly questioning her identity as an indigena in a mestizo household and feeling inferior, and despite her slave-like condition, she feels tied to the family based on her long history with them. Milada's situation is very similar, and I have to say that I wasn't completely sure what sort of decision she would make when it came to the end of the war.

I appreciated this book because of this unique glimpse into this little-known aspect of the war, its treatment of identity on a level that middle schoolers would be able to identify with and understand, and because of its simple, clear, yet interesting language.

[Jori · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEWARE: SOME SPOILERS.

This is one of those rare books that leaves you in awe; and you can't help but think about it for the rest of the day. I can't even count how many times I've read this book. I love it.
I think that Joan M. Wolf really took the time to research and interview people, which is part of what makes this book so spectacular.
Milada is extremely easy to relate to. She has an annoying older brother, a best friend, a girl that she doesn't like, dreams, and hopes for the future.

The way that this book is written really makes the reader feel like they've jumped inside the book and are observing it as it happens. The emotions are incredibly strong; more than once tears pricked my eyes.

Milada is the kind of girl that you can't help but root for. When she's taken away from her life as a Czech girl and tossed into the horrifying and unfamiliar German world, I was crossing my fingers that everything would be okay for her.

And to think that this is based on true events, that stuff like this really happened during World War II, well, that's a pretty harsh realization.

A big part of the book was Milada remembering who she was, and where she was from. Her Babichka gave her a pin, along with these wise words. When Milada has been in the center learning to be a German girl for so long that she forgets her name, it just about broke my heart.

Later on in the story, when Milada goes to live with her new German family, there are times when she seems to accept being a German, and pushes her true self behind her. But she always remembers who she is, and that what happened is wrong.

The glorious moment of triumph comes when the war ends and Milada thinks she gets to go back to her life and family. But then she finds out that her brother, father and grandmother are dead. And she isn't that Czech girl anymore. She's been ripped away from her life, molded into something different, and then thrown back in to a messed up version of what should have been.

All in all, this is a very real, heart wrenching read. I completely recommend it, it's beautifully written and carefully thought out, and once you pick it up, you just can't put it down.

[Frances W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in the middle of the book Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf. This is such an interesting book, it gives you such great detail. An example of the detail is when the author explains about Fräulein Krüger,one of the characters. The author says she was wearing a crisp blue shirt and tight braid. When I first heard about the book I wasn't quite sure, but when I actually started reading it I realized the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover", is very true in ths case. The book starts out with a girl named Milada having a birthday party. After that Miladas family gets taken away by Nazis. Before you know it, your reading about a girl named Eva in a place you never imagined. This story relates to me because when I first moved here I had to get used to it and make new friends, but of coarse it was not as scarey and hard as it was for Eva. This book is great for people who love to read, because when you start to read it you never want to put your book down. I really hope you read the book.

[Rachel Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a historical fiction book, then I recommend you read Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf. This book wll give you information about the Holocaust and how people were treated in that time period. Elven year old, Milada, gets her whole life changed and tries to remember who she really is. She is a brave and strong girl, especially after all the emotional changes she has been through. If you want to find out what happens to Milada's life, then you have to read this extraordinary, yet heartbreaking story.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with the reviewer who states that EVA is a hidden gem on the junior fiction shelves. Based upon true events, this historical novel relates the experiences of Milada, a young Czech girl who is kidnapped from her family by the Nazis and given to a German family to raise. Because they consider her fair complexion and blond hair worth "preserving," Milada is spared the conventional horror, but plunged into an entirely different one.

EVA is an intense story for any age group and will stick with readers long after they close the cover.

[L13F_Jana Wilkening · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milada is an eleven year old Czechoslovakian girl who lives with her loving family during World War Two. One night, the Nazis invade her home and she is separated from her family. Because of her perfectly Aryan blonde hair and blue eyes, she is sent to center in Poland where she is renamed Eva and is trained to become a German citizen so that she can become adopted into a German family. Throughout this traumatic ordeal, Eva struggles to remember who she is and hold on to the hope that one day she could become reunited with her family.

The author includes several key features including a glossary of German words in the front, and a powerful author's note in the back. Through the author's note, it is revealed that the traumatic events that happened in Milada's village were true. Although Milada is not a "real" person, her story is based on the horrific experiences of the Czech citizens who survived the horrible Nazi attack on June 10, 1942. Although I have read numerous Holocaust books, I was not familiar with the horrible injustices done to the Czech citizens until reading this book. It is harrowing.

I loved the strong voice of Milada's character. Her ordeal had me glued to the story. I downloaded it onto my husbands ipad and then held his ipad hostage for a good 5 hours because I could not stop reading. I needed to know how her story would end. Because of the disturbing and upsetting nature of the events in this book, I would recommend it for grades 7 and up. It would fit in perfectly with a unit on the Holocaust or Social Injustices in the world. More popular Holocaust books like The Devil's Arithmetic, Number the Stars, and Behind the Bedroom Wall all follow female protagonists around the same age as Milada during WWII. However, they each have a different point of view. Using literature circles following the lead female protagonist in each story (Czech girl, Jewish girl, Danish girl, and German girl) would be a powerful way to look at all aspects of the Holocaust and understand the various points of view.

The strength of this book lies in the authors thorough research, strong characters, and intense plot. The only area I wish the author could enhance would be to include more information on the true stories of the survivors which were the basis for this book. I would love to hear their specific version of events in an afterward. Reading this book sent me straight to the internet (using the website the author provided) to research this event in Czechoslovakia's history that I knew little about. It would be nice if the author included more of this information in the afterward for students to learn from. However, it is a perfect starting off point for students to begin their own research, so perhaps that was the goal.

This book is emotional, harrowing, and powerful. It certainly leaves a lasting impact on the readers.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read numerous books about the Holocaust. Generally, the young adult books I've read are about Jewish survivors. Someone Named Eva is a book about a Catholic survivor. Malida is a Catholic Czech living in the village of Lidice. Czechoslovakia was under Nazi reign and assigned a "protector", Reinhard Heydrich. At the end of May, 1942 resistance fighters attempted to assassinate Heydrich. Their attempt was successfully in that Heydrich died of wounds he received a few days after the attempt to end his life was made.

The Nazis were furious. Intelligence reports showed a connection between the resistance fighters and the small town of Lidice. In retaliation, the Czech men and boys were rounded up and shot. Women and children were separated. During this time any children who were thought to match Aryan standards were sent to Lebensborn programs. Lebensborn programs included the kidnapping of non-Jewish, non-German children and teaching them to become "perfect" Germans. The women and children who could not pass for Aryan were sent to Ravensbuck work camp or gassed.

Something Named Eva is Malida's story of who she was taken from her family and trained to be a German. Malida is adopted by a German family and raised as one of their own. At the end of the war, Malida is reunited with the remaining member of her family, her mother.

I was unaware of the events that took place in Lidice, and this novel made me aware of more Nazi atrocities. Books like this are so important for young adults. Making students aware of all the victims of the Holocaust, not just the Jewish victims, is important to understanding that genocide is a global issue that affects us all.

[Shiloh]

A story about a little girl name Milada and renamed Eva who is taken away from her family and taken to a Lebensborn center in Poland where she will be trained to become a "proper German child" in order to bring about Hitler's Aryan race. Milada struggles to remember her true identity as the Germans try to change her into a German girl even adopting her into a high ranking German family. I didn't know about the Lebensborn centers during the Holocaust until just recently.... although a fictional story this is based on true facts and would be a good book for a younger audience to understand and read more of this horrible time period.

From the back of the book:

"“Remember who you are, Milada.” Milada’s grandmother says these words on the night the Nazi soldiers come to their home in Czechoslovakia.

But what do they mean? She is Milada, who lives with her mama and papa, her brother and sister, and her beloved Babichka. Milada with the sun-kissed hair, eleven years old, fastest runner in her school. How could she ever forget?

Then the Nazis send Milada to a Lebensborn center in Poland, and Milada quickly discovers that holding on to her true identity will be the greatest struggle of her young life."

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished this book and I have to say that it is an excellent introduction to another less-known side of Holocaust. So much is written about Jewish prisoners, concentration camps, resisters, survivors, etc. but not enough is written about the children that were kidnapped/stolen and sent to "Germanization" schools to become "Good Aryan German Citizens". This book does a great job telling the story of Milada, a young non-Jewish girl who is taken from her family, sent to a German re-education center, and later adopted by a Nazi German family. Throughout her journey, Milada struggles to remember who she is and where she came from despite the Nazi brainwashing and abuse at the hands of her captors and teachers. It is a great read!

[Lisa of Hopewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

magine being rounded up, held captive for a few days and then sent away from your family to begin a new life? That's what happened to Milada in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. At a "Lebensborn" center in Poland she is "re-made" into a model Aryan child and given to the family of the commandant of the Flossenburg. But "Eva," as she is forced now to be known, keeps hope alive of being reunited with her own family and resuming her own life. This is a book for any age--it is marketed to elementary or middle schoolers. The ending is a big less than I'd hoped for, but does not spoil the excellence of this story. It would be interesting to read a real-life comparison, but apparently there are none. This is what historical fiction should be.

Very real. An excellent book for any age.

[Maya Palavali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was bored roaming my house and I picked this up. I forgot the actual story, but then I started reading it. It is told in the perspective of Eva, a girl about 11 at the start of the Nazis over taking Czechoslovakia or something like that. I thinks it portrays how a girl that is actually accepted from the nazis and is part of the "aryan" race really good. It's much different from other WWII because it is told in the eyes of a girl who lost everything and gets ripped away from her family to be with the enemy. It's really good. I recommend it for everybody in earth, space, anywhere really.


Wow... that's a lot written, more than I have ever done. The book is that good that I wrote a good review on it.


Anyways you should read it

[Katlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

So well written. I had never heard about this part of the war. It seems the more you look the more horrors there are. And while this book is fictional, the story of the kidnapping and the effective brainwashing that took place at the time is very real. Everything was so modern and streamlined, and yet, so barbaric and horribly backward. I suppose evil always is...

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this randomly while shelf reading at the library the other day. It isn’t the most amazingly written book, and it doesn’t really go in depth in any part of the story, but it was still an interesting read about an aspect of WWII I feel like people don’t write about much. And the ending nearly made me cry.

[Candace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milada with several other girls bearing Aryan traits are taken away from their decimated village and selected for 'Germanization.' This starts Milada's struggle to retain her identity, name, and hope in a world tearing everything and itself apart.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to try something new by reading this but I didn't like it at all so I guess I'll stick to like Shiver and Twilight and stuff like that. LOL

[Sean H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its an awesome book. It is about a girl gets taken to Germany Nazi camp. She gets adopted by a German family. She finds her true identity and gets back with her family. I love how the author wrote.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Milada is an eleven year old girl from Czechoslovakia. She lives with her mother, father, bother Jaro, Babichka, and her sister Anechka. Times are tough because of the current Nazi rule, so Milada is surprised when she receives a telescope and a cake for her birthday. Milada has a big party with her best friend Terezie and other children. Everyone enjoys themselves and has fun except for Ruzha, a girl who secludes herself from others. That night, Nazis come to Milada's house. Her family is told to pack clothes for three days. Her parents a separated and her Babichka slips apin in the shape of a star into Milada's hands. She tells Milada to remember who she is and where she is from. As Milada's family marches outside, she sees other neighbors and friends in the same position. All of the people are led to the local school, their possesions are taken away and they are taken to another school. The men and boys are sent to a work camp. A Nazi comes up to Milada and motions for her to follow. Soon, she is in a room with other children, and all of them have light eyes and blond hair. Milada is examined by many different doctors. They check her hair, her eyes, even her nose. Milada is allowed to return back to her mother and the other women. She is then taken on a bus with Ruzha and two Nazi women. When they exit the bus, more Nazi women and blond haired girls are waiting by a school surrounded by a wire fence. The girls are led to a room with cots and a large painting of Hitler. They are forced to salute the picture and go to bed. In the morning they are given uniforms and new German names. Milada is now named Eva and Ruzha is named Franziska. They are told that their families died in an Allied air raid and that they are the future of Germany. They need to learn the German language and customs. Eva is defeint and trys to remeber her real name and her family. Every day, she pins Babichka's star under her shirt. Franziska is becoming the star pupil of the Nazi teachers.In class, they are shown a film on the evil of Jews. One day, a girl named Hedi speaks Polish and she is beaten with a ruler severely. Eva is shocked by the barbaric behavior of the Nazis and vows never to be like them. Eva befriends a girl named Liesel who shares Eva's opinion on Nazis. Franziska erases all the memory of her life outside the Nazi girls camps. She does not believe that the Nazis took her and her family from their home. She tries to be a good Aryan by saying things like "Jews should be shot." The girl who spoke Polish, Hedi, wets bed and so she and her sister Elsa are sent away for "additional training". Late in the night, Eva recalls her family, but can't remember her own name. She feels that she has failed her Grandma. So, she goes outside to look at the stars like she used to in Czechoslovakia. Suddenly, she remembers that Milada is her name. Liesel and Eva go outside every night into an abandoned church, tell each other their real names, and talk freely about life. One day, Fraulein Kruger, the headmistress, takes all of the girls on a trip to Puschkau,a local Polish town. In the street, Eva sees an old woman who looks like her Babichka. The woman screams "Evil Nazi child" and spits on Eva. Fraulein Kruger beats the woman with a billy club and laughs it off. The next week, the girls are taken to the church. They are told that they will be adopted by Germans. Eva faints because she had hope that she would return to her family. She is adopted by the Werner family. Hans, the father, Trude,the mother, Elsbeth, the daughter, Peter,the son,and Kaiser, the dog. They have a huge white house that smells very badly. Trude says that it is just the smell of the cost of war. While roaming the house, Eva finds a locked door and she tries to open it. Peter confronts her and says that its Hans's office and that no one is allowed inside. Hans is very strict and only shows kindness for Peter. He is the head of a local prison camp. After the first full family meal, Eva begins to pick up the dishes. She is yelled at and has to apologize to and salute the portrait of Hitler. Eva receives a letter from Franziska and she rips it into tiny shreds. Eva and Elsbeth become friends. Elsbeth confides in Eva and tells her that her father told her that he likes Peter the best out of all of the kids. The Werners plan an adoption party for Eva. While outside, Elsbeth explains to Eva that the smell is from smokestacks that burn the bodies of prisoners. At the adoption party, Trude is given a medal for the number of German children she is raising. She grows worried because the Allies are winning the war. Elsbeth shows Eva where she has hidden a gun that she stole from her father. She teaches Eva how to shoot in the woods. On the way home, Eva hears the Czechoslovakian anthem and she follows the voices. Women at a prison camp are singing. Elsbeth gets mad at Eva and tells her not to go there anymore. The Werners have to fire their staff due to lack of money. That night, Trude and Hans get in a fight. Hans wants to leave the family because the Russians are coming and they are looking for important Germans. In the morning, Hans, Peter, and Kaiser are gone. Trude goes crazy and they move down into the shelter for three weeks. The Russians come to the the house and rip it apart with machine guns. They demand Hans's papers, but he took them with him. Elsbeth realizes the danger when the Russians leave. She and Eva go outside to look for the pistol in the woods. They can't find it and Eva offers to stay and look. She heads towards the prison camp but Elsbeth catches her. She accuses Eva of being Jewish and says that something is wrong with her. Eva fights her until they are both out of breath. At night, Eva realizes that she lost her pin outside. Elsbeth follows her to the woods and they find it. Next week, when Eva wakes up there are no sounds of war. When they turn the radio on, it says that Germany surrendered, and that Hitler was dead. Everyone moves back upstairs. While they are moving in, there is a knock at the door. Red cross workers have come to take Milada to her mother. Milada meets her mother and they move in with a cousin. Jaro, Babichka,and her father are dead. Anechka is still missing. Milada and her mother vow to find Anechka and continue their lives.
I enjoyed this book very much. I like how Eva tries to keep her morals and the memory of her parents throughout the whole experience.I think that the author described Hans very well, and made him a very convincing vile character.

[That one psychopath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love a good holocaust book. This one wasn't the greatest but it was fine.

And you're right, her name was Eve