Angel Girl

Angel Girl

Author: Laurie Friedman

Illustrator: Orfa Amit

Grade Level: 6-8

Genre: Biography

Have you ever missed your family when you were apart from them?  Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be living somewhere you wish you didn’t have to? What would you do if you felt like you were losing all of your hope? Let’s find out how Herman managed to find his way through his own struggles while we read Angel Girl by Laurie Friedman.

                Herman was an 11-year-old boy living during the time of World War II, where the Nazis made him a prisoner in a labor camp.  Herman worked long, tireless hours and was living off of very little food that consisted of soup made of water.  He was losing his will to keep going so in order to distract himself from the uncomfortable elements he was living in, Herman would think about things he loved from home and how much he longed to be there.  During a dream one night, an angel appeared to save Herman.  Within the next couple of days his dream came true! A girl came up to Herman from the other side of the barbed wire fence one day to bring him food.  They continued to meet each day, and this girl brought him food each day.  The camp was finally freed and Herman met up with this girl, Angel Girl, for one last time.  Later on, Herman was set up on a date with Roma, and there was something all too familiar about her.  After a little bit of conversation he came to find out that Roma was in fact Angel Girl, and his mother had been right about an angel coming to him.  Herman and Roma ended up marrying and having children in the end.   Based on a true tale of survival, Angel Girl is a story of love, hope, and strength.

                This biography portrays accurate details of how Herman was living during the time of the Holocaust.  The author describes the hardships that Herman dealt with while being in a labor camp and feelings the negative effects it had on his life, especially being separated from his family.  He depicted a true picture of what it was like to be Jewish during this time period and be living in harsh conditions.  These events that come from the story are events that happened in real life, so it is easy for the reader to understand how Herman is feeling through the dialogue and illustrations of Angel Girl.  Herman is worthy of a biography because he is a strong depiction of what it was like to be living in a labor camp during the time of the Holocaust. The reader can see how Herman is affected by his living conditions, how he has lost hope as he yearns for the familiarity of home, and how this young girl on the other side of the fence brings him hope to make it through tough times.  The information in the story is accurate to the time period and both Friedman and Amit do a great job of tying text and illustration together to create the tone for the story by seeing and feeling Herman’s thoughts.

                I would certainly include this book in my classroom library for students that are a bit older.  It is a book that I would use while teaching about World War II because it shows us what it was like to be living in concentration camps at this time.  It is important that students see how the camps sucked the life out of the Jewish population, but some managed to hold out hope until the end.  Not all stories of concentration camps end happily such as it did for Herman and Roma, but it leaves the reader with a feeling of hope for the population living in poor conditions.

                Frameworks:  RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described. RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text RI.5.6 Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent W.5.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly