A Bag of Marbles

A Bag of Marbles by Joseph Joffo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One of our teachers has asked to have her students check out free reading books in connection with a unit on courage and the Holocaust.  In gathering books for this book talk, I came across a recent graphic novel that will be a nice choice for these 7th graders.  It is the story of two Jewish boys living in France during the war.  When the boys’ mother sews a yellow star on their clothing, they find that everything about their life changes.  But it isn’t until they are beat up at school, that their father decides they must go away to the free zone of France.  He gives them money, and 10 year old Jo and his older brother Maurice have to grow up fast as they make their way alone, one step ahead of the Nazis.  Based on the 1973 memoir of the same name by Joseph Joffo, this book conveys an important picture of children during the war in an easy to comprehend format.  





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