A Family Secret

With the Anne Frank House in cooperation with the Resistance Museum of Friesland, this graphic novel by Eric Heuvel was originally published in Dutch The work was translated to English by Lorraine T. Miller. With eight to nine panels per page, this graphic novel moves along quickly and is similar to Maus by Art Spiegelman.

The story begins on April 30, which is celebrated in the Netherlands as Dutch Queen's Day, where people have fun buying and selling secondhand items. Jeroen goes by his Gran's house to see if she has anything to sell. Looking in her attic, Jeroen finds an old scrapbook that his grandmother made during World War II. As Gran remembers, she shares a family secret with Jeroen. The book is full of historical information on the Nazi machine, collaborators, resistance efforts and life during the war.

There is a sequel to this book entitled The Search with Gran and her friend Esther visit areas where Esther hid during the war. I am going to try to locate this book next!

TITLE: A Family Secret
AUTHOR: Eric Heuvel

TRANSLATOR: Lorraine T. Miller
COPYRIGHT: 2009
PAGES: 40
TYPE: Holocaust, fiction, graphic novel
RECOMMEND: I really enjoyed this book. For me it was my first graphic novel other than Maus and I found it to be very well done and extremely readable and informative.

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