Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier Elizabeth Bush Dauvillier, Loïc. Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust; by Marc Lizano; color by Greg Salsedo. from the French by Alexis Siegel. First Second/Roaring Brook, 2014. 76p. ISBN 978-1-59643-873-6 $16.99 R Gr. 3-6. In this graphic novel imported from France, little Elsa gets out of bed in the middle of the night and hears Grandma crying. Assuming bad dreams have caused her grief, Elsa prompts her grandmother, “You know, when I have a nightmare, I tell Mommy about it and that makes me feel better.” And so Grandma, for the first time, revisits aloud her childhood experience during the Holocaust, from her misunderstanding of the “sheriff’s badge” sewn onto her clothes and her sudden segregation from school activities, to the night her father hid her in a wardrobe during a police raid, through her new life under a false identity, protected by kind neighbors who whisked her off to the relative security of a farm while awaiting news of her parents. The framing story is both affecting and effective, respecting Grandma’s silence over the years while quietly celebrating her triumph over the burden of memory. Dauvillier’s entire cast is portrayed as doll-like figures, childlike and unintimidating; although the style makes the mustached men and violent police seem incongruous in their round-headed, cartoon innocence, it ultimately shifts the reader out of Grandma’s perilously threatened point of view and into that of Elsa, who struggles to comprehend the unimaginable tale her beloved grandmother is telling. Tidy frames delineated by consistent white gutters make this accessible to [End Page 449] GN newbies, and the dusky palette, which segues to warm golden tones as Grandma and Elsa snuggle together through the painful story, underscores the darkness of the period without sacrificing visual clarity. This study in the confrontation of memory will lay the groundwork for readers who will later grapple with Art Spiegelman’s gold standard of GN survivor stories, Maus. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois