- Written by Hiba Noor Khan
- Andersen Press
It took me and a year 6 teacher at my school a couple of years to convince the leadership team that World War 2 needed to be studied in year 6.
To aid our topic I put together a list of books set during the war that would give the children a general idea of what conditions were like .
The books I chose are all different and all cover a different part of the war.
These books include The Midnight Guardians, I Spy, and of course the fabulous When the Sky Falls. There are of course too many to mention.
But now I have discovered another book to add to these fabulous books.
War comes to the streets of Paris and Safiyyah’s life changes forever.
Her best friend’s family have fled, and the bombing makes her afraid to leave the mosque where she lives. But when her father is arrested by the Nazis for his secret Resistance work, it falls to Safiyyah to run the dangerous errands around the city.
It’s not long before hundreds of persecuted Jews seek sanctuary at the mosque. Can Safiyyah find the courage to enter the treacherous catacombs under Paris and lead the Jews to safety?
Oh what a journey we go on.
What really amazed and impressed me was all the history crammed into the book.
Set in Paris during WWII, the Nazis are invading and the Muslims at the Grand Mosque of Paris are covertly helping, hiding, and saving their Jewish neighbours, with Safiyyah’s father among these brave people. We feel
scared when Safiyyah’s cousin signs up to fight and worry about her best friend Isabelle who’s parents decide to evaluate. We are unable to imagine the horrors that Hanna has experienced
We follow Safiyyah as she tries and work out what her father is up to, and we get to feel scared when she gets involved.
There is a scene when Safiyyah is in the local library and the librarian is telling Safiyyah how the Nazis have been burning books. I think this might be a part of the war that children might not know about so I was delighted that this had been included.
Even as an adult I didn’t know the part Muslins played in the war and I’m pleased it’s now been covered,
I love that the book is fast paced and the fear of being caught is always present, the book is able to flesh out relationships, and there is a lot of character growth, and religious understanding. The confidence of the author allows the reader to be swept away, completely.The story shows the ease in which the communities work together and their connections.
There are some issues that are sensitive dealt with
Based on real facts, the book does not get lost in politics, or propaganda, or the enemy. And there is definitely an angle for a follow up book.
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