One Eye Laughing, The Other Eye Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria to New York 1938 (Dear America Series)
Grade 5-9-A story set in Vienna on the eve of World War II. Eleven-year-old Julie Weiss adores her rich and successful father, but is ambivalent toward her superficial mother. Step by step, the girl, her Jewish family, and their friends suffer from the violent persecution inflicted on them by the Nazis. Her mother commits suicide. Her father, one of the few Jews who foresaw what would happen, is able to send Julie to her mother's sister in America. There, in shock and despair, the child takes time to mend, but the kindness of her aunt, an actress, and her jolly husband help her to start a new life. The pace of the story quickens rapidly as conditions in Austria escalate from a pervasive anti-Semitism to life-threatening Nazism. Denenberg furnishes adequate foreshadowing in the Vienna portion, two mysteries in the United States section, and a satisfying family relationship (relevant to the two mysteries) that adds interest and contributes to an upbeat ending.Marcia W. Posner, Holocaust Memorial and Educational Center of Nassau County, Glen Cove, NYCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.