A Bag of Marbles
Gr 6-9–Ten years old at the start of the story, Joffo recalls his Jewish family planning their escape from Occupied France during World War II. Tension runs through the story as he and his brother set off on the long journey to the Free Zone, where they plan to meet up with their older brothers. Along the way the boys must hide their Jewish identity, evade train security, and find a passeur, or guide, to take them past guard posts and fences to safe territory. Readers are never allowed to forget the danger the boys are in as they encounter friends and foes and attempt to discern whom they can trust. Bailly's painterly artwork is well suited to the compelling, well-told narrative. Unfortunately, it is crowded on dense, dialogue-heavy and tightly packed pages, preventing readers to view more closely the detailed, layered artwork. This title will appeal to readers interested in memoirs about World War II and has enough action to hold their attention. It's a welcome addition to graphic-novel collections, but layout problems preclude it from being a must-have.–Liz Zylstra, County of Prince Edward Public Library, Picton, Ontarioα(c) Copyright 2013.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.