In My Enemy's House
Written by Carol Matas
Reviewed by Melanie Mc. (age 11)
Nazi forces have just invaded Marisa?s town in Poland. It is World War II and the Germans are herding out all the Jews. So now most of the Jews are dead or in a ghetto. Most of Marisa?s family is dead but her friend Shmuel and her two younger siblings Fanny and Yueda are still alive. They all leave the town and go the country. They are all hiding in hay storage. One morning Fanny and Yueda are gone. They have run off the woods. Marisa and Shmuel go back to the town to get the papers of a Polish girl. Since Marisa has the traits of a Polish girl but is Jewish this is the perfect way to get out of the town. She soon finds herself on her way to Germany. While she is assigned to a Nazi officer?s house she realizes how much Germans really hate Jewish people. She later finds herself plotting her death. It is clear that she is trapped in her enemy?s house.
I really liked this book. It had a twist and turn in every chapter. My favorite part of the book was how Marisa never got found out by the Nazi family she was with. One of my favorite characters was Marisa. She was my favorite character because she was always afraid but she became brave from all the hardships she faced. Another character I found interesting was Shmuel. I found him interesting because he helped Marisa to be brave right up the point were they were split up. One thing I found interesting about the book is it tells all about World War II from a first hand experience even though the book was not completely true.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn about World War II. I would not recommend this book to anyone who does not like to read about death because it is explained in a very graphic way. I would recommend this book to people that know a little about World War II. I think that other kids in sixth grade and older would like this book.