Beautifully written and illustrated book for older children explaining the reality of the Holocaust on a young girl and her family. Great story to open up some discussion with a child about a difficult time in history but one that must not be forgotten

This book is about a teenager's journey through Nazi-occupied Europe on a train during the Second World War. The illustrations really helped to bring out the emotions in the characters and their terror-filled train and sea voyage. Hedy is a person like us, who has to face the loss of relatives, her home, and maybe her life as she and her family try to stay in their country until their lives are in danger. This book is written for young readers, but everyone will be able to enjoy this book and put themselves in Hedy's place!

Although this book was labeled as a middle grade book, I'm guessing that they didn't mean middle school, since it is a picture book. It is hard to review a picture book, as the story line is simplified for the audience. However, I thought this book was well written and handled a hard to discuss situation gracefully. The illustrations were absolutely beautiful. After reading, I found myself searching for more of the illustrators works.

Still another excellent children's book I've been fortunate to find through NetGalley. This book, based on events in the life of the author's mother and family during WWII, is designed for readers aged 8 to 12, grades 4 through 6. Hedy was a 16 year old Hungarian girl, aware of the events happening around her. She and her family worked on plans to avoid/evade the inevitable: transport to the concentration camps and almost certain death. This nicely illustrated book outlines their predicament, what was happening around them and plans they made and attempted to carry out. Their goal was to reach New York as they were among the lucky ones who had family in the United States.

I do want to speak about the illustrations for this book. They seem (to me) to have a distinctly continental flair which I found worked very well with the story. The pictures of Hedy and her family looked like they were of another time and place. The artist is, I believe, Spanish, and for me he has found the right ways to pick up time, tones, the era, the war, etc. The story and pictures play off each other well.

There is an excellent avenue into history in this book, through Hedy's story, the added Nazi-era time-line after the story, and the author's brief completion of the family's history at the end of the book. This could be a jumping off point for further discussion in school or at home. This is a thoughtful book, filled with hope for the future and sadness of what-might-have-been for others left behind. I definitely recommend it.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Great story of a harrowing journey. Loved it from beginning to end.

For many Jews, it was a harrowing experience trying to escape German occupied territories. Getting a visa was difficult and then getting across borders was an additional concern. Michelle Bisson tells her own mother’s story of escaping Hungary in Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust. Told with exceptional detail, Bisson tells her mother’s journey and about the atrocities that the Nazis caused without making it a frightening tale. While Hungarians were initially considered German allies, especially after having fought together in WWI, “now it was different. Jews were considered the enemy.” Hedy’s parents and brother managed to escape, but Hedy had to Portugal on her own, as the first train they could book passage on only had room for 3. We don’t often think about the journeys that people had to take to escape. Since I recently also read We Were the Lucky Ones, the topic has been on my mind. This picture book really does a remarkable job talking about a part of the Holocaust that many often forget.

I loved the simplicity of this and the illustrations were beautiful. The book talks about Hedy's journey from Hungary to the US during WWII. It was interesting how she was separated from her parents at the beginning and traveled alone for a bit. In the end though I was left wanting a lot more. Perhaps for an intended younger audience it is enough and a gentle introduction but for the audience I read for it didn't seem to have enough substance.

A powerful and handsomely illustrated story of a young lady's journey to escape Nazi-controlled Hungary. Unfortunately, it is scarily relevant today - all the more reason for kids to read it. A bit wordy for storytime, but would be a good historical introduction to the Holocaust for older elementary school-aged students.

This was a beautiful #OwnVoices tale of sacrifice and survival. I’m a big supporter of books about the holocaust because we cannot forget. Kids need to learn what happen and why so humankind doesn’t repeat the same mistakes. So I will buying this book for my kids. This book resonate with me at other level too because it is also an immigrant story about the hardships and sacrifices of having to leave your country, family and friends behind. I get very emotional with the stories of my family about surviving the Spanish Civil War and fleeing to America so I can only imagine what it was for Michelle Bisson to write this story.

Michelle Thank you for writing such a beautiful book !

I especially liked “The Rest of Hedy’s Story” at the end of the book with the pictures of the immigrants and the notes about the author and illustrator.

Kuddos to El Primo Ramon! His illustrations are, besides beautiful, spot on! They facial expressions and muted colors very accurately portrait the emotions of the story. The sadness and the despair. So elegantly and tastefully done!

I recommend this book to everyone! We will never forget!

Hedy's Journey by Michelle Bisson is another true story about the holocause. This story is about a Hungarian Jewish girl named Hedy and her family, who had to travel through Germany during the Holocaust to try and get to safety. They have visas to go to the United States, but they need to get to Portugal to take a ship there. There are many trials and tribulations in this journey. She takes a portion of the journey alone, as she is required to separate from her parents due to the availability of tickets. There is some mention of family members that were caught up by the Nazis, but that is not the focus of the story, that is to establish the reason they had to leave. Hedy was a brave young lady, who did what she needed to do to connect with her family and get them all to safety.

The author, Michelle Bisson, is Hedy's daughter. She used stories and memories from her mother to tell this story. She expressed that she knew nothing about the holocaust until she was in grade six. She went home and asked her mother if it was true and that was when her mother told her, her story. There is an afterward to the story where there are many pictures of Hedy and her family. There is a timeline of WWII, along with information about the settling of Hedy's family once they arrived in New York. I have read many books about the holocaust and I liked the fact that even though this story was about a Hungarian Jewish family, Michelle Bisson gave other information about those killed in this horrific event.

The book was well written in easy language for children to understand. The illustrations are drawings in very muted colours that show the emotions and the dangers very well. This is an excellent book to teach children about this time in history and should be in all public and school libraries.

Hedy's Journey by Michelle Bisson is a horrific, true story about a Hungarian Jewish girl named Hedy who had to travel through Germany during the Holocaust in search of safety. She takes a portion of the journey to America alone, as she is required to separate from her parents.

She and her family suffered through trials and tribulations on the unpredictable journey. Plans often changed, and she had no choice but to be brave. Follow along in the story to learn there destination and future.


The author, Michelle Bisson, is Hedy's daughter. She tells the story of Hedy's (Hungarian Jewish) journey to safety, from the Nazis to the US. The story is sort of passing of the baton. Someone has to continue to tell their stories, history in its worst manifestation, and I appreciated the effort of this daughter. The story is told with extreme delicacy and the designs convey this emotion. I truly appreciate that she has taken the story about her mother's experience and offered it to others so that they can retain this piece of history that is so essential to children's education. In addition, I appreciated the author mentioning that it wasn't just Jews who were persecuted.

The book also contains lots of photographs of Hedy and her family as well as a timeline of events. This book is one I believe should be integral to children's curriculums and should be in every library.

I received this ARC book from Capstone and Capstone Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

This was a terrific, beautiful book, though I have one thing that I didn't expect. I thought Hedy would be a kid, not the teen/adult she was in the book. This for various reasons, often when they say girl, they mean a child (at least going by what I see in English books/movies), and also there aren't that many picture books from the POV of an older teen/adult.

But the story is absolutely gorgeous! And it brought tears to my eyes. Poor Hedy, poor Marika.

The journey was a harrow one, especially the part where they travel to America, to safety. I was at first worried that they would go back to Hungary again (don't do it I was shouting at my book), but thankfully they were in luck and they could go to safety.

There was quite a bit of text on each page, but I didn't mind it. The text is often lovely interwoven with the illustrations. The language is quite easy (as in not that many difficult words, short-ish sentences), though, unlike other picture books, this one is definitely for an older audience because of the amount of text, plus the tiny font, plus that there are some words that not every kid that is normally the age group for picture books, will understand.

This book will definitely get bought by me, and I will also be sure to recommend it to people when they ask for a WWII book.

I also love the ending in which we have a timeline, and some information about the family, and about the daughter who wrote the book. We also have some family photographs, and I loved that they were added.

The illustrations are the last part I want to discuss, and I definitely liked the style. It fitted seamlessly with the text and the story. The illustrator really captured the right feeling with their illustrations.

The problem with horrible things, such as the holocaust, is that it is so big, so horrid, that it is hard to wrap one's head around it, even as an adult. Imagine how it would be for little kids. But, if you can relate to one person, tell one person's journey, that is sometimes enough of a connection.

This is the story of the author's mother's escape from Hungry. It is sad, but not too sad. It is scary, but not too scary. It is honest, and to the point.

When I was in high school I interview my French teacher as party of a oral history project. I did not know that like the girl in this story, that she had fled the Nazi's during WWII as well. Like Hedy in this story, she faced setbacks, and near misses as well. This was very striking to me, at the time, because up until that point, I had not met anyone who had escaped from the Nazi's, or rather I didn't know that I knew anyone who had.

It is important for kids to hear the every day stories of what happened. We often try to hid the horrid things, but there are ways, such as this book, that make it easy to explain it, and in the notes at the end of the book, the author explains that is what happened to her, when she first heard about the Holocaust in school, that she couldn't believe it had happened, and didn't understand, and her mother told her her own story.

Highly recommend this book for schools and libraries, so that kids can get their hands on this book

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book and think it would be a great way to teach kids about the holocaust and what it was like for people who had to flee from thier homes.

The book Is about a real girl named Hedy who has to leave her home and travel to America and the struggles she faced. She also happens to be the authors mother.

Hedy's inner strength and courage were put to the test. She had no choice but to travel alone through Europe during World War II.

Hedy lived in Budapest, Hungary with her parents and younger brother Robert. In 1941, the family decided to leave Hungary after her father was imprisoned then subsequently released from a labor camp. A Nazi newspaper had recently run an article calling him "king of Jewish diamond jewelers". The story implied that Jewish people were responsible for controlling the world's wealth.

Having secured immigration visas to America, the family needed to board a ship sailing from Lisbon, Portugal. Trains were full. Flights were full. The family was able to book three seats on a train passing through Germany. Hedy would have to travel alone on a future train. Her scary journey was as follows: train through Nazi territory to Vienna--->plane to Barcelona--->plane to Lisbon---> meet-up and reunion with family. Hedy had to focus on tomorrow,on a new life filled with opportunity rather than yesterday, the life being left behind.

The next leg of the harrowing journey to safety and freedom in America was just a continuation of setbacks and challenges. Author Michelle Bisson has done a remarkable job describing the journey undertaken by Hedy. The picture book, recommended for children ages nine to twelve, contains a biography and photos of Hedy, bringing authenticity to the memoirs of a family fleeing the Holocaust. The illustrator, El primo Ramon, uses subtlety of color and facial expressions to convey the essence of the family's feelings. "Hedy's Journey: The true Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust" by Michelle Bisson is both a tribute to her mother as well as a window into the hardships incurred by refugees seeking religious or political asylum.

Thank you Capstone Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Hedy's Journey".

Hedy's Journey by Michelle Bisson is a horrific, true story about a Hungarian Jewish girl named Hedy who had to travel through Germany during the Holocaust in search of safety. She takes a portion of the journey to America alone, as she is required to separate from her parents.

She and her family suffered through trials and tribulations on the unpredictable journey. Plans often changed, and she had no choice but to be brave. Follow along in the story to learn there destination and future.

The author, Michelle Bisson, is Hedy's daughter. I truly appreciate that she has taken the story about her mother's experience and offered it to others so that they can retain this piece of history that is so essential to children's education. In addition, I appreciated the author mentioning that it wasn't just Jews who were persecuted.

<i> Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in Europe all together. Eleven million were exterminated overall, including gay people, disabled people, political opponents, and others the Nazis considered less than human. </i>

The book also contains tons of photographs of Hedy and her family as well as a timeline of events.

This book is one I believe should be integral to children's curriculums and should be in every library.

5*****

In this graphic novel it is told the trip of a Hungarian Jewish girl to safety, from the Nazis to the US. The story is told by her daughter. A sort of passing of the baton. Someone has to continue to tell their stories, history in its worst manifestation, and I appreciated the effort of this daughter. The story is told with extreme delicacy and the designs convey this emotion.

In questa graphic novel viene raccontato il viaggio di una ragazza ebrea ungherese verso la salvezza dal nazismo, verso gli USA. A raccontarlo è la figlia. Una sorta di passaggio del testimone. Qualcuno deve continuare a raccontare le loro storie, la Storia nella sua manifestazione peggiore, ed ho apprezzato lo sforzo di questa figlia. La storia è raccontata con estrema delicatezza e anche i disegni trasmettono questa emozione.

Thank you for this book. Unfortunately, since it is not in kindle format, I am unable to read it.

I ended up unintentionally finishing this in one sitting since it’s only 42 pages with beautiful illustrations and gripping storytelling on an important part of history.