Though this is part of a series, new readers to the series will still enjoy this historical middle grade set during WWII.

I enjoy these books by Kathy Kacer because I feel like they are a great way of looking at what happened during World War II but in a gentle way.

Just as the Second World War starts proving particularly dangerous for the Jewish communities of Europe, a young Jewish girl named Dina is struggling with the loss of her father. Needing to take care of her three daughters, Dina’s mother goes back to work as a school teacher and hires Nina, a non-Jewish housekeeper who loves wearing colourful head-scarves to take care of the children and the house. When Nazi forces invade Ukraine, Nina risks everything to keep the family she came to love safe. This is a story of loss, bravery and family.

Kathy Kacer has written many fine books set during the Holocaust and I was particularly interested to read this one because it was set in Ukraine, and based on the true story of a Ukrainian woman who risks her life to hide a Jewish family. Dina, the young protagonist who is rescued by Nina, was a fully believable character, as were her siblings and mother. The near complete murder of the Jewish population by the Nazis was also shown in all its brutal reality, although I was confused about the timing of events until I read the historical note and realized that the author took liberties with this. I wish the plight of the Ukrainian population under the Nazi regime was more fully shown because that would have exemplified Nina's extraordinary act of kind bravery. Ukrainians were also targeted as sub-human by the Nazis but instead of being killed outright, they were either starved or enslaved. And like the Jews, Ukrainians were also targeted by the Soviets. There's no mention of the German civilians who were brought in to replace the locals (Jewish and Slav) once they had either been executed, enslaved or starved. Perhaps this was intentionally left out because the book is for younger readers, but I do think younger readers can handle nuance.

I love historical fiction. I love books on world war two. I love middle-grade novels. So a historical fiction, middle-grade novel on world war two? Read on for my thoughts on it.

What I liked:

It was okay. I actually really liked the overall writing with the description and stuff, I just didn’t really like the dialogue. It just didn’t seem as natural; when the characters were talking with each other it felt kind of forced.

I also think that there could have been more detail. More time to get to know and understand the characters. But overall, the writing was okay. Not incredibly amazing, but pretty good. But mostly, I would have wanted to connect with the characters, especially Dina. She’s only twelve, but she knows that it’s not okay to just stand by and let things happen, and eventually spiral out of control. Dina stood up for herself, and she stood up for her friends, no matter what the consequences would be.

What I didn't like:

I thought that the end of the book and the epilogue were too spaced apart, too different. The book took place at the very beginning of the war and was showing what a young Jewish girl’s life was like as more and more antisemitic laws were put in place in the city where she’d grown up. That part was actually really great, in my opinion. However, and I’m don’t want to spoil anything here so I’m not going to write more, because I think that would spoil it.

There wasn’t anything else that I majorly disliked, it was just that the book didn’t completely and entirely pull me in. I wasn’t so emotionally invested in the book that I was so disappointed when it was over. I was honestly kind of surprised that the book had ended so soon. The epilogue, as distanced as it seemed, did tie up quite a few loose ends, and ended everything quite neatly.

Although, I didn’t enjoy as much how the epilogue just cleared up anything and everything that we might have been wondering about in just a few pages. But that’s adding on to what I said before.

Conclusion:

I was looking forwards to the book, mostly based on the description. I was a little disappointed, but it was still a pretty good book. It showed what life could be like for a young Jew living in an antisemitic Ukraine, and how a kids life could be torn apart, and how someone who wants to care for you and who you can trust can change your life.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

Recommendable: Yes

To who? Those in search of a middle-grade novel about world war two and what life could be like for a young Jewish kid living in amidst many antisemitic laws.
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I received a digital copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not in any way affect my opinion of the book.

Louder Than Words is based on the true story of Nina Pukas, a Catholic housekeeper who served, helped hide, and eventually raise the Jewish family that she worked for. The book provides a look at the increasing restrictions and amounts of discrimination and hatred Jews faced in Nazi-era Europe, and our narrator Dina, her family, and Nina are all likable characters. That said, the writing style is lacking, more summary than narrative in many places, and the point that Nina helped a Jewish family even at her own personal risk and is therefore a hero is a little heavy-handed. The conclusion is also jarringly sudden. A helpful resource for readers who want to learn more about the Holocaust, but doesn't hold its own against better-crafted middle-grade Holocaust and World War II texts. 8 to 12.

In a small Ukrainian town, life is not easy for the Jewish community. Dina’s father has died causing her mom to have to go to work. While she is at work, her mom hires a housekeeper who will also watch Dina and her sisters. One is a baby and Nadia is the “middle” child. Dina likes school yet when she is at school, she gets bullied by a boy because she is Jewish. One day Dina goes home from school earlier than usual and discovers her mom home. Her mom is usually home later. Dina finds out that she has lost her job. She tells the family and housekeeper that Hitler won’t let any Jewish people work. If not for their housekeeper, Nina saves the family when their house is burned down. she has them getting their new papers acting like the mother with the kids her children and Dina’s mother as the housekeeper. One day, Dina’s mother decides to go the market and doesn’t come back. Dina is worried that her mom had an accident or worse. she discovers her mom has been arrested and taken to the ghetto. Dina goes with Nina to look for her mom through the barb wired fence. Will she and her sisters see her mom again? How will Dina and her younger sisters survive? Though this is a sad story, it shows how the family lives during the Nazis arrival and staying to guard the town against the Allies. The Jewish community were treated worse than the lowest forms of life. Fortunately the courage of Nina, the housekeeper gave them a decent life by pretending they were her children. She was very brave as she could be shot.

The author has written an excellent novel showing the differences the the town before and after Hitler’s Nazis occupying the town. The characters are well developed as well as the life of survival against terrible odds. It’s a novel that can be read by anyone not just children. I was amazed by Dina’s loyalty to her younger sisters and Nina after losing her mother.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book. Reading WWII historical fiction is one of my favorite genre to read. I’m very glad that a number of children’s books have recently been written about this time period. This title provides a clear description of the atrocities faced by Ukrainian Jews, but it is written in an accessible manner. The fear is palpable, but the horrors are not descriptive enough to offend a young reader; just enough perhaps to keep them interested in reading more books about the topic. I enjoy reading these stories that highlight the everyday people who took a stand in whatever way they could to help their fellow human beings. I would recommend this book for 3-5 graders

I enjoy these books by Kathy Kacer because I feel like they are a great way of looking at what happened during World War II but in a gentle way. She's sensitive to the needs of young readers, and is able to communicate the atrocities and injustices of the time without inflicting trauma in the process. I love that she chooses real individuals on which to base her stories, and introduced us to a woman who selflessly put the family for whom she cared above her own needs.

E ARC provided by Netgalley



Dina and her family are struggling after the death of the schoolteacher father, but luckily their mother has been able to take on his job. She hires a housekeeper, Nina, to watch the baby during the day and help out. It's the early 1940s, and the town of Prokurov, which once was Polish, then Russian, is now part of the Soviet Ukraine. There are troubling signs that the Jewish citizens are going to have difficulties-- there are swastikas on businesses, yellow stars to be sewn onto clothing, and eventually the loss of schools, parks, and livlihoods. After a fire burns down their home, Dina and her family have a small piece of luck-- the local government issues them new identity cards, claiming that Nina is the mother of the girls and their mother is the maid. They are all listed as Catholic, Nina's religion. They get an apartment and a small amount of money, and think that they might be able to survive. When a former neighbor identifies the mother and calls the police, she ends up confined to the ghetto. Nina steps up to take care of the girls and to ride out the war while hiding their identities.

Strengths: This had a lot of good details about what life was like for Jewish people in the days leading up to Nazi occupation, and what it was like to hide and ride out the war instead of being sent to a concentration camp. It's similar to Skrypuch's Don't Tell the Nazis, and the fact that it is based on actual people is fascinating. Canadian writers are my new go-to for books about the Holocaust!

Weaknesses: While I understand what they were trying to do with the cover art (it looks like some WWII posters a bit), it's not necessarily going to appeal to my 8th graders because of the cartoon style. I'll be able to hand sell it with no problems, though.

What I really think: Definitely purchasing; every year I need about 200 books set during WWII for an 8th grade project, and this was a compelling read. It doesn't matter that it is the third in the series, but I am going to go back and investigate the other titles.

I thought this was such a great story. I really enjoyed reading it. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I thought the characters and plot were very well written. I liked Dina as the main character. She was a young Jewish girl growing up at the beginning of WWII. We see how the people she once knew and thought trusted turned their backs on them. Before the war a woman named Nina came to the family as a housekeeper and did something extraordinary and continued to help the family when no one else could. Such a great children story.

I think that this book did a great job of exploring what can be a difficult period of time in history in an age appropriate way. If students in middle school classrooms are interested in learning about history, this would be a great pick for them!

Louder Than Words

by Kathy Kacer

Annick Press Ltd.

Annick Press

Children's Fiction , Historical Fiction


Pub Date 14 Apr 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Louder Than Words through Annick Press and Netgalley:



Life is not easy for Jewish People in the days of World War 2 throughout Europe, and the Ukraine is no different. Twelve year old Dina and her sisters find things getting even harder after their Father dies and there Mother has to work and their Non Jewish housekeeper finds herself caring for the children, trying to keep them safe from the Nazi’s. Dinah and her sisters have to depend on there housekeeper in ways that they could not have imagined when there Mother never comes home from the Marketplace and Dinah learns that her Mother was taken to the Ghetto.


Nina finds herself having to keep these children safe, even obtaining false identity papers for them.


Nina’s (Ludviga Pukas) story is a remarkable true story of how one young woman risked her own life to save the lives of three Children that were not her own, she died in 1984 at at the age of eighty two. In September.1994 ten years after her death she was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a non-Jewish person who saved Jews during the Holocaust.


Nina saved the lives of the Sternick girls even at the risk of her own life, showing us that often the greatest heroes are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.


I would recommend this book for Middle Grade students who like to learn about historical events, and true life heroes.


Louder than Words is worthy of five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Solid if not particularly engaging children's book about the experiences of a Jewish family and their Christian housekeeper during WWII. I found the style clunky, which radically reduced my level of engagement in the book. Other readers who do not respond negatively to the author's narrative style may get much more out of this book than I did.

Louder Than Words by Kathy Kacer is the remarkable true story of one woman's incredible acts of heroism during WWII. As Hitler's army advances towards the Ukraine, a widowed Jewish mother of three daughters knows that she must find work if she is to support her family. Bringing housekeeper Nina into the family is an act that is not initially endorsed by daughter Dina, but Nina quickly proves herself to be a loyal and trusted member of the household. As a Christian, Nina is putting herself at tremendous risk by remaining with the Jewish family, yet remains steadfastly loyal as the horrors of Jewish persecution manifest themselves in the community, and within the family that she has come to think of as her own.

This is a tremendously powerful story that, in my opinion, should be on every middle school's mandatory reading list. Told from the perspective of the young Dina, this is a novel that will stay with you long after the final page has been turned.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for this ARC.