About the presentations
About the Books
Erika's Story Reviews
Mississippi Morning Reviews
Eli Remembers Reviews
Always With You
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Patmos Verlagshaus: Voted "Best 7 Books" in Germany 2004 Voted "Outstanding Book" in ESELSOHR (magazine featuring children's books in Germany.)
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Miami Herald: Listed in "The Year's Best" - December 6, 2003
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BCCB (Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books at the University of Illinois) starred review:
The finely honed text has a spare lyricism, moving with restrained dignity from the opening author's note through the measured description of Erika's imagined past, to the quiet triumph of her survival and flourishing family life. Innocenti's portraits of the wartime countryside drain the colors until a smoky gray dominates. With a text exquisitely balanced between understated acknowledgment of tragedy and firm faith in the future, the story and presentation offer drama, impact, and simplicity enough to capture readers over a broad range of ages. March, 2004
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Booklist: "My mother threw me from the train." A Jewish woman in Germany today tells how, as an infant , she survived the Holocaust after she was thrown from a train on its way to the camp in 1944...the clear, tiny details dramatize both the fragility and the endurance of the infant survivor, as well as the bizarre calm of the "normal" world. November 1, 2003
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Horn Book: This large, square picture book would make an effective introduction to the Holocaust...the spare, straightforward narrative, widely spaced to leave blanks as broad as the gaps in Erika's own early history and punctuated by tiny six-pointed stars, effectively complements Innocenti's handsomely composed photorealistic black and white paintings. December, 2003
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Miami Herald: Here's a provocative question for a young student of history: Are there any circumstances under which the right thing to do would be to throw a baby from a moving train? The answer, provided in a stunning, sobering, heart-rending new book... is yes. The illustrations by Roberto Innocenti are exquisitely heartbreaking, done in a photo-realistic style. For the right audience, it is a powerful story - one that not only illustrates the depths of Nazi depravity, but the heights of humanity. October 18, 2003
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School Library Journal: Vander Zee narrates this true story in the voice of Erika, a woman she encountered in a German village...compelling and powerful in it simplicity, Erika's story proves that determination, hope and goodness can overcome evil...This poignant story of survival deserves a wide audience. December, 2003