In My Pocket

By Dorrith M. Sim

Book Overview

Told in a child's voice, this story of a young German-Jewish girl who, in 1939, is carried to a new, safe life in a foreign country transcends time and offers an immediate, intimate glimpse into a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152013571
• ISBN13: 9780152013578
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.8" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Poignant recollection of Kindertransport

The most striking quality of 'In My Pocket', one little girl'smemories of evacuation from wartime Germany to the UK, is that in veryfew words, Dorrith Sim conveys a world rich with emotions. It is truly a mark of her talent as a children's writer that the autobiographical account of the journey from her home in Kassel, Germany to Glasgow in Scotland, is simplistically child-like on the one hand and infinitely deep on the other. This is due in some degree to the fact that we now know that Dorrith lost her parents (and, indeed, most of her family) in the Holocaust, but better relates to the utter clarity with which we can imagine the shy six year old among the hundreds of other evacuees. The phrase 'I have a hankerchief in my pocket' was the only English she could muster on her arrival in Scotland, little comfort in a cold and new environment with her Mutti and Vatti far, far away. The story, however, is recounted without over-sentimentality and Gerald Fitzgerald's wonderful illustrations paint a world of innocence, with the merest hint of nostalgia. In essence, Dorrith's story tells itself and this is her genius. We see beyond the words into the heart and mind of a frightened and confused child. We see beyond the words to the present, when Dorrith lives in Scotland with her family of daughters, son, sons-in law and grandchildren close by. I know this because I am her son, David's, partner and I know this lady well. When you read 'In My Pocket' you'll get a glimpse of a survivor, not a victim. This book is important reading for children, complacent adults and anyone who has a moral conscience. Minimal words create an entire history. God, as they say, is in the detail.