Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis

Zhanna and Frina Arshanskaya grew up in an Ukraine under Russian control. Still, despite the family's poverty and Jewish heritage, the girls developed into piano prodigies, attending an elite music school, and even helping pay their family's way. When World War II arrived on their doorstep, everything changed as the Nazis put them under surveillance before arresting all the Jews in town and marching them away to be killed. Zhanna's daring nature helped feed her family during this difficult time. On the final march, her father bribes a guard into letting her escape telling her, "I don't care what you do. Just live." Later, Zhanna meets up with her sister, who somehow unknown to this day, managed to escape also. Despite some help from former neighbors the girls eventually must leave their home town and find an orphanage to stay in so they can get legitimate papers with false names. After numerous difficulties the girls finally manage to find such an orphanage. But the orphanage's piano and their own incredible skill puts them in the sights of the Nazis once again. The girls spent the remainder of the war under the thumb of the Nazis desperately trying to keep their Jewish heritage hidden behind their false names but there were a couple of close calls thanks to some jealous ballerinas. Having survived the war, the girls decide, thanks to Frina's absolute refusal to return to Ukraine, to emigrate to America, where they build new lives for themselves. Thanks to a school assignment of her granddaughter's and her son's careful research, Zhanna's story eventually comes to light.Susan Hood's beautiful free verse combined with Greg Dawson's careful research tell Zhanna's story in a powerful, heart-wrenching way. The girls' courage and determination to survive in the face of very threatening, sometimes deadly, challenges is inspiring and remarkable. Zhanna's strong spirit and love of life left their mark on me as I read her story, although I sometimes empathized with her parents struggles to manage their very strong willed young girl. I also found it fascinating to read about how the book came to be and how Zhanna finally told her story thanks to a request from her own young granddaughter. The discovery of Zhanna and Frina's names on a memorial in Ukraine made the story all the more real. The free verse form used in the book gives the reader a chance to dive headfirst into the incredible emotions that Zhanna and her sister faced while trying to survive. For young readers who found Anne Frank's story compelling, I highly recommend this one. And for those unfamiliar with the toll the Holocaust and the events around it took, this is an eye-opener of a book. I would recommend it for older middle grade readers with some maturity just because of the brutal nature of some of the events. While not graphic, there is no changing the awful things that happened during World War II and the years proceeding it.

I absolutely loved this book. This is a children's version of the life of Zhanna Dawson and her sister Frina.Zhanna and Frina were very talented Jewish musicians. Their father taught them to play the piano then made sure they had teachers who could cultivate their talent. It is this talent that helped the two sisters survive Hitler's war. Zhanna and Frina created a whole new identity for themselves and literally hid under the Nazis' noses. A letter from Zhanna's grand-daughter prompted her to tell the story she had kept hidden for years. This should be a must read story in every middle school. For adults there is a version for you written by her son who co-wrote this book. I am looking forward to reading them soon.

I was honored when Susan Hood, an award-winning author of myriad books for children, asked me to collaborate on a version of my book, "Hiding in the Spotlight," for those readers. She did a phenomenal job, telling the story in verse that put the inherent poetry and music of my mother's Holocaust survival tale on the page. And speaking of pages, a note about the 2-star review here based solely on the reader's great displeasure with the ragged edge of the pages in Alias Anna. For that reader's information, and perhaps others, here is what a Chicago Tribune critic said about the ragged look, known in the industry as a Deckle Edge: "Faux as they may be, I love the look and texture of a deckled edge. Publishers usually reserve them for their most premium releases, a deckled edge signaling they think you and your book are something special indeed."

It is rare that one comes across such a compelling page-turner even though an older reader might predict the approximate outcome. I, for one, couldn't put it down. I was so rooting for these beautiful sisters to find their way through their most horrible circumstance. Alias Anna may have been written for the middle schooler yet it is also be the perfect conduit for adults who wish to viscerally experience both the depths of deprivation and the exaltation of the human spirit when faced with the horrors of the holocaust. Sadly, it rings just as true today given the gravity of personal and material destruction caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I just received this book, I have not read it. It is a gift for my book loving daughter. The edges are very rough making it appear to be an old book. I wondered if this was intentional or if it was a manufacturing error. I re-read all of the description and available reviews I could find and no one else mentioned it. I did not know how to find out if it was an error so I wrote this review and the co-author responded with another review explaining the Deckled Edges. Thank you so much to Greg Dawson for enlightening me! I hope this review can save confusion for others about the edges.

This is an amazing story of survival and strength. This is really easy to read, I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3 hours.

I sent a copy to my granddaughter and she could not put it down. She just texted me that she LOVED the book and she learned so much more about a difficult subject in a more personal way.

Such a great book. The poetry used while telling the story was a nice touch. All my kids loved it (ages 5,6 and 8). Highly recommend it. The audiobook is well done too.