Lily Renée, Escape Artist, by Trina Robbins, Anne Timmons, and Mo Oh

(CAUTION: SPOILERS!) What a spectacular comic book!  Lily Renée is a real heroine, and thisbiographical portrayal of her life makes her story perfectly inspiring forgirls of all ages.  We are introduced to Lilyas a child, one who is privileged with a social life rich in culture and good friends.  As her homeland Austria is thrown into WorldWar II, we follow Lily to England where she escapes the Nazis but endures otherhardships.  Separated from her family andeveryone she knows, she must find a way to survive and keep hope alive.  As a young lady she is sent to America, whereshe is finally reunited with her parents. They struggle to get by until Lily is hired as an artist whose heroesbattle the Nazis within the covers of the comics she illustrates.

I was very impressed with how clearly the story waspresented, able to preserve the important details of the Holocaust and Lily’slife without becoming too graphic for the younger readers.  The illustrations were also very informativeand detailed.  I never felt like I wasreading a watered-down version of a real drama, as often happens in historicalbooks for children, but I was drawn in and even a bit nervous that Lily“wouldn’t make it out of this one.”  

While the comic book itself was wonderful, I learned stillmore in the sections added on at the end. Included were German words used in the story, events and social customsof that era, important people, actual photos of Lily and her family, andmore.  This book would be an excellentsupplement to history lessons, as well as a great discussion starter athome.  

**NOTE:  NetGalley andLerner Publishing  provided this book tome free of charge, for review purposes.