LISA OF WILLESDEN LANE

A young teen goes on the Kindertransport from Austria to England and makes a new life.

Lisa, 14, is studying piano when she must leave Vienna in late 1938 because of the Nazis. She eventually lands in London, living in a Willesden Lane hostel with 32 other young people while she awaits her sister’s arrival. She works in a clothing factory but never forgets her passion for music. Luckily, there is a piano in the hostel, and after learning about auditions for the Royal Academy of Music, Lisa wins a spot. Without parents or money, she eventually makes her debut with the assistance of the Academy and her friends. Only in the epilogue is the sad story of her parents told. This true story was recounted by pianist Golabek—Lisa’s daughter—and Cohen in The Children of Willesden Lane (2003). Adapted by Robbins as a chapter book from Emil Sher’s 2017 young readers’ edition, the text reads like a novel and is punctuated by abundant unsourced and likely fictionalized dialogue, both internal and external. Occasional nonfiction insets offer context but are too cursory to help readers really understand “What is Nazism?” and other topics—though robust backmatter will help those children who avail themselves of it. The faces in the Ivanovs’ black-and-white illustrations feel too jaunty and cartoonlike for this somber topic. The book does, however, effectively portray Lisa’s love for her instrument and her will to live and find her family members.

This adapted story of a Kindertransport survivor doesn’t hang together.