THE JOURNEY BACK

This is a sequel to Reiss's THE UPSTAIRS ROOM, a gripping tale about Jewish children hiding from the Nazis in the home of a kindly Dutch family. THE JOURNEY BACK takes up Annie De Leeuw's story as the war comes to an end, and the girl, now a young teenager, seeks to return to nomal life when so much has been lost and so many have died. Reiss does a nice job of reading her own book; her natural Dutch accent strengthens the story's reality. But this second book seems weak compared to the first, in which everything is a life-or-death struggle. Here, the problems concern Annie's sister, who's become a Christian, and Annie's own feelings of being torn between the family that hid her and what's left of her true family. Historically interesting, but not dramatically riveting. M.C. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/JUL 02]