R. M. RomeroRezensionen

Gr 9 Up—The discovery of a long-forgotten Jewish cemetery in Prague and a handsome ghost-boy with a troubling
story set Ilana on a path to a deeper understanding of what it means to sacrifice for those we love. A poignant,
meticulously crafted novel-in-verse that creates an immersive reading experience.

Wonderful for tween readers interested in WWII and Poland. The magic adds an element of power to the bleakness of war and occupation, reminding us that the real magic comes from the human heart.

A short read that engulfs the reader in histories of personal journeys and legends. Combining cultures and beliefs into an empowering story of triumph.

This was a nice, quick, and enlightening read. It was lovely and well-written prose that flowed very well and I thoroughly enjoyed it too. It's a story about a girl, a biracial Jewish girl, llana, who's an artist and wants to play music. She loves music more than anything and wants to be a violinist, but her parents want her to have a more stable career to fall back on so she can take care of herself and everything.
She is sent to live with her aunt in Prague to see what it's like to live as an artist and while she's there she finds an old run-down and forgotten cemetery behind her aunt's cottage. She meets the ghost of a boy who died years ago and introduces her to the side of life there in Prague where the ghosts walk the streets. She also meets and is found to be of interest by another ghost and has to help the ghost of the boy, Benjamin along with figuring things out for herself with life and everything. It's an enchanting tale of love, loss, and life written in verse and I loved it. I would recommend checking it out if you're a fan of poetry, prose, novels in verse, supernatural, romance between a ghost and a human, figuring out and finding your way in life.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Peachtree/Peachtree Teen for letting me read and review this lovely story. Make sure to check it out if you haven't already. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a nice, quick, and enlightening read. It was lovely and well-written prose that flowed very well and I thoroughly enjoyed it too. It's a story about a girl, a biracial Jewish girl, llana, who's an artist and wants to play music. She loves music more than anything and wants to be a violinist, but her parents want her to have a more stable career to fall back on so she can take care of herself and everything.
She is sent to live with her aunt in Prague to see what it's like to live as an artist and while she's there she finds an old run-down and forgotten cemetery behind her aunt's cottage. She meets the ghost of a boy who died years ago and introduces her to the side of life there in Prague where the ghosts walk the streets. She also meets and is found to be of interest by another ghost and has to help the ghost of the boy, Benjamin along with figuring things out for herself with life and everything. It's an enchanting tale of love, loss, and life written in verse and I loved it. I would recommend checking it out if you're a fan of poetry, prose, novels in verse, supernatural, romance between a ghost and a human, figuring out and finding your way in life.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Peachtree/Peachtree Teen for letting me read and review this lovely story. Make sure to check it out if you haven't already. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sixteen-year-old budding violinist Ilana visits Prague, where she encounters ghosts and a river monster (vodnik) while tending the graves in an abandoned Jewish cemetery. This suspenseful novel-in-verse combines elements of Judaic tradition with magical realism and is divided into movements, resembling the classical music Ilana plays. (Sydney Taylor Young Adult Notable)

Maybe
my father is still running from Prague.
Maybe
my mother is still fleeing Havana.
Maybe
my entire family is still trying to escape history.
(But if that’s true, what am I doing here, drowning in it?)"

Thank you NetGalley and Peachtree for the chance to read and review The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R. M. Romero.

I was a little confused when I started the book. I liked it, but I was like, is the formatting just off? Well, turns out NetGalley put it in the poetry section for a reason.

Do I like modern poetry? No. 9 times out of 10 I don't care for it and I have to think of something nice to say because I like the poet. In this case, it weirdly works, and while individual quotes won't work for you, the overall effect of the book does. It makes it soft and slow and perfectly conveys a haunting, and the darkness behind it.

Ilana has been banished from Miami for the summer. Her parents have taken her violin and want her to focus on studying for the SATs for the summer in Prague with her aunt.

"I fight with my parents. I dream about monsters. What else do you do when you’re sixteen?"

They also hope that the life of a writer will scare Ilana away from becoming a musician and turn to a more sensible career. Ilana instead tends to a cemetery and meets a Jewish ghost named Benjamin, who shows her around Prague and the ways in which it's haunted by more than just ghosts.

"I want to clean Benjamin’s grave, lay a stone there for him.
(Flowers would wither
and fade. A stone is eternal— like memory,
like love.)
But how can I honor a disappearing boy when I don’t even know where he’s buried?"

Ilana meets the 3 other ghost children, all Jewish; it was a rabbi who had cast the man without a shadow out of his original home. While she wants to join them and be understood for her music in their home, she slowly comes to understand what it means to be a vodnik and why the ghosts are fading.

"If you must live with a monster, it’s safer to be adored by him above all others."

Can't wait to see more by this author in the future!

‘’Lopez means:
son of Lope,
son of wolf.
But it’s the Lopez women
who have always howled the loudest.
They had to be fierce
and stubborn
to survive.’’

‘’They fled the pyres
(the flames
fueled by hatred)
devouring
the street corners,
synagogues,
cemeteries
of Spain,
crossing the ocean
with their faith
and Shabbat candlestick
tucked under their skirts.’’

Ilana leaves Miami for Prague. She is a daughter of refugees from the Czech Republic and Cuba, a girl whose ancestors faced the torture of the Nazis and the tyranny of Castro’s regime. Her parents have already planned her future but Ilana knows that she has her own course to take, her own restless spirit to follow. When they decide that a European summer in the company of her aunt will change her mind and make her more receptive to their parents, Illana leaves her friends behind. But Prague is waiting. Its streets are whispering. Its very air is alive with hundreds of years of History and Culture. llana only has to listen to its call…

‘’Prague
the golden city
of a hundred towers
and a thousand stories
for the summer.’’

‘’Prague is old,
but her streets are dancing.’’

‘’I dream about men
wandering the streets of Prague,
their lantern -eyes alight.
The wind doesn’t stir
their coats;
their throats barely flash
as they breathe.’’

This marvellous story needs to grace the bookshelves of every reader. It is an ode to one of the most beautiful cities in our world. Its pages echo with the lullabies of folklore, the steps of the vodnik, and the Golem. The sorrowful song of a violin, the starlight in Alphonse Mucha’s works, the laughter of the witch puppets of Prague.

‘’Prague’s always confusing itself.
It doesn’t know
what’s part of its true history
and what is a story
people tell about it.

It can’t remember
if it was built by travellers
or a woman named Libuse
who could see the future,
if Rabbi Loew was a scholar
or a magician
who made a soldier
out of clay
to protect
the Jewish people here.

It doesn’t know
if the birch groves are sleent
of if they're full of vila-
enchanted women
whose beauty
haunts
the minds of foresters

Prague believes in magic,
Prague believes in itself.’’

A city of ghosts that fall in love with the living. And the living cannot help but fall in love with them…This IS Prague.

‘’There aren’t many Jews left in Prague;
the Shoah
(the greatest shipwreck
of our People)
stole them away,
leaving their books,
their songs,
their stories behind.
But the Jews of Prague
are all around me here.
Their dust grows up
through the earth;
their hands reach for me.’’

‘’Inside the Pinkas Synagogue
(built in 1535)
there are names painted on the walls
in red and black ink.

They’re a chapter
in the history of my People,
but I can’t read them all.
There are too many -
78,000
victims of the Nazis,
Czechs and Slovaks
murdered, all because
they were Jews.

This is what it’s like to be Jewish
in Europe.
Every beautiful thing
has horror buried under it.

I’m always walking on bones.’’

This is a girl that hears the call of her past. A strong, courageous young woman who risks all for those she loves, for her heritage, for a desperate attempt to see a tiny moment of justice restored. Romero’s story is a siren’s song that doesn’t tempt but urges us to open our eyes, to learn, to love. It is a cry to be brave when the time comes for us to fight against our dreams. A cry for us to understand that we must NEVER FORGET.

‘’Baruch ata Adonai,
Eloheinu Melech ha - olam,
asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav
v’zivavu l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat.’’

Many thanks to PeachTree Teen and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

‘’Across the sea, however, was a dark country. Its residents, huge rats whose appetites seemed as great as the ocean itself, had been crafted by a wicked witch from shadows, and tears and ash.’’

Karolina is a seamstress. She weaves starlight and wishes. When the Land of the Dolls is conquered by a vicious army of rats, she manages to escape to the world of the humans and finds herself in Krakow in 1939. Keeping company to the Dollmaker who fights his own demons, she realizes that his troubled soul and unique gift will lead them both to a perilous course as Poland is invaded by the Nazi monsters. When barbarity replaces humanity, when tortures replace toys, only magic can provide us with a possible escape…

Dear God, what can I possibly say about R.M.Romero’s outstanding novel? When the darkest hours in the History of our world blend with the magical, when the Fairytale becomes one with the Terror, you can only read and try to strengthen your heart because it is bound to break before long. She combines Krakow’s mysticism and culture with the unthinkable persecution of the Jewish people and the brave souls who helped them. The duality of the Dollmaker and the Rat reflects the battle between Peace and War, between Good and Evil, between Hope and Despair. The dolls come alive and the Polish myths provide the finest elements for Magical Realism to transform a tale of Terror into a tale of Hope.

Hoffman’s Tales, the heritage of Polish musicians, the resilience and bravery of the Jewish citizens of Poland, the mythical characters of Lakanica, Jánošík, Dogoda and the Firebird. The unbearable moments of the ghetto, the starvation, the people’s hatred towards innocent souls, the massacre, the Hell that was called ‘’Auschwitz’’ are depicted with sensitivity, lyricism and utmost tenderness. This is a tale that will tear you to pieces before it lets you smile through your tears…

Perhaps the nobody actors should read such books before they decide to ‘’grace’’ us with their ‘’opinions’’ on race and persecution…And yes, I am still mad!

Please, read this book. Give it to your children, to every young person. And repeat ‘’Never again’ page after page…

‘’You can destroy a person, Karolina, but destroying their story is far more difficult. No one is ever really lost as long as their story still exists.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/

I usually don't read books with war as its backbone but this one was the exception. The war factor is covered by a thin layer of fantasy. It works really well and makes it easier to finish although it was heart wrenching. I think this is a good book for middle grade to teach them about the ugliness of war and how we must live on, rebuild and be strong despite the ruins of the war.

How can such an enchanting story leave me so haunted? I didn't know anything about this book except that it occurs during World War 2 and I assumed it was merely historical fiction, which given the subject matter is heavy enough. I'd had it on my to be read list for months when I saw it at the library and checked it out.

Throughout the book, you hear two stories that of the occupation of the Land of the Dolls and that of occupied Poland. They begin to be eerily similar, and Karolina (the magical doll) is nervous about the safety of the doll maker, (German-born, Polish citizen Cyryl Brzezick). And the other human friends that she has come to love.

As you may expect with a story set in this period some, characters get happy endings while others bravely sacrifice themselves for others. Like a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, the end will leave you in tears.

I'd put it in the older Middle-Grade age group for that reason. As always with a quality story, adults and YA readers may want to pick this up as well. I could see middle grade and high school students having some lively discussions while reading this. I'm adding it to my list of living books in the World War 2 category.

Please note that I borrowed this book from my library without a review requirement or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that, I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.

'Krakow, Poland' 👀👀

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Excellent
Recommended: Highly Recommended
Level: Middle School

Though I've begun to love reading historical fiction (especially historical fantasy), I've come to dread books about the Holocaust because they never fail to break my heart. The Dollmaker of Krakow was no exception to this rule. This book was both splendid and sad, heart-warming and heart-wrenching. The writing was simple, but easy for the reluctant reader to understand, and the fantasy elements perfectly mirrored the true horrors of the Holocaust. While most middle grade students are already aware of the atrocities that took place during World War II, this book could be an excellent way to start a discussion about painful historical events.

The Dollmaker of Krakow focuses on the journey of a doll named Karolina, whose soul has just been summoned to the human world for a purpose she does not yet know. Karolina has lived in the Land of the Dolls so long that she no longer remembers the human she once belonged to. While her friends lament losing their lives in the human world, Karolina busies herself by sewing wishes into the beautiful clothing she creates for others.

When evil rats from a nearby kingdom invade her home, Karolina flees with the help of a kind wind, soon finding herself in Krakow, Poland just before the Nazi occupation. There she meets a kind dollmaker named Cyryl, who is in the process of making a beautiful dollhouse for a young Jewish girl named Rena. As World War II begins and life becomes more and more difficult for Rena and her father, Karolina must find a way to convince the dollmaker that he has magic worth performing.

I'm not even sure where to begin with this book, as it was absolutely breath-taking from beginning to end. At first, I was a little skeptical about the idea of a quick, magical fix for the atrocities of the Holocaust, as it felt too much like lessening their impact. I was pleased, however, to find that the dollmaker's magic can only perform small miracles, allowing him to save only a few people in the end of the story. The magic adds a whimsical aspect to the story being told, but does not in any way diminish the true horror of the Holocaust. Because this is a middle grade novel, it is not explicit in describing what happened at death camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, but it leaves the reader with no doubts as to the fate of everyone sent there. Like Pam Munoz Ryan's Echo, the fantasy elements do not distract from the true lessons from history being taught to the reader, which I appreciated. I also really enjoyed the beautiful illustrations, as they added a visual element to the beautiful storytelling throughout the novel. My only gripe is that I wish they had been in full color!

The characters in this story were absolutely delightful, making it feel like a fairy tale tale rather than a novel. There is a very clear line between the "good guys" and the "bad guys," even going as far as calling Nazi officers and Anti-Semitic Germans "witches." Where The Apprentice Witch (the last middle grade novel I read) is too simple, however, The Dollmaker of Krakow is uncomplicated without ever feeling like the author is talking down to the reader. She makes it very clear throughout the novel (as well as in her Author's Note) that even magic cannot mend the broken souls of those with hatred in their hearts, and I genuinely felt the losses and heartbreaks of each character as if they were real people.

Romero also avoids dumbing any of the characters down; Erich Brandt starts off innocent (when he first meets Fritz), but then shoes his true colors later on as his mindset changes. The reader also learns that hatred is not born, but learned; the child who injures Mysz is clearly only parroting behavior he has learned from the adults around him, as the dollmaker explains. Despite the simplicity of the story, I felt that this novel presented an excellent introduction to the Holocaust for young readers, likely causing them to ask questions about why the Jews were treated the way they were during World War II, and how Hitler could gain so much unchecked power so quickly.

Along with the characters, I thought the simplified metaphor was also a creative way to explain the Holocaust. In order to mirror the events taking place in the human world, Romero occasionally flashes back to the Land of Dolls, where Karolina must flee from evil rats who have killed her leaders and taken over her kingdom. At one point, the rats invade her home, injuring her and forcing her to leave while they take everything she owns away from her. Other dolls are forced to work for the rats, while still others are burned and tossed away.

Though simplified, this fantasy world represents very real horrors happening to Jewish people like Rena and her father in the human world. Though the rats instantly made me think of The Nutcracker, I loved that their story was used to help soften the blow of real-world horrors for a middle grade audience. After all, it's much easier to read about the burning of dolls than it is to read about the burning of actual humans with chemical weapons. Despite this, you definitely still feel an emotional punch when things go badly for both the dolls and the humans in the story, so nothing of historical importance is diminished by the fantasy.

To me, the most important part of the novel lies at the end, when R.M Romero presents the reader with a timeline of the events that took place during World War II. For the uninitiated, this provides a helpful overview into what was going on in the real world during the time this story takes place. This lets young readers know that, while the elements of magic are fictional, the Holocaust was not, opening their minds to this tragedy so that it never happens again.

I was also incredibly touched by Romero's Author's Note, which explains that she was inspired to write this story after visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau for herself. Her last words in particular struck me as being incredibly powerful, especially when read by a middle school student: "Please, be kind. Please, be brave. Please, don't let it happen again." While the story itself captured me and tugged on my heartstrings, it was this Author's Note that made me decide this was an incredibly important book.

It's obvious to me that Romero took great care in being both sensitive and honest when it came to writing about such heavy historical events. Based on her Author's Note, I can tell that her trip to Auschwitz deeply affected her, compelling her to write a story for middle grade audiences to teach them important history, while also enchanting them with the idea that there is real magic in acts of kindness. I highly recommend it to lovers of both fantasy and historical fiction, as it will both enchant you and make you think deeply about humanity and the way we should treat one another. As it is often said, those who do not learn from their history are doomed to repeat it, and this book would compel any reader to seek meaningful change in order to make the world a kinder place in the future.

The story starts in the Land of the Dolls, which has been invaded by rats. Karolina, one of the dolls, finds herself transported to the human world where she comes to life in the shop of the Dollmaker. However, things are not much better in the human world than in the Land of the Dolls because she is now in Poland in 1939. The Dollmaker is a solitary character but with Karolina's help, he makes friends with a Jewish family. When the Nazis invade, Karolina and the Dollmaker do what they can for their new friends and then for other Jewish children. Unfortunately, this has disastrous consequences for the Dollmaker.
RM Romero writes beautifully and skilfully depicts the characters and settings. Because part of the story is set within history there can be no happy ending but the cruelty of the Nazi regime is sensitively handled - it is obvious what happens to the human characters but it is not described. The cover illustration is gorgeous and there are also borders and medallions throughout the book. The borders act to separate chapters set in the real world from those set in the Land of the Dolls while the medallions at the start of each chapter tie in with the content of the chapter. Although I enjoyed the character of Karolina and her interactions in the real world, I resented being pulled away from this very engaging, believable world by the chapters set in the Land of the Dolls. The disturbing historical elements in this book mean it is most suitable for readers aged 10 and up but I wonder if children of this age, well past playing with dolls, might be put off by this aspect of the story.

I obtained this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thank you!🙂

This book was a very poignant story. It described the characters of the Dollmaker, Rena, Josef and Karolina wonderfully. It is narrated by Karolina and she draws my heart into this story exquisitely, but I could feel the draw of the inevitable conclusion and when if came, all though I hoped things could have been different, it just broke my heart, especially the Dollmaker, Cyryl Brzezick's last words to Karolina. Amazing heartfelt tale.

It's a book about the Holocaust that involves a living, talking, doll. It isn't poorly done and wouldn't it be nice if magic existed and could help fight Nazis, and yes, the magic is probably an allegory, but none of that means that I'm going to be rah rah Dollmaker of Krakow. I feel like one of those cranky old ladies shouting Have some respect! I guess talking dolls and magic is an age-appropriate way to introduce children to some of the horrors we humans have managed to inflict on other humans (I think The Dollmaker of Krakow is marketed as an advanced middle-grade novel), and may be more tactful than how I learned about the Holocaust -- I'm assuming that my grade four teacher had watched Sophie's Choice the night before because she more-or-less detailed the plot to a bunch of ten-year-olds one morning -- but I don't know if I'd want my daughter to read The Dollmaker of Krakow until after she'd read something more factual, like Anne Frank, because magic doesn't save us (unless you're going all My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic on us). Maybe read The Dollmaker of Krakow, but go go punch a Nazi in the face afterwards.

The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero went on sale September 26, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.