A review by thegirldevon
The Broken Mirror by Jenny Vasilyev, Kirk Douglas

5.0

I read this book when it first came out in the late 90s. I was a child, and this story helped me understand the Holocaust and the very real human element that was behind all the atrocities that have been turned into statistics in our history books. I am now in my 30s and, throughout my life, this book has always stuck with me. I finally found it again (with help from a research librarian at The Library of Congress) and, though the story is meant for young readers, I found it to be just as heartbreaking and beautiful as I did back then. Right now, it’s December of 2022, and antisemitism is horrifyingly on the rise. It is more important than ever to remember what happens when we let hate dictate our actions and when we focus more on how different we are than on how similar we can be. This book does a beautiful job of reminding us about what is truly important- family, love, giving with no expectations in return, and the power of a story.