Alias Anna, by Susan Hood and Greg Dawson

      Alias Anna is the true story about Ukrainian-born Zhanna Arshanskaya. Later using the alias name of Anna, Zhanna and her sister, Frina, are being led, with their family, to what will be their deaths by the Nazis at the start of World War 2, when Germany invades Ukraine and starts eliminating all Jews. Zhanna and her family are Jewish, but her and her sister are also musical prodigies, having performed as children all over Ukraine for people at all levels of society. On the march out of Ukraine, Zhanna's father bribes a guard in the hopes that he will look away while his two young daughters sneak out of the line of people and into...a very uncertain future.

    This is an amazing story, and it just gets more amazing the farther that you read! Co-author Dawson is Zhanna's son, who is telling this story to award-winning author Hood. With short pieces of what seems like Zhanna's voice woven into the story, Hood and Dawson capture Zhanna and Frina's life while under Nazi rule and beyond, trying to survive without a family, a home, money, food - only a gift to play the piano - all the while trying to hide the fact that they are Jewish, which would quickly cost them their lives in the world they are living in.

    The book is written in poetry style, which I normally really enjoy. Some of my all-time favorite books, such as The Crossover, Long Way Down and Out of the Dust are written in this style, and it works so well. With Alias Anna, however, I kept wanting to read Zhanna's story as she would tell it, in chapter format, and not through someone else's words or in this poetic style. In the other books I mention above, the writing style adds to the story. Here, it takes away from it a bit. And that is a true shame, because this is a story you should read and know. It truly is amazing! Written in regular chapter format, this is an easy 5 paw book. But using poetry to tell this story seems forced, and doesn't make the story better. Nobody's fault, it just didn't make the book better. So, I give this 4 paws...but you should read it just the same!