Representation: Jewish characters
Trigger warnings: Death and murder of parents, mass death, antisemitism, World War Two, military violence and war themes, imprisonment, concentration camps, poverty, explosions, displacement, refugee experiences
Score: Six and a half out of ten.
Find this review on The StoryGraph.

Well. Alias Anna circled my recommendations till I saw it on a library display shelf when I decided to pick it up. I glanced at the blurb, making it seem unique as it was a biography-in-verse about a young musician set in World War Two. I picked the book up and when I closed the final page, I enjoyed most of it, except for one part.

It starts with the first person I see, Zhanna, living peacefully as a child in the late 1920s and early 1930s in what is now Ukraine in the opening pages. Everything changed in the late 1930s when the war began, but not much happens initially until 1941, when the Germans invaded Ukraine, forcing Zhanna and her family to leave. There is a crucial subplot involving Zhanna becoming a pianist from her early childhood and her sister, Frina, later joins her, which I found intriguing.

Soon enough, Zhanna and Frina were alone and the only action they could do is escape to any safe place they could find, but most prominently, they had to change their names to Anna and Marina respectively, so no one could discover who they were. Zhanna and her sister continued to use their aliases until the end of the war when they found peace in Berlin due to other helpful people, but I had a problem with one page. The narrative says music was a way to bring the Nazis and the Jews on the same level away from the war on that page.

The authors, Susan Hood and Greg Dawson, could've removed it, but it stayed there. What is the point of this passage? Is it trying to say that all people are equal and music is a way to bring them together and a coping strategy to ignore the war? The Nazis and the Jews are not on the same level. I could've given Alias Anna eight out of ten, but those words alone made me knock off a point and a half. I liked the writing style, which is all in poetry and not spaced out prose like other novels-in-verse, the overarching theme of resilience and the extra reading material in the end. The conclusion is a high note when Zhanna moves to America after the conflict. That's it. ( )

Anna and her sister adopted new names as they tried to hide in plain sight to survive the Holocaust. Ukrainian Jews, their family was rounded up when the Nazi's invaded Russia. The girls were able to escape a march to the woods that led to the murder of their parents. Piano prodigies, they spent much of the war playing music for the Nazis.
Written in verse, the story starts in response to a letter to Anna (Zannah) from her granddaughter who asks about life at her age. ( )

This biography in verse is great. The backmatter adds a lot to the story, including a note from the co-author who is Alias Anna's son! ( )

I knew I couldn’t get through Spring Break without reading at least one Holocaust book. I had five selected. This is the one I got to. We learn that this book came about when Zhanna’s granddaughter had to write about her grandparent’s history and any major thing that had happened in their life. The story is co-written by her son Greg Dawson, whose daughter sent the letter.

Zhanna Arshanskaya was a child when she, her sister, mother and father and grandparents were sent on a death march. Her father was a candymaker and played violin. He helped his daughters Zhanna and Frina develop a love of music, playing the family’s piano. They were sent to a music conservatory until Jews were no longer welcome. Their father offers a bribe to one of the guards while on the march to look away so his daughter Zhanna can step out of the line. A while later she was joined by her sister. They changed their names to better blend in. Zhanna became Anna and Frina became Marina. The help from a Christian family, an orphanage and believe it or not the Nazis themselves helped them to survive. This is a story that must be read and recommended to students everywhere. I strongly recommend it.

Make sure you check out all of the resources at the end of the story. There are websites, books, etc to help you learn more. ( )

“I don’t care what you do. Just live,” implores their father while marching to the killing fields of Drobitsky Yar, prompting Zhanna and her sister to procure false papers and become part of a troupe entertaining Nazi officers. This taut, true story-in-verse includes quotes from Zhanna and comprehensive back matter. (Sydney Taylor Middle Grade Notable) ( )