"A memoir of survival in World War II"--Cover.

"I was only twelve-and-a-half years old when the shadow of the Third Reich fell across Europe. As the nightmare of the German invasion of my defenseless country began, I was more concerned with my schoolbooks and my family and friends than with the ramifications of war. I could not even begin to imagine the extent of the horrors that were soon to follow"--Back cover.

Mala Szorer had a happy childhood in the Polish village of Tarnogrod on the fringes of a deep pine forest-- until she was twelve, and the German invasion begins. The village became a ghetto; her family and friends were reduced to starvation. Removing her yellow star, Mala risked sneaking to the surrounding villages to barter for food. Coming back to see her loved ones rounded up for deportation, warned to stay away, she walks away from everything she holds dear to live by herself in the forest. Hiding not just from the Nazis but hostile villagers, Mala is followed by a cat who stays with her-- and seems to come to her rescue time and time again. -- adapted from front flap.