Nicky & Vera by Peter Sís

Nicky & Vera, by Caldecott illustrator Peter Sís, celebrates the quiet heroism of Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 Czech children from the Holocaust.

Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sís. Norton, 2021, 60 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8

Recommended for: ages 4-10

“Nicky was born in 1909, into a century full of promise.” World-shaking events would soon begin to erode that promise, but Nicky managed to avoid them during his early years. His comfortable British middle-class upbringing allowed for a fine education, the opportunity to travel Europe, and eventually become a banker. By the mid-1930s, though, he could no longer avoid the storm clouds spreading from Germany to nearby Czechoslovakia and Austria.

At the same time, Vera was growing up in Prague—also of a comfortable middle-class family who happened to be Jewish. Her parents were growing concerned, as were other Jewish parents they knew, though Vera didn’t know the reason. Nicky did. Summoned to Prague in 1938, he took stock of the situation and, with a few friends, began making lists of children who might be in danger. He intended to see that they got safely to England. Vera ended up on that list.

Peter Sís, a multiple-Caldecott winner, uses his distinctive style to tell a story that only came to light about ten years ago. You may have seen Facebook posts about Nicholas Winton, invited to appear on a popular British TV show where—unbeknownst to him—dozens of the 669 children he rescued, now grown, were in the audience. This is his story, in straightforward text and symbolic illustration that will enchant younger children and intrigue older ones.

Overall Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4
• Artistic/literary value: 5

Also at Redeemed Reader

Review: World War II is a subject of perennial popularity. Voices of the Second World War views it from many (mostly European) first-person perspectives.

Reviews: Two verse memoirs of children who didn’t escape: Moishe Moskowitz’ It Rained Warm Bread (nonfiction) and the lovely *What the Night Sings (nonfiction). Both end in hope.

Resource: See our “Heroes of WWII” book list!

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