Julian is attending a new school, Beecher High. He tells Grandmere that he still feels badly about how he treated Auggie over his facial deformity. His Grandmere explains that it is what we do after learning from our mistakes that matters most. Julian tells her that he wants to write his essay for school about her life. Grandmere is initially reluctant but then agrees to tell him the whole story, even though it will be very difficult.
Grandmere's story begins with her life in the 1930's in France. At that time, her name was Sara Blum and she lived in the village of Aubervilliers-aux-Bois in the Margeride mountains with her father Max, a renowned surgeon and her mother Rose, a math teacher and one of the first women to earn an advanced degree in mathematics. Her early life was idyllic, living in a comfortable home with beautiful furniture, pretty clothes and many toys. In the spring, Sara and her parents would picnic on the edge of the ancient forest called the Mernuit which surrounded their village. In the spring, the forest floor was covered with bright blue and violet bluebells, making it a magical place.
In June 1940, France surrendered to Nazi Germany, dividing the country into two zones, the Occupied zone and the Free Zone. Aubervilliers-aux-Bois was located in the Free Zone. This meant that life went on mostly the same for Sara: she was able to ride her scooter to school, walk to the market with friends, and go to the cinema. But soon the Vichy government began to pass laws restricting what French Jews could do. They were banned from certain public places, they had Juif or Jew, stamped on their identity cards and soon an anti-Jewish propaganda campaign began, blaming Jews for the troubles in France. In the summer of 1942, Jews in the Occupied Zone were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing. The Vel' d'Hiv roundup also took place in July. This was the mass arrest of 13,000 foreign Jews who were sent to a stadium in Paris. They were placed on trains and deported to the east, to concentration camps.
Sara found her school, the Ecole Lafayette to be a haven. In the spring of 1943, one day during math class, Sara was found daydreaming and sketching in her book. Although Mademoiselle Petitjean was kind, Sara fled the class when the bell rang, leaving behind her sketchbook. It was fortunately retrieved by her seatmate, a boy called "Tourteau" which means crab. This was not his real name but an unkind nickname given by his classmates because he used crutches after a bout of polio left his legs too weak to walk. People said he had contracted polio from his father who worked in the sewers.
When Tourteau returned Sara's book, she thanked him but didn't intervene when another classmate, Vincent pushed him to the ground. Vincent was very handsome and many of the girls had a crush on him including Sara. That changed when he made an anti-Semitic remark to Sara, and after he praised her drawing, she felt humiliated and angry. Her friends, Marianne and Sophie tried to comfort Sara, telling her that his father works for the Nazis. It was at this point, Sara realized that life was changing.
When Sara told her parents what happened, they argued over leaving France. While her father wanted to leave, her mother believed that things would improve. That night Papa asked Sara to promise to continue wearing her winter boots even though it was April. Although Sara promised, the next morning she wore her pretty red shoes to school.
That day in school, during math class, Pastor Luc entered Mademoiselle Petitjean's class. After whispering with Pastor Luc, Mademoiselle asked Sara and Ruth to quietly gather their things and to come with her. She told them that there was a round-up of the Jews in Aubervilliers-aux-Bois and that the Nazis were on their way to the school to take the Jewish children. Mademoiselle told the two girls that a maquisard (member of the French Resistance) would take them and the other Jewish students to hide in the forest. Sara had left her coat back in the classroom so Mademoiselle offered her scarf. When the maquisard led the twelve Jewish students from the school into the woods, Sara did not follow. Instead she ran back into the school and hid in the bell tower. She didn't want to ruin her beautiful red shoes.
When the Nazis arrived, Pastor Luc almost succeeded in convincing them that none of the Jewish students had shown up for school. But just when they were about to leave, Vincent yelled to the Nazis from inside that school, that the children were in the woods. With the new snow, the soldiers were able to easily follow the tracks of the children and Antoine, the maquisard. The Nazis executed Antoine and took the children away in the truck despite Pastor Luc and Mademoiselle's attempt to convince them to let the children go. Not wishing the children to be taken alone, Mademoiselle decided to accompany them. Only Ruth survived the ordeal: they were taken to the camp at Beaune-la-Rolande and then forced to march in the snow to Pithiviers. The younger children could not keep up so Mademoiselle stayed with them. They were never heard from again.
Still hidden in the bell tower, Sara watched as the two gendarmes searched for the three children who were missing from the roundup. She knew the only reason she wasn't caught in the round-up was because she cared more about her shoes. Suddenly Tourteau appeared in the tower, and asked Sara to follow him. He told her that to remain in the tower would mean being discovered. He led her out of the school, through the sewers to his home in Dannevilliers, fifteen kilometers from her own town. Because Julien's neighbours were suspected Nazi collaborators, he hid Sara in the dilapidated barn across from his house. When Sara tried to thank him, he asked her to call him by his real name, Julien Beaumier.
Julien's parents, Vivienne and Jean-Paul, provided Sara with a blanket and some food and made the loft in their barn livable. Although Vivienne told Sara that she would be reunited with her parents who were also in hiding, Sara knew from her dream she would never see her maman again. As Julien and his family worked to keep Sara safe, she lived each day with the fear that she might be discovered and taken away to a camp. Sara spent long hours alone, sometimes sketching, reading the books Vivienne brought her and daydreaming that she was a white bird that flew over the countryside.
By the spring of 1944, both Sara and Julien had grown into young adults. Sara was tall with long red hair and Julien, a handsome young man. People and events outside the Beaumier home had changed as well. Vincent had joined the new police, the Milice who collaborated with the Nazis. Pastor Luc had joined the Maquis. The Beaumier's celebrated Sara's birthday with a special cake and they listened to the radio. They learned that the Allies had captured Monte Cassino in Italy and were on their way to France. Sara had hope for the end of the war and began to consider plans for after the war. Sara and Julien had also fallen in love.
The next day on his way to Ecole Lafayette, Julien was arrested by either the Nazis or the gendarmes. While going through Julien's possessions, Vincent found Sara's sketchbook and made the connection that it belonged to the missing Jewish girl they never found in the round-up. Remembering the time he followed Julien back to his barn, Vincent decided to return to search the Beamier's barn. This set in motion a chain of events that had deadly repercussions for all involved.
Discussion
White Bird builds on the story told in Palacio's first novel, Wonder and in the short stories from Auggie and Me. In this new story, told in graphic novel format, Julian Albans reaches out to his Grandmere Sara, to learn about what happened to her during World War II, as part of a school assignment. Her life story offers some important lessons for his own journey.
Julian was the class bully and treated Auggie terribly. Now he's ashamed of how he acted. However, Grandmere reminds Julian that it is what we do after we have learned from our mistakes that is the most important thing. Our mistakes do not define us. Julian's Grandmere wasn't harsh with her grandson because she recognized that youth often make mistakes and don't always understand the significance of events and actions when they are young. In her own life, Sara had a similar experience: she didn't stand up for a boy in her class who was ridiculed for having a disability. Instead, she was concerned about being popular and fashionable. Her experiences during the war, matured her and made her realize the wrong she had willingly participated in.
Grandmere encourages Julian to be someone who has a light inside him, rather than a person attracted to the darkness. Grandmere tells Julian how she questioned her father about why the Nazis hate Jews. Her father explained that he believes "...that all people have a light that shines inside of them. This light allows us to see into other people's hearts, to see the beauty there. The love. The sadness. The humanity. Some people though have lost this light. They have darkness inside them, so that is all they see in others: darkness. No beauty. No love. Why do they hate us? Because they cannot see our light. Nor can they extinguish it. As long as we shire our light, we win. That is why they hate us. Because they will never take our light from us."
Vincent represents what the Nazis were and what they believed. Vincent was a handsome boy that all the girls wanted, but inside he was ugly. He looked at Julien, crippled by polio and did not see another person. He didn't see Julien's humanity because his own inner ugliness prevented him from seeing Julien's light. Sara didn't understand this and so she didn't intervene when Vincent pushed Julien down. She didn't confront Vincent's injustice and unkindness to Julien. However, Sara's experiences during the war help her to understand that she was part of that injustice by simply not speaking up. This is the lesson she wants to impart to her grandson, Julian: you must stand up to evil.
She explains this at the end of her story, when Julian is attempting to understand how the Holocaust could have happened. His Grandmere tells him, "Evil is only stopped when good people finally come together to put an end to it. There must be the will." She encourages Julian to act, "If you see injustice, you will fight it. You will speak out." He promises Grandmere that he will be a light. Grandmere tells Julian, "...It always takes courage to be kind. But in those days when such kindness could cost you everything -- your freedom, your life-- kindness becomes a miracle. It becomes that light in the darkness that Papa talked about, the very essence of our humanity. It is hope. "
White Bird is a work of historical fiction that is both written and illustrated by Palacio. The graphic novel is divided into three parts as well as a Prologue and
an Epilogue, separated by a black blank page, each with a thought-provoking quote. The
illustrations, created digitally are exquisitely coloured, especially
the panels showcasing the bluebells in the Mernuit forest. The title of the novel is taken from the motif of the white bird symbolizing freedom, that is found throughout the novel.
Palacio, in her Glossary writes that White Bird "... was not based on any one person's story, but was influenced by the many inspiring stories I've read over the years about children who went into hiding during the Holocaust and the ordinary citizens who helped them." Stories like White Bird are important not only because they help others learn about and from the Holocaust, but to also because they inspire readers to work towards creating a world free of discrimination and prejudice.
The graphic novel format is the perfect vehicle to do just this, to engage and inform young readers about such important topics like the Holocaust, bullying and prejudice in a way that is not overwhelming. Using this format has allowed author/illustrator Palacio to highlight both acts of cruelty and acts of courage and kindness.
White Bird is a fitting addition to the Wonder story.
Book Details:
White Bird by R.J. Palacio
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 2019
220 pp.
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