Review: One Day: A True Story of Survival in the Holocaust

One Day: A True Story of Survival in the Holocaust

by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Benjamin Phillips

Candlewick Studio, 2025

Category: Picture Books (sophisticated picture book for mature readers)

Reviewer: Jeanette Brod

 

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The picture book One Day uses its title to propel the reader on a journey through the brutality and unexpected humanity found in the experiences of French Jews during the Holocaust. The theme was chosen for acclaimed children’s literature author and authority Michael Rosen as part of the Holocaust Memorial Commemoration in 2022. He tells the story of a father and son through the voice of Eugene Handschuh, the son. The author’s family has a second-hand connection to the story of the Handschuh family. In the Author’s Note, Michael Rosen admits to taking some artistic license with the protagonist’s interviews and book.

The story takes place roughly over the course of one year, from late 1942 to late 1943. Amazingly, the story is circular. The catalyst of the story is the arrest of father and son on their way to pick up new false papers. After their heroic escape from the convoy on its way to Auschwitz, father and son return to the French Resistance in Paris to continue to fight against Nazism. But not before Eugene asks the reader where the train from which they escaped went. He answers with the grim reality that of the two hundred Jews on that convoy, only twenty-nine came back from Auschwitz.

The narrative references stark and complicated political concepts: the Resistance, the Communists, the Nazis hunting Jews. The harsh physical realities of the year in captivity, hunger, hard labor, beatings and incarceration, are portrayed as well. Then there is the ever present fear of deportation. The nuances of fear and terror in the facial expressions and among the crowds of people are captured in the riveting, muted pencil, ink, and charcoal illustrations.

Acts of Resistance frame and permeate the story. There is solidarity among the prisoners in different camps, cooperation among camp inmates digging an escape tunnel, coordination in the escape from the train and kindness in the family who took in the father. Membership in the Resistance is how the Hungarian father and son fight the Nazis. With these acts of Resistance on the part of Jews and non-Jews, the author chooses to craft a story of hope within horror.

The sophisticated storytelling in One Day is not for the faint of heart or the young reader. An adult guide and some historical context is recommended before beginning this compelling story. Every Holocaust survivor will tell you no one survives alone. There is an element of luck in any episode of escape or survival. Any individual life can change in an instant on any One Day. That is the haunting truth behind the recurring refrain. Thankfully, Eugene Handschuh survived One Day after another so his story can be shared. Thank you, Michael Rosen, for sharing it. 

 

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Reviewer Jeanette Brod currently works in the Children’s Department at the New Milford, CT, Public Library. She has been the Director of Lifelong Learning at Temple Sholom in New Milford, CT, and the Vice-President of the Children’s Book Council in New York City. Jeanette holds a Master's Degree in Comparative Literature from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is the 2018 recipient of the Joseph Korzenik Holocaust Educator Award from the Maurice Greenberg Center at the University of Hartford. Jeanette is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. She and her husband, Sasha, are the proud parents of two grown children.