ALA Booklist (Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2019)

For her social studies report on a family member, 12-year-old Charlie researches her grandmother's sister, Lottie, who disappeared during the Holocaust. Though Mom tries to dissuade her from taking on what's sure to be a sad subject and possibly a distressing one, Charlie persists and, with help from her grandmother's memories and treasured mementos, learns that she and Lottie share more than their given name, Charlotte. Charlie's research leads to a deeper understanding of her family's history, a discovery that comforts her grandmother, and connections with previously unknown relatives. An appended author's note reveals how Ross' family history inspired the novel. Charlie stands out as the most multifaceted of the novel's characters. The third-person narrative balances her increasing drive to discover Lottie's fate with details of her everyday life as a rising seventh-grader who botches her audition for orchestra, finds her older brother annoying, and begins to take an interest in boys. But it's the discovery of her family's past that grounds Charlie's story and drives it toward a satisfying conclusion.

Horn Book (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2019)

A middle-school project prompts violin prodigy Charlotte (known as Charlie) to research the great-aunt for whom she was named and who disappeared during the Holocaust; her persistent detective work leads to unexpected discoveries about her family. Sweet twelve-year-old Charlie's story provides an accessible entry point into the Holocaust and its connections to people living today, with a dash of hopefulness amid the difficult history.

Kirkus Reviews

A modern American girl researches the post-World War II fate of her great-aunt, who is both her namesake and a fellow violinist. For a seventh-grade family research project, Charlotte "Charlie" Roth chooses to explore whatever she can find out about "the other Charlotte": Charlotte Kulka, who reportedly perished in the Holocaust. Enlisting the aid of her mother's mother, Nana Rose, the original Charlotte's younger sister, Charlie uses photographs, letters, journals, scrapbooks, library resources, and a dogged determination to uncover the journey and fate of her lost relative. Ross uses a close third-person narration to follow Charlie's discoveries about her family's separations, losses, and adaptive strategies as well as her own emerging relationship with music. While the modern-day characters are more simply drawn than the historical ones, this is a Holocaust story that conveys some of the trauma of the time period without overwhelming graphic detail. Readers will appreciate putting together the puzzle pieces, which are loosely based on the author's own family's story.A highly accessible and endearing historical mystery about a painful period of the past that still resonates in the contemporary landscape. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Seventh grader Charlie was named after her great-aunt Charlotte, known as Lottie, who disappeared during the 1938 Anschluss, and who, like Charlie, was a gifted violinist. A school assignment sends Charlie on a research mission to learn what happened to Lottie: did she perish in the Holocaust, or did she survive, unbeknownst to her family? As Charlie follows clues found in mementos and memories from her beloved Nana Rose, Lottie-s younger sister, she becomes intent on finding Lottie. She researches Ellis Island archives online, tracks down translators of old German and Hungarian, and telephones strangers in other cities. Ross (Kiki and Jacques) convincingly depicts Charlie-s growing passion for-and persistence in-her quest, together with her love for music and a blossoming crush on a fellow musician. Family relationships, as well as issues of aging and Alzheimer-s, are drawn with gentleness and compassion. Ross moves the story at a smooth pace as Charlie encounters new obstacles and overcomes them, thanks to several serendipitous events. This is a tender, hopeful work with just the right level of suspense for younger fans of historical fiction. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)