THE LILY POND by Annika Thor

Thor, Annika. The Lily Pond. New York: Delacorte Press. 2011. ISBN 9780385908382 

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award honoree for 2012, The Lily Pond, is the sequel to A Faraway Island, the Batchelder Award Winner for 2011.  This award is given to the publisher of the most outstanding book originally published in a foreign language and then translated into English.  Originally published in Swedish and translated by Linda Schenck, these stories have been adapted for television and have become a popular series in Sweden.   

The books chronicle the lives of two Jewish Viennese sisters whose parents send them to a small island near Sweden to live with a foster family when they perceive the threat of Nazi Germany.  The Lily Pond finds the older sister, Stephie, as a thirteen year old, who earns a scholarship to a school in the city of Goteborg, Sweden, and is thus separated from what has become familiar to adjust to new surroundings again.  In the city she lives with a rich family who pride themselves on their good deed of taking Stephie in, while treating her as inferior. They have a son, Sven, who is five years older than Stephie and very attractive and attentive to Steph.  Consequently, Stephie develops a huge crush on Sven that plays a major part in the story. 

This historical novel involves the 1940’s cultures of Austria, Germany, and Sweden, the Jewish race, and the Pentecostal religion during WWII.  Steamboats, trams, bicycles, and cobblestones depict the era as do the references and worries of what Stephie’s Jewish parents are enduring from the Germans back home in Vienna. In Sweden, undercurrents of socialism start to bubble up among the political youth. The fear and persecution of the times filter into Stephie’s life in spite of being moved away from the acute danger.  

Alongside the authenticity of the setting and daily life of the times, I found less authenticity in some of the characters.  The rich family who boards Stephie is stereotypical in their superior attitude toward her, and Aunt Marta’s character is stereotypical of a person of faith who is caricatured as an overbearing fanatic.  The other characters are mostly believable, but the relationship between Sven and Stephie was not.  Although I like Sven's character very much, I had a hard time believing that a young man of eighteen would have the time or inclination to mentor a female boarder of thirteen like a big brother.

Although I found some of the plot a bit weak and unauthentic, I believe that for the age it was written, it holds value and entertainment.  In addition to the Batchelder honor, it is also an ALA-ALSA Notable Children’s Book.  I would recommend it to young readers who are learning about WWII and the Holocaust.  It deals with serious subject matter like prejudice and hate in a way that would be age appropriate.  School Library Journal lauds it “a good addition to World War II literature,” and Book List adds “a compelling look at World War II-era Sweden.”