Johanna Reiss
Author of The Upstairs Room
About the Author
Series
Works by Johanna Reiss
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1932-04-04
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Netherlands
USA - Birthplace
- Winterswijk, Netherlands
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
- Occupations
- teacher (Elementary or Primary school)
novelist
memoirist
Holocaust survivor
public speaker - Short biography
- Johanna Reiss, née "Annie" de Leeuw, was born to a Jewish family in Winterswijk, The Netherlands. She and her older sister survived the Holocaust by being hidden for nearly three years in the tiny attic of a farmhouse in the rural village of Usselo by farmer Johan Oosterveld and his family. After World War II, she became an elementary school teacher. She emigrated in the early 1950s to the USA, where she married Jim Reiss, with whom she would have two children. On his urging, she wrote the now-classic young adult novel, The Upstairs Room (1972), based on her personal experiences. It won her numerous awards and she produced a sequel, The Journey Back (1976), which described her family's return to their home and attempts to rebuild their lives after the war.
In a memoir written for adults, A Hidden Life (2009), she confronted memories of childhood as well as her husband's suicide at age 37. An active public speaker, she visits schools to talk to students about the times she lived through.
Members
Reviews
The Upstairs Room (Trophy Newbery) by Johanna Reiss
Memoir by a young Jewish girl of being hidden from the Nazis during World War II. The more I read the more I appreciated this story, and felt it should be required reading by adolescents. Nothing graphic, but violence is mentioned in passing, such as knowing that relatives getting on the trains to work camps will never come back.
½
Review later. Emotionally powerful and heart-breaking story, especially for someone who has read The Upstairs Room, the first book by Johanna Reiss which tells the story of her hiding as a Jewish child during WWII in Holland.
From the first time I read the book (and I’ve read it many times), I bonded closely with Annie, the first person narrator. The story begins in 1938 when the protagonist Annie de Leeuw (Johanna’s name as a child) is six years old and just beginning to hear about the problems that Hitler is bringing to her world.
Four years later, in late summer 1942, Annie and her older sister Sini go into hiding with a non-Jewish Dutch family, the Oostervelds. Annie and Sini are cared for by Dientje, Opoe, and particularly by Johan Oosterveld, who is a loving man of strong character. Their father and oldest sister Rachel hide elsewhere during the war. Their mother died in the hospital of kidney disease just after they went into hiding.
The girls live in an upstairs room (hence, the title), but they have to crawl into the back of a closet when anyone else comes near the house. Imagine what happens when the Nazis decide to make the house their headquarters . . . .
This book is for 5th to 8th graders, but a good reader that is mature could read it when a little younger. And you can’t be too old for this book.
… (more)
Four years later, in late summer 1942, Annie and her older sister Sini go into hiding with a non-Jewish Dutch family, the Oostervelds. Annie and Sini are cared for by Dientje, Opoe, and particularly by Johan Oosterveld, who is a loving man of strong character. Their father and oldest sister Rachel hide elsewhere during the war. Their mother died in the hospital of kidney disease just after they went into hiding.
The girls live in an upstairs room (hence, the title), but they have to crawl into the back of a closet when anyone else comes near the house. Imagine what happens when the Nazis decide to make the house their headquarters . . . .
This book is for 5th to 8th graders, but a good reader that is mature could read it when a little younger. And you can’t be too old for this book.
… (more)
This is a true story about a eight year old little girl named Annie de Leeuw who's Jewish and has to hid from the German army. She has to leave her mother and father to hid at a farm house in the upstairs room. This book looks in to the life of a eight year old, what she wonder and experience at the time. This book might touch the lives of other children they may not be going through what she went through but may find a connection in a way. This book is a great science concept that can show recording things could make a big difference and how discoveries are made.… (more)
1 
keylin_Rodriguez | 28 other reviews | Apr 6, 2020 |
keylin_Rodriguez | 28 other reviews | Apr 6, 2020 | Lists
Newbery Adjacent (1)
1970s (1)
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 4
- Members
- 2,661
- Popularity
- #9,642
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 33
- ISBNs
- 76
- Languages
- 5