"the context of the surrounding social setting is fascinating—a snapshot of a vanished world presented with charming, black-and-white period illustrations. ury’s narrative tone is amusingly sardonic at times—affectionate but assessing, as it aims to appeal to both children and their parents. her portraits of the various adults that annemarie encounters are refreshingly textured; they’re not the one-dimensional authority figures that were more typical of children’s books of the time. the story also handles annemarie’s shifting emotions, from feeling forlorn to gradually coming to like many people at wittdün, in a lively, often charming way. it’s easy to see why this series might have been so popular with german families nearly a century ago." kirkus reviews