This is a hard hitting 'what if' tale where the author looks at how his life may have been had his family not left for America in the years before World War Two. Kubert uses simple yet powerful pencil drawings and balanced text to tell the tale of Yossel and he and his family are relocated to the Warsaw Ghetto and struggle to survive in the conditions they find there. As time moves on Yossel becomes the NAzi's pet artist and using this position he finds ways not only to survive but to fight back, but as is to be expected all does not go to plan. Despite the simplicity of the illustrations and text this story hits home in ways you don't expect and shows the hardships and choices that those in the ghettos and camps had to make in order to survive the day nevermind the week, month or year. Put it this way, as I started and finished the story in the early hours of a Saturday morning I felt ashamed to be part of the same species as those who participated in these events and had to fight back the tears in order to read those last few pages.