The Upstairs Room is a non-fiction book written by Johanna Reiss. Annie, the main character, and her family are Jews. She has two sisters, Rachel, the oldest, and Sini, the second oldest. Her father wanted to go with the family to America, but Annie's mother was too sick and she refused on going. After a while, trucks came by to pick up Jews and give them work in camps. That's when their father started looking for places to hide at. He had found a place for Annie, Sini and Rachel at the Hanninks. But, Rachel didn't want to go because she wanted to take care of her mother. So the girls left their home, and were separated from their father and Rachel. After living with the Hanninks for some weeks, Mr.Hannink told them that they had to move to the Oostervelds. He doesn't want to be in more danger even though he knew how dangerous it was to hide them. But Mr.Hannink said they'd be with them for a couple of weeks, and it actually turned out to be more weeks than that.
What I Just Read
In chapter 10, the Germans have entered the Oostervelds' house. They were searching the house and were very close to Annie's and Sini's hiding place. The girls tried holding in their breaths so that they wouldn't be heard. As soon as the soldiers left, the girls barely moved since they were really scared. Opoe, the mother of Johan (who's the owner of the house) told them that the soldiers have taken away some cloth and a pig. Luckily, the girls weren't found. Later that day, the Oostervelds find out that another group of Jewish people were found because someone has told the soldiers. Johan ended up killing the man so that there would be less danger. Again, the soldiers came back to ask for a place in their house so that it could be their headquarters. Johan let them have the rooms in front of the house and thought that it would be a good idea to have them there. It surprised me a little bit that Johan let them have a part of the house for a while. I thought that the girls would get caught while the Germans where in the house, but instead they weren't. Johan had an idea that no one would suspect Jewish girls living in their house if Germans where also in the house. But it was a dangerous thing if they got caught.
