Mirjam Pressler (edit name/settings)

German writer Mirjam Pressler is the author of several novels that have won awards in her native Germany and also received high praise from critics after being translated into English. In Malka and Halinka Pressler focuses on young Jewish protagonists who have been forced by fate to endure the Holocaust, while in Shylock's Daughter she returns readers to fifteenth-century Italy as she attempts to answer haunting questions surrounding the motivations of characters in a popular play by William Shakespeare. While receiving notice for her novels, Pressler is most well known for her work revising the diaries of Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank, and she is considered an expert on Franks's life and writings. In addition to translating Frank's famous diary from Dutch into German, Pressler has edited The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition and has also authored Anne Frank: A Hidden Life for younger readers. Winner of the 1994 German Youth Literature Prize for her work, Pressler divides her time between homes in Bavaria and Israel.

First published in Germany in 1994, Halinka takes readers back to Europe in the years following the end of World War II, in this case, to Germany in 1952. Twelve-year-old Halinka has been placed in an institutional home for neglected and troubled girls to keep her from her abusive mother. However, here she has to deal with a different kind of survival, as she not only attempts to mask her Jewish heritage by claiming to be a Gypsy, but also copes by refusing to even think about the more positive future that might be hers if her aunt is able to win custody of her. As readers follow Halinka through a week in her life, they share her determination to win a contest to benefit a local charity, feel her frustration over the taunting of a class bully, and root for her as she seeks a quiet space in an empty luggage storeroom and takes a personal and emotional risk by helping Renata, a younger friend, in a world where the girls usually find safety in isolation. Praising Pressler's novel, Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman noted that readers will "recognize the universal experience of the displaced child and her search for home," while a Publishers Weekly contributor noted the "complexity" of the novel's protagonist. "The optimistic note at the conclusion rises sturdily from Pressler's careful foundation," the Publishers Weekly critic added, "giving readers not a feel-good ending but something solid to feel good about." In Horn Book a reviewer also cited the sensitive interpretation made by translator Elizabeth D. Crawford, noting: "Halinka joins the ranks of treasured works in translation … that we celebrate for their contribution to the diversity of our literature, but read because they're just so good."

Based on a true story, Pressler's 2001 novel Malka takes place in Poland during World War II. In the fall of 1943 the Germans arrive, and soon Jews in Dr. Hannah Mai's village are being rounded up and disappearing. Aware of the danger to her family, Dr. Mai attempts to lead her two daughters—seven-year-old Malka and her older sister Minna—across the Hungarian border to safety. However, the family's trek is arduous, and bad weather and inadequate clothing slow down their progress. Soon Malka becomes sick, and her mother is forced to leave the child with strangers who promise to care for the child until it is safe to send her onward. However, Malka's journey is far from over: the German family sends Malka out on her own to save themselves from the harsh reprisals meted out to those who harbor Jews. On her own, the child finds shelter in dark alleys, doorways, and an abandoned coal cellar. Meanwhile, her mother, miles away in Hungary, is torn with guilt over her decision to leave her young daughter behind. She returns to search for her and miraculously the two are reunited after being apart for half a year.