We thoroughly enjoyed Choices: The True Story of One Family’s Daring Escape to Freedom. It was an exciting story, and it was true. This was the story of a historical event we had never read about before—in fact, I think all I had ever read about it was in a National Geographic article from the 1950s!

Choices tells the story of a young family’s escape from Hungary immediately after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. As the Communist government tightened things up, Kati and Adolf realized they must flee, so their children, Gyorgy and almost-two-year-old Judit, would have the chance to be free. Using the excuse of going to visit a sick relative in a town near the border with Austria, they fled Budapest. After walking 20 kilometers through dark, frozen fields and woods, they approached the guard post. What would happen to the small group of refugees when the guard who had been bribed was not there?

This is an incredible story of bravery and endurance. It is also a story of love—the love of parents for their children, giving them strength to keep going long after most people would have given up. It is also a story of the Holocaust, not just of the Hungarian Revolution: Kati was the sole survivor of her Jewish family when they were taken to Auschwitz.

I read this story aloud, and everyone, from the 19-year-old down to the 7-year-old, was engrossed in the story. After we finished, the 16-year-old volunteered that he would give this book five stars. The 7-year-old said that he would only give it four stars “because of all the lying.” Indeed, lying was the only thing we found in the book that we didn’t appreciate. Adolf and Kati felt like they had to lie several times in order to escape.

The author, who was the toddler, Judit, when the family made their escape, has made her family’s story into an engrossing tale. I am glad to have this book on our shelf, and I expect it will be read more than once.

-Product review by Emma Filbrun, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2017