For Kids

THE YELLOW STAR: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark , by Carmen Agra Deedy, with illustrations by Henri Sørensen. (Peachtree, $16.95; grades 1 to 3.) After listening to a compelling story, particularly one that's tugged at their heartstrings, children want to know one thing: Is it true? Did this really happen? As they make their way in the world, youngsters want to figure out, as well they should, what is real and what isn't.

The Yellow Star , then, is complicated. It's about a real person, King Christian X of Denmark, who helped save thousands of Danish Jews from Nazi death camps during World War II, but the story is made up; it's an oft-told tale that has attained—as the subtitle notes—mythic proportions.

Deedy's version begins with this simple statement: "Early in the year 1940, in the country of Denmark, there were only Danes." While there were many different kinds of Danes—stout, tall, silly, etc.—they were all, Deedy writes, loyal subjects of King Christian. The king was so beloved that he was able to ride his horse each morning unprotected through the streets of Copenhagen, the capital city. But when World War II erupted and Germany invaded, the Nazis decreed, as they had elsewhere, that all Jews must sew yellow stars into their clothing so they could be identified easily. Christian, according to legend, devised a plan to hide the Jews. He had a yellow star sewn into his clothing and then went out for his morning ride, hoping his subjects would see what he had done and follow his lead, which they did. "And, once again," Deedy writes, "in the country of Denmark,...