Visual Language LLC

Writing and Design by Ellen M Shapiro

The Secret Buttons written and designed by Ellen M. Shapiro

Illustrations by Caterina Baldi
Flip through the book HERE

Anni Blum is just twelve years old when she and her little sister Rosie travel alone to rural England from Nazi-occupied Vienna, Austria. The borders are closed to Jews, so the girls depart to live with cousins as ‘domestic servants.’ To not be recognized as Jews — and get thrown off the train — their dark, curly hair is pulled back tightly and they’re dressed to blend in with the ‘Aryan’ travelers.

On the train, they come up with quick answers for the conductor, knit, and practice English, worried about what lies ahead. They arrive in a country deep in preparations for war. Because the girls speak German, the local children accuse them of being Nazi spies. And that’s just the beginning of the challenges they face. 

The Secret Buttons introduces Anni and Rosie Blum, girls who solve big problems while dealing with the fears, dangers, and difficulties all immigrants face when adjusting to a new culture and learning a new language.

Inspired by a memory my mother shared with me, this suspenseful coming-of-age novel takes place in the years leading to WWII and the Holocaust. 

  • Historical fiction for readers age 10 and up; classified as “teen and young adult” on Amazon.
  • Inspiring rather than scary and depressing; shines a new light on a dark time in history.
  • Instills compassion for immigrants and people who are discriminated against.
  • 216 oversized pages, 8 3/4 x 10”.
  • Fully illustrated with 16 double-page-spread paintings and 50 spot illustrations by Caterina Baldi, one of Italy’s most celebrated book artists.

HARDCOVER with cloth binding, endpapers, oversized (8.75 x 10″) with full-color printing on fine European paper
$29.95  
PREMIUM SOFT COVER, same size as hardcover, same fine paper and color printing (be sure to check “see all formats and editions” for the large paperback)
$24.95 
eBOOK, fully illustrated and in color
$8.99
PAPERBACK, 5,5 x 8.25″, black and white​ illustrations
$10.95

Click to order on Amazon
On the train from Vienna to Hoek von Holland, where the girls will board a boat to England, they knit and practice English. Even after Anni’s quick thinking rescues them from being discovered as Jews and being thrown off the train, she can’t stop daydreaming about the special Sunday afternoons spent knitting with their mother and grannies.
Outfitted as domestic servants, the girls are confused by how different everything is in England. Not just the language, the weather, the side of the street cars drive on, but the way people behave, doing strange things like painting out the street signs. British money, with its pounds, shillings and pence, is especially tricky. But they’re fast learners.
It’s better to joke about why big holes might be needed in back gardens than to think about air raid sirens going off and bombs dropping. While Anni reads the directions for building an Anderson Shelter to Rosie and Cousin Ronald, Keith is the first of the neighborhood lads to hop over the fence, just in time to torment the girls.
In addition to the paintings that take readers through the story, 50 small spot illustrations help illuminate the time and place. Here, after Viennese schoolchildren are shown facial diagrams of those to be eliminated from the “master race,” Anni examines her face in the mirror, worried that someone who sees her nose will call the police.
The story may be sophisticated in many ways, but the vocabulary is middle-grade and the type is large and easy to read. The book was designed with beautiful typefaces that were in use in Europe during the period that the story takes place: 1938–41.
People earmarked for extermination line up to seek help from Uncle Benjamin, whose mission is to get as many as possible to America before it’s too late. But unless he figures something out, they’ll arrive penniless — it’s illegal for valuables and currency to leave the U.K. during wartime.

THE CHARACTERS YOU’LL MEET on the pages of The Secret Buttons! Besides Anni and Rosie, you’ll get to know Mutti and Papa, Grandma Lilli and Granny Sarah, the Sarah Club girls, and Lotte Weiss, the Viennese woman with a heart and a parlor as big as a ballroom. In England you’ll meet kindly but strict Uncle Benjamin, who can’t figure out how to succeed at his humanitarian mission; snooty Aunt Vivian, who yearns for the days before the blackouts and the Blitz; and their equally snooty son Ronald, appointed the girls’ English teacher (and soon to be their best mate).

I hope you’ll fall in love with the townspeople and church ladies in the village of Tuppinshire, too, especially the generous young woman at the shop where the girls buy candy, comic books and sewing supplies. And that you’ll cheer for Anni as she interrogates the Nazi soldier who bailed from his burning plane over the village. Maybe you’ll also get a crush on the handsome neighbor at the sheep farm; admire big brother William, on leave from the RAF, and his bride-to-be Judith; you’ll want to take care of the various dogs, sheep and birds; and have a few words to offer the advice-dispensing diamond merchant on Manhattan’s 47th Street, a refugee himself.

Here’s what readers have to say:

“A fascinating journey through the hardships of life during WWII through the eyes of two talented, courageous young girls.”

Sara Leone
Holocaust historian and editor
Duke University Press

“Is it possible to describe a novel that centers on a family’s escape from Nazi horrors as delightful? I can and I will. Ellen Shapiro’s rhythmic writing and flowing graphic design, enriched by alluring illustrations, is an intelligent and movingly engaging totality from cover to cover.”

Steven Heller
Former art director
New York Times Book Review,
Co-chair emeritus, ‘Designer as Author’
MFA program, School of Visual Arts, NYC

“This very moving, important, timely story will inspire our children — and all of us — to be brave and resilient in the face of evil.”

Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, PhD
Chancellor’s Professor of Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

“A gentle, superbly illustrated way for young people to learn about what others may have experienced during a not-so-long-ago time in history.” face of evil.”

Laura Lilienthal
Learning Support Teacher for 11- to 16-year-olds
Shaftesbury School, London, England

NEW Paperback!
Peek into the Cover Collaboration, Step-by-Step

After publishing two oversized, full-color editions, I realized the need for a smaller, lower-cost book that kids could easily carry in their backpacks. The 5.5 x 8.25″ black-and-white paperback has small but important text updates and a bibliography, expanded glossary, and time line. The cover needed to be simpler than the crowded Vienna railroad station depicted on the hardcover and premium softcover editions. We hope you find the paperback cover, which developed from the sketches below, equally compelling:

1. Caterina Baldi’s first sketch shows the girls holding hands, contemplating their new home in rural England.
2. What about changing the setting to the High Street that opens Chapter Three, but with the shops closed as German planes fly overhead?
3. The girls are holding hands again, but the mood and setting, Caterina and I hope, will entice readers to pick up the book, look inside, and find out more.
READ THE LATEST REVIEW HERE

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