Captain Rosalie, written by Timothee De Fombelle and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault. Translation by Sam Gordon. Candlewick Press, Penguin Random House. 2019. $21.99 ages 8 and up

"Each day, my mission continues its advance. Each day I, Captain Rosalie, am at my post at the back of the class, ready for a surprise attack beneath the coats. I look at the inscriptions on the blackboard as if they form a battle plan. I try to remember everything. I copy little bits down in the back pages of my notebook. No one pays me any attention.
The older children have forgotten about me."

Her father is off fighting in the Great War, her mother is working, and Rosalie sits at the back of the nearby one-room schoolhouse watching while all the other children do their lessons. Rosalie creates no commotion at any time. The teacher and the other children think that she is doing what five-year-olds do, drawing pictures and daydreaming.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Rosalie is very busy learning just as the other students are doing. She is on a mission of her own choosing.

"When at last the class sits down, I pretend to be elsewhere,
lost in my thoughts, even though I am concentrating perfectly.
I am Captain Rosalie, and I have infiltrated their squad this fall
morning in 1917. I know what I have to do. One day I'll be
awarded a medal for this. It's already gleaming deep within me."

It takes time. Along the way, Rosalie describes the classroom, the learning, the other children in the school. Evenings at home are often spent listening to her father's long letters, praising Rosalie and her mother for the bravery they are showing as the war goes on. Her father sends drawings he has made of his experiences there. Days and nights run into each other. The time is long, and they are lonely. Then, one night, everything changes.

"For a month I have lived in the memory of that night after the
snow. My mother still cannot bring herself to look at me. She has
changed. When she drops me off at school in the morning, I'm
almost relieved to see her go. She walks off, shuffling, even though
the ground is no longer at all slippery."

Captain Rosalie springs into action. She knows she is ready. She poses her first question of the teacher, asking to go home and retrieve the notebook she has left behind that morning. He is reluctant. Edgar, an older student and Captain Rosalie's lieutenant, agrees to accompany her. As she climbs onto a chair to bring down the box that holds her father's letters, she makes an amazing discovery.

"This closed box starts talking.
The words come slowly.
Assorted  . . .  sweets. 
It's written there, on one line, in violet letters.
I have been fighting that for months.
It was my mission.
I can read."

The letters she reads from her father are not the same as the letters her mother has read to her. They are dark, and full of despair. Because she can read, Rosalie discovers the truth. On that same day, another letter arrives from the Ministry of War. It contains a medal, awarded to her father for his bravery in action. Her mother gives it to her. Rosalie, though tearful, is able to smile.

Isabelle Arsenault's spare, muted gray and black artwork perfectly matches the story told. There are  few hints of color - Rosalie and her mother's red hair, the glow of the fire at school, the blue of the her father's drawings, the envelope and the box containing the medal.

Timothee De Fombelle uses no unnecessary words to share with his readers the emotional impact of war on families and communities. Rosalie's voice is strong and resilient, and brings readers into the story she narrates. Eloquently written, while heartbreaking, it is a story that will live long in your heart. Please share it!