The tale is divided into two parts, the first concerning the long journey to the Free Zone, and the second once they arrived in Menton. Told in a graphic novel format, the tension and excitement remain true to the much longer memoir. The tale is based on the true story Un Sac de Billes, by Joseph Joffo. This is the stunning, powerful story of Joseph Joffo and his escape from the Nazis. You hear? Never!” Would the Joffos once again escape the clutches of evil? “You’re Jews, but you must never, ever admit to it.
“There’s one more thing you have to know,” their father explained to them. Today it’s your turn.” Money had been put aside for their journey to Menton, but they would have to live by their wits. Their older brothers had already made it to the Free Zone. Their father had escaped the clutches of soldiers when he was seven and soon his sons would have to travel down a similar path. Jo and Maurice were banned from “the movies, the train,” and began to be bullied and beaten. Soon that very freedom would be threatened again by those who forced them to wear a yellow star. “Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité” was the motto that set the family free in France. The stories were exciting and visions of the experience entered their minds. Maurice’s and Jo’s nighttime stories from their father reminded them of the Russian pograms and how their family was forced to flee. Joffo told them that they were among Jews, their faces tightened and they soon left. One of the soldiers began to ramble on saying, “The war is rotten. The skulls on the bands of their hats, the iron crosses on their pockets, and the swastikas could only spell trouble, trouble that their father was not unfamiliar with.
Outside the black boots hit the cobblestones on their way to Joffo’s for haircuts. It was time to hurry home to their father’s barbershop and that dreaded homework. “Ten-year-olds don’t cry over marbles,” Maurice exclaimed as he gave it back. Tears quickly came to Jo’s eyes when Maurice pocketed the marble. He had lost the other ones to his brother, Maurice, and didn’t want to lose his lucky one. Jo crouched down on a cobblestone street in Paris taking careful aim with his last marble.
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