Twelve-year-old Dory Byrne lives with her brothers on New York City's Lower East Side, waiting impatiently through the darkest hours of World War II for her Pop to come home from fighting Hitler. Legally speaking, Dory's brother, Fish, isn't old enough to be in charge of Dory and her younger brother, Pike, but the neighborhood knows the score and, like Pop always says, "the neighborhood will give you what you need." There's the lady from the bakery, who saves them leftover crullers. The kind landlord who checks in on them. And every Thursday night, the Byrnes enjoy a free bowl of seafood stew at Mr. Caputo's restaurant. Which is where Dory learns about the hand-pulled elevator that is the only way to get to Caputo's upper floors. The elevator that's so creaky and ancient, nobody's been in it for decades. Until now. The Byrne's landlord dies unexpectedly, and the new one is anything but kind. When he catches on about Pop being gone, he turns the Byrnes in, hoping they'll be shipped off to an orphanage. Dory and her brothers need a hideout, and suddenly the elevator and the abandoned hotel it leads to provide just the solution they need.
This is a Mark Twain Nominee for grades 4-6. I really don't think children that age will understand all the things this story explains. It takes place in World War II times but many of the things they describe would only be understood by older readers. The story was a sweet story of family and working together to survive, and all the hard times they endure.
