Thirteen-year-old Mascha spends summers with her grandparents while her father engrosses himself in work, his coping mechanism since the death of Mascha’s mother several years before. Mascha’s grief is the subtext to a story in which her loneliness leads her to befriend two younger kids who live near her grandparents’ home. Like Mascha, Julia and Max seem like outsiders even though their father is well-known in the community. Mascha notices their bruises but it isn’t until she stops by their house one day that she realizes something is terribly wrong. Hearing a scream she looks in the window and sees their father throwing Max against a wall. When she tells her grandparents, they don’t believe her: He’s a well-known citizen, of course he doesn’t beat his children! The denial of adults—and it becomes clear that denial has been happening in the community for a while—is one of the realities of this novel; another is Mascha’s childlike belief that she can save her friends. Her plan involves hiding the children in an abandoned house. Soon the police are looking for the missing children and when they are found Mascha is accused of kidnapping. Nothing is neat in this novel—it’s part of what makes it so compelling—but the story ends with signs of hope, not only for Julia and Max, but also for Mascha, who has great courage and no regrets. (Ages 11–13)

Mascha is spending her summer with her grandparents. For a thirteen-year old it is not ideal, especially because the summer is a difficult time for her family, Mascha's mother passed away during the summer when she was young. While spending the summer with her grandparents she begins to befriend two children, Julia and Max. This friendship between the children develops quickly, and she begins to notice bruises and cuts that are not normal or can be explained. One day, Mascha witnesses an encounter between Julia and Max's father and Max, that leaves her shaken. She tries to tell her grandparents, her father, any adult what she witnesses, but is dismissed. Mascha decides to take it upon herself and rescue Julia and Max, but it does not go as planned.

USBBY Outstanding International Books - Grades 6-8: 2016; German Youth Prize Shortlist, 2013, IBBY Honor Book, 2014, CCBC Choice 2016, The White Raven, 2013.

Author lives in Germany.

German. Originally published in Germany as Elefanten sieht man nicht by Carlsen Verlag GmbH in 2012. English translation by Elizabeth Gaffney published in the United States by Putnam's Sons/ Penguin in 2015.

One brave girl takes an extreme step to protect two abused children

When thirteen-year-old Mascha is sent to her grandparents' for the summer, she spends her days bored and lonely at a nearby playground. There she meets Julia and Max, two young siblings who are incredibly shy and withdrawn. Mascha soon begins to suspect that they are being physically abused by their father, a prominent member of their small community. She tells her grandparents and the authorities, but they all refuse to believe her.

Mascha can't let the abuse go on, so she takes matters into her own hands. Already an international award winner, this beautifully written novel is a haunting and timely tale.