TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER The Bookworm Sez Advertisement

Do you have lots of friends?

You probably have tons of them. You've got friends from school and friends from your neighborhood, the pals you've got from summer school and the ones you play with at the park or during vacations.

And if you're a lucky kid, at least one of those friends will still be around when you're as old as Mom or maybe even as old as Grandma.

In the new book "Angel Girl" by Laurie Friedman (illustrations by Ofra Amit), a boy named Herman has a friend who saved his life.

The last time Herman saw his mother, she pushed him toward his older brothers and told him to lie about his age. "The time has come for you to be a man," she said. And she stepped into the open train car.

Herman was taken to a camp, given a uniform and a work assignment. He missed his home and his dog. He missed toothbrushes and pillows because he didn't have those things at the camp.

He missed his mother. He was cold and tired. He was hungry.

Very hungry.

One night Herman's mother came to him in a dream. She told him that an angel would save him. Two days later, a girl appeared on the other side of the camp fence and she gave Herman an apple.

Every day, Herman quietly sneaked to the fence. Every day, his Angel Girl tossed an apple over the wire, even though it meant big danger to them both.

The apple kept Herman alive. It gave him hope.

When the war was over, Herman moved to England. After he grew up, he made a new life in America but he never forgot his Angel Girl. He thought he would only see her again in his dreams.

One night, a friend invited Herman out on a date with a beautiful girl who was kind and smart. She said she grew up on a farm, near a camp. Every day, she said, she took apples to a boy on the other side of the fence.

And Herman found his Angel Girl again.

I can't help myself. "Angel Girl" makes me cry every time I open the cover.

It's not the illustrations by Ofra Amit, even though they set the tone perfectly with faces that will haunt you and eyes that speak volumes, even for a children's book.

It's not the author's note with which Laurie Friedman starts this story or even the tale itself, incredible as it is.

No, what gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up is the fact that this book is based on a true story.

Yup -- and you can see a picture of the real Herman and his wife, Roma, in the back of this beautiful little book.

"Angel Girl" is almost too powerful for the 5-to-10-year-olds it's meant for; in fact, I wonder if the story line might even scare them a little. Read it with caution to little ones. Read it for yourself again and again.

"Angel Girl" by Laurie Friedman, illustrations by Ofra Amit, Carolrhoda Books, $16.95, 32 pages.