Difficult, gut-wrenching, terrifying, gruesome, and so very important: never again.
A family’s experiences in the Holocaust told in heart-stopping, relentless detail.
Dronfield emphasizes that the horrific events are true and the Jewish family at the center of the story is real. In 1938 Vienna, Gustav and Tini Kleinmann, daughters Edith and Herta, and sons Fritz and Kurt were living quiet lives in a small apartment above Papa’s upholstery shop. When Hitler invaded Austria, the Nazis immediately enacted anti-Jewish laws. On Kristallnacht, synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were looted, smashed, and burned. Former trusted friends betrayed them and were instrumental in what followed. Mutti filed applications, hoping the children might get limited spots in rescue programs—Edith eventually secured a British work permit; later, 10-year-old Kurt was allowed to go to America. While Kurt found a loving surrogate family, he always worried about his loved ones. Fritz and Papa endured yearslong nightmares in Buchenwald, Auschwitz, the Death March, and Mauthausen. The beatings, forced labor, starvation, illness, death, and brutal deprivation they witnessed and endured are meticulously described, interwoven with necessary historical background and sparing readers nothing. Nazis, collaborators, and fellow prisoners alike are identified by name, and grateful credit is given to those few who showed kindness. Dronfield informs readers of each character’s fate, some surviving and reuniting and others murdered, lost in the horror that was the Holocaust. Reading with a knowledgeable adult would be invaluable and comforting.
Difficult, gut-wrenching, terrifying, gruesome, and so very important: never again. (timeline, author’s note, glossary, further reading, bibliography, source notes) (Nonfiction. 11-16)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-323617-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Hopping wraps her cogent account of how the Nee-mee-pu (Nez Perce) were rooted out of their homeland and only subdued after a long and heroic pursuit around twin character portraits of the group and of its most renowned member. While presenting Joseph as one chief among several—and not a war chief, as sometimes depicted, but “a peace chief, a civil leader” whose greatest skill was the ability to “sway others with well-chosen words”—she places him in a peaceable, prosperous and steady society that enjoyed good relations with encroaching “So-ya-pu” until broken promises, profound misunderstanding and outright aggression escalated into violence. Joseph argued for peace before and during the tragic “War of 1877” and in later years too as he became a nationally known figure. His tale has been told plenty of times to young audiences, but this iteration comes in an appealingly compact format, with plenty of contemporary photos and maps, plus a generous selection of backmatter. (glossary, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4027-6842-2
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2010
This mixed-format profile of the Great Soul sandwiches a concise narrative account of his life—enhanced by plenty of photos and sketched illustrations, plus side boxes and a spread on Hindu theology and customs—between a look at formative experiences in his early career presented in graphic panels and closing spreads of short passages from his works arranged by major themes (“Civil Disobedience,” “Love”). Urging readers to “listen to his words and consider whether some of his goals are also our own,” de Lambilly follows Gandhi from birth to assassination, focusing especially on the development of his philosophy, his methods of nonviolent protest and the relentless courage with which he took on the forces of racial, national and religious prejudice. Though the author’s fact checking could have been better—Pakistan was not “the world’s first Muslim country,” nor was her subject the “first person to use non-violence in politics”—Gandhi’s inspiring example and message is conveyed here with eloquence and simplicity in an appealingly designed package. The resource list includes works for both adults and younger audiences. (index) (Biography. 11-13)
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59270-094-3
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
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