A rich life too often flattened into dry chronology.
The story of one teen’s work spying for the Belgian resistance and French underground during World War II, this is a new edition revised and updated by Holocaust educator Stephen Feinberg.
On May 10, 1940, the German army bombed Brussels, and 15-year-old Roman Catholic Rostad’s life changed forever. After exposure to the horrors of war as a Red Cross volunteer, Rostad, code name Squirrel, became a saboteur in a Nazi-run factory where members of the resistance first contacted her. When fellow resisters went missing, she realized she must leave and join the Free Belgian Army in England. Heading toward Portugal, where she’d board a ship to England, she delivered intelligence, documents, and small arms. Just before crossing the border into Spain, however, news of a Spanish bounty on resisters forced her to remain in France, where she spent the rest of the war. The memoir covers the entirety of Rostad’s life, including her marriage to an American GI, immigration to the U.S., and commitment to educating people about the horrors of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, her account tends toward flat summary, and the authors display a preference for dwelling on happier times, providing more richly detailed anecdotes from Rostad’s Depression-era childhood than from her wartime efforts. Lengthy quotations and explanations of historical context slow the narrative. Nevertheless, given the dearth of teen literature spotlighting the resistance, this work represents a valuable resource for initiates seeking firsthand information.
A rich life too often flattened into dry chronology. (notes, discussion questions) (Nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9781682753774
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Fulcrum
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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