An amazing story of survival and hope that will resonate with audiences of all ages.
Winkelstein’s (Elephant, Elephant, Come Alive!, 2011, etc.) YA novel offers the compelling account of a Holocaust survivor.
Libe is only 7 years old when the Nazis come to her home in Tuchin, Poland. Her family is Jewish, so their lives are in great danger; in fact, she and her mother are brutally beaten and barely survive. Soon the family loses their possessions and, eventually, their home. Libe and her family are forced to move to the local ghetto, where her sister, Channah, gets separated from them. It’s only thanks to the kindness of Pavlo, a Ukrainian farmer, that they escape the massacre of the town’s Jewish population in 1942. Libe’s father manages to join them at Pavlo’s farm, where they hide themselves away for 18 months. During this period, the family spends time in a haystack, crammed together and with very little food or water. Libe considers Pavlo’s dog, Brisko, to be an unlikely angel; he seems to sense their plight and sounds the alarm whenever danger is nearby. He also serves as a beacon of hope and strength to young Libe in the midst of so much terror and death. Winkelstein fictionalizes the true story of a Holocaust survivor named Laura, using her memories, her father’s videotaped oral history, and his own extensive research into the Holocaust. The author masterfully tells this moving, difficult story, which includes brutal violence, fear, loss, and death, by doing so through the eyes of a child. Along the way, he challenges his young target audience to situate themselves in a very different time and place, concisely defines difficult concepts such as “pogrom” and “Judenrat,” and confronts questions of good and evil. Overall, it’s an honest look at the Holocaust that’s appropriate for young readers without dumbing down real-life history or glossing over the truth. Juliano’s beautiful and often bleak illustrations provide a wonderful accompaniment.
An amazing story of survival and hope that will resonate with audiences of all ages.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0982449868
Page Count: 142
Publisher: Mystic Waters Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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