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
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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