Moving and informative; a powerful resource for Holocaust education.
A Holocaust memoir that teaches young readers by sharing one woman’s journey.
“Your mind is like a garden. Plant flowers so weeds can’t grow,” read the embroidered message in the childhood kitchen of identical twins Eva and Miriam Mozes. Even after the Mozes family was imprisoned in Auschwitz, forced to leave the embroidery and most of their other possessions behind, fierce and determined Eva carried this piece of her mama’s wisdom with her. Through the horrifying tribulations of the Holocaust, she held on to her desire for life and the strength of her love for her family, refusing to let the weeds of despair take root in her mind. Although unflinching in its treatment of the disturbing realities of the period, this work also emphasizes humanity’s prevailing capacity for goodness and hope in the face of cruelty. Davidson, who worked with Kor to get her story down in print as well as doing additional research, situates Kor’s life within a broader historical scope, detailing the social and political contexts that allowed the Nazi Party to gain power. Readers will be left not only with an understanding of the events of the Holocaust, but with insight into the long history of antisemitism and the dangers of dehumanizing language, propaganda, and unquestioning nationalism. Bright and compelling, Eva invites young readers to plant flowers of knowledge, love, and acceptance in their own minds.
Moving and informative; a powerful resource for Holocaust education. (afterword, timeline, glossary) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-46063-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Essential.
A measured corrective to pervasive myths about what is often referred to as the “first Thanksgiving.”
Contextualizing them within a Native perspective, Newell (Passamaquoddy) touches on the all-too-familiar elements of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving and its origins and the history of English colonization in the territory now known as New England. In addition to the voyage and landfall of the Mayflower, readers learn about the Doctrine of Discovery that arrogated the lands of non-Christian peoples to European settlers; earlier encounters between the Indigenous peoples of the region and Europeans; and the Great Dying of 1616-1619, which emptied the village of Patuxet by 1620. Short, two- to six-page chapters alternate between the story of the English settlers and exploring the complex political makeup of the region and the culture, agriculture, and technology of the Wampanoag—all before covering the evolution of the holiday. Refreshingly, the lens Newell offers is a Native one, describing how the Wampanoag and other Native peoples received the English rather than the other way around. Key words ranging from estuary to discover are printed in boldface in the narrative and defined in a closing glossary. Nelson (a member of the Leech Lake Band of Minnesota Chippewa) contributes soft line-and-color illustrations of the proceedings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Essential. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-72637-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
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