Haunting and memorable.
In World War II Poland, a distinguished and visionary Jewish doctor lives and dies by his humanity.
In this fact-based story, Simon, a self-described “Jewish orphan, prisoner of the Warsaw Ghetto,” narrates the tragic tale of Janusz Korczak, who had established a progressive orphanage in Warsaw. When the staff (except for the gentiles) and children were sent to the walled-in ghetto in 1940, Korczak, like so many others, tried to reason with the occupying Germans but was briefly imprisoned. In 1942, during a roundup, he nobly accompanied the children to their deaths in Treblinka. In this translation from the Italian, Cohen-Janca gives Simon a sure voice that is observant and grounded in reality as he describes Korczak’s philosophy of empowering children while also depicting the despair and death in the ghetto: “The Germans don’t want Jewish children to grow up.” Quarello’s softly textured graphite drawings on sepia-colored paper sustain the dark, foreboding air of the story with their stark depictions of buildings and barbed wire. A double gatefold of the children on their final walk to the transport trains is set against an all-white background and is achingly moving. Holocaust stories can be most powerful when seen through the eyes of an individual, and Simon, though a fictional child, is an unforgettable witness.
Haunting and memorable. (afterword, further reading, resources) (Historical fiction. 11-15)Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-55451-715-2
Page Count: 68
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
If Freedman wrote the history textbooks, we would have many more historians. Beginning with an engrossing description of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, he brings the reader the lives of the American colonists and the events leading up to the break with England. The narrative approach to history reads like a good story, yet Freedman tucks in the data that give depth to it. The inclusion of all the people who lived during those times and the roles they played, whether small or large are acknowledged with dignity. The story moves backwards from the Boston Tea Party to the beginning of the European settlement of what they called the New World, and then proceeds chronologically to the signing of the Declaration. “Your Rights and Mine” traces the influence of the document from its inception to the present ending with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The full text of the Declaration and a reproduction of the original are included. A chronology of events and an index are helpful to the young researcher. Another interesting feature is “Visiting the Declaration of Independence.” It contains a short review of what happened to the document in the years after it was written, a useful Web site, and a description of how it is displayed and protected today at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Illustrations from the period add interest and detail. An excellent addition to the American history collection and an engrossing read. (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1448-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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