THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED HIS FATHER INTO AUSCHWITZ

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THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED HIS FATHER INTO AUSCHWITZ

Name: THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED HIS FATHER INTO AUSCHWITZ
Author: Jeremy Dronfield
ISBN: 978-0-06-323617-2

A TRUE STORY RETOLD FOR YOUNG READERS

by Jeremy Dronfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 2023

Difficult, gut-wrenching, terrifying, gruesome, and so very important: never again.

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A family’s experiences in the Holocaust told in heart-stopping, relentless detail.

Dronfield emphasizes that the horrific events are true and the Jewish family at the center of the story is real. In 1938 Vienna, Gustav and Tini Kleinmann, daughters Edith and Herta, and sons Fritz and Kurt were living quiet lives in a small apartment above Papa’s upholstery shop. When Hitler invaded Austria, the Nazis immediately enacted anti-Jewish laws. On Kristallnacht, synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were looted, smashed, and burned. Former trusted friends betrayed them and were instrumental in what followed. Mutti filed applications, hoping the children might get limited spots in rescue programs—Edith eventually secured a British work permit; later, 10-year-old Kurt was allowed to go to America. While Kurt found a loving surrogate family, he always worried about his loved ones. Fritz and Papa endured yearslong nightmares in Buchenwald, Auschwitz, the Death March, and Mauthausen. The beatings, forced labor, starvation, illness, death, and brutal deprivation they witnessed and endured are meticulously described, interwoven with necessary historical background and sparing readers nothing. Nazis, collaborators, and fellow prisoners alike are identified by name, and grateful credit is given to those few who showed kindness. Dronfield informs readers of each character’s fate, some surviving and reuniting and others murdered, lost in the horror that was the Holocaust. Reading with a knowledgeable adult would be invaluable and comforting.

Difficult, gut-wrenching, terrifying, gruesome, and so very important: never again. (timeline, author’s note, glossary, further reading, bibliography, source notes) (Nonfiction. 11-16)

Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-06-323617-2

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022

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MISSISSIPPI RIVER

A JOURNEY DOWN THE FATHER OF WATERS

by Peter Lourie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2000

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Intrepid explorer Lourie tackles the “Father of Waters,” the Mighty Mississippi, traveling by canoe, bicycle, foot, and car, 2,340 miles from the headwaters of the great river at the Canadian border to the river’s end in the Gulf of Mexico. As with his other “river titles” (Rio Grande, 1999, etc.), he intertwines history, quotes, and period photographs, interviews with people living on and around the river, personal observations, and contemporary photographs of his journey. He touches on the Native Americans—who still harvest wild rice on the Mississippi, and named the river—loggers, steamboats, Civil War battles, and sunken treasure. He stops to talk with a contemporary barge pilot, who tows jumbo-sized tank barges, or 30 barges carrying 45,000 tons of goods up and down and comments: “You think ‘river river river’ night and day for weeks on end.” Lourie describes the working waterway of locks and barges, oil refineries and diesel engines, and the more tranquil areas with heron and alligators, and cypress swamps. A personal travelogue, historical geography, and welcome introduction to the majestic river, past and present. (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000

ISBN: 1-56397-756-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Boyds Mills

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

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LOCKED IN ICE
by Peter Lourie

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JACK LONDON AND THE KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH
by Peter Lourie ; illustrated by Wendell Minor

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THE POLAR BEAR SCIENTISTS
by Peter Lourie

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GIVE ME LIBERTY!

THE STORY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

by Russell Freedman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

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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)