The recent inundation of Holocaust literature draws much on personal history; Edith’s story stands out for its child-eyed perspective recounted in an easily readable and intriguing narrative. In 1938, Edith and her family wisely leave their home in Vienna, escaping the pending Nazi occupation, keeping a step ahead of the persecution as they next move to Belgium and then France. When her father is finally arrested in Paris, her mother makes the difficult decision to send Edith and her younger brother away to a safety home for Jewish children in the southern countryside. Kacer’s clear-cut, poised description magnifies a child’s emotional turmoil as she copes with fear, separation from parents, loneliness, her hidden identity and her mistrust of strangers. Edith’s survival story also illustrates the benevolent attitude of the village’s non-Jewish French citizens, who willingly took part in a conspiracy to protect the children’s secret background. As unimaginable as it may seem for today’s youngsters to comprehend the experience Edith endured, Kacer has succeeded in allowing the young reader into the apprehensive and troubled mind of this child survivor. Another sensitive addition to the Holocaust Remembrance Series. (Biography. 8-11)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-897187-06-8
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Kostyal has written a tight, bracing biography of the renowned Antarctic explorer, illustrated with dramatic black-and-white photographs. Shackleton, a man whose sense of romance and adventure repeatedly drew him from conventional British society to Antarctica (“that lonely, windswept desert of ice and snow at the bottom of the world”), succeeded neither in reaching the South Pole nor traversing the continent, but he exhibited such remarkable valor that, according to the author, his name has become “synonymous with bravery and endurance.” As usual, there is more about his expeditions than the man, but Kostyal renders the tale in vivid prose that is enhanced by maps, quotes, a timeline and some remarkable photographs. This quality book will be a useful addition in both home and school libraries. (map, chronology, index) (Biography. 8-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7922-7393-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
Part of the Spotlight on American History series, The Scopes Trial is a clear, if lackluster, account of the events leading up to, and the historical significance of, the 1925 Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tenn. When 24-year-old John Scopes, football coach and math teacher at the Rhea County Central High School, substituted for the regular science teacher at the end of a term, he had no idea he was about to make history. But because Scopes taught theories of evolution—theories that were flatly denied by Christian fundamentalists—in his classroom, he had broken a state law and had to stand trial. Readers unfamiliar with the event will find this a thorough, though not especially compelling, treatment of the subject. Aided by fine, period-appropriate sepia-tone photographs. Bibliography; chronology; index. (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1994
ISBN: 1-56294-407-X
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
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