IRENA SENDLER AND THE CHILDREN OF THE WARSAW GHETTO

Irena Sendler stands out on the list of righteous Gentiles for her incredibly daring methods of hiding and transporting nearly 400 babies and children out of Nazi-occupied Poland. Sendler continually moved the children from one safe house to another posing as a nurse and employing several tactics, from hiding a 6-month-old in a carpenter’s tool box to concealing little ones under stretchers and floorboards during ambulance runs to smuggling them out in body bags to the cemetery as if ready for burial. Discovered and arrested, she escaped certain execution with the help of her collaborating resistance agency yet was shunned later on in life by the Polish Communists for her efforts. Rubin’s documentary-style narrative is smoothly interspersed with dialogue taken from interviews conducted with many of the now-adult survivors, allowing the realistic and passionate portrayal of this woman’s convictions and determined bravery to ring with the grateful voices of the many she worked so tirelessly to save. Farnsworth’s moody oil renditions authentically capture the tension, fear, despair and darkness of the period and culminate with a shining lifelike portrait of this now elderly heroine, who is only lately being recognized for her valiant behavior. (resources, index) (Picture book/biography. 8-12)