THE TREE OF LIFE: Hope Is Priceless, Timeless

I am a fan of books about nature, especially trees. Okay, books about birds, too, and families, and inspiring people... and animals. It's easy to see why I resist naming favorites among anything, especially books. There are so many wonderful things to read about and learn about. Click any of the above to see that my comments about such books reveal my admiration and appreciation for the talent that created the books but also of the subject being addressed or the story being told.

ROCKY POND BOOKS, 2024

This, then is a book that hits my heart across many waves of "favorites". THE TREE OF LIFE: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World is written by Elisa Boxer and illustrated by Arianna Rozentsveig. It is a storytelling masterpiece, but it's a story from actual events. About an actual tree, and its offspring. About the power of community to serve as family when family is being destroyed. About the continuity of life... and of HOPE. 

The center of this account is a tree, a maple sapling. With subdued and subtle illustrations and text that tells enough, but not too much, encounter life within the walls of a concentration camp during the Holocaust, one of the few camps that allowed a small group of children to continue living, if you could call it that. It portrays the history with a  balance between visible struggle and hardship with aspects that are softened, somehow familiar, with smiles of excitement and hope. When it comes to the prisoners in these camps, modern readers sometimes question: why didn't they rebel or resist? First, those efforts did occur, but nearly all accounts of such were suppressed and denied. In fact, though, this is a story of resistance, offering details that involve helping a sapling grow while helping young children learn about their heritage's celebrate their holidays, and hold tight to their identities. 

And, hold tight to hope. 

Few survived that horror, but those few who did kept that tree, and their hope, alive. When relief eventually reached the few who remained, a five foot tall tree was waiting with them. It became a symbol of LIFE, of HOPE, of WITNESS to the truth of history. That surviving tree became an honored landmark, but it also provided seeds and cuttings to grow into more trees of hope. One of those offspring trees concludes this account in an unlikely place, but one that also witnessed death and celebrates hope. 

A book with this much power and depth could seem an unlikely choice for a picture book, but that assumption would be wrong. The target age here is wide, and welcoming. Readers (or listeners) of many ages will bring to it their own experiences, their own thoughts and feelings about trees, and communities, and hope. And they will take from it what each needs, regardless of age or background. And all will savor the rich illustrations and powerful but accessible text.

In the ongoing public discussions about education, about "what kids need", about grit or resilience or test scores, the truth is that young people need many things, and most of all they need good books and good stories. In this case, this nonfiction treatment of a powerful symbol of LIFE and HOPE is a work of art, and of heart. 

HIDING FROM THE NAZIS IN PLAIN SIGHT: A Powerful Graphic Novel

Capstone Press, 2024

I recently read a new graphic biography of two remarkably talented Jewish sisters who survived WWII and the concentration camps through a rare combination of talent and kindness. HIDING FROM THE NAZIS IN PLAIN SIGHT: A Graphic Novel Biography of Hanna and Trina Arshanskaya was written by Lydia Lukidis and illustrated by Aleksandar Sotirovski. At only 32 pages, this slim but comprehensive approach makes their story accessible and allows younger readers (elementary and middle grade) a view of one human journey within the massive historic events of the Holocaust, a tragedy  that often seem incomprehensible. 

In brief, these sisters were raised from birth in a Polish family that celebrated and surrounded themselves with classical music. Both sisters developed remarkable skill at the piano, playing individually and at the same keyboard.Their early talent and hard work made them locally famous and earned scholarships, impressing teachers and audiences.

When German troops invaded Poland in 1939 the family was rounded up to be taken to camps. First one, then later the other sister managed to escape the early transport marches. Initially, they were taken in and hidden by the family of a classmate. In their city they could have been easily recognized. With new names and false identities as non-Jews, they were helped to move to a remote orphanage. Their talent became obvious and they eventually were performing on stage under their new identities, often for audiences filled with uniformed Nazi soldiers. Entertaining them was infuriating, but also put them inconstant danger of being recognized. The later years of the war led to happy endings for their lives, despite the painful loss of their family and loved ones. Back matter reveals many helpful details and allow further questioning and researching. 

I don't often include graphic formats in these posts, but this complex and unusual content, the story of these remarkable sisters, fits this format better than picture book format does. Like picture books, though, it presents content that pairs text and visual narrative to strengthen both,  making their story complete, compact, and compelling.  I urge families, librarians, and teachers to check out this terrific account and use it to launch further discussions and studies. Readers will see their age-peers in situations that allow them to connect more fully with the historic facts of the Holocaust. 

"Cancel Culture" in the World of ART: MARCEL's MASTERPIECE

 The JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE is currently showcasing an exhibit that will never be seen again after it closes. Pieces have been collected/borrowed from local/regional private  owners and will be returned to those folks at the end of the exhibit. If the dangerous and widely used contemporary phrase, CANCEL CULTURE, bothers or confuses you in the least, I urge you to visit this exhibit while it stands to learn from what has happened in the past. 

Globally, a disruptive art movement was intentionally named the nonsense word DADA, This movement originated in Europe but affected artists across the world in the years 1916-1923, wrapping its challenging ideas around the chaos and fears of WWI and the Pandemic of 1917-1919. It poses the question "WHAT IS ART?" and usually involves intentionally non-representational collages using entirely real pop cultures images, news, and other elements. In isolation, each element could tell an individual story, but together the art offers new interpretations when arranged and displayed contrary to expectations. 

The disruption of norms that Dadaism intended and achieved was the antithesis of the emerging Nazi political and cultural power block in Germany and beyond. Dadaism invites rethinking traditional art, assumptions, and depictions while demanding individual thought. That was viewed as threatening to the uniformity and compliance necessary for a successful Third Reich. Thus, all Dada art, modern art, impressionism were actively condemned as "DEGENERATE ART". The works themselves and their creators were challenged as enemies of the people. Cancel culture taken to the ultimate, sometimes murderous, extreme.

Why does this information matter in a blog about pictures books? Because my premise in launching and continuing this blog is that many picture books serve to inform, challenge, and entertain all ages. In this case, a biographic/profile picture book that was among the nominees for Cybils Awards in nonfiction is an extraordinary example of such a picture book that kids will love and also provides older readers with history and food for thought.

Henry Holt & Company, 2022

MARCEL'S MASTERPIECE: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art is written and illustrated by Jeff Mack.It's the story of how a young Marcel Duchamp set out to challenge the way art was defined, viewed, discussed, and evaluated. Mack explores both Marcel's life and Dadaism itself using the characteristic collage style of much of Dada art, combining hostage-note-style text clips with drawings, photo clips, and more. Those who embrace messages shaved into hair may be surprised to know that Marcel launched that approach with a star shaved into the back of his head a century ago.

This story features his attempt to bring Dada discussions to America, scouring New York City for a TOILET. Eventually he recognized the perfect piece for his next project in the "toilet store" (yes, you read that right). A particular URINAL offered just the object he desired. He examined it, considered it, and ultimately turned it upside down, signed it R.Mutt 1917, and labeled it FOUNTAIN.

The language within Mack's text is flush with humorous puns, and Marcel's cartoon-style face is perpetually upbeat and lighthearted. He found a clever way to display his FOUNTAIN in a "Fancy Art Show", which spawned criticism and canceling (surrounding it by a screen, trying to keep it out of the news). The more it was denied a place, the more it sparked conversation and heated debates. It was eventually thrown out as trash. Yet Marcel was thrilled with the results, because it led people to think about, talk about, have opinions about ART. Dadaism continues to do that today.

In a few pages following the story of this event in New York City, Mack describes more of Duchamp's choices, art pieces, and the impact of Dadaism on the art world and on people across time. Duchamp's choices involved performance art, like dressing as an alter ego to provoke changed behaviors in those he encountered. The extent to which he and others accomplished their goal continues today, when those (you?) who view art exhibits know you are free to have varied opinions, to even insist that certain pieces are or are not ART. His central question was: WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT IS ART?  with the corollary: "Anything is ART if an artists says it is."

As noted in the introduction above, such radically individual insights could undermine the guided and regimented mindsets that eventually formed the foundation of NAZI-ism in the 1930s to the end of WWII. It was this unquestioning approach to every bureaucratic and political decision that girded decisions leading to mass murders and concentration camps, the Holocaust. The Nazi government's anti-DEGENERATIVE ART  movement years before that was a propaganda training ground for turning the German population into practices of compliance and commitment to single-mindedness. 

You may not make it to the exhibit (although I hope those who can will do so), but everyone can enjoy this colorful, informative,  and appealing picture book. I urge you to share it with kids and adults and witness for yourself the variety and intensity of reactions it evokes. Then ask yourselves if such differences and debates aren't more valuable than the most expensive art. Aren't we all a richer community by airing our opinions civilly than we are by demanding exclusion and conformity? Hold that thought, and share that thinking when fearful members of your own community attempt to demand social or governmental uniformity and censorship of anything that reflects differences.

The Tower of Life: Meet Yaffa Eliach

Scholastic Press, 2022

This new picture book, (already graced with three stars and Junior Library Guild status at the time of this writing, but likely to garner more accolades in coming months), achieves everything a picture book should. It entertains, it engages emotions, it informs, it sparks curiosity and empathy, and it is unforgettable. It also stimulates future actions and investigation. Author Chana Stiefel and illustrator Susan Gal managed to convey all of the above and more, capturing a true story with the magic of a fairy tale in THE TOWER OF LIFE: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town In Stories and Photographs.

Even the fist lines ring with storytelling appeal: 

"There once was a girl named Yaffa."

The small Jewish town, a shtetl, had a magical-sounding name: Eishyshok (Ay-shi-shok). It was, though, very real, and so was Yaffa. So were the other residents, rooted in generations beyond generations of families, nine hundred years of them, who had lived there with love, laughter, tears, and troubles, always comforted by the community's the surroundings, and the history within which they lived. 

The first pages reveal a community from the not-so-far past filled with storytelling, snowball throwing, summer lake swimming, market days, and family photo events. These pages resonate with contemporary children and their lives:  weddings, graduations, birthdays, new babies, holidays. In fact, Yaffa's Grandma Alte was one of the village's favorite photographers. Those photos were kept in family albums, but also mailed around the world to family members who had found new lives elsewhere. 

When German tanks and troops invaded in 1941, Eishyshok was part of Poland and the results were devastating to anyone who was Jewish. Yaffa and her father escaped through a window, but not before Yaffa managed to tuck a few precious photos into her shoe. In two days, 3,500 resident Jews were killed by gunfire and explosions, erasing and uprooting nine hundred years of history. 

This tragic episode and the following years of hiding and struggle form the middle pages of this picture book, suggesting struggle and suffering in ways that are not too severe for the youngest audiences but will resonate with depth and meaning for older ones. 

Then the tone of the following pages shifts to reveal the powerful, positive path of Yaffa's life, a life  that deserves the attention of us all. She survived, married, moved to the US, and became a professor of history. She shared the story of her original village with her children and others, sharing those few precious photos she had rescued during her escape.

When the US Holocaust Museum was planned, she was invited by President Jimmy Carter to help design a memorial within the museum. Her own photos inspired her to seek images of LIFE in Eishyshok, not of the horrific disaster. She spent years reaching out and traveling among the diaspora from her village, those who might have escaped, but also tracking down those who had received photos from happier times. With patience and permissions, she reconstructed her village, image by image and story by story.

 

Photographer, Max Reid

Within the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., you can personally view the TOWER OF FACES from Eishyshok. 

Eishyshok was a relatively small village, one of many that suffered similar erasure and deaths in massive numbers. In this memorial, though, we encounter the reality behind the horror, the lives behind those incomparable numbers. You can read about some of the stories behind those faces by clicking the aTOWER OF FACES above.  

The back matter includes a timeline of the village and of Yaffa's life, as well as an excellent bibliography to document sources. Several excellent related picture book titles are also provided to pursue further reading with young people. The author note indicates this is more than a testament to an amazing woman and what she accomplished. It is also intended to inspire everyone of every age to recognize that they are connected to a wider world, a global community that needs everyone to speak up, stand up, and take actions when needed. 

You can learn more about how Chana Stiefel came to write about this remarkable woman and what she accomplished in an interview on the blog Picture Book Builders (highly recommend!). All are valuable pursuits, but above all else I recommend seeking out and reading this book. Once you do, decide for yourself if you agree it is a story that should be, MUST be, shared widely with readers of many ages. For anyone within your circle who even hints at being a Holocaust doubter or denier, this might be a worthy gift, even if arrives in their hands anonymously. Each and every loss during the Holocaust was an individual person, but each life was also tethered to dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of others, by blood, acquaintance, and heritage. This picture book does a better job of revealing and reminding us of that than any other I've read.

Stories of Righteous Upstanders: Holocaust Heroes

The two titles featured today offer profiles of very different young men, neither of whom were  Jewish, but both recognized the rightness and the necessity of taking actions in the face of threatening and overwhelming power.  

Quill Tree Publishing, 2021

BARTALI'S BICYCLE: The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy's Secret Hero is written by Megan Hoyt and Illustrated by Iacopo Bruno. I wrote  a trilogy involving the Holocaust years, taught this topic throughout my career, and now serve as a volunteer Holocaust Outreach Educator. What has always astonished me is the seemingly infinite stories of heroism during that horrific era that are little known. Despite my relatively deep background in the subject, this picture book featured someone entirely new to my information about the subject. 

Gino Bartali was a lifelong biker on his hometown cobbled streets of Florence, Italy when he decided to launch into training as a competitive cyclist. His progress was impressive and in 1938 he won the TOUR de FRANCE. When he lauded as a hero, he protested,"Heroes are those who have suffered. I am just a cyclist."

That year, 1938, marked the shift in political tyranny in Germany and Italy from carefully orchestrated and oppressive laws against Jewish people to outright attacks, invasions, and concentration/work camps, leading to the death camps and intentional murders of more than six million Jews and millions of others, too. The story of his heroic, risk-taking efforts to save lives of Jewish friends and strangers in the following years involved using his bike-riding identity and skill to deliver secret documents, exchange messages, communicate information needed for escapes, and even hide Jewish friends in his own home. 

Once the war ended, he avoided attention to his role, saying, "Good is something you do, not something you talk about." Over time, though, his heroic and humane choices were revealed and now his story is available to young readers. The vibrant and action-packed illustrations make a dramatic story even more compelling, with tension rising throughout. A timeline on back pages indicates other markers before and after his resistance life as well as some highlight dates/events during the war years. I'll be using this book in my outreach work and have recommended it to many others, adults and kids alike. 

Norton Young Readers, 2021

NICKY and VERA: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued is written and illustrated by Peter Sis. In this case the author/illustrator is world-renowned, and the featured Holocaust hero has gained considerable attention in recent decades. After his war efforts, he, like Bartali, never spoke of his rescue efforts. Only as the children he saved grew to adulthood and shared their individual stories did some investigative efforts reveal the man at the center of saving so many lives. 

The long view, from present time, is breathtaking and inspiring. But this picture book takes young readers right back to the start of his story. Nicky grew up in schools and with a family that encouraged curiosity, exploration, and travel. As a young man from England Nicky toured many European countries and learned about cultures and history along the way, becoming  fluent in many languages and an Olympic fencer.  In the same pivotal year as Bartoli's Tour De France, Nicky was invited to Prague, Czechoslovakia, in the heart of Europe where German Nazi forces were intent on conquering the world and establishing White/Aryan Supremacy. That growing threat would attempt to eliminate every Jewish person in the process, and followed through on their orchestrated effort that destroyed uncounted lives. 

That same year, Vera (from the title) was just ten years old, living a contented life in a village near Prague. When Nicky noted the advance of German troops, the malicious threats and assaults on innocent people, he returned to England to hatch a plan that might assist young people in escaping the assault. At that time, children under seventeen could receive visas to live their country. Before departing, he launched his own mission, to collect photos, names, and passports for as many children as possible, taking those details with him to England. 

At first, he worked alone and then found others to support his work, advertising for sponsoring families and safe homes, leading to trainloads of refugees on the KINDERTRANSPORT, 1938-1940.  Thousands eventually escaped and survived, but Nicky is personally credited with 669 children saved. Vera was among them.

It is important to acknowledge the bravery of Vera and her family and all of those others who left or were left behind. They had to separate from the ones they loved the most, knowing they might never see each other again, knowing that a choice was made from desperation and love, knowing that being courageous in departure would ease the pain of the others. 

When the iron grip of German forces ended the efforts, Nicky returned to England and spent his very long life doing good, quietly, but not sharing his story with others. He, like Bartali, believed that doing good is a choice, an action, not a ticket to fame. By pairing and paralleling the lives of 

Nicky and Vera, with informative but childlike illustrations, side text, and back matter, the lives of a young man and a child feel immediate and present in our lives.

Nicholas Winton is a widely recognized name in Holocaust history now, and you can learn more by viewing a 60 Minutes segment on Youtube, HERE (bring tissues).Watching it may be the best fifteen minutes you'll spend this year. You can see that he, too, was a young man at the time, barely ten to fifteen years older than the children whose lives he saved. 

Here's an image of Nicky with some of his rescued "children".

These two heroes are important subjects across time and at any time of year, but it is thrilling to share them here, together, among other outstanding nonfiction elementary nominees for this year's CYBILS AWARDS. I hope you will make time to read these, to learn more about their stories, and to stay tuned for reviews of even more wonderful nominees as nonfiction November ticks away.

Making and Keeping PROMISES.

If you've been reading posts here, here, and here, you're aware of a recent pattern: spotlighting picture books intended for a young audience but with enough depth to engage readers of any age. In each case, kindness is presented as a personal choice, a mind-frame for individuals to adopt and practice, even when it doesn't appear spontaneously. 

Second Story Press, 2018

I feel like a shift is overdue.  It's time to focus on picture books for older readers, ones that require a more mature awareness of history and life itself. Presenting a true family story, THE PROMISE is written by cousin/friends Pnina Bat Zvi and Margie Wolfe and is illustrated by Isabelle Cardinal. Those hands forming the heart-wrenching image on the cover of this book and represent the authors' mothers, Rachel and Toby, when they were young sisters entering Auschwitz together. 
From the opening spread it is clear in text and illustration that any kindnesses portrayed would have to occur within the tragically surreal images of desperation surrounding Rachel and Toby. As gray and desperate as their circumstances were, their stricken faces and emaciated bodies were hauntingly protective and supportive of each other. After the first page turn we readers learn of their parents' arrest, and of their charge to the older sister, Toby: stay together to survive, and hold this small treasure in reserve. Use it ONLY when you need it most. That treasure was three gold coins, pressed into a small tin of shoe polish. 
The next page turn reveals the vicious teeth of a snarling dog, poised at the side of an equally ominous character: the Nazi-uniformed female guard of Barrack 25. Even the word kindness had no place on these pages. 
The story that unfolds incorporates specific details in text and illustration: the daily roll call, the inhumane living conditions, the starvation rations, the intentionally cruel work details, and the unflinching heartlessness of casually crossing names from lists as prisoners succumbed to all of the above. 
These scenes are unflinching and yet accessible to readers as young as mid-elementary age. That remains true as a frightening incident threatened the sisters even further. And yet kindness did play a role in keeping them both alive, and not just the kindness of the other girls in Barrack 25. Those coins played a crucial role, but some guards would have taken the coins and NOT turned their backs. Even that vicious Nazi roll call guard, the one who delivers Toby's beating, allowed the names of both girls to remain on the list, allowed them to live another day, and another, surviving to the end of the war. 
Toby's and Rachel's stories were eventually told to their own children, two of whom were determined to research, confer with family, and present a narrative that documents this remarkable sibling love. Then the illustrator accomplished the seemingly insurmountable task of portraying cringe-worthy scenes without overwhelming impressionable readers. The digital collage illustrations incorporate Victorian-era photos with textures, drawings, and intentionally distorted proportions to lend a dream-like buffer to the scenes while sharply defining the reality of individual lives. 

Scholastic Press, 20133

For readers who are intrigued by the authenticity and specificity of these pages from Holocaust history, I also recommend the fact-based depiction of Jack Gruener's experiences in PRISONER B-3087, written by author Alan Gratz. This reads like a mind-blowing and heart-crushing novel, but is woven from the incredible-but-true experiences of young Jack, whose Holocaust survival journey led him through TEN different concentration/death camps, many with names that are synonymous with gas chambers and crematoriums. 
No, this is not a contest to see which story can out-shock the next.  Instead these books and so many others allow readers to recognize that even the smallest decisions, the most difficult struggles to survive, can allow for individual choice, for momentary kindnesses, for sustaining hope in the face of hopelessness. 
Alex Baughm writing  at The Children's War, calls  THE PROMISE "compelling and inspirational", and I agree completely. She also makes the point that as the original survivors, the personal witnesses to the Holocaust are gradually disappearing, it is more important than ever to share, discuss, and research the truth of the Holocaust with upcoming generations. A recent survey reveals the disturbing truth that about half of millennials cannot define the Holocaust, anchor it in history, or distinguish it from other man-made disasters such as the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York.
In these times when sorting fact from fiction, truth from propaganda presents an ongoing struggle, how can we urge our youngest to nurture their most humane and heartfelt instincts without sharing the ways real people in a real world may- or may not- be guided by such values?

May 8 Remembrance: VE Day

A quick mid-week post here in honor of the 68th anniversary of VE DAY- the official end to open combat in Europe in the waning days of World War II, May 8, 1945. My dad was serving in Germany and years later told how devastating it was to see the German people (old men, women, and children) nearly starving after years of Hitler depleting their homeland to underwrite the war. He said when Allied troops hauled in truckloads of potatoes to feed them,  the locals would first  cut out the healthy eyes as seed crop for the coming year before cooking and eating what remained, even if it was rotten.

That sounds harsh, and yes, it was tragic. 

On the other hand, it was in these same days that Allied troops were liberating the desperate survivors of concentration camps, discovering their horrid truth and their even more devastating reality of furnaces, crematoriums, and mass graves.

Orchard Books, 1996

Today or any day is an ideal time to share LET THE CELEBRATIONS BEGIN, written by Margaret Wild and illustrated by Julie Vivas. Now out of print, it is worth a search to track down this sensitive treatment based on Holocaust survivor reports. 

Reflecting actual events in WWII concentration camps as liberation neared, this is the story of a group of women prisoners who patched toys together (literally) from the meager scraps of their lives to assure that the few children who survived with them would have a celebration once the Allies reached them and finally released them from a living Hell. The author's note confirms the actual events and artifacts from which this story was developed Some escaped the horror of the concentration camps, but not without the help and bravery of others. This was the case for PASSAGE TO FREEDOM: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizukihttp://kenmochizuki.com, illustrated by Dom Lee.   Perfection Learning, 2003 Several international leaders during the Holocaust have been honored as "Righteous Among Nations," their stories told in books and movies (Schindler's List comes to mind). The story of Sugihara, Japanese ambassador to Lithuania in 1940, has been told here through the eyes of his young son, with an afterword in the son's own words. He is justifiably proud of the role his father played in saving thousands of lives, and the fact that he was the only Asian recognized for such service to humanity. When you're having a bad day, pause to honor the struggles and suffering of the Allies who ended this devastation, and those who lived through countless days whose horrors defy description.  And then share their stories so kids today can keep their own bad days in perspective.

MEMORIAL DAY REFLECTIONS

On May 8 of this year Maurice Sendak died. His contributions to children's literature were acclaimed during his lifetime and have been recounted and regaled in the days following his passing. Rightly so.

The title most often mentioned as generating a seismic shift in the publishing landscape is Where the Wild Things Are. Decades before that was published, though, Sendak was making an even more substantial mark on children's illustrations in his collaborations with his mentor, Ruth Krauss.

In 1952 they published A HOLE IS TO DIG: A First Book of First Definitions. Look carefully at the characters in this tiny classic and you'll see Max in the early days, peeking out at us in line drawings, minus his white wolf suit. You can hear the story behind the changing vision of what a book could and should be, what children in books would look like, would have to say, in this interview with Sendak on NPR. This title was not met with rave reviews upon its release, but has since been recognized as timeless and inspired, a true game-changer.

Sendak's family emmigrated to the USA before World War II, but all relatives who did not leave Poland were destroyed in the Holocaust. The reality of that, of the suffering his parents felt as the magnitude of their loss became known to them, shaped him painfully for much of his life.

But some few people, young and old, did survive the concentration camps. Let the Celebrations Begin by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Julie Vivas (1991) is a surprisingly tender and upbeat story based on a most unexpected celebration. In the waning days of WWII, women and children in a concentration camp heard rumors of the impending arrival of American forces. Scrounging scraps from their own tattered clothing the women secretly constructed makeshift toys for the few children who remained, to be presented when they were finally released. Some of these very toys have been preserved in holocaust museums and inspired this telling.

Yet another child's-eye-view of the Holocaust can be found in Star of Fear, Star of Hope, by Jo Hoestlandt, illustrated by Johanna Kang, translated from French by Mark Polizzotti (1993). The mandatory yellow star Lydia's mother stitched on their clothing was seen by her friend, the narrator, as "pretty". All too soon these childhood friends were separated, never to meet again. This story is particularly effective in portraying the sheltered, unsuspecting world of the girls prior to the events of one tragic night.

For those who share powerful picture book titles such as these with older readers, Somebody, Please Tell Me Who I Am, by Harry Mazer and Peter Lerangis is a YA title you shouldn't miss. It moves the conversation into current times, in which soldiers who would have died in past conflicts are being saved, but changed in ways we are only beginning to understand.

Memorial Day is a much-loved holiday in the USA, the unofficial start of summer. Originating in the era of the Civil War, traditions call for the honoring of fallen soldiers with prayer, flags, parades.

It is said that wars are started by old men who send young men (and women) to die. But it is the children who have the most to lose: safety, security, the love of those who are lost or changed forever by war.

When Shakespeare provided Mark Antony's eulogy for Emperor Caesar he said:
"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."

We would do well to remember that message this Memorial Day. The evils of war, and the pains inflicted by war, are impossible to forget. But good men and good women have stood strong to protect freedom and dignity, to put an end to evil, not only for their own country, but for the innocents of the world. And other good men and women have used their talents to speak the truth to children in picture books and beyond, to present reality in ways that they can understand- and learn from.

I choose to remember and honor all those whose efforts shape the world in which children grow to become tomorrow's society. Perhaps even one without wars.


That effort, that courage, should not be interred with their bones.



Here is a link to a Holocaust Educational Bibliography, one of many available.