Review: 37 Days at Sea: Aboard the M.S. St. Louis, 1939

37 Days at Sea by Barbara Krasner

37 Days at Sea: Aboard the M.S. St. Louis, 1939
Barbara Krasner
Kar-Ben Publishing
Published May 1, 2021

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About 37 Days at Sea: Aboard the M.S. St. Louis, 1939

In May 1939, nearly one thousand German-Jewish passengers boarded the M.S. St. Louis luxury liner bound for Cuba. They hoped to escape the dangers of Nazi Germany and find safety in Cuba. In this novel in verse, twelve-year-old Ruthie Arons is one of the refugees, traveling with her parents.

Ruthie misses her grandmother, who had to stay behind in Breslau, and … Continue reading

Review: The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz: A True Story Retold for Young Readers
Jeremy Dronfield
Quill Tree Books
Published January 17, 2023

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About The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz: A True Story Retold for Young Readers

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholster from Vienna, and his sixteen-year-old son Fritz are arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Germany. Imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, they miraculously survive the Nazis’ murderous brutality.

Then Gustav learns he is being sent to Auschwitz–and certain death.

For Fritz, letting his father go is unthinkable. Desperate to remain together, Fritz makes an incredible choice: he insists he … Continue reading

Review: The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel by Antonio Iturbe, Salva Rubio, and Loreto Aroca

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel
Antonio Iturbe
Illustrated by Loreto Aroca
Translated by Lilit Zekulin Thwaites
Adapted by Salva Rubio
Godwin Books/MacMillan
Published January 3, 2023

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About The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel

Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this graphic novel tells the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror … Continue reading

Review: Great or Nothing by Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, and Jessica Spotswood

Great or Nothing by McCullough, Richmond, Sharpe, and Spotswood

Great or Nothing
Joy McCullough, Caroline Tung Richmond, Tess Sharpe, and Jessica Spotswood
Delacorte Press
Published March 8, 2022

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About Great or Nothing

In the spring of 1942, the United States is reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the US starts sending troops to the front, the March family of Concord, Massachusetts grieves their own enormous loss: the death of their daughter, Beth.

Under the strain of their grief, Beth’s remaining sisters fracture, each going their own way with Jo nursing her wounds and building planes in Boston, Meg holding down the home front with Marmee, and Amy living a … Continue reading

Review: The Woman All Spies Fear by Amy Butler Greenfield

The Woman All Spies Fear by Amy Butler Greenfield

The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizebeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life
Amy Butler Greenfield
Random House Studio
Published October 19, 2021

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About The Woman All Spies Fear

Elizebeth Smith Friedman always had a penchant for solving riddles. It was this skill, and a desire to do something with her life that led her to become one of the top cryptanalysts in America during both World War I and II. She originally came to codebreaking through her love for Shakespeare when she was hired by an eccentric billionaire to prove that Shakespeare’s plays had secret messages … Continue reading

Review: A Boy Called Preacher by Cheryl Shuermann

A Boy Called Preacher by Cheryl Schuermann

A Boy Called Preacher
Cheryl Schuermann
INtense Publications
Published May 16, 2020

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About A Boy Called Preacher

Johnny “Preacher” Wilcox never planned on running a wheat farm at the age of twelve. When his father abruptly leaves the family on a Kansas farm during the height of World War II, Preacher is left with unanswered questions, wheat land to plow, and a broken tractor. The tractor mechanic is meaner than a bobcat, the creek is drying up, and Preacher’s best friend, Earl Floyd, betrays him (or, so … Continue reading