Sydney Taylor Award Blog Tour: The Whispering Town, by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Fabio Santomauro (Kar-Ben, 2014)

I am honored to welcome to my blog today author Jennifer Elvgren, the author of The Whispering Town, winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor Award in the Older Readers category, and the book's illustrator, Fabio Santomauro. The Sydney Taylor awards are given out annually by the Jewish Libraries Association for new books for children and teens that "exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience." The Whispering Town tells the story of an ordinary heroine, a young girl named Anett, who together with others from her Danish village community, help hide a Jewish family until they can escape from the Nazis.  The story is illustrated in graphic novel style by Italian illustrator Fabio Santomauro. Jennifer kindly answered some questions for me as part of the Sydney Taylor Award winners blog tour.  The complete blog tour schedule, which runs from February 8 to the 13th, can be found here.  

Author Jennifer Elvgren

Q: The Danish people's heroic efforts to save "their" Jews are one of the few "feel-good" stories from the Holocaust.  What inspired you to create a picture book on this topic? 

A:  Somewhere around late elementary, early middle school, my grandmother gave me her copy of The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, and my mother gave me a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. From a young age, I pondered the bravery of those hidden and the bravery of those who protected the hidden. I carried this interest in Holocaust literature as I grew and started my writing career as a print journalist. When I began writing solely for elementary children after my second child was born, I wondered if there was a way to tell a Holocaust story to a younger set of readers. Around 2009, I read Ellen Levine’s nonfiction book Darkness over Denmark: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews. One Jewish boy recollected his father trying to find the Gilleleje harbor on a moonless night and villagers stood in doorways giving him directions. As I read this, I could see the storyboard in my mind – Anett and her parents hiding a Jewish family and enlisting the village to whisper them to safety.

Q:  Could you comment on the unique challenges of writing a book aimed at young children on the Holocaust?  

A:  For the youngest readers, I wanted to portray danger, not horror. I intended this book to be the start of a lifelong discussion of the Holocaust, focusing initially on kindness and bravery. In early drafts of The Whispering Town, I went too far the other way and watered down Anett’s character. I never had her come face-to-face with Nazi soldiers. After a meeting with my critique group, there was consensus that Anett must face the soldiers. By not doing so, she would have been robbed of her greatest chance to be brave. Now I believe that was the best decision for her. Anett was able to dig down deep, think fast on her feet and face her greatest fear.

Q:  What kind of research did you do for this story?  Is Anett based on a real girl?  

A: In this story, Anett is a fictional character, and I researched the occupation of Denmark and the Danish Resistance, which smuggled almost all of the Danish Jews out of Denmark.

Briefly, on April 9, 1940, at 4:14 a.m. Germany began the invasion of Denmark by land, sea and air. The invasion lasted six hours, which was the shortest operation in WWII. The Danes knew the attack was coming but were denied permission to fight, as the Danish government did not want to provoke the Germans. Denmark cooperated, but did not collaborate. As a result, King Christian X stayed on the throne and continued to live at the palace in Copenhagen. From 1940 to October 1943 resistance to the occupation mostly took the form of bursts of national pride like when King Christian X took his daily ride through the Copenhagen streets to meet throngs of flag-waving Danes, a few scattered acts of sabotage, strikes and a slow down of the workforce.

During the summer of 1943 Danes had grown weary of the occupation and their acts of sabotage became more violent including riots in Copenhagen. In August 1943, the Germans declared a State of Emergency and by September, Hitler approved the deportation of Danish Jews to death camps.

Danes were horrified. People from all walks of Danish life – clergy, government workers, storeowners, farmers, fisherman, teachers, police and the coast guard – protected Jews. The Danes hid Jews in barns, cellars, hospitals, summerhouses, churches and warehouses. They loaned boats and gave money to hire boats to smuggle Jews out of the country to neutral Sweden. The Danes also protected Jews’ houses and belongings until after the war.

Q:  The Whispering Town shows young children the heroism in ordinary people, as opposed to the superheroes that delight so many children.  In this case, the heroes are not Spiderman or Batman, but a small girl, a baker, a librarian, and a farmer.  How did you happen to choose these three professions to represent the Danish people?  (Of course, as a librarian, I am delighted by the choice of a librarian!)  

A: In times of crises, and anytime really, food and words bring comfort, healing and love. When my friends are facing illness or sadness, I deliver homemade food and/or books to their doorsteps. With Carl and his mama so frightened in her cellar, it seemed natural for Anett to bring them her favorite food and books, to feed their bodies and souls.

Q: As an author, how did you feel about the illustrations Fabio Santomauro drew for your text?  With their graphic novel feel, they are quite different from the illustrations in most of the picture books about the Holocaust.

A: When I saw the first pencil sketch, I was surprised at the graphic novel style. I had expected something more realistic. As I scrolled through the rest of the sketches, it dawned on me that this would feel less frightening to children – more accessible – the goal that I had set to achieve with the words. It was a brilliant pairing on the part of Kar-Ben. When I saw the final art – the muted palette, the pops of red, the facial expressions – it was love at first sight.   

Illustrator Fabio Santomauro also kindly offered some insights into his work.

Q:  Fabio, Could you comment on what research, if any, you needed to do in order to illustrate this book?

A: To illustrate a book as "The Whispering Town" I had to make big efforts of graphic research. Both thanks to online images and pictures taken by the editor, I managed to study the places in which the story is set, the typical clothes and features of people in that period. Immersing myself in the colours and feelings of that historical context was amazing.

Q:  Your illustrations seem to come out of your background as a graphic artist, complete with speech bubbles and a comic-book style.  This look seems to make the story less frightening for young children.  Can you comment on your choice of style for this children's book on such a serious topic?  

A: We wanted to achieve a simple graphic design, not too harsh for our young readers, a style which could be appreciated even by very young ones. The final style is something between comics and illustration and it seemed the right choice.

Q:  Can you tell us about your influences as an artist?  I noticed Hobbes on your website; was Bill Watterson a major influence?

Q: Year after year I had many different influences. Comics, illustration, street art.  Watterson and Shultz are among my favourite authors, while, more recently, artists as Gipi, Isabelle Arsenault, Frédérique Bertrand have caught my attention.

Q:  How has your book been received in your native Italy?

A: The book has been recently translated into Italian and published with the title "La città che sussurrò" by Giuntina.

Working often with foreign countries I had few occasions to join book presentations of my works, but now I can enjoy them myself!

The book is gaining its success; even if we are talking about a niche title, it is catching the attention of more and more 'quality readers'.

Thanks so much to Jennifer and Fabio for appearing on my blog and congratulations (auguri!) on your Sydney Taylor honor award. Please check out interviews with other winners throughout this week (see blog tour schedule below).

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Una La Marche, author of Like No Other
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category
At Bildungsroman

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Lizzie Skurnick, publisher of Isabel's War by Lila Perl
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category
At Pen & Prose

Author Jennifer Elvgren and illustrator Fabio Santomauro, creators ofThe Whispering Town
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category
At The Fourth Musketeer

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015

Loic Dauvillier, Mark Lizano and Greg Salsedo, creators of Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers Category
At The Interlace Place

Author Jim Aylesworth and illustrator Barbara McClintock, creators ofMy Grandfather's Coat
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
At Sandra Bornstein's Blog

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Author Barbara Krasner and illustrator Kelsey Garrity-Riley, creators ofGoldie Takes a Stand
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
At Write Kids' Books

Donna Jo Napoli, author of Storm
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers Category
At Jewish Books for Kids

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Donna Gephart, author of Death by Toilet Paper
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category
At Monkey Poop

Author Jacqueline Jules and illustrator Durga Yael Bernhard, creators of Never Say a Mean Word Again
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
At Ann Koffsky's Blog

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2015

Blog Tour Wrap-Up with All Authors and Illustrators
At The Whole Megillah

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Book Review: Odette's Secrets, by Maryann Macdonald (Bloomsbury, 2013)

Recommended for ages 9-14.

Please note:  The Fourth Musketeer will feature an interview with Odette's Secrets author Maryann Macdonald on April 25.  

World War II seems to supply authors, whether those for children or adults, with an inexhaustible supply of true stories for inspiration.  Author Maryann Macdonald turns to historical fiction in her new novel, Odette's Secrets, about a young Jewish girl in Paris during the Nazi Occupation.  Odette's story is told in spare free verse; we meet her Polish-Jewish parents who have immigrated to Paris with their only daughter Odette.  Odette is beloved by her gentile godmother, the concierge at her building, and has a comfortable existence until her father joins the French military, is taken prisoner by the Germans, and conditions began to worsen considerably for the Jewish population of Paris.  Soon the round-ups of foreign-born Jews begin, destined to be shipped off to the East.  Odette's mother, realizing the danger, makes a plan for her daughter and the daughters of other friends to go stay with family friends in the Vendee, outside of Nazi-occupied France, where she will be in safely in the countryside with plenty to eat.

There's one wrinkle--Odette must forget that she's a Jew.  She must blend in perfectly with the village children, learn how to cross herself, say Catholic prayers, attend mass, eat pork, in other words, do nothing that could distinguish her from other children in the village.  She becomes very good at keeping secrets--even from her closest friends.  But when her mother flees Paris to join her, suspicion follows them just the same.  Can they stay safe?  And what will happen after the war ends?  Will her father and other relatives find them back in Paris?

This is a moving, small novel that can be read quickly but delves into real issues of prejudice, bravery, and how ordinary children can survive in dangerous and extraordinary times  This novel is inspired by the life of the real Odette Myers, a story the author discovered while doing research in a Paris library; she was helped in this project by Odette's son, Daniel, who shared family photos and experiences.  Highly recommended.  

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Hanukkah Book Giveaway!

I am pleased to share with my readers today a charming new book just in time for Hanukkah, The Eighth Menorah, written by Lauren L. Wohl and illustrated by Laura Hughes.  An autographed copy is available to one of my lucky readers courtesy of publisher Albert Whitman & Company (just leave a comment with your e-mail for a chance to win).

In this picture book, young Sam is looking forward to Hanukkah in a few weeks, but when he and his Hebrew school friends make homemade menorahs for family gifts, Sam is not sure what to do--his family already has seven menorahs at home.  He's sure they have no need of another one!  But by the first night of Hanukkah, Sam has found a perfect solution to his problem, one that involves his beloved Grammy.

Lauren Wohl has created a heartwarming story about family that many children will identify with.  When I was growing up, we had only one menorah in our house, but in my own home, we have at least seven, including one shaped like a hippopotamus that I purchased as a Jewish museum in Cape Town, South Africa!  So I can easily understand the dilemma for young Sam--how many menorahs does one family need?  But a gift made with love will always find a home somewhere.  The story includes a brief summary of the story of Hanukkah, as told by Sam's Hebrew school teacher Ms. Zuckerman; this background provides some context for non-Jewish readers.  The colorful, child-like art work provides a perfect complement to the text.

For more great Hanukkah books, check out The Fourth Musketeer's top Hanukkah selections from 2012 and Stacey Shubitz's post from The Nerdy Book Club on her top 10 Hanukkah books.  There's such a great selection these days--it's not for nothing that the Jews are known as The People of the Book!

PLEASE ENTER BELOW TO WIN THIS BOOK FOR YOUR OWN HOME OR LIBRARY! A WINNER WILL BE SELECTED ON NOVEMBER 26, 2014.

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Book Review: B.U.G. (Big Ugly Guy) by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple (Dutton Juvenile, 2013)

Recommended for ages 8-12.

There doesn't seem to be a genre of children's literature that Jane Yolen is not a master of. She has published over 300 books, from endearing picture books such as the best-selling dinosaur series with illustrator Mark Teague (including How do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon and many others) to serious historical fiction about the Holocaust such as The Devil's Arithmetic.  She has won countless awards, and is beloved by parents, children, librarians, and teachers alike.  

In this new book for a middle-grade audience, Yolen and co-author Adam Stemple (also Yolen's son) address the theme of bullying in a unique way. Our hero, Sammy Greenburg, is a nerd with no friends--at least until he meets a new student known as Skink. While trying to outsmart the local bullies, the two form a unique band that plays klezmer/jazz/pop/rock fusion, and who should join them but the cutest girl in their class, Julia (and Sammy's secret crush). But when the school bullies beat up Skink for humiliating them in the cafeteria, Sammy decides he needs more help to defend himself and his friend.  Coincidentally, Sammy is studying for his bar mitzvah, and in the rabbi's study sees a book on golems, a mythical Jewish Frankenstein-type monster. Sammy can't resist "borrowing" the book, without the rabbi's permission. 

Fortunately for Sammy, his dad is a sculptor, so Sammy has access to great quantitites of clay from which to sculpt the golem.  But can he bring him to life?  As you might have guessed, the answer is YES, and Sammy is thrilled when the golem goes to school with him and even becomes the drummer in their band. But too much power can be as much of a problem as being powerless--can the Golem be controlled or will he have to be destroyed? An original take on bullying, this is a terrific novel that could be enjoyed by boys or girls.  And who can resist a klezmer/drum-playing golem???

And for more on golems, don't forget the stunning 1997 Caldecott winning picture book, Golem, by the late David Wisniewski, which retells the traditional legend about the golem created by the Rabbi of Prague in the 16th century to protect the Jews of the city.

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Book Review: Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust, by Leanne Lieberman ((Orca, 2013)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

"Some kids got Disney.  I got Hitler."  No way could I NOT read this book after reading that line on the back cover--and the title intrigued me as well.

The novel's protagonist, Lauren, doesn't want to be Jewish any more.  It's not that she wants to be a different religion--she just wants to be a "non-Jew by choice."  She grew up going to Jewish day school; her father's a Holocaust historian.  At her house, she quips, every day was Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Family vacations (instead of going to Disney World like other people) revolved around trips to Holocaust memorials. "Why would anyone want to belong to a religion that was all about loss, grief, and persecution?" she muses.

Lauren manages to convince her parents to send her to the public high school.  But even there--where incidentally they have a much better basketball team for Lauren to play on--she can't escape the legacy of the Holocaust, however much she might try.  When she sees some of her friends--including Jesse, a boy she likes--playing Nazi war games, she is confronted with a dilemma.  Should she betray her friends, and risk being a social pariah at school, or betray her heritage, by remaining silent?

While in many ways this is a "typical" teen novel with boyfriend and friendship drama, Lauren's struggle with her heritage is described in an entertaining and also thought-provoking way that make the novel highly readable for teens.  Jewish young people are likely to be particularly attracted to this novel, particularly because of the intriguing title!

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Book Review: Enemy Territory, by Sharon E. McKay (Annick Press, 2012)

Recommended for ages 9-14.

Given the complexity of the topic, it's perhaps not surprising that there's not a plethora of novels for young people on the Israeli-Palistinian conflict.  It's a topic that ignites fires of passion on both sides, and what a challenge for a novelist to try to present a balanced point of view in a book for young people.

I was very impressed with Sharon McKay's take on this topic.  She presents us with two teenaged boys, one Jewish Israeli and one Palestinian, who are thrown together as roommates in a Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.  Both have suffered grievous injuries; Sam, our Israeli teen, has a seriously injured leg and may face amputation, and Yusef, our Palestinian, has lost an eye and may lose his other eye as well.  Both have their own extreme prejudices, indeed, we could say hatred, of the other side.  But when they decide to escape from the hospital to go on an innocent errand--a trip to a famous candy shop in Old Jerusalem, they get lost and are quickly in more trouble--and danger--than they could have imagined.  Can they work together to find their way back?

McKay does an admirable job of using Yusef and Sam as spokespeople for each side of the conflict, and we see through these two boys the misperceptions and fear each side has of the other. Their frustration with the other's point of view even makes them come to blows at one point in the novel.  McKay takes no particular point of view, but tries to show the commonalities between the two groups as well as the differences.  While the "happy" ending may be a bit pat, I would recommend this novel to young people who want to get a better understanding of the emotions behind the long-ranging Middle East conflict.  Back matter includes notes which define certain terms which are used in the novel.  

This novel has received numerous awards, including the 2013 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award.

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Book Review: Greenhorn, by Anna Olswanger (New South Books, 2012)

Recommended for ages 12 - adult.

There is no shortage of stories about the Holocaust for young people, whether fiction or nonfiction.  Greenhorn, by author and children's book editor Anna Oswanger, strikes a different chord than most of these works by focusing on the aftermath of the war, through the story of one of its young survivors.

Although published as a free-standing book, Greenhorn, at 43 pages, is really more of an illustrated short story.  Set in an Orthodox yeshiva in Brooklyn in 1946, the story tells of the arrival at the yeshiva of twenty orphaned Polish boys, including young Daniel, who won't let go of a little tin box he carries with him everywhere.  Daniel rarely speaks, but Aaron, whose father is a rabbi, considers him his friend.  Aaron stutters and is made fun of by the other boys, and feels some connection with the nearly silent refugee when the yeshiva boys start teasing Daniel about his box that he carries with him and even sleeps with.  What's in the box, everyone wonders?  The horrifying reality of what Daniel is carrying around contrasts with the innocence of the children at the yeshiva, who are concerned with baseball, basketball, candy, and other normal kid pursuits.  We learn that inside the box is a greasy piece of soap, made with fat from the bodies of Jewish prisoners.  Daniel clutches to it believing it could contain a piece of his mother, of whom he has not even a photograph.

An afterword explains that this story is based on a real incident in the life of Rabbi Rafael Grossman.  A glossary provides explanations of Yiddish names, words and phrases used in the text.

Although this looks by the cover, the slight size of the story, and the abundant illustrations like a book for young children, I would not recommend this book for children younger than twelve.  Also, some background knowledge of the Holocaust is useful for understanding the implications of the story.   The story would make a good addition to a unit on the Holocaust, and could easily be read aloud in a classroom or read by individual students and used for classroom or home discussion.  The Holocaust is such a vast tragedy that sometimes it is difficult to imagine the scope; this small book brings one element of a survivor's story vividly to life for young people.

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My Favorite Hanukkah Books, revisited

Two years ago I did a blog post on my top books for the 8 nights of Hanukkah.  This year I am revising that list a bit to include some recent titles (and I have removed a few older ones that are now, alas, difficult to find).  The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah begins on Saturday, December 8 at sundown.  Because the Jewish calendar is based on the moon, the holidays fall at different times on our calendar each year.  These Hanukkah stories are wonderful to share with children of any faith!  This year I am very excited to be presenting a Hanukkah storytime, complete with a lesson on dreidel spinning, at the public library where I work.  Here are some of my favorite Hanukkah stories to read aloud:

1.  Lemony Snicket and Lisa Brown.  The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming:  A Christmas Story (McSweeney's, 2007).  From one of our greatest contemporary Jewish children's writers, Lemony Snicket, aka Daniel Handler, and his wife, the witty illustrator Lisa Brown, comes this hilarious picture book about a latke who has had it up to here with trying to explain Hanukkah to all kinds of Christmas symbols, from candy canes to pine trees.  He can't help screaming because Hanukkah is not a Jewish Christmas!  Absolutely pitch perfect for American Jewish children who are deluged with Christmas symbols in December, and a great read-aloud--the kids will love to join in with the latke as he screams his way through the book.  A Lemony-Snicket worthy ending will please Snicket's many fans as well.

2.  Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.  How do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? (Blue Sky Press, 2012).  Those fabulous dinosaurs obviously come from a multicultural home, since this year the celebrated author and illustrator team have released both a Christmas and Chanukah title featuring the adorable dinosaurs of How do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? and so many other beloved picture books and board books.  Toddlers and preschoolers will surely giggle to see their favorite dinosaurs being mischievous and squeezing the Chanukah gelt (chocolate coins), fidgeting during prayers, and more.  Of course they eventually learn the proper way to behave, and how to enjoy the holiday as well.  This is a great one to read aloud to younger children, or to purchase as a Hanukkah gift.

3.  Eric Kimmel and Gloria Carmi.  The Chanukkah Guest (Holiday House, 1992).  Eric Kimmel is the most prolific of our Hanukkah picture book writers, with ten different titles available, some with single stories, and others which are compilations of multiple stories.  This older title is my personal favorite.  A delightful comic story set in the Old Country, The Chanukkah Guest revolves around Bubba Brayna, a grandmother so old she's almost blind and deaf, but she still makes the best potato latkes in the village.  On the first night of Hanukkah, she makes a special batch for the rabbi, but when she lets in her guest, she's in for a surprise.  It turns out to be a hungry bear, but she can't tell the difference between the bear and the rabbi!  It doesn't matter, because the bear quite clearly enjoys the latkes...only what is Bubba to do when the rabbi finally arrives and no latkes are left?

4.  Eric Kimmel and Trina Schart Hyman.  Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Holiday House, 1994).  This Caldecott-honor title is a great read-aloud for the elementary school age crowd (it can be scary for very young children). Hershel of Ostropol, the famous trickster (an actual historical person, by the way) arrives at a tiny village on the first night of Hanukkah.  The villagers are terrorized by wicked goblins, who don't allow any Hanukkah celebrations.  Can Hershel outwit the King of the Goblins himself?  Wonderful illustrations evoke the long-gone world of the Eastern European shtetl.

Hear Eric Kimmel read the story himself at this link.

5.  Erica Silverman and Steven d'Amico.  The Hanukkah Hop (Simon & Schuster, 2011).  The author of the popular Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa series spins a light-hearted, rollicking and fresh Hanukkah story as a contemporary young girl, Rachel, be-bops and dances her way through a rhythmic Hanukkah celebration, complete with dreidel spinning, candle lighting, latke eating, and of course dancing to a traditional klezmer band.  The book features a repetitive rhythmic refrain which adds a joyous touch to the tale.  The lively and colorful illustrations add to the fun.

6.  Issac Bashevis Singer and Maurice Sendak.  Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories (Harper Collins, 2001--originally published 1966).   As far as I'm concerned, Issac Bashevis Singer's wonderful stories about the Polish town of Chelm belong on every child's bookshelf, Jewish or not.  While not all the stories in this collection have to do with Hanukkah, the title story, Zlateh the Goat, is a Hanukkah tale, and makes an excellent read-aloud for older children.  In this touching story, a family decides that they must sell their dairy goat in order to have money for Hanukkah and other necessities.  Twelve-year old Aaron is charged with taking Zlateh to sell to the butcher, but on the way, a terrible snow storm hits.  Zlateh's milk and warmth save the boy's life as they burrow into a haystack, and when they return the family cannot bear to be parted from her.  Who better to illustrate these stories than the inimitable Maurice Sendak; his drawings evoke the pathos and humor of the lost Jewish world of Eastern Europe, and his artwork combined with Singer's stories make a true classic (and Newbery Honor book).  If you've never read these, give yourself a Hanukkah treat and get your hands on a copy (and no calories involved).

7.  Maxie Baum and Julie Paschkis.  I Have a Little Dreidel (Scholastic, 2006).  Although this book was not available when my kids were the appropriate age, this would definitely be part of my rotation for preschool and early elementary aged children.  This colorful oversized picture book features the familiar Hanukkah song, supplemented with additional verses depicting all the events of a typical family Hanukkah celebration with relatives arriving, latkes cooking, lighting the candles, eating supper, and finally playing dreidel.  The author includes a recipe for latkes, rules on how to play the dreidel game, and the music for the dreidel song.

8.  Sharon Robinson and E. B. Lewis.  Jackie's Gift (Viking Juvenile, 2010).  This engaging picture book offers a touching and funny true story about baseball legend Jackie Robinson, written by his own daughter.  Young Steve Satlow is a huge baseball fan, and it's a dream come true when star Dodger player Jackie Robinson and his family move onto their block in their Brooklyn neighborhood. We learn that some of their neighbors had tried to stop the Robinson family from being able to move into the neighborhood, but Steve's Jewish parents had refused to sign the petition. Steve and his family befriend the Robinsons, and when the holidays come around, Steve is invited over to help trim the Robinsons' tree. When Jackie Robinson arrives at Steve's house with a Christmas true under his arm, not realizing that the Satlows are Jewish and don't celebrate the holiday, Steve's parents don't know what to do, since to them the tree is a religious symbol.  E.B. Lewis' trademark watercolor illustrations lend a nostalgic mood to the 1940's setting. I would recommend this book for Jewish and Christian families alike, since it offers a subtle message of accepting all religious faiths which is well-suited to the holiday season.

For another take on Hanukkah favorites for kids of all ages, I recommend the Jewish Library Association's new Hanukkah Read-up, a printer-friendly list of recommended titles for different ages.  

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Nonfiction Monday Book Review: Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust, by Doreen Rappaport (Candlewick, 2012)

Recommended for ages 12 through adult.

In a stunning work of nonfiction for young people, award-winning author Doreen Rappaport has just published an ambitious new work profiling little-known true stories of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, a book that took her six years to research and write.  Her extensive research for this project included interviews with some of the survivors whose stories are told in this volume.

This is a massive topic for a book for young people, but Rappaport manages to make it comprehensible by dividing her story into discrete sections and concentrating on a selection of individual stories.  The first section, titled Realization, deals with the years up until the beginning of the war, when Hitler came to power.  The second, Saving the Future, discusses brave Jews who smuggled Jewish children to safety in Holland, Belgium, France, and the forests of the Soviet Union.  In part three, Rappaport examines resistance stories from the ghettos, not only the famed Warsaw ghetto uprising, in which a few thousand Jewish fighters held off the might of the Nazi army for nearly a month, but organized escapes from the Vilna ghetto and secret magazines penned by children in Theresienstadt.  Other chapters discuss resistance in the concentration camps and partisan warfare conducted by Jewish resistance fighters against the Nazis.

As Rappaport notes in her introduction, few of these remarkable and heroic stories are known to the general public.  Even in Jewish families, we generally learn that Jews went to the gas chambers like "lambs to the slaughter."  In this volume, she takes pride in showing that stereotype is untrue, and that there were many Jews who defied and resisted the Nazis in a variety of ways.

These many amazing stories include that of 14-year old Idel, who escaped not once but twice from a labor camp in Belorussia, finally succeeding in tunneling out of the camp with the help of other inmates, after which he reaches the partisan Jewish group governed by the Bielskis, who were hiding out in the forest.  Rappaport even includes an incredible story of a revolt of the Sonderkommandos, the Jewish prisoners who were forced to work in the gas chambers and the crematoriums.  Although their elaborately planned revolt ultimately failed, they did succeed in blowing up one crematorium.

Handsomely designed and abundantly illustrated with dozens of archival photographs and maps, both from the war years and after, the book is supplemented with extra material on Rappaport's website, including conversations between the author and some of the survivors she profiles and links to other resources for studying the Holocaust.

Extensive back matter includes:  a pronunciation guide for the many foreign names and words in the text; a timeline of important dates from 1933 when Hitler takes power until the end of the war in 1945; source notes; a selected bibliography of books and websites, organized both as an overview and also chapter by chapter; photography and art credits; and an index.  A study guide for Beyond Courage will soon be available on Rappaport's website.

This book is highly informative and readable for adults as well as students, and definitely belongs in all public and school libraries (at least high school and middle school). I will be incredibly surprised if we don't see this book--a model of outstanding nonfiction writing for young people--recognized during book award season.

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Book Review: Mira's Diary: Lost in Paris, by Marissa Moss (Sourcebooks, 2012)

Recommended for ages 9-14.

Author-illustrator Marissa Moss has two excellent new historical fiction novels for young people out this fall:  Mira's Diary: Lost in Paris and A Soldier's Secret.  Today I will be reviewing the first of these, and a review of the Civil War historical thriller A Soldier's Secret will be coming next week in my blog.

In Mira's Diary, Moss creates a time travel story melding the exciting artistic world of 19th century Paris with the shocking political intrigue and anti-Semitism of the infamous Dreyfus affair.  Although the Dreyfus affair is well known to those interested in French history, it's certainly not a topic most young people in the U.S. will be at all familiar with, and I applaud Moss for choosing to set her story around this important tale of corruption and scapegoats.

Our story begins when young Mira receives a strange postcard of a gargoyle from Notre Dame in Paris from her mother, who has been missing without any explanation for many months.  Not only is the black and white postcard very old-fashioned looking, so is the faded French stamp.  And "who sends postcards anymore?," wonders Mira.

With the postcard their only clue, Mira, her father, and her 16-year old brother take off to Paris, hoping to find her mother.  They check into a quaint hotel in the Marais, Paris' historic Jewish quarter, before going off to explore the famous cathedral.  Mira can't help looking everywhere for her mother, but it's not until she touches a gargoyle on the top gallery of the cathedral that she realizes she's been looking in the wrong century!  Magically transported to April, 1881, Mira not only befriends a good-looking young man who turns out to be an assistant to the famous French artist Degas, she also finds herself embroiled in the Dreyfus affair, a political scandal that involved the French army and virulent anti-Semitism in the French military and society at large.  Mira spots her mother several times, and receives several mysterious and secret notes from her.  It's clear that her mother is in danger, and Mira must step up to try to keep Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer, from being unjustly punished as a traitor.

This novel manages to mix very serious topics such as prejudice and anti-Semitism with an up-close look at late 19th century Parisian artistic life, letting us visit Giverny, Montmartre, the Impressionists Exhibition, and Parisian salons populated by famous artists such as Degas, Monet, Seurat, and Mary Cassatt.  Moss even throws in a hint of romance between Mira and Degas' handsome young assistant Claude.  Although readers will learn a lot about history and art through this book, they will also be entertained by the suspenseful story featuring a likable heroine who finds herself in a difficult--and certainly unusual--situation.

In the manner of her Amelia's Notebook series and her historical journals, Moss gives this new book the feel of a real journal or diary, from the cover with its mock journal binding to the charming small pencil sketches distributed liberally throughout the novel and the endpapers decorated with Mira's notes to herself, a map of France, and French vocabulary.

An extensive author's note provides a detailed explanation of the complexities of the Dreyfus affair (geared for tween readers) and the military corruption and anti-Semitism it exposed in 19th century Paris.  Moss also provides brief notes on Paris in the late 19th century, the impressionist art movement, and author Emile Zola, who wrote the famous "J'accuse" newspaper article in favor of Dreyfus.   A bibliography lists other resources and books consulted by the author.

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Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: The Blood Lie: A Novel, by Shirley Vernick

Shirley Vernick

I am delighted to welcome today to the Fourth Musketeer writer Shirley Vernick, whose first novel, The Blood Lie, published by Cinco Puntos Press, was selected as a Sydney Taylor Honor Book for teens.  Shirley has kindly agreed to participate in an interview today about her novel as part of the Sydney Taylor Award Blog Tour.

Q:  The Blood Lie is based on a little known real-life event from the history of your home town, Massena, New York.  An innocent Jewish boy was accused of ritual murder when a Christian girl disappeared, bringing to America the infamous "blood lie," in which Jews are accused of murdering Christian children in order to use their blood to make ritual bread.   Could you tell us a little bit about how you discovered this story and why you decided to use it as a basis for your first novel for young people?

A:  I was already in college when I first learned about it. I came home for fall break my sophomore year with an assignment for a sociology class. Students had to identify a local community conflict – past or present – and write a paper about it. I remember thinking, What am I going to do? No juicy controversies ever happen in my dinky little town of Massena, New York. So I asked my dad, who also grew up in Massena, if he had any ideas. That’s when he told me, for the first time, about the blood libel that happened in Massena when he was a high school senior. It was just before Yom Kippur, and a little Christian girl disappeared while playing in the woods near her house. The next thing you know, the local Jews – including my dad’s family – were being accused of kidnapping and murdering that little girl and baking her blood in their “holiday foods.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. In America? In the 20^th century?  It sounded more like a page out of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.

I knew I wanted to write something more than a term paper the minute I learned about the Massena blood libel. I always wanted to be a writer, and this was something that not only spoke to me, but grabbed me by the throat and screamed at me. I felt compelled to illuminate this episode of Jewish-American history, as well as to inspire readers to contemplate the consequences of, and possible responses to, intolerance. 

Q:  Jack, your hero, wants nothing more than to leave Massena to study music, even before the blood lie incident.  From your own research, what do you think some of the pros and cons of Jewish life in a small town were like in that era (the 1920's)?

A:  Personally, I think the biggest pro was the kind of community solidarity you get when you're a small newcomers group sharing a deeply felt common heritage. However, along with that came the everyone-knows-your-business-and-has-some-advice-to-give lack of privacy.

The pressure to assimilate was a hardship for many small-town Jews. For instance, imagine trying to be a merchant in a one-corporation village like Massena, where everyone gets paid on Friday and does their shopping on Saturday. How can you survive if you don't stay open on Saturdays? At the same time, assimilation was a pro for many of the younger ones, who deemed it synonymous with freedom and opportunity.

Q:  What kind of reception has your book had in Massena?  Were there people in the town who resented your bringing to light an ugly incident that they might well have preferred remain hidden?

A:  I'm pleased – and relieved – to report that Massena has given the book a warm, open-minded reception. The current residents include fourth generation natives, relative newcomers, and everything in between. The people I've talked to say they didn't know about the Massena blood libel, but they did know about past and present currents of bigotry. I gave a talk at Massena's public library in December, and the audience demonstrated keen interest in the history of the story. The local high school's book club plans to read the book, as well. 

A couple of Massena residents did write on my Facebook page that they wished I'd made the book nonfiction. I explained that, since there is little or no clear documentation of the details of this blood libel, I had to go beyond the basic facts. So I did my best to adhere to the essence of the real event, and then I added details, including personalities and subplots.

Q:  You have done quite a bit of professional writing, with articles published in different women's magazines, national newspapers, and college publications.  How did you find the process of writing and researching a novel for young people different than other writing you have done?  

A:  As obvious as this sounds, I get to write more words with a book-length story. This makes a huge difference because it allows me to delve more fully into the story, the backstory and the side stories, which is much more satisfying for me as an author. Since the novel is based on true events, I still had to do a lot of primary and secondary research, so that wasn't all that different. Writing for young adults instead of, well, older adults, felt very natural. Apparently, my creative side has a young-adult voice. 

Q:  Could you tell us about your future writing projects?  Do you have other historical novels in the works?  

A:  I have been incurably bitten by the novel-writing bug. Currently in the works are a young-adult historical novel set in Israel, a young-adult paranormal story with strong historical elements, and a middle-grade adventure book.

Shirley, mazel tov for receiving the Sydney Taylor Honor award for your very first novel!   And don't forget to check out the other Sydney Taylor blog tour stop today at Frume Sarah's World.  

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Book Review: The Cats in the Doll Shop, by Yona Zeldis McDonough (Viking, 2011)

Recommended for ages 7-10 (could be read aloud to even younger children)

I have a soft spot for both animal stories and doll stories, so I was eager to read Yona Zeldis McDonough's newest book, The Cats in the Doll Shop.  While this book is a sequel to her earlier novel, The Doll Shop Downstairs, it can easily be read without having read the first book.

Set in 1915, a few years after the first story, this book returns to the cozy world of the Breittlemann family, who live upstairs from their small doll factory which supplies to New York's legendary toy store FAO Schwarz.  The three sisters, eleven-year old Anna, her more sophisticated now teenaged sister Sophie, and nine-year old Trudie, are about to experience big changes in their lives when their cousin Tania comes to live with them from Russia.  Anna is particularly excited because Tania is just her age; she even makes Tania a special doll just for her as a welcoming gift. But when Tania arrives, she is withdrawn and shy, even hoarding food in her bed.  As Anna and her sisters struggle to understand their new cousin's behavior,  Anna also tries to help a stray cat and her kitten who live around her building, but her father has a firm "no pets" policy.  Soon Anna discovers that Tania has a special relationship with the cats--and the cats might just help her adjust successfully to her new home.

Set in a world of Jewish immigrant families highly reminiscent of the classic Sydney Taylor All of a Kind Family series, this is a charming and heartwarming story that is perfect for ages 7-10 and could be enjoyed by younger children as a read-aloud.  The story is complemented by black and white drawings by Heather Maione which capture the nostalgia of the period.  The book includes a glossary of Yiddish terms and a timeline.

An interview with the author, editor, and illustrator recently appeared in the blog The Whole Megillah.  You can read an excerpt from the novel on the author's website.  The first book in this series, The Doll Shop Downstairs, was honored with a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2009 and was also nominated as one of the New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, 2009.

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