Posts

Showing posts with the label Second Story Press

Review: She's a Mensch! Ten Amazing Jewish Women

Image
  She's a Mensch! Ten Amazing Jewish Women by Anne Dublin, illustrated by Ashley Wong Second Story Press, 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judith S. Greenblatt Buy at Bookshop.org Anne Dublin, author of a biography of swimmer Bobbie Rosenfeld, among many other titles, has brought us 6 to 9 page biographies of 10 outstanding Jewish women. Part of the “Do you Know My Name” series for middle-grade readers, the book follows the series criteria for inclusion. The women are thus from around the world, born in the 20th century, and are or were activists. And, with the exception of one woman, I did not know any of their names. This is in contrast to another recent book about menschy women by Rachelle Burk and Alana Barouch, aimed at 5 to 10  year old readers, which includes household names such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Judy Blume, as well as unknowns like judo champion Rusty Kanokogi. Dublin is an experienced writer for this age group, and the vocabulary and format are perfectly su

Review: Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women of the Holocaust

Image
Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women of the Holocaust by Sarah Silberstein Swartz, illustrated by Liz Parkes Second Story Press, 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Jeanette Brod Buy at Bookshop.org Sarah Silberstein Swartz brings a unique set of professional credentials and personal experiences to the researching and writing of Heroines, Rescuers, Rabbis, Spies: Unsung Women of the Holocaust . As a daughter of survivors, she fulfills her objective of providing role models and inspiration for a new generation. She gives the reader an opportunity to engage with many aspects of the Holocaust in many European countries from an avowedly feminist perspective. This is an eclectic assemblage of biographies that follows nine women from childhood through the Holocaust and postwar rebuilding of the rest of their lives. A few of the women reflect that their most difficult times came after the war with the realization of the loss of family and the despair of not knowing where to go. It

Review: Hidden on the High Wire

Image
Hidden on the Hire Wire by Kathy Kacer Second Story Press, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus Buy at Bookshop.org Hidden on the High Wire tells the story of a traveling family circus. Author Kathy Kacer begins the story in November, 1939 in Germany. Irene Danner is 13 years old and the star performer on the high wire for the Lorch Family Circus. She learned her balancing act from her grandfather, who has recently died. He passed the family business to her father, as the first Danner to run the Lorch family circus in four generations, as the ringmaster. These are difficult times for the Jewish people living in Germany and it is becoming dangerous and ultimately impossible for the Lorch Family to continue traveling and performing. The circus is sold and Irene's father is sent to serve in the army. Irene and her mother are hiding from the Nazis. Reading a circus poster, Irene discovers the perfect way to protect herself and her mother. She approaches a German f

Review: Under the Iron Bridge

Image
Under the Iron Bridge by Kathy Kacer Second Story Press Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Sandy Wasserman Buy at Bookshop.org In the months leading up to Kristallnacht (on Wednesday, November 9, 1938), we meet a class of German students: Jews and non-Jews, learning together at school in Dusseldorf. Boys are encouraged to join the Hitler Youth, and little by little it becomes clear to Paul what his beloved new German leadership is up to. He and his physically weaker friend, Harold, realize early on that they have to play the game as ‘good Germans’ but Paul also takes the risk of also joining a group of teenagers who meet to carry out counter tactics to sabotage Nazi efforts, under the shadows of the Iron Bridge. They are the Edelweiss Group, which after the war was honored for their efforts at Yad VaShem as Righteous Gentiles. Among their classmates is a Jewish friend, Analie, whom Paul saves by the end of the book.  Paul is the perfect example of a young person who is an upstander; he s

Review: Jacob and the Mandolin Adventure

Image
 Jacob and the Mandolin Adventure by Anne Dublin Second Story Press Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Kathy Bloomfield Buy at Bookshop.org Friendship, mandolins, and adventure are at the heart of this novel based on a true story. Jacob endures many hardships as an orphan in Mezritsh, Poland, but finds solace in participating in the orphanage’s mandolin orchestra. When given the opportunity to leave Poland to be educated at a Canadian Jewish Farm School outside of Toronto, he jumps at the chance. The children and their chaperones travel hours by train and weeks by ship, to arrive at their destination. While the journey is exciting, and not without its perils, they arrive in Canada and adapt to life at the Farm School. The story culminates in a promised trip to play mandolin at Carnegie Hall in New York. This is a well-written, well-researched historical novel about a unique event in Jewish history, and while not a Holocaust story, per se, those dark times will shadow the reader with thou