1 comments about Eva's Journey: A Young Girl's True Story.

1. Eva Bromberg has the misfortune of coming into adolescence just as the Nazis invade her homeland. Eva and her father move about Poland, seeking safe haven. After soldiers take her dad and the other Jewish men in town, Eva realizes that he is dead and that she must flee.

   From 1941 to 1945, the blonde girl passes as a Christian, dodging repeated brushes with discovery and death. Ultimately the war ends, and Eva finds freedom with her mother and brother in Palestine.

   As an adult, Eva immigrated to the United States, married, and raised a family. Now a grandmother named Hava Ben-Zvi, she has finally published her thrilling story.

   Ben-Zvi, a librarian, tailors her novella-length narrative to young teens, students who are near the age she was when she began her "journey". She includes a simple timeline of the World War II and a bibliography of books about children who endured the Holocaust and other atrocities such as American slavery and Hiroshima.

   Eva's Journey is not just a lesson in history; it is a terrific read that belongs in every public and school library. For Hava Ben-Zvi is more than an educator and wonderful writer. She is Eva Bromberg--the girl who lived.

No comments about Portraits of Palestinian Women.

2 comments about Elie Wiesel: Surviving The Holocaust, Speaking Out Against Genocide (Holocaust Heroes and Nazi Criminals).

1. This is a can't-put-it-down biography that delves into the details, from painful to remarkable, about the life of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. The book shows how Wiesel - dealing for decades with the effects of his harrowing experience - wrote a host of memorable books and became a powerful voice for morality. A really good read -- even for an adult!



2. This clearly-written, accessible biography tells the story of Elie Wiesel's life in the context of historical events, both in his native Romania and in Europe. Using a wide variety of sources, Moore paints the picture of a young teen, his family, and his community torn asunder during the Holocaust. Moore's dramatic, vivid writing communicates the horror the Jews faced: "The Jews of Sighet were frightened by what they heard. Hitler was a fire on the horizon; his flame grew closer as months went by." (p. 34). Moore describes Wiesel's life after 1945 and includes interesting bits about his wife and son. She offers a fascinating glimpse into Wiesel's writing--both content and process.
   The book includes elements that help the young reader navigate: contents, timeline, chapter notes, glossary, and index. In addition, separate pages act like sidebars to the main narrative. Some examples are: mini-biographies of Adolf Hitler and François Mauriac, as well as Wiesel's acceptance speech on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Unfortunately, the book contains several errors in word usage. For example, "omnipotent" is quoted from a source instead of "impotent". (p.65) This book should help promote Elie Wiesel's ineluctable aim: "For the dead and the living, we must bear witness." Let us hope this goal is achieved.
   Reviewed by Anne Dublin

No comments about Heroes & Villains - Oskar Schindler (Heroes & Villains).

1 comments about A Sephardi Life in Southeastern Europe: The Autobiography and Journal of Gabriel Arie, 1863-1939.

1. This book, while perhaps not of general interest, was fascinating to me, since my husband was born in Sofia, Bulgaria and was a distant relative of the author. The blindness of the participants to the events swirling around them in Europe was startling. Their concerns with business and success overrode any concern with the outside world. Marriage between cousins, uncles and nieces, was common emphasizing the clannishness of the Jewish population. This world ended with the commencement of WW II. The book definitely has a limited audience.

No comments about Sun Will Rise: Parents Relive the War Years - The Struggle and the Survival (Artscroll Series).

No comments about Philip Magnus: Victorian Educational Pioneer.

No comments about The Jewish White Slave Trade and the Untold Story of Raquel Liberman (Latin American Studies).

No comments about The Autobiography of a Journalist: Volume 1.

No comments about Storm Against the Innocents: Holocaust Memories and other Stories.