This is my current read. My husband asked me if it‘s not too depressing to read. I replied that it‘s deeply sad, but what depresses me now is the current situation in my country (USA). I‘m reading this book as the history it is.
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This is my current read. My husband asked me if it‘s not too depressing to read. I replied that it‘s deeply sad, but what depresses me now is the current situation in my country (USA). I‘m reading this book as the history it is.
“Sometimes things are lost, Max, but they are never really gone.“ I love this quote because it represents their friendship.
I would use this book in my classroom to teach about the holocaust.
pickThis book was published in 2006 and is historical fiction. Willy and Max become instant friends. Max lives in the Jewish quarter, the boys are inseparable, until the Nazis come. They take everything from Max‘s family, including the precious painting that began the boys‘ friendship. And though they promise to be friends forever, Willy and Max know that something unspeakable is coming between them and they may never see each other again.
pickI enjoy memoirs and this one was no exception. Her portrayal of being a Jew during the Holocaust is raw and honest in that many of her feelings are typical for being a teenager. Equally impressive with her resilience was how much detail Gerda remembered. Highly recommend!
pick4/5
Very interesting read about the author's quest to find out what happened to her Jewish family in Poland during WW2. During her travels there with her old cousin Sam, they discover that one member survived, and try to find her.
Key themes: history, personal trauma, frustration, hope, deception, war crimes, bureaucracy, national myths, etc.
This book highlights the importance of knowing history, all of it. Not to hide the dark parts of it.
