Book Descriptions
for Beyond Courage by Doreen Rappaport
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A comprehensive, compelling look at Jewish resistance on many fronts during the Holocaust affirms the numerous ways Jews fought back: ghetto uprisings, partisan fighting, underground work, and escapes or attempts to escape from camps, but also the simple, courageous act of continuing to find ways to actively observe their faith, or stealing food, or refusing to brutalize others. Doreen Rappaport’s affecting work incorporates the stories of many individuals into an account that illuminates the darkness of the Holocaust with the light of courage and faith and compassion, and the fuel of anger. While many books about the Holocaust for young readers focus on stories of individuals in hiding or who helped Jews—both of which are included here—the accounts of armed and active resistance are unusual and refreshing. Among them is the Bielski settlement, a vibrant community of armed Jews that formed deep in the woods of Eastern Europe. Numerous photographs are included in this work that ends with a timeline and detailed source notes. (Age 12 and older)
CCBC Choices 2013. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2013. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
In a stirring chronicle, Doreen Rappaport brings to light the courage of countless Jews who organized to sabotage the Nazis and help other Jews during the Holocaust.
Under the noses of the military, Georges Loinger smuggles thousands of children out of occupied France into Switzerland. In Belgium, three resisters ambush a train, allowing scores of Jews to flee from the cattle cars. In Poland, four brothers lead more than 1,200 ghetto refugees into the forest to build a guerilla force and self-sufficient village. And twelve-year-old Motele Shlayan entertains German officers with his violin moments before setting off a bomb. Through twenty-one meticulously researched accounts — some chronicled in book form for the first time — Doreen Rappaport illuminates the defiance of tens of thousands of Jews across eleven Nazi-occupied countries during World War II. In answer to the genocidal madness that was Hitler’s Holocaust, the only response they could abide was resistance, and their greatest weapons were courage, ingenuity, the will to survive, and the resolve to save others or to die trying.
Extensive end matter includes:
- timeline of important events
- index
- pronunciation guide
- source notes
- maps integrated throughout text
Under the noses of the military, Georges Loinger smuggles thousands of children out of occupied France into Switzerland. In Belgium, three resisters ambush a train, allowing scores of Jews to flee from the cattle cars. In Poland, four brothers lead more than 1,200 ghetto refugees into the forest to build a guerilla force and self-sufficient village. And twelve-year-old Motele Shlayan entertains German officers with his violin moments before setting off a bomb. Through twenty-one meticulously researched accounts — some chronicled in book form for the first time — Doreen Rappaport illuminates the defiance of tens of thousands of Jews across eleven Nazi-occupied countries during World War II. In answer to the genocidal madness that was Hitler’s Holocaust, the only response they could abide was resistance, and their greatest weapons were courage, ingenuity, the will to survive, and the resolve to save others or to die trying.
Extensive end matter includes:
- timeline of important events
- index
- pronunciation guide
- source notes
- maps integrated throughout text
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.
