Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto

by Susan Goldman Rubin

Other authorsBill Farnsworth (Illustrator)
Hardcover, 2011

Status

Available

Call number

J B SEN

Publication

Holiday House (2011), Edition: First Ed 1st Printing, 40 pages

Description

Using toolboxes, ambulances, and other ingenious measures, Irena Sendler defied the Nazis and risked her own life by saving and then hiding Jewish children. Her secret list of the children's real identities was kept safe, buried in two jars under a tree in war-torn Warsaw. An inspiring story of courage and compassion, this biography includes a list of resources, source notes, and an index.

Barcode

4130

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member pataustin
Right after the war Irene Sendler's heroism in saving almost four hundred children by taking them our of the Warsaw Ghetto was forgotten. She resumed her life as a social worker and only in 1989, with the collapse of the Communist regime
LibraryThing member kristine.rouska
Gripping children's tale about the real tragedy and the heroes the emerged in the Warsaw ghetto. Irena Sendler was a brave, strong woman and it is important for all children, especially girls to understand her story and the strength that one person can possess.
LibraryThing member mfink1
Irena Sendler was an amazing woman who tried everything she could to save Jewish children during World War II. She save many children actually united some back with their parents. She risked death quiet a few times but that never stopped her.
LibraryThing member Areamatha
I would use this book for middle school but it could be used for elementary. The topic is a sensitive one so it would be more appropriate for middle schoolers. The story is about Irena Sendler smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto and the network she helped to create to facilitate
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their escape and to hide them during the WWII. I would use this book along with other similar accounts in a group activity where students would take turns reading several accounts as part of their research for a group project on the holocaust.
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LibraryThing member STBA
The story of the Polish woman who defied the Nazis and risked her life to save Jewish children is brought to life with detailed narrative and expressive, colorful paintings.
LibraryThing member Sullywriter
An inspiring introductory portrait of a "Righteous Gentile" who saved the lives of many Jewish children in Warsaw.
LibraryThing member scote23
Good for older children, this book looks at one woman's attempt to save the Jewish children in Poland from Nazi concentration camps.
LibraryThing member Mwbordel
Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto is the story of a girl living in Warsaw at the time of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. Irena, along with other members of the Polish Socialist Party, worked to protect and aid the Jews. She issued false documents to provide financial aid.
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disguised herself as a nurse to sneak into the ghetto and smuggle children out. Once they were out of the ghetto, Irena would hide the children at her home until she found a more permanent hiding place for them often at a Catholic convent or orphanage. She would issue the children new Polish names and false birth and baptismal documents. She kept detailed records of where each child was hiding and their new names with the hopes to reunite them with their parents one day. One night Irena was awakened by the Gestapo and taken to prison for aiding the Jews. After refusing to talk about her underground operations, the Gestapo tortured her. She was sentenced to death by a firing squad but managed to escape when someone bribed the Gestapo driver taking her to her execution. She managed to avoid being captured again by hiding in the empty animal cages at the Warsaw Zoo.After 5 1/2 years under Nazi rule, Warsaw was liberated. The underground group was able to rescue two thousand children. Four hundred of those children were rescued by Irena herself.

The author, Susan Goldman Rubin, did a great job writing this story. Rubin is an accomplished author who has written several books and won several awards. The book is illustrated by Bill Farnsworth who did a great job capturing Irena's story and drawing the reader in.

The book is written as a narrative and is a very easy read. The resources page is full of books, articles, videos, testimonies, and interviews sources for the book. There is also a source notes section for all of the quotes used in the book. The book includes an index as well as a afterword with more information about Irena after the war.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved reading about Irena and how she felt it was her responsibility to help the children. The story is inspirational. This would be a great book for me to use in a middle school classroom. I could easily use it to talk about WWII, or the Holocaust. I also think it could be used in a lesson about inspiring women.
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LibraryThing member CarolineBraden
This book tells the little-known true story of Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who helped save the lives of over four hundred Jewish children in Warsaw. Defying the Nazis and risking her own life, she was able to keep a secret list of the children’s true identities safe from harm, which was
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used after the war to place the children in orphanages, to send them to Palestine, or to help them find their families. This is an inspiring story of courage for all who read it. Interspersed throughout the text are quotations from some of the children, now grown up, whom Sendler saved, talking about their memories of that time period. Detailed oil paintings are used throughout the book to illustrate the action. The sensitive topic and long pages of text make this book most appropriate for older readers (i.e. middle school and high school). The book could be used within a classroom to complement instruction about World War II or the Holocaust. The end of the book includes an afterward about Sendler and what happened to her and some of the children she helped. The book also includes a list of resources used in creating the book and a source notes section for the quotations used in the book.
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LibraryThing member kottenbrookk
This non-fiction picture book uses straightforward prose and solemn illustrations to tell the inspiring story of Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who rescued Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto before and during World War II. The story follows a linear plot from Irena’s decision to join
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the underground through the war to the liberation of the imprisoned Jews. The text is surprisingly sophisticated, so this book might be well-suited to children transitioning from picture books. The tone is reverent toward Irena while remaining factual. The single-page oil painting illustrations do not add to the story, but add emotional interest. They are done mostly in drab colors, but where Irena is featured, she appears to glow. The illustrations vary in perspectives and their use of movement to convey the emotion in each one. Because of its focus on a single heroic figure, this book would be useful for introducing young children to the Holocaust or illustrating examples of personal heroism. A long list of sources is included. Both emotionally touching and informative, this book would be a useful addition to a school or public library. Index. Highly Recommended. Grades 3-5.
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LibraryThing member engpunk77
What I "really liked" was the story rather than the book. I had never heard of Irena Sendler, and this was an impressive and empowering story of a righteous gentile who saved hundreds of children from certain death, even though she thinks this was not heroic but rather just "normal." Wow. She and
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her true story are amazing, and I feel blessed to have heard it, but I wouldn't say that the book itself was terrific. I don't even know to whom I'd recommend it other than have it in my classroom as a resource during the Anne Frank unit when some students are actually researching righteous gentiles. Not really a children's book; I find that the picture book method to tell this story is a little off. But I do recommend learning about Irena Sendler by any means; this would just be the simplest.
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ISBN

0823422518 / 9780823422517
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