AUDIOBOOK
About
During World War II a young German girl, who has been indoctrinated into the Hitler Youth, travels to occupied Amsterdam to rejoin her parents then comes to realize the truth about the war. New introduction by the author's son, John Tepper Marlin.
"So, you're falsifying papers?" said Janna. "You belong to the Dutch Resistance." She looked at him curiously.
The boy shrugged his shoulders. "You could call it that. I'm just helping the van Arkels rescue innocent people from certain death. They need these identification papers and food cards to keep alive. If you betray me, all these people will either starve or be forced to give themselves up to be sent to the gas chambers of a concentration camp."
"Gas chambers?" Janna looked at the boy with horror. "You mean ... they are killed?"
The book looked sternly at her. "Do you think," he said, "that Germany is sending Jews to a nice vacation spa, or to pretty villages with geraniums in the windows? That's what they told us at first, though in Holland we never believed it."
This book is based on a true story, and even though it deals with some hard issues brought about by the German occupation of Amsterdam, it provides an opportunity to discuss World War II from a unique perspective. Hilda van Stockum (1908-2006) was an internationally noted author and illustrator of such classic children's books as A Day on Skates for which she took Newbery honors. Ms. van Stockum also wrote books for young adults including one of her best known works, The Winged Watchman, which was named a "Notable Book" by the American Library Association and received the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Ms. van Stockum was known for her warm and vivid, but realistic depictions of family life, often in the face of difficulty or danger. Ms. van Stockum wrote and/or illustrated more than thirty books during her lifetime. Several of these have recently been republished by her Estate under the Boissevain Books imprint. These include Patsy and the Pup, Penengro, Little Old Bear, Kersti and Saint Nicholas, and King Oberon's Forest.
"So, you're falsifying papers?" said Janna. "You belong to the Dutch Resistance." She looked at him curiously.
The boy shrugged his shoulders. "You could call it that. I'm just helping the van Arkels rescue innocent people from certain death. They need these identification papers and food cards to keep alive. If you betray me, all these people will either starve or be forced to give themselves up to be sent to the gas chambers of a concentration camp."
"Gas chambers?" Janna looked at the boy with horror. "You mean ... they are killed?"
The book looked sternly at her. "Do you think," he said, "that Germany is sending Jews to a nice vacation spa, or to pretty villages with geraniums in the windows? That's what they told us at first, though in Holland we never believed it."
This book is based on a true story, and even though it deals with some hard issues brought about by the German occupation of Amsterdam, it provides an opportunity to discuss World War II from a unique perspective. Hilda van Stockum (1908-2006) was an internationally noted author and illustrator of such classic children's books as A Day on Skates for which she took Newbery honors. Ms. van Stockum also wrote books for young adults including one of her best known works, The Winged Watchman, which was named a "Notable Book" by the American Library Association and received the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Ms. van Stockum was known for her warm and vivid, but realistic depictions of family life, often in the face of difficulty or danger. Ms. van Stockum wrote and/or illustrated more than thirty books during her lifetime. Several of these have recently been republished by her Estate under the Boissevain Books imprint. These include Patsy and the Pup, Penengro, Little Old Bear, Kersti and Saint Nicholas, and King Oberon's Forest.