A Place to Hide (Scholastic Biography)

Rating:
Summary: This book is GREAT!!!
Review: I think this book was very interesting although some of the stories were boring that is why i gave it a 4 and not a 5 star overall I think this book is good and I think you should own it too.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to Heroism and Villainy in World War II
Review: This slim, accessible volume relates the stories of five heroes (or sets of heroes) who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War II at great risk to their lives and families.

Two are somewhat familiar:

Miep Santrouschitz, who hid Anne Frank and her family in a tiny apartment above a business in Holland.

and

Oskar Schindler (subject of the movie "Schindler's List") who spent his fortune bribing the Nazis in order to save over one thousand Jews from the death camps.

The others are lesser-known, but quite fascinating (and inspiring):

The story of Denmark, under it's remarkable king Christian X, and it's resistance against the Nazis; It is difficult to sum up all the remarkable pieces of this story in a few words, but the Danes ferried over 8,000 Jews to safety in Sweden (under the noses of enemy warships) over the course of three months. (a good children's book about this incident in particular is "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry)

Andre and Magda Trocme and the city of Le Chambon France who provided a place of refuge for many Jews.

Padre Niccacci of Assisi, Italy, who rescued many Jews, even hiding them in the cloistered convents (this is also the subject of a movie called "The Assisi Underground").

Each story is approximately 20 pages in length, followed by a collection of six shorter stories (a page or two each).

The stories are written in a way to be inspiring to children without getting too gruesome or overwhelming in "mature" details. Although this isn't a great work of literature, the heroism of the stories come through to help children begin to grasp the idea of evil in the world while putting their finger on excellent examples of those who did something about it. In this way, the book is neither depressing nor pessimistic, but instead allows the noble actions of great people to live on in the understanding of young people today.