 This rare story of survival during the Holocaust is based on the real-life account of Eugene Handschub and his father, who were Jews in Paris under Nazi occupation. They escaped from a convoy headed to Auschwitz. The story is told in concise language that children will understand. The somber ink, charcoal, and pencil illustrations in grays and browns reflect the sadness and honesty of the story. mjw |
| Title: One Day: A True Story Of Survival In The Holocaust Author: Michael Rosen Illustrator: Benjamin Phillips Publisher: Candlewick Studio Copyright: 2025 Original Language: English Original Publisher: Walker Books Ltd. Original Copyright: 2025 ISBN: 978-1-5362-3894-5 Hardcover pages: 40 Age range: 7-10 Genre: Picture Book, Nonfiction, Information Book Book setting: Paris, France Author’s ethnicity: English Author’s residence: London Illustrator’s ethnicity: English Illustrator’s residence: Hastings, England Awards: Author – UK Children’s Laureate, 2007-2009 Subjects: Concentration Camps, Deportations, Deportation trains, Holocaust, Nazis, Prison camps |
One Day: A True Story Of Survival In The Holocaust
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Narrated by a young refugee, this beautiful and realistic picture book tells about having to leave home and the healing power of hope. The girl and her mother used to live in an apartment with a star-shaped lamp in their window. In their new country, everything is different – the language, their apartment, and the food. One day, the mother brings home art supplies so that they can make a cardboard star just like the one they had back home. That helps to make their new place feel a little more like home. The penultimate page shows the girl with a new friend, both carrying their musical instruments. The mostly blue and yellow illustrations were created with hand drawn contours and Photoshop. An author’s note explains that the book was inspired by Desnitskaya’s experience leaving Russia after the start of the Ukraine War. It is the author’s hope that his book can help children from different countries who have lost their homes to start loving the place where they were forced to be. 
Set in 1980s Vietnam, Tho and his best friend, Lam, love cricket fighting, and soccer, but there is fear in his village that twelve-year-old boys, like them, will be conscripted into the Communist army. People are trying to leave Vietnam and move to safer countries. One day, Lam and his brother disappear. Tho’s family sells their furniture to make money to send Tho and his brother, Vu, away. Vu leaves first and a year later Tho boards a small boat to escape. He stows away on a pirate boat, crosses the South China Sea, and eventually gets to a refugee camp in Palawon in the Philippines, where he stays for six months. Finally, a Canadian elementary school teacher adopts him and he flies to his new home in Toronto. This harrowing story is based on true events in the author’s life. A map, a pronunciation guide, an afterword, and a brief recent history of Vietnam further enhance Tho’s intense account of his journey. 
This moving work of historical fiction spans over 50 years and three generations of a family. It starts in France in the 1920s and ends during the time of the 1960s Chinese Cultural Revolution in Shanghai. Young teen Ah Mei is close to her French grandmother. They even look alike. But in 1960s Shanghai, people are suspicious of their European heritage and looks, and of the grandmother’s interracial marriage. Maintaining the family’s silk business becomes difficult and the government takes the business away from them. They are left with very little, but there is still a way to live with grace and love and hope. The writing is beautiful, emotional, and very descriptive in this story of the importance of family bonds. mjw
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