The War within These Walls

by Aline Sax, Laura Watkinson (Translator), Caryl Strzelecki (Illustrator)

Overview

***THREE STARRED REVIEWS***

Jewish Book Council, National Book Award
A Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book
A Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor Book
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year (Teen)

After his family is forced to move into a crowded Polish ghetto, Misha joins other Jews who make a final, desperate stand against the Nazis.

It's World War II, and Misha's family, like the rest of the Jews living in Warsaw, has been moved by the Nazis into a single crowded ghetto. Conditions are appalling: every day more people die from disease, starvation, and deportations. 

Misha does his best to help his family survive, even crawling through the sewers to smuggle food. When conditions worsen, Misha joins a handful of other Jews who decide to make a final, desperate stand against the Nazis.

Heavily illustrated with sober blue-and-white drawings, this powerful, acclaimed novel vividly captures the reality of a tragic historical event. The English-language edition — originally published in Belgium — is translated from Dutch by Batchelder Award-winner Laura Watkinson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467464710
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	10/16/2013
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Aline Sax is a Flemish author and translator. She has written a number of historical novels published in the Netherlands.

Caryl Strzelecki is a Belgian illustrator. He has provided art for several children's books as well as numerous newspapers and magazines.

Laura Watkinson translates books for children and adults from Dutch, German, and Italian. Her translations have received numerous honors, including three Mildred L. Batchelder Awards and the Vondel Translation Prize. She is the founder of the Dutch chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SBCWI). Laura lives in Amsterdam. Visit her website at laurawatkinson.com.

Aline Sax is a Flemish author and translator. She has written a number of historical novels published in the Netherlands.

Caryl Strzelecki is a Belgian illustrator. He has provided art for several children's books as well as numerous newspapers and magazines.

Editorial Reviews

Gripping, powerful, shattering.” 
— Kirkus Reviews (STARRED REVIEW)

“Will appall and unnerve its readers.” 
— Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)

“An outstanding example of Holocaust fiction.” 
— School Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)

“Everything about the format of the book—its tall and narrow shape, the somber blue-and-white illustrations that work together with the spare prose, the alternating white and black pages—makes the reader pause and take notice of what is happening. This very personal viewpoint of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising makes a powerful impact that will last long after reading.” 
— Booklist 

“A powerful addition to the Holocaust collection in high school libraries.” 
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“This powerful novel captures the brutal reality of a tragic historical event.” 
— Foreword Reviews

Jewish Book Council, National Jewish Book Award - Children's/YA Book category
American Library Association (ALA), Mildred L. Batchelder Honor
Association of Jewish Libraries, Sydney Taylor Book Award - Honor book
National Council for the Social Studies & Children's Book Council, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
Kirkus Reviews, Best Books of the Year
Publishers Weekly, Best Books of the Year — Teen
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) Choices
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon List
Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year
United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), Outstanding International Books
Children’s Book Council CBC Showcase: Champions of Change
Society of Illustrators, "The Original Art" annual exhibition
IndieFab Awards Honorable Mention in Young Adult Fiction

★ 2013-09-01
The sights, sounds and smells of the Warsaw ghetto assail readers' senses in a raw, brutal telling of the unimaginable horror of that time and that place. When the Nazis took Warsaw in 1939, they immediately initiated their separate war against the Jews in an ever-worsening web of destruction. Jews were prevented from using public transportation, doing business or attending schools. Then thousands were moved to the overcrowded ghetto, where they died of epidemics and starvation. Finally, relocations to the concentration camps emptied the ghetto. Sax gives voice to the fear and anger, hopelessness and terror through Misha, a fictional young teen who represents those who really lived and died there. In short staccato sentences, he bears witness to the madness, telling it all, from the struggle to stay alive to the corpses in the streets to the beatings and executions. Misha takes part in the doomed Warsaw Uprising and survives to tell the world of this last act of defiance. Strzelecki's pen, ink and black-and-white pencil illustrations graphically depict pain and despair as they accompany text printed on stark white or black backgrounds. With the events of the Holocaust growing ever more remote with the passage of time, Sax gives modern readers an unrelenting, heart-rending insight into the hell that the Nazis created. Gripping, powerful, shattering. (Historical fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews