"Somewhere there is still a sun" by Gruenbaum/Hasak-Lowy published by Simon and Schuster/Aladdin in Aug.2015. ISBN: 1442484861. This is a Holocaust book for teenagers written by a survivor who was a teenager during the Holocaust.
Here is what Margot Strom, the founder of Facing History & Ourselves, has said about the book: "Somewhere There is a Sun" reads like the private journal of a Czech boy and later teenager, candidly recording his innermost thoughts and feelings on the daily routines of his life from 1939 "to 1945. With this book, Michael Gruenbaum has offered the current generation of young readers a very special book that will trigger both emotion and reflection; it is an extremely valuable tool for all of us who are trying to teach teenagers about the Holocaust." >From the Publishers Weekly: <http://publishersweekly.com/9781442484863> SOMEWHERE THERE IS STILL A SUN A Memoir of the Holocaust By Michael Gruenbaum, with Todd Hasak-Lowy (Aladdin; ISBN 9781442484863; 8/25/15; Fall 2015 catalog) Written in first-person present-tense narration, this riveting memoir traces the increasingly appalling events that took place from 1939-1945 in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, as seen through the eyes of Gruenbaum. As the book opens, 10-year-old Misha protests his growing awareness of injustice: "Every day is a new, stupid rule and worse food and no soccer." Watching the German army enter Prague, he feels more curiosity than dread until he sees a couple jump to their death holding hands. Miseries ensue: the ghetto, yellow stars, his father's murder, increasing danger, hunger, and humiliation-all leading to the family's arrival in the Terezin concentration camp. There, Misha joins a group of 40 boys who live, work, and play under the stern but loving care of Franta, a young man who calls them the "Nesharim," and demands high moral character: "We will let nothing separate us from our humanity." The ingenuity, love, and defiant courage displayed by Misha, his parents, Franta, and others counteract incessant degradation and terror, creating an inspiring testament to human resilience. >From the Booklist Somewhere There Is Still a Sun. Gruenbaum, Michael (Author) and Hasak-Lowy, Todd (Author) Aug 2015. 392 p. Aladdin, hardcover, $17.99. (9781442484863). 940.53. As the Nazis march through Prague, nine-year-old Michael "Misha" Gruenbaum witnesses a couple jump to their deaths from a balcony and wonders, "did they know something the rest of us don't?" Misha also can't understand why his father is later taken by SS officers, only to be returned in a coffin. The bulk of this memoir, however, focuses on the two-and-a-half years he, his mother, and older sister spent in the Terezin concentration camp. First-person narration lends an immediacy and innocence to the story, as Misha doesn't always comprehend the significance of events. For instance, he relishes playing soccer with new friends in Terezin, but when these friends are transported "east," he only later realizes they had been sent to Auschwitz and the gas chamber. With the help of 20-year-old Franta, a father figure to the boys, Misha learns the strength it takes to survive. The Holocaust's horrors are handled delicately for middle grade readers but never detract from the truth. Photographs and letters add to the memoir's efficacy and poignancy.
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