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Schindler's Ark
Book
Made into the award-winning film 'Schindler's List'. In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German...
Movers and Stayers: Social Mobility, Migration and Skills
Book
The author examines social mobility in the enlarged EU by analysing the work sequences of 1865...
DVB-T Finder Pro
Utilities and Navigation
App
DVB-T Finder is the best tool for simple and fast set up antenna. Compass built in phone guarantees...
Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated The Things We Cannot Say in Books
Jun 5, 2019
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer delves into how loved ones are never forgotten within the backdrop of WWII. At the drop of a hat someone’s life can change all of sudden, which is what happened to a family after the Nazis occupied Poland.
Based on her own family, Rimmer tells how “my grandparents were Polish Catholic. They never spoke a lot about what happened to them before they immigrated to Australia. We did not know about how they lived. They would not talk about the war and seemed to put it behind them. I saw this picture of my grandparents in the sunshine and so relaxed. This got me thinking about their story, how they had hope and despair. I decided to travel to the village where they lived in Poland with my aunt and sister. I was able to capture what life was like including Auschwitz and Birkenau, which was such a shocking experience. It is impossible to get my head around the violence of that era, the utter brutality and cruelty.”
The story alternates between war-torn Poland in the 1930s and 1940s and modern-day Florida. The main characters are Alina, having to endure the horrific Nazi occupation; Alice, and her grandmother Hanna, who has made a dying wish, find Tomasz, her soul mate in Poland.
Alice is living in Florida, juggling between being the mother of a six-year-old boy, Eddie, who has autism and her ten-year-old daughter, Callie, who is extremely gifted. Hanna, her grandmother, at the age ninety-five, has suffered a debilitating stroke where she can no longer speak. These present-day characters are somehow related to the past through Alina.
Enduring the Nazis, Alina is struggling to survive and find hope that she and Tomasz can marry at the war’s conclusion. But as their situation gets worse hope begins to dwindle and they wonder, after being separated, will they ever see each other again. This story does not spare the reader all the horrors of the Nazis where they killed in cold blood and used the tools of starvation, rape, and disease.
What makes this story stand out are the relationships. It is heartwarming to read how Eddie has connected with his grandmother and the love between them. Alice and Hanna also have a special relationship since she was the one who gave her granddaughter unconditional love and support, while Alice’s mother became a career mom. Alina and Tomasz also had a special love that was deep and touching.
“I wanted to write about autism and how Eddie is a real person who had the people around him benefit from his life. He and Hanna understood and accepted each other. I also wanted to show how technology helped both he and Hanna communicate through an App. I had some experience with not being able to communicate. Just before I left for Poland I collapsed from a seizure of temporal lobe epilepsy, and was not able to speak for half an hour. I realized how frustrating it is and how scary.”
This emotional historical novel brings together the present and the past. It encompasses loyalty, love, and devotion.
Based on her own family, Rimmer tells how “my grandparents were Polish Catholic. They never spoke a lot about what happened to them before they immigrated to Australia. We did not know about how they lived. They would not talk about the war and seemed to put it behind them. I saw this picture of my grandparents in the sunshine and so relaxed. This got me thinking about their story, how they had hope and despair. I decided to travel to the village where they lived in Poland with my aunt and sister. I was able to capture what life was like including Auschwitz and Birkenau, which was such a shocking experience. It is impossible to get my head around the violence of that era, the utter brutality and cruelty.”
The story alternates between war-torn Poland in the 1930s and 1940s and modern-day Florida. The main characters are Alina, having to endure the horrific Nazi occupation; Alice, and her grandmother Hanna, who has made a dying wish, find Tomasz, her soul mate in Poland.
Alice is living in Florida, juggling between being the mother of a six-year-old boy, Eddie, who has autism and her ten-year-old daughter, Callie, who is extremely gifted. Hanna, her grandmother, at the age ninety-five, has suffered a debilitating stroke where she can no longer speak. These present-day characters are somehow related to the past through Alina.
Enduring the Nazis, Alina is struggling to survive and find hope that she and Tomasz can marry at the war’s conclusion. But as their situation gets worse hope begins to dwindle and they wonder, after being separated, will they ever see each other again. This story does not spare the reader all the horrors of the Nazis where they killed in cold blood and used the tools of starvation, rape, and disease.
What makes this story stand out are the relationships. It is heartwarming to read how Eddie has connected with his grandmother and the love between them. Alice and Hanna also have a special relationship since she was the one who gave her granddaughter unconditional love and support, while Alice’s mother became a career mom. Alina and Tomasz also had a special love that was deep and touching.
“I wanted to write about autism and how Eddie is a real person who had the people around him benefit from his life. He and Hanna understood and accepted each other. I also wanted to show how technology helped both he and Hanna communicate through an App. I had some experience with not being able to communicate. Just before I left for Poland I collapsed from a seizure of temporal lobe epilepsy, and was not able to speak for half an hour. I realized how frustrating it is and how scary.”
This emotional historical novel brings together the present and the past. It encompasses loyalty, love, and devotion.
Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated The Sound of Freedom in Books
Jun 18, 2018
The Sound of Freedom by Kathy Kacer is a middle-grade novel about a Jewish family in Krakow, Poland in 1936. Life has become increasingly dangerous, as the violence and persecution of Jews increase. Anna is afraid if they don’t escape soon, something really bad will happen. Her father is a talented clarinetist in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. They hear that Bronislaw Huberman is auditioning Jewish musicians from all over Europe for a new orchestra in Palestine. If her father auditions and is accepted, she and her grandmother can leave Poland with her father for a new life in Palestine.
Stories of Jews in the Holocaust have fascinated me since I was a kid. The first book about the Holocaust I read was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, then later A Diary of Anne Frank, and many more. My interest in the Holocaust is why I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley.
The Sound of Freedom is an introduction to the beginning of the Holocaust for middle-grade students. The story is told through the eyes of Anna, focusing on the growing anti-Semitism she sees going on around her and that eventually happens to her. It is set in 1936, before Germany’s invasion of Poland and as Hitler is rising in power, so the real horrors of the Holocaust have not yet started.
While the story of Anna’s family is fiction, Bronislaw Huberman really was a world-renown violinist and did create the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra to save over a thousand Jews by recruiting them for the newly formed orchestra. Anna’s story is representative of the lives saved by Bronislaw Huberman.
While the story is for middle-grade student, it tells the harsh reality of the what was happening. Readers will be faced with the problems and issues of the era. Some of the families leave the orchestra to go back to their homeland, and Anna is concerned for their safety and the reader is left to wonder what happened to them. The story also mentions the tensions between the Arabs and the Jewish peoples in Palestine. Anna's family may have escaped Poland, but they are faced with issues in Palestine.
I give the story 4.5 stars. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the time-period. The Sound of Freedom would make an excellent addition to a Holocaust study.
I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Annick Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Stories of Jews in the Holocaust have fascinated me since I was a kid. The first book about the Holocaust I read was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, then later A Diary of Anne Frank, and many more. My interest in the Holocaust is why I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley.
The Sound of Freedom is an introduction to the beginning of the Holocaust for middle-grade students. The story is told through the eyes of Anna, focusing on the growing anti-Semitism she sees going on around her and that eventually happens to her. It is set in 1936, before Germany’s invasion of Poland and as Hitler is rising in power, so the real horrors of the Holocaust have not yet started.
While the story of Anna’s family is fiction, Bronislaw Huberman really was a world-renown violinist and did create the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra to save over a thousand Jews by recruiting them for the newly formed orchestra. Anna’s story is representative of the lives saved by Bronislaw Huberman.
While the story is for middle-grade student, it tells the harsh reality of the what was happening. Readers will be faced with the problems and issues of the era. Some of the families leave the orchestra to go back to their homeland, and Anna is concerned for their safety and the reader is left to wonder what happened to them. The story also mentions the tensions between the Arabs and the Jewish peoples in Palestine. Anna's family may have escaped Poland, but they are faced with issues in Palestine.
I give the story 4.5 stars. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the time-period. The Sound of Freedom would make an excellent addition to a Holocaust study.
I received an Advanced Readers Copy from Annick Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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