Book Description
for We Had to Be Brave by Deborah Hopkinson
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A compelling account of the Kindertransport, the World War II program dedicated to moving Jewish children from occupied countries to relative safety in England, provides context for the wartime efforts by first outlining events from 1925-1938. As Jewish people's rights were methodically chipped away under the Nazi's anti-Semitic leadership, the hope that things would get better and a reluctance to separate families was eventually replaced by desperation as parents struggled to protect their children. By the time of the transports in 1938 and 1939, the futility of a family fleeing together was undeniable. This account focuses on three primary individuals whose stories are tracked in detail, and introduces many others in brief. The author's first-person interviews with two of the primary subjects, and close work with the daughter of the third, give readers access to personal history within the broader context of the time. A final section relates what happened to the Kindertransport children in their new environment; 90% of them never saw their parents again. "Look, Listen, Remember" boxes interspersed throughout the volume cite related online sources and a lengthy postscript includes additional information about people introduced in the book, a timeline, glossary, further resources, and extensive source notes. (Ages 10-14)
CCBC Choices 2021. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2021. Used with permission.