From Publishers Weekly
Rubin briefly profiles Dicker-Brandeis, a Bauhaus-trained art therapist who brought art supplies with her when she was deported from Prague to the Terezin concentration camp and then gave art lessons to the children there. "The children's paintings, crisply reproduced in color and briefly analyzed, and their poems are poignant testimony of a tragic history," noted PW. Ages 8-12. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-A profoundly moving testimonial to the resilience of the human spirit under intolerable conditions. Sent to the Terezin concentration camp (perhaps more widely known under its German name, Theresienstadt), art teacher Dicker-Brandeis packed art supplies in her luggage rather than personal items. Here, in a poignant narrative, is a record of her wonderful influence over hundreds of doomed youngsters, terrified by the separation from their families. Her teaching ability and artistic talents were instrumental in providing an island of sanity in a horrific situation, and in giving an outlet to the children's emotions. Lavishly illustrated with artworks by the Terezin children (preserved in two suitcases in a barracks attic), the book is a chronicle of light in the blackest of hours, and of a despicable period in human history. A list of references-books, videocassettes, recordings, and Web sites (many readily usable by young people)-is included. Elegant in appearance, devastating in content, almost overwhelming in its quiet intensity, this bookis a shining augmentation to the literature of the Holocaust.Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
"Of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only 100 survived. But their artwork and writings live on as testimony to their lives and spirits." This heartbreaking picture book tells the children's story by focusing on their remarkable art teacher, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, a Jewish artist from Czechoslovakia, who took art supplies and books with her to the concentration camp and ran secret classes for the children. She and nearly all her pupils perished at Auschwitz, but after the war, 5,000 of the children's drawings, paintings, and collages were discovered hidden in two suitcases. The pictures are now exhibited around the world, and many of them are beautifully reproduced on the pages of this book. Some of the work is naive in style; some is sophisticated. There are portraits, self-portraits, and pictures that show horrific camp conditions and dreams of home (for example, a family Passover supper). The facts, including the dates, in the brief captions make you return to the pictures ("Robert Bondy painted empty landscapes over and over again with his village in the distance"). Rubin interviewed several survivors, and she integrates their personal testimonies with the history of the camp. This is an excellent book to use across the curriculum in Holocaust studies, in art, history, and literature classes with middle-grade and older readers. Rubin's detailed references and sources include books, documentary films and videos, and Web sites to help students who want to know more. There's no sensationalism here. Everything is distanced, but the sense of loss is overwhelming. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Card catalog description
Covers the years during which Friedl Dicker, a Jewish woman from Czechoslovakia, taught art to children at the Terezin Concentration Camp. Includes art created by teacher and students, excerpts from diaries, and interviews with camp survivors.

ANNOTATION

Covers the years during which Friedl Dicker, a Jewish woman from Czechoslovakia, taught art to children at the Terezin Concentration Camp. Includes art created by teacher and students, excerpts from diaries, and interviews with camp survivors.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Rubin briefly profiles Dicker-Brandeis, a Bauhaus-trained art therapist who brought art supplies with her when she was deported from Prague to the Terezin concentration camp and then gave art lessons to the children there. "The children's paintings, crisply reproduced in color and briefly analyzed, and their poems are poignant testimony of a tragic history," noted PW. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature - Childrens Literature

In this nonfiction account of Terezin, Rubin introduces the reader to a "little known" heroine and the children she tried so valiantly to protect from the horrors of the concentration camp. At first, one assumes that the book is a biography of Dicker-Brandeis' life, but it is much more. It offers the reader facts about Adolf Hitler and his attempt to exterminate the Jews in all of Europe and proceeds with a picture of "life" inside Terezin. When families arrived at Terezin, children were separated from their parents, husbands from their wives. Dicker-Brandeis, herself a Jew and a prisoner, was separated from her husband and assigned to live with and supervise the Jewish children. Knowing how important it would be to create some optimism in a dismal situation, Dicker-Brandeis used art to assist the children in expressing their feelings as they coped with unbearable hunger, cold, isolation, and the fear of death. The book, although written in a picture book format, is not aimed at young audiences. The subject matter, the age of the children, and the text are designed for middle grade readers. The book is illustrated with paintings and drawings that the children of Terezin created. "Of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only 100 survived. But their artwork and writings live on as testimony to their lives and spirits." Many uses can be made of this book. It would offer teachers of older middle grade children a way to introduce a study of the Holocaust and its innocent victims. The book includes a table of contents, an extensive reference list divided by categories of materials, and an index. 2000, Holiday House, Ages 10 up, $18.95. Reviewer: Jenny B. (J. B.) Petty

School Library Journal