Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 921 WIESENTHAL | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Determined to find definitive proof that Anne Frank's diary was authentic, Simon Wiesenthal began a five-year-long search for the Gestapo officer who arrested the Frank family. This inspiring and suspenseful account testifies to the difference that one person's dedication can make.
Author Notes
Susan Goldman Rubin grew up in the Bronx and dreamed of becoming an artist. She illustrated her first three picture books but then turned to writing nonfiction, mainly about art and history, and is the author of more than 55 books for young people. Her titles include Diego Rivera: An Artist For The People, They Call Me A Hero: A Memoir of My Youth, Music Was It! Young Leonard Bernstein, Everyone Paints! The Art and Lives of the Wyeth Family, and Freedom Summer: The 1964 Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi.
Most recently Susan has created board books based on fine art for very young children. Her titles include Counting with Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol's Colors, and Matisse: Dance For Joy.
Susan has been an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program for 20 years.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-8-In 1958, Holocaust deniers disrupted a theater performance of The Diary of Anne Frank. In response, the well-known Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal vowed to prove Anne's story true by finding the Gestapo officer who'd arrested her and her family. Much detective work led to the 1963 discovery of the man in question. This "hook" is the framing story for a picture-book biography chronicling Wiesenthal's experiences during World War II and illustrating the development of his unusual career. The book is meticulously researched and packed with dates, facts, and quotes from the subject and others. Back matter includes an overview of Wiesenthal's life. The amount of detail, while admirably scholarly, makes the text rather dense and dry, and casual readers will find it slowgoing. Farnsworth's dark, realistic paintings are quietly dignified. The scenes have a cinematic drama in their use of lighting and in the contrasts between long shots and close-ups. This book is highly recommended for Holocaust collections, but it will be best appreciated by sophisticated readers or those with an already strong interest in the subject.-Heidi Estrin, Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Holocaust survivor Wiesenthal dedicated his life to bringing Nazis to justice. Using extensive research, Rubin recounts Wiesenthal's story as well as his mission to prove to Holocaust deniers that Anne Frank existed. Farnsworth's darkly haunting illustrations (one shows a soldier holding a gun to a man's head, another depicts Frank, frightened, raising her hands in surrender) bring the text chillingly to life. Bib., glos., ind. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The postWorld War II publication of Anne Frank's diary made her the icon for all the murdered Jewish children during the Holocaust. In 1958, an Austrian performance of the play based on the diary was disrupted by teenage neo-Nazis who had been taught that the Holocaust was a fraud. Simon Wiesenthal was a Holocaust survivor who gathered information about the whereabouts of Nazis in order to bring them to justice. Called to the theater, he vowed to find the Gestapo officer who had arrested the Frank family, thus proving that the diary was not a fake. This lengthy picture book carefully details the horrors of Wiesenthal's life, from ghetto to concentration camps to liberation, and emphasizes the phenomenal memory that made possible his determination to "tell what it was really like." It is a painstaking, long, frustrating piece of detection, hampered by postwar political realities and aided by phone books. Rubin, who has authored other titles on the Holocaust, has crafted another notable contribution. Farnsworth's full-page paintings in dark hues are stark and haunting. (author's note, resources, glossary) (Picture book/biography. 10 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Despite the title and the glowing front- and back-cover portraits of Anne Frank, she is just the hook to draw readers into this picture-book biography of a famous Holocaust survivor. Even those who have heard of Wiesenthal will be thrilled by this account of his miraculous escape story and then his lifetime goal to bring Nazi war criminals to justice and to create a historical record of Nazi crimes. In the opening spread, a crowd of Austrian neo-Nazi kids in 1958, supported by their parents and teachers, deny that the Holocaust existed and break up a theater performance of Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl. The episode sets Wiesenthal on the hunt to prove the truth and find the Gestapo officer who arrested Anne. Then Rubin tells Wiesenthal's personal Holocaust experiences of hiding under floorboards; being saved three times, at the very last minute, from firing squads; and surviving the camps. Farnsworth's stirring full-page oil paintings are filled with emotion, from the close-up portraits of those who do not survive to the depiction of Wiesenthal's reunion with his wife. Extensive back matter includes detailed source notes, a long biography of Wiesenthal, a bibliography, and a glossary.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2009 Booklist
