This week, people are looking back at a dark time in history. Monday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. Millions died during the Holocaust. (Read “Stories of Survivors” in the previous edition.) But there were also a lot of people trying to help. The Story Of: World War II Hero Irena Sendler is about a real woman who saved kids during the Holocaust. A 12-year-old named Colette reviewed the book. Read on for her thoughts.
Reading about the amazing hero Irena Sendler was very inspiring. I learned many things about what happened during World War II (WWII). I also learned about what an incredible woman Irena was.
Irena worked in a Jewish neighborhood in Warsaw, Poland. She would smuggle Jewish children away before they could be taken to concentration camps. Irena was very successful. She tried very hard to keep careful records of the kids. Irena actually had jars with each child’s records buried by an apple tree. She would check them and add more records.
Some of this book was related to the story of Anne Frank. She was a Jewish girl living in Europe at this same time. Anne hid in a secret part of a house behind a bookcase to avoid being taken away. I thought Irena and Anne were similar. They were both brave women.
One part of the book made me very happy. After WWII was over, Irena was able to meet some of the kids she saved. Her face started popping up everywhere as a hero of WWII. Irena died in 2008. She had gotten many awards for saving many young people.
This biography made me realize how devastating WWII was. But it also taught me that some people tried to help others. I recommend this book for anyone who would like to learn more about WWII or would just like to read an interesting biography. Readers can feel happy knowing that people were willing to do the right thing. I give it five out of five stars.
Updated January 27, 2020, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Colette, age 12
