Description

Gladys was just six years old when her parents sent her away to the safety of rural England. Sixteen-year-old Andree-Paule risked her life carrying secret messages for the French Resistance. These are just two of the many children who lived through the devastation of World War II. You will meet Gladys and Andree-Paul in ECHOES of WORLD WAR II, along with four other children from both sides of the conflict. Each had to struggle for their survival. Their stories are stories of horror and sadness, but they are also stories of courage and hope.

Backstory

This is the first book I wrote. I had just moved to England, with three small children. I could not believe the stories I heard, over and over, of what it was like to be a child during World War II. The people I interviewed spent a good portion of their childhood directly involved in the most devastating war the world has known. These children, due to circumstances beyond their control, found themselves in conditions of upheaval, deprivation, and great uncertainty. All of them mentioned about how lucky they had been, and indeed they were. But they also had a determination to use their luck, and a clear realization that life involves choices. By luck, by spirit and conviction, these people are survivors, and they represent the part of all of us, the survivor part, that would emerge were we to find ourselves in similar circumstances.

Reviews

Students' artwork and letters after reading Echoes of World War II. This was at the International School in Tel Aviv.

"…The engrossing chapters contain a mixture of personal remembrances and descriptive narrative. Precise, well-labeled maps and haunting black-and-white photos document the families and the agonies of war. This volume offers a worldwide perspective--one that few others of the genre provide--heightened by conditions and emotions that bind us all."
- Booklist

"…Compelling reading about real people who lived in extraordinary times…"
- Hornbook