Resistance (Scholastic Gold)

13 year old daughter loved this. I got hushed as I tried to talk to her, so always good sign!

This book blew my socks off! I've read Nielsen before and enjoyed her books, but this one takes the cake and the icing and the candles and all the presents too! I've been reading a lot of Holocaust fiction lately and I had my eye on this book for a while. It was released just last month and I picked it up almost as soon as Amazon delivered it. At first, I was nervous that I wasn't going to like Chaya. She seemed to have an air of superiority about her that didn't suit her. She was quick to acknowledge her own service and sacrifice. That did get much better the further into the book I got. She became believable and realistic with her fear and courage. Esther was more pitiful than anything but it was nice to see her grow and mature throughout the story. The resistance network in Poland was impressive and even though I knew the history and what happened, I found myself hoping that just this once, things would turn out differently. I've been thinking a lot about the Jews and other victims of the Holocaust, that something like that would never happen in America because our mindset is completely different from Europeans. I am by no means victim-shaming, I'm simply pointing out that Americans, with our guns and natural rebelliousness, would have put up far more of a fight. This book showed that there were many people who showed that "not all sheep go like lambs to the slaughter." I loved seeing how people refused to be cowed and exterminated without resisting. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, though technically a failure, is shown to be such a heroic effort in this book. I've never studied it in detail, but the people involved in the Uprising were people of courage and hope and I was so inspired by their sacrifices. I also appreciated how Nielsen showed the impact of young people in the resistance. In the face of such evil and the slaughter of their people, even teens took up arms and were willing to sacrifice themselves to save the lives of people they didn't know. This is another book that every single middle and high school history teacher should have on his or her shelf as required reading. I found myself tearing up at the end and then wanting reread it all over again! I cannot say enough good about this book and I recommend it to everyone, especially any teen!

Great books for younger readers that like historically fiction!

This book is a game changer! I teach 5th grade and from the very first chapter, I knew I’d found a gem. Then, to my surprise, the book took off without a hitch! Never a dull moment. It’s as if the elementary version of “The Nightingale” had been published. I was blown away at how well this book was written to in order to reach the kids’ level of understanding of the Holocaust, and its resistance. Teaching history to kids can be challenging, unless you find something that will engage them. This book hit all the marks! It helps kids learn about the devastating time during the Holocaust, and of its resistance proving just how powerful we can be when united for a higher purpose. It raises the vibration of the world! It teaches many life lessons and morals; one of which is my teacher slogan... LOVE is more powerful than hate. I want to thank this author for writing this novel. I will now read this one aloud to my 5th graders during our ELA Module about the Holocaust.

The first 4 chapters are missing of this book. Instead it has the ending of the book in it twice. Since we bought more books at once we didn't realize this until the return policy is over. So not sure who to contact now so I can have a complete book and not missing chapters book. The other books by this writer has been loved and I know he will love this book to but starting a book that starts on page 21 and chapter 5 doesn't really work. Would love to have the book that is complete.