The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs

Although I know a lot about the Holocaust, I was unfamiliar with this remarkable story. I am deeply grateful to Yaffa Eliach, who recovered thousands of photographs of the people of Eishyshok, her childhood home, to show the world a picture of a town that once was. I am also profoundly grateful to the author, Chana Stiefel, for writing this book. Her words adeptly tell the reader what life was like for the 900 years before the Nazi invasion, how Yaffa's family escaped, and how Yaffa scoured the world to create "The Tower of Life." This story highlights the lives of the people of Eishyshok and their spirit. The tower of photographs is a monument to their existence, and this book is a monument to the Tower.Stiefel has the remarkable ability to write for children without talking down to them. However, people of every age will love this book. Susan Gal's beautiful illustrations are perfect for this story. of determination and hope.I highly recommend this book for every classroom in the country as well as for every family

Yaffa Eliach's mission to memorialize the lost community of Eishyshok by traveling the world, collecting photos of the community, is an awe-inspiring story of spiritual and emotional survival after terrible loss. It is rare to read a book about the Holocaust that tells the story of the happy and full lives that were lived before the horrors, and leaves the reader with images of resilience and continuity after the destruction. Thank you Chana Stiefel for bringing this incredible story to life in picture book form, so that children (and adults) around the world can read about Eishyshok. Susan Gal's gorgeous illustrations are perfect for this story. Her integration of photographs from Jewish New Year's cards into drawings of lost community members is especially beautiful.

This exquisitely written picture book shares the beauty of Yaffa Eliach's determination to celebrate the life that filled her hometown before the Holocaust. The magnificent illustrations enhance the narration and together this is the making of a classic. Winner of numerous awards, this book deserves every single one. I cannot rave about this book enough. It's a must read and a must for every school and library.

A stirring and moving tribute to Yaffa Eliach and the work she did to preserve the memories of her community, destroyed by the Nazis, by recovering their photographs to build The Tower of Life at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC. An amazing true story that is beautifully told in the text and art.

This is a beautiful biography with gorgeous illustrations. Yaffa's inspiring life and message of hope and resilience should never be forgotten. Love this book!

An extraordinary story extremely well done. The large scope and timeline shares a powerful story of remembering which ends with the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, DC.

This is a powerful story, masterfully done in both words and pictures. It's about a remarkable woman, Yaffa Eliach, who created a beautiful tribute to all the people from her town in Poland who died when Nazis invaded. It's a moving story that puts a spotlight on how the Holocaust destroyed communities, and how Yaffa endeavored to rebuild those connections lost with her incredible exhibit. Truly a special book. Highly recommend.

In 1993, the National Holocaust Museum opened with one of its permanent exhibits being The Tower of Faces/The Tower of Life, a collection of 1000s of photographs showing Holocaust victims from the village of Eishyshok as they lived, not as they died. Chana Stiefel tells the story of Yaffa Eliach, her life in Eishyshok, survival during WWII, her life following the war and her quest to personalize the nearly 3500 Jews who died at the hands of mobile killing squads in September of 1941. The somber facts from history are present but in a way that makes this book perfect for elementary libraries and readers in grades 3-5. The watercolor and digitally produced illustrations are brightly rendered when Yaffa’s childhood and later life are described, darker as she and her family struggled to survive the war, and nearly black when the town/shtetl is decimated adding mood and tone in a visual way. A first choice book for libraries with high readership in their WWII history collection.