It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba has made up his mind. After barely surviving nearly two years in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, he knows he must escape. Even if death is more likely. Rudi has learned the terrible secret hidden behind the heavily guarded fences of concentration camps across Nazi occupied Europe: the methodical mass killing of Jewish prisoners. As trains full of people arrive daily, Rudi knows that the murders won’t stop until he reveals the truth to the world and that each day that passes means more lives are lost. Lives like Rudi’s schoolmate Gerta Sidonová. Gerta’s family fled from Slovakia to Hungary, where they live under assumed names to hide their Jewish identity. But Hungary is beginning to cave under pressure from German Nazis. Her chances of survival become slimmer by the day. The clock is ticking. As Gerta inches closer to capture, Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler begin their crucial steps towards an impossible escape. This is the true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives.
Biography – Autobiography- Memoir
Enlightened
A fictionalized biography of the life of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha, the progenitor of Buddhism.
Mother Of Sharks
At la Playita del Condado in Puerto Rico, Meli meets a crab, Jaiba, who takes her on a dreamlike underwater adventure, teaches her about the importance of shark conservation, and reveals Meli’s ultimate destiny to become the Mother of Sharks.
Layers: A Memoir
Bagieu reflects on her childhood and teen years with her characteristic wit and unflinching honesty. The result is fifteen short stories about friendship, love, grief, and those awkward first steps toward adulthood.
Cantora
The folk rhythm of the bombo drum beats like a heart, with a resonant voice singing the truth of her people. Mercedes Sosa sang about what it means to be human, and her songs of struggle always spoke the truth of the injustice that so many workers and families in Latin America faced. As a teen, she won a local radio contest, and as her confidence grew, so did her fame. From a folk festival to Carnegie Hall and the Sistine Chapel, Mercedes performed the world over, sharing stories through song. But not everyone loved her singing: a military dictatorship ruled over Argentina, and they saw the power of her voice. Even from exile, Mercedes Sosa was a beacon of freedom for her people, and when she returned to her homeland, she persisted in her work: to be the voice of the voiceless.
Yukie’s Island: My Family’s World War II Story
A picture book autobiography by Yukie Kimura about her childhood in Japan during World War II.
Benito Juárez Fights For Justice
A fascinating picture book biography of Benito Juárez, president of Mexico during its tumultuous time of Liberal Reform.
Lewis Tewanima
As a young boy, Lewis Tewanima was forced from his Hopi village into a government boarding school, where he was prohibited from practicing his native language and traditions. He found that running was a way to bridge the gap between his Indian heritage and American culture, and his talent led him to the 1912 Olympics and a silver medal.
César Chávez
A simple biography of the man who worked to win fairer treatment of the migrant farm workers in California in the 1960s and to establish the United Farm Workers union.
Apple: (Skin To The Core)
Eric Gansworth tells his story, the story of his family of Onondaga among Tuscaroras of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds.