It is 1595, and the rabbi’s son Jacob is frustrated with having to live in the walled ghetto known as Jewish Town. Why can’t he venture outside of the gates and explore the beautiful city? His father warns him that Passover is a dangerous time to be a Jew and that the people from outside accuse the Jews of dreadful deeds. But one night, Jacob follows his father and two companions as they unlock the ghetto gates and proceed to the river, where they mold a human shape from the mud of the riverbank. When the rabbi speaks strange words, the shape is infused with life and the Golem of Prague is born.In this breathtaking retelling of a timeless tale, Irene N. Watts’s beautiful words are complemented by the haunting black-and-white images of artist Kathryn E. Shoemaker.
Czech Republic
Materials from Czech Republic
Suzy Goose and the Christmas Star
Tenacious Suzy Goose aims to top her Christmas tree with a star from the sky — with unexpectedly wondrous results — in this vibrant, whimsical tale. It’s Christmas Eve, and Suzy Goose and her friends are admiring their beautifully decorated tree. It’s perfect except for one thing: a star for the top. But Suzy sees just the right one, high in the sky, and no one can stop her from trying every possible way to get it.
My Elephant
The Book of Jude
In 1989, when fifteen-year-old Jude’s mother wins a Fulbright fellowship to study art in Czechoslovakia, the family postpones a planned move to Utah to join her, but the political situation and the move itself are too much for Jude, who is overwhelmed by a previously undiagnosed psychological disorder.
Built by Angels
As legend tells it, the Old-New Synagogue in Prague was built by angels, and later was home to a golem who remains locked away in the building to this day. In lyrical prose, Mark Podwal shares the story of the world’s oldest active synagogue, which was completed in 1270. Throughout the years, this sacred place of prayer and celebration has endured plagues, wars, and the Nazi regime. Its story is part legend, part history, and one that stands as a testament to the perseverance of the Jewish people.
A New Frontier: The Peace Corps in Eastern Europe
A collection of black-and-white photographs offers a dramatic portrait of the Peace Corps teachers, business specialists, and other volunteers in the ex-Communist countries of Eastern Europe.
Torn Thread
In an attempt to save his daughter’s life, Eva’s father sends her from Poland to a labor camp in Czechoslovakia where she and her sister survive the war.
Holocaust
Explaining the complex political and social backdrop that allowed the Holocaust to occur, as well as its progression and aftermath, this comprehensive volume contains first-hand testimony from survivors and enables readers to appreciate the impact of the Holocaust on real people and the lives they and their families have rebuilt today.
I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree: A Memoir of a Schindler’s List Survivor
In the spring of 1942 Hannelore received a letter from Mama at her school in Berlin, Germany–Papa had been arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Six weeks later he was sent home; ashes in an urn. Soon another letter arrived. “The Gestapo has notified your brothers and me that we are to be deported to the East–whatever that means.” Hannelore knew: labor camps, starvation, beatings. How could Mama and her two younger brothers bear that? She made a decision: She would go home and be deported with her family. Despite the horrors she faced in eight labor and concentration camps, Hannelore met and fell in love with a Polish POW named Dick Hillman. Oskar Schindler was their one hope to survive. Schindler had a plan to take eleven hundred Jews to the safety of his new factory in Czechoslovakia. Incredibly both she and Dick were added to his list. But survival was not that simple. Weeks later Hannelore found herself, alone, outside the gates of Auschwitz, pushed toward the smoking crematoria.
The Golem: A Version
A saintly rabbi miraculously brings to life a clay giant who helps him watch over the Jews of sixteenth-century Prague.