By Sue Macy
Illustrated by Stacy Innerst
The Book Rescuer by Sue Macy is a Junior Biography, beautifully illustrated by New York Times award winning artist, Stacy Innerst. The content is about preserving Jewish literature written in Yiddish. This multiple award winning book is appropriate for young readers and listeners as well as adults.
Imagine being sent to another country, as a teen, all by yourself because a war is brewing and your parents want you to be safe. That is exactly what happened to 16 year old Aaron Lansky’s grandmother to be. She brought very little with her on the ship. She did protectively carry a small suitcase of Jewish books written in Yiddish that were much loved by her and her family.
When she arrived in New York City, she was met by an older brother. Guess what he did? He took the suitcase from her and tossed it into the Hudson River, never to be seen again! He wanted her to leave the Jewish books, the old world, her religion, and her Yiddish language behind.
When Aaron was a young boy … loving Star Trek and being a Boy Scout … his grandmother told him about her trip and the loss of her precious books. Aaron was astonished. He loved absolutely loved books! He also found out at that time that there were very few books written about the Jewish people, by Jewish authors, and even less written in Yiddish, the language spoken by the Jewish. Many books had been packed away, buried, and even destroyed.
Aaron eventually went to college and studied Jewish history and he spent 40 years searching for Jewish books at dumps, in attics, in basements, etc. Would you believe more than 1.5 million of these books have been found by Aaron, his friends , and the good people who work at his organization, Yiddish Book Center, that houses all the books.
Aaron and his organization still search today! You will be surprised to learn about the various places Aaron searched and even the dangers he met when searching. And … after you read The Book Rescuer, you may want to take a field trip to 1021 West Street in Amherst, Massachusetts to see the beautiful Yiddish Book Center that is the result of Aaron’s grandmother’s small suitcase of precious books that was tossed way and Aaron’s determination to do something about such a loss.
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