The Underground Reporters (Holocaust Remembrance Series) [Paperback]

Kathy Kacer (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Holocaust Remembrance Series

In Budejovice, a quiet village in the Czech republic, laws and rules were introduced to restrict the freedom of Jewish people during the dark days of World War II. In a small shack on the small plot of land allocated to the village's Jewish youth, some brave young people decided to create a newspaper to show that despite the new dangers in their lives, they were still creative, energetic and adventurous. Though most of the village's Jews did not survive the war, copies of the newspaper did. The Underground Reporters chronicles how these youth held out hope for a peaceful world to come. (20041210)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–In the summer of 1940, in Budejovice–a lovely old Czech town of some 50,000 residents–Jewish youngsters were allowed to meet each day at a piece of land near the river that they called the swimming hole. There they played sports and games and created a newspaper that is a lasting reminder of the children who died in Hitler's concentration camps. In part one, Kacer introduces several young people through the reminiscences and anecdotes of John Freund, one of the few survivors, and then follows them and their families as they were forced by the Nazi regime to adhere to strict laws limiting nearly every aspect of their lives. Part two offers details of Freund's life from October 1937 until April 1945, including the creation of the newspaper that the children called Klepy (Gossip), filled with stories, poems, chatter, photos, and drawings meant to entertain and raise the spirits of the children and their families. All 22 editions of Klepy survived the Holocaust to become part of the collection of the Jewish Museum of Prague. Finally, all 1000 Jews of Budejovice were transported to Theresienstadt. Part three describes their existence in the camp, including details about the celebration of life events (a bar mitzvah; a wedding), then their transfer to Auschwitz where most of the prisoners perished. Black-and-white photos and reproductions of pages of and covers from Klepy appear throughout. The straightforward narrative allows readers with little or no background in the period to gain basic knowledge of the Holocaust.–Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. The title is somewhat misleading. True, the young people of Budejovice, Czechoslovakia, put out a newspaper during the years of Nazi occupation, but because of restraints and fear, it was a compilation of stories and anecdotes that bolstered the town's Jewish community rather than a real underground journal. The newspaper, Klepy (Gossip), is a featured part of the book, and its photographed pages are a fascinating centerpiece of the art, but the real story here is the erosion of life in one small town and how a group of Jewish young people (all well individualized) fare during terrible times--being kept from school and public places, forced to wear yellow stars, and, finally, shipped to concentration camps. Kacer spoke with the few survivors of Budejovice, but she doesn't account for the many contemporaneous conversations peppering the pages. That's unfortunate, because the re-creations of what was said and felt, which add immediacy to the narrative, need documentation. The writing, however, is captivating, and the book makes the terror very personal, clearly showing how a disbelieving population ignored the creeping danger. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Second Story Press (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1896764851
• ISBN-13: 978-1896764856
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,304,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)