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After World War II, Ruth, a 15-year-old survivor of Buchenwald has nowhere to turn. Recruited by Brichah, an underground organization that helps people get to Palestine, Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children there, using secret routes and forged documents.
About the author
Carol Matas is the author of many books for children and young adults, including
Of Two Minds (with Perry Nodelman),
Lisa's War, Code Name Kris, Sworn Enemies, and
Daniel's Story (for the United States Holocaust Museum). She lives in Winnipeg, Canada, with her husband and two children.
Summary
"Didn't the gas ovens finish you all off?" is the response that meets Ruth Mendenberg when she returns to her village in Poland after the liberation of Buchenwald at the end of World War II. Her entire family wiped out in the Holocaust, the fifteen-year-old girl has nowhere to go.
Members of the underground organization Brichah find her, and she joins them in their dangerous quest to smuggle illegal immigrants to Palestine. Ruth risks her life to help lead a group of children on a daring journey over half a continent and across the sea to Eretz Israel, using secret routes and forged documents -- and sheer force of will.
This adventure will touch readers, who will marvel at the resources and inner strength of mere children helping other children to find a place in this world in which they can belong. Carol Matas, one of the foremost authors of historical fiction, brings the desperation and passion of this remarkable journey to life.
