One More Border: The True Story of One Family's Escape from War-Torn Europe - Softcover

Kaplan, William; Tanaka, Shelley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0888996381 ISBN 13: 9780888996381

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2004

Synopsis

It's 1939, and Memel, Lithuania, is no longer safe for Jewish families like the Kaplans. Nazi troops have overtaken much of Europe, and hundreds of thousands of Jews have tried to flee Hitler's advance. Most do not succeed. The Kaplans — Igor, his little sister, Nomi, and their parents, Bernard and Nadja — are determined to survive. Staying one small step ahead of the German troops, they encounter the legendary Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara, who manages to finagle exit visas for the entire family — everyone, that is, except for the Russian-born Mrs. Kaplan, who must somehow secure her own papers. Can she succeed where so many have failed, and find refuge with her family, or will she meet the grim fate of millions of other Jews? The Kaplans' desperate attempts to obtain safe passage, and their harrowing journey three-quarters of the way around the world, on ship and on the Trans-Siberian Express, form a riveting narrative that puts a personal face on the often-overwhelming human tragedy that is the Holocaust.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Working with Tanaka (On Board the Titanic), Kaplan delves into his father's childhood experiences for this combination family drama and history lesson. In 1939, Igor Kaplan and his younger sister, Nomi, leave their home in Memel, Lithuania, as their prescient parents keep one step ahead of the Nazis. In the Lithuanian capital, the now-legendary Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara gives Mr. Kaplan a visa for himself and the children. Mrs. Kaplan, who is Russian, needs separate exit and entrance visas; she somehow obtains the former just in time to join the family, already aboard the Trans-Siberian Express. After more dangerous journeys and 11th-hour deliverances, they finally reach Ontario, where the children's grandparents live. The Kaplans' saga, illustrated with attractive watercolors, is paralleled with archival photos and explanatory sidebars. For example, as the Kaplans flee Memel, photos on the facing page show Nazis goose-stepping and German soldiers marching through a burning Polish village; a three-paragraph caption defines WWII. While the explanatory apparatus will answer many of the general questions readers are likely to raise, some areas remain confusing (e.g., the contest between Nazis and Russians for control of Lithuania). The two-tier narrative can be distracting and deflects from the momentum of the Kaplans' narrow escapes; readers will have to know the background already before they can fully appreciate the desperate nature of the family's plight. Ages 9-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Feeling they are no longer safe in their town of Memel, a Lithuanian Jewish family undertakes a long and dangerous journey. Mr. Kaplan and his two children are issued visas by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul whose story was told in Ken Mochizuki's Passage to Freedom (Lee & Low, 1997). Russian born Mrs. Kaplan needed to acquire a separate visa in Moscow. Most of the narrative centers around the experiences of Igor, the oldest child, as the family travels by the Trans-Siberian Express and by ship. They eventually make their way to eastern Canada where they are met by the children's grandparents, and they begin their lives over. The story is written somewhat melodramatically, but is not without merit. Information about World War II and the fate of the Jews who remained in Europe is provided in sidebars and news photos that interrupt the narrative flow. It is hard to determine which pictures are family snapshots and which ones are general news photos. The soft-pencil or pastel illustrations neither add nor detract from the presentation. Most of the words in the glossary can be understood in context.
Cheri Estes, Detroit Country Day School Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0888996381
• ISBN 13: 9780888996381
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 61
• Illustrator: Taylor Stephen