Why is Great Grandma So Sad? Discovering the Holocaust Through the Eyes of a Child - Softcover

Susan Heagy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0996909206 ISBN 13: 9780996909204

Publisher: Yattir Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

Though this book is written for children ages 7 to 14, it is also intended for any age of people who have difficulty reading anything having to do with the Holocaust of WWII. This story is presented from the personal perspective of a family in the midst of the Holocaust, without trauma but historically correct. Sarah, at the age of seven, does not understand the extreme sadness her great grandmother portrays, prompting her to ask her mother the question, "Why is Great-Grandma so sad?" Her mother decides it is time to relate the Holocaust experience of Great-Grandma Hannah beginning at the same age as Sarah. This story gives an account of a family experiencing the onset of WWII, ghetto life, being sent to a concentration camp and the unusual circumstances surrounding their struggle to survive. Through the dialog Sarah comes to have a new view of her great-grandmother, Hannah, as a child. Hannah, through necessity, grows up all too quickly. But while she endures these changes and experiences and during times of hiding, her doll Rachael is always there as a confidant and constant companion in her loneliness. She hears also of an unbelievable time when the Jewish people were treated horribly and unfairly. Sarah comes to realize how the Jews, her own people, demonstrated strength and resilience when under pressure, determined to survive. This story brings to life the sadness, and the hope, tightly interwoven in the lives of those who survived the Holocaust culminating with a surprise ending. Throughout this dialog Sarah learns along with the child Hannah about a time in history no one should ever forget. It is the hope of the author that those reading this book will also learn the truth of that time and not allow the voices of those who experienced it to be silenced. This story of Great-Grandma is historical fiction. The family is not real but the experiences are. Based on several Survivors of the Shoah, their true life war accounts are included in the book.

About this title

About the Author

Susan E. Heagy is founder and president of Abundant Hope International (AHI), a non-profit organization offering relational and humanitarian aid assistance to Holocaust Survivors in Israel. Providing education to both the public and private sector, Ms. Heagy is instrumental in developing global relationships with Survivors. Ms. Heagy has devoted her entire career since 2004 to the philanthropic and nonprofit sector encouraging volunteers to join AHI in assisting the Survivors. She is available to speak on request, educating about the aspects not generally known of the Holocaust of WWII. She also shares the personal war accounts of the individual Survivors she has met both in public forums and in written form, all with the intent to make sure they are never forgotten.

Review

Having seen Corrie Ten-Boom s Hiding Place , and read The Diary of Anne Frank and others; I am well familiar with Holocaust stories. This book fits squarely in that genre, differing in that its target audience is children ages seven on up. I quickly add that if this were my first exposure to this unspeakable wickedness it would have been a huge psychological blow. I wept several times in this little book, and it frequently flashes through my mind now after having read it. I would only recommend it to children who have talked with their parents about these horrific crimes against the Jewish People. If you think your child is ready for this kind of exposure talk with them about this book before, during and after their reading of it. You both will learn a lot about the Holocaust. In addition to the beautiful words, the illustrations were magnificent. --Robert Carpenter, DDS, FAGD, MAGD, Lepidopterist, Nature Photographer- Kerrville, TX

This awfull history, translated in a language for children to grasp what has really happened. --Brecht Oosting, Tour guide Corrie ten Boom House, The Netherlands

As a journalist, during the last 5 years I am filming the stories of Holocaust Survivors here in Israel. I heard hundreds of them within this period. While reading this story I could hardly believe that it is the story that Susan wrote, and it is not someone`s personal life-story. Because I read every word of it many times in the sad eyes of Hannas, who Survived Ghetto and Concentration camps, and I saw such dolls in the hands of Sarahs, who pass the memory of their parents to future. Unfortunately, even today the Holocaust did not lost its relevance: extremism and neo-fascism still compels to remember the Holocaust. And I would like to say the words of gratitude to AHI organisation for staying with us in saving and broadcasting all over the world the live-stories of Holocaust Survivors, and personally to Susan Heagy for being able to show the pain of the whole nation in the story of one Jewish family, who went through the hell. Thanks for keeping the Memorial and saving the Names of the Holocaust Survivors! --Tamara Nersesyan Journalist, Director of TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network, Russia) Israel

Edition details

• Publisher: Yattir Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0996909206
• ISBN 13: 9780996909204
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 72
• Editor: Anne Severance, Mel Cohen
• Illustrator: Emunah