Friends to the Rescue

Winner of the 2025 Western Canada Jewish Book Award Diamond Foundation Prize

Holocaust survivors are depicted as more than just victims in this historical fiction novel for middle grade readers.

Inspired by a true story, and told in two different time periods, Friends to the Rescue takes place in Fossa, Italy, a small mountain village that offered refuge to Jews during World War II. When the village suffered a devastating earthquake 65 years later, the Jewish refugees whom the town had helped traveled to Fossa to return the favor.

On April 6, 2009, Luca and his grandfather Roberto were eating lunch together in their quiet home in Fossa, Italy when disaster struck. An earthquake shook the house, forcing them to scramble out and into the streets. As wave after wave trembled the ground, Luca watched as his home and small village fell to rubble.

In the days ahead, with roads impassable, the village was cut off from the rest of the world. Luca and his neighbors needed to work together to survive. Nurses, doctors, and Luca's grandfather Roberto tended to the wounded, while others scoured the ruins of homes and businesses to look for food and water. It took four days for aid to arrive. When the rescue workers came, they brought welcomed surprise visitors.

During World War II, Luca's grandfather Roberto, then just a boy, had helped in another type of rescue. One afternoon, Roberto found his parents clearing out their basement pantry and replacing food with beds. They told him there would be visitors coming to stay with them for a while . . . visitors that must remain hidden. A family of Jews from Rome moved into their pantry, seeking refuge from the German armies that were now in Italy. Their young daughter Sara and Roberto became the closest of friends but lost touch after the war. It would take an emergency to bring them back together.

Ellen Schwartz is the author of 18 award-winning books for children, as well as one non-fiction book for adults, a collection of profiles of women singer-songwriters. Ellen’s children’s books range from picture books through middle-grade novels and young adult fiction and information books. In addition to writing books, Ellen works as a corporate writer and editor and as a freelance magazine writer. She has published hundreds of magazine articles. Ellen has taught creative writing classes for many years at the college and university levels. She lives in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Alison Mutton earned a BA with Honors in Design from Curtin University, focusing on illustration. She specializes in children's illustration, including fairytale-style fantasy and historically-inspired illustration. She uses a variety of mediums in her work– pencil, watercolour, coloured pencil, ink, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fresco, Adobe Illustrator and Procreate. She has worked on over 100 books for ReadyEd Publications and has been illustrating picture books since 2014. She is based in Perth, Western Australia.