Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto by Susan Goldman Rubin

Irena Sendler was a hero of the Holocaust.  This picture book, illustrated by Bill Farnsworth, tells the story of Irena’s courage in stepping up to rescue Jewish children in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. In Warsaw, Poland, Irena worked with the Zegota underground to develop plans to enter the Warsaw Ghetto and smuggle children out.  Then, she and others bravely executed these plans saving 2500 Jewish children.  Irena also kept and protected detailed records with hopes of reuniting families when the war was over.  Other great reads in our library about the work of the underground in Warsaw during this time period are Irena’s Children: A True Story of Courage by Tilar J. Mazzeo and The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman.

 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

While Clary Frey and her best buddy, Simon, are enjoying the music scene at the Pandemonium Club in New York City, Clary points out a suspicious trio to Simon, but Simon doesn’t see them.  One of the boys in the group is carrying a long-handled knife.  Clary watches as the trio sneaks into the storage room, and fearing that they are up to no good, she follows while Simon finds the bouncer.  In the storage room, Clary witnesses a murder and is introduced a world of Shadowhunters and demons. Things in Clary’s life are becoming odder.  Jace, one of the Shadowhunters, turns up the next evening at another club where Simon and Clary are watching a friend’s poetry slam. Jace shares a little more of his world with Clary. During this meeting with Jace, Clary receives an urgent phone call from her mom telling her not to come home, to go to Simon’s,  and to tell Luke that “he’s found me”.  Clary hears strange noises in the background, and then the phone goes dead.  She rushes home to find her mother missing, the apartment ransacked, and a demon lying in wait. Crouched against the floor, a ravener hisses, “Girl. Flesh. Blood. To eat, oh, to eat.”  Clary is in a fight for her life against this demon!