<i>Irena’s Jar of Secrets</i> (review)
2012; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 65; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2012.0002
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Eastern European Communism and Reforms
ResumoReviewed by: Irena’s Jar of Secrets Hope Morrison Vaughan, Marcia. Irena’s Jar of Secrets; illus. by Ron Mazellan. Lee & Low, 2011. [40p]. ISBN 978-1-60060-439-3 $18.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 3–5. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Catholic social worker Irena Sendler worked tirelessly with Zegota, an underground organization helping Jews, to smuggle children out of the Warsaw ghetto and to help find foster homes for them. She kept scrupulous records of the children’s actual and false identities, which she stored in a sealed jar buried under a friend’s tree. Sendler was eventually captured by the Gestapo but, despite months of torture, refused to reveal any identities or offer any information about her work. On the eve of her scheduled execution, she escaped and, while on the run, continued her work for Zegota. After the Nazi defeat, Sendler dug up her jar, which contained the names of over 2500 children, and set about working with social service agencies to reunite the surviving children with their family members. While not the first picture-book biography about Sendler’s life (see Rubin’s Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto, BCCB 6/11), this is a solid offering; historic events are described in accessible but meaningful ways, episodes are recalled with just enough details to add emotional weight, and an informative afterword and list of sources ground the story in historical fact. The story is effectively framed by Irena’s commission from her father to help those in need, a lesson that may resonate with contemporary readers of the story. Though the compositions are sometimes stilted, Mazellan is adept at using touches of brighter color to shine light on specific regions of the scenes, and his oil paintings offer dramatic interpretations of the dark times detailed in the text. This would make an excellent addition to a study on unsung heroes as well as a good selection for independent readers drawn to such stories. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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