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Hidden yellow stars / Rebecca Connolly.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: [Salt Lake City] : Shadow Mountain, [2024]Description: 1 volume : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781639932344
  • 1639932348
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Additional physical formats: Online version:: Hidden yellow starsSummary: "Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium. ... Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army? Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She wants to recruit Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier. Together, Andrée and Ida, and their undercover operatives, work around the clock to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the resistance. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can. But with the Gestapo closing in, and the traitorous Fat Jacques who has turned from ally to enemy, threatening to identify and expose any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work even harder against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden-even if might cost them their own lives"-- Provided by publisher.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Phillipsburg Free Public Library Adult Fiction New Books FIC CONNOLLY Available 36748002577742
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium.



Belgium, 1942



Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium, who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army?



Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She recruits Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier.



Together, Andrée and Ida work tirelessly to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the Committee for the Defense of Jews. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can.



But with the Gestapo closing in along with the traitorous Fat Jacques, who has turned from ally to enemy and is threatening to identify any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden--even if it might cost them their own lives.

In the title, the "a" in "stars" is represented by the star of David.

Includes discussion questions.

Includes bibliographical references.

"Based on the true story of two World War II heroines who risked everything to save Jewish children from the Gestapo by hiding them throughout Belgium. ... Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. No child should have to suffer under such persecution. But what can one woman do against an entire army? Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a clandestine resistance group tasked with hiding children from the Gestapo. She wants to recruit Andrée because her Aryan appearance can provide crucial security measures for their efforts. Andrée agrees to join and begins work immediately by adopting a code name: Claude Fournier. Together, Andrée and Ida, and their undercover operatives, work around the clock to move Jewish children from their families and smuggle them to safety through the secret channels established by the resistance. As each child is hidden, Andrée commits to memory their true name and history. Someday, she vows, she will help reunite as many of these families as she can. But with the Gestapo closing in, and the traitorous Fat Jacques who has turned from ally to enemy, threatening to identify and expose any Jew he meets, Andrée and Ida must work even harder against increasingly impossible odds to save as many children as possible and keep them safely hidden-even if might cost them their own lives"-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

This historical-fiction novel tells the story of real people of the Committee for the Defense of Jews (CDJ) in Belgium. During the Nazi occupation of Belgium, oppression of Jewish people began with forcing them to display yellow stars on a coat and quickly escalated to detaining people and then deporting them out of the country. No one with Jewish heritage is safe, not even the children. Alarmed by the new regime, Andrée feels helpless as she sees her students and neighbors victimized by the Nazis. When the opportunity to join the CDJ presents itself, she'll risk her own safety to help hide children from a fate she cannot even fathom. This novel is a heartwarming display of humanity in the bleakest of times, written from the perspective of the social workers who arranged for hundreds of Jewish children to be separated from their parents in an attempt to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis. The story makes for an emotional but ultimately uplifting read.
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