The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin

Rubin, Susan Goldman with Ela Weisberger. 2006. THE CAT WITH THE YELLOW STAR: COMING OF AGE IN TEREZIN. New York: Holiday House ISBN 0823418316 [Suggested Grade Levels 3-8]

REVIEW
During World War II, Hitler sent 10,632 children to Terezin, a Czech concentration camp. THE CAT WITH THE YELLOW STAR vividly recounts the experiences of a child who survived her stay.

Ela Stein, who entered Terezin at the age of eleven, shares her story with children in this haunting picture book. Starting with Kristallnacht, in 1938, the book outlines the events that led to Ela’s internment with her family in 1942, recalls her life there until liberation three and half years later and summarizes her life after the war. Arranged into ten chapters, the text is broken up by plentiful photographs from the period and examples of surviving artifacts like Ela’s registration card, a ghetto health record card, postcards, special ghetto money and an example of a Star of David patch labeled “Jude”. Even more revealing, perhaps, are Ela’s paintings and drawings from Terezin.

This unique memoir, which takes its name from Ela’s part in a children’s opera staged at Terezin, celebrates beauty in the bleakest of times. Thorough resources and an index will help connect young researchers with the information they seek.

CONNECTIONS
Children can participate in a Holocaust memorial being organized by the Holocaust Museum in Houston (or elsewhere) by creating handmade butterflies. For more information, see http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html.

RELATED BOOKS
Other books about Terezin:
Auerbacher, Inge. I AM A STAR: CHILD OF THE HOLOCAUST. ISBN 0140364013,
Rubin, Susan Goldman. FIREFLIES IN THE DARK: THE STORY OF FRIEDL DICKER-BRANDEIS AND THE CHILDREN OF TEREZIN. ISBN 082341681X
Volavkova, Hana. I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY: CHILDREN’S DRAWINGS & POEMS FROM TEREZIN CONCENTRATION CAMP, 1942-44. ISBN 0805241159


By Suzy Parchman