My new picture book What Rosa Brought is now out in the world. I’m prouder of this book than any other one I’ve written.

Some years ago, there came a time when I felt my kids were ready to begin learning about the Holocaust, but not ready to face the full horror of it. As it happened, we had the perfect story in the family. My mom was a little girl in Vienna when the Nazis marched in. She was present for the first steps the they took against the Austrian Jews. But miraculously, she and her parents escaped in 1939. One of her most vivid memories of that time is from the day she left Vienna, when she discovered that her beloved grandmother had to stay behind. So it’s certainly not a happy story. But it is, at least, a story whose sadness a child can wrap their head around, as a very first step towards a painful but necessary understanding of the kind of horrors we must always be on guard against.

I thought my mom’s story might help other families begin this conversation. What Rosa Brought is based on my mother’s memories, on stories passed on from my grandparents, and on my own historical research. As a little girl, my mom wasn’t taking contemporaneous notes, so I’ve had to imagine the dialogue and some details. But I’ve tried to portray the events of that time in her life as accurately as I can.

If you’d like to read What Rosa Brought, I encourage you to buy it from your local bricks and mortar bookstore, if you have one. I know that’s not always possible, though, and Amazon is always an option.  Or, if you’d prefer, please consider asking your local library to get it.