The Light of Days is the Young Readers’ Edition.
The book is a harrowing tale of extremely young people who stood up proudly for the injustices inflicted upon all their people in their country of Poland by Hitlers Regime. Most of them were teenage to mid twenties Jewish women who decided that they were going to form groups and get the word out across to all the people exactly what was happening and not to rely on the propaganda that Hitler was spewing. These young people however were at risk because they were not only passing notes, forged documents , food, ammunition and guns and even people to other areas. These resistance fighters were raped, tortured, murdered and their families were at risk as well.

These stories of the Polish resistance fighters were kept quiet not because they were ashamed, but mainly because the focus was on the major death camps and the Holocaust focused primarily on Germany because of the greater numbers, but the horrors were no less felt in Poland, Austria, and Ukraine, and Hungary.

These are the true stories of these times and less we forget and allow these horrors to ever be affected by any nation again we must remember and see what one person’s fanaticisms can cause when endorsed by others and encouraged that we have to talk about these travesties and make our young people realize that these things happen to real people and not just on the movie screen or your game screen with shooting.

Talk to your children about life and the horrors that men can create! Let them read these books and know these are true stories and not make believe!

I would definitely recommend this book for young teenage readers.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

“The Light of Days” by Judy Batalion is a story about the resistance movement by Jewish women in Poland during the Nazi occupation. This novel is well researched and its delivery is intense but quite rushed, which makes it difficult to incorporate as the main study in the classroom. Nonetheless, it will serve as a great study source.

“The Light of Days” is a Holocaust story that many young readers won’t be familiar with. Students have heard the stories of families being torn apart, the horrible conditions at the Nazi concentration camps, and the stories of death at the hands of the Nazis. The young adults described in The Light of Days will be something new for today’s students because these are some of the Jews who fought the Nazis.

Jewish Youth Groups were concentrated in the Polish Ghettos and became resistance factions. They slowly built weapons to attack the Nazis. They also sabotaged Nazi infrastructure, organized uprisings, and built underground bunkers to protect themselves. Women, particularly those who didn’t look “too Jewish” were able to take a more visible role in the resistance. Women were expected to be out doing errands during the day, so the Jews that could pass as Polish Christians could be couriers and smugglers of goods and information. This work was incredibly dangerous for these young women in and there were many deaths. Judy Batalion, the author, thoughtfully tells some of these women’s stories. Two of the most compelling figures in this book, Vitka Kempner and Renia Kukielka, led brave and fascinating lives.

This book needed to be revised for young readers; the brutality and graphic details in the adult version are inappropriate for all but the most mature young adults. The level of scholarship in this book is excellent. There are many bibliographic resources, including maps, photographs, a list of the resistance fighters in the book, detailed source notes, and a list of suggested readings.

This book is a slow, overly academic read in many parts. Students may use it more as a source for research projects than pleasure reading. However, there are few books for young readers that discuss the Jewish resistance. As a result, The Light of Days is an essential volume for public and school libraries.

I get excited whenever I see Young Reader’s Editions of nonfiction books, it means that the original was good enough—and important enough—to warrant telling the story to a wider/younger audience AND that you get to read that very important book condensed into a readable and engaging format. So despite being solidly an adult, I’m all about the Young Reader’s Edition. And The Light of Days Young Readers’ Edition proved my point once again. I felt like I was reading a novel, I was captivated and drawn into the narrative, but I learned so much.

Judy Batalion tells the story of Jewish resistance in Poland during the Holocaust through the stories of young women who were weapons smugglers, intelligence scouts, leaders of resistance groups, smugglers of people, and so much more. She stresses the humanity of these woman, the fear, anger, and desperation they constantly faced but also their bravery and pride. The stories of women are not often the Holocaust stories that you hear but they played vital roles in the resistance. Batalion has brought these women back to life for a new generation or readers to remember.

I was rejected for the other edition of this book so I’m not sure what the difference is but this book was inspiring and terrific. I had never heard of the women mentioned in this book. They were fierce and inspired me to keep fighting because none of them gave up and they faced so much more adversity. They believed in their cause and used every tactic, trick to their advantage. These women and courage and tenacity. I’m glad their stories are finally being told and retold. I loved it when they scored against the Nazis, even in the simplest ways. The prevalent message I took away from this book is never give up, even when it seems all is lost. An important ,es safe to remember In today’s world.