Thanks to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book geared towards kids focuses on five females and four males who were liberated from Nazi concentration camps at the end of WWII. All nine made their homes in the United States. Each story includes photographs of the survivors when they were younger, and then another photo of them taken in the last few years.

I don’t think I need to tell you how important books like this are, not only for children but for anyone who stumbles upon Holocaust deniers. These nine stories bring to life the depravity and atrocity that was the holocaust. Adele, Barney, Eric, Ernie, Frank, Judy, Magda, Rodi, and Ruth may have survived, but some did not thrive, as you could imagine. Many did not tell their stories until they were much older for a variety of reasons: shame, fear, guilt.

My favorite story was that of Judy Strauss, who has spent her days encouraging others to fight for their rights with the ballot box. That’s something that really hits home today, and a lesson that even grown-ups could learn.

I have been reading holocaust memoirs and nonfiction books for the past 20 years. Now that I am a homeschooling mother, I am constantly on the lookout for great books that will help me to introduce such a hard subject to my children. I believe that Interrupted Lives is a great recourse for this introduction. While the summaries of the events that each or the nine children go through are short, they also communicate the events that they endure in a way that show how tragic this period of history was in a way that it not too graphic for the intended reader. I believe that it will also provide the readers with the knowledge that there can be hope for our lives even after horrible events occur. I would recommend this book for middle schoolers as an introduction to the Holocaust.

Content Warning: Brief discussion of death of children.

What an amazing tool to teach students about the experience of children during the Holocaust. This book does an amazing job using survivor testimony and also small inserts to clarify information for students. This book shows that not all survivors experiences are the same but it also allows for an expanded understanding of how different people went through the Holocaust. This is a critical tool for Holocaust education especially as more survivors pass away. I especially love the final thoughts in each section which allow practical steps for students to consider when trying to make connections to today's world.

Five stars. An important and timely contribution to the body of Holocaust testimonies, especially for children and young adults.

Growing up in this era, decades removed from the Holocaust, many children are unaware of the horrors of the Shoah. And with global antisemitism on the rise, including in countries where Jewish communities felt "safe" (a relative term) in recent years—these stories need to be told. Every survivor's story is unique and precious.

Other books for children and young adults containing survivor stories have been published over the decades. But there aren't enough of them. Especially helpful are the sidebars describing places cited in the book—internment and death camps, and political terms. The authors and editors were able to include enough details to highlight suffering and tragedy without being overly graphic.

Anyone with a heart will find it impossible to read these stories without doing some serious soul-searching. And so we say "never again." And to all readers of this review, we ask: "Would you do what some of the kind non-Jews did, ones who at their own great personal cost and peril, risked their lives to hide and help Jewish people during the Holocaust?" Would you—especially those who name the name of Jesus, the Jewish messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures?

These are powerful stories of children who survived the Holocaust, some by fleeing, some by hiding in plain sight, and some in concentration camps. Every entry shows a normal childhood followed by the heartbreak and terror of finding a way to live against terrible circumstances. The children in these true stories grew up and led lives around the world, mostly not talking about their experiences until they were older.
I cannot imagine being so young and separated from my home and family, and their hearts were so powerful. Each had a lesson from their hardship, such as always treating people with kindness.
The real photos make this even more powerful, as these were truly normal children. Their testimony of overcoming adversity is so powerful. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

This book was so real and raw. It was so sad to read about what these survivors had to go through. As a history lover I knew I had to pick this up. Even though their stories are sad to read about its also great to read that they were able to make something of their lives after they were liberated. I can understand why some didn't want to talk about their lives during this time because its a very depressing situation. However I am glad they came forward because we got to know that they survived and are able to show awareness to those who had to go through it. It shows what can happen if the wrong person gets in control and it shows us how to try to not let that type of thing happen again. Again this made my history loving heart happy to read and be able to learn more about the survivors but also sad because they life was ripped from them and made things difficult after they were freed.

Friedeman and Szany’s middle grade book, “Interrupted Lives: Nine Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust,” is a resource that is desperately needed by schools not just in the United States, but should be translated into numerous languages and distributed worldwide.

This book includes the stories of nine different people—five women and four men—who survived the Holocaust as children. The survivors hail from places throughout Europe, including France, Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands, with five survivors originating in Germany.

Each story includes photographs of the survivors, along with biographical data, such as birthdates, death dates, immigration dates, along with a major lesson from each person. Of all the included stories, three in particular really touched my heart.

The first was the story of Adele Zaveduk who, along with her mother younger sister, lived in the home of a gentile in France. But, painfully, the woman who gave them shelter denounced Adele’s mother, resulting in her mother being sent to a concentration camp. After that, their caretaker then lied to Adele and her sister, calling their mother a bad person. It was heartbreaking.

The second story that touched me was that of Judy Straus from Montabaur, Germany whose major lesson was to encourage people to fight for their rights using the vote. Finally, the third story that really touched me was that of Ruth Stern from Berlin, Germany, whose lesson focused on adaptation to survive coupled with resilience.

My paternal grandmother was born in Austria. While still a young teenager, she was forced to work in an ammunitions factory. After this, she was sent to Berlin to work as a maid. I still know very little about what my paternal grandmother endured as she was extremely tight lipped about everything. But even so, I have always been hesitant to visit Berlin; I believe this is where she experienced the most trauma. And in my own personal life, I have also had to rely on adaptation for my own survival, relying upon my own resilience. It is for these reasons that Ruth Stern’s story resonated the most with me.

Children deserve to have childhoods and while many, if not most, of the people in this book were denied this right, I’m grateful that they at least lived through this tragedy. I cannot begin to even fathom the experiences that many children during this era experienced, and particularly the experiences of the children that were murdered.

This book is more than timely, given the current rush of antisemitism around the world. But through education, we can eliminate both hate and misunderstanding. I sincerely hope that this book will have a long print run and will appear on bookshelves around the world.

I received an ARC of “Interrupted Lives: Nine Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust” by Amanda Friedeman and Kelley Szany from NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group, and Kar-Ben Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.