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annalisenak97's review against another edition
4.0
I love all these pictures books about people I never knew about! Aaron Lansky has done so much preservation work in the Yiddish language and literature and this book is a great tribute to his work. The illustrations in here are muted but full of movement and imagination.
mallen8509's review against another edition
4.0
Aaron Lansky grew up in America, but his grandmother did not.
She left Eastern Europe when she was a teenager and was forced to leave behind her culture, including her native language, Yiddish. Before the Nazis killed millions of Jewish people, 13 million people spoke Yiddish. By the 1960's it was all but forgotten.
When Aaron went off to college, he began studying Jewish history. During his studies, he realizes that he needs to learn Yiddish to fully absorb his history.
To learn, he needed books, of course! But, texts written in Yiddish had disappeared.
The Book Rescuer shows how Aaron Lansky goes on a quest to find books of a lost language.
Aaron would eventually open the Yiddish Book Center, where you find a million and a half books today.
She left Eastern Europe when she was a teenager and was forced to leave behind her culture, including her native language, Yiddish. Before the Nazis killed millions of Jewish people, 13 million people spoke Yiddish. By the 1960's it was all but forgotten.
When Aaron went off to college, he began studying Jewish history. During his studies, he realizes that he needs to learn Yiddish to fully absorb his history.
To learn, he needed books, of course! But, texts written in Yiddish had disappeared.
The Book Rescuer shows how Aaron Lansky goes on a quest to find books of a lost language.
Aaron would eventually open the Yiddish Book Center, where you find a million and a half books today.
msgabbythelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
Great story and information about the Yiddish language and Jewish culture. It's a bit too long to find it super duper engaging.....but that's alright.
shighley's review against another edition
5.0
This story was completely new to me, and I will say that this is one book where I felt that the illustrations added greatly to the overall effect. I am in the process of reading many of the books that were recently honored at ALA Midwinter.
optimaggie's review against another edition
4.0
We read this in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day and it was a pleasure to do so. This is a great book for starting conversations about WWII, the importance of honoring one's own and others' cultures, languages, religions, etc. And about the power of books. It is so easy to take for granted the number of books at our disposal and I think it is invaluable to expose children to the lengths that some people have gone to to learn to read, have access to books for themselves or to rescue books for all.
littlebookjockey's review against another edition
5.0
"Books are big enough and powerful enough to define and contain identity."
I'm so glad I read this. I'd never heard of Aaron Lansky before, don't have much knowledge of Yiddish, and had never really thought about the inevitability that many books would be lost during the migration to America. Of course, it makes sense, but it's still such a heartbreaking thing. I'm so happy to know that there are people like Lansky out there in the world who are willing to put their wants and needs on hold to dig through dumpsters in the dead of night to save books.
I'm so glad I read this. I'd never heard of Aaron Lansky before, don't have much knowledge of Yiddish, and had never really thought about the inevitability that many books would be lost during the migration to America. Of course, it makes sense, but it's still such a heartbreaking thing. I'm so happy to know that there are people like Lansky out there in the world who are willing to put their wants and needs on hold to dig through dumpsters in the dead of night to save books.