"...Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 children from Nazi-occupied Prague... told no one about it."
Ages: 7 - 10
Grade Level: 1 - 4
Location: Prague, Czechoslovakia
Pages: 64
Time Period: 1900s
It was 1938. Nicholas “Nicky” Winton, an Englishman with a passion for raising pigeons and collecting stamps, was looking forward to his skiing vacation. His dreams of flying down the snowy mountains were interrupted, however, when his friend called. “Come to Prague.”
Veruska “Vera” Diamantova, a ten-year old Jewish girl, was the “queen of cats.” Vera, her increasing amount of adopted cats, and her family lived quite happily near the city of Prague. However, the looming threat of an invasion from the Nazis, who were right outside Czechslovlokia's door, casted an uncertain shadow on the future. Her worried parents then learned of a man offering safe passage to children under the age of 17 to escape to England. Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sís is a remarkable tale about a humble hero and about one of the children he rescued.
The Author's Note recounts both Nicky's and Vera's biographies in more detail. However, there are some details included that some sensitive readers may find extremely sad (all listed in the content review below).
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Content Warnings
Content that some individuals may find controversial or objectionable. Attention was given to include content which may offend people of a particular culture, race or religion and details which the sensitive child may find unsettling or troublesome.
"No Spoilers" offers a summary of content issues while avoiding spoilers. "With Spoilers" lists the potential content issues in detail.
No Spoilers:
Throughout the book there are themes of families being separated and violence (mentioned but not described in detail) related to World War 2.
With Spoilers:
Violence
In the Author's Note, he explains that Kristallnact was when "Jewish homes and businesses in Germany and Austria were attacked."
A small vignette depicting Kristallnacht shows an old man lying on the ground with his eyes closed. His shop's window is broken and flames are seen behind the man in the open doorway.
This book is set during war time but nothing is seen of the actual fighting save for flames, flying planes, a tank with flame coming out of its nozzle, and the above.
Mention of concentration camps (in-text and in the Author's Note) and Gestapo (in the Author's Note). However, neither term is explained.
+Other
A child had to be separated from her parents.
Vera's cousins as well as 250 children on the last train were unable to leave. The Author's Note states that only 2 of the children on this train were believed to have survived.
Vera's family does not survive. It is mentioned in the book that her parents died in concentration camps and only one aunt survived. The Author's Note explains that her father was shot and her mother died of typhus after the camps.
In the Author's Note, it is mentioned that 250, 000 refugees lived in freezing temperatures on few resources in Prague.
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