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KUNATI BOOK PUBLISHERS
Infinity Publishing
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Category: Children (illustrated), Young Adult, Historical
ISBN: 0-9692398-2-3 Publisher: Price: $23.95 Cdn; $17.25 US; trade paperback |
Description:Introduction
Why? What a word!
So small, but with so many vocal interpretations. When spoken by a
grieving adult, it’s a cry of pain. When asked by the young and the
innocent, it’s a word filled with curiosity. Why
is sometimes followed by Why
not? or Because
. . . and around and around the unanswered question – “Why?” So
many times I have heard the pain in a Holocaust survivor’s voices as
they related hesitantly, softly, reluctantly, their story. “Why?” they asked themselves, could they not find an answer to satisfy the
anguish they felt? And then, after a pause to reflect, they would ask, “Why,
me?”
Is there an answer? Can there ever be an answer? I don’t believe so,
but there can be closure. I’ve seen it. For more than fifty years,
historians have pounded into the minds of Holocaust victims that they
lived while millions died. They were left with a legacy of guilt and
carried it wherever they went.
Their children bore their parents’ guilt by witnessing their grief.
They saw the burden and were unable to lift it. Some could not cope with
their parents’ world and became estranged; damaged by their association.
The victim, now called a survivor, asked of what value was in his
survival?
And the answer, the why
-
became the grandchild – a progeny born only because they did survive.
Pure and untouched, a vessel filled each day with universal knowledge and marvelous
experiences, born of a new generation. Love is the lining that coats the
vessel and love will be the balm that heals. “Why,
Zaida,
are you alive?” So
you, my grandchild, can change the world to be a better place.
A.
Abram. All orders should be accompanied by a cheque or money order. Mail costs and taxes will be absorbed by Alvin Abram. A.M.A. GRAPHICS INCORPORATED 855 Alness Street, Unit 21 Toronto, Ontario M3J 2X3
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Reviews:
"The
book “Why, Zaida?” by Alvin Abram, illustrated by Judy Willemsma,
talks about that kind of person – a grandfather who talks about the
Holocaust only after his grandson asks and asks. Nevertheless, the
grandfather has to answer his grandson. He does this with the time-honoured
technique of parables, stories that help teach a lesson – a robin eating
a worm, a dog chasing a squirrel, a leaf caught in a stream, a grassy
bank. Every page has beautiful illustrations in lush greens, blues and
browns."
~ Leila
Speisman, The Canadian Jewish News "Author uses
metaphors from nature to explain the Holocaust. Why,
Zaida explains the brutality of the unnamed Nazi regime and its
collaborators by drawing another analogy as they see a dog attempting to
prey on a squirrel. Likewise, he likens evil to weeds, which threatens the
good grass if left unchecked. Abram generalizes the story – perhaps to
provide a gentle more universal approach to young readers first being
introduced to the potentially traumatic subject matter." ~
Maxine Fischbein, Jewish
Free Press
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Why,
Zaida?
