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Book Summaries/Reviews

Book summaries at Gussie Rose Press
This journal helps those estranged from a sibling process their grief through writing.
An inspiring true story of a 12-year-old girl who flees Nazi Germany all alone and how she adjusts to America.
A terrible draft number in 1969 upends a Princeton student's  life.

 

Writing as Therapy!

Sibling estrangement often carries profound hurt, grief, and a deep stigma. The loss of a brother or sister through estrangement can raise elemental doubts that ripples through a life, altering every family relationship as well as an individual’s identity, self-esteem, and ability to trust. This writing journal offers a private, emotional outlet to understand and process the grief of sibling estrangement. 

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"This is such an important book -- and so easy to use. A must for anyone who is hurting from having a breached relationship with a sibling."​

                         - Dr. Karen Gail Lewis, Family Therapist and Author of Sibling Therapy:                  The Ghosts from Childhood that Haunt Your Clients' Love and Work

 

 

​"This book is a “must” for all mental health clinicians because it highlights the unrecognized trauma of being “dissed” or overlooked by a loved family member."

                              ~ Myrna Orenstein, Ph.D. and author of Smart but Stuck:               Resilience with Learning Disabilities

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A True Story of a Child Fleeing the Holocaust Alone!

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It’s 1938, and twelve-year-old Edith is about to move from the tiny German village she’s lived in all her life to a place that seems as foreign as the moon: Chicago, Illinois. And she will be doing it alone.This dramatic and chilling novel about one girl’s escape from Hitler’s Germany was inspired by the experiences of the author’s mother, one of fourteen-hundred children rescued by Americans as part of the One Thousand Children project.

 

 

 

​​"Eloquent and powerful....As with the best writing, the specifics about life as a  young immigrant are universal."

                                                  ~ Booklist starred review​

 

  • ​A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year

  • A YALSA Best Fiction Nominee

  • A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best

  • A Junior Library Guild Selection

  • Booklist’s 1000 Best Young Adult Books since 2000​

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​​New Release!

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HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO AVOID BEING FORCED TO KILL?

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On a cold December night, a young man’s future is hijacked. It’s 1969 -- Bruce’s lottery number guarantees he will be drafted, sent to fight in Vietnam. In this compelling coming-of-age memoir, one young man’s moral dilemma forces him to question everything he believes. Would a real man do whatever his country asks? Or must he follow his conscience, placing integrity above friends, family, and his own future?

The Legacy of the Holocaust series

Eighth graders  reunite two Holocaust refugees 73 years after their long-ago immigration journey.

A Model for Service Learning   

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A beautifully designed, accessible read that teaches history through a personal story of friendship. Primary source material – original photos and historical documents – brings this narrative to life.

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Teachers use this book to inspire students to tackle remarkable service learning projects that can change lives.

​​​​​Independent Book Publisher

Bronze Medal winner 

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(updated version of Like Finding My Twin)

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original edition of Middle School Sleuths
Through photos and words, this book captures how some are confronting and atoning for Germany's national crimes.

A Book that Asks, “How Do We Remember?” 

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Through photos, historical documents, and text, readers witness the installation of memorial stones – stolpersteine – for a Jewish family murdered in the Holocaust. An artist creates a project that compels residents of a small German town to wrenchingly reconsider and recognize their involvement in national crimes.

 

This book serves as a springboard to a discussion on who, as a nation, we honor, remember, and memorialize. How can a people atone for national crimes?​

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Junior Library Guild selection

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(updated version of Stumbling on History)

original edition of Facing the Past
Fleeing the Nazis, one young girl goes to Seattle; her family escapes to the Dominican. Racism keeps them apart 21 years.

An Unaccompanied Minor’s Story of Loss 

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Twelve-year-old Gerda Katz’s story of her fractured family shows the dislocation, trauma, and culture shock that many child refugees experience. Primary source materials - original photos, letters, and historical documents - illustrate how racism in three countries disrupted and devastated one family’s life. This book spotlights a little-known program in the Dominican Republic that rescued Jews during the Nazi era.

 

One family’s odyssey of separation and reunion serves both as a tribute and as a warning – a gateway to this somber event in world history.

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Junior Library Guild selection

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(updated version of Three Stars in the Night Sky)

original edition of Three Stars in the Night Sky

The Happy Harper series

Harper doesn't understand why she can't see her beloved grandmother during the pandemic.

 

Helping Children Understand Family Separation

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A  colorful, delightfully illustrated book captures how the pandemic disrupts the cherished routine of a grandmother and grandmother. When the two can't see each other, the confused child wonders why.

Harper is angry that her grandmother stayed away so long and wonders if she still loves her when she can't see her..

Showing Children that Love Doesn't Disappear!

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In this colorful picture book, children learn that even when they can't see cherished family members, love burns brightly - like a light that's always turned on.

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