Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

My 13-year-old who still enjoys read-alouds prefers realistic fiction over pretty much anything else; when I tell her we need nonfiction for a change of pace, she generally picks books about animals. She never picks books about war or sad things. Which is why you could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather when, out of the four nonfiction choices I offered her a few weeks ago, she picked Doreen Rappaport’s Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust. (I threw that in as a choice because I wanted to read it–I never expected her to actually choose it!) She studied Anne Frank this past school year, however, and so she was interested. Even more surprising? She didn’t bail when it got sad, and she was motivated to keep reading. As a result, we finished it together last night.

Unsurprisingly, it was a poignant, fascinating, heartbreaking, and triumphant reading experience. So much death and horror; such carefully laid plans that sometimes succeeded but often–at least partially–failed; so much loss; and yet, amidst it all, such triumph when some survived. The Jewish committee deserves to have these stories told; it deserves to have its bravery remembered. Full of fascinating facts, photographs, and stories–some untold by anyone until now–Rappaport’s record should be on middle school shelves (and in middle school classrooms) everywhere.

In the meantime, today ends the first week of summer break, and while it’s possible my children are unimpressed with the general lack of group outings, I’m getting stuff done. Go me!