The Girl Who Fought Back: Vladka Meed and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

by Joshua M. Greene

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is one of history's most powerful acts of resistance. Here, author Joshua M. Greene ( Signs of Survival ) tells the true story of a young Jewish woman who was instrumental in the uprising as a smuggler of messages and weapons into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto. Warsaw, Poland, 1940 The Nazis are on the march, determined to wipe out the Jewish people of Europe. Teenage Vladka and her family are among the thousands of Jews forced to relocate behind the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto, a cramped, oppressive space full of starvation, suffering, and death. When Vladka’s family is deported to concentration camps, Vladka joins up with other young people in the ghetto who are part of the Jewish a group determined to fight back against the Nazis, no matter the cost. Vladka’s role in the underground? To pass as a non-Jew, sneaking out of the ghetto to blend into Polish society while smuggling secret messages and weapons back over the ghetto wall. Every move she makes comes with the risk of being arrested or killed. But Vladka and her friends know that their missions are worth the danger—they are preparing for an uprising like no other, one that will challenge the Nazi war machine. This astonishing true story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, told through the lens of Holocaust survivor and educator Vladka Meed, introduces readers to a crucial piece of history while highlighting the persistence of bravery in the face of hate.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, Middle Grade, World War II, Historical, Childrens

132 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 16, 2024

About the author

Joshua M. Greene earned his M.A. at Hofstra University, where he taught Hinduism and Holocaust history until his retirement in 2013. His books on war crimes trials and survivor testimony have been published in six languages. He has spoken at the Pentagon, the Judge Advocates College, the New York Public Library Distinguished Author series, and lectures frequently before state bar associations. In 1969, he was initiated as Yogesvara Das by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and spent 13 years in Krishna temples, serving as director of ISKCON’s European publishing office. His books on spirituality include Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison and Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text. His most recent book is a biography of Srila Prabhupada, titled Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the West. Greene is also a filmmaker whose Holocaust documentaries have aired on PBS, The Disney Channel, and Discovery.

Reviews

[Carolyn Scarcella · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I’m reading is called “The girl who fought back” by Vladka Meed with Joshua M. Greene. Joshua is the narrative writer and he is writing the story of Vladka Meed. This book is for younger readers, but adult can read this book too. She was the youngest woman to join in the uprising by her fellow people in the resistance movement against the Nazis during World War Two. She had written a book in 1946 then again in 1991 titled “ On Both Sides of the Wall: Memoirs from the Warsaw Ghetto ; Introduction by Elie Wiesel”. She was born in Praga, Warsaw in Poland. She’s the eldest child of two siblings. Her mother works as a seamstress and her father works as a leather worker. This is an interesting read, very moving, powerful and heart- wrenching. It has a photo included in the book. She stated “I am not a hero. I had no choice and I had to do what I have to do to survive”. By November 1939, there was 350,00 Jews lived in Poland and after the war only 5,000 only have survived. There were many doctors, lawyers, educators, writers, artists etc. As a result, what happened to her family? What happened to her after the war? You can decide.

[Jenessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is intended for young readers, and therefore reads like that. I read it with my 10 yr old. She was very interested in learning about Vladka Meed. I think it was also my first book reading about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. It’s so important to read books like these.

The book does a good job explaining what is happening to Vladka and then having a break between chapters with informational text about various topics covered in the story telling. It also included some pictures of Vladka and from Poland.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mid-level reader book.

[Deke Moulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A difficult but age appropriate narrative from the Holocaust. Highly suggest this book for educators—a Holocaust book that focuses on Jews resisting rather than Christian saviors. Helps to dispel the myth that all Jews simply went to their deaths.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richie’s Picks: THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK: VLADKA MEED AND THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING by Joshua M. Greene, Scholastic/Scholastic Focus, April 2024, 160p., ISBN: 978-1-338-88051-9

“How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel?”
– Galt MacDermot, James Rado, and Gerome Ragni (1967)

“The ghetto had been burning for six days now, forcing Jews out of their hiding places in attics and cellars. Vladka saw families huddled together on the ghetto rooftops, cornered by flames. The fire came closer, and the families jumped.
Vladka closed her eyes. She knew those people, the ones who were dying.
There came the loud whoosh of gasoline-powered flamethrowers. The Nazi soldiers were destroying the ghetto, building by building. Vladka heard the rat-a-tat-tat of German machine guns as the Nazis murdered everyone who had run out onto the streets of the ghetto to escape the burning buildings.
It was the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday, and on Vladka’s side of the wall, parents were coming out of church services with their children. Not far from where she stood was a merry-go-round. Parents lifted their children up onto wooden horses and clapped, watching them ride gaily round and round while a steam organ with tall pipes played circus music.
The parents knew the ghetto was burning. They could see the same flames Vladka saw leaping into the sky. They could hear the same machine guns and smell the same smoke. They could even feel the intense heat, but they were busy enjoying a spring day with their children and had no time or pity for dying Jews. Vladka heard one parent say to another, as he calmly pointed to the flames raging on the other side of the wall, ‘Look at that. The Jews are frying today.’”
– from the Preface

Vladka was watching all of this from OUTSIDE the ten-foot-high wall surrounding the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland. She remained mute in the face of such disgusting, inhumane, unChristian-like sentiments because she was part of a team of Jewish teens working undercover outside the ghetto. These adolescents–who would be immediately shot dead were their true identities to become exposed–were doing their best to sabotage Nazi efforts.

Vladka and her co-conspirators were determined that, if they were going to die anyway, they would do everything they could to resist before the Nazis killed them.

And if that’s not enough drama to persuade a middle grade reader to dive into this piece of powerful and heartbreaking nonfiction, then I sure don’t know what is.

‘Of the almost one million Jewish children in 1939 Poland, only about 5,000 survived, most of them in hiding.”

Crafted by a filmmaker who has taught Holocaust history at the university level, THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK is the true story of Vladka and her fellow saboteurs doing what they could to save some lives while so many were being killed.

Key to her success was her ability to pass as a non-Jew. Unlike what the Nazis considered to be “Jewish features,” Vladka had the advantage of sporting light brown hair and green eyes. Plus, she spoke Polish fluently and articulately.

Vladka’s father had perished in the ghetto from heartbreak and starvation, and her mother and siblings had been deported to their deaths. The other young survivors in the ghetto became her family. After someone she had previously known had actually escaped from the Treblinka death camp, and returned to the ghetto, the unwelcome news conveyed by the survivor erased any lingering hopes of anyone surviving the deportations. It was time to act. Through bribery (and luck) Vladka escaped the ghetto and risked her life over and over to make a difference. Her primary task was to secure arms and deliver them to the ghetto so that those remaining there could at least die fighting back.

“[T]here was no time to rest. No time to think too much. Sooner or later, she told herself, she too would be killed. Better to focus on the task at hand, whatever it might be.”

Again and again, Vladka saw her fellow Jews being summarily executed for nothing more than being Jewish. Again and again, her quick thinking–and a seeming avalanche of good fortune– permitted her to take big chances and somehow avoid becoming one of those millions and millions of victims. Victims of hate and ignorance.

THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK is a 160-page quick-and-sobering read that won’t soon be forgotten. It’s a must-have for elementary and middle school collections.

“‘The biggest danger,’ she cautioned, ‘is indifference to what happens to people around you.’”

The question I won’t be around to see answered is this: Will humankind evolve to embrace our differences in a loving fashion, or will the unrelenting darkness, hatred, prejudice, and indifference inevitably doom the species?

Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have learned for the first time about the Warsaw Resistance and the role that Vladka Meek (born Feigele Peltel) played in fighting back against the horrors that the Nazi's inflicted on the residents of the Warsaw Ghetto in the early 1940s.

Even though I have studied the Holocaust in school, visited two holocaust museums (Yad v'Shem in Israel and the Holocaust Museum in DC), and visited Ann Frank's home in Amsterdam, I am not done learning about the Holocaust.

This book focuses on the biography of Vladka Meek, a Jewish resident of Poland whose family was moved into the Warsaw Ghetto. She was an older teen and then a young adult during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Her father died of depression over his inability to provide for his family when his work, movements, and access to food were restricted dramatically. Meek's mother, sister, and brother were taken to Treblinka, a concentration camp, where they died.

Meek concedes that she survived primarily due to luck; however, she did have valid work permits, and she had a fair appearance that allowed her to pass as Aryan. She was able to live outside of the Warsaw Ghetto and gather information, guns, and dynamite to help the resistance behind the walls separating Warsaw in general and the thousands of Jewish people contained within the ghetto.

The book describes the horrors of the ghetto and the concentration camps, but not in a way that strives to exaggerate. The horror is in the facts of what the Nazis did and how the majority non-Jews so casually accepted what was going on. The book does allude a little bit to non-Jewish Polish people who were critical of the Nazis and even a resistance group that hoped to resist with force. Meek describes the hope that both types of resisters could combine efforts.

Toward the end of the book, we learn that Meek marries another resident of the Warsaw Ghetto (known for most of his life as Ben Meek, but born Czeslaw Miedzyrzecka) who was part of the resistance. In fact, he facilitated her escape from the ghetto a few years prior to their courtship and marriage. At the end of the book, we learn that they immigrated to the US, had two children who became medical doctors, and worked to raise awareness about the evils committed during the Holocaust: she was an educator, he organized an international database of Holocaust Survivors so that family and friends could see if their loved ones survived.

This is not a fun read (obviously), but it's vital for young readers to see how bigotry can lead to dehumanization and then lead to violence against others. This inhumane treatment has happened in other times and places, and it his happening in too many places in the world today. We need to be vigilant to eradicate even the most microscopic prejudice and hate. And we need to do more to help others in distress. Meek talked about how the resisters wondered why other countries in Europe (or beyond) did not render significant aid sooner, which could have saved millions of lives, including the lives of children.

[Historywoman1994 · Rating 4 out of 5]

🆆🅰🆃 🆉🅾🆄 🅹🅸🅹 🅳🅾🅴🅽?
De Joodse Vladka en haar familie wordt gedwongen om in een getto te gaan wonen in Warschau. Ondanks de erbarmelijke omstandigheden en de maatregelen die tegen Joden zijn opgelegd wordt er een verzetsgroep, ZOB, georganiseerd. Deze verzetsgroep besluit hun eigen heft in handen te nemen en een opstand te organiseren. Ook Vladka sluit zich bij deze verzetsgroep aan. Door haar arische uiterlijk krijgt ze de opdracht om merenmalen uit de getto te ontsnappen om vervolgens weer terug te keren met wapens en belangrijke documenten. Lukt het Vladka om deze manier de oorlog te overleven?

Het verhaal is rijk geïllustreerd met afbeeldingen extra toegevoegingen om bepaalde gebeurtenissen of begrippen uit te leggen. In eerste instantie is dit boek geschreven voor de jeugd maar ook als volwassene is het een interessant boek om te lezen. Juist omdat het boek aan de dunne kant is het de uitgelezen kans om je kennis te verbreden over de WW2. Want dit boek geeft het aandacht aan een onderwerp uit de WW2 wat ik niet eerder ben tegengekomen. Het verhaal gaat onder anderen over de Joodse opstand in 1943 in Warschau. En dat is denk ik naar alle waarschijnlijkheid niet iets wat meteen een belletje bij je doet rinkelen. Met deze opstand wordt het beeld weerlegt dat Joden niet passief bleven maar zelf ook de kans grepen om in opstand te komen. Dat ze hiervoor hun leven in een weegschaal stelde is bijzaak. Zolang maar een generatie overbleef om dit verhaal te blijven vertellen. En dat is zeker benoemswaardig te noemen!

Toch kan je het afvragen of het zoveel na jaren nog de "waarheid" is. Het is niet meteen opgeschreven hierdoor kan het wat beïnvloeding van ervaringen en meningen van andere personen geweest zijn. Maar dit gegeven blijft toch altijd vraag die je altijd kan stellen bij dit genre.
Desaltemin raad ik het boek zeker aan om te lezen! Het verhaal geeft een historisch beeld hoe het leven voor iemand van deze jeugdige leeftijd is tijdens deze afschuwelijk periode uit de (wereld)geschiedenis. Een verhaal die de WW2 door een andere invalshoek naar deze oorlog laat kijken.
ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴡᴀᴛ ᴢᴏᴜ ᴊɪᴊ ᴅᴏᴇɴ ᴀʟꜱ ᴊᴇ ɪɴ ᴅᴇ ꜱᴄʜᴏᴇɴᴇɴ ᴠᴀɴ ᴠʟᴀᴅᴋᴀ ꜱᴛᴏɴᴅ?~⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 4 out of 5]

REVIEWED FROM ARC.

This book details the Holocaust experience of Vladka Meed, a Warsaw Ghetto uprising resistance courier and one of the most significant leaders of the Holocaust remembrance movement in the U.S.

Using a sensitive tone, Greene (a university teacher specializing in the Holocaust and author of 2 children’s books on the topic) tells Meed’s story, describing the horrors experienced by her friends, family, and others trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis. Included are several of her close calls with death, witnessing atrocities as they happened, and the survivor guilt Meed felt after. Numbers of people affected by the Holocaust and uprising were woven into the text. Scattered in the book are a handful of B&W photos (most from the U.S. Holocaust Museum or Alamy Stock Photos) to break it up. Seven page-long sidebars chop up the flow of Meed’s story in the first half of the book, with only one sidebar in the second half of the book. As a result, this reader felt very little tension in the first half of Vladka’s story and lectured down to with explanations (rather than weaving this information into the text). The second half of the book flowed much faster and with more emotion without these interruptions. Also problematic is the nebulous nature as to how old Vladka through the action of this book – 10? 12? 17? 21? It is never mentioned.

Backmatter includes a glossary of terms, acknowledgements, and photo credits. No table of contents or index are in the book. Note: this is a JLG selection.

Recommended for purchase (as there is very little information about Meed for young readers outside of a chapter in Susan Glick’s Heroes of the Holocaust, Lucent, 2003) for grades 5-8.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK tells the remarkable true story of Feige (code name: Vladka) Meed, a Polish Jew who helped with resistance work inside and outside of the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto during World War II. Throughout her life, she insisted she wasn't a hero. The facts tell a different tale. In spite of (or perhaps because of) her own grief and fear, she risked her life over and over to carry messages between resistance groups, smuggle weapons into the ghetto for the Uprising, helped hide Jewish women and children, and more. Hers is a fascinating story set against an unbelievable, but real historical backdrop.

Even though I've read a number of books about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, I still learned new facts from this slim, but thorough volume. It provides an overview of what happened to Warsaw's Jews over the course of the war, with a special emphasis on resistance work. Although the book's content remains appropriate for a younger middle-grade audience, Greene's grim descriptions of life in the ghetto help the reader feel for themselves some of the horror, fear, helplessness, and desperation felt by its residents. Vladka's story also shows the extraordinary courage exhibited by ordinary Jews who risked their lives for their families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers in order to help at least some of their people survive. Although this book is non-fiction, the story is as engaging as fiction. It's short, interesting, and exciting, all elements that are sure to keep young readers turning pages.

These kinds of stories will never not be important and inspiring. I highly recommend THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK for kids (and adults) who want to read factual, engrossing stories to help them learn about (and from) the Holocaust.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although Vladka Meed was an incredible person to learn about, and although I appreciated the attempt to make her story available to a younger audience, I had a hard time with the layout and delivery in this book. It's written as a mix between narrative and a non-fiction primer about World War II. It's probably appropriate and helpful to include some of that information, but within the broader format, it just felt a bit stilted and it distracted from the important details of Vladka's story, removing the reader at some crucial points in her personal history. Also, I feel it should be noted that because this centers around the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (which was ultimately quelled in brutal fashion), this obviously isn't going to be a very happy story. That's understandable for an honest look at the brutality of the Nazi ideology and how it impacted everyday people across Europe. I did feel, though, that some of the included details were still awfully brutal for a young reader. It's not overtly graphic or anything, I'm just recommending this book only for older readers (fifth grade and up) and not for any that are particularly sensitive or would be vicariously traumatized by the on-the-ground events Vladka witnessed.

[Annette Langedijk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het waargebeurde verhaal van een Joodse vrouw, Vladka, dat weet te ontsnappen aan het getto in Warschau en in opstand komt tegen de Duitsers. Vladka is haar familieleden al vrij snel aan het begin van de oorlog verloren en besluit zich aan te sluiten bij de ZOB, een Joodse verzetsgroep. Door haar arische uiterlijk lukt het haar om zich te begeven onder de niet-Joden buiten het getto van Warschau. Ze smokkelt documenten en helpt Joden een onderduikplek te vinden.

Tussen de hoofdstukken over Vladka door zitten stukjes informatie en zwart-wit-foto’s.
Een heel indrukwekkend boek weer over de Tweede Wereldoorlog.
Het is echter meer een soort ‘verslag’ van alles dat Vladka gedaan en beleefd heeft, dan dat het echt een verhaal is.
Een relaas van alle verzetsdaden die ze gedaan heeft en het verloop van haar leven.

[Jared White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vladka had an amazing, heartbreaking, inspiring story... I just didn't feel like the delivery was very good.

It's amazing and horrific that humanity can be so beautiful and also so vile. How we can apply our creativity to such joyous things and such horrible things. Perhaps the saddest thing is that we seem so utterly unable to learn from our past mistakes and allow awful things to occur again and again. Yes, thankfully, nothing has happened since that's as bad and vast as the Holocaust, but there have been plenty of "small" things that are also horrendous. Despite its slightly poor delivery, that's why books like this are important, so we can learn from our past instead of repeating it.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE GIRL WHO FOUGHT BACK is an historic account of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - an event in which young Vladka Meed was instrumental. Losing her family to deportation during Nazi occupation of Poland, she joined forces with fellow Jews within the ghetto to fight back.

Factual information alternates with Vladka’s story, and provides additional content to enhance concepts throughout the book. This book is moving, powerful, and incredibly heart-wrenching. It is unfortunate that it is all fact. Very well researched, the facts presented in this book go beyond history class. That being said, the information was quite heavy for younger readers, especially those that are sensitive. I recommend this book for the older set middle-grade readers.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

An approachable Holocaust narrative for middle grade readers. The exciting true story of Vladka Meed, a Polish Jew who escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto and worked as a spy for the ZOB, smuggling weapons into the Ghetto to aid in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Primary source photographs, back matter, and added historical context make for an interesting and informative story. Obviously pretty heavy -- most of Vladka's family and friends die as victims of the Holocaust, murdered by Nazi soldiers, or from related hardships. She is a figure that I had not heard of before, and her story is told well here.

[Nicole Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how this was written. It was nonfiction but read like a novel. I've read tons of WWII books and had never read one about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It was very inspiring to watch how Vladka/Feige risked her life again and again, staring death in the face every time. She said surviving was just an accident, but she was so quick on her feet when confronted with danger. I kept thinking I probably wouldn't have been able to think of what to do in that situation.

Also, I found this in the children's section of my library, but it goes into detail about some of the atrocities the Nazis performed. It doesn't have any swearing or rape, but I wouldn't recommend this for children.

[Ms. Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

She called herself "Vladka," but that's because having an alias would keep her friends and fellow rebels safe. She was a Jewish girl in Warsaw who could pass as a Christian, which let her infiltrate Nazi spaces to buy supplies for an uprising planned in the ghetto. She knew that getting caught would mean death, not just for her, but for everyone she loved. She was going to do it anyway because the Nazis wanted her dead regardless. She was a Jew in World War II, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

This is for anyone who likes stories about real people, rebellions, or World War II.

[Emily Gretz (Coughlin) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very informative and easy to read novel about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which focuses specifically on the heroic acts of Vladka Meed. I would recommend this to middle school students who are interested in learning about the Holocaust. It provided a lot of historical context, definitions, etc needed to understand Vladka’s story and presented them in an organized way. Therefore, students with minimal knowledge of the topic could still read and understand. Even reading from an adult perspective, I enjoyed it and gained some other novel recommendations from it, specifically Vladka’s memoir “On the Other Side of the Wall” which I have added to my TBR list!

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick read and I wish the author had more details about her life but I really enjoyed learning about Vladka and the Warsaw ghetto uprising, which is something I didn’t know about before. It almost seems easy to say she went back and forth posing as an Aryan but I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been each and every time. I get that the author wanted to present the facts as Vladka had talked about them but a lot of the horrific things she described were presented as almost factual but that didn’t bother me too much.

[Vanne]

This book is rich in historical facts and great for research or curiosity about WWII. However, the writing is too factual, making it a dry read rather than an engaging story. It tells rather than shows, which takes away excitement. While the author clearly worked hard to stay accurate, the storytelling feels flat. If you're looking for an informative account, this works, but as a narrative, it's not the most compelling. Perhaps my perspective is shaped by growing up surrounded by firsthand stories and access to more captivating WWII books.

[Liz Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for a historical nonfiction account written for children. This is set forth in a tone of the feelings of a person not looking for fame, capturing her feeling that she was not a hero and that everyone faced the same dangers, asserting that survival was "an accident". Perhaps not a hero in her own eyes, but a person of true humility. we all should be more wary and question governments and social movements that hurt any group of people. I am looking forward to the adult version taken directly from Vladka Meed's own words I just learned about.

[Shayley Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

*⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️*
This book is an uplifting amazing and sad true story of teenager Feige Peltel or code name Vladka who with her friends face the greatest fear of getting deported for being Jewish by Nazi soldiers.In the end,Vladka and her friends in the ZOB try their best to defy the laws of Poland rule by going undercover to pretend to be a non-jew to fit in and win the uprising.This book is one of my favorites that I've read I would definitely recommend this.

[Aria F · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a new one for me, as I don't usually read historical fiction. However, I enjoyed it because it was more of a narrative nonfiction, and I was able to understand the Ghetto Uprising from the character's perspective. It taught me a lot since it was also informative but easy to follow, and kept me interested throughout. I would definitely recommend this book, as it showcased important messages but was both fascinating and inspiring.

[Belen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written for a younger audience which is why I found it lacking in some ways, but other than that, it was a really good book that spoke about the struggles and inhumanities the Jewish people faced during this particular time period. It taught me about a lot of people and events I wasn't aware of and left me feeling frustrated, angry, sad, and empty, especially in the end. Joshua Greene, and Vladka Meed, highlight the fact that there are no winners in a war, only survivors.

[Joe Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

These small snippets of history are incredibly important. They shine light into the individual lives of those who witnessed that piece of history unfold. This book is an excellent example of that genre. The author does a good job of highlighting Vladka Meed and her story in Poland during WWII; her courage and her luck.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rare account of an individual young Jewish woman who played a pivotal role in Poland and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during the Holocaust.
Few know that there WAS an uprising, since so few Jews survived it and the Nazis actively suppressed news of it, but a few did, Valdka among them.
This is a story that needs to be told and discussed and learned from.

[Evie Frey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d say it was a 3.5. It was good but I kinda did not like the random facts in the middle of the book in my opioid it would be better if they were at the end. Also some of the chapters were short and not really detailed. But I understand the author did not have a lot of details because I think the author did not have the person there so yay but it was pretty good.

[Rafał · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be so much better than it was. It had the potential to, in an age appropriate way, portray both the horror and heroism that took place in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, but it just failed to do so.

[Maegan McCown · Rating 3 out of 5]

While interesting, the story was a little choppy at points. I also felt that the steps taken to make it good for young readers may have results in too many details and points being removed, making it feel like you’re barley barley barley getting the true story.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, but I don’t think it’s suitable for kids under 11 that don’t already have some knowledge of the Holocaust. For younger ages, it may be best that it’s read with a parent who can discuss some of these heavy subjects as they go.

[Martha Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction account of Vladka Meed, a Jewish teen who was a spy in Warsaw who escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto, helped kids escape, and tried to find guns for the Uprising. This World War II story was adapted for middle grade readers.