The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs

by Chana Stiefel, Susan Gal (Illustrator)

A moving biography of the woman who created The Tower of Faces, a powerful exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Sydney Taylor Book Award (Gold Medal)

A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

★ "...There are many picture books about the Holocaust, but this one stands out with Gal's beautiful watercolor pictures and the true account of one woman's goal that her community never be forgotten. A beautiful tribute....Highly recommended." - School Library Journal, starred review

★ "A stunning tale . . . . bursting with detail and life. . . . A magnificent and moving tribute to a loving community and an extraordinary woman." - Booklist, starred review

★ "A powerful tribute....Moving." - Publisher's Weekly, starred review

★ "An affirming tribute to a Jewish past that was lost in the Holocaust as well as to one survivor's work." - The Horn Book, starred review

" ...A loving testament to light and hope and the vision of a remarkable woman." - Kirkus Reviews

"...the book's mes­sage is con­sis­tent­ly opti­mistic... Stiefel paints a truth­ful por­trait appro­pri­ate for those just begin­ning to learn about the Holocaust....Gal's artwork...is dramatic and accessible...a book that ensures [Eliach and her town] will not be forgotten." - Jewish Book Council

There once was a girl named Yaffa. She loved her family, her home, and her beautiful Polish town that brimmed with light and laughter. She also loved helping her Grandma Alte in her photography studio. There, shopkeepers, brides, babies, and bar mitzvah boys posed while Grandma Alte captured their most joyous moments on film. And before the Jewish New Year, they sent their precious photographs to relatives overseas with wishes for good health and happiness.

But one dark day, Nazi soldiers invaded the town. Nearly 3,500 Jewish souls - including family, friends, and neighbors of Yaffa - were erased.

This is the stunning true story of how Yaffa made it her life's mission to recover thousands of her town's photographs from around the world. Using these photos, she built her amazing TOWER OF FACES, a permanent exhibit in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, to restore the soaring spirit of Eishyshok.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Holocaust, Jewish, Childrens

40 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 4, 2022

About the author

Chana Stiefel is the author of more than 30 books for children, both fiction and nonfiction. Her recent picture book, THE TOWER OF LIFE: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs (illus. Susan Gal, Scholastic), received many honors including the 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Award, a Robert F. Sibert Honor, the Margaret Wise Brown Prize, the Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children's Literature & SCBWI's Inaugural Robert Freedman Nonfiction Award for a Better World. Her next book is LET'S FLY: Barrington Irving's Record-Breaking Flight Around the World (co-written with Barrington Irving, illus. by Shamar Knight-Justice, Dial/PRH, 1-14-25). Other recent nonfiction titles include LET LIBERTY RISE! How America's Schoolchildren Helped Save the Statue of Liberty, illustrated by Chuck Groenink (Scholastic), and ANIMAL ZOMBIES! AND OTHER BLOODSUCKING BEASTS, CREEPY CRITTERS, AND REAL-LIFE MONSTERS (NatGeoKids). Chana's humorous fiction picture books include BRAVO AVOCADO (HarperCollins), MENDEL'S HANUKKAH MESS UP (Kalaniot), DADDY DEPOT (Feiwel & Friends) & MY NAME IS WAKAWAKLOCH (HMH). Chana is represented by agent Miranda Paul at Erin Murphy Literary.

Reviews

[Liza Wiemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

As of this date, The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs, is not available to the world, but it has already garnered a wonderful honor. It was named a A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. It is absolutely deserved and I expect that this book will receive many more honors.

I cannot rave about this special picture book enough. It tells the story of a brave Holocaust survivor, Yaffa Eliach, and the amazing actions she took to remember and share the stories through photographs of the people from her village, Eishyshok.

Stiefel's words capture the joy and incredible life that the Jews of Eishyshok experienced for 900 years before Nazi Germany brought darkness, destruction and death. The illustrations from the brilliant Susan Gal illuminates the life before and after. The highlight, however, are the photographs that tell Yaffa's pre-WWII family's story and the village's story, showing the joys, celebrations, and experiences of Eishyshok's Jews. We also see how Yaffa and her family survived and the how stories of Eishyshok played a critical part in bringing light into the darkness.

Those stories were deeply important to Yaffa. After the war, she wanted to make sure that they were preserved. She traveled the globe to gather photographs and stories. She collected over 10,000 pictures, which eventually were utilized for a breathtaking display at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It's called "The Tower of Life," and visitors to the museum can see it.

This remarkable picture book is perfect for people of all ages. I highly recommend it for Holocaust education and would encourage teachers to utilize it to talk about this history. A meaningful classroom activity would be to have students capture their own lives and the lives of their hometown through photographs. It's a perfect way to collect memories and use them to honor Yaffa's dedication to bring light and goodness into this world.

Highly recommend.

[Rajani LaRocca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely magnificent book. With powerful words and dramatic artwork, Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal do a masterful job telling the story of Yaffa Eliach, who survived the Holocaust when the Nazis wiped out almost all the people in her Jewish town, moved to America and became a renowned historian, and then gathered photos from all over the world depicting people in her town to rebuild it at the National Holocaust Museum as a "Tower of Life." While the book doesn't shy away for the horrors of what happened, it presents it in a way that young readers can understand. Overall, this book, like Yaffa herself, celebrates the lives of the people of Eishyshok. A truly memorable story that everyone should read.

[DaNae · Rating 5 out of 5]

The hardest of stories told perfectly and with grace.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This exquisite picture book biography tells the story of Yaffa Eliach, a Holocaust survivor who spent years recovering historic photographs from her shetl to honor destroyed lives and remember what her home was like before the war. These photos eventually became part of the Tower of Life at the Holocaust Museum, and the book includes some of the actual photos.

This book is appropriate for a wide age range. The violence and horror inherent in the story will be difficult for some young children and sensitive readers to process, but this is far more accessible for children than many Holocaust works, and it has a beautiful focus on the dignity and value of the victims and survivors. I would encourage parents of younger children to preview this, and to read it together with their child if they decide that it's appropriate for them.

Unlike the majority of Holocaust books for children, this one doesn't involve the concentration camps. It is set earlier in the war, when the Nazis were rounding up townspeople to shoot them and burying them in mass graves. This book explores that lesser-known part of the Holocaust, with more information available in the backmatter.

[Ellen Leventhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I know a lot about the Holocaust, I was unfamiliar with this remarkable story. I am deeply grateful to Yaffa Eliach, who recovered thousands of photographs of the people of Eishyshok, her childhood home, to show the world a picture of a town that once was. I am also profoundly grateful to the author, Chana Stiefel, for writing this book. Her words adeptly tell the reader what life was like for the 900 years before the Nazi invasion, how Yaffa's family escaped, and how Yaffa scoured the world to create "The Tower of Life." This story highlights the lives of the people of Eishyshok and their spirit. The tower of photographs is a monument to their existence, and this book is a monument to the Tower.

Stiefel has the remarkable ability to write for children without talking down to them. However, people of every age will love this book. Susan Gal's beautiful illustrations are perfect for this story. of determination and hope.

I highly recommend this book for every classroom in the country as well as every family.

[Eti · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful, powerful, heartbreaking, and empowering picture book that offers a story of the Holocaust in a way that's accessible for young people - and the story of why it's important to tell these stories - and how we continue to share them. Includes actual photographs in the illustrations. An essential addition to our collections.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing to me that there are always new ways to tell the horrible history of the Holocaust and ways to tell it to young readers. I love Stiefel's true story of Yaffa Eliach's experiences during the war in Poland and her quest to locate photographs and stories from the survivors of her small village.

The installation of the Tower of Life at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum is incredibly moving and appropriately done. The exhibit is made up of 1,000 photos of the people of Eishyshok and encapsulates the world of love and laughter that once existed as, as the author writes, "a world that will never be forgotten."

Expressive illustrations by Susan Gal bring the story to visual life wonderfully. Back matter includes a Timeline of Eliach's life, a bibliography and suggested resources for children and additional information on Eliach.

Read in galley

[Ann Koffsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing story to discover and retell!
I was just given the opportunity to review an advance copy of this book, and was so moved by it. As the book so beautifully articulates, it's difficult to find light in the darkness--but this book is one of those lights, and its story is both empowering and inspirational. I can't recommend it enough.

[Amanda Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was unfamiliar with Yaffa's story before reading this book and loved learning about the history and efforts of Yaffa to recover thousands of lost photographs that helped preserve the story and spirit of her townspeople in Eishyshok after they were uprooted by the Nazi's during the Holocaust. Yaffa's efforts enabled 900 years of history to live on. A story of hope, healing, determination, and courage and a reminder that hate can never erase us spirits or our stories and love will always win. Thank you to the author and Scholastic for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I vividly remember the "Tower of Life" near the end of the exhibits that shows the lives that were cut short or at least affected by the Holocaust. Instead of ending on more of the sad images from that atrocity, Dr. Yaffa Eliach's exhibit shows the humanity that has survived. As a child, Yaffa took some of her grandmother's photographs as her family fled their town as it was being invaded by the Nazis. She carried those photographs with her throughout her life. A story that shows the impact one child can make. Gal's illustrations complimented this emotional picture book biography so well. Amazing.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing my read of Sibert Medal Honors and Winners. This particular story I'd not heard. Or if I had heard of the exhibit at the Holocaust Museum, I hadn't remembered it. Beautiful book, good art, good writing. It managed to tell the story of the village and its people. And to tell the story of the aftermath. It also had an exceptional and readable afterword. Sad. Worth reading, worth remembering.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book emphasizes how stories connect and can help heal us. I liked the story arc and though it touches on the Holocaust it is not overly heavy on the gruesome details.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on a true story that is heartbreaking, terrifying, and also hopeful. The resiliency of the human spirit can be astonishing.

[Christine Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading about Yaffa and her legacy. Gal's illustrations are so beautiful and vivacious. I love her art, and I love learning about these incredible people in our world:)

[Deke Moulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely important book for content on the Holocaust. As positive as one could get - finding a way to preserve the photographic evidence of life and joy of an entire town Lost.

[Jesselynn Stoddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tower of Life is a very inspiring children’s book about a Jewish girl from Poland who survived WW2. The village she grew up in was a Jewish community with hundreds of years of family history roots. Her family owned a photography studio and this proved to be an important part of remembering the town after the German soldiers arrived.

I loved this book! I chose it because I’m not really a historical genre lover but I wanted to give it a try. Siefel is an amazing writer and tells this story in a way that is so simple yet so profound. I would suggest this for young kids but it would probably be of most impact if it was read to them and there was a discussion about the Holocaust with it. It would also be good for readers to look up pronunciations since there are quite a few names that are hard for English speakers.

I highly recommend this book. As a young adult, we hear more of the hardships going on and it is a big imputation to read about the hope found after trails.

[Doreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

10/5/2022 Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.

10/6/2022 This is an important book about the Holocaust and one woman's efforts to memorialize the lives so tragically lost to Nazi cruelty. It's an inspiring true story matched only by the astonishingly vivid artwork Susan Gal uses here to bring Yaffa Eliach's story to life.

Y'all, I could go on and on about this art. So much care has gone into it, from the blue-black of Yaffa's hair to the exquisite patternwork of the clothes, to the truly inspired montage of photos over artistic depictions of everyday life in the Polish shtetl of Eishyshok (now a Lithuanian town called Eisiskes.) Ms Gal was inspired by the Tower Of Life memorial Dr Eliach curated at the Holocaust Museum and it shows in every joyful brush stroke, in every moment of hope captured in the face of despair. This art deserves to win awards.

The accompanying text is competent to good. I know that that sounds like weirdly faint praise when it's not meant to be. It's just that the actual point of the book is only truly elucidated in the afterword. The Tower Of Life serves to remind viewers that real people, people who loved and laughed and were just doing their best to get by, had their lives brutally stolen from them. Remembering them as victims has value, but not as much as remembering them as fellow human beings whose lives should have been celebrated, whose stories need to be remembered as touchstones for our shared humanity. The preceding text almost closes that circle between celebrating life and promoting empathy but doesn't quite manage it, which feels like a weird disservice to everyone involved. I mean, this is a kid's book. Feel free to spell that point out for the, likely very young, reader.

And, I mean, I get it, you don't want to go overboard saying "it could happen to you" and traumatizing some poor 8 year-old. Writing children's books is hard work, so more power to all the children's books writers out there!

The story itself is a brief, kid-friendly biography of Dr Eliach. As a young girl, Yaffa lives happily in her small Polish town, occasionally helping in her Grandma Alte's photography studio. When she's six years old, the Nazis come rolling into town. Her father takes her, her older brother and her mother, and flees into the woods. A kind farmer hides them underground, and they wait out the rest of World War II in hiding. Afterwards, with the entire Jewish community of Eishyshok uprooted if not outright destroyed, Yaffa becomes a refugee, eventually emigrating to Egypt, then Jerusalem, then the United States.

In the US, Yaffa becomes a renowned historian and professor, and is invited by President Jimmy Carter to contribute to the development of the Holocaust Museum. But Yaffa doesn't want to memorialize the darkness of those days. What she wants to do is bring what was lost back to life, and decides that the best way to do this is try to collect the many photographs her grandmother took, that were sent by the community to their relatives worldwide as part of their Jewish New Year's Eve tradition. This results in the construction of an extraordinary, three-story high tribute to the Jewish residents of Eishyshok, a memorial that continues to touch viewers with the sheer breadth of humanity on display.

While the book is a short read, and mostly relays what it needs to, I thought that the discussion of how Dr Eliach procured those photos was a little odd. Of course not everyone would want to let go of their beloved photographs! It's weird to have that chalked up to a lack of trust, followed almost immediately by the fact that several photos had to be bartered for with sneakers and color TVs. This is a condensation of motives that I did not care for, because it made the photograph holders sound venal instead of, say, sentimental (as I would be!) or needy.

Overall, however, this is a book well worth reading. Have I mentioned that the art is knock-you-off-your-feet outstanding? It's truly glorious, and a worthy tribute to a wonderful story.

The Tower Of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town In Stories And Photographs by Chana Stiefel & Susan Gal was published October 4 2022 by Scholastic Press and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop.

[Thompson McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

From School Library Journal: "A beautiful tribute...highly recommended."





Yaffa Eliach grew up in what is now Lithuania (at the time it was a town called Eishyshok) before it fell to the Germans during WWII (It was then Poland). When the Germans invaded, they rounded up the town's people, but Yaffa and her family escaped through the woods with only the clothes on their backs, but Yaffa grabbed some family photos and hid them in her shoe. Her family was able to hide out during the war. After the Russians freed her town, Yaffa's family left Europe and settled in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, Yaffa goes to school and she meets her husband. They immigrate to the United States in 1954. Yaffa continues her education eventually earning her doctorate in history and establishes the Center for Holocaust Studies, Documentation and Research in Brooklyn, New York. President Jimmy Carter reaches out to Yaffa, known as Dr. Yaffa Eliach to help in building a memorial in the National Holocaust Museum. Yaffa remembers the photos she put in her shoe which reminded her of the happy times before the war. She thought of her little village and its people. What had happened to the friendly faces she knew? She decided to find as many survivors as she could and tell their story through photographs.

Yaffa did radio interviews, took out ads in newspapers, and traveled to Israel to find anyone who remembered Eishyshok. She knocked on doors and found some old friends who shared their photographs. It took seventeen years for her to travel the globe, seeking people who knew Eishyshok, and collecting over 6,000 photos and stories.

The photos became the "Tower of Life" at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. This memorial includes1,000 plus photos and soars from the floor up three stories to the ceiling. Dr. Yaffa Eliach remembered the people, sharing their faces, their hearts and their stories for all Americans and visitors to see and remember this time in history. The last survivors of the Holocaust will soon be gone, but the museum and Yaffa's tower teach us about the Holocaust and its survivors.

The BEST book about the Holocaust. This easy picture book makes information accessible and the watercolor art captures Yaffa and the people.

Highly, highly recommended for everyone. This is the ONE Holocaust book that should be in every library and on every bookshelf.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs" picture book, Yaffa is a girl who cherishes her family, home, and the lively Polish town of Eishyshok. She enjoys helping her Grandma Alte in her photography studio, where they capture special moments for the town’s people. These photos were often sent to family overseas with well-wishes and soon most of the townspeople wanted Yaffa's grandmother to take their photos.

However, everything changes when Nazi soldiers invade, wiping out almost 3,500 Jewish residents, including Yaffa's loved ones. Yaffa is able to escape to the woods with her immediate family and they were hidden by a farmer. Before escaping to safety Yaffa is able to save a few photos of her family in her shoe, the last remnants of the life they had before the war.

After the war and when she is an adult, Yaffa dedicates her life to finding and collecting thousands of these lost photographs from all over the world. She creates the "Tower of Faces" exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to honor and remember the vibrant community of Eishyshok.

"The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs" is a picture book for children and I found it interesting how the story is presented, with paragraphs a few sentences long and Susan Gal's illustrations that are reminiscent of drawings with crayon coloring. The story isn't well known outside of the Jewish community but it's a fascinating one that documents the journey of a woman whose goal is to recreate the vibrancy of her childhood community with actual photos of townspeople, most of which did not survive the German invasion. Some of the saddest portions of the book are presented with lots of black and red, especially the scene when the German soldiers round up the Jewish community or when Yaffa and her family are hiding out in a dirt basement.

"The Tower of Life" does a fantastic job of teaching young readers the story of Yaffa and the importance of creating something beautiful out of a horrible thing like war. Author Chana Stiefel creates a simplified version of this true tale in an authentic way for young readers to learn about.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 ALA Robert Seifert honor book

This picture book celebrates the small Polish village of Eishyshok and the people and Jewish traditions they had practiced there for 900 years. Yaffa Eliach helped grandmother Chaya sell candles and her Grandmother Alte as she photographed shopkeepers, newlyweds, babies and bar mitzvah boys who sent their photos and good wishes to family all over the world.
But the Germans came, rounded up almost all the 3,500 people and destroyed them and the town. Yaffa’s father escaped with his family. Throughout WW II they hid and ran and survived. After the war, Yafa wondered Europe as a refugee through Egypt, and to Jerusalem. She worked studied, grew up, fell in love and married. She and her husband moved to America and raised to family. Having survived the holocaust, Yafa became a professor of history and a scholar specializing in the holocaust. As she looked at the few pictures she had taken with them. Her heart remained with their town. 35 years after World War II was over President Jimmy Carter asked Yafa to help build a memorial to go in the new Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. She came up with the idea of building a tower of life by trying to contact the people to whom the citizens of Eishyshok had sent pictures. over a period of 17 years, she traveled to six continents nearly all the US states, hundreds of cities and towns and villages. Collecting 6000 photographs and stories that included almost every man, woman and child of the Shox Jewish community from the past 100 years those photographs now are on display at the US Holocaust Memorial museum in Washington DC where you can Yaffa’s “Tower of Life” with “more than 1000 photographs of the people of Eishyshok soar three stories, high for all the world to see. A world filled with love, laughter, and light — a world that will never be forgotten.“

[Jane Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this award-winning nonfiction picture book 100 stars! Everyone should read this book for a woman who chose to honor life amid senseless, violent death by creating The Tower of Life, exhibited at the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Author Stiefel begins the book by describing Yaffa's village in Europe, Eishyshok (once part of Poland, now part of Lithuania), and their happy lives and traditions through the seasons. Yaffa's grandmother was a photographer who chronicled the milestones of village families' lives. A new tradition was born when at Jewish New Year, these families would mail their photos to relatives around the world. Then, the unimaginable happened, and Nazis invaded. In two days, "nearly all 3,500 of Eishyshok's Jewish souls were erased...In a heartbeat, 900 years of history--uprooted." Yaffa's family fled with little more than the few photos she tucked into her shoes. Looking at them gave her comfort as the family survived on the run and in refugee camps. As an adult, Yaffa married, moved to the U.S., and became a history professor, still remembering her childhood village. When the U.S. Holocaust Museum was being built, President Carter invited Yaffa to contribute to its contents, but rather than dwell on the death and horror, she chose life by using her own photographs and finding others with village photographs and recreating her village. Through Yaffa, the village and its people live. The illustrations by Susan Gal depict the warmth and happiness of the village and the Tower of Life itself. Some of Yaffa's actual photographs are included. The Nazi invasion uses black and red-orange spreads to invoke the darkness, violence, and fear. Back matter includes a timeline of Yaffa's life, a bibliography, and author's note. Highly recommend for all ages.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so lucky to have Betsy who works at Toadstool Bookshop because she recommends the best books to me, and this true story is one of them. Here’s another children’s book that is for all ages and is a wonderful way to introduce children to the Holocaust because it focuses on life and love and honoring the past. It’s a tribute to the beautiful lives of those who lived in Yaffa’s shtetel for 900 years. Imagine the honor of having a President ask you to help with a permanent display at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Yaffa traveled for years looking for photographs of survivors and descendants of Eishyshok, the shtetel where she lived as a young girl which was decimated when the Nazis came. When her family fled with no time to take any belongings, she stowed a few precious photos in her shoes. Of the 6,000 photos Yaffa recovered, 1,000 are housed in the museum in the Tower of Life (Tower of Faces) display. The photos focus on people who had full lives, not victims who met tragic ends. I love that two photos of Yaffa are included in the book. This beautiful story reminds us that one person can make a difference.

The artwork is gorgeous and does more than complement the story; it paints a story itself with bright colors and lively scenes that change to dark hues and somber tones once the Germans arrive. The light returns when Yaffa begins her quest to find the photos. A timeline of Yaffa’s life and a bibliography at the end of the book add more to the story. Be sure to read the author’s note at the end about her own family’s history and our responsibility to share stories of those who survived the Holocaust.

[Karen Gedeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tower of Life : How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs written by Chana Stiefel illustrated by Susan Gal - 2023 Sibert Honor Book & 2023 Sydney Taylor Picture Book Winner This brightly colored picture books tells the story of Yaffa Elicha a young girl who fled her home when the Nazi’s invaded her village and lived in hiding during World War 2 only to have her mother and brother murdered when the war was over by people who still held hate in their hearts. After finding her way to Jerusalem, getting married and starting her life in America she became a highly educated and respected professor of the Holocaust. But when the president asked her to work on the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. her desire to turn her history into hope through the photographs her grandmother took began to take shape. After many years she was able to create the permanent exhibit called Tower of Faces and bring her tiny Polish village into the spotlight. A compelling story accompanied by beautifully crafted full color illustrations comprised in ink, watercolor and digital collage will make this a favorite for readers of all ages. A timeline, bibliography, author’s note and resources for further reading make this a well-rounded resource for elementary students to use for research or personal interest. Grades 2-4

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: There once was a girl named Yaffa. She was a spirited girl who loved her home and her family. She was born in a shtetl, a small Jewish town that pulsed with love, laughter, and light. The name of her shtetl was Eishyshok (Ay-shi-shok). The family roots of the people in Eishyshok ran deep. For 900 years, their histories and spirits were woven into the fabric of the town.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction picture book and/or nonfiction picture book biography. I could see it being classified as either/both. The jacket copy says it is the biography of Yaffa Eliach the woman who created "the Tower of Faces" (aka The Tower of Life) at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. It is definitely the story of her life, her work, her life's work. But it is also so much more than that. It is the story of her community, and the story of the Holocaust as well.

My thoughts: I found this one FASCINATING. I really loved this nonfiction picture book. I loved learning the story behind The Tower of Faces. Though I'd not heard of this particular exhibit, I have heard of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I would love to learn more about this exhibit and the others as well. I loved, loved, loved the photographs of this one.

I found it a powerfully compelling read. I'm not surprised a bit that it won the Sydney Taylor Book Award. (It was also a Robert F. Sibert Honor book).

[Uri Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs is a picture book written by Chana Stiefel and illustrated by Susan Gal. It was published by Scholastic in 2022 and won the Sydney Taylor Award.

"There once was a girl named Yaffa" is how the book starts. The first several pages show her with lots of other people in Eishyshok, her shtetl (little town). But then "darkness came to Eishyshok." In just two days, the Nazis murdered almost everyone in the town. Yaffa's family miraculously escaped. She grew up, married, moved to America, and became a history professor.

Later, the President of the United States asked Yaffa to put together a Holocaust memorial, so she decided to track down photos of everyone in Eishyshok. It took her seventeen years! The result was the famous Tower of Life at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where thousands of photos surround you showing life – not your standard Holocaust exhibit. I knew about the Tower (and saw it), but finding out the details through this book was still interesting.

My favorite two-page spread shows the adult Yaffa in the remembered town, using the black-and-white photos to reconstructing the people in color. It's here.

[Aliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chana Stiefel’s book has won the Sydney Taylor Book Award for “The Tower of Life” which revolves around the life of American historian, Yaffa Eliach. In the story, her role within the world on how she has traveled to retrieve photographs by creating the Tower of Faces which is a notorious exhibit in the Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington, D.C.. On another note, Chana emphasizes the role of determination within Yaffa’s mission of her creation and awareness towards other nations making a mark on history.

In terms of the story's physique, the visuals are detailed which allows students to envision their own perspective/thought process on how and why such events had occurred from Yaffa's journey and mission. The amount of color and context clues speaks a great amount of historical aspect for younger audiences to learn about the past and how it plays into the role of today's America's past.

Young audiences from kindergarten would be able to benefit and deepen their awareness and knowledge behind the role that Chana discusses about Yaffa. In addition, younger students would be able to think/reflect on the role of how change brings out positive results. However, a good strategy/approach would to encourage students to discuss how change could happen in a classroom by displaying actions of kindness and respect.

[Anna Olswanger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many years ago I heard Yaffa Eliach speak at an international Jewish Genealogy Conference. She spoke about her dream of recreating her shtetl Eishyshok in the U.S. so that people could see what an Eastern Europe shtetl looked like before the Nazis ruthlessly destroyed the lives of the Jews who lived there.

At the time, I marveled at the hugeness of her dream (it sounded like a Disneyland attraction) and wondered how she would pull it off. I never heard anything further about it and assumed that she had let it go.

But when I recently read Chana Stiefel's THE TOWER OF LIFE, the story of how Yaffa Eliach collected over a thousand surviving photographs of the people who once lived in Eishyshok, I realized that Yaffa had recreated her shtetl. Chana has done a beautiful job of describing Eishyshtok for the reader and showing why Yaffa loved it. Chana also has done a beautiful job of describing what Yaffa had to do in order to gather all the photographs that are now part of the "Tower of Life" display in the U.S. Holocaust memorial Museum.

Yaffa, through Chana, shows us that huge dreams are not impossible to achieve. That's an important message for any child.

High recommended.

[Sue Hodara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes, you read a book and it just feels like it has a life of its own between the pages. Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal's "The Tower of Life" is one of those books. The lyrical text and vibrant illustrations lend to this quality...but above all else, it is the loving way in which the life of Yaffa Eliach was recounted that helps this book come alive.

And for this, it isn't necessarily about technique or skill, which were clearly displayed by both author and illustrator--it's more about a feeling... Eliach's life, her work and the idea of CELEBRATING people as they were in their best moments as a way of connecting with those who were taken too soon, these were given such reverence and respect that the reader felt an instant and deep connection to the young girl who held on to a few precious photographers as a reminder of an idyllic childhood gone by, and the woman she became--determined to display joy, light, and love in in response to an atrocity.

This is a wonderful book to share with children of all ages as a powerful reminder that a shift in perspective can bring so much meaning to so many.

Highly recommend.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction picture book. Before WWII Yaffa grew up in a town called Eishyshok in what was then considered Poland but is now part of Lithuania. Her grandparents had a camera and photographed both day-to-day life and special occasions for the townspeople. When the Germans invaded the town, Yaffa and her family escaped with some of their beloved photographs in tow. Years later, Yaffa moved to the United States with her husband, becoming a world-renowned professor of the holocaust. She reached out to the townspeople who had left before her family did, trying to find some of the photographs from her childhood home. Over 16 years, she was able to collect 6000 photographs. Many of these were used in the Tower of Life exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, over 3 stories of photos.

This book is beautiful, with the serious nature of the topic treated very sensitively for young readers. The art is beautiful, with so many faces shining up from the pages. Back matter includes a timeline, bibliography, and author's note.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

For over 900 years, a small Jewish community thrived in a village in Poland, but during WWII the Germans invaded and the town was destroyed along with most of the residents. Yaffa who was a young girl at the time, escaped with her family. As an adult, living and teaching in the United States, she was asked to contribute to the Holocaust museum. She remembered photographs taken by her aunt, some which she managed to saved, and began a world wide search for other photos of the village and of the people who lived there. The thousands of photos she collected became The Tower of Life in the museum.

I remember seeing this remarkable tribute on a visit to the museum several years ago - for me, it was most heartbreaking moment of all. Yaffa's story is beautifully told and contains some of the actual photos - the picture of "Yaffa and the chickens" is the cutest thing. A perfect accompaniment to a study of the Holocaust, I'm buying a copy for my middle school library.

Cross posted to http://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com