The Brass Charm by Monique Polak

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Illustrator: Marie Lafrance

A young girl’s grandmother gives her a brass charm, and passes along a story of hope and kindness during an unimaginable time.

Tali is staying at her Oma’s apartment after a storm demolishes their house. She is upset at losing everything. “People have survived worse,” says her mother ― Oma survived World War II, and never speaks of it. But that night, Oma shares her story of Holocaust survival, the brass monkey charm that she was given in the camp, and a message of kindness and perseverance in the face of disaster.

This book includes an author’s note, in which Monique Polak explains how it was inspired by her mother’s true experience at Terezin, a Nazi concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic.

Year first published: 2022