Title of book: Yellow Star

Author: Jennifer Roy

Intended Audience: Young Adult (and up)

Yellow Star is based on the true story of Sylvia Perlmutter, who was only four and a half years old when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Sylvia’s family was forced to move to the Lodz ghetto, along with over 270,000 other people. At the end of the war only 800 were still alive, including twelve children. Sylvia was one of the twelve.

Her family eventually moved to the United States, and for many years Sylvia did not speak about her experiences in Lodz. She finally decided to tell her niece, Jennifer Roy. Roy felt that Sylvia’s story deserved a wider audience, and wrote Yellow Star.

The book is written as a series of free verse poems, with an occasional brief prose section giving helpful historical background. The poems express Sylvia’s feelings and describe her experiences in simple, direct language, as if the young Sylvia herself were talking to you. Her convincing voice tells of unbelievable hardship and extraordinary courage. Roy concludes the book by describing what happened to the real-life Sylvia and her family after the war ended. She also provides a timeline of some important World War II dates.

Yellow Star gives us a view of our own humanity that is both horrifying and inspiring. It’s an unforgettable story, beautifully told.

Kewanee Public Library has one copy of Yellow Star in the New Books section of the Young Adult Room.

Gail Hintze

Kewanee Public Library Young Adult Coordinator