The tower of life :

Title :

The tower of life : how Yaffa Eliach rebuilt her village in stories and photographs / by Chana Stiefel ; illustrated by Susan Gal.

Title:

The tower of life :

Varying Form of Title:

How Yaffa Eliach rebuilt her village in stories and pictures

Author:

Stiefel, Chana, 1968-

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 22 x 28 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781338225891

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Scholastic Inc., 2022.

Summary:

"The story begins with Yaffa Eliach, a spirited young girl who grows up in a vibrant, happy 800-year-old town in Poland, filled with family life and rich traditions. Yaffa's grandmother, who receives a gift of a camera from America, becomes the village photographer, and takes photos of all the family events: weddings, bar mitzvahs, and family gatherings. And on the Jewish New Year, the villagers send photos to their relatives overseas to wish them a "Gut Yontif"! But one dark day, the town is invaded. And quickly the once happy home to 5,000 Jewish people is uprooted. Yaffa survives the war and becomes a Professor of History and America's foremost Holocaust expert. And when President Jimmy Carter invites her to create an exhibit for the new National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, she travels around the world hunting down her grandmother's photos taken of people who fled from her beloved town, Eishyshok, along with their stories and memories. This breathtaking revival of the town's collective spirit, which is a permanent exhibit at The National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, will inspire all who read it"--

Bibliography note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Target audience note:

Ages 6-8.

Language:

English

Added Author:

Gal, Susan

Corporate Subject:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum -- Exhibitions -- Juvenile literature.

Conference Subject:

Tower of Faces (Exhibition) (1993- : United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) -- History -- Juvenile literature.

Geographic Term:

Eišiškės (Lithuania) -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile literature.

Personal Subject:

Eliach, Yaffa-Juvenile literature.

Subject Term:

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Lithuania -- Eišiškės -- Juvenile literature.

Jews -- Lithuania -- Eišiškės -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile literature.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	JB ELIACH	32114002742394	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library Children's Room	J 940.53 STI	31330009247952	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	J 940.5318/STI 2022	33934004613551	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	J BIO STIEFEL	32116003957699	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	J 940.5318 STI	32117002169765	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	J/940.5318/STIE	31480011665491	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library	J 940.53 STIEFEL	32120001424769	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groveland - Langley-Adams Library	JE B ELI	32121000941803	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	J 940.53 STI	30470002083672	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	J/940.5318/STI	31479007639585	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lawrence Public Library	J BIO ELI	31549004989660	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	LEBMAN J 940.53 S	32128004109535	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	J BIO HISTORICAL ELIACH	31478003794923	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Reading - Flint Memorial Library	J 940.53 STI	31550002543764	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	J B ELIACH	32132003375329	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	J 940.53 STIEFEL	32133002676311	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	J/B/ELIAC	32137002200634	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library	J 940.531 STI	32135001587282	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

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.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The creators center th experiences of historian Yaffa Eliach (1937--2016) in this moving look at the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Tower of Faces, a monument built of photographs. Early lines paint an idyllic vision of Eliach's birthplace, the shtetl Eishyshok. Gal's saturated ink, watercolor, and digital collage illustrations show the deeply rooted community, which "pulsed with love, laughter, and light" and was often caught on camera by Eliach's grandmother. When German troops and tanks arrive, the book's palette darkens into harrowing wartime graphics. Following details around Yaffa's family's escape, the text next shifts to the subject's 17-year global effort to recover 6,000 photos from those with family history in Eishyshok, and a concluding foldout pays powerful tribute to the resulting memorial: "The photos showed heroes, not victims. Dignity, not disaster. Lives lived, not lost." A timeline and bibliography conclude. Ages 6--8. (Oct.)

Horn Book Review

This picture-book biography of Holocaust historian Yaffa Eliach (1935âe"2016) begins with her happy childhood in the shtetl of Eishyshok in what is now Lithuania, emphasizing the villageâe(tm)s deep connection to its nine-hundred-year history and its enthusiasm for preserving memories through photographs. When the Nazis invade, Yaffa and her family escape, and the approachable text continues to center the importance of memories, including the photos Yaffa saves in her shoes. Years later, when the adult Eliach is a renowned history professor in the U.S., President Jimmy Carter asks her to build a memorial in the new United States Holocaust Museum, and she seeks out photos saved by other survivors to âeoerebuild Eishyshok, not brick by brick, but photograph by photograph, story by story.âe The result is the Tower of Faces, which Eliach calls the Tower of Life. Galâe(tm)s illustrations, created with ink, watercolor, and digital collage (including two actual photos), begin with cheerful blues and yellows on plentiful white space, then turn to angry, arresting reds and blacks when the Nazis appear. Photos and other ephemera in varied grayscale and sepia tones are creatively incorporated into broader scenes of memories as those scenes are reconstructed. An affirming tribute to a Jewish past that was lost in the Holocaust as well as to one survivorâe(tm)s work. Back matter includes a timeline, a bibliography, further reading, and an authorâe(tm)s note. Shoshana FlaxMarch/April 2023 p.102 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

A Jewish Polish woman resurrects her hometown through photographs. Yaffa Eliach (1935-2016) grew up in the shtetl town of Eishyshok, Poland. She and her family lived there contentedly until the Germans occupied the town in 1941 and murdered most of its Jewish population. Yaffa and her family escaped and hid until the war ended. Before, one of Yaffa's favorite childhood activities was assisting her grandmother, the town photographer, who documented weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other celebrations; these photos were mailed to relatives around the world. Years later, Yaffa, now a married history professor and Holocaust scholar residing in America, was tasked by President Jimmy Carter with creating an exhibit for Washington, D.C.'s new United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Determined to celebrate life instead of destruction, Yaffa spent years tracking down thousands of photos of Eishyshok's residents and descendants, traveling around America and the world. The result: the Tower of Life, depicted in a 90-degree book turn. One of the actual photos contained in the memorial--included herein--shows Yaffa herself as a child in Eishyshok in her father's arms; another childhood photo of Yaffa is also included in the book. Though it tackles dark themes, this heartfelt story is ultimately uplifting. The illustrations, rendered in ink, watercolor, and digital collage, brim with warm, colorful details. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A loving testament to light and hope and the vision of a remarkable woman. (timeline, bibliography, author's note) (Informational picture book. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Yaffa had an idyllic childhood in Eishyshok, a Jewish shtetl in modern-day Lithuania with centuries-old roots and a close-knit community. Her Grandma Alte, in possession of a rare camera, documented everyday life. When the rumble of occupying Nazi tanks changed life in an instant for the Jewish inhabitants, Yaffa's family miraculously escaped death by fleeing to the countryside, but not before Yaffa stuffed a pile of photographs into her shoes. She treasured the reminders of home as she traveled the world as a refugee, eventually landing in the U.S. and becoming a professor of history and Holocaust expert. When tapped by President Jimmy Carter to create a memorial in the new Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yaffa recalled her photographs and spent years reaching out to other families from the shtetl, collecting more than 6,000 images and compiling them into the stunning Tower of Faces, three stories of images of her Jewish community. ("Tower of Life" is Yaffa's name for it.) It's a stunning tale, spanning decades and continents, and a tender introduction to a terrible time in human history. The watercolor illustrations, bursting with detail and life, utilize warm, bright colors in times of peace and deep reds and blacks in wartime. The drawings cleverly incorporate rectangular photograph frames into the village scenes, beautifully demonstrating the power of snapshots to memorialize beloved people and places. A magnificent and moving tribute to a loving community and an extraordinary woman.