Awards

Naperville students reconnect women who fled Nazis in 1938 Girls struck up friendship on Germany-U.S. trip but lost touch for 73 years By Mick Swasko, Tribune Reporter It was a brief email that rekindled an equally short childhood friendship 73 years ago. "I have thought of you often and am so thankful that you found me," Gerda "Gertie" Frumkin wrote from Seattle on April 28. "Can't wait until we speak ...

http://literactivity.com/reunion/ In 1938, two young girls left their homes, their families and friends – everything they knew – and were sent alone to faraway America by their parents to escape the Nazis. Meeting aboard the Deutschland, Edith and Gertie formed an instant bond that carried them from Germany to New York City. They played all day, all over the ship; they ate as much ice cream as they wanted; they ...

MTHS students erupt in applause upon learning that Edith will be reunited with her ship friend, Gertie, this summer, 72 years after they last saw each other. FSC with MTHS English teacher Marjon Weber, who organized the visit

Manchester Township High School students (Manchester, NJ) attentively listen to FSC's presentation on the long reach of Edith's childhood immigratiion story

Madison Junior High School Learning Center in Naperville, IL where FSC presented her mother's story to students Letter from Madison Junior High School history teacher, Catie O'Boyle: Mrs. Chapman, My name is Catie O'Boyle. I am a history teacher at Madison Junior High School in Naperville. You came to visit our school a few weeks ago. My students and I were so moved by your mother's story that we decided ...

"In English, we read your book, Is It Night or Day? and I was really touched by it. My family came to America because of Jewish persecution in Russia so the book really did touch me. By the end of the book, I was sobbing." "When Tiddy had expressed her own feelings after she had been teased and bullied at school and yelled at at home, I realized just how ...

Norton Middle School in Norton, MA selected Is It Night or Day? for its all-school reads program this year. The school's halls were lined with student work -- posters, letters, and family stories -- responding to the book.

“Why,” students ask me, “do you spend so much time writing and telling your mother’s story?” I tell my mother’s story for both personal and political reasons. My personal reasons were captured perfectly in a recent New York Times review of a new book called, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. “Memory is intricately tied to identity; we are a product of our own experiences. What ...

The Children's Book Committee The Children's Book Committee was founded almost 100 years ago to help parents, teachers, and librarians choose the books that children will find captivating and transforming. One of the most comprehensive annotated book lists for children, aged infant-16. The Committee reviews over 6000 titles each year for accuracy and literary quality and considers their emotional impact on children. It chooses the best 600 books, both fiction ...

From the Norton, MA "Patch:" Fern Schumer Chapman to discuss book themes, answer questions. By Kelly Mello | Email the author | April 7, 2011 The first long train trip I ever took in Germany was my last. Now I see that it was a funeral procession. The mourners traveling with me were my father, my mother, and Mina, a Christian girl who lived with my family and was as ...