Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project Author: Jack Mayer | Language: English | ISBN:
B005NING14 | Format: PDF
Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project Description
During World War II, Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker, organized a rescue network of fellow social workers to save 2,500 Jewish children from certain death in the Warsaw ghetto. Incredibly, after the war her heroism, like that of many others, was suppressed by communist Poland and remained virtually unknown for 60 years.
Unknown, that is, until three high school girls from an economically depressed, rural school district in southeast Kansas stumbled upon a tantalizing reference to Sendler’s rescues, which they fashioned into a history project, a play they called Life in a Jar. Their innocent drama was first seen in Kansas, then the Midwest, then New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and finally Poland, where they elevated Irena Sendler to a national hero, championing her legacy of tolerance and respect for all people.
Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project is a Holocaust history and more. It is the inspirational story of Protestant students from Kansas, each carrying her own painful burden, each called in her own complex way to the history of a Catholic woman who knocked on Jewish doors in the Warsaw ghetto and, in Sendler’s own words, “tried to talk the mothers out of their children.” Inspired by Irena Sendler, they are living examples of the power of one person to change the world and models for young people everywhere.
Sixty percent (60%) of the royalties of Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project are donated to the Irena Sendler/Life in a Jar Foundation. The foundation promotes Irena Sendler’s legacy and encourages educators and students to emulate the project by focusing on unsung heroes in history to teach respect and understanding among all people, regardless of race, religion, or creed.
- File Size: 1561 KB
- Print Length: 398 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 098411131X
- Publisher: Long Trail Press; Second Edition edition (March 28, 2011)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B005NING14
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,863 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #12
in Books > History > Europe > Poland - #37
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > World > Jewish > Holocaust
- #12
in Books > History > Europe > Poland - #37
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > World > Jewish > Holocaust
One person can make a difference. This was, and continues to be, Irena Sendler's message to the world, and Jack Mayer's Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project conveys that message in a heartfelt manner that grabs and engages the reader from beginning to end.
The book is a story of a Holocaust hero, plus one of Kansas students and their teacher. The world had not heard of Irena Sendler until a group of students in Bourbon County started a National History Day project. The book is called a "novel" on the cover, but more closely the book is a "non-fiction" novel. The author went to Kansas on two occasions while writing the book, and he also traveled to Poland with the Kansas teens and their teacher, spending time interviewing Irena Sendler and child survivors. Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project is based on the true story of Irena Sendler and the Kansas students who "rescued the rescuer's story for the world."
Jack Mayer's description of the constant fear and peril of Sendler's rescue of 2,500 children from sure death is vivid; the reader feels transported back to the ghetto as the suspense and difficulty of Irena's missions are described. Moreover, while the story of Irena's acts of bravery and heroism of rescuing children from the Warsaw ghetto is captivating, equally so are the acts of bravery the young women discovered within themselves to overcome personal obstacles in their lives while researching tirelessly to find information on Irena. Megan Stewart had to come to terms with her mother's breast cancer; Sabrina Coons had to come to terms with being part of a military family and frequently relocating; and Liz Cambers had to come to terms with her mother's abandonment when Liz was only five years old.
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