It is an incredibly moving book, with many harrowing details and scenes. Whilst not glossing over them, it doesn’t go into too much detail. It does highlight the many kindnesses that were shown to Fritz and Gustav during their time in various concentration camps, and this is a great positive to take from reading it. The author has painstakingly researched the family’s history and got to talk to Kurt about his story and life in America. A retelling of the Sunday Times bestselling The Boy Who Followed his Father into Auschwitz, a Daily Mail and Sunday Express book of the year. About This Edition ISBN:

Andrew Lownie Literary Agency :: Book :: Fritz and Kurt

Although when my father’s diaries were published and then translated into English, that hit me very strongly, realising the many times they both nearly died.” It is not my place to give more importance to one historical event than another. There are those, however, that have caused more trauma, pain and suffering than anyone can possibly imagine. Talking about these in a classroom to young learners is a challenge. We need the combination of trust and due diligence more than ever. Before and during the Second World War in the middle of the 20 th century, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler formulated a plan to get rid of people who were ‘different’.In 1946 the near unthinkable happened when Kurt was told, via telegram, that his brother and father were alive. By then an American soldier, he was able to visit them in Vienna when he was stationed in Europe. Still, it wasn't as smooth a reunion he might have hoped for. He had lost most of his German, while his family had little English.

Fritz and Kurt : Dronfield, Jeremy, Greene, David Ziggy Fritz and Kurt : Dronfield, Jeremy, Greene, David Ziggy

Careful consideration and due diligence are parts of the good practice of anyone doing their job properly. This applies to choosing texts for the classroom – it is one of the main reasons Just Imagine exists. When it comes to the well-being of individual children in the classroom, the teacher will ultimately know what is suitable. When it comes to factual and accurate information, we place trust in the authors (including illustrators), editors and publishers to carry out due diligence. Summary: Initially seeming too earnest in its Reithian levels of detail, and forever damning the SS as ugly in ways that evoke their own phrenologists, this still ended up a great, wide-access window to the Shoah. This fairly lengthy junior read could well give much more than countless textbooks on the Nazi camp system. This book had a lot of depth to it and was really interesting along with having loads of bits and pieces that I loved. One thing I found to be unique and quite nice about this book is the writing style and how it was written - the writing was telling the brothers story in real time jumping between the two but it also occasionally had hints as too what happened to them at the end of the war say things like ‘but Fritz didn’t know that yet’, and similar which isn’t something I see often in books and really liked. It also tied in well with the point that the author was telling a true story and that this was something that had happened and had a specific ending. Jeremy Dronfield (Author) Jeremy Dronfield is a biographer, historian, novelist and former archaeologist. His recent non-fiction titles include Beyond the Call and Dr James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time. This new version of the story will be completely rewritten for middle-grade readers aged 9+ and willeducate and inspire children with the powerful real-life account of two brothers’ experiences during theHolocaust.I love how the characters evolve throughout and never lose hope of freedom. Illustrations peppered throughout the book bring the story to life. This story has been written for younger readers to help them understand what life was like for Jewish people during the holocaust. Due to its nature, this book would be better suited to upper KS2 and would support the teaching of WWII well. The author has exercised care and sensitivity in catering to a younger audience whilst instilling an awareness of the living nightmare that Jewish people suffered during the holocaust. The novel is the true story of brothers Fritz and Kurt who lived in Vienna in 1938 as the story opens. They were Jewish and at the time 180,000 Jewish people lived in Vienna.

Fritz and Kurt : Jeremy Dronfield (author), : 9780241565742 Fritz and Kurt : Jeremy Dronfield (author), : 9780241565742

I feel like starting this book review with a review of me, if you don't mind. I have been to Auschwitz and Birkenau, and Dachau, and the Nazi camp in Poznan, Poland. I have a fairly wide reading history when it comes to the Holocaust – certainly greater than the average man you could point to on the generalised commuter bus. However, a few years ago I fell into the Heather Morris trap. For I thought The Tattooist of Auschwitz was a well-made book, which it is, and somehow multiple thousands of copies were printed with a quote from my review in them. They don't print like them like that these days, however, probably due to a regular refresh, and possibly because I tried the sequel and found it unreadable – the amount of barrels in Donkey Kong nothing like the risible amount of sharks jumped, and people knowing the reality behind the characters demanding legal settlement over it all for it being errant fiction. This, and the fact The x of Auschwitz has been one of the most common publishing formats over the last years, has put me off reading much Holocaust literature. Hence my ability to read this junior retelling of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz in full ignorance of the original, adult version. Hitler and the Nazis marched into Austria with very little opposition. Any that they encountered was swiftly put down. We see how daily life altered rapidly for the brothers who lived with their parents and two sisters. Friends soon became informants to the Nazis. Avenues were sought to send the children to safety but it came too late for Fritz. Ultimately, if this book's older relative did for its target audience what this has the ability to do for its own, it's easy to see why the first book was such a success. (And I can't ignore the mention late on of facts that came to light after the first book was presented.) I wish this a similar impact, and I'm grateful for the publishers sending me a review copy. A strong four stars, if not more, from me.My conversation with Jeremy Dronfield made me think deeply on many things. For example, no one can argue that books aren’t tools for learning. Not every book, of course. And even those that we might think are, may not be suitable for your needs as an educator. Or the needs of a child’s as a learner. But, do we consider that some books might not be in the best interests of the topic you are teaching? Fritz And Kurt is a read suitable for any age, not just children. You will be full of admiration for the bravery of the brothers who lived through a time of great evil. I spent many hours interviewing Kurt, and we became friends. He told me all about their family life in Vienna in the days ‘before Hitler came’ and about his special childhood bond with Fritz. He also told me about his own story of life in Vienna under the Nazis, and how he escaped to America in 1941, all alone, aged only eleven.