Grab Instantly The Cats In Krasinski Square Written And Illustrated By Karen Hesse Available As EPub

loved this book and would suggest its usage fromst grade up throughth grade, The story is told from a young girl's point of view who we find out has escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto with her sister Mira.
They are the only two members of her family that are still alive, The young girl and her sister live amongst the other poles in Warsaw but no longer wear their yellow,

Mira and the her younger sister decide they are going to continue to help the resident inside the ghetto, A group of friends, Mira and her sister decide to smuggle a large amount of food into the ghetto, Throughout the story our young narrator has described her journey around the city and her growing relationships with the stray cats left behind by former Warsaw residents who are now fighting for survival in the ghetto.
She cannot spare any food for the strays, however she realizes that what they truly crave is love and kindness,

Throughout the story certain phrases are repeated: 'I wear my Polish look, I walk my Polish walk, Polish words float from my lips and I am almost safe, almost invisible, '. This is the author's way of describing the constant vigilance the young girl must maintain in order to escape detection by the Germans.
But then we learn of the plan to smuggle food into the ghetto and to her friend, Michal, who now lives on the other side of the wall separating the ghetto from the rest of the city, we realize that the young girl and her sister and not just hiding but actively trying to help others who could not escape the Germans.


Mira, her sister and other friends decide to smuggle food from the country into Warsaw via train, and then place the food bundles in the cracks in the wall for the starving ghetto residents to claim.
The young narrator knows where most of the cracks are due to the fact that she watches the cats travel through the wall on a regular basis.
The girls learn that the Gestapo have learned of the plan and are going to intercept the food smugglers at the train station using dogs to sniff out the food.


Our young narrator realizes what she must do to save her fellow resistance members and their food parcels, Her and several friends gather the stray cats in baskets and then release them at the train station, distracting the dogs and causing chaos.
The food smugglers escape unharmed and the food is delivered to the ghetto residents,

The afterward provided by the author indicates that the story is fictional although many stories of resistance during the German occupation of Poland have been recorded.
This portion of the book provides the reader with true historic information regarding this period of time, This book would be usable in a classroom to prompt multiple projects, discussions, and/or compare and contrast this book with nonfiction literature from this period of time.
The more heartbreaking for its childlike simplicity, this picture book gives a child's view of food smuggled successfully into the Warsaw Ghetto thanks to the assistance of cats who, as the text notes, had once lived with people who loved them and now made their living on mice in the streets.
Resistance The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse and illustrated by Wendy Watson is an interesting story about how Jews who could pass as Polish people were able to outsmart the Nazi's.
They formed a group of Jewish Resistance who escaped the Ghetto and fought to bring about what victory they could against the Germans.
They brought food and weapons and much needed medicine to the Ghetto they helped Jews sneak out of the Ghetto when they could and continued to find whatever ways they could to outsmart the Germans.
One time a group was able to outsmart the Gestapo at a train station in Warsaw by bringing a bunch of cats with them to the train station.
When the train pulled in and the passengers disembarked the cats were released which caused enough chaos with the Gestapo dogs that the passengers were able to deliver whatever food and medicine they brought with them to the Ghetto.
Interesting story and beautifully drawn illustrations bring another side to WWII, Would be an excellent story to read with students about how Jewish people tried to fight back against the Germans, A beautiful story based on Jewish resistance in the Warsaw ghetto during WWII, The book is beautifully illustrated with watercolors and the narrative is poetic in style and cadence, When I first started this blog, I reviewed a book called The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square by Joseph Ziemian, It was the first of many books about the Warsaw Ghetto that I have reviewed here and these stories about the brave individuals who were part of the resistance never has ceased to awe me.


So when I found The Cats of Krasinski by Karen Hesse on the library shelf, I thought Wonderful! A nice picture book for older readers who may already have some familiarity with the Holocaust to introduce them to the Warsaw Ghetto and Jewish Resistance in WWII.


As we know, lots of Jewish children of all ages often escaped the Ghetto and lived openly right under the Gestapo's nose, passing for Aryan.
Whenever they were able, they smuggled food and other necessities back to family and friends still behind the Ghetto wall,

In Hesse's story, two sisters have escaped the Ghetto and are living hand to mouth in Warsaw, The younger sister has befriended the cats that became homeless when their owners were rounded up to live in the Ghetto, Her older sister, Mira, is working with the resistance, They are expecting some food to arrive by train, carried by other resistance workers, to be stuffed into the holes in the Ghetto wall where it can be found by the Jews still living there.


But word comes that the Gestapo knows about the plan and will be waiting at the train station with trained dogs to arrest the resistance workers and confiscate the food.
The young girl gets an idea to distract the Gestapo's dogs when the train arrives, And it works, thanks to the cat of Krasinski Square, The cats are gathered up and let loose just as the train arrives,

The Cats of Krasinksi Square is an uplifting age appropriate story that has a lot to say to young readers not only about courage and taking risks, but that sometimes kids can come up with ideas that actually work.
Told in sparse, lyrical free verse, the story is enhanced by the corresponding illustrations by Wendy Watson, Watson used washed out muted colors in pencil, ink and watercolor that certainly evoke the place and period in her beautifully rendered illustrations.


I thought that putting a merrygoround in Krasinski Square at the the beginning and end of the book was an interesting touch.
Carousels are such iconic symbols of happy children having fun, yet here it is juxtaposed with and accentuating the deplorable

conditions that the Nazis forced upon the Jewish children.
It makes a very telling comment,

This story is, as Hesse writes in her Author's Note, based on a real event involving cats outsmarting the Gestapo at the train station in Warsaw that caught her attention when she read about it.
There is also a historical note about the Warsaw Ghetto and Jewish Resistance that anyone not very familiar with these might want to read.


This book is recommended for readers age
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

This book was originallyr reviewed at sitelinkThe Children's War Summary
This is a picture book fornd toth graders about the true events during World War II in Warsaw.
It begins with some cats coming from the rubble in the Warsaw ghetto because they no longer have homes or owners to go to.
The main character of the story is a girl who escaped from the Warsaw ghetto, She plays with the cats and she had to “wear her Polish look,” so she wasnt discovered, Her sister told her about a plan to smuggle food into the Warsaw ghetto, The Gestapo finds out about the plan and tries to surprise the food smugglers as they get off a train, The girl, her sister, some friends, and the cats distract the Gestapo dogs and are able to successfully bring the food to the Jewish people behind the Warsaw ghetto wall.


Response
I think this was a very powerful story, I read ittimes. The first time I read it I focused on the obvious, I noticed the cats that were now homeless and the solution of the problem at the train station, The second time I read it I noticed more, I realized that she seemed to have a lot of empathy for the cats maybe because they were lost and in a different world too and that she had a lot of guilt that she was out of the Warsaw ghetto and her friend Michael wasnt.
After that I read the historical page at the end, It explained what happened, how serious it was, how many people died, and how some escaped, It also explained that the survivors lived mostly because of the people who had already escaped and the food they smuggled in, Then I read it a third time, I looked deep into the pictures and noticed the barbed wired walls in the backgrounds of many pictures, I also noticed more details from the story, Not only do the cats help distract to Gestapo during the food exchange, but they also show her all of the cracks in the wall to get to the people in the Warsaw ghetto.
Even though this book deals with very sad topics racism, starvation, homelessness, oppression, inequality, and themes from WWII it seems to have a happy ending.

I think that it could help students realize that no matter how difficult and depressing something is you can still make a difference to someone.
If I had an older general education class I would read this to them, I would first focus on the historical facts, then read the book, then talk about how they feel and what they noticed, and then finish on a light note talking about helping others and how crazy dogs go around cats:
Is a well written short story.
This picture book follows a young Jewish girl who was able to escape Ghetto walls, She is pretending to be Polish each day, but fears she will be discovered, She has a great deal of compassion for the cats whose owners have left them behind and roam Krasinski Square, Her sister and some friends form a plan to smuggle food into the Ghetto, but the Gestapo finds out and plans to put a violent end to this.
Instead, a new plan is formed using the cats to help them in a unique way,

This book was well told and showed another side to those hurt by the Holocaust, People had to pretend to be someone they weren't, animals were impacted and those that escaped felt the guilt of those left behind.
The illustrations add to the emotions of this story, It could be incorporated easily into a unit on this time period and would work well for elementary school students, This is a serious subject, but I thought that sitelinkKaren Hesse presented it in such a way as to be appropriate for children, with older children being able to discuss the seriousness of the subject.


Sober, muted drawings, almost in a sepia tone, that convey a warmth and age, I thought this was a very powerful and moving story that helps to educate a younger generation about the tragic events during WWII.
Newbery medalist Karen Hesse tells a harrowing, true story about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII,
When Karen Hesse came upon a short article about cats outfoxing the Gestapo at the train station in Warsaw during WWII, she couldn't get the story out of her mind.
The result is this stirring account of a Jewish girl's involvement in the Resistance, At once terrifying and soulful, this fictional account, borne of meticulous research, is a testament to history and to our passionate will to survive, as only Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse can write it.
. During the terrifying times of World War II, there was an escapee young Jewish girl from the Warsaw Ghetto, She finds solace and company with the stray cats within the town, When compassion drives her to help those within the Ghetto, the young girl may just need the help of the cats for her mission to succeed.

. This picture book is an extremely moving piece from a very sad time in history, Seeing the parallels between the young girl and the stray cats, with a sense of community and genuine goodness, is sincerely heartwarming, This book will show children that even small feats can bring about positive change,
. Other books I may pair with this: The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark by Carmen Agra Deedy The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Eve Bunting Benno and the Night of Broken Glass by Meg Wiviott
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A quote from the book: “I wear my Polish look, I walk my Polish walk, Polish words float from my lips and I am almost safe, almost invisible, moving through Krasinski Square”,