Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust

by Neal Shusterman, Andrés Vera Martínez (Illustrator)

Overview

Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner

National Jewish Book Award finalist

Neal Shusterman, Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner

National Book Award winner Neal Shusterman and acclaimed illustrator Andrés Vera Martínez present a graphic novel exploring the Holocaust through surreal visions and a textured canvas of heroism and hope.

Courage to Dream plunges readers into the Holocaust — one of the greatest atrocities in human history — delving into the core of what it means to face the extinction of everything and everyone you hold dear.

This gripping, multifaceted tapestry is woven from Jewish folklore and cultural history. Five interlocking narratives explore one common story – the tradition of resistance and uplift. Neal Shusterman and Andrés Vera Martínez are internationally renowned creators who have collaborated on a masterwork that encourages the compassionate, bold reaching for a dream.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545313476
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	10/31/2023
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	663,408
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty award-winning books for children, teens, and adults, including the Unwind dystology, the Skinjacker trilogy, Downsiders, and Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award. Scythe, the first book in his latest series, Arc of a Scythe, is a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows. Neal is the father of four, all of whom are talented writers and artists themselves. Visit Neal at StoryMan.com and Facebook.com/NealShusterman.
Andrés Vera Martínez is a cartoonist and illustrator. He is the co-author of the graphic memoir, Little White Duck: A Childhood in China. Andrés’ work has been recognized by The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, 3x3, Junior Library Guild, Slate Cartoonist Studio, School Library Journal, Horn Book Magazine, NPR, and the New York Times. He currently lives in New England with his family. For more, find Andres at andresvera.com.

Editorial Reviews

09/04/2023

Shusterman (I Am the Walrus) and Martinez (Little White Duck) deploy a mixture of fantasy and history to reimagine elements of the Holocaust in this uneven graphic novel. Throughout five interconnected stories, some of which are inspired by actual events, the creators showcase a spectrum of landscapes and situations. Narratives include an interpretation of the golem’s origins set in Auschwitz, and a story set in a contemporary American home where a conch shell seems to be a portal to an alternate history in which Hitler won. One entry, “Spirits of Resistance,” is set in the Belarusian woods and stars folktale witch Baba Yaga, who summons her minions—including the great bird Ziz as well as Izbushka, a hut on towering chicken legs—to help a band of Jewish resisters. This standout chapter bursts with fierce energy, and foregrounds the characters’ agency in overcoming an apparent hopeless situation. Other entries feature visual drama and effective tension-building, portrayed in a comics style reminiscent of the 1950s and teeming with fantastical elements, as when a trio of siblings manage to evade capture by Nazis when the world outside their hiding place morphs into an interstellar landscape. Ages 12–up. Author’s agent: Andrea Brown, Andrea Brown Literary. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR NEAL SHUSTERMANPraise for the Arc of a Scythe trilogy:“Furiously paced.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Gripping.” —School Library Journal (starred review)“Stellar.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)Praise for Dry:“No one does doom like Neal Shusterman.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“The palpable desperation that pervades the plot…feels true, giving it a chilling air of inevitability.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)“The Shustermans challenge readers.” —School Library Journal (starred review)Praise for the Unwind dystology:"Gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller...The issues raised could not be more provocative—the sanctity of life, the meaning of being human—while the delivery could hardly be more engrossing or better aimed to teens."—Publishers Weekly, starred review"A thought-provoking, well-paced read that will appeal widely."—School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

11/01/2023

Gr 7 Up—This work of graphic fiction uses an anthology of fantastic tales to explore the horrors of the Holocaust. Shusterman creates stories that engage and educate young readers about Nazi persecution of the Jewish people. He writes in the dedication, "This book is about impossible and wondrous things that never happened, set against a backdrop of impossible, unthinkable things that did." The first story begins with a tale of young children hidden for safety behind a bookshelf, who escape through a portal to a peaceful world. Next is a very Marvel-inspired story of a Golem of Auschwitz, and then a tale of Baba Yaga and mythical creatures forming a resistance force in a deep, dark wood. The fourth is a Moses-inspired story of rescue and daring, followed by a final story about a young American girl and a terrible alternative future. The illustrations are reminiscent of early Marvel comic books. There are plenty of details that will draw the eye, like Baba Yaga's flying cauldron, but plenty of action to move the plot forward. VERDICT A nice addition to any teen graphic fiction collection.—Meaghan Nichols

School Library Journal

★ 2023-07-31
Answering a call to witness, Shusterman offers five original tales of Jews resisting and escaping Nazis with help from miracles, wonders, and legends.

Inspired by actual examples of aid and rescue recounted in brief between each story, the author celebrates courage in the face of brutality and terror—beginning with a group of orphaned children in Hamburg narrowly escaping a Nazi roundup through a window in their apartment that becomes a portal to a peaceful world. There are also striking tales of a golem at Auschwitz, resistance fighters freeing a train of captives with help from Baba Yaga and the people of Chelm, and a teenager who wields the staff of Moses to raise a bridge of sunken boats, helping Danish Jews escape across the Øresund strait to Sweden. In a pointed final story, an American child passes back and forth between this time and an alternate present in which the Holocaust never happened, but antisemitic violence is ominously on the rise. Noting the influence of Marvel Comics on his work, Martínez offers clean-lined period scenes of ordinary-looking heroes enduring fear and hardship, and “fighting for justice on every page.” Resonating with an earlier acknowledgment that Roma and other minorities also suffered Nazi persecution, Martínez finds common personal ground in his own Tejano family’s experiences with white supremacists.

Moving examples of the power of culture and folklore to offer help, hope, and inspiration to act. (photo credits, author’s notes, illustrator’s note, bibliography, note on Hebrew letters) (Graphic fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews