Grandpa's Third Drawer: Unlocking Holocaust Memories

by Judy Tal Kopelman

Overview

Of all the places in the world, Uri really loves to be at his grandparents’ house. There he can stay up way past his bedtime and eat as many sweets from the chocolate box as he likes. There’s only one forbidden place in that house: the third drawer in Grandpa’s desk. This drawer is locked. No one ever opens it until one day when Uri finds the key to the third drawer. From that moment, nothing is ever the same.

Grandpa’s Third Drawer takes up the difficult challenge of discussing the Holocaust with young children, of teaching its heritage and memory, all in a gentle and unobtrusive manner. The story of a silent grandfather unexpectedly confronted by his curious and loving grandchild is accompanied by rich illustrations that show authentic preserved objects donated by Holocaust survivors from Theresienstadt.

The original Hebrew edition won the Israeli Ze’ev Prize for Children’s Literature in 2003 and won the first prize in Mits’ad Hasfarim (a nationwide survey of all schoolchildren in Israel for first to third grades) in 2003 and 2012. Grandpa’s Third Drawer is now included in Israel’s “Paths of Memory” nationwide Holocaust learning program in all schools.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780827612211
Publisher:	The Jewish Publication Society
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Judy Tal Kopelman, author and illustrator, is a lecturer in creative writing and literature at Kinneret College, Sea of Galilee, and designer of Israel’s national bible reading venture, “929 - Bible On Walls.”

Table of Contents

None

Editorial Reviews

05/19/2014
First published in Israel, this poignant book introduces the Holocaust with candor and discretion. Uri's visits to the home of his grandparents (who are originally from Germany) are idyllic: breakfast "lasts for as long as you like," and Grandpa Yuda plays Mozart on the piano. In their home, the boy senses a "kind of quiet... the silence of people who come from a faraway world—a vanished world that still lives in memories." That (rather adult) observation acquires even deeper resonance when Uri unlocks Grandpa's off-limits drawer filled with Holocaust artifacts: the Star of David pin that once identified Grandpa as a Jew, handmade dominoes that he and his sister played in the ghetto to keep "a seed of happiness in our hearts," and a concentration camp uniform. Prompted by Uri and the relics, Grandpa recalls the Nazis forcing his family from their home and sending him to a different camp than his parents and sister, whom he never saw again. Kopelman's collages incorporate photos of archival Holocaust objects and documents, bringing the tragedy into even sharper focus. Ages 5–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

“Grandpa’s Third Drawer is an organized and clear story that enables young readers to confront the hardest of stories to tell.”—Yael Dar, Ha’aretz, Israel’s oldest newspaper

Ha’aretz

Grandpa’s Third Drawer is an organized and clear story that enables young readers to confront the hardest of stories to tell.”—Yael Dar, Ha’aretz, Israel’s oldest newspaper

Ha'aretz

“It was with great eagerness that I read this beautiful book. Its warmth will move many students and readers.”—Eli Wiesel

Eli Wiesel

2014-04-20
A carefully nonexplicit lead-in to a discussion of the Holocaust with young children, with photo-collage illustrations made of artifacts from Terezín.A child—at least a supposed one—narrates (sample line: "There's a kind of quiet in Grandma and Grandpa's house. It's the silence of people who come from a faraway world—a vanished world that still lives in memories"). He recalls playing with the crayons and antique toys in his loving grandfather's desk. One day he discovers the key to a desk drawer that is always locked. Grandpa has a strong reaction when he sees the boy holding a yellow Star of David patch. Recovering, he sits down to describe how the Nazis first sent Jews to ghettos and later split up families and sent them away, never to be reunited. Gatherings of antique photos, childhood drawings and toys in the first part give way to close-up views of a battered rag doll, a striped uniform, homemade dominoes and other memorabilia arranged as if in a just-opened drawer. "I asked…so many questions," the narrator concludes. "I never knew that Grandpa was such a brave kid."The story is obviously purposive, but as discussion starters go, it's certainly a good choice. (Picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews