Fifteen thousand children under the age of fifteen passed through the Terezin Concentration Camp. Fewer than 100 survived. In these poems and pictu...
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Apr 26, 2008
James M.
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I read this book just after visiting the site of the Dachau concentration camp, and although this book is about Theresienstadt, not Dachau, the two experiences were definitely synergistic for me. The book is really several books in one: a) introductory material and an epilogue; b) a collection of poems written by children in Theresienstadt; c) an interspersed collection of children's drawings from art classes (taught by, among others, a gifted artist who later perished in another camp); d) a se
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Feb 02, 2012
Cheri
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Poetry comes in many different forms, I had thought I had read it all. Until I read, "I never saw another butterfly".This book is composed of many beautifully illustrated children's pictures, along side a wonderfully written poem or writing. The children writing these poems were from the Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. In just those two years the author states that a "total of 15,000 children under the age of fifteen passed through the Terezin Concentration Camp, less th
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Apr 09, 2011
Sandy
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Recently reading about the Houston Holocaust Museum's planned 2013 exhibition titled The Butterfly Project, I read for the first time Pavel Friedmann's poem The Butterfly" in which he remarks that he has seen no butterfly in the ghetto though some of the beauty of the natural world insists on itself even there.
The ghetto is the Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia. Terezin was a bizarre experiment of the Third Reich, which set it up as a place to hold Jewish artists, int More...
The ghetto is the Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia. Terezin was a bizarre experiment of the Third Reich, which set it up as a place to hold Jewish artists, int More...
Jul 10, 2008
Robin
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the PC thing would probably be for me to give this 5 stars.
The context is tragic and moving-- poems and pictures done by kids in a WWII "model ghetto" (where people died in their own excrement and hundreds were shipped out to concentration camps daily). With a couple of exceptions, the poems themselves weren't as moving for me as I had expected they might be...
The context is tragic and moving-- poems and pictures done by kids in a WWII "model ghetto" (where people died in their own excrement and hundreds were shipped out to concentration camps daily). With a couple of exceptions, the poems themselves weren't as moving for me as I had expected they might be...
Jul 14, 2011
Cornmaven
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A very powerful historical record of children's poems, writings, and art from the Theresienstadt concentraton camp in Czechoslovakia. Every emotion is contained in here - good, bad, ugly. As you would expect, one is left with an immense sense of grief, and shame, over this one slice of Hitler's final solution, as very few of the kids lived.
I knew very little about Theresienstadt before I picked up this book - Auschwitz being the rock star that is most mentioned in books. So the for More...
I knew very little about Theresienstadt before I picked up this book - Auschwitz being the rock star that is most mentioned in books. So the for More...
Dec 29, 2011
Julia
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I grew up with the first edition of this book. My parents had (and still have) a hard bound copy, and my sister and I would peruse the pictures and read the poems about once a year. I was born in the 1960's, and World War II was still relatively fresh in the hearts and minds, though Vietnam was soon to be in the forefront. The poems and pictures were sometimes difficult to read and browse, but they always reminded us of what had happened to thousands upon thousands of children our age. The book
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Apr 24, 2010
Abbie
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This is a collection of artwork and poetry created by children who lived in Terezin concentration camp in Poland during WWII. An introduction by Chaim Potok enumerates the history of Terezin from its creation in 1780 as a fortress to its days as a concentration camp. The Nazi’s used Terezin as a “model” camp to show the Red Cross how human their operations were. Of course, it was all a lie. Of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only 100 survived. Terezin was not a death camp; m
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Nov 01, 2009
Otto Frank recalled that during his arrest, one of the Green Police found his foot locker from his days in the German Army. The Green Policeman asked him why he didn't just turn himself in, and he would have been sent to Terezin. "As if," Otto fumed "Terezin was a country club".
If the Franks HAD been sent to Terezin, the group of children in this book would have included at least Anne Frank, and possibly her sister Margot.
Other people who were sent t More...
If the Franks HAD been sent to Terezin, the group of children in this book would have included at least Anne Frank, and possibly her sister Margot.
Other people who were sent t More...
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Aug 23, 2011
Andrew Shuping
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Everyone knows of the atrocities that the Nazi's perpetrated during the Holocaust, but how many people stop and think about the children that were in the concentration camps? Or what they had to bear? Shocking as it is the children at Terezin were allowed to have some time together, with a former art teacher, to sketch and create, and to basically have a form of art therapy for all of the horrors they were seeing (not that the Nazi's realized that therapy was occurring.) This book captures some
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Nov 16, 2011
Shelley
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~I’d like to go away alone
Where there are other nicer people,
Somewhere into the far unknown
There, where no one kills another
Maybe more of us,
A thousand strong,
Will reach this goal
Before too long~
This poem by Alena Synkove and her artwork is just one of dozens of poems and paintings created by the children of Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia from 1942 to 1944 featured in this riveting collection. They poignantly tell and show what the More...
Where there are other nicer people,
Somewhere into the far unknown
There, where no one kills another
Maybe more of us,
A thousand strong,
Will reach this goal
Before too long~
This poem by Alena Synkove and her artwork is just one of dozens of poems and paintings created by the children of Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia from 1942 to 1944 featured in this riveting collection. They poignantly tell and show what the More...
Aug 11, 2011
Chelsea "Annie"
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Jul 26, 2008
Linda
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I first heard about this book when I was judging a speech meet and one of the students did a Serious Oral Interpretation with the poem "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" as a lead-in.
At the time the book did not seem to be available in the United States - at least I couldn't find a copy. I visited Terezin in 1999 and bought the book at that time. It has since become available in the States.
The horror being incomprehensible, the drawings and poems allow the voices More...
At the time the book did not seem to be available in the United States - at least I couldn't find a copy. I visited Terezin in 1999 and bought the book at that time. It has since become available in the States.
The horror being incomprehensible, the drawings and poems allow the voices More...
Mar 27, 2011
Emilie
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This book containing poems, prose and art by children in Nazi Camps during World War II, was beautiful and heartbreaking. It gives a more intimate look at the workings of a child's mind as they faced unimaginable terror.
This book also shed light on a wonderful woman who became their art teacher. She fought for supplies and sought to empower the children with voices that might otherwise have stayed silent. A truly inspirational and worthwhile read.
This book also shed light on a wonderful woman who became their art teacher. She fought for supplies and sought to empower the children with voices that might otherwise have stayed silent. A truly inspirational and worthwhile read.
Aug 05, 2009
Isabelle
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Out of more than fifteen thousand children that passed through Terezin concentration camp, not even one hundred survived.
Those children had an opportunity to write poetry and draw thanks to a few enlightened teachers who scrounged around for materials and gave those children an opportunity to express themselves in a creative and therapeutic way.
I bought the book at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, probably because I was so moved by the children's memorial.
The book is also More...
Those children had an opportunity to write poetry and draw thanks to a few enlightened teachers who scrounged around for materials and gave those children an opportunity to express themselves in a creative and therapeutic way.
I bought the book at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, probably because I was so moved by the children's memorial.
The book is also More...
Oct 07, 2011
Andrea
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Wow! This collection of children's poems is incredibly powerful. Each poem is written by a different child from the ghetto, Terezin, on all aspects of their lives. The illustrations are also from real children in the ghetto. In as many cases as possible, hometowns, death dates, and other information is included at the end of the book. Selections from this book would give a unique perspective to teaching children about the Holocaust.
Mar 06, 2009
Meredith
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Heartbreaking.
The saddest part wasn't the longing for home or depictions of cruelty they children witnessed and suffered. It was the endnotes. Each contained a bare handful of facts about the child artists and poets: name, date and place of birth, date of deportation to Terezin, date of transport to Auschwitz, and the date of death. Almost none of the children whose art fills this book survived. A bottle filled with the light of extinguished stars might give one the same sense of ho More...
The saddest part wasn't the longing for home or depictions of cruelty they children witnessed and suffered. It was the endnotes. Each contained a bare handful of facts about the child artists and poets: name, date and place of birth, date of deportation to Terezin, date of transport to Auschwitz, and the date of death. Almost none of the children whose art fills this book survived. A bottle filled with the light of extinguished stars might give one the same sense of ho More...
Dec 05, 2009
Steffanie
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every year in school since the 7th grade we have done some kind of project or study of the holocaust, and this year in 2009 we did our one act play over the holocaust (i never saw another butterfly) that was written and based on the pictures and poems in this book. it was very touching and i recommend it to anyone and everyone who has any kind of heart.
Jun 16, 2009
Sharon H
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Children unknowingly on their way to Auschwitz revealed their thoughts and feelings in words and pictures as they endured Nazi treatment in their "model" camp.
This is such an interesting and cool picture book. I would show this to my kids as something extra just to be exposed to more information and a young perspective on the holocaust.
This is such an interesting and cool picture book. I would show this to my kids as something extra just to be exposed to more information and a young perspective on the holocaust.
Nov 16, 2010
Vicki
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What a powerful and bittersweet book. The artwork and words document a longing for a more carefree world than the nightmare one these children are forced to inhabit. I am touched by their beauty and devastated by their future. Of the 15,000 thousand innocents that passed through the gates of Terezin, only 100 came back....
Feb 02, 2012
Mariana
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An extremely horrible book. Horrible because of how powerful and hard it was to read. For some of the children, those were some of their last thoughts and pictures that they every wrote or drew. It was organized very well and was one of the hardest books I have ever read. A very good book.
Jun 01, 2010
Lori
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I read this book to prepare lessons for my 6th grade classroom. We were learning about the Terezin Ghetto that was open during WWII in preparation for attending the play I Never Saw Another Butterfly. The book is a collection of poems and visual artwork that were done by Jewish prisoners who were held in this ghetto, mostly by children. The history of the ghetto is amazing and something I was never aware of until I read this book. My students were silent as they read and responded to the po
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Aug 02, 2011
Shana
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Beautifully wrought volume. Again, a harrowing account of Holocaust experiences from the perspective of different children, communicated through poems and drawings. Touches an emotional chord, and manages to convey feelings of hope amidst the devastation of that time.
Jul 18, 2011
Mare
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Touching original visuals from children in Terezin who unknowingly left for us their revealed thoughts and feelings in words and pictures as they endured Nazi treatment in their "model" camp. For most...it's all that is left of them.
Mar 01, 2009
Young
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An amazing book about the strength and resiliency of the human being - children in this case. I bought each of my fellow acolytes a copy of this book for Christmas a few years ago.
Oct 22, 2009
Jenn
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This is a book of poems and pictures created by Jewish children while they lived in a Nazi ghetto during WWII. Most of the children died at Auschwitz.
May 11, 2010
Athena
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"Death, after all, claims everyone, you find it everywhere. it catches up with even those who wear their noses in the air"
May 04, 2009
Kelli
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This play is amazing. I would love to use this in my classroom for a holocaust unit. It is a short read and very powerful. LOVED IT!
Sep 17, 2009
Mel
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lovely and heartbreaking poems and art from children in the Terezin Concentration Camp between 1942-1944.
Sep 27, 2011
Ashley
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An absolute essential. Moving. I am eager to share this with my children some day.
