One Day: A True Story of Survival in the Holocaust

After two Hungarian Jewish resistance fighters are arrested in 1942 Nazi-occupied Paris, they survive with a singular focus: “Get through one day and then on to the next. One day at a time. One day after another.” This refrain sustains the young man and his father through interrogation, then internment at both the Compiègne camp and the Drancy transport camp. At Drancy, they learn of deportations to “Pitchipoi,” an unknown place of no return. Vowing “We’re not going to Pitchipoi,” they join others digging an escape tunnel. When it’s discovered, they are deported along with 1,200 other Jews in a train made up of cattle trucks bound for Auschwitz, but pry open a window and escape. In this direct, unadorned telling from Rosen (Bear’s Big Dreaming) and Phillips (Alte Zachen/Old Things), emotionally spare text respects readers’ ability to bear witness, while ink, charcoal, and pencil drawings convey both immediacy and enormity, plunging readers into a world where nothing is assured. An author’s note concludes. Ages 7–10. (Jan.)