Jars of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Holocaust

Structuring her story as eight vignettes, Roy recounts how Irena Sendler helped transport thousands of Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. The bulk of the story takes place between 1940 and 1944 as Sendler joins Zegota, a Polish Resistance organization, and smuggles children into orphanages, convents, and foster homes, eventually being imprisoned by Nazis herself. Roy includes source notes for a few quotations, but most of the dialogue appears to be invented. Paintlike smudges soften Owenson’s digital illustrations, which strike some off notes (a cartoonish fox dashes in front of Sendler while she hides in a zoo). Even so, text and art convey a strong sense of the poor conditions within the ghetto, as well as the dangers faced by Jews and those who tried to help them during WWII. Ages 9–12. Author’s agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group. (Aug.)