The Star Houses — Stewart Ross

Bandi Guttmann is a fourteen-year-old Hungarian Jew living in Budapest in 1944. German forces have occupied the city, and life for Bandi and his family is about to become unbearable. Set apart from the rest of the community and denied basic rights, the Guttmann family's only weapon is their determination to survive. But in the face of mindless Nazi hatred, will their strength, love, and courage be enough to hold them together? Survivors is a brand-new and dramatic collection of short novels for young readers, each book about a young person caught up in a real-life conflict or disaster that boys and girls will recognize from their history books. The stories are fiction, but through each young hero's eyes, the boys and girls who read these tales will gain a deeper understanding of the day-to-day hardships and dangers encountered by people living and surviving through troubled times. Each book has a brief introduction relating actual historical events, and at the end of each book, young readers will find a brief historical note that places the story in a larger context plus a glossary of terms specific to the time and place. Boys and girls will also find a list of suggested further reading. Line illustrations capture the atmosphere of each story. Titles in this series are available in both paperback and hardcover editions. This is a paperback book. (Ages 10-13)