A Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust

From National Book Award Finalist Albert Marrin comes the moving story of Janusz Korczak, the heroic Polish Jewish doctor who devoted his life to children, perishing with them in the Holocaust.

Janusz Korczak was more than a good doctor. He was a hero. The Dr. Spock of his day, he established orphanages run on his principle of honoring children and shared his ideas with the public in books and on the radio. He famously said that children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today. Korczak was a man ahead of his time, whose work ultimately became the basis for the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Korczak was also a Polish Jew on the eve of World War II. He turned down multiple opportunities for escape, standing by the children in his orphanage as they became confined to the Warsaw Ghetto. Dressing them in their Sabbath finest, he led their march to the trains and ultimately perished with his children in Treblinka.

But this book is much more than a biography. In it, renowned nonfiction master Albert Marrin examines not just Janusz Korczak's life but his ideology of children: that children are valuable in and of themselves, as individuals. He contrasts this with Adolf Hitler's life and his ideology of children: that children are nothing more than tools of the state.

And throughout, Marrin draws readers into the Warsaw Ghetto. What it was like. How it was run. How Jews within and Poles without responded. Who worked to save lives and who tried to enrich themselves on other people's suffering. And how one man came to represent the conscience and the soul of humanity.

Filled with black-and-white photographs, this is an unforgettable portrait of a man whose compassion in even the darkest hours reminds us what is possible.

Author: Albert Marrin
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published: 09/10/2019
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.48lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9781524701208
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 8.2
Point Value: 14
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 510534 / Light in the Darkness: Janusz Korczak, His Orphans, and the Holocaust


Award: Yalsa Award for Excellence in Non-Fiction for Young Adults - Finalist


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2019
Publishers Weekly 07/15/2019
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 09/01/2019
Booklist 09/01/2019 pg. 86
School Library Journal 10/18/2019 pg. 1
Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2019 pg. 117
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2019 - Superior,Well Above Average

About the Author
Albert Marrin is a beloved author of numerous works of nonfiction for young readers. His books include Flesh & Blood So Cheap, which was a National Book Award Finalist, and Uprooted, a Siebert Honor Book.