Gerda Weissman Klein

We had a wonderful opportunity last night. A local college had Gerda Weisseman Klein giving a talk. She was amazing. She's an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor. She had a knee replacement and got a pacemaker 8 weeks ago. She gave a talk to middle and high school students that morning, then spoke again at 7PM and followed that by signing MANY copies of her books.

We're studying American history this year, but won't be getting to the Holocaust until later in the year. We gave Bug a crash-course so that she'd have some knowledge before hearing Mrs. Klein. Miss Sherri, our children's librarian, suggested that she read Number the Stars.  When Bug got to the table to get her book signed, the local teacher who was instrumental in setting up the talk asked her a few questions, including "Have you read Number the Stars?" and seemed a bit surprised when Bug said "Yes!" We also have an abridged version of The Diary of Anne Frank which she also read.

We picked up a copy of Gerda's book, All But My Life, which I had checked out from the library and read before the talk. After getting it signed, I took this photo of Bug with Gerda and the local teacher. I only had my cell phone with no flash, unfortunately.