The Year of Goodbyes: A True Story of Friendship, Family and Farewells

by Debbie Levy

Overview

In Germany in 1938, life is dangerous. 

Like other twelve-year-old girls, Jutta Salzberg enjoyed playing with friends, going to school, and visiting relatives. In 1938 Germany, these everyday activities were dangerous for Jews. Jutta and her family tried to lead normal lives, but soon they knew they had to escape—if they could, before it was too late.

Throughout 1938, Jutta had her friends and relatives fill her poesiealbum—her autograph book-with inscriptions. Her daughter, Debbie Levy, used these entries as a springboard for telling the story of the Salzberg family's last year in Germany. 

This powerful story shows a world of change and chance, confusion and cruelty. It was a year of goodbyes.  

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368054553
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	910L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Debbie Levy (www.debbielevybooks.com) is the author of The Year of Goodbyes, Imperfect Spiral, Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight, and many other books for young readers. A former newspaper editor and lawyer, Debbie is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan Law School. She loves to read, kayak, fish, swim, and take long walks. Debbie lives in Maryland with her husband. They have two grown sons.

Editorial Reviews

* "[A] poignant and chilling...[a]n immensely powerful experience.”—Kirkus, starred review

* “Artfully weaving together her mother’s poesiealbum (autograph/poetry album), diary, and her own verse, Levy crafts a poignant portrait of her Jewish mother’s life in 1938 Nazi Germany that crackles with adolescent vitality.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

* “An outstanding and emotionally taut read.”—School Library Journal, starred review

From the Publisher

Gr 6–8—Inspired by her mother's poesiealbum (poetry album), which survived her childhood retreat from Nazi Germany, Levy has created a verse novel slim in length but long on beauty, power, and anguish. Jutta Salzberg lived a normal, happy life until 1938. Although Hitler's reign is in its infancy, Jewish Germans already face severe restrictions in their lives; segregated schools, shops, and curfews are already the norm, with stories of the public humiliation of elderly Jews and concentration camps to follow. This book is comprised of actual entries in the poesiealbum penned by Jutta's friends, interspersed with verses in 12-year-old Jutta's voice that respond to and even challenge the sentiments conveyed within each poem. Although her entries get darker and more frightful during Germany's descent into madness, there is still some joy to be found in birthday presents, friendships, and gymnastics lessons. Jutta, based upon Levy's mother, is a character to whom many preadolescents and adolescents, on the brink of questioning spoon-fed platitudes, can relate. The foreword, explaining poesiealbums, and the afterword, detailing Jutta's post-immigration life, are essential reading. The author's extensive research, including tracking down the fate of the majority of Jutta's classmates, is detailed in an understated yet moving tone. A time line including pre- and post-World War II dates, as well as important dates within Jutta's life, is included, as are eight pages of family photos. An outstanding and emotionally taut read for children not quite ready for Jennifer Roy's Yellow Star (Marshall Cavendish, 2006) and other, more graphic depictions of the Holocaust.—Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA

School Library Journal