Heartbreaking Account of Dutch Jews During Holocaust

 

TITLE: Discovering Twins; No Secret is Safe Forever

AUTHOR: Stella Ter Hart

PUBLISHER: Stella Ter Hart

PUBLICATION DATE: July 27, 2021

LENGTH: 280 Pages

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author is an award-winning choral and instrumental composer, casual author, and educator.
Stella Ter Hart was born in the small prairie town of Estevan, Saskatchewan, to Dutch immigrant parents. She now lives in rural Ontario with her husband, tending her heritage apple orchard.

Uncovering Family Secrets
"Twins run in the family, you know."

When the author was expecting her first child in 1982, her mother casually made a remark about twins running in the family. Stella had no knowledge of this fact and her mother had always been very secretive about her early life growing up in the Netherlands.

Once that first door into the author's past was opened to her, she needed to know the truth. She spent almost five years of deep genealogy diving and internet research. 

Stella discovered over 1,200 Dutch relatives that died in the Holocaust. The Jewish line in her mother's family had been residents in Amsterdam for over 400 years and they were wholly assimilated into Dutch society.

She discovered that her family had fifteen sets of twins out of approximately 550 births between 1832 and 1942. 

My Thoughts

We all know the story of Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam. This book provides details about how other Dutch Jews were arrested, transported to concentration camps, and murdered by the Nazis.

Stella Ter Hart did an amazing job with her research and discovering stories that were passed down in her family. She was recently reunited with a distant cousin who was sent into hiding as a child and survived the war. This book includes photos of lost family members that are poignant and heartbreaking. 

The information in this book is shocking and sad. I really can't express my disgust in words. I hope the legacies of these innocent people will not be forgotten.

I did a little research of my own and discovered the following information:

• Between 75 and 80 percent of the Netherlands' Jews were killed during the war, the highest rate in Western Europe.
• Although about 150,00 Jews were living in the Netherlands in 1940, including about 25,000 German Jews who had come as refugees, only about 15,000 were counted during the postwar census of 1947.

MY RATING: 5 STARS OUT OF 5

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Children's Book Review: WBI; Witches Department of Investigation

WBI: Witches Bureau of Investigation

Author: Richard Capwell

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Date: August 7, 2012

Guest Reviewer: Cindy Phelps Thomas



About the Author 
Richard Capwell is a popular author of books for children and young adults.

Case of the Missing Mother
Nate and Herman's mother had been missing for six months when they stumbled across Agnes Weatherby searching for her silver Phantom Rolls Royce limousine. Mrs. Weatherby was the former director of the Witches Bureau of Investigation. The eleven-year-old twins asked her to help them search for their missing mother.

Mrs. Weatherby was retired so she was hesitant but did agree to help and contacted some old friends to assist in the search. The old friends were a wacky bunch including a shape shifting butler, an orangutan, a nervous praying mantis, and a mechanic who worked on more than just cars. Nate and Herman were introduced to the little-known world of the WBI. 

The boys discovered that there were big problems at the WBI. The whole world could be in danger because of a rogue witch. The boys went to the new director of the WBI, but she was no help because the rogue witch had her fooled. They were going to have to do this on their own. With the help of their new friends, Nate and Herman must find this bad witch and their mother before it’s too late.

My Thoughts
WBI was a quick and easy read. It was written with a younger audience in mind, but is a lot of fun for adults also. The adventure started in the first chapter and continued throughout the book with no lagging parts. Capwell even took the time to add a bit of education, teaching nice vocabulary words and quotes from history. If you enjoyed the Harry Potter series or the Percy Jackson series, I believe you will also find this book appealing. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series.

Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

Cindy Phelps Thomas is a U.S. Navy Veteran (2001-2005). She earned her BS in Psychology/Criminal Justice from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. She received an elementary teaching certification and is a former kindergarten teacher in the La Porte, TX School District. She is currently a stay-at-home mom and is working on her MBA degree at the University of Houston.

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Golden Oldies For Kids: Don and Donna Go To Bat

Don and Donna Go to Bat

Author: Al Perkins

Illustrator: B. Tobey

Published: Random House, 1966







About The Author
Al Perkins is an author of several children's books, including Hand, Hand, Fingers Thumb, The Digging-est Dog and The Ear Book. He also wrote early titles in the Beginner Books and Bright and Early series.

Play Ball!
Don and Donna were identical twins. They looked exactly alike except for the length of their hair and the clothes that they wore.

Don loved baseball and he always dreamed of playing on a real baseball team. Don taught Donna how to throw a ball the way a boy throws it. He taught her how to slide into base and how to hold a baseball bat. Don eventually got tired of playing baseball with his sister and wanted to play on a real team with other boys. He found a team to play on and they made him captain of the team!

One day a team from the other side of town challenged Don's team to a game. The captain of the winning team would receive a large trophy. On the morning of the big game, Don woke up sick. The doctor came to the house and told Don he would not be playing in the baseball game that day.

Don asked Donna to take his uniform and equipment to the field for the other boys to use. Donna could not carry all the stuff on her bike so she slipped on the uniform over her dress. When she arrived at the baseball field, everyone thought that Donna was Don. She took Don's place on the field but did not play very well...until she came up to bat at the very end of the game. She closed her eyes and swung the bat.

Yes, Donna scored the winning run and Don's team received the trophy. When the team found out that it was really Donna that hit the winning run, they gave her the large silver trophy. They also made her manager of the team where she was responsible for taking care of the equipment, keeping the water bucket full and keeping score.

My Thoughts
The setting for this story is the early 1960s but kids today still love to play baseball. I think this story is a great example of sibling support and love. Donna was sad when Don went to play on a boy's baseball team and left her behind.

Girls were expected to play softball, throw the ball underhanded and were discouraged from sliding into bases. Don taught Donna to play like a boy so she was prepared to take his place in the game.

I think it is interesting that Donna was given the "honor" of being the team manager. That was as close as a girl could get to playing on a boy's team. She had just as much skill as the boys but was the wrong gender. The more things change the more they stay the same.

My Rating:  5 Stars Out Of 5

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