Fern Schumer Chapman

It's 1938, and twelve-year-old Edith is about to move from the tiny German village she's lived in all her life to a place that seems as foreign as the moon: Chicago, Illinois. And she will be doing it alone. This dramatic and chilling novel about one girl's escape from Hitler's Germany was inspired by the experiences of the author's mother, one of twelve hundred children rescued by Americans as part of the One Thousand Children project. This title has Common Core connections. Is It Night or Day? is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

A Novel of Immigration and Survival, 1938-1942

Is It Night or Day?

Updated paperback edition with new Author's Note! How could we leave the only world we had ever known? Parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins-all were holding hands, clinging to one another, as if they'd never let go. A story that is more relevant than ever, as parents in our war-torn world are forced to rip their families apart and send their children away to safety. It's 1938, and twelve-year-old Edith is about to move from the tiny German village she's lived in all her life to a place that seems as foreign as the moon: Chicago, Illinois. And she will be doing it alone. This dramatic and chilling novel about one girl's escape from Hitler's Germany was inspired by the experiences of the author's mother, one of fourteen-hundred children rescued by Americans as part of the One Thousand Children project. * "This book is an exceptional story of survival and devotion to homeland... This is a wonderful study of the Holocaust in a way that young readers will understand. Highly Recommended." -Library Media Connection "Chapman captures a plucky determination in Edith that readers will find endearing. There is no Cinderella ending for Edith, but the hope...and the honesty in her story make this historical fiction well worth reading." -Publishers Weekly - A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year - A YALSA Best Fiction Nominee - A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best - A Junior Library Guild Selection - Booklist's 1000 Best Young Adult Books since 2000 BONUS MATERIALS INSIDE! Features a discussion guide, Q&A with the author, and a special look at the remarkable true story as seen on the Oprah network, OWN.

Is It Night Or Day?

A Mother-Daughter Journey to Reclaim the Past

Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust

A moving memoir of the motherdaughter relationship follows Edithwho as a girl was sent by her GermanJewish parents to live with relatives in Chicagoas she returns to the country of her birth after the war to face the murder of her entire family. 17,500 first printing.

Beyond the Holocaust : a Daughter's Journey to Reclaim the Past

Motherland

A warm, empathetic guide to understanding, coping with, and healing from the unique pain of sibling estrangement "Whenever I tell people that I am working on a book about sibling estrangement, they sit up a little straighter and lean in, as if I've tapped into a dark secret." Fern Schumer Chapman understands the pain of sibling estrangement firsthand. For the better part of forty years, she had nearly no relationship with her only brother, despite many attempts at reconnection. Her grief and shame were devastating and isolating. But when she tried to turn to others for help, she found that a profound stigma still surrounded estrangement, and that very little statistical and psychological research existed to help her better understand the rift that had broken up her family. So she decided to conduct her own research, interviewing psychologists and estranged siblings as well as recording the extraordinary story of her own rift with her brother--and subsequent reconciliation. Brothers, Sisters, Strangers is the result--a thoughtfully researched memoir that illuminates both the author's own story and the greater phenomenon of estrangement. Chapman helps readers work through the challenges of rebuilding a sibling relationship that seems damaged beyond repair, as well as understand when estrangement is the best option. It is at once a detailed framework for understanding sibling estrangement, a beacon of solidarity and comfort for the estranged, and a moving memoir about family trauma, addiction, grief, and recovery.

Sibling Estrangement and the Road to Reconciliation

Brothers, Sisters, Strangers

On the ship that brought her from Nazi Germany to America, young Edith Westerfeld met Gerda Katz. Both 12-year-old girls were traveling alone and immediately became best friends. Unfortunately, the two unaccompanied minors lost touch after their arrival in 1938. Decades later, after a northern Illinois middle-school class read Is It Night or Day?, a historical novel that captures the two girls friendship, the students were so moved by the story that they made it a class project to reunite the two women. Fulfilling a shared life-long dream, the two women, now in their 80s, finally saw each other again in Seattle, Washington, in 2011. Through historical documents, photographs, and storytelling, Like Finding My Twin captures the friendship of the two Holocaust refugees, the students' research, and the remarkable reunion 73 years after Gerda and Edith shared their immigration journey. Like Finding My Twin fulfills Common Core State Standard (CCSS) requirements for Holocaust, Diversity, Character Education, and Service Learning mandates, and it can be read with Is It Night or Day? as paired fiction/non-fiction texts. A Teacher's Guide is available.

Fern Schumer Chapman

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