Israel Program

Elisa Box­er is an Emmy-win­ning jour­nal­ist and Syd­ney Tay­lor Hon­or-win­ning author who has writ­ten numer­ous non­fic­tion books for chil­dren. She has a pas­sion for telling sto­ries about unsung heroes who have found the courage to defy social norms and cre­ate change, espe­cial­ly dur­ing dark times in his­to­ry. Her books include The Voice that Won the Vote, Cov­ered in Col­or (called ​“com­pelling from cov­er to cov­er” in a Kirkus starred review) and Hid­den Hope, which earned three starred reviews and the Syd­ney Tay­lor sil­ver medal. Elisa lives in Maine and has many more books on the way. Title: The Tree of Life: How a Holo­caust Sapling Inspired the World Descriptions: This del­i­cate­ly told, beau­ti­ful­ly illus­trat­ed true sto­ry is rec­om­mend­ed by the pub­lish­er for ages five to nine — but, in real­i­ty, it’s suit­able and use­ful for chil­dren of all ages. It cen­ters on a spe­cial maple tree whose descen­dants are plant­ed in many loca­tions, includ­ing the Muse­um of Jew­ish Her­itage in New York City. Dur­ing the Holo­caust, a group of inmates, some of them chil­dren, smug­gled a small sapling into their con­cen­tra­tion camp and cared for it. It was so impor­tant to them that they shared their mea­ger water rations with it. Watch­ing it grow and thrive remind­ed them that, despite their harsh sur­round­ings, a future was pos­si­ble. […]