From award-winning author Joshua M. Greene (The Girl Who Fought Back; Signs of Survival) comes this remarkable true story of a Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Poland who escaped near death to join -- and fight -- with the Soviet partisans in the woods. For Celia, life is ordinary: school, homework, friends. But Celia is Jewish. When the Nazis begin their campaign to wipe out all the Jews of Europe, Celia''s world is ripped apart. Friends and neighbors viciously turn on her, and soon she is in the hands of the Nazis.
From starvation and forced labor in the ghettos to hiding in a hole in the ground, Celia struggles to survive... while tragically losing much of her family. When Celia manages to escape into the forest, she joins up with the partisans, a group of young people fighting back against the Nazis however and wherever they can. Celia is given a mission: to help destroy a stash of Nazi weapons. Can she and her fellow partisans succeed--or will they be caught by the enemy?
This extraordinary and inspiring true story, based on testimony from Holocaust survivor and partisan fighter Celia Kassow, shows where unimaginable hate and prejudice can lead--while reminding us that courage and strength can be summoned even in the darkest of hours.
