Updated Edition of the extraordinary true story - with Author's Note & Bonus Materials

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.

In 1938, twelve-year-old Edith is forced to leave everything behind-her parents, her tiny German village, and the only life she has ever known-to journey to a place that feels as foreign as the moon: Chicago, Illinois. And she must make this journey alone.

Inspired by the extraordinary true story of the author's mother, one of fourteen hundred children rescued from Nazi Germany through the One Thousand Children project, Is It Night or Day? weaves a powerful tale of courage, heartbreak, and resilience. Edith's escape from Hitler's Germany is both a personal triumph and a universal story of survival that echoes through history.

In a world still marked by conflict and displacement, this story resonates more deeply than ever. Perfect for readers who cherish historical fiction, especially fans of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

Praise for Is It Night or Day?

⭐ Eloquent and powerful... As with the best writing, the specifics about life as a young immigrant are universal.

-Booklist (Starred Review)

⭐ This book is an exceptional story of survival and devotion to homeland... Highly Recommended.

-Library Media Connection

⭐ Chapman captures a plucky determination in Edith that readers will find endearing. There is no Cinderella ending,

but the honesty and hope in her story make this historical fiction well worth reading.-Publishers Weekly

Awards and Recognition

• 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

Perfect for Readers Who Enjoy:

• A powerful and dramatic historical fiction for young readers.
• Stories of courage, hope, and survival during World War II.
• Discussion guides and bonus materials to explore history more deeply.

BONUS MATERIALS INSIDE!

Includes a discussion guide, an exclusive Q&A with the author, and insights into the remarkable true story as seen on the Oprah Network (OWN).

Don't miss Edith's unforgettable journey of hope and resilience. Click Buy Now to add this educational story to your bookshelf today!

Updated Edition of the extraordinary true story - with Author's Note & Bonus Materials

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.

In 1938, twelve-year-old Edith is forced to leave everything behind-her parents, her tiny German village, and the only life she has ever known-to journey to a place that feels as foreign as the moon: Chicago, Illinois. And she must make this journey alone.

Inspired by the extraordinary true story of the author's mother, one of fourteen hundred children rescued from Nazi Germany through the One Thousand Children project, Is It Night or Day? weaves a powerful tale of courage, heartbreak, and resilience. Edith's escape from Hitler's Germany is both a personal triumph and a universal story of survival that echoes through history.

In a world still marked by conflict and displacement, this story resonates more deeply than ever. Perfect for readers who cherish historical fiction, especially fans of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

Praise for Is It Night or Day?

⭐ Eloquent and powerful... As with the best writing, the specifics about life as a young immigrant are universal.

-Booklist (Starred Review)

⭐ This book is an exceptional story of survival and devotion to homeland... Highly Recommended.

-Library Media Connection

⭐ Chapman captures a plucky determination in Edith that readers will find endearing. There is no Cinderella ending,

but the honesty and hope in her story make this historical fiction well worth reading.-Publishers Weekly

Awards and Recognition

• 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

Perfect for Readers Who Enjoy:

• A powerful and dramatic historical fiction for young readers.
• Stories of courage, hope, and survival during World War II.
• Discussion guides and bonus materials to explore history more deeply.

BONUS MATERIALS INSIDE!

Includes a discussion guide, an exclusive Q&A with the author, and insights into the remarkable true story as seen on the Oprah Network (OWN).

Don't miss Edith's unforgettable journey of hope and resilience. Click Buy Now to add this educational story to your bookshelf today!

In 1938, when Edith Westerfeld was twelve, her parents sent her from Germany to America to escape the Nazis. Edith survived, but most of her family perished in the death camps. Unable to cope with the loss of her family and homeland, Edith closed the door on her past, refusing to discuss even the smallest details.

Fifty-four years later, when the void of her childhood was consuming both her and her family, she returned to Stockstadt with her grown daughter Fern. For Edith the trip was a chance to reconnect and reconcile with her past; for Fern it was a chance to learn what lay behind her mother's silent grief. Together, they found a town that had dramatically changed on the surface, but which hid guilty secrets and lived in enduring denial.

On their journey, Fern and her mother shared many extraordinary encounters with the townspeople and--more importantly--with one another, closing the divide that had long stood between them. Motherland is a story of learning to face the past, of remembering and honoring while looking forward and letting go. It is an account of the Holocaust's lingering grip on its witnesses; it is also a loving story of mothers and daughters, roots, understanding, and, ultimately, healing.

When people who love each other can't be together, it's heartbreaking. And when a child is too young to understand a sudden, prolonged cut-off from a beloved relative or friend, everyone hurts. In Happy Harper Thursdays, Fern Schumer Chapman explains to young children, simply and clearly, why we can't be with the people we love during the pandemic.

This colorful, delightfully illustrated book captures how this pandemic disrupts the cherished routine of a grandmother and granddaughter. When the two can see and hear each other only electronically, the confused child wonders why she and her grandmother aren't really together.

Children often think they are responsible for events that have nothing to do with them. With that in mind, Chapman wrote Happy Harper Thursdaysto help her granddaughter-- and millions of other children worldwide-- understand this difficult separation.

When people who love each other can't be together, it's heartbreaking. And when a child is too young to understand a sudden, prolonged cut-off from a beloved relative or friend, everyone hurts. In Happy Harper Thursdays, Fern Schumer Chapman explains to young children, simply and clearly, why we can't be with the people we love during the Coronavirus.

This colorful, delightfully illustrated book captures how this pandemic disrupts the cherished routine of a grandmother and granddaughter. When the two can see and hear each other only electronically, the confused child wonders why she and her grandmother aren't really together.

Children often think they are responsible for events that have nothing to do with them. With that in mind, Chapman wrote Happy Harper Thursdays to help her granddaughter-- and millions of other children worldwide-- understand this difficult separation.