Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 08/01/2023 Gr 8 Up—Sheinken has penned another must-read with this powerful and harrowing account of childhood friends Rudolf Vrba and Gerta Sidonová, Slovakian Jewish teens who not only survived the Holocaust but fought back against the Nazis. In 1942, when their government announced that Jews were to be deported to "work camps," Rudi was determined not to go and ran away to try to make it to England. He was captured at the Hungarian border and sent to Auschwitz. Due to his age and health, he was spared the gas chambers and sent to work. With cunning, determination, and good luck, he managed to survive, but never stopped thinking about escape. In April 1944, Vrba and friend Alfred Wetzler made an astonishing escape—even though they were near starvation, they walked to Slovakia with a goal to tell the world what was happening in the camps. Their account became known as the Vrba-Wetzler report, which compelled President Roosevelt to intervene with the Hungarian authorities, credited with saving over 200,000 lives. Paralleling Rudi's story, readers learn how Sidonová and her family hid with relatives in Hungary, and her later work with a Hungarian resistance. Sheinkin's unflinching account of the torturous conditions in Auschwitz is chilling and unimaginable, and the escape is heart pounding. This is all expertly interwoven with informative background information making for an absorbing page-turner. This book is well documented with extensive source notes, bibliography, and index; it also includes two diagrams of the camp and black-and-white photos. VERDICT Thoroughly researched with exceptional writing, this riveting narrative is an important addition to Holocaust literature. Highly recommended for all libraries.—Karen T. Bilton - Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 08/08/2023 *Starred Review* This account of two Jewish teens from Slovakia and their efforts to survive the Holocaust brings fresh relevance to the unimaginable horrors of WWII. Rudi thought himself an invincible 17-year-old when he fled Slovakia, only to be almost immediately arrested and shipped to Auschwitz. His blond-haired, blue-eyed classmate Gerta secretly harbored a crush on Rudi, although he dismissed her as a silly girl who wore knit hats with pompoms. Alternating chapters tell of Gerta's displacements and harrowing fears of betrayal, first as a refugee and then as a member of the Slovakian underground; Rudi's increasingly desperate circumstances as he faces the monstrosities of death camp reality; and accessible background updates that fill in developing military and political context. The most compelling parts are when Rudi actually escapes and is able to share his carefully memorized facts, numbers, and maps, leading to the first eyewitness testimony to ever come out of Auschwitz (the 1944 Vrba-Wetzler report, which reached an international audience and hastened Allied action, saving over 200,000 lives). Award-winning author Sheinkin (Bomb, 2012; Fallout, 2021) writes with immediacy and urgency, compelling attention from the first pages to the postwar epilogue; copious source notes and an extensive bibliography validate Rudi's accounts. This is an absorbing and important addition to the Holocaust canon. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: National Book Award finalist, Newbery Honoree, and Sibert Medalist Sheinkin is a tried-and-true nonfiction expert whose books make big events, like WWII, accessible for younger readers. This latest, which draws on his own family history, is no exception. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.