Author(s): Kathy Kacer

Middle Readers | Judaica

My name is Sara Gittler and I am thirteen and a half years old. I have lived here behind barbed wire and high walls for more than a year. I dream of walking down a busy street and stopping in a cafe for ice cream and cake. I dream of buying a new dress, or maybe ten of them. Most of all, I dream of being a famous writer and having everyone read my stories and remember my name. My stories speak for my life; they speak for me. Please, remember me. Just three weeks before her Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, Laura is assigned a special project: to read the diary of Sara Gittler, a young girl struggling to survive in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Sara never had the chance to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah - so Laura is to honour her as her coming-of-age 'twin'. Reluctant to undertake the project at first, Laura quickly becomes caught up in Sara's story of her daily life in the Ghetto - a world full of fear, confusion, tragedy and courage - and finds the strength to confront prejudice in her own time.