The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come

ISBN: 1481472208

Author: Macy, Sue

Condition: New

Recipient of a Sydney Taylor Book Award for Younger ReadersAn ALA Notable BookA Bank Street Best Book of the YearText and illustration meld beautifully. -The New York TimesStunning. -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Inspired...[a] journalistic, propulsive narrative. -Publishers Weekly (starred review)The story comes alive through the bold acrylic and gouache art. -Booklist (starred review)From New York Times Best Illustrated Book artist Stacy Innerst and author Sue Macy comes a story of one mans heroic effort to save the worlds Yiddish books in their Sydney Taylor Book Award-winning masterpiece.Over the last forty years, Aaron Lansky has jumped into dumpsters, rummaged around musty basements, and crawled through cramped attics. He did all of this in pursuit of a particular kind of treasure, and hes found plenty. Lanskys treasure was any book written Yiddish, the language of generations of European Jews. When he started looking for Yiddish books, experts estimated there might be about 70,000 still in existence. Since then, the MacArthur Genius Grant recipient has collected close to 1.5 million books, and hes finding more every day.Told in a folkloric voice reminiscent of Patricia Polacco, this story celebrates the power of an individual to preserve history and culture, while exploring timely themes of identity and immigration.