The Light of Days Young Readers’ Edition

Ages 10 And Up, Grades 5 And Up

This is the young readers’ edition of the New York Times bestselling story of Jewish women resistance fighters who battled the Nazis, already optioned by Steven Spielberg for film.  

As their communities across Poland were being destroyed, a group of young Jewish women, some still teenagers, began transforming Jewish youth groups into resistance cells. These “ghetto girls” built systems of underground bunkers, paid off the Gestapo, and bombed German train lines. One of the central figures was eighteen-year-old Renia Kukielka, who worked as a weapons smuggler and messenger across the war-torn country. Other women who joined the cause served as armed fighters, spies, and saboteurs, all risking their lives to help save their people.Now in paperback, this is the previously untold account of the Jewish women who fought back against the seemingly unstoppable Nazi regime. This young readers’ edition follows the women through arrests, internment, and, for a lucky few, into the late twentieth century and beyond. This book includes an eight-page insert of black-and-white photos so that kids can see firsthand the extraordinary women who bravely fought for their freedom in the face of overwhelming odds.

About the Author

Judy Batalion is the New York Times bestselling author of the highly-acclaimed THE LIGHT OF DAYS: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos, published by William Morrow in April 2021. THE LIGHT OF DAYS has been published in a young readers’ edition, will be translated into nineteen languages, and has been optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture for which Judy is co-writing the screenplay. Judy is also the author of White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood and the Mess in Between, optioned by Warner Brothers, and her essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Forward, Vogue, and many other publications. Judy has a BA in the History of Science from Harvard, and a PhD in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute, University of London, and has worked as a museum curator and university lecturer. Born in Montreal, where she grew up speaking English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish, she lives in New York with her husband and three children. https://www.judybatalion.com/