What Doesn't Break You, Makes You

Yvonne Knopf experienced many changes in her early years. She was born into a close-knit Jewish family in Brussels, Belgium in 1939. The Nazis were persecuting the Jews and as living conditions became more trying, her family had to struggle to survive.Yvonne hid with her mother and a few other relatives in a convent. Later, when Yvonne's mother became ill, they moved to the cellar of a drugstore. She eventually lived on her own with a non-Jewish family, hiding her identity. When WWII ended, she was reunited with her mother but learned that her father had perished in Auschwitz.In 1947, Yvonne and her mother immigrated to Chicago, Illinois. Young authors Andrew Ball and Mackenzie Rice have done a marvelous job writing and illustrating her true story for readers of all ages.