The King of Children : The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak
- Book Review,
by Betty Jean Lifton, Elie Wiesel (Introduction)
Amazon.com
The tragic story of Janusz Korczak, who chose to perish in Treblinka rather than abandon the Jewish orphans in his care, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1988. The new paperback edition includes a passionate introduction by Elie Wiesel that sets the tone for the inspiring saga of a man who introduced progressive orphanages in his native Poland, defended children's rights in court, and wrote classic works of children's literature and child psychology. Korczak lives as a moral exemplar in this fine biography.
Review
"Warsaw's Pied Piper, astonishingly ahead of his time, is still able to move, inspire, and provoke any of us who live or work with children."--The Washington Post Book World
"We are in [Lifton's] debt for reconstructing the life of this amazing man....Few biographies have the power to move, to inspire, to enlighten. Hers does."--USA Today
"A reading of The King of Children makes known a remarkable man....A lesser man would have been broken by the tasks Korczak set himself....His strategy, sent to the head from the heart, was to remember as few can how it felt to be a child."--Geoffrey Wolff, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Warsaw's Pied Piper, astonishingly ahead of his time, is still able to move, inspire, and provoke any of us who live or work with children."--The Washington Post Book World
"We are in [Lifton's] debt for reconstructing the life of this amazing man....Few biographies have the power to move, to inspire, to enlighten. Hers does."--USA Today
"A reading of The King of Children makes known a remarkable man....A lesser man would have been broken by the tasks Korczak set himself....His strategy, sent to the head from the heart, was to remember as few can how it felt to be a child."--Geoffrey Wolff, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Warsaw's Pied Piper, astonishingly ahead of his time, is still able to move, inspire, and provoke any of us who live or work with children."--The Washington Post Book World
"We are in [Lifton's] debt for reconstructing the life of this amazing man....Few biographies have the power to move, to inspire, to enlighten. Hers does."--USA Today
"A reading of The King of Children makes known a remarkable man....A lesser man would have been broken by the tasks Korczak set himself....His strategy, sent to the head from the heart, was to remember as few can how it felt to be a child."--Geoffrey Wolff, The New York Times Book Review
Book Description
A classic as stirring as Schindler's List, The King of Children is the acclaimed biography of the first advocate of children's rights and the man known as the savior of hundreds of orphans in the Warsaw ghetto.
Janusz Korczak was known throughout Europe as a Pied Piper of destitute children even before the onslaught of World War II. But on August 6, 1942, Korczak stepped into legend. Refusing offers for his own safety, and with defiant dignity, he led the orphans under his care in the Warsaw Ghetto to the trains that would take them to Treblinka.
An educator and pediatrician, Korczak, a Polish Jew, introduced progressive orphanages for both the Jewish and Catholic children in Warsaw. Determined to shield his children from the injustices of the adult world, he built these orphanages into "just communities" with their own parliaments and children's courts. Korczak also founded the first national children's newspaper, testified on behalf of children in juvenile courts, and trained teachers and parents in "moral education," with his books How to Love a Child and How to Respect a Child.
The King of Children is now recognized as a classic work for educators, historians, parents, and anyone who lives or works with a child.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
About the Author
Betty Jean Lifton is the author of Twice Born: Memoirs of an Adopted Daughter and A Place Called Hiroshima. She lives in New York City.
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