Sheinkin shines as always in Impossible Escape. An inspiring story that is perfectly paced and enthrallingly written.

What worked: Powerful narrative about two Jewish friends and their experiences during the Holocaust. In 1944 Rubi is picked up and thrown into a prisoner camp. He tries to escape, but when captured is sent to concentration camps during WWII. His last one is the infamous Auschwitz camp. This is his story of how he not only survived but escaped to tell about the horrors of the camps.

Gerta's family flees from Slovakia to Hungary and lives under different names to hide their Jewish identity. Gerta wants to help but even Hungary can't hide her for too long. The pressure from the Nazis increases and so does Gerta's fears of being rounded up and sent to the camps.

The audiobook descriptions of the two Jewish friends who experienced firsthand family, friends, and themselves being sent to the Nazi camps in Europe are gut-wrenching. Rubi's determination to not only live but to tell of the Nazi atrocities that happened in the concentration camps is read in such vivid detail. My grandfather fought in WWII and I grew up hearing stories of the horrific actions of what happened during the Holocaust. One of my friends encountered a Jewish Holocaust survivor when visiting NYC in the early 1980s and that woman said how important it was for her to share her story so that others would never forget. Rubi's story peels back how some tried to hide what was going on in Europe in the 1940s and shows the horrors that some committed against those they deemed subhuman.

Hearing the audiobook version of this non-fiction book makes the story even more powerful with its important message of never forgetting. Totally recommend for Holocaust studies.

Original post: https://www.yabookscentral.com/impossible-escape-a-true-story-of-survival-and-heroism-in-nazi-europe/

Two Jewish students, Rudi Vrba and Gerta Sidonová, have their own journeys of escaping the Germans during the Holocaust. Both from the same town and both end up being captured at some point during World War II. Gerta is able to escape notice for awhile with her blonde hair and blue eyes by pretending to not be Jewish. Rudi ends up in Auschwitz concentration camp and is determined to escape to spread the news what the Nazis are doing there to Jews. Their stories of bravery during this harrowing time is definitely worth the read.

Obviously, there are already lots of non-fiction books about the holocaust written for all ages. However, Steve Sheinkin always brings something new to the table and delivers it in a compulsively readable fashion.

This book focuses primarily on two people's experience during the holocaust, Rudi Vrba and Gerta Sidonová. As well as being a compelling biography of someone who actually managed to escape from Auschwitz there was a lot of information included in this book that I had not known, such as detailed information about how the camps worked, the different jobs within Auschwitz, and the ways in which Hitler pressured other countries to deport their Jewish populations.

Sheinkin's writing is vivid and dramatic. Even though the story is non-fiction, it reads like a novel. I would recommend this book for anyone in middle school and up who is interested in learning about the holocaust or looking for a compelling biography.

Absolutely fantastic. Will be enjoyed by young adult readers and also adults. This is a fantastic story detailing a teen doing the nearly impossible. A powerful survival story that will keep readers riveted.

What a fascinating person and an absolute hero! I really enjoyed this incredibly well researched book and felt myself being swept away by Rudi’s story. This is so unbelievable and fraught with tension that if I didn’t know it was a well documented true story, I would think it was a script for an action film. Rudi Vrba was an amazing man who saved over 200,000 people from annihilation by escaping Auschwitz and finding someone to get the info about what happened there to the masses. A unique and powerful mind with a drive to do good regardless of the cost to himself. Truly a story worth exploring. In fact, where is the Vrba movie? Cuz I want to see it.

From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust - one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.

With Impossible Escape, Steve Sheinkin has done it again as he takes a true story and makes a page-turner out of it. The story begins with classmates and friends Rudolph Vrba (Rudi) and Gerta Sidonova as their normal lives in the 1939 Slovakia begin to be disrupted. The first changes are bad enough as they are forbidden to go to school and must identify themselves as Jews with a yellow star.

Soon there will be worse with false promises of better times on the trains that are coming through and taking the Jews somewhere else. The “somewhere else” turns out to be concentration camps like Auschwitz where Rudi and his friend Alfred (Fred) find themselves. Gerta, blond and blue-eyed, gets somewhat of a reprieve with her family as they escape to Hungary. As her family lives with assumed names, their chances of getting captured grow daily. Steve Sheinkin alternates between the stories of the two friends with background information about World War II judiciously cited to keep the time frame clear. Detailed descriptions of what happens in the camps and Rudi’s growing impetus to find a way to escape and share this picture with the world keep the reader on edge.

This true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers whose death-defying escape and subsequent testimony helped save more than 100,000 lives is as intense as any gripping novel. The author’s note at the end gives a clue to the author’s motivation to do the extensive research and write this story.

I would give one word of warning. This is not a book to be read in bed, hoping it will relax you for a good night’s sleep.

I should have read more about the premise of this book—the cover gives very much fiction but it’s truly a non-fiction book, you should know this before going into it.

Sheinkin does it again. Solidly works both in length and focus for a middle grade and YA audience because the content speaks to the atrocities focused on Rudi and a little less so on Gerta and their intertwined stories in how varied but atrocious the response to Hitler was for Jews across Europe.

The heroism and survival, written into the subtitle is heart-wrenching but readers from the start root for Rudi to survive, the remember, to share with the world. The focus is more on him and then supports the war story and the story in the camps to help contextualize Rudi's experience which I value because it doesn't rehash the history as much as supports the experiences of Rudi to understand how catastrophic and traumatic the experience was.

Sheinkin writes the story with dramatic vividness. My heart was pounding, I was scared, I could picture the bedraggled men, and feel Gerta's nervousness.

Steve Sheinkin's newest YA nonfiction is a great one. This true story of two Jewish Slovakian teens depicts the horrors of Hitler's concentration camps, the dehumanization and murder his big lies fueled, and the courage of young people who resisted, endured, escaped capture, and exposed Nazi atrocities. Sheinkin's research is impeccable, and his storytelling is so compelling you feel like you're reading a novel. A must for high school libraries and Holocaust Studies classes.

great book wow. recommend having nothing else to do but read for a day or 2. the character development was great as as well as the plot.

Impossible Escape is an amazing story about two Jewish teenagers during the Holocaust. One is in Hungary and the other is in Auschwitz. It really is an incredible story and is very detailed. I learned a lot more about the Holocaust from it. I think that sometimes these stories get lost and it is important for us to see how it affected people like Rudi and Gerta.

Sheinkin’s exemplary research and cinematic writing captures the layers of horror experienced by two teens caught up in Hitler’s holocaust, and the life-saving historical impact of one of their actions. At thirteen, Gerta had a crush on fifteen-year-old Rudy. He thought her pom-pom hat made her look like a little kid. Two years later, in 1942, they are both on the run. Following the pair’s intertwined stories gives Sheinkin incredible scope for emotionally engaging readers in a thrilling, horrifying, astonishing and absolutely appalling true story. Crucial historical background is delivered when needed. Readers become immersed in the action, learning, as Rudi and Gerta did, that close observation, adaptation and luck might permit survival. Sheinkin excels at bringing to life ancillary individuals, deepening the story immeasurably. The detailed account of two and half years inside Auschwitz is unforgettable and brings home how important the exposure of the death camp secrets was, and is. Back matter includes an epilogue, author’s note, detailed source notes and robust bibliography. Reviewed from a digital ARC. Thanks to Roaring Brook and NetGalley for a digital arc in return for an unbiased review.

This work of nonfiction reads like a novel, so this book will have a wider appeal for more readers. The afterward was as powerful as the novel itself. Rudi is one of the first survivors of the concentration camps who escaped to tell the world what was actually happening inside those camps. On the flip side, we also hear Greta’s story as she struggles to hide from the camps. How their lives interconnect is like a work of fiction, but it’s not. This is a quick and powerful read with an amazing story of survival that needs to be told.

Steve Sheinkin is back with another heart-pounding nonfiction title for young readers. In Impossible Escape, he tackles the holocaust, focusing on the particularly heroic stories of two Slovakian Jewish teenagers (who later get married!). Interspersed within the narrative is a broader historical account, and the interweaving of the two exemplifies the nonfiction writing that Sheinkin does best. The author's note and backmatter are incredibly helpful and provide further reading materials for kids who may be interested.

An incredible story about a teen who not only survives the horrors of the Holocaust, but saves many other as well. Told with Steve Sheinkin's unparalleled gift for helping readers see and feel what it would be like to live through this experience. Impossible Escape, is a book that brings to life important stories from our past, but how these stories relate to the world we live in today.

Before I picked up this book if you'd told me I'd be unable to put down a book set in Auschwitz, I might be a bit skeptical. While I've seen documentaries and had good college history professors, I'm also wary of the "Holocaust fiction genre" because it just seems... weirdly romanticizing. :/

Fortunately, this book is not like that. For one, it is not fiction (I didn't notice that when selecting it) and doesn't pretend to be a novel, but manages to be just as compelling as one.

The book tells the true story of Rudi Vrba, a Slovakian Jewish teen who made an "impossible" escape from the concentration camp with fellow prisoner Alfred Wetzler in order to tell the world about the horrors there. Their report would be known as the Vrba-Wetzler Report.

The book's narrative is engaging and detailed and lets us walk in Rudi's footsteps, without overdramatization. The perspective shifts between Rudi, with his early escape attempts in Nazi-allied Slovakia, and his childhood friend Gerta whose family attempts to hide in neighboring Hungary. At times the book pulls back from this personal narrative to show the bigger picture of what was happening in Europe at the time.

Most of the book takes place inside concentration camps, so I don't think I need to elaborate on the content warnings needed. However, the author presents these things frankly without delving into graphic details or gore, making it appropriate for younger audiences.

I also appreciate that Sheinkin brings the story into our present culture with Rudi's reasoning for why he chose to testify at a Holocaust-denier's trial many years later - that big lies should always be countered with truth - and the author's subtle suggestion that big lies still exist around us. "If a proof was needed that the mentality and danger of the Holocaust are still with us, it's right there," Rudi Vrba spoke of later genocides like Cambodia and Rwanda.

Impossible Escape tells an exciting true story relying heavily on Vrba's own interviews and talks. It is an engaging history lesson as well as an important warning of a danger still with us.

Author Steve Sheinkin knows how to write nonfiction in a way that makes it impossible to not care about the historical events, issues, and the human experience of which and whom he writes. This book paints a very descriptive picture of what it was like to be a Jew in Europe during WWII. Impossible Escape focuses primarily on Rudi's experience as he tries to avoid being sent to a concentration camp, but fails to do so. In camp, as a prisoner with various jobs, he sees the many levels of inhumanity. His goal is nearly impossible--to escape-- and expose to the world, the heinous and unimaginably evil crimes of the Nazis. Highly recommended.

This book is a testament to the struggles and harsh realities of WWII. It was so emotional, and everyone should read this book!