It is the summer of 1939 in Warsaw, Poland and Michal is an eight year-old boy just finishing his school year. In order to improve his handwriting, Michal\u2019s teacher gives him a simple assignment: keep a journal, writing one sentence a day. Eighty years later, Michal\u2019s diary has been gorgeously illustrated with beautifully atmospheric paintings. Eloquent in its simplicity, the journal is a remarkable artifact that captures the innocence of childhood and the trauma of war. The journal starts out with a typical boy\u2019s observations: \u201cJuly 15: I went to a stream with my brother and teacher.\u201d \u201cJuly 23: I found a caterpillar.\u201d However over the course of weeks, menacing details emerge. \u201cJuly 27: A plane was circling over Anin.\u201d \u201cSeptember 1: The war has begun.\u201d \u201cSeptember 3: I hid from planes.\u201d \u201cSeptember 14: Warsaw is bravely defending itself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These haunting entries are interspersed with visits from relatives, a football game, a trip to a park, an ice cream cone. Photographs of pages from Michal\u2019s original diary enhance the poignancy of this simple record\u2014an ordinary holiday interrupted by war; a life changed forever by an extraordinary moment in history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MICHAL SKIBINSKI was 8 years old and a student at Warsaw Primary school when he wrote this diary in the summer 1939. Today he lives in a retirement house for elderly priests. ALA BANKROFT is the pseudonym of the Polish painter, photographer and film animator Helena Stiasny. Her illustrations for the book I Saw a Beautiful Woodpecker received a special mention in the OPERA PRIMA category at the BolognaRagazzi Award 2020 from the Bologna Children\u2018s Book Fair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is the summer of 1939 in Warsaw, Poland and Michal is an eight year-old boy just finishing his school year. In order to improve his handwriting, Michal\u2019s teacher gives him a simple assignment: keep a journal, writing one sentence a day. Eighty years later, Michal\u2019s diary has been gorgeously illustrated with beautifully atmospheric paintings. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":3054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n