Under the Iron Bridge

Under the Iron Bridge

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

It's 1938 in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Paul is feeling pressured to join the Hitler Youth. The last thing he wants to do is march around with a bunch of bullies, supporting the Gestapo and abusing the city's Jews, but even Paul's parents think he should go along with his classmates in order to keep himself safe.Just when he's starting to despair, Paul meets the Edelweiss Pirates, a group of teenage boys and girls who are working to undermine the growing power of the Nazis. When he joins the rebel organization, he finds out just how hair-raising and dangerous it is to sabotage the Third Reich and rescue Jews wherever they can. But choices have consequences, and during the terrifying violence of Kristallnacht, Paul must step out of the shadows and make a life-changing decision.Inspired by the true story of the Edelweiss Pirates, a group that declared "Eternal War on the Hitler Youth," Under the Iron Bridge is a tale of courage in the face of cruelty.
Read online
  • 643
Louder Than Words

Louder Than Words

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

Heroic actions speak volumes in a powerful middle grade novel based on real WWII events. Life is becoming ever more terrifying for the Jewish community as the Second World War envelops their lives. For twelve-year-old Dina and her sisters, things get even harder when their father dies. Their mother must go back to work and despite many objections, the family adjusts to the arrival of their new housekeeper, Nina, who is not Jewish. But Nina's role changes dramatically when the Nazis invade their small Ukrainian town. Nina sacrifices her own safety to make sure the children she has come to love are kept from the clutches of the Nazis, and Dina comes to depend on her in a way she never imagined she would. The third novel in Kathy Kacer's acclaimed Heroes Quartet series, Louder Than Words is based on the true story of one woman's incredible heroism in the most dangerous of circumstances. It is a another affecting testament to the unsung heroes...
Read online
  • 585
Call Across the Sea

Call Across the Sea

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

History is made one brave act at a time.Henny has grown up with her father's boat, the Gerda III, as a home away from home. She loves sailing the waters between Denmark and Sweden, carried along by the salt breeze. But when Nazi rule tightens in Copenhagen, Henny joins the resistance. And when Hitler orders the Gestapo to round up all Jewish citizens, Henny realizes that the Gerda III isn't just a boat—it's a means of escape for her Jewish neighbours. Safety and freedom are just across the channel in Sweden—as long as Henny doesn't get caught. The fourth book in Kathy Kacer's Heroes Quartet series, Call Across the Sea brings to life a little-known part of World War II and highlights the unsung acts of heroism that moved history forward.
Read online
  • 560
Masters of Silence

Masters of Silence

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

Silence can be powerful.   Kathy Kacer's second book in her middle grade series about heroic rescues during WWII tells the tale of siblings Helen and Henry, and history's most famous mime. Desperate to save them from the Nazis, Henry and Helen's mother makes the harrowing decision to take her children from their home in 1940s Germany and leave them in the care of strangers in France. The brother and sister must hide their Jewish identity to pass for orphans being fostered at a convent in the foreign land. Visits from a local mime become the children's one source of joy, especially for Henry, whose traumatic experience has left him a selective mute. When an informer gives them up, the children are forced to flee yet again from the Nazis, but this time the local mime—a not yet famous Marcel Marceau—risks everything to try to save the children.   Masters of Silence shows...
Read online
  • 451
Hidden on the High Wire

Hidden on the High Wire

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

Irene grew up traveling around Germany with her family's circus, surrounded by her loved ones and thrilling the crowds with her performance on the high wire...until one day, the audience boos. The Lorch family is Jewish, and the increasing power of Adolf Hitler's Nazis has put them all in grave danger.When the circus is forced to shut down and Irene's father is taken away, Irene and her mother must go into hiding with another circus. Every day is a frightening new kind of balancing act, caught between the desire to perform and the need to hide—even in plain sight.
Read online
  • 225
The Brushmaker's Daughter

The Brushmaker's Daughter

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

It is 1939 in Berlin, Germany, and twelve-year-old Lillian and her Papa are on the run from Nazi soldiers. Because they are Jewish, they are in danger of being arrested and put in prison. Lillian's father is blind and it seems no one is willing to help them, until they meet Otto Weidt. Mr. Weidt runs a factory that makes brushes for the Nazi army, and his secret is that he employs blind Jewish workers. Lillian soon learns that Otto Weidt is determined to keep her, Papa, and all the Jewish workers safe. But will he be able to? Inspired by a true story.
Read online
  • 73


Stones on a Grave

Stones on a Grave

Kathy Kacer

Kathy Kacer

Sara has never been out of the tiny town of Hope, Ontario, where she has been in an orphanage all her life. After a fire destroys the orphanage, clues about her parentage—a medical certificate and a Star of David—lead her to Germany. Despite her fears—she doesn't speak the language, she knows no one in Germany, and she's never been on an airplane—Sara arrives in Germany determined to explore her newly discovered Jewish heritage and solve the mystery of her parentage. What she encounters is a country still dealing with the aftermath of the Holocaust. With the help of a handsome, English-speaking German boy, she discovers the sad facts of her mother's brief existence and faces the horrible truth about her father. Ultimately, the knowledge she gains opens up her world and leads her to a deeper understanding of herself.
Read online
  • 33
183