The Burning Mountain

Survival Scout: Lost in the Mountains

Boston Jane: Wilderness Days

Dreaming the Bear

Milkweed

Be Not Far from Me

The Game of Silence: Birchbark House

Wild River

Rose, Ella, Marta and Carla. In another life we might have all been friends together. But this was Birchwood.

As fourteen-year-old Ella begins her first day at work she steps into a world of silks, seams, scissors, pins, hems and trimmings. She is a dressmaker, but this is no ordinary sewing workshop. Hers are no ordinary clients. Ella has joined the seamstresses of Birkenau-Auschwitz.

Every dress she makes could be the difference between life and death. And this place is all about survival.

Ella seeks refuge from this reality, and from haunting memories, in her work and in the world of fashion and fabrics. She is faced with painful decisions about how far she is prepared to go to survive.

Is her love of clothes and creativity nothing more than collaboration wth her captors, or is it a means of staying alive?

Will she fight for herself alone, or will she trust the importance of an ever-deepening friendship with Rose?

One thing weaves through the colours of couture gowns and camp mud - a red ribbon, given to Ella as a symbol of hope.

Perseverance

Courage

Friendship

The Red Ribbon

Discover Your Child's Next Read

The Burning Mountain

Lucy Adlington, L.J. Adlington, 2010

Survival Scout: Lost in the Mountains

Maxwell Eaton Iii, 2023

Boston Jane: Wilderness Days

Jennifer L. Holm, 2002

Dreaming the Bear

Mimi Thebo, 2016

Milkweed

Jerry Spinelli, 2003

Be Not Far from Me

Mindy Mcginnis, 2020

The Game of Silence: Birchbark House

Louise Erdrich, 2005

Wild River

P.J. Petersen, 2009