A review by sindri_inn_arsaeli
The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Deborah Durland DeSaix, Karen Gray Ruelle

5.0

This well done children's book does a fantastic job of taking a difficult period of history, and a sliver that was difficult to research, due to a lack of primary documents since the entire topic depended on secrecy, and creating an inspiring and gripping read for children and adults alike. The text does not shy away from the atrocities of Jewish extermination, while also not dwelling on the horror of those events, instead focusing on the courage and selflessness of the Muslims who helped. The text also focuses on the few first hand accounts that can be found, using these to speculate at what other operations could have happened at the mosque, lending credibility to a highly difficult to document era of history. The soft illustrations do a great job lending emotion and beauty to a terrifying topic. Beautifully executed.