Eighth-grade students at North Central Junior High were privileged to meet and hear from authors Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat on March 30. Through support from the University of Iowa Alumni Association, we were able to put the book Survivors Club in our students’ hands and the authors in front of them to speak about this miraculous story.

Bornstein was 4 when he was liberated from Auschwitz. The book is his memoir of life in Poland during Nazi occupation and life after liberation. Our students and many staff read the book before the visit and hung on the authors’ every word. This is an important story we must never forget. Bornstein put that message forward in as gentle a way possible so that it was accessible to our students. He reminded them that humanity requires compassion.

We are thankful to Bornstein and Bornstein Holinstat for taking time to speak to us and for taking time to answer questions both in the large-group setting and individually after the event. We are thankful to the Alumni Association, especially Ashley Durham, for this visit. It has opened many eyes and touched many hearts. Although this book was written for middle-school students, the adults who have read it were also touched by this story.

—Susie Corbin-Muir, Claire Hanson, Latrenda Soukup, and the staff and students at North Central Junior High