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Review by Phyllis Grubbs
Newbery medalist Katherine Paterson once said, "To give the children of the world the words they need is to give them life and growth and refreshment." Kirk Douglas proves this wisdom in his novel "The Broken Mirror."
As the story opens, six-year-old Moishe is the adored youngest child of a loving and indulgent family living in Munich in the 1930s. His Tateh (father) takes him to the synagogue on the Sabbath where he patiently listens to all the words that surround him. He revels in the words and the voices of the men as they sing out joyfully, "Leha Dodi, Likrat Kala" ("Come, my Beloved . . . let's greet the Sabbath").
Moishe's older sister Rachel reads him stories at night by forbidden candlelight. Like all children, he never tires of hearing the words of the same tales over and over. His favorite is the story of Satan's mirror, which distorts all things so that good is evil and evil is good. When this mirror is shattered, its pieces are scattered across the earth, piercing hearts and spreading hate where there should be love. Contemplating the story, he wonders if any of those splinters are close to him.
This idyllic childhood comes to a sharp end with the horror of the Holocaust. His family is betrayed by someone they trust and they are sent to a concentration camp in Italy where Moishe witnesses the deaths of his father and sister and is the only one to survive the war. Taken in by American soldiers who delight him with colorful slang, Moishe decides he doesn't want to be a Jew and gives himself the name Daniel.
In a Catholic orphanage in America, Daniel is lonely and struggles to learn English. He finally finds a friend in Roy, the runt of the orphanage. Daniel nurtures the little boy by telling him stories, just the way his sister Rachel had nurtured him. When Roy is eventually adopted, Daniel leaves the orphanage, alone again. He runs through the streets of the city until he hears familiar words beckoning him from an open doorway, "Leha Dodi, Likrat Kala." As the men in the synagogue turn to greet the Sabbath, they instead greet Moishe, a child of God, beckoned by familiar words and finding a home again.
People who care about children's literature are often skeptical of books written by celebrities, but here Kirk Douglas proves himself to be a writer who happens to be an actor. He has written a noble little book. Only 88 pages, "The Broken Mirror" is more than another Holocaust story. It is a testament to the power of the words written on our hearts when we are very young. Stories, songs and conversations can stay with us forever and words can be used for evil as easily as they can for love. Adults have a responsibility to give children words they can live by. As Katherine Paterson says, they give us life, growth and refreshment.
Phyllis Grubbs is a children's librarian in Nashville, Tennessee.
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