The Sky Was My Blanket: A Young Man’s Journey Across Wartime Europe

Gr 5 Up–This final, posthumously published work from celebrated Caldecott Award–winning illustrator Shulevitz, based on his uncle’s experiences across war-torn Europe, offers an incisive look at the period. Jewish Yehiel Szulewicz balks at his super strict and religious family and leaves home, and Poland, at 15 years old. A transient life of survival ensues, in which he travels across Europe, befriends other travelers, and joins the fight against fascism, first in the Spanish Civil War against Franco and then as part of the Jewish Resistance against Hitler. Each chapter succinctly narrates the young man’s harrowing escapes and near-death experiences in the global conflict. Readers will be struck by his determination to continue despite hardships like hunger, homelessness, and constant loss. The first-person accounting sometimes feels repetitive and monotonous, but at other times, the spare and immediate narration is magnetic. He eventually changes his name to Henri Sulewic and creates paintings in honor of his childhood. The work is peppered with Shulevitz’s art, adding to the foreboding feeling of the stark text. An author’s note and reproductions of Szulewicz’s work are included.