The Island on Bird Street

During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.

During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.

“More than just a valuable addition to Holocaust literature . . . it should garner a wide audience, which is exactly what its spirited portrait of hope and dauntless courage deserves.” Booklist, ALA

Uri Orlev was born in Warsaw in 1931. He spent the years 1939–41 in hiding in the Warsaw ghetto with his mother and younger brother. When his mother was killed by the Nazis, he and his brother were sent to Bergen-Belsen. After the war, Orlev went to Israel. He now lives in Jerusalem with his wife and their three children.
In 1996, Uri Orlev received the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition given to an author of children’s books, for his lasting contribution to children’s literature.