Unfinished Story

Eylam, the 10-year-old grandson of a famous Jerusalem children’s author, finds an unfinished story on his grandfather’s desk. It is about two brothers in Warsaw in the 1930s and about young Yanek’s favorite book, written in Hebrew, which he takes with him wherever he goes. His older brother gave it to him: “Take care of this book and it will take care of you,” he wrote inside. Eylam loves books too; he identifies with Yanek and asks his grandfather to finish the story. At first his Grandpa refuses—the tale doesn’t end well, he says. But eventually, pushed by Eylam, he does finish it, describing how Yanek has to part with his book when the Nazis invade Poland. Thus Eylam learns that his grandfather, born in Warsaw , had a brother who disappeared in the Holocaust . The book is a success; it is even exhibited at the Warsaw International Book Fair. And there, a boy named Philip is amazed to see that the youth on the cover looks exactly like him. He gets a copy of the book and his father helps him to translate the dedication: “To my good grandchild Eylam—take care of this book and it will take care of you,” it says. The next day, Philip’s grandfather Jan comes to visit, and when he sees the familiar dedication, he faints.

Unfinished Story is a moving and exciting book, which shows that faith in the written word can overcome time and distance.