Q&A with Frank W. Baker

 

 

Frank W. Baker is the author of the new children's book Risk, Resilience, and Redemption: A Miraculous Holocaust Survival Story. His other books include We Survived the Holocaust. He is also a media education consultant.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Risk, Resilience, and Redemption?

 

A: This book is a result of my previously published book, a graphic novel, We Survived The Holocaust: The Bluma and Felix Goldberg Story. This is a narrative version of the Goldbergs' Holocaust story. A school librarian suggested this version, telling me she was trying to wean her sixth graders away from just reading graphic novels.

What really inspired me was Felix Goldberg's words. Before he passed away in 2000, he spoke at our synagogue in Columbia, South Carolina, during Yom HaShoah (the Day of Remembrance). His testimony about his Holocaust experience shook me to my core. Afterwards, he handed me his speech (knowing that I was an educator) and said, in a beautiful Polish accent, "Frankie, do something with this."

 

Q: How would you describe the relationship between this book and your previous work on the Goldbergs?

A: The two are very much related. The graphic novel has much more detail; for example, it provides readers with context about the atmosphere in Europe before World War II.

 

We wanted to give the readers some historical perspectives. What laws, rules, and regulations were put in place by the Nazis that placed many restrictions on Jews and their movements. It was important to "set the scene" for the reader. The current book is simply the Goldberg story, minus the historical context.

 

Q: Did you need to do any additional research for this book in particular?

 

A: Additional research was not required as I had first told the Goldbergs’ story on a website for educators: StoriesOfSurvival.org.  After receiving Mr. Goldberg's speech, I approached the family with an idea to create the website. It is divided into three parts: before the war, during the war, and after the war. 

 

So, the research went into locating all available information about the Goldbergs and putting that into chronological order. The graphic novel, aimed at young adults, was a natural follow-up to the website.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book, especially given the current rise in antisemitism?

 

A: Before writing this book, it was clear to me that many young people lack essential knowledge about the Holocaust. Teachers told me they didn't have time to devote to it. But a colleague insisted it wasn't time that is the obstacle; it's priority.

 

Writing this book was not only my way of informing the audience, but I also wanted them to take away some understanding of what these two young Polish Jews went through. 

 

Bluma and Felix both took risks because that is what they had to do in order to survive. They were aware of the propaganda being used to convince people that the Jews were the problem. They also realized that prejudice was alive and well and that people who were formerly their friends and neighbors quickly turned on them. 

I also want students who read the book (and ones that I speak to in classrooms) to understand that there are rhetoric and actions happening today in 2025 that resemble what happened to Jews in Europe in the 1940s. History IS repeating itself, and it is vitally important that young people recognize this fact.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am switching gears and finalizing a children's nonfiction photo book about the Great Blue Heron. The bird is one I have followed for more than 15 years.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: I'd like readers to know that I have taken all of my royalties from the sales of my book and provided copies of the graphic novel to every middle and high school library in my state. 

 

With additional speaking fees, I am now providing qualifying teachers with "classroom sets" of this new book. Those educators are frequently requesting that I come in to speak and to answer students' questions.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Frank W. Baker.