Let's admit it: of all the ages of life, probably the hardest to get through are the middle school years. In a time when one is desperately trying to figure out who they are, one of the greatest fears for most middle schoolers is being a "nobody." Humiliation can be defined as being ridiculed for being different from the status quo, or perhaps worse, being invisible.

And the media doesn't help. From its portrayal, it seems that the epitome of being "someone" is being a tv or movie star or a sports celebrity. Glamor, glitz, chest thumping, and loud lives are depicted as normal and routine. All needed, the media likes to tell us, in order to be a "somebody."

As a teacher, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing impressionable, young minds being turned towards such shallowness. After teaching hundreds and hundreds of students, many who idolize such behavior, I find myself more and more drawn towards role models who are on the other end of the spectrum: people who are ordinary, simply going about their everyday lives, who suddenly decide to do something extraordinary--not for the fame that it eventually brings, but because they believe in a cause that is larger than themselves.

This blog is a compilation of books, websites, and films that celebrate those who I call Extraordinary People. Their stories are an inspiration--to put it mildly. Some of them are extraordinary because they endure hardship unlike anything any of us have ever known and yet refuse to lose their humanity and dignity. Others are extraordinary because they decide to follow their passions and ultimately display a genius that shines on for centuries. Still others are so because they find a cause worth fighting for and choose not to give up despite tremendous obstacles.

My hope is that in reading and listening to these stories and exploring these websites, middle schoolers will find role models who are truly worth emulating and discover within themselves the desire to become their best every single day.

Memories of Survival by Esther Nisenthal Krinitz and Bernice Steinhardt


Reading grade level: 6 - 9
Pages: 64 p.
Book summary and analysis: Art has the power to heal, and no book makes this more evident than Memories of Survival. Esther, the author, was 10 years old and happily living with her family in their small Polish village, freely carrying on their Jewish customs, when the Nazis' invasion began World War II. Targeted because of their ethnicity but rejected by family and friends, Esther and her sister are separated from their family (who they never see again) and are forced to disguise themselves as Catholic farmhands on a stranger's land in an effort to survive.

Many, many years later, Esther began to create highly detailed, embroidered panels that told her story, memories that she would tell her children so that she would not forget. Finally, together with her daughter's recollection of her mother's words, these striking panels were published in the form of this beautiful and heart-wrenching book--a type of graphic novel unlike any other.

Book includes: dimensional information about each panel, a note about the art, a note from Bernice, table of contents, afterword
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor Award for Older Readers in 2006.
Additional curricular connections: Holocaust, World War II, survival, the human spirit

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