September 8, 2010, Toronto - The Orphan Rescue ,a new chapter book from Second Story Press aimed at children aged 7-10, isinspired by a story from author Anne Dublin’s own family history. Set duringthe spring of 1937 in the small city of Sosnowiec,Poland,it is the story of twelve-year-old Miriam and her younger brother, David. Theylive with their grandparents, having lost their own parents to illness andpoverty. The family does not have much – they live together in one room behindthey grandfather’s shop and often there isn’t enough food for the four of them– but they have each other. Miriam is devastated when her grandparents tell her thatthey can no longer survive as a family, and that the only solution is for Davidto go to an orphanage. Leaving her young brother behind with strangers breaksher heart, and Miriam decides to rescue him. When Miriam learns that David isbeing forced to work in a factory by the unscrupulous orphanage director, sherealizes that rescuing him may prove difficult. Help comes in the unlikely formof Benji, the orphanage’s resident bully, whose mean exterior hides a lonelyboy inside.

With his help Miriam is able to expose what is happening at thefactory and reunite her family. The Orphan Rescue is an accessible, entertaining story for young readers that manages to touch on some serious topics - poverty,the exploitation of children for cheap labour, the history of Jews in Europe pre-Holocaust. Children will read it for the tale of an adventurous and brave brother and sister.