June 14, 2023

Contact Jill Miller at jmmiller@viterbo.edu or Sam Scinta at sam@fulcrumbooks.com

OPEN HOUSE FOR THE REISSUE OF SQUIRREL IS ALIVE AND HOLOCAUST EDUCATION PRESENTATION AT PEARL STREET BOOKS JUNE 27

LA CROSSE, Wis. – The public is invited to attend an open house event celebrating the reissue of the book Squirrel is Alive at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 27 at Pearl Street Books in downtown La Crosse.

Squirrel is Alive is a first-person account of Mary Rostad, who was 16 years old in 1940 when the Nazis conquered her home city of Brussels, Belgium. Rostad joined the resistance movement, serving in Belgium and later France, as a courier of underground documents. Adopting the code name “Squirrel,” she walked over one thousand miles in frigid temperatures, far away from her home and her family to report on the movement of German troops.

Originally published regionally in 2012 by the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University, the book is now being reissued nationally by Fulcrum Publishing. The new version has been significantly revised to include updated content courtesy of Stephen Feinberg, who worked at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., for 15 years, a new Foreword by renowned Holocaust expert and author Alexandra Zapruder, and a more robust Afterword by local Holocaust expert and educator Darryle Clott (who also wrote the original).

Squirrel is Alive will be added to the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership’s educator resource guide, which will include interactive materials for classroom use. Strategies for before, during, and after reading will include discussion questions, writing prompts, and classroom extensions allowing students to engage directly with the text and understand both the historical context and the contemporary application of Squirrel is Alive and other books. The materials will be designed for middle school and high school use and will align to national standards and best teaching practices. The guide’s anticipated completion date is Sept. 1, 2023.

At Pearl Street Books open house, Clott and Westby High School Teacher Dave Nelson will give a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session.

The book launch event is free and refreshments will be served. For more information about the book or the event, visit https://www.viterbo.edu/db-reinhart-institute-ethics-leadership/publications.

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