Reaching for the Sky: Childhood Recollections of War and Peace

The serene life of the irrepressibly optimistic little girl was disturbed. Child-play and fantasies gave way to fear and anguish. Wild thoughts were going through her mind while the German bombs were falling nearby her picturesque retreat:

How dare they disturb my peaceful space? Who are these people who want to conquer the world? Why aren't they satisfied with their own terra firma, their own hideaways and retreats, their own Camelot? Why would they bother my magical surroundings and the environment of all the other children of other lands? Don't they have dreams, other than destroy other people's dreams? Weren't they ever children themselves, or better yet, don't they have children of their own? Don't they know that, above all, children need to feel safe and secure, warm and loved?

Only three chapters were completed with the anticipation that the conclusion of this book would be optimistic and cheerful, along with the fervent wish that never again would children have live through the horrors of war and its dreadful consequences.

The dreadful morning of September 11, 2001, however, changed the mood of us all. The devastation of the horrific events in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania will haunt us forever.