Abstract :
In this article, the author explores the richly layered double text of
Kushner and Sendak’s picturebook, Brundibar (2003)—the historical context of
Brundiba´r as a Holocaust-era children’s operetta by Hans Kra´sa and Adolf Hoffmeister,
and the present day manifestation of Brundibar as a children’s picturebook.
In order to contextualize the discussion of Kushner and Sendak’s text, Brundibar’s
historical origins in Nazi-annexed Czechoslovakia and its transition to the stage in
the Nazi ‘‘model’’ concentration camp, Terezı´n, is presented. An extensive semiotic
analysis of Kushner and Sendak’s illustrations and text is also provided within the
framework of what Kushner (The art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the present, 2003)
terms ‘‘a world of trouble and woe and worse’’ (p. 210). Furthermore, the author
discusses the development of Sendak’s Hitlerian Brundibar and the struggles that
both Kushner and Sendak faced as they considered how to portray the story’s
antagonist, given their somewhat differing conceptions of which difficult themes
and topics children should be exposed to during childhood. To round out thisdiscussion, the author explores pedagogical implications for teachers as they read
difficult texts, particularly Holocaust texts, with children.
