Mama zawsze wraca [Mom Always Comes Back]

Tuszyńska’s and Chmielewska’s picturebook is based on an account by Zosia Zajczyk (Jael Rosner, born in 1939). When she was still a toddler, Zosia was hidden by her mother in a basement of a building located in the Warsaw ghetto. There, cut off from the surrounding reality, she spent her days in the company of her favourite doll, watching the world through a small window. Her mom visited her regularly, bringing in little things such as willow catkins or chestnuts to show her, which provided Zosia with her only opportunities to learn about the world. At one point, the girl is taken out of the ghetto and placed with a woman living outside of Warsaw, where she is able to survive the war. Later, she travels to Israel and tries to start a new life despite the trauma that the Holocaust caused her.

Mom Always Comes Back is a picturebook for readers over fifteen. The first-person narrative reconstructs the war experiences of a toddler and her perspective of daily life in hiding. The post-war journey to Israel and rebuilding Zosia’s life is also a key theme. The text is accompanied by Tuszyńska’s afterword, where she reveals how the book was created. The publication comes with an art piece: a paper “armband” which resembles those with the Star of David, but has a floral decoration inspired by the pattern on Zosia’s doll’s dress.

Bibliography:

• Kwiatkowska, A., Motyw szycia i haftu w najnowszej polskiej literaturze dla dzieci dotyczącej Zagłady, „Polonistyka. Innowacje”, no. 13, 2021, pp. 55–65;
• Kwiatkowska, A., Jak narysować pamięć? Zagłada w polskich ilustrowanych książkach dla dzieci, „Porównania”, no. 1, 2021, pp. 123–140;
• Rybak, K., Zagłada i ideologia w polskiej literaturze dziecięcej XXI wieku, „Narracje o Zagładzie”, no. 1(7), 2021, pp. 155–173 (p. 159);
• Rybak, K., Obrazowanie Zagłady. Narracje holokaustowe w polskiej literaturze XXI wieku dla dzieci i młodzieży, Warszawa 2023.