The Girl with the Secret Name

Book excerpt: "We are guardians of a great treasure. We are links in a precious chain,” Papa paused, and Beatriz felt her heart pounding. This sounded very exciting! Her Papa looked up and his dark eyes caught hers. “My daughter, we are Jews.” The Girl with the Secret Name tells the inspiring true story of Beatriz de Luna or ‘Doña Gracia’ Mendes Nasi, the 16th-century Jewish Portuguese philanthropist who saved the lives of hundreds of conversos across Europe during the Inquisition by establishing an escape network for them. The book recounts almost all of Doña Gracia’s remarkable life, beginning in 1522 on the eve of her 12th birthday when she learns that her family are secretly Jewish. It then follows her journey throughout the 1500s as she and her family move from Portugal to the Netherlands, and on to Italy and Turkey, trying to escape danger, while saving the lives of conversos as they went, up to her death in Istanbul in 1569. Highly informative and moving, Yael Zoldan’s retelling of Doña Gracia’s story will teach young readers about the importance of family, community and standing up for yourself and others when you know something is not right.