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A young
author writes
a remarkable
Holocaust tale
at age 11.

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18

November 11 . 2010

Jordana Hoffman
Teen2Teen Staff Writer

H

ow old where you when
you began thinking up
fantastic stories of drag-
ons and princesses? How old were
you when you learned not every-
one always lived happily ever
after? How old where you when
you first heard of Anne Frank?
For Sydney Fine of Commerce
Township, the answer is 11 years old.
Inspired by the Diary of Anne Frank,
the story of this real-life girl during
the Holocaust entered Sydney's heart
and turned her mind toward the
Goldmans, the Finks, the Steinbergs
and the Cortmans — four Jewish
families she created who are caught
up in a time when it was dangerous
to be Jewish.
Sydney took these families and
gave them a story, a story that's now a
book called People of the Wall. Sydney
will speak about her book, with its
historical photos and drawings, dur-
ing the 59th Annual Jewish Book
Fair on Sunday, Nov. 14, at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
She is the first teen ever to be a featured
speaker.
A petite girl who is a bit shy,
Sydney was just starting Walled Lake
Clifford H. Smart Middle School,
where most others were freaking out
about who's wearing what and who
likes the cute boy in the classroom
next door. Instead, Sydney was try-
ing to make sure the atrocities that
occurred during the Holocaust are
never forgotten and never repeated.
This is what was on Sydney's mind as
she began writing People in the Wall.
Sydney also went to the library and
checked out practically all the books
on the Holocaust. She studied the
history and made the story histori-
cally accurate. Yet People in the Wall
doesn't read like a textbook; it has a
human element that connects you to
the story and to the main characters: