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HOUGHTON COUNTY — Children’s author and online educator, Annette Gendler is visiting the Keweenaw today and tomorrow. She make an appearance tonight at Temple Jacob in Hancock, and at the Portage Lake District Library in Houghton Friday.

Gendler is the author of “Natalie and the Nazi Soldiers,” based on her mother-in-law’s experience living as a Jewish girl in France during the Holocaust. According to Gendler’s website, “Natalie and the Nazi Soldiers” is appropriate for early readers, tackling one of the darkest historical events with respect, through an educational lens.

“In 1944 in the German-occupied French countryside, a Jewish girl’s quest to save her favorite piglet takes a dangerous turn when she runs into a Nazi officer,” Gendler’s website reads.

Temple Jacob President, Barbara Irizarry, said Tuesday’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), was a time to commemorate the lives of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. “It’s really for Jews and people living in Israel, they observe the day to honor the Jews murdered in the Holocaust,” she said. “There’s ceremonies, candle lighting, people recite the Makadesh, which is a prayer for the dead.”

Irizarry added Gendler’s visit to the Copper Country was driven by Tuesday’s appearance at Temple Beth Sholom in Marquette for Holocaust Remembrance Day. The PLDL portion of Gendler’s Keweenaw visit will be highlighted by a meet and greet, as a well as a story time. “It’s so important to share stories from throughout history,” Youth Services for PLDL, Holly Nemiroff, said. “We’re lucky to have Annette Gendler come read for us.”

Gendler, said she is grateful for time spent in the U.P. making it a point to travel from her home in Chicago to explore new parts of the peninsula every year.

“My welcome has been truly amazing,” she said. “Being able to share my work and meeting the people of Marquette and now Houghton/Hancock is a privilege for me.”

Gendler said her book appeals to all readers, regardless if they practice Judaism or not.

“We all are shaped by the people who raised us and those who raised them. Their experiences shape who we are,” she said. “The better we understand their experiences, the better we understand our family and ourselves, and storytelling is the best vehicle for preserving and passing on these formative stories.”

Readers both young and old can enjoy the book, as well as Gendler’s events at Temple Jacob and PLDL. She said readers can find something to relate to in the book no matter who they are.

“Children are gently led to the fact that the world can be a dangerous place, no matter where you are, but that, even as a child, you can have the wits to save yourself,” she said. “There are many facets to the story — the woman who hid with her, for example, is, to me, the true heroine of the story, and more information on the backstory at the end of the book invites older readers to learn more.”