37 Days at Sea: Aboard the M.S. St. Louis, 1939

In May 1939, nearly one thousand German-Jewish passengers boarded the M.S. St. Louis luxury liner bound for Cuba. They hoped to escape the dangers of Nazi Germany and find safety in Cuba.

In this novel in verse, twelve-year-old Ruthie Arons is one of the refugees, traveling with her parents. Ruthie misses her grandmother, who had to stay behind in Breslau, and worries when her father keeps asking for his stomach pills. But when the ship is not allowed to dock in Havana as planned ― and when she and her friend Wolfie discover a Nazi on board ― Ruthie must take action. In the face of hopelessness, she and her fellow passengers refuse to give up on the chance for a new life.

Based on the true, tragic story of the M.S. St. Louis, which was eventually forced to return to Europe, where at least a third of its passengers died, this is a powerful novel in free verse told through the eyes of one young Jewish girl.