Author:Vander Zee, Ruth
Illustrator:Innocenti, Roberto - ill.
Non-fiction
Description:A woman recalls how she was thrown from a train headed for a Nazi death camp in 1944, raised by someone who risked her own life to save the baby's, and finally found some peace through her own family.
Genre:Biographies; History books; Picture books for children
Accelerated Reader: IL: MG, BL: 4.1, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
A Jewish woman recounts how her mother was able to spare her from the horrors of the Holocaust as an infant.
Author:Mochizuki, Ken, 1954-
Illustrator:Lee, Dom, 1959- - ill.
Non-fiction
Description:Looks at the Japanese diplomat who used his powers--against the orders of his own government--to assist thousands of Jews in escaping the Nazis in Lithuania.
Genre:History books; Narrative nonfiction for kids and teens
Accelerated Reader: IL: MG, BL: 4.1, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
Listening to the author read his story about Chiune Sugihara in A Passage to Freedom offers an even more dramatic understanding of the difficult decision that the Japanese diplomat made in 1940: should he follow a Japanese government mandate and refuse visas to Jewish refugees in Lithuania, or follow his conscience and try to save lives?
Author:Russo, Marisabina
Non-fiction
Description:When she visits her Oma, Rachel, while going through family albums, learns the awful truth about the Nazis' rise to power and the hardships her grandmother, her mother, and her aunts were forced to endure during the Holocaust, discovering the power of love, family, and faith.
Genre:Biographies; History books; Narrative nonfiction for kids and teens
Accelerated Reader: IL: MG, BL: 4.6, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
Rachel's Oma (her grandmother) has two picture albums. In one the photographs show only happy times -- from after World War II, when she and her daughters had come to America. But the other album includes much sadder times from before -- when their life in Germany was destroyed by the Nazis' rise to power.
For as long as Rachel can remember, Oma has closed the other album when she's gotten to the sad part. But today Oma will share it all. Today Rachel will hear about what her grandmother, her mother, and her aunts endured. And she'll see how the power of this Jewish family's love for one another gave them the strength to survive.
Marisabina Russo illuminates a difficult subject for young readers with great sensitivity. Based on the author's own family history, Always Remember Me is a heartbreaking -- and inspiring -- book sure to touch anyone who reads it.
Author:Polacco, Patricia
Non-fiction
Description:During the Nazi occupation of France, Monique's mother hides a Jewish family in her basement and tries to help them escape to freedom.
Genre:Historical fiction; Picture books for children
Character:Religiously diverse
Illustration:Detailed
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 3.8, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
During the Nazi occupation of France, Monique's mother hides a Jewish family in her basement and tries to help them escape to freedom. In the tradition of "Pink and Say, " Polacco once again dips into her own family's history to reveal her Aunt Monique's true story of friendship from the French Resistance.
Author:Bunting, Eve, 1928-
Illustrator:Popp, Wendy - ill.
Description:Every year a family celebrates Hanukkah by retelling the story of how Grandma and her sister managed to mark the day while in a German concentration camp.
Book Appeal Terms:Definition of Appeal Terms
Genre:Hanukkah stories; Realistic fiction
Character:Courageous
Illustration:Realistic
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 2.9, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazons's Description:
For one family the traditional Hanukkah celebration has a deeper meaning. Amidst the food and the festivities, Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose begin their story -- the one they tell each year. They pass on to each generation a tale of perseverance during the darkest hours of the Holocaust, and the strength it took to continue to honor Hanukkah in the only way they could. Their story reaffirms the values of tradition and family, but also shows us that by continuing to honor the tragedies and the triumphs of the past there will always be hope for the future.
Author:Wiviott, Meg
Illustrator:Bisaillon, Josee - ill.
Description:In 1938 Berlin, Germany, a cat sees Rosenstrasse change from a peaceful neighborhood of Jews and Gentiles to an unfriendly place where, one November night, men in brown shirts destroy Jewish-owned businesses and arrest or kill Jewish people. Includes facts about Kristallnacht and a list of related books and web resources.
Genre:Historical fiction; Picture books for children
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 4.7, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
A neighborhood cat observes the changes in German and Jewish families in Berlin during the period leading up to Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. This cat's-eye view introduces the Holocaust to children in a gentle way that can open discussion of this period.
Author:Hesse, Karen
Illustrator:Watson, Wendy - ill.
Description:Two Jewish sisters, escapees of the infamous Warsaw ghetto, devise a plan to thwart an attempt by the Gestapo to intercept food bound for starving people behind the dark Wall.
Book Appeal Terms:Definition of Appeal Terms
Genre:First person narratives; Historical fiction; Novels in verse; Picture books for children; War stories
Character:Religiously diverse
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 4.3, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
Newbery medalist Karen Hesse tells a harrowing, true story about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.
When Karen Hesse came upon a short article about cats out-foxing the Gestapo at the train station in Warsaw during WWII, she couldn't get the story out of her mind. The result is this stirring account of a Jewish girl's involvement in the Resistance. At once terrifying and soulful, this fictional account, borne of meticulous research, is a testament to history and to our passionate will to survive, as only Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse can write it.
Author:Rappaport, Doreen
Illustrator:McCully, Emily Arnold - ill.
Description:During the Nazi occupation of France, a boy and his father slip out of their village and into the mountains, where they join a group of fellow Jews at a humble seder table.
Genre:Historical fiction; Picture books
Character:Religiously diverse
Illustration:Impressionistic
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 3.9, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
Jacques and his parents are hiding in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, pretending to be Catholics. On the first night of Passover, Jacques and his father elude Nazi soldiers to gather with other Jews and celebrate the Seder in secret. For this book, Doreen Rappaport researched the lives of resistance fighters and Jews in hiding: brave men and women who managed to survive one of the darkest times in history with their faith intact. Emily Arnold McCully's intense and respectful paintings illuminate the perils of a turbulent time and the triumphs of a resilient people.
Author:Hoestlandt, Jo
Illustrator:Kang, Johanna - ill.
Description:Nine-year-old Helen is confused by the disappearance of her Jewish friend during the German occupation of Paris.
Genre:Translations
Character:Religiously diverse
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 3.3, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
Set in France, during the Nazi occupation of World War II, a gentile child named Helen recalls the mounting persecution of her Jewish friend. She wonders why does her best friend, Lydia, have to wear a yellow star? Why are people in hiding and using strange names? What is Lydia afraid of? Touching upon the Holocaust with sensitivity and poignancy, Star of Fear, Star of Hope will help readers understand this difficult event in history.
Author:Roy, Jennifer Rozines, 1967-
Description:From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
Genre:Biographical fiction; First person narratives; Historical fiction
Accelerated Reader: IL: MG, BL: 4.3, AR Pts: 3
Amazon's Description:
"In 1945 the war ended. The Germans surrendered, and the ghetto was liberated. Out of over a quarter of a million people, about 800 walked out of the ghetto. Of those who survived, only twelve were children. I was one of the twelve." For more than fifty years after the war, Syvia, like many Holocaust survivors, did not talk about her experiences in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. She buried her past in order to move forward. But finally she decided it was time to share her story, and so she told it to her niece, who has re-told it here using free verse inspired by her aunt. This is the true story of Syvia Perlmutter—a story of courage, heartbreak, and finally survival despite the terrible circumstances in which she grew up. A timeline, historical notes, and an author's note are included.
Author: Markus Zusak
Genre:Historical fiction; War stories
Character:Courageous; Well-developed
Accelerated Reader: IL: MG, BL: 5.6, AR Pts: 11
Amazon's Description:
In Nazi Germany, the country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier - and will become busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed forever when she picks up a single object, abandoned in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, and this is her first act of book thievery. So begins Liesel's love affair with books and words, and soon she is stealing from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library . . . wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times, and when Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, nothing will ever be the same again.In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
Author:Yamasaki, Katie
Fiction
Description:When brothers Taro and Jimmy and their mother are forced to move from their home in California to a Japanese internment camp in the wake of the 1941 Pearl Harbor bombing, Taro daringly escapes the camp to find fresh fish for his grieving brother.
Genre:Historical fiction; Picture books for children
Character:Culturally diverse
Illustration:Colorful; Detailed
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 4.6, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
With the family forced to leave their home and go to an internment camp, Jimmy loses his appetite. Older brother Taro takes matters into his own hands and, night after night, sneaks out of the camp and catches fresh fish for Jimmy to help make him strong again.
This affecting tale of courage and love is an adaptation of the author's true family story, and includes a letter to readers with more information about the historical background and inspiration.
Author:Bunting, Eve, 1928-
Illustrator:Soentpiet, Chris K. - ill.
Fiction
Description:When seven-year-old Laura and her family visit Grandfather's grave at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, the Japanese American child leaves behind a special symbol.
Genre:First person narratives; Picture books for children
Character:Sympathetic
Accelerated Reader: IL: LG, BL: 3.4, AR Pts: 0.5
Amazon's Description:
Laura Iwasaki and her family are paying what may be their last visit to Laura's grandfather's grave. The grave is at Manzanar, where thousands of Americans of Japanese heritage were interned during World War II. Among those rounded up and taken to the internment camp were Laura's father, then a small boy, and his parents. Now Laura says goodbye to Grandfather in her own special way, with a gesture that crosses generational lines and bears witness to the patriotism that survived a shameful episode in America's history. Eve Bunting's poignant text and Chris K. Soentpiet's detailed, evocative paintings make the story of this family's visit to Manzanar, and of the memories stirred by the experience, one that will linger in readers' minds and hearts. Afterword.