We Remember . . . The Holocaust

The Holocaust is one of the most disturbing and upsetting events that has occurred in history.  I believe that children should be taught about this horrific time so that history does not repeat itself -- so that nobody has to live in fear because of their beliefs, background, or ethnicity. 
The following are some books that tell of the Holocaust for children . . .

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
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.

Emil and Karl by Jacob Glatstein
In Vienna, Austria, in 1940, two nine-year-old boys, one Jewish and one Aryan, are classmates and best friends when events of the Nazi occupation draw them even closer together as they fight to survive and escape together.

Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs
In an attempt to save his daughter's life, Eva's father sends her from Poland to a labor camp in Czechoslovakia where she and her sister survive the war.

The Shadow Children by Steven Schnur
While spending the summer on his grandfather's farm in the French countryside, eleven-year-old Etienne discovers a secret dating back to World War II and encounters the ghosts of Jewish children who suffered a dreadful fate under the Nazis.

Happy Hanukkah, Part 2

On this final day of Hanukkah, I thought I would share some books for teens featuring Jewish characters . . .

Me & Earl & the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin
Fifteen-year-old Marne is excited to be able to spend her summer vacation in Hawaii, not realizing the change in her lifestyle it would bring staying with her aunt, seven cousins, and uncle who is a Chasidic rabbi.


Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
Eleven-year-old Mirka Herschberg dreams of fighting dragons and spends her days honing her skills, even though there are no dragons in her Orthodox Jewish community, but when she accepts a challenge form a mysterious witch, Mirka just might win her dragon-fighting sword after all.