Holocaust Books - Page 12

A Pocket Full of Seeds

Marilyn Sachs

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Pocket Full of Stars for A Pocket Full of Seeds... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As I read the book A Pocket Full of Seeds, by Marilyn Sacks, the vivid verbs and its unusual style soon drew me in. Taking place in Aix-les-Bains, France, in the early 1940's, it brought the sense of World War II and the invading German soldiers to life. Nicole, the main character, and her family, Papa, Maman, and little Jacquline, are Jews, so they get to "enjoy" the full wrath of the Germans.

One day, Nicole comes home from school to find a wrecked home and a neighbor urging her to leave, for her parents had been captured by the Germans! She searches for a place to stay, for the soldiers were planning to return to her apartment. Do you think she'll find one? Whatever the outcome, you will enjoy this book. The style in which the author writes is intriguing. She starts the first chaper in February 1944, but the second dates to may 1938. She increases the dates slowly as the first chaper begins to make sense, and the last chaper is dated December 1943. This book is so descriptive! I loved A Pocket Full of Seeds, and I guarantee other readers will too.

Editorial Review:

Nicole Nieman has never really thought about being Jewish. Now, with the Nazis occupying France, it is the only thing on her mind. An almost endless stream of refugees comes to stay at their house, and her parents wonder if they too ought to escape over the border to switzerland or take the chance and wait it out. Then one awful day Nicole comes home from school to find her parents and her sister gone. The Nazis who have taken them are still looking for her. Where can Nicole hide? And will she ever see her family again?

“A significant addition to the growing collection of children’s books dealing with World War II.”
—The Boston Globe

Dancing on the Bridge of Avignon

Ida Vos

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I borrowed this book from the Libary and never returned it.. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I read this book about 5 years ago, in 5th grade, as I have been a Holocaust nutcase since I was 11 years old. I've read everything I can get my hands on, gone to the USHMM, memorials, museums, written Miep Gies, and I can quote Anne Frank from memory. I remember taking this book out among other stacks of Holocaust Young Reader books from our small library-well, I doubt I ever returned it. Ida Vos is a genius. (And the translater, Inez Schmidt) This is a super, touching, book.

"Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse...." 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

(Actually, 4.5 stars)

Like Ida Vos's other books, this one too closely mirrors the story of her own family in Holland under the Nazi occupation; the de Jongs are from Groningen, have moved to Rijswijk, there are two young sisters of about the same age as the two sisters in 'Hide and Seek' and 'The Key Is Lost' (as well as the approximate ages Ida and her own younger sister Esther were), the family are living out in the open until the situation gets too worse to ignore, and the young protagonist Rosa even has the same birthdate as that of the author, 13 December 1931. Unlike her other books, however, it doesn't end with a happy reunion.

Rosa and her little sister Silvie constantly quiz one another on all of the many anti-Jewish regulations, asking what happened on what date or asking what date something happened on, since they are so afraid they might accidentally forget and sit on a park bench, enter a library, or go swimming. They are also having frequent daydreams, which really angers their father, who is under enough stress already. In the middle of this the Mendes family, who are from France (and based on the three-person family who lived with the author's family at this time), come to live with the de Jongs--Louis and his wife Isabelle, who are artists, and their 13 month old baby Philippe. Rosa and Silvie are over the moon to get a baby brother, even if he's not a real baby brother, and even more so because he gets to sleep in their room. Rosa's spirits are also kept afloat during these dark days by her violin, even though she has had to change tutors and schools a number of times because of all of the anti-Jewish regulations and arrests going on. And it is indeed her violin which literally saves her eventually.

Rosa's uncle Sander, who is famous for telling windies, tells the family one day that he has saved a German officer from drowning, and in gratitute has granted Sander and nine other people of his choosing papers to travel to the safety of Vichy France. This is based on the real-life character of Friedrich Weinreb, one of the leaders of Dutch Jewry, around whom incredible stories circled, including one about how he saved a Nazi from being struck by a car. The author's family were on the list of people Weinreb was planning to take to Vichy France as well, but unlike the de Jongs, they got suspicious of it and were taken off of it before it was too late.

The only part of the book I didn't like was how it ended in media res, after Sander has found Rosa after she's been told how to get out of the police station. The short epilogue which follows leaves a lot of unanswered questions, like how they got out of there and survived until the end of the war. The end of the epilogue itself was pretty much a dead end, with no real sense of closure; I realise that it was meant to show the reader that Rosa did take back her family's original surname, Rosevici, but that's not really closure on any of the events contained in the story or even presented in a way that makes one realise that this tale is complete.

Editorial Review:

For ten-year-old Rosa de Jong, dreams are her refuge from everyday life in Nazi-occupied Holland. Dreams and one other thing - her music, for Rosa is a talented violinist. Like other Jewish children, she can no longer go to school, but she still has her violin lessons with old Mr. Goldstein. Rosa's parents have a dream, too, one they hardly dare mention except in jokes about dancing in Avignon. But will their wartime dreams come true?

Anna is Still Here

Ida Vos

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Stark and engaging 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The war is over, and the Jews have come out of hiding in Europe. However, the trauma isn't over. Anna has been reunited with her mother and her father, but it's been a long time since they've been a family.

Anna is working to be more normal, even though that is hard, considering that she is two years behind in school, she is used to being scared of everything, and she doesn't have to hide in the attic anymore.

She strikes up a friendship with an odd older lady, who, Anna and her parents first assume to be German, but then find out that she is also Jewish and suffered under the Nazis as well.

This book is an incredibly fast read, but also striking in its language, which is largely unembellished, and serves its purpose well.

This is the new Netherlands, though, and there is hope for Anna and her family, as well as Anna's friend.

What happened after 'Hide and Seek' ended 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Though there are different characters and plotlines, this book easily could have been the sequel to 'Hide and Seek.' The Markus family have survived by being in hiding and, once the War ended, wanted to stay in their home country of Holland. Thirteen year old Anna spent the War in hiding in the attic room of Daniel De Bree, who gives trumpet lessons, while her parents hid under the ground in a forest. The three of them are deeply affected by what they went through; Anna knows enough to know that Marga, her best friend, died in a concentration-camp, along with many of her relatives and other friends, but doesn't know all of the details she wants to know, and her parents refuse to provide any. They won't even tell her where they were during the War. Her father Simon is the more wound-up of her parents; for a very long time he won't let her display a picture of Marga they still have, since he doesn't want to see pictures of murdered people. He also yells a lot, since they haven't been a family in so long he isn't used to anything but being angry, tense, and suspicious. And both of them are angry and upset over Anna's new friendship with a German woman who lives near them, Frau Neumann, thinking that because of her German name she must be a Nazi. At first Anna thought so too, but soon found out Frau Neumann was also Jewish, and was so drawn to her because she looked exactly like her little daughter Fannie, right down to the birthmark on her forehead.

Because her parents are unable and unwilling to talk, Anna goes to Frau Neumann to talk about the War, being in hiding, missing people who are no longer there, the things they have to put up with from people who cannot fathom what they had to go through since they weren't there. She has a very quiet voice from being in hiding, since she barely spoke at all when Mr. De Bree was hiding her, and has been put into the fifth grade despite her age, due to the years of school she missed while in hiding. She can't even answer most of the questions the other students ask her, and she doesn't like to talk about it even if she does know. And even though Holland was one of the relatively friendly and safe places during WWII (there were more people willing to hide Jews and to be in the underground and Resistance than in a place like Poland or Hungary), there are still painful echoes of anti-Semitism to be dealt with.

Some people might find the ending unrealistic and contrived, but it's not like that sort of thing never happened in real life. There are enough sad real-life stories where no happy reunions between separated family members took place; why not have a happy ending when you're working with fictional characters, the kind of happy ending that too often didn't happen in real life?

Editorial Review:

Anna, a "hidden child" during World War II, struggles to adjust to freedom and overcome her fears in Holland after the Holocaust.

The Secret of the Mezuzah (Passport to Danger #1)

Mary Reeves Bell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Look No Further For Your Passport To Danger!

Are you eager to explore and learn about foreign countries and far off places? Are you fascinated by the complicated and thrilling history behind the scenes of World War II? Let The Secret of the Mezuzah, Book 1 in the new Passport to Danger series, make your pulse race as you get swept away in a tale of intrigue and peril.

The history of Europe is filled with tales of espionage and adventure that have always fascinated teens seeking adventure and mystery. Now in The Secret of the Mezuzah, repackaged and updated for a new audience, Mary Reeves Bell gives readers a passport to danger with her tale of a contemporary boy whose nose for trouble leads him and his friends to uncover a terrible secret hidden buried in the dark reaches of the past.

Constantine Rea is a bored American teen living in Austria who decides to spice up his days by finding a spy. Vienna has always been a center for international espionage and so with his friend Hannah Rosenberg, Con finds himself quickly in the middle of more danger than he expected.

While on a visit to the home of his former landlord, Herr Donner, Con is given a curious object called a mezuzah, a symbol of the Jewish faith. But when Herr Donner has a chance to rethink the gift he angrily demands its return and Con refuses. He wants to know what is so important about the object and why Herr Donner had if after all. Con's quest for answers will lead him to a shocking discovery and bring him face-to-face with the horrors of the Holocaust.

The Secret of the Mezuzah is, in the end, an important book that addresses ageless questions about the nature of justice and the call of God's people to stand for what is right in the framework of a thoroughly modern tale.

Best Friends

Elisabeth Reuter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best Friends is an incredible book. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I am a second grade teacher and I love to use this book to teach about the Holocaust. It is an exceptional tool in teaching all children. The book offers excellent lessons from which we all can learn.

Great Holocaust Literature 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Hi! I am an eigth grader and am currently doing a Holocaust anthology project. I have used this book as one of my short stories. I would highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in the Holocaust or is doing a project. This book helped me learn how courageous Jews were and how much they were dedicated to their religion. It also taught me to value the friendships I have today. In conclusion, Best Friends is a great Holocaust book. It can teach you a lot. I would reccomend this book highly to anyone learning or teaching about the Holocaust. I really enjoyed reading it and hope you will to!! : )

Editorial Review:

Excellent as an example of the terrible results of the Holocaust and good for generating a discussion about prejudice and war. The ending is very sad, so the book is probably most suitable for slightly older children.

Then

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Capture the kids in your class with this book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

As a teacher who loves to read to the class I have been bowled over by the response to this book by the children in my class. It is a funny and sad tale all in one. A young Jewish boy, Felix, leaves the orphanage in Poland where his parents have hidden him to save the families book shop. Experience tells me that Year 4 children need explanation of some of the concepts in the book, but they love it.
Worth a look if you want to talk about the impact of war and its futility.

Good Night, Maman (Harper Trophy Books)

Norma Fox Mazer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Young readers who have loved and mourned Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl may take solace in the more hopeful ending of Good Night, Maman, Norma Fox Mazer's tender story of a brother and sister's escape from the Holocaust. Like all Jews in France during World War II, Karin and her older brother Marc are on the run from the Nazis. At first the siblings and their strong and gentle mother hide for more than a year in a tiny storage closet in a neighbor's house. But when the Jew Searches are intensified, they must leave, traveling on foot and only at night. At last Karin and Marc are lucky enough to find places on a ship bound for the United States, but Maman is too ill for the journey and must stay behind. At the refugee camp in Oswego, New York, Karin takes comfort in writing unmailed letter after letter to her mother, as she and Marc struggle to adjust to a new country, a new language, and each other's changing needs. Marc finally reveals that Maman is dead, a sad fact he has kept to himself to shelter his sister--to allow her to increase her own strength with the support of her mother's remembered presence.

Mazer based her novel on historical fact--the camp at Fort Ontario in Oswego was the only official shelter offered to European Jews by the United States. For a contrasting treatment of this same setting, teens will want to read Two Suns in the Sky, by Miriam Bat-Ami. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

Anne Frank and Me

Cherie Bennett, Jeff Gottesfeld

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The successful play is now a gripping novel. Knocked unconscious after explosions ring out during a field trip to an Anne Frank exhibit, boy-crazy Nicole Burns wakes to find herself living a parallel life as a Jew in 1942 Paris. This Nicole is dating the boy of her present-day dreams, but living under the Nazis gradually becomes a nightmare. Her family survives the Nazi occupation with the help of friends, but when her father is exposed as a resistant, their fate takes a dire turn. The shifts in Nicole's lives -- from a carefree, sophisticated Parisian girl to a wretch riding in a cattle car with Anne Frank; from a modern girl focused only on the drama of her high school life to a thoughtful observer of the potential of everyday injustices -- will engage teens and change their views of history found in books and the history we're making today. Called "eloquent and poignant" by the New York Times and performed to wide acclaim across the country, the play has touched thousands. As a novel, it is sure to grow in popularity.

The Good Liar

Gregory Maguire

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Good Liar 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

If you ask me I would rate this book a 7 out of ten. It's a good book but I think the author skips through things to fast. For example, It barely mentioned the fact that Marcel's the main character, family was hiding Jews. It mentioned it once then not again until the Jews ran away. Also, the author could have done a better job explaining how tough times were back then. He never mentioned why his family only had one bike or why there wasn't much food. Over all it was a pretty good book

Editorial Review:

Set in wartime France, this touching middle grade novel tells the story of Marcel and his brothers Rene and Pierre, who befriended a German soldier during the life changing summer of 1940. In some ways, it is an ordinary summer, with stolen pies, playing soldiers, a contest to tell the biggest lie. Then Uncle Anton brings a woman and her young daughter to stay with the boys' family and suddenly everything changes, as the effects of war are felt at home. Perfect for classroom discussions of wartime and world history, "The Good Liar" is another fine novel by a consistently good storyteller.

Kanada

Eva Wiseman

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Kanada. The name meant untold riches and promise to Jutka, a young Hungarian girl who was captivated by stories of a vast, majestic country where people were able to breathe free of hatred and prejudice. Freedom was in short supply, but hatred was everywhere in Hungary as hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported to concentration camps during the last year of WWII. Jutka, her friends, and her family are sent to Auschwitz.

In that hellish place, there was another Kanada. It was the ironic name given to the storehouse at Auschwitz where the possessions — clothing and jewelry — stripped from the victims were deposited, and where Jutka was put to work.

The war may have ended, but it did not end the suffering of many of the inmates of concentration camps. Many had no homes to go to, and if they did, they were not welcome. Hundreds
went back to Poland and were murdered. Famished, diseased, and homeless, they lived in the hopelessness of camps, wondering if they could ever find a home in the world. Some went to Israel, but for Jutka there was only one dream left her — the dream of a country full of hope, where she would no longer have to live in fear.

Eva Wiseman’s powerful novel describes the war and its long, difficult aftermath with compassion and tenderness.