Holocaust Books - Page 5

Emil and Karl

Yankev Glatshteyn

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Square Fish Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $3.32

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Older Readers 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

In 1940 Vienna, Austria, prior to the start of World War II, Karl, who is not Jewish, has just witnessed his mother - a Socialist - being beaten and taken away from his apartment by Nazi thugs. Alone, he must decide what to do. His first thought is to go to his friend Emil's house.

Emil is Jewish. His father was taken away and murdered by another group of Nazi's. They cremated him and sent the ashes back to the house. The funeral has just taken place and Emil's mother is sitting shiva. When Karl arives, they decide to stay together forever.

Their experiences describe the sense of terror and horror the people of Austria - Jews and non-Jews - felt when the Nazi's took over their country. Emil and Karl encounter people of all types: the good who work to save people and end the occupation; the bad who force people to do terrible things like scrubbing the streets with their bare hands; and the indifferent who stand by and watch as all of this takes place.

This is an excellent book to begin discussing how people reacted when the Nazis came to power. Why did people stay and not leave? Why did some people join the heckling, shouting, evil crowds? Why did others decide to stay and fight from within, saving as many people as they could? While today we know the tragic consequences of the Nazis, this book allows us to enter into a world prior to the war and imagine what we ourselves would have done under similar circumstances. Highly recommended! REVIEWD BY KATHY BLOOMFIELD (NEWTON, MA)

Editorial Review:

This is a unique work. It is one of the first books written for young readers describing the early days of the event that has since come to be known as the Holocaust. Originally written in Yiddish in 1938, it is one of the most accomplished works of children's literature in this language. It is also the only book for young readers by Glatshteyn, a major American Yiddish poet, novelist, and essayist.

Written in the form of a suspense novel, Emil and Karl draws readers into the dilemmas faced by two young boys--one Jewish, the other not--when they suddenly find themselves without families or homes in Vienna on the eve of World War II. Because the book was written before World War II, and before the full revelations of the Third Reich's persecution of Jews and other civilians, it offers a fascinating look at life during this period and the moral challenges people faced under Nazism. It is also a taut, gripping, page-turner of the first order.

Hitler's Canary

Sandi Toksvig

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Roaring Brook Press Amazon Marketplace: 45 new & used starting at $5.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Europe

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Everyone should know this story 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Based on accounts of her own grandparents' work in the Danish resistance, Toksvig tells a compelling story of the many Danes who helped smuggle Danish Jews out of the country to Sweden before they were taken to Hitler's Concentration camps. The story revolves around ten-year-old Bamse and his family--a group of "theater people" as he calls them (the story is broken into scenes and acts instead of chapters). The story begins with the German occupation of Denmark in 1940 (when the BBC began to call Denmark "Hitler's Canary" because it was so accomodating) and finishes in 1943, shortly after the resistance foiled Hitler's attempt to seize all the Jews during their Rosh Hashanah dinners.

Toksvig does an excellent job of making these events approachable to a younger audience (the idea of the story came when she was telling her ten-year-old son about her grandparents). The text is clear and concise while maintaining a surprisingly high level of emotional involvement. Several times during the story I found myself tearing up. The characters are vivid without becoming cartoonish and the story is, at its core, a very uplifting one. This book is sure to join other classic children's historical fiction books like Alan and Naomi and Number the Stars which also look at the events of the Holocaust through the eyes of young people.

Also, be sure to read the material after the end of the story to hear about the real Danish resistance and Toksvig's inspiration.

Editorial Review:

"My brother stood up so quickly he almost knocked Mama over. 'Why aren't you doing something? Do you know what the British are calling us? Hitler's canary! I've heard it on the radio, on the BBC. They say he has us in a cage and we just sit and sing any tune he wants.'" Bamse's family are theater people. They don't get involved in politics. "it had nothing to do with us," Bamse tells us. Yet now he must decide: should he take his father's advice and not stir up trouble? Or should he follow his brother into the Resistance and take part in the most demanding role of his life?

North to Freedom

Anne Holm

List Price: $6.00 By: Odyssey Classics Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $0.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

one of my favorites 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I have a copy of this book from the UK that is called I Am David. It starts with a man telling David, "You must get away tonight. Stay awake so that you're ready just before the guard is changed. When you see me strike a match, the current will be cut off and you can climb over -- you'll have half a minute, no more." This starts David's journey not just to freedom and home, but also to learning how to live as a regular kid after only living in a concentration camp. It's a serious book but one that should be read.

A moving children's novel 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This is an engaging historical fiction novel. Set in post World War II Europe, it is also published under the titles David, and I Am David. With the help of one of the prison gaurds, 12 year old David escapes from a communist labor camp in Bulgaria with no idea what to do other than go to Denmark. The story weaves in many important themes, such as freedom, beauty, truth, and love. There are many intriguing characters, like Johannes his fellow prisoner, the family of Maria, a Danish lady in Switzerland, and a dog named King. As David crosses countries and borders, his understanding of life, God, and the aforementioned themes grows as his journey progresses. Through it all he is determined to remain true to himself. Truly an engaging read, and a good study on physical and cultural geography for kids.

Editorial Review:

Having escaped from the eastern European concentration camp where he has spent most of his life, a twelve-year-old boy struggles to cope with an entirely strange world as he flees northward to freedom in Denmark. “[North to Freedom] is, to my mind, the single finest novel ever written for children of about ages 9 to 13.”--School Library Journal

Thanks to My Mother

Schoschana Rabinovici

Amazon Price: $8.99 List Price: $8.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Puffin Amazon Marketplace: 73 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Ethnic & National -> Jewish
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Rich, descriptive, engaging and powerful 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Susie Weksler was only eight years old when the Nazis invaded her city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
The family would be forced to endure starvation and fear, and she describes the experience of hiding with other Jewish families and children in the Malina (the underground tunnels and sewers of Vilnius), where she describes the death of a baby who was smothered when his father tried to keep him quiet.

Worse was to come.
With the help of her mother who saved her by disguising her as being 16 years old when she was only ten, and filled her with a strong spirit of survival, Susie survived three concentration camps, and a "death march".

The book describes heart wrenching and disturbing scenes of the horrors imposed upon the victims of the Nazi inferno, scenes you will never forget.
The death camp where Susie and her mother were interned was liberated in January 1945, only three of her family had survived.
The book included the English translations of the poems Susie wrote in the ghetto and the camps.
They are powerful and inspiring and show a gem of a spirit:

The Time is Not Far

There will come a time
and the time is not far
when from east and west,
from every side
light will arrive
and a warm wind
and the clouds will
all disappear quickly
Oh, believe me my friend,
the time is not far.

This is one of the richest, most descriptive and engaging accounts by survivors of the Holocaust and I would strongly recommend it as a high school set work book.

Susie immigrated to Israel in 1950, where she did her military service and married and still lives today.
Her mother died in 1974.
Most Holocaust survivors and most descendants of Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.

Editorial Review:

Susie Weksler was only eight when Hitler's forces invaded her Lithuanian city of Vilnius. Over the next few years, Susie endured starvation, brutality, and forced labor in three concentration camps. With courage and ingenuity, Susie's mother helped her to survive--by disguising her as an adult, finding food to add to their scarce rations, and giving her the will to endure. This harrowing memoir portrays the best and worst of humanity in heartbreaking scenes that you will never forget.

Translated by James Skofield

After the War

Carol Matas

Amazon Price: $4.99 List Price: $4.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon Pulse Amazon Marketplace: 79 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Matas, Carol
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust
Subjects -> Teens -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Matas, Carol

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

After the War 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

After I read this book i could understand alot more of what the jews had to go through. The reason that I only rated this book a four was because some of the details in the book made me feel a little sick to my stomach. But other than that i really loved the book. But one thing that was very real is that all really happened that was, they did have alot of grusom bloody things happen to them. I thought that is was very relistic and entertaining. I enjoyed this book alot!

This is the best book!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

i love this book!!if i could give it a 1000 i would!! this book made me cry!its bout a girl named Ruth and they are in War 2...she has to take care of 11 kids...they are also tryin to get to palestine!she falls in love with a boy named Zvi! this IS my favorite book i've read! if i were u i would buy the book and tell a friend bout it too!
hopefully u like it

Editorial Review:

After World War II, Ruth, a 15-year-old survivor of Buchenwald has nowhere to turn. Recruited by Brichah, an underground organization that helps people get to Palestine, Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children there, using secret routes and forged documents.

The Island on Bird Street

Uri Orlev

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

No boy is an island. Save one. 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 15 people found this review helpful.

It is the dearest wish of my heart that maybe, someday, I will be lucky enough to someday become a real honest-to-goodness children's book reviewer. To succeed in this goal, however, I feel that I must give myself a thorough background in children's books. As a result, I've found myself reviewing many books that, while considered "classics" are stories I would not be reading today if it weren't for their cultural cache. I'm saying all of this because I want you to understand fully why I did not want to read "The Island On Bird Street" at the outset. I'm the gal who as a child refused to read books that even traipsed lightly upon any and all serious subjects. No realistic situations for me, thank you very much. So it shouldn't surprise you the amount of resistance I felt towards reading Uri Orlev's classic Holocaust drama. But I'm 26 years old and if a 26 year old can't read a serious children's book, they probably have something seriously wrong with them. With that cheery thought in mind, I bit the bullet and plunged in. I was expecting a depressing treatise on the horrors of war and the depravity of Nazi Germany. And that's part of the book, no question. But what I didn't expect, and found (much to my delight) was a story that also read like a WWII Robinson Crusoe. It comes as a great relief.

As our Jewish hero, Alex and his family begin this tale as members of a Polish ghetto in an unnamed town during WWII. Actually, it's just Alex and his father at this point. His mother disappeared not long ago and is suspected to have been taken away by the occupying German forces. When it becomes clear to Alex's father that his son will probably need to survive on his own someday (a day that comes sooner than either of them think) he teaches the boy how to keep and shoot a gun. Not long after, Alex's father is taken away by the Germans as well, but with the promise that he will be back to find Alex soon. What follows is a tale that tracks the boy in an abandoned ghost town of a ghetto. On his own, he must find food and shelter while remaining hidden from the ever present Nazi threat. Too soon Alex finds that in this hostile environment, he can only really trust himself and his white mouse, Snow. Using ingenuity that astounds, Alex carves out an existence for himself that not only defies everything the Nazis stand for but that speaks to the heart of anyone who has ever waited for a loved one to return. By the end of this book Alex is no Jewish boy. He is a Jewish man.

If you were to ask me what book "The Island on Bird Street" most resembles, I would have to say without a doubt that it is mighty similar to Gary Paulsen's, "Hatchet". In both cases, young men must survive hunger and hostile surroundings by using their brains. In a way though, "Bird Street" is less harrowing than "Hatchet". Alex may not be particularly safe, but he is oddly confident of his own abilities at all times. This is a kid cut out for survival. His cool confident handling of his situation may strike some as a little false. Even when his mother disappears, Alex treats her vanishing with little real woe (at least none that he displays for the reader). This may have more to do with Orlev's writing style than any particular flaw in the plot though. After all, it isn't as if Alex is a particularly emotional fellow. True, he bursts into tears once in a while (justifiably) and falls in love with a girl across the ghetto wall, but he does not allow himself to think too much on painful things. They might weigh him down and make him incapable of rational thinking and planning. As a result, when Alex thinks it is in a methodical and intelligent manner. Just not ooey-gooey.

Getting back to the "Hatchet" similarities, my favorite parts of this book were those sections that described how Alex constructed a safe home for himself on the third floor of a bombed out old building. I loved the Robinson Crusoeish aspects of the story. Reading through this book, you really feel a kid like Alex could survive in an environment such as this in real life. He's a realistic character acting in ways that are consistent with his age. When Alex starts ice skating and playing football on the other side of the ghetto wall, you completely understand why (even if you're cringing at the thought of him risking his neck like that). I should note that there are some sections that speak laudably of the state of Israel. This is also realistic within the context of the story, but it's hard to make an idyllic picture of Israel when thinking of the oh-so similar violence wracking it today. To my mind, Orlev would have done very well to completely avoid all mention of the topic. It jars anyone with even the tiniest political knowledge out of the story.

Author Uri Orlev was himself a Jewish person living in the Warsaw ghetto before the second world war. A survivor of Bergen-Bergen, it would be a supreme understatement to point out that the man knows of which he speaks. I was especially grateful to him for including an Introduction to this story that explains not only the horrors of the time period but also exactly what Jewish ghettos were. This isn't taught in school all that often and it makes the text far easier to understand. Orlev has written a masterful and heartfelt story of human struggle and survival. Consider pairing this book with the aforementioned "Hatchet" or (if you prefer similar time periods and protagonists) "The Diary of Anne Frank" and Lois Lowry's, "Number the Stars". I was reluctant to pick up "The Island On Bird Street" to begin with. But if kids follow my hesitant example and read a chapter or two into it, they may find themselves surprisingly interested in the adventures of a boy living all on his own. It's an ultimate adventure story and one you won't easily forget.

Editorial Review:

During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.

Jacob's Rescue

Malka Drucker, Michael Halperin

Amazon Price: $5.50 List Price: $5.50 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Yearling Amazon Marketplace: 98 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

WHAT A GREAT BOOK!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Jacob's Rescue by Malka Drucker and Micheal Halprin is an awesome book to read. It starts with Jacob getting captured by the Nazis and being put in a ghetto but for most of the story he is kept in a small apartment.

This book is about an 8 year old boy named Jacob and the extremely brave people who rescued him, Alex and Mela. There were also two brave kids the son and daughter of Alex and Mela. Jacob is one of the Jewish people who got put in a ghetto. In this story Jacob loves to play cards and do math. The whole story starts when Jacob gets put in a ghetto. Their problem is they have to find a way to stay safe without getting caught and being killed. My favorite part is when he escapes from the ghetto and goes with Alex to his new home.

I gave this book five stars because many of you know how many Jewish people got killed because of the war. This book is about the few people who went way out of their way just to save two Jewish boys life. I think that just to know that people would be so giving is a great thing. I think that Malka Drucker and Micheal Halprin did a great gob on this book and I hope that there are more books of theirs that I can read. I would recommend this book to a friend because I think that it's cool to know that two boys' lived through a war because of two people that saved them.

Editorial Review:

Once Jacob Gutgeld lived with his family in a beautiful house in Warsaw, Poland. He went to school and played hide-and-seek in the woods with his friends. But everything changed the day the Nazi soldiers invaded in 1939. Suddenly it wasn't safe to be Jewish anymore.

One Candle

Eve Bunting

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperTrophy Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $0.57

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bunting, Eve

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

A Few Errors Can't Steal the Magic of this Book 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I agree with other reviewers that it is a pity that Ms. Bunting's editors didn't assign someone knowledgeable to review the text and help the artist with moon phases and menorah placement. On the other hand, many of the Jews who love and celebrate Hanukkah do not practice strictly in accordance with dietary and other religious laws.

What makes this book special is showing a festive, cheerful holiday having such significance in the practice of one's religion and being one's true self that Grandma, as a young girl, risked death to observe it. Scholars have often been somewat dismissive of Hanukkah, regarding it as a minor holiday, and yet it is a favorite for many people. This story helps us understand why. There is a message of hope, since Grandma has survived and is surrounded by a loving family, but the deft characterization of Great-Aunt Rose shows that suffering a horror like the Holocaust stays with one for life.

As a school librarian, I'm finding this a powerful introduction to the Holocaust, as well as to Hanukkah. The children are baffled and horrified at the idea that anyone would be imprisoned, starved, killed, "just because..." - and even more aghast when we point out that the hate and killings continue now with Jews AND other ethnic/religious groups. The narrator's musings at the end of the story as to why Grandma wants to remember such a painful time in her life allow us to look at what we have to remember to keep it from happening again.

Editorial Review:

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.

Daniel Half Human: And the Good Nazi (Mildred L Batchelder Honor Book (Awards))

David Chotjewitz

Amazon Price: $13.92 List Price: $18.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books Amazon Marketplace: 52 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust
Subjects -> Children's Books -> People & Places -> Social Issues -> Prejudice & Racism -> Fiction
Subjects -> Children's Books -> People & Places -> Social Situations -> Friendship -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Daniel Half Human : And the Good Nazi 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book! The Nazi/WWII era is one I have always found interesting and have read many books about it. This is one of the best. It portrays the Nazis effect on Aryans, Jews, youth, poor, rich, and adults.
The story is about Daniel, a regular teenage boy, who admires and wants to be a Nazi. All that changes when he learns he is Jewish. He is then faced with tough realizations and new appreciations. He goes from having many friends and a lot of money, to being on the run from the Nazis, having hardly any friends, with little money. However, his best friend Armin continues to be his friend but also continues his Nazi career.
This book really makes you think and I definitely recommend it.
If you are really interested in this time period, as I am, I also suggest you read: Until We Meet Again by Michael Korenblit and Kathleen Janger , The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman, Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally, and Night by Eli Wiesel.

Editorial Review:

All his life, Daniel has been hiding. He just doesn't know it.

Until the spring of 1933, he's enjoyed a comfortable German boyhood with his well-to-do family, in school, at soccer. Daniel's even enjoyed jail -- for one exciting night -- with his best friend, Armin, after they've been caught painting a swastika on a wall in the hated Communist section of Hamburg. In their cell, the boys cut their wrists, mingle blood, and swear lasting brotherhood. Then, a thunderclap: Daniel learns to his horror that his mother is Jewish, that he is therefore half-Jewish and, in Aryan eyes, half-human. Daniel keeps the truth a secret. He and Armin still talk of joining the Hitler Youth. But Armin's father, an out-of-work longshoreman and a Socialist, forbids it. Armin joins anyway, with fateful consequences for Daniel's family. Throughout World War II, and until the story's haunting final scene, each friend holds the life of the other in his hands.

Journey to America

Sonia Levitin

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Aladdin Amazon Marketplace: 94 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Holocaust

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Simple and Intimate Tale 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I was very happy when I discovered Journey to America, one of my childhood favorites, in the used books section of Barnes and Noble. Young Lisa Platt and her sisters Ruth and Annie are growing up in a dark time and place - Nazi Germany, just prior to World War II. Their father sees the situation for Jews growing more desperate, and leaves for America so that he can send for them as soon as possible. With their mother, they say goodbye to all of their friends and relatives, and escape to Switzerland under the guise of taking a vacation. Dwindling finances force them to split up while they wait for Papa to send for them.

In writing, it is difficult to show both darkness and light, fear and hope. But Levitin has done it for children in Journey to America, and that is why I love this story so much. Lisa is afraid of the coming darkness, yet she faces the future with courage and even hope - the fragile but persistent hope of a child. Journey to America is a simple, intimate tale of one family's escape from Nazi Germany, to a place of possibility and freedom.

Editorial Review:

A Jewish family fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 endures innumerable separations before they are once again united.