Welcome to the Blog of Hope and Remembrance!

Greetings and Salutations!

Welcome to my readers' advisory blog 'Hope and Remembrance' - the blog that promotes children's literature and online resources that commemorates that Holocaust.

Why the Holocaust? In recognising the United Nation's International Day of Commemoration in Memory of Victims of the Holocaust, I wanted to find resources suitable for children, that could educate and inform, without being too detailed and upsetting.

In doing this, my blog is designed is to be super user friendly for children! Instead of a proper annotated bibliography, my reviews are ranked according recommended reading ages - the youngest start at the top and the oldest at the bottom.

If you see a word that looks like this click on the link! It could take you a website or it could give you the meaning of a really hard word.

Why is it important to remember the Holocaust? In total, 11 million lives were lost. 6 million of those were Jewish - others died because they were disabled, mentally ill or disagreed with what Hitler and the Nazis were doing - and these are only a couple of examples.

It is important to remember why people lost their lives and we can only hope and pray that this history does not repeat itself.

I hope you find this blog useful.  

Best wishes,
Phillippa 

The Cats of Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse, illustrated by Wendy Watson

The Cats in Krasinski Square is based on a true event that took place in 1942. This first person narrative, told in verse, is a story about a young girl, and her sister, who become involved with the Jewish resistance’s plan to smuggle food into the Warsaw Ghetto. But once the Gestapo hear of this plan, the girl and her sister have to outsmart them, and the stray cats in Warsaw play an important role.

Genre: Junior Picture Book

Reading level: 7 years +

Publication details: New York: Scholastic Press, 2004

Star of Fear, Star of Hope by Jo Hoestlandt, illustrated by Johanna Kang

This picture book memoir takes place in the North of France in 1942, during the Nazi occupation of France. It’s Helen’s birthday, and her best friend, Lydia, is sleeping over to celebrate. When the family learn from a Jewish woman, desperate to go into hiding, that the Nazis are arresting Jews, Lydia begs Helen’s parents to take her home, much to Helen’s anger. They never see each other again.

Genre: Junior Picture Book
Reading level: 7 years +
Publisher details: New York: Walker, 1993

Once by Morris Gleitzman

The first book in a trilogy, Once is set in Poland in 1942. After witnessing the Nazis burning all of the Jewish books in his catholic orphanage, Felix escapes to warn his parents, who are Jewish booksellers. Accompanied by Zelda, an orphan, Felix discovers that they are in serious danger and that his parent’s problems are worse than he imagined. Told through the eyes of a child, Once shows the kinds of horrors that occurred under the Nazi regime, without revealing graphic details.

Genre: Junior fiction  
Reading level: 8 years +    
Publisher details: Camberwell, Victoria: Penguin, 2005

Blogger's note: Like the sound of this book? Why not check out the audio excerpt posted under the Recommended Resources link of this blog?

Anne Frank by Josephine Poole, illustrated by Angela Barrett

Best known for her written accounts of her family’s life in hiding from the Nazis, Anne Frank is a pictorial biography that introduces younger readers to the girl behind her diary. Anne Frank looks at her family’s life before, and after, the Nazis invaded Amsterdam, and concludes with her family’s capture in 1944. An excellent choice for younger children who are too young to read The Diary of Anne Frank.

Genre: Junior Nonfiction
Reading level: 8 years +
Publisher details: London: Hutchinson, 2005

The Search by Eric Heuvel, Ruud van der Rol and Lies Schippers

Esther relives her experiences as a Jewish girl in hiding after her parents had been sent to a concentration camp in Amsterdam during the Holocaust in 1940. Wanting to know what happened in the events leading up to her parent’s deaths, Esther, with the help of her grandson Daniel, manages to track down Bob Carter, a family friend, who was sent to Auschwitz with her parents. 

Genre: Junior Graphic Novel
Reading Level: 9 years +
Publisher Details:  New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2009

Hana's Suitcase: A True Story by Karen Levine

 In March 2000, the Children’s Holocaust Education Centre in Tokyo received a suitcase from the Auschwitz Museum for its exhibition.  Written on the suitcase was a name, Hana Brady, the date 16 May 1931, and the word Waisenkind (German for orphan).  Armed with the little information she has, the Education Centre’s curator, Fumiko Ishioka, embarks on a year-long journey that takes her all the way to the Czech Republic to discover Hana’s story. 

A picture of the suitcase given to the Children's Holocaust Museum in Tokyo

Genre: Junior Nonfiction
Reading level: 10 years +
Publisher details: Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman, 2003