by Carol
On the night of Kristallnacht, my grandfather, a physician in Nuremberg Germany, was saved from deportation to a concentration camp. The stories vary. Did a patient push him off a cart so that he could escape? Or did someone he knew break into his office and beat him up so that the Nazis would believe he was dead and leave him? We will never know. But one thing is for sure. The Holocaust marked our family and millions of others, as the books and interview below attest to. Although the Holocaust is not easy to read or write about, we hope this issue promotes honest discussion in your schools, homes, and libraries.
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WWII LITERATURE EXPERT: ALEX BAUGH
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by Alex Baugh
Alex Baugh with a few of her WWII era books.
My interest in WWII and the Holocaust started when I reread Anne Frank’s diary in college. In elementary school, Anne had been presented as an iconic figure, an extraordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances, not someone we could relate to. I realized that this was the wrong picture of Anne. She was really an ordinary girl who found herself in extraordinary circumstances, and who behaved heroically. Just imagine what it must have been like for an active young girl to have to be quiet day after day for two years. She did it because one sound could have betrayed the existence of everyone hiding in that attic. Anne was, for me, truly heroic.
A lot of WW2 literature is based on real events. Through reading, I've seen the different ways that war impacted children’s lives and realized these children were not passive victims of their fate. They were kids who acted bravely and despite fear and real danger, actively participated in resisting the enemy or in assisting the war effort in a wide variety of ways. Thus, they also behaved heroically.
The single most important lesson I take from all the young protagonists I’ve come to love is that doing nothing is acceptance. We are all morally obligated to act when we see something wrong, just as these characters do in their stories.
That to me, defines a hero.
Alex has taught 4th grade, is a freelance fact checker and researcher, serves on the Bank Street Children's Book Committee, and is working on an annotated bibliography of WWII books for young people and her own WWII story.
Alex blogs at
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Featured Illustration by Karen Ritz
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by Karen Ritz
Illustration copyright © 1993
Reprinted from
by permission of Holiday House.
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by Joyce
The Diary of Anne Frank and other first-hand accounts of the Holocaust inform us at both a factual and an emotional level. Invite your students to engage at a deeper level with this period of history by writing their own Holocaust diaries.
1. Read one or more Holocaust diaries. Ask students to write diary entries, pretending to be a different character in one of the books they read.
3. Invite a World War II veteran or other senior citizen to talk to the class about memories of the Holocaust. Ask students to create diary entries, pretending to be that person.
4. Use WWII era news stories to get some understanding of the Holocaust. Ask students to write a diary/journal entry based on what they learned from the newspaper.
5. For older students ask them to imagine themselves in the place of a soldier or guard in a concentration camp. Create a journal entry about how it feels to do this job.
6. As you explore the Holocaust, encourage students to create their own real life diaries, recording daily reactions to the new things they are learning.
7. Create a Holocaust Memorial that reflects the emotions and experiences captured in your journal activities. This can be either one class effort or individual projects. (See Six Million Paperclips below but don't feel compelled to do something huge as demonstrated in that book.)
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A Teen's Take On 3 Holocaust Books
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by Gillian Herman
by Morris Gleitzman
WOW!! There are almost no words to describe how good this book is. It is written to where you can feel the boy's emotion. Felix is a ten-year old Jewish boy who is slowly figuring out the awfulness of the Holocaust. He befriends a younger girl whose parents have been killed by the Nazis. He tells stories to help her through tough times. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! It makes me want to read the entire series.
by Peter Schroeder & Dagmal Schroeder-Hildebrand
This is a very inspirational story that tells how a bunch of middle-schoolers in Tennessee built a memorial to the Jews killed during the Holocaust. They obtained a boxcar and filled it with paperclips to represent the number of Jews killed by Hitler.
by Anne Frank
This book is a diary of a real girl who tried to survive the Holocaust by going into hiding with her family. Anne wrote honestly about the hardships and fears of living in secret for two years. She almost got through... LOVE IT!!!!!!
Gill is a North Carolina 7th grader who enjoys reading and writing. She competes on her school's Battle of the Books teams.
THANKS, GILL!
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We Welcome Teen Reviewers!
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Do you have a middle school or high school teen who loves to read? We'd love to hear from you with his or her name and contact information. We ask reviewers to read three books and write brief reviews; often soliciting their input on titles. This is a great opportunity for your son, daughter, or student to get experience writing. Please email us if you know someone who would be interested! Thanks. |
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Want to explore a
Writer-in Residence Workshop or Author Visit?
We'd love to hear from you!
We each offer our own author visits or we'll conduct writer residencies together. Contact us and we will design a program that meets your students' needs.
Carol Baldwin
Joyce Hostetter
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Consider creating a "Talking Story" folder where you file old issues. That way you'll have them handy when you've got time to read, and you'll always be able to view past issues. This works for us!
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For best results,
look at
"View as Webpage"
(on pale yellow bar at the top.)
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by Alex Baugh
by Barbara Krasner
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Once again, we have several giveaways.
You can enter even if you've won previously.
by March 22.
The authors and publishers will appreciate you sharing your win via social media, etc.
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by David Adler
Illustrated by Karen Ritz
(Harper Collins, 1995)
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by Alan Gratz
(Scholastic, 2013)
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by Anna Olswanger
(New South, 2012)
at her blog. You can enter the giveaway there, if you prefer.
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Recommended Holocaust Books
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FOR MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL
by Elizabeth Wein
by Doreen Rappaport
by Robert Sharenow
by Sharon Dogar
by Marcus Zusak
by Jerry Spinelli
by Susan Lynn Meyer
by Sandi Toksvig
by Jennifer Roy
NONFICTION
by Alan Gratz
by Corrie Ten Boom
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
by Carla Killough McClafferty
by Joanna Reiss
by Darlene Deibler Rose
FOR YOUNGER READERS
Eve Bunting
Anna Olswanger
SERIES FOR YOUNGER READERS
By Morris Gleitzman
website are different from those you'll find in the US. However, DO visit his website to read excerpts of his books.
I, Joyce interviewed Morris at my blog last year and also reviewed THEN. Hop on over and learn more.
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Peggy Reiff Miller won Zane's Trace by Allan Wolf.
Colleen Pinyan won The Power of Poetry by Margriet Ruurs.
Gretchen Griffith won Cowboys by David L. Harrison and illustrated by Dan Burr.
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The Martyred Village - A village in France pillaged for resisting German occupation. Never rebuilt. Left as discovered for a war memorial.
The Secret Annex Online - A Virtual Tour of Anne Frank's hiding place - this is way cool, folks! Cick on the moveable bookcase and step inside. |
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Meet the winning authors and get a glimpse at their books at
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Thanks to Alex Baugh, Karen Ritz, Scholastic Books, Anna Olswanger, and Joanne Hunsberger for their generous donations of books, writing, photos, illustration, and proofreading.
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