Like many, we were appalled and saddened by the news that so “two-thirds of young adults were unaware that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.” Authentic texts that students want to read are a great way to introduce topics. With that in mind, below are a list of stories that are great introductions to this historic moment in time and other genocides throughout history. Through these stories, young readers can develop an understanding, empathy, and knowledge of this history.
GRADES K-3
THE CAT WHO LIVED WITH ANNE FRANK by David Lee Miller and Steven Jay Rubin; Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley
Told from the perspective of the cat who actually lived with Anne Frank in the famous Amsterdam annex, this poignant book paints a picture of a young girl who wistfully dreams of a better life for herself and her friends, tentatively wonders what mark she might leave on the world, and, above all, adamantly believes in the goodness of people. Accompanied by beautiful, vivid art, this book is a perfect introduction to a serious topic for younger readers, especially at a time when respect and inclusion are so important.
I AM ANNE FRANK by Brad Meltzer; Illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulus
The 22nd book in the New York Times bestselling series of biographies about heroes tells the story of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who documented her life while hiding from the Nazis during World War II.
STONE ANGEL by Jane Yolen; Illustrated by Katie May Green
In this emotionally rich story, a little girl and her family live happily in Paris until Nazi soldiers arrive druing World War II. She and her family must flee or risk being sent to a concentration camp, so they run into the woods, where they meet resistance fighters. But they’re still not safe. They must cross tall mountains and sail in a rickety boat to England. Yet the whole time they’re struggling to survive, the little girl thinks of the stone angel near their apartment in Paris and imagines it watching over her family.
THE BUTTERFLY by Patricia Polacco
Ever since the Nazis marched into Monique’s small French village, terrorizing it, nothing surprises her, until the night Monique encounters the little ghost sitting at the end of her bed. She turns out to be a girl named Sevrine, who has been hiding from the Nazis in Monique’s basement. Playing after dark, the two become friends, until, in a terrifying moment, they are discovered, sending both of their families into a nighttime flight.
GRADES 3-6
WHO WAS ANNE FRANK? by Ann Abramson
In her amazing diary, Anne Frank revealed the challenges and dreams common for any young girl. But Hitler brought her childhood to an end and forced her and her family into hiding. Who Was Anne Frank? looks closely at Anne’s life before the secret annex, what life was like in hiding, and the legacy of her diary. Black-and-white illustrations including maps and diagrams provide historical and visual reference in an easy-to-read biography written in a way that is appropriate and accessible for younger readers.
THE LENGTH OF A STRING by Elissa Brent Weissman
A Sydney Taylor Honor Book! Imani is adopted, and she’s ready to search for her birth parents. Anna has left behind her family to escape from Holocaust-era Europe to meet a new family—two journeys, one shared family history, and the bonds that make us who we are.
WHEN HITLER STOLE PINK RABBIT by Judith Kerr
Anna is not sure who Hitler is, but she sees his face on posters all over Berlin. Then one morning, Anna and her brother awake to find her father gone! Her mother explains that their father has had to leave and soon they will secretly join him. Anna just doesn’t understand. Why do their parents keep insisting that Germany is no longer safe for Jews like them?
Because of Hitler, Anna must leave everything behind.
BEHIND THE SECRET WINDOW by Nelly S. Toll
The Nazis come to Poland when Nelly is six. By the time she turns eight, the events of World War II have taken almost everyone she loves. Scared, lonely, and running from the Nazis, Nelly hides in the bedroom of a Gentile couple in Lwow, Poland. For over a year, she lives in fear of discovery, writing in her diary and painting pictures of a fantasy world filled with open skies and happy families.
For 13 months during World War II, the author and her mother were hidden from the Nazis. Like Anne Frank, Nelly kept a diary and through that outlet transformed her grim reality into an enchanting fantasy world.
THE TREE OF LIFE: HOW A HOLOCAUST SAPLING INSPIRED THE WORLD by Elisa Boxer and Alianna Rozentsveig
During World War Two, in the concentration camp Terezin, a group of Jewish children and their devoted teacher planted and nurtured a smuggled-in sapling. Over time fewer and fewer children were left to care for the little tree, but those who remained kept lovingly sharing their water with it. When the war finally ended and the prisoners were freed, the sapling had grown into a strong five-foot-tall maple. Nearly eighty years later the tree’s 600 descendants around the world are thriving . . . including one that was planted at New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2021. Students will continue to care for it for generations to come, and the world will remember the brave teacher and children who never gave up nurturing a brighter future.
MAX IN THE HOUSE OF SPIES by Adam Gidwitz
Max Bretzfeld doesn’t want to move to London. Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that he’s been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein. Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy.
The first book in a duology, Max in the House of Spies is a thought-provoking World War II story as only acclaimed storyteller Adam Gidwitz can tell it—fast-paced and hilarious, with a dash of magic and a lot of heart.
GRADES 5 and up!
ACROSS SO MANY SEAS by Ruth Behar
Spanning over 500 years, Pura Belpré Award winner Ruth Behar’s epic novel tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.
LETTERS FROM CUBA by Ruth Behar
A 2021 Sydney Taylor NotableBook! Pura Belpré Award Winner Ruth Behar’s inspiring story of a young Jewish girl who escapes Poland in the 1930s to make a new life in Cuba, while she works to rescue the rest of her family.
THE DEVIL’S ARITHMETIC by Jane Yolen
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award! Hannah dreads going to her family’s Passover Seder—she’s tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she’s transported to a Polish village in the year 1942. Why is she there, and who is this “Chaya” that everyone seems to think she is? Just as she begins to unravel the mystery, Nazi soldiers come to take everyone in the village away. And only Hannah knows the unspeakable horrors that await.
THE BLACKBIRD GIRLS by Anne Blankman
A 2021 Sydney Taylor Honor Book. Three narratives across time converge in the aftermath of the Chernobly disaster.
Valentina and Oksana have always been enemies. But when forced to leave Pripyat, Ukraine after the disaster at Chernobyl on an April morning in 1986, they must rely on each other to survive as they look for Valentina’s grandmother.
August, 1941 in Kiev, Rifka flees her home in Kiev with an older cousin as they escape the invading German forces in WWII, leaving her family behind and hoping she will reunite with them one day.
Told in alternating perspectives among three girls—Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941—this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship.
MAPPING THE BONES by Jane Yolen
From the best-selling and award-winning author of The Devil’s Arithmetic, Jane Yolen, comes her first Holocaust novel in nearly thirty years. Influenced by Dr. Mengele’s sadistic experimentations, this story follows twins as they travel from the Lodz ghetto, to the partisans in the forest, to a horrific concentration camp where they lose everything but each other.
GAMES OF DECEPTION by Andrew Maraniss
A Sydney Taylor Honor Book! This is the incredible true story of basketball, from its invention by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, to the sport’s Olympic debut in Berlin and the eclectic mix of people, events and propaganda on both sides of the Atlantic that made it all possible. Includes photos throughout, a Who’s-Who of the 1936 Olympics, bibliography, and index.
SOMEDAY WE WILL FLY by Rachel DeWoskin
A Sydney Taylor Honor Book. A heart-wrenching coming-of-age story set during World War II in Shanghai, one of the only places Jews without visas could find refuge.
OPRHAN MONSTER SPY by Matt Killeen
After her mother is shot at a checkpoint, fifteen-year-old Sarah meets a mysterious man with an ambiguous accent, a suspiciously bare apartment, and a lockbox full of weapons. He’s part of the secret resistance against the Third Reich, and he needs Sarah to hide in plain sight at a school for the daughters of top Nazi brass, posing as one of them. If she can befriend the daughter of a key scientist and get invited to her house, she might be able to steal the blueprints to a bomb that could destroy the cities of Western Europe. Nothing could prepare Sarah for her cutthroat schoolmates, and soon she finds herself in a battle for survival unlike any she’d ever imagined. But anyone who underestimates this innocent-seeming girl does so at their peril. She may look sweet, but she’s the Nazis’ worst nightmare.
