The Holocaust
It might be difficult to explain such terrible events to young people- two possible ways are through the life stories of real people and through fiction.
Life Stories - including a special listing on Anne Frank
All classed at J 940.5318 unless otherwise indicated. (General books on the holocaust are also at the same number).
Buchnignati, Walter. (1997). Tell no one who you are: in hiding from the holocaust: a true story. Puffin.
A young girl is given a false identity by the Belgian resistance and has to go into hiding.
Hillman, Laura. (2006). I will plant you a lilac tree. Simon & Schuster.
Despite the horrors she faced in a concentration camp, the teenage Hannelore fell in love with a Polish prisoner of war.
Levine, Karen. (2003). Hana's suitcase. Evans.
On receipt of a suitcase from Auschwitz, the curator of a small Holocaust museum in Japan is compelled to discover what happened to Hana Brady.
Smith, Lyn. (2005). Forgotten voices of the Holocaust. Ebury.
A history in the words of men and women who survived.
Turner, Barry. (2003). One small suitcase. Puffin. (J 940.53161 TUR)
About the Kinder transports.
Warren, Andrea. (2001). Surviving Hitler. Hodder.
The story of 15 year old Jack Mandelbaum and his struggle to survive in a Nazi concentration camp.
Wood, Angela. (2007). Holocaust : the events and their impact on real people. Dorling Kindersley.
Includes a forward by Steven Spielberg and a DVD.
Anne Frank
Adler, David A. (1993). A picture book of Anne Frank. Pan Macmillan
Anne Frank. (Wallchart). (2004). With photocopiable notes by Hilary Claire. PCET
Anne Frank House. (2003). The world of Anne Frank. Macmillan
The attic : the hiding of Anne Frank. (Videorecording. (2000). Telecom Entertainment Inc
Castor, Harriet. (1996). Anne Frank. F. Watts
Frank, Anne. The diary of Anne Frank. Various editions.
Gold, Alison. (2007). Hannah Goslar remembers: a childhood friend of Anne Frank. Bloomsbury.
Kramer, Ann. (2007). Anne Frank. QED
Lee, Carol Ann. (2001). Anne Frank's story. Puffin.
Lee, Carol Ann. (2006). Anne Frank and the children of the Holocaust. Puffin.
Leentvaar, Fritz. (1993). The diary of Anne Frank : a book of dreams, a short film about the present and the past. (Videorecording). Anne Frank House.
Poole, Josephine. (2007). Anne Frank. Red Fox
Rendell, Fred. (1995). Into hiding : a study topic on Anne Frank. (Kit). University of Strathclyde
Van Der Pol, Ruud. (1993). Anne Frank: beyond the diary. Puffin.
Walsall, M.B.C. (1987). Anne Frank : a history for today : teaching holocaust issues in primary schools. (Kit). Walsall M.B.C. (Secondary version also available).
Williams, Brian. (2003). Life and world of Anne Frank. Heinemann.
There is also a chapter on Anne Frank in:
Hazell, Rebecca. (2000). The Barefoot book of heroic children. Barefoot.
Fiction
Check catalogue for locations. Some titles are fictionalised accounts of real life experiences.
Boyne John. (2006). The boy in the striped pyjamas. David Fickling.
A story of innocence existing within the most terrible evil, this is the fictional tale of two young boys caught up in events beyond their control.
Dabba Smith, Frank. (2003). Elsie's war : a story of courage in Nazi Germany. Frances Lincoln.
How Elsie and her family helped many Jewish people to flee from Germany.
Deedy, Carmen Agra. (2002). Yellow star : the legend of King Christian X of Denmark. Cats Whiskers.
A picture book with a hopeful message.
Geras, Adele. (1995). A candle in the dark. A & C Black.
Two children evacuated from Nazi Germany in the Kinder transports of 1938. (For younger readers).
Glatstein, Jacob. (2007). Emil and Karl. Scholastic.
Originally written in Yiddish in 1940 and translated by Jeffrey Shandler. A heart-wrenching story of two nine-year olds caught up in the beginning of anti-semitic hatred in Austria, this book is all the more shocking because its author had no idea of what was still to come.
Gutman, Claude. (1991). The empty house. Turton & Chambers, 1991.
A teenage Jewish boy on the run in France after the Nazi invasion of Paris.
Kerr, Judith. (1998). When Hitler stole pink rabbit. Collins.
A story of escape based on the author's own childhood experiences. See also the sequels: The other way round. Collins (1975) and A small person far away. Collins (1978). (The last is an adult title).
Laird, Christa. (1989). Shadow of the wall. Julia MacRae.
A fourteen-year old boy escapes from the Warsaw Ghetto.
Lowry, Lois. (1990). Number the stars. Collins.
A story, seen through the eyes of a ten-year old girl, of the Danish Resistance who managed to smuggle nearly 7000 Jews across the sea to Sweden.
McEwan, Ian. (1985). Rose Blanche. Cape.
A young German girl tries to help starving children in a concentration camp.
Melnikoff, Pamela. (1992). Prisoner in time : a child of the Holocaust. Blackie.
Set in Prague. Twelve-year old Jan's family are taken away to a concentration camp and he has to go into hiding.
Morpurgo, Michael. (1990). Waiting for Anya. Heinemann.
Villagers in a French Pyrenean village become drawn into the perilous network which helps Jews escape over the border to Spain.
Morpurgo, Michael. (2007). The Mozart question. Walker.
A world-famous violinist tells a reporter about his parents' incarceration by the Nazis. They were forced to play Mozart for the enemy and, as other Jews were taken off to their deaths, knew they were literally playing for their lives.
Napoli, Donna Jo. (2002). Stones in water. O.U.P.
An Italian Jewish boy is taken to a Nazi forced labour camp and must hide his identity to survive.
Orlev, Uri. (1984). The island on Bird Street. Hutchinson.
A ten-year old boy survives alone in a Polish ghetto.
Pausewang, Gudrun. (1996). The final journey. Viking.
Eleven-year old Alice and her grandfather are herded into a crowded cattle-truck to begin a journey to an unknown destination.
Richter, Hans Peter. (1971). Friedrich. Longman.
Two German boys grow up as close friends in the 1930s - but one is Jewish.
Sim, Dorrith. (1996). In my pocket. ABC
A picture book about the kinder transports.
Toksvig, Sandi. (2005). Hitler’s canary. Corgi.
A rescue story from Denmark.
Vander Zee, Ruth. (2003). Erika's story. Creative Editions.
A woman recalls how she was thrown, as a baby, from a train headed for a Nazi death camp and raised by a woman who risked her own life in doing so.
Watts, Irene N. (1998). Goodbye Marianne. Floris Books.
Another story of the Kindertransports. See also the sequels: Remember me, Floris (2001) and Finding Sophie, Flyways (2002).
Yolen, Jane. (2001). The devil's arithmetic. Barn Owl.
A girl's struggle to survive in a concentration camp.
Useful websites
Anne Frank Trust
Booktrust booklist
East Renfrewshire Holocaust Memorial Day
Holocaust Educational Trust
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
Remember.org
A Teacher's guide to the Holocaust