MG – The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival

Nadel, Estelle, and Sammy Savos. The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival. Roaring Brook Press. 2024. 978-1-250-24777-3. 272 p. $18.99. Grades 6+.

Enia Feld enjoyed an idyllic childhood in rural Borek, Poland, surrounded by her parents, four siblings, and extended family. She especially loved to sing as she explored the natural beauty of her hometown. Her Jewish family prepared kosher food and observed the Shabbat each Saturday. In September 1939, German troops crossed the border into Poland, and German airplanes attacked numerous Polish towns. It took time to feel the effects of the invasion in Borek, but by December Enia’s life began to change dramatically. A yellow star on her sweater was followed by a raid of her family’s modest home, and then the devastating loss of her sister, brother, and father. World War II had arrived in Borek. Enia and her surviving family members went into hiding, sheltered by brave friends and neighbors who risked their own lives to protect the Felds. Though she had lost so much, Enia would suffer further incomprehensible losses before liberation in 1944, and her challenges continued with a “new beginning” in America (where she became “Estelle”). The Girl Who Sang is a truly unforgettable graphic memoir of hope and survival. Illustrator Sammy Savos cues the color palette to Enia’s emotions, from her bright and sunny young years to the dim and foreboding years in hiding to the subdued panels depicting her first years in New York. Readers will take heart in the return of sunshine in the book’s final section.

THOUGHTS: Estelle Nadel writes in her author’s note, “Someday there will no longer be any Holocaust survivors still living.” Fortunately, books like this one exist to deliver their testimony to new generations of readers. 

Graphic Memoir

YA – The Blood Years

Arnold, Elana K. The Blood Years. Balzer + Bray, 2023. 978-0-062-99085-3. 390 p. $19.99. Grades 9-12.

Based on events in the life of her own grandmother, Elana K. Arnold’s The Blood Years is a masterful and deeply moving work of historical fiction for teens. Spanning the years from 1939 to 1945, it follows the experiences of Frederieke Teitler’s teenage years in her beloved hometown of Czernowitz, Romania. “Rieke” lives with her depressive mother and headstrong older sister Astra (their father has abandoned the family) until her beloved grandfather, Opa, brings them to his apartment. It is the first of many times that Opa will shield Rieke from life’s cruelties. First introduced as a typical thirteen-year old attending school and dance classes with Astra, Rieke goes on to experience the stripping away of Jewish peoples’ rights as she moves through her teen years. Her situation changes dramatically as first the Russians and then the Germans occupy her city, and as a persistent cough leads to a dire diagnosis. As the circumstances in Czernowitz worsen for Jews, Opa’s ability to shelter his girls is pushed to the limit.

THOUGHTS: In her latest novel, Arnold truly proves that what is most personal is also most universal. The dehumanization of Jewish people during WWII is portrayed through the experiences of one young woman; Rieke’s trauma and resilience will not soon be forgotten by readers.

Note: The Blood Years contains anti-Semitic slurs and depictions of sexual assault.

Historical Fiction

MG/YA – Run and Hide: How Jewish Youth Escaped the Holocaust

Brown, Don. Run and Hide: How Jewish Youth Escaped the Holocaust. Clarion Books, 2023. 978-0-35-853816-5. 190 p. $22.99. Grades 7-12.

Run and Hide details Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and describes how Nazi Germany’s expansion of power led to prejudice, violence, and murder against the Jewish population in Europe. Don Brown focuses the majority of this graphic nonfiction title on real stories of children’s survival during the Holocaust. Brown includes information about the Kindertransport that took place prior to the Nazi invasion of Poland. The train-based evacuation of children ran from Europe to England and saved 10,000 children. Other resistance groups and miraculous stories of neighbors hiding children throughout the war are also covered. 

THOUGHTS: This newest graphic nonfiction release by Don Brown is descriptive and honest. It is an excellent resource for secondary students to understand the origins of the Holocaust and what it was like to be a child (or parent) living in fear during this time. Brown shares amazing stories of survival here, but importantly, he also explains the stories he includes were statistically exceptional to the million children who did not escape. The instances of survival included in Run and Hide were only able to occur through a combination of “near misses, tight squeezes, dicey chances, long odds, and dumb luck.” The focus of this story is on survival and hiding rather than the details of life in concentration camps; in this way, the reader is spared the most brutal details and images of the Holocaust. Brown’s extensive bibliography is both necessary and helpful for students who are interested in learning about his source material. Mentions of other and ongoing instances of genocide are also included in the author’s note. Brown’s drawings enhance the tone of the text. Recommended for middle and high school graphic nonfiction collections.

Graphic Novel

In his latest graphic history for young readers, author and illustrator Don Brown explores the history of World War II with a focus on the plight of young Jewish people and heroic efforts to save them. Brown has chronicled other disasters, both natural and manmade, in his previous works: 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Dust Bowl, and the flu of 1918, among others. His text and artwork are particularly urgent in Run and Hide, perhaps because – as he writes in his author’s note, appropriately titled “Uninterrupted” – “Hate and violence endure, uninterrupted” (179). Here he covers Kristallnacht, the Kindertransport, the “final solution,” deportations, and more. In depicting each event, he incorporates first-person testimony in speech bubbles. This technique succeeds in both portraying and personalizing the complex events of the Holocaust. His grim, roughly drawn line art of concentration camps are especially effective. Throughout Run and Hide, Brown credits the bravery of Jewish youths and the heroic actions of resistance networks but also leaves the reader with the stark fact that one million children were killed in Europe during WWII. 

THOUGHTS: Run and Hide is a remarkable work of graphic nonfiction. It presents our most difficult history in an approachable way that will inspire deeper research and action. (Thorough source notes and an extensive Bibliography are included.)

Graphic Novel (Nonfiction)
950.43 World War II

YA – Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

Sheinkin, Steve. Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe . Roaring Brook Press, 2023. 978-1-250-26572-2. 235 p. $19.99. Grades 8-12.

Rudi Vrba and Gerta Sidonová were just schoolmates in Slovokia when Hitler’s forces drove into Poland in 1939 and officially began World War II. As Jewish teens, Rudi, Gerta, and their families were subject to the extreme, escalating antisemitism in Europe. Both teens lives’ took different paths as they were forced to flee their homes. While Gerta and her family went into hiding in Hungary, Rudi’s attempted escape led him first the Nováky prison camp, then to the Majdanek concentration camp, and then into Auschwitz-Birkenau where every single day continued to be a fight to survive against the organized genocide taking place. While imprisoned at Auschwitz, Rudi realized he must attempt escape to tell the world about the camp. Against all odds, Rudi, along with Alfred Wetzler, managed to escape Auschwitz-Birkenau. They went on a harrowing journey through the southern part of Poland into Slovokia where they gave vital testimony about the secret horrors and mass murder taking place at Auschwitz. This testimony fueled an imperative BBC report on the genocide. This report helped to increase political pressure against Hungary’s corroboration with the Nazis; as a result, Hungary stopped sending transports of Jewish people to the concentration camps, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

THOUGHTS: Many of the details in this book are hard to read, but it is a necessary and important piece of history never to be forgotten. Steven Sheinkin writes this book in a way that does not shy away from the horrible Nazi atrocities of WWII. This narrative nonfiction includes graphic details about death, torture, and mass murder during the Holocaust in concentration camps. Sheinkin shifts seamlessly between Rudi and Gerta’s individual stories while also including vital context about the war, locations, and antisemitism. Impossible Escape would make a strong companion to students reading Elie Wiesel’s Night because Sheinkin’s text includes context about antisemitism and the Holocaust for young adult readers while also recounting a powerful, personal story of survival through memoir. Sheinkin also places emphasis on both the systematic, planned nature of the genocide and on both cruelty and kindness within humans. Sheinkin builds this book through careful research and eyewitness testimony. Rather than disrupting the narrative, Sheinkin includes detailed source notes and a comprehensive bibliography at the end of the book. The epilogue, which covers the topic of Rudi testifying against a Holocaust denier in post-war Canada, is also a powerful and important read.

940.53 World War II

YA – It’s My Whole Life: Charlotte Salomon, An Artist in Hiding During World War II

Wider, Susan. It’s My Whole Life: Charlotte Salomon, An Artist in Hiding During World War II. Norton Young Readers, 2022. 978-1-324-01531-4.$19.95. 160 p. Grades 7-12.

Illustrated with original drawings and photographs, this brief biography of an obscure Jewish artist living through World War II brings to light a sensitive soul living a troubled life in a troubled time. In a flashback from Charlotte Salomon’s student days at the United State Schools for Applied and Fine Arts in Berlin, the book traces her life from a lonely childhood to her dismissal from the art school–despite her superior talent–to the days in hiding in France at American heiress, Ottilie Moore’s Villefranche. In the midst, the reader learns of the introverted Charlotte’s obsession with art, her rocky relationship with her stepmother, and the cycle of depression and suicide on the maternal side of her family. Charlotte experiences unrequited love with intellectual Alfred Wolfsohn and finds mutual love with co-habitant, Alexander Nagler; they marry, get pregnant, but stay at Villefranche and are sent to their deaths at Auschwitz before she was thirty years old. Charlotte Salomon spent her last years making a visual autobiography entitled, Life? or Theater? She left this important package for her parents to find after the war. Since then, this life tribute has made its way into history gradually. The works of art show a special artist; those with an interest in World War II and the Holocaust will appreciate. 

THOUGHTS: Charlotte Salomon may well pass under the radar in this period of history. However, her distinctive artwork and commitment to her art make her memorable. The mental health issues underlying Charlotte’s background reveal pain others may suffer. One puzzling characteristic of Charlotte is her reluctance to save herself during these turbulent times, though it seems she had some opportunities to escape or keep herself hidden. There is also a connection between Charlotte’s parents and Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank. 

Biography          Bernadette Cooke, School District of Philadelphia

MG – Linked

Korman, Gordon. Linked. Scholastic Press, 2021. 978-1-338-62911-8. 246 p. $17.99. Grades 5-8.

Chokecherry, Colorado is a small town on the up and up – could even be the next Orlando! While paleontologists from a prestigious university are attempting to locate dinosaur fossils after dinosaur poop is discovered, a swastika appears painted on an atrium wall in the local school. The principal is determined to put an end to the hateful act by starting a unit on tolerance and after three weeks is confident that the event was a one time thing. But when a second and a third swastika appear, it looks as if the past of Chokecherry may be coming back into focus. The students of the school take it upon themselves to support one another and learn more about the Holocaust in order to fight back. An idea to start a paper chain that is six million links long, one link for each person who died during the Holocaust, becomes their primary focus. Lincoln Rowley, the popular athlete, helps round the troops and with the help of the student council and art club presidents, their huge undertaking begins. But when a local media star shows up, hoping to expose the town’s past while highlighting the paper chain, things get complicated. Told in different perspectives, this novel has twists and turns that will keep you reading!

THOUGHTS: Another hit by Korman, this title touches on a sensitive subject, antisemitism and the KKK. The characters each struggle with an inner demon which must be addressed before they can truly accept themselves and others. More somber than some of Korman’s other works, Linked has a balance of humor, hope, and sadness for how others treat people that are different from them. 

Realistic Fiction        Jillian Gasper, Northwestern Lehigh SD

Chokecherry, Colorado is not exactly a tourist destination. The small town does not have a whole lot going for it except for newly discovered dinosaur fossils which bring archeologists from a big city university to the area. Most people are content for the town to go unnoticed until an unfortunate event brings national press: Someone has drawn a swastika on the atrium wall at Chokecherry Middle School. Lincoln Rowley (Link as he is known to his friends and family) loves sports and pranks. He does not really think too much about the swastika until he learns a secret about his family, and he realizes that his ancestors are Jewish. He decides to complete a crash course in Judaism and have a bar mitzvah. Because of this decision, Link becomes the unofficial mascot of the newest middle school tolerance project: A paper chain with six million links to represent the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. With the help of his friends Caroline, Michael, and Dana, Link and the entire school work towards this phenomenal goal with the hope of erasing the bad press from the swastika. This plan goes awry when more swastikas appear around the school, and no one seems to know who is drawing them.

THOUGHTS: Gordon Korman has once again knocked it out of the park. Told in alternating points of view, Korman’s book explores the very relevant topic of when a hate crime happens in a “it couldn’t happen here” community. This book would be an excellent literature choice for ELA classes in conjunction with a Holocaust unit in social studies or a school-wide reading challenge. The topic can lead to rich discussions with powerful lessons.

Realistic Fiction           Danielle Corrao, Manheim Central SD

YA – The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls

Crippa, Luca, & Maurizio Onnis. The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls. Penguin Random House, 2021. $16.99. 978-1-728-24220-0. Grades 7-12.

Based on an obscure obituary and an interview in a BBC documentary filmed in 2009, the authors of  The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls develop a story of life in Auschwitz Concentration Camp focusing on the young, talented photographer, Wilhelm Brasse. A political prisoner for five years in Auschwitz, Brasse clings to his mother’s Polish heritage rather than his father’s Austrian one and refuses to join the Wehrmacht. After a year or so of crematorium duty, Brasse and several other political prisoners are selected to man the Identification Services. Twenty-three year old Brasse stands out as a leader and the tactful liaison between the photography studio and the Nazi commandants. Slowly and meticulously, the book chronicles his photography sessions starting with the incoming Jewish prisoners, political prisoners, and those marked “A” for anti-social behavior. He treats his subjects humanely, knowing he can do nothing to deter their inevitable deaths. Eventually, the SS enlist Basse in particular to photograph the unethical medical practices of Mengele, Clauberg,and Wirths, whose experiments on twins, tattoos, reproductive organs, eyes epitomized man’s humanity to man. Through the dense narrative, the reader learns of the fear, deprivation, and shame prisoners felt, but also their courage and sacrifice (Brasse recounts viewing the now Saint Maximillan Kolbe, a Fransciscan friar offering his life in place of a distraught prisoner). The Identification Service also becomes an agency for officers to have their portraits preserved for loved ones. Brasse coaxes his subjects to show a softer, other side by recalling childhoods in pastoral settings and dignifies the request of a beautiful female SS auxiliary officer to be photographed partially nude. In the latter years of his imprisonment, Brasse smuggled some photographs to the Resistance. When the coming of the Russians marks the impending doom of Auschwitz, Brasse defies the commandant’s orders to burn the photos in favor of a younger assistant’s suggestion to scatter thousands of photos and negatives around the office before jamming shut the building’s doors. His hope was to preserve them for whomever may find them when the war ended. Brasse survives the war, but the memories of the horror he documented are burned indelibly in his soul. Endnotes contain epilogue of major players in the narration, Readers’ Guide, and some photos of prisoners and the camp. All persons in the book are Caucasian.

THOUGHTS: Categorize this book with World War II, Holocaust materials because the reader learns little of Brasse’s past or future to classify it as a biography. The authors focus on Wilhelm Brasse’s activities as a political prisoner at Auschwitz, but in doing so, reveal a different view of camp life, the treatment of the SS and kapos toward Jewish prisoners, and a glimpse into the personalities of Nazi officers. The descriptions of the brutal medical experiments are graphic though not prolonged, but may be too much for sensitive middle school students. The text is very detailed and may find optimum use as a resource for research of that time period.

940.531 Holocaust           Bernadette Cooke, School District of Philadelphia
920 Biographical

Elem. – Nicky and Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued

Sis, Peter. Nicky and Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued. Norton Young Readers, 2021. 978-1-324-01574-1. $19.95. Grades 3-6. 

Peter Sis was visiting his native country (Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic) when he chanced upon a memorial for Englishman Nicholas Winton, credited with saving the lives of 669 Jewish children by establishing passage for them out of Nazi-occupied Prague to foster families in England.  Sis was stunned that he had never heard of Winton’s efforts, and he learned more of the history through Winton and one of the children he saved, Vera Gissing. Winton was moved to act when he skipped a ski trip to meet a friend in Prague in 1938; there he saw the suffering of many and the slowness of the systems offering any hope of freedom. He opened a makeshift office in his hotel room and quickly received overwhelming requests from parents to get their children out of the country. He returned to England to raise funds, advertise for foster families, and procure necessary forms. He found much support, but still found it necessary to forge forms and bribe officers when he returned to Prague. In total, he arranged for 9 trains to carry children out. The first eight trains carried 669 children to new families in England. The ninth train, scheduled to leave on September 1, 1939, was thwarted by the Nazi invasion of Poland. It is believed that just two of the 250 ‘Winton’s children’ meant to be on that train survived.  Winton never told his story until the 1980s when his wife chanced upon a box of the children’s information in their attic.  She arranged a meeting between Winton and some survivors, many of whom learned of his name and efforts for the first time. Sis rightly calls Winton a hero, as do the children whose lives he saved. Vera’s story is told in the out-of-print Pearls of Childhood, while a documentary “Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good” was made about Winton.

THOUGHTS: This is a powerful, cleverly illustrated story of remembrance interweaving Vera’s life with Winton’s efforts and highlighting the stalwart love and care of so many across the world.  Though K-3 is the indicated grade level, this feels well-suited for upper elementary children as well.

Biography          Melissa Scott, Shenango Area SD

YA – Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis

Gaddy, K.R. Flowers in the Gutter: The True Story of the Edelweiss Pirates, Teenagers Who Resisted the Nazis. Dutton, 2020. 978-0-525-55541-4. 301 p. $18.99. Grades 7-12. 

This engaging non-fiction title introduces readers to the Edelweiss Pirates, groups of nonconformist German youth. The Pirates rejected the demands of the Nazis to join Hitler Youth organizations. Instead, they held secret gatherings where they enjoyed activities such as camping, hiking, and singing. They also adopted a distinct style of dress that often included badges or buttons featuring an edelweiss flower motif. Gaddy incorporates many first hand accounts and experiences of Edelweiss Pirates within the text to help bring their stories to life for the reader. When war broke out, the teen members of the Pirates grew daring in their defiance of the Nazis. They painted anti-Nazi graffiti around their towns and distributed anti-Nazi flyers. Some members even carried out sabotage and planned attacks against the Nazis. These actions carried a high risk. Many Edelweiss Pirates found themselves arrested and beaten by the Gestapo, imprisoned, or worse. The text is supplemented by numerous photos and excerpts from official documents. An extensive bibliography is also included.

THOUGHTS: This fascinating exploration of these little known anti-Nazi resistance groups is sure to hold appeal for students. A worthwhile addition to secondary World War II collections, it could also be incorporated into discussions or displays about historical youth activism.

940.53 World War II            Elizabeth Henry, Lampeter-Strasburg SD

MG – The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II

Rosen, Michael. The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II. Candlewick, 2020. 9781536212891. 128 p. $16.99. Grades 5-8.

The Missing tells one man’s quest to find more information on his family that has been spread across multiple countries and just as many assumptions on what happened to some of the family members after the war. The short chapter book is written in chronological order, and most chapters end with a poem or part of a poem written by the author. Although a lot of specific information regarding World War II, especially from an English perspective, will be novel to most readers, most of it is specific to the author and his family. The abridged poems fit nicely with the topic covered in the previous chapter and are moving. In fact, the poetry could probably stand along as a more moving piece of literature, instead of including the granular details of uncovering the history of the Rosen family. The language is simplistic and the content is covered in a way that is not traumatic for young readers. Most helpful is the list of further reading at the end of the book, as well as some photos, including some letters.

THOUGHTS: In an already rather overpopulated genre, this title is recommended strictly for upper elementary or middle school libraries who feel a need to expand on their World War II collection.

940 Holocaust          Samantha Hull, Ephrata Area SD