...each of us must read this tragic and moving true story ...
The diary of a young girl : a definitive edition
by Anne Frank, 1929-1945
Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler
Translated from the Dutch by Susan Massotty.
Published: New York : Doubleday, 1995. 340 pages.
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
Emotionally intense Compelling Character-driven
This true story is set in war torn Amersterdan, Netherlands. World War II has ravaged Europe and the Germans have occupied the Netherlands. The German Nazis are intent on eradicating all Jews from Europe by systematic placing them in concentration camps, death by starvation, brutality and the gas chamber.
Anne Frank, is a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam when the Germans occupy the city. Gentiles hide the Frank family in a secret compartment in an attic. In this horrific and terrifying environment Anne pens her thoughts, feelings and daily happenings in a secret diary.
This diary survives World War II and has been published to tell the world of Anne Frank and her ordeal.
Strong sense of place Candid Heart-wrenching
Interesting titbit: This publication is an uncut edition of Anne Frank's diary including entries originally omitted by her father and provides insight into Anne's relationship with her mother.
...it is important we all read Anne's Diary...lest we forget the Jewish Holocaust and those who lost their lives senselessly...
Link to Novelist
Anne Frank Musuem
...another biography that is a truely memorable reading experience...
No Pretty Pictures : a child of war
by Anita Lobel
Published: New York : Collins, 2008. 239 pages.
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
...this is a true story
Narrative non-fiction thought provoking
...this is the autobiography of Anita Lobel who, from the age of 5 to age 10, lived a terrifying existence hiding from the Nazis. Anita tried to protect herself and her younger brother but was eventually captured and force marched from concentration camp to concentration camp.
Anita's story is a haunting memoir and unbelievably moving when you know you are reading of actual events that happened to a very young child. Anita shares her experiences. She tells us there are no pretty pictures remaining from her childhood.
Moving Biographical Character-driven
It is amazing that Anita and her brother survived the ordeal of the Jewish Holocaust...and it is even more amazing that we are given the privilege of sharing Anita's experiences during World War II in this unforgetable book...
Interesting titbit: Anital Lobel is an illustrator of childrens' books.
...an unforgetable and compelling read of a true life experience...
Mandurah Libraries
Author: Anita Lobel
...read this novel and time travel to a reading adventure in Poland, 1939...
Yellow star
by Jennifer Roy
Published: London : Frances Lincoln Children's, 2009
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
The facts behind the title of this novel: During World War II, from 1939 to 1945, the Nazis forced the Jewish population to wear a yellow star on their clothing to indicate to everyone they were Jewish.
Thought-provoking Moving Memorable
This is a fictionalised true story based on factual information about the life of Sylvia Perlmutter. After the war Syliva moved to the United States, married and after a number of years recounted her story to her neice, the author Jennifer Roy.
This is her story...in 1939 the Germans invaded the town of Lodz, Poland, and moved the Jewish population into a small part of the city called a ghetto. As the war progressed, 270,000 people were forced to settle in the ghetto under impossible conditions.
At the end of the war, there were about 800 survivors. Of those who survived, only twelve were children. This is the story of one of the twelve.
First-person narrative Courageous
Sylvia entered the ghetto when she was 4 years old and was liberated when she was 10 years, surviving the ordeal for almost six years.
...you have to read this to experience the courageous spirit of survival in one so young...
Jennifer Roy
...relive the adventures of a small orphan in this gripping read...
Run, Boy, Run
by Uri Orlev
Translated from the Hebrew by Hillel Halkin
Published: Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 192 pages.
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
This moving story is written by Uri Orlev, a Holocaust surviver, who now lives in Israel. He based this novel on a young boy's true life experience.
Faction (based on a true story) Heart-wrenching
The main character in this tale is a young, orphaned Jewish boy, aged 8. He is named Srulik. He is trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto, in Poland, during World War II. Amazingly, this young boy escapes to the Polish countryside at the height if the Jewish Holocaust, where Poland is ravaged by war and Nazi occupation.
Authentic
Srulik's greatest challenge is to survive the war, in a country where he is surrounded by anti-semitism and little food. Finding a safe refuge is his only hope...
...this award winning story is a haunting tale set in a world gone mad...
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