...read this...as it is one of my most memorable time travel adventures into World War II and the Jewish Holocaust...
The Boy in the striped pyjamas
by John Boyne
Published: New York: David Flicking Books, 2006 224 pages.
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
Thought-provoking Intricately plotted
This is a moving and haunting story set in Germany during World War II. The year is 1942.
The main character is a nine year old German boy called Bruno. His beloved father, a Nazi Officer, is transferred to the country as the Commandant of the notorious concentration camp Auschwitz. Bruno is constantly corrected by his mother and older sister Greta when he incorrectly pronounces the camp "Out-With".
Character-driven
Bruno is an innocent and naive young boy, but he is also extremely inquisitive and adventurous. These character traits lead him to defy his parents wishes, continual disobedience and misadventures. As a result Bruno becomes friends with a boy wearing striped pyjamas, called Shmuel, who lives behind the barb-wire fence of the camp. Unfortunately, Bruno's misadventures place him and his friend Shmuel in extremely challenging and life threatening circumstances.
Richly detailed Heart-wrenching
This is a must... an unputdownable read... a historical fiction story that you will think about for days...
Link to Novelist
Author: John Boyne
...a moving reading adventure...time travel to Germany during World War II and read this haunting novel about a ...
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Published: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. 552 pages
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
Haunting Stylistically complex
This character-driven novel is narrated by Death. The reader witnesses a world embroiled in war through the eyes of Death, an interesting character in the story. Kindly and caring Death tells us about The Book Thief , who is a young orphan, a German girl called Liesel.
This historical fiction novel is set in a small German town, just outside of Munich, during World War II . Liesel is fostered by the loving Rosa and Hans Hubermann. Liesel suffers from frightening nightmares and Hans comforts her during these nightly ordeals by teaching her to read.
Coming-of-age Lyrical Moving
Hans, Rosa and Liesel save a Jewish man from certain death from the German concentration camps, by hiding him in their basement. Rudy, a young boy next door, teaches Liesel to steal ... and the cycle of book stealing and daring adventures become a feature of Liesel's life in the midst of war-torn Germany...
...read this with focus and enjoy...
Novelist
Author: Markus Zusak
...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
...another reading adventure introduces us to ...
Someone named Eva
by Joan Wolf
Published: New York : Clarion, 2007. 272 pages.
Reading Appeal: Young Adult
Eye-opening Heart-breaking
This moving and haunting story is about an 11 year old girl called Milada, who grew up in a small village called Lidice, Czechoslovakia. Milada's family is torn apart when the German Nazis attack her village in 1942.
Milada is selected for the Lebensborn program by the Nazis because she has blonde hair and blue eyes, the much admired Aryan features that Hiltler promotes as the "proper German" features. Milada is kidnapped and transported to a school in Poland. Her named is changed to Eva, she is taught to speak German and groomed to be adopted by a German family. However, Milada/Eva is a clever young girl and she despite her traumatic experiences she never forgets her true name and her family history.
Masterfully written Fascinating Memorable
...I guarantee this fast paced novel will keep you glued to the pages from beginning to end...
Novelist
...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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