By Vicki Donoghue
Port Moody Public Library
As Remembrance Day approaches, people in the library are often looking for books and resources to explain Remembrance Day to children. Teachers need resources to explain the ceremony in the school each year, while parents may be getting questions they didn’t expect.
One aspect of this topic that brave teachers and parents sometimes discuss with children is the Holocaust. I say brave because even as librarians we sometimes avoid showing children the full range of human experience. A psychologist on the radio recently said that allowing children to gradually be exposed to the scariness of Halloween can help them feel a mastery over themselves and their world. The same is true, I believe, when we introduce difficult topics or emotions to children. With caring adults there to answer questions and put information in context, children can benefit from being exposed to tough material and have a chance to say “what would I have done?” The following books should help with this important activity.
A wonderful resource about this topic is Hana’s Suitcase: A True Story. In this book we meet one of those brave people I mentioned who introduce the Holocaust to children. The story follows Fumiko Ishioka, curator of a children’s Holocaust education centre in Tokyo. She received a suitcase, among other things, from a museum at Auschwitz, which fascinated everyone who visited the education centre. Ishioka and the children go on a quest to find out everything they can about the owner of the suitcase, Hana Brady. Told in alternate chapters, we are introduced to the Holocaust itself, how two children experienced it, and the hope for the world that is demonstrated by the children in Japan. Not to be missed … a story that makes grown librarians weep every time the author Karen Levine introduces it at conferences! This book comes with a CD and could be used for children from grades 2 up to grade 12.
Several chapter books have been written about the subject. My favourites are: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry; The Secret of Gabi’s Dresser by Kathy Kacer; The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen; or the Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. The later two books take place in or near the actual concentration camps so might be best for older children.
There are also some notable non-fiction books on the topic. These range from true life, personal accounts, such as No Pretty Pictures: a Child of War by Anita Lobel, to overview books such as Tell Them We Remember: the Story of the Holocaust by Susan Bachrach. Lobel is a noted American children’s book illustrator and a survivor of the Holocaust. Each library will have a selection of titles. Have a look through for material that will suit you and the children you are working with.
Of course no list would be complete without The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. As well as reading her diary, children and teens may be intrigued by other books written about Anne and her life before the Holocaust. Anne Frank, Beyond the Diary: a Photographic Remembrance by Rian Verhoeven and Ruud van der Rol has always been a favourite, and Anne Frank: The Young Writer Who Told the World Her Story by Ann Kramer and Who Was Anne Frank? by Ann Abramson are also worth reading.
We should all have the courage to name the evil in our world, strive against it, and teach our children to do the same. Books are a perfect vehicle for discussing these difficult topics. Check them out at your local library.
