The following books can be borrowed from our library or by emailing info@wsherc.org
Storming the Tulips
Ronald Sanders
Taken from Stonebrook Publishing:
“The stories in this book make us realize how important it is to teach compassion, understanding and tolerance for people who may appear to be different than us. These life-lessons are even more important in today’s society. We must learn about history to understand our current world situations.”
Diana Schumacher, 8th grade Middle School Teacher, St. Louis, MO
Is It Night or Day? A Novel of Immigration and Survival, 1938-1942
Fern Schumer Chapman
Taken from Authors and Illustrators Book Review:
"...This book is an exceptional story of survival and devotion to homeland. The author's note and afterword contain inspiring information about the background and reasoning behind this book. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl and this book would be great companions for showing how children's lives were affected by the Holocaust. This is a wonderful study of the Holocaust in a way that young readers will understand. Highly Recommended."
Jo Drudge, Library Media Connection, Starred Review
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
Erik Larson
Excerpt from the Seattle Times :
“A nonfiction chronicle, based on the lives of an American family who spent a year in Berlin as Hitler rose to absolute power, Larson's book raises the question the world still struggles with: How do we know implacable evil when we see it? When is enough enough? ...As a suspense narrative, "Beast" achieves mixed results: It's hard to warm up to the well-meaning but outmanned Dodd and his feckless, flirtatious daughter. But as a work of popular history, "Beasts" is gripping, a nightmare narrative of a terrible time. It raises again the question never fully answered about the Nazi era — what evil humans are capable of, and what means are necessary to cage the beast.”
Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times Book Editor
Benno and the Night of Broken Glass
Meg Wiviott
Illustrator: Josée Bisaillon
From School Library Journal:
“The straightforward text describes events without sentimentality, as if Benno were simply reporting what he sees and hears…But what truly distinguishes this book is the striking multimedia artwork composed of paper, fabric, and drawn images in hues of olive, brown, and red. Interesting angles, textures, and patterns add to the visual effect throughout. The spreads depict a normal city neighborhood from a cat's-eye view, which is eventually upended by dark shadowy figures with big black boots. Thus the message of terror and sadness that marks the beginning of the Holocaust is transmitted in a way that is both meaningful and comprehensible. An afterword provides historical context for the story, although it presupposes knowledge of the term ‘Holocaust.’”
Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library
Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto
Susan Goldman Rubin
Illustrator: Bill Farnsworth
From the JTNews:
“[An] illustrated work marked as being for 6 to 10 year olds. Because of its focus on the rescue of children in jeopardy and because of the separation and abandonment issues involved, I’d call it more suited for 8 years and up. The paintings are exceptional and the story of this tiny Polish social worker is inspiring as it shows how she quietly and ingeniously helped smuggle nearly 400 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, while keeping careful records of their identities so they could be reunited with their families should any survive the war.”
Rita Berman Frischer, JTNews, Seattle, WA
The Druggist of Auschwitz: A Documentary Novel
Dieter Schlesak
Taken from the Seattle Times:
“There are no heroes here, no saints — and even Adam's wistful hope that ‘their suffering was not in vain, that death is merely a transition, a being-set-free for a world of light’ is but the flicker of a match in a hurricane. This is not an easy narrative to read, and the truths it reveals and embodies are not easy to face. It will fill you with despair and rage and terrible shame at the infinite ingenuity of human cruelty. By steeling himself not to flinch before the hideous reality of the Holocaust, Schlesak has created a beautiful book.”
David Laskin, Special to the Seattle Times
Before the Holocaust: Three German-Jewish Lives 1870-1939
Editor and Translator: Thomas Dunlap
From the PR Web:
“Author Thomas Dunlap guides readers of Before the Holocaust through the lives of three German Jews spanning the years from 1870 to 1939: Käte Frankenthal, Max Moses Polke, and Joseph Benjamin Levy. …These autobiographies reveal what sort of lives were possible for Jews in the years after the establishment of the Reich in 1871, when German Jews were finally granted full political and civic right. They provide insight into German society, into the turbulent history and politics of the Weimar period, and into the circumstances that led to the rise of the National Socialists. Finally, they chronicle the assault on the Jewish community in the years 1933 to 1939, before the onset of systematic genocide.”
Xlibris Publishing Company
Days of Aloes
Helena Edwards and Virginia Lown
The true story of a young Polish woman’s struggle to survive in one of Stalin’s notorious slave labour camps.
