Escape Children Of The Holocaust Book

Escape From the HolocaustInformational (nonfiction) 2,229 words, Level Z1 (Grade 5+), Lexile 1000LMultilevel Book also available in Level Y.Nicholas Winton was a remarkable and humble man. He saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children threatened under the shadow of Hitler's growing power at the onset of World War II. Escape From the Holocaust provides a detailed account of Winton's heroic actions and the many lives he saved. The book can also be used to teach students how to determine an author's purpose for writing and the use of simple adjectives. The book and lesson are also available for levels Y and Z2.

Second Story Press publishes feminist-inspired books for adults, teens, and children. We look for stories that feature diverse, strong female characters and explore themes of social justice, human rights, equality, and ability issues. An independent small press, we publish several well-known children\u2019s series, including the Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers, whose book Hana\u2019s Suitcase has become one of the most awarded Canadian children\u2019s books ever. We also publish a series of books with Plan Canada International, including Every Day is Malala Day and Because I am a Girl. Our others series include the Kids\u2019 Power books, featuring a biographical novel about Shannen Koostachin and the First Nations community of Attawpiskat. Our search to publish Indigenous authors led us to create the Indigenous Writing and Illustration Contest. We have a series for children called the Women\u2019s Hall of Fame Series and an imprint with the Feminist History Society that features adult books exploring second-wave feminism.

How old should kids be when they start learning about the Holocaust? While many educators believe the appropriate age is 10, a new book by Caldecott honoree and MacArthur fellow Peter Sís is recommended for children ages 6 to 9.

Sís has written and illustrated children's books about Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei and Mozart. "I'm always inspired by the people who are bigger than life, that they carry with them this amazing history of being so important," he says. By all accounts, Winton did not see himself that way. "He said, 'I never was a hero because I never was in danger,' " Sís marvels. "He did lots of good in the moment when he could do it."

Winton and Vera Gissing became good friends. Gissing wrote about her life in the book Pearls of Childhood. Today she is 92 with advanced-stage dementia, according to her daughter Nicola Gissing. After the war, Vera married and raised three children in England. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for his actions," says Nicola of Winton.

Nicola Gissing believes Sís keeps the story of the Holocaust age appropriate by emphasizing details very young children can relate to and by not making Vera's escape and the Nazi invasion too frightening.

Developmental psychologist Dona Matthews says Nicky and Vera is the first book she has read that addresses the Holocaust for children so young. She recommends parents and caregivers read the story along with children. She applauds Sís for his approach with such an extraordinarily sensitive topic. "The focus of this story is on Nicky and Vera. It's not on the horrors of the Holocaust," says Matthews. "The story itself shows the importance of inclusion and respect for diverse others, which is a really good early entry to the Holocaust and other kinds of diversity understandings for kids."

An earlier version of this story mistakenly said Nicholas Winton died in 2016. In fact, he died in 2015. Also, a previous summary of this story that appeared on the homepage mistakenly said the children escaped Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938. In fact, the year was 1939.

Here are some picture books and chapter books for children about the Holocaust and World War II that will teach children more about this dark period in history. (I have only listed a few YA books but if you have a teenager, encourage the to read with Maus by Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer prize-winning, critically acclaimed graphic novel.)

So far 75 million copies of the Curious George books have been sold worldwide in over a dozen languages. But the monkey who escaped the Nazis in a bicycle basket never had a closer call than his very first.

This graphic novel contains six true stories of Jewish children during the Holocaust, some that were taken to the concentration camp Auschwitz and survived, some that escaped its horrors and ended up amongst the war in France or England.

To describe reading about this time in history as a joyful experience sounds oxymoronic. Yet Deborah Cadbury has delivered an uplifting, inspiring story. While many books on the Holocaust focus on the staggering statistics to such a degree that readers become almost numb to the savagery, she instead brings this enormously tragic period down to eye level and allows us to learn about individual children, some as young as 8. Yes, they were traumatized, but most ultimately thrived.

A common myth is Jews did very little to resist the Nazis and went like sheep to the slaughter. Rappaport includes many little-known stories about Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. She covers several acts of Jewish resistance including escapes, the Sondorkommando uprising, the Jewish partisans, and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This book is included in my Holocaust Unit Study for grades 6-8, Tell Them We Remember.

This haunting collection of artwork and poetry was created by the children in the Terezin concentration camp. 15,000 children passed through Terezin, but fewer than 100 survived. Their stories live on through the pages of this book.

In 1943, President Roosevelt accepted just under a thousand Jewish refugees for entry into the country. The only thing standing between them and a safe haven in New York was a dangerous journey across the Atlantic. A young journalist named Ruth Gruber was given the order to escort the refugees to safety. Under daily threat of Nazi ambush, she gave them English lessons, held their children, and listened to their stories. This unusual Holocaust book is her account of that incredible journey across the sea.

Every year, Jews around the world observe Holocaust Remembrance Day, known as Yom Hashoah in Hebrew, to ensure that the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis are never forgotten. The unimaginable horror of the Holocaust is hard for adults to fathom, so how do we talk to our children about it? These picture books, middle grade reads, and YA titles are good places to start.

Reviewed by: The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey Hope Morrison Borden, Louise The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey; illus. by Allan Drummond and with photographs. Houghton, 200572p ISBN 0-618-33924-8$17.00 R Gr. 3-6 While many are familiar with the prolific contributions of Margret and H. A. Rey to the world of children's literature, most probably do not know the riveting tale of how they escaped occupied Paris in 1940 on bicycles to save both their lives and the manuscript of a book that would become Curious George. Part I of Borden's biographical tale begins at the beginning, briefly touching on Margret and Hans' childhoods, their meeting, the years they spent in South America (where Hans observed and sketched countless monkeys), and the months leading up to the Nazi occupation. Part II follows the rapid succession of plans to flee: waiting in lines for documentation, assembling two bicycles from spare parts, and carefully wrapping years of stories and illustrations in clothing for protection in the bicycle basket. Margret and Hans' journey took them through France on bike, through Spain and Portugal by train, to Brazil by boat, and, four months after fleeing, to New York City by ship, where they established contacts with Houghton Mifflin, who published Curious George in the fall of 1941. Written in easy-reading short sentences with ragged right margins, Borden's tale offers an approachable and entertaining story that effectively focuses on a specific incident in the lives of the Reys; the biographical opening capably sets up the well-paced story of the Reys' dramatic journey. Drummond's fluid, frenetic line-and-watercolor illustrations add additional energy to the storyline, the black lines and spot color effectively matching the confusion and chaos of the protagonists' plight. Further visual appeal comes from photographs and reproductions of work from the Reys' many books, generously larded throughout in a scrapbooky format. This would work particularly well as a readaloud for older students, though independent readers will also be readily engaged. A partial bibliography of books by Margret and H. A. Rey is included. 2b1af7f3a8