Children of the Holocaust

Gr 5-8-Using simple vocabulary, Woolf presents a complicated and multidimensional issue through an accessible narrative supplemented with documentary material. Students will gain a better understanding of how the Holocaust unfolded through historical photos and quotes from young people, which are descriptive, though never graphic. The author defines the Holocaust, describes the effects that the Nazi rise to power had upon the Jews, discusses life in the concentration camps and ghettoes, and covers the struggles of those who went into hiding to avoid being sent to the camps. The book ends with "Memories and Consequences," which looks at the creation of Israel, the Nuremberg trials, and the importance of Holocaust remembrance. As Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans are dwindling in number, it is imperative that young people receive an accurate, human depiction of this period, making this well-written title all the more relevant. While there isn't much biographical information about the young people who supplied the testimonies, the back matter is quite extensive. A valuable addition.-Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A Holocaust mosaic with a particular focus on children, constructed from period photos and short extracts from diaries or survivors' accounts. Woolf pithily links the documentary material in a narrative and fills in historical backgroundproperly noting at the outset that Jews weren't the Nazis' only targets and closing with the cogent observation that anti-Semitic violence didn't stop with the war's end. In between, a crazy quilt of passages in italics records the experiences of young people before and after Kristallnacht, in the Kindertransport and other flights, as hidden children (including one boy disguised as a girl), in the forced relocations to ghettos and to concentration and extermination camps. Biographical information about the authors of these testimonials ranges from little to none. Still, many have faces thanks to the many family snapshots that mingle with more journalistic photos of people being herded by soldiers, of camp facilities and of poignant artifacts. Following a provocative authorial comment that most "ordinary people" turned a blind eye to what was happening "because it was easier, in the end, to ignore something that didn't affect them personally," a quick look at postwar recovery efforts and commemorations is capped with a reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's a quick skim with higgledy-piggledy page design, but it's carefully tuned to spark thought and discussion rather than to shock alone. (timeline, websites, fiction and nonfiction bibliographies, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.