I having been teaching the Holocaust in my 8th
grade language arts classes. During our unit, many students have come to class
brimming with excitement to tell me and each other about “the best book” they
read or “the best movie” they watched. In both cases, the title was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. While I
appreciate their enthusiasm and willingness to learn something about the
Holocaust outside of class, in my opinion, this is the worst book or film they could
choose read or watch. I realized that if I was going to tell them why I didn’t
like this choice, I had better be prepared with alternatives to suggest. Thus –
the list below. The list contains titles of books and films I recommend for
middle school students – mostly for 8th graders. I have a bias that
8th grade is the most appropriate age to begin a child’s Holocaust education
and that it should not be taught to students younger than 7th grade.
The texts I recommend for 7th graders are specifically noted on this
list. I have not listed any title that I have not personally read or viewed. I
have listed books that students would find interesting for personal reading and
have excluded books that serve better as instructional or reference texts.
There are a couple of R rated films on the list that I suggest parents watch
with their children. Each title includes an annotation, Lexile score if
available, and a note about whether the title is available from the Johnson
County Public Library and the Resource Center at the Midwest Center for
Holocaust Education. I hope you find this list useful for offering
recommendations to your middle school students.
Laura Patton’s List of
Recommended (and Not Recommended)
Holocaust Books and Films for Middle School Students
Key to Codes:
F=
Fiction JCL= Available at the Johnson County
Library
NF= Non-Fiction MCHE= Available at the Midwest
for Holocaust Education Resource Center
L (Ex. 760L)= Lexile Score (See www.lexile.com for more information)
|
This list began because so many students came to my classes during our
Holocaust unit brimming with excitement to tell me and each other about “the
best book they read” or “the best movie they had seen.” In both cases, the
title was The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
In my opinion, this is the worst book and film my students could read or watch
about the Holocaust. I realized that if I was going to tell them what not to
read or see I had better be prepared with suggested alternatives. Thus – the
list. This list contains titles selected for middle school students - mostly 8th
graders. I have a bias that the Holocaust should not be taught to students
younger than 7th grade; I believe 8th grade is more
appropriate. The texts I would recommend for 7th graders are
specifically noted on this list. I have not listed any title that I have not
personally read or viewed. I have listed books that students would find
interesting for personal reading and excluded books that serve better as
instructional texts. -
Laura Patton, Indian Woods Middle School, SMSD
1-2014
BOOKS AND FILMS TO AVOID
|
Boyne, John
|
The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas
|
F
|
1080L
|
JCL
|
The subtitle
of this novel states that it is a fable. If readers read it as a fable, I
wouldn’t have such a strong objection to this book or the film based on the
book. However, I have middle school students who arrive to class and tell me
with great enthusiasm that they “read the best book/saw the best movie.” This
has happened so many times that I am now willing to take bets with them that
they are going to tell me they read/saw The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas. My concern is that my 8th graders do
not have the background knowledge and critical thinking skills to discern the
historical inaccuracies of this film. They don’t read or see it as a fable;
they generally tend to accept what they read in a book or see in a film as the
truth. For starters, children did not survive the initial selection to become
inmates in a death camp. Therefore, no character like Shmuel would have existed
in reality. Secondly, Shmuel has time to sit at the fence and talk with Bruno;
no camp inmate would have been so poorly supervised. Thirdly, if Bruno can
sneak into the camp underneath the fence, then the inmates would have been able
to escape out of the camp. My largest objection to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is that the author and film-maker
toy with the reader’s emotions. Learning about the Holocaust often produces
feelings of sadness for students; I don’t know that this can or should be
avoided. However, falsely representing the history just to manipulate the
reader’s/ viewer’s emotions is self-serving and even unethical. As a Holocaust
educator, I want my students to learn compassion for the victims of genocide,
but The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
takes a cheap shot at accomplishing that goal.
|
Yolen, Jane
|
The
Devil’s Arithmetic
|
F
|
730L
|
JCL
|
This is the
summary for The Devil’s Arithmetic
you will find on the Johnson County Library website: “Hannah resents the
traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of
a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland.” Here is my spin on the book:
“Snotty Jewish teenager experiences an attitude readjustment when she steps
through a doorway and suddenly finds herself in Nazi-occupied Poland. When she
returns home, she is magically appreciative of her Jewish ancestors and
religious traditions.” Don’t all parents wish we could time-travel our
self-absorbed teenagers back to the good-old-days when we had to walk to school
five miles through the snow uphill both ways? Yolen is generally a talented
writer; her research in this novel is fairly solid. My objection is the time
travel premise; it is ridiculous. There are so many excellent non-fiction
Holocaust books. Why waste time with this nonsense?
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Life is Beautiful
|
1998
|
PG-13
|
JCL
|
This film is about an
Italian Jewish family who are deported to a Nazi camp late in the war. To
protect his young son, the father makes the entire experience a game. These are
some of Roger Ebert’s comments on the film:
“And Benigni [director and lead
actor] isn't really making comedy out of the Holocaust, anyway. He is showing
how Guido [main character] uses the only gift at his command to protect his
son. If he had a gun, he would shoot at the Fascists. If he had an army, he
would destroy them. He is a clown, and comedy is his weapon.
The movie actually softens the
Holocaust slightly, to make the humor possible at all. In the real death camps
there would be no role for Guido. But "Life Is Beautiful" is not
about Nazis and Fascists, but about the human spirit. It is about rescuing
whatever is good and hopeful from the wreckage of dreams. About hope for the
future.”
My objections to Life is
Beautiful are much the same as my objections to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. If you want to view it as a piece
of art, fine. However, the film lacks historical accuracy, and I fear that
students who watch it will not have the background knowledge or critical
thinking skills to understand that. A teaching colleague of mine showed the
film to her middle school history classes. Therefore, I am not sure some adults
understand that this film is not an accurate depiction of the Holocaust. If an
adult can’t figure this out, how could a teenager be expected to do so? I don’t
recommend this film, even if Roger Ebert does.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
|
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell
|
The
Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth
|
F
|
760L
|
JCL
|
When
Bartoletti was doing research for her award-winning non-fiction book, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow,
she came across Helmouth Hϋbener’s amazing story. Hubener was convicted of treason against the
Nazi government and executed at age 17.
This novel is meticulously-researched historical fiction with primary
sources to back it up. Gripping; I
couldn’t put it down.
|
Bretholz, Leo
with Michael Olesker
|
Leap
Into Darkness: Seven Years On the Run in Wartime Europe
|
NF
|
---
|
JCL
MCHE
|
Leo Bretholz
was a Jewish teenager living in Vienna when the Nazis annexed Austria in
1938. Not long afterward, his mother
insisted that he leave home because she feared for his fate under Hitler’s
rule. Little did she know that most of
Europe who soon become a death trap for Jews.
Leo spent the years of the WW II living in Jewish transit camps, hiding
in attics, and literally running for his life.
This memoir is as action-packed as a suspense novel. Leo Bretholz visited Kansas City in
2000. One of my students and I attended
Leo’s presentation at the Johnson County Public Library; we both read Leo’s
book afterward and loved it.
|
Giblin, James Cross
|
The
Life and Death of Adolf Hitler
|
NF
|
1100L
|
JCL
|
This is a
complete and balanced biography of Adolf Hitler – from his childhood to his
suicide. The final chapter deals with
the Nuremberg trials and the rise of neo-Nazi groups in modern times. The book answers the questions that students always
ask about Hitler, but does not glamorize him in any way. Winner of the Robert F. Sibert Medal.
|
Klein, Gerda Weissmann
|
All
But My Life: A Memoir
|
NF
|
---
|
JCL
MCHE
|
Gerda
Weissman Klein’s memoir of her Holocaust experience is remarkable because of
the eloquence of her language. This book
is a beautiful piece of writing in addition to being a powerful and important
story. This is the book upon which the
Academy Award Winning documentary One
Survivor Remembers is based. In my
work for the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, I have helped develop book
club materials for All But My Life. If you would like to check out a book club
bag for your group to use, please contact MCHE (www.mchekc.org).
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Klein, Gerda Weissmann and Kurt Klein
|
The
Hours After: Letters of Love and Longing in War’s Aftermath
|
NF
|
---
|
JCL
MCHE
|
This book
continues the story of Gerda Weissman and Kurt Klein where All But My Life ends. Kurt
and Gerda decided that he should return to the United States with his military
unit and then send for Gerda as soon as possible so that they can be
married. The Hours After is a collection of Kurt and Gerda’s love letters
exchanged during the year they spent apart from each other. The book tells many of the details of their
romance that are left out of All But My
Life. Getting Gerda to the United
States was no easy feat. As a Holocaust
survivor, she was a stateless person with no documents to prove her
identity. The book provides a
fascinating look into the lives of survivors immediately following the
war. The
Hours After has romance, heartache, angst, a daring escape, and a happy
ending. What more could a reader
want?
|
Levine, Karen
|
Hana’s
Suitcase: A True Story
|
NF
|
730L
|
JCL
MCHE
|
In March
2000, a suitcase from Auschwitz arrived at the Tokyo Holocaust Education
Center. Working with only the few clues
painted on the outside of the suitcase and a long list of questions from the children
who visit the center, Fumiko Ishioka set out to discover as much as she could
about Hanna Brady. This book tells the
story of her research, how it brings together people from three continents, and
honors the memory of a young girl who perished in the Holocaust. Recommended
for 7th graders.
|
Opdyke, Irene Gut
|
In My Hands: Memoires of a Holocaust Rescuer
|
NF
|
890L
|
JCL
MCHE
|
This is the
true story of a Polish Christian woman who was only seventeen-years-old when
WWII began. She was forced to work for the German army, but because she was
attractive she secured a relatively safe job as a waitress in an officer’s
dining room. As she worked, she overhead bits of useful information that she
passed on to the Jews in the ghetto. She raided a warehouse for food and
blankets. She smuggled people out of the work camp into the forests. Later,
Irene was asked to work as a housekeeper for a Nazi major; she hid twelve Jews
in the basement of his home until the end of the war. This is the story of how
Irene Gut Opdyke did what she did.
|
Perl, Lila & Marion Blumenthal
Lazan
|
Four
Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
|
NF
|
1080L
|
JCL
|
Four Perfect Pebbles is an excellent book for introducing
the Holocaust to middle school students.
The Blumenthal family’s story is very unusual because all the family
members are able to stay together throughout their imprisonment by the
Nazis. As Holocaust stories go, it has a
relatively “happy” ending. Because of
the family’s unusual circumstances, they were able to keep many documents and
photographs; these are used liberally to illustrate the book. There are great
links to sources of additional information on the Midwest Center for Holocaust
Education website (www.mchekc.org).
The Lazans also maintain a website with information about Marion (www.fourperfectpebbles.com). Recommended for 7th graders.
|
Sutin, Jack and Rochelle
|
Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance
|
NF
|
N/A
|
JCL
|
Jack and
Rochelle fell in love while they were hiding from the Nazis in the woods of
Poland. This story is a fascinating look into the lives of the partisans; I did
not know anything about them and their resistance before I read this book. It
is also a great love story.
|
Tec, Nechama
|
Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood
|
NF
|
L
|
MCHE
|
Nechama Tec
and her family were Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust by hiding with
Polish Christians. Nechama’s story is remarkable because, as the person in her
family most able to “pass” as Christian, she had the responsibility to sell the
bread that the family baked to support itself – even though she was only eleven
years old. This autobiography is a good choice if you want to learn about how a
family lived in hiding during the Holocaust and if you want to understand what
life in occupied Poland might have been like during WWII.
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Toll, Nelly S.
|
Behind the Secret Window: A Memoir of a Hidden Childhood
|
NF
|
L
|
MCHE
|
When she was
only eight years old, Nelly Toll and her mother were hidden in the bedroom of
an apartment in Lwów, Poland. During especially dangerous moments, Nelly hid in
a space within a wall – behind a secret window. To keep her young charge
occupied and quiet, the woman who owned the apartment brought Nelly a journal
to write in and art materials with which to paint. The text of this book is
based upon Nelly’s journal and it is illustrated with the paintings that she
created during her time in hiding. I have had the opportunity to meet Nelly
Toll and view an exhibition of the artwork that she created when she was in
hiding.
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Volavková, Hana, Editor
|
…I never saw another butterfly…: Children’s Drawing and Poems from the
Terzin Concentration Camp 1942-1944
|
NF
|
---
|
JCL
MCHE
|
The Terezin
concentration camp in Czechoslovakia was remarkable among the Nazi camps. One
of the reasons for this is that a large number of artists, musicians, writers, and
teachers, were imprisoned there. Many of these people took it upon themselves
to defy the Nazis and create cultural activities such as concerts and plays and
also to teach classes for children. This book is a collection of artwork and poetry
created by children at Terezin during these clandestine classes. Most of the
children did not survive, but their creative work stands as a testament to
their spirits.
|
Warren, Andrea
|
Surviving
Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
|
NF
|
820L
|
JCL
MCHE
|
Surviving Hitler is the true story of Jack
Mandelbaum, who started his life over again in the Kansas City area after
surviving the Holocaust. It is written
by Johnson County author, Andrea Warren.
Jack’s story is compelling and supported by Warren’s meticulous
research. The text is filled with
historical photographs. This is an
excellent book for middle school students to begin learning about the
Holocaust. A Robert F. Sibert Honor
Book. Those who wish to learn more about
Jack after reading the book should contact the Midwest Center for Holocaust
Education ( www.mchekc.org ), which Jack co-founded with fellow survivor Isak Federman.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
|
Defiance
(Film)
|
2008
|
Rated R
|
JCL
|
This film is
based on the book "Defiance: the Bielski Partisans" by Nechama Tec.
It tells the true story of the Bielski brothers who led a Jewish partisan group
in the forests of Poland and Belorussia. The unique characteristic of the
Bielki partisans is that the group included women, children, and the elderly.
This film is rated R for violence and language but I recommend it because it
realistically depicts a historically violent period of time. I do not feel that
the use of violence or offensive language in the film is egregious or
inappropriate considering the story the film is telling. I recommend that
students age 18 and under watch this film along with their parents.
|
Escape From Sobibor (Film)
|
1987
|
Not Rated
|
MCHE
|
This film
was made for TV and won Primetime Emmy Awards in 1987 and Golden Globes in
1988. It is “Hollywoodized;” what I mean is that the people in the film look
much healthier and cleaner than prisoners in a death camp would really have
looked. There is also an improbable scene where a dance happens in the camp.
Nonetheless, this film tells the true story of a prisoner uprising and escape
at the death camp Sobibor. I use clips from this film in my classroom, but the
whole film is worth watching.
|
One Survivor Remembers (Film)
|
1994
|
Not Rated
|
MCHE
|
This short
documentary film is based on Gerda Weissmann Klein’s autobiography, All But My Life. The film and book tell
of Gerda’s gradual separation from the members of her loving family, her years
spent working in slave labor camps, The death march she endured, the tight-knit
group of friends who helped her survive, and the American soldier who rescued
her. The film won an Academy Award in 1995.
|
Schindler’s List (Film)
|
1993
|
Rated R
|
JCL
|
Schindler’s List, directed by Stephen Speilberg, is a
classic among Holocaust films. It is rated R because of violence and nudity; however,
it is difficult to tell a true story of the Holocaust without these things.
Students under age 18 should watch the film with their parents. The film tells
the story of Oskar Schindler, an industrialist who swindles the Nazis and saves
the lives of more than 1,000 Jews. The film contrasts Schindler with Amon
Goeth, the Nazi officer who has control of the Krakow ghetto and later the
Plaszow concentration camp.
This year, I created a document that gave my
students the link to the Anne Frank website where they could go on a virtual
tour of the annex, learn more about what happened to the actual people in
hiding, learn more about their background, and/or explore the annex and hear
the way Anne described it in her diary.
In the document, I provided a place for each student to add one comment
about what they were learning and one question that they had as they were learning. 
