Kathy Kacer

When the Nazis invade Czechoslovakia in 1942 life for Gabi, a Jewish girl, changes forever and will never be the same.

"Do young people find meaning in the Holocaust? This question prompted a writing project that brought heartfelt responses from students from across North America and abroad. Their voices--in the form of letters, essays, poems, and art--provide ... answers and a hope for a more peaceful and tolerant future"--Page 4 of cover.

Immer in Angst: Als Sechsjährige flüchtet Edith mit ihrer jüdischen Familie 1938 von Wien nach Belgien. Zwei Jahre später sind sie auch dort nicht mehr sicher und gehen nach Südfrankreich. Dort wird ihr Vater verhaftet und kommt in ein Konzentrationslager. Damit sie gerettet werden, bringt Ediths Mutter sie und den kleinen Gaston in ein Haus nach Moissac, wo hunderte jüdischer Kinder, mit Billigung der gesamten Bevölkerung, versteckt werden. Droht Gefahr werden die Kinder in den Wald gebracht und zelten, bis die Nazis abgezogen sind. Eines Tages sind sie hier nicht mehr sicher: Edith nimmt eine neue Identität an und wird in einer katholischen Schule versteckt. Sie hat grosses Glück: Nach dem Krieg findet sie Mutter und Geschwister wieder. Der Vater jedoch überlebt das KZ nicht. Was es bedeutet, als Kind jahrelang in Angst zu leben, sich verstecken zu müssen und zuletzt sogar die eigene Identität aufzugeben, können wir uns kaum vorstellen. Es gelingt der Autorin, uns das eindrücklich miterleben zu lassen: Ediths Schicksal berührt. Eine Bereicherung sind viele schwarzweiss Fotos jener Zeit. Ab 12 Jahren, ****, Irene Beglinger-Flückiger.

Fifteen-year-old Sam's fight to save a wilderness area for endangered eagles helps an autistic girl return to reality and reveals her strange hidden power.

The tragic true story of the ship St. Louis. It left Germany in May 1939 full of Jewish passengers seeking refuge in Cuba, but was denied port in Cuba, the US and Canada before returning to Europe. where many died in the Holocaust. Through the eyes of two children, Sol and Lisa, both of whom survived the war and shared their experiences, we see the journey begin with excitement and hope and end in frustration and fear. The children's chapters alternate with those of the captain, Schroeder, a German who was sympathetic to the Jews. Through his eyes we get the facts that are kept from the children.

This nonfiction book for middle-grade readers tells the true story of nineteen-year-old Jordana Lebowitz's time in Germany, where she went to witness the trial of Oskar Groening, known as the bookkeeper of Auschwitz, a man charged with being complicit in the death of more than 300,000 Jews.

Recounts the story of a group of Jewish children growing up in the Czech town of Budejovice during World War II, who founded a newspaper to document their concerns and the problems they encountered as conditions began to grow worse.

To be a Jewish child in Nazi-occupied Europe meant being earmarked for death. To stay alive would take more that courage; it would take cunning, luck, and at times, the kindness of strangers.

Sara has never been out of the tiny town of Hope, Ontario, where she has been in an orphanage all her life. After a fire destroys the orphanage, clues about her parentage?a medical certificate and a Star of David?lead her to Germany. Despite her fears?she doesn?t speak the language, she knows no one in Germany, and she?s never been on an airplane?Sara arrives in Germany determined to explore her newly discovered Jewish heritage and solve the mystery of her parentage. What she encounters is a country still dealing with the aftermath of the Holocaust. With the help of a handsome, English-speaking German boy, she discovers the sad facts of her mother?s brief existence and faces the horrible truth about her father. Ultimately, the knowledge she gains opens up her world and leads her to a deeper understanding of herself.

But between school, housework, and helping care for her brother, Margit barely has a moment to herself. How can she convince her parents that they have the space, money, and time to open their doors to another child?

When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from, despite the efforts of the nuns who are in charge at the school and who tell her that she is not to use her own name but instead use the number they have assigned to her. When she goes home for summer holidays, Irene's parents decide never to send her and her brothers away again. But where will they hide? And what will happen when her parents disobey the law? Based on the life of co-author Jenny Kay Dupuis’ grandmother, I Am Not a Number is a hugely necessary book that brings a terrible part of Canada’s history to light in a way that children can learn from and relate to.

Hiding Edith tells the true story of Edith Schwalb, a young Jewish girl sent to live in a safe house after the Nazi invasion of France. Edith's story is remarkable not only for her own bravery, but for the bravery of those that helped her: An entire village, including its mayor and citizenry, heroically conspired to conceal the presence of hundreds of Jewish children who lived in the safe house. The children all went to the local school, roamed the streets and ate good food, all without having to worry about concealing their Jewish identity. During Nazi raids, the children camped out until the coast was clear. Intensively researched and sensitively written, this book, illustrated with photographs and maps, both comforts and challenges a young reader's spirit, skillfully addressing both the horrors and hope that children experienced during the Holocaust.

A Holocaust survivor gives Laura Wyman the diary of a girl who lived in the Warsaw Ghetto, with whom Laura can "twin" as she prepares for her Bar Mitzvah, and Laura relates her thoughts and feelings about the young girl's writings and tragic life.