I Am a Star is the juvenile non-fiction account of  Inge Auerbacher, who at the age of seven in 1942 was sent with her parents to a concentration camp.  She spend her next three birthdays there.

The book begins,

Of fifteen thousand children imprisoned in the Eterazin concentration camp in Czechoslovakia between 1941 and 1945, about one hundred survived.  I am one of them.  At least one a nd a half million children were killed in the Nazi Holocaust.  The reason most of those children died is that they were Jewish.

Why should one remember these dreadful events? The death of one innocent child is a catastrophe; the loss of such numbers in unimaginable.  Their silent voices must be heard today.  This is why I feel compelled to trace the historical events that made this great evil possible and to tell my own story.

Auerbacher’s story is horrifying and she does give a really good background about the history of the Holocaust so that a child who knows nothing about World War II would learn and understand what happened.  The question that will never be answered though is why?  We know what happened, but we will never truly understand why.

Interspered between the text is a collection of poems written by Auerbacher.  Or I assume that they were written by Auerbacher – there was never really an acknowledgement or explanation of the poems – which is partly why I found the format of I Am a Star a bit disconcerting.  They seemed randomly placed throughout the book.   They did relate to the text though, so I am assuming they were written by Auerbacher.  It’s almost as though the book wanted to be a non-fiction narrative written in verse and also written formally.  I liked both, but maybe they needed to be placed into the book a bit better.

I  enjoyed the photos that accompanied the text.  I always enjoy photos in memoirs, and this was no exception.  I like to visualize what’s going on.  There were a fair number of illustrations.  Again, I’m not sure if these were Auerbacher’s or not.

I really liked I Am a Star and learning about Auerbacher’s story.  If I could recommend only one non-fiction book to read about a child in the Holocaust though, this one would probably not be it.  I just didn’t feel that gut-wrenching horror that I usually feel when I read books about the Holocaust.  I felt removed from the story.  And to tell you the truth, I imagine that the author had to remove herself from her own story just to get past the emotion of bringing it all back to the forefront of her memory.

Overall, I’m glad I read it but it’s not on the best Holocaust memoirs that I’ve read.  I’d recommend something along the lines of I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Button Jackson at about the same reading level.  But don’t discount I Am a Star. Each memoir written about the Holocaust should be valued and their stories heard.  We are losing the survivors to old age, pretty soon we will have nobody left and only their words will be left behind.

Links of interest: Inge Auerbacher website, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Memoir for ages 9-12.
Publisher:  Puffin.  February 1, 1993
Paperback, 96 pages.  ISBN:  0140364013
I Am a Star, Child of the Holocaust is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Passage to Freedom is a story that illustrates that there were Japanese who did heroic things during World War II.  Told from the point of view of five-year-old Hiroki Sugihara, the eldest son of the Japanese consul to Lithuania, Hiroki and his family were friends to all.  Although Japanese, they were invited to celebrate Hanukkah with their Jewish neighbors.  One early morning in July, Hiroki’s life changes forever when hundreds of people began to crowd around the gate of their front house.

Although young, Hiroki recognized the fear in their eyes and their haggard dress.  As Jews from Poland escaping Nazi soldiers, they had all come to see his father and ask if he would give them visas to be able to officially travel to Japan and from there to another country and ultimately freedom.  There were hundreds of refugees and Hiroki’s father could only issue a few and thus would need permission from his superiors in Japan.  When Japan refused, he asked again and when they refused a second time he said, “I have to do something.  I may have to disobey my government, but if I don’t, I will be disobeying God.”

He spoke to the crowd which continually grew larger and made his decision with these words, “I will issue visas to each and every one of you to the last.  So, please be patient.”  For an entire month, there was a line of Polish Jews at their door.  From early morning to late at night, he issued more than three hundred visas.  When the Germans approached and the Soviets ordered his father to leave, they stayed in a hotel and still continued to write visas.  When it was time for the family to leave, refugee’s slept at the train station in hopes of receiving a visa before he left.  It is said that as the train pulled away, refugees ran alongside the train with Hiroki’s father handing permission papers out the window.  He was that dedicated to saving as many lives as he could.

Hiroki Sughihara wrote the afterword and I found it fascinating.  In 1985, his father received the “Rightous Among Nations” Award from the famous Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.  He was the first and only Asian to have been given the honor.  In 1992, six years after his death, a monument to his father was dedicated in his birthplace on a hill known as the Hill of Humanity.  He also heard from many “Sugihara survivors” who still had and treasured their visas that saved their lives.

Dom Lee’s monochromatic wax paintings, in which he scratches out the images are wonderful.  It is a style that I have not seen before, but man, it works.  As far as the text goes, the only thing I would be critical about is that I couldn’t find what Hiroki’s father’s name was anywhere.  I wonder how this piece of information is missing?  Or maybe I just missed it somewhere?  Because the story is told from Hiroki’s point of view as a five-year-old I didn’t even notice this until I was writing this review.

I loved discovering this hero of World War II.  I’d highly recommend Passage to Freedom:  The Sugihara Story for all those who would like to newly discover or revisit this amazing story about a man who’s compassion for others is inspiring.

In addition to Passage to Freedom, Ken Mochizuki is also the author of the picture books Be Water, My Friend:  The Early Years of Bruce Lee,  Baseball Saved Us, Heroes, and the young adult novel Beacon Hill Boys.  Ken Mochizuki joins us today in an amazing author interview (I’m biased, I think all of my interviews are amazing, but in this case, it really is amazing!).  Do go read it.  That is after you read my other reviews of his books that will be posted today as well.

Realizing both theirs and the little boys dire predicament, Sarah and her parents beg the authorities to let them out to rescue him.  But it’s no use.  They are sent to a work camp and from there all the parents are ripped apart from their children and sent straight to Auschwitz.  Sarah as well as babies, toddlers, and young children are literally left to fend for themselves.  Sarah’s only thought is to escape and return back to Paris to let her little brother out of the locked cupboard.

Sarah’s Key is told in alternating time periods.  We also read of Julia Jarmond, a journalist who sixty years later is assigned to write a piece on the Vel d’Hiv commemoration.  As an American living in Paris for more than 20 years, she knows nothing of this piece of history and soon realizes that many Parisians don’t either.  As she gets deeper into her research she discovers that the very home in which they are remodeling once belonged to a family who was rounded up on July 16th, 1942 as part of the Vel d’Hiv roundup.

Julia’s present collides with the past.  What happened to Sarah and her family?  Are they still alive?  What’s their story?  And what happened to the little boy locked in the cupboard?  And why is her husband’s family so secretive about the whole thing?  What do they know that they are not telling her?

I loved the structure of Sarah’s Key, that is, right until about halfway through the book, Sarah’s story ends and Julia’s story took over.  I understood why this happened.  But I loved Sarah’s story the best and was sad to have it end.  I could have been happy to have all Sarah and no Julia.  I also think the book needed to end a good 50 pages before it did.  All the strings got wrapped up a little too well.

But having said that, I loved Sarah’s Key.  It’s books like this one that make me read long into the night.  I couldn’t put it down.  It’s haunting.  How in the world can people treat each other the way they do?  It’s shocking.  I don’t think I will ever forget Sarah’s little brother.  It’s a story that I’ll never forget.

Links of interest:  Sarah’s Key website, more blogger reviews.
Genre:  Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction
Publisher:  St. Martin’s Griffin.  September 30, 2008
Paperback, 320 pages.  ISBN:  0312370849
Sarah’s Key is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Although life is silent for Paula Becker she’s happy in her home with her parents and sister.  But in 1939, Hitler creates T4, the program to euthanize citizens with disabilities and mental illness simply because they would be “better off” and they were not fit for life.  Paula’s parents realized that life is no longer safe at home for Paula, so at the age of thirteen they send her into hiding for the duration of the war.  While hiding she realizes that she’s not the only one who has reason to be afraid:

I shared my shawl and cloths
With the other children.  I liked
Six-year old Nelly.  She
Reminded me of Clara.
We huddled together
All nine of us.
And watched the door.
I darned my stocking
With the needle and thread
I brought along.
Nobody spoke.
We told stories
With our eyes
As we stared into
One another’s faces.

I realized
I wasn’t the only one
Who was hated.

The free verse in T4 is simple, short and to the point but it’s very powerful.  LeZotte gives enough background information about the Holocaust for young readers to understand, but it’s one of those books that would be good to discuss together.  T4 is a quick read (I read it under twenty minutes) that leaves a lasting impression.  Although the subject matter is “no fun” this book leaves me wanting more.

T4 is Ann Clare Le Zotte’s debut novel and like her main character she is also completely deaf.  I’m looking forward to more!  She maintains a blog at Amazon and has a interview that you can check out at Deaf Characters in Adolescent Literature.

The book gives is told mostly from the view of Katarina’s rambling thoughts.  I thought it was a style that worked, as it really took us into her head.  What Katarina cares about is being home with her Aunt and Uncle baking bread, playing with her friends and going to school.  Instead she’s forced to make decisions beyond her wisdom as she seeks safety and refuge in a war that she doesn’t understand.  Katarina tries to survive buoyed by her belief that once the war is over and she goes back home everything will be exactly the way it used to be.

I really enjoyed this quick read but would have enjoyed it better if it didn’t take me three weeks to read this “quick read.”  This book stayed in my car and I read two pages here, three pages there.  This is the type of book that needed to be read in just one or two sittings.  This is another great book to add to Holocaust literature for young readers.  It’s listed as Young Adult but think it would be appropriate for those much younger, in fact I thought it was middle grade fiction until I looked it up.

If you are not familiar with The Complete Maus (Maus I and Maus II), let me briefly fill you in.  It’s  told in alternating viewpoints between Art Spiegelman’s interviewing his father about his survival during the Holocaust in the present and the retelling of those experiences in the past.  It’s also very much about the relationship between Art and his father.  Art has a difficult time understanding his father.  Although the war is long over, it’s effects are still felt every day in their family.

The Complete Maus feels very much like a documentary, one that you would watch on film.  But it’s a memoir, and let’s not forget the most important part about this book:  it’s also a graphic novel.  Different nationalities are depicted as different animals.  The Jews are mice and the Germans are cats representing a evil cat and mouse game.  The Poles are pigs, the Americans are dogs, the French are pigs and so on.

The Complete Maus really surprised me.  I don’t know what I was expecting but I know it wasn’t the father-son relationship, but I liked it.  Art Spiegelman did a great job showing how difficult it was to get his father’s story and how stressful it was to share it with us.  It felt like a full circle story.

I was also surprised that all the animals actually looked like humans with the exception of their heads.  I guess I wasn’t expecting how realistic it was, I thought it would be more “animal-ish.”  After I had this thought, I did some Google searches and of course, fell upon Wikipedia.   There it states that all the animals are drawn alike, because ultimately Spiegelman was showing that all humans are alike and that it’s crazy to try to divide them by nationalistic, religious, or racial lines.  The depiction of animals does make it easier for the reader to digest given the grim topic.  I think it would be hard to read a graphic novel that showed humans being abused in the worst scenarios possible.

The only negative thing that I can say about it is . . . oh dear, do I dare say?  Yes, I do.  I actually thought that the illustrations were pretty awful.  It was hard for me to read nearly 300 pages when the illustrations were not dynamic enough for my tastes.  I guess I was expecting something amazing, the way people were raving about it.  I was disappointed.  Don’t expect anything spectacular.  I think the idea behind the illustrations and the text is what carries this book, not the illustrations themselves.

The Complete Maus is a good addition to Holocaust literature, and it certainly is a unique approach and if you have interest either in the Holocaust or graphic novels, you should give this one a try.  If you don’t have interest in either, it probably won’t be for you.

It wasn’t easy.  She hit roadblock, after roadblock, even traveling to Germany for answers.  Finally she is able to pick up some small clues along the way.  The town she was from:  Nove Mesto in Czechoslovakia.  And then her name appears on the list of people at the Theresienstadt ghetto.  By sheer chance, Fumiko discovers that Hana had a brother named George and is able to speak to someone who knows George and tells her that he’s alive and well in Canada.

George is blown away when he receives a letter in the mail from Japan stating that his sisters suitcase is on display and would he mind sharing her story with them.  Through George we learn that Hana loved to draw, ski, play the piano, and help out in the family store.  He even is able to share family photos, drawings and videos.  George tells Hana’s story from her journey in their hometown, ultimately to Auschwitz.  Hana had always had wanted to be a teacher, and George is touched to know that she was able to have that wish fulfilled, as she taught thousands of Japanese students about the Holocaust.

I was fascinated with this mystery.  Told in alternating viewpoints between Hana’s life in the past and Fukimo’s search for her in the present, I knew that Hana ultimately died in Auschwitz, but part of you hopes that she somehow survives.  I’d recommend this one for those interested in the impact of cross-cultural education and the mystery of uncovering the life of a small child swallowed up in the evils of the Holocaust.

Hana’s Suitcase has an excellent website where you can learn more about Hana, George, and the rest of her family.  There are many wonderful photos (where the ones shown here are from), videos, and updates on her story.  I suggest you visit.  Apparently, her story has been adopted to the stage as well.

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

I only wish that I would have read Hitler Youth sooner as it gave such good insight into how much of Hitler’s success was based upon the youth of that country. The book gives a general background of the more than seven million boys and girls belonging to the Hitler Youth and then delves into the lives of twelve youth, some whom fought against the regime and others who were willing to give their lives for Hitler’s cause.

For those of the Hitler Youth who supported Hitler 100%, I actually felt sorry for them. They were brainwashed and truly believed that turning against their friends, family, and even their own parents was the right thing to do for their country. Hitler was very persuasive and many were caught up in his fervor. I only wish that many of them could have seen the errors of their ways. I was touched by a photo near the end of the book when Allied forces had to reeducate the Hitler Youth and show them what the Hitler regime had actually done by showing them films and taking them to concentration camps to see the devastation firsthand. The photo shows hands over their faces, the wiping away of tears, literally unable to watch what they had done to their fellowmen. I can’t imagine being caught up in the biggest mistake of your life and then having to live with it.

For those of the Hitler Youth who fought against Hitler, I was touched by their bravery and wisdom far beyond their years. It reminded me that young people can do great things that make a huge difference in this world, even when faced with their own deaths.

Hitler Youth is a book that I would urge you to consider picking up. The different accounts were fascinating and touching. It’s a fast read and will stay with you long after you’ve closed the last page. It’s a excellent addition for those of us still asking ourselves, how could this have happened?

Jane Yolen is not a author that’s new to me, in fact I read and reviewed The Devil’s Arithmetic (my book review here) earlier this year. So I found it quite interesting that she wrote not one, but two Holocaust books. But Briar Rose is not like most Holocaust books, it’s the retold story of Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty and the Holocaust?! What a interesting combination. And I say, not like most Holocaust books, because funny enough I read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy (my book review here) earlier last month, which is also a retold fairy tale set during the Holocaust. What are the odds?

Briar Rose is the story of Becca and her grandmother Gemma, who told and retold the Briar Rose fairy tale constantly. Becca knew the story from heart, she’d heard it so often. It isn’t until Gemma is on her deathbed that she reveals that she really is Briar Rose, awakened by the kiss of a prince. Gemma’s life is shrouded in mystery. Not even her own family knows anything about her personal history. Using a single wooden box engraved with briars and roses with random scraps of paper and clippings inside as her only guide, she takes off for Poland determined to find out the meaning of her grandmother’s last words.

It is there that Becca learns of castles, princesses, deep sleep, and being awakened with a kiss. But this is no fairy tale. This is horror, sadness, death, and cruelty. Our fairy tale has turned into death camps, Nazi’s, Jews, gas chambers and mass graves.

I thought that Jane Yolen did an amazing job weaving the two stories into a coherent whole. Briar Rose was a page turner that I could not put down. The only critical thing that I could mention is that the love interest in this story was completely unnecessary and I wonder why it was even there. But that aside, I’d highly recommend this one.

I thought that it was interesting to note that this book was published for adults and then republished as Young Adult. So a good one across the board.

In my book review of The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, I asked the question: is it appropriate to contrive the facts of the Holocaust to fit into a fairy tale story? I couldn’t help but think of that question while reading Briar Rose. I felt that it was perfectly appropriate, very well done, in good taste, and in no way trivialized the Holocaust. In fact, it made me think about it in ways that I haven’t before.

And because I can see the search terms coming in already “Why did Jane Yolen write Briar Rose?” I’d thought I’d include the answer that I found on Jane Yolen’s website:

The idea for an adult novel on the subject of the Holocaust came to me when I was watching the documentary “Shoah” in which the concentration camp Chelmno was described. It was a camp in a castle. Castle, barbed wire, and the gassing of innocent folk. It suggested the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty” in a horrible way. Yet I had recently done a YA novel about the Holocaust–”The Devil’s Arithmetic”–and wasn’t eager to visit that awful research again. But when I had lunch with Terri Windling, the editor of a series of adult novels all based around folk tales, I told her about this camp. She urged me to write the book.

So far, I’ve enjoyed Jane Yolen who is quite the varied and prolific author. Thanks everybody for turning me on to Briar Rose.

I Have Lived a Thousand Years is the memoir of Ellie Friedman (now Livia Bitton-Jackson) and begins when she is a thirteen-year old in Hungary, the summer of 1943. Changes are beginning to happen, her family’s simple life is beginning to change. The Hungarian police begin staging raids on the Jew’s homes, shutting down businesses, requiring registration, Jews must now wear the yellow star and hand over all their possessions. School is shut down and all the Jews are forced to abandon their homes and live in the ghetto.

The ghetto is short lived when Ellie’s family is deported to Auschwitz. The book chronicles Ellie’s suffering in Auschwitz, several other labor camps, train deportations and back to Auschwitz again. Ellie is forced to grow up quickly as she takes care of her mother and is reunited with her almost dead brother. As I was reading, I kept thinking to myself, that there is no way that Ellie and her mother should still be alive. The evil that they witnessed, the work, the starvation, the cold, the heat, death all around them, the savagery of it all is unbearable.

When liberated, Ellie speaks with a middle-aged German woman who comments that the work must have been hard because of her age.

At my age? What does she mean? “We didn’t get enough to eat. Because of starvation. Not because of my age.”

“I meant, it must have been harder for the older people.”

For older people? “How old do you think I am?”

She looks at me uncertainly. “Sixty? Sixty-two?”

“Sixty? I am fourteen. Fourteen years old.”

She gives a little shriek and makes the sign of the cross. In horror and disbelief she walks away, and joins the crowd of German civilians near the station house.

So this is liberation. It’s come.

I am fourteen years old, and I have lived a thousand years.

Isn’t that imagery amazing yet sickening? Elli’s narration is strong, visual, and leaves you with a lingering impression long after the words are gone. Before the concentration camps, Ellie would write poems and meticulously copy them into a notebook. That love of words certainly comes across in her memoir.

I really liked what Livia Bitton-Jackson wrote in the introduction. It’s a bit lengthy, so please forgive me, but I felt the message is so important.

My hope is that learning about past evils will help us to avoid them in the future. My hope is that learning what horrors can result from prejudice and intolerance, we can cultivate a commitment to fight prejudice and intolerance.  It is for this reason that I wrote my recollections of the horror. Only one who was there can truly tell the tale. And I was there.

For you, the third generation, the Holocaust has slipped into the realm of history, or legend. Or, into the realm of sensational subjects on the silver screen. Reading my personal account I believe you will feel – you will know – that the Holocaust was neither a legend nor Hollywood fiction but a lesson for the future. A lesson to help future generations prevent the causes of the twentieth-century catastrophe from being transmitted into the twenty-first.

My stories are of gas chambers, shootings, electrified fences, torture, scorching sun, mental abuse, and constant threat of death.

But they are also stories of faith, hope, triumph, and love. They are stories of perseverance, loyalty, courage in the face of overwhelming odds, and of never giving up.

My story is my message: Never give up.

I highly recommend reading I Have Lived a Thousand Years: Growing Up in the Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson. It’s one that you shouldn’t miss.

I seem to be doing a lot of themed reading this year. The following are reviews of other Holocaust related books that I’ve reviewed this year: The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, Torn Thread by Anne Isaacs, The True Story of Hansel & Gretel by Louise Murphy, The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Sirens and Spies by Janet Taylor Lisle, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, and The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen.

What’s the Holocaust book that you think I should read next?