Text Set: The Holocaust

I decided to focus on the Holocaust for my text set. Every year I teach The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank and I realized I really could do a lot more with this unit. Each year I do recommend different books to go along with the reading of Anne's diary, but I know I could do so much more.

This text set has really open my eyes to what is out there in terms of books/novels centered around this time period. Some of the texts I included are:


Boas, Jacob. (1995). We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust. New York: Square Fish.

A collection of five diaries written by teenagers during the Holocaust. All of these young adults passed away during this tragic time in history, living in different parts of Europe. Anne Frank is also included in this collection.


Lobel, Anita. (1998). No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
This is a memoir of Lobel’s story of surviving the Holocaust. She tells of being a young Jewish child and all of the horrible things she had to endure (hiding, marches, camps, etc.) The story is written in a first person, child’s viewpoint.


Schloss, Eva, and Barbara Powers. (2008). The Promise. New York: Penguin Group.
Eva grew up in Austria, but she and her family had to flee the country when Nazis took over. The story tells of hiding, concentration camps, and other tragic events that she and her family had to endure. Eva is the step-daughter of Otto Frank.


Zullo, Allan, and Mara Bovsun. (2004). Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust. New York, New York: Scholastic Inc.
Nine children have given testimony to what happened to them in the Holocaust. All of them have different stories to tell and describe. However, they did survive despite everything they had been through and it will inspire those who read their stories.

Melinikoff, Pamela, and Jewish Publication Society of America. (2001). Prisoner in Time. Jewish Publication Society.

Jan is 12 and in hiding from the Nazis. He eventually finds an amulet that takes him back in time to the 16th century where helps a famous Rabbi solve problems involving other Jews in the 16th century.

Polak, Monique. (2008). What World is Left. New york: Orca Inc.
In Holland, Anneke’s life changes when the Nazis invade. She and her family are taken to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp. Here the conditions are harsh and the story tells of her struggles in this camp.

These are seriously just a few non-fiction and fiction books that I added to my text set. Some of my plans for implementing them next year are to assign each student a book of his or her choice and have them read it and add to the reading log.

I would also like to start literature circles. However, that might not be for a while due to a lot of budget cuts and an over all lack of money...but I plan to find a way to do it!

The possibilities are really endless when it comes to this set of texts. I am truly glad this was one of our projects! It is going to be so useful for my students and for myself!