Use Art to Show Life and Death During the Holocaust

Reviews

Skipping Stones Honor Award for Teaching Resource

Children's Literature Review
This comprehensive, interdisciplinary guided study of the events that led to the Holocaust is designed to be used in a classroom situation. In addition to explaining the German decline that led to the scapegoating of Jews post-World War I, the book delves into the rise of National Socialism, Hitlers rise to power, the government-condoned prejudice against Jews, Romani, homosexuals, political prisons, and the disabled, among others. The author takes pains to explain the systemic destruction of approximately 75% of European Jews. In an attempt to inspire creative thinking about the Shoah and genocide in a more general way, sidebars and cartoons suggest vocabulary exercises, art and writing projects, and further exploration of internet sites accessible through QR codes with a cell phone, or through links provided to resource sites. . . . Six states in the U.S. have a required Holocaust curriculum and this will be a useful addition to their teaching.  Extensive backmatter includes glossary and resources.

Booklist
“This informative history of the persecution of the Jewish population during WWII begins by covering anti- Semitism from its beginnings through the Holocaust. It recounts Hitler's rise to power, his founding of the Nazi party, and the increasing prejudices shown during that period toward Jews and others, such as the Romani people. It explains how these prejudices led to the Final Solution, the systematic mass murder of the Jews in concentration camps... Readers will gain an understanding of why they must ensure that genocide on any scale never happens again. This is a good overview of the topic for middle-grade history classrooms.”

The Children’s War Blog
“This history of the Holocaust is such a complicated, often confusing history that teaching it can be difficult - especially to upper elementary/middle school students. Most students have read novels that take place during World War II and the Holocaust, and while they certainly help to explain things, teaching the facts can still be difficult. How do you reckon the intentional destruction of 11 million people, including the attempted extermination of the entire Jewish race, 6 million of whom did indeed die at the hand of the Nazis, with the desire of one man bent on achieving his own ends of creating a master race.

So what makes this book different? The Holocaust: Racism and Genocide in World War II is not a book where the student passively receives information. This is an interactive book that helps readers understand the Holocaust using the Inquire and Investigate section found at the end of each chapter. Students are taught the use and value of primary sources, and there are activities for them that pertains to the particular chapters being studied. . .” Read the complete review online.