Today, January 27, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Earlier this month, I reviewed Broken Strings, by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer, and I highly recommend it to middle grade teachers, 4th to 8th grades. There's an excellent free teaching guide available from the publisher.
If you're looking for non-fiction units, Andrea Warren's non-fiction book, Surviving Hitler, is a bit older but has some excellent free resources as well and is based on her extensive interviews with the subject of the book, Jack Mandelbaum.
REVIEW
Shirli Berman auditions and gets a role in her middle school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. It's not the lead singing role she wanted, but she is playing the part of an old Jewish mother, and decides to ask her Zayde, her grandfather, if he can help her prepare for the part by remembering his deceased wife and her family before World War II. It's a year after the Al-Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers on 9-11.
As she's rummaging around in the attic in a trunk for clothes for period costumes, she comes across a violin case and a poster of her grandfather -- in a band! She's never heard her grandfather play, nor has he ever, not once, mentioned that he played violin or that other members of his family played instruments, too. In fact, he won't listen to music, or come to listen to her sing in recitals or performances, like Fiddler. But she never thought to ask him, why? She's fairly certain the people in the poster, advertising a performance, are her grandfather's family, all killed in the Holocaust, but she's afraid to ask too much about them for fear of upsetting her grandfather.
In the meantime, there's a boy, a super-cute one (a football player) a grade above her, who also got a role in the play -- as her Fiddler old man husband! And eyebrows quickly raise with their chemistry on stage.
Her Zayde finds the violin and poster she's unearthed, and at first he's very angry and locked in a world of hurt. But as he opens up to Shirli about his past, about what happened to his family during the Holocaust, he eventually decides to do something amazing.
I won't reveal what it is, but it's super-touching, and leads to, ultimately, a stronger bond with his granddaughter and perhaps some healing, while Shirli discovers her musical roots and explores a crush.
A great story for middle grade readers!
Teachers Note: There is a six page educator's guide offered by the publisher. It includes information about the authors, pre-reading discussion ideas, ideas for learning activities, such as keeping a reading journal and providing writing prompts for students, ideas for additional research, and more discussion questions.
