Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine Date of Publication: 2002 ISBN: 1-896764-55-X Number of Pages: 111

REQUIRED READING ABILITY: JJunior-Average Intermediate-Low
GENRES: Non-fiction/biography
THEMES : Prejudice – Good versus Evil – Family - Loyalty

SUMMARY:
A Japanese Holocaust museum director, Fumiko Ishioka, receives a tattered suitcase from Auschwitz and attempts to find out more about the former owner of the suitcase. We learn about Hana and her family through the stories that Fumiko collects in her search for more information about Hana. Fumiko's search eventually leads us to George Brady, Hana's brother, who now lives in Canada. We learn through George that Hana did not survive the concentration camp.

WHO WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK? A kid who...
- loves to read about history
- is interested in human rights issues
- enjoys stories that go back and forth from present to past
- likes a mystery
- likes stories that are “real” and about “real people”
- is interested in World War II and the Holocaust

WHAT ELSE?
This is a delicate topic, as Hana didn’t survive the Holocaust. Some children will be upset at learning this, but the author handles it very well. Still, consider student maturity to deal with Holocaust issues.

RELATED LINK:
There is a clip about Hana's Suitcase on www.cbc.ca/archives . It is an online video and would be an excellent resource to go with this book. There is also a website, www.hanassuitcase.ca and there has also been a play written about it (see www.lktyp.ca/en/current/hana.cfm ).