Books for teenagers with a bit of Jewish history or antisemitism as part of the storyline

[Trulywonderful]

Books for teenagers with a bit of Jewish theme or Jewish history or antisemitism as part of the storyline

Does anyone have any recommendations. The school library has a few books like this but I want to ask them to get more.

I am lucky my multicultural staye secondary school has been good student wise about the conflict. Our students seem to understand it is not appropriate to go around upsetting each other or being political.

However all this makes me realise most non Jewish teenagers one seem to know about Judaism as part of their KS3 or GCSE RS course, so not much. A little about the Holocaust but not always and mostly boy in the stripped pyjamas type thing, so rather useless.

I just think our students would benefit from understand Jewish people a bit better. People fear what they don't know and that can lead to prejudice. Anyway if someone has a suggestion for Jewish themed books to put in a secondary school library that would be awesome

I found this a while ago which was helpful
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/books/reading-lists/holocaust-books-for-young-adults

That is helpful thank you. Definitely a few that look better than we currently have.

Also I want books with a Jewish theme that are nothing to do with the holocaust as well. I think Jewish understanding aside from the holocaust is important too if you know what I mean.

This thread any help? Novels with Jewish themes www.mumsnet.com/Talk/jewish-mumsnetters/4929494-novels-with-jewish-themes

In modern English literature it is unusual AFAIK for antisemitism to appear in any context other than the Holocaust, especially when aimed at young people.

Goodnight Mr Tom touches on it without referencing the Holocaust.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is an excellent book for young teens, regardless of religion. There is a lot of reference to Judaism, though I don't recall any antisemitism.

Oliver Twist is dripping with relatively subtle antisemitism which needs a teacher's guidance to notice, such as the way Fagin is represented through pejorative stereotypes, and is frequently referred to as 'the Jew', rather than by name or role.

Interestingly, Dickens rewrote much of Fagin and the references to him, to reduce the antisemitism, after two Jewish friends of his pointed this out to him.

I am thinking we need more books like this one. Which I really like especially for teen girls

It is a good one they care advice on their own. We have 10 minutes whole school quiet reading each day, to improve literacy across the school. So our school library is well used because they all need to have a book for this.

The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig- probably best for younger teens, it’s quite simplistic in style. It’s the story of Esther’s childhood when she and her family were exiled to Siberia during WW2. Ironically (horribly), this is what saved them from the Holocaust.

A Sparrow in the Snow by Sylva Darel

Stalin-era Soviet Union.

Lynne Reid Banks YA fiction: One More River and Broken Bridge

also for adults, but I read it as a teenager by same author : Children at the Gate

May all be out of print now though

Goodness I should ready start proof reading my posts. The last one mentions literacy too😂

Thank you for your suggestions much appreciated. I will order some of them and read myself first before asking the librarian if she can order them.

I've got Noa Tishby's "Israel: The Most Misunderstood Country In The World" sitting on my bookshelf. Haven't read it yet.

Have other books to get through first - NI SAS v PIRA and Arnold Schwarzenegger's new book.

The Star and the Sword, by Pamela Melnikoff amzn.eu/d/7TBHBLK

Historical fiction for up to about Y8. Set in the Middle Ages, references Clifford's Tower, the Crusades, a pogrom and its justification, and casual anti-semitism. (Not as grim as it sounds!)

My only problem with it is that, although the reason for the young Jewish protagonists to fear revealing their Judaism is made clear multiple times, each time they reveal it everything turns out fine. It suggests a feeling of what were they worried about? Or a feeling of oh, these Jews were as brave and honourable as a Christian, so these Jews are OK. Though it's many years since I read the book, so I could be mistaken. Certainly as a child I found it very tense and exciting. On a par with Harry Potter's brushes with danger 😄

Hi OP - don’t know if you’re still looking but Judith Kerr’s When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a good option. Many current teens will have read The Tiger Who came To Tea when they were younger so reading a book based on the authors own life story may help them relate a bit more and build more empathy. It’s a good one to read together for younger teens or pre-teens, if your child still lets you do that with them!

The Alan Gratz books are very engaging and good for early to mid teens 10/11-13 sort of age range. They’re fiction but against the backdrop of history.

Lois Lowry ‘Number the Stars’ is a good read too and tackles from the POV of a non-Jewish girl whose best friend is Jewish during ww2 occupied Copenhagen.

Tom Palmer’s Resist has a similar theme to the above.

a book written very soon after the wall, called Friedrick is also very good as it shows a ‘friend’ POV but is very good at demonstrating (without sensationalising the issue), how it was a gradual creep and how people lost their rights and dignity quite slowly in the beginning and over a period of time before it eventually escalated. It shows how social pressures and normal impulses like wanting to belong to a group, would encourage boys who originally weren’t particularly antisemitic, to join Hitler Youth after which the step into ignoring/condoning/endorsing/participating in antisemitism was thereafter an easy leap.

I found Friedrich devastating when I read it as a young teen. Worth reading it yourself, first, if your dc is particularly sensitive.

A good story about influencing children is The Children's Story, by James Clavel. Nothing to do with Judaism, but I would consider it relevant. It's about a class of young Americans and their new teacher, just after losing a war with (presumably) a communist country. It's written for adults, I think, despite the childlike language and POV, but would be accessible to a mature teen.

When I lived in modern times by Linda Grant

https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-I-Lived-Modern-Times/dp/1862074046

Really great book documenting the foundation of the Jewish state and the early pioneers. I think it contains some sex scenes though? Not sure if that’s allowed in schools

Thank you for these book suggestions everyone

You are all stars and if anyone thinks of anything else then continue to add to this list

It is going to take me a while to read all of these to check what is suitable but I think it will be worth it

Thank you for this thread OP! My DD is a good reader and I want her to learn about her heritage in an age appropriate way so i was looking at what books to buy her

On the holocaust/WW2
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11586

On anti-Semitism
https://associated.org/stories/reading-room/

https://www.adl.org/education-and-resources/resources-for-educators-parents-families/childrens-literature?f%5B0%5D=topic%3A1581

I'm actually looking for one I read as a young person that starts with a woman climbing the stairs to a flat ... where she was hidden as a Jewish girl by a Catholic family. She converted and I think the novel was about her reconciling her past. It was called something like a Patch of Sky or a Patch of Blue and I'd love to read it again!