Hanas+suitcase+review

Hanas suitcase By: Karen Levine Age 11+ Key words: waisenkind, curator, Jewish, Holocaust

Hanas suitcase by Karen Levine is a true story about a mysterious suitcase that arrived at a children's Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan. "Hana Brady and Waisenkind" was printed in white paint on the suitcase. This is the german word for orphan.

The children in the museum who saw this suitcase were questioning themselves as to who she was. They wanted there questions answered but Fumiko, the curator of the museum could not answer them because she did not know anything about the suitcase.

Fumika ends up searching across Europe and North America for clues about this mysterious suitcase. Through her travels, the mystery takes her back seventy years, to Germany where a young jewish girl named Hana Brady and her family became victims of this historical event. Fumika learns that Hana got killed in the gas chambers, while her brother George survived the Holocaust. Near the end of the book, George tells his story to the kids in the museum about his life and the mystery of Hana's suitcase.

Considering the fact that the story does not contain very graphical, distrubing content, and that the text is easy to read, I would say this story is appropriate to an audience of over eleven.

I noticed that many pictures were demonstrated in the text, to captivate the younger audience and help them better understand.

I find the text to be very effective. It deals with the Holocaust in a way that enabels the younger audience to a have a good understanding of what the story entailed. Students can grasp a lot from learning about the Holocaust and its horrifying past. It is important that we pass this on to generations so that we do not forget how capable human beings are and how evil and powerful they can be. It is important to learn the lessons of the Holocaust, and it is our duty as people to never let this happen again. By keeping their story alive, we can respect the memories of the victims that were thrown into this horrific event.

Considering all of these points, I believe that the text does represent the Holocaust appropriatly, but nothing compared to the real tragic reality.

- Emily Crepeau