Levine, K. & Sher, E. (2006). Hana’s suitcase on stage. Toronto, Ontario: Second Story Press.
Summary:
This story chronicles the lives of siblings Hana and George Brady, and the director of Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, Fumiko Ishioka, taking place in the late 1930s and 1940s as well as the early 2000s. Hana and George Brady were young Jewish children living in Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia during the 1930s and 1940s when German occupation of Czechoslovakia changed their lives forever. Forced to move to concentration camps, the Brady family is dislocated. Over 70 years later, Fumiko Ishioka living in Tokyo, Japan opens a Holocaust Education Resource Center where she begins to uncover Hana’s and George’s story.
Advisory Information
Themes:
a. Holocaust: This book looks at how Hitler’s discrimination and genocide affected young Jewish children and Europe as a whole. The book goes into detail about the conditions of the concentration camps and later to death camps like Auschwitz. It talks about displacement of families and friends over time and countries and how children were cheated out of a childhood.
b. Love: Throughout Hana’s story there is evidence of love, compassion and kindness. There are examples of Hana’s family giving to the poor, Hana and her brother looking out for each other, and George’s love for his sister that motivated him to tell her story to Fumiko Ishioka.
c. Dedication: Fumiko Ishioka does not give up in her search for Hana and George, despite overwhelming odds.
d. Fighting Racism and Intolerance: Fumiko Ishioka’s Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center promotes the idea that it is our duty as people to ensure that another Holocaust will never be repeated. The ideas of compassion and respect for all cultures are examined through Ishioka’s students at the center and the awareness of Hana’s story through the creation of a play.
Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to intermediate readers aged 8 to 14. I think that early readers would not necessarily understand some of the themes and events of the story. In order for this book to have an impact on children, they need to have a better understanding of the context of the time period as well as abstract ideas such as genocide, racism, and so forth. Furthermore, since this book is about the Holocaust the themes presented in this book are for more mature readers. While the pictures are simply of Hana, her family or her drawings, the text can be graphic for early readers.
Other Information:
Note about the text: This book included both the original story by Karen Levine and the play by Emil Sher.
This story has multiple settings. Places include: Tokyo, Japan; Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia; Terezin (also know as Therecienstadt), Czechoslovakia; Prague, Germany and finally Toronto, Canada.
Reaction:
I found the transitions between Fumiko Ishioka’s searches for Hana’s background with the stories behind Hana’s life to be an effective means of connecting the two stories. As a reader we not only see Hana’s life but can also realize the effects that the Holocaust left on its survivors. After 70 years George is still grieving and tied to the past. Ishioka’s quest for finding information is also evidence of how identities are still stolen and missing today due to Hitler’s policies. I think that this book is a must for anyone studying the Holocaust.
Summary:
This story chronicles the lives of siblings Hana and George Brady, and the director of Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, Fumiko Ishioka, taking place in the late 1930s and 1940s as well as the early 2000s. Hana and George Brady were young Jewish children living in Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia during the 1930s and 1940s when German occupation of Czechoslovakia changed their lives forever. Forced to move to concentration camps, the Brady family is dislocated. Over 70 years later, Fumiko Ishioka living in Tokyo, Japan opens a Holocaust Education Resource Center where she begins to uncover Hana’s and George’s story.
Advisory Information
Themes:
a. Holocaust: This book looks at how Hitler’s discrimination and genocide affected young Jewish children and Europe as a whole. The book goes into detail about the conditions of the concentration camps and later to death camps like Auschwitz. It talks about displacement of families and friends over time and countries and how children were cheated out of a childhood.
b. Love: Throughout Hana’s story there is evidence of love, compassion and kindness. There are examples of Hana’s family giving to the poor, Hana and her brother looking out for each other, and George’s love for his sister that motivated him to tell her story to Fumiko Ishioka.
c. Dedication: Fumiko Ishioka does not give up in her search for Hana and George, despite overwhelming odds.
d. Fighting Racism and Intolerance: Fumiko Ishioka’s Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center promotes the idea that it is our duty as people to ensure that another Holocaust will never be repeated. The ideas of compassion and respect for all cultures are examined through Ishioka’s students at the center and the awareness of Hana’s story through the creation of a play.
Age Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to intermediate readers aged 8 to 14. I think that early readers would not necessarily understand some of the themes and events of the story. In order for this book to have an impact on children, they need to have a better understanding of the context of the time period as well as abstract ideas such as genocide, racism, and so forth. Furthermore, since this book is about the Holocaust the themes presented in this book are for more mature readers. While the pictures are simply of Hana, her family or her drawings, the text can be graphic for early readers.
Other Information:
Note about the text: This book included both the original story by Karen Levine and the play by Emil Sher.
This story has multiple settings. Places include: Tokyo, Japan; Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia; Terezin (also know as Therecienstadt), Czechoslovakia; Prague, Germany and finally Toronto, Canada.
Reaction:
I found the transitions between Fumiko Ishioka’s searches for Hana’s background with the stories behind Hana’s life to be an effective means of connecting the two stories. As a reader we not only see Hana’s life but can also realize the effects that the Holocaust left on its survivors. After 70 years George is still grieving and tied to the past. Ishioka’s quest for finding information is also evidence of how identities are still stolen and missing today due to Hitler’s policies. I think that this book is a must for anyone studying the Holocaust.
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