Holocaust Picture Books

A grandmother tells her granddaughter the story of the charm bracelet that represent her own childhood experiences while she and her family tried to evade the Nazis in Italy during World War II.

I Will Come Back For You
By:  Marisabino Russo
New York : Schwartz & Wade, 2011.
Reading Level 2.9


In 1938 Berlin, Germany, a cat sees Rosenstrasse change from a peaceful neighborhood of Jews and Gentiles to an unfriendly place where, one November night, men in brown shirts destroy Jewish-owned businesses and arrest or kill Jewish people. Includes facts about Kristallnacht and a list of related books and web resources.

Benno and the Night of the Broken Glass
By:  Meg Wiviott      Illustrated by:  Josee Bisaillon
Minneapolis, MN : Kar-Ben Pub., 2010.
Reading Level 3.1



After many years of watching the solemn lighting of seven candles at Rosh Hashanah, Eli finally learns how those candles represent his family's connection to the Holocaust in Lithuania.

Eli Remembers
By:  Ruth Vander Zee   Illustrated by:  Bill Farnsworth
Grand Rapids, Mich. : Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2007.
Reading Level 5.4


The life of Anne Frank, from birth until being taken from the hidden attic by the Nazis, is presented in this haunting, meticulously researched picture book. It is a compelling yet easy-to-understand "first" introduction to the Holocaust as witnessed by Anne and her family.

Anne Frank
By: Josephine Poole Illustrated by: Angela Barrett
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Grade Level 3-6
Reading Level 3.8

Two Jewish sisters, escapees of the infamous Warsaw ghetto, devise a plan to thwart an attempt by the Gestapo to intercept food bound for starving people behind the dark Wall.

The cats in Krasinski Square
By:  Karen Hesse   Illustrated by:  Wendy Watson
New York : Scholastic Press, 2004.
Grade Level 3-6
Reading Level 4.3


Traces the life of the young Jewish girl whose diary chronicles the years she and her family hid from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic.

A Picture Book of Anne Frank
By: David A. Adler   Illustrated by:  Karen Ritz
New York : Holiday House, c1993.
Reading Level 5.2

Disguised as a nurse, Irena Sendler covertly rescued nearly four hundred children from the Warsaw ghetto, smuggling them out in trucks, potato sacks, and coffins; teaching them Catholic prayers to disguise their origin; and finding them shelter in homes and convents. Farnsworth's dramatic oils convey the danger and urgency of Sendler's mission, which Rubin details with brisk clarity.

Irena Sendler and the children of the Warsaw Ghetto
By:  Susan Goldman Rubin  Illustrated By:  Bill Farnsworth
New York : Holiday House, c2011.
Grade Level 4-7
Reading Level 5.9

The story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic social worker who helped rescue nearly 2500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.

Irena's Jars of Secrets
By:  Marcia Vaughan  Illustrated By:  Ron Mazellan
New York : Lee & Low Books, 2011.
Reading Level 6.2

A woman recalls how she was thrown from a train headed for a Nazi death camp in 1944, raised by someone who risked her own life to save the baby's, and finally found some peace through her own family.

Erika's Story
By:  Ruth Vander Zee  Illustrated By:  Roberto Innocenti
Mankato, MN : Creative Editions, 2003.
Grade Level 3-6
Reading Level 4.6

Every year a family celebrates Hanukkah by retelling the story of how Grandma and her sister managed to mark the day while in a German concentration camp.

One Candle
By:  Eve Bunting  Illustrated By: K. Wendy Popp
[New York] : Joanna Cotler Books, c2002.
Reading Level 2.9



A young girl named Rose Blanche watches as the streets of her town fill with German soldiers and tanks. Then, one day, she follows a truck into the woods, where she discovers a terrible secret. This acclaimed book, illustrated by Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Roberto Innocenti, contrasts the innocence of childhood with the horrors of war

Rose Blanche By: Gallaz, Christophe and Innocenti, Roberto  Illustrations By: Roberto Innocenti
Creative Paperbacks, p1995, c1985
Reading Level 3.2
Level 3-6