Thank you, Sourcebooks Kids for the eARC of this powerful book.
This graphic novel tells the stories of six children who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. I think this would be an excellent introduction to the events of the Holocaust for students in upper elementary or middle school. Each chapter is fairly short, with incredibly powerful illustrations, which could open up a dialogue, or allow students to look more deeply into one story or aspect of the Holocaust. I really appreciated how the book ended with photos of each of the people whose stories were told, as well as more details about their life. I would definitely recommend this as a starting place when talking to students about the Holocaust.

Amazing! This book tells the incredible stories of six survivors of the holocaust. The six children in question have different backgrounds and different experiences during World War II and these are shared in a graphic novel format. The illustrations are incredible and add so much to the feel of the stories.

I am a firm believer that all children should be taught about the events of the Second World War in an age appropriate way and despite explaining some extremely distressing events, this book does this. I will be strongly recommending that the children I work with (9-11) have access to this book.

A great graphic novel. The stories of Holocaust survivors told in a medium that can draw in young and old readers alike and help to start conversations. I found the artwork stylized and lovely and the stories were shorter tales through a range of lives lived. I think this will be a great tool to help younger people understand what the Holocaust was and why it still needs to be remembered.

This is such a great graphic novel! Being a teacher it is hard to teach the subject of the Holocaust in a way that brings the topic justice but also be engaging for the students. This graphic novel does the perfect job of bringing the topic to a younger generation in a medium they would actually appreciate and use. I can already see several of my students who would not only read this but learn from it! As soon as physical copies are available I will be buying some for my classroom!

Survivors of the Holocaust is a compilation of six kids' experiences leading up to and during the Holocaust. This graphic novel does a great job of explaining historical places and events of significance (such as Kristallnacht and camps like Dachau) but without being overly graphic about them. This book is definitely for middle grade readers, as the stories are short and quite simple. It was brilliant to put this into graphic form--I wish I had had this when I was younger.

ARC provided free from Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

I received this electronic book through NetGalley

As a librarian I am on the lookout for ways to present history to children through books.

These 6 stories of survival are heartbreaking, but written in a way that is easy for children to understand. It is important to keep teaching generations about the horrific history of the Holocaust, in hopes that history never repeats itself... I love the "What happened next?" section because you can connect to the characters even further.

I would recommend this book.

This graphic novel perfectly illustrated the horror and hardship that children had to face during World War 2 and the Holocaust. It pulled stories from four survivors in Germany and abroad and illustrated their stories in a touching and heart wrenching way. This graphic novel would be perfect for preteens and above who want to know more about this fateful time in international history. It keeps the stories of survivors alive and easy to comprehend. I loved this graphic novel and will return to it again and again.

This is in comic-strip form and really easy to read. It is accessible for readers aged around 6 years+ but could be used in older classes too.

The illustrations are simple but beautiful and the stories are told without being too filled with the horrors that occurred.

I would definitely have a copy of this in school for the children to peruse.

A very good introduction of the Holocaust experience for children. The six stories were short, but impactful. I could quickly connect with each of the children in their individual stories. The graphics were really good as well. I highly recommend.

Quick thoughts

Thank you to Sourcebooks Explore for the advanced eARC of this book.

The graphic novel aspect of this book and the subject it is addressing is perfect for introducing children to the Holocaust. I enjoyed the manner in which the survivors' stories were told without holding back from this dark time in history. I can see this being useful in middle grades classrooms. One could go into further historical context with many of these stories. This could potentially be great for high school age students and perhaps even a supplementary college read. Frankly, I was not aware of some things such as the internment camps in England. This was a powerful book that should be exposed to readers of all ages.

Such a powerful book! I love that it is in graphic novel form. This is going to open up the history of the Holocaust to a new generation. These stories are difficult and thought-provoking. The illustrations bring the horror of what happened alive.

Survivors of the Holocaust by Kath Shackleton is a brilliant non fiction graphic novel that tells the story of six children who survived WWII and the Holocaust. Talking about the Holocaust to children has always been tricky. You might be able to explain it to them, but they are at an age where they might not be able to comprehend what you are explaining. I think that this book will be able to help with that problem immensely. The illustrations and the colors were chosen extremely well and did a terrific job visualizing the story for the reader. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in learning about WWII or the Holocaust. I give this novel a five out of five stars for terrific storytelling and great illustrations. When this novel is released, I will definitely bee recommending my library to purchase it.

It was with great excitement that I downloaded a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley as my library patrons avidly read everything that I can give them on the Holocaust and for “Survivors of the Holocaust” to be in graphic novel format made it all the more appealing to this librarian. I will not, however, be purchasing this one for either of my middle grades campuses. I gave one of my two stars for the back matter included in this title. The additional information/photos of the six survivors and how they lived the later part of their lives, the timeline, and the glossary were excellent. The second star was assigned for the stark and sometimes too realistic illustrations. Truly the art conveyed the violence and evil of the Nazi regime, its horrific attacks on those deemed unworthy, and the horror of the prison camps. But this title is intended for ages 10 and up and several of the illustrations would likely cause great distress among teachers and parents of my students. Conversely, the text of Kath Shackleton’s book is, overall, very simplistic. My ARC had a section that read: “I loved Paris. It was a lovely life. It was a cultured life.” Adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, compound and complex sentences were seldom used. My 10 and ups need higher quality text and randomly throwing in words like “rue” and “furtively,” especially with little context surrounding them, just isn’t enough. The six survivors of Hitler’s atrocities clearly had devastating experiences, but with the overly abbreviated and juvenile sounding narrative, their potentially powerful stories fell terribly short. Those looking for a more effective middle grades WWII graphic novel should look into Loic Dauvillier’s “Hidden.”

I know the Holocaust is a very hard topic to write about, especially for children. That being said, I think this book would be great for older readers, 5th grade and up, even though it appears to be marketed towards younger children. I enjoyed reading about each of the children, and also seeing what happened to them when they grew up. The illustrations are unique and childlike, which is why it appears aimed at younger children. I am a k-4 librarian, and sadly, this book will be ‘too much’ for many of my students.

Survivors of the Holocaust is a powerful graphic novel that portrays the horrors of Nazi Germany and the eventual war from the eyes of six Jewish children who survived. It’s a deeply personal, tragic retelling from multiple perspectives, showing how terrifying war can be to a young child who doesn’t understand what’s going on and why. One boy and his family managed to escape but were interred in camps after arriving in England. A young girl was saved by her neighbor as she watched her parents get taken by the Nazis. Another older boy recounts his days in the camps and the horrors of starving every moment of every day. All of them lost friends and family. Some lost a few, some lost everyone.

No experience is the same but each shares similarities. Through it all, we see the absolute evil of the Holocaust and its perpetrators. We see the fear that descended like a cloud across Europe. Above all, we see perseverance against all odds, of children fighting to survive and live a life of freedom and opportunity. Each of these children went on to do great things, and their stories are essential reading for all ages.

A well done graphic novel that tells the stories of people who survived the Holocaust as children. I would definitely recommend this for middle grades to learn about this history from the viewpoint of other children or help them relate to the horrors.. I also like that they let you know what the children went on to become as adults.

This book is a heartbreaking but necessary read. The depictions of what these survivors went through are upsetting. I recommend teachers and parents read this along with middle graders so that they can discuss it with them.

These 6 stories of survival are heartbreaking, but written in a way that is easy for children to understand. It is important to keep teaching generations about the horrific history of the Holocaust, in hopes that history never repeats itself... I love the "What happened next?" section because you can connect to the characters even further.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An interesting recounting of six different Holocaust survivors' stories, retold in graphic novel format for late elementary/middle school aged children. The stories were very brief and didn't contain many details of the survivors' day-to-day lives, which kept the stories moving but harder to connect with. The graphic novel format added to the stories and filled in some of those gaps. I did find myself wishing the people were drawn in a more realistic and less stylized way. I think this book will be a good way to introduce students to the variety of survivors' stories of the Holocaust in a brief but age-appropriate and effective way, but those looking for more detailed accounts will have better luck elsewhere.

Presenting six tragic stories of the Holocaust through the memories of six people, then children, who experienced first hand has (to my knowledge) rarely, if ever, been done in the form of a graphic novel and I think it really works. Whilst the illustrations are particularly basic and could benefit from being less so in order to capture younger readers, the stories and the illustrated version of the children are really compelling.

The book is divided into six sections, one for each child, and showcase the events starting with the Nuremberg Law in 1935 legalising anti-Jewish measures, Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass, various concentration camps including Dachau and Auschwitz-Birkenau, air raids in the Blitz and Mengele's cruelty. I was really impressed with the scale of this and what this novel achieves in fairly few words. Many of these terms may be unknown to younger readers, for whom I think this text is best intended, and for this reason the author has helpfully included a simplified glossary of terms to help familiarise or explain such terms. Equally there is a nice addition at the end of the book detailed what happened next to each of the children.

The scale of the destruction is uncomfortable but important to share: 6 million people died during this time, but over one and a half MILLION of those people were children. The six voices speaking into the dark here, the six children featured in this story, are now adults who not only want their voices heard, their stories told but want texts like these to be popular choices on the shelves of schools to help educate a younger generation to learn from the mistakes of some of their predecessors. It's easy to think that something like this, of such a magnitude, would never happen again; books like this hopefully contribute to making that a reality. I love that the author has thought to put this into graphic novel form - it works, it's original and I think it will certainly resonate with young readers without causing too much distress or being too dense in the way that a heavier novel might do.

ARC provided free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.