The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson

20 year old Ruth Berger is left behind to brave the Nazis when her plans to escape Vienna and meet up with her Jewish family and fiancée go wrong. Luckily for her, an old family friend, a professor at the college where her father taught, comes to her aid. They come up with the idea to wed, move to Great Britain to get her out of Nazi territory then have their marriage annulled so she can then go to her family and fiancée. However, this story is a romance so things cannot be as simple as that! Of course, Ruth and her rescuer (I don’t want to give his identity away) become attracted to each other. They also have trouble getting their marriage annulled. Complicating matters is that Ruth becomes his student when she enrolls in college in England. There are plenty of obstacles in Ruth's path, and it is never quite clear until the end just who Ruth will end up spending her life with- or even what she wants.

This book has a slow start (it begins when Ruth is a little girl and goes into her family’s background), but it is well worth sticking with. You’ll be into it by the third chapter, I promise! The story never gets too dark in spite of the serious time in which it is set. Ibbotson is excellent at getting her readers emotionally involved into her stories and you will find yourself rooting for the protagonists and wanting to boo at the antagonist, a very annoying student at Ruth's college. This book is both light enough to be a summer read and meaty enough to satisfy readers looking for something to bite into and think about.

Book; 14+; ISBN 978-0142409114; New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993

Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman

Whether you like graphic novels or never considered reading one, this book is a must! Maus tells the true story of Art Spiegelman’s parents’ survival of Hitler’s persecution of European Jews. Spiegelman tells not only the tale of his parent’s survival but of Art’s own coming to terms with his family history. In this Holocaust tale, the characters are depicted as animals: Jews are mice, Germans are cats, French are frogs, Americans are dogs, and Poles are pigs. Art’s father, Vladek enlists in the Polish Army when war breaks out. However, he is Jewish, and when Germany conquers Poland, he and his wife, Anna, are forced to move into a Jewish ghetto. When they learn what will happen to them if they are sent to a Nazi concentration camp, they go into hiding.

This novel does not have a happy ending… yet. It is the first of two graphic novels chronicling Art’s family as they struggle to survive the Holocaust. This graphic novel is sometimes considered an adult novel and sometimes a young adult. The story is harrowing and disturbing, even more so because it is told in pictures. Because everything is illustrated, it does not let your imagination soften the experiences of the Jews during the Nazi regime and the Final Solution. It is very "in your face."

Graphic Novel; ISBN 978-0394747231; New York: Pantheon Books, 1986

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

During the Holocaust, Nazis did not only target Jews. They sent many other groups to concentration camps as well. In late 1930s, Nazi Germany, Liesel’s has lost her family. Her father, accused of being a communist, is sent to a Nazi concentration camp, and her brother has died. Liesel goes to live with a foster family. She has a habit of stealing books, and stole her first book before she was even able to read—a gravedigger’s manual from her brother’s funeral. Her foster father uses this manual to teach Liesel to read. The story is told by Death (you know, the Grim Reaper) as Liesel lives through the war years. Liesel gains an eclectic group of friends and supporters, including the Jewish man hiding in her foster family’s house.

This is a book that is difficult to explain without ruining its experience. It was originally published for adults, but in the U.S. is published for young adults, maybe because it is about a child. Parts can be disturbing, and the book is great to read with others with whom you can discuss it. The Book Thief stands out from the herd of other Holocaust and World War II books, and I highly recommend it.

Book; 14+; ISBN 978-0375842207; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.