Hana's Suitcase

This is a true story in which Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the Tokyo Education Resource Center in Tokyo, Japan, reaches out to museums for artifacts with which to teach Japanese children about the Holocaust. After much effort, she was given a package of items, of which one, a suitcase which had

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belonged to Hana Brady, a Czechoslovakian child murdered by the Nazis, motivated her to teach others about the Holocaust by breaking the experience down to just one individual and searching for more information about her.

This book is written for school-age children, but it is well worth reading by any adult. I was surprised that anyone in Japan with their own suffering during World War II would put so much effort into learning about a Jewish child in Europe. However, the theme is the importance of learning about others who differ from ourselves culturally and seeking the human and decent things about them-- thereby learning how we are all more alike than different.

The book not only tells Hana's story well, but it provides photographs to bring it alive and much closer to to hearts of those who read it. It’s beautifully done.

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This is an amazing story of Fumiko Ishoka’s search to teach the children of Japan, another part of the war, to teach them tolerance and compassion. Fumiko is the curator for the Children’s Holocaust Centre in Tokyo. She decides that she needs items for display and asks the Auschwitz Museum for

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items. The Museum sends her among other things, a child’s suitcase. Written on the suitcase was “Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, Waisenkind (the German word for orphan).” Fumiko and the children within the holocaust centre became obsessed with finding out more about Hana Brady and what had happened to her.
This book surprised me as I did not expect the origin of the museum to be Japan. They were fighting their own war at the time and had other issues to deal with. It was very impressive that a young woman could impact the young children so much that they would become as passionate as Fumiko. Throughout the book, the chapters switch back and forth between the search with Fumiko and Hana’s life. The photograph’s in the book make a major impact on the story. It is a wonderful story with a bittersweet ending. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone.

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Exactly what a non-fiction book should be: compelling, readable, informative and enlightening. This is the perfect introduction to the Holocaust for young readers, but it does so in a gentle way and in a creative way. I could not put this book down.

Hana's Suitcase is the true story of a Children's Holocaust Museum in Tokyo that receives a suitcase from the Auschwitz Centre with the name Hana Brady stamped on it. The curator in Tokyo, Fumiko, has no idea who Hana was, but the children who visit the museum are fascinated by the suitcase. The

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German word for "orphan" is stamped on the outside, along with the date May 16, 1931. The children are surprised to discover that Jews their age were sent to concentration camps, separated from their parents, and often died. Fumiko goes on a journey to uncover Hana's story, to try to help the children in Tokyo understand the horrible things that happened during WWII.

This book switches between Hana's life, and the life of Fumiko and the children she works with. The stories are woven together to show the link between past and present, and to demonstrate the lessons that can be learned through history. Hana's Suitcase is a children's book, aimed at 8-10 year-olds, but its subject is one to which anyone can relate. I think that the Holocaust is something that everyone should learn about, but it is difficult to find material for young children. This book is perfect for its age group - it doesn't skirt the issues, but it isn't graphic in content.

This was a great little read - I don't want to call it enjoyable, because of its content, but it was definitely interesting and touching. If you have an interest in the Holocaust, then Hana's Suitcase is a book that I highly recommend.

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Poignant story of a young girl's World War II experiences. I enjoyed hearing about the researcher and her efforts to discover who the suitcase belonged to and find the story behind it/her.

Karen Levine tells the powerful story of how the curator of the Tokyo Holocaust Museum's children's program acquired a child's suitcase from Auschwitz and then, with the encouragement of a small group of children, traced the history of the owner - Hana Brady. Chapters alternate between Hana's life

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story and the story of how Fumiko Ishioka determinedly sought any information that would help her discover something about the mysterious "Hanna". The moving story of both Hana and the discovery of the links to her life allows children and adults to have a further understanding of the impact of the Holocaust. The inclusion of primary documents is an excellent introduction to the power of archival research. Well written and simply told, it should be in every elementary and middle school library.

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My rating is for the audio book. It deserved 5 stars because of the audio of actual CBC interviews with two of the major people in the book, and much fewer stars because the readers attempt at different accents was not successful – the Japanese sounded exactly like the German. It was especially

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irritating when you heard the Japanese character's own voice in the CBC interview!

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This is the true story of young Hana Brady, her parents, and her older brother, George, and how their happy life in a small town was turned upside down by the invasion of the Nazis.

A Japanese museum curator researching and setting up a Holocaust exhibit receives a suitcase and examines the

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contents, putting her in contact with a brother of the victim. The story switches back and forth between modern day Japan and WWII Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe.
George, who survives Auschwitz, immigrates to Canada after the War and settles in Toronto. The story describes how he was found and contacted to pay a visit to the museum and share his sister’s story.

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A true story. A museum curator in Japan requested some items from Europe that had been possessions of Holocaust victims. She was sent a suitcase that belonged to a little girl. Some Japanese children were curious about the little girl and they began to see what they could find out about her. A sad

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yet lovely story.

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I hadn't heard of this book when I saw it at the visitor's center at Terezin but what caught my attention was the connection between the Holocaust and Japan. Two separate arenas of WW II coming together under the idea of understanding 60 years later.

Although short, this book is very powerful. It

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makes the Holocaust something very real. It's not abstract when it's brought to your face in the form of a little girl and young school kids' desire to understand. It's a good book for those wanting to understand or introduce the Holocaust to a young audience because it puts it in terms they can understand.

Released about 2 yrs ago (7/2/2007 2:00:00 PM BX time) at RABCK in RABCK, RABCK -- Controlled Releases

RELEASE NOTES:

Book Mooch

This book has already traveled undocumented from the Czech Republic to NY via Switzerland and London. Lucky it didn't get deported for traveling without papers. :)

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Hana's suitcase is a sad true story.I do not reccomend this book to people who can't read about sad storys.When i first read this book i felt so sorry for the Brady family one out of four survived.I wonder what happened to Hana's friend Ella.Did she die in the gas shower to?Who knows but this is a

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great book to read!!!!!!!!!!!!

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This is a carefully crafted story of a Jewish Czech girl in the 1940s. The book evolved from a research project a holocaust museum in Japan was working on. The museum had requested some artifacts from Auschwitz, and one day a suitcase came in the mail from Europe. A group of young girls that were

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regular patrons of the museum desperately wanted to find out the story of "H. Brady" the name on the suitcase. One of the museum curators took on this project and that's how the book came about. It is the combined story of H. Brady and her life in Czechoslovakia prior to being arrested, and sent to a camp, and the search to uncover who H. Brady was. The book is written at an upper elementary level, but it's interest level is limitless. I've used it with drop level language arts students and advanced students too, all groups in between enjoyed the book. The book is about 100 pages, large print, primary source graphics and broken into short 2-3 page sections or chapters. It is engaging, and easy to read.

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This book is about a brother and sister, Hana and George Brady, who lived a normal life until the war started and they, along with their parents, were sent to concentration camps. This book is a sad book, it deals with a sad topic in a hard time in history. I would read this to my older students,

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maybe 4th or 5th grade. The story is set up between modern times in Japan and the small town of Nove Mesto in Czechoslovakia. It is set up in a very interesting way, going back and forth between present and past. Not only does this really add to the story, but it also gives readers a break from the heavy material in this book. I like students to read this book to better understand what has happened in the past.

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Hana’s Suitcase is the story of one woman’s successful attempts to bring the Holocaust alive for Japanese children. It is also the story of Czech Jew Hana Brady and her brother George, who survived the Holocaust without knowing his sister’s final fate. Fumiko Ishioka, Director of the Tokyo

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Holocaust Education and Resource Center, wanted to have just one item from the Holocaust that Japanese children could touch and relate to – so they would really understand the harsh reality of the Holocaust. Fumiko was given Hana’s suitcase. On behalf of the Japanese children who visited the museum, Fumiko worked tirelessly to find out more about Hana. The book tells this story. It is a wonderful testament to the good people of this world who make a difference in the lives of children everywhere. And in some ways, Fumiko’s quest reunited George with the memory of his sister.

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Hana’s Suitcase was a very enjoyable book for many reasons. The first reason is the way that Hana and George’s life used to be. I thought that it was fun to know how their lives were before they went to a concentration camp. Even though I got to learn about the happy times, the book was also

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very sad. Hana and her brother never saw their parents anywhere they went, and living at a camp was torture. I thought it this book was very informational, interesting, and sad.

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Hana's suitcase is truly a triumph on all fronts... rather a master-class in authentic inquiry and object literacy. The story is, in fact, really two stories in one - and the chapters alternate between Hana's childhood in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s and 40s, and Fumiko's work from the Tokyo

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Holocaust Education Center, beginning in early 2000. The author has made a conscious effort to make this difficult subject matter more accessible to young readers, delivering the content in very child-friendly prose. Even the font is a little larger, and the chapters are a little shorter. As well, the reproductions of primary source documents such as artifacts, letters, drawings, and personal family photographs, give readers an additional sense of intimacy and insight into the short life of Hana Brady. Students will quickly find themselves absorbed in the mystery of the little suitcase and the life of its owner.

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An engaging tale, Hana's Suitcase is a sweet story chronicalling the search by Fumiko Ishioka, a museum director in Japan, after making a promise to a group of school children that she would find out more about a suitcase put up for display. Her search takes her all over the world, from Japan to

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Europe to even Canada. And from that small suitcase with the word 'waisenkind', or orphan painted on the outside of it, we explore just how wide-ranging the effects of WWII were. This is one of the rare tales students will be able to read that truly encompasses a global perspective. Geared towards upper elementary or middle school, the story flows from page to page and before you know it, the ending is there and it truly makes you sit back and think.

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Hana's Suitcase is a story that spans many years.In early 2000 a suitcase arrived at a Holocaust education centre in Tokyo, Japan. The words written on the suitcase were this: Hanna Brady, May16, 1931 and Waisenkind (orphan). Wanting to know more a dedicated woman set out to uncover Hana's story.

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Hana's story is tragic but, valuable. It tells of the horrors of war, separation and tragedy.It teaches all of us who live today how lucky we are. A very powerful story for all who read it.

Hana's Suitcase has won many awards including: the Canadian Library Association's Children's Book of the Year, Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch Award, Canadian Jewish Book Award, Association of Jewish Libraries Award for Best Children's Book of the Year, Ontario Library Association's Golden Oak Award and was also a nominee for the Governor General's Award

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Interesting, sad [true] story about the Holocaust told in terms of its impact on the life of Hana, a young Jewish girl. Hana suffers horrible injustice, including gradually being separated from her family, and is ultimately killed in a concentration camp.

However, a museum director in Japan wants to

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uncover Hana's story and make it known to a group of local children, as well as to others; she goes to great lengths to track down articles from Hana's life, and ultimately finds Hana's brother, George, who is able to give more information. Many gain new insight on the atrocity that was the Holocaust through learning about Hana's story; thus, a tragic story seems to bring history to life for a group of children [and no doubt, others as well]. It seems that this story could have a similar effect on students who read it.

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Such a beautiful and touchy story on child's story of the Holocuast and how it was discovered. Fumiko and the children began wondering about a suitcase that had Hanna written on it. Fumiko was going to make sure she finds the story behind it for the kids. Fumiko does whatever it takes to find out

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about Hana. Hana was a little girl that lived during the holocuast. She was seperated from her family and put into a concetration camp. This book tells the story in detail of what Hana had to go through. Does Hana survive and reunite with her family? Does Fumiko find all the missing pieces? This is a great story to have children read when teaching about the Holocuast. They are able to relate better being that the story is about a child and her point of view

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Hana’s Suitcase is a story of heartbreak and hope. Fumiko Ishioka, the curator of a holocaust museum in Japan, seeks items that will help Japanese children understand what these children from another country faced. Upon receipt of a suitcase, her quest is begun to find out whatever she can about

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the girl who had owned it., the story alternating between Fumiko’s search, and the history of the girl, Hana Brady. Between the heartbreak of what happened to Hana and so many other Jewish children, and the hope of knowledge and compassion felt by contemporary children, this was a compelling young adult book.

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When the Nazis took over Czechloslovaki during World War II, life changed for the Jews. This is the story of how a suitcase donated to a small Japanese children's museum started a search for it's owner, a young Jewish girl.

This true story recounts the life a young Jewish girl before and during the Holocaust. With only a name and birth date on an old suitcase, a museum curator of a Japanese Holocaust Learning Center sets out to discover Hana Brady’s life story. This is an emotional eye opening story, a must read.

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Yes, I cried.

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Hana's Suitcase, by Karen Levine, published in 2007, is the true story of a young girl named Hana Brady, who was taken away by the Nazis as a small child along with her older brother George, and her suitcase, which through a chain of events ended up in Japan. It is also the story of a Japanese

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woman's efforts to find out about Hana- who she was and what happened to her. The book is incredibly moving. Illustrated with photographs of Hana and her family as well as the Holocaust center in Japan where her suitcase is found, Levine tells Hana's story in parallel with the story of the efforts to learn about her. This structure sets up two crushing waves of emotion that left me in tears by the end. It's bittersweet tragedy, told with beauty and sensitivity.

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