The Holocaust as an event and concept is most associated with Nazism, ghettos and concentration camps, and the fate of the Jews during the Second World War. But there have been, are, and probably will be, many other examples (like the Cambodia of Pol Pot, the Turkish genocide of Armenians, current Kosovar ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia), and the wider range of racial hatred, prejudice and cruelty which demonstrates man’s inhumanity to man. Historical discussion, ranging from dispassionate study to emotional diatribe and propaganda, for adults as for young people, in conventional forms as well as electronic, abounds and grows. Sullivan (who is a project librarian at New York Public Library) has brought together a useful and wide‐ranging resource book here, covering works in the English language (many translated, some from Yiddish), published (US editions cited) between the 1970s and 1990s for children and young adults, mainly between ten and fourteen, though many could be read by people of any age (such as adult works by Levi, Singer, Isherwood and Keneally and Uris, and historians Shirer and Gilbert).
Six hundred items are arranged under categories like (auto)biography and fiction, non‐fiction and reference, picture books and drama, each item with bibliographical details, summary of contents (evaluative), and intended age group (US grades). There is a useful summary list of core Holocaust materials for the school library (by elementary K‐5, middle 6‐8, and high school 9‐12). This is a well‐chosen collection of materials, with good information on (auto)biography (for example Anne Frank, Simon Wiesenthal, Hitler, the Holocaust experience around Europe and viewpoints of being Jewish, as well as living as a German under Nazism), fiction (well‐known writers like Richter and Evenhuis and Greene and Matas), a wide range of non‐fiction based on historical investigation, testimonies of survivors, some seen through the eyes of children, and more on wider issues like apartheid, genocide and slavery. There are recommendations, too, on curricula and thinking about and teaching the Holocaust, an excellent listing from the Internet, a directory of organisations to contact (international), and a short section of classroom activities. Indexes (author,geographic, grade/age, subject and title) round it all up. This is a work intended for teachers and librarians in public and school libraries, a successful traveller across cultures (not all such works are), topical and good value for money.
