Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine - A True Story

Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine begins in March 2000 when a suitcase arrives at a children's Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan. The suitcase is empty, but it has the name Hana Brady, her birthday, and the German word for orphan.

The children who came to the center wanted to know who she was and what became of her. The center's curator, Fumiko Ishioka goes on a quest to find answers about the young girl they have come to care about.

This story goes back and forth from Ishioka's time to that of Hana Brady. This is a non-fiction biography that includes a lot of pictures. Written for children, this is a good book to introduce the Holocaust to younger readers.

I found myself brought to tears by the tender mercies that were shown to Ishioka as she searched for information about Brady's life. She helped the Holocaust mean more to the people of her town because she cared enough to put a face to that lone suitcase.

I was lucky enough to find this book at a library sale for ten cents, but it is worth every penny of the list price. This book would be a great teaching aid in a classroom to help students discover ways to research.

This is a picture of the audio version, but I read the book. I think reading the book would have more impact as the pictures really help the story come alive.

Read to a child today so that they may know how to keep peace in our world. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies.

Michelle brought more books for the NICU today. Thank you, Michelle. That Rainbabies book is so beautiful.