Customer Reviews

The Grey Striped Shirt: How Grandma and Grandpa Survived the Holocaust

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 63-page chapter book is an excellent choice for the independent reader in third or fourth grade, but can also be used as a read aloud for first or second graders. Fannie is visiting her grandparents when she discovers a hatbox containing a grey striped shirt. Her curiosity about the shirt causes Fannie to ask her grandparents about their past. The book gradually unfolds the events of the holocaust as Fannie continues to ask questions. She learns of the ghettos, concentration camps, extermination of the Jews (including 1.5 million children), tattoos, forced labor, starvation, and beatings. Fannie learns that she will one day inherit the shirt. She promises to tell the stories to her own grandchildren so that the world will never forget the holocaust.

I highly recommend this book because:

1. The book accurately portrays the stark realities of the holocaust but in measured amounts so that it is not overwhelming to young audiences.

2. This is the only book on the subject that I have found which fills the gap between picture books and full-length chapter books.

3. The story format is welcoming and captivating for young audiences who need more than "just the facts ma'am".

I read this to my three children ages, 5,8 and 11. They had no difficulty understanding that the experiences presented in the book actually happened to real people during WWII.

The Grey Striped Shirt
By Elliot Fein

The Grey Striped Shirt (Alef Design) by Jacqueline is a story about a nine-year girl, Fannie, who discovers a dusty old box in the basement of her grandparents' home.

Inside the box, she sees a patched and stained grey striped shirt made of rough material. When she tries on the shirt, Fannie becomes frightened by her own image in the mirror, an image of a prisoner.

Fannie begins to ask her grandparents questions about their past. At first, they seem reluctant to talk about their childhoods. Realizing that Fannie must be told of the Nazi legacy, though, they slowly begin to relate the horrible facts about their experiences in the ghetto, in exile, and in the concentration camps.

Little by little over the next year, Fannie learns her grandparents' story of suffering, starvation, and sickness. She comes to realize that each of the six million Jews murdered had a similar story.

Fannie understands that one day she will inherit the grey striped shirt to show her own grandchildren, promising to tell them stories she has learned so that the world will not forget.

Jules, the author of The Grey Striped Shirt, is a master storyteller. She is able to expose children to the events of the Holocaust in a gradual and measured way without distorting historical truth.

Elliot Fein teaches Jewish religious studies at the Tarbut V'Torah School in Irvine, California

Although this book provides accurate historical information, it is presented in a manner that seems wholly out of keeping with its format. Why, if one wants to write an information book about the Holocaust does one write a purportedly fictional work, or a picture book. The children I have carried research out on, were unable to understand that the events described were real because the story format fooled them into thinking it was a work of fiction. Genres exist for a reson!!!