The Magician of Auschwitz  by Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gillian Newland 

Once there was a renowned magician called Nivelli, who performed before packed audiences in the grandest theaters of Berlin. Night after night, his fans applauded and called out for more astonishing feats of magic. “Bravo!” they would shout, as Nivelli bowed low with a great flourish. But that was in a different, happier time, before the Jews of Europe were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. This is the true story of a young boy on the inside of Auschwitz, whose life is changed by the actions of a prisoner who performs magic for the guards and who the boy later learns was the famous Nivelli.

Jars of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Holocaust by Jennider Roy, illustrated by Meg Owenson.

Amid the horrors of World War II, Irena Sendler was an unlikely and unsung hero. While many people lived in fear of the Nazis, Irena defied them, even though it could have meant her life. She kept records of the children she helped smuggle away from the Nazis grasp, and when she feared her work might be discovered, she buried her lists in jars, hoping to someday recover them and reunite children with their parents. This gripping true story of a woman who took it upon herself to help save 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust is not only inspirational; it's unforgettable.

Stealing Nazi Secrets in World War II: An Interactive Espionage Adventure  by Elizabeth Raum

The Axis are a powerful force in World War II. Learning their secrets gives the Allies a chance to stop them. Will you: *Fly the deadly skies to take pictures of German military sites? *Share secrets that come over wireless communication from Nazi-occupied Paris? *Steal information from the Japanese military as a secret agent? You Choose offers multiple perspectives on history, supporting Common Core reading standards and providing readers a front-row seat to the past.

Isabel's War by Lila Perl

In a stunning new novel completed just before her death in 2013, award-winning author Lila Perl introduces us to Isabel Brandt, a French-phrase-dropping twelve-year-old New Yorker who's more interested in boys and bobbing her nose than the distant war across the Pacific—the one her parents keep reminding her to care more about. Things change when Helga, the beautiful niece of her parent's best friends, comes to live with Isabel and her family. Helga is everything Isabel's not—cool, blonde, and vaguely aloof. She's also a German war refugee, with a past that gives a growing Isabel something more important to think about than boys and her own looks. Set in the Bronx during World War II, Isabel's Waris a beautiful evocation of New York in the 1940s and of a girl's growing awareness of the world around her.

 Stone Angel by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Katie May Green (Philomel)

In this emotionally rich story, a little girl and her family live happily in Paris until Nazi soldiers arrive druing World War II. She and her family must flee or risk being sent to a concentration camp, so they run into the woods, where they meet resistance fighters. But they're still not safe. They must cross tall mountains and sail in a rickety boat to England. Yet the whole time they're struggling to survive, the little girl thinks of the stone angel near their apartment in Paris and imagines it watching over her family.

Offering a never-before-told story of the Holocaust, Jane Yolen returns to the material she mined in the award-winning THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC. Filled with sorrow, hope, comfort, and triumph, this gorgeously illustrated book is sure to become a modern classic–offering adults a perfect vehicle with which to share a difficult subject.

Anne Frank and the Remembering Tree by Sandy Eiseberg Sasso, illustrated by Erika Steiskal (Skinner House)