The best YA coming-of-age novels that take place during the Holocaust

The Book Thief remains to this day one of my favorite novels! When I first read the book ten years ago, I was immediately drawn to the unique way the story was told. The opening chapter introduces the reader to the narrator... Death. Surprisingly, Death is a sympathetic character who states that they have never needed a vacation more than during WW2. It took me a bit to get used to the narrator’s voice, but once I did, I was hooked. The prose is so beautifully written and poetic that the only way I can describe it is like reading a piece of art. The characters, an orphaned girl, a German couple, and the Jewish man they are hiding, became like family to me. I was so invested in their fates I couldn’t put the book down, and the ending moved me to tears. I suggest The Book Thief if for no other reason than it was so original and unlike any book I have read before. I still pick it up and flip through its pages just to reread certain passages and revisit characters that I have grown to miss. 

I read Number the Stars when I was in junior high school, and it was perhaps one of the first books that inspired me to learn more about my grandmother’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor. The novel is appropriate for younger readers who are just learning about this period in time, and it illustrates the altruistic nature of everyday citizens who defied the Nazis and helped save lives. I appreciated how the novel was told from the point of view of a young Danish girl, Annemarie, who risks her own life to help her Jewish best friend’s family. Although a work of fiction, it highlights the resistance that took place in Denmark at the time. Not only does Number the Stars show the evolution of Annemarie’s character throughout the course of the book, it also illustrates how someone very young can perform acts of bravery during even the most dangerous of times. 

As I was compiling this list, a memory of this book came to mind. I’ve read so many novels on the Holocaust and had other titles I was planning to recommend, yet I kept coming back to this book. I distinctly remembered where I was when I read it... in my childhood bedroom... and the fact that I finished it in one sitting. I vaguely recalled the plot, but the impression it left on me was so strong that I found myself researching the book once more. I was surprised to discover it was published in 1996 when I was 22 years old, since I thought I was younger when I read it. But as I reread the novel (again in one sitting), it was definitely the book from my memories.

The story is told from the point-of-view of a young girl named Korinna, who is a member of the Jungmadel, a Nazi youth organization. During a time when citizens were reporting their own family members of suspicious activity that defied the Nazi party, the plot unfolds in such a way that we witness the main character challenging the beliefs she once held. It deals with themes of friendship, family, loyalty, and standing up for what’s right. 

While Night by Elie Wiesel is required reading for many high schoolers today, I didn’t read the book myself until I was in college. Just as Number the Stars inspired me to learn more about my grandmother’s life, Night inspired me to actually write my family’s story! This short novel is one of the most impactful narratives of the Holocaust I’ve ever read, because it is a personal account of the atrocities of the Holocaust, as experienced by the author himself. Dr. Wiesel was just a teenager when he was taken into the concentration camps. What he lived through is unimaginable and heartbreaking, yet his record is a testimony to what so many who survived the Holocaust experienced firsthand. This novel lit a fire under my feet to record my family’s own experiences to share with readers so that humankind should “never forget” the horrors to which we are capable of stooping. 

This list would not be complete without Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. I immediately fell in love with Anne when I read this classic book at a young age. Perhaps the quintessential story of a young girl coming-of-age during the Holocaust, the story unfolds through the letters 13-year-old Anne writes to her diary, whom she has named “Kitty.” Despite being hidden away from the world during her most formative years because she is Jewish, Anne experiences all the normal feelings and emotions of any teenage girl. Living in dire conditions and in constant danger of being discovered, Anne dreams of her future, is moody and temperamental, experiences young love, and dares to hold onto hope. It is a timeless story that shows that no matter our background, ethnicity, religion, or race, we are more alike than different. It also highlights the strength of familial bonds and the selfless, courageous acts that some people are willing to perform to save others. I read The Diary of a Young Girl to both of my daughters, and it was a wonderful and moving experience.