I had not read a lot of , or even heard of a lot of books that were published in other countries and translated into English before, but I have to say that looking into these types of books has been eye opening. With so many of the children I teach being from multi-cultural homes, I was kind of disppointed in myself that I had not researched these types of books before now. I found two awards given to books that are published in other countries, the Mildred L. Batchelder Award and the Pura Belpre Award. The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is given to a children's book that is considered the best book that was originally published in another country and is translated into English. This award begin in 1966. The Pura Belpre Award was first given in 1966, and focuses more on the Latino culture. It is given to the book that best illustrates or explains a part of the Latino world.
The first book I came across to read for this section was a novel called Night, by Elie Wiesel. After reading this book, I decided that this would book would be the focus point of my Holocaust Unit for my 8th grade students. Night was orginially published in French in 1958, and has been translated into English by Marion Wiesel. I came across this book when I was researching with my librarian for our Reading Motivation Plan, and both us couldn't be happier that we did. Not only did it give me another amazing Holocaust book that I could use along side of Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry, but it had a riveting affect on the way I taught this entire unit to my students. The even more cool thing about this novel, is that it is a memior of Elie's experience in Auschwitz when he was just 15. Walking through his footsteps, seeing the horrors that he saw, and feeling the pain and saddness that he felt was a life changing experience. I had always taught the Holocaust through eyes of other people, but never had I found a book that gave such a descriptive account of what really happened to over a million people in the death camp Auschwitz. I have never been more excited to teach a unit to students, and teach them about persuasive and propaganda techniques, but also a lesson in humanity and empathy. Even though Elie survives Auschwitz, what he loses there makes such a significant impact on the rest of his life, that his story can only do one thing: make an impact the readers.
Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.
Elie Wiesel, Night.
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