Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II

by Marisabina Russo

Rachel's Oma (her grandmother) has two picture albums. In one the photographs show only happy times -- from after World War II, when she and her daughters had come to America. But the other album includes much sadder times from before -- when their life in Germany was destroyed by the Nazis' rise to power.
For as long as Rachel can remember, Oma has closed the other album when she's gotten to the sad part. But today Oma will share it all. Today Rachel will hear about what her grandmother, her mother, and her aunts endured. And she'll see how the power of this Jewish family's love for one another gave them the strength to survive.
Marisabina Russo illuminates a difficult subject for young readers with great sensitivity. Based on the author's own family history, Always Remember Me is a heartbreaking -- and inspiring -- book sure to touch anyone who reads it.

Genres: Picture Books, Holocaust, Nonfiction, History, World War II, Family, Jewish

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 22, 2005

Reviews

[Dani Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose to read Always Remember Me by Marisabina Russo for my biographical picture book. I loved everything about this book; the way it was written, the pictures and the heartwarming story line of a close knit Jewish family. This is based on a true story of the authors life. It is about a young girl named Rachel who is looking through two of her grandmothers old photo albums. Her grandmother, or her Oma, explains to her that one of the albums is from her life before the war in Germany and the other is filled with photographs from her new life in America. Oma tells Rachel that she is finally old enough to hear about her experience surviving the Holocaust. Russo writes about a very serious topic in the simplest terms. Her words are not scary or gruesome, and although she talks about the hardships Oma and her three daughters had to go through, she focuses more on their hope and their survivals.
Throughout the book the grandmother talks a lot about "luck." She tells Rachel about her gold heart necklace that her grandmother gave her when she was little. She told her "When you wear this, always remember me and may luck follow you wherever you go." The gold heart necklace is a symbol throughout the book and in the end is given to Rachel along with the photo album for her to finish filling. I really enjoyed the story line of this book and found myself tearing up towards the end.
The pictures in this book are also very interesting because it is as if you are looking through the photo albums with Rachel and Oma. The illustrations all look like photographs from Oma's life, that follow along as she tells Rachel the story. While the pictures showing the war and the concentration camps are drawn in shades of grey, many of the pictures that show the happy times in Oma's life and pictures of her daughters are drawn with many colors.
This book would be appropriate for older elementary school students, 3rd through 5th grade. They would be able to understand it and the book could be used in a social studies unit about World War II.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful family story of how a mother and her three daughters survived the Holocaust. The author uses the stories of her family and real photographs as inspiration for the illustrations. A grandmother tells the complete story at last to her American granddaughter. The title expresses the hope the rises out of the tragedy that is the Holocaust. Each generation needs to discover the horrors of what the Nazi’s did during World War II so that it never happens again. The children’s book gently enlightens the young reader.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just amazing that all 4 women actually survived the Holocaust.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Russo, M. Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II. NY: Simon & Schuster (2005).

This is a picture book about a little girl who is looking at an old picture album with her grandmother. Her grandma is telling her all about the family, and then lets her see the pictures and tokens that were taken of her grandmother and her mother/aunts during the Holocaust. This is the first time the granddaughter has heard the complete story of how her family came to America, and even though it makes her sad, she is happy that her grandma, mother, and aunts were all safe and sound.

Even though this is a picture book, and it does not discuss gruesome details of the Holocaust, it is still very sensitive, so the reading level is fourth-seventh grade. Third graders could look at this book as well, depending on the class, but older students would appreciate this picture book more and be able to better comprehend the story of the Russo family.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this story of a grandmother sharing her story of surviving ww2 as a Jewish mother of three in Germany. It is poignant, yet hope-filled. The story is told as a granddaughter looks through her Oma's picture albums with her and listens to her family's history. The illustrations are truly wonderful and turn this book from a 4 to a 5 star rating. I loved it.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tender children's book about the Holocaust.

[Meghan Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book retells the story of a grandmother's life in Germany during World War 1 and 2. She is looking through a picture book with her granddaughter and telling of all the good times and bad while in Germany. Her granddaughter listens and admires the stories of her grandmother, grandfather, aunts, and mother.

I thought this was a very powerful picture book. I loved that the little girl asked questions or made statements throughout her grandmother's storytelling. In the last few pictures of the book, one of the daughters is seen with the tattoo put on the jews in the concentration camps. While sad I think that it's important that the illustrator drew that on her because it is what really happened.

A great book to read before a history lesson. The World Wars are an important part of all of history and I think this book would make a huge impact because it makes you feel apart of the family with the pictures. I think it can help a student understand better. A good book if I have a Jewish student in my classroom because they can read about another family who might have gone through the same things as their ancestors went through. The book could tie in with show-n-tell because of the grandmother's necklace. Students could bring in a family heirloom. Also good for a family tree project.

[Dena Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to the Holocaust for children fourth grade and up, depending on how sensitive they are. The book level is 4.6, but older students could also benefit from reading it. Some of the more sensitive details include the following. Rachel's grandma tells her how she was sent to a concentration camp. The text says, "I know that a concentration camp was a place where Jewish people were hurt and often killed." The grandma says, "I had been starved and cold and had seen people shot for no reason except that they were Jewish." In the afterword it says, "Upon arrival many prisoners were killed in gas chambers..." Due to these examples, I don't recommend the book for children below fourth grade.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

When should you start sharing information about the Holocaust with kids? That's a big, tough question. This picture book is a great way to begin, and is written for mid-elementary school kids. It's based on a true story of a real family, has lovely illustrations, more-than-usual text (but not too much) and real photographs of the real people. It's a treasure, and would be wonderful paired with Number the Stars for a fourth grade reading unit.

[Jessica Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grades- 3-5
Genre: Historical Fiction

I really loved this book for many reasons. To begin with, one reason I loved it was because there is a glossary of words at the beginning of the book that the author included which I thought was very helpful to have while reading this story. Secondly, I loved this book because portrayed how life in World War II looked and felt like in a children’s book! The illustrations were so real and vivid in showing the striped pajamas worn by Jewish prisoners, concentration camps, and the Holocaust. However, before reading or using this book in a classroom, it would be best to be sure that your students are aware of what the Holocaust was because it does talk about death. Also, I would only use this book for around 1st grade or higher depending on their abilities to read and understand. Overall, this book was a very good choice and I was glad I grabbed it off of the shelf!

[Ellie Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book a lot. I think the story does a great job showing the hope behind the terrors that victims of the holocaust endured. Not only that, but the illustrations were all very relevant and informative of that time as well. I think this book would be a great one to read to kids or a classroom that hasn't learned much about the holocaust or World War II yet. Very well done.

[SaraKat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about a grandma telling the Holocaust story to one of her grandchildren. It has real pictures inside the front and back and some painted pictures in the story. It is sad book, of course, but the family has a better outcome than many others.

[Alyssa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to teach about the holocaust. It tells the story in a way that children can understand. I’d recommend this book to anyone wanting a child appropriate book on the holocaust.

[Gabriel Weaver · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the story is quite moving, I was not captured by the illustrations. I also found the individuals difficult to keep clear in my mind.

[Brady Splaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

this amazing book about a family who trys to survive together through the holocaust going through it all havin gclose calls makes it a very good and intriguing read.

[Teme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required reading.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story to use with my middle schoolers in lit circles to introduce the Holocaust.

[(NS) Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about how a mother and her three daughters surviving the Holocaust. The grandmother tells her stories with her granddaughter, Rachel. Rachel is all grown up and the grandmother feels that she is ready to hear the complete story about her photographs. They look through two albums. One photo album has pictures about her life in Poland and Germany. The other photo album has great memories of her life as a child, and her life as a mother. During the story the grandmother discuss her “luck” throughout her life. The grandmother was passed down a heart necklace from her grandmother. The necklace has been passed down from generations to generations. This necklace has brought luck to the mother because all her daughters were alive and safe. Every time she wore the necklace around her neck she would say, “May luck follow you wherever you go." After the grandmother finished telling her story she gave the necklace to her and told her to always remember the stories about her two lives. This story has made me think about how important it is to pass down family stories and keepsakes. I really loved the bond they had between each other. It reminded me about the bond that I have with my grandfather, when I was a young He always shared stories with me about his life as a child.

I would recommend reading this story from third grade and up. I would discuss to my class a brief introduction about the holocaust and what life was like for the Jewish people. It’s important that I would give a brief background before reading this story.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Sunday Rachel goes to visit her Oma. All of her Aunts and Uncles are there to eat and spend time together. After dinner Oma shows Rachel her picture books from Poland and America. Oma tells Rachel the story of her life up until present day. She describes her experiences during WWI and WWII. To tells Rachel to never forget what their family has been through, and to remember that a family’s love can help you through your darkest times.
This is a nonfiction picture book for ages 9-11. The illustrations are interesting, but not above average. The illustrator used very bland colors, even for the happiest parts of the story. Also, the characters faces look almost puppet-like. I would recommend this story as an introduction to the Holocaust for upper elementary students. This story would be a great way to ease students into the topic without all of the very graphic details which are discussed at the middle school level. The only aspect that might be controversial would be the parts in the text where her Grandmother discusses how they had to hide form the Nazi and many Jewish people where killed without cause. I would recommend Yellow Star for fifth grade students to read after hearing this story read aloud. The poetry and the story would compliment the themes touched upon in this text. Overall I would recommend this book for upper elementary age students. The message of family and hope is strong and gives students a stepping stone into a very hard period of history to read about.

[Catherine Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Multicultural Book

“Always Remember Me” is the story of a little girl named Rachel, and her Oma (her grandmother). Each Sunday, Oma shares stories with Rachel about her life, showing her two photo albums: one from her old life before she came to America, and one from her new life. Usually, Oma closes the old album before she gets to the difficult parts, but today she decides to tell Rachel the whole story. She tells about living in Germany through WWII, and how she survived along with her three daughters. In the end, Rachel realizes how strong her mother, aunts and Oma are and her grandmother passes down her gold heart-shaped necklace that has survived through all the trials of her life.

The illustrations in this book are interesting because they are a combination of what is happening throughout the story and pictures of what Oma is telling Rachel, as if the reader is looking through the photo album with them. I really liked the illustrations and I think that they helped explain what was happening in the story. I also liked that the endsheets of the book had pictures of the author’s family, since the book was based on her family’s true story.

I would use this book with third through fifth grade students to talk about WWII and the Holocaust. I think it could also be a good introduction to Judaism, since the family in the story is Jewish. I think students would like that it is based on a true story, but is illustrated in a picture book format. I really loved this story and will keep it in mind when teaching about WWII in my classroom.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel's Oma (her grandmother) has two picture albums. In one the photographs show only happy times -- from after World War II, when she and her daughters had come to America. But the other album includes much sadder times from before -- when their life in Germany was destroyed by the Nazis' rise to power.

For as long as Rachel can remember, Oma has closed the other album when she's gotten to the sad part. But today Oma will share it all. Today Rachel will hear about what her grandmother, her mother, and her aunts endured. And she'll see how the power of this Jewish family's love for one another gave them the strength to survive.
-Thanks to goodreads

Literary Awards and Nominations:
AJL Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book,
ALA Notable Children's Books,
Bank Street Best Books of the Year

Genre: Historical Fiction, Multicultural

Reading Level: Grades 2nd-4th

Social Issues: The Holocaust

Topic: History

Use: Independent Reading

Written and Illustrated by: Marisabina Russo

Illustrations: These illustrations really are wonderful because they bring a face to the tragic stories. We as readers feel more when we can connect with the characters.

Published March 22nd 2005 by Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books

[Alexandra Escamilla]

Russo has found a way to tell young children about the Holocaust by recasting her own family’s story—the one her own grandmother told her—in a lightly fictionalized version, with Oma telling a small girl named Rachel about her two photo albums. One is full of pictures Rachel knows, of herself, her mother, grandmother and her aunts. The other is of Oma’s life, first in Poland and then in Germany, where her family moved because “Jewish people were treated better there.” Oma’s own grandmother gave her a gold heart necklace before she left, and that token is a leitmotif as WWI breaks out, and Oma’s husband takes it to the front and back home again. When the Nazis come to power in Germany, Oma and her daughters are separated, but miraculously survive concentration camps and the death of spouses. One daughter, who had escaped to America, kept the gold heart, which Oma now presents to Rachel. Matte gouache illustrations with the hieratic form of family photographs provide just the right counterpoint to Russo’s exquisitely understated text (Smith, 2010).
Awards:
IRA Teachers' Choices Reading List, 2006.
ALA 2006 Notable Children's Books.
Parents' Choice Award (Silver) 2005.
International Reading Association Teachers' Choice, 2006.
3rd and up

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. It's a fairly short, simple book (we read it in 2 days) but it taught us so much about WWII. The author follows the story of her family in pre-Nazi Germany and how each of the women survived. In very simple, non-scary terms it explains what happened. Some went to concentration camps, some left the country. I appreciated that it didn't gloss over the bad, but presented it in a way which showed the truth without gory details which are better left for older children. The two-page spread at the back, where the author explains things in a more historical way rather than a story format, was fantastic. Clear, understandable and totally age-appropriate for younger children up to middle school.

The boys had a lot to say about the book and the events it portrayed. It definitely resonated with them and we were able to have some great discussions.

Highly recommended for this time period.

[Shannon Brasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II is a beautifully written story about the author's grandmother, mother, and two aunts and their family's survival during WWII and the Holocaust. Part memoir, part historical nonfiction, this book does a wonderful job of explaining the tragedy of that time in a way young readers can understand without getting too heavy into all the heavier stuff. The book is so elegant and really helps the reader to connect to this family and see that even though they went through something really horrible, they had hope and were able to overcome it. I loved how the illustrations came from old family photographs from the author's family and how the real photos are on the inside cover of the book. I think that helps to lead to the realism of the story. This would be a good book to discuss with younger readers who are not ready for something as deep as The Diary of Anne Frank.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike a few others, this story really has some substance when it comes to references to the Holocaust. The basic premise is that one grandmother gave her granddaughter a heart necklace to wear, as a keepsake ("always remember me") and as a talisman ("and may luck follow you wherever you go"). But the necklace has a sad backstory, in which it survives the jewelry seizure of the Nazis and a rushed flight to the US for safety. The book does mention that some of the men who married into the family were shot by soldiers, but the three daughters of the main narrator all survived the Holocaust, a miracle in and of itself. Readers might find the beginning, in which the grandmother tells her granddaugther about her childhood, a little slow at first. Overall, this is a nice addition to my growing collection of children's books to help introduce the Holocaust in my high school classroom.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully, respectfully, and clearly done nonfiction title about one Jewish family's experience during World War II. Rachel's Oma finally tells her about her life, starting from when her Jewish family decided to move to Germany. As Jews, they watched life in Germany get worse and worse until finally, Oma and her family are split up and Oma ends up in a concentration camp.

Russo uses Rachel as a way to ask questions and express her sadness and horror over her grandmother's story.

One of my thoughts after I finished the books was that it seemed incredible and unrealistic to me that Oma and her three daughtersa

This is an excellent picture book to use with elementary students learning about the Holocaust for the first time. It would be a great resource to use to introduce Lois Lowry's Number the Stars.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was very interesting and sad. It's awful reading about how badly the Jews were treated in Germany during WWII, but it's a very important part of history. I really liked how Russo was able to put the terrible, but true, experience in child friendly terms.

I would use this book to demonstrate how to write a biography. I would then have the students write a biography on one of their family members. I would also use this book to help students understand what a family heirloom is and possibly have them write about an heirloom that is passed down in their family.

[Lucia Benzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great tale of a family's journey through WWII. Is very honest with tragedies, heart break, and suffering that went on and how they managed to live through it. Good illustrations, but skips over the Holocaust even though one daughter went through it. You learn much from the War just by seeing what they experienced. Good to encourage children to ask their grandparents more about their family history. Would be a nice add to a WWII text set. Too long to read aloud all at once.

[Sophie Klaveano · Rating 5 out of 5]

After my time reading the book titled always Remember Me. I was taken back by the severity of WW1. It spoke of family's struggle of loss and survival. Really having to make it in life to see their loved ones again. What a cruel world it can be. Grand children can be educated through their grandparents, by reading books such as this. The author was actually the granddaughter, daughter, niece of these Holocaust survivors.

[Alexis Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book represented a real life occurrence that brought pain and harm to many Jewish people. The interpretation spoken from a grandmother’s point of view from a woman who had lived through it made it feel personal, and almost hard to relive it even through a story to her granddaughter. I also enjoyed that they had descriptive pictures to show real items during that time.