Teaching and Learning discussion

I am a first year teacher in Catholic middle school. My 8th graders told me today that last year they read Anne Frank-one of the books I now mistakenly put on the list to read and study this year. My first thought as a substitute in keeping with the holocaust theme I had intended in sticking to was Maus. I read it last summer and loved it and really think that my students will too. Is it appropriate to give this to my students as 8th graders or is it better suited for older students?

Anne Frank in my view is a reference that can be used to describe a tragic sense of horror, but in Catholic Education I think you may find you will have to reinforce many of their skills with directed study, so that your student's will feel they have developed a moral disposition. Independently, I don't believe Anne Frank can account for all the moral distinctions made even of the holocaust, to establish sound ethical principles in a child who seeks to learn values that represent their own beliefs.