The Ultimate Silver Birch book award: Hana's Suitcase

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Ontario Library Association's first award reading program, Silver Birch, readers were asked to vote for their favourite Silver Birch book of all time.  With 20 years of fiction and non-fiction titles from which to choose, thousands of readers made their selections.  In April, the votes were tallied and the winner of the Ultimate Silver Birch Book was announced.

The winner of the Ultimate Silver Birch Book is

Hana's Suitcase

by Karen Levine

Second Story Press

978-1-896764-55-9

120 pp.

Ages 9-12

2002

Hana's Suitcase, which won the Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award in 2003, follows the search for the origins of an old brown suitcase, picture here.  This suitcase belonged to a young girl, Hana Brady, a Czechoslovakian Jewish girl whose parents were taken by the Gestapo during World War II, and was then separated from her older brother, George, when transported to a concentration camp.

Helen Kubiw, Karen Levine and George Brady

This past Thursday, as Co-Chair of the Forest of Reading, I had the privilege of presenting the Ultimate Silver Birch Book award to author Karen Levine who accepted the award with George Brady, Hana's brother.  In attendance were Mr. Brady's wife and daughter, as well as publisher Margie Wolfe, and other guests, including young readers awaiting the announcement of this year's Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award winners.  Karen Levine and George Brady graciously accepted the award, and spoke briefly about the story and impact of Hana's Suitcase.

Karen Levine with Margie Wolfe

The story of Hana's Suitcase has won more awards than any other children's book in Canada (note the numerous award logos on the vertical banner in the photo to the right) and, not surprisingly, was honoured with the Ultimate Silver Birch Book recognition.  With this most recent recognition, Hana's Suitcase will be read by a new generation of young readers, many who waited patiently for Karen Levine's autograph on Thursday. 

Congratulations to 
Hana's Suitcase

 on being named the 
Ultimate Silver Birch Book

Hana's Suitcase: 10th Anniversary

When the director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource 

Centre, Fumiko Ishioka, attempted to bring in Holocaust artifacts to enhance the educational experience for children at the Centre, she could not have expected the chain of events that would be set into motion by the delivery of one item.  A small suitcase of unknown origin set Fumiko Ishioka on a quest for information which led her from Tokyo to Auschwitz and finally to Toronto and seventy-four-year-old George Brady, the brother of Hana, the young girl to whom the suitcase belonged.

Czechoslovakian-born Jews, Hana and George's parents were taken away by the Gestapo in 1941.  The following year, orphans Hana (11) and George (14) were deported to Terezin (Therenseinstadt), the concentration camp.  In 1944, the two young people were sent on different transports to Auschwitz, never seeing each other again.

When Hana Brady's story, via Fumiko Ishioka's meeting with George Brady, hit the Toronto news, Karen Levine, who worked for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), picked up the story and created a radio documentary about it.  Later Karen Levine wrote Hana's Suitcase which was published by Second Story Press in 2002. 

Hana's Suitcase

by Karen Levine

Second Story Press

978-1-896764-55-9

120 pp.

Ages 9-12

2002

Since Fumiko Ishioka received that lone archived suitcase, Hana Brady's story and Hana's Suitcase have been retold in dozens of translations, in an award-winning documentary (Odyssey of Hope: Hana's Suitcase), in a stage play (Hana's Suitcase Onstage) and in a docu-drama (Inside Hana's Suitcase).  Now, ten years later,  Second Story Press has published Hana's Suitcase Anniversary Album (2012), with numerous extras, like letters, photographs, play excerpts and more.

Hana's Suitcase Anniversary Album

(Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers)

by Karen Levine

Second Story Press

978-1-926920-36-8

176 pp.

Ages 9-13

2012

If you'd like to extend your exploration of Hana's Suitcase, Quill & Quire is commemorating the tenth anniversary of Hana's Suitcase with a free podcast (available on iTunes).  Get full details of this Quillcast (Episode 7) on Quill & Quire's website. 

Also, CBC Television's Doc Zone which aired the documentary Inside Hana's Suitcase last year (lousy timing on our part) has discussion forums, Q & As and links here used to promote the documentary's airing.

Finally, the Brady family has a wonderful website www.hanassuitcase.ca where Hana's family background is documented, as well as the timeline of events leading to the publication of the book Hana's Suitcase.  There is a wealth of information here to further the reader's appreciation of the book and Hana's story.

Imagine:  Such a big story from such a small suitcase.

In the next few weeks, I'll be putting together a number of CanLit book lists on different issues related to social justice, a hot curriculum topic in Ontario schools and elsewhere.  One such book list will be devoted to the Holocaust, and Hana's Suitcase will feature prominently in this list.  Look for it here soon.