I've always enjoyed novels describing the vast diversity of experience during the Holocaust. Many of these books strike me as being about hope and the amazing capacity for humans to overcome, adapt and survive. They also serve as cautionary tales for what can happen when the worst aspects of humanity are allowed to flourish.

This story is a little different than many of the Holocaust stories I've grown up with. Karl is a Jew, but does not identify as such. Some of his feelings about Jews as a group are very interesting. His immediate family's story does not center on a concentration camp, but focuses on life among the Germans. Karl's courage and the strength of others is inspiring. This novel makes the connection between bullying and larger acts of evil, which makes it possible to begin thinking about why it's so important to stop bullying before it grows to something even bigger and meaner.

Violence. Prejudice.