Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine

In the spring of 2000, Fumiko Ishioka, the curator of a small Holocaust education centre for children in Tokyo, received a shipment from the Auschwitz museum. Among the items she received was an empty suitcase with the words “Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, Orphan” written on it. Fumiko and the children at the centre took it upon themselves to find out what became of Hana. The heartbreaking story they uncovered of a brave young girl killed in the Holocaust and survived only by her brother, George, was captured in Karen Levine’s book, and became an icon in Canadian children’s publishing.