5 New YA Books on Native American Lives
Members of our staff are exploring these five new books published written by a group of Indigenous authors across North America for readers ages 12 and up and we invite you to explore them alongside us. These texts address themes including Indigenous youth navigating adolescent identity, community, and resistance.
Jewish Theological Dilemmas After the Holocaust
Students enter the conversation about the concept of “theodicy" through activities that allow them to explore the themes of faith and doubt after the Holocaust.
![Students sit in a classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-01/San_Francisco_Classroom_2017_FH152836_0.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=WDArBFmq)
The Costs and Benefits of Belonging
Students learn about group membership and explore the range of responses available to us when we encounter exclusion, discrimination, and injustice.
![Hands raised in the air by group of people](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_GroupBelonging_FH229369.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=O6H7UmzG)
Defining Human Rights
Students create a definition for a "right" in order to explore the challenges faced by the UN Commission on Human Rights to create an international framework of rights for all human beings.
![A black and white photo of Eleanor Roosevelt holding a large copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/19_ER_with_UDHR.jpg?h=765edc00&itok=7RVP-8e7)
Dismantling Democracy
Students examine the steps the Nazis took to replace democracy with dictatorship and draw conclusions about the values and institutions that make democracy possible.
![Germans look on as the Reichstag building burns on February 27, 1933.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1933_ReichstagFire_%20FH229429.jpg?h=40d6a7d7&itok=PBcAxqXk)
World War: Choices and Consequences
Investigate how World War I heightened divisions between “we” and “they” among people and nations and left behind fertile ground for Nazi Germany in the following decades.
![Painting title Gassed by John Singer Sargent. Shows World War I soldiers with bandaged eyes being led by other soldiers. Many dead and injured soldiers laying at the base of the painting.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Ch3_Image05_Medium_res.jpg?h=fe25bc16&itok=_3yOA5E-)
Do You Take the Oath?
Students consider the choices and reasoning of individual Germans who stayed quiet or spoke up during the first few years of Nazi rule.
![German military recruits swear allegiance to Adolf Hitler.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_SwearingAllegianceToHitler_FH229433.jpg?h=827069f2&itok=8JL6O5JQ)
European Jewish Life before World War II
Students analyze images and film that convey the richness of Jewish life across Europe at the time of the Nazis’ ascension to power.
![Shabbtai (Shepske) Sonenson takes one of the shtetl's Hebrew teachers for a ride on his new motorcycle.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_1941_ShabbtaiSonensonOnMotorcycle_FH2115443.jpg?h=d392e916&itok=DmuRlDw6)
Exploring Identity
Students identify the social and cultural factors that help shape our identities by analyzing firsthand reflections and creating personal identity charts.
![Hands raised in the air by group of people](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Holocaust_2016_GroupBelonging_FH229369.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=O6H7UmzG)
The Weimar Republic: The Fragility of Democracy
Explore the efforts to build a democracy in Germany in the 1920s, and examine the misunderstandings, myths, and fears that often undercut those efforts.
![In addition to his depictions of World War I, Otto Dix was also known for his ruthless criticism of German society during the Weimar years.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-05/Ch04_Image05_Medium_res.jpg?h=92903f94&itok=hFi7XgsO)
The Holocaust: Bearing Witness
Students are introduced to the enormity of the crimes committed during the Holocaust and look closely at stories of a few individuals who were targeted by Nazi brutality.
![A crowd of women and children, some with Stars of David patches on their clothing.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Ch09_Image02.jpg?h=991b0af6&itok=WRPl5J8e)