French Literature Reviews - 2026
B. Finet, La Shoah racontée aux enfants, une éducation littéraire ?
History, Politics and Society
Béatrice FINET, La Shoah racontée aux enfants, une éducation littéraire ?
Preface by Pierre Kahn,
Grenoble, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, Teaching and Reform series, 2019,
192 p. (25 euros)
ISBN 978-2-7061-4282-6
Since 2002, Holocaust education has been included in primary school curricula, and elementary school teachers are encouraged to use children's literature to facilitate this instruction.
Yet are these books truly effective pedagogical tools? What impact do their illustrations and characters have on young student readers? How do they manage to convey the historical reality of the extermination of the Jews to children without causing trauma?
Through an analysis of children's books published on the subject between 1944 and 2013, Béatrice Finet offers a dual literary and didactic analysis, contributing to a broader discussion on the educational challenges of teaching the Holocaust in elementary school.
This book will serve as a valuable resource for current and prospective teachers, and will also be of interest to researchers and publishers in the field of children's literature.
The transmission of historical trauma to young audiences has long presented distinct pedagogical and ethical challenges for educators and authors alike. When addressing events of such magnitude in primary classrooms, the selection of appropriate texts requires careful consideration of both historical accuracy and the emotional readiness of readers. Children's literature often serves as an introductory medium for difficult subjects, shaping how foundational historical events are understood in early education. Béatrice Finet examines children's books published between 1944 and 2013, offering a dual literary and didactic analysis of how these works convey historical reality. Readers interested in the intersection of pedagogy, illustration, and historical memory in primary education may find this study relevant to their inquiries.