Hana's Suitcase

Nonfiction | Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2002

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-13

Chapters 14-19

Chapters 20-22

Chapter 23-Postscript

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Introduction-Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction Summary

The introduction to Hana’s Suitcase gives historical context to the narrative. Levine briefly describes the circumstances of the Holocaust, in which millions of Jewish people were murdered. The Holocaust was perpetrated by Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany, and lasted for six years.

Japan, aligned with German interests at the time, has had less national consciousness about the horrors of the Holocaust. In the late 20th century, Japanese interest in the Holocaust began to increase, and the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center was established, with Fumiko Ishioka as the director. Much of the Tokyo center’s work focuses on engaging children in learning about the Holocaust, which is how Hana’s story was uncovered.

Chapter 1 Summary: “Tokyo, Japan, Winter 2000”

A nondescript suitcase is displayed at the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center. The suitcase is brown, battered, and painted with the name “Hanna Brady”; her birthday, May 16, 1931; and the German word for orphan, Waisenkind.

The museum director, Fumiko Ishioka, works with children to examine the suitcase. The young people are invested in figuring out who Hana was and where she went, and Fumiko “promises the children to do everything she can to find out about the girl who owned the suitcase” (3). A picture of the suitcase is included on Page 3.

Chapter 2 Summary: “Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia, 1930s”

Hana and her family live in a small, rural town in Czechoslovakia. Nove Mesto is known for being a cross-country skiing destination and for producing glass. The Brady family is well-integrated into town life: They live above the town shop, and Hana’s two parents work in the shop six days a week, selling goods to the townspeople. There are several pictures in this chapter depicting the town and one showing Hana in a dance recital.

The Brady family is known for their open home and popularity in the village. Hana and George, her older brother, love having guests and playing records. They help in the store with stocking and cleaning. At school, both Hana and George are “average kids, who g[e]t into the usual mischief and ha[ve] the usual problems and triumphs” (9). Yet one thing sets the Brady family apart from their neighbors and friends: They are Jewish. Hana and George are the only children who are Jews, though a few other Jewish adults are in the town.

Chapter 3 Summary: “Tokyo, Winter 2000”

Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the Holocaust Center in Tokyo, is dedicated to helping young people in Japan learn about the horrors of the Holocaust. She is well-educated on the subject and met survivors in person in 1998, spurring her forward. To teach children, Fumiko feels it best to collect “physical objects that the children could see and touch” (11). She contacts many museums, who tell her they cannot spare any of their precious objects. On a trip to Poland to visit concentration camps, Fumiko pleads with the Auschwitz Museum, and they mail her several items, including Hana’s suitcase. This chapter includes a photo of the Tokyo center and two photos of Fumiko with children at the museum.

Introduction-Chapter 3 Analysis

Levine expertly weaves together details from the 1930s and 2000s to ominously foreshadow the horrors of the Holocaust. The opening chapters do not reveal what will eventually happen to Hana, but the mysterious descriptions of the suitcase and careful narration of the Brady family’s ordinary life build tension. In addition to the anticipation created by the written narrative, the photos in this edition of the text paint a vivid picture of a peaceful time in Hana’s life in a small town. Levine intentionally builds suspense through these chapters to lead toward the later events in the text and to build empathy for Hana and George as children. Since Hana’s Suitcase is also a text appropriate for younger audiences, Levine’s narration provides key, clearly explained details to support comprehension of the text.

As implied in the title, children are central to the story and purpose of Hana’s Suitcase. Not only is the book’s historical content focused on a child’s life, but the discovery of Hana’s story also centers on the children at the Tokyo museum who work with an adult to investigate Hana’s life. In the opening chapters, children remain central in each component of the unfolding story, establishing the value of children in society and The Importance of Reckoning With the Past, a central theme of the story. In some ways, this approach also serves as a model for educators who might use Hana’s Suitcase in the classroom: Fumiko’s work with young people is based fully on their interests and passions. This shows how children can drive learning about previously undiscovered subjects, like Hana Brady’s life and story.

The non-linear structure of Hana’s Suitcase is an important aspect of the structure of the text and serves several purposes: It establishes the different key figures of the book, helps to build suspense, and leads to a feeling of interconnectedness across time and space. This third purpose links to a key theme of the novel, Family Connections Across Time, and is established early on. For example, in the first chapter, set in Tokyo in the 2000s, Fumiko and the children at the museum are investigating a suitcase from the 1930s. By explicitly connecting the past with the present in this early chapter, Levine shows how important it is to view history as a part of today. Additionally, the children’s perception of relationships that cross time is a vital part of their path to uncover Hana’s story and share it with their community. This connection between Hana and the Japanese children adds another element to this theme by foregrounding the idea of the human family. Without this kind of interconnectedness, stories from the past might not be brought into the light, especially from periods like the Holocaust, where history and facts were intentionally obscured.