# Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust

**Author:** Elisa Boxer
**Grade range:** Grades 2–5
**Age range:** 7–11
**First published:** 2023
**Page count:** 52
**Genre:** Picture Book
**ISBN-13:** `9781647000899`
**ISBN-10:** `1647000890`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/hidden-hope
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

The true story of a wooden toy duck with a hidden compartment that a member of the French Resistance used to smuggle documents and help families during the Holocaust. Elisa Boxer's picture book honors a small object's role in saving lives. Nominated for the 2025-2026 South Carolina Children's Book Award (grades 3-5), administered by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.

## Themes

- history
- courage
- Holocaust
- biography

## Content notes

- Holocaust

## Where this book is assigned

### Garden State Children's Book Award

- **recommended** · 2nd grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)
- **recommended** · 3rd grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)
- **recommended** · 4th grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · New Jersey — [source: New Jersey Library Association — Garden State Children's Book Award selections (statewide children's-choice program; students vote, since 1977)](https://njla.org/garden-state-childrens-book-award)

### South Carolina Children's Book Award

- **recommended** · 3rd grade · South Carolina — [source: 2025-2026 South Carolina Children's Book Award Nominees (South Carolina Association of School Librarians / studySC)](https://studysc.org/sc-book-awards/sc-childrens-book-award-2026)
- **recommended** · 4th grade · South Carolina — [source: 2025-2026 South Carolina Children's Book Award Nominees (South Carolina Association of School Librarians / studySC)](https://studysc.org/sc-book-awards/sc-childrens-book-award-2026)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · South Carolina — [source: 2025-2026 South Carolina Children's Book Award Nominees (South Carolina Association of School Librarians / studySC)](https://studysc.org/sc-book-awards/sc-childrens-book-award-2026)

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