The Best Time of Day

Reach for this book when your child is beginning to ask difficult questions about history, human cruelty, and how people survive when they have nothing. While the story is set during the Holocaust, it speaks deeply to any child feeling adrift or searching for their own identity in a world that feels chaotic. It follows a young, nameless orphan in Warsaw who navigates the brutal reality of the ghetto with a band of fellow street children. Through his eyes, we see the power of chosen family and the resilience of the human spirit. Because of its raw depiction of historical trauma, this book is best suited for middle schoolers. It offers a profound way to discuss ethics and empathy without shielding children from the truth of the past. Parents will find it a valuable tool for normalizing feelings of fear while highlighting the small, defiant acts of kindness that define our humanity even in the darkest times.