The Children's War

Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:37:00 +0000

From the time he was a young boy and saw his first baseball game, Kenochi "Zeni" Zenimura wanted to play baseball - he wanted that more than anything. And he was well on his way towards living his dream when he was old enough, managing local teams and playing with the Fresno Nisei League and the Fresno Twilight League, going to exhibition games in Japan, even playing with star players of the New York Yankees. It seemed Zeni was on top of the world, at least until December 7, 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

By now married with two teenage sons, Zeni and his family were forced to move to an internment camp just because they were of Japanese descent. Located on the Gila River Indian Reservation, it was hot and dry desert with too many people crowded into barrack after barrack, each containing row upon row of cots.

While families tried to make a home out of their allotted space, putting up curtains and decorating with all kinds of personal mementos, Zeni still dreamed about baseball and decided he was going to play - right in the desert!

And so he picked a spot and began to clear the grass and rocks, hard work in the desert heat. Yet before he knew it, others joined in to help, including his own sons. Using his ingenuity, his power of persuasion and any other means possible, little by little, Zeni and his helpers began to turn the desert into a baseball field, right down to bleaches for people to sit and watch games. And while the men worked on building a field, the women sewed uniforms out of potato sacks. Lastly, equipment was purchased with funds collected from among the detainees.

Barbed Wire Baseball is an excellent introduction to both Japanese American baseball and the internment of Japanese American in World War II. Marissa Moss gives the same attention to detail in her text that Zeni gave to creating his baseball field. And the beautiful illustrations by Yuko Shimizu bring the whole story together. This is the first children's book that Shimizu has illustrated and for it, she used a Japanese calligraphy brush and ink, than scanned and colored the illustrations with Photoshop, so that the colors give a real sense of the time.

At the end of Barbed Wire Baseball, there is an Afterword about Kenichi Zenimura life, as well as an Author's Note and an Artist's Note, which you may not want to miss reading. Moss has also included an useful Bibliography for further exploration of Japanese American baseball.

I had never heard of Kenochi Zenimura before, probably because I'm not much of a baseball person, but I really was impressed with his perseverance and dedication to creating a place where he and his fellow detainees could enjoy playing or watching baseball in an otherwise desolate place and that would give them all a sense of accomplishment and community. And having lived in Phoenix, AZ for 4 years and being somewhat familiar with the desert around it, I really understood what an accomplishment it was.

1927: Zenimura standing between Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth
(also depicted on Page 10 of Barbed Wire Baseball)

This book is a Picture Book for Older Readers and is recommeded for readers age 7+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by Perogies & Gyoza

After by Morris Gleitzman

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:48:00 +0000

After the Nazis took my parents I was scared
After they killed my best friend I was angry
After they ruined my thirteenth birthday I was determined
To get to the forest
To join forces with Gabriek and Yuli
To be a family
To defeat the Nazis after all.

After I finished reading Once, the first story about Felix, 10, a young Jewish boy on the run from the Nazis, I wanted to know more about this brave boy and Zelda, the six year old who became his friend. And so, Morris Gleitzman gave us Then, which did indeed continue the story of Felix and Zelda. When I finished reading that second book, I still wanted to know more and so along came book three, called Now. But this is the story of 80 year old Felix and his granddaughter Zelda, 10. But wait, Now ended in the middle of the war. What happened to Felix in the last two years of the war? Where and how did Felix spend them? Well, we know that he spent time helping partisans with his friend Gabriek. But, how the heck did that come about?

Well, now there is After. After returns to the war, where it is 1945 and Felix has been hiding for two years in a hidey hole in Gabriek's barn, emerging once a night to eat and excercise. The hidey hole is right under the hooves of Gabriek's horse Dom. On the night of his 13th birthday, Felix hears Gabriek talking to some men with guns. Nazis? But they are speaking Polish and are not wearing uniforms and there is a lady wearing a red scarf with them. Confused and scared, Felix decides to follow them when they head off to the forest with Gabriek. Afraid they are going to kill Gabriek, Felix tries to rescue him by yelling at his captors. With their guns pointed and ready to shoot, Felix gives himself up to save Gabriek - only they aren't Nazis, they're partisans and Gabriek is one of them and they have just sabotaged a Nazi train.

When it is all over, Felix is allowed to go home with Gabriek, but when they get there, the farm is on fire, set by the Nazis. They manage to save the horse and find their way to the partisan camp, asking to permanently join. But Felix is an outsider and must prove himself - by stealing a gun from a Nazi. The lady in the red scarf, Yuli, takes him to a village and tells him what to do.

Felix ends up joining the partisans, but as the doctor's assistant not as a fighter. He befriends the maternal Yuli, even fantasizes that Gabriek and Yuli could be his new parents. But the war is still going on, and the more the Nazis are defeated, the more hateful and destructive they become. Life is still precarious - for Felix and for the partisans.

There is much more in store for Felix and Gabriek before the end of the war, but it would probably require a **Spoiler Alert** and I think it needs to be experienced first hand. Suffice it to say, that After did, indeed, give me the sense of closure that I really needed on Felix's story.

Gleitzman, we know, is a master storyteller and the four books that comprise Felix's history are no exception. Caught in one of the darkest periods, witness to all kinds of horrors, he gives us a Felix who has managed to maintain his sense of humanity, fairness and imagination throughout and it is all incredibly believable. And in After, we see the man that Felix will become - a doctor who wants to heal the wounds of the world - small wonder.

After is a true coming of age book. Had things been different, Felix would have had a bar mitzvah at 13 instead of joining a partisan group. But even so, there is a very discernible change in Felix in this book. He is not a young boy anymore, praying to Richmal Crompton, but has a sense of maturity about him that becomes all the more obvious and poignant when he is put into a paternal position of taking care of three Jewish sisters hiding from the Nazis.

I am sorry to say good-bye to Felix now, but am comforted by the fact that I can reread his story anytime I want to. His story is sad, funny, violent and painful, but so well worth reading.

Patience has never been my strong suit, so as soon as I knew it was available in Australia, NZ, and the UK, I also knew I had to order After from The Book Depository (free shipping, Americans!) because I don't know when the American edition is going to come out. Sound good? Why wait? You can read the first chapter right here on The Morris Gleitzman Collection.

And thank you, Mr. Gleitzman, for doing such a bang up job telling us Felix's story.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was purchased for my personal library.

His Majesty's Hope (A Maggie Hope Mystery #3) by Susan Elia MacNeal

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:27:00 +0000

His Majesty's Hope is the third book in Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope Mystery Series. Maggie, you will remember, is a Brit who was raised by her aunt in the United States after her parents died in an accident. She went to England to sell her grandmother's house which she had inherited and ended up staying there once the war started in 1939.

In the first book, Mr. Churchill's Secretary, Maggie, who is a brilliant mathematician, found herself working for the PM and is soon caught up in solving the mystery of who and why his previous secretary was murdered - and it involves her own father, you know the one that is dead.

In the second book, Princess Elizabeth's Spy, Maggie is sent undercover to Windsor Castle under the guise of maths tutor to Princess Elizabeth. But again finds herself in the midst of a murder mystery and lots of decoding of messages -and it involves her own mother, you know, the one that is dead.

In book three, Maggie has just finished training in Winston Churchill's elite SOE (Special Operations Executive) as a spy for Britain. First off, she is to parachute into Germany to deliver some radio crystals to the Resistance in Berlin - in and out in three days time. But when the opportunity comes along for a job as companion to the pregnant daughter of a high ranking Nazi, Gustav Oberg, Maggie jumps at the chance to perhaps uncover information that would be valuable to Britain's war effort.

But what she finds doesn't make sense until she gets friendly with Elise Hess, a nurse at Charité Hospital who has herself uncovered some disturbing information about what's happening to some of Germany's children. And it doesn't take long for Maggie to find herself on the run from the Gestapo in Berlin. And yes, this novel also involves family members and more, but that's all I can say without the need of a spoiler alert.

I loved the first two Maggie Hope mysteries and couldn't wait to get my hands on this one (I received an ARC from the publisher a while ago, read it immediately, and just reread it). Macneal has really honed her skills as a historical mystery writer. His Majesty's Hope is a taut, suspenseful story involving some disturbing programs that the Nazis had in place to secure their position as "Master Race." There is also just enough romance without over doing it.

Though His Majesty's Hope is a lot edgier than the first two books, I think it still retains its appeal to YA readers who enjoy mysteries. You could, perhaps, say that this mystery is less of a cozy than the previous two because of some of the subject matter, but I certainly think it is still borderline cozy. It isn't a classic murder mystery in the same way as the previous two books.

Maggie is becoming a character with a strong personality, though sometimes she can be a little petulant and willful, but that just makes her all the more realistic. Still, I like that way she uses mathematics to solve many problems and this novel also involves a clever cipher that I found to be fun.

There is a subplot with Maggie's friend David, who is gay. Being gay at that time was still illegal and in fact, Alan Turing, who broke the German Enigma Code that helped Britain so much in the war, was gay and was tried and convicted in 1952. In 1954, he committed suicide using cyanide poison at age 42. MacnNeal doesn't include a gay character because it is cute to do, but rather to point out the dangers for gay people at that time, when you would think more tolerance would be shown given what the Nazis were doing.

A word about the cover art - once again, it is great and feels so of the time.

So if you want a nice nail-biter of a mystery, give the Maggie Hope mysteries a try. If you are already a fan of Maggie's than you are in luck - this novel will be available on May 14, 2013

I sure hope there is a fourth Maggie on the way!

This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an ARC sent to my by the publisher

This is book 1 of my 2013 Crusin' with the Cozies Reading Challenge hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews

This is book 3 of my 2013 European Reading Challenge hosted by Rose City Reader

This is book 6 of my 2013 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted by Historical Tapestry

Sunday Funnies #9: Donald Duck and his Victory Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 12 May 2013 14:13:00 +0000

First, I would like to wish everyone

A Very Happy Mother's Day!

Second, I would like to wish my kiddo

A Very Happy Birthday!

I hope you and Lipeng do something fun today.

Third, since I live in the city, I only have a little herb garden in my window, but today I have spent the morning chasing the birds away from it (a chicken wire fence is in the making), but since I reviewed a book about the importance of Victory Gardens in WWII and it is pretty much planting time, I thought I would post this old Donald Duck comic about birds and Victory Gardens. Donald's Victory Garden first appeared in this edition of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories April 1943 #31 (in color, not B&W):

Page 1 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 2 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 3 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 4 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 5 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 6 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 7 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 8 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 9 (click to enlarge and read)

Page 10 (click to enlarge and read)

Maybe I will print some of these out and attach them to a Popsicle stick and put them in my window box to keep away the birds.

HAPPY GARDENING!

The Victory Garden by Lee Kochenderfer

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:05:00 +0000

It is spring 1943 and for 11 year old Teresa Marks the war has turned personal - her beloved older brother Jeff was off in Europe flying B-24s, a dream come true for him, but not for her. It is also time for planting the annual Victory Garden and resurrecting the annual competition for best tomatoes with the Markses curmudgeony neighbor Tom Burt. But just as the planting and competition gets underway, Tom Burt is seriously injured in a tractor accident and must spend the summer in the hospital.

Rather than plow his entire garden under, and knowing it is his pride and joy, Teresa suggests that one of the ways her class can raise money for the schools war bond competition would be to take over Tom Burt's garden and sell the produce. No one is more pleased than Teresa when six kids volunteer, even if the new kid, troublemaker Billy Riggs, thinks it's a bad idea.

The kids, called the Young Sprouts by the local newspaper, work hard on the Tom Burt's Victory Garden. But one morning, Teresa wakes up to a trampled garden and a broken St. Francis statue belonging to the very gentle Mrs. Burt. Naturally, she is convinced that Billy Riggs did it to spite the Young Sprouts.

At the same time, Tom Burt's big dog Wolf goes missing from the relatives who are caring for him during his master's hospital stay. The police seem to believe the dog will make its way home and sure enough, one day Teresa finds the dog under the Burt's porch with Billy Riggs. Dirty and badly injured, Billy had been trying to help the frightened animal. Together, they nurse Wolf, but when Teresa notices a piece of the broken statue lodged in the dogs side, she think that Billy Riggs may have had nothing to do with the trampled garden after all.

Throughout the summer, as the kids work hard in the garden and at selling their produce, Billy comes and goes, each time offering advice and help to Teresa while avoiding the other kids. Pretty soon, Teresa begins to think of him as a friend, but then he disappears along with his alcoholic father, their run down house closed and deserted.

And Teresa is surprised to realize how much she misses him.

The Victory Garden is an interesting novel. It is a real slice of life, coming of age story. Teresa talks about reading Life magazine and that is exactly how this novel feels - like a story out of Life about how communities are coping with the war. Which may be why it has such an 'in the middle of things' feeling to it, and not just because it is directed at middle grade readers. It is set in the middle of Kansas, in the middle of the US, in the middle of the war and, with the exception of Billy Riggs, among very middle class people. Days pass, vegetable grow, and small town Kansas begins to feel almost idyllic in the midst of war. And yet, in the midst of all that middleness, the Young Sprouts are learning some very valuable lessons and some painful truths about life. Especially Teresa, who was very happy believing she knows how to keep bad things away - like as long as she uses her 'secret weapon' on the tomatoes they will be big and juicy and award winning just the way her brother liked them, and that as long as her brother is in the air in his B-24, he will be safe, and that planting a victory garden will help win the war and bring everyone home safely.

A US poster encouraging people to grow
their own vergtables

But can Teresa learn that magical thinking doesn't actually work in the middle real life?

Teresa was right in thinking that a victory garden could help win the war. Victory gardens were a very important part of life on the home front. These gardens began to appear everywhere there was room to plant - back yards, allotments, public lands, rooftops and in England, there were even gardens planted in bomb craters (see my post Victory through Vegetables: Woolton Pie). The American, British and German governments all encouraged citizens to grow their own food to supplement their food supply during rationing and to allow more food to be sent to their troops. And it victory gardens turned out to have an unexpected benefit to folks on the home front - it brought them together as a community, just as it does in The Victory Garden.

This book is recommended for readers aged 10+
This book was given to me by a friend

Sorrowline, Book 1 of the Timesmith Chronicles by Niel Bushnell

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:23:00 +0000

It is 2013 and Jack Morrow, 12, is visiting his mother's grave while his dad explains that while he is in jail, Jack will be staying with his aunt. Not at all happy about this, Jack rubs his hand on his mum's gravestone, memories instantly start to flooding his mind and he finds himself in the graveyard in 2008, the year his mum died, with a man claiming to be his dead granddad.

But before anything can be explained to Jack, dirt and dust start swirling into human shape, Dustmen, his granddad calls them, and tells Jack to find a gravestone from 1940 and to go there and find his younger self and that Jack must protect the powerful Rose of Annwyn Not knowing what he is talking about, but threatened by the Dustman, Jack finds the 1940 gravestone and, with another flood of memories, ends up in wartime London.

And sure enough, he does manage to find the much younger teenage version of his grandfather, Davey. It seems that Jack is a Yard Boy, having the ability to travel along the Sorrowline that connects every gravestone to the date of the person's death. In fact, there is a whole other world, the First World, that Jack did know about, peopled with Yard Boys, Dustman, Paladins (undead knights), Boagymen, and of course, the power hungry, evil Rouland, who is also seeking the Rose of Annwyn.

Yard Boys normally only travel downstream, that is from present to past and not very far into the past at that. But Jack has the ability to be able to travel not only downstream, and quite far back in the past, as far as 1813, but upstream as well, and he can even take a non-Yard Boy with him, making him a very special Yard Boy.

Naturally, given his ability, and not fully understanding things yet, Jack begins to formulate the idea that he can return to 2008 and prevent his mother's death, something he has never come to terms with. And even though Davey keeps reminding him that he can't change history, Jack stubbornly holds on to this idea right up to the end. But naturally, it isn't as easy as he thought - Rouland has other uses for him, should he be able to capture and get Jack under his power.

At the center of everything is the Rose of Annwyn. And so the quest is who will get to it first - Jack or Rouland? It is a fight between good and evil in the First World, just like the one that is raging in 1940 between the allied and axis powers - a rather nice parallel, I thought.

This is a real action-packed fantasy adventure with lots of time travel. I particularly liked the way the time travel element worked - simply by rubbing his fingers over the death date on a gravestone opened the Sorrowline for Jack. And I thought it was a nice touch to include the memories of the deceased as he traveled back in time. Memories are so much a part of a person's life.

On thing that did annoy me was that the Rose of Annwyn was really fully explained and it came late in the book. But that is a small complaint and the excitement of the quest for it made up for that.

Aside from the parallel of power crazed leaders, I asked myself why was Jack sent back to the Blitz. Well, the most obvious reason it that it fit with his grandfather's age. The other obvious reason - the Blitz brought its own destruction of property and diverted people's attention, so that any destruction the First World inflicted on the Second World would be chalked up to the Blitz. And no one would pay much attention to Jack, Davy. Otherwise, this isn't really a WW2 book, though the descriptions of the Blitz are really spot on.

This is the first book in a series, so a lot a time is spent explaining things to the reader that they need to know to enjoy this and future books in the series. But since Jack was also a novice to this new world he has become a part of, the intros and explanations worked beautifully into the story.

This is a British book that I bought from the Book Depository, so I don't know if it will be published in the US or not, but it is still available online if you want to read it. And I would recommend it if you like time travel, fantasy, adventure and good world building. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to Book 2, due out in 2014.

This book is recommended for readers 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library

It's Monday! What are you reading? #3

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:19:00 +0000

It's Monday! What are you reading? is the original weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. It's Monday! What are you reading? - from Picture Books to YA is a kidlit focused meme just like the original and is hosted weekly by Teach Mentor Texts. The purpose is the same: to recap what you have read and/or reviewed and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week.

Last week, I probably read less than I have in a long, long time. I was down in Washington DC, visiting family and doing other things and just had no time to really be able to get into a book, which is not a good thing when you have two different blogs. But I did read and World War II: a visual history of the world's darkest days by Sean Callery and Odette's Secrets by Maryann MacDonald, none the less:

This week, I plan to read the following (all descriptions from the publisher's blurbs):

Kid Soldier by Jennifer Maruno
Fatherless and penniless, fifteen-year-old Richard Fuller wants a bike, so Mr. Black, the baker hires him to help with deliveries. Mr. Black entertains him with army stories and teaches him Morse code. He invites Richard to attend the opening ceremonies of the local 1939 military camp. Infatuated with army life, Richard takes part in Army training camp under an assumed name. When war looms, he makes the most impulsive decision in his life and enlists.
He travels to England, witnesses the terror of the Battle of Britain, the horrible death of a German pilot, is caught in the London Blitzkrieg, and is wounded himself. When his true age is discovered, Richard faces a possible court-martial.
Will Richard’s desire for adventure lead to disaster so early in his life?

After by Morris Gleitzman
In the fourth part of Felix's story, continuing his adventures in World War Two, he faces perhaps his greatest challenge - to find hope when he's lost almost everything, including his parents. As Europe goes through the final agonizing stages of the war, Felix struggles to reconcile hatred and healing. He's helped by a new friend, but if he should lose her as well ...

(my review of Once, Then and Now, the first three books about Felix and his survival while on the run from the Nazis.)

Sorrowline by Niel Bushnell
The past is not a frozen place. Graveyards are not dead ends. And if the Sorrowline lets you in there is a hidden world of adventure waiting behind every gravestone.
Just when 12-year-old Jack Morrow’s life is falling apart he discovers his natural ability to travel through Sorrowlines: channels that connect every gravestone with the date of the person’s death. Confused and alone Jack finds himself in 1940. He embarks on an adventure through London during the Blitz with Davy, his teenage grandfather, to find a mystical Rose that might just save his mother’s life, a mother who he has already seen die. But the terrible power of the Rose of Annwn, is sought by many, and the forces of a secret world are determined to find it first. With a league of Undead Knights of his trail, commanded by the immortal Rouland, can Jack decipher the dark secret hidden at the heart of his family? Can he change his own destiny and save his mother?

His Majesty's Hope (Maggie Hope Mystery #3) by Susan Elia MacNeal
...whip-smart heroine Maggie Hope returns to embark on a clandestine mission behind enemy lines where no one can be trusted, and even the smallest indiscretion can be deadly.World War II has finally come home to Britain, but it takes more than nightly air raids to rattle intrepid spy and expert code breaker Maggie Hope. After serving as a secret agent to protect Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, Maggie is now an elite member of the Special Operations Executive—a black ops organization designed to aid the British effort abroad—and her first assignment sends her straight into Nazi-controlled Berlin, the very heart of the German war machine. Relying on her quick wit and keen instincts, Maggie infiltrates the highest level of Berlin society, gathering information to pass on to London headquarters. But the secrets she unveils will expose a darker, more dangerous side of the war—and of her own past.

(my review of Mr. Churchill's Secretary (Maggie Hope Mystery #1) and Princess Elizabeth's Spy (Maggie Hope Mystery #2)

What are you reading this week?

Odette's Secrets by Maryann MacDonald

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:15:00 +0000

"My name is Odette.

I live in Paris."

Odette Meyers lives with her parents in an apartment building in Paris and spends a lots of time with her godmother, Madame Marie, who is also the building's caretaker. Odette is around 5 when the Second World War begins. Her father and uncle immediately enlist in the French army, but are soon captured and sent to a Nazi labor camp. Despite the war, life is OK until the Nazis march into Paris and changes drastically for everyone. And Odette quickly learns that being a secular Jew doesn't matter to the Nazis - they hate all Jews equally.

One night, when the Nazis are rounding up Jews to send east, Madame Marie hides Odette and her mother in her broom closet and deftly manages to keep the Nazis from searching it and the Meyer's apartment. But life is now too dangerous for Odette and her mother, who also works with the French Resistance and it is decided to send Odettte away. With the help of Madame Marie and her husband Monsieur Henri, Odette is sent to live with a family in the French countryside. There she must pretend to be Catholic, learning everything a young Catholic girl would need to know. As she quickly assimilates herself into the life of the family, church and country life, Odette begins to feel safer:

"I know the reason I feel safe in the country.
It's because here,
I am not a Jew."

But when her mother comes at Christmas to visit, she is not really pleased to see her daughter in this new Catholic light, even though it is the reason her child is safe. Before the winter is over, she comes to take Odette away to a little cottage in the country where they can live together. They adjust and begin living a quiet life, until one day Odette's new best friend accuses them of being Jews who have fled Paris. And though she denies the accusation, Odette is nevertheless attacked by the other schoolchildren. Life is again getting more dangerous for Odette and her mother and now the old farmer Père René has overheard Odettte's prayer for Our Lady to watch over them because they are Jewish. Will Père René keep this secret, just as Odette must keep all the secrets she has in order to be safe?

Though fictional, Odette's Secrets is based on the real Odette Meyers. Having acquired as many facts about Odette's life as she could, Maryann MacDonald filled in the blanks using her imagination and ides. The story follows Odette's life for the length of the war, or until she is around 10 years old. It is written in free verse, and at the beginning, Odette's voice is age appropriate and ages as she ages.

Free verse is a style I am really beginning to like for some historical Fiction written for young readers. Odette's Secrets. Its brevity provides a more focused perspective, allowing the reader to really feel the words being read. And though I would recommend a steady diet of free verse novels, I think it is the ideal form for

There a a number of photographs throughout the novel of the real Odette, her mother and the family she lived with. I was sorry there was no picture of Madame Marie, with whom Odette has such a close relationship. This is a wonderful story of one Jewish girl's survival in WWII in Frances. According to the Author's Note at the back of the book, 11, 400 children were deported from France, but 84% of French children did survive. How, MacDonald wondered, did that happen? Odette's Secrets is the result of that thought.

There is a very interesting interview with author Maryann MacDonald over at The Hopeful Heroine in which she discusses her inspiration for this story and her reasons for writing it in free verse.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was purchased for my personal library.

World War II: a visual history of the world's darkest days by Sean Callery

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:51:00 +0000

This is a shiny new book from Scholastic, part of their Discover More series. It covers World War II, beginning with the end of World War I and the rise of Nazism right through to the end and even some of the postwar period. The layout consists of different time lines for each aspect of the war, as follows: the path to war, Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific theater, the war in Africa and the Middle East and the End of the War, followed by subcategories of information pertinent to the years covered in each timeline.

This is by no means an in-depth history of the war, but it is a comprehensive one and what it does is give a little information on a wide range of topics. Two of the topics I liked best were the Resistance and Codes. After reading so many books about how resistance workers or Special Operations Executive agents parachuting into an occupied area with a radio transmitter disguised in a suitcase, it was nice to see a large, clear photograph of a real one. The same was true under the section on Codes, which I have always been fascinated with, particularly the German Enigma, a cipher machine which produced messages that the German thought were unbreakable. Again there is a up-close photo of a real Enigma machine.

In the side margins of some of the pages are ways to get more information about what is covered, as well as definitions of words that may be unfamiliar. Since I am interested in pop culture, I used that page as an example:

Click to enlarge

There is also a free digital book that you can download from Scholastic called WWII Heroes and Heroines. It comes in PDF form so you will need Adobe Reader. I actually did download this digital book and look through it. I liked that among the adult heroes and heroines there was a section about the children who were also heroes, beginning with Anne Frank, but also including many unknown and unsung child.

Before I started this blog, I would have thought that young readers were not terribly interested in WWII beyond some interesting novels and what they learned in school, but the longer I write this, the more I hear from kids who are genuinely interested in it. This is an ideal book for a classroom, a school library and certainly a homeschooling situation, but it is also a great beginning reference book for any kid who is showing some curiosity.

World War II is truly an visual history, with an abundance of photographs, maps, and illustrations, some familiar, some not and none very graphic. I was very happy to see that under the Holocaust section there was a special homage to the 1.5 million children who perished as well as a section on Wartime Childhood, since there are areas young people are very interested in. "What was it like for kids?" is probably the question I am asked the most.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was provided by the publisher.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by A Mom's Spare Time

Mister Orange by Truus Matti

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:29:00 +0000

Front Cover of Mister Orange

Racing along New York City streets one March 1945 day, Linus Muller stops to catch his breath when his attention is suddenly arrested by a familiar face on a poster. Noting the address on the poster, Linus changes course and sets off for it instead.

Flashback to September 1943: Linus is 12 years old and has just inherited his older brother's shoes and his job delivering groceries for his parent's shop. In fact, with six kids and a war on, everything is a hand me down, except for Linus's older brother Albie, who is off to war now that he is old enough to enlist. Linus has also inherited Albie's bed and has been made caretaker of Albie's superhero comic books collection, a love they shared, as well as Albie drawing of his own superhero Mr. Superspeed, with whom Linus keeps a running conversation while he makes his deliveries.

As Linus begins his life as a delivery boy, he meets all the customers and quickly learns their quirky ways, like Mrs. DeWinter who always has another task waiting for Linus to do when he brings her groceries. His job takes him all over the Upper East Side of Manhattan, an area Linus knows like the back of his hand. Late in the afternoon, on his first day, his mother hands Linus a crate of oranges and tells him to deliver them to 15 East 59th Street. Little did Linus know this would be his most interesting monthly delivery.

Living there is an elderly painter with a difficult to remember name and a studio that has stark white walls, except for the groups of brightly colored squares and rectangles here and there. Linus started called the painter Mister Orange and it turns out that Mr. Orange had recently arrived from Nazi-occupied Holland to escape Hitler's oppressive control on the arts.

Meanwhile, brother Albie is still excited to go to war and ships out to Italy as soon as basic training is over. At first, Albie's letters are still filled with enthusiastic descriptions about being a new recruit and the friends he has made. From Italy, he asks Linus to play a rather harmless practical joke on a friend's mother for her birthday and leave a card from her son at the same time. Linus carries out his mission with stealth, but then Albie's next letter is more somber and sad, as he reports his friend has fallen in battle.

Linus understands how it feels to lose a friend. It appears that he is losing his best friend to an older boy who dislikes Linus as much as Linus dislikes him.

And so his visits to Mr. Orange become a bright spot in his life and it is there that the two talk about life. Angry at the reality of war that Albie describes, Linus decides that comics and superheroes are imaginary escapes from all the horrors in life and rejects them completely. Now he doesn't even have the voice of Mr. Superspeed to accompany him. But as Mr. Orange talks to him about his painting and even teaches him how to dance the boogie woogie, he also tells Linus about the importance of imagination, especially during wartime: "If imagination were as harmless as you think...then the Nazis couldn't be so scared of it." (pg 122) All the while, Mr. Orange works on his latest painting, a freedom he would not have had if he has remained in Europe.

Can Mister Orange help Linus through this difficult time?

Originally written in Dutch and skillfully translated by Laura Watkinson, Mister Orange is itself a wonderful historical fiction work of imagination that skillfully portrays the daily hustle and bustle of life in one New York City neighborhood during WW2 as Linus makes his deliveries. I grew up in Brooklyn and Manhattan at a time when Mom and Pop grocery stores were still common (my brother's first job was delivering groceries), and if you had a fight with your best friend, you just went over to their house to make up - just the way Linus does - very simple, very easy. So I know that this and more of Mister Orange is pretty spot on. And so is the Action Comic that Linus buys for Albie - November 1943 No. 66. Matti has done her research well.

But the friendship between Mister Orange and Linus would be unusual, though maybe not impossible. In a way, however, it is a nice example of how even a short lived friendship can impact our lives, in this case from September 1943 to February 1944.

Mister Orange is a nice coming-of-age story that unfolds slowly and steadily, but should still engage young readers, though probably not everyone. Linus is a thoughtful, introspective, observant boy who really loves life, at least until reality comes knocking and he finds his world terribly shaken.

I put Mister Orange on hold at the library based only on the cover and knowing it was a WW2 story because I loved the cover of the American edition. Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) is one of my favorite abstract painters, so as soon as I saw the cover, I knew he would be in the story somewhere, someway. Jenni Desmond, the illustrator of Mister Orange, has really captured both the motion of the city as Linus travels around and the sense of movement that Mondrian's painting reflect, so that it becomes such a wonderful mixture of Linus's life, and Mondrian's painting, which is as it should be. I found myself going over it again and again after I finished reading the book.

In the back on the book is a section called Mister Mondrian. This FYI section describes his life and the paintings he did while live in New York City. The painting that he was working on during Linus's visit was his never completed Victory Boogie Woogie, see here:

Victory Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian

Mondrian's studio had an immediate, deep impact on Linus and helped him realize hope for the future. Here, though, are photos of that studio, almost exactly as Linus describes them (right down to the orange crates):

(click the images to enlarge them)

There are some who think this book would not appeal to young readers, but I think they will enjoy reading about Linus and his life, and the person who helped him work things out for himself.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL

My Chocolate Year: a novel with 12 recipes by Charlotte Herman

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:54:00 +0000

There was just no way a chocoholic such a myself could pass on reading a book called My Chocolate Year. And I am glad I did.

It is September 1945, the war is over and Dorrie Meyers is starting fifth grade. And the best part is that her best friend Sunny Shapiro is in her class and their teacher is the very popular Miss Fitzgerald. Popular because each year, Miss Fitzgerald has a Sweet Semester, in which each student thinks up a dessert to make, writes an essay about it and in January they all bring in their entries and a prize goes out to one winner dessert and one winning essay.

Dorrie loves chocolate passionately and is very excited about Sweet Semester, except for one problem - she has no idea how to make anything, let alone a prize winning dessert. And this year is a special Sweet Semester because not only will family members be invited, but the winners will also get their pictures in the Chicago Daily News. In addition, since there are now so many orphans in Europe as a result of the war, the class will has a donation jar set up to collect money to send to a charity which cares for the orphans.

The subject of orphans soon hits home for Dorrie. Her grandparents had all migrated to America, but there were still relatives who had remained in Lithuania. No one knew what happened to them after war. Since they were Jewish the worst was feared and Dorrie's mother has been making inquires to find them. Then, one November morning, good news arrives. Victor Dubin, son of Dorrie's Aunt Mina and Uncle Joseph and grandson of Dorrie's Bubbie, was found living in a Displaced Persons camp. No sooner found, than arrangements begin to be made to bring Victor to America. Sadly, no other family members survived.

Victor, now an orphan, and orphan jar in school get Dorrie to thinking about the Margaret O'Brien and the movie Journey for Margaret, about a young girl orphaned during the London Blitz. How, Dorrie wonders, did she play such a convincing orphan? So she writes a letter to the actress to ask.

Meanwhile, Dorrie and Sunny experiment with different possibilities for Sweet Semester. The first idea, Chocolate Covered Gum, dissolves into a chocolaty mess. Their chocolate covered nuts and raisins clusters taste delicious, but was that all chocolate in them? Oh, and when you add flour to brownies using the electric mixer, it is much easier if you turn the mixer off.

It is really beginning to look like Dorrie isn't going to win that Sweet Semester competition despite the fact that both her mother and Buddie are excellent bakers. She just doesn't seem to have a natural instinct for baking. She really needs a miracle...could that miracle come in the form of both real and movie orphans?

This is a lovely story about the strength and importance of family. It is told in Dorrie's voice and even though it is not written as a diary, it reads like on. The book follows the year though all the Jewish holidays, starting with Rosh Hashanah and Dorrie explains the story and Jewish customs for celebrating each holiday for the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with them. She also talks about the war and it's effect on her family, and when Victor comes, we hear his story in detail, but not so much detail that it would be too much for the targeted age of intended readers. This is a book, after all, that is written for kids who are beginning to learn about the Holocaust.

Now, the 12 recipes. Not all are real recipes, but some are and they are made from scratch. My 10 year old budding chef liked that idea, since she is a cooking purist. We actually make Dorrie's Sweet Semester entry, which was so good that when I went to take a picture, they were all gone. Lesson learned - don't leave good tasting stuff unattended with kids in the house and without telling them hands off.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Weekend Cooking is a weekly event hosted by Beth Fish Reads

From the Archives #3: Biggles Defies the Swastika by Captain W.E. Johns

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:27:00 +0000

Not long ago I reviewed a book by John Boyne on my blog Randomly Reading called The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket. This was a really good fantasy novel about a boy who floats and must be weighed down to stay on the ground. Barnaby has a dog named Capt. W.E. Johns, which caused me to laugh when I read that. There is no explanation why that is the dog's name, but I (and others, I am sure) know exactly who Johns is.

Captain W.E. Johns was a very prolific writer with 169 books to his credit. But he is probably best known for two of his series books: 96 'Biggles' books for boys and 11 'Worrals' books for girls. Worrals, or Joan Worralson, flies for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, part of the RAF. I reviewed Worrals of the W.A.A.F in 2011. Biggles, or James Bigglesworth, learned to fly in World War I and continued flying right into World War II and beyond.

Biggles Defies the Swastika (#22 in the series and written in 1941), begins in April 1940. A Major with the RAF, Biggles has been doing some work in Oslo when he wakes up one morning to discover that the Nazis have invaded Norway. Fortunately, Biggles has false identity papers naming him as Sven Hendrik, allowing him to pass as a Norwegian who supports the Nazis until he can get to his plane and out of Norway. Arriving at the aerodome in Boda on a stolen Nazi motorcycle, Biggles finds it is under Nazi control now. Somehow, Biggles fools the Germans into thinking he is a quisling who speaks fluent German and is made a leutnant on the spot by the German commandant there. Now under a safe cover, Biggles gets himself to the Swedish border on a his stolen motorcycle and crosses over to safety.

But not for long. At the British Consul, he is told to return to Norway to do some ntelligence spying and that his friends and fellow fliers Ginger and Algy will contact him as soon as possible. Back in Norway, he hears that the Germans are looking for a British pilot named Bigglesworth who was spotted in Oslo and wanted by the Germans. Luckily, as Sven Hendrik, Biggles is ordered to look for himself and given a Gestapo pass that will allow him freedom to get around without question.

Biggles soon discovers that his old nemesis Oberleutnant Erich von Stalhein is in Norway and is desperate to capture him. Biggles calls Gestapo headquarters and tells them he has information that Bigglesworth is in Narvik and he is on his way there. But along the way, he runs into some captured British sailors. He tells them he's really a British pilot and concocts a plan for them to tell their captors that they saw Bigglesworth escape. In Narvik, Biggles finds other British POWs, including his old friend Algy, who was sent over to help him. He manages to free all the prisoners, but is then ordered back to Boda Aerodome to be questioned by von Stalhein.

Before that can happen, Biggles is ordered to Stavanger airfield by the British to gather intelligence about Nazi defenses there and then to go to Fjord 21, where he runs into his other old friend Ginger. It is time to get out of Norway now that they have the needed intelligence, but Biggles refuse to go with Algy. Meanwhile, Algy, after being freed at Narvik has returned to Boda to find Biggles.

Biggles returns to Boda, finds Algy and they make their way to Fjord 21, Ginger in his plane and escape, only to find that the Fjord is now occupied by Nazis and that Ginger is missing. But not for long. Ginger tries to rescue Biggles and Algy, but things go wrong and Algy is again captured by the Nazis. Biggles, with the help of his Gestapo pass, learns that the British warships are sailing right into a trap. He can do nothing about it though because of growing suspicion about who he really is. He accepts a ride in a water plane back to Boda and von Stalhein, because he has no choice. During the flight, Biggles overtakes the pilot. Flying low enough for the German to jump into the water, Biggles orders him out, but not before telling him they must get together after the war and have dinner together (yes, he really did say that).

***SPOILER ALERT***

Now flying a German plane, Biggles is attacked by none other than Ginger. But then Ginger is attacked by a German plane and goes down. Luckily, Biggles is able to rescue Ginger, tells him about the trap the British warships are heading into and has Ginger drop him off to find Algy. Ginger delivers his warning, sets off to find Biggles and Algy, but is captured by the Germans. Meanwhile, Bigglesand Algy are also captured by von Stalhein at Boda. But when Ginger arrives with his German captor, the three of them manage to overpower him, steal a German plane and fly safely off to England and further adventures - lots of them!

All this action/adventure tokes place in only a few days. The back and forth between Oslo, Boda and Stavanger were a bit like watching a ping pong games with airplanes, but I never got confused, in part because of the simplicity of the writing. It is not great literature, is sometimes politically incorrect and everyone smokes, but Johns seems to have understood his young readers. There is just action, constant movement, and a feeling of being in control, something young readers probably found comforting in wartime Britain.

If you are going to read them for the first time, don't take them too seriously, just have some fun, after all, they feel a bit campy nowadays. And I thought the rivalry between Biggles and von Stalhein had shades of the later rivalry between Snoopy and the Red Baron. I did, however, learn that anti aircraft flak was refered to as archie, as in 'you will probably run into lots of archie when you fly a German Dornier over Britain.'

While I have read most of the Worrals books, I seem to only have Biggle Defies the Swastika - but I have two copies of it, somehow. And both smell like they just came out of my gram's attic. Luckily, since Biggles is still somewhat popular, now editions of his books have become available recently, for your reading pleasure.

Johns with his novels

Biggles has has lots of influence on people's lives. Here are some examples:
A Life of Biggles by Hilary Mantal
I Longed to Fly with Biggles by John Crace
Good Eggs and Malted Milk: Has Biggles Stood the Test of Time by Giles Foden

More information on Biggles and his creator Captain W. E. Johns can be found Collecting Books and Magazines (a great site for all kinds of information about kids books from the past.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was purchased for my personal library

This is book 3 of my 2013 Pre-1960 Classic Children's Books Reading Challenge hosted by Turning the Pages

Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:01:00 +0000

Imagine surviving 1 ghetto, 10 concentration camps and 2 death marches. Well, here is the story of a boy who did just that.

At 10 years old, Yanek Gruener's life means friends, school and most importantly, being surrounded by loving relatives all living in the center of Krakow, Poland. But his relatives know that soon something is going to happen - after all, they are Jews in a Europe that Hitler wants to make "Jew free." Sure enough, only six days after the German invasion of Poland, Nazi soldiers march into Krakow, and not long after that, one after another rights, privileges, pleasures, food and freedom are denied its Jewish citizens, until, in 1942, when Yanek is 12, the Nazis begin building the wall that will become the Krakow Ghetto and Yanek soon finds himself living there along with thousands of other displaced Jews.

In the ghetto, Yanek and his father prove to be very resourceful in order to survive. When roundups start, to avoid be sent "to the east" and an unknown future, Yanek finds an abandoned pigeon coop on the roof of their building where the family takes up residence. To feed his family, Yanek's father manages to get bread under very dangerous circumstances. And, most telling of all, despite the danger after the Nazis forbide Jews to practice their religion, his father gets together a minyan (a quorum of 10 bar mitvahed men) late one night for Yanek's very unusual secret bar mitvah.

The ghetto proves to be only the beginning of Yanek's journey through a system of concentration camps, where survival sometimes depends of cunning, sometimes on luck, always knowing that your life is in the hands of sadistic Nazis, some of whom like to kill Jews for sport.

By the time Yanek is sent from the ghetto to the first of ten concentration camps, he has lost his family in a roundup and deportation heading "east" but finds his Uncle Moshe at Plaszów Concentration Camp. You may remember Plaszów from Schindler's List, the camp run by the very, very cruel SS Commander Amon Goeth. It is here that Yanek's Uncle Moshe teaches him survival skills that will serve him well at each camp he is sent to. As a result, Yanek's resolve to survive almost never falters, even when he comes very close to dying.

Prisoner B-3087 (B for Birkenau) is based on the life of the real Yanek/Jack Gruener. It is told in a simple, straightforward manner, narrated in the first person by the fictional Yanek, but the voice of the actual Gruener comes through clearly, giving it a sense of authenticity. Yanek never, no matter how badly he is treated, gives into feeling victimized, which is amazing, but may also account for his strong will to survive. Yanek's descriptions of certain things that he either witnesses or that were done to him are sometimes a bit hard to read, but never gratuitous and not including them would sanitize Nazi cruelty to every degree.

The narration skillfully balances these cruel, sadistic acts against the Jews with some real heartwarming moments, like the night of Yanek's secret bar mitvah, a kindness Yanek was to repay in Birkenau two years later when he is the first to volunteer to be part of a minyan for another 13 year old boy's forbidden bar mitvah, even though getting caught would mean certain death.

After I read Prisoner B-3087, I felt compelled to do two things. First, I had to make an outline of the places and events in Yanek Gruener's life as he was sent from camp to camp, sometimes in cattle cars, sometimes on foot in freezing weather. Second, I would have liked a map to get a real sense not just of where Yanek was at each part of his life under the Nazis, but also the distances he traveled. I think these would give a real appreciation of his survival. But since they didn't include map, and others might fell as I do, I found this one at the Jewish Virtual Library and modified it a bit to reflect Yanek's experience:

Click to enlarge

Prisoner B-3087 is a book that really must be read to be fully appreciated. Yanek/Jack Gruener's story is incredible, haunting, compelling, heart wrenching, rewarding and not to be missed (and you will find out how Yanek became Jack).

This book is recommended for readers age 11+
This book was received as an E-ARC from Net Galley

Books for Children of the World: The Story of Jella Lepman by Sydelle Pearl, illustrated by Danlyn Iantorno

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Imagine you are a German Jew who managed to escape Hitler's Germany during the war. Now, the war is over, but you have been asked to return to Germany by the United States Army to assess what the German children living in that now decimated country need to live a better life. After all that happened to Jews in Germany, could you have done it? It would indeed take a strong, caring, forgiving person to embark on such a task, but that is exactly what Jella Lepmaan did.

As Jella traveled through Germany in an army jeep, she saw that the children needed so much - clothing, food, homes, warmth. But they also wanted books. She spoke to the General at army headquarters where she was stationed about an exhibition of children's books from around the world. The General agreed this was a good idea and, night after night, Jella wrote to publishers to ask for books donations for the exhibition. She called her letters doves of peace. And, amazingly, even after what Hitler had done to the world, publishers around the world did respond.

The books were great, but were for an exhibition, not for the children who wanted them. So, Jella decided to translate The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf into German. Then she had it printed - 30,000 copies on newsprint and a few days before Christmas, they were handed out to Germany's children.

That was just the beginning. By 1949, Jella's first children's book exhibition had grown into the International Youth Library in Munich. This research library still exists today and still collects children's books from around the world.

Sydelle Pearl's Books for Children of the World: The Story of Jella Lepman is a beautifully written homage to a very courageous woman and the library she founded. Lepman believed that just as her letters were doves of peace, books were messengers of peace and the idea of peace is a clear message in her work. Pearl is herself a librarian and it is easy to see that she believes in the power of books.

Giving out newsprint copies of The Story of
Ferdinand to children in Germany

Illustrations add so much to a book and those of Danlyn Iantorno are no exception. These bold, colorful realistic illustrations, which appear to have been rendered in oil paint, capture both the bold spirit of Jella Lepman and the varied emotions of the children. I also thought that the tones of the colors used reminded of picture books and readers from the late 1940s and 1950s reflecting the Zeitgeist of that particular time.

Be sure to read the Author's Note at the end of the book for more information about Jella Lepman and the International Youth Library. There is list of selected sources as well, should you be inclined to explore Lepman and the library further.

Bear in mind that this is a historical biography and not really a picture for young readers.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was provided to me by the publisher.

There is a wonderfully informative lesson plan based on Books for Children of the World: The Story of Jella Lepman which, though produced in 2011, is nevertheless still very useful and can be found here.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by Wendie at Wendie's Wanderings

Welcome to America, Champ! by Catherine Stier, illustrated by Doris Ettlinger

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:15:00 +0000

Once the United States entered WWII, the inevitable was bound to happen - American G.I.s who were stationed in England before deploying to combat areas would meet, date and fall in love with English girls. And sometimes they got married. Welcome to America, Champ! is the story of this very thing and what happens next, all told from the point of view of a young boy named Thomas.

Thomas begins his story in 1944, telling us about his mother marrying Jack Ricker, a US serviceman stationed in England. It is one of the few happy occasions during Thomas's experience of war. Before Jack, things were pretty sad for Thomas and his family, even though their village hadn't been bombed like other places in England. His mother friends all put together their rations to make a cake for the bride and groom and there is lots of dancing at the small reception, but Thomas has lots of questions for his new dad about some day living in America, which his dad is happy to answer. And he promises to teach Thomas how to play baseball with a stick once they are all together in the US.

But soon after Jack is sent off to war. And eventually Thomas has a new baby brother named Ronnie.

One day, the church bells start ringing all over England to announce that the war is finally over. But Jack is sent directly back to the states, with no time to visit his wife and sons. The family waits until the finally get a letter from the army - be ready to sail to America in two weeks.

Sailing to America

Pretty soon, Thomas, Ronnie and their mom are on the Queen Mary, sailing across the Atlantic to a
a new life. Excited but apprehensive, Thomas reads the answers his dad had given him to all his questions over and over again to reassure himself that things will be work out. And he spends lots time exploring the ship with his new friend Lucy, who is going to America for the same reason as Thomas. Thomas and Lucy are both still rather homesick and anxious, but when they finally see the Statue of Liberty early one morning, Lucy's homesickness get the better of her and she begins to cry.

But maybe Thomas has just the thing to help Lucy with her fears and to help himself at the same time.

Welcome to America, Champ! is one of those very well written, well done picture books for older readers that are being published more and more lately. I think these are perfect classroom books and offer a way of introducing different historical events to kids in first, second and third grades without overwhelming them with facts and figures.

I personally found this book to be very interesting for two reasons: first, because my best friend's grandmother was a war bride from England and because my dad had also immigrated here from Wales. We both used love listening to their stories about leaving Britain and coming here. And Welcome to America, Champ! is, after all, a story about immigrating to a new country and what that means to a child - getting to know a new dad, a new school, new friends, new way of life at the same time as leaving behind your old home, old friends, old school and your family. Thomas's apprehension about these issues makes this a perfect read aloud for any child who is about to or has just dealt with a an event that has changed their lives.

Doris Ettlinger's beautifully rendered realistic watercolor illustrations complement and support this heartwarming story throughout, giving us a real sense of not just of Thomas's life but also his feelings and emotions.

My second reason for finding Welcome to America, Champ! is that I was fortunate enough to have sailed from Southampton to New York on the Queen Mary just before she was retired and I was old enough to remember it. The Queen Mary was a lovely old ship and being on her was like stepping back in time (or at least that is what my memory tells me).

Queen Mary entering New York harbor

Be sure to read the Author's Note at the end of Welcome to America, Champ! for more information about war brides.

FYI: The Queen Mary, converted from a warship to a floating nursery, arrived in New York Harbor on February 10, 1946 with the first of the war brides and their children, all of whom were greeted by an army band playing Brahms' "Lullabye." On board were 1,666 brides and 688 children. What a day that must have been!

This book is recommended for readers age 6+
This book was purchased for my personal library.

Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust by Leanne Lieberman

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:59:00 +0000

That is quite a title, isn't it. I know I did a double take when I first saw it. So, what kind of a kid would say she hates the Holocaust? Meet Lauren Yanofsky. Lauren is entering her junior year of high school, has a big crush on Jesse, a boy she has known most of her life, and is finding her best friend drifting away.

Oh, yes, and Lauren has also decided not to be Jewish anymore. Lauren had always felt that her religion was full of persecution in the Bible and history. Then, three years ago, she found out that her grandmother had eleven relatives who all perished in the Holocaust. "Who needed all that misery? Why would anyone want to belong to a religion that was all about loss, grief, and persecution?" she asked herself. (pg13)

Lauren even managed to convince her parents, with the help of a hunger strike, to let her leave the Hebrew School she was attending in favor of public school. But try as she might, Lauren just can't get away from Judaism and the Holocaust. Her father is a Holocaust scholar at the University and he and her mother continually try to tempt Lauren back to her faith by joining a Jewish youth group, going a Taglit birth right trip to Israel and/or other religion-based activities. Lauren wants none of it, however.

As school begins, Lauren finds herself sitting beside her crush, Jesse, and her best friend, Brooke. Things go well and it looks like Jesse may be more attracted to Lauren that just as a friend, and it also seems that Brooke is really supportive of this. But Brooke has more than one surprise in store Lauren. where Jesse is concerned. As the days pass, and their other two friends Chloe and Em become involved with the school production of Grease, and Brooke begins to drift off at lunchtime to hang outside with the Smokers, particularly with one named Chantel, Lauren finds herself alone in the lunchroom with her own thoughts.

One night, after getting together with Brooke, Chole and Em for pizza (just like the old days, Lauren thinks), they end the evening at the park, watching the boys from school, including Jesse, playing Nazi war games with water guns and paper armbands with Swastikas drawn on them. The worse part is that everyone seems to think this is OK, except for Lauren.

When Lauren finds a lost Nazi armband after the boys finish playing their Nazi war game again, she finds herself in a dilemma: she knows the game is a form of anti-Semitism and that's unacceptable. And she knows the right thing to do would be to turn them in at school, but Jesse is one of the players. Now, Lauren must confront herself, her beliefs and her own ideas about the Holocaust and Judaism, again.

Narrated in the first person by Lauren, Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust is a realistic look at a teenager coming to grips with who she is as a person. It is a coming of age novel that catches Lauren right in the transitional moment of time when she must make the choice about which way her moral compass is going to go. And at the center of that choice is the Holocaust. Reporting the boys, including Jesse, would mean taking a big risk, possibly losing friends, embracing her religion and accepting responsibility for her actions. Not reporting them would make Lauren as guilty of anti-Semitism as her friends, of betraying her religion, its culture and most importantly, the 11 relatives and all the other people who perished in the Holocaust. Lauren has a true moral dilemma to grapple with, but does get some surprising help along the way.

Lieberman has peopled her novel with all kinds of realistic characters, just the kind you would find in any high school, like the Perfects and the Smokers. Lauren and her friends drink a little, curse a little, make out some and in general behave just like most teens do when adults are not around. Besides moral choices, Lauren also deals with ordinary things like taming her very frizzy hair each morning even though her straightener is usually defeated by the damp weather. She also has a younger brother Zach, who is studying to make his Bar Mitzvah, but whose sensory integration issues are making that difficult for him. Without sinking into the stereotypical, the characters are all familiar to us but have their own individual quirks.

Though sometimes predictable, Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust is also written with lots of humor, at times a bit on the snarky side, some sentiment, and teen drama. And if I say anymore about Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust, I will have to include a spoiler warning. I would suggest reading it for yourself, which I highly recommend.

Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust will be available on April 1, 2013.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was sent to me by the publisher

Bloggiesta 2013: At the Finish Line

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:37:00 +0000

Well, Bloggiesta 2013 is over. I hope everyone had a great weekend and accomplished all their goals. I accomplished almost all of mind, but the weekend was cut short by a Sunday afternoon at the theater and then dinner. But I am at the finish line so let's see what's what.

This is my original list and my finished tasks are crossed off.

1- Write reviews for the books I have already read and the pile is getting higher.

I did all but one review.

2- ~~Back up my blog.~~

Now I need to remember to back up both my blogs more frequently.

3- ~~Do some work on my other blog, Randomly Reading~~

I did lots of work on this blog - made drop down menus for labels and blog archive, created an archives page, and changed the whole look because the background I was using wouldn't always let me respond to comments, among other things.

4- Participate in the following challenges:

~~Organizing Reviews~~ hosted by Lauren at Lose Time Reading using Excel, something I need a lot. I don't have Excel, so I am going to try to do it on Google Docs.
I did manage to make this work in Google Docs, so I was very pleased. I even used a color coding system the way Lauren shows on here mini-challenge.

Declutter Your Sidebar hosted by Debz at Debz Bookshelf

I didn't get far enough with this to say I completed it, so it is still a work in progress.

~~Google Reader Replacement Options~~ hosted by Jenn from The Picky Girl. I have already tried Bloglovin', Feedly and The Old Reader, but still haven't made up my mind about which I like best.

For the moment, I am sticking with Bloglovin' Feedly was OK, but there were almost 38,000 subscriptions ahead of me and after a few hours, very few of those were done. There was also a note saying that in the future there would be a charge. The Old Reader was also OK, but in the end I preferred Bloglovin'

Thank you again to all the hosts of the mini-challenges and especially to Suey from It's All About Books and Danielle fromThere's A Book for organizing and hosting Bloggiesta.

Ole! Bloggiesta is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:28:00 +0000

Yes, it is that time of the year! A time when you can take a weekend and work on your blog. This year Bloggiesta is once again being hosted by Suey from It's All About Books and Danielle from There's A Book Here is a great big Muchas Gracias to both of you for organizing and hosting this year's Bloggiesta.

Bloggiesta runs from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24th so break out the chips and salsa and get yourself up to the Starting Line:

I have been waiting for Bloggiesta to do some work on The Children's War, so here is my To-Do List:

1- Write reviews for the books I have already read and the pile is getting higher.

2- ~~Back up my blog.~~

3- Do some work on my other blog, Randomly Reading

4- Participate in the following challenges:

~~Organizing Reviews~~ hosted by Lauren at Lose Time Reading using Excel, something I need a lot. I don't have Excel, so I am going to try to do it on Google Docs.

I did manage to make this work in Google Docs, so I was very pleased.

Declutter Your Sidebar hosted by Debz at Debz Bookshelf

Google Reader Replacement Options hosted by Jenn from The Picky Girl. I have already tried Bloglovin', Feedly and The Old Reader, but still haven't made up my mind about which I like best.

Happy Bloggiesta and see you Sunday!

Alice at the Home Front by Mardiyah A. Tarantino

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:53:00 +0000

It is sometimes a serendipitous world. Now sooner did I write about plane spotting in December, than I started reading a book about an 11 year old girl who really wants to be a plane spotter. Alice Calder has memorized all the plane silhouettes on her plane spotting cards, has a brand new log book and a pair of binoculars. All she is missing is her mother's permission. But when her mom figures out that Alice has been plane spotting out the window one cold night in December 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, she takes away her plane spotting equipment. Now how will anyone be able to recognize her as the important spotter she fancies herself as?

Alice wants to do something more for the war than just writing to her Uncle David (almost) everyday. So the next day, after school, she heads over to the Red Cross, where she can fold bandages for wounded soldiers. On her way, she envisions herself being introduced on the radio as a real patriot for her bandage folding. Though is it satisfying enough work, Alice still dreams of being a plane spotting heroine.

Then, as she and her Gramps are preparing a bomb shelter at home, Alice talks him into letting her use her grandmother's opera glasses (if it's OK with mom) and hits on the idea of joining the plane spotters in the Ground Observation Corps. But when she asks Mr. Parker, the head of the corps, about joining, he tells her she is too young. Taking pity on her, he gives Alice an old Ground Observer's manual that is still serviceable.

Civil Air Patrol

One day, after dancing class, Alice runs in her old friend (and crush) Jimmy Brownell, 16. Over cokes, he tells her he has joined the Civil Air Patrol her and will be training to get a pilot's license. In CAP, he will fly his dad's plane over the coast looking for enemy submarines.

Sure enough, Jimmy gets his license and begins flying and Alice flies with him, at least in her imagination. Meanwhile, with hard won permission to plane spot, Alice does her patriotic duty spotting and keeping a meticulous log book. But then, one cold winter night, a phone call comes, saying that Jimmy's plane was lost over the sea because of a nor'easter and it doesn't look good. Upset, Alice passes out and spends a number of days in bed, seriously ill.

When she recovers, she is told that Jimmy had been found alive, but in pretty bad condition. And to her chagrin, Alice discovers that binoculars and log book have been take away once again. And that would seem to be the end of Alice's spotting days. Or is it? There is a big surprise in store for Alice and her meticulous log book.

Alice at the Home Front is a story that really demonstrates the desire of young people in WWII to do something, anything to help the war effort. The war wasn't something far away on unimaginable battlefields to them. They felt the effect of it wherever they lived. Rationing, bomb shelters, air raid sirens and blackout were the kinds of things that brought it all home for them every day. Tarantino has given the reader a picture into what it was all about for them through Alice.

Plane Spotting Cards

Plane spotting was a big very big thing for kids and there were all kinds of ways to learn plane identification, including playing cards with images on them It was something they could do right in their own backyard and maybe feel a little more empowered than they actually were. And naturally, kids could get pretty competitive about who could identify and/or spot the greatest number of different planes. And I suspect that lots of kids, like Alice, had Walter Mitty-like dreams be being a hero/heroine. And it is part of what made Alice at the Home Front such a realistic novel.

This is a heart-warming story with lots of humorous bits, lots of slang and some pretty serious stuff, too. I loved that she wanted to be a plane spotter, and really was dedicated to it, even at the risk of falling out the window. The most amazing part of the novel was that a 16-year-old boy was allowed to fly a plane alone the way Jimmy did, but it certainly demonstrates how different times were back then.

This book was recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library.

Be sure to visit the National Museum of the Civil Air Patrol where you can see an extensive online exhibit of the role CAP played in World War II.

Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:12:00 +0000

On September 1, 1939, Operation Pied Piper commenced and thousands of children were evacuated from London to the English countryside to keep them safe from the war that was just beginning.

Among the evacuees to Little Weinwold is William Beech, 8, left in the care of Tom Oakley, a widower and a rather crusty loner. William is much to small for his age, frightened of everything and covered in black and blue bruises. Inside he duffel, Tom find a belt with a large buckle and instructions to use it on William whenever he sees fit. Appalled by what he sees that first day, Mr. Tom, as he tells William to call him, begins to soften towards the boy, taking him out and buying him some appropriate clothing and boots, feeding him well and doctoring the bruises.

As William's body heals, he comes out of his frightened shell and even develops a fondness for Mr. Tom's dog Sammy. But William has a bed-wetting problem that continues despite everything. Soon William meets Zach, another evacuee, and they become best friends. And other kids begin to join in on their fun. And it turns out that William is quite a talented artist, receiving some art supplies from Mr. Tom for his ninth birthday. Things go well until school starts.

It turns out that William cannot read, that in London his teachers ignored him and the other students taunted him. When all his friends to into their proper class, William is put in with the younger kids who are just beginning school. Mr. Tom begins to teach him to read and by the end of the term, William has conquered not just reading but his bed-wetting problem as well.

Life for William, Mr. Tom and Sammy the dog has evolved into a comfortable, happy companionship and Mr. Tom has even begun to participate in village activities again, something he hasn't done in forty years after the death of his wife and new baby son, also named William. But one day a letter arrives from William's mother, asking for her son to come home for a visit.

And it is with very heavy hearts that Mr. Tom and William say good-bye at the train. William is laden with all kinds of lovely, friendly gifts for his mother as he leave and promises to write to Mr. Tom as soon as he can. When weeks go by and not letter arrives, Mr. Tom and Sammy take the train to London to find out if things are going well for William, arriving just at the Blitz begins.

And yes, he does find him - locked in a closet, tied up to a pipe in it and holding a baby who turns out to be his illegitimate sister. Traumatized and blaming himself for the baby's death, William is taken to a hospital. Mr. Tom keeps watch and makes himself useful when people injured by the bombing are brought in. After a few days, however, he is told that William is going to be transferred to a home where he will be given psychiatric treatment.

Not agreeing that this is the best thing for William, Mr. Tom resorts to something desperate. Will the two ever make it back to Little Weinwold or is this the end of things for Mr. Tom and William?

Good Night, Mr. Tom is Michelle Magorian's first novel. It was written in 1981 and hasn't lost any of its appeal nor does it have a dated feeling. It is probably her most well-known work, particularly since it has been made into a television movie (ITV in the UK, Masterpiece Theater in the US, and with John Thaw, a favorite) and a play.

I have read Good Night, Mr. Tom a few times and never get tired of it. The writing is elegant, and Magorian has great talent in fleshing out her characters so that they are believable and well-developed. And the same can be said for her settings, actually.

Magorian also has a way of presenting difficult issues without getting too graphic or going overboard. In this novel alone, there are issues of abuse, bullying, anti-Semitism, skewed religious beliefs, the death of children and suicide. These are dreadful things, and yet not presented in such a way that they will disturb young readers, but enough is said to make this book appeal to an adult reader as well. And in the end, it is a novel of healing, hope, love and trust, and these are the issues that predominate, even without a really pat ending.

If you haven't read Good Night, Mr. Tom, be warned - it is a tearjerker, but oh, so worth it. But there is much in the story that will make you chuckle, especially William's very outgoing friend Zack, whom I haven't mentioned much even though he is a good part of the book and who makes me smile just thinking about him.

This old favorite is worthy of a first read if you haven't already read it, or worthy of another read if you have read it before.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:13:00 +0000

Sometimes, when you read a debut novel that also wins a Newbery, your expectations for next novel by the same author are way too high. That was exactly what I was thinking when I picked up Navigating Early at the library and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised when I began reading and realized that I was not to be disappointed.

The book begins just after World War II has ended in Europe and 13 year old Jackie Baker's father, a Navy captain, has returned home to Kansas, not because of the end of fighting, but to bury his wife. Not knowing what to do with their son Jackie, he enrolls him in the Morton Hill Academy for Boys, a boarding school in Maine.

Not happy about this and somewhat of a misfit in the school, Jackie discovers a boy living in the janitor's workshop instead of the dormitory. Early Auden, that strangest of boys, as Jackie describes him, is also a misfit, a boy who uses rituals to organize and navigate the world. He also has an extraordinary ability for mathematics. Numbers, Early tells Jackie, tell a story, specifically a story about Pi, that most mysterious of numbers: "The numbers have colors - blues of the ocean and sky, green grass, a bright-yellow sun. The numbers have texture and landscape - mountains and waves and sand and storms. And words - about Pi and about his journey. The numbers tell a story." (pg 66)

Early and Jackie becomes friends. And it turns out that Early, like Jackie, has suffered a loss of someone important to him. Fisher Auden, a hero and a rowing legend at Morton Hill, was Early's older brother who went to war right after graduation. But after a dangerous mission, Fisher is declared Missing in Action, presumed Dead. Early, however, is convinced that Fisher is hiding in the Maine woods and has decided to find him during a school break.

Jackie, disappointed that his father couldn't come to get him for the break, decides to join Early on his quest along the Appalachian Trail to find Fisher.

And what a quest it is. It is a story about how Jack, Early and Pi lost heir direction in life and how they tried to navigate their way back to it. And along the way, they meet all kinds of strange people, like the pirates searching for treasure, a Norwegian still pining for his first love, a 100 year old woman stilling waiting for her son to come home. As the boys travel along the Appalachian Trail, Early narrates his story about Pi's journey in an attempt to earn the name Polaris which his mother had given him.

And as the boys travel along, there are lots of coincidences, lots of twists and turns in Navigating Early, but never a dull moment. In the most enchanting language, Vanderpool weaves a taut, complex, entertaining story. I found myself anxious to get back to Jack and Early whenever I put the book down and, like Jack, I wanted to hear more and more of Pi's story.

Whenever a book is set in or after WWII, I ask myself why that time period. The war impacted everyone in some way or other. It brought Jackie's father home before it was over. But more importantly, it showed how lost some people were when it was over. Jackie's father knew the Navy, how the operate, organize, control his ship. But in Kansas, after his wife's death, he was faced with an inability to navigate his world there. And this led to his inability to guide Jack, who without mother and father, also has difficulty navigating the world. Fisher was also a lost soul because of the war, and Early completely lost his way of navigating the world when Fisher went missing. And so while Navigating Early is about navigating, it is also about finding your direction again, just as Pi must. Some many had to grapple with that after the war.

A lot of people have used the words autistic or Asperger's to describe Early. Yet, it is not for us to diagnose him and to her credit, Vanderpool does not label Early either, but merely has Jackie call him "that strangest of boys" which would be more apropos for the time.

This is a wonderful novel, and I think it is not to be missed.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL

Finding Zasha by Randi Barrow

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:38:00 +0000

Of course, after reading Saving Zasha, we all wondered where she really came from and who was the German soldier she was with. Well, Randi Barrow has written a prequel that pretty much answers those two questions.

Finding Zasha begins with the September 1941 Siege of Leningrad. When German soldiers surround the city and cut off all supply lines, life becomes more difficult for everyone living in Leningrad, including Ivan, 12, and his mother, a factory worker. There is never enough food or heat and people are dying of starvation all over the city.

When her apartment is hit by a bomb, an elderly neighbor, called Auntie by everyone, moves in with them and begins to teach Ivan how to survive under siege, lesson she learned in WWI. As winter comes on, and the blockade holds, the three survive on the cans of beans Auntie had hidden away. Then one day, Ivan's mother announces that her job is moving to the Ural Mountains for safety and she must go with it - but without Ivan.

It is decided that Ivan will go live with his Uncle Boris and Auntie will live with her sister-in-law, Galina, as soon as the ice road across the frozen miles long Lake Ladoga can hold the weight of transport trucks and they can leave Leningrad. In January, the ice is finally thick enough and Ivan and Auntie set out on their journey. When no one meets them on the other side of the lake, they are fortunate enough to be offered a ride by a friendly sleigh owner.

At last, they arrive at Galina's home and Ivan settles in there for a few days before going on to Uncle Boris. He meets Polina, a girl about his age, who seems to know every nook and cranny of the area. It turns out that Polina, along with Galina and now Auntie, are working as partisans under the leadership of Petr, and along with other villagers. This is right up Ivan's alley and he too joins the partisans, staying at Galina's instead of traveling on to Uncle Boris.

Not long after this, the Germans arrive. Ivan has been playing his concertina for Auntie and Galina's pleasure and as the Germans roll in, their commander, Major Axel Recht, comes to the door to listen to Ivan play. With him are two German Shepard puppies. And when Commander Recht leaves, he takes Ivan with him.

Now, basically imprisoned in the makeshift Nazi headquarters, it is Ivan's hope to discover useful information he pass on the the partisans. Luckily, the cruel animal trainer who is to teach the puppies to hate and kill Russians, gets news that his son has been injured in fighting, and leaves immediately to be by his side. Ivan convinces the commander that he has experience training dogs and can do the job. And of course, Ivan begins to plot how he can get the puppies, Zasha and Thor, away from Recht's cruelty. This won't be easy - Recht is a sadistic, vengeful man, who loves his whip. And when he forces Ivan to watch a German soldier being whipped for a minor breach, the full extent of his cruelty becomes apparent.

But Ivan's plan of escape may happen sooner that he expects when Recht and his soldiers must leave the village soon to go help in the fighting at Tikhvin where things are not going well for the Germans. Can Ivan succeed in escaping Recht with both of his prized puppies?

This is a nice historical fiction work about Russia in WW2, an area not frequently explored in novels, though lately some really excellent works have been published. Another book depicting the terrible conditions in Russia during the war and how they impacted the ordinary Russians that people this story is always welcome. And certainly all the historical facts in this novel were spot on - the siege of Leningrad, the ice road over Lake Ladoga, the fighting at Tikhvin, a battle that helped turn the tide for the starving people in Leningrad. Be sure to read the Barrow's information and timeline about these things at the end of the book.

But Finding Zasha left me with very mixed feelings. I actually enjoyed the first part of it quite a bit, but I felt that the story was sometimes forced in order to create a history for Zasha. And I thought that the second half and the ending were rushed in order to get to the end of the war and the point at which Saving Zasha could begin. Although the story is filled with adventure and danger, I didn't find myself holding my breath at the places where that should have happened.

Sadly, I didn't care much for Ivan, either. Rather than strong and brave, I found him to be too headstrong, impulsive and public to be a partisan. And the other partisans accepting him as one struck me as took simplistic. He was basically an unknown to them and had proved himself trustworthy yet.

Yet, at the end of the day, I would recommend reading Finding Zasha. It is still a well written novel, and there is much to cull from this book for fans of Zasha and/or Randi Barrow. And I hear there is a third Zasha book on the horizon.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was an E-ARC from Net Galley

I found the concept of the ice road very intriguing and so I looked it up. It took Ivan and Auntie quite a long time to cross Lake Ladoga in a truck in Finding Zasha. The ice road was almost 17 miles long and was constructed under enemy fire in the winter of 1041/42. But it lived up to its nickname The Road of Life during the Siege of Leningrad when it allowed limited food supplies to be brought into the beleaguered city and allowed others to leave if they had places they could go to.

The Ice Road - April 1942 (you can see the ice
starting to melt)

Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:22:00 +0000

And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.

Today is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel A/K/A Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield, MA on March 2, 1904. He attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he first began using the pen name Seuss while working on the college's humor magazine Jack-O_Lantern. Not long after graduation, Seuss became Dr. Seuss.

Meanwhile, Dr. Seuss published his first children's book And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street in 1937. This was followed by The 500 Hat of Bartholomew Cubbins in 1938, The King's Stilts and adult book The Seven Lady Godivas in 1939 and Horton Hatches the Egg in 1940.

After Dartmouth, Dr. Seuss went to Oxford graduate school, got bored and traveled around Europe instead. Returning to the US, he worked in advertising and did some cartooning but once World War II started, Dr. Seuss began working for a left wing weekly magazine called PM. Seuss was a strong opponent of American isolationism, and used his PM cartoons to express his feelings:

After the US entered the war, he continued to use his biting humor in his political cartoons, like the one below that introduced his idea of the vulnerability of stacking turtles to call out the defense producers that were delivering defense material 'at a turtles pace' thereby slowing down defense production and the threatening an Allied victory with instability and failure:

All of which brings me to Yertle the Turtle. With a history of no-holds-barred political cartooning, it wasn't surprising to find out that Dr.Seuss, that master of political satire, was at it again just few years after the war ended.

Yertle is the story of the king of the pond who one day looks around and despite the contentment of his turtle subjects, decides he needs to increase the area he rules over. So he demands that build his a higher throne:

"If I could sit high, how much greater I'd be!
What a king! I'd be ruler of all I could see!"

The turtles pile themselves up, one on top of the other, creating a higher throne, so Yertle could "see 'most a mile!"

But then the bottom turtle, named Mack, complains about the standing so long with turtles on his back. Angered, Yertle demands a higher throne and once again, turtles,"Whole families of turtles, with uncles and cousins" come to add themselves to the stack of turtles already there.
And once again Mack speaks up:

"I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom, we, too, should have rights.
We turtles can't stand it. Our shells will all crack!
Besides, we need food. We are starving! groaned Mack."

But Mack speaks to no avail. That night, when the moon rises, Yertle, seeing that it is higher than he is, starts to demands more and more turtles when suddenly Mack, having had enough of Yertle, burps and the whole stack of turtle shakes, throwing Yertle into the mud below - where he remained, ruling all he could see through the mud.

"That plain little turtle below in the stack,
That plain little turtle whose name was just Mack,
Decided he'd taken enough. And he had
And that plain little lad got a little bit mad
And that plain little Mack did a plain little thing
He burped!And his burp shook the throne of the king!

Now, I am sure you can see the resemblance to Hitler and his quest for more and more Lebensraum in Yertle. And it isn't hard to figure out that the turtles are the German people under Hitler's dictatorship. But there is a moral of this story and it is simply that anyone can make a difference and their action can bring about change.

If you wish to explore the social and political meanings behind Yertle the Turtle in greater depth, you can find a excellent lesson plan at the Teach Peace Foundation.

Two interesting notes:
1- Yertle the Turtle was first published in 1958 by Random House (which is actually the copy I own, a hand-me-down from an older cousin I wouldn't to give up to a younger cousin). At the time, a word like burp was considered to be in poor taste and there was some concern at publishing it, never mind the political message in it. But kids being kids, the book was an instant successful and no one was the worse for the use of burp. And speaking of the political message...

2- In 2012, a teacher at a school in British Columbia was asked to remove a quote from Yertle the Turtle that she had displayed in her classroom because there was a line in it that was considered too political. It seems that there was a vote in 2011 to keep political materials out of classrooms in British Columbia, because children must be shielded from them. The quote in question:

"I know up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom we, too, should have rights."

You can read the whole story here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. SEUSS!

This is book 2 of my 2013 Pre-1960 Children's Books Reading Challenge hosted by Turning the Pages

The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden, illustrated by Niki Daly

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:11:00 +0000

When I was a girl, I used to love ice skating in Central Park, either on the pond if it were frozen enough or the skating rink. There was nothing like the feeling of gliding across the ice on a cold winter's day. So when I saw The Greatest Skating Race by Louise Borden sitting on a bookshelf, I knew I just had to read it.

Written in free verse, the story is set in the Netherlands in December 1941. Ten-year-old Piet Janssen was born to ice skate. His father's family had made and repaired ice skates for many generations, and Piet is looking forward to the time he is old enough to skate in the Elfstedentoct just like his hero , Pim Mulier. Mulier has skated the 200 kilometer/124 miles race in record-breaking time in a bitter cold December, much like Holland was experiencing in 1941.

But Holland is under German occupation and although there is no restriction on skating, there just are much of the need supplies left for Piet's grandfather to make or repair skates. In fact, there isn't much of anything left after the Germans took what needed. But for Christmas, Piet receives a little red notebook. In it, he begins to plan and train for his entry in the Elfstedentoct...someday.

The Janssens are kind people and help others whenever they can, especially during the bitter cold winters that Europe has been experiencing since the war began. One Friday, when Piet comes home from school, excited to show his mother his perfect spelling test, he learns that the father of a school mate has been arrested for possessing a radio and sending messages to the Allies. It is decided that his children, Johanna and her little brother Joop Winkelman, need to get away to safety.

Which means that Piet, Johanna and Joop would skate the frozen canals to Brugge, Belgium, a distance of 16 kilometers/10 miles past German checkpoints all along the way, a long distance for two 10 year olds and one 7 year old after a day at school.

And so the three skaters begin their journey. They don't get far before they run into their first German sentries, who stop them and become very suspicious when they see the Elfstedentoct map Piet had drawn in his red notebook for training purposes. A nice border map, one guard says. Finally the other guard recognizes the name of the race. The children are allowed to go on, but can they fool every sentry at every guard house they will have to pass and arrive safely in Brugge or be caught and arrested? And even if they get by the guards, can little Joop complete the arduous journey?

The Greatest Skating Race was such an exciting story and so well told that I had to keep checking the spine of the library book I was reading to remind myself that it is fiction. And although this is technically a picture book, it is really designed for middle grade readers. It is an engaging and beautifully written story that demonstrates the bravery and courage of children caught up in a war and their understanding of just how serious things were. An exciting story, it really captures the fear and tension that people experienced living under Nazi occupation continually felt.

The illustrations by Niki Daly, which are done in colored pencil, ballpoint pen and watercolor with digital enhancement, beautifully convey the freezing winter weather, the beauty of the country and the fear, the determination and even the innocence of the children in cold wintry tones.

The Elfstedenstoct is a real race that can only be done if the ice in the canals along the 11 city route are all frozen to 15cm. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a race will be held in 2013 and in fact there hasn't been one since 1997.

Pim Mulier (1865-1954), Piet's skating hero, did indeed complete the Elfstedentoct just as it is described in The Greatest Skating Race.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from The Bank Street College of Education library

Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:00:00 +0000

When I was 10 years old, I was diligently knitting away at a mitten when I realized I had made a mistake. Imagine my surprise when my dad sat down beside me, took my knitting and fixed my mistake. Turns out, my dad knew how to knit rather well.*

So, I knew I wanted to read Knit Your Bit the moment I first heard about it. The United States had entered World War I in April 1917, and lots of men rushed to enlist, leaving their families behind. This is true for young Mikey, whose Pop is also a soldier and who has just shipped off to fight overseas in Europe. Mikey is very frustrated that he has to stay home and can't do something big and important to help the war effort, too. Nevertheless, he turns up his nose when his mother asks if he would like to learn to knit for the soldiers along with his sister. Mikey turns the offer down, because, well, boys don't knit!

But when his teacher announces that there will be a three-day Knitting Bee in Central Park to make hats, socks and scarves for US servicemen overseas, Mikey is challenged by a girl to learn to knit and participate - boys against the girls. And so it is settled - the Boys' Knitting Brigade vs. the Purl Girls.

The only problem is - knitting isn't quite as easy as the boys thought it would be. Yet, they soon master knit, and then it is on to purl. Mikey works on socks, friend Nick on a muffler and Dan works mostly on tangling and untangling his yarn.

The first day of the Knitting Bee finally arrives and there are lots of people participating - men, women, girls and, yes, even other boys. And there's also lots of food, a band and before they all know it, it is time to cast on.

As Mikey does his best trying to knit a pair socks, he learns a mighty important lesson from a disabled soldier about what it really means to do something big and important to help the war effort and the brave soldiers overseas. But who wins the challenge? The Boys' Knitting Brigade or the Purl Girls?

Knit Your Bit is based on a three-day knitting bee held in Central Park in August 1918 and sponsored by the Navy League Comforts Committee. It is a heartwarming story that might even bring a tear or two to your eyes. Hopkinson has seamlessly woven in Mikey's story with this event to produce a wonderful story that shows that sometimes what counts it isn't how well you do something, rather what counts is doing something out of your comfort zone, doing your best and doing it in the right spirit. Wonderfully humorous pen, ink and watercolor illustrations by Steven Guarnaccia add much to the enjoyment of Knit Your Bit. The lines are clean and simple, yet delightfully expressive, and I really liked how they reflect the clothing of the period.

Hopeinson has provided lots of back matter including a Red Cross knitting poster from WWI, an Author's Note which you should be sure to read all about the real Knitting Bee and sources for more information.

Though this is a story that all will enjoy, sending gifts to loved ones fighting in a war is long held tradition and for that reason, I think Mikey's story will particularly resonate for readers in today's world, especially those who have or know someone who has a relative deployed overseas.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was sent to me by the publisher as part of a Knit Your Bit Blog Tour.
For other stops on the blog tour, be sure to visit Deborah Hopkinson's blog.

And guess what? You can still Knit Your Bit.
All you have to do is visit The National WWII Museum to download patterns and learn how to participate. Your knitted scarves will be sent to veterans all over the country.

Want to know more? HistoryLink.org has a wonderfully detailed essay on Knitting for Victory - World War I, complete with photographs, posters and even an ad.

I always like to look up these kinds of historical events in the New York Times and sure enough, here is the article announcing the results after three days of knitting:

*Oh, and my dad the knitter - poor guy was in his fifties when I was born, so yes, he knitted as a young boy for WWI.