The Children's War

In My Mailbox #3

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:18:00 +0000

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren

I have an oddly eclectic bunch of books in my mailbox this week.

From the library

The first Aftrican American armoured unit to see combat in WW II

A WW I book written by our newest National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

A novel about a Jewish boy who learns to box in Nazi Germany under the tutlage of Max Schmeling

Books I bought

A new coming of age story, orginally the author's dissertation

Something old: I haven't read Rosamunde Pilcher since The Shell Seekers hit the charts

Something older: I have been hunting an affordable, complete copy of this for a long time and finally found one

An ARC

A new WW II Kindertranspot story for YA readers

Just for Fun

Not sure what I will do with this, but it should be fun

The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:10:00 +0000

At the end of The Brief History of Montmaray, the first book in the (thus far) trilogy about the FitzOsbornes, royal family of the Kingdom of Montmaray, they were running for their lives in the midst of a Luftwaffe attack. Book 2, The FitzOsbornes in Exile, continues following these royals after their safe arrival in London as recorded by Sophia FitzOsborne in her journal.

Now, it is 1937 and the FitzOsbornes have found refuge at Aunt Charlotte’s Milford Park estate in Dorset. Sophie has been looking forward to making her debut in society, excited more by the elaborate parties and the beautiful gowns. Veronica, her beautiful cousin, couldn’t care less about making her debut and instead is focused on getting Montmaray away from the Germans, Henry, short for Henrietta and Sophie’s younger sister, is up to her usual tricks, even managing to acquire a pet pig named Estella. Toby, the future king of Montmaray, is more interested in Simon Chester than school or his monarchy, and Simon, son of housekeeper Rebecca Chester and the late King of Montmaray, has just been made Lord Chancellor in an attempt to appease his claim on the Montmaravian throne.
Needless to say, this all makes for some interesting reading. Oh yes, and wealthy Aunt Charlotte rules over the FitzOsbornes with an iron hand, doing her best to get Sophie, Toby, and Veronica married off to suitable partners, and away from ideas of returning to Montmaray, and getting Henry under control and more girlish.

Sophie continues to journal about the everyday things in the lives of the FitzOsbornes, providing a window into 1930s English upper class society and politics. And Sophie is the ideal chronicler of all that goes on around her. She is shy and quiet around people, becoming the girl no one notices, but also the girl who takes in everything she observes and uses it for, as Simon Chester learns, rather Machiavellian purposes.

Of course, with the world on the brink of war, politics is everywhere in The FitzOsbornes in Exile. with lots of mentions of real-life characters like Unity Mitford, the Mitford sister who likes wearing her Swastika badge everywhere, British Fascist Sir Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts, and Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, Sophie’s new friend and daughter of Ambassador Joseph Kennedy. And if these are unfamiliar names, don’t worry. Cooper makes it all very clear and intelligible for readers who might not be so familiar with this time period. And you would think that the assassination attempt on Veronica for her strong anti-Fascist opinions, a target of the Fascist movement in Britain, but, well, I’ll leave the crazed assassination bit for you to discover yourself.

Of course, there is also plenty of humor. My favorite bit being when Henry and her Girl Guide patrol of evacuated Basque girls are invited to Buckingham Palace for tea, along with several other Guide patrols. Things quickly go downhill for Henry when she graphically explains to Princess Elizabeth how the Germans could annihilate London should war be declared, much to the horror of many of the Guides present and Queen of England herself. After all, England was maintaining a policy of appeasement and the delusion that they were still friends with Germany. In fact, England’s early refusal to take Germany seriously is demonstrated throughout The FitzOsbornes in Exile.

Australian Edition

All in all, The FitzOsbornes in Exile a very worthy sequel to The Brief History of Montmaray, though somewhat more of a historical novel than the first book. It is still witty and fun, and there is plenty of action and adventure to satisfy. The book covers pre-war Britain, beginning in January 1937 and continuing through August 1939, less than two weeks before war is declared. But, do not be despaired wondering if the FitzOsbornes will ever get their island kingdom back - there is a third book, aptly names The FitzOsbornes at War. It is being released in Australia and New Zealand in April 2012, lucky ducks, and in England and North America in October 2012. Umm..I wonder how much the postage from Australia to the US is? Tempting!

This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up

This book was purchased for my personal library

For more information on the FitzOsbornes books, including the forthcoming The FitzOsbornes at War (you can read an excerpt there) please visit Michelle Cooper’s website.

The FitzOsbornes in Exile received the following well deserved honors:

Listed in the 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults by YALSA, a division of the American Library Association.

Named in the 2012 Rainbow Books list of 'quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content', compiled each year by the American Library Association.

Named one of the Best Teen Books of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews.

Shortlisted for the 2011 Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature (NSW Premier's Literary Awards)
Longlisted for the 2011 Gold Inky Teenage Choice Award
Notable Book for Older Readers in the 2011 Children's Book Council of Australia awards

Shortlisted for the 2010 Western Australian Premier's Young Adult Book Award

The Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour: Interview with Ron Mazellan, Illustrator

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I am very excited to welcome Ron Mazellan to The Children’s War as part of the second stop of the Sydney Taylor Award blog tour.

Ron is the winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor Award in the Older Readers category for his illustrations in Marcia Vaughan’s Irena’s Jars of Secrets, the story of Irena Sendler, a young woman who managed to smuggle 2500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and certain death during the Holocaust (see my review here.)

The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to “outstanding books for children and teen that authentically portray the Jewish experience.” Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) since 1968, the Award “encourages the publication and widespread use of quality Judaic literature.”

Ron, congratulations on winning the 2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Award. It must be a great honor to win an award for your work. I was wondering if you would share some personal history about yourself with us? Have you

always wanted to be an illustrator? And how did you get started

professionally?

Ever since I was a child I loved to draw. I knew even then I desired to

create for a living, I just didn’t know what to call it. Eventually, the life of

an illustrator took hold of me and since 1982 I have been practicing my

profession.

Professionally,my career began following graduation from Wheaton College. Naively, I

moved to California and began my search for a career in Southern California.

I began as a layout artist with the Yellow Pages and then moving on to The

Disneyland Hotel as a graphic designer

I thought the the illustrations in Irena’s Jars of Secrets are so reflective of the what was happening to the Polish Jews. On the one hand, they capture the feelings of fear and of secrecy that shrouded the lives of the families giving up their children, of the children themselves and of Irena Sendler. On the other hand, there is still a feeling of hope. Perhaps you would share a little about your creative process, for instance, how do you prepare for illustrating a book such as Irena’s Jars of Secrets?

My preparation includes personal reading regarding Irena, the time period

described and research regarding World War II and the Holocaust. Also

included are hundreds of drawing studies regarding composition, design,

conceptual ideas, clothing, uniforms, hairstyles all of which contribute to

the narrative.

I proceed first with absorbing the manuscript. I then move into making

small compositional studies, followed by more research, which then triggers something

to inspire the content of my paintings.

Once the idea is generated, a larger slightly refined drawing is made and

submitted for approval. If approved, a much more refined drawing is made and

resubmitted. Once again if the drawings are approved, I then think

through a color palette which will describe the emotion of the text and

painting through a layered process in oils.

Perhaps you could tell us what you find to be the most challenging

aspects about your work? The most rewarding?

The most challenging aspects of my work is the excellence I demand of

myself, and the conflict of embracing what is possible for a painting it in

the midst of an advancing deadline.

The most rewarding aspect of my work is the pure joy of doing what you

love.

I know that you have previously illustrated two other books about World

War II and the Holocaust - The Harmonica by Tony Johnston and There Come a

Soldier by Peggy Mercer. Can you tell us what interested you in illustrating

Marcia Vaughan’s book Irena’s Jars of Secrets?

I was excited about illustrating this book based on the three objectives:

subject matter, manuscript and cultural impact. But what intrigued me most

was the truthful description of a telling narrative, which surrounds the

life of Irena Sendler. Her life is an inspiration me. Irena’s actions describe

what is possible when someone chooses to act for good on behalf of another.

She models multiple selfless acts of kindness and courage towards those who

had no hope of survival.

Could you tell us about any of your upcoming projects?

I am working on my own project called Dream Once, Dream Again. The primary

intent is to encourage 8-15 year old students to dream big, but dream beyond

one dream. It is my hope to create a thought-provoking book using written

and visual narrative to motivate young student athletes who aspire to dream

against the odds.

The broader initiative is to honor players/coaches who continue to beat the

odds beyond football. The selected men will be those who strive to create

positive impact and make extraordinary contributions to culture outside

football.

The book will use the metaphor of professional football and training camp in

particular to communicate the concept of adjusting vision and dreams into

new and unexplored possibilities highlighting a select group of men of

character.

Thank you, Ron, for giving us some insider information about life of such a creative artist. I am sure everyone is looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

There are so many more interesting authors and illustrators on the Sydney Taylor Award blog tour and I hope you will visit all of them this week. The schedule can be found at

the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted by Capstone Connect

Victory through Football - but who are the Steagles?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:04:00 +0000

Well, the big weekend is here! Superbowl Sunday - the 45th Super Bowl, this time between the NY Giants and the New England Patriots. All the excitement got me to thinking about football during World War II. Of course, there was not Super Bowl, otherwise this year would probably be more like the 80th Super Bowl. But the war didn’t stop anyone from kicking around the old pigskin.

Program Covers for 1943 (l) and 1944 (r)

But the war did take a toll NFL teams when the players were called up to serve their country. By the time the 1943 season rolled around, the Cleveland Rams suspended the season altogether. But not so, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, 1943 saw an unprecedented merger between the two teams under the name Phil-Pitt later dubbed the Steagles.

This lasted only one season, but,in 1944, a now precedented merger occurred between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Cardinals, known as the Card-Pitts. This team soon became know as the Carpets. It had something to do with the way other teams ran over them and ending up 0-10.

But the NY Giants remained the NY Giants all through the war.

Professional football was broadcast on radio during the war, so imagine if you will getting ready to spend a nice Saturday afternoon listening to the game. BUT - what do you eat in an ear when wings didn’t exist as we know and love them. Below are some suggestions for your culinary pleasure:

Soy Chili Con Carne (serves 4)

Source: New York Times, June 1, 1942

1/4 pound salt pork, diced

1/4 cup chopped onions

1/2 pound lean beef, ground

2 cups tomatoes (canned or fresh)

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 cups cooked soy beans

1. Fry the salt pork until crisp.

2. Remove the pork and brown the onions.

3. Add the beef, stir and cook slowly for five minutes.

4. Add the crisped port, and the remaining ingredients and heat to boiling.

Cheese Pudding (Serves 4 - 6)

Source: New York Times, October 7, 1942

6 slices bread, cut one-inch thick

1/2 pound grated cheddar cheese

3 eggs, well beaten

1 onion, grated

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

2 cups scalded milk

Remove crusts from bread and cut slices in one-inch cubes. Arrange half of the bread in the bottom of greased baking dish. Sprinkle with half the cheese.
Add remaining bread and cheese.
Combine eggs with seasonings and milk and pour over bread.
Bake in a slow oven (250º F) for one hour and serve immediately.

Pigs in Blankets (serves 4)

Source: New York Times, March 5, 1945

8 frankfurters

2 cups water

Biscuit dough made from one and a half cups of flour and prepared mix

4 tablespoons meat drippings or fortified margarine

4 tablespoons flour

Salt and pepper

Simmer frankfurters, covered, in water two to five minutes. Drain and reserve broth.
Roll biscuit dough three-eights inch thick and cut into strips one-inch wide. Wrap a strip around each frankfurter.
Place on baking sheet and bake in a hot oven (425º F) ten minutes, or until dough is lightly browned.
Serve with gravy made as follows:

Melt fat, blend in flour and brown. Add reserved broth, stirring, and cook till thickened. Season gravy to taste with salt and pepper, and if desired thin with additional water.

But, yummy as these recipes sound, I will have the same thing I have been having since 1981, when the Philadelphia Eagles sans the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Oakland Raiders 27-10 in Super Bowl XV

Chile a la Franey (serves 8 or more)

Source: New York Times, January 23, 1980

1 pound very lean coarsely ground pork

1 pound very lean coarsely ground beef

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups finely chopped onions

1 cup finely chopped green pepper

1 cup finely chopped celery

1 tablespoon finely minced garlic

1 tablespoon crumbled dried oregano

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 cups tomatoes with tomato paste

1 cup beef broth

1 cup water

½ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

2 cups drained kidney beans

Sour cream as garnish, optional

Lime wedges as garnish, optional

1. If possible, have the pork and beef ground together coarsely.

2. Heat the oil in a large heavy kettle and add the meat. Cook, chopping down and stirring with the side of a heavy metal kitchen spoon to break up the lumps.

3. Add the onions, green pepper, celery, garlic, oregano, bay leaves and cumin. Stir to blend well.

4. Add the tomatoes, broth, water, salt and pepper to taste, and add the red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Add the beans and cook 10 minutes longer. Serve in hot bowls with a dollop of sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and lime wedges, if desired.

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Beth Fish Reads

The Dog in the Wood by Monika Schröder

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:10:00 +0000

The Dog in the Wood is a realistic look at what happened at the end of World War II to one family, told through the eyes of a child. As the Russians advanced, they left a trail of death, destruction and devastation generally directed at woman, children and the elderly in retaliation for Germany’s attempt to invade their country. Schröder has taken these events of the war and written a moving account through the eyes of a 10 year old boy.

It is April 1945, the Second World War is ending and the Russians are advancing towards Schwartz, a small farming community in eastern Germany. But the war isn’t officially over yet, and anticipating the Russian arrival, Grandpa has decided that he and his grandson Fritz Friedrich will fight to defend their land against the “Bolshevik enemy.”

Grandpa has always been a staunch Nazi supporter and had always believed the the war would end with a German victory. But when it is announced on the the radio that Hitler had ‘fallen’ at the head of his troops, Grandpa knows the war was over and Germany is defeated. The next morning, Fritz finds Grandpa and Oma Lou hanging in the barn, choosing death rather than defeat.

The Friedrich family, Fritz, his mother, older sister Irmi, and now Lech, their Polish laborer, decide to stay on the farm. But soon the Russians do arrive, and two officers move in and use the house as their headquarters. One, Mikhail Petrov, treats the family very kindly, even befriending Fritz.

After stealing and pillaging the Schwartz area, the Russians move on and the town begins to govern itself again under the communist system. The Friedrich’s have their farm taken away to be evenly divided among new farmers and refugees. The Friedrich’s are told to leave immediately and they, too, soon become one of the many refugee families trekking westward.

Arriving at Oma Clara’s house in Sempow, they hope to begin anew. And at first, things seem to go well, but soon Lech and Fritz’s mother are arrested. Oma Clara can’t get any information about them from the authorities and Fritz is faced with a big decision about what to do.

The Dog in the Wood was Schröder’s debut novel in 2009 (she has since written Saraswati’s Way and more recently, My Brother’s Shadow, my review here.) Her writing style in the two books I have read is clear and straightforward with no words wasted or superfluous. In this novel, she has managed to get across the revenge done by Russian soldiers as well as by some Germans themselves without being too graphic for young readers.

I thought it interesting that Fritz’s friend Paul, whose father is in a concentration camp for being a political enemy, is so aware of his father’s Communist dogma, whereas Fritz does not seem aware of Nazi dogma, despite his Grandfather. He is a very sensitive boy with a strong sense of right and wrong, who loves animals and gardening, but who is rather timid. Yet as his world crumbles around him, he must try to find courage and strength within himself to overcome his timidity, and with the help of a true friend, to take matters into his own hands in order to find out about his mother and Lech.

The Dog in the Wood is a not to be missed, powerful coming of age story.

This book is recommended for readers age 11 and up.

This book was sent to me by the author

The Dog in the Wood

Monika Schröder

Front Street Press

2009

162 Pages

Blog Tour 2012: The Sydney Taylor Book Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:11:00 +0000

The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2012 gold and silver medalists and a few selected Notables with a Blog Tour, February 5-10, 2012! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on the following blogs:

THE 2012 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD BLOG TOUR

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Naamah and the Ark at Night

Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Ima On & Off the Bima

Holly Meade, illustrator of Naamah and the Ark at Night

Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Into the Wardrobe

Shelly Sommer, author of Hammerin' Hank Greenberg, Baseball Pioneer
Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Great Kid Books

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2012

Marcia Vaughan, author of Irena's Jar of Secrets

Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Shelf-Employed

Ron Mazellan, illustrator of Irena's Jar of Secrets

Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at The Children's War

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Trina Robbins, author of Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer

Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Bildungsroman

Anne Timmons (and possibly Mo Oh), illustrators of Lily Renee, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer
Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Gathering Books

Morris Gleitzman, author of Then

Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at The 3R's

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Michael Rosen, author of Chanukah Lights

Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy

Robert Sabuda, illustrator/paper engineer of Chanukah Lights

Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Practically Paradise

Susan Goldman Rubin, author of Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein
Award Winner in the Older Readers Category at Cynsations

Robert Sharenow, author of The Berlin Boxing Club
Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at Jewish Books for Children

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Durga Yael Bernhard, author and illustrator of Around the World in One Shabbat
Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Frume Sarah's World

Shirley Vernick, author of The Blood Lie
Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at The Fourth Musketeer

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Eric Kimmel, author of The Golem's Latkes

Notable Book and winner of the National Jewish Book Award at Ann Koffsky's Blog

Gloria Spielman, author of Marcel Marceau, Master of Mime
Notable Book and finalist for the National Jewish Book Award at Shannon and the Sunshine Band

Richard Michelson, author of Lipman Pike, America's First Home Run King

Notable Book and finalist for the National Jewish Book Award at Blue Thread

Sydney Taylor Award Winners - Wrap Up

All Winners, All Categories

at The Whole Megillah

Man Overboard! by Curtis Parkinson

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Man Overboard! is a novel whose opening action takes place on the very real Rapids Prince, one of several large steamships which ran the rapids on the St. Lawrence between Prescott and Montreal, Canada before the St. Lawrence Seaway was built. Though dangerous when it passed through the maelstrom, the trip was otherwise routine.

So, when high school friends Scott and Adam took summer jobs as deckhands on the Rapids Prince, they never expected to have the kind of adventure it turned out to be, and all because of Scott’s passion for a Packard Twelve Touring Sedan and a delicious piece of apple pie with ice cream.

It all started when the chauffeur driven car arrived at the dock and a a very wealthy-looking man got out and boarded the Rapids Prince under the name G. Phillip Dale. Scott wanted to take a look at the car, and asked the chauffeur, named Twitch, if it would be OK. Twitch promptly told Scott to get lost. Meanwhile, Adam, now a waiter instead of a deckhand, slipped the apple pie to Scott. Looking for a quiet place to eat it, Scott decided to sit on the car’s running board.

A Packard Twelve Touring Sedan

That was when he overheard the conversation between Twitch and Mr. Dale who was really named Mr. Vandam. Vandam was telling Twitch that their contact, Heinrik, was being followed, presumably by a government agent. Vandam and Heinrik plan to deal with this agent onboard the Rapids Prince, while Twitch takes the car to Montreal.

Things went smoothly onboard ship until it reached the beginning of the maelstrom, the most turbulent part of the rapids, when someone suddenly screamed “Man Overboard!” Turns out, it was Canadian Agent Dereck Patterson, a name Scott recognized from the overheard conversation between Vandam and Twitch.

What to do? Tell the Captain or police why he was on the running board of a car would mean getting both Adam and himself in trouble, maybe even fired, and the Captain’s temper was legendary.

To make matters worse, the German spies had seen him running from the car and knew what he looked like. Scott hoped that they were no longer interested in him, but when the boat docked in Montreal that hope was dashed. Yet, the spies managed to capture Adam instead, threatening to hurt him if Scott told anyone what he knew. As the Packard drove off with Adam inside, Scott jumped on the back and held on for dear life in an attempt find out where the spies were hiding out.

Parkinson based Man Overboard! not just on the real Rapids Prince, and his first hand knowledge of the area in which the story takes place, but also on reports about the German spies who really did enter Canada via submarine on three different occasions during World War II, just as they has in the United States, and were quickly arrested These unsuccessful attempts to infiltrate the US and Canada always make such good fictionalized adventure stories and Man Overboard! doesn’t disappoint on that score.

What I liked most about Man Overboard! was that it reminded me of some of the books I read growing up, books like the Hardy Boys. The characters aren’t particularly deep, but they don’t have to be, what counts is the action. And there is plenty of that. It is an exciting, fast paced action packed story from beginning to end that is sure to please middle grade readers, particularly boys.

Two early postcards showing the Rapids Prince in the
maelstrom, and from the passengers point of view

And right now, there is still time to sign up to win 1 of 2 copies of Man Overboard! on Goodreads courtesy of the publisher. The giveaway runs from January 10, 2012 to February 10, 2012. You can enter to win a copy here

This book is recommended for readers age 10-12

This was was received as an E-ARC from Netgalley.com

Man Overboard!

Curtis Parkinson

Tundra

March 2012

160 Pages

Annexed by Sharon Dogar

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Annexed is a fictionalized imagining of the content in the diary kept by Anne Frank in hiding, but this time life in the annex is told by Peter van Pels.

And I have to admit I started reading Annexed with a great deal of trepidation. After all, it had caused quite a sensation when it was published. Sharon Dogar was accused exploiting Anne’s diary and of ‘sexualizing’ her. There were many who did not want to see this Anne Frank. But, while the Anne of the diary may be a symbol of courage and hope, the real life Anne, as we know now know, was much more human, a teen who could be self-centered, demanding and highly critical of those around her one moment and sweet, charming and full of confidence the next. And who also thought about love and sex. In other word, Anne Frank was a typical 13 year old adolescent. And, to her credit, Dogar has captured this human version of Anne so well in Annexed.

But now, it is Peter van Pels’s turn to tell his story. The real Peter was only 15 years old when he disappeared into the annex. In this imagined version, Peter is at first portrayed as angry, sullen and resentful, not wanting to go into hiding, especially not with Anne Frank and her family. But after witnessing his girlfriend and her family being rounded up by the Gestapo, he realizes it is the only real option left to him.

Once he is inside the annex, Peter just wants to sleep. Everyone there gets on his nerves, especially the always cheerful, constantly talking, sometimes critical Anne. But gradually he gets up and starts participating in life in the annex. At first, Peter, Anne and her sister Margot spend a lot of their time together in the attic, but gradually an attraction begins to bloom between Anne and Peter, much to the disapproval of the adults around them, particularly Anne’s parents.

But as curious as Peter and Anne are, this relationship doesn’t go beyond some cuddling and a kiss. It is all in the diary and Dogar has not added anything to it except Peter’s feelings. Dogar makes it clear that this fictionalized Peter, like Anne, is afraid of missing out on an intimate relationship with a girl because of the circumstance under which is now lives.

Annexed is written in two parts. The first part covers daily life in the annex. Each chapter begins with a date and a one line description of what is going to happen, yet Dogar doesn’t seek to imitate Anne’s diary doing this. This part is interspersed with Peter’s thoughts as he lay dying in Mauthausen’s sick bay and this gives the impression that he is reflecting on his life in the annex. The second, much smaller part of the novel takes place in the camps - Auschwitz and Mauthausen. It too is told reflexively at Mauthausen.

I thought that Dogar’s portrayal of Peter is completely believable. He probably was, after all, a teenage boy with all the fear, anger, frustration and resentment of hiding and being confined simply for being a Jew, as well as all the thoughts, urges and questions about girls, love, and sex that boys have at the age.

Sadly, no one knows who betrayed the people in the annex. It could have happened any number of ways. Dogar does intimate that the betrayal and a break-in may be linked, but that is all. It remains a mystery even today.

All in all, I thought Dogar did a great job in imagining the the annex from Peter’s point of view. And it is important to remember Annexed is a fiction, even though it feels so real a times. Perhaps because there are so many parts of the story that are more obviously taken from what Anne had written in her diary. Which is not to imply that Dogar simply rewrote the diary. Peter is his own person in the novel. But I do think it is important to read Dogar’s afterward, to see where she has taken poetic license and why.

Most important, I feel that Dogar remains respectful of Anne Frank’s memory as a hero of Holocaust, and reminds us that everyone in that annex is a hero, too, in their own way. But she doesn’t let us forget that they were also human, and heroes are always more heroic when we remember that they are only human.

This book is recommended for readers age 14 and up.

This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL.

Some excellent lesson plans for teaching Annexed can be found here.

Annexed

Sharon Dogar

Houghton Mifflin

2010

341 Pages

SOPA and PIPA - The Next Great Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:15:00 +0000

As some of you may know, I have a daughter who lives and teaches in China. According to her, the food is great, the cost of living is low and China has two great walls. One is the original built by, umm, which emperor built the Great Wall? Same guy who did the terra cotta warriors. I forget his name, but I'll just look it up quickly on Wikipedia. Oh, wait, I can't. Not today, maybe not ever.

The other wall is the Great Firewall. So my daughter can't read my blog, or yours or yours, can't read anyone's blog. A few other things she can't do - can't google anything, or use Wikipedia or read certain publications, can;t watch YouTube either. Sometimes, if the wrong word is said in a conversation between us, our SKYPE conversation is abruptly ended. She can't keep up with her friends and family on Facebook, can't Tweet them either.

Now, Congress wants to build a Great Firewall around US. SOPA is designed to stop online piracy and PIPA to protect intellectual property. Want to find out more about these bills and how they will effect your life, read this from the WSJ The Motion Picture Association of America is a big supporter of these bills because of people watching pirated movies. Irony of ironies, pirated movies are the one thing that they can download in China. And that will be true here, too.

If you want to live behind a Great Firewall, then do nothing. If you don't, think about letting your Senators and Representatives in Congress know how you feel. There is bipartisan opposition to these bills, so don't think politics, so

Make your voice heard, consider signing this petition here

I should add that I am not China bashing. My daughter has lived there for 1 1/2 years and loves it, loves the people, loves the food, just not crazy about the firewall. It is hard to get used to.

The Chalet School Goes To It by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:53:00 +0000

Occasionally, on Wednesdays, I review a book written during World War II. It was a time when no one knew what was going to happen from moment to moment, so they offer a very different perspective on the war.

When last we left the staff and students of the Chalet School (see my review of The Chalet School in Exile, they were fleeing Austria just ahead of the Anschluß and heading for the Channel Islands. The school was then closed for a year, and then reopened on the island of Guernsey. Yet, after only two terms, the world is at war and the Chalet School is forced to move again, this time, fleeing to England just ahead of the Nazi invasion of the Channel Islands.

Wondering what to do and where to go once they reach England, the Chalet School is rescued when Rev. Ernest Howell offers his estate, Plas Howell on the Welsh border, while he serves as a Naval chaplain, providing the school accept his younger 13 year old sister, Gwensi.

Chalet School owner Madge Russell is first to cross the Channel and travel to Howell Village. Next to go is her sister Jo Maynard, with her triplets, accompanied by Nell Wilson, science and geography mistress. While crossing, their boat is attacked by a German U-boat. Realizing the war is coming closer to home, the school move is expedited.

The school reopens at the beginning of summer term and staff and students settle into their new location and routine quite smoothly. Like everyone in England, the school wants to do its bit for the war effort and chose to Dig for Victory as their project. Even Gwensi, angry at having her home invaded by a school full of strangers, settles in, making friends and having a wonderful time.

But of course trouble arrives when lights are spotted on the school’s grounds during blackout hours. A Colonel Black comes to the school to see who might be sending light signals to the enemy offshore. Even though he questions students and staff individually, no one owns up to doing this treasonous deed.

Much to everyone’s chagrin, Colonel Black has the posted around the school, severally curtailing everyone’s movements. But all that is pushed aside when their first air raid occurs. And though the bombing is aimed at Cardiff and Newport, South Wales, it feels too close for comfort to everyone as they take shelter in the basement of the house.

During the raid, the headmistress goes out to see if the house has been hit at all and while she is looking things over, something lands just six feet away from her. Expecting a bomb, she finds metal container with a streamer that says Schule Chalet. Thrown by a passing Luftwaffe plane, it is a note from he brother of a former student telling her they are all well, and being forced to do what is demanded by the Reich because they are German, but by no means do they support the actions of their country

I was surprised at the depiction of some of the prefects laughing at stories about some evacuees in the area. These were described as around 6, 7 and 8 years old, from London and didn’t have any idea what a farm was like. Among the things they were laughing at was that one child thought eggs came out cooked, another thought a pig had a ring in it’s nose because it was married. This episode just seemed out of character to me.

Aside from this slightly far-fetched event, I found The Chalet School Goes to It to be an interesting novel. Doing without because of food, walking or riding a bike great distances because of gas rationing, soldiers stations in the area, suspicions that quislings and saboteurs are a foot all reflect life in Britain during the early days of World War II. There is even an incidence of former student and friend of Jo’s, Frieda von Ahlen (formerly Mensch) being put into a internment camp on the Isle of Man, a not very well publicized practice in Britain for dealing with aliens.

Elinor Brent-Dyer wrote a number of books set in the war besides The Chalet School in Exile and The Chalet School Goes to It, though the war begins to take more of a back seat. Yet, she never wrote about the end of the war and the Allied victory. A fill-in book, Peace Comes to the Chalet School by Katherine Bruce was published in 2005. Bruce does a pretty good job picking up Brent-Dyer’s characters and bring closure to the Chalet School war years.

So, if you like school stories as I do, you can’t go wrong with The Chalet School series.

This book is recommended for readers age 11 and up.

This book was purchased for my personal library

The Chalet School Goes to It

Elinor Brent-Dyer

Chambers

1941, 1952

The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Adult Novels for Young Adult Readers

There seems to be a lot of anticipation about to soon to be released novelThe Baker’s Daughter and I can understand why. Split between past and present, Nazi Germany in the last year of World War II and present day El Paso, Texas, it is the story of two very different women and how they each find themselves.

Elsie Schmidt,16, is the second daughter of bakers in Garmisch, Germany. Her older sister, Hazel, has been in the Lebensborn Program to produce strong, racially pure babies for the Fatherland since her fiancee was killed. Their young son Julius is also there being educated in Nazi dogma.

The Schmidt’s have always been supporters of Hitler and his policies, and when Lieutenant Colonel Josef Hub, a family friend since Peter’s death, invites Elsie to the Nazis Weihnachten (Christmas) party, they are thrilled. At the party, Joseph asks Elsie to marry him, giving her a ring that has a Hebrew in it. Elsie doesn’t know what to do - on the one hand, he provides the bakery with supplies and the family with protection, on the other hand, he is much older and she doesn’t want to marry him.

At the same party, a young Jewish boy with a breath-takingly beautiful voice is brought in to entertain. Elsie later learns he will be killed as soon as he is taken back to the concentration camp he was in. When a General Kremer attacks Else is an alley she escaped to for some air, it is the boys voice that save her. Later that night, when the boy shows up at the back door of the bakery, their lives are changed forever.

Years later, in 2007,Reba Adams, a journalist, is trying to get in touch with the now elderly Elsie Schmidt to do an article on Christmas traditions around the world. She wants to talk to Elsie about German traditions. But her interviews turn out the be very different from what Reba had expected. And again lives are changed.

The Baker’s Daughter is about the journey two women must make in order to find their true selves. And even though the time and facts of their individual journeys are different, the outcomes are very much the same.

There is a very diverse cast of characters in this novel, some nice, some not, but all very relevant in the lives of Elsie and Reba. I felt more connected to Elsie’s story and found it much more compelling than Reba’s story. I believe that is because we are give more details about her life and follow it from 1944 to the present, whereas we learn about Reba’s past mainly from her thoughts and they are not as thoroughly explored. I also found myself more drawn to Elsie than I did to Reba and maybe that is why.

Don’t get me wrong, however. I really enjoyed reading The Baker’s Daughter, and found it hard to put down. I found it to be a well researched story and it does bring out a disturbing aspect of the Lebensborn Program that many people may not know about.

A bonus: at the end of the novel, there is a collection of recipes to bake that are mentioned throughout the story, some from Elsie’s families bakery in Germany, so new ones from life in El Paso, and all, I am sure, scrumptious.

This book is recommended for readers age 15 and up.

This book was received as an E-ARC from Netgalley.com

You can find a reading group guide for The Baker’s Daughter at Sarah McCoy

The Baker’s Daughter

Sarah McCoy

Crown

January 24, 2012

304 Pages

An Award - WOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:56:00 +0000

What a lovely surprise on a very cold Sunday morning. I was just given this very nice award by
Barbara at March House Books Blog. If you aren’t familiar with her blog, be sure to check it out. You will find lots of fun stuff there.

Liebster is German for dearest or beloved and carries the sense of “favourite”. It is a superlative form so would carry the idea of “most”, most dear (dearest), most beloved, most favorite.

According to the rules say to pass the award, it is to be passed along to five of your favorite blogs with less than 200 followers. Here are 5 of my “most favorite” blog choices:

A Bookish Libraria

Rachel's Reading Timbits

The 3 R's - Reading, 'Riting, & Research

Sleuths, Spies, and Alibis

Thick & Thin Things

Perhaps you are already familiar with these blogs, if not, why not stop by and see for yourself how nice they are

Then and Now - if at first you don’t succeed....

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:42:00 +0000

At first I wasn’t going to write a New Year’s related post because I hadn’t made any bookish resolutions. The first thing I did this year was switch from a PC to a Mac, so I have been up to my geeky eyes playing around with it, transferring, organizing and weeding out files, folders, programs, etc..

While I was doing this, I came across my post from last years topic Top Ten Bookish Resolutions from the weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

For fun, I thought I would look at my Top Ten Bookish Resolutions for 2011 and see how well I kept them. Here goes:

1- Organize my books better, and the flash drive I keep all blog/book related material on.

Then: I tend to stick everything in a computer folder and fool myself with the idea that “I will take care of this later” but later never comes.

Now: I started off well, but soon slipped back into bad habits. A new computer prompts me to try again.

2- Use my Nook more, even though I like books better.

Then: Sometimes I guess an e-reader is handy, but I am not good about using it. I have borrowed some library books on it, but that is about all. Barnes & Noble will never break the bank on my e-purchases.

Now: I am proud to say that I am indeed using my Nook more, though I have always been a sucker for a great book cover and find I still buy books which have covers I like, instead of purchasing the e-book. I am working on a solution for that.

3- Create lists of books for the challenges I have elected to participate in.

Then: Another thing I put off for that “later” that never comes.

Now: I read books for my challenges as they came to me, never making a list. But I completed all but two challenges. The Civil War Challenge hosted by Anna and Serena at War Through the Generations didn’t quite work for me, for some reason. And the host of the Forgotten Treasures Challenge sort of faded away in May, so I never read all 25 pledged books, but came close to finishing.

4- Read the books on the above lists.

Then: OK, truth is, I would read books for the challenges even without lists.

Now: Well, I did read them, I just didn’t list them before I read them.

5- Update my Good Reads and Library Thing accounts and keep them updated.

Then: I am very bad about these, but resolve to either do better or cancel the accounts.

Now: I updated and kept my Good Reads account current, but not Library Thing. That is for this year.

6- Since my blog is branded, try not to feel guilty when I read book not pertinent to it.

Then: This refers to the list I made last Top Ten Tuesday.

Now: I don’t know where my head was when I wrote this. Guilty about reading a book - never!! And I did read many of the books on the list - guilt free, I might add.

7- Find or start an active book club in Manhattan.

Then: Most book clubs here fill up fast and close. Starting my own would definitely be better – perhaps in the local indie store or Barnes & Noble.

Now: Never did this, but I did start going to the Children’s Literature Salon at the 42nd Street Library regularly.

8- Read more non-fiction.

Then: Not my favorite, yet the non-fiction I have read is always so interesting.

Now: Yes, I have accomplished this resolution. Still not my favorite genre.

9- Learn how to do things on Blogspot.

Then: I need to find an easier way to get pictures side by side and learn a little more html.

Now: I have learned how to do more things on Blogspot, sometimes to my own determent - I can get carried away with html.

10- Finally read Black Beauty the book instead of the Classics Illustrated comic I used in 3rd grade for my book report.

Then: I am kidding myself again - that’s not going to happen. I just don't like that book.

Now: Didn’t happen, not gonna happen.

Revised 10- Try to do Top Ten Tuesday on Tuesday.

Then: Getting better already, today is Wednesday, just one day away from Tuesday.

Now: Of the 5 Top Ten Tuesdays I did in 2011, 3 were done on Tuesday, 1 was done on Wednesday and 1 was done on Saturday. Also, do more Top Tens and shoot for more Tuesdays. This one doesn't count, it's not official.

And, lastly, the moral of this story is

Thank you, Winston Churchill

Then by Morris Gleitzman

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Then continues the story of 10 year old Felix begun in Once. When Once ended, Felix and Zelda had just jumped from the cattle car heading to a concentration camp.

Then picks up the story as they flee through a forest. When they emerge from it, the first thing they see is a large pit in the ground full of the bodies of children and Nazis with machine guns standing around it. They flee back into the forest when the Nazis start shooting at them. While hiding, Felix and Zelda decide that the best thing for them to do is to look for kind, new parents to protect them and take care of them.They spend the night in the forest and the next morning a farmer picks them up in his wagon, but they run away when Felix sees he has a paper from the Nazis offering money and vodka in exchange for Jews. They head back into the forest, and just when they think it is OK to leave, a very strong woman grabs hold of them.

The woman takes them to her farm and locks them in her barn. Eventually, she pushes some food into the barn, which Felix and Zelda end up sharing with the pig that lives there. Later, they hear a truck arriving, just as the woman comes into the barn, spreading pepper across the front of it. When the Nazis come in looking for Jews that might be hidden there, their dog starts to sneeze and can’t smell anything. Clearly, the woman has no intention of turning Felix and Zelda over to the Nazis. Still, before they leave, the soldiers stab at the hay where the children are hiding, just in case.

The woman, whose name is Genia, brings the children into the house. She bathes and feed them. But, during his bath, Felix and Genia realize that he is circumcised, and that this could be a real problem, since Nazis always check to see if, as Felix refers to it, a male has a Jewish private part.

Genia then makes up stories about their lives for them to tell people. They pick new names, Wilhelm and Violetta, after their favorite fictional characters, William and Violet Elizabeth, in the William books by Richmal Crompton. Felix has always told Zelda calming stories from William and often prays to Crompton to help them survive.

Felix makes one dangerous enemy, Cyryl, the son of the store owner where they shop, and one semi-friend, Dov, who survived the Nazi massacre that Felix and Zelda saw. Felix also becomes friends with Amon, a reluctant Hitler Youth who is also a big fan of Richmal Crompton.

Zelda is Felix’s biggest problem. She doesn’t seem to remember the danger they are in and continuously does things that could provoke the Nazis, failing to show them the respect they demand. Even declaring herself Jewish out of anger towards her Nazi parents, though Felix wants her to wear her locket with her father’s picture in his uniform, to try and keep her safe. But being safe under Nazi rule is always tentative…

This is one of those books where it is difficult to write about the narrative without spoiling the whole thing for future readers, because everything and everyone is so interconnected with the action. I intentionally hadn’t read much about Then or the third book about Felix, Now, so when I read the ending of this I was very surprised. It really wasn’t what I expected.

Often a sequel fails in satisfying a reader, because the first book was so good. It feels like nothing can measure up to it, but that is not the case here. I was happy to see that Gleitzman was able to recapture Felix as I remember him, allowing growth because of his experiences but still very much the sweet, innocent storytelling 10 year old boy he was in Once. Gleitzman has done this with Zelda, too, who remains the same annoyingly-endearing, smart mouth 6 year old girl of Once, constantly asking ‘Don’t you know anything?’ whenever someone states the obvious.

Gleitzman continues to give us a clear picture of the level of cruelty the Nazis were capable of, the total disregard for human life that was inherent in Hitler’s system of belief, and the deprivations inflicted on people, who were expected to accept them or pay the price. But he also gives us a picture of the kindness human beings are also capable of, and through Amon, Gleitzman reminds us that not everyone who was German and wore a uniform subscribed to what the Nazis were doing.

If you haven’t already read Once, I would highly recommend that you give it a try. If you have and you enjoyed it, Then is a book for you, though I think either one works as a stand alone story. I am looking forward to reading the third and final story of Felix in Gleitzman’s book Now, in which he is now an 80 year old grandfather. Rumor had it that a four might be in the works, so I emailed him and asked if this was so. The answer: Yes, it is, there will be a fourth book. I look forward to that one, too.

This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up.
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL

An extensive Teacher’s Guide for Then is available from Penguin Books.

Then
Morris Gleitzman
Henry Holt
2010
198 Pages

Night by Elie Wiesel

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:07:00 +0000

"I believe that anyone who lived through an experience is duty bound to bear witness to it." — From Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular

In Night, Elie Wiesel bears witness to his experience of the Holocaust. Living what they thought was a safe existence in Sighet, Romania (Transylvania), the Wiesel family, like all the Orthodox Jewish families there, could not believe the reports of mass murder that came back to them from an eyewitness who had managed to escape the Nazis.

Then the spring of 1944 arrived in Sighet, and so did the German soldiers, billeting themselves among the residents there. At first, these Nazis were polite and considerate, and people still weren’t worried because radio reports said that the Russian Army was pushing westward, in their direction.

But, on the Seventh Night of Passover that year, everything changed. Jews were ordered to remain in their homes for three days, valuable were to be handed over and a yellow star was to be worn. Two ghettos were created, a small one where people stayed temporarily before being transported to camps, and a large one for longer stays. With each egregious act, the Jews of Sighet convinced themselves that it couldn’t get worse, but it did. The Wiesel family was among the last in Sighet to be transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau when the ghetto was finally liquidated.

They were put into cattle cars with 80 people in each and slowly traveled for days until they finally reached Auschwitz in Poland. There, during the selection process, Elie and his father were separated from his mother and youngest sister, Tzipora. He never saw them again. Elie and his father remained in Auschwitz for three weeks, before being sent to Buna, also called Auschwitz III. There, the inmates were put to work, most of them doing factory work for the German war effort.

Elie and his father remained there until January 1945, when all the inmates were forced on a death walk to a concentration camp in Germany, as the Red Army was only hours away from Buno. Elie ended up in Buchenwald Concentration Camp until April 11, 1945 when the camp was liberated.

Map of Auschwitz - areas in orange are the three areas
where Elie Wiesel and his father were held at different times.

Night is a book that answers Theodore Adorno’s question – how do you make poetry (art) after Auschwitz? In other words, how do you describe the indescribable?

Elie Wiesel did this in simply declarative sentences, using straightforward vocabulary. And yet, he produces a picture of horrors that are almost impossible to imagine. For this reason, I think it is a benchmark for Holocaust memoir, along with Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl and Primo Levi’s If This is a Man.

I have always thought the title of the book, Night, came from this passage:
Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times curses and seven times sealed. (pg 34)

And it does, but it also refers to a biblical passage - Genesis 1:5 defining a day as starting at nightfall (which is why Jewish holidays always start at sundown):

"God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."

In this respect, even though the book describes the inhuman treatment of Jews by Nazis, Night also carries the message of hope in its title - there will always be a tomorrow.

I had read Night when I was in high school, but when Oprah Winfrey picked it for her Book Club Selection in January 2006, I reread this new and better translation, which, incidently, was done by Marion Wiesel, Mr. Wiesel’s wife. Thanks to Oprah, Night was read by 2,021,000 readers, many of whom might never have read it otherwise, according to a report in the Huffington Post It was the 3rd most popular book throughout her book club history.

Interestingly enough, although Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, to date, Night has never been given any individual honors.

This book is recommended for readers age 14 and up.
This book was purchased for my personal library

Night - Elie Wiesel
Hill and Wang
2006
120 pages

The publisher offers a downloadable Reading Group Guide and Teacher’s Guide
Or see Oprah's Guide to Night (I used Oprah's guide to Anna Karenina and it was great - the guide and the book)

The following websites may be of interest to readers of Night:
Elie Wiesel: First Person Singular
The Story of Night

And you might want to visit The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity This foundation lost most of their assets, $15.2 million, thanks to Bernie Madoff, but they continue on in the same determined spirit that helped Elie Wiesel survive the Holocaust and they carry on with their youth focused programs promoting "acceptance, understanding and equality.

This is book 2 of my European Reading Challenge hosted by Rose City Reader

My Brother’s Shadow by Monika Schröder

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:21:00 +0000

My Brother’s Shadow is a realistic look at life on the home front in Berlin just as World War I is coming to a close and Germany is about to surrender, a time and place not usually explored in young adult fiction.

Moritz Schmidt, 16, lives in a small apartment with his mother Anna Schmidt, sister Hedwig and grandmother. His older brother Hans is off fighting in the trenches at the Western Front, where his father has already been killed. And a little sister has also died relatively recently. Moritz works in the newspaper printing room of the Berliner Daily and has made friends with a journalist who takes him to an illegal meeting of Social Democrats. These are revolutionaries advocating the abdication of the Kaiser and demanding that Germany become a democratic country once the war has ended. It is at this meeting that Moritz discovers his mother is a much respected speaker and member of the Social Democrats.

After 4 years of war, life is very hard for most of the people of Germany. They must stand in long lines to get what little food is available; there is little fuel to heat their homes. But once Moritz is initiated into his brother’s old gang, he learns that their activities consist mainly in breaking in and stealing the ample food supplies of the rich, an undertaking not much to his liking.

When the family receives news that Hans has been seriously injured at the front, Moritz takes the train to the field hospital in Metz, Alsace-Lorraine. On the train, he meets a friendly young Jewish girl, named Rebecca, who gives him a book she has been reading. Later, he meets her again at another illegal Social Democrat meeting and discovers she too supports the revolutionary ideas of both his mother and sister.

When Hans comes home, missing an eye and an arm, he is enraged at his mother’s activities, his brother’s budding romance with Rebecca and Moritz’s attitude towards his old gang. It causes a schism in the household, with Hans taking the side of the Kaiser’s Germany, and feeling that people like his mother have betrayed the soldiers fighting for Germany and advocating a revolution in Germany. Moritz stands in the middle – caught in the kind of patriotic feelings the sent so many to war in the first place, yet seeing that change needs to happen. The Schmidt family, then, becomes a microcosm of exactly what is happening throughout Germany at the end of the war.

Schröder has done an excellent job in researching and representing the time and events she is writing about. One of the things that Hitler blamed the loss of the war on was the supposed lack of support by the home front and the readers sees this attitude reflected in Hans’s reactions to things after he come home. Hans also feels the same kind of virulent anti-Semitism that propelled Hitler’s later policies. These feelings are portrayed with such intensity that I knew it would only a matter of a few years before Hans would have been a member of the fledging Nazi party, as did so many of his real life counterparts.

I thought that Schröder also captured the passion and fearlessness of the revolutionaries just as strongly. Important names like Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, radical left wing members of the revolution and Friedrich Ebert, a conservative Social Democrat, appear in the story, and I really liked that she has even included the important Sailor’s Revolt in Kiel. Given this background information, the reader most clearly can see the contrast between Hans and his mother, making this very thought provoking aspect to the story. Mixed into all this is Moritz, an naïve young man with a strong sense of right and wrong, but at least in the beginning no political commitment.

I found my thought returning to this novel long after I had finished it, which to my mind make My Brother’s Shadow is an example of historical fiction at its finest – a seamless blending of fact and fiction to create a story the in entertaining and informative, and one I can highly recommend to both YA and adult readers.

This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up

This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL

My Brother's Shadow is book 1 of my World War I Reading Challenge

My Brother's Shadow is book 1 of my European Reading Challenge

My Brother's Shadow is book 1 of my Historical Tapestry Reading Challenge

My Brother’s Shadow

Monika Schröder

Farrar Straus Giroux

2011

224 Pages

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:22:00 +0000

This is an early Judy Blume book about a 10 year old girl living in post war America. In it, Blume portrays misconceptions that can happen when kids don’t fully understand complicated events and how they fill in what they don’t know with their own ideas.

Sally Jane Freedman likes her life in New Jersey. She has friends, including a best friend, and her family, mom, dad, older brother Douglas and maternal grandmother, Ma Fanny, all live in relative peace and harmony in a nice comfortable four bedroom home. Sally has a vivid imagination and is always making up heroic scenarios in which she plays the starring role. These range from spy missions to Europe to capture the maybe-not-really- dead Hitler, because he is responsible for the deaths of her grandmother’s sister, Tante Rose, and Rose’s daughter, Lila in the Holocaust, to being chosen to be Esther William’s younger sister in a movie.

But Sally’s life is disrupted when her brother comes down with nephritis. When he is well enough, everyone except Sally’s dad temporarily move to Miami Beach for Douglas’s continued recovery. As much as she didn’t like moving, Sally soon adjusts to the new school and makes new friends.

Two things spoil life in Miami for Sally. The first is her worry about her father back in New Jersey. Her mother, a perpetual worrier and germ phobe, has been depressed about the fact that her 42 year old husband’s brothers both died at that age. Once again, Sally had picked up bits and pieces of conversations and has filled in the blanks, causing her to also worry about her dad. She continuously writes him letters to assuage her fear.

The second thing is Sally’s belief that her elderly neighbor, Mr. Zavodsky, is really a disguised Adolf Hitler hiding out in Miami. She continuously writes letters to him to let him know she is on to his real identity. These also assuage her fears, but Sally never mails them, putting them in her keepsake box instead. But Mr. Zavodsky does unknowingly play a big part in helping Sally come to terms with the war and the Holocaust, both of which she still thinks about frequently.

For the most part, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is an interesting portrayal of the little everyday things in life, which is why Sally resorts to her imagination to spice things up a little. The book is a wonderful window through which today’s readers can look at what life was life for a kid in the mid-1940s. After all, how many of them are familiar with Murphy beds, Margaret O’Brien, Admiral Halsey, a game called Jolly Roger, party line telephones and my personal favorite Potsie (hopscotch to those who live outside of NYC.) I think that for today’s reader, however, the book could use a glossary or something to help understand these things. For example, I never heard of a game called Jolly Roger growing up.

I was very resistant to reading Sally J. Freedman for unknown reasons. And after I began it, I dragged my feet reading it. Then suddenly, I couldn’t put it down. Odd that. At first, I found it written a little too simply, but soon realized it was just a 10 year old narrative voice, which then seemed perfect. And Blume maintained Sally’s narrative voice so smoothly, letting the reader see exactly how Sally filled in the blanks to try to understand the world and what was going on around her. And, without resorting to stereotypes, I thought that the characters and situations were very believable. I grew up knowing a lot of my friend’s Yiddishe grandmothers and I really thought Blume’s portrayal of Ma Fanny was just spot on.

Judy Blume has said that this is her most autobiographical book. Many of Sally’s experiences were culled from her own life, including the big part that the war played in her childhood. And that is precisely what makes it a great story. Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is a story that catches a girl as she begins to come of age and it follows how and how much she grows up during one important year of that process. It is a delightful story and I highly recommend it.

This book is recommended for readers age 8-12

This book was purchased for my personal library

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Judy Blume

Yearling/Random House Imprint

1977/1991

268 Pages

I Will Come Back For You: a family in hiding during World War II by Marisabina Russo

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:17:00 +0000

I Will Come Back for You is one of the books that came out recently and was so highly recommended by reviewers. It is a fictionalized story about Marisabina Russo’s real life Jewish family living in Italy during the Second World War. The experience of Jews at that time and place is not the subject of many children’s books and so this is a welcome addition to the Holocaust body of work.

Everyday Nonna (Grandmother) changes her jewelry with the exception of her charm bracelet. Like most charm bracelets, each charm represents one important aspect of Nonna’s life. The bracelet and the charms had been a gift from her daughter and prove to be an interesting way to talk about what happened to Nonna’s family during the war.

One day, while looking at the charms, her granddaughter expresses an interest in hearing the story behind each one – a donkey, a piano, a bicycle, a piglet, a barn, a spinning wheel and a ship – that hang on it.

Charm by charm Nonna’s story unfolds beginning with what life was life for her affluent Jewish family in Rome. These were happy, busy times for the children. But one day things changed and anti-Jewish laws were passed, just as they had been in Germany. Jews were no longer allowed to do the things they used to do or to go to places they had always enjoyed visiting after Italy aligned herself with Nazi Germany.

Under these laws, Nonna’s papa was ordered to an internment camp, because he was a foreign born Jew. But the family could visit every weekend, staying with a kind family in the village.

As Nonna continues her story, charm by charm, she tells her granddaughter of the sad events surrounding her papa and how the family had to go into hiding themselves, and how, with the help of some very kind people they stayed safe until they were able to immigrate to the United States after the war ended.

This is a wonderful book for introducing young readers to one aspect of the Holocaust without being terribly frightening. It is told in simple, straightforward language enhanced by simple but effective illustrations. No illustrator is listed; however, the rather flat folk art type illustrations are done in watercolors.

Russo has also included photographs of her own family in the endpapers from the 1930s and 1940s, and, in an afterward, she briefly tells the real story of her family, giving the fictionalized version of events its base in reality. There is also a glossary for both Italian and English words to help understand some of the words and concepts used.

This book is recommended for readers age 5-9

This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL

Book Trailer:

I Will Come Back For You: a family in hiding during World War II

Marisabina Russo

Schwartz & Wade

2011

40 Pages

Happy Boxing Day! And a Word of Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Well, Christmas is over for another year and I want to thank my Secret Santa Danna at Bananas for Books for the very nice copy of Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, the wonderful book mark with my initial and the Godiva chocolate bar. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, Danna.

And while I am about it, I would like to thank the host of the Book Blogger Holiday Swap, Nicole and the other volunteers who help her make it work so well.

Christmas was lovely and quiet. I received some wonderful books and can't wait to begin reading them. I spoke to my daughter in China and met the new boyfriend on Skype, then went to visit a gravely ill old friend who is in hospital. When I came home and watched on of my favorite holiday movies that no one seems to know, called "Holiday" with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. My very favorite is "Christmas in Connecticut" with Barbara Stanwyk.

Now, its on to the new year, new reading challenges, new books and lots of fun.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - an explanation

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:50:00 +0000

I never much cared for the Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" but after a friend sent me the following bit of historical information about it, I will probably never listen to it the same way again.

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

OMG! Another List! 2012 Reading Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:24:00 +0000

I know I haven’t been reviewing as frequently this month as I usually do and I apologize for that I have been working an a large research project since mid-November and my eyes are so tired at night, I just haven’t been reading much. But my part of the project is beginning to wind up and I will be reading and reviewing on a regular basis again.

Meantime, I have been thinking about reading challenges. There are so many tempting challenges out there it is sometime hard to decide. But I have (so far) narrowed it down to 5 one year challenges and 1 perpetual challenge. And the choices are:

Challenge: The World War I Challenges

Host: Anna and Serena at War Through the Generations

Level: Wade level: 4-10 books.

Challenge: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

Host: The good folks at Historical Tapestry

Level: Undoubtedly Obsessed 15 books

Challenge: European Reading Challenge

Host: Gilion at Rose City Reader

Level: Five Star (Deluxe Entourage) 5 or more books

Challenge: Cozy Mystery Challenge

Host: Debbie’s Book Bag

Level: Gumshoe 4 to 6 mysteries

Challenge: The Sir Terry Pratchett Reading Challenge

Host: Hannah at Once Upon a Time

Level: Any number of books you want

Challenge: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Host: Zohar at Man of la Book

Level: 9 books and their graphic novel tie-in

If any of these appeal to you, you can find more information by simply clicking their link. Or if you want to see what other challenges are out there, visit A Novel Challenge, the place most people list their challenges.

Top Ten Tuesday #7: Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

These are the Top Ten books I would like to see under my Christmas tree along with bloggers whose reviews influenced my desire:

The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins - Thanks to Jackie at Farm Lane Books Blog

A Rumpole Christmas by John Mortimer - Thanks to Les at ClassicMysteries

The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomoms - Thanks to Sarah at Reading the Past

World War II London Blitz Diary Vol. 2: A Woman's Revelations of War and Marriage (Volume 2) by Ruby Side Thompson and Victoria Aldridge Washuk (ed) - Thanks to Vicki at World War II London Blitz Diary 1939-1945

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - Thanks to Dorothy at My Placefor Mystery

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - Thanks to Zohar at Man of la Book

Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin - Thanks to Nellie at The Bookbaglady Reviews Books for You!

The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson - Thanks to Rebbeca at Rebecca-Books

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld - Thanks to Aths at Reading on a Rainy Day

Metamaus by Art Spiegelman - Thanks to Johanna at Comics Worth Reading

And one book to grow on:

1001 Comics to Read Before You Die by Paul Gravett Michael Farber at The Guardian

I hope everyone finds the books that they want from Santa under their Christmas trees, too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Victory through Christmas Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:34:00 +0000

Christmas during wartime is always a difficult time and World War II was no exception. Rationing made most of the usual Christmas treats impossible, both on the table and under the tree. But as usual people adapted and did the best with what they had.

In November 1942, Betty Crocker began to run ads in newspapers and magazines for “Military Christmas Cookies.” They were perfect to eat, send to a soldier in the armed forces or even to hang on your Christmas tree. To make the military shapes shown, bakers were advised, simply draw them on heavy cardboard, place on the rolled out dough and cut around them. Then, decorate accordingly. Can you imagine doing this dozens and dozens of times? Or just roll out the dough and use the usual Christmas cookies cutters you already have.

But, if you are more like me, and don't make rolled out cookies because they taste more like flour than cookie, here is the recipe my very favorite Christmas cookie:

Brandied Sugarplums

1 Cup (6 ounces) Semisweet Chocolate Chips, melted

½ Cup Confectioners’ Sugar

¼ Cup Light Corn Syrup

1/3 Cup Brandy

2½ Cups Fine Vanilla Wafer Crumbs (62 wafers = 9 ounces)

1 Cup (4ounces) Pecans, ground coarse in blender

½ Cup Sugar

Candied Red or Green Cherry Halves for Decoration

c Have ready a waxed-paper lined cookie sheet or tray.

c With a wooden spoon mix chocolate, the confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup and brandy in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in cookie crumbs and nuts until blended. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls into 1-inch balls. (If mixture is too dry and crumbly to shape, add a little more brandy or water.) Roll in granulated sugar to coat. Arrange on prepared tray. Press a cherry half into each.

Makes about 54.

I can't remember where I got this recipe from, but Brandied Sugarplums are delicious. Just be careful and remember there is brandy in them or you might end up like this poor Santa, who looks like he had one too many (actually, he is just very old and his hat is on wrong)

Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Caleb’s War by David L. Dudley

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:00:00 +0000

*****Spoiler Alert*****

Caleb’s War is a home front coming of age historical novel set in rural Georgia during the spring and summer of 1944. The main protagonist is Caleb Brown, 15, an intelligent, but angry, frustrated young African American man, and not without cause.

Things at home are sometimes not much better. Caleb and his father often fight and his father believes his is teaching his son to behave by beating him with a leather strap on bare skin. When his father whips him for fighting with some white boys, Caleb decides he can’t work with his father learning carpentry for the summer and ends up washing dishes at Dixie Belle Café, a restaurant he can’t eat at because it is for whites only.

Meanwhile, the town has received some German POWs to help in the fields since so many men are away at war and one, Andreas, is a trained chef and brought to work at the café. Andreas and Caleb become friends; they are, after all, both considered to be pariahs by the white townspeople. Or is this really true for both of them?

Dudley does an excellent job capturing the attitudes of white people towards African Americans ranging from condescending benevolence (the owner of the Dixie Belle Café) to unadulterated hatred (the Hill brothers.) The feeling of fear, uncertainty and anger that African Americans lived with on a daily basis is palpable, and I read many passages with anxiety, thoughts of incidents of lynching, cross burnings, fatal beatings in the back of my mind. Yet, Dudley manages to find a way of getting things across without being so graphic that a young reader would put it down.

Dudley also creates some interesting parallels without sounding forced. For example, while his beloved older brother Randall is off in Europe fighting to defend not only his own country’s freedom, but also free others oppressed by Nazism, Caleb is denied many of the basic freedoms other Americans enjoy. And around the same time that Randall is taken prisoner by the Germans, the previously hated, ostracized POWs, including Caleb’s friend Andreas, are allowed to eat in the Dixie Belle Café.

I started Caleb’s War with a great deal of enthusiasm, which remained right up until the last third of the story. At the beginning of the story, Caleb and his friends are baptized, and while he is underwater, Caleb hears a voice saying “Behold my servant.” He hears this voice more than once, eventually thinking it is the voice of God. When he witnesses the pain caused by deformed, rheumatic hands that Uncle Hiram, an elderly black man also working at the café, suffers from, Caleb offers to pray for him. Well, the next day, Uncle Hiram’s hands are straight and painless.

I thought about this element of the story a lot after I finished reading Caleb’s War. Caleb is acutely aware of the injustices that surround and control the lives of southern blacks because of the Jim Crow laws and this young man’s war is with these laws and the people who uphold them. And given the last episode and sentence of the story, I thought that without the miraculous healings, perhaps Caleb would become an early Civil Rights leaders/fighter and that was the meaning of “Behold my servant.”

After all, the name Caleb is probably not used frivolously here. In the Bible, two years after Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt; he sent 12 spies out to determine whether or not they could safely enter the Promised Land. Ten came back and said no, Caleb, however, returned saying “Let us go up at once, and occupy it; for we are well able to overcome it.” (Numbers 13:30) Um, shades of the Civil Rights anthem “We Shall Overcome” here. At least, I thought so.

But the healings continue to confuse me; I simply don’t know what to make of them in this particular book, since they really go nowhere. Any theories would be most welcome.

Caleb is a very likable character with a compelling coming of age story and I found I couldn’t put the book down, reading it in one sitting. This is for the most part an excellent book, and despite my reservations about the healings, I would highly recommend it.

This book is recommended for readers aged 13 and up.
This book was borrowed from the Webster Branch of the NYPL

Caleb's War
David L. Dudley
Clarion Books
2011
263 Pages

In My Mailbox #2

noreply@blogger.com (Alex Baugh) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:05:00 +0000

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren

There wasn't much in my mailbox this week, but it wasn’t empty either.

Books I got from the library:

Caleb’s War by David L. Dudley

This looked like an interesting addition to Home Front literature about WW II.

I Will Come Back for You by Marisabina Russo

This came highly recommended.

A book I got from Net Galley:

The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy

This new book looked interesting.

Books I bought:

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett (for rereading)

It's Terry Pratchett, what else is there to say. He is the best!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

OK, I am a little behind the times read this, but better late than never.

The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines

This looked intriguing, so I thought I would give this YA mystery a try.

If only I could borrow, buy or download more hours in the day.