The Boy Who Dared Book Review

Imagine being in favor of your fatherland, Germany, and believing Hitler was such a good guy when you were 8-years-old.  When you grow older you are required to join the Hitler Youth, but you complete your duties as best you can.  On top of that, your mother begins to date and later marries a high-ranking Nazi officer.  Then, you notice the poor ways the Jews are treated, the cruelty emanating from SS officers, the propaganda-filled fliers and soon the radios that only broadcast carefully worded German news.  You were not raised to believe in this... and so you decide to do something about it.

I know, I know, the book has been out for awhile.  But, sometimes its good to give refreshers of great books (at least I think it is).  I enjoyed Susan Campbell Bartoletti's narrative of the life of main character, Helmuth, during the rise and rule of Hitler in Germany.  History is much easier for me to learn if I get to read a narrative or the topic is brought to life in some other way for me.  From this book, I gleaned information I hadn't known about Germans and Germany during this time period.

Bartoletti ran across Helmuth's story while gathering information for another book, Hitler Youth.  The novel represents the experience of many in Germany who put effort into resisting the Nazis and Hitler.  The compelling aspect of Helmuth is that he was so young, but demonstrated such courage and heart to make his voice and the truth heard at 17 years of age.

This book would be a perfect middle school read extending to high school.  Additional resources located here.



Image from Scholastic.com

When The Rain Is King

Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

Grades 5-8

I like learning about history through children's and young adult books--it's easier for me to learn about certain aspects of historical events that way. So, I just finished reading Matt Phelan’s graphic novel, The Storm in the Barn, which takes place in a farming town during the Great Depression. The colors of the illustrations set the reader in the hazy atmosphere of the Dust Bowl—brown, yellow, orange, gray and black. The story focuses on Jack, who hasn’t found his place to help his father on the farm since the dust took over and there are no crops.

Jack is having a rough time overall—his older sister has dust pneumonia and he is picked on by the other boys in town. Jack wants to be helpful to his father, but seems to fumble what he does and then his father just wants him to go watch his little sister. One day while exploring his neighbor’s barn, Jack discovers an almost folklore-like creature, which he finds intimidating and scary—he starts to question his sanity, especially since others believe he has dust dementia.

Later in the novel, Jack decides to confront the mysterious figure in the barn after he witnesses a jackrabbit drive—the mass killing of jackrabbits because they were eating the only green left on the land--by the local men (not a graphic scene in itself, but the point is made—half the men are shaken after they realized what they just did). Jack soon realizes that this creature in the barn is the rain and when he confronts the Storm King he finds out that the rain is holding off till people are so desperate that they will worship him like a king.

In a folklore-like action, Jack steals the Storms King’s bag, which it turns out contains thunder and lightning and when ripped open sends the Storm King back to the sky and releases the rain.

The Storm in the Barn would work well paired with the nonfiction title, The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster by Martin W. Sandler. This book contains very powerful images from the Dust Bowl and the text is not overwhelming because the author wanted the photos to really tell the story. I also feel compelled to mention Karen Hesse’s Out Of the Dust as another great fictional pairing to help teach about the Dust Bowl.

Hesse, K. (1999). Out of the dust. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Phelan, M. (2009). The Storm in the barn. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.

Sandler, M. W. (2009). The Dust Bowl through the lens: how photography revealed and helped remedy a national disaster. New York, NY: Walker & Co.

Sensitive Much?

Grades 6-9

Who would’ve guessed that being sensitive enough to feel a pea under 20 mattresses means you lose the contest? In Violet Eyes by Debbie Viguie, that’s exactly what happens to one unfortunate princess vying for Prince Richard’s attention. The final project for my myth and folklore in children’s literature class involved reading and critiquing about 15 different versions of “The Princess and the Pea.” I didn’t have enough time to read the novel for the project, but I had become so enamored with the tale that I wanted to read this version. I’m SO glad I did!

The protagonist in the story is Violet—named after her violet eyes. She is a level headed and hard-working 17-year-old farmer’s daughter in the kingdom of Cambria. One night, an accident brings Prince Richard to Violet’s family farm, where he must be nursed back to health. Well, within this time period, both Prince Richard and Violet fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, Prince Richard was just on a quest (given by his parents) to find a princess to be his wife (the thought alone makes him sick). Since Violet is not a princess, does this mean they are not meant to be?

Once healthy again, Prince Richard travels back to the castle to watch the proceedings for the contest that will determine the most sensitive princess and his wife. Violet soon ends up at the castle competing for the prince’s hand in marriage—ok, I’m inserting a super short back story here: Cambria’s original royal family had been murdered, but the baby princess’s body had never been found…Violet is supposedly that baby.

I had a paragraph talking about the connections that were made between this book and the original tale (feel free to ask me about them still), but then I realized that a more important aspect of the book would be to talk about Violet's character. She is very down to earth and likable--her insecurities and strengths are revealed throughout the novel--and make her a relatable character for teen girls. Some of her insecurities stem from her not only feeling like an outsider, but an impostor (princess) at the castle--hmmm...makes me think high school. At the same time, the reader knows she possesses such positive qualities--and at one point another princess gets up and speaks out admiringly on behalf of Violet.

The contests appear to be ridiculous on the surface, but the reader (at least I did) soon becomes suspicious that there is more to these “sensitivity tests” than meets the eye—and with Violet’s friend, Princess Genevieve forming similar suspicions, the reader is supported in her/his inferring. The final contest is between Violet and Celeste (the princess from the royal family that killed Violet’s) and it involves 20 mattresses and you guessed it, one pea.

This retelling is a fun adventure and sweet romance between two very likable characters.

Viguie, D. (2010). Violet eyes. New York, NY: Simon Pulse.

Hey Batter Batter, Swing Like Shakespeare!

Recommended for grades 6-9

If I could non-stop quote Ron Koertge’s Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs (Candlewick) I would. The brilliance with which he has written this book makes this my favorite book I’ve read this year (and that’s saying something!). Koertge won me over with his protagonist Kevin, who writes,

I love my thesaurus. I like

to think about all the words

in there, cuddling up together

or arguing. Montagues on

one side, Capulets on the other.

Synonyms and antonyms (p. 4).

This is Kevin writing, who is a 14-year-old baseball playing male! But it gets better, Kevin’s father won me over on page 1, “Want a journal?” he asks. “You’re a writer./ All writers need journals.” What an awesome dad!

Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs is the sequel to Shakespeare Bats Cleanup. The protagonist, Kevin, nicknamed Shakespeare, is in middle school. The majority of the actual novel is composed of Kevin’s poetry. The book even gives very loosely directed poetry instruction. Several story lines are covered, so I was curious to see how it would all work because a novel could be spread too thin with so much going on. Koertge pulls it off because of the journaling, e-mail, IMing, and phone conversations he chooses as the story format.

Kevin has a girlfriend Mira, who is not interested in his poetry or baseball. Kevin then meets Amy at an open mike event at Amy’s mother’s bookstore. They soon begin e-mailing poems back and forth, the whole time Kevin is becoming more interested in Amy. While this is going on, Kevin’s baseball games are interspersed throughout. He also has to adjust to his father dating again after his mother’s death (which happened prior to this novel) and the back and forth conversations with himself over his feelings towards Mira.

Kevin’s story is part sports, school, romance, family relationship, grieving, and poetry story. It’s written in first person from Kevin’s perspective and we only know the other characters through Kevin’s eyes. What Koertge brought to the table with this novel is brilliant and I hope to see it succeed in this overwhelming world of children’s literature.