LS5603: Nonfiction3 -- Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up In Hitler’s Shadow. Scholastic Inc: New York. 2005. ISBN 0-439-35378-3

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

In a time when poverty and unemployment in Germany were at an all-time high after World War I, the youth of Germany were looking for someone to give them hope and to make their country great again. Many of them found what they were looking for in a rising political leader, Adolf Hitler, and fervently followed his ideals. These young adults joined the Hitler Youth and gained prominence in their communities because of it. However, as the National Socialist Party, the Nazis, grew into greater power, they began to ask more and more of their youth, to the point where they sent boys as young as ten were recruited to help in the army.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Susan Bartoletti had the opportunity of going and interviewing many people by phone, e-mail, or letters, so many of her quotes are straight from personal interviews she conducted with those who were affected by World War II. These interviews also let her sometimes access personal photographs, which greatly enhance the book and give faces to the many names that are mentioned throughout the pages.

Each of her quotes is sourced, and her bibliography is not only extensive, but broken down into section by subject with notations for entries that would be of particular interest to young readers for further reading.

In its narrative, Bartoletti effortlessly weaves facts with a fast moving narrative that keeps the reader involved. She includes many stories about specific children, highlighting their successes and struggles, making the fight more personal to the reader.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

From School Library Journal: “Hitler's plans for the future of Germany relied significantly on its young people, and this excellent history shows how he attempted to carry out his mission with the establishment of the Hitler Youth, or Hitlerjugend, in 1926. With a focus on the years between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945, Bartoletti explains the roles that millions of boys and girls unwittingly played in the horrors of the Third Reich. […] Bartoletti lets many of the subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.”

From Booklist:  “Bartoletti draws on oral histories, diaries, letters, and her own extensive interviews with Holocaust survivors, Hitler Youth, resisters, and bystanders to tell the history from the viewpoints of people who were there. […] The handsome book design, with black-and-white historical photos on every double-page spread, will draw in readers and help spark deep discussion, which will extend beyond the Holocaust curriculum. The extensive back matter is a part of the gripping narrative.” 

5.     CONNECTIONS

Honestly, this would be a great book to read as additional reading when learning about the Holocaust and/or World War II. While there are dozens of stories about the Holocaust and the tragedies that happened there, there are not as many about the Germans and what happened to the people who were German citizens. It is an interesting perspective to see, and would be great supplement material to another book.

Additional Activities: Lesser Known Histories of WWII

The Germans weren’t the only ones who treated the “enemy” poorly. While America didn’t commit crimes against humanity or starve their prisoners to death, they did create Japanese internment camps that were supposed to hold Americans that had Japanese ancestry. Have students read books about this lesser known part of WWII: http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/Japanese-Internment-Camps.html

WWII: American Advertising for WWII.

Germany wasn’t the only one to use propaganda in the war. America also enjoyed a good amount of propaganda. Even Superman had comics that were fairly racist and heavy on the propaganda (http://img.moonbuggy.org/superman-says-you-can-slap-a-jap/). Why do you think this sort of thing is used, even today?

LS5603: Nonfiction2- The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fleming, Candace. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia. Schwartz & Wade Books: New York. 2014. ISBN 978-0-375-86782-8

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

Did Anastasia survive the murder of the Romanovs? Did the holy man Rasputin survive multiple assassination attempts only to die of hypothermia? How did the royal family live in the last years before being toppled by the Bolsheviks? All these questions and more are answered in Candace Fleming’s book about the Romanovs and Russia. Fleming weaves the lives of the Romanovs with the growing unrest and political upheaval in Russia to create an unbiased but compelling view of Russia during the fall of Imperial Russia. Starting with Tsar Alexander II (Anastasia’s great-grandfather) to set the scene, and moving to the last Romanovs, the narrative goes into depth about an area of the world that is not often covered in traditional history books in America.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Family Romanov contains a copious amount of notes. Her bibliography, notes, and index sections are over 30 pages long. Her sources are all primary sources from biographies, journals, and notes from the time period. She also accounts for every single quote in the book in the notes section with which primary source it came from. For help researchers or those interested in further reading, she also included a page about online sources that have authenticated information about the Romanovs and Russia. These pages are also a good place to find more pictures of the Romanov family, as the pictures are the one thing this book seems to have skimped on.

The only disappointment with this book is that the pictures are done in a more traditional way—all together in two sections, making mini-photobooks in the book, instead of spread out throughout the story to illustrate particular instance. However, even though this layout is not the most ideal way to insert pictures to help the narrative, it is still good that the book contains many pictures of the royal family and of Russians.

Besides the unintuitive picture layout, the rest of the book is organized smoothly. Following a chronological time period, it narrates the Romanovs lives, often from journals or from those close to the royal family. Uniquely, it also has excerpts (offset by another color background) about living conditions for the common man at the same time in Russia, which gives a great deal of insight into the class divide that eventually brought about the end of Imperial rule. It acknowledges that one cannot discuss the Romanovs without also discussing the common people and the substandard living conditions they had to endure.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Junior Library Guild selection

From The Horn Book- “Fleming has outdone herself with this riveting work of narrative nonfiction that appeals to the imagination as much as the intellect. Her focus here is not just the Romanovs, the last imperial family of Russia, but the Revolutionary leaders and common people as well.”

From Kirkus Reviews – “It’s an astounding and complex story, and Fleming lays it neatly out for readers unfamiliar with the context. […] Award-winning author Fleming crafts an exciting narrative from this complicated history and its intriguing personalities. It is full of rich details about the Romanovs, insights into figures such as Vladimir Lenin and firsthand accounts from ordinary Russians affected by the tumultuous events.”

5.     CONNECTIONS

Other non-fiction books by Candace Fleming:

• The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum by Candance Fleming and Ray Fenwick, ISBN 0375841970
• Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart, ISBN 0375841989
• The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary, ISBN 0375836187
• Our Eleanor: A Scrapbook Look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Remarkable Life, ISBN 0689865449
• Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life, ISBN 0689835493

 Follow-up activities

How royalty lives/lived is something of constant fascination to everyone.  Even today, news about the royal family in England makes headlines on a regular basis. Although America never had a royal family, most other (older) countries do. What are those royal families like? Are they still around today? Have your students research other royal families. Did these other families end up the same way? If not, how did they stave off political upheaval? Are there other families who had similar ends (like the French)?

Royals who are still in power today:

• England: Elizabeth II, Queen
• Saudi Arabia: Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, King and Prime Minister
• Kuwait: Sabah Ahmed al-Sabah, Emir
• Qatar: Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Emir
• United Arab Emirates: Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Emir of Abu Dhabi
• Swaziland: King Mswati III, Ngwenyama
• Brunei: Sir Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan and Prime Minister
• Oman: Sultan Qaboos bin Said, King
• Bahrain: Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa
• Jordan: King Abdullah II
• Morocco: King Mohammad VI
• The Vatican: Pope Francis

Monarchs with some political power reside in Monaco, Thailand, Liechtenstein, Tonga, and Bhutan.

Monarchs who are ceremonial now: Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain, Greenland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Lesotho, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Japan

Most other countries, like Russia, had monarchs at some point but have since been deposed. These can also be used, as they have much in common with the former Russian government. 

References

Dewey, Caitlin & Max Fisher. Meet the world's other 25 royal families. Washington Post. July 22, 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/22/meet-the-worlds-other-25-royal-families/ 

LS5603: Nonfiction1-- An American Plague by Jim Murphy

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY
Murphy, Jim. An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793. New York: Clarion Books, 2003. ISBN 0-395-77608-2

2.     PLOT SUMMARY
In 1793 a fever swept through Philadelphia, causing a panicked mass exodus, stopping Congress for months (Congress met at Philadelphia at the time), and killing thousands by the time it was done. No one knew the cause, only the symptoms. At first, it presented as a normal fever--chills, shakes, but then it took a turn for the worse. The skin and eyeballs turned yellow and the patient began to bleed internally and vomit black blood. Doctors prescribed everything from doses of mercury and aggressive blood-letting to tea and chicken broth. Jim Murphy's book takes the reader on a journey following the rise and fall of yellow fever to present day, where it remains a menace even for modern medicine.  

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Jim Murphy manages to successfully put an incredible amount of facts into a narrative format, making the reading more enjoyable for teens. His layout of his sources at the end of the book is a little unusual--instead of citing each quote and fact, he lists his sources according to subject and, for  many of them, he comments on what is in the source. While this makes it so that a reader trying to verify quotes would find their job difficult, a reader who wanted additional reading has a long, annotated list of books, magazines, articles, and collections to peruse. 

The book is put together in a narrative fashion and follows the events fairly chronologically. Not only does it talk about the disease, the "breakthroughs" in cures during the time, and the heroes that appeared to help, but it also spends a surprising amount of time talking about how the fever influenced politics both then and how it influenced policies that still affect us today. The last chapter in fact jumps the reader from 1793 though the next two centuries to modern day, leaving the reader in a fairly sober state of mind as they are reminded that yellow fever still has no cure.The design and style makes it an obvious book for young adults. Pictures are included occasionally for flavor, though it looks like Murphy had trouble with pictures as there were very few people keeping records during the plague, much less drawing pictures of the area. Because of this, many of the pictures are from other plagues, and the similarities are mentioned in the captions. Murphy does try to give pictures of as many people as possible mentioned though, to give a face to names given, which is nice. Overall it is a great example of a successful informative book that makes history interesting without giving up the facts. 

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
• Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
• James Madison Book Award
• National Book Award Finalist
• Orbis Pictus Award
• Newbery Honor Book
• From School Library Journal: "Murphy chronicles this frightening time with solid research and a flair for weaving facts into fascinating stories, beginning with the fever's emergence on August 3, when a young French sailor died in Richard Denny's boardinghouse on North Water Street. As church bells rang more and more often, it became horrifyingly clear that the de facto capital was being ravaged by an unknown killer. Largely unsung heroes emerged, most notably the Free African Society, whose members were mistakenly assumed to be immune and volunteered en masse to perform nursing and custodial care for the dying." 
• From Booklist: "History, science, politics, and public health come together in this dramatic account of the disastrous yellow fever epidemic that hit the nation's capital more than 200 years ago. Drawing on firsthand accounts, medical and non-medical, Murphy re-creates the fear and panic in the infected city, the social conditions that caused the disease to spread, and the arguments about causes and cures."

5.     CONNECTIONS
Other books by Jim Murphy:
·         Blizzard! The Storm That Changed America ISBN 0590673106
·         The Great Fire, ISBN 0439203074
·         Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting, ISBN 0545130492

 Follow-up activitiesHave the students do research on another disease, preferably one that’s caused epidemics on at least the scale of yellow fever. Have them compare and contrast the diseases. Which are curable today? Do any of them have vaccines? What are their causes? This can be easiliy tied into lessons about hygiene, the importance of sewage systems, information about various pests and bugs.Examples of other diseases
·         Typhoid
·         Smallpox
·         Bubonic plague (the black plague)
·         Measles
·         Malaria
·         Influenza
·         Cholera
·         HIV/AIDS
·         SARS
·         Ebola
·         Dengue fever
·         Mumps
 

LS5603: Poetry 3-- Mirror, Mirror by Marilyn Singer, Illus by Josee Masse

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Singer, Marilyn. Mirror, Mirror. Illus. by Josée Masse.Dutton Children’s Books: New York, 2010. ISBn 978-0-525-47901-7

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

This illustrated children’s book is a collection of reversible poems about traditional fairy tales, including Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and a dozen others. Each is a standalone poem, which makes for easy one-poem-a-night for children.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Singer has had great success with reversible poems—poems that when flipped, have a different meaning that still makes sense. The poems are fun, easily accessible for children, and exceedingly clever in their word arrangement.

For instance, this poem is from Cinderella before she goes to the ball, and then from her while she is at the ball

Isn't life unfair? Stuck in a corner, while they're waiting for a chance with the prince, dancing waltz after waltz at the ball, I'll be shining these shoes till the clock strikes midnight.

Till the clock strikes midnight, these shoes! I'll be shining at the ball dancing waltz after waltz with the prince while they're  waiting for a chance, stuck in a corner. Isn't life unfair?

While the words remain the same when read down or read up, the punctuation and capitalization may change.

The illustrations of this children’s books are brightly colored. Like the cover, each picture is split in half, each side depicting one of the two reversible poems on the opposite page. For instance, in “Do You Know My Name?” the first poem is from the girl’s perspective, and the second poem is from Rumpelstiltskin’s perspective. The illustration, split in half, has the girl on one side, and Rumpelstiltskin on the other. The illustrations are incredibly important, as not all the poems have the name of the fairy tale in the title (such as “Do You Know My Name?) and the poems don’t normally say who is talking.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

FROM KIRKUS REVIEWS: A collection of masterful fairy-tale–inspired reversos—a poetic form invented by the author, in which each poem is presented forward and backward. Although the words are identical in each presentation, changes in punctuation, line breaks and capitalization create two pieces that tell completely different stories. […] Masse’s gorgeous, stylized illustrations enhance the themes of duality and perspective by presenting images and landscapes that morph in delightful ways from one side of the page to the other. A mesmerizing and seamless celebration of language, imagery and perspective.

FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Beautiful both as object and as a way of getting kids interested in poetic forms, this is a must purchase for any library or home collection. One of a kind.

FROM BOOKLIST: Singer explains in an author’s note about her invented poetic form. “It is a form that is both challenging and fun—rather like creating and solving a puzzle.” Singer also issues an invitation for readers to try to write their own reversos on any topic. Matching the cleverness of the text, Masse’s deep-hued paintings create split images that reflect the twisted meaning of the irreverently witty poems and brilliantly employ artistic elements of form and shape—Cinderella’s clock on one side morphs to the moon on the other. A must-purchase that will have readers marveling over a visual and verbal feast. Grades 2-5.

5.     CONNECTIONS

Other books by Marilyn Singer

• Follow, Follow, ISBN (Another Reverso Poetry book)
• Tallulah’s Tutu, ISBN 0547173539
• Rutherford B, Who Was He? Poems About Our Presidents, ISBN 1423171004
• A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play, ISBN 0547124937

Activity: Create your own Reversible Rhyme!

·         Discuss what makes a reversible rhyme work.

·         For younger students, do one together, for older students, individual work

·         Decide on a topic—mother goose rhymes, popular movies, fairy tales that are not in Mirror, Mirror, and go from there.

LS5603 - Poetry2: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY

Applegate, Katherine. The One and Only Ivan. Illus. by Patricia Castelao. HarperCollins Publishers: New York, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-06-I99225-4

2.     PLOT SUMMARY

[Excerpt from the book]

names

People call me the Freeway Gorilla. The Ape at Exit 8.
The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback.

 

The names are mine, but they’re not me. I am Ivan, only Ivan.

 

Human waste words. They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot.

 

Everyone knows that the peels are the best part.

 

I suppose you think gorillas can’t understand you. Of course, you also probably think we can’t walk upright.

 

Try knuckle walking for an hour. You tell me: Which way is more fun?

[/end]

 

Ivan, a silverback gorilla, has lived in the Big Top Mall for almost his entire life—9,855 days (about 27 years) from what he can tell. He lives in a cage, next to Stella the elephant, who is good at stories and has a leg injury from when she worked in the circus. He also has a friend in Bob, the stray dog, who sleeps on his stomach at night. Stuck in a cage all day, Ivan occasionally paints using markers and finger paints given to him by Mack, the owner of the Big Top Mall and of Ivan.

Worried about declining numbers in customers, Mack buys a new baby elephant to bring new life into the circus, Ruby. Stella becomes sick from her leg injury and makes Ivan promise her that he will take care of Ruby. Soon after, Ivan decides that the best way to take care of Ruby would be to get her out of the mall and her small cage and into the zoo. But how is a gorilla in a cage, even a silverback one, supposed to accomplish that?

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Ivan was a real gorilla who lived in a mall for 27 years, but the story itself is fictional, as the events and characters in it were not part of the real story. The whole story is written in prose poetry from Ivan’s first person perspective.

Although Ivan never says he is unhappy with his captivity, the whole book carries a strong melancholy tone at best, often with tinges of despair that only get stronger when Ruby is introduced. Ivan never comes out and says such things; gorillas aren’t prone to sulking, but Applegate’s flawless word choice creates a strong sense of sadness in the reader for his plight. For instance, Ivan is careful to always call where he lives his “domain” and corrects Stella every time she calls it a cage. The simple sentences in the prose poetry conveys Ivan’s personality and desires, and causes the reader to root for him through his struggles.

The One and Only Ivan has received many awards, including:

·         2013 Newbery Medal

·         2012 School Library Journal Best of Children’s Books

·         2012 Kirkus Reviews Best of Children’s Books

·         2013-14 Texas Bluebonnet Award

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

FROM KIRKUS REVIEWS: How Ivan confronts his harrowing past yet stays true to his nature exemplifies everything youngsters need to know about courage.

FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “The characters will capture readers’ hearts and never let go.  A must-have.

5.     CONNECTIONS

Other books by Katherine Applegate

• Home of the Brave,  IBSN 0312535636
• Love Sucks and Then You Die with Michael Grant, ASIN B00EMT2FI0
• Eve and Adam with Michael Grant, ISBN 1250034191
• Animorphs series

Other YA books from animal points of view:

• Shakespeare’s Dog: A Novel by Leon Rooke, ISBN 0880010932
• Timbuktu: A Novel by Paul Auster, ISBN 0312428944
• Watership Down by Richard Adams, ISBN 0743277708
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, ISBN 0486407888
• Call of the Wild by Jack London, ISBN 1493663437