World War II Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes by David C. King, illustrated by Cheryl Kirk Noll

World War II Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes is intended to give kids a sense of what life was like for young people during the war. There are 30 projects altogether, all with instructions and an explanation as to why they would be of interest to kids during the war. There is even a glossary at the end for words that may be unfamiliar to children.


The activities are presented as the book follows a year in the life of two families in 1942, and is divided into seasons. We meet the Donato family in the Spring and Summer. Frank Donato, 11, lives in an apartment in San Francisco with his parents, grandparents and sisters Julie, 6, and Theresa, 18.

The book moves from life in a city to life on a Minnesota wheat farm belonging to the Andersen family during Autumn and Winter. Shirley Andersen, 12, lives there with her parents, and 7 year old brother Edmund. Her older brother, Karl, joined the army air corps as soon as America entered the war, and the two farmhands joined the army shortly after that.

Each project, activity or recipe begins with a short historical introduction about what life was like for either Frank or Shirley. Since Frank lives in a city, he doesn’t have the land for an in the ground Victory Garden, but instructions are given for making one in a window box. This project also includes gardening tips and a recipe for a Victory Salad.

When Shirley’s brother Karl comes home from the army air corps on leave, he teaches Shirley and her friend Jodie how to make secret codes. There are a few examples of code projects, such a deciphering and communicating in secret codes that anyone can do.

One of my favorite projects is making a periscope. I remember doing this very same project in school for a science project and loving it.

The recipes are easy, but do require adult assistance. There is a recipe for Coney Island hot dogs, which I found tempting, even though I don’t eat hot dogs.

There are even directions for making games that children played during the war such as Ludo and Sea Battle, with instructions about how to play.

I have always liked activity books, and I guess I still do. When we had book fairs in school, I always bought at least one book with projects for kids to do and did many of them. Most kids get a great deal of satisfaction when they successfully complete a project and when I was teaching, I always gave an extra credit project that involved making something. I found that even the children who were really struggling with academics always responded to this kind of activity.

This book is highly recommended, and can even be adapted to the classroom use. In a way, it reminded me of the old Molly’s Craft Book from American Girl, which is probably still around here somewhere, and which we used quite a bit at one time. David C. King has written a number of books that cover different important periods in American history, all in the same format as this one, and I found all to be just as well done and interesting as World War II Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes.

This book is recommended for children age 8 to 12.
This book was borrowed from the NYPL’s Children’s Center at 42nd Street, NYC.

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted this week by Practically Paradise

Weekend Cooking #7: Turkish Delight a/k/a Locum

Spring always makes me think about Turkish Delight. It is the time of the year when I used to make my annual trek down to a store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to buy Easter and Passover treats from a store called Economy Candy.**

Turkish Delight in Istanbul
(Wikipedia)

One year, I picked up a box of Turkish Delight because it is a confection I have always loved. When my Kiddo saw it on the kitchen counter, she looked at me in amazement and “Turkish Delight is a real thing. I thought it was just something C. S. Lewis made up in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” She was very disappointed in the taste, given what she had read in Chapter 4 – Turkish Delight

“It is dull, son of Adam, to drink without eating,” said the Queen presently. “What would you like best to eat?”

“Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty, said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center and Edmond and never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now and very comfortable.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as you will recall, is the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, evacuated from London during the war and their subsequent discovery of and adventures in Narnia.  It is easy to understand why Edmund would request Turkish Delight.  Sugar was rationed and this calls for a lot of sugar.

Here are two recipes for Turkish Delight, in case your children are wondering about it like mine did, or in case you just happen to enjoy it like I do.

Turkish Delight
3 (25 ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
½ cup cold water
½ cup hot water
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tbsp)
½ tsp lemon extract
about ½ cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1- Pour the gelatin into cold water. Set aside.

2- In a medium saucepan, bring the hot water and granulated sugar to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low. Add the salt, and stir in the softened gelatin until completely dissolved. Simmer 20 minutes.

3- Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon extract.

4- Rinse a 6 inch square pan with cold water. The pan should be wet, but not have standing water. Pour the mixture in the pan. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

5- Sift some of the confectioners’ sugar onto a plate. Moisten a sharp knife in very hot water and run it around the edges of the pan to loosen the candy. Invert the pan over the plate. It may be necessary to work on the edges to loosen them enough to turn the candy out on top of the sugar. Cut the square into equal width stripes, about 1 inch wide. Coat each strip with confectioners’ sugar. Store covered at room temperature.

Yield: 3 dozen 1 inch cubes or 10 to 12 snack size serving.

This recipe may be found on page 104 of The Kids’ Book Club Book: reading, ideas, recipes, activities and smart tips for organizing terrific kids’ book clubs by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.







The second recipe is, I think, a bit more simplified and more to my taste.

Turkish Delight
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups water
2 cups sugar
3 tbsp white corn syrup
¾ cup cornstarch
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup coarsely chopped nut: pistachio, almonds or walnuts
¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, more or less as needed, for coating
1- Sprinkle gelatin into ½ cup water, and set aside to soften for about 5 minutes.

2- Pour another ½ cup water into medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add sugar and corn syrup, and stir until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Continue cooking until mixture reaches 240°F on candy thermometer or until it form a soft ball when ½ tsp of mixture is dropped into a cup of cold water. Reduce heat to medium.

3- Dissolve cornstarch in remaining ½ cup water, and mix well. Add to sugar mixture, stirring constantly, simmer slowly until very thick, about 3 minutes; remove from heat. Add lemon juice and gelatin mixture, and stir until gelatin dissolves. Add nuts and stir thoroughly.

4- Line bottom and sides of 8 inch cake pan with foil. Sprinkle with think layer of confectioners’ sugar. Pour in candy and do not move for about 4 hours, until jelled, and refrigerate at least 4 more hours, or until firm.

5- Cut into 1 inch squares and roll each piece in confectioners’ sugar to coat all sides.
This recipe may be found on page 66 of Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students by Lois Sinaiko Webb.
Both of these books are excellent for getting young readers interested in cooking (with adult supervision, of course.) I have found this is a fun way to spend time with the kids in my family, all of whom can now cook, including my 8 year old niece who wants to be a chef.

**If you are ever visiting New York, Economy Candy is not to be missed. It is located at 108 Rivington Street, New York, NY 10002, or visit it at Economy Candy 
The Lower East Side is a not to be missed neighborhood in NYC.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

I digress...War Horse on Broadway

Tuesday night I went to see the NY production of War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. I wanted to see this because the London production in the West End was so well received and because it is one of the books featured in the new exhibit at the Imperial War Museum called Once Upon a Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children. (Although I would love to see this exhibit, I am afraid the closest I will come to it is through Zoe’s wonderful review on her blog Playing by the Book.)

War Horse is a very moving World War I story about a young boy and the horse that he has cared for since it was a foal. Albert’s father Billy Narracott buys the thoroughbred horse at an auction using the mortgage money to spite his brother. Albert is allowed to care for the horse, which he names Joey, until it is fully grown, when the plan is to sell him. But his father, who has a problem with alcohol, makes bet with his brother that Joey can be turned into a plow horse in one week, otherwise the brother wins him. If the brother loses, Billy wins back the amount he paid for Joey.

Albert succeeds in teaching Joey to plow and his mother insists that from now on Joey belongs to Albert and his father must have nothing more to do with the horse. But when war is declared, the army is offering £100 for each horse. Unable to resist this amount of money, Billy sells Joey behind his son’s back.

Joey becomes a calvary horse, ridden by Lieutenant Nicholls, who is soon killed in action. Nicholls’ sketch book, with pictures he drew of Albert and Joey, is sent to Albert. Lying about his age, Albert runs away and enlists in order to go to France to find his horse.

War Horse is an emotional story that not only brings to light the intimate relationship that existed between Albert and Joey, but also the carnage of war to both man and animal.

The horses in the play are played by life sized puppets. These are not your typical Muppet puppet. They are sophisticated, adult puppets created by a South African company called Handspring Puppet Company The horses are made out of cane, aluminum, leather and mesh and have three people working it. Two people are in the body, working the legs, and one stands by the side of the horse’s head, controlling the head.

In an interview for Broadway Buzz, Basil Jones, a co-founder of Handspring, said that a puppet is an engineer of the emotions and that movement is thought. These horses become so life-like that I found myself reacting as though they were real. Little horse type movements and expressions are there, as well as the sounds horses make. It is amazing how capable of expression these puppets are, thanks to the wonderful work of the puppeteers controlling them, right down to the appearance of breathing.

The night I went to see War Horse, Joey was brought to life by Jeslyn Kelly and Jonathan David Martin in the body or as Jones put it, the horse's heart and hind. Joey’s head was controlled by Prentice Onayemi. I was so close, I could watch as Mr. Onayemi concentrated on all of Joey’s big and little movements. He was as captivating to watch as the play itself.

Topthorn (left) with Peter Hermann who plays Hauptman
Friedrich Müller and Joey (right) with puppeteer Prentice Onayemi

The head puppeteer is visible the whole time, but it does not interfer from the play one bit.

I don’t know if this play will end up traveling around the country, but if you are going to be in New York, say for the BEA and Blogger Convention in May, you might want to think about getting tickets for this wonderful production. But, unless you want to really feel like part of the action, don’t sit in seat B501. That’s where I was and I know of what I speak.

From the Archives #9: On the Edge of the Fjord by Alta Halverson Seymour

Hitler invaded Norway in April 1940 for two reasons. The first reason was because he needed the port of Narvik in Norway for transporting much needed iron ore from Sweden to help him wage a successful war. The second reason had nothing to do with war. Hitler believed that the Nordic people were, particularly the Norwegians, a perfect example of the Aryan race and he hoped that the Norwegians and Germans would intermarry. But the Norwegians did not exactly welcome the Germans with open arms, though some did and became traitors to their country, or quislings**, collaborating with the enemy.

This is not the cover to my
book, I found it online.

On the Edge of the Fjord, written in 1944, begins shortly after Norway is invaded. Petra Engeland, 14, is home alone when a group of Nazis come knocking at the door. Petra’s mother is helping a sick neighbor when this happens, and her 15 year old brother is away at school.

The Nazi leader, Captain Ebert, demands to speak with her father. Captain Engeland, who is on a fishing expedition, is the owner of one large boat and a small fleet of excellent fishing boats. The Nazis wish to commandeer these boats for their own purpose, along with Petra’s father. In addition to this demand, Ebert and three of his officers billet themselves in the Engelbert home.

Petra decides that she must warn her father not to come home to Valcos. Early in the morning, she sets out with her little boat and fishing gear and sails down the fjord to the quay where her father’s business office is. Surprised at finding him there, she tells him what has happened in the village and warns him not to come home.

A week later, Martin comes home for a visit, and when Petra tells him what is happening, they decide to try to get some of their father’s boats out of Norway to England, where many escaped Norwegians are now training to fight the Nazis in their country. Martin stealthily spreads the word among the men and boys in the village, carefully avoiding Nazis and quislings. That night, two boatloads silently sail away down the fjord, but not before deciding how to get messages through. Sigurd Holm suggests using the signal fire they had always used to invite Petra and Martin up to their mountain house during the summer. His sisters, Margot, Inga and Karen Holm, are up there for the summer tending to the family’s goats and cows.

Eventually that fire signal comes and Petra hikes up the dangerous mountain trail to see what message had been received. On her way, Petra sees three German men, including Kurt Nagler, an old family friend who, though German, had lived in Norway his whole life. She knows enough German to understand that they are talking about something hidden in caves in the mountain. The Holm sisters verify that they heard these men speaking about this when Petra finally reaches them.

That night, a plane lands in the Holm’s cow pasture. It is Sigurd with a British flyer called Ruggles. They also know the Nazis are up to something, but don’t know exactly what. They decide to come back in a week after Martin has had time to investigate. After they leave, one of the men Petra has seen comes to ask about the plane. Though they dumbly answer his questions, they realize they will be watched from now on, with no way to warn Sigurd and Ruggles not to come back.

Next morning, Petra sets off for Halven where Martin’s school is. On her way, she discovers that the Nazis are collecting guns from the Norwegians and hiding them in the caves. After finally reaching Martin and explaining things to him, he says he can make a map of the cave locations and will bring it home in a week. Meanwhile, he will investigate the large supposed fish packing plant the Nazis have built near his school, a plant where many Norwegian men are forced to work and forbidden to leave.

Having thought his old friend Hans had become a quisling, Martin is surprised when Hans offers to help get him into the complex. Though leery about Han’s loyalties, Martin cautiously takes him up on his offer and discovers that Captain Ebert is in charge of things and that there is a large amount of dynamite stored in the plant. But Martin still can’t figure out what it is all for.

Meanwhile, Petra manages to sneak into the room Kurt Nagler is renting in Valcos. There, she finds two maps, which she copies. Martin recognizes one map as the caves where they have figured out the Nazis are storing guns and ammunition.

The next week, Sigurd and Ruggles return. Ruggles recognizes one of the maps as an assembly plant for planes. This is good, since the Nazis fly off with their plane.

A plan is hatched. Martin’s headmaster, Herr Roland, arranges to have the older boys in school stay at his mountain house for a week. During that time, they sneak out at night and remove all the guns and ammo from the caves and hide them in an old secret cave that also has an underground tunnel linking it to Herr Roland’s mountain home. On another night, a group goes down to the plant in Halven, where they blow up the place, and unfortunately the school near it, but not before Sigurd and Ruggles manage to fly away on of the planes there.

Now, of course, they must all answer to Captain Ebert and the Nazis about all these events, since they are all the prime suspects.

This novel is a real nail biter. It is not just the fact that Norway has been invaded and is now living under Nazi control, which was always a volatile situation. The descriptions of journeys over the rough trails of the Norwegian mountains or Petra alone in her little boat sailing down the rocky waters in the fjord are chilling. I have never visited Norway, though I have always wanted to, so I am not sure I have a proper appreciation of the dangers Petra faced doing this. But, as you can see in this picture courtesy of the Visit Norway site, they are beautiful but daunting:

I liked the characters in this book. They get very scared, but passionate and so they do what they must. It is understandable that they would do what they could against the Nazis, especially since they were invaded despite Norway’s official position of neutrality. The Nazis, on the other hand, are portrayed as cruel, condescending (continuously referring to the people as “dumb Norwegians”) and greedy, despite being told by Hitler not to treat the people too harshly. They were, after all, the perfect Aryans he wanted to infuse German blood with.

Norway did indeed have a strong underground resistance movement. Many who escaped to England wanted to train as commandos in the Linge Company, the Norwegian Special Forces unit. This was the goal of the boatloads of men who left Norway in this story.

Alta Halverson Seymour wrote a number of stories, yet I am sorry to say I could find nothing about her personal life, other than that she was born in 1893.

On the Edge of the Fjord is recommended for readers age 11 and up.
This book was purchased for my personal library.

**The word quisling became synonymous with traitor during World War II, thanks to Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling. He was a Norwegian politican who served in the German collaborationist government as the Minister President. After the war, he was tried and executed for treason.

This is book 5 of my Forgotten Treasures Challenge hosted by Retroreduxs Reviews

Rosie the Riveter by Christine Petersen

I am pleased to be hosting the Nonfiction Monday Round-up this week! If you would like to participate, please leave a comment below including the title of the book you are reviewing, the name of your blog and a link to the post, and I will add links throughout the day.

In December, I wrote about the death of Geraldine Hoff Doyle, whose photograph served as the prototype for Rosie the Riveter. Rosie immediately became a well-known figure for the country’s campaign to recruit women into the labor force during World War II. But women did so much more than riveting and Christine Petersen’s book Rosie the Riveter does much in explaining to young readers just what their great grandmother’s might have done outside the home to help the war effort.
The book begins with a brief history of women’s participation in past wars, including Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War I, as well as the prevailing attitudes that women’s place is in the home.

It then goes on to give a short account of Hitler’s rise to power and the actions he took that eventually led to another World War. This is followed by a description of how the United States entered the Second World War.

With so many men being drafted or enlisting, a labor shortage was created. Yet, employers were as reluctant to hire women as women were to seek jobs outside the home.

As factories were converted for defense, machinery was rebuilt to accommodate women and assembly line production methods instituted. Then the government launched an all-out propaganda campaign to tempt women to fill these new, sometimes dangerous jobs in ordnance work making military supplies, such as bombs and ammunition. And so the image of Rosie was created:

J. Howard Miller's original Rosie
in 1942

Women, as Ms. Petersen points out, did more than factory work. Some of the other jobs women held were as lumberjacks, miners, and fire fighters, while others worked on farms in the land army. And they also did volunteer work, like Civil Air Patrol, working nights, watching for enemy aircraft

Sadly, as needed as home front workers were, many minorities, for example, African-Americans, were usually overlooked for these positions. In 1941, under threat of a huge protest, restrictions were somewhat lifted and some people of color were hired for defense jobs.



Geraldine Hoff Doyle in 1997

 Ms Petersen also covers hardships faced on the home front, including the difficulties of rationing and handling a home and a job at the same time. And she points out women’s contribution in the armed services and the kind of progress they made there.

Included at the back of the book is a glossary of unfamiliar terms, followed by a timeline of women’s war time contributions, and recommendations for further information.

Rosie as interpreted by
Norman Rockwell in 1943

Rosie the Riveter is wonderful book for introducing Women’s History Month and the work women did during World War II to younger readers. The book is written very clearly, with words in bold print that be found in the glossary. In addition, there are lots of pictures showing women in the different jobs covered, along with pertinent sidebars. For a small book, it is packed with useful, relevant information and I would highly recommend it for pleasure or classroom reading.

Until I read this book, I didn’t know there was a Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Park in Richmond, California. More information about this may be found at http://www.rosietheriveter.org/

Christine Petersen is not only a writer of books for young readers; she is an environmental educator and naturalist. More information can be found about her and the work she does at her website Christine Petersen

Rosie even has her own song, hear it here:

This book is recommended for ages 9-12.

This book was borrowed from the NYPL’s Children’s Center at 42nd Street, NYC.

For more book reviews on Women’s History Month, why not visit Kidlit Celebrates Women's History 

Nonfiction Monday Roundup
Wild About Nature has a review of Insect Detective by Steve Voake

Lisa over at shelf-employed has a review on a great new baseball book called the Unforgetable Season: the Story of Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and the Record-Setting Sumer of '41.

Lisa also reminds us that Kidlit Celebrates Women's History Month has a guest post today by The Happy Nappy Bookseller on favorite books featuring women of color.

Shirley at Simply Science has a review on a book called Elephant Talk by Anne Downer.

You can find a review by Amanda at A Patchwork of Books on a book called What to Expect When You're Expecting Larvae: A Guide for Insect Parents.

Over at Books, Dogs, and Frogs you can find some books about going to school around the world.

Anastasia at Picture Book of the Day has a post on a book called Gold! Gold from the American River!: January 24, 1848: The Day the Gold Rush Began by Don Brown.

Jeff at NC Teacher Stuff has a review on Dragons by Charlotte Guillain, which he says is a good early reader.

Mary Ann over at Great Kids Books has a review on a book full of good projects called This Book Made Me Do It.

Lori at Lori Calabrese Writes has a post on a book that tells how to preserve our history called How the Sphinx Got To The Museum.

A review of a backlist tile called Face to Face with Dolphins may be found over at MotherReader.

Carrie at Carrie's Comfy Cozy Reading Nook has a book called Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian by Jan Greenburg and Sandra Jordan along with a video preview.

Racing car legend Louise Smith is featured in a picture book called Fearless, reviewed by Jeanne at True Tales and a Cherry on Top for Women's History Month.

And Margo at The Fourth Musketeer has a review of a picture book about Amelia Earhart called Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Atlantic.

Maclibrary at Check It Out reviews Ten Birds by Cybele Young.

Catherine has a review called Spring has Spring, a review of five Spring books for young readers at The Cath in the Hat.

At Biblio File, Jennie has a post on Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty by G. Neri.
And Jennifer at Jean Little Library takes a look at Snow Leapards by Erika Shores today.
 
Meanwhile, Tammy at Apples with Many Seeds reviews One Well: the story of water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss in honor of World Water Day tomorrow.

Rasco from RIF features a review on a book about my favorite city called ABC NYC: A book about SEEING New York City by Joanne Dugan.

Roberta at Wrapped in Foil offers a review on another Women's History Month book called Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicyle to Freedom by Sue Macy.

Pink Me takes a look at Celebritrees: Historic and Famous Trees of the World by Margi Preus.

Over at Bookends you can find a review on Sports Illustrated Kids All Access, a book that gives a behind the scenes look at sports.

Janet at All About the Book with Janet Squires also has reviewed a book about sports called Athletes with Disabilities by Deborah Kent.

Brenda at Proseandkahn has written a post on a book called Arctic Lights: Arctic Nights by Debbie S. Miller in honor of the vernal equinox.

And Heidi at Geo Librarian has reviewed a book about Jane Goodall called Me...Jane by Partick McDonnell.

At L. L. Owens Lisa is introducing Space Neighbors, her picture book series of 10 books covering our solar system.

Back Home by Michelle Magorian

Michelle Magorian is probably best known for her excellent book Goodnight, Mr. Tom, but she also wrote several other World War II novels for adolescent readers. One of those other books is Back Home.

It begins in the summer of 1945. The war is over and 12 year old Virginia Dickinson is returning to England. Virginia had been a scared, timid 7 year old when she was evacuated to an American family in Connecticut. Five years have passed and she is confident 12 year old who now goes by the name Rusty, the nickname her American family gave her because of her red hair. Rusty isn’t very happy about her return. She barely knows her own mother, who is now a talented mechanic with the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS.) She has a four year old brother Charlie that she has never met and who dislikes Rusty from the beginning. And, she has acquired an American accent, which is greeted with disdain and she is constantly told that she must lose it.

Rusty is temporarily taken to Devon, where her mother and brother have been living with an elderly woman named Beatie. There she meets Beth Hatherly, a girl whose own family seems to resemble the rather bohemian American family Rusty stayed with. She is just beginning to enjoy herself in Devon, when she, her mother and brother move back to her grandmother’s house in London. For Rusty, the move is again temporary, she has been enrolled in a girls’ boarding school, Benwood House, in part to become re-anglicized and hopefully to help her lose her accent.

Rusty’s paternal grandmother is strict, critical and condescending. She intensely dislikes Rusty’s accent, her confidence and her behavior. She also feels Charlie is too coddled by her daughter-in-law and needs to learn to behave like a big boy.

But, if living in her grandmother’s felt like hell on earth, boarding school is worse. Benwood House is definitely not the Chalet School. It is cold, unfriendly, condescending and highly critical of Rusty’s American experience and, of course, the ‘despicable’ accent. Everything Rusty does seems to result in a mark against her and her house, which has the unfortunate name Butt House.

One day, on a trip into town, Rusty overhears some boys calling one member of their group Yank, and she begins talking to him, not realizing that speaking to boys is against the rules. For this infraction, Rusty receives a discipline mark and is called up in front of the whole school and publicly humiliated. The next day she receives the sad news that Beatie has died. Feeling sad and alone, that night, Rusty discovers that she can climb down some scaffolding outside her window, and escape into the woods surrounding the school, feeling free for the first time since arriving in England. She manages to get a note to Yank on her next visit to town, telling him where and when to meet her that night.

The boy, Lance, shows up and they continue to meet at night, exploring and talking. Eventually, they find a bombed out house and Rusty begins to decorate it with the carpentry, painting and stenciling skills she learned in the US. Gradually, however, Lance begins to be accepted by the boys in his school, while things only get worse for Rusty, especially after her father returns home from the army.

It is clear that Rusty’s parents have grown apart during the five years of war. Her mother has become quite independent and refuses to give that up even though she is expected to by both her husband and his mother. Rusty, who has been coming home on weekends, is told by him that she will remain in school from now on. This is unbearable and when Rusty returns to school after Christmas vacation, she decides to run away.

Back Home is not just a war story; it is also a classic misfit come of age story. The level of bullying and intolerance directed at Rusty was, well, almost intolerable as a reader. The girls at school seemed to think she had it easy in the states, while they were left to live through the war in a much more up close and personal way; others resented her open, friendly American ways, and her more colorful, stylish American clothing. This theme of bullying and intolerance is still relevant in today’s world, especially given the fact that there seems to be, probably not in increase in bullying, but rather a crueler, more public presence of it, thanks to social media.

Her mother wanted Rusty to be the same little girl she was before she was evacuated. Her father and grandmother expected Rusty to conform to their idea of a proper English young lady and cast off her five years in the US as though they were nothing more than worn out old socks. Rusty and her mother have to learn to accept that they have changed and to be true to themselves, not what others wanted them to be.

But can a leopard change its spots? Maybe, maybe not.

I also thought Back Home was a very good example of an aspect of evacuation that, really, I haven’t run into before and I wonder how many kids returned home to find the same kind of difficulties Rusty faced.

As always, Magorian has crafted a well written story and one that I would highly recommend. It is by no means the tear jerker that Goodnight Mr. Tom is, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling.

This novel is recommended for readers age 11 and up.
This book was borrowed from the Juvenile Collection at the Hunter College Library.

For more information on Michelle Magorian and her other novels, including the 2011 30th anniversary of Goodnight Mr. Tom see her website Michelle Magorian

This is book 3 of my YA of the 80s and 90s Challenge hosted by The Book Vixen
This is book 3 of my British Books Challenge hosted by The Bookette
This is book 4 of my Forgotten Treasures Challenge hosted by Retroreduxs Reviews
This is book 8 of my YA Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by YA Bliss

Essie: The True Story of a Teenage Fighter in the Bielski Partisans by Essie Shor and Andrea Zakin

My admiration for the people who survived the Holocaust knows no bounds. What brave people they were. Essie Shor is one of those who not only survived, but fought for the lives of other Jews and against the Germans.

Essie was only 16 when the Germans invaded Novogrudek, Poland (now Belarus) where she lived with her mother, father, two younger sisters, one younger brother and one older brother. At first, the Nazis simply ordered all Jews to bring anything of value to the town square, withholding was punishable by death. Next, a few days after Hanukah, all Jews were ordered to remain at home until further notice. Further notice came in the form of an order for all Jews to report to the town courthouse. The next day, families were sent out to the courthouse and into the courtyard. Essie’s father had been the only bookbinder in town and she recognized a Nazi officer as one of his previous customers. She went up to the officer and reminded him of her father and his job. The officer called her father up and the two of them, father and daughter, were taken back into the building and down to the basement with about 700 other Jews. Essie learned later that everyone in the courtyard was killed that day, about 4,000 people.

The Jews in the basement were soon taken to live in a ghetto, where they lived 10 people to a room, 40 people to a house.

In the ghetto, the Nazis put everyone to work. At first, Essie retrieved bricks from bombed out buildings. Later, she worked in the home of a Polish couple who were very kind to her. Although they provided Essie with a good midday meal, she could not take any back to her father, so they were forced to illegally barter to obtain food for him. Conditions in the ghetto were dreadful and the lives of the Jewish residents always hung in the balance: “aktions” could happen at any time.

One day, after Essie was no longer working for the couple, the wife came to the ghetto and offered to help Essie escape and join a partisan group. Despite misgivings about leaving her father, Essie decided to go, but four days later she returned to the ghetto and her father. Nevertheless, she continued to think about joining the partisans. Finally, one December day, Essie snuck out of the ghetto with 3 other people and walked 15 miles to find the Bielski Partisans hiding in a forest.

The Bielski Partisans were led by Essie’s cousins Tuvia, Asael and Zus Bielski. Life in the forest was hard and cold, but at least Essie felt free. After a month, she wrote her father and asked him to join her. This time he relented and even eventually adjusted to the difficult way of life in the forest. The number of Bielski Partisans began to increase as more and more Jews found their way there, preferring to die fighting for their lives. Essie was given a makeshift rifle, which she learned to care for and use and she became a guerrilla fighter at the age of 16.

But the life of a partisan was also uncertain and they had to be prepared to pick up and leave their camp in the forest and move to another area any time the Nazis got too close. Eventually, the partisan group grew to 12000 Jews and they decided to go deeper in the woods, so that they could build camouflaged bunkers or Ziemlankas. Here the partisans had only the most basic comforts and yet the new camp contained everything they needed. Members of the partisans often got food, blankets and even cows, taking them from the farmers in the area – but a cow was never taken unless the farmer had more than one. Shops were set up which included places to have sewing, tanning, gun and shoe repairs done. There was even a hospital and a quarantine area for contagious diseases. At one point, Essie’s father performed a wedding in the camp.

There were also Russian Partisans in the area, who were rivals with the Jewish Partisans. The Russians felt their purpose was to sabotage or ambush the Germans any and every way they could, but believed the Jewish Partisans only wanted to save Jews. One time, when they needed to know the whereabouts of the German Army, Essie volunteered to go with a group to the Russian Partisans to obtain this information. The Russians refused to tell them until Essie, the only female in the group, proved what kind of a fighter she was. They took her along on one of their missions, but Essie never had to fight. Instead, one night the Russian Partisans became the greatest danger for her and she had to hide from them. The next day, she realized she had to travel back with the Russians so she could return to the Jewish partisan camp. But the Russian leader had another plan and left her stranded, lost and far from camp. Using her wits, Essie finally did make it back to camp on her own.

Sometime later, Essie went on her last mission – a plan to ambush the German army. Even though the Germans were in retreat, the Jewish Partisans were no match for them. Somehow, they were caught in the crossfire between the Russians and the Germans and lost several partisans that day.

But that day was also the last day of the war. Essie, her father and all the other Jewish Partisans were free, but now they had to figure out how to pick up their lives.

This is a story told in a simple straightforward way, making it a perfect YA book. It had grown out of an art project Essie Shor had done for a course she was taking at Lehman College in the Bronx, taught by her co-author Andrea Zakin. It is a wonderful example of survival and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

I have given just a bare bones outline of Essie’s story and the book should be read to understand her thoughts and feelings about what was happening to her and her family. There are also a few offshoot stories laced throughout the book that need to be read to be appreciated.

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

More information about Essie and the Bielski Partisans may be found at
http://essieshor.com/

Florida Holocaust Museum offers an education guide at
 Courage and Compassion: the legacy of the Bielski Brothers

Hear Essie tell part of her story herself, courtesy of the Florida Holocaust Museum on YouTube

You might remember and even have seen a movie called Defiance with Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber that came out in 2008.  It is based on the story of the Bielski Brothers Partisans.  Essie was one of the original 25 members of this group.  Unfortunately, it is rated R for violence and language. 

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted by Chapter Book of the Day



Weekend Cooking #6: Home Front Heroes: Women and Rationing

So often in the novels I read for this blog, the role of the home front women in World War II is just mentioned, but never really focused on. While the main character goes off on his/her adventures, mom stays home out of sight (and out of mind), fixing the next meal before she goes off to work in the munitions factory. And this is pretty much what happened in real life, too.

But March is Women’s History Month and the theme this year is “Our History Is Our Strength.” This got me thinking about all those home front women who not only had to take care of their families even while they were working in jobs outside the home, but who also had to deal with the challenges that rationing must have presented to them. Now, they had to feed and clothe their families on limited supplies of so many things. These women are really unsung heroes, who never received a medal for what they did and very often lost the job they had come to enjoy when the war was over. But the lives of women on the home front, the women who kept the proverbial home fires burning while juggling so many new and different tasks, are indeed the embodiment not just of the theme of “Our History Is Our Strength” but also “Our Strength Is Our History.”

Kudos to those strong women.

Of course, to help out the home front woman, new cookbooks books were printed and newspapers everywhere began to include recipes and menu suggestions designed to accommodate rationing, like this from the September 25, 1943 edition of The New York Times:

And since the Sunday dinner a New England Boiled Dinner, and as a nod to St Patrick’s Day on Thursday, I am including the very poignantly amusing bit from the October 18, 1942 Times:

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

The Staircase Cat by Colin Thompson, illustrated by Anna Pignataro

***Spoiler Alert***

I don’t like to write about books that are not easy to obtain, either in the library or bookshops, but I have decided to make an exception in the case of The Staircase Cat. My reason for making this exception is simply that I think this is a picture book worth reading and, if it is never reprinted and you ever come across it somewhere or can get it through Interlibrary Loan, by all means get it and read it.

The war in The Staircase Cat is not specifically called World War II, but it could be, in fact, it could really be about any war. This is because it is a story about the ways in which war, all wars, can disrupt and destroy the lives of ordinary people and their animals.

Oskar is an old cat living in the bombed out shell of an apartment house and now:

"There are ghosts in the house. The old cat could feel them and sometimes on moonless nights he could see them too. The ghosts of men and women and children who had once lived in the house, the ghosts of their cats and dogs, moved in and out of the deserted rooms. But there was no peace for them among the fallen plaster and broken glass."

The story is told by a third person omniscient narrator who takes the reader back to the days before ghosts populated Oskar’s world. It was a time when the apartment house had been a happy place and a very contented Oskar had lived with the caretaker and his family, sleeping in a cozy box behind the warm stove.

Then the caretaker’s daughter went away; and bombs began to fall. The house began to grow cold, people started to leave. More bombs fell and soon the building was in ruins and everyone was gone. Oskar stayed, living on what he could scavenge, managing to fare better than the abandoned dogs.

Eventually the bombs stopped. All around him, buildings are fixed up and people moved back in, but not where Oskar lives. Grown old now, Oskar lives among the ghosts of another time, having forgotten the cat joy of sitting in a lap, being stroked and loved. He has even forgotten his name.

Until one day at young man and woman come to the house. The young woman, of course, is the caretaker’s daughter and when she sees Oskar, she tells the man he looks just like Oskar, her old cat. When he hears his name, the cat remembers who he is and he remembers the woman, too, by her smell.

Carrying Oskar out of the building to take him home with her, the caretaker’s daughter poignantly observes “All those years, said the woman. “I can hardly believe it. All those years with the ghosts.”

The simplicity of the narration in The Staircase Cat is one of those things that makes this such a compelling story. Thompson uses straightforward declarative sentences, with simple vocabulary to describe how life changes as war comes and destroys everything thing in its path. And the use of an omniscient narrator allows Thompson to keep Oskar a cat; much the same way Robert Westall was able to keep Lord Gort a cat in Blitzcat, eliminating the need for any anthropomorphizing and giving the story a true sense of realism.

Colin Thompson often illustrates his own books, but for The Staircase Cat he collaborated with Anna Pignataro. Ms. Pignataro’s watercolor pictures, predominately in grays and oranges, are wonderfully rendered and truly capture the haunted feeling that permeates this book.

This book is recommended for everyone.
This book was borrowed through Interlibrary Loan from the Morningside Branch of the St. Lucie County Library System.

The Staircase Cat was
Shortlisted Picture Book of the Year Children’s Book Council of Australia in 1999 and
Shortlisted YABBA Children’s Choice Award in 2000.

For more information about author and illustrator see
Colin Thompson
Anna Pignataro

My post on Robert Westall's Blitzcat may be found at The Children's War

Warning - this book is a tearjerker. I read it sitting in the Rose Reading Room of the NYPL, a very dignified place (as you can see), among scholars, researchers and kids doing homework, with tears rolling down my cheeks.

Strange but True Stories of World War II by George Sullivan

George Sullivan is a prolific writer of non-fiction books for juvenile readers. They are designed to give a short introduction to topics ranging from the life of Helen Keller to how to play football. In Strange but True Stories of World War II, Mr. Sullivan presents 11 unusual anecdotes of things that happened but that we don’t necessarily hear much about.

In fact, the only one I even had a vague recognition of was Chapter 5 “The Mafia Connection.” It seems that Allied supply ships was being torpedoed and sunk at an alarming rate in the early stages of the war. Most of these ships were sailing out of the New York ports bound for Europe. When the Navy began to suspect that the Germans were getting information from someone working on the docks in New York, Lieutenant Commander Charles Heffenden came up with a plan to utilize the Mafia to help stop the attacks. First, the Navy approached Joseph “Socks” Lanza, who was described as a “ruthless racketeer” and was about to stand trial for extortion. The Navy never offered him any kind of enticement to help, but he agreed to put out the word along the docks and on the fishing boats at the old Fulton Fish Market and made sure it was passed along from Maine to the Carolinas. Attacks began to decrease immediately. But “Socks” had no influence along the docks along the Hudson River, so the Navy called on the services of Charles “Lucky” Luciano.

“Lucky” was considered to be the king of the underworld and even though he was in prison, he still had absolute control over his outside connections. Because he was facing deportation back to Italy, he didn’t want to help unless the Navy kept it a secret, or his life would be worth nothing in Italy. The word was put out along the Hudson River docks and wartime supplies began to be safely shipped from there to Europe. Did these guys really have such power and notoriety? You bet! Many years later, long after the war ended, I remember hearing their names attached to the kinds of schoolyard Mafia stories that used to occasionally circulate like ghost stories around a campfire.

My favorite story was Chapter 1 “Major Martin goes to War.” When the Allies decided it was time to start retaking Europe, the first logical invasion would be Italy through Sicily. But, of course, they knew that is exactly was the Germans would expect. The trick was to make the Germans think the invasion was going to begin somewhere else. An idea to confuse and mislead the Germans was thought up by Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu of the British Navy. The idea, though brilliant, was somewhat macabre. A fake major in the Royal Marines was created named William Martin. Papers, both personal and professional, were created. Everything detail was thought of, including the kind of stuff a real person would carry in their pockets, right down to love letters from a girlfriend named Pam. The plan was for the Marine’s body to wash up on the coastline of Spain. Handcuffed to Major Martin’s wrist would be a briefcase containing documents that were intended to make the Germans think the invasion was going to happen through Sardinia not Sicily.

The problem was getting a real body to be Major Martin. As Mr. Sullivan writes, no one like the idea of violating the sanctity of the human body, but it was the only was the plan could work. When Montagu heard of a recently deceased man, he approached to family and explained what he could of the plan to them. Surprisingly, the family agreed to let him use the body.

The plan was carried out and worked. Everyone in German high command, right up to Hitler himself, fell for the ruse. The Allies held Sicily after 39 days of fighting and that led to the successful invasion of Italy and the fall of Mussolini. And hopefully the family of “Major Martin” had some comfort in knowing that their loved one helped save thousands of Allied soldier’s lives.

Major Martin is the most grim anecdote, some of the stories involve just dumb luck, others more careful planning. All lead to success for the Allies, though perhaps they were chosen because of that and the failures were left out.

One drawback to this book is that while it is loaded with photographs, they are sometime so dark and blurry; you can’t see them very well so they become somewhat meaningless. Otherwise, Strange but True Stories of World War II is designed to appeal to its target reader and I think it succeeds. All of the stories in the book are exciting and informative. None are so long and involved that the fail to hold the readers interest. I can honestly recommend this interesting, highly entertaining book.

This book is recommended for readers age 11 and up.
This book was read in the Rose Reading Room of the NYPL.

Non-Fiction Monday is hosted this week by Picture Book of the Day

Weekend Cooking #5: We’ll Eat Again: A Collection of Recipes from the War Years by Marguerite Patten – Dropped Scones

Talk about celebrity chefs - Marguerite Patten was a celebrity chef as early as World War II. During the war, Marguerite worked for the British Ministry of Food, where her job was to teach housewives how to making good meals despite rationing. In 1944, she began working on a radio program for the BBC called Kitchen Front. To date, Marguerite has written over 170 cookbooks, has been honored by the Queen and, at 95 years of age, she is still (relatively) going strong.

Next to Welsh Cakes, scones were my favorite tea food, much better than the bread and butter tea we usually had. My dad worked in the Museum of Natural History and he came home around 4 every afternoon. As kids, we were required to be home than for tea, unless we has something related to school to do. It was my favorite time of day, and a ritual I never gave up. So today I have drop scone recipes. These come from Marguerite’s book We’ll East Again, published in association with the Imperial War Museum and can be found on page 84 of that book.

Drop Scones aka Scottish Pancakes (as it was written)

Sift 4 oz. plain flour with 2 level teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Add 1 tbsp dried egg powder then beat in 1 pint milk and 2 tbsp water.

Grease and heat a heavy frying pan, electric solid hotplate or griddle. To test if the right heat, drop on a teaspoon of batter, this should turn a golden brown on the bottom in 1 minute. Put the mixture in tablespoons on to the plate and leave until the top surface is covered with bubbles then turn and cook on the second side. The scones are cooked when quite firm.

Potato Drop Scones (this one sounds like something my dad may with leftover mashed potatoes on Mondays)

Rub 2 oz mashed potato into 4 oz flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Make into a stiff batter with half a beaten egg and ¼ pint milk. Allow to stand for a time. Sift in the small teaspoon of cream of tartar and a small level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and ½ oz sugar just before cooking. Cook in spoonfuls – as for Drop Scones – on a greased griddle or in a heavy frying pan. Serve with a little hot jam.

Coffee Potato Scones (this one sounds intriguing)

Sift 6 oz plain flour, 2 level teaspoon baking powder and ½ tsp salt into a basin. Mix thoroughly with 4 oz mashed potato. Rub in 2 oz fat with the tips of the fingers. Blend to a soft dough with ½ teacup strong, milky, sweetened coffee. Roll out to ½ inch thickness on a floured board and cut into rounds. Glaze the tips with a little milk. Bake on greased baking sheets in a hot over for 15 minutes.

I still make drop scones for tea, but I have to confess, I use Bisquick for them. Apparently the Queen likes them too. I found this bit in a 1965 book review from the New York Times. The review was for a book by Dwight D. Eisenhower called Waging Peace: 1956-1961.

For more on Marguerite Patten see
MailOnline
The Sunday Times
Celebrity Chefs

In 2007, Marguerite received a Lifetime Achievement Award and you can was it here:



Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. As always Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads

From the Archives #8: Incident in Yorkville by Emma Gelders Sterne

Incident in Yorkville begins with the homecoming of Erich and Carola Braun. These two American children have been living in Nazi Germany for 5 years at the insistence of their now deceased father so that they might be educated in Nazi ideology. And it has worked.

Erich, 14, is a proud member of the Hitler Youth, wholeheartedly believing every word that has been preached to him. Carola, 6, isn’t quite as indoctrinated but she does crave her brother’s praise and so will say whatever she thinks will please him. Erich has been well trained to observe everything around him and now everything he sees disgusts him, from the “inferior” Polish boy he met when he arrived in Yorkville to the game of ball being played in the street by the neighbor kids and their dad.


Erich and Carola are now living with their mother, Helena Braun, in an apartment in Yorkville, a section of New York City that is densely populated with Germans, German-Americans and Irish. Also living there is their uncle Wilhelm Kulner, a German who has a barbershop on the ground floor of the building, and his wife Minna, Helena’s sister. The sisters are German-Americans from Wisconsin. All but Helena are virulent Nazi supporters.

Erich is immediately introduced to Herr Wild, a former youth leader in the pro-Nazi German American Bund before it was outlawed. Both men tell him that he must do whatever it takes to fit in and appear to be a well re-assimilated American. For instance, if the Americans laugh at Hitler, he must also, a task Erich find difficult to accept.

To further this pseudo-assimilation, Erich is immediately enrolled in a summer program at the local public school. In his class are Mike Hershey and Stanislaus Prazmian, the Polish boy Erich saw on his arrival. The Hershey’s, parents Mike and Eve, Mary, 14, her twin brother Mike, 5 year old Johnny and baby Dinah live in the apartment above Erich. When eldest son Pat Hershey joined the Army, Eve Hershey had welcomed Stanislaus into their home. The kids are a fun-loving group who try to make friends with Erich and Carola, but find it difficult to do.

Erich’s Uncle Wilhelm notices that Mike Hershey Sr. has rented an empty room in the back of the building that he had wanted to use for secret Bund meetings. He tries to find out what Mike is doing in the room, but can’t. Mike goes so far as to cover the keyhole with his jacket.  Kulner reports this suspicious behavior to the local Air Raid Warden, seeing it as an opportunity to deflect attention from his own suspicious behavior. But this backfires when the FBI investigates and discovers that Mike is hand tooling spikes for the Navy, for which the Navy is presenting him with a civilian medal at an upcoming block party.

Erich continues to desperately cling to his Nazi ideas, his Hitler Youth uniform and especially to this record book, in which he writes down all his observations, practice for the wars to come when he is old enough to achieve his great goal of "dying for Hitler.” But when he learns, early one Sunday morning, that the FBI has arrested a group of German saboteurs that had landed on the Long Island and Florida coasts by U-boat with the intention of blowing up key factories, railroads and water supply systems, he faith in the strength and might of Nazism begins to waiver. Failure was never an option under Nazi ideology and now he is confronted with the possibility that failure could happen even under a seemingly infallible system. For the first time in his life, Erich is faced with a situation for which there is no prescribed rule for him to follow, and worse, there is no one left to tell him what to do when he learns that Herr Wild has committed suicide after being arrested by the FBI.

Incident in Yorkville is an interesting story. It is developed by paralleling the Kulner household in Apartment 2B with the Hershey family over them in 3B. One is a cold distant, angry, seemingly unhappy pro-Nazi family, the other a warm loving happy all-American family. As I read, I could see a chart forming in my mind listing the opposing characteristics of each family, and for that reason, I found the characters a little too stereotypical. The "good" characters were too good, and the "bad" guys weren't bad enough, making it a story constructed to be a piece pure propaganda. I think some of the propagandist feeling the book has come from Miss Sterne’s own passionate beliefs and her participation in the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.   Nevertheless, the book is a good picture of life in a New York City neighborhood. The games and activities of the kids and parents at home and in school are very realistic. And Erich’s keen observations help to add to this picture.

Incident in Yorkville is developed around an incident that really happened. On June 12, 1942, a group German saboteurs landed on Long Island. A member of the Coast Guard found them pretending to be fisherman, but also noticed that they were armed. He was offered and accepted a bribe to be quiet, but reported them to his superiors anyway. The beach was searched and the supplies brought for their planned bombing operations were found. The men were all arrested not long afterward, along with the group who had landed in Florida. Like Wilhelm Kulner, many aliens living in the US who were also supporters of the Third Reich had reason to worry. The FBI has already conducted raids in Yorkville in March 1942 and arrested some alien enemies. Yorkville was closely watched because of its German population. Before it was outlawed, the German American Bund held marches in Yorkville like this one on East 86th Street, two blocks away from the location of Incident in Yorkville at fictitious address of 260 East 84th Street:

This book is recommended for readers age 11-15.

This book was read in the Rose Reading Room of the research branch of the NYPL.

This is book 3 of my Forgotten Treasures Challenge hosted by Retroreduxs Reviews