War Boy

Title: War Boy

Author: Michael Foreman

Biography #3

 War Boy was one of the more unusual books I have read this semester. Told by English artist and children’s book illustrator, Michael Foreman, he recounts his experiences during childhood growing up in a small village in England during the war. Frequently under attack, Michael and his family are literally living on a battlefield! The remainder of the book details his experiences including rationing and raids. I personally learned a great deal from reading this memoir and feel that children can especially relate to this book because it is told through the eyes of a child.  

The text is pretty simple and fairly easy to read and understand but it is the pictures that truly make the story! They are detailed and absolutely beautiful to look at. One can learn a lot just from looking at what the illustrations have to offer. I particularly enjoyed the diagrams because they helped me understand what he was talking about better. I also liked the authentic looking historical documents he drew, there are several letters and notices that help the reader get a better feel of the story and the time. In the end, though I must admit this story wasn’t my favorite, I would still recommend it for students in 3-6 grade and think it has tremendous educational merit. 

Yellow Star

Title: Yellow Star

Author: Jennifer Roy

Required Text

The Holocaust is one of those things in history that no one likes to talk about. Some would like to forget it ever happened while others simply deny it ever happened at all. What a shame it is to shut out a part of our world’s past because it is “unpleasant”. Growing up in school, I remember The Holocaust being one of the things I learned about in history that impacted me most. In fact, I would go as far to say that it horrified me. Even as young as fifth grade, I remember being absolutely devastated about what I learned happened to all of these innocent people. However, nothing is more impactful than reading a first-hand account of an experience such as this and that is exactly what readers will find in Yellow Star. Being a huge fan of poetry, I absolutely fell in love with book and literally never put it down. It was a quick read, yet so moving and heart-wrenching. At times, I felt as if I was watching a movie.

What I think kids will like about this book is that the information is presented through the eyes of a child. The character is someone they can easily relate to making the story all that more powerful. The story is also presented in a non-threatening way. Children who don’t necessarily like reading will find this book more appealing because of the short collections of poems used to tell the story. I myself, found the story to be more powerful because of this and think children might as well. Overall, the book would be an excellent introduction into the topic of the Holocaust in any upper elementary through middle school classroom.

My only reservation with the book is that it tells a “success” story for the main character and her family when in reality there weren’t very many success stories to tell. Sylvia was one of the lucky ones and the few children to survive her camp. I wouldn’t want the children in my class to be under the impression that many people survived The Holocaust when they didn’t. Thus, it would be very important to study the topic in depth for them to get a better understanding of what actually happened, particularly in the older grades. All in all though, this is a book that definitely belongs in any classroom library. It is heart-wrenching, inspiring, and, best of all, it’s true. 

Weedflower

Title: Weedflower

Author: Cynthia Kadohata

Required Text

Before I started reading Weedflower I was somewhat unenthusiastic about the book simply because I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, by the end of the first chapter I was hooked and couldn’t put the book down.  I was quickly roped into twelve-year-old Sumiko’s character and was fascinated by the life that she lived with her Japanese family on their flower farm in rural America. Part of the reason I was roped into Sumiko’s character so easily is simply because I related to her and sympathized with what she was going through. When she gets invited to a special birthday party and then gets uninvited because she is Japanese, I just had tears in my eyes. On the one hand, I knew what it was like to be ostracized and bullied but on the other I had no idea what it would feel like to be excluded because of my skin color. It also broke my heart that she had spent so much on the birthday gift when her family was just scraping by. I felt how much she wanted to fit in and it just broke my heart that she wasn’t accepted because of her race.

Then there was Pearl Harbor. The part when she had to burn the only picture she had of her parents because it was “Un-American” and the part when they had to get rid of Baba just broke my heart. Overall, there were so many sad parts in the book that made it so personally touching. I truly view this part of American history in a different light now. As I said with Leon’s Story, parts of America’s past like this seem so far away, so unrealistic and hard to relate to until you see it through the eyes of someone who experienced it. Then the horror becomes so vivid it’s hard to stomach. That aside, I think this text is one that should definitely be used with middle school students. If reading it touched my life, it is sure to touch theirs and give them a better idea of what the Japanese-Americans went through immediately following the attacks of Pearl Harbor.  This was a truly excellent book that I would recommend to just about anyone. 

Flygirl

Title: Flygirl 

Author: Sherri L. Smith
Rebecca Caudill Nominee (2012)