Ramona and I have been talking about what we want to read and study this year, and one thing we've settled on is World War II. Anne-with-an-e was twelve and Betsy was about ten when we first studied World War II. Now that Ramona is twelve (gulp), I think it's a great time to dive in to the time period with her, too.
We'll start with all the great historical fiction I read to Anne and Betsy:
* Novels:
Twenty and Ten
Number the Stars
The Borrowed House
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (and a second post on that book)
The Winged Watchman
Snow Treasure
Escape from Warsaw
The Little Riders
My Friend the Enemy
* Picture Books:
Boxes for Katje
Always Remember Me
The Orphans of Normandy
Home of the Brave
So Far From the Sea
The Bracelet
Baseball Saved Us
The Greatest Skating Race
The Yellow Star
One Thousand Tracings
* Here's a link to a post that addresses "How We Handle World War II."
It includes some more book ideas, such as Welcome to Molly's World, Tomie de Paola's I'm Still Scared, The Young Life of Pope John Paul II and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.
That's just the beginning. I need to comb my archives for more books and ideas.
Looks like we have a full year ahead of us.
6 comments:
I highly recommend listening to old time radio plays from the time period! I've been listening to them for several years now, just because I enjoy them, but it's given me a wonderful perspective on the attitudes and culture of the time. It's a great resource! You can download a lot from archive.org (if it's still up), or you use an OTR (old time radio) app.
That is such an excellent idea!
Have you read The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss? First published in 1972, it's the memoir of one Jewish girl's experience living out most of the war, with her sister, hidden in a Gentile farmhouse. I first read this aged ten and actually, I prefer it to Anne Frank .... In any case! :-) Your mileage may vary of course! It's the book I use to introduce the era and what life was like, for each of my kids in turn.
I'd recommend the following compelling re-enactment of the Battle of Pearl Harbor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcSMaNlcDPs
Ellie, The Upstairs Room is ringing a bell. I never blogged about it, but I seem to remember having Anne-with-an-e read it. Will have to look it up!
Thank you, Atticus. :)
I dithered about when was the best age to teach WWII, and in the end I decided to do things slowly, very slowly - as in, over a space of years!
It all depends on the student. I remember being completely traumatised by the subject several times in my education - first when we had to listen to old recordings of air raid sirens when we were seven - !! They still haunt me now. And then when I was older and had to read Anne Frank (is it bad to say I didn't much like her? Although of course I grieve her fate) and then of course learning about the camps.
I hear of people letting their young children read The Boy in Striped Pyjamas and that upsets me, it's clearly a book for older people. I taught it to some teenaged students and even they were troubled by it! The whole subject is so important to teach, and yet so weighted.
My 14 year old read Connie Willis' Blackout and All Clear books and they were an amazing addition to any study of that time period. Perhaps too much for your Ramona though? They are very big books!
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