Book Reviews + Activities
- Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton
- Trembling Earth by Kim Siegelson
- Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii by Vicky Alvear Shecter
- Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
- Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
- The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
- Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
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It's 1953, New Jersey. Eleven-year-old Penny has an Italian-American family on her late father's side and an "American" Methodist family on her mother's side. Family meals on the Italian side start at noon and go late into the evening, involving many delicious courses prepared by Grandma Nonny. Family meals on the "American" side are quiet and require Penny to choke down Grandma's Me-me's dry meatloaf and mushy peas. The only things the two sides share are Penny and a love of Dodgers baseball that they listen to on the radio.
The story is full of colorful characters and gentle humor, but over everything hangs the mystery of Penny's father's death. No one wants to talk about it. Finally, Penny learns that her father was suspected of being a spy by the FBI during WWII. Naively, he didn't turn in his radio after the government banned Italians who weren't American citizens from owning certain radios during the war. He died in an internment camp.
Penny learns that her father loved her very much. She was his Coca di Papa -- Daddy's little girl. Finally, the two sides of Penny's ancestry get together at, of course, a family dinner! (Highly recommended, a good read aloud book.)
The story is full of colorful characters and gentle humor, but over everything hangs the mystery of Penny's father's death. No one wants to talk about it. Finally, Penny learns that her father was suspected of being a spy by the FBI during WWII. Naively, he didn't turn in his radio after the government banned Italians who weren't American citizens from owning certain radios during the war. He died in an internment camp.
Penny learns that her father loved her very much. She was his Coca di Papa -- Daddy's little girl. Finally, the two sides of Penny's ancestry get together at, of course, a family dinner! (Highly recommended, a good read aloud book.)
| penny_from_heaven_crossword.pdf |
| penny_from_heaven_solution.pdf |
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston:
1952; recommended for grades 3 – 7; five-book series)
“Somehow, there never is a safety pin, just when you want one. Where are they all?”
Have you had this experience – putting down something, and later, when you try to find it, it’s gone? Disappeared into thin air! Perhaps, some tiny people “borrowed” the item.
This book is set in Victorian England in an old country house. A family of tiny people – borrowers -- lives under the floor. They nip upstairs to take something they need – postage stamps as pictures to hang on the wall, a cigar box for a bed, a potato from the kitchen to make soup, champagne corks to make chairs – the list is endless. This arrangement is almost perfect until, of course, the human beans upstairs discover the borrowers.
I think the most engaging aspect about this book is how it stirs the imagination. Teachers could ask students to:
Full disclosure: This was one of my favorite books as a child, and I wanted to see if it holds up after all this time. Yes, it does! An absolutely delightful book!
Have you had this experience – putting down something, and later, when you try to find it, it’s gone? Disappeared into thin air! Perhaps, some tiny people “borrowed” the item.
This book is set in Victorian England in an old country house. A family of tiny people – borrowers -- lives under the floor. They nip upstairs to take something they need – postage stamps as pictures to hang on the wall, a cigar box for a bed, a potato from the kitchen to make soup, champagne corks to make chairs – the list is endless. This arrangement is almost perfect until, of course, the human beans upstairs discover the borrowers.
I think the most engaging aspect about this book is how it stirs the imagination. Teachers could ask students to:
- Imagine how the tiny people use upstairs items to create their house. How would you construct your bedroom?
- Imagine going outside as a tiny person. How would grass, flowers, trees, the sky appear to you?
- Imagine meeting a huge human bean for the first time. What would you say?
- Imagine having the roof of your house torn off by a huge person.
- Imagine having to find a new place to live in the dangerous world outside the house.
Full disclosure: This was one of my favorite books as a child, and I wanted to see if it holds up after all this time. Yes, it does! An absolutely delightful book!
| crossword_-_the_borrowers.pdf |
| crossword_solution_-_the_borrowers.pdf |
Trembling Earth by Kim Siegelson
(Philomel Books, New York City:
2004; Booklist Starred Review; recommended for grades 7 – 12)
“Trembling earth” refers to the Okefenokee Swamp of South Georgia.
No Civil War canons or large battles came to the Swamp. Instead, the War came in the form of runaway slaves, small bands of tattered Reb soldiers, and a father who lost a leg in battle and suffers PTSD.
Hamp, the 13-year-old main character, thinks it would have been easier if Pap, his father, had died. “Easier to bury him and move on than having to live with the goll-darn stranger he’d turned into.”
Rich, mesmerizing details of swamp life provide a backdrop for Hamp’s quest to find a runaway black boy accused of murdering a white soldier. As the two boys discover a mutual love of nature and have to join forces to fight off dangerous beasts in the swamp – snakes, alligators, feral hogs, bears – they begin to see each other as human, instead of simply black and buckra (white man).
In the end of this story there is a glimmer of hope that Hamp and Pap can come to an understanding and mutual respect.
I would recommend this book to any educator who teaches American Civil War history. The story provides plenty of material for small group and class discussions.
Further reading -- historical fiction:
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lists/teaching-content/civil-war-historical-fiction-grades-4---8/
https://imaginationsoup.net/historical-fiction-chapter-books-civil-war/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/historical-fiction-teen-fiction/american-civil-war-teen-fiction/_/N-29Z8q8Z1a2z
A very small sample of primary resources (letters, diaries):
https://www.americancivilwar.com/women/carrie_berry.html
https://www.lib.umd.edu/civilwarwomen/primary-source-evidence/diaries
http://www.civil-war.net/searchlinks.asp?searchlinks=Letters%20and%20Diaries
No Civil War canons or large battles came to the Swamp. Instead, the War came in the form of runaway slaves, small bands of tattered Reb soldiers, and a father who lost a leg in battle and suffers PTSD.
Hamp, the 13-year-old main character, thinks it would have been easier if Pap, his father, had died. “Easier to bury him and move on than having to live with the goll-darn stranger he’d turned into.”
Rich, mesmerizing details of swamp life provide a backdrop for Hamp’s quest to find a runaway black boy accused of murdering a white soldier. As the two boys discover a mutual love of nature and have to join forces to fight off dangerous beasts in the swamp – snakes, alligators, feral hogs, bears – they begin to see each other as human, instead of simply black and buckra (white man).
In the end of this story there is a glimmer of hope that Hamp and Pap can come to an understanding and mutual respect.
I would recommend this book to any educator who teaches American Civil War history. The story provides plenty of material for small group and class discussions.
Further reading -- historical fiction:
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lists/teaching-content/civil-war-historical-fiction-grades-4---8/
https://imaginationsoup.net/historical-fiction-chapter-books-civil-war/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/historical-fiction-teen-fiction/american-civil-war-teen-fiction/_/N-29Z8q8Z1a2z
A very small sample of primary resources (letters, diaries):
https://www.americancivilwar.com/women/carrie_berry.html
https://www.lib.umd.edu/civilwarwomen/primary-source-evidence/diaries
http://www.civil-war.net/searchlinks.asp?searchlinks=Letters%20and%20Diaries
Curses and Smoke: a Novel of Pompeii by Vicky Alvear Shecter
(Arthur A. Levine Books, New York, 2014; recommended for ages 12+)
Do you have students in your class who love everything Roman? Here’s a book they’ll enjoy: Curses and Smoke: a Novel of Pompeii.
“I think the earth is trying to tell us something,” says Lucia, one of the main characters in the book.
She’s right! It’s 79 C.E., and the Earth is trying to tell the people of Pompeii to run, because their lives depend on it!
The author sets up a drumbeat in the story:
Woven into the drumbeat of impending disaster is a love story between Lucia, a high-born girl, and Tag, a medical slave who treats Lucia’s father’s gladiators.
Along the way, readers will learn many fascinating facts about everyday life in ancient Pompeii:
The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was like “Vulcan had punched a hole through the mountaintop with his anvil.” In the chaos that followed did the lovers find a way to escape and begin their lives anew, not as high-born girl and medical slave, but as husband and wife?
R O M A
O L I M
M I L O
A M O R
This is a “Magic Square” – a graffito found on a wall in Pompeii. It was meant to be read forward and backward, up and down. MILO is a person’s name. Do you see the Latin word for Rome?
Can you create a “Magic Square” with your name, a friend’s name, town name, etc.?
You can find more fascinating examples of graffiti from the ruins of Pompeii in the book:
The Writing on the Walls: Discovering Medieval and Ancient Graffiti for Middle School Social Studies .
“I think the earth is trying to tell us something,” says Lucia, one of the main characters in the book.
She’s right! It’s 79 C.E., and the Earth is trying to tell the people of Pompeii to run, because their lives depend on it!
The author sets up a drumbeat in the story:
- Three and a half weeks before – tremors
- Two and a half weeks before – ponds dry up
- One week before – sulfur smells fill the air
- Two days before – the ground rolls like it’s alive
Woven into the drumbeat of impending disaster is a love story between Lucia, a high-born girl, and Tag, a medical slave who treats Lucia’s father’s gladiators.
Along the way, readers will learn many fascinating facts about everyday life in ancient Pompeii:
- That women were treated like chattel.
- Sometimes, female babies were exposed so they would die.
- Schools were often conducted in the open air.
- How gladiators trained.
- How the medicus (doctor) patched up the gladiators.
- How superstition and the worship of many gods controlled the actions of Romans
- That the walls of Pompeii were covered with graffiti.
The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was like “Vulcan had punched a hole through the mountaintop with his anvil.” In the chaos that followed did the lovers find a way to escape and begin their lives anew, not as high-born girl and medical slave, but as husband and wife?
R O M A
O L I M
M I L O
A M O R
This is a “Magic Square” – a graffito found on a wall in Pompeii. It was meant to be read forward and backward, up and down. MILO is a person’s name. Do you see the Latin word for Rome?
Can you create a “Magic Square” with your name, a friend’s name, town name, etc.?
You can find more fascinating examples of graffiti from the ruins of Pompeii in the book:
The Writing on the Walls: Discovering Medieval and Ancient Graffiti for Middle School Social Studies .
Lily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff (Delacorte Press, 1977), reading level 8+
"Things are never going to be the same, not even when the war is over," says Lily to her grandmother.
This story belongs to Lily, a rising sixth grader, who is trying to cope with the unbelievable loss and chaos of WWII.
Lily is a willful and stubborn child who has always let her imagination go wild, which leads to lying, sometimes small lies and sometimes whoppers. When her beloved father goes off to war; when her best friend's brother goes MIA in Normandy; when a skinny immigrant boy tells her that his sister was left behind in France behind the Nazi lines, Lily copes by telling a lie so huge that she puts herself and the immigrant boy in danger of death.
Overall, this is a character study, a quiet story that builds slowly and gives young readers a glimpse into daily life during WWII. Recommended for young readers, grades 4 - 6. Although it starts out slowly, this book might be good for teachers to read aloud to students.
This story belongs to Lily, a rising sixth grader, who is trying to cope with the unbelievable loss and chaos of WWII.
Lily is a willful and stubborn child who has always let her imagination go wild, which leads to lying, sometimes small lies and sometimes whoppers. When her beloved father goes off to war; when her best friend's brother goes MIA in Normandy; when a skinny immigrant boy tells her that his sister was left behind in France behind the Nazi lines, Lily copes by telling a lie so huge that she puts herself and the immigrant boy in danger of death.
Overall, this is a character study, a quiet story that builds slowly and gives young readers a glimpse into daily life during WWII. Recommended for young readers, grades 4 - 6. Although it starts out slowly, this book might be good for teachers to read aloud to students.
| lilys_crossing.pdf |
| lilys_crossing_key.pdf |
Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016; grades 7 to adult.
If your students are studying the Revolutionary War, the Seeds of America trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson presents the story from the perspective of slaves who found themselves in the middle of the great struggle, not knowing if the Patriots or the British or neither would set them free. [Grades 6 - 10, but adults will like it, too)
The first book, Chains, is told from the point of view of Isabel, a 13-year-old slave. She and her younger sister, Ruth, are promised freedom when their elderly mistress dies, but a cruel, greedy relative of the deceased sells them back into slavery.
Isabel and Ruth wind up in New York City, which is occupied by the Continental Army during the start of the Revolution. Here, they learn what it's like to be owned by the cruel Locton family, who sympathize with the British. Isabel also meets Curzon, a slave boy several years older, who is owned by Col. Bellingham, a Patriot.
The words "All men created equal" rings hollow to Isabel as she endures betrayal, unspeakable cruelty, and loss.
The second book, Forge, is told from the point of view of Curzon.
After escaping from New York, Isabel and Curzon go their separate ways.
Still believing that the Patriots will support his quest for freedom, Curzon enlists in the Patriot army, which camps for the winter at Valley Forge (1777 - 78).
Anderson does a masterful job of describing life in the camp, where 12,000 men endured bitter cold, no barracks, and little food or clothing.
Curzon's past catches up to him when Col. Bellingham, his former master (and Patriot), joins the camp and claims that Curzon is still his slave. It turns out that Bellingham has also enslaved Isabel, who wears a neck scarf that hides a nasty secret.
Will Curzon and Isabel escape again and achieve freedom?
The third book in the series is Ashes and is told from the point of view of Isabel.
From page 2:
After walking more than a thousand miles, after months spent laboring, first in Lancaster, then Baltimore, then Richmond, and at whatever mountain farm would have us . . . . After months lost in worry, waiting to see if Curzon would recover from the wounds inflicted by a falling hemlock, then another half a year wasted as I fought an intermittent fever that gripped my lungs so tight I could barely walk . . . After dodging two armies, wild packs of banditti, and armed Loyalists deep in liquor . . . . After sleepless nights haunted by ghosts and endless days of empty bellies . . . . After all that, I was close to finding my baby sister, Ruth.
Isabel does find Ruth, who had been shipped off to Charleston when the cruel Loctons of New York owned the girls.
Eventually, Curzon, Isabel, and Ruth find themselves involved in the Battle of Yorktown, 1781. Curzon still believes that the Patriots will set him and all slaves free, but Isabel is skeptical.
Isabel and Ruth find out what women's work is like in support of the soldiers.
From page 220:
They [the soldiers] had been digging the trench all through the night. As the sun climbed into the sky, they returned to camp, tired and filthy, but in high spirits. I heated more water for washing. In those days of digging no man was ever clean in the proper sense of the word. The best I could do was to keep lice and other varmints from infesting their clothes, and insist that they dried their feet after working, so mushrooms wouldn't grow between their toes.
This book answers the overriding questions of the series:
If your students are studying the Revolutionary War, the Seeds of America trilogy by Laurie Halse Anderson presents the story from the perspective of slaves who found themselves in the middle of the great struggle, not knowing if the Patriots or the British or neither would set them free. [Grades 6 - 10, but adults will like it, too)
The first book, Chains, is told from the point of view of Isabel, a 13-year-old slave. She and her younger sister, Ruth, are promised freedom when their elderly mistress dies, but a cruel, greedy relative of the deceased sells them back into slavery.
Isabel and Ruth wind up in New York City, which is occupied by the Continental Army during the start of the Revolution. Here, they learn what it's like to be owned by the cruel Locton family, who sympathize with the British. Isabel also meets Curzon, a slave boy several years older, who is owned by Col. Bellingham, a Patriot.
The words "All men created equal" rings hollow to Isabel as she endures betrayal, unspeakable cruelty, and loss.
The second book, Forge, is told from the point of view of Curzon.
After escaping from New York, Isabel and Curzon go their separate ways.
Still believing that the Patriots will support his quest for freedom, Curzon enlists in the Patriot army, which camps for the winter at Valley Forge (1777 - 78).
Anderson does a masterful job of describing life in the camp, where 12,000 men endured bitter cold, no barracks, and little food or clothing.
Curzon's past catches up to him when Col. Bellingham, his former master (and Patriot), joins the camp and claims that Curzon is still his slave. It turns out that Bellingham has also enslaved Isabel, who wears a neck scarf that hides a nasty secret.
Will Curzon and Isabel escape again and achieve freedom?
The third book in the series is Ashes and is told from the point of view of Isabel.
From page 2:
After walking more than a thousand miles, after months spent laboring, first in Lancaster, then Baltimore, then Richmond, and at whatever mountain farm would have us . . . . After months lost in worry, waiting to see if Curzon would recover from the wounds inflicted by a falling hemlock, then another half a year wasted as I fought an intermittent fever that gripped my lungs so tight I could barely walk . . . After dodging two armies, wild packs of banditti, and armed Loyalists deep in liquor . . . . After sleepless nights haunted by ghosts and endless days of empty bellies . . . . After all that, I was close to finding my baby sister, Ruth.
Isabel does find Ruth, who had been shipped off to Charleston when the cruel Loctons of New York owned the girls.
Eventually, Curzon, Isabel, and Ruth find themselves involved in the Battle of Yorktown, 1781. Curzon still believes that the Patriots will set him and all slaves free, but Isabel is skeptical.
Isabel and Ruth find out what women's work is like in support of the soldiers.
From page 220:
They [the soldiers] had been digging the trench all through the night. As the sun climbed into the sky, they returned to camp, tired and filthy, but in high spirits. I heated more water for washing. In those days of digging no man was ever clean in the proper sense of the word. The best I could do was to keep lice and other varmints from infesting their clothes, and insist that they dried their feet after working, so mushrooms wouldn't grow between their toes.
This book answers the overriding questions of the series:
- Will Isabel, Curzon, Ruth and other slaves finally achieve freedom when the Patriots win the war?
- Will Isabel and Curzon get together romantically? [strictly PG]
| ashes_crossword.pdf |
| ashes_crossword_key.pdf |
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Henry Holt & Co., 2009; grades 5 - 8.
This charming book tells the story of eleven-year-old Calpurnia (nicknamed Callie) and her large, well-off family, who live in Texas in 1899. It's hard enough growing up with six brothers, but Callie is caught in a dilemma. She wants to get down and dirty and explore the natural world with her granddad, but her mother wants her to learn to be a proper young lady who is content to cook, do needlework, and get married.
There are many reasons pre-teens will like this book, including the spunky main character, the exploration of the natural world, the portrayal of life at the turn of the 20th century (the first automobile!), the adventures of Callie's brothers, and the grumpy old granddad who is a big fan of Charles Darwin. And there are sequels! The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate is the second book and a third book is in the works.
This charming book tells the story of eleven-year-old Calpurnia (nicknamed Callie) and her large, well-off family, who live in Texas in 1899. It's hard enough growing up with six brothers, but Callie is caught in a dilemma. She wants to get down and dirty and explore the natural world with her granddad, but her mother wants her to learn to be a proper young lady who is content to cook, do needlework, and get married.
There are many reasons pre-teens will like this book, including the spunky main character, the exploration of the natural world, the portrayal of life at the turn of the 20th century (the first automobile!), the adventures of Callie's brothers, and the grumpy old granddad who is a big fan of Charles Darwin. And there are sequels! The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate is the second book and a third book is in the works.
| evolution_of_calpurnia_tate.pdf |
| evolution_of_calpurnia_tate_key.pdf |
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
HarperCollins; Reprint edition (January 8, 2010); grades 4 - 7
Imagine flying across country from New York to California to spend your summer vacation with a mother you barely know, and who doesn't want you or your two sisters. That's the situation for 11-year-old Delphine, whose father puts her in charge of 9-year-old Vonetta and 7-year-old Fern.
No hugs, no kisses at the airport. The woman who abandoned Delphine when she was 4 says, "Ya'll have to move if you're going to be with me." Delphine quickly learns that she's on her own. Mother doesn't cook, so supper is take-out Chinese from mean Lady Ming's shop down the street. Breakfast is at the People's Center where food is handed out to the poor. "It don't make me no difference," says Mother about what the girls do during the day.
Delphine and her sisters have landed in the middle of the Black Panther Movement of the 1960's, in which their mysterious mother is heavily involved. Children (and adults) will enjoy reading about how Delphine negotiates with humor and wisdom her summer of emerging (and scary) black power.
There are two sequels to this book: P.S. Be Eleven, and Gone Crazy in Alabama.
Imagine flying across country from New York to California to spend your summer vacation with a mother you barely know, and who doesn't want you or your two sisters. That's the situation for 11-year-old Delphine, whose father puts her in charge of 9-year-old Vonetta and 7-year-old Fern.
No hugs, no kisses at the airport. The woman who abandoned Delphine when she was 4 says, "Ya'll have to move if you're going to be with me." Delphine quickly learns that she's on her own. Mother doesn't cook, so supper is take-out Chinese from mean Lady Ming's shop down the street. Breakfast is at the People's Center where food is handed out to the poor. "It don't make me no difference," says Mother about what the girls do during the day.
Delphine and her sisters have landed in the middle of the Black Panther Movement of the 1960's, in which their mysterious mother is heavily involved. Children (and adults) will enjoy reading about how Delphine negotiates with humor and wisdom her summer of emerging (and scary) black power.
There are two sequels to this book: P.S. Be Eleven, and Gone Crazy in Alabama.
| one_crazy_summer_word_search.jpg |
| one_crazy_summer_key.pdf |
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
Disney-Hyperion; Reprint edition (May 13, 2002); 9 - 12 years
This book tells the story of an Ojibwa Native American family living on an island in Lake Superior in the mid-1800's. It's full of details about their daily life over the course of one year, such as preparing animal skins, doing beadwork, planting crops, preparing food, hunting, etc. So much detail could be boring, but interwoven with those details are the lives of the people, mostly from the point of view of seven-year-old Omakayas. Children will identify with her because, like most children, she is stuck doing something she really dislikes, but her family wants her to do it. In her case the task is scraping animal skins, which she finds unpleasant. Gradually, with the help of her devoted grandmother, she learns what her true talents are. Omakayas also has to live with an extremely annoying little brother and an older sister who is perfect in every way.
This is not a plot-driven story. We simply follow a family and their neighbors through a year-long cycle including traditions like the maple sugar festival. We also follow their journey through horrible sickness, near starvation, and a harsh winter. This story is full of three-dimensional characters, including my favorite, Old Tallow, a tall rangy woman who has chased away three husbands, lives by herself in the woods, has a pack of snarling dogs, carries a gun, and smokes a pipe.
This book tells the story of an Ojibwa Native American family living on an island in Lake Superior in the mid-1800's. It's full of details about their daily life over the course of one year, such as preparing animal skins, doing beadwork, planting crops, preparing food, hunting, etc. So much detail could be boring, but interwoven with those details are the lives of the people, mostly from the point of view of seven-year-old Omakayas. Children will identify with her because, like most children, she is stuck doing something she really dislikes, but her family wants her to do it. In her case the task is scraping animal skins, which she finds unpleasant. Gradually, with the help of her devoted grandmother, she learns what her true talents are. Omakayas also has to live with an extremely annoying little brother and an older sister who is perfect in every way.
This is not a plot-driven story. We simply follow a family and their neighbors through a year-long cycle including traditions like the maple sugar festival. We also follow their journey through horrible sickness, near starvation, and a harsh winter. This story is full of three-dimensional characters, including my favorite, Old Tallow, a tall rangy woman who has chased away three husbands, lives by herself in the woods, has a pack of snarling dogs, carries a gun, and smokes a pipe.
| the_birchbark_house.pdf |
| the_birchbark_house_key.pdf |
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene (Bantam Doubleday, 1973, Ages 10 and up)
Patty, the 12-year-old protagonist of the story, is highly intelligent, curious, and loves words, but doesn’t do well in school. She does not live up to the way her parents think girls should look or act, so she is constantly criticized by her mother and regularly physically punished by her father. The only people who show her compassion are the family’s African American housekeeper and an escaped German POW.
Set in a small town in Arkansas during WWII, this book realistically portrays the racism and anti-Semitism of the era.
This would be a good book for students to discuss in small groups or children to discuss with their parents. Many questions could come up in these discussions, for instance:
Your students/children might enjoy this crossword puzzle based on the story.
Set in a small town in Arkansas during WWII, this book realistically portrays the racism and anti-Semitism of the era.
This would be a good book for students to discuss in small groups or children to discuss with their parents. Many questions could come up in these discussions, for instance:
- Why are Patty’s parents so nasty to her? How did the parents come to be the way they are? Is it because they were subject to so much anti-Semitism over the years that they want Patty to fit into a Christian mold about how girls should act? Have your parents and other adults criticized you because you don’t act the way society says you should act? Boys not macho enough; girls not feminine enough?
- What do you think about the relationship between Patty and the German POW?
- What do you think about Patty’s friendship with the family housekeeper?
- How did you feel about what happens to Patty at the end of the story? Does this scenario make sense because of what’s going on during wartime?
- What advice would you give Patty if you lived during the WWII era?
Your students/children might enjoy this crossword puzzle based on the story.
| summer_of_my_german_soldier_key.pdf |
| summer_of_my_german_soldier.pdf |