Book Review: Knit Your Bit: A World War I Story, by Deborah Hopkinson (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013)

I am delighted to welcome award-winning author Deborah Hopkinson to my blog today, to discuss her newest historical fiction picture book, Knit Your Bit:  A World War I Story.

     Q:  How were you inspired to write a story about this little piece of history--the Knit Your Bit campaign for soldiers during WWI?

A:  I am fascinated by stories of ordinary people in history, and also intrigued by historical photographs.  Years ago I worked at the American Red Cross in Honolulu and learned about the home front efforts to knit for soldiers. That drew me to learn more about the social history of knitting in America and the result is Knit Your Bit!

        Q:  Are you a knitter yourself? Or perhaps a family member? If so, did that play a role in your inspiration for this story?

A:  I actually do love to knit and I love yarn stores.  But there is a big caveat to this – I am, quite honestly, not very good.  I knit for relaxation only and I’m a bit like Mikey  in the book – I keep dropping stitches!  So I am content to knit scarves for myself – or for friends who can’t knit at all and so are a bit more forgiving of mistakes.  I have a number of friends who are wonderfully accomplished knitters and the book is dedicated to them.

Q:   Knit Your Bit tells the story of those at the home front during war. Do you hope that this book will be read by those children with moms and dads in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere? Will you be doing any special outreach to military families?

A:  One of the wonderful things about the “Knit Your Bit” tradition is that it continues today.  The book is already featured on a blog called “Deployment Diatribes,”  http://deploymentdiatribes.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/knit-your-bit/

For more information about current Knit Your Bit projects check out:

The National WWII Museum
http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/knit-your-bit/index.html

Q:  Please tell us a little bit about your research process for this book.

A:  I consulted a couple of books that detail the history of knitting; No Idle Hands, The Social History of American Knitting by Anne Macdonald (Ballantine Books 1988) was especially helpful.  You can also read the actual New York Times report on the Central Park Knitting Bee (“Many Enter Knitting Bee”) at http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30915F73F5A11738DDDA90B94DF405B888DF1D3

And there is a great article on HistoyLink.org at: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5721

Q:   I loved the illustrations by Steven Guarnaccia, which gave the story a real period feel. In fact, the illustrations reminded me of the TinTin comics. Can you comment about how the illustrations contribute to your text?

A:  I absolutely agree!  I love how Steven’s artwork complements the wonderful graphic style of the period.  The Red Cross posters of the time were part of what drew me to the story, so when you add the historical photos on the endpapers along with the art and the poster in the note, it all seems to come together to give young readers both a sense that this did happen in a different time, but that some things remain the same.

Q:  Please give us a brief preview of your upcoming book, The Great Trouble. And can you share with us some of the projects you have coming up?

A:  The Great Trouble, A Mystery of London, the Blue Death, and a Boy Called Eel, is middle grade historical fiction about the 1854 cholera epidemic in London.  I tried to give the story a Dickensian feel, while at the same time celebrate the pioneering public health work of Dr. John Snow, who was born 200 years ago, in 1813.  I think kids will enjoy it.  I am also working on projects about Beatrix Potter and World War II. 

To find out more about my books I hope readers will visit me on the web at: www.deborahhopkinson.com or look at my Pinterest boards at:

http://pinterest.com/DAhopkinson

Thanks again to Deborah Hopkinson for appearing at The Fourth Musketeer.  For other stops on her Knit Your Bit Blog Tour please check www.deborahhopkinson.com.

Book Review: The Angel Makers, by Jessica Gregson (Soho, 2011)

Recommended for ages 14 and up.


Set in a small Hungarian village around World War I, this "can't put it down" adult historical fiction novel centers around a teenaged girl, Sari, who's orphaned and left in the care of the elderly village midwife and herbalist.  Sari is "different," and that's enough to make her disliked and feared by almost everyone in the village, except her fiance, Ferenc.  But when World War I breaks out and most of the young men in the village leave for the front, Sari becomes closer to the other women in the village, who begin to include her in their gossip and rituals.  Most of the women seem content to be temporarily rid of their brutish boyfriends and husbands, and when a prisoner-of-war camp for Italian officers is set up nearby, they are only too happy to find excuses to work at the camp, leading inevitably to flirting and affairs between the local women and the officers, despite the language gap.

Even Sari is not immune to the Italians' charms, and soon is involved in a passionate affair with an Italian professor who stimulates her mind as well as her senses.    When the local men begin to return at the end of the war, including Sari's fiance, Ferenc, the Hungarian men's suspicions are aroused, and violence ensues.  Sari fears for her life, but ever resourceful, she comes up with a clever and devious plan to get rid of Ferenc.  It's not long before other women in the village want her help to rid themselves of their own husbands.  Will the village women get away with their sinister plans?

Amazingly, this novel is based on a true story the author discovered in a "true crime" book.  I found the story riveting, as did my teenage daughter.  I think teenage girls will be drawn to the teenaged protagonist, as well as to the love, passion, and crime central to the story.  It's a tale that's hard to forget, somehow mixing elements of fairy tale (the witch-like girl in the small village) and a more contemporary-feeling revenge story in a satisfying blend that will keep you up at night thinking about it.  I'm wondering if it's been optioned for the movies--I could definitely see it as a great thriller!

Book Review: My Brother's Shadow, by Monika Schroder (Frances Foster Books, 2011)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Set in Berlin in 1918, in the final days of World War I, this new novel tells the story of sixteen-year old Moritz, whose family's existence, like that of everyone else in Germany, has been ravaged by the effects of the seemingly endless war.  His father was killed on the battlefield, his older brother, Hans, is serving in the trenches on the Western front, his little sister has died of illness, and his mother spends all her time either working at an ammunition factory or attending socialist party meetings.  There's little to eat, with food rationed, and everything tasting of turnips, and people butchering horses who fall dead in the streets.  Moritz, who works as an apprentice printer, tries his best to make sense of it all, wondering who is right--his brother, who says it's an honor to serve the Kaiser, or his mother, who bemoans the fact that her husband "died for our foolish Kaiser, who loves his uniforms and his yachts."  Soon Moritz is given a chance to work as a journalist for one of Berlin's daily papers, covering the very socialist rallies where his mother and others are speaking out against the Kaiser and capitalist injustice. 

When Moritz's brother Hans returns from the front with horrible injuries, missing half his arm and blind in one eye, Hans is plagued by nightmares about the war, and sees the Jews as scapegoats for all of Germany's problems.  Morris, on the other hand, is having his first romance--with a Jewish girl.   The book's ominous conclusion foreshadows the increasing persecution of the Jews that will happen in Germany during the 1930's.

Author Monika Schroeder, who grew up in Berlin, provides an author's note discussing how the fall of 1918 was a pivotal time in German history, with the end of the "Great War," the Kaiser's abdication, and the establishment of a democratic government in the beginning of 1919.  With the Germans' humiliating defeat, conservatives and military leaders began blaming the Jews, the socialists, and the communists for all of Germany's woes, laying the groundwork for Hitler's rise to power.

My Brother's Shadow is a very thought-provoking and well-written book about a period ignored in most young adult fiction, which more typically focuses either on World War I or World War II and the few years immediately preceding that conflict.  We can easily identify with Moritz, whose story is told in the first person, and his divided family loyalties.  While the book covers some weighty issues, Moritz is also a typical teenage boy, interested in his first kiss with a girl.  We can sympathize with Moritz's mother as well, a strong character who is very involved in politics, and even his brother Hans, whose bitter experiences and injuries at the front have transformed his personality.  This novel would be a good choice to read along with Russell Freedman's outstanding nonfiction book on World War I published last year, The War to End All Wars:  World War I. 

Below is the book trailer for My Brother's Shadow:





On Friday, November 11, The Fourth Musketeer is pleased to have a guest post from author Monika Schroeder and a special giveaway of this excellent novel (U.S. and Canadian addresses only). Please see Friday's post to enter.