Book Review: A Giraffe Goes to Paris, by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris (Marshall Cavendish, 2010)

Recommended for ages 6-10.

This charming picture book tells the true story of Belle, a giraffe presented by the great pasha of Egypt to the king of France, Charles X, as narrated by Atir, her Egyptian caretaker.  But how to transport a giraffe all the way from Egypt to Paris?  First, she had to be transported down the Nile along with her entourage of three cows (to produce milk for her to drink) and two antelopes (to keep her company).  Then, a special hole had to be constructed in the deck of the ship, so Belle could be kept below but still have room for her long neck!  When she finally arrived in France, the citizens of Marseille marveled at this strange animal.  No one in France had ever seen a giraffe before.

But how to get her to Paris? It was decided that she should walk the 500 miles across France, equipped with a special raincoat and boots to protect her from the elements. Belle's entourage attracted curious crowds all along the journey. When she finally arrived in Paris, 30,000 people came out to greet her, and Paris went crazy for giraffes, with Belle inspiring songs, poems, paintings, pottery, jewelry, and even a giraffe shaped piano and a giraffe hairdo! When Belle finally met the king in July, 1827, she ate rose petals from his hand.

Belle lived for 18 years in Paris, housed at the Jardin des Plantes, where a special home for Belle and her keeper was constructed in the Rotunda.

This is a delightful picture book to share with elementary school-aged students; the author is an art historian and museum curator who has also written My Travels with Clara, another story about an exotic animal, in this case a rhinoceros.   The book features whimsical watercolor and ink illustrations combined with photographs of actual objects from the period, such as a barber bowl decorated with Belle and her keeper, Atir.

Book Review: The Other Half of Life, by Kim Ablon Whitney (Laurel Leaf Books, 2009)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Kim Ablon Whitney has written a riveting fictional account of the doomed voyage of the M.S. St. Louis, a luxury ocean liner which sailed from Germany to Cuba in 1939 with 937 passengers, nearly all German Jews desperate to escape Nazi Germany.  Refused safe haven by Cuba and the U.S., the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe; this journey has become symbolic of the indifference of the United States and the rest of the world to the plight of European Jewry on the eve of World War II.


Whitney tells the story of 15-year old Thomas, a fictional character who is representative of the young people who travelled alone on the ship.  His Christian mother is able to afford passage only for one, and with his Jewish father already arrested and in a concentration camp in Germany, she takes the opportunity to send him off to safety in Cuba.  


Once on board, Thomas is befriended by the beautiful teenage Priska and her family, who are sailing in first class.  Priska and Thomas are attracted to each other, and soon there is romantic tension to our story.  However, the irony of sailing on a luxury ocean liner, with caviar, swimming, and dancing, is not lost on Thomas or the largely Nazi crew, who are ordered by the Captain to treat the Jewish passengers with the same respect as they would treat the passengers on any other luxury ocean crossing.  From the outset, Thomas has a feeling that, despite their landing permits for Cuba, arriving safely is not guaranteed.  When he overhears the crew whispering about Cuban quotas possibly already being full, he resolves to keep his ears and eyes open.  


When the ship drops anchor outside the Havana harbor, Thomas and the other passengers realize there is a problem.  While negotiations with the Cubans proceed, Thomas and his friends organize a chess tournament to distract the passengers.  Thomas is a skilled chess player, and chess serves as a metaphor for the passengers of the St. Louis, who are being used by the Nazis as pawns in an elaborate propaganda game.  Was the whole trip a ruse on the part of the Nazi government--to show that  no one in other countries wants the Jews either?  


When Cuba refuses the passengers entry, the Captain sails to Miami, in the hope that the United States will take in the refugees, but the U.S. government, too, refuses to allow the ship to dock.  Forced to turn around, the St. Louis returned to Europe, where the passengers were taken in by England, France, Belgium, and Holland.  Sent to different countries, Thomas and Priska vow to meet in five years in Miami, never dreaming how the war would change their lives.  Will they reunite?  


The author concludes the novel with a moving account of Thomas and his family, 70 years later, visiting an exhibit on the St. Louis at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, where he sees life-size photographs of himself and others he befriended on the voyage.  In this final chapter, he tries to explain to his children why the United States didn't let them in, especially since over 700 of the passengers already had quota numbers for the U.S.  This is a question with no good answer.  


On the author's blog, she reports on a talk given by Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel on the 60th anniversary of the St. Louis' fateful voyage.  In his talk, he calls the St. Louis "the Moral Titanic," and spoke of the shame of the leaders of the free world who "failed the test of humanity" in turning the St. Louis away.  Wiesel singled out for praise, however, Captain Schroeder, whom he called the hero in the story (Schroeder was later honored as a "Righteous Gentile").  Wiesel, according to Whitney, ended his talk by concluding that all questions regarding the St. Louis remain unanswered. He stressed that what we can take away as students of history is that, as proven by Captain Schroeder, choice always exists.


As Whitney explains in an author's note, nearly all the characters in the book, with the notable exception of Captain Schroeder, are fictional, but are based on extensive research on the voyage, including her own interviews with survivors.  This outstanding novel has been honored with numerous awards, including the 2009 National Jewish Book Award, the Silver Parents Choice Award, and it was selected as a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for teen readers.  


A Teacher's Guide, author interview, and excerpt from the book can be found at the author's website.


A concise article summarizing the facts about the St. Louis as well as an on-line exhibit  can be found at the U.S. Holocaust Museum's website.


Also, the U.S. Holocaust Museum published in 2006 Refuge Denied:  The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust, a comprehensive study of what happened to the 937 passengers on board the ship.

Book Review: Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" , by Michael O. Tunnell (Charlesbridge, 2010)

Recommended for ages 8-12.

"This is a true story of chocolate, bubble gum and hope."

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Michael O. Tunnell's inspirational account of how one person can make a difference in the world. Tunnell tells the story of U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen, who was one of a group of U.S. and British pilots transporting food to the citizens of West Berlin in 1948 during the Soviet blockade of West Berlin. Tunnell provides concise and well-written background on what happened in Germany at the end of the war and how this blockade came about in the first place.

When Halvorsen first encounters the children of West Berlin, he is struck by their dignity and their commitment to freedom. After briefly conversing with a group of children on the other side of the airfield fence, he decides, on a whim, to give the children the two sticks of Doublemint gum in his pocket. Breaking them in half, he is sure that a fight over the four little sticks will break out among the candy-starved children. Instead, he is astonished to see that there was no fighting:

The lucky four who had plucked the half sticks from his fingers kept the gum, but they ripped the wrappers into strips, passing them around so everyone could breathe in the sweet, minty smell. "In all my experience, including Christmases past," he [Halvorsen] recalls, "I had never witnessed such an expression of surprise, joy, and sheer pleasure."

Suddenly, Halvorsen had an inspiration; why not drop some gum and candy on his next trip to Berlin? He told the delighted children of his plan, and they asked how they would recognize his plane. Halvorsen explained that he'd give them a signal--"When I get overhead, I'll wiggle the wings."

Halvorsen began his drops by asking his buddies to donate their personal candy rations, rations that were as valuable as currency in Germany. Not asking permission of his superiors, Halvorsen started his candy drops, using handkerchiefs to make parachutes in order to drop the candy in small packages. Soon mail began to pour in for Uncle Wiggly Wings or the Chocolate Pilot, and Halvorsen's superiors discovered his secret. Halvorsen was sure his candy dropping days were over, but instead the military was delighted with the terrific publicity the candy drops were generating. The Air Force adopted the name "Operation Little Vittles" for the candy drops and even hired two German secretaries to deal with all the incoming mail. The campaign soon spread, leading to candy drops all over the city, and donations of candy from individuals and companies in the United States, and as far away as Australia.

Lt. Halvorsen became a media celebrity, and became a hero to the children of West Berlin. It's hard for us to imagine today what these gifts of candy meant to the children of Berlin, and Tunnell has collected many anecdotes which allow us to experience their feelings. One Berliner remembered walking to school when he was ten:

"Suddenly, out of the mist came a parachute with a fresh Hershey chocolate bar from America," he recalled. "It took me a week to eat that candy bar...the chocolate was wonderful, but it wasn't the chocolate that was most important. What it meant was that someone in America cared. That parachute was something more important than candy. It represented hope."

Halvorsen continued his career with the Air Force long after the candy drop ended, but he and the children never forgot. In fact, when he returned to Berlin in 1970 as Commander of the base there, he was deluged with dinner invitations from grateful children, now grown. Halvorsen was even given the honor of leading Germany's team into the arena in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics. The book concludes with a biographical note about additional humanitarian missions Halvorsen has participated in, including candy drops to other war-torn regions such as Kosovo. At 87, he was even able to attend a ceremony in Germany commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.

The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs and memorabilia from Halversen's personal collection, including some of the hundreds of letters he received from Berlin's grateful children. The author also includes a brief bibliography as well as a historical note providing additional background material on World War II and its aftermath.

This book would be an outstanding addition to school and public libraries, and could be read in conjunction with Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot,, a lovely picture book on the same topic by Margot Theirs Raven (Sleeping Bear Press, 2002).  This picture book focuses on the story of one particular child and her encounters with Lt. Halvorsen, but also provides background on the entire chocolate bomber story.

A side note:  today's Los Angeles Times ran a front page article on Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, the airport used by the candy bombers and other pilots who airlifted supplies to post-war West Berlin.  The airport is now used as a big, unplanned, and very popular park, according to the Times.

Book Review: Picture the Dead, by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown (Sourcebooks, 2010)

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown have written a unique illustrated young adult novel that is difficult to categorize. It's carefully researched historical fiction but also a ghost story and a mystery with graphic novel elements as well. With illustrations that mimic the look of a Civil War scrapbook kept by our heroine, our story is told in the first person by orphan Jennie Lovell, who together with her twin brother has been raised for the last four years by her aunt and uncle alongside their two sons, Will and Quinn. Before the novel opens, Jennie and Will have fallen in love and become engaged.

Jennie's girlish dreams of happiness vanish as all three young men in the household go off to fight for the Union cause. First her brother dies of disease (which killed many more soldiers than did the battles themselves), then her cousin Quinn staggers home with a terrible wound to his face and the news that her fiance, Will, has died in combat. Or has he?

Jennie soon realizes that Quinn has a secret he's not telling--"and the dead cannot defend themselves." With the death of her fiance, Jennie has no status in the household. She writes:

I am sixteen years old, nearly grown, my school days finished, my fiance dead on the battlefield, my future as valuable as a wooden nickel.

She tries to make herself useful as a nurse to Quinn, and helps with various household tasks, becoming more like a servant than a member of the family.

But when her uncle asks Jennie to contact a photographer who also has a reputation as a medium, strange things begin to happen. Is Will trying to communicate with her from the grave, or is the spirit photographer playing tricks on her? How can she explain the mysterious events that lead her to discover a lost locket, Will's last letter, and perhaps the secret as to how Will really died--not on the battlefield at all, but as a prisoner at the infamous Andersonville prison camp?

There is certainly no shortage of novels for young people about this period, but Picture the Dead, with its genre-bending story, makes an important contribution to Civil War novels and would be an excellent purchase for school or public libraries, as well as for any reader who enjoys a good mystery and ghost story.

What is unique about this book is the way the author/illustrator integrate both spiritualism and photography into their tale, both of which played a critical role in this time period. Spiritualism, or the belief that the living can communicate with the dead through mediums, attracted enormous numbers of followers during this time period, capitalizing on the millions who grieved for loved ones lost during the war. Photography, too, was tremendously important at the time; the Civil War was the first major combat to be widely photographed, with teams of photographers sent out to cover the action. Because of the unwieldy equipment, photographers could depict only camp scenes, preparations for or retreat from action, or the horrifying aftermath of battle.

In this novel, the many illustrations are integral to the story, even providing clues to the mystery; Brown based her images on Civil War-era photographs from the Library of Congress. Here's an example: In fact, the models for the different characters are one of the many topics that can be explored on the book's terrific website, which also includes lots of additional information about the Civil War, the authors, photography during the period, and more, as well as useful links to other informational sites.

An interview with Lisa Brown about Picture The Dead can be found here:

To read the first chapter of this book, click here.

Book Blogger Hop #5

Crazy for Books hosts a weekly Book Blogger Hop! Please feel free to hop around my site to read reviews of current historical fiction and history-related nonfiction for children and teens.

Our question for the week from our fearless blog leader:  RIGHT THIS INSTANT, WHAT BOOK ARE YOU DYING TO GET YOUR HANDS ON (PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE)?


Hmm, that's a hard one.  Right now I'm really looking forward to British YA/historical fiction novelist Celia Rees' upcoming release The Fool's Girl--I'm supposed to be getting an ARC and I can't wait to read it!  


What's new on my blog? Check out my reviews of two new YA books that have been getting a lot of "buzz"--The Water Seeker, by award-winning novelist Kimberly Willis Holt, and Three Rivers Rising, by Jame Richards, a wonderful new YA novelist.   And Friday I'm reviewing Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown, a genre-busting mystery-ghost story-historical fiction-graphic novel. Let me know if you visited through the hop and I'll come visit your blog as well.

Book Review: Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook, by Beverly Patt (Marshall Cavendish, 2010)

Recommended for ages 9-14.

Tweens are likely to identify strongly with the sensitively-drawn characters in Beverly Patt's new scrapbook/novel that tells the story of a close friendship between 14-year old Louise and her best friend Dottie Masuoka during World War II. Louise starts the scrapbook when the Masuoka family and all other Japanese families are "relocated" to internment camps at the beginning of the war; it's her way of keeping a record of everything that happens to share with Dottie upon her return, from the goings-on at school to the growth of Dottie's puppy, Roxy, who she was forced to leave with Louise and her family because pets were not allowed at the internment camps. With yellowed pages and old newspaper clippings, photos, and miscellaneous period items such as hair ribbons and margarine box labels attached with yellowed tape, the book looks like it could indeed be a old scrapbook, which adds to the realism of the story.

Louise includes Dottie's illustrated letters to her describing life in the camp, from the boredom, the constant dust, to her worries about her grandfather's declining health. Dottie wonders poignantly in one of her letters to Louise, "Why was I born with this Japanese face? No one can see my American heart."

Louise has her own troubles at home; because of their German last name, neighbors throw rocks through their front window, together with a note "Go back to Germany, Nazis." She can't help wondering why, since America is at war with Germany and Italy too, they aren't locked up in camps like the Japanese? How can America be "the land of the free and the home of the brave," Louise wonders, when her friend Dottie and her family are forced to live behind barbed wire. Not to mention the small dramas of teenage life that Louise must cope with, including how to knit socks for soldiers without holes, squabbles with friends, growing a Victory Garden, her worries when her own brother joins the Navy, and even a flirtation with a wounded sailor.

When Dottie and her family are moved to another internment camp, Louise's letters go unanswered. Why doesn't Dottie answer? Louise begins a letter-writing campaign to the Office of War Relocation Authority in a desperate (and ultimately successful) attempt to find out the whereabouts of her friend's family.

The scrapbook covers just a year, and at the end, many questions are unresolved, including when Dottie will be able to come home. But Louise knows in her heart that their friendship will endure.

This was a very well-done and well-researched book that would be enjoyed by girls who read the American Girl series of historical fiction, and are ready to read something aimed at a bit older audience. The book also recalls the series of handwritten historical journals by fictional girls by Marissa Moss (i.e. Hannah's Journal). The only jarring note I found in the book was on the end-pages, where it looks as if Louise has written in by hand: "Louise + Dottie = BF4Ever." This type of abbreviation, which will be easily interpreted by contemporary young people who are used to texting, doesn't seem to fit into the World War II context of the book.

The book includes an excellent Author's Note which provides background on Japanese involvement in World War II and the internment camps set up by the U.S. government. Patt also provides a bibliography at the end of the book. Additional resources are available on the author's website, which includes a teacher's guide, an interview with the author about the book, and a recipe for sugar cookies referred to in the story.

Those interested in further exploring Japanese internment camps may want to read Cynthia Kadohata's novel Weedflower, as well as the classic Farewell to Manzanar.

Book Review: Two Miserable Presidents: Everything your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War, by Steve Sheinkin (Roaring Brook, 2008)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

"History--with the good bits put back!"

My teenage son and I are big fans of Steve Sheinkin's graphic novels about Rabbi Harvey, and I wasn't surprised to find out that his series on U.S. history for young readers is just as entertaining. His website describes these books as "guaranteed-never-boring history books, packed with all the true stories and real quotes he was never allowed to use during his career as a textbook writer." Three have been published to date: one on the American Revolution, (King George: What Was His Problem?), another on Western expansion, (Which Way to the Wild West?) , and the one on the Civil War that I am discussing today.

I have been on a bit of a Civil War reading binge since spending three days in Gettysburg last summer (where my daughter complained of Civil War overload); my 14-year old son and I have recently been spending evenings since school got out watching Ken Burns' mammoth Civil War documentary (5 DVD's and 11 hours worth). I watched the series when it was first broadcast on PBS 20 years ago, but it's the first time for my son.

For those who don't want to spend 11 hours watching Ken Burns' documentary, however, Sheinkin, a former writer of American history textbooks, includes much of the same information in a much briefer format, complete with cartoon illustrations by Tim Robinson. Despite the comical look of the series, Sheinkin includes a serious historical overview of the war, which highlights all the key events leading up to the war, from the Fugitive Slave Act to John Brown, the Dred Scott decision, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates, among others, as well as the key events of the war itself. Like Ken Burns, Sheinkin includes many anecdotes from ordinary citizens, as well as highlighting lesser-known participants such as Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a Confederate spy known as the Wild Rose of Washington.

Sheinkin does not forget to profile some of the famous colorful personalities of the war, who continue to fascinate us, such as Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, George McClellan, Ulysses S. Grant, and of course, Lincoln. Did you know Lincoln was a terrific wrestler? The author also provides plenty of details on ordinary life for soldiers, especially how hungry they were. One story that appears in both Burns' documentary and Sheinkin's book is the following:

John Billings of Massachusetts remembered that the most popular way to eat hardtack (the basis for the Yankee soldiers' diet) was to crumble it up into coffee. One problem: hardtack was often home to weevils and maggots and other bugs. "It was no uncommon occurrence for a man to find the surface of his pot of coffee swimming with weevils," he said, "but they were easily skimmed off and left no distinctive flavor behind." That gives you an idea of how hungry these boys were.

Sheinkin's book ends with Lincoln's assassination, but he provides an excellent "What Ever Happened to" appendix which provides follow-up information on key personalities who appear in his book. He also provides a bibliography of many of the sources he used, which is divided into specific categories including general books on the war, biographies of major Civil War figures, books about everyday life during the war, books on specific battles, memoirs by Civil War personalities, and more.

I highly recommend this book for young readers, not only those who enjoy history but more importantly for those who think history is boring; unfortunately, this is an attitude which is not surprising given how dry our history textbooks for young people are. It even makes a great review of the Civil War for adults who want to brush up on this fascinating period of our history.

I love this quote by Sheinkin about history textbooks:

Why are textbooks so boring? I could explain--but it would be boring. I'll just mention one serious problem with textbooks: they always seem to avoid quotes that are at all funny, amazing, surprising, disgusting, confusing, stupid, mean, or anything else interesting. One of my main goals with this book was to fill it with all the quotes I never got to use in textbooks.

One of the quotes his editors probably cut is the following delightful anecdote about the Confederates' fighting spirit: Sheinkin relates that Southern school books of the era included math problems such as the following:

If one Confederate soldier can ship seven Yankees, how many Confederate soldiers can whip forty-nine Yankees?

Here's some pictures of Sheinkin's other history books with the good bits put back: