Branded by the Pink Triangle

Setterington, Ken. Branded by the Pink Triangle. Second Story, 2013. 196pp. Lexile 1110.

Although the Holocaust holds an important place in the curriculum, the subject of how Nazis persecuted the gay population rarely gets much attention.  This moving book fills in that gap, combining historical facts and true, often heartbreaking, stories. The text offers historical context, then discusses how gays--mostly men--were located, sent to concentration camps, and suffered and died there. Even those who survived the war continued to suffer since they couldn’t speak out about their experiences in a world where homosexuality was illegal (and still is in many places, as the author discusses at the end).  Black-and-white photographs, pictures of artifacts, notes, an index, and a timeline all add to the effectiveness of this important narrative.  A Stonewall Honor Book.

Reading Std #1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and implicitly, citing specific textual evidence to support conclusions drawn from it. The author excels at integrating stories that make the persecution and suffering feel personal, including one about a male couple who held a commitment ceremony in the early 1930s, only to be separated forever after the Nazis arrested them.  Have students identify several such stories and analyze them in terms of language and how they add to the emotional impact of the text.

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi

Bascomb, Neal. The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi . Scholastic, 2013. 256pp. Lexile 1000.

 In 1960, six agents from Israel's Mossad intelligence operations tracked down and captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who had orchestrated the deaths of millions of Jews.  This adaptation of Hunting Eichmann, the author's book for adults, conveys the story in context with intriguing details and well-chosen quotations from primary sources.  Eichmann was living in Argentina, a country not likely to facilitate the capture, so the agents worked secretly.  After verifying the identity of Eichmann, who was working in a factory, the Mossad agents carefully put their plan into action.  Each of the agents on the team had a strength--languages, falsifying documents, building secret compartments.  Most of them had relatives killed in the Holocaust, which gave the mission an unusual level of meaning, knowing they'd meet one of the men responsible for their loss.  Without fictionalizing, this reads like a spy novel but one with a deep emotional impact. 

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  The author does a good job of building suspense throughout the story, even for the reader who knows at the beginning what will happen to Eichmann.  Have students analyze the text to see how the author creates tension in the reader through the pacing.  How does he use structure and language to speed up and slow down the pace?  How does this compare to techniques used to create suspense in fiction?

His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg: Courage, Rescue, and Mystery During World War II

 Borden, Louise. His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg: Courage, Rescue, and Mystery During World War II. Houghton, 2012. 136pp. Lexile 1080.

As a Swedish diplomat in Hungary during World War II, Raoul Wallenberg saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews with documents that he and his staff printed. This accessible biography, which uses a verse format, starts with Wallenberg's childhood, goes on to his student days at the University of Michigan and then his career as an international businessman. Many aspects of his life, such as his facility with languages and his business experience with Germans, worked to make him remarkably effective in his dangerous mission. His enormous courage and desire to do something meaningful were key as well, making it all the more heartbreaking that he disappeared when the Russians entered Hungary and his life ended in a Russian prison. Borden discusses the attempts of family members to uncover the mystery of what happened to him. An attractive, open design makes the most of photographs and artifacts from the life and work of this hero. Bibliography, resources, and index.

Reading Std #5: Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and/or larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole. Biographies in verse are unusual.  Have students analyze why the author used verse, what it added, and its overall effect on the story.

Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow. Scholastic, 2005. 176pp.  Lexile 1050.

This Sibert Honor Book by one of the best nonfiction writers for young people looks at Nazi Germany through the lens of the Hitler Youth movement, which by 1934 included almost half of Germans ages ten to eighteen. It was later mandated that every healthy adolescent and teen, excluding Jews, become a member, a total of about eight million youth.  As this disturbing, informative book reveals, Hitler used the movement to train loyal citizens and future soldiers. Schools eventually focused on the movement’s goals, with five hours of the school day devoted to physical training; parents who objected risked imprisonment. Bartoletti introduces specific boys and girls from the time, using quotes and photographs to convey their personalities. While most of the young people in this multifaceted book were enthusiastic Hilter Youth, others described in one chapter resisted through illegal publications and other dangerous tactics.  Another chapter looks at teenage boys, some very young, who fought as soldiers near the end of the war.  As she explains in her excellent author’s note, Bartoletti interviewed survivors and did researched using newspapers, magazines, letters, journals, and oral histories.  Back matter includes an appendix on what happened to some of the teens, a chronology, end notes, a bibliography, and an index.  Of the many black-and-white photographs, those of resisters who died and young soldiers are especially moving.

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  Have students analyze how Bartoletti features certain young people such as Sophie Scholl, Henry Metelmann, Alfons Heck and Helmuth Hubener throughout the text to give different viewpoints and stories.

Fiction tie-in: Bartoletti wrote a fine novel, The Boy Who Dared,  based on Helmuth Hübener, a teenager in Nazi Germany who started an underground newsletter to combat Nazi propaganda but was caught and executed.

Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon

Sheinkin, Steve. Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon. 2012. 266pp. Lexile 920.
 
During World War II, the U.S. raced Germany to build an atomic bomb.  Germany needed a heavy water plant in Nazi-occupied Norway to succeed so resistance fighters in Norway, backed by the British, schemed to destroy the plant.  Meanwhile the Soviets, knowing they couldn't catch up, sought to steal the technology from the Americans.  In a skillful narrative, Sheinkin plays these three stories off of each other, ratcheting up the suspense in each of them.  He draws a striking picture of Robert Oppenheimer and his team of physicists at Los Alamos who, unknown to them, had spies for the Soviets in their midst.  Their excitement over their research and especially testing the bomb contrasts with their increasing concern about its consequences. The attempts at sabotage by the Norwegians will have readers on the edge of their seats.  A real sense of drama, grounded in rich details and quotes, pervades this must-read nonfiction on one of the most important topics of our time. Winner of the Sibert Award and the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction. A Newbery Honor Book and one of five National Book Award Finalists.  Bibliography, source notes, index. 

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  The development and interaction of the three main threads are key to this book's effectiveness.  Have students analyze how and why Sheinkin combined them.  They can also look at how Oppenheimer changes over the course of the book.  Another possible topic to track is the morality of building and using the bomb, which emerges as a theme with arguments on both sides.

Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery

Freedman, Russell. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery. 1993. 334 pp. Lexile 1100.

Eleanor Roosevelt is known for saying, “"You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  This excellent biography, a Newbery Honor book, illustrates how she put this adage into action in her own life, which was filled with courage and public service.  Freedman looks at the span of Roosevelt’s life, covering personal aspects but emphasizing on her many accomplishments.  He gives an even-handed view of her sometimes troubled marriage, a marriage that led to her international influence as she traveled around the world during and after World War II working for peace and social justice.  Excellent black-and-white photographs enhance the text, with an additional fifteen pages of photos at the end.  Back matter includes a list of sites to visit, a bibliographic essay, and an index.  A pleasure to read.

Reading Std #6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.  Freedman seems to present his information with a neutral tone.  Have students look closely to see if they can detect a point of view that the author is advancing, citing specific passages in the text.

Navajo Code Talkers: America's Secret Weapon in World War II

Aaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers: America's Secret Weapon in World War II. 2005. Available in paperback. 114pp. Lexile: 1170.

This is a terrific story that deserves a wide audience, yet was kept secret by government order for decades.  During World War II, the Marines recruited Navajos to develop and transmit an unbreakable code based on their native language. The irony is that boarding schools for Indians run by the government had vigorously tried to suppress Navajo and other Indian languages, washing out children’s mouths with soap when they spoke their native language.  The Navajo marines faced danger and death in the Pacific as they received and transmitted messages on the forefront of the fighting, messages instrumental in many key battles. As one major is quoted as saying, “Were it not for the Navajo code, we would never have taken Iwo Jima.”  This is not only a great war story but also a story of great generosity as Navajos whose tribe had been severely mistreated by the U.S. government nevertheless fought and died for their country.  Includes a useful map of the Pacific battle sites.

Fiction tie-in  Pair this with Joseph Bruchac’s 2005 novel, Code Talker, about a fictional Navajo Marine, schooled at a harsh boarding school, where speaking Navajo is punished.  As a teenager, he joins the Marines to be a code talker during the war, seeing brutal action in Guadalcanal, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. 

Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust

Thomson, Ruth. Terezin: Voices from the Holocaust. 2011. 64pp. Lexile: 980.

In this powerful, heartbreaking book, Thomson brings together short quotes from children, teens, and adults who were prisoners at Terezin (also called Theresienstadt), a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.  Of the 15,000 children held there over the years, fewer than 100 survived.  The author draws on memoirs and oral histories of survivors, and journals from the time that were hidden.  An extensive cache of artwork was smuggled out, some of which is reproduced here to great effect.  Many scholars, artists, musicians, and writers were at Terezin, where they managed to teach children and organize performances.  One of the horrors is that the Nazis used Terezin as an example of how humanely they treated prisoners, “beautifying” it for Red Cross visitors and making a propaganda film about it.  The excellent book design offers short chapters, many quotes, and remarkable art.  Back matter includes a timeline, glossary, sources, and recommended websites.

Speech/drama tie-in   This presents many short first-person excerpts of children, teens, and children, which would lend themselves to oral presentation with students taking on the different voices.

Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II

Colman, Penny. Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II. 1995. 113pp. Lexile 1060.  Available in paperback.

Many of the women who worked during World War II lost their jobs as soon as men returned home.  But "they never forgot that once there was a time in America when women were told that they could do anything.  And they did."  So concludes this outstanding history book about the six million brave, competent women whose work was vital to the war effort and kept the nation going.  A wide variety of excellent photographs portrays women in their jobs from shipyards to farmyards, jobs previously closed to women, who were considered too weak or delicate for them.  It‘s inspiring to read about the individual women who took on difficult work and succeeded at it, and heartbreaking to see them suddenly out of work when the war ended.  The book's back matter includes index, bibliography, chronology, and additional facts and figures.  A well-crafted, exciting book about women's history.

               

Reading Std #3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.  Colman uses specific examples of women, their work, and its effect on them.  Have students compare and contrast these women,  grouping them in categories to get a broader picture of the effect of war and work on the groups.