Recommended+Print+Sources


 * __The Terrible Things__**
 * Eve Bunting, Illustrated by Stephen Gammell**

Bunting, E., & Gammell, S. (1989). //Terrible Things: an allegory of the Holocaust//. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

“ In this allegory, the author's reaction to the Holocaust, the animals of the forest are carried away, one type after another, by the Terrible Things, not realizing that if perhaps they would all stick together and not look the other way, such terrible things might not happen,” (NoveList Plus).

Glenview District 34 7th Grade RLA Learning Target: · I can identify the techniques an author uses to influence the reader’s point of view.

__Rationale:__ This book would be utilized to showcase what is referred to as “author control,” meaning that the author has the power to influence his or her readers’ thoughts through the writing. The genre of allegory would be introduced with this book, highlighting how powerful an author’s hidden meaning can be. I envision paralleling Bunting’s __The Terrible Things__ with the film “The Wave,” adopted from Todd Strasser’s novel with the same title. Both sources highlight the dangers of compliance and provide insight as to why ordinary citizens would be willing to support such dangerous movements. This idea directly relates to the essential questions, “Why are/were ordinary people willing to become mass murderers?” and “Why were/are ordinary people willing to become mass murderers?” Following instruction in the aforementioned sources, a persuasive writing prompt addressing the essential question, “Would you stand up to help?” would be applicable.


 * __The Butterfly__**
 * Patricia Polacco**

Polacco, P. (2000). //The butterfly//. New York: Philomel Books.


 * “** During the Nazi occupation of France, Monique's mother hides a Jewish family in her basement and tries to help them escape to freedom,” (NoveList Plus).

Glenview District 34 7th Grade RLA Learning Target: · I can compare different characters’ conflicts and how they deal with their conflicts.

__Rationale:__ __The Butterfly__ would be used to highlight on a common theme in Holocaust texts, the alliance and/or friendship that formed between Jews and non-Jews. In focusing on comparing and contrasting Monique and Sevrine’s conflicts within the story, I envision drawing attention to the sensory details Polacco included in the text. For example, “The tall shining boots of the Nazi soldiers. Their heels clicked like gunshots along the cobblestone path,” (Polacco). Asking students to pause during the reading and describe exactly what each character, Monique and Sevrine, is feeling at that point would emphasize similarities and differences between their conflicts. In analyzing the common theme of a Jewish person and a non-Jewish person forming an alliance during the Holocaust is found in many other historical fiction including: John Boyne’s __The Boy in the Striped Pajamas__ and Roberto Innocenti’s __Rose Blanche.__ In considering __The Butterfly__ or any other text with the related theme, students should be referred back to the essential question for this study, “Would you stand up to help?” In discussion of this particular text, take the time to note Monique and her friend Denise’s reactions to the Nazi soldiers when they come to take Monsieur Marks away. In teaching this book, I feel it is essential to share with students the author’s note, which describes the true story of __The Butterfly__’s main character Monique (Pollaco’s aunt) and her commitment to the resistance against the Nazi regime. This element of the story would help characters who appear to be fictional come to life for many students. Using Temple, Martinez and Yokota’s definition of “fictionalized family history” in regards to historical fiction, students could be informed on how writers often build on family stories that have been passed down through generations (Children’s Books in Children’s Hands).


 * (Selections from) __The Diary of a Young Girl__**
 * Anne Frank**

Frank, A. (1972). //Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl//. New York: Washington Square Press.

“A young girl's journal records her family's struggles during two years of hiding from the Nazis in war-torn Holland,” (NoveList Plus).


 * TOGETHER WITH**


 * __Annexed__**
 * Sharon Dogar**

Dogar, S. (2010). //Annexed//. London: Houghton Mifflin.

“Retells the story of Anne Frank from the perspective of Peter, who overcomes an initial loathing for the precocious young diarist before falling in love with her and questioning his faith in light of frightening persecutions,” (NoveList Plus).

Glenview District 34 7th Grade RLA Learning Target: · I can recognize the similarities and differences between two or more different points of view. · I can analyze both fiction and non-fiction texts.

__Rationale:__ Comparing and contrasting a non-fiction and a historical fiction text can provide for profound literary analysis, particularly when the two texts are written on the same events and experience. At a basic level, students could note similarities and differences between the two texts in regards to both their perspective on the same experience told from varying point of views and the relationship between Frank’s non-fiction diary and Dogar’s historical fiction novel. Important in analyzing these two texts in accordance with one another is the affect that the narrator’s first person point of view can have on the reader. First person narration provides a profoundly different experience for the reader than a story told from the third person perspective. I envision these two novels, through their first person narration, deeply connecting to seventh grade students. The exposed nature of the first person diary-style entries provides a raw, and at times painfully graphic, portrayal of these two teens’ experiences. The diary entries also promote readers to empathize with characters who lived decades ago, making many of their experiences seem no different from those of teens today. __Annexed__ author Sharon Dogar writes in the epilogue, “[In this novel]…Peter exists as an “everyman,’” (Dogar). I envision asking the students to what they believe this statement means and how it relates to our essential question of, “Why should we remember?” Peter and Anne are essentially two of the many millions of people persecuted in the Holocaust. Asking students why we should remember these two stories specifically should ignite a rich discussion that could stem the additional question, “What would happen if we do not remember?” Through guidance, students could connect to another essential question with this discussion, “Could a holocaust happen again?” In this case, the teacher’s role would be to bring students full circle to the understanding that “if we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.”


 * __Rose Blanche__**
 * Roberto Innocenti**

Innocenti, R., & Gallaz, C. (1985). //Rose Blanche// (American ed.). Mankato, Minn., USA: Creative Education.

“ During World War II, a young German girl experiences Nazism, secretly brings food to Jewish children in a nearby concentration camp, and perishes during a battle between German and Soviet soldiers,” (NoveList Plus).

Glenview District 34 7th Grade RLA Learning Target: · I can draw conclusions based on information found in visual information and data. This means that I can look at information presented visually and explain what it means.

__Rationale:__ __Rose Blanche__ is the perfect picture book to have students analyze for visual literacy. Innocenti’s beautiful artwork brings to life the story of Rose, her discovery and eventually her demise. I have often shared with students that this story could be told without the text accompanying the illustrations. The first recommendation is for students to analyze the illustrations in their color. On the first page, the red of the Nazi flags catches the readers’ eye. The only other red image that pops on this first page is that of the bow in Rose’s hair. Throughout the next few pages, Rose’s red bow continues to command the attention of the readers. On the pages where the mayor grabs the little boy in the street, once again, the dangerous red color pops from the mayor’s armband, making certain that readers acknowledge his Nazi affiliation. On the page where Rose observes the boy being loaded into a truck, readers first begin to note the color of Rose’s face beginning to fade. When Rose follows the truck and the red and white gate lowers behind her, once again, the readers’ focus in drawn to the danger that lies ahead. Pages later, when Rose goes for a follow up visit to share food with the prisoners, readers notice although a more subdued red is used, Rose is still wearing her red bow and pink skirt. On the very next page, Rose appears without a bow at all and her once pink skirt is completely colorless. Readers cannot miss the changes in the image of Rose from the left to the right side of the book. In the remaining pages, no red is shown until the final page, when a small red flower stands in the same place where Rose stood when “there was a shot.” Students could engage in a discussion of symbolism based around this red flower. Early in the story, the little boy from the street is standing with his arms raised before the mayor and a soldier. By conducting a Google image search for “Jewish boy with arms raised before Nazi soldier,” an eerily similar photograph of a Jewish boy taken during the Holocaust can be found. I came across this image before reading __Rose Blanche__ for the first time. Upon my first read, I kept coming back to Innocenti’s illustration, trying to match it from my memory. Asking students to compare the illustration to the photograph can draw parallels from historical fiction to history. This is a very valuable exercise to conduct with students. I hope that in the future I will be able to find more information regarding the connection between Innocenti’s illustration and this photograph. In reading this story with students in the past, many argue about what happens to Rose at the end of the book. Many assume that she was shot in the field, while others argue that is not the case, being that it was never explicitly state in the text. The conclusion of __Rose Blanche__ provides a wonderful opportunity to highlight making an inference with students. I have yet to conduct this lesson and have all students agree on the outcome. I believe that one of the reasons for this debate is that many students have a hard time accepting that Rose has been killed. Through the touching story and lifelike illustrations, students connect to Rose and have a hard time embracing her death. Regardless of opinion, this conclusion of the __Rose Blanche__ is ideal for teacher a lesson on how readers infer.


 * __The Book Thief__**
 * Markus Zusak**

Zusak, M. (2006). //The book thief//. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

“ Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors,” (NoveList Plus).

Glenview District 34 7th Grade RLA Learning Target: · I can compare characters' situations to real-life situations by making connections.

__Rationale:__ I envision using __The Book Thief__ to analyze character development and have students connect to story’s the characters themselves. This analysis would then lead to students researching common outcomes for similar situations from the Holocaust. Students would begin creating a chart with four columns: 1) What the character did in the story (citing the specific page number), 2) What I (the student) would do, 3) Why is your choice different or why is your choice the same and 4) What most people did? After students had completed their reading and filled in their charts, a discussion would take pace, focusing on why students chose to make the decisions they did. The teacher may want to choose specific examples of character actions from the book or allow students to choose their own. In the analysis, I would facilitate the students’ connection to the characters in reviewing the second column, “What would I do?” and “Why this choice is either the same or different than the character in the book?” Students’ fear of consequences in the situation may help to answer the essential question, “Why were/are ordinary people willing to become mass murderers?” Students may also work to answer the question, “Would you stand up to help?” through this discussion. Being __The Book Thief__ is written from such a unique point of view, no literary analysis of this text would be complete without addressing the significance death’s perspective plays in this story.

-The concept for this lesson came through collaborative work with Marek Dzianott, Attea Middle School
 * __The Boy Who Dared__**
 * Susan Campbell Bartoletti**

Bartoletti, S. C. (2008). //The boy who dared//. New York: Scholastic Press.

“ In October, 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hubener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people,” (NoveList Plus).

Glenview District 34 7th Grade RLA Learning Target: · I can understand the importance of asking questions when reading. [For the purpose of this novel, the learning target would be for students to understand the importance of asking questions generally about their everyday experience, not specifically to what they are reading.]

__Rationale:__ Through his involvement in the Hitler Youth, the main character, Helmuth, begins asking himself questions about what is happening in the world around him. In listening to BBC broadcasts on his illegal radio, Helmuth’s questions spawn questions. Rather than being compliant, Helmuth recognizes the value of truth and commits himself to sharing his message, regardless of consequence. Helmuth’s self-questioning directly relates to our essential question, “Why is it important to ask questions about what is happening around us?” Helmuth’s powerful revelations were a product of his rebellion. This discussion with students would be supported by the quote from Hungarian Holocaust survivor Istvan Deák, "The heroes of the Holocaust years were not those who obeyed the law, but those who were willing to break it." During the scene when Helmuth hides his books under his bed, he and his brother discuss the moral dilemma that Helmuth is internally dealing with. He asks his brother, Gerhard, “Is it ever all right to do something you’re not supposed to?” (Bartoletti). The two boys discuss whether or not breaking the law is justified when helping someone or keeping them from harm. Helmuth’s question, in relation to the previous discussion, would ask students to consider when is it acceptable to stand out in acts of rebellion. This type of critical question is sure engage students in discussion. Early in Helmuth’s story, while in the theater, the Germans are shared the announcement, “From now on… Germans will read only German books by German authors, books that promote strong, traditional German ideals,” (Bartoletti). Recalling that students participated in Banned Books week activities earlier in the year, I would ask students to share their thoughts on this announcement in the German theater. Through discussion, students would recognize the control that the Nazi party was establishing in censoring the books the German people had access to and discuss Helmuth’s discomfort following the announcement. I also envision asking students to consider areas in which there is pressure to censor ideas in our modern society, making mention of our Banned Books week activities. Asking this question will draw on the essential question, “Could a holocaust happen again and if so, how?” The objective would be for students to make the connection that with censorship and limitation of access to any information, dangerous biases are established.

**Additional References List** NoveList Plus - powered by EBSCOhost: Basic Search. //EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page//. Retrieved November 10, 2010, from http://web.ebscohost.com/novp/search?vid=2&hid=12&sid=415564f5-6e6d-4cb5-baa0-220d3495b706%40sessionmgr10

Temple, C. A., Martinez, M., & Yokota, J. (2006). //Children's books in children's hands: an introduction to their literature// (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Allyn And Bacon.