Category Archives: History

Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust

30 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by in History, Non-Fiction, social studies, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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by Heidi Fried

Remembering the past in all its glory and/or depravity is the first step to changing the future. Someone has said that if we do not remember the past, we are doomed to repeat it. Since Heidi Fried lived through the events of the Holocaust, she is able to help us see clearly what happened in the hope that we never repeat that history.

Some people today are so ignorant that they are even saying the Holocaust did not happen. Fried shows the reader clearly that it really happened. The question of why it happened at all is one that can never be answered to anyone’s satisfaction. It is probably best just to acknowledge that it did happen and to do everything in our power to see that it never happens again. That is Fried’s position.

Her book is designed to answer questions she has encountered over her lifetime. At the age of 90 she has reached the step of gerotransendence in her life and thus is able to look back at all that happened to her with a detachment that probably was not possible for her earlier. Her dispassionate responses to the questions are reflective of her age.

Fried explains about how World War II changed her life as a Romanian Jew who was from a good middle class family to being a slave in a labor/extermination camp. At nineteen, she was looking forward to continuing her education at a university, but instead she found herself orphaned with a younger sister to care for and to try to keep both of them alive. Fortunately, both girls were in their late teens and appeared strong enough to work—at least for a while—for the Nazis. Both girls survived and went to live in Sweden.

Fried answers over forty questions for the reader. Some of them are quite personal, such as: Where you raped? How did you handle your periods? Why did you choose Sweden? Others are more philosophical, such as: Why did Hitler hate the Jews?  After all that has happened, do you still believe in God? Could it happen again?

Many authors have produced good works about the Holocaust, but I feel that first person narratives are the best source of true information. Every library should add this book to its collection. Social studies teachers would find this a very valuable source for discussions on the Holocaust. Fried even provides a list of discussion questions. I highly recommend the purchase of this book.

Covid 19 and Other Pandemics: a Comparison by Don Nardo

13 Thursday May 2021

Posted by in History, Social Issues, Young Adult

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is covid-19-image.jpg

While we are in the throes of COVID-19, we need to remind ourselves that pandemics are not new and that many of them have been many times more deadly than the pandemic we face today. Our current crises is only eighth (3.4 million deaths) out of others like the Black Death (1347-1351 AD) at number one with 200 million deaths, The Smallpox in the New World (1520-1796) at number two with 56 million deaths, and the Spanish Flu (1918-1919) at number three with 40-50 million deaths. We must also remind ourselves that there will be future pandemics facing humanity.

Nardo gives the reader a look at pandemics of the past and helps us understand what science has learned from them. He also goes into the effect that disease had on the New World, both in loss of life of the indigenous population and the effect on the economy of their deaths. The Aztec people were almost totally wiped out by disease. Since they believed that the diseases were caused by gods and since they noticed that the conquerors were not getting sick (because of the immunity they had developed), many of them turned to the new god as their salvation.

He explains that the need for many laborers to work fields and the lack of indigenous people to do that led to the expansion of the African slave trade. Many Africans, like the Europeans, had developed immunity to the diseases which were killing off the natives. Nardo ends the work with a good discussion of COVID-19 and what has happened so far. He does not take sides on the debates swirling in our society. He provides facts and allows the reader to make his/her own decision. The book has excellent illustrations, a good bibliography and index. I think it will be very useful for middle school, high school, and public libraries.

Harry Potter: a History Of Magic

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Fantasy, History, Mythology, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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Harry Potter: A History of Magic (American Edition)
British Library and New York Historical Museum and Library

Once in a while, I run across a book that just makes me want to say, “WOW!” This is such a book.

It may be hard to believe, but it has been 20 years since, J.K. Rowling first introduced Harry Potter to the world. This anniversary edition is done by the British Library and The New York Historical Society. The book is actually subtitled; The Official Companion to the British Library Exhibition at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. I understand that there is an exhibit in New York of the history of magic going on now.

As one might suppose, the history of magic through the ages is presented to the reader, but is it done in a rather unique format. The chapters are arranged to lead the reader through the history as if he or she were taking classes at Hogwarts. The titles of each chapter is the name of a class that Harry would have taken at Hogwarts; i.e Herbology, Divination, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Most things presented in the text are actual historical items, but interspersed with the historical are copies of drafts of Rowling’s drafts for the texts of the Harry Potter series and actual artwork for those books. Some illustrations are pen and ink drawings by Rowling herself, but the fantastic color illustrations were done by Jim Kay for Bloomsbury Books.

The book is well-bound. It is delighting to the eye, interesting to read, and engaging for all Harry Potter fans, ages 6-60. It also could be used as a source for research into the history of magic. There is an index of the exhibits shown in the text and brief biographical sketches of Rowling and of the curators of the British Library Exhibit. I highly recommend the purchase of this book for public,middle, and high school libraries.

Jump Back, Paul by Sally Derby

08 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by in Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction

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jump back

This well-researched, excellently written biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar will be one that middle school and high school libraries will definitely want in their collection. Along with Dunbar’s life story, Derby also gives the reader a sampling Dunbar’s poetry.  She tells the reader how to read the dialect poems so that the words sound like actual speech.

The facts about Dunbar’s life are delivered in a chatty style that make the reader feel as if Derby were talking directly to him or her. She even uses the first person pronoun, “I” at times to make the reader think that she has first-hand knowledge of what she is telling him about Dunbar.  Sean Qaulls completes the book with his pen and ink sketches for the book.  I loved the use of pen and ink as the medium for the drawings since the book itself is about a man whose life was using pen and ink. Derby presents us with a chronology of events that affected Dunbar’s life.  She includes extra notes and information about each chapter, a bibliography for those who want to know more about him, and an index for the researcher.

I suppose that Derby could not cover everything about Dunbar’s life, and perhaps some of the facts, such as his alcoholism and drug addiction, might be difficult for younger readers to fully understand.  However, I think she paints his wife, Alice, as more of a villain than she actually is.  Her parents were upwardly-mobile blacks and were very upset that she had married a man with such dark skin. Dunbar’s mother was upset that he had chosen Alice over her and that Alice was very light in color.  I believe that both sides had a great deal to do with their separation, and I think it was especially sad that Alice did not receive any communication from his mother when he became very ill.  Alice had asked a family friend that she be notified if he got worse because she wasn’t on good terms with his mother; however, that friend suddenly died shortly before Dunbar passed away.  None of this changes my opinion about the quality of this book.   I still highly recommend it for upper elementary and high school readers.

The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing up Bill Cody in Bleeding Kansas by Andrew Warren

15 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in History, Young Adult

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bill cody

This is a well-written biography of William Cody and of the history of the Kansas Territory.  It reads like a novel – full of action and suspense.  Younger readers who have little knowledge of the events leading up to the statehood of Kansas will learn about the bloody fights that occurred while Kansas struggled to decide if it would be free or slave. Cody’s part in those events is not whitewashed, and some may be upset because the author clearly shows him taking part in things that we would consider criminal today.

John Brown and his followers are introduced, but only enough to pique the interest of the reader to look for more information about him. The reader will also learn a great deal about the Pony Express.  At fourteen, Cody was the youngest rider on this circuit, and faced many dangers in doing his job. The short-lived Pony Express had a great impact on our history and on the life of Bill Cody.

The writer presents Cody as a very real person with a family that he loved and cared for. The latter years of his life and the Wild West Show for which he is most famous is discussed. The show itself had been criticized because he included Sitting Bull in it. Cody believed that the battle with Custer took place only because Sitting Bull’s tribe was trying to defend its families, and so he ignored the people who felt he should leave Sitting Bull out of the show. He was a gentleman who remained true to his beliefs and tried to leave the world a better place. Because of that, there are museums in several states which are dedicated to William Cody.

The text is well-researched and includes pictures, maps and additional notes to further help the reader. I definitely recommend this for upper elementary through high school readers.

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Petersen and the Churchill Club

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in History, Young Adult

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hitler An often over-looked story about World War II is how a group of teenage boys sabotaged the Nazi invaders of their country.  They stood up to Hitler and his henchmen by doing things like flattening tires on army vehicles and even making bombs to destroy parts of the Nazi military installation.  When most of their countrymen were just trying to get along with the Nazis, they took courage from the radio broadcasts they were getting from England.  The boys were eventually caught and sent to prison, but not before others in Denmark saw their courage and began to take steps to defend their country.

This is a tale of courage and daring that sometimes can only come from young people who are dedicated to a cause, but do not really understand their own danger.  I highly recommend this book for middle school and high school libraries.

My Name is Truth: the life of Sojourner Truth by Ann Turner

10 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Picture Books

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my name is truth

Finding non-fiction for young readers is sometimes challenging.  Finding good biographies about women is also a challenge. This book meets those challenges in an exceptional way. Sojourner Truth’s belief in God shines through clearly without being “preachy.” Her strength of character is obvious, but she is also shown as having fears and sometimes doubts about herself.  She is a very real woman.

Ann Turner tells the story of Sojourner Truth to younger readers using Truth’s own words.  James Ransome has done a fantastic job with the illustrations. Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree. She was one of at least 10 children born to her parents.  Her mother instilled in her a love for God and a good knowledge of right and wrong.

Her last owner was very cruel and worked Isabella like a draft horse because she was tall and strong. New York was set to abolish slavery in 1827 and her owner had told her that she would go free a year before that happened, but she was injured and her owner refused to let her go, so she escaped with her baby Sophia.

She had to leave her three other children with her former owner because she could not take all four of them on her flight to freedom.  When she found out that Mr. Dumont, her former owner has sold her son, Peter, she went to court and won his release. (This was the first case of its kind in the U.S.).

She took the name Sojourner Truth many years later and became a strong voice in the abolitionist movement and with William Lloyd Garrison to free all slaves.  I think the book will appeal to children of all ages; however, is specifically designed for grades 1-3. I would highly recommend its purchase for any elementary library.

At Home in Her Tomb by Christine Liu-Perkins

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Archeology, Children's Books, History

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China

Lui-Perkins has provided the young reader with a captivating book about archeology and Chinese burials of important people. The tomb of Lady Dai and other treasures of Mawangdui have amazed the archeologists who first uncovered them and those who still study the contents of Lady Dai’s tomb.

The most fascinating thing was that her body was so remarkably preserved.  Her skin and internal organs had not decayed; therefore, the doctors were even able to perform an autopsy on her.  i.e. The contents of her stomach indicated that she had been eating melon shortly before she died. Not only was the body in good condition for a 2,000 year-old-corpse, the tomb contained books and other written information that many had supposed to be destroyed by the Han dynasty. One of the later emperors of the Han dynasty had burned all the books on military, political and health that he could locate because he felt threatened by their contents.  To find these in Lady Dai’s tomb and so well-preserved was a miracle.

The text is nicely illustrated with color photographs and drawings.  The author has included a timeline, a glossary, a source list, a bibliography, and an index for the reader. Most pages have sidebars of information that help the reader understand more about China two thousand years ago.  The books will be useful to anyone who is interested in China or who is interested in archeology in general.  I highly recommend its purchase for the middle school through high school libraries.