One day, my grandma came to visit.
{Yay!}
When I was a kid, my grandma would always make fresh carrot juice.
So I decided to make some carrot juice for her! I’d just gotten a fancy new juicer and was excited to show it off.
That juicer, like so many of my kitchen gadgets, now sits in my cupboard, unused.
Go figure.
Anyway, grandma said she’d love some!
Because I had a captive audience, I decided to roll my brains all over the counter.
And the rolling began.
During WWII, The British were just developing airborne radar technology. To keep their island safe from the Luftwaffe {the Nazi air force}, they built a chain of radar towers along the southern coast.
Due to this radar technology, the British air force was able to detect the fighters at night, and suddenly their night attacks became deadly accurate.
One of these night fighters was John Cunningham. He was the first night fighter ace.
He was good–very good!–and the British people went crazy after him. Afraid that their airborne radar secret might get out, the Air Ministry attributed John’s success to one thing:
Carrots.
John ate a lot of carrots, they said, and that’s what made him see so well at night! The propaganda was rolled out with gusto.
Even Walt Disney got into the mix, sending three lovable carrot characters to get the word out. Carroty George, Pop Carrot, Clara Carrot.
Carrots would help you see in the blackout.
It turns out that this is only kind of true in that if you don’t have vitamin A {found in carrots}, you’ll go blind. But they don’t give you cat-at-night vision.
John Cunningham was given the nickname “Cat Eyes.” Which he hated, because it wasn’t true, but he gritted his teeth and played along. The British people ate it up…literally! And luckily enough…carrots weren’t rationed during WW2.
Carrots on a stick…mmmmm!
So that’s the story. I wonder how many children ended up with orange skin.
During all this, Grandma hadn’t said a thing.
Lost memories of my childhood suddenly returned.
It was then I realized I was probably the worst granddaughter ever.
{She’s still friends with me on Facebook, though!}
{Grandma’s never on Facebook.}
{I’m a terrible granddaughter.}
World War Two was the most devastating conflict in recorded human history. It was both global in extent and total in character. It has understandably left a long and dark shadow across the decades. Yet it is three generations since hostilities formally ended in 1945 and the conflict is now a lived memory for only a few. And this growing distance in time has allowed historians to think differently about how to describe it, how to explain its course, and what subjects to focus on when considering the wartime experience.
The post The long history of World War II appeared first on OUPblog.
I'm a huge animal fan and love writing aboutthem, so when Puffin commissioned me to write a book set in World War IIabout three animal heroes, I was delighted. The Great Escape started off as just the working title but ended up being the final one.
The animalcharacters in the book are two dogs and a cat, plus some heroic homing pigeons,and it was really important to me that I got these animal characters right.Fortunately, I've got a friend who has six rescue collies (one of them was justleft tied to her garden gate late at night and she found him there in themorning). They became the inspiration for Rose in the book. My neighbour’s cat, who I fed while they were on holiday, helped with my research for Tiger. I usually meet two feisty Jack Russells when I'm walking my own dogs down by the river (my two are huge compared to them but the little dogs usually tell my two off!) One of them getting stuck down afox-hole and needing to be rescued by the local fire-brigade helped me bring the impish Buster to life.
This is theonly story I've written that I needed to do some historical research for, and Iloved visiting the museums and chatting to the people at Twinwoods Airfield, home of the annual Glenn Miller Festival, where I found out about Mosquitoes and Spitfires and Blenheim planes. I neverrealized how cold it was inside a World War II plane, or how cramped, or how vital homingpigeons were, until then.
My favouritepart of the research was when I got to take my own dogs Traffy and Bella on a steam trainlike the pets in the book do. Traffy and Bella liked looking out of the windowvery much but they liked it even more when the train stopped and they got toplay on the beach.
by Bibi Dumon Tak
spot illustrations by Philip Hopman
translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson
Eerdmans Books edition 2011
A cgarette-eating, beer-drinking, ammunition-carrying bear? Only warfare could create a story so improbable.
During World War II as Russia and Germany fight to claim Poland for their own the citizens caught in the middle are taken as prisoners in their own
written by Carla Jablonski
art by Leland Purvis
First Second 2010
This graphic novel set during the Occupation of France by the Nazis in World War II shows the work of the Resistance movement through the eyes of children who find themselves in the thick of things.
Teen Paul finds himself the man of the house when his father is taken away by the German Occupying forces. When they Germans
from America At War
poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Stephen Alcorn
McElderry Books 2008
Yeah, I'm back in the Friday Poetry round-up, for the month at least. Can't let National Poetry Month drift without mentioning some sort of poetry. I'm taking the liberty this week of cross-posting two different poems from the same collection because, well, just because. Does poetry
At the Firefly Gate
Author: Linda Newbery
Publisher: David Fickling Books
ISBN-10: 0385751133
ISBN-13: 978-0385751131
At the Firefly Gate is a lovely story of friendship, love, loss and simple courage. Henry and his parents move to a quiet Suffolk village near an old World War II airfield. Henry is upset about the move and misses his friends in the city very much. He has the usual dread of a new school, making new friends, getting made fun of. Henry is a small child and very shy. On his first night in his new home, he looks out the window and sees a man smoking at the gate with sparkling lights around him. This frightens Henry and adds to his feeling that he shouldn’t be living there.
As the days pass, Henry makes friends with the neighbor’s old aunt Dottie. Henry reminds Dottie of her fiancé (also named Henry), an RAF navigator who disappeared in the war. Henry and Dottie seem to have a deep bond while Dottie’s great niece lives to torment him.
Things start to get really interesting when Henry starts hearing the sound of WW2 planes flying overhead at night. Henry gets the feeling of being in someone else’s body and he starts to see visions of another time. He dreams of a life as an RAF navigator and starts to believe there’s a ghost out there that needs him to do something. He sees the guy from his gate as a young air force pilot talking to a girl at a restaurant. Henry begins to investigate the time by asking old-timers.
The book is well-written and tells it’s tale with a quiet and gentle force. The book almost reads as if it were written in the era Henry dreams about which was a pleasant surprise. There’s modern touches well that depict Henry’s present day life like the flight simulation game he plays that shows him more of RAF Henry’s mystery. The descriptions of the Suffolk town where Henry lives in are just wonderful. You feel you're there.
I love the courage Henry shows, the friendship and the kindness he shows to an elderly and dying woman. The book is so quietly emotional and real that you will find it moves you profoundly.
The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0375831002
ISBN-13: 978-0375831003
The Book Thief is absolutely brilliant and it captured me with the first chapter title Death and Chocolate. How could you not fall in love with a title like that?
Death narrates this elegantly written story about an extremely poor girl named Liesel Meminger who lives in Germany in World War II. Lisle has caught the attention of Death when he came to claim her little brother’s soul. He saw her and was captivated as she stole her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook.
The book is so unusual and so exquisite. Each chapter, each page is so brilliantly written that I found myself hanging on every word, going back over to read a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter again and again simply because those sections of the book were so gorgeous, simple and powerful.
How often do you find a book like that? I read a lot, more than most I’d say and I can remember each of the books that captivated me like this one did. I found myself as captivated by the book as Death was with Liesel Meminger.
The Book Thief is an astounding and powerful tale. Liesel, who at the beginning of the tale loses her baby brother, her mother and begins her life as a book thief is sent to live near Munich with a foster family, the Hubermans. Frau Huberman loves to scream and curse but it hides a loving and tender heart. Hans Humberman is a wonderful stepfather who sits in Liesel’s room every night to make her feel safe when she wakes screaming from nightmares. We find out just what a good man Hans Huberman is as the Death spins out his tale.
Liesel slowly makes a life for herself and friends like Rudy Steiner, a German boy who loves Jesse Owens and wants to emulate him. He defies Hitler Youth and forges his own path. Liesel joins Rudy in his thievery – they steal for food and for the excitement of it. For Liesel, there is more than food and excitement, there are books. There are also secrets – like the dangerous secret of hiding a Jew in their basement.
Death is interesting. He’s not the usual portrayal of a Grim Reaper with a scythe, in fact he’s amused at the idea. Death is caring. Death is tender. Death is witty. Death is eloquent. He makes a hell of a narrator. The Book Thief has already won great acclaim and it certainly deserves it.
Book Description from the publisher:
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
About the Author
Markus Zusak is the author of I Am the Messenger, winner of the Children's Book Council Book of the Year in Australia, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Getting the Girl. The author lives in Sydney, Australia.
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4 Comments on Researching The Great Escape by Megan Rix, last added: 4/3/2012
That's a wonderful picture of your dogs tangoing on the strand!
Thanks - it's so funny isn't it?
Just been asked to recommend my favourite books set during wars and added it to the blog post so thought I'd let you know. Lots of reading to do!
This is a lovely post and great shots of your dogs. Last year I was given an Animal Aid poppy, as I also love animals. (www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/living//2256//) it remembers all the animals who have died for and during war. I wore it along side my red poppy and will do so again this year.
Oh my - thanks for that link Lynne just glanced at it but now going back to read it properly. Definitely going to order an Animal Aid poppy.