new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Pre-WWII, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 9 of 9
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Pre-WWII in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
It's only June, but the summer of 1939 does not look very promising as far as Frankie Baum, 11, is concerned. Her sister and best friend Joan, "the just-barely-older of the two," is getting to spend the summer at Aunt Dottie's farm in New Jersey, where Frankie is sure she will be having the best summer ever, while she's stuck at home in Hagerstown, MD with older sister Elizabeth, called Princess by their parents.
And ever worse, Frankie is expected to work in her father's newly purchased restaurant, a long neglected Alpine-style relict of years ago, now with only weeks to get it cleaned up and running again to become his dream of "An Eating Place of Wide Renown." Opening day is planned for July 5th. Sure enough, at the restaurant, Frankie is sent to the kitchen to work, a dirty, messy job, while Princess gets to work the cash register.
Frankie is vaguely aware of war talk among the townspeople, of anti-German feelings that are beginning to brew, but she has never really considered her family to be German, even though her father's parents immigrated from Germany. But when Hermann Baum is approached by the cigar smoking president of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Sullen Waterford Price, and refuses to let himself be bullied into becoming at
paid member of the chamber, he makes a formidable enemy, one all too aware of his German roots.
Price is also running for mayor of Hagerstown, so when Hermann also refuses to put his election poster in his front window, Price begins looking for just the dirty information he needs to start spreading rumors that Hermann Baum is quite possibly a spy and Nazi sympathizer.
To make matters even more complicated, Hermann decides to throw his own pre-opening day Fourth of July party for friends, family and even his African American staff and their families. Hermann has always treated his kitchen staff fairly, despite living in a state where Jim Crow is in effect. That, coupled with the German flyer that has mysteriously fallen into the hands of Mr. Price, are all that is needed for a boycott of Hermann's party.
Frankie has overheard quite a bit while working in the kitchen, and decides to do some investigating of her own about what is going on. But she also finds herself doubting her father's innocence. When no one shows up at her father's party, she goes to the town's celebration to try and find out what is going on. When Hermann shows up looking for her, he collapses. And the Baum family's life is changed forever.
A Tiny Piece of Sky is a wonderful coming of age story. Frankie's character develops slowly over the course of the novel as she encounters different people and situations. The story is told in the third person by an omniscient narrator in a rather conversational style, and who seems to be right in the thick of things, more aware of what is going on in the world than Frankie is. To get some of Frankie and even Joan's mindset, there are also first person letters they write to each other, which tend to create more mystery about Hermann Baum's heritage than information.
The story takes place over June, July and August 1939. There aren't many pre-World War II home front stories for young readers, making this all that much more interesting. Stout looks at both racism and xenophobia through the lens of Frankie's summer.
Frankie hasn't really paid attention to the racism and discrimination towards the African American community in Hagerstown, until she starts working in the restaurant. But the character of Mr. Stannum, the restaurant's new manager, opens her eyes when she witnesses the way he treats the black kitchen staff with such cruelty and contempt, even refusing to allow them to use the bathroom he uses.
You also don't find many books for young readers that are about the kind of treatment that German Americans experienced in the 1930s and 1940s as the possibility of war with Germany became more of a possibility. Most people don't realize they were also discriminated against. though to a far lesser extent than Japanese Americans. What makes this an interesting theme here is that Stout shows how easily people can change their attitudes towards of friends and even fathers when doubt begins to take hold. For that reason, A Tiny Piece of Sky is not just good historical fiction, but also resonates so loudly in today's world.
The other part of what makes
A Tiny Piece of Sky such an interesting, realistic novel is that much of the material comes from Shawn Stout's own family and the restaurant they owned in Hagerstown, which she writes about in her Author's Note at the end of the novel. Be sure to read it when you read this excellent novel.
Teachers can find an extensive Teaching Guide for A Tiny Piece of Sky
HERE
This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
 |
Used with permission: the original menu from Shawn Stout's grandparent's restaurant.
Click to enlarge and check out the prices listed. |
Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke is the sequel to a book I read and reviewed last year called
Prisoner of Night and Fog. I wasn't too crazy about that book, but I am pleased to say that I liked the sequel much more.
Prisoner of Night and Fog takes place in 1931 Munich, Germany. Gretchen Müller, part to the inner circle of young girls in the Hitler entourage, has discovered that her father, a strong Hitler supporter, had been deliberately killed in the 1923 Munich Beer Hall Putsch by a fellow Nazi. Gretchen is determined to solve mystery of who would have done such a thing with the help of Daniel Cohen, handsome reporter for the Munich Post. It also didn't take long for Aryan Gretchen and Jewish Daniel to find they were very attracted to each other despite their differences. And yes, they solve they mystery together.
Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke picks up their story in 1933 England. Forced to flee Germany after solving her father's murder, Gretchen is living in London with a loving family and going to school, and Daniel is working for the Oxford Mail, writing the society column. But when Daniel receives a telegram that his cousin Aaron has been attacked by Nazis and is in critical condition, he immediately returns to Germany to get justice to his cousin.
On January 30, 1933 Hitler is named Chancellor by President Hindenburg. One month later, February 27, there is a fire in the
Reichstag, the seat of government. Hitler blames the Communists for it, even though it has most likely been done by the Nazis for the purpose giving Hitler a strong reason for forcing the passage of the Enabling Act, a piece of legislation that would give him complete power, turning Germany into a Nazi dictatorship.
Then, when Gretchen receives a mysterious telegram telling her that Daniel is in trouble, that he is wanted for murder, and possibly dead, she decides to risk capture by the Nazis and returns to Germany to find him. There, an old newspaper friend of Daniel's tells Gretchen that the Nazis claim Daniel has killed a young women named Monika Junge and that he had also been beaten and robbed of his money and false identity papers a few days ago, but no one has seen Daniel since. Next, she calls her old friend Eva Braun and asks her to find out if Daniel has been arrested. Eva tells her no, but that Gretchen must get out of Munich, Hitler is still after her for what she uncovered about him while trying to find out who murdered her father. Ironically, the murder of Monika Junge leads Gretchen and Daniel right back to the
Reichstag fire in an unexpected way.
Gretchen gets on a train to Berlin, and (perhaps a little too conveniently) runs into Daniel. The two travel together to Berlin and what follows in a exciting journey through Berlin's underbelly and her higher echelons of government as Gretchen and Daniel try to clear his name of the murder charge the Nazis have leveled against him before the passage of the Enabling Act. Once the Enabling Act is passed, it will be impossible to solve the mystery surrounding Monika Junge's murder because anyone who could help would immediately be arrested (the Enabling Act passed on March 23, 1933).
Blankman used the
Reichstag fire and the Enabling Act to create a real nail-biting story. She also effectively mixes real people from that time with her fictional characters, though there is a fine line between what really may be and what she includes, case in point: what Monika Junge knows and why it is dangerous for a certain important Nazi is pure fabrication. But she does do a great job of showing why the events she includes are so important in understanding Germany at that time.
But as much as this is an historical fiction mystery utilizing time, place, people and events quite well , it is also a romance novel. Gretchen and Daniel are very much in love, and that's great. It doesn't overwhelm the overall story too much, but I have to be honest and say that this romance has gone on since 1931, Gretchen and Daniel have found themselves sleeping together many times when their lives have been in danger and nothing intimate has happened. It's even mentioned in Chapter 16. I had to ask myself if this is realistic and I don't think it is, not even for those times.
Blankman also brings in another interesting element of reality to the story - he organized crime syndicate, the
Ringvereine, which is something you don't hear about very often. I've heard of it, but don't know that much about it, only that they did exist and were very protective of their own - and Monika Junge was one of their own.
My only objection to the novel was the end, but I don't want to resort to spoilers, especially not at the end of a story, so you'll just have to read it know what I mean.
Do read the Author's Note at the end to fully appreciate all the history incorporated into this novel, and Blankman's Selected Bibliography for further information.
This book is recommended for readers age 14+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
It's 1941 and in New Orleans, Addie Agnew, 14, is a girl with a vivid imagination and some big growing pains. Addie had been living with her Aunt Eveline in a house that she loved and that contained all her memories. But when Aunt Eveline passed away, Addie was forced to move next door and live with her Aunt Toosie, Uncle Henry and her cousin/rival Sandra Lee. But luckily for Addie, her strong Catholic faith and the communion of saints allows her to keep a running conversation with Aunt Eveline, who was and still is her moral compass.
Addie has always been best friends with Tom, a next door neighbor, but when his father Louis suddenly shows up, she falls head over heels in love with the older man, despite the fact that he had deserted Tom and his mother ten years ago. And after Louise asks Addie to go to the train to pick up Tom, she is sure he feels the same way about her. Tom, however, refuses to speak to his father and friction flares between him and Addie over it.
Meanwhile, a family has rented out the house that Addie lived in with Aunt Eveline. Addie discovers their real home is a plantation called Oakwood, just north of New Orleans, so they are not planning on remaining in the house for long. And they have a daughter, Norma Jean Valerie, who is rather thin and sickly. She's Addie's age, and soon the two girls are friends.
Addie's life revolves around her family, her friends, her school, an upcoming dance that she doesn't want to go to and a Christmas play she is helping the nuns at her Catholic school put together, and of course, boys, crushes, and being in love with an older man and with always trying to best Sandra Lee and never succeeding. It all sounds like pretty normal stuff, until Addie overhears a strange conversation between Louis and Mrs. Valerie. Realizing they are up to something, their conversation leads her to do some investigating on her own, and pretty soon she has a real mystery on her hands to try and solve. And, it turns out, the mystery involves her directly and the house she loves so dearly. How could she possible have any connection to Louis and Mrs. Valerie's connivances? She never met the Valeries before and Louis has been gone since she was four years old, much too young to get involved with anyone's schemes. Or is it?
And to top all that, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the US enters World War II.
Mischief and Malice is a sequel to a book called
Secret Lives, written 30 years ago. I hadn't read
Secret Lives, so when I first started reading
Mischief and Malice I was a little lost among all the names and Addie's relatives and their back story, but it didn't take long to catch on. I think that is because it is written in the voice of a very chatty, lively 14 year old with lots of thoughts that are really explanations for the benefit of the reader.
Addie Agnew is the first person narrator and her thoughts and observations contain a certain honesty not often found in many coming-of-age characters but very well defined here. Her confusions, her crushes, and conscience all make up a nice well rounded character. Addie is a typical teenaged Catholic girl and her religion is a real part of her life. She reminded me so much of some of my friends at that age who were Catholic.
I did love the competition between Addie and her cousin Sandra Lee. That reminded me of my sister and me when we were growing up. But I also loved how they could pull together when the situation called for a united front.
The mystery isn't really a big deal and comes towards the end of the novel, but
Mischief and Malice is a wonderful work of historical fiction giving us a window into life just before the US entered the war. War was certainly on people's minds, in reality and in this story, but took a backseat to everyday life before Pearl Harbor.
I had a lot of fun reading
Mischief and Malice and kudos to Berthe Amoss for taking up Addie's story again. Will there be a third Addie story? I hope so.
This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was sent to me by the publisher,
Ig Publishing
Life is pretty comfortable for Gabriella Schramm, 13, called Gaby by friends and family. Living in 1932 Berlin, her upper middle class family is better off than most Germans at the time. Her father is a renowned scientist, teaching astronomy at the University, and is friends with Albert Einstein. Her mother, an former pianist who gives lessons at home now, hob nobs with Baba, a well-respected Jewish society columnist for the only newspaper in Berlin that isn't pro-Nazi. Gaby's older sister, Ulla, is scheduled to begin studying at a conservatory in Vienna next year. And Gaby, who loves to read anything she can get her hands on, including Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, Mark Twain and my personal favorites Rainer Maria Remarque and Erich Kästner, is looking forward to reading Heinrich Heine's poetry in
Gymnasium after summer vacation.
But things are beginning to change, both within Gaby's family and all over Germany. First, Ulla insists on remaining in Berlin for the summer instead of going to the family's lakeside vacation home, claiming she has a bookkeeping job at the cabaret where her boyfriend Karl, an engineering student, works. But when Karl and Ulla come to visit, Gaby begins to suspect that Karl is a Nazi supporter. She had already suspected the same thing of the family housekeeper, Hertha and the man who maintains their Berlin apartment building. In fact, Gaby has noticed a significant increase in the number of Brown Shirts (SA) and Black Shirts (SS) all over Berlin despite the ban on them.
Back in school after vacation, Gaby and her best friend Rosa are overjoyed to begin studying literature with the very beautiful, kind, well-dressed Frau Hofstadt, who is picked up everyday by a mysterious limousine. But, at home, the talk is more and more about the political situation, which in 1932 is all over the place, though everyone is relieved when the Nazis loose seats in the Reichstag (Parliament), hoping that that will be an end to Hitler and his Nazi party.
But that's not what happens at all and through all kinds of twists and turns, Hitler is named Chancellor by President Hindenburg at the end of January 1933. And with amazing speed, Gaby watches her previously safe, happy world fall completely to pieces.
The period 1919-1933 was such a complicated time in German history and politics. The Nazis referred to it as the
Kampfzeit, the time of struggle to gain acceptance and power for their radical policies. Lasky covers only 1932-1933 in
Ashes and kudos to her for successfully tackling it in a novel for young readers. There is lots of talk about events that actually happened, and Lasky provides enough information to understand it without overwhelming or boring the reader.
Ashes is a well-written novel, and although it is a little slow in places, given the time and place of the action, it is indeed a worthwhile read. I particularly loved that each chapter begins with a quote from a book Gaby loves and which foreshadows what happens in that chapter. And since Gaby witnesses the Nazi book burning on May 10, 1933, it is all the more poignant a reminder of some of what was lost in that tragic event.
The novel is told from Gaby's point of view, which gives us her very subjective, but very astute observation, not only of what is happening around her, but how she thinks and feels about it all, A fine example of that is when she witnesses her former math teacher, Herr Berg, being removed from her school by the Nazis for being Jewish, and disappears. The reader feels her shock, disgust, sadness and despair all at the same time.
Some of the scenes may feel a little cliche and I am not the first person to realize that Karl resembles Lisle's Hitler Youth boyfriend from
The Sound of Music, and that there is a scene similar to one in
Cabaret, in which everyone in an outdoor
Biergarten joins a Hitler Youth in singing a Nazi song. But, these scenes also make a necessary point (and people have traditionally joined in singing in Biergartens in Germany, it wasn't just a Nazi thing to show support).
Ashes is a nice contribution to the body of Holocaust and World War II literature and on its own, a very interesting book about a very complex time made accessible by good research and skillful writing.
This book is recommended for readers age 11+
This book was purchased for my personal library
First published in 1971, I have chosen Judith Kerr’s children’s classic When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit to read for the fourth week of the German Literature Month challenge. Kerr was born in Berlin in 1923. Her family chose to flee Germany just before the Nazis came to power because her father, Alfred Kerr, a well-known writer, had openly criticized this regime. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is Kerr’s autobiographical novel about their flight.
The book begins just before the March 1933 election. Things are pretty good for Anna, 9, and her older brother, Max. They do well in school and enjoy playing with their friends. They are Jewish, but secular Jews. But one day her father disappears and Anna learns that he has traveled to Prague. He had been warned that he would be a wanted man by the Nazis depending on what happened in the upcoming election.
A few days before the election, the Reichstag Fire occurs and it is decided that the rest of the family would now travel to Switzerland to meet up with him. All household goods are packed and put into storage, including all the toys and games that belong to the children. Their Onkle Julius, who happens to have had a Jewish grandmother, but thinks he is safe and that the Nazis won’t last anyway, is sorry to see them go, but expects the family back with a short time.
The train to Switzerland is a harrowing adventure. There is always the fear that the passports will be questioned or worse, taken from them, barring entry to Switzerland. But everything goes well and the family arrives in Zurich and are all reunited. They soon learn that the Nazis had shown up at their home in Berlin to collect their passports the morning after the election that gave Hitler supreme power in Germany.
The formerly well off family suddenly finds themselves very poor and Anna’s father can find very little work as a writer/journalist. Despite their neutrality, the Swiss don’t want provoke the Nazis right across the border. Nevertheless, Anna and her family remain in Switzerland for about a year, living in two small, inexpensive rooms at a Gasthof. It is very pleasant there; in fact, the only unpleasant incidents are from German visitors who refuse to let their children play with Jews.
It is later decided to move to Paris, in the hope of getting more paid work. Once again the family find themselves living in a small, inexpensive apartment. There are many adjustment difficulties, such as Max and Anna are expected to attend school and learn French at the same time. Food and money are scarce, and everyone is beginning to get on each other’s nerves. But they make friends with the Fernand family, which gives them some social outlet. Eventually, the family makes it way to London, where things are expected to work out better for the family.
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is an uncomplicated book, told from the point of view of a child, which Kerr w
This is the second week of the German Literature Month challenge and for that we were supposed to read a crime novel. I considered a lot of different choices, but decided on Emil and the Detectives for one simple reason. That reason is that it is a book I haven’t read since forever and I really like Erich Kästner.
Emil and the Detectives is a pretty straightforward story. Young Emil is being sent off to Berlin to visit relatives for a week long holiday. He is taking the train and carrying money, which his mother instructs him to give to his grandmother when he arrives in Berlin at the Friedrich Straße and not to lose it on the way.
The train ride lasts a number of hours and Emil finds himself in a full compartment. One of the women knows someone from Emil’s hometown and asks him to carry her regards to him when he returns home. After a while, Emil finds he is in the compartment with only one other person, a man with a mustache and a bowler hat who introduces himself as Mr. Grundeis.
Mr. Grundeis makes Emil feel very uncomfortable, and he must fight to stay awake because of that. But eventually he succumbs, believing the money is safe, pinned to the inside of his jacket. However, when he awakens, much to his horror, he finds the money is gone and sees Mr. Grundeis getting off the train at the Tiergarten station. Emil quickly gathers his belongings together and follows him, sure that he in the person who stole his money.
Emil follows Mr. Grundeis to a café where, while he is spying on him, he meets another boy named Gustav. He explains the situation to Gustav, adding that he cannot call the police because he himself had committed the crime of drawing a red nose and mustache on the statue of the Grand Duke in his hometown of Neustadt. Gustav offers to help Emil get his money back and soon produces 24 other children, all ready to help. What follows is priceless.
Since Emil already knows the identity of the person who stole his money, the novel isn’t a classic ‘whodunit’; it doesn’t involve any of the usual detection methods of finding a criminal. What it does do is present a highly organized, well run effort on the part of the “detectives” in trapping and capturing the thief who stole Emil’s 140 Marks. But don’t think this is a classic coming of age story, it isn’t. It is just an adventure in the lives of these kids, and at the end, they go home unchanged, but satisfied.
Emil and the Detectives is considered to be the first children’s book featuring a child detective and it is Kästner’s best known and most loved children’s book, published continuously since 1928. He hated the Nazis and they didn’t like him much. All his books were burned on May 10, 1933, because they were considered to be contrary to the German spirit. The only exception was Emil and the Detectives. I guess the Naz
Like Pearl S. Buck, Phyllis Ayer Sowers spent much of her life living in China and other Asian countries and has written several books for children set in these countries. Sons of the Dragon was written in 1942. It is basically about how the Second Sino-Japanese War, began in 1937, affected lives of two families, but actual story begins in a few years earlier.
The novel follows two mains characters who come from similar backgrounds, but who experience the Second Sino-Japanese War in different but intertwined ways. Moonflower, 14, lives in the walled ancestral home of the Ching family and Wu Liang, 18, who is the son of the family Wu, the rival of the Ching’s in Chun-ko, in central China. Liang no longer lives at home after joining the Chinese army of General Chiang Kai-shek.
Though the book begins with a happy occasion, the marriage of Moonflower’s older sister Lotus, talk of war has already filtered into the isolated lives of the Ching family, yet they choose to ignore it and continue their quiet lives behind the walls of their estate.
After Lotus leaves to live with her husband and his family, as custom dictates, word comes that Eddie Ching, Moonflower’s older brother, will be returning home from his studies in Shanghai for a visit. Eddie, now quite Westernized, is also full of talk of war and criticism of General Chiang’s pre-1937 policy of co-operation with the Japanese.
Three more quiet years pass in Chun-ko, and Lotus comes to visit, to tell the family that she is moving to Nanking because of her husband’s high position in the Central Government of Chiang Kai-Shek there. Soon after, Moonflower travels to Shanghai with her family to meet a possible husband. They stay in the International Quarter of Shanghai, but the trip is cut short when the Battle of Shanghai begins in August 1937. The Ching family return to Chun-ko, only to discover that there has also been bombing there. By now, Eddie Ching has left school and joined the Chinese Army. He eventually is shot by a Japanese soldier and dies. His family doesn't receive this devasting news until much later.
Wu Liang is also in the Chinese army and, like Eddie Ching, he is angry and impatient with General Chiang’s attitude towards the Japanese, but becomes even angrier when he learns that Peiping (now Beijing) is being bombed by them. In the army, he is engaged in committing act of sabotage against the advancing Japanese whenever possible. While carrying secret documents by plan
Last December, Charlotte over at
Charlotte's Library reviewed a book by Josephine Elder called
Erica wins Through, reminding me of a book I have by the same author stuck away in my bookshelves. The other day I dug out my copy of
Strangers at the Farm School by Josephine Elder and reread it.
This is the third and last installment of Elder’s Farm School books. The Farm School is a very unconventional school, in which a student may pursue the things they are really interested in, besides their academic subjects. Students must also help with the running of the farm part of the school with chores like caring for animals or working in the fields.
The story opens in September 1938, just as the new term is starting. The school is expecting two Jewish refugee children from Germany, brother and sister Hans and Johanna Schiff. Their father, a successful lawyer, was arrested by the Gestapo and placed in a concentration camp, their mother remained in Germany to try to obtain his release, their friends were forbidden to have anything to do with them and they were no longer allowed to attend school. So their mother sends them to England as part of what appears to be the Kindertransport program.
On arrival in London, they are taken to a center where they are given clothing to wear. They are appalled that the items are used, accustomed as they were to much finer clothing. Then they were hustled to a train and journeye to Sutton Malherbe, the village where the Farm School is located. Mrs. Forrester, who along with her husband, owns and runs the Farm School, welcomes them with open arms, but the children are a bit distant because of their recent experiences in Germany.
The next day is a busy one, with new arrivals, dormitory assignments and exploring the farm. Johanna is happy to learn she may be able to help take care of some calves, but Hans becomes quite indignant when told he could help with the pigs. The other kids don’t understand his attitude until he explains that to a Jew, a pig is an unclean animal. But Hans is also angry and insulted that they are expected to do any kind of work usual to a farm, feeling he is above that kind of labor.
Johanna quickly adjusts to life at the farm school, and particularly enjoys doing the farm work that is expected of her. She gets along with the other girls, even developing a GP (Grand Pash or crush) on Annis Beck, herself a senior student and the school president. But, remembering how things were in Germany, she never lets herself get very friendly with the other kids, despite her loneliness. She is very thrilled when she is asked if she would like to play field hockey, since playing games in Germany had been forbidden for Jews.
At first, Hans does not make even this much adjustment. He cannot get past his anger at the English, who were Germany’s enemy in World War I and responsible for the death of his uncle and wounding of his father. While out walking with Johanna, and airing his grievances, the pair comes across some Gypsies harvesting the hops fields. The Gypsies are very friendly and it eventually comes out that they have also been to Germany and plan on returning. One
Eva Ibbotson was an unusual writer. She didn’t begin publishing children’s books until she was 50 and, she didn’t publish
The Dragonfly Pool until she was 83. In addition, because of her own unhappy childhood, she had penchant for happy endings.
Yet, when I first began reading
The Dragonfly Pool, I didn’t think I would like it. But I was wrong. The story begins in London, in the spring of 1939. Everyone is preparing for the expected war, and the Hamilton household is no different. Tally Hamilton has received a scholarship to a boarding school in the countryside. She doesn’t really want to go and leave her friends and her family, her dad Dr. Hamilton and her two aunts May and Hester.
Tally is quite pleased, however, when she reaches the school, Delderton, to find it is nothing at all like the schools she has read about in books, rather it is a progressive school where students can pursue their interests. Tally quickly settles in and makes friends with the other students, particularly with Julia.
One Saturday, while at the movies with Julia, Tally sees a newsreel about a small country in Europe named Bergania, whose king is trying to hold out against Hitler who wants to use the small country to his advantage. Tally immediately feels herself drawn to this country, particularly the young boy who is the king’s son.
Later, she school receives an invitation from Bergania to participate in a dance festival it is holding. Tally manages to convince the school to participate in the dance festival as a show of support to the small country. The Deldertonian kids make up a dance, and travel to Bergania. One day, while out walking around, Tally meets the Prince of Bergania, Karil, and together they go exploring the forest that surrounds the town. There they come across a pool of water, the Dragonfly Pool, a favorite place of Karil and his father. Karil asks Tally why they had come to Bergania and she tells him about the newsreel. She thought the King was strong and brave to hold out against Hitler’s pressure and she wanted to come as a show of support. Tally and Karil become instant friends.
As it happens, one of their escorts, science teacher Matteo, was once a very good boyhood friend of the King, but had long ago parted ways over a disagreement. On the day of the dance festival, the King and Prince Karil, ride into the center of town, and just as the King is opening to festival he is shot dead by people hired by the Gestapo. Before dying, the King asks Matteo to look after his son.
The real adventure begins when it is time to leave Bergania and the students, led by Tally, must try to sneak Karil back to England with them because the Gestapo men want to take him into their custody and send him to Colditz, a castle in Leipzig used by the Nazis as a POW prison.
After successfully get Karil to England, and it is a very exciting part of the book not to be missed, he and Tally both assume he will now be a student in Delderton. But that is not to be. Instead, he is taken by his dreaded and dreadful nursemaid the Countess Frederica, nicknamed the Scold by Karil, to the large, but shabby London home of his grandfather, the Duke of Rottingdene. It seems no one has any money in the Prince’s family, including himself, but they still live like they do.
Will the prince ever succeed in being able to attend Delderton and be with the only friends he has ever had?
This was an exciting, adventurous novel, based on real events with the exception
Wonderful review. Makes me want to read this book myself. Your bookblog.ning friend.
Despite the fact that it seems to gloss over a few things this sounds like a very good book. Especially for children, I presume. I'm always saddened when I read how often they didn't see the terrible things come or didn't want to see them.
Another wonderful review Alex. I think that life as a refugee must have been very tough which is why Kerr chose, especially considering the audience, to make it a bit less edgy.
After all, if you tell the whole truth people are less likely to believe you.
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
Hi, Alex, thanks for stopping by! I have read about this book, and believe my daughter read it, actually, when she was in school years ago. I'm familiar with what a Gasthaus(hof)is, since I lived in Germany growing up. They are like what we would classify as medium-sized houses with several bedrooms (possibly 4)and a couple of bathrooms. There would be a community kitchen, dining room and living room, a front gate and back yard. Living together in that manner would have been less expensive for everyone considered, and might have been very comfortable and less stressful for children since it would become a family atmosphere. That may account for the child's lack of emphasis on the hunger and struggles during the times. If anything, the children tend to be kept the most warm and fed! Your review is so comprehensive, and I hope I find a copy of this book to read myself one day soon. Thanks for all you do to keep these WWII topics alive, Alex. Ironically, I was thinking about you this week. Something's brewing, maybe??? Deborah
Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I think this book would be good for kids to read, but I also think it gloss over some important things that at the time a 10 - 12 year old would be aware of.
Deb, thanks for explanation of what a Gasthaus(hof)is like. The warm, family atmosphere is indeed evident in the novel and the children were happy for the year they lived there. I didn't know you had lived in Germany growing up - that must have been so exciting.
I read this book as a child and loved it. It also really encouraged me to keep working at French, and to practise by watching French TV, in the hope that it would all slightly subliminally go in, as it does for Anna!