POETRY FRIDAY

I'm a first round judge for the CYBILS poetry category. For the past six weeks, I've been reading and rereading about thirty poetry books that have been published in the last year. One of those books is REQUIEM: POEMS OF THE TEREZIN GHETTO by Paul Janezcko. In an afterword, Janezcko gives readers background about Terezin, a concentration camp, located on the banks of the Ohre River.

(Terezin) became home for the Jewish intellectuals and artists of Prague. As a result, it became a prison in which the arts were tolerated, then encouraged, as a Nazi propaganda tool. Classical music and opera were commonplace, despite the horrors and cruelty of captivity. Lectures were delivered in attics and basements of the barracks. Most of these activities were allowed by the Nazis, who saw these artistic events as proof that they were treating the Jews humanely and allowing their culture to flourish. The reality of the situation was, of course, quite the opposite. Musicians who performed beautifully one night were packed into cattle cars the next, transported to the gas chambers.

Each of the 35 poems in the book is told by different fictional character, either a prisoner or German guard. The poems, sparse and haunting, illustrated by actual pencil sketches and watercolors from inmates, help me to remember and care. They would be perfect for a middle or high school social studies unit on the Holocaust.

"Wilfred Becker/34507"

When Otto's number was called,

Eva wept.

She would go with him.

Insisted.

They would have one more night

together.

She traded half a loaf of bread

for two hours

in a kumbal with a curtain.

Otto asked if I would play

my violin.

"I would be honored, my friend."

"Can you play Johann Strauss?"

I smiled. "I am German, am I not?"

So it was on that frigid night

I played waltzes for them.

"The Blue Danube"

"Where the Lemons Bloom"

"Youthful Dreams"

All played softly

notes like stars.

When they pulled back the curtain

and nodded to me,

I bowed

and played a final waltz.

- Paul Janezcko

Poetry Friday is at Dori Reads

THE YEAR OF GOODBYES- DEBBIE LEVY

Debbie Levy's mother, Jutta, was approximately twelve years old when Hitler came to power. Jutta and her family, Polish Jews living in Germany, were one of the last families in their neighborhood allowed to leave Germany and immigrate to the United States. Jutta was allowed to bring her poesie album, (a book similar, but more elaborate, than American autograph albums), which had been signed by many of her friends and family members.

Levy used the poesie album as the basis for THE YEAR OF GOODBYES, which chronicles Jutta's last year in Germany, ending as the family arrives in the United States. Each chapter begins with a reproduction and translation of one page from the poesie album. This is followed by a story poem, told in Jutta's voice describing the events of that particular period. The poems are powerful and very real.

The book also includes a really detailed afterword, with more background information about the war, a timeline information about what happened to Jutta's friends and relatives, and also family photographs.

I loved this book. Think it would be a great way to help intermediate grade and middle school students begin to understand World War Two and the Holocaust. It would also be terrific in a basket of poetry novels.

THE ANNE FRANK CASE: THE STORY OF SAM WIESENTHAL

I have always thought that I would love to teach high school history. If I did, picture books and historical fiction would be an important part of the curriculum. This year, I've read lots of books I'd have to include in my curriculum. I'd have to read Laurie Halse Anderson's amazing new novel, CHAINS, when we studied the Revolutionary War. I'd use LINCOLN THROUGH THE LENS when we studied the Civil War. For the Civil Rights movement, I'd bring in NEW BOY and WE ARE THE SHIP. This weekend, I read a picture book I'd have to use when we talked about the Holocaust.

THE ANNE FRANK CASE: THE STORY OF SAM WIESENTHAL is the story of a Jewish Holocaust survivor. At the opening of the book, a group of Austrian neo-nazi teenagers disrupt a theater performance of Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, claiming that the Holocaust never occurred. Wiesenthal decides he must find the Gestapo officer who arrested Anne Frank. The book then flashes back to trace Wiesenthal's experiences during the war, which included time in the Concentration camps, loss of multiple family members, separation from his wife, and two very near-death experiences. His own experiences make him a patient but tenacious detective in solving this mystery.

This book would be great in a text set with ANNE FRANK (of course), NUMBER THE STARS, THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, and for struggling readers, SNOW TREASURE.

LINCOLN SHOT: A PRESIDENT'S LIFE REMEMBERED Barry Denenberg

LINCOLN SHOT: A PRESIDENT REMEMBERED is a biography by historian Barry Denenberg. The book, designed to appear like a memorial edition of the National News, a fictitious newspaper from the 1860's, opens on the day Lincoln is assassinated. 

I've always loved history. I love it because history, presented well, truly is the STORIES of people's lives. Denenberg skillfully weaves stories of Lincoln's life with quotes and photographs. I loved learning about Mary Todd Lincoln- did you know she came from a wealthy family who vehemently opposed their daughter marrying beneath her social station, to the point that Mary and Abe even broke off their courtship for an extended period of time? Did you know she hated Washington D.C., and when they first moved there, she stayed only a few months before returning home with her children? Did you know that she spent so much to remodel the White House, that she was forever scorned by the government officials and the press?

It's the stories from the Civil War, however, that are the centerpiece of this very powerful book. Denenberg tells those stories with amazing detail-- stories of the events leading up to the war, stories about the lives of bumbling and contentious generals, stories of  battles where fathers watched their children die, stories of the horrendous decisions Abraham Lincoln faced every day and the toll they took on his mental health. The stories are so detailed and so well-told that I could see using this as a textbook or read aloud for a high school history class. Denenberg uses many, many quotes from Abraham Lincoln, and also pieces of actual correspondence, to further enhance the stories. 

I have a few questions about using this book. The pages in the book, as I said earlier, are designed to look like a newspaper from the 1860's. Everything-- the fonts, the pictures, the advertisements, even the SIZE of the pages carry through on that theme. And it's the size that concerns me a little. This book is HUGE, and I mean HUGE, easily double the size of a regular book. Because of the size, it's not a book that will be easy to read aloud,  It's not a book that will fit in kids' desks at school. It's not a book you could carry in your purse or even your backpack. It's not even a book that's fun to read in bed, you really need a table to prop it on.

But when you figure out how to hold it, the information is so, so wonderful…