Naming Liberty
Author: Jane Yolen
Illustrator: Jim Burke
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 1-4
Naming Liberty is a historical fiction book about a young girl who is leaving her home in Russia to move to America. She begins wondering what her name will be when she arrives to America. When she sees the statue of Liberty, she knows Liberty must be her name. It also tells a tale of a young artist named Frederic Auguste Bartholdi who dreams of building a monument to honor freedom.
Jim Burke did an amazing job with illustrating Naming Liberty by creating pictures that complete the texts and also almost tell another story at the same time as the texts. His paintings capture perfectly the tales of the young girl and artist both seeking freedom.
When studying freedom or the Statue of Liberty, this would be a great book to read and have the students reflect on what freedom means to them. Whether they are immigrants or natives, the United States of America's freedom affects each and every person who lives here.
The Butterfly
Author/Illustrator: Patricia Polacco
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 3-7
In The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco, a small girl named Monique lives in a French village that has just been flooded with Nazi soldiers who are terrorizing the town. She symbolizes the butterfly as the Nazis' victims. One night, Monique finds a little girl named Sevrine, whom she thought to be a ghost, sitting at the end of her bed. Sevrine had been living in her basement because she and her family were Jews.The two become friends, but must meet privately. The neighbor saw the two so Sevrine's family had to flee. In the end, Sevrine sends a letter to Monique with a butterfly inside saying she is the only one in her family to survive.
The illustrator is Patricia Polacco herself. The illustrations give a ghostly vibe to the book, while the texts also add a harsh light to this disheartening story. She uses watercolors to create images that evoke feelings of fear and sadness as well as hope at the end.
Through this story, the topics of racism, prejudice, and bravery can be discussed in the classroom. This book is a very appropriate read for students ages nine through twelve. It teaches history to students in a new way than just reading text books about World War II. This gives them a story that was based off of real life events.
Baseball Saved Us
Author: Ken Mochizuki
Illustrator: Dom Lee
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 1-6
Awards: Parents' Choice Award
Baseball Saved Us is a book about a boy named Shorty and his family. They are sent to a camp after the Pearl Harbor attack. There he and his father decide to build a baseball field to make everyone feel happier in a tough time. Shorty finds that playing not only makes him happy, but causes him to gain respect for himself.
The illustrator of this book is Dom Lee, who creates realistic looking pictures throughout the books. They show the hard time that the Japanese descendant Americans went through at this time. The illustrator does not make the Japanese descendants look a certain way. They look like they could be anyone. This way the reader can feel based on the story not on the way the characters look.
This is a great read for students from ages six to twelve. This story has a great tale of the underdog overcoming a hard time. This story will allow students to experience what it was like to go through the aftermath of Pearl Harbor from a different perspective that one I have ever seen.
Vacation Under the Volcano
Author: Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrator: Salvatore Murdocca
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 2-5
Vacation Under the Volcano is the thirteenth chapter book in the Magic Tree House Series. Jack and Annie are the two main characters who travel through time to different places that are important in history. In this book, they travel to Pompeii in the days of the Roman Empire. Once there, they find out that it was the day that the city would be destroyed due to the erupting volcano. They must hurry to beat time so that they are not stuck in Pompeii.
The illustrator of this book is Salvatore Murdocca. He actually illustrated the entire Magic Tree House Series. His illustrations are realistically drawn. They contain detail and the characters and setting are not very abstract, but look very similar to how they would in real life.
This book is great for students because it does have an element of imagination with the time traveling, while also being historically accurate. These books are incredibly entertaining, so much so that students will not even realize they are learning about history at the same time.
Morning Girl
Author: Michael Dorris
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 3-7
Morning Girl is a novel about a little Native American girl named Morning Girl. She got this name because she wakes up with the sun. She and her family live in a vibrant community and live a normal life, have the same imaginations, wants, and needs as everyone else. In the end, there world changes when Christopher Columbus's ship sails in and disrupts the lives of the Natives living there. It is saddening to think of what happens to the lives and communities of these peoples after Columbus arrives.
There are no illustrations in this novel, although the author paints a very vivid picture of the setting and each character. The author is very descriptive throughout the book. While reading the book, you can imagine everything the writer is describing.
This is a novel written based on an entry in Christopher Columbus's diary. This is a great read for students when they are learning the details of the founding of the Americas because this shows a different perspective than what is usually taught, which is the viewpoint of the Westerners. This shows what the lives of the Native Americans were like before the Westerners came to the Americas.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Author: John Boyne
Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers
Genre: Historical Fiction
Grade level: 3+
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a tragic story about a young boy, Bruno, whose family moves to a new place with no kids around to play because his father gets a new promotion. The new house is surrounded by a tall fence. One day Bruno adventures off to find a boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the fence. They became fast friends. One day, Shmuel's father goes missing, so Bruno devises a plan to get over the fence and put on striped pajamas to match the others so that he can help Shmuel find his dad. They are forced to march into a gas chamber. After Bruno's disappearance, his father has an epiphany of what happened to him. The story ends with the allies' soldiers coming to thee camp and making the father go with them.
Illustrations in this book are done by acclaimed artist Oliver Jeffers. This is a deluxe illustrated edition. The illustrations within the book are very powerful and moving. They are done in a cartoon style, which confused me at first because of the seriousness of this book's message, but the illustrations actually promote the message of the book.
The story and message of this book are very impacting on any reader who understands this story, no matter their age. I would suggest not letting children under the age of nine read it because it is an extremely disheartening story that also takes some understanding of the context.
Number the Stars
Author/Illustrator: Lois LoweryGenre: Historical FictionGrade level: 3-7Award: Newbery Award
Number the Stars is about a ten-year-old girl named Annamarie who lives in Denmark. Nazis have had control over Denmark for three years at this point. Annamarie and her friend Ellen, who is a Jew, get stopped by Nazi soldiers when walking home from school. This startles their parents. Jewish stores begin to close in the town. Ellen's parents decide it is time to leave, but leave Ellen with Annamarie's family. Ellen pretends to be part of the family until she can be sneaked in a boat headed for Sweden. Finally, the war is over and Ellen's family is safe and able to return to their home.
This is a novel without illustrations. The photograph taken for the cover page was taken by Lois Lowery herself. Photography is one of Lowery's favorite hobbies.
This is an amazing chapter book to read with an entire class in middle school. I still remember reading this with my sixth grade class and its great impact on all of our views of the war. This book shows World War II from a different perspective than what is normally seen in books.
