Witness

Witness

by Karen Hesse

Published by Random House 2001 Audio book

Genre: Historical Fiction, Racism, Prejudices and Social Issues

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: This book about a small town in Vermont in 1924 when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. Members of this community turn against each other under the influence of the KKK. The Klan is very subtle when it moves in to a new place. At first they offer aid to the needy and destiute, but if you're not white and protestant, and you have problems, the Klan would lift one finger to help you. They targeted Catholics, African-Americans and Jewish people. Slowly they bought up the loyalties of this town. Then the open persecution begins. First with a rock through Sarah Chickering's window. Their reason, Sarah had a Jewish man and his six year old daughter, Esther Hirsh living with her. Then they sent Merlin Van Tornhout, just a young kid, no more than twenty years old to poison the Sutter family's well. But he couldn't do it because he had watched as Leanora Sutter had saved Esther Hirsh's lives from the path of a moving train and he saw her watching him attempting to poison her family's well, so he couldn't do it. He ran away instead. That same night someone shot Esther's father through Sarah Chickering's kitchen door. The scariest thing about it is little Esther was sitting on her father's lap at the time. The bullet went through his right arm, grazed his chest and through his right arm. If Esther hadn't been leaning forward, that bullet would have killed her. So Merlin Van Tornhout was charged with the crime, he didn't do it and Esther knows it because she saw who shot her father and it wasn't Merlin.

Response: This book has really opened my eyes to just how ugly the KKK really was. I mean, I know they had persecutes African Americans, but I had no idea how far their prejudice extending or how far they would go to try and drive those that deemed as unAmerican from their midst. That's another thing, the KKK only considered White Protestant to be 100% American, but those they persecuted had been this country for decades and in most cases so had their fathers and their grandfathers. The evil and ugliness that were dealt by this organization and any of those like it is just gut-wretching to me.

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin

by Lloyd Moss

Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman

Publisher:Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 1995 32 pages

Genre: Picture books, Music and Counting

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Summary: This is about musical instruments and it is about counting, but it tells it in poetry form.

Response: I liked this book very much

Your Dad was Just Like You

Your Dad was Just Like You

Written and Illustrated by Dolores Johnson

Publisher: Macmillian Publishing Company 1993

Genre: Picture books, and Family Life

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Summary:This is the story of a little boy who is having problems with his father and he wants to live with his grandfather. His grandfather tells him about his father when he was a boy and Peter learns to understand why his father was so upset when he knocked the purple cup on his father’s dresser. Peter goes home and fixes the cup and apologizes to his father.

Response: I liked this book. It deals with real life and teaches a lesson.

Yo! Yes?

Yo! Yes?

Written and Illustrated by Chris Raschka

Publisher: Orchard Books 1993 32 pages

Genre:Picture book, Humor and Friendship

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Summary: This is the story of two strangers that meet on the street and with very few words, they become friends. It also shows that people who are different, can still communicate and be friends.

Response: I like this story very much. The thing that I like most about this book is the principle behind it. If more people could exercise the same understanding as these two boys, the world would be a much better place.

Tuesday

Tuesday

Written and Illustrated by David Weisner

Publisher: Clarion Books 1991 32 pages

Genre: Wordless Picture book, Fantasy and Adventure

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Summary:This is a wordless picture book about the magical nature of Tuesday nights that allows frog to fly on their lilypads and at the end of the book, pigs fly on the next Tuesday.

Response: This is a wonderful book and very funny. The illustrations are fantastic.

Time Flies

Time Flies

Written and Illustrated by Eric Rohmann

Publisher: Crown Publishers 1994

Genre: Wordless Picture book, and Nature

Reading Level: Ages 4-8

Summary:This is a wordless picture book. A bird flies into a museum to get out of the storm. As she flies through the museum, the dinosaurs seem to come to life and the bird flies among them until one of them tries to eat the bird, and it turns back into a skeleton and the bird flies away.

Response: This is a good story, but there is a question that the book raises that I am not sure about. Is the bird dreaming, is she traveling in time or is she remembering her ancestors?

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain

Written and Illustrated by Peter Sis

Publisher: Frances Foster Books 2007 56 pages

Genre: Picture book and History

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: This book is based on the experiences of Peter Sis as he grew in Czechoslovakia when it was under Soviet rule. At first he didn’t question what he was told, but then he started questioning the State. He quietly protested against the state through his drawings. He even formed his own rock band, though rock ‘n roll had been forbidden by the State.

Ideas for Activities: (optional)

Study about Lenin and the USSR.

Response: This book is absolutely wonderful. It really makes you think about the difference between democracy and communism.