Hitler's Canary
by Sandi Toksvig
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 39)
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
Based on accounts of her own grandparents' work in the Danish resistance, Toksvig tells a compelling story of the many Danes who helped smuggle Danish Jews out of the country to Sweden before they were taken to Hitler's Concentration camps. The story revolves around ten-year-old Bamse and his family--a group of "theater people" as he calls them (the story is broken into scenes and acts instead of chapters). The story begins with the German occupation of Denmark in 1940 (when the BBC be...more
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Read in June, 2008
This book was based on a true story and is about a family in Denmark during the German occupation. This family, along with so many other citizens, risked their lives to help their Jewish friends escape the German raids. As I was reading this book I wondered if I would have the courage that these Danish cititizens had. They never gave a second thought to helping their friends even though it meant that if they were caught they would be killed or sent to the concentration camps. They did it becau...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Lia by:
a fellow librarianrecommends it for: anyone interested in holocaust literature.
This story, based on real people and real events from the author's family history, concerns an aspect of WWII that we hear less about: The German occupation of Denmark. Hitler used Denmark's factories and workers to fuel his war effort, and because the people didn't actively fight him, Denmark was often called "Hitler's Canary" because he had them caged up and they would sing for him. There was actually a lot of resistance on many levels. This is a bittersweet story of national pride a
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Read in April, 2008
I read this as a supplement to Number the Stars, which we are discussing this month for Great Reads for Girls at the library. It is based on the experiences of the author's father in Denmark during World War II and illustrates well that "in the rescue of the Danish Jews, not all the Germans were bad and not all the Danes were good. There were just some good people and some bad people, and it wasn't always easy to tell the difference."
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This book falls in the adolescent literature genre. I didn't love this book. I wanted to, but the story, though based on true events, was hurried and the characters weren't well developed. I wouldn't discourage someone from reading this book, but I also wouldn't encourage it as well. There are better books out there such as The Hiding Place, Number the Stars and Yellow
Star.
Star.
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Excellent children's novel on the holocaust. Twelve-year-old Bamse and his Jewish friend participate in the Danish Resistance during WWII. The Danes were called "Hitler's Carnary" by the world during that part of the war because they tried to make their country normal and do anything they could to save the Jewish people from the concentration camps and certain death.
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Adolescent Literature --again. I read a lot of adol. lit in hopes of then finding something to inspire my reluctant readers. I love Holocaust fiction and non-fiction--probably because I taught Anne Frank and WWII history.
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Read in January, 2008
This is the story of a family in Denmark during the Nazi occupation. It's based on the true story of the author's father.
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i love Lois Lowry's "Number the stars", and this work has a similar plot line, setting, and strong young adult characters.
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
YA
Rushed and over-the-top story of the Danish Resistance. There is far better in this genre to chose from.
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