Personal responses: Hands down that this was one of my favorite books I have read from our classroom list. For some reason WWII grabs my attention & this book happens to be based on a true story in which the story takes place during to period. The book is a chapter book, but as I was reading it, I felt that it was an easy read. I also noticed that it contained rich vocabulary. Some of those words actually prompted me to look them up. The story was an easy flow from one idea to the next and very easy to understand even though we did not live during this time. I am pretty sure that a lot of the violence mentioned in this book was partially or a fraction from all the brutality victims had to go through. It may not talk about how real things may have been, but it gives the reader a pretty good idea. Something else that I noticed was that the author Susan does is split the book in sections between present tense and past tense. The book starts off in present tense and she uses the past tense to catch up the reader with background information as to why things are happening the way they are in present time. I thought that was a pretty cool thing to do because she does it in such a way that everything fits in perfectly in a timely manner to finally connect in the end! Another thing I noticed was that Susan did not use any chapters. Two things may be the reasons. One because the book was already split by past and present tense. And another may be because all of this seems to be happening in one day. The things in the past are the stories that Helmuth is telling. He isn’t living it minute by minute. His real time was when he was already in prison. This may not sound as professional, but I can’t think of another word to describe this book, but I thought this was an awesome! I would read this book again.
Classroom applications: When it comes to using this book in the classroom applications, I would take advantage and use this book to teach both Social Studies and Reading at the same time. The history of this time period would cover Social Studies and Reading would be covered by allowing students to read this book and have group discussions, critical thinking, asking rhetorical questions, and if possible healthy rich debates so to deeply understand where the characters are coming from, why they think like that or act in that manner.
We could also include talking about the structure of the book in how the author Susan uses present and past tense to make her book. This is one strategy she used to make her book credible and stronger to emphasize her message. We could also go into talking about virtues. For example, Helmuth showed a tremendous amount of bravery who dared to go against his country for obvious reasons that did not feel right. (own benefit over people’s misery)
Hands down that this was one of my favorite books I have read from our classroom list. For some reason WWII grabs my attention & this book happens to be based on a true story in which the story takes place during to period. The book is a chapter book, but as I was reading it, I felt that it was an easy read. I also noticed that it contained rich vocabulary. Some of those words actually prompted me to look them up. The story was an easy flow from one idea to the next and very easy to understand even though we did not live during this time. I am pretty sure that a lot of the violence mentioned in this book was partially or a fraction from all the brutality victims had to go through. It may not talk about how real things may have been, but it gives the reader a pretty good idea. Something else that I noticed was that the author Susan does is split the book in sections between present tense and past tense. The book starts off in present tense and she uses the past tense to catch up the reader with background information as to why things are happening the way they are in present time. I thought that was a pretty cool thing to do because she does it in such a way that everything fits in perfectly in a timely manner to finally connect in the end! Another thing I noticed was that Susan did not use any chapters. Two things may be the reasons. One because the book was already split by past and present tense. And another may be because all of this seems to be happening in one day. The things in the past are the stories that Helmuth is telling. He isn’t living it minute by minute. His real time was when he was already in prison. This may not sound as professional, but I can’t think of another word to describe this book, but I thought this was an awesome! I would read this book again.
Classroom applications:
When it comes to using this book in the classroom applications, I would take advantage and use this book to teach both Social Studies and Reading at the same time. The history of this time period would cover Social Studies and Reading would be covered by allowing students to read this book and have group discussions, critical thinking, asking rhetorical questions, and if possible healthy rich debates so to deeply understand where the characters are coming from, why they think like that or act in that manner.
We could also include talking about the structure of the book in how the author Susan uses present and past tense to make her book. This is one strategy she used to make her book credible and stronger to emphasize her message. We could also go into talking about virtues. For example, Helmuth showed a tremendous amount of bravery who dared to go against his country for obvious reasons that did not feel right. (own benefit over people’s misery)