Germany

Materials from Germany

Ashes

Thirteen-year-old Gabriella Schramm’s favorite pastime is reading. With Adolf Hitler slowly but unstoppably rising to power, Gaby turns to her books for comfort while the world around her changes dramatically: The streets become filled with soldiers, her sister’s boyfriend raises his arm in a heil Hitler salute, and the Schramm’s family friend Albert Einstein flees the country. When Gaby’s beloved books come under attack, she fears she may have to leave behind the fiction and the life she has always cherished.

Jack in Luck

When his seven years’ wages in gold proves too heavy to carry, Jack trades it in for one thing after another until he arrives home empty-handed but convinced he is a lucky man.

Remembering Crystal

Crystal had lived in the garden for many years and she was growing old–Zelda was just starting out in life and though she was young, she and Crystal were best friends, but one day Crystal was not in the garden, she had died; in this gentle, beautifully illustrated story, children learn, with Zelda, that true friendship is a gift that doesn’t die.

Summer Birds: The Butterflies of Maria Merian

This book documents the work of a young girl, Maria Merian, who lived during the Middle Ages and disproved the theory of spontaneous generation by observing caterpillars as they spun cocoons and emerged as butterflies and moths in the spring.

Outfoxing the Fox

Once there was a little fox who thought he was too smart for school. After all, he thought, foxes are clever already. A fox like himself could certainly outwit a chicken.