Materials from Germany
Rachel Isadora brings another fabulous fairy tale to brilliant life with her stunning collages. The Brothers Grimm story of the kind fisherman who catches an enchanted fish, and his greedy wife who always wants more, is perfect for these “give-me” times.
Mum puts 10 socks in a washing machine and only nine socks come out. How they disappear (and where they go) is a mystery. Inexplicable, that is, until Maja meets Flusi, the Sock Monster. He’s a little creature of indisputable fierceness, overcome by desire to possess as many socks as possible.
The year is 1942, and Norway is under Nazi occupation. Ten-year-old Merit is sent with her younger brother to Godoy Island to live with her aunt and grandfather after Germans Bomb Norway in 1940. Merit longs to join her parents in the Resistance and when her aunt, a teacher, is taken away two years later, she resents even more the Nazis’ presence and her grandfather’s refusal to oppose them.
During World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.
Nero Corleone isn’t your average cat. He’s much worse. On a farm somewhere in Italy, a black cat named Nero reigns supreme. There’s not one animal on the farm that doesn’t do exactly as Nero orders, even the dog. Then one day,Nero visits the house on the nearby hill, where a young German couple is vacationing, and there he has his first taste of the good life. Warm delicious condensed milk and sausage sandwiches! Soon after, Nero and his sister Rosa travel ten hours to their new home in Germany. But nothing really changes for Nero; he simply goes from being farm bully to being neighborhood bully. In this irresistible and warmly-told novel, where humans seem simple, and animals complex, Nero stops at nothing to get what he wants in life. But as time passes, even Nero begins to learn the lessons of life. Elke Heidenreich is a well-known columnist in Germany. Her satirical columns about everyday subjects appear in the biweekly magazine Brigitte. Quint Buchholz Hanser has illustrated many books for children. Both author and illustrator make their homes in Germany.
When Knut was born, the first polar bear cub at the Berlin Zoo in more than thirty years, he was no bigger than a snowball and unable to care for himself. His mother, a rescued East German circus bear, didn’t know how to take care of Knut and rejected him. Knut would have died if it weren’t for Thomas Dorflein, a zookeeper who nurtured Knut, feeding him, sleeping with him, and giving him the love and attention Knut needed to thrive. But Thomas wasn’t the only one who adopted Knut. The adorable little polar bear captured the world’s attention, and now Knut is loved around the globe.
During the days of Nazi terror in Europe, many Jewish children were taken from their families and hidden. Régine Miller was one such child, who left her mother, father, and brother when she was 10 years old. Utterly alone as she is shunted from place to place, told to tell no one she is Jewish, she hears that her mother and brother have been taken by the SS, the German secret police. Only her desperate hope that her father will return sustains her. At war’s end she must learn to live with the terrible truth of “the final solution,” the Nazi’s extermination camps. The people who sheltered Régine cover a wide spectrum of human types, ranging from callous to kind, fearful to defiant, exploitive to caring. This is a story of a brave girl and an equally brave woman to tell the story so many years later.
“I begin with the young. We older ones are used up . . . But my magnificent youngsters! Look at these men and boys! What material! With them, I can create a new world.” –Adolf Hitler, Nuremberg 1933 By the time Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, 3.5 million children belonged to the Hitler Youth. It would become the largest youth group in history. Susan Campbell Bartoletti explores how Hitler gained the loyalty, trust, and passion of so many of Germany’s young people. Her research includes telling interviews with surviving Hitler Youth members.
For David Nathan, Copenhagen is the most beautiful city in the world, even with Nazis in the streets. But life has changed since the soldiers arrived. His parents are always worried. And his older sister goes to school early and comes home late. Sometimes she doesn’t come home at all! David’s father is a baker, and since the war began, butter and cream are very hard to find. So David is amazed when his father makes a “special order” of cream-filled chocolate eclairs. But when no one comes to pick up the eclairs, David is asked to run a very special errand. It’s an errand that will change his life forever.
Hildegard was a scientist. She studied plants and made medicines. Hildegard was a musician. She wrote hymns and sang harmonies. Hildegard was a writer. She spoke to priests and popes and the people. But before all of that, Hildegard was a girl with a secret world. Flames danced. Flowers blossomed. God said, “Write what you see.” And she could only become all she was when she let her light shine.