The Bombed House

So I was planning on reading the Young Adults fiction section of the library from A-Z, but there were a group of kids in the "A" section so I went to the other side and now I'm reading from both sides and will meet somewhere in the middle many years from now.

The Bombed House by Jonny Zucker

This book is about the bombing of London during World War II.  Ned and Harry are two boys who are awaiting their relocation to the English countryside when they find a German solider hiding out in a bombed house.  They disobey their father and sneak out of the house to get a better look, but in the end they are treated like heroes.

I did not like this book at all.  It was very boring with not a lot of detail.  Almost every sentence was it's own paragraph set apart by a large space making the flow very difficult.  I would not recommend this to any of my students.

The Night Crossing

The Night Crossing by Karen Ackerman

This is a good introductory book for learning about the Holocaust for young readers.  The book is about a young girl named Clara and her family as they make preparations to journey from Austria to freedom in Switzerland.  The family wants to save a pair of candlesticks that are the only heirlooms they have left.  Clara is instrumental in keeping them safe from many people who would like the treasure by hiding them in her dolls. 

While this book alludes to the terrible exterminations of human life it does not talk about it directly, and everyone in Clara's family escapes unharmed, although there are some "close" calls to keep it exciting.

I would recommend this book for 2-4th grade students.  If you are studying WWII would make a good read aloud in a 2nd grade classroom.  

I give this book 2 stars out of 5

Ackerman, Karen. The Night Crossing. Alfred, A. Knopf. New York. 1994.