Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Nonfiction Wednesday

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I'm excited that Alyson Beecher, at Kid Lit Frenzy, is continuing her Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge for the fifth year in a row.
 
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose
 
I listened to this 2016 Sibert Honor Award winner, and wow!  What a fantastic book!  I was swept away by the story of a few courageous Danish boys who stood up to the Nazi regime during WWII. Bicycles and a frustration with the adults of Denmark fueled their protests.  I enjoyed listening to Phillip Hoose narrate parts of his book and talk about how his work with Knud Pedersen evolved. I will definitely purchase a copy of the print book for my classroom.  My 6th graders would love it.  It would go perfectly with our Social Responsibility and Leaving a Legacy unit.  We read a similar story about young German resistors in Scope Magazine a while back, which makes a good companion text.  We also read the picture book, The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark, which gives the reader a much different view of King Christian than Knud Pedersen and Phillip Hoose does.  It would be good for kids to research King Christian X and Denmark's WWII history to find out more.  I remember visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and being fascinated by the wall of names and stories about Nazi resistors, helping to save Jews at the obvious risk of their own lives.  Books like The Boys Who Challenged Hitler challenge us, too - who would you be during time of war?
 


 


6 comments:

  1. I have this book out from the library right now, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Sounds like I really need to! Thanks for the review!

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  2. I thought this was such an incredible story when I read it. The Danish resisters are real life heroes as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for sharing this today.

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  3. I've stayed away from this book since I work in K-4, but I do think WWII is fascinating, so it's probably one I would enjoy!

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  4. I loved this book and passed it on to my son-in-law & grandson, Holly. It is an incredible story. Thanks for the picture book title too. I will look for it.

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  5. Amazing story-thanks for sharing the videos. I would love to read The Boys Who Challenged Hitler.

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  6. I'm really excited to book talk this one, I love sharing nonfiction with kids, especially nonfiction about other kids. It's so inspiring for kids to learn about real kids who did remarkable things. Thanks for highlighting this one.

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