From: Brad Wendt <bewendt>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 18:57:26 -0600

Hi. My name is Karen Wendt. I have been enjoying the discussion on WWII books. Many of the books folks have been writing about have been our favorites also. My daughter was on a run of reading Holocaust stories when she was in 4th grade and continued until about 6th grade. The three books she remembers most are ISLAND ON BIRD STREET and NUMBER THE STARS and DANIELS STORY. Wasn't there a story that followed DANIELS STORY? One of the books I read a few years ago is Cormier's TUNES FOR BEARS TO DANCE TO. It is a very short story about eleven year-old Henry and his concerns for the problems his family is having. They have recently moved to this place to try and overcome the grief they feel over his older brothers death. His parents grieving seems to leave Henry out of their life. He loved his older brother and from his desire to earn money to buy a headstone for the grave, he gets a job. Henry meets Mr. Levine, an elderly Holocaust survivor who carves beautiful wood figures representing the people and scenes of his home town, in essence re-creating his home town.The shopkeeper learns of Mr. Levine and manipulates Henry into betraying his new friend. The wickedness of prejudice is what Henry learns about through this experience. On a different note, and I know its not a book but there is a video called PURPLE TRIANGLES which was originally put out by STARLOCK PICTURES. A production for TVS. It looks at another group of victims of WWII and Hitler, Jehovah's Witnesses. As Jewish people wore the yellow star, Jehovah's Witnesses were identified by a purple triangle. The Witnesses were not a very numerous people and yet thousands suffered in the concentration camps. Purple Triangles shows the courage and endurance of one family among the thousands. I haven't read a fiction book featuring the Witnesses and WWII. Karen
Received on Mon 27 Oct 1997 06:57:26 PM CST