From: Klein, Cheryl <CKlein>
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 10:15:44 -0400

Jonathan asked,

and seen a essay

I was in fifth grade when I first read Lois Lowry's NUMBER THE STARS and Eleanor Coerr's SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES. These human stories in the midst of the Nazi and A-bomb atrocities were so enormously inspiring to me that I went on to research the Danish Resistance movement, the Holocaust, the nuclear bomb and the Manhattan Project, the Japanese internment camps here in the States . . . fascinations that have lasted to this day. The two books informed my understanding of history by showing me that history is made by the actions of brave ordinary individuals (even kids!), just as much as it is by the "great men" we read about in Social Studies class.

I also remember reading Ms. Lowry's author's note, where she describes coming across a picture of a brave young resistance fighter and the passion and steadiness of purpose in his eyes. He was killed not long after the picture was taken, and reading about how moved Ms. Lowry was by the picture moved me deeply as well. The anecdote made me grasp something I hadn't consciously realized: the people in old pictures had lived once just as I lived now, and their stories had really happened, even if I read about them in "fictional" books. I took a much greater interest in history once I realized it was *stories*, not just dates and world capitals and dust.

Lastly I remember excitedly sharing the fact that "the Danish Resistance used cocaine to foil the Nazis!" with everyone in my sixth-grade World Civilizations class -- none of whom was quite as impressed by that as I was. But then most of them hadn't read NUMBER THE STARS and experienced the danger and suspense of Annemarie's carrying her uncle's lunch past the Nazis. . . .

Great discussion, thanks!

Cheryl Klein Associate editor Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic
Received on Thu 06 May 2004 09:15:44 AM CDT