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Number the Stars or The Endless Steppe?
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I’m looking for opinions and/or personal experiences with these books. Both take place in the early 1940’s, during WWII, but of course they cover different countries/cultures. I’m trying to help my daughter decide which book to read over the next 6-8 weeks.
DD is in 9th grade and is not a poor reader, but she seems to read rather slowly when it comes to school books. She enjoyed the Little House books a few years ago and also enjoyed some of the American Girl historical fiction at that time for her leisure reading. In recent years, though, she dislikes most of the books she is asked to read for literature or history. *Sigh*
Any suggestions? Is there something else I could have her read about WWII in place of these books?
I don’t have experience with the latter, but Number the Stars is one of my favorite books. It is set in Denmark and is about a Jewish girl who goes to live with a Danish family to avoid the concentration camps. I read it for the first time in 4th grade, so it would definitely be an easy read for your dd. Not that she shouldn’t read it, because she should. It’s an excellent, living book. I have it in my ds9’s list of independent reading books. If you’re wanting the perspective and plot of a Jew who didn’t end up in a concentration camp and a non-Jewish family who protected Jews, this is your book.
Well my absolute favorite WWII books are The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum (reading now with my boys as a matter of fact and they don’t want me to put it down) and The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy (one of my favorites of all time, though the likelihood of finding one is slim.). But Number the Stars is excellent. Here is a post my friend, Emily, did on don’t miss WWIi books.
http://www.livingbookslibrary.com/2011/04/top-10-historical-fiction-books-about.html
So many great books for this time.
It seems like the Endless Steppe is more intense than Number the Stars. As Lindsey said, a 4th grader could enjoy Number the Stars, but I would hesitate to give a 4th grader Endless Steppe.
At her age, she could read both easily during that time frame. And the fact they give the different experiences of a Jewish family, one under HItler and the other Stalin, is valuable information.
Number the Stars is a very easy read and The Endless Steppe is easy for her capabilities and equally as engaging; so I think she’ll like both.
I vote for BOTH. I can’t imagine life without both books, actually. As Rachel mentioned—Jewish people suffered BOTH under Hitler, and under Stalin, and we often only bother to remember Hitler’s Holocaust. I guess because we ended up fighting on the same side as Stalin later, I don’t know. I have a personal story–I don’t know that the Endless Steppe is that much more intense. I encountered it first when I was about 11. My library had a summer reading program, and if you finished, at the end of the summer they let you into this magical room full of books and YOU GOT TO PICK ANY ONE YOU WANTED
TO KEEP. FOREVER. I had always been a big reader, but we had no money and I owned only one small handful of books–some Little House books, and a few Nancy Drews. I walked into this room, and walked out with —The Endless Steppe. I read it over and over and over. I simply loved it. It opened up the world to me in very surprising ways–first of all, I began questioning what I read in “history” class at school, because they said NOTHING about this subject and I even questioned several teachers–all of whom had no idea what I was talking about. I was so fascinated by this story of a girl who was just like me–she loved her family and sometimes was furious at them, she wanted to be dressed like the other kids so much, but she was different anyway and all these awful things happened, just because she was Jewish. I happened to encounter Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry the very same summer (it’s in my diary from the time–lol!) and those two books changed my whole way of seeing the world that summer.So. Both! If she can’t read both, read one aloud. And Robin’s right–The Winged Watchman is amazingly good, too. 🙂
Both is my vote as well. Also adding that I wouldn’t skip The Winged Watchman if you can get it in… maybe as a read aloud. It’s really very good. 🙂
My 10 yo son is reading The Endless Steppe right now. He really likes it and is doing great narrations on it. I like them both too.
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