Spine type book for World War II?

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  • February 18, 2015 at 9:49 am
    Threekidsmom
    Participant

    We are going to spend the ret of this semester learning about World War II. I already have books picked out for each of my children, family read-Alouds etc, but I’d like a resource to kind of use as an overall spine-just to keep us all pulled together and on the right track-just an overall picture. Does anyone have suggestions?

    February 18, 2015 at 6:52 pm
    Nicole
    Participant

    Usborne publishes a book called _The World Wars_.  It is very heavily illustrated, but also provides a very detailed history of both wars.  I just got it, and have flipped through it.  It isn’t a “living book” –definitely a spine book.  I’d say 4th grade would be challenged in reading it independently (plus we are talking about atrocities in war), and it is interesting to me as an adult.

    February 19, 2015 at 11:30 am
    Karen Smith
    Moderator

    It’s best if you choose a spine that is a living book.

    If you tell us the ages of your children we can all give suggestions.

    February 19, 2015 at 5:10 pm
    Claire
    Participant

    I use Joy Hakim’s books for our spine in American History and the Susan Bauer books for our spine in World History (she has a new series in addition to SOW.)  We read a lot of “living/first person/passionate expert” type books in addition to her chapters.  But I like a spine in History too.  It does help you to keep the timeline in order and in my opinion it gives you a much, much fuller picture of the History in question.  I’ve never been a fan of a select dozen books to show the complexities of History.  Even if they are living books or excellent in some other way.  My choice would be to do both and go slower if necessary.

    Just my .02!  Hope it helps.


    @Karen    , what titles would you suggest as both spine and living?  Just curious.

    February 19, 2015 at 6:39 pm
    RobinP
    Participant

    I don’t use spines, usually, but one “do not even think about missing” book for WWII is The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum.  Such a superb book that really gives you a picture of, not only some of the issues of the war, but how it affected the people.  It takes place in Germany-occupied Holland.  Another don’t miss is The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy and is coming back into print next month!!  There are SO MANY wonderful living books for this time period.

    February 20, 2015 at 5:55 am
    Angelina
    Participant

    Robin, do you have an opinion on best age for The Winged Watchman?  I often see it listed on curriculum/book lists and it always seems to be in the high school category.  Is there any content within this treasure that would not be appropriate for my DS11 and DS12?

    To the OP – if you don’t receive a suggestion for a “spine” type book, you may benefit by doing your study alongside a wall timeline (or even one on paper), where you and your children input key people, dates, event and geographical locations/notes for each year – either one page or a double page spread per year – beginning 1939, and continue up until 1945.  Kind of a like a “Book of Centuries” but, by year, and only for WWII.

    February 20, 2015 at 6:58 am
    RobinP
    Participant

    Angelina, that’s a great suggestion about using a timeline.

    The Winged Watchman is perfect for that age.  My boys were about 9 when I read it to them and they would hardly let me put it down.  So exciting!  The boys in the story are about the age of yours.  Hilda van Stockum also wrote The Borrowed House set during WWII which I would definitely caution against until high school.  But The Winged Watchman is one of my all-time favorite books.  I featured it in a blog post awhile back if you want to read a snippet.

    http://childrenslegacylibrary.blogspot.com/2013/07/who-cares.html

    And here are my friends, the Cottrill’s, top picks for WWII.

    http://www.livingbookslibrary.com/2011/04/top-10-historical-fiction-books-about.html

    February 20, 2015 at 7:00 am
    Karen
    Participant

    We used SCM’s Stoies of Nations and Stories of America, vol 2 (both) as our spine and LOVED them!

    We also LOVED the Winged Watchman.  I read it myself and loved it, my 4th grader read it and really enjoyed it.

    There’s also the book about the kids who sled the gold or weapons or something right past the Germans – Snow Treasures? Treasure in the Snow? I get the titles of those two books confused.  My 4th grader LOVED that book.

    February 20, 2015 at 2:36 pm
    Karen Smith
    Moderator

    @Claire, I consider Stories of America and Stories of the Nations, Christine Miller’s The Story of . . . books, Genevieve Foster’s The World of . . . books, and Russell Freedman’s The War to End All Wars all examples of spine books that are living books.

    The time period for World War II does not span many years so specific spine books are hard to come by. If I was teaching a high schooler, I might consider Winston Churchill’s writings on World War II or portions of America: The Last Best Hope, Vol. 2 by William Bennett for spines.

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