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I have now read all of the mystery books. Molly's was definitely my least favorite. I found it way too predictable, and not very exciting.
Nothing seemed "wrong" or innappropriate to me though.
I loved the others! Especially Kit's - that was my favorite [img]biggrin.gif[/img]
I haven't read the book but I think the holocaust is a pretty touchy subject. I certainly don't claim to know a lot about it. But I think that even though there were plenty of other people killed in the holocaust, Jews were targeted for genocide. But the overwhelming tragedy was that the majority of the world powers, sat by and allowed the holocaust to go on longer than it should have. They probably could not have stopped it all together from happening. But they could have jumped in sooner. But obviously the world has yet to learn this lesson. Look at Rawanda and no what is happening in Sierra Lione. The Nazi holocaust was not the first or the last genocide attempt. I think AG is just trying to get that message across. I agree with Melissa that they could have worded it better. A well written letter would be beneficial to their staff.
I noticed the inaccuracy about the Holocaust as well, Melissa. Perhaps because I,too, took a class on the subject last semester. Hitler actually USED the Christians to further his propaganda. He pretended to embrace their culture, when all the while he hated it. Melissa, you might like Doris Bergan's "Jewish Life in Nazi Germany".
I'm relieved that others saw this inaccuracy and that I wasn't overreacting. My hope now is that AG will take it seriously enough to change any future edition. Ria, I'd be interested in knowing (PM) what bothered you about the Molly book. Was it the same thing?
I'm going to start reading Kit's book today! [img]smile.gif[/img] The topic looks really interesting and I'm glad to know you all enjoyed it more--but then I'm an animal person! [img]wink.gif[/img]
Another cute thing about the books--they come with freebies! Samantha's has a bookmark, Kit's a recipe card, and Molly's a postcard.
Intellectuals were another category of humans that Hitler sought to destroy. I recently read a book about a boy who was born into such a camp and never knew anything about himself - not even who he was. The title is I am David. I had goosebumps from beginning to end of this book, and so did my son ( who read it at 13). It reads quite similar to popular future shock intended for 4th grade and up, except it is based on facts. It might be a bit much for the 9-12 age level unless they have read other books on this subject.
Hitler's mother was treated by Jewish doctors but she died. That is what I have read caused him to hate Jews. I believe I read this in Alice Miller's book that profiled his upbringing ( I can't remember which of her books did this). She felt the way he was raised - to think himself unworthy yet superior to everyone else had a lot to do with what he became. I think it at least had to do with how he manifested his insanity.
His mother's illness also caused him to recommend all women do self examinations for breast cancer. The US government used this information as propoganda and delayed our own doctors recommending it in this country by about 30 years. What I took from this is that nobody and no government is all good or all bad. The world is far more complex than that, and all the more reason our children need a thorough education in history. We can study history for a lifetime and barely scratch the surface.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry tells the story of the Holocaust delicately by placing the setting in Denmark, which allowed her to touch on the story without too many graphic details. The king of Denmark was forced to order all Jews to wear a yellow star, and so he ordered all Danes to do so! One of the best things about good history books is when they show such cleverness to the readers.
One of the best Holocaust books I have read for this (9 and up) age bracket is called Parallel Journeys, It is the stories of a German boy who became a high ranking member of the Hitler Youth movement and a Jewish girl who grew up about 80 miles from him. They met late in life after he responded to an article she wrote in a San Diego paper, and they have lectured together every since - anywhere anyone will have them. I found this book to be very eye opening, and it is a good one for children to read because it manages to be both completely open and honest without giving a lot of horrific details. I also liked how it showed how hard the war was for German children too - all children in war are victims, even those who carry guns. These kids were not born full of hate - they were systematicly taught to hate, and if their parents tried to keep that from happening, they were in as much trouble as any enemy. One thing I got to thinking about after reading it was that at least Jewish children and their families got to be true to themselves - noone took that away from them. It must have been horrible to grow up in a family where parents must tell their children what is logical is not so and what is crazy is sane. It must be horrible to be a child and have your parents tell such nonsense to you and make you believe it just to keep you alive - and in the end to be undone by it all. I'll be thinking about that book for a long time to come.
Melissa, where did you get your mystery books? We purchase all four from AG and none of them came with a free gift.
Kim
I'm so glad to know in advance the story line here. I would have gotten it for my 9 yr old GD if I hadn't read this.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I second this. I bought the hardbacks from AG and got nothing free but the typical inserts and the bill. [img]smile.gif[/img] Which, I guess, was technically NOT free.Quote:
Originally posted by courtneysunshine:
Melissa, where did you get your mystery books? We purchase all four from AG and none of them came with a free gift.
Kim
Oh, my! I'm reading Kit's book and have to say it is *great* so far--love the stuff about animals and quilting (I'm biased on these!)! [img]biggrin.gif[/img] I'm starting to hope that there will be a lot of books in this series (does anyone else find it nice that the books use the term "A Kit (or whoever) mystery?" The word "a" makes it sound like there might be more. [img]wink.gif[/img]
I have the paperback versions of the books. The freebie is connected to the back cover, the same way the Girls of Many Lands paperback books have a little bookmark attached. It's a neat little extra. That's a bummer that the hardcovers don't have these. It seems like they could have been attached to the dust jacket or something.
I would love it if they came out with more mysteies also! We haven't gotten around to reading Samantha's and Kaya's yet, but the other two were very good (with the above corrections [img]smile.gif[/img] )
My daughter would also like AG to have more mystery puzzles. Wouldn't it be great if each of the girls had a mystery book series like Nacy Drew?
Kimberly that was very funny [img]smile.gif[/img] Unfortunately very true. I did find a freebie at the bookstore when I was checking out the games. They had free bookmarks that had a mystery code on them. I saw one for Samantha, Kit, and Molly, but I didn't see Kaya's.
Melissa, what was the recipe of?