History

The Empty Pot

Book cover: The Empty Pot
Author(s): 
Demi

This lovely little storybook has been enjoyed by my preschoolers as well as my grade-school-aged children. As the moral of the story unfolds, this colorful story book exposes children to a little bit of Ancient China. It is the story of Ping, a child with a green thumb. However when the emperor gives Ping a seed to care for, he cannot even get a sprout from it. Yet all of the children of the land, who were also given seeds to nurture, return to the emperor's palace with beautiful flowers. Ping, humbled, gives the emperor his empty pot expecting to be scolded.

Blue Willow

Book cover: 'Blue Willow'
Author(s): 
Doris Gates
Blue Willow is the sweet story of ten-year-old Janey Larkin, whose family is struggling to make ends meet in California's Central Valley during the Great Depression. Janey and her family have a few treasured possessions which they've dragged along with them from place to place because of the difficulties in finding work. Janey's beautiful blue willow plate is her greatest treasure, but when tough times get worse, she decides to offer it as payment for her family's rent...

Jane's Historic Military Aircraft: Recognition Guide

Book cover: 'Jane's Historic Military Aircraft: Recognition Guide'
Author(s): 
Tony Holmes
There are a wealth of good and interesting books about the two World Wars: The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum, Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery, Flying Aces of World War I by Gene Gurney and many others. After reading a number of these, I began to wish for a book with pictures of the various types of airplanes in order to understand and appreciate the stories better.

Survival in the Storm

Book cover: 'Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards'
Author(s): 
Katelan Janke
My ten year old daughter has been enjoying the Dear America series from Scholastic. I believe that they've had a positive effect on her character (particular in the "complaint" department) as the stories focus on girls about her age living in difficult times. As they're written by a number of different authors, please don't take this review as an endorsement of all of the titles.

The Scarlet and the Black

Christopher Plummer and Gregory Peck play arch-enemies in this story of a remarkable Irish Monsignor living in the Vatican who runs a network of safehouses for Jews, escaped POWs and others seeking refuge in Nazi-occupied Rome. Monsignor O'Flaherty (Gregory Peck) boldly collects funds for his work at high-profile parties and events and narrowly escapes capture at every turn. As Nazi Commandant Hoffer (Christopher Plummer) realizes the scope of O'Flaherty's threat to Nazi purposes, the good Monsignor's danger increases.

Schindler's List

This is a remarkable movie and the heart of the story is very beautiful. Two stories are intertwined. The first is simply the story of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis during World War II. The second is the story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman, determined to profit from the war by hiring Jews as cheap laborers. He is a womanizer, living the high life through in spite of the suffering around him.

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