This is the exciting story of the heroic children of Norway who secretly smuggled their country's wealth in gold on sleds past Nazi occupiers so that it could be shipped to America and kept out of the hands of the Nazis. The story is exciting and involves great dangers, but is carefully crafted within a setting that is not too intense for children. Written in the early years of World War II, it includes interesting details that our modern history books seem to forget.
A very remarkable true story of twenty Catholic children, living in the country (to escape the war) with their teacher (a Catholic nun) who agree to hide ten Jewish children from the Nazis. The children show great heroism in offering to share even their meager food and bedding with these children and bravely face the Nazis alone while their teacher is detained. The story is a bit suspenseful, but ends beautifully (and a bit poetically) and could be read-aloud to fairly young children (Approximately 4th grade reading level). Highly recommended!
This is the actual book, written in 1949, which inspired the script of the movie the Sound of Music. It is Maria and her family's autobiography, covering some early details of the Captain and Maria's separate lives and the history of the family from Maria's position as teacher to the young Maria all the way through the late 1940s. After reading the World of the Trapp Family (reviewed below), I finally picked up this book which I had started to read years earlier, but never finished.
Whenever I hear the phrase "based on a true story", I want to know what the true story was. The World of the Trapp Family will provide just that for anyone interested in the real family behind The Sound of Music. The movie is just factual enough that Sound of Music fans will surely enjoy the flesh and blood behind the story. However, the real family is so much more vivid and fascinating than the movie that this book will probably be enjoyed even by those who didn't care for the movie (or grew tired of seeing it too many times.)
This is a well-written and engaging account of the major events of World War II - military, political, humanitarian, etc. - treated at a level appropriate for children - particularly ages 10-14.
This is the dramatic story (and probably true or based-on-a-true story) of a young boy in Japanese-occupied China who is separated from his parents and baby sister. He travels with his pet pig through dangerous territory and aids a wounded American airman. Still seeking his parents, he is adopted by the airmen (sixty "fathers") at an American military base who fly him about the area to find his parents in gratitude for his assistance to their fellow soldier.
The Good Master by Kate Seredy is a timeless tale of the goodness of the land and of the Faith. Set in Hungary before World War I, a young impish girl, Kate, is sent to the country because her father, a widower, cannot control her anymore. When she arrives she is a world class brat but she is tamed by her uncle through discipline and love. She is somewhat fearless and zealous to try everything the farm life has to offer and this leads her and her cousin Jancsi on many humorous farm adventures.
The Singing Tree, sequel to The Good Master, is a much more serious story and takes place during World War I. Sandor, Kate's father, is drafted into the war and eventually, the Good Master, Marton Nagy, must report as well. The majority of the book tells of how the family gets along during the war years without the men of the family. Of course, Jancsi the young master steps up and, aided by a journal his father left for him, manages the farm quite well.
Biographies of eight famous flyers of World War I - from both sides of the War. From an historical perspective we see how quickly the war caused innovations in the fledgling aircraft industry. From a human perspective we admire the bravery of these men and the significant impact they had on the war. We see the awfulness of war as most of these great "aces" did not survive the war. Most surprising is the respect they held for their counterparts on the other side - during the funeral of one flyer, an enemy plane flew over and dropped a wreath to honor the dead.
This book tells the story of Sigurd, a young Viking boy who hears his father tell tales of adventures sailing to far lands and longs for adventures of his own. It looks like his dreams may come true when his father's friend Gorm comes to his home and tells of his plan to sail for the legendary land of Wineland, west of Greenland.