Benno and the Night of Broken Glass

It is a question as old as the 1940s -- how do you introduce young children to the horror of the Holocaust in a way they can understand, but that won't overwhelm them? In the picture book Benno and the Night of Broken Glass, Meg Wiviott answers this questions quite well. The story uses the conceit of telling about Benno the cat to introduce Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) and the beginning of the Holocaust. Events are described without explanation. Benno knows that people are less happy since the men in brown shirts showed up, but not why. He doesn't understand why Inge, (who gives him schnitzel after Sunday dinner) no longer walks to school or plays with Sophie (who gives him chicken after Sabbath supper).

Nor does he know why, one night, the men in brown shirts break into Moshe the butcher's shop and overturn his refrigerators. They rip up Mitzi Stein's fabric and throw the sewing machines at her dress shop into the street. They leave Herr Gerber's grocery alone. Hans the Hausmeister, who gives Benno fresh milk every night, lets the men in brown shirts into the apartment building and points out certain apartments. The men take away Professor Goldfarb. They break the furniture in Sophie's apartment, but not in Inge's. They even set fire to the beautiful Neue Synagogue. The next day, Benno waits for Sophie so he can walk to school with her, but she never comes out of her apartment.

Life goes on for cats, just as it does for children. Both, being powerless, must adjust. Benno still watches Inge's father leave for work. He still follows Inge to school. Frau Gerber still scratches his ears, and Hans still gives him fresh milk. But nothing is ever the same.

An afterword provides information on Kristallnacht, including the fact that few nations spoke out against the events, indicating to the Nazis that the world would tolerate such persecution. A bibliography giving sources and additional children's books about the Holocaust is included.

The book provides a good introduction to the topic for early elementary school age children, while leaving it to parents to determine the appropriate amount of background information and explanation to provide to an individual child.

Four Picture Books

It’s been a long time since I felt the urge to go out and buy a picture book, but in the last month, no less than four titles have come across my bookshelf, that I MUST own. So far, I’m holding off, with the books checked out to me, I have temporary ownership. Knowing they eventually need to be returned, and then hopefully get shabby with many checkouts, at some point, I will have to visit Aunties, and make some purchases!

When I first picked up No! by David McPhail, I was expecting a book like David Shannon’s No David series. As I turned the pages, I discovered a nearly wordless story about a child who learns that his own simple act of resistance to violence causes changes from war to peace, enmity to friendship, and weapons to toys.

A small boy sets off to mail a letter. As he walks to the mailbox, jets with bombs visible fly over, dropping their deadly loads over an adjoining neighborhood, destroying it completely. A tank rolls by, and takes out a house on his street; soldiers march by with their bayonets, and hidden faces, beating down the door of a family with terrified young children. A little further on, an old man in an act of resistance defaces the poster of a president, while a policeman and his fierce dog prepare to arrest him. When the boy finally arrives at the mailbox, a bigger boy is waiting to pick a fight with him. When the smaller boy says “No!” the bully is very surprised and begins to follow him. As they walk back down the street, they see the policeman smiling, and the dog licking the old man’s face in friendship. The soldiers have traded their guns for gifts, and with faces now visible are helping the young family they terrorized before. The tank has turned into a tractor, and can be seen plowing a field behind the space where the house’s rubble still lays, and the fighter jets fly over once again, but instead of dropping bombs, drop a parachute with a bicycle big enough for the two boys to ride off on together.

In Patricia Polacco’s In Our Mothers’ House, Marmee, Meema and their three adopted children, are like any other family; they live in a big old house in Berkeley, California. They love to spend time telling stories in front of the fireplace, they build a treehouse in the backyard, and have conversations around their dinner table. They also instigate the biggest block party ever, involving all the neighbors, but one. There is one family who does not approve of the family with two mothers and no fathers. As the children grow up, marry and start their own families, they always return to their mothers’ home, until finally one of the children takes it over when their mothers die. Patricia Polacco’s artwork is vibrant with color, action and joy, showing that all families, no matter what their make-up are filled with love and joy, and although they may have different ways of doing things, if they love each other, they really are the same as any other family. My favorite line, from near the end of the story is “From the day we entered out mothers’ house, they prepared us for the day that we would leave it.” If all parents would remember this task, what a better world our children would grow up in!

Neil Gaiman’s new book, Blueberry Girl, illustrated by Charles Vess is a new-age blessing for a baby girl. Three fairies, ladies of light, darkness and never-you-mind, are asked for kindness, safety, joy, cleverness, wisdom, and truth. Rich greens and golds, sunset blues and pinks surround a little girl dancing through illustrations filled with animals and flowers and trees. If you know of a family with a baby girl, or even an almost grown daughter, consider this lovely book as a gift.

Mama Says: A Book of Love for Mothers and Sons is a series of poems by Rob D. Walker, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon. Each poem imparts a bit of wisdom from a mother to her young son. Each poem is presented in English and in the language and alphabet of the culture portrayed in the accompanying illustration, including Cherokee, Russian, Ethiopian, English, Korean, Danish and Hindi among many others. The illustrations are luminous, full page bordered paintings facing the poems, with a smaller circular painting above the poem. The repetition in the words and illustrations enhance the universality of the wisdom of the mothers. The final, double-paged spread and simple words will bring a tear to your eye and a lump to your throat, whether you are a mother, a son, a father or a daughter!

All four of these books are so positive, so joyous, that they beg to be shared, and not just with children. One of my favorite school librarian colleagues from many years ago, was always careful to call books in the E collection "Everybody Books" rather than "Easy Books." These beautiful and thoughtful picture books are truly for Everybody!