Children's Classics: The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes; illustrated by Louis Slobodkin

This is the story of Wanda, a poor immigrant girl who is left out of the games the other girls play, through her own innate shyness and their careless small cruelties.  One day, after being taunted for her differences yet again, Wanda claims to have a hundred dresses, which makes the girls turn more cruel as they know she can't possibly have them. It becomes a game: to taunt Wanda about her made-up dresses. Told in third person narrative, through the "eyes" of Maddie, one of the taunters (a girl who fears that she herself will become the taunted) this is also the story of how her experience with Wanda changes her forever.  It is a timeless story that children (and adults) can relate to today just as much as when it was written 66 years ago.

Through Estes' understated, unemotional writing, the little cruelties of the girls stand in sharp relief, and Maddie's moral dilemma is more poignant. One of the things I love about this story and what makes it so effective, is that the ending is so bitter-sweet, much like real life. Maddie learns a deep, lasting lesson, but too late to change how she treats Wanda. It is questionable how much of a lesson the other girls have learned. Again, much like real life. We, the readers, absorb the lesson, and at the same time, learn that some situations in life are not cut and dried, so to speak, but full of contradiction and nuance. We learn to be careful, because we can't always right the wrongs we do.

Two Excellent Books About Hitler's Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

Written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Non-Fiction, Newbery Honor
Ages 9 and up

An excellent, clearly written,  powerfully impactful book on real youth in Hitler's Germany. Chockful of photographs, this compelling book gives an in-depth look at the Hitler Youth organization itself, and real teens who both supported or opposed it, even to the sacrificing of their own lives.

A must-read if you want a clearer understanding of the youth of Hitler's Germany, the appeal of Hitler's message, and the courage of those who opposed it.

The Boy Who Dared

Written by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Middle grade/YA Biographical Novel
Ages 9 and up

Helmuth Hubener is an ordinary young man caught up at first in the National emotional fervor for the Fuhrer. But when his eyes are opened to the horrors he sees going on around him, will he have the courage to take a stand?
Compelling and powerful, this is "a novel based on the true story of a Hitler Youth." In reading it, don't be surprised to find yourself pulled into Helmuth's life. I couldn't put it down, even though I knew (having read another account of Hubener) what ultimately happens.

And don't forget to read the author's notes in the book.