History comes alive in this moving story of the heroic Danes who defied the Nazis during the occupation of Denmark. Levine (A Fence Away From Freedom, 1995, etc.) weaves a historical narrative into the real-life experiences of 21 Danes who were young in 1940. She puts the account of a very small country that managed to save nearly all of its Jewish citizens from German concentration camps in context by asking how this could have happened. Citing Edmund Burke—“The one condition necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”—Levine makes her point that the Danish people refused to do exactly that. Beginning with the Nazi invasion of Denmark on April 9, 1940, Levine depicts the Nazi occupation from 1940–43. Then she takes the reader back in time to understand the migration of the Jewish people to Denmark; the freedom of religion they enjoyed there; and the history of ghettoization and anti-Semitism in other countries. She picks up the story again to describe the resistance movement and the events leading up to the hiding and ferrying of Jews out of the country to Sweden. The photographs, from the dramatic cover to the portraits of the interviewees, are dramatic and effective. Source notes, biographical sketches of the people interviewed, a chronology, and an author’s explanation of her research technique are both interesting and useful as research tools. A fascinating blend of historical background and the impact of events on real people. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: June 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1447-7
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Had Eleanor Roosevelt kept a scrapbook—an incredibly well-organized and thorough scrapbook—this is how it might feel to look through it. Arranged chronologically, the volume works like a jigsaw puzzle. Open it up, pick individual pieces at random and when placed all together, a full picture of the subject emerges. From her early years in New York’s fashionable society to marrying her cousin Franklin, to the Depression and war years, and through her travels and many charitable causes, Eleanor’s life is well covered, including frank pictures of her early anti-Semitism, her sexuality and her disagreements with her husband over such issues as the internment of Japanese-Americans during the war. Though lacking the coherence of a traditional narrative, it will appeal to readers who only want to dip in and read what looks interesting. The source notes are thorough and the bibliography recommends several books for young readers, as well as videos and Web sites. Photographs, family trees, sketches and even a report card add visual appeal. An attractive and useful resource. (personal note, picture credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-86544-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
Written strictly in sweeping generalities, and illustrated with over-manipulated photos and prints that give way to eye-glazing charts toward the end, this survey of our species’ spread from Africa to every continent is more likely to extinguish reader interest than kindle it. Opening with vague allusions to the combination of physical and behavioral traits that makes us human, the author describes in dry prose how our ancestors prospered thanks to the successive harnessing of fire, food, plants and animals, commerce and finally fossil fuels. She then goes on to speculate about future population trends, and closes with a weakly justified claim that we have all become migrants. There are some factual errors, such as the assertion that language and art were invented at about the same time, but more significantly, in her effort to maintain a worldwide perspective, the author seldom tucks in the sort of specific discovery or fact that might have brought her topic to life. Strictly assignment fodder. (resource lists) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7613-3458-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Twenty-First Century/Lerner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2006
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