The Little Ship That Could

Here's another embarrassing admission. Until I tripped upon this book at the library, I had never heard of the Dunkirk evacuation. Turns out it's a tale not to be missed! World War II was full of gloom what with gas chambers, death marches, mass graves and every sort of bombing imaginable. This book tells of the unusually uplifting event that occurred between May 26 and June 4, 1940. Hitler’s army had pushed hundreds of thousands of allied forces up against the French shoreline at Dunkirk with no foreseeable means of escape. Then a hastily assembled flotilla of 846 boats of every imaginable variety appeared and rescued 338,226 troops. Many of those boats included civilian fishing vessels and pleasure craft. In The Little Ships: The Heroic Rescue at Dunkirk in World War II, Louise Borden creates a satisfying story based on fact. A British girl, disguised as a boy, joins her father on their fishing boat for the fifty mile Strait of Dover crossing to Dunkirk where she sees the devastation of the war, helps where she can, and keeps an ever vigilant eye on the lookout for her soldier brother.

Ages 6-12

◊◊◊◊

Here is some interesting actual footage of the evacuation.

Activity: It's game time. Can you Pin the Boat on the Strait of Dover and save the allies?