BEACH WEEK - D-Day

TITLE: Invasion: The Story of D-Day

AUTHOR: Bruce Bliven Jr.

WHO WAS AT THE BEACH? Allied and German forces

WHAT BEACH AND WHEN? Along a 50 mile stretch of coastline, in the Normandy area of France, on June 6, 1944, the greatest invasion in history was implemented by the allied armies.

WHAT HAPPENED?  Paratroopers were badly scattered on the ground, amphibious vehicles took on seawater faster than bilge pumps could empty them and rifles became clogged with sand. This was a day of tragedies that somehow turned into triumph. That triumph part may well be owed to a handful of infantry men that were very determined to break through the German lines. It's these accounts that make Invasion: The Story of D-Day so interesting. It's a great overview of the battle that changed the tide of World War II. 

Ages 12 and up
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Activity: Try this free online D-Day game.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY WEEK: Lewis and Clark

TITLE: The Great Expedition of Lewis and Clark: by Private Reubin Field, Member of the Corps of Discovery

AUTHOR: Judith Edwards

WHAT TERRITORY WAS EXPLORED AND WHEN? In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson paid 15 million dollars to France for a vast tract of land between the Mississippi River and the Continental Divide. Little was known about the contents of this Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to explore from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, following the Missouri River. This journey took place from 1804 to 1806.

WHO DID THE EXPLORING? A party of 33 individuals headed by Meriwether Lewis, a U.S. Army Captain and personal friend of the president’s, and William Clark, who also served in the U. S. Army. This book is written from the perspective of Reubin Field, who was a young Kentucky farmer. When word got out that able woodsmen and hunters were needed to make the trip and would be compensated with land, men like Reubin applied for the expedition. A French trader, Toussaint Charonneau, and his young wife, Sacagawea, joined the expedition as interpreters, along with their brand new baby son that came to be called little Pomp.

HOW WAS THE TRIP? They traveled as much as they could by their keelboat and then canoes. When they couldn’t float they walked, wearing out scores of moccasins. The group encountered many native tribes, most of which were friendly, but some were not. They dealt with hoards of mosquitoes, a stampeding buffalo in their camp, an aggressive grizzly bear and considerable difficulty crossing the mountains.

WHAT WAS GAINED? Data was collected on previously unknown species of mammals, birds and plants and about available resources, especially in regard to the all important fur trade. Knowledge was gained about the tribes living in this area. This expedition ruled out the hope that there was a water route to the Pacific and provided other geographic details. This undertaking also opened the door for westward expansion.

A few years ago the 200th anniversary of this historical event was celebrated, and a slew of great books on this subject were published. I haven’t had a chance to read them all, but am amazed at the variety offered from different points of view, including:

Sacagawea: They Call Me Sacagawea and I Am Sacajawea, I Am York: Our Journey West with Lewis and Clark

York, Clark’s slave: York's Adventures with Lewis and Clark: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition and I Am Sacajawea, I Am York: Our Journey West with Lewis and Clark

Seaman, Lewis’s dog: Seaman's Journal: On the Trail With Lewis and Clark, The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe, Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale and Seaman: The Dog Who Explored the West With Lewis and Clark

Lewis and Clark: How We Crossed The West: The Adventures Of Lewis And Clark, Lewis and Clark (In Their Own Words) and Off the Map: The Journals of Lewis and Clark

Natural History: Animals on the Trail with Lewis and Clark and  Plants on the Trail with Lewis and Clark

Native Americans: Bad River Boys: A Meeting of the Lakota Sioux with Lewis and Clark

Ages 6-9
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Activity: Here's a Lewis and Clark National Geographic Interactive Game.

UNCHARTED TERRITORY WEEK: Marco Polo

TITLE: The Adventures of Marco Polo

AUTHOR: Russell Freeman

WHAT TERRITORY WAS EXPLORED AND WHEN? China and other parts of Asia from 1271 to 1295

WHO DID THE EXPLORING? An Italian merchant family, Marco Polo along with his father and uncle.

HOW WAS THE TRIP? Marco Polo’s father and uncle had been on a trading trip to Russia and met Kublai Khan while trying to steer clear of a war on their return to Italy. The Great Khan requested they return to him with 100 men learned in the Christian religion and some oil from the lamp that burned at the church of the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb of Jesus). They went back towards Italy, collected the oil, two friars and seventeen year old Marco and headed east again. After nearly twenty-four years of rugged traveling mixed with some luxurious living as envoys for Kublai Khan, they returned again to Italy. This time Venice was at war with Genoa and Marco Polo was captured in a sea battle and imprisoned for a year with, as luck would have it, a writer. Marco’s epic adventure became scribed over and over again. It was titled The Description of the World and it’s impact on the medieval mind was HUGE.

WHAT WAS GAINED? The Polo’s gained riches and they spread geographic and cultural knowledge. Prior to their travels, Europeans had never seen coal, or paper money or thought about religious freedom or considered taking a bath more than about once a year.

This is a beautiful book with many first person accounts from The Description of the World.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: We like this game that follows Marco Polo's route as you answer questions about his travels.

Flying Through Geography

Maybe it’s because we live in Florida and we don’t have dreary days without end, but my kids do not invest much time in playing board games. Then lo and behold, Ryan got Take Off! out the other day and we were all reminded of what a fun game it is. The object is to be the first to fly your plane through the two hemispheres, landing at airports hither and yon as you go. This is a fabulous way of familiarizing yourself with all the nooks and crannies in this world as you fly across the LARGE laminated map. It's just PLANE fun!

Curious George vs Adolph Hitler

What do Henry Kissinger, Peter Max and Curious George have in common? They were all German Jews who escaped the Nazi's clutches by fleeing to the United States. Well, on second thought, I don't think Curious George was really affiliated with any religion, but his creator, H. A. Rey, was born into a Jewish family in Hamburg in 1906. And in The Journey That Saved Curious George : The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey you'll learn how the Reys and their unpublished manuscript got the heck out of Europe just as the Germans were rolling into Paris.

The book is in a scrapbook format with actual photos, notes, and Rey's drawings commingled with Allen Drummond's nice pen and ink illustrations. Personally, Shannon and I think that the author, Louise Borden, gives a little too much back story. She reports on the couples German childhoods, their years in Brazil with pet monkeys (which is important to know!), and then their life in Paris and other parts of France. All of this was a little excruciating for Shannon. Then comes where I think the book should have started (after just a blip about their background). In order to escape the advancing German army, the Reys, along with about five million other people, decided to flee Paris and head south. It was the largest motorized evacuation in history and there was no room for the Reys on anything motorized. So they went bicycle shopping. The only bike left for sale was tandem and Margret wasn't going for it. So Hans (H. A.) bought parts to make two bikes that he cobbled together himself. On these, the Reys, and the manuscript that would be Curious George, pedaled to Portugal where they caught a train for the coast where they caught a ship for the western hemisphere. The Reys wound up in New York City and Curious George, published in 1941, wound up selling over twenty-seven million copies.

And I can't help but wonder what creations did not escape.

Ages 9-12
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Activity: What was Hitler screaming into the phone in August of 1944? Solve this word puzzle to translate.

History Game

Can you place the stock market crash, the start of the civil war and the Wright brothers first flight in the correct years? Give this Timeline Game a try.

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

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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?