Chapter 9

I found some comic relief with Marions constant craving for sweets. We found out she loved sweets earlier in the story when she is at a camp, but it is not until Holland, and now in America that she is really able to have sweets. She is astonished by the amount of bubble gum in America. I was surprised by the materialistic sense that Marion has. Last chapter she talked about how she just had to have a pretty pair of shoes, even though they were not very practical, and now she talks about how she just wanted gum, and lots of it. I suppose that she has never had a lot at all, not even enough food to eat at times, so she wants to make up for that and have as much as she wants of anything. I felt very bad for Marion when she got upset that Albert gave her hosiery for her birthday because this made her think she had to grow up and she was not ready for that. She had lost most all of her childhood and she simply wanted to be a kid.
It was very nice to learn that Marion had finally found a sense of belonging somewhere. This took a long time.
This chapter and the epilogue were very heartwarming to find out that the Blumenthals finally found lives that they were happy with and found partners to share life with and make families. I was happy that Marion has used her experience to educated others about the Holocaust. I think this is very respectful.

Chapter 8

Last chapter I discussed how it must have been hard for the Blumenthals being referred to as 'refugees', and this chapter starts out talking about how they have a new name, 'displaced persons.' It shows that this must have been something that they thought about.
What I remember most from this chapter is how Ruth was feeling so worried about caring for her two children all alone now that Walter had passed. Ruth felt that the children needed to be schooled, so the kids went away to school and Ruth stayed in Amsterdam. This must have been very hard for them to do. They had just lost Walter, and now they had to split up. It was a big sacrifice each made to better their lives. Ruth knew the kids needed education and this was very important, but I wonder if the children understood the importance of this over the need for them to be apart. Marion talks about how she missed her mother so much, but she had learned to suppress her feelings, and this is how she made it through.
I found it interesting to learn of Marions left over anxieties from living in the camps and how this effected her time in the hospital to get her eyes fixed. Her uncle had offered to pay for this surgery, and she was very sorry for the way she behaved, but everyone understood that this was not all Marions fault, that she had been through some horrific times that made her act this way.
All of these feelings created from going through such a horrific experience might be a good learning moment for students. This chapter is about how the survivors of the Holocaust try to live on and make a new life for themselves, but that can be very hard to do after experiencing such hardship at the hands of others. We could discuss as a class the feelings, sadness, anxieties, hardships, and difficulties that the Blumenthals experienced after the war and Holocaust, and how they got through. This could be related to how people have dealt with other traumatic experiences such as soldiers in the Iraq war and survivors of natural disasters. The Blumenthals were lucky because they had people in Holland to stay with, but not all the survivors did. It would be a good research project for students to find out what these people did.
I was feeling very sentimental at the end of the chapter when they reach the US and see the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom. It was very emotional.
Difficult words in this chapter were: displaced persons, stateless, cloister. luxurious, chignon, rationed, convalescent, Bar Mitzvah, afoot, aliyah

Chapter 7

It must have been hard for the refugees to trust the Russian soldiers. The only people of authority they had contact with in the past 6 and half years were out to get them. It must have also been hard being referred to as refugees. They had been labeled negatively, Jew, prisoner, and worse, and now they were being called refugee. It must have been trying to find a personal identity again. It was nice to learn that the Blumenthals found a home to stay home stocked with food, but at the same time, it was not their home, and they still did not know what was coming next. It is hard to comprehend getting used to that feeling like the Blumenthals had. 

For the first time in the story, Marions personal feelings are being shared in more depth. We learn that she is having nightmares from spending time the Russian hospitals to get her leg cared for, and all the amputees frightened her. I found it odd that all that she had been through and seen, this is what bothered her a lot. I think maybe it is because everything else she was experiencing was larger than her and totally out of her control. But seeing the amputees, was something that could happen to her personally and this is what may have frightened her. 

The family chose to sleep next to each other in one room even though they have the option of separating. This shows how much they have come to appreciate the presence of each other after being forced to be split up. Like Marion says they were as close as her four perfect pebbles.

It was sad how these people had become so efficient at building graves. That says a lot about what was happening I think. 

My guess from the pictures at the end of the last chapter were proved correct in this chapter about Walter dying. I would like to think that Walter stayed strong through the worst of it to keep his family safe, and when he knew the war was over and his family would be OK, he let go.

Some difficult words in this chapter were: conquered, foraged, crude, penicillin, maimed, amputated, telescope graves, abated, quarantine, shroud

Chapter 6

This chapter was suspenseful, but it ended with a sigh of relief. By this point the Blumenthals must have been emotionally drained, but they must have been overwhelmed with feelings of demise...not knowing where you are being hauled off to, thinking you might be killed at any moment, being surrounded by death, and seeing the devastating effects of war on your country. It is appalling the prisoners were forced to clean the boxcars of the dead and bury them themselves. They were literally made to clean up the Nazis mess.
For students, I think having a timeline made that was hung in the classroom would be helpful for them to understand how long six and half years actually is, especially when you are living through such horrific circumstances. I am compelled by the optimism that the Blumenthlas kept throughout their experience. Still in this chapter, they show optimism by saying "one good thing about the evacuation was that we were allowed to be reunited with our family." It shows what was important to them. I can tell Albert was a very generous and caring person, as he always had extra food to share, and last chapter when he was given an apple he shared it with his family.
Tricky words from this chapter were: shunted, liberated, toten raus, louse, scourges, dysentery, pleurisy, tuberculosis, strafing, throes, bartered, delousing
The pictures at the end of this chapter were heartwarming. Starting with the cruelties of the Holocaust and ending with family pictures, and seeing the life that they were able to lead after is nice. I can guess from the pictures that the Dad Walter dies, and that is so sad since he made it through these rough times. I want to read on to find out exactly when and how he dies, but I guess that he held out through the tough times to be with his family, and when he knew they were safe and well, he passed on.

Chapter 5

I feel quite speechless after reading this chapter. I can not really think of the words to describe these horrific events. I feel ashamed that I am learning much of this for the first time. Clearly I learned of the Holocaust and WWII, but never to this extent. I think it is sad that I never learned of the specific dreadful living conditions, deaths, gas chambers, and disease that so many people lived through. I saw the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and that was the first time I learned of the gas chambers. In college even, I have studied the oppression that Jews have lived through here in the US with stereotypes and discrimination, but never of their experience during the Holocaust in such detail. I was thankful for your description of when and why the US stepped in and fought in WWII, and of the Oswego freedom camp. As a future teacher, I hope to take advantage of historical sites such as that. I feel that would give more meaning to students about the Holocaust, more meaning than reading one book about it as I remember from 6th grade.
The optimism that the Blumenthals had disappeared when their paperwork as exchange Jews was not accepted. That was the last straw for them, but I think it is amazing they stayed as optimistic as they did. They still did find small gleams of hope, like when a guard gave Albert an apple. It was interesting to see Marion's search for four perfect pebbles come back into play. I suppose that in itself is a hope to keep optimism alive.
I was shocked as the description of the lice, the amount of dead bodies, using urine to warm themselves, and the amount of people who died from typhus. I was also shocked that it took 15 minutes for the gas to have its effect, and the thought of people suffering for that long. I suppose people suffered longer from dying from disease. I think the camp commandant, the Beast of Belsen, should have suffered longer than a hanging. You have mentioned before how you can not understand how humans committed such acts, and I often wonder that about humans who have oppressed others throughout history. It is something I am unable to comprehend.
I am not sure what I could do with this chapter in a classroom with students. It is very disturbing information, but I would like to find a way to present this sort of information to students. I think it is important for students to understand what it must have been like to be treated so horribly, and why it is so wrong. Some troubling words I found were: Sternlager, Austausch, gas chamber, Zyklon B or Cyclon, deceive, booty, crematorium, typhus, delirium,

Chapter 4

The thing that sticks out most from this chapter is the death toll numbers. It is very disturbing to think of those numbers as people, and not just as numbers. The way people were transported to camps such as Auschwitz is also disturbing. It was also depressing to learn that all of the Blumenthal's possessions that were being stored were burned when the Nazi's bombed Holland. It is a sickening feeling to think of everything you own, even an escape to the US, has been taken from you. I was surprised by the optimism that Marion still had after living through these horrible times. For example she talked about how a Dutch Jewish couple had to move in with them after the refugee camp had been renamed a transit camp, but she knew they were still better off than the people in the bunkers.
My thought that the Blumenthal's life in the refugee camp in Holland seemed quite normal with small 'homes', jobs, and school was backed up by the text when Marion explained it seemed normal to her as well because she had known anything else. Their life in this refugee camp seemed better than the ones they were in before where they had to sleep in separate quarters and do very hard work. That reminded me more of the concentration camp described at the beginning of the book than of a refugee camp. The text in this chapter also answered a question I had from chapter 3, that why had other countries not stepped in. This chapter describes that the start of WWII began when other countries did step in.
I thought of a few activities for students while reading this chapter. I think making a timeline would help the students understand the spectrum of events, and help show how long the Blumenthals lived the refugee camp, transit camp, and how long they waited for their Visas. Marion explained some games she would play and the students could reenact the games. There are also a lot of countries named in this chapter, and it would be a good activity for students to find the countries on the map, and show how much of Europe Hitler was trying to take over.
Some words or phrases that I think the students would need help understanding are:
exiles, refugee center, WWII, moor,   Nieuw Amsterdam, saccharin tablets, lupines, barren heath, latrines, impoverish, isolate, confiscated, decrees, ominous, Auschwitz, refugee camp vs. transit camp, deportation center, and exchange Jew

Chapter 3

While reading this chapter I kept thinking to myself that I can not imagine what it must have been like to be terrorized, discriminated, and threatened like the Blumenthal family and other Jews were. I thought if I could not understand this, how would students. I had the idea of having students role play, but I am not sure this would be appropriate, or if this would offend anyone. Once scenario I thought of role playing was having part of the class wear a J, as Jews were forced to do, on their shirt, and the other part of the class act accordingly to these students as if they believed in the stereotypes that Hitler and the Nazis perpetuated. Then each side would switch roles so each student would have the chance to be the oppressed and the oppressor. After the exercise we could have a group discussion about how the students felt in each position. This role play idea reminded me of the blue eye brown eye experiment conducted by Jane Elliot in her 3rd grade class, to show students the effects of stereotypes and discrimination against African Americans. I think asking students to wear a J on their shirt would be too offensive, but this activity could be done using blue shirts and red shirts, or some other way to differentiate between the two groups of people. After the exercise the teacher could explain that these roles were similar to the Jews and the Nazis.
A more appropriate role play activity I thought of was taking possessions away from the students.  The teacher could take their notebooks, chairs, pencils, books, ect. and the only explanation would be because of who they are. The students would have to explain how some belongings are meaningful to them and how they feel having these things taken away. This exercise would show how the Blumenthals and other Jews must have felt when all their possessions were taken away, or how the gun that Walter used in the German war was important to him, but he was forced to get rid of it.
Some difficult words for students in this chapter were: decreed, bade, trousseau, and expiation payment.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 contains a lot of teachable moments. I think this chapter would be great for students to read to gain a summarized knowledge of who Hitler was, how he came into power, and the cruel circumstances he created for Jews. This chapter would also be a good way to discuss discrimination and stereotypes. The part where the author describes how Jewish shops were blocked by Nazi troops, citizens were told not to shop at Jewish stores, and signs reading "Jews not wanted" were hung with job application signs was very interesting to me. I think the context of this circumstance is perfect for giving examples of discrimination and stereotypes to students. This chapter is also very informative on the process immigrants had to go through to come to the United States, and how long and hard it was.
The beginning of the chapter would be a great resource as a geography lesson. It discusses in detail where Ruth lived before, where she moved to, and where the family lived together. A good activity would be for the students to find all the places discussed in the reading on a map.
This chapter was not as depressing as chapter 1, and was very informative about the time period.

Four Perfect Pebbles Ch. 1

When I began reading Ch.1, I was thinking of the time period the Holocaust was occurring; in the early to mid 1940's. I think that students should be given background knowledge on World War II and the Holocaust before reading this book. I think that 6th grade would be an appropriate grade to present this information. This book would be a good way for students to gain a more specific perspective into the perils of World War II and the Holocaust. Along with that perspective, many other themes may be touched on while reading this book, such as stereotypes, discrimination, the importance of human lives, differences, respecting differences in values, beliefs, cultures, religions, and languages, geography, world history, Jewish culture, and how to treat others.
I think that students could feel a connection to the story because of the age of the children, 9 and 11. The students could relate to being that age, and how awful it must have been for these children to go through such a horrific experience at that young age.
I think the author did a very good job at depicting the setting and emotion of living in a concentration camp. It reminded me of a jail, except worse because the people did nothing to be there.
I picked out a few words that I thought the students would need help with:
succumbed, epidemic, crude, receptacles, inmate, meted, hasty, and the german words liebling (darling), and appell (roll call)
If I were reading this book with students I would assess their reading by making sure they understood why Marion was looking for 4 perfect pebbles and why she made this her purpose.

Welcome to my blog!