#30--Radical Integrity: The Story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Michael Van Dyke

Ever year when I attend New Wilmington Mission Conference, I purchase several books at the book store....and I rarely read them before I go back the next year.  Until this year.  This year I purchased a few books, and I've already finished one of them....today's post.  As I have said before, I'm fascinated by the time period of World War II, and events leading up to it.  I've had a vague inkling of who Dietrich Bonhoeffer was for years, but never really gave him much thought until I picked up Radical Integrity.  I knew he was a German theologian who was killed by the Nazis and is widely quoted and studied at seminaries.  Beyond that, I didn't know much about him.

Radical Integrity begins with Dietrich's arrest by the Gestapo for his part in the plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler.  But then we learn about his early years and his family.  The book follows Dietrich through university, pastoring a German church in Spain, and through the rest of his life, including his struggle with joining the resistance against Hitler and the Nazis.  Bonhoeffer was just 39 when the Nazis hanged him for his part in the resistance.  Yet, his legacy lives on in his writings.

I found myself going back and re-reading passages, sometimes for better comprehension and other times because what was said was so compelling.  I even found myself making slight marks with a pencil in my copy of the book--something I rarely do. 

Van Dyke does an excellent job of intertwining passages from Bonhoeffer's own writings with the narrative.  I will definitely be keeping this on my shelf, and will hopefully refer back to it when I have struggles of faith of my own to deal with. 

Happy Reading!

#20--Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps by Andrea Warren

So, as I was getting book talks ready after school today for a teacher I started flipping through this particular choice, mainly to see if it would work for the assignment the students will be doing, and I got sucked into it. 

Jack Mandelbaum was only 15 when he was deported to a concentration camp during Nazi Germany and he was shipped to a number of camps before finally being liberated on May 7, 1945.  At the first camp the man in the bunk next to him, Aaron, tells him to treat it like a game that he wants to win, that if he plays everything right, he might beat the Nazis.  Jack is determined to survive and meet back up with his parents, brother, and sister, who he is certain are still alive and waiting for him.  Jack eventually arrives in the United States and becomes an American citizen, marries, and has a family.  He does find a few family members, but his parents and siblings all perished at the hands of the Nazis. 

This would make a good introduction to the Holocaust for someone who wasn't very knowledgeable, or for a late elementary student.  It was a quick and easy read.  And it should do just fine for the project, so my students will be hearing about this one on Wednesday.  :)

Happy Reading!