Hitler's Youth (bk 3) (176 pgs)

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler's youth: growing up in Hitler's shadow. Scholastic: New York 2005.

Summary:
Hitler's Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow examines the influence of Nazi propaganda on Germany's youth in the events leading up to WWII. this book chronicles Hitler's Youth from its early stages at the beginning of Hitler's power to Germany's fall at the end of WWII. Adolf Hitler believed that Germany's youth encompassed the power to create a new Germany of wealth and prosperity and children were easily influenced to believe that they could make a difference. This is a disturbingly true story of the ways in which Hitler convinced these youth to fight for him.

Author: Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Illustrations: Media-pictures taken during Hitler's reign
Access Features: Table of Contents, Foreword, Epilogue, Time Line, Author's Note, Photo Credits, Quote Sources, Bibliography, Acknowledgments, Index
Organization: Chronological
Book Design: The book is large and and square and the whole book is dark or very neutral. The cover is brown, the end pages are brown, and the pages that encompass the text are a neutral color. Perhaps Bartoletti chose these colors because it was such a dark and desolate time for Germany. The pages are mostly text because there is a lot of information to encompass with one or two pictures on each page. The text looks like Times New Roman. I don't think there is anything signifcant about that.
Writing Style: This book is structured in a way that moves throught the beginnings of Hitler's reign, through WWII, to the end of his reign. Each chapter begins with a chapter title that hooks the reader and the chapter starts a new day in Hitler's rise of power. The first few chapters of the book give us an overview of the youth in particular that are in the book. After that the book goes throught the organization of those youth and their work during WWII. Bartoletti presents the information in a neutral tone but still uses lots of imagery and descriptive language to describe the horrors during WWII. There was some use of German words throughout the book but Bartoletti translated them into English to help with comprehension. She does not express a personal opinion and at times the book reads like a textbook or a documentary. She does let her voice come through in some areas but usually presents the information as what actually happened.
Curriculum: Social Studies
Classroom Use: This would be an excellent resource to use excerpts from to lead discussions about World War II and the Holocaust.
Credibility: Bartoletti acknowledges all the people who helped her in writing this book and also includes a bibliography to include all of her sources. She has written many children's nonfiction books and has won many awards for her writing.
Awards: BCCB Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award
Standards: Social Studies: Standard 2- Time, Continuity, and Change; Standard 5-Individuals, Groups, and Institutions; Standard 6-Power, Authority, and Governance
Related Texts: Children of the Slaughter: Young People of the Holocaust by: Tedd Gottfried and Stephen Alcorn; Kinderlauger: An Oral History of Young Holocaust Survivors by: Milton J. Nieuwsma

Response:
This book was so hard for me to put down. Hitler's Youth is a disturbingly accurate account of the means to which Hitler would go to get what he wanted. I was very disturbed by some of the material in the book but it was also mesmerizing to the point that I stayed up almost all night reading it. It would be a great way to introduce WWII and the Holocaust just using sections of the book.