children literature

Suggested Thesis : Childhood resilience and hardship in the great depression through a comparison of fictional and factual accounts.

The articles to use are attached: please choose 4

This assignment has two parts, a Project Synthesis and Annotated Bibliography. ( sample is also attached)

How to Proceed

· You will have selected and read one work of children's historical fiction and one work of historical nonfiction, biography, memoir, or informational book from the same region and time period. As you start your annotated bibliography, have a loose topic or question in mind that connects the two works.

· Go into school Library databases and find FOUR articles related to 1) your topic or question connecting the books, 2) the region in which your books were set, and/or 3) the historical time period in which your books were set.

· Read the articles closely. Can you draw any connections? new ideas? As you read, highlight each article's thesis, topic sentences, and main ideas, as this will help you with your annotations for the Annotated Bibliography.

· Create a thesis that ties together your insights from the books and your research.

· Draft the Project Synthesis as it will help gather your ideas, introduce your sources, and talk about your project.

· Create your Annotated Bibliography.

Part 1. Project Synthesis (1 page)

The project synthesis describes your annotated bibliography and will eventually become the first page of the annotated bibliography. To write your project synthesis, do the following: 

· Briefly introduce the books, authors, target age of the readers, region, and time period you chose.

· Provide a 1-2 sentence summary of each book.

· Explain why you choose your books and topic. What inspired you? What is the target age of readers?

· Provide your thesis statement. 

· Explain what your thesis and ideas attempt to resolve or address and how your sources support your thesis idea.

· Let the reader know where you found the sources for your annotated bibliography and why you chose them.

· Reveal what you learned from your research that you didn’t know previously.

· Disclose how your research and ideas enrich or add to the field of Children’s Literature.

Part 2. Annotated Bibliography  - 4 pages

For this Annotated Bibliography, only articles from school Library will be acceptable. To conduct research, access the library and click on Article Databases. Select any of the following databases to help you on your search: 

An annotated bibliography looks like a Works Cited list, but with more information.  Include this content and use this format:

· Start each entry with the last name of the author, and list entries in alphabetical order according to authors’ last names.

· Provide the Works Cited information with correct formatting and spacing. See  MLA Research & Citation.

· Under each article's Works Cited entry, annotate/summarize the work for 8-10 lines, double-spaced. NO direct citations, parenthetical citations, or paraphrases.  Summary only.

· Under the annotation, discuss the source for 5-7 lines. Provide a brief analysis, engagement, and evaluation.

· All entries MUST appear in alphabetical order by last name of author.

· Proofread MLA citations and your work carefully before submission. 

Jasmine Hernandez

Introduction to Children’s Literature

Professor Mulholland

November 19, 2023

How Nazi Germany Gained the Minds of the Youth

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a children’s historical fiction book with its target audience being young adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15. The story follows the experiences of a young girl, Liesel Meminger–as well as those of her foster parents and friends–in Munich, Germany under the Nazi Regime. The book’s main plot spans from the time Liesel is ten to fourteen years of age, describing the ways in which she copes with the harsh realities of how facism and war impact the lives of the people she has come to care for, as well as the ways knowledge–more specifically that found in books–has the ability to empower people while also bridging a connection between unlikely individuals, providing hope for a more peaceful future. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is a historical non-fiction book that provides historical contexts to the themes and experiences presented in The Book Thief. Targeted towards an older audience, this book would be well- suited towards children between the ages of thirteen and older due to its more in depth historical content. Bartoletti explores the ways in which the Nazi Regime, under Adolf Hitler’s leadership, targeted young individuals in order to mold a future generation of Germans in what he imagined to be a superior image. This book examines the power of propaganda, highlighting how it was used to coerce, brainwash and control the youth of Germany. Through the engagement with this historical time period, young individuals will be able to better understand the ways in which Nazi Germany specifically targeted Germany’s young communities, forming the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend/HJ) as a way to restructure daily life, allowing the Nazi regime to systematically control and coerce young people into supporting and upholding their racist and fascist ideologies through the educational system. Using The Book Thief and Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow as my primary sources, I accessed JSTOR to create a thesis using further evidence into how Hitler and the Nazis took calculated measures to infiltrate the public schools as a way to devalue intellectualism, replacing academic focus with an emphasis on physical and athletic strength, military training, and national pride and loyalty.

Annotated Bibliography

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow. 2005. Scholastic Focus, 2019.

The author examines the ways in which Hitler’s regime targeted young individuals by imbedding propaganda in all facets of daily life, but especially within the public schools. Bartoletti gives a comprehensive deep dive into the origins of the Nazi party and their subsequent rise to power. She then goes on to explain how the children of Germany were molded in Hitler’s ideal image for the Germany “race” mainly through the efforts of the Hitler Youth groups. However, Bartoletti offsets the bleakness of the widespread brainwashing of the German youth, with stories documenting young people who actively opposed and worked against the Nazi regime.

By providing examples of how there were some children who were enthusiastic in their participation in the Hitler Jugend as well as others who were not, Bartoletti is presenting young readers with the idea that there are always choices that can be made–no matter how difficult. Bartoletti presents the facts in a way that is lacking in pretension, making it engaging to young audiences. Additionally, the information provided comes across as being more strongly rooted in reality with the inclusion of photographs by showing evidence of the people personally affected and victimized during this historical event.

Horn, Daniel. “Coercion and Compulsion in Hitler Youth, 1933-1945. The Historian, Aug. 1979, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 639-663. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24443528 . Accessed November 17 2023.

This article examines the ways in which the Third Reich coerced and forced participation–as well as loyalty–amongst communities of young people throughout Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Horn argues that it is a common misconception that the majority of young Germans were willing and enthusiastic participants in the Hitler Jugend (HJ); that in fact children were exploited, manipulated, and forced through means of control and fear to uphold the ideologies of the Nazi party. The article also presents the idea that in actuality, The Nazi party failed in a lot of ways to garner the respect and loyalty of young individuals, presented falsified numbers in order to present a superior image and result to the world.

Hitler’s obsession with molding a generation of young people in his ideal superior image meant that he used tactics of fear as well as fed them false promises of a better, more prosperous future. Young people complied or presented an image of compliance due to the fear that they–or their loved ones–would have to face extreme consequences such as being surveilled by the Gestapo, physical harm, loss of work, or being sent to labor or concentration camps.

Horn, Daniel. “The Hitler Youth and Educational Decline in the Third Reich”. History of Education Quarterly, 1976, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 425-447. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/367724 . Accessed November 17 2023.

This article explores how the education of young German people declined during the Nazi regime and the lasting effects that came along with it. Horn discusses Hitler’s failed academic and fine arts attempts, arguing that these failures prompted a deep hatred and spiteful attitude towards intellectualism. Under the Third Reich’s leadership, physical strength and abilities were emphasized and the devaluation of intellectual subjects increased within public schools creating a hostile environment where students became adversarial towards their teachers. This article also details how Hitler believed that young people should be given positions of authority, with them only having to answer to the government; this then in turn destabilized stable forms of community supports children previously had in the church, schools, and at home with their families, by undermining their authority and encouraging young people to rebel against an elder generation.

Through destabilizing the family and community structures, Hitler ensured his control over the younger generations of Germans. Especially through the act of devaluing formal education, Hitler was cultivating a country that lacked the ability to critically think and would then be subject to blindly following his edicts, unable to question or critique his policies. By tapping into the natural phenomena of teenage rebellion, Hitler’s regime was able to provide young people with a false sense of freedom and power, making them believe that they were in control and creating a better future and country, when in actuality they were allowing themselves to be victims of brainwashing.

Kusner, Edward J. “The Youth of Nazi Germany”. The Journal of Educational Sociology , Feb., 1938, Vol. 11, No. 6, pp. 342-350. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2262246 . Accessed November 17 2023.

This article explores more of the background, contextual history of the factors that led to the Nazi regime’s rise to power. Kusner states that due to the lack of democratic political systems in German history, made the German general public vulnerable to fascist rhetoric because they were already familiar with Totalitarian power structures and lacked practice in questioning the lack of democratic independence that they experienced. Other factors that allowed for Hitler to infiltrate the young minds of the German public included: high inflation rates that caused more widespread unemployment and poverty after the participation in WWI as well as the resentment young individuals had toward the older generation for leaving them with such immense socio-political and economic issues. While Communism appealed to some young Germans, many believed that Communism would diminish German independence and identity. Hitler took a nationalistic stance and promised to improve living and working conditions, reinforcing his campaign through propaganda that was sensationalized and presented through various forms of media that was highly appealing towards communities of young people.

Wunderlich, Frieda. “Education in Nazi Germany”. Social Research , Sept. 1937, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 347-360. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40981568 . Accessed November 17 2023.

This article showcases the inner workings of the ways in which the Hitler Jugend (HJ) operated and thrived during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Wunderlich states that children were made to actively participate in HJ activities and events starting at the age of ten years old. It is during these activities and competitions that children are singled out either in terms of their excellence or in their failures. Young boys who excel in physical activities and have overall high records at their schools were shortlisted for attending boarding schools that prepared them to be future political leaders within the Third Reich. However, children who present more sensitively and are perceived as being physically weak become targets for other children to ridicule and punish.

The HJ was designed to create a type of German generation that was to be more superior on a global scale. To ensure the success of this experiment, Hitler had children scouted who met the physical characteristics and excellence that he required. Instead of encouraging a new generation of bright young minds, Hitler concerned himself in generating an obedient, physically strong, loyal army of young people who lacked personal community connections, making them more likely to put themselves in any given situation in order to uphold the integrity of the nation that they serve.

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. 2005. Random House Children’s Books, 2016.

Zusak presents young readers with a story about the power of friendship and knowledge at a time when suspicion and intellectualism was deemed the enemy. The story predominantly follows a displaced young girl who is sent to live with a foster family–the Hubermanns–in a small town outside of Munich. After arriving at the Hubermann’s at the age of 10, Liesel Meminger is traumatized and illiterate, suffering from debilitating nightmares as well as receiving no help or encouragement at school in regard to improving her intellectual abilities. With the help of her foster father, Hans, Liesel is able to learn how to read and write, using the time when she wakes up from nightmares to practice. Soon reading becomes a coping skill for Liesel as she navigates poverty, class struggles, and the consequences of not adhering to the ideologies of Hitler’s regime. Throughout the book the reader gains into the daily lives of children during a Nazi ruled Germany, including compulsory attendance to the Hitler Youth faction, Nazi rallies and public book burnings.

Reading this book brought up questions about how Hitler and the Nazi party targeted young individuals and how that affected their daily lives. It was interesting to see how there was an emphasis on athletics over intellectualism, especially in regard to the young boys that Liesel was friends with. Zusak presents heavy truths about the ways in which Nazi Germany operated whether it's the specific violence towards the Jewish community, Communists, and other dissenters through the observations and experiences of a young girl who is only just learning how to critically think and question powers of authority– much like the audience of this book; this approach makes the truths about Nazi Germany less intimidating, allowing young readers to exercise their budding critical thinking skills more effectively.