Books about WWII for 8th grader interested in history

[Anonymous]

Re Jojo Rabbit - my husband is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. We started watching this film at the recommendation of several people and he couldn't watch more than the first 10 minutes or so, said he couldn't handle seeing the Germans portrayed in such a light-hearted and "positive" way. Is the whole movie like this? Does anyone with a similar perspective feel the way he did? Should I (or we) try to watch the rest of the movie?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re Jojo Rabbit - my husband is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. We started watching this film at the recommendation of several people and he couldn't watch more than the first 10 minutes or so, said he couldn't handle seeing the Germans portrayed in such a light-hearted and "positive" way. Is the whole movie like this? Does anyone with a similar perspective feel the way he did? Should I (or we) try to watch the rest of the movie?

Russian PP here. I would have agreed with your DH if I have only seen first 10 min of the movie. When I started watching it, I was outraged by "normalization" of Hitler and Nazis. One of the reasons I liked the movie so much was that journey or realization from brainwashed "Hitler Youth" to orphan whose only true friend is Jewish girl. For someone who grew up being brainwashed by USSR propaganda machine the analogies were stark. Absolutely try to get a bit deeper into the movie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re Jojo Rabbit - my husband is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. We started watching this film at the recommendation of several people and he couldn't watch more than the first 10 minutes or so, said he couldn't handle seeing the Germans portrayed in such a light-hearted and "positive" way. Is the whole movie like this? Does anyone with a similar perspective feel the way he did? Should I (or we) try to watch the rest of the movie?

Russian PP here. I would have agreed with your DH if I have only seen first 10 min of the movie. When I started watching it, I was outraged by "normalization" of Hitler and Nazis. One of the reasons I liked the movie so much was that journey or realization from brainwashed "Hitler Youth" to orphan whose only true friend is Jewish girl. For someone who grew up being brainwashed by USSR propaganda machine the analogies were stark. Absolutely try to get a bit deeper into the movie.

Thanks, I think I will try watching it on my own and if I think it's worthwhile I'll encourage my husband to see it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re Jojo Rabbit - my husband is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. We started watching this film at the recommendation of several people and he couldn't watch more than the first 10 minutes or so, said he couldn't handle seeing the Germans portrayed in such a light-hearted and "positive" way. Is the whole movie like this? Does anyone with a similar perspective feel the way he did? Should I (or we) try to watch the rest of the movie?

Russian PP here. I would have agreed with your DH if I have only seen first 10 min of the movie. When I started watching it, I was outraged by "normalization" of Hitler and Nazis. One of the reasons I liked the movie so much was that journey or realization from brainwashed "Hitler Youth" to orphan whose only true friend is Jewish girl. For someone who grew up being brainwashed by USSR propaganda machine the analogies were stark. Absolutely try to get a bit deeper into the movie.

Thanks, I think I will try watching it on my own and if I think it's worthwhile I'll encourage my husband to see it too.

I watched it with my son. We then tried to get my Jewish husband to watch, but he just couldn't. I'm not going to force him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re Jojo Rabbit - my husband is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. We started watching this film at the recommendation of several people and he couldn't watch more than the first 10 minutes or so, said he couldn't handle seeing the Germans portrayed in such a light-hearted and "positive" way. Is the whole movie like this? Does anyone with a similar perspective feel the way he did? Should I (or we) try to watch the rest of the movie?

Russian PP here. I would have agreed with your DH if I have only seen first 10 min of the movie. When I started watching it, I was outraged by "normalization" of Hitler and Nazis. One of the reasons I liked the movie so much was that journey or realization from brainwashed "Hitler Youth" to orphan whose only true friend is Jewish girl. For someone who grew up being brainwashed by USSR propaganda machine the analogies were stark. Absolutely try to get a bit deeper into the movie.

Thanks, I think I will try watching it on my own and if I think it's worthwhile I'll encourage my husband to see it too.

I watched it with my son. We then tried to get my Jewish husband to watch, but he just couldn't. I'm not going to force him.

I'd never force someone to watch anything they didn't want to see - but I do appreciate learning more about something that we had judged by only the beginning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re Jojo Rabbit - my husband is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. We started watching this film at the recommendation of several people and he couldn't watch more than the first 10 minutes or so, said he couldn't handle seeing the Germans portrayed in such a light-hearted and "positive" way. Is the whole movie like this? Does anyone with a similar perspective feel the way he did? Should I (or we) try to watch the rest of the movie?

He didn’t find it amusing in The Producers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is quite good.

Thanks for recommending this!

I’m not the OP, but I bought it and read it and just gave it to my son. Excellent book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is quite good.

Thanks for recommending this!

I’m not the OP, but I bought it and read it and just gave it to my son. Excellent book.

Isn't it cool that this amazing, yet mostly unknown story was out there, just waiting to be told?

[Anonymous]

My son is also interested in WWII.

He's read Diary of Anne Frank, the Tattooist of Auschwitz, Devil at my Heels and Memories from D-Day.

He's also been to 3 different Holocaust museums. He's not traumatized - he's an informed citizen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is quite good.

Thanks for recommending this!

I’m not the OP, but I bought it and read it and just gave it to my son. Excellent book.

Isn't it cool that this amazing, yet mostly unknown story was out there, just waiting to be told?

Yes! I am not usually a fan of non-fiction or YA books, but this was such a compelling story. I can't wait to share it. Thank you again!

[Anonymous]

The World at War (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War) may be 45+ years old now, but it is still very much worth watching. I was about 13 when I saw it (in the 1980s) and it kind of blew my mind. It includes first person accounts from the people who were there (from every side) and footage covering almost every aspect of the war. Plus, it was narrated by Laurence Olivier which can't be beat.

[Anonymous]

Bomb by Steve Sheinkin definitely

[Anonymous]

DS loved the Ambose books. Another one he really liked a bit outside of the box was Rogue Heros about the SAS. Read it twice.

[Anonymous]

The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett might hit the mark. The second book is about the Depression and WWII, but all three are fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anything in the library? By 8th grade, I don’t steer to younger material.