Saturday, December 24, 2011

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Gutenberg Project has been making books in the public domain (no longer under copyright) available as free eBooks for a number of years. Their collection of titles is large and growing. Their online indexing provides links to public domain works in many formats for reading on a computer or many other e-readers.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is appropriate to share with you today. Follow this link and enjoy turning the virtual pages of this actual print book published in 1843. Notice the worn pages and crumbling binding. Pause at each illustration by John Leech.

Have a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends!

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm

Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore

Another eBook from the Gutenberg Project. Pour a hot chocolate, find a youngster to read with, and share the excitement in Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Truce: the Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting by Jim Murphy

War - It's dirty, muddy, rainy, tiring, dangerous, bloody, depressing, physically and emotionally exhausting. Soldiers long for it to end. Imagine fighting a war, you've dug your trenches and are taking cover within. Across the battlefield your enemy has done the same. You are staring each other down with guns pointed - on high alert. BUT it is Christmas Eve! You long for home and your traditional family time. Your comrades feel the same. If only you could have a small bit of Christmas here on the battlefield. Let's sing carols!

It was the sound of caroling that brought the Christmas truce during World War I. The British and German soldiers had been fighting across a bloody battlefield when a small group of Germans began to sing "Silent Night." Small make-shift Christmas trees and lighted candles appeared along the trench lines. More carols back and forth across enemy lines. At midnight they shared a religious service. At first their Christmas truce was fragile but eventually they came out of their trenches and shared the quiet of a world without gunfire. They could hear birds chirping! It was a friendly gesture and one welcomed by the soldiers.

This is a true story and well researched. Truce: the Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting by Jim Murphy is filled with photographs and illustrations depicting the days of the Christmas truce. You'll enjoy reading this story of peace during this Christmas season.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Box From Braunau : In Search of my Father's War by Jan Elvin

It seems that our U. S. veterans keep many war stories to themselves. They are trained in the U. S. military, become patriotic comrades with each other, sent off to war, sometimes return home a hero, then never share the experiences with their family. That was the life Jan Elvin lived with her father. He was a World War II veteran and hero who kept his stories tucked away in his memory.

It was a metal box that always sat on her father's desk that was opened upon his death, that spurred Jan Elvin to write The Box From Braunau : In Search of my Father's War. She intersperses the journal writings of her father with actual events that she researched matching the timeline and places where her father was stationed. As she explored his experiences, she came to the realization that her father had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His was undiagnosed but the author's insight points to PTSD which would explain her father's silences and anxieties.

This is a dry read but does give you, the reader, an empathy for those who serve our country in particular those who see battle. We must honor their commitment and its impact on their families.

Reviewed by Mrs. Boehm