October '45 : Childhood Memories of the War

Recounts the World War II experiences of a seven to twelve-year-old French boy from a middle-class Catholic family, describing how he reacted to the changing circumstances

Grade 4-8?From their interrupted vacation in Normandy in 1939 through the end of the war in 1945, Besson and his family and friends experienced all the adventure, hardship, sorrow, and exhilaration wartime life in France provided. Much of the tone, impact, and appeal of this illustrated memoir comes from the author's many full-color cartoonlike drawings. Readers follow the war chronologically as the Bessons move to Brittany to avoid the anticipated bombing of Paris, return to the city during the occupation, struggle with rationing, listen to British broadcasts illegally, endure air raids, witness the persecution and deportation of Jewish friends and neighbors, and carry on with everyday life. Besson's memories are strong and his understated telling of events allows readers to form their own feelings about them. This matter-of-fact style requires some sophistication, however. For example, when he tells of the Nazi teachings about how "...to recognize Jews, because we have to be careful of them," some young readers might not pick up the fairly subtle irony. Short chapters, inviting illustrations, and interesting subject matter should guarantee an audience for this book. Like Michael Foreman's War Boy (Arcade, 1990), October 45 is both personal and universal.?Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4^-6. Jean-Louis is seven years old when World War II begins and German soldiers occupy his native France. First evacuated to Brittany, then returning to his home in Paris, he describes day-to-day life over the next six years: listening to Uncle Albert's stories of World War I, watching the Germans' trucks and motorcycles roll into town, learning to ride a bicycle, hating the look and smell of gas masks, making do when the only plentiful food is rutabagas, wondering what has happened to the Jewish students taken away one summer vacation, faking ration tickets, watching planes being shot down over Paris, and receiving chewing gum from the American soldiers who liberate the city. Besson's memory for detail gives the story immediacy, expressed in the journal-style text and the charming line-and-watercolor-wash illustrations that appear on every page. Readers will find this a memorable portrait of ordinary life in an extraordinary time and place. In the foreword, Besson acknowledges that for many, the war was "infinitely more cruel," but he offers "as faithful a recollection as possible of what a little boy in France saw and heard during those years when, contrary to popular belief, most people simply waited for the war to end, taking sides neither for the Resistance nor for the collaboration, but rather trying to feed themselves, keep warm, and avoid deprivation as much as possible, simply living through events." Carolyn Phelan