Book Review: Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow

Note: This post contains Affiliate Links.

Have you ever asked yourself how an entire nation could have come under the spell of one of the most ruthless leaders in history?  Ever wondered just what happened that made people follow Hitler in the first place?  Ever wondered how so many young people bought into the entire construct?

image: Amazon

This book will answer many of these questions for you.  Written as a children's book, the author explores in depth and detail the rise of the Nazi party, and the development of the Hitler Youth program.  Reading through the down and dirty details of how the Nazi party cozied itself into the schools and set themselves up to be the major influence in the lives of the disillusioned young people of Germany, you can see how they managed to take over the minds of the young people of Germany and use their energy and enthusiasm to forward their own agenda.

The author also took a look at the martyrs against the Nazi movement.  The people who stood up for what they believed, and knowing that the penalty for speaking against the regime was death by beheading, they stood up and spread the truth anyway.

There's a saying that says "those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it".  This is a book that takes on a time period that we all need to understand.

Monday Musings

Little Coquito
You know that we are long time family friends with Amy of "Life in Amy's World".  She hasn't posted recently, as life as overwhelmed their family.  Little Coquito is very ill.  He's in the hospital and will be there for a while.  When you have time, please send thoughts, prayers, and positive energy to Coquito. 


Cash Only Challenge
I've been working on the cash only challenge.  I lasted 24 hours before I had to charge gas for the car.  I forgot to withdraw cash before I went to the bank.  *sigh*  Six days later, I went out to dinner with a friend.  Once again, I forgot to make certain I had cash with me before I went.  I had to charge a $12 dinner.  I am an idiot.  Truly.  Why did I not check my wallet before I headed out?  Ten days after that dinner, I went out to buy a new pair of jeans.  Once again, I had forgotten cash and had to charge it all.  Everything else has been paid with cash - so I feel like I'm making some kind of progress!  It helps that my new job is less than 20 minutes away from home, so I'm not spending a ton of money on gas.  I'm filling up the tank about once every 10 days!

I had a stand-off with the geese in the Wal Mart lot.

Food Stamp Challenge
Have you seen this?  I did this a couple of years ago, during my husbands furlough.  The premise was to see if you can live and eat healthfully on the food stamp allotment from the U.S. Government.  The allotment is $4/day/person.  For my family, that's $12/day, for a total of $84 for the week. Next week, I'm going to see if we can eat healthfully for a week on that allotment.  I'll post what we eat daily.

Cleaning Out the Toys
As I continue my journey of cleaning out the house, I have started sorting through the toys.  I'd separated many of them years ago, and I've been steadily sorting them out as I've cleaned out and sorted through the pile of accumulated crap in the basement.  This past week, I began pulling out the big boxes of toys that I am keeping and putting in the things that I sorted out.  One day last week found me with the entire pile of Lincoln Logs outdoors.  They were really dusty and kind of yucky looking.  I took them outside, spread them out on an old bed sheet and hosed them off really well.  I left them out in the sunshine to dry off.  I don't know how long they'll be in storage, but when I pull them out in many years from now if I ever have grandchildren, I want to know that they will be clean enough for little kids to handle.

Fun Find in the Library 
I found this book on the shelves in the library this past week!  It looks like fun, doesn't it?  I have to say, I don't currently have a dog, but my cat does love to "help" us out with our yoga poses in much the same way.  Maybe I should publish a book called Cata?  Yogat?  I don't know, I can't make it work for cats....

Speaking of Cats
I believe I've mentioned before that Luna loves her pumpkin bread.  She can't get enough of it, and will try to grab it out of our mouths if we don't share a piece with her.  This weekend, I made a batch of Cranberry-Orange muffins.  I put the tin on the kitchen counter to cool while I took a shower.  Don't you know, that cat came through and ate the tops off of all the muffins while I was in the shower....

Wegmans
We had a new Wegman's open yesterday.  Daughter and I are headed over there in a while to go check it out!  They built it on the site of the old Solo Cup factory.  I've heard they've done a lot with the property.  Can't wait to see what it looks like now!

Enjoy your week and stay safe!

Banned Books

What are banned or challenged books?  They are books whose presence on library shelves in schools and public libraries has been challenged because the material has been found to be objectionable. Books that have been challenged include the Harry Potter series, The Color Purple, Looking for Alaska, and The Bible. 

When a book is challenged, a committee meets and discusses the reasons the book is challenged, and will sometimes meet with the complainant. Both sides of the issue are thoroughly discussed before a vote is taken on whether or not to remove the material from the shelves. These discussions can become very heated. I've been fortunate that every committee that I've ever sat on has been very professional and respectful. I've heard stories from others that not all committees have this experience.

In recognition of these challenged books, the city of Washington DC has set up the ultimate scavenger hunt!  They have hidden banned and challenged books throughout the city.  The books are scattered at private businesses throughout the eight wards. Each book is covered with a wrapper that explains why the book was banned. If you find a book, it is yours to keep!

The hunt began at the beginning of the month, and runs through the end of the month. 

If you're in the area, come join in the hunt!

Old Blue

Have you seen this?  Mike Rowe reads a letter from his mother.  Be prepared to laugh!



Gotta love Mike's parents!  Mike's mom is an EXCELLENT writer.

This made my entire week!  Not only the letter, but also Mike's face while reading the letter.  Enjoy!

Sunflowers

Overheard in the sunflower patch: a young child telling parents "That must be a really talented farmers to have planted all the seeds so that the flowers all came up facing the same direction!"

Book Review: I Am Malala

Disclaimer Notice:  This post contains Affiliate Links.
Everyone has heard the story of Malala by now.  At the age of 15, she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban.  She was shot point blank in the head while sitting in her school bus.  This was in an attempt to silence a very vocal voice of protest against the Taliban and their policies that kept women and young girls from getting an education.

But did you know that Malala's voice was not the only one in the family that was raised in protest against the Taliban?  Malala's father was also on the Taliban's hit list.  Not only did he run a school for girls, he was a very vocal critic of the Taliban and their policies that impoverished the people and encouraged a culture of ignorance and hatred.

Malala shares the story of her family - from her father's struggle to gain an education and share that opportunity with others through the rise of the Taliban, and the effect the Taliban had on the politics of what had previously been a very peaceful community.

I was enchanted by Malala's tale.  She doesn't dwell on her near death experience.  Instead, she spends most of her time explaining the politics of Pakistan, sharing her love of her homeland, and describing the ins and outs of U.S. Politics on the rise of alternative political parties.

This is a fascinating, well written story that should be required reading for us all.  The courage of one young girl - and her family - to stand up for what is right is inspiring. 

Monday Musings

Do you remember where you were 15 years ago?

9-11 Memorial  (c) 2013, Library Nut

It was the day after our world changed forever. 

Overhead, the sky was empty.  At that time, we lived under the flight path for BWI.  Overhead, we heard nothing.  No airplanes rumbling overhead, no sound of the engines powering for a landing, or the *swooosh* as they climbed higher and higher.  At times, I expected to find tire marks on the roof of our house, it seemed that the planes came in so low.  But on this morning, 15 years ago, I heard nothing.  Occasionally, we could hear the swooshing of the F-15's flying up and down the Eastern Seaboard.  We would also hear the pounding of  a helicopter overhead.

Phones were finally working again, and late that night, all of our relatives had been accounted for, and we had been able to get word out to family that we were all safe and sound.  I wish we could say the same for all of our friends.  The wait to hear something - anything - was agonizing.

I don't know what life was like in your corner of the world, but in the Washington DC suburbs, it was as if everyone was holding their breath.  People came together and hugged, long conversations were had on street corners, in churches, grocery stores, and parks as people gathered, took stock, and attempted to adapt to our new reality.

In the months following the attacks, we had the Anthrax attacks.  Remember?  Anthrax was sent through the mail.  Several postal workers caught Anthrax from this secondary attack.

Freedom Tower, 2013

And then there was the DC Sniper.  People in the area lived in a defiant state of fear - determined to go on about their lives, but also scared to death.  I'll never forget walking quickly into the grocery store during that time with my daughter.  I was behind a woman who was jumping up and down and weaving side to side.  When we got in, I gave her a questioning look.  "I'm just trying to make it harder for him if he does decide to shoot me."    Those words have stuck with me all these years.

The day after.  And the days after that.  One day at a time, until we get here, 15 years later.  We have moved on, but we will never forget.

I hope you find the time to hug someone you love today.  Call someone you haven't seen in a while.  Maybe get together with some old friends later this week. 



Life can change in an instant.  Grab hold of someone you love and let them know how much they mean to you this week.