about the book
Knud Pedersen was barely aware that Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Germany “seemed no more than the neighborhood bully, a bordering country with twenty times Denmark’s population.”
Then on April 9, 1940, German planes dropped pamphlets announcing that Denmark was being occupied by Germany, that the Danish had nothing to fear because they were now being protected from the English and French.
Denmark’s government didn’t put up a fight. They just turned over control to the Nazis.
Knud and several other boys couldn’t believe their country’s cowardice, so they formed the Churchill Club to sabotage the Nazis as much as they could.
They struck more than two dozen times. In broad daylight, the Churchill Club vandalized German property and stole “German rifles, grenades, pistols, and ammunition—even a machine gun,” then raced off on their bicycles to meet their curfews.
When the boys were arrested, the sabotage didn’t stop. The Churchill Club had inspired other Danes to fight back against their occupiers.
about the author
Phillip Hoose is an author of many things: essays, books, songs, articles, stories. He is a founding member of the Children’s Music Network and his a band creates songs for children, called “Chipped Enamel.”
He got his start writing for adults, but his daughter Ruby’s interest in ants inspired him to write for children, too. His daughter Hannah helped him co-author that first children’s book, Hey, Little Ant.
Phillip won the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor for Moonbird. His book, Claudette Colvin : Twice Toward Justice also won this award, as well as a National Book Award and a Newbery Honor.
After graduating from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Phillip spent nearly 40 years as a member of the staff of The Nature Conservancy, which dedicates its time to protecting and preserving animals, plants, and communities in the natural world.
When Phillip isn’t writing, he is running a Canadian program that works with the First Nations people in the Great Bear Rainforest area of British Columbia. He sets up camps and internships that strengthens the connections that these young people have with customs and traditions of their land and people.
Though Hannah and Ruby are now all grown, Phillip still lives in Portland, Maine, with his wife, Sandi Ste. George, an artist.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Wikipedia
Author interview: Philly
Also by Phillip Hoose:
Moonbird : A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. Farrar Straus Giroux. 2012.
Claudette Colvin : Twice Toward Justice. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. 2010.
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. 2004.
We Were There, Too! : Young People in U.S. History. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. 2001.
read more!
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This book presents the story of the Danish resistance and rescue of over 7,000 Jews during WWII. When the Nazis invaded Denmark, the people of this tiny country awoke to a devastating surprise. The government of Denmark surrendered quietly, and the Danes were ordered to go about their daily lives as if nothing had changed. But behind the Nazi’s backs, they carried out a complex plan that involved thousands.
In My Hands : Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke
Irene Gut Opdyke was a seventeen-year-old nursing student when Germany invaded Poland. Over the following years, she was separated from her family, raped by Russian soldiers, and forced to work in a hotel serving German officers. In the midst of all that, Irene was helping the Jews—even when the price was high. How did she defy the evil going on around her?
Moonbird : A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose
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