Emily Bennett and Liz Varenas

Grade Level: 5th Grade Topic: The origins and consequences of the Cold War

Clinton, S. M. (1993). The Cuban Missile Crisis. Chicago, Illinois: Children's Press, Inc.

Nonfiction.

This book provides a detailed breakdown of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It starts with a

general overview of the conflict, detailing a set of black-and-white photographs. Then the book

transitions into discussing why the photographs were so important, as well as the impact that

they had on the course of history. The book offers details about the events that led up to the

initial naval quarantine and blockade. The book describes the Cuban Missile Crisis finally being

resolved after many attempts to negotiate and compromise. This book will be available as a

resource for knowledge. I would use this book in the beginning of my instruction on the Cuban

Missile Crisis because it offers so much information about the conflict. It will allow students to

understand key events, moments and dates within the Cuban Missile Crisis, as well as the

importance of those events.

Cole, T. C. (2014). Wall. Somerville, MA: Templar Books, an imprint of Candlewick Press.

Historical Fiction.

This is a story about a boy whose father got trapped on the other side of the Berlin Wall

as it was being built. The boy missed his father very much and wished that his father would

come walking through the door one day, but he knew that wasnt very likely. Many people tried

to escape to the other side, but few were successful; yet the boy maintained hope. He and his

family dug a tunnel under the wall and attempted to flee. They were stopped by a soldier and the

boy told the soldier about how he had been separated from his father and the soldier let them go.
The next morning, the boy and his family were able to reunite with his father. This book featured

a great deal of pictures, and the pictures did a great deal to add to the story. It would be an

excellent resource for my students after they have learned about the Berlin Wall. I would have

this book in a reading center along with other books for students to read to further instruction.

They will be able to see how the concepts we learned are being applied in the book.

Lai, T. (2011). Inside out and back again. New York: HarperCollins Childrens Books.

Historical

fiction.

This book tells the story of Ha and her family escaping the horrors of the Vietnam War

on their small town. Ha and her family escape on a boat where they struggle to survive with

other families until they reach safety in America. One they are safe at a refugee camp, they are

adopted by a family that lives in the south. Ha and her family have to adjust to the American

lifestyle and the American way of living. They are expected to assimilate and forget everything

from home. This book can be used in the classroom to teach the students about what it was like

to be a child during the Vietnam War. Students will be able to read this book post-instruction to

help them understand the intensity of the Vietnam War. We will read the book as a class, so that

I am able to facilitate conversations with the students about what they learned.

Levine, E. (2005). Catch a tiger by the toe. New York: Viking. Historical fiction

This book is all about the rise of McCarthyism and the struggle of a young girl named

Jamie. Jamies father is a member of the Community Party here in America. When Senator

McCarthy starts accusing people of Communism in America, Jamies dad is one of the accused

and loses his job. The government is trying to get Jamies dad to give the names of other

Communists, but he wont. Once Jamies friends find out the news, it starts to take a toll on her
life and affects her relationship with her friends. This book can be incorporated into the

classroom to help introduce Communism. Students will be able to read the book prior to formal

instruction on McCarthyism and the Communist Party. It will give some background knowledge

and perspective to what the students will be learning.

Morris, M. (2013). Oranges for Christmas: A Berlin Wall escape novel. Oxfordshire, UK:

Margarita Morris. Historical Fiction

This story takes place in Berlin, Germany and tells the story of Sabine and her family.

Overnight, the Berlin Wall is erected, separating her and her mother from their brother. The

family is attempting to reunite, but are both being followed and watched by the secret police, the

Stasi. The story follows the two, switching back and forth between viewpoints retelling their

stories as they attempt to escape the quickly crumbling Berlin. This book could also be placed in

the book nook along with the other book about the Berlin Wall. Students will be able to read this

book after instruction to help get another perspective about what it was like to experience the

effects of the Berlin Wall.

Murray, S. (2005). Eyewitness Vietnam War. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc. Nonfiction.

This book contains a plethora of information pertaining to the Vietnam War. It provides

details of every major event that occurred during the timespan of the Vietnam War, as well as the

events that led up to the initial start of the Vietnam War. The end of the book contains a timeline,

interesting facts, a glossary, and a page with references to find more information. The book

contains a great deal of photographs from the time period, as well as photos of artifacts. I will

use this book for instruction. It contains a great deal of pictures that would be beneficial to the

lessons. It would be a wonderful resource to help students learn about the events of the Vietnam

War.
Raven, M. T., & Frankenhuyzen, G. V. (2002). Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot: a true story of

the Berlin Airlift and the candy that dropped from the sky. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear

Press.

The book opens with a brief two page overview of the Berlin Airlift, so that readers are

able to gain some context in regard to the story. Lt. Gail Halvorsen was known as the American

Chocolate Pilot as Mercedes found out from a story her mother told her. He would drop candy

attached to handkerchiefs, which served as makeshift parachutes for the candy. Mercedes heard

the story and desperately wanted to go get some candy from one of his airdrops, but her mother

would not allow it because it was too dangerous to travel alone. They finally went one day, but

Mercedes wasnt able to catch any candy, so she wrote a letter to the pilot instead. A few weeks

passed and finally she received a letter and package from the pilot containing a delightful amount

of candy. I think this would be a wonderful book to use to teach not only Social Studies, but also

an aspect of English. This book could be used as a guided reading material to help teach the

social studies component. Students will also be able to pick this book out of the reading corner to

read more after learning about the Berlin Airlift.

Santella, A. (2007). The Korean War. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Compass Point Books.

Nonfiction.

This book is segmented into different sections and has a table of contents dictating where

each section of the book begins. It starts with the shock the world felt when North Korea first

launched an attack and transitions into the brutal war between the two sides. This book also

contains a glossary of key terms, a Did You Know? page, as well as pages with important

dates and important people. This book is a wonderful resource for all of the events that transpired

during the Korean War, as well as the reasoning for these events occurring. Students will use this
book as a foundation of their learning about the Korean War. This book will deliver information

to them that will serve as their foundation of knowledge. The book will also be available for

students to use throughout the unit as a resource if they want to go back and review information.

Seuss. (1989). The butter battle book. New York City: Random House. Fiction

Dr. Seusss book was written to tell the tale of groups of people disagreeing on a topic

that have to learn to handle them with tolerance and peace. It was also written to explain that all

life on Earth could be destroyed by a nuclear war. In the story, the Yooks and the Zorks live on

opposite sides of a long wall, and they cant agree whether to eat their toast butter side up or

butter side down. This leads to a potential arms race and the threat of assured mutual destruction.

Neither side reaches a resolution, leaving the plot unresolved. This would be a great book to use

pre-instruction OR post-instruction. It could be used pre-instruction to introduce the idea of two

groups of people being divided on a particular topic. It could also be used post-instruction to see

if students are able to draw connections between what they learned about the Iron Curtain, and

the issues that the Yooks and Zorks faced in the book. If theyre able to see the similarities

between the two, then it would indicate that they understood what they learned.

Ss, P. (2008). The wall: Growing up behind the Iron Curtain. Praha: Raketa. Auto-biography

This book is about the establishment of the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia during the

Cold War. The story is an autobiography told from the viewpoint of Peter Sis. Sis tells of

different times of the wall existence like people painting the walls to express their feelings and

how the people of his community were separated from loved ones. The story is full of graphics

that are drawn by hand and full of detail. The story is suitable for upper elementary because if

the emotional connection that it allows students to make. This book would be good to use almost

as an artifact because it has details that are hand drawn by someone who experienced the first
hand effects of the Iron Curtain. They will be able to use it to make predictions and inferences

about how someone might have felt living during that time period.