Book Detail

Cats in Krasinski Square, The

Publication Information
Author:  Hesse, Karen Illustrator:  Watson, Wendy
Title:  Cats in Krasinski Square, The Date:  2004
Publisher:  Scholastic City:  New York
ISBN, paperback:  0-439-43540-4 ISBN, hardback:  

Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes ESOL:  
Family:   Young Adult:  
Picture:   Yes

General Information:
Book Type(s):    true story, easy reading

HSE Descriptor(s):    social studies

Summary:
With a simple text and marvelous watercolors, Hesse tells a true story of the bravery of the Jewish Resistance who helped the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. End matter provides more historical background.

Teaching Ideas:
The moving text encourages prediction of facts about the narrator that are not stated: What is a Polish "look" and "walk" and why are they important? What had happened to the narrator and her sister prior to the story? For a compare/contrast activity, perhaps using a Venn diagram, readers can look at the illustrations, the photographs in The Children We Remember, and the movie "The Pianist" in order to compare the inside of the walled ghetto with the outside in Warsaw, illustrated by the merry-go-round and the busy streets. An Internet search on the Warsaw Ghetto will provide pictures and information about the uprising for further discussion and writing. The text would make an interesting Readers' Theater script.

Teaching Strategies:
bullet Literature Circles
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/lit_circles.pdf
bullet Reader's Theater
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/readers_theater.pdf
bullet Manzo's Guided Reading Procedure (Adaptation)
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/manzo.pdf
bullet Problem and Solution Outline and Text Frame
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/prob_solution.pdf
bullet Venn Diagrams
   http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/venn_diagrams.pdf

Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
bullet Emotions-Personal Issues > emotions > fear
bullet Hardships > persecution
bullet Hardships > problem solving
bullet History > topic > war > World War II > Holocaust
bullet Social Studies > sociology > social issues > social action > activism
bullet History > topic > war > children and war
bullet Communities > historical
bullet Science > biology > zoology > mammals > cats
bullet History > topic > war > WW II > Warsaw Ghetto


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