Revisitng History with the Kids

We watched "The Diary of Anne Frank" last night on PBS's Masterpiece Theater. Wow. Talk about excellent programming. They took Anne's book and turned it into a two-hour made for TV movie, but were somehow able to capture the essence of the book. Kudos to PBS!

We let the kids just watch part of it because it was very late and they had to go to bed and also because we wanted to screen it before we let the kids see it. This program coming out right now is perfect timing for us. Last week, we read Patricia Polacco's, The Butterfly, a picture book about two little girls living in German-occupied Paris during World War II. One little girl is asleep in her room when she wakes up one night and thinks she sees a ghost, but it's not a ghost. She did not realize that her family is hiding a Jewish family in the basement and the "ghost" is just another little girl. The story and pictures are beautiful and hopeful just like all of Polacco's books.

The kids had many questions after we read this picture book: Who are the Nazi's? Why are they so mean? Why were they chasing the Jews? When did this happen? Could this happen today? And many others.

After reading The Butterfly and piquing their interest by letting them watch the beginning of the movie, we feel the next step is to start reading the book with them tonight. I am so excited. I can't wait. I am a little nervous about them being emotionally ready for it, but I guess we'll just have to see. I'm almost certain that D is ready. N is almost seven so we'll have to just keep monitoring her reactions.

I am, by no means, a history buff. Far from it, but fortunately for all of us, my husband majored in International Relations and knows a lot about all the wars in which we Americans have ever participated. After the movie ended, I was mesmerized by his descriptions of his visit to Auschwitz and the Anne Frank house. He has actually been in the attic that was part of the Frank's hiding place! The kids are going to love that.

I am so enjoying this part of parenting, the part where I get to learn, too. I read this book in middle school and wrote papers about it, but the depth to which we can delve now is amazing. The internet research we can do just boggles my mind and then of course, listening to David talk about this stuff is so much fun. I can hardly wait until tonight!