Two recent reads (plus a few from winter time) put me back on my WWII trail again.

50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission Into the Heart of Nazi Germany, by Steven Pressman. It's hard to know where to start when talking about this seemingly impossible project. Gil and Eleanor Kraus had to prove that the children would be well cared for when they arrived in the states, then they had to go to Germany, select the children and return home. This meant tackling reams of paperwork, a labyrinth of (ever-changing) laws, immigration quotas, visas, passports, all checked over and over and over, much of it done under the watchful eye of the SS, and knowing that the project could be stopped at any time. Parents were asked to hand their children over to strangers, and yet they came by the hundreds for the chance of getting one of the 50 openings. When (if) the parents made it to the U.S. they would be reunited with their children. On the final day, at the railway station, they parents couldn't even waive good bye (they could be arrested for doing so). A tense, amazing read!

I learned about Churchill and the King, by Kenneth Weisbrode, on Constant Reader's blog. It started as a working relationship -- the shy George VI (who never expected to be King) and the more flashy Churchill, but developed into a friendship as the King of England and the Prime Minister guided England through WWII. Well written and easy to read.

My first book about WWII just might have been Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan. (It's too far in the past to be sure)! To keep Norwegian gold from falling into Nazi hands, plans were made to move it to America. The question was how to get it to the boats. Based on actual events, this tween read was just as good now as when I read it as a kid. (No spoilers here, read the book, it's a quick read)!

A book like I'll Be Seeing You: 51 Songs of World War II can, (and does) have me humming for hours. This collection includes a time-line of events and photographs of the era.

This a book about a plane that crashes in Nazi occupied France. Not all that unusual. At least one of the passengers is a spy. Not all that unusual. One of them is captured and in order to live has to give up the details of the mission or be executed. Again, not all that unusual. What makes this book different is that the pilot and the spy involved in the crash are young women. Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein is a carefully researched and well written teen read.

I was, and still am, amazed by some of the camouflage techniques used to hide factories, planes and even rivers. There were fake tanks used to make the enemy think the army was gathering *here*, nets to hide what was underneath, and even highly detailed, painted tarps to cover entire neighborhoods. I read Masquerade: Amazing Camouflage Deceptions of World War II, by Seymour Reit after seeing a similar show on the Military Channel. Wow!

Reading Hermit With Dog