Louis Braille — The Boy Who Invented the Braille Alphabet
Louis Braille lived in the French village of Coupvray. Born in 1809, he was the fourth child of a harness maker and his wife. Louis was a bright and curious child. He especially enjoyed watching his father at work.
One day, three-year-old Louis decided to try out his father’s awl, a very sharp tool. Unfortunately, he injured his eye. It became infected and when Louis touched the uninjured eye, the infection spread, blinding him.
Louis Braille House, Coupvray, France
Louis’s family and a village priest helped him. His father made a cane so that Louis could walk without assistance. His sisters made an alphabet from straw so that he could learn letters. And the priest read to Louis and taught him to listen to the sounds of birds to recognize them.
Louis later went to school with sighted children and listened to and remembered the lessons. But for Louis, that wasn’t enough. He wanted to read books.
When he was ten-years-old, he traveled to Paris to attend the Royal Institution for Blind Youth. The school’s founder had created books with raised letters. But the letters were enormous with only a few sentences or less on a page. The books were not practical.
Then a French army captain named Charles Barbier invented a system of sending messages to soldiers on the field. His system used raised dots so that the soldiers could read the messages without light and not give away their location to the enemy.
The army seemed unimpressed, so Barbier sent his system to the Royal Institution for Blind Youth. Louis and the other students recognized right away that this system was not practical. The dots represented sounds not letters. They were difficult for the students to read.
Louis Braille’s Six-Dot Braille System
Louis Braille decided to adapt Barbier’s system and make it practical. He worked for three years to perfect it. By the age of fifteen, he had developed the six-dot Braille System we know today. Each letter of the alphabet uses a different pattern of raised dots. Louis’s system is used in every country in the world.
Braille
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author
You may like: Books For Kids Helen Keller https://barbaralowell.com/books-for-kids-helen-keller
Books for Kids:
Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille
By Jen Bryant, Illustrated by Boris Kulikov
Who Was Louis Braille?
By Margaret Frith
Illustrated by Robert Squier and Scott Anderson
Out of Darkness: The Story of Louis Braille
By Russell Freedman, Illustrated by Kate Kiesler
To Learn More Visit: http://nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/whoislouis.html
Books For Kids: The Holocaust
Hidden
By Loic Dauvillier
Illustrated by Marc Lizano and Greg Salsedo
In this young graphic novel, Dounia, a grandmother, tells her granddaughter the story even her son has never heard: how, as a young Jewish girl in Paris, she was hidden away from the Nazis by a series of neighbors and friends who risked their lives to keep her alive when her parents had been taken to concentration camps. Hidden ends on a tender note, with Dounia and her mother rediscovering each other as World War II ends and as a young girl in present-day France becomes closer to her grandmother, who can finally tell her story. 6-10 years
Behind the Bookcase: Miep Gies, Anne Frank and the Hiding Place
By Barbara Lowell, Illustrated by Valentina Toro
Anne Frank’s diary is a gift to the world because of Miep Gies. One of the protectors of the Frank family, Miep recovered the diary after the family was discovered by Nazis, and then returned it to Otto Frank after World War II. Displaced from her own home as a child during World War I, Miep had great empathy for Anne, and she found ways―like talking about Hollywood gossip and fashion trends―to engage her. The story of their relationship―and the impending danger to the family in hiding―unfolds in this unique perspective of Anne Frank’s widely known story. 7 and up
Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued
By Peter Sis
In December 1938, a young Englishman canceled a ski vacation and went instead to Prague to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Nazis who were crowded into the city. Setting up a makeshift headquarters in his hotel room, Nicholas Winton took names and photographs from parents desperate to get their children out of danger. He raised money, found foster families in England, arranged travel and visas, and, when necessary, bribed officials and forged documents. In the frantic spring and summer of 1939, as the Nazi shadow fell over Europe, he organized the transportation of almost 700 children to safety.
Then, when the war began and no more children could be rescued, he put away his records and told no one. It was only fifty years later that a chance discovery and a famous television appearance brought Winton’s actions to light. 6-8 years
The Butterfly
By Patricia Polacco
Ever since the Nazis marched into Monique’s small French village, terrorizing it, nothing surprises her, until the night Monique encounters “the little ghost” sitting at the end of her bed. She turns out to be a girl named Sevrine, who has been hiding from the Nazis in Monique’s basement. Playing after dark, the two become friends, until, in a terrifying moment, they are discovered, sending both of their families into a nighttime flight. 6-9 years
Hold on to Your Music: The Inspiring True Story of the Children of Willesden Lane
By Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen, Illustrated by Sonia Possentini
In pre-World War II Vienna, Lisa Jura was a musical prodigy who dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. But when enemy forces threatened the city—particularly the Jewish people that lived there—Lisa’s parents were forced to make a difficult decision. They chose to send Lisa to London for safety through the Kindertransport—a rescue effort that relocated Jewish children. As Lisa yearned to be reunited with her family while living in a home for refugee children on Willesden Lane, her music became a beacon of hope for those around her. 4-8 years
Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children
By Kath Shackleton, Illustrated By Zane Whittingham
Between 1933 and 1945, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were responsible for the persecution of millions of Jews across Europe. This graphic novel tells the true stories of six Jewish children who survived the Holocaust.
From suffering the horrors of Auschwitz, to hiding from Nazi soldiers in war-torn Paris, to sheltering from the Blitz in England, each true story is a powerful testament to the survivors’ courage. These remarkable testimonials serve as a reminder never to allow such a tragedy to happen again.
Features a current photograph of each contributor and an update about their lives, along with a glossary and timeline to support reader understanding of this period in world history. 10-14 years
The Whispering Town
By Jennifer Elvgren, Illustrated by Fabio Santomauro
The Whispering Town is the story of neighbors in a small Danish fishing village who, during the Holocaust, shelter a Jewish family waiting to be ferried to safety in Sweden. It is 1943 in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Anett and her parents are hiding a Jewish woman and her son, Carl, in their cellar until a fishing boat can take them across the sound to neutral Sweden. The soldiers patrolling their street are growing suspicious, so Carl and his mama must make their way to the harbor despite a cloudy sky with no moon to guide them. Worried about their safety, Anett devises a clever and unusual plan for their safe passage to the harbor. Based on a true story. 4-8 years
Stone Angel
By Jane Yolen, Illustrated by Katie May Green
The Nazis may have taken their home, but the family still has a guardian angel. A little girl and her family live happily in Paris until Nazi soldiers arrive during World War II. They must flee or risk being sent to a concentration camp. They run into the woods where they meet resistance fighters. But they’re still not safe. They must cross tall mountains and sail in a rickety boat to England. Yet the whole time they’re struggling to survive, the little girl thinks of the stone angel near their apartment in Paris and imagines it watches over her family. 5-8 years
What Was the Holocaust
By Gail Herman, Illustrated by Jerry Hoare
The Holocaust was a genocide on a scale never before seen, with as many as twelve million people killed in Nazi death camps—six million of them Jews. Gail Herman traces the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, whose rabid anti-Semitism led first to humiliating anti-Jewish laws, then to ghettos all over Eastern Europe, and ultimately to the Final Solution. She presents just enough information for an elementary-school audience in a readable, well-researched book that covers one of the most horrible times in history. 8-12 years
Benno and the Night of Broken Glass
By Meg Wiviott, Illustrated by Josee Bisaillon
A neighborhood cat observes the changes in German and Jewish families in its town during the period leading up to Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass that becomes the true beginning of the Holocaust. The cat’s view introduces the Holocaust to children in a gentle way. 3-8 years
Star of Fear, Star of Hope
By Jo Hoestlandt, Illustrated by Joanna Kang
Set in France, during the Nazi occupation of World War II, a gentile child named Helen recalls the mounting persecution of her Jewish friend. She wonders why does her best friend, Lydia, have to wear a yellow star? Why are people in hiding and using strange names? What is Lydia afraid of? Touching upon the Holocaust with sensitivity and poignancy, Star of Fear, Star of Hope will help readers understand this difficult time in history. 7-10 years
The Harmonica
By Tony Johnston, Illustrated by Ron Mazellan
When the Nazis invade Poland, a family is split apart. The parents are sent to one concentration camp, and their son to another. Only his father’s gift, a harmonica, keeps the boy’s hopes alive and miraculously ensures his survival. 7-10 years
The Wren and the Sparrow
By J. Patrick Lewis, Illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg
An allegorical tale about Nazi occupied Poland in which a town’s residents are forced to turn over their musical instruments. A young student rescues the hurdy-gurdy of her teacher, who has presumably befallen a terrible fate, and later, a young boy finds the instrument and intends to pass it — and the importance of remembering — on to his future grandchildren. 8-12 years
Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived World War II
By Marisabina Russo
Rachel’s Oma (her grandmother) has two picture albums. In one the photographs show only happy times — from after World War II, when she and her daughters came to America. But the other album includes much sadder times from before — when their life in Germany was destroyed by the Nazi’s rise to power. As long as Rachel can remember, Oma has closed the other album when she’s gotten to the sad part. But today Oma will share it all. Today Rachel will hear about what her grandmother, her mother, and her aunts endured. And she’ll see how the power of this Jewish family’s love for one another gave them the strength to survive. 6-10 years
Irena Sandler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto
By Susan Goldman Rubin, Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker, helped nearly four hundred Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and into hiding during World War II. 6-9 years
The book descriptions used are from the publishers.
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author
You may like: Books For Kids Anne Frank https://barbaralowell.com/books-for-kids-anne-frank
United States Memorial Holocaust Museum https://www.ushmm.org/
Mr. Eiffel’s Tower
Gustave Eiffel, engineer and architect, called “the magician of iron,” was known in 19th century France for building bridges and solving intricate engineering problems. We know Eiffel today as the man who built the Eiffel Tower, the iconic symbol of Paris and of France. But the Eiffel Tower was not the first tower that Gustave Eiffel built. In 1881, he began work on a tower that cannot be seen from the outside. It is the internal framework and support system for the Statue of Liberty.
Eiffel owned his own company when a world’s fair, to be called the 1889 Exposition Universelle, was planned. The fair would commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. A centerpiece for the fair that would attract lots of attention was needed.
Two of Eiffel’s engineers designed a tower they thought would be a fitting centerpiece. At first Eiffel was unimpressed. But when his master architect added decorative features to the tower design including: a cupola, arches, and a glass pavilion, Eiffel thought the design would work.
Gustave Eiffel
A contest was held to award a commission to build the fair’s centerpiece. It seemed from the start that the contest was set up to make Eiffel the winner. The design restrictions met all of the Eiffel Company’s designs.
Eiffel was given approval to build the tower on the Champs-de-Mars, a green space near the Seine River. But the amount of money awarded for construction was significantly less that what was needed.
Eiffel had to find investors. Fortunately, the French government gave him the rights to the tower for twenty years. He would keep all the money generated and repay his investors.
When the tower design was announced, it was immediately discounted as a “hateful column of bolted sheet metal” and a “ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack.” The French arts and intellectual community was unhappy. But construction began in January 1887, despite the protests.
The foundation was completed in June. The iron tower could now be built. Over 5,000 design drawings were needed. And over 18,000 different parts were manufactured off site. They were moved by horse-drawn carts. 132 ironworkers constructed the tower’s three levels. Construction took less than two years.
In March 1889, most of the work was finished. Eiffel celebrated by climbing to the top of the tower. He climbed the 1,710 steps since the elevators were not yet operating. He raised the French flag to a 25-gun salute below.
The tower stood 984 feet tall making it the tallest structure in the world — taller than the Washington Monument, the previous record holder. The record held for 41 years until 1930 when the Chrysler Building was built. Of course, now there are many larger structures.
Today, just under 7 million people a year visit the Eiffel Tower, making it the most visited paid monument in the world.
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author
You may like: Books For Kids Statue of Liberty https://barbaralowell.com/books-for-kids-statue-of-liberty
To learn more visit: http://visiteiffeltower.com/construction/
A Book For Kids:
Gustave Eiffel’s Spectacular Idea: The Eiffel Tower
by Sharon Katz Cooper, Illustrated by Janna Bock
See the Eiffel Tower’s construction in photos.
Barnstorming Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman, born to Texas sharecroppers in 1892, wanted more out of life than picking cotton. She wanted to “amount to something.” One of thirteen children, Bessie left Texas for Chicago in 1915, to live with her brothers Walter and John.
Bessie attended a beauty school and became a manicurist. She worked at the White Sox Barber Shop during World War I. Bessie listened to the daring stories told by pilots returning from Europe. Her brother, John, who had served in WWI teased her that French women were superior because they could fly planes. Bessie decided she would fly too. But no U.S. aviation schools would accept her. She was an African American woman.
Bessie Coleman
Bessie enjoyed reading the African American newspaper the Chicago Defender. The publisher, Robert S. Abbott, learned about Bessie’s dream to fly. He suggested that she learn French and apply for training at a French flight school. Bessie quickly learned the language and was accepted by a leading aviation school in France.
Bessie Coleman
Learning to fly the Nieuport Type 82 biplane required skill and daring. Although Bessie witnessed the death of a fellow student, she continued to fly determined to succeed. She trained for seven months. On June 15, 1921, Bessie received her pilot’s license. She was the first African American woman to do so. And the first African American to receive an International pilot’s license.
Returning home, Bessie was unable to find employment as an aviator. She traveled again to Europe for advanced training and to learn aerial stunt flying. Bessie was considered by experienced European pilots to be an exceptional flyer.
Returning again to the U.S., Bessie had a new dream. She would open a flight school to train African American women. Bessie needed money to finance this. With her skill and training, she became a barnstormer. In the early days of flying, pilots toured the country performing stunts at exhibitions to earn a living. They were called barnstormers.
Bessie Coleman In Her Uniform
Bessie first appeared at an air show in Garden City, Long Island. She dressed in a military style uniform. She performed loops and spirals over the crowd. The show billed Bessie as “the world’s greatest woman flier.”
Bessie appeared in more air shows. In 1923, she was able to purchase a Curtiss JM4 military surplus biplane known as a Jenny. Bessie flew in her Jenny before a Los Angeles crowd in June that year. Her plane stalled and crashed. Bessie survived the accident, but was left with a broken leg and three broken ribs.
On June 19, 1925, Bessie returned to the air in Texas to celebrate Juneteenth. Texas slaves were effectively freed from slavery by U.S. troops on June 19, 1865. Beginning that day, Bessie refused to perform in the south if African Americans were banned from attendance.
To help raise funds for her flight school, Bessie spoke to audiences about flying. She encouraged African Americans to consider flying too.
Bessie never realized her dream of opening a flight school. She purchased another Jenny biplane in 1926. Many people including her family considered it to be in poor condition. On April 30, 1926, Bessie flew as a passenger in the plane scouting a landing site for a parachute jump. The pilot, William Wills, lost control. Bessie and Wills like many early aviators lost their lives flying.
Bessie Coleman, called “Brave Bess” inspired women to live their dreams as she had lived hers. In 2006, she was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author
You may also like: Amelia Earhart Crosses The Atlantic https://www.amelia-earhart-crosses-atlantic
Harriet Quimby America’s First Female Licensed Pilot https://barbaralowell.com/harriet-quimby-pilot
Elinor Smith Teenage Flying Flapper https://barbaralowell.com/elinor-smith-flying-flapper
Books For Kids:
Fly High!
By Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger
Illustrated by Teresa Flavin
Talkin’ About Bessie The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman
By Nikki Grimes, Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
First in flight — a sheep, rooster, and a duck
First in flight — a sheep, a rooster, and a duck flew as the first passengers in a hot air balloon. Traveling a bit more than two miles, the balloon drifted along for eight minutes and reached a height of 1,500 feet. The three intrepid fliers were later found unharmed, but it is unknown if they asked for a second trip.
The creators of the hot air balloon, French brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier were amateur inventors who advanced human flight. After several experiments showing that hot air would lift envelopes of taffeta, a silky material, the brothers constructed a balloon that they believed would fly when air underneath was heated by burning straw and wool.
Before a crowd in the town of Annonay, on June 4, 1783, their balloon flew to a height of 3,000 feet and landed a mile and a half away. With the success of the flight, came a request from French King Louis XVI for a demonstration at his home, Versailles.
But a storm damaged the balloon, and the king insisted that the brothers make a new one — fast! Construction took four days and sleepless nights to complete.
Joseph and Etienne chose passengers for the flight — a sheep, similar to humans in physiology; a rooster, a flightless bird; and a duck as their control animal. Now they could test the effect of altitude on the sheep and rooster. The duck, of course, had no problem with altitude.
On September 19, 1783, a sunny day in the Versailles gardens, King Louis, his wife Marie Antoinette, the American Ambassador, Benjamin Franklin, and a crowd of enthusiastic Parisians watched the animals float away in the balloon making history.
Now, Joseph and Etienne were ready to try a manned flight. On November 21, 1783, two daring men sailed off in the brothers’ balloon traveling twenty minutes over five miles. But it was a sheep, a rooster, and a duck, with the help of the Montgolfier Brothers, who first led the way to human flight.
The Montgolfier Brothers Balloon
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author
A Book for Kids:
Hot Air: The Mostly True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride
By Marjorie Priceman
Julia Child’s Cat Minette
Paris, France, was full of surprises for Julia Child. She quickly learned that Parisian apartments were not only cold, but came equipped with their own mice. The answer to the mice problem was clear to Julia’s maid. One day, Jeanne appeared with a basket that held the soon-to-be mouse catcher, a mud and cream colored cat. Julia named her Minette and then Mini for short.
At first, Minette was content to stay in the basket. But when she smelled Julia’s soup, curiosity took over. Minette jumped onto the shelf above the stove. She watched Julia work to recreate the mushroom soup she enjoyed at a restaurant. From Julia’s very first meal in France, she was determined to learn to cook the French food she loved. Julia’s soup didn’t turn out to be an exact copy, but Minette seemed happy with it and ate a saucer full.
Another Paris surprise for Julia was how much she adored her French cat. “I had never been much of an animal person,” she said. “She was my first cat ever, and I thought she was marvelous.”
Julia invented Minette’s favorite game, batting at a Brussel sprout tied a string. And Julia enjoyed watching Minette’s tail switching around when she ducked her head under the radiator. Occasionally, Minette showed her appreciation for Julia’s affection and good food by dropping at mouse at Julia’s feet.
Minette found her way into Julia’s heart at the perfect time. In their kitchen, Julia practiced cooking the French food she later became famous for. And lucky Minette tasted it first.
If you like this post, then please consider sharing it and leaving a comment below. Thank you! Barbara Lowell, Children’s Author
To learn more about Julia’s cats visit: https://juliascats.com/
You may like Jane Goodall https://barbaralowell.com/jane-goodall
A Book For Kids:
Minette’s Feast by Susannh Reich, Illustrated by Amy Bates
Celebrate Julia Child’s Life: