Around the World: Unit on Germany, Austria and Switzerland

I. Non-Fiction: History & Culture

1. Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raven, illus. by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen – This is a wonderful picture book about the Berlin airlift of 1948. It’s a terrific springboard for talking about World War II and the Cold War.

2. Look What Came from Germany by Kevin Davis – This is a fun book; it describes inventions, traditions, and food that came to us from Germany.

3. Countries of the World: Germany by Michael Dahl – This book is a bit dry and textbookish, but is presents some interesting general cultural facts and has nice pictures.

II. Historical Fiction

1. Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura Williams – Sarah and I started this book. A young German girl who is an enthusiastic member of Hitler’s youth is horrified to learn her parents are hiding Jewish people in their house.

III. Folklore

1. Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm illustrated by Susan Jeffers – This story seems quite close to the original one published by the Grimms and has lovely illustrations.

2. Rapunzel (Brothers Grimm) by Paul O. Zelinsky – This familiar folktale actually originated in Italy, and found its way to Germany through France. This version has spectacularly beautiful illustrations in the style of Italian Renaissance painting.

3. The Fisherman and His Wife by the Brothers Grimm

4. The Seven Ravens by the Brothers Grimm

5. The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids by the Brothers Grimm

6. The Six Swans (Grimms) by Wanda Gag, illus. by Margot Tomes

7. Rumplestiltskin (Grimms) by Paul O. Zelinsky – The author blended several versions of this well-known tale; the illustrations are gorgeous.

8. The Pied Piper of Hamelin (Grimms) by Mercer Meyer

9. Snow White and Rose Red (Grimms) illus. by Barbara Cooney

IV. Food

A. Tea Time, Apfelkuchen (Apple Cake) & Frankische Butterplatzchen (Butter Cookies) (recipes posted here.

V. Scientists

A. I’d like to learn more about Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, who studied electromagnetic waves. Alas, I never took physics. James and I read some books on magnetism and he and John made a simple electromagnet. There is more to come.

B. Other German/Austrian scientists of interest:

1. Albert Einstein

2. Sigmund Freud

3. Hans Asperger – there doesn’t seem to be any information on this guy. If his name hadn’t stuck to the syndrome, it might have evaporated from history altogether.

VI. Artists & Composers

A. Artists: We looked at some works by -

1. Albrecht Durer

The Little Owl by Albrecht Durer

2. Max Ernst

The Robing of the Bride by Max Ernst

B. Composers: We listened to some works by -

1. Johann Sebastian Bach – we listened to part of Mr. Bach Comes to Call.

VII. Arts & Crafts

We learned a bit about scherenschnitte and experimented with creating paper cutting art.

VIII. Other Activities

John and I made shultutes for the feisty trio. German parents give these to children on the first day of school. Our shultutes were not as elegant as most of the ones I’ve seen in pictures. But they were fun, they held plenty of crayons, markers, pencils, erasers, and candy, and – last but not least – they make good wizard hats.

Yes, he always makes a goofy face for pictures

We also visited The Oktoberfest at the Museum of American Frontier Culture