A Tune for Remembering

 

Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield USGov-Military-Army, Public Domain  Taps is a tune that most people associate with military funerals, but it wasn't always so. The taps we know today is a variation of an 1835 bugle call known as the "Scott Tattoo," after Major General Winfield Scott. The word "tattoo" and the name "taps" come from a Dutch phrase, doe den tap toe, which means "turn off the taps". The Scott Tattoo told soldiers that the time for evening drinking was over, and it was time to return to their garrisons. In 1862, while resting at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, after the close of the Seven Days Battle, Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield rewrote the Scott Tattoo with the intention of using it to replace the French bugle call "To Extinguish Lights" that was used to signal "lights out," when soldiers had to extinguish all lights and go to bed. That new tune was called "Butterfield's Lullaby, or "Taps," and within months was used by both Union and Confederate forces. It became an officially recognized bugle call in 1874. Taps began to be played at funerals late in the war, replacing the traditional three gun salute at officer's burials so that troops wouldn't confuse the salvos for enemy gunfire. This Memorial Day, remember to raise your glass in salute to those who will never be able to turn on the taps again.

Reading About d-day

 

 

The invasion of Normandy, commonly known as D-Day, happened on June 6, 1944. Next month we commemorate the 72nd anniversary of a battle in which 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany.
Here are five suggested books to help middle school students understand this important historical event. Two are nonfiction, and three are historical fiction.

​Remember D-Day: The Plan, the Invasion, Survivor Stories
This award-winning book was written in 2004 to honor the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Authored by Ronald Drez and published by National Geographic, it includes lots of photos and maps and a good discussion on the strategy used, the intelligence it was based upon, and the deceptions that led up this turning point in the war. 

---

D-DAY:The Invasion of Normandy, 1944 [The Young Readers Adaptation]
The Guns at Last Light was the third book in Rick Atkinson’s #1 New York Times–bestselling adult trilogy about World War II. Here is a portion of it, adapted for young readers. This volume includes tons of period photos and does a good job of capturing the events and the spirit of the day that led to the liberation of western Europe from Nazi Germany's control. This is a great introduction to the battle, and will give students the prior knowledge they will need to understand the context of historical novels set in the period.

---

Nonfiction books are great “birds-eye views” of D-Day. But historical fiction is better at giving readers a “boots on the ground” view of how it felt to be in the middle of the action.
Scholastic Press published a series of historical novels for older boys called My Name Is America that did an excellent job on this. Each book was written in the form of a journal of a fictional young man's life during an important event or time period in American history. The series was discontinued in 2004 but the books are still enjoyed by middle school boys. 

​The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier, by renowned, award-winning author Walter Dean Myers is the book in this series that focuses on the events leading up to and during D-Day.
The main character, Private Scott Collins, is a seventeen-year-old soldier from central Virginia. As his regiment takes part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and subsequent battles to liberate France, he records his experiences in a journal. By the end of the book he is no longer the naive young man who volunteered for war. The hardships and horror of battle have forever changed him.

---

​On a budget? Like e-books? Search the web for free downloads of D-Day: A Second World War Soldier 1944, by Bryan Perrett. Part of the million-selling MY STORY series that gives the past a human touch,  D-DAY tells the story of Lieutenant Andy Pope who finds himself in command when every other officer in his company is injured while trying to cut off the Germans' line of retreat. This book is historically accurate and filled with the kinds of details that make for Vivid images, readers should love this first-hand account of danger and peril.

---

But what was it like for those living in Normandy when the allies invaded? To answer this question, I humbly suggest my own middle grade historical novel, Code: Elephants on the Moon. This novel follows Eponine Lambaol, a Breton girl living in a village in Normandy not for from the beaches. She despises the Nazis who occupy her town and longs for the days before severe food rationing. As rumors of an allied invasion swirl around her, Eponine begins to understand that nothing and no one is what it seems, and that the phrase ‘The moon is full of elephants,’ which she hears on the radio, is really a code for members of the underground resistance who are preparing for the invasion.

​

For free CCSS teaching materials for this book, go here.

A good experience at a bad craft show

 

 

Two weekends ago I sold my books at a craft show.

​Well, actually, I tried to sell books at a craft show, but when there's no one to sell to, you don't sell much.

It was the slowest, least-attended show I've ever been to. I managed to sell enough books to cover the cost of having a table, but not much else.

But I got a great new jacket and a wonderful experience out of what otherwise would have been a pretty bad day. Here's the story: 

The booth next to mine was manned by Holly Woelber, whose business, m-g designs, creates beautiful blanket-jackets. They were colorful, looked warm and comfortable, and very, very southwestern. (Indians have been making jackets out of their blankets for a long time.)

I told Holly that I was writing a Civil War book set in New Mexico and would like one of her jackets to wear while talking about it, but I would have to sell some books before I could buy one. A little later, Holly (whose sales were no better than mine, for the same reason) bought The Bent Reed from me and began to read.

A little later she walked over and told me she hated the mother in my book. Towards the end, she came back again. This time, there were tears in her eyes. She told me she understood why the mother was the way she was, and that she loved the book. She then asked me which jacket I was planning to buy, and when I picked one, she gave it to me, and encouraged me to keep writing.

I will be forever grateful to Holly, not only for the beautiful jacket, but for her encouragement.