Hunger in Holland: Life During the Nazi Occupation
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What was life like in occupied Holland during World War II? What was it like for a nation to find itself overwhelmed by a foreign power? How did people survive the repressive Nazi occupation? This compelling first-person account is an eye-opening experience.As seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old Cornelia, Hunger In Holland chronicles the steady deterioration of normal, everyday life; the loss of freedom and security; and the role of the law as food and many of life's amenities became scarce. Young Cornelia takes on the responsibility of begging for food and helping to hide her father from the Nazis, who had shipped every man they could find to the munitions factory to work for the Nazi war effort. She captures the day-to-day struggle for survival and vividly illustrates the strength, ingenuity, and dogged determination needed to carry on. Fuykschot sketches the changing lives of ordinary people; their efforts to go to school, to work, to clean house, to find food, to maintain some semblance of normalcy against a backdrop of bombing raids and the daily terror of the Nazis.Hunger in Holland is a moving description of a horrific period in world history, a testament to those who survived, and a valuable lesson for those who have never known the terror of war.Cornelia Fuykschot (Gananoque, Ontario) is a retired secondary school teacher." touching. memoir" -Publishers Weekly"A wealth of fascinating details about gradual adjustments downward, the coping skills developed by all, and the small acts of cooperation and kindness between neighbors and strangers are included. A good read for young teens, especially as the story is told from the point of view of an adolescent who was forced to mature early in order to help her family." -School Library Journal"The strength of the book is in the remarkable, detailed recollections of the author and her ability to show us a country filled with ingenuity, perseverance, and faith." -Book Report School Library Journal YA-The engrossing story of daily life in occupied Holland, told by a Dutch woman who was a young teen at the time. Fuykschot's memoir begins on the day German paratroopers descended from the skies over the Netherlands. There are few heroics here; instead, readers see the ongoing tactics adopted by a people for whom existence grew steadily more precarious through the war years. The author's matter-of-fact style gives her narrative poignancy and even immediacy; there's an unspoken determination to do whatever is necessary to survive. Corrie, 11, is given a bicycle for her birthday, her first, on which she will be able to get to school on the other side of town. Through the years, it becomes increasingly important to the family as conditions worsen. A wealth of fascinating details about gradual adjustments downward, the coping skills developed by all, and the small acts of cooperation and kindness between neighbors and strangers are included. A good read for young teens, especially as the story is told from the point of view of an adolescent who was forced to mature early in order to help her family.-Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
