Benno and the Night of Broken Glass by Meg Wiviott

 

Title: Benno and the Night of Broken Glass
Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Meg Wiviott

Illustrator: Josee Bisaillo

Age group: 2nd-5th

Summary

This story follows a neighborhood cat named Benno.  Benno has the best life any street cat could really ask for.  He gets pets and affection from most the people who see him on the street.  Food vendors even set out water and give him day old food so he stay fed and healthy.  As a reader we watch Benno go through his day that is calm and peaceful.  Unfortunately that night the Nazis storm into the town and break windows and set fires and leave behind nothing but disaster.  Benno finds it hard to sleep comfortably as his eyes are burning with the smoke that's in the air and the window he normally sleeps at has gone dark and shut him out.  The next morning the city street is devoid of humans and the one's who are there are no longer nice to Benno, Benno becomes very sad.  He even keeps cutting his paws because he's stepping on broken glass.  The story ends with Benno pondering whether or not things will return to normal.

Evaluation

I think this book describes a horrific historical event in a way that is digestible to children.  The author accurately portrays the emotions of Benno first off happy and peaceful then turns to sad and distraught.  I think this book provides value to younger children in order to introduce them to history.  I might use this book in my classroom to show an excellent use of tone words that are even powerful in just a children's book.