Summary: This is the story of Nicole Nieman, who realizes that her family's Jewish heritage will have a strong impact on her family and friends as the Nazis start to occupy France. Several refugees come to stay with her family while fleeing from Nazi soldiers. Nicole's parents wonder if they should also leave home to escape over the border to Switzerland or wait it out. Then one awful day Nicole comes home from school to find her parents and sister gone! The Nazis have taken her family and are looking for her. Nicole eventually goes into hiding at her school's dormitory. Social Studies Relevance: This book would be excellent to use with a unit on World War II. This is also a good book with which to create a time line to help the students understand the sequence of events of World War II. Mapping could also be used to help the students understand where the events took place. This book would also be good in explaining the difference between a democratic society and an autocratic society.Grade Level Focus: 4th and 5th gradeRelationship to Social Studies State Core: * Use researching, interviewing, and charting techniques to demonstrate mastery of concepts learned. * Outline the major historical events, people, wars, and documents that played a significant role in United States history from 1492 to the present. * Explain the scope and limits of freedom in a democratic society. * Create individually, or in a group, one or more of the following: newspaper, posters, poetry, interviews, surveys, bulletin boards, stories, letter writing, diaries, dialogues, or songs. * Formulate a plan to solve a problem and determine appropriate actions.
