Boxes
For Katje, by Candace Flemming is a historical fiction picture book.
Summary
After World War II Europe was
suffering badly. The Children’s Aid
Society, along with other relief organizations sponsored care packages to
families in war-stricken areas. One of
those packages came from the author’s mother and was sent to a girl in Holland
named Katje.
In the story, Katje receives a
small box from the United States. She
rejoices over wool socks and soap and generously shares her chocolate with her
mother and mailman. Katje sends a letter
thanking Rosie for her gifts and explains how difficult times are in
Holland. Rosie and her mother respond by
enlisting the help of friends and neighbors to send more needed supplies. This continues until Rosie’s whole community
is sending aid packages to Katje’s community.
In the end, Katje’s community
sends a beautiful thank you gift to their new American friends.
Impression
This is a story about
friendship, love and kindness. And, it
is even better, because it is based on a real event. Picture books like this not only teach us
about events that have happened in the past and how people have responded, but
they also teach us how to be generous global human beings. This is also a story about WWII, yet it tells
the story of the aftermath in a way that helps the reader understand the
ravages of the war, without it being overtly described. Through Katje’s stories of her neighbors, we
learn the scope of the devastation.
In historical fiction picture
books like this we get a great story and then learn how it really
happened. Great stories of real events
bring me joy!
Library Uses
Boxes For Katje can be used in the library in units focusing on WWII, kindness,
friendship, or even Holland. It can be
used as a starting point for enlisting aid to children in another country,
perhaps in the aftermath of an earthquake, hurricane or war. Students can then bring donations that will
be sent to help others.
Professional Reviews
Katje
and her family struggle to make due with substitutions for essentials like soap
and sugar in Holland, post-WWII. One day, Postman Kleinhoonte unexpectedly
delivers a small box from America addressed to Katje; it contains a bar of
soap, a pair of wool socks, and some chocolate. A letter from Rosie is also in
the box expressing her wish that “these gifts brighten your day.” A pen-pal
exchange begins with Katje’s thank-you letter and gradually develops into an
American small-town effort to donate basics to their European counterpart over
the course of a year. Katje’s neighbors reciprocate with a box of tulip bulbs
after conditions improve in the war-torn country. Fleming reveals Katje’s
character of leadership, resolve, and gratitude through her written communiqués
and Rosie’s initiative and inspiration through her active promotion of the
charitable effort. Dressen-McQueen captures the flavor and essence of Fleming’s
1945 family experience through her detailed mixed-media paintings delineating
fabric patterns, hairdos, emotions, and the general lifestyle of both
communities. As heartwarming and uplifting as a bouquet of tulips.(Picture
book. 4-7)
--Kirkus, 2003
Inspired by actual events, Fleming's (Ben Franklin's Almanac, reviewed
below) engaging story of post-WWII Holland serves as a
potent—and merry—lesson in generosity. The residents of war-ravaged Olst
"patched and repatched their worn-thin clothing, and they went without
soap or milk, sugar or new shoes." Through the Children's Aid Society, an
American child, Rosie, sends a box of provisions to Katje, a windfall the girl
gladly shares with the postman and her mother. Her thank-you note inspires a larger
package, which she aportions to her neighbors, and so on, until sleds of
provisions from Rosie's town arrive for all the residents of Olst. Fleming
deftly dramatizes the story with lively conversations among the townspeople and
letters between the two girls. In an outstanding debut, Dressen-McQueen
immerses readers in post-war Holland, crafting an entirely credible world of
cobblestone streets, Dutch architecture and vintage clothing. Primitive in
its flattened perspectives, these earth-toned illustrations (which
progressively brighten as the situation does) resonate with joy and fellowship.
The girls' letters and small, painted "snapshots" of Rosie's world
drop into full-bleed panoramas of Katje's town. That is, until the story's end,
when the residents of Olst return a gift to Rosie, whose jubilant receipt of
the package fills the spread. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
--Publishers Weekly, 2003
References
BOXES FOR KATJE by Candace Fleming , Stacey Dressen-McQueen
| Kirkus. (2003, September 1). Retrieved April 26, 2015, from
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/candace-fleming/boxes-for-katje/
Children's Book Review: BOXES FOR KATJE by Candace Fleming,
Author, Stacey Dressen-McQueen, Illustrator , illus. by Stacey Dressen-McQueen.
FSG/Kroupa $16 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-30922-0. (2003, August 18). Retrieved April
26, 2015, from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-30922-0
Fleming, C., & McQueen, S. (2003). Boxes for Katje.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
