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1 A GUIDE TO TEACHING L A U R A W I L L I A M S S BEHIND THE BEDROOM WALL MILKWEED PRIZE FOR CHILDREN S LITERATURE Milkweeds for Young Readers

2 MILKWEED EDITIONS Dear Educator, Milkweed Editions has developed a series of teaching guides to encourage students to enter books with pleasure and insight to enjoy as well as understand them. We began by asking classroom teachers what would help them teach novels and anthologies. The teachers said they wanted open-ended questions for use in guiding students to read more deeply. They also asked for exercises in teaching writing. Their third request was for assistance in teaching with a sensitivity to the needs and goals of multicultural education. The guides were conceptualized to serve those requests. Literature opens up the classroom to a larger world and to disciplines beyond its own. So we developed the guides while keeping other disciplines and directions in mind. The guides were developed and written by people who are both teachers and writers. Each guide offers extensive step-by-step writing exercises. The key to successfully using the exercises in your classroom is to take time for the whole process: time for warm-ups, time to brainstorm before writing, time for the writing itself, and time for reading the writings aloud. We hope that the guides will help you in your teaching. Feel free to use only those parts of them that are relevant to your needs. Jot your own thoughts and lesson ideas in the margins. And, as one teacher interviewed said, Don t try to do too much. The main thing is to read and enjoy the books. Enter the stories of the people in them. Pass on your excitement to the students. Milkweed Editions 1

3 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Copyright by Milkweed Editions. All rights reserved. Except for the pages labeled as suitable for photocopying and except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this guide may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Milkweed Editions First Avenue North, Suite Minneapolis, MN () ISBN Printed in the United States of America Milkweed Editions is a not-forprofit publisher. The following books for the middle grades are available from Milkweed Editions: Gildaen, The Heroic Adventures of a Most Unusual Rabbit, by Emilie Buchwald The Gumma Wars, by David Haynes Business As Usual, by David Haynes The Monkey Thief, by Aileen Kilgore Henderson The Summer of the Bonepile Monster, by Aileen Kilgore Henderson I Am Lavina Cumming, by Susan Lowell The Boy with Paper Wings, by Susan Lowell The Secret of the Ruby Ring, by Yvonne MacGrory A Bride for Anna s Papa, by Isabel R. Marvin Minnie, by Annie M. G. Schmidt To order books or teaching guides, please phone or mail your order to: Milkweed Editions Fax: () First Avenue North, Suite Phone: () Minneapolis, MN () We welcome your comments and suggestions for our Teaching Guide series. Please write to us, ATTN: Teaching Guide Series, at the Milkweed Editions address listed above. 2

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS BACKGROUND How to Use This Guide: A Note for Teachers 4 Overview of Behind the Bedroom Wall 5 About Laura E. Williams 6 When Did It Happen? Setting the Historical Context 7 Getting Started 9 LESSONS Lesson One: Chapters 1 & 2 (pages 3 21) 10 Lesson Two: Chapters 3 & 4 (pages 23 43) 12 Lesson Three: Chapters 5 & 6 (pages 45 74) 16 Lesson Four: Chapters 7 & 8 (pages 75 89) 19 Lesson Five: Chapters 9 & 10 (pages ) 23 Lesson Six: Chapters 11 & 12 (pages ) 27 Lesson Seven: Chapters 13 & 14 (pages ) 31 Lesson Eight: Chapter 15 & Afterword (pages ) 34 FOLLOW THROUGH Thinking Back over the Story 37 Using Korinna s Story in Your Own Life 38 There Is More behind the Bedroom Wall! 38 How to Learn More about Korinna and Rachel 39 ADDENDA FOR PHOTOCOPYING Further Resources 41 Glossary 45 3

5 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L BACKGROUND How to Use This Guide: A Note for Teachers 4 This guide is written in sections, some of which are intended only for teachers. Other sections are designed for both teachers and students and written in a style that both will find comfortable. In the opening Background, the Overview is just for teachers. The About Laura E. Williams and When Did It Happen? Setting the Historical Context sections can be distributed to students. The Getting Started exercises are written for the teacher to be used in the classroom before students begin reading the novel. Every two chapters of the book have been combined into one lesson. Lessons should be applied after the appropriate chapters have been read. These lessons contain six to eight separate sections. All sections can be read to students for class discussions or used as worksheets, although the initial Summary is intended only for teachers. A Comprehension Questions section for students follows, which teachers can use to determine how well students have understood what they have read. The Getting Involved with the Story section contains exercises to help the students draw out the principal themes of the novel. The What Would You Do? section has the same purpose as the previous section; however, it is written to make the story come alive in a contemporary setting. Some lessons contain sections that involve writing and interdisciplinary exercises. They are included in lessons that present students with new or unique concepts, allowing the students to be more creative with themes in the story. These exercises are written for students. Word Mastery and Special Words lists are included at the end of each lesson to provide emphasis on vocabulary and multicultural skills. Follow Through, the last portion of this teaching guide, provides an overview and a bigger picture of the themes and issues in the novel. It consists of four sections, which should be used when students have finished reading the novel. The first section, Thinking Back over the Story, puts ideas from the novel into a social and historical perspective. The second, Using Korinna s Story in Your Own Life, takes positive parts of Korinna s life and asks the students to incorporate them into their own. The third section uses The Diary of Anne

6 BACKGROUND Frank to help the students understand the psyche of young Jewish girls in Nazi Germany. The last section is similar to the interdisciplinary exercises in the lessons: it presents a variety of activities to stimulate students imagination and thought processes. Overview of BEHIND THE BEDROOM WALL The protagonist in Behind the Bedroom Wall is thirteen-yearold Korinna Rehme. Growing up in Nazi Germany, Korinna is an active member of her local Jungmädel, a Nazi youth group for girls. Along with many of her friends, she believes that Hitler is helping Germany by identifying and addressing what he calls the Jewish problem. Korinna witnesses her Jewish neighbors attacked and taken from their homes. As the novel progresses, Korinna s early excitement and glowing descriptions of the glorious Germany Hitler will bring about begin to change as she faces her very human reactions to Nazi acts of cruelty. Behind the Bedroom Wall demonstrates, through the characters of three young girls, how seeds of Nazi ideology were planted in the minds of children. The plot thickens when Korinna learns that her parents are members of an underground group helping Jews escape. Korinna is shocked to discover that they are, in fact, hiding a Jewish mother and child behind her own bedroom wall. We see Korinna caught in the middle of conflicting values and watch her struggle between her friends values and her family s. As Korinna gets to know the Jewish family and begins to understand her parents values and why they question the Führer, her sympathies begin to turn. Her loyalties are tested when someone tips off the Gestapo about the presence of a Jewish family in her house. This is the turning point in the novel, when Korinna must decide what she really believes and whom she really trusts. From the opening line, Jew-lover! spat the tall, blond Gestapo officer, pushing Herr Haase toward the car, readers are caught up in a fast-paced novel in which each chapter adds to the conflict and tension of the plot. Readers are drawn into the dilemma of a young girl, torn, as so many students are today, between her longing to be part of her peer group and her adherence to the values her family offers. 5

7 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L It is just this struggle in Korinna that makes Behind the Bedroom Wall so contemporary. While it presents a specific time in history, the book also shows us the timeless predicament of wanting to belong or deciding to resist. This novel concerns the dynamics of group behavior, the irresistibility of mass movements, the reasons young men and young women join groups, parental influence, and the generational conflicts arising from membership in a group disapproved by parents. These are all themes to which young people can relate. Williams confronts many important social and historical issues in this book, which teachers will find inspires important discussions and projects in their classrooms. This book is most suitable for fifth-through eighth-grade English and social studies classes. Also relevant to students in high school, the book could be used with older students by asking them to develop ways of presenting the book and its themes to their younger brothers and sisters or to neighboring elementary or middle schools. This is an ideal book for interdisciplinary courses combining history and literature, or psychology and history. Because it is fast paced, students of all abilities will be able to read this book with ease. About Laura E. Williams Laura E. Williams was born in Seoul, Korea. She has lived in Belgium, Hawaii, and, for a few months, on a sailboat in the Caribbean. In Laura graduated from Denison University with a double major in English and art, and in she graduated from Trinity College with an M.A. in literary writing. She also earned a masters in education from St. Joseph College. She formerly resided in Vernon, Connecticut, where she was a teacher of high-school English for eight years. Currently, she lives in Avon Lake, Ohio. She is also the author of The Long Silk Strand (Boyds Mills) and A Romance for Shawnee (Avalon Books). Her most recent work is a series of ten books from Avon Books for Children. 6 A. Nancy Goldstein is an internationally renowned Ketubbah (Jewish marriage contract) artist. Her work is in Jewish museums and private collections throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel.

8 BACKGROUND When Did It Happen? Setting the Historical Context Behind the Bedroom Wall is a novel set in World War II Germany. The novel begins in , when Adolf Hitler is chancellor of Germany and World War II has been raging for three years. Some Jews, befriended by Germans who oppose Hitler, are in hiding, living in cramped conditions. Everyone involved is in great danger, with Hitler s men looking to send them all to concentration camps as Jews and traitors. This novel specifically addresses the plight of the Jewish people during Hitler s reign and the reactions of some Germans to his political program. Hitler and his Nazi political party were elected to power in With his election, Hitler ushered in the era of the Third Reich, continuing his quest for world rule. He believed that Jews were the cause of the world s problems. Once in power, Hitler abolished democracy and set up a totalitarian state instead. He then began an aggressive expansion into Europe. As Hitler attacked surrounding European countries, many nations of the world tried to resist him. World War II was the result of this conflict. During his fight for power, Hitler also practiced his racist and elitist ideology. In his early months of power, Communists were the principal targets of discrimination. Tens of thousands of Communist Party members and sympathizers were arrested. As a result, the very first concentration camps were established. Essentially, these were death camps, places where Hitler could concentrate groups of people in one location for easier control and extermination. Hitler also sent the mentally ill, physically handicapped, sick and diseased, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Jews to the death camps as well. During this time, Hitler also created the SS (Security Service), a tight core of bodyguards for high ranking Nazi Party officials, and the Gestapo (Secret State Police) to help carry out his reign of terror. Hitler was an anti-semite, a person who hated Jews. Through his anti-semitic practices, Hitler thought he was solving The Jewish Question. This racist idea surfaced in western Europe during the Enlightenment era. The people of this time saw the Jews as a nonpolitical, non-nationalistic ethnic group, and, therefore, as a problem. In essence, The Jewish Question encompassed the thoughts and frustrations 7

9 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L 8 of anti-semitism. Hitler, however, carried this racist ideology to its extreme. When he came to power, he passed a law requiring Germans to boycott all Jewish businesses. Later, Jews were driven out of their homes and sent to live in small, restricted areas called ghettos. To further demoralize, isolate, and ostracize Jews from German society, Hitler made them wear the Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish faith, yellow in color, on their outer clothing. This persecution was not confined to Germany alone. As Hitler conquered Austria, Hungary, France, and Poland, the Jews and other minorities of these countries became victims as well. Despite these measures, Hitler was still unsatisfied. His answer to The Jewish Question was The Final Solution. With this plan, Hitler decided to annihilate the Jewish population of the world. The large-scale roundup of Jews to concentration camps began in Some Jews were able to flee Germany while others were lucky to find places of hiding. Hitler and his Nazi Party had carried out an effective campaign of anti-jewish propaganda and indoctrinated many Germans with their ideology. As a result, the Nazis had no trouble gathering officers to administer their plan. With his Final Solution, Hitler succeeded in killing six million Jews, that is, over two thirds of the European Jewish population. This event in world history we know today as the Holocaust. Although one third of the European Jewish population managed to survive, the Holocaust, or genocide of six million Jews, had a disastrous effect on the life and culture of Jews and Judaism. The Holocaust marks its place in modern world history because never before had one people, based on the dictates of one man, carried out the systematic, unjustifiable slaughter of another people. When World War II ended in , over six million Jews, and millions of others, were dead. Some survived only to die afterward from prolonged starvation and disease. Others have lived to tell their story. In Europe today, there are still reminders of this war, the sadness and the anger it caused and its costs. Throughout the small towns of Europe are war memorials to the many brave people, both Jewish and non- Jewish, who fought against Hitler and helped the Jewish people. Korinna, her family, and Sophie and Rachel depict some of the unsung heroes of this time.

10 BACKGROUND Getting Started 1. Use a large wall map to show where Germany s borders are and where the rest of the countries in Europe are today. Compare the size of Europe to the size of the United States. If possible, overlay a series of maps to show that the borders of European countries shifted after World War II. Also point out and explain the existence of Israel. 2. Describe the Holocaust to the students. (See Setting the Historical Context above). Begin a list of characteristics of the Holocaust. Encourage students to think of characteristics on their own. Beside this list, make a column of events that the students think are similar to the Holocaust. Have them decide if the events being compared were the same or different in relation to specific characteristics. This may help students to think about each event as unique within its context of time and place. 3. Ask the students to think about discrimination in their own countries. If there are students who are Jewish, Native American, African American, or of another ethnic minority, ask them to share their perspectives with the class. If not, ask the students to think of some of the ethnic minorities in the United States and if they have been treated like the Jews of Nazi Germany in any way. 4. Take some class time to discuss and share immigrant stories. If there are immigrant children in your classes, it is a good chance to get first-hand anecdotes. 5. The power of hearing a speaker who has survived the Holocaust of World War II cannot be minimized. If possible, have a survivor speak to the class right before you begin to read Behind the Bedroom Wall. If not, show an age-appropriate videotape of someone who survived the concentration camps talking about this experience. 9

11 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L LESSONS Summary Lesson One: Chapters 1 & 2 (pages 3 21) Korinna is first seen with two of her friends, Eva and Rita, watching some men from the Gestapo taunt, kick, and beat a man in front of his wife and children. It turns out that Korinna knows the man being beaten he is the local butcher and also one of the men from the Gestapo, Hans, who is Rita s brother. We then learn that all three girls are members of the Hitler Youth Movement. Following this episode, Korinna goes home and has supper with her family, after which her father presents her with a gift, a kitten of her own. In chapter 2, Korinna learns that Herr Haase, the man beaten and taken away by the Gestapo the day before, was part of a secret group to help the Jews. She also learns that her teacher has been taken to a work camp because of her disloyalty to Germany and Hitler. It is revealed that Korinna s friend Eva harbors sympathy for the Jews, while Rita, the other friend, does not. Comprehension Questions 1. Why was Herr Haase taken away by the Gestapo? 2. Describe the difference between Korinna s and her parents feelings about the changes taking place in Germany. 3. Why do the girls always carry around a little black notebook? Getting Involved with the Story In this section you learn that the main character, Korinna, is in the Hitler Youth Movement. What do you notice about her dress and mannerisms? Why do you think it is important for this group to have all its members dress and act in the same way? 2. Make a list of groups you see around you. What features or characteristics (religion, dress, interest in sports, etc.) make you think of these people as groups?

12 LESSONS 3. How important are our clothes in terms of saying something about ourselves? Describe someone in detail who is in a certain religious or social group. This should be a person who is not in the same social or religious group you are in. Imagine a day in this person s life. ( Think of the Amish, orthodox Jews, gang members, preppies, jocks, etc.) To what extent does membership in a particular group identify the individual? 4. Interview a person from another religious or social group. Write a one-page paper on what a typical day in his or her life is like. What Would You Do? 1. At the end of chapter 2, Korinna hears Eva say things that are un-german. Have you ever been in a situation where you heard something that you had been told should not be said? What happened? 2. Fräulein Meiser was replaced by another teacher because she read parts of history that were forbidden by Hitler. Do you feel teachers should be able to say whatever they want in class? If they criticize the policies of the school or their own government, should anything happen to them? What if they use stereotypes to describe their students? What if they use materials that make you uncomfortable? Word Mastery List You came across the following words as you read chapters 1 and 2. Use a dictionary to look up the words you do not already know. Use the words in sentences. faltered shrugged impatient emphasis viciously traitor cozy vigorously perception shivered intently extracting chided glint solemn sympathetic accurate Special Words Herr Gestapo Fräulein Frau Liebling Führer Heil Hitler Jungmädel 11

13 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Lesson Two: Chapter 3 & 4 (pages 23 43) Summary In chapter 3, Korinna hears strange noises in her bedroom. She believes it is mice. When her father arrives home, Korinna and her parents listen together to the Führer on the radio. It is clear that Korinna and her parents disagree about the Führer. After dinner, when Korinna goes upstairs to do her homework, she hears more noises from behind the wall. Upon moving her wardrobe away from the wall, she finds a giant hole that is actually a tiny room. This turns out to be the hiding place of a Jewish family her parents are trying to protect. In chapter 4, Korinna s parents introduce her to Sophie and Rachel, mother and daughter, who have been living behind the wall. Korinna feels torn between loyalty to her parents and her belief that they are traitors and should be turned in. Comprehension Questions 1. Why does Korinna think that her parents are traitors? 2. Describe who Korinna found hiding behind her bedroom wall. Getting Involved with the Story This is a story about love and betrayal. In the last two chapters Rita turned in her own cousin to the Gestapo, and Korinna heard Eva say things that sounded un-german. Now, in this chapter, Korinna s very own parents fundamentally disagree with everything she believes in and is taught in school. In comparing Rita s actions with the actions of Korinna s parents, whom do you think is the traitor? Under what conditions do you believe people are justified in turning in or reporting a family member or friend to the police? What do you think Korinna will do? If you had to make the choice, would you rather betray your country or your family? 2. At whose expense? At what cost? (page 29) This is what Frau Rehme, Korinna s mother, asks when she and Korinna discuss the work of the Führer. Frau Rehme disagrees with her daughter. Do you think discussing something with someone you don t agree with is worthwhile?

14 LESSONS 3. For love? I don t know Korinna, maybe there s something even more important than that. (page 33) Korinna is confused by Fräulein Meiser s actions and when she asks her father about it, this is his reply. Can you think of anything that would be more important to you than the love of people who are important to you? Why do you think Fräulein Meiser went with her father? 4. What is Korinna s dilemma now, at the end of chapter 4? Read page 43 again. What do you think Korinna believes she should do? Can you guess what she will do now? What Would You Do? 1. Think of a time when you were in a situation where you had to weigh your actions and beliefs against what harm would come if these actions or beliefs were followed through. What did you decide? 2. When have you disagreed with your parents or your guardians? What did it feel like to disagree? Did you argue? How did you try to resolve this conflict with them? Did you succeed in reaching a resolution? 3. You will read about a hiding place in these two chapters. What are some of your own hiding places? Are there places you go to be away from everyone? Are they important in your life? Where would you go right now if you thought you were in danger? 4. Who are your protectors? In this section of Behind the Bedroom Wall, Korinna s parents reveal to her that they have become protectors for someone. Whom do you feel you can go to if you need someone to protect you? Police? Teacher? Parent? Friends? Relatives? 5. In this section of the book, Korinna s parents are doing something that endangers her as well as themselves. Do you think they are right to do this? Has there ever been a time in your life when you have had to risk something for what you believe in? Have you ever experienced a time when your parents had to risk your safety and theirs for something more important? Imagine you are Korinna: what would you do after you moved the Schrank and discovered your enemies were hiding behind the wall?

15 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Exercises Foreshadowing 1. Foreshadowing is a literary device writers use to give the reader hints that something is wrong or about to happen. Read through chapter 3 looking for foreshadowing. One example would be that the cat could not be found. List at least four examples of foreshadowing in chapter Write a mystery or a horror story. Give the reader some hints about what is to come by placing some clues in this story before the final mystery is revealed. In other words, use foreshadowing to tell a story. 3. Watch a video of a mystery. Look for clues that the moviemaker gives you as the story goes along. Make your own video using foreshadowing. 4. With a small group, create a play that involves foreshadowing. Perform it for the class. Include at least five clues or hints before the final revelation of the mystery or horror is made to the audience. Point of View Everyone has a different point of view. Your point of view is how you see and evaluate certain facts and events. It is also your opinion. It is important to begin to understand certain events from more than one point of view. Understanding someone else s point of view helps us understand the facts better. 1. Korinna s mother has a very different point of view from Korinna and Rita about Hitler, his new Germany, and his treatment of the Jews. Make two columns, one for Frau Rehme and one for Korinna. In each column list factors that contribute to each character s different point of view. Using these columns, write an essay comparing and contrasting Frau Rehme with Korinna Write a monologue, a speech given by one person. Put at the top of each of five pieces of paper the following names: Korinna, Frau Rehme, Sophie, Rachel, Rita. Now write a monologue in the voice of each of these characters. What would Rita say about her observations of Korinna? What would Rachel say about being in the room

16 LESSONS behind the wall? Imagine yourself as each of these characters. In this way you are also learning the point of view of each of these characters. You get to know them better. Read these monologues aloud to your classmates. Soon the room will feel full of the characters in this book. 3. Create a skit about being late from recess. The lesson has already started and two or three of you walk in. What is your point of view? (We wanted to finish our game, we were having fun, etc.) Tell it to the rest of the class. Three or four of you are the students already in class on time. What is your point of view? (I wish I had stayed out, I am tired of the directions being said again and again for those who are late, etc.) One person should play the teacher. What is your point of view? (I don t want to interrupt my lesson, I am angry, etc.) 4. Create another skit about different points of view about another situation that you make up. Word Mastery List You came across the following words as you read chapters 3 and 4. Use a dictionary to look up the words you do not already know. Use the words in sentences. plunged scrawl stealthily seldomly fierce wanly preferable mutely tinged evasively constricting Special Words Schrank Gute Nacht 15

17 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Lesson Three: Chapters 5 & 6 (pages 45 74) Summary In chapter 5, Korinna is allowed to stay home for the day. She sees her mother cooking and working for Sophie and Rachel and this upsets her. At the same time she reluctantly shares some paper with Rachel and looks at some drawings the little girl has made. Korinna is still angry and very confused and declares she hates Jews. In chapter 6, Korinna returns to school but is very uncomfortable knowing what she now knows about her parents. She is afraid that her facial expressions and voice will give her family s secret away. She says she feels sick and does not go with Eva and Rita to the Jungmädel meeting to plan for the Führer s visit. When she arrives home, her mother is fixing a dress for Rachel. It is one of Korinna s old dresses and she is very angry that her mother would consider giving it to a Jew. She also finds that her cat is behind the wall and pulls it out of Rachel s arms. Rachel begins to cry and Sophie is angry. Korinna s mother is also angry at Korinna for not sharing the kitten. At the end of the chapter, Korinna lets the kitten go back behind the wall to keep Rachel company. Comprehension Questions 1. Why couldn t Korinna sleep the night she met Sophie and Rachel? 2. How did Korinna react when she saw her mother with one of Korinna s old dresses? 3. What do you conclude happened to Frau Rosen, the lady who made Korinna s dress? 4. What made Korinna feel jealous of Rachel? Getting Involved with the Story In this section, Korinna begins to change her feelings toward the Jewish family. However, she still calls her mother a traitor for helping them, and calls Rachel and Sophie dirty. Slowly, she learns that they are not dirty and do not fit any of the stereotypes the Nazi movement uses to describe them. Yet she still feels caught up in the Jungmädel with her friends. She has a hard time with her two friends in the Hitler youth

18 LESSONS group once she knows what is happening in her own home. She is experiencing a lot of internal conflict. What are the various kinds of conflicts all the characters face in this book so far? Think about three types of conflict (e.g., internal, person vs. person, person vs. society or government, etc.). Categorize the conflicts in the book by listing them under each type of conflict. Which characters face these conflicts? As you continue to read the book, add to these lists. Add a set of columns for yourself. In what ways have you experienced conflict in each of these categories? 2. Korinna uses the word enemy many times in these two chapters to describe her own parents. Find examples of this usage or count the times she uses this word. Do you feel her parents are enemies? Do you feel they are traitors? How do we decide who our enemies are? 3. Bring in news articles that illustrate how people treat others as enemies. What do these articles illustrate about how we learn to hate others? Think of some alternatives to the violence and cruelty you read about in these articles. 4. Read over pages 57 to Look for the small signs that Korinna s attitude toward the family behind the wall is beginning to change. She is beginning to see through the stereotypes she has heard about Jews and to see them as individuals. List these small ways in which she is changing. This is how the author creates change in a character. Keep track of the meetings between Korinna and Sophie and Rachel. Do you think that getting to know someone from a group you have been taught to hate can change how you feel about that group? 5. In the last part of this section, Korinna puts the kitten behind the wall for Rachel to play with. What does this say about Korinna? Would you have done the same thing? How do you feel she will behave with her friends the next time she sees them, given that she seems to have become friendlier toward Rachel? What Would You Do? In this section of the novel, Korinna begins to understand that she will have to live with a Jewish family. How would you feel if you were asked to share your space, either your

19 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L room, your apartment, your house, with someone new? Has this happened to you? What was it like? 2. Think of the times in your life when you have found yourself disagreeing with or questioning something you think you believe in? How did it feel to be in this situation? How did you resolve this internal conflict? How were you different after it was resolved? 3. Have you ever disagreed with the government? With your city? With the rules of your school? Why did you disagree? Interdisciplinary Connection 1. Korinna s parents are putting their whole family at risk by hiding Jews. They could be killed. Think of an example of people putting their own safety at risk for someone or something else. Put on a skit that shows how people protect some important thing or idea with their life today. 2. Read the newspaper carefully for examples of people putting their lives at risk to save someone, or for an idea. Cut these out and bring them into class. Make a collage of heroes. 3. Imagine Rachel and her family before they went into hiding. On a separate sheet of paper, describe what their life, their home, and their friends must have been like. Word Mastery List You came across the following words as you read chapters 5 and 6. Use a dictionary to look up the words you do not already know. Use the words in sentences. vehemently catering suspicion abhorrent deposited crooned Special Words synagogue kosher Nazi Guten Morgen Treaty of Versailles 18

20 LESSONS Lesson Four: Chapters 7 & 8 (pages 75 89) Summary These two chapters are probably the most important in the book. Korinna has clearly begun to have a less stereotyped picture of Jews and a more critical opinion of the Hitler Youth Movement. Chapter 7 opens as Korinna writes My parents are the enemy in her black notebook. She does not want to go to the Hitler youth meeting but her mother says she must or her absence will look suspicious. She almost tells Rita about the family behind the bedroom wall but does not. Before the meeting, Korinna and Rita see a group of German boys taunting a group of Jewish children. Upon Rita s coercion, Korinna reluctantly joins this group and throws a snowball at one of the children. After throwing the snowball and hurting the child, Korinna has to keep reminding herself that she did it for the Fatherland. Korinna and Rita continue on to their Hitler youth meeting, where Korinna s mind wanders and she falls behind the group, forgetting to say Heil Hitler with the rest. She is slapped and reprimanded. Emotionally distraught, Korinna runs home. In chapter 8, she arrives home very upset and does not find her mother home. What follows is a touching and crucial account of Korinna s changing character. More importantly, the author portrays Korinna s unconscious identification with the Jews: she doesn t understand what she did wrong to deserve such a severe punishment. Her confusion is apparent as she begins to lose faith in the Jungmädel she used to trust. Crying helps Korinna vent some of her frustrations and her kitten helps in comforting her as well. Her mother finally comes home and Korinna quietly helps her with dinner, not telling her about the meeting or the reprimand. Comprehension Questions 1. What was it that Korinna wrote about her parents in her black notebook? 2. Korinna wanted to tell Rita something. What did she want to tell her? What did she tell her instead? 19

21 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Getting Involved with the Story 1. This story is also about change. As Korinna gets to know the Jewish family better and she experiences injustice in her own life, her stereotypes about Jews fall away and she becomes more critical of the Hitler Youth Movement and Hitler s vision for Germany. 2. At the beginning of chapter 7, Korinna writes in her black diary: My parents are the enemy. Do you think Korinna loves her parents? If yes, why would she write such a thing? Knowing what you know about this time in history, why is writing this accusation so dangerous? Would it be dangerous to make this accusation now, in this country? What is the difference? 3. Do you think Korinna should or should not tell her best friend Rita about Sophie and Rachel? Explain your answer. 4. Korinna thought the reprimand by the Jungmädel leader was unfair and unjust. Why do you think Korinna reacted so strongly to a slap on the cheek? Do you think the reprimand was unfair and unjust? Why? 5. After being scolded by the leader for not saluting fast enough, Korinna questions the group: Was she supposed to be exactly like everyone else? Move and speak at the same time? Dress exactly alike? Think and feel identically? (page 86) Why are these questions so important in this novel? What do they indicate about Korinna? Why do you think it was important for those involved in the Nazi Youth Movement to dress the same and to be exactly like everyone else in the movement? What do you think it accomplishes to have everyone dress and behave the same in any circumstance? In the first chapter of this section Korinna sees a young child with a cut cheek and tears streaming down her cheek. Later, she too is hit on the cheek and has tears in her eyes as a result of being hit. This is the author s way of showing you how Korinna is beginning to identify with the Jews. But even after Korinna acknowledges that the family behind the wall sent her kitten out to her when they heard her crying, she ends by thinking, Life would get better once enemies, such as the Krugmanns, were subdued. Why does Korinna, in spite of all that has happened, still think Jews are the enemy? Do we change all at once? Make a chart or graph about an issue you have gone back and forth on. Show how you first

22 LESSONS believed one thing, then another. Chart Korinna s changing character throughout the novel. What Would You Do? 1. In this section Korinna gets caught up in a group action against some children. Have you ever been with a large group and, because the group is doing something, felt pressured to participate? How do you view a situation differently when you are in a group? Describe the tension and excitement that can build during a demonstration or group action. When is this excitement a good thing? When can it be harmful or dangerous? 2. Have you ever been in a situation when you thought differently from the group? Did you feel lonely? Did you change your actions as a result? What did you tell the group? Did you say what you really thought or what the group wanted to hear? 3. Would you have reacted the same as or differently from Korinna when the Jungmädel leader slapped her? Explain your answer. Writing about Changing Characters 1. Begin by writing about a positive character. Give this description to a partner. The partner is to add characteristics that will make the character somewhat negative. 2. Write about a negative character. Give this description to your partner. He or she will add positive characteristics to the description. 3. Read these aloud to each other when you are done. Exercises Compassion 1. Look up the word compassion in the dictionary. 2. Make a list of times you have been compassionate to someone, or times when someone has been compassionate to you Collect examples of compassion from the newspaper or the television news. 4. Take one of these examples and write a short story about it.

23 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Interdisciplinary Connection 1. In this book, Korinna is in the Hitler Youth Movement and wears a uniform that shows she is a member. The Jews had to wear a star on their clothing or a yellow scarf to show that they were Jewish. Create a skit that shows how clothing or symbols can be used to separate people. 2. Construct a quilt with your class. Have each classmate design one square of the quilt. Each square can represent someone who worked against discrimination during any period of history. Word Mastery List You came across the following words as you read chapters 7 and 8. Use a dictionary to look up the words you do not already know. Use the words in sentences. trivial remedy eavesdrop identically dissipated unison exasperated contemptible Special Words Danke 22

24 LESSONS Lesson Five: Chapters 9 & 10 (pages ) Summary In chapter 9, Rita insists on coming home with Korinna. She tells Korinna s mother about the slap Korinna received the day before. Korinna s mother pretends that the slap was necessary, that Korinna needed to be reminded of her loyalty to the Führer. Once in Korinna s room, Rita wants to play with the kitten and begins to look for it around the room. To distract her, Korinna leads Rita downstairs to look. Meanwhile her mother goes upstairs, gets the kitten and calls to the girls that she has found it. Back upstairs in her room, Rita reads the sentence in Korinna s notebook: My parents are the enemy. She asks Korinna about it and Korinna says she was just mad the day she wrote it. After Rita leaves, Rachel comes out from the hiding place. Korinna lets her stay for awhile and feels some tenderness toward her. The chapter ends with Sophie and Rachel beginning their Sabbath prayers. In chapter 10, Hans and other Gestapo agents barge into the Rehme s house in the middle of the night. They search the house. When Korinna s father tries to protect some old photographs from being torn in the search, Hans strikes him, drawing blood. Korinna steps in front of Hans and pleads with him to stop. The Gestapo agents do not find anything incriminating and finally leave. Korinna is confused and frightened. She wonders if it is possible to love both the Führer and her own family. Comprehension Questions 1. Why do you think Rita wanted to skip the Jungmädel meeting with Korinna? 2. How have Korinna s feelings and attitude changed toward Sophie and Rachel? Give an example. 3. Describe what happened when the Gestapo came to Korinna s house in the middle of the night. Getting Involved with the Story 1. On page 96, Frau Rehme squeezes Korinna s arm. What was she trying to tell her? How important is body language when you cannot say what you are thinking or feeling? 23

25 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L 2. Korinna pretends to be sick so that she can avoid Rita s questions, and Frau Rehme pretends to approve of Korinna s reprimand at the Jungmädel meeting. Both Korinna and Frau Rehme are acting. Why is it important that they do so? Why does Korinna continue to lie to Rita, her best friend? 3. The Krugmanns continue to observe the Jewish Sabbath, even though they are in the attic and the rest of their family is not with them. What does this say about them and the strength of their religion? 4. A scene on pages 99 to shows Korinna becoming closer to the Krugmanns. She even begins to recognize aspects of their Jewish life such as the lighting of the Sabbath candles. How has this change in attitude happened? Has your attitude toward someone changed? Have you thought you could tell what someone was like just by their religion or by the color of their skin and then been surprised at what they are really like? Describe an experience like this that you have had. 5. In chapter 10, Hans appears again. He first appeared in the opening chapter of the book. What is similar about these two scenes? What does Korinna s father mean when he says: We knew the old Hans, Korinna? 6. On page you see a picture of Hans ready to beat Korinna s father a second time. How could Hans become this cruel to someone he knew from his childhood? Have you ever had to deal with a bully like Hans? If bullies have a crowd of supporters encouraging them in their cruelty, do they become more powerful? What Would You Do? 1. In the opening of chapter 10, Korinna has a dream. It is similar to the snowball incident in chapter 7. Do you have dreams about what happened to you during the day? Keep a dream journal for a month. Look back on it to see what your dreams are about When Rita comes to Korinna s house, Frau Rehme has to put on an act. Have you ever had to do this to fool someone or to hide something? How does it make you feel to put on an act? More powerful? Scared? List times you have put on an act. Read your list aloud to someone you trust. Talk about the times when people put on an act that is helpful and times when it is harmful.

26 LESSONS 3. Lying takes on a new meaning in this story. Think of times when you have told lies. Have they ever been worth it? Is it all right to lie to save a life? 4. In this section of the book, Korinna realizes that some of her old friends have changed dramatically. She does not trust them or even feel she knows them. What are some things that can change people so much that you hardly feel you know them? Drugs? War? Trauma? Money? Think of someone you know who has changed. What is the reason he or she changed? Was it a good change? 5. Rita reads Korinna s diary. Has anyone read something you wrote in private, or a letter you wrote to someone else? Did this invasion affect whether you continued to write in a diary or influence what you wrote in letters or your diary afterward? How do you safeguard your own privacy? 6. If you were hiding in a space as small as an attic, would you continue to practice any rituals or prayers or observe ceremonies or celebrations? Exercises Body Language 1. As the characters in this book become more careful, they have to express themselves without using words. They use body language. A raise of the eyebrows or a squeeze of the arm communicates more than words by themselves. Find three examples of communicating with body language in this section. 2. In this part of the book, Korinna learns a lot about body language, about what people say with their bodies. Invite someone into the class to talk and lead a discussion about the importance of body language. 3. List times when you had to express yourself without saying words. Or list times when you ve learned something from someone by observing his or her body language. Act out some of these times for your classmates and ask them to guess what you are trying to communicate Charades is a game in which you act out subjects, titles, or sayings without talking. You use your body to play this game. Play charades with your classmates.

27 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L 5. Write a description of someone by describing only his or her unique body language. Interdisciplinary Connection Create a skit about hiding runaway slaves in a house during the time of the Underground Railroad. Word Mastery List You came across the following words as you read chapters 9 and Use a dictionary to look up the words you do not already know. Use the words in sentences. begrudgingly erupted tremulously quiver abruptly fluid suffocate interception reprimand erratic inconsequential Special Words Hebrew Tag Jewish Sabbath 26

28 LESSONS Lesson Six: Chapters 11 & 12 (pages ) Summary Chapter 11 opens with Korinna entering the room behind the wall on her own initiative. As a result, she becomes friendlier to Rachel. They draw more pictures together. Rachel tells her she has named the cat Tag, which means day, because the only time she sees the cat is the daytime, when Korinna is out. The next day, when Korinna goes to school, she gets into a fight with Rita who insinuates that Korinna s mother is not a loyal German. Eva helps them reconcile and they go on to the Hitler Youth meeting. After the meeting, as Korinna and Rita walk home together, Rita tells Korinna that her mother s close friend, Frau Reineke, has been arrested for hiding two Jews. Hans had arrested them the previous night. Korinna then tells Rita about the night Hans hit her father and Rita seems shocked at this news. When Korinna gets home, she finds her mother sobbing in the darkening living room. Her father comes home soon afterward. Chapter 12 opens as Korinna and Rita are talking about the Jews. Rita gets Korinna to say she feels sorry for the Jews. When Korinna arrives home, she finds out from her mother that Sophie s other daughter, Ruth, has died of pneumonia in another hiding place. Korinna goes upstairs and convinces Rachel to come out and keep her company. Finally, Rachel draws many pictures of her sister so she will not forget her. Korinna kindly helps Rachel believe that Ruth will continue to live in her heart. Comprehension Questions 1. Why do you think that the only time Korinna was allowed to see Sophie and Rachel was at mealtimes when Korinna and her mother delivered food to them? 2. Why did Korinna go into the small room behind her bedroom wall? 3. What do you think Rita was trying to do by telling Korinna that she thought about the Jews often? Explain your answer When Korinna looked at the pictures that Rachel had drawn, what did she notice was wrong with them?

29 Teaching Guide for B E H I N D T H E B E D R O O M W A L L Getting Involved with the Story 1. After Korinna opens the door to the hiding place and asks Rachel to come out, she encourages Rachel to draw pictures of her sister who has just died. What does this scene show about Korinna? How do you feel about her now? Does she help Rachel by encouraging her to draw her sister so Rachel can remember her? 2. When you read the conversation between Rita and Korinna on page , did you believe Rita was sincere? Did you trust her? How has the author created Rita s character so you feel as you do about her? Find incidents, words Rita has said, body language, etc. that support your opinion of her. 3. Find examples in the novel when Korinna says one thing and does another. 4. Do what I say, not what I do. Actions speak louder than words. In these two chapters you see how Rita speaks, and you sense what she really means, what she is all about. Have you known people who say one thing but do another? Or people who talk a good game and then do things that are hurtful or that make them untrustworthy? 5. Think of some times when your actions were different from your words. Think of another time when they matched. Often our words and actions are different when we are in conflict: when we say something but don t really mean it and then don t act on it. What Would You Do? At one point Rita says: Jews still think they have the right to make choices. The sooner they are all rounded up and sent away the better it will be for all of us loyal Germans. Yet Jews were Germans, too. Who has the right to decide what choices people should have? When a group decides where a person will live, work, or shop, is it only a brief step from deciding who has a right to live or die? Hans and the Nazis obviously thought they had the right to determine life or death for others. Imagine that Hans and his group of Nazis have taken over your neighborhood. Whom do you think they would allow to live? If you were a bystander, what would you do?