Terrible Things Book Review Essay Example
Terrible Things The book that I have chosen is a book called Terrible Things written by Eve Bunting, and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. This is an extremely useful book for teaching the complex topic of the Holocaust to children. I am an elementary education major and this book will be a vital tool in helping me educate children on what happened during World War II. I believe that everyone should read this book, and use it as a teaching tool. Little Rabbit lives with a group of forest animals peacefully until the Terrible Things come. The Terrible things are depicted as a dark and frightening shadow which represents the Nazi’s. The illustrator gives the shadow an almost human like shape which is a very effective use of illustrations. At first they take away the creatures with feathers. All the other animals allow it to happen, and then make excuses for why the Terrible Things might want to remove the birds. This continues until the only creatures left are the white rabbits. When the Terrible Things come for the white creatures, Little Rabbit manages to hide. Left alone in the forest he goes out to tell other creatures about the Terrible Things and the need for forest creatures to stick together. This book breaks down the complicated parts of the Holocaust and tries to explain in a way that children can understand. This book has many positive aspects to it. I believe the way the author Eve Bunting uses animals instead of people helps children to comprehend a more complex subject matter. The holocaust is a very frightening and graphic subject which at times can be difficult to discuss with children. This book can help teach children the importance of sticking up for others when you see something wrong occurring. When the Terrible Things come and carry away the birds little rabbit knows that something is wrong and questions big rabbit. Big rabbit tells him “we mustn’t ask, the terrible things don’t need a reason, Just be glad it wasn’t us they