The Art of Keeping Cool

A young man has to move in with his grandfather after his father leaves to join the fight of World War II.He makes friends with a painter from Germany and and comes to understand why his father has left his family. This story is full of prejudice and power and has an outlook of a young boy growing

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while his father is away.
This book is full of emotional encounters and shows you the side of the family left behind during the war.
In a classroom setting we could use this book as a chapter book or uswe it during a history lesson to talk about the war, how long they lasted, and how many soldiers didnt return to their familys. COuld even bring inthe aspect of what the war contituted and what they were fighting for.

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The Art of Keeping Cool tells about a boy named Robert who moves from Ohio to Rhode Island with his family after his father leaves to fly planes in WWII. There he meets his strange, but artistically talented cousin Elliot, his sweet grandmother, his struggling aunt and uncle, and his frightening,

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often angry grandfather. Between the secret Robert feels his family is keeping about his father and the friendship Elliot develops with a mysterious German painter, his time there is wrought with anticipation about the German painter's intentions and the possibility of war at home. This book opens a window into what the home-front of WWII may have been like for many. It also stresses the importance of creating understanding between different people and cultures. The beautiful and tragic portrayal of the character Abel Hoffman shows that it is never safe to assume anything about another person based on his race or culture.

This book would fit in perfectly with a unit about WWII. It also has great potential to tie in with art classes that might focus on artists in Europe during WWII and Entartete Kunst. Discussions about how WWII affected life in the US (rations, bomb drills, women in the workplace, etc.) would be greatly enriched by this text. It could also lead to some important discussions about prejudice and dangerous assumptions.

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The Art of Keeping Cool by Janet Taylor Lisle won the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction. Fear resides in the Rhode Island coastal town which is occupied by the U.S. Army during WWII. The townspeople fear the attack of Nazi submarines offshore. They also fear the German artist, Abel

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Hoffman,who is living reclusively outside of town. Cousins, Robert and Elliot both master the art of keeping cool in their own way. For Robert, there are personal fears of his hot-tempered grandfather, fear of the family secret, and fear of his cousin's growing relationship with the German artist.

This would be a great book to read when learning about World War II. I would use this book in a fourth-sixth grade classroom. There are many issues that can be addressed besides the war: friendship, family, abuse, hatred, and discrimination.

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