Bette Greene (1934–2020)
Auteur van Summer of My German Soldier
Over de Auteur
Bette Greene was born in 1934 in Memphis,Tenn. An author of young adult fiction, Greene's books speak of the problems of growing up, particularly the feeling of being different. Her most popular book, The Summer of My German Soldier (1973), a semi-autobiographical work based on her experiences toon meer growing up Jewish in Arkansas during World War II, was adapted as a television movie. It was nominated for a National Book Award (1973), and received an American Library Association Notable Book award (1973), as well as several other awards. It inspired the sequel, Morning is a Long Time Coming (1978). Another book, Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe (1974) received multiple awards including an American Library Association Notable Children's Book award (1974) and a Newbery Honor Book award (1975). (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
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Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Officiële naam
- Green, Bette
- Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten
- Evensky, Bette (birth)
- Geboortedatum
- 1934-06-28
- Overlijdensdatum
- 2020-10-02
- Geslacht
- female
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Geboorteplaats
- Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
Parkin, Arkansas, USA
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Florida, USA
Paris, France - Opleiding
- Alliance Française (Paris, France, 1954)
Columbia University (1955)
Harvard University (1972) - Beroepen
- reporter
journalist
public information officer ( [1958])
information officer ( [1959])
novelist
screenwriter - Organisaties
- American Red Cross (public information officer, 1958 - 1959)
Boston State Psychiatric Hospital (information officer, 1959 - 1961) - Agent
- Susan Schulman
- Korte biografie
- Bette Evensky Greene was raised in a small town in Arkansas near Memphis, TN. Her parents owned a store called Evensky's Dry Goods. Theirs was the only Jewish family in town; and her books typically have themes of alienation or unjust treatment. According to Greene, she became a professional writer at age 9 when she sold a news story about a barn fire to the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She married Donald Greene, a Boston doctor, in 1959, and has two children.
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- 7
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- 3
- Leden
- 4,958
- Populariteit
- #5,058
- Waardering
- 3.7
- Besprekingen
- 75
- ISBNs
- 146
- Talen
- 5
- Favoriet
- 1
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Green (1973; 1999 ed.) 230 pages.
READING LEVEL 5.2 AR POINTS 9.0
SETTING: Early 1940’s during WWII, Jenkinsville, Arkansas
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 - I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with a title like this written for 5th graders. I assure you it is not anything what you would expect. There is no sex involved. But, I do feel like the author should have at least portrayed Patty Bergen, the 12-year-old Jewish girl who hid the 22-year-old German escapee, Anton Reiker, as 15 years old or older. The story could have been more credible because she did have romantic feelings for him and her actions, and the things she says in the story, were more fitting for, at least, a 15 year old.
I have no problem with the age discrepancy. My parents were 14 years apart. They married in 1962, Mom age 17 and Dad age 31. They had a wonderful marriage for 58 years until his death in 2021. My dad’s parents married in 1923. His mother was 16 and his father was 39. But, even after having four kids, he used to put her over his knees and give her spankings just like a child. Their marriage didn’t last. Family had to go get her and the four kids out from deep in the southern Louisiana swamp and bring them back to Texas when my Dad, the youngest, was only two years old.
This book was actually banned by the American Library Association’s “The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1900-1999”, not because of all the racial slurs depicted (nigger, chink, you people, etc.) and the name of the part of town where the blacks lived, Nigger Bottoms, nor because of her very abusive father, but because they felt that Anton’s death and Patty’s punishment in the end were considered “unsuited to the age group”, although all very realistic.
Anton had escaped the camp and went into hiding. Patty hid him and gave him food for just a few weeks during one summer. She fell in love, possibly because he treated her like a real human being, was kind and acted like a gentleman, and her father did nothing but cut her down and beat the crap out of her, literally. Anton realized the danger he was putting her in and left. She found out later he was shot and killed up in New York by the FBI because they believed him to be part of the Germans who entered the U.S. to sabotage a few key major businesses during the war, which he wasn’t. Patty ended up in a reform school (prison for teens) for 6 months.
A few things were based on the author's real life. Her parent's did own and operate a general store and they were the only Jewish family living in Parkin, Tennessee, where she grew up. Some place names and people's names have been changed. And there was a German POW camp nearby, but, she did not aid and abet any escaped German soldier.
Bette Jean Greene (Jun 28, 1934 - Oct 2, 2020)
Sequel
Morning is a Long Time Coming (1978)
Book-to-Movie
Summer of My German Soldier (1978), starring Kristy McNichol as a Jewish-American girl and Bruce Davison as a German prisoner of war.… (meer)