Oh my goodness!!! If I didn’t have a laundry list of books to be reading right now, I would definitely be rereading The Art of Keeping Cool! It was heart-wrenching in a lovely way. I never got bored and never put it down. If this book was a little bit longer or a little bit more challenging it would have a five star. But that’s just for me personally and I still thing this is a great read! ( )

This was a great historical young adult novel about life in the 1940s. I hate the prejudice against an innocent German artist, but it was typical of that time period. ( )

This was a great historical young adult novel about life in the 1940s. I hate the prejudice against an innocent German artist, but it was typical of that time period. ( )

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 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. ( )

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, 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. ( )