What would you carry?

Today I had the kids complete a version of "If there is a fire in your house, what would you take?" but with a slightly different bent.

I am reading Suite Francaise. A novel about France as the Germans overtake it. Interestingly, the book is written by a woman who herself was there and was herself deported and later died in Auschwitz.



This book starts in Paris with the Germans on the march. The people of Paris realize that the fall of the city is imanant and that they must leave and so they begin to pack their cars to head to the contryside, so I posed the question to the children - If we had to escape our home quickly and could only take what we could fit in DH's truck, what would you take? They both scibbled down lists.

As the book continues, Petrol or gas runs out and people are forced to abandon their cars. I asked the children to trim their lists to what we could carry on our backs.

Futher along, there is a bombing that causes them to flee for their lives. Many of the characters are happy to make it out with their lives. I asked them to trim again to what they would carry at all times as not to leave something behind. I read them the following section:

She (Madame Pericand) looked again at everything she had brought, "everything she had saved": her children, her overnight cases. She placed her hand over the jewelery and money sewn into her blouse. Yes, during this terrible time she had acted with determination, courage and composure. She hadn't lost her head! She hadn't lost . . .she hadn't . . .Suddenly she cried out in a choked voice. She clutched her throat and fell backwards, letting out a low moan as if she were suffocating.
"My God, Madame! Madame, what's the matter?" exclaimed Nanny.
"Nanny, my dear Nanny," Madame Pericand finally groanded in a barely audible voice, "We forgot . . ."
"What? What did we forget?"
"We forgot my father-in-law," said Madame Pericand, dissolving into tears. (pages 112)

This led to a great car conversation about growing up in fear of Russia and in the importance of relationships and items. We were very happy to see that no only did they see the value and necessity of things, but also of people. They remembered to collect their grandfather (my father) down the street.