A powerful and beautiful book told first-hand by Otto, a German-born teddy bear who is separated from his Jewish owner, lives through World War II, and is reunited with his original owner 50 years later.

Camp Concentration by Disch and Otto by Tom Ungerer

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/475907240


A pair made in a sort of hell, I guess, birthday books read back to back.

I don’t understand why Otto is badly written, when the author is obviously capable of writing good text in English. If you want to write some sort of nightmare for children – even worse, a nightmare that really happened – one has to be very careful, I imagine and this isn’t. It uses badly cliched English that is inappropriate for any readership, let alone kids. He describes the bombing of his German town thus: ‘Among the ruins and the fires lay innocent victims.’ What on earth does that mean? That some of the civilians bombed in German towns weren’t innocent victims? Does he mean anybody killed by these bombs were innocent victims? One could conceive of an argument along the lines of all the innocent victims being in concentrations camps, after all – two words ignored by this children’s book. Then there is the general dilemma of writing about such a topic for children: I am uneasy about his treatment, really uneasy about picking such a theme and coming up with a happy ending. Finally, the language is stilted, quite unattractive to read. I don’t understand why a child would want to read it.

Nor, as an adult, would I consider giving it to a child. ‘Mummy why did Oskar let those men take his friend away? Why didn’t his mother help? Why didn’t….If somebody wanted to take my friend away, would you stop them, Mummy?’ ‘Well, no, I wouldn’t, Oskar. It’s better just to watch when that happens and be glad it isn’t happening to you’. Honestly. The more I think about this book, the more I am really unhappy about it.

The pictures are nice.

Unfortunately Camp Concentration has no pictures. It does, however, avoid avoiding the words concentration camp. One can only assume, knowing that Disch considers himself too clever for words – no, not too clever for words, his books are full of his cleverness, little jokes for his friends and so on, exactly the sort of thing I object to when reading clever dicks – one can only assume that moving the word order is a play on his own camp ways as they are expressed in this book, much as it may have other rationales as well. It was explained to me after I finished reading this – and I must confess that my reading became cursory after a while – that I had missed all the clues. Was I supposed to know there were clues and that I was reading a mystery book? If I was supposed to realise this, it was badly communicated to me. If I wasn’t supposed to realise it, we are left with a denouement which is rather like one of those who-dun-its where the author cheats.

There are always flashes of good writing in Disch’s work, but the point is, SO WHAT? There are probably a thousand people on goodreads, and tens of thousands of bloggers out there who produce such flashes, or, amazingly, keep it up. I think Disch is lazy, but because he has such tickets on his cleverness, he doesn’t think that matters. I beg to differ. But then, to be fair, I don’t think cleverness is nearly sufficient to produce a good piece of writing. Not nearly.

It is interesting to consider that we have here two examples of genre writing, both of which consistently fall down in the writing department. Picture books need good pictures and good text is only ever ‘nice if you can get it’. Science fiction is full of examples of authors who have great ideas but who can’t write. Six year olds probably don’t care and nor do science fiction buffs. Unfortunately I am neither.
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Camp Concentration by Disch and Otto by Tom Ungerer

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/475907240


A pair made in a sort of hell, I guess, birthday books read back to back.

I don’t understand why Otto is badly written, when the author is obviously capable of writing good text in English. If you want to write some sort of nightmare for children – even worse, a nightmare that really happened – one has to be very careful, I imagine and this isn’t. It uses badly cliched English that is inappropriate for any readership, let alone kids. He describes the bombing of his German town thus: ‘Among the ruins and the fires lay innocent victims.’ What on earth does that mean? That some of the civilians bombed in German towns weren’t innocent victims? Does he mean anybody killed by these bombs were innocent victims? One could conceive of an argument along the lines of all the innocent victims being in concentrations camps, after all – two words ignored by this children’s book. Then there is the general dilemma of writing about such a topic for children: I am uneasy about his treatment, really uneasy about picking such a theme and coming up with a happy ending. Finally, the language is stilted, quite unattractive to read. I don’t understand why a child would want to read it.

Nor, as an adult, would I consider giving it to a child. ‘Mummy why did Oskar let those men take his friend away? Why didn’t his mother help? Why didn’t….If somebody wanted to take my friend away, would you stop them, Mummy?’ ‘Well, no, I wouldn’t, Oskar. It’s better just to watch when that happens and be glad it isn’t happening to you’. Honestly. The more I think about this book, the more I am really unhappy about it.

The pictures are nice.

Unfortunately Camp Concentration has no pictures. It does, however, avoid avoiding the words concentration camp. One can only assume, knowing that Disch considers himself too clever for words – no, not too clever for words, his books are full of his cleverness, little jokes for his friends and so on, exactly the sort of thing I object to when reading clever dicks – one can only assume that moving the word order is a play on his own camp ways as they are expressed in this book, much as it may have other rationales as well. It was explained to me after I finished reading this – and I must confess that my reading became cursory after a while – that I had missed all the clues. Was I supposed to know there were clues and that I was reading a mystery book? If I was supposed to realise this, it was badly communicated to me. If I wasn’t supposed to realise it, we are left with a denouement which is rather like one of those who-dun-its where the author cheats.

There are always flashes of good writing in Disch’s work, but the point is, SO WHAT? There are probably a thousand people on goodreads, and tens of thousands of bloggers out there who produce such flashes, or, amazingly, keep it up. I think Disch is lazy, but because he has such tickets on his cleverness, he doesn’t think that matters. I beg to differ. But then, to be fair, I don’t think cleverness is nearly sufficient to produce a good piece of writing. Not nearly.

It is interesting to consider that we have here two examples of genre writing, both of which consistently fall down in the writing department. Picture books need good pictures and good text is only ever ‘nice if you can get it’. Science fiction is full of examples of authors who have great ideas but who can’t write. Six year olds probably don’t care and nor do science fiction buffs. Unfortunately I am neither.
( )

An antique teddy bear reflects on his life in this poignant picture-book from Tomi Ungerer, a master of the form. Made in Germany, the toy bear is given as a gift to a young boy named David, is named Otto, and is shared with David's best friend Oskar. When David and his family are taken away, Otto is given to Oskar, with whom he lives for a time. Then bombs begin to fall, Otto is separated from Oskar, and is eventually found by an American GI named Charlie. Taken to America by Charlie, Otto becomes the companion of Charlie's daughter Jasmin. After a number of other adventures, including being discarded in a garbage can, found by a homeless woman, and displayed in an antique shop window, Otto is reunited with Oskar. Even more surprisingly, he and Oskar are then reunited with David. Together again after so many years, the three friends move in together...

Originally published in German in 1999, this gentle picture-book offers an exploration of the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, as seen by a creature - a stuffed teddy bear - with no agency of his own, and no ability to do anything but observe the madness around him. Although my first instinct is to conclude that it is not a good introduction to the history of this period for younger children - I think you would need to know something about the events of that time already, in order to understand why David and his family are being taken away, why bombs are being dropped on Oskar and his mother, or why Charlie is over there fighting - perhaps Otto: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear doesn't need to be. Although the specific linear narrative of WWII and the Holocaust isn't set out in its pages - no explanations are given for the tragedies that Otto witnesses - the stupidity of the friends' separation, the grief of their losses, and the pain of Charlie's wounds, are all ably captured in the story. If explanations for the wider conflict in which all the human characters around Otto are caught up, are not forthcoming, isn't that true to childhood? So many times the adult world, although it impinges in terrible ways on children, is a mystery to those same children, who observe it, but frequently fail to really understand it. The suffering that children must endure as the result of adult actions, on the other hand, is all too real, and immediately comprehensible to other children. Losing first a toy, then a friend, then one's family - all as the result of only partially understand adult politics - these are things that child readers and listeners, whether they have already learned the history or not, are capable of understanding

So perhaps to ask the question, "Does Otto: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear offer a good introduction to the history of WWII and the Holocaust?," is to miss the point. Perhaps it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of an aspect of the story that makes it particularly powerful, as a tale meant for children. I'll have to ponder that. Whatever the case may be, there's no question that the story here is a powerful one, and left me moved. I was reminded of another WWII friendship story in picture-book form that I read a few years ago - Amy Littlesugar's Willy and Max: A Holocaust Story, which was likewise poignant. The artwork here is just powerful as the text, although a little different in style from some of Ungerer's earlier work from the 1960s and 1970s. I thought I saw some influences from Maurice Sendak here, particularly in the depiction of the human figures. I'm disappointed, but by no means surprised to discover, from my friend Manny's review (available on goodreads), that the final scene in David's apartment, which contained some nude sketches of women in the original edition, has been altered in this English-language, American edition. There's a layer of meaning (again, explored in Manny's review) that is lost as a result. Leaving that issue aside, this is a book that I would highly recommend... and to whom? To anyone looking for powerful children's stories about the ways that war and wartime atrocities affect children. ( )

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Summary: Teddy bear Otto tells the story of his journey from among Jewish children in WWII Germany to the United States years later where he is reunited with David, his original owner."

"powerful tale of enduring friendship"

reread 9/5/2014 for a challenge.
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This German autobiography is a wonderful historically rich tale of a teddy bear (Otto).
Genre could be listed as juvenile historical fiction.

Topics addressed would include Jewish culture, World War II, African Americans, soldiers and accolades.
Friendhip, loss and love are interwoven in the story.

The setting is Germany and later the United States.

A tale worth a second glance for you and the children in your life. ( )