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Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World

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by Douglas Wood, illustrated by Barry Moser
Candlewick, 2010. Unpaged. Non-fiction.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on America at Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met in Washington, D. C., at Christmastime to plan the future of U. S. and British joint operations. Douglas Woods' admirable recounting of this event, is filled with specific details to bring the story to life--Churchill's delight at seeing the un-blacked-out lights of Washington as his plane flew over the city; Roosevelt's accidentally walking in on Winnie as he was getting out of the bathtub ("The prime minister of Great Britain has nothing to conceal from the president of the United States.") Barry Moser's peerless (as usual) illustrations are evocative of the time and true to what we know of the personalities of the people. Franklin and Winston . . . is a beautiful story reminding us that hard times may, indeed, be gotten through when people work together.












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