After reading some really excellent non-fiction titles ([b:They Called Themselves the KKK] and [b:The War to End All Wars|7683302|The War to End All Wars World War I|Russell Freedman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1281973641s/7683302.jpg|10330259]), I was prepared to find this mediocre in comparison. However, though it started slowly, it built and built until I was well and truly moved by the story.

Stories like this pop up all over history, and yet it's still amazing to me that one man can, on his own, affect so many people with a small gesture. Of course, in the case of Lt. Gail Halvorsen, his first small gesture (without asking permission, he disseminated candy and gum to poor Berliner kiddos by dropping it from his plane) turned into a very large campaign with donations from candy companies and the eventual cooperation of the Air Force. To build good will between Germany and the United States after WWII seems impossible, but here is this super nice guy reaching out to children and doing it. (The Historical Note at the end of the book draws attention to the fact that the Allies' punishing attitude toward Germany after WWI was a factor in the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Like maybe if a Candy Bomber had been around in 1918 the world could have avoided a lot of suffering...)

In the end, it's a happy story from the WWII/Cold War era. How amazing is that? The spirit of hope and generosity in this book makes it a wonderful choice for the holiday season. As one young German boy recalled, "The chocolate was wonderful, but it wasn't the chocolate that was most important. What it meant was that someone in America cared." ( )

Great story of the Kaysville pilot who began dropping candy parachutes to Berlin kids during the airlift after World War II. This is an illustrated book for young people but very well done. ( )

Signed by Gail Halvorsen

In the aftermath of World War II, with Berlin in ruins and suffering, American Pilot Gail Halvorsen brought hope to West Berliners through an unusual means: dropping chocolate and bubble gum! Author’s Note, References, Photo Credits, Index.

The Candy Bomber would be great in a curriculum unit for older elementary and younger middle school students for an interactive read aloud. I think older middle school students would also be able to enjoy and engage with the book as a read aloud. I am not sure students would easily read the book on their own especially because of its length, not because of the content. Since the candy bomber would drop candy/chocolate/and gum to the children in Berlin, it quickly became publicized and the called it Operation Little Vittles. The candy and fabric they used to parachute down to the children was not cheap, and everyone donated what they could. They even began leaving notes on the silk cloth and parachutes to be handed over to any American military policeman so that it could be used again to send more candy. Eventually, Operation Little Vittles became a huge operation and they received so many letters praising them and asking for more candy. This would be a good book to use for an assignment to write letters to Lt. Halvorsen as if they were the children receiving the candy and they could talk about what may have been going on in "their families" and comment on what was happening in West Berlin to assess their understanding. ( )