(Approx. Level X, Lexile = 940)

• Author’s website
• Reading guide from the author
• Sneak a peek inside
• Author study guide
• Visit Grolier.  Click the Atlas. Search for locations mentioned in the story
  • Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
  • Japan
  • Sand Diego
  • London
  • Russia
  • Philippines
  • Guam
  • Burma
  • Solomon Islands
  • Rangoon
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • Borneo
• Foster fears an air raid, like those that occurred in London in WWII. 
  • Watch this newsreel clip from WWII era Britain.
  • Investigate information about air raid drills from the Oregon State Dept. of Civil Defense.
  • Check out this Air Raid poster
  • Check out picture from London
    • Children in 1940
    • Two women in 1943
  • Families were instructed to hang up blackout curtains incase of an attack.
• The Civil Defense Administration was created shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • Read about its impact on a small coastal town
  • Check out this volunteer radio operator
  • Check out this poster recruiting volunteers.
  • Read about the job of plane spotters.
  • Check out the antiaircraft guns.
  • Read about the barrage balloons.
  • Foster’s father became an air raid warden.
• Check out these sounds from Foster’s War
  • Pres. Roosevelt declares war
  • “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, a popular song of this time
  • “God Bless America”, a patriotic song
  • Pres. Roosevelt’s Firesire Chat, “We are now in this war…”
• Use 2-column notes to record problems in this story (see the R Drive for original files - available only on KISD Campus)
• Jim’s family faced prejudice.
  • His father is arrested, accused of being a member of the Sons of Japan.  Compare Fosters description of the Sons of Japan, to this description.
  • Compare these items to the signs Foster describes.
    • piece of art
    • photograph
    • sign
• Investigate the time period.  Look at these everyday sights from Foster’s life
  • the family car.
  • Life magazine
  • Milkman
  • Bread man
  • clothesline
  • The wagon used to collect scrap metal
  • Foster’s father worked in an airplane factory
  • San Diego also had a shipyard
  • In the evening, the family listened to the radio
  • The kitchen included a Frigidaire
  • Foster liked to read comics
  • Foster tried to buy Life magazine at the newsstand
  • Mr. Green listened to music on records on his Victrola
• On the Homefront, many Americans tried to help with the war effort.
  • War Defense stamps were collected in booklets
  • People were encouraged to buy war stamps & bonds
    • poster 1
    • Poster 2
    • poster 3
    • Store front
    • Radio commercial
  • Tire collections to recycle rubber
  • Collecting aluminum for recycling
  • Collection other scrap metal for recycling
  • Foster’s mother volunteered as a nurse’s aid with the Red Cross
  • Students joined the Junior Red Cross
  • Rationing because of shortages
    • Families had ration books
    • Another ration book
    • Ration stamps were used to allow purchase of some items like sugar and gas
• Foster’s brother, Mel, was serving in the military.  Check scenes from the war front
  • Mel’s picture was taken in front of a B-26
  • Life magazine included pictures of a ship hit by torpedoes
  • Life magazine included pictures of a German U-Boat

These pages are continually in development.  If you would like to submit additional web resources or student work samples to be included on these pages, please e-mail our Novel Resources Contact.

updated 03/19/2007