by Bette Greene

Born June 28, 1934, in Memphis, Tennessee, Bette Greene grew up in a small town in the Arkansas Delta during World War II. Her friends thought her lucky because in this era of food rationing, her parents owned a country store stocked with candy and chewing gum. She, however, considered herself unlucky because her family differed from others in the area. Like the family featured in Summer of My German Soldier, hers was Jewish in a community full of Protestants. The era, as the novel indicates, was one of strong American prejudices against religious and racial minorities as well as against Germans.

Events in History at the Time the Novel Takes Place

The home front during the war. For American citizens living during the early 1940s, World War II vastly altered daily life. Every morning, newspapers screamed headlines such...