Since the COVID-19 pandemic has made life more challenging for all of us, Hanover High's summer reading has been changed this year to offer more choices for students and eliminate a required assignment. The recommended titles include a variety of genres, topics and lengths. This week, I'm going to review a few of the FICTION titles that I have read and really enjoyed.
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely - This engaging collaboration by two writers - one white and one African American - explores racism and police violence, issues that could've been pulled from the news today. When Quinn, a white teen, sees a white police officer brutalize a Black teen, his sense of justice is turned upside down. The fact that the police officer is a trusted family friend makes the situation even harder. But the book is not just told from Quinn's point of view; the Black teen, named Rashad, tells the story too. In this way, you get to explore the incident and its repercussions not just through one lens. It's a quick read that's hard to put down and the ending offers hope for healing that might help with issues we're facing in real life. Internment by Samira Ahmed - When a book or movie is called "dystopian," it usually invokes images of a post-apocalyptic society, where law and order have broken down in the wake of a terrible catastrophe like nuclear war. Books like 1984, The Hunger Games and The Road are considered dystopian. So is Internment. Unfortunately, the premise of this story feels a little too easy to imagine. It's the near future, and the U.S. government has imprisoned all Muslim-Americans in internment camps, including 17-year-old Layla and her family. Even though they are citizens, they are stripped of their rights and possessions and considered enemies of the state. This echoes what happened to Japanese-Americans during World War II, when the U.S. declared war against Japan and considered anyone with Japanese ancestry to be the enemy even if they hadn't been in Japan for generations. It also draws on the hate and fear directed at Muslims after the September 11th attacks committed by radicals in the name of their religion. This is a fast-paced, thrilling story of tolerance and reason triumphing over fear and hate. It also highlights the danger we face when we stay silent in the face of injustice. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - When a Jewish girl and her family are rounded up in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, the girl locks her brother in a cabinet to keep him safe. She believes she'll be back soon to let him out and resume their lives. But she never returns to the apartment and is haunted by her decision forever. Her story is uncovered by a modern-day French woman who moves into the apartment and learns she was never taught in school about this terrible roundup. Her discovery that the French government helped kill thousands of its own citizens changes her life. A heart-breaking and powerful story. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo - Emoni, the main character of this story, is an unwed teenaged mother trying to juggle the demands of parenting, work, school and her feisty grandmother. While you might think you can't relate to her experience, I would argue you'd be wrong. Hers is a story of falling short of expectations, pushing through disappointment to pursue your dreams and overcoming financial and social obstacles - things we can all relate to no matter our culture, gender or class. Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - Part historical fiction, part fantasy, this story imagines that the famed network to freedom is a literal train running beneath the earth. I thought this idea would be hard to accept, but the author does an amazing job weaving the imaginary with the truth. The story follows Cora as she risks everything to flee from a life of brutal slavery, bringing to life the hardships of her captive life and the dangers she faced on the way to freedom. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michelle Richardson - During the Great Depression, when the country was sunk into desperate poverty, sometimes the only hope and diversion people could find came from books. But some rural towns were far from a library, so the government organized a group of women to deliver the library to them. These pack librarians rode horses and mules, miles each day, through rough terrain and bad weather, bringing hope via the printed word to the hopeless. In this fictionalized account, Cussy is a young woman considered an outcast in her Kentucky community because she suffers from a rare genetic disorder that turns her skin blue. She finds purpose and joy as a pack librarian., but also faces intolerance and physical danger from those suspicious of her color or the government program. Both the pack librarians and the Blue people of Kentucky are true stories. This book tells a story of tolerance and resilience in a new light.
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AuthorMrs. McHugh is a librarian and instructional technology specialist. She loves talking books and pop culture with her students at Hanover High School. Archives
February 2024
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