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I read a lot of books about World War II, but usually not about specific battles or weapons. So I was surprised to find that I was completely engaged by Spearhead: an American tank gunner, his enemy and a collision of lives in World War II by Adam Makos. This nonfiction book, which the author adapted for young adults, could appeal to a lot of readers: those interested in armaments and weapons, those interested in the lives of soldiers and those interested in the ethical and moral dilemmas of war. The author follows a group of American tank operators and infantry fighting in Europe in 1944-1945, bringing them to life with details of their hometowns and personalities. You follow them into battle, cramped in the bellies of their lumbering tanks or dodging enemy fire while they ride on top. You're with them as they risk their lives, lose fellow soldiers who have become like family, and struggle with taking enemy lives. While the author spends time explaining the different types of tanks and military maneuvers, and paints riveting scenes of combat, the focus remains on the people fighting the war. This focus highlights the human toll of war, which I found especially relevant and heartbreaking in light of the current war in Ukraine. Despite the high-powered ammo and heavily armored tanks, often the weapons used in WWII offered the soldiers little protection. The sheer waste of life that comes with war came through very powerfully. Several chapters follow a young German tank soldier, the view from his side of the front lines, and his meeting with the “enemy” decades later. I have to admit that I finished reading about their reunion with tears in my eyes. If you like to read about the military or World War II, check out this book. It's about 300 pages, and includes pictures from the battlefield and the post-war reunion.
In a society that accepts witches but regulates the use of magic, teenage witch Iris is struggling to move on after her friend’s misuse of magic turns deadly. Iris was cleared of wrongdoing, but the tragedy tears her family apart, forcing her and her mom to start new lives across the country. It leads Iris to hide her magic, especially from Pike Alder, a coworker at her mom’s nature refuge who hates witches and drives her crazy. But in a fit of frustration, Iris casts a spell she never intended to use. The result could mean deadly consequences for Pike and the new life Iris has built. It forces them to team up on a mission into the mountains surrounding the refuge in search of an injured owl who holds the key to the miscast spell. Will Iris be able to fix things while still keeping her magical secret from Pike? Or will the worst happen, causing her to violate the laws of magic and lose everything she holds dear? Wild is the Witch, a 2022 release by Rachel Griffin, is a page-turner that combines magic, nature and romance. The idea of magic as an organic force that can be channeled rather than controlled is refreshingly different from many other fantasy stories. The adventure in nature and Iris’ connection to animals reminded me of classic books by Gary Paulsen (Hatchet) and Jean Craighead George (Julie of the Wolves, My Side of the Mountain). The relationship between Iris and Pike is typical of many young adult romance novels where enemies forced together end up friends, and sometimes more. In addition, there is a positive depiction of a lesbian relationship. Author Ruta Sepetys calls herself a "seeker of lost stories." Her award-winning novels shed light on people and events often overlooked in history. "Through character and story," she writes on her website, "historical statistics become human and suddenly we care for people we’ve never met, we can find their country on a map, and then—the history matters. Through historical fiction we can give voice those who will never have a chance to tell their story. "
Sepetys' passion comes through in well-researched, powerful stories suitable for both teens and adults. Whether set in one of Stalin's Siberian gulags, a New Orleans run by the mob, or a crumbling Cold War dictatorship, her books explore the depths of human cruelty and resilience. She often has multiple characters tell the story so you learn that history has many different perspectives and layers. If you like historical fiction, or even just thrilling stories of surival, check out her books. Between Shades of Gray follows 15-year-old Lina who is sent with her family to a Siberian gulag (prison) when the Soviets invade her native Lithuania. As she struggles in unimaginable conditions - including brutal treatment from guards, meager food rations and extreme weather - she vows to share the story with the world. Sepetys was inspired by the experiences of relatives who were among the millions of people who Stalin deemed enemies of the state and sent to Siberia during his regin of terror (1922-1953). Many never made it home. Salt to the Sea is a story of the largest maritime disaster in history, killing more people than the sinking of the Titanic or Lusitania. It was largely ignored by history, though, overshadowed by so many other stories of World War II. As the Nazi losses were mounting in 1945, thousands of German civilians fled the rampaging Russian army. They flooded two ports in hopes of evacuation, joining countless wounded German soldiers on overcrowded ships. When the Wilhelm Gustloff was hit by Russian torpedoes, it sank within an hour, taking about 9,000 people - mostly women and children -with it. Sepetys tells the story from four points of view, drawing a complex picture of the hatred among nations that led to, and resulted from, that awful war. Out of the Easy takes places in New Orleans in 1950s, where the mob rules and crime thrives along with the rich culture of the city. Josie, 17, dreams of life far from the brothels where her mother has carved out a desperate existence. But as Josie strives for a way out, she becomes tangled in a murder investigation that tests her loyalties. The story explores what makes a family, the burdens of poverty and the gray area between crime and survival. I Must Betray You is the most contemporary of Sepetys' stories, taking place in 1989. The Soviet Union is on the brink of collapse, along with communism throughout Europe. Romania is still within the grip of a brutal dictator when 17-year-old Cristian is forced to become a government informant. He must decide whether to cooperate and turn against his friends and family, or risk his life to fight for a better future. The Fountains of Silence follows Daniel, a wealthy 18-year-old tourist who visits Madrid in 1957, when Spain is ruled by a tyrannical general after a bloody Civil War. Madrid is a beautiful city in a country ruled by fear and repression, but the affluent Daniel is slow to realize how bad things are. When he meets Ana, a hotel maid whose father was killed and mother imprisoned in the resistance, he falls in love. He also is drawn into the dangerous world of secrets she inhabits. I don't read a lot of romance, but I was intrigued by Blackout, a series of interconnected stories written by six Black female writers. The book imagines romance in many shapes and sizes among contemporary teens when a power outage rocks New York City. The project was the brainchild of Dhonielle Clayton, an author and leader of We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit that works to increase representation of marginalized voices in publishing. While binge-watching TV and movies early in the pandemic, Clayton's niece asked her "why Black girls didn't get big love stories." Clayton contacted her friends to see what they could create. The result is a sweet, short, engaging book that I believe many teens will relate to and enjoy. Tiffany Jackson, author of Monday's Not Coming and other thrillers, writes about a couple who is angry over their recent breakup when they are forced to rely on each other to get home in the dark. Nic Stone, author of Dear Martin and other fiction for children and teens, focuses her chapter on two boys admitting their feelings for one another amidst fears of what their friends and teammates might think. Ashley Woodfolk, who wrote The Beauty That Remains, among others, tells the story of two queer teens brought together while helping at a retirement home. (The depiction of the wise-cracking older characters was one of my favorite parts). Clayton, whose work includes fantasy and realistic fiction, wonders if two long-time friends can take their relationship from "like" to "love." (This section has an after-hours adventure in the grand New York Public Library which calls to mind From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, one of my favorite children's books). Famous for The Hate You Give, Angie Thomas writes about a school trip of teens from Georgia caught in the city -- and in assorted love triangles. Nicola Yoon, author of The Sun is Also a Star, closes the book with a chapter about a girl intent on getting back her boyfriend before she meets a rideshare driver who reminds her of what she's really looking for. The final section brings all of the characters - who we learn are siblings, cousins, neighbors and classmaters - together at a festive block party in Brooklyn. In addition to celebrating love and friendship in all its forms, and elevating the stories of Black teens in a genre that often overlooks them, the book is a tribute to New York City. The city that never sleeps stays wide awake even during the blackout, providing an exciting setting for the stories. Many of the teens are also facing upcoming decisions about college and their futures, something most high school students can relate to. If you like any of the contributing authors, you'll like this book. If you haven't yet read their work, these stories may have you rushing to the library or bookstore to give them a try.
Our region is rich with Native American history, but it's all too easy to focus only on lives from the past. These contemporary books remind us that tribes still exist today, striving to preserve their cultures and cope with the scars of a turbulent past.
In The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley, Daunis is a young woman whose community is wracked by drug abuse and mysterious deaths. When she agrees to help with a police investigation, she grows close to an undercover officer who is posing as a local hockey star. Soon, she feels torn between protecting her community and bringing people to justice. The story takes a little while to build as it introduces its multigenerational cast of characters and the traditions of the Ojibwe culture. The action-packed ending is worth the wait. It's a crime thriller, family saga and cultural celebration all in one. There, There by Tommy Orange tells the stories of a dozen different characters whose lives converge at an Oakland cultural festival. Despite their different reasons for attending - some hopeful, some scared, some ready for violence - they all share the scars of the nation's oppressive treatment of Native Americans, which includes forced removal from ancestral lands and the erasure of culture in government-sponsored boarding schools. These scars come through as struggles with poverty, suicide, alcoholism and identity. The mix of voices telling the story is powerful and eye-opening. Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith follows Louise Wolfe, a Native American high school senior living in a largely white Kansas town. When the director of the school play shakes up the casting of their production of The Wizard of Oz, the ensuing backlash reveals long-held prejudice and divides the community. As Louise writes about the controversy for her school newspaper, she begins to fall for a fellow student. But she knows that "dating while Native" is never easy. Whose hearts will be broken before this is over? Imagine if the government deemed you and your family a threat to national security. You’re told to pack what you can carry and report for relocation, not knowing if you’ll ever see your home, community or possessions again.
This is what happened to thousands of people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast after the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. While the United States had previously watched World War II from afar, the conflict now hit closer to home than ever imagined. The U.S. government turned its sights on possible spies and saboteurs within its own borders, focusing on Japanese Americans and immigrants. Some of these prisoners - referred to as internees or evacuees throughout history - were U.S. citizens. Some had lived in the country for decades, but hadn’t been allowed to become citizens because of immigration laws. Many had children born here, who were citizens no matter their parentage. Yet all were treated the same, their rights stripped from them because they looked like the enemy, imprisoned in isolated and inhospitable “internment camps” with uncertain futures. There have been many books written about this awful chapter in American history. One of the latest, We Are Not Free by Tracy Chee, is a moving novel sharing the stories of 14 teens from one San Francisco community. What I liked about this book is that it covers many different experiences: the Americanized teen trying to make the best of life in the camps, which offer dances and sports to counter the barbed wire and armed guards; the young man who enlists in the Army because he believes in America despite what it’s done to his family; the conflicted youth whose parents would rather return to Japan than deal with such poor treatment; the teens who protest the harsh living conditions. With a chapter told from the point of view of each character, the reader learns a lot more about the time period than they might from their history textbooks. While there may have been some cases where people of Japanese ancestry acted as spies in the war, most families who were imprisoned were innocent victims of bigotry and fear. The chapter about a young man named Twitchy is especially powerful, based on the real experiences of Japanese-American Army units who saw some of the toughest fighting of the war. If this topic interests you, here are a few more recommendations: The Train to Crystal City by Jan Jarboe Russell - While We are Not Free touches on the experience of imprisoned families facing deportation to Japan, this nonfiction book goes into much more depth. For one thing, it wasn’t just Japanese immigrants who were imprisoned in camps during World War II; there were Germans in America who were considered dangerous as well. When these immigrants - mostly men who pledged loyalty to the U.S. and were never charged with a crime - were jailed in camps, their wives and children would join them rather than struggle to survive on their own. If the men were deported, the children followed without question, even if they were born in America and therefore citizens. The author describes one such family that was sent to a Japanese city devastated by an atomic bomb; there were neither the resources nor the goodwill to welcome them and the family struggled to survive. Manzanar by John Armor and Peter Wright - In commentary by a journalist who covered World War II and stark black and white photographs, this nonfiction book details life in one of the largest prison camps for Japanese Americans. While the camps offered things like Boy Scout troops, dances and softball leagues, they also featured tall barbed wire fences and armed guards. Homes were crowded barracks that barely provided shelter from the harsh weather of the isolated mountain or desert regions where camps were built. Food was rationed, mail was censored, and prisoners lost hope. Internment by Samira Ahmed - Although fiction, 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. 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. The end of the world is upon us, and you'll only survive if you're useful. But who gets to decide if what you can offer is important enough? That's the question facing 16-year-old Denise in the young adult novel On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis. A comet is on track to hit Earth, causing devestation not seen since the dinosaurs were wiped off the planet. If you're wealthy and connected, you've bought a spot on a "generation ship" set to colonize another planet. If you're not - like Denise - you've been assigned to a temporary shelter and after a few days, you'll be on your own. As the impact nears, Denise and her mom stumble upon a different kind of ship, one that will take people with practical skills that will help the community survive. There are doctors, engineers, computer scientists, teachers. Denise is desperate to prove they deserve a spot. But she's a teen with autism whose inability to read social cues or handle change often causes her problems. And her mom is struggling with drug addiction. Can they convince the ship's community that they're worth saving? This science fiction thriller has some exciting action sequences, and could easily be turned into a gripping television series or movie. In fact, when it ended, I wanted a sequel so I could find out what happens next to all of the characters. The book also raises thought-provoking questions about identity and purpose. The author is autistic, so her depictions of the sensory issues and meltdowns that Denise endures are honest, accurate and valuable for those not familiar with the challenges. There are also several LGBTQ characters, including Denise's trans sister and a lesbian couple on the ship. So in addition to being an action-packed story, it provides representation for some groups that are often sidelined or restricted to just "issue" books. Highly recommended. |
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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