Lost Boy, Lost Girl (158 Pages)

I'd know about this book for some time as my friend, Bryan told me about it. However, I didn't get to read it until he loaned it to me at the end of our summer writing project work. Thanks, Bry! In this short memoir, and told in alternating chapters, John Bul Dau and Martha Arual Akech tell the story of the years of their lost childhood as they tried to stay alive during the civil war in Sudan. As awful as the details are, they are also fascinating. The details of just how these two stayed alive, are remarkable. I kept thinking of today's youngsters who complain about having to walk a block! The lost children walked from one country to another Sudan to Ethiopia, eventually ending up in Kenya. John and Martha met while both were in a neighboring refugee camp. The boys and girls were separated, but during one of the "dances" in the boys' camp the lost girls were invited and John and Martha met. He was immediately interested in her, but both followed the Dinka ways, and as a result their relationship took many years to result in their eventual marriage. With the help of the UN, Martha and her little sister managed to arrive in the United States where they settled with an American family in Seattle, Washington. Eventually, John made it to the U.S. as well. In addition to the incredible accounting of their survival, I was fascinated with the Sudanese "communication web" which allowed family members to find one another. This book is a wonderful, short read. It is an important eye-opener for our American children to learn about children struggling to stay alive.

Crow (291 Pages)

Barbara Wright has written a novel that combines fictional characters with real historical events. The book takes place in the late 1800's in Wilmington, North Carolina. The main character, Moses Thomas and his family are facing the  progress and the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation. His father, a newspaper reporter has been elected as an alderman to the town's governing body. Moses experiences fun and games amid constant racial prejudice. His grandmother was a slave and she is constantly using her superstitions and homemade medicines. Moses straddles the line between wanting to treat her with respect while at the same time unwilling to go along with her superstitious ideas. Moses becomes a witness to the Wilmington Race Riot that changed his life. Both boys and girls will enjoy this book, and I hope they will read the notes at the end of the book. These notes explain the many parts of the book that are true as well as people who were really part of the story. The idea of using an historical event(s) and writing a narrative adding made up characters strikes me as a wonderful social studies/ language arts collaborative unit!

Prisoner B-3087 (260 Pages)

This book is written by Alan Gratz and is based on the true story by Ruth and Jack Gruener. Like many books, this book, while based on Jack Gruener's story, is fictionalized by the author. It tells of a Jewish family living in Poland during the beginning of World War II. The story follows the main character, Yanek Gruener, who lives in Poland with his family and is able to survive in the walled off city even when his life is turned upside down. Like many Jewish families, Jack's father underestimated the Nazi behavior, thinking it would not be so bad. His mother and father were taken off to a concentration camp, and he never saw them again. He hid for a while, but eventually the Nazi organization found him and he was sent to a concentration camp- only to be transferred to 9 more camps until being freed by the Americans after surviving five years of horrible existence. The book is not dissimilar to Elie Weizels's Night with many of the same themes. By the way, Ruth and Jack live in Brooklyn, New York and are willing to come to schools and speak to children about the Holocaust.

Ashes( 465 Pages )

Ilsa J. Bick, the author of this book has written some of the most gruesome prose I've ever read. This is the first book of what will become a trilogy, and I almost didn't make it through. Because it was so full of violence, it was difficult to continue.  Alex is a young high school girl who's parents were both killed in an airplane accident. Both of her parents were doctors, and were on their way to a rescue mission. After her parents deaths, Alex was living with her aunt when she was diagnosed with a brain  tumor. Chemo and other treatments didn't seem to be helping, so one day she decides to take her parents ashes to Lake Superior and let them loose in the waters. But she doesn't make it because on her way there is some sort of attack on the U.S. that involves nuclear eruptions, among other horrible events. Both coasts are pretty much wiped out, but all of a sudden, Alex realizes that her senses that were gone, as a result of the chemo, had returned. But when the "ZAP" (her name for the attack) hit, many people dropped dead on the spot. Others were changed and became animal-like in their behaviors. A boy and girl who Alex had seen earlier have begun to eat the people in the camping area near Alex's camp spot.Although there are some tender moments in the book as she meets a young man who helps her, and there are twists and turns to the plot, it's just about as violent as a book can be. I may give book two a look over, but it it follows the same path as Ashes, I won't read all of it and won't buy Book #3! We'll see.

The Wall ( 288 Pages)

William Sutcliffe has written a book that will keep the reader thinking long after the book has been completed. I read the inside cover to my daughter and she said,"Gee it could have been about the Berlin Wall." My response was,"Yes, or the USA-Mexican border!" What is it about walls that make people feel safer? What is it about isolation that keeps people from understanding others? In this book, Sutcliffe has placed the setting in a reality closely mirroring Israel's West Bank. The book is tense, and surreal, while at the same time being completely plausible. It is not fantasy! Josh could easily be a young boy any where today. He is with a friend who is a bit of a duffus and who "accidentally" kicks Josh's new, leather soccer ball over "The Wall." And so the story begins. This is such an important read. One that is so in need of discussion. I can easily see it as a whole class read where a smart teacher guides discussion to the point of students questioning "the enemy". Who decides this? Is it important to maintain enemy status? Why? Get this book into your classroom ASAP!

The Tragedy Paper (304 Pges)

Elizabeth Laban has written an amazing book on so many levels! It has two voices speaking to the reader. One of the two belongs to Tim, an albino student, at a prestigious eastern prep school. His albinism is important and as the reader takes in the text, s/he learns why a complete lack of pigment could be a problem for an adolescent. I had no idea that eye problems could develop as a result of being an albino. I was not surprised that Tim felt uncomfortable with himself and they way people reacted to him. The second voice belongs to Duncan, who is a year younger than Tim, and who "inherited" Tim's room for his senior year. It is a tradition that each year graduating seniors leave a "treasure" for the student who will be the next to live in his room. These treasures vary from a bottle of booze to a dinner at a local restaurant and some that are just plain silly. Duncan enters his room to discover that Tim has left him a stack of CD's to listen to, in which he learns all the facts leading up to the tradition of the senior stunt. The story weaves in romance, mystery, and the pressure of the senior paper. This paper's theme is (and has been for years) Tragedy. Students have read various Shakespearean tragedies, and have discussed the various qualifications for a tragedy to be called such. Throw in a slightly obnoxious senior boy who takes on the organization of the senior stunt. How this turns into a night of horror, is the culmination of this remarkable book.

Throne of Glass (404 Pages)

Sarah Maas has won an award for this book, although I can't remember the name of the award! However, it is well deserved. Throne of Glass is a fantasy read, but is written with such precision to detail, that this reader forgot it was a fantasy! The Throne of Glass tells the story of an unforgettable heroine, Celaene. She is known to be the most famous and most successful assassin on the island. The vicious king of the glass throne kingdom, catches her and puts her in the prison salt mines for life. She is not expected to live for a long time as the guards there are ferocious! However, the king feels he needs a champion (a person who will do as told, obviously to include killing for the king) The Captain of the Guards and the Crown Prince are given the job of finding 23 possible contenders for the job. One of these turns out to be Celaena. The contenders are forced into a competition of elimination, and the winner will be the king's champion. What happens throughout the book is spellbinding, and deserves the quote from USA Today saying that this book is "a must-read."