Day 24: 45 Days of Summer

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

Okay, I had this book checked out from the public library forever and had to return it. I admit, I almost returned it without reading it. But then I decided to crack it open (ha, ha).

I am SO glad that I took the time to read it (and incur the late charge).

I can only describe this book by using the publisher's words: This is From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler meets Chasing Vermeer.

And to that I would add "meets Monuments Men."

4th grade me would have ADORED this book. And grown-up me is kind of in love with it too.

Best for: grades 4-7.

Day 4: 45 Days of Summer

To Dare Mighty Things by Doreen Rappaport

In honor of the holiday, here's a biography of an incredible man. 

To Dare Mighty Things introduces readers to Theodore Roosevelt…and all of his adventures.  

Terrific illustrations and well-written, concise text make this a good choice for many readers, even those who might be reluctant.

Best for: 3rd - 6th grades

Twelve Days of Christmas: Gift Books: For Adults Who Like...

On the 12th day of Christmas...we have reached the end! I hope that you have found some terrific suggestions for everyone on your gift list. And since you are cutting it VERY close, you might want to consider the Kindle/Nook versions of these titles.

Today we conclude with some of my favorites. For adults who are fans of the History Channel (or National Geographic...or even the Discovery Channel...maybe even PBS).

Code Name Verity—Wein (8th-adult)
One Summer—Bryson
Boxers/Saints—Yang (7th- adult)
Good Lord Bird—McBride
Nazi Hunters—Bascomb (6th –adult)
Signature of All Things—Gilbert
The President Has Been Shot/End of Days—Swanson (6th grade-adult) 

And remember, if you want a link to the entire list, see this post.

Happy Reading! And Gifting!

Spotlight Book of the Week

Today's Spotlight book for Evergreen was "Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown.

An incredible book for anyone that is a fan of sports, world history, Olympics, crew, even the University of Washington or Pacific NW stories. (Though if you are a Cougar or Duck or any other college alumni, please don't ignore this book because it is about a bunch of Huskies).

This is the true story of the 1936 8-oar crew team that represented the United States at the Berlin Olympics and their quest for gold. They also happened to be the UW crew team at the time and overcame so many odds to even get to the Olympics.

A terrific, true-life story that will make a good gift this holiday season for many readers. It has received comparisons to "Unbroken" and "Seabiscuit" (both by Laura Hillenbrand) and it deserves the comparisons.

On a side note: this is one example where I do NOT recommend the audiobook. Or at least, not to anyone that is from the Northwest. The narrator was not directed in the correct pronunciation of many NW cities and it can be quite annoying and distracting. 

Non-Fiction Friday: Review: Bones Never Lie (MacLeod)

Title: Bones Never Lie
Author: MacLeod
Genre: Non-fiction, Anthropology, Science, Forensics, Law, Crime
Pages: 156
Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars
Ages: 5th grade and up

Don't tell anyone, but I'm not an English major. Seriously, I'm really not.

I am a SCIENCE MAJOR through and through! Therefore, I love all books science-related; and if it's historical science and/or crime related, all the better. This might explain why I am a huge fan of the TV show Bones (as well as the books that Kathy Reichs, who the character "Bones" is based on, writes). In my next life I desperately want to be Indiana Jones.

So, when I come across a non-fiction title for teens about forensic anthropology, you know it is on the top of my "to read" list.

From the Publisher:
How did King Tut really die?
The mystery of the young pharaoh's death is only one of the puzzles that modern science has helped solve. Thanks to forensics -- the scientific way of examining physical evidence -- we now know what killed Napoleon and whether Anastasia survived the massacre of the Russian royal family.
Seven intriguing stories about historical royal figures whose demise was suspicious, and hard scientific facts about crime-solving techniques make each event seem like an episode of CSI rather than a history lesson.
Kids will be fascinated to find out how scientists used autopsy results (and the waist measurement of his pants!) to prove that Napoleon died not of arsenic poisoning as suspected, but of stomach cancer; and how DNA testing revealed that King Tut died of malaria.
Other stories include:
Who was the Man in the Iron Mask?
What was the fate of Marie-Antoinette's son?
Who killed an entire Maya royal family?
Who knows what really happened to Thailand's young King Rama?
At times a gripping "whodunit," at others a guide to deductive reasoning, this book will be hard to put down for any kids who love mysteries, murder, and suspense.

There's really not much more to say. I was very excited to discover this title as I think it is a good introduction to the topic for teens. There is plenty of illustrative material, and each chapter discusses an historical "case," keeping even reluctant readers engaged. A little history, a little science, a little whodunit...perfect!

Review: Code Name Verity (Wein)

Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Wein
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, War, Friendship, Spies
Pages: 343
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars...can I give it more?
Ages: High school, Adults of all ages, and maybe a sophisticated middle school reader (I have it in our library)

It's likely that I do not even need to mention this book to you because it was on more "Top 10" and award lists in 2012 than I can count. I had it at the top of last summer's high school reading list. It's even in paperback already (albeit, with what I think is a horrible cover compared to the hardback. Seriously, truly horrible...see below...did the publisher not really read the book? That cover does not set the right tone AT ALL). 

So why the heck am I mentioning it today? Well, a couple of reasons, not the least of which, it's just so good that you must read it!

The main reason I decided to make today's post about an "old" book is that I recently went back and listened to it on audio and I fell in love with it all over again. FELL. IN. LOVE. AGAIN. The audio production on this book is BRILLIANT! The narrators give a tremendous reading. A must to listen to! Perfect for long road trips, plane rides, or just sitting by the pool and relaxing. 

Grownups, PLEASE do not care that this book was published for "young adults." This is one of the best books that you'll read in a long time, and I recommend it to my teachers, friends, and neighbors all the time. Also, did you love "Fault in our Stars" and in desperate need of a book to make you feel like that? This is the one for you.



From the Publisher:
Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before its barely begun. When "Verity" is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn't stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, shes living a spy's worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution. As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?


This is an incredible story of war, friendship, fighting for what you believe in, love, hope, and truth. It will stay with you long after you read it. It is crushingly sad, incredibly hopeful, and yet, not sappy or sentimental in any way. And the historical detail in it makes you rush to the author's notes at the end to find out if Maddie and Verity were real people.

Friday 15: Soldier Stories

Veterans Day is right around the corner, so I thought I would honor all those who have served our country by posting my Top 15 favorite books about soldiers. In no particular order:

 (1) Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. Okay, I lied about no particular order. This biography of Pat Tillman is one of my all-time favs for several reasons. One, it's Jon Krakauer, so it's well-written and completely engaging. Two, it tells not only Tillman's story, but the history of Afghanistan and the region which I think is important for everyone to understand. Is there bias in Krakauer's narrative? Sure, but the story is still one that should be read. And three, it's about a true American hero...someone I admire and hope my children will grow up to be like.

(2) The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt. Another complete favorite of mine! I spent the year this book came out recommending it to EVERYONE, adults and teens alike. Although they have never gotten along well, seventeen-year-old Levi follows his older brother Boaz, an ex-Marine, on a walking trip from Boston to Washington, D.C. in hopes of learning why Boaz is completely withdrawn. A must-read!


(3) Blood Red Horse by K.M. Grant. True, not about American soldiers, but I enjoyed this book about the Crusades. A special horse named Hosanna changes the lives of two English brothers and those around them as they fight with King Richard I against Saladin's armies during the Third Crusades. Fans of "War Horse" will want to read this series starter.





(4) Five 4th of July by Pat Hughes and Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson are two terrific novels about two young men from completely different circumstances fighting during the Revolutionary War.


(5) Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen. A moving, fictionalized biography of eighteen-year-old John Kipling, son of writer Rudyard Kipling, who remembers his boyhood and the events leading up to World War I, as he lies dying on a battlefield in France.


(6) Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. When Thomas Peaceful's older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself.


The next 5 are all stories set during WWII:

(7) A Boy at War by Harry Mazer
(8) Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac (pair this with the non-fiction title Navajo Code Talkers by Nathan Aaseng)
(9) Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley (this title for adults also has a young reader's edition).
(10) Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
(11) Jump into the Sky by Shelley Pearsall

(12) is shared by two similar stories, both equally intriguing. Cracker!: the best dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata is the story of a young soldier in Vietnam and how he bonds with his bomb-sniffing German shepherd. Letters from Wolfie by Patti Sherlock tells thirteen-year-old Mark's story after he donates his dog, Wolfie, to the Army's scout program in Vietnam, and then learns that the Army refuses to say when and if Wolfie will ever return.

(13) A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. This autobiography about a boy soldier plucked from his village in Sierra Leone at the age of 13 is not for the faint of heart. But it is a powerful memoir that is the unfortunate story of many around the world.


(14) Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins. Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and in order to survive they must learn to trust each other.

(15) Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am...another title by Harry Mazer (himself a Veteran). Ben leaves everything behind after graduation to enlist in the army. His convoy gets caught in an explosion, and Ben ends up in a coma for two months. When he wakes up, he doesn't know where he is or remember anything about his old life. His family and friends mourn what they see as a loss, but Ben perseveres.

To all our Veterans out there...THANK YOU! If you have not served, please remember to thank a Veteran on Sunday, and every day.

Spotlight On: Black History Month (Nelson Mandela)

I suppose that Black History Month traditionally celebrates the achievements of African-Americans and milestones in American history, but today I thought I would put the spotlight an important person on the World history stage.


Today marks the anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison. On this day in 1990, Mandela was released after 27 years in prison for "sabatoge and conspiracy." The son of a Thembu chief in South Africa, Mandela began his life-long campaign against white colonial rule while he was a college student. Mandela was dedicated to nonviolence in his attempts to end apartheid in South Africa. He became a leader in the African National Congress and was arrested and imprisoned by South Africa's ruling minority in 1962. During his 27 years in prison, Mandela continued his fight for a democratic and free society, and ultimately was released and elected president of South Africa.


Nelson Mandela is one of my personal heros. There is a quote of his that is one I always come back to and try to live my life according to: "There is no passion to be found playing small, in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."


If you are interested in finding out more about this great man, there are two books that I would recommend. Obviously, "Long Walk to Freedom," his autobiography, is a must read. For middle school/junior high and even high school students, I recommend "Mandela: the rebel who led his nation to freedom" by Ann Kramer. This book, published by National Geographic, is part of their World History Biographies series and is an excellent introduction to Mandela. (The series rates high on my list if you are looking for biographies for junior high students...I highly recommend all of them)!

Review: The War to End all Wars (Freedman)

Title: The War to End All Wars
Author: Freedman
Genre: Non-fiction, War, History
Pages: 192
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Even though the majority of the reviews posted on this blog are fiction titles, it is no secret that non-fiction is my passion.  There is great joy in finding well-written and interesting non-fiction titles, especially for teens.

So it should not be a shock that non-fiction master Russell Freedman has done it again with his recent book on World War I.  This "War to end all wars" is very important in the history of the world, but is often not covered as extensively in class as WWII. 

In this book, Freedman untangles the relationships and alliances of the many nations involved and succinctly explains the causes leading up to WWI.  Discussion is also given to the introduction of modern weaponry and the effects of these destructive weapons, top-level military decisions that resulted in casualties on an unprecendented scale, and why the resolution to the conflict only fanned the flames that led to WWII. 

There are archival photographs included throughout which really lend to the tone of the book.  On Amazon.com, the author posted a letter to readers about why he wrote the book, and I think this letter describes the book best:

Dear Amazon Readers,

...In 1916, my father ran away from home, changed his name, lied about his age, and joined the United States army. He was 14 years old. Back then, before social security numbers and computerized record keeping, it wasn't difficult to take on a new identity, and that's exactly what my father did. To begin with, he was sent to the Mexican border to fight Pancho Villa under General John J. Pershing. And when the United States entered World War I, he sailed to France with the 7th Infantry Division. In the fall of 1918, he was shot and gassed, and he spent several months recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

My father was proud of his service to America, and I grew up hearing nostalgic stories of his adventures as a teenage soldier. But as I eventually learned, the war's reality presented quite a different tale. This was the first global conflict to employ modern weapons--long-range artillery, rapid-fire machine guns, poison gas, flamethrowers, tanks, and airplanes that bombed and strafed--the first war in which modern weapons inflicted mass slaughter, introducing new kinds of terror and record levels of suffering and death. It was now possible to kill your enemy at distance, without seeing him.


Called the Great War at first, because of its massive and unprecedented scale, the conflict later was known as the War to End All Wars, because it was unthinkable, unimaginable, that humanity would allow such carnage to be repeated ever again.


...It was said at the time that if the war could just once be described in honest and accurate language, people everywhere would demand that the fighting be stopped. That challenge was taken up by many ordinary soldiers of World War I, the men in the trenches, who recorded their experiences under fire in letters, diaries, journals, and memoirs that provide us today with eyewitness accounts of what it was like to fight in the War to End All Wars.


Sincerely,
Russell Freedman I put our library copy on display for Veterans Day and it was checked out quickly...before our history teacher had a chance to look at it and use it in class.  Might have to order another copy!

Review: The Returners (Malley)

Title: The Returners
Author: Malley
Genre: Fiction, Memory, Good vs. Evil, History, Destiny
Pages: 252
Rating: Hmmm...undecided...somewhere between 3 and 4 stars

It is said that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.  But what if you can't remember the past?  Will Hodges has been followed by "freaks" ever since his mother drowned when he was young.  They stare at him with strange, dark eyes.  And now Will is having horrible nightmares about conentration camps and scary events from history.  Nightmares that seem so real.  There is no one he can talk to about this, especially his drunk, hateful father. 

When Will finally confronts one of the "freaks," he discovers that he is supposedly one of them.  Will is a "returner," someone who lives through the most horrible times in history, only to return again and again in order that people remember the past.  Will refuses to believe them, but how else can he explain his vivid nightmares that seem like memories.  Who really is Will?  What role has he played in the past?  What is his role in the future?

The reason that I cannot determine a rating for this book is it was unusual.  The concept is unique, interesting, and really has so much potential.  Will is a terrific character, full of anger and pain over the death of his mother.  Torn between doing what is right or flying below the radar.  I enjoyed the writing and the premise.  However, for someone that normally reads one, sometimes two books a day, this book took me over a week to finish.  In fact, I actually lost the book for awhile and I wasn't too concerned with looking for it.  But I kept with it because it was so different and I kept thinking about it.  The ending just hit me, and I'm still thinking about it.  Hmmm...what does all of this mean?

Have you read it?  I would love to know what you think!  Want to borrow my copy?  Let me know!

Review: Spies of Mississippi (Bowers)

Title: Spies of Mississippi: the true story of the spy network that tried to destroy the Civil Rights Movement
Author: Bowers
Genre: Non-Fiction, American History, Spies
Pages: 128
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

In 1956, J.P. Coleman, then-governor of Mississippi, signed House Bill 880 creating the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission.  This secret government agency was put in place to protect Mississippi's right to govern itself.  What that really meant was that they (the governor and other members of the state government) were protecting their ability not to have to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, or to stop the practice of segregation.

The spy network that resulted from this bill was controlled by twelve men, who encouraged spying on those people (African-Americans) that were involved in the Civil Rights Movement.  Teachers spied on students, ministers spied on churchgoers, newspaper editors spied on neighbors...usually for money, paid directly by the state.  Spies infiltrated NAACP meetings and not only reported back what they learned, many spies were also charged with ruining the lives of those deemed "most important" to the Civil Rights cause.

I had never heard of this piece of American History, and I can promise you that it was not even a footnote in any of my history textbooks in school.  Bowers has clearly done his research, taking advantage of the primary source documents available.  (The commission left behind 134,000 pages of once-secret documents).  But beyond the obvious research, Bowers has made the subject accessible and highly interesting.  Reading the short chapters, one is intrigued and drawn into the history and the personal stories.  And yet, also appalled that this was allowed to go on for nearly two decades.

Books on spies are typically of the Alex Rider, James Bond, Gallagher Girls genre, where spies are the good guys/girls...heroic adventures attempting to right injustices around the world, with really cool gadgets of course!  Or, you can read books about legendary American spies ("George Washington, Spymaster" and "Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent," both by Thomas Allen).  You do not typically read about villainous spies with evil intent.  Or have it be true.

But it is not just the stories of the Commission and the spies that draw readers here.  Bowers has framed the larger story around the personal stories of those most affected by the spy network: those applying for admission to college hoping to finally integrate it; prominent Civil Rights workers; families forced to flee harassment.  This highly readable book, a definite must-read, is a fascinating account of a frightening period in history.

Review: If Stones Could Speak (Aronson)

Title: If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the secrets of Stonehenge
Author: Aronson
Genre: Non-fiction, History, Landmarks
Pages: 64
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

Yeah! Another non-fiction title. I have always been fascinated with archaeological landmarks and discovering the secrets of the past. Perhaps it's because I always wanted to be Indiana Jones...maybe in my next life.

This is an excellent look not only at one man's theory of why Stonehenge exists, but a historical look at the science of archaeology. And the photographs are exactly what you would expect from a book published by National Geographic.