Non-Fiction Friday

For today's Non-Fiction Friday, I thought that I would highlight a Non-Fiction/Fiction pairing that I love talking about.


Non-Fiction:
Title: Nazi Hunters
Author: Neil Bascomb
Genre: Non-Fiction, WWII, World History, Holocaust
Pages: 245
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Grades: 7th and up

This book, the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Non-Fiction Award for Young Adults (and probably many other awards), is based on the author's 2010 adult title "Hunting Eichman."

An excellent example of narrative non-fiction for teens, and further proof of Mrs. Yusko's love of non-fiction because "you can't make this stuff up," Nazi Hunters tells the story of the hunt for and capture of Adolf Eichman. This thrilling chronicle of the manhunt reads like a spy novel...and is rumored to be in development for a movie.

A must-read for fans of history, war stories, crime dramas, spy novels, biographies...almost any reader will find something to love here.

Fiction:
Title: Rose Under Fire
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Genre: Historical Fiction, WWII, Holocaust, Prisoners, Women Pilots/Spies
Pages: 360
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars
Grades: 8th and up

Okay, it seems a little ridiculous to give this book, the "companion" novel to the author's highly acclaimed "Code Name Verity," 4 1/2 stars instead of 5. But...I did like CNV slightly more and gave it 5 stars. Picky, picky, picky.

This book is the story of Rose Justice, American ATA pilot, who is captured by the Nazis while flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. It is the story of Rose and the friendships she forges with fellow prisoners that makes this an incredible story. I actually recommend reading this title first because you will be so outraged by the atrocities suffered by these women at the hands of the Nazis, including Eichman, that you will appreciate the justice served in Nazi Hunters.

Non-Fiction

The next reading project that I'm highlighting is our 7th grade unit: Non-Fiction. Always a favorite of mine, and I'm very excited to be on this year's Excellence in Non-Fiction Award committee (a national award under YALSA/ALA). 

For this quarter, you can find my book list of suggestions, as well as a copy of my presentation, here.  (To see past non-fiction titles that I've reviewed on the blog, click here. You can see that I haven't reviewed as much non-fiction in the past two years because of my service on the YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults award committee. So many fiction books that I've read!!) 

If you are also a fan of the library's Facebook page, you will see I posted my favorite recommendations from all the titles listed. I will be recommending them here over the next week.

Let me know which book you choose...and I can't wait to hear how you liked it. Not a 7th grader? Tell me what your favorite non-fiction title would be.