Tag Archives: United States

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse

07 Thursday Jul 2016

Posted by in Political fiction, Young Adult

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safekeeping

What would you do if you had been out of the country for several months to help outhers and then returned to find your life has totally changed; your family is gone; you have very little money; your credit cards do not work; and you think the government is trying to arrest you?  Would you do what Radley did – start walking to the Canadian border?  Radley runs into another girl on her way to Canada.  She, too, is obviously running, but she doesn’t communicate much to Radley.  The two of them make it, but they are too afraid to let anyone know that they are in the country or that they need help. They forage for food and then a mysterious benefactor begins leaving them things to help them survive the winter in the cabin they found in the woods.

This is really a story of friendship in times of chaos, but it is also a story of how drastic changes in government might affect the lives of people.  Radley eventually learns the truth about what happened to her parents, and the truth about her traveling companion; but she also learns that life is too precious to live with regrets and sorrows.  I definitely recommend this for high school readers.

I included the picture from the paperback I had for reviewing.  I noticed that there is a different cover on the hardback version, and in some ways I think that cover more accurately depicts the walk of Radley.  If you go looking for this book do not let my picture influence your decision as to which book you are getting.

The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill: Growing up Bill Cody in Bleeding Kansas by Andrew Warren

15 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in History, Young Adult

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bill cody

This is a well-written biography of William Cody and of the history of the Kansas Territory.  It reads like a novel – full of action and suspense.  Younger readers who have little knowledge of the events leading up to the statehood of Kansas will learn about the bloody fights that occurred while Kansas struggled to decide if it would be free or slave. Cody’s part in those events is not whitewashed, and some may be upset because the author clearly shows him taking part in things that we would consider criminal today.

John Brown and his followers are introduced, but only enough to pique the interest of the reader to look for more information about him. The reader will also learn a great deal about the Pony Express.  At fourteen, Cody was the youngest rider on this circuit, and faced many dangers in doing his job. The short-lived Pony Express had a great impact on our history and on the life of Bill Cody.

The writer presents Cody as a very real person with a family that he loved and cared for. The latter years of his life and the Wild West Show for which he is most famous is discussed. The show itself had been criticized because he included Sitting Bull in it. Cody believed that the battle with Custer took place only because Sitting Bull’s tribe was trying to defend its families, and so he ignored the people who felt he should leave Sitting Bull out of the show. He was a gentleman who remained true to his beliefs and tried to leave the world a better place. Because of that, there are museums in several states which are dedicated to William Cody.

The text is well-researched and includes pictures, maps and additional notes to further help the reader. I definitely recommend this for upper elementary through high school readers.

If You’re Reading This by Trent Reedy

26 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by in Young Adult

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if you are reading this

The war in Afghanistan has had many casualties, many soldiers and many more family members.  Each deal with his or her losses in different ways, yet all are similar. Something has been taken that an never be replaced. Questions are raised that can never be answered, and lives are broken in ways that can never be fixed.

Mike, a young man whose father was killed in Afghanistan, begins to receive letters from his dead father on his sixteenth birthday.  Obviously, he wants to learn who has held those letters for the past eight years, but more than that, he wants to learn about his father and the dreams he had for his little boy.

Mike has always wanted to play football, but he knows he should be working to help his mother pay the bills since she alone is financially responsible for the family, and it is difficult for her to raise him and his little sister. His mother is also dead set against his playing football because she fears he will be hurt.  The letters encourage him to pursue his dreams and become the best he can, so he forges his mother’s signature on the release form for football and begins to live a life of lies and deceit.

How he resolves his dilemma and uncovers the sender of the letters makes this a moving story for any young person – especially a young man- who may be in conflict with his parents.  I recommend its purchase for any library with teen readers.

The Only Thing to Fear

20 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Political fiction, Young Adult

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the only thing to fear

Did you ever wonder how life might have been different if the Allies had not won World War II?  Caroline Tung Richmond is a freelance writer who has now given us this premise in her first novel. She pictures for us the type of society that we might have had to endure under a regime that gave us not only Hitler as the dictator, but also his family as the continuation of his legacy.

In this story, Hitler’s medical experiments have resulted in the creation of some people with super powers. Zara is one of those anomalies. She lives in what used to be known as The United States of America, but is now called Eastern American Territories. Zara has spent her whole life trying to escape the attention of her Nazi overlords, but now she has to come face-to-face with them and with her powers, if she is to be able in any way to carry on the legacy of her family as defenders of freedom.

This fast-paced story will have the reader sitting on the edge of his/her seat and wondering what will happen as more freedom fighters with powers come out of hiding.  There is a love interest that develops, but it is not a sexualized book. I think it is appropriate for middle and high school readers.

 

Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

26 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in Historical Fiction, Young Adult

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jefferson

Although this book has been out for several years, I had not read it.  It caught my eye the other day, and I thought I would try it because the students in one of the classes in my town are doing research into African Americans.  This is one that should be added to that list – if not required.

It is, of course, the story of the children of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. However, it is more than that. It is an unusual look into the dichotomy of a man who would pronounce that “all men are created equal” in The Declaration of Independence, post a copy of that document in the lobby of his home, and yet deny his own flesh and blood the parental support that they so desperately wanted.

It is a sobering, eye-opening look into the institution that was slavery in the U.S.  The scenes are horrifying in many instances, but they are necessary to present the true picture of life in Virginia during the time of slavery.

The characters are well developed.  The author did extensive research into the Jefferson family and slavery, and she did a masterful job in presenting this piece of historical fiction to us. She does not use any dialectal language in the story.  The characters come alive and seem very real to any reader precisely because they are not different in speech or behavior. They speak, love, suffer, and die the same as any other person.  To do less with them, would be to reduce their humanity.

I did not know that Sally Hemmings was, in fact, a half-sister to Thomas Jefferson’s wife, thus the aunt of his daughter, Martha.  Martha tried to pretend that no connection to her family existed between her family and Sally’s. Yet, it was one of her daughters who taught Sally’s children to read and write.

While I knew that a mixed-race child born to a white woman was considered free, although they may still be considered black, and that a mixed-race child born to a slave was considered a slave, I did not know that a person of 7/8 white blood was considered white, but they could also be considered a slave because of the skin tone of their mother. Very confusing to me.

This book is well worth anyone’s time. I highly recommend it.  I do not know why it has not been made into a movie.

Burning Nation by Trent Reedy

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in Political fiction, Young Adult

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burning nation

How far should the Federal government go to impose its will on the citizens of the U.S. on any issue that the most of the people are against? Can they arrest or shoot those who disagree? Are National Guard units responsible to their state first and the Federal government second?

In this sequel to Divided We Fall, Reedy continues the story of a state that is taking a stand against the wishes of the federal government to force all citizens to carry a card that allows them to be tracked in all their movements.  Idaho finally secedes from the United States, and other states begin to follow the same action.  Each declares themselves to be a sovereign nation, and the U.S. sends in military power to stop the secession.

Private Wright and his fellow soldiers must go underground to keep from being captured by the feds.  They learn who they can trust and who they can’t.  They also learn that power sometimes causes people to do things that others thought they would never do. “Who’s right” and “who’s wrong” is a big theme in this story.

The very people that Wright and his friends see as saviors begin to deal with other combatants in a very brutal manner – even killing a person who had helped them.  Wright and his friends must ask themselves if this is the sort of freedom they wanted when they took up arms against the U.S.

A retired military person read this and commented that it is a great story with some technical inaccuracies, e.g. a 40 mm grenade launcher is an M203 not an M320 as stated in the story. All in all, it is a tension-building story that does not totally end with the conclusion of the book. Look for another to come.

Libraries that service older teenagers, grades 10 and up will want to add this to their collection. I could not recommend it for younger readers because of drinking, sex and violence.

Escape to California by Jeff Brown

01 Thursday Jan 2015

Posted by in Children's Books

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Flat Stanley

This is Book Twelve in the Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventure Series.  Many other Flat Stanley Adventures are also in existence.  Although the author is listed as Jeff Brown, the book is actually written by Josh Greenhut, and the illustrator is Macky Pamintuan. I suppose it is quite common for publishers and/or authors to use the name of a well-known author in promoting a series.  But, I do believe I like the works by Jeff Brown better than these co-written ones.

In this story, Flat Stanley and the rest of the Lambchop family travel to California on vacation.  After saving a girl in a wheelchair from rolling down the famous Lombardi Street with all its twists and turns, Stanley and his father find themselves being kidnapped by Lily Fox, the girl in the wheelchair.  She wants to show the world that a disabled person can overcome many obstacles.  Lily has been looking forward to meeting Stanley because she believes he can help her.

Her ambition is to escape from Alcatraz and make it to the California coast.  Of course, Stanley can’t resist this challenge, and together they do the impossible.  This is a delightful story of friendship and perseverance in the face of a disability. I recommend its purchase, especially for those libraries who already have Flat Stanley on their shelves.

Courage Has No Color; The True Story of the Triple Nickles

06 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by in Children's Books, Non-Fiction

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Scan0025  Tanya Lee Stone has done a fantastic job writing the history of America’s first black paratroopers.  Many of us have already learned about the Tuskegee Airmen, but I dare say that few even knew that the 555th airborne division existed during World War II.

Stone starts with a discussion of the racial discrimination that was prevalent in the military at the time.  She takes the reader through the steps toward getting the all black paratroopers ready to jump. Although they never served overseas during the war, they did provide necessary service to the country here at home in the battle with forest fires.

As it turns out, military service was actually needed in the area where the forest fires were occurring.  While none of the fires that the 555th actually worked with were clearly of enemy origin, what the American public did not know was that the Japanese had actually launched balloon bombs to the U.S. One of those bombs killed a woman and five teenagers in Blye, Oregon in 1945.

The government managed to keep the news that a Japanese bomb had made it to the U.S.  out of the news, but they sent the 555th to the Northwest in case others made it to shore and were exploded. This was one of the best kept secrets of the war.  The U.S. did not want Japan to know that they had succeed.  When no news of any bomb attacks made it to Japan, they assumed that the mission was a failure, and they gave up on it.  Imagine what would have happened had they known that they really had succeeded!

The story  of the 555th continues clear up until the actual integration of the military in 1953. It is fascinating, and very easy to read. The book is well researched, fully documented and excellently illustrated with photos, drawings and maps. It is written for middle school to high school students, but I think any history buff will thoroughly enjoy reading it.

I really don’t know how much more I can say about it. The only problem I had with it was that it felt unwieldy to me.  I wanted to read the story in its entirety, which I did.  But, in doing so I had to hold the book in both hands while reading.  It is too wide and heavy to be held in one hand, even if one switches hands in the process.

For those of you who are interested, this has an A.R.of 8  With 5 pts.

Come August, Come Freedom: the Bellows, the Gallows, and the Black Slave, Gabriel

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by in Historical Fiction

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      Once in a while, I run across a book that is so well-written and so riveting that I cannot put it down.  I stayed up until nearly two in the morning to finish this book.  Even though I knew the outcome of Gabriel’s uprising

     I recognize that this is historical fiction, but the events are thoroughly researched, and the author has included facsimiles of historical documents within the text. It, of course, is the story of the first well-organized slave rebellion in the US.

     The slaves, led by a blacksmith named Gabriel, modeled their revolt on the American revolution and the revolution in Haiti.  They were trying to get their freedom and an equal voice. Even though they did not succeed, they did get the attention of many people in the US and thus the ultimate freedom of the slaves in America.

      I don’t often highly recommend books, but I honestly believe that this one should be required reading for all students of American history.  I  highly recommend it for the middle school and the high school library.