To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic written by Harper Lee. The book is set in the Great Depression, in a small town in Alabama. It is told from the perspective of a young girl named Scout Finch, who has a father who works as a lawyer and an older brother. One day, her father, Atticus, receives a case to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, wrongly convicted of rape by a white woman who he lived near.
The novel, A Song to Drown Rivers, is a touching and captivating book about a girl named Xishi. Ever since Xishi was born into her poor village in the Yue kingdom her mother would cover Xishis’ face because she was too pretty. But one day when she was at the river she ran into the king's advisor. This unexpected encounter led her to become a spy on their rivaling kingdom. Throughout her journey she must face many hardships and challenges, and she must try to help her kingdom and save her people.
The Book Thief is an amazing historical book set in Nazi Germany during World War II. The story is about a young girl named Liesel Meminger, who is sent to live with foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, in Molching. After stealing her first book at her brother’s funeral, Liesel develops a love for reading and words, which becomes both her escape and her resistance against the horrors around her.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club is an amazing and detailed historical fiction novel set in 1950s San Francisco, during the Red Scare, when there was a lot of cultural conservatism in America. The book is about 17-year-old Lily Hu, a Chinese American girl living in Chinatown, who is dealing with the struggles of her identity, family expectations and love. Lily is a very smart student who dreams of working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead, is a book about justice. The main character, Elwood, is a teenage boy who believes in the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and is sent to reform school for a crime he had nothing to do with. He resists his oppressors time and again to rise above the constraints placed in him by society. Elwood’s reform school, the Nickel Academy, is inspired by the real reform camps of the segregation era and the horrors that would go on in those schools.
It is 2011, and the Syrian Revolution is at its peak, a fueled fire between the Assad Dictatorship and the Free Syrian Army. Salaama Kassab has seen the death and destruction firsthand, working as a surgeon in her town, Homs. Desperate to escape the danger and the constant fear, Salaama and her closest friend Layla, who is pregnant, dream of escaping the war. Under the constant stress of the hospital and bearing the loss of her parents and brother, Khawf, who haunts her, becomes a figment of her imagination.
Slaughterhouse-five is a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is a prisoner during war and time travels throughout the novel because he is held captive by aliens called the Tralfamadorians. He was captured as a prisoner after the bombing in Dresden, Germany. This was an intriguing book to read. First, the novel is not written in chronological order but rather jumps around different times of Billy's life. At first, this made it difficult to read because it was hard to keep track of events.
I recently watched The Sound of Music for the very first time, and I wish I would have watched it sooner. The musical is set in Austria during World War 2, during the period when Austria was being annexed by Nazi Germany. It follows a young nun, Maria, who has just left the convent because of her wild whimsical behavior. Maria is sent to become the governess of the Von Trapp household where she meets widow Captain Georg von Trapp and his seven children.
Hardscrabble by Sandra Dallas is a historical fiction book set during the Homestead Act in 1910. The Homestead Act was signed by Abraham Lincoln and it was an act that stated that anybody who is the head of a house can get 150 acres of land for free. The main character's name is Belle Martin and it follows her and her family's struggle as new homesteaders in Colorado. This is a story that shows the struggle of dry farming, sicknesses and weather issues.
Beloved, by Toni Morrison is a classic historical fiction novel told from the perspective of Sethe, an escaped slave who would do anything for her family. Sethe’s past is marked by an abundance of horrible things which she cannot forget, including the murder of one of her children. Upon her escape from Sweet Home Farm, she wants nothing more than to live out a peaceful life with her remaining daughter.
