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.
Doctor Bernard Rieux, a well known doctor in the French-Algerian city of Oran, begins to notice a pattern of rats falling dead in the streets. He is unaware of its importance until the concierge of his building dies following a strange fever. Concerned by the unrecognizable symptoms, Dr. Rieux calls a meeting where it is decided that the symptoms match those of the Bubonic Plague. After the city is put under lockdown, Dr. Rieux must learn how to navigate a confined world where the lives of the people are in his hands.
Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz is a powerful novel based on the true story of Jack Gruener, a Jewish boy who survived the horrors of the Holocaust. The story follows Yanek, a young boy whose life is shattered when the Nazis invade Poland. As he is forced from his home and taken through ten different concentration camps, he endures unimaginable cruelty, starvation and loss. Despite everything, Yanek refuses to give up hope, clinging to the promise of survival.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of the most powerful stories that I have read. Taking place during the Holocaust, this book’s depth is immediately apparent (as is any story in the face of such a great tragedy.) The story centers around a girl named Liesel, who loses her family at the novel’s opening, and thus finds herself in the care of the Huberman family. The Huberman family provides Liesel with a new warmth that had been lacking previously in her life–they represent, for her, a true family.
The Devil’s Arithmetic is a novel written by Jane Yolen. It begins with Hannah Stern, a 12 year old Jewish girl from current day New Rochelle, celebrating Passover with her relatives. Suddenly, Hannah is transported to 1941, where she is mistaken for a girl named Chaya. Hannah and the other Jewish people in her village are then tricked into going to a Nazi concentration camp. Hannah and her new friends go through all kinds of torture and eventually can’t take it anymore.
