Reviews by Category: Historical Fiction

The year is 1957, and Spain has something to hide. Under fascist dictator General Franco’s tyrannical rule the only option is silence, and defiance comes with a hefty price —imprisonment, death, or worse. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Daniel Matheson, the rather spoiled son of a wealthy oil tycoon, journeys to Madrid with his parents, who are brokering a deal with Franco.

As a teen invested in equal rights, I really enjoyed this book. I didn't know much history about this topic and because of that the most compelling aspect of the book is how it provided a new perspective. Lots of other teens like me will find this book informative and inspiring, and that is what makes it awesome. I also love books that have multiple POVs and make each person’s story come together in the end, and this book did a really good job with that. I think publishing novels like this one is really important to the current generation.

At the funeral of her brother, Liesel steals her first book. When she arrives at her foster home, freshly separated from her mother, she is terrified. But she does not expect the incredible kindness shown by her eccentric accordion foster father and begrudging love by her foster mother. With their help, she slowly learns to read, and shares the books she steals from book burnings and the mayor’s library to her terrified neighbors during bombing raids, as well as to the Jewish man hiding in her basement.

This book is based on the incredible true story of the Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus. She was taken from the Terrezin ghetto in Prague, and she is adjusting to life in the Nazi camp with her mother and father. And when the Jewish leader Fredy Hirsch asks her to protect the 8 precious books prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. This is the story of how she became the librarian of Auschwitz. This girl risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust despite constant danger every day.

Michael O'Shaunessey, like all his other classmates, is part of the Hitler Youth. He participates in their book burnings and horrific games, but he secretly despises everything the Nazis stand stand for. He has a dangerous secret that he must protect at all costs, he and his parents are spies. He is just playing the part so he can get insider information. Soon he hears about Projekt 1065, a secret Nazi war mission that he has to stop. But to do that he must prove his loyalty to the Third Reich no matter the cost...

After all of Jacky’s family dies from a disease outbreak, she is forced to dress as a boy and work as a ship’s boy to survive. Now she no longer has to scavenge for food or fight for survival in the streets. As she becomes a skilled and respected member of the crew, she must use every ounce of her wit and courage to keep the crew from discovering her secret.

This book is based on a true incident that occurred in a high school class in 1969.

When history teacher Burt Ross’ students can not seem to understand the powerful forces of group pressure that helped create the rise of Nazism, he decides to create the Wave, with its rules of “strength through discipline, community, and action.” It quickly spreads throughout the school. But as almost all of the students join in, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize its frightening momentum and must stop it before something awful happens.

In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott’s dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks it with just enough supplies to keep the four of them alive for two critical weeks. In the middle of the night in late October, when the unthinkable happens, those same neighbors force their way into the shelter before Scott’s dad can shut the door.

When Grace is called to work in the Big House from the slave cabins, her family warns her to keep her eyes down and watch her mouth, or there could be disastrous consequences. But she makes a grave mistake, and she and her family must flee deep into the dangerous woods, braving slave patrollers, deadly wild animals, and the uncertainty that they will ever be free.