Author: Mariatu Kamara
Published: 2008 When Mariatu was a child, she lived in a village in Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. One day when she was twelve years old, a group of rebels brutally attacked her village. These people were committing horrific acts, killing and torturing her neighbors. Many of the these rebels were child soldiers, around the same age as Mariatu. Mariatu was sure she was going to die, but instead the rebels cut off both of her hands, and she miraculously survived. While she's in the hospital recovering she gets some very distressing news. This book is the story of how she survived and what came next.
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Author: Traci Chee
Published: 2020 We Are Not Free follows the stories of fourteen different Japanese American teenagers after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor during World War II, all Japanese Americans were viewed as the enemy and were rounded up and put into internment camps as if they were criminals. They were forced to leave behind their homes and their belongings and their freedom. Each chapter is from the point-of-view of a different character, and all the stories intertwine. In each chapter we hear about the horrible way Japanese Americans were treated. Some signed up to fight in the war, some are moved from camp to camp, some are arrested for nothing and are kept as prisoners in even worse conditions than the camps. While this book is historical fiction, the author Traci Chee's grandparents and their families were put into these incarceration camps. Chee interviewed her relatives and their stories inspired some of the elements in this book. We Are Not Free is a fantastic book that is so important. As Chee says in the author's note, "During my research, the more I have learned about our history, the more I have come to realize that we are part of an ongoing pattern of injustices that have affected and are still affecting millions of people of color on this continent...I cannot help but feel that history is repeating itself in new and sometimes more horrific ways." Read this book. Author: Alan Gratz
Published: 2019 Allies takes place on June 6, 1944, D-Day. On this date, the Allies (United States, Canada, France, Britain) attacked Germans on the coast of Normandy, France. This story follows several different young people who all play a different role in the events of what happened that day. Dee is a soldier for the United States. He is on one of the boats headed for Normandy in France to attack the Germans. He is keeping a secret about his true identity. James is a paratrooper, expected to jump out of a plane to help attack unsuspecting Germans. Samira works with her mother as a spy in France. When her mother is taken captive, Samira must come up with a way to save her life. Henry is a black medic in a time where many people are prejudiced against him for his race. He still must save as many lives as he can while still trying to survive himself. These stories all connect in Allies to show the many different roles people played on D-Day. Absolutely fantastic story by Alan Gratz. To read more about D-Day, go to this link here! Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Published: 2018 Resistance takes place in Poland during World War II. Chaya is Jewish, and she has joined a resistance group called Akiva who try to sabotage the Nazis and help Jewish people survive in any way they can, whether that is sneaking food into the ghetto or smuggling Jewish babies out of the ghetto and giving them to a family who isn't Jewish to raise as their own. When Akiva takes action and attacks a group of Nazis, Chaya believes she may be the only group member to survive the attack. Then Esther finds Chaya. Esther was a new member to Akiva who is not as brave or well-trained as any of the other members. She also seems to be keeping a secret from everyone. When the two get orders that they are to take part in another mission, they are sent to the Warsaw Ghetto, a completely hopeless place they never have tried to help before because of how impossible it seemed. Along the way Esther and Chaya must come to terms with the idea that they need to save as many people as possible, even though they will most likely not survive. Resistance is a fantastic story of those who decided to fight to help stop the Nazis knowing they would not survive. Author: Sarah Darer Littman
Published: 2018 Stella and Farida are best friends. Stella is white, and Farida is a Muslim Iraqi-American. Farida often will point out racism that she and other people of color experience that Stella doesn't even see. Stella is pushed by her friends into running for class president, against Chris. Chris is the son of the mayor who also is running for governor. He blames immigrants and refugees for the state's problems. His son seems to have adopted his viewpoint. Ever since Stella's brother Rob got back from Afghanistan, he has been different. He has PTSD and doesn't like being around people. When one of his friends who served with him takes his own life, Rob really has a hard time dealing with it. Stella thinks Rob just needs to try to leave the house. She invites him to come along with her to a movie theater. When he starts to see some teenagers being disrespectful and racist to an employee, Rob loses it and is arrested for assault. Rob's story is all over the news. People start calling him a terrorist sympathizer, and he is painted as this angry man. Anything But Okay deals with lot of issues in our world, including racism, privilege, and the struggles veterans go through when they come home and how they don't get the assistance they need. This book may be eye-opening to people who may not realize the privileges they have just because of the color of their skin. Author: Todd Strasser
Published: 2018 Jake has just gotten back from active duty. He was injured, so he is sent home, but his injury wasn't bad enough that he can't go back once he spends some time at home to heal. Because of what he did over there, the military might award him the Silver Star, and everyone at home thinks he's a hero. A parade is thrown for him, people want to pay for his meals. Everyone treats him like a hero. He comes from a military family who couldn't be happier for him. Jake, however, doesn't view himself as a hero. The friends he made in the military have been killed or hurt so bad that their lives will never be the same. He begins to question the war and the method recruiters use to get young kids to sign up for the military, promising to pay for college, saying they will be viewed as heroes. Price of Duty is told in flashbacks of Jake's experiences while fighting and his time back at home trying to deal with what he has witnessed and done while fighting. This book is one that really makes you think about the people who go off to war and how they often come back different. Author: Marc Tyler Nobleman
Published: 2016 Charlie's brother Joe is fighting in World War II. Charlie has been dealing with boys his age bullying him, and Joe was the only one who protected him. Now that he's gone, Charlie is on his own. Joe and Charlie write letters to each other keeping each other posted on their lives. Joe shares his problems with another soldier who doesn't like him. He also talks about a secret mission he has to go on. Charlie writes about how big of a hero he thinks his brother Joe is, even though Joe disagrees and doesn't think he's doing anything very heroic. Both are worried Joe won't come back, but they don't write about that. Brave Like My Brother is a good story about the bond between brothers. It is a quick historical fiction book. Author: Alan Gratz
Published: 2018 This book follows the stories of two young boys whose lives collide. Hideki is a soldier for the Japanese army on the island of Okinawa. He is giving two grenades and the following instructions: kill as many Americans as you can with the first grenade, and then kill yourself with the second one. Ray is an American soldier who has just arrived at Okinawa to fight the Japanese army. He is having a hard time dealing with the death that surrounds him. Even more difficult is the idea that he is the cause of others' deaths. These two boys lives come together during the fighting, and only one might walk away afterwards. This is a great book that gives you the perspectives from two different sides of a conflict. Author: Alan Gratz
Published: 2013 Yanek Gruener is a Jewish boy living in Poland during World War II. The Nazis have taken over and have forced Jews to move into the Jewish ghetto, Yanek's neighborhood. Yanek's family has had to invite many other families to live with them in their small apartment. Thousands of Jews are taken at a time for resettlement, and no one knows where they are actually going; though, they know it has to be somewhere worse than where they are now. One day, Yanek's family is taken and Yanek is left alone. Soon after he also is taken and is branded with the number B-3087, his new identity. This starts his journey through ten different concentration camps where Yanek experiences hunger, pain, and fear beyond imagination. He witnesses hundreds of people die right next to him. The only reason he survives is often because of pure luck. This is a heartbreaking book about the realities people faced in concentration camps, based on the true story by Ruth and Jack Gruener. Author: Kirby Larson
Published: 2016 Fish lives with his older sister while their father is away fighting during World War II. One day, Fish discovers a beautiful stray dog. Because he is great at inventions, he comes up with a plan to rescue the dog. With the help of his neighbor Olympia, the two take care of the dog and name it Liberty. But one of Fish's neighbors has other plans for Liberty. When Liberty goes missing, Fish discovers that his neighbor has her and intends on keeping her and selling her puppies to make money. He treats her poorly, and Fish is heartbroken. With the help of a German prisoner of war, Liberty just might make it back to Fish. This is a great book for readers who liked Dash by Lauren Kirby. It talks about real issues during this time period, including segregation and receiving bad news through telegrams. Great book for animal lovers! |
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