Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this book for two reasons, with the first being it is the Goodreads February Discussion for Books Hot Off the Presses
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
and the second is my participation in the 2014 HUB Reading Challenge
http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2014/.... This book is on the list of the 2014 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. Rose Justice is a transport pilot, who grew up outside Hershey, PA. It is during the war that Rose's plane is intercepted, she is captured by the Germans and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she is a prisoner for six months. Rose and the other captives (who are there much longer)endure beatings, torture, experimentation, and deprivation. It is during her imprisonment and after, as she recuperates in Paris that the full story emerges. What was so wonderful about this story was the "family" Rose formed while in Ravensbrück and it was these bonds that enabled them to endure and in many cases, survive. Wein weaves the importance of family throughout the whole book; with Rose's Hershey family, her pilot friends who are her family before her capture and the Rabbits, Lisette, Irina, Roza, Karolina and others who are her camp family. Rose uses her poetry and storytelling with her concentration camp friends to as a way to remember life before and survive each day whatever way they could. It is during her imprisonment (and after) with the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials and the Doctors' Trial against Nazi war criminals that Rose emerges as a much stronger person; a writer and medical student, and is able to bear witness in her own way to the atrocities of the camp and let the world know the names of all 75 of the Rabbits who were maimed (and many killed) by Nazis due to their experimentation. Readers will love the women (pilots, survivors, and those who do not survive) in this book; their bravery, fury, compassion, defiance, craziness, and beauty. Highly recommended!
View all my reviews
All Posts (6)
Sort by
If You Find Me: A Novel by Emily Murdoch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh boy! I loved this book; the grittiness grabbed me from the first page of Part 1 The End - revealing the hard scrabble existence in the deep, dark woods for fifteen year old Carey and her younger sister, nine year old Janessa. Carey is such a strong protagonist revealing their mother (drug addicted and bi-polar, off her meds) has been gone for two months and it is getting pretty desperate for the girls to subsist daily. But Carey never worries for herself, only for Janessa, who stopped speaking a year ago. They are forever changed when social services and Carey's father find them and "rescue" them. But that is not how Carey sees it; since her mother poisoned her long ago with tales of her father's anger and abuse. Carey and Janessa must now deal with a world of abundant food, clothing, people and many things they never had (toothpaste, toothbrush, showers, family, school, boys. Part II The Middle has the them going to school and navigating their new life. As Carey and Janessa harbor secrets from their years in the woods, they are slowly realizing what "family" really means with their father, his wife, and her daughter. But it is the beloved family dog, Shorty, with whom Janessa forges an immediate and unbreakable bond. As Carey begins her first day of school, she is saved by Ryan Shipley, after her stepsister, Delaney ditches her. He becomes her friend, protector, and maybe more? In Part III The Beginning, Carey and Janessa love their life with their family, but Carey and Janessa both know they must confront their past and secrets in the woods for true healing. Carey's character goes through many changes but she is throughout the book she is respectful, fiercely protective of her sister, a true friend, and grappling with new emotions, and feelings, and what she becomes in telling the secrets is an even stronger person with a forever home and a new beginning.
View all my reviews
Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for this compelling, sad, and deeply affecting book. Emma suddenly loses her mother, when she dies while pregnant. Emma is plunged into a grief so all encompassing, she loses her sense of self and who she was before; a great student with plans for college and a future. Struggling mightily through this book (posttraumatic stress disorder), Emma can’t forgive her stepfather, Dan (who she loved before) for deciding (without consulting her) to keep her mother on life support in order to give the baby a chance at life. Emma really becomes hateful, angry and explosive in the way she constantly talks to Dan about her “dead mother” and questions everything in her life. As she fails classes, morns not being able to have “more time” with her mother, she begins to become a person she does not recognize but she can’t control her feelings and reactions. She has a supportive best friend, Olivia, but it is bad boy, Caleb Harrison, who is performing community service in the hospital where her mother is, that Emma begins to connect with over their shared grief and loss. Will Emma forgive Dan (and herself) in the wake of her mother’s death and daily visits to her bedside? This is a deeply affecting story and I loved the friendship and romance aspect of the book. As an adult, I understood the trauma that Emma suffered but couldn’t seem to rise above and I worry that this aspect of the book might not speak to teens (simply because they don’t understand Emma’s constant thoughts and dialog) but Elizabeth Scott did a masterful job in portraying Emma’s and Caleb’s self- disintegration. It is difficult to read their hurt, grief, feelings of betrayal for 256 pages, but the deep themes will resonate and spark discussion.
View all my reviews
The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley, Laura McHugh, Random House, and Spiegel and Grau for this advance copy of a thrilling, disturbing read. This novel, taking place in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, is captivating from the first page. Lucy Dane is shocked and bewildered to find out her childhood friend, Cheri, who disappeared, is found dismembered one year later. In the small town of Henbane, everyone is rocked by this grisly discovery. For a while, the town is cautious and rife with innuendo and theories. Lucy’s mother also disappeared when Lucy was a baby and was never found. It is how these two parallel mysteries connect and the effect it has on family (and kin) in Henbane that make for a spine tingling, can’t put it down, suspenseful read. The suffocating small town atmosphere is creepy with their suspicion of “outsiders” and their belief in witches, magic, lies and secrets, but Lucy is a strong female character who will not stop looking for answers. For book club, there would be so many great discussions and I know I will be recommending this as a great cross-over young adult title.
View all my reviews
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans during World War II by Martin W. Sandler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Martin Sandler's book is the compelling story of the banishment over 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. Japanese Americans were forced from their homes due to hysteria after the bombing of Perl Harbor. They had no notice and had to leave homes, businesses, pets, and possessions to move into internment camps for the duration of WWII. Sandler uses photographs, interviews, quotes, and sidebars (backed up with extensive research) to tell about this very dark part of American history. Each chapter consists of information with certain pages containing large font (to stand out)and within these chapters sections highlighted areas of importance, like Dorothea Dix and Ansel Adams photography to document the internment, but their differing viewpoints. Another section is Titled, Expressing Feelings Through Poetry and shares examples of children's poems from camp classrooms. Within the camps were the Isei and the Nisei, nurses, doctors, writers, teachers who work hard to end the isolation and depression many felt. Sports, like baseball, became an important way for the Japanese Americans to fight boredom. There were those who created gardens, made jewelry, and found other ways to beautify their substandard lives. The camps were harsh and crowded, hot during the day and very cold at night; there were long waits to for lunch, dinner and laundry of 2-3 hours. There were many Japanese Americans who served in the 442nd Regiment and Nisei who served as interpreters and translators and they had a very profound impact on the US's victory. The chapters on how the Japanese Americans fared after the war and as the years wet on were so interesting. Today the Japanese Americans are working hard to make sure this does not happen to anyone ever again. They are strong supporters of the Muslim communities in the aftermath of 9/11 because they look like the enemy and have experienced discrimination like the Japanese Americans.
The book ends with Place to Visit, Visiting the Sites of te Relocation Centers, Further Reading and Surfing, Websites, Sources and Bibliography.
View all my reviews
We Were Here by Matt de la Pena
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A great pick for our Februrary book discussion this month with my librarian friends! I just loved Matt's other book, Mexican White Boy Mexican WhiteBoy and We Were Here is just as compelling. Miguel is in juvi for a crime he doesn't reveal but he is totally guilt ridden about. He gets into an argument with Mong, an Asian with a severely scarred face, many other problems and health issues---scary, scary kid. When Rondell arrives; Miguel already knows him there is more of a flow to his daily life. Miguel reads lots of books, records in his journal (judge's orders) hangs out with(and makes fun of)Rondell. It is when Mong breaks them out to escape to Mexico and get jobs, that life totally changes for the three escapees. Miguel acts hardcore but he is hiding a lot behind his Mexican bravado. As they travel (and hide) to Mexico, there will be life lessons Miguel (and Mong and Rondell) work through as they come to terms with themselves, family, and their place in the world. A riveting, adventure with Miguel and friends. Reluctant readers (and teens who enjoy urban fiction) will relate to all three characters and their dilemmas.
View all my reviews
