Prairie Lotus

 Prairie Lotus

By Linda Sue Park

I think this book is wonderful! It is a compelling, interesting story, and also tackles some big issues that were relevant in 1880 and are still very relevant today.

Hanna and her father move across the West from Los Angeles, landing in a tiny town called LaForge, in Dakota Territory. Hanna's mother, who died a few years prior, was half Chinese and half Korean, while her dad is white. In LaForge in 1880 there are no other Asians, and Hanna faces racism from the white townspeople. She notices American Indians facing similar injustices.

But Hanna is determined and strong, standing up for herself and committed to helping her dad establish a successful dress-making shop in town.

This story counters Laura Ingalls Wilder's popular "Little House" books, contributing a rich new perspective in historical fiction.

I am Alfonso Jones

I am Alfonso Jones
By Tony Medina
Illustrated by Stacey Robinson & John Jennings

I read this graphic novel for a book club--it is a powerful, intense story. This description is from Library Journal: 

Alfonso's playing Hamlet's ghost-father in his school's hip-hop version of the play while hoping for a second role as Danetta's boyfriend. But buying his first suit, he becomes a real ghost when a police officer mistakes a coat hanger for a weapon and shoots him. In the afterlife, he awakens in a subway train among other ghosts, who share their own experiences with police brutality. A gut-punching trip into a Black Lives Matter story, with black-and-white art.

(January 1, 2018)

The Family Romanov

The Family Romanov; Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia
by Candace Fleming

I also read this book before I visited Russia last summer, along with Symphony for the City of the Dead.
Tsar Nicholas Romanov II of Russia was shot and killed along with his entire family--his wife and five children--during the Russian Revolution, in 1917.
Leading up to that, the Romanov family was one of the wealthiest royal families in the world, ruling over 130 million people, most of whom were poverty stricken. Tsar Nicholas--the last emperor of Russia--barely acknowledged the hardships people were living with, while his own family frolicked in luxury.
This nonfiction narrative describes the rise and fall of the House of Romanov, complete with their bizarre connection to a mystic, Rasputin. The photographs in the book are fascinating, as is the story!

Symphony for the City of the Dead

Symphony for the City of the Dead; Dimitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

By M.T. Anderson

This not a book everyone will love, or even should read. But it is powerful, and I am glad to have read it. If you are interested in classical music, Russian history, or World War II, you might enjoy this incredible true story....and M.T. Anderson is such a great writer! I visited St. Petersburg last summer--formerly known as Leningrad--and read this before I went. Unbelievable history.

Review from School Library Journal:

This ambitious and gripping work is narrative nonfiction at its best. Anderson expertly sets the scene of the tumultuous world into which Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906 and traces his development as an artist and a public figure. He also tells the story of the composer's beloved Leningrad, focusing on the creation and legacy of the symphony written in its honor at the height of World War II. In his author's note, Anderson poses an intriguing question: "How do we reconstruct the story of someone who lived in a period in which everyone had an excuse to lie, evade, accuse, or keep silent?" The compelling, well-researched narrative relates what is known of Shostakovich's story, what is speculation, what is revisionist history, and what new sources have revealed. The chilling details of the Stalin regime and the plight of the Russian people even before the Germans arrived will be eye-opening to many teen readers. The book has all the intrigue of a spy thriller, recounts the horrors of living during the three year siege, and delineates the physical oppression and daunting foes within and outside of the city. This is also the story of survival against almost impossible odds. Through it all, Anderson weaves the thread of the composer's music and the role it played in this larger-than-life drama. 

School Library Journal (September 1, 2015)

Refugee

Refugee
By Alan Gratz

We hear a lot about refugees in the news--all over the world people choose to leave their homes or are forced from their homes because of war and other violence, unfair government, religious beliefs, or ethnicity.
In Refugee, Alan Gratz tells the stories of three children and their families: Josef, fleeing from Nazi Germany in the 1930s; Isabel, fleeing Cuba in 1994; and Mahmoud, fleeing Syria in 2015. Each of the journeys is dangerous and terrifying, heartbreaking and true-to-life.
Although the three main characters live in different time periods in history and travel in separate parts of the world, their alternating stories overlap in surprising ways.
Get ready to read this powerful book quickly, because it is hard to put down. And get ready to have a fuller understanding of what people are able to endure and overcome, everyday. 

Wolf by Wolf

Wolf by Wolf
by Ryan Graudin

Wolf by Wolf was hard to put down!
Set in an alternative historical time--Hitler has won World War II and is in power--a girl named Yael has survived brutal treatment and escaped from a Nazi death camp.
Now a teenager, Yael is part of the underground Resistance force, and she has a top secret, very dangerous mission: impersonate a famous German teenager (who happens to be the winner of a prestigious annual motorcycle race) so that she can win the next race, meet Hitler in person, and kill him.
Luckily Yael has some special powers that allow her to "skinshift", the result of horrible human experimentation she underwent as a little girl in the concentration camp.
She can make herself look like anyone.
But that is the easy part...winning the fiercely competitive motorcycle race across the continents, and then figuring out a plan to assassinate Hitler--and escape alive--are two unfathomable challenges she faces.
The sequel to Wolf by Wolf is Blood for Blood...you won't want to miss it!

The D.B. Cooper Hijacking

The D.B. Cooper Hijacking: Vanishing Act
by Kay Melchisedech Olson

This is an incredible true crime story that has never been solved!
In 1971 a man (maybe a woman?!), known to the media as D.B. Cooper, hijacked a Boeing 727 airplane and then escaped by jumping out with a parachute--and over a million dollars.
There was a major search for this hijacker involving hundreds of troops, spy planes, and a submarine...but no trace of the criminal was ever found.
D.B. Cooper would have been 90 years old last year, and the FBI finally just ended the hunt!
Read this book to learn all of the details of the crime, the investigation, and why the story continues to intrigue people to this day.

Other books in the True Crime series:
The Black Dahlia: Shattered Dreams
The Great Train Robbery: History-making Heist
The Zodiac killer: Terror and Mystery

Cloud and Wallfish

Cloud and Wallfish
By Anne Nesbet

1989, East Berlin, Germany.
The setting of this story may or may not be familiar to readers, but this was the year the Berlin Wall came down--the Wall that divided a city, separated families, distinguished very different governments, all within the same country! This Wall served as a literal Iron Curtain, dividing capitalist systems from communist systems.
Noah Keller, an American kid, travels to East Berlin with his parents who suddenly get official permission to cross the border and do "research". But there are some weird things going on; Noah's parents insist that his age, birthday, home town and even his name must be changed while they are living in East Berlin. There are serious Rules to follow, and Noah learns quickly that the secret police may be listening to anyone's conversations, anywhere.
What is Noah's family really doing there?
What is going on?

Talking Leaves

Talking Leaves 
by Joseph Bruchac

I read this novel over the winter vacation and found it really interesting, and good!
Told from the perspective of the great Cherokee leader Sequoyah's 13-year-old son, Uwohali, the story relates how the Cherokee alphabet was first invented. At the time, tribe members thought Sequoyah was crazy--or engaging in witchcraft--when he first began to write strange characters and claim to use them for  communication...but eventually his genius invention helped unify the Cherokee people and inspire pride and autonomy.
Joseph Bruchac also wrote Code Talker, which I love.

www.native-languages.org

The Mildenhall Treasure

The Mildenhall Treasure
By Roald Dahl
Illustrated by Ralph Steadman

Since I love all stories by Roald Dahl, I was curious when I found this on our library's shelves; I had never heard of it before. This true, short story is amazingly and beautifully illustrated, so it's really a picture book--and quite a great one!
Inspired by a news story from a newspaper he read in 1945, Roald Dahl interviewed an English farmer named Gordon Butcher who had accidentally uncovered a Roman treasure while working in the fields one day. Little did Mr. Butcher know he had stumbled upon an incredible, rare fortune, buried for over a thousand years...and then he was cheated out of it by a greedy neighboring farmer who knew what the treasure was really worth.

Here is an account of the of the same story and photos of the treasure from the British Museum, where it is kept to this day:
https://blog.britishmuseum.org/2012/03/29/roald-dahl-and-the-mildenhall-treasure/

Harlem Hellfighters

Harlem Hellfighters 
by J. Patrick Lewis and Gary Kelley

This gorgeous and intense picture book tells the true story--in free-verse poetry--of the 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I.
In 1917 a brave group of 2,000 black Americans enlisted and  became known as the Harlem Hellfighters; some of these young men played instruments in a famous band that brought the music of Harlem, New York, straight into the war raging in France.
Faced with racism in the United States, the Harlem Hellfighters returned victorious when the war was over, helping to make progress towards equal rights for all African Americans--that were still a long time coming.



Below, Lt. James Reese Europe, famous jazz
band leader, back with the 369th Regiment.
More photos and information about the Harlem Hellfighers at: www.archives.gov/education/lessons/369th-infantry

Revolution

Revolution
By Deborah Wiles

This is a hefty book, almost 500 pages. But along with the gripping Civil Rights-era story are pages of photos, leaflets, song lyrics and quotes from the Mississippi Freedom Summer project in 1964.
"The overthrowing of Jim Crow [state laws] by the federal government was a revolution. And it came with its battles. One of those battles was Freedom Summer," writes the author in the book's afterword.
Revolution is an incredible documentary novel about what it took to ensure African Americans in the south could vote and access their rights as citizens of this country. It truly took a  revolution.

Vango

Vango: Between Sky and Earth
 By Timothée de Fombelle

This is a cliff hanger, no doubt...good thing the second book is now out (Vango: A Prince Without a Kingdom)!
An action-packed adventure that includes some WWII history--and even a photograph of the giant "airship" blimp, the Graf Zeppelin--this is the story of one very interesting boy, Vango. Mysteriously orphaned as a toddler, he travels the globe seeking refuge from enemies while trying to uncover his past. Along the way he meets and befriends some colorful characters: a pirate/priest on a secret island, an orphaned girl who lives in a castle in Scotland, the captain of the Graf Zeppelin in Germany, and many others. Always running (or scaling buildings or trains or the Eiffel Tower or other tall structures), Vango somehow manages to survive one crazy adventure after another!

Fair Weather

Fair Weather
By Richard Peck

I've been noticing all of these books by Richard Peck on the library shelves--some with gold or silver book award stickers--and I'd never read a single one. So I borrowed this, read it, and now I can't wait to read all the others!
It's 1893, the year of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and Rosie and her older sister, little brother and goofy grandpa head from their isolated farm by train to experience the magic and wonder of the big city and the Fair. Electric lights, running water, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, the world's first Ferris wheel and many other marvels await them....
Richard Peck describes the time period in such wonderful detail, I felt like I was right there, and I learned quite a lot about both country life and city life at the turn of the last century!

Bomb

Bomb: The race to build--and steal--the world's most dangerous weapon
By Steve Sheinkin

Steve Sheinkin tells the gripping true tale of the construction of the first atomic bomb, dropped on Japan and ultimately ending WWII.
A story chock full of the world's "greatest scientists,  the most expert spies, hardened military commandos, and some of the most ruthless dictators who ever lived. The prize: military dominance over the entire world."
Read and find out what it took to build such a weapon, and why it is so important for countries to avoid using them now.

Caminar

Caminar
By Skila Brown

April is National Poetry Month, a perfect time to read a book written entirely in free-verse poetry!

Caminar is an intense, moving story of a Guatemalan boy, Carlos, who flees into the jungle when his remote village is attacked by the Guatemalan military. From his hiding place, Carlos hears his neighbors and family being massacred.

He survives alone until he meets a small band of guerrillas--a rebel group, striving to overcome the military soldiers--heading toward a mountain camp. Not understanding the reasons for the war happening in his country, Carlos grapples with who he should trust, and what responsibilities he must now have.

In beautiful language, the author focuses on the results of the violence on small, rural villages during the horrible Civil War in Guatemala in the 1980's. Although this story is fictionalized, it is in many ways an accurate account of what really happened during that time, and the recovery afterward--that continues in Guatemala to this day.

Breaking Stalin's Nose

Breaking Stalin's Nose
By Eugene Yelchin

Maybe the Soviet Union sounds like ancient history to you...but I studied this country and the Russian language all through middle and high school--and college--and it wasn't all that long ago that the giant Soviet Union collapsed!

The brutal dictator Joseph Stalin was before my time--he ruled Russia from 1923 to 1953, but his iron fist and reign of terror had an enduring impact and instilled fear in the Soviet citizens for years and years.

Breaking Stalin's Nose is an illustrated novel and a fascinating account of 2 days in the life of 10-year-old Sasha, a passionate Communist excited to join the Young Pioneers and uphold the dreams of Communism.

Unfortunately his dreams are shattered when his father, who works in the State Security, is arrested and the awful truth of Stalin's power is revealed to poor Sasha.


Another book about Communism and the Soviet Union I read and wrote about in this blog is Laika, a graphic novel about the Soviet space program, a little dog, and the government's hiding of the truth.

Bridge of Time

Bridge of Time
By Lewis Buzbee

This is a fun time travel story, mostly because it's set right here in San Francisco!
Middle schoolers Lee Jones and Joan Lee are best friends, and both have just heard that their parents are planning to divorce...the next morning, while on a boring school field trip to Fort Point, they are suddenly transported back in time to 1864. And who do they run into? Mark Twain (who introduces himself as Sam Clemens).
They have many crazy adventures while learning some unpleasant history lessons, especially with regard to how Chinese immigrants were first treated in San Francisco. And they travel to some other time periods in the City, too, including the future.

Queen of the Falls

Queen of the Falls
By Chris Van Allsburg

I'm a big fan of all of Chris Van Allsburg's books. I love his detailed illustrations--sometimes creepy, sometimes haunting--and the unusual stories that accompany these pictures. Queen of the Falls is the biography of an unusual and little-known woman who, at age 62, climbed into a wooden barrel and plummeted over Niagara Falls in an attempt at fame and fortune! She survived, but didn't make a lot of money for her efforts, even though it was a very daring feat. That was in 1901! Annie Taylor remains the only woman to have ever gone over the falls alone (and only one of nine who have survived the trip at all).

Trains

Trains
By Lynn Curlee

This is a super interesting history of railroads--from the first steam engines to the development of high speed "maglev" trains (in Europe, China and Japan) that can go up to 300 miles per hour!
It gave me some perspective on the importance of the building of the transcontinental railroad, and how it was crucial to the shaping of the U.S.
And this book also reminds readers that while many train lines have been replaced by highways in this country, trains continue to play a big role in transportation in most other countries.