![]() Thanks to illustrator Susie Ghahremani at for creating the typewriter-tree for our post. 3 Favorite Reads of 2017: 2 Historicals Plus a Mod.It’s here, it’s here! Every writer’s favorite gifting list!. ![]() Absolutely harrowing, riveting and ultimately, redemptive. I hate when people say things like "I stayed up all night to finish this book" but.I stayed up all night to finish this book. The school is the center that brings together the stories of several other narratives, but Dita's POV is the most important. Unexpected "inspections" by Mengele and his minions keeps Dita in constant peril, to keep the books from discovery. Wells A Short History of the World among others-would mean the immediate end of BIIb and it's inhabitants. The discovery of this motley collection-a math text, a Russian grammar, copies of Freud and H.G. But why? And for how long? This sense of living from minute to minute, always wondering how long this "luck" will hold out, drives the story relentlessly.īased on the real life story of 14-year-old Dita Poach Kraus, and several others, the fictional Dita discovers a secret school for the children, run by the charismatic young Fredy Hirsch (another real-life character) Although too old to be a student, Dita inveigles her way into becoming the keeper of the library-a precious collection of eight books, smuggled from the possessions of less fortunate prisoners. Most importantly, families, including young children and old people, are kept together within the confines of BIIb. Inmates are allowed to wear their own clothes and keep their hair. Joseph Mengele, BIIb is a world apart from the rest of Auschwitz. A library in Auschwitz? As it turned out, the "library" was much more than books, but a collection of teachers and students, who for mysterious reasons, live in the "privileged" family camp, BIIb. The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbi, translated from Italian by Lilit Thwaites (Godwin Books/Henry Holt, 2017) Historical fiction:YAĪs a former librarian and someone who has read a lot of Holocaust history, the title grabbed me first. Other terrific graphic novels this year (and all geared for middle school): All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson (author of last year's fabulous Roller Girl), Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson, Brave by Svetlana Chamakova (the main character is male) and Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier Because I so identified with Shannon, I felt a real catharsis at the book's end. This is a darker, more mature story than Sunny. Shannon could just as easily have been Catholic or Lutheran or Jewish. That Shannon is Mormon serves gives her a moral compass to guide her, although the religious aspect is described in the most general of terms. Yep-this could've been my story (minus the bullying sibling) only fifteen years earlier and two thousand miles away. Although there are details specific to Hale's own life (the middle child of a large Mormon family in Salt Lake City), her woes are universal mean girls at school, a bullying big sister at home (who is sometimes depicted as a large, menacing bear!), chronic stomach aches from stress. by LeUyen Pham (First Second, 2017) Real Friends is also a new-kid-in-middle-school story, but with more emphasis on the most traumatic aspect of the grade-to-middle-school transition-the loss of old friends, the frustration of finding one new "true friend." Since the main character is "Shannon," the reader assumes that this is the author's own story. Middle grade: Real Friends by Shannon Hale, ill. And I just now realized they are semi-autobiographical stories, taking place in the late 1970's (You've never seen so many illustrations of wall-mounted, push-button telephones!) At least they are for different age groups. ![]() I love graphic novels so much, and there were so many good ones this year, I cheated and picked two. This is a world you can lose yourself in. Each and every one -from Joey's Robinson-worshipping little brother David and BFF Ben, to the grocery's customers in this Jewish neighborhood-all are fully developed, and play an important role in Joey's story. Woven throughout is the story of Jackie Robinson's season with the minor league Montreal Royals, with quotes from contemporary sports writers at the beginning each chapter. Wolfe (!!!), a man with a record, but who can also make money. In his quest of "a big house on the West Side," Joey unwittingly becomes a pawn of his best friend's father, Mr. Resentful of his father's death and the family's poverty, Joey is determined to become a "big businessman," pursuing money and success at the expense of his own honest nature. ![]() In 1946 Montreal, 12-year-old Joey Grosser struggles to keep his dead father's grocery alive. Best historical fiction: Middle grade and up: Clutch by Heather Camlot (Red Deer Press, 2017)
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