Posts Tagged «historical fiction»
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
by Ying Chang Compestine, 249 pages, Grades 5-8
Ling is nine, her parents are both doctors and they live in China surrounded by neighbors who are their friends. Little by little the China they know begins to change around them. The young people call themselves revolutionaries and say they value equality for all, but soon their chants “Down with the bourgeois!” and actions turn against people like Ling’s parents who have been educated. Ling faces challenges of school bullies, the disappearance of friends and family, the lack of food and necessities as well as the abuse of loved ones as the China she knew transforms into a different place entirely.
If you would like to read more about this time period you might also enjoy a biography called: Red Scarf Girl, by Ji-ling Jiang, or Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, by Chun Yu
Click here to see if it’s available for check out.
Tags: families, historical fiction, resilience, revolution, sad stories, war
Posted in Library News | Comments Off
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
by Gloria Whelan, 209 pages, Grades 6 and up
_
Rosalind, an English girl growing up in India, prefers to spend her days exploring the city streets and bazaar with her friend Isha, but her parents don’t know that. Her father is away at war and her mother is still grieving over Rosalind’s brother who died while he was away at school in England. It is her brother’s death that made it possible for Rosalind to remain in India – her mother cannot bare to part with her only child now even though most British children are educated in England – but her father is becoming concerned about Rosalind’s education and behavior; her disobedient, unconventional ways might get her sent to England after all, and just as she is becoming interested in Indian politics, in particular a dynamic leader working for India’s independence through peaceful protest named Ghandi.
If you enjoy this book you may also like other titles by Gloria Whelan including: Parade of Shadows, Homeless Bird, or Angel on the Square. They are all historical fiction novels with strong female characters.
Click here to see if it’s available for check out.
Tags: coming of age, families, historical fiction, multicultural, prejudices, race relations
Posted in Library News | Comments Off
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
by Linda Sue Park, 120 pages, Grades 5-8
_
Salva is at school when they attack. The teacher sends the boys running out the back door and into the forest to get away from the invading rebel soldiers.
This is the beginning of Salva’s journey through southern Sudan into Ethiopia on the run from the war sweeping his country, and he is on his own; he was separated from his family when their village was attacked.
This novel is based on the true life of Salva Dut who now lives in the United States and has started an organization that digs wells to help people in the country where he grew up.
Tags: adventure, families, historical fiction, multicultural, realistic fiction, survival, war
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Sunday, September 4th, 2011
by Christopher Paul Curtis, 341 pages, Grades 6-8
Elijah wishes he was not quite so fragile. He can take off running when he sees a snake, or might feel like crying when someone tells the sad story of escaping from slavery in America. His parents worry that his fragile nature might make his life difficult, but it is that very nature that turns him into a hero.
Buxton was a real town established in 1849 by an American abolitionist who hoped to give people escaping American slavery a place to live as free human beings. The story of Elijah is fictional, but things that happen are realistic for the time and place.
Even though his family thinks he is a delicate soul, Elijah finds courage deep inside himself and takes a lot of risks to do the right thing. It is a dangerous time to be African American; Elijah’s adventure is truly heroic.
Connections: Christopher Paul Curtis is gifted at creating exciting stories that happen to be set in realistic times in history. If you like Elijah of Buxton, you might also like Bud Not Buddy, or The Watson’s Go to Birmingham, both by Curtis as well.
Tags: African Americans, coming of age, families, historical fiction, identity, multicultural
Posted in Library News | Comments Off
Friday, June 3rd, 2011
by Maryrose Wood, 278 pages, Grades 7 and up.
Even Jesamine, who is the daughter of the apothecary and a skilled gardener, is not allowed beyond the locked gate of the poison garden. Jesamine lives with her father, who heals the sick in and around London, in a country house in the mid 1800s.
One day the man in charge of the local home for the insane delivers a mysterious young man he calls Weed to their doorstep. Jesamine’s father agrees to take him in even though he seems dangerous; he might be to blame for curing those in the asylum, and creating an epidemic of insanity in town.
The arrival of Weed reveals things to Jesamine that she has not realized about herself, about her father, and about the nature of poisons. Her life will never be the same.
If you like romance, mystery and fantasy you might also like Graceling, by Kristin Cashore, Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, or Matched by Allie Condie.
Tags: family problems, fantasy, historical fiction, love stories, mystery, teens
Posted in Library News | Comments Off
Sunday, April 24th, 2011
By Michaela MacColl, 367 pages Grades 7 & Up
Seventeen year-old Liza’s circumstances changed suddenly and for the worse. One day she was living a life of luxury in a fancy hotel with her parents and the next she is destitute, after her parents die in a carriage accident. Liza considers herself fortunate when she is hired to be the maid for the young princess (and soon to be queen), Victoria. She quickly finds herself caught up in the intrigue, with the previous maid mysteriously dismissed and the princess’s mother and confidante trying to take away control from the soon to be queen.
Connections: For other tales of enterprising orphans from other eras, try reading Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi, and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. If none of those appeal, a subject search in our OPAC would reveal 190 books with the tracing of “orphan.”
Tags: Great Britain, historical fiction, household employees, lies, London, orphans, Queen Victoria, self-reliance, Spies
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Friday, September 24th, 2010
By Lian Hearn, p. 305 – adventure
Takeo has never known his father, who died many years before, and he has been growing up in a remote and peaceful Japanese village surrounded by the rest of his loving family. The rest of Japan is not so; it is a time of warlords, and secret societies in the middle ages, and Takeo’s home is attacked and destroyed by a warlord named Iida who is threatening to take over the whole country. When Takeo returns from a walk in the woods and sees his village burning, something inside him takes over. He scares the warlord’s horse and causes Iida to fall to the ground. Understanding his fatal blunder, he runs back into the woods chased by the warlord’s soldiers. They all run into a man on horseback who fights for Takeo, cutting off the arm of one of Iida’s best warriors. This mysterious man turns out to be a lord of the Otori clan, another of the powerful families of Japan.
Takeo’s life changes completely from this day forward. He is adopted by the Otori and he discovers his father was a famous assassin. He also finds out his real heritage is the Tribe, a kind of secret ninja society; he possesses some of the Tribe’s extraordinary abilities. He can hear details across a crowded courtyard, or through a wooden door, he can make himself “go invisible” and become as silent as a ghost.
In these turbulent times, talents like these are desired by many, and Takeo finds himself pulled in different directions, but he is determined to complete the final task for his adopted father: kill Iida, the same lord who burned his village and killed his family. The trouble is the only way to reach the warlord in his palace is to cross the nightingale floor, a huge room covered in a floor that sings whenever anyone touches it. How can he cross the nightingale floor and avenge his family?
Connections: For other stories taking place in medieval Japan try The Samurai’s Tale, by Erik Christian Haugaard, or The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass: A Samurai Mystery, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler.
Tags: adventure, coming of age, families, fantasy, historical fiction, identity, love stories, orphans, outsiders, survival, teenagers, teens
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
by Jacqueline Kelly p. 340 Grades 5-8
All twelve-year old Calpurnia Tate wants is to become a scientist. She’s spent the long hot summer of 1899 in the small town of Fentress, Texas, as an amateur naturalist recording her observations of and questions about nature in a notebook–questions such as, “ Why don’t caterpillars have eyelids?” She finally thinks her parents understand her and acknowledge her dream when she begins to unwrap her birthday present from them. It’s a book, and the first word of the title is Science. Unfortunately, the whole title is The Science of Housewifery!
Calpurnia is the only daughter in a family of seven children. She has no interest in the traditional home arts a young girl at the turn of the century should be learning to make a good wife. Instead, she develops a close relationship with her reclusive grandfather, who encourages her to use the scientific method in her quest for answers about the natural world and his own quest for a new species.
This is a very entertaining read with an intelligent, spunky protagonist, family humor, sibling rivalry, and good science. Let’s hope for a sequel.
Connections: Each chapter of this novel begins with a quote from Darwin’s Origin of Species, so you may also want to read Charles Darwin : Naturalist by Margaret J. Anderson or Darwin’s Ghost: the Origin of Species updated by Steve Jones. Other good novels dealing with the theory of evolution are The True Adventures of Charley Darwin by Carolyn Meyer and Monkey Town by Ronald Kidd.
Tags: brothers and sisters, Darwin, evolution, families, fiction, gender, girls, historical fiction, humor, nineteenth century, scientific method, Texas
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
By Margarita Engle, 151 pages Grades 6 Up
In this novel-in-verse told in three voices, inspired by the diaries and letters of 19th century suffragette, Frederika Bremer, we learn about the many barriers women faced in Cuba. Frederika visits Cuba from Sweden and stays with a wealthy family whose daughter, Elena seems more confined by her society’s expectations for women than the family’s slave, Cecilia who travels with Frederika as her interpreter.
Connections: For other novels in verse, try reading Love that Dog by Sharon Creech or Out of the Dust or Witness by Karen Hesse.
Tags: Cuba, historical fiction, multiple perspectives, novels in verse, slavery, suffrage, women
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
By Debby Dahl Edwardson, 178 pages Grades 6-9
The mysterious blue bead in her grandmother’s sewing basket and the stories of her Inupiaq ancestors provide the grounding Blessing needs when she is forced to live with her grandmother in a remote village in northern Alaska while her alcoholic mother is in treatment. This novel, in two parts, starts in 1917 with the story of Blessing’s great-grandmother’s experiences with the arrival of Siberian traders and survival of the Spanish influenza epidemic.
Connections: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George is another story of a girl caught between worlds in Alaska. For a story that focuses on the effect of influenza on a small Alaskan village, read The Great Death byJohn Smelcer.
Tags: Alaska, alcoholism, family life, historical fiction, Ice Curtain, influenza, Inupaiq, traders, Tundras, villages
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
by Rita Williams-Garcia p. 218 Grades: 5-8
It’s the summer of 1968, and eleven-year-old Delphine flies from New York to Oakland with her two younger sisters to spend the summer, uninvited, with the mother who walked out on them when Delphine was seven and Fern was just a few days old. Her father feels the girls need to get to know their mother, but that does not make Cecile any more welcoming. In fact, she won’t even let the girls into her kitchen. Dinners are take-out food on the living room floor and breakfast is at the Black Panther summer camp. The girls are on their own, but each comes into her own that summer. Told from Delphine’s perspective, this is a lively, often humorous, story of resilience with characters you will come to know and love.
Connections: A novel about the Black Panther Party for older readers is The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon. Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers is set during the Harlem Renaissance, another significant period in African American history, and tells the story of another crazy summer.
Tags: 1968, African Americans, Black Panther Party, Black Panthers, California, Civil Rights Movement, historical fiction, mothers and daughters, multicultural, Oakland, poets, summer camps
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
by Ian Beck p. 353 Young Adult
In 2050, central London has been transformed into a theme park for modern day tourists to visit. These ”gawkers” fly in on an airship for a day or two to experience what life was like in Victorian London, including dangerous street crime and hangings. When seventeen-year-old Caleb flies in with his father, one of the originators of Pastworld, his father is kidnapped and Caleb is accused of murder. He meets beautiful and innocent Eve, a teenage inhabitant of Pastworld, and they become embroiled in a ScotlandYard investigation of a series of gruesome murders by the mysterious Fantom. This story is a compelling mix of science and historical fiction.
Connections: Another suspense novel with people living in an historical amusement park is Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix. Other great mysteries set in Victorian London are Montmorency by Eleanor Updale, Smith by John Garfield, and the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Tags: amusement parks, historical fiction, London, murder, mysteries, science fiction, suspense, Victorian London
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
By Lynda Durrant p. 171 Grades 5-8
What is perfection? When Rosemary Elizabeth arrives at the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, she has plenty of delicious food to eat, spotlessly clean, white clothes to wear and beautiful surroundings. She also gets to leave her drunk, abusive father and knows that her younger brother and sister are safe, too. But, can Rosemary Elizabeth live up to the Shaker ideal of perfection with all of the rules about eating, sleeping, dressing, working, praying and talking? Even if she can, does she want to?
Connections – Other stories that depict the impact of the Civil War on the youth is Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick.
Tags: abandoned children, brothers and sisters, Civil War, coming of age, community life, historical fiction, Kentucky, multicultural, self-reliance, Shakers
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
By Fran Cannon Slayton, 162 pages Grades 6-10
The B&O Railroad passes just outside Jimmy Cannon’s window, and since his dad is the foreman, the engineers hit the whistle every time they pass. Jimmy has learned to sleep with a pillow over his head, but on Halloween night in 1943, his brother Mike snatches away the pillow so they can sneak out and follow the Society to learn their secrets. On Halloween night, 1944, and Jimmy and his buddies (the Platoon) are planning to use some rotten cabbages to get revenge against the local bully, Stubby Mars. On Halloween night, 1946, Jimmy and the team are playing in the championship game of the first undefeated season in Rowlesburg High school history. Halloween happens to be Jimmy’s dad’s birthday and through Jimmy’s teen years the day (and night) always bring him something, including mysteries, antics, and heartache.
Connections: Another historical fiction book about working on the railroad is Dragon’s Gate by Laurence Yep. For another book set in the country, try reading Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech. Tony Johnston’s Bone by Bone by Bone is another historical fiction title with a complicated father and son relationship. To learn more about the book, the author or the railroad, check out the author’s website.
Tags: coming of age, country life, death, family, fathers and sons, historical fiction, railroads, West Virginia
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
By Audrey Couloumbis & Akila Couloumbis, 229 pages Grades 5-8
Before the Germans invaded their village in Greece, Petros fought with his brother, played marbles with his buddies and loved hearing stories about his heroic cousin fighting in the war. Now, people have left the village, neighbors can’t be trusted, and friends need help. In these trying times, twelve year-old Petros finds that even his services are essential to the war effort.
Connections: Hitler’s Canary by Sandy Toksvig and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry are other stories of kids involvement in the resistance during World War II.
Tags: brothers, coming of age, Greece, historical fiction, occupation, resistance, underground movements, World War II
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Friday, February 26th, 2010
by Joseh Helgerson p. 279 Grades: 6-8
Twelve-year-old Zebulon Crabtree is angry with his father for shipping him off on a Mississippi riverboat to St. Louis to become a tanner’s apprentice. He quickly decides to disobey his dad when Chilly Larpenteur, a cardshark and con man, tricks him out of his money and convinces Zeb to join his racket. Zeb pretty much becomes Chilly’s prisoner, being locked in the cupboard of the gambling house each evening and forced to work the wire that signals Chilly about his opponent’s cards, so he can cheat. Zeb’s only hope is to escape, and with the help and friendship of a slave and a Hidasta Indian chief and his daughter, he may succeed. This is a humorous, rollicking adventure reminiscent of Mark Twain’s novels.
Connections: The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventues of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by W. R. Philbrick.
Tags: adventure, boys, cards, cheats, con men, historical fiction, humor, Mississippi River, Native Americans, slavery, St. Louis, swindlers
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Monday, January 25th, 2010
by Elisa Carbone p. 224 Grades 5-8
Barely escaping the gallows in London, orphan Sam Collier finds himself the page to Captain John Smith and on his way to the New World to help settle the Jamestown colony. Smith believes the survival skills Sam has honed on the streets of London and even his violent temper will make him a successful settler in this challenging new frontier. Captain Smith faces challenges of his own. Although he has a good relationship with the Powhatan, the British aristocrats resent the leadership role he’s taken and do everything in their power to undermine and even arrest him. This is gripping historical fiction, based on primary source documents, that presents the Indian perspective as well as the colonial.
Connections: The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac, A Pickpocket’s Tale by Karen Schwabach, and The light in the Forest by Conrad Richter are other good novels about the Colonial Period in America.
Tags: adventure, American Indians, British colonies, Captain John Smith, Colonial America, Colonial Period, frontier and pioneer life, historical fiction, James Town, Jamestown, Native Americans, orphans, Pocahontas, Powhatan, survival, United States history
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Monday, January 25th, 2010
by Kekla Magoon p. 283 Grades: 7-10
Fourteen-year-old Sam is caught between a rock and a hard place. It’s Chicago 1968. His father, a close friend of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, is a lawyer and Civil Rights leader who has been organizing nonviolent protests and demonstrations most of Sam’s life. His seventeen-year-old brother Stick is impatient with the nonviolent approach, and after King’s assassination, joins the militant Black Panther Party. Sam’s life is thrown into further turmoil when he witnesses the brutal police beating and arrest of an innocent Black teenager and finds a gun hidden in the bedroom he shares with his brother. This wrenching story propels the reader along with Sam toward his ultimate decision: will he be the rock or the river? Through Sam’s personal story, the reader comes to understand how 1968 was the year that the Civil Rights Movement changed course.
Connections: Freedom Songs by Yvette Moore is another novel about the Civil Rights Movement. Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe tells the infamous story of Emmett Till, a fourteen year-old African American boy from Chicago who was kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi. Our library owns many nonfiction books about the Civil Rights Movement. One of special interest is Freedom’s Children : Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories by Ellen Levine.
Tags: 1968, African Americans, Black Panther Party, brothers, Chicago, Civil Rights Movement, historical fiction, history, mulitcultural, nonviolence, racism
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
by Sherri L. Smith p. 271 Grades 6-8
It’s World War II, and the Japanese and Germans aren’t the only enemies. On the homefront, Ida Mae Jones is fighting racism and sexism. All she wants to do is become a pilot and to help in the war effort. The U.S. government has formed the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), but they won’t accept African Americans (“colored”) into what was still the segregated armed services. Risking her life and disappointing her family, Ida Mae decides to pass for white by joining up and reporting for training in Texas, where enforcement of Jim Crow laws was especially harsh. To avoid the constant threat of danger, Ida Mae must skillfully maneuver not only her airplane but also her relationships so that her true identity is not discovered.
Connections: To learn more about women pilots in World War II, read Yankee Doodle Gals: Women Pilots of World War II by Amy Nathan.
Tags: African Americans, flying, historical fiction, multicultural, pilots, racism, WASP, women, women's rights, World War II
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
by Kashmira Sheth p. 272 Grades: 6-8
Twelve-year-old Leela, betrothed at age two and married at age nine, suddenly becomes a widow when the husband whom she’s never lived with dies in a tragic accident.
It’s 1918 in Gujarat, India, and widows are not allowed to remarry nor to participate in community celebrations or activities. They are viewed as bad luck and must shave their heads and spend the first year in their parents’ home “keeping corner.” Life seems over for Leela until a tutor arrives to help her get an education. Gandhi is not only working toward freeing India from British rule but also for women’s rights, especially rights for young widows. This compelling story shows a young, self-absorbed girl growing into an accomplished, confident young woman against the backdrop of India’s independence movement.
Connections: Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelen also tells the story of a teenage widow, but in contemporary India. Neela by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells the story of Gandhi and the Independence Movement. Kashmira Sheth’s other novels are also excellent: Blue Jasmine and Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet.
Tags: family life, Gandhi, girls, historical fiction, history, India, multicultural, widows, women's rights
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
by Dene Low. p. 196 Grades 5-8
What a funny, frothy farce! Set in Victorian England, this improbable mystery concerns sixteen-year-old Petronella who is about to have her London debut when her guardian Uncle Augustus swallows a giant beetle and develops an insatiable hunger for all insects. The story begins at Petronella’s sixteenth birthday party on her large country estate where her uncle swallows the bug, two of her celebrity guests disappear, and we meet the romantic Lord James Sinclair. Filled with Petronella’s witty observations and banter, lots of slapstick, luscious language,and some romantic possibilities, this books is a delight to read.
Connections: If you enjoy this book, try the short stories and novels by P.G. Wodehouse such as How Right You Are, Jeeves, Carry on, Jeeves, and Leave It to Psmith.
Tags: adventure, girls, guardians, historical fiction, humor, insects, London, melodrama, mystery, orphans, romance, teens, uncles, Victorian England
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
by M. J. Auch p. 246 Grades: 5-8
The summer before sixth grade, Norm loses his left hand when it gets caught in a meat grinder. Poor kid! His mom’s not cutting him any slack, and his dreams of making the baseball team seem hopeless–until he hears about a one-handed major league baseball player and a customer gives him a right-handed baseball mitt. Now it’s up to Norm.
Connections: Here’s some other great baseball fiction: Hang Tough Paul Mather by Alfred Slote; Some Kind of Pride by Maria Testa; Choosing Up Sides by John Ritter; High Heat by Carl Deuker; and Hard Ball byWill Weaver. Browse 796.357 for baseball nonfiction and search baseball biography in the catalog for famous players.
Tags: baseball, cooking, determination, disabilities, friendship, historical fiction, humor, multicultural, post-World War II, resilience
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
by Shenaaz Nanji, p. 210 Grades: 7-10
What do you do when your whole world seems to be falling down around you? Do you deny that it is happening? In 1972, when President Idi Amin of Uganda gave all foreign Indians 90 days to leave the country, fifteen year-old Sabine didn’t think that included her family, as they were all Ugandan citizens. When her uncle disappears mysteriously, she convinces herself that he will turn up soon. When her best friend, Zena turns against her, Sabine hopes she will come around eventually. But, when the soldiers come looking for her father . . .
Connections: Some other stories that deal with conflict between different groups within one country include Girl of Kosovo by Alice Mead, Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata, or Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
Tags: ethnic relations, family life, forced migration, friendship, historical fiction, Idi Amin, multicultural, prejudices, race relations, Shenaaz Nanji, Uganda, Young Adult
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
by Kristin Levine, p. 264 – Grades 6-9
While many of the townspeople in early 20th century Moundville, Alabama were shocked at the arrival of the new African-American postmaster, twelve-year old Dit was disappointed when he realized the postmaster’s child, Emma, was a girl rather than the playmate he had been hoping for. Adventuresome Dit is sure that he will never enjoy spending time with bookish, refined Emma, but he grudgingly shows her around and eventually the two end up finding common ground in the digging of a fort in Dit’s favorite hill mound. With the start of school in the fall, Dit comes to more fully understand the realities of the Jim Crow laws as Emma is forced to go to a different school and his buddies tease him about their friendship. Racial tensions in the town really erupt when the the town’s African American barber is charged with a crime against the overtly racist sheriff, and as witnesses to the crime, Dit and Emma can’t help but get involved.
Connection: For another story about a friendship challenged by racism, read Tony Johnston’s Bone by Bone by Bone.
Tags: Alabama, country life, family life, friendship, historical fiction, history 1819-1950, Kristin Levine, multicultural, prejudices, race relations
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
by Donna Jo Napoli, p. 280 – Grades 7-10
Fourteen year-old Calogero lives with his four uncles and one cousin in the small town of Tallulah, Louisiana at the end of the 19th century. He has left his four year-old brother behind in Sicily after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother. At a time of strong anti-immigrant sentiment and Jim Crow laws, the Sicilians are being forced to keep separate from not only the white but also the black members of the community. Calo’s secret crush on an African American girl, Patricia, and the success of the family’s produce market provide the fuel to feed the flames of racism in this small town.
Connection: The King of Mulberry Street is another novel, by Donna Jo Napoli, that describes the experience of Italian American immigrants (in New York City).
Tags: country life, Donna Jo Napoli, historical fiction, history 1865-1950, immigrant experience, Italian Americans, Jim Crow laws, Louisiana, love story, multicultural, prejudices, race relations, racism, uncles
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
by Sandy Toksvig, p. 191 – Grades 5-8
Bamse, just 10 when the Germans invaded Denmark, is coming of age during the occupation. He must decide whether to follow his brother in working with the Danish Resistance or listen to his father and stay out of trouble. His mother’s acting career and her theatrics provide the structure for the story as well as drama and comic relief. Bamse comes to realize that not all German’s are bad nor all Danish good, and why his friend Anton’s participation in the resistance is particularly dangerous/courageous. The author’s note explains what parts of this work of fiction come from her own family’s experiences.
Connection: This book might appeal to those who enjoyed Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. –CRW
Tags: Danish Resistance, Denmark, historical fiction, multicultural, Sandy Toksvig, World War II
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
Monday, April 27th, 2009
by Louise Erdrich, p. 193 – Grades 5-8
This third book in the series that started with the Birchbark House can stand alone. Omakayas is twelve as her family is forced, by increasing numbers of white settlers, to move westward through northern Minnesota from their original home on Madeline Island. The story picks up quickly with Omakayas and her younger brother being swept far down river through raging rapids. The family faces many dangers (human, nature and animal) while Omakayas moves through the uncharted territory of womanhood (changing relationships, responsibilities and romance).
Connection: Another story of personal growth along with voyages and travel is Sharon Creech’s Ruby Holler. –CRW
Tags: 19th century, adventure, coming of age, historical fiction, Indians of North America, Louise Erdrich, multicultural, Ojibwa Indians, voyages and travels
Posted in New Book Reviews | Comments Off
by Ying Chang Compestine, 249 pages, Grades 5-8
