Port Chicago 50

I am a Cybils second round judge. I am currently reading the all the nominated books in a fun "armchair readalong" way with the first round judges. My reviews and opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the work of the committee.

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights Steve Sheinkin

During WWII, the armed forces were still segregated. Black men who signed up were subjected to segregated mess halls (sometimes eating the cold leftovers of their white counterparts) and barracks, and given the most menial jobs. They were often treated even worse when they were off base.

In the Navy, black sailors were only allowed to be mess attendants when on a ship. They weren’t eligible for promotion. At California’s Port Chicago, they had to load ammunition onto ships. Only black sailors had to do this and they were not given any training on how to properly handle explosives. Their white commanding officers took bets on which Divisions could load the most, creating a hurried and unsafe atmosphere.

On July 17th, 1944, there was an explosion. A small one, then a big one. 320 men died (202 were black men loading ammunition.) Another 390 were injured (mostly due to flying glass when the shock wave blew out windows.) The 1200 foot pier was gone, as were the 2 battle ships being loaded. No one’s entirely sure what happened or why, because anyone who saw it was killed immediately.

On August 9th, the black sailors, some still recovering from their injuries, were told to go back to work loading ammunition. 258 (out of 328) refused, saying they would obey any order but that one. On August 11th, facing mutiny charges, 208 returned to work. The remaining 50 were charged.

The trail was a racist farce and all were found guilty, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, followed by dishonorable discharge. In 1946 their sentences were commuted and eventually all were discharged with honorable conditions (which is better than dishonorable, but not honorable. You can get VA benefits, but not the GI Bill). In 1999, President Clinton pardoned one of the mutineers, but many did not want a pardon--they wanted their convictions overturned.

Today, all of them have passed on. All of them are still convicted of mutiny.

No one will be surprised to hear that once again Steve Sheinkin has written a riveting account of history. It is a great one for WWII or Black History projects, or anyone interested in injustice, legal dramas, or the armed forces. In true Sheinkin fashion, he pulls in many threads--American racism, the Navy and War Department’s unwillingness to challenge that status quo, the personal stories of many of the sailors involved, the story of what was actually happening, and the impact it had in larger society then and today.

One thing I found interesting--Thurgood Marshall is introduced as an NAACP lawyer, working throughout the war to help defend black armed service personnel from racist persecution and injustice. He watched the trial and foughtfor years to appeal. But, it never mentions what Marshall goes on to eventually do. (I mean, it’s not like we all grow up to be Supreme Court Justices.)

There are many photographs throughout the text (unfortunately, a few have been blown up too largely and are pixelated) and I love the trim size--even though it’s written a bit younger than younger than Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weaponor The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery, but the trim size should entice older readers to pick it up.

It’s a story that many have sadly forgotten, but Sheinkin’s powerful storytelling will hopefully tell this story to many more readers.


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Anthony Doerr

This book guys, oh this book.

It starts in Saint Malo, with the Allied bombing. Hiding in her house is Marie-Laure, 16 and blind. Hiding in a basement with the rest of his unit is Werner, 18 and a German soldier. It then jumps back to Marie-Laure growing up with her father in Paris, losing her eyesight, spending her days in the Museum of Natural History where her father works. It jumps back to Werner, growing up with his sister Jutta in a children’s home, destined at 15 to go work in the same mines that killed his father, until his skills with radios and mechanics mark him for something greater.

It occasionally flashes forward to the “now” of the bombing and for the most part alternates between their two stories. Occasionally other stories interrupt. There is a storied diamond, spirited away from the museum before the invasion that the Nazis are looking for and Marie-Laure may or may not have. There is Jutta in the children’s home. There is the after. There is Marie-Laure reading 10000 Leagues Under the Sea in Braille, her uncle who hasn’t left the house since returning from WWI. There is Werner trying to survive the Nazi Youth academy. Huddled with his sister and his short-wave radio, listening to a French professor broadcasting science lessons to children. There is the resistance--Marie-Laure helping it, Werner tracking it and ending it.

The chapters are short--usually only a few pages, but the writing is so magical. I love Doerr’s rhythm. Each sentence is perfect. Most of them are short, like the chapters, but contain so much. I like that, despite the dual stories and occasional jump in time, it’s a fairly straight forward story, but perfectly executed. This is one of the best, if not THE best book I’ve read this year, maybe longer. It’s not the story is mind-blowing (although the story is very good) but just the language and rhythm and overall, such perfect writing. I wanted to show you some, but individual sentences don't stand out, it's how it all adds up.

Such, such perfect writing.

This book guys, oh this book.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Hollow City

Hollow City Ransom Riggs

This sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children picks up exactly where the last one left off. Having been a few years between books, it was a little confusing in the beginning as I tried to remember plot details and the world that Riggs has built.

Jacob and his friends are out of the loop, but still in the 1940s, traveling from their island to London, trying to find another ymbryne who can hopefully fix Miss Peregrine. Along the way they discover more about the Peculiar world, finding other loops and allies, all the while fighting hollows and wights. Of course, once they get to London, they still have to find another ymbryne (it’s not like they’re in the phone book) and deal with the dangers that the Blitz creates when you’re no longer in a timeloop. It all concludes in another wrenching ending that will leave us waiting desperately for the next book.

I do still love the interplay of the photos and the text, but I feel like the photos didn’t work quite as well--maybe because Riggs used all his best ones in the first book, of what needed to be illustrated wasn’t as peculiar, or because I was already used to it from the first book. I’m not sure why. I didn’t NOT work, it just wasn’t as awesome as the first book in that regard. It is still really well designed as a book though. I like the brown papers marking new chapters--it really adds to the feel created by the photographs and the story--retro paranormal, as well.

I did like the further exploration of the world, and the problems with their weird place in time--being out of a loop, but not being in the present creates issues. Some of the things I liked about the first one aren’t here there-- there’s not that is he/isn’t he on Jacob’s reliableness as a narrator. There’s not the slow reveal of this other world, or the slowly building tension--this is a lot more fast-moving action-- and I think that’s where the story needed to go, but it didn’t wow me in the same way. That’s not to say I didn’t like it--I liked it a lot, I just wasn’t as absolutely floored by it the same way I was floored by Miss Peregrine. I do look forward to getting back into the this world with the next book--I just hope it doesn’t take two years before it comes out!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

So, I finally read this. FINALLY.

Good lord people. I know you said it was good, but HOLY MOLY it's amazing. I was worried because I knew some stuff going into it. Like, I didn't know any plot twists, but I knew that there were a lot of them. I knew the narrator wasn't totally reliable. I was worried that knowing this would somehow lessen the impact when I came across them in the narrative.

Nope.

Queenie is a British spy, caught behind enemy lines after her plane crashes into German-occupied France. She's in prison, regularly interrogated by the Gestapo. She is a coward and has caved. If she tells them everything she knows, she can survive a little while longer. If she tells them everything, hopefully she will only face the firing squad instead of being sent to Ravensbruck to be worked to death. If she is lucky.

In addition to her guilt at collaborating, there is the guilt over the death of the pilot of the plane and Queenie's best friend. Her confession tells their story of friendship and loyalty and ultimate disaster over French skies.

The fact that Queenie is not entirely reliable should be fairly obvious-- the text of the book is her written confession (and Gestapo notes). She includes things meant to poke fun at her interrogators and get them into trouble.

It is a very hard book to talk about without just spilling EVERYTHING about it.

It is exquisitely and precisely crafted, yes. But it is also a wonderful story of friendship and adventure. Lots of talks of planes and flying (Wein herself is a pilot and it shows). Parts of it are very, very grim. I mean, it takes place in a Gestapo prison, it's going to be very, very grim.

I love that a spy book for teens can also be this literary. I love that the historical fiction doesn't seem very olden timey, while still being accurate.

This has won a million awards so far, and it deserves them, and I think its one that teens will also enjoy.

I love, love, love this book and can't wait for Wein's next, Rose Under Fire, which is about a female pilot that does end up at Ravensbruck, and comes out in September.


ARC Provided by... the publisher, at ALA

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

The Lily Pond

The Lily Pond Annika Thor, translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck

In this sequel to A Faraway Island, Stephie is on the mainland, studying at school and lodging with Soderbergs. Unfortunately, the Soderbergs aren't as warm as Stephie expected. She's to eat her meals in the kitchen and once Mrs. Soderberg keeps her from going back to the island one weekend because she's throwing a big party. Stephie's excited to attend, until she discovers that she's to be hired help, not a guest.

The one highlight of the Soderberg home is Sven, on whom Stephie quickly develops a crush (oh, such a painful storyline to read.)

In addition, on the mainland, Stephie learns that the Nazi threat grows ever closer and even though Sweden is a neutral country, there are more than a few Nazi sympathizers. And, of course, letters from home show how desperate the situation is getting for her parents-- for modern readers who know what the truth ends up being about the fate of some many European Jews, it is heartbreaking to read, and rage-inducing to read the reactions of the Swedish adults Stephie tries to get to help her family.

There are four books in this series and I cannot wait for the next two to come out in the US. Sadly, there was a two-year lag between the first and second one. Maybe they'll speed up the publication cycle because the first two have both won awards? I don't want to wait until 2015 to see how it all turns out!!!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

A Faraway Island

A Faraway Island Annika Thor, translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck

After Kristellnacht, Stephie and her sister Nellie are one of 500 Jewish children that the Swedish government allows in to live with Swedish families. They're placed on a small island off the coast in a fishing village-- a far cry from their life in Vienna with their doctor father and former opera singer mother. Even worse, they're not put with different families. Nellie soon takes to life with Auntie Alma and her three young children, but Stephie has a harder time with Aunt Marta, who seems cold and distant. Nellie is instantly popular in school, but Stephie's only friend is from the Pentacostal church she's forced to attend with Aunt Marta and the Queen Bee has a special dislike of her. But it's only for 6 months. Then her parents will get visas and they'll all live together again, this time in America.

There are a million things to love about this novel. I liked that even though Stephie struggled, she wasn't a brat. After what she had lived through in Vienna, she knows she's lucky to be there and she's very open-minded about the cultural shift. Even when she's miserable and wants to go home, she doesn't let Aunt Marta know. I'd be interested to see how children view Marta versus adult readers. Stephie thinks she's mean and doesn't like her. As an adult reader, I think Marta's just reserved and doesn't have a clear idea of how to relate to a 12-year-old girl or understand what's important to them (I think this is most evidenced in the incident with the bathing suit and the Saint Lucia dress.) I like that a lot of the treatment that Stephie and Nellie receive, especially at the hand so of the Refugee Committee isn't great, but isn't demonized. It is what it is. This could easily have been a fictional misery memoir. It's not a rosy situation, but Thor does a good job of showing the good and the bad so it ends up somewhere between. A lot of this is due to Stephie's inner strength and drive.

I was also really intrigued by the religious issue. Stephie and Nellie are (obviously) Jewish. Marta and Alma are Pentacostal and some of the more religious people on the island. No secular music, rather strict keeping of the Sabbath. Stephie's not a huge fan, but doesn't protest. Her only real complaint is the picture of Jesus in her bedroom. But early on, when the girls go to church with their foster families, the sisters find the choir music so beautiful they start crying. Marta and Alma thinks they've found Jesus and in a giant misunderstanding of practice and language, the sisters find themselves Christian by the end of the night. I found it interesting because Marta and Alma's actions aren't painted as cruel or mean, just a bit clueless. Stephie and Nellie don't protest because it seems easier to go with it and it's not like there's a temple on the island.

Besides, it's only for 6 months.

I also adored the author's note at the end. Not only did it give background to the Holocaust, growing up Jewish in Sweden, and the history of the 500 children that Sweden took in, but Thor explains some stylistic choices as well. One is that the book is in present tense (usually present tense takes a while for me to get into, but I frankly didn't notice until I read the note) because Thor "didn't want to tell Stephie's story as historical, but as a story in the here and now. Today, too, children and young people have to escape from their countries, leaving their families behind. And even today, the care we give to refugee children who arrive alone, in Sweden and other wealth nations is not what it ought to be." Her other stylistic choice was third person narration that focuses on Stephie, because she feels that first person narration is best left to actual survivors.

This is the first in a quartet of books about Stephie and Nellie. The first two are currently available in English in the US. A Faraway Island won the Batchelder award for translation in 2010. The Lily Pond was an honor this year. I'm confident we'll see the next two books come out in the next few years. I can't wait.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Soldier Bear

Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak, translated from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson

With the partition of Poland at the beginning of WWII, members of the Polish army were taken prisoner, either by Germany or the USSR, depending what side of the border you were one. Once Germany declared war on the USSR, the Soviets let the Poles go, hoping they'd join the Soviet army. Many fled south, crossed the border into Iran, and joined up with the British.

One group of Polish prisoners making their way to the British found a bear cub. They name him Voytek and he becomes a private in the Polish army, getting into mischief and causing mayhem, but also helping to haul munitions and keeping everyone's spirits up.

It's a fun, light read, despite the horror of war. While the soldiers see some horrible things and are afraid, the book doesn't dwell there. Usually, Voytek does something silly to make everyone (including the reader) feel better. It's very episodic, which is not my cup of tea at all.

It's based on real events, and the back has photos of the real Private Voytek. There is not, however, any end matter explaining a little more about WWII (the politics at play here are complicated, and not all explained in the text) as well as detailing what parts of the story are true and what parts aren't.

It's funny, and I think kids will like it. Voytek is not the only animal in the unit and his antics, as well as those of Kaska the monkey and the various dogs are sure to delight child readers. It's a great WWII story that will appeal to both boy and girl readers and shows a different theater than we usually see in the literature. (North Africa and Italy.)

I think I would have really liked this one as a kid. As an adult, I don't dislike it, but it also didn't do much for me. Probably because of the episodic plot.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Ghosts in the Fog

Ghosts in the Fog: The Untold Story of Alaska's WWII Invasion Samantha Seiple

How’s this for an opening?

On June 7, 1942, Japan invaded Alaska.

On June 10, 1942, the U.S. Navy denied that it happened: “None of our inhabited islands or rocks are troubled with uninvited visitors up to this time.”

This is a terrifying story on several levels.

The Japanese invaded small villages in the Western Aleutian islands. They invaded military installations. The Pacific fleet had taken a huge hit 6 months early in Pearl Harbor and most of what was left was finishing up the epic battle at Midway. The small part of the navy that was supposed to protect the giant Alaska was 1000 miles away, ignoring the intelligence and thinking the Japanese would attack further east.

Throughout the Aleutians is the oppressive fog that kept the Americans from being able to see their enemy.

The battles were bloody, hand-to-hand combat and absolutely horrific for both sides.

At the same time an entire village of Aleuts had been taken back to Japan as POWs where they were starved and beaten. The ones that had been evacuated by the navy (and only the Aleuts were mandatory evacuated. White people could stay.) had it just has bad. Overcrowded conditions with no running water or electricity. Disease swept through the evacuation camps with no medical care or supplies. Able-bodied men were put to (largely unpaid) work and taken away from their dying families.

Seiple tells this tale with tension and suspense, while still making it age-appropriate for middle school. Lots of pictures illustrate the text.

I wanted a little more about the civilian issues and a more detailed map, but overall this is a gripping book. The history is unknown, and the writing style keeps the pages turning. Highly recommended.

Today's Nonfiction Monday roundup is over at Apples with Many Seeds.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Year of the Historical: Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures Kathryn and Stuart Immonen

I picked this up after reading Unshelved's Book Club strip on it.

Two stories-- one of how Ila stayed in Paris during occupation to look after the art at the Louvre, to help value it, to help ship it out to be hidden from the Nazis. How she watches her senior collegues escape with the art and she stays, even after the Nazis have taken control of the museum.

The second story is Ila being interrogated by her Nazi boss, theoretically about the missing art, but about other things as well that the reader can only guess at until we get to the various points in the first story.

The art is very angular, with a good use of solid black fill to create a wonderful sense of oppression and foreboding.

At the same time, it's a subtle book, with a lot left unsaid, a lot to be read between the lines (both the lines of dialogue and the lines of their faces).

It's amazing what a hard time I have with subtle books these days. I often finish one and go "huh?" and have to reread it. There's so much written, especially for kids and teens (the bulk of my reading) that's not subtle. Most things are laid out pretty clearly for the reader. It's a good reminder for me to come across a book that I don't initially understand. It reminds me to slow down and to think as I read. Sometimes, being caught up in the story isn't enough.

This story, though, is worth the effort to stop and think and to read between the lines.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Year of the Historical: Climbing the Stairs

Climbing the Stairs Padma Venkatraman

Vidya is 15, the daughter of a liberal family in Bombay during WWII and India's independence movement. When her father is beaten by the British during an independence rally, he lives, but his brain is damaged. The family is forced to move in with Vidya's conservative grandfather. There, Vidya's aunts make life even harder for Vidya and her mother. Vidya's only solace is the library, which is located upstairs in the male part of the house, and therefore forbidden to her.

There is a lot going on here-- Vidya caught between the freedom of her old life and the strictness of her new one, her pain at her father's injuries, the best way to get rid of the British, and the problems of nonviolence when it comes to Hitler. Despite all the meat, it doesn't get overwhelming or bog down. I always forget that the independence movement and WWII overlap. I also never realized how close Japan got to India (although once I thought about it, um... duh.)

A great look at a girl caught in a changing world and trying to find her own place in it.

I have one question-- at one point, Vidya's brother explains that Japan wants India because it'll give them access to China, Russia, and the Middle East. Now, outside of China, I don't know that much about the Pacific War, but I also know at this point (1941), Japan had been in China and Russia for years. Was Japan actively searching to attack these countries from multiple fronts?

I'm not a huge fan of the paperback cover and much prefer the hardcover. Vidya actively resists marriage and isn't into fashion and jewelry-- she prefers wearing half-saris to full saris because it's easier to climb trees. Also, what's with the downcast expression? Vidya's always getting into trouble because she won't lower her gaze or keep her mouth shut! I just don't see Vidya in the girl on the new cover.


Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Year of the Historical: Jimmy's Stars

Jimmy's Stars Mary Ann Rodman

Ellie's older brother Jimmy is one of the last men she knows to get drafted into the war. Ellie's used to giving up things "for the duration"-- meat, her roller skates, sugar... but this is something she's not willing to give to the war effort. Not her brother.

What an absolutely fantastic look at the home-front during WWII. Ellie and her friends compare whose brothers are the biggest heroes. They reenact famous battles for fun. But they quickly learn that war is more than what they see on the newsreels. They dread the gold stars that appear in people's windows, the Western Union man who stops in front of a house to deliver the horrible news. They see the soldiers who are missing body parts, and even the ones that look physically fine but are irreparably damaged in other ways.

I feel like we've built WWII up in our collective consciousness to the point where it wasn't a war anymore. It was back when men were men and we all pitched in to do our part and it was a war worth fighting that no one questioned. But people died, and people were injured. People did question. It was a war. And sometimes it's worth remembering that hands-down THE BEST movie made about re-entry and PTSD was made in 1946.

All in all, a wonderful book, although I really wanted an author's note at the end to help put it in context.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Historical Fiction

Ok, I try not to gloat too much but I have two things to say that I can't hold in:

I just finished reading Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty, the very last Jessica Darling book. It was perfect. I feel like doing a little dance. I'll write a full review later this week. Just be sure to look out for it when it comes out next month!

And, for another book that's not supposed to come out until next month, my local Barnes and Noble had Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! on display already (I've noticed they often have books available early. I wonder if that's where Dan scored my early copy of Deathly Hallows?) How could I not pick it up?

Ok, gloating done.

This week's Weekly Geeks is all about Historical Fiction. I haven't answered the questions yet-- I'm still thinking about the answers, but here are 2 reviews of historical fiction.

The Porcupine Year Louise Erdich

In the follow up to Birchbark House and The Game of Silence, this is the year of travel as Omakayas and her family move from Madeline Island to the North West, facing weather, disaster, and moving into hostile territory. This is almost more episodic than the previous two, due to the ever-changing location. There is great tragedy and heartbreak in this book, but parts of very funny, and Erdich carries through the richness, closeness, and importance of family and sticking together, no matter what. I recommend starting with the other two to get a sense of everything they had to leave behind, but this is my favorite of the series so far and I think it would stand alone, just carry less impact.

Ten Cents a Dance Christine Fletcher

After her mother loses her job, Ruby drops out of school to take support the family. Like everyone in her Polish neighborhood in Chicago, Ruby takes a job at one of the packing houses. After a night dancing, Ruby runs into local bad by Paulie, who tells her that she can make a lot more money by being a dance instructor at the Starlight Academy. The Starlight, however, is a taxi-dance hall where lonely men pay tent cents a dance to hold a pretty girl close until the song ends. Not a respectable job, Ruby tells her mother she’s working as a telephone operator. Between her new job and her relationship with Paulie, she soon finds herself over her head.

Through Ruby’s eyes, the reader travels from Chicago’s white slums, to after hours clubs and all-night chop suey joints, to the fringes of the city’s underbelly in the early days of WWII. Fletcher explores Chicago’s race and class tensions with a sensitive hand, never making them the focus of her story, but using them to paint the world that Ruby inhabits. Ruby’s voice is peppered with period slang and references, but just enough to give her authenticity, but not to the point of overwhelming the text. Readers will sympathize with Ruby’s drive to help her family coupled with her desire for excitement and freedom.

Getting Cloudy

ARGH! I had leader blather and it got eaten. :( I have no idea what it said, so it obviously was not important...

Calder Game Blue Balliet

In this follow up to Chasing Vermeer and Wright 3 the kids are focusing on Alexander Calder, who is who Calder just happens to be named after.

Calder and his dad also go off to England while his dad's at a conference. There, they stay in this quaint little English village where there's something a little sinister going on. An anonymous American has donated an Alexander Calder statue to the town. They don't like change. They don't like outsiders.

One day, the statue goes missing. As does Calder.

Calder's dad realizes he doesn't really know in-depth what his son was up to these days, so he has Petra and Tommy fly out to help look...

I was pretty disappointed. I loved the earlier books but... Really, the whole closed off English village thing? It was very Hot Fuzz, but without being a spoof of itself.

Also, the townspeople didn't like the Chicago kids because they were American. But not one mentioned that Calder is part Asian Indian, Petra is partially Middle Eastern and Tommy is half Hispanic. Had the townspeople been shunning of outsiders, the fact that they were non-white outsiders (especially, I think, Calder's Asian Indian heritage) would have come up. In a really nasty way. But, it didn't.

This book was really scary and I liked that, but the explanation and the end were... weak. When I read the end I was like, wait... we spent all the time and energy and tension to work up to... that? Really?

It contains all of the awesome elements of the previous books, but doesn't pull the mystery off with the same skill as the others.

Homefront Doris Gwaltney

Sara recommended this one to me yonks ago. Yesterday I read it in one sitting.

Margaret Ann lives on a farm with her family in Virginia. Due to the fighting in Europe, her estranged aunt, Mary Lee and daughter Courtney are coming to live with them. Courtney is beautiful and smart and everyone loves her. But she's also stuck up and smug. At least to Margaret Ann. Of course Bobby Holland likes Courtney better. Of course Courtney now gets to sit next to Daddy at dinner.

But then, things get worse after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Her sister Elizabeth drops out of college to marry Tommy Gray before he enlists. Margaret Ann's older brother enlists. All the young men in her life are off to war.

I loved this book. I love how the chapters are named after where Margaret Ann is sleeping. In the beginning, she shares a room with her grandmother and is really excited to move into Elizabeth's room when she goes off to college. Then, less than a month in her own room, Aunt Mary Lee and Courtney move in, so she's back with grandma. When Johnny enlists, he lets Margaret Ann have his room, which makes her feel like he enlisted just so she could have her own room.

Margaret Ann doesn't cut Courtney a lot of slack and blames her for a lot of things that aren't her fault. At the same time, Courtney isn't completely innocent and I completely recognize Margaret Ann's feelings that everyone thinks Courtney is perfect. Both characters were flawed, but in that way that makes them really real. Also, I liked how realistic the inevitable thawing in their relationship was. A great recommendation. Thanks Sara!

Weighty Tomes

The Cybils are now all up! Check you the new shortlists!

So, as I'm part of the judging committee for MG/YA nonfic, y'all know what I'm reading for the next month. Very cool.

Anyway, since Christmas, I have read 3 books that were freakin' long. (I mean, I've read more than 3, but 3 of the ones I've read were freakin' long, if that makes sense)

So, here are the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong books.

First up,

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal Mal Peet

One of my favorites of 2007, the main story of Tamar is about the Dutch resistance at the end of WWII.

There are two Tamars, one is the fifteen year old in mid-90s England, trying to make sense of her grandfather's apparent suicide, her missing father, and her grandmother who is slipping further and further into dementia. Before he died, Tamar's grandfather left her a box of random things she has to figure out to put everything into perspective.

The other Tamar is the code name for a resistance leader, a Dutch man who escaped to England and was sent back to the Netherlands by the British in order to organize the various resistance groups to work together. He works with his wireless operator, Dart.

Between the two comes the beautiful Marijke, the young woman who lives on the farm where Tamar is stationed. She and Tamar have had a long relationship, unknown to Dart. As Dart's addition to amphetamines grows (he takes them to be awake at odd hours to send/receive transmissions), so does his paranoia.

What is most remarkable is that this is a story of boredom. The never ending tension that comes when nothing happens and you expect the Gestapo to come for you at any minute.

Even though I had the mystery bit figured out stupidly early on, before I was even sure if there was a mystery bit to figure out, the story still gripped me. It wasn't so much about the outcome, but why and how it happened.

Also, how the boredom can drive you insane. Remarkable.

It's on my list of possible Printz winners...

Spring Moon Bette Bao Lord

So, this is an adult novel by the author of In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson.

Spring Moon is born at the end of the nineteenth century to the old house of Chang in Soochow (Suzhou). Through her eyes, and the lives of her uncles, we watch the history of modern China unfold and the effects it had on the life of one woman and her family.

There's a good time line of events in the back, but it still might be a little confusing for people who aren't familiar with 20th century Chinese history might be a little confused. (Heck, I am very familiar with 20th century Chinese history and sometimes I had to stop and think about what rebellion was happening...)

Overall though, a very nice sweeping epic tale.

Redeeming Love Francine Rivers

This book was recommended to me by my friend Marie after a conversation about Inspirational Fiction. Now, I don't read a lot of Inspirational Fiction. I'm not really a member of the target audience. Reading it was an interesting experience.

This is the biblical story Hosea retold in the goldrush California. Angel was sold into prostitution as a child. Micheal Hosea sees her and marries her and tries to redeem her, however, she keeps running away. She runs both because she sees marriage as just another form of bondage and then, when she starts to fall in love, because she thinks her past makes her unworthy.

I got pretty into it, even thought I disagreed with a lot of the theology initially (the ending redeemed it a bit for me. No pun intended.)

Anyway, throughout most of the book, marriage *is* just another form of bondage for Angel, but we're not supposed to see it as that because Michael's a good guy with good intentions, so what he does is ok. So the whole thing, initially is a bit anti-feminist. But, the final time Angel runs away, Michael lets her, and it's not until she settles things with herself that she's ok to go back to her marriage. So, I wasn't nearly so sour after that.

Also, I was a little irked at how Michael didn't want to be told about the worst things Angel had done in her life. He had already forgiven her. Granted, she was only telling him as a means to drive him away, almost testing him BUT if he's going to truly love her and truly forgive her, then shouldn't he know these things? How can he truly forgive a sin he doesn't know?

I also was irked by the use of the term "Celestial" to refer to Chinese people. I could understand it when the characters used it, because it was what they would have said, but when the narrator does? Ew.

Overall, it didn't fundamentally change my relationship with God the way the back promised it would, but it was a very interesting look into a genre I usually don't read. Also, I really got into the story. Although long, it was a quick read and I stayed up way past bedtime to finish it.

Poetry Friday

Remembering Prague

How long has it already been
since last the sun was seen by me
behind the Petrinhill, dropping out of sight?
I kissed Prague with a teary glance when she
wrapped herself in the shadows of the night.

How long since in Vltava I could hear
the pleasant murmur of the weir?
Long ago the buzz of Wenceslas Square
was forgotten. When did is disappear?

How are those hidden corners of my city
in the shadow of the slaughterhouse? I fear
they are not sad, they don't miss me
as I miss them. It's been a year.

For a year I've been stuck in an ugly hole;
instead of your beauties, I've a few streets alone.
Like a wild animal trapped in a cage
I remember you, my Prague, a fairy tale of stone.

Petr Ginz 1928-1944

Taken from:

The Diary of Petr Ginz edited by Chava Pressburger, introduction by Jonathan Safran Foer, translated by Elena Lappin

Petr Ginz was born in Prague, in 1928, the oldest child of an Aryan mother and Jewish father. Being of the product of a mixed marriage, he was allowed to stay at home and not be called up for a transport to one of the concentration camps until he turned 14, which happened in 1942. Two years later, his sister Chava Pressburger (who edited this work) joined him Thesesienstadt, right before Petr's transport to Auschwitz, where he was gassed.

In 2003, Israli astronaut Ilan Ramon took one of Petr's paintings, Moon Landscape, with him into space. On February 1, 2003 (Petr's 75th birthday) the shuttle Columbia exploded.

After hearing the story, a homeowner in Prague realized that the hand-bound diaries he had found upon moving into the house must be those of Petr Ginz. His sister recognized them right away.

This book is those two diaries, spanning the years of 1941 and 1942, ending just a few months before Petr's transport. But it is more than that. It contains mainly of his drawings, paintings and linocuts, as well as poetry and some of his writings from Thesesienstadt. Pressburger has a long introduction giving much background to their family's life before, during, and after the war. Jonathan Safran Foer's introduction on the power and meaning of lanugage and words is moving and powerful.

Petr's diary is not the introspective writings of a captive Anne Frank. He is a boy full of life, documenting his day to day activities as life becomes ever more restricted. Many entries are similair to this complete one from November 25, 1941:

Morning at home, afternoon at school.

There are lists of birthday presents, and an ever-growing catalog of friends, neighbors and relatives being called up for transport. He writes news from the war, such as the March 8th entry from 1942 noting that The Japanese have seriously threatened Java. Or, a week later, on March 11th

In the morning at school; they counted 750 casualties in Paris and 1,400 injured.--In the afternoon outside.

It is the work of a boy going on being a boy in the midst of confusion and carnage. Most moving is his artwork, which shows great talent and promise.

As for age range, I usually just go with whatever my library has something catalogued as. They have this in the adult section, and think it's a great book for adults, but I would also recomend it to someone as young as 9 or 10. I think I would give them this one first before Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

Poetry Friday roundup is at Book Mine Set.

Didja Miss Me?

Ah finals week. Stress stress stress stress... but, the final has been turned in and the group project given and now I have a whopping 6 days until fall semester starts.

Let's see... this weekend I went to Des Moines for my friend's wedding, which was lots of fun. While there, we went to the State Fair and you can read all about it all at Geek Buffet.

I had also forgotten what Iowa is like during primary season. Lots of Washington types were at the fair and Huckabee's Iowa headquarters was right by our hotel. Coming out of the airport, we saw a billboard that said "Are You Running for President?" Oiy. It might even be crazier than DC for your average-type person.

Anyway, I didn't review anything due to the stress of last week, so I'm quite behind! Let the catching up commence! So many books to talk about, I hardly know where to start. But let's start with some WWII YA novels, ok?

First up is The Girls They Left Behind by Bernice Thurman Hunter

Beryl/Natalie is a teenager in Toronto during the World War II. It's mostly written in diary form, but with a few-stand alone scenes scattered throughout--mostly towards the end of the book. The story deals with the feelings of always been left behind as she sees one more friend, relative, or neighbor off at the train station nearly every night--some of whom she will never see again. She drops out of school to work in an airplane factory and tries to go on with life, despite rations, black-outs, and no boys left to date.

Beryl (who hates her name and is trying to change it to Natalie, if only her friends and family would remember to call her as such) is a real voice dealing with the frustrations of always being left behind, of British girls snatching away the Canadian boys when they're stationed overseas, and in being laid off and having to go back to school when the war is over and the most of the boys come home. Her voice is very straight forward and matter-of-fact:

Dad had resurrected the Quebec heater from the garage and set it up in the kitchen so we would use less coal in the furnace. Coal was scarce these days because it was needed in factories like The Steel Company of Canada. Dad said the munitions factories practically ate it up by the ton.

I prefer more evocative prose and this language left me a little 'meh' on both the story and the character, but that's just me. I think it's still a good book about life on the home front and the hardships and heartbreaks the girls left behind had to endure.

Another book written with a similar voice that left me a little off is

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Based on the true story of Suzanne David, a teenager in Cherbourg, France, this is a first person narrative of a teenager turned Resistance spy. Suzanne is an aspiring opera singer who isn't that caught up in current events until Cherbourg beach is bombed while she's sitting on it. She watches one of her neighbors blow up and her best friend never recovers from the experience. Her strength in such an ordeal and the fact that her singing takes her throughout northern France leads the local resistance leader to recruit her as a spy.

Now, she's not reporting on troop movements or anything, but passing messages from one spy to another. There's the adrenaline rush as she walks past Nazi soldiers with a note about the Normandy landing in her hat, but the hardest part is being able to get to her scheduled meetings without her parents finding out. One of my favorite parts was when she had to pass a message but it was time to go to church and she had to find a way to get her parents to let her stay at home, as they had no idea what she was really up to.

A good story for younger teens/ tweens on the French resistance the role young people played. But, as with The Girls They Left Behind, the straight forward, matter-of-fact narration left me a little less engaged than I would have liked. But that's just me.

Also, Good as Lily (review here) and Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now (review here) are now both available!

Historical Context can be Everything

To start the day, I went to see Norman Borlaug receive the Congressional Gold Medal. It was a pretty great way to start the day. In addition to me and Dr. Borlaug, most of the Congressional leadership was there, as well as the President. Pretty good way to start the day.

Then I get to work and find out that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now available online. I'm not happy about this. Read all about it over Geek Buffet.

But for now, some book reviews!

So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

One the surface, this is a gripping and exciting story of survival, based on Kawashima Watkins life. She lived a comfortable wife with her parents, older brother, and older sister in a nice house in a bamboo grove in northern Korea. With the outbreak of WWII, the Koreans rebelled against the Japanese. Yoko's father was posted to Manchuria (also under Japanese control) and her brother was taken prisoner. Yoko, her mother, and her sister, then lead a harrowing tale of escape as they try to get to Pusan so they can get to Japan. Yoko witnesses rape and is the victim of a bombing. Then, once they get there, they must survive with no money in a country ravaged by the end of the war, and try to find their missing family members.

This book was in the news a lot last year as it was challenged for classroom inclusion. The problem with this book, wasn't really the violence and rape (of which there was quite a lot for a children's book, but not gratuitously) but the lack of historical context. If you knew nothing about the Asian theater in the lead up to WWII (and most elementary school don't)... after reading this book, it'd look like the Koreans were the bad guys and the Japanese were innocent victims. After all, to a young girl, that was the way it appeared. Not only that, but there are no end notes to put the book into context. Kawashima Watkins never discusses Japan's involvement in the war, or the fact that the Japanese occupation of Korea was brutal.

The book does show that war is an awful, awful thing and there are innocent victims on both sides, it needs context for the young readers it's aimed at.

My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

This is the sequel and picks up with the Kawashima siblings fighting for survival. The book starts with a fire in their warehouse. Yoko's sister, Ko is gravely injured. Yoko and Ko are blamed with starting the fire and murdering two bodies found in the ashes. That plot wraps up about half way through the book, and the struggle to survive and find Yoko's father (who is a war prisoner in Siberia) continues.

As far as context goes, this one does not have the overwhelming problems that the first does. It's also helpful to read, because I was disappointed that Bamboo Grove did not have an epilogue. But as far as the prose goes, it lacks the gripping quality of the first. How do you tell someone their life has plotting and pacing problems? I don't know. But how the murder investigation played out seemed highly unlikely (what do I know though? I wasn't there) but more importantly, that's just the first half of the book. The second half seems a bit boring in comparison.

The one problem this book has is that it never address why Yoko's father was being held prisoner. She's always maintained he was against the war and did no wrong. Now, students of history will find it hard to believe that a Japanese official station in Manchuria during this time did no wrong. But I'm not going to go so far as those that claim he was an official at Unit 731 (a Japanese unit that carried out horrific medical experiments in Manchuria during WWII). Because I just don't know.

Both are great books that I recommend as long as they can be read in a the proper context, which is going to need some help.

More Winners and the like

Now Reading: Un Lun Dun
Just Finished: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy, The Talented Clementine,Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages was this year's winner for the Scott O'Dell prize for historical fiction.

Dewey is a weird kid-- there's something wrong with her leg that makes her limp and she spends all of her time making gadgets and fiddling with stuff. Her dad is working on some top secret project that is going to help win the war and when her grandmother dies, she goes off to live with him.

Dewey didn't realize how top secret this project was. She didn't realize she was moving to a place that didn't officially exist... All she knew was everyone was living out in the desert working on the gadget. The gadget would win the war. The gadget would make everything better.

Suze has been living at Los Alamos for awhile when Dewey moves there-- Suze is a bit awkward and bossy and both of her parents are working on the project-- her mom's a real scientist, not just a typist or secretary like the other moms. When Dewey's dad has to go to Washington for awhile, Dewey moves in and the pair form an unlikely, but entirely realistic, friendship.

What's great about this book is the portrait of day-to-day life at Los Alamos-- you never think about kids living with their families, going to school, and being kids. You never think about the divisions between scientist kids and military kids. And you never think about Los Alamos just plain not existing... (well, at least I never thought about those things.)

This balances the line perfectly of being meticulously researched and historically wonderful, while not letting this detail overshadow the actual story. I liked how realistic the interactions between the kids were-- this unlikely friendship took a long time to develop and it never came across as hokey or simplisitic.

My favorite part of the book was how delicately it dealt with some very large issues that need to be tackled when dealing this topic-- it put them in there so you knew people were worrying about them, but Dewey hears about them and deals with them in a way that is very true to her age. In Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) Feynman (a minor character in this book, much to my delight) talks about the horror of what they had done after the first test. The book captures this horror well with the adults and the confusion of the kids at what's going on.

Something happens about 3/4 of the way through the book that is a bit of a spoiler so I'm not going to talk about it too much, but it was just too much and I don't really think it was necessary (but it might be for the sequel that I am very much looking forward to!)

The other thing is... I'm assuming that if you're reading my blog, you know what the gadget was-- you know what was invented at Los Alamos during WWII to win the war. Dewey and Suze, and therefore the reader, never find out was the gadget was, and I'm not sure how much sense the ending of the book is going to make if you don't know. I also don't know if the intended audience is going to automatically know what the gadget was...

Still, an excellent book and a well-deserving win.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I promised I'd review this years Newberry winner, The Higher Power of Luckyby Susan Patron.

I wanted to wait down until all the fervor over SCROTUM faded away. And then it came back. And then it faded again.

Anyway... Lucky really surprised me. I hadn't heard anything about it before Newberry day and in reading the description-- it didn't sound kid-friendly. It sounded like it was going to be really nostalgic and an adult book written for kids.

It wasn't! I was so happy!

Lucky lives with her French guardian (he absent father's ex-wife) in the middle of the desert. She likes to eavesdrop on 12 step meetings to find out how people find their higher power-- higher power sounds like a handy thing to have, but Lucky's hoping to avoid hitting rock bottom in order to get it. Hitting rock bottom doesn't sound like much fun.

At the same time, Lucky's worried her guardian is going to go back to France-- she seems homesick and her passport was out the other day.

Deep down, this is a really sweet tale that will appeal to younger readers, but also has some really big issues for older readers to get into.

Most enjoyable was the large cast of wacky, but believable, characters. A good book and my favorite Newberry winner of the last few years.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Lawson was a Newberry Honor book that is being found in the YA section at all the libraries I've visited!

Hattie is an orphan who inherits a homesteading claim in Montana. In order to keep the claim, she has to cultivate a large portion of it (which involves clearing it first!) and fence off most of it. By hand. By herself. She knows nothing about farming. Or cooking. Or anything. She wants to keep the claim, but she'll be lucky if she even survives.

Her next door neighbors are helpful and nice and the first friends Hattie makes, but one of them is German, and it's smack in the middle of WWI. Montana is rife with anti-German sentiment, loyalty leagues and other things making things hard for Hattie's friends. How can she reconcile her soldier-friends killing Germans across the ocean with her German neighbor fencing her claim in the middle of the night?

Tragedy and hope about in another great example of what historical fiction should be in this book that's perfect for Tweens and those right on the kidlit/YA break.

My favorite part was the ending and how it was handled. The author's note at the end is great, as are the recipes!

The Pull of the Ocean by Jean-Claude Mourlevat won the Batchelder award for translated work this fall.

The Doutreleau children are all sets of twins, except for the Yann, the seventh and the last. Yann is small and mute, but notices everything and communicates with his older brothers silently. One night he wakes up to his parents fighting and lets his brothers know they have to leave, to escape. For days they walk, following Yann's inner compass to the ocean.

This is more than just a retelling of the Tom Thumb. This story is told in brief accounts of people who saw the children and interacted with them only briefly-- sometimes only seconds, never more than an hour or so. Interspersed are the accounts of the children, but never Yann.

This book is surprisingly powerful and moving without ever being overwrought, over-contrived, or melodramatic. I couldn't put it down and it haunts you long after you turn the final page-- I highly recommend!

Star-Studded Review-a-Rama

Currently Reading: The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy, Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Just Finished: Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear, From a Crooked Rib, Kitchen

Oh, I have a lot to talk about, I don't even know where to begin. It's like when you're writing a paper and you just become paralyzed with the enormity of the task before you and freeze up and never get started.

So... let's talk about some books, eh? I guess I'll focus on award winners and those with buzz. We'll see how far I get tonight!

First up on the block is the lovely A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz

All Maud wants is to be adopted and to have a real family again. When the elderly Hawthorne sisters take her home, Maud is overjoyed. She has nice clothes, good food, and indoor plumbing. What Maud doesn’t have is any friends—she’s not allowed to go to school or see visitors. Maud is a secret, and when she finds out why, she has some very tough decisions to make about what’s important.

This was a very moving story about the compelling need for love and a home, versus doing what is right. At the same time, we get a good dose of spirituality and mediums and ghosts. It was wonderfully spooky without being scary.

I loved the way Maud's friendship developed with Muffet, the Hawthorne's deaf servant. I also liked the way that Maud really struggled with her decisions about what to do-- she didn't always want to do the right thing, and how Schlitz handles this conflict makes Maud so much more real and likeable.

It was getting a lot of well-deserved Newberry buzz and even though it didn't win and wasn't honored, you should still check it out.

Rules by Cynthia Lord.

This was a Newberry Honor, as well as the winner of the Schneider Family Book Award (for books about disabilities.)

Catherine is a twelve year old girl whose little brother, David, has autism. On one hand she is fiercely protective of him but on the other, she is mortified when he does embarrassing things that could potentially mess up her relationships. She doesn't give her friends nearly enough credit in understanding about David, but she's been burned in the past. To help David be less embarassing, Catherine writes him rules about day-to-day life. No toys in the fish tank. It's ok to yell on the playground, but not during dinner. Over time, a lot of these rules are obviously more for Catherine than for David.

Catherine's best friend is away is away for the summer and there's a new family moving in next door. Catherine has high hopes for her friendship with Kristi, but, like real life, not everything goes as she wished it would--and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

When Catherine accompanies David to therapy, she meets Jason, who is in a wheel chair and can't talk. Jason has a book of cards with pictures and words that he points to in order to communicate. Catherine starts drawing him more cards, including nebulous concepts like "murky" and "unfair". Catherine again tries to balance fitting in with her "normal" friends and classmates, and her friendship with Jason. Jason was a really interesting character that continued to surprise me, and I wish we saw even more of him.

One of my favorite parts of this book were when Catherine was trying to figure out what to draw for abstract ideas. My other favorite part was the struggle Catherine had in trying to be understanding of David, but feeling overshadowed by him in the family dynamic and needing her parents to sometimes focus exclusively on her. I think it was a very real, if not pretty, look at what it means to be in a family with someone who requires so much attention and energy.

I also liked how, when David couldn't put his thoughts and feelings into words, would quote extensively from the Frog and Toad books by Lobel. It was heartbreaking and hilarious.

My main quibble is with the ending-- it was overly tidy and neat while at the same time not really solving anything. It tarnished the rest of the wonderful book for me.

Penny from Heavenby Jennifer Holm

This was another Newberry Honor and my favorite of this year's Newberry crop. Penny is growing up in 1950s northern New Jersey and is torn between her mother and grandparents (whom she lives with) and her nearby Italian family of her deceased father. The two sides of the family don't talk to each other and even though Penny's mother would never tell her not to see her Italian family, it's obvious she doesn't like all the time she spends with them.

Summer is hard, even without the family drama. Penny's mom won't let her go swimming in fear she might catch Polio and then she starts dating the milkman!

Eventually, the truth about Penny's father's death comes out, as well as the horror of what Italian-Americans went through during WWII, which is something that doesn't get discussed much. I had no idea most of this stuff had happened.

The book is a bit nostalgic, but wonderfully written (and from the same person who does Babymouse! Such versatility!) and while showing excellence in children's literature, has definite kid-appeal. The author's note at the end was excellent, as well as Holm's own family album. I highly recommend.


And that's all for tonight, but I have a lot more to come...

War is Hell

FYI, Flickr and Blogger aren't playing nice at the moment, so book covers should come later...

Before I get to the reviews, FYI, the new Georgia Nicholson book, Love Is a Many Trousered Thing, is slated to come out in May and available for pre-order now on Amazon. Woot!

Also, dear, dear Amazon. I have told you how much I am in lurve with Jasper Fforde , why then, did you fail to tell me back in August that he had a NEW Nursery Crime book out, The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime. I depend on you for such details!!!! And I didn't know! And I feel sad. Well, I was sad that you had betrayed my heart in such a way, but then I got a copy at the library (which was easy to do, given that, you know, I work there.)

Anyway, y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance.

First off, this August, my plan was to read Barbara Tuchmann's Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Guns of August, about the first month of WWI. Well, I started it in August but with all the other reading I've had to do for work and school, I didn't get to actually finish it until Saturday. Given that Saturday was Armistice Day, I find it appropriate. This book has been critically acclaimed a million times and I don't have much to add. It was well worth the read and an immensely fascinating look at how paranoid the Kaiser seemed and how steadfastly those in charge committed to a plan and refused to be swayed, despite the consequences.

Interestingly enough, when outlining the causes of war, the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand barely garned a sentence. To be fair, when outlining the scope of the book, Tuchmann states that she wasn't going to touch the Balkan question, as to address it fairly would be a whole book in and of itself.

This book was obviously written in a time when the average reader had a more extensive knowledge of European History. Now, I'm fairly well trained in history, but I've only had two college classes in European history (one was focused soley on England and the other was just general Europe) and I was constantly looking things up. (For instance, there were all these references to animousity between France and Germany in 1870, but never gave it a name, which made it hard to look up. It was the Franco-Prussian war. Luckily, I live with a British History scholar, and he knows a lot more about general European stuff than I do.) Also, the maps are very focused and it can be hard to see where the area of detail was in the greater European context. (At point I was looking at a map of airport routes in my inflight magazine trying to figure out what bit of German coast I was looking at.)

That said, this book is the perfect reason to buy yourself an Historical World Atlas.

Also, Tuchmann is very funny. She often slips in dry little comments, such as this one from p. 267

German soldiers, posted as informers, were found dressed as peasants, even peasant women. The latter were discovered, presumably in the course of non-military action, by their government-issued underwear.

But for now, let's talk about some YA war books, shall we?

By far, the hands-down best YA war book I've read recently is Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen. A fiction account of John Kipling's (Rudyard Kipling's son) last moments, it tells the story of a young man desperate for the glory and honor of war.

Rudyard had always wanted to serve in his Majesty's service and was denied entry due to his poor eyesight. His hopes and dreams trasnfered to his only son, John. His grades weren't good enough to go to the best naval academies, but his gets into an acceptable army school. But John has his father's eyes and the lifestyle befitting the priviledged sons of Britian's elite...

When war breaks out in Europe in 1914, Rudyard Kiplin is one of the loudest voices calling for British involvement. WHen England joins, he leads the recruitment calls. It breaks his and his son's hearts that John cannot be in the first wave, especially as his friends keep going over. He still feels this way even as his friends start dying. Rudyard pulls every string he can to get his son a commission.

John's first battle is also his last. This heart-breaking tale is framed as his life flashes before him somewhere in Belgium.

Spillebeen grew up near Flanders and has written several YA novels about the oft-neglected WWI, but as far as I can tell, this is his first to appear in English. There are several aspects that set this book apart from the rest of the genre. The bulk of the story takes place before the war and before John deploys, but because of how the story is framed, it transports you to the battlefield horror on a regular basis. Because Kipling is killed so early in his army career he never loses that pre-war optimisim--life never gives him the chance to turn battle hardened and cynical--which is rare in war books.

Another difference between Kipling's Choice and most others lies in John's societal status. He is not a grunt. He's not escaping an impoverished background--even in boot camp he takes his friends partying in London's most exclusive clubs. His father's wealth and status and fame means John starts as an officer. He is not an everyman, but he'll still die like one. The book also follows the reaction of John's parents in greater detail than the standard epilogue. I highly recommend this book and hope that we'll see more translations of Spillebeen's work.

Another WWI book--also with interesting framing--is Michael Murpago's Private Peaceful. Thomas (Tommo) Peaceful grew up living on an estate (but the son of a worker, not fortune like Kipling) in England. His older brother Charlie has always looked out for him. The first half of the book deals with the day to day struggles of being poor and the estate owner is mean and Charlie and Tommo fall in love with the same girl... WWI breaks out and the brothers join up, Tommo lying about his age to be eligible.

The story then shifts to the general horros for war and the specific horros of trench warfare. The story is told as Tommo stays up all night (for a reason we find out at the end--he's not on watch, despite wahat the book jacket says!) The chapters are labeled with the time of night as he stays up and remembers.

Unlike Kipling's Choice, Private Peaceful follows the more common form of "bright-eyed poor boy becomes a hardened man by witnessing the horrors of war" but Peaceful is much better than most. My main complaint is the relationship between Charlie and Tommo. At it's worst, Tommo gets pissed off when he realizes that Charlie has one Molly's heart. But these emotions are fully explored and seem to quickly fade away. Generally, Tommo idolizes Charlie and Charlie can never ever ever ever do wrong. It just doesn't make sense, nor does it ring true and sours the rest of the story.

The other complaint, which is not my own by I'll pass it on anyway, comes from a fellow librarian, and that is that most of the pre-war plot is supposedly lifted directly from some classic mini-series. Now I haven't seen it and can't even remember the name, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Final verdict? Good, but no Kipling's Choice.

Skipping ahead a generation, we land in WWII with B for Buster by Iain Lawrence.

The Kakabera Kid lies his way out of his small Canadian town and into the British Airforce. Instead of being the 16 year old son of an abusive drunk, he is now an 18 year old orphan. He loves to fly and one day dreams of being a pilot, not just the wireless operator. He also sees his adventure as parallels to his comic book character heroes.

He's desperately afraid of being found out as being too young and avoids hanging out with his crew, lest his actions give himself away. (Of course, his flight crew just thinks he doesn't like them.) Once they start flying missions, he befriends the pigeoner as the only person he can talk to about his extreme fear of being shot down and dying.

This book is meant to illuminate a long forgotten aspect of the warr--the role of pigeons in the BAF. Flights carried homing pigeons so if they got short down (and survived) or had to bail out, they could write a message about where they were and get rescued. The problem is that this is where Lawrence take sthe most historical liberaties. These are all countered in his ending historical note, but hte fact that he's writing this book to tell this story but messes with the story? It completely detracts from the story and a better story could have been told without these changes.

However, the best part was the descriptions of burning German cities. Just the sense of fire and destruction and the questions of how anyone could survive such a horror (and they didn't even go to Dresden) are questions that are treated very subtley and well. It really comes to a head when the flight crew goes down to London and gets caught in the Blitz... what makes this show well done (I think) is that it's not overly-dwelled upon.

Another book about a little known episode of WWII, and one that is done much better is Graham Salisbury's Eyes of the Emperor. Hawaii resident Eddy Okubo is sick of hearing about "The Japanese Problem"--if it comes to war, will those of Japanese descent be loyal to the US? Or to Japan? After his family is targeted, Eddy lies his was into the army to prove where his loyalties are-- the US.

After Pearl Harbor, when it does come to war, Eddy and the other Japanese-American soldiers aren't allowed to fight. At first, they're even held prisoner! Eventually Eddy and some of the other Japanese-American soldiers are taken to Mississippi (on the journey, they're not allowed to open the shades because people would freak out at seeing a "car full of Japs".) In Mississippi they're stuck on a desolate island as part of a dog training program. Japanese people, supposedly, smell differently than other people. Eddy and his friends are being used as bait--their service to their country was to be hunted down and attacked by dogs.

Strikingly told in Eddy's voice this is a well-done account of a true episode in American history. My one complaint is that Eddy's speaking voice/grammar/sentence construction doesn't match his inner, narrative voice at all, which can be a bit jarring, but he doesn't talk a lot, so it's a minor complaint.

Jumping back a few more wars, I recently read The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane for the first time.

Um... the coolest part about this book is that I read it through DailyLit, which is awesome. (Currently, I'm slogging through War and Peace.)

Crane paints well the bravado and fear of war as a young boy marchs off to war. It's not as introspective as the other ones I've discusses, and really, what can I say that generations of high school students haven't said already? I have nothing really to add nor profound to say.

Overall these books are all pretty good and I do recommend all of them. Kipling's Choice is by far and away the best, but these are all exemplary titles. ATTENTION TRANSLATORS! I WANT MORE GEERT SPILLEBEEN!