Book Review: White Rose by Kip Wilson

 Super Heroes come in all shapes, sizes and eras. In this historical fiction, novel in verse, you will meet Sophie Scholl and her family and friends. These new adults banded together to resist the Nazis in Germany during World War II  - this is the story of White Rose - this is their story.

Sophie and some of her family and friends created  White Rose, a group that resisted the Nazis in Germany during WWII. They used their words to fight, spreading anti-Nazi sentiments and truths through leaflets. Nazi Germany only allowed one story to be told - their propaganda - White Rose worked to make sure there that there was a counter argument to this propaganda.

Why do I recommend this book?

First -  It begs the question - What would you do? What would you be willing to sacrifice if you saw the world around you turning into a place that you don't agree with - where people are getting killed, where people are judged by their religion and their heritage rather than their humanity. 

Second - It offers an in between perspective - where two opposite things are true and there isn't a satisfactory resolution. Sophie's boy friend is fighting in the German Army and she fears that he will be harmed. AND Sophie doesn't want the Nazis to win because of their atrocities. - This provides such conflict. 

The story of Sophie and the White Rose does not end well. BUT Germany did lose the war. However, it can be said that we all lost in something precious in WWII.

For more information on Sophie and White Rose check out this website: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sophie-scholl-and-white-rose

This book is owned by our Nashua South library as well as NPL.

Book Review: Never Caught: The Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away / Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve

 

Have you ever read a book and loved the story but hated how it was written? This was that book for me.

Ona Judge was a remarkable woman - she was one of the dower slaves of Martha Washington. A dower slave is inherited and is retained by the family of someone who died, in this case, Martha Washington's first husband died without a will and Ona became the property of Martha Washington and her family. This is the story of her slavery, but woven into this story is the changing beliefs concerning slavery in revolutionary America. It seems that Martha Washington felt no qualms about owning slaves, but George Washington was stuck between some discomfort concerning the practice and a need for free labor to keep Mount Vernon running. 

When Ona learned that she was going to be gifted to Eliza Custis, a woman with a nasty temper, Ona decided that she must escape. She fled, likely with the help of people in Philadelphia, and landed in Portsmouth, NH where she lived (in poverty) until her death. 

What did I love about this book - the story. There was so much to learn here. What did I dislike about the story - There was so much conjecture and suppositions between these pages (Ona might have..., George Washington must have... - Meh) that I felt uncomfortable. 

Read more about Ona Judge here at the Mount Vernon website: https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/ona-judge

While you are on the Mount Vernon page - "visit" this historical site. You can check out the different parts of Washington's estate and see how both the Washingtons and their slaves lived. 

I borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library.

Book Review: Grown / Tiffany D. Jackson

Trigger warnings all over the place - This book is about abuse - specifically the abuse of a 17 year old girl by a 28 year old man. This is an important book to read but makes my skin crawl.

Enchanted Jones is a lot of things. She is a swimmer for her private high school, she takes care of her younger siblings because her parents are over busy. She is a member of Will and Willow (an organization for black kids that centers around leadership, service, and civic duty). But mostly, she just wants to break into the world of singing. And then she connects with Korey Fields, a pop star who takes a special interest in her. But the interest becomes romantic and controlling - can you spell Child Trafficking? 

This book illustrates:
Men who are allowed to behave badly and excused for their behavior
Women who are not believed when they speak out about abuse
Especially black men and women

Also:
Child abuse
Human Trafficking
The sneakiness that child abusers use to groom their victims
What an appropriate relationship looks like - and what it doesn't look like

Want some more information on Human Trafficking? Visit the New Hampshire Task Force on Human Trafficking

 

Book Review: Under the Tulip Tree / Michelle Shocklee

This is a book that the Tusitala Teachers, our teacher book club, read. I think that I have mentioned before that I often go down rabbit holes when I read a story. I listen to the music and taste the food. This story took me down rabbit holes of learning. I spent some time reading slave narratives and then investigated the Contraband camps (which I had never heard of) - more about that shortly.

In this novel, Lorena, who turned 16 on the day that the stock market crashed, ended up with a job through the Federal Writers Project (FWP) interviewing slaves. One slave in particular caught her heart and she made many trips back to Frankie's house listening and recording her past.

I knew about Roosevelt's WPA (Works Progress Administration) through which unemployed people were employed to build parks, schools, roads... I had heard of the Federal Writers Project and the recording of slave narratives, but I had never really looked at them. This story acted as a catalyst to read some of those stories held at the Library of Congress. Check out the Slave Narratives here.

I also love when I learn about a part of history that is totally new to me. I had never heard about the Contraband Camps that were established during the civil war to house slaves who were escaping from servitude to confederate soldier or were swept up by Yankee Soldiers. The slaves were considered property, thus the name Contraband camps. This link from the Tennessee Encyclopedia shares some information about the camps where a part of Frankie's story is set. 

In borrowed this book from the Nashua Public Library through Hoopla.

 

Book Review: Last Pick by Jason Walz

Aliens have invaded the world in this graphic novel and left behind only the old, the young, and the disabled. Occasionally the aliens return to gather those who are no longer young. Sam and Wyatt were left behind - an now, as the aliens return, they need to rely on each other to start a revolution and bring hope to those left behind on Earth.

Consider - What exactly does it mean to be disabled? Don't we all have strengths AND things that challenge us? Why are some people labeled with a "disability" and others are not? Can a human characteristic be disabling in one situation while being enabling in another?

Can we mix together our strengths together to make our world a better place? To create different better solutions to our problems? To enrich our environment?

Check out this graphic novel from our library or from Nashua Public Library. Then try the sequels. You will be glad that you did.

 

Book Review: The Lightning Dreamer / Margarita Engle

Set in Cuba starting in 1827, this a story about Gertrudia Gomez de Avellaneda, a young poet who hid her abolitionist messages in her poetry.

Meet Tula (the childhood name of Gertrudia), her bother, her mother, and the woman who though free still took care of the family

Imagine what it would be like to watch slaves walk by your home.

Imagine being "sold" into an arranged marriage at 14 years of age.

Imagine not being allowed to go to school, to read, to write.

Imagine dreaming of a world where gender and race do not dictate who you may become.

Mix that all into a novel in verse and you have the magic of this book.

"I think of my feather pen
as something magical
that still belongs 
to a wing.

All I need
is paper, ink,
and the courage
to let wild words soar."

 

Book Review: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America (edited by Ibi Zoboi)

First - let me say that today was an amazing day - April 10, 2021 and it was lovely, sunny, and warm. Lot of dog walks and some time to read - which is a good combination for an anthology. I need some time between each story to absorb its truth.

So about this specific book...

This is an amazing group of authors.
The stories are varied and all are good.
This is a fabulous way to try out the writing of different authors to see who you like.

The best way to share what this book is about it to share Ibi Zoboi's words, "What are the cultural threads that connect Black people all over the world to Africa? How have we tried to maintain certain traditions as part of our identity? And as teenagers, do we even care? These are the questions I had in mind when inviting sixteen other Black authors to write about teens examining, rebelling against, embracing or simply exsisting within their own idea of Blackness."

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. (And it is always nice to have a reading partner.)