The Book Thief

The Book Thief

            A particular story, The Book Thief written by Markus Zusack is set in Nazi Germany and is told from the perspective of death who has a secret fascination with a little girl named Liesel. It begins in a small town right outside Munich where Death chronicles the life of many but focuses on the life of a peculiar little girl. An interesting approach at storytelling, Zusack does an fantastic job at telling the story from this particularly different point of view. The Book Thief starts with on a train looking in at a young and frightened girl who has a mother and a brother. On their way to live with foster parents, Liesel arrives at her new parents home with a brother who has passed away and never hearing from her mother again. On her way to her new family, her brother is buried and in shock of his death Liesel takes her first book, it is in fact a book on how to properly bury the dead. Throughout the story, Liesel’s book thievery is used in many ways to comfort her even though she knows she can barely read. In a world where death surrounds her and she must salute a dark power she doesn’t believe in, her books become her friends. It was a source of comfort, a piece of her brother that she would always have. Throughout the story, Liesel comes across many friends like Rudy and the Jew that is hiding in the basement of her foster parents home but through time the stories, the ones she kept and the one should write remain an important part of how she overcame so many hardships.

            This book received The Michael Printz Award and has been nominated for several others and remains to be a national best seller as well as recently being adapted for the big screen. Like most awards, the criteria is simply looking for literary excellence. Zusacks does an incredible job at painting an extremely visual story through his profound text in The Book Thief and is definitely a story that readers can remember in great detail. The profound use of death as the voice and narrator is an excellent source at grabbing the attention of the reader and the characters he creates are truly unforgettable. I think one of the reasons why this novel is so engaging, beloved and unforgettable is because it deals with a child’s experience during war time and her trying to make sense of the world and her place in it especially as an orphan living with parents who are not her birth parents. Although Liesel grows to love her foster parents and the friends she makes throughout her life, it’s really about her growing into a woman during an incredibly dark period in her own life and around her in a Nazi occupied village when she despises what Nazism stands for.    

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Bat 6

Bat 6

            The story of Bat 6 written by Virginia Euwer Wolff revolves around a group of very different sixth grade girls who a part of the same softball team circa 1949 in Oregon. The story centers on the girls that make up the Barlow Team, a group of misfits if you will that include one Japanese American girl who comes back after being evicted from her home and sent to live in an internment camp, a girl name Shazam who comes from a broken home and other girls with very different backgrounds. With different narratives, the reader grows to learn each girl, her home life and where she comes from and understanding each other playing the game of softball in 1950 America, where women in sports was still considered a new thing.

            The author does an excellent job at presenting a story of young girls who are trying to make sense of the world post World War II in America. At an age where girls have a hard time understanding themselves as young adults, understanding each other and the world around them isn’t as easy as it seems. With so many voices telling their own story, sharing their background and learning about the players on the team, Bat 6 is a powerful account that helps a group of young adults relate to one another, build friendships and relationships, believe in the power of trust during a time of war and to help each other grow.  

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One Crazy Summer

One Crazy Summer

The first in the series of the Gaither Sisters, One Crazy Summer written by Rita Williams Garcia follows the journey of three young sisters as they make their move from Brooklyn to Oakland to spend the summer with their mother. It’s the summer of 1968 and Delphine, Vonetta and Fern leave their father in Brooklyn to try and get to know their mother, a poet and a Black Panther supporter. Dreaming of sunny California and hoping to visit Disneyland, the three sisters are in for a rude awakening when they are forced to live in tight quarters and spend their days in a Black Panther summer camp. Most of the story centers around the uneasy relationship between the girls and their mother (and understanding their place in the midst of the Black Panther Movement) but after getting to know their mother through her poetry (sneakily), the tension begins to fade.

            Although this story revolves around the relationship between the mother and her daughters, it really focuses on the transformation of each character in relation to what is happening in society at the time. It’s 1968 and the Black Panther Movement is strong and powerful, although a scary place for children to grow up and be surrounded by, we really see each character of the sisters throughout the story. Being the oldest, Delphine tries to protect her sisters from the dangerous radical people who become involved in the movement. Watching them grow throughout the story and reading it from the perspective of a child, it’s  chilling but helps young readers gain an appreciation of other cultures and helps them understand who they are in the world, how they relate to one another and understand different cultures and histories.     

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Farewell to Manzanar

Farewell to Manzanar

            This haunting memoir Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (and her husband James Houston) recounts the days following the attack on Pearl Harbor and remains to be one of the most popular works of American History from the perspective of a young Japaense American girl trying to understand her place in the world in the midst of World War II. The story begins the day of the Pearl Harbor bombing, Jeanne is a seven year old Japanese American and doesn’t realize her young life is about to change forever. Not understanding the seriousness of war, Jeanne’s father is taken away from her and her home is being raided, her mother is left crying and soon she will be shipped off to live in an internment camp in Manzanar, near Lone Pine, California. During her time at Manzanar, Jeanne continues to question why, why she and her family must be punished for an act they didn’t commit.

            This book is not only an excellent source to remind us what the American homeland was like during World War II, it’s retold from the eyes from a young girl held in internment camp and growing up behind fences and in close quarters with other Japanese Americans. Stories like these are important for young readers to engage in because for a greater knowledge and appreciation for other cultures and their histories. Obviously having the story told from a young perspective helps grab the attention of our youth and helps them understand the harshness of the world in a child’s mindset. Introducing and encouraging multicultural literature into the reading list of tweens and young adults is important to expand their knowledge, vocabulary and becoming more aware of their place in the world and feeling connected with the world.     

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