The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman

 Told in three voices:  Rifka (1942), and Valentina and Oksana (1986). Valentina and Oksana are school peers and have woken up to an explosion at Chernobyl.  Both of their fathers work there and they live in the same building, however Oksana doesn't care for Valentina.  Oksana's dad calls Valentina's family dirty Jews.  As Oksana discovers her father has died, she and her mother prepare to evacuate the city, but her mother has been contaminated by radiation.  Valentina's father is in the hospital, and she and her mother are also evacuating.  They offer for Oksana to come with them, and she does.  Valentina's mother has to send them on alone to her mother.  Valentina has never met her grandmother.  As Oksana and Valentina begin to get to know one another, they become close friends.  

Interspersed within their story is the story of Rifka, a Jew, who is running away from the Germans and tells of her story of surviving WWII.  

I really enjoyed this story not only for the WWII aspect, but the history of Chernobyl.  It is rare to have a middle grade novel written about that bit of history.  I think this will be a popular book for many.

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee

 Valor Luck's employer has passed away recently, but they were supposed to travel on the Titanic to America.  Val decides to continue with their plans, even though she is Chinese/ British and is looked down upon.  She is denied boarding, but sneaks on board and assumes the identity of her employer by wearing a veil and claiming she is a recent widow.  Her brother Jamie is also on board and as she finds him to propose her plan, she wants them to audition for the Ringling Brother's Circus.  The owner is onboard, but Jamie is not interested in auditioning or going to America.  As Val and her brother work out the details, the prejudice of Chinese and her lie of who she is begins to catch up to her, then the unthinkable happens.  

Good historical account of Chinese passengers, who are never brought up in accounts of the Titanic.  Interesting back story and kept me interested, but most of the story is at the beginning, not much about the sinking and then the afterwards left me wanting more. 

Letters from Cuba by Ruth Behar

 Set in 1938, Esther's father has left Poland for Cuba and she wants to be the one to go to help him make enough money to send for her 4 siblings, mother and grandmother.  She arrives in Cuba and begins adjusting to the culture and language.  As she helps her father make money by designing and sewing dresses, she learns that there is hatred everywhere, but there is also love and acceptance.  

Written in letters to her sister, this story is based on the author's family history.  It is a topic of Nazi/ Jewish history that I was unaware of and I feel most people would be the same.  I had no idea that Cuba was a refuge for Jews during the Holocaust.  It was fascinating to me to learn of this part of history.  

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz

 Told in alternating voices and time:  Brandon has been suspended for the day for fighting and goes to work with his dad in the North Twin Tower on September 11, 2001.  His dad works on the 107th floor, the very top, in the restaurant.  Brandon decides to sneak down to a shop to buy a toy and on the way down in the elevator bad things start to happen.  The elevator gets stuck and then starts to fill with smoke and he and several others end up escaping out of it before it plummets to the bottom.  From there he tries to get back to his dad, but is unsuccessful and encounters Richard who takes him with him and together along with others try to escape the building.

Reshmina, and 11 year old Afghanistan girl, on September 11, 2019 is going about her day as normal until there is a fight among the Taliban and American soldiers.  She encounters a wounded American soldier, Taz, after the fight and decides to help him.  Because of her decision and her family's agreement to help Taz, her brother goes to tell the Taliban.  Reshmina tries to stop him, but is unsuccessful and puts her whole village in danger.  

I liked that the books gives different points of view and brings up some good points I had not thought of with our involvement in the Afghanistan war.  I think this book is EXCELLENT for point of view and getting a sense of how others might feel about things and empathy.

 

Hello, Cruel Heart by Maureen Johnson

In the summer of 1967, Estella is creating costumes for herself, Jasper and Horace to steal to survive, but she wants so much more.  On a chance encounter she meets a wealthy brother and sister who take her into their fold because of her clothes she designed and flair.  As Estella sees how they live she wants to join a normal society where she can design clothes and fit in with the wealthy.  However, her Cruella side comes into play and things go south in a hurry.

This is NOT a retell of the newest Disney movie, which I was worried it would be.  It is another part of her life and story.  Johnson did a good job of adding more depth and character to a familiar villain and how she got that way.  Fun, fast read for anyone wanting more of Cruella's history.

 

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

 Mary Lambert lives on Martha's Vineyard in the early 19th century.  She is deaf along with many of her neighbors.  They have a high population of deaf and it has caught the attention of a scientist, Andrew who has come to study the colony to discover why the deaf population is so high here.  Mary and her best friend Nancy begin to suspect Andrew is up to no good, so they spy on him.  As Mary's dad refuses to participate in Andrew's study, Andrew decides to leave the island. Mary tries to get back the map that her brother created from a book Andrew has, and ends up getting kidnapped to become his "live specimen" to take back to the mainland.  

Based on a true story of the Martha's Vineyard deaf population, Wampanoag people, and the sign language used by the community, LeZotte created a fictional story sharing a lesser known bit of history.  The book was fairly slow until her kidnapping, but by then I just wasn't interested.  If you love history and/or strong disabled girls, you may enjoy this book.  

 

City of Gold by Will Hobbs

The Hollowell family has moved to Colorado to start over after their dad died.  Owen wakes up one night to his mules whinnies and discovers they have been stolen.  He tracks them and finds them, but the man who stole them threatens to shoot him so her returns home.  As he tells his mom what happened they come up with a plan and he sets off to find where the man takes them.  He arrives in a mining town and finds his mules, Hercules and Peaches, but can't seem to get them back.  Then his younger brother Till shows up and they convince the sheriff to go after the mule rustler.  

This is not my favorite historical book, but it did give a lot of history and information about the west and the mining era.  The author also included a note at the end with lots of history and his research from writing the book.  Would be good for older elementary and up.  

Hotaka by John Heffernan (Through My Eyes series)

Set on the coast of Japan, this book gives a look at the earthquake and following tsunami of 2011.  Hotaka and his friend, Takeshi, are headed back to school when the alarm rings.  They and their classmates head up the hill where Hotaka lives to avoid the tsunami.  As the two boys leave their group to go get Hotaka's mom to bring the car, they see elderly people stranded. Takeshi wants to help and as they do they save all the elderly, but Takeshi becomes exhausted and is swept away by the water.  Hotaka was hit by a deck and knocked unconcious.  As he recovers he looks for Takeshi and his grandfather everywhere.  

Three years later, we see how Hotaka and his town are recovering and his new friends, Osamu and Sakura.  They are organizing a memorial event, they begin to question why money is being spent on a sea wall, that will probably not help, and how all of them are still dealing with the loss of their former lives.   

If you are a historical or like stories of survival/ disaster this one's for you!

Amina by J. L. Powers (Through My Eyes series)

Amina lives in war torn Somalia.  Al-Shabaab has taken over their town of Mogadishu.  Amina lives with her mother, father (who is a famous artist), brother Roble, and her grandmother.  Her mother is pregnant.  Her father is an artist who is controversial and many Al-Shabaab doesn't like his message.  One day they come for him and take him away.  As Amina and Roble go to find their uncle, Roble is also taken by Al-Shabaab and there are only the women left.  Now, they have no income form her father's paintings and start to struggle to feed themselves.  Great first person point of view of what it could have been like to live in that situation.

The book was a little slow at the beginning and the words were a little confusing until I got used to them, but it did finally take off and was a good survival story.

book trailer

Author video

The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron

Stefania Podgorska is living in Poland in 1943.  She is a young Catholic girl, living and working for a Jewish family, the Diamants.  She has been with them for many years and has even secretly accepted their son's proposal.  As Germans invade Poland things begin to change and Stefania is left behind as the Diamants are moved into a ghetto.  When Stefania decides to go home she finds her mother and brother were taken to a work camp and her little sister, Helena, is left behind.  Stefania takes Helena with her back to the city and her fiance, Izio, is killed in a concentration camp.  His brother Max approaches Stefania about hiding some Jews and she agrees.  

This book is based on a true story, but some of it was fictionalized.  Cameron did her research though and included some pictures from the family of Stefania, Max, Helena, and others.  There is also a movie out based on the same story Hidden in Silence.  

 

Secret Soldiers by Keely Hutton

I am not one who normally reads or enjoys historical fiction, especially about war, but this book was pretty good.  Thomas is determined to join the army to get to the western front lines to find his brother who has been reported missing in action.  However, he is not old enough to join, but a homeless boy, George, watches him get turned away and ends up getting him "enlisted" through another means.  George decides to enlist as well and the two of them head off on a train to the front lines.  Along the way Charlie and Fredrick become part of their unit and they are assigned to dig tunnels under enemy lines/ trenches to eventually set explosives.  Every day Thomas goes out into the trenches looking for his brother James, but has no luck locating him. The boys have struggles they go through, but eventually they are able to work together and get along.  As the story goes along it gets pretty intense in a few spots and you wonder who will survive.  

James' story is told on black pages with white print and the main story is told on regular pages, which is pretty neat, because it definitely lets you know which POV you are in.  

The Button War by AVI

Patryk and Jurek along with 5 other friends live in Poland during WWI.  The Russians are in charge of their village and are fighting against the Germans.  Some villagers want the Russians out and the Germans to take over, which happens, but that starts another battle.  The boys of the village are having a button war to see who can collect the best button off a soldiers uniform.  As you can probably tell, the button war and WWI will be escalating, so the question is...who will survive?

Great historical fiction.

Interview with AVI about Button War

Grenade by Alan Gratz

Available on October 9, 2018


Told in two voices for the majority of the book Hideki and Ray. Hideki is a child on the island of Okinawa during WWII. The Japanese army has come to his school and given all the boy students two grenades, one to kill an American Soldier and one to kill themselves. They are then sent out to search for soldiers.

Ray is an American Soldier on the island and he feels that he wants to serve his country, but he also doesn't want to kill people unnecessarily. They've been told the differences about Japanese and Okinawans.

As Ray and Hideki begin making their way across the island they end up encountering each other in a way that will change their lives forever.

Grenade Book Trailer

Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

Beans Curry lives in Key West Florida in 1934.  The town is barely hanging on during the Great Depression.  Garbage is piled up everywhere,  the fire stations are closed (except one), there is no electricity around town, dogs are roaming the streets and Beans dad is looking for work....even all the way in New Jersey.  Beans tries to make money selling cans, but Winky pays him less than promised.  Beans makes a decision to work for an "unsavory" fellow, but really makes some good money, but at what cost to Beans?

Good historical fiction with fun mixed in.