Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Source:  I purchased

 

This is a book I am excited to put on my school shelves.   Hanneke is a young girl in Amsterdam in the middle of Nazi occupation. She smuggles goods to help out. One request will set her on a dangerous journey. Hanneke has been asked to locate a young Jewish girl named Mirjam. For this assignment she will need to get help from a resistance group. The book is true to WWII and the horrors of the Nazis. One reason I find this such an important book for my school shelves is that we have a holocaust unit. I try to provide great books that accurately tell of the holocaust events. So many people sided with the Nazis, not because they hated the Jews but because they wanted to improve their own position in life. Some were just bystanders who didn’t agree but didn’t want to get involved. This book shows so many sides to this war. As a word of caution it is full of the violence that so many experienced. This type of history should never be watered down. I applaud this author for telling a story that is authentic and exactly what kids and adults should learn. We need more books like this that show the importance of resistance groups and people like Hanneke.

The Color Keepers by Catriona Crehan

Genre:  Middle Grade, Fantasy

Source: I received a copy to review

 

Emily, her brother James and her crush Sam are on a mission. When Emily’s mom brings home an antique mirror with 4 colors of stained glass, a gift for Emily she is shocked. She awakens to hear a humming and sees the colors on the mirror brighten. A note floats out from the mirror with Emily’s name on it. She touches the colors in the order described in the note and walks into another world. She sets free a girl who has been imprisoned, only to learn the prisoner was the Crow Queen.  Emily is told she will need to bring two people back the following night to stop the Crow Queen before she destroys the Flatlands and Emily’s world. The adventures were not bad. The world building was great. I felt the characters were not as developed as much as I would have liked them to be. However, I did enjoy

the book and would recommend it.

Alone by Megan E. Freeman

Genre: Novel in Verse, Realistic Fiction

Source: Purchased

 

Maddie is a typical teen living in Colorado. Maddie splits her time between her mom and step-dad’s house and her dad and step-mom’s house. She and two of her friends hatch a plan to spend a night at Maddie’s grandparents apartment alone. Maddie tells her mom she is staying with her dad and tells her dad she is staying with her mom to babysit. She goes to her grandma’s apartment and waits for her two friends to arrive. Unfortunately, their parents call her mom and are told she is at her dad’s so they can’t go anywhere. Then the unimaginable happens. Maddie hears sounds of panic outside of her grandma’s apartment. People are being rounded up. She hears the neighbor tell the person in charge that the owners are out of state.  Maddy wakes the next morning to learn that everyone in her town has been evacuated due to an “imminent threat”. This begins Maddie’s journey to survive. She doesn’t know what the threat is. As she goes about town she finds a barrel with cell phones in it. She dials her mom’s number and hears a phone ring in one of the barrels, she tries her dad’s phone and her friends’ phones only to realize every one of them were left behind. This is a story of survival. It starts with Maddie talking to one of her step-brothers about the book “Island of the Blue Dolphins”. There are definite similarities between the book and Maddie’s new reality. I loved that this was told in verse which made it a very quick read. The emotional aspect as you go day by day and year by year on this ride with Maddie makes you wonder what you would do if you were left behind.  Can’t wait to put this on my school shelves.