93:100 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

It's 1942, Bruno is 9 years old and is not happy to find out that his family is having to leave their comfortable house in Berlin and go to some house away from all his friends. It has something to do with his father being super important and The Fury trusting him with a super important job at Out-With.  Once they get there, it's worse than Bruno could have imagined with no one to play with and officers coming and going all the time. The he discovers the fence and there is a boy on the other side wearing striped pajamas who becomes Bruno's only friend, even if he must keep it secret.

As an approachable way to introduce some of the horrors of the concentration camps to children, this book is ok but really, it's best use is as a fantasy book.  The horrors are glossed over, Bruno acts much younger than his supposed 9 years with constant mispronunciations of things that would not have been common, especially in his own thoughts, and his sister is both too young too old for her supposed 12 years.  The fantasy is really that the commander's son would be allowed to walk right up to the fence and just have these playdates with a child on the other side with no idea why they were there and with no guards anywhere around ever. That does not seem plausible based on the books I've read by survivors.  The story itself is almost sappy sweet which, again, does not mesh with the horrors of the time and those living in the concentration camps. It's almost like it's trying to absolve those who perpetrated those horrors of their sins by making it seem like it was not so bad.  I'm glad I read it before giving it to my son to read. I don't want that history glossed over.

Page count: 216p/22,599p ytd/331,296p lifetime

63:100 This Man Who Calls Me Brother

Set in the time of slavery in South America by the Portuguese, there are those that do not understand the desire for freedom until a choice is given, taken away, and then given again.  When someone holds their bloody hand out to you, what do you choose?

A simple tale of choices and why we choose.

Page count: 27p/17,045p ytd/325,740p lifetime

23:100 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Owning their own land has always been important to Cassie's family ever since her grandparents were able to purchase some.  Cassie knew how hard her father worked to make sure they kept it but she didn't truly understand it until this year.  For the time when she accompanied her grandmother to town and was pushed and embarrassed but made to apologize to a white girl for the incident. For the black families who were set on fire by the night riders. For the black families who reside on white land and know they can lose it at any time for any reason.

Cassie now understands why having their own land is so important.

Read and studied with my 7th grader.  Again, I feel books like this are good to help point out that these are the experiences of others in America, the experiences that are all too often barely mentioned, if at all, in the history books. 


Page count: 276p/5,832p ytd/317,037p lifetime

11:100 Last Train to Istanbul by Ayşe Kulin, John W. Baker (Translator)

Selva comes from a high ranking family in Istanbul as well as being beautiful and smart.  Her older sister has found a fast rising man who will go far in the government.  It's expected that Selva will do something similar except she falls in love with Rafael Afandari, a Jewish son of a local pharmacist.  Her father disowns her and so she and Rafi get married and run away to Paris.  Unfortunately, this was just shortly before WWII and the Nazi invasion of France.  Now Rafi is in constant danger as are all Jews in France and Selva has just been contacted by a friend of her sister's who now works in the Turkish consulate in Paris.  Turik is working to get them back to Turkey and keep them safe as well as all the Turkish Jews he can find but it will not be easy and the danger is great.

Amazon gave this away during Book Day in 2018 and then it was chosen for my book club (I may have helped push that decision).  I enjoyed Selva's story.  The part with her sister was slow and didn't seem to add much to the story except to occasionally give some backstory to Selva.  My biggest issue with the story was the train ride which for the most part had nothing happening until close to the end when it just seemed like the writer thought it had been too easy so let's throw a rape scene in.  I get that those things happened but the way it was handled in the story just seemed too contrived.  In all though, I did enjoy the book.  Most of what I've read about WWII and the Holocaust have been centered in Germany, Poland, and surrounding territories.  I had never heard Turkey mentioned in anything so it was interesting to see what they were having to deal with, both the government and some of the people.

Page count: 395p/2,860p ytd/313,765p lifetime