Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength and Courage (So many authors)

At  first, I started to feel like this book was a bit of a downer. Every chapter is a story of someone who is an underdog. As I pressed on though, it became more and more compelling to hear their stories. They are stories of people who not only persisted, but accomplished great things despite other people. The more I read, the more inspired I was. I think this book is one of those best taken in full doses. It reminded me of reading a book by Deborah Ellis on First Nations kids called Looks Like Daylight. It wasn't until I had really buried myself in the stories that the feeling took over. This is one of those books that can change you, if you let it.

Goodreads says:

A powerful collection of essays from actors, activists, athletes, politicians, musicians, writers, and teens, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, actress Alia Shawkat, actor Maulik Pancholy, poet Azure Antoinette, teen activist Gavin Grimm, and many, many more, each writing about a time in their youth when they were held back because of their race, gender, or sexual identity--but persisted.

"Aren't you a terrorist?" "There are no roles for people who look like you." "That's a sin." "No girls allowed." They've heard it all. Actress Alia Shawkat reflects on all the parts she was told she was too "ethnic" to play. Former NFL player Wade Davis recalls his bullying of gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Teen Gavin Grimm shares the story that led to the infamous "bathroom bill," and how he's fighting it. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Aushwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one.

What made them rise up through the hate? What made them overcome the obstacles of their childhood to achieve extraordinary success? How did they break out of society's limited view of who they are and find their way to the beautiful and hard-won lives they live today? With a foreword by Minnesota senator and up-and-coming Democratic party leader Amy Klobuchar, these essays share deeply personal stories of resilience, faith, love, and, yes, persistence.

"Each tale is a soulful testament to the endurance of the human spirit and reminds readers that they are not alone in their search for self. An unflinchingly honest book that should be required reading for every young person in America."--Kirkus, Starred review

"An invaluable collection of snapshots of American society."--VOYA, Starred review

"[A] gem of a book. . . There's a lot to study here and talk about on the way to becoming kinder, more empathetic, and most important, compassionate."--Booklist

"Readers encountering injustice in their own lives may be compelled to take heart--and even action."--Publishers Weekly

"A powerful collection of voices."--SLJ

"The sheer variation in writing styles, subject-matters, and structure to these narratives provides readers with inspiration in assorted forms and a complex interpretation of what it means to persist."--The Bulletin

Amal Unbound (Aisha Saeed)

Wow! This is a compelling story. I think a theme may be doing what's right, even when it isn't easy and things don't seem fair. Life is not fair for Amal, that is for sure. This would be a great story to do when we talk about segregation. The cover is beautiful. It's a page-turner that I couldn't stop reading and ended up reading in one day. The main character remains a good person despite really difficult circumstances. The afterward talks about Malala and the fight for girls to have a right to education. 


Goodreads says:

The compelling story of a girl’s fight to regain her life and dreams after being forced into indentured servitude.

Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when–as the eldest daughter–she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn’t lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens–after an accidental run-in with the son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family’s servant to pay off her own family’s debt.

Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal–especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal’s growing awareness of the Khans’ nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realizes she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams. 

The Invention of Wings (Sue Monk Kidd)

There is nothing I like better than a story of truly inspiring women. This is definitely one. The story is told from Sara Grimke's and Handful's point of view. Sarah, from early on, knew slavery was wrong, despite her family's practice of owning slaves. Handful is well named. She is a slave who suffers but doesn't lie down. Handful was not a real person. She is mostly made up by the author. Sarah Grimke, on the other hand, was a real person.

I loved this book and read it slowly so as to carefully soak up all the story into my heart. I hope I can be someone who stands up for those who need someone to speak up, rather than just accepting that that is the way things are.

"History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own." - Professor Julius Lester

One of the most striking moments in the story is when the slave owner comes across the quilt that Handful's mother has made. It tells the story of her life:

p. 336 - 337
"We looked back and forth to each other while little missus squinted from one square to the next like she was reading a book. Everything done to mauma - there it was. the one-legged punishment, the whippings, the branding, the hammering. mama's body laid on the quilt frame in pieces...."Who made this?"
"Mauma did. Charlotte."
"Well, it's gruesome!"
I never had wanted to scream as bad as I did right then. I said, "Those gruesome things happened to her."
A dark pink color poured into her cheeks. "For heaven's sakes then, you would think her whole life was nothing but violence and cruelty. I mean, it doesn't show what she did to warrant her punishments."
She looked at the quilt again, her eyes darting over the appliques. "We treated her well here, no one can dispute that. I can't speak for what happened to her when she ran away, she was out of our care then." Little missus was rubbing her hands now like she was cleaning them at the wash bowl.
The quilt had shamed hr. She walked to the door and took one look back at it, and I knew she'd never let it stay in the world. She'd send Hector to gt it the minute we were out of the room. He'd burn mauma's story to ash.
Standing there, waiting for little missus' steps to fade, I looked down at the quilt, at the slaves flying in the sky, and I hated being a slave worse than being dead. The hate I felt for it glittered so full of beauty I sank down on the floor before it.


That's the moment when Handful is ready to run away....and she does.



This is the second Sue Monk Kidd book I've read. I am thinking this summer might need to be a Sue Monk Kidd summer.


Goodreads says:

Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world—and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection.

Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.

Kidd’s sweeping novel is set in motion on Sarah’s eleventh birthday, when she is given ownership of ten year old Handful, who is to be her handmaid. We follow their remarkable journeys over the next thirty five years, as both strive for a life of their own, dramatically shaping each other’s destinies and forming a complex relationship marked by guilt, defiance, estrangement and the uneasy ways of love.

As the stories build to a riveting climax, Handful will endure loss and sorrow, finding courage and a sense of self in the process. Sarah will experience crushed hopes, betrayal, unrequited love, and ostracism before leaving Charleston to find her place alongside her fearless younger sister, Angelina, as one of the early pioneers in the abolition and women’s rights movements.

Inspired by the historical figure of Sarah Grimke, Kidd goes beyond the record to flesh out the rich interior lives of all of her characters, both real and invented, including Handful’s cunning mother, Charlotte, who courts danger in her search for something better.

This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.

Words on Fire (Jennifer Nielsen)

Jennifer Nielsen never disappoints. Lots of good cliff hangers and surprising twists at the end. Well worth a read!

Goodreads says:

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen transports readers to a corner of history with this inspiring story of a girl who discovers the strength of her people united in resisting oppression.

Danger is never far from Audra's family farm in Lithuania. She always avoids the occupying Russian Cossack soldiers, who insist that everyone must become Russian -- they have banned Lithuanian books, religion, culture, and even the language. But Audra knows her parents are involved in something secret and perilous.

When Cossacks arrive abruptly at their door, Audra's parents insist that she flee, taking with her an important package and instructions for where to deliver it. But escape means abandoning her parents to a terrible fate.

As Audra embarks on a journey to deliver the mysterious package, she faces unimaginable risks, and soon she becomes caught up in a growing resistance movement. Can joining the underground network of book smugglers give Audra a chance to rescue her parents? 

Resistance (Jennifer Nielsen)

I'm a big fan of Jennifer Nielsen. I always tell my students that are great readers about her books. Last year I had a student who read all of the books in The False Prince series as well as A Night Divided. One day I was walking down the hall and he stopped me and said he had book for me. "Wait right here!" he said. He ran off to where his backpack was, found the book and raced back to me. He said, "You have to read this...but I have to go play now." I had heard about this book, but didn't realize it was out.  It has been so fun to read it. I spent about two weeks reading it and he would often find me at recess and ask what I thought of things so far. He spilled the beans to me about what happened in the ending and it made me want to slow down and soak it all up before the bad news unfolded. As a matter of fact, that's how I felt as I read the entire thing. I couldn't believe the things these kids went through and what they did.

You have to read this book!

May we never forget. May we live with honor at all times regardless of our circumstances. And may we choose love, a weapon that will defeat hate every single time because love is the resistance. 

I can't really recommend this book for students in my grade though. She doesn't hold back on the atrocities of war.

Here is a video of the author with the background on the story:


(Justyna's Narrative is a book I need to find!)

Goodreads says:

Chaya Lindner is a teenager living in Nazi-occupied Poland. Simply being Jewish places her in danger of being killed or sent to the camps. After her little sister is taken away, her younger brother disappears, and her parents all but give up hope, Chaya is determined to make a difference. Using forged papers and her fair features, Chaya becomes a courier and travels between the Jewish ghettos of Poland, smuggling food, papers, and even people. 

Soon Chaya joins a resistance cell that runs raids on the Nazis' supplies. But after a mission goes terribly wrong, Chaya's network shatters. She is alone and unsure of where to go, until Esther, a member of her cell, finds her and delivers a message that chills Chaya to her core, and sends her on a journey toward an even larger uprising in the works — in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Though the Jewish resistance never had much of a chance against the Nazis, they were determined to save as many lives as possible, and to live — or die — with honor.

Sweep: The Story of A Girl and Her Monster (Jonathan Auxier)

This is one of those books that I'd love to read with kids. It's a little too much for grade 3 though, I think.  It made me want to read more by this author. It came highly recommended and did not disappoint.

The main character, Nan, really drew me in and had me cheering for her. It made me want to learn more about the history of child labor and sweeps and caring for orphans. A good twist to the lovely Mary Poppins stories. It's kind of a fairy tale, historical fiction book full of good cliff hangers and plot twists.

“ Brooms Up!”

“With brush and pail and soot and song!
A sweep brings luck all season long!”


Goodreads Says:
For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on "climbing boys"--orphans owned by chimney sweeps--to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived--and a girl. With her wits and will, she's managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. 
But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature--a golem--made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire. 
Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a life together--saving one another in the process.


Notes: 

March 30, 2019 – 

page 8

 

 2.17% "Why does before get a capital: The first rule was you never asked another clinber about his life Before."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 32

 

 8.7% "The Sweep had never understood how a person could sleep through a sunrise. "It's like Heaven itself is offering you a gift you're too lazy to open.""

March 30, 2019 – 

page 35

 

 9.51% "...Miss Meyhew's Seminary (?) for Young Ladies"

March 30, 2019 – 

page 72

 

 19.57% "Nan watched Charlie watching his first sunrise. His eyes were impossibly wide.

It's like heaven itself is offering us a gift."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 72

 

 19.57% "Home is a safe place to put your things so burglars don't touch them."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 146

 

 39.67% "The best way to inspire a love of reading is to read something you love...even if it is difficult."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 130

 

 35.33% ""I did not have big arms then," Charlie said. "I used my head to push the bricks away. And then I helped in my Charlie way.:
Nan was surprised to hear how clearly he remembered all this. He was usually quite forgetful. "What do you mean by your 'Charlie way'?" she asked.
The creature shrugged and looked down at his hands. "Um..." Loose soot crumbled from his fingers. "I made it wake up in you.""

March 30, 2019 – 

page 131

 

 35.6% "Nan shook her head. "Made what wake up?"
He looked up at her. "Your heart.""

April 10, 2019 – 

page 131

 

 35.6% "Nan shook her head. "Made what wake up?"
He looked up at her. "Your heart.""

April 10, 2019 – 

page 166

 

 45.11% "Nan told Charlie about the whole thing. How the baby Jesus was born in a basket and how a wicked kind tried to kidnap him but then a big bearded angel named Father Christmas fought the king...he tossed the baby Jesus down the chimney of a girl named Mary, and that was the first Christmas present."....now every year in winter, Father Christmas spends one night bringing presents down the chimneys of good boys and girls"

April 10, 2019 – 

page 180

 

 48.91% "That's how it works, doesn't it? We are saved by saving others."

April 10, 2019 – 

page 212

 

 57.61% "My whole life, folks have treated me like I was nothing-just because of how I looked. And maybe that's the problem. If we all could just ignore the way other people looked, then we could see who they really were."

April 10, 2019 – 

page 234

 

 63.59% "Nan woke from a dream about the Sweep. He had been mending her coat, as he often did, and she had noticed something about his own clothes -how worn and tattered they had become. With every stitch he gave her, he lost one of his own."

April 10, 2019 – 

page 282

 

 76.63% ""It ain't going to happen ma'am," Whittles said. "We're inside their houses every day - right under their noses. It's been this way for hundreds of years. Some folks are very good at not seeing things they don't want to see.""

The Storyteller (Jodi Picoult)

It took me a while to get into this book. Actually, I started it, then left it for a while, which caused me to not make some connections - but luckily this was a book club book so my book club friends cleared that up for me!

I seem to read a Jodi Picoult book every summer. This was a lot like the other ones I've read - some big topic (this one was forgiveness), multiple narratives and a twist at the end.

Last year, I read Small Great Things, which is about a white supremacist and a black nurse in a hospital. I was reading it at the same time as the stuff was happening in the USA in Charlottesville. It was surreal. There's a story in the news right now about a holocaust denier. The holocaust was terrible and this book has some incredibly descriptive accounts of it. You can't make that stuff up.

Goodreads says:

Some stories live forever . . .

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future

Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag (Sanders)

This is a good historical book about how the pride flag came to be. It isn't a topic that comes up in my classroom very often, but I have seen attitudes change over time and can imagine that in time it will become a matter of fact topic. For now, it's one I don't tread into very often just because I'm afraid of the blacklash from parents. If it does though, this is one well worth having, for sure.


Goodreads says:

The very first picture book about the remarkable and inspiring story of the Gay Pride Flag!

In this deeply moving and empowering true story, young readers will trace the life of the Gay Pride Flag, from its beginnings in 1978 with social activist Harvey Milk and designer Gilbert Baker to its spanning of the globe and its role in today’s world. Award-winning author Rob Sanders’s stirring text, and acclaimed illustrator Steven Salerno’s evocative images, combine to tell this remarkable - and undertold - story. A story of love, hope, equality, and pride.

Small Great Things (Jodi Picoult)

I haven't done a great job of reading this summer. One reason is I seemed to have this sub-conscious need to stay focused on my husband, which meant I couldn't really get lost in a book. I tried, but I was reading a book that I couldn't quite get into and I was dragging myself through it. I finally put it aside and decided to read Small Great Things. It was a great break!

Goodreads says:

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

My thoughts:

Right now there is some awful racial issue stuff going on in the states that totally parallel this story. It was surreal to be reading it at the same time.

It was crazy to see inside the mind of a white supremacist. Crazy.


I had to stop and take a break after this bit:


p. 377: Ruth talks about helping a mother who has just had a stillborn baby: Then I handed her a damp cloth I pressed it into her palm water shocked her into awareness, or if it was the baby. But with my hand guiding her she washed every fold and curve of her baby.She wrapped him in the blanket. She held him to her breast. Finally, with a Saab that sounded like she was tearing a piece of herself away, she offered the body of her child back to me.

.....speaking of the room in the hospital for grieving parents of newborns: I think I know now why it is called the kangaroo suite It's because even when you no longer have a child, you carry him forever

In a Sunburned Country (Bill Bryson)

Before this, I didn't know about Bill Bryson. When I was carrying this book around people would comment, "Oh! I love Bill Bryson. Have you ever read...."

I definitely have some more reading to do.

I really didn't know anything about Australia before this. His book was a great way to learn about Australia. I learned that you could die there. They have some seriously unique animals and plants and a lot of danger. I think I'll stick to the coastal areas, if I go there. Although, the lure of undiscovered gems and minerals in the wide open outback is a bit of a temptation!

I really enjoyed his humour. I found myself chuckling often. I read this while hanging out in the lodge on our school's ski days and my friends around me would often ask what I was chuckling about. We enjoyed it together. I was glad I had those two days to sit and read. I wouldn't want to spread this one out over too many more days...it could take forever to read this one, if you let that happen. Instead, I totally immersed myself. It isn't that long, but the font is quite small....very dense!

It is interesting to me that so many countries have a part of their history where they were abusive to the indigenous people that were there when they arrived. There doesn't seem to be much shame in that on the part of Australians though. I found that quite curious.

I did find him a little more verbose than necessary. He does like to go on and on and on. Mavericks was the same way. (I never did finish that one...it's more of a long term project type book) It had a lot of great information, but there was just so much of it! I wondered if more people would read these kinds of books if only they were a little more succinct. He also likes to use crazy words. At first I'd look them up. Then I just started making a list to look up later. Most of the time I discovered that there was usually a word that would be just as effective that he could have used.

Goodreads summary:

Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the Appalachian Trail resulted in the sublime national bestseller A Walk in the Woods. In A Sunburned Country is his report on what he found in an entirely different place: Australia, the country that doubles as a continent, and a place with the friendliest inhabitants, the hottest, driest weather, and the most peculiar and lethal wildlife to be found on the planet. The result is a deliciously funny, fact-filled, and adventurous performance by a writer who combines humor, wonder, and unflagging curiousity.

Despite the fact that Australia harbors more things that can kill you in extremely nasty ways than anywhere else, including sharks, crocodiles, snakes, even riptides and deserts, Bill Bryson adores the place, and he takes his readers on a rollicking ride far beyond that beaten tourist path. Wherever he goes he finds Australians who are cheerful, extroverted, and unfailingly obliging, and these beaming products of land with clean, safe cities, cold beer, and constant sunshine fill the pages of this wonderful book. Australia is an immense and fortunate land, and it has found in Bill Bryson its perfect guide.

I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai)

I read this book for book club. It was my turn to choose a book and I've dabbled in this one a number of times (Goodreads says I started reading it Aug 20, 2015!) so I decided it was a good one to pick to read and discuss. In the end, I think it was a good book to discuss at book club.

When I read this book, I was struck by her love for education and had to think about how many of us take the opportunities we have for granted.

It was interesting to read an account of what life was like as the Taliban gradually took over.  Honestly, I'm not sure I would have been as valiant a fighter and she and her father have been. They have lived their life in danger simply because they value education, choice, religion and the freedom to choose. I hesitate to be judgmental, but I really wondered about parents who would allow their child to be so outspoken. Clearly, she suffered the consequences. In the end though, she is a hero. I do not know if I'd be as brave as she and her family has been.

Goodreads summary:

I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. 

Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken (Kate DiCamillo)

Oh how I love Kate DiCamillo! She weaves magical tales! Who could make any sense out of the idea of an adventurous chicken?! The story works beautifully.

I don't relate to Louise. She likes adventures. (I like to read about adventures). I did relate to how she needs to go home and tuck herself in and have a good sleep!!

I could totally relate to the other chickens. Their heart races when she tells them of their adventures...and they feel like they've been on the adventure too. And that is good enough for them! I often feel that way. I don't need to go out and do all the seemingly crazy things everyone else does....I'm okay to hear about it/read about it! I guess I'm a minimalist adventurer.

I loved the words in this book. They're beautiful woven. This story was a big hit!

Goodreads Summary:

She longed for adventure.

So she left her home and ventured out into the wide world.

The pleasures and perils she met proved plentiful: marauding pirates on the majestic seas, a ferocious lion under the bright lights of the big top, a mysterious stranger in an exotic and bustling bazaar.

Yet in the face of such daunting danger, our heroine . . .

She was brave.

She was fearless.

She was feathered.

She was a chicken.

A not-so-chicken chicken.

Her name? 

The Sound of Gravel (Ruth Wariner)

I am always curious about polygamous stories. I have never known anyone in a family like this and cannot understand how I could ever be a positive situation. I do, however, have ancestors who were polygamists. Nothing much is ever said about their experience in my family history loving tribe, so it has always made me assume it was not a great situation. How could I ever be?

This story made me sad for the women who get themselves stuck in situations where they turn all decision making, all power and all control of their life over to someone else....a man. The man in this story was a sick and twisted lazy abuser. It made me angry to read of her mother's decisions to stay with him and continue to have me children and not protect them. I cannot stand such backward thinking and cowardliness. I hated how Ruth's mother kept saying, "If he ever does it again...." I hated how, after expelling him from their community, they decided he had suffered enough and let him back. I hated how he le his family live in such squalor. I hated him and I despised his wives.

But I also could not put the book down. I started it yesterday morning then had a full day of commitments. All day I kept wishing for time to steal away to my vehicle and spend some me time in the story. There was no time for that though. This morning I got up early before everyone else and picked up the book right away. I read it through to the end.....and then slammed it shut. It has left a cloud over my day that has not been easily shaken.

I am so proud of Ruth for being brave enough to turn her life and her siblings lives around. Thank goodness for people like her grandmother who weren't afraid to voice her opinion on the problems in the religion. It put ideas into Ruth's head to her her see she had to get out.

...and may people like Lane rot in hell.

Goodreads summary:

A riveting, deeply-affecting true story of one girl's coming-of-age in a polygamist cult.

Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth's father--the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony--is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant.

In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her step-father works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As Ruth begins to doubt her family’s beliefs and question her mother’s choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself.

Recounted from the innocent and hopeful perspective of a child, The Sound of Gravel is the remarkable true story of a girl fighting for peace and love. This is an intimate, gripping tale of triumph, courage, and resilience.

A Night Divided (Jennifer Nielsen)

This is by the same author that wrote The False Prince trilogy.


I had never thought of what it was like when the Berlin wall went up. The author tells this story in a gripping way that teaches a lot about that time. It was very hard to put down.


I have recommended this to many students and many of them have said they are reading it and loving it.


Goodreads summary:


From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a stunning thriller about a girl who must escape to freedom after the Berlin Wall divides her family between east and west.

With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family divided overnight. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their own citizens; she, her family, her neighbors and friends are prisoners in their own city.

But one day, while on her way to school, Gerta spots her father on a viewing platform on the western side, pantomiming a peculiar dance. Then, when she receives a mysterious drawing, Gerta puts two and two together and concludes that her father wants Gerta and Fritz to tunnel beneath the wall, out of East Berlin. However, if they are caught, the consequences will be deadly. No one can be trusted. Will Gerta and her family find their way to freedom?

The Endless Steppe (Esther Hautzig)

There is something about this book that won't let go of me.

When I was in grade six, I started reading this book. For some reason, I had to give it back to my teacher before I was finished. I never forgot it. When I was in university, I finally decide to find it and finish reading it. For some reason, I felt compelled to find it again and re-read it. It is like it calls to me. My great grandparents lived in Russia, transplanted from another country, and we don't know a lot of their story except that they ran for their lives when they left there. Every time I read something about that country I wonder if my grandparents story was similar.

The steppe it refers to is the land in Russia. From what I can gather, it is probably similar landscape to Alberta: prairie at the foot of the mountains. The weather is similar too....lots of cold!

This is a story of Jews during World War II. They aren't sent to a concentration camp. Instead they are exiled to Siberia. They go from living a very comfortable life as wealth citizens of Poland to being very poor in Siberia. They live in mud huts. They work for meager wages. They are separated from each other - yet their determined spirits help them to survive. The story is told by the daughter. While she does suffer terribly because of their exile, she also has many of the same concerns all kids have about fitting in at school, having the right thing to wear (shoes, for example....just having shoes to wear) and seeing popular movies her friends have seen. While these people didn't go through the horrors of concentration camps, their experience is still a compelling story.

I read a book with a story similar to this about similar things happening in Canada during World War I. It is interesting that we choose to take large groups of people and banish them because of their culture. This would be a great story to read with Anne Frank. It discusses big issues but in a child-friendly way.

Goodreads summary: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/758919.The_Endless_Steppe

It is June 1941. The Rudomin family has been arrested by the Russians. They are "capitalistsenemies of the people." Forced from their home and friends in Vilna, Poland, they are herded into crowded cattle cars. Their destination: the endless steppe of Siberia.

For five years, Esther and her family live in exile, weeding potato fields and working in the mines, struggling for enough food and clothing to stay alive. Only the strength of family sustains them and gives them hope for the future.

Cat At the Wall (Deborah Ellis)

Deborah Ellis never disappoints. I am always surprised, though, that her books are J fiction. While she does handle difficult issues with ease, they are still very difficult issues. I'm not sure elementary or middle school kids would even come close to "getting it". But then again, maybe that is ok.

What I got from this book was similar to her book, Three Wishes. In the Israeli/Palestinian war there is so much hatred that has gone on for so long and it is so complicated, how can there even be any solution. Hating and killing is just a way of life for both sides.

But, somewhere in it all, there is still humanity. However, there is a lot of heartbreak for all to take in.

This book is definitely worth reading. It handles difficult and complex issues and makes you think.

Goodreads summary: 

A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has just been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards.

Should she help him?


After all, she's just a cat.


Or is she?


It turns out that this particular cat is not used to thinking about anyone but herself. She was once a regular North American girl who only had to deal with normal middle-school problems -- staying under the teachers' radar, bullying her sister and the uncool kids at school, outsmarting her clueless parents.


But that was before she died and came back to life as a cat, in a place with a whole different set of rules for survival.


When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don't know what to do with him. Where are the child's parents? Why has he been left alone in the house? It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching.


Not my business, thinks the cat. And then she sees a photograph, and suddenly she understands what happened to the boy's parents, and why they have not returned. And as the soldiers begin to panic, and disaster seems certain, she knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation.


But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do

How I Discovered Poetry (Marilyn Nelson)

I'm not much of a poetry person, but this book somehow appealed to me. Each poem is vignette and a small look into Marilyn Nelson's life. I didn't know Marilyn Nelson at all prior to reading this book (did I mention I'm not much of a poetry person?). I chuckled at her comments about Lot and his wife and the flea and then her Mama swatting her leg while she giggled. I felt a little sad about when she brought up people's unkind words towards her and the troubles with racial tension in the states in the 50's. I felt her wonder when people thought she tried to do well in school to show off. And I felt proud of her teachers that encouraged her with writing.

A lovely book. Easy to read. Lots to think about.
I think it would be a great book for middle school or high school...even in Canada.

The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

It is hard to even know where to start with this book. It is a book I would have never read, if it weren't a book club pick. I drug myself through the first 300 pages, grumbling to myself that no book should be given a 300 page grace before it becomes interesting.

That being said, there is something about this book, now that I am finished, that makes me think it is a book that I need to read a few more times because I am pretty sure there is more to it than I gathered from my first read.

I was bothered by the ignorant evangelical seal of Nathan Price and even his family. While they didn't feel a need to shout their beliefs at people like Nathan did, they did portray the idea that they were superior because of their beliefs and background. I really don't like it when people think their way is the only way and that they have any kind of right to walk into someone's life (or country) and expect it to change for them.

Moon At Nine (Deborah Ellis)

Deborah Ellis is an author I really admire. She seems to easily write about difficult topics. She seems to have a particular interest in the middle east. I have loved many of her other books like The Breadwinner (about the war in Afghanistan), as well as the rest of the books in that series, No Ordinary Day , Three Wishes, The Heaven Shop (about aids in Africa)

In this book, Moon at Nine, Deborah Ellis tackles another difficult topic: LGBQ issues. She handles it with ease. Although, the story broke my heart.


Here is the Goodreads Summary:

Fifteen-year-old Farrin has many secrets. Although she goes to a school for gifted girls in Tehran, as the daughter of an aristocratic mother and wealthy father, Farrin must keep a low profile. It is 1988; ever since the Shah was overthrown, the deeply conservative and religious government controls every facet of life in Iran. If the Revolutionary Guard finds out about her mother’s Bring Back the Shah activities, her family could be thrown in jail, or worse.

The day she meets Sadira, Farrin’s life changes forever. Sadira is funny, wise, and outgoing; the two girls become inseparable. But as their friendship deepens into romance, the relationship takes a dangerous turn. It is against the law to be gay in Iran; the punishment is death. Despite their efforts to keep their love secret, the girls are discovered and arrested. Separated from Sadira, Farrin can only pray as she awaits execution. Will her family find a way to save them both?

Based on real-life events, multi-award winning author Deborah Ellis’s new book is a tense and riveting story about a world where homosexuality is considered so abhorrent that it is punishable by death.

The story is called Moon at Nine because the two girls, when banned from being together, decide that they will each look at the moon at 9 and think of each other. If this book doesn't cause you to want to do something about human rights, I'm not sure what will. Astounding story. Well worth the read. When I was reading this book I wondered if perhaps Deborah Ellis could also be gay. Sure enough!

Long Way Gone (Ishmael Beah)

Considering all the boys went through in this story, it is really trite to say this, but this was a hard book to read. I took a long time to get through it because I kept having to take breaks. I couldn't handle too much of it for too long. It is difficult to give words to the emotions stirred by this book. It is a story, however, that should be heard.

First, I was so heartbroken for Ishmael to lose his family in such violence. After that, for him to have to simply run and hope for the kindness of strangers to help him out was also heartbreaking. He was the same age as my own son is now. When he was taken by the army to be a boy soldier, I was horrified with the violence and drugs. It never ended though. Even when he was taken away from the army to be rehabilitated, it was painful to read! The violence and hate was deep n these boys and thinking they would be removed from the army and go on to a better life was niiave. Inear the end of the book, after being rehabilitated, he finds family again, only to have to run for his life when war breaks out again.

I wonder, as Ishmael did, why do I get to keep living such a good life when others go through so much horror?