The Lion Women of Tehran (Marjan Kamali)

 

I loved this story. I read for hours. It was very captivating. It is a great story of friendship and has many twists and turns in their friendship. 

The story starts out in 1981 and then goes back to the 1950's to tell the story that leads up to 1981. There is a Epilogue set in 2022 to wrap things all up nicely.

Notes:

Characters:
Ellie (full name: Elaheh, means goddess) - is a descendant of royalty - a fact that is really important to her mother

Mehrdad - Ellie's husband

Homa - Ellie's best friend. They meet on the first day of school. Ellie's mother always looks down her nose on this friendship, thinking Homa isn't quite fancy enough for her to associate with. Her name is a type of bird that never rests on the ground (p. 20). Homa really never does rest on the ground. She doesn't worry about being like anyone else. She has her passions and pursues them. She is a true friend to Ellie and a breath of fresh air again and again.

Ellie's father dies early on in her life. She thinks he died of turbuculosis. Ellie begrudges her mother for not ever telling her much about her father - until one day they have a good heart to heart and Ellie learns the truth about him (infidelity, etc)

Uncle Massoud - Ellie's uncle who marries her mother as per the tradition in their culture. He is a good husband to her mother and kind to Ellie. He has another brother but he married a Russian and settled there and is never a part of the story again. Uncle Massoud seems like a conselation prize - but that might be because of Ellie's mother's snootiness.

Friendship theme:

- Women's friendships are important and the little things we do for each other and give each other are continual reminders of these wonderful friends.

p. 4 Earlier that morning, in our apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, my husband, Mehrdad, had tried to comfort me with breakfast. He prepared toast with feta cheese and cherry jam. He brewed bergamot tea. But I couldn't eat or drink. The jam was made from Homa's recipe. The bergamot tea in the white teapot adorned with two pink roses reminded me of her. With the arrival of her letter, her absence dominated my life all over again

There was a lot of description about the food - which I kind of expected to play a bigger part - but it never really did. It felt like a bit of a tangent. Perhaps the author really loves the Iranian food and wanted to share that love. Not sure.

Words of the wiser:

From Ellie's mother (a complicated figure in her life!): Jealousy has powerful energy. It can swirl in the air and destruct true happiness. 

- This advice is interesting because in many ways, Ellie's mother was so difficult. So toxic. However, she was right with this advice!

p. 126 From Ellie's mother: "Even those who love you most can ruin your life, you know, Ellie." Mother said.  "Even the ones you trust the most."

- She always had a damper on Ellie's wonderful moments.

p. 155 I would teach my own children differently. I would teach them that the world is filled with people who care deeply about them and want to see them thrive. Imagine that. Imagine if I could not just outgrow my own toxic vices but also transmit to my children the best of traits. Yes, I would raise secure, confident people. I would break the cycle of suspicion and superiority and paranoia that seemed to run in my family line.

The burden of a complaining mother:

p. 28 Sarah, I had a feeling she wasn't the kind of mother who complained to her children about her woes (Ellie's mother was that kind of mother)

Again and again:

Jealousy is something that comes up again and again.

p. 28 I (Ellie) adored her (Homa). 

I was already jealous of her.

p, 46 When Homa had found out I was First-in-Class, she had beamed with excitement, squeezed me hard, and even lifted me off the ground by a few centimeters. And I burdened with my own stupid personality traits, was jealous of her ability not to be jealous.

- p. 191 Poor Ellie keeps having pregnancy loss: Mother made potions of saffron dissolved in bone broth for me to drink. She took to praying five times a day to somehow entreat God to change y rate. Too little, too late was her transformation into someone devout. Her prayers didn't work. Her potions didn't materialize what we most wanted.

Mother claimed it was the evil eye at work. "All those people," she said, "jealous of our health and wealth. All those envious souls casting a hex on us."

Rituals to be rid of:

p. 187 When Mehrdad and Ellie marry, he negotiates not continuing a ritual:

Mehrdad's mom, gracious and calm as ever, agreed that we would be left alone and forgo the old-fashioned handkerchief hoopla surrounding the marriage night. With the mother of the groom decreeing it, the rest of the close female relatives - even my social - climbing mother - gave in. I breathed a sight of relief that I wouldn't be forced to prove that Mehrdad was my first in every way. He was, of course, but the entire "proof" theatre felt so demeaning. I was happy to skip it.

Goodreads says:

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

Mustafa (Marie-Louise Gay)

 

...a little glimpse into what it might be like for a child to leave their country and come to a new one. This story makes it so relatable and real.

Goodreads says:

Mustafa and his family traveled a long way to reach their new home. Some nights Mustafa dreams about the country he used to live in, and he wakes up not knowing where he is. Then his mother takes him out to the balcony to see the moon — the same moon as in their old country. In the park, Mustafa sees ants and caterpillars and bees — they are the same, too. He encounters a “girl-with-a-cat,” who says something in a language that he can’t understand. He watches an old lady feeding birds and other children playing, but he is always looking in from the outside and he feels that he is invisible. But one day, the girl-with-the-cat beckons to him, and Mustafa begins to become part of his new world.

Pocket Bear (Katherine Applegate)

 

I'm currently reading this book aloud to my class and I read it on my own for my Children's Lit Book Club. It is beautiful! It could be a great introduction to the hard topic of war. I'm finding it's a bit of a challenging read aloud for my class because the vocabulary is very rich. However, it makes for some great discussions.  We thought the vocabulary level might be better for around a grade 5 or 6 student - but felt like it would be unlikely they'd pick it up on their own because the cover makes it look like a book for younger students. It would be a great novel study though!

When we read that the girl and her mother are from Ukraine, that the father died and the family home was bombed....we had to pause and marvel. "Wow. Imagine. It's just the girl and her mom!"

A good follow up project might be to bring in our own loved toys, have a "spa day" to get them all cleaned up and then donate them. We could even write a letter to the new owner and explain what we'd like them to know about this boy. 

I think I will give each of my students a bear for Christmas. Maybe we can make scarves for them or something...and write their bear's biography.

Goodreads says:
Thimble-born from tip to toe, Pocket Bear remembers every moment of his "becoming": the glimmering needle, the silken thread, the tender hands as each careful stitch brought him closer to himself. Born during the throes of WWI, he was designed to fit into the pocket of a soldier’s jacket, eyes sewn a bit higher than normal so that he always gazed upward. That way, glancing at his pocket, a soldier would see an endearing token of love from someone back home, and, hopefully, a good luck charm.

Now, over a century later, Pocket serves as unofficial mayor of Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured, where stuffed toy animals are refurbished and given a fresh opportunity to be loved. He and his best feline friend Zephyrina, known far and wide as “The Cat Burglar,” have seen it all, and then some.

An unforgettable tale of bravery, loyalty, and kindness, Pocket Bearreminds us all that love comes in many forms (sometimes filled with fluff), and that second chances are always possible.

The Only Woman In The Room (Marie Benedict)

 

I didn't know about Hedy Lamar before reading this book. I enjoyed reading about her. I have liked some of Marie Benedict's other books. I found this one a little forced though. The dialogue was weird....no one talks like that.

Goodreads says:

Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side and understood more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and the whirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.

But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis and revolutionize modern communication...if anyone would listen to her.

A novel based on the true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication.

Enigma Girls (Candace Fleming)

 

I was especially struck that these girls/women did not say anything about their experience for 30+ years! This is another example of women's stories going untold. They were compelled to be silent about their experience because of the war - but it is interesting how long they maintained their silence! At Bletchley Park there were over 8000 employees, 75% of which were female.

The stories are compelling. The chapters are short. It fills a gap in our understanding of World War II. This would be an okay book for some of the best readers in grade three. Imagining someone they know that is the same age and comparing their life experiences to what these girls were doing is eye-opening. These are ordinary teenagers who are entrusted with detailed and top secret codes. 

All this got me curious to see if there were Canadian women involved in code-breaking. There were. There is a CBC article here about Elsa Lessard.

Olive Bailey, who lives in BC and Marjorie Stetson in this video:

Goodreads says:

From award-winning author Candace Fleming, comes the powerful and fascinating story of the brave and dedicated young women who helped turn the tides of World War II for the Allies, with their hard work and determination at Bletchley Park. Scholastic Focus is the premier home of thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and thoughtfully designed works of narrative nonfiction aimed at middle-grade and young adult readers. These books help readers learn about the world in which they live and develop their critical thinking skills so that they may become dynamic citizens who are able to analyze and understand our past, participate in essential discussions about our present, and work to grow and build our future. "You are to report to Station X at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, in four days time....That is all you need to know." This was the terse telegram hundreds of young women throughout the British Isles received in the spring of 1941, as World War II raged. As they arrived at Station X, a sprawling mansion in a state of disrepair surrounded by Spartan-looking huts with little chimneys coughing out thick smoke—these young people had no idea what kind of work they were stepping into. Who had recommended them? Why had they been chosen? Most would never learn all the answers to these questions. Bletchley Park was a well-kept secret during World War II, operating under the code name Station X. The critical work of code-cracking Nazi missives that went on behind its closed doors could determine a victory or loss against Hitler’s army. Amidst the brilliant cryptographers, flamboyant debutantes, and absent-minded professors working there, it was teenaged girls who kept Station X running. Some could do advanced math, while others spoke a second language. They ran the unwieldy bombe machines, made sense of wireless sound waves, and sorted the decoded messages. They were expected to excel in their fields and most know how to keep a secret. Candace Fleming is the award-winning and highly acclaimed author of Crash from Outer Space , The Curse of the Mummy , and many other nonfiction books for young readers. With her canny and compelling narrative voice she makes history come alive. Thick with tension and suspense, this is an extraordinary and relatively unknown story of World War II that will fascinate readers who will be thrilled to see young people playing such an important role in the wartime effort.

When We Were Shadows (Janet Wees)

 

I know Janet and know how hard she worked on this book. She used to sub at my school and would talk about it a lot. I love WWII stories. I had trouble with the voice in this story though. It's told from the perspective of a little boy and sometimes he does sound like a little boy and sometimes, not at all.

Goodreads says:

The true story of Walter and his Jewish family, who were hidden from capture in the Netherlands throughout the Second World War. The story spans Walter's life from six to fourteen years of age and is accented by Walter's letters, first as a child to his grandparents and later, looking back, to his grandson.

We learn of the strangers who shelter Walter and his family, the members of the Resistance who risked their lives to see them to safety again and again, and of the Hidden Village, a community in the forests of Holland that hid more than 100 people. Throughout, we see the courage and resilience of a boy faced with unimaginable hatred and terror.

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow (Zoulfa Katouh)

 

We read this for our Children's Lit Book club - even though it's YA. We have high school teachers in our group so we thought we should do something at that level. 

This was a great book! I didn't know a lot about Syria but this book made me curious. The author is actually Canadian (born in Calgary!) and the story isn't autobiographical, but reflective of people's experience with Syria.

This book had me captivated. It's a good page turner. I finished the last half of it in one sitting. Loved it.

Quotes:

p. 54 I wish we were being broadcast live on every channel and smartphone in the world so everyone could see what they're allowing to happen to children.

p. 306 "Fear and dread run high in Syria. They're enhanced in you, which is why you see me. It's safe to presume you won't have these same horrors in Germany. So why would I follow you there?"
(character speaking is Khawf....who is fear)

p. ? “When I die, I'm going to tell God everything.” (a child who passes away due to war)

Goodreads says:
Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life.

Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.

The Tree of Life (Elisa Boxer)

 

My students are fascinated with war and how terrible things happen. This is a great way to talk about that topic with a beautiful aspect. People are amazing.

Goodreads says:

Hope triumphs over fear in this poignant and impactful true story of the Holocaust—a delicate introduction to World War Two history for older picture book readers.

During World War Two, in the concentration camp Terezin, a group of Jewish children and their devoted teacher planted and nurtured a smuggled-in sapling. Over time fewer and fewer children were left to care for the little tree, but those who remained kept lovingly sharing their water with it. When the war finally ended and the prisoners were freed, the sapling had grown into a strong five-foot-tall maple.

Nearly eighty years later the tree’s 600 descendants around the world are thriving . . . including one that was planted at New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage in 2021. Students will continue to care for it for generations to come, and the world will remember the brave teacher and children who never gave up nurturing a brighter future.

Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jamie Ford)

 

Although I felt like this book certainly wasn't a great work of literature, I really loved the story. I'm shocked at the things we have done in our past to people because of racism. People in Japanese internment camps were amazingly generous with their response to these camps during World War II. 

This was a book club book and we had a great discussion on it.

In this story a Chinese boy named Henry falls in love with a Japanese girl. 

Favorite quotes:
All Henry could do was sigh and nod. He knew that the concept all too well. Painfully well. Obedience as a sign of loyalty as an expression of honor, even as an act of love, was a well-worn theme in his household. Especially between him and his father. but that wasn't the case now, was it? Did I cause my father's stroke? Was it brought on by my disobedience? As much as Henry reasoned otherwise, he ahd a hard time convincing himself the answer was no. His guilt remained.

p. 233 "How long will you wait ofr me, Henry?"
"As long as it takes, I don't care what my father says."
"What if I'm an old woman?" Keiko said, laughing. "What if I'm in here until I'm old and my ahir is gray - "
"Then I'll bring you a cane."
"You'd wait for me?"
Henry smiled, nodded, and took Keiko's hand. He didn't even look, their two hands just seemed to fall together. They spend the better part of the day beneath that cloudy sky. Henry looked up expecting rain, but the wind, which kept them a little chilly, blew the clouds south of the camp.  There would be no more rain.

...spoiler alert....he did! 

Goodreads says:

In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

A Place to Hang The Moon (Kate Albus)

 

I loved this book! I ended up reading it in a 24 hour period. It was a Children's Lit book club book but I kept putting off reading it because I figured it'd be a quick read plus I read a review that if you've read The War That Saved My Life, it's pretty much the same - which I have read. However, that reviewer was wrong! I don't think they're the same at all. 

I loved how the children in this story loved to read. It was really what led them to finding a new family after being orphaned and then having their grandmother die. Reading really does save lives.

The title comes from a saying that William tells his siblings his mom used to say - that her children could hang the moon, meaning that they were the most amazing humans. The children look for someone who feels the same way about them and in the end the person who does become their new family actualy ends up saying this very thing by chance.

p. 25 The first words of a new book are so delicious - like the first taste of a cookie fresh from the oven and not yet proerly cooled.

p. 102 "What about Anne of Green Gables?" she asked.
"Is it another orphan story?" Anna asked.
The librarian chuckled. "I suppose there are rather a lot of orphan stories out there."
"Why do grown-ups write so many of them?" William asked.
"I hadn't really thought about it, "Mrs. Muller confessed. "Perhaps they think children fancy the notion of living on their own, without adults to tell them what to do. It's quite daft, if you think about it."

p. 243 "I believe it was the poet, Mr. Yeats, who said that the world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow and sharper?" 

Setting: June 1940 in England

The Pearce family: Edmund (a bit of a trouble-maker type child), the youngest Anna, and William, who is 12.
Mrs Collins - their housekeeper
Harold Engersoll "does not have that gift for explain complex things to children"
Frances
Miss Caw
Mrs. Warren 
Ms Norton
Mrs. Griffith
Mrs Mueller

I looked up Operation Pied Piper and found some really interesting information. I shared this video, called The Mothers Who Waved Goodbye, at our book club meeting:

Goodreads says:
Set against the backdrop of World War II, Anna, Edmund, and William are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, bouncing from home to home in search of a permanent family.

It is 1940 and Anna, 9, Edmund, 11, and William, 12, have just lost their grandmother. Unfortunately, she left no provision for their guardianship in her will. Her solicitor comes up with a preposterous plan: he will arrange for the children to join a group of schoolchildren who are being evacuated to a village in the country, where they will live with families for the duration of the war. He also hopes that whoever takes the children on might end up willing to adopt them and become their new family--providing, of course, that the children can agree on the choice.

Moving from one family to another, the children suffer the cruel trickery of foster brothers, the cold realities of outdoor toilets, and the hollowness of empty tummies. They seek comfort in the village lending library, whose kind librarian, Nora Muller, seems an excellent candidate--except that she has a German husband whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Nevertheless, Nora's cottage is a place of bedtime stories and fireplaces, of vegetable gardens and hot, milky tea. Most important, it's a place where someone thinks they all three hung the moon. Which is really all you need in a mom, if you think about it.

Fans of The War That Saved My Life and other World War II fiction will find an instant classic in A Place to Hang the Moon.

Threads: Zlata's Ukrainian Shirt (Lina Maslo)

 

A good story to read about communism and the on-going disputes between Russia and Ukraine. It was published in 2024, so the Russian invasian had started - but it's not mentioned.

Goodreads says:

Threads is an inspiring picture book about a girl’s survival of the 1930s Ukrainian Famine-Genocide, messaging hope, pride for one's heritage, and context for today's War in Ukraine.

The threads on Zlata’s beautiful birthday blouse were knotted by her mother’s hands. “Red is for love, and black is for sadness,” her Papa says. Her Mama warns her not to show it off. Ever since the Communists came from Russia to Ukraine, they prohibited the teaching of Ukrainian culture. They’ve even taken the grain from Zlata's family's fields. But despite the danger, her parents refuse to give up their art, language, or beliefs.

As Zlata works to help her community survive, she finds that the dream of freedom is stitched deeper into the Ukrainian spirit than she could ever imagine.

Drawing from her own family’s experience in the 1932-33 Ukrainian Famine-Genocide, Lina Maslo weaves a thoughtful story that dares us not the forget the pain of the past as it informs the present conflict in Ukraine and inspires hope for the future.

How Civil Wars Start (Barbara F Walter)

 

American politics isn't in such a good place right now and Canadians love to follow American thought. This book certainly gave me reason to pause and think about politics in our world today. This should be required reading for everyone....especially if you want to be an informed voter.   

Using information civil wars that have occurred in many countries, she makes a strong argument for everyone to sit up and pay attention to this issue. 

Goodreads says:

Civil wars are the biggest danger to world peace today - this book shows us why they happen, and how to avoid them.

Most of us don't know it, but we are living in the world's greatest era of civil wars. While violence has declined worldwide, civil wars have increased. This is a new phenomenon. With the exception of a handful of cases - the American and English civil wars, the French Revolution - historically it has been rare for people to organise and fight their governments.

This has changed. Since 1946, over 250 armed conflicts have broken out around the world, a number that continues to rise. Major civil wars are now being fought in countries including Iraq, Syria and Libya. Smaller civil wars are being fought in Ukraine, India, and Malaysia. Even countries we thought could never experience another civil war - such as the USA, Sweden and Ireland - are showing signs of unrest.

In How Civil Wars Start, acclaimed expert Barbara F. Walter, who has advised on political violence everywhere from the CIA to the U.S. Senate to the United Nations, explains the rise of civil war and the conditions that create it. As democracies across the world backslide and citizens become more polarised, civil wars will become even more widespread and last longer than they have in the past. This urgent and important book shows us a path back toward peace.

One More Mountain (Debra Ellis)

 

I loved the Breadwinner series and so I was very excited to hear that Debra Ellis had written an additional book in the series....30 years later when the Taliban return to Afghanistan. 

I should have re-read The Breadwinner series again though because I found myself grappling to remember all the characters.

Despite that, I loved this book. 

This summary was written by another reader on Goodreads (Ivonne ):

Parvana oversees a safe house in Afghanistan when the Taliban once again take over the country. Parvana is supported by her husband, Asif, and her best friend, policewoman Shauzia. The three of them met as children 20 years ago when the Taliban triumphed the first time, and they scramble to fly Parvana’s sister and her 11-year-old son Rafi out of the country and to relocate the young girls from the safe house to a safer part of the country. Nothing goes as planned, and the shocking twists will keep you turning pages.

Lines of Courage (Jennifer A Nielsen)

 

I'm not good at war stories. I can't keep track of the battles, the locations and why each countries hates another. However, World War I did become a little clearer for me with this book. I became attached to each of the characters. One was from Austria-Hungary (Austrian-Hungarian?), one was British, one was French, one was German and one was Russian. The author's note at the end to explain some main aspects of WWI made things a little more clear for me. Of course, all the characters lives intersect and in the end they all come together....which was a little too convenient....but maybe that's okay when it comes to J fiction. 

I really enjoy Jennifer Nielsen's books and I also enjoyed this one. She does a great job of creating characters that are in difficult situations  all while making them relatable and inspiring.

I  really liked her note at the end. She said she wrote this during the covid-19 pandemic.  "...a time of heightened anxieties, worries about the future, frightening news headlines, and isolation. The First World War could be described in the very same way.....which is why lies of courage matter; those lines we extend from ourselves to offer strength and encouragement to others. And those that flow toward us, boosting our courage for whatever the future may bring."....World War I was called the "War to End All Wars." That didn't last long, of course, but may you be the generation that ends the conflict, whether on a global scale or in your community, or with your closest relationships. May you do so because nature wants to heal. And with a little courage, we will too." (from the author's note at the end of the book)

I'm all for anything that encourages people to end conflict. 

....which brings me to the Russian invasion in Ukraine....maybe she could write a book about that to help me make sense of it.

Goodreads says:

The stories of five kids living through World War I, each of whom holds the key to the others' futures... if they are lucky - and brave - enough to find each other.

World War I stretches its cruel fingers across Europe, where five young people, each from different backgrounds and nations, face the terror of battle, the deprivations of hunger, and all the awful challenges of war.

Felix, from Austria-Hungary, longs for the bravery to resist Jewish deportations before his own family can be taken.

Kara, from Britain, dreams of someday earning her Red Cross pin and working as a nurse - or even a doctor.

Juliette, of France, hopes her family can remain knitted together, despite her father's imprisonment, as the war's longest battle stretches on and on.

Elsa, from Germany, hopes her homing pigeon might one day bring her a friend from out of the chaos.

And Dimitri, of Russia, wants only to survive the front, where he's been sent with no weapon.

None of them will find exactly what they want. But the winds of fate may cross their paths to give each of them just what they need. 

The Girl Who Smiled Beads (Clementine Wamariya)

 

African countries are full of unbelievable stories. I just recently sat and listened to the stories of someone who lived in the DRC for two years and found the stories a universe away from my experiences. This book is like that. Clemantine's story is amazing. I am sure glad she told it, although, I don't know if I can ever say that I understand it. It's just so much. I have read some other books on the Rawandan war, and while this one starts there, it isn't really about Rawanda because Clemantine and her sister, Claire, are sent away when the war starts. However, the war comes to them and so they have to run. Their horrific journey travels through seven different African countries and then to the states. Her family is eventually reunited through an Oprah show. All doesn't end well there. How do you just start over and continue on when you have been through so much? This book was one I could not put down. It will stay with me for a long time. I have no answers. War is terrible.

Goodreads says:

A riveting story of dislocation, survival, and the power of the imagination to save us.

Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were "thunder." It was 1994, and in 100 days more than 800,000 people would be murdered in Rwanda and millions more displaced. Clemantine and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, ran and spent the next six years wandering through seven African countries searching for safety--hiding under beds, foraging for food, surviving and fleeing refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing unimaginable cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were alive.

At age twelve, Clemantine, along with Claire, was granted asylum in the United States--a chance to build a new life. Chicago was disorienting, filled with neon lights, antiseptic smells, endless concrete. Clemantine spoke five languages but almost no English, and had barely gone to school. Many people wanted to help--a family in the North Shore suburbs invited Clemantine to live with them as their daughter. Others saw her only as broken. They thought she needed, and wanted, to be saved. Meanwhile Claire, who had for so long protected and provided for Clemantine, found herself on a very different path, cleaning hotel rooms to support her three children.

Raw, urgent, yet disarmingly beautiful, The Girl Who Smiled Beads captures the true costs and aftershocks of war: what is forever lost, what can be repaired, the fragility and importance of memory, the faith that one can learn, again, to love oneself, even with deep scars.

Our Darkest Night (Jennifer Robson)

 

I'm a big Jennifer Robson fan and again, I'm not disappointed. This book had me hooked. I loved it and I'll probably read it again. Jennifer Robson usually has happy endings and I really figured this one was not going to have a happy ending...the twists were good and she had me tricked. I've read a lot of World War II books and I thought the question on her website was good: There seems to be a lot of these books the past few years. Why are they so popular? .....great question for book club!  I read it in just two days....two work days....so I did find it quite compelling and hard to put down.

Goodreads says:

To survive the Holocaust, a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer’s wife in this unforgettable novel from USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Robson—a story of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice, inspired by true events, that vividly evokes the most perilous days of World War II.

It is the autumn of 1943, and life is becoming increasingly perilous for Italian Jews like the Mazin family. With Nazi Germany now occupying most of her beloved homeland, and the threat of imprisonment and deportation growing ever more certain, Antonina Mazin has but one hope to survive—to leave Venice and her beloved parents and hide in the countryside with a man she has only just met.

Nico Gerardi was studying for the priesthood until circumstances forced him to leave the seminary to run his family’s farm. A moral and just man, he could not stand by when the fascists and Nazis began taking innocent lives. Rather than risk a perilous escape across the mountains, Nina will pose as his new bride. And to keep her safe and protect secrets of his own, Nico and Nina must convince prying eyes they are happily married and in love.

But farm life is not easy for a cultured city girl who dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, and Nico’s provincial neighbors are wary of this soft and educated woman they do not know. Even worse, their distrust is shared by a local Nazi official with a vendetta against Nico. The more he learns of Nina, the more his suspicions grow—and with them his determination to exact revenge.

As Nina and Nico come to know each other, their feelings deepen, transforming their relationship into much more than a charade. Yet both fear that every passing day brings them closer to being torn apart . . .

Why? (Nikolai Popov)

 

Sometimes a simple analogy can be really powerful. This one is a simple analogy on the fruitlessness of war. This book made me think of The Lorax and it's powerful yet simple message about the environment.


Goodreads says:

A frog sits peacefully in a meadow. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, he is attacked by an umbrella-wielding mouse in a confrontation that quickly turns into a full-scale war. "A strong anti-war message and lithe, incandescent artwork propel this affecting wordless picture book".--"Publishers Weekly"

Lilac Girls (Martha Hall Kelly)

 

I was drawn to the story, even though I felt like the writing was not stellar. I started it during the week of Remembrance Day and the timing seemed to make it more impactful. I didn't know about "the rabbits" and the all female camps ran by the Nazis. The urine letters written were fascinating as well. 

This book is centered around three women. One is a German woman that is a doctor. She seems like a good person in the beginning, but she ends up being a doctor in the camp that does experimental medical experiments on women, as well as letting them be killed. Her likability decreases as the novel continues but all along the way I felt like the author wanted me to feel sympathetic towards her. I suppose she did a good job of making some like-able qualities in someone who did some abhorrent things. However, you don't get a glimpse into how she makes the transition from a seeming good person to a doctor who does some of the worst atrocities in history. 

Another woman is from Poland and ends up being in the camp and a victim of the experimental surgeries. She had a lot of anger, which seemed understandable. 

The third was a woman from the US whose life was spent trying to help disadvantaged groups. She is based on a real person and did in fact do some great things in life, but I found myself irritated by her luxury and wealth running parallel to such atrocities. I should have hated the German doctor the most, but I found myself really not having any sympathies for Caroline. She's just too privileged and made out to be a hero that I don't connect with. Although she did have to sell her silver. I guess that is something (spoiler: she gets it back in the end). There was too much about the galas she organized, yearnings to be with someone she can't be with (even after she could actually be with him) and description of perfectly chosen outfits for different scenes.

I dislike the cover. When you go into the historical fiction section of a book store, almost all the books have a picture of a woman taken from the back. I don't know who the three women are on the cover. It certainly can't be the three main characters. Maybe it's Caroline (the woman from New York?) and Kasia (the Polish woman) and her sister? And the cut off with the lilacs at the bottom....weird. They're there, I guess, because Caroline had a lovely garden with lilacs. It's not a key part of the story though.

Apparently, it's the author's first book. The book is quite long, but I felt like many of the situations weren't well developed. For example, when Kasia decides she'll take up Caroline's offer and go back to Germany to identify the doctor, she must have had some internal conversation that wasn't shared. One page she isn't going, the next she gets up and goes. Not sure what changed her mind. There was also a few sex things that were odd. The German girl is abused by her uncle in the back of his butcher shop. It's not explained not does it seem to really negatively affect the character. It's just there. It seems to be implied that the mother of the girls gives sexual favors to soldiers to keep the family off their radar....but that isn't a key part of the story....it's just there and then it's not talked about anymore. Odd. Most of all, I found the sections with dialogue between two or more characters odd and choppy and not well developed.

There are a lot of amazing World War II books that are amazing. I'd skip this one. This one is definitely a story worth telling, but I told think it's very well told in this book. Disappointing. 

All that being said, I did read the entire thing. I wanted to see how issues would be resolved. I hadn't finished it when my book club met and everyone seemed to like it - which gave me hope. My hopes were dashed though. It just isn't a great book.

Goodreads says:

Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this debut novel reveals a story of love, redemption, and secrets that were hidden for decades.
 
New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

On ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.
 
For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.
 
The lives of these three women are set on a collision course when the unthinkable happens and Kasia is sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious Nazi concentration camp for women. Their stories cross continents—from New York to Paris, Germany, and Poland—as Caroline and Kasia strive to bring justice to those whom history has forgotten.

Spectacularly Beautiful: A Refugee's Story (Lisa Lucas)

 

This is an amazingly simple book with a beautiful and true principle. Everyone is beautiful even though we all have scars from things we have experienced. Most of all, God loves us no matter what.

I'm curious about the style of the illustrations. It has realistic pictures as background and the characters are blobs of color. Maybe it is so that the people could be anyone? No skin colors or height or styles to get in the way. These characters could be any of us.

The author is a teacher who has taught children from difficult circumstances and clearly loves them as teachers do.

Goodreads says:

A young refugee living in America learns to see herself as beautiful, in spite of physical and emotional scars from her troubled homeland, thanks to a gifted teacher.

Spectacularly Beautiful tells the story of Shahad, a refugee who has moved to a new country and started at a new school with her new teacher, Ms. Truong. Shahad comes to school every day with perfectly braided hair tied in ribbons. But her hair can't hide the scars on her face and leg that are painful reminders of the country she fled, making her feel less than beautiful, and different from her peers. When a class project proves difficult for Shahad, Ms. Truong helps her come to see that her scars are only part of her story, and that she is not just beautiful...she is spectacularly beautiful. Little by little Shahad's confidence is renewed and she is able to return the same kindness to Ms. Truong.

My Grandmother Ironed The Kings Shirts (Torill Kove)

This reminds me of family lore that just gets better and better the more it is told. It's really funny! My favorite part is where they sabotage the enemy soldier's shirts and make them itchy....so all the soldiers end up naked and the war has to end because they have nothing to wear.

I'm not totally sure that the author is Canadian, but it does say she lives in Montreal and the book is part of the National Film Board collection. The film actually has a few more details than the book does (like a bit on Tonya Harding's skate in the 1994 Olympics where she was allowed to start over)

https://www.nfb.ca/film/my_grandmother_ironed_the_king_shirts/ 

Goodreads says:

One of three new titles in the Firefly Books-National Film Board of Canada partnership.

This tall tale of Kove's Norwegian grandmother was nominated for an Academy Award when first produced as an animated short film.

Torill Kove's grandmother often told stories to Torill when she was a young girl. One in particular revolved around ironing shirts for the King of Norway.

In My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts, Kove follows a thread of family history, embroidering it with playful twists along the way, imaginatively rendering her grandmother's life and work in Oslo during World War II.

In Kove's retelling, her grandmother leads a Norwegian resistance to the invading German Army who had forced the King to flee for his safety.

When the task of ironing the King's shirts was replaced by those of the German Army officers, Kove's grandmother and her shirt pressing sisters sabotage the enemy uniforms until morale among the Germans is so low that they lose the war and head home without a thing to wear!

Full of sharp humor and myth making, My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts is a great example of how small contributions to the greater good count for a whole lot.

My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts was nominated for an Oscar in 2000 and won 17 awards in all. It has also been produced as a book in Norway.