Hanna rarely goes out when her father does. She is not accepted in the culture around her. It is the time of the pioneer and the western frontier, a time when Americans were trying to settle the prairie. But Hanna does not look like those around her. Though her father is an American of European descent, her mother was from Asia (half-Chinese and half-Korean). Hanna wants so badly to go to school and get an education like her mother wanted her to before she died. However, no one in the town seems to want Hanna at the school. This is a hard but sweet book to read about the prejudices that come from people that look different than us. It makes me cringe to hear the words people said to her, but I have no doubt they are words many people heard over the years. It also reminds me of the importance of education and how it was denied to so many over the years. Linda Sue Park wrote this as a tribute to one of her favorite author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, because she wanted to place herself in a time and place like Little House on the Prairie. I grew up on those stories and started reading them at the age of six. It's hard to know that there are some imperfections in those books which the author points out at the end. However, we can still hope that even with all the prejudice, people are able to rise above their circumstances like some of Hanna's friends.
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When Chaya is sent away from home to avoid being sent on the train, she finds a place where she can more than just survive Nazi occupation. She can resist. Chaya becomes a courier, taking people away from the ghetto in hopes of survival. But she cannot save the ones she loves the most. When her resistance group, Akiva, plans a strike against the Nazis, she believes this will be their one chance to prove the Jewish people will not lie down and let the Nazis win. I cringe and yet feel the need to read books like this one. Chaya's story, based on actual events, makes it hard to read. How could people be so cruel to other humans? How does one lose their humanity? How does one look the other way? This is a hard read, but one that shows hope in the midst of darkness and friendship in the midst of fear. For those who appreciate Holocaust stories, this is not as dark as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or The Diary of Anne Frank at the end, but there is a lot that will break your heart along the way. However, it is well worth the read. After his assassination in 1865, Abraham Lincoln was laid to rest in Springfield, Illinois. Most people know the story of Lincoln's murder as it shocked the nation after the Civil War. However, Lincoln's body was nearly stolen not once but twice, and this is the true story of that crime. I enjoyed Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson and was looking forward to a narrative nonfiction book like it. This was not as fast-paced as Chasing Lincoln's Killer, but it does pick up when it gets to the actual crime. The motive for the crime was important but seemed to take up a lot of the story. It was interesting to learn about the problems with counterfeiting in Civil War America and the start of the Secret Service, but the story of the actual crime was the major highlight of the book. If you are willing to stick it out, you will be rewarded with an interesting slice of history. |
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June 2021
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