Tag Archives: War

Step Up To The Plate, Maria Singh

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It is 1945, and with World War II going on, fifth-grader Maria Singh wants to play baseball.  When her teacher starts an all-girls team at her school, Maria is thrilled.  However she meets many challenges. Her father from India doesn’t want her wearing shorts.  Her mother form Mexico wants her to stay home to watch her younger brother.  Maria also wants to work to get the city council to approve a baseball field for her neighborhood.  And because her father isn’t a U.S. citizen, he can’t own their farm and the family is in danger of losing it.  As she learns about teamwork and baseball, she also learns about prejudice and racism in her community.  And most importantly, she learns to speak up and make a difference in her world.  This well-written, fascinating book, that covers a lot of social history, has great potential for the classroom.  mjw

Title: Step Up To The Plate, Maria Singh Author: Uma Krishnaswami Publisher: Tu Books, an imprint of Lee and Low Books.  New York Copyright: 2017 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-1-600602-61-0 Hardcover pages: 288 Age range: 9-12 Genre: Historical fiction Book setting: California Author’s ethnicity: born in New Delhi Author’s residence: Victoria, British Columbia Awards: 018 South Asia Book Award Subjects:East Indian Americans, Farm life, Mexican Americans, Prejudice, Racially mixed people, Racism, Sexism, Softball, World War II

The Fox Girl And The White Gazelle

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Twelve-year-old Reema is a Syrian refugee trying to find her place in Glasgow.  She struggles with a new language and culture and misses her older brother who got left behind in Aleppo.  Caylin feels completely alone.  She has to look after her alcoholic mother.  She bullies the other kids and steals from them so that she can eat. Reema and Caylin become friends when they discover an injured fox and her babies. The girls also discover that they both like to run. Told in alternating perspectives, this is a great story of friendship. mjw

Title: The Fox Girl And The White Gazelle Author: Victoria Williamson Publisher: Kelpies, an imprint of Floris Books. Edinburgh, Scotland Copyright: 2018 Original Language: English  ISBN: 978-178250-490-0 Paperback pages: 272 Age range: 10-12 Genre: Fiction Book setting: Scotland Author’s ethnicity: Scottish Author’s residence: U.K. Subjects: Foxes, Glasgow, Poetry, Prejudice and racism, Refugees, Running, Syria

Buried Beneath The Baobab Tree

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Based on interviews with young women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, this powerful novel tells the story of young YaTa and her dreams that became nightmares.  The terrorist group attacked her village and killed most of her family.  Before the abduction, she had a promising future of getting a university scholarship and becoming a teacher.  The book is written in poetic vignettes that tell how the girls were forced to follow their captors’ radical beliefs.  The narrator was forced to marry a man who used her for her body. But she refused to be brainwashed.  An enlightening afterword by Italian journalist Viviana Mazza gives more information about the kidnapping.  References and resources are also included. mjw

Title: Buried Beneath The Baobab Tree Author: Adobe Tricia Nwaubani Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers Copyright: 2018 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-0-06-269672-4 Hardcover pages: 336 Age range: 14 up Genre: Fiction Book setting: Nigeria Author’s ethnicity: Nigerian Author’s residence: Abuja, Nigeria Subjects: Africa, Girls, Human rights, Prejudice and racism, Survival, Violence

The Stars At Oktober Bend

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Alice is fifteen, but to everyone else, she is forever twelve.  She has acquired brain injury.  She can speak, but her words don’t come out right and her electrics don’t work.  She writes poetry – beautifully and anonymously.  Her first person narration has no capital letters and is very fragile. Manny is a boy who discovers her poetry. He was a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. He suffers from PTSD.  This is an incredible love story of two teens and their pains. mjw

Title: The Stars At October Bend Author: Glenda Millard Publisher: Candlewick Copyright: 2018 Original Language: English Original Copyright: 2016 ISBN: 978-0-7636-9272-8 Hardcover pages: 288 Age range: 12 up Genre: Fiction Book setting: Australia Author’s ethnicity: Australian Author’s residence: Australia Subjects: Child soldiers, Mute persons, Orphans, People with mental disabilities, Sexual abuse, Sierra Leone, Teenage refugees, Violence, Wounds and injuries

The Red Ribbon

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Fourteen-year-old Ella is a seamstress in the Upper Tailoring Studio at Auschwitz-Birkenau, a sewing workshop inside the Nazi Concentration camp.  Her job is to make couture dresses for the wives of the camp’s Nazi overseers and the female SS officers.  Ella meets Rose and the two do their best to survive.  Ella dreams of opening a fancy dress shop after the war. The wonderful and surprising writing offers a different view of the Holocaust. mjw

Title: The Red Ribbon Author: Lucy Adlington Publisher: Candlewick Press Copyright: 2018 Original Language: English Original Copyright: 2017 ISBN: 978-1-5362-0104-8 Hardcover pages: 288 Age range: 12 up Genre: Historical Fiction Book setting: Auschwitz Birkenau, Poland Author’s ethnicity: English Author’s residence: England Subjects: Fashion Holocaust, Sewing, Survival

Kakuma Girls: Sharing Stories Of Hardship And Hope From Kakuma Refugee Camp

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Clare Morneau is a 17-year-old author and speaker who lives in Toronto and is committed to working for real change.  As a student at Havergal College, she founded the Kakuma Toronto Girls Education Partnership. This illuminating book is a compilation of letters of hardship and hope from the girls in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya to girls at a high school in Canada.  The Kakuma girls have incredible hopes and dreams for their future.  They are fighting for their education and will do anything to go to university.  They dream of becoming doctors, engineers, pilots, or journalists and improving their families’ lives.  The book includes beautiful photographs, maps, a chronology, a glossary, and a list of ways to get involved. mjw

Title: Kakuma Girls: Sharing Stories Of Hardship And Hope From Kakuma Refugee Camp Author: Clare Morneau and contributors Publisher: Barlow Books, Toronto Copyright: 2016 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-1-988025-14-8 Hardcover pages: 184 Age range: 12 up Genre: Nonfiction, Information Book Book setting: Kenya Author’s ethnicity: Canadian Author’s residence: Toronto Subjects: Refugee children. Refugees, Sudan, Women

Ruby In The Ruins

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Ruby’s dad is a soldier during the London blitz.  Ruby and her mum cling to each other while they wait for dad to come home.  When he finally returns, Ruby doesn’t recognize him. She would rather play outside in the wreckage of the bombings.  But when Ruby hurts her knee, dad cleans and bandages the wound.  He makes her feel all right and suggests that maybe she should play in the park instead of in the ruins.  Ink, gouache, and watercolor illustrations perfectly complement the text. Endpapers with authentic wartime advertisements add a nice touch.  mjw

Title: Ruby In The Ruins Author: Shirley Hughes Illustrator: Shirley Hughes Publisher: Candlewick Press Copyright: 2018 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-0-7636-92377 Hardcover pages: 32 Age range: 5-9 Genre: Picture Book, Historical Fiction Book setting: London, England Author’s ethnicity: English Author’s residence: West London Illustrator’s ethnicity: English Illustrator’s residence: West London Awards: Author/illustrator has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice Subjects: England, London, Military, Veterans, World War II