The Silver Sword

When the Nazis came to Poland, they did not close Joseph’s school. Instead, they removed the Polish textbooks and banished the Polish language from the school. They also hung portraits of Hitler in all of the classrooms. When, during a Scripture lesson, Joseph turned Hitler’s picture to the wall, someone reported him. A few nights later, the Nazi stormtroopers came for Joseph and took him to Zakyna. Margrit and the children were left to fend for themselves. After many trials and failed escape attempts, Joseph finally escaped out of the prison camp. It was then that the Nazis came for Margrit.

Lines of Courage

Nielsen makes us care about each of these characters, and she connects them in ways that were, to me, plausible and interesting. I am the product of the schools of my time, and I was taught next to nothing about WWI. This book gave me a fascinating look into this confusing and tragic war. Like Nielsen’s other books that I have read, this book is squeaky clean, historically interesting, and well-told. I think that this could be a wonderful teen book club because there are a lot of layers to all of this. 

Resistance

“Defense in the ghetto has become a fact. Armed Jewish resistance and revenge are actually happening. I have witnessed the glorious and heroic combat of the Jewish fighters.” -Excerpt from the last letter of Mordecai Anielewicz, April 23, 1943

The Spear

“He saluted courteously and went on. He heard her weeping softly as she returned to her rooms. The death of the old life was amazingly easy. But birth was slow and painful beyond belief.” – The Spear, Louis de Wohl In The Spear by Louis de Wohl and published by Ignatius Press, Cassius Longinus was…

 The Reb and the Redcoats

I am always on the lookout for books that would be great as book club books. That special kind of book that will please the target audience while also challenging them. A book that is easy to want to read even if it isn’t always easy to read. A book that is well-written and thought-provoking….

Down the Big River

“His over forty books cover genres of adventure, biographical fiction, nautical historical fiction, entrepreneurial or occupational fiction, environmental fiction, sports, mystery and war. His books were meant to educate the mind and cultivate the character as well as entertain which make them books we highly recommend.” – taken from the Biblioguides author profile of Stephen…

Sun Slower Sun Faster

This novel is, as the note to the reader indicates, lively and exciting. I would whole-heartedly recommend Sun Slower Sun Faster to any reader who likes a good historical adventure. Exciting and well-written like the We Were There books, this one is written in a style more reminiscent of something like Edith Nesbit or The Secret Garden or the early parts of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when the children are exploring the country house.

The Strange Intruder

As a boy mom, a small part of my regular reading diet includes previewing books that come from trustworthy sources as possible reads for the often difficult-to-please 8-14-year-old boy niche. In this book list article, Diane and I mention that, in our experience as teachers, boy moms, and encouragers of readers, we have learned that…

The Virginian

This is part of Diane’s Literature Course I Series Owen Wister’s The Virginian Oh, that old thing? Why, yes, it’s been one of my favorites for many years. I noticed, though, while doing research for our American literature class, that it seems to be going out of style. Too trite and formulaic, perhaps? Wait! Please note…

Last of the Mohicans

This is part of Diane’s Literature Course I Series This summer, about six weeks before school was going to start, I was asked to teach a literature class for a small group of teen girls. “Literature” is a dauntingly broad subject. Where to focus? Based on what some of the students had already read, I decided…

Cicero’s On Duties

“Cicero, like thoughtful men of every age, knew that the reason vicious leaders like Caesar could rise to power was because the Roman population itself had been corrupted and no longer pursued the old virtues; a leader is, after all, a mirror of the people who choose him or at least allow him to retain…

A Tree for Peter

“…Some of you have steady jobs now. Most of you work off and on…there is not one among you who is not a man after me own heart. Kicked around by life you were, sure. Only, I am the cop on the beat and I know that there is not one among you who has…

Grandma’s Attic Series

Several years ago this book started popping up in my Amazon recommendations because I was buying Caddie Woodlawn, Understood Betsy, What Katy Did, and Betsy-Tacy for my little girl. The cover art, however, was so off-putting to me that I resisted any inclination to even consider the book. I thought, for sure, that this book was…

Signature: The Story of Clara Barton

Published by Grosset and Dunlap, the Signature “Story of” books are a biography series very similar to the famous Landmark and North Star children’s biography series. Like those series, the publishers at Grosset and Dunlap commissioned excellent authors to write biographies that would be appropriate for children. After having read several books in each series,…

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The movie is better. Much better, in fact. In 1903, Baroness Orczy wrote a successful stage play about a foppish English noble who mastered the art of “disguise and redirect” in order to save the lives of French royals destined for the Madame Guillotine during the Reign of Terror. Building on the success of The…