When the World Was Ours

 

by Liz Kessler

Wow, what a perfect middle grade holocaust book. Max, Elsa, and Leo will stay with me for a long time. The story begins with three nine year old best friends in Austria on one perfect day. Leo's father takes a picture, and all three kids get a copy. The thread of this picture and its significance is woven throughout the story. Leo and Elsa are Jewish, and it's 1936, so we know where this is going. The author manages to not hold back on the horror while not going overboard on graphic details, relying on great writing and pure emotion to bring us into this terrible world. I'd love to say so much more, but don't want to ruin the experience for anyone else. Just read this book.

Echo

by Pam Munoz Ryan

Incredible. Unforgettable. Beautifully written. Just a few of the things that went through my mind as I put down this lovely book.

This is really three (arguably four) short stories with a common thread, but at the end of each, you're left wanting more. As Freidrich's story came to a close, I really, really, didn't want to leave him and start Mike's story. I was too invested in Freidrich! But by the end of Mike's, I didn't want to leave him to join Ivy. And, of course, as tears streamed down my face while finishing Ivy's tale, I couldn't wait to see how everything came together.

We are all connected in this human experience, and this book brings that to light in a way that might possibly change you forever.

Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow

by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

These are the stories of the young men and women who were a part of Hitler's youth army. There is some background information about the group as a whole, but for the most part, the book focuses on the stories of a particular few. While I didn't feel I learned a lot of new information, I'm not the book's intended audience, so I think there are a lot of kids who would find this fascinating. It held my attention, but Bartoletti's The Boy Who Dared, her fictionalized account of Helmuth Hubner's Nazi opposition, was much more engaging.

Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

Ender is a third--a third child--only born so that he can be used for whatever purpose the government sees fit. They've chosen Ender, as a very young boy, to attend battle school. There has been a global war with the Buggers, an alien race that the average human knows very little about. The powers that be fear another invasion, and are grooming children to defend humanity against this eventuality. Ender leaves behind on earth a beloved sister, Valentine, and a despised, and sociopathic, brother, Peter. As Ender trains to defeat the Buggers, Valentine and Peter plot to turn the government on its head by creating false identities on what basically amounts to internet forums. (This book was written in 1986, and what Card gets right about what the "future" looks like is really quite extraordinary.)

I found all three of these characters to be exquisitely drawn, and even the minor characters like Graff are so fully fleshed out that you can't help but care about them. There are twists and turns and aha moments galore, and when I wasn't with this book, I was thinking about it.

Ender's Game is now one of my favorite books ever.

Inside Out & Back Again

by Thanhha Lai

Ha and her family live in Vietnam, and love their beautiful home. But the Vietnam War is raging, and begins to get closer and closer to their town. She has already lost her father. He's missing in action, but her family maintains hope that he will someday return. As the war rages on, it suddenly becomes clear that it's not safe for them to stay. They become refugees, boarding a navy ship headed to America, with only what they can fit in a small backpack. They finally arrive in Alabama, and a family takes them in. Ha deals with bullies at school, struggles to learn a new language, and deeply misses the fresh papayas that once grew in her yard. This is a story about adapting when you don't want to, figuring out who you are, and learning to accept the difficult things in life.