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Friends, I love to read and after writing this blog for, what?, ten years?? You’d think I’d have started sharing some of the books I’ve read over the years before now. But, I guess it’s a case of better late than never! Nevertheless, I am excited to share some of the great tomes I have picked up at school or have in our bookcases at home…
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Out on one of my walks, I pass by these two cute neighborhood book sharing houses sitting on a homeowner’s front lawn. Adorable!!! I love how these folks decorate around the book houses and of course you can see some of their scary decorations this year in the background.
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Last year I may have shared some of these photographs on Instagram, I am not sure. Working in a school library afforded me the opportunity to read from the fiction and non-fiction sides of our middle school library. I spent a lot of my lunches reading through the extensive WWII section.
I read a number of books sharing about the French Resistance. Two books were written from firsthand accounts of students who wrote for underground newspapers and/or were in the Resistance movement somehow, and more stories about ordinary people trying to save people they knew (or didn’t know) from the horrors of the holocaust.
Here are my recommendations to read if you are interested in hearing from people who lived through WWII and who survived HItler’s “final solution.”
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- Hidden on the Mountain ~ Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon, by Deborah Durland DeSaix and Karen Gray Ruelle, non-fiction.
Written from first-hand accounts of the people who lived through this time, so much is shared of how farmers around Le Chambon who took into their homes Jewish children and children from other circumstances who were escaping persecution. Very interesting book filled with hope and bravery of the citizens who lived in this mountainous region of southern France. Tons of photographs!
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2. Heroes ~ by Alan Gratz
Gratz continues his WWII stories for young adults with two friends living on base who survive the bombing of Pearl Harbor and what they do afterwards. This story begins with both boys aboard ship taking a tour with one of the boy’s older sister’s Navy boyfriend. Then, the bombing raid of Japanese zeroes begins… Really good read!
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3. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies ~ by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Grahame-Smith faithfully follows Jane Austen’s classic story but with Elizabeth becoming a kick-butt zombie killer! And, of course, zombies eating brains (ewww, gross!!!). ;)’ I was quite surprised that from this adaptation you get a pretty good overall perspective of what Jane Austen was thinking as she wrote her book. Grahame-Smith really knows Jane Austen!
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Finding Zasha and Saving Zasha, by Randi Barrow
I hoped to read both of these books but I ran out of time this past spring before the school year ended. I do look forward to reading these stories when I find them at our local library or at a used book store. Set just after WWII, Finding Zasha and Saving Zasha are set in post-war Russia and in 1941, respectively. The two boys in each book work to save their German Shepherds. That’s about all I know right now, which is sad, but I know these are awesome dog stories and I love dog stories! Maybe you do, too. 😉
This is all I have for you right now (photographed). Of course, over the whole two-year period at this middle school, I have read 40-50 books plus my favorite Victoria and other decorating magazines. I’m pretty much always reading! I wasn’t thinking about posting at the time so I’ll have to go actually photograph some of these other books and share them in future posts of this series.
I hope you get to check out a title or two at your local library or borrow them from your local university! Happy reading, y’all!!!
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Sharing more soon,
