Topic: War

Who Was Julius Caesar?

He came. He saw. He conquered. Julius Caesar was a force to be reckoned with. He was a savvy politician, an impressive orator, and a brave soldier. Born in Rome in 100 BC, he quickly climbed the ladder of Roman politics, making allies and enemies along the way. His victories in battle awarded him the support of the people. However, flush from power he named himself dictator for life, and the good times would not last much longer. On the Ides of March, Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators determined to end his tyranny and bring his reign to an end. 

Who was Julius Caesar? focuses on Caesar’s rise to power in a time when power and wealth were the leading cause of many battles in Rome. Many powerful men were willing to fight for power, including Cinna and Marius, who were supposed to rule the Senate together. Since Caesar traveled widely, there is also a short excerpt about Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy. Readers will find Caesar’s military expertise and ability to manipulate people fascinating. However, Caesar lived in a time of bloody battles, murders, and rebellions.  

The book has an easy-to-read format with a large font. Large black-and-white illustrations appear on almost every page. Many illustrations show maps, people, and objects from the time period. For example, there are illustrations of important people, Roman architecture, weapons, and maps. The wide array of illustrations and the short chapters will help keep readers interested until the end. Scattered throughout the book are one-page infographics that give more information about the time period, such as education in Ancient Rome, the Roman Forum, and Spartacus. The end of the book includes a timeline of Julius Caesar’s life and a timeline of the world during that time period. 

Julius Caesar is one of the most famous Romans of all time—he was even the topic of one of Shakespeare’s plays. Everyone should learn more about Caesar and Ancient Rome because they impacted the world. Political unrest embroiled Rome in many battles, causing death and destruction. Despite this, learning about Ancient Roman history shows how Caesar’s quest for power and wealth led to his demise, and while the Ancient Roman Empire accomplished many great things, the empire eventually crumbled.  

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • Pirates imprisoned Caesar. After Caesar’s ransom was paid, he was released. “He took each and every one of the pirates and had them killed.” 
  • Sulla and Marius were rivals who wanted to be the top general. When the two sides battled, “Sulla’s army burned down buildings and killed many people.” 
  • Marius’ army returned to Rome and “began killing Sulla’s supporters. Some victims had their heads chopped off and stuck to the ends of spears.”  
  • In Ancient Rome, many men fought for power, including Cinna and Sulla. “Wealthy citizens were being murdered by angry mobs. . . Cinna’s troops realized they were no match for Sulla’s army. . . They murdered their own commander.”  
  • When Sulla took power, “he began clearing the city of his enemies. A list of names was posted in the Forum. Anyone who killed a man on the list could keep some of that man’s property.” 
  • Spartacus was a slave who began a rebellion. “One night, Spartacus escaped with more than seventy other slaves. They were armed only with kitchen knives. As they fled, they came across wagons loaded with weapons.” Spartacus and his men killed many men. 
  • When Spartacus was killed, the rebellion ended. “For daring to rise up against Rome, six thousand rebels were crucified. The crosses stood one every hundred feet for a hundred miles, all along the road to Rome.” Spartacus and his rebellion are discussed over a page. 
  • Bibulus, a senate member, angered the people of Rome. “They threw things at him. Someone dumped a basket of animal poop on his head, and a mob chased him back to his house.” 
  • Caesar attacked Gaul. During this time, a group of three thousand Gauls planned to move to the coast. “They had burned their villages behind them, so no one could change their mind and move back home.” 
  • Caesar went to Egypt and the king gave him a gift, “a woven basket. . . containing Pompey’s severed head!” 
  • Caesar became so powerful that the senate decided to kill him. “The first to stab Caesar was a senator named Casca. He was so nervous that he only grazed Caesar’s neck. Caesar attacked with the only weapon he had—a pen—and stabbed it through Casca’s arm. Twenty-two more blows descended on Caesar, one knife after another.” Caesar died. 

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Spiritual Content  

  • The Romans believed in many gods. “Caesar’s family said they were descended directly from Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty!” 
  • In a speech, Caesar said, “The family of my aunt Julia is descended from kings on her mother’s side and, through her father, from the gods themselves. My family therefore holds the sanctity of kings who rule among men and of gods who rule over kings.” 
  • One page explains the religion in Ancient Rome. The Romans “worshiped Greek gods—after giving them Roman names. The most powerful Greek God, Zeus, became the Roman God Jupiter. . . Religion was part of everyday life in Rome. Almost everyone had a household shrine: a small cupboard with pictures and trinkets where they could pray and make offerings—often food and drink—to the gods.” 
  • Romans appointed a High Priest of Jupiter. “The God Jupiter was the protector of Rome.”  

Pemmican Wars

Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother. Then, an ordinary day in Mr. Bee’s history class turns extraordinary, and Echo’s life will never be the same. During Mr. Bee’s lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place—a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie—then she finds herself back in the present. In the following weeks, Echo continues to slip back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars. 

Echo knows little about the Métis, the First Nations tribe from which she is descended. Even though Echo’s “grandpa was very proud to be Métis,” neither Echo nor her mother know much about their heritage. However, at the end of the book, Echo teaches her mother what she learned at school.  

Readers will have to rely on visual cues to understand Echo’s life because the graphic novel uses few words. In fact, Echo only has 20 lines of dialogue, and many are one-word responses. Despite this, Echo’s isolation is clear. Throughout the school day, Echo doesn’t interact with other students and tunes out the world by listening to music. When she goes home, there is little interaction with her foster mother or the other residents. Instead, Echo hides in her room. When Echo visits her mom, the two are not comfortable with each other, which adds to the feeling of isolation.  

When Echo enters the past, a young Métis takes her into the camp. Here, Echo learns about her people and watches a battle between the Métis and white settlers. In the current time, Echo’s history teacher, Mr. Bee encourages Echo to learn more about Métis history. Mr. Bee says, “The Métis have many things to be proud of. . . You’re not any less Métis because you don’t know your history.”  

Since most of the story is told through illustrations, the story lacks development. For example, Echo lives in a foster home. However, it’s unclear why Echo doesn’t live with her mother. Despite the lack of character development, the book teaches about the Pemmican Wars and explains how the Northwest Company and the Hudson Bay Company fought for dominance in the fur trade. During this time, the Métis’s land was taken over by white settlers, who demanded the Métis not sell pemmican or use horses to hunt buffalo.  

Including more historical information would help readers understand the significance of the Pemmican Wars. However, the book does include a timeline of the Pemmican Wars, a Pemmican recipe, and a poem about the wars. While the book doesn’t go in-depth, it shows the harmful effects of colonization, which are still felt by the Métis today. 

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • A battle between the Métis and white settlers is depicted over two pages. One illustration shows the Métis shooting at the white settlers. In the image, one man is in mid-fall with blood splatter around him while a Métis warrior, who has been shot in the chest, is being carried to safety. 

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Supernatural 

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American Indian Biographies: Tecumseh

What would you do if an army threatened to take your town and home away from you? In the early 1800s, the U.S. government had already taken much land away from American Indians. Tecumseh wanted to stop the government from taking more. He believed that if all the American Indian tribes joined together, they could defeat the U.S. soldiers. Tecumseh traveled south from his home village in present-day Ohio. During his journey, he visited many American Indian tribes, hoping to gain their support. Today, many people respect Tecumseh’s vision of unity. 

Even though Tecumseh could not unify the American Indians, he is still an admirable leader because he bravely fought to save his people from being pushed off their native land. Tecumseh dreamed of creating an Indian confederacy. “By joining as one nation, Tecumseh hoped the American Indians could protect their land and cultures.” Tecumseh was a great leader who showed generosity and compassion. Although Tecumseh died while fighting the U.S. Army, he is best known “for his vision of peace and freedom for the American Indian people.”  

The American Indian Biographies lead you through the lives of famous American Indians. You will learn about their families, the types of homes in which they lived, and the chores they performed. Special sidebars will teach you crafts they made, games they played, or recipes they cooked. As you follow these American Indians through their lives, you will get to know their personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. And you will learn how the actions of these native people affect our lives today. 

This easy-to-read biography tells Tecumseh’s story using large, full-color illustrations on almost every page. The book is divided into short chapters with oversized text, pull-out quotes, and illustrations and captions that blend to make it visually appealing. The text doesn’t describe violence in detail, but several battles are illustrated. A short glossary can be found at the back of the book.  

Tecumseh brings history to life in an engaging book that won’t overwhelm readers. Tecumseh’s story shows how the U.S. threatened the Shawnee way of life by continually breaking their treaties and eventually forcing the Shawnees onto reservations where they were forbidden to practice their traditional way of life. Anyone interested in early American history should read about Tecumseh, who tried to bring peace not only to the Shawnee people but to all American Indians.  

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • Tecumseh was seven when “his father was killed in a battle with the white people.”  
  • At 14, Tecumseh joined a war party. “Tecumseh had never watched warriors in battle, and he was scared. When he remembered the battle in later years, he said, ‘It was the only time in my life I felt afraid. When I heard the war whoops and saw the blood, I ran and hid beside a log.’” 
  • A tribal leader, Chiksika, and Tecumseh joined a Cherokee war party. “Chiksika had a vision that he would be killed during the battle. . . As Chiksika foretold, he was killed during the battle. At the sight of the brave warrior falling to the ground, the other warriors panicked and retreated.”  
  • When Tecumseh was away, the U.S. Army “crossed into Shawnee territory. . . the warriors attacked the white soldiers early in the morning . . . Within two hours, Tecumseh’s warriors were defeated. . . The white soldiers destroyed Tippecanoe Village.” 
  • During a battle, “a U.S. soldier shot and killed Tecumseh.” When Tecumseh died, the American Indian retreated.

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Spiritual Content  

  • Tecumseh’s brother, Temskwautawa, was a religious leader known as The Prophet. Temskwautawa told others “that it was their responsibility to protect the land the Great Spirit had given them.” 
  • “According to the Shawnee elders, the shooting star was The Panther, a powerful spirit who passed across the sky each night. Very rarely did the spirit show itself to people.”  
  • Tecumseh’s “land could not be bought or sold. He had believed that the Great Spirit had given his people the land to use, not to own or sell.”  

Code Talker

The United States is at war, and sixteen-year-old Ned Begay wants to join the cause—especially when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims he’s old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself involved in a top-secret task, one that’s exclusively performed by Navajos. He has become a code talker. Now, Ned must brave some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with his native Navajo language as code, send crucial messages back and forth to aid in the conflict against Japan. His experiences in the Pacific—from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and beyond—will leave him changed forever.

Throughout World War II, in the conflict fought against Japan, Navajo code talkers were a crucial part of the U.S. effort, sending messages back and forth in an unbreakable code that used their native language. They braved some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with their code, they saved countless American lives. Yet their story remained classified for more than twenty years. But now, Joseph Bruchac brings their stories to life for young adults through the fictional tale of Ned Begay.

While Code Talker includes pieces of Ned’s early life, most of the story focuses on Ned’s experiences in the war. While at the mission school, Ned and the other Indians were taught that “it was no good to speak Navajo or be Navajo. Everything about us that was Indian had to be forgotten.” This is one reason why Ned was eager to join the Marines. He wanted to use his “sacred language” to help the United States win the war. While in battle, the code talkers proved their worth by becoming an integral part of their battalions.

Ned and his battalion fought through the Pacific and often endured heavy fighting. Ned describes the battles without using gory details; however, many people were killed and wounded, and these scenes may upset sensitive readers. Since the story includes Ned fighting many battles, the fight scenes become repetitious, and the story begins to drag. Another downside of the book is that none of the supporting characters are well-developed, and they lack unique personalities. Nevertheless, the supporting characters help readers understand that on the battlefield, Ned was able to make lasting friendships that helped him through this difficult time.

When Ned returned home after the war, he still faced discrimination. “It didn’t matter that I had fought for America. It didn’t matter that I had made white friends who would have sacrificed their lives for me when we were at war.” Some people only saw Ned as “another stupid Navajo.” Despite this, Ned learned to be “self-confident as a Marine, to believe that I could succeed in even the hardest battle.” Ned’s self-confidence and pride in his culture are inspiring, and Code Talker shines a light on how the Navajos were a critical component of winning the war. Anyone interested in history will find Code Talker a worthwhile read, especially because the Navajo code talkers’ role was kept a secret. In fact, it wasn’t until 2001 that Congressional Gold Medals were given to the Navajo and other code talkers.

Sexual Content

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Violence

  • When the Americans came to the Navajos’ territory, “the Americans made war on all of the Navajos. They burned our crops, killed our livestock, and cut down our peach trees. They drove our people into exile. They sent us on the Long Walk.”
  • At the mission school, the principal heard Ned speak Navajo. The principal “slapped his hand over my mouth and picked me up under his arm like I was a little puppy who had done something bad. He carried me inside to the sink where there was a bar of brown soap. . . forced me to open my mouth, and then shoved that big, wet bar of soap into it. . . I choked and coughed and thought I was going to die.”
  • The children who refused to give up Navajo “were beaten with heavy sticks. . . Sometimes [the principal] would beat the boys and girls so badly that they would not be able to walk the next day.” One boy who refused to speak English was “taken into the cold stone basement and chained in a dark corner. He was kept there for a week with nothing to eat but pieces of stale bread and nothing to drink but water.”
  • When Ned goes into battle, he often describes the violence he witnesses so not all of the violence is listed below.
  • When Ned and his unit got to Guadalcanal, “shells landed all around [the American soldiers] . . . They heard the crack of the .25 caliber rifles of hidden snipers. . . There were plenty of bodies. Taking care of the American dead was the first priority in combat and as a result, the bodies of the Japanese soldiers were often left unburied for days.”
  • In Guadalcanal, “although the Japanese said they were liberating the island, they used the native people like slaves, beating or killing them if they tried to escape. . . [One man] had terrible scars all over his chest from when the Japanese had tied him to a tree and tortured him by stabbing him with bayonets.”
  • The American soldiers waded through the water to get to the beach. “The noise of hostile fire, the sound of men crying out as they were hit by shrapnel and bullets, we kept pushing forward.” Ned’s friend was injured by shrapnel, and Ned knotted a bandage around the wound. Ned learned that “seventy Marines [were] killed or missing. Another 124 wounded.”
  • The Japanese set up booby traps. “Two Marines had just been wounded in their arms and legs by shrapnel when they tried to retrieve a seemingly discarded .35 caliber Japanese machine pistol.”
  • Ned took a message to the Second Battalion, but they thought he was a Japanese soldier. An American soldier “stuck me right in the back with a bayonet. Before it could sink in, I rolled headfirst into a foxhole.” Someone recognized Ned and saved him from further attack.
  • Ned’s battalion was sent to the Mariana Islands to fight the Japanese. “The Marines stopped them with machine gun fire. The enemies fell like tall grass cut by a scythe. . . The Japanese women and children ran from the Marines in terror. They’d been told that Americans were devils who would kill and torture them.” The people were so afraid of the Americans that “they didn’t allow themselves to be captured. They blew themselves up with grenades. They climbed to the tops of cliffs and threw their children off before hurling themselves into the rocks below.”
  • Ned walked through one town that looked “broken.” “No living people were to be seen, but there were many bodies of native people, who’d been slaughtered by the angry Japanese as they pulled back.”
  • When night came, the Japanese attacked. “Many of those attackers were killed by our machine guns, but others fought through. Each time a wave of attackers was wiped out, another human wave came screaming in . . . Thirty-five hundred enemy soldiers had died, including many of their high officers.”
  • Ned was out in the jungle and described, “One moment I had been walking along. The next I heard a sound like the buzzing of an angry bee just as something slapped me on my shoulder. . . when I looked at my shoulder I saw blood welling out and felt my knees getting weaker.” Ned recovers from his injuries.
  • During a battle, “tracer bullets stitched the air above our heads. Once again I heard the sound. . . the dull thud, between the sound of a slap and a bunch, of a bullet hitting the body of a human being. I heard it again and again, followed by cries of pain from those who were not killed when burning pieces of lead struck them.”
  • While in the thick of battle, Ned heard a cry from his friend Georgia Boy who was “holding his own throat. Blood was spurting through his fingers, and his helmet had been knocked off . . . Someone was yelling for a medic. It took me a moment to realize that the person was yelling in Navajo. . . Then I realized I was the one doing the yelling.” Georgia Boy survived.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • When some of the men had free time, they drank heavily. “When they were drunk, they no longer could think of those things. Some of our Navajo code talkers joined in the heavy drinking. After the war, they still kept on with that drinking to try to keep that terrible world of war out of their minds”
  • On New Year’s Eve, some of the men drank beer. Ned and his friend poured beer over each other.

Language

  • Some of the soldiers called the Navajo code talkers “Chief.” Ned “knew that my own white friends who called me Chief didn’t mean to insult me and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings by correcting them.”
  • A General said, “We’ll catch seven kinds of hell on the beaches and that will be just the beginning. The fighting will be fierce and the casualties will be awful, but my Marines will take the damned island.”

Supernatural

  • Some American soldiers wore cotton waistbands called sennimbari, or Cloth of a Thousand Stitches. “They believed that those sennimbaris had the power to protect their wearer from being hit by enemy bullets.” Ned doesn’t believe the sennimbaris can save people.

Spiritual Content

  • After the Navajos were forced on the Long Walk, “Our people prayed. They did a special ceremony.” Afterward, the Navajos were allowed to return home.
  • Before Ned went to the reservation school, his uncle “had been praying life would not be as hard for me at school as it had been for him…”
  • The Navajo “men and women always kept their hair long. It was a sacred thing. Cutting your hair was believed to bring misfortune to you.” Despite this, when the Indians got to the mission school, their hair was cut off.
  • Since the school was a mission school, some Navajos belonged to the Catholic church. Ned’s parents “had been baptized and went with us when we attended church. But being Catholic did not mean we would forget the Holy People and our Navajo Way.”
  • A Marine said, “You know. . . That Golden Rule and those other things that Jesus Christ said people needed to live by? Well, that Golden Rule and those other things he did makes me believe that maybe Jesus was a Navajo.”
  • Before Ned goes off to war, he is given a Blessingway. During a Blessingway “many family members and friends and well-wishers gathered around the hogan, all of them putting their minds together to wish success and goodness for you.” Corn pollen is “sprinkled on the earth into crosses where you kneel. Then you, too, are blessed with that pollen. . .”
  • Before Ned is shipped out, he “rose before dawn and prayed with my corn pollen. I asked the Holy People to remember me and help keep me safe on the ocean from the monsters that hid beneath its surface.”
  • Before going out to battle, Ned “reached down to touch my buckskin pouch filled with corn pollen. I had prayed earlier that morning, but now I whispered the words again in our sacred language, asking the Holy People for protection.”
  • The Navajo “tradition tells us that we must avoid the bodies of those who have died. A bad spirit sometimes remains around the corpse. To even look upon the body of a dead person may make you sick.”
  • Ned’s parents sent him a letter saying, “We are continually praying in church for your safety and for our other Navajo boys over there. We are praying for your quick return home.”
  • Ned sent his unwashed battle fatigues home “to stand for me in a protection ceremony. . . On the day when prayers and songs would be offered to ask help for me, my clothes would be there, in the hands of my family. On that day I would feel the presence of the Holy People.”
  • When Ned got to Iwo Jima, “I faced the east, took a pinch of pollen from my pouch, and placed it on my tongue. I put a little dab of pollen on top of my head and spoke to the Holy People. ‘Let me have clear thoughts, clear speech, and a good path to walk this day,’ I prayed.”
  • When the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, Emperor Hirohito talked over the radio. “It was a shock to those people in many ways, grandchildren. None of them ever expected to personally hear their emperor. Remember that Hirohito was a distant god to them. They had never heard a god’s voice before.”
  • When the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, Ned prayed “that such bombs would never fall on human beings again.”

Native American Heroes: Osceola, Tecumseh, & Cochise

Osceola, Cochise, and Tecumseh are three Native American heroes who fought valiantly for their land and people. This book is divided into three parts—each part recounting the life of one of these great heroes.  

Osceola, a Seminole leader, fought to keep his people’s native land and to protect all Seminoles, including those who had black skin. The Seminoles were not just fighting the army; they were also fighting the slave traders who wanted all black Seminoles turned over to them. The whites wanted the Seminoles to sign a treaty, agreeing to move to lands in the West. One of the reasons Osceola refused to sign a treaty was because the treaty said “that no Seminole who had the blood of the black man could go to the western country. How this would tear brother from brother! Child would be torn from parents!” 

Thompson, an American general, pretended that he wanted to discuss the treaty with Osceola, and instead, Thompson had Osceola put in irons and thrown into prison. A soldier who witnessed the capture of Osceola wrote to a friend: “I shall never forget that day, nor the sad, disappointed face of Chief Osceola and the other Indians. We were outraged by the cowardly way he was betrayed into capture.” Osceola died in prison, and many of the Seminoles agreed to move west.   

Tecumseh was born into a world of war between the Shawnee Nation and the Americans. The men of his tribe taught Tecumseh how to be a warrior, but his sister “taught him to be honest, to respect the rights of others, and to obey his elders.” Even though the Shawnee Nation and the Americans were at war, Tecumseh still had compassion for the enemy and did not let his men torture captives. Tecumseh tried to unite all of the tribes; however, he was unsuccessful. Despite this, “Tecumseh was a great man. He was truly great—and his greatness was his own, unassisted by science or the aids of education. As a statesman, a warrior, and a patriot, we shall not look upon his like again.” 

Cochise, an Apache leader, brought peace to his people by cooperating with the whites. “Not all of the Chiricahua warriors believed that peace was the way to survive. . . But every warrior knew that Cochise had pledged to keep his peace and that he would never break that pledge. Truth and honor had a value among all Apaches, but in no man was it stronger than in Cochise.” Unfortunately, Cochise’s honesty and cooperation weren’t enough to keep the peace, and fighting resumed. After Cochise’s death, the Americans broke their promises and the Apache “were driven out of their mountain home and moved to a distant reservation.”  

Native American Heroes is a tragic and true story that highlights the violence and racism that the Indigenous people endured. Osceola, Cochise, and Tecumseh are heroes who fought to keep their tribes from being pushed off their native land. The trickery and deceit that the Americans used against the Indigenous people is heartbreaking. These tragic stories include violence but do not include gory details.  

Native American Heroes teaches about history by using black-and-white original source materials, including photographs, maps, portraits, and newspaper articles, to supplement the narrative text. This engaging and educational book will help readers understand how the colonization of America affected the indigenous tribes. In addition, the book doesn’t shy away from showing the cruelty that the white man inflicted upon the Native Americans.  

Sexual Content  

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Violence  

  • Osceola would not sign a treaty with Thompson, who represented the United States. Thompson then had Osceola arrested. “It took four soldiers to subdue Osceola. They put him in irons and threw him in prison.” 
  • Chief Emanthla agreed to give Black Seminoles to the whites, who would sell them into slavery. “To Osceola, this act of betrayal was punishable by death. Osceola raised his rifle and fired.”  
  • The whites captured Osceola’s wife, Morning Dew, because “her mother was believed to have been a black woman, so in the eyes of the white men, Morning Dew was a slave.” This caused Osceola to wage war against General Thompson and the whites.  
  • Osceola and a war party hide in the woods waiting for Thompson to go on his usual morning walk. “It was Osceola who struck down the general. And it was the Seminole war cry – Yo-ho-ee-tchee! — that Thompson heard as he fell dead.”  
  • After Thompson was killed, General Clinch arrived with his army. The Seminoles watched as the army began crossing a river. “Suddenly the Seminoles came out from their hiding places and attacked. The general’s army was now split in two. The five hundred men who were unable to cross the river watched helplessly as their comrades and the Seminoles fired at one another.” One hundred whites were killed that day. 
  • As the war continued, the whites “died as often from the bites of the snakes and the mosquitoes as they did from the weapons of the Seminoles.” 
  • Slave traders wanted all black people to be turned over to them. The slave traders couldn’t tell if a black person was a runaway slave or a Seminole so they “seized anyone with black skin.” 
  • General Hernandez asked Osceola and other Seminole leaders to discuss a peace treaty, but then Hernandez ambushed them. “Hernandez gave the signal. His troops, hidden nearby, moved in. Osceola was captured, together with twelve chiefs, seventy-five warriors, and six women.” Osceola was put in prison, where he eventually died. 
  • The Shawnee leader Cornstalk is killed while visiting an American fort. “A mob of soldiers, angered by the killing of a white man, had shot the Shawnee leader.”  
  • When war came to the Shawnee’s territory, Tecumseh “watched his village vanish in flames, as American soldiers drove the Shawnees from their homes.”  
  • To protect their land, the Shawnees attacked the flatboats carrying the settlers down the Ohio River. “After one such attack on a group of settlers’ boat, the Shawnees burned a captive at the stake. Tecumseh watched in horror.” 
  • The battle of Tippecanoe “lasted only a day. . .[General Harrison was] not satisfied with smashing the houses, Harrison’s army also destroyed all of the corn the Shawnees had harvested.”  
  • Tecumseh returned to the fort to find “a group of Native Americans was torturing twenty American soldiers. Tecumseh charged at them at a gallop. He grabbed a knife from one warrior and sent others sprawling to the ground.”  
  • A white man accused Cochise’s men of kidnapping his son. Lieutenant Bascom asked Cochise to meet with him. Cochise took his family with him. Bascom tried to take Cochise and his warriors as prisoners. When Cochise “cried to his people to run,” Bascom’s guards started shooting. “One of [Cochise’s] brothers’ sons was stabbed in the stomach with a bayonet. His wife, brother, and nephews – and Cochise’s son — were seized.” 
  • Cochise tried to take several of Bascom’s men. “An Apache warrior fired and one of the white men fell dead.” Later, the Apache took several of Bascom’s men captive. “They killed the four white men and left their bodies there as a message to Bascom and his men. . .  In retaliation, they hanged the male Apache hostages.” Cochise “saw, hanging from a tree, the bodies of his relatives along with three other Coyoteros Apaches that had been captured.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The white men introduced whiskey to the Native Americans. The whiskey “destroyed their bodies” and “turned brother against brother.”  
  • Governor Harrison met with several chiefs to convince them to sign a treaty. “Harrison may have first supplied the chiefs with whiskey and then pressured them to sign this new treaty.”

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

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Spiritual Content  

  • Tecumseh’s brother, Laulewasika, “gave up whiskey and turned to religion.” Laulewasika had many followers. Laulewasika told “his people to stop warring among themselves and to stop drinking the white man’s whiskey.” 
  • Laulewasika was called the Shawnee Prophet.  
  • The Shakers may have influenced Laulewasika.  
  • Governor Harrison told the Delaware Indians that if Laulewasika was really a prophet, he could cause “the sun to stand still, the moon to alter its course, the rivers to cease to flow or the dead to rise from their graves.” Laulewasika used the solar eclipse to prove that he was a prophet.  
  • The Native Americans did not understand why the whites owned land. Tecumseh said, “Sell a country? Why not sell the air, the clouds, and the Great Sea as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?” 
  • Tecumseh tried to unite all of the Indians. He said, “This is the will of the Great Spirit.”  
  • After Cochise’s relatives were killed, the dead men’s faces were painted. They were dressed in their finest clothes “so that they would look their best for the long journey to the gods. . . Everything the dead men had owned was thrown into the flames.” 

Missing in Action

Dirty. Lazy. Good-for-nothing.

Jay Thacker is used to being called names because his dad is half Navajo. But he gets a chance at a new life and a new identity when he and his mom move to the small town of Delta, Utah to live with Jay’s grandfather. In Delta, Jay can convince everyone, and maybe even himself, that his dad—who is missing in action as he fights in WWII—is really a POW and military hero, and not gone forever.

As the summer wears on and Jay finds himself growing up a little faster than he expected, he learns to look at some truths that had previously been impossible to face. Truths about his father; about Ken, his new friend from the Japanese internment camp nearby; and about himself, too. 

Jay, a ten-year-old boy, is an interesting character; however, readers may struggle to connect with him. Jay believes that people will look down on him because he looks like his father, who is half Navajo. To make matters worse, Jay wrestles with conflicting emotions about his abusive father. Jay pretends that his father is a war hero, but this doesn’t stop bad memories from invading his thoughts. Jay also refuses to believe his father is dead, even though there is no way his father could have survived the bombing of his ship. In the end, Jay accepts his father’s death but he never deals with the negative emotions associated with his father. 

Jay feels self-conscious because he looks like an Indian, and this affects how he interacts with others, especially Ken, a teen farmworker who lives in the Japanese Internment Camp. At first, Jay tries to keep his distance from Ken, but Ken’s humor and honesty make it difficult for Jay to dislike him. When others are around, Jay tries to pretend that he doesn’t know Ken. Jay thinks, “Gordy [his friend] didn’t seem to care if he was part Indian, but what would he say if he found out he worked with a Jap? Then he’d probably be a dirty Indian, not a Chief.” 

Because Jay struggles with accepting himself, he often makes decisions based on how others might perceive him. Instead of standing up for himself and being honest about Ken’s friendship, Jay allows Gordy to push him around. Jay wants to fit in and make friends, but Gordy is mean and doesn’t respect Jay or the other boys. For instance, Gordy often uses derogatory names such as calling Jay “Chief” and Ken a “Jap.” Both Jay and Gordy are unlikable characters without healthy boundaries which makes it hard to become emotionally invested in their conflicts.   

Missing in Action explores several serious topics including prejudice against Native Americans and Japanese Americans. It also explores family violence and Japanese-American internment camps. However, Jay never fully embraces his Navajo heritage and he only has one brief experience at the internment camp. While the book is an accurate depiction of the time, it doesn’t do enough to dispel the harmful perceptions of Native Americans and Japanese Americans. The multiple themes are wrapped up in an unrealistic and unsatisfactory conclusion that doesn’t shine a light on Jay’s character growth.  

If you’re interested in learning more about the history of World War II, Missing in Action is worth reading. However, if you want to learn more about internment camps, the picture book Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki would be an excellent addition to your reading list. If you’d like a book that mixes history with baseball action, read the Baseball Card Adventure Series by Dan Gutman. 

Sexual Content  

  • One of Jay’s new friends, Gordy, tells a story about how him and another kid “snuck up on some girls skinny-dipping down at the canal. We watched ‘em for a while, and then we started hollering that would could see ‘em and they about drowned trying to stay under the water. It didn’t matter. They didn’t have much of anything anyway.” 
  • Gordy says he knows what a girl’s body should look like because he accidentally saw his sister naked. “I know it ain’t like those flat-chested girls we seen down at the canal.” 
  • Gordy wants to be a professional baseball player so “all the girls want to smooch with him after the games.” Gordy asks Jay if he has kissed anyone. Then Gordy says, “I kissed Elaine Gleed one time. I chased her down at recess, back in fifth grade, and I tried to kiss her on the lips, but she turned her head.” 
  • Gordy wants to learn how to dance so he can “take old Elaine to a dance sometime, and she’ll wear a dress. . . all low in the front—and I’ll take a look right down her neck while I’m dancing with her.” 
  • When Gordy was in fourth grade, he and a friend “tried to hide under the stairs, over at D. Stevens department store, and look up girls’ dresses. . . But the only thing we seen was a big old lady wearing a girdle with all those straps to hold up her stockings. It made us both want to puke.” 
  • Jay’s father was unfaithful and “went out with other women.” Jay remembers him bringing home a woman. “Dad put him to bed early, but he hadn’t gone to sleep. . . He had heard his dad talking to someone, heard his voice all slurry, the way it was when he drank, and he’d heard a woman laugh.” 

Violence  

  • While talking about Jay’s father, Jay tells Gordy that his father may be a prisoner of war. Gordy replies, “The Japs starve people and torture ‘em. They pull out their fingernails with pliers—all kinds of stuff.” 
  • Gordy says that Japs are “about the worst people in the world—except for Nazis. They bombed Pearl Harbor . . . for no reason at all. . . They were ugly little yellow guys with glasses.” In the war, they “kept coming and coming, dying until they were stacked up like cordwood. They like to torture people too.”  
  • Gordy says he heard on the radio that, “Our air corps guys shot down fifty Jap planes yesterday. Something like that. I think they said more than fifty. If it keeps going like that, we’ll wipe out every plane the Japs have.” 
  • Gordy, Jay, and some other guys go out into the desert to hunt. Gordy shoots a horny toad. “Jay watched the lizard, still twitching. Its legs were working, like it was trying to run, but it was on its back and most of its middle was torn away.” 
  • Because of peer pressure, Jay kills a bird. Jay “was surprised when he saw a puff of feathers. The sparrow leaped up, like it was going to fly, but then it rolled in the air and dropped behind the brush.” 
  • One boy repeats his father’s words about the people living in the internment camp. The Japanese “don’t have guns out there at the camp. . . but some of those guys hide away knives and stuff like that. Japs are sneaky, and if they can, they’ll figure out a way to crawl into your bedroom and cut your throat.” 
  • Gordy starts talking about girls and Jay gets upset. Gordy says, “‘You better watch it, Chief. You mess with me and I’ll scalp you.’ He jumped up and got him in a headlock, grabbing some of his hair, and pretending that he was hacking away at some of it.” Jay “threw him off” and the fight ended. 
  • Ken, a Japanese American, wants to join the war to prove that he’s “somebody.” Ken plans to join the war and “kill about a thousand Krauts.” 
  • Jay’s father was abusive. Jay remembered that, “His dad had spanked him a lot, had slapped him hard across his legs, his back. And he had screamed at Jay, calling him filthy names, accused him of things, called him ‘worthless.’ Always that word.”  
  • Jay gets upset and begins yelling at Ken. Ken tries to get him to calm down, but “Jay charged him, thrust his hands into Ken’s chest, sent him flying backward. Ken struck the table as he went down, shoving him in the back. The plate and the glass of milk flew. . .” After Ken falls, Jay runs away.  
  • During a baseball game, “a tall kid who had been on first was barreling in hard. He slid with his foot high, caught Jay in the chest, and sent him flying. Jay landed on his side and rolled over in a puff of dirt, like smoke. His vision was swimming.” Gordy hits the kid’s jaw, “then rolling over on top of him. . . He popped Gordy in the eye, and went down again.” Ken breaks up the fight.

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Jay’s dad would go out at night to dance. When he came home, he smelled of smoke and beer. 
  • When Jay was younger, he wanted to play baseball with his father but, “his dad had been drinking beer.” 
  • Jay’s dad used to smoke and sometimes his mom would drink with his father.  
  • Jay jumps into a train car and discovers three men. One man is a drunk. The men begin arguing, and one says, “I ain’t like these two. I may take a drink now and then, but I ain’t no wino. Jak here, he’s feebleminded now, his brain all burnt up from drinking anything he can find with alcohol in it.”

Language  

  • The book contains many microaggressions and derogatory language towards both Native Americans and Japanese people. 
  • There is some name-calling. For example, one of the kids calls the other team’s baseball players “sad sacks” and “boneheads.”  
  • Most of the name-calling is said by Gordy. For example, Gordy calls Jay “Chief” because Jay, “Look[s] like an Indian.” He also refers to a Japanese person as a “Jap” and says the Japs are “chicken.”   
  • Gordy tells one of his friends that his face “looks just like my butt.” He calls another person “four-eyes.” 
  • Gordy says, “A lot of Navajos are drunks. And they’ll steal anything that ain’t tied down.” 
  • While living in Salt Lake, some boys “had called [Jay] ‘Injun,’ and they ‘d made Indian noises, slapping their mouths and whooping.” 
  • Ken, a Japanese American, refers to Germans as Krauts. 
  • Jay’s grandfather uses darn and heck once. He says, “I was a heck of a ballplayer when I was a boy.”  

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content  

  • Jay’s grandfather, a patriarch in the Mormon church, encourages Jay to pray that his father will come home. Jay’s grandfather believes “God did answer prayers.” 
  • Jay’s mother wants him to go to church and “she wanted him to be a missionary someday. She wanted him to do everything right. . . and be careful about the kind of kids he ran around with.” 
  • When talking about Jay’s father being missing, his grandpa says “They had to trust God and have faith, and pray to God that his dad would come home. . . [Jay] prayed every night.” 
  • When Jay tells his mom that he has been praying for his father to come home, she replies, “But people die in war. That’s just the way it is. Every family prays, but Heavenly Father can’t bring all the boys home.” 
  • Jay tells his mom that his father isn’t dead, “but if you don’t pray and have faith he will be.”  
  • Jay and his grandfather discuss prayer. Jay’s grandfather says, “We have to trust the Lord. He knows what’s best.”  
  • Jay often prays that his father will come home. But neither his mom nor grandfather believe that Jay’s father is alive. Jay wonders, “What good did it do to pray, if they had given up? 
  • When Jay’s friend kills a horny toad, Jay says, “Navajos don’t kill anything unless there’s a reason. For food, or something like that.” Jay wonders “if the horny toad felt pain. He wondered if there was a heaven for animals. His grandpa Reid had told him that every life had a spirit. Maybe that was the same thing that Navajos believed.”  
  • Jay goes to a church-sponsored dance. 
  • Ken wants to join the war to prove himself loyal to America. Jay’s grandfather says, “What God wants is for us to stop shooting each other. That’s what I hope for you, that you never have to go to war.”  

Breaking Stalin’s Nose

Ten-year-old Sasha Zaichik wants nothing more than to join the Soviet Young Pioneers. After all, he has had their laws memorized since he was six years old: 

  • A Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.  
  • A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.  
  • A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings.  

But the night before Sasha is to join the Young Pioneers, his father is arrested. Sasha knows this is a mistake. His father, after all, is a devoted communist. But as bad turns to worse and events spin out of control, Sasha begins to realize that not everyone’s life is full of faith in Comrade Stalin.  

As Sasha begins to see how the Soviet Union treats those who are not in favor—those with family who have been arrested, those who refuse to be a snitch and give the Secret Police names or those who simply do not obey fast enough or fervently enough—Sasha begins to doubt that he wants to join the Young Pioneers after all.  

Eugene Yelchin’s first-hand experience living in the Soviet Union shines through in this intimate and heart-breaking story about Sasha. The details of daily life in the Soviet Union will fascinate readers: from living in a communal apartment to admiring pictures of Stalin and singing Communist songs. But the heart of the story comes from Sasha’s relationship with his father and his emotional journey once his father is arrested.  

Readers will relate to the deep love and trust Sasha has with his father. When he is arrested, Sasha does not doubt his father for a moment. Sasha knows the arrest was a mistake, and trusts Stalin will soon realize this and release his father. It’s only as events continue to unfold—and new facts come to light—that Sasha begins to lose the rose-colored glasses with which he has been taught to view the world.  

Breaking Stalin’s Nose is a wonderful story that will help readers understand life in the Soviet Union. It provides a glimpse into how fear, propaganda, and glorification of Stalin led so many people to obey the Communist reign. Sasha’s authentic voice and deep love for his father make him a relatable narrator. While Sasha fully believes in Stalin at the beginning of the book, his emotional journey to deciding for himself if it’s right to join the Young Pioneers emphasizes the importance of thinking for oneself and not blindly accepting people in authority.  

In the end, Sasha chooses to follow the path that he feels is right. While the future seems bleak, Sasha is at peace with his decision and has hope that one day there will come a better future for the Russian people. For anyone interested in the Soviet Union, this story is a must-read. Its plot takes place over two days yet is packed with cultural and emotional punch that will stay with readers long after they turn the final page.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • State Security comes to arrest Sasha’s father in the middle of the night. “When I get to the room, Dad is sitting on the floor, holding his ear. The officer’s leather belt creaks as he turns to look at me . . . this close, I see [my father’s] ear is bleeding.”  
  • Sasha tries to get into the Kremlin to ask Stalin to release his father. When the guards see him, one “swears, steam bursts out of his mouth, and he plunges his enormous mitten into my face. I duck under and run. The guard blows a whistle and the other whistles join in. Suddenly, guards are everywhere. One slips and falls, and his pistol goes off like a whip crack.” Sasha is unharmed.  
  • At school, the students gang up on a kid they call “Four-Eyes” during a snowball fight. “Vovka is lifting a snowball, but he doesn’t throw it at me. He throws it at Four-Eyes. Several kids join Vovka and line up into a firing squad. They hurl snowballs at Four-Eyes and he covers his face to protect his glasses.”  
  • Sasha doesn’t feel like throwing snowballs at Four-Eyes, but other kids cry, “Traitor! Enemy of the people!” Vovka declares that “Who’s not with us is against us.” Sasha gives into the pressure and “before I know what I’m doing, I grab the snowball from Vovka’s hand and throw it at Four-Eyes. There’s a loud pop as it hits him in the face. The eyeglasses snap, glass splinters and one shard cuts his cheek.”  
  • Vovka takes a banner from Sasha and “jabs me in the stomach.”  
  • To quiet a crowd, a man “pulls out his pistol, and points it at the ceiling.” He does not fire the weapon.  
  • When the students are walking in a line, Sasha stops and “someone punches me in the back” so that Sasha will “fall in with everybody again.”  
  • After being repeatedly taunted by his teacher—Nina Patrovna—Vovka “flies at Nina Patrovna, grips her by the throat, and begins strangling her. Nina Petrovna’s face turns red and her eyes bulge. She makes gurgling noises and starts kicking up her legs. Nina Petrovna and Vovka knock things to the floor and bump into desks.” Vovka is dragged off to the principal’s office.  
  • While at the principal’s office, Vovka “bumps into Nina Petrovna, who is walking out; she shrieks and leaps back. Vovka gives her a nasty grin and goes in.”  
  • Sasha climbs on a desk with a banner and sings “A Bright Future Is Open to Us.” The teacher chases him, trying to get him to stop. The teacher “tries to grab my foot, but I’m faster. I hop from desk to desk, shouting the song and waving the banner. Nina Petrovna chases after me. Everyone’s laughing. Then I miss a desktop and go down, and right away she’s on top of me, screeching and wrestling the banner out of my hands.”  
  • When the teacher is accused of breaking Stalin’s statue, State Security guards “twist Nina Petrovna’s arms and drag her to the door. She screams and kicks and tries to hold on to nearby kids. They duck under her arms, laughing.”  
  • When Sasha goes to visit his father in prison, a guard yells “Step back!” The guard “aims the rifle at me. He looks like he’d shoot a kid, so I stop.” The guard directs Sasha to get in a line. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The nose is accidentally broken off of a Stalin statue; Sasha imagines the nose is talking to him. “By the window hangs a cloud of tobacco smoke so thick, I can’t see who is talking . . . the smoke drifts away, and now I see who’s sitting in that chair—Comrade Stalin’s plaster nose, and it’s smoking a pipe!”  
  • When speaking to a State Security Senior Lieutenant, Sasha thinks “this close, I can smell him. Tobacco, sweat, and something else. Gunpowder, I decide.”  

Language  

  • When Sasha’s father is awarded the order of the Red Banner, Comrade Stalin calls him “an iron broom purging the vermin from our midst.”  
  • Sasha is called an “Amerikanetz” because his mother was American. The term is considered an insult.  
  • A Jewish kid is mocked and called Four-Eyes. “Four-Eyes is Borka Finkelstein, the only Jewish kid in our class . . .we call him Four-Eyes because he wears eyeglasses. Anybody who’s not a worker or a peasant and reads a lot, we call Four-Eyes.”  

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Stern Chase

The Herons are home in Skandia—preparing to celebrate two of their own and working on sea trials in the newly constructed Heron. But during a short excursion, they encounter an Iberian pirate ship raiding the coast of Sonderland, so Hal and his crew take action.

Though the Herons quickly triumph, the Iberians voice their fury at the Herons, vowing to take revenge. And soon they do—raiding the harbor and stealing or destroying as many ships as they can. Though there is little proof the Iberians are behind it, the Herons take their ship—the only one that survived the raid—and race after their enemy in hot pursuit. They will take down these pirates and get justice, no matter what.  

The Stern Chase lives up to its name since the majority of the story focuses on the Skandians chasing the pirate ship. At first, Hal and his crew, The Brotherband, are trying to discover what country the pirates come from. Then, they need to figure out which direction the pirates went. And then, they must find the pirate’s secret hiding spot. Unfortunately, the search lacks action and readers may quickly become bored with the chase. Another of the book’s flaws is that The Stern Chase follows the same format as all the other books in the series, which doesn’t allow any surprises to unfold.  

While the previous books in the Brotherband Chronicle are action-packed and interesting, The Stern Chase is stale. There is little interaction between the characters and none of the characters show any personal growth. The story begins with Invgar and Lydia’s engagement party, however, once the party is interrupted there are few scenes that feature the couple. The Skandian Oberjarl, Erik, also joins the expedition, but he only has a small role. Overall, none of the characters are given a chance to shine.    

One of the best aspects of the Brotherband Chronicles is the sense of comradery among the crew and the action-packed scenes. However, The Stern Chase is missing both of these elements, which will leave readers disappointed. If you’ve sailed through all the Brotherband books, you can find additional excitement and adventure by reading the Starcatchers Series by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson and Lintang and the Pirate Queen by Tamara Moss. 

Sexual Content  

  • When a member of the Brotherband, Thorn, is about to leave to search for pirates, he says goodbye to his girlfriend and kisses “her on the lips. It was a long kiss . . .” 

Violence  

  • Iberians attack a trading ship and the Brotherband jumps in to help. “Thorn charged into the rank of the Iberian crew. His massive club smashed into one man, hurling him to one side, then he swung back again and took another in the chest as the startled pirate turned to face him.” 
  • The battle continues and the ship’s captain “leapt forward, bringing his long-bladed sword down onto the helmet of the pirate captain who had faced him. . . The sword blade sank deep into his helmet, cleaving a deep cut in the metal. The pirate’s last conscious thought was that he had dropped his own sword and was now unarmed and at the mercy of his former prey.” It is implied that the pirate dies. The scene takes place over four pages. 
  • The Brotherband captures the remaining pirates, who are closest to the harbormaster. “The pirates, their hands bound behind them and secured in a line by a rope around their necks, were marched down the quay by the trader’s crew. . . Piracy was a capital crime, and they had been caught red handed.” 
  • Pirates sneak into the Skandia harbor and damage their ships. In the morning, the Skandia guards are discovered dead. One of the guards is, “lying on his back, staring unseeingly up at the sky. . .he had been stabbed.” 
  • The pirates anger a bear that attacks them. “One massive, claw-laden paw swiped at him before he could bring his sword forward. The huge claws opened four red weals across his face. . .” The bear struck the pirate who smashed “into the rock wall behind him. His limp body slid slowly to the ground. The pirates run from the bear, but “the terrible bear snapped and smashed at those nearest it, leaving a trail of broken bodies.” Six men “paid the ultimate price, their bodies hurled to the rocks on either side, or lying still where they fell.”  
  • A sailor describes a pirate attack. His men were outnumbered and were quickly killed and “their bodies thrown overboard.”  
  • The Brotherband meet the pirates on the open sea. The pirates began shooting arrows towards the Brotherband. “An arrow flashed down at Thorn, grazing his arm and leaving a bloody welt.” Thorn “hurled the grapnel overhand back toward the ship behind them. . . Thorn’s blind throw had been effective. A man tumbled off the bow of the big ship, falling into the sea and being driven under by her plunging forefoot.” During the short confrontation, men on both sides are injured. 
  • Several members of the Brotherband spy on the pirates. The Brotherband hears a small party of pirates approaching. Lydia, a member of the Brotherband, throws a dart, and a pirate “felt a jolting impact in his right shoulder. The force of it spun him half around and the impact jarred the sword from his grasp. He staggered. . . then his legs gave way and he sank to the ground, gasping as he felt the first waves of pain seizing his upper body.” The man dies. 
  • The Brotherband tricks the pirates into following them. The Brotherband’s ship, Heron, purposely runs into the other ship’s oars. “The air was filled with the splintering, cracking sound of the oars being smashed and shattered. Lethal splinters of white oak flew above the two ships. . .” Several of the pirates “fell, struck by sharp daggers of white oak. . . Within seconds, a good half of the rowing crew were injured or disabled, lying groaning or unconscious on the rowing benches. . .” 
  • One of the Brotherband sets off “the Mangler,” which throws a giant bolt ball at the pirates’ ship. “It smashed into the men crowded around the mast, cleaving a deadly path through them, throwing bodies left and right before it sailed clear over the side into the sea.”  
  • The Brotherband boards the ship. “Thorn led the way. . . His massive club-hand smashed out to left and right, shattering shields, breaking limbs and fracturing ribs among those who opposed him.” 
  • During the battle, the Skandian Oberjarl, Erik, was wounded “but he seemed impervious to them, ignoring the blood streaking his arms and legs, dealing out quick vengeance to any who struck him. The pile of fallen pirates grew around him as he shattered and smashed his way along the blood-streaked deck.” The bloody battle is described over 12 pages. The pirates started with a crew of forty. After the battle there are “fewer than a dozen left standing.”   

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The Skandians throw an engagement party. During the party, alcohol is put out “so that revelers could fill and refill their tankards as they pleased.” Many of the adults get drunk. 
  • The Brotherband finds a sinking ship that had been attacked by pirates. One of the wounded men is given a “painkilling draft.” 

Language  

  • Oh my Lord and Oh God are both used as an exclamation once. 
  • “Gorlog’s beard” and “Gorlog bite him” are both used as an exclamation once.  

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • The Brotherband gives a sailor from another ship a funeral. Hal wonders how to perform the ceremony because he “wasn’t familiar with whatever gods the Gallicans might pray too, and Skandians weren’t a particularly religious group, regarding their own gods with a kind of affectionate disdain.”  
  • The pirates hear a “low rumbling sound, full of threat and menace, and wonder if such an unearthly sound might come from a djinn or a demon.” A djinn is an intelligent spirit of lower rank than the angels, able to appear in both human and animal forms, that can also possess humans. 
  • When the pirates see a bear, “one of the men. . . let out a yelp of fear, calling on his gods to protect him.”  

The Green Glass Sea

Young Dewey Kerrigan and Suze Gordon live in a time ravaged by World War II. When their families are moved to a secret location in the New Mexican desert called Los Alamos, the girls’ lives become filled with military personnel and top-secret information. Their parents are the nation’s finest scientists and have been enlisted to build a powerful weapon to end the war. However, with their parents on this mission, the girls are left with many questions and choices about the war, their families, and their futures. 

Dewey’s and Suze’s worlds collide when Dewey’s father goes on an important business trip and leaves Dewey in the hands of the Gordon family. Although Suze’s parents are friendly and hospitable, there’s one massive problem: Suze and Dewey are very different people and don’t like each other. As the war grows more dire and tragedy strikes the Gordon family, problems erupt between the girls that could jeopardize their present and future lives. Can Suze and Dewey settle their differences in time? 

The Green Glass Sea features two main protagonists — Dewey Kerrigan and Suze Gordon. Each chapter alternates between the two girls’ points of view which showcases their drastically different voices and personalities. For example, Dewey prefers to work on her gadgets and gizmos in solitude. On the other hand, Suze enjoys her social network and creates beautiful collages filled with old, discarded objects. The girls’ differing personalities keep each of their chapters fresh and exciting. Their realistic views and worries about the war, their family, and the future ground them as authentic, enjoyable characters. While most readers may find it difficult to relate to these girls’ experiences, they can admire the girls’ motivation, strength, and optimism during this tough period. 

Dewey and Suze are surrounded by a wonderful cast of supporting characters who emphasize the story’s lesson about family and loving one another. Dewey and Suze learn to love each other’s differences, and Dewey finds a home with the Gordons when Suze explains, “You’re coming too . . . Daddy said the whole family’s going.” Alongside this heartwarming plot and engaging characters, the story also features a realistic portrayal of history, matching the story’s scenes with the real-life events of World War II. 

The Green Glass Sea addresses the difficulty of World War II and includes sensitive topics like the Nazis, concentration camps, and the ethical usage of the atomic bomb. This information may be hard to digest for certain readers, but it only makes up a small portion of the story. Overall, The Green Glass Sea is a moving story about two girls’ worlds colliding because of World War II. With the combination of exciting characters and historical events, this book is a must-read for history buffs who appreciate the impacts that big-scale events have on normal people. Readers who want to learn more about World War II should also read Survival Tails: World War II by Katrina Charman and Lifeboat 12 by Susan Hood. 

Sexual Content 

  • Suze and Dewey sing a song about the war, where they sing, “Hitler has only got one ball. Goering has two but they are small. Himmler has something sim’lar, but poor old Goebbels has no balls at all!” 

Violence 

  • Suze escapes some military police (MPs) while taking a shortcut through a restricted area.  As she climbs over a fence, she scrapes her knee, causing “a little rivulet of blood [to trickle] slowly down her dirt-covered leg . . . ” This scene is described over two pages. 
  • Suze bullies Dewey by drawing “a straight yellow line down the middle” of their room and saying, “You and your stuff stay on your side. Got it?” 
  • When Suze and Dewey go to school. Suze says, “You better not walk with me,” and, “Don’t even think about eating lunch with me.” 
  • While at school, Suze purposely hits the edge of Dewey’s radio “sending it flying,” which causes “a loud crack and a clatter like hailstones as its lid popped open and its contents scattered.” 
  • Suze and Dewey encounter a mean girl, Joyce. After Joyce insults Dewey and her, Suze “took a step forward, grabbed Joyce by the knot of her yellow Girl Scout neckerchief, and pushed her away. Hard.” Joyce lands in a muddy puddle. 
  • Dewey’s father, Jimmy Kerrigan, dies in a car accident. The accident isn’t described.   
  • Dewey angrily smashes a record that reminds her of her father’s death. Dewey “lifts the record off the turntable with both hands and smashes it with all her strength across her upraised knee.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • While on a train, Dewey sees people “smoking cigarettes and drinking cocktails and talking very loud.” 
  • Dewey keeps her home-built radio inside a “wooden cigar box.” 
  • Throughout the story, Suze’s mom repeatedly smokes cigarettes in the house.  
  • Suze’s father regularly drinks beer and whiskey during and after work. While at home, “he reached up and opened the cupboard, putting two glasses and the bottle of whiskey on the counter.” 
  • Suze’s dad, Phillip, also regularly smokes his pipe. As he smokes, “the smoke blew over her head, smelling like sweetish-sour burning leaves.” 
  • Dewey’s dad, Jimmy, offers Suze’s mother, Terry, “an inch of brown liquid.” Terry exclaims, “It’s Bushmills [whiskey]. How heavenly.” 
  • Jimmy gets drunk after a couple of drinks at an after-work party. He didn’t realize that “the boys were just dumping liquor bottles willy-nilly into the bowl.” 
  • Jimmy once pulled out “a pack of Camels, and lit one.” 
  • After they had completed their gadget, many scientists “held whiskey bottles” in celebration. 

Language 

  • Mrs. Kovack, Dewey’s neighbor, yells, “For the love of Pete, will you just come inside?” 
  • The book references the black community as “negros.”   
  • Dewey’s friend, Jack, uses the word “bitch” to describe the fighting and atrocities of World War II. 
  • Throughout the story, the kids repeatedly call Dewey, “Screwy Dewey.” 
  • Suze’s mother says both “damned” and “goddamn” once. 
  • Suze’s father says “goddamn” and “oh, Jesus” once.  
  •  “Oh god” and “My god” are both used as an exclamation once. 
  • Throughout the story, kids call Suze “Truck” because she’s a “big fat pushy steamroller truck.” 
  • Suze once utters that something is “a bunch of bushwa.” 
  • Suze and Dewey repeatedly use the acronym “FUBAR,” which means “fucked up beyond all recognition.” 
  • “Hell,” “crissakes,” and “jeez Louise” are all used once. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • Mrs. Kovack does “her good Christian duty by taking Dewey in.” 
  • Suze mentions that her family celebrates Hanukkah. 
  • Dewey’s father once exclaims that he hopes “to god the war doesn’t go on longer. . . ”

Other Words for Home

When 12-year-old Jude is forced to leave her home country of Syria with her pregnant mother, she loses her friends, family, and her home overnight. Suddenly, Jude has left behind the only place she’s ever known and moves to Cincinnati, Ohio to live with her uncle. 

Adapting takes time. People in America talk fast and talk in ways Jude doesn’t understand. The English Jude learned back home is not enough to keep up, causing her to struggle in school and making it difficult to make friends. Americans dress differently too, and many of them don’t understand Muslim customs. Meanwhile, the constant stress of her mother’s pregnancy and being separated from her home, father, and brother weigh heavily on Jude’s mind. Yet the hardest part about adapting to America is figuring out who she is in this new place. In America, Jude must redefine herself in ways she never imagined. She relies on the last words her brother spoke to her: “Be brave.” 

Jude dives headfirst into making her new life work. She studies hard, develops relationships with new friends, and even tries out for her school musical. Yet Jude becomes torn between her past and present identities when a terrorist attack leads to an increased amount of hate crimes against Middle Eastern people in her town. Jude doesn’t understand why innocent people should be held responsible for the crimes of a few. Jude says, “Americans expect bombs to go off in Lebanon, in Pakistan, in my beloved Syria, but not in France, Britain, Canada. . . Americans think it’s normal for there to be violence in places where people like me are from, where people like me and people who look like me live. . . That they all see people like me and think violence, sadness, war.” Jude concludes that many people are quick to make generalizations about things they don’t understand. However, instead of getting upset, Jude decides to prove them wrong. She decides to truly be “seen.” 

Things start to look up when Jude scores a role in her school play and her new baby sister is born. Plus, Jude is able to talk with her brother for the first time in nearly a year. Eventually, Jude finds where she fits in, confidently pursues her goals, and is filled with hope for the future when her family can be reunited again. The book ends with Jude standing in the spotlight on the stage, ready to be seen. 

Other Words for Home is a story about a girl who, despite having her life uprooted, remains optimistic for a future where she can thrive. It is written in free verse, but the story is still easy to understand. As a narrator, Jude is humorous and direct which makes her story entertaining and powerful. American readers will find the events shocking because they will see their culture through the eyes of someone else. While people may know the facts and physical struggles of immigrant families, they rarely get to see the true emotions behind the people who endure these trials. Even though some parts of the story may be uncomfortable to read, Other Words for Home is a must-read because the story will give readers a better understanding of the life of immigrants in America.

While the content of Other Words for Home can seem political, there is never a time when the reader doesn’t identify with Jude. She feels like an outcast who wants others to see her for who she really is – not the labels that society puts on her. This is especially relatable to middle-grade readers, but is also relatable to anyone who wishes the world wasn’t so quick to judge. One of the most powerful moments in the story is when Jude bravely declares, “I am choosing to not be afraid” in the face of society’s prejudice. 

One theme that is highlighted throughout the story is the importance of not judging people based on their race. Jude is an immigrant, a Muslim, and a foreigner. Others often make assumptions about Jude and these perceptions alter how she is able to adapt to American society. At first, Jude is unsure of how to navigate these labels, but she slowly comes to resist them and stays true to herself. In the beginning of the story, Jude is torn over which place – Syria or America – is her home, but she comes to realize that home is a feeling rather than a place. Home is among her friends and family, who support her dreams and see Jude as her true self. 

Sexual Content 

  • When Muslim girls get their first period, they come of age and cover their hair with a headscarf. Fatima, one of Jude’s friends, is the first to get her period. Jude says Fatima “is one of the first girls in our grade to cover. She has bled between her legs.”
  • Jude says she wasn’t supposed to watch the movie Practical Magic or Pretty Woman because “witches and prostitutes scare Mama.”
  • Jude and her friend, Sarah, watch a show with kissing. Jude describes how Sarah “doesn’t seem surprised by all the kissing on the show. I wonder if she has been kissed herself but I’m not brave enough to ask her.”
  • Jude gets her first period. “I look at the bloodstained spots that appeared on [the] sheets overnight. . . then I saw the slow, thick, crimson drip between my legs, and I felt the dense cramp of my stomach and I knew.” 

Violence 

  • Jude sees a picture in a newspaper of bloodied civilians. “The front page is filled with awful pictures of people who are bloodied and cowering together.”
  • Jude’s brother, Issa, is at his apartment with Jude and his roommates when police raid it. “There is shouting, glasses knocked to the ground, bodies shoved against walls, the sounds of handcuffs clicking, more shouting.” Neither of them is injured. The story doesn’t say what happens to the other people. 
  • Layla tells Jude about a terrorist attack. “And then she tells me: about the explosion, about the blood in the streets, and the horror and the death.” These are the only details given about the incident. 
  • There are three instances of hate crimes. No one is injured. In the first instance, Layla’s family’s shop is defaced when someone writes “terrorists” on the storefront. In the second, a man follows Jude and tells her to “go back to where you came from.” Lastly, a woman tells Jude to remove her hijab. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • Jude’s friend, Miles calls the man who told her to “go back to where [she] came from” a jerk. 

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • Jude, her family, and a few of her friends are Muslim. There are references to Muslim culture such as the Quran, mosques, and Allah (God). Occasionally Jude brings up Arabic proverbs. 
  • Jude says that there are men who “manipulate the Quran to say things that the rest of us know it does not say.” 
  • Jude mentions an Arabic myth. “I felt like the woman from the Arabic myth who can see so far into the distance that she can see the future.”
  • Jude says, “Allah would want us to have faith.” When she receives a postcard from a friend after a long time of not hearing from her, Jude says, “[This] is the type of thing that makes me believe in Allah and the grace of the universe.”
  • Jude and her family visit a mosque together.

Towers Falling

Ten-year-old Dèja Barnes doesn’t like living at the shelter. She doesn’t like that her dad doesn’t work. And she definitely doesn’t like her new school, where they asked her to do projects on their homes and families. Dèja knows her dad is unwell and prone to violent mood swings, but it’s not until her class learns about September 11th that she begins to understand her dad has been hiding something from her. 

In Towers Falling, the reader is taken on an introductory journey through the events and aftermath of 9/11 through the eyes of Dèja and her friends and family. Through Dèja’s friend, Sabeen, the reader learns about Islam and Islamophobia in the United States post-9/11. Through Dèja’s father, the reader witnesses the fear that enveloped that day, as her dad escaped the North Tower but lost his friends and colleagues. 

Although much of the book is about American history, the most prominent recurring theme is community. Dèja makes connections and learns that community can be what you’re born into, like being American or feeling community with her family. But community can also be found, like in her friends or her school. Since Dèja’s story is also about poverty, she especially wants to be accepted by her classmates even if she pushes back at times. Ultimately, the book ends with Dèja feeling comfortable in her found communities and more connected to her dad when he finally shares his experiences.

Towers Falling helps readers understand the events of 9/11, especially for younger readers who were born after 9/11, much like Dèja and her friends were. Although the book doesn’t go too deep into exploring a lot of the discrimination that Sabeen’s family has experienced, Rhodes gives enough information for the reader to understand some of the inner workings of Islamophobia. The same can be said for Dèja’s dad’s mental health issues – although they’re mentioned, they aren’t the primary focus.

Towers Falling is a good story about community and it will inspire readers to explore these events in US history further. Dèja finds her communities and learns to embrace them, loving them for what they are. Through her, younger readers can start to understand what it means to treat others with compassion, regardless of skin color, nationality, religion, or any other difference. Readers who want to learn more about 9/11 should add Molly and the Twin Towers by Jessika Fleck and Somewhere Among by Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu to their reading list.


Sexual Content 

  • None. 

Violence 

  • Dèja hates her family’s cramped living situation. When her mom says that there’s no use complaining, Dèja thinks, “But it makes me want to burst, hit or break something.” Dèja has feelings like this throughout the book, as she’s frustrated that her family can’t do anything about their situation.
  • While living in the homeless shelter, Dèja is always on edge. She says, “I walk the halls with fists ready.”
  • During lunch, Dèja, Sabeen, and Ben share what they know about slavery and the genocide of the indigenous people of North America. Dèja mentions, “Apache. They were overrun. Killed. Their land was stolen.” The kids continue this conversation for several pages.
  • Dèja accidentally scares her siblings when she mentions, “Pop doesn’t hit, but he’s still scary when he’s mad. And he can be mad about anything – coffee too cold, rain or no rain, wind, too little or too much, even paint on a shirt.”
  • Towers Falling details the history of the events of 9/11 and how they connect to Dèja’s family. There are descriptions of violence and death associated with the events throughout the book. When Dèja asks about the Twin Towers, one student says, “Dead. They’re dead.” Another student says, “Like my cousin. I didn’t know him.”
  • Ben shows Dèja videos of the Twin Towers burning. He says, “Terrorists attacked the Twin Towers on 9/11.”
  • Dèja describes the contents of the 9/11 videos, saying, “Flames – yellow, orange, and red – bubble and lick . . . there’s no sound, but I know there must be people inside the tower hurt, screaming.” The video description lasts for several pages.
  • Dèja is sent to the principal’s office and she thinks they’ll physically punish her. She thinks, “Maybe that’s where they have straps and whips? Paddles to punish kids?”
  • Some kids bully Ray, Dèja’s younger brother. Dèja describes, “Sometimes one of them grabs Ray’s arms and swings him like a tetherball. Ray’s too terrified to scream. I’ve got to rescue him. Punch the big kid on his shoulder, yelling.”
  • Dèja hears her dad crying at night. She thinks, “Last time I heard such a sound was when Mrs. Anderson’s son got shot by a drive-by. She was in the street, holding Eddie’s body.”
  • Dèja, Ben, and Sabeen watch the planes crash into the Twin Towers. Dèja narrates what she sees, saying, “On the cell phone, the explosion is soundless, but I can imagine sounds – screaming, tearing, slicing through concrete, steel, and glass.” When the second plane hits, Dèja says, “People are falling – no, leaping – out windows. Escaping fire, heat. Suffocating heat.” This scene continues for a few pages.
  • Dèja’s history class goes over various attacks made on American soil. The teacher, Mr. Schmidt, writes about the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and Pearl Harbor as examples. He also writes about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Mr. Schmidt clarifies for the class, saying it was “with a truck bomb. It failed.” This scene lasts for a few pages.
  • Dèja’s dad tells her about what happened when he was working in the North Tower on 9/11. He says, “One, two, four, five, eight, ten flights of stairs. I was exhausted. Lungs aching. Still folks coming down, sounding like an elephant herd. Two men were carrying a man in a wheelchair. . . ” The description of his experience that day lasts for several pages.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Dèja talks about her experience in homeless shelters. She says, “Shelter gangs aren’t about guns and drugs. They’re about roaming, stealing, keeping an eye out for what can be taken.”
  • Dèja describes the folks milling outside the homeless shelter. She says, “A few are a mess – dirty and stinky. Loud. Drinking beer wrapped in a paper bag.” Dèja occasionally describes some of the other homeless folks as “drunk.”
  • Dèja’s dad takes aspirin for his illness, which is unnamed but related to his mental health issues and being in the Twin Towers when they were collapsing. Dèja mentions that “when we can afford it, he uses an inhaler.”
  • At school, Dèja and her classmates build towers out of art supplies. Her friend Ben picks up a pipe cleaner and says, “Sherlock Holmes cleaned his pipe with these. Between smokes.” Dèja replies, “Sounds worse than cigarettes.” 
  • Dèja and Ben see a sign on the subway that says, “Have you spoken to your kids about drugs?”

Language 

  • Mild language is used often. Terms include dumb, loser, shut up, and nerd.
  • Sabeen discusses her experiences with Islamophobia. Sabeen says, “When I’m at the store by myself, the cashier sneers, ‘Go back to Saudi Arabia.’ Turkey’s closer to Greece, two countries away from Saudi Arabia.”
  • Dèja thinks about discrimination. She narrates, “I knew blacks were discriminated against. Also, poor people, homeless people. I didn’t know Muslims were too.” 
  • In history class, the teacher explains, “Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We call them terrorists because they are not representative of a single nation. Instead, they’re ideologues . . . narrow-minded people, incapable of independent thought and critical thinking. America has been engaged in a new kind of war . . . a war on terror.”

Supernatural

  • Ben frequently mentions the media. At one point, he mentions that he wants to watch the Broadway musical Wicked, which is “about the witches of Oz.”

Spiritual Content 

  • One of the girls in Dèja’s class, Sabeen, “wears a headscarf.” Sabeen’s mother is described as being “covered head to toe in black cotton. Only brown eyes show.”
  • Sabeen is asked why her mom wears all black. Sabeen explains, “It’s a niqab. For modesty.”
  • As this book deals with the events of 9/11, there are somewhat frequent discussions about Islam. They are somewhat detailed, and often they revolve around the treatment of Muslims in the United States post-9/11. One student in Dèja’s class declares, “Muslims did it.” Dèja’s friend Sabeen, who is Muslim, says, “That’s not true. I mean it is but it isn’t true.”
  • Sabeen shows Dèja and Ben a drawing of her family’s house. She says, “Home is divine. Blessed by Allah.” She then explains to Dèja that Allah is Arabic for God.
  • Dèja mentions her own relationship with religion. She says, “Pop doesn’t believe in church. But before moving to Avalon, Ma would take me, Ray, and Leda to church.”
  • Miss Garcia has the students list the social units they are part of, and the students list things like, “Church, Synagogue, Girl Scouts” and so on and so forth.
  • Ben has to explain to Dèja that “it was terrorists. Muslim terrorists” that flew planes into the twin towers. This comes up because Dèja doesn’t understand why Sabeen is upset about 9/11.
  • Sabeen has Dèja over to her house, and Sabeen’s family makes traditional Turkish food, and some discussions of Islam take place. For instance, Dèja is asked if she prays, and Dèja responds, “No. Just when Ma takes me to church . . . But I wish for things.”
  • Ben makes a reference to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series. When Dèja and Sabeen ask what it is, Ben explains to Sabeen that “It’s pretty Christian.” Sabeen responds, “A Muslim can’t read Christian stories? A Christian can’t read about Muslims?”
  • Dèja’s dad talks about his experience in the North Tower on 9/11. He mentions a lady who always wore what he called church hats because they looked like “any second she was going to sing gospel.”

Now is the Time for Running

In the poor village of Gutu in Zimbabwe, Deo and his family live in one room. The people of his village are starving and struggling. Deo doesn’t even have a proper soccer ball to play with – just a bag of leather and twine – but this village is the only place he’s called home. When government soldiers destroy Gutu for housing “dissidents” suddenly Deo has lost his family, his home, and his happiness all at once. Deo’s mentally disabled older brother, Innocent, is his only remaining relative. Deo must get Innocent to safety in South Africa, but the journey to a better life is harder than he could ever imagine.

First, Deo and Innocent leave Zimbabwe. As they travel, they see a country torn apart by the government’s purge of dissenters. They narrowly escape run-ins with soldiers and travel through dangerous wilderness to cross the border. They spend some time at a farm, but danger arises when the local workers don’t like that refugees have stolen their jobs. The promise of a better, safer life lies in the city of Johannesburg. Once again, Deo and Innocent uproot themselves and travel to the city.

However, Johannesburg doesn’t turn out to be the haven they heard about. Instead of fighting against the government, the people in South Africa are fighting each other. Groups of radicals are calling for “foreigners” – the refugees from other African nations – to go home or be eradicated. They destroy refugee-owned shops and ruin their homes. During one of these raids, Innocent is killed. 

Without his brother, Deo doesn’t know what to feel. In fact, he wants to feel nothing at all. The book resumes almost two years later with Deo addicted to drugs and living on the streets. His life changes by chance when a soccer coach sees Deo’s skill with the ball, and suddenly Deo is given a place to sleep, warm food to eat, and a reason to live: playing soccer.  

At first, his team is a far cry from a family. Deo thinks they come from too many different places to understand each other. However, Deo’s coach convinces them that their strength lies their differences. They play successfully at the Street Soccer World Cup, also known as the Homeless World Cup – a competition that brings refugees and street kids together for the chance to change their lives. The story doesn’t reveal how the final match ends, but for Deo, his new life is just beginning. 

Inspired by true events, Now is the Time for Running is a journey of displacement through the eyes of a young man. Deo tells it like it is – he doesn’t shy away from the situation in Zimbabwe despite how much pain it causes him. It’s necessary to note that this book does not shy away from the horrors of civil war, poverty, and intolerance. While this book is not for the faint of heart, the lessons and truths it brings to light are meaningful and powerful. As a narrator, Deo goes through more in a few years than many people suffer through in their whole lives, but this doesn’t make him less relatable. Deo wants to protect the people he loves and to be happy – goals that anyone can relate to.

The first lesson of this book is clear: Deo never gives up. His unrelenting goal to protect his brother and escape the disastrous situation in Zimbabwe shows that he is continuously determined to have a better life. Even after Innocent dies and Deo struggles with addiction, he gets back on his feet through the soccer program. Despite great odds, Deo shows that people can always make the choice to persevere towards their goals. 

The other main theme of the story is not as apparent, but it’s one of the reasons readers see repeated instances of violence as Deo searches for a new place to call home: The “us vs. them” mentality. While present throughout the whole book, such as when the soldiers massacre the people of Gutu or when Innocent is killed in the anti-refugee riots, this issue comes to a head in Deo’s soccer team. After fighting breaks out amongst the teams, Deo’s coach teaches them that the true strength lies in their differences. The coach says, “Each of you brings something special to this team. Zimbabwe has brought me guts and determination; from Kenya, I get lightness and speed; from Mozambique, superb ball control and agility. . . It is because we are not the same that we are stronger than any other team in this competition! All of you have learned to play soccer in different parts of Africa. Our combined playing style is like no other in the world.” Once the team listens to the stories of their fellow teammates, they understand that they all have suffered, but they can all move forward together. 

Now is the Time for Running is a powerful book that teaches that strength does not lie in forcing everyone to be the same; it comes from accepting that everyone’s differences bring something new and unique to the table. Readers who want to learn about history through the eyes of an athlete should also read The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow.

Sexual Content 

  • The guards punish Innocent by taking his clothes away. When Deo rescues him, Innocent throws a fit about being naked, but Deo convinces Innocent to come with him by saying that the soldiers might take both their clothes. “We don’t want the soldiers to come back and take my clothes too. Then we’ll both be naked. . . Can you imagine everyone laughing at our butts and our balls bouncing around?” 
  • One of the women that Deo and Innocent stay with is a sex worker. 
  • Two of the soccer players, T-Jay and Keelan, have a short exchange. When T-Jay says Keelan has a “cute butt,” Keelan gives him the middle finger. 
  • Innocent always carried a condom. Keelan says, “Perhaps your brother knew more about sex than you think.” Deo replies, “Innocent didn’t like girls much. He saw safe-sex ads everywhere, and he thought that condoms would keep him safe from girls.”
  • During a game, Deo describes, “Keelan. . . scored her third goal and headed straight to me. I was sitting on the bench when she threw her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek.”

Violence 

  • Deo punches a kid named Pelo who calls him crazy on the soccer field. “Pelo does not have the chance to finish what he’s saying because he has to deal with my fist in his mouth. . . ” Another kid pulls Deo away before the fight continues.
  • When Deo sees soldiers carrying guns, he thinks about the damage guns can cause. “I have seen a cow cut in half from a burst from one of those guns.” 
  • Deo knows stories about the violence brought by the soldiers. The soldiers “went to Chipinge when the people were angry from hunger, so angry that some of them were killed. Auntie Aurelia told us that her niece was one of those who were hungry. She did not say how she bled to death.”
  • Commander Jesus comes to Deo’s village, Gutu, to kill dissenters of the government. Commander Jesus says, “In the back of my jeep there is a drum filled with blood. The blood came from people who voted wrongly. My life is to drink human blood. My supply is running low. I have come here to kill dissidents. . . You are going to eat eggs, after eggs hens, after hens goats, after goats cattle. . . . Then you are going to eat your children. After that you shall eat your wives. Then the men will remain, and because dissidents have guns, they will kill the men and only dissidents will remain. That’s how we will find who they are, and then we will kill them.” 
  • The soldiers and Commander Jesus hurt Grandpa Longdrop. Deo witnesses “an awful crunch and [I] see Grandpa Longdrop collapse in front of me. His eyes look dazed. He tries to get up, and I try to reach him to tell him to stay down, but then Commander Jesus kicks him. He crumples.” 
  • Deo’s mentally disabled brother, Innocent, comes to defend Grandpa Longdrop. “Innocent runs screaming toward Commander Jesus with a stick raised high above his head. He cracks it down on Commander Jesus’s outstretched hands.” The soldiers attack Innocent. “The soldiers beat Innocent with their rifle butts. What is worse than the sound of wood against the bones of your brother?. . . Innocent does not cry. He lies like a baby, curled up, his hands and arms covering his head. . . Innocent is pulled to his knees. His face is crooked, his eyes black balls. Blood trickles from his broken nose.” Innocent later recovers from these injuries.
  • Commander Jesus has the soldiers beat all the residents of Gutu. “The soldiers beat us as we lie on the ground. . . Useless hands against hard sticks. Elbows cracked. Heads smacked. Screams. Flashes of wood. Soldiers grunting. And pain. Lots of it.” 
  • After the beating, Deo assesses the townspeople’s injuries. “Grandpa Longdrop lies on the ground, his head in my [mother’s] lap. Sometimes he groans, and sometimes he is so quiet that I am afraid that he will never wake up. . . The backs of my legs hurt where the soldiers’ sticks fell, but this is nothing to what others have suffered. One of Lola’s brothers has a broken arm. Bhuku’s [mother] has a split in her head that bleeds and bleeds. Shadrack’s little sister could be dead.”
  • The soldiers pull a truck driver out of his car and kick him before letting him run away.
  • The soldiers take Innocent as punishment for hitting Commander Jesus. Deo finds him later. “A naked body is lying in the middle of the [cattle pen]. The man’s wrists are tied to pegs in the ground. His ankles are tied to the end of a log that stretches his legs wide apart. There is a sack over his head. . . I notice ants crawling all over his body. . . There is dried blood at the side of his mouth, his nose is broken, and his eyes are all puffy.” Innocent says the soldiers also peed on him.
  • The soldiers end up killing everyone in Deo’s village. “Gunshots rat-a-tat-tat across the valley. . .I crawl forward into the noise of people dying. The soldiers are shooting. People are running away. Some are falling. Now the soldiers hold their guns as if they mean business. Their guns bark, come alive in their hands, their bullets rip into the earth, the walls, trees, pots, chairs, and flesh. I watch. I am too afraid to turn away. People scream; their cries are cut in half by bullets.” 
  • Deo finds his mother (or “Amai”)  and Grandpa Longdrop among the dead villagers. “Amai is lying face down. Her arms are thrown out in front of her as if she is trying to grab something out of her reach. Her back is covered with a damp patch of blood. . . I find Grandpa Longdrop. He stares up at the sky. His mouth is open. He does not look like Grandpa Longdrop anymore. I find Shadrack. Dead. There is Lola. Blood where her face should be. Her brothers are lying not far away.” 
  • During a soccer game, Deo gets angry and kicks a boy named Aziz. “I charge [Aziz] from behind and deliberately kick his ankles. He falls, and the players on his team shout at me.. . . Aziz gets up, inspects his knee. It’s bloody.”
  • When crossing the border, two of the men in the group climb an electric fence and are electrocuted. “The two men run ahead, faster than us. They are the first to reach the fence. They start climbing. . . The wire fizzes, crackles, and the men shriek and fall to the ground as the electricity burns them.” The men are dazed but recover. 
  • An anti-refugee gang pulls a shopkeeper named Ahmed from his store and beats him. “Hands grab Ahmed and pull him onto the street. He screams as many sticks fall on him. . . Ahmed’s white robes turn red with blood.” It’s unknown whether he lives or dies.
  • Deo finds Angel, a sex worker, beaten up by one of her clients. “Angel is covered with blood, beaten. She lies on her bed, curled up in a ball. Her face is swollen. . .” Angel explains that her clients “were tired of paying a kwerekwere [a foreigner]. They wanted it for free.”
  • Deo finds Innocent’s dead body on the ground during an anti-immigrant raid. “I see the shape of a human head, lying on its side. The shape of an arm and a hand. . . I reach the body of my brother, facedown on the ground, covered with rubble.”
  • A refugee named Muhammad commits suicide by jumping into the ocean. “Muhammad had had enough of what he called a life without hope and without country. . . so he chose to run to the blue horizon. [The police] sent out a boat to fetch [Muhammad], but they never found him.”
  • While playing soccer, T-Jay and Deo get in a fight. “T-Jay lashed out at me with his elbow. The blow caught me squarely between the eyes, and for a moment I thought I was going to fall down. But instead of taking me down, it was like a switch that flicked on inside me. My fist found its way up T-Jay’s nose and my knee said hello to his balls. . . he got in quite a few good punches before my nose started bleeding. I stopped kicking T-Jay only when I heard [the] whistle bursting my eardrum.”
  • Keelan explains how she ended up in South Africa. Soldiers came to her town to punish the people who had voted wrongly. Her father, the community leader, was killed. Keelan says, “they had chopped off his arms with a machete.” 
  • T-Jay shares his story too. His father lost his foot when he stood on a landmine. T-Jay’s father “couldn’t work anymore, so he stayed at home. He beat the crap out of me until the social services took him away.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Captain Washington, a family friend of Deo, drinks after he learns Deo’s mother is dead. Captain Washington “brings back a bottle of booze. He pours himself a drink and swallows it quickly…At least when he drinks, he is no longer crying.”
  • After his brother dies, Deo gets addicted to sniffing glue, a common addiction for street kids in South Africa. Deo says, “the glue makes everything weightless.” He also calls it the “magic tube.” Deo talks about getting high off glue and the withdrawal symptoms, which include vomiting and muscle aches. 
  • Deo notices that some of the other kids on his South African soccer team are also “glue-tube heads.”
  • T-Jay’s father was an alcoholic.
  • T-Jay says it’s too late for him to go back to school because he got into drugs.

Language   

  • The story contains some profanity. Shit is used a few times; damn is used three times.
  • Deo says fear smells worse than “dog crap.”
  • A rude man calls Mai Maria, a woman who helps Deo and Innocent cross the border, a “filthy Rasta woman.”
  • Angel calls someone a “bitch.”
  • The slur kwerekwere is used occasionally. It is a derogatory term for foreigners or outsiders. It is used by gangs of people who want to expel the refugees from their country.
  • The guy who sells Deo glue says, “get your ass down here.”

Supernatural 

  • There is a rumor that Mai Maria is a witch who eats children. 

Spiritual Content 

  • The Methodist Church is mentioned throughout the story because they sometimes provide food and shelter for refugees or struggling communities. Once, Deo stays in a shelter set up by the Methodist Church. 
  • Deo talks about Spirits. “Grandpa Longdrop says that there are two kinds of people, those who believe in the Spirits and those who don’t. . . I understand the Spirits of the Wind, the Spirits of the Rocks, and the Spirits of the Trees are all those who have died and live on in other ways. I understand that they watch over us, that they can sometimes be angry because we forget them. And it is said that when they are angry, they can sometimes punish us. But this thing of the beating [by the soldiers] is too big to blame on the Spirits. They would not allow such a painful thing to happen. If I believe in Spirits, why would I believe in something that causes such pain? Surely the Spirits had nothing to do with what has happened in our village.”
  • Deo sings an ancient Spirit song passed down by his family to prompt Innocent into a fit so they can distract a group of soldiers. “It is always terrible to see Innocent when he has one of his fits. . . People are afraid of Innocent when he becomes like this. They think he is possessed. They think that the Spirits have taken over his body.” The lyrics of the song are not included in the story.
  • One of the items that Innocent carried with him was a pocket Bible with a note inside from their father. The note reads: “To Innocent and Deo, This is not a book of laws but a book of love. It will always be your salvation.” 
  • The soccer team from the Philippines at the Homeless World Cup chants, “For God and for country!” 
  • Bishop Desmond Tutu, who has come to oversee the Homeless World Cup, thanks God and says to the players, “God bless you all!” 

David and the Giant

David and the Giant tells the Bible story in a fun way that is perfect for younger readers. David cares for his father’s sheep. One day, David is given a basket of food to take to his brothers, who are fighting in a war. Goliath demands that the King choose one man to fight him, but all the men are afraid. David, though he is small, will face Goliath.  

David and the Giant is part of the Step into Reading Level Two series, which targets readers in preschool through first grade. Each page features one to three short sentences in large font, making it an easy read. The full-page illustrations use muted colors to bring David’s story to life. Even though David kills Goliath, the illustrations are somewhat comical. However, the pictures do include Goliath being stoned in the head and falling down—dead. 

Parents who want to teach their children Biblical stories will enjoy reading David and the Giant to their children as it teaches that God looks out for his people. The story highlights David’s courage and bravery and shows that God looked after David. Even though David faced many threats, he was without fear because he trusted God. David and the Giant retells David’s story with a simple plot and child-friendly illustrations that children will love. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • When a lion tries to eat a sheep, David “killed the lion all by himself.” The illustration shows David using a sling and the rock hitting the lion in the head. 
  • When David went to fight Goliath, Goliath laughed and said, “Let me turn you into food for the birds.” David uses his sling to kill Goliath. The illustration shows David using a sling and the rock hitting Goliath in the head. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • David takes care of his father’s sheep and “God looked after David.” 

The Day War Came

The day started with a young girl having breakfast with her family. Afterwards, she heads to school, where she and her classmates learn about volcanoes and the life cycle of frogs. Then just after lunch, war came, and the school was brought down around the girl. All the people she had been with that day, from her teacher to her classmates to her family, were taken away from her. What follows is a moving story that is equally heart-wrenching and thought-provoking, as the girl flees her country and is faced with the possibility that the war may follow her wherever she goes.

The Day War Came uses simple vocabulary and childlike illustrations to introduce young readers to the real-life issues of war and child refugees. The illustrations are drawn to mimic a child’s drawings, making the story more accessible to young readers while also placing them in the perspective of the book’s child protagonist. The book does not specify which war it describes and does not show the resulting violence in its illustrations. Still, the presence of the war and its impact on the protagonist can be felt on nearly every page. 

The arrival of the war is indicated by tall clouds of dark smoke, along with a destroyed skyline of buildings. These drawings, along with the narrator’s description of the attacks, portray the confusion and chaos without directly showing its violence. For example, the narrator describes, “at first, just like a spattering of hail, a voice of thunder. . . then all smoke and fire and noise that I didn’t understand.” The book does not shy away from the reality of war and the struggles faced by war refugees, as the narrator travels across mountains, roads, and seas before arriving in a town where people shun her. 

The story ends with a message of hope, as the children of the town come together to give the narrator a seat in their classroom. On the last page of the book is a note from the author, Nicola Davies. Davies explains that she wrote the book after hearing a story about a child refugee who had been rejected by a school because there wasn’t a chair for her to sit in. Davies hopes that through this story, young readers will be taught the importance of these issues and will be inspired to act for a better future. If you are looking for a book to help your child understand the serious and continuing issue of war and child refugees, The Day War Came is an honest and straightforward guide.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Although no violence is explicitly shown, the narrator says that the war “came across the playground. It came into my teacher’s face. It brought the roof down and turned my town to rubble.”
  • After the first attack, the narrator describes herself as “ragged, bloody,” although no blood is shown in the illustrations.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Luke McClain

President George Washington

When George Washington was young, his mother would not let him go to sea. But later, George became a hero when he led the Continental Army in battle and helped America win its freedom from England. He was elected the first president of the new nation and tried his best to keep the country at peace. George Washington was one of the greatest men of his time. 

President George Washington covers George’s life, starting when he was nine years old and living in Virginia. The story explains how he became chief of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War and the first president of the United States. The story ends with his death. While the book does not go into great detail, readers will learn interesting facts about George Washington and see how he became one of America’s heroes.

The book uses large text, short chapters, and simple vocabulary to make it accessible to readers in first and second grade. Each page has two to seven simple sentences and a large illustration. The earth-toned pictures bring George’s world to life. While the war scenes are not graphic, the scenes of soldiers fighting Native Americans may upset some readers. The back of the book includes important dates and suggested reading.

Adler gives readers a brief look into George Washington’s life and will help readers understand why George Washington was considered “first in war, first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his fellow citizens.” Beginning readers who want to learn more about colonial days will find President George Washington educational and engaging.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • During the French and Indian War, George Washington said, “I have heard the bullets whistle, there is something charming in the sound.”
  • The story has several pages that show George Washington and his army fighting Native Americans in the French and Indian War. In addition, the illustration for the Boston Tea Party shows people dressed up as Native Americans with feathers in their hair.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Code Breaker, Spy Hunter:  How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars

In 1943, the CIA intercepted messages from Mexico and South America that were believed to be disguised war information. A team of ciphers was able to decode these messages and they discovered that a secret Nazi spy ring was sending the messages. These decoded messages were the evidence needed to arrest thirty-three German spies in what is now known as “the greatest spy roundup in history.” This team of ciphers was led by Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a renowned cryptanalyst. Elizebeth’s work as a spy and her incredible accomplishments were kept secret, until recently. 

Adapted from Friedman’s personal memoirs, Code Breaker, Spy Hunter utilizes watercolor illustrations and simple vocabulary to recount the amazing story of a previously unacknowledged figure. The story is told in a linear narrative detailing the most significant moments of Friedman’s career as well as some lesser-known fun facts from her personal life. For example, during dinner parties she hosted with her husband, a fellow cipher, they challenged their guests with the coded address of the restaurant.  

The book retells Friedman’s story in a way that is easy for younger readers to navigate while not compromising or minimizing important details to Friedman’s story. Although the book features small font and some particularly text-heavy pages, its colorful, minimalist illustrations help readers maintain a consistent understanding of the story. It is important to note that the book assumes that readers already have a basic understanding of both World Wars. If there are young readers who are not yet familiar with these historical periods, parental guidance will be needed. 

In Code Breaker, Spy Hunter, readers will receive an insightful and important education on an overlooked historical figure. Elizebeth’s story of small beginnings teaches that hard work and positive relationships are the keys to success.   

Sexual Content 

  • None 

Violence 

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None 

Language 

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content 

  • None 

Code Name Badass: The True Story of Virginia Hall

When James Bond was still in diapers, Virginia Hall was behind enemy lines, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Hitler’s henchmen. Did she have second thoughts after a terrible accident left her needing a wooden leg? Please. Virginia Hall was the baddest broad in any room she walked into. When the State Department proved to be a sexist boys’ club that wouldn’t let her in, she gave the finger to society’s expectations of women and became a spy for the British. This boss lady helped arm and train the French Resistance and organized sabotage missions. There was just one problem: the Butcher of Lyon, a notorious Gestapo commander, was after her. But, hey—Virginia’s classmates didn’t call her the Fighting Blade for nothing.

So how does a girl who was a pirate in the school play, spent her childhood summers milking goats, and rocked it on the hockey field end up becoming the Gestapo’s most wanted spy? Audacious, irreverent, and fiercely feminist, Code Name Badass is for anyone who doesn’t take no for an answer. 

Code Name Badass chronicles Virginia Hall’s fight against societal norms and the Nazis. Hall’s experience highlights the amazing power of perseverance, bravery, and never taking no for an answer. As part of the French Resistance movement, Hall faced constant danger. However, she never stopped fighting.  

With historical photos and excerpts from historical documents, Code Name Badass brings the women who helped win World War II to light. A list of other exceptional women spies appears at the back of the book along with a long list of resources that Demetrios utilized. While Hall’s story is motivating, Demetrios’ tone and constant reminders of sexism become a little off-putting. For example, Demetrios writes, “Dindy (Hall’s nickname) had a lot of luck. Buckets of it. She had a lot of bad luck, too, but, with one major exception, that bad luck stemmed only from the fact that she had a vagina.” 

Readers who love history, especially World War II history, will find Code Name Badass full of little-known facts. While Hall’s story is interesting, it is not for the weak of heart. The brutality of the Germans is repeatedly described, and many of Hall’s contacts lost their lives because of the Germans’ cruelty. Because of the book’s difficult vocabulary and detailed descriptions, Code Name Badass is not the book for readers looking for a light, entertaining historical fiction book. However, anyone interested in spycraft, World War II, or the women who have impacted our world will find Code Name Badass informative and interesting.  

Sexual Content  

  • While discussing Dindy’s “badassery,” Demetrios writes: “Never take no for an answer. (Unless someone says they don’t want to have sex with you, kiss you, be touched by you, etc. Then no means no.)” 
  • During wartime, women were sexually assaulted and raped as “a key strategy” to breaking down “civilians and combatants alike.”  
  • During the French occupation, Germans visited brothels. 
  • One double agent was known to keep mistresses. 
  • One female agent “got knocked up in the field” by another agent. 
  • Another female agent “drove one agent so batty with love that he literally threw himself into the Danube, intending suicide.” The agent was known to cheat on her husband with “sexy spy guys.” 

Violence  

  • During a hunting expedition, Dindy accidentally shot herself. “The shell ripped into her left foot, tearing past the skin and driving through cartilage and bone. Virginia collapsed, staring down at what had once been called a foot.” Dindy’s foot is amputated. 
  • During the Battle of France, “Bullets started flying, bombs began to drop, and shit got real. . .” Dindy helped by becoming an ambulance driver, who “saw men dying around her every day in the most horrible of ways, the soil once again being soaked with French blood.”  
  • During the battle, roads were bombed, “caring little that the dusty streets and highways and country lanes were filled with refugees who were desperate to get away from the fighting.” 
  • During World War II, “the French government would cut off your head if you had an abortion.” 
  • During the war, William Simpson was “shot down” and sustained “terrible burns and los[t] both hands.”  
  • Resistance fighters “killed a Gestapo agent, then dumped the body on the steps of [the Germans’] headquarters with a note: ‘With the compliments of British Intelligence.’”  
  • Dindy has dinner with Olivier, another spy. The restaurant’s “door crashes open, and a dozen gendarmes swam in, guns, batons, or haughty chins raised. Screams fill the café, and glass shatters as tables are overturned and precious rationed food and drink fall to the floor. . .” With help, both spies escape.
  • The Gestapo was cruel to prisoners: “Dogs let loose on prisoners, fingernails pried off, prisoners tied up with spiked handcuffs. . . Agents and Resistance fighters were often tortured for information.”  
  • Dindy’s supervisors told Dindy that a “dangerous man” had infiltrated her group. The supervisor told Dindy “she was fully authorized to have him disposed of as neatly as possible.” 
  • Two men put their family on a ship heading to England. “Their parents, wives, and Alfred’s three children all drowned when their ship . . . was torpedoed by the Germans.”  
  • The book mentions people who were killed by the Germans. Most accounts are not graphic. For example, according to Dindy, “the Germans had gotten all ancient Rome on the Resistance, skewering their bodies on iron posts as a warning to all.” 
  • Several agents were “brutally murdered in the Dachau concentration camp. . . all three were shot in the back of the head, then their bodies shoved into the camp’s crematoriums.”   
  • One man refused to do the Germans’ biddings. The man “tried to cut his throat rather than bend his will.”   
  • If Dindy and her crew saw Germans lurking around, they would kill the Germans. “One story has it that Dindy’s boys would drop German bodies in the Lignon River after they’d done away with them.” 
  • One spy was captured and “he was beaten, tortured, and then shipped off to Buchenwald, where he suffocated and died in a cattle car stuffed with more than 150 prisoners.” Another captured spy “had her front teeth knocked out and her arm broken.” 
  • Gestapo agent Klaus Barbie was brutal. “His accusers testified about Barbie raping female inmates in the presence of not only other guards, but also of the Resistance members waiting in the hallway to get tortured . . . Barbie encouraged German shepherds to chase naked women around their cells; each time the women were viciously bitten, Barbie would laugh maniacally. He beat children.” 
  • Spy Odette Sanson “underwent fourteen Gestapo interrogations. . . was held captive by the Germans for two years. . . they branded her back with a hot iron and pulled out all her toenails.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Occasionally, the book mentions adults drinking alcohol. For example, during prohibition, Dindy traveled to Europe where she could “enjoy oodles of wine.” 
  • After accidentally shooting herself, Dindy was given morphine in the hospital. 
  • Spies were given cyanide pills to use “on themselves or others.”  
  • To help agents’ stamina, they were issued amphetamines. “For Dindy, popping those bitter-tasting blue Benzedrine pills was sometimes the only way she could juggle the revolving door of agents, Resistance workers. . . who knocked on her door, day and night.” 
  • Dindy loved to drink “gin and Italians, a mix of gin and vermouth.”

Language    

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes ass, bastard, bitch, dumbass, damn, dicked, pussy, fuck, hell, and shit. 
  • When Dindy was nineteen, she “became engaged to a complete douchebag.”  
  • Gaulle was a “total dick when it came to how he treated the foreign agents.”  
  • Klaus Barbie, an evil Gestapo agent, “was a real motherfucker.” 

Supernatural 

  • After accidentally shooting herself, Dindy “insisted until her dying day that on ‘several occasions’ her deceased father, Edwin Hall, came to visit.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Victor Dowd and the World War II Ghost Army

It’s a true story of deception: Meet the top-secret Ghost Army, a group of artists and sound engineers trained to fake out the Germans in World War II with inflatable rubber tanks and loudspeakers broadcasting the sound of marching troops. And meet real-life Sergeant Victor Dowd, who served in the fight for Normandy, through France, and across the Rhine.

It’s a mystery to solve: There are clues embedded in the story’s text and illustrations, and Spycraft materials come in an envelope at the beginning of the book. Now put on your spy thinking cap and find out what happened to Victor Dowd’s missing sketchbook. 

Unfortunately, Victor’s story lacks action and suspense. Since there is no dialogue, Victor and the other Ghost Army members are not developed, making them easily forgettable. Even though Victor is the narrator, readers will have a hard time connecting to him because he does not have a distinct voice. Plus, the action is discussed in the past tense, which eliminates the suspense. While there are many interesting facts about the Ghost Army, readers may have difficulty staying engaged in the book because of the bland storytelling. 

Despite the book’s flaws, the format is visually appealing. Every page has a graphic element, including pictures that are drawn in black, white, and red. Plus, most of the pages have a quote set apart from the other text. These quotes are printed in large fonts and help break up the text. The graphic elements are essential because hidden in the pictures and text are clues and codes. Readers will use a cipher wheel, a Morse code, and other methods to decipher Victor’s letters. 

Readers will enjoy using the spy tools and finding clues throughout the story. However, the lack of direction makes this task difficult. In addition, many of the clues are given by putting a red film over the pictures; while the clues are fun to look at, no code-breaking is involved. Since many of the clues are difficult to understand, adults may want to read the answer key that appears at the end of the book so they can assist young readers in finding and understanding the clues.  

Readers who are excited to try and uncover secret messages will enjoy testing their spycraft skills while reading Victor Dowd and the World War II Ghost Army. However, the lackluster story will only appeal to readers who are fans of history. If you’d like to learn more about the history of spying, sneak into the library and grab George Washington’s Spies by Claudia Friddell and Night of Soldiers and Spies by Kate Messner. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • After D-Day, Victor looks around the beach and sees “the casualties. Wounded men lay on the runway, waiting to be airlifted to medical units. Beyond them, Vic could see the bodies of soldiers who had lost their lives on the beach.” 
  • During one of the operations, the enemy fired on the unit. “The ground in front of them shook. It felt like an earthquake. The next shell flew over their heads and hit the truck behind them. Pieces of metal flew in every direction. . .” One member of the Ghost Army “was killed when his truck was hit by shrapnel. . . Fifteen other men were wounded. Some of them lost limbs.” The illustration shows a truck being blown up.

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • After setting up the fake tanks and guns, the ghost army went into the local bar and talked about their “fake” unit over beers. The illustration shows the men drinking beer. 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Buttons for General Washington

Fourteen-year-old John Darragh was a spy. But British-occupied Philadelphia in 1777 was not a safe place for an American spy. If he were captured, John knew he would be hanged. In this suspenseful story based on accounts of the Darragh family’s spying activities for General Washington, young John undertakes a dangerous mission to deliver a message to the American army. 

Buttons for General Washington introduces history to beginning readers. While the book features real people from history, the story is fictional. The author’s note at the beginning of the book explains important historical information that makes the book easier to understand. For example, the author explains why the characters use thee and thou. To make the book accessible to beginning readers, each page has three to nine sentences with easy vocabulary. In addition, a large illustration appears on almost every page to break the text into manageable parts.  

Readers interested in history will find Buttons for General Washington intriguing. John Darragh’s dangerous mission to deliver a message to General Washington is suspenseful because John worries that if British soldiers discover he is a spy, they will hang him. The story does not go into depth, however, which may frustrate stronger readers. The book doesn’t explain what secret code was used or how others were able to decode the message. While the story stresses the importance of the message, readers are left to wonder why the message was important. Despite this, the story’s brevity makes the text accessible to beginning readers, who will learn many interesting facts about British-occupied Philadelphia in 1777. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • John thinks about the spies who were captured and were “lucky to end up in prison. Usually they were hanged.”  
  • While in town, John runs into Samuel, a Tory, who is the same age as him. After a brief argument, Samuel poked John and then pushed him to the ground. 
  • While in the woods, a man surprises John. “Suddenly, a hand grabbed [John] from behind. . . The man aimed a pistol at John.” The man turns John in to an American camp, where John’s brother was stationed. John is set free. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Mysterious Messages: A History of Codes and Ciphers

This fascinating look at history’s most mysterious messages is packed with puzzles to decode and ciphers that kids can use themselves. In this book you can find the encrypted notes of Spartan warriors, the brilliant code-crackers of Elizabeth I, secret messages of the American Revolution, spy books of the Civil War, the famous Enigma Machine, and the Navajo code talkers. As computers change the way we communicate, codes today are more intriguing than ever.  

From invisible ink to the CIA, this exciting trip through history is a hands-on, interactive experience—so get cracking! 

Mysterious Messages is for readers who want an in-depth historical look at the practice of creating codes and ciphers. The book starts with the father of history, Greek writer Herodotus, who documented some of the first cases of hiding messages. Sections of the book go into more detail about the historical aspects of hidden messages and give examples that readers can try to solve. Along with the stories, the book contains small sections titled “the Boring Definitions Box” that define words. Scattered throughout the book are pictures of the people discussed in the stories. Many of the pictures are of statues, paintings, photographs, and black and white sketches. In addition, historical documents are featured such as a letter written in code to the Queen of Scots, who was planning to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I.   

Politics played a huge role in the development of codes and ciphers, and Mysterious Messages discusses the many ways spies secretly communicated. While the format has a visual element on every page, readers who aren’t interested in history and politics may find it difficult to finish the book. However, Mysterious Messages would be an excellent source to use for a research paper. The book will also appeal to readers who want to learn more about espionage and how codes and ciphers were used both in diplomatic times and times of war.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • In order to hide a message, a nobleman “slit open the belly of a freshly killed rabbit, hid his message inside, and sent it off with a courier posing as a hunter.” 
  • Christopher Marlowe was “murdered at the age of twenty-nine” because of his work as a secret agent. 
  • Several people who were caught spying were hanged.  
  • Mary, the Queen of Scots, used secret messages in an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. “The Queen of Scots was tried, found guilty largely on the basis of the deciphered message, and beheaded.” The other people involved were “bowelled alive and quartered.”  
  • The British caught Nathan Hale spying. When he was found guilty of espionage, he was “hanged from the limb of an apple tree.”  
  • A British spy was captured with papers that contained details of a conspiracy. He was “hanged by the Americans.” 
  • During World War I, “a German submarine had torpedoed the Lusitania, a British passenger ship. Twelve hundred people drowned.”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • During World War II, a Polish cipher “was so desperate to read Germany’s Enigma-enciphered messages that it hired a psychic to try to make sense of them.”  

Spiritual Content  

  • In the 1500s, a man from Germany believed that “if you wrapped up your message in a picture of the person you were sending it to, buried it under the threshold of the house, and said the proper incantation, it would be delivered telepathically by a network of angels.”  
  • Since Queen Elizabeth embraced Protestantism, “the

Anna Strong and the Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring

Travel back in time to the American Revolution in this thrilling third book of the Spy on History series. Discover the secret Culper Ring, a network of American spies fighting against the British redcoats. Meet historical figures like George Washington and the soon-to-be-infamous Benedict Arnold. Also meet Anna Strong, an unsung heroine who found ingenious ways to communicate top-secret messages to her fellow spies—helping to free the American colonies from British rule.
 
Your mission: Decode Anna Strong’s hidden message and discover the secret assignment she undertook for the Culper Ring. There are clues embedded in the book’s text and illustrations, plus spy craft materials, including a cipher wheel in an envelope at the beginning of the book. 

Anna Strong and the Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring allows readers to step back into history and play the part of a Culper spy. The story focuses on Anna and her role as a spy during the Revolutionary War. Even though Anna was often fearful, her bravery allowed George Washington to receive important wartime intelligence that was critical in winning the war. Focusing on Anna allows the reader to see how the war affected men, women, and children.  

Anna’s story is fast-paced, full of suspense, and jam-packed with historical information. In addition, the book’s format is visually appealing. Every page has a graphic element, including pictures that are drawn in black, white, and red. Plus, most of the pages have a quote set apart from the other text. These quotes are printed in large fonts and help break up the text. The graphic elements are essential because hidden in the pictures and text are clues and codes. Readers will use a cipher wheel, a pigpen code, and other methods to decipher Anna’s letter to Caleb Brewster, another spy. 

Readers will enjoy using the spy tools and finding clues throughout the story. However, the lack of direction makes this task difficult. The first page of the book has a map of the Culper Spy Ring. The top of the map has a coded question that is easy to miss. Without the essential question, the clues are just a collection of random words. Parents may want to read the answer key that appears at the end of the book so they can assist young readers in finding and understanding the clues.   

Anna Strong and the Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring will appeal to readers who love ciphers, history, spies, and mystery. Plus, it gives recognition to many of the spies who helped win the American Revolution. The well-written story will keep readers’ attention and the hidden clues will make them feel like they are a part of history. Readers who want to learn more about women’s role in the Revolutionary War should also read Susanna’s Midnight Ride by Libby Carty McNamee. If you’re looking for more historical facts about the Culper Spies, George Washington’s Spies by Claudia Friddell will give you the inside scoop.  

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • British soldiers knock on Anna’s door in the middle of the night. Anna and her children watched as “one of the soldiers stepped behind her husband and roughly bound his hands.” Anna’s husband was arrested and taken prisoner on a prison ship. 
  • Anna goes to see her husband on the prison ship. When she gets there, the ship smelled “of death. The eyes of the prisoners were sunken, and their faces were taut with hunger.” When Anna sees her husband, “his hands and feet [were] in iron shackles, she saw the same look of starvation and mistreatment beginning to hollow his features.” 
  • Nathan Hale was spying for George Washington. When he got caught, “Nathan was identified as a spy within days and executed almost immediately after he was captured.”  
  • Benedict Arnold was sent into a battle where he “received a terrible leg wound.” 
  • One night, a British soldier is caught sneaking around outside of Anna’s house. Caleb, Anna’s friend, sees him and, “Just as [the soldier] began to dismount from his horse, Caleb burst from the hedge. . . Anna heard a series of thumps as Caleb struck the man, blow after blow.” Anna was afraid Caleb “was going to kill him” but the soldier runs off.  
  • John André, a British soldier, was captured. “André was charged and hanged as a spy.”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • One of the spies would go into the city and, when passing the British checkpoints, he bribes the solders with liquor. 
  • When a group of patriots took over a fort, the men helped “themselves to the fort’s liquor stores.” 

Language    

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Rebel Spy

Rebellious Frannie Tasker knows little about the war between England and its thirteen colonies until a shipwreck off her home in Grand Bahama Island presents an unthinkable opportunity. The body of a young woman floating in the sea gives Frannie the chance to escape her brutal stepfather—and she takes it.

Assuming the identity of the drowned Emmeline Coates, Frannie is rescued by a British merchant ship and sails with the crew to New York. For the next three years, Frannie lives a lie as Miss Coates, swept up in a courtship by a dashing British lieutenant. But after witnessing the darker side of the war, she realizes that her position gives her power. Soon she’s eavesdropping on British officers, risking everything to pass information on to George Washington’s Culper spy ring as agent 355. Frannie believes in the fight for American liberty—but what will it cost her? Inspired by the true “355,” Rebel Spy is rich in historical detail and intrigue. 

Rebel Spy was inspired by the true “355,” who was part of the Culper spy ring. However, 355’s identity has never been discovered, and Frannie is completely fictional. Frannie is a complex character whose stepfather, Sewel, is a tyrant. In order to escape Sewel’s abuse, Frannie makes a desperate move and assumes a dead woman’s identity. While on a ship sailing to New York, Frannie witnesses the British soldiers’ savage nature. These events lead Frannie to believe that “tyranny was wrong. Abuse was wrong. And power ought never be misused.” Frannie struggles between her desire to live a comfortable life as a lady and her belief that no one should be forced to live under a tyrant’s rule. 

As the events of the war unfold, readers will learn how the war affected the entire world, not just the colonies. Because Frannie is living the life of a Loyalist, she becomes friends with many people who believe the Rebels deserve their fate. While the cruelties of war are not glossed over, many of the Loyalists and British soldiers were good people fighting for what they believed was right. However, Frannie helps the Rebel cause because she is convinced that, “Access to life, liberty, and happiness should be equal to all. We should all have a say in deciding our own fates.” Even so, Frannie points out that women will not have this ability even if the Rebels win the war. Instead, they are controlled by their fathers or husbands. 

While Frannie’s story is interesting, she is slightly self-absorbed and doesn’t think about how her actions will impact others. For example, Frannie allows Duncan, a British officer, to court her and she has every intention of marrying him. Frannie claims to care for Duncan, but she often spies on Duncan and relays important information to the Rebels. Frannie never considers how her actions will affect Duncan. Since Frannie’s life is full of lies and deceit, she does not always come across as a sympathetic character.  

Full of danger, suspense, and interesting facts about the Revolutionary War, Rebel Spy will please readers who enjoy historical fiction. While Frannie is not necessarily a relatable character, readers will empathize with her struggle as a young woman living in colonial America. From Frannie’s experiences, readers will learn that “reading will strengthen your expression. Words have power. Learn them and that power becomes yours.” To learn more about how women played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War, check out Susanna’s Midnight Ride by Libby Carty McNamee. 

Sexual Content  

  • When Frannie was a child, her mother was falsely accused of “having relations with men—some of them enslaved men—and she became a woman of ill fame. . . People crossed the road when they saw her. They hissed ‘filthy strumpet’ and ‘bloody doxy.’ They threw eggs and rubbish at our shop.” In order to survive, Frannie’s mother ended up “doing just what she’d been accused of.”  
  • The captain of the ship “brought the shore’s enjoyment to the Ambrosia—the ‘shore’s enjoyments’ being libations and women.” 
  • While sailing toward the colonies, Frannie meets a man. After dancing, Frannie “threw my arms around his neck, and kissed him. Asa pulled me in tight, his lips parting, his tongue sweeping against mine, and suddenly time disappeared. There was nothing beyond our mouths, gently searching.”  
  • On a different night, Frannie and Asa again kiss. Frannie often gets distracted by “Asa’s lips, which turned me liquid, and his chest, which was a perfect place for me to rest my head.” 
  • Frannie goes out on a midnight errand and sees “brothels and molly houses—brothels catering to men who favored men. Places where the orphaned and destitute often ended up. Where I might’ve ended up, if not for Miss Coates.” 
  • After a servant, Malcom, and Frannie are out most of the night, Malcom’s mother sees them. Malcom’s mother assumes they “snuck away to—” Malcom and Frannie do not correct his mother’s assumption because “the truth is. . . well, it’s worse.” 
  • Frannie’s guardian has arranged for her to court Lieutenant Duncan. After a brief conversation with him, Frannie felt “a velvety heat spreading through me. One thing I couldn’t deny: my body knew exactly how it felt about Lieutenant Duncan.” 
  • The British officers would board with the colonists. However, the officers were less than kind. One woman said, “A girl of barely twenty was got with child by a redcoat who breaks bread with her and her husband every night. Another has been told she will never bear children—she was savaged by five men, redcoats all.”  
  • Frannie is attracted to Duncan, who is courting her. When he leaned close to her, “his lips brushed my cheek, sending waves of heat down my center. He had yet to kiss me. I was so desperate for it to happen. . .” 
  • When Duncan kisses Frannie for the first time, she describes, “He was perfect. His kisses gentle, soft, warm. Desire struck me, and I stepped closer and clutched his arm.” 
  • Frannie gets upset that Asa isn’t “fighting” for her. After a brief argument Asa “wrapped me in his arms and kissed me. Deeply. Passionately. For blissful moments, we clung to each other like we’d only breathe again if we became one.” 
  • Frannie goes to talk to another spy. When the spy goes inside, a man on the street calls, “What’s wrong with us, trollop? We got the same parts he’s got!” 
  • When Duncan gets sent away, he goes to say goodbye to Frannie. “Alone in the dim entryway, we had kissed. It felt like our mouths were discussing something complicated and trying to reach an understanding.” 

Violence  

  • After Frannie backtalks to her stepfather, Sewel, he orders Frannie to go into the ocean even though a shark is nearby. Frannie “was praying for God’s protection as I lowered myself into the water, inch by terrible inch. And crying, too, though crying only ever turned him wickeder.” 
  • Sewel is a convicted murderer. He was “fighting in a tavern over a spilt drink and kill[ed] somebody. . . By reciting a Bible verse and getting the brand, he was saved from swinging by a rope round his neck.”  
  • While out to sea, a ship gets stuck on a reef. Frannie grabs the boat’s paddles in order to go help. Sewel orders her to stop rowing. When she doesn’t, Frannie attests, “something slammed into my back. The breath drove out of me. I flew forward, cracking my head on the keel. The world flashed white and went black.” 
  • After hitting Frannie, Sewel grabs her. “He leaned down, bringing his face close to mine. I kicked and thrashed, but he held me by the neck. . . His hand shot under my shirt and squeezed, hard.” Sewel tells Frannie, “You’ll learn and you will obey me.” 
  • In order to get away from Sewel, Frannie “reached back and swung the oar with every bit of strength in me. The paddle struck Sewel between the shoulder blades with a deep thud. . . Sewel flew forward and plunged into the foamy water. He disappeared without a splash, the sea swallowing him whole.” Another boater rescues Sewel. 
  • Before Frannie’s mother died, Sewel would hit her. After Frannie’s mother dies, Sewel announces that he is going to take Frannie as his new wife.  
  • While traveling to the colonies, two sailors disagree with who is right – the British or the Rebels. The two men get into a fight. “Hackett lunged at him – so fast, a blur – but suddenly everything seemed slow, like it was happening under water. He slammed into Lane and drove him back. . . Lane and Hackett grappled and swung, the sounds of their blows horrible.” The men are bruised, but not seriously injured. 
  • A sailor threatens Frannie, demanding that she give him jewels. The Sailor says, “Fail me and see if ‘old buzzard’ don’t slice you open gullet to gizzard, then dance a gig on your entrails.” 
  • The British come aboard the Ambrosia and force men to join the army. When Asa refuses to volunteer, two soldiers “tacked Asa to the deck, the sound of bone and muscle against wood thunderous. Asa kept struggling even as men piled on him. Then two men slipped cudgels from their belts and swung them.” Asa is beaten until he is bloody. Then, he is “dragged off the Ambrosia.” Asa’s beating is described over a page.  
  • While out on a midnight errand, Malcolm accompanies Frannie. A man “rammed into Malcom. He flew back and crashed into the dirt.” When the man holds a knife to Malcolm’s neck, Frannie “pulled my pocket watch over my head and threw myself on the man’s back. I slammed the hard silver into his ear as I came down. He yelled and rolled away, the knife falling from his hand.” Frannie and Malcom escape. The scene is described over three pages. 
  • While in a tavern, Lieutenant Duncan takes a soldier outside and “there was a grunt. The sound of a body thudding against brick.” Lieutenant Duncan warns the soldier to watch his mouth. 
  • When Frannie’s stepfather, Sewel, finds her, he kills one of the servants, Malcom. Frannie finds his body “lying in the dirt.” Malcom’s mother “pressed her hands to his neck, trying to stop the blood that poured out of him. So much blood. It was everywhere.” Malcom dies. 
  • Frannie has a plan to meet Sewel and frame him for spying. However, when she meets him, he kidnaps her and takes her out on a skiff. In order to get away, Frannie “dove at him, aiming the knife at his neck. . . The blade sank into his shoulder. He roared with pain and swung, his fist crashing into my temple.” In retaliation, Sewel tries to strangle her. A patrol of redcoats approaches the skiff. 
  • When Sewel sees the redcoats, he shoots. “The marines fired back, raising a thunderous noise. Wood popped and shattered all around [Frannie]. The skiff shuddered and shook.” When Sewel refuses to stand down and instead grabs his rifle. The redcoats fire. “Cracks exploded into the night. His body jerked back. His shoulder tore off. His hand disappeared in a bloody spray. Other pieces of him burst and broke.” Sewel is killed and Frannie is taken prisoner. The scene with the soldiers is described over three pages. 
  • When Frannie is imprisoned on a boat, she learns that a starving prisoner was “bayoneted through the gut for trying to filch a piece of bread.” 
  • When the Rebels found a major spying for the British, the traitor is “sentenced to death by hanging.” 
  • On a rainy night, Frannie jumps off the prison ship and into the ocean. As she swam away, Frannie “sensed the bullets slicing around me, but I kept going, even when one found my calf and bit.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Frannie’s stepfather is a drunk who often drinks rum.  
  • After being found on the beach half drowned, Frannie is offered laudanum, which she refuses. However, when she is offered a drink, Frannie “drank it half down before my throat lit with burning coals. It was watered rum—and not much watered.” 
  • During meals, Frannie and other adults are served wine. Alcohol is also served at parties. 
  • When Frannie takes on Emmie’s identity, her friends celebrate Emmie’s birthday by sharing a bottle of “spirits.” The girls get drunk.  
  • When Frannie gets upset, Duncan wants her to take laudanum. She refuses it. 
  • When Duncan’s uncle gets upset, he is given laudanum to calm him down. 
  • When Duncan and Frannie get engaged, they have a celebration and drink champagne. 

Language    

  • Lord is used as an exclamation infrequently. 
  • Frannie calls a sailor an “old hellhound.” 
  • Damn is used three times. Hell is used once. 
  • A sailor says that he is his father’s “bastard.” 
  • Frannie injures a man who attacked a servant. Afterward, the man calls Frannie a bitch.  
  • Bloody is used as profanity several times. For example, a soldier says, “bloody hell.” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Frannie occasionally prays. For example, when a storm is near, Frannie “saw thick clouds bunching on the horizon and whispered a quick prayer they’d stay there.” 
  • In the past, Frannie’s stepfather, Sewel, was almost killed. He said, “God looked out for drunks, fools, and sailors.” Frannie thinks, “God must’ve loved Sewel fierce ‘cause he was all three.” 
  • Sewel tells Frannie, “Lying’s a terrible sin. An abomination unto the Lord.” 
  • When Frannie sees a dead girl laying on the beach, she takes the girl’s clothes and the girl’s identity. When a sailor finds her, he says, “Unnatural, a lass surviving such a trial. God’s had a hand in this.” Someone replies, “or the devil.” 
  • After taking Emmeline Coates’ identity, Frannie “prayed for God’s forgiveness.” 
  • Frannie reads a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, who wrote, “all men were born of equal power and no one could be born to preference. The Bible supported this notion, he wrote, which made kings and monarchies ungodly and wrong.” 
  • When Duncan reprimanded Frannie, she thinks, “it was a wife’s duty to obey. He for God and she for him. . . that was the proper order of things.” 
  • One of the servants tells Frannie, “I pray for you . . . Every night, I pray you find your place.” 

Charlotte Spies For Justice: A Civil War Survival Story

Twelve-year-old Charlotte lives on a plantation in Richmond, Virginia, where the American Civil War is raging. All around her, citizens and the Confederate army are fighting to protect slavery — the very thing Charlotte wishes would end. When she overhears the plantation owner conspiring against the Confederates, Charlotte knows she must help. Maybe together they can help the Union win the war and end slavery. Helping a spy is dangerous work, but Charlotte is willing to risk everything to fight for what is right — justice for all people.  

Charlotte Spies For Freedom is full of action and suspense that focuses on the heroic deeds of many historical events. While Charlotte is fictional, she is a relatable character who shows bravery despite her fear. Several times, Charlotte visits Libby prison. Even though the story shows the harsh conditions of Libby prison and includes the death of several Union soldiers, no gruesome details are given. However, the story highlights Charlotte’s fear of being caught and harmed. Despite her fear, Charlotte is willing to risk her life to help the Union cause. She says, “I’m willing to give my life away if it helps free my people.”  

Even though Charlotte is a fictional character, many of the book’s characters are based on real people. This includes Elizabeth Van Lew, who gathered important information to pass along to the Union Army. Readers will be fascinated with the different ways Elizabeth Van Lew used to send messages, including using invisible ink and ciphers. She also hides messages in hollowed-out eggs, the heels of boots, and loaves of bread. Several times, Charlotte comments on Elizabeth Van Lew’s “odd” behavior; the author’s note explains that Elizabeth Van Lew’s strange behavior was another way she disguised her activities.  

Another historical spy is Mister McNiven. Despite being surrounded by war, Mister McNiven greets Charlotte each morning by saying, “It’s a good day to be alive.” At first, Charlotte doesn’t understand his optimism. However, she soon realizes Mister McNiven believes this because “he knew he was doing something important. He hoped for a better tomorrow and he was doing his part.” 

To make the story easy to follow, each chapter begins with Charlotte’s location and the date. Every ten to seventeen pages there is a black-and-white illustration that focuses on Charlotte’s activities. One illustration shows a Confederate soldier hitting Charlotte. The back of the book contains an author’s note that goes into more detail about the historical facts of Elizabeth Van Lew, a glossary, and three response questions to help readers connect to the reading material. 

Charlotte Spies For Freedom is an engaging story that shows how ordinary people were willing to lay down their lives to fight for the freedom of all people. The story, which uses kid-friendly descriptions, is both educational and entertaining. Since the story is full of danger and action, it will appeal to a wide audience. Readers interested in historical fiction can also learn about the Underground Railroad by reading Long Road to Freedom by Kate Messner. 

Sexual Content  

  • None

Violence  

  • Charlotte goes to a prison holding Union prisoners. While there, she sees “a dead Union soldier. . . I caught a glimpse of his face. I could tell he had been beaten.” 
  • While delivering food to the prisoners, a Confederate soldier named Robert points a gun at Charlotte. Robert “walked toward me, put the barrel of his gun in my face, and cocked it.”  Another soldier, Erasmus Ross appears and grabs Charlotte’s face. “He squeezed even harder, and a sharp pain shot through my jaw.” Ross drags Charlotte outside. 
  • In order to protect Charlotte, Ross takes her outside and tells her, “I’m going to get you out of here, but I have to hit you.” He proceeds to backhand her. “It hurt, but not nearly as much as it should have. . . Mister Ross gave me a shove so hard it sent me to my knees.” As she was leaving, “a shot rang out behind me. I could only hope that Mister Ross had fired into the air.” 
  • After a prison break, Confederate soldiers “recaptured forty-eight Union soldiers. . . Two of them drowned.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • Some people called Elizabeth Van Lew “Crazy Bet.” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Pets to the Rescue: Pigeon Hero!

In a town in Italy during World War II the people surrendered without firing a shot. But American warplanes are due to arrive, and the radio’s broken, so no one can tell them to call off the attack! G. I. Joe, a carrier pigeon, is the only one who can take the message to the Americans. Will he make it in time to save the town? 

The story of G.I. Joe is told in kid-friendly language and focuses on G.I. Joe’s dangerous flight. Despite the difficulties, G.I. Joe is able to deliver his message and then return. When he returns, “Joe carried a new message. The planes would not come! The town was safe.” Readers will enjoy seeing G.I. Joe complete his mission and be rewarded with a medal.  

As part of the Ready-To-Read Level 2 Series, Pigeon Hero! is intended for children who can read independently. The story is told using short chapters. Each page has four to seven sentences of various lengths; however, most sentences are short. G.I. Joe’s story has a complex plot that takes place in different locations. Each page has a full-colored illustration that will help readers visualize the story’s events. Several pages show German soldiers firing machine guns at G.I. Joe. Towards the end, two pages focus on the joy the townspeople feel when G.I. Joe returns with a new message. 

Readers who are interested in animals or war will find the story of G.I. Joe interesting. The short story highlights G.I. Joe’s bravery as he overcomes obstacles to deliver the message. G.I. Joe’s ability to save the day will leave readers with a smile. Plus, the last page of the book gives more information about the amazing things that war pigeons were able to do. Children interested in birds may want to take a step into the past by reading Ancient Animals: Terror Bird by Sarah L. Thomson. However, if you’re looking for a more motivational story, Bird Boy by Matthew Burgess would be a better choice. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • British soldiers plan to have a big battle with the Germans. But when the soldiers arrive, the Germans flee. Several soldiers are shown with their weapons. 
  • German soldiers try to shoot G.I. Joe. “G.I. Joe heard machine gun fire. The enemy below was shooting at him!” 
  • A hawk tries to eat G.I. Joe. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • None

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 
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