The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

This is a seriously long title and I’ve seen it on lists before as highly recommended but never read it. Well, don’t do what I did and ignore this book – it is so good. Even though it’s in Senior Fiction, almost anyone in high school could read it – a really feel good read.

I never knew about the Germans occupying the Channel Islands during the Second World War – had no idea about this. But they did – and that is part of the narrative of the book – islanders telling their stories of the Occupation. It’s a clever central idea that allows these stories to be told in easily digested portions, in a very readable way. And then there are several other stories linked in with this as well.

The novel is a series of letters to and from the main character who is an author. Watching her changing attitude to different people, Guernsey and life is a large part of the pleasure of the book.

The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo writes so simply but with so much impact. The story is nominally about a young journalist who has an interview with a famous violinist. The journalist is told not to ask him the “Mozart question”. Of course, she does somehow come around to it and thus begins the story of how musical inmates of certain concentration camps were made to play classical music (and especially Mozart) as trains of new inmates came in to the camps.

While these musical inmates were better fed and treated, it left them with terrible guilt which they continued to live with even after the war. Young readers would need to have some background information about the Holocaust to understand the full meaning of the book.

In the shadow or no towers by Art Spigelman

From the title to the cover where you have to look carefully to see the shape of the Twin Towers that were the target of a terrorist attack in 2001. Most people will be able to tell you what they were doing at the time when the planes went into these massive towers in New York City and how they watched in awe and fear as the fires started and eventually both buildings totally collapsed.

Art Spigelman is well known for his graphic novels, his most famous one being “Maus” – his parents’ story during the Holocaust. Art lived in New York in 2001 and his daughter had just started in a school at the foot of the towers three days before the event. But this is not just Art’s story – it is the story of so many people in the city, and of the city itself. Each double page includes so many different pieces of information on them that you need to spend time to take it all in.

This is an amazing work of art, and an incredible insight into an event which changed the Western world forever.

A.D. New Orleans after the deluge by Josh Neufeld

Amazing comic form story of what happened to people during the floods resulting from Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005. We see the stories of 4 family groups who are trying to decide if they should remain in the city or evacuate.

Not having seen a disaster of such proportion in Australia, it is difficult to understand the government mishandling of the situation – how so many people had to live in such dreadful conditions waiting to be evacuated. The comic form is clever – with not too much text in each picture as sometimes happens, and almost a colour coded system to show different families.

It’s a great way to find out this disaster, especially from the human side.

The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb

Calder is a ‘Fetch’, a ‘being’ who takes souls from their body up to heaven once they die.  Calder is rather curious, and so switches places with a man; taking his body whilst the soul roams in the place between Earth and heaven. The body he takes is that of Rasputin’s, the religious healing man, and close friend of the Russian Tsarina. After the Russian Royal family is killed, Calder( as Rasputin) takes care of the Tsarevitch- Alexis and princess Anastasia, who have not been killed. The real issue I had with this book was not the writing (which was good) or the plot (which was really quite slow, but still interesting) but the idea of Calder/Rasputin falling in love with Anastasia. Ana is around 16 years old, and Calder himself is 19, however the mental image of a pretty teenage girl with an overweight, hairy, dirty and just plain creepy man in his late 40s was just too weird. I must admit I didn’t finish the book, and I don’t un-recommended it, I just personally was very disappointed and (whilst I persevered as long as I could) uninterested. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

 *note for Modern History girls – this book is set during the Russian revolution and studying the Romanov’s in year 11 adds further knowledge and extra interest  when reading!

 However I highly recommend Whitcomb’s other book A Certain Slant of Light – a lovely ghost/romance novel with lots of poetic allusions. (Probably for Young Adult, or even Senior Fiction)

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

What I Saw and How I Lied ( written by Judy Blundell) is a novel about 15 year old Evie Spooner. It tells the story of the beginning of her life, after the end of World War II, and particularly focuses on her trip to Florida with her beautiful mother Beverley and her step father Joe, a returned soldier. Evie is a naïve young woman, wanting to be like her glamorous mother, and she soon falls for the dashing Peter Coleridge whilst away on the vacation. Joe, although a friend of Peter’s from army days, disapproves of him, and his relationship with Evie. After some unfortunate and mysterious events, Evie finds herself a the centre of an earth shattering situation, in which all her previous thoughts and conceptions about her parents, her relationships, her world views and even herself are challenged and tested.

I really enjoyed What I Saw and How I Lied, in particularly the fabulous retro details in the descriptions of clothing, music, dance and style of talk. Evie is a very interesting girl, who I think is easy to relate to. The story is written well, and the plot develops nicely. I think the cover suits this book wonderfully. If you love some retro-lit, stories about growing up, a bit of romance and lots of mystery and intrigue, then I would recommend What I Saw and How I Lived.

Mr Rosenblum’s List by Natasha Solomons

Even though this is classified in Senior Fiction this book would suit most students – it is so delightful. It really gives an understanding of an immigrant who comes to his new country and wants so much to be a part of it and accepted that he will go to amazing lengths. I really adored Jack Rosenblum – knowing many Central European immigrants in my life, he was so real. His ever-patient wife could teach many things about getting along with spouses. This is a bit like Paul Torday’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – so funny because it is so ludicrous, yet you totally believe it all due to the wonderful characterisation. Try it and enjoy – the author is currently writing the movie script of the novel.

Lady Macbeth’s Daughter by Lisa Klein

If  you have read Shakespeare’s Macbeth or heard of it, you might like this one. Supposedly, Macbeth  didn’t know of her existence as he told one of his men to kill her  (she was female and had a deformed leg). She is brought up among the witches and finds that she has second sight. From here, her story becomes entangled with the bloody deeds of Macbeth. Lots of treachery, love and betrayal.

Sarny: A life remembered by Gary Paulsen

Sequel to Nightjohn. This is everything that happens after Nightjohn leaves. It begins in 1930 with Sarny looking back over her life and thinking about her life.

Sarny takes us through her loves, children, liberation and the frantic search that she sends herself on during the fighting of the Civil War. Instead of heading north away from the battles, she heads south – you’ll have to read it to find out why.

Despite all the terror and horror of war that she lives through, she has many opportunities later in life. But she remains true to her character – following on from what Nightjohn has taught her – that education is everything for her people – no matter what.

Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen

A very short but incredibly powerful novel about slavery in the Southern States of America before the Civil War. Nighjohn comes onto the property and teaches Sarny, a twelve-year old girl, how to read. The cruelty of the era is out there for you to read about. It is incredible to believe that such suffering was inflicted on one group of human beings, simply because of the colour of their skin.

Nightjohn knows that the only way that things will change is if the slaves can read and learn. The sequel Sarny is even more interesting.