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City of Thievesby David Benioff The siege of Leningrad lasted for 872 days and was one of the bloodiest battles in World War II. Over a million people died, but David Benioff’s grandfather survived and had a lot of interesting stories to tell. City of Thieves is based on tape recordings of these stories. Lev, David’s grandfather, is a Russian firefighter who gets arrested by the Russian army for looting a German corpse. He is thrown in jail with Kolya, who was arrested for deserting the army to hang out with some of his girlfriends. Lev and Kolya are going to be executed, but the Russian colonel makes a deal with them. His daughter wants to get married, but they don’t have enough eggs to make a cake. Remember, this is Russia during World War II, and the Germans have completely surrounded the city. If Lev and Kolya can find enough eggs for the cake, they won’t be executed. Lev and Kolya hunt for eggs in war-torn Leningrad, but have no luck at all. On their way, they talk about literature, life in the city, the horrors of war, and romance/sex. After they find the last living chicken in Leningrad, who can’t possibly lay all the eggs they need in time for the wedding, they hear about a chicken farm, but it’s out past the German lines. After a nice dinner of chicken soup, they leave the city and sneak into German territory. During their search they encounter all kinds of strange and disturbing people and situations. This story is often funny, but it takes place during a horrible battle. Things are not pretty. People are eating rats and boiling the glue from books and doing much worse things just to keep from starving to death. Things don’t get any better when they leave the city, either. This is war, and neither side is playing fair. The Russians are desperate and willing to do anything to defend their homeland, and the Nazis are, as you might guess, even worse. There are a couple of scenes that I could have done without, so if you don’t like horrible things happening to people or animals, you might want to skip this one. You can read an excerpt online at the publisher’s website. Where to Find ItYou can get it from the school library.
You can get it from the public library.
This list was last updated May 14, 2012 at 1:51 am UTC. Click here to see newer information. June 16th, 2009
 Tags: alex award winner, crime, friendship, funny, morbid, real people, war |  Category: Historical Fiction
|  Write a comment | Out of the Dustby Karen Hesse Set in Oklahoma during the years 1934-1935, this book tells the story of a family of farmers during the Dust Bowl years. Billie Jo describes her family’s experience through a series of free verse poems.
You can look it up on Wikipedia, which is where I got that description. Where to Find ItYou can get it from the school library.
You can get it from the public library.
This list was last updated May 15, 2012 at 8:35 pm UTC. Click here to see newer information. June 12th, 2009
Tags: farming, newbery medal winner, scott o'dell award winner, strong female characters | Category: Historical Fiction, Poetry
| Write a comment | Emmaby Kaoru Mori Emma is a generally well-researched, charming story about the life of a maid in Victorian England. She’s different from other maids because she knows how to read (and she likes to). Naturally, there is cross-class romance–she falls in love with a wealthy young man!–and lots of details about the daily life of of the period. It’s surprisingly funny in parts, too. We first saw advertisements for this during our honeymoon in Japan, and I never thought it would be released in the US, but now it has been. Despite the frilly dresses and the theme of romance, when this series was published in Japan, it ran in a magazine aimed at men. (Japan is really different sometimes.) This is not related to the Jane Austen novel Emma. Where to Find ItYou can get it from the public library.
This list was last updated May 6, 2012 at 11:35 pm UTC. Click here to see newer information. June 10th, 2009
Tags: books with movies, england, Romance, strong female characters, victorian | Category: Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Manga, Romance
| Write a comment | Master and Commanderby Patrick O’Brian Jack Aubrey, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, makes friends with Stephen Maturin, a doctor, naturalist, and geek. When Jack is given command of HMS Speedy, he invites Stephen to come along and be the ship’s surgeon. Jack is an absolutely fantastic commander, but he’s completely lost away from the sea. Stephen is an absolutely fantastic surgeon and scientist, but he’s completely lost on a ship. This “Odd Couple” relationship is really the main focus of the story. There is plenty of action, too. Jack Aubrey is based on Thomas Cochrane, one of the most awesome naval officers ever, and many of the battles described in the book and the rest of the series actually happened. There is a fair amount of naval slang in the book. If you don’t know what a “fo’c'sle” is, neither does Stephen. You can count on him to ask about some of the words, but if he doesn’t, or if your eyes glaze over when Jack explains what a mizzenmast is, don’t worry. You don’t need to know. If you do really want to know all the details and definitions, though, you might want to check out the book A Sea of Words. You can look it up on Wikipedia. You can also read some of it online at Google Books. Other books you might want to check out
Where to Find ItYou can get it from the public library.
This list was last updated May 19, 2012 at 3:43 pm UTC. Click here to see newer information. June 9th, 2009
Tags: adventure, books with movies, friendship, geeks, napoleonic war, naval, scientists, ships, war | Category: Historical Fiction
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