Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz

When this historical novel begins, it is 1939 in Krakow, Poland.  Yanek Gruener is ten years old living with his loving mother and father in a nice apartment on the second floor of an apartment building.  The apartment is quite spacious for the three of them.  Imagine the conditions in the apartment when four other families (a total of sixteen people) are forced to live in the same space!  That is exactly what happens when Hitler’s army invades Poland and turns the area into a Jewish ghetto.

Despite the deplorable conditions of the Jewish ghetto, nothing could prepare Yanek for what was to come once the ghetto was liquidated. Liquidated means once all the people are sent out of the ghetto either to their deaths or to a death camp.

Yanek’s strong will to live, to survive the death camps- ten in all before the war ended in 1945- is a testament to the spirit. The title of the book has to do with the number that is tattoed onto Yanek's arm by the Nazis.

If you like to read historical fiction, this is an excellent choice! 
The reason it is such a powerful book is it is based on the survival of Jack Gruener who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Making Freedom: The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith by Chandler B. Saint & George A. Krimsky

Sometimes I am stunned by what I don’t know! Making Freedom The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith educated me about a very significant person from Connecticut’s early history.

Born the son of a tribal prince in about the year of 1729 in an interior West African country, Broteer Furro, was from a cattle-herding people. His African name would be one of his memories of his homeland.

Venture Smith was the name Broteer was given as a slave. His people in Africa were invaded by an army of other Africans and forced to march nearly 400 miles to the sea. Venture was probably 8 or 9 years old at the time. They were held in the infamous “Slave Castle” (a fortress much more like a dungeon) on what is now the coast of Ghana.

Venture survived the barbaric “middle passage” on board the ship from Africa to Barbados. He was named Venture by the man who decided to keep him as the ship continued on its journey to Newport, Rhode Island.

Making Freedom: The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith details the three slave masters he suffered under and his eventual freedom which he earned by paying for it.

His narrative was recorded by a school teacher named Elisha Niles and verified by five prominent residents of New London, Connecticut.

I especially liked this quotation from the Foreword of the book written by James O. Horton: “Venture Smith’s story is also the iconic story of a self-made man who struggled against the greatest of odds to become a successful entrepreneur. This volume tells this story through the extraordinary life of a man one cannot help but admire.”

Education yourself about one of Connecticut’s most successful black entrepreneurs by reading about Venture Smith!

Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.” --from Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

The bribe of the watch is what saved Jonas’s life. The Soviets had invaded Lithuania. They had taken Lina’s mother and her brother that morning. Lina’s father, the Provost of a University, was nowhere to be found. They had already taken him the night before!

Where were they being taken? Cattle cars in a rail station would be their “new home” for the next six weeks along with thousands of other Lithuanians who had also been a threat to the Soviets. Siberia and slave labor would be at their destination.

How will Lina, her beautiful mother, and her brother going to survive? Will they ever see their father again? Will they ever be able to return to their homeland?

Read this powerful historical fiction novel to find out!

 

Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

Fans of Veronica Rossi’s book entitled Under the Never Sky will be thrilled with her second installment. The romantic love interest between Perry and Aria has all fans interested to see if they will finally be together.

Perry (Peregrine) now holds the title of Blood Lord of his tribal group the Tides. Since the Tides don’t take kindly to Dwellers, Aria is considered an outsider. The struggle to be accepted has left Aria estranged.  When Roar decides to leave the Tides to hopefully rescue Liv (Perry’s sister), Aria travels with him to another tribe called the Horns.

Meanwhile, the Aether storms continue to scorch the earth. No place seems safe. Maybe a large cave will give the Tides shelter.

Sable is the Blood Lord of the Horns. His marriage to Liv is about to take place. Have Aria and Roar come in the nick of time to stop it?

As the Aether storms rage, even the ultra-technical pod Reverie is no longer viable. Will it be possible to rescue Talon from Reverie before the Pod is ruined?

Everyone thinks survival from the Aether storms is tied to finding the elusive Still Blue. No one seems to know if the Still Blue really exists yet alone how to find it.

Read Through the Ever Night to see what happens!

Hope Solo: My Story

Hope Solo grew up in Richland, Washington in a tract house near her maternal grandparents.  She loved her family.  Her dad stayed home and cared for her and her brother Marcus.  Her mom was the breadwinner working at a factory testing plutonium samples.  Her cherished family fell apart when her father stole checks worth $1,800.00 from Hope’s grandfather.  Their car was repossessed and their home was foreclosed on.  When Hope’s father vanished, she and her brother Marcus came to depend upon their grandparents who showered them with unconditional love and acceptance rather than her mom and a strict new step-father.

Surprisingly, when Hope was in middle school, she was assigned to write a paper about what she wanted to be when she grew up. “I am going to be a professional soccer player.” 

By senior year of high school, Hope was well on her way with 38 goals scored.  College recruiters flocked to her. Imagine Hope’s surprise when on one of her recruitment trips to Seattle, she reconnects with her father-- now a homeless man leaving under a tarp in a park where she plays a game of soccer.  Will her father’s shiftlessness affect her future?

Read this biography to find out how Hope Solo rose in her chosen career--soccer!