Here is a detailed list of the books that I go to at any moment with the reasoning I give each time.
- The Witch of Blackbird Pond
- When I started high school, one of the things I learned about in history was the Salem Witch Trials. This brought about a desire to read about what exactly could have gone on during that time in American History.
- This book, as I've hinted at above, is about a "witch" in Massachusetts. Her parents and grandfather have all died by the time she was sixteen. Our main character grew up in Barbados, therefore she grew up being able to swim well, whereas the people in the American colonies in the 1600's didn't swim if they weren't a sailor. Even then, the sailors didn't swim very well. This is why she's been called a witch. While learning to adapt to life with her aunt and uncle, she makes friends with a fellow "witch", an elderly woman named Hannah. Our protagonist has to figure out what's exactly expected of her in her new life and how to fit in with her new community and family.
- I recommend this book for two reasons. One, it deals with showing young women how to stand up for what they believe is right. Two, it show the reader how to be a good friend and family member in spite of extended family members and friends making it difficult.
- Mara, Daughter of the Nile
- How many of you went through a phase in your life where you were obsessed with Ancient Egypt? I for one went through several phases where I was obsessed with that time period. When I was in middle school, my mom found this book and gave it to me and my sisters to read as something to encourage our interest in this subject.
- This book is about a young girl named Mara who lives in Ancient Egypt during the 18th dynasty (1479-1425 BC). She ends up finding out a secret threat to the Pharaoh and has to figure out how to stop the people behind it while bringing it to the attention of the Pharaoh's security.
- I recommend this book to anyone who is an Egypt nerd AND a fan of mysteries. I always enjoy reading this book and am taken to another world with each read.
- Farewell to Manzanar
- I hadn't ever heard of this book until my senior year of college. I was doing an observation at a local high school with one of the English teachers there. They were reading a book on the days I was observing called Farewell to Manzanar.
- This book is a autobiography of a Japanese-American woman who was taken to an interment camp during WWII. She wrote about what it was like to live there for two years and the aftermath of returning to the outside world of post-WWII America as a Japanese-American.
- I recommend this book because it opens my eyes to multiple lessons I can learn every single time I read it. Some of the lessons I always see deal with racism, prejudice, pride, and many others.
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- How many of you read this book in 10th grade English? Perhaps you read it in another English or history class while in high school. Or, you might have watched the movie starring Gregory Peck.
- This book is narrated from the perspective of a woman looking back on her life in a small county in Alabama in the 1930's during the Great Depression. Her father is one of the, most likely the only, town lawyers. He ends up representing an African American who was falsely accused of raping a white girl. The entire book talks about what life was like in the deep south during a time of great upheaval in our country. There's quite a bit of racism, prejudice, classism (i.e., the rich look down on the poor), people with disabilities are seen as inferior, etc. Our young narrator has to figure out what she actually believes and why.
- I recommend this book for the same reasons I recommend Farewell to Manzanar. This story deals with racism, prejudice, pride, and other issues that have arisen in this country over the last 100 years or more.
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