LS5603: Historical Fiction 3—“Between Shades of Grey” by Ruta Sepetys

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. New York: Philomel Books, 2011. ISBN 978-0-399-25412-3

2.     PLOT SUMMARY
Fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and her little brother are woken up in the middle of the night by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, and are taken from their home in Lithuania to a work camp hundreds of miles away. While trying to fight for her life against hunger, disease, the elements, and Soviet officers, Lina chronicles her journey in her art, leaving traces of herself behind so that her father can find them again.   

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS characters, plot, setting, theme, style, authenticity
            Lina is an interesting heroine. She has a fiery spirit and is a very normal teenager, one who has not been privy to most of the political discussions her parents have had. She is stubborn and quick to draw conclusions about the world around her, which causes her heartache at least once and often it lets the reader be ahead of her in the curve of understanding what’s happening around her; the reader, unmired in emotion can figure out the pieces before she can, as she keeps herself behind by jumping to wrong conclusions because of her emotions. However, her emotional point of view is a great thing because it lets the reader feel and understand how Lina feels as she goes through her trials and tribulations.

            As yet another World War II book, it sets itself apart by being about another part of the war that often gets overlooked, at least in American classrooms: the people whose lives were forever changed because of Josef Stalin and Soviet Russia. Sepetys, in her author’s note, talks about how her grandfather was a Lithuanian military officer who had many family members who were deported and had tragedies befall them like the characters of this book. She took two trips to Lithuania and interviewed and researched the time period. Almost all the characters in the book are fictional though, except for one that shows up at the end of the book, but the experiences that happened in this book were a reality that many faced.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

·         New York Times  notable book

·         An international bestseller

·         A Carnegie Medal Nominee

·         From The Washington Post: “Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both.”

·         From Booklist: " Sepetys, the daughter of a Lithuanian refugee, estimates that the Baltic States lost more than one-third of their populations during the Russian genocide. Though many continue to deny this happened, Sepetys' beautifully written and deeply felt novel proves the reality is otherwise. Hers is an important book that deserves the widest possible readership. Grades 7-12"

5.     CONNECTIONS
Other books about work camps and the Soviet regime in WWII

• The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig
• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

Further resources about Gulag/Russian work camps

• http://gulaghistory.org/nps/onlineexhibit/stalin/work.php
• http://www.dpcamps.org/russianpow.html
• http://www.gendercide.org/case_soviet.html
• http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v21/v21n1p39_michaels.html

Note: most of these sites are very text-heavy and would come off as boring unless doing an actual history project. But they are a good place to start for information. Making a game of it (like a digital information-based scavenger hunt) could be a way to possibly help make that information more digestible for teenagers.

LS5603: Historical Fiction 2—“Eyes of the Emperor” by Graham Salisbury

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY
Salisbury, Graham. Eyes of the Emperor. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 978-0-440-22956-8

2.     PLOT SUMMARY
            Eddy Okubo, an American boy whose parents are Japanese-American, lies about his age to join the army during World War II. However, soon after his enlistment, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and all those with Japanese heritage are looked on with suspicion.   

            Eddy and a few of his army friends (also Japanese-American) are asked to join a top secret research project. The project? The army wants to train dogs to hunt and kill Japanese, and they need people to practice on. Eddy and his friends struggle with patriotism and loyalty against a system that saw them the same as the enemy.

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS characters, plot, setting, theme, style, authenticity
            The plot and the characters come to life on the page. This book would be an excellent choice for reluctant male readers especially; there is action and camaraderie and the entire book carries an undercurrent of tenseness, whether from the attack on Pearl Harbor, Eddy’s strained relationship with his father, or the very difficult jobs they are assigned to do. Salisbury brings his characters to life with banter and very human moments set against a backdrop of the world seeming to turn upside down for the characters.

            Even though the main characters are fictional, some of the side characters are named and based off of the soldiers who actually went through this research project. Some of the scenes in fact actually happened, and the places the characters visit can still be visited today (though one of the islands is now private property). Salisbury, in his author’s note, mentions he was able to interview several of the soldiers from this incident and notes that this is one of the first time dogs were used in the military.

            Often modules and time taken to talk about WWII in classrooms revolves around Europe and what happened there, especially in regards to the atrocities that were done to the Jews. Most students have read Anne Frank’s Diary, possibly Number the Stars by Louis Lowry as well. While this is to be lauded, it is important to remember the events that happened on U.S. soil as well. Although Japanese internment camps were not Auschwitz, they are not a bright point in our history and yet must still be remembered so it does not happen again. Books like Eyes of the Emperor make an engaging way to start that conversation.  

                                                                     

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

•  From School Library Journal: " The immediacy of the writing allows readers to imagine themselves as one of the boys. A story with huge implications for observers of current events." 
• From Booklist:  “The cruel training, the vicious prejudice from many officers, the camaraderie among the soldiers, and the mixed-up news from family bring a view of American history seldom told and open up the meanings of homeland and patriotism.”

5.     CONNECTIONS
Other books by Graham Salisbury

• Hunt for the Bamboo Rat (Prisoners of the Empire) ISBN 978-0375842665
• Under the Blood-Red Sun ISBN 978-0440411390
• Night of the Howling Dogs, ISBN 978-0545176354

 Other materials about Japanese Internment Camps

• http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/ - this is a documentary about six Americans who were in camps as childrens and their personal journey. Includes links to the documentary, the behinds the scenes, and resources for teachers.
• http://amhistory.si.edu/ourstory/activities/internment/ contains a link of recommended books about life in internment camps. It also has a “food” activity so that students can recreate some of the food ate at internment camps such as “Spam Musubi” or “Weenie Royale”
• http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/pages/exhibits/ww2/threat/internment.htm contains information about daily life and how camps were organized. 

LS5603: Historical Fiction 1—“One Crazy Summer” by Rita Williams Garcia

There are more awards on that cover than people!

1.     BIBLIOGRAPHY
Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-076088-5

2.     PLOT SUMMARY
Delphine, only 11 years old, and her two younger sisters visit their estranged mother in Oakland, California in the turbulent summer of 1968. They spend a month with their mother, a poet, who left them  years ago who wishes they weren’t there, and who sends them to a Black Panther summer camp.   

3.     CRITICAL ANALYSIS characters, plot, setting, theme, style, authenticity
            Delphine makes for a very pragmatic and sensible main character. Unlike her younger sisters, both prone to overacting and vying for attention, she considers herself someone who has a “plain face and plain words.” Her plain voice, as she calls it, makes the book a straightforward, compelling read when combined with her apt assessments of the world and her wry sense of humor. As the oldest in the family, she has had the majority of the burden of responsibility at her feet since her mother left, and the whole book is shadowed with concerns about her sister and not becoming a “grand Negro spectacle” while being in public. Williams-Garcia does an excellent job of not making this into a book of history and dates—the history is merely a backdrop to the concerns Delphine has. And while most teenagers have never had to worry about going to a rally that could end up dangerous, taking care of younger siblings, having a name that gets made fun of, or even liking boys is something many can relate to.

Although none of the characters in the book are real, the events that are talked about in the Black Panther summer camp and the people they talk about were. For example, Bobby Hutton, or “lil’Bobby” as they call him in the book, was a sixteen-year old Black Panther who was shot more than twelve times by police after he surrendered and had stripped to his underwear to prove he was not armed. In the book, there are newspaper articles and a rally held in his name.

The time period is one that has very few YA books written about it, as it is still recently enough in history that many people who lived through it are still alive. However, for children who read this book (appropriate for grades 4-7), it’s often a history that gets very little time in school—most schools discuss the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, but the Black Panther movement, which happened at the same time, receives very little discussion. It’s also written a little simpler than many other books about the same subject that are meant for high school students, making it an excellent book for readers in middle school. Even for an unfamiliar setting, readers will recognize the famous names thrown around to give a sense of time, such as Muhammad Ali or JFK.

4.     REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

·         Newbery Honor Book

·         Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction

·         Coretta Scot King Award

·         National Book Award Finalist

·         New York Times bestselling author

·         From School Library Journal: "Emotionally challenging and beautifully written, this book immerses readers in a time and place and raises difficult questions of cultural and ethnic identity and personal responsibility. With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading." 

·         From Booklist: " Regimented, responsible, strong-willed Delphine narrates in an unforgettable voice, but each of the sisters emerges as a distinct, memorable character, whose hard-won, tenuous connections with their mother build to an aching, triumphant conclusion. Set during a pivotal moment in African American history, this vibrant novel shows the subtle ways that political movements affect personal lives; but just as memorable is the finely drawn, universal story of children reclaiming a reluctant parent’s love."

5.     CONNECTIONS
Other books by Rita Williams-Garcia

Like Sisters on the Homefront ISBN978-0140385618

Every Time a Rainbow Dies ISBN 978-0688162450

No Laughter Here ISBN 978-0064409926

P.S. Be Eleven ISBN 978-0061938627 (sequel to One Crazy Summer)

Other books about the civil rights movement in the 1950s-1960s

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals, ISBN 978-1416928827

The Lions of Little Rock by Krisin Levine ISBN 978-0142424353

The Rock and the River by Kekla Bagoon ISBN 978-1416978039

Fire in the Streets by Kekla Magoon, ISBN 978-1442422315