The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak-552 pages

Once you figure out that the narrator of the book is Death it makes a lot more sense!  It is actually a very cool and different angle.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

Such beautiful, well developed characters.  I LOVE this book!

Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff

 

Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff-343 pages

Inspired by true stories of people living inside occupied Europe during WWII.  Hannah has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed. When her ship bound for America is turned away at port, she has nowhere to go but to her cousin Lily, who lives with her family in Brussels. Fearful for her life, Hannah is desperate to get out of occupied Europe. But with no safe way to leave, she must return to the dangerous underground work she thought she had left behind.

Seeking help, Hannah joins the Sapphire Line, a secret resistance network led by a mysterious woman named Micheline and her brother Mateo. But when a bad mistake causes Lily’s family to be arrested and slated for deportation to Auschwitz, Hannah finds herself torn between her loyalties. How much is Hannah willing to sacrifice to save the people she loves?  I enjoyed this book very much.  Shows how strong women are in the toughest of times.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak-566 pages

I previously read this during a teen librarianship class while studying for my MLS. I thought it was a good book then and I have an even greater appreciation for it after reading it a second time. It's the story of a young girl named Liesel who arrives, starving and lonely, at 33 Himmel Street, Molching, Germany during World War II. It's a story of love and loss. It's about Liesel's love for her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann and their love for her. Also, it's about the love between Liesel and Max Vandenburg, Liesel and Rudy, and all of Liesel's friendships. It's a coming-of-age story for Liesel. She goes from illiterate to writing a book of her own. Along the way, Liesel "steals" books and steals words away from Hitler and Nazi Germany. A quote from Liesel that stays with me is "I have hated the words and I have loved them and I hope that I've made them right." Words can be a very powerful tool for both destruction and building up. Hitler gained power through his rhetoric. He was a demagogue who said what the German people wanted to hear at the time. Albus Dumbledore says to Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” This is another great quote about the power of words. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. 

Spearhead by Adam Makos

Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II by Adam Makos -393 pages

Spearhead was the nickname of the U.S. Third Armored Division, and this book follows a tank crew through the last year of the war in Europe. Realizing the Sherman tank's vulnerability to Germany's later model tanks, the more powerful Pershing was introduced. Clarence Smoyer was the gunner on one of the first Pershing's in Europe, but its crew were designated to be in the most dangerous lead position when making the final advances into Germany. The book examines several enemy encounters and their aftermath. Rare combat video footage of Smoyer's tank destroying a German Panther is accessible on the author's website. Readers with an interest in World War II will enjoy Makos' latest.

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity #2) by Elizabeth Wein-368* pages

I read Code Name Verity in Summer 2015 for the Teen Services class I was taking during Library school and it was a good read. I decided I wanted to read this for historical fiction month. It is an even better read. Rose Justice is an American Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) pilot in Britain during WWII and works with Maddie (one of the protagonists from Code Name Verity). On her way back to Britain from one of her transport flights, Rose is captured by Nazis/Germans and eventually sent to Ravensbruck. The atrocities that took place at the hands of the Nazis there (and at all of the concentration camps) are appalling. Many things that we take for granted today were barely considerations for them (freely going to the bathroom/working toilets is one thing). "Prisoners" were experimented on (infected with disease, operated on, had bones and/or muscles removed, etc.), beaten with whips, shot on a whim, gassed, forced to stand for hours or days at a time, and given very little to eat. Many of the women (and men) at Ravensbruck and all of the camps who survived were skeletons of their former selves (in many cases both physically and emotionally). Wein's story about Rose is good because it tells a story that needs told (continually so that no one forgets) and it is well-written and told well. Although it is a work of fiction, I felt as if I were there with Rose and the other women at Ravensbruck and that is the mark of a good work. Overall, it was a good read, though not easy at times. I would recommend it to anyone (though be prepared for sad moments).

Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2) by Art Spiegelman

Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2)  by Art Spiegelman-136 pages

In this second and final graphic novel in the series, Art Spiegelman finishes telling his father's Holocaust story. It is both harrowing and hopeful. The detail in which the Holocaust is described is heartbreaking and the Nazi atrocities described cause anger to rise in one. This series is a great read on one man's experience (which was probably similar to many other survivors' experiences) before and during the Holocaust. Overall, I am glad to have read these two books. 

Night by Elie Wiesel

Night by Elie Wiesel, 120 pages

Night is a wonderful book written by Elie Wiesel and translated by his wife, Marion Wiesel, about how his family was separated during the Holocaust.  This was one of the best and well written stories of the Holocaust I have ever read. Tears.  It was terrible to read how the family was separated in the camps and the horrible fate they met.

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank house authorized graphic biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House authorized graphic biography by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon-148 pages

I know about Anne Frank and her diary, but have yet to actually read it, so when I saw this I decided to read it. It was humanizing, heartbreaking, and informative. I am glad that I decided to read it because now I understand much more about Anne Frank and her family and the others who hid with them in the Secret Annex. Anne was only 15 and mere weeks from liberation when she and her sister died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. It's heartbreaking to think of Otto and losing his wife and daughters so close to the end. Reading this made me feel sorrow and anger for the victims of the Holocaust. So many were murdered and died at the hands of the Nazi Party because they viewed them as inferior and nothing. Countless atrocities were committed by the Nazis against many people, not just Jews. We need to be careful not to let something like this happen again (although atrocities are happening on a smaller scale all across the world today).

Doctor's from Hell by Vivien Spitz

Doctor's from Hell by  Vivien Spitz
318 pages

This book is not for the faint of heart.  Doctor's from Hell covers the account of Nazi experiments on humans during World War II.  I devoured this book over the course of a couple days.  I am a history buff and have a keen interest in WWII and the atrocities that occurred in Nazi Germany, the concentration camps and the regime that annihilated the Jewish population in Europe.

This book is by Vivien Spitz.  She is the youngest court reporter to preside over the Nuremburg trials that helped bring justice to those involved in crimes against humanity during the war.  This book tells the story of several doctors and the experiments that were tested on human subjects.  It is a chilling in depth account of survival and death.  Some of the experiments include hot and freezing temperature exposure, amputation and transplants, exposure to poisonous gasses and diseases and high altitude. They are true stories from the victims and the suffering they endured.  WARNING: book contains graphic imagery and testimonials.