Moving journey of a teacher through history past trauma
354283
A school teacher who is traumatized by 9/11 can't face the answers the children in her class have about the tragedy. Through her love of history, Peter Stuyvesant in particular, she finds strength and can again take her place in life as well as in her classroom. A moving portrayal of one woman's struggle. A beautiful awakening of history as it is brought to bear on the present. A wonderful opportunity for two talented actors. A delight for audiences.
1616036
This is the heartbreaking and inspiring first person narrative journey of a young boy whose first love was brutally murdered and is now receiving death threats himself. Avery, our main character and narrator, is a transgender girl in high school transitioning to be male. Transphobia throughout his community has been prevalent throughout his transition, but now his first love, Mary, has been brutally murdered. This book tells the difficult story of love, loss, grief, and the trauma of being sought out by a deranged killer.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
3041757
Educated, Westover's debut book, is one I could not put down, as it is a riveting, coming-of-age memoir which emphasizes the importance of education. Westover triumphantly moves past life challenges and family culture. Regarding a story that overcomes hardships, this equates to The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells, one of my all-time favorite books.

As an educator, I proclaim that this memoir should be added to the top of all educators' reading list. This story is an example of a young person, which despite current life situations can find success in the future if the desire, and work ethic, is present. Too many of us educators see the effects of poverty and challenging family dynamics, and the toll it takes on our students' lives, both academically and emotionally. Moreover, this is a reminder to all teachers not to underestimate any student based on their current situation, as they are capable of cultivating future success.

Without a doubt, there are some horrific, disturbing scenes described throughout this story. Despite this, I would strongly recommend this memoir to high school students, especially if they are having trouble seeing future academic success in college due to massive life difficulties they are currently facing.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for providing a review copy. This captivating memoir will be recommended to both educators and students.
4477934
A strikingly unsentimental and vivid look into one family's history before, during and after the holocaust. Varga peppers his memoir with details that bring you into the sights and sounds of his early life in Budapest. The second half describes the author's stubborn journey through a surreal landscape of random and banal evil.

I was left shellshocked -- and not because of any specific gruesome details. The book starts out with hazy accounts passed down through oral histories and family trees. Then it moves on to Varga's early childhood where the focus becomes clearer as the narrative becomes peppered with only his most vivid memories of family, love and growing up in a changing world. Finally it concludes with a harrowing account of Varga's time in labor and death camps and his epic journey back across the country to Budapest the end of the war. I found gradual focusing of the lens to reveal horrors and humanity of his situation a very compelling narrative device. This is a masterfully written piece of history.
2017686
This is a beautifully written and often moving memoir of a woman whose life and career spans several continents, intersects with history at many points, and settles in the profession of medicine in the Midwest, especially the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She was born in pre-Communist China to a foreign service officer in the national government of Chiang Kaishek; grew up in several Chinese cities and spent four childhood years in Cuba; barely escaped the Japanese invasion of Nanjing; and ended up attending college at Mount Holyoke, and medical school at the University of Michigan. After major stops in Detroit, Dublin, and Minneapolis, she landed at the Mayo Clinic, as a staff physician in rheumatology. The book is finely observed and carefully written from first to last, with detailed evocations especially of her childhood in China and Cuba, and as a teenager at the Blackstone School for Girls in Blackstone, Virginia in the segregated South in the early 1940's. (Once she was told by a bus driver to sit in the back of the bus. "But I'm not black, I'm Chinese," she said. After scrutinizing her, the bus driver relented and let her sit in the front.) Interwoven through these travels is the emotional biography of an exile finding a home in place after place, trying to make sense of new customs, new ideas, and new people each step of the way. Describing her studies of Christianity, Buddhism, Tai Chi and Yoga in book's last chapters, the author shows how adventurous travel can cross not only geographical but spiritual boundaries.
1375306
Kindertransport, a Childs Journey by Kena Sosa is a unique look at 1930s Berlin through the eyes of Helen, a ten-year-old Jewish girl.  Her whole world changes when her fathers bookstore is shut down by the Nazis and it becomes dangerous for her to play with her friends.  She is forced to leave school and, in essence, become a prisoner in her own home.
Her parents decide to send her on the Kindertransport like hundreds of other children, to find safety in another country.  She is forced to leave her family and began a new life.

Kena Sosa has done a masterful job of combing facts and fiction as she writes this story.  It is sprinkled with the German language which is a bonus and brings the story to life.

The Glossary of German phrases and additional resources add to the richness of Helens story that is based on actual experiences of survivors.

I would highly recommend Kindertransport, a Childs Journey be used in the classroom for additional historical information as well as homeschool settings.
4496123
Alice Rene's poignant memoir begins during a devastating chapter of history; the Holocaust. Ilise is a six-year-old girl living in Vienna, Austria when the Nazi soldiers enter her life. What follows is a suspenseful, harrowing and highly worrisome journey as Ilise and her family flees their homeland.

The year is 1940 when family eventually arrives at the safety of America. Ilise faces challenges and (like all adolescents) desperately wants to fit in and be accepted in her new country. She changes her name to Rene and learns English in her quest to live life as an American.

Rene does an exceptional job of taking the (reader) on a journey of life when faced with multiple adversities to overcome. To sum it up, I am very glad to have read, Becoming Alice.

Highly recommended reading for all.
2873195
This is a very touching and moving story of a boy's growth and development into manhood while dealing with an estranged relationship with his father, sexual abuse as a child, depression and anxiety throughout his teens and early adult life and heartbreak on multiple occasions. It chronicles a journey in which the main character seeks love, acceptance, and internal peace as well as his struggle to find where he fits into the grand scheme of life. While reading this story I was taken on an emotional roller coaster and continually asking myself how this has not made its way into reading lists for high school students. Anyone of any age, gender, race, or economic background can find parts of themselves in the main character and feel the growth in him. This story breaks down walls and barriers and opens ones mind and eyes to different cultures and different perspectives of life and events that shape and influence one's life. Readers may even find themselves moved to tears as the main character, after battling some very traumatic events ends up gaining self-acceptace, love, and overall happiness. A great read definitely recommend this to everyone of all walks of life. I give it a ten out of ten!
208778
Think of a workman, skilled in his craft, a little weary with the familiarity of his work but with the knowledge that a steady pace will get the job done. This is the tempo of Duro's storytelling and it reflects so wonderfully how he works through not only the jobs to be done on the blue house, but the memories that the process conjures up. The rhythmic tread takes us on a journey that leaves the reader as bemused by Laura's absolute blindness in what she sees in front of her, as by the refusal of Gost's inhabitants to acknowledge what has already happened. Aminatta Forna has touched on one the of the most tragic events in recent history while skilfully incorporating the ridiculous perspective that so much of the western world had on the events that took place, forgetting the very deep scars that still ravage so many families and communities. A wonderful read.
410389
As an ESL teacher with many Iraqi refugees in my class, I was looking for background on their experiences.  The voices of the children in these first-person accounts were powerful and heartbreaking.  The author provides a context for each child's story yet lets the children speak for themselves.
2756446
Theres trauma in every ones life, it defines who we are as people, it shapes who we will become and how we react to every situation presented to us  for some that trauma is relatively minor (like an across state-line move in the middle of your formative school years) or major (like child abuse, and neglect) and in the end-its all a matter of how you react to those minor and major traumas that will define you as a person.  Having never personally had any major life trauma, some minor traumas of bullying in school, I cannot relate to those who have suffered major traumas on any level, I can be sympathetic, but not empathetic. Luckily I came from a solid foundation with loving-supportive parents who told me to ignore the bullys and they will eventually go away  to which they did leave me be, we never become best buds, but I got left alone  and sink back into their holes. Unlike those unlucky ones who suffer major traumas that require years of therapy and healing I was able to move on easily once I graduated high school.
For Gerry Freeman the trauma of being viewed as a devil child who is just plain evil was formative to the person he became as a young adult.  He separated himself from all relationships before they become semi-permanent because he learned early on that those relationships can become toxic and abusive should those people learn his true identity  or at least the identity he was told all of his life he had.  So instead of forming bonding relationships with people, he instead chose to self-medicate with alcohol and drugs bonding himself to the power of those vs. the people around him who might become close.  In order to try and overcome this constant push and pull process he decides to immerse himself in a culture otherwise unknown and mysterious to the world as a whole, on a whim he decides to travel to Africa in hopes of healing himself.
I found I had a push and pull relationship with this novel simply because from one side I could see where Gerry aka Freeman was coming from, however, I found it hard to get into the book.  The story line read like a travel brochure at first and then as the memoir it ishonestly while I enjoyed reading about the interior of Africa with the simplicity of the lives of the people Gerry interacted with and the gorgeous realm of the world he inhabited, I could not help but wonder how the travels connected to his separating and healing himself from his past.  I found the ending to be abrupt and left me wondering what came of Gerry, did he heal? Was he able to move forward with his life and let go of his past?
Four out of Five Stars for Kill Daddy
**I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review**
95536
The Orange Tree is a moving story of the interaction between representatives of two very different cultures.  Helen and Amina, an elderly Jewish woman and her Somali nurse, meet in an American nursing home.  The relationship that develops between them is the nexus that brings together both of their families and unfolds for the reader a story of the 20th century in central Europe, in the Horn of Africa, and in America. There is a lot of history in this book, but it is not a history book.  It is about life, It is about today, and most of all it is about human beings dealing with life and what it brings.

One thing I particularly like about this book is the flashbacks.  If movement back and forth through time is written poorly the narrative thread can be disrupted, never to be repaired.  Ganzglass knows how to step out of the present and into the past.  He shows us vividly how our past creates our selves.  And what a fascinating past there is.  My ancestors come from Europe. I have read about the wars that shaped the continent, but my knowledge about these things was impersonal, even though they are part of my history.  Now, through this story of the life of Helen and her family, it's personal. In The Orange Tree we don't learn as much about Amina and her family, and I knew far less about Somalia than about central Europe to begin with, but it feels authentic.  And just as personal.

The Orange Tree is a first novel, but it was written with keen insight into human nature and a well-developed ability to express that insight in words.  The author, an American, worked for several years in Somalia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Clearly, he has maintained a compassionate interest in the Somali people.  When cultures meet they don't have to clash.  Dissimilar people can strengthen one another, and The Orange Tree shows one way that can happen.

I recommend this book.  I read it in two sittings.  If my body could still afford the effects of staying up all night to finish a novel, I would have done that with this one.

David C. Kopaska-Merkel
1901770
I thoroughly enjoyed F/following Alice. Anne's journey was written in a crisp style while allowing the reader to move forward, while adding depth and texture to her personal journey. As a teacher and professor of 44 years, her insights and challenges rang true. Anne took me back through my educational journey in the schools. This is a thoughtful book with a well constructed narrative. This is an excellent book for teaching interns who seek to join the profession.
4570790
As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor I have grown up with the people who have survived, that is, partisans and victims of concentration camps. Their courage, strength, compassion and spirituality as well as their sadness and isolation enveloped me from a very young age. These dual characteristics often made me feel apart, much like immigrants might feel or people from other cultures and even individuals with special needs. As an educator I am convinced that the process of healing is up to each individual. Alter Weiner, the ultimate educator has documented his life's experiences with the purpose of supplying those tools of courage,strength, compassion and faith to our young people. I have spoken personally to Alter Weiner who feels empowered by the young men and women he meets daily from various backgrounds and enviornments who have connected with his life story. These compassionate connections are essential in the process of healing. From A Name to a Number is a tearful and powerful testimony about a teenager's survival in the Holocaust. It should be read most importantly by our teenagers.
  Sincerely,
  Frieda Givon
  Graduate of Bank Street College of
  Education
4797400
Louise Steinman has written a remarkable memoir concerning her search for her family's Poland.  She is American born, a granddaughter of Eastern European Jews who came to America before World War II.  Growing up, there was a wall of seeming complete silence of how it was before the Shoah when Jews and Poles lived together.

For Ms. Steinman, there is a hole in her heart as she seeks to find familial roots.  Through her journey, we meet Poles who feel the palpable presence of absence, of a Jewish community that resided there for approximately 800 years and is now gone, either destroyed in the Ghettos and/or death camps or uprooted.  They too need to explore their part in this tragedy.

How does one reconcile?  It appears to be a slow and painful process with starts and stops as each try to understand each other's history in the same country.  (It should be understood that Poland suffered its own tragedy in that it was first conquered by the Germans and then the Russians.  There was no respite which started with fascism and ended with communism before the rise of the Solidarity movement.)It is a recognition, much like a dance between strangers who are not sure whether they like each other or should be dancing at all.  Based upon what Ms. Steinman writes, it appears that among the Polish people, there is a desire to reconstruct what Jewish life was in Poland before and during the war.  To me, it seems to be the same task Solzhynitsen set for the Russian people in remembering the Gulag for historical amnesia is not the basis to build a new nation.

There are moving as well as painful chapters in this book.  The chapter on Lublin is very powerful in that it shows how art may lead to such healing. The final chapter concerning a Righteous Gentile (an honor bestowed by Yad Vashem, a museum in Jerusalem dedicated to preserving the history of the Holocaust) ended this slim book perfectly.  I do not wish to give the tale away but it links Ms. Steinman to her family town in Poland.

It is a worthy book to read as one gropes for understanding in a tangled history of pain.
92784
As a teacher myself, I found this book an interesting read. Munro has elements of schools I have worked in but much is different too. Garfield Whyte describes how the discipline at his school was very strict and how he was corrected on his pronunciation and grammar by the librarian. He talks about his school as being a privilege to go to and his love of Munro shines through. I think it is a testament to the school that they had boys from all backgrounds and managed at the same time to provide a place that encouraged a love of learning. Garfield describes some of the teachers at his school and this was both amusing and terrifying. Im not sure as a teacher I would want to be characterised in a book! I gave this book four stars because I think its main appeal is to people who went to Munro or knew of the school. However, the book might also be a good read for teachers and those whove been to selective schools or boarding schools as there will be much to relate to.
4577195
In his "The Path of the Wind" James Misko has made a newly credentialed school teacher the heroic figure of his narrative.  Unable to find a position in or near Portland, Miles Foster accepts the offer of a small school district in rural Oregon.  It is a transformational moment for Miles, who fully engages with his students and finds himself at loggerheads with his sclerotic superintendent and the toadies from the school board who support him.  It is an existential struggle between mindless, vindictive pedantry and the vital force of an educator who believes in the value of life experience.  Undaunted, Miles conducts a campaign to save his students, no matter what the consequences.  What is particularly moving in Miskos narrative is the place he gives to history, not as it appears in textbooks but as it comes alive in the real experience of human beings, in particular the wisdom of an old man who embodies the past and is able to share it directly with Miles students.  There is, moreover, in the representation Misko gives of rural Oregon an overriding melancholy: his hero finds there a closeness to nature that uplifts him amid all the signs he sees of a dying world.