We continued our weekly family book club this year to keep exposing the kids to books they might not otherwise choose to read, and I once again worked to find books that (sort of) matched what we were studying in history and worked well for all three of my kids as far as interest/length/content were concerned. (This year they were in 7th, 6th, and 4th grades by age.)
This year we did a world history overview, so I tried to find books from all over the world in all different periods of history. I browsed book lists and read reviews and tried to find stories that were reasonably authentic and hadn’t aged poorly if they were older books. Some eras in history and parts of the world don’t have as many stories available, so that made for an interesting family conversation, as well. Since I had such a long list, a few of these turned into family read-alouds instead of book club books. Here are the books we read this year and our general opinion of them:
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin is a bit of a stretch as far as “world history” is concerned since it’s more fantasy/folklore, but I wanted my kids to get a taste of Chinese culture, so I read this to the kids. We all enjoyed the adventure.
The Well of Sacrifice by Chris Eboch is a story of a Mayan girl living in the 800s. Obviously, since our knowledge of Mayan society is limited, the author had to take some creative license, but we found it cool that she used actual names found in Mayan writings. The kids really enjoyed the tension of this story, and they found the culture intriguing. It was definitely predictable, but no one really minded.
The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz is a fun, Canterbury Tale-type story where numerous travelers in an inn each tell a piece of a story, gradually painting a full picture of what is happening. While the story itself is a bit fantastical, it gives a sense of the beliefs and lives of folks living in France in 1241, and it was definitely engaging. The protagonists are a girl who sees visions, a Jewish boy whose community has just been burned, and an acolyte of unusual size with magical strength. My kids couldn’t wait to hear what would happen next, they chortled loudly at certain parts (the donkey’s leg!), and they loved the plot twists. Peatie lists this as one of his favorites of the year. The only thing I didn’t like is that every once in a while there would be a moment of bathroom humor that seemed forced: the story had lots of funny parts, but a couple seemed to be trying too hard. (I’m not totally against bathroom humor, it was just…weird. Some of it worked–donkey/ass jokes occasionally–but some of it just fell flat.)
The Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park is a book set in 1400s Korea. It was a pretty fast read that gave a peek into family relationships and cultural expectations in this time and place in the world. It wasn’t riveting, but it was enjoyable.
Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark is a book that showed its age. It won the 1953 Newbery Medal, but it definitely has the slow pacing of an older book. We all got really annoyed with the descriptions (How many times must she mention that grass?!). The story itself, while it included some interesting details about life in the Andes, llama farming, and the relationships between the Inca and the conquering Spaniards, was tedious and lacking in clear direction/motivation. We were all rather relieved to finish it. (In other news, somewhere I read a review that had the book set in the 1500s, which is why we read it when we did. Though much of it is pretty timeless, they mention seeing a car in the book, so it was clearly not set in the 1500s.)
The Captive by Joyce Hansen was another older book I chose because I was having trouble finding stories set in Africa before modern times. This book, based loosely on a true story, held my kids’ attention in part because of that real-life link. It tells the story of Kofi, the son of an Ashanti chief, who is captured by slave traders and ultimately sent to Massachusetts in the late 1700s. We found it particularly interesting to compare slavery in Africa (since Kofi’s family had slaves and he was initially enslaved in Africa) to slavery in America.
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi has long been a favorite of mine, and the kids all loved it, too. Set in 1832, it tells the story of Charlotte, a 13-year-old British girl who is supposed to journey from her boarding school to join her family, who have moved to America. When her would-be escorts fail to join her on the voyage, the story begins to go downhill. Her beliefs about social class and justice and even gender roles are challenged as she journeys across the ocean as a lone female caught between captain and crew. The story is full of twists and turns and was hard to put down.
Nory Ryan’s Song by Patricia Reilly Giff is another book that has its roots in actual historical events. We were able to immerse ourselves in Nory’s character and imagine what it was like to live in Ireland during the potato blight of the 1840s. This was a short and rather sad book, but with an age-appropriate, hopeful ending.
Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus is another book based on a true story. This novel tells the tale of a young Japanese boy whose fishing boat is caught in a storm and stranded on an island in 1841. When his crew is rescued by an American whaling vessel, they realize that they will not be able to return to Japan, which is still closed to outsiders. Manjiro works on the whaling vessel and eventually moves to America with the captain. He battles racism and struggles to adapt to a very different culture, but ultimately he longs to return to his homeland–in which, of course, he will now be viewed as foreign. We all enjoyed this story, and it gave us plenty to talk about.
The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy is a 1940 Newbery Honor book set in Hungary that takes us through World War I through the eyes of Jancsi and his cousin Kate. While it’s not a masterpiece of storytelling, we found it interesting. We learned how Jancsi (and his real-life counterparts) was given so much responsibility at such a young age, how the community members helped each other because there was no social service agency like we have, that there were underlying tensions between Jews and non-Jews, and that the prisoners of war lived with families. It gave us a sense of how different the culture was in that time and place and how different war was, even, as the people seemed to view themselves as somewhat helpless chess pieces at the beck and call of leaders with whom they did not always agree, separating their views on the war from their actions toward the warriors.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor is one of the most memorable reads of my childhood. (I can still recite the poem at the beginning of the book, and I read it at age 13.) While it perhaps fit better in last year’s U.S. history readings, I wanted to hold off for a year so my kids had a little more maturity before reading it. Taylor’s books tell her family’s stories. This one, set in the 1930s, paints a picture of what it was like to be a landowning Black family in an era of segregation, discrimination, and violence. It’s well-written and engaging, and all the kids got into it, even though the content is so heavy.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is one among many books about life in Europe during World War II. I simply chose this one because it’s so well-known and I already owned it. As expected, all the kids found it to be a quick and interesting read.
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park is yet another World War II story, but this one from occupied Korea. Sometimes we end up focusing heavily on Europe during the war, so I wanted to include a perspective from another front. Not only did we get another look at Korean culture, but we also learned about the ways in which the Japanese attempted to eradicate Korean culture–even requiring that the Koreans change their names to Japanese names. This book had just enough suspense to keep everyone interested.
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani covers a topic I’ve never thought much about before: the partition of India and Pakistan at the end of the British colonial era. Written as journal entries, this story follows a young girl and her family as they are forced to flee their home in now-Pakistan and head for India, where Hindus are supposed to live. While we follow Nisha’s harrowing journey, we also got a lot of introspection and reflection on why people hate others and act violently and why her family members act as they do. The kids were relieved that the book ended on a note of hope.
Though I strive for diversity, I noticed that nearly all of my books this year were written by female authors, and this year I had a hard time finding male protagonists. It’s really hard to create a perfectly-balanced (or even simply somewhat-balanced) list! Next year we’re planning to participate in a book club with some friends, so that could change what we select and how many books we finish. For now, however, we’re pausing before heading into more-or-less modern books, whether at home or with friends.
butmostlymommy 