To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I hadn't read Harper Lee's classic since high school, so when I heard her new book was coming out later this year, I decided it was the perfect time to re-read To Kill a Mockingbird. I've always counted it as one of my favorite books, so I was curious to see if that sentiment would hold true 15 years later, now as an adult and mother.

I was sucked in from the very first page. It's a shame Lee never really wrote anything else. Her writing is captivating. The characters are so rich. And I have a confession to make. I. LOVE. ATTICUS. FINCH. He strikes a perfect balance of tirelessly sticking to his guns while being the most empathetic person in Maycomb County. His ability to stay cool under pressure speaks volumes about his personal integrity.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it's told from Scout's perspective. The events of this novel would be interesting regardless of who's narrating. But having the whole thing told from a young child's perspective brings a certain clarity and naive honesty to the story. Atticus often has to reign in Scout's temper and teach her the very principles that make him such a respectable man. Scout is also proof that the racial prejudices at the foundation of the story are culturally imposed, not something we identify with as children. Scout, who has been raised by a black nanny, can't understand why the white people in town are so willing to believe a lie about a black man when there's a pretty questionable white man tied to the problem. I would guess this fact may be the reason Lee chose Scout as the narrator. By examining racial prejudices from a child's perspective, Lee illuminates just how unjust things were in segregated communities not so long ago.

I'm glad I took the time to re-read Mockingbird and plan on doing it again a few years down the road. It's a literary masterpiece that examines issues that, although removed in time and place, still exist today. It's a good reminder to try to look at things objectively and not let our own prejudices create blind spots.

Overall Rating: 5 stars

Content Warning: Occasional language. Sensitive subject matter for children (the central point of the story is a lawsuit alleging the rape of a white girl).

Target Audience: Anyone high school age or older should read this book at least once in their lifetime. If you've been putting it off, go pick it up and read it!

Breathing Room by Marsha Hayles

Breathing Room is another Beehive Award Nominee that I picked up alongside Skinny and Paperboy. This children's novel tells the story of Evvy, a 13-year-old girl battling tuberculosis in 1940. As was customary at the time, Evvy is sent to a sanatorium where she rooms with several other girls battling the same, terrible disease. Evvy experiences pain, heartache and loss as she battles her own disease and watches those around her suffer as well. Her hopeful attitude carries her through as she makes dear friends and tries to heal enough to return home.

It's fascinating to me to read about how doctors used to try to treat various illnesses. They were often working blind, and so much of it was guesswork. I think we take medical technology advances for granted. When my oldest daughter was only 6 weeks old, she was hospitalized with an infection that led to a diagnosis of a kidney issue. After a 10 month battle with repeated infections, she had surgery to correct the problem. Many times in those 10 months, I thought about the fact that just 50 or 100 years ago, she would have died.

There are so many curable diseases now. Tuberculosis is one of those. We have vaccines to prevent it, and doctors know exactly how to treat it if you do contract it. But in 1940, it was dangerous enough to send small children to sanatoriums hundreds of miles from home, to be cared for by stranger, alongside other dying children. As a mother, I can't imagine sending my child a place like that. But it was necessary for survival back then. I found Evvy to be an admirable character, full of compassion, determination and, above all, bravery. In a time when she could have just worried about herself, she looked to help others. Amid bizarre, painful treatments, she found reasons to have hope. That's more people twice or three times her age could often do.

I thought this was a good quick, but insightful, read. Although the subject matter is a little heavy for a kids' book, I would read this with a 9 or 10 year old. I think it could provide for really good discussions about disease, death, and the amazing medical advances we've had in the last 75 years.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: Heavy subject matter for young children.

Target Audience: Upper elementary/middle school kids.

Paperboy by Vince Vawter

This was the February pick for my neighborhood book club. It's another one off the Beehive Award Nominees table, and it was also a Newbery Honor book for 2014. Using his own life experience with a severe stutter, Vawter creates a simple story about a stuttering 11-year-old boy growing up in Memphis in 1959. The main character (whose name you don't learn until the end of the book) takes over his friend's paper route while he's out of town one summer. He meets some interesting neighborhood characters along the way and allows his naive innocence to put him in danger's way. 

One of my first thoughts about this book was how different our world was back then. The boy is put in some pretty sketchy situations that would make any mom nervous, from flirtatious older women to strangers inviting him in and a downright dangerous homeless man. I found myself distracted a bit by the minor characters and the problems they brought to the table that were never resolved. The author hinted at a lot of possible story lines with different characters, but most of them never came to fruition. The paperboy himself was forgettable and seemed a little too naive to me.

One member of my book club listened to the audiobook version of Paperboy and said the author's note at the end was very interesting to listen to. Vawter still has a bit of a speech impediment, which was audible in the small section he read aloud at the end. 

I do think this could make an good pick for a 4th-6th grade boy. Sometimes it's hard to find good "boy" reads in that age range. It has a wide variety of characters and introduces a different era of the not-too-distant past that they may not be familiar with. That being said, I didn't think it was great, and I certainly didn't think it deserved a Newbery Honor. When I was in elementary school, the Newbery Award was reserved for the best of the best. It seems these days, many of the Newbery books are just so-so, including this selection.

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Content Warnings: There are a couple scenes of adult drunkenness and hints of domestic violence.

Target Audience: Upper elementary to middle school boys

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

In this inspiring true story, a team of nine rural boys from Washington cause the nation and the world to pause and reconsider everything they know about the sport of rowing. Most of the story focuses on Joe Rantz, the ultimate underdog, who fought against amazing odds to end up as one of the top rowers for the University of Washington in the 1930s. As the Washington boys work towards their Olympic dreams, Hitler and his minions are carefully crafting the 1936 Olympic Games to show the world a beautiful facade hiding horrors no one had possibly yet imagined. For fans of Unbroken, this rowing team competed at the same Olympics as Louie Zamperini.

After reading Unbroken, I saw this book suggested on Amazon and immediately put it on hold at my library. It took a couple months to make its way to me, so I was a little extra anxious to get started with it when I finally got my hands on it. I wasn't disappointed! Who doesn't love an underdog story? I'm amazed that, even though I knew how it would end, there was still so much suspense leading up to each event. The author did an excellent job of building the story to make you feel part of it and get your hopes up each time the team competes.

Joe Rantz's story is pretty amazing. Just like when I read Unbroken, I came away with a sense of how different life was back then. These men had real work ethic and weren't afraid to live on bare bones for the chance to go to a university and be on the rowing crew. They dedicated themselves to school and sport. It's rare to find people today with the same work ethic that existed back then.

I also found it interesting to read about some of the preparations for the 1936 Olympics. Hitler and his right-hand man, Goebbels, put an insane amount of effort and money into the facade they built to hide the gruesome reality of Germany at that time.

Overall, I loved this book. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is for the excessive descriptions in some sections. The pace dragged a little at certain points of the book. Where Unbroken kept me turning pages and intrigued every step of the way, The Boys in the Boat, was easy to put down here or there. Other than the slow parts, this was an excellent read. I knew nothing about rowing before I picked this up, but that didn't matter. The author explains the intricacies of the sport well enough that by the end, you understand how miraculous the ending is.

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Content Warning: There is some brief, scattered language, but not much. Some adult topics are grazed over, but nothing graphic is discussed.

Target Audience: Anyone looking for a fascinating, true story, fans of Unbroken, anyone who's interested in rowing.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

I'm usually not much a non-fiction reader, so to say this is one of the best books I've ever read is really saying something. Louie Zamperini's story could be told by pretty much anyone and would garner a lot of attention and awe. However, Laura Hillenbrand artfully chronicles Louie's life, from boyhood to old age, while inserting background information that helps you truly appreciate how incredible his life was. The book reads with the ease of fiction while telling what might be one of the most heroic, death-defying stories ever to be told.

If you've seen the movie and think you know the story, stop right there and go grab this book. The movie skims over his boyhood and trip to the Olympics, tells about a third of what happens to him while at war, then doesn't cover his later years at all. As I watched the movie in the theater, I kept whispering extra details to my husband. I just couldn't help it!

Hillenbrand provides just the right amount of detail to help you understand how miraculous Louie's story is without boring you. In order to grasp just how dangerous his last rescue mission was that ended him up at sea for 47 days, you have to understand the historical and technical background of the plane he was flying. Seeing footage of POWs being treated horribly is bad, but when you know all the illnesses they had on top of that and how sickly and starved they really were, you'll struggle to understand how any person could treat another human being that way. Hillenbrand weaves this details into the story perfectly.

The crowning moment of Louie's story, and the inspiration behind the title, comes from his life post-war, as he struggles with PTSD and finds God. By the end, this book paints a beautiful picture of the power of forgiveness and the resilience of the human spirit. Don't put this on your "want to read" list. Drop whatever you're reading a go grab it now. It's a must read.

Overall Rating: 5 stars (can I give it 10?)

Content Warning: Louie experienced some horrible things as a POW. Some of the content it quite violent. There's also a bit of strong language throughout the book, but not an overwhelming amount. There is a YA version that is tamed down and has more photographs. I haven't read that one, so I don't know the exact content, just that it's supposed to be a little less intense.

Target Audience: history buffs or anyone who loves a good human story (not for the faint of heart or young ones)