From: Constance Pappas <connie>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:30:10 -0700

Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian is heartbreaking and brutal but I think this book is important to share with students because few know about the Armenian Holocaust. Bagdasarian tells the story of his great uncle with such grace and detail you can't help but feel like a survivor yourself.

How about surviving family issues, like an emotionally abusive, psychotic parent? I enjoyed The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. It has great voice and the way Matthew talks about how he is trying to problem solve his situation but no one including his father wants to help these kids. The mother is like a mine field and each day trying to figure out what will set her off is unbearable. Matt insists that
"fear isn't actually a bad thing . . . . It warns you to pay attention, because you're in danger. It tells you to do something, to act, to save yourself." Matt's terror is palpable. What a powerful portrayal of domestic dysfunction, which is written in retrospect as a letter from Matt to Emmy their younger step-sister.

On a graphic note, I thoroughly enjoyed Mendel's Daughter by Martin Lemelman. The memoir is incredible and Lemelman's illustrations are thought provoking. The hands, the hands are exquisite! This book is a must and lends itself to understanding how much more can be said with pictures than with words when the topic is horrifying.


Constance G. Pappas, NBCT Teacher-Librarian Skyridge Middle School Camas, WA 98607
-----------------------------------------
Received on Tue 17 Jul 2007 06:30:10 PM CDT