Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel was published in 2014 and is a Nation Book Award Finalist. I listed to the audio version of this book and it is well narrated.

The story begins during a production of King Lear, and the lead has a heart attack on stage. What follows is the beginning of a flu epidemic that wipes out 99.9% of the population world wide.

This story follows the what if in this scenario. It also goes back and forth in time and follows the actor who had the heart attack and the role the people close to him play in the new world.

I found this book interesting and was lucky to pick it up at a fill the bag book sale at the library. It cost me one nickle.

A lady at a yard sale donated these books for the NICU babies.

Michelle dropped these books by for the NICU. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy was published in 2006. This is the fictionalized story of the author's aunt who was one of twelve children who survived the Lodz ghetto during WWII. Out of 270,000 Jews who were incarcerated there, only 800 survivors were left by the end of the war. Twelve were children, and her aunt was one of the twelve.

The author tried several ways to write this story and finally wrote the story as poetry. Because I am writing my own story in this format, I was happy to find this book at a Little Free Library. I hadn't heard of this book before, so a win to Little Free Libraries that help me find books I wouldn't have come across otherwise.

Syvia was only four years old when she entered the ghetto with her family. She was one day shy of her tenth birthday when they were liberated.

Roy uses strong imagery to tell this story and succeeds in getting the story across in the way a child might have seen the situations.  I have so many pages bookmarked.

Some examples -

From "Questions" page 4
My aunts are Jewish, my uncles and cousins, too,
Is my doll Jewish?

From "The Toilet" page 12
It is so dark in here. 
I feel so alone. 
What if I can't get out?
What if I'm trapped in this toilet, and nobody hears me?
At home they would hear and rescue me,

I remember as child having this fear of getting locked in the bathroom because of old doorknobs.

From "Women's Work" page 16
She said she was fourteen,
although she's really only twelve.
The Germans place greater value
on Jews who work,

"Am I not valuable to the Germans?"
I ask Papa.
"You are valuable to this family," he says,
"and that is enough."

"The Fence" page 17
A fence has been built
around
us.
The ghetto is now a cage
with iron wires.
We are
sealed in.

Mother says,
Good now we are protected
from the Poles."

Father says, "No,
now we are the mercy
of the Nazis.
They are holding us here until they decide
how they will
get rid of us."

"The Bad News" page 85
The searches and deportations
are over
because all of the children
are gone.

All of them?

The ghetto is a cage
holding parents wild with grief,
and all that can be done is
wait and hope and pray
that the Nazis are right,
that the children are in a better place.

"In This Moment" page 142
Later I have time to think about these things
and wish I could have said
Thank you
and
I'm sorry your child couldn't be here, too,
safely encircled 
for that moment. 

But in that moment
all I could do was cry and tell myself,
I'm alive. 
I'm alive. 

I love this book and how Jennifer Roy shares this story as poetry.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George was published in 2008 and is an excellent retelling of a classic Norwegian fairy tale.

George develops the character of pika or lass well. She is the youngest and unwanted child of nine children. Cold has enveloped the land making it hard for her parents to feed their children. Her  mother refuses to give her a name because girls are worthless in her eyes.

Pika is strong, smart, and caring. Her father is kind to her, but her mother is cold. Her brother, Hans Peter comes back after years away at sea, but he is a changed man, depressed and melancholy. He teaches her a language of symbols that he learned while he was away. This language helps the lass when she is taken from her home to dwell in an ice castle with a great white bear. This story has magical elk and bears along with trolls and other magical folk.



I was left with some unanswered questions about the nature of Troll magic, but this story is a quick and light read that goes into more detail than a classic fairy tale. George paces the story so that I wanted to keep reading.

 Caitie donated these two books to our NICU book project. Thank you!

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland was published in 2017. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy at my library for a dime. I listened the audio version narrated by Imogen Church. I love her as a narrator with her lovely Scottish/British accent.

This novel is set in a bookshop and shows how books can save us.

The main character, Loveday Cardew, loves books so much that from her favorite books, she tattoos their first lines onto her body. Loveday is without a family, and the story tells you why she is without them, so I won't spoil it for you. Butland gives wonderful descriptions that helped me feel like I'd walked right into her world with all the smells, sounds, and sights.

The characters are well written and come to life. They are flawed and so lifelike that you probably know people just like them. I found myself cheering them on. I love the growth of the characters and how they learn from poetry and all other genres of books.

I stayed up way too late listening to this book.

There is currently a copy of this book in my little free library.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

The Chosen by Chaim Potok was written in 1967 and is set during WWII. This book reads gently like a stream sparkling as it flows. This is a story of two boys, one the son of a Hasidic Jew and the other the son of an Orthodox Jew. One son's destiny is to be a leader like his own father, the other's father wishes him to be a professor of math.

The boys have different ideas about what they want to be. Danny's father is a religious leader and seems harsh in his treatment of his son as he teaches him to take his destined place and become a religious leader. Danny has a photographic memory and is incredibly intelligent, but he has no desire to be a religious leader. Reuven's father is a professor, and Reuven is a gifted math student, but he longs to become a religious leader instead of a professor.

This is a story about the influences of parents - fathers in particular, friends, education, and society. I loved Reuven's father and his gentle way of teaching. I struggled with Danny's father, but by the end, I understood his motivation for how he parented even if I didn't agree with it.

I enjoyed Danny and Reuven's friendship and even though forces outside themselves damaged their friendship, things worked out.

Quote I liked:
"His struggles are all the world sees and it naturally misunderstands them. It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one." Karl A. Menninger.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy

Cane River by Lalita Tademy was published in 2001 and is based on her family history. It is considered fiction because she has recreated conversations and scenes, but the people are real. She included her genealogy, which I found helpful.

This is the best book I've read so far this year. Tademy is a wonderful writer. The story follows three women in her family beginning in the years of slavery in 1834 and ending in 1936. This is an epic story that I couldn't put down. She follows Suzette, Philomene, and Emily. Each had her own strengths and ways of dealing with the oppression and abuse of slavery and Jim Crow laws. I loved that each woman wanted better for their children and did all they could to make it happen.

During slavery when her family members are assigned a dollar value and are waiting to see if they will end up separated because their owner had died, Tademy brings their anxiety and fear to life. I felt it and was sickened at how they were treated.

This book helped me see how ingrained white privilege is in our culture. She shows the roots of the problem and how it continues today. She shows how her own white ancestors did awful things because of it. She shows what happened to white people who tried to change things for the better after slavery ended. I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil the story for anyone. There were no easy answers and her ancestors were put in impossible situations. Tademy is in no way didactic. She paints the picture and trusts her readers to figure it out.

I was sad to see this book end because I felt attached to her family members. I wanted them to win in every way, even though that wasn't possible in many cases. She comes from a line of incredible and strong women. She is an excellent writer, and I will buy her other books.

Great quote:
"Sometimes while you wait for what you think is better, what is good enough slips away" (380).

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.