Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks, a Pulitzer-Prize winning author has carved out quite a name for herself in the realm of historical fiction. With Caleb's Crossing, she solidifies her reputation for bringing historical events to vivid life.

Caleb Cheeshahteaumauck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard (in 1665,) grew up on the island of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. That is the fact that Brooks bases her story on, imagining the world in great detail during the 1660's Puritanical era. The story is narrated by Bethia, a lively and smart young woman who resides with her father, brother and baby sister following the deaths of her mother and twin brother.

Bethia, enjoying her brief moments of freedom while she can first encounters Caleb in the woods at the age of 12. They form a tentative if forbidden friendship, sharing the same inquisitive nature and love of learning. Eventually, Caleb comes to fall under the tutelage of Bethia's minister father, where he excels in preparation for his admission to Harvard.

Brooks does a masterful job of creating the world of the Puritans in the 1660's, and unfolds a rich and intelligent story of friendship, culture clash and honor. The research done for this book is self-evident, as Brooks even utilizes vocabulary of the day to lend an air of authenticity. As with most stories involving natives and their interactions with their white brethren, the book has a heartbreaking ending...but one worth the reading nonetheless.

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

Chip Linton had a good life - a successful airline pilot at a northeastern airline with a loving, successful wife and happy 10-year old twin daughters. One day a flock of unlucky geese change all that. As his plane's engines die as they suck in a flock of geese, he is calm, focused, and chooses to emergency land the plane on nearby Lake Champlain, fully anticipating a Sully Sullenberg moment. Luck, however, is not on his side, and his plane's wing catches a wave, causing the initially-smooth landing to morph into a careening, plane-breaking disaster in which 39 passengers are killed.

Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Chip and his family relocate to a small, quiet New Hampshire town to aid in his recovery. While he and his family, wife Emily and daughters Hallie and Garnet settle in, many of the townspeople seem to take an unnatural interest in the girls. As Chip deals with some ghosts of his own from his crash, Emily attempts to keep a hold on working, the girls, their strange new home with a creepy history, and Chip's apparent downward spiral into insanity.

Bohjalian does a masterful job of creating a sense of dread with this story. As Emily struggles between needing the support of her new friends and a growing feeling of unease with their ways, she also remains unaware of Chip's close calls with causing physical pain to her and their children as the paranormal forces sink their claws deeper and deeper into him. As the group of herbalists surrounding Emily and the girls seem to grow more and more bizarre and malevolent with their rituals, Emily's maternal instincts kick in...but is it too late? Creepy mulit-dimensional novel with a dark, harsh ending.

The White Devil by Justin Evans

Looking for a creepy ghost story to get you in the Halloween spirit? Look no further than Evans' second book, The White Devil.

Andrew Taylor, a 17 year-old American, is enrolled in the prestigious Harrow School of London after he is expelled from his elite prep school in the U.S. for drug abuse. Shortly after his arrival at the school, Andrew witnesses the murder of one of his peers by a sickly and odd-looking fellow. The murderer is not located, and as strange situations seem to follow Andrew, he becomes an object of scrutiny, particularly after his past comes to light.

Renowned poet and cynical alcoholic Piers Fawkes is the unlikely housemaster of Andrew's dorm and also writer and director of a play that features Lord Byron, one of Harrow's more famous alumni. Andrew, who bears an uncanny resemblace to Byron, is cast in the lead role, and Fawkes finds himself drawn to the young man.

Evans has crafted a spooky and well-written story, with elements of history, poetry, paranormal and romance all wrapped up in one tragic, ghostly tale.

Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

The Jones siblings have had a unique upbringing - growing up in a very small town in Nebraska which still retained the strong Welsh traditions of its ancestors - not to mention the fact that their mother was carried away by a tornado and never found. Larken, the oldest has grown up to be an art professor who uses food to build a wall between herself and others; Gaelen is a handsome weather man whose hobby is women; and Bonnie, the youngest has remained in tiny Emlyn Springs working a series of odd (and often unsuccessful) jobs.

When they are called back home following the lightning-strike death of their father, they are forced to come to terms with each other, with their past and most importantly with their future. As they circle together around their common-law stepmother, Viney, they must grapple with their demons before they can move on with their lives.

This family drama is chock full of description and has a little bit of everything going on - dead ancestors, tornadoes (not just one, TWO tornadoes,) adultery, miracles, and even murder. It is a dense and ambitious book - perhaps a bit too ambitious for some light summer reading! The town is a character in its own right, and a tiny bit creepy one at that. Anyone who enjoys family dramas mixed with some ethereal story lines should enjoy this book.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

Retired teacher Martha lives a solitary, yet she believes, fulfilling life on the farm that she shared with her now-deceased husband. One night, during a wicked storm, her life is altered forever when an odd couple show up on her porch, looking for shelter not only from the storm - but also from the "school" officials from where they had escaped from.

Lynnie and Homan are not only running to hide themselves - but also to hide a newborn baby to which Lynnie had given birth. When the couple is discovered, Buddy escapes into the storm, but Lynnie is taken back into custody, but not before hiding her baby in Martha's attic, hoping that Martha will shelter and care for her until they can be reunited. As Lynnie, who is developmentally disabled, is returned to the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded and Homan, who is hearing impaired, fends for himself in the world, Martha takes little Julia under her wing, becoming a refugee herself as she keeps her promise to Lynnie to hide her baby from the authorities.

This is a story of love, hope and loyalty that spans the ages. It is lovingly written and one of those books I just did not want to put down! Lynnie, Homan and Martha, among others, are such lovable and wonderful characters, you will root for them until the very satisfying conclusion.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter: Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper's Daughter begins in 1964 with two of the main characters, David and Norah Henry, having their first child. Caused by a combination of inclement weather and an unavailable doctor, David, an orthopedic surgeon, is forced to deliver his own, healthy son. However, when his wife unexpectantly delivers a second baby, David immediately recognizes that his son's twin has Down's Syndrome and makes a difficult decision that changes the course of his, Norah's, and their son's lives. Feeling he is saving his wife the heartache of raising, and quite possibly burying a child with Down's Syndrome, he tells his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby to a home. He tells his wife that their daughter died. Upon seeing the home, Caroline is unable to leave the child. She keeps and raises her as her own daughter, partly out of the desire to finally start her own family and partly out of her secret love for David.

The story spans from 1964 to 1988 and readers watch as the two children grow up separately and experience the damage that lies, loss, and anger to do to the two separate famililes, so silently bound together. At the end, the readers see both the healing power and the realities of redemptive love and forgiveness.

The concept of the book is what drew me to it. This is a plot different from any I have read before. The presentation, however, is not entirely impressive. Although the characters and relationships are very well-developed, the story drags between long sections divided among the two families. The characters almost seem too well-developed, the familial issues being drilled over and over into readers' heads. Long story short (no pun intended), the story is compelling and well-told, but the author probably could have made her point and a more succinct book in about 75 less pages.

Audio Book Review by Jennifer

Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag: Audio-CD

While running away from the class bully and his toady, 5th graders Tommy Crane & Wendy Morgan stumble literally into a dead body, a half-buried woman, with her eyes and mouth glued shut. Their teacher, Anne Navarre, is also pulled into the series of frightening events as she tries to help her students deal with finding a body, the escalating bullying from Dennis Farman, who happens to be the son of a police officer, the possibility of a serial killer hunting young women in the small town, her relationship with her father and a new romance on the horizon. Tony Mendez, one of the local detectives, calls in FBI agent Vince Leone, a pioneer in profiling which is still a newer technique in 1985.

After another woman goes missing and everyone circles around and around the small group of local suspects, mostly including the parents of the children who discovered the first body. As a thriller, this book really does pull you in. As I listened, I could not decide for sure who the killer was. Red herrings are thrown out every time you decide on a definite suspect. I was intrigued by most of the main characters, with few exceptions, even the suspects are likeable. A few of the characters feel as if they are just there to ‘be there’, but most of them are filled out enough to be believable. One of the most interesting things about this book is the point of view from the children’s eyes, the inner workings of their families from the inside, rather than the public face, the ‘perfect family’.

I often found myself sitting in my car in my driveway, listening to the last bit of chapter, only to find the next part just as exciting and then having to force myself to stop listening. This is not a read for everyone, though. There are some graphic descriptions and foul language. A few of the loose ends are not wrapped up as neatly as I would have liked, but on the plus side, there is a sequel, so perhaps they will be wrapped up there! The next book in this series is Secrets to the Grave.

I Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin Abuilaish

"Our politicians bicker about who said what and who will recognize whom and then change their minds when a new slate of officials is eleted. All this while babies die from malnutrition, mothers bleed to death in childbirth, and an old lady with cancer is held up at the Erez Crossing because someone is trying to teach someone else a lesson." (126)

Izzeldin Abuelaish's memoir is passionately written but dense, especially for someone like me, who is not deeply educated in the conflicts between Palestine and Israel. Abuelaish makes a sincere effort to educate the reader on issues of Israeli-Palestinian conflict but comes off dry and mainly informative at times.

More specifically, though, he writes about the plight of the people living in the Gaza Strip. People who do not have access to running water every day, enough food to feed their families, adequate medical care or even the freedom to leave the strip of their own accord. He uses his own family as an example of the suffering, most notably through the description of the deaths of his three daughters and niece from an Israeli bombing.

Through his explanation of life and events in the Gaza Strip, he does make the human aspect of the issue shine despite the slow political explanations, which, I think, is the main point of the book. His plight does not have so much to do with the religious or political issues but the human aspect asserting that we are all, innately, the same...human. We all, at our core, have the same wants, needs, and desires and should treat one another with this understanding and respect. Hate and revenge only beget more hate and revenge and accomplish nothing aside from tearing families apart and hurting people.

"Judging others without knowing anything about them is what causes tension, apprehension, distrust, and prejudice. This is a big mistake. We need to be open-minded enough to want to get to know each other...By knowing one another on a personal level, we can begin to respect each other's differences, but more important, we can begin to see how truly similar we are." (229)

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

I was a bit skeptical when I picked up this book - it immediately made me think of Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea - but any concerns that I had were washed away as I lost myself in Grennan's tale of love, perseverance, heartbreak and self-discovery in Nepal.

When Conor Grennan decided to leave his job to travel around the world, he felt a little self-indulgent, so he made arrangements to volunteer at an orphanage in Nepal for a couple of months at the start of his trip. Plus, being a young single man, he figured the ladies would swoon over his obvious selflessness and sensitivity. He had no idea that his experiences in Nepal would be a life-changing event.

What Conor discovers during his brief stay in Nepal is that he cannot stay away. He returns a year later and becomes even more involved in the lives of the "orphans," who he discovers are not actually orphans. He discovers that they are the victims of a child trafficker and most, if not all, of their parents might still be alive. This leads him on an unlikely and unforgettable adventure into the Himalayas in search of the parents of the children.

What I like about this book is that it is so eminently readable. Grennan is a likable and self-effacing character, and his story is so inspirational. While there might be other more well-known stories of white-man-does-good-in-third-world-country, this one about reuniting families against near-impossible odds will stay with me. It truly demonstrates how one person, armed with a goal, good intentions and a heart can accomplish miracles.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah was a 12-year old boy growing up in his village in Sierra Leone when his world was shattered forever by civil war. After fleeing the area for safer ground, he and a group of boys his age survived by roaming the countryside under the radar of both the rebel front and the army, while scavenging or stealing whatever food they could. Eventually, his luck runs out and he is "recruited" by the army, where he is drugged, brainwashed, and molded into a trained killer.

The life Ishmael leads as a soldier is difficult to read about, especially knowing that he is a young boy perpetrating and witnessing unspeakable horrors on other human beings. He is a leader among his peers and gains his lieutenant's attention with both his soldiering abilities and his love of Shakespeare. At the age of 15, he and a handful of his compatriots are removed from the front and taken to a rehab center sponsored by UNICEF, where he eventually overcomes his drug addiction, begins the healing process and is welcomed into his uncle's home as a son. When he is selected to travel to New York for a United Nations conference on children and war, it is a trip that again changes his life.

This book, while heartbreaking, is an important and eye-opening look at the realities of life for children and families around the world. Ishmael was so fortunate - many of his friends returned to the war after rehab because they had nowhere else to go. While this is a book about war and the damage it causes, it is also a testament to love and hope of a better way. This is a book I would highly recommend to both adults and high school students - it is a story that will stay with them long after they have finished reading.