Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive

Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive
by Laura Hillenbrand

One of the reading goals I've made this year is to read the books that my son is reading in his high school English class. So, that's what gave me the guts to finally pick up Unbroken. 

Unbroken is a biography of Louis Zamperini who as a kid was a trouble maker, as a young adult was an Olympic runner and who then enlisted and fought in World War II where he was lost at sea and became a prisoner of war. His life is truly amazing and inspiring to read about, and it's no wonder this book was chosen for the Honors English unit on survival. He survived not only these things, but post-war difficulties as well. 

The original edition of the book is subtitled "A story of survival, resilience, and redemption." An apt description! 

I first heard about Unbroken when my book club read it ten or eleven years ago. For one reason or another I couldn't read the book at the time, but I attended the discussion. It sounded like an amazing story, but maybe a bit too graphic or disturbing for me -- some of my book club friends had said it was very detailed about the violence that Zamperini experienced as a prisoner of war, and shared some of the truly disturbing cruelty he faced, so I was hesitant to read the book, despite their reassurances that it was worth it.

I was glad to see that the class was reading the young adult adaptation of the book. I looked up what the differences were between the original edition and the young adult edition, and the version I read was shorter, had fewer detailed descriptions of violence and fewer details about Zamperini's alcoholism after the war. Perfect for me. 

I had just read Life of Pi, so reading the story of Louis Zamperini being lost at sea was particularly heartwrenching and fascinating. How I wished that he had known sharks are edible! My heart is still a little bit crushed over that detail of his ordeal. After reading Unbroken, I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and saw some striking parallels, but that's a post for another day.

I'm happy to recommend this book for teens and adults. It has just about everything you could want from a biography. It has moments of daring, moments of heartbreak, tender moments, funny moments and miracles. It is beautifully written and meticulously researched, never drags along when giving context but somehow perfectly tells the story in a way that incorporates all the surrounding details you need to know. I'd like to own a copy of myself. I've lost track of how many small moments from the book I have told to friends and family members. It has been a little while since I finished it, and it continues to be on my mind. 

Just yesterday I read the famous poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley and thought, "That's Louis Zamperini." A friend mentioned that her son is doing some troublemaking, and I thought, "There's hope. Just think of Louis Zamperini." It really is an inspiring book, and worth the read.

Guest Review: Humble Pi

Well hello there! Today I have a guest review for you. This review comes from Spencer, who is 14 years old. I was able to obtain Spencer's review for you because his mom, Ashley, and I are good friends. Some of you may remember that Ashley used to post on Everead regularly. Take it away, Spencer!

I have a book recommendation. It's called Humble Pi. It is my absolute favorite book by a long shot. It's about math gone wrong in the real world. It showcases many mathematical problems that have occurred over the years, covering things like coding issues, 8-bit rollover errors, bridges falling, fence-post problems (Who knew the piano was a fence-post problem?), a single book's price accidentally rocketing up to $20,000,000, and a rocket activating its self-destruct system and blowing up. Matt Parker’s writing makes these math issues accessible and hilarious. You don’t have to be a math whiz to enjoy it. It's an amazing book and cannot be ignored.  So whenever you get the chance to get it, you should read it. It's amazing. 

-Spencer Bair

Thanks, Spencer! This looks like the sort of book my family would love! For anyone else looking for a copy, I'll embed a preview and link to it below. And if you're looking for more books I recommend for teens, click here and you'll see all the posts I've made about YA fiction. This next link will take you to a post I made for some of the 13 year old readers in my life.  

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker 

Superman Smashes the Klan

In this new graphic novel, Gene Luen Yang did a great job following a formula but still keeping things fresh. 

Gene Luen Yang is one of my favorite authors -- I'll buy a book of his before I've read it, I'll preorder books by him, and I'm constantly recommending his books. You can see all of my posts about him here. 

For Superman Smashes the Klan Yang took his inspiration from an old 1940's Superman radio serial. The Lee family has just moved to a new home to go with Mr. Lee's new job. It doesn't take long before they find out some people don't want them in the neighborhood, though. You see where this is going. 

But I love how Yang made the story complex and they characters two-dimensional. The young heroes have foibles, the villain has virtues, and Superman has a whole backstory to work out. It honestly surprised me how much happened in this slim volume, and I have high expectations for books by Yang. The story weaves in different kinds of racism, different reactions to racism, and other themes, too. 

I particularly like how anybody can read this book, regardless of how much they already know about Superman. Never heard of him? Everything you need to know is there. Already know everything and everybody from Lana to Lois, Kal-el to Kryptonite? You won't be disappointed. And the illustrations are flawless, making this an easy graphic novel to read even if you are new to the format. 

If you skip the backmatter in this book, you will be missing out! There's a fantastically done section in the back about Superman and about Gene Luen Yang, about the history of racism and hope. It's a great book, and the section in the back is MORE than the cherry on top. It's the whole cream layer on the banana cream pie. 

I'm not alone in thinking this book is awesome. It won the Young Adult Graphic Novel category of the Cybils this year. I think it fits well in the Young Adult category -- it deals with the heavy theme of racism and hate crime. There is violence and complexity. It's not gory at all, for which I'm thankful. I recommend it for 6th grade and up. 

Three good books!

Hi there! It looks like I've been holding out on you. I've got some good books to recommend, so here they are without further ado. All three are historical fiction with female protagonists. All three make great books for book club. The book covers are links to Amazon, as usual.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
I read this one because it was chosen by my book club, and I loved it. It was a lot of fun to read, tough to put down, and not too scary or gory, as some mysteries can be.

The story follows Flavia, a girl living on the family estate in England in ... gosh I can't remember what year. But she rides a bike and uses a telephone, though it is somewhat unusual that their home has "the instrument." When Flavia finds a dead body in the back garden, she does what 10-year-old girls do best: finds out as much information as possible as unobtrusively as she can. And of course that leads to trouble.

This book comes the absolute closest to a Nancy Drew mystery that I've read in adulthood. Flavia and Nancy are both young girl detectives with independent transportation and permissive families, but Nancy generally is appreciated by the police. Flavia is not.

It made for a good book discussion with questions like "How realistic do you think it is that Flavia had the skills needed to solve the mystery?" "When did you know who the murderer was?" and "What ages do you think this book would be appropriate for?" It was generally agreed that 12+ would be fine.

This is the first in the series, and I would mind reading the other ones at all. The mystery is all tied up at the finish, but some loose ends about the characters remain.

The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz

I first heard this recommended by Leila Roy, who was gushing about it a couple of years ago. I finally picked it up, and I loved it. I was going to pick it for my next book club pick, but Bethany beat me to it!

The Hired Girl is the diary of a farm girl circa 1910. Her mother died a few years before the story opens, and we find her working like a slave (unpaid, unprivileged, constantly belittled) to keep the family farm going. When she sees advertisements for positions as a Hired Girl and realizes the worth of her work, she runs away from home and her abusive father. Of course, being a runaway in 1910 comes with its own huge set of challenges and learning experiences.

I think it can be really tricky to do a diary format novel right. I'm really picky about diary format, because I keep a personal diary. The author does a really good job here, and also makes the story so interesting that I was happy to forgive entries that seemed too long or too detailed to be completely realistic. The story was realistic, and captivating, and I can't wait to discuss it with the book club ladies. Everything from journal keeping and women working to domestic abuse and religion.

I loved the way that religion featured largely in the book. Religion features largely in my life, and I find that a lot of young adult literature these days doesn't touch the subject. our protagonists late mother was a different religion than her father, and other characters of other religions and various degrees of devotion to their religions are big in the book, and make the whole story more nuanced and believable.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

Ashley has been telling me for a while now that I need to read some Georgette Heyer books. And as we all know Ashley has great taste. So I went over to the grown-up section and it looks like Heyer is prolific. I picked The Grand Sophy because I seemed to remember hearing about it before. Now that Bethany has stolen The Hired Girl as her book club pick, I think The Grand Sophy will be mine. (Do you hear that, friends? DIBS)

The Grand Sophy is set in post-Napoleonic England, and will remind you of Jane Austen's books if you've read them. (Heyer was not, however, a contemporary of Jane Austen. Heyer wrote The Grand Sophy in the 1950s.) The book follows a family in London whose situation is rough: father has gambled away all of the money, and his eldest son has inherited a fortune from an uncle. Because the eldest, Charles, has a good heart, he is helping his family out, but he's a bit of a tyrant about it. Into the picture comes cousin Sophy, who needs a place to stay while her father is out of the country on government business. She has all kinds of virtues and a few vices and upsets the apple cart in all the best ways.

This one was just SO fun to read. I laughed out loud several times and loved the scene with the moneylender, particularly. I have to wonder if Eugenia from the Mercy Watson books is named for Eugenia in this book. That will be something to ask Kate DiCamillo someday! Anyway, good call Ashley, and I'll definitely be reading some more Georgette Heyer.

Recommendations & Anticipations

Hello!

Just thought I'd do a quick post about what I've been reading lately (besides Bad Machinery of course).

Library selfie! Book Nerds for life.

We had the happy experience this last weekend of visiting the Bairs! Some of you may remember back when Ashley used to post here on Everead more frequently. (Here are posts by Ashley.) Well, while we were visiting, I read some really good books, of course. Apparently she's been holding out on me.

The Here Comes the ... Cat Series by Deborah Underwood was a huge hit with my kids. We read three of them at the library. Yes, when we visit friends out of state we happily visit their local libraries. These just made us all laugh, and especially tickled Levi, who will be starting first-grade soon. We read The Easter, Valentine, and Tooth Fairy themed ones. I look forward to reading the others.

  
From the Bair family's personal library I read three Elephant & Piggie books I haven't read yet: I Will Take a Nap, Waiting Is Not Easy, and The Thank You Book. They were all fantastic, of course. I think my favorite of the three is Waiting Is Not Easy. If you have a child who could knock you over with their groans of agony, you will appreciate it. Sad to see the series end, but thankfully its full of great books, and I haven't collected them all yet, so I have some collecting left to do. ;)

I read Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant a couple weeks ago, and that was a fun one. A good adventurous graphic novel for the 12+ crowd. It looks like there is a second book, so I'll have to find that one and read it.

A few weeks ago we decided to fast from dairy as a family, to see if it would help our skin problems. Jacob, Jubilee and myself all had some itchiness we were hoping to cure, and my doctor recommended avoiding dairy. So when I delivered all of our cheese and milk and yogurt and so forth to my friend Tara, she let me borrow The New Moosewood Cookbook.Holy Cow it is beautiful! (Beef pun intended, it's a vegetarian cookbook.) It's all hand-drawn as far as I can tell. I feel kind of silly admitting we've only made one recipe from it, but I do not feel silly at all recommending it because lots of the recipes look really really tasty, the book is so beautiful to browse, and the one we tried, Moosewood Fudge Brownies, was delicious. After two weeks dairy free it was apparent that Jubilee's skin was doing better, Jacob's was doing equal or worse and mine was doing equal or maybe a smidge better. So. we're loosening up a little, and letting Benjamin have some of his favorite meals again, but still avoiding dairy because Jubilee is 3 and it's just impossible to take a bite of your preschooler's favorite food right after you tell them they can't have any. It's just heartless.

Along those same lines I also borrowed Disease Proof Your Child from Tara. I've read it before, but reading it again has been a good reminder to me to eat healthy. I tend to go overboard and feel like I can't eat ANYTHING after I read that book, but then I remember that I just have to start where I am (which is what Dr. Fuhrman says to do anyway) and then I end up eating more veggies and being happy about it.

Now for books I haven't read yet:

On our way to visit Ashley in NJ, I gave Benjamin a copy of The Egypt Game to read. I've never read it myself, I just bought a used copy of it because I had seen it recommended and it is a Newbery Honor. Benjamin told me I simply must read it. It looks suspenseful! So I'm looking forward to reading that and discussing with him.

I'm also looking forward to reading A Kingdom Far and Clear, which my brother Ransom got me. I didn't even know that one of my favorite books was part of a trilogy! But apparently it is and now I get to read more in the Swan Lake series. I wanted to read it aloud to the kids at first, so I tried that out, and they didn't bite. Hm. I think it was just a matter of timing and will try again. But I think in the meantime I might have to read it myself. I can't always just be waiting for them to be excited about a read-aloud, even if it was one of my favorites as a child. (More that I've blogged about this book here.)

Also looking forward to reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I dunno if I'll buy it or not. Do you think I should buy it? We have all seven of the series, but none of the other books in the Potter-verse. Are any of them worth it? I'm talking about Tales of Beedle the Bard, Magical Creatures, etc. etc. If you have opinions, please share.

What good books have you read lately? What books are you looking forward to? Don't hold out on me.

p.s. I almost forgot Tikki Tikki Tembo! The Bairs had it checked out from their library and we read it to the kids at least 7 times over the course of a few days. Jubilee especially loved it, but really we all did. I think maybe we need to own that one. It's even better than I remember.

New YA Non-Fiction: Symphony for the City of the Dead

When I think back on the reading I was required to do in high school, it's mostly fiction that comes to mind. The non-fiction texts I read back then were pretty much exclusively textbooks (though I did read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl in 9th grade). Was the market devoid of YA non-fiction? It's possible. I mean, what's the difference between non-fiction for adults and non-fiction for "young" adults a.k.a. teens?

I don't know if I can fully answer those questions, but I have read a non-fiction book for teens I want to talk about.

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad
by M. T. Anderson to be released 9/22/2015
I received an uncorrected proof from the publisher, with the understanding that I would review it.

There are three main reasons I wanted to read this book, when the pitch for it came up in my inbox:

1. M.T. Anderson - The man won the National Book Award for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party (historical fiction) and I tried to read that book but I gave up on it. I also tried to read by him, Feed by him, but put it down early. (That one is YA sci-fi.) Anyway, lots of authors I like (including John Green and Shannon Hale) like M.T. Anderson's books and promote them, so I've been looking for one that works for me.

2. Shostakovich - I am not the Stewart family expert on composers. That would be my husband, Jacob. So when I read "Shostakovich" it rang a bell but I couldn't pull up any particular music in my head. And I wanted to fix that.

3. Cover Art - It has a really nice cover. I liked it even better, the further I got in the book.

So. Did Symphony for the City of the Dead work for me? Was it the M.T. Anderson book I could finish? Yes! A few chapters in I told Jacob, "reading this book is like listening to NPR." And by that I meant that 1. it was enjoyable 2. it made me consider political stuff and musical stuff from a new perspective 3. the human element was big, and 4. I felt smarter after doing it.

Anderson includes quotes, cites sources, adds maps and images, but successfully makes the book a flowing narrative. Admittedly, I couldn't see the maps. I got a galley, so I just got a grey rectangle with the words "Map to come" in it. But it was always placed right around when I was thinking, "you know, I could really use a map..." I'm confident that the finished book will have excellent visuals.

I appreciated that Anderson discussed the sources he was drawing from. In particular, he talked about a biography of Shostakovich that was once thought to be an autobiography, but has since been discredited a bit. "Take this with a grain of salt," is his basic message, but he goes into all the details. If the book were written with an adult audience in mind, would that be glossed over? I hope not. Would a discussion of the validity of the source throw off the pacing of the book? I've seen it happen. Anderson does a good job of hitting all the targets and still keeping things moving.

I was glad Symphony for the City of the Dead was written for a teen audience, because I think that kept it from being too gory. I super appreciated that. I'm the sort of person who avoids horror movies at all costs, and only watches war movies that are rated OK for 13-year-olds. Sometimes when you're reading a book that quotes from first-hand accounts of war, you get a detailed account of violence that becomes seared in your brain and haunts you. After reading this book I did not have nightmares. I did want to fill my basement with a year's supply of non-perishables, because Anderson did a great job of portraying the horrors of war and Hitler's siege of Leningrad (the longest siege on record). There was one passage that I skipped, I confess, which talked about the torture of one of Shostakovich's friends. But other than that, I didn't feel compelled to skip any of the book, despite all the sufferings described.

Do I now have a piece of music to associate with Shostakovich? Yes, I do. The book talks about several of Shostakovich's symphonies and other pieces in detail, and of course hinges around Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, which is the Leningrad Symphony. But it's actually a different piece of music I hear when I think of him. The day after I finished the book, I happened to watch Fantasia 2000 with my daughter, and when Bette Midler announced that the music for The Steadfast Tin Soldier animation was Shostakovich I cheered. I love that one! And holy moly I like it even more now that I know more about the man who wrote it.

For your listening pleasure, here's a video of two guys playing it (one is playing the orchestral reduction).


Besides gaining familiarity with Shostakovich, I learned irreversibly the difference between Lenin and Stalin (which I think someone had explained to me before, but the details had become muddy in my mind). I got that now. I know who Lenin is. I know who Stalin is, I know who Shostakovich is, and I already knew who Hitler was, too, but I learned more about him also. Speaking of which, Symphony for the City of the Dead gave me a whole new perspective on WWII since I've never read anything from the USSR at the time. They call it The Great Patriotic War, by the way, not WWII.

I highly recommend Symphony for the City of the Dead, if it sounds interesting to you. Here is a summary of each part of the book:

Part One deals with the situation in Russia/USSR before WWII and the early life of Shostakovich.

Part Two deals with the German invasion and the siege, and makes up most of the book. It discusses the later works of Shostakovich, his family life and his politics during the war. 

Part Three deals with Cold War and post-war stuff, and perceptions of Shostakovich after that. 

I wonder if the Fred Astaire movie I loved, Silk Stockings, was inspired by Shostakovich at all. If so, it's in very poor taste. Ha! It definitely features a composer with nervous mannerisms and wears glasses. It definitely simplifies the politics of the time, and insults the Communist Party. A product of it's time (1957), I'm sure. Still, I loved that movie as a child. Great dance moves.

Anyway, if you'd like to shop for Symphony of the City of the Dead, here is an affiliate link where you can do that. When you make purchases after clicking on my affiliate links, I get a small commission. Should I go back and link the other books I've mentioned? I'll go back and do that, too.

And, if you're looking for more YA non-fiction, I can recommend The Year We Disappeared. I mention it on my list of Books for a 14-year-old Boy.

Have you read any YA Non-fiction? Tell me about it. 
Share me your recommendations. 

Firefight

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

This is the second book in Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners Series. The first one was Steelheart. This one was also so good! I won't say much about plot summary because this is definitely a series where you should read the first book first.


I will talk writing, though. I found myself appreciating the writing when our narrator, David, was describing a new place. Instead of smelling like something in particular, it smelled some way compared to what his past experiences would have been. I appreciate things like that. It really adds believeability to the narrator, and therefore makes it easier to believe the whole book.

This book was really enjoyable, and that's saying something for a second book. As we all know, second books are horrible about ending in a satisfactory way. This one did a good job though -- some super interesting progress was made in the storyline, for sure.

I probably can't recommend it more strongly than this: This is the only YA series I'm reading right now. I'm finding myself drawn more to other genres right now -- so much so that I've left other YA books that I'm interested in on the shelf. Not this one. Do yourself a favor and read it. I like it better than The Hunger Games, better than Divergent (for sure), and better than a bunch of other books too.

Ok guys. I blogged. Been having some hangups with that -- I believe they call it perfectionism when you just want to do everything right but it prevents you from doing the thing? Babysteps.
___________
Edited to add: Here is an affiliate link to the book. If you make a purchase through this link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Happy reading!

 

Add these books to your reading list! The 2014 Cybils Winners

I'm always pleasantly surprised by the announcement of the Cybils winners. It comes every year on February 14th, but for some reason the Cybils announcement isn't my strongest association for that day...

Cybils Day is Valentines Day!
I dare you to try to take a good picture of yourself kissing someone.
It's somewhat difficult.

Anyway, the list of "books I must read" has just gotten longer. For your convenience I will stick some Amazon image links in here, as I list them. (If you're a Barnes & Noble shopper, we'll do those at the end.) If you frequent the library, I'm with ya there! But if you're shopping today and you shop through these links I can earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

On to the winners!

Winners I'll find...

I'm dying to read Feathers Not Just for Flying. and Okay Andy.

Also The Family Romanov because Anastasia was a beloved movie of my childhood, but prrrobably not securely rooted in fact. Also loved Candace Fleming's Aesop's Fables book.

I'm thinking I'm going to have to press The Luck Uglies into the hands of some of my favorite Brandon Mull fans and then ask for their opinion.

   

Winners I already love...

I can wholeheartedly recommend the Graphic Novel winners. In Real Life was amazing enough that I looked up all about it on the internet, and made Jacob read it also, and enjoy just opening it up sometimes. A beautiful book that makes ya think twice. And El Deafo. Oh, El Deafo, I thoroughly enjoyed you. El Deafo also got a Newbery Honor this year, you know.

I shall have to tell you more about this one, soon!

I also adore the Fiction Picture Book category winner: Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton. It's thrilling, it's funny, it's a visual treat. My kiddos made me read it over and over and quoted it for days. I'd love to own it.

Full list of winners is here: http://www.cybils.com/2015/02/the-2014-cybils-awards.html

The books that win the Cybils are always good ones. The Cybils criteria are 1) that the book has to be published within the year of the contest and 2) has to have both kid appeal and literary merit. The Cybils strike a nice balance between the Newbery (which is all about merit) and what you find at the book fair or on the bestseller lists (often heavier on kid appeal). Lists for past years can also be found on the Cybils site, I often reference them when making recommendations in a genre I don't read especially.

Here's the Barnes & Noble link I promised!

Do you have a favorite place to find book recommendations? Please share!