The Zookeeper's Wife

Not set up as a typical fiction novel, this true story is pieced together like narrative non-fiction with imagined dialogues and thoughts. Even with that caveat it was still a wonderful story. A little disjointed in places, but overall the flow is great and the many pieces of this giant jigsaw come together with Ackerman's skilled writing. She tells the story of the Polish zookeepers who fight not only for their beloved animals but for those suffering around them in Nazi occupied Warsaw. Over the years they help shelter and feed hundreds of Jews and even allow some of them to reside in their house with their family. It's a touching story and I hope that they do the movie version justice.

Imbeciles

Utterly horrifying and captivating. Author, Adam Cohen, digs deep to shed light on America's horrifying obsession with eugenics by outlining the supreme court case of Carrie Buck, a young girl who was declared "feeble-minded" and sterilized. At the turn of the twentieth century America's elite were infatuated with the idea of strengthening the American race by practicing eugenics on those undesirables that society wanted to get rid of: imbeciles, criminals, people with physical and mental defects, epileptics, sexually promiscuous women and more. Nazi Germany used America's eugenics rhetoric, research, and court cases as a model for their racial cleansing plan. By the time it was finally considered faux pas and barbaric, more than 70,000 American's had been sterilized, most without their consent or knowledge. Meticulously researched (although sometimes a little bogged down with details on key figures), this book is a scary piece of America's past and very timely as bigotry continues to rise again.

Across Great Divides

"Across Great Divides" is a wonderful tale of resilience, family, and following your moral compass. Author Monique Roy, based this inspiring story on her own grandparents journey across countries, continents, and beliefs to try and find safety from the Nazis.

Told through many viewpoints, and over many years, this tale is about the lengths one must go in order to keep family together. Oskar, a successful diamond business owner in Berlin, must flee with his wife, two twin daughters, and young son, in order to escape the Jewish persecution by the Nazis. With the help of others they manage to flee to Belgium, but it isn't far enough away from the Nazi's grip. Over many years they must leapfrog across countries trying to find safety and trying to stay together as their family grows. Throughout all the hardships they manage to stay positive by finding the beauty around them and falling in love. When they eventually find safety in South Africa they face a new struggle, apartheid. Even though the discrimination against them is gone they must decide if they are willing to fight the struggle against the new underdogs, Blacks in South Africa.

A compelling tale, great for middle school readers and up. Not only does it talk of Hitler's ascent into power, it discusses the Jewish discrimination, apartheid, and the complexities of the diamond business. Not told through any one particular character, the story offers many different viewpoints and experiences, although at times the characters can come across a little flat.

I received this book for free from the author, in return for mu honest, unbiased opinion.