Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Melancholy … harrowing … excellent … those are three words that I would use to describe Everyone Brave is Forgiven a brand new novel by Chris Cleave (author of Little Bee). Everyone Brave is Forgiven is a book that I did not want to put down.  Based loosely on Cleave's own grandparents, the story is set during World War II, primarily in London and the island of Malta in the Mediterranean.

This amazingly well-written story begins with Mary North, a privileged young woman who volunteers to support the war effort.  She finds her calling as a teacher and grows increasingly fond of Tom Shaw, her boss at the Education Authority.  It is through the eyes of Tom’s flatmate, an officer in the Royal Artillery named Alistair Heath, that most of the battlefield action and deprivation are seen.

Cleave is not only a master at describing scenes and characters, he also evokes moods, makes social commentary in regards to gender, class and race, and effectively conveys that long ago (yet somehow universal) time:  

“It was big of the Italian aviators to let a mail plane through on Christmas Day.  One hoped that one’s own side was reciprocating.”

“… the ironed creases in the uniformed trousers of the policeman who stood at Hyde Park Corner directing the traffic with his immaculate white armbands.  All these timeless things could be seen more clearly when one had so little time oneself.”

“It was not a level playing field where parents were concerned: they had known her in every year of her life, he not yet in every season of the year.”

“And so we prescribe the countryside for our children and the bombing for theirs? How can you ask me to make peace with a society that makes this kind of war?”

“War made one do everything when one wasn’t at all ready.  Dying, yes, but also living.”

Everyone Brave is Forgiven received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Highly recommended for adult book groups and more mature high school students.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

If you are still reeling from the twists and turns in Wein’s award-winning Code Name Verity, look for Rose under Fire, a companion novel. We meet Rose Justice, an American teenager and volunteer civilian pilot during WWII who is captured over France by the Nazis and ultimately sent to Ravensbruck, a women's concentration camp.

Told through journal entries which describe appalling conditions, this novel is darker and yet even better in some ways than Code Name Verity. Once again, Elizabeth Wein has aptly crafted a story of WWII – with flashbacks and foreshadowing. No incident that Wein shares with us is wasted … fuses and hands… aerial ramming…  the technical descriptions and images fill your mind.  

Wein’s books do take patience and slowly build to a place where the reader truly empathizes with the characters. It was difficult to think about the day to day sacrifice and hardship associated with the camps… perhaps that is why the writer carefully provides such detailed descriptions – truly pulling her readers into the place and time period.

I was struck not only by the power of this story but by the many connections it raised, especially to poetry and art.  I liked the reference to the embroidery, the paper airplanes and other efforts the prisoners made to find beauty in their circumstances … they made me think of similar efforts by other groups of prisoners (for example, see Art of Gaman about Japanese Internment at that same time period or the Return with Honor exhibit of works by Vietnam-era POWs at National Museum of the U.S. Air Force).   And Rose’s poetry and “counting-out rhymes” connected for me with the modern day Landays shared by women in Afghanistan.  If you want to develop this connection with your students, more information on that is available through Poetry magazine or the Poetry Foundation.

Yes, Rose Under Fire is dark and heavy in telling of the “Rabbits,” Polish political prisoners who were victims of medical experiments.  Yet, Wein wants Rose and us to soar, to TELL THE  WORLD, much like Rabbi Joachim Prinz did 50 years ago at the March on Washington when he said, “the most tragic problem is silence.”  

Invasion by Walter Dean Myers

What did it feel like on the beaches and marching inland in the days and weeks after D-Day?  Invasion is another excellent novel by Walter Dean Myers about the hardships and moral dilemmas faced by soldiers during war.  This time he has chosen to focus on World War II and tells the story primarily through the eyes of soldier Josiah (“Woody”) Wedgewood.

Myers aptly uses scenes of war to show how the soldiers will never be the same again. He provides his readers with plenty of action and a sense of the shock and horror of war.  Even still, we see soldiers trying to cope: “Two first downs and I would be all right,” thinks Woody as he prepares to cross open fields. Woody’s internal dialogue (“I thought about God more than I ever had.” and “My reactions weren’t thought out any more – they just happened.”) will help readers empathize with the soldiers.

While Myers alludes to self-inflicted wounds, possible court-martial for disobeying orders, and the futility of taking a now-deserted town, he focuses primarily on the action that Woody sees.  Marcus Perry, a character in Invasion who is black and related to soldiers in Myers’ other novels (Fallen Angels or Sunrise over Fallujah), does not have his story fully developed.  If you are looking for more about racial discrimination at the time try Mudbound by Jordan or Flygirl by Sherri Smith.

Myers’ Invasion should have a map and I would definitely show some documentary footage if I was teaching this book with middle or high school students. Pair this with novels also set in the 1940’s:  Eyes of the Emperor, Code Name Verity, When the Emperor was Divine -- literature circles focusing on the European Theatre, the Homefront, and Pacific Campaign would have much to share and to teach each other.

Beyond Courage - history in words and photos

 

Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport.

I’ve enjoyed browsing this book. It accessible for research, for learning about people and events through words and pictures, and yet it could work as a small coffee-table book or simply sitting on a table for students to browse just because it's there.

Almost every page includes pictures of people and places (in both black and white and antique finish), maps, art work by children, and poetry, making the story personal and engaging. No image is disturbing visually, so to have it on display or near students would be appropriate. 

The summary in my catalog states “provides detailed accounts of twenty-one acts of defiance committed against Nazis in Nazi-occupied countries during World War II. “

To connect the history of individuals, and those who acted against "authority," with visual history is the essence of this book.

 The chapters are organized by place – occupied countries – with sub-headings about something specific to that place, time, or people.

The chapters are short, concise, and easy to read and understand, thus the pages turn quickly.

Even a pronunciation guide is included, just before the important dates, notes, and works consulted.  

All this book needs is a soundtrack.