City of Beasts by Isabel Allende

Location: Chile

 

Awards:  Locus Award, 2003 Finalist United States

 

Open this book and travel to the wilds of the Amazon rain forest with 15 year old Alexander Cold and his grandmother Kate.  This novel has it all--mythical beasts, villains, adventure and the supernatural.

Symphony for the City of the Dead - By M.T. Anderson

Location: Russia 

 

Award: YALSA 2016 Finalist 

Leningrad during German siege and forced starvation, among the cannibalized and dying, amidst the bombing and destruction, Shostakovich completed his seven symphonies. In M.T. Anderson’s first nonfiction work, Symphony for the City of the Dead, a tale of Russian suffering and beauty emerges. The World War II menace of Nazi Germany affected the East as well as the West, and in this story, we see the war from the Russian perspective. Anderson tells the story of Shostakovich struggling to write music to inspire the masses, trying to avoid the ire of Stalin, a man well known for his brutality, and to maintain the socialist orthodoxy, where even music is scrutinized for signs of bourgeois sympathies. Anderson embraces the Russian spirit of tragedy and beauty in his tale of soviet art and salvation. Experience the hardships and joys of the Symphony for the City of the Dead.       

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi, Mattias Ripa (Translator)

Location: Iran 

 

Awards: ALA Alex Award 2004, YALSA Best  Books for Young Adults 

Growing up is hard to do, now imagine growing up during a revolution in your own
country. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is the story of a young girl named Marji
who is just ten years old, and after ten years of a fairly modern life, she is plunged into the conservative, misogyny of the Iranian revolution. The Zoroastrian heritage of her country is replaced by Islam. Her education, her wardrobe, and her possibilities for a future are all being taken from her. Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel explores the relationship between the individual and society, freedom and control. Explore the Iranian revolution at the end of the 20th century with this award winning graphic novel.

Life of Pi - By Yann Martel

Location: India, Middle of the Ocean

 

Awards: Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2002, 2003 Boeke Prize, a South African novel award. In 2004, it won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature 

Life of Pi is a stunningly beautiful tale set in an Indian zoo. Zoologist and Religion
scholar Pi Patel recounts his childhood experience as a cast away in the middle of the ocean, trapped on a boat with a Bengal tiger. This is a story about survival and finding meaning in life even in the face of the apparent indifference of the universe. Martel’s exotic metaphors challenge our standard concepts of God and religion. Travel with Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi and explore new possibilities.

Interview with Author Yann Martel

 

Kenower, Bill. [Bill Kenower]. (2010, May 13). Yann Martel Interview. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B29tigyBJlQ 

 

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Location: Pakistan

Awards: Amelia Bloomer List, 2014 ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), YALSA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, 2015 YALSA-ALA, Children's Choice Book Award, 2015 Finalist United States 

Thirteen years old, Malala Yousafzai was living a peaceful life in Pakistan- until the Taliban took over the land.  Fighting for her right to an education, Malala was shot and not expected to survive.  She recovered and became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.  Open the book and be inspired.

Activities

Malala has a fund focused on helping girls go to school and raise their voices for the right to education.  Visit a blog about the fund.   Watch a book review by a teen reader.

 

Malala Yousafzai's 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Speech

Yousafzai, M. (2014). Malala Yousafzai's Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech. Malala Fund. Retrieved from: https://www.malala.org/malalas-story

Lafcadio Hearn’s “The Faceless Ghost” and other Macabre Tales from Japan: A Graphic Novel

Location: Japan

Awards/Press: ALA 2016 Great Graphic Novels Pick

Crawl under your covers, but leave the lights on as you step back in time to the ghostly past of Japan to read six mysterious and weird tales told in this graphic novel.   Prepare to get creeped out by encounters with the Snow Woman and other bewitching apparitions.

Learn more about Manga

Acclaimed manga creator Sean Michael Wilson retells traditional Japanese horror stories in The Faceless Ghost.  What is manga?  Watch Why Read Manga to find out.  Manga is read differently than graphic novels- watch this video on How to Read Manga.  Interested in reading more manga?  Look here for suggestions.

Saving Wishes by G.J. Walker-Smith

Location: Australia 

 

Awards: AU & NZ iBooks Best of 2013 Breakout Book Of The Year 

 

Charli Blake is a trouble teen living in Pipers Cove, a small coastal town by Tasmania.  Her wish is to travel the world and all she has to do is finish high school.  But then Adam shows up.  Adam is the despised French teacher’s cousin from New York City chasing a post card picture.  In the process of his search, he turns Charli’s life upside down by helping her realize her true destiny.  Take trip down under with Saving Wishes.  It will be a trip you never want to end.  

Booktalk on Saving Wishes