The Book Thief

Zusak, M. (2005). The Book Thief. New York:  Knopf.

There have been many, many books written involving stories of children and adolescents during World War II.  Australian writer, Markus Zusak takes a different approach.  He chooses to write about a young German girl, rather than take a Jewish voice.  This fresh perspective is just what I needed for summer reading.

House of the Scorpion

Farmer, N. (2002).  House of the Scorpion. New York:  Atheneum.

I read this book for my graduate class. I was not too thrilled about it. Sadly, sometimes I'm one of those people who judges a book by its cover and its title, literally. But, like a good student, I read the book. After a few chapters, it was so hard to our or down.