June Genreflecting: Review: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Ever since she was a child, Rebecca has been enchanted by her grandmother Gemma's stories about Briar Rose. But a promise Rebecca makes to her dying grandmother will lead her on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth of Gemma's astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose. A journey that will lead her to unspeakable brutality and horror. But also to redemption and hope.
From Goodreads
What grandmother doesn't tell fairy tales to her grandchildren? Gemma is a natural storyteller, but she only ever tells the same story, the exact same way every time. Briar Rose, or as most people know her Sleeping Beauty, is a familiar tale about love, loss, and rallying your strength after the loss. For Rebecca's whole life she's heard Gemma tell the tale. She's heard it so much that she even knows it by heart, including the part where Gemma swears she is the girl in the tale. Rebecca makes the promise to discover the truth behind the story to her dying grandmother. The adventure that ensues is one that no one could have foreseen.
Told in alternating chapters of present day situations and Gemma's version of the fairy tale, Briar Rose is sorrowful, but important book about survivors. Being the descendants of Polish Jews, you can't expect that everyone made it out of the Holocaust alive, but the truth is even more shocking than that. Since we don't know the grandmother's version of the fairy tale from the beginning, we learn it as we move through the story so that we can piece the whole puzzle together.
Expertly researching and written, this book is a testament to Holocaust fiction. It was a unique twist on an otherwise dark story. That's not to say there aren't some dark portions to the tale, but it was considerably less than I was expecting with something of this nature. What really drew me in was the hidden truth. There are so many clues and so many directions they point in that even the characters are overwhelmed, but they are fairly easily navigated & accounted for until the complete truth is clear. 
As for the fantasy element, this was no where near a normal fantasy. It falls under the fairy tale retelling section, but just barely. The whole premise is based around the Briar Rose story and while true life does mirror the fairy tale, it takes until the end of the story for us to really see that. Normally in retellings you get the sense of deja vu or something that automatically reminds you of the original tale. That being said, it still counts and is a special version of a retelling. You can't go into it thinking you're going to get a regular story, but what you get is so much more.
Be sure to come back next Friday when I review Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore and host a giveaway!

Nostalgic Friday: Holocaust Books

Welcome back to Nostalgic Friday! Since I love all things historical (culturally, physically, and personally) I do a post on Fridays honoring some awesome book that is a bit older. Many of them are books I enjoyed in my teens and others are books that I discovered as an adult that I think are relevant to YA readers.

I know that everybody has to read at least one book about the Holocaust during their middle grade or high school years, but I apparently got a few more assignments than most. Between 5th & 8th grade I read at least 4 books for school and at least two dozen more on my own. My Holocaust education didn't stop there & probably never will, but I thought I'd share with you some of my preferred books. There's a smattering of fiction & non-fiction in here, but hopefully you'll find something that piques your interest.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry Fiction
Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated". Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.


The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen Fiction
Hannah thinks tonight's Passover Seder will be the same as always. Little does she know that this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past where only she knows the horrors that await.

Night by Elie Wiesel Non-fiction, Memoir
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, Orthodox teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust & the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare worlds of Auschwitz-Birkenau & Buchenwald present him with an intolerable question: how can the god he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

Alicia by Alicia Appleman-Jurman Non-fiction, Memoir (a bit graphic at times)
After losing her entire family to the Nazis at age 13, Alicia Appleman-Jurman went on to save the lives of thousands of Jews, offering them her own courage and hope in a time of upheaval and tragedy. Not since The Diary of Anne Frank has a young voice so vividly expressed the capacity for humanity and heroism in the face of Nazi brutality.

There are also numerous websites & organizations that can be viewed in order to flesh out your knowledge.

Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum http://www.ushmm.org/
The Holocaust History Project http://www.holocaust-history.org/
Holocaust Survivors http://www.holocaustsurvivors.org/
Holocaust section of the Jewish Virtual Library http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/holo.html

There are thousands more, but these are my preferred sources of information. I chose this subject because it is something I don't think it taught well enough in our schools. This dark period is a lot more complicated that "the Germans killed 6 million Jews during WWII" & I think some of these books really shed some light on that. A quote I strive to live by every day is:

Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it. - Winston Churchill

Nostalgic Friday: The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

Welcome to my first official Nostalgic Friday! For those of you who missed it, I decided that due to my love of all things historical (culturally, physically, and personally) I would do a post on Fridays honoring some awesome book that is a bit older. Many of them will be books I enjoyed in my teens and others will be books that I discovered as an adult that I think are relevant to YA readers. Friday is my chosen day because I think of it as a day to celebrate the week we just finished.

This week's pick is my favorite book. I read it in 7th grade for English class and have re-read at least once a year, every year since. Believe me, that's a lot of times. It is the true story of Corrie ten Boom, a young woman during World War II. Her father was a watch repairman who owned the 100-year-old, family-run shop in the Netherlands. As devout Christians, they spent their lives living peacefully and simply.

When they saw the grave injustices being enacted upon their neighbors and friends, some Jewish and some not, the ten Boom family banded together to help as many as they could. In a way they lived by the premise of the poem, "And then they came for me..." Fighting for those who could not fight for themselves, the ten Boom family helped shelter as many as they could, until they were caught.

Being confined in the concentration camp only fortified Corrie and her sister Betsie's faith. They prayed all the time and fought off the desperation that tried so strongly to capture them. While not everyone made it out, some of the family did. You'll have to read the book to find out who though.

Needless to say, I have loved this book very well. Anything having to do with the Holocaust has always fascinated me and this book was no exception. Corrie ten Boom speaks plainly so as not to make anything sound better or worse than it really was. Her story is just one among thousands, but it stands out because of the way she tells the story. A truly inspiring read that I cannot compare to any other Holocaust memoir.