#19--The Shadow Children by Steven Schnur

My 8^th graders study The Diary of Anne Frank as part of their Language Arts class and several teachers typically require the students to read an additional book about the Holocaust as part of this unit.  One day last week this title was turned in by a student and I noticed that it had a fantasy genre sticker on it (I put genre stickers on all my fiction books so that the students—and I—have an easier time picking out a specific genre), and I was curious as to why I had put a fantasy sticker on a book that also has a Holocaust sticker on it.  So, before putting it back on the shelf, I grabbed it and quickly read it.  (It took me less than 40 minutes to get through, so it is a quick read--less than 100 pages.)

The story takes place several years after World War II is over, in a small French town, Mont Brulant.  Etienne is looking forward to spending the summer with his grandfather and this is the first year his parents will not be joining him.  Etienne is surprised to notice on the drive back to his grandfather’s home from the train station that the town is much quieter than he remembers.  They also pass a group of children begging on the side of the road, but his grandfather doesn’t notice them.

As the summer goes on and Etienne goes exploring, he comes across a group of children living and hiding in the woods, who run and hide when they hear a train coming.  Etienne knows that the closest train is miles away and the children couldn’t be seen from it.  He doesn’t understand what they are hiding from. 

When he mentions the children to his grandfather, Grand-pere brushes it off, but Madame Jaboter (who comes to clean and cook for Grand-pere) overhears Etienne and begs him to promise he won’t go back to the woods.  Eventually, Etienne learns who the children are and why they are hiding…they are the souls of the children the people of Mont Brulant tried to save from the Nazis, but were forced to hand them over. 

This was a different story than I was expecting, but thought it was pretty well done.  (It has a fantasy sticker because we use fantasy whenever there are ghosts or anything supernatural in the story.)

Now it is going back on the shelf for another student to read.

Happy Reading!

#4--The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

There is something about Jack the Ripper that fascinates many....and I am one of the many.  At least, I am ever since I took a trip to London with some friends a few years ago and we took a "Jack the Ripper" tour on our last night in Jolly Olde England. 

When today's book arrived in the library a few months ago and I was cataloging it for my students, it sparked my interest because of the Ripper connection....and so I knew eventually that I would read it.

Rory Deveaux is from Louisiana and spending the year at a boarding school in London.  The day she arrives seems like just your average day, but something is off.  There has been a murder in the Whitechapel section of London--where the famed Ripper murders occurred during late 1888--and the media are in a tizzy.  When a second murder occurs on September 8--the same day Annie Chapman was murdered in 1888,a woman named Fiona Chapman, and murdered in the same manner that Annie Chapman had been--the tizzy becomes a full-fledged frenzy.  Everyone is concerned that the "double event" of September 30 is coming up.  In the meantime, Rory is seeing people out and about that no one else sees, including who she believes is the murderer, the Ripper.

Why can Rory see these people but no one else can?  Will her parents ship her back to Louisiana before the end of the year because of the danger?  What is going to happen if the police can't capture this new Ripper?

And the big question I want to know the answer to....will there be a sequel?!?!

For further reading on Jack the Ripper, you may want to check out The Ripper and the Royals by Melvyn Fairlough.  I read this one after coming back from England, at the recommendation of our Ripper tour guide.  It is a heavy but fascinating read.

Happy reading!