The Book Thief (December 2007) is a young adult novel by Australian author Markus Zusak. Other titles by Zusak include Underdogs (1999), I am the Messenger (2002), and Bridge of Clay (2018). All his works have received multiple literary prizes and reader’s choice awards from countries around the world.When first published, The Book Thief became a #1 New York Times bestseller and was a nominee of PBS’s The Great American Read as one of America’s... Read The Book Thief Summary

John Boyne’s juvenile historical novel The Boy at the Top of the Mountain (2016, Henry Holt and Company) weaves real-life figures and events into the fictional story of a boy named Pierrot Fischer, who becomes corrupted after falling under the direct influence of the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. The novel’s central themes involve the conflicts and struggles of life under Nazi rule, as well as Pierrot’s move from innocence and naïveté to violence and abuse—and... Read The Boy at The Top of the Mountain Summary

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a historical fiction novel published in 2006 by celebrated Irish author John Boyne, known both for his adult and young adult fiction. Set around the World War II concentration camp Auschwitz, the novel combines realism with parable. It portrays a young German boy, Bruno, whose father is commander of the camp, and his unusual and ultimately tragic friendship with a Jewish boy, Shmuel. The work sold over seven... Read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Summary

Leon Leyson’s The Boy on the Wooden Box (2013) is a memoir for young readers about the author’s experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust. Leyson was one of the youngest persons on the famous list of Jews that businessman Oskar Schindler employed in his ammunition factory in Poland, thus saving them from execution. The book’s title comes from the fact that Leon, being small of stature, must stand on a wooden box to operate... Read The Boy On The Wooden Box Summary

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The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club by Phillip Hoose is a young adult (YA) nonfiction book published in 2015. Hoose, who previously received a Newbery Honor for Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, was inspired to write the book after learning about the Churchill Club on a visit to the Museum of Danish Resistance in Copenhagen. The book is composed of Hoose’s research-based narration of the actions and events surrounding the... Read The Boys Who Challenged Hitler Summary

The Boy Who Dared is a young adult novel, written by award-winning children’s author Susan Campbell Bartoletti and published in 2008. The Boy Who Dared is a historical fiction novel based on the real life of Helmuth Hübener, a German boy who defied the Nazis during WWII. Alternating between his last day on death row and his memories, Helmuth’s story depicts the danger of silence, the value of the individual, and the power of the... Read The Boy Who Dared Summary

The Breadwinner, also known as Parvana, is a 2000 children’s novel by Canadian author and activist Deborah Ellis. It centers on an 11-year-old girl named Parvana who, due to her family’s circumstances, is forced to defy the Taliban and their repressive laws to become the breadwinner for her family. Exploring themes of human connection, maturation and bravery, and the repression of women, The Breadwinner was critically acclaimed upon its release and has had over 40... Read The Breadwinner Summary

The Bridge on the Drina is a 1945 historical fiction novel by Ivo Andrić, translated from Serbo-Croat by Lovett F. Edwards. It tells the story of a bridge built in Višegrad that linked disparate communities from the east and west.  Plot Summary The novel opens with a description of the scenery surrounding Višegrad, a fertile valley with high forested mountains on either side. The bridge spans the Drina, the largest river, and a second smaller bridge... Read The Bridge on the Drina Summary

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The Cage is the 1986 memoir of Ruth Minsky Sender, nee Riva Minska, detailing her family’s struggle to survive the Holocaust. Born in Lodz, Poland, Riva inhabits a close-knit community that integrates both Jews and non-Jews through shared traditions and intergenerational spaces. When Hitler’s Nazis invade Poland, thirteen-year-old Riva watches this peace crumble, as non-Jewish friends accept her family’s persecution and as Jews themselves adopt positions of power that hurt others in the community.After Riva’s... Read The Cage Summary

The Cellist of Sarajevo focuses on the struggles of four people during the long and brutal Siege of Sarajevo. For the citizens of Sarajevo at this time, life is torturous. There are snipers in the hills encircling the city with their guns trained on the people below. These snipers, who the characters refer to as “the men in the hills,” are picking off the townspeople one by one whenever they venture outside for food or... Read The Cellist of Sarajevo Summary

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Marie-Henri Beyle, writing under his penname Stendhal, published his last complete work, the novel The Charterhouse of Parma, in French in 1839. It tells the story of an Italian nobleman who fights in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) and then navigates the fraught political dynamics of the era known as the Italian Restoration (1814-1848). This was a time when the memory of revolution was repressed and power seemed to many to operate on caprice and intrigue... Read The Charterhouse of Parma Summary

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