Hana Banana Reads

The War Outside by Monica Hesse Age Range: 13 & up Release Date: September 25, 2018 Little, Brown and Company 9780316316699 “I know the way I am telling these stories seems mundane and boring. Horror grows out of mundanity. If you’re paying attention, it always starts small. We all tell the versions we wish were true.”* There are a lot of World War II stories. Some people claim to be tired of them. I, on the other hand, am always drawn to them. There are so many stories to tell during this time, so many atrocities committed, so many lives affected, how could anyone have possibly heard them all? Well, I am here to tell you, Monica Hesse’s newest is a story you haven’t heard before, and even if you consider yourself “tired” of tales set during this time, you should really give this one a shot. Haruko and Margot meet in Crystal City, Texas, an internment camp for those under suspect of working with the enemy. Neither of the girls has ever seen the places their...

***Upcoming Release!*** The War I Finally Won Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 9780525429203 Age Range: 9-14 Release Date: October 3, 2017 Dial Books Due in October, TheWar I Finally Won is the sequel I never knew we needed. Its predecessor, The War That Saved My Life , took the kidlit world by storm in 2015, snagging a Newbery Honor the following year. That powerhouse of a book followed Ada, a ten-year-old girl with a clubfoot who suffers terrible abuse at the hands of her mother. Because of her bad foot, her mother insists Ada is simple, that no one could ever love her (including herself), and never allows Ada to leave their flat in London. But it is 1939, there is a war on, and London is under constant threat of being bombed. The abuse Ada suffers, both physical and psychological, sits with her, even after she is accepted into a loving home as an evacuee. This is where our sequel picks up, and it is Ada’s psychological state and emotional developme...