I didn’t plan on it, but the books I’ve read lately have been rather complimentary.
First, I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is set mainly in Russian controlled Czechoslovakia during the Cold War (a setting that largely influences the plot and philosophy that makes the book incredible).
Next, I read The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt. It’s set in the Long Island, from September 1967 through June 1968. The major events of the time period (assassinations of MLK Jr and Bobby Kennedy) as well as the Vietnam War have big impacts on the book’s charming hero, Holling, and the people in his life. This book also is a Newbery Honor recipient, which is very well deserved.
Today I read The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Peter Sis. This is an autobiography presented in pictures and words that just received a Caldecott Honor Medal. Peter Sis grew up in Prague during the Cold War, and the book spans from 1948 through 1989.
I loved all three, and am quite pleased that I serendipitously read them all about the same time.
