A Wish After Midnight (Historical Fiction)

 Elliott, Z. (2008). A Wish After MIdnight. Independent Publishing. Createspace.

    A Wish After Midnight is a fantasy of sorts, as it involves traveling back in time, as well as historical fiction. It’s about a 15 year old girl, Genna, who lives in a cramped apartment with her mother and three siblings. Genna, who is mixed race, finds comfort in a botannical gardens and is transported back to Brooklyn, NY, just before the Civil War.

This book deals with racism (Genna’s mother hates whites and Genna doesn’t want to think that way) in both the present and in the 1800’s. This would be a good novel for teenagers in a social studies class, where discussion could be had about the situations faced by Blacks, both then and now. It’s message is that it is possible to create something good from the situation you may be in and, also, that if you look past the exterior, you can see the good in (some) people.

 

Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II (Historical Fiction)

  Bruchac, J. (2005). Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II. New York. The Penguin Group.

If you like history, especially war history, this book will interest you. Code Talker is based on the Navajo Marines of World War II. At this point most people have, at least, probably heard of the movie Windtalkers. There are also several non-fiction books on the subject. During WWII, the Navajo language was used to relay radio messages so the enemy couldn’t decipher them.

In the novel Code Talker 16 year old Ned Begay lies about his age, enlists in the Marines, and becomes a Code Talker. From what I know about the subject, I believe this book is historically accurate. I also think it’s incredibly interesting. I think middle school and up  will see how men of other ethnicities played a role in our country’s history. Especially when it comes to war, most movies and novels depict our soldiers as white. I think it’s important for young adults to see that other races and ethnic groups did play a role in our nation’s wars.