The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb

I love reading a good nonfiction book about a topic that is new to me. I vaguely knew that a lot of Nazi war criminals escaped to Argentina, but I had never heard the story of how Israeli spies tracked down the notorious Adolf Eichmann and brought him to trial in Israel. Eichmann was the head of the SS during World War II. It was his job to carry out Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews. He was a powerful and arrogant man during the Holocaust, but he disappeared in 1945 when Germany lost the war. Years later, most of the world had given up and tracking down Nazi criminals, but many Holocaust survivors and people living in Israel still wanted to bring public justice to the worst perpetrators of the genocide. Amazingly enough, Eichmann was first discovered to be living in Argentina by a teenage girl and her blind father. It took several years for officials to believe their story and for Israeli spies to devise the elaborate plan to capture Eichmann, hold him as a secret captive in Argentina, and fly him to Israel—all without the Argentine government finding out anything. The details of how the capture was made are fascinating. This makes for great reading, especially for fans of history and spy books.

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

I love historical fiction and particularly enjoyed Elizabeth Wein's previous book, Code Name Verity. This follow-up book, which isn't a sequel but shares one character, was also a great read. Rose is a young American pilot working in Britain during World War II. She longs to fly to Europe instead of ferrying airplanes around the UK. On her first chance things go wrong and she is captured and sent to Ravensbrück, a women's concentration camp that I knew nothing about before reading this book. While there she is taken in by a group of women called the "rabbits" because they were the subjects of horrific medical experiments done by Nazi doctors. The whole concentration camp experience is awful, as you can imagine, but this book is so full of humor and humanity and daring that it is inspiring rather than depressing. I appreciated that the book did not end in the camps, rather it went on to show the aftermath for those who survived. This is a book about friendship and the power it can have to overcome the worst circumstances in the world. The best part of the book for me? Rose is also a poet who loves the poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay's poems are interwoven throughout the text as are poems that Rose writes. Elizabeth Wein, a pilot herself, is an outstanding writer and this is a must-read for historical fiction lovers. My review isn't going this book justice, so please see this review of Rose Under Fire as well.

The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

Emma is an American teenager who has grown up in Japan. When her mom needs breast cancer treatment, Emma is uprooted and brought to Massachusetts to live with grandparents. This free verse novel explores Emma's reverse culture shock as she adjusts to life in the United States. Emma is a girl who wants to help others—she is torn by the fact that she cannot be in Japan helping victims of the recent tsunami even though she knows she needs to be with her mother during her treatments. She signs up to volunteer at a nursing home and is paired with a stroke victim with whom she writes poetry. At the nursing home she also meets a Cambodian immigrant named Samnang who becomes a friend and a possible love interest, and through him she finds a way to contribute to relief efforts in Japan. While it seems like this book might have too much going on, it's really a quiet, reflective book about a year in the life of an sensitive and introspective teenage girl. I enjoyed it a lot and passed it on to Ms. Chapman, the teacher with whom I traveled to Cambodia this summer. It will especially appeal to readers who are interested in Japanese or Cambodian culture.

To Be Perfectly Honest by Sonya Sones

To be perfectly honest, I didn't really like this book. I have liked Sonya Sones' books in the past but this one is short on characterization. The main character, Colette, is the 15-year-old daughter of a famous movie star who is neglected by her mom most of the time. She lies all the time about both big and small things (and to her credit she knows this—in fact, she tells you she is an unreliable narrator). In this story she and her younger brother, Will, are living in a hotel pretty much on their own while their mom is filming a movie. Colette meets a somewhat older boy who seems interested in her and doesn't know she is the daughter of a movie star. I didn't see much reason for her to be in love with Connor except that he drives a motorcycle and is handsome. I also didn't see much motivation for Connor to be interested in Colette, but the book is full of her romantic dreams and their encounters, and his attempts to go farther with her than she is ready to go. It's also a little creepy because we know all along that he is 18 and she is underage (and Colette's mom doesn't seem to care). Then (spoiler alert) he tells her his deep dark secret which only makes her love him more but then turns out to be a lie. Colette's mom doesn't seem so bad in the end and Colette learns a valuable life lesson. I don't think high school students would buy this story—it's just a little too predictable and trite, but due to the sexual issues explored here I wouldn't recommend it for younger readers. (And that little brother's lisp was really annoying.)