Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez and The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

I’ve been buried in school work these past few months, but I did manage to read a few books. Both were young adult historical fiction, so I decided to talk about them both in the same post.

Historical fiction is a genre that I don’t pick up as often as others, but I always enjoy it whenever I do. Young adult novels in this category tend to hit me hard, with emotional storylines and compelling plots. These two stories were no exception to that.

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez centers around two teenagers named Naomi and Wash living in a rural 1930’s Texas oil town called New London. Naomi just moved to the area from Mexico with her younger brother and sister to live with her stepfather. Her relationship with her stepfather is fraught and abusive, but there are better opportunities for her siblings in New London. They are light enough to pass as white and are able to attend a good school there. For their sake, she forces herself to stay. 

When she meets Wash, an African American boy, she is instantly drawn to him. Though she tries to deny her feelings at first, they fall in love with each other and start dating in secret. Although neither one is white and both suffer from the racism of their surroundings, no one believes it’s appropriate for them to be together. They dream of running away to Mexico to start a new life, but their plans are thrown into chaos when the New London School explosion occurs. The disaster sets a chain of events into motion that threaten to destroy everything Naomi and Wash have been working towards.

This novel was beautifully written and completely gut wrenching to read. It touches on many heavy topics including racism, domestic abuse, substance abuse, grief, and more. Trigger warnings are in order for just about every bit of sensitive content out there, but those that are up for taking an emotional journey will be rewarded with a complex story about love persevering through unimaginable difficulties. The chapters are quite short and rotate through the perspectives of several different characters, making this an easy book to pick up and read a little bit at a time. It was very sad, and very good. 

The New London School explosion is a real event that killed over 300 people, most of them children, in 1937. A natural gas leak caused a massive explosion that destroyed the part of the school housing the 5th-11th grades. I had never heard of it before reading this novel, but it was horrific and absolutely devastating to the community. It was a very intense backdrop to Naomi and Wash’s story and Pérez did a nice job of integrating it into the text. 

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 6/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 3/24

The second novel I read was The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe. This novel was based on the life of a real Auschwitz survivor, Dita Kraus. Dita was taken from her home in Prague and imprisoned in Auschwitz when she was a young teenager. While there, she and the other children attended a makeshift school run by other captives. The school managed to assemble a secret collection of eight novels to use in their teaching, and Dita was placed in charge of these books. To be found with a book in Auschwitz would mean instant death, so Dita's job was extraordinarily dangerous. Fortunately, Dita is an extraordinary girl, and her bravery and determination to keep her little library safe keeps a spark of hope alive in an unimaginably terrible place. 

This was another beautiful book set in a brutal place. Iturbe is a Spanish writer and this is a translated work. Sometimes the language sounded a bit off in the way that translated works do, but it was still a very touching story and a great reading experience. The terror and sadness of Auschwitz was portrayed clearly, and Dita’s story was told in a way that was inspirational and emotional. The story did what great historical fiction does–make history come alive to readers. It’s incredible that the real-life Dita Kraus was able to keep this secret library safe. I really enjoyed learning about her story through this novel.

So ultimately, even though the pace of my reading has slowed down quite a bit, I have still been able to find some really great reads. Both Out of Darkness and The Librarian of Auschwitz were excellent books. My semester is nearly over now and I’m looking forward to a summer where I can read and write a little more frequently. It’s funny–I’m in a graduate program to learn about the science of reading and how to help struggling readers. I’m literally spending so much time reading about reading that I don’t have time to read. Go figure.  

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 7/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 4/24

Hands by Torrey Maldonado

 

Back in May of 2021, I read Tight by Torrey Maldonado. It was selected as a whole class read for the eighth graders at my school. At the time, I didn't personally love it. However, I was hopeful that the kids would be able to relate to it. Now it's two years later and I can confirm, the kids really do enjoy it. They like the short length and the realistic plot. It's a manageable story about kids like themselves. It ended up being a good choice to use in the classroom. When I saw that Maldonado had published a new novel named Hands, I immediately wanted to give it a try to see if this would be another book that the students might get into. 

The plot of this novel revolves around a 12-year-old named Trevor. As the story begins he is reflecting on a traumatic family event. Two years ago, his stepfather was arrested for hitting his mother during an argument. This act of violence violated his parole, sending him to prison for two years. In the time since then, Trevor has been grappling with a lot of complex feelings. He is determined not to let his mother or sisters be hurt again, and has taken up boxing so he will know how to fight back when his stepfather returns. However, he's not a fighter at heart; he's actually a talented artist and a very kind soul. He just doesn't want to feel helpless. With his stepfather's release drawing near, he finds himself caught between the tough persona he's tried to adopt and the person he truly is inside.

Hands was a quick read, but it actually packed a pretty strong emotional punch. I felt for Trevor throughout the novel and I was definitely rooting for him to make good choices. His problems with his stepfather were very heavy, but Maldonado did a nice job of keeping the text appropriate for his audience. This is the kind of story that middle grades readers will love because it deal with a mature topic and isn't too long. With most chapters being just two or three pages, it's very approachable and uses language that kids will understand. I really liked its ultimate messages of being yourself and reaching out for help when you need it too.  

Ultimately, I think I enjoyed Hands a little bit more than Tight. I was able to connect more with the emotional topic and I liked Trevor as a character. I will definitely be recommending this one to students in the future. Torrey Maldonado has really found his niche writing these quick middle grades reads about boys with relatable problems, and I hope he keeps writing because it's tough to find books that boys at this age will stick with.  

2023 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 5/24

Clear the Shelves 2023: 2/24