Ticket to Ride

Recommended grades 6 and up.  Ticket to Ride is a German-style board game that allows players to earn points by building train-routes across the country.  Players need to strategize by building routes before their opponents can.  Ticket to Ride can be adapted to the middle school level because the rules are simple, and unlike other strategy games like Risk, a single game can be played relatively quickly.  As users' skills increase, the game becomes more challenging.  Playing this game can build geography skills as well as critical thinking.  The original game board is a map of the United States, though other versions are available, including Europe, Germany, and Asia.  The game does include lots of little pieces which can be easily lost.  Highly recommended, ****

The Anne Frank Case

Recommended grades 4-8.  Susan Goldman Rubin shares a biography of Simon Wiesenthal, the 'Nazi hunter,' on his quest to find the man who arrested Anne Frank and family in their Amsterdam hideaway.  The story begins after World War II as Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, is confronted by postwar Neo-Nazis and Holocaust denial.  Though a mature subject, Rubin manages to explain the Holocaust and neo-Nazism in a remarkably clear way.  The book explores Wiesenthal's own experience in concentration camps, and explains his unrelenting drive to find former Nazis and to bring them to trial.  Illustrator Bill Barsworth contributes dark paintings of Wiesenthal, the Holocaust violence, and the afterwar period.  Some of the images in are chilling in their detail; one portrait of Anne Frank, with warm eyes looking off in the distance as she sits writing in her diary, is particularly haunting.  The biography is clearly well-researched; Rubin includes detailed source notes, photographs of Wiesenthal, and a glossary for readers new to the subject.  Though a beautiful picture book, it is definitely meant for mature readers.  This could be a wonderful addition for classes studying the Holocaust using longer narratives, like Number the Stars, or the Diary of Anne Frank itself.  Overall, an incredible story, definitely one worth passing down and including in any class study of the Holocaust. Highly recommended, *****.

Jews in America

Recommended grades 10-12.  Illustrated histories are a great way for readers to access dense material.  In today's graphic novel market, there is an abundance of historical non fiction material.  Daniel Gantz contributes to this subgenre with Jews in America (The Jewish Publication Society, 2006).  Gantz covers a staggering amount of history in under 200 pages-- he traces Jews in diaspora starting in 1189 until Kofi Annan's 2005 speech about modern anti-semitism.  Though focused primarily on Jews living in America Gantz adds commentary about America's relationship with Jews outside the United States, primarily in Europe and Israel.  Gantz illustrates in dark sepia; his style mirrors political cartoonists like Thomas Nast.  Though told in "cartoon," Gantz's history is not watered down.  He uses a complex vocabulary and does not shy away from controversial topics. It is important to note that Gantz does not provide an entirely unbiased explanation of current events.  Gantz does a good job of creating a book about Jewish history not entirely shrouded in the horror of the Holocaust, which many library collections for young people lack.  Still, this volume would be best for more mature readers.  Additional Selection, ***.

Prisoners in the Palace

Recommended Grades 8-12.  Queen Victoria is arguably one of the most well-known monarchs in Western Civilization.  She was the Queen of Great Britain when it was at it's peak of "the Sun Never Setting" and the longest ruling monarch in British history.  But what was her life like before she was the queen?  Michaela Macoll answers just this question in her well-researched historical fiction novel, Prisoners in the Palace (Chronicle Books, 2011).  It turns out, Victoria's life was shockingly similar to that of Cinderella's; she was greedily watched over by a vapid mother and evil stepfather (well, not truly stepfather, but her mother's consort), trapped in the palace doors, locked away from the rest of the world, in an attempt to influence and control her power.  Instead of singing mice and a fairy godmother, Victoria has Liza, the orphan of a knighted family down on her luck.  Liza, the true main character of the story, comes to terms with her dramatic fall from grace, while empowering the young princess to rise to her greatest heights.  Liza is fictional, though Macoll clearly put a great effort into making her, and the rest of the scenarios, as true to history as possible.  She includes excerpts from Victoria's diaries and letters, bringing to life a true teenage girl.  Overall, this is an entertaining, informative, and compassionate telling of British history.  Highly recommended, ****

For the Love of Music

Recommended grades 2-5.  Much is known about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the child prodigy who has given the world much of our most beloved classical symphonies, but little is known about his sister, Maria, also considered a virtuoso in her time, and a great influence on Mozart's own composition.  Elizabeth Rusch brings the oft untold story of Maria in For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart (Tricycle Press, 2011).  Each movement in Maria's life is accompanied by a piece of the sonata structure - her childhood is labeled "The First Movement," her tour with Mozart called "Allegro" for it's fast pace.  Rusch's descriptions of the children are lively, many young readers may see some of their brothers and sisters in the text.  The characters and setting come to life with paintings and collages by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.  Figures are painted in paint so thick that you can see the texture of the brushstrokes, and the clothes they wear as well as the walls in their rooms are overlaid with period fabric.  Pianos and doors are made of handwritten musical notes on pages browned with age.  These techniques express the richness of the culture Maria Mozart inhabited.  This book would be a fabulous way to introduce young readers to classical music and musical composition.  Highly Recommended, ****.