Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death From Inside the New Canadian Army by Christie Blatchford
Globe and Mail reporter Christie Blatchford made three trips to Afghanistan in 2006 and spent hundreds of hours interviewing Canadian soldiers. In Fifteen Days, they share breathtakingly honest accounts of their desire to serve, their willingness to confront fear and danger in the battlefield, their loyalty towards each other and the heartbreak occasioned by the loss of one of their own.
Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright
Before she turned twelve, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of her native Prague and the attempted genocide of European Jews.
In Prague Winter, Albright reflects on her discovery of her family’s Jewish heritage many decades after the war, on her Czech homeland’s tangled history, and on the stark moral choices faced by her parents and their generation. Albright and her family’s experiences provide an intensely human lens through which to view the most political and tumultuous years in modern history.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
In this fictional account of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel — a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbours. Compelling and beautifully told.
Dear World: A Syrian Girl’s Story of War and Plea for Peace by Bana Alabed
When eight-year-old Bana Alabed took to Twitter to describe the horrors she and her family were experiencing in war-torn Syria, her heartrending messages touched the world and gave a voice to millions of innocent children.
Bana’s happy childhood was abruptly upended by civil war when she was only three years old. Over the next four years, she knew nothing but destruction and fear. Facing death as bombs relentlessly fell around them, one of which completely destroyed their home, Bana and her family embarked on a perilous escape to Turkey.
Written in Bana’s own words, Dear World is a gripping account of a family endangered by war.
This selection of titles in honour of Remembrance Day was put together by Christine McCrea, librarian at Richmond Public Library. For more popular reading suggestions, visit Richmond Public Library’s website at YourLibrary.ca/goodbooks
