All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

 

Marie-Laure is 12 years old when she and her father flee  Paris after the Germans invade France in

World War II. They go her great-uncle's home in Saint Malo, where she remains after her father is imprisoned by the Nazis. She has been blind since she was six, and has to navigate this new world without her father, who has always been her navigator.

Werner Pfennig is a small 14 year old when he is accepted into a Nazi training school. He is a genius with radios, and although smaller than most of the other students, does well at the school. It is chilling to see how these children were groomed for the war machine. He is assigned the task of finding radio transmissions by the resistance.

The story follows both through the war; their lives intersect at the very end of the book, although it is clear that will happen as you read. This is a sad book that reminds us of the horrors of war for everyone, not just soldiers.


545 pages

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

In this Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Doerr writes about the years leading up to and including WWII from the very personal perspective of two children who grow into their teens during the 1930's and 1940's.  Marie-Laure, who is blind, lives with her father in Paris, but evacuates with him when the Germans invade.  Her father helps her 'see' and navigate the world by building models of their neighborhood.  She is the embodiment of good and innocence, and has a great curiosity and love for learning. The orphan boy Werner, growing up in Germany, has a great knack for mechanical things, especially radios, that eventually takes him to an elite training school for German youth.  Following these two characters as they grow and develop allows Doerr to explore themes of the role of the individual in confronting evil.  I was most struck by his descriptions of how the average German citizens became entangled, little by little, in the promises and lies of Hitler's fascism.  Doerr is a master storyteller, and an expert at putting in the details of each scene to make it superbly real.  530 pages.

"Time and Tide" by E.M. Lindsey

This lovely story starts in 1897 when William Owens returns to Maryland after graduating from Oxford to find himself engaged to a woman he's never met.  His overbearing mother has arranged it, and he doesn't have the courage to say no.  However, he soon meets a blind, French writer, Theodore Renard, who changes Will's life in drastic ways.  But with a pregnant and miserable wife and a job he hates, Will must stand up to his mother and be his true self in order to be happy. 

This is the first book that I have read by this author and found it to flow very well with two very strong and empathetic main characters.  I can't explain more about the story without giving away major plot points, but I'll just say that I really liked the writing and the characters of Theo and Will.  203 pages (Kindle edition).

Helen’s Big World by Doreen Rappaport

This picture book biography of Helen Keller uses actual quotes from Ms. Keller interspersed with the narrative of her life. A moving but matter-of-fact re-telling of the familiar story,  one that children will be fascinated with.

It begins with Helen as a baby, laughing and gurgling and beginning to talk; then the mysterious illness that left her deaf and blind, and unable to talk. It continues  through her life
as a lecturer, author, and advocate for social causes.

It is a MASL 'Show Me' award nominee for 2014-2015.

48 pages

 

 

 

Anna & Natalie by Barbara H. Cole.

Mrs. Randall’s 3^rd grade class is going to the Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Four students will be allowed to carry the wreath. In order to be on the ‘Tomb Team’, the students have to write a letter telling why they should be selected.

 

 Anna has always wanted to be chosen for teams at school, but never is.  Never, never , never.  She really, really wants to be chosen for the Tomb Team.  That night, she calls her Grandpa  to ask him questions, and then works hard on her letter. 

 

When Mrs. Randall announces the winner, she reads one of the letters. It is signed ‘Natalie – with help from Anna. P. S. – will you let Anna walk with me?’ At the ceremony, Natalie leads

the procession, with Anna walking beside her.

 

Read the book to see who Natalie is. It may surprise you!

 

32 pages

 

 

Focus: a Memoir by Ingrid Ricks

This is a short memoir detailing the author’s coming to grips with the discovery that she has Retinitis Pigmentosa, and is losing her sight.

At age 37, Ingrid Ricks was a journalist and marketing/PR specialist when she began to have trouble with her eyesight. She made an appointment with an ophthalmologist, and goes for her first-ever eye exam. By the end of the appointment, she has been told that she has a degenerative eye disease, and is already legally blind. She is also told that she can expect the disease to progress, and eventually will probably lose her remaining vision.

In this memoir, she details her 8-year journey to come to grips with this knowledge. At first, she is devastated with fear of losing her independence, of becoming a burden to her husband, and not being able to see her two young daughters grow up. But she finds her way through that despair, and now lives a life grounded in joy, hope and vision beyond eyesight.

 

96 pages