Review: What I Saw and How I Lied

Title: What I Saw and How I Lied
Author: Judy Blundell
Pages: 281
Rating: 5/5

When Evie's father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe's company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two.

As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . who (powells.com)?

I bought this book for one reason...the cover.  Something about the 1940s Hollywood look hooked me and I had to have a copy.  Once I sat down with the book, I read it in one setting (with a newborn so this is an awesome feat).  I also gave this book five stars.  I was thoroughly taken with this book and can't say enough about it.

What I Saw and How I Lied is a mix between a really good mystery and a coming of age novel.  The book hooks you within the first few pages, foreshadowing of events to come:

We never went to the hotel dining room now.  They knew who we were; they'd seen our pictures in the paper.  We knew they'd be saying, Look at them eating toast - how can they be so heartless (pg 2)? 

From there, the story is told through flashbacks.  Evie's family is together again after the war, but one night after a mysterious phone call, Evie's stepfather packs the entire family up and takes them to Palm Beach, Florida.  Immediately, I thought something fishy was up - otherwise, why the made rush, and why the mystery.  What was Evie's stepfather hiding.

Once the family arrives in Florida, Evie meets a young war veteran named Peter.  She almost immediately falls in love with (as did I...Blundell created one of the most enticing male characters in young adult literature).  Peter fought in the war with Joe, Evie's stepfather, however, Joe wants absolutely nothing to do Peter.

From this point forward, the reader is caught in a rollercoast of lies and mistrust.  One thing after another begins to fall apart, and we as the reader, get to experience it first hand.  I personally couldn't turn the pages fast enough.  And once at the end, I wanted to start over again from the beginning.  That is how much this book hooked me.

Blundell has a new book out called Strings Attached about a young girl in 1950s New York.  I can't wait to get my hand on it and read it.  I'm hoping it is just as good, if not even better than What I Saw and How I Lied:

Review: Number the Stars

Title: Number the Stars
Author: Lois Lowry
Pages: 137
Rating: 4.5/5

Ten year old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town.

The Nazis won't stop. The Jew of Denmark are being "relocated", so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be part of the family.

Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend's life. There's no turning back now (Cover Blurb).

I can't remember when I first read Number the Stars, but I think it was sometime around the fifth grade.  This was one of the first books I read about World War II and the Resistance movement.  This book helped cement my admiration for the heroes of this time that helped save their fellow man.  It also opened up an entire new world for me, one in which I have always found myself being drawn too.

Number the Stars tells the story of the young Annemarie, a young Danish girl who is best friends with Ellen, a Jewish citizen.  At the start of the Jewish New Year, the Nazis begin to gather up the Jews of Denmark to relocate them.  It is at this time, that Annemarie's parents take Ellen in as part of their family and help her to escape to freedom.

Annemarie is a brave young girl, who not only has to face losing her best friend, but also takes her own life into her hands when she must deliver an important package to her Uncle.  It is not until the end of the story that we learn just how important that package really was.

I enjoyed this book just as much now as I did when I read it so many years ago.  It will always be one that I keep one my shelves to return to again and again.

This book counts toward by 2011 YA Historical Fiction Challenge.

Review: Sarah Plain and Tall

Title: Sarah Plain and Tall
Author: Patricia MacLachlan
Pages: 67
Rating: 4/5

Their mother died the day after Caleb was born.  Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn't sing anymore.  Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine.  Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back.  Caleb asks if she sings.

Sarah decides to come for a month.  She writes Papa: I will come by train.  I will wear a yellow bonnet.  I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing.  Anna and Caleb will wait and wonder.  Will Sarah be nice?  Will she like them?  Will she stay? (cover blurb)

Picking the first book of a new year is always hard.  You want it to be a book with some meaning.  You want to start the year off right.  What if you hate the book?  What if you don't want to finish it?  It could ruin the rest of the reading year for you.  In picking Sarah Plain and Tall, I knew I wouldn't hate it.  I read this book years and years ago when I was in elementary school and adored it then.  I still find this book to be touching and was the perfect quick start to 2011.

Anna and Caleb lost their mother the day after Caleb was born.  Since then, they have been raised on the prairie with their Papa.  Both children horribly miss having a mother, and often talk about her singing and the fact that now that she is gone, Papa no longer sings.  When the day comes that Papa tells them about Sarah, their whole world changes.  They have a chance to have a mother, something they want so badly they can practically taste it.

I think this book pulls at the heart strings because it introduces us to two children who just want to be loved.  Plus, Sarah is a great character - strong at heart, a good worker, and a wonderful mother to both Anna and Caleb. 

I'm glad I took the time to sit down and re-read this book in the new year.  It's definitely one that I will someday share with my own children.

This book counts toward by 2011 YA Historical Fiction Challenge.