World War – Cannonball Read 17

During World War Two, in the concentration camp Terezin, something grew

The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World by Elisa Boxer

January 7, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World by Elisa Boxer and illustrated by Alianna Rozentsveig was not what I expected. I think I assumed it would be a lot darker than it was, but oddly enough, it is a hopeful introduction to the subject and one that does offset the darkness of the situation and times. Perhaps things are a bit more poetic than the actual events were (a teacher in Terezin risks her life to ask another prisoner (also risking […]

Stuck or unstuck in time

Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children's Crusade: The Graphic Novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jr and Ryan North

August 21, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

WTH did I read? I admit, a lot of the graphic novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children’s Crusade, went over my head. But that just means I need to read it again as this is not something that can be taken in all at once. The artwork is what really grabbed me this first reading. There was a lot going on, but it did not always feel “fleshed out” and there were things missing, yet, there was also too much going on as well. The lack […]

Toronto: If you make it there, you can be a Comic Book Star (1939-1945)

War Bears by Margaret Atwood

March 17, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

People study the history of a nation. They study the history of that nation’s literature. They study how wars happened, the facts during and the aftermath. But do they ever write about the history of the Comic Book? The Graphic Novel? War Bears is an homage to “The Canadian Whites” and a history of World War Two. Moral back home was important, but also important was the moral of the troops. And the comics that “boys (and gals) back home” made kept spirits up. And […]

One of the Untold stories of World War Two

Under the Broken Sky by Markio Nagai

October 16, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I was taught that if writers have a negative comment about what they are reviewing, they should start with a positive comment. However, I am going to be a rebel and start with the negative: If I have one complaint about Under the Broken Sky by Markio Nagai it is that the language is too modern. The contemporary voice of the narrator occasionally took me out of the (historical) moment, making me backtrack to get back to Manchuria mid-1940s. Now that is over, the good […]

If you wonder what the Irish were doing in World War II this might answer it….

October 9, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

This is the Award Winner. The Dorothy Canfield Fisher award is a Vermont state award that the books are picked by adults (though I am not always sure why they were the pickers as one was a professor at my college who had no English or child background that I knew of) and then voted on by the kids. Of course, the year I did this award the “cool kids” pick won. But that is the perfect lead in to this book. It is 1943. […]

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Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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