Reading: History

"This historical fiction tells the riveting tale of a British fighter plane that crashes in 1943 in Nazi-occupied France. A story of friendship of two women, a pilot and a secret agent spy, who find themselves in enemy territory." Young Adult Fiction. 339 pages.

After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue. Young Adult Fiction. 231 pages.

"Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, and his family (four daughters and a hemophiliac son), buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew into the Russian Revolution. Alternating between the lives of the Romanovs and their advisor Rasputin and the plight of Russia's peasants and urban workers -- and their eventual uprising – the author tells a compelling story, complete with period photographs." Nonfiction. 292 pages.

Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project. Fiction. 464 pages.

Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. One will marry an English colonel, the other will be shipped to America and sold into slavery. In a novel that stretches from the tribal wars of Ghana to the streets of 20th century Harlem, Yaa Gyasi's has written a modern masterpiece. Fiction. 305 pages. Available as ebook

Set in the ethnic neighborhoods of Seattle during World War II and Japanese American internment camps of the era, this debut novel tells the heartwarming story of widower Henry Lee, his father, and his first love Keiko Okabe. Fiction. 309 pages. Available as ebook

It’s 1936. Abilene Tucker, the daughter of a drifter, is sent to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas. Looking for her father’s past, she finds a box of letters. As secrets are revealed, Abilene weaves her story into the fabric of the town. Young Adult Fiction. 351 pages.

Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant Naples neighborhood, the novel follows the divergent life of paths of Elena and Lila during a time of momentous change. From one of Italy's most acclaimed authors. Fiction. 331 pages. Available as ebook

Beginning in 1903 with the arrival of sixteen-year-old Masuo Yasui in Oregon, the author chronicles the struggles and ultimate triumph of three generations of Japanese Americans. Nonfiction. 308 pages.

In May of 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean Lt. Louis Zamperini is captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of endurance. Zamperini answered desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor. Adult Nonfiction. 473 pages.

One of the first African American students to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 tells her story about the threats and emotional abuse she endured on the path to integration. Nonfiction. 312 pages.