My Favorite Reads- June25

My Favorite Reads is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

This is where we can feature one of our favorite reads that we finished before we started blogging or even for older reviews that we would like to feature. We're not reviewing the books, but just giving a brief description (most likely the publisher's blurb) and then we tell you why the book is one of our favorites.

This week I chose Love from Your Friend, Hannah by Mindy Warshaw Skolsky

Description from Goodreads:
Hannah's best friend, Aggie, moves away and doesn't answer a single one of her letters. Determined to find a new pen pal, Hannah picks an address from a box on her teacher's desk. It's a boy, but his first letter is so dopey, Hannah isn't even going to answer it. Instead, she writes to President Roosevelt. Before long, Hannah has a whole lot of pen pals--and finally discovers the perfect friend, in the most unlikely place.
In this absorbing epistolary novel, Mindy Warshaw Skolsky takes readers back to the late 1930s, and into the life of an irrepressible and unforgettable heroine.
Awards:
A Parenting Magazine Book of the Year
A finalist for the Texas Bluebonnet Award
Smithsonian Magazine Notable Book for Children (01-02)
Young Hoosier Book Award Masterlist (Gr 4-6)00-01
William Allen White Children's Book Award Masterlist

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (September 8, 1999)
Why I chose this book:
I read this YA book several years ago and am a fan of books told in epistolary style. I also enjoy reading books from the heart, and reading this book told in letters from Hannah's heart is endearing. Hannah writes letters during the 1930's and the depression so that readers get a perspective of a child's view of this time period. Hannah is a girl seeking friendship after her best friend moves away and doesn't answer her letters. She writes letters to the current president FDR and gets letters back, she keeps writing to many others and never gives up on trying to find someone to be a friend. This is a great book for young girls and adults...I enjoyed it!

My Favorite Reads-June 4th

Alyce at At Home With Books just started a wonderful new Thursday meme called My Favorite Reads! This is where we can feature one of our favorite reads that we finished before we started blogging or even for older reviews that we would like to feature. We're not reviewing the books, but just giving a brief description (most likely the publisher's blurb) and then we tell you why the book is one of our favorites.

I think that this is a fantastic idea as there are so many books that I've read before I started this blog and would love to share them without a full review(many I have read years ago and my memory on all the details isn't the best). Also, I like the idea of featuring books that have been out awhile and not always focusing on current books and new releases.


For me, I've chosen a book that I read several years ago with my book club. It has stayed on my list of favorites for years and I would love to share a bit about this book with you.

The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate

(first published 2002)

Cover Art: I found the changes in the covers very interesting. The one on the left is the harback cover that I read, the middle cover is the trade paperback and the right is the mass paperback cover.

Description from Martha Southgate Website:

The Fall of Rome tells the story of Jerome Washington, the sole black faculty member at the Chelsea School, an exclusive New England boys’ boarding school. From his perch in the Classics department, Washington lectures about the glories of Roman Civilization. Washington is a rigorous, difficult and lonely man who has spent much of his career trying not to appear too “racial” to his white colleagues.

Into his classroom steps Rashid Bryson, a bright, appealing young African-American who mistakenly assumes that the black teacher will be an ally. In the end, Rashid forces Jerome to examine his own self-hatred, and as a tragic triangle forms between these two men and Jana Hansen, a new white female teacher, the stage is set for a painful confrontation.

My thoughts on this book:

As I mentioned, I read this book with my book club several years ago. The author grew up nearby in Cleveland, Ohio and most of us are familiar with the city and several of us grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland as I did. Cleveland is a racially diverse community as well as many of the suburbs. I liked how the story is told from the perspective of the three characters and you learn how each of them end up at the Chelsea school. I found this book to be an interesting look at race and class and how the characters were effected by their past, their own experiences and their own perceptions. The story examines how characters of the same race clash and differ. This is a coming of age story that also focuses on finding racial identity. As a reader, the story makes you question your own stereotypes and to look at race from different sides. For me, it was the storytelling itself and the authors writing style that impacted me as I read this book. The descriptions were vivid and real and it was the kind of book that made me think about my own perceptions about race and class. We had a great discussion of this book at my book club as well. I just learned in looking back on the book that it is considered Young Adult.