"Margot" by Jillian Cantor

I guess you could say that I have an obsession with Anne Frank. I have read pretty much everything that I can get my hands on and my dream traveling experience is to visit the Secret Annex. When I found out that there was a fictionalized book about Margot that took place after the war, I was very intrigued. Years ago I read  The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank by Ellen Feldman and thought that it was a very interesting account of how things might have been had Peter survived the war. Jillian Cantor's Margot follows the same idea, only it's Margot who has survived.

Set years after the end of World War II, Margot Frank (now going by the name Margie Franklin), lives alone in Philadelphia. She goes to work, comes home, and doesn't have much of a social life outside of the two. She doesn't allow anyone to get close to her. She lives with a secret- her true identity. She is aware that her father is alive and that Anne's diary is in print. At the opening of the novel, the movie The Diary of Anne Frank has just been released as well. Despite all of this, she still keeps her secret and makes no attempt to reconnect with her past. But there would be one exception. Before they were pulled from the Annex, she and Peter made a plan to move to America, change their names and begin new lives. She is still waiting for the day when she can once again be with her beloved Peter.

I was really impressed by this book. It's difficult to take a piece of history and create a fictional story out of it. It is even more difficult to take said history and rewrite it. Sadly, we don't have access to Margot's diary (oh how I am hoping it somehow survived the war and someday it turns up in someone's attic) so there's no telling how much of this novel could potentially be true, but Cantor wrote in such a way, it's easy to imagine that these events could have taken place. Though I started it knowing it was completely fictionalized, I was very immersed in the plot and feel that this is one of the best books I have read this year. Anyone that has read Anne's diary or that has felt that Anne has had an impact on their life should give this book a read.

Happy Reading!

-Melly

"I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis

I came across this series on accident, but it's exactly the kind of series that I just love!  When I was younger, I was always drawn to historical fiction (oddly, I much prefer that written for elementary school age over than for teens and adults).  One of my favorite series was the Travelers Through Time.  Though there were only three, I read them often.  The I Survived books by Lauren Tarshis, remind me quite a bit.  I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912, the first in the series, George is traveling back home with his sister Phoebe and their Aunt Daisy.  Though they have only been on board a short time, he has already met Mr. Andrews and found out about the layout of the ship and discovered a secret- there is the mummy of an Egyptian princess on board the Titanic!  Naturally George decides he wants to get a glimpse of the mummy before they land in New York but a man with a scarred face has the same idea.  Just as the man opens the crate containing the mummy, something happens and the ship begins to sink!  Can George survive?

This book is more or less what you would expect with the subject matter (there sure are a LOT of books about the Titanic) but since it is the first in the series, I think it is a good introduction to these books.  It's great to see how real elements of history are reflected in the pages.  Kids reading this book for fun will still learn something from George's adventure.  I also enjoyed that the book ends with a list of facts (I always appreciate these sort of things because I remember them helping me out with school reports).  I am anxious to read more books in this series (at the time of writing this review there are seven, but I suspect that there will be more).  I also like that fact that it is a series since it's always nice to be able to direct kids to books like the ones they just read.  If you read this book, you will not be disappointed!



Happy Reading!
-Melly

"Matched" by Ally Condie

I feel like I may be one of the only people on the planet who had not started the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie yet.  Boy was I missing out!  I powered through the first book this weekend and I will be starting Crossed shortly after finishing this blog.

I like seeing what trends appear to be popular in books and am happy to see that the vampire trend tends to be dying down.  I am also suprised to see that dystopian themed books might be the next big thing.

Cassia (love the name) lives in a seemingly perfect world.  There are no choices, everything is decided for you;  where you will work, when you will die, and who you will marry.  The book starts with Cassia finding out that she is to be matched with her childhood best friend, Xander.  Everything appears to be perfect until she takes a look at the microchip with with Xander's information on it- only to see the face of another boy, Ky.  The Society rarely makes mistakes but they tell Cassia that's what this is; a mistake.  So why does she suddenly find herself wanting to spend time with Ky?  The more time she spends with Ky the more she begins to question the Society she has always known.



This book has a little bit of everything; romance, adventure, action, suspense, and a bit of a cliffhanger.  While I think it will appeal more to girls, it's not overly mushy so I think guys can enjoy it too.  Like many others I'm sure, I found Matched to be quite similar to The Giver by Lois Lowry and Delrium by Lauren Oliver.  If you like Matched and Crossed, I recommend reading the other two while you wait for the trilogy's conclusion.