Wonderful book that helps unfold the complexities of the Civil Rights movement. Hoose conducted extensive interviews with Claudette, and her words are used throughout the book. Highly recommended.

Buxbaum was on one of my NTTBF panels, but I didn't get to this book before the festival. And I am totally kicking myself about this.

Charming, charming characters with real issues. The exploration of grief is incredibly well done. Also, it's funny. The whole mystery regarding SN is drawn out just long enough, and though I guessed who it was fairly early, I didn't even care. Look forward to reading more from her.

DHV Book Club choice that wasn't a winner with most of the group. It is incredibly dark and violent. Wash and Naomi really don't have a lot of options, and the weight of that hangs over the entire book.

The great tragedy this is built around, the New London school explosion, is stunning. But it's the ending that truly guts you.

Well worth reading, especially for its explorations of the complications of being Hispanic in the Jim Crow South.

A different side of WWII horrors--Esther's family is shipped to Siberia. They manage to make a life, but nothing is as it was. And when the war ends and they can go back to Poland, Esther isn't sure she's ready to leave. That exploration is what makes this book so interesting--trying to figure out where home is, especially with the news that their entire extended family is gone.