Grit, bravery, survival skills. These words describe the main character, Katniss Everdeen in the book Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  Katniss is forced to participate in the 74th annual hunger games, where 24 players a male and a female from the twelve sections of the futuristic country of Panem. These participants are put in any ecosystem and are forced to fight to the death, until only one person remains. Katniss, her sister Primrose, and her mother live in a small house in the coal mining section of Panem. On reaping day (the day the two tributes are chosen from each district to play in the hunger games), Primrose is selected to play in the 74th hunger games, but in distress the 16 year old Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her 12 year old sister’s place. The three weeks before the hunger games consist of Katniss and the male participant from the same hometown as Katniss Peeta Mellark getting groomed, cleaned up, interviewed by the TV host Caesar Flickerman, and treated like royalty. Katniss has never been treated like this before and does not like seeing the capital people living rich lifestyles while other districts have lived very in poor conditions. When the games start most tributes run right to the cornucopia (the center of the playing field that contains weapons, food, and survival equipment) while Peeta and Katniss run to the woods in effort to get away as quickly as possible. During the next few days Katniss and Peeta both run into various problems with other tributes. There are only a few participants left to the point where there are two groups formed.  As predicted, these two groups are bound to fight. To find out what happens in the final moments of the hunger games, read The Hungers Games by Suzanne Collins.

If you liked reading The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins you will also enjoy reading the action book Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Skrypuch. Making Bombs for HItler is an action packed story about a girl who is captured and put into a concentration camp and is forced to make bombs for Hitler. These books connect because they both are about girls who try to escape dictatorships. All in all, if you liked reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins you will like reading Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Skrypuch

Think about it, it’s November 9th 1938, you’re eight years old in Berlin, it’s Kristallnacht (The night of broken glass) and you and your parents see Nazi soldiers running through your neighborhood with guns. They’re painting “JUDE” on your neighbors house, while the other Nazis are breaking everyone’s windows. This is how Micheal O’Shaunessey felt when this happened to him four years ago in the book Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz. Micheal is from “neutral” Ireland, but lives in Berlin because his father is the Irish ambassador of Germany. Kristallnacht was four years ago, but it still hangs in the back of his mind. Micheal was in the Hitler youth, he went to school with only boys, he lived in a normal Irish embassy, but there was something different about him, he and his family were spies for the Allies. Micheal was in a jungvolk group, but he recently took the test to see if he was worthy to get into the Hitler youth. When Michael passed the test he basically signed a contract that said that he would give his life for Germany and Hitler. The day after Micheal’s group is assigned to go out to a farm and look for a British pilot whose plane got shot down. This news sounded horrible to Michael because he was still with the Allies even though he was in the Hitler youth. Micheal with a determined heart found the British soldier and brought him back to the embassy without being caught. Micheal decided to do this because Simon (the British pilot) would be executed by Nazi soldiers if he was found and Micheal’s cover would be blown. Through Micheal’s friend Fritz Micheal finds out about a “Science team”, but this science team is not an ordinary one. The science team is a assassination team of Hitler youth children. The “Science team” plans on killing one of the Scientists working on an atomic bomb. Will Micheal get on the Science team? Will he save the Scientist? To find out, read Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz. 

If you liked reading Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz you might also like reading A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Neilson. A Night Divided would be a great book for you if you liked Projekt 1065 because they both take place in Berlin and both of the main characters are against the Nazis. In the book, A Night Divided, it follows a girl named Greta who tries to escape to the Allied west side of Berlin because her family has been separated by the wall. After school Greta and her brother work on digging a tunnel under the wall to get to the west side. Greta goes through some very close calls with other Berliners and some Nazi soldiers. Will Greta and her brother get to west Berlin? Will they be able to start their lives over? To find out, read A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen and make sure you also read Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz. 

Think about being pulled away from your house, your town, your family and being forced to do the unthinkable for the Nazis. This is how Lida and many other Ukrainian citizens felt in the book Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. The main character Lida lives in a small village in Ukraine when the Nazis came. They rob her family and shoot her parents, but Lida and her sister are spared and are shipped on a four day train trip to a Nazi work camp. While on the train she meets Luka who is from a different part of Ukraine. When Lida gets to the work camp she notices that her sister was separated from her and she doesn’t know where she is. Once at the camp Lida was assigned to sew for the laundry mat. The problem was that they were supposed to work twelve hours a day, seven days a week with only a cup of soup and a little piece of “sawdust” bread each day. During lunch one day Lida meets Julie who works at the hospital, she uses Julie to get information about Luka who was recently injured. The next morning Lida wakes up and is told that her whole barrack has been assigned to make bombs for the Nazi war effort. The building that they were brought to for the bomb making was dark and recently was bombed. The next thing she knew was that they are in a concrete reinforced room full of supplies to make bombs and are being taught how to make them. Will Lida get out of Nazi work camp and find her sister? Will Lida live through the war? To find out what happens next, read Making Bombs For Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. 

  If you liked Making Bombs For Hitler Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch you would also like Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielson. These two books connect because the main characters in both books’ countries are being held captive and are trying to make a change in the world, but are being held back. Words on Fire follows the main character, Audra, who is from Lithuania, which is currently being occupied by Russian soldiers.  Her mother was shot and her dad is in Siberia. Under the occupation, all books are banned in Audra’s native language, this is why Audra is in a group that smuggles books around the country to give children the education they deserve. Will Adura get caught smuggling books? Will she find her mother? To find out, read Words On Fire by Jennifer A. Nielson make sure you also read Making Bombs For Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.