Barrtoletti, Susan Campbell. The boy who dared

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. The boy who dared. Scholastic, 2008 [978-0-439-68013-4 // 0-439-68013-1]
This is the fictionalized story of a seventeen-year-old young man who was executed in Germany in October 1942 for writing and distributing leaflets against the Nazi Government. The story in the 202 page book is told from his cell while he is waiting for his execution and is an interesting read. helmuth was a young man who was coming to age in Hitler's Germany, was a Hitler Youth and had a brother who had a brother who went off to war in the German army. Bertoletti, who wrote the award winning Hitler Youth book thoroughly researched this story. There are wonderful historical notes at the end of the book.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. The world we live in

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. The world we live in. Harcourt, 2010 [978-0-547-24804-2]
This book follows both "Life as we knew it" and "The dead and the gone." I guess I will label "Life as we knew it" as Vol 1a and "The dead and the gone" as 1b because they are both happening at the same time and are not sequels and this one is truly a book 2, following both them. Here we are once again in western Pennsylvania surviving in a harsh world after the moon has shifted out of orbit. Because this whole thing could possibly happen, the first two books sent me into a depression after reading them. This 239 page one did not have such an effect... I guess because they (or at least some) are still surviving. In this story, the characters from the two books meet up. Unfortunately I really don't want to say much more to ruin the plot. Once again, it is a powerful book, dealing with the harsh realities of people trying to survive in a cruel world. These books are not for elementary students, but I would say every middle school and HS library should have them. As a side note. I have trouble keeping the books away from the teachers so that the kids can read them. If you have not, you have GOT to read these books!