When it comes to literature, teaching the classics is important. But it's a good idea to add contemporary titles to your curriculum, too, especially if your students sometimes have trouble connecting with older texts.
That’s why we created the Discovering Literature collection, a curated selection of noteworthy books that are capturing the attention of teachers and students across the country.
This month’s Discovering Literature Digest features exciting books that will take your students back in time. From fighting against injustice and violence in 1940s Europe to navigating societal oppression and corruption in the southern United States, these stories follow courageous characters in real historical settings.
Girl in the Blue Coat
In 1943 Amsterdam, Hanneke fights her own war against the German occupation by delivering black market goods to local clients. On a routine delivery, one of her clients, Mrs. Janssen, asks for help, not to procure wares, but to find a missing person, a Jewish teenager she’d been secretly harboring. Wary of the danger but determined to save the girl, Hanneke begins her mission, the search leading her into the underground world of the Dutch resistance. Students who enjoy historical fiction will be inspired by Hanneke’s courage and strength in her fight against the horrors of war.
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
Based on the true account of Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, this novel tells a story of bravery and perseverance in the face of unspeakable terror. In December 1943, fourteen-year-old Dita and her family are taken from the Terezín ghetto in Prague and imprisoned at Auschwitz. There, Jewish leader Fredy Hirsch entrusts Dita to protect the prisoners’ secret library of smuggled books, a task that could mean death if she were caught. As the librarian of Auschwitz, Dita risks her life to preserve the magic of books.
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The Downstairs Girl
In 1890s Atlanta, Chinese American Jo Kuan spends her days working as a maid for one of the city’s wealthiest families. By night, she adopts the pseudonym “Miss Sweetie,” writing an advice column in the local newspaper. After her column gains popularity, Jo uses her platform to challenge conventional ideas about race and gender. But backlash soon follows, and those opposed to Jo’s declarations seek to reveal Miss Sweetie’s real identity. Written by the founder of We Need Diverse Books, this powerful novel explores themes relating to society and identity.
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The Nickel Boys
Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Nickel Boys dramatizes the true story of a notorious reform school that operated for 111 years. In 1960s Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis, a black student, finds himself unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy. There, he meets Turner, a cynical teenager who believes the only way to survive the dehumanizing school and its corrupt administration is to stay out of trouble. But as conditions worsen, Elwood and Turner hatch a plan to escape, not knowing that their actions will have irreparable consequences decades later.
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Find even more exciting books in the Discovering Literature collection!