I just finished reading Now is the Time for Running by Michael Williams. It was a very fast read, as suspenseful as it is brutal and heart-breaking. The story of Deo, a 15-year-old boy from Zimbawe, who cares for his autistic older brother, the book begins when soldiers arrive in his village during a soccer game and change everything. When Deo slips away to find his brother, Innocent, in hiding, his village (including his family and friends) are massacred by the solidiers.

Reminiscent of A Long Way Gone, the true story of child soldier, Ismael Beah, the author of Now is the Time for Running keeps the story more geared toward a younger teen audience by honestly conveying the grim, violent realities, without engaging in graphic descriptions.

Managing to make it to South Africa across a crocodile-infested river and a large game preserve, Deo and Innocent find work as migrants at a tomato-farm, facing anger and resentment from locals. The boys head off to Johannesberg, where they are again left to survive in another dangerous--albeit urban--wilderness.

While a very grim portrait of continuing on after nearly incomprehensible loss, the story is ultimately one of hope and survival. Highly recommended for older readers.

After having the opportunity to spend the day with Deborah Ellis, thanks to our Marshalltown author visit in September, I have been happy to see lots of good reviews for her newest book, No Ordinary Day. Read what Deborah has to say about her book on this new blog post on the Teaching Books site: http://forum.teachingbooks.net/?p=6816

You can even click on a link to hear her read from the book. We currently have two copies of the book available for check out, as well as many titles that she talked about when she spoke about during her author visit.

I recently read two non-fiction books, each very inspiring: Whose Child is This? by Bill Wilson and Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle. Both authors have dedicated their lives to living their faith by working daily in some of the most challenging neighborhoods in the country.

Wilson lives in a very rough part of Brooklyn, and runs one of the largest Sunday School programs in the country. Having been abandoned by his mother as a child, he has paid forward the kindness shown to him by a mechanic, who sent him to a church camp that changed his life.

Boyle is a Jesuit priest who lives in Los Angeles in the middle of gang territory. He started Homeboy Industries, a group of workplaces where former gang members are hired, often to work side by a side a former enemy. Boyle speaks about the tragic childhoods of many of these young men, who have managed to choose a different path for themselves.

Both men greatly humanize people in the most challenging of circumstances. As Boyle says, "Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it."

Both men also minimize their own "heroics" in choosing their vocations, sending the message instead that they have gained as much as they have given.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, there is something to take from these books for anyone who is interested in people...in the humanity that connects us all and how to bridge that which threatens to divide us.