Below you'll find books where characters / real people are living in the midst of genocides and civil/political unrest. For print books in the SHS Learning Commons, see Ms. Melbourne, Ms. McCullough, or Ms. Reishus if you need help locating copies. To access eBooks & audiobooks in MackinVia, log in with your school credentials. To access print, eBooks, & audiobooks through the Scott County Library, use your Virtual Student Library Card.
Never Fall Down by
When Arn's hometown in Cambodia is taken over by Khmer Rouge forces, Arn is forced into a labor camp and is separated from his family. As he struggles to survive, Arn is tasked with performing revolutionary songs and finally to become a soldier, always waiting for the moment when his people will be liberated.
A Long Way Gone by
Ishmael Beah describes his experiences after he was driven from his home by war in Sierra Leone and picked up by the government army at the age of thirteen, serving as a soldier for three years before being removed from fighting by UNICEF and eventually moving to the United States.
Sarah's Key by
American journalist Julia Jarmond researches the brutal 1942 Nazi roundup in Paris and stumbles upon a connection between her family and one of the victims, which compels Julia to learn more about the girl's life.
God Grew Tired of Us by
Presents a first-person account of the terror, suffering, and tragedy of the Sudanese Civil War and how the author, John Bul Dau, eventually made his way out of the country to America.
In Darkness by
In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Shorty, a poor, fifteen-year-old gang member from the slums of Site Soleil, is trapped in the rubble of a hospital and as he grows weaker, he has visions and memories of his life of violence, his lost twin sister, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture, who liberated Haiti from French rule in 1804.
Will I See by
May, a young teenage girl, traverses the city streets, finding keepsakes in different places along her journey. When May and her kookum make these keepsakes into a necklace, it opens a world of danger and fantasy. While May fights against a terrible reality, she learns that there is strength in the spirit of those that have passed. But will that strength be able to save her?
Maus I: a Survivor's Tale by
A memoir of Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and about his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his story, and history itself. Cartoon format portrays Jews as mice, Nazis as cats.
Pemmican Wars by
Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother. Then an ordinary day in Mr. Bee's history class turns extraordinary, and Echo's life will never be the same. During Mr. Bee's lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place--a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie--and back again to the present. In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars.
Never Fall Down by 
Never Fall Down (eBook) by
When Arn's hometown in Cambodia is taken over by Khmer Rouge forces, Arn is forced into a labor camp and is separated from his family. As he struggles to survive, Arn is tasked with performing revolutionary songs and finally to become a soldier, always waiting for the moment when his people will be liberated.
The Unwanted by
Starting in 2011, refugees flood out of war-torn Syria in Exodus-like proportions. The surprising flood of victims overwhelms neighboring countries, and chaos follows. Resentment in host nations heightens as disruption and the cost of aid grows. By 2017, many want to turn their backs on the victims. The refugees are the unwanted. Don Brown depicts moments of both heartbreaking horror and hope in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. Shining a light on the stories of the survivors, The Unwanted is a testament to the courage and resilience of the refugees and a call to action for all those who read.
Before We Were Free by
In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.
Hope is our only Wing by
For fifteen-year-old Shamiso, hope is nothing but a leap into darkness. Grief-stricken and confused after her father’s mysterious death in a car crash, Shamiso moves with her mother from England to Zimbabwe in order to pick up the pieces—returning to an extended family and a world she hardly remembers. For Tanyaradzwa, a classmate whose life has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis, hope is the only reason to keep fighting. As an unexpected friendship blossoms between them and the two girls navigate the increasingly uncertain political situation in Zimbabwe, Tanyaradzwa helps Shamiso confront her fear of loss. In opening herself to someone with a potentially fatal illness, Shamiso knows that she might be opening herself to more pain. Yet Tanyaradzwa is the only one who gives her the strength to ask the burning question: What really happened to her father?