The Berlin Boxing Club, by Robert Sharenow (2011)

As Herr Boch finished the last lecture of the school year, I sketched one final caricature of him into the margins of my notebook. 

His mom is agnostic, his father is atheist.  Fourteen year-old Karl Stern grew up in a secular household; he has no religious background or education.  Living in Berlin in 1934, Karl and his family are Jewish.

Karl, a gifted cartoonist, is a student at Holstein Gymnasium.  He doesn't look Jewish with his light hair.  There is a group at his school who Karl calls the Wolf Pack; the Wolf Pack likes to terrorize the five Jewish students who attend the school.  

Up until that moment I had managed to avoid them, assuming that I had kept my background hidden.

Unfortunately the Wolf Pack eventually caught up to Karl and beat him up.  Karl is tall and skinny, terrified of fighting, terrified of people finding out he is Jewish.  Later that same evening Karl meets Max Schmeling, der Meister, the champion boxer, hero of Germany.

Max and his wife buy two paintings from Karl's dad who owns an art gallery.  He pays for one, but offers a barter for the second.  He offers to teach Karl how to box.

"Surely you can't put a price on private boxing lessons with Europe's greatest heavyweight?"

Max offers boxing lessons because he believes every boy should learn to defend himself.  And thus begins Karl's transformation, beginning his training on the three hundred.  Then, he trains at the Berlin Boxing Club. 

Karl is in love with Greta Hauser and she wonders why he wants to fight.

      "Then what's it for?"

     "To prove something."

     "What...but why does that matter?"

     "To prove to myself that I'm not afraid."

Germany is not a safe place for Karl and his family.  As the Nuremberg Laws go into effect, Karl's life is forever changed.  The Berlin Boxing Club is a gripping novel that explores what Berlin was like in the early 1930s as the Nazi government rose and started to dominate Europe.  Boxing helps Karl reinvent himself, but in the process he learns what's worth fighting for. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*Issues of religion, circumcision, Nazi Germany, Holocaust

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Weedflower, by Cynthia Kadohata (2006)

This is what it felt like to be lonely:

1. Like everyone was looking at you.  Sumiko felt this once in a while.
2. Like nobody was looking at you.  Sumiko felt this a lot.
3. Like you didn't care about anything at all.  She felt this maybe once a week.
4. Like you were just about to cry over every little thing.  She felt this about once daily.

Twelve year-old Sumiko and 6 year-old brother live with their uncle and his family.  Together they grow carnations and kusabana (weedflowers) in southern California.  Sumiko dreams of having her own flower shop when she's an adult.

It is December 1942.  The United States has an oil embargo on Japan because Japan signed a pact with Germany and Italy.

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, everything changes for Sumiko, her family, and all Japanese Americans on the West Coast.  They have to destroy anything they own that is "Japanese" - photos, souvenirs, heirlooms, letters.  The FBI arrested community leaders and Issei, first generation Japanese Americans.  Sumiko's grandfather and her uncle were arrested and taken to a prison camp in North Dakota.

In three months 2,000 Nikkei were arrested without being charged with a crime. 

Five months after Pearl Harbor, Sumiko and her family have to evacuate their home and farm.  Before Sumiko left, she found a special strain of kusabana that her uncle had developed, the Sumiko Strain. 

Sumiko arrives in Poston, Arizona.  Her family is assigned to live in Camp Three in the Colorado River Relocation Center on a Mohave Indian reservation.  They were told that they weren't in jail; they're doing their patriotic duty, supporting the war by staying in the camp.  The camp is run by the Office of Indian Affairs.

     "We're in camp because of prejudice, pure and simple," shouted Ichiro's friend.
     "We were put here for our own protection," Auntie insisted again.  "To protect us from all the people who hate us."

Sumiko meets Frank, a Mohave.  He understands very well what Japanese Americans are going through.

"You're not the first people to lose things."

Frank's family wants to farm the dry, arid land after the war.  They need to learn what Sumiko's family knows about irrigation.  Sumiko finds meaning in her life as she helps her family and neighbors, holding tight to her dream of one day owning a flower shop.

Weedflower is a fascinating read, and people who enjoy books about World War II, Japanese culture, or like to learn more about different cultures would like this book.  It's an interesting time in American history for young adults.  A good companion to this book might be Farewell to Manzanar (Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston) for middle school students.

Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
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