Matt McDonough's E-Reader's Notebook

Bascomb, N. (2013).   The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi . New York, NY: Levine Books (Scholastic, Inc.) Reading level: Grades 9-12 Themes: Abuse of Power, Manipulation, Revenge, Secrecy, Heritage, Justice.  Summary: Bascomb details the search, capture, and trial of Nazi and Holocaust figure Adolf Eichmann by Israeli spies in 1961. Bascomb includes pictures, original documents, travel logs, and perspectives from the spies, as well as Holocaust survivors to portray the downfall of Eichmann and the harsh realities of the German plan to systematically wipe the Jewish people from the face of the earth. At age 38, in 1944, Eichmann is the director of "Department IVB," the code name for the genocidal operation by Hitler's Nazis. In 1947, survivors Zeev Sapir and Simon Wiesenthal work with Manus Diamant in hopes of tracking down former SS officers that fled to Argentina after the war. Nine years later, Sylvia...

Bradbury, R. (1951).   Fahrenheit 451 . New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Reading level: Grades 9-12 Themes: Rebellion, Power of the mind vs. authority, Quest for knowledge, Freedom, Abuse of power, Manipulation, Censorship.  Summary: In this futuristic, dystopian setting, Guy Montag is a fireman, but his job is to burn books, not stop fires. Armed with a kerosene hose, Montag lives in a world where books are illegal, so people walk through life with an empty mind, materialistic dreams, and live through characters on wall-to-wall television programming. Montag's unknowingly suicidal wife, Mildred, fits that mold. Montag meets a teenager, Clarisse McClellan, who questions the nature of society and the humans living in it. Following McClellan's sudden death, and witnessing a woman choosing to be burned alive with her book collection, Montag begins asking questions himself. It is revealed Montag has a stash of books in his home gathered from years of burning them on ...

                                                Since I was young I always had a love for reading. The problem, however, was that I struggled reading out loud.  I was lucky enough to have a mother and father who read to me, bought me books as a toddler and beyond, and encouraged me to go to the library and book fairs. Because it was encouragement rather than enforcement, I read for pleasure, voluntarily completed summer reading, and enjoyed reading new books throughout elementary school.  As an avid sports fan, I was blessed to have the newspaper opened to the sports page as a daily fixture in my house. All these factors helped me grow as a reader who enjoyed all types of genres.  Fiction or historical non-fiction took me into the past or to places and worlds far beyond the realm of my reality. I enjoyed being transported into another place...