She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall

by Misty Bernall

Goodreads Summary:

She Said Yes is a story of growing up in the '90s, of peer pressure, adolescent turmoil, and the tough choices parents make. It is the story of a mother's loss - of dreams and hopes dashed by the cruel reality of death at an early age. But it is also a story of redemption more enduring than the tragedy that cut a young life short.

When 17-year-old Cassie Bernall walked into the library of her suburban high school around 11:00 on the morning of April 20, 1999, she had little more on her mind than her latest assignment for English class: another act of Macbeth. How could she know that by the end of the hour, two classmates would storm the school, guns blazing, and kill as many people as they could, including her?
As the wounded were carried from the bloody scene, several stories of bravery emerged, but one spread faster and farther than the rest. Confronted by her killers, Cassie was asked, "Do you believe in God?" She answered, "Yes."

Review:

It took me quite a few years before I finally decided to read this book. I knew it would be emotional-reading a daughter's story, written by her mother, after being lost is such a tragic way. I also knew, because I remembered the Columbine High School shootings from when I was in college, that it would bring back that scared and lonely feeling many of us had. Even when we were watching the footage, crammed around the TV in our apartment, millions of miles away in Iowa, Columbine made many of us feel very alone.

I was really impressed by how Misty Bernall portrayed her daughter's story. She explained how Cassie got to where she was when she was killed-emotionally and spiritually. She didn't pretend her child was perfect, but she knew that there were perfect things about her that the world needed to know. She let others add their own thoughts-Cassie's dad, brothers, and friends-as well as Cassie herself, though diary entires and letters. While there was nothing that could change this from being a sad story, Misty Bernall does an excellent job showing that even in tragedy, there are things that we can all believe in.

I Never Had It Made

by Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson is someone everyone should learn about in school-just as we learn about others who have changed our country. The man who changed the sport of baseball by integrating African-Americans into the players' ranks realized his life was not to be just about baseball, but that he held the future of how people will be treated in his actions. The book looks at all parts of his life- UCLA, his time in the army, his family-and how they all made him the man who was able to change our country forever through determination and strength.

He was often described as quiet man, but after reading this autobiography you can't help but realizing that wasn't true. He realized that actions were what would speak loudest and most effectively.  His critics couldn't argue with his actions, so he contained his voice until it was time to tell his story. It also tells of the man after baseball, and Robinson's dedication to his race through politics even when he no longer played and had already sacrificed too much. A read for those who are ready to learn about his journey from his words.

The Year We Disappeared

From: Guys Lit Wire: THE YEAR WE DISAPPEARED by Cylin Busby and John Busby

If you like your stories to have closure, or even poetic justice, don't expect it out of this one. It's gritty, it's frightening, it's messy—and it's true. And just like real life, not everything gets tied up in a neat bow in the end.


The Year We Disappeared: A Father-Daughter Memoir is a true story. In 1979, Massachusetts police officer John Busby was brutally shot while starting his shift, losing much of his lower jaw. He survived, but his life and the lives of his family members were irrevocably altered. The story is told in alternating first-person chapters from the point of view of John Busby and his daughter Cylin, who was nine years old at the time of the shooting.


It's not an easy story to read. First, John does not pull any punches in his description of the horrific shooting or his long, painful recovery.
Similarly, Cylin unflinchingly shows us how the rest of the family copes—or fails to cope—in the weeks and months to follow. The family has little privacy or freedom; they're being guarded around the clock in case the shooter decides to try to finish the job or get to John's wife or children. Cylin's two older brothers, their mother Polly, Cylin herself—each of them faces their own challenges, and of course John Busby must undergo some of the greatest challenges of all in his physical recovery. The level of detail, both with respect to the fear and frustration that Cylin feels, and with respect to John's painful recovery and nearly homicidal need for revenge, is almost overwhelming at times—as, indeed, it must have been for them.


It might make you angry. It probably should make you angry. I was appalled by the end, after feeling John's frustration and rage at what had been done to him and the unfairness of how his case was handled. The fear, cronyism, and corruption endemic to the law enforcement structure of the small town in which he lived made completely impossible any effective investigation into who had perpetrated the crime--someone John Busby was very much convinced he already knew.


So, no, this one isn't an easy story to swallow. But it IS riveting, I promise you that.


Random Notes:
The Year We Disappeared won a Cybils Award in 2008 for YA/MG Non-Fiction. Also, CBS did a 48 Hours special on the Busby family's story back in 2009. I'd be interested to know if anyone has seen it, and if so, what you thought of the TV version of the story.

Heroes of the Negro Leagues

Information about Negro League players are accompanied by striking watercolor portraits in this book honoring baseball at its finest. Each page is dedicated to a specific player influential to the league, and gives wonderful and precise facts about the person as a player and an individual.

Originally designed to be baseball cards for these amazing players that never had the opportunity to be immortalized with a piece of stale gum, these glimpses give wonderful insight to the lives of players in the Negro Leagues. It includes many well known, as well as some unknown, players. Some of my personal favorites include Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, and of course Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks.

911 The Book of Help

911 The Book of Help edited by Michael Cart

This is a book about the 9/11/01 tragedy of the World Trade Center. In this tragedy, 3,497 people were killed. This book tells about people before, during and after the incident either in poems or short stories. This book is for people affected by the crash to help them recover from their grief and misery. The mood of the book is heartfelt grief and sadness.
We highly recommend this book to people who need to recover from the grief of the September 11th attacks.

Recommendation by Grant, Jeremiah and Denton

Chasing Lincoln's Killer

Nonfiction is not my thing, usually. When I read a book, I usually am choosing to escape the world that I live in and find a more magical place- which is why I am such a fan of fantasy and sci fi. If more nonfiction were fast-paced and exciting like this story, I would probably enjoy it more!

This book is based on the best-selling adult novel Manhunter, also by James Swanson. Chasing Lincoln's Killer is the story of how John Wilkes Booth organized and carried out the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and tried to organize the simultaneous murders of other high-ranking members of the government, such as the vice president. It also chronicles the twelve days that Booth dodged the manhunt by hiding in houses of unwitting supporters, barns, and the woods. It also tells of his purpose- to seek revenge on the Union Yanks, and hopefully inspire those that still believes in the Confederacy to rise up and fight again.

I enjoyed the story that was told by this book, and the minor stories that were woven within. I thought it was an interesting way to approach one of the most important events in American history, and liked the way it is told following Booth. A definite nonfiction selection for my book shelf.