Miracles and Massacres by Glenn Beck

259 pages

"History is about so much more than memorizing facts. It is, as more than half of the word suggests, about the story. And, told in the right way, it is the greatest one ever written: Good and evil, triumph and tragedy, despicable acts of barbarism and courageous acts of heroism.

The things you've never learned about our past will shock you. The reason why gun control is so important to government elites can be found in a story about Athens that no one dares teach. Not the city in ancient Greece, but the one in 1946 Tennessee. The power of an individual who trusts his gut can be found in the story of the man who stopped the twentieth hijacker from being part of 9/11. And a lesson on what happens when an all-powerful president is in need of positive headlines is revealed in a story about eight saboteurs who invaded America during World War II." -Dust Jacket

One of the things that makes me the saddest about my kids' school experience is that they are not learning to love history. Frankly, they don't even remember anything they've been taught. They get a packet and do it and regurgitate it on the test but it doesn't stay with them. Their textbooks are skewed to the liberal left, where FDR gets a chapter, Abraham Lincoln gets a paragraph and nothing is said about Benjamin Franklin.  I loved my AP U.S. History class. The teacher was engaging and I learned so much. I hate that school kids are being taught that America is not a great country, that capitalism is bad and that we have raped and pillaged the world. Lately I've been trying to instill in my kids a love for our country and the idea that they can, and should, be proud to be an American. I love what Bono said about America--"that America has constantly been on the side of what's right, that America is an idea and that the world sees us as one of the greatest ideas in history--the idea that you and me are created equal, that life is not meant to be endured by enjoyed...This country was the first to claw its way out of darkness and put that on paper. These aren't just American ideas anymore. The world has a bit of America in it. These truths, they're self-evident in us."

Recently my kids and I watched "America: Imagine a World Without Her" by Dinesh D'Souza. I liked how he showed the accusations against America and then refuted them. I think kids now days hear the negative things about America and I really want to make sure that my girls know that while our country isn't perfect, it's still the best country in the world and we need to do our part to make sure it stays great.

I know that history depends on who's telling it and the same event can be told in many different ways. I know that Glenn Beck can be polarizing, but he loves America and worries about our country. He cites all of his sources in the back and I find that he usually does his research. I learned so much in this book--stories I'd never heard like the description implies. Again, I liked how it was a balance of good and bad. If we don't learn from the bad then we're likely to repeat it and the good can inspire us to be brave. This book contains stories about Jack Jouett, Shays' Rebellion, The Virginia Convention, The Barbary War, Edison vs. Westinghouse, The Battle of Wounded Knee, Easy Eddie, The Saboteurs, Tokyo Rose, The Battle of Athens, The My Lai Massacre, and the missing 9/11 terrorist. The best part of this book for me was that it made me want to read other books about these events and learn more. I like that each story isn't too long and that it's written in a way that captures your attention. I think these stories will be great for me to read with my kids this summer and talk about.

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

416 pages

"Newcago is free. They told David it was impossible--that even the Reckoners had never killed a High Epic. Yet Steelheart--invincible, immortal, unconquerable--is dead. And he died by David's hand.

Eliminating Steelheart was supposed to make life simpler. Instead, it only made David realize he has questions. Big ones. And no one in Newcago can give him answers.

Babylon Restored, the city formerly known as the borough of Manhattan, has possibilities, though. Ruled by the mysterious High Epic Regalia, Babylon Restored is flooded and miserable, but David is sure it's the path that will lead him to what he needs to find. Entering a city oppressed by a High Epic despot is risky, but David's willing to take the gamble. Because killing Steelheart left a hole in David's heart. A hole where his thirst for vengeance once lived. Somehow, he filled that hole with another Epic--Firefight. And he's willing to go on a quest darker and even more dangerous than the fight against Steelheart to find her, and to get his answers." -Dust Jacket

This series is like a summer blockbuster movie. You read it knowing it's going to take you on a fun ride but may not be the most moving or deep book you've ever read. Babylon Restored is a much different city than Newcago. Newcago is all steel. Babylon Restored is all water and plants. People live on the rooftops of buildings and an epic creates plants to feed the people. This epic communicates through messages in fortune cookies of all things! Regalia can control the water and learns information by looking through it. Obliteration is a ticking nuclear bomb epic who's already destroyed one city and is set to destroy Babylon Restored. He sits on a rooftop collecting energy. The Reckoners known from the previous city how many days they have before he blows. He's teamed up with Regalia so that they can lure Prof to town.

David has gained quite a reputation as an Epic slayer. He has never left Newcago so he looks forward to the road trip. He can't swim so Babylon Restored is dangerous for him, especially once Regalia finds out where they are. Megan has to save him. They meet the team of Reckoners stationed in Babylon Restored who have a personal vendetta against Firefight because she killed their team leader. David knows that Firefight is Megan. He's in love with her and he wants to exonerate her since he believes she didn't do it. That creates some tension between David and the Reckoners. My favorite part of this series is still the epics' names and their powers.

{Spoiler Alert}
This book has a few twists in it, namely that Calamity (who previously had been referred to as like a giant sun in the sky) is actually an Epic who makes an appearance towards the end of the book as Regalia tries to have Calamity turn David into an Epic. David refuses the powers and stays human. Prof stops Obliteration but using that much of his power turns him bad and he kills some of the Reckoners and tries to kill David. Megan saves his life again. One of her powers is coming back to life after dying. This time when she comes back she's more human than other times. Now that Prof is bad it will be interesting to see how things play out in the next book. David will probably have to rely more on himself and the Reckoners. Book 3 is called Calamity.

Five Kingdoms: Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull

479 pages

"Cole Randolph still can't believe the ways his life has turned inside out. Stuck in a strange land far from home, he has found his friend Dalton and has survived the first two kingdoms of the Outskirts, but none of that has prepared him for the magnetic highways and robotic bounty hunters of Zeropolis.

Ruled by Abram Trench, the one Grand Shaper who stayed loyal to the evil High King, the government of Zeropolis uses advanced technologies to keep tight control. Luckily, the resistance in Zeropolis is anchored by the Crystal Keepers--a group of young rebels with unique weapons.

On the run from the High King's secret police, Cole and Dalton hope to find more of their lost friends and help Mira locate her sister Constance. But as their enemies ruthlessly dismantle the resistance, time is running out for Cole to uncover the secrets behind the Zeropolitan government and unravel the mystery of who helped the High King steal his daughters' powers." -Dust Jacket

This is the third book in the Five Kingdoms series. Zeropolis is the most modern of all the kingdoms so far and it's fun to read the differences. This more modern kingdom allowed Mull to think of fun ways to use technology for good and evil. The city is powered by crystals. Everything is based on technology that's tightly controlled by the government because the supercomputer Aeronomotron once infiltrated all the computer systems and killed thousands attempting to take over the city. Cole and company are headed to Zeropolis to find Mira's sister, Constance. They meet some members of the resistance and get to use things like warboards and battle suits.

In the author's note to the reader in the back, Brandon Mull says that he's referenced Lyrian in this book, which is the land The Beyonders takes place in. I didn't catch that reference but I'm definitely going to watch for it in the next books. These first three books came out six months apart but the next two will be a year apart as he's focusing on the Fablehaven sequel. I'm excited for that, but I was really liking this two books a year. Brandon Mull's books may not be the most perfectly written books but they're definitely some of the most fun. I've never been disappointed by a Brandon Mull book. I'm looking forward to seeing if Cole is able to make it home and if he'll want to if/when that time comes. Everyone he meets tells him that it's impossible. I'm also curious to see how he gets his power back.

{Some spoilers ahead}

This book starts with the group being chased by the Enforcers and running to Trillian's kingdom where Skye has decided to stay and learn from the torivor. They have to use their animal masks to get away and Trillian agrees to help them in exchange for the masks staying with him. They are powerful and Cole feels that pull to stay a mountain lion as he has a hard time taking off his mask. They use their animals to get them to the border where they take a monorail into the city. You have to use an ID to go places and buy things in Zeropolis so the government can track you. Joe's fake ID is flagged and he's captured but not before he's told the group to go to Axis, an arcade where they will find help. They split up and make their way there where they meet Roulette, a Crystal Keeper. She takes them to meet Googol who's part of the resistance. He has created some robots, which is illegal, that help Cole. Sidekick, a robot that's been made to look like a cleaning bot, provides some much-needed comic relief and quickly becomes a favorite in this book. He helps Cole out of some tough situations. Joe reveals his sad past trying to get back to his fiancee Gwen and her not remembering him.

The government has been able to infiltrate the resistance and capture some of their agents more frequently than before and they can't figure out why. The government destroys Googol's safe house and they all have to flee. Eventually they end up with Nova, the leader of the Unseen. She has the power to supercharge things.

Cole also finds Blake in Zeropolis. He's from back home but wasn't well liked. He has a very unique power. He can sense the harmonic crystals and basically rewire them or copy them just by being near them. That is how the government has been able to find the resistance so easily. He's been a slave to Datapoint, a woman who serves her own interests and has no allegiance but who won't work for the government. She offers Cole and Sidekick refuge. Blake helps them get into her Situation Room where they learn that Datapoint has been in contact with Aero. They destroy their connection and escape. Blake reluctantly goes with them. He knows Datapoint will punish him for helping them get in the room but he doesn't relish the idea of constantly being in danger. He'd gotten used to the perks of slavery.

Nova gives Cole a secret mission to make contact with Queen Harmony to see if she can put a star in the sky over where Constance is so they can find her. He enters the castle as a messenger boy to help him blend in. He takes Nova's message to Harmony and Harmony tells him that she knows where Constance has been all this time. She then asks Cole to go to a secret meeting of the Overseer that she's seen in a vision. The Overseer is trying to usurp the High King's power. Cole agrees to go but before he makes it there the High King requests to see him since he's new to the castle and has had important messages to deliver. The High King is sickly but asks Cole to report everything back to him. Cole attends the meeting and learns that Owandell (the Overseer) reports to Nazeem, a shape crafter who plans on taking over all the kingdoms once he's free. He speaks to them through the Founding Stone. He senses that there's a spy among them and Cole grabs the Founding Stone which allows him to talk to Nazeem and also access some of his powers that are still blocked. One of the Founding Stone's creators helps him transport himself back to the Queen and he escapes capture. The Queen is worried because she senses that something is wrong with her other two daughters who are together in Necronum. She tells Cole that Jenna Hunt is in a temple in Necronum, implying that only people with special abilities go there. She helps him escape the castle and he doesn't see the King again.

Cole is pursued in this book by The Hunter who works for the High King and, who it turns out, is actually his brother, Hunter Randolph, who was pulled into this other world a few years back. Cole has no memory of him because once you cross over anyone who knew you back on Earth forgets you ever existed. Cole convinces Hunter to switch sides and help the resistance by letting him investigate the truth of what Cole's told him. Hunter has mastered the shaping abilities of all five kingdoms and is a valuable asset to the High King. I'm still not sure whether or not his new loyalties to the resistance can be trusted or not.

Constance has been kept prisoner/safe in Abram Trench's secret hideout where she's created a computer named Roxie to keep her company. Roxie has other plans however. It's built itself a dragon body and tries to take over the city. Cole, Hunter and Blake go to Abram's penthouse where Roxie has locked him and Constance up to break Constance out. Blake is supposed to rewire her crystals and hopefully slow her down. He's unable to do it fast enough and so Cole has the idea to use a crystal to allow Aero to try to take over Roxie. Roxie goes off to fight Aero. Sidekick has been designed by Googol and Nova to be a big bomb and he valiantly drops himself on Roxie and Aero saving the city. Blake stays in Zeropolis to help Googol and the others try to rebuild the city. Mira invites Hunter to join them on their journey to Necronum.

A Higher Call by Adam Makos

368 pages

"Five days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a twenty-one-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber's tail--a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber with the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called 'the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.'

This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day: the American--Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17--and the German--Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.

A Higher Call follows both Charlie's and Franz's harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies' planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks. Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of one thousand bombers, each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.

Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at each other. The American 8th Air Force would later classify what happened between them as 'top secret.' It was an act that Franz could never mention or else face a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for each other, a last mission that could change their lives forever." -Dust Jacket

Wow. What a great, inspiring book. It's very well written and great in the sense that it reminds the reader of one important fact: the atrocities committed in World War II were committed by the minority of the German people. Most members of the German Air Force were not Nazis and most were good, honorable men who had a code of honor and chivalry. Franz was led by those sorts of men. Franz fought at first to avenge the death of his brother August but the men he served under and with changed that. He learned from the fighter pilots in Africa a different way and reason for fighting. He was an ace, credited with several kills, but he took no pleasure in it. The Knight's Cross, a medal he had actively sought to earn in the beginning, ultimately meant nothing to him. Charlie's plane would have earned him that cross since bombers counted for more kills than a fighter.

I like that this book starts with Franz. You read about a young boy who wanted to learn how to fly and how he was brought into the German Air Force. You realize what a desperate situation they were in against the Americans and you can't help but feel a sense of admiration and sympathy for them. My husband loves the P-51 Mustang. It was a beautiful fighter plane and reading about it from the other side was really interesting. The German pilots were treated with disdain among their own people, blamed for losing the war and being cowards when they were not, yet another example of the propaganda spewed by Hitler's people. They had a hard time finding work at the end of the war. Some of the pilots Franz served with were men who plotted to overthrow Goering. They hated The Party.

Both Charlie and Franz were men of faith and believed that a higher power was helping and sustaining them. This book was such a good reminder that good people can be found on both sides of war and that forgiveness and love is the only way to peace. I think the men of JV-44, the Squadron of Experts, are admirable men. I'd like to read more about them in the future.

I think the whole experience of this book can be summed up with this on page 202:

"'What are you waiting for?' Black said quietly as the German's eyes met his.

The Franz Stigler who went to Africa to avenge his brother's death would have had an answer. He would have destroyed the bomber and killed its crew. But there, in the desert, and over ancient Sicily, the last of Europe's Knights had taught Franz Stigler a new code. Their code said to fight with fearlessness and restraint, to celebrate victories not death, and to know when it was time to answer a higher call.

Franz gazed at the men in the waist tending one another's wounds. He looked into the ashen face of the ball turret gunner. He thought about what his brother August would have done.

A gear clicked in Franz's soul. He laid a hand over the pocket of his jacket and felt his rosary beads within. This will be no victory for me, Franz decided. I will not have this on my conscience for the rest of my life."