24 - Incantation by Alice Hoffman

I really enjoyed this book! It tells the story of a young girl who lives in Spain in 1500. Her family converted to Christianity to escape the widespread persecution of the Jews in Europe at the time, but the Spanish Inquisition found them out. Her family was destroyed. She even watched her mother and brother burn at the stake. In the process of all of this agony, she discovered many truths about herself.

I think this book would fit well with some of the other YA books I've read recently. I would love to teach a Language Arts/Social Studies class to gifted middle school students using these books. Incantation would be a great illustration of religious persecution or discrimination. It even touches on the events in a way that isn't really taught in middle or high school (think Lies My Teacher Told Me).

Other books I would include in this unit:
Kira-Kira, Cynthia Kadohata
This book tells the story of a young Japanese American girl whose family lives in the Mississippi Valley and struggle to surivive.
The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen, Mitali Perkins
In this story, Sunita Sen's normal American life is disrupted when her grandparents come to visit from India for a whole year. She is forced to decide who exactly she wants to be.
Esperanza Rising, Pam Muñoz Ryan
Esperanza is the daughter of a well-to-do Mexican farmer and she is treated like a princess. When a tragedy forces her family to emigrate to California, she has to work for the first time in her life. She is also forced to face many people who don't like or trust her simply because she is from Mexico.
We Beat the Street, Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, and Sharon Draper
This is the true story of three young men who grew up on the streets of New Jersey, faced drugs, gang violence, and many other setbacks, but went on to graduate from medical and dental school and work as doctors and a dentist in the very neighborhood where they grew up.

This unit would be a great after school study for a group of girls...since most of the books are about girls who struggle with identity and discrimination or adversity.