The Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi

This is one of the most amazing memoirs I've ever read. Farah Ahmedi was born in 1987 and spent most of her early childhood in war-torn Afghanistan. She stepped on a land mine when she was seven years old, which crippled her for life. But that was the least of her worries. Eventually, she lost almost her entire family - two sisters, two brothers, and her father - and it was with tremendous courage that she and her mother escaped to Pakistan and later to the United States. I could not put this book down. It was amazing.

Articles Of War by Nick Arvin

I honestly did not care for this book. It was the typical soldier's story: blood, guts, loneliness. Only this time it was about people who go AWOL and then get shot. It was based on a true story, but I forget the real soldier's name. It didn't teach me anything new about WWII, which is something I expect out of historical fiction. The other teachers that I read it with loved it, so you don't necessarily have to take my word for it. It's short enough that, if you don't like it, you will have only wasted a few hours of your life.