“Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America”

Riveting true stories have a way to deeply affect us. Such is the case with the books reviewed below.

Each provides us with an important piece of history. But what's more profound is the underlying message of the strength of the human character.

Reading true stories of those who faced seemingly insurmountable odds yet had the courage to endure and survive provides seeds of hope for the reader and reminds us that even in our most challenging moments, many have passed this way before; we are not alone.

The following book is available at many public libraries.<B>“The Endurance: Shackleton's Perilous Expedition in Antarctica”</B> by Meredith Hooper, illustrated by M.P. Robertson, Abbeville Kids, 28 pages; read aloud: age 6 and older; read yourself: age 7 to 8 and older.In August, 1914, Ernest Shackleton and his crew sailed their ship, Endurance, from England to Antarctica. By January, the Endurance was frozen solid in the drifting pack ice, carrying Endurance and her crew with it.The ice finally crushed the ship to splinters, forcing the men to abandon ship and camp on drifting ice floes for almost 6 months. Finally able to launch their lifeboats into the water hardly meant they were out of danger. The ocean was a much more perilous enemy.Miraculously all three boats did land on uninhabited Elephant Island. Shackleton knew their only hope of survival was to try and reach South Georgia — another island that lay 800 miles away across the world's stormiest, wildest ocean. Determined to save his men, Shackleton and two crew members set out in a 23-foot open wooden lifeboat, leaving the others behind to wait and to hope for their rescue.Looking death square in the eye every day, Ernest Shackleton saved every one of Endurance's men on August 30, 1916. His courage and the courage of his crew is not just an astonishing story but one of the greatest survival stories of all time.

<B>Library: </B>Zelienople Public Library, 227 S. High St., Zelienople<B>Library Director:</B> Jan Lawrence<B>Children's Librarian: </B>Kay Howard<B>Choices this week: “The Doorbell Rang” </B>by Pat Hutchins;<B> “Down Girl and Sit: Smarter Than Squirrels”</B> by Lucy Nolan; <B>“Warriors”</B> series by Erin Hunter

The following books are available at favorite bookstores.<B>“Between Shades of Gray” </B>by Ruta Sepetys, Philomel, 2011, 344 pages, $17.99 hardcover; read aloud: age 11 and older; read yourself: age 12 and older.In 1941, 15-year-old Lina's life changes irreversibly. Torn from her home in Lithuania by the Soviet secret police, Lina, her mother and brother are deported to the northernmost reaches of Siberia to work in slave camps under unthinkable circumstances — severe weather few humans could survive, near starvation rations and little to protect them from cold and disease. Separated from her father, Lina later learns he has been sent to a prison camp. Along with millions of other refugees from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, Lina and her family are swept up in Joseph Stalin's ethnic cleansing campaign where millions will die.Fighting for her life and the lives of her mother and brother, Lina clings to the hope that they will survive and be reunited with her father. Lina secretly records her experiences through her art and writing, hoping to reach her father and let him know they are alive. Driven by her incredible strength, courage and love for her family, Lina endures unbearable hardships and survives to tell her story.A sweeping work of historical fiction, this meticulously researched novel will leave readers breathless. A deeply moving portrait of this important, overlooked part of history, “Between Shades of Gray” is ultimately a story of the strength of the human spirit to survive.<B>“Fort Mose and the Story of the Man Who Built the First Free Black Settlement in Colonial America” </B>by Glennette Tilley Turner, illustrations various credits, Abrams, 2010, 42 pages, $18.95 hardcover; read aloud: age 8 to 9 and older; read yourself: age 11 and older.In 1724, Francisco Menendez and nine other African men escaped from their English slaveholders in North Carolina and made their way south to the Spanish town of St. Augustine. There, Menendez was appointed to command a black militia to help defend Spanish St. Augustine against attack from the English. In time, he and other Africans were granted their freedom, and in 1738, Menendez help found the first free black community in colonial America — Fort Mose.An incredible true story few people know about, author Turner has brought this fascinating, important piece of American history to light.Nationally syndicated, Kendal Rautzhan writes and lectures on children's literature. She can be reached at her website: www.greatestbooksforkids.com.

“Between Shades of Gray”