A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return

Written by: Zeina Abirached

First line: A song I used to love in 1969 asks what war is good for.

Why you should read this book: The war in Lebanon has shrunk little Zeina's childhood home in Beirut until the entire building decides that her apartment's foyer is the only safe place during the nightly bombardments. One night, her parent go out to visit her grandmother and, as the evening wears on, the parents do not return. Meanwhile, all her neighbors arrive to care for the children, socialize, and help create an atmosphere of safety in the face of fear.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't feel safe and you're leaving.

Marble Season

Marble Season

Written by: Gilbert Hernandez

First line: Missed.

Why you should read this book: Huey, the middle of three brothers in a Latino family in the ‘60s, loves marbles and comic books and finds himself drawn to popular music and the Mars Attacks trading cards. This gentle, realistic story lacks a formal plot or structure, but instead paints a picture of the real world of neighborhood kids: their games, their fantasies, their friendships’ changing configurations. A faithful reconstruction of the universe inhabited solely by children, a place where adults, who cannot understand the value of neatly-stored trading cards, can never inhabit.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: You throw out your kids’ stuff whenever you feel like it, because it’s clearly not important.