The Grace of Silence: a memoir by Michele Norris

Michele Norris is a journalist best known for her work on NPR's All Things Considered.  She initially planned to write a book about the various conversations on racism taking place nationwide following President Obama's election.  However, she soon realized that much of the circumvention and avoidance of truly open discussion about race and racism that she had observed as part of her work were equally present in her own family.  There were stories that had directly affected her own parents and grandparents which were hushed up or sidestepped.  Norris decided to explore her family's experience to better understand how and why they dealt so calmly with the disrespect and violence visited upon them.

Since her father never spoke of the incident, Norris struggled to uncover the story of his being shot by a white Birmingham policeman. She describes the difficult process of locating any public records--from newspapers or the police, particularly since crimes against blacks weren't considered noteworthy.   She frames the event with a description of how black soldiers in WW II were initially limited to noncombatant, frequently menial roles in segregated units. Having sacrificed to obtain freedom for others, many veterans came home to Jim Crow laws and high unemployment, and denied the right to vote.  Those who challenged such treatment risked physical harm or death, even when in uniform. In the case of her father,  injustice was met with  flight to the Midwest.

Indignities existed on her mother's side as well.  The second great family secret that Norris discovered was that her maternal grandmother worked for Quaker Oats portraying Aunt Jemima, with all the accompanying and humiliating stereotypes.  Clearly there were  moments of great discomfort within her family when considering events such as these in the past.

The author takes a look at her own upbringing to appreciate how her parents protected her and encouraged her to excel.  Norris's stories of her family are moving and instructional--providing a necessary reminder of both the overt and insidious forms of racism.

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta

I have a bad habit of peeking at the ending of suspenseful books somewhere around halfway through to see who makes it and who doesn't. By the end of Chapter 4 (page 41) of Those Who Wish Me Dead I was ready to see if 13-year-old Jace Wilson survives.  He is being pursued by some seriously evil bad guys--two brothers who epitomize the meaning of psychopath.  Brothers Jack and Patrick Blackwell are soulless killers who leave a trail of dead--and frequently tortured--victims who either witnessed their previous crimes or can identify them as they proceed to commit their next one.   Only three characters stand between them and their prey:  an instructor in wilderness survival skills, his wife, and a fire spotter. Outgunned and outthought at every turn,  Ethan Serbin struggles to keep his promise to protect the boy, but first he must find him.  Knowing his pursuers are getting closer, Jace, or Connor as he is now called, has run away from the group of troubled teens that he was placed in as part of a witness protection program.  He enlists fire spotter Hannah Faber to help him--and they flee deeper into the Montana mountains--and into the teeth of a growing forest fire.  How much more hopeless can a boy's chances of survival be?

Admittedly the book requires the reader to suspend belief in a number of plot twists--i.e., how Ethan's wife Allison can leave the hospital where she is recuperating from severe burns and a beating to guide a detective on horseback into the woods towards the fire.  Still,  this a great book for a day or two at the beach or a camping trip.  Come to think of it, students preparing for Outdoor Ed can pick up lots of useful wilderness skills before heading out. Recommended.