Fiction/Non-fiction Pairings

It seems like most people either like fiction or non-fiction, with little interest in exploring the other.  Sometimes, however, a historical fiction novel (or a movie) can pique interest in how true to history it actually was.  Or a non-fiction book is written so engagingly that is reads like fiction.  We love finding books that complement each other and think these pairings go very well together; if you read one, you’ll probably want to read the other!

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson/Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Chances are that you’ve heard of Just Mercy, even if you haven’t read it or watched the movie.  A powerful true story about a young black lawyer who fights to free a man who was wrongly convicted of murder, it highlights the racial injustices in our justice system.  Dear Martin shows the struggle of a young black teen from a fictional perspective who deals with racism and false accusations and chooses to emulate and write letters to Martin Luther King, Jr, as a way of dealing with the pressure.

 

Borders by Thomas King/How We Go Home: voices from Indigenous North America

At first glance, Borders seems like a simple graphic novel for young people.  However, that simplicity holds a depth and profundity that resonates.  A young Blackfoot boy and his mother travel from Canada into the U.S. to visit his sister, but when asked if they are Canadian or American, the mother truthfully claims her Blackfoot nationality. Neither country recognizes the sovereignty of the native nation and the two are caught in a limbo of red tape.

How we Go Home is a nonfiction collection of true stories by indigenous people that highlight the injustice and atrocities they have faced with resiliency, working to better the world and raise awareness.

 

A Woman of No Importance/Code Name Verity/West with the Night (female pilot)

Code Name Verity was a bestselling novel that highlighted the changing roles that women were able to take during World War II. The story of friendship between a female spy and female pilot is a nail-biter as the spy tries to reveal as little as possible about her friend while being tortured by the enemy. 

Two non-fiction pairings come to mind: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purcell tells the story of Virginia Hall, a female spy during WWII, who established a spy network throughout France and was instrumental in changing the course of the war. West with the Night is the autobiography of Beryl Markham, a female pilot who was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic.