Book of the Day Archive
-2/24/10
Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy
Authors: Craig A. Anderson, Douglas A. Gentile, Katherine E. Buckley
Library Location: 302.23 ANDERSON
and
Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games* *and what parents can do
Authors: Lawrence Kutner, PhD and Cheryl K. Olson, ScD
Library Location: 302.23 KUTNER
These two titles should be useful to students researching this topic, particularly students who are preparing their Cougar Challenge papers and presentations.
The first title, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents, is definitely written in a scholarly style. The book examines a number of studies and uses the study results to draw conclusions. This is a quality work, brimming over with statistics and potentially useful information, but because of the way the material is presented, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. This book is best suited to the student who reads well, has a good vocabulary, and can glean the pertinent information hidden within the scholarly blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
The second title, Grand Theft Childhood, is more approachable. While it also cites studies and gives useful statistics, it is written in a more popular style. It is, in fact, written to educate parents about the pros and pitfalls of video gaming. The approach seems quite balanced, citing both the positive and troubling aspects of video game use.
-2/23/10
Found
Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Library Location: FIC HADDIX
AR Information: IL: MG BL: 5.0 Points: 9.0
The author of the popular Shadow Children series begins a new series with the book Found.
A jet airliner carrying 36 babies materializes out of thin air at an airport gate, then disappears.
Thirteen years pass. Then, 36 children, living normal lives with adoptive families, begin to receive chilling message through the mail.
First message: “YOU ARE ONE OF THE MISSING.”
Second message: “BEWARE! THEY’RE COMING BACK TO GET YOU.”
Excerpt:
On the side of the jet, she was surprised to see a strange insignia: TACHYON TRAVEL, it said, some airline Angela had never heard of. Was that a private charter company, maybe? And then, while she was staring at it, the words suddenly changed into the familiar wing-in-the-clouds symbol of Sky Trails. . . .
Angela stepped onto the plane. She turned her head first to the left, looking into the cockpit. Its door also stood open, but the small space was empty, the instruments dark. . . .
. . . the aisle of this airplane was as empty and silent as its cockpit. Angela could see all the way to the back of the plane, and not a single person stood in her view, not a single voice answered her.
Only then did Angela drop her gaze to the passenger seats. They stretched back twelve rows, with two seats per row on the left side of the aisle and one each on the right. She stepped forward, peering at all of them. Thirty-six seats on this plane, and every single one of them was full.
Each seat contained a baby.
-2/22/10
I, Danielle Womack, chose Gathering Blue for the book of the day. If any other student would like to write a book of the day see Mrs. Owens in the library.
Author: Lois Lowry
Book: Gathering Blue
Location: FIC LOWRY
From the book cover:
Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future. Her neighbors are hostile and no one but a small boy offers to help.
When she is summoned to judgement by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life. But the Council, to her surprise has plans for her. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever.
Excerpt:
“The accuser will speak first,” the chief guardian instructed.
Vandara’s voice was firm and bitter. “The girl should have been taken to the Field when she was born and still nameless. It is the way.”
“Go on,” the chief guardian said.
“She was imperfect. And fatherless as well. She should not have been kept.”
But I was strong. And my eyes were bright. My mother told me. She wouldn’t let me go. Kira shifted her weight, resting her twisted leg, remembering the story of her birth, and wondering if she would have an opportunity to tell it here. I gripped her thumb so tightly.
“We have all tolerated her presence for these years,” Vandara went on. “But she has not contributed. She cannot dig or plant or weed, or even tend the domestic beasts the way other girls her age do. She drags that dead leg around like a useless burden. She is slow, and she eats a lot.”
The Council of Guardians were listening carefully. Kira’s face felt warm with embarrassment. It was true, that she ate a lot. It was all true, what her accuser was saying.
I can try to eat less. I can go hungry. In her mind, Kira prepared her defense, but even as she did, she felt that it would be weak and whining.
“She was kept, against the rules, because her grandfather was still alive and had power. But he is long gone, replaced by a new leader with more power and wisdom –“
Vandara oozed compliments designed to strengthen her case, and Kira glanced at the chief guardian to see if he was swayed by the flattery. But his face was impassive.
“Her father was killed by beasts even before her birth. And now her mother is dead,” Vandara went on. “There is even reason to think that her mother may have carried an illness that will endanger others – “
She was the only one to fall ill! Look at me! I lay beside her when she died, and I am not ill!
“—and the women need the space where their cott was. There is no room for this useless girl. She can’t marry. No one wants a cripple. She takes up space, and food, and she causes problems with the discipline of the tykes, telling them stories, teaching them games so that they make noise and disrupt the work –“
The chief guardian waved his hand. “Enough,” he announced.
Vandara frowned and fell silent. She bowed slightly.
The chief guardian looked around the table at the eleven others as if he sought comments or questions. One by one they nodded at him. No one said anything.
-2/18/10
Gone
Author: Michael Grant
Library Location: FIC GRANT
AR Information: IL: UG BL: 4.3 Points: 18
The summary on the book jacket explains this book better than I can:
In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. Gone.
Except for the young: Teens, Middle schoolers, Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. And just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to figure out what’s happened. And no way to get help.
Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.
It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight it shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you will disappear just like everyone else.
-12/11/09
How to Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People’s Religious Ceremonies
Edited by Arthur J. Magida
Library Location: 291.3 HOW
The title of this book pretty much says it all—and with Hanukkah beginning at sundown tonight and Christmas just two weeks away, this is a time when someone out there just might need this information. . .
From the book jacket:
In today’s diverse American society, we often are invited—through family, friends, or business contacts—to religious ceremonies or services that are not of our own tradition or faith. Entering this unfamiliar atmosphere—whether a Presbyterian baptism, a Jewish bar mitzvah, a Roman Catholic wedding, or an Islamic, Hindu or Buddhist service—can be awkward. . . .
What will happen? What do I do? What do I wear? What do I say? What should I avoid doing, wearing, saying? How long will it last? What are their basic beliefs? Will there be a reception? Will there be food? Should I bring a gift? When is it okay to leave?
These are just a few of the basic, very practical questions answered in How to Be a Perfect Stranger. A lively, straightforward guide to the basic services and ceremonies of all major religions and denominations in America, it is based on information obtained directly from each of them.
-12/10/09
Slavery Today
Authors: Kevin Bales & Becky Cornell
Library Location: 306.3 BALES
This tiny little book packs a lot of information. It would be great for anyone writing a report, or just for anyone who wants to know what is going on in the world.
From the book jacket:
Slavery didn’t end in the nineteenth century—it’s all around us. Twenty-seven million people—young and old, men and women—are locked in bondage worldwide. . . .Slaves are trapped in the same brutality and total control that they have suffered for centuries, with one crucial difference—a collapse in the price of human beings. Globalization, government corruption and the population explosion have thrust billions of people into the pool of potential slaves. This huge surplus of people living in extreme poverty—the poor, the uneducated and the impoverished immigrant—has pushed the price of human being to an all-time low of only $100, about the price of a pair of “designer” jeans.
Excerpt:
Why Boycotts Won’t Work
It is repulsive to think about eating or wearing something made by slaves. No one ever wants to support slavery by buying slave-made goods. When we learn that we might be using products made by slaves, our first impulse is to stop buying those products and boycott the stores that sold them. In fact, a boycott can actually make things worse.
Take the example of cotton. In countries in Asia and Africa there are maybe two farmers out of a hundred who use slaves to grow cotton. If consumers boycott cotton from India or Africa, then what happens? First, the farmers who don’t use slaves, who make lower profits, will be the hardest hit by the boycott. It is possible that these “free” farmers may lose their farms, in which case their children will have to leave school to find work, and their families may even become vulnerable to being enslaved through debt bondage. Second, the farmers who use slaves will be better able to survive the boycott since they have been making bigger profits, and they have another resource to fall back on, their slaves. Their slaves can be put to work at other jobs (denying those jobs to free workers) or even sold. The boycott may hurt the slaveholder, but it will hurt the free farmer much more.
-12/9/09
Alanna: The First Adventure
Author: Tamora Pierce
Library Location: FIC PIERCE
IL: UG BL: 4.5 Pts: 7.0
Whoever heard of a girl becoming a knight? In the first book of her Song of the Lioness Quartet, popular author Tamora Pierce writes about a character who dares to defy the status quo. Destined for a convent where she will study magic and learn to be a lady, Alana dreams only of being a knight. Alana’s twin brother, Thom, who hates to fight and wants only to be a sorcerer, is about to be sent to the palace for military training. With a miserable future facing each sibling, switching places seems the only thing to do! In a story laced with humor, danger, adventure, swords, sorcery, good and evil, Alanna begins her adventure not ready for what’s in store for her.
Excerpt:
Alanna held up Lightning’s crystal, letting its light burn into their eyes. The crystal dimmed, and she shouted, “I may be a girl, but I can defend—or attack!—as well as any boy!” She looked at Jonathan. Her friend was openly staring. “Highness,” she whispered, blushing a deep red. “I---“
-12/8/09
The Michaels Book of Arts & Crafts: Scrapbooking, Beading, Rubber Stamping, Polymet Clay & Much More
Edited by Dawn Cusick & Megan Kirby
Library Location: 745.5 CUSICK
Feeling creative? Want/need to make some gifts this Christmas? This “how to” book may be exactly what you need to get started. For starters, this book is big—528 pages to be exact. It contains directions for specific projects, but because basic techniques are also taught, the projects shown could be customized in a variety of ways. These are not tacky projects either—most of them would actually make very nice gifts.
Techniques/Projects include:
Painting and etching glass
Wood burning
Wood finishing
Clock making
Gilding
Stenciling
Faux finishing
Candle making
Soap making
Mosaics
Potpourri
Decoupage
Card making
Scrapbooking
Rubber Stamping
Crafts with clay
Tie dye and painting on fabrics
Bead jewelry
Bead home decor
-12/7/09
Today’s Book of the Day was chosen and written by our extraordinary 6th period TA, Danielle Womack.
Unwind
Author: Neal Shusterman
Library Location: FIC SHUSTERMAN
AR Info: IL: UG BL: 5.0 Pts: 14.0
Today’s book takes place in the near future where unwanted teens can be salvaged for their body parts due to the “Bill of Life”.
Excerpt:
What does it take to unwind the unwanted? It takes twelve surgeons, in teams of two, rotating in and out as their medical specialty is needed. It takes nine surgical assistants and four nurses. It takes three hours.
Roland is fifteen minutes in.
The medical staff that buzz around him wear scrubs the color of a happy face.
His arms and legs have been secured to the operating table with bonds that are strong but padded so he won’t hurt himself if he struggles.
A nurse blots sweat from his forehead. “Relax, I’m here to help you through this.”
He feels a sharp pinprick in the right side of his neck, and then in his left side.
“What’s that?”
“That,” says the nurse, “is the only pain you’ll be feeling today.”
“This is it, then,” Roland says. “You’re putting me under?”
Although he can’t see her mouth beneath her surgical mask, he can see the smile in her eyes.
“Not at all,” she says. “By law, we’re required to keep you conscious through the entire procedure.” The nurse takes his hand. “You have the right to know everything that’s happening to you, every step of the way.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
You will,” says one of the surgical assistants, wiping Roland’s legs down with brown surgical scrub. “Everybody does.”
-Friday December 04, 2009
Fed Up! Winning the War Against Childhood Obesity
Author: Susan Okie
Library Location: 618.92 OKIE
This book would be a great resource for a Cougar Challenge project—or for anyone interested in a serious, somewhat technical look at the issue of obesity in general.
From the book jacket:
Once dismissed by the medical profession as a purely cosmetic problem, obesity represents an ominous health threat for our children. Obesity is now second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death. Without early intervention, overweight children often become overweight adults—and we know that at any age obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, and other life-threatening conditions. Diabetes and heart disease alone cause more than 780,000 deaths each year. In fact, today’s kids may be the first generation in U.S. history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
Excerpt:
To understand what might be causing an epidemic of childhood obesity, it is important for readers to gain a fundamental understanding of three key areas related to the crisis: how the human body regulates appetite and maintains itself at a constant weight; how the genes that children inherit from their parents contribute to their chances of becoming overweight; and how some environmental changes in the past 30 to 40 years may be interfering with our bodies’ ability to maintain a healthy weight, making more and more of us, young and old, store too much fat tissue.
-Thursday December 03, 2009
Terror on the Seas: True Tales of Modern Pirates
Author: Daniel Sikulich
Library Location: 910.4 SEKULICH
Yesterday’s book of the day was a teen novel about a family attacked by modern-day pirates. Today’s book is a very readable non-fiction work that could be read “just because” or used as a resource for a report or Cougar Challenge project.
From the book jacket:
Daniel Sekulich takes readers on an eye-opening voyage into the world of high-seas piracy, a multinational, multibillion-dollar enterprise controlled by organized crime syndicates and local warlords. Sekulich sails through some of the most dangerous waters on the planet to chronicle this threat to national and international security. He meets with victims of attacks, those fighting the perils, and even pirates themselves.
Excerpt:
Captains worth their salt will still make sure that they take suitable precautions when sailing through the waterway. This usually involves having the crew monitor the radar and keep an eye posted for suspicious craft, keeping the vessel lit up at night like a Christmas tree (pirates don’t like to be seen), locking all the doors into the main accommodation housing, and placing fire hoses at the ready near any place a pirate might try to board. The most common place to climb aboard a ship is at the stern, which is often the closest to the waterline and a sort of “blind spot” at the rear (the sides of some vessels also offer possibilities). The hoses are meant to be turned on and used to spray any attackers who might appear with high-pressure water, a crude, but effective, means of repelling boarders.
-Wednesday December 02, 2009
Red Sea
Author: Diane Tullson
Library Location: FIC TULLSON
AR Info: IL: MG BL: 5.1 Pts: 6.0
Libby is angry about the disruption to her life when her mother and stepfather drag her off on a yearlong sailing adventure. But when their boat ventures into dangerous waters and is attacked by modern-day pirates, Libby has bigger things to worry about. With her stepfather dead and her mother unconscious, Libby must find a way to get the boat to a safe harbor.
Excerpt:
The road from the city is paved but dusty, and my sandals atomize small clouds that sift over my pant legs, my shirt, my chin and nose and eyebrows, then every strand of my hair until I’m dun-colored and faceless. I can taste it, Djibouti dust. It’s like particles of people and animals and African desert as old as anything is on earth, mixed with crumbling plaster and car exhaust. I draw attention; anyone new or different draws attention in these places, especially a girl, alone. Not that it bothers me. Guys here are not much different than guys at home. I know it bothers my mother that I’m alone, and that’s reason enough to do it. It’s the only time I have to myself, living on a sailboat with her and Duncan. I’ve seen walk-in closets bigger than our boat, but it could be the Queen Mary and still not be big enough.
-Tuesday, December 01, 2009
You, Maybe
Book of the Day:
You, Maybe: The Profound Asymmetry of Love in High School
Author: Rachel Vail
Library Location: FIC VAIL
AR Info: IL: UG BL: 3.7 Pts: 6.0
Strong, funny, independent Josie loses her equilibrium when the hottest senior guy in school singles her out for attention.
Excerpt:
Zandra and Tru had a “talk” with me on Sunday. They are “concerned” that I am “losing” myself. I assured them that I knew exactly where I was. They didn’t look convinced. Maybe we’re just growing apart. Maybe they’re right that I haven’t been such a great friend lately but I have other stuff going on right now and I wish they would just be happy for me. Michael meanwhile has been completely avoiding me. I put some of my stuff in Carson’s locker so I wouldn’t have to face Michael so much at my own. Carson walked me from class to class with his arm around me; those moments made the whole day worthwhile. I craved them, did anything I could think of to get back in there, under that wing.
-Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College
Jacques Steinberg
Library Location: 371.8 STEINBERG
This book is well-written and absolutely fascinating! It is not a “how to” book about getting into college, but the person reading it will learn a lot about the process by which college admissions decisions are made.
From the Introduction:
Colleges make their admissions decisions behind a cordon of security befitting the selection of a pope. The reasons why one applicant was accepted, while another was rejected, are closely held by the few people permitted in the room at the time the choices are made. . . .
To penetrate this mysterious culture, I spent eight months . . . as an observer inside the admissions office of one of the most selective colleges in the country, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. I then mined that experience to write a series of articles that appeared on the front page of The New York Times. As part of my research, I peered over the shoulders of the Wesleyan admissions staff as they sorted and evaluated ten times as many applications as there were seats available. . . .
The Gatekeepers grew out of that newspaper series. Specifically, it tells the story of one admissions officer, Ralph Figueroa, and the high school seniors whose cases he and his colleagues considered that year. My goal in writing this book is to allow any outsider—including those teenagers hoping to gain acceptance themselves—to follow along as actual applications pass through each stage of an entire admissions cycle at an elite private college. None of the applicants’ names have been changed, nor have the details of their lives.
Excerpt:
On the first Tuesday of December, eight admissions officers were seated around the long cherry table, considering the case of a seventeen-year-old senior from a private school in northern California. She had more A’s than B’s, but she hadn’t taken the toughest math and science courses that her school offered. Her combined SAT score of 1290—630 verbal, 660 math—was impressive, but it was about 50 points below the median of those other seniors from around the country who had applied thus far for the Wesleyan Class of 2004. While that was clearly a liability, of more concern was the fact that she appeared to be the kind of teenager who would become involved in a lot of extracurricular activities only to drop them soon after. She had worked with AIDS patients, repaired local hiking trails and volunteered as a government intern—each for no longer than a year.
But the girl could sing.
A Wesleyan music professor had reviewed a tape she had sent along with her application and rated it a 9—the highest score possible.
-Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Book of the Day:
In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae
Book of the Day:
In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae
Author: Linda Granfield
Illustrator: Janet Wilson
Library Location: 811 GRANFIELD
AR Info: IL: LG BL: 7.2 Pts: 0.5
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
that mark our place; and in the sky
the larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below. . .
This is a beautiful book. It presents as a children’s storybook—only about a quarter of an inch thick. The poem is laid out with one line per page, with each page stunningly illustrated by Janet Wilson. Between the paragraphs of the poem, Granfield weaves information about John McCrae and the writing of the poem, gives a brief overview of World War I, describes the conditions endured by the soldiers, and talks about the significance of the poppy to veteran’s organizations and the beginnings of the holiday we now call Veteran’s Day. This books works as a poetry book, as a history book, and an art book.
Excerpt:
The United States joined the Allies in 1917, and the fighting continued. Countries were ruined, and people and resources were exhausted. Some officials thought the war might go on until 1920, but improved tanks, airplanes, and renewed military strategies brought it to a gradual end. In the early morning hours of November 11, 1918, the Armistice, an agreement to end the fighting, was signed. By the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, after nearly sixteen hundred days of war, the guns were silenced.
-Monday, November 09, 2009
Book of the Day:
Material World
Book of the Day:
Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Author: Peter Menzel
Library Location: 306.85 MENZEL
This book is a companion volume to the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. Instead of focusing on food, however, the focus in this book is on the lifestyles and material possessions of families all over the world. I don’t know how it is for other people, but when I think about people living in other countries, my mental images are often pretty fuzzy. The pictures in this book, however, are bright and sharp, taking my fuzzy mental images and focusing them into a clear picture. This book is appropriate for research and for browsing.
From the book cover:
In an unprecedented effort, 16 of the world’s foremost photographers traveled to 30 nations around the globe to live for a week with families that are statistically average for that nation. At the end of each visit, photographer and family collaborated on a remarkable portrait of the family outside of their home, surrounded by all of their possessions—a few jars and jugs for some, an explosion of electronic gadgetry for others. Vividly portraying the look and feel of the human condition everywhere on Earth like nothing before, Material World puts a human face on the issues of population, environment, social justice, and consumption and brilliantly illuminates the crucial question facing our species today: Can all 6 billion of us have all the things we want?
-Friday, November 06, 2009
What the World Eats
Book of the Day:
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats
Authors: Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio
Library Location: 641.3 MENZEL
This book is visually stunning and absolutely fascinating. Anyone who has the slightest interest in food or in how people live around the globe will find something to interest them here. Sometimes it is the contrast between our own rich food supply and that of another land that makes a poignant statement. Other times it is the similarity between diets here and foods consumed in far-away, exotic locations that surprises.
From the cover:
Today we are witnessing the greatest change in global diets since the invention of agriculture. . . .
. . . Hungry Planet. . . presents a photographic study of families from around the world, revealing what people eat during the course of one week. Each family’s profile includes a detailed description of their weekly food purchases, photographs of the family at home, at market, and in their community; and a portrait of the entire family surrounded by a week’s worth of groceries. To assemble this remarkable comparison, Menzel and D’Aluisio traveled to twenty-four countries and visited thirty families from Bhutan and Bosnia to Mexico and Mongolia.
Excerpt:
Peter and I were (respectively) photographing and talking with a tall skinny man and his two sons, all three of whom showed the marks of hard living. Like many in the village, the man was blind in one eye from vitamin deficiencies; the children had skin diseases and looked seriously undernourished. As we were talking, the older boy pulled a dry brick of instant ramen noodles out of its wrapper and munched it down. His naked, pot-bellied little brother tipped the ramen’s flavoring packet into his own mouth and worked the powder around with his tongue until it dissolved. I was mesmerized. I saw this scene play out again and again during our time in Sawa, a place with next to no connection to the rest of the world—children eating an uncooked convenience food intended to simplify the busy lives of people very far away.
-Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Fever 1793
From the back cover:
August 1793. Fourteen-year-old Mattie Cook is ambitious, adventurous, and sick to death of listening to her mother. Mattie has plans of her own. She wants to turn the Cook Coffeehouse into the finest business in Philadelphia, the capital of the new United States.
But the waterfront is abuzz with reports of disease. “Fever” spreads from the docks and creeps toward Mattie’s home, threatening everything she holds dear.
As the cemeteries fill with fever victims, fear turns to panic, and thousands flee the city. Then tragedy strikes the coffeehouse, and Mattie is trapped in a living nightmare. Suddenly, her struggle to build a better life must give way to something even more important—the fight to stay alive.
Excerpt:
“Where’s Polly?” I asked as I dropped the bucket down the well. “Did you pass by the blacksmith’s?”
“I spoke with her mother, with Mistress Logan,” Mother answered softly, looking at her near rows of carrots.
“And?” I waved a mosquito away from my fact.
“It happened quickly. Polly sewed by candlelight after dinner. Her mother repeated that over and over, ‘she sewed by candlelight after dinner.’ And then she collapsed.”
I released the handle and the bucket splashed, a distant sound.
“Matilda, Polly’s dead.”
-Date:Monday, November 02, 2009
Forgotten Voices of the Great War
Book of the Day:
Forgotten Voices of the Great War: A History of World War I in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There
Author: Max Arthur
Library Location: 940.4 FORGOTTEN
From the inside flap:
In 1972 the British Imperial War Museum set about the momentous task of tracing ordinary veterans of World War I and interviewing them in detail about their experiences. The Imperial War Museum Sound Archive. . . has since grown to be the most important collection of its kind in the world. . . .
These recordings, many of which have remained unheard for decades, contain the forgotten voices of a generation no longer with us. Only a small fraction of the material has been used by historians. Now, thirty years later, after hundreds of hours in the archive and unlimited access to the complete World War I audiotapes, acclaimed author Max Arthur and his team of researchers have created this remarkable landmark history of the Great War—told in the words of the ordinary men and women who experienced it in the raw.
Excerpt:
Private Reginald Leonard Haine
1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company
So I went right up to the front, where I was met by a sergeant-major at a desk. My friend introduced me to the sergeant, who said, ‘Are you willing to join?’ I said, ‘Yes Sir.’ He said, ‘Well, how old are you?’ I said, ‘I am eighteen and one month.’ He said, ‘Do you mean nineteen and one month?’ So I thought a moment and said, ‘Yes Sir.’ He said, ‘Right-ho, well sign here please.’ He said, ‘You realize you can go overseas?’ So that was my introduction to the Army.
-Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Authors: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Library Location: FIC GRAHAME-SMITH
This parody of the beloved Austen classic is a hoot! A lot of the original story is still there, although the liberties taken by Mr. Grahame-Smith do alter the plot details somewhat. . .
Synopsis from the back of the book:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”
So begins Price and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.
Excerpt:
When they were but three miles from London, and Sir William was prattling on about the particulars of his knighthood for the second time in as many hours, the chaise lurched to a halt. The suddenness of this was enough to send Maria flying from one side of the carriage to the other, and was promptly followed by frightened shouts and the crack of powder outside. Had Elizabeth not been graced with steady nerves and the fortitude of years of combat, she might have gasped upon pulling back one of the curtains—for there were no less than one hundred unmentionables surrounding them on all sides. One of the young musket men had been dragged off the chaise and was being devoured, while the other two living men fired clumsily into the crowd as the hands of the dead pulled at their pant legs. Elizabeth grabbed her Brown Bess and Katana sword and told Sir William and Maria to remain as they were.
-Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Author: Max Brooks
Library Location: FIC BROOKS
As the title indicates, this book is an oral history of the Zombie War, as told through the personal recollections of survivors from all over the globe. With the current popularity of zombie stories, this book is flying off the library shelves.
The first paragraph of the book reads:
It goes by many names: “The Crisis,” “The Dark Years,” “The Walking Plague,” as well as newer and more “hip” titles such as “World War Z” or “Z War One.” I personally dislike this last moniker as it implies an inevitable “Z War Two.” For me, it will always be “The Zombie War,” and while many may protest the scientific accuracy of the word zombie, they will be hard-pressed to discover a more globally accepted term for the creatures that almost caused our extinction. Zombie remains a devastating word, unrivaled in its power to conjure up so many memories or emotions, and it is these memories, and emotions, that are the subject of this book.
-Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Evernight
Author: Claudia Gray
Library Location: FIC GRAY
AR Information: IL:UG BL:5.2 Pts:12
Bianca feels totally out of place at Evernight Academy until she meets Lucas Ross. But Lucas is harboring a dangerous secret. . .
Excerpt:
The other students clustered together in circles too tight for a newcomer to enter, their eyes dark and quick as they darted over me. It was as though they could see down into the panicked fluttering of my heart. To me, it seemed that they all looked alike—not in any obvious way but in their shared perfection. Every girl’s hair shone, whether worn down in a cascade past her shoulders or tied back in a prim, sleek bun. Every guy looked self-assured and strong, with smiles that served as masks. Everybody wore the uniform, with the sweaters and skirts and blazers and trousers in all the acceptable variations: gray, red, plaid, black. The raven crest marked them all, and they wore the symbol as though they owned it. Confidence radiated from them, and superiority, and disdain. I could feel the heat leaching from me as I stood on the outskirts of the room, shifting from foot to foot.
Nobody said hello.
-Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Library Location: FIC RYAN
AR Information: IL:MG BL:5.8 Pts:14
A small enclave of human survivors eeks out a precarious existence within a fenced compound surrounded by the Unconsecrated—zombie-like creatures that hunger for human flesh. Most are resigned to their existence there, but Mary has heard stories of an ocean beyond the surrounding forest, and she longs to see it.
Excerpt:
Often, my mother stands next to me holding her hand up over her eyes to block the sun and looking out past the fences and into the trees and brush, waiting to see if her husband will come home to her.
She is the only one who believes that he has not turned—that he might come home the same man he was when he left. I gave up on my father months ago and buried the pain of losing him as deeply as possible so that I could continue with my daily life. Now I sometimes fear coming to the edge of the Forest and looking past the fence. I am afraid I will see him there with the others: tattered clothes, sagging skin, the horrible pleading moan and the fingers scraped raw from pulling at the metal fences.
That no one has seen him gives my mother hope. At night she prays to God that he has found some sort of enclave similar to our village. That somewhere in the dense Forest he has found safety. But no one else has any hope. The Sisters tell us that ours is the only village left in the world.
Note: This book is beautifully written, interesting, and involving. But as you can probably tell from the paragraph above, it is not a cheerful read. I almost quit in the middle for that reason, but the dang thing had me hooked—I had to finish it. Ultimately, I was glad I did.
-Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009
In honor of Halloween, I intend to look at some of our newer fiction books this week. As you probably know, vampire/werewolf/zombie fiction reigns supreme right now. So here goes!
Book of the Day:
Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Library Location: FIC FANTASKEY
AR Information: IL:UG BL:4.9 Pts:14
Jessica Packwood, normal American teenager, is horrified to learn that she is really a vampire princess spirited away from Romania after the murder of her parents. As if that isn’t bad enough, she learns that she was betrothed at birth to Lucius Vladescu—vampire prince from a warlike rival family.
Excerpt: (Lucius has come to America to meet his future bride and ends up attending her high school while he waits for her to adjust to the idea of her eventual destiny. In this excerpt he is writing home to his uncle about his adjustment to life in America and about the progress of his courtship)
As you know, I have always been curious about our immortality. . . how it will feel to live on and on through time (assuming one avoids the stake, as I intend). I need speculate no longer. I have sampled eternity in Miss Campbell’s fifth period “social studies” class. Three days on the concept of “manifest destiny,” Vasile. THREE DAYS. I yearned to stand up, rip her lecture notes from her pallid hands, and scream, “Yes, America expanded westward! Is that not logical, given that Europeans settled on the eastern shore? What else were they to do? Advance vainly into the sea?
But I must not rant. . .
-Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Earth Abides
Author: George R. Stewart
Library Location: FIC STEWART
This book was recommended to me years ago by my 11th grade history teacher, and now I am passing the word along.
The book was written back in 1949, but the subject matter is timely. A grad student (“Ish”) from UC Berkeley falls ill while in a remote area working on his thesis. He recovers and returns to civilization, only to find that most of humanity has been wiped out by a deadly new plague. In order to keep his sanity and give himself purpose, he appoints himself to the task of observing a world without man. The first section of the book deals with Ish’s discovery of the disaster and his initial adjustment to the new reality. The central section of the book deals with the small community of survivors which eventually forms, and the third examines the questions of ultimate survival: How long can the surviving humans live off of the remains of the old civilization? When everything that was left has been used up or rotted away, how will life go on? How do parents teach the values of the old civilization to children who have never known the old world? Does one try to pass on the old skills related to education and technology, or let it all go and just teach them to survive?
Excerpt:
At the Flatiron Building he turned into Broadway, and followed it clear to Wall Street. There they both got out, and Princess showed interest in some kind of trail which ran along the sidewalk. Wall Street! He enjoyed walking along its empty length. With a little observation he discovered that there was some grass, weeds rather, showing green here and there in the cracks of the gutter. He remembered the family story that an early Dutch settler, one of their ancestors, had owned a good farm in this vicinity. His, father, when the bills were high, used to say, “Well, I wish we had held on to that farm on Manhattan Island.” Now Ish could take the land back for all that anybody cared. Yet this wilderness of concrete and steel and asphalt was the last place where anybody would really care to live now. He would trade that Wall Street farm for any ten acres in Napa Valley, or even for a small corner of Central Park.
He walked back to his car, and drove south on Broadway still, the little distance to the Battery. There he gazed across the expanse of the lower Bay toward the ocean. This was the end of the road.
There might be communities left in Europe or South America or on some of the islands, but he could not go to find out. Right here, doubtless, his Dutch ancestor had come ashore some three hundred years ago. Now he, Ish, had rounded the full circle.
-Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of It’s Survivors
Author: Doug Stanton
Library Location: 940.54 STANTON
AR Information: IL: UG BL: 8.3 Pts: 14
This is the harrowing story of a U.S. Naval disaster during World War II. Due to a mix-up in its orders, the USS Indianapolis ended up alone in the hostile waters of the South Pacific with the Navy believing it was in another location entirely. When the ship was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine, it was days before the Navy even realized it was missing. In the meanwhile, there were almost 900 men in the water. . .
Excerpt:
Within fifteen seconds, the entire bulk of the ship disappeared. All that remained was a wide swath of debris, about half the length of a football field, boiling with foam. The foam itself hissed, like an immense swarm of bees.
There were no birds in the sky, no wind; only the lapping of the noxious stew of seawater and fuel oil against kapok life vests. There were no stars; just the occasional flash of a crescent moon, like a needle of bone threading its way through a flying curtain of cloud. At times, the exhausted boys floated in complete darkness, unable to discern any horizon at all, the sea rising and falling in heavy swells. At other moments, the boys were lit by a ghostly silver light. The living prayed out loud while the dying screamed.
Note: This book is not for the squeamish. Contains descriptions of shark attacks, etc.
-Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Petey
Author: Ben Mikaelsen
Library Location: FIC MIKAELSEN
AR Information: IL: MG BL: 4.8 Pts: 6.0
This sad but heartwarming story is based on real events. The author fictionalized the story for a variety of reasons, but says that it is 90% accurate.
A child born in 1920 with cerebral palsy is misdiagnosed as an “Idiot” and locked away in a mental institution for 55 years before being moved to a nursing home in 1977. When he is attacked by bullies outside the nursing home facility, he is rescued by a compassionate teen who becomes his friend and helps him reconnect to important people from his past.
Excerpt from the scene where Petey is transferred from the infants ward to the adult ward:
A light breeze greeted them with the smell of fresh cut grass, lilacs, and honeysuckle. The smells could almost be tasted. Releasing each breath reluctantly, Petey quickly gulped more. He’d felt the wind before, but only for brief moments as he passed an open window going to his weekly bath. Not since the day Petey had arrived at Warm Springs nine years ago had he been outside. Now shivers rushed over him. The air flowed across his entire body, tugging at the white sheet covering his legs. It tickled. The sun, long limited to poking only thin beams of light into the ward, bathed the whole world. Even with his head forced forward, Petey squinted and blinked against the dazzling brightness. He smiled, and his eyes watered.
-Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009
Subject: Yesterday's Book of the Day
Yesterday’s book of the day, Life As We Knew It, is on the AR list.
IL: MG BL: 4.7 Pts: 14
-Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream
Authors: Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt with Lisa Frazier Page
Library Location: 610.92 DAVIS
AR info: IL: UG BL: 6.8 Pts: 11.0
From the introduction:
We grew up in poor, broken homes in New Jersey neighborhoods riddled with crime, drugs, and death, and came of age in the 1980s at the height of a crack epidemic that ravaged communities like ours throughout the nation. There were no doctors or lawyers walking the streets of our communities. Where we lived, hustlers reigned, and it was easy to follow their example. Two of us landed in juvenile-detention centers before our eighteenth birthdays. But inspired early by caring and imaginative role models, one of us in childhood latched onto a dream of becoming a dentist, steered clear of trouble, and in his senior year of high school persuaded his two best friends to apply to a college program for minority students interested in becoming doctors. We knew we’d never survive if we went after it alone. And so we made a pact: we’d help one another through, no matter what.
They made it. This book is their story.
The book listed above is not a difficult read, but it is written more for adults and older teens. There is a companion volume, which we also have, targeted to a younger crowd. It is entitled We Beat the Streets, and it reads more like a novel although it is still nonfiction. AR info: IL: UG BL: 5.8 Pts: 7.0
The doctors also wrote The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and Reconnect with Their Fathers. Underscoring the importance of fathers, the three doctors tell their stories again, specifically focusing on their relationships with their fathers and on the profound ways in which the good and bad in those relationships affected them. AR info: IL: UG BL: 6.7 Pts: 15.0
-Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Life As We Knew It
Author: Susan Pfeffer
Library Location: FIC PFEFFER
Life on our planet changes dramatically when an asteroid pushes the moon closer to the earth. Tidal waves and earthquakes kill millions, but that is only the beginning. . . .
This is a fascinating read. The novel follows one teenage girl and her family as they struggle to survive on the outskirts of an unspecified town in the eastern portion of the United States. The low-key way in which the various waves of hardship begin to wash over the family, along with the way the smallest factors eventually make the difference between life and death, brought a sense of realism to the story. I couldn’t put this one down.
Excerpt:
“I went to the bank this morning,” Mom said. “And I filled the gas tank and gas was already at five dollars a gallon. I went to the supermarket and the electricity went out and there was chaos there, so they just said a hundred dollars for each wagon no matter what was in it. I had a lot of cash on me, so I filled a wagon and then went back and got Mrs. Nesbitt and then Johnny and you so we could each get wagons to fill.”
“You don’t really think we’re going to need this stuff?” I asked. “Everything’s going to get back to normal soon, isn’t it?
“Not in my lifetime,” Mrs. Nesbitt said.
“We don’t know,” Mom said. “But kitty litter doesn’t go bad. If it turns out I’m wrong and I’ve wasted all this money, fine. I’d just as soon the world gets back to normal. But in case it takes a while, we might as well have toilet paper. Miranda, you’re going to canned vegetables and fruits. You know what we like.”
“Mom, we don’t eat canned vegetables,” I said.
“We do now,” she said.
-Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Lydia Bennet’s Story: The continuing adventures of Mrs. Darcy’s youngest sister
Author: Jane Odiwe
Library Location: FIC ODIWE
This sequel to Pride and Prejudice addresses all of the lingering questions Jane Austen fans may have about Lydia Bennett. How did she come to know George Wickham well enough to run off with him? How did he persuade her to do so? What happened when Mr. Darcy found them? How did the marriage work out? Did Lydia ever grow up and develop any common sense?
The book is written in a style reminiscent of Austen, but is modern enough that a 21st century reader with a good vocabulary can easily follow the story.
Here is an excerpt describing Lydia’s wedding day:
“The bride was all beaming smiles and could not stop giggling at Wickham, who looked the very picture of solemnity, his face the same ashen shade as the statues who guarded their loved ones in the graveyard. Lydia let go her uncle’s arm as soon as she could to stand at George’s side. She smiled up at him. “I shall laugh out loud, Georgie, if you wear that expression much longer. Do not tease me so on my wedding day,” she whispered before giggling into her prayer book. He bit his lip, his brow furrowing as though the weight of the world had been laid upon him.”
-Thursday, October 15, 2009
Book of the Day:
Child of the Revolution: Growing Up In Castro’s Cuba
Author: Luis M. Garcia
Library Location: 920 GARCIA
This inside look at Cuban life during the 1960’s is a fascinating peek inside a closed culture. The information imparted is interesting, but it is the way the book is written in a child’s voice that makes it readable and compelling.
Excerpt:
“When you apply for permission to leave Cuba—when you fill in the application form that will change your life forever—you get a visit from the police. Sometimes accompanied by someone from the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, they set about taking written stock of everything in the house. It’s called pasar balance. A stocktake for gusanos. They note down every single thing in your house—the number and style of plates, the number of cups and saucers in the pantry, the television set in the lounge room (we should be so lucky!), the ironing board, your jewellery, if you have any. Everything, regardless of monetary or sentimental value. It’s all noted down in great detail because these goods no longer belong to you. They are the property of the People. They belong to the Revolution. You can use them between now and the day you get the telegram saying you can leave Cuba, but you cannot sell them or barter them or do anything with them. Because when the telegram arrives, the police will come again with their clipboards and pencils and make sure every single item listed on the forms remains behind in Cuba. It’s the property of the People. If anything is missing, who knows what will happen?”
Since applying to leave Cuba, we have been extra careful with the plates and the glasses and the big American-made radio in the dining room. When a plate smashed in the kitchen many months ago, my mother picked up the pieces, carefully wrapped them up in newspaper and put the package at the back of the cupboard for safekeeping. Same with the glasses. Same with everything. Now, I see her unwrap the yellowing pages of the papers, one by one, showing the broken china to these two policemen, making sure they know it’s all there. I think she cries as she does this. I am not sure. I know she is dead scared that one of the milicianos will pause and then place a cross instead of a tick on his list. Just like that. A cross instead of a tick, and then we will have to stay in Cuba.”
-Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009
Book of the Day:
Last Chance to See
Authors: Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
Library Location: 578.68 ADAMS
Douglas Adams, best known for his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, turns his quirky focus onto the serious problem of species loss in this travelogue focusing on endangered species. Adams traveled the world with zoologist Mark Carwardine in the late 1980s, looking for rare animals on the endangered list. The giant Komodo dragon of Indonesia, the Kakapo of New Zealand, the blind river dolphins of China, the white rhinos of Zaire and the rare birds of Mauritius island in the Indian Ocean were their quarries. The seriousness of the subject matter combined with the British humor makes this a unique read.
Excerpt:
Not only was the forest thick, it was also cold, wet, and full of large black ants that bit all of us except for Helmut and Kurt, who were wearing special antproof socks which they had brought with them from Latvia.
We complimented them on their foresight and they shrugged and said it was nothing. Latvians were always well prepared. They looked at our recording equipment and said they were surprised that we thought it was adequate. They had much better tape recorders than that in Latvia. We said that that might very well be so, but that we were very happy with it and that the BBC seemed to think it was fine for the job. Helmut (or was it Kurt?) explained that they had much better broadcasting corporations in Latvia.
The outbreak of outright hostilities was happily averted at this moment by a signal from our guides to keep quiet. We were near the gorillas.
Note: The subtle, sophisticated nature of the humor in this book, along with the occasional passing references to mature topics, make this book most appropriate for mature teens.
-Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009
Dismal out, isn’t it? The idea of curling up with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book is pretty appealing to me right now. Maybe it is to you as well—and to some of your students. With that in mind, I am going to start an e-mail communication called “Book of the Day.” I probably won’t get an e-mail out every day, but as I have the time I want to let you know about some of the great reads available right here in your Foothill Library. Remember, as staff members, you have library privileges too—and the more familiar you are with what we have to offer, the more able you will be to make recommendations to your students. So here goes. . .
Book of the Day:
The Captain’s Wife
Author: Douglas Kelley
Library Location: FIC KELLY
Today’s weather inspired this choice. A fiction book based upon actual events, The Captain’s Wife tells the story of a clipper ship voyage gone terribly wrong.
From the book jacket:
“The trip is marked by dark signs early on. The first mate shows signs of treason that soon erupt into a plot of mutiny. Upon reaching the equator, the Captain falls ill. With no other choice, Mary [the captain’s wife] takes command of the ship. Her command reigns throughout not only the most treacherous passage, Cape Horn, but during the most devastating weather in years. Having learned to navigate on a previous voyage with her husband, she now must utilize all her skills as she demands respect from an unstable crew, nurses her husband day and night, keeps the mutinous first mate at bay, and finds as she becomes a captain, she will also become a mother.”
Note: If any of you have toured the Star of India in the San Diego Harbor, the physical descriptions in this novel are based on the layout of that ship. Also, the descriptions of the passage through Cape Horn will make your hair stand on end!