Beautiful Creatures

Garcia, Kami & Margaret Stohl. Beautiful Creatures. Book 1 of the Caster Chronicles series. 2009. 563p. ISBN 978-0-316-15195-5. Available as an eBook from Overdrive

The small town of Gatlin is what most people think of when they imagine the old South: southern hospitality, its own historic Civil War battlefield, large plantation houses and debutante balls. For Ethan Wate, Gatlin is none of those things. It’s a place he’s anxious to leave behind, but as a sophomore he’s still got three years left before he can depart and never come back. According to him, there are two kinds of people in Gatlin: Those who can’t wait to escape, and those who are not able to. With nothing ever happening, Gatlin might as well be the end of the world. That all changes, however, when, at the beginning of the school year, a new girl joins the sophomore class.

The niece of Gatlin’s recluse and owner of the oldest residence in the county, Macon Ravenwood, Lena Duchannes has moved from place to place throughout her life, never staying very long in any location. Ethan is immediately smitten with Lena. He’s met her before, in his dreams. Over the last few months, Ethan’s dreams have been plagued with a vision of a beautiful girl and him in a graveyard. And now that girl is here, in the flesh, at school. It can’t be a coincidence.

Ethan soon discovers that Lena is cursed. She is a Caster, and her ancestor made a bargain that has cost her descendants their free will. Now instead of having the possibility of choosing good or evil during their claiming ceremony when they turn 16, each caster is now assigned a side. Lena is deeply terrified she will be chosen as a Dark Caster, unlike her uncle and the rest of her family. Helped by a locket discovered next door to Ravenwood, Ethan and LEna realize that two people much like them have lived this life before, during the Civil War, and that it ended badly for both.

Now in a race against time, Ethan and Lena must fight the town bullies and discover a way for Lena to make her own choice. Can they change their fate?

Across Five Aprils

Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils. 2011. 224p. 347 mins. ISBN 9780792787068. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

War tends to split families, and the Civil War is no exception. Though Illinois is firmly in the Union camp, the southern tier of the state harbors Confederate sympathies. Large families often find themselves divided by the issues of state rights and slavery. The Creighton family is one such group. Farmers on what was once the frontier, the Creighton family survives with everyone contributing. But while Matt Creighton and his sons John and Tom support the Union, Bill, Jethro’s favorite, supports the South, causing tensions at home.

When war finally breaks in April 1861, Jethro is at first thrilled. But the division within the Creightons soon affects them, as John and Tom join the federal army, while Bill departs to fight for the Confederacy. Jethro, his sister Jenny, and his parents follow the war through newspaper articles, and at first the news is dire. Union forces are defeated in several engagements. Jethro’s teacher at school, Shadrach Yale, helps Jethro understands the battles and what is at stake. In love with young Jenny, Shadrach requests her hand in marriage before he leaves to join the Union, but Matt Creighton refuses, deeming his daughter too young at fourteen.

Soon John, who is married with children, begins to send letters from the front. Matt Creighton suffers a heart attack and becomes partially paralysed. Now it is up to Jethro to run the family farm. Meanwhile, Bill’s sympathies for the South have angered some of the locals, who take it out on the Creighton by burning their barn and poisoning their well. As the conflict deepens, and as brothers fight brothers, the Creighton family is torn asunder, and Jethro realizes that things will never go back to how they were before the war. When Tom is killed in combat, Jethro fears that his brother Bill could have fired the shot that killed him.

As more family members get shot, desert, or become just plain tired of the war, Jethro looks forward to a time when the war will end, for surely all wars eventually conclude. Sadly, the end of the Civil War does not bring the relief that Jethro was looking for. However, over the past five Aprils Jethro discovers that pain and sorrow, just like war, eventually end.

Careers in the US Navy

Kiland, Taylor Baldwin. Careers in the US Navy. Part of the Careers in the US Armed Forces series. 2016. 128p. ISBN 978-0-7660-6949-7. Available at 359 KIL on the library shelves.

When John Paul Jones, aboard the Bonhomme Richard, uttered the words “I have not yet begun to fight,” little did he know that he was starting a maritime tradition of excellence and dominance. The United States Navy is present on every ocean, and provides military protection to American allies and deterrence to its enemies. From its humble beginnings as a small navy fighting the British for the colonies’ independence to a nuclear-powered fleet, the Navy exerts many roles.

This book presents information about the history of the Navy, and how it operates in today’s world. The various organizational structures of the Navy are discussed, and the role that diversity plays in Navy staffing is explored. Naval operations are presented, while vignettes of famous sailors and recipients of the Medal of Honor are peppered throughout. Navy specialties are explained, and service requirements are described. Finally, the book discusses Navy’s future in an uncertain world.

Individuals interested in joining the Navy or learning more about will appreciate this book.

Titles in this series include:

• Careers in the US Air Force
• Careers in the US Army
• Careers in the US Marine Corps
• Careers in the US Coast Guard

Arena 3

Rice, Morgan. Arena 3. Book 3 of the Survival Trilogy. 2016. 240p. ISBN 0984975373. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

When Brooke and her friends managed to escape Arena 2, they fled northward towards Canada, propelled by rumors that there was a sanctuary city that had been spared by the war. The trek almost killed them, but at the beginning of Arena 3 they reach Fort Noix, in Quebec. Fort Noix runs like a military operation, and residents must obey military orders. After many discussions, the Fort’s commander allows Brooke, Ben, Bree and Charlie to join in exchange for work and obedience.

Thrilled to be finally safe after years in the wilderness running away from slavers, Brooke meet other teenagers her age and immediately joins the patrols. The two kids adapt quickly to life in the Fort, but Ben, however, continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and remains distant. For months, they get stronger and better. But then the Fort receives a cryptic message from Texas. Another base has survived and is trying to contact other pockets of survivors. There are doubts, however. How old is the message? Who is sending it? Could it be a trap?

The message gives Brooke hope, because the voice sounds like that of her father, who left at the beginning of the war in Arena 1. She is so convinced that she decides to do the unthinkable. She will leave the safety of Fort Noix and travel all the way down to Texas to locate this other base. Three of the local teenagers agree to accompany her, and they are soon joined by Ben and the children. Back in the wilderness, Brooke and her friends are once again facing the unforgiving environment of an America ruined by war as they head down to Texas. Will they be able to avoid the crazies and the slaverunners who are looking for them?

Confederate Flag: Controversial Symbol of the South

Marcovitz, Hal. Confederate Flag: Controversial Symbol of the South. Part of the Patriotic Symbols of America. 2015. 48p. ISBN 978-1-4222-3121-0. Available at 929.92 on the library shelves.

The Confederate flag has been in the news recently as a symbol of racism and of oppression. Yet for many, it represents a cultural heritage for which men fought and died. When Southern States seceded from the Union following Abraham Lincoln’s election, they formed their own government and appointed a committee to create symbols for the new Confederacy. The result was the Stars and Bars, a flag similar in design and colors to that of the United States. This design proved dangerous in battle, however, as it was impossible at a distance, with dust and smoke, to determine to which side troops belonged. Both flags were red, white and blue with bars and stars!

Generals in the field designed a new battle flag that could not be mistaken for Union flags, and soon this flag was adopted and used throughout the South. It never replaced the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy, which evolved twice more over the next four years, yet it became the most recognized symbol of the South.

This book presents the history of the flag and discusses current and past controversies surrounding its use in the South. Fans of history will appreciate learning about the process of symbolism from creation to adoption to veneration, but in the end they will have to answer for themselves whether they view the Confederate flag as a tool of oppression or of freedom.