Girls In Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

Brashares, Ann. Girls In Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood. 2005. 338p. ISBN 0-385-72935-9. Available at FIC BRA on the library shelves.

For a second summer in a row, the magical pants that four best friends share helped them survive being apart. Now that they have graduated from high school and are ready to head off on their own to four different colleges miles apart from each other, Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget once again decide to split custody of the pants. From the last day of school to a day at the beach to celebrate their last day together, summer has never felt so short.

Carmen is surprised to discover that her mother is pregnant and expecting a child with her new husband David just as she’s leaving their apartment. Happy at having a little brother but fearing being replaced, Carmen considers changing her choice of colleges to be closer to home so she can help out. Tired of babysitting, she agrees to work with Lena’s grandmother, taking her to appointments and keeping her company.

Tibby is ready for film school, and works at the movie theatre this summer, but what felt new and exciting has become repetitive. Her relationship with Brian is complicated, and she still misses Bailey. Her three-year-old sister is on the move, and in a moment of inattention she falls out of Tibby’s window while reaching for the apple tree, and ends up in the hospital. Tibby experiences guilt and feels responsible for her sister’s accident.

Lena’s enrollment in a summer art program and her future projects at art school are threatened when her father walks in during a modeling session when a fully nude male model sits on a stool in the middle of the room for all to see. The death of her grandfather last year has led to her grandmother living with them, much to everyone’s discomfort. Grandmother would rather not be here at all, but back in Greece in her home, even thought it would be lonely. Plus, she still thinks of Kostos.

Bridget returns to camp, but runs into Eric who also happens to be there as a counselor. Worse, they both have to work together. She has pursued him relentlessly when she was fifteen, but now at seventeen she’s wiser. Yet, she retains the hope that maybe they will connect. But now it’s her turn to be pursued by one of the male campers, and she immediately feels bad for her actions two summers ago.

As the girls navigate their last summer before moving out, their relationships will change yet will remain as strong as ever.

Modern Warships Up Close

Dougherty, Martin J. Modern Warships Up Close. Part of the Military Technology: Top Secret Clearance series. 2016. 224p. ISBN 978-1-50817084-6. Available at 623.82 DOU on the library shelves.

The First World War was the glory age of giant naval battleships, armed with large cannons and able to destroy targets miles away. Following this conflict, military planners assumed that battleships would remain the best naval weapons, but the development of aircraft made the aircraft carrier more valuable. Battleships found themselves vulnerable during the Second World War. Nations adopted by building more destroyers, missile ships, and frigates.

With evolving roles away from naval battles and towards operations support and interdiction, naval ships and strategies have adapted to new realities. This book profiles increasingly sophisticated warships with a multitude of roles, from aircraft carriers to helicopter and troop transports, to military hospital ships and missile platforms. Technological advances have allowed ships to downsize while packing better weapons to strike at enemy forces and for self-protection.

Fans of military history and of equipment will enjoy reading about the evolution of warships and the functions they play in today’s world.

The Military Technology: Top Secret Clearance series include Small Arms Up Close, Modern Warships Up Close, Warplanes of World War II Up Close, Military Jets Up Close, and Tanks of World War II Up Close.

Bungo Stray Dogs, Vol. 4

Asagiri, Kafka. Bungo Stray Dogs, Vol. 4. 2017. 176 p. ISBN 9780316468169. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Following a confrontation between Ryuunosuke and Atsushi on a boat, Atsushi and Kyouka escaped from the clutches of the Port Mafia and returned to the Armed Detective Agency, and new lodging arrangements have both of them living together. Kyouka’s lineage is questioned by the police, but Agency President Fukuzawa claims her as his daughter.

Dazai has traced the name of the group behind the ransom for Atsushi. It is a North American group called the Guild, which is made up of rich and famous politicians, military, and cultural leaders. As the members of the Agency discuss how to deal with this new threat, the Guild arrives at their door and proposes a deal to Fukuzawa: Sell the Agency so that the Guild can use the precious Operations License, or see themselves wiped out. Fukuzawa refuses, but within 24 hours agents begin to disappear.

Atsushi himself falls prey to a trap set by Lucy Montgomery, a Guild member able to create an extradimensional space and use her rag doll Annie to crush her opponents. Atsushi finds himself outclassed and outmaneuvered. Fortunately for him, the Port Mafia is about to fight back against the Guild, and the enemy of their enemy is about to temporarily become their friend...

Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers

Stone, Tanya Lee. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers. 2013. 146p. ISBN 0-7636-5117-6. Available at 940.54 STO on the library shelves.

In the First World War, African-American troops fought in Europe and discovered that the segregation they experienced at home was not universal. Soldiers returning to the United States proudly wearing the uniform were immediately shunned and made to remove it. Now with the Second World War in full swing, African-Americans are once again called to enlist and fight for the United States. But discrimination and segregation are huge stumbling blocks. Why would they want to fight for a country that does not recognize them as full citizens? Some refuse to participate, on the theory that their country did not like them. Others, however, volunteered and eagerly awaited the opportunity to take the fight to Hitler.

But this opportunity did not come. Black troops were assigned menial or behinds the line duties stateside, and could not fight alongside White troops. Enlisted troops were not as thoroughly trained, nor as well equipped. But one man decided to change all of that. First Sergeant Walter Morris, who led a detachment of guards protecting the Parachute School at Fort Benning, in Georgia, decided to have his troops follow the same training regimen as the parachutists, minus the actual jumps from an airplane. Soon unit morale improved, and higher ups noticed. A decision was made to create the first unit of Black Paratroopers, the 555th, also known as the Triple Nickels.

Though these troops trained for two years, they never participated in any war action on the front. However, their contribution to fighting forest fires ignited in the American west by Japanese incendiary balloons, helped people realize their value as specialized troops, which paved the way for the desegregation of all armed forces in 1948 and the advances that were secured during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Fans of military history and of the Second World War will appreciate the dedication that these troops showed in the face of overwhelming efforts to keep them “in their place.”

King Lear

Shakespeare, William. King Lear. 2007. 215p. ISBN 0-300-12200-4. Available at 822.3 SHA on the library shelves.

Slowly descending into madness, Lear, King of Britain, decides to split his kingdom into three pieces, one for each of his daughters. As a price, however, he asks them to describe in glowing terms why they love him most. HIs two oldest daughters readily participates, but Cordelia, the youngest one, honestly replies that words alone cannot express how much she loves him. Enraged at what Lear perceives to be her lack of enthusiasm, he disinherits her, and grants her part to her two older sisters. The Duke of Kent opposes this move by Lear, so the King banishes him as well. Despite having lost her inheritance, Cordelia marries the King of France, who appreciates her honesty.

Lear then decide to live with his two daughters, alternating between one and the other. However, he brings with him a hundred knights which each must support while they are there, incurring significant expenses. Both daughters do not really love their father but consider him a old fool. Forced to disband his knights, Lear soon find himself alone with his Fool and the Duke of Kent, who has returned from exile and disguised himself as a servant to protect his King. Powerless against the daughters who have now turned against him, Lear looks to a French invasion to restore him to his throne.

His daughters have other plans, however, and they discover the plot against them. They assemble their armies and march on. Following the confrontation, the two sisters are victorious against Cordelia, but not without much bloodshed and double crossing. In the end all three sisters end up dead, and King Lear is left with only his madness before he succumbs to the trials he has lived through.

Shakespeare’s best known tragedy, King Lear remains relevant today for its presentation of greed and madness and for its discussion of the important of nature and reason.

Young Adult Literature

Cart, Michael. Young Adult Literature. 3rd Edition. 2016. 310p. ISBN 978-0-8389-1462-5. Available at PROF 813.009 CAR on the library shelves.

The history of young adult literature is an intriguing one. Originally an outgrowth of children’s literature, writers began to pay particular attention to the young adult market, loosely defined as boys and girls aged between 12 and 18. With the explosion of disposable income and pocket money in the 1950s, book editors and companies realized that teens had both the interest and the economic power to purchase books that were attractive for them. Books targeted at teens became a mainstay of book stores. As society changed and adapted to new realities, so did books for young adults, pushing beyond the comfort level of most parents and addressing issues such as sexuality, drugs, and violence, as well as portraying different family configurations.

This third edition provides updated information about the field and incorporates recent research and sales reports to highlight the most recent changes in the publishing industry and trends in book publishing. School librarians, youth librarians, and anyone with an interesting in the history of literature will appreciate this survey of young adult literature.

Survivors club: the true story of a very young prisoner of Auschwitz

Bornstein, Michael and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat. Survivors club: the true story of a very young prisoner of Auschwitz. 2017. 352p. 452 mins. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Born in Zarki, Poland after the German invasion of September 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War, Michael Bornstein has known nothing but war, and the Jewish oppression and extermination is nothing out of the ordinary for him. His father, an accountant before the war, was appointed as president of the Jewish Council by the occupiers. Through skills and luck, he managed to make life bearable for most of the Zarki Jews, and kept his family together. Michael’s father, mother, grandmother, and brother continued to live in their house until the Germans decreed that Zarki was to become Jew-free. Even then, they were able to stay behind with the clean-up crew for a few more months, as rumors of resettlements in the East turned to confirmation of death camps where Jews were being massacred and incinerated.

Eventually, the Bornstein family’s luck ran out. First transferred to a munitions factory, they were soon put on a train to Auschwitz where both Michael, his mother and his grandmother were separated from his father and brother, who perished in the Nazi gas chambers. Though only four years old, Michael’s mother managed to keep Michael hidden and safe for months. Her deportation to Austria to work in another munitions factory left Michael and his grandmother alone in the most notorious death camp. Michael was once again saved from death when he became sick enough that his grandmother, in despair of losing her last family member, smuggled him in the infirmary where he experienced a bed all to himself for the first time in his life. The next morning, the Germans were gone and the Soviets arrived. Wanting to achieve a propaganda victory over the Germans, the Soviets filmed Auschwitz’s surviving children showing their tattoos and gauntness, and Michael’s image was immortalized.

Michael and his grandmother returned to Zarki after the war, and reconnected with their family. His mother survived as well, and eventually they made it to the United States in the early 1950s where Michael became a successful academic and researcher. It wasn’t until decades later that Michael, watching a movie, realized that he was one of the children in actual footage of the war.

Working with his daughter, Michael retells his story from the fragments he remembers. Supported by archival research, Michael’s experience shows that wit, love and looking forward can keep hope alive even when it seems hopeless. Listen to a segment discussing this book and Michael’s experience here, and check out the book on Overdrive.