Saturday, May 31, 2014

Shades of London: The Madness Underneath

Johnson, Maureen. Shades of London: The Madness Underneath. 2013. 384 p. ISBN 978-0399256615. FIC JOH on the library shelves.



In this second book of the Shades of London series, Aurora, who goes by Rory, is in Bristol. She is slowly recuperating from the stab wound the ghost known as the Ripper dealt her. Her hardest task, however, is therapy. Seeing ghosts but being unable to talk to others about her ability makes conversation difficult. The ghost hunting group engineers her return to London and to her private school. She is reunited with her friends, and finds a strange therapist. With her ability growing, Rory must decide how she fits in the world, and how her newfound ghost vaporizing ability should be used.

Readers not familiar with The Name of the Star, the first book in the series, will find themselves lost at the beginning. Though Johnson provides some background information, the attention is focused on the present and on the character development of Rory and her questioning of the future. The plot is uneven and moves slowly. It is only in the last fifth of the book that the nemesis is revealed, and the ending feels flat, leaving the reader wondering what will happen next but not necessarily looking forward to the next installment.


Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Third Reich’s Celluloid War: Propaganda in Nazi Feature Films, Documentaries and Television

Garden, Ian. The Third Reich’s Celluloid War: Propaganda in Nazi Feature Films, Documentaries and Television. 2012. 288p. ISBN 978-0752464428. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.


The power of images to speak louder than words was harnessed early on to communicate messages to populations. Films shown by the Allies during World War I were powerful and clearly cast the Germans in the role of the villains, wheea German film makers were unable to cast a clear picture of their side.

When the arrival of Hitler, the Nazis harnessed the levers of government to assert control over German society. They took effective control of radio and newspaper, and began propaganda campaigns designed to vilify the Jews and Germany's enemies while extolling the virtues of Home and of the Nazi party.

Master propagandists, the Nazis were not as successful exploiting the strengths and abilities of the movies to communicate effective messages through cinema. This came from the mixed messages of vilifying their enemies while at the same time avoiding to anger Britain and France, whom they hoped to remain at peace with. When war finally broke out, the messages remained muddled.

Garden presents in this book a study of several films in different genres that were produced for propaganda purposes. He explains the genesis of the film, the main actors, the impact it had at the time, how the movie was received, and what happened afterwards to the actors and directors, as well as the film's future in Germany.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Front and Center


Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Front and Center. Dairy Queen Series, Book 3. 2009. 256p. ISBN 978-0-618-95982-2. FIC MUR on the library shelves.


Returning to school after taking some time off to help her brother after his horrible accident in The Off Season, DJ hopes to once again blend in the background and return to her anonymous status. But an article in People Magazine on her relationship with football and Brian, scouting by Division I coaches, and the pressures of dealing with her broken relationship with Brian and a new blossoming one with Beaner.

DJ’s basketball season is interspaced with the recruiting efforts of coaches, her training of Ashley, a senior who can’t play ball, her brother’s needs to have a purpose to his life by helping her get into college, and DJ’s own confusing feelings for Brian and Beaner. Continuing the hilarious journey that is DJ’s life, Murdock brings the conclusion of the Dairy Queen trilogy to a satisfying end, but fans of DJ will be left wanting more. 


Monday, May 26, 2014

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. 2011, 352p. ISBN 1-59474-476-9. FIC RIG on the library shelves and also available as an eBook on Overdrive.



Jacob has heard all of the stories his grandfather told him about his time on a remote island of Wales in an orphanage for peculiar children during the Second World War. He’s even seen the photos. He believed his grandfather when he told him about the girl who levitated or the invisible boy, or the boy who released spiders every time he opened his mouth. But when he was told by other kids he believed in fairy tales, he stopped believing, and eventually his grandfather stopped telling him the stories.

Now his grandfather has been killed by a monster only Jacob could see. His parents, worried for him, send him to a psychiatrist, who convinces Jacob to return to the island and see if he can learn more about his grandfather and why he would make these things up. Only, when Jacob gets there, the orphanage is real, and so are the orphans, living in a time loop. Jacob must now question everything he knows, and quickly as he brought with him the very monsters that haunt and murder peculiar children.

The story continues in Hollow City.


Sunday, May 25, 2014

The Story of French

Nadeau, Jean-Benoit and Julie Barlow. The Story of French. 2006, 483p. ISBN 978-0-312-34184-8. 440.9 NAD on the library shelves.

The Story of French presents a concise history of the French language from its inceptions out of the ruins of the Roman Empire to today’s dynamic and evolving environment stretching across all continents and in more than 53 countries. But it is not simply a story of the language. The authors aim not only to explain how French transformed and changed over the last 1,500 years, but also answer the less asked question, why did French become the second most popular second language on the planet.
French evolved out of Latin and was heavily influenced by Frankish and germanic influences. 

Originally, what we refer to as French was only spoken in the area centered around Paris. French evolved organically until the 15th century when Francois I acceded to the throne of France. Following the Hundred Years War, the kingdom of France found itself isolated. To counteract losses to the territory and a loss of European influence, Francois I “was the first French king to create a policy for the promotion of culture and to link it specifically to the French language” (p 49). The king specifically tied the use of language to the culture of the Paris region and began exporting it throughout the kingdom in an organized fashion, both to promote France and to support his own claim to ultimate power. He figured that with a shared culture and language he would become the uncontested leader of the country, and set about creating policies that would eventually lead to the unification of the French state and to the autocratic rule of future French kings.

Other kings continued to support Francois’ policies of cultural and linguistic exports, until Cardinal de Richelieu created the Academie Francaise with the purported goal of creating a French dictionary, but in fact entrusted with monitoring and emphasizing a set of rules on the language to standardize and export it to the rest of France. By the 1600s, more than ⅔ of the country did not speak French but rather variations. The Academy was designed to create a set of standards that led to language purity: “... the ethics of purism that inspired the Academy’s creation would have a major impact on how French evolved over the centuries. Since the seventeenth century, French authors and grammarians have had the objective of clarity in mind, not just to produce a language that is precise, but also to make French comprehensible to as wide a public as possible” (p. 82). This language was then employed at Court and exported to the other royal courts throughout Europe as France gained continental supremacy.

Successive wars and revolutions did not change the appeal of the French language and culture. All treaties negotiated in Europe until the end of World War I were written in French first then translated in the various national languages. Following the revolution, the central government in Paris decided that the best way to spread French not only outside its borders but within it was to institute national education standards and force all children to go to school. A difficult standard to implement at first, it was not until the mid 1800s that this goal was realized. At the same time, as all instructors were formed in Paris and sent to the provinces, they were embued during their training with a conception of the language that was clearly Parisian: “Possessed by the idea of a pure language, teachers began pushing an idealized, bourgeois version of French on schoolchildren. They started a tradition of drilling generations of kids to write purely and perfectly by imitating the classics” (p. 178).

At the same time, France was expanding its colonial efforts in Africa. France’s first wave of colonies had mostly failed (Canada, Haiti, and Louisiana), but the second wave, focused on Africa, took hold. And unlike other colonizers, France created policies to force its language and culture on its new colonies: "... the real difference in French colonial techniques was not the so-called civilizing mission, it was the way they went about it. For the French, the ultimate objective of colonization was cultural assimilation … More than any other colonial power, the French were explicit, if not adamant, about the importance of educating their colonial subjects and teaching them French. So the French language became a tool for empire building." (p. 195)

The result of these cultural and linguistic policies and efforts over the year have resulted in a love of French language and culture that belie the small size and diplomatic importance of France today: “There is no doubt that France has been very successful in cultural diplomacy and in projecting “soft power” by promoting its language and culture across five continents for the last century and a half. The surprising result seems to be that the French language today is more popular than France itself” (p. 274).

French-speaking countries, and increasingly others, have implemented measures to protect their language from a perceived assault from English: “ … francophones have been effective in devising and applying measures to protect their language and culture” (p. 391). Laws have been passed requiring emphasis on French, the removal of English signs, and trade agreements that protect the “cultural exception.”  These policies have not been favored by the United States and Britain, but in the last decade, with the rise of Spanish, the United States have also begun implementing measures to protect English and attempt to prevent the language from becoming a minority language.


The authors conclude that whether French survives depends on itself and not on influences from other languages or economic conditions: “In the end, the future of French will depend on a simple question: How useful will French be to its native speakers, partial speakers and francophiles? Very few people ever learn a language just because it is beautiful. People will continue to learn and maintain French only if it provides them with access to things that are useful, productive, challenging, or beautiful” (p. 448).

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Eye of Minds

Dashner, James. Eye of Minds. 2013. 336p. ISBN 978-0385741392. Available as a book on the library shelves at FIC DAS and as an eBook on Overdrive.



Michael lives to connect to the virtual world that everyone lives in, the VirtNet. He spends countless hours with his friends Bryson and Sarah in the Sleep, completing missions, hacking code, and amassing experience points. An encounter with a girl named Tanya, who removes her Core, the program that prevents her from dying in real life if she dies in the Sleep and who then commits suicide to escape from an evil gamer named Kaine, throws everything off. Kaine has taken over the VirtNet and is sending Killsims against other gamers, destroying their characters in the VirtNet but also causing psychosis in the Wake.

When approached by VirtNet authorities to chase down Kaine, Michael and his friends at first think of it as another game. But it quickly turns deadly. Kaine is rumored to be unleashing the Mortality Doctrine, and they must find his hideout on the Hallowed Ravine before Kaine’s evil plan comes to fruition. Can the three teens prevent both a virtual and real catastrophe before it’s too late?


Dashner once again creates a dystopian world in which nothing is what it seems. In this first book of a trilogy, the main characters are fleshed out and have complex motivations for completing this mission. Reminiscent of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, the boundaries between virtual and reality become blurred as Michael wanders off into dark corners  where no humans have tread before. Fans of Dashner will enjoy this new world and will want to read The Rule of Thoughts. Other books by Dashner include the Maze Runner trilogy (Maze Runner, Scorch Trials, and the Death Cure).



Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Hatchet

Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. 1987. 192p. Available both at FIC PAU on the library shelves and as an audiobook from on Overdrive.




Bryan is thirteen years old, and his parents got a divorce, and his father moved out to work in the oil industry in northern Canada. With school over, Bryan, who lives with his mother, is flying from New York to spend the summer there with him.


Unfortunately, the pilot of the bush plane suffers a heart attack midway through the flight and dies, leaving Bryan alone in the flying plane. Bryan tries to communicate using the radio, but he is unable to give a flight number or a heading. Worse, during the pilot’s convulsions, the plane was jerked off-course, and now no one will know where it is. Bryan remains on the plane until it crashes three long hours later, in the middle of a lake in the middle of nowhere.


When Bryan regains consciousness, he finds himself on the lake’s shore. The plane has sunk, and all he has left with him are his torn clothes and the hatchet his mother gave him just before the trip.


What comes next is an amazing story of survival in the northern woods of Canada. Bryan must quickly learn how to find food and shelter, how to build fire, and how to avoid the predators and mosquitoes that haunt the woods. Will his knowledge of nature programs be enough for this city boy to survive?

If you enjoyed this book, you will like The Perfect Storm, Into the Wild, and Lost in the Pacific, 1942. All are incredibly true stories of survival. For more survival fiction, take a look at Ice Dogs. Bryan's story continues in The River.


Monday, May 19, 2014

Promised

O’Brien, Caragh M. Promised. 2012. 306. ISBN 978-1596435712. Book 3 of the Birthmarked Series. FIC OBR on the library shelves




When Gaia became the Matrarc of Sylum in Prized, she sets in motion the exodus of her people towards the Enclave. As they arrive towards her old home, she cannot help but have mixed feelings. On one hand she’s glad to return, but on the other she’s worried the Protectorate will not allow her people to settle.


Conflict starts immediately as Gaia is arrested for treason, and she is dragged to the Enclave’s prison. She is confronted by the Protectorate, who seeks to bargain with Gaia: Water for her people in exchange for her eggs, so that childless families can adopt hemophiliac-free children who were born to Vessel mothers, surrogate mothers paid by the Protectorate but in reality coerced by their conditions to participate.

As the conflict between the two sides deepen, violence rises and events begin to spiral out of control. Gaia comes to the realization that armed resistance and the destruction of the wall that surrounds the Enclave may bring about the end of oppression for people outside the wall. For Gaia who feels physically sick when she hurts someone else, implementing this plan of destruction may very well cause her to change for the worse. With the fate of everyone on the line, Gaia’s ultimate decision will have far-reaching consequences.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Island of Thieves

Lacey, Josh. Island of Thieves. 2011, 228p. ISBN 978-0-547-76327-9. FIC LAC on the library shelves.




His parents are going on a week-long trip to Greece, and Tom and his siblings are all supposed to be staying with different friends. However, Tom just burned down the garden shed, and he has been “uninvited.” With no time left, Tom is left in the care of his father’s brother, uncle Harvey, a ne’er do well.

Turns out that Harvey is heading to Peru the same day for a treasure hunt. While there the previous week, he discovered a piece of John Drake’s journal, indicating that a large pirate treasure was buried on one of Peru’s many islands. After much pleading, Tom is allowed to go with him as long as he does not tell his parents.


What ensues is a classic treasure hunt, with Tom and Harvey being chased by Otto, a major drug dealer, and his thugs, from one end of Peru to the other as they look for clues in finding the location of the treasure, with the pressure of needing to be back in England before the end of the week so that they can be there to welcome Tom’s parents back. Action packed and fast moving, anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones type movies and books will love this one!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Team Human

Larbalestier, Justine and Sarah Rees Brennan. Team Human. 2012. 352p. ISBN 978-0-0620-8964-9. FIC LAR on the shelves of the library.



Mel lives in New Whitby, Maine, where many vampires also live. Vampires are members of society just like humans, and, thanks to donor blood and vampire police, the two groups cohabit in an uneasy political arrangement. When Francis Duvarney, a 150 years old teen vampire shows up at her school, however, the precarious social order of her high school comes crashing down. Cathy, Mel’s best friend, immediately falls for Francis. Anna, Mel’s other best friend, is recovering from her human father running away with one of his vampire patients. And Mel, who never really liked vampires before, now positively hates them.

Mel tries to engineer a breakup between Francis and Cathy, especially when she finds out that Cathy has decided she wants to make the change to a life of vampiric undeath. Why did Francis come to her school? Why is Anna’s mother, the principal of the school, acting all strange? Where did Anna’s dad really go?


In this hilarious parody of Twilight and other vampire books, not all is what it seems, and underneath the banter between vampires and humans lurks a mystery and the drama of a possible change both in life status as well as friend status. If you’re not into vampires, you will still enjoy this book for the way it pokes fun at team vampire and team human!


Friday, May 16, 2014

The Undertaking of Lily Chen

Novgorodoff, Danica. The Undertaking of Lily Chen. 2014. ISBN 978-1-59643-586-5. 741.5 NOV on the library shelves.




In rural China, it is the custom to bury couple together after they die so heart at they gym can share an eternal bedroom. However, what about single adults? A large corpse bride black market has arisen, where marriage brokers, hospitals and mortuaries provide "brides" to grief stricken parents so they can can marry their son's corpse and bury them together.


When his brother Wei dies in an accident, Deshi's life changes. Responsible for Wei's death, Deshi is tasked by his parents to find him a bride. Deshi leaves home and begin looking through the countryside for a corpse he can bring back. But when he comes upon Lily, the daughter of a farmer, he decides that he might as well bring back a live girl and kill her at home. Lily ha reason to leave home too due to her poor marriage prospects and her father's farm being foreclosed.


Chased by Lily's father and by a corpse hunter, Deshi and Lily begin developing a relationship. But as home gets closer, Deshi must decide if he will follow his original plan and provide his parents with Lily's corpse or if he would rather keep Lily for himself.

Beautifully illustrated, this graphic novel is a quick read and an interesting perspective on  a different culture.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

She is Not Invisible

Sedgwick, Marcus. She is Not Invisible. Roaring Brook Press. 2014. 224p. ISBN 978-1-5964-3801-9. FIC SED on the library shelves


Do you believe in coincidences? Laureth’s father was a successful writer until he began losing himself in a book about coincidences and their meaning. Now, many years later, he still hasn’t published anything, and family life is hard. When sixteen year old Laureth receives an email from someone in New York who has found her father’s book, her mother shows no interest in worrying about her father. It’s up to her and to her seven year old brother to find her father by flying from London to New York. In a race against time, Laureth and Ben must investigate what happened to her father using the meager clues they have available before her mother discovers her children hopped on a plane and went to America.

Told from the perspective of Laureth, this is a mystery similar to countless others. What makes it different, however, is that Laureth is blind. Sedgwick crafts his book without relying on any visual descriptions. Laureth’s perception of the world around her relies on her sense of hearing, touch, and smell, and her brother’s vision to help her navigate this unfamiliar and threatening environment. Both Laureth and Ben are well rounded characters, and Laureth often expands on her feelings and thoughts, sharing with the reader a slice of her life in the world of darkness.

Review is also posted on Barnes and Noble's site.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Deciduous Forests: Seasons of Survival

Nagle, Jeanne. Deciduous Forests: Seasons of Survival. 2009. 48p. ISBN 978-1-4358-5427-7. 577.3 NAG on the library shelves




Of all of the environments on Earth, deciduous forests are the second most diverse. Stretching from North America to Asia, and occupying vast amounts of South America and Africa, deciduous forests range from temperate to the tropical, and foster various life forms, uses, and resources.

In this short book, Nagle discusses the deciduous environment and the life that teems underneath the broad leaves. She presents threats to the forests, and how human activity is affecting the forests as well as what can be done to save them from complete destruction.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Not a Drop to Drink

McGinnis, Mindy. Not a Drop to Drink. 2013, 309p. ISBN 978-0-06-219850-1. FIC MCG on the library shelves.




When most of the drinking water on Earth has disappeared, owning a reliable source of water is worth everything. Lynn and her mother have a pond on their property, and everyone who has tried to take it from them has died. Now alone, Lynn struggles to protect her water from those who would kill her for it. But when a famished and struggling family shows up by the stream a short walk from her home, Lynn must decide whether she will continue her lonely ways or if she will give humanity a chance.

Fans of the dystopian novel will like this book, and might also enjoy the following: Arena 1, Starters, Maze Runner, Ship Breaker, Reboot, Birthmarked and Divergent.


Saturday, May 10, 2014

Sloppy Firsts

McCafferty, Megan. Sloppy Firsts. 2001, 297 p. ISBN 978-0609807903. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.



Jessica Darling’s best friend in the entire world has just moved away to Tennessee, leaving the New Jersey girl alone with “the cluless club,” those girls she secretly shuns but can’t do without. Hope’s brother had died of a drug overdose, and her parents decided it was time to move to avoid the memories and the same fate for their daughter.

Jessica spends the rest of the year missing her best friend, observing the “bubble-gum bimbo” antics of her so-called friends, and dealing with boy issues and the absence of a love life. First there’s Scotty, an athletic hunk who has been pinning for her since 8th grade. She can’t go out with him, however, as she’s focused her attentions on a senior who barely knows she exists. Then there’s Marcus Flutie, the biggest drug user at school and one of those responsible for her best friend’s brother’s death. His enigmatic remarks and casual allusions make her wonder if there could be more.


In the eight months left for the year 2000, Jessica must reconcile herself that she may well be alone in the world, but that doesn’t stop her from discovering more about herself than she ever thought possible.


Monday, May 5, 2014

Firegirl

Abbott, Tony. Firegirl. 2006. 145p. ISBN 0-316-01171-1. FIC ABB on the library shelves.


Tom is in the 7th grade in St. Catherine’s Catholic school in New Haven, Connecticut. His life is typical of a middle schooler. He loves cars, especially the Cobra, and he cannot stop thinking about Courtney, the most beautiful girl in his class. In fact, when he daydreams he conjures scenarios that involve him saving her from sure harm. But to most, he’s invisible, someone no nobody else wants.

The social order established in the classroom is upended when Jessica arrives near the end of September. Badly disfigured and burned in a car accident, Jessica is being treated at the burns unit at the New Haven hospital, and will attend classes when she can. Suddenly, Jessica is all that people can talk about and speculate as to what happened to her.

Tom finds himself drawn to Jessica despite his attraction for Courtney and means words from his best friend Jeff. Gradually everything that Tom thought important disappears in the background, as he learns that beauty is not necessarily on the outside of a person. Tom’s growth from a child to a young adult is well illustrated in this amazingly written book. You will not be able to put it down.


Sunday, May 4, 2014

Porsche: Fast and Beautiful

Haines, Shirley and Harry Haines. Porsche: Fast and Beautiful. 1991, 32p. ISBN 0-86593-143-7. 629.222 HAI on the library shelves.



The Porsche 911 remains one of the most luxurious vehicle to ever be designed. In this book, the history of the company is presented, along with gorgeous pictures of vehicles from the 1940s to today. Fans of classic cars and of speed will enjoy reading about the different models and how Porsche’s corporate strategy differs from that of its competitors.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Why We Look and Act the Way We Do

Nicolson, Cynthia Pratt. Why We Look and Act the Way We Do. 2011, 40p. ISBN 978-1-55453-569-9. 576 NIC on the library shelves.



In this hilarious book, Nicolson explores what makes us totally human, from getting hiccups to shaking when scared. Written with humor, she presents a human trait and relates it to evolution and how we developed as a species. She also links each to how other animals function. From being ticklish to using a hand more than the other, Nicolson demonstrates that learning about yourself can be both educational and fun!

Friday, May 2, 2014

Do You Know Where Your Water Has Been?

Barnhill. Kelly. Do You Know Where Your Water Has Been? 2009, 32 p. ISBN 978-1-4296-1995-0. 628.1 BAR on the library shelves.



Where does water come from? We all know the answer to that question. However, do you know what the water has gone through when you turn on the tap or flush the toilet? This short book is an excellent overview on the sanitation and treatment of water, from the gathering to the filtration and storage, with fun facts in between.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Into the Still Blue

Rossi, Veronica. Into the Still Blue. 2014. 392p. ISBN 0062072099.




With Cinder abducted by Sable and Hess at the end of Through the Ever Night, Aria and Perry must use all of their skills and friends to attempt to retrieve him from the Bloodlord and the Counselor’s clutches so they can cross the Aether and arrive in the Still Blue. With the Aether storms getting worse, and the destruction of Revere, the Tides have nowhere to go but the caves, a temporary solution before they flee to safety or perish. As the tension builds, Aria and Perry must make decisions that will affect them all.


This conclusion of Under the Never Sky series adds a crescendo of cliffhangers until the ultimate confrontation between Perry and Sable. Everything could be gained … or lost!