Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores

Campbell, Jen. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores. 2011. 188p. ISBN 978-1-4683-0128-1. Available at 381 CAM on the library shelves.

Everyone who works around books has them: stories about people and the strange things they say about books. Campbell has compiled a delightful list of questions and comments the customers who come in the various bookstores she has worked in have said to her over the years. From literary pursuits to unknown titles with unknown supporting details, this short read covers it all and will be sure to elicit a chuckle at the weirdness of people and serves as a lesson that what makes sense to someone often doesn’t make any sense at all.

My personal favorite from my career as a library media specialist: A high school student who had never checked out a book before and who browsed the shelves for about 30 seconds before throwing the towel and announcing that she couldn’t find anything to read. We have over 11,000 books on the shelves...

Fat Angie

Charlton-Trujillo, E. E. Fat Angie. 2013. 264p. ISBN 0763661198. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Angie has never been thin, but she’s always had her sister and her adopted brother to protect her from bullies and those who torment the weak and the different. Her sister was dedicated and worked hard towards her goals. A champion basketball player, she turned down a full scholarship and joined the military before being deployed to Iraq.

Nine months ago, she went missing in Iraq and has not been seen since. Angie’s world ended on that day. Called Fat Angie at school by the well-meaning kids and worse names by beautiful Stacey and her clique, Angie attempted suicide during a school assembly, in front of everyone. With divorced parents who don’t care, with a brother now on the skids as well, and with her sister gone, Angie thought she had nothing left to live for and wanted to make a statement. Only she didn’t die. She survived her attempt, and had to return to school after a bout with therapy. Her miserable existence continues, and only the hope that her sister will be found alive sustains her.

Then KC Romance arrives in her little Ohio town. KC is everything Angie is not: bold, outspoken, pretty, thin. But, like Angie, she’s got several secrets. She’s a cutter. She’s gay-girl gay. And she’s attracted to Angie, whom she does not see as fat but rather as exceptional. With someone new in her life, someone who loves her for whom she is, Angie’s life has just gotten more complicated.

This book really has it all: bullying, divorce, homosexuality, body issues, harassment, parental neglect, self-harm, depression, sports competition, and intense sibling rivalry. Readers interested in any of these topics will find their fill by reading the sad, tragic, but ultimately redeeming life of fat Angie.

The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals

Pollan, Michael. The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals. 2006. 451p. ISBN 1-59420-082-3. Available on the library shelves at 394.1 POL.

When you go to a supermarket to buy food, the variety can be overwhelming. Each grocery store has on average over 100,000 different items available to satisfy any craving you might have. Unfortunately, variety of food does not mean a diversity of ingredients. In fact, Pollan argues that corn in all its forms has grown to occupy a central place in the American diet, both in its most well-known form, corn on the cob, but also as a sweet syrup, as filler and food for animals we in turn eat, as fuel to process and transport goods to market, and in a myriad of other industrial uses. Our diet has mainly become made up of corn and its derivatives.

In this provocative book, Pollan explores the disproportionate impact on the American diet, the American farm, and the American economy that corn has. From factoring farming to inhumane slaughterhouses, Pollan describes how corn and Second World War policies came to shape our current food supply and tastes. Using for basis four meals, from the industrial to the organic to the hunter-gatherer style, Pollan discusses what happens to his food from the moment it is planted to the time it arrives on his plate, and everything in between.

This book may change your mind about how and what you eat. And even if it doesn’t, at least you will understand how our food industry has so fundamentally transformed what and how we eat that our ancestors from even a hundred years ago would be hard pressed to recognize what it is a typical American meal today. Pollan literally provides food for thought on a subject most of us know next to nothing about.

The Siren

Cass, Kiera. The Siren. 2016. 327p. ISBN 9780062391995. Available at FIC CAS on the library shelves.

Despite the Great Depression, Kahlen’s family is doing well financially. Her family ends up on a transatlantic ship. Feeling uneasy one day, Kahlen witnesses her father, mother, and brothers becoming entranced by a strange music coming from outside the ship, and, along with all of the ship’s passengers and crew, jump in the ocean, answering the call of beautiful sirens singing their death song. As Kahlen sinks, her will to survive is strong enough that the Ocean offers her a bargain: Sing for her for a hundred years, and then Kahlen will be released with no memories of what happened to lead a new life. Refuse the bargain, and drown with the rest of the passengers.

Kahlen accepts Ocean’s bargain and for the next eighty years serves her faithfully, sharing her feelings and emotions as well as luring strangers to their deaths. She cannot talk for a single word from her is enough to send a person to their watery death, and Ocean has warned all of her sirens that they cannot reveal their existence. But when she meets Akinli on a college campus in Miami, she realizes that she doesn’t always have to keep company with other sirens only. Though she loves her three siren sisters dearly, she longs for human companionship, and Akinli provides her with something she never thought she would experience as a siren. Complete and utter acceptance. Suddenly, Kahlen finds herself falling for this beautiful and loving boy, and she quickly develops a relationship despite the difficulties in communicating with him.

But loving a human is forbidden and Ocean will be upsets if she finds out. Kahlen breaks it off with Akinli, but following another shipwreck she runs away from her sisters and inadvertently finds him again, this time in a small town on the coast of Maine where he works as a fisherman. She hopelessly falls in love with him, and him with her. Kahlen cannot wait another twenty years to listen to her heart, but their lives are now in danger. What will be the cost of true love?

If you enjoyed this book, be sure to look at The Selection, also by Kiera Cass.

War in the Pacific 1941-1945

Cooke, Tim. War in the Pacific 1941-1945. Part of the World War II: The Full Story series. 2015. 48p. ISBN 978-1-78121-231-8. Available at 940.42 WAR on the library shelves.

Beginning in the early 1930s, a militaristic government in Japan began expanding its borders, hoping to secure access to raw materials. The coast of China was occupied and Japanese armies pushed inland. The fear that the United States would enter the war grew until the Japanese decided to launch a pre-emptive attack with the goal of destroying the US navy in the Pacific.

At the same time, Japan prepared attacks against countries surrounding the South China Sea, including Burma, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. On December 7, 1941, the US fleet was attacked at Pearl Harbor, and shortly thereafter the United States declared war against Japan. The Japanese attacks were successful, except that the US carrier fleet escaped destruction. Japan captured countries after countries, and established a series of bases for forward operations.

The United States pushed back against imperialist expansion and started a strategy of island hopping, moving from one set of islands to another to get closer to Japan. The Doolittle raid in 1942 shook the Japanese’s confidence, and the subsequent piecemeal destruction of the Japanese naval fleet put Japan on the defensive for the rest of the war.

The United States and Britain provided relief to Chinese nationalists by using the Burma road, which required defeating a Japanese army. The battle to reconquer the Philippines was difficult and bloodied. Island hopping hobbled Japanese defenses but demonstrated that an assault on the Japanese home islands would cost million of lives. The decision was reached to drop two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which brought a swift end to a war that had lasted nearly four years.

Other books in this series include Life in the War, Home Front, and North Africa and Europe 1940-1945.

The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure

Fry, Jason. The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure. Part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens series. 2015. 184p. ISBN 978-1484724965. Available at FIC FRY on the library shelves.

Luke Skywalker and his band of rebels have destroyed the Death Star, saving the Alliance from certain doom. But the Empire remains on their trail, bent on eliminating the rebellion. Chased by Imperial forces, Luke and the rebels continue to fight against oppression as they move convoys and resources around the galaxy. But Luke is now important, the hero who is the face of the rebellion. As much as he enjoys flying his X-wing with Artoo, he must submit to the will of others who seek to protect him.

When he’s assigned a diplomatic run, Luke is displeased but hides it. He reports to the Devaron system where he is to be equipped with a Y-wing and provided with a diplomatic cyborg relations robot, his old acquaintance Threepio and his astronavigator Artoo. The mission doesn’t start well however, when he is chased by TIE fighters and must return and land on Devaron to execute much needed repairs. The Force seems to be guiding him back there.

On the way to a backwaters of a town, he notices two strange pillars in the jungle. After finding a mechanic, he tries to hire a guide to lead him to the structure, but no one in town is willing to go with him. It is forbidden by the Empire. The daughter of his mechanic, Farney, offers to take him there but she doesn’t have the proper equipment. A strange creature unfamiliar to Luke, named Sarco, proposes to lead him there instead, and Luke reluctantly agrees. But the dangers that lay in the jungle will forever change Luke’s relationship with the Force.

A short but satisfying read, this book fills in some of the questions left in suspense between the movies A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. If you ever wondered how Luke developed some of his Jedi powers without Ben Kenobi, this book will answer that question.

Other books in this series include Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure and Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure.

Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day. The Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe

Vansant, Wayne. Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day. The Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe. 2012. 104p. ISBN 978-1-93958-179-2. Available at 940.54 VAN on the library shelves.

In the spring of 1944 the Second World War had definitively turned against Germany. In the east the Germans were slowly being pushed back towards Germany by the Soviet Union. Africa had been liberated the year before, and Allied forces had invaded Italy and were pushing north. Stalin was clamoring for the much heralded second front, a landing of American, Canadian, and British forces in western Europe to offer some relief to the Russian forces fighting the Nazis.

For over a year, General Eisenhower and his staff planned the invasion. The most obvious landing sites were also the most protected, so the Allies decided to disembark in Normandy. On the morning of June 6, 1944, the largest armada of ships and planes supported the biggest amphibious operation ever conducted as over a hundred thousand soldiers, tanks, jeeps, fuel and ammunition came ashore.

Over the next three months, Allied armies pushed out of Normandy, cut off Brittany and pushed East, liberating Paris and heading towards Germany. Beautifully illustrated, this book depicts this military campaign in all of its gory and glorious details, providing a visual sense of what it was like to be there for the reader. Fans of the Second World War will enjoy reading about one of the greatest accomplishment of the greatest generation.

Other books in this series include The Battle of the Bulge: A Graphic History of Allied Victory in the Ardennes, 1944-1945 and Bombing Nazi Germany: The Graphic history of the Allied Air Campaign that Defeated Hitler in World War II.

Ruby Red

Gier, Kerstin. Ruby Red. Book 1 of the Precious Stone Trilogy. 2011. 330p. ISBN 978-0-8050-9252-3. Available at FIC GIE on the library shelves.

Gwyneth Shepherd has always grown up in the shadow of her smart, educated, and pretty cousin Charlotte. The Montrose family has passed the traveling gene through the mother for eons, and it has been preparing Charlotte these last sixteen years to become one of the twelve time travelers who have existed since the beginning of time. Born a single day later than her cousin, Gwyneth escaped the regiment and dedication that came with the role Charlotte is expected to play in the secret society of the Guardians and their time-traveling ways. She has grown as carefree as possible, given that her father died of leukemia when she was only seven years old. Able to see and converse with ghosts, Gwyneth considers herself lucky.

Until she suddenly jumps through time, going back to a period a few hundred years ago. How could this be? Only Charlotte should be able to do this, but even her beautiful cousin has not yet managed to travel through time. After two more incidents, Gwyneth comes clean to her mother, and, much to her relief, her mother believes her. Both of them travel to the Temple, where the Guardians meet. Gwyneth discovers that her mother has in fact lied about her birth day. She was indeed born on the same day as Charlotte, and the prophecy that projected her birth and role was in fact for her and not for her cousin. But why would her mother lie? What was she protecting her from?

Gwyneth must now work with Gideon, another handsome time traveler two years her elder to track the 12 time travelers throughout history. They must also figure out why the Count wishes to get his hand on a blood sample of each of the twelve. Gideon, whose family transmits the time travel gene through the father line, has trained with Charlotte and expected her to join him, but now he must deal with Gwyneth, who is wholly unprepared for this mission. But when they are attacked in two different pasts, they realize that someone is plotting to stop them before they can discover the secret chronograph. Who can they trust to help them?

This story moves at breakneck speed and the time traveling is very well explained. Fans of mysteries and romance such as the Finishing School series will thoroughly enjoy this book. The story continues in Sapphire Blue.

Tips & Tricks for Summarizing Text

Athans, Sandra K. and Robin W. Parente. Tips & Tricks for Summarizing Text. 2015. 64p. ISBN 978-1-4777-7583-7. Available at 372.6 ATH on the library shelves.

The way we teach reading has evolved to meet the challenges offered by the Common Core State Standards. Now, students are expected to react to what they read by creating an argument and supporting it with evidence from the text. In this series, the authors demonstrate several tips and tricks to help the reader confidently summarize a text he or she has read.

The authors present four texts to showcase their advice. In the first text, which deals with literature, , the reader examines an excerpt from Myths of the World: The Ancient Chinese and with the help of a T chart where the central themes, recurring ideas, and pivotal ideas are noted and help write a summary of what was read. The reader is then asked to read another excerpt from the same book and perform a similar action as the previous chapter.

The third and fourth texts are informational in nature, and present passages from Perspective On: The Titanic Tragedy and from The Muckrakers: American Journalism During the Age of Reform. The expert reader performs a similar technique as chapter 2 to complete a summary, and the reader is asked to do the same with the fourth and last passage.

This book thus provides the reader the opportunity to refresh their reading techniques as well as acquire new ones and examine how reflecting on their own reading skills can help them become better readers.

Other books in this series include:

• Tips & Tricks for Comparing and Contrasting Text
• Tips & Tricks for Analyzing Ideas, Events, and Individuals
• Tips & Tricks for Evaluating an Argument and its Claims
• Tips & Tricks for Analyzing Structure and Evaluating Ideas
• Tips & Tricks for Analyzing Text and Citing Evidence
• Tips & Tricks for Determining Point of View and Purpose
• Tips & Tricks for Evaluating Multimedia Content
• Tips & Tricks for Summarizing Text

Kill the Boy Band

Moldavsky, Goldy. Kill the Boy Band. 2016. 320p. ISBN 9780545867474. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

The Ruperts are the newest British boy band, a sensation so powerful teenage girls all over the world are in love. Originally participants in a reality television show demonstrating their talents, the members of the band were put together by a marketing team due to their endorsement by the public, and by the catchy fact that their first names are all Rupert. The four of them have been driving their fans wild with pop songs, and their social media presence and public appearances are endlessly analyzed.

Told in the first person, the narrator, a teenage girl about to turn 16, never identifies herself throughout the novel, so we will call her X. X has social anxiety, and would rather spend time online with virtual friends than take the time to make real connections. However, she did meet Erin when they started 9th grade, and, as another fan of the Ruperts, hit it off immediately. They connected with two other girls online. Apple, who is adopted from China and whose parents love her so much they’re willing to let her do whatever she wants, and Isabelle, who has an acerbic personality and who publishes one of the most popular blog about the Ruperts.

When the Ruperts announce they will be performing a concert in New York City during Thanksgiving, the girls are completely beside themselves. The show sold out so fast they were unable to get tickets, but that won’t stop them. Their plan? They will book a room at the swanky hotel where the Ruperts are staying, so that unlike the fans who will wait outside hoping for a glimpse of the wonder boys, they will be in the hotel and that much closer to the objects of their affections.

But all of this is background knowledge the reader gains as pages are turned, for the novel starts in the hotel room where something has gone wrong. Apple, on her way to the ice machine, encountered Rupert Pierpont, body slammed him unconscious (Apple is, after all about 5 feet 2 and over 260 pounds), and dragged his body back to their room. When Rupert P comes about, he finds himself tied to a chair in the hotel suite of four teenage fans.

The girls don’t quite know what to do with Rupert P. Sure, he’s a member of the Ruperts, but he’s the ugliest and least talented of the four. Honestly, if they were going to kidnap a member of the band, wouldn’t they have been better off with one of the others? Rupert P. is Apple’s favorite, however, so she has trouble controlling herself. X, for her part, really wants nothing to do with this kidnapping, but unfortunately she’s already involved, as Erin reminds her. Plus, they have his room key, his cellphone, and the secrets they contain.

With such an opportunity at their fingertips, what else would diehard fans do but take it? Each girl has an agenda, however, and all is not well in the Ruperts universe. The decisions the girls will make are about to change the boy band forever.

Bombing Nazi Germany: The Graphic history of the Allied Air Campaign that Defeated Hitler in World War II

Vansant. Wayne. Bombing Nazi Germany: The Graphic history of the Allied Air Campaign that Defeated Hitler in World War II. 2016. 104p. ISBN 978-1-93958-176-1. Available at 940.54 VAN on the library shelves.

The Second World War saw fighting in every environment and with every type of weapon. One of the scariest mode of attack for civilians was the bomber, a lumbering airplane that carried up to 4,000 pounds of bombs. Tens or hundreds of bombers could drop enough bombs on a target to destroy it. But bombers were indiscriminate weapons. Targeting was more an art than a science.

This illustrated history of the Allied bombing campaign discusses the events that led to the creation of the strategic bombing corp and the development of the bomber as offensive weapon. The Battle of Britain had demonstrated to the British military authorities the awesome power that bombing inflicted on the population. Military authorities believed that bombing an enemy’s infrastructure could hasten the end of the war, so the British began assembling large fleets of bombers to target German industrial facilities. But flying over occupied Europe was dangerous, as bombers could not be accompanied by fighters that could protect them. Both sides endeavored to create longer-ranged fighters.

Various bombing campaigns proved the resilience of the German economy, so both American and British bombing commands switched to destroying cities in the hopes that the population would rise up and denounce their leaders. This strategy had not worked for the Germans, however, and so it proved ineffective for the Allies. Cities such as Cologne and Dresden were essentially destroyed by bombs and fire, yet the war ground on. What eventually made the difference was the appearance of longer-ranged Allies fighters that could support the vast bombing armadas, and the lack of German pilots to man their planes. Terms like carpet bombing originated in the Second World War.

Ultimately, bombing proved its worth when supporting armored and infantry drive on the ground by pushing the enemy back, revealing its positions and demolishing its infrastructure. But as a strategic component, its impact was mitigated. Beautifully illustrated, this volume makes the war vivid and provides an excellent visual component for readers unfamiliar with this era.

Other books in this illustrated series include The Battle of the Bulge: A Graphic History of Allied Victory in the Ardennes, 1944-1945 and Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day. The Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe.

The Vietnam War

Rice Jr., Earl. The Vietnam War. Part of the Major U.S. Historical Wars series. 2016. 64p. ISBN 978-1-4222-3359-7. Available at 959.6 RIC on the library shelves.

The end of the Second World War led to a renewed hope on the part of European colonies that the bloodshed and the violence that had been the staple of the worst conflict in human history would provide peaceful negotiations for independence. But these hopes were quickly dashed as colonial powers quickly restored control over their colonies. Vietnam was one such colony.

Conquered by the French starting in the mid 1800s, Vietnam was lumped in with the colonies of Laos and Cambodia to form the colony of Indochina. Local activists advocated for independence for Vietnam, but for decades they were unable to make significant progress. Led by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had spent time working, studying and traveling in Europe, the United States, and Russia, a guerilla was slowly organized. When the Japanese attacked in World War II, the Vietminh fought alongside other groups against them, and fully expected the French to recognize them at the end of the war, if not as an independent country then at least with local representation.

The French however wanted to reinstate their colonial empire. Returning in 1946, the situation between the two groups degenerated until armed conflict was seen as the last solution. Vietnamese and French troops fought until the mid 1950s, when over 11,000 French soldiers surrendered at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The peace accords negotiated between the two sides led to a temporary division of the country into a communist north, led by Ho Chi Minh, and a regime supported by the French and the Americans in the south. Elections were also called for to determine the final status of both sections of the country. These elections never took place, however, since the Western powers knew the more populous North would carry the electoral weight.

Under the domino theory first espoused by President Eisenhower and continued by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, the Americans believed that if South Vietnam was allowed to fall into communist hands surrounding countries would too. Efforts were stepped up to prop the unpopular and uneffective South Vietman regime. From a few military advisors in the early 1960s, the American presence escalated until over half a million soldiers where in South Vietnam, fighting the communist guerilla known as the Vietcong. Supported by North Vietnam, the guerilla fought hit and run tactics, forcing the Americans to adapt. But as the body count increased with no apparent gains, with protests at home and dwindling support for a war of choice, the United States concluded a peace treaty with North Vietnam in 1973, withdrew all of its forces, and South Vietnam fell in 1975.

Still one of the most unpopular war, the Vietnam War has marked the American psyche and remains less studied than the Second World War.

The Raven King

Stiefwater, Maggie. The Raven King. Book 4 and final book of the Raven Cycle. 437p. ISBN 9780545424981. Available at FIC STI on the library shelves.

The Raven Boys are nearing the end of their quest for Glendower and the secrets of Cabeswater. Gansey, their leader, has sought Glendower because the legends state that he who finds and wakes the ancient Welsh king will be granted a favor. And Gansey desperately needs that favor, since his death has been foretold for sometimes this year.

As the search becomes more desperate, the very existence of Cabeswater becomes threatened. Having released a demon from the black caves of Cabeswater, Blue and Gansey continue to fall in love with each other and wonder: Will the fatal kiss Blue will give her lover be the cause of Gansey’s death? The quest proceeds apace as old villains and new enemies make their way to Henrietta for the magical sale of the century.

Ronan meanwhile seeks to discover the true nature of his dreams and of the objects, and, more frightful, creatures he brings back. Adam pursues his exploration of what it means to be a man, and must deal with Blue and Gansey’s relationship. Noah, for his part, begins fading as the strength of Cabeswater dissipates under the demon’s assault. As dreams turn into nightmares under the demon’s assault, Blue and the boys will discover that love sometimes takes a surprising form, but that loving eventually means losing someone. The path that they have travelled on will lead them to a place they never envisioned...