Texas Fridays: San Antonio

Moussavi, Sam. Texas Fridays: San Antonio. 2017. 206p. ISBN 978-1-68076-496-3. Available at FIC MOU on the library shelves.

James Baker’s passion is football. He lives and dreams football, but up to his high school senior year he was more of a bench warmer than a player. He spent most of the summer getting ready for football season, disrupting his routine of taking a foreign trip with his professor father, who lives in California. Baker, as he likes to be known, worked out, exercised, and drilled constantly, much to the chagrin of his single mother, also a professor currently teaching at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

The hard work has paid off, and Baker is ready to join the team as a starter. His coaches notice his no-nonsense attitude and his work ethics, and during the last intra-squad scrimmage of the training season he is assigned the starting receiver position. During one of the plays, Baker effortlessly catches the ball but loses sight of the defending player and the two of them collide, helmet to helmet. Baker sees stars, his ears are ringing, and he feels nauseous. The medical staff determines that he does not have a concussion, but he is pulled from the game nonetheless. The next morning, Baker experiences symptoms of dizziness and nausea, but he goes back to bed, and it passes. Informed by the medical staff on the team that he needs to advocate for himself if he is hurt, he decides not to report his symptoms so as to not lose his starter position.

Spending Sunday on campus with his mother, Baker meets Tiffany, a freshman at UT-SA and a former all-star high school basketball player. Tiffany explains to him that she got injured one too many times and abandoned basketball because her body simply could not keep up. To her, education is more important than playing a sport she most likely will never make a living at. Baker invites him to his Friday lights debut, and she eagerly accepts to join him.

With everything on the line, Baker is determined to remain a starter. Untreated concussions, however, can be dangerously lethal. What is more important for Baker, being a starting receiver for his high school team, or his health and potentially his life?

Baker is a strong character with conflicted views on his own health. His identity is completely wrapped up in being a football player, but Tiffany’s support shows him there is another way. The game itself is well described and the reader feels in the middle of the action. And unlike other sports books, Texas Fridays: San Antonio does not cover the entire season, but focuses on three specific games and the consequences of Baker’s decisions. Fans of Gutless will like this book. Consider checking out Dairy Queen and Playing with the Boys if you enjoy football stories.

Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 2

Adachitoka. Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 2. 2014. 149p. ISBN 978-1-61262-907-0 . Available in the Graphic Section of the library.

Still hopeful that Yato will help her exit her current existence of being neither fully human nor fully ayakashi, Hiyori continues to spend time with this minor god. Her transfer from one level of existence to the next comes when she falls asleep at the most inopportune times. Meanwhile, Yukiné, Yato’s new shinki, is young and inclined to steal, and every time he does something bad Yato feels it ten times worse.

When Yukiné fails to save a young girl from the ayakashi, Hiyori decides he needs better housing accommodations and takes him home with her. Unfortunately he does not stop his bad habits of stealing money. And just as things couldn’t possibly go wrong, Yato is located by Bishamonten, one of the goddesses of war. She wants vengeance on the god without a following, and Yato will have deploy his entire arsenal of ideas to avoid death at her hands, a situation that would complicate Hiyori’s life even further ...

The story continues in Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 3.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Chevalier, Tracy. Girl with a Pearl Earring. 1999. 233p. ISBN 0-525-94527-X. Available both as FIC CHE on the library shelves and as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Griet’s father is an artist in the Dutch city of Delft in 1664, but an industrial accident costs him his vision. With no breadwinner working, Griet’s family, including her mother and younger sister are in danger of starving. Her father, using his contacts at the artists’ guild, finds Griet employment as a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer, a locally known painter of portraits and other scenes. Interviewed by the painter, Griet realizes that he is intrigued in the way she arranges the colors of vegetables before putting them in the soup. At sixteen, Griet is not ready to leave her parents’ house, but her income will be the difference between an economically tenuous life and one of hardships and hunger.

Vermeer works slowly, and only produces a few paintings a year. His wife is pregnant with another child, and the household needs help with cooking, cleaning, and the laundry. Yet to Griet, the most important part of the day is when she gets to clean the master’s studio. None of the other family members are allowed there, and as Griet develops strategies for cleaning and replacing items in exactly the same spot, she begins to gain an appreciation for Vermeer’s work. Soon, Vermeer himself discovers that Griet has a good eye for art, and begins having her assist him in his paintings by preparing various colors, and providing small details that enhance the paintings.

But Griet’s presence is not appreciated by Cornelia, the third daughter, who does everything to make Griet’s life miserable. Catharina Vermeer, the lady of the house, is also resentful of this attractive maid. When Van Ruijven, Vermeer’s wealthy patron, notices her, he gets Vermeer to paint a portrait of Griet by herself, so he can possess her. Sitting for a painting, however, is about to create resentment and conflict in the household, as Griet will be overstepping her bounds as a maid to that of a model and confidente of Vermeer. If her role is discovered, it will surely mean the end of her employment in the Vermeer household. Yet, so drawn to art, can Griet resist Vermeer’s lure?

Vermeer only painted 35 canvases during his lifetime, and little is known of his life. But his style of painting and the choice of his subjects now define Dutch art of the time period. Based on the Girl with a Pearl Earing, a real painting by Vermeer, this story imagines who the person in the painting was and what type of life she led in the mid 1600s in Holland.

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World

Jensen, Kelly, Ed. Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World. 2017. 240p. Available at 305.42 JEN on the library shelves.

The word feminism is associated with several ideas, some of them portrayed in the media as negative. But really, what is feminism? What does it mean for young people to declare themselves feminists in the 21st century? This powerful word possesses as many meanings as there are people. Fraught with struggle, feminism is often ignored or not understood by society. The central premise of feminism is that everyone deserves equality, and diversity is not only necessary, it must be encouraged. This collection of 44 different voices attempts to explore, over seven wide ranging themes, some of the aspects of feminism and what it represents for men and women of different faiths, sexual orientations, physical abilities, and experiences.

These feminist voices, including pop culture icons, public figures, and authors eloquently present their views on what being a feminist means to them, and how they live it every day. In formats ranging such as essays, comics, photos, poems, and lists, each writer explores his/her/their emotions on the subject and delves into the complexity inherent in feminism. The stereotypes that abound on the topic of feminism may make it a hard sell to a significant proportion of readers, but with some librarian help getting over that initial hurdle, the reader will find him/her/them-self immersed in a creative exploration of feminism and how one can live with and embody this ideal every day.

Dear Future Boyfriend

O'keefe Aptowicz, Cristin. Dear Future Boyfriend. 2011. 120p. ISBN 9781935904717. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Focused on loneliness and the hope of one day attracting the person you’re really attracted to, this collection of urban poems explores the meanings of one-way relationships and the heartbreak that comes from being alone. Filled with social commentary on dating, love, and relationships, this short compendium of poems provides the weary soul with tools to deal with a condition that afflicts everyone at some point in their lives. Fans of poetry will appreciate O’Keefe Aptowicz’s take on love, breakups, and other teen stories.

The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue

Tougias, Michael J. and Casey Sherman. The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue. 2009. 205p. ISBN 978-1-4165-6722-6. Available at 910.91 TOU on the library shelves.

The U.S. Coast Guard protects the shorelines of the United States against enemies and helps rescue sailors who run into trouble offshore. On February 12, 1952, a gigantic nor’easter hit the northern Atlantic, from New Jersey all the way to Canada. Out at sea, two oil tankers, the SS Pendleton and the SS Fort Mercer, were unable to avoid the storm and literally broke apart in half.

Built as war transports, the T2 tanker ship was prone to breaking in the middle. The steel was welded instead of riveted, and the entire construction was rushed. Instead of being dismantled after the war, hundreds of these ships were purchased by shipping companies and used as haulers.

With waves of 60 to 70 feet, and blizzard conditions, both ships split in the middle and began drifting. The bridge was located aft of the ship, while most of the crew worked and lived in the stern. Thus, in the span of a few hours four separate parts began drifting and required rescue. At first, the Coast Guard believed there was only one ship, the Mercer, which had radioed its troubles. Aboard the Pendleton, however, the radio operator had been unable to get a message out. An airplane spotted the two halves of the Pendleton drifting, and the Coast Guard was notified that two ships had broken apart.

For the crew of the Chatham Coast Guard station, it meant riding out of the safety of the harbor in the same storm with a 36 foot boat, CG36500. As ships and planes responded, the small 36500, piloted by Bernie Webber, reached the stern of the Pendleton and proceeded to one most daring rescue in the history of the Coast Guard. Retelling the events of that fateful week, this book explores the courage and bravery of the men of the Coast Guard who risked everything to rescue sailors at sea and bring them back safely to land.

As I Lay Dying

Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying. 2006. 267p. 411 mins. ISBN 9780739345382. Available both at FIC FAU on the library shelves and as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Addie Bundren is dying, and her last wishes are to be buried in her native town, Jefferson, Mississippi. She refuses to be put in the ground of the depressingly miserable farm where she spent her married life unhappily with Anse, her distant husband and five children with their own issues, wants, and desires.

Her eldest, 29-year old Cash, broke his leg and now walks with a pronounced limp. He is building her coffin outside by her window, so she can keep an eye on the progress and ensure that the casket is built properly. Her only daughter, 17-year-old Dewey Dell, runs the household and fans her to make her as comfortable as possible in the stifling July heat. Her second child, 27-year old Darl, only works when he wants to and generally tries to get out of it. Her middle child, Jewel, is in fact a half-brother to the others as he was conceived during an adulterous relationship, but he is his mother’s favorite. And the youngest, Vardaman, has not yet reached his teens.

When she finally dies, the whole family boards their wagon and begins the slow process of traveling towards Jefferson. Not wishing to be beholden to anyone, they sleep out in barns and in fields. A trip that should have taken two days stretches out to nine as the rains that fell on her death day have washed away the bridges leading to Jefferson on the other side of the river.

As they travel, each member of the family tells their story and explain the events that take place. Told from the perspective of fifteen different characters over the course of 59 chapters, a simple story of a death is peeled away to reveal so much more, from the intransigence of Anse to Jewel’s hot temper to Dewey Dell’s pregnancy, Darl’s insanity, and Cash’s tolerance for the foibles of his family. Arriving in Jefferson after adventures that include almost losing the coffin twice, the death of animals, the burning of a barn and another broken leg for Cash, the family is finally confronted with their own personal issues as they attempt to bury Addie.

Revolutionary when it was published in 1930, Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying continues to be one of the finest example of southern gothic cast of miserable characters in a backwater of a land and remains one of American literature’s classic tales.

T4

LeZotte, Ann Clare. T4. 2008. 108p. ISBN 978-0-547-34852-0. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Jews were the Nazis’ principal targets. But in their plans to establish a master race, the Nazis were also concerned with eliminating what they considered undesirable elements of German society, such as homosexuals, the mentally handicapped, and those who were blind and deaf. In October 1939, with the Second World War now in full swing and Germany’s conquest of Poland, Adolf Hitler signs a decree authorizing physicians to euthanize anyone not meeting the master race standards. Simply known as Aktion T4, over 90,000 people were killed by Nazi doctors.

Paula Becker is thirteen years old. Deaf from birth, she lives a good life with her family in a rural German town. She can communicate with her family, but has been sheltered all her life. As rumors begin to spread of disabled children dying in their placement hospitals or shelters, Paula’s parents decide to entrust her to Father Joseph, the family priest, who promises to educate Paula and keep her safe for the duration of the war.

Paula ends up moving with a widow, who taught deaf students before. She teaches Paula how to use the universal sign language to communicate ideas and desires, but her presence is discovered and Paula has to run. Relocated to a church shelter, Paula has to pretend she can hear so she can stay one step ahead of the Nazis. When the unpopular order is finally rescinded in 1941, Paula is able to return home to a world that has changed beyond recognition.

Told in free verse poetry by a deaf author, this short book is a fast read and provides another view of the Holocaust, with a victim that is neither Jewish nor foreign, but rather a German girl hated by her own government simply for being deaf. Pair this book with What World is Left for a true Holocaust experience.

What World is Left

Polak, Monique. What World is Left. 2008. 215p. ISBN 978-1-55143-847-4. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

In the First World War the Dutch were neutral, and they fully to retain the same status if Germany went to war against France and England again. Only that wasn’t the case, and Hitler’s armies invaded Holland, Belgium and France. The Dutch bravely resisted for five days but then surrendered in the face of overwhelming force. Suddenly, the Jewish population of the Netherlands was under Nazi subjugation.

For Anneke Van Raalte and her family, life doesn’t change much at first. Sure, there are food shortages, and they now have to wear the yellow star, but her father still works as an artist for the newspaper. Soon, however, strict rules are implemented. Her father loses his job, and the entire family receives orders to report to the train station to be deported to a Nazi model city for Jews, Theresienstadt.

Packed in cattle wagons, Anneke can’t believe that things will get worse. But concentration camp life is hard on her and her little brother. Working hard every day, Anneke soon loses hope of ever seeing freedom again. As more and more people are brought into the camp, trains collect even more people to take them to the East, and an uncertain fate spoken in whispers. As the tide of war turns and Germany is put on the defensive first on the Eastern Front, then in the West with the Allied landing, German leaders attempt to put a better public face on their camps. The Danish Red Cross requests a visit to Theresienstadt, and Anneke’s father is coerced into participating in the sprucing up of the camp with new paints and “public works” that will make life appear better than it is.

While this bold faced lie the Nazis purport to present to the world bothers Anneke, her father’s participation in this propaganda effort bothers her more. What is more important? Keeping one’s family alive at all costs, even if it means helping the enemy conceal the true conditions of the camp, or stand up for what is right, even if it may cost you your life? Anneke has a life or death choice to make if she hopes to survive the war.

Partially based on the life of the author’s mother in Theresienstadt during the Second World War, Anneke’s story is one of survival and its costs. For another story of Dutch citizens caught in the webs of the Second World War, take a look at The Girl with the Blue Coat. Monique Polak also wrote a great contemporary story about a girl who loves boxing, Straight Punch.

Inquiry and the Common Core: Librarians and Teachers Designing Teaching for Learning

Harada, Violet H and Sharon Coatney, eds. Inquiry and the Common Core: Librarians and Teachers Designing Teaching for Learning. 2014. 241p. ISBN 978-1-61069-543-5. Available at PROF 371.39 INQ on the library shelves.

The Common Core State Standards and the revised standards from the American Association of School Librarians offer several opportunities for school librarians to collaborate with teachers to adapt inquiry methods for research and develop a more rigorous and exacting scholarship culture in the school. Common Core standards shift the emphasis away from literature and towards more digital content and informational text, and scaffold instruction throughout all grades to achieve higher levels of complexity. Inquiry is essential for students to achieve self-direction, but schools have in the past not done a great job of developing the skills necessary to successfully inquire about a topic. The Common Core seeks to remediate this problem and provides a means for teachers and librarians to work together.

With contributions from over 30 authors, this book is divided into four parts. The first part discusses how the Common Core impacts school librarians and the various roles we can now step into to help teachers meet these standards. The second part explores how to develop inquiry-based learning and what steps can be taken to implement such a model in schools. The third part examines the planning that must take place to develop meaningful learning for students and rewarding collaboration for teachers and school librarians. Finally, part four includes several samples of lessons across grades and across the curriculum. These lessons incorporate the suggestions made in the second and third part and provide examples of lessons co-developed by teachers and school librarians. Librarians and teacher still wondering how they can successfully work together to meet Common Core and AASL standards will appreciate the concrete suggestions provided in this concise volume.

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.

Breathing Underwater

Flinn, Alex. Breathing Underwater. 2001. 203p. 309 mins.  ISBN 0-06-029198-2. Available both at FIC FLI on the library shelves and as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Nick seems to have it all. His family’s rich, he’s got the best looking girlfriend, and he has tons of friends. So why he is in court mandated therapy with a bunch of violent offenders? Why is his girlfriend Caitlin scared enough of him to seek a restraining order of him?

As Nick tells his story, the reader discovers that his life is not easy at all. His mother abandoned his father and him when he was young. His father is motivated and driven, but he expects the best from his only son. And he also takes out his anger out on Nick. But nobody knows this, not even Nick’s best friend. When Nick meets Caitlin, he knows she’s the one for him. They begin dating, but Nick is quick to control her life. He makes cutting remarks when she wears something he doesn’t approve. He wants to know where she is at all times, who she talks to, and what she’s doing. He doesn’t want her to look at other guys, and he gets mad at her when other guys look at her.

Nick’s control of Caitlin takes on a dark turn when he becomes violent with her. One scare and one hit too many for her, she presses charges against Nick and now he must spend time with these violent losers every week. He’s not like them, he’s nothing like them. He just loves her so much it hurts. But when one of the participants breaks into his old girlfriend’s house and kills her before shooting himself, Nick realizes that he in fact belongs in this group, and that to get Caitlin back he must understand that like father, like son is not a compliment in his case and he needs to break the mold of violence that surrounds his life.

If you like Nick’s story of redemption, check out Speak, where Melinda too much recover from a horrific event to gain back her life.

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1996. 172p. ISBN  0-684-83042-6. Available both at FIC FIT on the library shelves and as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Having fought in the Great War, Nick Carraway moves away from the Midwest to New York City to work as a bonds salesman. He rents a small house on Long Island, in the village of West Egg. Next to his humble abode is Jay Gatsby’s enormous house located on acres of prime real-estate facing the bay. Gatsby is known to throw lavish parties on Saturday that are attended by the who’s who of New York society.

In his first month on the East Coast, Nick has dinner with his cousin, directly across the bay from Gatsby. The beautiful Daisy Buchanan is married to Tom, who is having an affair with another married woman, Myrtle. Tom is also rich, but unlike Gatsby he appears unsophisticated. At the Buchanans, Nick meets Jordan Baker, an amateur golfer, and the two begin a relationship.

Finally invited over to Gatsby’s for one of his Saturday parties, Nick finally make the acquaintance of the elusive Gatsby, who reveals he fought in the same division as Nick during the War. Soon, Gatsby reveals that he has a more pressing interest in Nick. Gatsby and Daisy used to date five years ago, at a time when Gatsby knew he would come into money but didn’t have any, and Daisy whose family was already wealthy. When he wasn’t able to return immediately at the end of the War, Daisy got married to Tom. Now Gatsby hopes that Nick can help him rekindle his relationship with Daisy.

In this tale of lies and deceit, the recklessness of people in their late twenties and early thirties is explored until tragedy strikes, causing pain and suffering and destroying lives. A quintessential American novel, The Great Gatsby endures for its look on the decadence of the rich and for the struggle to construct a new identity.

Girl in the Blue Coat

Hesse, Monica. Girl in the Blue Coat. 2016. 309p. 583 mins. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

In the Second World War, no act is too small to help resist the Germans. The year is 1943, and the Nazis have conquered most of Europe. Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands have been occupied since 1940. Like many teenagers, Hanneke’s life has been in turmoil, and she had to grow up fast. Her boyfriend was in the Dutch navy and he was among the many who died in the five days the Dutch resisted. Working with an undertaker, Hanneke’s real job is to run contraband operations and hook up rich folks with the products they simply cannot go without even under occupation. This illegal work could lead to her arrest, but as the prototypical Aryan, she may do a stint in jail. Hanneke refuses to get involved in the war, believing that her small act of undermining the rationing system is her way of fighting back against the invaders.

When she delivers goods to Mrs. Janssen, one of her elderly client who recently lost her husband after he was shot in killed hiding Jews in his factory, she discovers that another Jew was being hidden in their house, behind a false cupboard. Asked to find the missing girl with the blue coat, Hanneke at first refuses, but finds the mysterious disappearance strange, and agrees to investigate. Soon, what was a simple way to make money becomes an obsession. How did the girl escape the house without being noticed? Where has she gone? Hanneke is about to be dragged into the war despite her best efforts, and the web of lies and duplicity she discovers will change her life forever.

For another take on Dutch Jews taken to concentration camps during the Second World War, take a look at Monique Polak's What World is Left.

Dateline: Troy

Fleischman, Paul. Dateline: Troy. 1996. 80p. ISBN 1-56402-469-5. Available at 398.2 FLE on the library shelves.

The Trojan War is one of the better known ancient conflicts that pitted Greek city states against Troy. When Zeus was asked to judge who was the fairest between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, he decided that Paris of Troy should judge. Reputed a fair judge, Paris was promised Helen’s hand if he selected Aphrodites as the fairest. After doing so, Helen was struck and when she met Paris she immediately decided to be with him. Paris maneuvered Helen’s husband out of the way, then departed with the Greeks’ treasure and their most beautiful woman and returned to Troy.

Bound to help the King of Sparta, other Greek cities sent soldiers and commanded that Troy send Helen back. Upon Troy’s refusal, the Greeks set sail and lay siege to the city. At turn plagued and helped by the Gods, who were fighting each other, the Greeks eventually managed to enter Troy’s formidable defenses using a wooden horse as an stratagem. Many Greek heroes died during the ten years that the war lasted, and in the end all most the combatants found ruin and death.

Out of this foundational myth arise stories such as Odysseus and the founding of Rome.

Told in alternate pages with a summary and newspaper headlines, this book demonstrates that the story lines that influenced live over 2,500 years ago are still with us today. The tragedy that is Troy and humankind’s cupidity continues to influence the world today.