A Visual History of the Great Civilizations

Hernandez, Alberto. A Visual History of the Great Civilizations. Part of the Visual History of the World series. 2017. 100p. ISBN 978-1499465747. Available at 909 HER on the library shelves.

The emergence of great civilizations throughout history followed the growth of sedentary villages that produced a surplus of food capable of feeding specialized workers. The rise of various kingdoms in Mesopotamia was followed by the spread of Egypt’s influence on the Mediterranean world. Great civilizations also independently arose in India, China, Western Europe, and Central and South America. These civilizations produced large buildings, codes of laws, religious fervor, and standardization. In turn, these civilizations birthed others that soon competed and eclipsed them. The Ancient Greeks and Persians fought often, but Rome replaced them both. Rome itself fell, but it's eastern half remained for another thousand years before collapsing under the pressure of Islam and the Turks. The Vikings plundered throughout Western and Northern Europe, even reaching as far as North America.

This illustrates history of great civilizations provide a gorgeous visual guide to life at specific moments at the height of each civilization described, and include basic historical facts to both situate the civilization in world history as well as to explain its particular contributions to world culture. Fans of history will appreciate the overview of great civilizations that this book provides.

Other volumes in this series include:

• A Visual History of Soldiers and Armies around the World
• A Visual History of Ships and Navigation
• A Visual History of the World’s Enduring Mysteries
• A Visual History of the Great Civilizations

Jake the Fake Keeps it Real

Robinson, Craig and Adam Mansbach. Jake the Fake Keeps it Real. 2017. 135p. 107 mins. ISBN 978-0-553-52351-5. Available at FIC ROB on the library shelves and as audiobook from Overdrive.

Jake is thrilled to have been accepted into the Music and Art Academy for the gifted and talented, a magnet middle and high school in his district that attracts the best and brightest musicians, artists, and creative students in the area. For his audition, he relentlessly practiced “Song for my Father” and performed it flawlessly. The only problem? Jake can’t play anything else. He can’t improvise on the piano. He can’t even read the notes. In fact, Jake is a complete fraud. He doesn’t belong in this school, since he believes he has no talent whatsoever. His sister, Lisa, is now a senior at the Music and Art Academy, and Jake plans on getting rides from Pierre, Lisa’s boyfriend. Lisa is the perfect daughter, perfect girlfriend, and perfect person. Like a unicorn, she’s one of a kind and it’s hard for Jake to follow in her footsteps.

Now that he’s in, however, Jake has a few weeks to figure out what his talent is before the school’s talent show exposes him as the untalented person he thinks he is. With his new friends Azure and the other students in Mr. Allen’s homeroom, Jake plans on re-inventing himself and figuring out what to do before the show. Should he perform the only song he knows again, or will Jake be able to joke his way out of this predicament?

Hilariously written with funny illustrations to boot, this short book will be appreciated by fans of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Night Wings

Bruchac, Joseph. Night Wings. 2009. 194p. ISBN 978-0-06-112318-4. Available at FIC BRU on the library shelves.

When thirteen-year-old Paul’s mother, a U.S. army soldier, ships out to Iraq to join her military husband, Paul has to go live with his Abenaki grandfather, Peter. Once a Marine himself, Peter is steeped in the ways of the Abenaki and knows the White Mountains of New Hampshire like the back of his hands. A man of few words, grandpa Peter has taught Paul how to respect and survive the forest, and how to live the ways his ancestors did.

Shortly after his arrival in the White Mountains, Paul is surprised to receive the visit of two goons. One of them introduces himself as Darby Field the fourth, creator and spokesperson for the Forbidden Mysteries series on television. He asks Peter if he has changed his mind about leading him on an expedition in the mountains to discover Pmola’s treasure. An Abenaki legend, Pmola appears as a large black bird with eyes that resemble very bright red lights that protects the mountains. Peter replies that he in fact did not. Field departs the property, but returns in the night and kidnaps Peter.

Paul, who was under the house at the time, looking for a piece of plywood, escaped but is captured by Field and his crew of three. The party then heads deep inside the White Mountains and hide the van before beginning the long trek to Pmola’s lair. With their lives very much at risk, Paul must follow grandpa Peter’s advice learned over many years to survive a powerful enemy and prevent Field from acquiring Pmola’s treasure. Will the way of the ancients be enough to help him?

Set in New Hampshire, this book combines local legends and history with a character very much in touch with nature, himself, and his cultural heritage. A short read, fans of action will enjoy the fast-pace of Night Wings.

The Diviners

Bray, Libba. The Diviners. Book 1 of the Diviners series. 2012. 578p. ISBN 0-316-12611-X. Available at FIC BRA on the library shelves.

It is 1926, and the world of jazz and exuberance has come on the scene. In Ohio, seventeen-year-old Evie O’Neill has the uncanny ability to obtain very personal information about a person from an object. The more personal the object, the more she knows about its owner. When she reveals that the town’s golden boy has gotten a girl pregnant, she is faced with a choice: apologize publicly for her “inaccurate” statement, or get exiled to New York City to live with her uncle until things die down back in Ohio. Thrilled at the possibility of heading to the Big Apple and spending time with her best friend Mabel, who lives in the same building as her uncle, Evie agrees and departs on the train.

Once in New York, she is skillfully robbed by a young man named Sam Lloyd who wakes her up to the dangers of life in the city. Meeting her uncle Will, who is the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition and the Occult, she is introduced to Jericho, with whom Mabel is enamored. Evie can see why. Tall and blond, Jericho is her uncle’s assistant and was adopted by him years ago.

In Harlem, Memphis and his younger brothers both have talents of their own. Memphis used to be able to lay hands and heal, but hasn’t summoned his ability since the death of his mother. His younger brother, Isaiah, can divine cards and see in the future. Abandoned by their father after their mother’s death, they live with their aunt Octavia. Memphis is a hustler for the local crime lord, but he really wants to be a poet.

And in an old abandoned mansion, a shadow grows. Naughty John, a prophet of the Breathens, was executed for the murder of the mansion’s former owner back in the 1850s. His spirit is back, however, and seeks to complete a ritual involving eleven sacrifices that will release the Beast. The Beast will inflict evil on the world, but will then be banished by the Breathens, leading to paradise on Earth. As Naughty John moves closer to his goal and gets stronger from every sacrifice, Evie, Memphis, and a cast of unforgettable characters get caught in a deadly intrigue of occult and paranormal. Ritual murders plague the city as Solomon’s comet approaches Earth. With only a few days left, can Evie and her friends stop Naughty John?

The Hitch Hiker Guide’s to the Galaxy

Adam, Douglas. The Hitch Hiker Guide’s to the Galaxy. 2002. 216p. ISBN 0-345-45374-3. Available at FIC ADA on the library shelves.

Arthur Dent lives a miserable life. His house, he has just found out, is about to be demolished so that a road can be built. As the bulldozers start to crawl towards his house, he shaves, dresses, then leaves and lays down on the ground. The foreman attempts to convince him to get up, but Arthur refuses, holding up the project’s timetable. Passing by, his friend, Fort Prefect, convinces Arthur to follow him to the pub while the foreman lays down in the mud, taking his place.

At the pub, Ford announces loudly that the end of the world will happen in twelve minutes. He plies Arthur with drinks, telling him that he’ll feel better. Arthur is not sure what is happening, and when he hears the sounds of demolition he realizes his house has just been knocked down. Not of that matters, however, as the Earth itself is about to be destroyed by a Vogon construction fleet so that a galactic highway can be built in this sector.

Transported from Earth to the inside of a Vogon ship, Arthur and Ford barely escape the planet’s destruction.. Ford reveals that he’s an alien from Betelgeuse who has been conducting research for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the most comprehensive space encyclopedia. He’s been stuck on Earth for fifteen years, and now he’s pretty happy to be off.

Meanwhile, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Galactic President, steals the Heart of Gold, a ship that travels on improbabilities. When Ford and Arthur are ejected from the Vogon spaceship, they are, improbably, collected 1 second away from death by Zaphod, who turns out to be Ford’s cousin. Along with Trillian, a human female Arthur had met before, and Marvin, a depressed android, they set off on the quest to rediscover the planet Magrathea, which originally designed Earth. Riotous adventures take place as the crew learns to deal with one another.

Originally a radio show, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has been produced as a novel and as a movie, and continues to be popular both as a comedy and as a space opera novel.

The Great Recession

Riggs, Kate. The Great Recession. Part of the Turning Points series. 2017. 48p. ISBN 978-1-60818-749-2. Available at 330.97 RIG on the library shelves.

The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression officially took place from December 2007 to June 2009, but the effects of what became known as the Great Recession continued for much longer and, some could argue, are still being felt by many. What started as exuberance in the housing market ended with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the collapse of stock prices throughout the world.

Low interest rates and easy credits were at the root of the Great Recession. Low interest rates led to low mortgage rates, and these in turn enticed people who before could not have afforded a house to enter the market and purchase one through what became known as a subprime mortgage. For almost a decade house prices continuously rose, so that though a buyer purchased a house with little to no money, that individual could turn around a year or two later and sell it for a profit. However, by 2007 house prices were no longer rising.

In the past this drop in the housing value nationwide would not have affected the rest of the market, but banks had cleverly wrapped subprime mortgages into bonds that were then sold. With rising values, there was no problems in repaying the bondholders. But that drop in value caused the bonds to lose their own value, and suddenly banks and institutions that held these instruments saw their balance sheets turn red.

The Federal Government had to massively intervene in the marketplace to restore confidence, but it had to do so by bailing big banks and rich folks, something that the average American did not like. As the economy continued to contract, companies laid off workers, house values plummeted, and stocks devalued, causing even more pain. By the time the Great Recession was done, the richest folks had seen an increase in their wealth, while middle class Americans had seen a huge decline.

The economic calamity of our time, the aftermath of the Great Recession continues to affect individuals and companies, and many people who entered the workplace during the Great Recession will never be as comfortable financially as their parents, something that has not happened before.

Other books in this series include The Arab Spring.

How to Be Popular

Cabot, Meg. How to Be Popular. 2006. 288p. ISBN 978-0-06-088012-5. Available at FIC CAB on the library shelves.

Stephanie Landry has always wanted to be part of the popular crowd. But when she spilled a cherry flavored Super Big Gulp on popular girl Lauren Moffat’s white dress in fifth grade, she instantly became a social pariah. Everyone in Greene County, Indiana, is familiar with the expression “Way to pull a Steph Landry,” which is used to denote someone’s social death. For example, a boy throws a basketball that rebounds and hits the star quarterback in the face, causing a bloody nose. That boy just pulled a Steph Landry.

Now sixteen and a junior at Bloomville High School, Steph is keen on escaping her own legacy and rejoin the ranks of the socially acceptable teens. She plans on accomplishing this by following the advice she discovered in a book at her friend Jason’s grandmother, appropriately titled “How to Become Popular.” Speaking of Jason, Steph’s best friend has gotten hot over the last year, and Steph really enjoys spying on him (they are next door neighbors) through his shadeless window. Steph’s grandfather is about to marry Jason’s grandmother, so the two of them will become related by marriage.

Steph’s plan is devastatingly simple. She has a great idea to help the seniors fundraise. Senior Mark Finley, the star quarterback, is sure to appreciate her help. She then plans to undermine Lauren Moffat’s incessant and relentless attacks on her by endearing herself to the rest of the class. But her trip up the social ladder leaves Jason and her friend Becca puzzled at Steph’s behavior. Is it so bad to want to escape one’s legacy? What Steph did not count on, however, is that climbing the high school social ladder is hard, but staying at the top is even harder.

Fans of Jessica Darling’s adventures will appreciate Stephanie’s attempts at becoming popular.

The Color of Water

McBride, James. The Color of Water. 2006. 291p. 411 mins. ISBN 1-59448-192-X. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

James McBride is one of twelve siblings. His mother, Ruth McBride Jordan, is a hard working Polish Jew who left her family in Virginia to live in New York City where she married James’ father, an African-American man. Battling institutional racism as the white mother of twelve black children, Ruth nonetheless fought on and instilled in all of her progeny the desire to succeed and triumph over adversity.

James intermingles her story along with his own to describe how Ruth never strayed from the path she had set for herself and her family despite extreme poverty and loneliness. Living a harsh life with a racist and abusive father, Ruth ran away at the age of 17, pregnant with her first child by Peter, her black boyfriend. She met Dennis, the love of her life and James’ father in Harlem, but he died shortly before James’ birth. Alone with eight children, she persisted and once again fell in love, this time with Hunter Jordan. They had four children together.

James grew up in a chaotic environment where questions of faith and race were secondary to survival. Guided by a strict moral code, Ruth managed to send all twelve children to college. A heartfelt memoir, The Color of Water offers an unvarnished look at how Ruth’s strength of character and her devotion to her family allowed her to defeat adversity, and taught James the value of perseverance and hard work.

Every Hidden Thing

Oppel, Kenneth. Every Hidden Thing. 2016. 361p. ISBN 978-1-48146416-1. Available at FIC OPP on the library shelves.

At the end of the 19th century, the world has just discovered that large reptiles dwelled on the land and in the water millions of years ago. Paleontology is a growing science, and prospectors are scouring the globe for the best specimens of dinosaur fossils. Samuel Bolt’s father is a self-made paleontologist who has already discovered a few species, but he’s always looking for the next big thing. Rachel Cartland’s father is chair of the new paleontology department at Yale, and he also has discovered new species. The two professors positively hate each other, and they are in fierce competition with one another.

When Professor Bolt receives a tooth in the mail the size of a human foot, he knows that it belongs to the largest carnivorous dinosaur ever seen. This tooth represents a financial windfall for whomever finds the body first. Samuel and his father are willing to do anything to be the first ones to dig the fossils of the rex, the king of dinosaur, out of the ground of the Badlands out west.

Unfortunately, Professor Cartland has also heard of this find, and he comes well equipped with an army escort, several students from Yale, and all of the provisions in the closest small town. Samuel and his father only have a few dollars left, no team, and little hope. For Professor Bolt, the rex will cement his legacy as one of the greatest fossils hunter. For Professor Cartland, the rex will provide more funding to his new department. For Samuel, the rex is freedom from his father’s life and making a name for himself. For Rachel, it’s attending university and hunting her own fossils.

As the two fathers scour the hills trying to find the rex, Samuel and Rachel fall in love with each other and decide that they will strike on their own and find it first. But with Sioux warriors ready for a fight, will the rivalry between the two groups keep Rachel and Samuel apart or will they be able to find the rex before their fathers do?

A great love story set among a fierce rivalry in the badlands, fans of historical novels and of dinosaur hunters will enjoy Samuel and Rachel’s tale of searching for the dinosaur that will eventually be named Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 2

Houoto, Aya. The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 2. 2013. 160p. ISBN 978-1-42157963-4. Available in the graphic section of the library.

Located at the intersection of the human and of the spiritual world, Momochi house belongs to Himari Momochi, an orphan who received the house as the sole survivor of the family. However, Aoi, a Nue demon who protects the gate from angry spirits, and his Shinkis already live in the house and cannot leave the house.

Himari decide that she will free Aoi and allow him to live in the human world, a place he has not touched since he was ten. But as guardian of the house, not only can Aoi not leave, but his very presence has disappeared from human consciousness. Nevertheless, Himari continues to search for a way for Aoi to regain his humanity.

She also enrolls in school, and on the first day makes new friends. These friends accompany her back to Momochi House, and Himari is fearful they will discover she lives with three guys. Fortunately Aoi disguises himself and his servants as girls, and they pretend to be Himari’s older sisters. But one of Himari’s guests is not a human, but rather a ghost seeking to materialize as a demon by using the powers of Momochi House. Now Himari must discover which of her friends is already dead without alerting the ghost that she knows ...

The story continues in The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 3.

Military Jets Up Close

Jackson, Robert. Military Jets Up Close. Part of the Military Technology: Top Secret Clearance series. 2016. 224p. ISBN 978-1-5081-7080-8. Available at 623.74 JAC on the library shelves.

Near the end of the Second World War, the Nazis’ engineers had produced the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first true military fighter jet, which ushers in the age of air power. Now aircrafts move faster than the speed of sound and can reach deep in enemy territories to seek and destroy targets.

As nations begin developing faster and better jets, they also seek to gain an edge over enemy nations. Locked in a cold war, Americans and Soviet engineers develop ever more sophisticated aircrafts capable of dominating the air above armies and navies. This book presents, in alphabetical order, fifty of the main military jets of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, with a focus on American and Western planes. Illustrated with well-rendered 360-degree computer designed images, each of the jet is shown in seven different views: front and back, right side, left side, top and bottom. An actual picture of each airplane is also included.

Fans of military history and of military gear will appreciate the description and the history as well as advanced specifications for each jet.

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

The Musician’s Daughter

Dunlap, Susanne. The Musician’s Daughter. 2009. 322p. ISBN 978-1-59990-332-3. Available at FIC DUN on the library shelves.

Theresa Maria is lucky to have a musician father who works for a Prince. Finding employment in 18th-century Vienna is hard enough, but for a musician it’s almost impossible. Having Prince Nicholas Esterhazy as a patron is a good thing for the family, as it keeps them fed and sheltered. A musician in her own right, Theresa aspires to join an orchestra but she knows her gender stands in the way of being able to secure such a position.

When her father is found assassinated near a gypsy camp and his priceless violin missing, Theresa’s world comes crashing down around her. Who would want to kill a court musician? Armed with the only clue she has, a mysterious gold pendant found around her father’s neck, Theresa decides she will investigate. Finding employment as a copyist for her father’s teacher, renowned composer Franz Joseph Haydn, Theresa discovers a plot involving blackmail and extortion and the local gypsy tribe. With the help of Zoltan, a dashing gypsy, Theresa hopes to find the murderer. But the issues that motivated her father’s death are still very much in play, and her life at risk.

The Musician’s Daughter is an excellent historical novel taking place in the best magical capital in the world, Vienna. Fans of history will appreciate the look at a society rapidly evolving and will appreciate Theresa’s hopes of escaping a marriage she does not want and finding out why her father was killed.

Ten: A Soccer Story

Flint, Shamini. Ten: A Soccer Story. 2017. 176p. ISBN 978-0-544-85001-9. Available at FIC FLI on the library shelves.

The year is 1986, and the soccer World Cup is being played in Mexico. Eleven-year-old Maya considers herself to be the Brazilian team’s biggest fan, and she especially loves Zico, a dashing midfield and arguably one of the best players of the game. Maya’s enthusiasm for all things Brazil and Zico include watching the games even if they are late at night, and reliving the games in her head. Itching to play soccer, Maya is a typical girl. Except for the fact that she is Malaysian, has never touched a soccer ball in her life, and doesn’t know of any girls’ teams in the area.

When she gets her first soccer ball, she’s really excited. She cannot wait to be the best soccer player ever. But playing soccer is hard, especially if there is no one to teach you how to play. Her English father and her Indian mother are experiencing a rocky patch in their marriage, and life at home is hard with her older brother Rajiv. Slowly gaining skills, Maya manages to attract more girls to her group during recess at her private school. As her parents’ marriage disintegrate, soccer is the one thing that keeps her centered. When a girls’ soccer tournament is announced in town, Maya is hopeful that her small group will be able to play. The only question is, are they ready or, like Brazil’s Zico in 1986, will they fail spectacularly?

A great sports novel, Ten realistically portrays the struggles of a girl trying to do something different, and provides a good exposure to a culture most Americans are not familiar with. Fans of girls overcoming the odds in the sports world will appreciate this book. Readers who enjoy this book should look to DJ’s basketball tribulations in Dairy Queen and  Lucy's adventures in Playing with the Boys.

Night

Wiesel, Elie. Night. 2006. 120p. ISBN 0-374-50001-0. Available at B WIE on the library shelves.

Elie Wiesel is a teenager in Sighet, a town in Transylvania. Once part of the Austria-Hungary empire, the whole area was transferred to Romania in 1920, but reoccupied by the Hungarians in 1940. At first, the large Jewish population of the town is not worried, despite the rumors they hear from other countries under Nazi occupation. Life goes on in Sighet. Then in 1941, the Hungarians expulse Jews who are not citizens. One of them escape capture in Poland and returns to warn the Jews of Sighet of the Nazis’ plan to kill them all. They ignore him.

Then in 1944 Hungary, which had been an allied of Nazi Germany, seeks peace with the Allies. As a result the Germans invade the country. Suddenly life becomes dangerous for the Jews. Elie’s family is forced to wear the yellow star. Their assets are seized, but his father manages to bury the family fortune. Then they are expelled from Sighet and placed in cattle carts to Auschwitz, the infamous concentration camp.

The Wiesels are separated by gender, and this is the last time Elie sees his mother and younger sister alive. Elie and his father do everything to look after each other, but life in the camp is horrific and filled with pain, suffering, and death. As life devolve and the front moves closer, the Germans are becoming anxious to leave. The entire camp is evacuated and forced to walk for days to another camp deeper in Germany called Buchenwald. Elie did not think life could get any worse, but it does. Despite the beatings and the suffering, however, Elie continues to fight to survive, until he witnesses the death of his father, beaten by other inmates.

As the camp is prepared once again to evacuate, the Americans arrive and free the prisoners. Elie has survived the war, but at a terrible psychological cost.

A seminal work of the Holocaust, Wiesel makes life in the concentration camp real and horrific. Several questions raised by him continue to be of actuality even more than 70 years later, and it remains one of the most read story of the Second World War. You can read more about survivors of the Nazis concentration camps in Wiesel, Wisenthal, Klardsfeld: The Holocaust Survivors.

The Unicorn in the Barn

Ogburn, Jacqueline. The Unicorn in the Barn. 2017. 304p. ISBN 978-0-544-76112-4. Available at FIC OGB on the library shelves.

The Harper family has struggled financially since Eric’s grandmother fell ill. They had to sell her farm to a veterinarian, Dr. Brancusi, and her daughter, Allegra while grandmother moved in with Eric, his father and his brother Steve. Then grandmother became ill enough that she had to move to a nursing home for specialized care. Eric and his family visit her every weekend. Dr. Brancusi, meanwhile, has transformed the farmhouse into an animal hospital.

Eric meets Allegra when she begins posting “no trespassing signs” around their new property. When Eric points out that Allegra is herself trespassing by his treehouse and not putting signs up in the right place, she gets mad at him. Eric spends some time in his treehouse, but he falls asleep. When he awakens, it is dark. He climbs down and heads home, but then he spots a white deer in the woods, whiter than snow. Curious, he follows it around and realizes that it’s a unicorn, and she’s heading straight for the neighbors’ barn. Dr. Brancusi is caring for the unicorn, who suffers from an infected hoof. Pregnant with twins, Dr B. and Allegra are caring for it.

Despite Allegra’s misgiving, Dr. B. agrees to let Eric help with the caring for Moonpearl. Eric realizes that the animal hospital cares not only for regular animals, but for magical animals as well, such as a Cheshire cat, a goose which hatches golden eggs, and even a squonk. The unicorn possesses the ability to heal, but every time it does so it loses some vitality. With his grandmother dying, Eric is confronted with a tough choice. Should he try to save his grandmother even if it may cost the unicorn her soon-to-be born babies? Faced with this tough decision based on a secret, Eric cannot turn to anyone for help, except for Allegra. The two of them don’t get along, but maybe it’s time to end this conflict.

The Unicorn in the Barn is a well-crafted tale of caring, of love and of death. It’s not about the magic, it’s about what we do to help each other.