Pharrell

Vetere, Lori. Pharrell. Part of the Hip-Hop & R&B Culture, Music & Storytelling series. 2019. 80p. ISBN 978-1-4222-4183-7. Available at B WIL on the library shelves. 

 

Pharrell Williams is a famous singer and music producer known for his mega-hit Happy. An accomplished artist, Pharrell's work touch more than music, with dives in fashion, movies, and writing as well. Born in 1973 in Virginia, Pharell quickly demonstrated an interest and a talent in music. His mother encouraged him to learn and practice, and he joined the school band in 7th grade, where he met his lifelong friend and group member Chad Hugo. Together they created the Neptunes, a production company that since the 1990s has created some of the most famous songs for artists, movies, video games, and commercials. 

Attracted by various sounds and inspired by world music, Pharrell's style has evolved and remains eclectic. He created his own lines of clothing, produced the movie Hidden Figures, and sponsored many philanthropical endeavors. Pharrell remains motivated to increase school graduation rates and increase the number of students who go to college to pursue their dreams.

Fans of music will appreciate Pharrell's hard work ethic and his dedication to being a mogul with a social conscience.

Rebel Angels

Bray, Libba. Rebel Angels. Book 2 of the Gemma Doyle series. 2005. ISBN 978-0-385-73029-2. Available at FIC BRA on the library shelves.

In A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma Doyle discovered that she is a priestess in the Order, a group of women who throughout history harnessed the magic of the realms and protected the world from outsiders. She and her friends traveled often to the realms, and that is where Pippa was ultimately lost. Gemma, Felicity and Ann agreed not to go back.

Now, however, things have changed. Gemma is plagued by the ghosts of three girls who appear almost angelic. They reveal a vision of themselves running on a beach with rocky cliff, with a fourth girl behind. Suddenly, a woman wearing a green cloak guides the fourth girl towards the water where a horrific aberration emerges from the water, ready to consume her. Gemma is certain it is Circe, formerly known as Sara, a student at Spence twenty four years ago. Gemma can't figure out what the ghosts are trying to tell her, but she knows this information could save her life.

At Spence, the girls are readying themselves for Christmas vacation. All of them, except Ann the scholarship student, are returning home to be with family. Gemma is eager to experience all that the season offers, from balls and large gatherings of folks hoping to be seen to operas and gift giving. But it will be bittersweet, the first Christmas without her mother, while her father continues to sink in his own pit of despair fueled by opium.

At the last minute, Felicity invites Ann to stay with her, and the three girls look forward to spending time together in London, away from their chaperones. The arrival of a new teacher, however, upends their plans. Miss McCleethy is here to replace Ms. Moore, who was terminated for leading the girls to the cave where they first discovered how to enter the realms, and she seems to have an unhealthy interest in Gemma. Before leaving, the three of them visit the realms, and Gemma notices that Pippa has not crossed over to the realm of the dead, but is instead lingering. She's happy to see her old friends, but Gemma notices that her condition seems to have deteriorated. Pippa makes them promise to return and tell her about their vacation in London.

At Victoria train station, Gemma's brother is late to pick her up, and she is followed intently by a member of the Rakshana. Attempting to escape him, she runs into a gentleman, Simon Middleton, who is both a viscount and a friend of her brother's. Gemma is quite smitten by him, and is thrilled that he invites her family to dinner. While in London, Gemma reconnects with Miss Moore, and she tells her more about their ordeal and the realm.

As Gemma and her friends keep traveling to the realms, they notice that things are getting worse. It is untended and growing wild. When Gemma shattered the seal that contained the magic, it released it and now it is corrupting everything. Gemma, Felicity and Ann must locate the Temple, where the magic can once again be safely contained, before Circe or her agents discover it. Who will pay the high price necessary to bring hope back to the realms?


 Gemma and her friends from the Spence Academy return to the realms to defeat her foe, Circe, and to bind the magic that has been released.   

20th Century Art: 1900-1910

Gaff, Jackie. 20th Century Art: 1900-1910. 2000. 32p. ISBN 978-0-83682848-8. Available at 709.04 GAF on the library shelves.

The Renaissance kickstarted the art world and led to the creation of amazing paintings and sculptures. Artists used vivid colors to attempt to recreate on a canvas the world around them. By the late 1880s, however, industrialization had altered societies around the globe, and artists began to stray away from conforming to reality. The Impressionists first led the way. Interested more in the play of colors and recording impressions of the moment, artists such as Monet painted country scenes and industrial landscapes, capturing the essence of the immediate.

Inspired by the Impressionists, artists such as Seurat explored pointillism, where dots of pure color are placed on a canvas to create an image that is both harmonious and visually appealing. At the same time, Van Gogh and Gauguin moved away from representing the world as they saw and used their canvas to illustrate emotions and states of mind. This evolved into expressionism, where artists such as Munch expressed inner feelings. Other art movements, such as Symbolism, Fauvism, and Cubism, also influenced the 1900s, and led to an explosion of art in Europe and in the United States.

Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 13

Adachitoka. Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 13. 2016. 200p. ISBN 978-1-63236-254-4. Available in the Graphic Section of the library.

Having discovered in Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 12 that Koto, a student at her school is really Yato's father, the god referred by the others as the crafter, Hiyori is now in danger. The crafter wishes Yato would return to do his bidding and cull the human population, as he used to when he was a child. He therefore plans an attack on Hiyori by unleashing his Ayakashis on the hospital where her father works. Pandemonium breaks loose, patients and staff attack each others, and Hiyori finds herself in the middle of this chaos.

Yato, who has vowed to protect her, comes to her aid, but he is confronted by his father, and finds himself put into an impossible dilemma. Either he kills his father, or he surrenders completely to his wishes. Every second delays his assistance to Hiyori, however. Unable to defeat his father, Yato finds himself in a stalemate broken by Bishamon's arrival, who forces the crafter to retreat.

Meanwhile, Hiyori has seen too much violence. For too long she has been skirting the line between the living world and the world of spirits, but this attack has pushed her too far inside. Yato has another decision to make. Free Hiyori by removing the threat that links them together, ensuring that she will forget him, or kill her and transform her into his shinki. Though Yato knows that Hiyori would be happy, he also knows that she has much life left in front of her and that she must continue to live....

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

Yee, F.C. The Epic Crush of Genie Lo. 2017. 310p. ISBN 978-1-68335-122-1. Available as an ebook on Overdrive.

Eugenie Lo is taller than most at her school, and at sixteen is driven to get into a top college to please her relentless mother. With divorced parents, Genie cannot wait to escape stifling parental surveillance and spread her own wings. Her school year is filled with studying, tests, and the dreadful college essay that she must write to set herself apart from all of the other Asian students competing with her for the same few spots in top colleges.

Her entire life is suddenly changed, however, when, on her way to school, she comes across a boy being beaten up in an alley. She distracts the bullies, but leaves her backpack and all of her books behind. At school, she is surprised to meet that very same boy, Quentin, in most of her classes. A transfer student from China, Quentin quickly proclaims that Genie belongs to him.  That immediately sets her off, and she violently punches Quentin. He keeps on following her, however, turning up in the strangest places.

What she thought was obnoxious and annoying suddenly turns deadly when Quentin reveals that he is in fact Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, who has come to San Francisco to chase a group of demons who have escaped from prison. The Monkey King reveals that Genie is in fact his ancient weapon, who has become self actualized. Genie is pissed, but as more and more demons attack her and the Monkey King and threaten her friends, she is forced to deal with a side of her Chinese heritage she didn't know existed. Can Genie manage to balance her life to both save the Bay Area from a demon invasion while remaining on track to get into the college of her choice?

A great and entertaining read, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo feature unforgettable characters and an interesting setting. Those interested in learning more about the Monkey King should first read American Born Chinese, where the story of Su Wukong is presented, or Monkey, the original Chinese tale translated in English.

Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump

Brockenbrough, Martha. Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump. 2018. 519 mins. ISBN 978-1-25022959-5. Available as an audiobook from the library.

Those who have been surprised at the behavior of President Donald Trump had not been following his career as a real-estate developer and entertainer. Instead of changing him and making him more presidential, his surprise election in 2016 has magnified his strengths and weaknesses. How did a rich, thrice-married New Yorker who supported abortion rights become the nominee of the Republican Party?

Trump's grandfather emigrated from Germany in the 1885s for better economic opportunities and to avoid military conscription, he started as a barber but then accumulated wealth in several ventures in New York, Seattle and the Yukon, before returning to Germany a wealthy man. He married someone from his town and returned to New York, where he continued to build his wealth before during the Spanish flu in 1918. Trump's father, Fred, inherited the business and entered the construction industry. Fred continued to expand until the company owned many buildings in and around New York City.

Donald was unruly enough that he attended military school, then graduated and completed a business degree before joining his father's team. Trump set out for himself and made his own deals, finding success but also accumulating failures along the way. A braggard and consumate self-promoter, Trump played on the desire for change for those whose lives had been devastated during the Great Recession and those who felt the country was changing too rapidly.

This biography of the 45th President discusses his early life, his career as a builder, his foray into the entertainment world, his many relationships and bankruptcies, his rise to the top of the Republic Party and his subsequent election as President, as well as his first two years in office, which were marred by self-inflicted scandals. Supporters and opponents will all learn something new about the man who currently leads the United States.

90 Miles to Havanna

Flores-Galbis, Enrique. 90 Miles to Havana. 2010. 292p. 492 mins. ISBN 9781624606083 Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

As the youngest of three brothers, Julian is used to alternatively being bossed around or ignored by his older brothers, Aquilino and Gordo. On New Year's eve, 1959, they and their father find themselves on their fishing boat, attempting to catch a fish for the New Year's meal. Catching a fish represents good luck for the rest of the year. Julian really wants to hold the fishing rod, and his father reluctantly lets him do so. A fish bites, but Julian is unable to reel it in. Gordo gives him a hard time, and even his father is disappointed as the family will not experience good luck this year. How right they all are.

On December 31, 1958, Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrow Batista, the Cuban dictator, and move quickly to implement a socialist regime throughout the island. Things change quickly for Julian's family. Neighbors flee to the United States, and those unable to leave find themselves kicked out of their comfortable middle class houses. Julian's best friends, Angelita and Pedro, leave for Florida. A supporter of the new regime moves in next door and is appointed to enforce rules. As things get progressively worse, Julian's parents make the wrenching decision to send their unaccompanied children to the United States, with the hope of joining them as soon as possible.

Aquilino, Gordo and Julian thus find themselves among other Cuban children in a receiving camp where they await either being rescued by family members or sent to orphanages throughout the United States. The camp is dominated by Caballo, a bully the boys know from Cuba, and he makes the boys' lives miserable. However, Julian is reunited there with Angelita and Pedro, whom he had not seen for close to a year. Gordo antagonizes Caballo further during a baseball game. The two older brothers get shipped out, and for the first time in his life Julian finds himself alone, with no one to make decisions for him.

With Angelita's help, Julian organizes a resistance against Caballo, but when things get out of hand he escapes the camp and connects with Tomas, who's planning a daring sailing to Havana and the rescue of his family members. Hoping to save his mother and father, Julian decides to help Tomas, but even though Cuba is only 90 miles away, this is a dangerous trip on a leaky boat with the real possibility of being captured and arrested by Cuban authorities. Julian is about to make the most important decision of his life ...

Living and Working in Ancient Rome

Randolph, Joanne, ed. Living and Working in Ancient Rome. 2018. 48p. ISBN 978-0-7660-8975-4. Available at 937 LIV on the library shelves.

For a thousand years, Rome stood at the center of one of the largest empires in the history of the world. It was both the political and spiritual capital of a territory stretching from Britain and Spain the northwest to Egypt and Mesopotamia in the southeast. As the center of imperial life, Rome strove to outshine all other cities. The lives of its famous residents are well documented, but what about the average citizen who did not own slaves and lived on a private estate?

This book presents details about how the more than one million people lived in and around Rome at the height of its imperial glory. Most Romans males worked providing services, selling things, or had jobs in factories or in construction. Women stayed at home, ran the household, educated children, and entertained guests. Roman diets consisted mainly of bread, with cheese and a little meat when affordable, but also often included olives and figs. For entertainment, Romans enjoyed gladiator combat or chariot races. Roman children played in the streets and sometimes attended school, if their parents were wealthy enough to afford it. They had toys such as wooden dolls and horses, toy swords and shields, dice, and carved stones and clay figurines.

Over the years Emperors spent tremendous resources embellishing Rome, and making life easier for its citizens. Buildings like temples and baths, and infrastructures like sewers and aqueducts were designed to improve the quality of life of the residents of Rome. These buildings are also explored in this book.

Fans of history will appreciate the research and details included in this book, and will appreciate that though almost 2,000 years separate us, the ancient Romans led a similar life to ours today.

The Witch Boy

Ostertag, Molly Knox. The Witch Boy. 2017. 210p. ISBN 978-1-33808952-3. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

For generations, witches and shapeshifters have protected the forest and the people beyond. The girls in Aster's family are those witches, raised with spells and the ability to scry, make fruits grow from buds, and sense spirits. The boys are the shapeshifters, trained for battle and willing to sacrifice their lives to protect their female relatives. As one of the youngest boys, Aster is expected to follow in his elders' steps and become a shapeshifter. Unfortunately he has never been able to find his inner animal, despite years of trying. His true interest is in witchery, and he carries a notebook around where he records the magic he sees his female cousins perform.

His father is disappointed, and so his mother, but Aster cannot let go. As boys begin to disappear from the family compound, however, the whole family comes under attack. Aster wants to help, but the only thing he can bring is his growing control of witchery. Grandmother, the matriarch of the clan, had a twin brother once who also dabbled in witchery, but he became corrupted and stole a precious artifact before fleeing. Aster's mother is worried about her son and the path he might be on.

To compound his problem, Aster has stepped outside the protected boundaries of the compound, and made contact with a local girl, Charlie. She's an athlete with a broken leg, and like Aster she pushes the boundaries of traditional gender roles. With the clan under menace, can the two of them work together to resolve the danger and pursue their interests instead of what the other people in their lives think they should be doing?

Gorgeous and colorful illustrations make this author's first graphic novel a pleasure to read. Any reader who has not felt totally comfortable in society's gender norms will appreciate Aster's desire and struggle to be something different.

Orphan, Monster, Spy

Killeen, Matt. Orphan, Monster, Spy. 2018. 423p. ISBN 978-0-451-47874-0. Available as an ebook from Overdrive.

Being Jewish in Germany in 1939 is dangerous. Until 1933, Sarah had a normal life in Vienna, with an adoring mother. She participated in gymnastics, and loved sports. Then the Nazis came to power, and life became a struggle. For six years Sarah and her mother managed to avoid most of the violence, but as Hitler relentlessly drive Germany towards war, it is not possible for them to stay here.

Orphan, Monster, Spy begins when Sarah's mother is shot and crashes their car as they forced a German road block on their way to Switzerland. Barely escaping, Sarah hides in an abandoned warehouse. On the roof, she spots a strange man observing zeppelins landing and departing for a nearby airbase. The stranger corners her but soon departs, leaving Sarah alone.

The following morning, she successfully sneaks aboard a ferry heading across the lake to Switzerland, but when she spots the stranger from the night before being harassed by German soldiers, she realizes that he's the man they wanted to arrest when her mother crashed her car. Without thinking, she saves him from  arrest, and she soon learns he is a British Captain who has been living in Germany since the end of the First World War.

Taking her back to Berlin, she convinces him to train her for spy work, and soon he informs her he has a very sensitive mission. She must infiltrate a Nazi school for elite students, so she can become friends with the daughter of a highly regarded atomic scientist. Ultimately, her target is the blueprints of a devastating bomb Germany is rumored to be building.

The Nazi school turns out to be a microcosm of German society, where the strong prey on the weak, no one can trust anyone, and any mistake or meekness can be deadly. As a Jew who has missed six years of school, Sarah must device ways to survive mortal dangers long enough to accomplish her mission...

YouTube and Videos of Everything

Centore, Michael. YouTube and Videos of Everything. Part of the Tech 2.0: World-Changing Entertainment Companies series. 2019. 64p. ISBN 978-1-42224059-5. Available at 384.33 CEN on the library shelves.

The story of YouTube is the story of most wildly successful tech companies: A group of college friends realized there was a need for a service, created a business plan, started a company in a garage, programmed a website, and wrote history. For YouTube, three friends who worked together at PayPal before it was bought by eBay in 1998 reconnected a few years later and discovered they had difficulty sharing videos they had recorded. At the time, each device used a different format that required a different piece of software to decode and play. Creating a service that could handle different formats and display them seamlessly on the Internet would finally facilitate videos online

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim invested their own money and time, and built a company called YouTube, designed to let anyone to post videos online. They released their beta site in May 2005, and immediately it was a success. The expansion of YouTube was accompanied with growing pains, as the founders needed to both figure a way to monetize their site as well as enforce copyright laws. Advertising crept in. By the end of 2006, YouTube was popular enough that Google spent 1.5 billion purchasing it and incorporating it in its suite of services. As it continued to expand, YouTube improved technology and created a whole new type of job, the YouTuber. It also has increased its reach, becoming the 2nd most popular website worldwide, right behind Google but ahead of Facebook.

Baba Yaga's Assistant

McCoola, Marika, with illustrations by Emily Carroll. Baba Yaga's Assistant. 2015. 132p. ISBN 978-0-7636-6961-4. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.



Baba Yaga is the stuff of nightmares for Slavic children all over the world. Reputed for eating children and wrecking havoc on those who encounter her, Baba Yaga also has her maternal side and cares deeply about the wildlife that lives in her forest. More than anything, though, Baba Yaga is a trickster who enjoys creating challenges that require clever and entertaining thinking.

Masha's mother died when Masha was very young, and her father became very distant, unable to cope with the loss of his wife. She was raised by her grandmother, who told her fantastical stories of Baba Yaga and her personal interactions with the old crone. Masha fully believes that Baba Yaga lurks around their neighborhood. Her grandmother also passed away, leaving Masha alone with her absent father.

Now her father has plans to remarry, and Masha will get a little sister, Dani, who is a holy terror and who shares Masha's anger at this new relationship. Having read an advertisement in the newspaper seeking a new assistant for Baba Yaga, and convinced she would be better off abandoning this family that doesn't really care for her, Masha takes off and heads into the forest, looking for the crone.

Finding Baba Yaga and her house on chicken feet, Masha must complete a practical exam where she is challenged to complete activities that require quick thinking. Thankfully, Masha remembers all of the stories her grandmother told her, and she's able to use them to assist her in meeting these challenges. But when Dani arrives, having been captured by Baba Yaga and on the menu for the next meal, Masha will need to devise a clever way to thwart the crone's designs.

Beautifully illustrated and quick paced, Baba Yaga's Assistant presents a new take on an old tale and brings Baba Yaga's environment to life. Fans of graphic novels will appreciate both the plot and the quality of the drawings.

Defy the Stars

Gray, Cynthia. Defy the Stars. Book 1 of the Defy the Stars series. 2017. 503p. ISBN 978-0-316-39403-1. Available at FIC GRA on the library shelves.

As humanity continued to ruin Earth, it became imperative to find other suitable planets where its exploding population could escape. Large space gates were built, and ships explored the galaxy. Other worlds were located, and though they could sustain life, none of them were like Earth. Until Genesis was discovered. A planet similar to Earth before it became overcrowded and polluted. Settlers came to Genesis, but as Earth sought to send more people, the various religious factions on Genesis united and declared the colony's independence. A brief but vicious war granted them freedom and thirty years of peace due to a blockade by Earth of the Genesis Gate. In the last two years, however, Earth has become increasingly hostile, sending armies of mechs, mechanized humans, to fight agains the low-tech Genesis forces.

At seventeen, Noemi Vidal has lost her family when their vehicle was destroyed hitting a mine. She spent her youth with her best friend, Ester. When Earth's military returned to the Genesis system, Noemi and Ester joined the defense forces. AS Earth slowly bleeds the Genesis military dry, increasingly desperate measures have been necessary. She has trained with others to perform the Masada run, a hopeless attempt to disable the Genesis Gate and prevent Earth from sending more forces to this system. This will not destroy the Gate, but it will provide valuable time for Genesis to rearm itself.

During a training exercise, Noemi and her fighter troops are ambushed by mechs. During the assault her friend Ester is critically injured, and Noemi is forced to drag her into one of the shipwrecks that litter the area of the Gate, hoping to save her life. On board the Daedalus, however, is a mech. Abel is an A1 mech, a unique model endowed not only with the information that all other 25 mech models possess, but also the unmatched ability to adapt, and his programming has evolved beyond its coding limitations. Abel was abandoned for thirty years when Dr. Mansfield, his creator and the owner of the Daedalus, had to flee his ship during an attack by Genesis soldiers.

Though on two opposite warring sides, both Abel and Noemi's best hopes to escape the loneliness that has plagued most of their lives. As they get to know each other, they realize that they can bring an end to this war between Genesis and Earth. The price may be the sacrifice of their lives, however. With the fate of the galaxy at hand, will they be willing to make the necessary deadly decisions?

A great science-fiction story, Defy the Stars is told in alternating chapters between Noemi and Abel's points of views. Fans of Illuminae will enjoy this thrilling story.

Fake News and the Factories that Make It

Heitkamp, Kristina Lyn. Fake News and the Factories that Make It. Part of the Critical Thinking About Digital Media series. 2019. 80p. ISBN 978-1-978504-72-1. Available at 070.43 HEI on the library shelves.

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was marred by Russian meddling and the spreading of what became known as "fake news." This phrase has entered the lexicon and has permeated the national discourse, and has been used repeatedly by the President to decry news that are not fake but rather unflattering to himself. This is not the first time that the words "fake news" have been used, however. American history is replete with yellow journalism and sensationalistic headlines, from Benjamin Franklin's completely fabricated reports of British and Indian atrocities against American settlers to today's social media trolls enhancing and promoting disinformation.

What is "fake news"? At their heart, fake news are information that are not accurate. They range from reasonable mistakes in reporting to disingenuous pieces of propaganda designed to sway public opinion one way or another. They can come from citizens who do not take the time to fact check their information, or they can come from aboard where people create articles to drive traffic to their websites and generate advertising revenues.

It is dependent on readers to carefully consume information and seek confirmation from different sources. If a headline appears too sensational or unbelievable, it probably is. An informed citizenry is essential to a thriving democracy, and fake news, if not checked, will undermine the nation's stability.

The Amulet of Samarkand

Stroud, Jonathan. The Amulet of Samarkand. Book 1 of the Bartimaeus trilogy. 2003. 462p. ISBN 978-0-7868-1859-4. Available at FIC STR on the library shelves.

Being a demon can often be risky business, especially if your true name is known and recorded in a magical book. This allows magicians of all kinds, even third-rate ones, to summon you and force you to do their bidding. The djinni Bartimaeus is over five thousand years old, but he has had the misfortune of losing control of his true name.

When he is first summoned by a mere child, twelve-year-old Nathaniel, Bartimaeus is sure there has to be a hand pulling the strings of this puppet. Ordered to obtain the Amulet of Samarkand from another magician, Bartimaeus grudgingly complies. No self-respecting demon enjoys being someone's else errand boy, after all, and Bartimaeus begins plotting the boy's demise.

Ambitious and determined to be one of the best magicians, Nathaniel was entrusted at the tender age of 6 to the Underwoods, a mid-level magician in her Majesty's government in London. A precocious boy, Nathaniel soon learned all that his master had to offer, and then some. Whereas Mrs. Underwood was very nice to him, Mr. Underwood barely tolerated him and only allowed him to be his apprentice because he was required to do so. During an encounter at age 11 with Simon Loveland, an ascending magician in the government, Nathaniel showed promise by displaying his growing skills, but in turn antagonized Loveland, whose demon ended up spanking Nathaniel. Vowing revenge, Nathaniel pursued his studies and became powerful enough to summon greater demons. When he discovered that Loveland had stolen the Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel summoned Bartimaeus and sent his to retrieve it and bring it back to him. Unfortunately for Nathaniel, Bartimaeus discovers that this is indeed the boy's true name and not the fake one most magicians adopt, and this gives the demon leverage over the budding magician.

Unknown to both of them, the stealing of the Amulet causes them to accidentally infiltrate a great conspiracy led by Loveland to seize control of Parliament and the government machinery. As they begin to realize the consequences of their actions, they grow ever so closely to Loveland and his murderous demons. Will the two of them be able to outsmart magicians bent on overthrowing the rightful government?

The Gross Science of Bad Smells

Mooney, Carla. The Gross Science of Bad Smells. Part of the Way Gross Science series. 2019. 48p. ISBN 978-1-5081-8165-1. Available at 612.88 MOO on the library shelves.

Of all the human senses, smell is the one that influences us the most. From disgusting smells that identify rotting foods, to the sweet smell of cinnamon, smells influence us in many ways. But what is the chemistry behind smells? Smells are molecules that are perceived by millions of olfactory receptors in the nose that immediately transmit this information to olfactory bulbs and thence to the brain itself. Unlike the other four senses, smell is transmitted directly to the brain from the olfactory bulbs, and the information is not mediated in the cortex beforehand. The human nose is able to distinguish over twenty thousands smells, but that is nothing compared to cats, who are an order of magnitude better, and dogs, whose nose is even more sensitive.

This book explains how chemical information is processed by our smell organs, and why some smells are more offensive than others. It describes two different smell processes, as well as diseases that affect one's sense of smell. Filled with informative texts and illustrations, this book is a wonderful guide to learn more about how our sense of smell works!