Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 15

Adachitoka. Noragami: Stray God, Vol. 15. 2016. 200p. ISBN 978-1-63236-256-8. Available in the Graphic Section of the library.

The conflict between Kazuma and Yukiné festers on, but Yato plans on an opportunity for the two of them to meet at the Divine Council. This is the first time Yato is invited to attend, and he doesn't want to ruin his chance of making a good impression among all of the other gods.

Takemiza-zuchi, the god of war who killed Ebisu, is also in attendance. Jealous of Yukiné's Blessed Vessel status with Yato, he aims to transform his own shinki, Ki, into a Blessed Vessel. This causes some tension among the gods present at the Divine Council.

On a lighter note, the gods play matchmakers by choosing soulmates for mortal beings. Many times Hiyori is matched with losers, only for Yato to cut the string that unites them together. Kofuku plays a prank on them both by tying their cords together.

At the same time, Bishamon is still reeling from the death of Ebisu and plans to bring defeat to the Crafter who controls the Ayakashi. She leaves the Divine Council and frees a Blessed Vessel who has been imprisoned by the gods for disavowing life itself ...

Ptolemy's Gate

Stroud, Jonathan. Ptolemy's Gate. Book 3 of the Bartimaeus trilogy. 2006. 501p. ISBN 978-0-7868-1861-7. Available at FIC STR on the library shelves.

Following the events in A Golem's Eye, seventeen-year-old Nathaniel has now risen to a position of importance in the British government. This ascension would not have been possible without the help of Bartimaeus, a djinni he summoned to help him root out rebels. However, Nathaniel has exploited Bartimaeus to the point of exhaustion. The djinni's essence has weakening due to having spent too long in the real world, and finds himself unable to help when Nathaniel runs into more trouble.

After escaping the golem, Kitty Jones found anonymity in the crowd and secured employment with a magician where she carefully learned the skills necessary to master magic. The resourceful rebel has a plan. She wants to discover how to free demons from their bindings to magicians and establish a more equal relationship between the two of them. Inspired by the rumored trial of an ancient Egyptian who traveled to the demon world, Kitty seeks to discover how to make Ptolemy's Gate a reality. Bartimaeus himself spent time with Ptolemy back in the day, and found him to be more than a master. They became friends.

As the three of them are once again thrown together to prevent a conspiracy seeking to destroy Britain's government, they will have hard choices to make that will forever change how demons and humans interact ...

A riveting conclusion to the Bartimaeus trilogy, readers will enjoy how Nathaniel, Kitty, and Bartimaeus overcome the odds and manage to craft a new world.

Dare to Lead

Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead. 2018. 320p. ISBN 9780399592522. Available at 658.4 BRO on the library shelves.

What is a leader? Are leaders born, or do they develop their leadership abilities over time? What does it mean to be a leader? In this provocative book, Brown discusses the characteristics that all leaders possess, and explains how effective leadership is achieved. She begins by defining the word leader as someone "who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential" (p. 4). Effective leaders are those who can harness the capabilities and skills of the people they work with and channel them in a productive and positive direction.

She identifies several characteristics of effective leadership. A leader needs to embrace vulnerability. Courage and fear are not exclusive, and it's okay for leaders to not know all of the answers. Leaders approach problems by remaining curious, by staying focused on the problem but knowing when to take a break from problem-solving and returning at a later time. More than anything, leaders own the process and "listen with the same passion with which [they] want to be heard" (p. 10). They acknowledge other ideas, and give credit where it is due. A leader is self-aware and possesses self-love. Fear underpins many of the ineffective behaviors and underperforming corporate culture, and poor leaders fail not because they experience fear, but because they do not respond to it properly. Leaders have the difficult conversations because they either lead to improvement or to significant changes that benefit the team.

When taken together, these characteristics are indicative of how successful a leader will be guiding their team forward. Those who lead teams or who aspire to lead will benefit from reading Brown's advice to fostering a sense of courageous yet vulnerable climate where honesty and integrity are valued and contribute to the functioning of the enterprise.

No Slam Dunk

Lupica, Mike. No Slam Dunk. 2018. 283 mins. ISBN 978-0-525-63857-5. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Wes' father is a hero. He went to Afghanistan and served multiple tours. But his last deployment changed him for the worst, and he soon moves out of the house. Wes and his father have always bonded over sports, and he never used to miss any of Wes' basketball games. Now that west has entered a competitive program, his dad has missed every game. And yet, Wes often feels like his dad is out there, watching through the door's glass.

On his new team Wes meets Danilo, also known as Dinero because he makes just about every shot. Danilo has amazing skills and is talented, but he hogs the ball and rarely passes it. Wes is almost as good as Danilo, but unlike him Wes knows that it takes a team to win games. This conflict philosophy between them causes the team to lose several games, and even when the coach talks to Danilo, nothing seems to change.

Using the team skills he learned from his dad, Wes attempts to change Danilo for the best, and also reconnect with his father. But it will take more than skills to change two people. Can Wes devise the right strategy to unify his team and get his dad out of the slump he's been in since he returned?

Lupica writes inspiring sports stories, and this one is no exception. Fans of the court and of athletes will enjoy the various techniques Wes uses to communicate and connect with important people in his life.

With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote

Bausum, Ann. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman's Right to Vote. 2004. 111p. ISBN 0-7922-7647-7. Available at 324.6 BAU on the library shelves.

The American Revolution took place around several ideals, one of which being that people who are taxed should be represented. Colonists won the right to vote in their new states, but only males obtained election rights. Women continued to be subservient to their father, then their husbands. In the 1840s, a group of women got together to discuss ways to secure the vote for them, so they could influence laws like property rights and divorce.

Over the course of the next 75 years, women fought against a repressive and conservative government not interested in allowing women to vote. Women organized marches, newspapers, conventions, and lobbied intensely to secure the franchise. They were ridiculed. They were arrested, charged with crimes such as loitering, disturbing the peace, and jailed. They were force-fed when they went on hunger strike. Through it all, women remained in solidarity with one another and pushed forward until changes came.

It took the First World War to really trigger a social shift. The necessity of fighting for democracy abroad by sending millions of soldiers ringed hollow when more than half the population could not vote in the United States. Many women leaders pushed forward and convinced the US Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment, which was soon followed by 36 states, making the Nineteenth Amendment providing women with the right to vote the law of the land.

The women's struggle later inspired the Civil Rights movement of civil disobedience, and led to an increase in female representatives. Throughout the suffragist movement all, women of all socio-economic classes and races fought together and achieved a constitutional victory like no other.

Orbiting Jupiter

Schmidt, Gary D. Orbiting Jupiter. 2015. 183p. ISBN 978-0-544-46222-9. Available at FIC SCH on the library shelves.

Jack and his parents live on a farm in central Maine. For years before Jack was born, his mother and father were foster parents, providing a safe place for children who needed out of their family. When Jack came along, the family stopped fostering other children and focused on Jack. Now twelve, Jack is surprised when his parents reluctantly agree to host Joseph, a fourteen-years-old 8th grader who comes from a residential youth prison where he served some time.

Bullied at school, Joseph often retreats within himself. He is quiet and rarely talks. Reluctant to work on the farm at first, he soon finds that he enjoys milking Rosie. The farm provides structure to Joseph's life, and he begins to open up a little. Jack soon learns that Joseph has a newborn daughter named Jupiter. He's never met her, and is dying to do finally holds her in his arms.

As Jack discovers more facts about Joseph's tragic life, outside forces once again threaten to derail the improvements that Joseph has made over the last few months. Can Jack and his family manage to anchor Joseph and help him find peace and Jupiter?

A tragic story with a bittersweet ending, Orbiting Jupiter provides a unique look about teenage fatherhood and mistreatment. Fans of hard-hitting topics will devour this book.

Adultolescence

Hanna, Gabbie. Adultolescence. 2017. 248p. 80 mins. ISBN 9781501178320. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

In this short book, poet Gabbie Hanna retraces milestones in her life from her childhood to becoming an adult. Sometimes joyful, sometimes filled with sorrows, but always vibrant and entertaining, Hanna's take on the formative events that affected her. She discusses childhood dramas, first loves, betrayal, humiliation, loneliness, alienation and everyday encounters. Through it all she is funny and biting, with a style of humor everyone will get.

The illustrations themselves greatly contribute to her poetry and help convey even more emotions than the words themselves. Fans of poetry will appreciate Hanna's take on life, and will relate to many of the milestones that they also lived through.

20th Century Art, 1920-1940: Realism and Surrealism

Gaff, Jackie. 20th Century Art, 1920-1940: Realism and Surrealism. 2000. 32p. ISBN 978-0-8368-2850-4. Available at 709.04 GAF on the library shelves.

The destruction wrought by the First World War fundamentally altered the perception that humanity was continuously evolving and becoming better. Before the War artists had escaped the bounds of perception and reality, experiencing with vivid colors and strange combinations of forms and functions. But with so much devastation, artists were suddenly forced to deal with the world as it was, and not as they wanted it to be. Whereas no one had really questioned whether artists were needed prior to the War, the chaos and revolutions that ensued placed major demands on artists to create art that was not merely colorful but rather relevant to their society. Some artists took on that role with remarkable eagerness, while others, such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst continued their escape from the real world into Surrealism.

The Bauhaus, a German art school, created art that was both beautiful and functional. This group experimented with form and function, and was eventually banished by the Nazis in the 1930s. Other Germans made art critical of their society and sought to express distress and disgust at unstable economic conditions in Germany following the end of the war. In Britain, Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth reconnected with the past to inspire new works. Meanwhile, in the United States artists attempted to represent their world through realistic but gloomy pictures. The Great Depression struck throughout the world and led to resentment and pain, which the artists seized on to explain what was happening. Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera crafted colossal paintings to educate and inspire viewers. Soviet art also sought to express the ideas that the State was all powerful and deserved allegiance.

As dictators emerged in the 1930s and took control of major countries in Europe, it became clear to most that another war was coming. The German destruction of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War demoralized Republican forces and led Picasso to create one of his most famous painting that illustrated the suffering and death caused by bombs dropped from airplanes.

Black Butler, Vol. 20

Toboso, Yana. Black Butler, Vol. 20. 2015. 178p. ISBN 9780316305013. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

With Ciel Phantomhive completely debilitated following his encounter with the miasma known as the curse of the Wolfman in Black Butler, Vol. 19, Sebastian and the rest of the Phantomhive staff find themselves stuck at the house of the Emerald Witch. Wishing to return Ciel to his usual combative self, Sebastian uses his devil magic to attempt to consume his soul, sealing the bargain Ciel made when he first summoned the devil, as it is clear that the Earl of Phantomhive is no longer capable of assuming his duties. This attack forces Ciel out of his self-inflicted mental prison.

Now that Ciel has returned, Sebastian presents him with an invitation from Queen Victoria to be delivered to the Emerald Witch, inviting her to England, she who has never traveled outside of the village. Meanwhile, the Witch herself is being prompted to solve the perfect spell that will protect the village from the Wolfman forever. But not all is at it seems, and Sebastian's devilish skills have found that a conspiracy is afoot. What will it take for Ciel and Sebastian to convince the Emerald Witch to leave the safety of her people and depart from the village?

The Lovely and the Lost

Barnes, Jennifer Lynn. The Lovely and the Lost. 2019. 328p. 512 mins. ISBN 978-1-982596-26-2. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

As a young girl, Kira was found lost in the forest, where she had been fending for herself for days, if not weeks. Cady Bennett and her team of search-and-rescue dogs located her deep into the woods. Kira was never claimed, so Cady adopted her and raised her as her own daughter, forming a family of three with her own son, Jude. For Kira, it took years of therapy before she could trust other humans again, and even now she doesn't like to be cornered, has trouble interpreting subtle signals people send, and would much rather work with her dog than with others. Nevertheless, she managed to make friends with Free, a neighbor girl, who joined Kira and Jude as a now infamous trio, and all three of them have joined the search-and-rescue business, training dogs that are later purchased by various organizations. Kira's goal is to become a certified search-and-rescue dog trainer.

During a regular training session, Kira's dog finds a strange man on their property. He is Bales Bennett, Cady's father and someone Cady hasn't spoken to in years. Even Jude has never met him. He brings news that a young girl has walked away from her camp site in the Sierra Glades National Park, and has now been missing for two days. As this case is similar to Kira's own life, Cady accepts to participate in the search, and she brings Kira, Jude and Free along to gain valuable field experience. They meet Gabriel, a ward of Bales, with secrets of his own and, like Kira, hard to approach.

Able to draw from her own past, Kira and her dog quickly locate evidence that the child was still alive recently, but there's clear proof that she is with someone who is intimately familiar with the forest. The case transforms from a missing person's to a kidnapping. As the teens spend time in the forest and in the local villages, they realize many visitors have gone missing in the last year. In a race against time to find the missing child, secrets will be revealed, lives will change forever, and Kira will need to decide whether she can put her trust back in humanity.

Author of The Naturals and Every Other Day, Barnes successfully builds a psychological thriller with a unique premise of a human / animal partnership and an emotionally crippled main character. Fans will appreciate Kira's tenacity and dedication to make sure this girl does not become like her.

Secret in the Stone

Benko, Kamilla. Secret in the Stone. Book 2 of The Unicorn Quest series. 2019. 328p. ISBN 978-1-68119-247-5. Available at FIC BEN on the library shelves.

In The Unicorn Quest, Claire and Sophie discovered the magical land of Arden by climbing through a chimney and emerging out of a well. They learned that unicorns, which used to live in Arden, had been hunted almost to extinction by evil Queen Estelle. They found out they were heirs to the last King of Arden, and that their blood could awaken the remaining unicorns. Through trials and tribulations, they freed a unicorn from its stone prison, and it healed Sophie from a rare and deadly disease.

Now trying to find the unicorn, they travel to Stonehaven, hoping to find the secret to releasing a unicorn using a moon tear. There Claire learns she is a Gemmer, but Sophie despairs of ever mastering any magical abilities. Their welcome to Stonehaven is tepid at best, and they soon stumble upon a plot to unleash war on all guilds so Queen Estelle, who has also returned at the same time as the unicorn, can claim the throne.

A devastating betrayal will shake the sisters to their core, and with the attacks from the Wraiths increasing, and armies on the move, Sophie and Claire will find that tracking a unicorn can be deadly business!

If I Run

Blackstock, Terry. If I Run. Book 1 of the If I Run series. 2016. 305p. 402 mins. ISBN 978-0-310-33246-6. Available as an audiobook and as an ebook from Overdrive.

When Casey Cox discovers to her horror that her friend Brent has been stabbed and killed, she runs off with the minimum of things: money, a change of clothes, a cell phone. She didn't kill Brent, but she knows the evidence will point to her. Her fingerprints are all over Brent's apartment. Her shoes stepped in his blood, and this blood is now in her car and on her clothes. The police will not believe her, especially since she knows for a fact corrupt police officers were behind her father's own supposed suicide ten years earlier.

Brent had been investigating her father's death. A former cop, his death by hanging showed signs of struggle, but detectives had ruled it a suicide. Now Casey is on the run, and needs to figure a way to prove both her innocence in Brent's death and her father's own murder while remaining safely hidden from the corrupt police officers chasing her. She needs to stay one step ahead of them and hide where they will not look for her.

Dylan Roberts has returned from Iraq with PTSD, but he wants to continue his work serving the public. A former criminal investigator in the Army, Dylan hopes to join the local police force but must overcome his diagnosis. A friend of Brent, he is hired by his parents to investigate Brent's murder and track down Casey, something the local police, with stretched resources, will not be able to do. If he can bring her back to face justice, he will secure a place on the force.

As he follows Casey from Louisiana to Georgia, Dylan notices that Casey is not doing what a criminal with a guilty conscience would do. She helps people and puts herself in harm's way, instead of going to ground and disappearing. The more Dylan digs, the darker the mystery surrounding Casey and the double murders of her friend Brent and her father, and the more convinced he becomes that the police is involved in both. How can he get Casey to come in knowing she's at risk of dying in an "accident?"

Casey, meanwhile, starts a new life, only to discover that the kidnapped daughter of the new friends she made may be closer than everyone thinks. She may be in her new neighborhood. But investigating may blow her cover identity and alert Dylan and the police tracking her to her whereabouts. Faced with her own safety or the hope of rescuing an innocent victim, Casey makes a decision that will change the rest of her life....

You Are the General

Aaseg, Nathan. You Are the General. 1994. 160p. ISBN 978-1-881508-11-0. Available at 355.03 AAS on the library shelves.

Leaders have to make decisions every day, and often these decisions influence the course of history. In the 20th century, the First and Second World War and the First Gulf War left lasting legacies still affecting us today. This book presents six scenarios from those conflicts, with background information on each and question the decisions made by the leaders at the time. The reader is given the opportunity, with the information on hand, what decision to make, and then read on to see what really happened.

Fans of history will enjoy the ability to play through the scenario and determine if their decisions would have been better than those in charge, or if they would have made the same choices.

Illegal

Colfer,  Eoin and Andrew Donkin. Illustrated by Giovanni Rigano. Illegal. 2017. 128p. ISBN 9781492662143. Available as an ebook from Overdrive.

Ebo lives in Central Africa. When his mother passed, his uncle took charge of the family but does little aside from drinking. Ebo's older sister, Sisi, left months ago for Europe, promising to send money back. She hasn't been heard since. Kwame, Ebo's older brother, decide to strike for Europe as well to find his sister and let her know the family needs help. He leaves Ebo behind, and does not tell him he's leaving.

When Ebo realizes his brother is gone, he decides to do the same. He grabs his meager possessions, and takes the bus north towards the Sahara. A few days behind Kwame, he hopes to find him so they can travel together. Life for a young child is hard, however, but Ebo seizes every opportunity to work and same some money for the trip across the desert. Fortuitously he finds his brother, and when they have enough money they head across the desert where they are robbed and left behind. They manage to survive the crossing, only to find themselves in a civil war in Libya.

They once again work any job available, and attempt to hide from the security forces looking for illegal migrants. With enough money accumulated, they make the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean in search of Sisi and a better life in Europe. Tragedy strikes, however, and the ship sinks, leaving the two brothers, who can't swim, in the middle of an ocean. Ebo is rescued, but Kwame is not. Sisi saw a picture of Ebo being rescued, and finds him in the migrant shelter.

A tale with currency, Ebo's tragic journey represents what millions of people have endured to escape conflict, violence, and poverty. Readers concerned about immigration will appreciate this haunting look at the story of someone who persevered to find his loved ones but paid a high price.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

Sedoti, Chelsea. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. 2017. 387p. 578 mins. ISBN 978-1-49263609-0. Available both as an ebook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

Lizzie Lovett had it all going for her. She was the most popular girl at school. She was polite, pretty, and appreciated by all. Well, not by all. Hawthorn has always been fascinated by Lizzie Lovett, who graduated with her brother three years ago. Hawthorn both loathes Lizzie for her easy way of life, and wishes she could be her. Unlike Lizzie, Hawthorn is gangly, almost friendless, self-centered, without goals or ambition, and suffers from a weird name and weirder parents. So when Lizzie disappears during a camping trip in the woods with her boyfriend Enzo, Hawthorn cannot avoid getting caught in the investigation into her disappearance. Plus, she's one of the first to know Lizzie has gone missing, so for once she can initiate the rumor mill and not be its subject.

Lizzie's vanishing suddenly triggers a wave of speculation in the sleepy town of Griffin Mills. Did her boyfriend kill her and bury her body? Did she walk out of the woods at night and has recreated herself elsewhere? Or did, as Hawthorn suspects, transform herself into a wolf? As Hawthorn digs around, she sinks even more in Lizzie's former life, spending time with Lizzie's boyfriend, though he may be the killer, working at the same restaurant Lizzie worked, and all the while accumulating more information about the girl people eventually forget as time moves on.

But what was once a passing interest becomes an all-consuming passion as Hawthorn pursues the ghost of Lizzie Lovett. Spending so much time looking for minute details in a girl's identity might cost Hawthorn her own...

Women Heroes of World War II : 26 stories of espionage, sabotage, resistance, and rescue.

Atwood, Kathryn J. Women Heroes of World War II : 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue. Part of the Women in Action series. 2011. 266p. ISBN 978-1-61373-171-0. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Often overlooked by Nazi officers, women were effective spies that could go past guards and avoid suspicious looks. Their contributions to the war effort helped defeat the Germans during the Second World War. Arranged by countries of origins, each profile of 26 women describe their lives prior to the war, the actions they took to undermine German domination, and their fate following the choices they made. These women were courageous and stood up for their ideals and their country, standing for what they believed was right.

Well researched, each profile contains excerpts from documents of the time, and references to journals and other reports. Fans of history and of the Second World War will appreciate the varied lives each of these women led and what brought them to resist and revolt against a violent occupation.

This series includes Women Heroes of World War II, and Women Heroes of the American Revolution.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass

Bashardoust, Melissa. Girls Made of Snow and Glass. 2017. 384p. 775 mins. ISBN 978-1-42728998-8. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Mina is beautiful but so very cold and so very lonely. Her father is a powerful but selfish wizard who can pour some of his life energy into inert material to create animated objects. Faced with a wasting disease, her father manipulated sand and created Mina a new crystal heart that kept her alive, but did not beat. Her mother soon died from grief, and her father told her she would never be able to love and be loved. Loathed by people for her father's magical abilities, Mina grew up lonely in the south of the kingdom. When she realized she also possessed the power to shape glass, she wisely kept this secret away from her domineering father. Then he received an amazing opportunity. He was summoned to court to help the king and his queen.

A few years later, Mina comes to live at court in Whitespring Castle, in the north. A curse has blanketed the land with perpetual snow, so that nothing grows in this part of the Kingdom and it is always cold. She catches the king's eye, who is unconsolable with the death of his wife, but who needs a stepmother for his young daughter, Lynet. Lynet is the spitting image of his wife, and her father adores her. Hoping to retain the king's attention, Mina crafts a man out of glass. Designed to love her and teach her about love, the huntsman is also a spy in the king's entourage, meant to keep tabs on him and report back to Mina.

After a short courtship Mina and the king are soon married, but their union is not consumed, and even though she is queen she is barely accepted by the local nobility. But Lynet loves her, and soon they become a very tight family, until Mina realizes that the king plans on replacing her with Lynet. For her part, Lynet loves her stepmother, but is very sheltered and has never wondered why she never gets cold. She also loathes any reference to how she looks like her dead mother and fears that her father expects her to become that woman, losing her own identity in the process. When a new surgeon arrives at Whitespring, the delicate dance between Mina, Lynet, and the king is broken. Not much older than Lynet, the surgeon offers her something no one else has: a window to the outside world.

As Lynet discovers more about her past and her birth, she realizes the depth of deceptions that surround her at Whitespring. When the king sets Lynet and Mina on a frontal collision course, plans are set in motion that will cost someone their life, as only one person can be queen. A retelling of Snow White, this book examines the origins of the stepmother and how she became the villain of the tale. Beware, however, for even villains can be redeemed!

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football team

Sheinkin, Steve. Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football team. 2017. 392 mins. ISBN 1-59643-954-8. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

With the NFL celebrating 100 years, the history of football is not complete without mentioning legendary coach Pop Warner and superstar athlete Jim Thorpe. But the story of football is also the story of American repression of Native Americans through Indian Schools and the stated policy of eradicating the "savage" and replacing his culture with that of white America.

A Native American from Oklahoma, Jim Thorpe was always a gifted athlete, but the loss of his twin brother when they were young caused a pain he never truly recovered from. When he arrived at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1904 after stints at other schools, he saw football and decided he had to play. Pop Warner was an average football player who developed innovative tactics and improved the game. He came to Carlisle to guide their football program, and ended up changing the whole game for the better with innovations such as the forward pass and the fake plays.

Pop Warner at first refused to let Jim play, but after observing his speed, Jim joined the Carlisle team and soon became its superstar. Carlisle played against football powerhouses Harvard, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, and despite racist taunts and overt persecution of Native Americans, the team steadily improved until it defeated the top four teams in one season and earned an 11-1 record. Jim Thorpe himself participated in the 1912 Olympics, where he won the Pentathlon and the Decathlon, the first Native American to win a gold medal for a country where he was not even considered a citizen. He also played professional baseball and basketball, but it is his performances on the football field, where he was twice nominated as an All-American, where he made a lasting legacy.

This book is the story of two men, but it is also the story of a whole system designed to eliminate Native American voices and cultures. Fans of historical stories and of amazing feats of athleticism will be fascinated to watch how Jim Thorpe and his teammates overcame adversity and racism and fought for the right to be themselves.

Archie, Vol. 4

Waid, Mike & Peter Woods. Archie, Vol. 4. 2017. 144p. ISBN 978-1-68255-971-0. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Veronica is back in town following Archie, Vol. 3, and Archie is trying to make up for lost time. However, their relationship has not improved since Mr. Lodge sent Veronica to Switzerland, and they need to work hard to reset. Mr. Lodge is still determined to crush this awkward couple, and he organizes the first ever Riverdale's Teen Achievement Award to present suitable dating material to his daughter.

Jughead has overextended his credit with Pops, and he convinces the restaurant's owner he can be a great server. He undermines the customers' choice, ordering them what they should get, instead of what they want.

Cherry Blossom and her twin brother are now stuck in Riverdale, and wonder why their father pretends to be poor. Under relentless questioning, the man reveals that he's in fact not their real father. The twins' universe is upended, and they begin searching for answers on what is really going on.

Betty continues to observe from the sidelines, pinning for the redhead who's fascinated with Veronica. She and Dilton head to a car show, where they both show their mechanical knowledge. She also continues to work on Archie's 1969 Mustang, a car they first began tinkering with when they were both 8 years old.

Meanwhile, Reggie Mantle ribs Archie one too many times, and now the car that he and Betty have worked on for years is the wager. A drag race will determine who gets to keep the car, but the race will end in tragedy ...