The Jungle

 Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. 335p. 797 mins. ISBN 978-1-8843-6530-0. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Jurgis Rudkus is Lithuanian. Born in poverty in his country, he meets a beautiful girl named Ona Lukoszaite. Looking to escape their condition and seeking opportunity in the land of plenty, they along with others from their village pool the little money they have and immigrate to the United States. Traveling to Chicago, they quickly find work in the meatpacking industry. 

Packing Town, as the area they settle in is known, is very poor. It is drab, lonely, polluted, and one of the harsher environment they have ever been in. Jurgis is strong and dedicated, so they are convinced they will escape the fate that afflict many around them. They purchase a house, to avoid paying rent. They are confused when the people around them bitterly complain about the bosses who drive them ever further towards exhaustion. Don't they just need to work harder?

Jurgis and the rest of his group do not realize that the deck has been stacked against them. Their house is poorly isolated. The two-mile walk to work in the winter is hell. The factories are either too cold, too hot, or too wet. It is dangerous work where people get hurt or killed all the time. Women are exploited and abused. Jurgis and Ona disenchant very quickly about their new lives, but they have no more money and must continue to work.

Layoffs and accidents take a toll on the family friends. When Jurgis discovers that Ona has been forced to have an extramarital affair with her boss, he goes into a rage and attacks the man. This lands him in jail, and with the absence of their breadwinner, the family loses their house and their investment. Jurgis spirals towards the depth of despair. Ona dies in the childbirth of their 2nd son. Their first son dies in an accident. The group breaks up and goes their own way. 

Jurgis travels away in the summer, but returns to Chicago for the winter. He joins a political machine, and for a while his star rises. But an encounter with the same man who abused his wife Ona once again lands him in jail, and this time it is even harder to rebound. In the depth of despair, Jurgis discovers socialism, and after living through workers' hell for two years, he now understands what is attractive about socialism.

First published in 1905 as a serial then in a heavily censored book, The Jungle nevertheless forced changes at the federal level. Laws were passed to control the quality of food, work conditions, and the more blatant abuses that happened in the slaughter houses. An indictment of crude capitalism, The Jungle remains relevant today for the lessons that it provide about workers' right and economic abuse by the rich.

Like No Other

 LaMarche, Una. Like No Other.  2014. 368p. ISBN 9781595146748. Available at FIC LAM on the library shelves.

New York City has always been divided by invisible lines. Race, religion, wealth, sexual orientation, all of these elements allow people to find others with similar interests, but also serve to build barriers and keep those who are different apart. 

In Brooklyn, one such neighborhood is clearly divided by race and religion. On one side of the neighborhood are the Hasidic Jews with large families and orthodox views. On the other side, African Americans and immigrants trying to capture the American dream. The two groups rarely mix.

Devorah is a good Hasidic girl. When her sister Rachel delivers her baby at 18, Devorah is there to support her at the hospital, since her parents are away on business. A storm causes the power to go out, and Devorah finds herself stuck in the elevator for an African American male teenager. Jaxon came to hospital with his best friend, who broke his arm performing a skateboarding stunt designed to impress a girl. 

At first the two of them are quiet, but Jaxon quickly breaks the glass. Devorah panics. It is not okay for a good girl to talk to a boy without a chaperone present. As they find common interests and similarities in their lives, however, they begin to fall in love with each other, something both of them are aware could be very dangerous if their respective communities found out.

Following their chance encounter, Jaxon and Devorah find ways to meet again and even exchange kisses. Devorah's strict upbringing and stricter father, however, does not approve. Worse, Rachel's husband, a nosey busybody, tries to get Devorah in trouble, claiming he is worried for her soul. Jaxon, for his part, lies to his parents and sneaks around their back, saying he is with his best friend while he is in fact with Devorah.

Planning a weekend getaway, the two of them are caught, and Devorah is exiled upstate to a Hasidic reform center where it is expected she will rejoin the fold. Devorah is not interested, however, and wishes to escape the strict constricts of her religious faith. Jaxon, meanwhile is desperate. How can he find her? With the two separated by more than distance, can they manage to bind their love together?

Look to the Mountain

 Cannon, LeGrand. Look to the Mountain. 2016. 496p. ISBN 978-1-58157-365-7. Available at FIC CAN on the library shelves.

Whit and Melissa live in Kettleford, New Hampshire, in the late 1760s. Although settled for many years, Kettleford retains the feel of a frontier town. Whit is the son of a local farmer who prefers the rum bottle to hard work. Melissa is the daughter of the local inn keeper, and one of the few eligible women in the village. Whit has had his eye on Melissa for a long time, but so has Joe the Portugese, a sailor from Europe who bought the smithy when its former proprietor retired.

A contest to see who could hay the most grass for the honor of courting Melissa is organized, and despite Joe's underhanded tactics and physical attack on Whit, the young man manages to hay the most. Desiring a better life for himself and for Melissa, Whit takes off not long after to explore settling possibilities in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He soon locates a good spot in the new township of Tamworth, builds a lean-to, and after having made friends with residents of Sandwich, the township next to Tamworth, he returns to Kettleford.

Meanwhile, Melissa, who had been left behind, feels Whit's absence more with every passing day. Joe still lurks in the background, and her father decides to marry her to Joe while Whit is gone. Whit returns just in time, and the happy couple is united in marital bliss and leaves the next day to make the trek to their new land.

Populated with remarkable characters, Look to the Mountain nevertheless manages to throw most of its focus on Whit and Melissa's struggle to survive at the base of Mount Chocorua as they pioneer the opening of the Tamworth township. Encompassing part of the early history of New Hampshire and of the nascent United States, the book is short on dialog (as if people were of few words back in those days) but rather filled with description of the environment in which Whit and Melissa live. Slowly over the course of years they manage to tame and conquer their small corner of the world, building a life for them, their children, and their friends.

Fans of historical fiction will appreciate the details that craft an amazing tale first told in 1942 and republished many times since.

Royals

Hawkins, Rachel. Royals. 2018. 296p. 482 mins. ISBN 978-0-525-63200-9. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Daisy has looked forward to her summer trip with her best friend all year. Unfortunately her family has to uproot when her perfect sister announces her engagement to the Crown Prince of Scotland. For someone like Daisy, being in the spotlight of the tabloids, newspapers and social media is almost as bad has having to abandon her Florida home to find herself in a dreary world of rich and idle teens.

Daisy is then matched with Miles, the Crown Prince's younger brother, in the hopes that he can quickly teach her how the court works. Miles, however, finds himself in trouble more often than not, and he regals the tabloids with his antics. Along for the ride, Daisy finds herself becoming the source of scandals, which distracts from her sister's upcoming wedding. Can Daisy regain control over her precarious situation at court and become the lady everyone expects her to be, or will she be able to tear out the royal rulebook and remain her quirky self?

A delightful romance set in a fictionally independent Scotland, Daisy and Miles dance around each other throughout the book, not exactly sure where each other stands. Their fears and hopes are realistic and easily relatable, even if the setting is not. Fans of rom-com will enjoy this easy read.

  

A Visual History of Soldiers and Armies around the World

de la Fuente, Alberto Moreno. A Visual History of Soldiers and Armies around the World. Part of the Visual History of the World series. 2017. 96p. ISBN 978-1-4994-6592-1. Available at 356.15 MOR on the library shelves.

In the history of humanity, there have always been soldiers and armies. From clubs and stone weapons to advanced night vision goggles and drones, the field of military science has constantly evolved throughout the conflicts of the last four thousand years. 

This visual history illustrates soldiers from prehistory onward. Weapons, gear, great generals, and tactics are presented. Many conflicts are highlighted, but the focus is on the soldier that fought in those wars.

Fans of military history will appreciate this book, if they can stick with the often poorly translated texts. The illustrations themselves make this volume of the Visual History series worthwhile. 

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

My Hero Academia, Vol. 1

Horikoshi, Kohei. My Hero Academia, Vol. 1. 2015. 192p. ISBN 9781421582696. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

The world has changed. A few decades ago, one individual suddenly manifested a superpower. Then more and more people acquired them. Now, roughly 80% of folks have a superpower. First appearing around age 4, individuals learn to control and exploit their superpowers. Some become famous heroes, fighting those who use their superpowers for evil. Some became wealthy and known throughout the world. To service these heroes, infrastructure grew. Now would be heroes strive to enter Hero Academy, the best superhero high school. 

Izuku Midoriya's dream has always been to attend Hero Academy. He follows all of the superheroes religiously, knows their quirks and their strengths. Unfortunately, unlike his childhood friend, Izuku never developed a quirk, and remains one of the 20% of the people who have no superpowers. That makes it very hard to attend superhero school. And with middle school almost over, it looks like Izuku's dream will end before it even begins.

When a villain threatens the bully that once was his childhood friend, however, Izuku does not hesitate and he charges it, even when those with superpowers were too afraid to do so. Saved by All Might, the greatest superhero, Izuku soon learns that All Might is in fact looking for a worthy successor and has found one in Izuku. Over the course of the summer, Izuku will train hard and bulk up so he can inherit the mightiest power of them all ...

The story continues in My Hero Academia, Vol. 2.

Kindred

 Butler, Octavia. Kindred. 2004 (first published 1979). 287p. ISBN 9780807083697. Available at FIC BUT on the library shelves.

It is June 1976, and the United States is about to turn 200 years old. Dana, an African-American writer, has just moved in a new house in Los Angeles with her husband, Kevin, who is also a writer. Kevin is White, but in Southern California a mixed couple does not even raise an eyebrow. While moving books on a bookshelf, Dana suddenly feels very dizzy, and she passes out. She comes to on the side of a river, where a red-headed boy is struggling in the water, his mother yelling on the shore. 

Without thinking, Dana jumps in the river and saves the young boy. Instead of being grateful, the young boy's mother is very upset at Dana, and she tells her to get away from Rufus, her son. Her husband soon arrives with a shotgun, and threatens Dana. She faints again, and wakes up with Kevin holding her. Even though she was gone for about an hour, it has only been a few seconds since she collapsed. If she wasn't wet, Dana would have assumed she had dreamed this whole sequence.

Dana takes a shower and changes clothes, only to become dizzy again and passes out. She finds herself in a house, where the same boy as before, but now a few years older, has lit a curtain on fire. She manages to put the fire out. In a conversation with Rufus, she realizes she has traveled back to 1815 in rural Maryland, and finds herself in the room of the plantation owner's son. Being African-American, she is presumed to be a runaway slave, so Rufus directs her to the house of a free woman, where she meets Alice Greenwood. Remembering an inscription in her family bible, which has been handed down over many generations, Dana suddenly realizes that both Alice and Rufus are her ancestors. Threatened with rape, Dana faints and wakes up back in Los Angeles, where only a few minutes have gone by.

Over the next two weeks, Dana travels back to Rufus and the plantation several times. Every time the boy's life is threatened, Dana finds herself pulled in, and every time her own life is threatened, she finds herself pulled out. She learns to live on the plantation and the desperation and dangers that slaves faced. Can Dana survive this ordeal long enough to navigate the webs of violence and ensure that her family survives?

A great science-fiction story that incorporates a history many readers are not familiar with, Kindred provides the perspective of someone who comes from the future and who is being forced into the role of a slave. Fans of historical novels will not be distracted by the time-traveling aspect and will appreciate Dana's struggle to reconcile modern ideas of race relations with her ancestors' bigotry and cleaved social norms.

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

Slater, Dashka. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives . 2017. 320p. ISBN 9780374303235. Available at 364.15 on the library shelves.

Oakland, California, is filled with all sort of people. Sasha is white, and recently came out as transgender to his family, his friends, and his small private school. She likes to wear skirts, and is involved in many activities. Richard is African-American, and lives in one of the rougher neighborhoods. His surroundings are rife with criminal activities, and he himself has been in trouble with the law before, spending almost a full year in juvenile detention.

The two of them might have never met. But one day, both of them found themselves on the 57, a bus that travels almost the whole length of Oakland. Sasha takes this bus as part of a two bus-ride daily trip to school. Richard is riding it with friends. Sasha is already asleep on the long bus ride in the late afternoon on November 4, 2013, when Richard notices what looks like a guy wearing a skirt. Goaded by his friends, Richard lights Sasha's skirt on fire, thinking Sasha will wake up and put it out. Instead, the skirt ignites, and Sasha's legs are engulfed in flames.

Richard leaves the bus but is quickly arrested, and during his interrogation without a parent or a lawyer present he mentions he is homophobic. While Sasha recuperates in the hospital and undergoes several painful skin grafts, Richard is charged with two hate crimes and is tried as an adult.

A true story, this intersection of two lives that became tied through reckless behavior demonstrates the impact that one person can have in another person's life.

The History of the Air Forces around the World

Saxena, Shalini, ed. The History of the Air Forces around the World. Part of The World's Armed Forces series. 2014. 139p. ISBN 978-1-62275-145-7. Available at 358.4 HIS on the library shelves.

Ever since the Wright brothers successfully flew their contraption in the air for the first time in 1903, airplanes have been part of armed forces throughout the world. But airplanes were not the first airships to be used by the military. Balloons were used at the end of the 1700s during the French Revolution and in Napoleon's campaigns to perform reconnaissance missions, a role reprised during the civil war. Large lighter than air airships build by Count Zeppelin provided civilian transport, and these were then used during World War I to drop bombs on England.

The airplane changed all of that. Mobile and agile, airplanes became offensive weapons in their own right, capable of delivering heavy weapons on foreign targets. European countries assembled large air forces. The interwar saw improvements on engine and guns, and the deployment of aircraft carriers. During World War II large bombers dropped massive payloads on targets, and two atomic bombs on Japan. Jet engines replaced propellers, and planes continued to grow in sophistication, at the same time as remote controlled drones changed how air forces operate and the kind of intelligence that can be gathered.

Most military organizations now possess some aircraft, and air forces continue to be a vital component of a strong military capability. Fans of military history will appreciate the information provided in this book and will enjoy seeing air power develop over the centuries.

Fresh Ink: An Anthology

Giles, Lamar. Fresh Ink: An Anthology. 2018. 198p. ISBN 9781524766283. Available at FIC GIL on the library shelves.

The number of books written by authors who do not hail from a White Anglo-Saxon American heritage has increased over the last twenty years, but it remains low enough that many teens of diverse backgrounds still cannot find stories that showcase people like them as other than stereotypical sidekicks. Fresh Ink stands as a concerted effort to increase the number of stories available, not only for these readers but for everyone.  Twelve stories of all types are told, with the common theme of having the main character as someone not often portrayed in young adult literature.

In Eraser Tattoo, Shay and Dante have loved each other since they were five and in the same class together. Shay is now moving away from Brooklyn to North Carolina, and Dante's world is collapsing. In Meet Cute, Two girls meet at the Denver Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. Nic is cosplaying a gender-flipped Sulu from Star Trek, while Tamia is dressed as an African-American version of Agent Scully. Both are attracted to each other, but neither wants to volunteer that they are queer. Don't Pass Me By features a Native-American boy who attends school off the reservation, and has trouble recognizing himself in the White culture that surrounds him. In Be Cool for Once, the main character is Muslim, and she confesses her love to a boy at a concert.

Tags is a one-act play that discuss how four boys died. In Why I Learned to Cook, a Persian-American girl is wondering about how to introduce her girlfriend to her grandmother. A Stranger at the Bochinche tells a science fiction story about a stolen book and the people who want to retrieve it. A young artist in A Boy's Duty has left the farm life and hopes to join the Navy and fight Nazis, and finds refuge in a big city cafe. Racial slurs undermine the college experience of an Asian-American girl in One Voice. Paladin/Samurai is an illustrated short story about boys involved in a roleplaying game and the girl next door. Tommy just came out as a boy to his swim team, and find himself in the boy's locker room for the first time in Catch, Pull, Drive. Finally, in Super Human, X, a superhero, has decided to destroy the world unless someone can talk him out of it.

Each of these stories feature a message that is most often well executed about race and belonging. Fans of paths less traveled will appreciate the range of emotions and stories featured and will connect all of them to the humanity that we all share.

The Truth about PCP

Poolos, Christine. The Truth about PCP. Part of the Drugs & Consequences series. Available at 362.29 POO on the library shelves.

First developed in the first decades of the 20th century as an intravenous anesthetic designed to numb patients during surgeries, phencyclidine had such bad side effects that it was soon discontinued. Patients had reported severe hallucinatory and disorientating symptoms. Phencyclidine was then used on animals, with similar results. The drug was quickly finding itself out of markets when the youth counterculture adopted it in the 1960s. Easier and cheaper to manufacture than LSD, phencyclidine experienced a resurgence in tablet form known as the PeaCe Pill, soon abbreviated to PCP.

Never as popular as some of the other illegal drugs, PCP nevertheless still found a niche among people wanting to score a cheap high in the 1970s. Replaced by crack cocaine in the 1980s, PCP abuse diminished greatly until it went through a resurgence in the 2000s, when street gangs and organized crime began to manufacture and distribute it throughout the United States.

The same symptoms that banned PCP from the anesthetic market in the 1950s and 1960s continue to affect users, who can experience hallucinatory episodes, with possible seizures, organ failures, coma, severe psychotic breaks, and even extreme violence and death. Some PCP users do not feel pain and lose access to some of their more advanced processing skills, and therefore can perceived themselves as being superhuman. Dangers remain, however, and one can easily lose everything through a bad trip.

Perfect for a research project or to learn more about this drug, The Truth about PCP not only presents the history of the drug, but also discusses its social and health effects, as well as what treatment can be done to recover from PCP.