Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything

Raisman, Aly. Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything. 2017. 359p. ISBN 9780316472708. 

Even as a toddler, Aly Raisman knew she wanted to be a gymnast. Obsessed with a 1996 recording of the Atlanta games, Aly pestered her parents and eventually joined the local gymnastics club. She thrived in that environment, and learned important life lessons concerning hard work and dedication. With her eyes on joining the elite Olmypic team, she transferred to another gym where the trainer had worked with Olympians. Her efforts paid off when she successfully joined the elite ranks and was invited to Olympic training camp in Texas.

Over the next few years Aly renewed her efforts and worked on her techniques. In 2012, she made the Olympic team and reached her goal of participating under the American flag. In London, Aly and the girls' team won several medals, but she finished fourth on the All-Around competition, a position she was too accustomed to. Over the next year, Aly retired and traveled the United States, promoting gymnastics and competing on Dancing with the Stars. The gymnastic bug never left her, however, and she returned to practice, hoping to make the 2016 team. The odds were against her, as the last time a gymnast had made the team two Olympics in a row was back in the 1980s.

Once again Aly defied the odds, and joined Simone Biles and the other girls for another shot at medals. Aly even earned a medal in the All-Around competition, finally defeating her trend of 4th places. Despite all of the hard work and heartaches that it takes to become a champion, Aly describes her life with humor and understanding, and shows the reader that they can accomplish their own goal if they go all out and apply all of their effort!

Locke & Key, vol 2: Headgames

Hill, Joe and Gabriel Rodriguez. Locke & Key, vol 2: Headgames. 2010. 978-1600107610.

Zack Wells has infiltrated the life of the Locke children in Locke & Key, vol. 1, and despite Bode's insistence that he easily would identify the girl in the well, Zack continues his search for the missing keys. Recognized by a teacher he once had twenty years ago, Zack engineers his death, but instead of being a suicide like he planned, Zack is forced to kill the man, creating emotional upheavals in the Locke household even though they barely knew that teacher. 

Bode finds a key that allows him to open his head and add or remove memories at will. Tyler and Kinsey are both repulsed and intrigued by this newfound ability to take away unwanted memories and add whole books worth of information. Using the head key, Kinsey removes her lack of self-confidence and her fear from her head, and imprisons them in a bottle.  Ty uses it to cram for an exam he didn't study.

Their uncle Duncan, meanwhile, also remembers Zack from a previous encounter. Hanging out with his lover at a bar, both men are assaulted by two enraged women who bemoan the loss of the town to gays. They return home, where they are followed by the women who are bent on inflicting harm, but Zack beats them to it by forcing Duncan's boyfriend out, where he is accidentally hit by the women's car. Zack then removes Duncan's memory of him, and returns home to Ellie and her son, who remains impervious to Zack's charm and powers. 

The Brontë Plot

 Reay, Katherine. The Brontë Plot. 2015. 334p. ISBN 9781401689759. Available at FIC REA on the library bookshelves.

Lucy works in an antique shop, where she is in charge of the rare book collection. Over the years, she has developed a talent for acquiring rare books that have handwritten notes in them, sometimes from the author themself, sometimes from strangers who left their impressions of what they read or dedications to loved ones decades earlier. When James walks in the store looking for a specific book, Lucy is thrilled to have that book in the collection, and enthusiastically lends it to James for an art project. Smitten, the two of them soon become an item, and James buys several rare books from Lucy. Then he discovers that the handwriting in all of them is very similar to that of Lucy.

With her forgery exposed, Lucy suddenly loses James and her position at the store is at risk, since the owner prides himself on providing only the best authentic antiques, and forged rare books could sink his business. Helen, James' rich grandmother intervenes by offering Lucy a job as her personal consultant on a trip to England to help her on an antiques acquisitions tour of the old country. But Helen also has a secret of her own, and she needs Lucy's help to complete unfinished business ...

The Bolshevik Revolution

O'Neill, Joseph R. The Bolshevik Revolution. 2009. 112p. ISBN 9781604535112. Available at 947.084 ONE on the library shelves.

The late 1800s and early 1900s was a time of social upheaval. Nationalism was emerging, empires were tittering on the verge of collapse, and social inequities between the vast lower classes and those who controlled wealth and the means of production were deeper than before. Russia, which was a military powerful but economically mismanaged and therefore weak country, was governed by an absolute monarch, the Tsar, who could do what he pleased. Social advancement was next to impossible, and corruption was endemic. 

Revolutionaries guided by Vladimir Lenin took inspiration from Karl Marx's the Communist Manifesto and sought to violently overthrow the monarchy and establish in its place a dictatorship of the workers. Russia's economic backwardness meant that the country was still overwhelmingly agrarian, and that workers were a relatively small number of individuals within the economic system. Several protests and strikes took place in the first decade of the 1900s and were violently repressed.

The First World War dislocated Russian economic activities, and incompetence at the front led to a military collapse. Seeing their chances, in October 1917 Lenin and others led workers in rebellion, and they managed to overthrow the government and seizing control of the state apparatus. Out of the ashes of the conflict emerged the USSR, which would come to dominate the communist world for seventy years, until its collapse in 1991.

Ruthless Gods

 Duncan, Emily A. Ruthless Gods. Book 2 of the Something Dark and Holy series. 544p. ISBN 9781250195692. Available as an audiobook from the library.

Following Malachiasz's transformation into an almost god in Wicked Saints, the Black Vulture escaped the Tranavia capital and withdrew with his forces to the salt mines, leaving Nadya confused and upset at the depth of his betrayal. Serafin, for his part, ascended the Tranavian throne following his rebirth, but the cost of his death means that he is now plagued by visions of a being older than the gods. His nobles are plotting his demise, and they have sufficient evidence that Nadya's papers are forged, and that she is instead Kalyazin's lone cleric. 

With her life in danger, Nadya flees the capital and first heads to the salt mine, hoping to rescue a noble girl that was given to the vultures. There she discovers that Kostya, a childhood friend from the monastery, has been imprisoned in the dark. Torn and given the choice by Malachiasz to only pick one, she chooses to free Kostya at the expense of her mission to free the noble girl. Her feelings for the Black Vulture are such that when Malachiasz agrees to join her for what she thinks will be his ultimate sacrifice at the sacred Kalyazin mountain, she is secretly thrilled she will be spending more time with him.

Returning to her friends, they head out west towards Kalyazin, but are soon separated. Sefarim is captured by Kalyazin troops led by the heiress to the throne, and manages to convince her they need to head to the sacred mountain. Nadya and her friends, for their part, continue to travel through dangerous country to end the rift that opened the gate for the banished gods and for even older beings, who have taken a sudden interest in the world. As they head into danger, is Nadya ready to sacrifice the creature that was once Malachiasz, and for whom she still has feelings, or is she still but a pawn in his long game to secure himself the title of god? Can Serafim, for his part, break free from the bonds that bind him to an elder being?

Wicked Saints

Duncan, Emily A. Wicked Saints: Let Them Fear Her. Book 1 of the Something Dark and Holy series. 385p. ISBN 9781250195661. Available as an audiobook from the library.

The nations of Kalyazin and Tranavia were once ruled by holy men who could commune with the gods and call upon them to draw magical powers. Tranavia overthrew its clerics in a bloody revolution and began using blood magic to the same effective effect as divine magic. For more than a hundred years, both countries have been in a state of war, with residents of Kalyazin viewing those of Tranavia as little more than godless heretics dabbling in the dark art of blood magic. For their part, Tranavians view Kalyazinians as intolerant bigots to claim to talk with gods.

Thirty years ago, the last of Kalyazin cleric was killed in battle and became a saint. Since then the country has not had a champion who could communicate directly with the gods. Then Nadya came along. Unlike most clerics, who are favored by one deity, Nadya has the ear of the entire Kalyazin pantheon. Her life is worth so much due to the powers she can harness that she was hidden away in a monastery, to hone her skills. When the monastery, which sits atop a mountain 7,000 steps high, falls to an assault team led by Serafin, the High Prince of Tranavia himself, Nadya is barely able to escape with her life through tunnels.

At war for more than 3 years, Serafin is weary of it all and the only thing that consoles him is the bottle. He longs for a day when this war is finally done and he is able to return home. Rumors have reached him that his father the King is displeased with him, and Serafin thought that capturing the cleric Kalyazin had done so much to hide away would finally gain him acceptance.  But she somehow escaped his clutches.

In the forest below the mountain, Nadya encounters Malachiasz, who was once a Vulture, a Tranavian so corrupted by blood magic that he has transcended part of his humanity and has turned into a monster. Wanted by Tranavia, Malachiasz has united a small band of defectors who plan to assassinate the King of Tranavia and impose a peace between the two warring parties. She hesitantly enters into an alliance of sorts with the dark boy, since their end goals are currently the same. They make their way to the Tranavian capital, where the King has called for a ceremony to find his son a wife. Recalled from the front, Serafin also returns, now more than ever convinced that someone is trying to assassinate him, and that person very well may be his own father!

As the three of them navigate the treacherous waters of power, can they trust in one another to see their plan come to fruition?

Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration

Brock, Rose. Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration. 2018. 304p. ISBN 9781524741679.

When the world is dark, and it feels like there is not much to live for, it is always helpful to remember that hope exists. In Hope Nation, authors of young adult literature write stories of teens for teens that center around hope. Life can be hard. It can be deadly. But through it all, the authors write letters, poems, essays, and stories that discuss the despair felt by teens, but the hope and the knowledge that things will get better, for after the storm the sun always shines. 

The mix and variety of authors ensures that there will be a story in here for every reader!

The Hunting Accident: A True Story of Crime and Poetry

 Carlson, David & Landis Blair. The Hunting Accident: A True Story of Crime and Poetry. ISBN 978-1-62672-676-5.

Following his mother's death in 1959, young Charlie Rizzo must move from California back to Chicago to live with his father, Matt Rizzo. An aspiring poet, Matt Rizzo is blind, and Charlie soon finds himself helping him complete tasks around the house, including reading the stories and poems his father writes on a Braille machine before being transcribed. 

When asked, Matt reveals that he was hunting with friends when he was a kid, and in an accident was shot in the face with pellets, causing him to lose his eyesight. Charlie grows up, and joins the wrong crew of wannabe wise guys. Charlie gets caught driving the getaway car for his gang, and he is arrested. His father bails him out, and begins telling him the story of his life. The hunting accident was a lie, he was actually shot during a robbery with his own crew of mobsters, and ended up spending time in jail. As a blind man, he was placed with Nathan Leopold Jr., who had committed the thrill killing of a teenager with his best friend. Matt now tells his son the story, hoping to save him from the life he led when he was his age.

A true story of a Chicago mobster, this graphic novel is beautifully and hauntingly illustrated as Matt and Charlie explore literature, crime, and family dynamics. Filled with poetry and references to Dante's Inferno, The Hunting Accident builds a timeless tale of fall and redemption.

They Went Left

 Hesse, Monica. They Went Left. 2020. 364p. ISBN 9780316490573.

The Second World War has concluded, and Germany was defeated. During the drive of armies to Berlin, soldiers encountered concentration camps, and freed the prisoners. These were often too sick or ill to be able to leave, so troops remained behind to guard them as they healed. Zofia Lederman and her family lived in a Polish town until it was conquered by the Germans in 1939. As Jews, their lives immediately changed for the worse. In 1942, they were required to come to the sports stadium for new identity papers. Instead, Zofia and her entire family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the worst of the concentration camps. Her father, mother, and aunt were sent to the left side when they arrived, while Zofia and her 9 year old brother, Abek, who was tall for his age, were sent to the right. Only later did she learn that the left side was directly to the gas chamber.

Zofia was soon separated from her brother, and was transferred to a different concentration camp as the Russians got closer. Now 18 in the summer of 1945, Zofia's body has healed enough, and she leaves the camp hospital where she was staying to accomplish the impossible task of finding Abek. Zofia is convinced he survived the war, but with millions of refugees spread over the continent, the task proves daunting. Nothing will deter Zofia, however, as she made a promise to her mother to always take care of her younger brother. Traveling first back to her home, then inside Germany proper, Zofia searches for clues as to what happened to her brother in the last chaotic years of the war. Despite the heartbreaks that come from looking, Zofia retains the hope that she will find him. But in a world where there was so much tragedy, can her story ends like the fairy tales she used to love?

Providing the often forgotten perspective of those who survived concentration camps and had to rebuild their lives, They Went Left explore issues of survival, mental illness, healing, and forgiveness. Zofia went through a traumatic experience that nothing will ever heal, yet she must begin rebuilding a world for herself amid the ruins of her previous life. The extreme violence she experienced make her an unreliable witness to her own story, yet her hope remains present. Readers who appreciate Holocaust survival stories will easily find Zofia relatable and will support her quest for reunification with the only family member she has left.

Rook

Cameron, Sharon. Rook. 2015. 464p. ISBN 9780545675994.

When solar flares destroyed the technology that humans relied on for life, work, and entertainment, the world was once again plunged in the Dark Ages. Over eight hundred years have passed since plastics and electronics were in common usage. Humans adapted to this pre-modern lifestyle. In the Sunken City once called Paris, a new government opposed to technology such as the printing press has taken over. The minister of security, Leblanc, is a devotee of Faith, and leaves many of his most important decisions to randomness. The government has arrested and imprisoned hundreds of people in the infamous Sunken City prison.

Sophia Bellamy is ready to go through an arranged marriage to save the fortunes of her family. Her father dilapidated their earnings, and her brother just suffered an accident that threatens his livelihood. It is up to Sophia to get a dowry that will cover the family's expenses and allow them to retain control of their estate. Her marriage to René Hasard, from the Sunken City, will provide enough funds, but he is conceited and, aside from being beautiful, doesn't really bring much to the table intellectually. Sophia also has a secret she needs to hide. She's the infamous Red Rook, the person who has infiltrated the prison of the Sunken City and rescued countless individuals who were condemned to death by the guillotine, leaving behind nothing but a red feather. And René is cousin to Leblanc. Could he be an agent sent to rout her out?

Engaged in a dangerous game of cat and mouse, Sophia must plan to rescue her brother from Leblanc's clutches while discovering what René's endgame is without falling completely in love with him. She's about to be real busy!

Inspired by the Scarlet Pimpernel and the French Revolution, Rook explores issues of social violence and moral dilemmas. Both characters have secrets they are trying to hide, and though it is rather long, the story is a good allegory of the times that followed the collapse of the French monarchy in the 1780s. 

The Body Snatcher and Other Stories

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Body Snatcher and Other Stories. 2009. 146 mins. ISBN 9789626349823.

Written in 1884, The Body Snatcher and other stories continue to elicit horror and goose bumps more than a hundred years later. When two former medical students coincidentally meet in a small inn late one evening, the horrors of their experience as dealers of cadavers is revealed and relived. Back when anatomists were clamoring for bodies to dissect and learn from, unscrupulous individuals would dig up freshly buried bodies and, when none were to be had, cause a few deaths to keep delivering to medical schools. Unscrupulous men would look the other way and purchase victims of foul play, all in an effort to make the next great discovery. For these two doctors, a victim they were responsible for murdering and disposing of through dissection returns to haunt their conscience, creating tension and culminating in a chilling denouement. 

Several other tales are included, but the other most interesting one is that of The Bottle Imp. In this story, owning a bottle grants any wishes you may have, but at a cost. If you die while in possession of the bottle, your soul will burn in hell. And you can only get rid of the bottle by selling it at a loss, meaning for cheaper than you bought it. Thus, eventually it will be impossible to sell, since it will have no value. When Keawe buys the bottle from a wealthy elderly man, he is forewarned of the dangers, but he purchases it nonetheless. The sudden death of his uncle following his wish for a large home in his native Hawaii leaves him with enough money to purchase and build a wonderful estate, and he then quickly sells the bottle for less than he purchased it so as not to lose his soul. But when he falls in love and discovers at the same time that he has leprosy, he desperately seeks the bottle again. The problem? He can only buy it for 1 cent, and he will be the last owner of the bottle.

Each short story features an atmosphere of dread and fear, and the audiobook narrator does a wonderful join dripping chills down the listener's spine. Fans of short content will appreciate these classic tales!

This is What I Know About Art

Drew, Kimberly. This is What I Know About Art. 2020. 64p. ISBN 9780593095188.

Though the world of art is composed of a multitude of artists from all walks of life, museums for the most part focus on works created by White artists. Growing up, Kimberly Drew visited many museums with her father, but rarely came across creative works from African-American artists. Through her first years of college she struggled with finding a major that appealed to her. It wasn't until she worked as a paid intern in a museum that she discovered her true passion.

As she gained experience and was entrusted with more responsibilities, Kimberly worked hard to ensure that museums were more reflective of the people around them, more open to all of the people of the community they serve, and more welcoming of everyone. She started a movement to encourage the presence of more artists and through her blog, which she started while in college, she showcases African-American artists and the important art they are creating. 

A cry to action,  This is What I Know About Art summarizes what is wrong with todays art world and what can be done to fix it.

The Arab of the Future, Vol 1

Sattouf, Riad. The Arab of the Future, Vol 1: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984. 2015. 154p. ISBN 978-1-62779-344-5.

As a blue-eyed blond child, Riad is very comfortable in his life in France. His mother is French, and his father is Syrian, but has been studying in France for a while now and hasn't been back home to visit in a decade. His father loves France for its freedoms, but longs for a strong and united pan-Arab society he could lead. After one more encounter with racism in France, Riad's father exiles himself and his family to Libya, where he got a job at the university, so he can raise Riad in an Arab society. 

Things in Libya are strange. There are no locks on doors, and anyone can claim an empty house, something Riad's family experiences on their first night when they return from a walk only to discover someone now lives in their home. Riad meets new friends and begins to learn the customs of the country. Food is rationed, and people are not free to express themselves. Riad is visited by his grandmother and his uncle from Syria, who are mesmerized by his long blond hair. His maternal grandmother also visits, and soon the family returns to France, with a new baby on the way.

Back in France, a younger brother is born, and the family packs up again and this time moves to Syria. The contrast between the two societies is shocking to Riad, but like every child he is resilient and learns to adapt to a new society. His mother, however, is not thrilled to be here. Over the next two years they save a lot of money, but Riad has to navigate complicated family relationships with undertone of political strife and racism as he is called a Jew. When the family once again returns to France, Riad is excited. However, this is just a summer break, and they're heading once again back to Syria.

An autobiographical graphic novel, The Arab of the Future portrays a dysfunctional society and a father always seeking a better future just around the corner. Fans of Persepolis will enjoy the similarities between Riad's early life and that of Marjane.

The story continues in The Arab of the Future 2.

Salty, Bitter, Sweet

Cuevas, Mayra. Salty, Bitter, Sweet. 2020. 320p. ISBN 9780310769774.

Born of a Cuban-American father and a French mother, Isabella Fields has focused her entire life on cooking. An amazing cook and baker in her own right, Isabelle has won the right to participate in a summer competition designed to select next year's apprentice to world-renowned Chef Pascal Grattard. At seventeen, Isabella is traveling to France to spend the summer with her father, who divorced her mother last year following a torrid love affair with another French woman, and who is now expecting a baby. On top of grieving for the loss of her family, she's also mourning the death of her beloved grandmother, her father's mother. An exile from Cuba, her abuela taught her everything she knows about cooking and instilled in her a passion for the delicious.

In France, she's one of 13 competitors. She makes fast friend with the two other girls, but the guys studiously avoid all three of them. Chef Croissant supervises the competition, and Isabella is quick to run afoul of the myriad rules that govern the kitchen's operations. At her dad, she meets her pregnant stepmother's former stepchild, a hot Spaniard with a lovable albino bulldog. She finds him annoying and full of himself, but that doesn't seem to prevent her from falling for him. 

With eveyrthing that happening with her and around her, can Isabella focus long enough to earn the prestigious internship she has always wanted? Filled with memorable characters and a well-developed stories, readers who enjoy romance and cooking are about to be served a wonderful story about being true to oneself and question one's own desires and motives. Fans of books like Once and For All and P.S. I Love You will love Isabella and her trials and tribulations

Into White

 Pink, Randi. Into White. 2016. 288p. ISBN 9781250070210.

LaToya is not comfortable in her skin. Instead of being Black, she wishes she were White. The people in Birmingham, Alabama, are so much nicer, and life is so much easier if you are White. One night, she makes the wish to be White, and when she wakes up the next morning her wish has been granted. Her family doesn't notice a difference, but everyone else sees her as White.

As White, LaToya suddenly finds herself propulsed up the social hierarchy at her mostly White high school. She ranked so low as a Black girl that even other Black people disrespected her. But now that she is White, she gets more attention and more respect. However, LaToya suddenly realizes that not everything is as rosy as she thought it were. She's still at risk from sexual predators. Her rapid climb up the social ladder is more driven by her newness (she claims to be a transfer student) than the fact that she is White. And the people who loved LaToya are really missing her. In the end, LaToya must decide whether to be true to herself, or become something new and different from everything she has known before.

Dealing with the hard topic of race relations with humor and mirth, Into White explores several sensitive issues and provides one answer to "what if" questions. Readers interested in discovering more about how such changes would affect them will enjoy LaToya's struggles.

My Hero Academia, Vol. 28

 Horikoshi, Kohei. My Hero Academia, Vol. 28. 2021. 200p. ISBN 9781974722884. 

The battle between the heroes and the Paranormal Liberation Front continues in several locations, as the Front seeks to revive Shigaraki after he has been imbued with the quirks of many foes. Endeavor and the other heroes have their hands full with the Nomis, and Midoriya and the students from Hero Academia are tasked with evacuating the city as combat rages on by the hospital.

At the villa that served as the Front's headquarters, Hawks has been defeated and is on the verge of being destroyed by Dabi when Tokoyami intervenes to save his mentor. The nagging question remains in Tokoyami's mind, however, as to whether heroes' hands are dirtier than the criminals they seek to imprison.

Shigaraki's escape triggers wanton destruction as most of the city is obliterated by his decay quirk. Midoriya is alerted to Shigaraki's rise, and he attempts to attract the monster away from the evacuees, hoping to save as many of them as possible. Shigaraki, hoping to capture the One for All power of All Might, obliges and follows. With such power released, all the heroes can hope for is to minimize damage ...

Poemsia

 Leav, Lang. Poemsia. 2019. 294p. ISBN 9781524851071.

Verity and her best friend Jess are in the early twenties, and both of them are stuck in personal ruts. Her parents died when they were little, and she's lived with her grandparents since then. She works in her grandfather's bookstore, and she knows a lot about books. Her passion is poetry, and she writes and thinks it all the time. She would love to be like her favorite poet, Mena Rhodes. She's never admitted to Jess that this is what she would love to do with her life, but Jess nevertheless knows, and when she binds a collection of poems Verity has written and encourage her to sell them, Verity is touched, and she agrees to place a few of the books in her grandfather's shop, and she also agrees to keep up the Instagram page her friend created.

Sash, the cute boy that comes in requesting a book of poem soon becomes more than an acquaintance, and as Verity begins to date him, she soon gets snared into his former girlfriend Penelope's traps, as she is undermined at every turn. Verity doesn't know what to do about this situation.

While browsing the shop's poetry section, she comes across an old book, called Poemsia. She posts a few of the poems from the book on Instagram, clearly identifying them as not hers. But in the mix of all of the poems she wrote and posted, her page takes off and soon she's inundated with requests. People love her poetry, but the most popular are the poems from Poemsia. Verity is not sure how to handle this newfound fame, but when calls from New York start to arrive, Verity must now make a very serious decision: Move to the poetry publishing capital of the world and pursue an exciting career as a poet while accompanied by Mena Rhodes, or remain in her country with friends Jess and Sash, running an old bookstore that hasn't been successful in a long time? 

A fun dive into the backstabbing universe of poets and writers, fans of poetry and life struggles will appreciate Verity's progression from a beginning writer to her ultimate decision guiding the rest of her writing career.

The King of Crows

 Bray, Libba. The King of Crows. Book 4 of the Diviners series. 560p. ISBN 9780316126090.

Following the death of Mabel during that explosion meant to destroy Jake Marlowe in Before the Devil Breaks You, the Diviners are pursued by the Shadow Men, ruthless agents of the US government. Marlowe has been feeding diviners to the Eye, his machine that opened a portal to the lands of the ghosts. He has made a bargain with the King of Crows to allow the U.S. army to set up an outpost on the other side of the portal, into the dead lands. Marlowe looks forward to unlimited energy to power the American economy. The King of Crows, however, has other ideas. His plan is to release an army of the dead through the gate opened by the Eye.

The Diviners need to split and make their separate ways out of New York City, hoping to escape the Shadow Men. Memphis, Bill, and Isaiah flee on a train heading to New Orleans. As African-Americans traveling through the segregated South of the 1920s, their lives are even more in danger than from the government agents chasing them. Isaiah, who has visions, meets teen Sarah Beth Olson in a dream. She's in Bountiful, Nebraska, and she tells Isaiah that the Diviners need to come to her home, for they can only triumph over the King of Crows if they unite their forces. How can Isaiah tell the others about this?

Theta and Henry free Sam from Marlowe's estate where he was about to be fed to the Eye, and they run away, chased by Theta's former husband and his Ku Klux Klan friends. Evie, Lin, and Jericho join a traveling band and successfully escape the city. As all travel west, they find themselves drawn to Bountiful and Sarah Beth. But everywhere they travel they encounter evidence that the ghosts are laying waste to small rural towns. As the King of Crows marshals his forces, the Diviners must learn to work together, or humanity is doomed.

This conclusion to the Diviners series is satisfying and neatly wraps up the disparate stories that have been weaved throughout. Fans of the series will not be disappointed with a bittersweet ending as Diviners come into their powers, but the cost is deadly and some of the friends do not survive. 

Keep This to Yourself

 Ryan, Tom. Keep This to Yourself. 2019. 320p. ISBN 9780807541517.

Mac grew up on a spit of land outside of Camera Cove, Maine. There were only four other houses and a farm on his stretch of road, and within a few years of his birth each house had a child living in it of the same age. Soon the five kids were inseparable, more because of necessity than through real connections, but they grew up together. Mac, Connor, Benjamin, Doris, and Carrie met at the end of middle school by the ocean, and they each dropped off an envelope in a time capsule, to be opened on graduation four years later.

Following high school graduation, Mac, Ben and Doris meet under darker circumstances than four years earlier. Carrie has long since stopped hanging out with the group. Connor, for his part, was one of the four victims of the Catalog Killer, a serial killer who last year terrorized the community of Camera Cove and killed the "perfect" family, a father, a mother, a daughter, and a son. 

Despite the time that has passed and the fact that police determined the killer was a transient who had  since moved on, Mac is convinced that the killer is actually much closer to home. Still in love with Connor, but not wanting to admit even to himself, Mac begins asking probing questions to family members of those who were killed, and details that the police ignored or downplayed emerge, pointing to a killer that is closer than Mac realized...

What We Say and How We Say it Matter

 Anderson, Mike. What We Say and How We Say it Matter: Teacher Talk that Improves Student Learning and Behavior. 2019. 168p. ISBN 978-1-4166-2704-3. 

Every teacher strives to make sure that each and every student is successful. But the words that we use, and the way in which they are expressed can often convey the opposite of what we wished to communicate. Language can easily sabotage all efforts made to ensure that students love their learning experiences while at school.

In this provocative book, the author provides a road map to focus on words and ways of speaking that are not conducive to students developing positive attitudes towards school. Words like "I'm disappointed" indicate to students that they better perform for the teacher, instead of wanting to perform for themselves. The ownership of the language ("you didn't turn in my homework") can indicate to students that it's not really their performance and their work, but rather that of the teacher. And extrinsic motivation such as stickers or pizza parties undermine any intrinsic motivation possessed by students.

Teachers and other professionals who work with people will read a lot of concrete advice that can help change what they do to become more positive and instill a joy of learning that used to be there, as anyone who has ever observed preschoolers or kindergarten students can attest. Specific techniques are described, and can help make the transition to a more powerful language habit that will actually support what the teacher is trying to achieve, instead of unwittingly undermining what they do.