Hawkeye: Little Hits. Vol. 2

Fraction, Mark. Hawkeye: Little Hits. Vol. 2. 2013. 136p. ISBN 978-0-7851-6563-7.

As a massive storm drops an incredulously high amount of rain, Hawkeye and Grills are heading to the home where Grills grew up, hoping they can save it from flooding. A massive wave washed over the neighborhood, and Hawkeye just manages to save Grill's father, but Grills remains in the basement hoping to salvage a box that contains the memories of his dead mother. As Hawkeye dives in after him, he realizes he doesn't even know Grill's real name.

Hawkeye's relationship with Grills is similar to his relationships with everyone one else. They're superficial and ultimately meaningless. When Penny from Hawkeye, Vol. 1 returns on the scene, asking for his help in retrieving a safe from a Tracksuit Mafia club, Clint is obviously unable to say no. But when he's caught with Penny by his spy friend, his ex-wife, and his girlfriend, all hell breaks loose! Meanwhile, Kate continues to try and keep Clint as safe as possible, but the man clearly does not want to be safe. She remains conflicted about her feelings for Clint, and he's not helping the situation.

With the Tracksuit Mafia vowing vengeance on Clint Barton, and with his building under constant surveillance, Hawkeye's problems are coming home to roost!

World War II in Numbers: An Infographic Guide tot he Conflict, its Conduct, and its Casualties

Doyle, Peter. World War II in Numbers: An Infographic Guide tot he Conflict, its Conduct, and its Casualties. 2013. 224p. ISBN 978-1-77085-195-5.

The Second World War was the most devastating war in human history. Every continent was consumed by conflict, and millions of combatants and civilians perished during military action and as collateral damage. This war also saw the first systematic implementation of genocide, with Nazi Germany conducting the Holocaust by killing millions of Jews.

Though the histories of battles, major players, scientific innovations, and civilian home fronts are all interesting, nothing quite conveys the impacts that the war had on the world like graphics. Each chapter contains a series of two or four pages about specific topics, like aircraft production, the capabilities of small arms, or the largest tank battle to ever take place. Illustrated with effective graphics, the reader quickly glances patterns that explain the various phases of the war and describe how Germany and Japan were ultimately defeated.

Fans of military history will enjoy the thoroughness of this book, and will learn many new facts and information that other histories do not convey.

Black Butler, Vol. 25

Toboso, Yana. Black Butler, Vol. 25. 2018. 176p. ISBN 9780316480116. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Following the success of the Sphere Music Hall in Black Butler, Vol. 24, which is being used as a front to collect blood from unsuspecting victims, Ciel Phantomhive and his devilish butler Sebastian hatched the plan to compete with an even bigger music hall and successful act. The crowds are drawn away from the Sphere Music Hall, reducing the number of potential victims. Lady Sullivan analyzes some of the blood recovered, and notices that there are four types of blood, and the Sirius type is the rarest of them all.

At the Sphere Music Hall, the dramatic decrease in blood donors, especially of the Sirius kind, forces the powers behind the Star act to speed up their timetable and eliminate erstwhile supporters. As Phantomhive and Sebastian investigate, they are met by two Grim Reapers, who are here to collect the newly blood-drained corpses left behind following the cult's swift departure from the Sphere Music Hall. The Grim Reapers' presence reveals the importance Dispatch gives to the events of the last few days. Ciel remains worried, however, for his fiancée Elizabeth still hasn't been located ...

The story continues in Black Butler, Vol. 26.

The Lucky Ones

Reisz, Tiffany. The Lucky Ones. 2018. 365p. 628 mins. ISBN 9780778331162. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

At seven Allison found herself an orphan following a drinking and driving accident. Sent to an orphanage, she was soon adopted by renowned brain surgeon Dr. Vincent Capello, who recognized her intelligence. Allison went to live with him and six other adopted children in his great green house, appropriately called the Dragon, on the Oregon Coast yards away from the Pacific Ocean. Allison's life became perfect, with loving siblings, a doting father, and plenty of room to stretch her wings. But even at seven, Allison was attracted to the enigmatic Roland, Dr. Capello's oldest son. Five years older, Roland had lived his own tragedy when his sister Rachel had fallen in a hole on the beach while they were playing and died buried in the sand. On stormy nights, Allison would often crawl in Roland's bed, looking for security and comfort.

When Allison was twelve, she fell down the 3rd floor stairs and was whisked away from the house by a concerned aunt who had received a phone call that someone was trying to kill her. For the last thirteen years, Allison has done everything she could to forget the house and its inhabitants. She moved across the country, became the mistress of a billionaire, and lived a generally happy life. All of this is thrown into chaos on the same morning her boyfriend breaks up with her and she receives a letter from Roland informing her that their father is dying.

Finally offered an opportunity to figure out what really happened to her that fateful night, and also the possibility of reconnecting with family members, Allison heads west and returns to Oregon, where she is reunited with Roland, which reignite her love for him. Catching up on what has happened in the last thirteen years, Allison can't help but worry that the person who wished her harm is still here. As she asks questions, however, she realizes that everyone has secrets, and that some secrets are deadly and worth killing for ...

Fans of mystery will enjoy this gothic tale, with dark corners always close by. Similar to We Were Liars, the ending is unpredictable and will surprise the reader.

Pure Grit: How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp

Farrell, Mary Cronk. Pure Grit: How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp. 2014. 160p. ISBN 9781419710285. Available as an ebook from Overdrive.

With limited job opportunities, women in the 1920s and 1930s turned to nursing. Many joined the US Army and Navy nursing corps. These jobs provided women with regular paychecks, and allowed them to travel the world in glamorous fashion. As the 1930s drew darker and the drums of war banged louder, nursing became more of a priority for military forces around the globe.

Many young women were sent to the Philippines in 1940 and 1941 to bolster the U.S. garrison present on the island as Japanese aggression spread through the Pacific. When the U.S. fleet was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the nurses found themselves isolated in a theater of war far from home with no hope of rescue. A Japanese invasion landed in the Philippines, and what had been an exotic locale became the scene of carnage. Aviation and artillery bombardments caused massive casualties among the defenders' ranks, and the nurses faced deteriorating conditions with no medication, lack of surgical space, and increasing amount of wounded.

As the Japanese closed in on the last remaining bastion of U.S. control, some nurses were successfully airlifted out, but most were captured and sent to prison camps. There they helped set up hospitals for the prisoners, and survived on ever dwindling resources. Hunger became constant. As U.S. troops turned the tide of the war and began to push back Japanese forces, the prisoners' treatment became harsher. Notified that the prison camp was to be liquidated before the Japanese left, a daring raid by army rangers freed the prisoners and allowed them to escape.

Though most of the nurses survived the war, none of them truly recovered from their ordeal. Many of them did not receive military benefits. It took over three decades for the federal government to finally acknowledge their service and their contribution to the war in the Pacific. 

Fans of history and those interested by the Second World War will be fascinated with this little-known history, and will see the dedication that these nurses exulted even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Head Lopper, Vol 1: The Island or A Plague of Beasts

 MacLean, Andrew with Mike Spicer. Head Lopper, Vol 1: The Island or A Plague of Beasts. 2016. 280p. ISBN 978-1-63-215-886-4.

Norgal, also known as the Head Lopper, is delivering slave cargo to the island of Barra. Ruled in theory by a King, the island of Barra is in fact controlled by a powerful sorcerer who has been confined to the Black Bog and who cannot leave its borders. Nothing prevents him from sending forth monsters, however, and the whole island has been plagued by them for a long time.

Upon arriving in Barra, the Head Lopper remove the head of a sea monster, and when payment for the slaves doesn't arrive, he takes the head cleric's amulet for himself. The Head Lopper carries around a bag containing the head of Agatha, an old witch. Despite having been removed from its body, the head remains alive and well, and Agatha never misses an opportunity to berate and mock the Head Lopper.

Hearing of his prowess, Queen Abigail hires the Head Lopper to go to the Black Bog and kill the sorcerer. With the king absent, with the king's stewart plotting his own ascent to the throne, and with witches not pleased to see the head of one of their own in his hands, the Head Lopper will need to use all of his fighting skills to survive the trek and defeat an enemy who has long been planning Norgal's arrival ...

Fans of fantasy will appreciate the creepiness that permeates the island of Barra, and will enjoy the action drawings as well as the strong plot that propels the story forward.

Lady Smoke

Sebastian, Laura. Lady Smoke. Book 2 of the Ash Princess Trilogy. 2019. 512p. ISBN 9781524767105. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Following her escape in Ash Princess, Theodosia must stay one step ahead of the Kaiser and his assassins, who will stop at nothing to bring her back and torture her again. Accompanied by Prinz Soren and those that call themselves her shadows, Theo and Dragonbane the pirate queen, who is in fact her mother's twin sister, head to Stacrivero, the most prosperous nation, in order to find a husband and an army with which to regain her throne. 

As rich and powerful nobles parade in front of her, Theo is not convinced this is the way to solve her problems. She is falling more and more for Soren, while she still has feelings for X, a youthful friend and one of Astrea's guardians. Furthermore, while the nobility of Stacrivero lives in luxury, thousands of refugees from the Kalovaxians' wars populate camps on the outskirts of the capital and live in misery. As she and her friends search for solutions, an archduke is murdered, and Soren is arrested on the suspicion that he was involved. With an assassin in their mists, Theo must exert extreme caution in who she trust.

With none of the nobles an acceptable partner for her, Theo stalls for time. The arrival of Erik, Soren's half-brother and heir to a ruined kingdom, changes her calculations. If Theo was able to free the Astrean slaves currently working in the Kaiser's mines, if she was able to free the refugees languishing here without a future, and if she was able to get Erik's soldiers, as meager as they are, it might be enough to defeat the Kaiser.

As this unlikely coalition of forces sails to Astrea, this will be a battle of which only one will emerge victorious!

The story concludes in Ember Queen.

The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History 1939-1949

 Caver, Joseph, Jerome Ennels and Daniel Haulman. The Tuskegee Airmen: An Illustrated History 1939-1949. 2011. 230p. ISBN 978-1-58838-244-3.

The Tuskegee Airmen were a fabled group of pilots and crewmen who served with distinction in the Second World War. With a segregated military service, African-American pilots could not join regular units. Several programs to train African-American pilots were set up to increase the number of men capable of flying fighters and bombers. As war exploded across Europe and Asia, it became even more essential to ensure that the nation was producing as many pilots as possible. Schools were set up around the United States, with the most famous at Tuskegee airfield in Alabama. 

Over the course of the war, Tuskegee airmen earned honors and distinctions for valorous service. They were among the first to encounter and shoot down German jet fighters, and they participated in most of the campaigns from the landing in Africa in 1942 to the final bombing of Germany in 1945. Told through rarely seen photos documenting the process of training and preparing for combat, this book helps to illustrate an often forgotten part of our military history.

The Magic Fish

Nguyen, Trung Le. The Magic Fish. 2020. 256p. ISBN 978-0-593-12529-8. 

Tiến is attending middle school in Middle America in the early 1990s. Both of his parents are refugees from Vietnam who made a new life in the United States. Tiến grew up speaking English and Vietnamese, and he and his mother read stories in English to each other to help her practice her English skills. Tiến's family is not rich. His father works long hours, and his mother is a seamstress, but there's always enough food to eat, and a roof over their head.

Tiến has a secret. He is gay, but he doesn't know how to tell his parents. He doesn't know the words for it in Vietnamese, and he's worried that telling them in English wouldn't be an effective way to communicate this very important part of himself. His friend Claire is in charge of the middle school dance, and she invites both Tiến and their friend Julian. Claire knows that Tiến has a crush on Julian, and she hopes that this will help.

Helen, Tiến's mother is in frequent contact with her family in Vietnam. Her mother is sick, but she hopes her whole family can travel to Vietnam before it's too late. Only the fateful call comes in, letting her know that her mother passed away.

Between these events taking place now are the story of Helen when she was escaping Vietnam, as well as three fairy tales told by Tiến to his mother, and by Helen's aunt to Helen while in Vietnam. These stories all link together to form a fantastic journey that describes the immigrant's abandonment of home and gain of a new home and language. Beautifully illustrated with specific shades of colors for each storyline, The Magic Fish also contains an afterword by the author, who describes his goals for the book and the meaning behind the fairy tales he chose to use. This explanation greatly enhances the book and makes the reader want to read it through again, this time with a more informed eye.

Locke & Key, Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows

Hill, Joe and Gabriel Rodriguez. Locke & Key, vol 3: Crown of Shadows. 2014. 152p. 978-1600106958.

There is no rest for the Locke children as Zack Wells continues his relentless search for the missing keys. In control of the Shadow key, Zach attacks the Locke siblings, but Kinsey rescues Bode, while Tyler becomes a giant using a giant key and lock Bode had discovered earlier, and he defeats the shadow monsters Zach sent against them by throwing it against the lighthouse.

When told there is writing on the wall of an old cave, near the low tide mark, Kinsey agrees to go with friends to explore what used to be an old Second World War shore battery. After she enters the water and is joined by her friend, the platform they were standing on collapses, throwing the other two people in her group in the water, and it becomes a race to survive.

Meanwhile, their mother is struggling with the violent death of her husband and her rape, and she has turned to the bottle to quell the pain. In doing so, however, she is drifting further away from her children. When she discovers a cabinet that can make something broken whole, she does not hesitate and places her dead husband's funeral urn in there, hoping to return him to life. Unfortunately it does not work, and in the process the urn is broken, revealing yet another key...

One Trusted Adult: How to Build Strong Connections and Healthy Boundaries with Young People

Raney, Brooklyn. One Trusted Adult: How to Build Strong Connections and Healthy Boundaries with Young People. 2019. 236p. ISBN 9781733202510.

Every student deserves at least one trusted adult in their life. A trusted adult is a person who builds an effective and positive relationship with a youth while holding them accountable for their behavior. A trusted adult sets clear boundaries and clear expectations to keep everyone safe and so that everyone understands the roles that they play in their lives.

Presenting information through stories and life vignette, One Trusted Adult describes the process of building an organizational culture that cares for everyone and that supports the goals and aspirations of its young people. Descriptions of trusting relationships and a call to action help provide the professional with the tools necessary to establish the strong connections necessary to support and foster an environment where each student has at least one trusted adult they can rely on to support them during their academic career as they grow as a person.