Friday, January 28, 2022
Number the Stars
Thursday, January 27, 2022
Head Lopper & the Crimson Tower
MacLean, Andrew and Jordie Bellaire. Head Lopper & The Crimson Tower. Vol 2 of the series. 2018. 200p. ISBN 9781534305083.
Following his adventure on the island of Barra, Norgal, also known as the Head Lopper, had secured a boat and a crew for himself, the talking and conscious head of the witch Agatha, Zhaania, of the Kota, and her apprentice Xho, who was to be sold as a slave to the witches of Barra. Norgal accompanies Zhaannia and Xho to the Crimson Tower, a large structure in the jungle where the best warriors are invited every year to participate in a challenge organized by the necromancer Ulrich, the Twice Damned and master of horrors in the tower. Zhaannia is searching for her mother, who came to the Crimson Tower the last time to save the Kota village from Ulrich's depradations.
Joined by a hero of the local Fonda Leaf people, the group enters the tower, only to be confronted by deadly traps and warriors. Ulrich is thrilled that Agatha's head is in, as he wishes to add it to his collection. Navigating the challenges will be hard, but at the end stands Berserk, Ulrich's best creation and ultimate defender of the Crimson Tower. Can Norgal and his friends defeat the necromancer and rescue Zhaannia's mother and sisters?
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Hawkeye: L.A. Woman. Vol. 3
Fraction, Matt. Hawkeye: L.A. Woman. Vol. 3. 2014. 120p. ISBN 978-0-7851-8390-7.
Angry at Clint Barton following his actions in Hawkeye: Little Lies, Kate Bishop packs up her bow and heads out as far away from Hawkeye and New York City as she can. She drives to Los Angeles, where she booked herself a stay at a nice resort. Unfortunately, her father cancels all of her credit cards, and Kate arrives to find herself penniless. Meanwhile, Madame Mask has been tracking her movements and, wanting to avenge herself from what happened to her at Kate's hands. She befriends Kate in her hour of need, and welcomes her to her home. Of course Kate recognizes the danger she is in, but she takes this opportunity to cripple her enemy's operations. Things don't turn out as planned, and she soon flees the house.
Penniless but armed with an unhealthy overabundance of confidence, Kate finds a place to stay and offers her services as a private hero ready to solve anyone's problem. Tracking down rare orchids reveals that the villain behind this mystery works for Madame Mask. As the plot thickens, Kate decides to infiltrate Madame Mask's compound one more time. The information she discovers, however, completely upends her world!
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Sisters Matsumoto
Gotanda, Philip Kan. Sisters Matsumoto. 2019. ISBN 9781682660850.
Monday, January 24, 2022
We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration
Abe, Frank and Tamiko Nimura. We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration. 2021. 160p. ISBN 9781634059763.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States government mandated the internment of all Japanese living on the U.S. West Coast, regardless of their citizenship status. For the first time in its history, the United States was imprisoning people without due process.
Three Japanese families find themselves sent on trains away from their homes, businesses, and farms, and to concentration camps in the interior. Faced with injustice and oppression, Japanese-Americans fought back. Some, having been denied their rights, refused to be drafted and serve in the military. Others refused to sign a loyalty oath. Some contested their illegal imprisonment all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Despite court rulings that found the internment a legal measure in war, Japanese-Americans never stop seeking redress.
Released near the end of the war, they returned to lives ruined. Businesses had been sold, homes grabbed by jealous neighbors, and jobs filled by others. An entire community was despoiled. Still they fought, and in 1988 the U.S. government recognized its actions had been wrong, and provided compensation to survivors.
Beautifully illustrated from historical records, this book showcases a viewpoint that is oftentimes ignored. Fans of history will appreciate the author's attention to detail and his accurate portrayal of life in the camps. This book can be paired with Displacement for another view on the internment of Japanese-Americans.
Friday, January 21, 2022
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Mann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. 2005. 563p. ISBN 9781400032051.
History books have taught us that when the first Europeans arrived in the New World in 1492, the land was lush, the game plenty, the living easy, and the inhabitants few and far between. New England colonists found several abandoned settlements where they could readily farm the land. In Central America, consquitadors found powerful kingdoms but were able to bring them down quickly with guns, steel, and horses, a story that repeated itself in South America.
But what did the Americas look like in 1491, before Columbus crossed the Atlantic? In this book, Mann draws on archeological evidence, oral histories, and written reports sent by the first Europeans to build a better picture of the lives of Americans prior to colonization. Previous theories of the crossing of the Bering sea all at once have been debunked, with archeological evidence indicating that people lived in South America more than 16,000 years ago. The idea that the first residents were living in harmony with their environment is at best a simplification, as all humans shaped their environment to fit the way they lived. The Amazonian jungle, for example, is not a place where plants grew randomly, but was rather developed and harvested by its residents for thousands of year, spreading fruits and building groves, mounds, and fish traps that would provide food year-round.
Fabled cities such as Tenochtitlan featured running water, something European cities no longer had. Cities were an order of magnitude order larger than their European counterpart. Rich artwork and massive stone structures still dot the landscape in Mexico, hinting at wealthy and culturally advanced societies. And in North America, the Iroquois confederacy developed the first truly democratic form of government, with women in charge of naming clan leaders and holding title to property. Men could wage war, but only after a council had unanimously declared it so, and women possessed veto power. Susan Anthony and Alice Paul were inspired from their constitution to demand the vote for women.
The world we have been taught existed when Columbus arrived is thus filled with errors, hearsay, and a European perspective that underplayed the role that the first Americans played in shaping the Americas and its history.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Locke & Key, Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom
Hill, Joe and Gabriel Rodriguez. Locke & Key, Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom. 2015. 152p. 978-1600108860.
oe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke & Key unwinds into its fourth volume in Keys to the Kingdom. With more keys making themselves known, and the depths of the Locke family's mystery ever-expanding, Dodge's desperation to end his shadowy quest drives the inhabitants of Keyhouse ever closer to a revealing conclusion.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Heir to the Empire
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Children of Daedala
Smith, Caighlan. Children of Daedala. Book 2 of the Children of Icarus series. 2018. 336p. ISBN 9781630790868. Available at FIC SMI on the library shelves.
It has been over six months since she's been in the labyrinth. The girl the kids at Fates called Clara has been on her own most of this time, ever since she was cast off and rescued by the Executioner, who trained her and prepared her for life in the labyrinth. She's been self-sufficient since, and she assiduously avoids the different tribes that populate the labyrinth. Recognized by both Kleos and Harmonia as Fey Bell for the bell she wears at her neck, she maneuvers through the labyrinth, staying one step ahead of monsters and humans alike. Equipped with a map and a journal in a language she can't read, Fey Bell knows the answers are right here, in front of her, and that exiting the labyrinth only requires solving the riddle.
When she comes upon a small group of Fates fighting a monster and in danger of dying, Fey Bell intervenes against her better judgment, and she ends up taking Ryan prisoner. Ryan proves useful, since he can read the journal's language, and soon they begin working together in an uneasy truce. When they discover that Fates has been attacked by one of the other tribes, They decide they will need to infiltrate one of them to discover who is responsible for the attack, and who kidnapped both Cassie and Ella from Fates, leaving the other teens behind. The stakes just got higher!
Friday, January 14, 2022
Mobituaries
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed
Anderson, Laurie Halse with illustrations by Leila Del Duca. Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed. 2020. 208p. ISBN 9781401286453. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.
The Amazon Queen was blessed with a child, and Princess Diana grew up as the only child on the island of Themyscira, among all of the female warriors who have been training to fight. The Amazons remain hidden, waiting for the time they will be needed. Now 16, Diana looks forward to join her sisters with the rank of the warriors.
Over the years, the magical barrier that surrounds Themyscira periodically weakens, and foreigners are able to find the island. The modern world has evolved while Themyscira has remained locked away. Wars, genocides, and human tragedies have caused a steady flow of refugees.
On the day of her birthday, the outside world infringes on Diana's life when refugees break through the barrier, which was in the process of being once again renewed. Her mother orders the refugees pushed back into the waters, where they will most likely die. Diana jumps in the water to rescue the refugees, but in the process ends up on the other side of the barrier, isolated from her family and friends.
Diana joins the ranks of refugees as they wash ashore. First sent to a refugee camp, she is spotted by American UN workers and is sent to New York to use her knowledge of languages and abilities to help those who must be rescued. Making connections, Diana soon finds that though the modern world includes much misery and pain, it can also be a wonderful place to live!
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Serpent & Dove
Mahurin, Shelby. Serpent & Dove. Book 1 of the Serpent & Dove series. 2019. 513p. ISBN 9780062878021.
Louise le Blanc is the daughter of the most powerful witch in the country. She was raised in a life of privilege and opulence. Then she discovered that her whole purpose in life was to be sacrificed by the same mother that raised her for the purpose of once and for all eliminating the royal line that for so long has been hunting and killing witches. Louise fled with little more than the clothes on her back, and found refuge in the royal capital of Cesarine, thinking that her mother would never chase her into her enemy's domain.
For two years Louise has eked a living, stealing when she needed to, finding refuge in the attic of a theater, and all the while hiding her magical abilities for fear of either being discovered as a witch by the Chasseurs, the Church's witch hunters, or of being found by her mother's many spies.
Reid Diggory is a captain of Chasseurs. He does not suffer witches, and his primary aim is to eliminate them all. A ward of the Cardinal, Reid has climbed the ranks quickly due to his skills and his wits. For him, the world is ordered and witches must be burned at the stake for the sake of God and of the people.
Through a series of unfortunate events, Louise and Reid's path cross and are found in a compromising situation. The Cardinal forces Reid and Louise to marry, to stop gossip from spreading further. A Chasseur and a secret witch are now forced to live together in the Cardinal's palace. However, this incident also alerted Louise's mother to her whereabouts, and her need for her daughter to die and end the Church's threat is dire.
With enemies converging on her, Louise finds herself facing death from both sides, unless she can convince her new husband that not all witches are bad ...
Monday, January 10, 2022
The Raven's Tale
Friday, January 7, 2022
How We Read Now: Strategic Choices for Print, Screen, and Audio
Baron, Naomi. How We Read Now: Strategic Choices for Print, Screen, and Audio. 2021. 285p. ISBN 978-0190084097.
The headlong rush in education to electronic textbooks and other digital books fundamentally changes how people read for learning, argues Naomi Baron in How We Read Now: Strategic Choices for Print, Screen, and Audio. School administrators and teachers have adopted electronic textbooks as cost-cutting measures without thinking about how reading on a device differs from reading in print. Libraries have adopted digital books for ease of use, their accessibility features, as well as the fact that they are available even when the facility is closed. Still, patrons have not been educated on how to effectively read in a digital environment. Readers enjoy the portability of hundreds of digital titles but have neither necessarily thought about what is lacking in their reading experience when one cannot hold a book, nor how a digital device may affect the way they read. An expert in the field of reading, Baron summarizes two decades of research from around the world on the impact of digital books on reading. She presents avenues educators and school librarians must explore to ensure that students are properly equipped with the tools they will need to successfully read to learn in multiple formats and achieve the multiple literacies our society increasingly demands.
For thousands of years prior to reading becoming the primary means of transmitting information, orality was the preferred method, and in many cultures it was the only method (Baron, 2021, p. 186). The rise of reading as a means of learning is a recent phenomenon (Baron, 2021, p. 157; Fisher, 2004, p 214), and its nearly ubiquitous presence as a social norm is even newer. An individual must be taught the skills necessary to decode information. Students have been taught from a young age that reading as a model consists of using eyes to go through lines of text in a more or less linear fashion and from the front cover to the back cover. The reading people perform today does not remotely resemble that model of reading. Digital reading on social media and websites is changing how individuals read and why they read, Baron (2021) argues (p. 78). Individuals now tend to read small chunks of texts on a device, listen to podcasts or audiobooks while doing other activities, or watch videos to entertain themselves or learn new skills. All of these are literary activities that provide the “reader” with information. The definition of reading, Baron asserts, needs to change to reflect today’s reality that literacy has transformed in the last hundred years, from the ability to read and write basic texts to the need to comprehend increasingly complex sets of information (Baron, 2021, p. 13).
School librarians are both purchasers and consumers of digital books. They understand how digital media is consumed. They know how to operate digital books. Due to their role at the center of the school’s scholarly activities, school librarians are therefore well-positioned to facilitate this change. They must educate both teachers and students on this changing literacy and present ways for readers to adapt the skills they already possess to a new form of reading.
The first step is to recognize that there are differences between digital literacy and print literacy. Print books are self-contained within the physical object. The object presents itself the way the author meant it to appear, aside from possible editorial and formatting decisions in production. It also provides visual landmarks indicating where the reader is in relation to the size of the book, specific chapters, or even individual pages, for example, remembering that critical graph on the page next to the photo of the Grand Canyon or noticing that a book is twice the size of another book. Print books provide great cover art that can be admired. They can also be shared with friends or given away.
On the other hand, print books can be cumbersome and expensive, require storage when not in use, and can easily be damaged or lost. Digital books are well suited for certain purposes such as quickly locating information, shallow reading, scrolling, and improved accessibility features that benefit students with visual impairments as well as those with dyslexia. Digital books are generally less expensive than print books and are much more convenient to access and dispose of after reading. Digital books are often more engaging than print books due to interactive features and embedded multimedia. Digital books provide hyperlinks to other elements, such as chapters, footnotes, other webpages, etc. The reader can modify page layouts and font size, changing the way the author intended the book to look. Digital books embed multimedia files such as audio and video. They are easy to access, are portable, cannot be damaged or lost, and present no storage difficulties. Digital books are not easily shared, they do not provide the reader a visual landscape, and they are often read quickly and superficially, with limited engagement with the text (Baron, 2021, p. 68).
Audiobooks provide exposure to literary texts, increase the quantity of literature students consume, and help generate positive attitudes toward reading (Wolfson, 2008). They can be sped up, helping students with ADHD better focus on what they hear. However, digital books are not conducive to deep and reflective reading requiring frequent pauses and engagement with the text (Baron, 2021, p. 121). Audiobooks and videos possess similar features to digital books with additional drawbacks. These include the inability to quickly rewind or locate a relevant passage or the lack of visible landmarks to quickly search for specific locations within the content (Baron, 2021., p. 166).
The second step is to consider that not all forms of reading are equal. Reading fiction is different from reading informational texts, which differs from reading posts on social media or signs on the side of the highway. Baron notes that data analyzed from the 2009 international PISA test showed that students who reported reading fiction regularly had higher reading scores than those who did not read on a regular basis. Students who reported reading informational texts regularly did not have higher scores than students who did not read on a regular basis (Baron, 2021, p. 26). This effect of reading long forms of fiction also showed improved overall reading comprehension. Yet, most of the online reading being done in schools and on standardized tests are of short texts, affecting both comprehension and reading stamina (Baron, 2021, p. 117).. Stamina is necessary to read long texts such as books and scholarly articles. Still, the digital environment provides information into bite-size pieces that can easily be consumed in a few seconds or minutes. These limited reading opportunities, along with the distractibility factor of devices and the rise of audio and video media, have shortened the attention span of the typical reader (Attention! Attention!, 2017, p. 36). Devices allow for quick reading but do not facilitate deep reading. Most readers are unaware of these differences between print and digital. They blaze through digital books like they were short websites, finding themselves surprised when they don’t remember much of what they read (Singer & Alexander, 2017).
The news is not all bad, Baron notes. Digital books can fulfill many roles in the educational system. School librarians and teachers must prepare their students by explicitly demonstrating appropriate techniques to foster a deeper level of engagement with the text and to reflect on what is being read. For starters, students should not be multitasking. Devices make it easy to multitask, and even reading print is often interrupted by the desire to check notifications, answer messages, or peruse social media (Baron, 2021, p. 77). When listening to audiobooks, readers must focus on what they hear, since the mind has a greater tendency to drift away from sound than from print. Stopping the flow of reading impedes their cognitive efforts and hinders their comprehension. Regardless of the format being read, students need to take notes about what they are actively reading (Baron, 2021, p. 36). They must be comfortable with flipping the pages backwards or rewinding audio or video. They should write up a summary of what was read along with a series of keywords that relate to what they just learned (Baron, 2021, p. 138). Students need the modeling of good print and digital reading and the opportunity to explore these different media types (Baron, 2021, p. 228), something school librarians can provide. For their part, teachers should generate questions ahead of time to guide students’ attention to specific themes or sections and should consider supporting documentation to build or enhance prior knowledge. This will help students become biliterate and able to recognize the different purposes of each medium.It also helps them to develop techniques that make each media better for a specific purpose, and build an understanding of the limitations that each medium possesses.
What can school librarians do to help students and teachers through this transition to a different definition of reading? First, they need to continue to promote reading in all of its forms. Especially in the younger grades, school librarians need to work with families to help them promote reading at home as well. Evidence suggests that reading fiction improves both reading comprehension and overall reading abilities (Baron, 2021, p. 26). Fiction is particularly suited for print reading. Second, school librarians need to offer books for pleasure reading and books for research in multiple formats. They need to purchase different reading formats and offer students the opportunity to read print, digital or audio versions of their favorite books. Third, school librarians must work closely with therapists and teachers, especially English teachers, to teach effective techniques for deep reading with digital and listening to audio formats, including writing annotations, summarizing what is being read, and creating lists of keywords. Learning how to navigate digital and audiobooks, including rewinding or scrolling back to read or listen again, is also essential. Finally, teachers themselves are not necessarily familiar with the features that their textbooks possess. School librarians need to help teachers who use digital books exploit this format’s strengths, from the easy searching capabilities to the differentiated texts and the ability to make annotations right in the textbook. School librarians must work with teachers to educate students about best practices when using digital books.
Ultimately, Baron argues, readers must ask themselves the following question: What is the purpose of their reading in that particular time and place? Training students to answer this question and to know their purpose when reading is the most effective way for school librarians to help students determine which book medium is best situated to fulfill their reading needs at any given time. Still, some questions remain unanswered at this time. What will the future of reading hold? Will digital reading transform how we currently define reading? Will small bursts of information texts become the privileged form of reading?
Despite these currently unanswerable questions, Baron’s closing advice does not ring less true: “Read more. Focus when you do. Medium matters'' (2021, p. 230). School librarians could not agree more!
References
Attention! Attention! (2017). New Scientist, 233(3112), 36.
Fisher, S. R. (2004). A history of reading. Reaktion Books.
Singer, L. M., & Alexander, P. A. (2017). Reading across mediums: Effects of reading digital and print texts on comprehension and calibration. Journal of Experimental Education, 85(1), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2016.1143794
Wolfson, G. (2008). Using audiobooks to meet the needs of adolescent readers. American Secondary Education, 36(2), 105–114.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
Shadow of the Batgirl
Kuhn, Sarah, illustrated by Nicole Goux. Shadow of the Batgirl. 2020. 208p. ISBN 9781401289782. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.
Cassandra doesn't have words to express herself. She doesn't talk at all. Trained from birth to become a skilled assassin for her villainous father, Cassandra experiences a change of heart about being an assassin as a teenager when her next victim appeals to her senses by mentioning the word daughter. That's one of the few words her father uses, but she doesn't quite understand the meaning of it. She decided right then and there to run away from her father and his goons.
She runs into Jackie, owner of a Japanese restaurant, who kindly feeds her. Cassandra then takes refuge in the Gotham library, where she observes Barbara Gordon, the teen librarian, from afar. Slowly, Cassandra begins to better understand the world around her. She is fascinated by the disappearance of Batgirl, who helped solve a wave of crimes a few years ago, but then simply vanished. Cassandra continues to train, but now she wants to help people instead of killing them. She also meets Erik, a high school quarterback who would love nothing more than to stop playing football and instead focus on writing romance.
With Jackie, Barbara, and Erik's help, Cassandra is righting her life and learning what it means to love. But with her father still lurking in the background, can Cassandra inherit the mantle of her favorite superhero and save Gotham from his depradations?
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
The Wise Man's Fear
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Wise Man's Fear. Day 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicle. 2011. 994p. ISBN 978-0-7564-0712-4. Available at FIC ROT on the library shelves.
In The Name of the Wind, Kvothe completed a full year of studies at the University despite his money troubles and his rift with Ambrose. Pursuing his studies, Kvothe continues to search for information on the Chandrians, the strange beings that slaughtered his parents and the rest of his traveling troop when he was not yet a teen. Deep in the bowels of the University library, he believes that secrets lay that could provide him with a way to strike back. Unfortunately, the Chandrians have been very thorough and records that mention them have been eliminated from most archives and libraries.
Kvothe improves in his mastery of magic, and even manages to master the name of the wind, even if it is for the briefest of time. A series of incidents at the University forces Kvothe to take a year off. On the recommendation of a dear friend, Count Tempe, he heads east to Vintas and secures employment with the Maer, one of the world's richest man. There he uncovers a plot to kill the Maer, while at the same time conducting an elaborated courtship to secure a wife for his sponsor. Tasked with hunting bandits that have been waylaying the Maer's taxmen, Kvothe and a small group of mercenary explores a forest on the literal edge of the map, only to come across a large encampment of men. Kvothe and his men successfully destroy the bandits, but not before he realizes that their leader was the same Chandrian who killed his parents.
Having learned the basic martial art from a Adem mercenary, he travels to Ademre where he masters the secret art of the Adem, before returning to Vintas. A series of incidents prevents him from earning the Maer's patronage, but he still leaves with a letter of credit covering his tuition costs at the University. Through this year, Kvothe also pursues Denna, the girl who stole his heart. His relationship with her is rocky, however, and he never quite knows where he stands with the enigmatic girl.
Once again told over the course of a day to Chronicler, Kvothe is once again brutally honest in his descriptions of his experiences at the University, his encounter with a Fey being, and his pursuits of the Chandrians. Fans of The Name of the Wind will enjoy learning more about Kvothe's adventures and his ever increasing mastery of magic.
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age
Al-Khatahtbeh. Amani. Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age. 2016. 134p. ISBN 9781501159503.
Born in the United States of a Jordanian father and a Palestinian mother, Amani was only 9 years old when planes flown by Al-Qaeda operatives crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. Suddenly she found her faith thrown into the spotlight in a negative way, with people reacting with fear and incomprehension that 1.6 billion Muslims were not supporters of the terror inspired by Al-Qaeda. Overnight, Amani's family life changed. Dirty looks, insults, assaults, and government spying and arrests made it clear that Muslims were not welcomed in the United States.
The invasion of Iraq in 2003 added fuel to the fire, which forced her family to leave for Jordan for a year. While in Jordan Amani was first exposed to the brilliant culture that is Islam, which is neither the Al-Qaeda trope, nor the Western parody. Motivated by what she saw in Jordan, Amani resolved to live her life as a full-faith Muslim. When the family returned to New Jersey, Amani quickly become involved in discussing the views of Muslim women, who were often marginalized in the media. She created a website, https://muslimgirl.com/, that presents issues of importance to Muslim girls without the usual stereotypes perpetrated by Western society.
Now engaged in fighting for the rights of Muslim girls to follow their faith in the United States, Amani stood up against prejudices in her high school, then continued her support of Muslim girls in college. She continued working with her website, and developed ties in other areas such as fashion. Energized in reaction to Donald Trump's candidacy announcement against Muslims, Amina continued to stand up for the values of her faith and her rights to be a citizen of the United States.