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.

Copyboy

Vawter, Vince. Copyboy. 2018. 233p. ISBN 978-1-63079-105-6. Available at FIC VAW on the library shelves.

In 1965, Victor Vollmer, from Paper Boy, has graduated from high school and is readying for college. Ever since he started delivering newspapers, he has looked up to Mr. Spiro, who was a mentor. Mr. Spiro guided him with questions designed for him to learn about himself. Now Mr. Spiro has died, and he had a last request that Vic takes seriously. Mr. Spiro wanted Victor to drop his ashes at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and Vic wants to do that right away. His parents are opposed, however, so Vic decides to head down to Louisiana by himself.

Vic stutters, and he has to work very hard to shape his sentences so he can communicate as best he can. When he is offered the job of continuing working at the local Memphis newspaper, Vic takes it but knows it will be a disappointment to his parents, who want him to focus on college and play baseball. First, he must drop the ashes. The copy editor has a friend in New Orleans who has a friend down near the coast, and Vic plans on connecting with them to accomplish his goal.

Heading south in his little sport car, Vic begins the journey of a lifetime, inspired by Mr. Spiro's words and actions. During his trip, meets Philomene, a vigorous teenager who loves being on the river. With Phil's help, Vic learns that the voice he has is his own, stuttering or not, and that there are many people out there who will lie him and love him, regardless of his disability.

Fans of historical and realistic fiction will appreciate this sequel to Paper Boy, which takes place 5 years later, and will enjoy seeing how much Victor has grown in this time, but will really appreciate how much more he has to learn while looking for the mouth of the Mississippi.

20th Century Art, 1960-1980: Experiments and New Directions

Gaff, Jackie. 20th Century Art, 1960-1980: Experiments and New Directions. 2000. 32p. ISBN 978-0-8368-2852-6. Available at 709.04 GAF on the library shelves.

The end of the Second World War marked the beginning of the economic recovery from the devastation wrought by the conflict around the world. People's lives in Western Europe and the United States steadily improved during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. Economies recovered and then grew. Jobs were plentiful. Population was growing thanks to a baby boom. And in the art world, artists were experimenting with new themes and art forms.

In the 1960s people were on the move, and art reached for the masses with moving sculptures inspired from every day movements from the wind or mechanically delivered. Op Art also suggested a sense of movement, but through optical illusions. Pop Art emerged at the same time, with the goal of using everyday and highly recognizable objects as art, which allowed the artists to shift attention from the work of art itself to the way the artist worked. Art, they suggested, was an idea, and anything could be seen as artistic, even the most mundane objects.

Another trend that developed during the 1960s was Invisible Art, where art was not necessarily present and required the viewer to assume it existed even thought they could not see it, and therefore question reality itself. At the same time, reality itself became a representation in art, where subjects were shown as they truly were, and not as idealized versions of themselves. Art also became more engaged, with frequent mergers between art and performance, as Woodstock would reveal. Revolutions and demonstrations in the 1960s also triggered engaged art, art that carried a message.

90 Miles to Havanna

Flores-Galbis, Enrique. 90 Miles to Havana. 2010. 292p. 492 mins. ISBN 9781624606083 Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

As the youngest of three brothers, Julian is used to alternatively being bossed around or ignored by his older brothers, Aquilino and Gordo. On New Year's eve, 1959, they and their father find themselves on their fishing boat, attempting to catch a fish for the New Year's meal. Catching a fish represents good luck for the rest of the year. Julian really wants to hold the fishing rod, and his father reluctantly lets him do so. A fish bites, but Julian is unable to reel it in. Gordo gives him a hard time, and even his father is disappointed as the family will not experience good luck this year. How right they all are.

On December 31, 1958, Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrow Batista, the Cuban dictator, and move quickly to implement a socialist regime throughout the island. Things change quickly for Julian's family. Neighbors flee to the United States, and those unable to leave find themselves kicked out of their comfortable middle class houses. Julian's best friends, Angelita and Pedro, leave for Florida. A supporter of the new regime moves in next door and is appointed to enforce rules. As things get progressively worse, Julian's parents make the wrenching decision to send their unaccompanied children to the United States, with the hope of joining them as soon as possible.

Aquilino, Gordo and Julian thus find themselves among other Cuban children in a receiving camp where they await either being rescued by family members or sent to orphanages throughout the United States. The camp is dominated by Caballo, a bully the boys know from Cuba, and he makes the boys' lives miserable. However, Julian is reunited there with Angelita and Pedro, whom he had not seen for close to a year. Gordo antagonizes Caballo further during a baseball game. The two older brothers get shipped out, and for the first time in his life Julian finds himself alone, with no one to make decisions for him.

With Angelita's help, Julian organizes a resistance against Caballo, but when things get out of hand he escapes the camp and connects with Tomas, who's planning a daring sailing to Havana and the rescue of his family members. Hoping to save his mother and father, Julian decides to help Tomas, but even though Cuba is only 90 miles away, this is a dangerous trip on a leaky boat with the real possibility of being captured and arrested by Cuban authorities. Julian is about to make the most important decision of his life ...

Tear Down This Wall

Ratnesar, Romesh. Tear Down This Wall. 2009. 440 mins. ISBN 9781608146048. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

When the Second World War ended with the defeat of Germany, the country was separated into four zones of control. On the Western side, the zones quickly coalesced together to form the Federal Republic of Germany, whereas the Eastern side, controlled by the Soviet Union, a puppet Communist government was enshrined as the Democratic Republic of Germany (GDR). Dividing the two was an iron curtain stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. The city of Berlin was similarly separated, even though it was deep in the center of the GDR. In 1961, hoping the stem the flow of people from East to West Berlin and thence to Western Europe, the East German security apparatus erected a wall, cutting the city in half. The Berlin Wall became the deadly and ugly symbol of division between East and West.

In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan visited Berlin for the second time of his Presidency, and he pronounced a speech in front of the Berlin Wall that stood just before the Branderburg Gate in which he bemoaned the separation of people and dared Secretary General of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to tear down the wall and allow people to freely travel. This speech, which was little noted at the time, proved prophetic as the Berlin Wall fell two and a half years later. 

Tear Down This Wall is a historical account of the division of Germany, the life and times of Reagan and Gorbachev, the Cold War confrontation between Americans and Russians, and the origins, pronouncement, and impact that the speech had on world history. The audiobook contains the actual speech given by Reagan, as well as extensive interviews with government officials in the Reagan administration as well as American, Russian, and German eyewitnesses to this event.

Fans of history will appreciate the impact the speech had in retrospect on the events that occurred leading to and during the fall of the Berlin Wall, and will develop a newfound respect for collaboration and trust that the two adversaries developed. It is this, more than anything else, that helped both of them "win" the Cold War and avoid the world's destruction, which had seem so plausible a year or two earlier.   

The UFO Cover-Up: What World Governments Don't Want You to Know

Friedman, Stanton T. and Kathleen Marden. The UFO Cover-Up: What World Governments Don't Want You to Know. Part of the Alien Encounters series. 2018. 211p. ISBN 978-1-50817699-2. Available at 001.94 FRI on the library shelves.

Conspiracies abound about the presence (or absence) or Unknown Flying Objects (UFO). Many encounters have been proven as fake, but just as many have never been truly disproven. This book seeks to make the case that a conspiracy to deny the mere existence of UFOs has taken place throughout Earth's societies, with powerful government officials and scientists using misinformation and bully tactics to denigrate and deny that UFOs had ever been to Earth.

Though references in the Bible and in other holy books indicate that aliens visited Earth in the past, the advent of the nuclear age seems to have attracted attention from outside our solar system, with more and better documented encounters, especially in the United States. This book explores several encounters and how, despite the evidence presented, scientific and government authorities ridiculed witnesses and ignored the science.

Readers interested in UFOs and aliens will appreciate the research examined by the authors that reveal how government agencies, scientists, and mainstream media created a campaign of denying alien visitations. Conspiracy theorists will enjoy the case laid presented that a vast conspiracy is not only possible, but has actually happened. Even readers who don't believe in aliens and in UFOs will be puzzled by the evidence accumulated over the last seventy years of the nuclear age.

My Name is Not Easy

Edwardson, Debby Dahl. My Name is Not Easy. 2011. 248p. ISBN 9780761459804. Available at

In the 1960s, education in remote areas of Alaska consists of a few scattered schools. For most students, they must leave their families and their communities to attend a school hundreds of miles away. Luke and his brothers Bunna and Isaac are flying south to attend Sacred Heart School, run by Catholic priests and nuns. Isaac is immediately separated from the two older brothers because he is too young, and ends up adopted and living in Dallas, Texas.

Luke and Bunna join other students who are Inuit, Native Americans, and the odd White students. Racial tensions are high between the two groups of Alaskans, with whites being the outsiders. Chickie is the daughter of a White merchant who owns a store above the Arctic Circle, and she is likewise here to further her education. As the years proceed, these students encounter hardships and trials but manage to grow as individuals while learning to respect their differences.

Told from multiple perspectives and filled with Alaskan history from the period, including possible nuclear detonations to create harbors and ill-conceived scientific studies to inject iodine into people to test their resistance to cold, the stories of the students and teachers of Sacred Heart are able to empower themselves and effect change on their school and on society as a whole. Fans of realistic fiction will appreciate the struggles that they experience as well as the steps they take to address them.

Assassins' America: Four Killers, Four Murdered Presidents, and the Country They Left Behind

Gunderson, Jessica & Joe Tougas. Assassins' America: Four Killers, Four Murdered Presidents, and the Country They Left Behind. 2018. 202p. ISBN 978-1-62370-981-5. Available at 973.7 GUN on the library shelves.

Since the United States' founding, 45 men have served as President, the highest elected office in the land. Of these, four were assassinated during their administration: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. Each killing was done by a lone individual in the name of perceived grievances, and each death altered the course of government.

Lincoln was the first President to fall to an assassin's bullet. High on the heels of his re-election, the end of the Civil War and looking forward to reconstructing the South, Lincoln was killed by John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor who wanted to revive the fortunes of the Confederacy. Instead of being considered a hero, however, he was hunted throughout Virginia and was caught and killed in a shoot out a few days later. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was much less inclined to protect the just-emancipated slaves. Had Lincoln lived to serve his second term, it is likely that civil rights would have been implemented sooner.

President Garfield was elected in 1880 and sworn in office in March 1881. Campaigning against corruption and the spoil system that had developed at all levels of governments, Garfield had high hopes that he could implement a merit-based bureaucracy and a dedicated public service. Charles Guiteau was a supporter of Garfield and believed he deserved to receive some sort of appointment following Garfield's election. Angry at not being recognized for his supposed efforts in getting him elected, he shot Garfield, who died two months later of horrible care. His death crystalized the efforts to stem the flow of corruption and help create a meritocracy.

President McKinley had already served a term when he was elected again in 1900. This was a time where anarchists aimed to overthrow all governments. Leon Czolgosz was a drifter who had trouble remaining employed and whose home life was unsatisfactory. Hoping to strike it big for the cause of anarchy and impress Emma Goldman, a famous anarchist, he decided to assassinate McKinley, and an opportunity presented itself at the 1901 World's Fair, and he successfully shot the President. Theodore Roosevelt succeeded McKinley, and launched a series of antitrust actions to dismantle the large monopolies that controlled the economy of the United States.

President Kennedy was serving his first term when he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. An avowed communist, Oswald was a loner who had attempted to gain Soviet citizenship. Kennedy had brought a youth and enthusiasm to the Presidency, but he had continued increasing the United States' involvement into Vietnam. However, by 1963 Kennedy was asking for every option in Vietnam, including complete disengagement. President Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, chose to pursue the U.S.'s involvement into Vietnam.

The world would be a much different place if these four Presidents had been able to complete their terms. Fans of history will enjoy this short exploration of what happened, as well as predictions on what would have happened had each president lived. Fans of history will appreciate reading about these presidential deaths and what could have been.

The Cold War

Day, Meredith, ed. The Cold War. Part of the Political and Diplomatic History of the Modern World series. 2017. 252p. ISBN 978-1-68048-358-1. Available at 909.82 COL on the library shelves.

The death of Adolf Hitler and the fall of Berlin in April 1945 heralded the end of the Second World War, but it also brought about the beginning of the end for a multipolar world where Great Powers were competing against other. In the wreckage of Europe emerged two Superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, with diametrically opposed goals and ideals. Whereas the Soviet Union was determined to pursue the export of Communism and the installation of a world proletariat, the United States aimed to maintain the capitalistic economic system that had allowed it to triumph over Germany and Japan.

Tensions that had arisen before the war ended, but as both side dug into their respective positions and as two blocs emerged around each Superpower, these boiled over into conflicts, both with the blockade of West-Berlin by the Soviets and North Korea's attack on South Korea. In both of these instances it became clear that the Soviet Union was willing to skirt with open warfare. The advent of nuclear weapons on both side soon insured mutual destruction, and the Superpowers became embroiled in proxy conflicts around the world and competed with each other for political and cultural prestige.

At the same time, decolonization and regional conflicts, which were only remotely linked to this Superpower competition, changed the maps of Africa and Asia. The two blocks never came into open conflict with each other, hence the period became known as the Cold War. At times, such as during the Cuban missile crisis, both seemed bound for war, but were successfully able to avoid it.

At times one side seemed to dominate over the other, while at other points both seemed equally powerful. By the mid 1980s, however, it was becoming clear that the Soviet Union's economic difficulties were about to bring changes. The sudden liberalization of Hungary, which generated a massive wave of East Germans fleeing to the West, coupled with Soviet loss of confidence following their withdrawal from Afghanistan, led in very short order to a collapse of the Berlin Wall and of the Iron Curtain, as well as German reunification and NATO expansion.

Fans of history will enjoy reading the history of the second half of the 20th century and how events that happened then affect us today.

Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961

Brimner, Larry Dane. Twelve Days in May: Freedom Ride 1961. 2017. 111p. ISBN 978-1-62979-917-9. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

The dawn of the Civil Rights era was ushered by the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs. Board of Education to desegregate schools on the basis that separate but equal was nothing but. Further decision broadened the rights that African-Americans could in theory enjoy and benefit from. One of these decisions, Boynton vs. Virginia desegregated interstate busing services between states. In the South, however, these decisions were viewed with hostility in Southern states, who openly opposed these changes to their highly segregated society. Despite these decisions, things were very slow to change in the South, as laws were selectively enforced to keep African-Americans as second-class citizens.

To force the issues, an organization named the Congress of Racial Equality decided to promote a trip on buses through the South to commemorate a similar trip in 1947 called the Journey of Reconciliation and the 1954’s Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Using non-violence techniques learned from Gandhi, thirteen Black and White, men and women civil rights activists booked bus tickets from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans in May 1961, and headed out on May 4 to challenge the injustices they still saw taking place in the South in bus terminals and on buses, where Blacks were still expected to sit at the back of the bus.

Over the course of the next twelve days, these civil rights leaders confronted attitudes and tested local laws that defied Supreme Court decisions. Despite violent opposition and the destruction of one of the buses, the riders successfully reached New Orleans and spread an awareness of these issues throughout the United States.

Filled with pictures of the trip, this book retells what happened on each of the twelve days and present information on each of the riders. Readers who like history will appreciate the details provided on this stormy period in race relations in the United States. If you enjoy this book or would like to learn more about Civil Rights in the United States, take a look at A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riots of 1919.

The Cold War

Grant, Reg. The Cold War. 2012. 48p. ISBN 978-1-61535-606-5. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

The Cold War was the defining feature of the 2nd half of the 20th century. Two powerful countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, faced each other, promoting and defending their interests throughout the world. Uncomfortable allies against Germany and Japan in the Second World War, these two countries became known as superpowers. Armed with nuclear weapons and mobilizing allies, each side sought to neutralize the other without resorting to actual warfare. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall, which symbolically and physically divided the two sides, and the fall of the Soviet Union two years later, the Cold War came to an end. Though tensions perdure between the United States and Russia, the risk of complete destruction is less than it was during the Cold War.

This short book highlights the roots of the Cold War, and its importance in world history. Weapons development, hot conflicts between proxies, advanced spying, and other aspects of the Cold War are examined. Famous and infamous individuals and their roles during this conflict are also explored. A fascinating period in history, the Cold War leaves no one indifferent to the fact that studying history is important to see where we came from and where we might be heading.

All the Crooked Saints

Stiefvater, Maggie. All the Crooked Saints. 2017. 320p. ISBN 9780545930802. Available both on the library shelves at FIC STI and as an audiobook from Overdrive.

In a dusty desert corner of mid-1960s Colorado stands Bicho Raro, a small ranch populated by the extended Soria family and by pilgrims, people who have come to Bicho Raro seeking miracles. Members of the  Soria family possess the unique ability to perform miracles. The first miracle reveals the truth about a person. The second miracle frees that person from that truth. There are three types of pilgrims: Those whose first and second miracle happen almost simultaneously, those who need time to deal with their issue and accept the truth, and those who never complete the second miracle. Travelers from all over the United States come here, sometimes with nothing but a sense of desire for change, guided here by the pull of miracles.

Daniel Soria is the current saint, but when he falls in love with Marisita, who is perpetually under a cloud of rain, and refuses to remove her wedding dress. Sorias and pilgrims are not supposed to mix, and anytime a Soria has attempted to help a pilgrim things have gone bad for the Soria, and three lifesize wooden statues of Soria ancestors demonstrate that. Having endangered himself, Daniel runs to the desert so his family cannot help him.

Beatriz and Joaquin Soria are cousins, and they have built a pirate radio station out of an old pickup truck. Cruising the desert at night, they broadcast a low signal to whomever is listening in their corner of the desert. When it becomes clear that Daniel took a radio with him and is listening to them, the cousins decide to keep broadcasting and invite Marisita to sit down for a live interview. Beatriz is emotionless and rational, much like her father, but deep down, could there still be hope for her? Joaquin wants to become a professional broadcaster, but who in the desert will ever hear his voice and give him a chance?

Pete is on his way from Oklahoma to Bicho Raro because he saw a sell ad for a pickup truck. He’s picked up by a disc jockey from Philadelphia, who’s also pulled towards Bicho Raro for his own reasons. A hard worker, Pete is the only person at the ranch who is neither a Soria nor a pilgrim. All he wants is to purchase the truck, but now it’s used as a radio station. And why is Beatriz so alluring?

As miracles are performed, and the Soria family struggles with rescuing Daniel from the desert, a disparate cast of characters works through their issues and darkest fears, hoping to ultimately find themselves and shed what holds them back from a better life.

Stiefvater once again offers a masterful book with excellent character development and an engaging plot. Fans of The Scorpio Races and of the Raven Boys will enjoy this standalone story of a dysfunctional family with a hint of paranormal activity.

The Mythmaker

Harrell, Mary. The Mythmaker. 2018. 148p. ISBN 978-1-63051-500-3. Available at FIC HAR on the library shelves.

Katie Neumann comes from a large family, but the birth of the youngest member also brings about her mother’s death, and at thirteen Katie finds herself motherless. Her father, overwhelmed with seven children to take care of, quickly remarries to a woman who doesn’t care about the children, since they are not “blood” related. Growing up without a mother is tough, and Katie finds herself having to figure out being a woman by herself, without the caring help a mother can provide.

When an angel first comes to visit, Katie is pleased that her mother sent her some help. Over the course of the next three years, as Katie grows up and begins to understand who she is, she establishes a trusted relationship with the angel, who provides her with guidance and comfort as she deals with younger sibling, an uncaring step-mother, and a father who won’t understand reason.

A personal myth of sorrow and growth, The Mythmaker will be appreciated by anyone who has suffered the loss of a close relative.

While the World Watched

McKinstry, Carolyn Maull. While the World Watched. 2011. 320p. ISBN 9781414336367. Available at ...

When a bomb blasted inside the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963, Carolyn Maull’s life was forever changed. Four girls from the African-American congregation were killed by the actions of members of the Ku Klux Klan, throwing the city in turmoil and shining a spotlight on the unequal treatment of Blacks in Alabama. Carolyn had just been in the bathroom a minute before the blast, but had left just in time. Reeling from the attack, it took her years to finally come to terms with the events of that day.

With the struggle for civil rights raging in the South, Birmingham was one of the most segregated and violent cities. African-Americans were routinely targeted by the Klan for fighting against the established White order and for requesting better treatment and life conditions. Carolyn, as the only girl in her family, was sheltered by her parents and was protected from the worst abuses, but this bombing and its consequences forced her to confront the segregationist society she lived in. This vile action galvanized the Civil Rights movement and attracted Dr. Martin Luther King to Birmingham. Demonstrations and struggles followed, and eventually the city was desegregated.

Carolyn lived and worked at the forefront of it all. Her first-person perspective provides a much needed account of these events that marked a generation and continue to impact our society today, and how far we must still travel to make everyone feel a part of this great nation.

Mort Ziff Is Not Dead

Fagan, Cary. Mort Ziff Is Not Dead. 2017. 176p. ISBN 978-0-14-319847-5. Available at FIC FAG on the library shelves.

Norman Fishbein is the youngest kid in his family, and his two older brothers are always picking on him. As Norman himself says, it’s as if, when he was born, they received instructions that their only goal in life was to make Norman miserable. Tormenting Norman relentlessly, Marcus and Larry are always topping each other, leaving Norman behind.

When Norman and his brothers enter a contest to guess the number of candies in a jar at the mall, they don’t expect to win, but Norman is surprised months later when he receives a letter in the mail instructing him that he won $1,000. In the winter of 1965, $1,000 is a lot of money. Instead of saving it for himself, buying things he doesn’t need, he decides that the family needs a vacation Florida. Everyone readily agrees with him, and soon the Fishbein family arrives in Miami.

There they meet the Horvath family. Their three girls are the same age as the Fishbein children, and share the same hobbies. Instead of being friends, they become instant enemies. Except for Amy and Norman. Owing no loyalty to siblings who always pick on them, they decide to bow out of this little contest and enjoy their vacation instead. They soon discover that Mort Ziff, one of the most famous comedians from the 1950s, is still working at their hotel, telling bad jokes during dinner. But with Ziff’s position threatened by a Beatles cover band, Amy and Norman come up with a plan to ensure that Ziff will keep working as long as he wants to.

Anyone who has ever been picked on by older siblings will appreciate the quiet and graceful way in which younger siblings Norman and Amy deal with being eclipsed by their brothers and sisters and how they regain a sense of being in control of their own lives. Their success at making their siblings respect them will inspire the reader to reach out to his or her family members and thank them for being part of their family.

Lucky Broken Girl

Behar, Ruth. Lucky Broken Girl. 2017. 242p. ISBN 978-0-399-54644-0. Available at FIC BEH on the library shelves.

Recently immigrants from Communist Cuba, the Mizrahi family has escaped the regime with a bare minimum of possessions. Finding themselves living in New York City, the extended family is enjoying freedom but life can be difficult at time. Ruthie’s father works six days a week to put food on the table, while her mother works around the house to ensure that everyone eats well and is clothed properly.

Ten-year-old Ruthie and her brother enjoy their lives in Queens, but she also misses many aspects of Cuba including the food and some of the customs. Living in a cosmopolitan building filled with recent immigrants, Ruthie shares her time with her brother and with friends, including Danielle, from Belgium, and Ravi, from India. First placed in the dumb class at school, she is soon promoted to the smart class once her English gets better.

Unfortunately for her, the Sunday before her move to her new class, the family visits an aunt and uncle on Staten Island in her father’s new car, but a tragic car accident that costs the lives of several teenagers sends her to the hospital with a broken leg. The doctor soon informs her that she will need to spend at least six months in a body cast stretching from her ankles to her chest. She will not be able to seat, move, or even go to the bathroom without help. Her mother now becomes her full-time care giver.

Stuck in bed with nothing to do, Ruthie suddenly has nothing but time on her hands. With a teacher coming to visit every other day, Ruthie soon catches up to her studies and improves her reading skills. But with no chance to experience life outside the four walls of her bedroom, Ruthie’s shrinking world forces her to develop a resilience she did not expect, and she realizes that friends and family are always there for her, even in the worst of times of one’s life.

For another story of Cuban children fleeing their island and integrating into life in the United States, take a look at The Red Umbrella, a story of adaptation in the face of adversity.

It All Comes Down to This

English, Karen. It All Comes Down to This. 2017. 368p. ISBN 978-0-544-83957-1. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

In 1965, the Civil Rights movement is in full swing in the United States. The Civil Rights Act was just passed the year before, but Jim Crow laws remain on the books in much of the country. California is more free than most states, but even there being African-American is to be part of the struggle for equal rights. For twelve-year-old Sophie, however, these issues are nothing but background noise.

As a member of the only African-American family in her neighborhood, she will be entering 9th grade along with her best friend Jennifer, who also happens to be twelve also as well as white. Her older sister Lily, meanwhile, will be moving to Atlanta to attend Spelman College, a black college. Sophie will find herself alone with her mother, who owns an art gallery, and her father, who is lawyer. Sophie dreads the countdown to August.

A trio of sisters down the road from Sophie have a pool, but she cannot swim there as their parents forbid colored people. Sophie is often reminded that she is African-American, but she doesn’t see what race has to do with it. Interested in writing and acting, Sophie and Jennifer seize the chance to audition for a community play, but she knows she will be the only African-American kid to audition. She plans on memorizing not only her part but all of the play, just to get a fighting chance.

With her parents’ marriage falling apart and a mistress in the picture, Sophie finds herself spending more time alone with Mrs. Baylor, the new housekeeper. Lily, meanwhile, finds herself attracted to Nathan, Mrs. Baylor’s son, who’s blacker than night while Lily could almost pass as white. This attraction is frowned upon by their mother, through the bias that lighter skin is better.

As Sophie experiences racism and as the summer days slowly drain away, the racial tensions in Los Angeles near the boiling point. Can Sophie learn to cope with the cards she’s been dealt? For a boy’s perspective on a similar theme, read Armstrong & Charlie, taking place a decade later in Los Angeles.