Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control

Benjamin, Medea. Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. 2012. 262p. ISBN 9781935928.

Drones enhance the nation's military arsenal, limiting threats to pilots and providing the ability to operate for a long time above targets. They also represent a growing menace to people everywhere, as the ability to deliver deadly missiles at a long range is democratizing the number and models of drones available on the market. Drone Warfare explores the history of drones and how they are currently used.

The United States pioneered the use of drones, and employs them to conduct surveillance on the border and in cities, to conduct attacks against military targets and those deemed to be terrorists, and to monitor environmental conditions during forest fires and flooding. Their legal use is ill-defined. Can a drone be used to target and kill an American citizen without due process? President Obama certainly thought so, when he ordered the death of a Yemeni American accused of terrorism. Would Americans approve of China using a drone to attack a person it considered a terrorist in New York City? Legal and moral discussions need to take place to guide further deployment and utilization of these deadly tools.

The Opposite of Always

Reynolds, Justin. The Opposite of Always. 2019. 464p. 600 mins. ISBN 978-0-0627-4837-9. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Jack, a high school senior, first meets Kate, a college student, at a party during a campus visit. They strike up a conversation and soon become engrossed in each other's company. Even though Jack is in love with Jillian, who is dating his best friend, he begins to fall for Kate. Kate, however, has a problem. She suffer from sickle cell disease, a genetic disorder that prevents her from delivering a steady supply of oxygen to the cells in her body. Not wishing to reveal this, Kate breaks it off with Jack. When Kate is admitted and dies in the hospital, Jack gets a call, and in his confused and hurried mind he trips down his house's stairs and breaks his neck.

Jack regains consciousness, only to find himself back at the party on the first night he met Kate. Now he has a chance to figure out where he went wrong with Kate, and attempt a new relationship and prevent her from dying. Unfortunately, Kate dies again with Jack present. Over and over, Jack returns to the first time they met, and he comes to realize that this is his opportunity not only to help Kate get better, but to fix his relationship with Jillian, help his best friend with his father, who is returning from prison, and maybe, just maybe grow from the experience.

Similar to the movie Ground Hog Day, Jack has the possibility to make everything right, but it requires time to figure out what right is. The characters are well-fleshed out, their motivations are realistic, and their pain, joy and love all too real. Fans of realistic fiction, if they overlook the odd traveling back in time aspect of the novel, will appreciate Jack's efforts at making everything right.

In Search of Us

Dellaira, Ava. In Search of Us. 2018. 384p. ISBN 9780374305314. Available at FIC DEL on the library shelves.

Living in New Mexico, Angela has never known her father, and Marilyn, her mother rarely mentions him. When she does, tears and a complete withdrawal usually shuts down the conversation. All Angie knows is that his name was James, and he died before she was born. Her discovery of old pictures trigger a quest to really connect with her father. Searches on Ancestry.com don't yield anything useful, but she does discover he has a brother named Justin who might live in Los Angeles. Her ex-boyfriend Sam drives to California every year to visit his cousin, so Angie begs him to take her with him so she can find Justin and get answers about her father.

Eighteen years earlier, Marylin and her mother are forced to move back into her brother-in-law's apartment after they run out of money. Marylin had a career as a child model but things have dried up since she went through puberty, and every audition leads to heartaches when she is rejected. Marylin doesn't really care, however. She wants to go to college, and has her eyes set on Columbia. Her mother will never let her go however, because Marylin represents her ticket out of poverty to a life in a large house with nice cars.

When she meets James, the neighbor in the downstairs apartment, she is immediately smitten by him. Marylin is tall and blonde, and James is African-American, but both of them share the loss of a parent and a desire to escape their present conditions by going to college. Over the course of a few months, their relationship grows into love, but ends tragically.

The relationships of three mothers and daughters move this story forward. Each character is well defined and possesses intrinsic motivations. Angie's fears of being one in a seven billion world are real, but she learns during her trip that her mother did everything she could to ensure that Angie would have as happy a childhood as possible. She also discovers truths that ultimately make her a better person, even if they hurt. Fans of realistic fictions will love this story, told in alternating chapters, and will cheer as Angie and Marylin reconcile with each other and with the world around them.

Cold Day in the Sun

Biren. Sara. Cold Day in the Sun. 2019. 311p. 506 mins. ISBN 978-1-68335-697-4. Available as an ebook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

Holland has played hockey for as long as she can remember. Coming from a family of hockey players, she followed in her father and oldest brothers' footsteps and started skating almost as soon as she could walk. This year, as a junior in high school Holland joined the varsity boys' team, even though her Minnesota high school has a girls' team. Holland is so good that she outclasses most of the players on her time. Her older brother Carter is co-captain with Wes, who seems to have it out for Holland, pushing her hard to do better.

When her high school gets the chance to win a state-wide televised game called HockeyFest, she suddenly enters the spotlight. Each team looking for a chance to win this event will feature an interviewed player in a sports segment to be aired on the one of the statewide television stations. Holland is selected to be that player as the only girl on a boys' team in the state. But there are many locals who don't think a girl should take the spot of a boy on the team. And Wes... Holland is starting to fall for that smug yet talented player. That would violate her rule of not dating a member of her team. As HockeyFest gets closer, however, Holland finds herself drawing closer and closer to Wes, and the tensions risk damaging the team and their chance at winning this prestigious chance to play on television.

Fans of sport stories will appreciate Holland's drive to be a successful player and not to be seen only as the girl on the team, but as an integral member for the team's successes. Her struggles against perceived gender roles and her reality on the ice are fully explored and are richly described. If you liked Dairy Queen, you will enjoy Holland's story as well.

One Was Lost

Richards, Natalie D. One Was Lost. 2016. 308p. ISBN 9781492615743. Available both as an ebook an audiobook from Overdrive.

Sera is a senior in high school, and she's already regretting signing up for this camping trip with the school. There's broken Emily, always putting herself down and hiding her tru personality. Jude, the preppy rich boy who shows everyone how easy it can be. And Lukas. Bad boy Lukas, with whom Sera exchanged a kiss on Sophie's deck a few months back. Lukas wasn't supposed to be on this trip, so why did he come? Two more teens and two teacher chaperones complete this group. And now, three days from the trailhead, the incessant rain is making everyone else miserable.

Nearing a river, the group is separated in two by a sudden rise in water. Sera, Emily, Lukas, Jude and Mr. Walker pitch their tents and retire for the night on one shore, hoping to reunited with Madison, Hannah and Ms. Brighton  in the morning. When they wake up the next day, however, they find that they have been drugged, their phones have been destroyed, and each of them has been marked with a word on their forearm. Lukas is dangerous. Emily is damaged. Jude is deceptive. Sera is darling. Mr. Walker is drugged out of his mind and completely incapacitated. It is mid-afternoon. Across the raging river they find a dead body, their hiking mates' camp site destroyed, and the brightly colored nail attached to a severed finger of Ms. Brighton's hanging. They also find the roman numeral III hung up near their site.

Far away from civilization, with no way of contacting anyone, and with a killer on the loose, the four teens must decide how to escape, and, more importantly, whom to trust. The very killer could be in their midst...

Suspenseful but with an ending that will disappoint some, this thriller will keep fans of mysteries turning the page to find out who did it, and why.

It Came From the Sky

Sedoti, Chelsea. It Came From the Sky. 2020. 512p. ISBN 978-1-4926-7302-6. Available at FIC SOD on the library shelves.

Gideon Hofstadt lives in Lansburg, Pennsylvania. A true science geek, this high school junior loves space, aims to get into MIT, and then work for NASA as an engineer. Problem is, he doesn’t really like people. Gideon only has one best friend, Cassie, and he barely tolerates Arden, the third wheel in this trio. He happens to be in love with Owen, who reciprocates the feeling, but it’s complicated.

Ishmael, Gideon’s older brother and a senior, participates in one of Gideon’s experiments and causes an explosion so powerful it digs a giant crater near their farmhouse. Suddenly the greatest hoax Lansburg has ever seen is born. Ishmael recounts how aliens came from the sky, while Gideon studies the townsfolk' reaction to the appearance of UFOs among them, hoping to write a sociological study that will impress MIT. As they push the envelope with more rumors and events, things threaten to spiral out of their control, and Gideon soon discovers that a hoax can change a whole town. Gideon is a complicated character.

Though never identified as autistic, he displays several characteristics, among them a love for certainty and the inability to read people. His family dynamics will be instantly recognized by anyone who never quite fitted in. The supporting characters are very realistic, and though the story moves along quickly the reader is always looking forward to Gideon’s next antics. The romantic interest involves only light kissing, making this book appropriate for all ages.

This fake visit from outer space combines into a brilliantly crafted and hilarious tale about the means justifying the end, until they don’t. Fans of humorous stories and of Sedoti's previous novel, The Hundred Lies of Lizzy Lovett, will be clamoring for more of Gideon.

Maybe This Time

West, Kasie. Maybe This Time. July 2019. 368p. ISBN 978-1-338-21008-8. Available at FIC WES on the library shelves.

 Sophie Evans cannot wait for the day she gets to leave her small Alabama town and head to New York, where she hopes to attend college for fashion design. Now a junior, Sophie works at Every Occasion, a floral business involved in all sorts of events, from the Valentine’s Day Retirement Home Dinner to New Year’s Eve celebration. Andrew Hart is from Manhattan, but he doesn’t live in the same place for long. His famous father, Chef Jett Hart, now spends a year working with a small business owner/chef, helping them improve and expand. For the next year, Andrew and Sophie meet during these events, working for their respective employers.

Sophie finds Andrew entitled and infuriatingly aggravating. Andrew finds Sophie intriguing but unfriendly. Can they learn to deal with each other’s presence with all the guests around them? Told over nine major events, Sophie and Andrew’s hostile relationship slowly evolves into one of grudging respect and then love as they spend more time together. Each character starts as a stereotype, the girl from rural America who can’t wait to leave, and the sophisticated boy from the big city. They quickly grow into authentic individuals with dreams that are worth fighting for.

The blossoming of their relationship is slow and sweet and involves nothing more explicit than a series of kisses. The supporting cast is realistic, with Sophie and Andrew’s problematic relationship with their parents accurately portrayed. Fans of relationship novels and of West’s P.S. I Love You will devour this romantic read.

The Fill-In Boyfriend

West, Kasie. The Fill-In Boyfriend. 2015. 344p. 394 mins. ISBN 978-0-06-233638-5. Available as an ebook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

Gia Montgomery is the alpha of her group of high school friends. Her position has been contested since Jules joined their group. For months she's been telling them about her boyfriend Bradley, who goes to UCLA, and she's been looking forward to her high school prom and the day she can finally introduce Bradley to her friends, and shut Jules up.

When the day arrives, however, Bradley, who drove from Los Angeles for the night, realizes that Gia only wants him here to prove to her friends that he exists. Angry, he breaks up with her and leaves her in the parking lot, so tantalizing close to the entrance. Gia can already see Jules' gleeful look when she walks in alone, and this is intolerable.

So Gia does the only thing an alpha like her could do. She recruits the guy who just dropped his sister off at the prom to be her date. It takes some convincing, but Fake Bradley reluctantly agrees to go with her and to participate in her plan to break up at the end of the night. She shows up Fake Bradley to her friends, and all except Jules are impressed. Jules keeps a smirk on her face.

When Gia Montgomery's boyfriend, Bradley, dumps her in the parking lot of her high school prom, she decides to do the unthinkable ... convince the cute guy waiting to pick up his sister to pretend to be her boyfriend for the night. Will Gia turn her fake boyfriend into a real one without exposing her lie and possibly destroying her friendships and her newfound relationship?     

The Lovely and the Lost

Barnes, Jennifer Lynn. The Lovely and the Lost. 2019. 328p. 512 mins. ISBN 978-1-982596-26-2. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

As a young girl, Kira was found lost in the forest, where she had been fending for herself for days, if not weeks. Cady Bennett and her team of search-and-rescue dogs located her deep into the woods. Kira was never claimed, so Cady adopted her and raised her as her own daughter, forming a family of three with her own son, Jude. For Kira, it took years of therapy before she could trust other humans again, and even now she doesn't like to be cornered, has trouble interpreting subtle signals people send, and would much rather work with her dog than with others. Nevertheless, she managed to make friends with Free, a neighbor girl, who joined Kira and Jude as a now infamous trio, and all three of them have joined the search-and-rescue business, training dogs that are later purchased by various organizations. Kira's goal is to become a certified search-and-rescue dog trainer.

During a regular training session, Kira's dog finds a strange man on their property. He is Bales Bennett, Cady's father and someone Cady hasn't spoken to in years. Even Jude has never met him. He brings news that a young girl has walked away from her camp site in the Sierra Glades National Park, and has now been missing for two days. As this case is similar to Kira's own life, Cady accepts to participate in the search, and she brings Kira, Jude and Free along to gain valuable field experience. They meet Gabriel, a ward of Bales, with secrets of his own and, like Kira, hard to approach.

Able to draw from her own past, Kira and her dog quickly locate evidence that the child was still alive recently, but there's clear proof that she is with someone who is intimately familiar with the forest. The case transforms from a missing person's to a kidnapping. As the teens spend time in the forest and in the local villages, they realize many visitors have gone missing in the last year. In a race against time to find the missing child, secrets will be revealed, lives will change forever, and Kira will need to decide whether she can put her trust back in humanity.

Author of The Naturals and Every Other Day, Barnes successfully builds a psychological thriller with a unique premise of a human / animal partnership and an emotionally crippled main character. Fans will appreciate Kira's tenacity and dedication to make sure this girl does not become like her.

If I Run

Blackstock, Terry. If I Run. Book 1 of the If I Run series. 2016. 305p. 402 mins. ISBN 978-0-310-33246-6. Available as an audiobook and as an ebook from Overdrive.

When Casey Cox discovers to her horror that her friend Brent has been stabbed and killed, she runs off with the minimum of things: money, a change of clothes, a cell phone. She didn't kill Brent, but she knows the evidence will point to her. Her fingerprints are all over Brent's apartment. Her shoes stepped in his blood, and this blood is now in her car and on her clothes. The police will not believe her, especially since she knows for a fact corrupt police officers were behind her father's own supposed suicide ten years earlier.

Brent had been investigating her father's death. A former cop, his death by hanging showed signs of struggle, but detectives had ruled it a suicide. Now Casey is on the run, and needs to figure a way to prove both her innocence in Brent's death and her father's own murder while remaining safely hidden from the corrupt police officers chasing her. She needs to stay one step ahead of them and hide where they will not look for her.

Dylan Roberts has returned from Iraq with PTSD, but he wants to continue his work serving the public. A former criminal investigator in the Army, Dylan hopes to join the local police force but must overcome his diagnosis. A friend of Brent, he is hired by his parents to investigate Brent's murder and track down Casey, something the local police, with stretched resources, will not be able to do. If he can bring her back to face justice, he will secure a place on the force.

As he follows Casey from Louisiana to Georgia, Dylan notices that Casey is not doing what a criminal with a guilty conscience would do. She helps people and puts herself in harm's way, instead of going to ground and disappearing. The more Dylan digs, the darker the mystery surrounding Casey and the double murders of her friend Brent and her father, and the more convinced he becomes that the police is involved in both. How can he get Casey to come in knowing she's at risk of dying in an "accident?"

Casey, meanwhile, starts a new life, only to discover that the kidnapped daughter of the new friends she made may be closer than everyone thinks. She may be in her new neighborhood. But investigating may blow her cover identity and alert Dylan and the police tracking her to her whereabouts. Faced with her own safety or the hope of rescuing an innocent victim, Casey makes a decision that will change the rest of her life....

Illegal

Colfer,  Eoin and Andrew Donkin. Illustrated by Giovanni Rigano. Illegal. 2017. 128p. ISBN 9781492662143. Available as an ebook from Overdrive.

Ebo lives in Central Africa. When his mother passed, his uncle took charge of the family but does little aside from drinking. Ebo's older sister, Sisi, left months ago for Europe, promising to send money back. She hasn't been heard since. Kwame, Ebo's older brother, decide to strike for Europe as well to find his sister and let her know the family needs help. He leaves Ebo behind, and does not tell him he's leaving.

When Ebo realizes his brother is gone, he decides to do the same. He grabs his meager possessions, and takes the bus north towards the Sahara. A few days behind Kwame, he hopes to find him so they can travel together. Life for a young child is hard, however, but Ebo seizes every opportunity to work and same some money for the trip across the desert. Fortuitously he finds his brother, and when they have enough money they head across the desert where they are robbed and left behind. They manage to survive the crossing, only to find themselves in a civil war in Libya.

They once again work any job available, and attempt to hide from the security forces looking for illegal migrants. With enough money accumulated, they make the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean in search of Sisi and a better life in Europe. Tragedy strikes, however, and the ship sinks, leaving the two brothers, who can't swim, in the middle of an ocean. Ebo is rescued, but Kwame is not. Sisi saw a picture of Ebo being rescued, and finds him in the migrant shelter.

A tale with currency, Ebo's tragic journey represents what millions of people have endured to escape conflict, violence, and poverty. Readers concerned about immigration will appreciate this haunting look at the story of someone who persevered to find his loved ones but paid a high price.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

Sedoti, Chelsea. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. 2017. 387p. 578 mins. ISBN 978-1-49263609-0. Available both as an ebook and an audiobook from Overdrive.

Lizzie Lovett had it all going for her. She was the most popular girl at school. She was polite, pretty, and appreciated by all. Well, not by all. Hawthorn has always been fascinated by Lizzie Lovett, who graduated with her brother three years ago. Hawthorn both loathes Lizzie for her easy way of life, and wishes she could be her. Unlike Lizzie, Hawthorn is gangly, almost friendless, self-centered, without goals or ambition, and suffers from a weird name and weirder parents. So when Lizzie disappears during a camping trip in the woods with her boyfriend Enzo, Hawthorn cannot avoid getting caught in the investigation into her disappearance. Plus, she's one of the first to know Lizzie has gone missing, so for once she can initiate the rumor mill and not be its subject.

Lizzie's vanishing suddenly triggers a wave of speculation in the sleepy town of Griffin Mills. Did her boyfriend kill her and bury her body? Did she walk out of the woods at night and has recreated herself elsewhere? Or did, as Hawthorn suspects, transform herself into a wolf? As Hawthorn digs around, she sinks even more in Lizzie's former life, spending time with Lizzie's boyfriend, though he may be the killer, working at the same restaurant Lizzie worked, and all the while accumulating more information about the girl people eventually forget as time moves on.

But what was once a passing interest becomes an all-consuming passion as Hawthorn pursues the ghost of Lizzie Lovett. Spending so much time looking for minute details in a girl's identity might cost Hawthorn her own...

My So-Called Bollywood Life

Sharma, Nissa. My So-Called Bollywood Life. 2018. 407 mins. ISBN 978-0-525-59569-4. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Coming from an Indian family, Winnie Mehta has spent her whole life believing a prophecy predicted by a revered pandit that declared she would meet her soul mate before she turned eighteen, and his name would start with an R. When she met Raj her freshman year, she instantly fell in love. Both of them are Indians. Both love Bollywood movies. And both are perfect for each other.

Living in Princeton, Winnie is looking forward to attending film school in New York. The co-president of her school's film club along with Raj, Winnie organizes a Film Festival every year, and this credential is what will separate her from the other applicants. When she returns from film camp, however, she discovers that Raj, during their break, hooked up with Jenny. This not only makes the running of the film festival harder, but it breaks the prophecy that links them. To top it off, the new film club advisor refuses to have co-presidents, and she discovers that Dev, another Indian-American, has loved her since their freshman year, but because of Raj had to remain on the sideline. And like Raj, David makes his own movies and loves Bollywood productions.

With so many pieces of the puzzle now scrambled, Winnie's happy ending appears doomed. Can she change the script of her life and move past this prophecy that has shackled her all of her life? Friends, family, and an inspired Bollywood movie star will try to get her back on course to her realize her dreams.

A fun read, My So-Called Bollywood Life provides a glimpse of living as Indian-American in the United States, when social demands clash with a mix of cultures. Winnie makes many references to Bollywood movies, and she relates them to her life. Fans of love stories will appreciate Winnie's efforts at finding true love while aiming for her own dreams.

One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game that Brought a Divided Town Together

Bass, Amy. One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game that Brought a Divided Town Together. 2018. 328p. ISBN 978-1-54911568-4. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

In the 1990s, a vicious civil war tore Somalia apart. Famine, oppression and national mismanagement contributed to the deaths of millions, and to the exile of even more. Refugees poured out of the horn of Africa and spread around the world. Many refugees were resettled in the United States, and a few of them ended up in Lewiston, Maine. A former mill community, the town had been economically devastated in the 1970s. Rents were plentiful and cheap, and the community was at first welcoming.

These newly arrived residents attracted family members and friends, and soon hundreds and then thousands of refugee moved from all parts of the United States to Lewiston. Tensions soon grew between the new arrivals and those longtime residents, many of whom were one or two generations removed from being immigrants themselves. These tensions spilled in the local schools, creating conflicts between the two groups. When the soccer coach noticed the talent of some of the Somali students, he recruited them on the team, and soon perennial loser Lewiston Blue Devils began winning games throughout the state.

Many in the community resisted these changes, but others embraced the new arrivals. The team learned to play together, and appreciate each other's culture. The coach successfully forged unity among his players, and achieved Lewiston's first soccer state championship in 2015 through grit, determination, and a realization that prejudices only serve to undermine our sense of humanity.

An amazing true story, fans of underdogs will appreciate how a disparate group came together and helped integrate their communities into a vibrant town culture. Other amazing sport stories include Unbroken and The Boys of the Boat. 

American Panda

Chao, Gloria. American Panda. 2018. 311p. 456 mins. ISBN 978-1-48149910-1. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Mei is torn between her very traditional Taiwanese heritage, strictly enforced by her parents, and her decidedly American tastes in culture and activities. Driven by her parents and by the guilt to perform they instilled in her, Mei graduated early from high school, and, at seventeen, is now a freshman at MIT. Her parents really want her to become a doctor, but Mei hates germs and bodily functions, and instead loves dance. She would rather use her mastery of math to open and run her own dance studio, but she doesn't want to disappoint her parents.

Mei's Chinese heritage assumes she will be the obedient daughter who fulfill her parents' wishes. She needs to be a doctor, because it is a respectable and essential career that has great earning potential. She is to marry a man of Taiwanese heritage her mother will have selected, and she is to have a son, to continue the family line. Her brother Xing broke with tradition when he introduced her parents to his girlfriend, a woman who, due to a childhood sickness, would have difficulty conceiving a baby. As a result they disowned him and barred Mei from even contacting him.

Now at MIT, Mei is navigating the minefield that is roommates, parental expectations, classes, and cute boys like Darren, a Japanese American, not even counting her own wishes and desires. Darren looms large, but he's a no-no in her parents' eyes, with the Japanese responsible for China's suffering during the Second World War. As the first semester progresses, Mei sinks further into a web of lies she has told to keep the two parts of her life separate, but she soon realizes that she can neither be fully Chinese nor fully American, but rather a hybrid with the best and worst characteristics. Can Mei discover a way to reconcile these two parts of her life without antagonizing her family further while at the same time not denying who she really is?

Extraordinary Means

Schneider, Robyn. Extraordinary Means. 2015. 324p. ISBN 978-0-06-221716-5. Available at FIC SCH on the library shelves.

Lane's comfortably completely laid out life plan has just collapsed on itself. A senior in high school, Lane was looking forward to taking the SATs, seeking and receiving early admission to Stanford, then move on to graduate school before getting married and having an amazing career. He is smart, driven, but didn't take into account that tuberculosis could stop him in his tracks. Now sick, his family has sent him to Latham House, a sanatorium where teens who have contracted the incurable strain of tuberculosis are being treated while scientists continue their research into discovering a cure.

Since incurable tuberculosis is, by definition, incurable, most teens sent to Latham House don't expect they will ever leave this place. As a school, the academic demands are minimal. As a hospital, everyone is focused on wellness and ensuring that patients don't overexercise their brains or their muscles, thus triggering a coughing fit. Lane expects to come to Latham House, continue his studies, and recuperate quickly enough to be sent home so he can apply to college.

On his first day there, he is stood up by his guide, and he has to go to the dining hall by himself. When Lane discovers that his guide in fact died in the night, it hits him that for many people Latham is the last place they will live. In the dining hall he recognizes a girl he was attracted to during a summer camp experience three years ago when they were both thirteen. The Sadie he knew was an awkward and shy girl. Not this Sadie. She is outspoken and wears her passion on her sleeves. Lane immediately finds himself even more attracted to her. Sadie, however, remember summer camp and the fact that Lane stood her up at the camp dance.

Finally able to resolve this misunderstanding, Lane joins Sadie's group of misfits and troublemakers, and soon learns that living life doesn't need to mean the journey is already all planned. All of the teens at Latham House have learned the hard way that you need to live in the moment.

As Lane and Sadie fall in love, he realizes that sickness could take it all away. Lane, Sadie and their friends dare to break rules. Some rules, however, are meant to protect them from themselves and from becoming sicker. When one of their own dies, they are forced to re-evaluate their lives.

Told from Lane and Sadie's perspective in alternating chapters, Extraordinary Means continues the exploration of teens finding themselves afflicted with incurable diseases. Fans of Quarantine: A Love Story will appreciate the realistic portrayal and the feelings shared by two teens in love.

Pharrell

Vetere, Lori. Pharrell. Part of the Hip-Hop & R&B Culture, Music & Storytelling series. 2019. 80p. ISBN 978-1-4222-4183-7. Available at B WIL on the library shelves. 

 

Pharrell Williams is a famous singer and music producer known for his mega-hit Happy. An accomplished artist, Pharrell's work touch more than music, with dives in fashion, movies, and writing as well. Born in 1973 in Virginia, Pharell quickly demonstrated an interest and a talent in music. His mother encouraged him to learn and practice, and he joined the school band in 7th grade, where he met his lifelong friend and group member Chad Hugo. Together they created the Neptunes, a production company that since the 1990s has created some of the most famous songs for artists, movies, video games, and commercials. 

Attracted by various sounds and inspired by world music, Pharrell's style has evolved and remains eclectic. He created his own lines of clothing, produced the movie Hidden Figures, and sponsored many philanthropical endeavors. Pharrell remains motivated to increase school graduation rates and increase the number of students who go to college to pursue their dreams.

Fans of music will appreciate Pharrell's hard work ethic and his dedication to being a mogul with a social conscience.

Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump

Brockenbrough, Martha. Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump. 2018. 519 mins. ISBN 978-1-25022959-5. Available as an audiobook from the library.

Those who have been surprised at the behavior of President Donald Trump had not been following his career as a real-estate developer and entertainer. Instead of changing him and making him more presidential, his surprise election in 2016 has magnified his strengths and weaknesses. How did a rich, thrice-married New Yorker who supported abortion rights become the nominee of the Republican Party?

Trump's grandfather emigrated from Germany in the 1885s for better economic opportunities and to avoid military conscription, he started as a barber but then accumulated wealth in several ventures in New York, Seattle and the Yukon, before returning to Germany a wealthy man. He married someone from his town and returned to New York, where he continued to build his wealth before during the Spanish flu in 1918. Trump's father, Fred, inherited the business and entered the construction industry. Fred continued to expand until the company owned many buildings in and around New York City.

Donald was unruly enough that he attended military school, then graduated and completed a business degree before joining his father's team. Trump set out for himself and made his own deals, finding success but also accumulating failures along the way. A braggard and consumate self-promoter, Trump played on the desire for change for those whose lives had been devastated during the Great Recession and those who felt the country was changing too rapidly.

This biography of the 45th President discusses his early life, his career as a builder, his foray into the entertainment world, his many relationships and bankruptcies, his rise to the top of the Republic Party and his subsequent election as President, as well as his first two years in office, which were marred by self-inflicted scandals. Supporters and opponents will all learn something new about the man who currently leads the United States.

YouTube and Videos of Everything

Centore, Michael. YouTube and Videos of Everything. Part of the Tech 2.0: World-Changing Entertainment Companies series. 2019. 64p. ISBN 978-1-42224059-5. Available at 384.33 CEN on the library shelves.

The story of YouTube is the story of most wildly successful tech companies: A group of college friends realized there was a need for a service, created a business plan, started a company in a garage, programmed a website, and wrote history. For YouTube, three friends who worked together at PayPal before it was bought by eBay in 1998 reconnected a few years later and discovered they had difficulty sharing videos they had recorded. At the time, each device used a different format that required a different piece of software to decode and play. Creating a service that could handle different formats and display them seamlessly on the Internet would finally facilitate videos online

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim invested their own money and time, and built a company called YouTube, designed to let anyone to post videos online. They released their beta site in May 2005, and immediately it was a success. The expansion of YouTube was accompanied with growing pains, as the founders needed to both figure a way to monetize their site as well as enforce copyright laws. Advertising crept in. By the end of 2006, YouTube was popular enough that Google spent 1.5 billion purchasing it and incorporating it in its suite of services. As it continued to expand, YouTube improved technology and created a whole new type of job, the YouTuber. It also has increased its reach, becoming the 2nd most popular website worldwide, right behind Google but ahead of Facebook.

Fake News and the Factories that Make It

Heitkamp, Kristina Lyn. Fake News and the Factories that Make It. Part of the Critical Thinking About Digital Media series. 2019. 80p. ISBN 978-1-978504-72-1. Available at 070.43 HEI on the library shelves.

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was marred by Russian meddling and the spreading of what became known as "fake news." This phrase has entered the lexicon and has permeated the national discourse, and has been used repeatedly by the President to decry news that are not fake but rather unflattering to himself. This is not the first time that the words "fake news" have been used, however. American history is replete with yellow journalism and sensationalistic headlines, from Benjamin Franklin's completely fabricated reports of British and Indian atrocities against American settlers to today's social media trolls enhancing and promoting disinformation.

What is "fake news"? At their heart, fake news are information that are not accurate. They range from reasonable mistakes in reporting to disingenuous pieces of propaganda designed to sway public opinion one way or another. They can come from citizens who do not take the time to fact check their information, or they can come from aboard where people create articles to drive traffic to their websites and generate advertising revenues.

It is dependent on readers to carefully consume information and seek confirmation from different sources. If a headline appears too sensational or unbelievable, it probably is. An informed citizenry is essential to a thriving democracy, and fake news, if not checked, will undermine the nation's stability.