I Have the Right to: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

Prout, Chessy and Jane Abelson. I Have the Right to: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope. 2018. 416p. ISBN 9781534414433.

Chessy lived in Japan with her family when the tsunami ravaged the country in 2011, causing a major nuclear accident in Fukushima. The family of expatriates soon returned to the United States following the disaster, and Chessy found herself in the American school system for the first time. Her middle school years in Naples, Florida were uneventful, but she looked forward to attending St. Paul School in Concord, New Hampshire, Her father was an alumni of the school, and her older sister was currently a junior. When Chessy was accepted, she knew her world would never be the same.

The climate at St. Paul was tense, with senior boys feeling entitled to grope and harass female students and with faculty unwilling or unable to make it stop. In May of her freshman year, Chessy was raped by a senior classmate in a game seniors called the senior salute. Chessy courageously reported her experience to the police, and her aggressor was arrested and tried. This experience changed Chessy. She developed panic attacks, trust issues, and was forced to move to a different school after the St. Paul community rallied behind her aggressor. Through it all she remained driven to see justice served, and he was eventually convicted.

Chessy's story is not unique, and she was better equipped than most with parental support, loving siblings, and a community of other survivors who rallied behind her. Chessy came forward with her experiences so that others would understand what happened to her and to effect policy changes in teaching consent at a young age. Chessy continues to be an advocate for survivors, and lends her voice and support to make sure that this doesn't happen to another girl.

Lost Nation

Lent, Jeffrey. Lost Nation. 2002. 370p. ISBN 9780871138439. 

In 1834, Blood has been living a hard life, moving from place to place as if pursued by the devil himself. In some ways, Blood indeed is being pursued, but it is his own mind he can't escape, the things that he did following a personal tragedy. For seventeen years, he's been on the run from his past, seeking the most remote places to hide. Clearly educated, Blood purchases Sally, a sixteen-year-old girl from a brothel in Portland, and he takes her and a wagon full of supplies on little traveled roads all the way north to Indian Stream, a parcel of territory wedged between Canada and the United States, neither wanted by the British nor by New Hampshire. The struggle to get to Indian Stream foreshadows the hard life the two of them will experience on the frontier.

As Sally and Blood settle in their lives, both of them learn about themselves. Sally is uneducated, but is already wise to the ways of men and of the world. Blood chooses not to involve himself in the lives around him, but as tavern owner it is hard not to participate in his new community, especially since he is both revered and reviled by the locals. As spring turns to summer, events on Indian Stream begin to spiral out of control as state authorities seek to assert their laws against a group of men who fled governed territories. Blood is anew confronted by his past just as the spark that lit the fuse on war reaches the keg and explodes. When the smoke settles on Indian Stream, much will have changed, and the lives of Sally and Blood will be forever changed.

The Great Hurricane: 1938

 Burns, Cherie. The Great Hurricane: 1938. 2005. 240p. ISBN 978-0-8711-3893-4. Available at 974.04 BUR on the library shelves.

On September 21, 1938, all eyes of the world was concerned that Adolf Hitler was ready to attack Czechoslovakia. News headlines screamed that war was coming. In New York and New England, those concerns were balanced with the need to put summer homes in order before winter arrived. Families still on the beaches on Long Islands and Rhodes Island were spending a few more days before they returned in their city residences. Locals were working or fishing. And out at sea the largest hurricane to hit the area was brewing. In an era where satellites did not exist and telephone and radio networks were easily disrupted, no one saw this storm coming, with dire consequences.

Long Island was the first to bear the brunt of the Great Hurricane of 1938. Houses were taken off their foundations and crushed in the sea. Large waves moved massive concrete and granite barriers. The water crested fifteen feet above the highest tide ever recorded. People who were watching the surf and the storm approach were swept away, and even those who took shelter in houses were hurt as roofs blew away and windows shattered. Telephone poles were snapped, and all communications ceased. It was impossible to warn the people across Long Island Sound that a storm was coming their way.

In Rhodes Island, resort towns were slowly winding down. No bad weather was forecasted. Local fishermen noticed the drop in barometric pressure and wisely stayed in harbor. Others ignored the warnings and went fishing anyway. When the storm hit, it destroyed everything in its path, causing millions of dollars in damages, killing hundreds of people, and forever affecting the communities in its path.

As the threats of war continued unabated in Europe, the Great Hurricane of 1938 became a footnote in New England history, and was barely discussed elsewhere in the country. It became this catastrophic storm that most have never heard of. Fans of history and of impressive weather events will appreciate the tale of a day that forever changed New England. Told hour by hour, and featuring a cast of hundreds of survivors and victims, this effective reconstruction of the deadliest storm in New England history is sure to make the reader wonder twice about their safety the next time a hurricane comes to New Hampshire.

Look to the Mountain

 Cannon, LeGrand. Look to the Mountain. 2016. 496p. ISBN 978-1-58157-365-7. Available at FIC CAN on the library shelves.

Whit and Melissa live in Kettleford, New Hampshire, in the late 1760s. Although settled for many years, Kettleford retains the feel of a frontier town. Whit is the son of a local farmer who prefers the rum bottle to hard work. Melissa is the daughter of the local inn keeper, and one of the few eligible women in the village. Whit has had his eye on Melissa for a long time, but so has Joe the Portugese, a sailor from Europe who bought the smithy when its former proprietor retired.

A contest to see who could hay the most grass for the honor of courting Melissa is organized, and despite Joe's underhanded tactics and physical attack on Whit, the young man manages to hay the most. Desiring a better life for himself and for Melissa, Whit takes off not long after to explore settling possibilities in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He soon locates a good spot in the new township of Tamworth, builds a lean-to, and after having made friends with residents of Sandwich, the township next to Tamworth, he returns to Kettleford.

Meanwhile, Melissa, who had been left behind, feels Whit's absence more with every passing day. Joe still lurks in the background, and her father decides to marry her to Joe while Whit is gone. Whit returns just in time, and the happy couple is united in marital bliss and leaves the next day to make the trek to their new land.

Populated with remarkable characters, Look to the Mountain nevertheless manages to throw most of its focus on Whit and Melissa's struggle to survive at the base of Mount Chocorua as they pioneer the opening of the Tamworth township. Encompassing part of the early history of New Hampshire and of the nascent United States, the book is short on dialog (as if people were of few words back in those days) but rather filled with description of the environment in which Whit and Melissa live. Slowly over the course of years they manage to tame and conquer their small corner of the world, building a life for them, their children, and their friends.

Fans of historical fiction will appreciate the details that craft an amazing tale first told in 1942 and republished many times since.

Vengeance: Children of Faust

Ulm, Chris. Vengeance: Children of Faust. Book 1 of the series. 2015. 329p. ISBN 978-1-5144-2697-5. Available at FIC ULM on the library shelves.

Kim's life in her small New Hampshire town has been difficult ever since she and her father moved here nearly a decade ago, following the death of her mother. Now in middle school, Kim is bullied and used as the punching bag for the school's mean girl and her posse. Life at home is not any easier. Her father sinks ever lower in an alcohol-fueled stupor, and he relentless controls and beats her. Kim cannot wait to get out of this place.

Then a new girl moves in. Tansu is quiet and reserved, but she and Kim hit it off immediately. Suddenly, Kim is excited to go to school and hang out with her, and Tansu is glad for Kim's friendship. As they navigate the treacherous waters of middle school, their friendship grows ever stronger. Throughout all of this, Kim feels a presence nearby, observing her. When she discovers a literal demon in her bedroom, Kim is scared beyond belief. Calling himself Sin, the demon offers her a deal: The power to wreck vengeance on her enemies in exchange for her soul. Kim refuses, but Sin promises her to return if she ever needs him.

When Kim's father, dives into a deeper part of his alcoholism, Kim becomes the object of his anger. Violently sewing her lips shut, he reveals to her that he sold her soul, as his unborn daughter, to a demon years ago if only that demon would make her mother love him. Unfortunately Kim's mother had died only a few years later, and now he regretted it every day of his life. This is why they had moved to rural New Hampshire, hoping to stay away from the demon.

Hurt and feeling violated, Kim calls Sin to her, and accepts his deal. Her father is the first to suffer her wrath, as she shouts him point blank. But now Kim has a demon named Alice inside of her who cannot wait to gain full possession of her body. As Kim's life spirals out of control, Tansu remains the only constant. With other demons circling and hoping to kill Kim and gain her power, Kim must also struggle with Alice, and find a way to remain alive and protect her friend Tansu. Will she be strong enough to resist a quick descent into darkness?

A Separate Peace

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. 2003. 204p. ISBN 0-7432-5397-3. Available at FIC KNO on the library shelves.

With the Second World War raging on, high school students at Devon, a prep school in southern New Hampshire know that most of them, as they graduate, will join the military and fight in Europe or in the Pacific. But for 16-year-old Gene Forrester and his fellow students, war is furthest from his mind. What he is concerned about are his academics and athletics performances. His best friend and roommate, Phineas, known as Finny, is the best athlete at the school, and Gene knows he will always be a distant second. In academics, however, Gene stands a reasonable chance of beating Finny.

During the summer session of 1942, when the students are given more leeway due to the regular staff being gone on summer vacation, Gene and Finny create the Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session, a group whose members must jump from a tall tree overlooking the Devon River in a daredevil attitude. With most of the boys joining in, the Society consumes more of their time in ever expanding games and activities, until, during an initiation, Gene and Finny find themselves on the tree. Jealous of Finny’s easy successes, Gene bounces the branch, and Finny accidentally falls, resulting in a broken leg. Finny will never play sports again.

Aghast at what he has done, Gene tries his best to help Finny recover, but with more friends shipping out to war, their friendship has been damaged. Gene hopes to make it up to Finny, but how can he when he’s the one who ended Finny’s one true love? Will Gene have to courage to reveal his role in the accident? What will be the cost to their friendship?

A growing up novel where friendship and jealousy mix freely, A Separate Peace will remind the reader that, like Gene, being true to oneself is accepting the parts, good or bad, that we play in other people’s lives.

Night Wings

Bruchac, Joseph. Night Wings. 2009. 194p. ISBN 978-0-06-112318-4. Available at FIC BRU on the library shelves.

When thirteen-year-old Paul’s mother, a U.S. army soldier, ships out to Iraq to join her military husband, Paul has to go live with his Abenaki grandfather, Peter. Once a Marine himself, Peter is steeped in the ways of the Abenaki and knows the White Mountains of New Hampshire like the back of his hands. A man of few words, grandpa Peter has taught Paul how to respect and survive the forest, and how to live the ways his ancestors did.

Shortly after his arrival in the White Mountains, Paul is surprised to receive the visit of two goons. One of them introduces himself as Darby Field the fourth, creator and spokesperson for the Forbidden Mysteries series on television. He asks Peter if he has changed his mind about leading him on an expedition in the mountains to discover Pmola’s treasure. An Abenaki legend, Pmola appears as a large black bird with eyes that resemble very bright red lights that protects the mountains. Peter replies that he in fact did not. Field departs the property, but returns in the night and kidnaps Peter.

Paul, who was under the house at the time, looking for a piece of plywood, escaped but is captured by Field and his crew of three. The party then heads deep inside the White Mountains and hide the van before beginning the long trek to Pmola’s lair. With their lives very much at risk, Paul must follow grandpa Peter’s advice learned over many years to survive a powerful enemy and prevent Field from acquiring Pmola’s treasure. Will the way of the ancients be enough to help him?

Set in New Hampshire, this book combines local legends and history with a character very much in touch with nature, himself, and his cultural heritage. A short read, fans of action will enjoy the fast-pace of Night Wings.

The Legend of the Old Man of the Mountain

Ortakales, Denise. The Legend of the Old Man of the Mountain. 2004. 40p. ISBN 978-1-58536-236-3. Available at 398.2 ORT on the library shelves.

One of New Hampshire’s most well-known feature before its collapse in 2003, the Old Man of the Mountain overlooked the Pemigewasset River. First seen by Europeans in 1805, the Old Man became a state symbol and has appeared on stamps, license plates, and road signs. But how did the Great Stone Face come about?

In a time before European arrival, people lived in what is now New Hampshire. One of the most renowned was Chief Pemigewasset, a fearless leader who defended his tribe against Mohawk encroachment from the west. During a battle both side fought, Pemigewasset met beautiful Minerwa, daughter of the Mohawk chief. Soon, the two sides were at peace and Pemigewasset and Minerwa live happily together.

One day, however, Minerwa’s brother came to her village and informed her that their father was dying and wished to see her one more time. Due to war injuries sustained in earlier conflicts, Pemigewasset could not trek on such a long trip, and he was sad that they would be separated. However, he understood that she needed to go, but he told her that he would wait for her at the Harvest Moon. He sent four warriors with her to make sure she would be safe.

Summer passed, and harvest came. Pemigewasset went back to the cliff where Minerwa had left, and waited patiently for her. But day after day, she did not return. The days got colder, and snow began to fall. Still Minerwa did not return. The Chief’s warriors told him they needed to return to the village, but Pemigewasset asked them instead to build him a hut, stack it with food and firewood, so he could remain here on the cliff and await his beloved’s return.

When members of his tribe came back in the spring, Pemigewasset had died. They buried him atop the cliff, so he could always look to the west for Minerwa’s return. As they departed, they saw the cliff’s face had been transformed by the Great Spirit and now the chief’s profile kept watch over the west. Thus the Old Man of the Mountain was born.