The 80's and 90's: Power Dressing to Sportswear

Lomas, Clare. The 80's and 90's: Power Dressing to Sportswear. 1999. 32p. ISBN 9780836826036. Available at 391 LOM on the library shelves.

Following the swinging 1970s, fashion adapted to new materials and designs. The 1980s saw the rise of the supermodel, young and beautiful men and women who showcased the best clothes produced by famous designers. The showing of wealth became ostentatious, with rich people flaunting their prosperity. The world also saw technology enter the fashion world. Items like the cellphone and the pager became fashion accessories. The roles of men also evolved, with more involvement in the family, caring, and sharing.

In the 1990s, fashion moved from the colorful and shiny to the more drab and shabby. Grunge, which evolved out of Seattle, impacted fashion with dark colors, combat boots, and flannel shirts. Simultaneously, girl power with groups like the Spice Girls hit the scene, showcasing female talent and powerful women in a man's world. 

Fashion both followed social evolution and influenced society and as the century came to a close, the best aspects of previous decades became enmeshed in the flavor of clothes circulating.

Bleach, Vol. 2

Kubo, Tite. Bleach, vol. 2. 2004. ISBN 9781591164425. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Chad is a student at Ichigo's school, and he is strong as an ox. When he found a talking parakeet in Bleach, Vol. 1, he agreed to protect it against the monster that was chasing him. The strange marks that had just appeared on his body indicated to Ichigo and Rukia the Soul Reaper that Chad might be affected by a Hollow. They encouraged Chad to check in at the clinic run by Ichigo's father.

Unfortunately, when Ichigo finally arrives, Chad has already left the clinic through a window. Ichigo and Rukia begin chasing for him through the streets, hoping to find him before the Hollow does. Up to now, Rukia has had to knock Ichigo unconscious to release his soul so he could hunt Hollows. To assist the process, she purchases a pill he can take to immediately release his soul while a spare soul will inhabit his body and act like him while he's performing his Soul Reaper duties. The soul Rukia purchased was defective, however, and it decides it really likes Ichigo's body.

As Ichigo and Rukia seek Chad, the parakeet, and the Hollow that hunts them both, Ichigo's body has a new personality that seeks to impress the girls at school ...

The story continues in Bleach, Vol. 3.

Give Me A Sign

Sortino, Anna. Give Me A Sign. 2023. 303p. ISBN 9780593533796.

Lilah has hearing loss. She is not profoundly deaf, but she has a hard time following multiple conversations at the same time, or when music is playing, or even sitting in the back seat of a car. But because she can still hear some, she feels like standing on both side of a large divide. She's not deaf enough to fully master American Sign Language or to understand the intricacies of the deaf community. She's too deaf for a society organized for the hearing. 

The spring of her junior high school year, Lilah is observing her friends all making plans for the summer. Due to her poor grades, her mother has enrolled her in a tutoring program, so Lilah is facing eight weeks of struggling with courses that don't really interest her. On a whim, she applies to work as a counselor-in-training and the summer camp for the deaf and the blind she attended when she was a child. To her surprise, she is hired and soon finds herself in the woods with campers. Not fluent in American Sign Language, Lilah has difficulty communicating with the profoundly deaf, including Isaac, the super attractive Deaf counselor.

Though Lilah was not looking for romance over the summer, she finds herself intensely attracted to Isaac. But with many campers to supervise, a non-deaf Youtuber who enjoys a level of notoriety with her sign-language videos, and other counselors who have a serious history, Lilah is soon overwhelmed with the complexities that are present in the Deaf community. Will Lilah finally be able to find her voice?

The diversity of the deaf culture is explored in Give Me a Sign, and all of the characters are realistically written and convey accurate emotions and relationships. Fans of light romance and interpersonal relationships will enjoy exploring a different culture.

Metals and Non-metals

Walker, Denise. Metals and Non-metals. 2005. 48p. ISBN 9781583408223. Available at 546 WAL on the library shelves.

Metals are prevalent in our physical environment and they are an essential part of our society. Used for everything from building to vitamins, metals constitute the largest block of chemical elements on Earth. As chemicals, metals share certain characteristics, but also differ widely in their atomic structure, their ability to conduct electricity, and their capacity to transform into alloys when other chemical elements are added. Some metals have better characteristics when combined with other elements, including steel and titanium, while others are appreciated more for their purity, such as gold and silver.

Metals and Non-metals present information on these fundamental blocks of matter, using effective graphics and diagrams. It also presents ideas for experiments and ways to apply this information in the reader's every day environment. 

Blue Lock, Vol. 1

Kaneshiro, Muneyuki. Blue Lock, Vol. 1. 2018. 214p. ISBN 9781646516544. Available in the graphic  novels section of the library.

Yoichi is the best striker on his school soccer team, and finds himself in an excellent position to score and earn his ticket to the national championship. Unfortunately, he makes the unselfish decision to pass it to a friend he deems in a better position. His friend misses his shot, preventing the team from moving forward. Depressed, Yoichi returns home, only to find a letter inviting to participate in an exclusive academy for soccer players. Curious, Yoichi agrees to attend.

With its defeat at the 2018 World Cup, the national Japanese soccer team leadership seeks a way to improve their pool of talent. The leadership team appoints Jin-Pachi Ego to set up a facility where the best youth Japanese players can train and outplay each other, to shape the best striker in the world. This facility is called Blue Lock.

When Yoichi arrives at Blue Rock, he discovers a facility divided into five pods each of 60 players. The best 300 youth players in Japan are here. Yoichi discovers that he's rated 299 out of 300. Jin-Pachi Ego presents the objective of Blue Lock, which is to develop the best striker in the world, and that, he believes, can only be done through selfishness. The most selfish and egotistical player will become the best striker Japan has ever produced. And out of 300, only 1 player will be promoted to the national team. The other 299 will never be allowed to play for the national team.

With stakes so high, Yoichi has only one option. Become the best youth striker in the nation!

The story continues in Blue Lock, Vol. 2.

Flying Solo

 Fletcher, Ralph. Flying Solo. 1998. 144p. ISBN 9780547076522.

Bastian is a military brat, and his army father is moving again due to a new posting in Hawaii, so today is his last day of school. Bastian is a bit of a bully, but moving from school to school every 12 to 16 months has desensitized him to the feelings of others. He's also sad that his new puppy will be in quarantine for four months before being allowed to rejoin the family. 

Rachel lost her voice the day Tommy Feathers died. Not the brightest kid in class, Tommy had a huge crush on Rachel and always tried to improve her day. She found his advances annoying, however, and even though he gave her a new story every day, she never read any of them and threw them in the trash at the end of school. But when he died during his sleep one night, Rachel was crushed and hasn't broken her silence since.

On Friday morning, the last day Bastian will be in school, Mr. Fabiano, their teacher, is absent and will be replaced by a substitute. Unfortunately, the substitute is also sick, and through a series of circumstances, another substitute is not secured for the classroom. When the students arrive, they find themselves without supervision, for a full day! Enjoying their newfound freedom, the students elect to do the day's agenda, and they successfully hide that there is no adult supervision in their classrooms. 

As the day progresses, and as it is both the last day that Bastian will be attending, and the 6 months anniversary of Tommy's death, Rachel becomes progressively more anxious and distressed. The conflict that has been simmering between herself and Bastian explodes, and now the whole classroom gets dragged into it. Can the students resolve their differences?

A humorous tale that explores the what-if of not having adult supervision, Flying Solo nevertheless explores heavy themes of grief, loss, and change in a relatable manner. Readers will enjoy this short tale!

It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health

Tang, Karen. It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told). 2024. 384p. ISBN 9781250894151.

Despite all of the medical advances that have occurred in the last thirty years, women's reproductive health remains less studied than men's reproductive health, with less research and less funding. Political pressures have impacted women's healthcare, from the recent decision reversing federal abortion policy to gender-affirming care bans passed by several states. As a result, disinformation and misinformation continue to circulate, and what passes as "normal" is anything but.

Medical conditions such as menstrual abnormalities are often misdiagnosed by a medical establishment that doesn't focus on women's health needs. In It's Not Hysteria, Dr. Tang writes a comprehensive and up to date book on the reproductive health of women, from sexually transmitted infections to the process of getting pregnant, delivering, and to health issues such as endometriosis and fibroids. This book comprehensively discusses common health conditions women encounter during their lifetimes as well as treatment options to explore. Ultimately, the author argues that until society changes its priorities to support women's health, women must be their own best advocates so that they can receive the most appropriate care and have their health needs acknowledged by the medical establishment.