Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre / Charlotte Brontë ; read by Susan Ericksen.— Grand Haven: Brilliance Audio, 1997.
16 sound discs (20 hrs.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Unabridged
Compact discs
Directed by J. C. Howe
ISBN: 1596009403

1. Bildungsromans. 2. England – Fiction. 3. Governesses – Fiction. 4. Love stories. 5. Young women – Fiction.

823.8

Plain but spunky Jane remembers growing up unhappily orphaned among three rude cousins and a tyrannical aunt until she is sent away to a Charity School where she finds friends and a kind headmistress, but also some stern teachers and a penny-pinching administration. At age eighteen she sets out to seek, if not her fortune at least a living, as a governess. She’s hired to teach the ward of an eccentric landowner. Mr. Rochester has come into an inheritance of property and land in England that he had not hoped for as a youth. His manners are brusque and his looks are gruff. But he is unexpectedly charmed by the frankness of the new governess, although he does not express that to her immediately. For her part, Jane falls hopelessly in love with her new master, and must wrestle with the insurmountable difference in their social positions. In Jane’s breast passion, ambition, and honesty strive with reason, duty, obedience, and a desire to be accepted.

White Darkness

The white darkness : a novel / Geraldine McCaughrean. – 1st U.S. ed. – New York : HarperTempest, 2007, c2005.
373 p. ; 19 cm.
ISBN: 9780060890353 (trade)
Originally published: [Oxford] : Oxford University Press, 2005

1. Adventure fiction. 2. Antarctica --Fiction. 3. Deception --Fiction. 4. Oates, Lawrence Edward Grace, 1880-1912 -- Fiction. 5. Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc. -- Fiction. 6. Swindlers and swindling -- Fiction.

823.914

Fourteen-year-old Symone struggles to survive in the coldest desert on earth, Antarctica. Adding to her trials are her traveling companions: a fanatic “uncle” obsessed with finding an entrance to the hollow earth and two confidence men. With friends like these, it’s no wonder that she relies on the companion of her imagination, Captain Lawrence Oates, who died on Scott’s expedition to the South Pole in 1912, for sound guidance.

This is a ripping good adventure and survival story that spooks the reader with enough spooky chills to simulate the Antarctic cold. It well deserves The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature that it received in 2008 from the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association

What to do about Alice?

What to do about Alice? : how Alice Roosevelt broke the rules, charmed the world, and drove her father Teddy crazy! / by Barbara Kerley ; illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. – New York : Scholastic Press, 2008.
[48] p. : col. ill. ; 32 cm.
ISBN: 9780439922319

1. Children of presidents -- United States -- Biography. 2. Legislators' spouses -- United States -- Biography. 3. Longworth, Alice Roosevelt, 1884-1980. 4. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 -- Family.

973.9092

Theodore Roosevelt, famously said, “I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.” While his oldest daughter loved reading the books in her father’s library, she also loved to run through the parks in Washington pretending to be a horse. She roamed over the capital city at all hours of the day and night. She welcomed visitors to the White House draped by her pet snake, Emily Spinach, “named for its color and its resemblance to a very thin aunt.” She played cards, bet on the horses, and danced the hula on a visit to Hawaii. The newspapers loved her.

A river of words

A river of words : the story of William Carlos Williams / written by Jen Bryant ; illustrated by Melissa Sweet. – Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008.
[34] p. : col. ill. ; 27 cm.
Bibliography: p. [31]
Includes chronology
ISBN: 9780802853028 (lib. bdg.)

1. Physicians -- United States -- Biography. 2. Poets, American -- 20th century – Biography. 3. Williams, William Carlos, 1883-1963

Willie Williams was a very energetic boy. After playing with his friends, he would roam though the New Jersey countryside and then inspired by the poetry that his teacher read aloud in class, he would stay up late to write his own poems. It’s a good thing he had a lot of energy. He grew up to be a doctor and a poet. By the end of his life he had written 48 books and helped deliver over 3,000 babies.

Planting the trees of Kenya

Planting the trees of Kenya : the story of Wangari Maathai / Claire A. Nivola. –New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008.
[32] p. : col. ill. ; 24 x 28 cm.
"Frances Foster books."
ISBN: 9780374399184

1. Conservationists -- Kenya – Biography. 2. Green Belt Movement (Society : Kenya). 3. Maathai, Wangari, 1940- . 4. Tree planters (Persons) -- Kenya -- Biography. 5. Women conservationists -- Kenya – Biography.

337.72092

Wangari Maathai grew up on a farm in Kenya where the trees were green and the streams were clear. But when she came back from college in the United States, she found that most of the trees had been cut down. Instead of small farms there were large plantations growing tea to export. But without the trees and their roots the soil was blown away and washed into muddy streams. So she organized women to plant trees. Soon the rest of the family joined in the work and Wangari was giving away seedling trees to schoolchildren and soldiers to plant. She had started the Green Belt Movement.

Boys of steel : the creators of Superman

Boys of steel : the creators of Superman / by Marc Tyler Nobleman ; illustrated by Ross MacDonald.— New York : Knopf, 2008.
[40] p. : col. ill. ; 29 cm.
Bibliography: p. [39]
ISBN: 9780375938023 (reinforced)


1. Authors, American – Biography. 2. Cartoonists -- Canada -- Biography 3. Cartoonists -- United States -- Biography. 4. Shuster, Joe, 1914-1992. 5. Siegel, Jerry, 1914-1996.

741. 5092

It might be called the revenge of the nerds. One of Jerry Siegel’s teachers told the Cleveland teenager that the fantastic adventure stories he wrote were trash. His only friend in high school was Joe Shuster, who shared his love of science fiction and adventure. But while Jerry typed his stories, Joe drew his two-fisted heroes. Together they hoped they could create a comic strip and sell it to a newspaper.

One night Jerry had an idea. What if, instead of humans traveling to other planets and encountering aliens, an alien came to earth, not as an invader but as a friend? A hero who was strong and powerful who would right wrongs and fight for justice. The first thing in the morning he rushed over to his friend’s home to tell him about the idea and Joe began sketching. Although they weren’t able to sell their idea of a superman to the newspapers at first, they did find a publisher who was willing to buy their strips and take a chance at publishing them in a new format. The strips would be published together in a magazine of original strips, as a comic “book.”

Nobleman’s story is perfectly complemented by MacDonald’s illustrations, which evoke Shuster’s figures and style.

Abe Lincoln crosses a creek

Abe Lincoln crosses a creek : a tall, thin tale (introducing his forgotten frontier friend) / Deborah Hopkinson ; pictures by John Hendrix. -- New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, c2008.
[32] p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 25 x 30 cm.
ISBN: 9780375937682 (reinforced)

1. Best friends – Fiction. 2. Friendship – Fiction.. 3. Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 – Childhood and youth – Fiction.. 4. Rescues – Fiction.

813.54

When he was seven-years-old Abraham Lincoln fell into the flooded Knob Creek near his home in Kentucky, and would probably have drowned but for the quick action of his friend Austin Gollaher who fished him out. This 1816 historical incident is the basis for the tale Hopkinson tells the reader and the illustrator. She imagines, as if she were recalling the story out loud, what the scene might have looked like and wondering what history would be like if young Abe had drowned then. Did Austin use a fishing pole or a branch to save his friend, or does he just dive in? “…that’s the thing about history—if you weren’t there, you can’t know for sure,” she says. Hendrix’s water-colored ink illustrations complement the playful speculative tone of the book.

Sinners welcome

Sinners welcome : poems / Mary Karr. -- New York : HarperCollins, c2006.
93 p. ; 22 cm.
Contents: Pathetic fallacy -- Revelations in the key of K -- Oratorio for the unbecoming -- Disgraceland -- Métaphysique du mal -- Descending theology. The Nativity -- Delinquent missive -- This lesson you’ve got -- The choice -- A major -- Waiting for God : self-portrait as skeleton -- At the sound of the gunshot, leave a message -- Elegy for a rain salesman -- Who the meek are not -- Hypertrophied football star as serial killer -- Orders from the invisible -- Requiem : Professor Walt Mink (1927-1996) -- Pluck -- Descending theology. Christ human -- Miss Flame, apartment bound, as undiscovered porn star -- Reference for ex-man’s next -- Winter term’s end -- Entering the kingdom -- Descending theology. The garden -- Hurt Hospital’s best suicide jokes -- Sinners welcome -- The first step -- A tapestry figure escapes for occupancy in the real world, which includes the death of her mother -- Mister Cogito posthumous -- For a dying tomcat who’s relinquished his former hissing and predatory nature -- Coat hanger bent into halo -- Last love -- The ice fisherman -- Descending theology. The crucifixion -- Red-circled want ad for my son on his commencement -- Son’s room -- Easter at Al Qaeda Bodega -- Garment district sweatshop -- Overdue pardon for mother with knife -- Descending theology. The resurrection -- A blessing from my sixteen years’ son -- Orphanage -- Still memory -- Meditatio -- Afterword: Facing altars : poetry and prayer.
ISBN: 0060776544

1. America poetry -- 21st century. 2. Christian poetry, American.

811.54


If the neon cross on the cover and the title hadn’t forewarned me the latest book of poems by the author of The Liar’s Club and Cherry, the large amount of traditional Christian religious imagery and subject matter would have come as bit of a surprise. Her memoirs of growing up in East Texas contain few references to religion and only a passing allusion to infrequent church visits with neighbors and a fight with girl who accused her (accurately) of saying that the pope dressed like a girl. Other than that there’s her flat statement on page 44 of The Liar’s Club, “We didn’t go to church.” Had I read her previous volumes of poetry I would have been more prepared, but I hadn’t.

So reading Sinners Welcome reminded me of the bits on Monty Python when John Cleese intones, “And now for something completely different.” If you are like me, you might want to start at the back of the book with the essay “Facing Altars: Poetry and Prayer,” which tells of her 1996 conversion, “after a lifetime of undiluted agnosticism.” The poems themselves are clear, as befits a poet that proclaimed herself, “Against Decoration,” but certainly not without vivid images and language. And although religious, they are certainly not pious, as witnessed by titles like, “Hypertrophied Football Star as Serial Killer,” “Hurt Hospital’s Best Suicide Jokes,” and ”At the Sound of the Gunshot, Leave a Message.”

The woman I kept to myself

The woman I kept to myself : poems / by Julia Alvarez. -- Chapel Hill : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2004.
159 p. ; 21 cm.
ISBN: 1565124065

1. American poetry -- 21st century. 2. Women -- Poetry.

811.54


Emily in one hand, Walt in the other,
that’s how I learned my craft, struggling
to navigate my own way between them
and to get to where I wanted to end up:
some place dead center in the human heart.

From “Passing On” page 139

The result of Alvarez’s craft is far more direct than the idiosyncratic Emily Dickinson and more restrained than the verbose Walt Whitman. And in this volume it keeps to a strict form. The seventy-five poems are uniformly three stanzas, each stanza ten lines, and the median line ten syllables long. The subjects are reflective autobiography. They are very accessible, yet she arrives where she wants to be, in that dead center in the human heart.

A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier

A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier / Ishmael Beah. – [New York] : Audio Renaissance, 2007.
7 sound discs (8 hr., 30 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Unabridged
Read by the author
Compact discs
ISBN: 9781427202307

1. Beah, Ishmael, 1980- 2. Child soldiers -- Sierra Leone – Biography. 3. Sierra Leone -- History -- Civil War, 1991-2002 -- Participation, Juvenile – Biography. 4. Sierra Leone -- History -- Civil War, 1991-2002 -- Personal narratives. 5. Sierra Leone -- Social conditions -- 1961-

966.404

The West African nation of Sierra Leone was torn by civil war from 1991 to 2002. The country is still struggling to overcome the effects of this eleven-year conflict. This is the memoir of one of the participants. Beah remembers the war coming to his home when he was about twelve. When rebel soldiers attacked his village, he and his brother were separated from the rest of their family and began wandering through the jungle with some other boys trying to survive and stay away from the fighting. Captured and terrorized by rebel soldiers or by villagers who thought they might be spies or soldiers they escaped again and again. During one of these escapes Ishmael was separated from his brother, and then fell in with another group of boys. Eventually they came to a village protected by government soldiers.

When the rebels began to close in on the village the army impressed all the male villagers including the boys. They were given army shorts, t-shirts, and green headbands for uniforms and AK-47s. They were taught how to creep though the jungle, how to use and care for their automatic rifles, how to fire rocket propelled grenades, and how to use their bayonets. As Beah remembers it, “over and over in our training [the corporal] would say that same sentence: Visualize the enemy, the rebels who killed your parents, your family, and those who are responsible for everything that has happened to you.” [The emphasis is in the original text.] Vivid images of revenge where reinforced by readily available marijuana, cocaine, “brown-brown” (cocaine mixed with gunpowder) and “white capsules” that Beah remembers having kept him awake for days on end. Thus boys aged ten and up were turned into brutally efficient soldiers who visited on rebel villages the same atrocities of which they had been the victims. Beah rose to the rank of junior lieutenant.

Then, unexpectedly, one day their commander ordered the boys to line up, put down their guns and get in the truck with civilians from UNICEF. They were taken to a rehabilitation center where they experienced drug withdrawal and how to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. The balance of the book is the story of an uneasy transition back to civilian life and eventual flight out of the county.

This is a very moving book, but also a hard book, not because it is difficult to follow the story. It’s told very clearly and affectingly by the author. The difficult part is listening to Beah’s eyewitness accounts of mutilated bodies and the other losses of the war: food, shelter, family, community and the ability to not live in deadly fear of your fellow human beings.