Reviews

“Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” First Amendment to the US Constitution

“The basic foundation of our democracy is the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of expression. The Opposing Viewpoints Series is dedicated to the concept of this basic freedom and the idea that it is more important to practice it than to enshrine it.”

Every book in Greenhaven Press’s Opposing Viewpoints series begins with this simple statement. This series is perfect for anyone hoping to better understand the timely issues and debates we hear about in the news every day. Each book focuses on one controversial issue and features essays from notable voices from every side.

Nonfiction has several new Opposing Viewpoints titles now available for checkout! New titles include:

• Globalization
• Islamic Militancy
• Censorship
• Political Campaigns
• Abortion
• America’s Prisons
• Biological Warfare
• Gangs
• Male and Female Roles
• Global Warming
• and more!

Joe Sacco is a Maltese-American comic artist and journalist that forged a name for himself by combining his love of drawing comics with his journalism education. While traveling in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he eventually wound up in the Middle East and did a series of comics called Palestine. After his travels in the Middle East, he visited Eastern Europe (specifically Sarajevo and Goražde in Bosnia) and chronicled his experiences there during the Bosnian War in books such as Safe Area Goražde.

Sacco’s works combine his journalism training with cartooning and his razor sharp wit. His works have earned him widespread recognition and accolades including the American Book Award, the Eisner Award and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

Hoover Library carries many of Sacco’s works and they’re worth checking out for a different take on non-fiction and journalism writing.

Safe Area Goražde - 949.7 SAC
Palestine: The Special Edition - 956.94054 SAC
Footnotes From Gaza - 956.04 SAC New Book
War's End: Profiles From Bosnia 1995-96 - 949.7 SAC
The Fixer and Other Stories - 949.7 SAC  

The American Library Association announced all of their major awards for Children's and Teen books and media on Monday, January 18, 2010.   For a complete list of winners and honors, please check out their website. 

Newbery Medal
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Caldecott Medal
The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

Printz Award
Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Coretta Scott King Author Award
Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reaves, Deputy U.S. Marshall by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
My People illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr.

Pura Belpre Author Award
Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

Pura Belpre Illustrator Award
Book Fiesta!: Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day illustrated by Raphael Lopez

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award
Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes

Robert F. Sibert Medal
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose

This is a biography of Claudette Colvin, an African-American teenager in 1950s Montgomery, Alabama who refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks took the same stand.

For more information about this year's National Book Award for Young People's Literature, check out this website.

As a first-time homeowner and big fan of DIY, I am desperate for good solid advice on how to get things done in and around our new home. How exactly do you install an interior door? What’s the best way to choose paint colors? How long should the grass be cut? How often? Can we build a deck ourselves? How hard is it really? Above all of these concerns is the big question – How will our home and landscaping best fit our family’s personality and lifestyle? How do we want to live?

I love thinking about these questions and rely on the books at our library to lead me to new and exciting ideas. That’s why I’m so pleased to introduce you to Julie Moir Messervy’s new book Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love. It is truly the best book I’ve read on planning a landscape for your home. It discusses why landscaping matters at an individual and community level, and how Americans have become disconnected from nature and slave to the boring “democratic front lawn”.

The thing I like most is that this is a process book. It leads you through steps that help you to imagine and create a holistic landscaping plan that will fit your personality and neighborhood. Primary to the process is mapping out your property and noting characteristics like trees, good and bad views, prevailing winds, sun and shade. Small exercises help the reader hone in on design and style preferences. All of this is supplemented with plenty of good photographic examples.

For the first time, I’m thinking about my yard as a whole! Not just how one or two corners look and where I’m going to put the compost bin. Highly recommended for those with both big yards and small.

-Deni

When Australian reporter, Sarah Turnbull, was in her twenties she decided to take a year long leave of absence from her job and travel around Europe. While in Romania she had a chance encounter with a French attorney named Frederic. They had only one dinner together in a group of other people, but hit it off, and Frederic invited Sarah to visit him for a week or two in Paris. She hadn’t planned on going to Paris – but, her logic was that she was out for adventure; she liked him, so why not pursue it and see where it took her.

Well, that has been over twenty years ago and she is still in Paris and married to Frederic. Her book, Almost French, is a great read about her life in Paris as an expatriate adjusting to Frederic's culture, family and friends. Her candid experiences with the French and their acceptance, or unacceptance of her, in many cases gives the reader intelligent perspective on what living in France as a foreigner is like.

Americans have always heard that the Parisians’ are not as warm, friendly, and accepting of us as we would hope, and Ms. Turnbull gives background and history about their cultural practices and beliefs that help us in better understanding the French and she graciously offers advice on ways to bridge the gap between cultures. Most of all she encourages us not to take their rebuffs personally because they treat everyone the same way.

If you’re looking to get a true perspective on what an extended stay or short visit to Paris will be like, this would be a highly recommended book for you to read.

Since the book has been written, Sarah and Frederic have a precious little one named Oliver in their home. You can see the family by looking at their blog about a six-month caravan trip in Australia in 2008 online at touraustralie.blogspot.com.

-Joanna

Military history buffs will be fascinated by Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath by Michael and Elizabeth Norman (940.547252 NOR New Book). It offers many new insights into this infamous World War II event. A must read.

-S.S.

Outside Magazine sent Jon Krakauer to climb Mt. Everest in May, 1996, so he could gather information to write an article on how commericialized the climbing of the mountain had become. They got more than they bargained for. The weather on Mt. Everest that May was one of the worst ever, resulting in five climbers being killed and one marred for life.

Krakauer writes an astonishing first-hand account of those events He is critical of himself as well as the others who were climbing. Such a sobering occurrence in which several seasoned climbers were killed left Krakauer trying to put the puzzle pieces together to help explain why this tragedy happened. He comes up with several theories that are disturbing and give one pause for thoughtful consideration.

-J.C.

Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
796.509 KRA

Elizabeth Gilbert had nothing to lose. She had both a failed marriage and relationship behind her. She was desperate to leave the U.S. and search for what was out there for her for the rest of her life.

Fortunately, her publisher agreed to give her an advance on the book she would write, so, off she went to Italy, India and Indonesia for a 15 month adventure. Afterwards she wrote "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia".

In Italy, she ate. In India, she prayed. In Indonesia, she fell in love.

The story is inspirational on several levels. She saves the best for last. The more your read, the better it gets. There is a satisfying ending.

The movie is being filmed now and will be out next year. Julia Roberts plays Elizabeth Gilbert and Javier Bardem her love interest.

-J.C.

Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert.
AVAILABLE FORMATS
Book: 910.4 GIL
Audiobook: AB CD 910.4 GIL
Large Print: LP 910.4 GIL
En Español: SP 910.4 GIL

In 2007, English soccer star David Beckham announced he was signing a five year contract with Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy. This move shocked the soccer world in that MLS is generally considered a "B-League" on the world stage and Beckham was then plying his trade with Real Madrid, one of the elite super clubs of the world in one of the world's elite soccer leagues. Part of Beckham's reasoning was that he wanted to help soccer grow in the United States and eventually become on par with football, basketball and baseball in terms of popularity.

This signing was heralded by the Galaxy and MLS as the ushering in of soccer into the mainstream of America seeing as Beckham was not only a soccer superstar, but was married to a pop star (Posh Spice of the Spice Girls), had a modeling career, countless endorsement deals and counted the likes of Tom Cruise among his close friends. At the time, Beckham was easily the most famous athlete in the world. The world's most famous athlete playing in the world's celebrity epicenter...what could possibly go wrong?

Sports Illusrated writer Grant Wahl details what went wrong and to what extent in The Beckham Experiment. The disparity in pay between Beckham and some his teammates is incredible and an understandable source of irritation for some. Beckham was receiving a salary of $6.5 million per year and some of his teammates earned less than $15,000 per year (no, that's not a typo.) Long time Galaxy star Landon Donovan was more or less forced to surrender his captaincy of the team to Beckham after a very short time. Beckham's entourage was also pressuring the Galaxy's management and ended up pulling many of the strings behind the scenes, including the hiring and firing of coaches and front office personnel. So far, during Beckham's tenure with the Galaxy, not only have the Galaxy not become the most superior team in the league, they've gotten worse (they haven't made the playoffs once since Beckham's arrival...and they won the league in 2005.)

The Beckham Experiment is a fascinating tale of the collision of cultures, sports taking a backseat to celebrity, egos colliding, and good management going by the wayside in pursuit of the almighty dollar.

796.334 WAH New Book - The Beckham Experiment