Publisher: Lyons Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/1/2006
ISBN: 9781592288632
ISBN-10: 1592288634

Not only a comprehensive account of the disaster, this book also included in-depth information on how firestorms form and move and a chilling description of the physiological effects of burns. After reading it I couldn't believe anyone survived their injuries.

It was also interesting to see the role the railroads played in the evacuation of the town, and how they (unsuccessfully) attempted to evacuate other towns in the fire's path. This leads to a discussion on the way people react in emergencies and what circumstances might lead them to abandon the "scripts" of their everyday lives. It's definitely made me think about how I react in emergencies!

Table of Contents  

Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 2/1/2002
ISBN: 9780813530413
ISBN-10: 0813530415

It's crazy how there are so many signs leading up to large eruptions and how long it's taken mankind to learn to react to these signs.

The moment from this book that will really stay with me is when the local paper printed a story the day before the eruption stating that if an evacuation was necessary it would be obvious and could be carried out "just like Pompeii" (in 1902 they hadn't discovered the "gaps" of bodies in the ash, and assumed the city had been evacuated due to the lack of skeletons.)

Publisher: Vertical Inc
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/23/2008
ISBN: 9781934287279
ISBN-10: 193428727X

Written by the “Father of Modern Manga” Osamu Tezuka, this manga tell the stories of the rogue surgeon Black Jack as he treats a wide variety of patients (some non-human).  Tezuka had finished medical school before he took up manga, so expect some fantastic drawings and crazy operations that explore the quirks and catastrophes of the human nature.

Publisher: Free Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/28/2004
ISBN: 9780743261647
ISBN-10: 074326164X

The second and third sentences of the introduction read, “Western civilization originated from that place between the Tigris and the Euphrates, where Hammurabi created his legal code and where Gilgamesh was written—the oldest story in the world, a thousand years older than the Iliad or the Bible. Its hero was a historical king who reigned in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk in about 2750 BCE.” If that’s not enough to entice you, consider that its depictions of friendship, its understanding of fear, its acceptance of youthful extremes, its call for balance, and many other aspects of its moral grasp are vastly impressive and are given to us in the most fluid, readable translation.

First Chapter  

Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 2/15/1971
ISBN: 9780226452388
ISBN-10: 0226452387

Although this book was written in the early 1960s, it remains required reading not just because of its detailed picture of life in ancient Mesopotamia, but because of its detailed and fascinating account of how history is constructed from physical evidence. Its telling of how the impossible-to-translate cunneiform was in fact translated by both professional and amateur scholars makes for the best detective reading available. And to learn of the  sophistication of Sumerian government, accounting, religion, trade practices—in 2500 BC—is also startling.

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 4/1/2008
ISBN: 9781596433779
ISBN-10: 1596433779

Abela is a 9 year-old girl living in Tanzania who is dealing with heart-breaking issues.  Her father is dead and her mother and younger sister are dying.  To make matters even worse, she will soon be forced to leave her home and her elderly grandmother.

 

Rosa is a 13-year-old girl living in London who is dealing with issues, too.  Her father is no longer part of the family and now her mother wants to adopt a Tanzanian orphan.

 

Wouldn’t it be nice is life worked out the way we wanted it to?

First Chapter  

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 6/24/2008
ISBN: 9780312374624
ISBN-10: 0312374623

Piper McCloud has discovered she has a unique ability; she can fly!  But, because this is considered not normal, her parents keep her isolated from others.  One fateful day, however, they all go to the big event in town, where Piper’s ability is seen by all.  Strangers come to her home afterwards and convince her parents to send her away to a special “school”.  Piper’s life will never be the same again.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 4/1/2008
ISBN: 9780374317768
ISBN-10: 0374317763

Willow loves her father’s sled dogs, especially Roxy.  She convinces her parents that she is old enough; she is 12, to travel with the dogs to her grandparents’ house which is 12 miles away.  Returning home after a wonderful visit, Willow is going too fast to stop and Roxy gets hurt.  How can Willow ever make things right?

 

This book is very unique with the text being written in diamond-shaped poems which have a hidden message in the center of each one.  Also, the reader gets a glimpse of the Athabascan culture and their belief of ancestral spirits in the surrounding wildlife.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/30/2008
ISBN: 9781416939153
ISBN-10: 1416939156

Cecilia is not a peasant girl, she is the real princess.  When her safety is jeopardized, she knows she must flee to the palace and take her rightful place.  After convincing her best friend Harper, who she really is, they set off for the palace.  Reclaiming her role as princess is not as easy as Cecilia thought it would be, especially since the stand-in princess believes that she is the real princess, not Cecilia.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Clarion Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 3/18/2008
ISBN: 9780618897438
ISBN-10: 0618897437

Alec knows he is going to be a seaman and not an innkeeper like his father.  Even after the horrible drowning of his cousin, Alec doesn’t give up his dream.  When Germany declares war, England and Alec’s town of Dover is now involved with the daily life of war: the young men enlisting, the rationing of goods, the loss of income, the rumors, etc. Alec makes decisions that will affect him the rest of his life.  The question is, has he made good ones?

First Chapter  

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 3/13/2008
ISBN: 9780803732650
ISBN-10: 0803732651

A group of teenagers, who just happen to be geniuses, create a team whose goal is to eliminate the world’s misery through science and technology.  They just didn’t expect that an evil madman had a goal of creating a deadly, revolutionary weapon which would destroy the world.

Publisher: Scholastic
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/1/2008
ISBN: 9780545060394
ISBN-10: 0545060397

Amy’s and Dan’s grandmother has just died and they have been invited to the reading of the will.  There, along with other members of the Cahill, they are given the choice of one million dollars or participating in a dangerous treasure hunt from which they might not survive or ever return.  Which would you choose?

 

I have to admit it, I’m hooked!  This is the first book in the series 39 Clues.  There will be 9 more books written by different authors and published over a two year period.  If all of them are written as well as Riordan’s, then it should be a series full of adventure and in brain exercise trying to figure out the clues.  The series also has an online component as well as collectible cards and prizes.

Publisher: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/2/2008
UPC: 00043396194625

It's the 1960's, Jude and Lucy are falling in love, and their story is told with a Beatles soundtrack.  The director Julie Taymor laces this beautiful musical with trippy and hallucinogenic visuals.  Look out for Bono, U2 lovers.  This movie is quite the experience – you will not be disappointed.  Remember to enjoy the soundtrack, too. 

Check out some other movies with great vocals:  Moulin Rouge, Reefer Madness, Romance & Cigarettes, Sweeney Todd, Little Voice, Everyone Says I Love You, Walk the Line, and of course, The Little Mermaid!

Publisher: Paramount Home Video
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 6/17/2008
UPC: 00097368920941

This series is smart, sexy, and downright funny.  Hank Moody is a writer who hates his job at Hell-A magazine.  He’s also madly in love with his daughter’s mother, who happens to have a new fiancé.  Follow him as he fills his day with eccentric friends, his rocker daughter and her mother, and plenty of nameless but memorable women.  His dry and dark sarcasm will win you over quickly. 

Publisher: Universal Music Group
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/04/2008

This artistic duo shows off soulful and sassy lyrics by Suzanne Santo, impressive guitar riffs by Ben Jaffe, and throws country-tinged string chords in the mix.  Their music has a little bit of everything:  rock, jazz, blues, folk, and country.  They are a truly delightful musical ensemble to watch and listen to, and their raw talent shines through on the CD.  Want to hear more? 

Publisher: Universal Music & Video Distr
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/21/2008
UPC: 00600753106006

The soundtrack that introduced the world to the sound of the Brazilian bossa nova and samba is finally available in its entirety.  The 1959 film from France created the successful partnership of composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and poet Vinicius de Moraes.  While some of the songs may be familiar to fans of Brazilian music, the almost unique blend of African rhythms, dissonance and extended harmonics still feels revolutionary today.  This is incredible music waiting to be rediscovered.  

Publisher: Mutant Enemy
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 2008

During the 2008 writer’s strike Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) created a musical about a wannabe super villain named Dr. Horrible (played by Neil Patrick Harris).   The charming result was a huge hit on the internet and now is available on DVD and at the library.  The shoestring budget of the effort gives it a loose improvisatory feel yet the talents of everyone involved keep it entertaining and well worth checking out.  The terrific score is also available on CD.

Publisher: Criterion Collection
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 1/1/2008
UPC: 9787155150316
ISBN-10: 715515031622

The wife of a 19^th century General unknowingly sets in motion a string of tragic events when she sells the earrings her husband gave her on her wedding day to pay off a debt.  The director Max Ophuls was famed for his fluid, stylized camera movement and nowhere more so than in this film, which is widely considered his masterpiece.  The DVD features an introduction from director Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will be Blood), a commentary by film scholars, interviews with Ophul’s collaborators, a visual analysis of the film and an interview of the author of the original short story.

Publisher: Tor
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/16/2008
ISBN: 9780765321336
ISBN-10: 0765321335

In this story set a hundred years in the future, Gene Wolfe wildly careens between pulp Lovecraftian horror, South Seas gods and mysterious aliens.  The novel seems to be about an actress in love with two enigmatic men but from this fairly unexceptional premise it flies to strange and bizarre places that are not obviously logical.  This is a challenging puzzle of a book for readers who are up for it.

First Chapter  

Publisher: Roc
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 2/6/2007
ISBN: 9780451461292
ISBN-10: 0451461290

Fifteen year old Canadian Ned Marriner is on spring vacation with his photographer father in France at a shoot of the Cathedral of Saint Saveur.  He begins to explore the cathedral with an American exchange student he meets there and the two of them are pulled into an ancient conflict that involves Celtic spirits.  Kay’s knowledge of history grounds the fantastic story and keeps the reader enthralled to the final page.