My Best Books

Harry Mazar's "A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor" tells of Adam who is the son of a military lieutenant on the USS Arizona and his family has just relocated to Hawaii's Oahu island. Struggling to fit into yet another high school, Adam makes friends with Davi, an American born Japanese boy. Against his father's word, Adam meets up with Davi and his cousin Martin one Sunday morning to fish in Pearl Harbor. This fateful day happens to be December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and sunk the USS Arizona. When the three boys' little boat is shot at, Adam is separated from his friends when they are taken to the hospital. He sets off on a mission to find his father.

Mazer's work of historical fiction is touching and real. With much description of the island and the setting, the reader gets the feeling that they too are experiencing this important day in US history. One can picture the amount of destruction from the author's account of the story. The narrative recalls the vivid attack with exceptional graphic detail and action packed events. The protagonist learns about his power of bravery and heroism when he encounters obstacles in his journey to see if his father is alive. Adam also learns valuable life lessons in friendship and discrimination. Any student who enjoys historical fiction will want to read this dramatic story.

Melissa Kantor's If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince tells the tale of Lucy who is a tenth grade girl living with her new 'wicked' stepmother and her 'princess' stepsisters on Long Island. With her father still working on a case in San Francisco, Lucy is lonely. As a brand-new student at Glen Lake High School, she buries herself in her artwork so she doesn't have to face the friendless atmosphere of the cafeteria alone. Lucy's life changes one day when she is invited to a basketball game by the star player, Connor Pearson. As Lucy's personal life finally falls into place, her home life sometimes prevents her from moving forward. While dealing with a new familial situation, Lucy's introspective view of a teenage girl is genuine, comedic, and honest. As Lucy struggles with her home life, she must figure out what will make her happy.

Kantor tells the story from the point of view of the protagonist as she relates the common, contemporary challenges in a teenager's life of balancing family and social life. Lucy also deals with the sensitive issue of remarriage and becoming a stepdaughter/sister. One can see a change and growth in Lucy's character when she begins to refer to her twin stepsisters by their names, Emma and Amy, instead of Princess #1 and Princess #2. Kantor effectively creates a humorous tale with a serious undertone through witty lines and funny situations. The language is flowing and uses some sophisticated vocabulary words. The entire novel acts as a modernized analogy to the timeless Cinderella fairy tale. Readers who enjoy fairy tale-esque stories with a present day feel are recommended to read this novel.

Toby Wilson, a resident of Antler, Texas is spending the summer with his best friend Cal. Disappointed that nothing fun ever happens in their small, rural area, they are intrigued when 'the fattest boy in the world', Zachary Beaver, is brought to town. When Zachary is abandoned by his caretaker and left alone in this trailer, Toby and Cal decide to help the boy and end up forging a significant friendship. As Toby deals with his mother and father's separation, chasing after his crush Scarlett, and having Cal's brother overseas in Vietnam, he learns important lessons about life, love, and relationships. Kimberly Willis Holt's work is a timeless story set in the early 70's. She wisely tells this story from Toby's point of view to allow the reader to fully relate to the hardships and feelings that the protagonist is experiencing. Toby is embarking on new, uncomfortable aspects of life, and his first person narrative tone is emotionally truthful and adorably hopeful.

Holt's writing is honest and fresh and displays her ability to create a classic story while involving important issues such as war, obesity, divorce, and building connections with people. Her simple writing style makes the book easy to read and will be encouraging for young adults who may be reluctant readers. Winner of the National Book Award, this novel is recommended for readers in grades six through eight who enjoy reading about the adventures of young boys exploring their youth.

Judy Blume will always be a timeless author. Her books are mostly aimed toward young adult readers but she has the ability to draw in readers of all ages. Her classic books tell ageless tales that will be passed on for generations to come. Blume succeeds in writing a mature novel for the older population of young adults as she deals with topics such as love, sex, and birthday control.

Main characters Katherine and Michael are in love. After meeting at a mutual friends' house, the two high school seniors' relationship begins to progress from dating into a real, adult relationship. As Katherine and Michael decide they want to show each other physically how they feel emotionally, she begins to casually seek the advice of her elders and take the necessary precautions as the couple becomes sexually active. While thinking about her personal life, Katherine must also prepare for her college future. Blinded by love, she can think only about spending time with Michael. The pair is put to the ultimate test when Katherine is sent to summer camp for six weeks.

Blume's portrayal of first time love is emotional and heart wrenching. Told in first person, Katherine narrates her tale of first time love and sex. Through the couples' ups and downs, the tone conveyed is at times touching and also heartbreaking. The protagonist is tested by facing many of life's challenges such as maturing, graduating from high school, and meeting new people. When Katherine is away at summer camp, Blume wisely uses her creative ability to write the story in letter form. The reader can actually experience what the characters are feeling through their correspondence. This book is recommended for high school students and above because of its mature content.

I have had the opportunity to read quite a few novels in the young adult literature category. I hadn't remembered from my childhood which books fit this genre, so i scoured the library shelves looking for books of interest. Since I usually judge books by their titles, one book quickly grabbed my attention. It is called You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah, by Fiona Rosenbloom.

Roosenbloom weaves the tale of Stacy Friedman who is reaching a milestone in her life when she becomes a Bat Mitzvah. Living in suburban Westchester, Stacy wants her party to be enjoyed by her friends, the cool kids in school, and most of all her crush, Andy Goldfarb. As her big day approaches, Stacy slowly finds out what it means to grow up and become a woman. She experiences a fight with her best friend, realizes her parents' separation will end in divorce, and discovers her brother isn't too annoying after all. Fiona Rosenbloom's work of fiction is presented in first person by the main character, Stacy. One may relate to Stacy's spontaneous thoughts to god begging for the situation of the moment and to her own opinionated statements of fact included throughout the book.

Rosenbloom writes a realistic tale for young adults about coping with friends and family. Stacy also overcomes the typical challenges of being a young woman and trying to make a name for oneself in a social group. She struggles with the obstacle of performing three ?mitzvahs? (good deeds) before her bat mitzvah, but surprises herself when she deals with things in a mature manner. This contemporary story contains chapter titles that humorously predict what may lie ahead and the title of the work is also a good indicator for the witty language and amusing storyline. This book definitely will be liked by those who truly enjoy modern stories with pop culture references.

The Last of Harry Potter

I am personally almost done with Harry Potter. Since the new book is (hopefully) the last in the series, this is also the last I will write on the subject. It seems that we will have to suffer through the last movies of Harry Potter as well but that is something I have decided I will not write about.

A Salute to Harry Potter

I would like to end this final blog article on the subject of Harry Potter with a sort of salute to Harry Potter and his creator; J. K. Rowling; Harry Potter was a cute little boy. We had the privilege of watching him grow year after year in his own unique world of magic. For a while, reading Harry Potter filled our mundane world with the scent of magic. Unfortunately, the story took a turn for the worse and even though we are forced to follow it through to the bitter end, it would seem that the end was inevitable.

The Last of Harry Potter

I would like to conclude with the hope that this is indeed the end of Harry Potter. We have all learnt from history that sometimes heroes die hard. Sherlock Holmes made it back from the dead and so did many other heroes. Sometimes it is the fault of the fans for not letting the hero die and sometimes it is the fault of the author. As a fan I can say that Harry has outlived his usefulness. One might hope that Rowling has the sense to let Harry rest in peace!

One class that I was fortunate enough to take in library school was called ?Law Librarianship' which is actually a class given in law school called Legal Research. The library class was taught in the law school of my affiliated program. Each of us library school students felt immensely important walking up the steps to the law school; as if this gave our class the validation it needed (though we all know that each class in library school is as important as anyone else's studies).

The teacher teaching the course was an ex-public defender lawyer who taught full time as a law professor. In addition, she holds a Masters in Library Science. Though she was tough and intense, she was one of the best teachers I had ever had the privilege of taking in the program.

I knew I had to explain to people what classes I was taking and when I said ?Law Librarianship' they would probably go ? ?Say what?? My professor explained the course brilliantly. She said that we weren't going to learn law. We wouldn't go in depth into cases, however, we would learn how the law was organized. If we knew where cases were located, how the law was organized into bound books, and where to look up certain information, then we would be the best law librarian/legal researchers.

I was quite thankful she explained the course this way because then I was able to tell people the same answer when they'd ask about the class. I would say, ?We learn how the law is organized.? Since technology is also improving, we learned two major law databases ? Lexis Nexis Law and Thomas' Westlaw which will indeed become helpful through my librarian profession. FYI Readers: Not only do law schools needs librarians, but major law firms employ librarians for their firm's personal library as well.

In a recent entry I wrote about Sonya Sones' book called What My Mother Doesn't Know. Reading this book intrigued me to research the author a bit. I found that she wrote two other books in the same style as the first one i read. This book of hers hits Sones closer to home because it reflects on her sister's experiences it affected Sones firsthand.

Sones writes this autobiographical novel about her experiences when her older sister was admitted to a psychiatric facility. Sones' memories are composed into short, intense poems that retell her everyday occurrences that reflect her tone and mood on the arising situations. Most of the poems are the voice of a scared, frustrated, and irate teenager. Though she knows she can't control the circumstances, she can't help but be angry at her sister, her parents, and most of all herself. The poems express Sones' feelings of insecurities of not being able to lead a regular young adult life. She always thought people were making fun of her or talking about her behind her back because of her sister's mental state.

This novel marks Sones' first work for young adults and establishes her style of writing one to two page, well crafted poems. The titles of the poems are often indicative of what the reader can expect in the upcoming stanzas. The poetry is full of emotion and proves heart wrenching for any young adults reader because Sones' language creates an empathetic tone. Though the subject area is mostly appropriate high school age students, adults of all ages will appreciates Sones' real life, often complex, poetic saga.

No one describes ice and snow better than Steve Hamilton. Alex McKnight - his hero - may be icy and remote but the atmosphere is always way colder.

The frozen north woods of the United States is a favorite venue for crime/mystery writers and Steve Hamilton is the premier author representing and depicting this area of the country. Set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula - where that states meets the Canadian border - Hamilton's books are all about atmosphere and locale. When I started my collection, Hamilton was already on book # 3 and closing in on the fourth, so I went back and started at the beginning, with "A Cold Day in Paradise," Hamilton's 1998 offering.

The star of Hamilton's series is Alex McKnight, though this rugged ex-cop still has a hard time stealing the thunder from the frozen venue the books are set in. Alex could be a cliché - retired cop, tragic background, brooding loner - but Hamilton has fleshed him out and he is a multi-dimensional, real character whom we care about and root for. The book won the award for Best First Private Eye Novel of the Year in 1998 and deservedly so; even better, Hamilton has kept apace of his fast start out of the blocks and the series simply gets better and better as it goes along. Alex is highly likable, despite his solitary ways; in many ways he reminds me Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch and Hamilton's writing is similar to Connelly's in its crispness and no-nonsense approach. But no matter how intriguing the character, one can't help but admire Hamilton for his evocative depiction of the frigid landscape and thankless environment in which the books are set. Alex is one cool dude, but the background is always cold, colder, coldest and Hamilton is a good enough writer that the reader can just about feel his breath turn to vapor as he turns the pages. Hamilton is a terrific writer and his Alex McKnight series is one of the best.

Art Spiegelman presents Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here my Troubles Began, a graphic novel about his father's experiences at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany during the Holocaust. Semi-autobiographical, Art draws himself as he requests that his father, Vladek, tell him more about his experiences during the war. His father recounts the endless tragedies that occurred to both himself and his family. Told in a vivid voice of a first person account, this true tale is poignant and emotional because most of these events happened to over six million Jews. Vladek's report is heartbreaking as he is separated with his love and depicts the acts of bravery and courage concentration camp victims had to endure to stay alive.

Spiegelman draws each page with precision, detailed drawings, and worded descriptions. His father is narrating the graphic novel, though the cartoon boxes contain dialogue as well. Spiegelman draws each character as animals with a different type assigned to each nationality. He portrays Jews as mice, the polish as Pigs, Germans as cats and Americans as dogs. Though the novel is depicted in black and white ink, Spiegelman makes it clear to the reader when the events are in the past by creating gloomy, dark, and heavily marked up panels. Spiegelman received the Pulitzer Prize fo his praiseworthy work. Though the subject matter is mature, students ages older than 12 are recommended to read this book to gain perspective of a Holocaust survivor.