A Girl Named Stanley

You would think that as much hullabaloo we've heard about our current president concerning his birth and religious preferences, we would have heard a little bit more about the woman who gave life to such a controversial president. During Obama's run for the presidency we heard about her struggles with her insurance company as she fought for her life. We also heard about her struggles as a single mother on food stamps raising a bi-racial son with the help of her parents. Yet we didn't hear about the passionate exotic independent life she led. And what a life she did lead!

Before I read "A Singular Woman" I thought that I was a lot like Ann in the sense that I was a struggling single mother who relied on the kindness of her family to help her raise her sons, and who also, like Ann, struggled with insurance coverage. However when I began to read about this extraordinary woman, I realized that we had very little in common save for the struggles of single parenthood.

A Singular Woman, written by Janny Scott, gives us a unique picture of Stanley Ann, a strong-willed, yet impulsive, financially stressed, yet philanthropic, woman of the late 20th century who admittedly made many mistakes in her personal life, yet never gave up her dream of doing what she felt was most important, giving her children a good education and integrity.

With success however there sometimes comes a price, Stanley Ann's life was rocky, often lonely, riddled with not only stormy marriages but heartache because she spent a great deal of time being absent in her son's life.(Which as a mother I find that to be reprehensible) Ann did adore Barack and Maya, however she was more passionate about her anthropological work in Indonesia than she was about parenting and wifery. Even though I feel one should have more passion for parenting your children than anything else I cannot deny that she wasn't a brilliant woman who contributed significantly to female equality.

A Singular Woman lacks the presence of Obama and how he felt about the choices his mother made and what effect that had on him. My hope is that President Obama will write a more detailed autobiography later and discuss the major role his mother played in his life.

In the end whether you agree with her choices or her politics, Stanley Ann Dunham led a life worth reading about even if she not been mother to an American president. She was not your typical girl from the American Midwest. The girl named Stanley, like the "Boy named Sue", learned to think for herself and ignore the constraints of the norm. She sprang from generations of mavericks and had the courage to carve out her own history.

Grace in the 5th Quarter

If you're attracted by high-tech special effects and big Hollywood names, then the Grace Card and 5th Quarter might not be the movies for you, but if you're interested in watching films that's are profound as well as spiritual then you definitely will not want to pass these two movies up. One movie is based on true events, the other sends a message that most of us need to acknowledge-FORGIVENESS. Both deal with tragedy and grief but in very different ways.

In the Grace Card Mac McDonald loses his young son in a tragic accident, and his life spirals down from that moment. As the years pass, he becomes bitter, estranged from his family, his career as a law enforcement officer suffers and he allows his grief to become bottled-up anger that leads him on a path to self destruction.

As a final straw Mac is forced to pair up with Sam, an African-American pastor who took the job as a police officer to pay the bills, though his true dream is to do full-time ministry. Their relationship is tense and neither understands quite why their paths intersected. When tragedy strikes, the design becomes apparent and both men realize that nothing happens by mistake. What is the lesson to be learned here? Forgiveness is free and should be given to everyone-Give them the Grace Card.


"For the entire history of mankind everyone is born and everyone dies. You think we'd have learned to handle it, but we don't." The 5th Quarter is the true story of how the Abbate family comes to terms with the most profound of losses, and how a team(Wake Forest Football) rallies around a teammate's love for his brother. This is more then a sports movie, it is a film about dealing with loss and grief in a positive way. It is a movie that everyone can relate to simply because at some point we all will lose someone we love dearly and even though we know this we are still never quite prepared for when it happens.

Keep the Kleenex close by for these two movies.

A Stolen Life

Jaycee Dugaard's nightmare began when she was abducted while walking up a hill to her school bus on June 10, 1991, when she was 11 years old. It ended when her abductors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, were asked eighteen years later to attend a parole meeting August 26, 2009, after two UC Berkeley's campus officers became suspicious of Garrido when he appeared on campus with Jaycee's young daughters. Their unusual behavior sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home.

A Stolen life is Jaycee's story of how she, beginning at the age of 11, confronted 18 years of evil by doing what she had to do to survive mentally and emotionally. Her story is told with unflinching detail. It is a harsh book to read. Jaycee leaves nothing to the imagination with her ordeal at the hands of the evil Garridos. There were some parts in the book where I thought I just couldn't go on, but I'd put the book down and reflect and then pick it back up and carry on. Jaycee's story is a testament to the natural instinct that lies inside all of us to survive no matter what the cost.

I have read so many bad reviews on this book, that I have to write a good one. Some have complained about the writing being too repetitive and grammatically flawed, some of it sounding too much like a fairy tale ending(really?) . Some have said that no one who endured such atrocities could survive without having major issues and that the real story hasn't been told.(How much worse could it get?) And last but not least some have bashed her for not trying to escape.(Why this was even mentioned in a book review is beyond me)


My Rebuttal
Jaycee and Simon and Schuster for whatever reason decided she should write her story in her own words.(And we should remember that she had only a 5th grade education). For those reviewers who say it seems too fake with a feel good ending, well there was a feel good ending for Jaycee and her family, she was found alive. And lastly for those of you who question why she did not try to escape, let's take ourselves back to when we were 11 and how most of us were afraid of the dark. One never knows what one will do until they are faced with the same situation.(Would you have survived?) I do believe most critics have forgotten to ask the big question,”Was there anything to be learned from this work?” With "a Stolen Life," the answer is a resounding yes. For anybody who has ever felt insignificant, overlooked, or powerless to break out of a trap or find his or her own brand of happiness, (which is most of us) courage is a lesson in perseverance. Jaycee has survived her ordeal, she has told her story and we should rejoice in that fact. Her story gives us hope that miracles do exist.

Red Glove

The Curse Worker's series is perfect! I just finished Red Glove, and NEED the third book! NOW!
Holly Black created a world where curse workers can manipulate, kill, transform, or hurt you with a single touch. Cassel Sharpe happens to be the only non-worker in a family of mobster workers. He's an outcast with a murderous and confusing past, yet tries to make up for it with his con-man finesse. When he starts being lead in his dreams to see that his past was a con in itself, he can no longer lead the normal life he was trying for and may have to go against the only people he thought he could trust.
It's a thrill-ride that will keep you guessing, a love story that will make you want to throw the book against the wall, and a fabulously original idea that will leave you aching for more!

Reviewed by Erin Reifsnider
Young Adult Coordinator

The Swiss Courier by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey

I have a confession to make. I normally avoid historical fiction like a passion. Usually, the authors put so many historical details in the books that it detracts from the story line and plot. I am so glad I checked out this book!

It is a gripping story about WWII with fascinating disclosures and background information that most people don’t know about. The book is a fast-paced thriller reminiscent of the highly popular 24 television series with plot twists and pulsating action and the plot KEPT ME RIVETED.

The authors have the right combination of history and intrique. It was fascinating to learn more about Switzerland’s role in WWII, the newly formed American Office of Strategic Services in that country which was the forerunner to the CIA. If only history teachers would weave tales like this, more students would become history lovers.

Kathy Stutzman
Public Relations Manager

Ship Breaker

I am always looking for the next book to put into someone's hands who can't get over the fast-paced, adventure of The Hunger Games. Similar plot lines have been written, female archer fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Yet, it is not one of these books which I put into the hands of these book lovers, but rather the 2010 Printz winning novel, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. With a dose of Treasure Island like adventure/survival, a dash of Hunger Games apocalyptic intrigue, a pinch of Dickens coming-of-age, and a whole lot of originality, Ship Breaker is a timeless story.

On the American Gulf coast, Nailer lives in a ship-breaking beach community. From a young age, children are trained in how to strip an old ship of all of its useful materials. It's dirty, risky and dangerously competitive. Nailers luck seems to have changed when he finds a “swank” boat washed up after a huge storm. Inside the boat, however, is a girl- A girl who could get in the way of his fortune if kept alive. This book sparks questions of ethical “what would you do's?” in a future world not un-like our own. Teens will be interested to find that ship-breaking is occurring in some impoverished coastal communities!

Reviewed by Erin Reifsnider
Young Adult Coordinator

Pegasus National Bestselling Author: Robin McKinley

YA SF MCK

I enjoy reading fantasy fiction written for all ages. Robin Mckinley is one of my favorite writers. In the past I have read the 1998 Phoenix Award honor book, Beauty: a Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, the 1985 Newbery Medal winner The Hero and the Crown and a 1983 Newbery Honor book, The Blue Sword, both about the magical country of Damar. Just recently I bought and quickly devoured Robin McKinley’s novel, Sunshine, that had won the 2004 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. I then placed on hold Pegasus at my library when I realized we had a copy here.

I have discovered that Robin McKinley always excels at creating a well-developed fantasy realm. In her Wikipedia biography Robin grew up as an only child with a father in the United State Navy. She moved around frequently and read copiously. She remembers events, places, and time periods by what books she read where. She read the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time in New York and the Lord of the Rings for the first time in Japan.

Many of her strong heroines reflect qualities that the she saw in herself as a young woman: clumsiness, plainness, bookishness, and disinterest in the usual social games that involve flirting and dating. She believes that most girls go through a time growing up when they believe they are in fact lost princesses, switched at birth. Biographer Marilyn H. Karrenbrock stated, “McKinley’s females do not simper, they do not betray their own nature to win a man’s approval. But neither do they take love lightly or put their own desires before anything else. In McKinley’s books, the romance, like the adventure, is based upon ideals of faithfulness, duty, and honor.” I found her animal characters to be memorable well-detailed, intelligent individuals.

In this novel, Pegasus, Princess Sylvi is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday as part of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pegasi. Amazingly, Sylvi and Ebon are able to communicate and truly understand each other, without relying on specially trained “speaker” magicians to translate. Secretly, Ebon introduced petite Sylvi to the joys of flying at night on his back. He also arranged for Sylvi to visit his homeland and to see the pegasi caves as a special 16th birthday gift. Alliance rules normally only allow the pegasi to visit the humans country. As a result of the rare three-week life-changing visit, Sylvi becomes her nation’s pegasi expert. But she is unsure of how to share what she has experienced and learned as the unique closeness of the bond between Sylvi and Ebon seems to threaten the peaceful status quo--and possibly the future safety of their two nations.

At the end of Pegasus I was left with many questions. A disgraced, power hungry “speaker” magician, Fthoom, uncovers an historical parchment document about the reign of King Ascur II, during which there was an invasion of enemy forces made up of taralians, norindours, ladons and wyverns, led by rocs. Supposedly, rocs speak truth when dying. The parchment recorded that a dying roc was overheard crying out, “the blood and breath of each [race] is poisonous to the other” over time, and the bodies of your two races “are dying of it” as the ties grow closer together. Was Fthoom lying? Many in the king’s Court fear that the two nations may not survive the escalating violent, border attacks by these old enemies again --especially if the growing bond between Sylvi and Ebon and other human-pegasi partnerships are allowed to flourish. Are the magicians holding back key information or doing things that hold back and/or jeopardize a closer, more equitable relationship between the two nations?

Regrettably I must wait almost a year for the publication of Pegasus II in 2012 to discover if the friendship of Sylvi and Ebon will end or survive in the face of the impending crisis facing their nations.

Meanwhile, I plan to read some of Robin McKinley’s other titles. I’ve got her books, Chalice and Dragonhaven, on my “to read” list. She is married to author Peter Dickinson. I may also explore the two short story collections they wrote together, Fire and Water. I look forward to many more hours of great fantasy reading.

What authors have you enjoyed reading over the years? Who has always produced a good read time and again? I plan to explore a few of my favorites with you soon. Until then, enjoy reading.

Ann Zydek
Library Director

Conspiracy in Kiev

Conspiracy in Kiev, marks Noel Hynd venture into Christian fiction. This fast-paced international espionage thriller will keep you guessing. Full of twists and turns, any Ludlum and Clancy fans will enjoy this first book of a Russian Trilogy. You can tell the author is knowledgeable of the ins and outs of Washington agencies and the book is well researched. In fact, some of the practices revealed will certainly make readers wary, especially in light of the recent headlines about Russian espionage in this country. From double-crosses to unexpected help from the enemy, this book won’t disappoint you.

There is a lot of violence in this action-packed story and a number of people die. However, the events aren’t that much different than newspaper headlines today. This only serves to make the book more realistic.

Although categorized as inspirational fiction, faith is very subtlety woven through the pages making it entertaining for all crowds. In fact, it could just as easily be categorized as just mystery fiction. The female lead character, Alex DaLuca, does grow stronger in her faith but it is not a main focus point. Occasionally, the story gets bogged down when the author goes into a lot of historical background to explain situations. However, it doesn’t occur often enough to warrant putting the book down.

A tight storyline with thrilling action sequences makes this a good read.

Kathy Stutzman
Public Relations Manager

The Devil's Rooming House

   Ok, first of all, I guess I read some rather morbid books at times! This book, authored by M. Williams Phelps, is a non-fiction book about Amy Archer-Gilligan, America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer.
   In running one of the U.S.'s first nursing homes from her own home, Amy was accused of murdering over 40 patients with arsenic. Between 1908 and 1916, sixty-six "inmates" as they were called, died in her care. She was only convicted of a few, including her second husband, within months of their marriage. The movie: Arsenic and Old Lace was written based on this period in history.
   Although the book was interesting, I still found myself just skimming pages instead of intently reading them. At times the book tended to drag with too much back story of other participants. But overall, if you are interested in this type of reading, it really was a fascinating story.

As Young as We Feel

As Young As We Feel by Melody Carlson

This is the first book of a new series: The Four Lindas. It is a compelling journey of four friends in their fifties brought back together at a 35 year class reunion during a crossroads in their lives. Coming from four very different lifestyles and facing different crises, they find they have something in common, a desire to reinvent their lives…together.

It’s easy to relate to the story line of friends losing touch with each other and reconnecting later. Many of us have gone through the same situation. It’s also a written reminder that we all need friends in our lives.

Although, it starts out a little slow, it does pick up speed with characters so realistic that the reader begins to identify with one or more of the Lindas. With the unique life challenges of the Boomer generation: marriages in trouble, widowhood, depression, relationships with estranged children, and taking care of parents with long-term care needs, there is something for any woman of Boomer age to identify with. At the same time, those of other ages will enjoy this book also as it explores reevaluating one’s life, of taking chances, and possibly choosing a new path.

As one reviewer wrote, “This is a book for and about women -- about their trials, their strengths and their friendships. It's a book you won't want to miss, especially if you're a Boomer woman.”

Kathy Stutzman
Public Relations Manager

The Falling away

The Falling Away by T.L. Hines

Run, do not walk away from this book! Captured by the back cover synopsis promising supernatural suspense, well-crafted characters, spiritual insights, and etc., I checked the book out. My mistake.

For the next 3 days I struggled through the book. Now for someone who generally finishes a book in one evening, this says volumes. The book was confusing. I have read a number of books in the supernatural suspense genre and this did not deliver. The book jumped around and the thread was hard to follow.

The allegory of a virus to describe how demonic activity infiltrates humankind was poorly developed. The scriptural references seemed misleading. In addition, the subject of cutting oneself to relieve anxiety seemed acceptable. Would I recommend it? No. Would I discourage people from recommending it? Yes.

Kathy Stutzman
Public Relations Manager

Madden 11 Xbox 360

Madden 11
This weekend I went over to my
friend's house to play the new and
anticipated “Madden 11” video game
on Xbox 360. I found this line of the
series to be quite similar to the other
Madden games, but at the same time
there were many more new features
that I would know of once I started
actually playing. The graphics on the
new Madden 11 are much improved
and also the kicking style of the game
is much different. For the kicking, one
has to now press the “A” button for
how much power and accuracy they
want. (Unlike previous Madden
games). Audible play calling is also
different on the new Madden 11, which
is one thing I did not like, but on the
upside I loved the new “gameflow”
option you can choose from if you
don't want to pick the play.
“Gameflow”, which applies to both
offense and defense, lets the computer
decide which play is best for you to
run rather than you scouting out what
play to choose on each possession. This
speeds the game up. I hope you
enjoyed my review of the new Madden
2011 video game. It is a great game to
buy if you are a football fanatic like
me! :)

by Viraj Gokhale

Any Minute

Any Minute by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford

The story plot is similar to the Christmas Carol. The main character has too busy of a work life, forgetting family and being rude to people. Priorities are in the wrong order. She is in an accident and is taken to past, present, and future. In the end, she makes changes. Joyce Meyers is an excellent non-fiction writer. This is her second attempt at fiction. She still needs to hone her fiction writing skills. Too much of the book was spent building the background and too little spend after the main character comes back to life. It seemed like she realized she was getting close to her allowed # of pages or words and rushed through it. Although she teamed up with an accomplished writer, it fell flat.


Reviewed by

Kathy Stutzman
Public Relations Manager

The Savage

There is a savage in each of us. Innocent, pure, or not. We are capable of ________ (fill in the blank).
When one young boy, Blue Baker, is left confused and in pain, he taps into that very savage, creating an artistic reality where his savage alter ego is capable of the things this boy can only dream of. Blue, a gentle kid, is connected to the savage he's writing about and is able to face his bully and take out his anger through his writings. The Savage becomes so real to Blue, that he begins to question his existence.
Getting to the core of human emotion, David Almond isn't afraid to get a little dirty, "If anybody ever seen him he chased them and cort them and killed them and ate them and chucked their bones down an aynshent pit shaft. He was savage. He was truly wild." With wild tri-color illustrations of the savage with his empty eyes and animal movements, Dave Mckean makes Almond's story as real as Blue's Savage was to him.
Loved loved loved this quick read! Recommended! For Sure!

Reviewed by Erin Reifsnider
Young Adult Coordinator

An Immortal Life

I've always been curious about the cells that are referred to as HeLa. I had always wondered where and how they came to be. I am quite surprised that it has taken this long to finally write about the history of these amazing cells. The “Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” explains all this.

Rebecca Skloot set out to write a book about the cells that Johns Hopkins researchers harvested from a tumor that killed a young African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks in the 1950s. Those cells, known as HeLa, had a life of their own. They were fruitful and multiplied, they traveled around the world, and they provided science with the source of scores of life-saving discoveries (Polio for one). During the course of investigating science's use of those cells, Skloot found a much better story, one that begins with the researchers' failure to inform Henrietta's family of what they were doing. As a result of this, the family did not discover the cells existed until decades later.

This story will incite, shock and awe you when you come to learn the story of the Lacks family and their victimization by socioeconomic conditions, racism and how these cells have made tons of money for the health establishment and yet most of the Lacks family are unable to afford health coverage.

The author has done an extensive research job in putting together this book. The afterword notes that it took 10 years to complete the book. The science is easily understood by the average reader, the family story is enhanced by the author's patient relationship with the family of Henrietta.

What impressed me most about this book was the way the author presented the story in a non judgmental way. Both the family and especially the medical establishment committed acts that did no one proud. Skloot is not condescending nor patronizing to the Lacks family nor does she condemn the medical establishment. It would have been easy to sensationalize this story but she didn't, she just calmly and in a very fair and straightforward way reported it.

The human race owes Henrietta Lacks a debt that it will never be able to repay. This is a book that should be required reading in all of our schools.