Plymouth Librarians' Choice

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes – Adult Fiction Shelves, Adult Paperbacks, and Adult Large Print – Main Level – Keyes. Teen Zone Paperbacks – Main Level - Keyes.

Charlie Gordon is a mentally retarded man in his early 30’s who is chosen for an amazing experiment—to receive a brain operation, injections, and therapy in order to make him smart. The model for such an experiment is conducted on a mouse named Algernon who has shown a great increase in intellectual abilities. Charlie happily agrees to be a part of this experiment because he thinks that being smart is the best thing in the world.

Soon after this experiment is conducted, Charlie does gain in intellectual smarts, but his mental facilities in terms of relationships with others is still behind that of normally progressing young adults. Thus, while Charlie enjoys being able to read and speak in many languages, he struggles with the most basic of human relationships. Charlie comes to realize that being smart doesn’t mean that one has all the answers or happiness in life.

Sadly, Charlie also comes to realize that the doctors who have designed this experiment have failed to plan fully for what can occur in such a rapid explosion of intelligence. Furthermore, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur also fail to take into account real human emotions and desires as they treat Charlie like some sort of experimental lab rat. Charlie does find friendships with Algernon, his partner in this experiment, and Alice Kinnian—his teacher. He eventually falls in love with Alice, and they share a tender yet tragic love story.

Flowers for Algernon is mesmerizing. It is a novel that relates to all of our human emotions of love, fear, sadness, joy, failure, and success. Daniel Keyes has truly written a classic novel that will grab onto the reader and not let go until you are finished.

City of God by Fernando Meirelles
Foreign film DVDs-Main Level C

Too often there are movies that glamorize drugs and violence without retaining any semblance of depth or understanding into the world they portray. On the other hand, too often there are heavy handed movies that push a message without being able to entertain and keep an audience invested. City of God is such a movie that can walk the fine line that both entertains and informs in a way that doesn’t preach.
The movie recalls the lives of two boys growing up in the slums of Rio De Janeiro and the different paths they take. One boy, Rocket dreams of becoming a photographer and escaping the slums, while the other Lil Dice dreams of becoming the greatest gangster in the slums. The movie follows them through the decades as they both achieve their dreams with varying results.
The film shows a world full of violence and despair that lies just beyond the typical tourist hot spots. Children as young as five run wild brandishing weapons, drinking and smoking cigarettes, like a deranged version of Lord of the Flies. This is a city that even the police won’t venture into, well the ones who aren’t already getting paid off by the drug dealers anyway.
While the subject matter is bleak the director Fernando Meirelles creates a vibrant visual perspective and peppers the film with bits of humor and optimism. What’s even more interesting is the special features of the DVD that contains a documentary about the slums the movie is based off of. It’s one thing to see a somewhat fictional portrayal of the subject matter, but after viewing the documentary it’s hard to shake the fact that many of the disturbing images in the film are real and are still occurring.

Madeline
Dvd Collection – Youth Dvd Shelves – Lower Level - M

If you are a fan of Ludwig Bemelmans’ enchanting Madeline books you will adore this movie adaptation. Madeline tells the story of 12 little girls who live in a Paris boarding school and share adventures together under the watchful eye of their loving teacher Miss Clavel. Madeline is the smallest of the girls and the most precocious.

The movie is as charming as the rhyming text of the books as it follows Madeline and the girls as they experience some unforgettable times with the Spanish Ambassador’s son Pepito, the lovable dog Genevieve, and the stuffy Lord Covington. Madeline was shot in France and displays some of the most well-known attractions of Paris including: the Eiffel Tower, Hotel des Invalides, Luxembourg Gardens, and the Pont de l’Archeveche bridge. Madeline the character is extremely likeable and is sure to bring laughter and joy to both children and adults as they watch her face any challenge with an undeniable strength and wit!

Families by Susan Kuklin
Youth Nonfiction – Lower Level – J306.85 K

This beautiful nonfiction picture book is just the ticket for children curious about families. Kuklin interviews New York children ages 4 to 14 from a multitude of backgrounds and photographs their families. The children tell us in their own words what they don’t like but mostly like about their family and their siblings. The families are lots of different colors and mixed; different religions; with two-parent, divorced and single parents, and adopted, only, and multiple siblinged children. The kids are charmingly passionate about their families, and the pictures (staged by the kids) tell a lot about the families. They include meaningful pictures from family photo albums, too, of grandparents or parents when they were young. Each family is a double spread, with large pictures and a fair amount of text. Probably a third or fourth grader could read it independently, and a couple years younger would enjoy it as a read-aloud. This is amazing collage of real, loving families from the kids’ point of view.

The Merlot Murders: A Wine Country Mystery by Ellen Crosby
Adult Mysteries – Crosby

Some people would say that drowning in a vat of Merlot is not a bad way to go: those people will appreciate this tasty new mystery by Ellen Crosby. When the family vineyard in Virginia (yes, Virginia) falls on hard times, developers come calling with lots of cash. Some family members want to sell and some want to keep the vineyard. When one of the hold-outs is killed in a hunting accident, it looks like coincidence. But a second fatal “accident” proves to be one coincidence too many.

Enter Lucie Montgomery called home from France, where she learned a thing or two about wine, in order to salvage what remains of the family business. Lucie has a lot on her mind between old family feuds, funerals, and former boyfriends. Not to mention she's scrambling to raise enough money to save the vineyard and contending with the strong objections of the family members who desperately need the cash a sale would bring. Soon it looks as though Lucie will be the next Montgomery family member to suffer a tragic accident. If you want to know what happens next, pour yourself a glass and settle into a comfy chair with this delicious mystery.

For other mysteries with a gourmet flair, check out the Plymouth District Library’s Booklist of Tasteful Mysteries.

Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything by Steven D. Levitt
Adult Non-Fiction Upper Level

Seemingly absurd questions are asked, and answered, by the brilliant economist, Steven Leavitt, in this thoroughly engaging book. For example, what do Sumo wrestlers and public school teachers have in common? Or, why do drug dealers still live with their moms? I guarantee that some of the answers will surprise you.

Perhaps the greatest virtue of Freakonomics is that it encourages the reader to think critically and challenge conventional wisdom. As Leavitt points out, conventional wisdom was created by an economist to describe certain ideas that are generally accepted by the public to be true, regardless if they are or not.

The book boils down to the basic premise that doubt is a good thing. An Iranian proverb reminds us that “Doubt is the key to knowledge.” After reading Freakonomics odds are that you will begin to doubt a few things yourself.

Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer. Illustrated by M. Bileck.
Picture Book Shelves - Lower Level - SCH

Somehow this book stuck in my head from reading it when I was four or five – but it turns out that it was a Caldecott runner-up in ’64. Marvelously detailed pen-and-ink with watercolor drawings accompany the rhythmic hand-lettered text: “The stars are made of lemon juice” or some other “silly talk” with a repeated chorus of “and rain makes applesauce.” Every so often the response, “Oh you’re just talking silly talk” is thrown in. The big double-spread picture illustrates the silly talk, while a tiny inset on each page follows a boy and girl in the rain planting an apple tree, watching it grow, and finally making the apples into applesauce. “I know I’m talking silly, silly talk, but rain makes applesauce.” It’s as delightful now as it was over forty years ago.

Fight On! : Mary Church Terrell’s Battle for Integration
by Dennis Brindell Fradin and Judith Bloom Fradin
Youth Biography – Lower Level – Terrell

Fight On! : Mary Church Terrell’s Battle for Integration is an exemplary biography with infinite details of this fascinating woman’s life. Sprinkled throughout the text are photographs of Mary, her family, her people, and her times.

Mary Church Terrell is an inspirational person. She was born in 1863 as the racially mixed daughter of former slaves. Mary was lucky in the sense that her father was quite wealthy, and she had many privileges such as getting a great education. Still she faced what many black Americans faced during her life—racism and unfair treatment. Mary dedicated much of her life to fighting unfair treatment of black Americans and one of her greatest accomplishments was helping to get Washington D.C. area restaurants to serve both white and black citizens in the 1950s. Mary was a renowned speaker around the world who always spoke for the rights of her people at a time when the civil rights movement was truly gaining ground. Wife, mother, teacher, speaker, and activist, Mary Church Terrell is a great example of an American who pursued her passions and made the world a better place!

The Very Best of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
CD Bins - Classical - Schubert

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, is considered the world’s greatest interpreter of German Lieder and one of the most recorded classical singers in history. The first CD in this two-disc set includes a sampling of his vast Lieder repertoire with compositions by Shubert, Brahms, Wolf, Strauss, and Mahler. The second CD contains excerpts of his work in opera with compositions by Bach, Handel, Wagner and Verdi. From his biography (in the Biography Resource Center database, available from the Plymouth Library homepage) we learn Fischer-Dieskau is also a painter, author, conductor, music historian and teacher. And we learn that shortly after enrolling in the Berlin School of Music he was drafted into a World War II German Cavalry Unit where he calmed the horses by singing arias and lieder. He apparently gained experience performing for people while a prisoner of war in an American camp in Italy in 1945, and did not retire from singing until 1992, sharing his vocal artistry with the world for almost 50 years.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Adult Fiction-Main Level

This long forgotten work is beautiful, yet haunting. What makes “Suite Française” so compelling has very much to do with the author herself. Irene Nemirovsky, a Russian born Jew, was quickly gaining popularity as a French writer before the outbreak of World War II. Originally, “Suite Française” was planned to be a five part work chronically the war from just before the invasion of France to the end which was tentatively called La Paix (Peace.) Unfortunately, Nemirovsky was arrested in July 1942 for being a Jew and sent to Auschwitz where she died.

Before she died, Nemirovsky had finished two parts of the sequence. However, it was not until 1998 that Nemirovsky’s two daughters finally opened the notebook containing the two novellas. Finally, after sixty years, the book was published and has received much critical acclaim.

The first novella is called “Storm in June” and portrays the flight of the people of Paris as they scramble in stunned disbelief to avoid the advancing German army. The narrative follows several groups of people and their struggle to survive while maintaining their humanity. The second novella, “Dolce", follows the uneasy balance of the German occupation. Set in the rural town of Bussy, an intriguing plot unfolds as the differences between the rural French and the German soldiers are explored, eliciting sympathy, unlikely attraction, and hatred.

Considering the context in which it is written, “Suite Française,” is a dramatic novel full of powerful emotions. This is not a historical novel written long after the fact. This is a work of art that was created as the events unfolded.