Plymouth Staff Choices

Matrimony
Adult New Book Display- Main Level- Henkin

Professor Chesterfield of Graymont College is fond of only two of his creative writing students. The first, Julian Wainwright, is the privileged son of wealthy New Yorkers and the second, Carter Heintz, wants to be Julian. Soon the two are best pals, both in love with Mia Mendelsohn’s photo in the freshman directory. While Carter dates a different girl, Julian woos Mia in the dormitory laundry room, and the couple is still together at graduation. Mia’s family, however, is falling apart: her mother has cancer.

Julian and Mia marry immediately, while Mrs. Mendelsohn is still able to attend the wedding. After moving to Ann Arbor, Mia pursues a graduate degree at the University of Michigan and Julian battles a killer case of writer’s block. The story meanders after the married couple as they settle into patterns together, watch their old relationships change, and discover how little they really know about each other. Should they have revealed more before marrying? Does it even matter?

This quiet, beautifully written work manages to amble along slowly while also covering a lengthy chunk of Julian and Mia’s lives. Henkin's prose is charming yet unpretentious, earning Matrimony a spot in the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2007. If action and adventure are what you love, this is probably a bad choice, but fans of realistic fiction at its realist will be pleased.

BONE Volume One: Out from Boneville
by Jeff Smith
Teen Graphic Novels - Main Level - B

One day the three Bone cousins Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are chased out of their home, Boneville, because of Phoney’s shady dealings. Unfortunately they get lost from each other in the Valley. While lost they encounter some interesting characters and fast-paced adventures. Ted is an all-knowing little bug who leads wise Fone Bone to Thorn, a sweet and beautiful teenage girl who promises to help reunite the Bone cousins. She lives with her Grandma Ben, a brave woman who loves to race cows. The Bones also encounter rat creatures who are only interested in destroying the Bones, but luckily the amazing Red Dragon saves the Bones time and time again!

Although the Bone cousins are eventually reunited at the end of the story, there is an ominous threat lingering over the Bones as they get ready for the great cow race. For once again Phoney has tried to make money in a dishonest fashion, and is threatened by the Hooded One—the leader of the rat creatures. One will have to pick up volume two of the Bone series, The Great Cow Race, to find out what happens next in the Bone saga!

Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith is a fun and enjoyable graphic novel. If you have never read this type of literature, this selection may be a good starting point. It is also acceptable for upper elementary students. The illustrations are friendly and true to the characters’ emotions. So if you want to laugh and be a little frightened along the way read about the three Bone cousins in Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith!

The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin
Adult Nonfiction - 978.02L

When I saw people walking around downtown Plymouth in shorts at 9PM in early January in Michigan, it reminded me of this amazing and true account of the school children’s blizzard of 1888. That day 120 years ago began with unseasonably balmy temperatures and ended tragically when a ferocious blizzard, gale force winds, and sub-zero temperatures exacted a terrible toll in hundreds of lives lost. The morning dawned so warm that many children were able to travel to school for the first time in weeks, in many cases without coats or shoes. The storm was dubbed “the school children’s blizzard” because so many of its victims were children on their way home from school or trapped in buildings without heat.

The storm aligned with the conditions of pioneer families struggling to survive in a harsh landscape with tragic results. Although the settlers came from northern and eastern Europe and were used to cold weather, they were unprepared for the volatile and violent shifts in weather on the prairie. Because each homestead was an isolated island on a sea of grass, anyone caught in the storm would have to walk miles to find shelter in the blinding, wind-driven snow with few landmarks to guide them across a featureless landscape.

David Laskin tells the story of this terrible storm from several perspectives. He gives the background on several families: why and how they emigrated from Europe, why they choose to become homesteaders, and what they were each doing when the blizzard hit. Laskin provides background on the state of the westward expansion, how weather patterns form, why the Army Signal Corps didn’t warn the settlers in time, and the effects of hypothermia on the human body.

The most compelling and memorable parts of the book are the accounts of the individuals trapped in the blizzard. There’s the story of Minnie Freeman, who employed ingenuity, bravery, and a long rope to get her young pupils to safety. (Her story can also be found in a children’s picture book, The Schoolchildren’s Blizzard by Marty Rhodes Figley.) Some men working in the fields huddled with their livestock through the worst of the storm. One woman unable to see her hand in front of her face literally stumbled into a frozen haystack – her shelter in the storm. Accounts of that terrible day have been passed down through the generations of families who endured it. These accounts and David Laskin’s research make for a compelling read.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Adult Paperbacks - Main Level DANIELEWSKI

To describe Mark Danielewski’s novel House of Leaves in a few words would be somewhat impossible. However, I feel inclined to try anyway. Imagine a book, about a book, about a movie, about a photographer and his family who are living in a house that grows and changes from the inside yet remains static on the outside. Confused yet? Well that’s half the fun of House of Leaves. More than just a book about a haunted house, it focuses more on the concept of darkness. The darkness that grows inside us, and the absolute infinity that the illusion of darkness can create even if we are merely standing inside a closet. The book consists of two main narratives, one involving Johnny Truant, who comes across a monograph written by a blind man Zumpano. The other deals with the contents of this monograph detailing the experiences the photographer has inside the house. As if this wasn’t enough the two narratives begin to slowly dissolve leaving the reader to question if Truant isn’t just making the whole thing up himself.

The book itself is as much a labyrinth as the house is, inverting text on certain pages, single words on others, and for the truly adventurous a whole load of footnotes. In addition Danielewski’s sister, the musical artist Poe, made an entire album that is a companion piece to the book. While many may criticize the book as form over function, or simply view it as pretentious postmodern garbage, the enjoyment of House of Leaves depends solely on how much the reader wants to delve into the abyss. If you're willing to dive in with an open mind than you may find the experience more than rewarding

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden.
Youth Fiction– Lower Level - Selden
What will Chester Cricket do? He is from the country in Connecticut, but accidentally finds himself in bustling New York City after jumping into a picnic basket! While there he is taken in by a young boy named Mario Bellini whose family owns a non-profitable newsstand above the subway station. Mario is a kind and caring young man, but his mother doesn’t like having a pet cricket live in her newsstand. Luckily, Chester is kept company by Tucker the Mouse and Harry the Cat, and the three spend many nights talking, laughing, and eating together.

One night there is a terrible fire in the newsstand, and Mama Bellini is fed up with Chester whom she blames for the fire. However, something magical occurs that not only softens Mama Bellini’s heart, but the hearts of all those in New York—Chester’s singing.

Will Mama ever grow to accept Chester? Will Chester be able to help the Bellini’s out of their financial despair? Most importantly, will Chester stay in New York City with his new friends or return to his country home? If you want to find out the answer to these questions and read a funny and touching children’s classic, you should pick up a copy of The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden!

Sorcery and Cecilia, Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
This book (and two sequels) are set in just post-Napoleonic War. Our little tagline might be something like "Jane Austen's World Meets the Society of Wizards with Nail-Biting Yet Hilarious Consequences." Both novels were written as actual letters sent from one author to the other. Sorcery and Cecilia consists of letters between two cousins used to carrying on adventures together. Cecy, at home in the country, begs for news of the city from her cousin Kate, who is coming out and having her first London Season. Kate starts out bored and awkward, until a witch mistakes her for a rival wizard and tries to poison her, using the enchanted chocolate pot of the title. Her hairpins still won’t stay in, but now she needs to find the other wizard to warn him. Meanwhile, someone keeps spying, very badly, on the social events that Cecy is attending. Should she report him or give him tips? The girls might be in over their heads, but at least they’re having a fabulous time. The writing is snappy in a nicely authentic-sounding way, the fashion impeccable and the characters intrepid.

The White Darkness
Teen Zone Fiction- Main Level- McCaughrean

“I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now—which is ridiculous, since he's been dead for ninety years.” So begins The White Darkness, this year’s recipient of the Michael L. Printz award for excellence in young adult literature.

Titus Oates, who joined Robert Falcon Scott’s exploration of Antarctica, has indeed been dead for ninety years, and his last breath was taken in the South Pole. Fourteen-year-old Sym has been hearing his voice in her head for quite some time; he is her dearest companion. No one else at her school wears hearing aids or dreams of Antarctica.

Sym’s dangerous exploration begins when a weekend trip to Paris with her Uncle Victor, the man responsible for Sym’s obsession with “the ice,” turns into a surprise visit to exactly that place. How generous! Until the camp of tourists is plagued with mysterious mishaps, and Sym finds herself unsure of who to trust and how to survive. Geraldine McCaughrean will mesmerize you with her eerie descriptions of adventure in “the last place on earth.”