Plymouth Staff Choices

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson.
Youth Fiction Shelves - Lower Level - PATERSON
Teen Zone Paperbacks - Main Level - PATERSON

Lydia (Lyddie) Worthen and her family live on a small farm sans their father in 1843 Vermont. Their mother is mentally unstable and as such, Lyddie and Charlie, the two oldest children, take care of the farming and the cooking. Eventually, their mother leaves the farm with the two youngest children and sends Lyddie and Charlie to work in a tavern and mill to pay off family debts. The pay is very poor at Cutler’s Tavern, and soon, Lyddie starts a new life as a higher paid “factory girl” in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Although Lyddie earns more money in her new position, life in Lowell is not an easy one for any of the girls that work in the mill factories. For instance, they work very long shifts in bad conditions without long breaks in between. While working in the mills, Lyddie learns lessons about life. For example, she learns that working hard brings a great sense of self-accomplishment. Likewise, she also learns that people must stand up for their rights whether it is young mill workers demanding ten hour days with better working conditions or young women standing up to sexual harassment. Most importantly, Lyddie learns to trust herself and believe in her strengths.

Lyddie by Katherine Paterson is an uplifting novel that gives power to young women and their voices. It is also a great historical account of how mill life was in 1840s America. Having been listed on many "Best" lists including the ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Lyddie by Katherine Paterson is an exceptional piece of literature.

Endless Ocean
Wii games – END – Lower Level

Endless Ocean allows the user to explore colorful shallow reefs and the dark ocean’s depths all in one day. Hired as a scuba diver, your assistance is needed not only to explore different regions for topography and types of fish, but also for finding priceless artifacts. Gear becomes more specialized as the game advances, allowing for deeper depths to be reached.

Befriend underwater wildlife in a safe environment. Gain the trust of a bottlenose dolphin and other sea creatures that will provide assistance along the way. Swim with sharks and sea turtles. Closely look at the coral to see if any small animals reside within. Soon others will learn of your expertise and will be asking for guidance on dives. Will you be able to prove that some legends actually are true?

The graphics in Endless Ocean are amazing. They are colorful and detailed. The deeper the dive, however, vision becomes obstructed by darkness. Only by using the diving light, which comes on automatically, can things be seen in the depths of the ocean. Endless Ocean uses sound appropriately, with softer music in the shallow waters, eerie music in deeper waters, and inspiring music when some discoveries are made.

Endless Ocean also follows the natural rules of science and discovery. .. one does not know about animals until they are studied. Although the entire length of the encyclopedia is available from the start, the pages are only filled in once the discovery is made. For those interested in marine life and different characteristics of each animal, the information is available; for those who wish to ignore this information, it is not forced upon the user.

If you’re looking for a nice calming Wii game where you character is indestructible, then Endless Ocean is for you. Great for kids and adults alike!

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune by Naughty Dog Video Games - Main Level VG-UNC

Take the platforming of Tomb Raider, the game-play of Gears of War (albeit with far less gore) mix with lush jungle backdrops, top notch voice acting, and you get Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. Explorer Nathan Drake, a descendant of Sir Francis Drake, gets pulled into a search for an ancient relic that is linked to his ancestor. With the help of journalist Elena, and your sidekick Sully you traverse beautifully rendered jungles, waterfalls, caves, and ruins while avoiding the bullets from a group of pirates.

The combat involves a mixture of a run and gun cover system and melee elements. What makes the combat so rewarding is both the intelligence with which your enemy will flank you and the smooth transition between the gunplay and hand-to-hand fighting. While the game takes a liberal amount of its story elements from films like Indiana Jones, the gameplay and characters are more than enough to compensate for these shortcomings.

The Faceless Fiend
Lower Level – Youth Fiction - Whitehouse

Princess Purnah comes from a country where violence and thievery run amuck. In the previous book, she manages to escape the horrific life at a girl’s boarding school. She now lives with Aunt Lucy, an eccentric woman who serves dandelion and slug cakes. Also residing at the house is a professor who enjoys blowing things up; perhaps that is the reason that so many of his inventions fail to work. Unfortunately, the faceless fiend has discovered of her escape and will stop at nothing to ensure her return. However, his relentless pursuit is what makes the story so unforgettable.

From an out of control motorized wagon that is not supposed to exceed the speed of a walking man, to a bunch of minions smashing through a window to kidnap the princess (who wields a dangerous butter knife), to people throwing bricks at rubberbone’s head, to flying over London in a small basket with a handful of helium balloons, and being attacked by a prehistoric bird, the silliness and action abound throughout the entire book.

Although geared toward slightly more advanced readers, the action in the story The Faceless Fiend resembles the unusual activities of Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking. Even the main character, Princess Purnah, is adorned with long pigtails. Similarities to Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events are also evident. Perfect for those who are looking for more bizarre adventures, The Faceless Fiend will not disappoint.

Joshua’s Song by Joan Hiatt Harlow.
Youth Fiction - Lower Level - HARLOW

Joshua Harper has always lived a privileged life in a nice neighborhood of Boston. However it’s 1919, his father has passed away from the terrible influenza epidemic, and now Josh must find a job to help support his family.

Josh does find a job as a newsie (a newspaper delivery boy), but he fears his mother’s disdain for such a mediocre job. Furthermore, Josh has to answer to a young bully known as Charlestown Charlie because he controls much of the newspaper delivery within the neighborhoods of Boston. On top of all of that, Josh cannot find solace in singing for the Boston Boys’ Choir anymore because his voice has changed. Can life get anymore difficult? When tragedy strikes the poor neighborhoods of Boston, Joshua finds the strength from within to carry on and realizes that tribulation builds character.

A short historical fiction novel for the elementary and middle school grades, Joshua’s Song by Joan Hiatt Harlow is a quick and enjoyable read. It is also historically accurate in its description of the “Great Molasses Flood” of Boston in January of 1919.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Teen Graphic Novels – Main Level – A

A man leaves his wife and daughter, traveling along streets shadowed with the wings and tails of giant monsters. He sails across the sea in a huge boat, arriving in a strange land to try to find work and save enough to bring his family over. The setting is mostly early twentieth century but with strong elements of the bizarre. The drawing style looks like a series of old sepia photographs. It’s told entirely without words – even the signs on the buildings are in a script that neither we nor our immigrant understands. This was all over the comics blogs Best of 2007 lists (it took me a while to get to it.) Somebody in one of the blogs I read then – I wish I could remember who – pointed out the nifty way Tan notes the passage of time. On one page, all we see is one little square after another of clouds, as we watch out the window of the steamer with the immigrant. I loved reading books about immigrants as a child, but there’s a level of being in the experience that this has that a book where I can understand the language just can’t.