FINDING BIGFOOT

ADULT/YA NONFICTION

G/A  Brockenbrough, Martha.  Finding Bigfoot.  Feiwel, 2013.  978-1-250-04090-9.  14.99.  An absolute, unequivocal truth about the existence of an Asiatic yeti/abominable snowman  or  a  North American sasquatch/bigfoot has not yet been scientifically proven.  Fascination and interest in these "creatures," however, are supported by documented sightings, noises, and trackings.  And there's an ongoing Animal Planet documentary program with which this folio size book is affiliated.  Color tone pages form a backdrop for the text plus photos and illustrations, recipes, jokes, a question/answer section plus lists of movie titles and websites.  Welcome to an inviting source of information for everyone -- for those who believe, for those who doubt and for those who are simply curious.  
E.M. Roublow

Cute Girl Network

New Adult Graphic Novel

G/M  Means, Greg.  The Cute Girl Network.  First Second, 2013. 179p.  978-1-59643-751-7.  17.99.

When Jane falls off her skateboard in the street, the cute, goofy, soup cart salesman, Jack, helps her to her feet. After just a few dates with Jack, Jane is smitten. He’s forgetful and weird, but he’s sweet and he likes her too. But when Jane’s friends find out she is dating Jack, they introduce her to the “Network,” a group of women who help each other by sharing details about their ex-boyfriends to prevent future agony. Everyone has something mean to say about Jack, but it’s up to Jane to make up her own mind about him. This cute graphic novel would appeal to the new adult genre of 20-somethings, more than teens, due to the subject matter, but since there aren’t too many realistic, romantic graphic novels with strong female characters, it’s a good addition to any collection. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial

100 QUESTIONS YOU'D NEVER ASK YOUR PARENTS

YA NONFICTION

G/A  Henderson, Elisabeth.  100 Questions You'd Never Ask Your Parents.  Roaring Brook, 2013.  978-1-59643-875-0.  12.99.

"What" or "how" is the lead-off word of most questions addressing bullying, drinking and driving, drugs, huffing, self-injury and sex.  Answers range from one to five paragraphs.  Topics can also be approached via the glossary and/or a detailed index.  Useful, hopefully, as a bridge to further information about any of these interests.  As a 5"X7" paperbound item, it will be less likely to get lost if placed in a small rack or trough when purchased for a library.  E.M. Roublow

WORDS WITH WINGS

MIDDLE SCHOOL FICTION

G/A  Grimes, Nikki.  Words with Wings.  WordSong, 2013.  84p.  978-1-59078-985-8.  15.95.

Daydreaming is Gabby's (short for Gabriel) favorite pastime, especially when it soothes her angst about her parents' separation.  Noticing that Gabby is trying extremely hard not to be distracted from school work, her intuitive teacher allows a daily 15 minute period for all students to daydream and document their dreams as a writing exercise.  Story is presented in verse format -- making it a good candidate for classes studying poetry.  E.M. Roublow

SALT

V/A Frost, Helen.  Salt.  Farrar, 2013.  138p.  978-0-374-36387-1.  17.99.
A near battle in 1812 causes misunderstandings and threatens friendships.  Each twelve year old -- Anikwa, a native American, and James, son of a trading post proprietor -- alternate telling their family's side of the story as soldiers arrive to claim land in Indiana Territory.  This historical novel's format is verse.  Intermittent poems about salt -- which literally preserves food -- acts, in this story, as a symbolic ingredient that preserves the relationship of two families.  E.M. Roublow

K-Pop Now! The Korean music Revolution

Adult/YA Average Reading Level

VG/A Russell, Mark James. K-Pop Now! The Korean music Revolution. Rutland, VT: Tuttle, 2014.

Russell has put together a fantastic volume of information regarding the K-Pop history and industry. This is relevant to the current K-Pop craze phenomena and interest to those who are reading it for the first time or have a deep concern about their favorite groups. It will also make a great complementary addition to any classroom curriculum on the topic of Korean Culture. The layout of the book is divided into chapters that span the coverage of the land, the history, definition of K-Pop and most importantly the groups that make up K-Pop.

I am quite impressed with the book starting out describing the land of Korea and the history of the K-Pop culture. It is important for readers to know where and how K-Pop all started. Thank you for referencing to the first generation of K-Pop groups such as H.O.T, g.o.d, FINKL, S.E.S, and Shinhwa. It is also important to explain the Hallyu trend that helps shape the K-Pop culture and correlation between K-Drama and the music industry because they do go hand-in-hand. The coverage on the big three or four (SM, JYP, YG, CUBE) entertainments is a must in any book now because they practically dominated the entire K-Pop business with their artists.

The coverage of each idol groups is very uneven. Most groups have only two-page coverage. However groups like Super Junior, Big Bag, TVXQ, Girls Generations, 2NE1, and Wonder Girls have more coverage than others. Since these groups are already popular, one would really want to know more about the other groups. However, JYJ was not mentioned at all. Not sure if there is any legal issue that they cannot be mention here or why they were not mentioned as original members of the TVXQ and later they break off from the group TVXQ and became JYJ. In addition, I fail to see the mention of B1A4, Lunafly, LedApple, U-Kiss, Boyfriend, MyName, Eric Nam and Tasty. These are also popular in the K-Pop arena, especially when U-Kiss just had a tour of concerts in the United States.

In conclusion, it is good to see such thorough coverage of the K-Pop industry in this book and it is especially refreshing to see the mentioning of future stars such as BtoB, VIXX, Boys Republic, History, Lee Li, and Roy Kim.

The only thing that I can see as an improvement is that more attractive photos of the idol groups should be selected for this book especially in the cases of MBLAQ, SHINee, Super Junior and Infinite. (Maybe this is a personal Bias -- Sorry I am a big fan of all of these groups.)

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

High School Fiction

VG/A. Hodge, Rosamund. Cruel Beauty. Balzer + Bray, 2014.  346p. 978-0-06-222473-6. $17.99.

Ever since her father made a bargain with the Gentle Lord for his wife to have children, Nyx has been promised as his wife when she comes of age at seventeen.  They say that the Gentle Lord is a prince of demons, who sends his demons to attack the villagers and to drive them mad. He is an immortal with magical powers, but anyone foolhardy enough to bargain with the Gentle Lord always pays a heavy price. The Gentle Lord certainly keeps his word, but he always cheats at his bargains. 

Long ago, a curse was placed on Arcadia, and for the last nine hundred years, the island has been sundered from the rest of the world, trapped in a void where they can no longer see the real sky.  Told to be the hope of her people, Nyx is committed to doing her duty - marrying the Gentle Lord and destroying him in order to avenge her dead mother and to save her kingdom.  She knows that her failure or even her success could very well mean her death.  She resents her father for not trying to save her and her twin sister for not taking her place, but she willingly goes through with the wedding ceremony. 

The Gentle Lord has given her a bargain of her own.  Every night, she is given a chance to guess his name. If she guesses correctly, she'll be granted her freedom, but if she guesses incorrectly, she'll die.

Her husband, Ignifex, is not what she expected. Nor is Shade, his shadow.  Trapped in ruined castle with labyrinthine staircases and strange doors leading to magical and dangerous secret rooms, Nyx must work to uncover his secrets. The more she learns of her husband, the more she is drawn to him and finds herself falling in love with him.  Will Nyx keep her word to destroy the Gentle Lord or will she chose the man she loves over the fate of all others?  An intriguing tale, Cruel Beauty certainly stands out among other Beauty and the Beast retellings.