WHY'D THEY WEAR THAT?

ADULT/YA NONFICTION

V/A  Albee, Sarah.  WHY'D THEY WEAR THAT?  National Geographic, 2015.  192p.  978-1-4263-1919-8.  19.99.  Imagine adorning one's face with patches, swimming in garments made of wool or wearing shoes with no delineation of the left foot vs the right foot.  Do you think you'd have been an automobile enthusiast - even if it meant riding in a topless car in inclement weather?  Would you have enjoyed dining under a manually operated fan - as provided by a human punkah wallah?  For decades, fashion has been reflective of social tastes, economic necessities and military protection.  It provides visual references for many historical moments.  This title can be thoroughly enjoyed as both an attractive browsing item and a delightful overview of fashion history.
E.M. Roublow (ret.)

Shadow Scale

Fantasy/General YA Fiction

VG/A  Hartman, Rachel.  Shadow Scale.  Random House, 2015.  608p.  978-0375866579.  18.99

Picking up three months after the story ended in Seraphina (don’t worry, it starts with a recap), Seraphina is busy researching other half-breeds, like herself and thinks that if she can find them, together they can help stop the coming war between humans and dragons. She must travel far and wide to reach them and deal with those who wish to stop her, including another half-dragon whose manipulation skills are terrifying. Once again, Hartman has developed an incredible world of dragons and humans, politics and adventure. To fully appreciate though, readers need to read Seraphina first. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial Branch

Saving Montgomery Sole

General YA Fiction

F/A  Tamaki, Mariko.  Saving Montgomery Sole.  Roaring Brook, 2016.  240p.  978-1-62672-271-2.  17.99

Montgomery Sole is a 16yo girl with two moms, a younger sister and a total of 2 friends in a small California town. She’s obsessed with the abnormal and started a high school Mystery Club, where the 3 of them discuss the weird and unexplained every week. When the White family moves to town, things get uncomfortable for Monty. Reverend White is a semi-famous preacher who wants to “save the American Family” and Monty’s family is anything but normal. While Monty’s sarcasm made her likeable, the character seemed way too naïve for a 16 year old. All the build-up and drama resulted in too tidy of an ending as well. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial Branch 

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

High School Fiction

VG/A Hodge, Rosamund. Crimson bound. Balzer + Bray/ Harper Collins, 2015. 448p. 978-0-062-22476-7. 17.99.

 As a young girl, Rachelle was apprenticed to her aunt to become a woodwife, to learn protective charms and lore to protect her village from the forestborn and woodspawn, inhuman creatures of the Great Forest. At fifteen, Rachelle strays off the protective path and meets with a dark creature, becoming the very evil she had been sworn to protect against.  In penance, she serves the king and is set to protect the King’s son Armand from deadly enemies. Not what you would normally expect in a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, this rich, complex and dark tale will keep readers in suspense. 

Denton Little's Deathdate

General YA Fiction

G/A  Rubin, Lance.  Denton Little’s Deathdate.  Knopf, 2015.  352p.  978-0553496963.  17.99

Thanks to DNA research and statistics, everyone knows when they will die (but not how). Unfortunately for high school senior, Denton Little, his deathdate is tomorrow. His funeral is held the day before his death, so that he can attend and eulogize himself. At midnight he will sit vigil with his family and closest friends, essentially waiting to die. A lot can happen in that time period though, including losing his virginity, getting the weirdest rash ever, meeting a man who claims to have known his mother, going to prom and getting in a crazy car chase. Rubin’s debut novel is a fun, twisty dark comedy. It’s laugh out loud funny while being thoughtful at the same time. Hopefully the sequel coming in April 2016 will be just as fun. Loren Spector, Memorial Branch, LAPL

Mike's Place: A True Story of Love, Blues and Terror in Tel Aviv

Graphic Novel

VG/A  Baxter, Jack and Joshua Faudem.  Mike’s Place: A True Story of Love, Blues, and Terror in Tel Aviv.  First Second, 2015.  189p.  978-1-59643-857-6.  22.99

In 2003, American documentary filmmaker, Jack Baxter decided to make a film about Tel Aviv bar, Mike’s Place. The bar was a popular blues club on the beach and the staff was like family. Baxter wanted to show a side of Israel that was not about politics, religion or war, but a human story. In April 2003, all that changed when there was a suicide bomber at Mike’s Place and 3 people were killed, including one of the waitresses. This book is a graphic adaptation of the events that took place and the making of the documentary film. The great artwork and storytelling (although a true story, some of the scenes are fictionalized) make this graphic novel worth reading. Loren Spector, LAPL, Memorial Branch

Alex As Well

General YA Fiction

VG/A Brugman, Alyssa. Alex As Well. Henry Holt and Company, 2015. 214 p. 978-1-62779-014-7. 16.99.

Alex was born with both male and female body parts. Her parents chose to raise her as a boy, so throughout her childhood she has been on hormone drugs and has been treated as a boy. As the story opens, the 14-year-old Alex is five days in to going off of her hormone drugs. Following a brutal bullying incident in which she was stripped naked and thrown in a river (with the incident posted on youtube, no less) Alex enrolls herself in a new school without her parents’ consent. Here she IS a girl from day 1. The most appealing and humorous aspect of the novel is the internal bickering between “Alex” and “Alex” – the boy and girl personalities inside her head. At first, treating an intersex character in this way – essentially as a “multiple personality disorder” sufferer – seems insulting to people in this situation. Alex is not “sick,” she is struggling for self-acceptance and to be accepted by her parents. However, with going on and off hormone therapy at such a young age, and with Alex being aware of having to “act” in such a way as to be convincing as a boy at her first school, and then as a girl at the second, Brugman convinces us that Alex could indeed think of herself as having an unwelcome observer/commentator (male Alex). Complicating matters even more, Alex quickly starts falling in love with a girl in her class, and has to deal with a boy falling for her. The narrative is told from Alex’s point of view, interspersed with her mother’s confessions to the fictional website motherhoodshared.com. Brugman’s use of this device helps make the mother a believable character, not a screaming villain. The ending seems rushed, but this is still definitely recommended. Philip Levie, YA Librarian, Panorama City Branch Library, LAPL.