This Librarian's Quick Picks: Level the Playing Field

Level the Playing Field 
by Kristina Rutherford
Owl Kids Books (2016)
Middle Grade Nonfiction

Summary:

Level the Playing Field examines the root of these issues by taking readers through the history of women's pro sports, exploring how far we have come in a relatively short time and exposing what ground is left to gain. The book provides first-person insight through exciting interviews with professional female athletes, including Canadian hockey player Cassie Campbell, American MMA fighter Miesha Tate, and WNBA star Elena Delle Donne. Along the way, author and sports journalist Kristina Rutherford covers important topics like opportunity, female role models, and stereotypes.

Why You'll Love It:

• In an engaging, conversational tone, Rutherford lays out the state of women in professional sports before Title IX was passed and mandated equal opportunities for women in federally funded schools, how it has changed since, and where women’s sports leagues are headed.
• Big, full-color action photos of a diverse array of women from a broad range of sports adorn each page, and brief interviews offer tidy glimpses into the life of a professional athlete.
• Young girls especially will be inspired by this volume and the bright future for women’s sports it portrays.

Who Should Read It:

Great for 5th-8th graders.

What Else You Should Read:

• Breakaway: Beyond the Goal by Alex Morgan
• Babe Conquers the World by Rich Wallace
• Annaleise Carr: How I Conquered Lake Ontario to Help Kids Battling Cancer by Annalise Carr

Books by Theme: Endangered Places

Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries...
by Paul Rosolie

Uncharted territory is difficult to find these days, which is part of what makes the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon Basin unique. Nature writer Paul Rosolie first visited the area as an 18-year-old college student volunteering at a biological research station in Peru, where he fell in love with the jungle's primeval splendor. In this "vividly written narrative" (Kirkus Reviews), Rosolie recounts eye-opening adventures, from fostering an orphaned anteater and encountering isolated tribes to contracting MRSA and nearly being devoured by a 25-foot anaconda.

The Reef: A Passionate History 
by Iain McCalman 

More than 1,400 miles in length, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure ever built by living organisms (so big it's visible from space). This organic maze of coral reefs, islands, and estuaries is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, home to thousands of species from microscopic organisms to megafauna. However, like other natural wonders, it's also in danger of being destroyed by human activity. While describing the natural history (extensive) and ecological value (priceless) of the Reef, author Iain McCalman traces the region's influence on European explorers, indigenous peoples, and individuals inspired by its unique natural beauty. Pick up this book and learn more about this amazing place while it still exists.

Fire and Ice: Soot, Solidarity, and Survival on the Roof of the World
by Jonathan Mingle

Welcome to Kumik, India, a 1,000-year-old village in the Himalayas whose inhabitants long ago learned to cultivate the harsh mountain terrain by collecting water from melted snow. However, as the region's glaciers recede, the village declines. The main culprit? Soot. Among the most toxic, yet least studied, of pollutants, soot -- also known as black carbon -- is the byproduct of combustion. And while the Himalayas may seem remote, Kumik's plight parallels that of places all over the world. This sobering account of environmental devastation provides insight into a lesser-studied aspect of climate change.


The Galapagos: A Natural History
by Henry Nicholls

Home to some 4,000 species of flora and fauna (of which 1,600 are endemic), the Galápagos Islands are renowned for their extraordinary biodiversity. Made famous by Charles Darwin, who featured the Galápagos prominently in The Voyage of the Beagle, this archipelago off the coast of Ecuador has also hosted many human visitors, from fishermen and pirates to scientists and ecotourists. In addition to exploring the islands' unique geological features and ecology, this sweeping account examines ongoing threats to the Galápagos caused by human activity, including pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change.

Mini Review: Absalom's Daughters

Absalom's Daughters
by Suzanne Feldman
Henry Holt and Co. (2016)
Historical Fiction

What's It All About?

Self-educated and brown-skinned, Cassie works full time in her grandmother’s laundry in rural Mississippi. Illiterate and white, Judith falls for “colored music” and dreams of life as a big city radio star. These teenaged girls are half-sisters. And when they catch wind of their wayward father’s inheritance coming down in Virginia, they hitch their hopes to a road trip together to claim what’s rightly theirs.

Who Should Read It?

It's ideal for fans of historical fiction and those interested in learning more about the grim realities of Jim Crow and the harshness of poverty in the 1950s. There's just a touch of magical realism; very reminiscent of O Brother, Where Art Thou?

What Else Should I Read?

• Getting Mother's Body by Suzan-Lori Parks
• Caucasia by Danzy Senna
• Sula by Toni Morrison

What If I Don't Believe You?

Don't take my word for it! Check out these other reviews...

Bookfan | Coffee Pot Review

This Librarian's Quick Picks: Bleed, Blister, Puke, and Purge

Bleed, Blister, Puke, and Purge: the Dirty Secrets Behind Early American Medicine
by J. Marin Younker
Zest Books, 2016
Middle Grade Narrative Nonfiction

Summary:

Riots over the medical use of cadavers. Public access to institutions for the insane. And full-blown surgeries without the aid of anesthetics or painkillers. Welcome to the middle ages of American medicine. Bleed, Blister, Puke, and Purge exposes the extraordinary practices and major players of American medical history, from the Colonial era to the late 1800s. It's hard to believe that today's cutting-edge medicine originated from such crude beginnings, but this book reminds us to be grateful for today's medical care, while also raising the question: what current medical practices will be the horrors of tomorrow?

Why You'll Love It:

• Readers learn about a variety of early American oddities as well as incremental medical advancements, such as the proliferation of freak shows, the practice of grave robbing for dissection of cadavers, medical quacks, and the emergence of the first hospital and medical school.
• Numerous sidebars chock-full of fascinating anecdotes coupled with Younker's sarcastic commentary peppered throughout add interest.
• It's gruesome -- need I say more??

Who Should Read It:

Great for 6th grade and up.

What Else You Should Read:

• An American Plague by Jim Murphy
• Bubonic Panic by Gail Jarrow
• Fatal Fever by Gail Jarrow

Books by Theme: If you liked When Breath Becomes Air

If you Liked: 

Then Try: 

Do No Harm
by Henry Marsh

If you believe that brain surgery is a precise and exquisite craft, practised by calm and detached surgeons, this gripping, brutally honest account will make you think again. With astonishing compassion and candour, one of the country's leading neurosurgeons reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets and the moments of black humour that characterize a brain surgeon's life.

Gratitude
by Oliver Sacks

Sacks's powerful look back at his remarkable life was published posthumously. The book chronicles the famous author's thoughts, wishes, regrets, and, above all, feelings of love, happiness, and gratitude even as he faced the cancer that ended his life last year at 82. In essays that originally appeared in print in the New York Times, Sacks relates what makes him happy—simply to be alive on a beautiful day, for example—as well as what causes him sadness as he ages. He considers people he has known and loved and how they approached death and candidly discusses his feelings upon learning that his cancer had metastasized and was terminal. While the book shows no dimming of intellect—indeed, the material offers incisive, poignant observations—the author's usual scientific narrative has in places been supplanted by wistful musings on life and love. The essays also tie up the strands of a career spent investigating and writing, mentioning various projects, mentors, and books along the way.

Being Mortal

byAtul Gawande

In his years as a surgeon, Gawande dedicated himself to doing whatever he could to save patients’ lives. But he also came to understand that there are limits to what medicine can do, and, perhaps, what it should do. In this heartfelt work, Gawande offers hard-won perspective on elder care, end-of-life treatments, and hospice practice. In the end, he argues, what truly matters is using medicine to offer comfort, and helping patients to face death on their own terms, in peace and with dignity. 

Mini Review: Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler

Growing Up Amish 
by Ira Wagler
Tyndale House (2011)
Memoir

What's It All About?

Ira Wagler was born in 1961, the ninth of a Canadian Amish couple's eleven children. At seventeen, in the dark of night, he left the religious settlement, but it was only nine years later that he finally left the church for good.

Who Should Read It?

Read it if you don't mind lots of fragmentary writing. Like this. All the time.

There's lots of romanticism to non-Amish about the Amish world, and this book definitely dispels it. Unfortunately, his writing style gets in the way of what could be a really interesting and informative read.

2.5 stars.

What Should I Read Instead?

• Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish by Tom Shachtman
• Crossing Over by Ruth Irene Garrett

What If I Don't Believe You?

Don't take my word for it! Check out these other reviews...

Parchment Girl | Baby to Boomer