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March 2010
 The Core
is an online newsletter providing information about H.
W. Wilson’s Core Collections and related resources and services—and
a forum for the exchange of ideas from librarian to librarian.
CONTENTS
March is Women’s History Month
To celebrate Women’s History Month we dipped into Public Library
Core Collection: Nonfiction and found a brilliant 2009 anthology entitled
Poems from the Women’s Movement, edited by Honor Moore. (It’s also in Senior
High Core Collection.)
Here is the book:
Title: Poems from the women's movement
Responsibility: edited by Honor Moore
Publisher: Library of America
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 238
Abstract: This is an anthology of poetry written by women during
the women’s movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. “These direct, vibrant,
potent, passionate, wild, strong, free, and freeing poems come less like a
breath of fresh air than a strong wind.” (Booklist)
Dewey Decimal Classification: 811.008
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
Starred Review(s): Booklist (April 1, 2009)
Best List(s):Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books (2009)
Review: Women’s Review of Books v. 26 no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2009). Ostriker, Alicia, reviewer
Review Excerpt (by Alicia Ostriker): “The 58 poets brought together here are not often seen
together, but from Plath to Katha Pollitt to Molly Peacock, from Diane Wakoski to Alice Walker,
from Erica Jong to June Jordan, Lucille Clifton to Irena Klepfisz, they changed the course of American
poetry (and American life!) with their rage, their humor, and their out-and-out brilliance. Some of
the poems will be old friends to many readers. . . . As with any anthology, I would have made some
different choices. . . . I wish Moore had included some work by Native American, Chicana, and Asian
women. . . . But these are quibbles. It is lovely to have traditional and experimental poets, middle-class
and working-class poets, white and black poets together, . . . and I was particularly thrilled to see some
of the visionary West Coast poet-activists who are so often neglected by the East Coast: Alta, Susan
Griffin, Judy Grahn, Pat Parker. . . . Poems from the Women’s Movement is compact enough to tuck in
your purse and huge enough to blow the top of your head off.”
And here is what we found inside:
All manner of poets are represented, from the household names (see Plath, Sylvia)
to those that ought to be. Assembled as a chronicle of the verse of the women’s liberation movement of
the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, the collected poems transcend the subject, exhibiting the sublime, universal,
and at times stroke-inducing appeal that makes poetry such a pleasure.
See, for instance, Fran Winant’s “Eat Rice Have Faith in Women,” excerpted below:
eat rice have faith in women
what I dont know now
I can still learn
slowly slowly
if I learn I can teach others
if others learn first
I must believe
they will come back and teach me
As with any collection of literature, one doesn’t have to look hard for
the old staples: love and death. The latter has a starring role in “A Woman Is Talking to
Death,” by Judy Grahn:
Death only uses violence
when there is any kind of resistance,
the rest of the time slow will do.
Marge Piercy deals with the former in “The Nuisance”
(and may have unwittingly inspired
the Cheap Trick hit “I Want You to Want Me”):
I want you to want me
as directly and simply and variously
as a cup of hot coffee
To want to, to have to, to miss what can’t have room to happen.
I carry my love for you
around with me like my teeth
and I am starving.
Though the wisdom they contain may be timeless, these poems,
as the history buffs like to remind us, are a product of a moment and a place.
In “Elegy,” for example, Marilyn Hacker, from London, mourns the passing of Janis
Joplin in 1970, stating:
. . . don’t be scared
to scream when it hurts
and oh mother it hurts, tonight
we are twenty-seven, we are
alone, you are dead.
But for those looking to experience the joys and frustrations,
the “We Can Do It!” fire and fury of the women’s movement, there is plenty of material
from which to draw inspiration. We recommend the affecting and defiant “Euridice” by Alta
(who started the Shameless Hussy Press in 1968 in her garage in Berkeley, California):
all the male poets write of orpheus [. . .]
damn them, i say.
i stand in my own pain
& sing my own song.
Here is a quote from Honor Moore herself, about the women’s
movement and women’s poetry, from a poem entitled “Polemic #1”:
This is the poem to say “Write poems, women” because I want to
read them, because for too long, we have had mostly men’s lives
or men’s imaginations wandering through
our lives, because even women’s lives we have details of
come through a male approval desire filter which diffuses
imagination, that most free part of ourselves.
One friend is so caught on the male-approval-desire hook she
can’t even write a letter. Ink on paper would be clear
evidence of failure to be Sylvia
Plath or Doris Lessing, or (in secret) William Butler Yeats.
^ To Top
Kat Kan’s Graphic Novels Best List
The Best Graphic Novels of 2009
Our graphic novels expert picks her favorite titles from the 2009 windfall. All these books,
with their annotations and much more, appear in Graphic Novels Core Collection on WilsonWeb.
They appear below in order of age appropriateness, from the youngest to the oldest.
(The rating for age appropriateness is one of the best features of Graphic Novels Core Collection.)
Not all are fiction, like the biography of Trotsky. We are fond of the
story of Pinocchio’s using his nose to stake vampires. We think Kat’s annotations are little
gems of literature in themselves. (Think of them as Graphic-Novels-Librarian haiku.)
Here is what Kat says about her Graphic Novels Best List:
I gave the following graphic novels my highest recommendations during 2009.
I based my recommendations on the high quality of the story and the art and how well they
worked together, and also on their potential high appeal to readers. Many of my choices have
appeared on various "Best" lists of 2009.
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title:
Long Tail Kitty
Personal Author: Pien, Lark
Publisher: Blue Apple Books/dist. by Chronicle Books
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 51
ISBN: 978-1-934706-44-2, $14.95
Abstract: Long Tail Kitty comes to children’s books from Pien’s webcomic. Pien
colored Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese. Here, she uses watercolor washes over
precise ink to depict the everyday adventures of Long Tail Kitty. First, he introduces
readers to where he lives; then in the meadow near his house, he encounters a bee who
stings him on the nose for trying to pick a flower, but they end up making friends with
each other and with the friendly wildflowers in the meadow. In the wintertime, Long Tail
Kitty meets Good Tall Mouse at the frozen lake and they have fun on the ice. After buying
groceries at the market, Long Tail Kitty, Good Tall Mouse, and Bernice the dog get
together to cook a feast for dinner. Then Long Tail Kitty’s alien friends come for a
visit, and they do all the things on Kitty’s long list of fun. Here, Pien provides a
foldout page filled with small panels depicting all the different activities, ranging
from doing handstands to folding origami to reading comics to playing ninja and lots
more.
Reading Level (Grade): 1 2 3 4
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Binky the space cat
Personal Author: Spires, Ashley
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 64
ISBN: 978-1-55453-309-1, $16.95
1-55453-309-0
978-1-55453-419-7 (paperback), $7.95; 1-55453-419-4 (paperback)
Abstract: Binky the cat lives with two humans (an unnamed mother and son) in what he thinks
of as a space station. He’s determined to become a space cat and venture into outer space with
his stuffed mousie Ted, and to that end he gets his space cat kit through the mail, complete with
instructions to build a space ship.
“Spires’s mix of sly, dry and slapstick humor in her first graphic novel is perfect. . . . Details in the
muted watercolor illustrations, like mousie Ted covering his nose as Binky releases ‘space gas,’ will keep
readers of all ages giggling, whether they’re cat lovers or not.” (Kirkus)
Reading Level (Grade): 2 3 4 5
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Frankie Pickle and the closet of doom
Responsibility: written and illustrated by Eric Wight
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 79
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6484-1, $9.99; 1-4169-6484-3
Abstract: Fourth-grader Frankie Piccolini has a vivid imagination when it comes to cleaning his disastrously messy room, but eventually even he decides that it is just too dirty.
“Wight's hilarious twists of language are matched with a wicked sense of fun in the illustrations and frequent sequential-paneled episodes of pretend play.” (Kirkus)
Note(s):Another title about Frankie Pickle is: Frankie Pickle and the Pine Run 3000 (2010).
Reading Level (Grade): 2 3 4 5
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Personal Author: Shanower, Eric; Young Skottie; Beaulieu, Jean Francios; Eckleberry,
Jeff
Publisher: Marvel Entertainment
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 192
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2921-9, $29.99
Abstract: A twister picks up the house Dorothy and her dog Toto are in and carries them from Kansas to the land of Oz; the house lands on top of the Wicked Witch of the East, and the Munchkins, who were her slaves, hail Dorothy as a great sorceress. All the girl wants is to get back home to Kansas, but all anyone can say is that she must go to the Emerald City and ask the Great Wizard Oz to send her home. As she travels along the Yellow Brick Road, she meets a scarecrow who wants brains so people won’t think he’s a dummy, a tin man who wants a heart so he can love, and a great cowardly lion who wants courage so he’ll truly be king of the beasts. However, once they reach the Emerald City and each see the Wizard Oz, they learn they must do what no one, including the Wizard himself, could ever do: kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Shanower’s adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel keeps all the charm of the original, while Skottie Young’s art banishes any lingering images of the old Technicolor movie; Beaulieu’s muted color palette works with Young’s art, while Eckleberry’s lettering adds to an overall effect of magic and wonder. This book will appeal to all ages
Reading Level (Grade): 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: The secret alliance and the copycat crook
Personal Author: Davis, Eleanor
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 153
ISBN: 978-1-59990-142-8, $18.99; 1-59990-142-0; 978-1-59990-396-5 (paperback), $10.99
1-59990-396-2 (paperback)
Abstract: Eleven-year-old Julian Calendar thought changing schools would mean leaving his “nerdy” persona behind, but instead he forms an alliance with fellow inventors Greta and Ben and works with them to prevent an adult from using one of their gadgets for nefarious purposes.
“With its frenetically eye-catching, full-color panels chock-full of humorous and informative detail, Davis’s first (of many, one hopes) graphic adventure of the SSA pumps new life into the kids’ secret society formula.” (Kirkus)
Reading Level (Grade): 3 4 5 6 7 8
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: The storm in the barn
Personal Author: Phelan, Matt
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 201
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3618-0, $24.99; 0-7636-3618-5
Abstract: In Kansas of 1937, the land has been in the grip of the Dust Bowl for four years, and eleven-year-old Jack Carter has seen his family worn down by it. His older sister Dorothy is ill with what the doctor calls dust pneumonia, his father flails out at the loss of his crops, and the town's bullies just love to pick on him. But the day Jack outruns a dust storm all the way home from town, he glimpses something . . . odd . . . in the abandoned Talbot barn, and he tries to find the courage to go into the barn and confront what is there. This graphic novel, colored in the browns of dirt and dust, combines historical fiction with excerpts from L. Frank Baum’s Oz and the folklore of the heroic Jacks, as Jack Carter decides to take a stand for his family and his town.
Reading Level (Grade): 4 5 6 7 8 9
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: T-Minus: the race to the moon
Personal Author: Ottaviani, Jim; Cannon, Zander; Cannon, Kevin
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 124
ISBN: 978-1-4169-8682-9, $21.99
1-4169-8682-0
978-1-4169-4960-2 (paperback), $12.99; 1-4169-4960-7 (paperback)
Abstract: Ottaviani, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon show what happened when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. started the space race in the 1950s, and how it progressed to the NASA Apollo 11 mission which landed two men on the moon in July of 1969.
“Organized as a countdown, making the outcome seem inevitable, the frequent, prominent sidebars list a type of rocket, the duration of its flight, and whether the mission was a success or a failure. There are more than 30 attempts chronicled, and the shift between Soviet and U.S. successes creates an interesting balance in the narrative. . . . Ottaviani is particular with facts and eager to inspire readers with regard to the scientific process.” (SLJ)
Reading Level (Grade): 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Wolverine: worst day ever
Personal Author: Lyga, Barry; Nauck, Todd
Publisher: Marvel Publishing
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 184
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3757-3, $14.99; 0-7851-3757-2
Abstract:Teenager Eric Mattias has just recently discovered he has mutant powers. Very sucky mutant powers: suddenly no one notices him even when he’s in the same room. He’s not invisible, but he might as well be, and people don’t even notice him when he speaks. Eric decides to follow Wolverine around and see if he can’t pick up a few pointers about living a loner-type life, as the adamantium-clawed mutant tends to do. Only when they end up in a remote forested area does Eric realize he may not have made the smartest move, because someone else has come, someone who is as strong as Wolverine, and maybe meaner: Sabretooth.
“It’s a coming-of-age tale with bursts of action that’s sure to appeal to its large, built-in audience.” (Booklist)
Reading Level (Grade): 5 6 7 8 9
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Cat burglar black
Personal Author: Sala, Richard
Publisher: First Second
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 126
ISBN: 978-1-59643-144-7 (paperback), $16.99; 1-59643-144-X (paperback)
Abstract: K.’s aunt, who works at the Bellsong Academy for Girls, has invited K. to attend the school. But as soon as she arrives, K. notices some strange goings-on: her aunt has suddenly taken ill; there are only three other students and no regular classes; and a statue speaks to K. when no one else is around.
“The story is structured like a lighthearted cross between a fable and a horror film, but only ever teetering on the edge of horror without depicting it. This could have resulted in a mishmash, but Sala elegantly dances through the creepy and the sweet.” (SLJ)
Reading Level (Grade): 5 6 7 8 9
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill
Personal Author: Bravo, Emile; Champion, Vanessa; Tierman, Elizabeth
Publisher: Fanfare/Ponent Mon
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 120
ISBN: 978-84-96427-85-3, $25
Abstract: Narrator Jean has just started first grade and has a younger brother, Paul, in kindergarten.
They live with their factory boss father and nanny Yvette; Jean says his mother is on a trip. As he
talks about his first day at school, meeting a new friend, Alain, and fighting with Paul, he mentions
his mother has been away so long he can't quite remember her. Next door neighbor Michelle claims
to be receiving postcards from Jean’s mother and reads them to him; they come from places such as
Switzerland and the United States. As the reader sees Jean and Paul spend a day with their mother’s
parents and interact with their grandparents’ friends, the reader understands what Jean does not:
his mother is dead. This book, translated from its original French, won an award for best comic
album for ages eight to thirteen; however, with the essential fact never stated and Jean deciding
that he’s getting too old to believe in his mother, just as he’s too old to believe in Father
Christmas, makes this more suitable for the upper age range, teens, and adults.
Reading Level (Grade): 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Katman
Personal Author: Pyle, Kevin C.
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 126
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8285-2, $12.99; 0-8050-8285-9
Abstract:It’s summer time, and fifteen-year-old Kit has nowhere to go, but his college-bound older
brother kicks him out of the house each day so he can study. Their neighborhood is rundown, and as
Kit wanders, he sees stray cats everywhere. He decides someone should take care of them, so he
starts feeding them. Jess, who hangs out with heavy-metal headbangers for lack of anyone else, loves
manga and drawing her own; she notices Kit and starts drawing a comic with a character she calls
Katman. When his single mother stops letting him use their cat food for strays, he starts stealing
from the neighborhood shop; but when the store owner catches him and finds out what Kit is doing,
he lets Kit work part time to earn the cat food; Vinod, the owner, is Indian and follows Jainism,
a religion focused on animals (to put it into extremely simplistic terms). Meanwhile, Jess continues
to work on her comic and becomes somewhat estranged from her head-banging pals. Kit names all the
cats; then he has to ask the neighborhood's crazy cat lady to help him when the landlord threatens
to evict his mother. He finds that caring for something, even some stray cats, gives some meaning to
his life, even as it also causes him a lot of trouble. Pages of Jess’s comic book about Katman,
colored in black, white, and red, appear throughout the story. “Beautifully simple and
straightforward.” (Voice Youth Advocates)
Reading Level (Grade): 7 8 9 10 11 12
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Pride & prejudice
Personal Author: Austen, Jane; Butler, Nancy, adapter; Petrus, Hugo, il
Responsibility: foreword by Mike Tyler
Publisher: Marvel
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 120
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3915-7, $19.99
Abstract: Jane and Lizzie are the two elder sisters in the Bennet family, with an eccentric father,
a ditzy mother, and three younger sisters. When the wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into a nearby mansion,
Jane falls in love with him (and he with her), but Mr. Bingley’s friend Mr. Darcy doesn’t think Jane
good enough or her sister Lizzie beautiful enough to matter. Throw in a stuffy cousin who will
inherit the Bennets’ property due to the estate’s entail, Mr. Bingley’s haughty sister, Mr. Darcy’s
extremely haughty aunt, and a rascally young army officer with an eye for the ladies, and readers
enjoy a comedy of manners and romance. This graphic novel hits all the high points of Austen’s novel;
the original covers of the comic book issues look like teen gossip/fashion magazines.
Reading Level (Grade): 7 8 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Outlaw: The legend of Robin Hood: a graphic novel
Responsibility: written by Tony Lee; illustrated by Sam Hart; colored by Artur Fujita
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 120
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4399-7, $21.99; 0-7636-4399-8
978-0-7636-4400-0 (paperback), $11.99; 0-7636-4400-5 (paperback)
Abstract: In this new retelling of the Robin Hood legend, it’s the year 1192, and Robin of Loxley
has returned home from the Crusades after receiving news of his father’s death. The Sheriff of
Nottingham and Sir Guy of Gisburn govern Nottingham at the pleasure of Prince John. When Gisburn
treacherously stabs Robin in a murder attempt, Robin escapes to Sherwood Forest, where the outlaws
befriend him. With the help of such men as Little John and Friar Tuck, he organizes the outlaws and
they start hurting Prince John where it matters, in his moneybags.
“Lee’s excellent rendition of the famed selfless hero goes hand-in-hand with Hart’s expressive illustrations, featuring lots of close-ups and dramatic lighting and a beautiful jewel-toned palette. Teens will get caught up in this exciting page-turner.” (SLJ)
Reading Level (Grade):7 8 9 10 11 12
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: I kill Giants
Personal Author: Kelly, Joe; Niimura, JM Ken, il
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-60706-092-5, $15.99
Abstract: Fifth-grader Barbara Thorson appears to be a smart-aleck troublemaker, and she does get
into trouble at school, with great regularity. She has no friends, she has to deal with teachers
and a principal who don’t understand her, with the bully Taylor, with Sophie, the new girl who wants
to be her friend, and now with a school psychologist. She has no time for this nonsense, she is a
giant killer, with her mighty weapon she calls Coveleski (after Stanley Coveleski, a baseball player
in the early twentieth century). What writer Kelly reveals slowly to the reader is Barbara’s real
family situation: her mother is dying, her older sister is trying to keep the family together, and
Barbara is convinced that if she can slay the Titan, a huge giant, she can keep her mother alive.
While Barbara is young, the story has an emotional intensity better suited for older teens.
Reading Level (Grade): 8 9 10 11 12
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Trotsky: a graphic biography
Personal Author: Geary, Rick
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 103
ISBN: 978-0-8090-9508-7, $16.95; 0-8090-9508-4
Abstract: Geary provides a graphic biography of Leon Trotsky, the “brain” behind the Russian
Revolution of 1917. He was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in 1879, son of peasant farmers in the
Ukraine; he was highly intelligent and always sympathetic to the workers on his father’s farm. As a
teenager in school away from home, he soon became a socialist and began his turbulent political life
that helped to establish international communism and the creation of the Soviet Union. The book,
with its detailed and clear black and white panel art, chronicles Trotsky’s tumultuous relationships
with Lenin and Stalin, the contentious debates within the revolutionary movement, Trotsky’s many
exiles, and his murder in Mexico in 1940. Geary includes a bibliography of sources.
Reading Level (Grade): 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Johnny Hiro
Personal Author: Chao, Fred; Babb, Dylan, il; Post, Jesse, il
Publisher: Adhouse Books
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-9352330-2-2, $14.95
Abstract: Johnny Hiro, a young mixed-race man, lives in New York City with his Japanese girlfriend
Mayumi. He works as a busboy in a sushi restaurant, with ambitions to become a sushi chef; she’s an
editor. Their New York City is just a bit different, which becomes abundantly clear to the reader in
the first story a kaiju (Japanese monster) called Gozadilla has come to the city to get revenge on
Mayumi, whose mother helped to defeat him in Tokyo years ago. Johnny goes running to help Mayumi when
Gozadilla shatters the outer wall of their apartment and snatches her; she manages to call Mayor
Bloomberg, who calls out emergency services, but the Mayor won’t help them fix their apartment wall.
In other stories, Johnny fends off forty-seven ronin businessmen seeking revenge on his friend
Toshi, whose startup firm caused theirs to fail; Johnny’s boss Masago sends him to steal a Japanese
spiny lobster when a famous restaurant critic comes to the restaurant and orders lobster even
though it’s not on the menu. Every time, Johnny must use martial arts and deal with crazy chases
through Manhattan, the opera, and more. Chao uses black and white with gray tones in his art,
which works with his absurdist comedy. He originally published the book in several comics issues,
and the series received several Eisner Award nominations in 2008 (Best Single Issue or One-Shot
for issue #1, Best New Series, and Best Humor Publication). Johnny and Mayumi are shown in bed,
but there’s very little sexual content, very little harsh language, just lots of action.
Reading Level (Grade): 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer
Personal Author: Jensen, Van; Higgins, Dusty, il
Publisher: SLG Publishing
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 128
ISBN: 978-1-59362-176-6, $10.99
Abstract: After a brief recap of Collodi’s novel, this graphic novel takes place a few years later.
Pinocchio, still a wooden puppet, now finds he has a use for lying and growing his nose: he breaks
off the growth and uses it as a wooden stake to destroy vampires. The bloodsuckers have come to the
town of Nasolungo, they killed his creator/father Geppetto, and now Pinocchio roams the streets at
night, seeking vengeance upon the vampires. The problem is, no one in town except for Master Cherry
the carpenter and the old Blue Fairy believes him. Then the ghost of the cricket comes back, and
Pinocchio discovers the vampires have much more planned than just sucking the blood of everyone in
town. The book includes violence but only mild language (Pinocchio says “crap” a few times). Along
with the violence, the book includes a lot of sardonic humor, especially with the puppet trying to
come up with lies to grow his nose.
Reading Level (Grade): 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Bayou, volume one
Personal Author: Love, Jeremy; Morgan, Patrick, il
Publisher: Zuda Comics/DC Comics
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2382-3, $14.99
Abstract: In a little southern town called Charon in 1933, Lee Wagstaff lives the kind
of precarious life that African Americans under Jim Crow laws had to live. She’s friends
with white Lily Westmoreland, but that friendship doesn’t protect her when Lily’s mother
accuses Lee of theft. Then Lily disappears, victim of a swamp monster, and the town’s white
men haul her father off to jail, most likely to face a lynching. Lee has to find Lily to save
her father, but when she goes to the swamp where Lily disappeared, she falls into a strange
land of monsters. There she meets Bayou, a blues-singing swamp monster who helps her, and Lee
faces the evil in the strange land to find and save her friend. This book collects the first four
chapters of the webcomic by Love, which was one of the first webcomics from Zuda, run by DC Comics.
The book includes disturbing images of hanged people, and a white man hits Lee so hard she flies
through the air and lands on her back with her face torn up. The “n” word is represented by “n*****”
while other harsh language is plainly written. The book contains enough violence to bother
squeamish and sensitive readers.
Reading Level (Grade): 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Secret identities: the Asian American superhero anthology.
Personal Author: Yang, Jeff, ed; Shen, Parry, ed; Chow, Keith, ed
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 194
ISBN: 978-1-59558-398-7 (paperback), $21.95
Abstract: Yang, Shen, Chow, and coeditor Jerry Ma have put together a collection of twenty-six
stories by Asian American creators about Asian American superheroes. The book is divided into
sections: War and Remembrance, Many Masks, When Worlds Collide, Girl Power, Ordinary Heroes, and
From Headline to Hero. The Preface, the Prologue, all section introductions, and the Epilogue, are
all done in comic book format. Creators include Gene Luen Yang, Greg Pak, Dustin Nguyen, Kazu
Kibuishi, Cliff Chiang, Christine Norrie, and many more. Some stories deal with the Nisei soldiers
of the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II, others confront the idea
that the Asian character can only be the sidekick, still others explore the stereotypical attitudes
of some Americans toward Asian Americans. The book includes some violence and some harsh language.
Reading Level (Grade): 9 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Stitches; a memoir
Personal Author: Small, David
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 329
ISBN: 978-0-393-06857-3, $23.95; 0-393-06857-9
Abstract: David Small grew up in a dysfunctional family, with a radiologist father who was distant,
an angry mother who expressed her anger in eloquent silences, and an older brother who played drums
a lot to express his frustrations. When he was eleven, he had a lump, a growth, on the side of his
neck. Nothing was done until he was fourteen. He thought he was going in for a minor surgery to
remove the cyst from his neck; instead, there were two surgeries, and when he woke up, he had no
voice—a vocal cord was removed. He later learned he had cancer, something his parents refused to
discuss. After he finds his mother in bed with another woman and his father confesses that he exposed
him to x-rays when he was very young, Small leaves home at age sixteen, with little except his
dreams that his art could be his life. In one early scene, Small shows the indignities wrought upon
his body by his father, including an enema. In another scene, young Small and his older brother look
at their father’s medical books and see a woman’s breast and a man’s penis; towards the end of the
book, Small draws his grandmother stripping all her clothes off and dancing wildly after setting her
house on fire. Other than these few images, Small’s depictions of his horrible childhood and teen
years are quiet and low-key.
“Emotionally raw, artistically compelling and psychologically devastating graphic memoir of childhood trauma.”
(Kirkus)
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Madame Xanadu: disenchanted
Personal Author: Wagner, Matt; Hadley, Amy Reeder, il; Friend, Richard, il; Major, Guy, il
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2291-8, $12.99
Abstract: In the days of King Arthur and Camelot, Nimue used woodland magic. Despite her power,
the warnings of a stranger with glowing eyes comes too late for her to save the land against the
machinations of Merlin and her own sister, Morgana. Using her herb lore to maintain her youth, Nimue
next shows up in the court of Kublai Khan, where she is known as the Western Seer. Again, the
Phantom Stranger shows up, this time with the party of Marco Polo, who become targets of a plot to
discredit the Westerners. Nimue helps, only to learn that it wasn't enough, and the Stranger abandons
her in the middle of the Gobi Desert. Then she appears in France, known there as Madame Xanadu, a
favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette. This time, Nimue reads the portents for herself and knows that
the Revolution will topple the King; the Phantom Stranger appears again, but because she can’t trust
him, she ends up imprisoned, betrayed by the former Queen whom she believed to be a friend, and Nimue
has to trick Death herself. In London of the 1880s, Madame Xanadu tries to help the prostitutes of
Whitechapel, but the Phantom Stranger says the murders committed by Jack the Ripper serve a larger
purpose and he thwarts her again. In New York City of the 1930s, Nimue has found another magician,
John Zatara, and they are lovers, but the Phantom Stranger comes again and this time Nimue decides
to trap him. What consequences will her actions have upon the people around her, including a heroic
policeman named James Corrigan? The book includes some gory violence, some harsh language, some
sexual suggestiveness and one not-very-graphic rape scene. This series, in its pamphlet comic issue
form, was nominated for four Eisner Awards in 2009: Best Writer, Best Cover Artist, Best New Series,
and Best Penciler Inker Team.
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, vol. 1
Personal Author: Urasawa, Naoki; Tezuka, Osamu; Nagasaki, Takashi
Publisher: Viz Media
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1918-0 (paperback), $12.99
Abstract: In a future where humans and robots peacefully coexist, someone or something kills the
Swiss robot named Mont Blanc, a well-loved, powerful, and famous robot. In Dusseldorf, a robot
rights leader named Bernard Lanke has been brutally murdered, and there are some disturbing links to
Mont Blanc’s death. A traffic police bot has also been killed, and Inspector Gesicht of Interpol is
sent to investigate the murders. When he returns the police bot’s memory chip to his robot wife, she
shows Gesicht what her husband saw just before he dies. He realizes that someone is killing the most
advanced robots and he’s one of them. This manga series is Urasawa’s take on a classic Astro Boy
story by Osamu Tezuka: “The Greatest Robot On Earth.” Tezuka’s famous robot creation, Astro Boy,
called Atom in this series (his original name), shows up only in the last panel of this first
volume. The book includes violence.
Note(s): Original Japanese edition, 2004
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Naoki Urasawa’s 20th century boys, vol. 1
Personal Author: Urasawa, Naoki; Wegmuller, Akemi, adapter
Publisher: Viz Media
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 216
ISBN: 978-1-59116-922-2, $12.99
Abstract: In 1997, Kenji has given up his dream of being a rock musician and manages his family’s
convenience store. When one of his childhood friends, a science teacher, commits suicide, Kenji
starts to think back to 1969, when he and his friends created a hideaway, swore to do what they
could to save the world, and buried a time capsule with a symbol they designed drawn on top. In
1997, that symbol starts showing up as grafitti in Kenji’s neighborhood. And a strange cult led by
a man who calls himself “Friend” uses that symbol (an eye with a hand pointing upward). As Kenji
reunites with his buddies, they talk about what they did in 1969, and they dig up the time capsule.
Does it have anything to do with their friend Donkey’s death? The book includes graphic violence and
partial nudity.
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: The Sandman: the dream hunters
Personal Author: Gaiman, Neil; Russell, P. Craig, il; Kindzierski, Lovern, il; Klein, Todd, il
Publisher: D.C. Comics/Vertigo
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 144
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2424-0, $24.99
Abstract: In old Japan, creatures of myth and legend live among the people. Two such creatures, a
badger and a fox, make a wager to force a humble monk to leave the temple he tends alone up in the
mountains. Because the young monk can see through their disguises to their true nature, both badger
and fox lose the wager, and the fox falls in love with the handsome young man and remains nearby.
Meanwhile, a wealthy man who has mastered demons yet cannot find peace in his soul decides to steal
the young monk’s inner strength for his own. The fox tries to protect the monk, and even makes a
bargain with the great black fox in her dreams, to sacrifice her life for the man she loves. Then,
when she suffers the consequences of the evil dreams sent by the wealthy man through his demons, the
monk ventures into the Dreaming in a quest to save the fox, whom he finally realizes he loves. When
he makes the decision to take back the dream that will kill him, the fox decides to take revenge on
the wealthy man, the onmyoji, and comes to him as a beautiful young woman to destroy him. Russell
has adapted the novella written by Gaiman and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. It includes some
nudity.
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Sgt. Rock: the lost battalion
Personal Author: Tucci, Billy; Clark Jr., Rob, il
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2533-9, $24.99
Abstract: After the Allied force landing at Normandy in 1944, Sgt. Frank Rock and his Easy Company
are attached to the 141st Infantry and march deep into the Vosges Mountains, their assignment to
open an avenue straight into the heart of Germany. However, the German forces have dug in deeply
with snipers, Tiger tanks, and elite infantry troops, ready to keep the Americans trapped until
reinforcements come to help them destroy the Allies. As Sgt. Rock and his men, along with the rest
of the Lost Battalion, try to hang on with dwindling ammunition and rations, American commanders
keep trying to send help. Everyone fails, except for the “Little Iron Men” of the 442nd Regimental
Combat Team. These Japanese American soldiers, many of whom have family forced to live in internment
camps, are the only hope for the Lost Battalion; and Hitler has just ordered their execution.
This story does portray the violence of war, but Tucci keeps his art fairly subdued and the
language pretty clean (dang, nuts, etc.). He heavily researched this book so the facts are there,
he just added the fictional Sgt. Rock and Easy Company to the real soldiers. Anyone who wants to
get a feeling for what war was like for the everyday Army soldier will get it in this story, with
no glorification of fighting or violence.
Reading Level (Grade): 10 11 12 Adult
A Most Highly Recommended Title
Title: Unknown soldier: haunted house
Personal Author: Dysart, Joshua; Ponticelli, Alberto, il; Celestini, Oscar, il; Robins, Clem, il
Publisher: D.C. Comics/Vertigo
Publication Year: 2009
Pages: 144
ISBN: 978-1-4012-2424-0, $24.99
Abstract: In 2002, Northern Uganda is a beautiful country racked by horrible brutality and war, as
an insane extremist Christian rebel and his army of children terrorize their own people. Dr. Lwanga
Moses had fled Uganda with his family when he was a child and Idi Amin was in power; now, he has
returned to Uganda with his Ugandan wife, full of pacifist ideals and plans to bring hope and healing
to his home country. Then he falls prey to the child soldiers and something deep within him erupts,
and Dr. Moses becomes an unstoppable killing machine. His face disfigured, he covers it in bandages
and becomes an unknown soldier, determined to do whatever it takes, however much violence and
killing he must do, to stop the war. Meanwhile, his wife keeps up their medical mission, always
wondering what happened to make her husband disappear. This book is full of horrific, gory violence,
but with this update of the classic Unknown Soldier character, Dysart also carefully researched
Ugandan politics and conflicts to make his story as authentic as possible.
Reading Level (Grade): 11 12 Adult
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THE LANDSLIDE IS OVER,
But the Best Lists continue
While the year-end landslide of best lists and awards is over, the lists continue throughout the
year. The Core Collections do not recommend every book that garners a place on a best list or
receives an award, we do suggest that librarians look at them, since one thing you can be sure
of is that some library patron will ask you what you think.
BEST LISTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
Booklist Top 10 Black History Books for Youth (2010)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3976548
Booklist Top 10 Books on the Environment for Youth (2010)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=4003443
VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers (2010)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=4003443
BEST LISTS ADULT BOOKS
Booklist Top 10 Black History (2010)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3976548
Booklist Top 10 Books on the Environment (2010)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=4003470
Bookmarks Best of the Best Books (2010)
“The Best Books of 2009: A List of Best Books Lists.” Bookmarks March/April, 2010: 14. Print.
Library Journal Consumer Health (2010)
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6716259.html
Library Journal Editors’ Spring Picks (2010)
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6718543.html
Locus Recommended Reading List (2010)
http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/2010/Issue02_RecommendedReadingList.html
Contains science fiction and fantasy that also includes books for young adults
BEST LISTS FOR VIDEOS
Booklist Top 10 Black History Video (2010)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3969936
AWARDS FOR ADULT BOOKS
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists (2010)
http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national_book_critics_circle_announces_finalists_january_23_2010/
Nebula Award Nominees (2010)
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/02/2009-nebula-awards-nominations.html
Science fiction books
Penn/Faulkner Award for Fiction Finalist (2010)
http://www.penfaulkner.org/award_for_fiction_current.php
Stoker Award Finalist (2010)
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/02/2009-stoker-final-ballot.html
Horror titles
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SCHOOL-LIBRARIES.NET:
March 2010 Report
School-Libraries.net is the world’s directory of
school library home pages.
February was a banner month for School-Libraries.net. Ninety-seven new entries
were added to the database. Check out the new libraries added at:
http://www.corecollections.net/SL/new.htm
If your library is not listed please use our form to do so.
Become a member of the community.
http://www.standardcatalogs.com/forms/contact.htm
We also added one new country, Bulgaria.
We have begun a project of enhancing the data for each state and country.
The first to be finished is Alabama. Thanks to Dr. Ginger Eastman at the Alabama Department of
Education and the Alabama SLN coordinator, all the links were checked and dead links replaced or
eliminated, with a number of new schools added. Several new sections have been added or significantly
enhanced: Books and Book Resources, Curriculum Related Resources, Professional Associations, Educational
Opportunities, and Employment Opportunities. Take a look.
http://www.corecollections.net/SL/alabama.htm
Last month, thanks to a vigilant librarian, we discovered that almost all the Rhode
Island links were dead. That has been corrected and a number of new libraries added:
http://www.corecollections.net/SL/rhodeisland.htm
Please continue to let us know about dead links by using our new report Dead Link Form.
Each month we award a star to one or more library Web sites that we feel are outstanding.
Web Site of the Month
This month's star Web sites are:
Bay Farm Elementary Library/Media Center, Cupertino, California, for their use
of photographs:
http://bayfarm.alamedausd.ca.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1228578949304
North Elementary School Virtual Library Media Center, Noblesville, Indiana,
for their “What’s Happening at the LMC” slide show:
http://www.nobl.k12.in.us/north/NorthMedia/index.htm
Lawrence High School Library, Lawrence, Kansas, for a beautiful, informative,
well-organized Web site:
http://library.lhs.usd497.org/
McDonough Elementary, Manchester, New Hampshire, for the mind-boggling number of links to
resources:
http://www.mansd.org/mcdonough/
Be sure to click through to the library.
Barclay Elementary School Library, Brockport, New York, for the many photographs of involved
children using the library:
http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/barclaylibrary/
Nassau Elementary School Library, Poughkeepsie, New York, for their “Parents as Reading
Partners” Program:
http://www.spackenkillschools.org/nassau/library
Park City High School Library, Park City, Utah, for their innovative way of handling
proctoring tests:
http://pchs.pcschools.us/index.php?page=293
The King’s High School Library, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand, for making us smile with
their “Extreme Overdue Measures!”
http://thekingslibraryblog.blogspot.com/
Congratulations to all.
Now for a few general observations about school library Web sites:
1. Web sites should indicate their geographic location. Many do not and should
also provide a link back to the main school Web site when possible.
2. There should be a direct link to the library Web site.
3. Library Web sites that are teacher Web sites tend to go dead when that teacher moves to
a new schools or retires. Library-specific site addresses are better.
In February we added two new coordinators:
Kristena Rudloff, Library Media Assistant at The Stillwater High School Library, our Oklahoma Coordinator, and
Bridget Schuamann, Library/Careers Advisor, Kings High School, South Dunedin, New Zealand.
Thanks to both for volunteering and for pitching right in checking links and sending us new schools. We could not do it without you.
We still need coordinators in most states. You can find a list of state coordinators at:
http://www.corecollections.net/SL/state_coordinators.htm
To volunteer or request more information or just to make suggestions or comments about www.School-libraries.Net, send a note to rbarber@hwwilson.com
A rose is a rose
In light of the recent AASL decision on nomenclature, adopting School Library as the official
title, we thought it would be interesting to see what people are using. Looking at the new entries this month,
School Library is way ahead of its competition. Here is the tally:
School Library 41
Library Media Center 26
Media Center 11
Information Resource Center 3
Finale: Some thoughts on shelving graphic novels
Graphic novels belong in the library, since they serve
both informational and recreational needs. At the same time, as with any new media or format,
graphic novels present challenges to librarians. One obvious challenge is where to shelve them.
Over time, however, three basic models have emerged.
I. The Dewey Model
There is a Dewey classification number for graphic novels, 741.5. This places then with
other graphic materials and illustrative arts. While there are extended numbers in the Unabridged Dewey
Decimal Classification for kinds of graphic novels and materials about graphic novels, graphic novels are
never classified elsewhere for their subject content. The Dewey system is ideal for a user interested in
graphic arts, but it makes it difficult to find information on specific topics dealt with in graphic novels.
Finding information on specific topics is especially important in school libraries, where students are looking
for information for assignments or term papers. In many cases graphic novels ideally meet these students’ needs.
II. The One-Size-Fits-All Model
In some libraries graphic novels have a label with a symbol identifying them as such.
On the basis of this label they are all shelved together outside the classification system. This is an
easy method. It allows for processing by volunteers, and it places graphic novels where users can find
them all together. As the library purchases more and more graphic novels, however, having all types and
sub-genres together makes it difficult for users to find either a specific type of graphic novel or specific
topics dealt with in nonfiction graphic novels.
III. The Bookstore Model
Most bookstores use the generic one-size-fits-all model but with a twist.
To further assist buyers large bookstores subdivide graphic novels by type, such as placing all
manga, mecca, kodomo, or novels with a specific superhero together. This model is good for many
readers with specialized interests, but as the field of graphic novels expands, its poses problems.
Stitches, Footnotes in Gaza, and Fun House, for example, are all unique award-winning books, and none
of them fits into any category.
The Graphics Novel Core Collection
http://www.hwwilson.com/databases/graphicnovels_core.cfm
In developing the Graphic Novels Core Collection, we debated what classification number to give to graphic novels. We talked with both public and school librarians. Public librarians almost all favored the 741.5 option for the graphic novel format, while school librarians were more open to using subject specific Dewey numbers for the subject content. Since a database, unlike a library, can assign more than one Dewey number to a single item, we compromised (or got it both ways) by assigning 741.5 to every graphic novel and a second Dewey number for topics dealt with in the graphic novel, where such a topic exists. The individual libraries can choose where to shelve the book. They know their collections and their users.
^ To Top
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