Illinois Review

Brinkman Reviews "Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith and Life Well Lived"

Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith and Life Well Lived

By Antonin Scalia, Edited By Christopher J. Scalia

Published by Crown Forum, 432p

Review by Daniel Brinkman -

I had the good fortune to meet Justice Scalia when he graciously took time to speak to my law school’s Federalist Society in 2012. He was candid and funny, brilliant and memorable, and dealt deftly with any liberal student’s questions. It is no wonder that his friend Ruth Bader Ginsberg penned a loving forward to this book. He disagreed forcefully with his liberal colleagues, yet did not let that get in the way of friendship and collegiality. “I attack ideas, I don’t attack people,” he said.

IR Review: Kudos to the emerging Fifth Estate, "Madigan" rules

No matter how furiously Illinois' powers-that-be are working to suffocate interest in the newly-released documentary "Madigan: Power. Privilege. Politics," they can't overcome the 63 percent of the state's residents that disapprove of House Speaker Mike Madigan and their desire for truth about how their beloved state got in the dark hole where it is today.

Now a national laughingstock for appearing to tolerate political corruption, unprecedented debt and inability to pass a balanced budget, conscientious, big-shouldered Illinoisans are desperately searching for a way to escape further embarrassment and yes, ultimate financial destruction.

Naturally, Illinoisans look to the Fourth Estate for unbiased information and the courage to hold shady, power-mad politicians accountable. But over the years in Illinois, the mainstream media has been intimidated into silence, acceptance and finally, participation in an overall politically destructive plan.

To mix a couple of metaphors, we should walk a mile in their shoes before throwing stones at them for betraying us. How else can they gain access to the powers-that-be? And how else do they keep their jobs in a collapsing industry?

Starkehaus: A Gamers' Review of Pokémon Go

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

My kingdom for an innocent distraction during this summer of escalating violence. I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for a silly diversion.

Pikachu to the rescue! Pokémon Go is here and gamers are quickly making this the "it" game of 2016. The interest in Go continues to outpace forecasts, and I predict that this game will ultimately attract a much wider demographic than Nintendo originally envisioned.

The Starkehaus kids, like many of their friends, have been playing Pokémon since grammar school, and they have grown through the various platform metamorphoses as the game adapted and evolved. Trading cards became Gameboys. Gameboys became the DS, the DS branched out into Wii, and now if you want to train and battle your legendary Victini, then Nintendo in cooperation with Niantic has an app for that.

Nintendo's purchase of the Niantic company and their app was by all accounts pure genius. The acquisition will revolutionize the look, feel and portability of gaming forever. Nintendo's giant leap in augmented reality is going to revitalize the Pokémon franchise and bring back former Pokémon players who were starting to age out.

Those two achievements alone would be enough to make this a blockbuster game.

Starkehaus: Progressive absolutism as a mental disorder – part deux

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Broadening our discussion from July 10, 2015 regarding the Left's assertion of contrived thought crimes, we continue with one of the Left's favorite denunciations of conservative minded people.

Censorship is actually one of my favorite accusations coming from the Left because of how easily the mere charge silences conservatives into submission, and how readily the Left produces that slanderous assertion to further its own depraved vision of a so-called inclusive American culture.

What is most fascinating about the Left's hackneyed characterization of conservatives as prissy book burners is how often the Left finds itself in the hegemonic position of censorship.

Starkehaus Review: The History Channel’s Sons of Liberty

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

The History Channel presented a three night miniseries from January 25 to January 27, 2015 on the Fathers of the American Revolution called Sons of Liberty. If you didn't know about it, you can follow the link and check out the episodes.

I promise that this show will be quite an eye opener for you:

Because Sons of Liberty has been aired by the History Channel, this automatically lends a degree of authority to its historical reliability, but this miniseries is less than accurate and seeks to manipulate our perception of American events. There is a specific message, a specific agenda that is baked into this show that goes beyond gratuitousness. At first blush, we can accept the soft porn storytelling as a sensationalized version of our beginnings for a society that suffers from ADHD and can't go five minutes without a hint of sludge.

And this is not to suggest that the story of our nation's founding should be canonical in nature and subject to accusations of heresy, but we know the chaos that has been created in Christianity (as a for instance) by simply trying to translate the Bible from one language to another. One word can set off a firestorm of debate that can cause irreparable schisms. Adaptations of history like Sons of Liberty can also have a lasting impact on our society if it advances inaccurate interpretations of the Revolution.

IR Review - 41: Bush 43's Portrait of His Father

Former President George W. Bush has taken up oil painting since he and the Mrs. moved from the White House back to Texas. But recently, he's also let it be known that he has also been collecting memories of his father as in his newly-released book, "41: A Portrait of My Father."

The younger Bush, America's 43rd President, will be signing copies of his book about his father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush in suburban Naperville Monday afternoon. 

The Audible.com version of "41" is read by "43," presenting George W. Bush's memories of his father in a uniquely personal and emotional manner. Bush says he was challenged to write about his father by author David McCulloch's daughter, who said the younger John Quincy Adams didn't record his memories of his presidential father John Adams.

"41" recalls George H.W. Bush's childhood and the years before his eldest George W. was born, and describes the elder Bush's years in the U.S. Navy, working for the oil industry before entering public service and his run for Congress. The book reviews "41's" time as the United States liaison to China, his stint overseeing the Central Intelligence Agency and his years as vice-president under the late President Ronald Reagan. "43" also writes about George H.W. Bush's one-term presidency and the effect his "Read my lips" had on his father's failed re-election attempt in 1992. 

The younger Bush's touching admiration for his father is evident throughout the book, and he provides insider insights on several occasions. The younger Bush also publicly admires his parent's relationship to each other and their "unconditional love" for their children. 

Starkehaus: Should children see Dinesh D’Souza’s America the Movie?

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

background

Rather than jumping right into my answer, I'm going to tell you a personal story to set the scene from which I'm basing my thinking. At the time that this event took place, my child was in seventh grade and was getting ready for school one morning. My child asked me to help print a document that needed to be handed in for a Language Arts class. I was given a thumb drive and my child took off up the stairs to work on other tasks that required attention. I printed the document and read it because I'm fundamentally nosy, and I'm unashamed to say that enjoy what my children write.

On this particular day, my child had penned a critique based on an article that was assigned to the class from a book called Us and Them – A History of Intolerance in America by Jim Carnes.

After I had finished reviewing the critique which was heavily biased against the Texas Rangers for being racist terrorists, I called to my child and asked if I might please see the original source from which the assignment took its information. My child had written forcefully against the atrocities that were brought upon the Mexican people at the hands of the Texas Rangers during the border disputes between South Texas and Mexico in 1917. My child's scorn thoroughly startled me. Keep in mind that the assignment was to be based on what was written in the article. The written directions were for the students to critique the way the Mexican people were treated. This was not to be a criticism of the quality of the writing.

My child handed me a photocopied version of an article entitled Untamed Border. Quoting now from an eight paged article:

Starkehaus: Propagandizing our children: YA book review of The Fault in Our Stars

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: The Fault in Our Stars I Author: John Green I Publisher: Penguin/Dutton Juvenile

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Fault in Our Stars:

Hazel and Gus are both Cancer Kids with very different prognoses when they meet and bond over what they share outside of their disease. Funny, poignant, charming, honest and powerful.

Actual Plot Summary: Sixteen year old Hazel Lancaster was stricken with terminal cancer when she was just thirteen years old. She was given an experimental drug therapy that has halted the growth of her tumors but lives every day with the understanding that her solution is just temporary. She no longer attends high school because she was able to achieve her GED. She takes classes at the local community college and this has been interesting but it leaves her detached from her school friends. Her mother realizes that Hazel is growing depressed and forces her to attend a cancer support group. This is where she meets Augustus.

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of A Moment Comes

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: A Moment Comes I Author: Jennifer Bradbury I Publisher: Antheneum Books for Young Readers

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for A Moment Comes:

Lives collide when three teens from different backgrounds become ensnared in the turmoil of the India-Pakistan partition.

Actual Plot Summary: This is a story of three teens whose lives interweave during the last months before India is divided into India and Pakistan.

Tariq is a young Muslim man who dreams of going to Oxford so that he can receive a Western education like the great men of India (Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah) all have. His family is preparing for relocation into Pakistan and if he moves with them, his dreams of Oxford will never be realized. During this historic and personal turmoil, Tariq has been recommended by his teacher to assist an Englishman and cartographer by the name of Mr. Darnsley. Darnsley has been sent by the British government to help draw the borders between the two emerging nations.

Powers: An Interview with "Moms' Night Out" Producer Kevin Downes

New comedy "Moms' Night Out" features Patricia Heaton (third from left)

By CJ Powers - 

I had the opportunity to interview producer Kevin Downes about his latest film, Moms' Night Out. It's a comedy due to release on May 9th.

The synopsis is as follows: All Allyson and her friends want is a peaceful, grown-up evening of dinner and conversation . . . a long-needed moms' night out. But in order to enjoy high heels, adult conversation and food not served in a paper bag, they need their husbands to watch the kids for three hours—what could go wrong? Moms' Night Out is an endearing true-to-life family comedy that celebrates the beautiful mess called parenting. 

Here are the highlights from our conversation...

CJ: Most summer films seem to be aimed at men, but this film seems to be designed for women.

KEVIN: Most of my films in the past have been sort of geared toward men – Films I’ve acted in like Courageous, or films I’ve produced. And, I’ve just really felt like God has put it on my heart to make a film for women. That’s really where it started for me in wanting to produce Mom’s Night Out.

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of Something Like Normal

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Something Like Normal I Author: Trish Doller I Publisher: Bloomsbury

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Something Like Normal:

Travis, a young Marine, deals with life at home after his best friend is killed in Afghanistan.

Actual Plot Summary: Travis Stephenson is a nineteen year old Marine who is taking a month's leave that his commander ordered so he can try to make sense of the moments leading up to the violent death of his best friend (Charlie) in Afghanistan. Travis is struggling with nightmares, panic attacks and some haunting hallucinations of Charlie's death.

Not only has Travis changed quite a bit during the months that he has been away from home, but so has his family. His father and mother are facing a marital crisis. Additionally, Travis's brother (Ryan) has stolen Travis's car and girlfriend (Paige)…both for his own personal recreation.

Starkehaus: Propagandizing our children: YA book review of Dear Life, You Suck

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Dear Life, You Suck I Author: Scott Blagden I Publisher: Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Dear Life, You Suck:

Cricket's life is wrought with pain and his future looks bleak. Should he become a professional fighter, a drug dealer, or just end it all?

Actual Plot Summary: Cricket Cherpin is a seventeen year old boy who was taken from his abusive, drug addicted parents by social workers and then rescued by social workers from his sexually abusive, prostituting, crack addicted foster mother when he was around eight years old. He has been living at the Naskeag House of Redemption ever since. The home is an orphanage run by the Catholic Church. (That's right. The Catholic Church…so buckle up, buttercup. We're in for a bumpy ride.)

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of The Miseducation of Cameron Post

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: The Miseducation of Cameron Post I Author: Emily M. Danforth I Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harper Collins

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for The Miseducation of Cameron Post :

Cameron Post explores her lesbian sexuality in small town Montana in the early 1990s and is sent to God's Promise, a school to cure homosexual tendencies.

Actual Plot Summary: The story is set in the 1980s to early 1990s and is told in two parts which configure to be pre-Christian sex addiction camp and post-Christian sex addiction camp.

Part one begins with a 12 year old Cameron with her longtime best friend Irene. Their friendship is competitive and supervision-free. They spend the early summer doing as they have always done in their small Montana town. They dare each other to perform more and more drastic stunts, they shoplift and they one up each other's anti-social behavior.

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of The Sin-Eater’s Confession

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: The Sin-Eater's Confession I Author: Ilsa J. Bick I Publisher: Carolrhoda LAB/Lerner Publishing

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for The Sin-Eater's Confession:

In a small Wisconsin town, rumors about Jimmy and Ben ruin Ben's life and brutally end Jimmy's. Three years later, Ben decides to set the record straight.

Actual Plot Summary: Ben is a 20-something year old Navy medic stationed with the Marines in Afghanistan. He has made the decision to set down on paper his memories surrounding the brutal murder of his friend Jimmy back when Ben was an overachieving senior in high school.

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of Croak

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Croak I Author: Gina Damico I Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Croak:

Who could have thought that being a grim reaper could give you a life?

Actual Plot Summary: Sixteen year old Lexington (Lex) Bartleby lives in Queens, NY with her parents and her twin sister Concord (Cordy) in an otherwise happy home except for the fact that Lex is feeling angry and is expressing that anger through extreme acts of violence. She doesn't know why she feels the way she does, but the truth is that she has been viciously assaulting her fellow students with no provocation. With one week left before summer vacation, her parents are once again left begging the school's principal not to expel their daughter. In return for this favor, they promise that they have a plan for helping Lex reign in her acts of terror.

The plan is to send Lex to visit her Uncle Mort in Upstate NY to work on his farm in a small town called Croak for the summer. Lex begrudgingly agrees to go and when she gets there, she immediately learns that Uncle Mort has lied to her parents about being a farmer. Uncle Mort isn't a crop reaper but a grim reaper. What's more, Uncle Mort asked to have Lex visit him because she exhibits all the signs of being a Grim as well.

IR Movie Review: How To Be A Man

By CJ Powers - 

College humor is no longer restricted to students with the release of this independent raunch-fest production of How To Be A Man. This coming of age film isn’t about a young twenty-something, but instead is about a forty-something finally coming to grips with his life succumbing to cancer. That’s right, it’s a comedy about cancer, sort of. It’s about Mark’s self-diagnosis after finding a lump in one of his “man-boobs”.

In an attempt to prepare his unborn son for life without him, Mark (Gavin McInnes) convinces a student to shoot a documentary of him teaching his son the finer points of life. The segments start out a bit sentimental, but soon turn into lessons on how to handle bullies, deal with flatulence and be a real man. It’s a dark comedy, so a real parent wouldn’t teach any of the techniques that Mark documents.

As the story unfolds, Mark takes his young cinematographer under his wings and teaches him about winning a woman through a sensually explicit explanation that draws the attention of many sitting at the bar. With Mark’s popularity on the rise, he impulsively decides to demonstrate why his son should avoid drugs – taking the film into darker forms of abuse as he demonstrates what not to do.

YA Book Review: Rush Revere and the First Patriots

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Rush Revere and the First Patriots I Author: Rush Limbaugh I Publisher: Threshold Editions

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has offered no synopsis for this book.

Actual Plot Summary: Rush Revere is back with his trusty horse (Liberty) for his second time-travelling adventure. Much to the chagrin of the principal's daughter (Elizabeth) Rush Revere has been invited to Manchester Middle School to act as substitute teacher for Mrs. Borington's history class. Most of the students love learning about American history when Mr. Revere teaches because he makes the subject come alive in a way that textbook teaching fails to accomplish.

Many of the students don't know it, but Liberty gained some unusual talents when he was hit by lightning a while back. Because of this act of nature and God (as Liberty is reminded in this book), he can talk, he can become invisible when he holds his breath and he can time travel. Liberty often takes Mr. Revere exploring through time to meet the important leaders that made our nation great.

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of Wise Young Fool

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Wise Young Fool I Author: Sean Beaudoin I Publisher: Little Brown & Co.

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Wise Young Fool:

Wannabe rock star Ritchie Sudden is spending 90 days in juvie – just enough time to tell his tale of lust, loss, and, of course, rock-and-roll.

Actual Plot Summary: This is a flashback/flashforward story told in first person from the perspective of a high school senior (Ritchie Sudden) who starts a rock band with his best friend in order to compete in a "battle of the bands" contest.

Propagandizing our children: YA book review of Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children I Author: Kristin Cronn-Mills I Publisher: Flux

Young Adult literature is defined by the American Library Association as fiction that would be appropriate for children between the ages of 12 to 18. A branch of the American Library Association known as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Beautiful Music for Ugly Children:

Everyone knows the A side of a record but it's time for everyone to know the B side.

Actual Plot Summary: As always, beware YALSA's abridged synopses…Liz has just scored her first work as a DJ from her elderly neighbor (John) who works for the local community radio station KZUK. This should be a dream come true for Liz but her enthusiasm is diminished by the fact the Liz believes that she is a young man trapped in a young woman's body. She would rather be referred to as "Gabe." She has felt this way since kindergarten when she was forced to line up with the girls instead of the boys. She has plans for obtaining a sex change operation and legally changing her name from Elizabeth Mary to Gabriel Joseph…apparently on the unlimited salary that the position of disc jockey will afford. Thank goodness for Obamacare. These expensive medical procedures will surely be free.

Propagandizing our children – YA book review of Chasing Shadows

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Chasing Shadows I Author: Swati Avasthi I Publisher: Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for:

In this novel/graphic-novel hybrid, Holly and Savitri each fight to save themselves and their friendship after a ruthless killer ends Chases's [sic] life.

Actual Plot Summary: Twins - Holly and Corey along with their friend Savitri (Sav) are high school seniors by day and are freerunners through the streets of Chicago at night.

Side note – Please be aware that the name "Chase" as it is used within YALSA's book synopsis is a misprint. The character that loses his life in Chasing Shadows is a high school student by the name of Corey. No big deal…typos happen, but you'll want to keep this in mind for the review.

Propagandizing your children: YA review of Bitterblue

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Bitterblue I Author: Kristin Cashore I Publisher: Penguine/Dial

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Bitterblue:

Katsa saved her life, but now Bitterblue has to save her kingdom.

Actual Plot Summary: Eighteen year old Queen Bitterblue has held her title since she was ten. That's when both her mother and father died violent deaths. Bitterblue's mother (Ashen) was killed by Bitterblue's father (Leck) and Leck was killed by Bitterblue's cousin Katsa who is a Graceling of extraordinary military skill. Leck was also a Graceling with the ability to manipulate the minds of anyone he chose to control. He was adopted by the childless former king and queen of Monsea because he influenced their minds. Leck was made heir to the throne just days before he murdered them.

Propagandizing our children – YA book review of Love & Haight

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Love & Haight I Author: Susan Carlton I Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Love & Haight:

Chloe and MJ are spending their Christmas vacation in San Francisco. While MJ is looking for a good time, Chloe is looking for an abortion, but in 1971, abortions, while legal, aren't easy to find.

Actual Plot Summary: It's 1971. Chloe is one month pregnant because of an unfortunate one night stand with a cute guy named Shep, and she doesn't want to be pregnant anymore. She's got her whole life ahead of her – prom, graduation, college – and she wants an abortion. Abortions are hard to come by in 1971, so she researches the best places to get one and then she and her best-ie (MJ…Roman Catholic and that does become relevant to the story) drive to San Francisco over Christmas break to have the deed done. They show up on her Aunt Kiki's doorstep unannounced and begin the process of securing an abortion, but they run into a good many roadblocks along the way.

YA book review: Dragonswood

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Dragonswood I Author: Janet Lee Carey I Publisher: Penguine/Dial

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Dragonswood:

Tess has endured a lot in her short life. She has witnessed an execution, watched her siblings die, been accused of witchcraft and tortured. She has now escaped to begin a magical adventure that could bring three races together for the common good.

Actual Plot Summary: This is a modern fairy story set in the year 1192; these are dangerous days for all women and not just those like seventeen year old Tess who possesses the power of fire sight. Now that the king is dead, Lord Sackmoore acts as regent until the king's eldest son can return from crusading. He has set loose his niece (Lady Adela) upon the land to rid the countryside of witches. Lady Adela was herself captured and brutally tortured by witches and this has left her lame and blind in one eye. The Fey people have taken pity on Adela and have fashioned a glass eye for her. Some say that Lady Adela can detect a witch just by casting her gaze upon someone with that glass eye.

Propagandizing our children

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

This article acts as a companion piece to the various YA book reviews that have been published on Illinois Review over the last few months. Before I present this week's book review on the YA book Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey, I want to draw out a point for anyone who is still wondering why IR is wasting its publishing space with this book review series. Let me just state for the record, I don't care any more or less about dragon stories and fairytales than you do. This series is not a reflection of my own preferred reading material or of what I think should be published or censored. It is a free country. Writers should write what they want to write and publishers should publish what they want to publish.

With that stated, I do care very much about propagandizing children through dragon stories and fairytales however, and I detest that my own hard earned money is being taxed away from me for the sole purpose of teaching my children a value system that is abhorrent to me.

This review series is not a critique of books – young adult or otherwise. It is a critique of the American Library Association and is inspired toward highlighting the books that the taxpayer funded YALSA (a branch of the American Library Association) recommends for children between the ages of 12 to 18 because those recommendations are used by taxpayer funded schools and libraries to fill their bookshelves with YA books.

Young Adult Book Review: The Dark Unwinding

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: The Dark Unwinding I Author: Sharon Cameron I Publisher: Scholastic

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for The Dark Unwinding:

Sent to prove her uncle insane, Katherine discovers another windup world.

Actual Plot Summary: (Written in first person) seventeen year old Katherine Tulman lives in 1852 London with her miserly and verbally abusive Aunt Alice and her spoiled cousin Robert. Because she is orphaned without a penny of her own, she is left to bookkeeping and financial management for her cousin who will ultimately become heir of an estate called Stranwyne Keep. Stranwyne is financially dwindling due to the presumed mismanagement of Uncle Frederick Tulman (Uncle Tully) and Katherine is dispatched to Stranwyne in order to observe and substantiate Aunt Alice's claims of insanity and incompetence. It is Aunt Alice's plan to have Uncle Tully declared insane so that she can be named executor until Robert comes of age.

Young Adult Library Book Review of "Call the Shots" (Warning: graphic content)

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Call the Shots I Author: Don Calame IPublisher: Candlewick Press

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Call the Shots:

Sean, Matt and Coop have pulled off a few schemes in the past, but can they manage to make a low-budget horror film?

Actual Plot Summary: Call the Shots is book three in a coming of age series about three high school boys growing up in the Buffalo, NY area. Sean, Matt and Coop are known for getting themselves into unusual situations. The three boys recently won a Battle of the Bands contest and with that adventure behind them; Coop has decided that they can become millionaires by making a horror film and submitting it into a horror film festival.

Book Review - Unspoken: The Lynburn Legacy

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Unspoken:The Lynburn Legacy I Author: Sarah Rees Brennan I Publisher: Random House

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Unspoken: The Lynburn Legacy:

Your imaginary friend turns out to be not so imaginary. Meeting him brings its own mystery and conflicts. Which do you trust more, what you've always known or what you see?

Note to readers - As you can see, we are still working off the YALSA "Best of 2013" list of recommended reading. YALSA's 2014 list of recommended books will be produced at the end of January and we will begin reviewing those more recently published novels at that time. YALSA is the Young Adult division of the American Library Association which is funded by taxpayers for the purpose of assisting local and school libraries in the administration of library science.

Actual Plot Summary: Unspoken: The Lynburn Legacy is book one in a series. It lays the foundation for the novel's young heroine – Kami Glass – to play sleuth in unraveling the mysteries surrounding the shadowy and powerful Lynburn family which oversees the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. After gaining permission from school administrators, Kami and her reluctant best friend (Angela Montgomery) set up a school newspaper and begin investigating some odd happenings that may correspond with the return of the Lynburn family.

Book Review: The Diviners

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: The Diviners IAuthor: Libba Bray IPublisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for The Diviners:

New age. Old Magic.

Actual Plot Summary: Set during the Roaring Twenties, Evie O'Neil is a seventeen year old psychic flapper from Ohio who uses her divining talents to reveal the philandering ways of a young man who comes from the town's most powerful family. Evie's parents are forced to send her off to New York City where she is to stay with her uncle Will who runs the Museum of American Folk Lore, Superstition and the Occult. Evie arrives in NYC, is sexually assaulted…sorry, I mean kissed and pickpocketed by Sam Lloyd (also psychic) and makes her way to the museum where she meets up with Uncle Will's young ward Jericho Jones and her old friend Mabel Rose who has romantic feelings for Jericho (who was a victim of a government experiment that tried to turn human beings into cyborgs) even though those romantic feelings are not reciprocated. Mabel is the daughter of a beautiful socialite turned Marxist who runs a socialist newspaper with her Leftist, Jewish husband.

Book Review: The Pirate’s Booty – Inventor in Training

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: The Pirate's Booty – Inventor in Training I Author: D.M. Darroch I Publisher: Sleepy Cat Press

This book was not rated by the American Library Association at the time of this review.

Plot Summary: A young inventor by the name of Angus Clark finds himself at the wrong end of a laboratory mishap when his latest invention (the insect incinerator) teleports him onto a ship of pirates within an alternate dimension. After a brief investigation of the circumstances, Angus discovers a talking macaw that is an other-dimensional version of a school associate by the name of Ivy. Ivy explains that the universe is made up of millions of dimensions that run parallel to our own and that each one is different but shares similarities with the others. Ivy has been displaced from her human body in her own dimension but has been able to survive by moving into the bodies of animals. She has been scouring the universe trying to find a dimensional form of Angus with the hope that he can help her return to her own body.

Starkehaus Book Review: Long Lankin

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Long Lankin I Author: Lindsey Barraclough I Publisher: Candlewick Press

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Long Lankin:

In a town paralyzed by fear over the presence of a nightmarish creature, sisters Cora and Mimi learn that Long Lankin may be the least of their problems.

Plot Summary: Set in post-WWII England, two girls (Cora and Mimi) are sent to live with their reclusive great-aunt (Auntie Ida) after their mother suffers a mental collapse. Very soon after arriving, they meet two boys (Roger and Pete) who become their friends and together they stumble upon a mystery surrounding Auntie Ida, the girls' mother and a curse over their entire (Guerdon) bloodline.

Review: Evangelii Gaudium by Pope Francis

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

I am an unrepentant apologist. On that trying and often tedious journey, I advocate for two seemingly incongruent philosophies: Americanism and Catholicism...it's no small feat these days on either front. Let me tell you. Forget the tailspin that both social orders are currently experiencing for a minute. Let's just focus on the fundamentals as a way of illustrating the madness of adherence to both contexts for regulation of human behavior.

On the face of it, Americanism and Catholicism are absolutely incompatible because Catholicism is a benevolent dictatorship that requires obedience to the Word of God as translated by papal authority, and Americanism requires a fierce independence and rugged individualism that would no more accept the dictates of one mere mortal as evidence of God's will than it would allow for taxation without representation. Dutiful adherence to both philosophies perhaps may seem borderline schizophrenic to the casual observer, but what can I say? It works for me.

Book Review: Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims I Author: Rush Limbaugh I Publisher: Threshold Editions – Simon and Schuster, Inc.

This book is newly released and has not been rated by the American Library Association at time of this posting.

Plot Summary: Rush Revere takes a substitute teaching position and surprises his new students with his talking horse (Liberty) and his teaching methods which include time traveling adventures into American history. Rush Revere jumps back several times to the year 1620 and instructs the class on some of nuances regarding the Puritan emigration to America. Many of the particulars that Rush Revere reveals wouldn't be found in modern Social Studies books, but he is able to instruct his class via a video feed from his Smart phone so that they can better appreciate what it took to set up a colony in the New World.

Book Review: Every Other Day

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

Title: Every Other Day I Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes I Publisher: Egmont

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Every Other Day:

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be something else every other day? Kali D'Angelo is just that; an "Other," or so she calls herself, invincible one day and human the next. When Kali comes across a student who has an ouroboros mark, giving her moments to live; she ventures into a dangerous world where few survive the things that go bump in the night.

Book Review: The Wonder Show

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: The Wonder Show I Author: Hannah Barnaby I Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has been recommended as one of the best YA books of 2013 and offers the following synopsis for The Wonder Show:

Portia is looking for another new beginning and a place to belong. Does she have a strong enough constitution to do it at the travelling freak show?

Plot Summary: Set in the Dust Bowl era Midwest, The Wonder Show focuses on a high spirited girl of gypsy decent by the name of Portia Remini who finds herself abandoned to the care of her strict and unimaginative Aunt Sophie so her father Max can search for work. He leaves with the promise that he will return for her but after four years, Aunt Sophie looks for other care alternatives. She settles on a home for wayward girls and drops Portia off in the care of a character called Mister.

Book Review: Shadow and Bone

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Shadow and Bone I Author: Leigh Bardugo I Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Shadow and Bone as it rates it one of the best YA books of 2013:

Alina discovers she has secret powers and must try abolishing the monsters of the Fold.

Plot Summary: After a brief prologue that sets the story in a fictionalized, pre-revolution Russia, the reader then flashes forward to the characters Alina Starkov and Malyen Oretsev as young adults. They are in the service of the Czar's armed forces, which are a combination of military personnel and Grisha (Summoners). Alina is a cartographer who struggles with her own awkwardness and Malyen (Mal) is a handsome and charismatic tracker. Alina loves Mal but Mal doesn't return the feelings and sees her as a best friend. It is the eve before their patrol is to cross the Shadow Fold. The Shadow Fold is a place of complete darkness that was created hundreds of years ago by an evil dark-summoning Grisha known as the Black Heretic. The Fold divides the country in two and is filled with Volcra that are winged monsters who were once ordinary peasants that were trapped in the Shadow Fold at its creation.

When it is time to cross the Fold, the transport vessels find themselves surrounded by Volcra. They are attacked, and in a flash of weapons' fire, Alina sees that Mal has been gravely wounded. In her distress, she unleashes her hidden Grisha power – a power that not even she knew she had – and summons a light of such intensity that it breaks through the darkness of the Shadow Fold and overcomes the Volcra.

Book Review: The Drowned Cities

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: The Drowned Cities I Author: Paolo Bacigalupi I Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for The Drowned Cities: Mahlia and Mouse are cast-off refugees from the Drowned Cities of a war-torn future American Southeast when they meet Tool, a half-man genetically engineered for one thing: killing.

Plot Summary: In a post-apocalyptic America that has been destroyed by the ravages of global climate change and political conflict, Mahlia (half Chinese, half American of undisclosed heritage) and Mouse have been rescued from the war by Dr. Mahfouz who is the peace loving physician for a quiet village on the outskirts of the Drowned Cities. Dr. Mahfouz has trained Mahlia to be his physician's assistant even though she has only one hand. Dr. Mahfouz sends Mahlia and Mouse out to scavenge food one day, and they are overpowered by Tool who is a genetically engineered human/dog/hyena/tiger that has been wounded by soldiers of the United Patriot Front (UPF) in his attempt to escape his captivity. Tool holds Mouse hostage and forces Mahlia to bring medicine or he will kill Mouse. When Mahlia returns to her home, she learns that the UPF has come to the village looking for Tool. She orchestrates a violent escape for herself and for Dr. Mahfouz. They return to Tool where Mahlia betrays the doctor in order to entice Tool to lead them to a safe haven up north. Mahlia's actions cause her village to be burned, her neighbors to be enslaved by the UPF and the doctor to be killed.

Book Review: Tiger Lily

By Irene F. Starkehaus -

Title: Tiger Lily | Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson | Publisher: HarperCollins/HarperTeen

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) offers the following synopsis for Tiger Lily:

Before Wendy came into Peter Pan's life, there was only Tiger Lily.

Plot Summary: Tiger Lily is a fifteen year old, Native American girl who lives within the realm of Neverland where one only ages until the most important thing that will ever happen to him or her occurs. She is a foundling to the Sky Eater tribe – so named for their impressive abilities to move through nature with the grace of birds. Tiger Lily is the adoptive daughter of Tic Tok who is the Shaman of his tribe and is considered an outsider by the elders. She is poorly treated by her peers excepting Pine Sap and Moon Eye, but Tiger Lily doesn't particularly like either of them and has no real friends.

All Sky Eaters are warned to stay away from Peter Pan and the Lost Boys but from the moment Tiger Lily meets Peter she falls in love. Peter returns these earnest feelings and discusses making Tiger Lily his wife. They eventually begin sleeping together in the evenings as if they were man and wife although there is no direct correlation to sexual activity outside that of passionate kissing.

Tiger Lily is betrothed to an oaf of a man named Giant who despises her and covets Moon Eye. There are some thinly veiled references to frequent rapes of Moon Eye by Giant.

Starkehaus: Should there be a rating system for Young Adult books?

By Irene F. Starkehaus - 

The American Library Association marked its recent Banned Books Week (September 22-28) by generating enthusiasm for books that have received a recommendation by the ALA but have been deemed too controversial for some communities or particular segments of the population. Those books have, in some instances, been removed from certain library book shelves across the country or are allowed only controlled availability for minors. The ALA registers their method of disdain annually by campaigning against those communities and their narrow-minded, bible-thumping, conservative madness. The top three challenged books for 2013 are: