Highest Duty

On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed one of the most remarkable emergency landings in aviation history when Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger skillfully glided US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard.

HIGHEST DUTY is written by "Sully" himself with Jeffrey Zaslow. He describes some important lessons he learned through childhood, in his military service, and in his work as a commercial airline pilot.

A few weeks after the crash, Sully discovered that he′d lost a library book about professional ethics, Just Culture: Balancing Safety and Accountability, in the downed plane′s cargo hold. When he called the library to notify them, they waived the usual fees. Mayor Michael Bloomberg replaced the book when he gave Sully the Key to the City in a New York ceremony. You can find this inspirational autobiography in the SWAHS Library. Read it and tell us what you think!

A Thousand Acres

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was made into a film in 1997. This book is written as a contemporary parallel to Shakespeare's King Lear. The plot involves, Larry Cook, an aging farmer who hands his thousand acre farm over to his three daughters and drama ensues. This book is for the more mature reader who likes to think and brood over characters, plot, and themes.

P.S. Don't forget to feed the fish!

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

The year is 1985. Benji Cooper is one of the only black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. He spends his falls and winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs and playing too much Dungeons and Dragons, 

But every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of African American professionals have built a world of their own. Because their parents come out only on weekends, he and his friends are left to their own devices for three glorious months. Read this story about being young and black and priveleged in the 1980s.

Whitehead is a 2002 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. You can visit his blog at http://www.colsonwhitehead.com/Home/Home.html.

Leslie

Say "hello" to Leslie, one of the library's most enthusiastic readers. Leslie shares her love of reading by donating her "gently read" books to the library. So the next time you check out a library book, look for the bookplate that identifies Leslie's donations. From all readers at SWAHS we say THANK YOU LESLIE!!!

New York The Big City

Check out the most recent addition to our Graphic Novels Collection, New York, The Big City by Will Eisner. In comic strip fashion, Eisner protrays a series of vignettes that examine nine elements of New York City: The Treasure of Avenue "C," Stoops, Subways, Garbage, Street Music, Sentinels, Windows, Walls, and finally, the Block. Although this book is written by a New York City native the elements he writes about could be found in other big cities. This book has been used as a springboard in high school writing classes.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

If you enjoy British humor and science fiction, you must read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The main character is Arthur Dent, who travels the galaxy with his brave pal, Ford Prefect, an alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. The pair wreak havoc as they get into one hilarious mess after another. If you've had enough of the dark world of vampires and demons and wizards and would like to read something light hearted, check out this book. Other titles in our library collection by Douglas Adams are: Life, the Universe, and Everything and Mostly Harmless.

Douglas Adams was the creator of all the various manifestations of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which started life as a BBC Radio 4 series. Since its first airing in March 1978 it has been transformed into a series of best-selling novels, a TV series, a record album, a computer game and several stage adaptations.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's phenomenal success sent the book straight to Number One in the UK Bestseller List and in 1984 Douglas Adams became the youngest author to be awarded a Golden Pan. He won a further two (a rare feat), and was nominated - though not selected - for the first Best of Young British Novelists awards.

You can check out Adams' biography here: http://www.douglasadams.com/dna/bio.html

Persepolis

Graphic novels are not all Manga, and some are actually non-fiction. Take Persepolis, for example. Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.

In Persepolis, you can learn about daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. It is a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. But it is also the story of a little girl.

If you like Maus, by Art Spiegelman, you will most likely love Persepolis.

As always, I'd like to know what you think!