The Black Dahlia: Shattered Dreams by Brenda Haugen

While processing a stack of books I recently received for the library, I came across this title.  While I was familiar with the name "Black Dahlia" and the fact that it was a gruesome, unsolved mystery from the 1940's, I didn't know much else.  Unsolved mysteries have always fascinated me, so I decided to give it a read.

"The Black Dahlia" was a woman named Elizabeth "Betty" Short who she had moved to California in the hopes of becoming a famous actress and becomes the most famous murder victim of the 1940s.  The book details her young life in Massachusetts and then follows her to California to pursue her dreams.  Betty was popular with men at the clubs and earned herself the nickname of Black Dahlia soon after the movie The Blue Dahlia came out in 1946 because of her dark hair and the fact that she typically sported form-fitting black clothing.  She never seemed to have a job and was often secretive with those around her.

Betty's murder was very gruesome, causing even seasoned crime reporter, Aggie Underwood, to blanch at the sight of Betty's mutilated body.  Even though the police interviewed hundreds of people, no suspect was ever charged with her murder.  To this day, The Black Dahlia remains a cold case in the annals of the Los Angeles Police Department.

photo credit: AP.  

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/02/newser-black-dahlia/9865397/ 

#17--Around the World by Matt Phelan

Each year I have been a librarian I have had the pleasure and privilege to attend the annual PSLA (Pennsylvania School Librarian Association) conference in the spring.  This year was no different.  Each year there is both an author and an illustrator featured during the conference.  This year's illustrator was Matt Phelan, who has written and illustrated several graphic novels/nonfiction works.  I purchased two of them, with Around the World being one of them.

Around the World follows three real-life adventurers on their trips around the world.  Before reading this book I was only familiar with Nellie Bly, who is most famous for her stunt journalism (including her trip around the world in an attempt to beat Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg and an expose she wrote after she faked insanity and was placed in a mental institution so she could write about the abuses happening from within).

The second adventurer (he appears first in the book) is Thomas Stevens.  Stevens is a miner, but he does not enjoy his work.  As the bicycle is first introduced to American culture (a new-fangled contraption that many did not believe would last), Stevens quits his job and decides to ride his bicycle around the world.  In an effort to have a sponsor pay for his trip, he offers to chronicle his adventures.  (He eventually does do this, but he does not get sponsorship right away.)

The third, and final, adventurer is Joshua Slocum, a retired sea captain who fixes up a dilapidated little boat to sail around the world in.  It takes him several years to do this.  Once he has completed his adventure he eventually climbs back into his boat and sails off, never to be heard from again.

All three of these individuals, Bly, Stevens, and Slocum, wrote accounts of their adventures that were published.  It was these accounts that inspired the author to create this work.  Phelan's illustrations are of water colors that tend to be washed-out...despite this, they are expressive and beautiful in their own right.  I am looking forward to reading my second purchase of Phelan's Storm in the Barn, as well as his newest release coming out later this month, Bluffton: My Summer With Buster Keaton.  

Despite the fact that the book comes in at 240 pages, I was able to finish it in about a half an hour.  So, it is a quick and easy read.

Happy Reading!!

#16--A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

It is an established fact that I love history.  I am also fascinated by events in history where something went wrong and how people handled it.  Case in point, the Holocaust....so many wrongs and yet there were people who tried everything to make it as right as they could, in their limited capacity.  Other events, like disasters--the sinking of the Titanic and the Hindenberg disaster--are also fascinating to me for similar reasons.

Several years ago, while conducting a weed (to remove unused/out-dated materials from the collection) of the library, I came across a dilapidated copy of this title.  Because of its condition and age, it was removed from the collection.  (It was first published in 1955, so the author had had the good fortune to be able to interview survivors of the Titanic sinking.)  Because of my interest, I took the deleted copy home with me, in the hopes of reading it someday.  That someday finally has come.  I was recently on vacation and grabbed several weeded books to take with me (these are books that I don't worry about losing or misplacing--which makes them perfect for vacation).

The author thoroughly did his research and has recreated the events of that fateful night with as much accuracy as is possible.  While reading, I felt like I was with the people, experiencing the events right along with them.  Everyone knows how this one ends....the boat sinks, with hundreds of people on board.  However, the descriptions of the acts of heroism and courage (and stupidity/cowardliness) make the story come alive for the reader.

In the back of the book there are lists of each of the classes (first, second, and third/steerage) and who the survivors were.  The index also includes each person who is named, so you can find out more info about them.  The end-papers included a diagram of the boat itself and indicated on the boat the timeline of what happened, where, and when.

So much could have been different about this tragedy if little things had been done differently.  However, hindsight is usually 20/20.  And in the end, so much has been changed for the better because of this event: life boats are required for the capacity of the ship (as well as life-boat drills for the crew and passengers), 24-hour radio watch and distress rockets, the creation of an International Ice Patrol, and changes to how ships are designed.

Since we still have a copy of this title on the shelves at my school, I think I'm going to add it to my non-fiction book talk rotation this coming year, since I always have a few students who are fascinated by the Titanic.

Happy Reading!!

#15--Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

The two months since my last post have flown by...I've been planning an August wedding (we got engaged on Easter, so we have a quick turn-around!) and have finally found time to read again with most of the planning taken care of at this point.  :)

After several people praised Bomb, I had to pick it up and give it a go.  It had several things going for it that made me want to read it (other than all the recommendations I received)....it is about history, it is about spies, and it is about advanced science that is accessible to my level of science--which means, it is accessible to a middle school science student. :)  (I find science fascinating, yet rather intimidating, so for nuclear fission to be made accessible to me is awesome!!)

The book opens in May of 1950 with two FBI agents arriving at Harry Gold's home in Philadelphia to search it for evidence of spying for the Soviets.  Gold finally admits to spying and says he needs to tell the whole story.  The story continues with how Harry (as well as others) got pulled into spying for the Soviets. 

In 1938 a German chemist named Otto Hahn discovered that he could cause uranium atoms to split, physicists around the world began to experiment with this new phenomenon.  Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in 1939, encouraging him to begin funding research on building a bomb with this new knowledge, as Hitler and the Germans were certainly working toward that same end.  Should Hitler attain this powerful weapon first, the war would be over and Germany would be the victors. 

Once the United States began their research in earnest, Robert Oppenheimer was named the director of the Manhattan Project (the name for the American's bomb project).  Oppenheimer began to recruit top scientists from across the country, many who were European Jews who had escaped Hitler's massacre.  Once the top secret research was started, not only were the Germans trying to get their hands on the information that the Americans had, but Stalin and the KGB were even more insistent on getting the information.  So much so that the KGB was actually able to find individuals working on the Manhattan Project who were supportive of Russia and Communism and willing to give highly classified information over to the Soviets.

When President Truman dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Stalin was furious that the American's had beat him.  By August 29, 1949, the Russians had their first successful atomic bomb, which ignited the Cold War. 

While I knew some of the details about the Manhattan Project and the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  However, I did not know most of the details of the race between Germany, Russian and the United States to be the first to build an atomic weapon, and even less of the spying that went on to accomplish it.  I had heard of several of the big names: Robert Oppenheimer, the Rosenbergs, and Moe Berg, but beyond those names, everyone else was a new character to me who was fascinating to learn about.

This book is definitely going to go into my book talk rotation for nonfiction for next year!!

Happy Reading!!

#31--Eat the City: A Tale of the Fishers, Foragers, Butchers, Farmers, Poultry Minders, Sugar Refiners, Cane Cutters, Beekeepers, Winemakers, and Brewers Who Built New York--by Robin Shulman

This summer my sister and I spent several days in New York City as a nice treat.  We are, admittedly, food snobs to a point and love us some good food.  Our goal for the trip was to eat our way through the city and see a few shows.  Not only did we do this, but we also were able to spend some time biking in Central Park and doing some touristy stuff--like a walking food tour of Hell's Kitchen from Alex at Manhattan Walking Tour where we had some absolutely fantastic food!!

About a week before leaving for our trip, I started reading Eat the City.  I figured it would be a good way to find out about the history of food in the Big Apple.  Each chapter covers a different kind of food: fish, vegetables, meat (butcher shops), sugar, honey, beer, and wine.  Through each chapter you are introduced to individuals who are currently practicing the trade as well as given insight into the history of each food within New York City.  I found the information fascinating to read about.  The author is able to make you feel like you are right there in the butcher shop/wine cellar/rooftop with honey bees/garden and the people you meet come alive. 

This is a book that I would recommend to any foodies...especially my dad...who may be getting a copy for Christmas.  :)

I was provided a free electronic galley copy of this book by the publisher through Net Galley.  All opinions are my own.  The book is currently available for purchase in both hard cover and kindle format.

                                                          picture from Amazon.com
Warning: There are a few instances when situation/language may not make this appropriate for readers under 16.  Use your own discretion.

Happy Reading!!