The Plot Against America by Philip Roth really disturbed and intrigued me…up until the ending. This alternative history proposes that the anti-Semitic Charles Lindbergh beat FDR in the 1940 election to become President of the United States. What happens to the Jewish population of the USA, and do we fight against Hitler and the Nazis?
Tag: one book nj
What a bizarre book. Inspired in part by The Island of Dr. Moreau, Dr. Franlin’s Island by Ann Halam tells the story of three shipwrecked British teenagers who fall into the hands of a mad scientist. Semi, Arnie, and Miranda are the sole survivors of a plane crash on their way to a scientific program for teens in Ecuador. They survive for weeks alone on the beach before discovering Dr. Franklin’s compound and his horrors of genetic engineering. He holds them as prisoners and alters their DNA in his attempts to make bird/human and fish/human hybrids.
The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley is fairly clever, and the first in a series of six thus far (the last coming out this May). Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with their long lost grandmother after their parents disappear. The girls discover that they are the descendants of the Brothers Grimm, who were actually not storytellers but historians who documented what they saw. All their descendants have followed the tradition, becoming detectives of fairy tale activity. In the small town of Ferryport, NY the Brothers Grimm managed to contain all fairy tale creatures when it became clear they could no longer live openly among humans. Prince Charming is mayor, and the three little pigs run the police force. When their grandmother begins an investigation and is kidnapped, the girls must figure out how to rescue her.
One Book New Jersey is a great initiative done every year by the New Jersey Library Association. The idea is to get people to all read the same book, and libraries try to plan programs around the selections. NJLA selects 4 books-one for young children, one for middle readers, one for teens, and one for adults.