Off the Shelf 0607-8

Alt Ed
By Catherine Atkins
© 2003

An unlikely candidate for school expulsion, shy Susan Callaway is nonetheless assigned to an after school counseling group for troubled students. Self-conscious, shy and overweight, Susan has avoided any relationships with her peers, but this collection of personalities forces her to deal with her own issues of identity and interactions.

Susan’s troubles accelerated when her mother died and both her father and brother hide their grief in sports, but not each other. She is bullied and tormented by her peers and virtually ignored by her family. The group processing during group reveals a stronger and more confident Susan, as well as the trials and tribulations of other group members.

* 2006 Florida Teen Read book
My recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

Submitted by M. Coleman, Media Specialist

Off the Shelf 0607-7

Brian's Winter
By Gary Paulsen
© 2002

Brian, stranded in the Canadian wilderness after surviving a plane crash has to overcome his biggest obstacle, winter. After his rifle breaks, will he perish without food or will he find a way to live off the land? How will he make weapons to hunt? Will he learn to stay alive with the bears and wolves that live in his new wilderness home? What role will the skunk play in his survival? How will the long hours he spent watching the beavers build a dam help him winterize his shelter? If you enjoy adventure stories, then you will find this book difficult to put down. Check out this book and find out if Brian has the skills and desire to survive the harsh Canadian winter.

My recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

Submitted by Bob Dallmann, LWIT Coordinator – Workforce Education Programs & Technology

Off the Shelf 0607-6

Israel and the Arab World: People at Odds
By Heather Lehr Wagner
© 2002

I chose to read “People at Odds,ISRAEL AND THE ARAB WORLD” because I lived a part of my life in this region. I was born in Egypt a year before Israel proclaimed itself an independent country in May 1948. At that time, conflict between the Jews and the Arabs began. The newly established United Nations approved a partition plan by which the Jews and the Arabs coexist in the same region. The Arab inhabitants viewed this partition as unfavorable to them as it turned huge sections of Arab inhabited land to the Jews. David Bin –Gurion, Prime Minister, laid out bold plans to encourage immigration of Jews to settle in this “new land.” In 1948, the state of Israel was established. Thousands of Arabs had to abandon their homes and started to live as refugees. These refugees maintained the Palestinian identity and their desire to return to their homeland. In 1964, with the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) they had a governing authority and Yassir Arafat as its founder.

Conflict escalated as Israel was granted status as an independent state. At that time, the government in Cairo, Egypt was changing. In 1952, King Farouk was overthrown and Nasser was elected as the new Egyptian president. Nasser’s vision was a united Arab Nation bound by common interests, beliefs, religion.

From 1952 to 1967, Israel had started to build and develop its new acquired settlements. In order to build and expand, it needed water for irrigation so it seized a large amount of the region’s water. In 1967, the Six Day War started .The Arab nations suffered severe economic, military, cultural losses for many years to come.

Golda Meir, a 70 year old Jewish Russian woman became the new Prime Minister. She attempted to create more Jewish settlements .In 1973, Egypt and Syria waged another war against Israel. Golda resigned and was followed by Menachem Begin. In 1978, Jimmy Carter, U.S President, attempted to bring the Egyptian President Sadat and Begin,Israel Prime Minister, to negotiate a Peace Accord at Camp David. Little progress followed because there was still disagreement over the fate of crucial territory such as the West Bank and Gaza.

From 1980 to 1993 several skirmishes ensued between Israel and the West .In 1993, after decades of violence and disagreement, PLO leader and new Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met in the U.S to sign another peace accord which suffered several setbacks since then. In 1996, Sharon Perez, Prime Minister lost the election to Binyamin Netanyahu who was not in favor of giving up the Golan Heights to Palestine.

The Peace process has since suffered many setbacks. In 1998, President Clinton mediated another peace deal between the Arabs and Israel. In 2001, Netanyahu lost to Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister and the head of the Likud Party. In 2006, Sharon died of a massive stroke and was followed by Ehud Olmert who is the current Prime Minister of Israel.

For now the Arab World and the State of Israel are still fighting for territory in the Middle East.

My recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

Submitted by Magda Assaad, LWIT Counselor

Off the Shelf 0607-5

So Yesterday
By Scott Westerfeld
© 2004

This is a cool book.

Well, I think it’s cool, but I’m not sure…

So Yesterday is a story about a teenager named Hunter, who works for a company identifying hot trends in advertising, music, and products. Hunter is a Trendsetter – the second highest type of person on the “Cool Pyramid.” At the top are the Innovators; after the Trendsetters come the Early Adopters, then the Consumers, and finally the Laggards. He gets caught up in a mystery when his boss goes missing at the same time that Hunter discovers the coolest shoes he’s ever seen… and then he gets dragged into a world that may or may not be real, in which he may or may not be in danger.

Along the way, this very entertaining and cleverly-written thriller has a lot to say about status symbols, peer pressure, how trends are born and die, and how corporations manipulate all that in an attempt to sell more product. Hunter and his friends are smart, and smart-alecky, intelligent and sarcastic – in a word, cool. And that makes the book cool.

At least, I think it’s cool – but then, I’m just a Consumer, so maybe I’m not a good one to judge…

* 2006 Florida Teen Read Book
My recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

Submitted by Jeanette Johnson, LWTHS & LWIT Principal