Newmarket Public Library

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The book opens with Henry Lee our main character coming across a crowd of interested onlookers outside the Panama Hotel in what used to be Seattle’s Japantown. The Panama Hotel has been boarded up for decades and the new owner has made an unexpected discovery: the personal belongings of several local Japanese families, belongings that were left behind when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II.

Seeing some of these items takes Henry back to the 1940’s and to a childhood of confusion and excitement. Henry’s father is a Chinese immigrant with a fierce dislike for the Japanese and a great desire to see his son grow up American. While being educated at the exclusive Ranier Elementary, where he is one of two non-white students, he meets Keiko Okabe a young Japanese American student. Henry and Keiko build a bond of friendship and innocent love that makes Henry’s father, in particular, very nervous.

Forty years later, Henry Lee, now a widower, is trying to make peace with the behaviour of his nationalistic father, the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son and the choices he made many years ago.

Set during one of the most uncertain times in American history, Henry and Keiko show that friendship and love can overcome almost anything.

Reviewed by Fiona Rodriguez

Remarkable Creatures  by Tracy Chevalier

an Audiobook review by Diane Austin

Ever wonder how to pass the time on those long drives to the cottage, while painting or staining the front porch or just catching up with the ironing? Some of us turn on the radio or the television as a distraction but there is a more interesting alternative especially if you haven’t found time to catch up on all those books you’ve been meaning to read. If you are a multi-tasker like me, an audio book can be a pleasant way to pass the time when faced with tedious or time-consuming tasks.

Available in disc, Playaway or downloadable formats, the Newmarket Public Library offers a large selection of titles from which to choose. While some of the books are read by a single person, many of them have multiple readers which provide a more vivid impression of the personality of each character.

The sound recording of Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, is read by two women whom I felt did an excellent job of portraying female palaeontologists Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot. The story is based on early fossil discoveries in Lyme Regis, England in the 1800’s. However, more fascinating than the description of these discoveries on the English coastline, is the unique relationship that is shared by the two main characters, Anning and Philpot. The book explores the themes of social class consciousness, the role of women in science and on a broader scale, the conflicting ideologies of creationism and evolution. The title aptly refers not only to the amazing discoveries of fossilized dinosaurs in an era when little is known about this branch of science, but also to the remarkable women at the centre of the story. The English accent of the storytellers lends authenticity to an English tale written by an American author.

PowerMath series

I just found this series of books called PowerMath which I was so impressed with. I am currently going through several of the books in the series with my 7 year old. She and I are really enjoying them. When you look them up in the library you can search under "Series" and use the search term "powermath". We currently carry 31 different books in the series. The book topics cover a variety of interesting historical facts, places and things but the real objective of each book is to teach a different math concept.

Here are some examples of book titles in the PowerMath series:

Amazing animals : multiplying multidigit numbers by one-digit numbers with regrouping

Biosphere 2 : solving word problems

Calendars of Native Americans : timekeeping methods of ancient North America

Checkmate! the game of chess : applying strategies from simple to complex problems

Climates of the world : identifying and comparing mean, median, and mode

Exploring Australia : using charts, graphs, and tables

Exploring Pyramids around the world: making models of geometric solids

Heads or tails? : exploring probability through games

How the Arabs invented algebra : the history of the concept of variables

Let's have a bake sale : calculating profit and unit cost

Let's visit Canada : the metric system

Map math : learning about latitude and longitude using coordinate systems

Modern Buildings: Identifying Bilateral and rotational Symmetry and Transformations.

Music math : exploring different interpretations of fractions

Space Circles: learning about radius and diameter

etc.

Enjoy them with your children, or just read up on these interesting math concepts for your own enjoyment.

Carol Bonair, B.A., MISt, CAPM, ECMs, ERMp

The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee

by Sarah Silverman

This is a book not for the easily offended. Fans of Sarah Silverman’s comedy and her Comedy Central show “The Sarah Silverman Program” will have an idea of what they have in store when picking this up.

The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee is not just a title aimed at being humourous but details a period in Sarah’s life stretching into her teens where she was a chronic bedwetter. One gets a glimpse of where Sarah’s comedic interests come from in learning about her father and her relationship with him. The best parts of the book actually take place before Sarah starts to break onto the comedy circuit. Silverman also tackles her years battling depression with what appears to be real honesty. Snippets of early diary entries, phone messages from her dad and dealings with her agent are a definite bonus.

This is an honest, well-written read that is easy to pour over in one day. There are some actual laugh out loud passages which says a lot to those of you who may know me. One finishes the book feeling that this is less a comic whose sole intention is to offend, but an intelligent, open-minded woman whose life truly is an open book.

Reviewed by

Community Services Librarian

The Prince of Neither Here Nor There

By Sean Cullen

(Young Adult Fiction)

Brendan is in his first year of high school when he learns that he is not human but a lost Faerie, one of a race of magical Fair Folk who have co-existed on Earth with humans, who are no longer aware of their existence. Escaping with the help of his new-found friends from a powerful sorceress who wants to enlist him in her battle with humans, Brendan finds that he must set off on his own to find the magical pendant left with him as a baby, and without which he cannot master his new powers.

Unlike the world of Harry Potter, this new series is based on a real sense that magic takes mental concentration, not just memorization. But like J. K. Rowling, the best moments are those that expose the friendships and rivalries among key characters: Brendan’s links to his Human family and friends is strong, and will continue to colour his future adventures. Set in a Toronto with its own magical underworld, the book is often humorous, especially the narrator’s witty interjections, but it is the palpable adventure and fast pace that will win over its audience.

Reviewed by Todd Kyle