From Wonder Woman, to US History and Malala Yousafzai…New Nonfiction

wonderwoman

Lepore, Jill. The Secret History of Wonder Woman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. 978-0-385-35404-2. 410 p. $29.99. Gr 9+.

Harvard professor and New Yorker writer Lenope digs deep into the history of Wonder Woman, the first female superhero to have her own comic book, and the most popular female superhero of all time- who fights for “peace, justice, and women’s rights”. While not only discovering Wonder Woman’s evolution, Lenope also touches upon how she made and remade feminism, while exploring the history and development of those responsible for her creation, specifically William Moulton Marston. Marston was a freshman at Harvard when he created Wonder Woman, influenced by the woman’s suffrage movement and feminists he knew as a child and by growing up surrounded by feminists. Strongly believing in women’s rights and non-conformity, Marston and his wife lived an extremely non-traditional life while also writing traditional family comics for Family Circle (Marston was a psychologist who invented the lie detector test). One of the couples house-mates, Margaret Sanger, the famous feminist and birth-control pioneer, partially inspired the character, as well as other women Marston loved throughout the years. Marston also strongly felt that women felt powerful from bondage and sexual desire, which is reflected in the original Wonder Woman comic panels spread throughout the book. A solid and substantial volume that comic book fans- specifically fans of origins stories will welcome.

741; Comic Books/Superheroes    Vicki Schwoebel, Friends’ Central School

This book was gifted to us by a kind upper school teacher, and while it hasn’t circulated a ton, it has generated a lot of conversation. We have many upper school students interested in comics and graphic novels, so over the past year we have started to build a graphic novel collection for older students and adults (in addition to the popular graphic novel we have in our middle school reading room).  A lot of students have asked about the Wonder Woman book when it was displayed, which prompted us to mention the graphic novel collection upstairs, which made the items circulate more! Hopefully word of mouth will make it circulate even more.

 

untoldhistory

Stone, Oliver. The Untold History of the United States: Young Readers Edition, 1898-1945, Volume 1. New York: Anthem Books for Young Readers, 2014. 978-1-4814-2173-7. 383 p. $19.99. Gr. 6-12.

This is the first of a planned four volume set born from a somber documentary that examines historical events in a context that differs greatly from traditional textbooks. The volume focuses on 1898-1945, and Stone attempts to answer questions such as, “Why is the gap between the rich and the poor greater in the United States than in any other developed country?” and “Why do African Americans and Latinos still face discrimination?”. Events, such as the building of America’s railroads and Roosevelt’s New Deal reform, are presented with facts that have come to light in recent years after archival footage and declassified information have been made public. Readers will be drawn in by the popular filmmaking author, Oliver Stone, but will stay for the balanced narrative and interesting photos, illustrations and documents that accompany the text, while becoming well-informed readers on United States history, economics and politics.

United States HIstory    Vicki Schwoebel, Friends’ Central School

What an interesting book! The structure is not chronological, like I imagined, but more narrative, which makes it much more approachable (and different from a textbook). Instead of just historical fact- like how Woodrow Wilson premiered a pro-Klu Klux Klan film in the White House- this text goes into the why and how that could happen. It is important to realize that for every event, or historical act that is a story behind even that, and I feel Oliver Stone did a fine job, as did Susan Campbell Bartoletti, who adapted it for young readers.

 

malala

Yousafzai, Malala. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World – Young Readers Edition. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014. 978-0-316-32793-0. 230 p. $17.00. Gr 6-12.  

Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai’s 2013 memoir has been adapted for middle and high school students. Malala and her family- specifically her father, a principal, teacher, and founder of one of the only girls schools in Pakistan- are outspoken advocates for education equality. Readers will enter a world not that different from their own; Malala stays up too late studying, talks about the Twilight series, and argues with her younger brothers, but she soon learns that her village in Pakistan was taken over by the Taliban, a violent Islamic fundamentalist political movement through the Middle East. Malala decided to speak out against the terrorism; writing about it on a blog that would later appear on a BBC blog, appearing on international talk shows, being filmed in a documentary, and founding an organization to help girls receive an education. Her actions prompted many death threats, and one day on the bus from school, she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman. In the days that followed, Malala survived, and the shooting received international attention. Upon her recovery, Malala remained dedicated to activism for girls education, and her story is one to inspire youth around the world. A superb addition to any biography collection; Malala is someone who made a difference and fought for equity with compassion and peaceful perseverance. YA edition includes a helpful glossary and timeline of important events.

Biography     Vicki Schwoebel, Friends’ Central School

Last year we had a special assembly about peace, and one teacher spoke about Malala’s amazing story. This was around the time she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was appearing on talk shows like The Daily Show. This prompted us to purchase her memoir, which circulated among teachers and a few students. When we purchased the young readers edition, we had a student check it out, and create a video book review for a project. This was wonderful, as we were able to add it to the catalog record for that title, and other kids who viewed the trailer were then interested in checking it out; we even had a hold list for it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *