Thing 12: Books, Books and More Books

YALSA Teen Book Finder:

"ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has produced an iPhone app (which will work as well on an iPad) to help teens, parents, librarians and library staff, educators, and anyone who loves YA literature access to the past three years’ of YALSA’s awards and lists on their smartphone."

Wow, my experiences with these recent apps are disappointing me. This looks like a fun and useful app and I'm sure that it is, but when I tried to begin my favorites list, I already ran into a snag. I searched for Susann Cokal's amazing book Kingdom of the Little Wounds, which won a Printz honor this January, only to find that it is not listed. A quick search of the Printz winning titles showed that the latest winner, Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick was also not yet included. I would have expected the titles to be more current! Oh well, soldiering on, I began my favorites list anyway.  Here's what some of that looks like:

On a positive note, I like the Hot Picks feature. Everyday it suggests three titles for you. Here is today's menu:

In spite of my criticism of title currency, I would recommend this app for its possibilities with Reader's Advisory.

iStoryBooks:

 

"iStoryBooks is an app that contains 25 free children’s story books, both text & audio. There are books in the following categories: fairy & folk tales, animals, educational, and Ramayana (Hindu stories). According to the company, they publish new books every two weeks and they will appear automatically on the app. The app does provide access to premium content as well."

 

"My Library" opened up with 36 books, some of them premium (pay to read). They are:

 

1. The Incredible Growing Plant
2. From Root to Flower
3. Food from the Sun
4. My Busy Body
5. The Hare's Liver: a Folk Story From Korea (Premium. Darn! Seriously.)
6. What Every Organism Needs
7. Food Chain
8. B- and the Case of the Missing Doll (Premium)
9. Chicken Little (Premium)
10. The Leap Frog (Premium)
11. Cars
12. The Amazing Life of Helen Keller
13. Violet's Gift
14. Kumba Am and Kumba Amul: a Gambian Folk Tale
15. Sea Animals
16. The Fish Snatcher: a Wolof Tale From Gambia, West Africa
17. Cock-a-Doodle-Moo!
18. Cinderella
19. The Ugly Duckling
20. Little Red Riding Hood
21. Things That Go
22. The Little Red Hen
23. Stone Soup
24. The Three Little Pigs
25. Four Clever Friends and a Hunter
26. The World of Dinosaurs Big and Small
27. Cenicienta (Cinderella-Spanish)
28. The World of Trucks Big and Small
29. A to Z Fruits & Vegetables: Preschool
30. A to Z Fruits & Vegetables: Junior
31. A to Z Fruits & Vegetables: Yummy Riddles
32. A to Z Animals
33. The Blue Fox
34. El Zorro Azul
35. The Crow, the doves and the Mouse
36. El Cuervo, Las Palomas y El Raton

 

The first book I listened to/looked at was The Three Little Pigs. The pigs live in an orphanage until they are too old to stay, and thus they need to build their own homes. The first two pigs are characterized as messy/silly and greedy/gluttonous. The final pig has only good qualities. It is sort of a mediocre version of the story, but it is still the story, if you see what I mean. The only thing that really is a problem is that the first pig is called Brownie and described as being mud colored, but is illustrated as a pink pig like his siblings.

 

Next, I naturally went for Kumba Am and Kumba Amul: a Gambian Folk Tale. I enjoyed this more. It is a tale in the vein of "Toads and Diamonds" or "The Talking Eggs" where there is a favored daughter ("bad" sister) and a mistreated stepchild ("good" sister) who when sent to perform a chore meet a mysterious old crone who punishes or rewards them as they deserve.

 

I  think that this would be a reasonably good app to recommend to patrons, primarily because it is free. I will probably only use it to read the free folktales and then will delete it.

 

My Teen Science Fiction Reading List

In October, I'm doing a one-time book group of general science fiction choices for teens and here is the reading list I've come up with. I thought that I'd share. For the meeting itself, I will highlight and talk about six of these titles. I hope this is useful for you!

Science Fiction

Classics:

a)      The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)

b)      The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (1895)

c)       Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818, originally published anonymously)

d)      The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells (1896)

e)      Journey To the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (1871)

Dystopias:

Government control:

a)      Giver series by Lois Lowry:

The Giver 1993

Gathering Blue 2000

Messenger 2004

Son 2012

b)      Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

Divergent (2011)

Insurgent (2012)

Allegiant (2013)

c)       Little Brother (2010) and Homeland  (2013) by Cory Doctorow

d)      Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver

Delirium (2011)

Pandemonium (2012)

Requiem (2013)

e)      Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie

Matched (2010)

Crossed (2011)

Reached (2012)

 

Post- Apocalyptic: through war or disease:

a)      The Program by Suzanne Young (2013) & The Treatment (2014)

b)      The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (2013)

c)       Fallen World Trilogy by Megan Crewe

The Way We Fall (2012)

The Lives We Lost (2013)

d)      Epitaph Road by David Patneaude (2010)

e)      For the Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund (2012)

Natural disaster: changed or dying earth

a)      The Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It (2006)

The Dead and the Gone (2008)

This World We Live In (2010)

The Shade of the Moon (2013)

b)      Ashfall series by Mike Mullin

Ashfall (2011)

Ashen Winter (2012)

Sunrise (2014)

c)       After the Snow  series by S.D. Crockett

After the Snow  (2012)

One Crow Alone (2013) prequel

       d) Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony (2010)

       e) Rootless by Chris Howard (2012)This will be a series.

      

Alien encounters:

Life on other planets/We live on other planets:

a)      Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go (2008)

The Ask and the Answer (2009)

Monsters of Men (2010)

b)      The 5^th Wave by Rick Yancey (2013)There will be a sequel, at least.

c)       Adaptation (2012) & Inheritance (2013) by Malinda Lo

d)      Star Kingdom series by David Weber

A Beautiful Friendship (2011)

 Fire Season (2013)

e)      The Elana Books by Sylvia Engdahl

Enchantress From the Stars (1970)

The Far Side of Evil (1971)

Time Travel :

a)      Klaatu Diskos series by Pete Hautman

The Obsidian Blade (2012)

The Cydonian Pyramid (2013)

The Klaatu Terminus (2014)

b) Sign of the Raven by Julie Hearn (2005)

d)      Hourglass Series by Myra McEntire

Hourglass (2011)

Timepiece (2012)

Infinityglass (2013)

d) Tempest by Julie Cross (2012)

e) Out of Time by John Marsden (2005)

 

Steampunk:

Clockwork & steam driven /Fabulous inventions

a)      Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

 Leviathan (2009)

Behemoth (2010)

Goliath (2011)

b)      Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve

Mortal Engines (2003)

Predator’s Gold (2004)

Infernal Devices (2006)

A Darkling Plain (2007)

c)       Incarceron  series by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron  (2010)

Sapphique (2011)

d)      The Hunchback Assignments series by Arthur G. Slade

The Hunchback Assignments (2009)

The Dark Deeps (2010)

      e) Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells (2013)

 

Weird bodily adaptations:

Humans as Experiments:

 

a)      The Jenna Fox Chronicles by Mary Pearson:

   The Adoration of Jenna Fox (2008)

The Fox Inheritance (2011)

Fox Forever (2013)

b)      Gripping series trilogy by Robin Wasserman

Skinned

Crashed (2009)

Wired (2010)

       c) Six of Hearts series by Jack Heath

             The Lab 2008)

e)      Origin by Jessica Khoury (2013)

f)       Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano

Wither (2011)

Fever (2012)

Sever (2013)

 

Bodily “Improvements”:

a)      The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

Uglies (2005)

Pretties (2005)

Specials (2006)

Extras (2007)

b)      Feed by  M.T. Anderson

c)       Unwind Dystology series by Neal Shusterman:

Unwind

Unwholly (2012)

d) The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer (1989)

e) Turnabout by Margaret Peterson Haddix (2012)

 

 

Mad Scientists:

A) The Rules by Stacey Kade  (series-to-be Project Paper Doll)

b) Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd

c) Dr. Franklin’s Island by Ann Halam

d) The Death Collector by Justin Richards (2006)

d)      Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series by Kenneth Oppel

This Dark Endeavor (2011)

Such Wicked Intent (2012)

 

We Made Them:

1)      Androids/Cyborgs/Robots

a)      Lunar Chronicles  by Marissa Meyer:

Cinder (2012)

Scarlet (2013)

Cress (2014)

b)      Revolution 19 by Gregg Rosenblum (2013)

c)       Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

d)      A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan (2011)

e)      Bzrk Trilogy by Michael Grant

Bzrk (2012)  

Bzrk Reloaded  (2013)

2)      Clones/Genetically Engineered

a) House of the Scorpion (2002) & The Lord of Opium (2013) by Nancy Farmer

b) The Originals by Cat Patrick (2013)

c) Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix (2005)

d) Tankborn novels by Karen Sandler

    Tankborn (2011)

    Awakening (2013)

   Rebellion (2014)

E) Double Helix by Nancy Werlin (2005)

 

3)      Zombies/Monsters

a)      The Benny Imura series by Jonathan Maberry:

 Rot and Ruin (2010)

Dust and Decay(2011)

Flesh and Bone (2012)

Fire and Ash (2014)

b)      The Enemy series by Charlie Higson:

The Enemy (2010)

The Dead (2011)

The Fear (2012)

The Sacrifice (2013)

c)       This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers (2012)

d)      Ashes Trilogy by Ilsa Blick

Ashes (2011)

Shadows (2012)

Monsters (2013)

e)      Z by Michael Thomas Ford (2010)

 

Virtual reality/games

a)      Insignia series by S.J. Kincaid

Insignia (2012)

Vortex (2013)

b) Under the Never Sky Trilogy by Veronica Rossi

     Under the Never Sky (2012)

     Through the Ever Night (2013)

c)  For the Win by Cory Doctorow(2010)

d) Deadly Pink by Vivan Van Velde (2012)

e) Bubble World by Carol Snow (2013)

 

Bonus:

a)      Mazerunner series by James Dashner

The Mazerunner (2009)

The Scorch Trials (2010)

The Death Cure (2011)

The Kill Order (2012) prequel

b) In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker (1997)

       c) Memory Boy by Will Weaver (2003) & The Survivors (2013)

      d) Storm Thief by Chris Wooding (2006)

      e) Ship Breaker (2010) and Drowned Cities (2013) by Paulo Bacigalupi

 

 

 

 

 

Fifty.fiftyme Challenge May Stats

 

 

 

Working on the fifty.fifty me blog challenge. Reviews for this post forthcoming!

 

Majoring in: Japanese Fairy and Folktales

Minoring in: Steinbeck

May Books Read:

•  Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: I love this genuinely touching, non-sappy teen romance. In the back of the school bus, Park grudgingly allows the prickly and weird Eleanor to sit next to him. Eleanor is not particularly grateful to the "stupid Asian kid." It is definitely not love at first sight. But slowly, the two develop a deep connection, threatened by Eleanor's miserable home life with her cruel and violent stepfather. Set in the mid 1980s, with mix tapes and no cell phones or Internet, this story will please both adults and teens!
• In Search of Goliathus Hercules by Jennifer Angus: I recommended this one to sixth graders on my school visits this spring. In 1890, ten year old Henri's father, who is traveling, disappears.His mother goes to search for him, so Henri is sent from England to America, to live with his great aunt. There, he discovers that he can talk with insects and meets his aunt's unpleasant neighbor Mrs. Black. Henri is propelled into a series of adventures, working for a flea circus, traveling to Malaya to look for his father, hunting for the fierce beetle Goliathus Hercules and foiling the vicious Mrs. Black, all while turning pretty bug-like himself.
• Struck by Lightning: the Carson Phillips Journal by Chris Colfer: I love Glee and I'm crazy about the character Kurt Hummel. Chris Colfer seems cool when you see him as himself. I listened to him read this on CD. The sarcastic humor is fun. If I didn't know who the author was, though, I have to honestly say that I wouldn't recommend this, due to flat, stereotypical characters and an abrupt ending.
• Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever by Kate DiCamillo & Alison McGhee: If you haven't yet met the stars of these early reader/ short chapter books, you have pleasure coming! These two friends are complete opposites, but they totally enjoy each other. In these three adventures, Gollie has found that she is descended from royalty and is now ruling her kindom, much to Bink's annoyance, Bink is tired of being shorter than Gollie & sets out to do something about it, and the girls decide that they will collect something that will get them into a record book.  All of the Bink and Gollie books are charmingly illustrated by Tony Fucille.
• Boy Toy by Barry Lyga: This was a disturbing but gripping read. When Josh was twelve years old he had a favorite teacher and developed a close relationship with her. Too close. Eve, who is married and beautiful, praised him for his maturity and intelligence and invited him to help her by being part of her grad school research. Josh is thrilled, because he has a big crush on her. The research project led to him going home with her after school every day, which over months led to him losing his virginity to Eve. Five years later, everyone knows about what happened to Josh and he can't wait to get out of town. A girl he used to be close to is back in his life, and she wants to be his girlfriend. It's time for Josh to deal with all that happened to him in the past. Although much of this book really bothered me, as it was meant to, I suppose, I think that Lyga skillfully handled this topic.
• Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
• In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters: This creepy historical fiction kept me reading it every chance I got. It’s 1918, during World War I and things are going really badly for 16 year old Mary Shelley Black. Her father has been arrested for being Un-American, her old friend and new love Stephen has gone off to war, and a deadly flu is sweeping the country. Stephen’s brother is making money doing spirit photography and has used the unknowing Mary Shelley as his model. Then word comes that Stephen is dead, she is literally struck by lightning and everything changes. Is she really receiving messages from beyond the grave? What can she do to help Stephen? Who can she trust?
• Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck: This is a "happy" book by Steinbeck. It won't break your heart like Of Mice and Men or The Pearl. It follows his book Cannery Row, catching up with the row's  inhabitants after the World War II in Monterey. Doc, collector of marine animals is back, trying to work on a scholarly paper on octopi. There's a new girl in town, Susie, who, although tough and argumentative, has a sweet spot for Doc. Madame Dora is now dead, but her sister "Fauna" has taken her place and is ably running the Bear Flag brothel with an aim to get her most promising girls married off properly. Mac and his slightly different group of flophouse boys earnestly and bumblingly try to help Doc, much to his chagrin. I loved this book! You might also check out the  1980s movie of Cannery Row, which combines the stories from Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday and stars Debra Winger and Nick Nolte. Granted, I haven't seen it in years, but back in the day I thought that it was really funny.
• Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck: If you are someone who never read this in school, like me, let me tell you that this is a memoir from Steinbeck's time traveling the U.S. for  3 months with his fine French poodle. He equipped a truck with a camper top, christened it Rocinante, and they set out on their trip, with plans to meet Steinbeck's wife halfway through their route. Sadly, for me, he never made it into Minneapolis, although he apparently tried. More on this shortly.

Rocinante, which I absolutely could not picture when I read the book!

 Folktales: Basho and the Fox, Screen of Frogs, The Fool and the Phoenix, On Cat Mountain, Boy of the Three Year Nap, Under the Cherry Blossom Tree (See my blog posts for extended summaries of these).

May Films watched:

•  Hitchcock: This takes place when Hitchcock is inspired to make Psycho, based on the book by Robert Bloch and the infamous murderer Ed Gein. Apparently, no one thinks that this is a good idea. They think that it will finish him as a director. He also seems to be going through a rocky patch with his wife Alma, who is a partner to him in his filmmaking as well as an assistant director and screenwriter in her own right. I enjoyed the acting by Anthony Hopkins and  Helen Mirren and was very creeped out by the scenes involving Gein.
• Silver Linings Playbook

Totals:

Books total: 56/50
Books minus folktale minor: 22/50
Movies: 17/50
Major: 34/7
Minor: 2/3

Fifty.Fifty Me Challenge Jan. and Feb. Stats

Working on the fifty.fifty me blog challenge

Majoring in: Japanese Fairy and Folktales
Minoring in: Steinbeck

January Books Read:

• Brooklyn, Burning by Steven Brezenoff: Is about homeless teens in Brooklyn, NY, but covers much more than that. Sixteen year old Kid isn't welcome at home, wants to be in a band and has been badly hurt by love. Kid tells this story to "You." As things unfold, you realize that neither Kid's gender, nor Kid's new friend Scout's are given. And they never are. Brezenoff has left this open for the reader. The teens are given tender support by young adults, and I liked the way this cobbled type of family helps Kid as best they can.

Folktales:  The Wise Old Woman, The Tale of The Mandarin Ducks, The Tale of the Lucky Cat, The Beckoning Cat, I Am Tama, Lucky Cat, The Greatest of All (See my blog posts for extended summaries of these)

February Books Read:

• Unwholly by Neal Shusterman: This is the second book in the Unwind series. It continues with the thought provoking situations raised in UnWind's dystopia (teenagers can be retroactively aborted/"Unwound", babies can be "Storked," etc.) and raises new ones. Connor, Risa and Lev appear again and we are also introduced to Cam, a teen "Rewind" made entirely of the best parts of other Unwound teens. Action continues. I love this series!
• The Fault In Our Stars by John Green: is sad, beautiful and great to listen to on CD, because Kate Rudd reads it so well. Teenage Hazel has lung cancer, and meets Augustus, the guy of her dreams, in a cancer support group. They plan to go to Amsterdam and meet their favorite author, to ask him what happened to his characters after his novel ends. Life with cancer is treated very honestly; the teens are not angelic and falsely heroic. I fell in love with Hazel, Augustus and their friend Isaac.

Folktales: The Old Man Who Made the Trees Bloom, Why Cats Chase Mice, Issun Boshi, The Silver Charm, The Boy From the Dragon Palace, Wabi Sabi, The Moon Princess, Mysterious Tales of Japan, Bamboo Hats and a Rice Cake (See my blog posts for extended summaries of these)

January Films watched:

• Lincoln (2012) (at theatre): I was afraid that this would be dry, but I did enjoy it. Daniel Day Lewis got the Oscar for best actor and it was easy to see why. I was also interested in Sally Field's performance as Mary Todd Lincoln.

February Films watched:

• Les Miserables  (2012)(at theatre): I really enjoyed it. It took me awhile to figure out that Jean Valjean was acted by Hugh Jackman, but when I did, I was impressed.I got a big kick out of the crooked Thenardier (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his blowzy wife (Helena Bonham Carter, of course).  The music stuck with me and I was saddened in all the right places.

         I had seen the 1998 non-musical version starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush, and I liked   Rush's performance as  Javert much more than Russell Crowe's. I felt that he showed the anguish of the character better, but I also have to say that I have a crush on Geoffrey Rush, and have had ever since I saw him in this and Quills.

• Anna Karenina (2012)(at theatre): This book is about so much much more than Anna, her love affair and subsequent disgrace, but I have to honestly say that it's not one of my favorites. This movie, on the other hand, I liked. It was just so beautifully done, with the Kiera Knightly (Anna), Jude Law (Karenin) and the gorgeous Aaron Taylor- Johnson as her Count Vronsky.Yummy costumes and scenery!
• Midnight Cowboy (1969): I'd never seen this classic starring John Voight as an unsuccessful hustler and Dustin Hoffman as his pathetic friend/would be pimp. It was pretty depressing and I was kind of obsessed about looking up the difference between the movie and the book. I wanted the back story of Crazy (AKA Chalkline) Annie.
•  Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012):  I loved this Young Adult book (read it many years ago) and really liked the movie too. I was pleased to see that Stephen Chbosky, who wrote the novel, also wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. Login Lerman was fine as the sweet, odd Charlie. I also liked the supporting cast, and was happy to see Mae Whitman again, having gotten to like her in Parenthood. Having seen Ezra Miller in We Need To Talk About Kevin, in which he played a murderous and terrifying character, I was curious how he would be as the likeable Patrick. I was also somewhat worried that Emma Watson (Sam) would grab the attention because of Harry Potter fame. Actually, I thought that they were both excellent. The movie made me simultaneously wish I was a young woman again and thank God that I'm not!
•  Bully (2011): This is a powerful documentary about bullying in our U.S. schools. It was directed by Lee Hirsch, who was himself bullied when he was a young person. It follows the lives of several young people who are constantly bullied and talks to the courageous family and friends of two young men who committed suicide over the way they were treated.

        Two teens that especially stood out for me were Kelby and Alex.  Kelby has a girlfriend, but in her town, that's just not accepted. Still, she wants to be the one who can make a difference. Alex is picked on everyday, and is punched and poked with pencils on the school bus. He wants it to be jokes, so he can still think of those people as his friends. After all, if they aren't, then what friends does he have? Be sure to watch the special features on the DVD, so you can see Alex in the happier times that follow.

Kelby

 

Alex Libby in the movie Bully from www.wired.com

 

 

 

Alex after Bully from http://www.therighthandgal.com/noble

Check out The Bully Project !


Totals:

Books: 18/50
Movies: 6/50
Major: 15/7
Minor: 0/3

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Girl, Stolen (Christy Ottaviano Books) by April Henry.


Griffin just wanted the Escalade he’d stolen as a little present for himself, something to impress his criminal father, Roy. What he didn’t expect or choose was the 16 year old girl sleeping in the back seat. Ill with pneumonia, she was waiting for her stepmom outside a pharmacy when Griffin unwittingly kidnapped her. Cheyenne is smart and has lots of fire, so she may be a match for one teenage guy. But, she is also blind, the daughter of Nike’s president and on her way home with Griffin where Roy and his two unscrupulous employees await. The adults will be happy to exploit her for as much money as possible, with little thought to her wellbeing.

The story of Cheyenne’s captivity and Griffin’s guilty involvement unfolds in alternating chapters by both teens. Readers witness Cheyenne’s tricky and brave attempts at escape, Griffin’s fear of his father and his henchmen, and his growing empathy for Cheyenne. When likelihood that the criminals will never free her and may consider murder becomes clear, the teens reach an uneasy alliance. They will need all of Cheyenne’s resourcefulness and Griffin’s inside knowledge to save themselves.

Cheyenne is a super gutsy heroine, and Griffin is a young man in horrible circumstances who just may be able to redeem himself. Interesting details of Cheyenne’s relatively new blindness and the way that she copes enrich the story. Teens will love the book’s fast pace and will cheer Cheyenne’s quick thinking and daring plans.

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

They Called Themselves the KKK: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.


Bartoletti has created an extremely well written book about a terrible subject. She is the author of many excellent nonfiction titles for young adults such as Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow and Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850 . Most of the information presented here about the KKK is historical, from its creation by six confederate officers in Tennessee in 1866 to the Ku Klux Klan trials in 1871 and up to Rutherford B. Hayes’ election and the Reconstruction’s end in 1877. The final chapter discusses more recent KKK activity and gives the terrifying statistic that in 2008 the Southern Poverty Law center counted 926 active hate groups in the U.S.

This is a difficult and infuriating book to read, but Bartoletti professionally addresses the Klan’s violence toward and abuse and murder of African American freed people after the Civil War. She begins by explaining the environment and attitudes in the South at the time and talks about the struggle that ensued after Lincoln was killed. Southerner Andrew Johnson became president and began Reconstruction when Congress was not in session, which caused hard feelings and further stress in the wounded country. The Klan began as an alleged social club for one group of men, and it developed into an organization with estimated tens of thousands of men who used any means to prevent freed people from voting, receiving schooling, worshipping in their own churches, farming or just living peacefully. The Klan also threatened, punished and murdered any white person who stood against the KKK or even aided freed people in any way.

Bartoletti’s text is accompanied by documents, photographs and archival drawings, such as photos of four of the KKK's creators, political cartoons by Thomas Nast and a ticket to Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial. Chapters frequently conclude with quotes and photos from the Slave Narratives of men and women recalling the terror of the Klan. Readers can reflect on 99 year old Gabe Hines’ first impression of the Klansmen in their costumes, 87 year old Susan Merritt’s memories of praying in secret so white people didn’t know, and more. A timeline from 1863 to Obama’s election in 2008 is included.