Fire in the Ashes – Jonathan Kozo

Genre: Adult, Nonfiction

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expessed here are my own.

Jonathan Kozol has written another book that looks at those who are less fortunate than many. He has followed the lives of many inner city children. He has shown us that society has in many ways hindered them, yet many of them have survived to go to college and find their way out of this hell that was created for them. As he exposed some of the areas and conditions that these children have had to live through, society moved them to areas that really were not much better and often put them in harm’s way even more. Kozol’s stories are heart-wrenching and often hopeful as we follow these lives and wonder how they managed to survive. A man like this does this from the goodness of his heart. He truly cares. You can feel this as you read the book. He doesn’t judge people. He just tells their stories.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Genre: Adult, Memoir

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The Opinions expressed here are my own.

Imagine you are a successful reporter in New York City and that you are only 24 when suddenly you know something is wrong. You are having several physical issues and mental issues and no one seems to be able to correctly tell you what is happening.  This is what happened to Susannah Cahalan.  She had an inflammation of her brain, yet was misdiagnosed many times. People start to believe with her symptoms that she has an alcohol problem, or is schizophrenic.  Her dad is the one person who stands behind her and believes there is something physically, not mentally wrong with her.  She finally finds a doctor who does one simple test and proves her condition is physical.  It is confirmed by another doctor and true treatment begins.  It is scary to find out there are so many auto-immune diseases out there that go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. How many people are institutionalized because of this type of situation?  Susannah was one of the lucky ones because she had such a strong support system and they were determined to find the cause.  This was both a scary and uplifting book as we find hope in doctors like hers.

Lug Blast From the North by David Zeltser

Genre: Middle Grade, Action, Adventure
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This second book was just as good as the first book, and a very quick read. I sat down and put it away in and hour.  Lug is awakened one morning by Crazy Crag who wants him to look at something. He pretends to be asleep. Crag wakes his whole family when he fails to wake Lug. Crag wants them to come see something. No one moves until Crag has left and they hear a loud booming noise. Lug and his friends Stony, Echo, and Wooly all climb the mountain to find Crag. What they see is a giant glacier moving really quickly their way.  On their way to find out what they can do to stop it, they find a boy under ice. They thaw him out. He tells them his name is Blast and he lives on the glacier. He tells them the glacier will soon crush their caves and he is offering them a place to stay with him.  A message is sent back to their village as they check out the glacier.

For some reason, Lug just doesn't trust Blast. He soon learns he as a good reason not to. Blast is up to no good and it is up to Lug to figure out a way to stop him and the glacier.  This book is sure to keep students on the edge of their seat flipping pages. I do hope there are more to come in this series.