Page 20 - Ohio Family Magazine Aug13

Shen’s original tale of what happens
when competition leads to disaster, and
unconventional teamwork is borne out
of necessity. Also, there are robots, did
we mention there are robots? (Ages
13-18)

A BEE IN A CATHEDRAL: AND
99 OTHER SCIENTIFIC ANAL-
OGIES (By Joel Levy, Firefly Books,
Buffalo, 2011) For many, the most
FOILED (written by Jane Yolen, Illustrated by Mike Cavallaro,
First Second Books, New York, 2010) amazing thing about science is also
Who says that fairy tales have to end when the main barrier toward learning
you’re in high school? Dashing heroines, no- more about it. There’s so much, where do you start? This
ble queens and charming princes come in all book, in seven sections, covers 100 different scientific truths in a
varieties. In Yolen’s modern fairy tale, our layman’s term format, breaking down laws, rules and conversions
heroine just doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. into easily digested analogies. The title of the book comes from the
Aliera Carstairs doesn’t have the attitude to fit idea that if you enlarged an atom to the size of a cathedral, the nucle-
with one group, the grades to fit with another, us would be no larger than a bee buzzing around the middle. From
and her chosen sport, fencing, doesn’t seem entropy and thermodynamics, to the Dop-
to translate well to her high school’s athletic pler Effect and red/blue shifting, and on
crowd. Her evenings are spent at fencing prac- to surface tension and plate tectonics, this
tices, and her weekends spent with a regularly volume covers a broad range of scientific
scheduled role-playing game with her young- topics in a very accessible way. Each anal-
er cousin, Caroline. ogy has a page or two dedicated to the spe-
But a strange turn of events, including a new foil from one of her cific point of interest, and while few of the
mother’s many thrift-store excursions and a new boy in school being sections cover a topic exhaustively, it does
assigned as her biology lab partner send her life from full-time fencer one thing that science textbooks often fail
to something fantastic. There’s even a frog involved. Will she con- at. It makes it fun. (Ages 13 and up)
tinue to work toward nationals? Will she have a decent date with the
new charming prince? Can she keep her promises to her cousin? She This month’s Book Bites was written by Jonathan Harris who would like
might, if she can just remember to protect her heart. (Ages 13-16) to dedicate these reviews to the teen group at North Canton Public Library.
Believe it or not, he’s going to miss you all.
ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF
THE UNIVERSE (by Benjamin Alire Saenz,
Simon and Schuster, New York, 2012) There are
different rules for summer. Aristotle Mendoza
(Ari, as he’d prefer) feels he’s constantly living
out someone else’s plans for him. Growing up
in a family with everyone fighting their own
private battles, two distant older sisters and an
incarcerated brother that everyone is afraid to
talk about, he naturally wants to find his own
independence. Unfortunately, he has no idea
how. One morning, he decides to go swim-
ming at the local pool, a small idea, but at
least it was his. That was the morning Dante
Quintana offered to teach him how to swim.
There’s something about a first friendship, especially an
unlikely one that draws you into a YA novel. Where Ari is quiet and
private, “Dante’s face was a book that the whole world could read.”
But they manage to build a friendship that endures through accidents,
time spent away over a school year, and the worry of growing apart.
In the end, maybe they don’t manage to find out all the secrets of the
universe, but through each other, they discover who they really are.
(Ages 14 and up)

NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG (Written by Pru-
dence Shen, Illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks, First Second Books,
New York, 2013) There’s a battle over funding in the school. The Sci-
ence Club needs $1,500 to get to the National Robotics Competition,
and the Cheerleading Squad needs $4,000 to get new uniforms. And
because both teams can’t get what they want, there’s now a campaign
between the teams to make the student council rule for their group,
with one poor soul caught in the middle. Faith Erin Hicks adds de-
lightful illustration vaguely reminiscent of Scott Pilgrim to Prudence
20 OFM • August 2013 www.ohiofamilymagazine.com