Book of the Week (February 27, 2008)

How to Talk about Hot Topics on Campus

by Robert J. Nash

Call Number: LC 72.2 .N37 2008

Publisher's Description: How to Talk About Hot Topics on Campus fills a gap in the student services and teaching and learning literature by providing a resource that shows how to construct and carry out difficult conversations from various vantage points in the academy. It offers a theory-to-practice model of conversation for the entire college campus that will enable all constituencies to engage in productive and civil dialogue on the most difficult and controversial social, religious, political, and cultural topics.

About the Authors: Robert J. Nash is a professor in the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont. He has published eight books, as well as more than one hundred articles, book chapters, monographs, and book reviews in many of the leading journals in education at all levels. He is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Religion & Education.

DeMethra LaSha Bradley is an assistant director for academic integrity in the Center for Student Ethics and Standards at the University of Vermont (UVM). She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program at UVM. She is the co-author of several book chapters and has made various presentations at national conferences and universities across the United States.

Arthur W. Chickering is Special Assistant to the President of Goddard College in Vermont. He is the author of several Jossey-Bass books, including Education and Identity and Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education.

Book(s) of the Week (February 18, 2008)

Visit the IMC on the 3rd floor of the Library to check out the winners of the 2008 American Library Association's children's book awards. The Caldecott Medal is presented to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. The Newbery Medal is presented to the author of the most distinguised contribution to American literature for children.

2008 Caldecott Medal Winner:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

IMC Call Number: PZ 7 .S4654 Inv 2007

From the American Library Association: From an opening shot of the full moon setting over an awakening Paris in 1931, this tale casts a new light on the picture book form. Hugo is a young orphan secretly living in the walls of a train station where he labors to complete a mysterious invention left by his father. In a work of more than 500 pages, the suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads narrate the tale in turns. Neither words nor pictures alone tell this story, which is filled with cinematic intrigue. Black & white pencil illustrations evoke the flickering images of the silent films to which the book pays homage.

2008 Newbery Medal Winner:

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz

IMC Call Number: PS 3619 .C43 C55 2007

From the American Library Association: In “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village,” thirteenth-century England springs to life using 21 dramatic individual narratives that introduce young inhabitants of village and manor; from Hugo, the lord's nephew, to Nelly, the sniggler. Schlitz's elegant monologues and dialogues draw back the curtain on the period, revealing character and relationships, hinting at stories untold. Explanatory interludes add information and round out this historical and theatrical presentation.“Schlitz adds a new dimension to books for young readers - performance,” said Newbery Committee Chair Nina Lindsay. “Varied poetic forms and styles offer humor, pathos and true insight into the human condition. Each entry is superb in itself, and together the pieces create a pageant that transports readers to a different time and place.”

Book of the Week (January 28, 2008)

On the New Book Shelf

Call Number: TD 223 .P73 2007

From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers

By Chad Pregracke

Publisher's Book Description: Chad Pregracke was a high school student when he first glimpsed the trash that littered the bottom of the Mississippi, a shocking sight that launched him on a quest to clean up the river. After four discouraging years seeking government help without success, he decided to take his fund-raising private—and a corporate sponsor decided to take a chance on this naive but unshakably determined young man.Ten years later Chad's one-man project has grown into a $500,000 operation with more than 60 sponsors (including National Geographic). His work has been featured on national news and won numerous honors and accolades, but its grassroots, can-do spirit still thrives aboard the 135-foot barge that serves as home base for his organization, a floating environmental classroom, and an inspiration to people of all ages.

This is the story of his personal triumph as an advocate for America's rivers. Chad measures success in tons of garbage removed and thousands of people with a new stake in—and a new understanding of—the river environment. But From the Bottom Up is much more as well: a first-person chronicle of Chad's own life along the Mississippi featuring colorful characters, a near-death experience, a haunted swamp, and other flourishes worthy of a modern Mark Twain; and a fascinating portrait of the river itself which explores everything from the natural history of mussels and catfish to Indian lore to the key role of the Mississippi in our country's history.

Book of the Week (January 14, 2008)

On the New Book Shelf

Call Number: E 840.8 .O225 A3 2007

Raising Hell for Justice: The Washington Battles of a Heartland Progressive

By David R. Obey

The autobiography of Central Wisconsin's own Dave Obey, published in 2007 by the University of Wisconsin Press.

"Dave Obey's story reminds us that in a city of quicksand it is still possible to stand on principle as a servant of your ideals and the public."—Bill Moyers, author of Moyers on America

"Raising Hell for Justice is a powerful and enlightening political memoir by one of America's all-time great legislators. Obey is one of a vanishing breed in Congress whose entire career in public life has been committed to both advancing a principled agenda and working constructively with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to hammer out agreements that advance that agenda. Obey burns with a passion sparked by his childhood experience growing up in an economically vulnerable working class family and channeled into politics and policy-making by his embrace of Catholic social justice and La Follette progressivism. His compelling memoir demonstrates how ennobling and satisfying a career in the first branch of government can be."–Thomas E. Mann, W. Averell Harriman Chair and senior fellow in governance studies, Brookings Institution

Obey looks back on his journey in politics beginning with his early years in the Wisconsin Legislature, when Wisconsin moved through eras of shifting balance between Republicans and Democrats. On a national level Obey traces, as few others have done, the dramatic changes in the workings of the U.S. Congress since his first election to the House in 1969. He discusses his own central role in the evolution of Congress and ethics reforms and his view of the recent Bush presidency–crucial chapters in our democracy, of interest to all who observe politics and modern U.S. history.

David R. Obey (D-Wausau) is the longest-serving member of the U.S. Congress in Wisconsin history and is the current chair of the House Appropriations Committee. In the 1980s and early 1990s, he chaired the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, which funded America's economic and political response to the collapse of the Soviet Union.