Rushmore presents a comedic slice of the life of protagonist Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) as he learns to leave the world of private school behind and stand on his own two feet. At Rushmore, Fischer is the king of the extracurricular activity. Among his many commitments, he is Debate Team Captain, Lacrosse Team Manager, Calligraphy Club President and Astronomy Society Founder. Because Rushmore benefits from his organizational skills, Max is tolerated, but no one at school particularly likes him. More significantly, with all his time spent on clubs and societies, Fischer is not what you could call an academic success.

In spite of these difficulties, Fischer forges a friendship with local businessman Herman Blume (Bill Murray), who sees some potential in Max’s drive. Blume becomes Max’s friend, mentor, and ultimately competitor for the affections of elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). Cross is a likely candidate for Max’s first serious crush. She’s beautiful, sophisticated, educated, and compassionate. Of course, he falls in love. Complications arise when Max introduces Miss Cross to Blume, and finds that he may have sabotaged his own (non-existent) prospects for a relationship. To cope and keep hold of what is important to him, he must come to grips with reality outside the ivy-covered walls of Rushmore.

Director Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson blend the real and the surreal seamlessly, creating a movie that is both ridiculously exaggerated and completely universal. You’ll laugh as soon as you see Fischer’s yearbook, and the war between Blume and Fischer over Miss Cross is a comedy highlight. Settle in for a good laugh, and watch Rushmore today!

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Howard County Library announces a new initiative, Pass the Book. During Teen Read Week 2009, the Library will distribute copies of  The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld to teen readers throughout the community.

The Secret Hour follows Jessica Day as she arrives in Bixby, Oklahoma, only to discover she’s at the center of a strange convergence of mystical energy. Sharing "the secret hour" between midnight and 12:01 with four of her classmates, Day finds herself on the front lines of a battle for the future of humanity; primeval "slithers" and "darklings" are using the secret hour to find their way back into our reality, intent on reclaiming the planet. The Midnighters must harness the unique properties of the secret hour to fight back using their own special abilities.

The Secret Hour is a great book to share, and with Pass the Book you’ll have the chance to introduce this title to readers in Howard County and beyond. Teens receiving a specially labeled copy of The Secret Hour are encouraged to read the book, track the book (by registering their copy at hclibrary.org/passthebook) and pass the book to another teen reader. Readers can return to the web site to see where their books have traveled. Throughout the year they will have the opportunity to participate in online discussions and challenges based on events in the novel. A display in each branch features read-a-like titles and the other books in the Midnighters series — Touching Darkness and Blue Noon. A number of Midnighter-themed events are also planned in connection with this initiative, including Midnighter Lore at Central Library, Slither Repellant at Elkridge Branch, and Triskaidekamania at Savage Branch.

Copies of The Secret Hour will be available on Monday, October 19. Join us online and in-person throughout the year for quizzes, reviews, and Midnighter-themed events as we pass this exceptional teen adventure around Howard County and beyond.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s The Revolution is a political manifesto for a return to small government, personal responsibility, and individual economic ingenuity.

While I sympathize with Paul’s politics, I held off on reading this book for a long time because of the title.  To me it sounded arrogant.  Why couldn’t he just say ‘A Revolution’ instead of implying that there was only one revolution worth working toward?  After reading it though, I was struck by Paul’s heartfelt concern for the future of the United States, but more importantly, for the future of United States citizens.

First, Congressman Paul asks us to consider whether or not we have been presented with a false choice of legitimate political parties.  Aren’t the Democratic and Republican parties worlds apart on every conceivable issue?  Paul would have us believe that they are not.  His objection is that both parties operate under the same false assumptions when it comes to understanding the Constitution.  Against this backdrop, Paul begins to present his own system of political thought.

This is a short read, clocking in at 208 pages, cover to cover.  In it, Paul deftly tackles such pressing topics as foreign policy, interpretation of the Constitution, economic freedom, personal freedom, and money (i.e., how the United States monetary system has shifted from a gold standard to a Federal Reserve system).  Even if you ultimately disagree with him, Paul’s words exist to challenge some of the most fundamental assumptions of modern American politics. And isn’t exploring opposing viewpoints intellectually honorable?  If you want a great introduction to Libertarianism, I would highly recommend starting here!

Dan Curry – Savage Branch

Luke Dempsey’s A Supremely Bad Idea, the tale of “three mad birders and their quest to see it all,” is a grabber, a book with a first paragraph that completely drags you in to the writer’s world. Dempsey’s discussion of train-spotting and morris dancing establishes a framework for his introduction of bird watching. From there we’re on a slippery slope towards a fun read, particularly once we meet Dempsey’s bird-crazy traveling companions, Don and Donna Graffiti.

Throughout the book Dempsey emphasizes the generosity and extraordinary knowledge of his fellow birders. Whether from Robin Diaz in Florida; Ted Ollinger in Gig Harbor, Washington; or Barbara Kennett on South Padre Island in Texas, Dempsey and the Graffitis are the repeated beneficiaries of kindness and hospitality, based only on a shared interest and set of specialist knowledge. In many cases Dempsey sees or hears the bird he seeks because of the support provided by these local heroes. His community encounters contrast with several unfulfilling “strip mall” events that the trio experience in generic Anytown, U.S.A.

Dempsey’s book articulates an environmental agenda in a new and different way. His argument, while less scientific and more aesthetic, has no lesser impact. It is hard to disagree as he explains the migration and nesting patterns of the rare birds that he seeks, and points out that it would only take a minor change in habitat, feeding patterns, or temperature to permanently affect the behavior of these particular birds. As an example, Dempsey explains the migration patterns of the Cerulean Warbler, a bird whose habitat in western South America has been drastically reduced by deforestation for coffee cultivation.

The Warbler is not the only bird explored in depth. Dempsey’s detailed explanation of birds’ behavior makes it clear that with a little effort, a good birding guide, and perhaps a recording of the song, we, too, could have an encounter with a “life bird.” Employing wit, sparkle, and a clear affection for his subject, Luke Dempsey’s A Supremely Bad Idea encourages us to seek out nature that is happening all around us.

February and March are National Bird Feeding Months. Why not stock a feeder in your backyard, pull out the birding guide and binoculars, and see which of Luke Dempsey’s friends show up for dinner?

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

William Least Heat-Moon

Blue Highways is a wonderful narrative of William Least Heat-Moon’s journey of discovery across the United States in the late 1970s. Responding to “thoughts that come in the night,” Heat-Moon reacts to the loss of his job and the breakup of his marriage by traveling around the country in an old van named “Ghost Dancing.” Staying off the interstates, riding the blue highways and taking the time to get to know people in the communities through which he passed, Heat-Moon produced a lasting masterpiece of American travel writing that holds up thirty years later.

What makes this a truly exceptional read is the author’s focus on the people that he meets, each of whom has unique local knowledge and perspective. Heat-Moon lets them speak for themselves, and allows them to lead his journey with their marvelous stories.

Heat-Moon’s first book established the trajectory of his career. Blue Highways was followed by PrairyErth, in which the author traveled Chase County, Kansas on foot, producing a “deep map” and getting close to both the people and the land. Heat-Moon then crossed the country once more, but this time by boat, in River Horse. This past October, Heat-Moon made a welcome return to the back roads in Roads to Quoz.

Check out Blue Highways as an excellent introduction to this wonderful author and to the backroads of the United States. You won’t regret it.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Lisa See, best known for her novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, started out as a non-fiction author, telling the story of her own family in the magnificent On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Thanks to family stories and government records, See has a remarkable knowledge of her family and is able to comprehensively recreate the lives of her ancestors as far back as her great-great-grandfather. See’s family story is dynamic, vital and engaging. While many of our ancestors were working the same piece of land or living in the same town from generation to generation, See’s ancestors were building a series of successful businesses in California, traveling to visit relatives in China, and striving to build a foundation for future generations on “gold mountain.”

See begins her narrative with her great-great-grandfather Fong Dun Shun, an herbalist supporting the Chinese laborers working to construct the trans-continental railroad, and continues with the story of her great-grandfather, Fong See, and his arrival in the United States. Fong See established himself as a businessman in Sacramento, whose factory making undergarments for prostitutes was gradually transformed into a large import business bringing antiques and furnishings from China. The main instigator of this transformation was See’s great-grandmother, Letticie Pruett, a white woman born in Oregon in 1876, who set out for California on her own, and met Fong See while she was looking for work.

We spend a great deal of time with the children of Ticie and Fong See, the author’s great grandparents and great-great aunts and uncles. The “one hundred year odyssey” referred to in the subtitle is really that of Milton, Ray, Eddie, Benny and Sissee’s generation. These are the people who the reader follows from childhood to old age, through World War II, through the economic conditions of the mid-to-late twentieth century, and through the family negotiations around separations, business disagreements and accommodations with their father’s other family in China.

Although this is a family history, it is also a detailed social history of California and of the broader U.S. in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Working on these multiple levels, On Gold Mountain is an outstanding, rewarding and uniquely constructed work of non-fiction, notable both because See knows so much about her family, and because their experiences were so extraordinary.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch