Week 8

Assignment 3

The four genres I decided to choose were memoir (Dewey number- Bio), history (Dewey number- 900-999), medical (Dewey number- 610-619), and contemporary social issues (Dewey number- 300-399). Out of these categories, I chose the following four books to recommend to customers:

Memoir

The Glass Castle (Bio Walls)

History

Leap Into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe (940.5318 B) 

 

Medical

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (616.027 S)

 

Contemporary Social Issues

Behind the Beautiful Forevers (305.569 B) 



Assignment 4

Leap Into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe by Leo Bretholtz is about teenage Bretholtz's multiple escapes from the Nazis during the Holocaust. This book has a fast-paced plot and is suspenseful despite already knowing that the author survives. I classified this book as history, since Bretholtz includes numerous facts about WWII throughout his book and BCPL's call number for it is 940.5318 B. However, I would also classify it under other narrative non-fiction genres, including memoir, adventure, travel (Bretholtz recounts his travels through Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Switzerland), overcoming adversity, and disaster/survival. Therefore, this one title can appeal to many different readers. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. A final appeal factor of this book lies in its author, who currently lives in Baltimore, MD, and travels around to high schools in the area speaking to students (I got to meet him during one of my college classes). He is truly a humble, loving man, which is conveyed in his writing, despite all the horrors that have happened to him.


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a compelling story about an African-American woman whose contribution to science changed the medical world as we know it today. Scientists, after taking some cancerous tumor cells from her in 1951 without her or her family knowing, learn that her cells (HeLa cells) are the only ones that can be reproduced millions of times without dying (they are essentially "immortal"). She died soon after scientists discovered this, but her cells have lived on to help in the creation of the polio vaccination and to aid in AIDS, cancer, and gene mapping research (they have even been to space!). What is appealing about this book is that it does not focus solely on the scientific aspect of Henrietta's story, but also includes the impact that these cells have had on her family, who did not learn about these cells until recently and have thus not benefited from any of the profits made by those who have been selling her cell line over the years (this is particularly heart-wrenching when you find out that most of her family members were so poor that they could not even afford health insurance). This book would be appealing to people who like an intriguing read where they can become wrapped up in a story of family while also learning about science. Fortunately, the scientific concepts are described in layman's terms to be understood by everyone. Like Leap into Darkness, this book would be appealing to BCPLers because of its focus on the Baltimore area (specifically Johns Hopkins Hospital). Many of the Lacks's family members travel around the area to participate in talks about the book (I have been fortunate enough to meet Lacks's son, nephew, and granddaughters).