Last month, PBS aired the newest film by distinguished documentarian Ken Burns, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. This month—we’ve got it! So if Chicago’s cold weather is keeping you indoors, pretend it’s summer and take a cinematic vacation through America’s National Parks.

It's almost been a year since then-Governor Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges. And if you live anywhere near Chicago, you probably heard about the scandal—a lot. Well, if you just can't get enough of Blago, now you can read his side of the story in his recently published book, The Governor.

Not into parks? Tired or politics? Maybe unicorns are more your thing. And why not? Unicorns have captivated human imagination for over two thousand years. In his new book, The Natural History of Unicorns, Chris Lavers traces the origins and evolution of unicorn mythology as a means to further explore humanity’s changes over time.    

To see if any of our other new books sound good, look for the New Titles link in the catalog or check out the displays at the Lincoln Park or Loop Libraries. 

It’s officially fall—if you listen carefully, you might be able to hear the post-summer whimpering of kids consigned to classrooms again. At one high school in New York, however, that also means creating comic books about their lives. In Manga High: Literacy, Identity, and Coming of Age in an Urban High School, Michael Bitz “explores the convergence of literacy, creativity, social development, and personal identity” and includes students’ original art and writing from his four-year study.

While hooking teens on writing via comics makes sense, something tells me that math might be a harder sell. Jo Boaler, a professor of mathematics education at Stanford University, sees this as a crisis. After following student progress and observing successful strategies, she articulates a new course of action in What’s Math Got to Do with It?: Helping Children Learn to Love Their Least Favorite Subject—and Why It’s Important for America.

Moving on to my own most favorite subject, Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways tells of Moses Asch’s lifelong quest to document “folk expression” in all its forms—folk, bluegrass, country, jazz, blues, and sound recordings that included tree frogs, the poetry of Langston Hughes, train locomotives, and civil rights sit-ins. His label’s amazing treasures became part of the Smithsonian collection after his death (and are available in our Smithsonian Global Sound database).

To see if any of our other new books sound good, look for the New Titles link in the catalog or check out the displays at the Lincoln Park or Loop Libraries.

Are you a politically engaged and civically active person? Were you excited about last year’s election? Are you tired of your peers being referred to as the “apathetic generation?” Chances are you’re not alone. In The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation is Reshaping American Politics, Russell Dalton dismisses the cynics who claim that American youth have no sense of civic duty and argues instead that younger generations are transforming the very notion of citizenship and reinvigorating democratic participation. (Lincoln Park Library: 324.0835 D1527g)

Not sure what to do after graduation? Have you ever considered the Peace Corps? The Insider’s Guide to the Peace Corps contains the most recent information and resources on Peace Corps programs as well as firsthand advice from recent volunteers. (Lincoln Park Career Information Collection 361.6 B2153I)

Have too many books on your summer reading list already? There’s always time for a good flick! Sit back, relax and enjoy HBO’s critically acclaimed John Adams. Based on David McCullough's bestselling biography, this 7-part miniseries offers an intimate look at the second president of the United States. If you enjoy American history you will not want to miss Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams. (Lincoln Park Library: DVD 791.4372 J65h2008)

If you're interested in other new titles, check out the New Titles link in the catalog or the displays at the Lincoln Park or Loop Libraries.

As the academic year winds down, you might be looking forward to getting back to your recreational reading list; or maybe you’ve been looking for a few good books to take along on summer travels. If summer reading is on your agenda, you'll find plenty of fiction on the shelves at DePaul Libraries to keep you busy!

Like many university libraries, DePaul doesn't have a separate fiction section, and you're not likely to find pop fiction like the Harry Potter or Twilight series. But you will find new books by contemporary literary writers such as Louise Erdrich, T.C. Boyle, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Michael Chabon and Joyce Carol Oates. DePaul also has a great selection of contemporary international fiction; a few recent favorites include After Dark by Haruki Murakami, Confessions of Noa Weber by Gayil Har'even and Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan. And, of course, summer is a great time to revisit literary classics like The Grapes of Wrath, Pride and Prejudice or Invisible Man.

All fiction is listed in the library catalog; here's a quick, although certainly not comprehensive, way to search: use the Advanced Search screen of the library catalog to search for "fiction" as a Subject Word (“short stories” also works). You'll get a lot of results, but they'll be sorted by date making it easier to browse for recent fiction. The Lincoln Park campus library's new books display on the first floor also features new fiction, poetry, and non-fiction.

And if DePaul doesn't have the books on your summer reading list, don't forget to check the I-share catalog to place a request for another library to send the book to DePaul for pickup. The Chicago Public Libraries, or your local public library, are also great places to find recreational reading.

Happy reading this summer!

We'd like to highlight just a few of the hundreds of new books that the library acquires each month. And why not start with controversy? Another country's, that is. Chantal Bouchard, a linguist at McGill University, tackles the loaded question of "Parisian French" versus so-called "French-Canadian patois" and the issues that have accompanied it for almost two centuries in Obsessed with Language: A Sociolinguistic History of Quebec (LPC 447.9714 B7524O).

Not ready to head that far north? How about Wisconsin? Chicago-Lake Geneva: A 100 Year Road Trip (LPC 917 C5329) retraces the route of a 1905 "photographic automobile map" complete with period advertisements and hand-drawn directional arrows. Thanks to the Chicago Map Society and the Newberry Library, we can see the original photographs paired with contemporary photos of the same spot; thanks to modern speed limits, it won't take you the recommended six hours to arrive.

Road trips mean summer, and summer means baseball—but not for everyone. In Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don’t Play Baseball (LPC 796.357082 R5812S), University of Nevada-Reno professor of political science Jennifer Ring explores the intersection of gender, colonialism, and big business in our national pastime.

If you want to take a swing at any of our new books, look for the New Titles link in the catalog or check out the displays at the Lincoln Park or Loop Libraries.