May the 4th Be With You! — Star Wars Books

Hey! There’s a new Star Wars trailer out! Check it out, along with all the Star Wars books that you can find at the Prairie State College Library.

My favorite is Luke Skywalker can’t read : and other geeky truths.

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Star Wars : Dark empire trilogy
by Veitch, Tom
GN VEI

Six years after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, the battle for the galaxy’s freedom rages on. The Empire has been mysteriously reborn under an unknown leader, wielding a new weapon of great power. Princess Leia and Han Solo struggle to hold together the New Republic while the galaxy’s savior, Luke Skywalker, fights an inner battle as he is drawn to the dark side, just as his father…

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Star wars: aftermath
by Wendig, Chuck
FIC WEN

As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance–now a fledgling New Republic–presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.

Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world–war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close the enemy is–or how decisive and dangerous her new mission will be.

Determined to preserve the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a top-secret emergency summit–to consolidate their forces and rally for a counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies–her technical-genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial defector–who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s oppressive reign once and for all.

Check This Book Out! Our Black Year by Maggie Anderson

When a family from Oak Park sets out to make purchases from only Black-owned businesses for an entire year they learn just how far behind black business are compared to other racial and ethnic groups. In Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy, Maggie Anderson’s family discovers how hard it is to find successful Black entrepreneurs, even in Black neighborhoods. In the process of finding Black-owned grocery stores, dry cleaners, pharmacies, and more, Anderson delves into the obstacles preventing Black businesses from thriving and investigates ways to overcome them. Many Chicago-area neighborhoods and businessmen are mentioned, so it’s not only an interesting story, but one with a local connection.

Our Black Year and the books shown below can all be found on the NEW BOOKS DISPLAY at the Prairie State College Library.

The Sources are Strong with You: Understanding Scholarly Papers with Star Wars

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, you may have been asked by a teacher to research a topic and then write a paper. Not only that, you may have also noticed that they want you to use scholarly (or peer-reviewed or academic) sources. So that begs the question … What is a scholarly resource and how do you know if you are looking at one? To answer that question, let’s look at some examples of the differences between scholarly sources and popular sources through the example of Star Wars (for more information on scholarly sources checkout my previous entry 5 Ways to Tell If an article Is Scholarly (or Peer-reviewed … or Academic or this informative video from Vanderbilt University).

Staff Pick: Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy by Tom Veitch

Are you like me and have always wondered what happened to the Galaxy after the death of Emperor? Did the whole Imperial Empire throw a big bonfire, like the ewoks? Surely all of the Emperor’s soldiers and admirals, didn’t just give up because their leaders were gone? And what about the rebels … did they set up the republic again, and just have every planet come into the fold?

If you are one of these people, then you should give Tom Veitch’s, Dark Empire Trilogy, a try. Set in the aftermath of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and spinning out of the events set up in Timothy Zahn’s, Heir to the Empire Trilogy, Veitch’s DET tells the story of the return of Palpatine, the seduction of Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force, and the fate of the New Republic. And since  George Lucas will never make Episodes VII-IX, this book can fill in, in its place.

Check This Book Out! Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido

Check out the NEW BOOKS DISPLAY for some items recently added to our collection. Featured this month is the Award-Winning International Best Seller, Blacksad, by Spanish creators Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. In this unique and ground-breaking book, Canales and Guarnido tell three stories of love, revenge, crime, betrayal, alienation, race relations, and scientific rivalaries from the perspective of anthropomorphic cat detective, John Blacksad.

Following the long standing tradition of using animals as characters in comics (R. Crumb), Canales’ adds a new level of storytelling by having a four-footed cast, not as a means to create cute and cuddly book, but rather as device to look into the nature and personality of humans, both individually and in groups (similar to the Orwell’s Animal Farm). Likewise, Guardino’s art, is perfect blend of traditional European comics (Jaques Tardi) and American Noir films of the 1950, which put together creates a muted and shadowed urban enviroment riddled with mystery, violence, and crime.