Free love, birth control, test tube baby factories, cloning, mutants, and sex, sex, sex. There are good reasons to have your mature students read this book, but you must do YOUR homework and read it first.

Huxley, writing during the giddy early days of the eugenics movement, has written a remarkable novel. His story portrays that movement's ideas taken to their logical consequences. There is a complete disconnect between sex and procreation. Sex is STRICTLY for pleasure (not even for unity). Babies are 'decanted' in factories by impressive scientific processes.

His story speaks on many levels. His brilliance is in deducing the way in which men could rationalize what unfolds before the reader as a revolting world pretty much at peace with its incredibly selfish self.

Huxley has developed what could be our future. He has taken more than a little thought to account for the sustainability of this world. As in our own world, there are occupations which require more and less intellectual acuity. By decanting babies of different intellectual ability AND training them differently everyone should be happy in their station. Some embryos are given all the benefits during development and become "alphas". Some are given less than perfect treatment and become "betas"... And some, by selective poisoning and light deprevation etc. become epsilons (semi-morons, but therefore happy in their lowly functions in society).

Everyone enjoys sex, so everyone is conditioned from day one to be 'free-lovers'. And since babies are decanted no one has to carry or care for offspring (the words "mother" and "father" have become foul language!).

This is clearly the natural consequences of a society which wants to divorce sex from procreation. Thirty years after Huxley wrote the book mainstream society was just picking up on the theme. This selfishness steamrolled into abortion. In Huxley's world this is no longer necessary (usually). But for those who are not sterilized at birth (some fresh eggs are needed to keep the factories going) contraceptives (and strong conditioning to use them faithfully) are provided.

This brave new world has even done away with money. In fact, there is a much more direct transaction on payday – as the workers leave their place of employment on Friday they are given their payment/ration of soma – the perfect drug with no hangover or anything!!! Huxley nails it again. Such a selfish society needs an escape – it is drugs. Did he see the 60's coming or what? And is he right about where we are headed?

But not everyone is happy. There is an "odd" fellow in the book. He just doesn't feel satisfied even with every thing one could lust for (an alpha of course). Huxley's world even has a place for him. He gets exiled with all the other misfits to Greenland.

There is more and more and more in this book. It doesn't preach about the evils of contraception, of free-love, of drugs etc. It simply displays them and their consequences without remorse. In doing so, even in the best of circumstances, their evils are laid bare. And in this way the book is both thought-provoking and good for discussions. But there is more. Huxley has wrapped many layers into this book. The story is sickeningly believable on it's surface. But he has put in symbolism and allusions to many more things that I cannot even begin to tell here. See this article from Envoy Magazine for examples. Or consider how peace is obtained by making men LESS than full men.

One more note. To return to the admonition that you read this book before your child; there is a lot of sex in this book. That can be difficult for any teenager. However, when the student is prepared to look seriously and critically at the messages in the book this should not be a problem. Huxley does not aim to arouse but to inform.

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Bright Candles is a fictional book about a 16 year old Danish resistance worker in World War II. This book shows the trauma of living in occupied Denmark through the eyes of a teenaged boy. As you read this, you will find out about the courage and bravery of the resistance, and how the Danes fought to help keep their country free. My mom and I both read this book and really liked it (so it has a teenager and an adult 'seal of approval'). The only part I didn't like was the fact that there is some mild swearing in it. Apart from that, Bright Candles is an excellent story that most teens 13 and up should like.

Tom was an ordinary boy who loved being outdoors and drawing whatever he saw. Although Tom found school distasteful, his teacher, Sister Aquinas, saw artistic talent in him and encouraged him and lent him books on religious art. He discovered that his favorite artist was Fra Angelico. He attended a high school seminary and discovered that he wanted to be a monk. There he becomes Brother Joseph and finds that his artistic talents are put to good use. "He knows that he is busy about the right things, happy that as an artist he is able to give so much joy and peace to others with his icons."

This is a nice story about art, vocation and using one's talents for God and others. My children especially enjoyed the charming verses that run through the monk's head - "My brush will up and downward go, I'll paint like Fra Angelico!"

This set of five DVDs by artist/architect David Macaulay provides many hours of insightful entertainment and a great introduction to science and technology on a practical level. Each themed film - Bridges, Skyscrapers, Tunnels, Domes and Dams - provides an in-depth historical treatment of the particular structure, interesting stories and overviews from famous structures, and basic scientific principles involved in each project.

The set features lots of great location shoots with David Macaulay narrating interesting stories and pointing out details of each site.

To give you an idea, "Tunnels" covers aqueducts and water-carrying tunnels of Ancient Rome, early canal and train tunnels of the 19th century (particularly in England and the U.S.), archaic and modern methods of tunnel digging (particularly under rivers), issues involving tunnel safety (both during the project and during use afterwards) with a special emphasis (in all areas) on the building of the Channel Tunnel in the 1990s between England and France. Each video also includes a "Building Small" segment and pamphlet so that families can tackle simple science projects at home that demonstrate principles of architecture.

Our family has really enjoyed these movies - from the four year old all the way up to Mom and Dad. The material is substantial, but easy to understand (particularly with the excellent use of computer graphics and artistic sketches).

I would recommend parental supervision with young children, at least for the first viewing. There are a few things that might be scary for little ones, such as a spooky introduction to the Tunnel show and some photos from an airplane crash in to the Empire State Building that might be a little disturbing. There are also some points in other movies that would be worthy of discussion, such as the environmental issues that come up in the Dams movie. Those are all the "sticky" parts I can remember at this point. I am hoping to view them again soon and will add to this list as needed. Overall, I consider the series to be very worthwhile and enjoyable.