Sherpa guides depend on yaks when they lead climbers into the Hima layas. Knowing that his father and brother were leading an expedition that morning, Kami was surprised to find them searching for their yaks. Even though he could not hear the sound—Kami was deaf—he knew Curly Horn always responded when he blew his whistle. This story of a fictionalized Nepalese Sherpa family and their young son’s courage in the face of a sudden mountain storm provides readers with a window into a culture most people never encounter. Dodson’s watercolor illustrations are evocative of the frigid Himalayan landscape and isolation. 2008 Schneider Family Book Award (Young Children). lmp

Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in this baseball drama co-written by 'The Social Network' screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Based on real events in 2002, the film follows the unconventional tactics employed by Billy Beane, general manager of the cash-strapped Oakland Athletics baseball team, to rebuild his team after losing a few key players to the Major League. Beane enlists the services of Yale economics graduate Peter Brand (Hill) to devise an unorthodox player selection system based on a sophisticated statistical analysis of each player's skills. As Billy and Peter start to build their team based on computer-generated data rather than the traditional scouting methods, they meet with resistance from old hands such as team manager Art Howe (Hoffman). But when the club begins a winning streak with its roster of inexpensive 'wild card' players, the naysayers are forced to admit that the scheme appears to be working.