And I continue to struggle with brunch…

I’m trying use the npm version of adminlte bootstrap template. I have the css finally working, but now I’m trying to get the JS working. I’m seeing the following JS console error in my browser:

jquery.js:3850 jQuery.Deferred exception: $(...).DataTable is not a function TypeError: $(...).DataTable is not a function
    at HTMLDocument.<anonymous> (http://localhost:4000/admin/countries:3:28)
    at mightThrow (http://localhost:4000/js/app.js:3743:29)
    at process (http://localhost:4000/js/app.js:3811:12) undefined
jQuery.Deferred.exceptionHook @ jquery.js:3850
process @ jquery.js:3646
getDocumentSelection.js:51 Trying to get configured shortcut
getDocumentSelection.js:47 (2) ["Init Response", undefined]
jquery.js:3859 Uncaught TypeError: $(...).DataTable is not a function
    at HTMLDocument.<anonymous> (countries:3)
    at mightThrow (jquery.js:3574)
    at process (jquery.js:3642)
(anonymous) @ countries:3
mightThrow @ jquery.js:3574
process @ jquery.js:3642

Here is my brunch-config.js file:

exports.config = {
  // See http://brunch.io/#documentation for docs.
  files: {
    javascripts: {
      joinTo: {
        "js/app.js": /^(web\/static\/js)|(node_modules)/,
        // "js/vendor.js": /^(web\/static\/vendor\/js)/
      },
      order: {
        before: [
        ]
      }
    },
    stylesheets: {
      joinTo: "css/app.css"
    },
    templates: {
      joinTo: "js/app.js"
    }
  },

  conventions: {
    assets: /^(web\/static\/assets)/
  },

  // Phoenix paths configuration
  paths: {
    // Dependencies and current project directories to watch
    watched: [
      "web/static",
      "test/static"
    ],
    // Where to compile files to
    public: "priv/static"
  },
  // Configure your plugins
  plugins: {
    babel: {
      // Do not use ES6 compiler in vendor code
      ignore: [/web\/static\/vendor/]
    }
  },
  modules: {
    autoRequire: {
      "js/app.js": ["web/static/js/app"]
    }
  },

  npm: {
    styles: { "admin-lte": [
      "bootstrap/bootstrap.css",
      "bootstrap/bootstrap-theme.css",
      "dist/css/AdminLTE.css", 
      "dist/css/skins/_all-skins.css",
      ] },
    enabled: true,
    globals: {
      $: 'jquery',
      JQuery: 'jquery'
    }
  }
};

and here is my web/static/js/app.js file:

import "phoenix_html"

require('jquery')
require('admin-lte')

Questions:

1. How to I resolve the jQuery error?
2. How do I include some of the plugins from the admin-lte package?
3. Any suggestions on how I really learn brunch. I’m tired of the struggle I face everytime I try to do sometihng, especially with npm packages.