Featuring 318 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen
KIRKUS VOL. LXXXII, NO.
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REVIEWS
Flight of the Mind by Marcus C. Thomas An artist overcomes the odds to tell his own story. p. 130
FICTION
Can't and Won't by Lydia Davis Unique short stories that are always fresh and often funny p. 6
on the cover Spies like us: After his breakout debut, The Ex-Pats, Chris Pavone returns with The Accident, another thriller about ordinary lives thrust into spectacular jeopardy. p. 24
CHILDREN'S & TEEN
Breathe
by Scott Magoon A whale baby celebrates just being alive against a stunning Arctic backdrop. p. 99
NONFICTION
The Snowden Files by Luke Harding Whether you view Snowden’s act as patriotic or treasonous, this fast-paced, densely detailed book is the narrative of first resort. p. 49
a note from the editor
An Escape into Reality B Y C la i b orne
Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N # President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N
Smi t h
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In 2008, after his shrewd, entertaining book Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood was getting rave reviews, Mark Harris was rooting around for a new story to tell. Pictures is about the five best picture Oscar nominees of 1967—films like The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde whose frankness and narrative audacity fractured Hollywood’s creaking old studio system. The idea that Harris settled on, how World War II affected Hollywood and Hollywood affected it, is the subject of Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, which is just out now (we starred the book in the January 1 issue). Claiborne Smith Harris focuses on the lives of five directors, all of whom served during the war—John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, Frank Capra and William Wyler (who called his war years away from Hollywood “an escape into reality”). As he did in Pictures, Harris has chosen a subject that lets him roam over all of Hollywood while homing in on revealing details (like the fact that Capra, whose films, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, venerate the common man, thought Mussolini was a pretty swell guy). “I like having more than one story,” Harris says. “I like to cross cut.” World War II films can feel stolid and starchy to us now. Harris, who used to be an executive editor and columnist for Entertainment Weekly, had shied away from them for that very reason. “I didn’t understand their Mark Harris emotional language, and they seemed corny to me, some of them,” he says. Being a journalist, he investigated his own aversion to them. He discovered that during World War II, Hollywood was producing 150 films a year about the war. But as he started thinking about Five Came Back in 2008, America had been engaged in war for quite some time, and there weren’t many films about war. The difference was stark. “I started to think, ‘this is just a completely different movie universe, a different cultural universe, and I really want to look into that.’ ” (Harris’ editor suggested he write a different book, about William Faulkner’s stint in Hollywood. “What a lovely little book that would be,” Harris thought to himself at the time. “My name and Faulkner’s on the same book cover.” But he didn’t pursue it since there wasn’t much of a story: Faulkner started out in Hollywood, Harris says, “as a disillusioned alcoholic and ended there as an older disillusioned alcoholic.”) In Five Came Back, Harris makes WWII, which on the face of it feels so overanalyzed, seem fresh. And he makes it perfectly clear how the struggles those five directors faced during WWII gradually changed Hollywood. “Those directors did have an appetite for creative freedom that precipitated the chipping away at the studio system,” he says. “And that chipping away took about 20 years to reach the critical mass I write about in my first book.”
Photo courtesy David Harris
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Maude Adjarian • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato Bridgette Bates • Amy Boaz • Lee E. Cart • Derek Charles Catsam • Kathleen Devereaux • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer • Julie Foster • Peter Franck Bob Garber • Sean Gibson • April Holder • Robert M. Knight • Christina M. Kratzner • Paul Lamey Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Angela LerouxLindsey • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Joe Maniscalco • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Mike Newirth John Noffsinger • Sarah Norris • Mike Oppenheim Derek Parsons • Jim Piechota • Gary Presley Sarah Rettger • Sean Rose • Lloyd Sachs • Leslie Safford • Michael Sandlin • Rebecca Shapiro William P. Shumaker • Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon • Elaine Sioufi • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Matthew Tiffany Claire Trazenfeld • Amanda Eyre Ward • Gordon West • Carol White • Chris White • Joan Wilentz
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contents fiction Index to Starred Reviews............................................................5 REVIEWS.................................................................................................5 Lorrie Moore is telling stories again.................................14 Mystery..............................................................................................23
The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.
Chris Pavone returns................................................................ 24 Science Fiction & Fantasy.......................................................... 31 Romance............................................................................................34
nonfiction Index to Starred Reviews.......................................................... 37 REVIEWS............................................................................................... 37 Todd Miller moves beyond Big Brother..............................52
children’s & teen Index to Starred Reviews..........................................................73 REVIEWS...............................................................................................73 Lauren Oliver isn’t panicking................................................90 Easter & Passover Roundup................................................... 116 interactive e-books...................................................................118
indie Index to Starred Reviews.........................................................123 REVIEWS..............................................................................................123 Marcus c. Thomas’ success story.........................................130
Appreciations: Dr. Seuss at 110.............................................. 139
Zia Haider Rahman’s ambitious debut novel is a meditation on memory, friendship and trust. Read the starred review on p. 17. |
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on the web w w w. k i r k u s . c o m
As an international figure of peace and resilience, Mohandas Gandhi has been written about innumerable times. So it might seem an impossible feat to bring a new perspective to the conversation. Yet that is just what the new picture book Grandfather Gandhi does. Written by Arun Gandhi—grandson of the legendary figure—and Bethany Hegedus, and illustrated by Evan Turk, the children’s book presents a firsthand account of Gandhi from when Arun was 12. There is a particularly poignant moment in the story when Arun learns that his pacifist grandfather feels anger at times. After being tripped in a soccer match, Arun picks up a stone and feels the weight of familial expectations. Grandfather Gandhi explains that anger is like electricity, that it “can strike, like lightning, and split a living tree in two….Or it can be channeled, transformed….Then anger can illuminate. It can turn the darkness into light.” Read more about this fresh and intimate interaction online in the coming weeks.
Check out these highlights from Kirkus’ online coverage at www.kirkus.com 9 Photo courtesy Laura Hartline Weems
When he was younger, neuroscientist Scott Weems burst out laughing at his grandfather’s funeral. Not surprisingly, most people didn’t see the humor of the situation. Over the years, Weems continued laughing at the most inappropriate times. He began to feel self-conscious, and that angst developed into his book Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why. “I wanted to know what was wrong with me,” Weems says. What Weems discovered is that laughing at seemingly somber occasions makes more sense than most would think—neurologically speaking. Humor is a product of unresolved conflicts in the brain. In short, sometimes there’s nothing else to do but laugh. “No matter who you are, there’s going to be a lot that just does not make sense as a living creature,” Weems says. “So, there has to be a way to react to that. I like to think of humor as a very adaptive thing that we’ve developed, because without it, there wouldn’t be many alternative ways for us to respond.” Read more from Weems and why it’s OK to laugh when we’re told we shouldn’t this month at kirkusreviews.com.
9 And be sure to check out our Indie publishing series, featuring some of today’s most intriguing self-published authors. Each week, we feature authors’ exclusive personal essays and reported articles on how they achieved their success in publishing. It’s a must-read resource for any aspiring author interested in getting readers to notice their new books.
Photo courtesy Zach Veilleux
In 1886, a Frenchman named Albert Dadas landed in a psychiatric hospital and struggled to recall his past or even his age. All Dadas could remember were chance encounters and a few nights in jail while compulsively walking all over Europe. Maud Casey gives a fictional account of Dadas’ strange history along with one doctor’s determined quest to piece his story together in her novel The Man Who Walked Away. Casey discovered transcripts of interviews with Dadas, and the way he described his travels intrigued her. “There was a kind of oddness and eerie innocence to his descriptions,” Casey says. “He tried to tell these stories as if they were adventures.” Casey wove this history into a book impressive in its lyrical style and fascinating in its psychology. Read more from Casey’s conversation with Kirkus Reviews writer Steph Derstine on our website in March.
w w w. k i r k u s r e v i e w s . c o m / i s s u e Don’t wait on the mail for reviews! You can read pre-publication reviews as they are released on kirkus.com—even before they are published in the magazine. You can also access the current issue and back issues of Kirkus Reviews on our website by logging in as a subscriber. If you do not have a username or password, please contact customer care to set up your account by calling 1.800.316.9361 or emailing customers@kirkusreviews.com.
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fiction BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
Archer, Jeffrey St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $27.99 | $14.99 e-book | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-250-03448-9 978-1-250-03447-2 e-book
CAN’T AND WON’T by Lydia Davis................................................... 6 THE WORD EXCHANGE by Alena Graedon........................................ 9 OUTSIDE by Barry Lopez; illus. by Barry Moser................................12 THE DAY SHE DIED by Catriona McPherson..................................... 13 IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT WE KNOW by Zia Haider Rahman........ 17 THE COLD SONG by Linn Ullmann; trans. by Barbara J. Haveland..............................................................21 TROUBLE IN MIND by Jeffery Deaver................................................27 THE GOBLIN EMPEROR by Katherine Addison................................. 31 STELES OF THE SKY by Elizabeth Bear.............................................32 WAITING ON YOU by Kristan Higgins...............................................34 CAN’T AND WON’T Stories
Davis, Lydia Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $26.00 Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-374-11858-7
The fourth volume of Archer’s (Best Kept Secret, 2013, etc.) Clifton Chronicles finds the Barrington-Clifton family ensnared in financial conspiracies over a make-or-break Barrington Shipping project. As Archer covers the family drama from 1957 to ’64, Harry Clifton—a married-into-money war hero and best-selling crime writer—is relegated to supporting player while his wife, Emma Barrington Clifton, steps to center stage. Emma becomes chairman of her family shipping company when the former leader’s pet project—the construction of a luxury liner—runs aground; it was sabotaged during construction in Belfast by family enemy and Nazi-sympathizing Argentinian gangster Don Pedro Martinez in alliance with the IRA. Martinez hates the BarringtonCliftons since they disrupted his plans to dispose of millions in Nazi counterfeit money, as recounted in Volume 3. Here, in the prologue, it’s revealed that Martinez’s attempt to kill Sebastian Clifton, Harry and Emma’s son, in revenge for that loss resulted in the death of his own son. As Emma assumes leadership of Barrington Shipping, Martinez secures a significant stake and begins a scheme to sink the company. A minor storyline follows Sir Giles, Emma’s brother, and his Labor Party political ambitions. Archer introduces two new supporting players: Cedric Hardcastle, a banker who takes a shine to Sebastian, and Robert—“No one calls me Mr. Bingham except the taxman”— Bingham, a heart-of-gold fish paste–manufacturing millionaire. Hardcastle and Bingham join a complex scheme to manipulate the Barrington stock price in order to bankrupt the Argentinian. Archer cranks up the melodrama with an unexpected suicide and shows an insider’s flare for great food, wine, art and architecture. It’s only Sebastian who’s the subject of any character development, growing from indifferent student to Hardcastle’s trusted assistant, all while meeting an ambassador’s daughter who becomes his bride-to-be. Archer’s unremarkable prose but tight plotting make for a page-turning rich man’s soap opera. He concludes with a Perils of Pauline supercliffhanger certain to frustrate—and create clamor for Clifton-Barrington No. 5. Lightweight, entertaining beach reading.
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THE BEND OF THE WORLD
Bacharach, Jacob Liveright/Norton (304 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 14, 2014 978-0-87140-682-8
Things fall apart when a slacker slouches his way through the vagaries of work and the phosphorescence of the Pittsburgh arts scene. Debut novelist Bacharach would probably like to remind readers of early Michael Chabon, but the only real pleasure in this shuffling zombie of a novel comes from his arch observations on the local art world. As with many postmodern novels for lads, the author simply can’t decide what story he wants to tell. His narrator is almost-30-year-old Peter Morrison, a worker bee who’s “manager of customer analytics and spend processes” at a company called Global Solutions, so much of the book is a workplace comedy. “No, I am serious: the office only crushes your soul if you’re dumb enough to bring it to work,” Peter tells the reader. In the evenings, he divides his time between his relationship with wispy Lauren Sara, to whom he’s barely attracted, and drugging his way through the scene with his fey, gay best pal Johnny, a barely functioning addict who spends easily half the book espousing outlandish conspiracy theories about the city. “So basically the Point represents a node or a nexus of intense magical convergence, an axis mundi, if you will, wherein vast telluric currents and pranic energies roil just beyond the liminal boundaries between the phenomenal and the numinous branes of existence, and obviously this whole UFO what-have-you is a manifestation of that, not some fucking ball lightning or whatever,” Johnny says during just one very representative rant. Yes, on the metaphysical side of the plot we have UFO sightings and a creature that might be Bigfoot and a rabbi who leads a cult and a science-fiction author making dangerous predictions, layering yet another level of weird on a story that’s overstuffed as it is. Sprinkle on a famous artist, a powerful lawyer and his hypnotizing wife, and the book pitches itself right over the brink. A mischievous but fuzzy misadventure for modern 20-somethings.
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S DAUGHTER
Barnhill, Anne Clinard St. Martin’s Griffin (320 pp.) $27.99 | $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-250-04379-5 978-0-312-66212-7 paper 978-1-4668-4074-4 e-book Queen Elizabeth I, who remained unmarried and childless, made her surrogate child’s life miserable, according to Barnhill’s second novel about her Boleyn ancestors. 6
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Elizabeth takes a personal interest in the upbringing of Mary Shelton, her second cousin on the Boleyn side, raised at court after the deaths of her parents. Set during the period shortly before Mary, Queen of Scots is deposed, and leading up to the discovery of an alleged assassination plot instigated by papal bull and led by Queen Mary and her Catholic adherents, the pace is ponderous, as life in Elizabeth’s court is examined in exhaustive and exhausting detail. The queen’s wardrobe is painstakingly described, as are her beauty regimen (plenty of whiteface), sleep rituals (assisted by Mary Shelton’s specially brewed elixirs), and her long-term unconsummated but jealous liaison with “Sweet Robin,” the royal nickname for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Aside from the Catholic plot and other matters of state, which are kept largely in the background, the main conflict concerns Elizabeth’s nuptial plans for Mary Shelton. Mary prefers handsome Sir John Skydemore, a widower and father of five who is not noble enough (at least in lineage) to suit Elizabeth’s lofty ambitions for her ward. If a foreign, alliance-cementing prince can’t be found (and at 38, the queen has not lost hope of snaring one of those herself), Edward de Vere, the powerful Earl of Oxford, is the queen’s choice for Mary. However, in addition to being too old, Edward is a known rake seemingly bent on compromising Mary’s virtue. As Mary and John grow increasingly reckless, Oxford, stung by Mary’s rejection, plots her downfall. As the celibacy the queen imposes on herself and others takes its toll, dramatic tension is finally introduced. Elizabeth’s court in miniature.
CAN’T AND WON’T Stories
Davis, Lydia Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-374-11858-7 Five years after a mammoth, comprehensive collection of stories secured her literary legacy, this unique author explores new directions and blurs boundaries in writing that is always fresh and often funny. For one of the country’s most critically acclaimed writers (The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, 2009), a new collection is like a box of chocolates, one in which—as she writes in “A Small Story About a Small Box of Chocolates”—a single piece can be “very good, rich and bitter, sweet and strange at the same time” and can feed “a vague, indefinite hunger, not necessarily for food.” As previously, her shortest stories—a single sentence or paragraph, well less than a page—could often pass as the prose equivalent of a haiku or Zen koan, and elements such as character development, or even characters, are often conspicuous in their absence. The narrative voice has a consistency of tone throughout much of the collection: conversational, intelligent, by no means opaque or impenetrable like much postmodern fiction. It flows easily from dreams to conscious reflection, often about words themselves or “Writing” (the title of one
very short story) or reading, ruminations that may or may not be the author’s own. As the relationship between writer and reader becomes more familiar, one gets a sense of a narrative character and of what’s important to that character (grammar, concision, precision) and how she spends her time (in academe, on various modes of transportation, among animals in the country). Some stories are based on the letters of Flaubert (whom Davis has translated, along with Proust and others), while others are unsigned (and unsent?) letters to various companies and boards, comments and complaints that often themselves turn into stories. In “Not Interested,” the narrator explains, “I’m not interested in reading this book. I was not interested in reading the last one I tried, either....The books I’m talking about are supposed to be reasonably good, but they simply don’t interest me....These days, I prefer books that contain something real, or something the author at least believed to be real. I don’t want to be bored by someone else’s imagination.” Whether fiction or non, Davis never bores.
THE OTHER STORY
de Rosnay, Tatiana St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-250-04513-3 978-1-4668-4353-0 e-book A best-selling French author with writer’s block agonizes at a luxurious Italian resort in de Rosnay’s oddly static latest (The House I Loved, 2012, etc.). The main action here consists of 29-year-old Nicolas Kolt sitting around feeling sorry for himself at the Gallo Nero off the Tuscan coast. Oh, sure, he’s rich and famous, thanks to his globally best-selling first novel, The Envelope. But that was published four years ago and was based on the true history of his enigmatic father. Without real-life inspiration to lean on, Nicolas is having a hard time coming up with a new book. Though he assures his anxious publisher that he’s writing away, he’s mostly wasting time on social media,
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exchanging pornographic instant messages with a married woman in Germany, and being told off by old friends for having become lazy, selfish and spoiled. Readers will heartily agree as they endure Nicolas’ solipsistic musings about how much he misses his former love Delphine and how he should really call his mother, all the while checking his Facebook page to see if there are any new photos taken by an anonymous fan who’s also vacationing at the Gallo Nero. The swanky setting is over-thetop enough for a Harold Robbins novel (ditto the Blackberryenabled sex scenes), and de Rosnay’s way of demonstrating that Nicolas is a real writer is to show him watching the other guests, which might work if his observations ever went beyond superficial judgments. His 22-year-old girlfriend, Malvina, is a whiny bore, the extensive flashbacks not much more interesting as they limn Nicolas’ childhood, his father’s mysterious death and his discovery of previously unknown Russian roots. The climactic shipwreck that finally gives Nicolas new literary material is ridiculous but a relief; at least we won’t have to hear any more about his writer’s block. Not that de Rosnay ever wrote literary fiction, but previous books like Sarah’s Key (2008) have more emotional substance than this.
THE FOUNDLING BOY
Déon, Michel Translated by Evans, Julian Gallic Books (416 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-908313-56-0
Only the second novel by this distinguished French writer to be translated into English: An affectionate slice of provincial life captures the coming of age of a 20th-century soul. Déon, now 94 years old, is the author of some 50 works and an “immortel” (a member of the Académie Française). He published his saga of the shaping of a young man between the two world wars—a rich if discursive immersion into Europe’s changing landscape—in 1975. The eponymous boy, named Jean by the couple who takes him in, grows up in a simple but honest home in Normandy, makes important friends and one or two enemies in the local community, and develops a set of values that will lend him stability when he leaves home on some eventful journeys. In 1936, at age 17, he travels to Italy, meeting en route a friendly Hitler Youth, a fascist Italian truck driver, a beguiling fraudster and a voracious female restaurateur. Other trips are similar voyages of discovery in a serendipitous education encompassing friendship, culture, morality and plenty of sex. Brightly descriptive, especially of the high life (characters are frequently seduced by glamorous motors cars: Bugattis, Hispano-Suizas, Bentleys), blessed with wit and a wryly intrusive authorial voice—though shadowed by memories of the Great War and intimations of the horrors to come—Déon’s spry, bittersweet ramble invites nostalgia for a lost era. A sequel will follow. 8
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Mature, relaxed storytelling, balancing human nature with historical inevitability; a pleasure for traditionalists generally and Francophiles in particular.
WHEN SHADOWS FALL
Ellison, J.T. Harlequin MIRA (400 pp.) $24.95 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-7783-1604-6
In Ellison’s latest, Samantha Owens— a medical examiner with a tragic past— becomes enmeshed in another mysterious murder case. Sam has left Nashville and her heartaches behind to move to Washington, D.C., and teach at a university. Now she’s starting fresh with a new love, the darkly handsome former Army Ranger Xander, and his dog, Thor, to keep her grounded. Sam wants a break from the drama and danger that permeated the cases she took on before and hopes to find a less exciting life in academia. But it’s not that easy; a beautiful, brilliant woman who magnetizes every man she meets, Sam is also a magnet for trouble. Soon it appears in the form of a letter from a Virginia man who asks her to investigate his death. Although she knows she should ignore it, she finds herself drawn in when an attorney contacts her to tell her she’s in the man’s will, along with a cryptic list of other heirs. She, Xander and Fletch, a detective friend, set off to solve the puzzle, running into multiple murders, a cult and a friend who tries to recruit her for the FBI. Sharp readers will have problems with the plot from almost the first page: If the victim could send Sam a letter telling her he’s been murdered and urging her to find his killer, why not tell her all he knows? That he doesn’t, instead sending her on an investigation that leads to the deaths of many others and puts her in harm’s way, makes no sense. Readers may also find Sam’s allure to every man who crosses her path, as well as her insistence on conducting police investigations even though she’s not trained for them, unrealistic. Ellison’s a competent writer, but Sam and the choir of men that falls at her feet really constitute a romance, not a thriller.
THE SEA HOUSE
Gifford, Elisabeth St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-250-04334-4 978-1-4668-4140-6 e-book On a distant Scottish island, a mermaid myth, a vengeful maid’s observations, a minister’s breakdown and a haunted woman’s psychological barriers combine in a gloomily impassioned gothic exploration of belonging.
“Students of linguistics may run screaming from this dystopian nightmare....” from the word exchange
A cluster of dark events in two interconnected eras drives English novelist Gifford’s debut, set on the Hebridean island of Harris, a place of weather-beaten beauty where a contemporary couple, Ruth and Michael, is restoring the old manse, hoping to turn it into a bed and breakfast. But the shocking discovery of a child’s remains under the floorboards—with what seems to be a tail and no legs—delays work and provokes nameless anxiety in Ruth, who’s been high-strung anyway since her mother’s drowning/possible suicide when she was a child and is even more so now that she’s pregnant. Folk tales of seal people persist in these islands, and Ruth begins to research them, uncovering the journals of Victorian minister Alexander Ferguson, who lived in the manse in 1860. Gifford spreads the narration of her occasionally oppressive story across various characters: Ruth, Ferguson, and his maid, Moira—a local woman whose family was decimated by the brutal clearance of the land and who dreams of killing the aristocratic landowner. Though top-heavy with suffering, the misery is mitigated by the author’s love of place, shining through in her lyrical descriptions of landscape and season, and her empathy for Ferguson’s and Ruth’s struggles, which lends resonance to their parallel resolutions. Gifford’s mournful but very readable romance achieves surprising emotional depths. A writer to watch.
which leads the resistance against the Meme vogue. The danger explodes when the world is engulfed by “word flu,” causing widespread, virulent aphasia. “As more and more of our interactions are mediated by machines—as all consciousness and communications are streamed through Crowns, Ear Beads, screens and whatever Synchronic has planned next, for its newest Meme—there’s no telling what will happen, not only to language but in some sense to civilization,” warns the resistance. “The end of words would mean the end of memory and thought. In other words, our past and future.” A wildly ambitious, darkly intellectual and inventive thriller about the intersection of language, technology and meaning.
THE WORD EXCHANGE
Graedon, Alena Doubleday (400 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-53765-0
Language becomes a virus in this terrifying vision of the print-empty, Webreliant culture of the 22nd century. Students of linguistics may run screaming from this dystopian nightmare by Brooklyn-based debut novelist Graedon, but diligent fans of Neal Stephenson or Max Barry will be richly rewarded by a complex thriller. In fact, the novel is as much about lexicography, communication and philosophy as it is about secret societies, conspiracies and dangerous technologies. Our heroine is Anana Johnson, who works closely with her father, Doug, at the antiquated North American Dictionary of the English Language. The dictionary is an artifact in a near future where most of the populace uses “Memes”—implantable devices that feed massive amounts of data to users in real time but also monitor their environments to suggest behaviors, purchases and ideas. The devices, marketed by technology behemoth Synchronic, have become so pervasive that the company has enough clout to create and sell language itself to linguistically bereft users in their online Word Exchange. If that sounds creepy, it is, and it gets worse. One evening, Doug gives Ana two bottles of pills and a code word, “Alice,” to use if danger should enter their loquacious lives. When Doug disappears, Ana and her comrade Bart must navigate the increasingly treacherous world behind the clean lines of Synchronic’s marketing schemes, complete with chases through underground mazes and encounters with the subversive “Diachronic Society,” |
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OVERWATCH
Guggenheim, Marc Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (304 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-316-21247-2 978-0-316-21245-8 e-book In TV writer Guggenheim’s debut novel, a young, newly hired CIA litigator stumbles across evidence that a ruthless shadow agency, without the knowledge of the president, is orchestrating a war between Iran and Israel. No one in Washington is terribly upset when Iran’s supreme leader dies from a bad case of swine flu, Iran having taken over the role of the world’s No. 1 threat in its march toward nuclear readiness. But when Alex Garnett discovers that an organization inside the CIA was responsible for the death via a weaponized virus, his dream job at Langley quickly turns into an odd-man-out nightmare. People with loose connections to the conspiracy start dropping dead, but Alex can’t find anyone who will believe they were killed. The only person he can trust is a geeky hacker whose life he puts at almost as much risk as his own. There are implausible plot twists and miracle escapes, but the biggest problem with this formulaic thriller is its use of a potential Middle East meltdown as a backdrop to Alex’s attempts to prove his manhood and climb out from under the influence of his father, a powerful former aide to two presidents. Perhaps if Alex were less callow and had more dimensions, he would draw more of a rooting interest. As it is, readers spend much of their time trying to fight off the feeling that he’s getting what he deserves. After an opening of nasty promise, Guggenheim’s debut becomes a predictable slog, with a protagonist we have no desire to see again.
TWO SISTERS
Hogan, Mary Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $14.99 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-06-227993-4 In Hogan’s first adult fiction (she has sevenYA titles to her credit), the poisonous relationship between two sisters, and the family dysfunction that grew it, is examined with style and sensitivity. Muriel had her Sunday planned: She would hole up for hours of binge TV-watching and a tub of popcorn in her Manhattan apartment. But then Pia calls, and Muriel’s day is transformed. As she waits for her older sister’s arrival from Connecticut, Muriel recalls a childhood marked by exclusion and petty cruelties; her older sister was perfect, and their mother, Lidia, made no effort to hide her preference in daughters. Lidia, beautiful and perpetually dissatisfied with her life in Queens, had forced a shotgun marriage on the 10
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girls’ father, Owen, an engineer who preferred tinkering in the basement to talking with his family. Little has changed in the ensuing years; their parents are remote, and brother Logan has abandoned the family altogether. Pia, with sculpted hair and body, lives in the rarefied air of Westport with a financier husband and accomplished daughter. Muriel is an assistant casting agent with few friends or romantic prospects; she is the moon to Pia’s sun. But when Pia comes for that Sunday visit, it’s to confess a secret—she’s dying of cancer and has come to the city to buy a dress to be buried in. Muriel is good at keeping secrets (she never told anyone that Pia nearly killed her on a beach outing or that her mother was having an affair with their priest), and now Pia is asking her to keep this news from Lidia. When the narrative shifts from Muriel’s perspective to Pia’s, the malicious older sister is humanized, if not entirely redeemed. Pia’s battle with cancer is vivid and heartbreaking, Muriel’s guilt (for not being lovable) is tragic, though nothing compares to Lidia’s final, scandalous confession. Hogan’s characters may be too broadly drawn (one sister so callous, the other so naïve), but she creates a gripping narrative of a fractured family.
FESTIVAL IN PRIOR’S FORD
Hood, Evelyn Severn House (224 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8352-0
More secrets lurk beneath the surface of the sleepy Scottish village of Prior’s Ford. Lewis Ralston-Kerr and his fiancee are making vast strides in their efforts to return his home, Linn Hall, to its former glory. Ginny’s work on the garden has opened it to the public and even garnered the shy woman a role on a show featuring her restoration of another garden. Unfortunately, Ginny’s mother, famous actress Meredith Whitelaw, won’t stop interfering in their wedding plans, which she assumes are all about her. The couple is also struggling to get Lewis’ former girlfriend Molly to allow their daughter, Rowena Chloe, to live at Linn Hall while Molly makes a new life for herself in Portugal. The town is home to a famous writer—even though only one person knows that Malcolm Finlay, the author of many academic papers, also writes popular chick lit for older women under a nom de plume. Malcolm’s blossoming friendship with the local librarian is threatened when her obnoxious half sister suddenly arrives and antagonizes the entire village. Out at Tarbethill Farm, by contrast, things have been looking up ever since Ewan McNair married Alison, who’s helped move the farm into the black. Alison’s young son, Jamie, is determined to become a farmer, and their bottom line improves even further when they rent a cottage and shed to a Polish glass blower and his horse-crazy daughter. While villagers struggle with individual problems, the whole town is busy planning a summer festival.
Fans of the series (Return to Prior’s Ford, 2013, etc.), who won’t object to the slow pace, will be happy to learn more about the denizens of the seemingly placid village as they sip a cup of tea and enjoy a biscuit while they read.
REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS
Johnston, Bret Anthony Random House (384 pp.) $26.00 | May 13, 2014 978-1-400-06212-6
Lost and found: Years after he disappeared, a child is restored to his family in this appealing debut. Justin Campbell leaves home with his skateboard and vanishes into thin air. His family (parents Eric and Laura, grandfather Cecil, kid brother Griff) posts fliers of the 11-year-old in their hometown, Southport, and in the South Texas port city
of Corpus Christi, an hour away. That was four years ago. The unresolved mystery has strained the cohesiveness of the Campbells. Eric, a history teacher, has begun an affair with a surgeon’s wife. Laura has devoted herself to the care of a sick dolphin at an animal rescue lab, while Griff has immersed himself in skateboarding. Deliverance comes when a vendor at a Corpus flea market realizes Justin is her customer. There is boundless joy as the family reunites, for Justin, though eerily calm, is seemingly unharmed. He’s been the captive of a man, Dwight Buford, in a Corpus neighborhood, with some license to roam. But of course Justin has been harmed, psychologically (sessions with a social worker ensue) and physically. Johnston doesn’t specify the abuse; what interests him is that delicate organism, the nuclear family. The care with which he delineates the “abiding decency” of the Campbells is admirable. What Johnston overdoes is the need of these sweet people to chastise themselves; they’re great parents, and Eric was only a halfhearted adulterer. Their interior monologues slow the momentum, and it takes a bombshell (the news that Buford is out on bail) to shake things up. The family threatens to unravel. Eric spends hours watching
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“A greased-lightning thriller that will doubtless make a perfect summer movie.” from baptism
the Buford home; Laura withdraws into herself; and Griff ’s relationship with his first girlfriend is at risk. A crisis erupts that is more manufactured than inevitable, shots are fired, and a body is pulled from the water (as foreshadowed in the prologue). Johnston struggles to balance the family regrouping with the external threat, but his fine detail work augurs a bright future.
THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS
Keating, Kevin P. Vintage (320 pp.) $14.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8041-6927-1
Star quarterback, apostate priest, CEO, whore. They’re a motley crew with a common fate in store: humiliation. Keating’s dark debut offers a parade of characters but no plot. They live in a postindustrial city, a dismal place where feral dogs prowl the streets. A Jesuit school is all that remains of its former glory. The richly endowed school’s attempt at urban renewal is a spanking new football stadium, but don’t expect a full-bore satire about this deal between God’s messengers and Mammon. Instead, Keating zeroes in on Frank McSweeney, the massive quarterback who will surely lead his team to victory in the game of the season, set for the Day of the Dead, right after Halloween. Doesn’t happen. At a Halloween party in a flophouse, degenerate senior Will de Vere offers Frank, already drunk and stoned, a treat: the banged-up-but-still-feisty whore, Tamar. Next day, Frank is a wreck, the game lost, the season over. His humiliation is total but not worth dwelling on; Keating has many more victims lined up. There’s the coach, forced to pay his flophouse rent by bedding his landlady, “this tusked and taloned tarnhag.” (Hyperbole is Keating’s trademark.) There’s Will’s father, Edward, CEO and school donor, now facing bankruptcy. He’s enjoying oral sex in a cab with Tamar when the cops arrest them; the fallen titan must then service his cellmates. Father and son will both meet grisly ends. There’s no protagonist in this panorama of depravity, though the school looms over the action. Its priests are sinners too (their housekeeper is also their procuress), but only one of them is punished, the apostate Father Loomis, who has married off his most pious students to a bunch of prostitutes. “Life uses us as battering rams, one person against the other, and few…escape the catastrophe,” comments the omniscient narrator, or puppet master. That’s a rare philosophical observation in an overwrought work that puts sensationalism ahead of vision.
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BAPTISM
Kinnings, Max Quercus (320 pp.) $24.95 | Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-62365-102-2 Kinnings’ debut is a grueling, minuteby-minute account of the eight hours after a pair of religious fanatics seizes control of a train in the London Underground. Service on the Underground is so often disrupted by unscheduled maintenance or terrorist threats that it’s quite a while before the 300-plus passengers realize Northern Line Train 037 has stopped in a tunnel between the Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road stations for entirely different reasons. It’s only the driver, George Wakeham, who knows from the beginning that the train has fallen under the control of ex-soldier Tommy Denning, 25, and his twin sister, Belle. But George can’t do anything to stop the Dennings or his wife and children will die. Special Branch hostage negotiator DCI Ed Mallory, who’s blind, is called in to talk the Dennings out of whatever they have in mind. He finds himself equally hamstrung by Tommy, a homegrown Christian psychopath who’s cheerfully implacable about his plans for the hijacked train, and MI5 types like Mark Hooper and his boss, new director general Howard Berriman, who won’t give Ed the support to do what he feels he must. When the Dennings pull off a nasty surprise that starts the clock ticking toward the deaths of everyone on the train, Ed realizes his only hope for a happy ending lies in professor Frank Moorcroft, an Underground expert who never met a qualifying clause he didn’t like, and Conor Joyce, a former MI5 explosives expert who lost his wife and unborn child to the same Provos who blinded Ed 13 years ago and who’s always blamed Ed for their deaths. A greased-lightning thriller that will doubtless make a perfect summer movie—preferably one to sit through on the hottest day of the year.
OUTSIDE
Lopez, Barry Illus. by Moser, Barry Trinity University Press (120 pp.) $18.95 | $18.95 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-59534-189-1 978-1-59534-188-4 e-book A new edition of six previously published stories by Lopez, with engravings by Moser. Lopez’s fiction, like his nonfiction, is steeped in the natural world. “Desert Notes,” the first story in the collection, focuses on the elemental and largely silent world of the Mojave Desert. There’s no plot to speak of—just a narrator calling our close attention to a series of natural images. The main character in the second story, “Twilight,” is a pattern rug woven by Ahlnsaha, a Navajo woman, in 1934. We follow the
ownership of this rug as it’s transferred from character to character—one gives it to his wife as a wedding present, another wants to make a profit from it, and still another donates it to the Catholic Church. Eventually the narrator acquires it from an antiques dealer, along with its mythic accretions—he’s told that “the rug has been woven by a Comanche who learned his craft from a Navajo [and] that she bought it on the reservation in Oklahoma.” Throughout “The Search for the Heron,” the narrator addresses a heron with poetic ardor: “Your sigh, I am told, is like the sound of rain driven against tower bells. You smell like wild ginger.” The other stories also feature the natural world prominently, as Lopez endows his landscape with light and lyricism. Moser’s art adds greatly to the experience of reading these stories, capturing the passionate intensity of Lopez’s prose. A stunning volume to be savored in a quiet, ref lective mood.
HIDDEN
McKenzie, Catherine Amazon/New Harvest (304 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-26497-7
The “truth” about Jeff and Tish’s relationship comes much too late and isn’t much of a revelation. Readable and forgettable.
THE DAY SHE DIED
McPherson, Catriona Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (312 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 8, 2014 978-0-7387-4045-4 A chance meeting in the Marks and Spencer food hall puts a deeply troubled young woman in a dangerous position. While she works part-time in a charity shop, Jessie Constable must deal every day with her disabling phobia—a fear of feathers. Shopping in the food court, she spots a big red-haired man she’d seen before. In fact, she’d once even offered to buy a cake for Ruby, his little girl. Sitting
An accidental death leads to secrets revealed and second thoughts expressed in McKenzie’s latest (Forgotten, 2012, etc.). Jeff Manning is fatally struck by a car when he decides to walk home after firing yet another hapless co-worker at the odious management consultant–dominated company in which he is a reluctantly rising executive. His wife, Claire, is devastated even though it’s clear from her very first monologue—as she anxiously wonders why Jeff is late—that there are simmering tensions in the marriage. They might have something to do with Tish, who works in HR for the same company; though she and Jeff are at branches in different towns, they’ve developed a warm email relationship since meeting at a corporate retreat. But it could also be the fact that Claire was once the girlfriend of Jeff ’s older brother, Tim, or that she’s been emotionally distant ever since she lost a baby four years ago, when their son Seth was 8. Readers learn all this, as well as about Tish’s saintly doctor-husband, Brian, and their supersmart 11-year-old daughter, Zoey, via first-person narratives by Claire, Tish—and Jeff, which is odd, since he gets killed on Page 8. In straightforward, realistic fiction like this, a dead narrator should really be explained, but McKenzie simply plows ahead, developing her story via three points of view that follow each other in the same order for the entire novel, adding to the already heavy sense of predictability. The aggravations of corporate life, the compromises and disappointments inherent in long marriages, the processes of grieving are all depicted with reasonable insight, but there’s little new here, and what plot development there is may give readers a sense of being jerked around: Zoey faints, twice, but it’s just stress; Claire and Tim kiss and Jeff sees them, but when Claire tells him nothing else happened, he believes her. |
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Lorrie Moore
One of the quintessential voices writing today is back with her first collection of stories in 15 years By Bridgette Bates
Photo courtesy Zane Williams
“A woman had to choose her own particular unhappiness carefully. That was the only happiness in life: to choose the best unhappiness. An unwise move, good God, you could squander everything,” writes Lorrie Moore in the story “Paper Losses,” part of Bark, her new collection of short stories— the first she’s published in over 15 years. Moore doesn’t seem to make “unwise moves” in her writing life; the result has been a long, celebrated career in American letters. Self-Help, her first collection of short stories, was published to great acclaim in 1985. Through a nuanced mimicking of the instructional voice of selfhelp manuals, Moore prompted an insurgence of the 14
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second-person narrator in contemporary fiction. She went on to publish her first novel, Anagrams; The Forgotten Helper, a children’s book; the short story collection Like Life and another novel Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? But it was her third collection of stories, Birds of America, hailed by critics and fans alike for its perfect pitch of humor in the face of sorrow, that transformed her into one of the quintessential voices writing today and earned her a spot on the New York Times best-seller list. In 2009, Moore published the novel A Gate at the Stairs, but it is Bark—a more kindred successor to Birds of America—which has been starred by Kirkus and positioned her as the master returning to her true form. Fearing her words will get “bollixed” over the phone, I corresponded by email with the author from her new home in Nashville, Tenn. For almost three decades, Moore taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but she has recently relocated to teach at Vanderbilt University. Readers may begin to wonder how the South might permeate her future writing, as the Midwest did for so long, but she’s never been one to rush out new work. She published the first story from Bark 10 years ago. That seems to be a comfortable incubating period for Moore: “If you wait too long you might not recall why you wrote any of them,” she says of her short stories. However, when I asked her about some of the influences of these new stories, it appears time has taken its toll: She’s already begun to forget the specifics. “But they are all responses to something and involve situations I was thinking very deeply about at the time. One then gets very involved with fashioning the story that can contain those thoughts and feelings. But now of course I’ve moved on. That is the beauty of shorter narratives: they allow you to move on.”
Like most Americans, Moore is probably relieved to move on from the fraught political landscape of the last 15 years in which Bark is set. Political consciousness naturally permeates Moore’s characters, who are immersed in the wounded American psyche of a post 9/11 country at war—from a teacher who sings the “Star Spangled Banner” for a ghost to an aloof intelligence agent who gulps down some Côtes du Rhône before a mission to a cynical author who taunts a supporter at a D.C. fundraiser. Moore believes political awareness is just typical of most people. “One’s life takes place in the world,” she says. In “Debarking,” the first story of the collection, a recent divorcé up in arms over the U.S. invasion of Iraq is deeply moved by a peace protest he witnesses while driving: “No car went anywhere for the change of two lights. For all its stupidity and solipsism and scenic civic grief, it was something like a beautiful moment.” Yet the story is not about the war, it’s about the absurdities of his struggle to date again. Gleaning insight into how the mentally unstable casually date, the story brilliantly balances the light and dark at the end of the tunnel of marriage. In fact, in many of the eight stories that comprise Bark, the sweeping themes of global politics are often pushed to the backdrop of the more personal moments of “one’s life.” “Paper Losses,” “Wings,” and “Referential” all follow characters who are unraveling from failed relationships. Breakups and divorces are fodder for much of the pain these characters endure, but there’s some comic relief in how these estranged characters are placed in strange situations. In “Wings,” a struggling musician looks after a zany old man (who turns out to be dying) as a distraction from her boyfriend, whom she no longer loves. Disillusioned by an argument with her boyfriend about whether the old man is her sugar daddy, she has the epiphany that couples might never stay together if they knew the future: “This was probably the reason nine-tenths of the human brain had been rendered useless: to make you stupidly intrepid. One was working with only the animal brain, the Pringle brain. The wizard-god brain, the one that could see the future and move objects without touching them, was asleep. Fucking bastard.” Although readers might find themselves laughing out loud at some of Moore’s zingers, she does not consider herself a humorous writer. “But let’s
face it: These stories aren’t all that funny. Only a little bit,” she says. The bits of humor that Moore reluctantly takes some credit for are like a flock of inflatable dinghies bouncing alongside a sailing ship. Her humor breaks the tension of heightened moments with an effect of dramatic irony that somehow seems completely sincere. As Moore carefully handles all the various emotional vulnerabilities of her characters, she is able to mash up the comic and tragic parts into one lucid whole. In the final story, “Thank You for Having Me,” a woman at a wedding is buzzed enough from champagne to look beyond her own loneliness and see beauty in a shining sun. “I think it’s good to let hope have the last word,” says Moore. Bridgette Bates is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles. A recipient of a Fulbright and a Boston Review Discovery Prize, her book of poetry, What Is Not Missing Is Light, will be published this fall. Bark received a starred review in the Jan. 1, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews.
Bark: Stories Moore, Lorrie Knopf (208 pp.) $24.95 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-307-59413-6 |
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with his head in his hands while Ruby looks on, sculptor Gus King suddenly tells Jessie that his wife, Becky, has left him. Since he’s obviously in shock, Jessie drives him home, making the long trip from Dumfries out to a country cottage on the water. Soon afterward, the police arrive to tell Gus that Becky has died in what looks like a suicidal car crash. Somehow Jessie gets roped into staying to help care for Ruby and her baby brother, Dillon. As she does her best to learn the household’s routine, she notices that not everything she learns about the family makes sense. Even though Becky’s best friend Ros had apparently left for Poland, a young Pole Jessie meets hanging around the caravan site next door tries to tell her in his very limited English that Ros would never have done that. Jessie and Gus quickly become lovers, and he gradually draws the story of her feather phobia out of her. Each telling, she acknowledges, is different, and years of therapy have allowed her to lead only a semi-normal life. For his part, Gus maintains that Becky would never have killed herself. All the pieces of the puzzle add up to more confusion for Jessie, who no longer knows whom to believe.
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McPherson’s second stand-alone (As She Left It, 2013, etc.) is a tour de force, a creepy psychological thriller that will leave you breathless.
A KING’S RANSOM
Penman, Sharon Kay Marian Wood/Putnam (704 pp.) $35.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-399-15922-0 In Penman’s (Lionheart, 2011) sequel, Richard the Lionheart, deserted by King Philippe Capet of France, has failed to take Jerusalem from Saladin and now treks homeward. It’s 1192, the Third Crusade has stalled, and as King Richard lands in Sicily, a simple tale of heading home soon turns complex. Richard is warned that Philippe’s allies are waiting in Marseilles to capture his small
“Rahman’s narrative quickly takes flight, literally, moving from London and New York to Islamabad and Kabul and points beyond.” from in the light of what we know
party, so he decides to approach Europe via the stormy Adriatic Sea. Shortly after landing, he’s captured—in defiance of papal decree—by the Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich, who wants ransom. Richard is dispatched to the prison castle of Trifels. Weeks later he’s rescued by his ever loyal counselor, Longchamp, reviled by foes as a “misshapen dwarf.” Richard returns to Normandy and fights to reclaim land taken by Philippe. Detailed down to the last flagon of wine, Penman’s work will please serious fans of historical fiction. Conferences and confrontations between kings and emperors, dukes and archbishops stretch across Europe from Sicily to Nottingham (Prince John appears but not Robin Hood), every page illustrating prodigious research. Aristocrats, abbots and archbishops come to life in an era when bishops were churchmen, soldiers and politicians. Women conversely were chattel, bargained away in marriage to strengthen loyalties between vassals and liege lords. The most intriguing woman is Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard’s mother and primary adviser, with a “spine, like the finest swords, forged in fire.” Characters rise from the pages—Richard, brave warrior, skilled diplomat; Heinrich, “If he were cut, he’d bleed ice”; the mercenary Mercadier; and multitudes more. Seven years of sieges and battles, confrontations in castles and on horseback are lovingly detailed, marred only by the occasional intrusion of an overly modern perspective. With enough story to fill two Cornwells and a Lambdin, Penman’s latest is a massively entertaining work of historical fiction for dedicated fans.
world where he and his South Asian compatriots are no longer merely local-color background. Rahman capably mixes a story that threatens to erupt into le Carré–like intrigue with intellectual disquisitions of uncommon breadth, whether touching on the geometry of map projections or the finer points of Dante; the reader will learn about Poggendorf illusions, scads of math and the reason flags fly at half-mast along the way. A betrayal complicates matters, but in the end, Rahman’s is a quiet, philosophical novel of ideas, a meditation on memory, friendship and trust: “Such regrets as I have are few,” says his narrator; “I am not an old man, but even if there had been time enough to accumulate regrets, I do not think my constitution works that way.” Beautifully written evidence that some of the most interesting writing in English is coming from the edges of old empires.
IN THE LIGHT OF WHAT WE KNOW
Rahman, Zia Haider Farrar, Straus and Giroux (544 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-374-17562-7 War can divide friends. But then again, so can peace and all that falls between, the spaces inhabited by this ambitious, elegiac debut novel by Bangladeshi-British writer Rahman. The unnamed protagonist is a brilliant 40-something math whiz–turned-financier who comes from privilege; his father, a Pakistani physicist, is fond of whiskey, his mother scornful of religious pieties (“[n]ot for her such opiates”). The story, though, turns on his mysterious friend Zafar; raised more modestly, he made a fortune as a derivatives trader yet has apparently acquired enough martial skills along the way to thrash a gang of ill-meaning neo-Nazis in a London mews. Now, as the book opens, he is back in London from a harrowing journey both geographical and metaphysical, his talisman being Kurt Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem (“the world was foolish to ignore it in an age of dogma”), his life a scatter burst of fragments. Rahman’s narrative quickly takes flight, literally, moving from London and New York to Islamabad and Kabul and points beyond as the narrator comes to flourish, oddly, in a post-9/11 |
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THE OTHER HALF
Rayner, Sarah St. Martin’s Griffin (320 pp.) $27.99 | $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-250-04559-1 978-1-250-04210-1 paper 978-1-250-03472-4 e-book British novelist Rayner has a talent for turning domestic tragedies (widowhood, infertility and, in this latest, adultery) into something quite special—amusing and astute studies in human resilience. Maggie wants another baby, and why not? She and Jamie have a lovely Georgian house near London; Jamie has recently been promoted to publisher at a magazine company; their 6-year-old, Nathan, is a dream; and her own freelance writing career makes few demands. But Jamie bristles at the idea, and he isn’t sure why. Chloë has her own kind of baby in mind: A features editor at Jamie’s company, she wants to launch her own women’s magazine, something edgy and smart. When Chloë approaches him to pitch her special project, their business meeting turns into drinks, then a meal, then some public groping before they head to Chloë’s apartment for sex. Jamie assures Chloë he’s never done anything like it before (well, just that one other time), and the two fall into a passionate affair. He takes Chloë to New York for a conference—they get to play house for a week while Maggie stays behind taking care of the drudgeries of a real home. What distinguishes Rayner’s novel is that Maggie and Chloë, both lovely and worth cheering for, get equal attention—there’s no demonized woman, no nagging wife or opportunistic vixen (though Jamie is not what he first seems). Maggie begins to suspect something is awry and confides in her friend Jean (Chloë’s former boss, who knows too much); meanwhile, Chloë feels guilty and desperately in love but is warned against hoping for a happily-ever-after from her flatmate, Rob. Eventually, Maggie confronts Jamie, but what are a wife and girlfriend to do when the man in their lives can’t choose between them? And what does a novelist do to give her heroines the endings they deserve? Rayner plays it just right in the war zone of love. An engaging, insightful portrait of infidelity, told with charm.
WITHOUT WARNING
Rosenfelt, David Minotaur (304 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-250-02479-4
A methodical serial killer is on the loose in a small Maine town, and it’s up to the police chief to resolve the case before more people die in Rosenfelt’s latest police thriller. 18
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Jake Robbins is a war hero, but it’s a role he neither likes nor covets. While in Afghanistan, he was involved in an incident that won him the Navy Cross, but though he saved lives that day, others were lost, and it’s something he has a hard time reconciling. When he returned to Wilton, where he grew up, he worked his way up to chief of police, but life there has its own price: His wife, Jenny, was murdered by Roger, the publisher of the local paper, with whom she was having an affair. Roger was murdered in prison, leaving his wife, Katie, to assume control of the paper. After Wilton suffers damage from a devastating hurricane, Katie decides to dig up the town’s time capsule, something that’s buried every 50 years, to make sure it’s not damaged; when workers open the hole, they find the skeletonized body of a man who apparently died about the same time the capsule ceremony took place. Even more disturbing is the fact that the capsule, which in addition to artifacts holds predictions written by local dignitaries, now contains an extra box of predictions— each of which addresses a murder. Some of those murders—like Jenny’s—have already taken place, but others have not, and Jake must resolve the mystery before more people are killed. Rosenfelt’s staccato writing style is clean if a bit abrupt. While the action moves along at a rapid pace, he fails to flesh out the characters, making the ensuing romance between Jake and Katie seem both forced and predictable. A romance camouflaged as a thriller but a short, smooth read most will enjoy.
RAIDERS OF THE NILE
Saylor, Steven St. Martin’s (351 pp.) $26.99 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-250-01597-6
Saylor’s (The Seven Wonders, 2012, etc.) latest historical adventure chronicles young Gordianus’ adventures as he gets trapped in a scheme to loot Alexander the Great’s sarcophagus. Son of the famous Gordianus the Finder, young Gordianus has traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, in 88 B.C. There, he too works as a finder, adding a few coins to his purse, but his treasure is Bethesda, a beautiful slave he’s taken into his bed—and his heart. Celebrating Gordianus’ 22nd birthday, the couple watches a street-mime troupe. One of the performers is beautiful Axiothea, who looks so much like Bethesda she could be her twin. After the ribald performance is broken up by King Ptolemy’s troopers, Bethesda disappears. Gordianus learns she’s been mistaken for Axiothea, who’s thought to be the mistress of wealthy merchant Trafhapy. Bethesda’s being held for ransom in the Nile delta by a thief known as the Cuckoo’s Child, and therein the plot: Gordianus treks into the wilderness looking for Bethesda, accompanied by opportunistic Djet, Trafhapy’s slave boy. The pair finds the Cuckoo’s Nest—think Butch Cassidy’s Hole-in-the-Wall—but the quest is made even more dangerous by the fact that the Cuckoo’s Child, Artemon, has fallen in love with Bethesda. Then Gordianus finds himself
“Scheer writes with a striking intensity about the human body and its fragility....” from incendiary girls
tangled in Artemon’s scheme to loot Alexander’s tomb, part of a wider conspiracy involving Ptolemy’s brother Soter. Saylor’s action runs nonstop, from political unrest to murders at a rural inn to a mob seeking to kill Gordianus to a pirate raid on Alexandria. Gordianus leaps from the pages as a modern trope—a wisecracking, good-hearted charmer—and Saylor frames him against an entrancing interpretation of ancient Egypt, from slaves, sun, mosquitoes, brothels and markets to derring-do swordplay, the Pharos Lighthouse and the vibrant streets of the fabled city. Fans of James Lee Burke or Lee Child will enjoy a two-millennium time shift to tour the dark corners of ancient Egypt.
INCENDIARY GIRLS Stories
Scheer, Kodi Little A/New Harvest (192 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-544-30046-0
SING FOR ME
Schreck, Karen Halvorsen Howard Books/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $14.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4767-0548-4 A young woman is torn between her church’s principles and her passion for secular music—and a forbidden love—in Schreck’s delicately tuned debut set in Depression-era Chicago. Raised in the Danish-Baptist Church, Rose Sorensen sings popular songs from the radio when she thinks no one’s around. She revels in the rich tones of Mahalia Jackson and yearns for the freedom to sing openly, but she knows her parents would disapprove. Her family was once affluent, but now her dour father manages tenement buildings, which Rose cleans, and they live in a cramped apartment. Rose’s 14-year-old sister, Sophy, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, is Rose’s
Surgeons, nurses and medical students are central figures in this smart debut story collection, the better to get at the viscera and inevitable breakdowns in our lives. Scheer is a writer-in-residence at the University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, a job that seems to have provided inspiration for her fiction. In the opening “Fundamental Laws of Nature,” a woman who’s just received a breastcancer diagnosis projects her concerns onto the show horse her daughter rides, a potent way to capture her newly off-center self. In “Transplant,” a heart-transplant recipient becomes obsessed with whether the new organ has rewritten her whole personality; when she decides to convert to Islam, Scheer leaves it an open question whether the decision is born of anxiety or something more ineffable. And in “Modern Medicine,” a burn-center nurse on a ketamine trip is confronted with images of patients she thought she had thrust firmly out of her memory. Scheer writes with a striking intensity about the human body and its fragility, but the overall mood of Incendiary Girls isn’t shock or horror but wonderment at the way the physical and psychological intersect. The woman in “No Monsters Here” who keeps spotting body parts of her missing soldier husband around the house is similar to the new parents in “Primal Son” whose newborn has an apelike aspect: Each is trying to reconcile expectations with radical proof of the world’s inconsistency. Scheer doesn’t send each story to the same emotional destination, though, playing the former for pathos and the latter for dry humor and a winking joke about evolution. A couple of stories slip a bit too deep into the allegorical weeds, but this is overall an effective and surprising collection. Eleven appealingly strange studies of bodies in crisis.
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biggest supporter, encouraging her to be happy and sing whatever she wants. Her cousin Rob also understands Rose’s passion, and for her 21st birthday, he takes her on a covert outing to Calliope’s, a jazz club that welcomes blacks and whites. Rose’s life is transformed. Defying her parents, she secretly becomes lead singer for the Chess Men, an interracial band, and falls in love with black pianist Theo Chastain. Rose’s life sways back and forth between the club and Theo—who often pretends to be Rose’s driver to mask their relationship from others—and her role as dutiful daughter, continuing to sing at church and feigning interest in an acceptable suitor. Inevitably, Rose’s two worlds collide, and she and Theo have to make decisions about the Chess Men and their future. Schreck delivers an articulate, well-researched story with an inspirational message about following your dreams; and her passion for the era, its music and her characters is unmistakable. Hits all the right notes.
CASEBOOK
Simpson, Mona Knopf (320 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-385-35141-6 A child of divorce turns private eye in the latest well-observed study of domestic dysfunction from Simpson (My Hollywood, 2010, etc.). In some ways, Simpson’s sixth novel marks a return to her first, Anywhere But Here (1986), which also features a teenage narrator struggling to comprehend a parental split. But the new book is more high concept, framed as a detective story about discovering the deceptions that can swirl around relationships. The narrator, Miles, is a bright LA high schooler who’s prone to precocious antics like a money-making scheme selling lunches out of his locker. He’s also picked up a more questionable eavesdropping habit, listening in on his mathematician mother’s phone conversations after her marriage collapses and she pursues a new relationship with Eli, whose intentions and background strike Miles as questionable. With his friend Hector, he processes his confusion both artistically (via a comic book they create together) and pragmatically, befriending a PI who helps them get to the bottom of Eli’s background. The setup is ingenious on a couple of fronts. First, making the tale a mystery adds a dose of drama to what’s otherwise a stock plot about upper-middle-class divorce. Second, Miles’ snapping to the role of secret eavesdropper and researcher underscores how alienated he is from his mother’s confusion and heartbreak. Simpson presents Miles’ tale as slightly comic; this is a story of teenage misadventures, after all. But as the truth about Eli emerges and Miles gets wise to reality, she shifts into a more serious register. “Everyone had secrets, I understood, now that I did,” Miles explains. “With that one revelation, the world multiplied.” Simpson’s attempts to add a metafictional touch via Hector’s footnote comments feel halffinished, but overall, her command of the story is rock-solid. A clever twist on a shopworn theme by a top-shelf novelist.
THE HUNGER AND THE HOWLING OF KILLIAN LONE
Storr, Will Marble Arch/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $16.00 paper | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4767-3043-1 A dark concoction about an ambitious culinary apprentice in 1980s London, Storr’s debut features a complex title character, gothic undertones and an unnerving plot. Killian Lone begins his journey as a sympathetic young man, a target for neighborhood bullies into adulthood and the product of a dysfunctional family. His only source of solace 20
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“The latest and best from Linn Ullmann resists categorization, except as a literary page-turner.” from the cold song
is his great-aunt Dorothy, who spends hours teaching him to cook when he visits her at Dor Cottage, the old family home. Killian is descended from a long line of talented chefs, including the original owner of the cottage, Mary Dor, who cooked for the first Earl of Sussex and was burned at the stake as a witch. When he’s accepted at culinary school, Killian’s skills prove exceptional, and his instructor secures him an apprenticeship at the chic restaurant run by Killian’s idol, acclaimed chef Max Mann. Killian’s dreams of being taken under the chef ’s wing unravel as he discovers the gulf between Mann’s public persona and his private actions. Though Killian tells himself Mann is under tremendous pressure to earn a third Michelin star, the horrendous kitchen conditions begin to splinter his “turnspit dog” loyalty. Killian’s work is undermined by Mann’s assistant, and he’s subject to a blind “taste test” that involves crackers spread with excrement. As he strives for success, his future becomes increasingly tied to a secret he uncovers at Dor Cottage following Dorothy’s death; using it transforms his career, spurs speculation about his ethics and culinary abilities, affects his relationship with the woman he loves and consumes his life. An award-winning journalist, Storr has created a disturbing tale about cutthroat rivalries in a high-profile industry, and his claim that many of the kitchen incidents are based on true stories makes it even juicier. Readers with a taste for the unusual (and who don’t mind some nauseating passages) will find this a palatable novel about ambition, human fallibility and revenge.
increasingly disturbed. The girls’ nanny, Milla—who has “breasts that men couldn’t help staring at’’— has developed a mutual attraction with Jon, which strains both of their relationships with Siri. Echoes of dead children, grieving parents, empty marriages and broken lives abound. The day of the party becomes both farce and tragedy, with Milla disappearing and Jenny’s drunken decline leaving questions until the very end. The author might be best known in this country as the daughter of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann, but her accomplishment here merits more than recognition by association.
THE COLD SONG
Ullmann, Linn Translated by Haveland, Barbara J. Other Press (352 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-59051-667-6 The fifth novel by an award-winning Norwegian author and critic deserves to win her a much larger stateside readership. The latest and best from Ullmann (A Blessed Child, 2008, etc.) resists categorization, except as a literary page-turner. It’s a murder mystery. It’s a multigenerational psychodrama of a dysfunctional family. And it’s a very dark comedy of manners. Yet the author’s command is such that it never reads like a pastiche or suffers from jarring shifts of tone. The plot focuses on the events of one day, the 75th birthday of Jenny Brodal, a cold and caustic woman who’s so resistant to the party being thrown in her honor that she ends her sobriety of almost 20 years and gets roaring drunk. Jenny’s daughter Siri, who throws the elaborate party, is a chef and restaurateur. Her husband, Jon, is a mostly forgotten novelist with the worst case of writer’s block since The Shining. He’s also a narcissistic lecher and the source of the novel’s comedy. He had “planned to write a hymn to everything that endures and everything that falls apart. But truth be told he wasn’t sure what he actually meant.” The couple’s two daughters remain on the novel’s periphery, though one of them is seriously and |
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ROBOT UPRISINGS
Wilson, Daniel H.; Adams, John Joseph–Eds. Vintage (496 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-345-80363-4 Fun fact: According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, as of 2010 there were 8.6 million robots in the world. Fun scenario: They’re all out to kill us. Forget Asimov’s laws of robotics; think of Schwarzenegger’s Terminator instead, or maybe that friendly-voiced if unblinking fellow in 2001. As editors Wilson and Adams observe, robots are scary because they’re real, and the possibility of them rising up against us is—well, highly likely, since “[w]e live in a world teeming with monsters made real.” This anthology neatly explores that possibility, its contributors offering widely varying takes that share only the perspective that things don’t end well for Homo sapiens. The longest story, at a little more than 50 pages, is by Cory Doctorow, who
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matter-of-factly sets up a terrifying future: “Two hundred and fifteen years after Mary Shelley first started humanity’s hands wringing over the possibility that we would create a machine as smart as us but out of our control, Dr. Shannon did it, and it turned out to be incredibly, utterly boring.” Not so the story that follows. Julianna Baggott, fresh from her latest postapocalyptic fantasy, turns in a vision of a golden hour to come, “called the Golden Hour because the revolt was so massive and well-orchestrated that it is said that the humans fell within an hour.” (Interestingly, she offers the thought that robots can have parents.) The late John McCarthy—who died in 2011 of natural causes, not of robot agency, and who is considered the father of artificial intelligence—spins a tale that helps explain why robots should be ticked at us: “[R]obots were made somewhat fragile on the outside, so that if you kicked one, some parts would fall off.” The concept of the anthology is just right, and each of the 17 pieces addresses it well; extra points for greater diversity of all kinds than is evidenced by many other sci-fi collections, though it wouldn’t hurt to have a few betterknown, more battle-tested authors (Eileen Gunn, say, or Samuel R. Delany) in the mix.
m ys t e r y
Philip K. Dick would be proud, in any event. You’ll never look at your Roomba the same way again.
CHOP CHOP
DEATH IN REEL TIME
Wroe, Simon Penguin Press (288 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 17, 2014 978-1-59420-579-8 A British university graduate sets out on a journey of self-discovery when he’s forced to break a sweat in an asylumlike kitchen in Camden Town. Freelance journalist Wroe employs his experience as a chef in an uneven debut novel that tries to shoehorn in a few too many stylistic moods. Our narrator is a recent graduate of one of London’s many English literature programs and believes himself the next wunderkind of the publishing scene. As his hopes are dashed on the rocks of reality, he takes a job as the resident “bitch” in a rough-hewn kitchen called The Swan, where he’s quickly dubbed “Monacle” by the crew. This ensemble comedy is the best part of the novel, pitting the sensitive writer against merciless head chef Bob, the aptly named “Racist Dave,” a salacious molester named Ramilov, daft pastry chef Dibden, and a quiet, dark-eyed girl named Harmony who captures Monacle’s heart. After the crew sabotages a monstrous creation similar to a turducken, Bob is ousted and Monacle holds out slim hope of promotion. “No, you’re still the bitch. But a loved bitch,” Ramilov tells him. It’s in the back half that the tale takes a dark turn, interrupted by wearisome meditations from Monacle on his troubled childhood and his relationship with his father, who turns up on his son’s doorstep all too often. Following the arch comedy of The Swan’s kitchen and the familial drama, Wroe finishes his kitchen epic with a monstrous encounter with an unsavory local crime lord that may leave even the most jaded readers a bit shocked. “Then the bad news,” shares Monacle. “I was arrested almost immediately, along with Ramilov, on unrelated but extremely serious charges, the charges that form the dark heart of the story.” Proceed with caution. For British readers, David Nicholls meets Guy Ritchie; for Americans, Dave Eggers channels Anthony Bourdain.
Bonner, Brynn Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $15.00 paper | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4516-6187-3 A North Carolina family-research specialist and her psychic friend take on a murder in the present and a mystery from the past. Genealogist Sophreena McClure, Esme Sabatier and the other members of an unofficial club in the town of Morningside plan to give a present of family research to their friend Olivia Clement. Although Olivia’s always wanted to know more about her father, who ran off before she was born, her friends warn her that she might not like what she learns. But Olivia, who wants to know the truth, turns over boxes of papers and diaries from her recently deceased aunt Celestine to the researchers. Tony Barrett, a former student of Olivia’s daughter Beth, offers to make a video scrapbook to accompany the print versions, despite Esme’s wariness of newfangled media. Esme has her own resources that only Sophreena knows about—signs, symbols and occasional voices from those who’ve gone on before. She and Sophreena have barely started the project when Beth’s controlling husband, Blaine Branch, is found floating in a lake. Although Esme’s beau, Detective Denny Carlson, is reluctant to disrupt a family he knows and likes, he’s obligated to investigate Beth, her brother and Blaine’s associates. Tony’s troubled past brings him under suspicion as well. While he uses his technological skills to help Sophreena and Esme with Blaine’s murder—and Sophreena does research into the unknown aspects of her own family history—they’re also getting messages from Celestine, who keeps telling Esme that something’s not right. Bonner’s chatty, huggy club (Paging the Dead, 2013) returns to sort out family trees and solve murders at a leisurely pace that keeps this cozy from standing out—until what seems like a giveaway leads to a surprising climax.
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Chris Pavone
The breakout star thriller writer returns with a new adventure By Clayton Moore
Photo courtesy Nina Subin
Call them spies like us: Novelist Chris Pavone has a tremendous talent for taking characters with the most mundane lives and propelling them into spectacular jeopardy. His debut novel, The Ex-Pats, about an American housewife hiding a secret life in Luxembourg, was an international best-seller that won the Edgar and Anthony awards for Best First Novel. Now Pavone returns with The Accident, another stand-alone that brings forward supporting characters from The Ex-Pats while telling an entirely different story guaranteed to keep readers up late. An anonymous book has landed on the desk of literary agent Isabel Reed, and it’s an astonishing, explosive exposé. It tells the story of media mogul 24
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Charlie Wolfe, a Rupert Murdoch type on the verge of a run for the United States Senate. Written in secret by a longtime associate of Wolfe’s, the book is a career-ending revelation of scandal, corruption and murder—“Ruining ruinable lives, for profit and politics,” as Pavone writes. As copies of the manuscript filter out into the open, bullets start flying, and soon, Isabel is on the run in Manhattan during a vicious, complex thriller that plays out over the course of one long, bad day. “My intention with the book was always to put ordinary people into extraordinary situations,” Pavone says. “I think there is a remarkable amount of fiction that is about incredible, superheroic people doing these amazing things that strain credulity to the point where I don’t want to read them. My books are about people who could be your neighbors who suddenly find themselves in these incredible situations.” The Accident is most definitely not a sequel to The Ex-Pats, although fans of Pavone’s debut will note the reappearance of mercenary agent Hayden Gray, as well as protagonist Kate Moore in a minor supporting role. Pavone, who worked in publishing for more than 20 years, including as an editor at Clarkson Potter specializing in cookbooks, thinks of these stories as independent adventures set in a larger world. “I was awe-struck by the interconnected world created in the five seasons of The Wire,” he says. “I thought that was a tremendously new and great way of storytelling that involved the same world but took time to examine completely different aspects of that world. When I was thinking about what to do next, I had that sort of thing in mind. I wanted to connect the stories and the characters in some way
without it being a necessary progression from one to the other. No prequels, sequels or series.” For this being only a sophomore novel, Pavone has set a lot of hurdles for himself. In addition to setting his story over the course of a single day, he also has to maneuver the mechanics of being a fugitive, not to mention another character who fakes his death and steals an extraordinary amount of money. Without giving anything away, we can tell you that whether you think you have it figured out in Chapter 2 or Chapter 42, you’re wrong. That’s quite the accomplishment for a writer who never read much crime fiction and names Donna Tartt’s elegiac novel The Goldfinch as his favorite recently published book. Pavone says that the mechanics of deception and betrayal come more from the imagination than they do from research. “The heavy lifting really comes from thinking about putting myself in a given situation and figuring out what I would do myself. It’s about figuring out what steps to take to get something done and to imagine what might go wrong,” he says. “I also think there’s something very compelling about condensing a story down to just 24 hours. Of course, there are a lot of flashbacks and back story in The Accident, but having everything that you need to know unfold in the consciousnesses of these characters in one day is still absorbing. It frees you up from having to compose a longterm arc in order to get all these stories down. In a way, it requires a lot of discipline, but it also allows the story to be simpler and more compelling.” I had to ask whether some of the more outlandish characters are drawn from real life. In The Accident, there’s a portentous Hollywood film producer that strongly resembles an Academy Award–winning studio executive and a sexpot fame-seeker with a stolen copy of the novel, not to mention the aforementioned media conglomerate owned by Charlie Wolfe. “The minor characters in The Accident are a large part of the fun,” he admits. “Those are the people who can be killed without me caring too much, which is freeing in a way.” Pavone also wants those characters to be fun to laugh at. “It’s a way to break up any kind of ponderousness that might creep into the book—with some characters who are clearly not ponderous archetypes. Sure, they may be vaguely recognizable to readers, but it’s more important to make the book a little bit fun.” Pavone says he’s left himself room to revisit
both The Ex-Pats and The Accident in the future if he so wishes, leaving fans hungering for more of the author’s dangerous, delicate stories. “The Ex-Pats was fundamentally about marriage,” he reflects. “For this new novel, I started with this premise of an anonymous manuscript that is extraordinarily dangerous. To me, the underlying theme of The Accident is ambition and what people are willing to sacrifice for their goals. I think that’s a much more universal idea.”
Clayton Moore is a freelance writer, journalist, book critic and prolific interviewer of other writers. His work appears in numerous newspapers, magazines, websites and other media. He is based in Boulder, Colo. The Accident was reviewed in the Dec. 15, 2013 issue of Kirkus Reviews.
The Accident Pavone, Chris Crown (336 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-385-34845-4 |
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STONE COLD
Box, C.J. Putnam (384 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-399-16076-9 Joe Pickett’s fantastical 14th pits him against a nest of assassins that just happens to include his old pal Nate Romanowski. Since Wyoming governor Spencer Rulon got Joe rehired at his old seniority level and with a new raise after he quit the Game and Fish Department after his last run-in with corrupt authority figures (Breaking Point, 2013), Joe’s seriously in his debt. So when Rulon sends him undercover to remote Medicine Wheel County to check out rumors that billionaire hedge fund founder Wolfgang Templeton, who’s retired to Sand Creek Ranch, is heading a murder-for-hire ring whose soldiers seem to include Nate, Joe agrees to go despite his reluctance to leave his family yet again. Nor is he crazy about the cover story that he’s just bringing Medicine Wheel County Game and Fish Warden Jim Latta some pheasants to release into the wild and helping Latta get Templeton’s permission to establish several public walk-in areas in Sand Creek. No sooner has Joe met Templeton and peddled his cover story than he realizes that Sheriff R.C. Mead, Judge Ethan Bartholomew and Latta himself are all protecting poachers like Bill Critchfield and Gene Smith. As the killers continue to take out richly deserving targets—“Go do some good” is their mantra—Joe effortlessly finds ways to get under Latta’s and Templeton’s skin and then struggles to reap the whirlwind. Meanwhile, Joe’s ward, April, takes up with a possible rapist, and his older daughter Sheridan wonders if a creepy loner in her dorm is about to shoot up her campus. Suspenseful yet routine, with oversized bogeymen who seem more menacing than they really are, ethical dilemmas that dissolve under pressure and an ending that tests your tolerance for coincidence. Below average for this splendid yet checkered series.
THE WINTER KING
Clare, Alys Severn House (240 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8349-0
Hawkenlye Abbey again plays home to misery and murder. England, 1211. King John continues to squeeze his people and nobles for every penny he can get. One of the best at acquiring money and skimming some for himself is Lord Benedict de Vitré, a gross and impotent man whose very young wife has gotten Sabin de Gifford, apothecary and wife of the sheriff of Tonbridge, to provide her with tonics 26
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to keep him that way. When Benedict suddenly dies at dinner, Sabin panics and begs Meggie, the bastard daughter of Sir Josse d’Acquin and a powerful forest woman, to examine the body and assure Sabin that her potions did not cause his death. What Meggie finds is far worse—Benedict was stabbed to death with a thin knife—but neither woman says anything. In the meantime, Josse’s love, Helewise, former abbess of Hawkenlye, finds a young man dying in the forest; he had been on his way to help a reclusive noble with an unspecified adventure. Another local noble is stirring up sentiment against King John by using the words of a naïve monk and Lilas, a woman with dangerous visions whom Caliste, the current abbess of Hawkenlye, has asked Meggie to help. Just as they are about to bury Benedict, the wound is discovered. Both his wife and Sabin blame Meggie, who must hide in her forest hut until the killer is discovered. Although Josse and Helewise try to keep a low profile at their own forest home, they are forced to interfere in matters they would just as soon ignore. The ninth in the Hawkenlye series (The Song of the Nightingale, 2012, etc.) continues the saga with the mixture as before: historical facts, colorful characters, a touch of mysticism and a soupçon of mystery.
THE ALPINE YEOMAN
Daheim, Mary Ballantine (352 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-345-53533-7 978-0-345-54987-7 e-book A middle-aged honeymoon couple has to catch wedded bliss on the fly when murder and a car wreck upset their little town. Emma Lord and Milo Dodge have been married all of two months. As the editor and publisher of a newspaper on a shoestring budget, she’s always looking for stories worth a few inches of copy. He’s the sheriff of Alpine, somewhere east of Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Emma also enjoys the sometimes-questionable company of Vida Runkel, the “House & Home” editor, who knows everyone and everything in town. Vida’s all atwitter about her beloved great-grandson Dippy now that his mother, the town hooker Vida wrested him from, is out on bond. When a body is found near the fish hatchery, it’s identified as someone who may be either a federal agent or a crook; a major car crash, missing teenagers and a detective who goes off the grid also conspire to keep Emma and Milo busy. An intruder who threatens Emma’s life provides yet another entanglement in a confusion of noisy neighbors, ex-spouses, stepchildren, children who are no more than voices on the phone and characters mentioned only in passing—all of them distractions from the overlapping plotlines. Despite these extraneous dramas and a rather muted resolution, however, Daheim injects enough wit and color to make her tale more entertaining than the standard small-town mystery.
THE COAL BLACK ASPHALT TOMB
Fans of Daheim’s multivolume chronicle (The Alpine Xanadu, 2013, etc.) may feel right at home among Alpine’s denizens, but it will be a struggle for newcomers to figure out who’s who.
TROUBLE IN MIND The Collected Stories, Volume 3
Deaver, Jeffery Grand Central Publishing (560 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4555-2679-6 978-1-4555-2681-9 e-book
Fans of the genre’s most indefatigable prestidigitator are in for a treat: The third volume of his short stories (More Twisted, 2006, etc.) may be his best. “I hate ambiguous endings!” Deaver announces in his prefatory Author’s Note. Fair enough, but there’s plenty of ambiguity, some of it teasing, some of it nerve-wracking, in the middle of most of these dozen tales from the past ten years. Deaver regulars Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance appear in a pair of stories—he tangles with an exceptionally messy serial killer in “A Textbook Case”; she battles the clock to extract information from a white supremacist about the terrorist plot that’s about to bear fruit in “Fast”—that could have been sketches for their novels. In “Paradice,” Hollywood location scout John Pellam crashes his truck, its brakes shot, into the western burg of Gurney and multiple betrayals. “Reconciliation” begins in a more ruminative vein, as a man returns to his hometown in the hope of somehow reconnecting with his uncaring late father, but ends with the usual Deaver surprises. Best of all are “The Weapon,” another interrogation, this one with a sharper-edged punch line; “The Therapist,” whose hero has a unique way of attracting and helping new clients; and “Bump,” in which a hasbeen actor ends up in a reality TV poker show whose stakes are higher than he can imagine. The only real disappointments are “The Obit,” an undernourished and eminently predictable tale that begins with Lincoln Rhyme’s obituary, and “Forever,” whose opening question—why are so many aging couples engaging in murder-suicide pacts?—bogs down in disjointed plot twists and an ending that’s, well, too ambiguous. Deaver describes five of these stories as new, and his publisher identifies five more as reprints. One of the others, “Bump,” is a reprint as well. But what about “The Competitors,” a routine tale of terrorism at the Olympics? It’s just one more mystery.
Handler, David Minotaur (272 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-250-04197-5 978-1-4668-3918-2 e-book A determined cop and the man in her life take on an old murder in their quaint New England town. Master Sgt. Desiree Mitry and her lover, Jewish film critic Mitch Berger, are both outsiders among the country clubbers whose family homes date back three centuries in Dorset, Conn. Not only is Des the sole woman of color in this WASP paradise, but she’s 6 feet 1 inch tall and, since her demotion from lieutenant, the lone Resident Trooper in Dorset. Another unconventional figure in town is Glynis Fairchild-Forniaux, recently elected first selectwoman. Even though Glynis belongs to Dorset’s elite, she had a tough battle against Bob Paffin, who led the town for 34 years.
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“Welcome to la belle France, land of wine and murder.” from bordeaux: the bitter finish
Now her pet project of repaving Dorset Street is facing obstruction from tree huggers, the editor/publisher of the Gazette and a skeleton buried under the asphalt. Tatters of a naval uniform, a pair of gold wings and a distinctive watch suggest the body belongs to Bob’s older brother Lance, a Navy flier who disappeared after a dance at the country club 47 years ago. Des’ father, the deputy superintendent of the Connecticut State Police popularly known as the Deacon, wants her to handle the case with kid gloves, especially when it comes to congressman Pennington Lucas Cahoon. Although the Dorset gentry closes ranks, Des won’t stop asking questions, especially once she and Mitch discover the late Navy flyboy wasn’t quite as heroic as he seemed. An attempted suicide, an eager young reporter and a clue tied to a family burial ground lead to an old secret—and the risk of a new murder. Berger and Mitry’s 10th case (The Snow White Christmas Cookie, 2012, etc.), set in a model old New England town, has an enjoyably twisty plot. The lead couple, despite the occasional descent into cuteness, is still more palatable than most of the starchy suspects.
BORDEAUX The Bitter Finish
Hubbard, Janet Poisoned Pen (324 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $6.99 e-book $22.95 Lg. Prt. | Apr. 1, 2014 9781-4642-0152-3 978-1-4642-0154-7 paper 978-1-6159-5453-7 e-book 978-1-4642-0152-3 Lg. Prt.
Welcome to la belle France, land of wine and murder. Soon after she’s caught on video getting a little too rough with a rapist while her partner stands back watching, NYPD detective Max Maguire returns to France as a bodyguard for wine critic Ellen Jordan. Max’s father, Hank, a revered NYPD officer, and her mother, a member of a wealthy aristocratic French family who cast her off when she married Hank, have combined forces to send her to France with Ellen, who’s made important enemies by lowering her score on several wines and declaring the valuable bottle a wealthy collector purchased a fake. When Ellen dies in her hotel room, Max convinces examining magistrate Olivier Chaumont that her death was murder. As she resumes her love affair with Olivier, they become entangled in both the tricky murder case and a potentially major scandal concerning French wines rebottled and passed off as expensive vintages. Max tries to maintain her cover as a bodyguard while meeting various people involved in the wine business, each of them a suspect in both fraud and murder. When Max accompanies Ellen’s body back to New York, Olivier quickly follows, posing as a wine collector. Digging into the American connection places their lives in danger. This second case for Max (Champagne: The Farewell, 2012) offers a wide range of suspects along with a love affair with both a complex Frenchman and France itself. 28
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DEATH ON THE ROCKS
Lake, Deryn Severn House (208 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8354-4
How could you prove someone an impostor before fingerprints and DNA tests? When Augustus Bagot, the stepson who ran away at 14, reappears to claim an inheritance after his mother’s death, wealthy Bristol resident Horatio Huxtable asks apothecary and amateur sleuth John Rawlings to determine whether he is who he claims to be. Rawlings’ adoptive father, Sir Gabriel Kent, accompanies Rawlings so he can partake of the waters of Hotwell, a nearby spa popular with the upper classes. When they arrive, Huxtable explains that he sees no resemblance between the unpleasant, grossly overweight claimant and the freckle-faced boy he last saw many years ago. The real Bagot has a mole on his posterior, his only identifying mark. Rawlings and his coachman, Irish Tom, explore low pubs and whorehouses, both male and female, looking for clues. When Bagot falls to his death on some dangerous steps near Hotwell, an examination proves him a fraud. But did the person who murdered him by greasing the steps think he was the real Bagot, or was it someone in his recent life with a grudge? Rawlings’ search is interrupted by a note sent by his former lover, the mother of his twin sons, begging him to visit her. He arrives in Devon to find the spirited and beautiful Marchesa Elizabeth di Lorenzi dying of cancer and agrees to take the boys after she passes. Heartbroken, he returns to Hotwell, where he finds any number of likely suspects. Newcomers and devoted fans of Lake’s hero (Death at the Wedding Feast, 2011, etc.), based on a real 18th-century apothecary, will delight in the period detail, excellent mystery and well-drawn characters.
EVIL IN THE 1ST HOUSE
Lewis, Mitchell Scott Poisoned Pen (256 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $6.99 e-book $22.95 Lg. Prt. | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4642-0187-5 978-1-4642-0189-0 paper 978-1-61595-458-2 e-book 978-1-4642-0188-2 Lg. Prt. A wealthy Manhattan private eye who solves crimes by reading the stars juggles two very different cases. Dr. Edgar Williamson begs millionaire detective/astrologer David Lowell to help his 15-year-old son, Edward. The boy is dying of kidney failure, and Williamson insists that due to his rare blood type, Edward’s missing twin brother, Kevin, is the only plausible donor. Williamson offers Lowell a suitcase
stuffed with $1 million to find Kevin and his mother, Gloria Greenwald, who went underground with Kevin when she separated from Williamson. Though Lowell doesn’t need the money, he does want to help save the boy’s life, especially after a reading of the twins’ charts confirms that the 14-minute difference between their birth times means good health for Kevin and kidney issues for Edward. While Lowell and Mort Simpson, his psychic computer-hacker assistant, are trying to find Kevin and Gloria, Lowell takes on the case of pension funds embezzled from the Happy Snappy Marshmallow Company. But it’s Gloria and her two sons who really engage him, especially once he hears Gloria’s version of her marriage to Williamson. The more Lowell learns about the doctor and his patents on unusual human genomes, the more suspicious the whole case becomes, especially when an LAPD officer arrives in New York with her own grievances against Williamson. Attempts on Lowell’s life leave him shaken and baffled about whether the would-be killer is working for Williamson or the marshmallow company. He does know, however, that a thumb drive and an astrological subterfuge have driven the stakes even higher. Lewis’ ponytailed New-Age PI (Death in the 12th House, 2012, etc.) is a benign presence on the roster of fictional crime busters. But a far-fetched plot and pedestrian style keep his third adventure earthbound.
MacInerney’s charming sixth offers beautiful scenery, an assortment of appended recipes and one of her strongest mysteries to date.
FOREST GHOST
Masterton, Graham Severn House (256 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8344-5 Twin forests on two continents seem to be haunting visitors and making them want to kill themselves. Jack Wallace, widowed owner of a Polish restaurant in Chicago, receives some terrible news about his son Sparky’s closest friend, Malcolm. On a Boy Scout trip he took to faraway Owasippe Scout Reservation, all the Scouts and Scout leaders evidently killed themselves. Jack is shocked by this news and even more shocked
DEATH RUNS ADRIFT
MacInerney, Karen Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (288 pp.) $14.99 paper | May 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3460-6 Murder returns to a beautiful island off the coast of Maine. For better or worse, innkeeper Natalie Barnes, who’s currently busy with guests at the Gray Whale Inn and plans for her wedding to artist and local deputy John Quinton, is no stranger to violent death on Cranberry Island (Brush with Death, 2013, etc.). On a blueberry-picking expedition, she spots a skiff floating loose. Inside is the dead body of Derek Morton, who’d been working as a stern man for Adam Thrackton, Natalie’s niece’s boyfriend, until he was fired for using Adam’s boat without permission. Derek had been dating Tania, the niece of Natalie’s best friend, Charlene, who runs the local store and knows all the island gossip. Tania, who’s distraught at the news, ends up in jail when an anonymous tip leads the police to a marijuana stash in her room. When Natalie visits Smuggler’s Cove with two of her guests, who are investigating their own mystery from the past, they are run down by a skiff that Natalie suspects belongs to a lobster boat using a false name that’s often been sighted in the area. Lucky to get herself and the guests to a nearby beach, Natalie remains undeterred from sleuthing. Warned off by John and the police, she refuses to quit despite her near-death experience. Her problem is too many suspects. |
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that it’s not news to Sparky, who seems to have known it would happen. Although Sparky has always been a bit quirky, Jack puts much of that down to his Asperger’s diagnosis. Now, however, Sparky is consulting star charts and trying to predict the future. The two leave Chicago with Malcolm’s mother to claim the body and try to find some answers, but the forest reservation spooks them, and they’re troubled by the persistent sense that there’s something more in the woods. A séance Jack’s neighbor insists he attend connects him to a spectral voice (his dead wife?) that eventually connects him—as usual in Masterton, the logical steps are never very clear—to Dr. Krystyna Zawadka, who’s been investigating a disturbingly similar phenomenon in Poland. As Jack and Sparky travel abroad to find out if the danger is animal, human or something more, Sparky makes hauntingly accurate predictions along the way. One thing remains clear: Whoever sets foot in these forests is in grave danger, even from their own hands, until the truth can be found. Typically creepy and graphic fare from Masterton, with an environmental spin that may herald a new direction (Drought, 2014). Given the final acts, this one clearly won’t be a series.
CLASSIC IN THE PITS
Myers, Amy Severn House (208 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8355-1
A stolen Porsche and a murdered man add up to another case for Jack Colby, car detective. Jack is appalled to hear that Old Herne’s, a center for classic cars and aviation activities, may be closing down. Before that happens, Jack, a consultant to the police in Kent, England, is asked to investigate the theft of the famous racing Porsche belonging to Mike Nelson, the incompetent manager of Old Herne’s. Jack turns up at Swoosh, which will probably be the last great event held at the club. But when Mike is found killed by an ax and run over by the antique Crossley fire truck that had once served the former RAF base, Jack turns to investigating his murder. Old Herne’s was founded by two interconnected families, the Howells and the Nelsons. American billionaire and former WWII Thunderbolt pilot Arthur Howell may have tired of providing the money the Nelsons are pouring down the drain. The murdered man was the son of Ray Nelson, the widower of 1940s singing sensation Miranda Pryde. Her grandson Jason is doing very well, updating her famous songs for a new generation, and he and his band performed at Swoosh. Mike’s widow, Anna, better known as Boadicea, insists that she’s entitled to either the car or the insurance money. Jack, who must consider both Jason and Anna possible suspects in the theft, turns an altogether different eye on Jessica Hart, the attractive new hire who’s supposed to get Old Herne’s back in the black, despite his continued attachment to Louise, the beautiful film star who dumped him. When Anna is attacked, Jack digs even deeper into the tangled pasts of the two families whose younger members are fighting for control of Old Herne’s. The complexities of the case play into Myers’ strength in dealing with complicated relationships (Classic Mistake, 2013, etc.). The result is a twisty tale packed with auto lore and family secrets.
PANTHERS PLAY FOR KEEPS
Simon, Clea Poisoned Pen (256 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $6.99 e-book $22.95 Lg. Prt. | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59058-870-3 978-1-59058-872-7 paper 978-1-61595-300-4 e-book 978-1-59058-871-0 Lg. Prt.
The ability to talk to animals is often a curse rather than a blessing. Massachusetts animal behaviorist Pru Marlowe is bombarded by chatter from every passing bird and beast, and her romance with Detective Jim Creighton is tricky. 30
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In Doc’s 21st adventure (Night Moves, 2013, etc.), promising characters get submerged in a colorful treasure hunt whose participants are at odds in not-veryinteresting ways. When Doc reveals the identity of the malefactor behind the psycho biker, readers realize it doesn’t much matter.
Though he realizes she has a special gift with animals, she hasn’t told him they communicate with her lest he think she’s crazy. Pru is currently training Spot as a guide dog for wealthy Richard Haigen and his trophy wife, Dierdre; Haigen is slowly losing his sight and not handling it well. Spot is being fostered by Dr. Laurel Kroft, an attractive therapist who, unbeknownst to Pru, has been dating Jim. A walk in the woods with Spot leads to the discovery of the badly mutilated body of the Haigen’s maid, Mariela, who it appears may have been killed by a panther—even though experts say there aren’t any left in the Berkshires. Although the taciturn Spot is talking to Pru, what little he has to say confuses her. She’s getting plenty of advice from her bossy cat, Willis, and Growler, a Bichon she walks for a nasty gossip. When Laurel is found murdered, Jim casts a suspicious eye Pru’s way, knowing she had some issues with the secretive therapist. A gangster who loves cats warns Pru to stay out of the murder cases, but Pru is never one to heed advice from humans. She continues to ferret around, putting both herself and Spot in danger from a determined killer. The fourth in Simon’s series (Parrots Prove Deadly, 2013, etc.) is not a bad mystery, but the constant animal chatter and Pru’s often unbelievable behavior may appeal to only the staunchest animal lovers.
science fiction and fantasy THE GOBLIN EMPEROR
Addison, Katherine Tor (432 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7653-2699-7
New fantasy from an author who, as Sarah Monette, wrote the Doctrine of Labyrinth series. Eighteen-year-old half-goblin Maia, the despised youngest son of the Emperor, lives in wretched circumstances, exiled from the Imperial Court and overseen by his brutal cousin, Setheris. But then a courier arrives with the news that his father and elder brothers have been killed in an airship crash. Stunned and disconcerted, Maia must take his place as the rightful Emperor of the Elflands. Armed only with his quick wits, empathy and natural humility, his first task is to face down the arrogant and contemptuous Lord Chancellor, Uleris Chavar, and insist that he be crowned before his father’s funeral. Alone and friendless, bewildered by the complex politics and economics of the court—and soon informed that his father’s death was caused by sabotage, not accident—Maia finds the burden almost unsupportable. He comes to rely on Csevet, the courier who becomes his secretary, for information and advice and on his guards Cala and Beshelar, who are sworn to protect him. Gradually he finds ways to solve intractable problems. He treats servants as people and women as equals, an approach that wins him many admirers but also enrages the more traditional nobles. Addison patiently and tellingly paints in the backdrop, mingling steampunk elements and low-key magic with imperial intricacies. There are powerful character studies and a plot full of small but deadly traps among which the sweetnatured, perplexed Maia must navigate. The result is a spellbinding and genuinely affecting drama. Unreservedly recommended.
BONE DEEP
White, Randy Wayne Putnam (384 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-399-15813-1 A search for a pair of stone carvings stolen from Crow tribal lands in Montana leads Dr. Marion Ford and his pal Tomlinson to another round of wild and woolly adventures. Although the Charmstones in question were stolen years ago, Duncan Fallsdown, who’s come to Sanibel Island to ask Tomlinson’s help in finding them, is suddenly in a hurry to show them to his aunt Rachel before her pancreatic cancer kills her. Because the signs point to Florida’s Bone Valley, Tomlinson asks Doc Ford to get permission from wealthy Leland Albright, heir to his grandfather’s phosphate mines, to search for them there. No sooner has Doc caught a whiff of Albright’s dysfunctional family—his fashion model bride, Ava, the twin daughters she’s grown oddly close to, and Owen Hall, the stepson his second wife left him—than the trail of the Charmstones leads to the home of Finn Tovar, a notoriously violent relics collector who’s just died of a brain tumor. Doc unexpectedly recovers one of the carvings when he turns the tables on Deon Killip, a thief who’s hijacked his boat for a getaway, and finds it in his bag. Unfortunately, possession of the carving comes at a high price, since Quirt Reno, a psychotic biker with a bionic arm, is so determined to recover it for himself that he makes all sorts of wild threats, some of which he actually carries out. |
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STELES OF THE SKY
SHIPSTAR
Bear, Elizabeth Tor (432 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7653-2756-7 978-1-4299-4768-8 e-book Series: Eternal Sky, 3
Benford, Gregory; Niven, Larry Tor (400 pp.) $27.99 | $14.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7653-2870-0 978-1-4299-4968-2 e-book
Wrapping up Bear’s complex and beautifully rendered historical-fantasy trilogy (Shattered Pillars, 2013, etc.). Necromancer and blood-sorcerer al-Sepehr, head of the Nameless assassin cult, arranged to have his daughter Saadet impregnated by Qori Buqa, Khagan of the nomad horse-warrior Empire, whom he then murdered. Re Temur, Qori Buqa’s nephew and the true heir to the Khaganate, decides to raise his banner at Dragon Lake, site of the Khagan’s vast abandoned palace—but how to reach it? Perhaps his companions, the wizard Samarkar, Hrahima, a huge humantiger Cho-tse warrior, and the silent monk, Brother Hsiung, can find a way through the magic doorways created by the extinct Erem Empire. But Erem magic is deadly poisonous—Brother Hsiung is already half-blind from attempting to study it. Edene, Temur’s woman, escaped from al-Sepehr by stealing a green Erem ring, which gave her command of the ghuls, a slave race created by Erem, and control of the toxic Erem magic and all poisonous creatures, but an evil presence within it whispers to her—and she’s carrying Temur’s child. She must also deal with a djinn who, appearing sporadically and unpredictably, sometimes offers help while admitting he’s bound, against his will, to al-Sepehr. Various other groups—wizards, warriors, empresses, survivors of the civilizations broken by al-Sepehr’s treachery— converge on Dragon Lake. These and other narrative strands progress and interact through fully realized characters whose personalities and motivations arise from the dazzlingly detailed cultures and landscapes from which they derive. If there’s a disappointment, it’s the bipedal tiger Hrahima, a vigorous presence whose background and motivations remain largely unexplored. Notably, apart from the hero and his antagonist, all the leading characters are women. It all adds up to an eminently satisfying conclusion. Considering the trilogy as a whole, the overused term masterpiece justifiably applies. (Agent: Jennifer Jackson)
The promised sequel to Bowl of Heaven (2012), in which a starship containing would-be colonists encounters a vast bowl-shaped construct that’s being steered toward the same destination, using an entire star as its engine. Once the humans begin to explore the artifact, they learn that it’s been wandering the galaxy for millions of years, capturing and enslaving other intelligent species and incorporating them into its complex ecology. Since the starship needs supplies, a landing party investigates and becomes separated when the Bowl’s nominal rulers, the bulky, birdlike Folk, attempt to capture them. One group under biologist Beth Marble, assisted by creatures called finger snakes, manages to escape back to the starship; a second group, led by Cliff Kammash, teams up with the alien Sil—yet another species that chafes under the Folk’s arrogant and inflexible governance. Back on the starship, Capt. Redwing attempts to communicate with the Folk and with Cliff, learning of still more powerful aliens whose ambition is to communicate with the advanced intelligences inhabiting the planet that is the Bowl’s, and the starship’s, ultimate destination. Putting less emphasis on the Bowl object itself, the authors make an effort to develop their characters, with notably more success where the aliens are concerned—technical discussions still tend to clog the human interactions. And there are lots of revelations concerning the Bowl’s origins and purpose, even if much of it is reportage with little mystery or tension. The upshot is often impressive—not too surprisingly, given the authors’ stellar credentials—yet only occasionally engaging. With the welcome influx of new ideas, a definite improvement on Volume 1. (Agent: Eleanor Wood)
TRANSHUMAN
Bova, Ben Tor (464 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-7653-3293-6 978-1-4299-6542-2 e-book Scientific thriller from the author of New Earth (2013). Aging cellular-biology whiz Luke Abramson can’t bear to watch his young granddaughter, Angie, die from an aggressive, untreatable brain tumor. His research indicates that if telomerase production is suppressed—thereby causing cells to die faster than normal—cancer cells should perish even more quickly than healthy cells. But nobody will sanction this potentially hazardous experiment, and even his own daughter won’t
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If you can suspend your critical faculties, you’ll enjoy the romance parts. (Agent: Robin Rue)
agree to it, so he kidnaps the girl from her hospital bed in Boston, intending to treat her at a facility in Oregon. He persuades Angie’s physician, Tamara Minteer, to go along, but Angie’s distraught parents call in the FBI. Duplicitous billionaire Quenton Fisk, having backed Luke’s research, offers a place for Luke, Tamara and Angie to hide while the treatment proceeds, since he’ll own the results. Luke, meanwhile, too old and creaky to be dodging the FBI with a granddaughter in tow, boosts his own telomerase production, hoping to make himself younger, as his trials on mice have shown. Angie’s cancer does shrink, but she develops progeria, or premature aging, as a side effect of telomerase suppression. As Luke grows younger and the FBI closes in, the White House gets wind of the case and reasons that if cancers can be cured and oldsters made youthful, the economy would collapse. These are lightweight ideas and formulaic doings carried out by cardboard characters in an improbable 1950s-style plot. Bova is usually good company, but this unabashed potboiler barely reaches tepid.
RAISING STEAM
Pratchett, Terry Doubleday (384 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-385-53826-8 Pratchett’s 40th Discworld novel brings in one—or, as it turns out, two— intriguing new characters and introduces a radical new concept: the railway. Young genius engineer Dick Simnel invents a steam locomotive he names Iron Girder. Waste management tycoon Sir Harry King immediately grasps the lucrative possibilities and invests part of his fortune in the railway. Ankh-Morpork’s Lord Vetinari intends for the city to keep control of the new enterprise and appoints con man–turned–civil servant Moist von Lipwig to keep an eye on matters. The railway proves wildly popular with the public. Unfortunately, dwarf fundamentalists opposed to fraternization with trolls or humans begin making terrorist attacks, murdering railway workers and setting fire to clacks communications towers. The terrorists eventually overthrow the legitimate dwarf government in Uberwald while the dwarf Low King is more than 1,000 miles away. Only by means of the railway, declares Lord Vetinari, can Low King Rhys return to Uberwald in time to foil the plotters. But Uberwald, haunted by vampires and werewolves, may be approached only across high plains covered with stumbleweed (“like tumbleweed, but less athletic”). And, Moist protests, the railway isn’t finished. Somehow, Vetinari explains kindly, Moist better find a way to finish it if he wants his head to remain attached to his neck. Young Dick, meanwhile, entertains a most peculiar notion: that Iron Girder is female and sentient. And after witnessing the locomotive deal with a misguided dwarf ’s attempted sabotage, Moist is inclined to agree with him. In recent years, Discworld humor has become implicit (check out the hilarious names of Uberworld towns, for example) rather than explicit, while continuing to explore serious themes with impeccable Discworld logic, and the trend continues here. Brimming with Pratchett’s trademark wit, a yarn with a serious point made with style and elegance.
THE OPHELIA PROPHECY
Fisher, Sharon Lynn Tor (320 pp.) $15.99 paper | Feb. 18, 2014 978-0-7653-7418-9
Post-apocalyptic romance, from the author of Ghost Planet (2012). Humans engineered a race of warriors with mingled human and insect genes, the Manti, who proceeded to make war on their creators. Now, following devastating plagues, humans survive only in Sanctuary, a city in the Utah desert. Asha St. John, a Sanctuary archivist with expertise in Manti origins, wakes near the border of Sanctuary unable to recall her recent past. Nearby are two Manti, Paxton and his sister Iris, who arrived in their intelligent flying craft, Banshee, and whose job is to keep an eye on Sanctuary. Due to his irresistible biological imperatives—he needs all his willpower not to rape her on the spot—Pax finds himself bonding with Asha despite Iris’ hostility. Banshee, fortunately, likes Asha. After a stopover in Ireland, where a ragged and desperate band of humans clings to existence despite attacks by huge intelligent wasps, they arrive in Granada, the Manti capital. Pax reveals that his father is amir, or supreme leader, and will not be at all happy about Pax’s association with Asha. Asha recovers her memory and realizes she arranged to be brought to Granada in order to find her father, whom the Manti snatched after he found out the truth about Sanctuary. Our star-crossed lovers continue to mistrust one another. There are threats, backstabbing, alliances and disputes, much of it involving the Manti religion. The historical background, while underdeveloped, has at least a modicum of plausibility. The lovers have personality and charm, and the sex is well-handled. But Fisher pushes an awkward association between the Manti and elves or fairies, and the plot makes no sense whatsoever. |
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THORNLOST
Rawn, Melanie Tor (384 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-7653-2878-6 978-1-4299-4653-7 e-book Series: Glass Thorns, 3
WAITING ON YOU
Third in the fantasy series (Elsewhens, 2013, etc.) about a magical theater company in a sort-of Elizabethan setting. The theater troupe, Touchstone, consists of part elf and part wizard Cayden Silversun, the “tregetour” or playwright/director, who imbues the performance with the necessary magic; elf Mieka Windthistle, the “glisker,” who uses his magic to make everything come alive; Jeska, the “masker,” who plays all the parts; and Rafe, the “fettler,” who controls the performance on stage. Cade’s dark secret is that he foresees possible futures, or “Elsewhens,” and has the ability to make them come true or turn them aside. In an unguarded moment, he tells Mieka; Mieka tells his witch-wife, who tells others, and now sinister forces are plotting. Rawn scatters many hints, but it’s never clear exactly what’s going on, though a rival troupe named Black Lightning seems bent on stirring up hatred among the many races in this world. Some audiences consist of only a handful of patrons, evidently emotional vampires. Elsewhere, women start to insert themselves into the hitherto all-male audiences, and some display the ability to become troupe members—developments strenuously resisted by society’s conservative elements. The mysterious Archduke Cyed Henick hatches plots in the background. Details of dress, manners and protocol abound. More problematic are the characters. The Touchstones behave like drunken frat-boy pranksters, complete with irritatingly apposite dialogue and humor. Cade’s pretentious mother supplies the nuisance factor. Series fans will, presumably, wriggle in and keep reading, though few others will bother. (Agent: Russ Galen)
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Higgins, Kristan Harlequin (464 pp.) $7.99 paper | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-373-77858-4 Since Lucas Campbell broke Colleen O’Rourke’s heart 10 years ago, she’s become a star matchmaker while avoiding romantic entanglements herself, which suits her just fine—until Lucas comes back to town. Colleen has been in love with Lucas ever since the first time she laid eyes on him, and for a time she thought they would be together forever. But after an argument led to a breakup, there were unexpected consequences on both sides. Lucas wound up in Chicago married to someone else, then divorced, and Colleen hid her broken heart behind a flirtatious, lighthearted attitude. Now, 10 years later, while his Uncle Joe lies dying and his cousin Bryce is in denial, Lucas is back in Manningsport to help navigate the situation. Lucas’ family relationships are nothing if not complicated, and stepping back into the dynamics after 10 years of separation have only made them worse. At first he’s determined to avoid Colleen, but they find themselves thrown together by other people and external circumstances, and he decides she’s worth pursuing. Again. They have a decade of hurt and misunderstandings to overcome, but as they start to heal from the past, there are some explosive secrets that could blow them apart again. Romance star Higgins continues the Blue Heron series with her signature combination of wit, humor and soul-jarring emotional depth. Colleen and Lucas travel a bumpy road to their happy ending, replete with misunderstandings and catastrophically bad timing. Occasionally, their inability to communicate the most basic insecurities is annoying, and a couple of jaw-dropping missteps are hard to believe, though they do leaven the characters’ flawed authenticity. At times their imperfections can almost make them unlikable, but their ability to forgive each other’s worst aspects makes their ultimate reconciliation especially gratifying. Higgins’ talent shines, as does her inimitable ability to hit romantic highs, make readers laugh and express heartwrenching emotion.
CAROLINA MAN
Kantra, Virginia Penguin (304 pp.) $7.99 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-425-26887-2 A Marine’s world is completely upended when he receives a letter saying he’s the guardian of a 10-year-old daughter he never knew about, and the attorney handling the matter feels like the woman he’s been waiting for all his life. Staff Sgt. Luke Fletcher is in Afghanistan when he gets word that his high school girlfriend Dawn has died and left him custody of a daughter he didn’t know he had. Flying halfway around the world to get Taylor safely ensconced with his family at their North Carolina inn, he meets Kate Dolan, the attorney handling the legal issues. Luke has to finish his current tour and decide whether or not to reenlist, a question complicated by a blazing attraction to Kate, a heart-melting loyalty to his new-to-him daughter and some emotional threats to their well-being from Dawn’s family. Bestselling romance author Kantra continues her popular Dare Island series with this heart-warming story about a smart-butdamaged heroine who learns a few lessons about love and family from her Marine hero. With a swirl of successful and engaging features—small-town charm, family loyalty, a strong-but-gentle warrior hero—combined with strong writing and powerful storytelling, Kantra delivers a sexy, satisfying love story. Contemporary romance as warm and gratifying as a perfect day at the beach.
EVENING STARS
Mallery, Susan Harlequin MIRA (352 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 e-book | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-7783-1717-3 978-0-7783-1613-8 e-book Two sisters are taking stock of their lives amid emotional insecurity when an unexpected treasure gives them the chance to have everything they want—if only they can figure out what that is. Nearly 30, Nina has spent her life on Blackberry Island, making sacrifices so her sister Averil could escape their small town even while her own dreams drifted out of reach. Her mother owns an antiques store full of junk and has never been a person anyone could depend on; Nina’s been cleaning up after her since she was a kid. Now Averil is back, leaving a journalism career and a husband who loves her, and Nina is frustrated by her sister’s ambivalence about a life Nina considers perfect. Meanwhile, Nina juggles her career as a nurse with trying to keep the antiques shop viable; her mother keeps spending money without putting in the work to keep it running. Finding a new, trustworthy employee for the store seems to create a
new dynamic, as some of the junk turns out to be worth a second look—and so do the people in Nina’s life. Two men from her past come back, and suddenly she has to decide what she truly wants, since all her old dreams are rising like ghosts and teasing her with possibilities. But before she can fix her own life, she might have to stop trying to manage everyone else’s. Best-selling romance author Mallery delves into light women’s fiction with this third Blackberry Island novel, maintaining her romantic charm and smooth voice yet embracing the freedom of a broader storyline with ease and a bit more depth. A light, engaging family-coming-of-age story that flows gracefully into a handful of happy endings, though with a few more twists, turns and universal conflicts than a strict romance.
HOTELLES
Mars, Emma Translated by Pernsteiner, Alexis Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $15.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-06-227417-5 Struggling to finish her journalism degree and help her cancer-stricken mother, a young escort finds herself swept up in an erotic education that threatens her impending fairy-tale wedding. Elle hopes her job working for an exclusive escort agency won’t last long. Obligated only to accompany wealthy men in need of arm candy to their social functions, she sometimes takes advantage of the after-hours, off-the-books amorous perks. Yet the encounters leave her dissatisfied. After a silver notebook mysteriously appears in her bag one day, Elle begins receiving erotic notes from an anonymous admirer. One evening, she meets the brilliant, charismatic media mogul David Barlet. A whirlwind romance ensues, and within weeks they’re engaged. Elle ought to be thrilled, but it all seems too fast; David hasn’t kissed her yet, and she’s still harboring a few secrets. Certain that David would drop her if he knew about her escort work, Elle is determined to quit but agrees to take one final job— which turns out to be with David’s charismatic brother, Louie. Her silver notebook starts filling with not only erotic notes, but also demands, presumably from Louie. He sets Elle a series of erotic challenges, each accompanied by a signature fetish and held in an aptly chosen room at the Hôtel des Charmes. Echoing The Story of O, most of the games arouse Elle’s desires to submit and to dominate. Yet others have an odd ring to them, such as her encounter with a man clad entirely in black latex wielding a whip, like a superhero deeply concerned about germ transmission. As the games continue, Elle starts to wonder about the death of David’s first wife, Louie’s motives and her own desires. Rife with sexual tension and mystery, this first tale in a trilogy will have readers eager for the translation of Mars’ next installment.
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BETTING THE RAINBOW
Thomas, Jodi Berkley (304 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-425-26840-7
When widow Ronny Logan comes back to Rainbow Road, the once-shy loner will be wrapped into the lives of her neighbors, including an injured serviceman and two sisters who are hoping to finally change their lives. After her husband died, Ronny traveled the world to get over him; then, unsure of what to do next, she came home to Harmony, Texas, and settled in an isolated cabin. She likes the fact that she has only three neighbors—the Delaney sisters across the lake and Austin Hawk, who’s healing from a tragic accident suffered during his Army service. Like Ronny, Austin is a loner, and the two share an immediate, powerful attraction which neither can explain; it grows when Ronny and the Delaneys, along with Austin’s childhood friend Kieran, help Austin after he’s injured again in a freak accident. Kieran is in town for a poker tournament, and Dusti Delaney asks him to help her enter, seeing it as an opportunity to win enough money to get her and her sister out of the financial hardship they fell into when their parents died. Kieran, secretly nursing a longstanding crush on Dusti, agrees to help, though the possibility of competing against each other causes some tension. Meanwhile, in the midst of hosting the tournament, Reagan Truman realizes that her lifelong love, rodeo star Noah McAllen, has begun to take her for granted, and a surprise on her doorstep makes her question whether their rock-solid relationship isn’t built on sand. Popular romance author Thomas returns to Harmony with another book that moves forward apace, visiting with favorite characters and introducing new ones fans will appreciate. Readers will root for their happily-ever-after and will be satisfied in the end, but getting there involves a lot of telling rather than showing and some character and relationship jumps that involve broad strokes rather than detail work. Gratifying emotional moments and resolutions mostly overcome some flawed storytelling.
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nonfiction INFINITESIMAL How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World
These titles earned the Kirkus Star: INFINITESIMAL by Amir Alexander................................................... 37
Alexander, Amir Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (368 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-374-17681-5
BLOOD BROTHERHOODS by John Dickie........................................ 42 THE SNOWDEN FILES by Luke Harding.......................................... 49 JOHN MUIR AND THE ICE THAT STARTED A FIRE by Kim Heacox......................................................................................50
In the mid-17th century, debate raged over a mathematical concept of the infinitely small—and nothing less than modernity as we know it was at stake. At its core, the public argument over the infinitesimal—the idea that a line is composed of an endless number of immeasurably small component parts—is rooted in the ideological scope of post-Reformation Europe. The church, struggling to maintain autonomy over an increasingly disparate populace, fought to bar the infinitesimal from mathematical doctrine due to its implication that nature itself is not orderly, logical and completely subject to deductive reasoning. At the same time, leading intellectuals like Thomas Hobbes and John Wallis insisted that embracing the idea of the infinite in mathematics would open up a remarkable new opportunity to experimentally explore the world around us. Alexander (History/UCLA; Duel at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the Rise of Modern Mathematics, 2010, etc.) tells this story of intellectual strife with the high drama and thrilling tension it deserves, weaving a history of mathematics through the social and religious upheavals that marked much of the era. For the people of Europe, more than just academic success was on the line: The struggle for civil liberties and rebellion against the rigid doctrines of the establishment were entrenched in the conceptual war over the infinitesimal. The fact that progressive mathematics prevailed was unquestionably momentous, as the addition of the concept of the infinitesimal eventually led to calculus, physics and many of the technological advances that are the bedrock of modern science and society. The author navigates even the most abstract mathematical concepts as deftly as he does the layered social history, and the result is a book about math that is actually fun to read. A fast-paced history of the singular idea that shaped a multitude of modern achievements.
THE AGE OF RADIANCE by Craig Nelson..........................................59 THE DIVIDE by Matt Taibbi................................................................67 THE DIVIDE American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
Taibbi, Matt Spiegel & Grau (448 pp.) $27.00 Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-8129-9342-4
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“An enjoyable, swift read, and the author’s final solution to Archie’s wartime dilemma makes it as fun as a work of historical fiction.” from paris at the end of the world
“BOYS WILL BE BOYS” My Fight for Justice Against Halliburton/KBR
PARIS AT THE END OF THE WORLD The City of Light During the Great War, 1914-1918
Barker, Tracy Seven Stories (224 pp.) $18.95 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-60980-547-0 978-1-60980-548-7 e-book
Baxter, John Perennial/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $15.99 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-222140-7
Australian transplant and longtime Paris resident Baxter (The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris, 2011) has spent years trying to discover what it was that changed his grandfather so much when he returned from World War I. Grandpa Archie left his young family, rejected his former job and never mentioned the war; he only occasionally said, ça ne fait rien (it makes no difference). Was he injured; did he suffer or commit horrors; did he desert; did he fall in love? During his many years in Paris, the author only found a few facts with the help of a military historian. Within Archie’s story, the author intersperses descriptions of Paris and its artistic occupants during the Great War. For most Parisians, French or not, the war didn’t seem real; it was a show, entertainment for their picnics. Most residents were only concerned with the moment. Despite shortages, the theater muddled on, dinner parties were noted for the clever conversations rather than the cooking, and bombs were mostly ignored. Only the French could make austerity chic. “Far from rejecting pain,” he writes, “[Paris] embraced it, transformed it.” Throughout the narrative, Baxter jumps back and forth to England, where the Australian forces were based before traveling to the front and returned for recovery. The no-nonsense Aussies were quick to start a fight and didn’t take any guff from anyone, even officers, and the botched leadership at the beginning of the war would no doubt have caused a mutiny. This book is as much about searching for Grandpa Archie’s life as it is about Paris and England during the war. In lesser hands, the narrative could have easily become confusing, even boring, but Baxter carries it off with aplomb. An enjoyable, swift read, and the author’s final solution to Archie’s wartime dilemma makes it as fun as a work of historical fiction.
In 2004, seeking greater financial security for her family, military wife and mother Barker secured a one-year assignment working for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq. Her memoir chronicles her sexual abuse, the military contractor’s attempted coverup and her prolonged battle for justice. The author’s orientation in Houston did not go well. She felt the atmosphere was unprofessional, as medical exams were given in a shoddy, substandard building, and prospective employees’ meals were of poor quality. Nonetheless, Barker gave Halliburton the benefit of the doubt and traveled to Iraq. The author felt unprepared for the dangerous environment she encountered. Security was lax, drugs and alcohol, though banned at the camp, were rampant, and a chaotic atmosphere reigned. “I often wondered what the hardworking American people would think if they knew they were paying for such complete incompetence,” she writes. When Barker lodged a complaint against her supervisor, her situation deteriorated quickly. She was held in a shipping container for three days and told she would lose her job if she attempted to leave. After a co-worker raped her, Barker was abandoned in the desert. Upon her return to the States, she sought counseling and hired a team of attorneys. Her struggle for justice became as harrowing as her experiences in Iraq. Barker’s attorneys purposefully misled her, creating stressful and expensive delays. “Like most people,” she writes, “before the experiences described in this book, I wholeheartedly believed in America, and blindly trusted our judicial system. Then, the system egregiously failed my family, my fellow citizens, and me.” The author’s story is interspersed with comments from her husband regarding his wife’s nightmarish situation, the tensions created within the family and his thoughts concerning the legal malfeasance the couple encountered. Barker’s story shines an important light on the subject of sexual harassment in the workplace while exposing the shoddy ethical standards and procedures of Halliburton/KBR.
AMERICAN CRUCIFIXION The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church Beam, Alex PublicAffairs (352 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-61039-313-3
An account of the Illinois Mormon settlement Nauvoo and the events that precipitated the church’s flight to Utah. When Boston Globe and International Herald Tribune columnist Beam (A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books, 2008, etc.) introduces Joseph Smith (1805–1844), 38
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founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smith is on the run again. The author examines the reasons for his desperate Mississippi River crossing and what led to previous, similar episodes. The founder of a brand of Christianity that still fascinates and polarizes the world today, Smith was no less divisive a figure in his own time. The author notes that the very idea of a new religion was disturbing enough to Smith’s contemporaries, but he also focuses on the doctrine of polygamy as the truly alienating issue that led to the downfall of the Mormons’ Illinois “Zion” and Smith’s own death. The rift in the church following Smith’s revelations about taking more than one wife legitimized the long-standing hostility of their neighbors. Beam is the consummate journalist, precise about his research and offering judgment only where there is ample proof of wrongdoing. He treats Smith with journalistic objectivity but doesn’t hesitate to point out that “Joseph received so many revelations that they inevitably conflicted.” With so much history to tackle, from the roots of Mormonism to the economic, political and moral climates in which hatred of the new religion developed, it is impressive that Beam maintains narrative tension and excitement while injecting personality. The author’s use of antiquated language—even outside historical documents—adds color to his writing but may also be a source of confusion for some readers—e.g., when he calls the governor of Illinois Thomas Ford “Pecksniffian.” A fascinating history that, while particularly appealing to those interested in religion, is sure to inform a far wider audience.
“And he’d always include the names of three actors he thought were available who could do a better job.” Bischoff makes sure to include ample insider Sopranos information, largely focusing on ever-increasing sums of money and the ensuing contract battles. However, the author shines in his behind-the-scenes explorations. In trying to divine who this intrinsically “Jersey guy” was, Bischoff reminds readers that Gandolfini passed away while vacationing with his young son and that the women he’d loved at various points in his life found it possible to sit near each other at his funeral. In his case, the absence of chatter surrounding his possible failings speaks volumes about his success as a human being. Not the last word but an earnest, endearing homage to an outstanding actor. (16-page color photo insert)
JAMES GANDOLFINI The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano Bischoff, Dan St. Martin’s (272 pp.) $24.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-250-05132-5 978-1-4668-5381-2 e-book
A bittersweet biography of an intensely private artist. Unerringly tight-lipped throughout his career, actor James Gandolfini (1961–2013) exists as a kind of burly but amiable cypher who defies close examination. That he somehow managed, despite his media-shy disposition, to convince legions of Sopranos fans that they actually knew what made him tick is testament to his considerable powers as an artist. With little in the way of original source material to draw upon, Star-Ledger art critic Bischoff relies heavily on Gandolfini’s impressive collection of work to help define his subject’s remarkable life. What he finds, despite Gandolfini’s undeniably magnetic presence on screen, is a remarkable actor who nevertheless found the process of acting incredibly taxing—and a genuinely “regular guy” who felt insecure about his craft. “About a week before a production was supposed to start filming, we’d get a letter, copied to the director, in which Jim would give everybody an out, asking them if they were sure they thought he could do the part,” says Gandolfini’s manager Mark Armstrong. |
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“Nate Silver numbers and James Thurber wit turn what should be a harebrained adventure into a pretty damn endearing one.” from i don’t care if we never get back
MISSING MICROBES How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues
I DON’T CARE IF WE NEVER GET BACK 30 Games in 30 Days on the Best Worst Baseball Road Trip Ever
Blaser, Martin J. Henry Holt (288 pp.) $28.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-8050-9810-5
Blatt, Ben; Brewster, Eric Grove (272 pp.) $24.00 | May 6, 2014 978-0-8021-2274-2
Infectious disease specialist Blaser makes an impassioned plea for maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystem that exists in and on our bodies: the human microbiome. That microbiome consists of 10 trillion bacteria, fungi and viruses, and it’s a life-support system we depend on to metabolize foods, make vitamins, outcompete pathogens and bolster immunity. Blaser claims that we are killing the system with overuse of antibiotics, hand sanitizers and increased cesarean births, which eliminate babies’ baptism by bacteria as they pass through the birth canal. The result is a shrinking of diversity, shifts in the ecosystem and a dangerous rise in antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The author is no foe of antibiotics; indeed, the drugs once saved him from death from typhoid fever. However, he deplores the all-too-easy reach for the prescription pad to treat nonserious (and nonbacterial) runny noses and colds, not to mention the dosing of farm animals with antibiotics to promote rapid growth and weight gain. Blaser concentrates on gut bacteria—the richest sites of human colonization—and uses the example of H. pylori, ancient acid-tolerant stomach bacteria found only in humans, to demonstrate that bugs can play both good and bad roles in human health. Eliminating H. pylori eliminates stomach inflammation (gastritis), ulcers and late-life risk of stomach cancer, but the species also generates hormones, helps regulate inflammation and modulates immune reactions. Blaser also has epidemiological data and intricate animal experiments to back up associations between antibiotics/changed microbiomes and inflammatory bowel disease, Type 1 diabetes, obesity, some cancers and even autism, with the suggestion that there are critical times in early development when even transient use of antibiotics can have lifelong effects. There’s no denying that the diseases Blaser highlights are multifactorial in origin and that the hygiene-hypothesis folks have a point when they declare our hypersanitized world revs up our immune systems to attack us. Credit Blaser for displaying the wonders and importance of a vast underworld we are jeopardizing but cannot live without.
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Two former Harvard Lampoon writers attempt a road trip of epic logistical proportions: 30 baseball games in 30 stadiums in 30 days. The road-trip memoir has become so tired that there’s almost no premise good enough to resurrect it from endless cliché, and a frenetic race to an arbitrary goal didn’t seem promising. But that wasn’t accounting for two things: Moneyball-worthy mathematical algorithms and the sharp, hilarious prose that has made Lampoon alums famous for generations. Slate writer Blatt is passionate about two things: math and baseball. His travel companion, Brewster, is passionate about neither. But when Blatt wrote a computer program that plotted out the trip—an entire game every day, hitting every stadium, using only a car— Brewster reluctantly agreed to join his friend. The math assured the pair that the trip was possible, albeit illogical (requiring several dizzying loops of the country) and stupid (the average leg between games was a 12-hour drive). But math also didn’t account for things like weather, traffic and human error, turning what should have been a month of leisurely summer fun into a suspenseful series of high-speed hauls through the night. Blatt and Brewster pepper their adventure with statistics—there was, they cheerfully point out in response to parental concerns, only a 0.5 percent chance that they would die in a vehicular accident—and anecdotes. At one point, they even constructed an OK Cupid profile for the romantically challenged Blatt and set him up with a date to a St. Louis Cardinals game. Our intrepid narrators are charmingly self-deprecating and keenly aware of the pointlessness of their journey, and yet they still imbue it with some meaningful thoughts about friendship, community, and the beauty and total absurdity of obsessive fandom. Nate Silver numbers and James Thurber wit turn what should be a harebrained adventure into a pretty damn endearing one.
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A VERY PRINCIPLED BOY The Life of Duncan Lee, Red Spy and Cold Warrior
child of missionary evangelicals in China, a student at Yale in the 1930s and a Rhodes scholar, Lee became politically radicalized at Oxford, largely under the sway of his socialist wife-to-be, Ishbel. Visiting the Soviet Union, he grew infatuated with communism and, in 1937, announced to his horrified parents “in a mixture of scripted lecture and outright rebellion” that he and Ishbel were joining the Communist Party of Great Britain. Back in the U.S., the couple first came under the scrutiny of the FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, when their landlady reported their “decidedly pink” views. The outbreak of war brought Lee to Washington to work with Donovan in his new intelligence service, and Lee began passing information to Mary Price, his first handler, a fellow Southerner working for Soviet agent Jacob Golos. From Price, he would be passed to agent Elizabeth Bentley, whose eventual breakdown and confession to the FBI would out Lee and dozens of others, dragging them before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1948. Yet Lee’s subsequent work in China funneling arms to Chiang Kai-shek allowed him to fly under the radar of prosecutors. A murky effort exacerbated by myriad shadowy agencies and a deeply unsympathetic protagonist. (29 b/w images)
Bradley, Mark A. Basic (384 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-465-03009-5
An obscure wartime spy working for the OSS, the wartime precursor to the CIA, gets a thorough exposé by a government lawyer and former CIA officer. Bradley’s sense of frustration at how this arrogant, dissembling underling of William Donovan got away with passing information to the Soviet spy network is partly explained by the general atmosphere of fear raging after the war and the fact that the American government had bigger fish to net—e.g., Alger Hiss. Indeed, while Duncan Lee (1913–1988) did not seem to have done harm to the U.S. war effort, he did provide the Soviets with information about OSS internal employees at security risk, thus tipping off the Soviets to the status of their agents. A
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“Dickie’s absorbing history of the Italian mob makes The Godfather look like a fairy tale.” from blood brotherhoods
MY ACCIDENTAL JIHAD A Love Story
advice available to parents is an embarrassment of riches. Conley (Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety, 2009, etc.) delivers a parenting guide to help sort out the good science from the bad, the harebrained schemes from the evidence-based parenting strategies. The author has the bona fides in the two areas that matter: He’s a father, and he’s also a dual-doctorate scientist and chair of the Children and Youth Section of the American Sociological Association. The book as a whole comes across a bit unevenly, however; a chapter dedicated to exploring cultural views of choosing baby names veers into the ridiculous when Conley reveals that they named their first child “E” and their second child “Yo” and then took them on CNN to discuss it. When a travel bottle of shampoo fell into the toilet and got stuck, Conley attempted to bribe his kid with money to fish it out for him; when the child refused, he switched to declaring her spoiled, which did the trick. There are passages offering good advice, such as defusing conflict by offering choices, but it can be hard to tell when Conley’s being serious, which diminishes the author’s better points. Will appeal to parents whose idea of comedy hews closer to Arrested Development than Leave It to Beaver—but do you want parenting advice from the Bluth family?
Bremer, Krista Algonquin (304 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-61620-068-8
A moving, lyrical memoir about how an American essayist fell in love with a Libyan-born Muslim man and learned to embrace the life she made with him. Sun associate publisher Bremer was a wayward former California surfer girl just starting to build her life in North Carolina when she met Ismail. He was 15 years older than she and different from her in almost every possible way. Yet his gentle simplicity made her feel as though she could “finally exhale…and [open] up to [herself]” in ways she had not been able to with anyone else. When she unexpectedly became pregnant not long after they met, she faced a difficult choice: terminate the pregnancy and continue her pursuit of a promising career in journalism or keep the baby and accept Ismail’s heartfelt offer of marriage. Unable to resist the mysterious allure of the future she “never intended—or even knew how much [she] wanted,” Bremer chose to “stitch [their] mismatched lives together to make a family.” Among the many challenges she encountered was coming to terms with Ismail’s loving but traditionalist family in Tripoli. To them, she was a woman “weighed down by so much individualism, impatience, and desire.” Yet through her visits with them, she also learned to temper the Western individualism she came to realize had been the source of the “creeping despair that comes from doggedly chasing the elusive dream that women can be everything at once.” As she gradually came to accept a different way of living—and eventually, worshipping—in middle-class America, Bremer grew to appreciate Ismail, her extended family and the struggle they brought into her life more than she even imagined possible. A sweet and rewarding journey of a book.
BLOOD BROTHERHOODS Italy and the Rise of Three Mafias Dickie, John PublicAffairs (800 pp.) $35.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-61039-427-7
Call them Camorra, ’Ndrangheta or Mafia: All of these “honored societies” emerged from the dirty politics of Italian unification. Dickie’s (Italian Studies/Univ. College, London; Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and Their Food, 2007, etc.) absorbing history of the Italian mob makes The Godfather look like a fairy tale. Three independent organizations were born in the prisons of Southern Italy in the 19th century, and daily life among the prisoners served as the root of the societies, which were based on omertà—submission and a code of silence. The Camorra of Naples was a well-known, flashy group, while the Cosa Nostra, or Mafia, of Sicily proved to be much more mysterious. ’Ndragheta, the latecomer, sprang fully formed from Calabrian prisons, and they controlled illegal tobacco and protection, followed by post–World War II construction, kidnapping and their biggest prize, heroin. Even up until the mid-1980s, officials denied that there was one organization; it was just the Sicilian way of settling things outside of official channels. As the author writes, it wasn’t just lawless; it was a research institute for perfecting criminal business models. Dickie’s knowledge of the structure and procedures comes from years of research and a “slobland of documents and testimonies.” The control of politics through intimidation,
PARENTOLOGY Everything You Wanted to Know About the Science of Raising Children But Were Too Exhausted to Ask Conley, Dalton Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4767-1265-9
A parent’s-eye view of recent scientific research into “the job you can never quit,” with a lot of winking. Today’s young parents have been deprived and blessed at the same time. A few decades ago, the road to parenting success was illuminated by a few trusted sources—Dr. Spock, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, etc.—and the hard-earned wisdom passed down through generations. In the Internet age, the 42
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REINVENTING AMERICAN HEALTH CARE How the Affordable Care Act Will Improve Our Terribly Complex, Blatantly Unjust, Outrageously Expensive, Grossly Inefficient, Error Prone System
gifts and murder ensured that laws would be accommodating, and trials would often be thrown out due to lack of evidence. One particular boss spent his entire adult life running his organization from prison. The author doesn’t even try to cover the American branches of these societies; Southern Italy is more than enough for one book, and it’s a riveting one at that. The bestiality of their vengeful bombings, murders and mutilations makes for difficult reading, but it’s the reality of the institution. These “men of honor” and “lads with attitude” created their own myths. Until Dickie’s revelatory book, most believed them.
Emanuel, Ezekiel J. PublicAffairs (400 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61039-345-4
CULTURE AND THE DEATH OF GOD
Emanuel (Medical Ethics and Health Policy/Univ. of Pennsylvania; Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family, 2013, etc.) views the Affordable Care Act as a success story. The author, who serves as a special White House adviser on health care reform, is optimistic that its glitches will be resolved within the year and that it will transform how patients are cared for over the coming decades. He reprises the complex
Eagleton, Terry Yale Univ. (240 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-300-20399-8
“Atheism is by no means as easy as it looks,” insists prolific author Eagleton (Literature/Univ. of Lancaster; Across the Pond: An Englishman’s View of America, 2013, etc.). Since the Enlightenment, philosophers have attempted to displace the perceived superstitions of religion as a basis for Western civilization and to replace them with secular reason, with limited success. In this rich, complex work, the author traces the course of this intellectual quest from 18th-century Germany through the Romantics and the writings of Matthew Arnold and Friedrich Nietzsche, who famously proclaimed the death of God, into a postmodern era of extreme relativism. One recurring problem has been the difficulty of translating academic theory into a viable popular culture, or as Eagleton puts it, “[n]o symbolic form in history has matched religion’s ability to link the most exalted of truths to the daily existence of countless men and women.” Consequently, “[r]eason must stoop to myth and image if it is to address the masses, but how is this not to be the ruin of it?” Another problem is the tendency of attempted surrogates for religion, such as nationalism, to take on mystical attributes, rites, saints and martyrs, indistinguishable from the characteristics of religion itself—the Almighty manages to return by the back door. Eagleton deftly explores the shifting relationships among reason, religion, culture, myth, art, tragedy and the modern sensibility of the absurd, all expressed with a dry wit and provocative epigrams. The book, however, is neither intended nor recommended for general readers. This wealth of content can only be contained in a slender volume by assuming that readers are already familiar with philosophers from Kant to Kierkegaard; without this background, it will prove slow going, though still rewarding. Now that the West is colliding with a resurgent Islam for which God is very much alive, Eagleton’s insights are particularly timely.
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“An enthralling account of how one Orthodox Jewish woman turned her back on her religion and found genuineness and validity in her new life.” from exodus
history of American health care policy beginning in 1942, when the National War Labor Board ruled that health insurance could be treated as a nontaxable fringe benefit despite the wage freeze. The later inclusion of Medicare and Medicaid increased the complexity of the system. Emanuel details the many inequities that developed—most notably, the exclusion of people with pre-existing health conditions from the system and the financial vulnerability of the uninsured, who also frequently receive substandard treatment—e.g.,“Being uninsured means your chance of dying in a car accident is 40% higher than that of a privately insured person.” The author asserts that the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 “was a historic event,” especially in the context of the ongoing recession and political restraints, coupled with the need to deal with opposition from “physicians, insurers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers” and others. He offers an insider’s account of some of the infighting that occurred within the Obama administration, including his own altercations with his brother, Rahm, then chief of staff to the president. The author takes a long view of the reforms beginning with incentives and penalties for the adoption of uniform electronic health records in the 2009 Recovery Act. The ACA, he writes, “will increasingly be seen as a world historic achievement,” and “Barack Obama will be viewed more like Harry Truman—judged with increasing respect over time.” An important challenge to the naysayers on both sides of the political divide.
rage.” Liberal feminists, focused on abortion rights reform, saw the enraged, violent Solanas as “NOW’s worst nightmare.” For her part, Solanas vehemently rejected expressions of solidarity. “SCUM is for whores, dykes, criminals, homicidal maniacs,” she wrote to Atkinson, who had praised the manifesto. “Therefore, please refrain from commenting on SCUM + from ‘defending’ me. I already have an excess of ‘friends’ out there who are suffocating me.” Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic after the shooting, Solanas descended ever more deeply into madness, spending her last 20 years in and out of mental hospitals. She claimed that a transmitter had been planted in her uterus and that an entity she called “the Mob” was after her. She died impoverished and alone. As Fahs portrays her, Solanas emerges less as “a woman who detected a spirit of collective anguish” than as a woman destroyed by her own overpowering demons. (36 b/w photos)
EXODUS A Memoir
Feldman, Deborah Blue Rider Press (288 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-399-16277-0
One woman’s search to understand herself and her Jewish heritage. Raised under the strict rules of a Satmar Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, Feldman (Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, 2012) had no clue how tightknit that community was when she decided to leave her marriage and a man she didn’t love with her young son and find a new life. “Leaving, to me felt like climbing a tremendous hill,” writes the author, “one of those steep inclines that becomes almost treacherous in that the more momentum you build while racing down it, the more difficult it becomes to stop safely.” She found herself an outcast from the Jewish system she’d been raised in and an outsider to the rest of the world, which often could not see beyond her apparent Jewish features. Unable to fathom life in hectic Brooklyn, Feldman pulled up stakes and moved to the countryside. Rich in details of Jewish life and the lives of her grandparents in the World War II era, the author sensitively portrays the inner struggles of accepting the pervasive feeling of survivor guilt and her own desires to understand the woman she was becoming. Feldman juxtaposes painfully emotional moments in concentration camps and in European towns where evidence of Jewish settlers was practically erased with humorous, almost macabre playacting scenarios with a German lover, scenarios that only added to Feldman’s confusion over her own identity. The overall effect is captivating, entertaining and informative, providing readers with an honest assessment of the strength of one’s convictions and the effect a strict religious background can have on a person. An enthralling account of how one Orthodox Jewish woman turned her back on her religion and found genuineness and validity in her new life.
VALERIE SOLANAS The Defiant Life of the Woman Who Wrote Scum (and Shot Andy Warhol) Fahs, Breanne Feminist (352 pp.) $22.95 paper | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-55861-848-0 978-1-55861-849-7 e-book
A sympathetic biography of a troubled and troubling woman. On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas (1936–1988) shot Andy Warhol, almost fatally wounding him. That act and her writing of a feminist manifesto titled SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) made her a cult heroine in her own time. Fahs (Gender Studies/ Arizona State Univ.; Performing Sex: The Making and Unmaking of Women’s Erotic Lives, 2011, etc.), believing Solanas to be a brilliant and “startling prescient,” faced considerable challenges in working on this biography: Solanas’ mother burned her daughter’s papers after Valerie died, and many who knew her refused to talk with Fahs. “Valerie famously rejected, alienated, and repeatedly threatened to kill nearly every friend she had,” writes the author. A polarizing figure, Solanas was championed by such feminists as Ti-Grace Atkinson and Florynce Kennedy, the lawyer who defended her for attempted murder, but was reviled by others. The National Organization for Women, founded in 1966, was divided about associating itself with her. A radical faction interpreted Solanas’ act as revolutionary, “a symbol of women’s 44
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“An insider’s guide to the most controversial energy-production technique in the United States.” from the boom
LOST AND FOUND IN JOHANNESBURG A Memoir
Manitoba, as well as at home in Colorado. Serious camping with knowledgeable outfitters, erudite guides, stoic lodge keepers and proficient companions fills his trip logs. The author also provides notes on fishing etiquette and stream hydrology, and he seems to remember every cast and every one that got away. He writes convincingly of trying to outwit cutthroats, rainbows and steelhead. The writer’s single-minded devotion to his fisherman’s M.O. in those pretty mountain streams naturally won’t mean much to piscatorial agnostics who never had the pleasure of outsmarting a trout in its home environs. With rhapsodic prose about “a small hare’s ear and partridge soft hackle,” “fiftypound fluorocarbon shock tippets,” and “an old Burkheimer rod loaded with a 550-grain Skagit head, a two-foot cheater, ten feet of T-14 sink tip and a four-inch-long Intruder fly with big lead eyes,” all this is reserved for the legions of devout anglers. Certainly, there are many sweet, folksy passages on ichthyology and the cultural anthropology of those folks who take so happily to the outdoor life, yet the book remains primarily a fisherman’s testimony to the faithful. “Even on those rare days when you trudge off to a trout stream not so much because you want to, but because your livelihood depends on it,” writes Gierach, “you have a better day at the office than most.” Elegiac tribute to the elusive art and ineffable pleasure of fly-fishing, with plenty of information about how it’s done by true practitioners.
Gevisser, Mark Farrar, Straus and Giroux (352 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-374-17676-1
A journalist and author from Johannesburg uses maps to retrace the boundaries of his boyhood, the dimensions of apartheid and the geography of imagination. Gevisser, who has published previously about his native country (A Legacy of Liberation: Thabo Mbeki and the Future of the South African Dream, 2009, etc.) and wrote the script for the documentary The Man Who Drove with Mandela (1999), returns with an intimate journey through his life, a journey that took a wicked detour in January 2012 when he and two close friends suffered a brutal home invasion. The author begins with some brief pages about the event, mentions it again a few times in the ensuing narrative (it swims, sharklike, just below the surface of the text), then focuses on it in a 40-page section near the end. The author, who is Jewish and gay, writes affectingly about both these aspects of his life, but it was geography, initially, that consumed him as a boy. He loved to play a self-invented game called “Dispatcher,” in which he used a map book to imagine lives and journeys; he often played for hours per day. (The game returns in the final section of his text.) Gradually, Gevisser guides us through his life—his family, schooling, travels, love of books and writing, and his dawning awareness of his sexual orientation, apartheid and danger. He includes many maps and photographs, some of which sent him into library archives. He includes accounts of his interviews with people from all walks of Johannesburg life, including a woman who guided him through the township of Alexandra. The home-invasion section is wrenching to read—though the author had the resources to visit therapists and to get away into the mountains with his partner, whom he refers to only as “C.” An often moving account of the ways we navigate our emotional and geographical landscapes. (73 b/w illustrations)
THE BOOM How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World Gold, Russell Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4516-9228-0
An insider’s guide to the most controversial energy-production technique in the United States. One of the most respected and practiced energy journalists in the United States, Gold (the Wall Street Journal) was most recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Here, the author delivers one of the first of a slate of books scheduled to tackle the provocative practice of hydraulic fracturing to mine natural gas, a process better known to most Americans as “fracking.” It’s a complex technique, and Gold gets deep into the science and engineering. Bookended by the story of his parents’ decision to sell fracking rights to their farm in rural Pennsylvania, Gold takes a coast-to-coast journey, interviewing energy moguls, roughnecks, mud men and market analysts to present a mostly comprehensive snapshot of the subject today. He also tells the story of the big personalities that drove the industry. There’s George Mitchell, the son of a Greek goatherd, who became the “father of fracking,” and Mitchell’s dark reflection in Aubrey McClendon, who rose to staggering heights and took a spectacular fall at the helm of Chesapeake Energy. There are also little terrors: the revelation that America
ALL FISHERMEN ARE LIARS
Gierach, John Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4516-1831-0
Passionate angler Gierach (No Shortage of Good Days, 2012, etc.) once again trolls for like-minded readers. In his 17th book on fishing, it remains “all about the fish and the beautiful places they live.” Gierach tells of going after elusive aquatic wildlife with rod and reel, lure and spoon, hook and hackle in such attractive precincts as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Wyoming’s North Platte, remote Labrador and frigid 46
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CITIZEN CANINE Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs
experimented with fracking in the 1960s using nuclear weapons instead of fracking fluid; the shadowy deal between McClendon and Sierra Club leader Carl Pope to channel millions in gas money to fight big coal; the Anadarko Petroleum executive who suggested downloading the Army’s counterinsurgency manual to combat protests. The book is weighted toward the opinions of the pro-fracking side, but it’s a forgivable sin given Gold’s beat and the book’s thesis. Ultimately, he arrives at a rational middle ground, advocating fracking to bridge the gap between the age of oil and the arrival of clean energy. But he admits it may be too late: “I don’t fear fracking. I fear carbon.” A cleareyed and mostly neutral study of the price of America’s energy addictions.
Grimm, David PublicAffairs (352 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-61039-133-7 978-1-61039-134-4 e-book
Science deputy news editor Grimm (Journalism/Johns Hopkins Univ.) looks at the pros and cons of granting citizenship to our pets—a far-out idea, to be sure, but one gaining traction with some on the fringe of the animal rights movement. At issue is the evolving status of the cats and dogs who have traveled a long road with our species, from camp followers in our hunter-gatherer days to treasured family members today, helping to shape our civilization while being themselves transformed. “Nearly a third of all Americans and half of all singles say that they rely more on their pets than on other people for companionship,” writes the author. They fill the void in our lives “created by technology and our disintegrating relationships,” and we spent a mind-boggling $55 billion on them last year, up 2.5 times from our expenditure in 2000. This state of affairs is reflected in the growing number of laws protecting animals from abuse and the efforts of animal rights activists to shut down puppy mills, stop the confinement of chickens in factory farms and abolish the use of animals for medical experiments. While some advocate direct action, others support the Animal Defense Fund, which models itself on the NAACP and draws an analogy between our treatment of animals and the treatment of black slaves—a comparison that some may well consider offensive. The ADF is taking legal cases that give them “a shot at chipping away at the property status of animals,” and animal rights litigation is becoming a recognized legal specialty taught at leading universities. Grimm also reports the views of opponents of the ADF, who question putting animal abuse on par with child abuse, veterinarians who object to frivolous malpractice suits, and other critics. He does not subscribe to giving animals citizenship, but he does believe “that the quest for inclusion defines us all, animal and man.” A challenging notion that fails to adequately address the implicit downgrading of our broader responsibilities as citizens.
ALEX’S WAKE A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance Goldsmith, Martin Da Capo/Perseus (352 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-306-82322-0
A child of persecuted German Jews remembers his tormented, perished forebears—and makes peace with the country that hounded them to death. Building on his previous memoir, The Inextinguishable Symphony (2000), which told the story of his musician parents’ meeting while members of the all-Jewish Kulturbund in Nazi Germany, classical music host Goldsmith delves into the archives and memory to uncover the plight of his grandfather Alex Goldschmidt and uncle Klaus Helmut, who were refugees aboard the ill-fated St. Louis bound for Cuba in May 1939. Rejected by Cuba, however, and in turn by the United States and Canada, the ocean liner, which contained more than 900 Jewish refugees, was doomed to return to Nazi Germany if not for the humanitarian intersession of Morris Troper, who managed to find succor for the passengers by dividing them among Belgium, Holland, England and France. Alex and his younger son were sent to France, soon to be occupied, and passed from camp to camp, finally hauled off to Auschwitz, where they perished in 1942. Hauntingly, Alex sent increasingly frantic messages to his older son, who had found refuge in the United States, and concluded, “If you don’t move heaven and earth to help us, that’s up to you, it will be on your conscience.” That dire warning opened up an understanding to the silence around their past enforced by the author’s parents as he was growing up. Taking clues from cities jotted down on the victims’ passports, the author and his wife resolved to return to Germany and France, tracking Alex’s progress from his family roots in Lower Saxony; to his move to Oldenburg, where he set up a prosperous clothing store with his wife and children; to his final despairing trajectory across Europe. In their emotionally wrenching trek, Goldsmith managed to achieve some sense of closure when the current owners of Alex’s grand house unveiled a commemorative plaque. A well-researched, thorough reckoning of this shameful past. |
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GANDHI BEFORE INDIA
I SEE YOU MADE AN EFFORT Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50
Guha, Ramachandra Knopf (672 pp.) $35.00 | Apr. 16, 2014 978-0-385-53229-7
Gurwitch, Annabelle Blue Rider Press (272 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 6, 2014 978-0-399-16618-1
The first in a two-volume biography of Gandhi (1869–1948) by a seasoned Indian scholar distinguishes itself from legions of others by its clarity and many facets. Guha (India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy, 2007, etc.) relishes Gandhi’s inconsistencies (“Sometimes he behaved like an unworldly saint, at other times like a consummate politician”) and has evidently delved beyond his collected works for material—e.g., unexplored letters to colleagues, children and even his enemies. Spanning his subject’s early era, the author moves from Gandhi’s rather middling upbringing in the merchant caste of Kathiawar in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the youngest son of a polygamous civilservant father and a pious, vegetarian mother. He then examines Gandhi’s revelatory law apprenticeship in London, the attempts at establishing himself as a barrister in Bombay, and the discovery of his livelihood and life’s calling defending Indians and Muslims against discriminatory policies in the Transvaal, South Africa. Being a vegetarian law student in London brought the young Gandhi into the eclectic circle of the London Vegetarian Society, influenced by the work of Henry Salt. Gandhi also befriended numerous people of different religions and backgrounds, cultivating the kinds of rich friendships across class, ethnic and gender lines that defined his evolving work as a social reformer. Married as a teenager, he was always aware of having to provide for his family and educate his sons, a duty that spurred him initially to ply his trade as a journeyman lawyer in Durban. Establishing the newspaper Indian Opinion in 1903, he wrote copiously, developing his ideas on diet, moral economy and passive resistance. Upon reading John Ruskin and Leo Tolstoy, Gandhi moved the newspaper out to Phoenix, outside of Durban, in the first experiment in utopian self-sufficiency. Guha offers a full, relaxed portrait of how the “Mahatma” came to be, as he gained his voice as a writer, seeker and leader. (16 pages of photos; 2 maps. Author tour to Boston, Los Angeles, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C.)
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A compendium of lighthearted, ofthe-moment essays that address the many ups and downs of life at 50. The former co-host of Dinner and a Movie on TBS, humorist Gurwitch (co-author: You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story, 2010, etc.) opens her new collection by lamenting the onslaught of AARP solicitations (“At a glance, I thought it might be an ad for white-collar prison uniforms”) that began showing up on her 49th birthday. On almost every page, she demonstrates a dogged commitment to elevating seemingly normal, even mundane happenings, such as buying moisturizer at the mall, and other encounters with people who include her husband, writer Jeff Kahn, and female friends, into situational comedies, frequently offering jokes at her own expense. Gurwitch makes for a highly likable, albeit sometimes-crass narrator who is willing to lay all of her cards on the table for the sake of entertainment. Infused with levity, confessions of her fears about getting older mostly relate to the way she looks and the lengths to which she’s willing to go to fight gravity. Her neuroses show up in abundance—e.g., a monologue questioning whether or not washing fruit before eating it may lead to her death. “Pesticides are undoubtedly eating away at my insides this very minute, though statistically speaking, I will probably be bumped off by a teenage driver texting What’s up?” These obsessive, superficial fears tap into similar threads running through most glossy women’s magazines. Having written for many such magazines, including Glamour and More, Gurwitch proves adept at attempting to address and soften readers’ shared concerns about their own age-related changes in appearance with her aggressively personal (some R-rated) deadpan admissions (“In the light of day, our living room couch looks depressed. Literally. That sofa has seen a lot of ass”). Casual, zingy observations.
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“A newsworthy, must-read book about what prompted Edward Snowden to blow the whistle on his former employer, the National Security Agency, and what likely awaits him for having done so.” from the snowden files
THE SNOWDEN FILES The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man
10% HAPPIER How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help that Actually Works—a True Story
Harding, Luke Vintage (352 pp.) $14.95 paper | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-8041-7352-0
Harris, Dan It Books/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-06-226542-5
A newsworthy, must-read book about what prompted Edward Snowden to blow the whistle on his former employer, the National Security Agency, and what likely awaits him for having done so. In June 2013, the Guardian published the first of the revelations of the “Snowden file”—a huge trove of data, “thousands of documents and millions of words”—put in its lap by way of columnist Glenn Greenwald. Guardian foreign correspondent Harding (co-author: WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy, 2011, etc.) re-creates the curious trail that led Snowden to Greenwald and that led him to leak those documents in the first place. The author casts the prime motivation as a kind of revulsion born of Snowden’s experience as an analyst knee-deep in material that—it is very clear—was none of the NSA’s business, reinforced by Snowden’s time stationed in the relative freedom of Switzerland. It is also clear that Snowden’s act was premeditated, though not out of anti-Americanism (he’s a Ron Paul–type libertarian, it seems) and not for monetary impulse, though he could have sold the documents to any one of a number of foreign powers. Harding’s narrative covers numerous serial stories that developed from Snowden’s decision: first, the cloak-and-dagger work that got the files to Greenwald, then the NSA’s efforts and those of the larger American government to curb the post-publication damage (sometimes via British proxies), then Snowden’s flight into Russian exile in order to avoid the fate of fellow whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Harding closes with the thought that Snowden may have no other home for some time to come—but that even wider implications remain to be explored, including the possibility that British activists might be able to introduce something like the First Amendment to protect its press in the future. Whether you view Snowden’s act as patriotic or treasonous, this fast-paced, densely detailed book is the narrative of first resort.
How meditation relieved an awardwinning journalist’s stress and depression. In 2004, when Nightline co-anchor Harris filled in on Good Morning America, he suddenly suffered a debilitating panic attack during the live broadcast. That event was the culmination of years spent overextending himself personally, with recreational drug experimentation, and professionally, working for various news outlets across the country as well as stints in war-torn Iraq. The on-air meltdown spurred Harris to research nonmedicinal therapeutic remedies. Though Harris’ journalistic assignments would bring him face to face with influential self-help spiritualists Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra, neither dispensed the precise amalgam of assurance and credibility necessary to truly diffuse his afflictions. After his wife Bianca’s success with books by sage psychiatrist Mark Epstein, Harris found himself connecting with the good doctor’s Buddhist leanings, befriending him and swiftly embracing the art of meditation, instead of debunking it as the hokey “exclusive province of bearded swamis, unwashed hippies, and fans of John Tesh music.” For the author, the effects of meditation were evident almost immediately: “The net effect of meditation…was striking….It became a way to steel myself as I moved through the world.” After a 10-day retreat, chronicled in the book’s most entertaining section, Harris began applying this new calm, centered approach to his hectic livelihood in the media and began adopting a new attitude and approach toward instances of negativity and misfortune. That was soon put to the ultimate test during a precarious interview with Paris Hilton. Harris never loses his sense of humor as he affably spotlights one man’s quest for internal serenity while concurrently navigating the slings and arrows of a hard-won career in the contemporary media spotlight. Friendly, practical advocacy for the power of mindfulness and enlightenment.
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MURDEROUS MINDS Exploring the Criminal Psychopathic Brain: Neurological Imaging and the Manifestation of Evil
JOHN MUIR AND THE ICE THAT STARTED A FIRE How a Visionary and the Glaciers of Alaska Changed America
Haycock, Dean A. Pegasus (400 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 16, 2014 978-1-60598-498-8
Heacox, Kim Lyons Press (264 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7627-9242-9
Can the tendency for criminally psychopathic behaviors be identified by analyzing neurological images? If so, what consequence does this have for science and society? Psychopaths are everywhere—an estimated 1 in 100 adults qualify. Most are nonviolent but not all: One subset of this group, criminal psychopaths, have aggressive and sometimesviolent tendencies and often fail to exhibit empathy or remorse despite knowing the difference between right and wrong. Many of them commit crimes and end up in jail. In an opportunistic twist of science and justice, these jailed criminal psychopaths provide a unique chance for researchers to study their brains, and there now exists enough reproducible neurobiological data to investigate the connection between brain structure and criminal behavior. Science writer Haycock argues that it is possible to identify physical differences between the brains of psychopaths and nonpsychopaths by using sophisticated modern technologies like fMRI. The implications of this discovery are complex: How much do genetic markers and DNA play a role versus environmental factors like childhood abuse? Is it moral or legal to use this information to try to predict violent crimes or to influence a jury deciding a verdict? The author explores these tricky issues in accessible and insightful chapters that break down the science behind the data while using narratives of high-profile criminals—e.g., Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Mafia contract killer Richard “The Ice Man” Kuklinski, rapist and murderer Brian Dugan—to provide chilling real-life examples of criminally psychopathic behaviors. Importantly, Haycock asserts that the definition of psychopathy itself remains a work in progress, but examining the brain activity of people across the psychopathic spectrum is a robust line of research that promises to yield increasingly intriguing results about evil human behavior. Part true crime, part neuroscience and a page-turner from start to finish. (8 pages of color photos)
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A riveting biography of John Muir (1838–1914), America’s foremost “naturalist, activist, and pacifist.” Examining Muir’s legacy and recounting how his vision altered America’s perception of the natural world, Alaskabased author Heacox (The Only Kayak: A Journey into the Heart of Alaska, 2005, etc.) ably explores the story of the man who changed popular attitudes toward the American landscape. Told chronologically in four parts, Heacox begins in 1879 with Muir’s “watershed” trip to Alaska, the first of seven he would make. Traveling by canoe with a group of Tlingit natives, Muir first glimpsed Glacier Bay, where he saw “the imposing fronts of five huge glaciers flowing into the berg-filled expanse of the bay.” Toggling between Muir’s life story and the popular culture of his time, Heacox creates a fully formed portrait of this American icon. A well-known cast of characters graces the pages of the author’s narrative, including the nature writer John Burroughs, President Theodore Roosevelt, photographer Edward Curtis, author Mark Twain and the man who would become Muir’s nemesis, the nation’s chief forester, Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot viewed the forest as an asset to be managed for wise use and harvested regularly, while Muir valued the aesthetics supplied by untouched landscapes. His books and magazines greatly influenced popular opinion about mountains, forests and glaciers. Moreover, he “may have been the first naturalist to ascribe glacial retreat to global warming.” Though Muir made “no major peer-reviewed contributions to the science of glaciology,” he would be, writes Heacox, “what Jacques Cousteau would be to the oceans and Carl Sagan to the stars.” The author concludes with a moving epilogue artfully stitching Muir’s legacy into the 21st century and the issues presented by climate change and its perils. A gripping biography of “a gentle rebel, a talkative hermit, an enthusiastic wanderer, a distant son of the Scottish Enlightenment, inspired by ice.” (b/w photos)
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“Perceptive, sprawling memoir of a young man’s escape from cascading family tragedies into the noise-punk underground.” from songs only you know
LABOR DAY Birth Stories for the TwentyFirst Century: Thirty Artful, Unvarnished, Hilarious, Harrowing, Totally True Tales
SONGS ONLY YOU KNOW A Memoir Hoen, Sean Madigan Soho (336 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-61695-336-2
Henderson, Eleanor; Solomon, Anna–Eds. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-374-23932-9
Perceptive, sprawling memoir of a young man’s escape from cascading family tragedies into the noise-punk underground. Hoen’s debut offers an intense panorama of the 1990s Rust Belt. As his hometown of Dearborn, Mich., contracted economically, what remained was a decayed landscape simultaneously urban and rural, rife with dark temptations. The author’s family life began imploding when his father went from a stable career at Ford to a crack cocaine addiction. Hoen’s response was to strike out on tour with his band, Thoughts of Ionesco, which developed a cult following for its members’ intensely messy, gruesome live performances. As he engaged in the punk rituals of angry music and destructive carousing, he tried to keep this lifestyle separated from his long-suffering mother and his fragile sister, a sensitive, earnest girl who went from bullied outcast to her own hedonistic scene, concealing the depths of her depression. She committed suicide at 22 while hospitalized after several abortive attempts. As he mourned his sister and made amends with his father (still secretly using), he tried to develop a more sophisticated songcraft: “The trouble was that the sad, simple music I wanted to make was beyond my range.” Hoen returned to an aggressive post-punk sound with his next band, The Holy Fire, which gained critical praise and a recording contract. However, the author found that this only led to nonstop touring and deepening debt, while his own substance abuse and failing health led him to wonder if he was following his father’s path. Hoen writes with an acute eye and colorful yet controlled prose, but the overlong plot arc contains repetitive scenes of tour life and personal strife; this approach comes to feel rambling and slackens the power of his observations. A dark, knowing look at addiction, rock ’n’ roll, and the ties that bind.
Thirty-one female writers (including the editors) narrate their highly personal experiences of giving birth, beginning with the choices they made in advance, and how the reality compared with their expectations. Henderson (Fiction Writing/Ithaca Coll.; Ten Thousand Saints, 2011) and Solomon (English/Brown Univ.; The Little Bride, 2011) first met in 2005 at the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in Vermont. They remained friends and kept in touch, and the genesis of this book was an email from a very pregnant Henderson to Solomon asking for details about the birth of her first child. She felt overwhelmed with the wide range of choices to be made: Should she opt for natural childbirth and a midwife or an obstetrician? What about epidurals, and when is surgical intervention required? After their discussions, Henderson and Solomon realized that there was a book’s worth of material to share. Despite the wealth of how-to books on pregnancy and parenting, what was missing from bookshelves was the kind of highly personal account that Solomon shared with Henderson. They wanted “artful, entertaining, unvarnished accounts of labor and delivery.” They pitched the idea to writer friends who were mothers, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The contributors chronicle their expectations and the nitty-gritty of the process from the onset of contractions to the moment of birth. As many of the stories illustrate, the feminist ideal of natural childbirth is appealing but not necessarily realistic. Unforeseen medical emergencies are part of the territory; both infants and mothers may be at the point of collapse during extended labor, requiring surgical intervention. Gina Zucker writes exuberantly, “In spite of the pain, or in part because of it, having a natural childbirth had been incredibly empowering.” The editors also include sadder stories, accounts that deal with birth defects that might have been avoided with quicker medical intervention. Other contributors include Cheryl Strayed, Lauren Groff, Ann Hood, Dani Shapiro, Heidi Julavits, Jennifer Gilmore and Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. Compelling childbirth narratives told from fresh perspectives.
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Todd Miller
It’s not the NSA you need to worry about By Amanda Eyre Ward of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. While acknowledging that the massive expenditure of money seems “uncontroversial and unstoppable” to most people, Miller’s approach in Border Patrol Nation is to offer a glimpse into the secretive operations of the Border Patrol, reporting with a journalist’s objectivity and nose for a good story. Miller’s book is full of facts, and it’s clear he’s outraged, but he gives voices to people on every side of the issue. Miller’s book is a fascinating read. His profiles of individuals, like a committed border agent who was expelled for mentioning that he is proud of his Mexican-American identity, are compelling and bring the work of Susan Orlean to mind. And when introducing readers to, for example, the Explorer Academy, which operates nationwide to teach teens the fundamentals of Customs and Border Patrol work, like chasing and handcuffing illegal immigrants, Miller strives to understand both the appeal of these programs and their sinister implications. Unlike many reports from the border, Miller talks to both guards (who often just want a job that pays the bills—and strive to feel proud of their work) and frightened immigrants. He meets with politicians and people on the street. As we become engaged with the lives of Miller’s subjects, we are moved to consider the issues at play—a winning strategy to encourage critical thinking about the ways America is becoming a “Border Patrol Nation.” Miller has written about border issues for 15 years. The first work of journalism he ever published was a photo of the Army Corps of Engineers constructing the border wall in Douglas, Ariz., in 1998. Before then, says Miller, border issues had been described as more of a “crisis terminology.” Even the border guards in the Arizona desert, he explains, saw the problem as a humanitarian one: People were dying in the desert try-
If you, like many Americans, believe that the United States Border Patrol—tasked with fighting terrorism, illegal immigration and drugs—operates primarily along the border between the United States and Mexico, you’ve got another thing coming. As Todd Miller explains in his explosive new book, Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Homeland Security, the “Border Security Industrial Complex” has grown rapidly since 9/11, using billions of taxpayer dollars to fund surprising projects including watching construction workers in South Carolina; protecting the Super Bowl; recruiting teenagers; and even monitoring international borders, like the one between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In fact, reports Miller, the $18 billion spent on border and immigration enforcement per year outdoes all other federal law enforcement bodies combined, including the FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshal Service, and the Bureau 52
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ing to reach the U.S., and “something wrong was happening.” After 9/11, however, Miller began to see an abundance of money and technology being aimed at the issue, leading to an enthusiasm—a sense that border issues were an exciting problem to be solved and a huge new source of jobs and revenue). As a surveillance camera salesman puts it in Border Patrol Nation, “We’re bringing the battlefield to the border.” In Border Patrol Nation, Miller takes readers inside numerous unexpected situations, like the sold-out Seventh Annual Border Security Expo, held in a Phoenix convention hall in 2012. “In Arizona, there was once a time when copper mining drove the state’s fiscal prosperity,” he writes. “In many ways, that economic force has been replaced by the business of border control.” And what a business it is! We meet William “Drew” Dodds, who cheerily sells “Freedom-On-The-Move,” a mobile video camera setup. The vast array of thermal imaging systems, ready-to-eat pocket sandwiches (with shelf lives of three years), unmanned aerial drones and Brief Relief plastic urine bags comes to vivid life. The borders being monitored are no longer just between the U.S. and other countries. At the expo, Miller sees a sign behind one booth reading, “You Draw the Line and We’ll Help You Secure It.” Miller writes that it is “as if the lines in question could be placed anywhere by whoever has the power to do so.” Miller visits some unexpected border outposts where the might of the CBP seems disproportionate to the possible threats and where cutting-edge technology is largely being used to hassle immigrants. In the small town of Ridgeland, S.C., agents set up checkpoints outside of the trailer parks that house the construction crews who “sculpted and landscaped gigantic gated communities built around golf courses and fake waterfalls.” Miller reports from Miami, Fla., during the Super Bowl, where armies of Customs and Border Protection agents practice rappelling from helicopters in bulletproof vests and scour the coastline. (In one failed mission, they intercept a “large vessel crammed with old mattresses bound for Haiti.”) Miller was used to seeing Border Patrol vehicles around his home along the southern border in Arizona. But seeing the “sleek, shiny, green-striped vehicles” in other places like Niagara Falls; Erie, Pa., and many of the Rust Belt cities struck him as “shocking.” These are places, says Miller, where “industry has shrunk, people are leaving, yet border patrol and homeland security is actually growing.” When Miller interviews a
CBP spokesperson in Detroit about what they are doing at the northern border, the spokesperson answers, “Deterring terrorists and their weapons of mass destruction.” Miller tells me, “I’ve never, ever heard of a weapon of mass destruction crossing the border.” And though his subjects also admit they’ve never caught a terrorist crossing at the northern border, some say terrorism arrests might be kept secret for national security reasons. Miller recalls a story of a Czech would-be immigrant who was caught trying to swim across a lake to Rochester, N.Y. “They nabbed him dripping wet in his Speedo,” Miller chuckles. There’s a grim fascination readers may feel reading about a “Border Patrol Nation” that seems surreal, but it is hard to be hopeful. “Eradicating border violations is given higher priority than eradicating malnutrition, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, unemployment and all other serious needs that communities in so many places like Niagara Falls have,” Miller writes. Still, Miller believes that as Americans become more aware that they are putting billions and billions of dollars into an ill-defined “border war” while losing their houses and basic services, the misguided effort will encourage critical thought. Border Patrol Nation spurs such awareness. “That would be my hope, at least,” Miller says. Amanda Eyre Ward’s new novel, Homecoming, takes place along the Texas-Mexico border and will be published in 2015. Border Patrol Nation will be reviewed in an upcoming issue of Kirkus Reviews. BORDER PATROL NATION Dispatches From the Front Lines of Homeland Security Miller, Todd City Lights (256 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-87286-631-7
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THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION OF 1776 Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America
Atlantic foreign correspondent Kaplan (The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, 2012, etc.) frequently refers to geography as key in determining developments in the countries he addresses with his keen insight: namely, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan and China. Indeed, these— save the Philippines, still mired in American colonial dependency—have evolved into post–Cold War economic dynamos, with varying blends of democracy and authoritarianism. Thus, for the first time, they can “flex their muscles at sea” by making territorial claims against each other regarding the rich oil and natural gas reserves harbored among the straits and the hundreds of islands scattered throughout the area. Kaplan compares China’s position amid the South China Sea grouping as akin to America’s “practically sovereign” regard of the Greater Caribbean—that is, if China were finally to “Finlandize” Taiwan and replace the U.S. Navy’s domination in the area. As the U.S. downgrades its naval presence and continues to be distracted by wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere, China is ramping up its military presence. Although Kaplan claims there is no “moral fury” roiling the area, his discrete breakdown of each country delineates many troubling authoritarian histories, with a blithe dismissal of democratic tenets. For example, Kaplan acknowledges the ends-justifies-the-means approach of China’s Deng Xiaoping and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, who effected economic miracles while ruling with an iron grip. The author’s considerations of jihadist insurgent threats in Indonesia and elsewhere seem tepid. An up-and-down examination in which the author claims that the future of the Pacific Rim will be decided not by what China does but by what America does.
Horne, Gerald New York Univ. (368 pp.) $39.00 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4798-9340-9
Horne (History and African-American Studies/Univ. of Houston; Negro Comrades of the Crown: African Americans and the British Empire Fight the U.S. Before Emancipation, 2012, etc.) returns with insights about the American Revolution that fracture even more some comforting myths about the Founding Fathers. The author does not tiptoe through history’s grassy fields; he swings a scythe. He helps readers see that slavery was pervasive in the American colonies—and not just in the South (Rhode Island was a major player in shipping)—and reminds us of the fierce New World competition among England, France and Spain. But beneath these basics is an aquifer of information about slave revolts and the consequent fears of slaveholders. Horne takes us around the colonies, showing that the vast numbers of Africans were setting off alarms all over. He argues that Georgia, for example, was created as a white buffer state between Spanish Florida and the Carolinas, but the white Georgians were soon unhappy: They didn’t want to do the unpleasant manual labor, and their competitors—the slaveholders—had an economic advantage. As a result, slaves were soon flowing into Georgia, and Georgians soon began experiencing the same anxieties as the rest of the white colonists. As England began to move more toward ending its slave trade (not for humanitarian reasons), uneasy Americans (rich white ones) began to meet and bray about freedom and liberty, causing many, of course, to note the hypocrisy. Horne also examines the ever harsher laws passed by timorous whites against slaves who disobeyed or revolted—moves which, as the author shows, only intensified slave anger and resistance. As many as 20,000 slaves joined the Redcoats in the Revolution, and the author traces some of our lingering racism back to 1776. Clear and sometimes-passionate prose shows us the persistent nastiness underlying our founding narrative.
THE CONFIDENCE CODE The Science and Art of SelfAssurance—What Women Should Know Kay, Katty; Shipman, Claire Harper Business (256 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-223062-1
In this follow-up to their 2009 bestseller, Womenomics, which argued for women’s right to demand flexibility at the workplace, BBC World News America Washington correspondent Kay and Good Morning America contributor Shipman address how a lack of self-confidence hinders women’s career advancement. In conversations among successful professional women, the authors have noticed a disturbing pattern: “Compared with men, we don’t consider ourselves ready for promotions.” Women, they write, often have the false belief that they should not appear too aggressive—“if we just work harder and don’t cause any bother, our natural talents will shine through and be rewarded.” As a result, their careers tend to prematurely plateau. Women lack the kind of self-assertiveness and self-confidence that propel their male counterparts forward, and the
ASIA’S CAULDRON The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific Kaplan, Robert D. Random House (256 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-8129-9432-2 978-0-8129-9433-9 e-book
of what China will do. 54
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A foreign policy expert looks at the major players in the Southeast Asia Pacific Rim and their nervous watching
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“A thought-provoking, semicontroversial scrutiny of modern parenting practices.” from the myth of the spoiled child
authors examine the reasons behind this phenomenon. Their investigation took them from the basketball court, where they spoke with WNBA stars Monique Currie and Crystal Langhorne, to the bastions of the International Monetary Fund and a conversation with Christine Lagarde, one of the most powerful women in the world. Through these interviews, Kay and Shipman confirmed their beliefs about the significant contrast between the typical male approach of pushing forward aggressively (e.g., shouting out questions or making unsubstantiated assertions in order to dominate meetings) and that of women, who instinctively hold back for fear of seeming pushy and aggressive. The authors attribute this to a lack of resilience and a drive for perfection, along with a tendency to dwell on past mistakes. After discussions with neuropsychologists and geneticists, they dismissed the importance of biological components (e.g., hormones or genes). Much more significant was the revelation by a recent graduate of the Naval Academy of the slang acronym that male cadets often apply to coeds: DUBs, or “dumb ugly bitches.” An insightful look at how internalizing cultural stereotypes can hold women back from competing with men.
conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime of the ditch.” Indeed, the Four Freedoms unfurled not long before the U.S. was plunged headlong into war, thus becoming the sustaining ideals worth fighting for. Moreover, FDR intimated that “the American experiment was unfinished,” and yet subsequent presidents and administrations did not necessarily fulfill the promise of the freedoms, as Cold War fears and business interests strengthened the country’s conservative and reactionary elements. A systematic, heady dose of American history by a frustrated, even outraged progressive thinker.
THE MYTH OF THE SPOILED CHILD Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting
Kohn, Alfie Da Capo Lifelong/Perseus (288 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7382-1724-6
THE FIGHT FOR THE FOUR FREEDOMS What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great
Kohn (Feel-Bad Education: And Other Contrarian Essays on Children and Schooling, 2011, etc.) attacks the status quo on child-rearing and parenting. Nearly every generation, from Socrates to today, has been convinced that its children are being raised by parents who are too permissive. But as the author expertly analyzes, the definition of “permissiveness” has shifted as society has evolved: “It doesn’t signify humane treatment or a willingness to nurse infants when they’re hungry; it means coddling kids in a way that’s unhealthy by definition.” However, as Kohn also points out, there are many who believe children are being raised by overly protective parents who stifle children’s natural curiosity and sense of learning. Via research and interviews, Kohn closely examines the current media-backed perceptions of permissive and controlling parenting and contrasts them with actual data, deflating popular beliefs that children are now more spoiled and unruly than ever. He delves into sports and education and inspects the pros and cons of encouraging children via rewards, trophies, honors and grading systems, concluding that “what matters isn’t how motivated people are but how people are motivated.” Adults and children often lose themselves in projects and endeavors they love due to the joy they bring, not the money, trophies or rewards they afford them. Kohn points out that the child who doesn’t complacently follow orders in school might actually be the person who succeeds later in life, as that child has maintained a sense of self and of curiosity and not blindly given over all control to others. Kohn intelligently rationalizes how trusting one’s child and supporting him or her with love and nonpunitive guidance builds a sense of safety, allowing the child to venture forth and make cooperative and respectful decisions. A thought-provoking, semicontroversial scrutiny of modern parenting practices.
Kaye, Harvey J. Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $28.00 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4516-9143-6
A spirited call to remember and act on the original progressive intent of Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms. The rallying cry of the Greatest Generation—with its back to the Great Depression and its face to the Axis threat in Europe—contained those “four freedoms” delineated by President Roosevelt in his annual message to Congress on Jan. 6, 1941: freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship God in one’s own way; freedom from want; and freedom from fear. As historian, author and journalist Kaye (Democracy and Justice Studies/Univ. of Wisconsin-Green Bay; Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, 2005, etc.) sets forth in this stirring survey, those four basic ideals have been supplanted and even submerged over the last 30 years by the erosion of democratic impulses through private greed and massive economic inequality. Kaye walks readers through the Roosevelt era to remind us of its greatest achievement: the recovery from an unprecedented Great Depression through a battery of mightily effective government agencies, public works and regulatory acts. The programs aimed to empower laboring people, consumers, Southern blacks, minorities and women, and while much of the New Deal was deemed radical, Roosevelt claimed his programs were part of the “perpetual, peaceful revolution—a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing |
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SUNDAYS AT EIGHT 25 Years of Stories From C-Span’s Q&A and Booknotes
THE OBESITY PARADOX When Thinner Means Sicker and Heavier Means Healthier
Lamb, Brian–Ed. PublicAffairs (496 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-61039-348-5
Lavie, Carl J. with Loberg, Kristin Hudson Street/Penguin (304 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-1-59463-244-0
Notable writers talk candidly about their lives and work. Lamb (co-editor: The Supreme Court: A C-SPAN Book Featuring the Justices in their Own Words, 2010, etc.) and his C-SPAN staff have selected interviews from the past 25 years of Q&A and Booknotes, two long-running shows featuring conversations with authors of nonfiction. Edited into the form of cogent essays, these conversations reveal writers’ motivations for choosing their subjects, challenges in doing research and their own surprising discoveries. Readers are likely to recognize some of the more famous writers—e.g., historian David McCullough, who discusses 19thcentury American artists who moved to Paris at a time when Europeans were flocking to the United States; British writer Simon Winchester, who talks about his first visit to America in 1963 and the “amazingly hospitable and generous” people he met; and journalist Malcolm Gladwell, who recalls the quiet, circumscribed childhood in southwest Ontario that fueled his insatiable curiosity. “When I got to college,” he says, “I realized that there was a virtually limitless amount of cool things to learn about the world.” Christopher Hitchens, in his final interview before his death, talks movingly about having esophageal cancer, the disease that killed his father, and his hope for bold new treatments. Several writers—Michael Lewis, Bethany McLean and Gretchen Morgenson—reflect on the financial crisis of 2007. Journalists Roger Mudd and Ken Auletta are among the writers who discuss the responsibilities of the media in contemporary society. In a section on post-9/11 America, Kenneth Feinberg, who worked to mediate claims from veterans exposed to Agent Orange, talks about his similar role as “Special Master” with authority to delegate funds to victims’ families. The experience, he says, changed him dramatically: “I’m much more fatalistic after 9/11. I don’t think I’ll ever plan more than two weeks ahead.” These richly detailed and forthright interviews offer unique perspectives on the inspirations and creativity of writers.
New insights into the pros and cons of body fat. Although no one can stop aging, numerous diets and exercise programs insist they can aid you in obtaining a perfect, thin body. In this easy-to-understand, well-researched analysis of body fat and the functions it plays in humans, cardiologist Lavie, with the assistance of Loberg (co-author: Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar—Your Brain’s Silent Killers, 2013, etc.), opens the door to a new understanding of optimum weight and health. After examining the dangers of excess body fat—e.g., an increased strain on the heart, leading to high blood pressure, possible strokes and high cholesterol—Lavie lays out the positives of having a few extra pounds. Numerous scientific studies show that being metabolically fit despite extra weight is actually healthier, leading to a longer life span than a thinner person who looks healthy but may have hidden health risks. Unlike overweight people, who have ample reserves in their fat cells, there’s no cushion for a thin person to fall back on when illness strikes or when an accident occurs. The key is to balance body fat with moderate physical fitness. “Maintaining fitness is good and maintaining a healthy metabolism is good, and if you had to choose between fitness and thinness, it looks like it’s much more important to maintain your fitness than your svelte waistline,” writes the author. “Fitness appears to be a lot more protective than a low weight.” After presenting the data, Lavie summarizes his explorations in ten principles that help readers absorb the notion that a few more pounds on the hips and thighs—good news for women—is actually beneficial and can lead to a longer life. Comprehensible, practical advice that shuns yo-yo dieting and exhaustive exercise regimens for a more lenient lifestyle in which having some body fat is actually good for you.
RED LOVE The Story of an East German Family Leo, Maxim Translated by Whiteside, Shaun Pushkin Press (288 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-908968-51-7
A prize-winning German journalist’s account of how he revisited his family’s socialist past to find answers about his parents’ relationship to him and to each other. 56
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“An intelligent, lively travelogue, well-timed to arrive for the Easter season, and a welcome complement to a direct reading of the Gospels.” from jesus
The self-proclaimed “bourgeois” of his family, Berliner Zeitung editor Maxim grew up in East Berlin. His parents, Anne and Wolf, were rebels who often made him wish “they could be as normal as all the other parents I knew.” Part of what made them different was that Anne was from West Germany and Wolf, from the East. Gerhard, Anne’s father, fought with the French Resistance and then returned home after the war to build the East German state. By contrast, Werner, Wolf ’s father, was a French prisoner of war who returned home a broken man who found his balm in East German socialism. Following the idealism of her father, Anne developed a desire to “put her life at the service of the [Socialist] Party” and became a journalist like Gerhard. Eventually, she abandoned her career when she could not tolerate the censorship she witnessed or the outright lies she saw published, and she retreated into university life. Yet, however disenchanted she was with the East German state, “she remain[ed] a Socialist deep down.” Wolf had a more openly critical attitude toward prevailing political ideology. An artist, he expressed his opinions through his work, nervously aware of the tightrope he walked between ideological conformity and resistance. When change finally came to East Germany in 1989, Anne was able to distance herself from the “unhappy [socialist] love of her youth” thanks to her academic training. But Wolf “missed the security he had previously found so constricting,” and the “long love and long argument” that had been his marriage to Anne finally came to end. In this winner of the European Book Prize, Leo not only produces a moving family memoir, but also a probing exploration of the human need to believe and belong.
speaking, than the next someone. There are gravel pits, and then there are mines, including “the world’s largest surface coal mine complex” in eastern Wyoming. From mines, with transitions that are a little jagged, Lippard moves on to the Earth artists of the West, such as Robert Smithson and James Turrell. Though the connections are not always clear, her eventual meditation on the cairn marking the Trinity nuclear site puts us back on the road from piled stones to stones in gravel pits, and if the conversation is absent-minded, it is nicely suggestive of things worth thinking about, such as the remnants of 9/11 that now lie buried in the Fresh Kills landfill of Staten Island. Art, garbage, history? Readers must be the judges. Centrifugal and sometimes hard to follow but always interesting, tracing the intersection of art, the environment, geography and politics.
JESUS A Pilgrimage
Martin, James HarperOne (528 pp.) $27.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-06-202423-7
A consideration of Christ, human and divine, from an on-native-ground perspective. Many people have difficulty wrapping their heads around Jesus’ humanity, writes Jesuit priest and scholar Martin (Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, 2011, etc.). “Beyond academic studies,” he writes, “I have come to know Jesus in three other ways: prayer, experience, and pilgrimage.” All those forms of knowing came into play when the author left New York and headed for the Middle East. “Traveling through the Holy Land,” he writes cheerfully, “is like visiting the family home of a good friend. No matter how well you know the person, you’ll understand your friend better afterward.” Martin guides readers on a tour of the geographical places from Jesus’ life, sometimes threatening to be overcome by sentimentality as he realizes that Jesus ate here and walked there (“Jesus was here, I kept thinking. Jesus was here”). The theological and ethical lessons that Martin draws from the biblical landscape are illuminating and unobjectionable even though he allows that some of that geography is suspect—e.g., the Via Dolorosa has become commodified and overly touristy. Still, the author’s enthusiasm at realizing that he may have arrived at the very spots where Jesus had his last supper makes for meaningful reading. Better still are his gentle commentaries on scenes in Christ’s life: the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, to which he supplies a close reading of the Greek to determine the root meaning of too easily misread terms such as “meek,” “poor,” “merciful” and “peacemaker”—terms that, properly understood, might make the 1 percent among us a bit uneasy. An intelligent, lively travelogue, well-timed to arrive for the Easter season, and a welcome complement to a direct reading of the Gospels.
UNDERMINING A Wild Ride in Words and Images Through Land Use Politics in the Changing West Lippard, Lucy R. New Press (240 pp.) $21.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-59558-619-3 978-1-59558-933-0 e-book
Art historian and social critic Lippard (On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art, and Place, 1999, etc.) turns in another trademark work of inductive cultural tourism. Many of Lippard’s books are a blend of discourse and art installation, at least after a fashion. This is no exception: On each page, a band of images speaks to the text below. That text, in turn, begins with an intensely local concern, namely, a gravel pit near her high desert home. Strap on postmodern headgear: “Gravel pits,” writes the author, “provide a dialectical take on the relationship between my own three-and-a-half decades in the Lower Manhattan activist/avant-garde art community and two decades in Galisteo—a tiny New Mexico village (population 250).” Though the text is often self-indulgent along those lines, Lippard allows that just about everywhere you look in the Southwest, you’ll find someone extracting something from the Earth, and that someone may be ever so slightly better, morally |
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PITCH PERFECT How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time
STRONG MOTHERS, STRONG SONS Lessons Mothers Need to Raise Extraordinary Men
McGowan, Bill; Bowman, Alisa Harper Business (288 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-227322-2
Meeker, Meg Ballantine (368 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-345-51809-5
A media expert’s techniques for acquiring and honing clear communication skills. After a two-decade journalism career producing and anchoring syndicated newsmagazine programs, McGowan, a former Emmy-winning TV correspondent–turned–media-coaching entrepreneur, knows the tenets of effective communication and professional presentation. From his communications training company, Clarity Media Group, he now helps everyone—from authors to CEOs to career-changing job seekers—to achieve and project a greater public confidence level. “Great communicators are not genetically predetermined,” he writes. “They are made.” His careful guidebook, written with the assistance of Bowman (co-author: Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days, 2012, etc.), steers readers away from the social faux pas and missteps (e.g., apologizing at the onset of a presentation) responsible for stalling careers and stagnating business relationships. His approach is evenhanded and straightforward and brims with advice for anyone hoping to brush up on public speaking, effective presentation skills and interviewing prowess both within and outside of the contemporary workforce marketplace. McGowan cites many relatable scenarios, including a botched first impression with a large new client (Facebook) that was rescued with positive reinforcement and a polished, professional approach. The author spends much of the text overviewing his seven principles of persuasion, a masterful “mental checklist” of key communicative behaviors that include authoritative body language, direct eye contact, attentiveness, voice tone, pacing and verbal conciseness. His “pitch-perfect pointer” and “makeover” sections further clarify these maxims and place them into real-world contexts. The author stresses that becoming a compelling speaker with engaging stage presence takes time and effort. His methodology is not meant to change the person seeking guidance but, with practice and preparation, to draw their strengths out and encourage diligence in achieving an increased level of interactive confidence. A proactive approach to mastering the art of interpersonal communication. (13 b/w illustrations)
How women can raise boys to become good men. More than ever, women are under pressure to be “everything to everyone,” writes Meeker (The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers: Reclaiming Our Passion, Purpose, and Sanity, 2010, etc.), as “working women feel that they must perform equally well both in the office and in caring for their home, husband, and children.” The dynamics of raising boys is especially difficult for women due to the gender difference and the fact that women tend to be nurturing and helpful while allowing their sons to evolve into men in a constantly shifting masculine paradigm. Through research and interviews from her own practice, Meeker gives women the necessary tools to understand that perfection is not a realistic goal but that doing the best one can will ensure good results. Equally useful to single mothers and women with husbands is the advice that sons need to know they are loved from a very young age, as this builds a foundation of confidence in a child, a base that allows a boy to gradually move away from his mother as he interacts with male peers and elders. A boy’s home life must be solid: a safe haven to return to regardless of his age, a place where his thoughts and feelings are respected and where he can express his hopes and dreams without fear of judgment. Meeker recommends introducing boys to religion, prayer and the unconditional love that comes from having a strong faith to boost self-confidence. She also skillfully navigates the world of sex—from a boy’s first body awareness to the powerful effects of pornography and sexual messages embedded in social media, video games and news media, to his interactions in the world of girls and women. A mother’s imprint on her son is powerful right from birth and remains so throughout her son’s life. Meeker’s advice gives women the tools to navigate these often rocky waters with confidence. Solid, practical advice for women on how to properly nurture their sons.
SUPREME COMMANDER MacArthur’s Triumph in Japan Morris Jr., Seymour Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-228793-9
An unabashedly admiring reappraisal of Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) as supreme protector of a great fallen nation at the close of World War II. 58
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“An engaging history that raises provocative questions about the future of nuclear science.” from the age of radiance
Publishing around the same time as Mark Perry’s The Most Dangerous Man in America (2014), the pursuit of the many lives of the five-star general continues in this enthusiastic breakdown of MacArthur’s wildly successful five-year occupation of defeated Japan, a model to be followed and studied. Author and entrepreneur Morris (American History Revised: 200 Startling Facts that Never Made It into the Textbooks, 2010) believes the record regarding MacArthur’s administrative coup in helping Japan recover needs elucidation, from his initial decision to arrive in Japan unarmed for the surrender ceremony of Sept. 2, 1945, to his insistence on sparing Emperor Hirohito to his radical push for emancipating Japanese women. Above all, MacArthur was a keen student of history and modeled his magnanimity toward the vanquished Japanese on Gen. Ulysses Grant’s honorable treatment of Gen. Robert E. Lee, among other examples, hoping to gain trust in his new charges rather than instill fear and provoke alarm from reactionary elements. Hence his highly controversial decision to keep the emperor in power, although he was stripped of his godlike status: MacArthur recognized that the emperor could help “bring about a spiritual transformation of the Japanese people.” Moving swiftly as supreme commander on the orders of President Harry S. Truman yet with powers so vast that he was able to operate over the heads of the War Department, the general brought food to the starving people, neutralized the Japanese military, repatriated millions of Japanese troops and civilians, instituted land reform, kept the Russians at bay and implemented the “Nuremberg of the East” trials. Most astonishing was how MacArthur’s wily team managed to rewrite the Japanese Constitution—with codification of more sweeping rights for women than in any other country except Russia. A gung-ho, breezily entertaining study for lay readers. (8-page b/w photo insert)
of nuclear physics was deeply influenced by contemporary politics and the interplay of the personalities involved. He includes lively biographies of the men—Wilhelm Roentgen, Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard and others—who created this new age and of two remarkable women: the celebrated Polish-born Marie Curie and the almost forgotten Austrian Lise Meitner. Nelson characterizes nuclear science as a “two-faced god,” a blessing and a curse, and its history as irrational, confusing and conflicted. For example, nuclear weapons are so dreadful that they have effectively prevented war between superpowers, but their production and maintenance have been a staggering waste of resources. The author’s gripping narratives of the meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima simply scream that fallible humans should not be messing around with this technology, and yet he argues that nuclear power is still the safest and best option for environmentally responsible power generation. Nevertheless, Nelson contends that the nuclear era is now drawing to a close, as the acquisition of nuclear weapons is viewed only as the mark of a pariah regime, and the dishonesty of governments and industry has ruined the prospects for further development of nuclear power. An engaging history that raises provocative questions about the future of nuclear science.
KETCHUP IS A VEGETABLE And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves O’Bryant, Robin St. Martin’s Griffin (256 pp.) $15.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-250-05414-2
An inside look at mothering three small children. For most parents, O’Bryant’s (A Second Helping: A Collection of Popular Columns, 2013, etc.) humorous, offbeat and nonglitzy examination of her life as a mother of three girls will feel normal. Readers without children may wonder how the human race has survived as long as it has. Babies, breast-feeding and boobs play major roles in the narrative. “I have a fascination and fixation with boobs, not just my own,” writes the author. “I am enthralled by your boobs just as much as I am my very own.” Her Big Berthas feature prominently in many of the sassy and outrageous moments she relates, whether trying to breast-feed her youngest daughter in the family car or the struggles she had to feed her first newborn, who refused to latch on. O’Bryant brings the nitty-gritty, often taboo subjects of personal body functions to new heights as sweat, body fat and vomit all play roles—as does poop, whether from a child or adult, in all its various shapes, sizes and moments of expulsion. Whether going shopping, attending PTA meetings, or traveling long distances to visit family and friends, each episode is full of the unconventional behavior of three rambunctious daughters and the mother who struggles to keep pace. Although the baby talk of her daughters is age-appropriate, some readers may tire of some of the childish speech—e.g., “But Momma, I wub her, and
THE AGE OF RADIANCE The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era Nelson, Craig Scribner (416 pp.) $29.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-4516-6043-2
Nelson (Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon, 2009, etc.) returns with a survey of mankind’s use of
radioactive materials. Beginning with the discovery of X-rays in 1895 and ending with the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the author examines the discovery of radium (used for a while in everything from watches to toothpaste), the development of nuclear fission and fusion, and the use of the resulting new elements in nuclear weapons, medicine and power generation. Nelson’s coverage of the science underlying this saga is admirably thorough and accessible, but this is no impersonal “march of science” story. The author also shows how the development |
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Densely researched, swift-moving account full of fighting detail.
I want to pway wif her.” Nonetheless, these behind-the-scenes observations of one woman’s version of motherhood dispel the oftentimes gussied-up descriptions of blissfully raising a child while providing much-needed comic relief for other parents struggling to survive. “All the screaming, dirty diapers, tantrum throwing, and sleepless nights are worth it,” writes the author. “It is worth every heartache and tear we shed as mothers.” A cheeky, amusing motherhood memoir.
WHY SOCCER MATTERS
Pelé with Winter, Brian Celebra/Penguin (272 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-451-46844-4
HELL BEFORE BREAKFAST America’s First War Correspondents Making History and Headlines, from the Battlefields of the Civil War to the Far Reaches of the Ottoman Empire
Soccer’s biggest global icon discusses the sport he loves. Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pelé, is the greatest player in the history of soccer and one of the greatest athletes of all time. For decades, he has been his sport’s best ambassador. A winner of three World Cups for his native Brazil and a legend for Brazilian club Santos and for the short-lived New York Cosmos, Pelé is especially well-equipped to reflect on the “beautiful game,” a phrase that he may have coined. Not quite memoir, not quite history, this book provides an engaging reflection on international football in the World Cup era. Pelé’s voice shines through, and for this, Winter (Long After Midnight at the Niño Bien: A Yanqui’s Missteps in Argentina, 2008, etc.) deserves praise. The co-author captures Pelé’s passion and commitment in a chatty, conversational tone. Pelé uses five sections, based on different World Cups, to structure the narrative, beginning with the 1950 World Cup, which Brazil lost in heartbreaking—and for Brazilians, haunting—fashion. This beginning allows Pelé to tell of his boyhood, his relationship with his father, whose own football-playing career represents a what-might-have-been story, and his early exposure to the game. The four remaining sections center on the 1958 World Cup, which saw the first of Brazil’s world-record five world championships; 1970, another Brazil win and Pelé’s last cup as a player; 1994, which took place in the United States and which Pelé supported (over Brazil, which also wanted to host the event); and the upcoming 2014 Cup in Pelé’s native country, for which this book is timed. Pelé never fully demonstrates “why soccer matters,” but he does provide insight into the world’s most popular game through the eyes of its most revered figure.
Patton, Robert H. Pantheon (368 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-307-37721-0 978-0-307-90890-2 e-book
Exploration of some of the unsung early war correspondents in New York and London who created the model for vivid prose and humanitarian alarm. With the installation of a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable connecting America and Europe in 1858, the race for newsgathering took off, while the eruption of the Civil War shifted reader interest from local scandal to “the exclusive battle dispatch that could be issued in an extra edition and hawked on the street at great profit.” Patton (Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution, 2008, etc.) captures the gritty, wild-eyed quality of trailblazing early newspapermen like John Russell Young, who made his name covering the Battle of Bull Run, and the Ohioan Januarius MacGahan, along with their exacting editors—only two women are featured: one is MacGahan’s comely Russian wife, the other a wealthy humanitarian widow, Emily Strangford, who met the reporter while setting out to help victims of Turkish-Bulgarian violence in 1876. All the New York newspapers—e.g., James Gordon Bennett’s Herald, Horace Greeley’s Tribune and Henry J. Raymond’s Times—competed with one another for the scoop, learning the value of “creating news instead of waiting to record it”—e.g., the Herald’s sending the rookie reporter Henry Morton Stanley to Central Africa in pursuit of the incommunicado missionary David Livingstone. MacGahan and other American expat correspondents in Paris stumbled on the Franco-Prussian War; he was horrified by the bloody insurrection, taking pains to characterize the violence fairly in his emotional dispatches for the Herald, for which he was highly praised. Another visionary correspondent was the extraordinarily talented artist and writer Frank Millet, who plunged into covering the Russian-Turkish War of 1877 by crisscrossing Central Asia during an era of difficult land travel and illustrating his essays with tremendously moving sketches of the bloodied and wounded. These correspondents became heroes of their time and doubled at times as capable explorers. 60
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50 CHILDREN One Ordinary American Couple’s Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany
Pressman, Steven Harper/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $26.99 | May 1, 2014 978-0-06-223747-7
The astonishing story of a Philadelphia couple’s resolve to help bring Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied Austria. |
Journalist Pressman (Outrageous Betrayal: The Real Story of Werner Erhard from Est to Exile, 1993) is the grandson-in-law of Eleanor and Gilbert Kraus, whose bravery during a dark time is only now coming to light. The Philadelphia lawyer and his wife, both nonreligious Jews from well-to-do families, agreed to help engineer the transfer of Austrian Jewish children to America on behalf of a national Jewish fraternal organization, Brith Sholom, which was deeply concerned about the increasing prosecution of Jews in Germany and Austria. In 1939, the Jews were still being allowed out—that is, if they had the money and connections to emigrate; after “Aryanization,” or the seizure of their wealth and goods, few had the means. By late 1938, the murderous intentions of Nazi warnings—“Jews! Abandon all hope. There is only one possibility for you: Emigrate—if someone will accept you”—were made abundantly clear, yet Jews were trapped. The Krauses were warned against venturing to Germany at this time: A prominent Quaker contingent had recently been rebuffed by the Nazis; the U.S. and other nations had tightened restrictions on immigration; and even various Jewish groups and charities tried to convince the couple of the folly and danger of the rescue plan. “One would think we were trying to do something illegal or wicked, even degrading,” Eleanor remembered. After securing affidavits from 50 sponsors, completing the vast paperwork and achieving clearance from the State Department, Gil finally left in April 1939 and summoned Eleanor to come shortly after. Making their way through Nazi Germany to Vienna, the couple observed chilling details of the nation’s militarization and oppression of the Jews. The details around selection of the children, leave-taking of their parents and the tearful travels are heart-rending, but eventually, they were safely shepherded to a summer camp in Collegeville, Pa. With a careful eye to detail and dialogue, Pressman vividly re-creates this epic rescue. (24 photos throughout; 16-page photo insert)
and John D. Rockefeller figure prominently, along with lesserknown but equally important men like Winthrop Aldrich and Thomas Lamont, as they navigate the treacherous terrain of World War I and the 1929 crash, both butting heads with and coming to the aid of presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Herbert Hoover. As Prins writes, ties proved strongest during wartime, with banks working alongside politicians to sell bonds and bolster the finances of U.S. allies. As the 20th century rolled on, however, power shifted north from Washington to New York, where deregulation and globalization created opportunities for bankers to create complex financial products that neither the public nor they themselves seemed to fully understand, which led to a series of market collapses and global recessions. Even wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been enough to galvanize the banking industry as prior wars did. At times, the author talks over the heads of a general audience, and her anti-banker bias, even if it’s largely justified, cries out for some balancing commentary. Still, this is a valuable contribution to a growing body of books trying to make sense of an increasingly complicated financial world. The glossary of financial terms will prove helpful for general readers. A dense but worthy effort to explain how the economy went off the rails in recent years—and how we ended up in that situation in the first place.
THE IMPOSSIBLE EXILE
Prochnik, George Other Press (368 pp.) $27.95 | May 6, 2014 978-1-59051-612-6
Stefan Zweig (1881–1942) stands in for Europe’s uprooted intellectuals in this elegiac portrait by Prochnik (In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise, 2010, etc.). Zweig was one of the most famous and successful authors in the world in the 1920s and early ’30s, best known for his novellas and breezy biographies of historical figures like Erasmus and Marie Antoinette. His fellow Viennese intellectuals might have slightly disdained his wild popularity— except that everyone loved this slight, dapper man with his “genius for friendship.” When the Nazis came to power, Zweig was in a much better position that most, with plenty of money to fund his travels as he roamed from Switzerland to southern France to England and the United States in search of a refuge from the fascist madness. His relative comfort, however, could not make up for the trauma of being ejected from the culture that he, like many other German-speaking Jews, had believed belonged to them as well. “The world we loved has gone beyond recall,” he gloomily told a fellow refugee in Manhattan in 1941. “We shall be homeless in all countries. We have no present and no future.” Prochnik, himself a polymath writer with European Jewish roots, was prompted by the story of his own family, which also fled Nazi-occupied Vienna, to investigate Zweig’s experience of exile. Unable to envision himself settled
ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ BANKERS The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power Prins, Nomi Nation Books/Perseus (554 pp.) $32.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-56858-749-3
A revealing look at the often symbiotic, sometimes-adversarial relationship between the White House and Wall Street. When it comes to the tactics of modern bankers, former Wall Street insider–turned journalist Prins (It Takes a Pillage: An Epic Tale of Power, Deceit, and Untold Trillions, 2009, etc.) makes her disapproval known in no uncertain terms; their predecessors fare only slightly better in this sweeping history of bank presidents and their relationships with the nation’s chief executives. The narrative begins circa 1900, when bankers began to supersede industrial tycoons as the nation’s most powerful private-sector prime movers. Financial titans like J.P. Morgan |
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“A sad reality graced with hope, humanity and compassion.” from lived through this
LIVED THROUGH THIS Listening to the Stories of Sexual Violence Survivors
in America despite four stays in New York, Zweig finally moved to a small village in Brazil in 1941, hoping for peace in which to write. Prochnik sensitively considers his final books—the poignant memoir The World of Yesterday (1942) and Brazil: Land of the Future (1941), which determinedly celebrated his adopted country’s embrace of “the humanist values his native Europe had so wretchedly betrayed.” In the end, accumulating losses and dwindling hopes of a better tomorrow drove Zweig to commit suicide not long after his 60th birthday. Intelligent, reflective and deeply sad portrait of a man tragically cut adrift by history.
Ream, Anne K. Photos by Evans, Patricia Beacon (224 pp.) $24.95 | $24.95 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8070-3336-4 978-0-8070-3336-4 e-book The atrocity of sexual abuse as told by a captivating, diverse collective of survivors. Ream is the founder of the Voices and Faces Project, an initiative that attributes faces and voices to the survivors of rape and sexual violence, often silenced by extreme trauma. A rape survivor herself, the author shares how painful memories were abated with focused work, feminist activism and rock music. Ream insists that vocalizing the ordeal (and truly being heard) became the best therapy not only for her, but for all of the people she interviewed. Divided into four sections, the book profiles individuals of varying age groups, races, sexes and backgrounds, many who were raped as children, each fortunate enough to enjoy rich, fulfilling lives after years spent processing their emotionally scarred pasts. Among them are a former New York assistant attorney general who, after years of childhood molestation, has spent his career defending sexual assault cases; lesbian novelist Dorothy Allison, whose experiences shaped her best-selling novel Bastard Out of Carolina; an effervescent nonagenarian who was raped by a carjacker at 82; and a woman who testified against her rapist, who, after being released on a shortened sentence, went on to commit murder. Ream also devotes a chapter to some revelatory time spent with an anti-violence collective on Prince Edward Island. The text’s often grim material is leavened by pleasant prose and a clear focus on the catharsis of survival. The concluding pages offer startling sexual violence statistics (“Globaly, 35 percent of women have experienced either non-partner sexual violence or intimate partner physical or sexual violence”), which form a significant coda to the life stories of these brave and resilient victims—all of whom “have been shaped, but refuse to be defined by, their histories of violence.” A sad reality graced with hope, humanity and compassion.
THE HOOPS WHISPERER On the Court and Inside the Heads of Basketball’s Best Players
Ravin, Idan Gotham Books (256 pp.) $27.00 | May 5, 2014 978-1-59240-891-7
An unlikely inspirational book by the trainer for the NBA’s biggest stars. Ravin became an athletic trainer without the seemingly requisite formal education or experience. Yet, solely through word of mouth from the league’s biggest stars, he has built a career training elite athletes in their shared quest to improve their games and achieve their highest goals. Ravin didn’t stay at his previous boring and soul-killing job; he created one based on the game he loved. Always an outsider, he remained mistrustful of organizations that would make him “sacrifice [his] identity or authenticity to try to blend into the environment.” In devising his innovative training philosophy, the author figured if players could consistently handle “the complexity, intensity and pace of the workouts I dreamt up, then practice and games would feel like Oreos soaked in milk.” Pampered NBA superstars fly him across the country and pay for the privilege of working out in empty practice gyms with no amenities, having their weaknesses exposed, and competing “under strenuous circumstances designed to fatigue, test and build.” He earns their trust by creating an environment of collaboration and mutual respect based on accountability, honesty and positive reinforcement. Ravin’s writing mimics the quick, staccato rhythms of the game. He shares his experiences in short, free-standing chapters that create a constant flow of his observations and beliefs. With characteristic modesty, the author might reject the idea he has written not only an insightful look at what motivates NBA players, but also an uplifting life guide. (Indeed, the words he repeats throughout are “intuition,” “love” and “faith.”) Ravin doesn’t reinterpret such familiar aphorisms as “Do what you love” and “Follow your bliss”; rather, this book uniquely overlaps the genres of memoir, self-help, organizational psychology and philosophy. A sports book that will motivate readers to live a purposeful, authentic life. 62
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THE ZERO MARGINAL COST SOCIETY The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism Rifkin, Jeremy Palgrave Macmillan (352 pp.) $28.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-137-27846-3
Rifkin (The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World, 2011, etc.) looks ahead to life after capitalism. |
The author argues that the Internet of Things, which links everyday objects (machines, businesses, residences, vehicles, etc.) in an intelligent network embedded in a single operating system, is paving the way for a new economy. The smart infrastructure provides a flow of big data to every business connected to the network, which they can then use to create predictive algorithms and automated systems to dramatically boost productivity and bring the marginal cost of producing many goods and services to nearly zero—making them nearly free. Offering many examples of cost-cutting made possible by the IoT in industries from health care to aviation, Rifkin writes that within two to three decades, consumers “will be producing and sharing green energy as well as physical goods and services, and learning in online virtual classrooms at near marginal cost, bringing the economy into an era of nearly free goods and services.” In this economy of abundance, people will prefer to access services in a collaborative commons rather than exchange property in markets. Already, millions of people are sharing automobiles, bicycles, homes, clothes, tools, toys and skills in networked commons. Thus, IoT is taking us “from markets to networked commons, from ownership to access, from scarcity to abundance, and from capitalism to collaborationism.” By midcentury, people will pursue nonmaterial shared interests; intelligent technology will do most of the work. In a scattershot narrative, Rifkin looks back to the origins of capitalism and ahead to an era of sharing and transparency typified by the younger generation’s openness on social media. Whether unforeseen events or developments interfere with the neat future imagined here, the author gives a good sense of ongoing societal changes, such as 3-D printing, which promise enormous economic impacts. Intriguing but densely detailed and hyperbolic. (First printing of 100,000)
of older doctors who had the patience and knowledge to diagnosis some bizarre cases, Rivkees learned the ins and outs of pediatric care. In short, almost abrupt prose, the author recalls riveting memories of those early years of practice when he had to learn how to start IVs in veins the size of pencil leads, how to diagnose rare diseases and how to deal with the agony of losing a patient. Threaded throughout the quick bedside stories of numerous patients are accounts of the humorous practical jokes Rivkees and his fellow residents played on one another to combat fatigue and boredom, including the theft of a 2,000-year-old mummy. Although many patients are introduced via emergency room or in-patient scenarios, most are abandoned in lieu of another tale, leaving readers to ponder what happened to that particular person after his or her hospital visit was over. Quick forays into the dates the author had with a variety of “Cathys” round out the reflections of a man who became a world leader in pediatrics and pediatric endocrinology. Amusing medical stories as seen through the eyes of a new doctor.
CAPITALISM A Ghost Story
Roy, Arundhati Haymarket (120 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 21, 2014 978-1-60846-385-5
A vehement broadside against capitalism in general and American cultural imperialism in particular, focusing on the effects on the novelist’s native India. After winning international raves and the prestigious Booker Prize for her debut novel (The God of Small Things, 1997), Roy (Walking with the Comrades, 2011, etc.) has become an increasingly political, polarizing and controversial writer, even charged with sedition in her homeland. “Day after day, on primetime news, I was being called a traitor, a white-collar terrorist, and several other names reserved for insubordinate women,” she writes. She also recognizes that, as someone “who lives off royalties from corporate publishing houses,” she risks biting the hand that feeds her. But her teeth are sharp, and her bite is fierce, as she focuses on how American corporate values and foundation philanthropy have had an insidious effect around the globe, resulting in a wider gap between the wealthy few and the impoverished masses. The influence extends from economics to education to arts and culture, as scholars in line with American values get funded and others see courses cancelled, while foundation support has had the same moderating effect elsewhere that it did in America, where it marginalized black militancy in favor of nonviolence. “Armed with their billions, these NGOs have waded into the world, turning potential revolutionaries into salaried activists, funding artists, intellectuals and filmmakers, gently luring them away from radical confrontation.” Like the Occupy movement, which Roy strongly supports, she sees class warfare as a political necessity that recognizes that systems of capitalist democracy
RESIDENT ON CALL A Doctor’s Reflections on His First Years at Mass General Rivkees, Scott A. Lyons Press (232 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7627-9453-9
Firsthand accounts of life as a newly graduated pediatric doctor. When Rivkees (Pediatrics/Yale School of Medicine) entered his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, an institution affectionately nicknamed “Man’s Greatest Hospital,” he had recently graduated from a medical school in New Jersey. Like his fellow residents, some from austere schools like Harvard and Yale, he was not fully prepared for the demanding schedules, exhaustion and on-the-spot decisions required from a doctor on call. “[W] e soon saw that we were all the same—the same products of the same books, the same notes, and the same bland lectures,” writes the author. “We were to be later distinguished by our drive, creativity, and judgment.” Over time, and with the help |
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“Writers, reading, invigorate the novel. That is both the theme and plot of Schmidt’s encyclopedic compendium tracing the novel over 700 years.” from the novel
YEAR OF NO SUGAR A Memoir
require more than reform. Her accounts of political repression are vivid and moving, but her analysis would require more depth for her pontification to convert those who don’t already agree with it. Less a reasoned argument than an impassioned manifesto.
Schaub, Eve O. Sourcebooks (320 pp.) $14.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4022-9587-4
PLASTIC PURGE How to Use Less Plastic, Eat Better, Keep Toxins Out of Your Body, and Help Save the Sea Turtles!
A Vermont blogger mom’s delightfully readable account of how she and her family survived a yearlong sugar-free diet—and lived to tell the tale. After Schaub watched a video of a professor of medicine that claimed sugar was “a poison” and suggested that American culture “was the modern-day equivalent of an opium den,” she was both horrified and intrigued. She knew that eating sugar in excess was unhealthy. But Schaub had no idea that sugar—and, specifically, its main ingredient, fructose—was at the heart of a worldwide obesity epidemic that was affecting infants as well as children and adults. Determined to help her family kick the sugar habit (or at least moderate it), the author challenged her husband and two young daughters to live without sugar for one year. What she and her family didn’t realize was that going truly sugarless would mean more than just giving up desserts. They quickly discovered that everything—from bread to soups to salad dressings—contained trace amounts of sugar, but Schaub and her family worked around the problem. They created recipes (a few of which the author shares) for meals made from whole foods and treats sweetened with fruits or dextrose, a sugar which contains no fructose. Over time, the author found that her family’s hyperfondness for sugar gradually faded and that she herself no longer enjoyed confections as much. In fact, she developed powerful, and unpleasant, sugar headaches that left her feeling irritable and lethargic. The most telling result of this experiment revealed itself in her children’s pattern of attendance. During the family’s year of no sugar, the girls’ illness-related absences from school dropped by 75 percent. Sugar may have become the cultural shortcut “to better taste, to more convenience and to ever-higher food industry profits,” but as Schaub suggests, the path to health and happiness is best traveled conscientiously rather than quickly. A funny, intelligent and informative memoir.
SanClements, Michael St. Martin’s Griffin (256 pp.) $16.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-250-02939-3 978-1-4668-5260-0 e-book
A breezy yet highly informative trek through our plasticized world coupled with tips for reducing plastic from your life. Ecologist and journalist SanClements, the associate director of the Hydrolic Sciences graduate program at the University of Colorado, provides an accessible starting point for improving personal and planetary health. His journey into the realities of our plastic environment began with a simple plan, as he started documenting each plastic item he encountered during a typical day. Next, the author and his partner embarked on a larger experiment: to not purchase or create plastic waste for two weeks. SanClements blogged about his experience on an environmental website and was deluged with responses requesting information. “When you start to dig into the effects of our plastic consumption, they go far beyond the obvious and visible,” he writes. “There are environmental and health-related effects that you’ve never considered, and there is plastic in places you never expected it to be.” SanClements divides the narrative into four digestible sections. The first is a review of the history of plastics. Next, the author wades into the science of plastic usage, then moves on to his classification of plastics: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The author concludes with a remarkably helpful guide to “help you reduce plastic consumption, keep toxins out of your body, and spare Mother Nature the excess waste.” Thankfully, SanClements is never self-righteous or heavy-handed. The author understands that not all plastics are bad, and its uses have ensured that contemporary life is safer, easier and more efficient. The author also examines modern medical and scientific equipment, energy-saving home building materials and food safety. Nevertheless, he writes, “at some point, we got lazy, lost our way, or were seduced by the convenience of plastic, and now we find ourselves as a society on that plastic dark side.” This worthwhile little tome packs a wallop consisting of equal portions of healthy education and pertinent entertainment. (18 b/w spot art illustrations)
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THE NOVEL A Biography
Schmidt, Michael Belknap/Harvard Univ. (1,180 pp.) $39.95 | May 5, 2014 978-0-674-72473-0
Writers, reading, invigorate the novel. That is both the theme and plot of Schmidt’s (Poetry/Glasgow Univ.; The Stories of My Life, 2013, etc.) encyclopedic compendium tracing the novel over 700 years. The author sees the genre as alive and evolving, capacious enough to include such writers as Mulk Raj Anand, an Indian émigré to England, whose work Schmidt does not much |
admire; the prolific Irish writer Ethel Mannin; and Guyanese writer Wilson Harris, read by Derek Walcott and Anthony Burgess but not many others. Schmidt considers his subjects more or less chronologically for half the book, gathering contemporaries who read one another: Hawthorne, Melville and Stowe, for example; and Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Charles Brockden Brown and other practitioners of what Schmidt calls “The Eerie,” as distinct from, in another chapter, the Brontë sisters and their Gothic romances. The second half of the book is impressionistic, as Schmidt creates “a dialogue” among writers and their works. A chapter on “Portraits and Caricatures of the Artist” includes Joyce, Beckett, Burgess and Barthelme; “Tone and Register” ranges from Virginia Woolf to Jeanette Winterson. Along the way, readers will learn that Woolf was dismissive of Maria Edgeworth, whom she considered too demure; that Gertrude Stein could not abide James Joyce; and that pretty much everyone was in thrall to Henry James—Truman Capote praised him as “the maestro of the semicolon.” As commodious as this book is, at more than 1,100 pages, the selections and groupings seem arbitrary, as does Schmidt’s selection of writers’ comments. Writers are famously voracious readers, and some were frequent reviewers; often, they mention novels in their letters, memoirs and diaries. Schmidt, apparently, has read them all. “I set out to write this book without an overarching theory of the novel,” Schmidt admits. “I had no point to prove.” He does, however, prove his wide-ranging reading tastes, his ability to weave a colorful literary tapestry and his conviction that the novel is irrepressible.
between American ports), the World War II tax subsidy to employer health insurance contributions and formula-based federal assistance to school districts. The author also dissects the widespread mismanagement of programs and duplications of effort, and he shows how the federal government has grown fivefold since the 1960s, with an attendant growth at the state and local levels. Schuck recognizes the conflicts that arise from the division of powers, but he emphasizes overlaps between the branches and the effects each has on the others. The author presents and considers a wide variety of solutions, including transformation in the political party system and constitutionallevel reforms. Ultimately, he writes, “I have shown that [the] relationship between government’s ambition and its failure is grounded in an inescapable, structural condition: policy makers’ meager tools and limited understanding of the opaque, complex social world that they aim to manipulate.” A substantial analysis of the causes and failures of government functioning.
THE LAST WHITE ROSE The Secret Wars of the Tudors Seward, Desmond Pegasus (384 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-60598-549-7
The Tudors have been written about ad nauseam, but historian Seward (Eugenie: The Empress and Her Empire, 2004, etc.) opens another branch of study harkening back to their beginnings at the Battle of Bosworth of 1485. The defeat of King Richard III did not eliminate all claimants to the crown. After his victory, Henry VII spent his reign ruthlessly quashing one after another. The genealogical tables at the front of Seward’s book are indispensable for this and any English history, as authors must carefully refer to characters by one name only. For instance, John de la Pole, the Duke of Suffolk, and his sons, John, Earl of Lincoln, and Edmund, Earl of Suffolk, had claim to the crown, and all suffered for it. Choosing a single moniker for each character is preferred, except, of course, that Henry VII and his son, Henry VIII, tended to bestow and take away titles according to whim or worry. The paranoia of Henry VII was actually justified, as the Yorkist family had many eligible candidates, and popular support for restoring their reign was widespread. Challengers found support from Margaret of Burgundy, sister to kings Richard III and Edward IV, the French, who were always ready to stir things up, and the Irish, firmly in the Yorkist camp. By far the most interesting pretender was Richard de la Pole, who was educated at Henry VIII’s expense, created a cardinal by the pope without ordination and considered as a mate for Princess Mary. Henry VIII was pathologically suspicious and saw conspiracies in every shadow, and the cream of England’s aristocracy paid the price. The story of the descendants of the White Rose adds yet another black mark against the first two Tudors, as if they needed more.
WHY GOVERNMENT FAILS SO OFTEN And How It Can Do Better Schuck, Peter H. Princeton Univ. (488 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-691-16162-4
Schuck (Emeritus, Yale Univ.; Foundations of Administrative Law, 2012, etc.) undertakes “to explain and perhaps to help solve” the myriad failures of government, in which a majority of citizens have little faith or confidence. The author’s systematic and multifaceted analysis may come as a surprise to those who accept the quick answers provided by references to “political gridlock” or the “division of power.” Schuck insists that foisting blame on government often reflects a failure by citizens to acknowledge their own roles. “The public views the federal government as a chronically clumsy, ineffectual, bloated giant that cannot be counted upon to do the right thing, much less do it well.” Achieving political support to establish policies, however, will not be sufficient to make them work. Schuck delves deep into the relations among the different elements, and he points out the inability to repeal what he considers outdated, even wasteful legislation—e.g., the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (aka, Jones Act, regulating shipping |
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“The book’s revelations make Wall Street corruption seem tame by comparison.” from the secret world of oil
THE INFORMED AIR Essays
A fresh look at a well-worn field of study, appropriate for general readers. (16 pages of b/w photos)
Spark, Muriel New Directions (352 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-8112-2159-7
THE SECRET WORLD OF OIL
Silverstein, Ken Verso (240 pp.) $26.95 | May 13, 2014 978-1-78168-137-4
An autobiography in essays from an esteemed Scottish writer. Spark (1918–2006) was a poet, essayist, literary critic and biographer, as well as a fiction writer who won acclaim for such novels as Memento Mori (1959) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Artist Penelope Jardine, Spark’s longtime companion and literary executor, has collected 63 pieces of nonfiction, including book reviews, travel essays, literary reflections and memoirs, that together offer a prismatic portrait. Known for her sharp wit and sarcasm, Spark reveals a tender side in her reminiscences of a visit with the aged poet John Masefield, whose modesty and kindness left her “with a feeling of unexpected warmth”; and her drink with Dame Edith Sitwell, “impressively grand, quite eccentric,” who “had no doubt whatsoever of what the artist in literature was about. High priests and priestesses: that’s what we all were.” From the time she started her writing career as a poet, Spark thought of herself as an artist and wanted to be recognized as one. Writing, she said, was “a sort of obsession… and the hours I spend writing my novels or stories are perhaps the happiest hours of my life.” Among her literary essays, several focus on Mary Shelley, about whom Spark wrote a biography; fellow Edinburgh native Robert Louis Stevenson; and Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights: “terrible, a real Prince of Darkness. He is not only the villain, he is the hero of the book in the grand Homeric sense.” A section on faith—the half-Jewish Spark became a Roman Catholic—features two pieces on the book of Job, “surely one of the loveliest, most intricate and most ambiguous books of the Bible,” which inspired her novel The Only Problem (1984). Spark’s haughty disdain is evident in many essays, but Jardine’s judicious selections offer glimpses, as well, of a softer, gentler writer.
Energy journalist Silverstein’s study of the routinely corrupt but immensely profitable world of oil “fixers.” When it comes to democratic nations conveniently turning a blind eye to the human rights violations of dictatorial regimes around the world that also happen to be rich in oil, we’re not talking about a new story. Where Silverstein’s debut breaks new ground is through the exposure of the oil “fixers”— the middlemen serving as the all-important connection governments and corporations need for gaining a foothold in countries where there are newly exploitable oil resources. Silverstein’s book, however, is not only about these so-called fixers, but also about the corrupt dictators making billions of dollars from selling their country’s energy resources while putting nothing back into their respective economies. The “stars” of the book, so to speak, are dictators such as Equatorial Guinea’s Teodorin Obiang: The details of Obiang’s vast, oil-soaked wealth and ridiculously excessive playboy lifestyle are dizzyingly unreal and almost inhuman; he also advocates torture and murder in his own country. Yet, since banana republics like Equatorial Guinea have become oil-rich nations with American corporations on their soil, the American government has only paid lip service to these countries’ excessive human rights violations. Of the fixers, Silverstein spotlights kingpins like Ely Calil, who made untold millions from shady dealings with the Nigerian government. Just as importantly, he outlines the dirty deeds of peripheral figures such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his gun-for-hire PR business, which routinely propped up countless amoral Third World dictators with big-oil connections. Silverstein writes with keen reportorial objectivity but also understandable skepticism about these sketchy middlemen and the frighteningly tyrannical hold that oil has on the free (and not-so-free) world. The book’s revelations make Wall Street corruption seem tame by comparison.
BEYOND NEWS The Future of Journalism
Stephens, Mitchell Columbia Univ. (256 pp.) $26.00 | $25.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-231-15938-8 978-0-231-53629-5 e-book
A professor makes what will seem to some a radical suggestion to disconnect journalism from news, but he belabors the obvious in making the argument and offers little suggestion for a business model that might support his vision of journalism’s future. NYU scholar and author Stephens (The Rise of the Image, the Fall of the Word, 1998, etc.) contends that the future of journalism no longer lies within the hallowed ground of reporting, 66
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“Rolling Stone journalist Taibbi once again rakes from the muck some most malodorous information about inequality in America.” from the divide
objectivity and facts. Facts are everywhere in the age of the Internet, as is news, and almost all of what journalism once commodified is available for free. So, what now, and what’s next? The author argues for the sort of analysis (he prefers interpretation) that is in fact widely practiced and that goes beyond who, what, when and where to focus on why and how. His “call for more interpretation in journalism” further suggests that the future of journalism is in the hands of specialists—maybe even scholars and public intellectuals—where journalism has traditionally regarded its reporters as generalists. What we need are “wisdom journalists, looking not for news but for the meaning and consequences of that news.” Editors have generally been moving in that direction anyway, as social media has made even the 24/7 TV news cycle seem a little dated. Further, the Web is rife with analysis and interpretation—journalism that provides expertise, depth, context and substance—as well as opinion and “facts” (some of which are skewed or prove to be simply untrue). Stephens’ confidence that readers “haven’t had all that much difficulty filtering out the foolishness” isn’t necessarily warranted, as spin becomes increasingly polarized and lies go viral. But even if each of us is qualified to serve as a gatekeeper, where is the revenue to support the wisdom journalism of those who might have once been employed by the sort of news organizations that this book suggests are obsolete? Like the news itself, an analysis that must be read with a critical eye.
behavior that pales in significance to that of the wolves of Wall Street), our horrendous persecution of people on food stamps and other public assistance, and the case of whistle-blower Linda Almonte, a well-paid employee for Chase Bank, which summarily fired her when she pointed out their unethical and illegal practices with their credit card holders. Taibbi does not tiptoe through his text. He believes many of our practices are characteristic of a “dystopia,” and he calls Dick Fuld, a major banker, “one of the great assholes of all time” and illegal immigrants, “one of America’s last great cash crops.” Moreover, he is an equal-opportunity critic: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all wither under the intense sun of Taibbi’s relentless scrutiny. Rising from the text is a miasma of corporate and political malfeasance and immorality that mocks the platitudes of democracy.
THE $11 BILLION YEAR From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System
Thompson, Anne Newmarket Press for It Books/Harpercollins (304 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-06-221801-8
THE DIVIDE American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
A yearlong chronicle of 2012’s major films—from Sundance to Oscar night— highlighting the many challenges currently dogging the industry. It might be self-evident to point out that the film industry has not remained immune to the stark changes presented by digital technology. In Thompson’s (Film Criticism/Univ. of Southern California) dissection of the film year, she provides an interesting case study for the future of the industry. After all, 2012 was a banner year for Hollywood, as her title suggests. However, the old model is being challenged by digital encroachment in a variety of ways. Therein lies the paradox of the new paradigm: Digitization is at once propelling the industry to untold revenues, while at the same time making it more difficult for the industry to stake out easy gains in a rapidly shifting and unpredictable landscape. More than ever, consumers have nearly limitless choices, further pressuring Hollywood to produce safe bets like gigantic, CGI-filled action flicks to pad out the bottom line. This type of stratification is not exclusive to Hollywood either, and a case could be made that Hollywood’s problem is really a symptom of the larger, systemic problems with our technology-crazed economy. In her examination, Thompson tracks films, from fledgling indies, like Beasts of the Southern Wild, vying for distribution contracts on the festival circuit to major “tent-pole” summer blockbusters—both the successes, like Marvel’s franchise juggernaut The Avengers, and flops, like Disney’s disastrous John Carter. While the author undoubtedly understands the prevailing industry trends and how they are changing, she remains a reporter at heart. Rich with anecdotes and gossip, Thompson presents Hollywood as
Taibbi, Matt Spiegel & Grau (448 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-8129-9342-4
Rolling Stone journalist Taibbi (Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America, 2010, etc.) once again rakes from the muck some most malodorous information about inequality in America. Readers with high blood pressure should make sure they’ve taken their medication before reading this devastating account of the inequality in our justice, immigration and social service systems. Taibbi’s chapters are high-definition photographs contrasting the ways we pursue small-time corruption and essentially reward high-level versions of the same thing. Mixing case studies, interviews and anecdotes with comprehensive research on his topics, the author’s effort should silence the sort of criticism that says, “Yes, those are horrible incidents and miscarriages of justice, but are they representative?” His answer, “Oh, yes!” Taibbi deals with the frisk-and-stop campaign in New York City, the 2008 financial collapse (he reminds us that no one went to jail for the egregious activities of the investment banks involved), the vast resources we allocate for pursuing, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants (mostly for petty |
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RESCUE OF THE BOUNTY Disaster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy
a living, breathing community. From executive firings and hirings to the stories behind films that almost never made it to the screen, Thompson’s journalistic flair makes her analysis of the film industry a compelling and page-turning read. An insider investigation into the ways in which Hollywood is changing that will certainly prove invaluable in the coming years.
Tougias, Michael J.; Campbell, Douglas A. Scribner (256 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4767-4663-0 In October 2012, out of New London, Conn., bound for St. Petersburg, Fla., a single tall ship sailed into the path of “the largest storm in geographic spread
NO SAINTS AROUND HERE A Caregiver’s Days Toth, Susan Allen Univ. of Minnesota (256 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8166-9286-6
ever forecast.” “Well…it looks like a big pirate ship in the middle of a hurricane.” The Coast Guard pilot looking down on a churning sea and the embattled Bounty could be forgiven for thinking the scene something out of a movie set. After all, the ship sinking 90 miles off Cape Hatteras was an expanded replica of the famous three-master constructed for Mutiny on the Bounty, and it had been featured more recently in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Tougias (A Storm Too Soon: A True Story of Disaster, Survival and an Incredible Rescue, 2013, etc.) and Campbell (Eight Survived: The Harrowing Story of the USS Flier and the Only Downed World War II Submariners to Survive and Evade Capture, 2010, etc.) review the ship’s 50-year history, sketch the backgrounds of the sailors aboard and offer an excruciating moment-by-moment look of the four-day voyage that killed one crew member and the captain. Relying primarily on sworn testimony from the Coast Guard’s formal investigation, the authors identify a number of factors that contributed to the disaster: a rotting hull, seams improperly caulked, inadequate bilge pumps, a largely inexperienced crew and the lack of any professional weather router. Culpability, however, rested finally with Capt. Robin Walbridge and his reckless decision to set sail: “The boat’s safer being out at sea than being buckled up at a dock somewhere.” Notwithstanding this huge miscalculation, the authors offer a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of the captain, crediting his compassionate manner and the respect and loyalty he inspired. Finally, they devote a thrilling portion of their narrative to the courageous Coast Guard rescue and the almost incredible efforts of the pilots, hoist crews and swimmers who headed straight into Hurricane Sandy. A taut recounting of a needless maritime tragedy. (8-page b/w photo insert)
A wife’s frank memoir of her time as a caregiver during the last 18 months of her husband’s life. Writing teacher Toth (Leaning into the Wind: A Memoir of Midwest Weather, 2003, etc.), whose husband, James, had Parkinson’s disease, tells it like it is. Once a successful architect, he declined both physically and mentally as the disease ravaged his body. The author was determined to care for him at home in the house he had designed for them, the story of which is told in their jointly authored book, A House of One’s Own (1991). During those last months, Toth jotted down her thoughts, feelings and uncertainties, and she recorded the intimate details of caring for a helpless person. Arranged in chronological order, these short essays tell of a dark journey through slow decay and toward inevitable death. Caregivers do not just soothe fevered brows; they have to brush and floss their patients’ teeth, feed them, find the right commode, diapers, and waterproof mattress pads, clean up their messes and cope with their demands. They do what has to be done. While Toth makes it clear that she dearly loved the man she was caring for, she lets her fatigue, guilt, frustrations, fraying patience and even exasperation show. Having paid help is a plus, of course, and the author’s financial situation will be the envy of many. The bonds she formed with other caregivers who shared their experiences, sometimes with black humor, were invaluable to her. That may be the book’s greatest value—that caregivers of loved ones reading it will take comfort in knowing that what they are going through has been shared by many others. An inward-looking account with an important takehome message: Caring for a dying loved one is a demanding task, and caregivers are only human.
POISON SPRING The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA
Vallianatos, E.G. with Jenkins, McKay Bloomsbury (304 pp.) $28.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-60819-914-3 “We spend our lives living in a chemical soup,” writes Vallianatos (This Land Is Their Land: How Corporate Farms Threaten the World, 2006, etc.), who was a risk evaluator for the Environment Protection Agency from 1979 to 2004.
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With Jenkins (Journalism/Univ. of Delaware; What’s Gotten Into Us: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World, 2011), he excoriates the agency for routinely yielding to outside pressure in regulating pesticides and other environmental pollutants. Founded in 1970, the EPA inherited Department of Agriculture personnel who brought their enthusiasm for chemical farming. Dedicated scientists arrived, but their findings are never the last word. That belongs to their superiors, who weigh evidence of an agent’s toxicity against industry spokesmen and fierce opposition of administration and Congress to “burdensome government regulation” and “attacks on the farmer.” The authors recite a depressing litany of poisons approved despite damning, inadequate or fraudulent testing—and often no testing at all. EPA whistle-blowers, always portrayed as heroes, are usually ignored, demoted or fired. Although President Ronald Reagan’s effort to abolish the EPA failed, he weakened it dramatically. Abolition remains the goal of many Republicans, while Democrats oppose this plan. However, Democratic presidents, Barack Obama included, have proven a disappointment. Sadly, a minority of environmentalists excepted, Americans rarely pester their representatives about this subject or contribute to their campaigns. Agribusinesses and chemical manufacturers do both. Even an impartial EPA official—rare in this damning indictment—hears mostly one side of an argument. In the obligatory how-to-fix-it conclusion, Vallianatos and Jenkins suggest that the EPA should be run like the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Reserve—by experts, not political appointees. This is not likely. Readers of this overheated but often on-the-mark polemic will conclude that the safest tactic is organic food and a fly swatter.
major cities are no longer connected by road, of which Congo possesses only 600-odd asphalt miles; as a rule of thumb, “a journey that took one hour during the colonial period now corresponds to a full day’s travel.” Yet this is no paean to past colonial splendor; van Reybrouck well recognizes the murderous policies of Belgium’s King Leopold, and he sees some hope for stability emerging from conditions that otherwise have served as a recipe for a failed state. The causes for the decline have been many, but as the author notes, the country had to endure in just the first six months of independence a flight of the European colonials, an invasion by the Belgian army, a military mutiny, a coup d’êtat, widespread secession and a protracted hot season in the long Cold War. Though the book is overlong, van Reybrouck makes a good case for the importance of Congo to world history and its ongoing centrality in a time of resurgent economic colonialism, this time on the part of China.
WITH OR WITHOUT GOD Why the Way We Live Is More Important than What We Believe
Vosper, Gretta HarperCollins 360 (384 pp.) $16.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-229485-2
A mildly phrased though decidedly controversial manifesto from Torontobased pastor Vosper, calling for new practices “to keep the church alive.” This is probably not the book to give your born-again cousin, unless that cousin is politically liberal and friendly to Canadian ideas of comity. Vosper observes that the organized church is becoming less meaningful, especially to the young, as many people are more inclined to own up to having feelings of spirituality while distancing themselves from conventional religion, which is, to them, a haven of intolerance and ignorance. Vosper courts fundamentalist ire by examining what it is that makes people seek spiritual solutions, including religion, to life’s problems— security in the face of fear and soul-gnawing anxiety being high on the list—and hinting that God is a construct of an earlier, more primitive mind: “When God was still big within the Christian world, it was the church—not any single church, but the worldwide Christian Church—that became its agent.” The author strongly advocates an inclusivity that goes beyond mere gender neutrality, writing provocatively that it “seems almost impossible to be inclusive until we get beneath the naming of whatever it is we are talking about to exactly what it is we are talking about.” Though the church that Vosper envisions may seem to be a little thin on, say, God, and though her approach can seem a little oversimplified at times, her intentions seem well-placed. Without a strongly liberal church, she writes, religion risks being abandoned to fundamentalism, further alienating the middle. For all that, her argument can sometimes seem a little Norman Peale–ish, with its talk of “up-to-date
CONGO The Epic History of a People van Reybrouck, David Ecco/HarperCollins (656 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-220011-2
Sprawling portrait of a land that, by Belgian writer van Reybrouck’s account, has been at the center of world history as well as a continent. The subtitle is a touch off, for as the author notes, Congo is home to hundreds of peoples, even if there is “great linguistic and cultural homogeneity” owing to the dominance of Bantu-speaking tribes. About 10 percent of all Africa falls within its borders, as well as most of the 2,900-milelong river that gives it its name. It has been independent of Belgian colonialism for half a century—longer, observes the author, than most of its people have been alive. Still, van Reybrouck turns up some old-timers (one claiming to have been born in the 19th century) to frame his long story of the land’s development, one that hinges on generations of trade along the river. Since independence, the country has fallen into disrepair born of political discord and official corruption. The country’s four |
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“On this centennial of the Great War’s beginning, Wawro has composed a thoroughly researched and well-written account, mercilessly debunking any nostalgia for the old monarch and the deeply dysfunctional empire over which he presided.” from a mad catastrophe
A MAD CATASTROPHE The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire
management theories,” “packaging that attracts different user and age group[s]” and “contemporary market devices.” A best-seller in Canada, where it was published in 2008, and doubtless destined to produce both heat and light on this more orthodox side of the border.
Wawro, Geoffrey Basic (464 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-465-02835-1
CENSORING QUEEN VICTORIA How Two Gentlemen Edited a Queen and Created an Icon
A distinguished historian’s takedown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s spectacularly inept leadership, which helped usher in the 20th century’s greatest tragedy. One hundred years ago this June, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo. With its saber-rattling ally Germany discouraging any diplomatic solution to the crisis, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, triggering a series of treaty obligations that soon had the world at arms. Wawro (Military History/Univ. of North Texas, Dallas; Quicksand: America’s Pursuit of Power in the Middle East, 2010, etc.) sets the stage for this rash decision with opening chapters explaining the origins of the dual monarchy and the rot eating away at the empire well before any shot was fired. Under the doddering, now-mythologized Emperor Franz Josef, the empire was plagued by salacious court intrigues, corruption, linguistic controversies, and bureaucratic infighting and paralysis so widespread that in 1913, British newspapers were already predicting dissolution. Nevertheless, seemingly oblivious to its own infirmity, the government threw itself into a war it had no chance of winning. Wawro charts the disastrous 19141915 campaigns against Serbia and Russia that fatally exposed the empire’s weaknesses, where an army of unwilling soldiers, poorly led, inadequately trained and armed, was slaughtered by the millions. American readers with only a passing familiarity of the battles of World War I likely know it best from the perspective of the Western Front. Wawro offers a crucial insight into the Eastern Front, where the fecklessness of Germany’s most important ally drained attention and resources, almost guaranteeing the bloody standoff in the Western trenches and the eventual capitulation of the Kaiser’s army. On this centennial of the Great War’s beginning, Wawro has composed a thoroughly researched and wellwritten account, mercilessly debunking any nostalgia for the old monarch and the deeply dysfunctional empire over which he presided. (31 b/w images and 14 maps)
Ward, Yvonne Oneworld Publications (224 pp.) $22.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-78074-363-9
An Australian historian’s study of the two men who edited Queen Victoria’s letters and how their methods and choices affected posterity’s view of her. Queen Victoria (1819–1901) was a remarkably prolific correspondent. According to some historians, she produced upward of “two and a half thousand words each day of her adult life [and] sixty million words in the course of her reign.” When she died, her son, Edward VII, commissioned a well-respected official, Reginald Brett, otherwise known as the second Lord Esher, to produce a memorial biography of the late queen. Esher in turn decided to create a publishable collection of her letters up to the death of Albert in 1861. Realizing he could not do the task alone, Esher hired noted essayist, poet and Eton academic Arthur Benson to assist. Esher wanted to create a two-volume collection that focused on Victoria’s relationship to the men who shaped her as a ruler. Benson, however, sought to emphasize the historical and social events in which the queen participated and proposed adding up to two more volumes. Neither sought to consider Victoria’s roles as wife, mother and friend to other women. In her analysis of these two biographers, Ward examines the complex working relationship between them. In particular, she focuses on their internal power plays, which stemmed from their very different temperaments and social classes. Wealthy, charming and polished, Esher had all the advantages, including access to, and influence over, King Edward. Though born to an upper-middle-class family with good connections, the depressive Benson often found himself at odds with aristocrats, even as he struggled to gain acceptance into their circles. Rich in intrigue, Ward’s book offers not only an enlightening look at the two men who defined Queen Victoria to the future, but also the ways that notions about gender influenced early-20th-century biographical portraiture.
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GUARDIAN OF THE REPUBLIC An American Ronin’s Journey to Faith, Family and Freedom
IN THE HOUR OF VICTORY The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson
West, Allen with Hickford, Michele Crown Forum (224 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8041-3810-9
Willis, Sam Norton (416 pp.) $35.00 | Apr. 21, 2014 978-0-393-24314-7
Part memoir, part political manifesto, from a controversial conservative who sounds like he’s preparing to run for public office. There is no doubting his sincerity or the courage of his convictions, as West details his formative years as the AfricanAmerican son of a close-knit family that stressed education and had generations of military service. The turning point for the author came when he was a battalion commander and received information that an Iraqi policeman had been conspiring with terrorists to help ambush American troops. “The policeman had been stonewalling our interrogators, and we needed results,” he writes. “So I made the decision to put additional pressure on him with a psychological intimidation tactic. I drew my pistol and threatened to kill him if he did not provide information.” He got his information but lost his command, received a fine and a reprimand, and left the military with an honorable discharge. He subsequently served a single term as a Florida congressman and has been a commentator on Fox News. West, whose political positions aren’t as distinctive as his military experience, believes black voters are ill-served by a Democratic Party that takes them for granted: “[W]hen the left wins, our community loses. The result of such blind loyalty is that many black voters have come to resemble Vladimir Lenin’s ‘useful idiots.’ ” The Lenin reference isn’t gratuitous, for the author sees signs of communism, or at least creeping socialism, throughout a government that has grown bloated while betraying the principles of the Founding Fathers. “On college campuses,” he writes, “there are far too many political science departments following the dogma of Marx rather than Jefferson.” So what about the Republican Party? It is “slowly diluting itself into oblivion as it listens to talking heads say it can only be successful as ‘Democrat Lite.’ ” With his philosophy shaped by the likes of Ayn Rand, no one will tag this author Democrat Lite.
Archaeologist and maritime historian Willis (The Glorious First of June, 2011) asked for a seemingly innocuous document at the British Library while researching one of his books. The treasure that was delivered was bound in velvet and gilt and contained the dispatches from eight of the British Navy’s greatest fleet victories fought between 1794 and 1806. Readers will sense the author’s excitement as he read reports from Britain’s greatest admirals written immediately after battles. This was the beginning of the end of the age of wooden sailing ships firing solid shot. The author’s love of everything navy is obvious, but his greatest talent is in writing about these battles simply enough that any landlubber can understand him. The dispatches constitute announcements of naval engagements rushed to the admiralty and published in the newspapers. They served as the senders’ best chances to color and, if needed, mislead the official history. Willis includes nearly all of these original letters, which show readers the true personalities of the men of the British Navy. Their styles of writing reflect their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with the admiralty and controlling a crew. The true story of any battle between naval fleets is almost impossible to tell. In the event, the smoke and confusion preclude anyone actually knowing what’s going on, and ships are often at a great distance from each other; friendly fire was common. This era marked the last of the fleet battles. Spain’s navy never recovered from Trafalgar, and no nation wanted to waste the money on ships that could be wiped out in a single conflict. “As fascinating for what their authors leave out as for what they put in,” writes the author about the letters, “they remain urgent and riveting more than 200 years after they were written.” Willis shares his joy and thorough knowledge of the period, and the letters themselves bring it all to life. (40 illustrations, 2-color throughout with 8 pages of color)
A WINDOW ON ETERNITY A Biologist’s Walk Through Gorongosa National Park
Wilson, Edward O. Photos by Naskrecki, Piotr Simon & Schuster (228 pp.) $30.00 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4767-4741-5 978-1-4767-4734-9 e-book
The rebirth of a premier nature reserve in Mozambique, recounted in a gentle storytelling style by noted Harvard entomologist Wilson (Letters to a Young Scientist, 2013, etc.). |
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“A powerful story of courage and hope that should inspire others to follow trailblazers like Steckel and his students.” from hold fast to dreams
Gorongosa National Park has only in the last two decades emerged from a hellacious civil war. Wilson provides a vest-pocket history of the conflict and pays due respect to those who were killed or devastated by the violence. However, the author was in the park on other business: to witness the slow recuperation of the parkland at the hands of the philanthropist Gregory Carr in conjunction with the people of the region. This is virgin territory for biologists—much of the park is inaccessible except by air—and Wilson’s excitement is evident on every page, most of which are peppered with spectacular photographs of fauna and flora. The author takes his time in describing inselbergs, caves, limestone ridges, deep ravines, the yellow trunks of fever trees, the parasols of palms, savannah and grassland—a wonder of habitats and an absolute treasure of biodiversity. Taking nothing for granted, Wilson walks readers through evolutionary theory—heredity divergence, mother and daughter species, speciation, adaptive radiation, and the long, strange trip of our species—and then treats them to a logbook of how fieldwork is conducted. His voice is soft, cheerful and full of confidence: If this type of reclamation work can be done in such a ravaged and remote region, think of the possibilities for turning around grotesquely polluted sites all over the world. Wilson is both a hardheaded naturalist and a dreamer: “[T]he beauty and drama and other emotions that brought me to Mozambique and this velvetberry bush were entirely in my own head.” A big story about a small place with an ageless appreciation and discernment it would be criminal to ignore.
book launch with supporting her husband’s dream, something had to give. After a particularly contentious night, she decided that the only way to save the restaurant and her marriage was to recuse herself from the equation. As always, Wizenberg is at her best when discussing the food, and though she quickly determines how small a part of restaurant ownership that is, she still manages to sprinkle fairy dust on everything—from the homemade cold meatloaf sandwiches she makes after a hard day of construction to the Vietnamese rice noodle salad she was inspired to create after months of similar takeout lunches. A pleasantly rendered if not earth-shattering reality check for anyone with restaurant-owning envy.
HOLD FAST TO DREAMS A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty Zasloff, Beth; Steckel, Joshua New Press (320 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-59558-904-0 978-1-59558-904-0 e-book
Inspiring account of what it takes to overcome class and ethnic barriers to gain acceptance to college. In 2006, Steckel was recruited to a new Brooklyn high school (the Secondary School for Research) from the college admissions program of a private Upper East Side school. He and his wife, Zasloff (co-author: Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance, 2008), chronicle the pitfalls he faced as he helped the students navigate the college-admissions process and worked with his existing network of admissions officers and support programs to qualify candidates in innovative and unorthodox ways. The success stories built foundations for others in applying and dealing with the stereotyping, racism and unconscious bias the students encountered as they advanced toward their goals of college admission. Steckel helped the students develop the resources to present their personal stories successfully. They also had to keep their eyes on the prize as they endured brutal misfortunes—e.g., the fire that destroyed Mike’s home and put him in a shelter or the gang beating that nearly killed Dwight. Steckel was with them the entire way, celebrating successes and helping them overcome heartbreaking setbacks and bureaucratic inflexibility. He helped the students find programs in which potential college candidates from disadvantaged communities could pre-qualify through competitive recruitment—e.g., Questbridge and Posse, which work with Ivy League schools. The author also worked with them to meet deadlines, be on time for interviews and raise funds through scholarships. Of the 42 members of Steckel’s first graduating class, 41 entered college, and they qualified for $1.8 million in scholarships. The next year’s class was 75 strong and ready for another new beginning. A powerful story of courage and hope that should inspire others to follow trailblazers like Steckel and his students.
DELANCEY A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage
Wizenberg, Molly Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $25.00 | May 6, 2024 978-1-4516-5509-4
A popular food blogger and her husband open a Seattle pizzeria, testing the limits of their marriage in the process. For years, Wizenberg (A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, 2009) has been charming readers with her blog, Orangette, an enviable world full of vintage wood, rustic tableware and beautifully photographed recipes. It was through her blog that she also found her husband, a pizza-addicted New Yorker who, upon joining her in Seattle, missed his beloved Brooklyn pizzeria, Di Fara. When he proposed that they open their own restaurant, named Delancey, the author was on board, though neither had considered how backbreakingly hard that dream was going to be. Literally building from the ground up, the couple suddenly had to contend with “shot-blasting” concrete floors, impressing health department inspectors, creating a wood-burning oven entirely from scratch, and finding a place to store 30 vinyl chairs, bought at auction from a bowling alley. Just about to run out of startup money, they eventually opened, but the troubles were hardly over—as it turns out, hiring and managing a staff also isn’t as harmonious as they’d hoped. For Wizenberg, who’d been juggling her first 72
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children’s & teen I KILL THE MOCKINGBIRD
These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
Acampora, Paul Roaring Brook (176 pp.) $16.99 | May 20, 2014 978-1-59643-742-5
THE NIGHT GARDENER by Jonathan Auxier; illus. by Patrick Arrasmith....................................................................74 BROTHER HUGO AND THE BEAR by Katy Beebe; illus. by S.D. Schindler..........................................................................76 THE LAST FOREVER by Deb Caletti...................................................78 THE CHANCE YOU WON’T RETURN by Annie Cardi......................78 FROM THERE TO HERE by Laurel Croza; illus. by Matt James....... 80 THE MAGIC TRAP by Jacqueline Davies............................................81 SAVING LUCAS BIGGS by Marisa de los Santos; David Teague...... 82 THE GEESE MARCH IN STEP by Jean-Fran�ois Dumont.................83 BIG FAT DISASTER by Beth Fehlbaum.............................................. 86 TWO BUNNY BUDDIES by Kathryn O. Galbraith; illus. by Joe Cepeda................................................................................87 THE VIGILANTE POETS OF SELWYN ACADEMY by Kate Hattemer................................................................................. 92 THE HERO’S GUIDE TO BEING AN OUTLAW by Christopher Healy........................................................................... 92 POM AND PIM by Lena Landström; illus. by Olof Landström; trans. by Julia Marshall........................................................................97 FLY AWAY by Patricia MacLachlan................................................... 98 BREATHE by Scott Magoon................................................................. 99 SUNRISE by Mike Mullin..................................................................102 NUMBER ONE SAM by Greg Pizzoli................................................105
Literary terrorists hit Connecticut, and things go awry for a trio of wellmeaning book addicts. “What if we could make everybody read To Kill a Mockingbird this summer?” Lucy asks her friends Elena and Michael. They’ve received summer reading lists on the last day of eighth grade, and their favorite, To Kill a Mockingbird, is one of their choices. It’s such a great book, though, that everyone should read it, so they go about scheming to make that happen. Operating on the principle of supply and demand, they figure if they make the novel scarce, students will flock to libraries and bookstores in search of it. Naming their conspiracy “I Kill the Mockingbird,” they set out to hide copies of the Harper Lee classic, purposely misshelving it in bookstores and libraries in town and, eventually, throughout the state. They create a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, and their plot quickly goes out of control, encouraging copycats around the country. Soon, their plan to promote reading begins to seem like censorship, a plot by publishers or a big practical joke. Acampora’s tale of three book-loving protagonists out to spread the love celebrates books and readers, and it fizzes in Lucy’s lively first-person narration. The spot-on dialogue combines with the irresistible appeal of young teenagers enthusiastically pursuing bad ideas for a fast, page-flipping read. It’ll make readers look at reading and activism in a whole new light. (Fiction. 10-14)
THE GRUDGE KEEPER by Mara Rockliff; illus. by Eliza Wheeler........................................................................ 107
THE BATTLE OF DARCY LANE
CHENGDU COULD NOT, WOULD NOT, FALL ASLEEP by Barney Saltzberg............................................................................ 107
Altebrando, Tara Running Press (208 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7624-4948-4
FAR FROM YOU by Tess Sharpe.........................................................109 QUEEN VICTORIA’S BATHING MACHINE by Gloria Whelan; illus. by Nancy Carpenter................................................................... 113 A PATH BEGINS by J.A. White; illus. by Andrea Offermann..........114 HERE COMES THE EASTER CAT by Deborah Underwood; illus. by Claudia Rueda....................................................................... 118 SOS DINOS IN DISTRESS by Audois & Alleuil Editions.................119 THE UNSTEALER by Joshua Wilson; illus. by Donna Wilson; dev. by The Happy Dandelion............................................................122 |
As soon as new neighbor Alyssa shows up, Taylor is mesmerized, leaving best friend Julia feeling threatened. Immediately after 12-year-old Julia has bemoaned the boredom of hanging around her swimming pool with Taylor all summer, Alyssa enters the scene. Alyssa makes an unwelcome comment about Julia’s unicorn-themed T-shirt, so Julia makes
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“Replete with engaging figurative language and literary allusions to works ranging from the Bible to Paradise Lost, Auxier’s creepy Victorian ghost story is an allegory on greed and the power of stories.” from the night gardener
fun of Russia, the ball game Alyssa has begun to teach Taylor. Thus begins an escalating conflict, fueled mostly by Alyssa’s cruelty and Taylor’s complicity, which peaks with Alyssa’s challenge to Julia to a one-on-one Russia tournament. Julia’s overbearing but “often right” mother quickly arranges for Julia to spend two weeks at music camp, where Julia partially recovers her sense of self. Before the final Russia showdown—postponed once by the emergence of 17-year cicadas—readers learn about less-thancool Wendy, loyal to Julia but dandruff-blighted; Julia’s crush on her neighbor Peter; Julia’s first bra; and why Julia’s dream bedroom has been temporarily put on hold. The novel’s underlying tone of superiority, supported by the implicit assurance that life gets better for people who are “passionate about stuff,” is confirmed in the ending acknowledgments: “And an extra special thanks to the two girls who made my life on Albourne Avenue so miserable. Victory is mine.” Despite the evergreen theme, Julia’s whining is more likely to turn readers off than help them relate to her. (Fiction. 9-11)
DON’T LOOK BACK
Armentrout, Jennifer L. Hyperion (384 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4231-7512-4
This engrossing thriller packs a heady atmospheric punch with plenty of theatrical scares, but it’s a bit too transparent to fully succeed as a mystery. Samantha is recovering from a complex concussion that not only obliterated her memory, but also wiped clean her personality. Despite this, disturbing, bloody images visit her after she is found alone and bruised in the wilderness, days after she and her best friend, Cassie, went missing. And she is sobered by what she learns about her past self. Teen readers will appreciate Samantha’s earnest attempts to redeem herself in the eyes of her brother and childhood friends, even as she is horrified to learn that she’s alienated them for years with her petty, cruel behavior. Particularly complicated is her relationship with Carson Ortiz, the son of the groundskeeper on her extremely wealthy parents’ estate. The two are obviously attracted to each other, but Samantha’s wicked snobbery has been keeping them apart. Romance fans will love their playful banter, though it’s too bad ethnically stereotypical references to Carson as a “Latin-lover” and his “exotic” good looks linger into this 21st-century text. Samantha’s disjointed hallucinations of an eerily disheveled Cassie and of a hazy sinister figure are genuinely creepy, but for those who guess the culprit early on due to some unsubtle clues, it’s likely the carefully tension-filled pacing won’t work. An engaging, if flawed, mixture of mean girls, steamy romance and psychological terror. (Thriller. 14-18)
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SECRETS OF THE SKY CAVES Danger and Discovery on Nepal’s Mustang Cliffs
Athans, Sandra K. Millbrook (64 pp.) $24.95 e-book | $33.26 PLB | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2540-8 e-book 978-1-4677-0016-0 PLB Mountain climbers, scientists and scholars use their special skills to unearth the mysteries of a cave city in the Himalayas. In a remote area of the world, mountain climbers scaling Mt. Everest come across an incredible man-made cave village hidden away in the mountain range. The cave dwellings, part of the former kingdom of Mustang (now part of Nepal), were once part of a thriving community. The climbers received permission from the Nepalese government to study the caves, and the team grew to include those with the skills to interpret the remains, artifacts and other findings. This volume describes the projects that answered many of the questions raised by the discovery of the caves and in doing so demonstrates the special qualities of each of the specialties involved—not the least of which is mountaineering. The author’s brother was one of the original climbers, lending authenticity to the account. The text, which provides a solid history of the region, is supplemented by many photographs of the explorers as well as the items from the excavation. There is rich backmatter: a roster of those involved, a timeline, source notes, glossary, selected bibliography, suggestions for further exploration, photo credits and an index. Though it’s too bad the voices of the Nepalese scholars involved are not heard, overall, it’s a satisfying exploration. (Nonfiction. 9-14)
THE NIGHT GARDENER
Auxier, Jonathan Illus. by Arrasmith, Patrick Amulet/Abrams (384 pp.) $16.95 | May 20, 2014 978-1-4197-1144-2
Replete with engaging figurative language and literary allusions to works ranging from the Bible to Paradise Lost, Auxier’s creepy Victorian ghost story is an allegory on greed and the power of stories. Fourteen-year-old Molly and her younger brother, Kip, orphans fleeing the Irish famine, seek work in England. The destitute siblings become servants at the Windsor estate, at the center of which is a decrepit house entwined with a huge and sinister tree. Although warned that this place contains something ominous that changes people, they are unprepared for the evil they encounter. The master, mistress and their two children grow pale and thin; their eyes and hair blacken. Entering the forbidden room at the top of the stairs, Molly finds a knothole in the tree—a knothole that produces whatever one wishes for (money, jewels, sweets). The price is a piece of the petitioner’s soul. Muddy footprints and dead
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leaves in the house attest to an evil nocturnal visitor, the titular Night Gardener, who wipes the sweat of fear from their nightmare-ridden brows to water the tree. In a heart-stopping climax, Molly and Kip attempt to stop this specter and the ancient curse. Lots of creepiness, memorable characters, a worthy message, Arrasmith’s atmospheric drawings and touches of humor amid the horror make this cautionary tale one readers will not soon forget. (Fantasy. 10-14)
WHOOSH! A Watery World of Wonderful Creatures Baillie, Marilyn Illus. by Mitchell, Susan Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-926973-98-2
This, like traveling across town to a specific church or avoiding all things Turkish, is just part of being an Armenian-descended American. When his best friend, Becky, surprises Alek with an unwanted, passionate kiss and he reacts badly, he knows the summer is going to be lonely and awful. Then Ethan, a cool, skateboarding junior also in summer school, “kidnaps” Alek for a day trip by train to a Rufus Wainwright concert in New York City. Ethan, who’s out to his skater friends, opens up a whole new world for Alek, and their friendship becomes a relationship. How will his traditionally minded family handle this? Alek is pretty sure it will be awful. Barakiva’s debut is well-wrought and realistic within its Northeast context, and it’s entertaining without sliding into easy gags or melodrama. Despite a too– neat-and-happy ending, it deftly draws strong parallels between homosexuality and ethnicity that will resonate with audiences. East Coast teens will see themselves; Midwesterners will feel a little envy. (Fiction. 12-16)
Filled with onomatopoeia and animals both familiar and new, this book shows children that there are creatures that love water just the way they do. “I’m a river otter pup. My mom pulls me into the chilly water for my first swimming lesson. Patiently, she teaches me to paddle and dive. Look at me float!” Mitchell cleverly connects left-hand pages, which show animals in their natural environments, to right-hand pages, which re-create the scene with children: A water strider is pictured opposite a girl lounging on a pool float; an elephant mother spraying her baby corresponds with a mom rinsing her child in the tub; and while an emperor penguin slides frontward off the ice into the sea, a child slides into a pool on his belly. Echoes of colors and patterns from the natural world appear in our world too—a hermit crab’s striped shell matches a child’s towel; the sprinkler looks like the orca’s spout. Other animals include dolphins, a great blue heron, alligators, a clownfish and a tasseled wobbegong shark. The multicultural cast of rosy-cheeked kids and the large assortment of everyday and fun activities ensure that readers will relate. Baillie brings the message home by asking kids to think of ways they use water. Backmatter includes more facts about each of the animals. Water babies are sure to wade into this one. (Informational picture book. 3-6)
ONE MAN GUY
Barakiva, Michael Farrar, Straus and Giroux (272 pp.) $17.99 | May 27, 2014 978-0-374-35645-3 Alek thought summer school would be the biggest bump in his summer…if only he’d known. Fourteen-year-old Aleksander Khederian is devastated when his parents break their promise to send him to tennis camp over the summer, but even worse is that they are forcing him to go to summer school just so that he can stay on the honors track. |
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TYRANNOSAURUS WRECKS!
Bardhan-Quallen, Sudipta Illus. by OHora, Zachariah Abrams (32 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4197-1035-3
Primary socialization and cooperation in action—with dinosaurs, and no grown-ups in sight. Whether at the art table, doing work at the board or using blocks—“Stegosaurus stacks. / Triceratops erects. / Gallimimus builds it up”—the result is the same: “TYRANNOSAURUS… // WRECKS!” But not only does a room full of angry faces cause a change of heart in the hyperactive theropod, when his efforts to repair the damage founder on his own clumsiness, his classmates pitch in. They don’t do the cleanup themselves, but they work to enable his success. That doesn’t spell an end to disasters, as bulky Apatosaurus doesn’t see contrite T. Rex carefully balancing a tray of juice cups and snacks…but at least this time it’s not his fault. OHora adds digital color to simply drawn classroom scenes in ways that produce a flat, screen-printed look, depicting the dinos in human clothing but with recognizable attributes (they’re also identified on the endpapers). Just for fun he also slips in a view of Styracosaurus practicing his “C”s by repeatedly writing “Climate Change” and a few other visual gags. Along with the pleasure of pronouncing those multisyllabic dino names, young audiences may find food for thought in the behavioral dynamics on display. (Picture book. 4-6)
SEAN ROSEN IS NOT FOR SALE
Baron, Jeff Greenwillow/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-218750-5 978-0-06-218752-9 e-book A fledgling screenwriter, podcast creator and potential entertainment-industry innovator, 13-year-old Sean is full of ideas. Similar in format to Sean’s first appearance (I Represent Sean Rosen, 2013), which detailed Sean’s exploits as he fielded studio offers on his screenplay, this sequel continues his adventures with the Hollywood industry. Sean is determined to gain the attention of Hank Hollywood, his moniker for the chairman of an influential entertainment company. However, an attempt to pique Hank’s interest in Sean’s secret, clever new concept for the industry yields unexpected results. Sean is soon mired in a studio bidding war and becomes the target of intrigue as a mysterious third party investigates his activities. Amid the Hollywood drama, Sean must contend with friends’ dating dilemmas, a near first kiss and a calamitous petsitting job. Baron adeptly conveys Sean’s perspicacity in his droll first-person narrative. Sean’s experiences with the 76
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stratagems of the Hollywood executives and revelations about his grandfather’s misdeeds help Sean define his feelings about trust and friendship. When a surprise visitor arrives at Sean’s school retreat, readers can be confident that his new maturity will enable Sean to cope with the bittersweet truth delivered by an industry expert. Readers will relish his bravado, wit and creativity as Sean emerges from his encounters wiser yet still determined to follow his dreams. (Fiction. 11-14)
BROTHER HUGO AND THE BEAR
Beebe, Katy Illus. by Schindler, S.D. Eerdmans (34 pp.) $17.00 | Apr. 4, 2014 978-0-8028-5407-0
Prepare to be charmed by a bear who loves words—or at least loves to eat them. Brother Hugo cannot return his book to the library of the monastery: A bear has consumed it. Enjoined to go to another priory to borrow a volume that he might copy to replace what the bear ate, he finds the bear follows him, snuffling hungrily. All his brother monks help him to prepare the parchment, make the inks, sew the pages and bind it shut. They even supply him with scraps of text to toss to the bear as Brother Hugo attempts to return the book he had copied. This does not work out, exactly. The rhythm of the text is antique but lucid and sweet, and the pictures, festooned with curlicues and decorated in shades of gold, gray and brown, echo the manuscript illuminations that inspired them. Rich backmatter gives all the historical background without detracting from the essential spark of the tale. The author, who holds a Ph.D. in medieval history, was inspired by a line from the 12th-century abbot Peter the Venerable about a precious volume eaten by a bear to make this lively story. This accurate (if abbreviated) delineation of the process of medieval manuscript bookmaking shines thanks to the fey twist of ursine longing for the written word. (glossary, author’s note, illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 5-9)
LOST IN THOUGHT
Bertrand, Cara Luminis (290 pp.) $19.95 | $6.99 e-book | Apr. 18, 2014 978-1-935462-93-4 978-1-935462-95-8 e-book Series: Sententia, 1 This debut sends a paranormally afflicted teen to a posh school with a secret in this familiar-feeling series opener. Lainey has lived most of her life traveling with her artist aunt and learning from tutors. When she begins to experience blackouts, her guardian suddenly sends
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“The illustrations are full of charm, and the mouse that figures throughout will provide children an additional means of engagement.” from books always everywhere
her to a posh prep school, where she’s eagerly accepted as a Legacy student. Lainey loves antiques, but sometimes when she handles them, she sees the death of a person who touched the object. The Northbrook Academy authorities are well-aware of some of their students’ paranormal abilities—all their Legacy students have some kind of talent. Lainey learns that she is one of the Sententia and can use Thought to affect the physical world. As she deals with her quickly developing powers, Lainey falls for Carter, the handsome boy who works in his family’s bookstore and is involved with the secret society of Sententia all over the world. Alas, several other female students also covet Carter’s attentions, and when he seems to fall for Lainey, jealousies arise. Bertrand focuses mostly on the romance between Carter and Lainey, though the plot broadens a bit toward the end. She takes some potshots at science, favoring the metaphysical instead. Characterizations skew toward genre norms, and the book ends with a whopper of a premonition to propel readers into the sequel. For genre fans only. (Paranormal romance. 12-18)
A PERFECT DAY FOR DIGGING
Best, Cari Illus. by Davenier, Christine Two Lions (42 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4778-4706-0
The pleasures of getting down and dirty in the garden can be contagious. “Bye, bye, snow shovel,” crows Nell, trotting out into the muddy yard with her eager dog, Rusty, and a wheelbarrow full of pansies. “Hello, trowel!” Neighbor Norman—bow tie, white shirt, new shoes, fussily combed hair—declines the offer of a trowel of his own, but he lingers to watch as Nell and Rusty enthusiastically make holes and hills and dirt angels. Once Nell discovers a worm, some lost toys and other earthy treasures, his resistance crumbles, and over the fence he comes to help in the joyful construction of a “dirt museum” from pansies, soil, rocks and found prizes. Davenier’s splashy, transparent watercolors don’t quite do justice to the muck’s muckiness (or, sadly, the pansies, which, after posing in a bright row on the copyright page, for the most part just make a pale, indistinct blur in later illustrations) but capture the joy of getting back in (literal) touch with the planet. She also subtly leaves her figures’ ages indeterminate, so that in different scenes, Nell could be seen as Norman’s agemate, older or even an adult. An exuberant valentine to spring and to gardens in general. As Norman puts it: “Hooray for dirty digging!” (Picture book. 5-8)
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BOOKS ALWAYS EVERYWHERE
Blatt, Jane Illus. by Massini, Sarah Random House (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 27, 2014 978-0-385-37506-1
Books are everywhere, as these adorable toddlers prove! The word “book” is paired with a second word on each page or spread as a troupe of little ones demonstrates the meaning. The first spread reads, “Book big,” and shows a child opening a massive book to a picture of an elephant; both book and illustration dwarf the tot. Small, wide and tall follow. Then comes “Book build / book mat / book chair / book hat,” all across one spread, and the children use the books as indicated. The multiethnic toddlers interact with books throughout, and many have befitting titles. In “Book park,” three munchkins sit in swings; one is holding the book Trees Are the Bee’s Knees, while another has dropped Oops-a-Daisy! by accident. The illustrations are full of charm, and the mouse that figures throughout will provide children an additional means of engagement. The children have dots for eyes and squiggles for facial features, and humorous touches, such as a diaper peeking out over a waistband, abound. The large size and nice, heavy paper stock make this lap friendly. Though some adults might suck their teeth at a few of the suggested uses, the message that books are fun (and useful) certainly overrides that. In two words: Books rule! (Picture book. 2-4)
HUMAN BODY LIFT-THE-FLAP
Brooks, Susie Illus. by Brooks, Susie Kingfisher (16 pp.) $9.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7534-7060-2
A lift-the-flap board book briefly explores the anatomy and physiology of the human body. With just 16 somewhat busy pages, this is hardly an in-depth examination of the body. Each page features a brief bit of introductory text. The first spread is a general overview, and those that follow examine different functions or parts: the brain, muscles and skeleton, circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, senses and, finally, the skin. Most pages feature lots of lively, round-eyed children of various races and both sexes; they include two or three flaps to lift that provide an interior view of a body part and are accompanied by related text. A few are a little confusing. One depicts and describes arteries in red and veins in blue but fails to clarify that these aren’t the actual colors within the body. Another states, “Every hour, you take in enough air to fill almost 45 balloons,” and shows a child blowing up a balloon, but that is about one quarter of the actual amount of air breathed in. A greater issue is the format; the apparent audience of young grade schoolers may not all
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“The author creates nuanced characters and presents them with their flaws and strengths intact, including a character with a mental disorder who never loses her humanity or becomes a caricature.” from the chance you won’t return
appreciate a cardboard-paged, rounded-corner format that’s typically appropriate for much younger children. Still, anatomy books for this age are scarce, and this one is relatively sturdy and amusing to browse, perhaps compensating for its other issues. (Informational picture book. 5-8)
THE LAST FOREVER
Caletti, Deb Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4424-5000-4 A despairing father and his 17-yearold daughter take an emotional journey together that brings redemption, hope and healing. Tessa’s mother has recently died, and the teen is struggling to adjust to life with her loving but irresponsible pot-smoking dad, who is also fighting to right himself. To shake them from their spiritual stupors, her father suggests they take a spontaneous road trip—but there’s a precious reminder of her mother that Tessa can’t leave behind: a rare plant handed down by her grandfather and lovingly cared for by her mother. The trip ends at her grandmother Jenny’s house, but the journey does not. While her father and Jenny try to repair old rifts, Tessa slowly warms, forming a new bond with her grandmother. Enter Henry, a kind, handsome library employee and fellow book geek who seems totally in sync with Tessa, but even as their relationship deepens, he inexplicably keeps her at arm’s length. Meanwhile, Tessa’s plant is withering, and she is desperate to keep it from dying. Henry and the library staff collectively join the frantic research—and the ending is so enchanting it’s certain to reduce readers to bittersweet tears. Caletti’s writing is seamless and fluid, rich with descriptions of Tessa’s physical world as well as her inner ruminations. A story that proves there can, indeed, be life after death. (Fiction. 12 & up)
SUPER SUPPER THROWDOWN
Candlewick Press Illus. by Lunch Lab, LLC Candlewick (64 pp.) $14.99 | $5.99 paper | May 13, 2014 978-0-7636-7279-9 978-0-7636-6883-9 paper Series: Fizzy’s Lunch Lab
The characters from the PBS Kids’ show Fizzy’s Lunch Lab teach kids about the importance of good nutrition. Professor Fizzy, the master of healthy eating, takes on Fast Food Freddy, greasy food expert. The challenge? The titular 78
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cook-off: Each chef will design a meal that three kids will then taste test. While Fizzy works with Avril and Henry, teaching them about the Food Plate, shopping the U at the grocery store and checking labels for nutritional information, Freddy does the opposite; his plate is divided into salty, sweet, greasy and fatty, and he shops the freezer section. The lunch labbers take readers through planning a meal, introducing kitchen safety tips and explaining how to eat a rainbow (of fruits and veggies, not jelly beans, Freddy). Throughout, Sully the Cell interjects to explain how the right foods are used to fuel the body, and Cpl. Cup provides the recipes that help Fizzy win the cookoff: Green Salad with Lime Dressing, Veggilicious Hoagie with Groovy Guacamole, Tortilla Chips and Berry Banana Fro-Yo. With asides about protein, fiber, fats and calcium, Fizzy covers all the bases, and kids can even get some tips on dinner conversation starters and how to set the table. The brightly colored digital illustrations match the TV show to a T, inelegantly making the leap to the page. Better than many at explaining the hows and whys of healthy eating but still a TV show on paper. (Informational picture book. 6-10)
THE CHANCE YOU WON’T RETURN
Cardi, Annie Candlewick (352 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7636-6292-9
Cardi delves into issues of love, acceptance, loss and identity in her engaging debut novel. High school junior Alex Winchester is a pretty typical teenager. She fights with her mom, is annoyed by her baby brother and expects her younger sister to keep her secrets. Alex does have some problems, such as a paralyzing fear of driving. And she has been noticing an alarming change in her mom’s behavior, which manifests as a delusional disorder. Mrs. Winchester begins to believe that she is the long-missing, presumed-dead aviatrix Amelia Earhart. After a brief hospitalization, Mrs. Winchester returns home with her delusion intact and treats Alex as one of her fellow female aviators. Alex attempts to adapt to her new role as Amelia’s friend as she tries to keep her new reality a secret from her friends and classmates, as well as her new boyfriend, senior Jim Wiley. The author creates nuanced characters and presents them with their flaws and strengths intact, including a character with a mental disorder who never loses her humanity or becomes a caricature. Readers seeking yet another teen problem novel with an unrealistically positive ending should look elsewhere. This novel delivers something far more rare: a well-written, first-person narrative about negotiating life’s curve balls that has a realistic ending. An honest, uncompromising story. (Fiction. 14 & up)
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THE KING’S DRAGON
Chantler, Scott Kids Can (112 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-55453-778-5 Series: Three Thieves, 4
Chantler puts his ongoing tale of magic, treachery, kidnapping and hot pursuit largely on pause to fill in some back story on the chief pursuer. In previous episodes, royal knight Capt. Drake has shown himself to be as noble at heart as he is persistent in the chase. Here, he briefly catches up with his quarry, Dessa, a young circus acrobat hobbled (but not much) by a broken leg, and also looks back on his early days as a member of the elite but corrupt Dragons. Panels, pages and even sections in full color alternate with passages in monochrome, which signify these flashbacks. In his cleanly drawn action sequences, Chantler ingeniously links present and past with parallel acts or dialogue as Drake searches for Dessa in a castlelike “house of healing” while recalling the terrible night in the palace of North Huntington when heroic action saved Princess—now Queen—Magda but her father was assassinated. The author barely advances his main storyline about Dessa, but he does throw in several new clues and twists while giving readers even more reason to admire this scarred, intelligent, fundamentally decent character. Just a quick side jaunt in the journey, but it’s a diversion that adds further depth to a particularly well-wrought tale. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)
YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE Clark, Bridie Roaring Brook (224 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-59643-817-0 Series: Snap Decision, 2
Told with second-person narration, Clark’s sequel to Maybe Tonight? (2013) returns “you” to your elite boarding school for your sophomore year of high school, as before ending chapters with Choose Your Own Adventure–style scenarios. This type of “interactive” story often engages readers by forcing them to choose between two unfamiliar physical hazards for survival. The strangeness of the choices is often combined with threats of physical injury, creating tension as readers must debate about which option increases their survival odds. This effort also attempts to engage readers by requiring them to make similar choices to manipulate the plot. But unlike the physical challenges of many Choose Your Own Adventure stories, this novel tends to provide moral dilemmas that too often have a clearly “right” and “wrong” answer. Flirting with a married employer, riding with a drunk driver and abusing |
prescription medications can only realistically lead to negative consequences. By contrast, assisting a bullying victim and revealing a coach’s willingness to overlook student athletes’ unhealthy behaviors can only be rewarded. Though some readers will enjoy exploring various scenarios, others will quickly find the predictable results tiresome. This format, which rarely devotes more than a few pages to any particular character or topic, results in a novel that skims, rather than explores, the pressures many high school students face daily. (Fiction. 14-18)
IMMORTAL MAX
Clifton, Lutricia Holiday House (176 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-3041-3 Will a boy’s dream of owning a puppy ever come true? Twelve-year-old Sam has been keeping a scrapbook on dogs for five years, and this summer, he hopes to use it to find a job and get a German shepherd puppy of his own choosing. There are several obstacles. Sam has no money; a puppy might upset the elderly family dog; responsibilities could prevent Sam from working; and a local bully is ready to torment him. But Sam is determined, and with some help from his friends, he lands a job as a dog walker in a nearby gated community. As further ideas, themes, characters and plot points are thrown into the mix (an overweight friend; a single, working mother; a child beauty pageant; life in a culturally diverse community; money problems; injustice and bias; losing a job; learning to be yourself; experiencing a first date; having an older sibling leave home), the story wobbles under the weight and sometimes loses focus. Sam and his unconscious love for his dog rein the novel in and provide a satisfying if pat ending, as Sam learns to appreciate all he has. Pleasant if imperfect, a treat for dog lovers. (Fiction. 8-12)
PETAL AND POPPY
Clough, Lisa Illus. by Briant, Ed HMH Books (32 pp.) $3.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-11380-0 An elephant and a rhino can’t see eye to eye, but they eventually find a helpful middle ground. Petal, a wide-eyed elephant sporting a flowery hat and cheery heart-printed dress, is thrilled her friend Poppy is not around so she can practice her tuba. Little does she know that Poppy, a rhino in a bikini, is sitting nearby, quietly reading. Disrupted by the music, Poppy declares it an opportune time to scuba dive. Petal worries
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about her friend and decides to join her on the boat. After her dive, when Poppy returns to the surface, she discovers the fog has rolled in, obscuring her boat. Happily, Petal’s resonant tuba serves as a foghorn and helps reunite the friends. The simple story with clear, bright art demonstrates that friends do not always need to agree and bobs along as buoyantly as sun across the water. Although a sweet and cheery pair, Petal and Poppy may not have enough oomph—be it laughs, silliness or a winning combination of the two—to stand out in an already glutted market of early-reader buddy stories. Still, readers beguiled by the elephant-rhino pals may want to check out their second tale, Petal and Poppy and the Penguin, publishing simultaneously. A blithe and breezy charmer. (Graphic early reader. 4-8) (Petal and Poppy and the Penguin: 978-0-544-13770-7, 978-0-54413330-3 paper)
POINTE
Colbert, Brandy Putnam (352 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 10, 2014 978-0-399-16034-9 Against the backdrop of an intriguingly dark suburban Chicago, a teen dancer struggles with her past. Seventeen-year-old Theo Cartwright has a passion for ballet and a penchant for falling for the wrong guy. She also has a tendency to starve herself when reality feels beyond her control, and unfortunately for Theo, life has dealt her more than her fair share of blows. Theo appears to be on relatively sure footing now. She’s eating. She’s supported by two fiercely loyal best friends and by her loving parents. And her dream of becoming an elite dancer is on the brink of coming true. Yet when her best friend, Donovan, suddenly returns four years after disappearing, Theo is forced to confront old demons. It’s an intriguing premise, and debut author Colbert does a commendable job creating authentic teen characters that readers will recognize from the halls of their own high schools. Unfortunately, while there is enough here to entertain, the story never reaches its full potential. References to Theo’s struggles with anorexia are surprisingly and disappointingly lacking in emotion. Ditto for her relationship with Donovan. Theo’s a textbook anorexic, almost to the point of cliché, but never are readers given the opportunity to feel her desperation. And while there are flashbacks aplenty, there are surprisingly few that shed light on the deep connection Theo and Donovan presumably once shared. This is a novel that ultimately misses the…point. (Fiction. 14-18)
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MAISY PLAYS SOCCER
Cousins, Lucy Illus. by Cousins, Lucy Candlewick (32 pp.) $12.99 | $6.99 paper | May 13, 2014 978-0-7636-7228-7 978-0-7636-7238-6 paper Series: Maisy First Experiences As she did for fairy tales in Yummy (2009), Cousins distills the world’s most popular sport down to its most essential elements for the small fry. The Maisy First Experiences series continues with this entry into the world of toddler sports. Maisy and her cadre of faithful friends (Cyril, Eddie, Talullah, etc.) are ready to play a soccer game. Dividing themselves up into two teams of three, they have a lot of fun stretching, kicking and passing the ball to teammates. Halftime involves healthy snacks and swigs from water bottles, and then it’s back onto the field. Naturally, the game ends in a tie, with spectators cheering both sides on in turn. Cousins does a good job of explaining potentially difficult facts, such as the concept of opposing teams or the role of the goalie. The goodnatured tenor of the book emphasizes the fun to be had in a sport rather than the competitive drive. Further appealing to younger kids is her use of onomatopoeia (a kicked ball makes a “FOUMPHHH!” noise while a sharp “BOUF!” indicates a goal). This is not the only introductory book on soccer for very young children, but it is one kids will actually want to read on their own. Goooooooooal! (Picture book. 2-6)
FROM THERE TO HERE
Croza, Laurel Illus. by James, Matt Groundwood (36 pp.) $18.95 | $16.95 e-book | May 13, 2014 978-1-55498-365-0 978-1-55498-366-7 e-book Following the spare, deeply felt I Know Here (2010), a just-moved child compares her old home in rural Saskatchewan to her new Toronto one. “It’s different here,” she begins. Instead of tall trees, the aurora borealis and trailers parked by the roadside, she sees tall buildings, lawns, streetlights and paved roads. There are other changes too: Her big brother can take a bus into town, and her father, working on a highway project rather than a dam, doesn’t come home for lunch now. Using thickly daubed brushwork and roughly drawn figures to give his illustrations a childlike atmosphere, James echoes the child’s ruminative observations with contrasting city and forest scenes. Though the city seems to suffer in comparison, a knock at the door brings one difference that casts all the others in a more positive light: a new friend who is also “[e]ight, almost nine.” “It was different there,” she concludes, with a subtle but significant shift of emphasis. “Not the same as here.”
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“Zeroing in with uncommon perspicacity on the push-and-pull relationship between the two children… Davies casts them into a series of strenuous tests.” from the magic trap
Once again, a low-key, emotionally true approach to a common and usually upsetting childhood experience. (Picture book. 6-8)
THE MAGIC TRAP
Davies, Jacqueline HMH Books (256 pp.) $15.99 | $15.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-05289-5 978-0-544-30143-6 e-book Series: Lemonade War, 5 Sibs Evan and Jessie face their toughest physical and emotional challenges yet in this concluding—and best so far— sequel to The Lemonade War (2007). Zeroing in with uncommon perspicacity on the push-andpull relationship between the two children—Evan a thoroughly average 10-year-old who provides the stability that his much brighter but high-strung little sister lacks—Davies casts them into a series of strenuous tests. These begin with decidedly mixed responses to the unexpected but well-timed appearance of their long-divorced and absent father just as their responsible, hardworking mother is about to cancel an important business trip for lack of child care. Unfortunately, Dad, a selfabsorbed war journalist, turns out to be so lacking in the parenting department that he suddenly jets off in the night, leaving the children alone just hours before a Category 1 hurricane hits town. By leaning on each other they triumphantly survive two days of flooding and nonstop terror before airports reopen and their mother can get back. Later, she explains that though some people just aren’t “meant to be parents,” it “doesn’t make them bad, and you can still love them.” Adults will likely condemn this as undeserved mitigation for despicable behavior; child readers, being more vulnerable to parental failures, may find it a hard truth that serves as a means for both coping with and forgiving them. Action and humor make the hard lessons go down easy. (magic-trick instructions) (Fiction. 8-11)
N IS FOR NESSIE A Scottish Alphabet for Kids Davies, Kate Floris (32 pp.) $11.95 paper | May 1, 2014 978-1-7825-0003-2
family (Dad carries a toddler in a front pouch) with a Scottie dog interspersed here and there. Adding them to more of the scenes would have livened up the visual interest; the Castles page has no people in it, for instance (though there’s that Scottie). Unsurprising word choices include: Kilt, Loch, Queen of Scots, Thistle and Umbrella. On the other hand, Forth Bridge, John O’Groats, Midgies, Whiskey, and “Very, very wet” seem like a stretch. The challenging letter X is the saltire cross on the Scottish flag. Some will be disappointed to see that H is for Highland cow, not Haggis. The two-page glossary in the back will help to clear up some confusion; it informs readers that a “midgie is a biting insect that lives in Scotland.” Sure to be prominently displayed in gift shops all over Scotland, this might be useful in the States for Scottish expats or families preparing for a trip. (Alphabet picture book. 5-8)
THE PROMISE
Davies, Nicola Illus. by Carlin, Laura Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-6633-0 In yet another heavily earnest parable on how nature will provide an easy cure for the physical and moral sterility of urban life, a young thief has an epiphany after scoring a bag filled with acorns. “When I was young, I lived in a city that was mean and hard and ugly,” begins the narrator, her own heart as “shriveled as the dead trees in the park.” But that heart changes after the old woman whose bag she snatches extracts a promise that she will plant its contents, and off she goes to plant “among rubble, ruins, and rusty railings, by train tracks, tramlines, and traffic lights.” Presto chango, once the oaks grow (with unrealistic speed), people begin to smile again and create gardens as birds gather in colorful flocks: “Green spread through the city like a song....” She goes on to revive city after city with different kinds of trees, until at last, one night, another young thief takes both bag and bargain to carry on. Carlin echoes the tale’s arc with scenes of drab, smudged cityscapes and crowds of hunched figures that are alike transformed with the appearance of colors and of cascades of flowers. Valid as metaphor though much less so as a feasible plan of action. (Picture book. 7-9)
Another niche alphabet book, this one is an exercise in pairing Scottish words or items with each of the 26 letters. As is common in ABC books with a narrow focus or theme, some word choices are obvious, while others are unusual or even odd. With one word (or short phrase) per page, the text is dependent on the illustrations to provide context and entertainment. These are colorful and appealing, featuring a |
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“Strong storytelling, suspense, lyrical writing, high drama, weighty matters made accessible and a bit of humor add up to a terrific and heartwarming read.” from saving lucas biggs
SAVING LUCAS BIGGS
de los Santos, Marisa; Teague, David Harper/HarperCollins (288 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-06-227462-5 978-0-06-227464-9 e-book The authors, a husband-and-wife writing team, seamlessly incorporate heavy social-justice issues—fracking for natural gas in 2014 and a coal-mining protest in 1938—into a riveting time-travel adventure story. Margaret, 13, is devastated when her geologist father (recently fired) is falsely accused, convicted and sentenced to death by the vindictive and corrupt judge Lucas Biggs for arson and murder in the first degree. A whistle-blower, John Thomas O’Malley discovered that due to fracking, poisonous chemicals had leaked into the local water supply: Is he a traitor or hero? Two stories set in the company town of Victory, Ariz., told in alternating voices—Margaret’s in 2014 and 13-year-old Josh’s in 1938—run parallel and then converge. Desperate to save her father and supported by her best friend, Charlie, and his grandpa Joshua, Margaret breaks the sacred family vow and activates the genetic O’Malley “quirk” to travel back in time to try to change events just enough to impact the present. In 1938, a related narrative of injustice is unfolding, one in which Luke Agrippa’s pacifist father is leading a nonviolent uprising for decent working conditions after a mine collapse and a company-led massacre. Who is Lucas Biggs, can he be saved, and why does it matter? Strong storytelling, suspense, lyrical writing, high drama, weighty matters made accessible and a bit of humor add up to a terrific and heartwarming read. (Mystery/fantasy. 9-12)
LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD
Dellaira, Ava Farrar, Straus and Giroux (336 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-374-34667-6
Confiding in dead geniuses helps a teen process her grief and rage. Everyone in Laurel’s family is processing her sister May’s death differently: Her father retreats into silence; her mother moves to California to work on a ranch; and Laurel herself writes letters to dead luminaries, including Kurt Cobain, Amelia Earhart, Janis Joplin and John Keats. Too gripped by a potent mixture of sadness, guilt and anger to tell her parents what really happened the night May died, Laurel pours her heart out in missives to a growing group of late geniuses. Sensitive and insightful, Laurel reflects on building new friendships and her first love, while also grappling with her memories of May’s death, her worry that she caused 82
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it and her anger, too. As she inches slowly toward detailing the truth of May’s death wish and her own survival of grievous harm, Laurel’s understanding of her late correspondents grows more nuanced. Eventually, she sees them in three dimensions, as gifted people crushed by terrible sadness. The epistolary technique is perhaps too effective at building and sustaining narrative tension: Laurel so delays explaining her feelings of responsibility for May’s death that the resolution of her story feels rushed. A tighter hand would have given more balance to an otherwise effective and satisfyingly heartbreaking melodrama. (Fiction. 12-17)
ERIC, THE BOY WHO LOST HIS GRAVITY
Desmond, Jenni Illus. by Desmond, Jenni Blue Apple (40 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-60905-348-2
In a challenge to tales in which children rise in the air when elated, Eric and his toddler sister, Alice, both float upward when “very angry.” Happiness literally re-grounds them. The turf is familiar enough at the opening double-page spread: a nuclear family inside their domicile on a rainy day, with Eric happily pushing a train along railroad tracks and Alice approaching him with her toy bunny. It’s all clearly happened before. Alice pesters Eric, then Eric is blamed for upsetting Alice. This leads to Eric’s angry elevation and eventual entrapment in a tree. There are pleasing, unexpected touches: Their mom reads the newspaper while their dad irons; the paper has metafictive headlines referring to both this book and another by the author; there is an excellent aerial view of the room from Eric’s new perspective. Throughout, a combination of watercolor, collage and stark pencil lines complement a text that combines simple sentences in a sans-serif typeface with additional pennedin words, as in a series of “AARGH”s that follow a simultaneous succession of angry Erics slowly losing gravity. The story ends in a sweet sibling reunion, as Eric restores to Alice her beloved bunny. Although this book has much to offer, the darkly scrawled marks that represent facial expressions are often grotesque; furious, jagged mouths express the children’s anger. Sturdy children, particularly those with siblings, will respond to the starkness of emotions expressed. (Picture book. 3-6)
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ABUELO
sheep (“That beat’s enough to uncurl a sheep’s wool!”) add their own syncopated vibes and make their way, Mardi Gras style, down to the pond—where all the other geese (except Igor) join in. A jazzy, eye-catching take on the ancient beat of the distant drummer. (Picture book. 4-8)
Dorros, Arthur Illus. by Colón, Raúl Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-168627-6 More than 20 years after Abuela, illustrated by Elisa Kleven (1991), Dorros offers a gentle story of the lessons a grandfather imparts to his grandson while riding horses together on the plains before the boy moves to the city. This picture book also calls to mind the author’s Papá and Me, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez (2008), as it lovingly expresses the lasting impact that time spent with a caring adult family member can have on a young child. The brief English text weaves in Spanish words and phrases with literal translations immediately provided (“ ‘No te preocupes,’ don’t worry, Abuelo told me...”). Though this technique is somewhat redundant, it may be helpful for readers who do not know Spanish. Colón’s watercolor-and-pencil illustrations expertly bring to life both expansive landscapes and subtle emotions, as the grandson transitions to city life. The lessons learned on the open plains help the young boy come to feel at home in the city—laughing when he feels fear, standing strong against a bully and finding comfort in gazing at the city stars. This book succeeds at both specificity and universality, presenting the distinct culture of the gaucho cowboy and the plains of South America through a story that will resonate broadly with many children and families. (Picture book. 4-7)
THE GEESE MARCH IN STEP
Dumont, Jean-François Illus. by Dumont, Jean-François Eerdmans (33 pp.) $16.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8028-5443-8 Zita, an innocently precocious gosling, can’t find common ground with the tradition of marching in step down to the pond in the morning. And who can blame Zita? Not only does Igor, the leader of the flock, have them goose-stepping, but there’s a whiff of the jackboot, too. Zita is out of step, and Igor soon calls her out. Zita wants to respond that she isn’t used to marching in step (and what’s the point anyway), but Igor just kicks Zita out of the parade. Back in the farmyard, Zita splashes through the puddles in dismay. “Why am I not like the other geese? One, two; one, two; They are always so obedient and so focused!” Well, Zita’s not. Dumont shapes Zita to be vulnerable and a bit subversive and sets her down in a very inviting French farmyard surrounded by a rolling landscape, all painted in saturated colors that have a chalky softness. As Zita mopes rhythmically about the yard—“splash sniff splash and splash again sniff splash”—the other animals start to listen. They pick up on her Charlie Parker bebop and join in. Woodpecker, rooster, turkey, |
SALVAGE
Duncan, Alexandra Greenwillow/HarperCollins (528 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-222014-1 978-0-06-222016-5 e-book Haunting, colorful environments distinguish this debut novel about a girl fighting for survival in the far future. Ava lives on the Parastrata. She knows nothing beyond her polygamous, fundamentalist religion, whose followers began living in spaceships some 1,000 years ago and which holds women as property since they harbor an interest in Earth “like a soft, rotten spot in [their] souls.” Informed that she’s marrying a man on another ship, Ava’s thrilled to see Luck, a boy she met years ago, in the greeting party. They know they should wait until after their wedding, but they sneak into a desalination pool and succumb to sex the night before—and get caught. To their shock (though not readers’), Ava was actually promised to Luck’s father. The Parastrata women wash Ava and lock her in a chilled room to await her punishment: Being pushed out into open space, which is, of course, fatal. A difficult, terrifying escape and a relative’s sacrifice provide another chance, but where can she go? From the strained peculiarity of the Parastrata to a sunbaked community afloat on the Pacific Ocean to the bustle of Mumbai, Duncan’s settings and diction are vivid. As brown-skinned people become Ava’s chosen family, she learns that her own mediumdark skin—mocked aboard the Parastrata—isn’t a religious stain, marking this a welcome browning of the science-fiction universe. Ava’s decisions sometimes serve plot more than characterization, but readers caught up in the story will forgive this. Memorable. (Science fiction. 14-17)
LITTLE ROJA RIDING HOOD
Elya, Susan Middleton Illus. by Guevara, Susan Putnam (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 10, 2014 978-0-399-24767-5
Elya presents a modern twist on a familiar fairy tale in her signature style using rhyming, predominantly English text that skillfully incorporates Spanish words and phrases. Red travels through the woods to take hot soup to her sick abuela. Along the way, she is tricked by a sly wolf. Roja must act quickly to rescue Grandma, and then the two devise
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a technologically enhanced plan to prevent visits from unwelcome predators in the future. The playful illustrations elevate the book, blending a whimsical fairy-tale land with contemporary Latino-American life. In the kitchen, where Mamá watches telenovelas while chopping peppers and garlic, three blind mice scamper about, a pair of mischievous goblins lurk outside the window, and symbols reminiscent of milagros, or prayer charms, rise up in the steam from the clay pot of bean soup. As Red travels through the forest, the birds call out warnings to her in Spanish—“¡Cuidado!” Throughout the text, the Spanish words appear in bold and italicized print. Context and an opening glossary provide the definitions rather than simultaneous translation. This results in a story that avoids becoming repetitive for bilingual readers and that readers who do not speak Spanish will also easily understand. This spirited interpretation of a classic fairy tale successfully mixes magic and reality, as well as Spanish and English words. (Picture book. 3-7)
EXILE
Emerson, Kevin Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-06-213395-3 978-0-06-213397-7 e-book Series: Exile, 1 At the unusual, LA-area Mount Hope High, students are immersed in the music industry, taking classes such as Physics of Volume and playing showcases in the Don Henley amphitheater; here, even nonmusicians like Summer can study the marketing and management aspects of the music business. Caleb and Summer quickly bond at the beginning of the book; incidents that occurred last year have left them both exiled from the school’s music scene. Caleb shares with Summer the revelation that prompted his recent unravelling—he has learned that he is the son of notorious dead rock star Eli White. As Summer helps Caleb put together and promote his new band, Dangerheart, she also helps him unravel the mystery of his father’s legendary lost songs. She struggles to balance her roles as supportive girlfriend and band manager, especially once the mysterious Val shows up, who rocks as Dangerheart’s bassist but seems interested in being more than just bandmates with Caleb. The well-paced narrative presents a unique perspective on this genre, showcasing teens on the business side of the music industry, and the twists in the storyline will keep readers’ attention. The abrupt ending avoids wrapping up many of the story’s loose ends, leaving several subplots and characters waiting for the sequel. This engaging read steeped in music, romance and mystery opens a promising trilogy. (Fiction. 13-17)
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TINY RABBIT’S BIG WISH
Engle, Margarita Illus. by Walker, David HMH Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-547-85286-7
Like lots of children and lots of picture-book characters, tiny rabbit wants to be big. Very big. The little brown bunny wants to be “as huge / as the forest / with legs as TALL / as trees / and eyes the size / of moons.” He describes other animals and natural structures of gigantic size, but despite his intense wishes, he remains small. As time passes, he does grow in stature (slightly), but after he focuses on wishing to be powerful like a gorilla, he does grow in an important way. His ears grow much longer, giving him the power to hear “every loud / or quiet / SOUND / in the forest.” Tiny rabbit can enjoy sounds both loud and soft, and he can notice the sounds of hungry lions and escape back to his rabbit den, “ENORMOUSLY / happy / to be smart and… / small.” Acrylic paintings of tiny rabbit’s environment are filled with jolly, smiling animals, although the huge lion does lick his lips in a slightly sinister way. The short text is integrated within the illustrations, with words indicating size set in different colors and varied types. Though the story isn’t particularly revolutionary, tiny rabbit is an appealing character with an imagination that outstrips his diminutive size. Tiny Rabbit should be introduced to David Kirk’s Oh So Tiny Bunny (2013), which also successfully explores the same theme. (Picture book. 2-5)
REBELLION
Epstein, Adam Jay; Jacobson, Andrew Harper/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 13, 2014 978-0-06-212027-4 978-0-06-212028-1 e-book Series: Starbounders, 2 Zachary Night and his fellow Starbounders return in the second volume in a convoluted series that crosses Star Trek with Harry Potter but neglects key ingredients such as theme, character or apparent purpose. When readers last saw Zachary, he had survived his escapade on Callisto with a mysterious mark on his arm left by the late professor Olari. Now the Lightwings of Indigo 8 must decipher this mark and save the universe from total destruction. The ensuing quest involves a whirlwind tour of a galaxy bristling with gadgets, creatures and places like decibel graters, the robotic Cmdr. Keel and the planet Klenarog. The book’s strength is this creative, fleshed-out universe; unfortunately, having built it, the authors weave a narrative with no apparent objective, just a lot of incidents. Obstacle after obstacle is passed with such ease and efficiency that they can barely be called obstacles. Zachary and his friends learn little along the way and have equally little definition to them. The authors provide plenty of happenstance and
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“Farber’s characters drive the lively plot….” from operation fireball
commotion, but they don’t deliver on what matters: a reason to care about what’s happening. The slapdash adventure never fully engages, and the result is a shrug of a book that feels like a place holder until the next volume. All flash and no substance, this sequel fails at raising the pulse or touching the heart. (Science fiction. 9-12)
I AM COW, HEAR ME MOO!
Esbaum, Jill Illus. by Gordon, Gus Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 15, 2014 978-0-8037-3524-8
Esbaum presents a wobbly story about a cow of wobbly confidence (though no shortness of bluster). In this rhymed production, Nadine and her bovine buddies, Starla and Annette, live on a farm at the edge of the woods. Nadine brags to them that she fears nothing, not even the woods. Full of wind and sure her friends will decline, Nadine suggests a forest excursion—only to find them willing: “Well, moooove it, Nadine,” Starla tells her. Tentatively, Nadine takes a step, then another, and soon enough they are tootling about in the woods having a good time. The sun starts setting; Starla and Annette grow uneasy. Nadine has become comfortable in her Supercow mantle, choosing to dawdle in a cave that has caught her eye. When she emerges, the others have gone, night is on her, and so are the heebie-jeebies. When her tail tickles her rump, off she goes, driven by stark terror over a cliff. She falls into a handy pond, where her friends handily are wandering around lost. A heroine once more, Nadine now gives night tours of the woods. Readers will feel that something isn’t right here, and it’s not just Gordon’s distractingly overbusy photo-collage artwork. It’s why Nadine would eagerly now lead night walks even as the text expressly tells them she’s still afraid of the woods. Forget Helen Reddy. Nadine is a poster cow for selfmortification. (Picture book. 3-5)
WALKING EAGLE The Little Comanche Boy Eulate, Ana Illus. by Uyá, Nívola Cuento de Luz (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 14, 2014 978-84-15784-36-4
with “his hands, his face, his smile and his eyes.” Giving him headdress feathers in gratitude, his enthralled Native American audiences gather in a tepee woven from a “bright, white magical thread,” after which he continues “along the path,” telling tales “without words.” Said stories are vaguely depicted in the lyrically windswept illustrations as sparkling bubbles and glowing animal outlines issuing, oddly, from his mouth. Along with feathers dyed in rainbow colors, Uyá strews the pictures with floating dream catchers, carved poles of smiling totems and like tourist goods. Though ostensibly aimed at children, the most natural audience for this culturally tone-deaf offering is equally well-meaning and clueless adults. Purest kitsch. (Picture book. 5-8)
OPERATION FIREBALL
Farber, E.S. Illus. by Beene, Jason Chronicle (172 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4521-1083-7 Series: Fish Finelli, 2
Ahoy. The three intrepid boys from Seagulls Don’t Eat Pickles (2013) are back in a nautical adventure. When Fish accepts a bet from bully Bryce on who will win the Captain Kidd Classic boat race, his cohorts Roger and T.J. help him fix up his 1970s-era whaler by trial and error. But can his measly 5-horsepower engine have a chance at beating the 9.9 horses on Bryce’s Viper? On the day of the race, right at start time, another kid has engine trouble. Fish remembers that the first law of boating is to help someone in trouble, which he does—but by doing so, he has a late start. Can he still outrace Bryce? Who is the mystery winner? Enter a young femme fatale on the scene. Farber’s characters drive the lively plot, which is filled with zingy dialogue, Roger’s nautical wordplay and puns, and T.J’s constant snacking. The format is the same as the first book’s, with funny chapter headings and sidebars offering interesting tidbits of scientific information or explanations. The book can stand alone but will be appreciated the most by readers of the first one. The ending sets up the next in the series, which involves another bet: Will Fish enter the one-legged whaler’s haunted house—on Halloween? Go fish! (Fiction. 8-11)
A mute young storyteller in a feathered headdress draws all the tribes into a giant, mystical tepee to chant and drum and invite everyone in the world to hold hands. The tale is definitely laudable of purpose, though written in rhapsodic prose and grossly stereotypical in concept and presentation. It puts a lad born silent and clubfooted (“his legs made the shape of a heart”) atop a flying pinto pony to bond with wild animals and then spread stories of the oneness of all creatures |
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“Fehlbaum draws a razor-sharp picture of Colby’s judgmental grandparents, her quirky teachers and, most of all, Colby herself and her terrifying mother, who can’t empathize at all.” from big fat disaster
BIG FAT DISASTER
Fehlbaum, Beth Merit Press (288 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 18, 2014 978-1-4405-7048-3
Colby’s life as the heavy daughter of a disapproving former Miss Texas beauty queen is difficult enough, but it gets worse very quickly once she discovers a photo of her politician father kissing another woman. She and her mother and little sister move to a trailer in a tiny Texas community. She has an agonizing first day of school crammed into blue jeans so tight that she needs a coat hanger to pull the zipper up—and then she discovers that her cousin made a video of her trying to get into her jeans, which gets posted to Facebook. Colby copes with each terrible event the way she always has, with huge amounts of sweets followed by shame, and spirals ever deeper into depression. Readers experience the events through Colby’s present-tense narration, hearing her perceptive take on people: “Mom does that: She nods and smiles even when she thinks the person speaking is full of shit….” Fehlbaum draws a razor-sharp picture of Colby’s judgmental grandparents, her quirky teachers and, most of all, Colby herself and her terrifying mother, who can’t empathize at all. When Colby finally gets help at the end from a therapist and others, Fehlbaum makes it clear that her road ahead will be long and hard. Colby’s experiences, while extreme, ring true, and the fast pace, lively and profane dialogue, and timely topic make it a quick and enjoyable read. (Fiction. 12-16)
WHAT I THOUGHT WAS TRUE
Fitzpatrick, Huntley Dial (416 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8037-3909-3
A teenage girl struggles with class divisions, sex and the tricky art of communication. Gwen, whose family struggles to make ends meet, is an islander, while Cass Somers is a rich boy who lives across the bridge on the mainland. The two have had some romantic moments, but miscommunication, misinterpretation and fear keep them from moving forward. Complicating things is the well-known fact that Gwen has had sex with Cass’ best friend. Despite Gwen’s deep regrets, the damage has been done. But now it is the summer before their senior year, and among Gwen’s hopes for the summer is to forget Cass. But it seems fate has thrown them together: Cass’ father has ordered him to do yardwork on the island, while Gwen has been hired to care for a funny, feisty elderly woman whose lawn needs tending. On her first day of the job, Gwen discovers Cass is also there for the duration of the summer. What starts out as 86
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snappy chick-lit writing quickly becomes deeper and more complex, as Fitzpatrick beautifully portrays a teenager’s wobbly foray into sex as well as her dawning awareness of the power that actions and incautiously chosen words have to hurt others. A late revelation will surprise readers as much as it does Gwen; natural dialogue and authentic characters abound. Much deeper than the pretty cover lets on. (Fiction. 14 & up)
THE LOCH NESS MONSTER
Flitcroft, Jean Darby Creek (192 pp.) $7.95 paper | $20.95 e-book | $27.93 PLB May 1, 2014 978-1-4677-3481-3 978-1-4677-3482-0 e-book 978-1-4677-2602-3 PLB Series: Cryptid Files, 1 An Irish teenager still grieving for her two-years-dead mother gets some unusual help in this decidedly unpredictable series opener. A family vacation to Loch Ness at first delights Vanessa, who sees it as a chance to continue her mother’s cryptid research. But that delight changes to rage when it turns out that she’ll be staying at the very cottage where Lee, the woman her widowed father is seeing, grew up and is visiting. Flitcroft’s own research is clearly visible: in the historical notes that preface each chapter, in narrative discussions of theories regarding Nessie’s nature and in detailed descriptions of the Loch’s many natural beauties and distinctive local sites. A fainting spell and other odd incidents presage a dreamlike, life-changing climactic encounter between Vanessa and the fabled monster—which turns out to be far different from the prehistoric survivor common theories hold it (if it exists) to be. It also, astonishingly, serves to bring Vanessa and Lee closer together. Vanessa’s emotional roller coaster takes center stage, but there’s enough Nessie lore and presence to please the most demanding cryptid fans. (Fantasy. 10-12)
THE CHUPACABRA
Flitcroft, Jean Darby Creek (232 pp.) $7.95 paper | $20.95 e-book | $27.93 PLB May 1, 2014 978-1-4677-3483-7 978-1-4677-3484-4 e-book 978-1-4677-3265-9 PLB Series: Cryptid Files, 2 An Irish teenager’s Mexican vacation takes a turn for the terrifying. Having had an encounter with The Loch Ness Monster in the previous episode (2014), Vanessa is no skeptic when it comes to cricket. But barely has she stepped off the plane in Mexico
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before a string of strange visions, fainting spells and brushes with oddly behaving people and animals begins…leading to a seeming nightmare that leaves her covered in real blood. Is the supposedly “cursed” ranch she’s staying on haunted by a blood-sucking chupacabra? Vanessa asks all the right questions to elicit both clues and cultural information painlessly. Flitcroft stirs in a quick romance and other subplots along with news reports from throughout Latin America of the legendary creature’s depredations and a suggestion that it may not be a single type of beast but an evil that takes various forms. It’s an undemanding but satisfyingly suspenseful tale that ultimately turns on a malign Nahua shape-shifter and an old murder. Scary and informative. (Horror. 10-12)
DECEPTION’S PRINCESS
Friesner, Esther Random House (368 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-449-81863-3 978-0-449-81865-7 e-book 978-0-449-81864-0 PLB Series: Princesses of Myth The latest entry in Friesner’s Princesses of Myth series shifts scene but not much else. Like her royal equivalents in previous volumes (Nobody’s Princess, 2007, etc.), beautiful, tempestuous Maeve, youngest daughter of Eochu Feidlech, High King of Eriu, goes through childhood and adolescence, learning the value and perils of being a princess while fighting for the freedom to shape her own destiny instead of knuckling under to expectations linked to her sex and place. To viewers of the 2012 film Brave this will read like a spinoff—centered on a willful lass with: wild red hair; three identical little brothers; an indulgent but traditionminded royal father perched precariously atop a warrior society; a brisk way with her many suitors; the raw courage to tackle massively larger animals (here, a huge bull and, later, a savage wolfhound); and an unconquerable yen to be free. Unlike Princess Merida, though, Maeve’s pride remains intact as she grows to be an astute student of politics and human psychology. In the wake of engineering a daring rescue of a captured bard, can she find a way in the end to chart her own course without alienating her father? A comfortably formulaic prelude to a projected sequel that will likewise be spun from some of the oldest surviving Irish legends. (afterword, pronunciation guide) (Fantasy. 11-14)
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TWO BUNNY BUDDIES
Galbraith, Kathryn O. Illus. by Cepeda, Joe HMH Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-544-17652-2
In this simple but insightful story, two rabbits discover that lunch with a pal is more fun than eating alone. The two bunnies, one white and one tan, set off together to hike to their dining destination, traveling down a long path under the hot sun. When the path divides, the bunnies disagree on which way to travel, and an argument ensues. Names are flung (“Stinky Feet!” “Birdy Breath!”), and the rabbits part company, each continuing to hike alone. After finding berries and clover, both bunnies are sad without a companion to share their discoveries. The rabbits gather food to take back and then reverse directions to meet in the middle, friends once again. The minimal text conveys an entire plot full of humor and emotion in just a few words, effectively using action verbs, repetition and occasional rhyming word pairs (“One bunny sighs. / One bunny cries”). Deftly designed cartoon-style illustrations use simple shapes outlined in thick, black strokes set against pastel backgrounds, which will show up well in group readings. The bunnies convey a spectrum of feelings during their journey, from apprehensiveness through anger and sadness to resolute action and a joyful reunion. This will appeal to a wide age range, from young preschoolers through emergent independent readers. Learning how to navigate the path of friendship is an important part of life, and these bunny buddies learn a lesson that is gently, beautifully shown rather than told. (Picture book. 2-7)
IT’S CATCHING The Infectious World of Germs and Microbes
Gardy, Jennifer Illus. by Holinaty, Josh Owlkids Books (64 pp.) $18.95 | $13.95 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-77147-001-8 978-1-77147-053-7 paper
A slim volume about a small protagonist. Narrated by Jennifer the “disease detective,” this roll call of germs makes for fascinating reading. Readers can dip in anywhere and be glad they’re only reading and not actually coming into contact with parasites, influenza, rabies, Ebola and malaria. The book introduces readers to the microbial world and discusses its study before going on to describe broad classifications and then home in on some marquee specifics. Sanitation, antibiotics—and the unexpected consequences of their overuse—genetics, and public-health careers and interventions round out the surprisingly complete coverage of the topic. Gardy and Holinaty have a good sense of the ideal delivery for a middle-grade audience: No one would want to be in the path of the “super sneeze” and the “speedy snot” depicted
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in one joyfully gross cartoon. Full of colorful illustrations, graphs and charts, the volume covers much ground, not only describing germs, but discussing the science behind them as well. The combination of clear, matter-of-fact text and lively design makes this a slender study that’s big on information. Infectious. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)
IT’S RAINING!
Gibbons, Gail Illus. by Gibbons, Gail Holiday House (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2924-0 Though Gibbons includes lots of facts about rain in her latest, some flaws limit its usefulness. The explanation of the water cycle, though basic, is solid and accessible for children: “As the water vapor moves higher into the sky, the air becomes cooler and cooler. Water vapor soon turns into millions of water droplets. This is called condensation.” Gibbons then goes on to describe the types of rain clouds. Unfortunately, her trademark watercolor-illustration style does not differentiate these enough, nor does the text, to make this knowledge applicable. She next tackles the different ways rain falls: drizzle, shower, rain, rainstorm, thunderstorm, flash flood. While the bit about thunder and lightning may soothe nerves about this typical childhood fear, introducing the threat of broken windows and falling tree limbs from other storms may offset this. The final few pages address storm cleanup, acid rain, cleaner energy sources and the possibility of a rainbow. How this latter forms is left to the backmatter, whose many facts should have been supplied in the text itself, including tips on staying dry and safe and a list of supplies to have on hand in case of a storm. As in her other titles, text within the illustrations gives further information and/or defines vocabulary words. This effort gives partial information where children could have handled the full picture. Look to Julie Hannah and Joan Holub’s The Man Who Named the Clouds, illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye (2006), instead. (Informational picture book. 4-8)
PAINTING THE RAINBOW
Gordon, Amy Holiday House (176 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2525-9
Two young cousins try to recapture the feeling of summertime fun during a fraught vacation at their family’s lake house, a summer overshadowed by the mystery of their uncle’s long-ago death. Cousins Holly Swanson and Ivy Greenwood have very different personalities, but that has never mattered before. During the summers, they’ve always 88
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been inseparable. But this summer of 1965, with Ivy’s parents fighting more than ever and Holly showing interest in local boys, they can’t seem to find any common ground. It doesn’t help that tensions are running high among other family members. Uncle Jesse may have died many years ago, but guilt, sadness and shame still surround the accident. Mixing diary entries and letters into the narrative, Gordon delivers a sweet albeit convenient story about familial rupture and healing. The cast of characters is well-imagined, and the plot is infused with the inevitable repercussions of history, both immediate and those of a more global nature. However, events are repeatedly too advantageous to be ultimately satisfying. Hidden diaries, letters and pictures are discovered with alarming regularity. Perhaps acknowledging this narrative ease, the publisher recommends this book for ages 8-12, but the girls’ dawning understanding of the complex world of adulthood pushes it a little older. A story about a tumultuous family that lacks a certain element of hardship needed to make a book truly gripping. (Fiction. 10-14)
KILLER INSTINCT
Green, S.E. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (272 pp.) $17.99 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4814-0285-9 This compelling debut follows the efforts of a girl who’s fascinated with a serial killer. Lane, 17, knows she’s disturbed. She has virtually no emotions and finds herself fascinated with the Decapitator, the serial killer her mother, a behavioral analyst at the FBI, has been tracking for years. Lane secretly works to discover the killer’s identity—until the killer begins to contact her personally. He appears to know everything about her, sending private letters that Lane does not turn over to the FBI. Meanwhile, Lane beings to act as a vigilante, wreaking vengeance on unpunished criminals—a rapist found not guilty, a boy who harms animals— becoming known, to her irritation, as the Masked Savior. She’s also crushing on the veterinarian she works for, finally dating his younger brother Zach, an experience that demonstrates she has some emotions after all, especially when the Decapitator appears to be someone far closer to her than she had realized. But who? Green keeps the narrative humming along, unfolding events through her psychologically damaged narrator’s eyes and deepening the mystery until events roar to a climax. The story works as much as a character study of Lane as it does an effective thriller. Red herrings abound as readers, along with Lane, begin to understand that she isn’t quite as unemotional or as ruthless as she had previously believed. A zippy, gripping psychological drama. (Thriller. 14-18)
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“A storyteller with an uncanny sense of elementary school humor, Harley has penned a worthy sequel to Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year (2013).” from charlie bumpers vs. the really nice gnome
THE LITTLEST GIANT The Story of Vamana
married off like property. Anachronisms abound (Sybil Dashwood appears to have wandered over from a Regency novel, along with footmen and honorifics like “Miss”), but fans of girl-power fantasy who can put up with the rocky start probably won’t mind. Nothing new here, but alchemy, feminism and two separate wicked plotters make this enjoyable enough to keep the pages turning. (historical note) (Fantasy. 12-16)
Greene, Joshua M. Illus. by Moore, Emma V. Insight Kids (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-60887-303-6
An ancient Hindu story about one of Vishnu’s avatars, who challenges the greedy king, Bali. Bali, with the help of his goading adviser, Shukra, has moved beyond his kingdom to take over the Earth and the galaxy beyond. He is still not content, so Vishnu, the Supreme Person, comes to him in the form of a small human to help him understand himself. When the king, power-hungry but still charitable, sees the childlike person who presents himself as Vamana, he wants to grant his every wish. Vamana makes a modest request: “I do not need much, only a bit of land as wide as my three steps.” Although Shukra is suspicious, Bali grants the wish. Only then does Vishnu reveal himself, growing into a giant. He uses his large steps to take back the Earth and the universe, creating the Ganges River along the way. When there is no other place for Vamana to take his third step, the king graciously offers his own head. Vamana takes his last step, reduces himself in size again and rewards the enlightened king by restoring his original kingdom. (In some versions, Bali is given the underworld to rule.) Full-bleed, vividly colored illustrations, reminiscent of Indian religious posters, show Vamana with his traditional umbrella. The author’s note mentions the original source, a Sanskrit text called the Bhagavata Purana. A wisdom tale that children of any background can understand. (Folk tale. 7-10)
CHANTRESS ALCHEMY
Greenfield, Amy Butler McElderry (352 pp.) $17.99 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4424-5707-2 Series: Chantress, 2
The second volume of this alternatehistory fantasy trilogy provides more of the same, with some improvements. After defeating the evil lord Scargrave and saving the kingdom, Lucy has retreated to an estate in rural Norfolk to practice her Chantress skills in solitude. But unrest continues to plague Henry IX’s England (replacing Charles I in Greenfield’s world): famine, a depleted treasury and common folk marching on the king’s palace. Lucy is recalled to court to find the stolen Golden Crucible, with which the king and his council hope to make gold by alchemy. It won’t be easy. Every courtier might be an enemy; some mysterious force has stripped Lucy of her ability to hear the magic songs that feed her power; and love interest Nat keeps avoiding her. After a slow start propelled by nonsensical decisions on Lucy’s part, the plot settles into mystery and intrigue with a side of message as Lucy rails against being |
CHARLIE BUMPERS VS. THE REALLY NICE GNOME
Harley, Bill Illus. by Gustavson, Adam Peachtree (160 pp.) $13.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56145-740-3 Series: Charlie Bumpers, 2
Charlie Bumpers knows the role he wants in the fourth-grade class play: Evil Sorcerer Kragon. What does he get? The Nice Gnome. Boogers. Disappointed and angry, the endearing Charlie goes to battle. Three times, he tries to rid himself of the horrible part with its ridiculous costume. He even rewrites all of his lines to make them funny and cool, like the hero of his favorite TV show, Buck Meson— Detective from Andromeda. But Mrs. Burke is unyielding. This role is worse than having to clean up after his dog, Ginger. As the big night approaches, though, a special touch is added to his costume that makes a difference: Big brother Matt has taken a pair of white sneakers and spray painted them gold. “Awesome shoes,” Matt says. “Awesome gnome.” The last 20 pages quickly give Charlie a golden touch, as he saves the performance in multiple ways. Charlie even gets to ad-lib the Buck Meson quote he worked so hard to include. A storyteller with an uncanny sense of elementary school humor, Harley has penned a worthy sequel to Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year (2013). With illustrator Gustavson, he captures the frustration that comes with just having to make the best of a bad situation. Charlie’s fans will be psyched to see that Charlie Bumpers vs. the Squeaking Skull is scheduled for fall 2014. (Fiction. 7-10)
DREAMER, WISHER, LIAR
Harper, Charise Mericle Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (408 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-202675-0 978-0-06-220291-8 e-book Bracing for a lonely summer, Ash is surprised when the little girl she babysits and some unexpected time travel open new horizons. Ash begins her summer knowing her best friend’s moving to Oregon, leaving her to cope alone with prosopagnosia, a condition that prevents her from recognizing faces. Additionally, her mother expects her to babysit a 7-year-old named Claire for three weeks. An enthusiastic,
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Lauren Oliver
With Panic, the best-seller finds the right way to weave a nail-biting story about fear By Gordon West
Photo courtesy Mike Holliday
Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others.” It’s indeed a noble thought, but it’s one the characters of Lauren Oliver’s latest novel, Panic, would shrug their sunburned shoulders at. As they play an illegal game (the eponymous Panic), their fears are spotlit and exploited, and their courage is more accurately defined as tenacity bleeding into double-crossing and revenge. And what else is there to do in forgettable Carp, N.Y., except participate in a competition where the winner reaps a wad of cash and the losers remain losers? The game of Panic is born from small-town ennui but results in a gamble that is anything but boring. 90
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It’s terrifying. Over the summer break, participants (limited to graduating seniors) face a series of physical and mental challenges many people would skirt individually and not even pursue as part of a mob. There’s plank-walking between two water towers, something involving an interstate and a blindfold, and the final cherry of doom: an automotive duel dubbed “Joust.” Panic isn’t just about a fleet of teenagers behaving badly, though: It’s an examination of the myriad ways in which people deal with fear and whether they succeed or fail at it. Oliver’s impetus for exploring this notion came from a Grimms’ fairy tale with the cumbersome title of “The Boy Who Went Forth to Learn About the Shivers.” “It’s basically a story about three brothers, and one of them is considered ‘simple,’ and he’s actually so simple he doesn’t know how to be afraid,” says Oliver. “So he goes on this quest after he hears people talking about having the shivers. Basically, the whole book is about his attempt to give himself the shivers. He ends up spending a hilarious three nights in a haunted house and still can’t manage to be afraid….It got me thinking about the nature of fear and about why certain people respond to fear in certain ways.” Some can confront fear, “and other people have their lives dictated by fears,” she says. That unguarded boy on the prowl for some shivering might have had three hilarious nights, but Panic doesn’t traffic in lighthearted hilarity. Oliver, who grew up in a small town, knows a little something about the entrapment that accompanies boredom. “You really can’t escape,” says Oliver. “You don’t really have any agency, and there’s this desperate energy that begins to build to break out or do something or test your limits. Anything, really.”
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The key to breaking out of Carp comes in the form of a massive cash prize for the winner of Panic. Sure, there’s the lingering risk of death or dismemberment, but a purse stuffed with $67,000 (collected forcibly throughout the school year) is irresistible bait for a handful of restless teenagers. With nothing to do but drink beer and dream of escaping monotony, there are 67,000 hopeful reasons at stake to temporarily blur the lines of humanity and legality. The competitors are ready to do anything—including sabotage their peers to the point of death— to win and kiss Carp goodbye. Panic is told from the perspectives of two participants, Heather and Dodge, the former a reluctant competitor and the latter invested in annihilating the competition. Heather, arguably the main character, lives in a trailer park with her younger sister and drug-addled mother. Not originally intending to play, she enters the competition on an impassioned whim after being dumped by her boyfriend. Heather soon realizes that she has to win in order to extract herself and her sister from the stifling, toxic world to which their mother has them pinned. Dodge’s participation is more pointed. His older sister was tragically crippled in a previous year’s Joust after her competitor sabotaged her car. With said competitor’s younger brother now competing in Panic, Dodge sees an opportunity for revenge. “The initial first couple of chapters had little snippets from a bunch of the different players because I was so interested in people’s motivations for playing,” says Oliver. “Ultimately, Dodge and Heather became the backbone around which I wanted to build the story.” The ebb and flow between Heather’s evolution from hesitant to defiant and the revelation of Dodge’s sensitivity and purpose further serve to agitate the undercurrent of unpredictable danger. Readers beware: Palpable narrative tension may result in the unconscious biting of nails and lips. “When things are tense or very high-action, what I’ll do is I’ll unconsciously start to speed up and try to get to the end of it very quickly,” says Oliver. “So I have to really slow down, and I have to write very slowly and only write about a sentence at a time and then take a break, otherwise, I just rush through it and curtail the scene, and it ends quickly.” Haste, harnessed or not, isn’t apparent here. The pacing is just right and the tension—just crazy. |
Panic, like Oliver’s Delirium trilogy, is young adult. Her E.B. White Read-Aloud Award–nominated Liesl & Po is middle-grade. And later this year, she is releasing an adult novel. This span of genres could be seen as a conscious effort to avoid being pigeonholed in one category. To the multidisciplinary Oliver, it’s just storytelling. “Hardly anything I do is conscious,” laughs Oliver. “I have extremely, extremely wide reading habits, and so much of what I do and my passion for writing is informed by my love of reading. So really, it’s just because I’m interested in all of the different genres, and different stories are meant to be told in different ways.”
Gordon West is a writer and illustrator living in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is admittedly addicted to horror films and is at work on his own YA novel. Panic received a starred review in the Jan. 15, 2014 issue of Kirkus Reviews.
panic Oliver, Lauren Harper/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-06-201455-9
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“A sparkling, timely tour of the complicated intersection where life meets art.” froms the vigilante poets of selwyn academy
high-maintenance child whose mother recently died after abandoning her family, Claire’s armed with a wish list of things she wants to do, and Ash finds herself unwillingly escorting Claire to thrift shops and senior center events where she meets new people. Though she’s busy with Claire, Ash becomes distracted after finding a jar labeled “wishes” in the basement that transports her into the lives of two girls living when her parents were young. As she becomes obsessed with the past, Ash gradually realizes there’s a relevant connection to her own life. Ash tells her summer saga in a humorous, chatty, somewhat-vulnerable voice, and although the time-travel thread initially feels disconnected from the plotline, the past and present eventually sync. Spot art line drawings feature chapter elements. Amusing, heartfelt time travel about friends and wishes—old and new. (Fantasy. 8-12)
THE VIGILANTE POETS OF SELWYN ACADEMY
Hattemer, Kate Knopf (336 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-75378-4 978-0-385-75380-7 e-book 978-0-385-75379-1 PLB Blending Ezra Pound, rhetoric and reality TV, this hilarious, subversive debut about a cadre of friends at an arts high school is a treat from cover to cover. In seventh grade, popular, good-looking Luke rescued Ethan, Jackson and Elizabeth from misfit nerd-dom. Four years later, Luke still leads while Narrator Ethan is cheerfully resigned to a spot in the “Untalented caste” at Selwyn Academy. Disturbing the status quo, the school’s chosen to host a new reality TV show, a student talent competition with a $100,000 scholarship prize and a familiar format: interviews, clichéd romances and rivalries, and two smarmy hosts. The obsequious vice principal and most students are thrilled, but For Art’s Sake feels like an insult to Ethan and friends. Luke, the most offended, leads a counterattack, writing guerilla poetry inspired by Pound’s Cantos that ridicules the enterprise, which the conspirators secretly print at school. However, the masterminds behind reality TV are several steps ahead of them—money and fame are powerful currency, and they know how to use them. Maura, the beautiful, talented ballerina Ethan fancies, has been accepted at Juilliard, but without the scholarship, she can’t attend—participating is a no-brainer. Ethan struggles with ethical conundrums (Does Pound’s anti-Semitism invalidate his work? Are compromises the price of an arts career?) as he works out his own place in this world and among his friends, especially Elizabeth. A sparkling, timely tour of the complicated intersection where life meets art. (Fiction. 12 & up)
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THE HERO’S GUIDE TO BEING AN OUTLAW
Healy, Christopher Illus. by Harris, Todd Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (528 pp.) $16.99 | $7.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-06-211848-6 978-0-06-211850-9 e-book Series: Hero’s Guides, 3 The members of the League of Princes, good-hearted if only semicompetent heroes, are dubbed outlaws when accused of murder most foul! Strange things are afoot in the Thirteen Kingdoms, none stranger than the wanted posters proclaiming that the League of Princes murdered sometimes-antagonist Princess Briar Rose. The reward for their capture, literally “untold riches,” sets bounty hunters after them, and Gustav, Frederic and Rapunzel are captured. In a wacky sequence of mistakes and flukes, two sets of rescuers—Duncan and Snow, and Ella and Liam—fall in and out of the bounty hunters’ clutches until the princesses are trapped beyond rescue, and the brave princes run away. Their stories diverge, as the princes have swashbuckling adventures that ultimately strand them on an island. Meanwhile, the princesses spend quality time in jail alongside bread thief Val Jeanval, until their imminent executions necessitate a jailbreak. While initially portrayed as more competent than their princes, the princesses soon reveal themselves as just as hilariously dysfunctional. Throughout the heroes’ and heroines’ travels, the antiprince conspiracy is revealed in each kingdom—it’s directly related to loose ends from The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle (2013). Side characters make comedic final appearances, and a surprise villain team-up provides closure to the trilogy. Part screwball comedy, part sly wit and all fun. (Fantasy. 8 & up)
DON’T CALL ME BABY
Heasley, Gwendolyn HarperTeen (304 pp.) $9.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-220852-1 978-0-06-220853-8 e-book
Usually it’s a kid’s use of social media that is a problem…. Using the pseudonym Mommylicious, Imogene’s mother is a prolific professional blogger, continually blogging about her unfortunate daughter’s every cute smile and dirty diaper to her large online audience since she was a baby. Now that she is 15, however, “Babylicious” is beginning to resent the fact that every intimate detail of her daily life is subject to public scrutiny. Ragged at by her schoolmates, embarrassed in the boyfriend department and convinced that her mom doesn’t care what she really thinks,
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the formerly submissive girl rebels. Imogene and her BFF Sage, whose hard-line, vegan health-nut mother is also a blogger, decide that their moms are over-the-top and plot revenge. Inspired by a homework assignment, the girls talk back about their experiences and feelings through their own blogs, causing huge consternation in the mommy world. Imogene wilts under her mother’s disapproval but is backed up by golf-obsessed Grandma Hope, who dispenses wisdom and helps her to stand up for herself. As the witty story unfolds, mommies and daughters learn to give each other some space and that the Internet is no substitute for real-life experience. Heasley delivers her message without compromising frothy fun. This surprisingly poignant comedy about teen-parent communication has enough bite to pique the interest of any teenager having trouble interacting meaningfully with her parents. (Fiction. 12 & up)
BURN OUT
Helvig, Kristi Egmont USA (272 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-60684-479-3 978-1-60684-480-9 e-book In an unrecognizable future, the sun has ballooned to epic proportions, leaving the Earth charred, desiccated and nearly vacant, as a teenage girl tries to hold on to her sanity and secrets. Tora Reynolds, the daughter of a famous weapons developer, spends her days isolated in an underground bunker with nothing to keep her company but a cache of deadly weapons and the whir of machines that purify her air and water. The Earth has become a monstrously inhospitable place, with an angry sun that has shriveled the land to dust and rendered it impossible for humans to venture outside without a sunsuit for protection. When Tora is unexpectedly approached by Markus, a friend of her father’s with a disreputable past, she is cast into a dangerous game in which Markus’ group and the oppressive Consulate vie for access to her deadly arsenal. Through Markus, she meets James, a handsome and dangerous boy who at any moment could as easily kiss her as kill her. Faced with the responsibility of her father’s legacy, she must decide how to save the weapons and herself. Tora is whip-smart and sharp-tongued, and though she possesses enough munitions to blow up a spaceship, her sarcasm is by far her most useful tool. Helvig builds a rock-solid future world and provides enough staggering plot twists and turns to keep pages flying to the gut-wrenching cliffhanger. A scorching series opener not to be missed. (Science fiction. 12-16)
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DUCK & GOOSE GO TO THE BEACH
Hills, Tad Illus. by Hills, Tad Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-37235-0 978-0-385-37237-4 PLB Series: Duck & Goose In this latest Duck & Goose escapade, Duck and Goose spontaneously trek to the beach, where their reactions are decidedly mixed. After agreeing how much they love relaxing in the meadow, Duck suddenly suggests they should immediately take a trip. Enthusiastic and excited, Duck ooozes excitement, while Goose clearly would rather stay home. Oblivious, Duck heads out with Goose reluctantly in tow. Passing familiar landmarks, they enter foreign territory and eventually arrive at the beach. “[P]retty sure” he loves the beach, even though he’s never been there, Duck heedlessly races to the shore, where he’s quickly overwhelmed by the sound of the waves, the vast stretch of sky and “SO MUCH” water. As Duck’s excitement wanes, Goose embraces the waves and eagerly explores the seashore. Soft oils transport the impressively simple, silly little figures of Duck and Goose in their floppy sun hats across single- and double-page spreads, from the greens of the meadow to the blues, whites and tans of sky, water and sand, while their expressive eyes and postures amply convey comic emotion and visual back story. Anyone ever simultaneously excited and nervous about leaving home and traveling to new places will identify with this droll duo on their first amusing trip to the beach. (Picture book. 3-7)
DINNER WITH THE HIGHBROWS
Holt, Kimberly Willis Illus. by Brooker, Kyrsten Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (40 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-8050-8088-9 An invitation to have dinner with a friend’s family leads to an unpredictable evening for a young boy. Drilled in good manners by his mom, Bernard arrives at Gilbert’s house prepared to be polite, tidy and helpful. Greeted at the door by a tail-coated butler, Bernard’s (and readers’) expectations are upended when the whole family piles into a limousine and heads to an Italian restaurant for a spaghetti dinner. Slurping, burping and using meatballs as projectiles are only some of the atrocious antics that ensue. Through it all, Bernard remembers his mother’s lessons, often to humorous effect. Holt’s exaggerated, tall-tale style is apparent from the first page when readers learn the boys’ last names: Worrywart and Highbrow, respectively. Overall, however, the text is relatively
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straightforward, relying on the tension between expectations and reality for its wit. Brooker’s multimedia illustrations, created using oils and cut paper, amp up the madcap humor. Characters’ costumes create an old-fashioned feel: Bernard’s mother favors frilly aprons, while Gilbert sports a complete cowboy get-up, and his two brothers appear in short pants, formal jackets and bow ties. Odd perspectives abound, and small snippets of photographs occasionally add texture and surprise. Like the central meal it features, this clever concoction will likely please some preschool palates, but it may take slightly older and more sophisticated readers to easily digest the combination of fun foolishness and explicit advice. (Picture book. 5-8)
ELAN, SON OF TWO PEOPLES
Hyde, Heidi Smith Illus. by Prevost, Mikela Kar-Ben (32 pp.) $17.95 | $7.95 paper | $6.95 e-book Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-7613-9051-0 978-0-7613-9052-7 paper 978-1-4677-2430-2 e-book
Thirteen-year-old Elan learns about his dual Jewish and Pueblo Indian heritage on a trip from San Francisco to New Mexico where he will read from the Torah and participate in a traditional Pueblo ceremony of becoming a man. In 1898, Elan feels fortunate and special to have a Jewish father and a mother of Pueblo descent. While his family reviews the story of their mixed backgrounds, similarities between the two cultures become apparent. The transition from childhood to adult is respectfully addressed through Elan’s two coming-ofage ceremonies, witnessed by both families. For his bar mitzvah Torah reading, Elan proudly accepts a special tallit woven by his mother with symbols of the Star of David, the Ten Commandments, a stalk of corn and an oak tree. His parents remind Elan that he is the son of two proud nations, as his name means “oak tree” in Hebrew and “friendly” in the language of his mother’s people, the Acoma Pueblo. With his father, cousin Manolo and the other men of the community, Elan is welcomed into the Acoma tribe with rituals in the kiva (appropriately not depicted). Gouache scenes in soft, earthy tones gently depict the journey. Based on the life of a 19th-century Jewish man who became Pueblo governor, a sweet celebration of diverse heritage. (historical note, glossary) (Picture book. 8-10)
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CAMP REX
Idle, Molly Illus. by Idle, Molly Viking (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-670-78573-5 Fresh from the pages of Tea Rex (2013), Cordelia, her younger brother and his teddy this time join their dino pals for
a camping expedition. Again limiting the text to sage words of wisdom—which sound remarkably like a true outdoorsy book about camping might—Idle lets the illustrations tell the tale. Once the hike and pitching of tents (most too small for dinos) are accomplished, things quickly degrade with “Learning about local flora and fauna can be great fun!” Berries, poison ivy and a hive of bees all play a role. A “refreshing…dip in a mountain lake” leads to some broken canoe paddles and a few fish for the campfire, where the singalong prompts Cordelia to stuff marshmallows in her ears. Especially hysterical for seasoned campers is the suggestion that “Before you fall asleep, it’s lovely to listen to the soothing sounds of the forest all around you.” And adult readers will have trouble containing their laughter when the book says, “In the morning, you’ll awake refreshed….” The final spread of “camping” in the backyard will soothe wee ones nervous about the wilds of nature. While the pictures are tongue-in-cheek funny, some are difficult to make out due to the flat colors and the hugeness of the dinos—they often exceed the size of the page. Still, this is certain to raise more than a few giggles from the camping enthusiasts in any audience. What adventure’s next? (Picture book. 4-7)
SOCCER STAR
Javaherbin, Mina Illus. by Alarcão, Renato Candlewick (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-6056-7 A soccer story with a gender-equality twist. The sense of place is established from the title page with an illustration of the young protagonist flying a kite in his Brazilian neighborhood. Paulo loves to play soccer and one day hopes to be a famous soccer star. While he walks his sister, Maria, to school, they practice soccer moves. Paulo then makes his way to the fishing boat where he works, greeting his teammates along the way; they, like him, work during the day and play soccer afterward. There’s a lull in pacing in the middle of the story, but it quickly picks up with the “big game.” While Paulo respects Maria’s soccer skills, his teammates won’t let her play— until one of them is injured, and she then scores. Alarcão expertly captures the motion of Maria’s triumphant, scoring bicycle kick, but it’s too bad there is no illustration that shows the team explicitly welcoming her into the fold. That’s a minor quibble, as it’s
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“A thought-provoking study of a family caught up in both political and domestic crises in a foreign land.” from so much for democracy
downright refreshing to see illustrations that realistically relay the diversity of shades found among Brazilians. Javaherbin deftly handles Paulo and Maria’s poverty with honesty while simultaneously refraining from sugarcoating, overemphasizing or romanticizing it. Perhaps most importantly, Javaherbin shows that being poor doesn’t stop people from having lives and dreams. A lovely story about soccer, gender and hope. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)
THE NETHERGRIM
Jobin, Matthew Philomel (368 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-399-15998-5 Series: Nethergrim, 1
A dark fantasy strives for epic grandeur but mostly achieves ponderous squalor. Edmund Bale desperately wants to be a wizard, but his innkeeper father mocks his studies; after all, their remote village hardly offers much opportunity for magic. Then the bestial servants of the Nethergrim—long thought vanquished—reappear, slaughtering livestock and kidnapping children, including Edmund’s younger brother. Now Edmund has to call upon his scanty spellcraft, the sword of his secret crush, Katherine, and the folk wisdom of the orphan slave Tom to face an ancient, monstrous evil that even the greatest knight and wizard had failed to defeat. This story aims for the detailed worldbuilding of Tolkien and grim realism of George R.R. Martin but unfortunately falls short. Despite flashes of startlingly effective imagery, the prose far too often slips into pretentious pseudo-archaism. Fully two-thirds of the narrative is spent on setup and back story, portraying a dreary landscape filled with petty, cruel and spiteful inhabitants, scarcely worth saving. Edmund himself is whiny, arrogant and self-centered, and his friends are mere caricatures of the spirited tomboy and wise simpleton. At the horrific final confrontation, Edmund does prove unexpectedly clever and valiant; but few will make it far enough to cheer. One hopes that the inevitable sequels will discard tedious infodumps and dismal travelogues for dynamic adventure and satisfying character growth. (Fantasy. 10-14)
SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRACY
Jones, Kari Orca (184 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4598-0481-4
Title notwithstanding, historical events in Ghana remain largely offstage as a 12-year-old, recently arrived from Canada, struggles to cope with her mother’s descent into a nervous breakdown. |
Astrid’s father, invited to Accra to help organize a national election, is usually away at work. This leaves her to juggle school, two younger sibs, and a stay-at-home parent whose fear of the local food, water, wildlife and people has resulted in frantic overprotectiveness, irrationally strict rules about permissible activities and increasingly violent emotional outbursts. The domestic tension comes to a head when malaria strikes brother Gordo. Then, amid the widespread turmoil caused by Flight Lt. Jerry Rawlings’ coup (this is 1979, as the historical note informs readers), a soldier robs Astrid’s mother at gunpoint. Otherwise, the violence and unrest are conveyed here more through radio broadcasts and overheard conversations than direct experience. Jones focuses instead on Astrid’s courage, good sense and fundamental kindness in the face of her deteriorating mother’s mood swings and growing distraction, the frustration of being continually kept in the dark by adults about what’s going on in the larger world and the overwhelming responsibility of caring for her brother and sister. Along with hearing her Ghanaian friends’ conflicting feelings about their new government, Astrid weathers her challenges at home admirably. A thought-provoking study of a family caught up in both political and domestic crises in a foreign land. (Historical fiction. 11-13)
THE HUNT
Kade, Stacey Hyperion (368 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4231-5329-0 Series: Project Paper Doll, 2 Desperate and on the run from GTX, Ariane needs the secret, emergency cache that Mark, her stepfather, hid for her, but relief at finding it is short-lived when she discovers the letter he left with it. Two other scientific labs have been competing with GTX to craft test-tube babies from human and alien DNA, turning them into living, lethal weapons. Eliminating Ariane—the most successful—would also eliminate GTX from the competition. While Mark warned Ariane to travel alone, Zane won’t let that happen. As they travel to Zane’s estranged mother’s home, their attachment grows, but there’s no time to cuddle. Zane worries alien-enhanced Ariane sees him as weak, while she’s afraid he’ll see her as less than human. When focusing on their obsessions, the plot grows slack and the pace slows. Alternating narration becomes repetitious when both narrators recount the same events; Ariane’s powers allow her to hear Zane’s thoughts and learn his feelings for her, further quashing suspense. But the story regains traction when Ariane seeks out and confronts her angry, wounded counterpart, Ford, and her wounded cellmates, Ariane’s relatives. Though not raised in isolation like Ariane, they have also been taught to reject their half-human origins. Overcoming a melodramatic start, this page-turner accelerates to a taut climax with full marks for the cliffhanger ending. (Science fiction/romance. 12-18)
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“…Lackey and Edghill…save this sequel from stereotype through snappy ripostes, abundant pop-culture references and a strong ensemble.” from victories
ME FIRST
this familiar tale. Crabby does explain that he was jealous—a look behind bullying behavior is always appreciated. There’s nothing new under the sea, but these creatures are irrepressible, even Crabby. (Picture book. 3-6)
Kornell, Max Illus. by Kornell, Max Nancy Paulsen Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 15, 2014 978-0-399-15997-8 Being first is only fun—if it can be called fun—when it doesn’t entail learning the rude consequences of the unknown. Kornell’s two donkeys go by the names of Hal and Martha. As brother and sister, they enjoy a good game of one-upmanship. In this case, it’s a relentless, barely bearable, simmering war. They live in a gloriously bucolic setting, as evocative as a woodblock print burnished with the light of sunset, but their competition carries on, even while on a picnic. On a walk home, they take a new route and encounter many new circumstances. Martha races to try the berries first. Yuck! Hal climbs through the hollow log before Martha can and emerges coated in cobwebs for his efforts. Martha jumps on the log bridge spanning a stream and goes for an unexpected swim, in her clothes, when it breaks. There’s nothing quite like learning a lesson the hard way, not to mention that the air is perfumed by their silence as the lesson seeps in. Kornell can’t be said to have exactly a light touch—the message is as subtle as the taste of cobwebs—but if it teaches just one reader not to need to always go one better, it’s brought peace to one small sliver of Earth. As soothing on the eyes as it is, potentially, on the nerves. (Picture book. 4-8)
PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLYFISH
Krosoczka, Jarrett J. Illus. by Krosoczka, Jarrett J. Knopf (40 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 PLB | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-375-87036-1 978-0-375-97036-8 PLB A cantankerous crab lives up to his name, bullying everyone in the ocean until he realizes the importance of friendship. Peanut Butter, a sunny sea horse, and Jellyfish, a gleeful gelatinous blob, are best friends. They swim up, down and around, all over their ocean home. Unfortunately, every time they swim by Crabby, he has something mean to say. Crabby stays on the ocean floor, claws cupped to mouth, taunting, “What a bunch of bubbleheads!” and “You guys smell like rotten barnacles!” and the worst insult of all: “You guys swim like humans!” Peanut Butter and Jellyfish defiantly call back, “Driftwood and sea stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt us.” (Technically, Jellyfish doesn’t have any bones, but that’s beside the point.) But when Crabby finds himself caught in a lobster trap, his foul mouth falls silent. True to heroic form, Peanut Butter and Jellyfish save him. It’s not startlingly original, but Krosoczka’s saturated waterscape and expressive cast brighten 96
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VICTORIES
Lackey, Mercedes; Edghill, Rosemary Tor (256 pp.) $22.99 | $11.99 paper | $11.99 e-book Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7653-2826-7 978-0-7653-1764-3 paper 978-1-4668-4321-9 e-book Series: Shadow Grail, 4 Spirit White and her mage schoolmates prepare for a battle royal in this
energetic series ender. Spirit and her friends, Burke, Loch and Addie, escaped the deadly school dance at Oakhurst Academy, but they lost their friend Muirin in the process. After a brief respite, an uninformative conversation with an incorporeal Merlin and the anticlimactic discovery of the Hallows—Arthurian, not Deathly—the teens dutifully troop back to Oakhurst to rescue the other students and prevent Mordred from starting a nuclear war and establishing his medieval empire atop the radioactive ruins. As Reincarnates of King Arthur’s courtiers, Spirit and her friends find both strength and sorrow in the returning memories of their former lives and liaisons. Thrust into responsibility by the convenient absence of adults—as the students were orphaned through the machinations of the Shadow Knights and abused by their teachers—but equipped with magical powers, combat training and newly accessed Arthurian memories, the teens dive back into battle. Exposition is lengthy and the mythology, muddled, and the dialogue swings erratically between modern teenspeak and “High Forsoothly.” The superpowered-teens-and-secretschool thing has been done before, but Lackey and Edghill (Sacrifices, 2013, etc.) save this sequel from stereotype through snappy ripostes, abundant pop-culture references and a strong ensemble. A smart and snarky finale. (Fantasy. 12 & up)
BRUNO & LULU’S PLAYGROUND ADVENTURES
Lakin, Patricia Illus. by Edmunds, Kirstie Dial (80 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8037-3553-8
All the playground’s a stage for these two pals. A metafictive introduction to this title finds chipmunk Lulu and red squirrel Bruno breaking the fourth wall to introduce themselves to readers by revealing their respective attributes. Lulu’s imaginative strengths end up being
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central to both of the ensuing stories—the first about coveting cake and the second about making the best of a timeout punishment. Although he is decidedly less whimsical than his friend, Bruno patiently indulges Lulu’s flights of fancy in both chapters, and Lulu also comes across as the “good friend” she declares herself to be in the introduction as she dreams up play scenarios. The text is delivered almost entirely in color-coded speechballoon dialogue between the friends (yellow for Lulu to match her hair bow and blue for Bruno to match his glasses). This supports the cartoonish quality of the humorous, digitally rendered art, but some pages end up looking rather cluttered with a surfeit of balloons. The final two pages incorporate the text in the illustrations, presenting the words “THE END” in pebbles in the sandbox, but Bruno intercedes to scratch the word “NOT” above them, suggesting that more squirrely adventures await the friends in future stories. A playful, comic romp of a book for new readers. (Early reader. 7-9)
POM AND PIM
Landström, Lena Illus. by Landström, Olof; Translated by Marshall, Julia Gecko Press (36 pp.) $34.99 | $19.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-877579-66-0 978-1-877579-88-2 paper Young Pom and his potato-shaped rag doll, Pim, make their way through the ups and downs of everyday life. The Landströms’ Pom, who bears a striking resemblance to a 3-year-old Winston Churchill, ventures out into the world with his comrade, Pim. “It’s warm. The sun is shining. What luck!” But wait—there is a stone in the path that Pom doesn’t see. He trips, planting his nose in the ground. “Ouch! / Bad luck.” But wait—when he gets to his feet, he discovers a 20-krona note stuck to his nose. “What luck!” (Though Swedish, the bill’s nature and use are instantly apparent.) He buys some ice cream, generously mashing some into Pim’s face, and they both get a bellyache. So it goes. Home in bed, where he is giving his stomach a rest, he finds a balloon, which pops, but a big shard of the balloon turns into a handy poncho for Pim, and they go stand in a puddle in the rain. “What luck!” The question here is what’s not to like about these two characters? They weather the storms of misfortune and revel in fortune’s smiles. The words snugly fit the capacities of an emergent reader, but they hold a delicious sense of portent. The artwork is expressive while radiating the secure texture of a woodblock print, the colors muted, and each page is inviting, despite the vicissitudes. A perfect primer for the existential philosophy required for a small one to make it through the day. (Picture book. 2-6)
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ZIGGY’S BIG IDEA
Long, Ilana Illus. by Joni, Rasa Kar-Ben (32 pp.) $17.95 | $7.95 paper | $6.95 e-book Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-7613-9053-4 978-0-7613-9054-1 paper 978-1-4677-2428-9 e-book A young boy contributes to shtetl life by thinking up new ways to do ordinary things and, in the process, helps a baker perfect his “top secret boiled buns.” Many of Ziggy’s ideas have good intentions but aren’t always practical, like the “shulstilts” he creates for the very short rabbi. Pleased, the rabbi anticipates being taller than the bar mitzvah students and being able to read the Torah with ease—until he falls forward and off the homemade stilts, losing his black hat. Undeterred, Ziggy goes home to think up some new ideas and in the night, dreams up his biggest one yet. He has thought of a way to help the baker bake his special buns so the center isn’t always undercooked. Ziggy shows the baker how to create a dough circle instead of a bun to drop into the boiling water before baking. Perfectly puffed and beautifully browned, the new creation is akin to a bracelet and renamed a bagel for the German term. (A concluding note delves into the derivation of the word “bagel.”) Illustrations are detailed and charming, utilizing digital collage to limn scenes of a brickwalled bakery in an Eastern European village (though the Frenchlooking mustachio on Moishe, the baker, seems a tad out of place). The story’s dialogue-driven, child-oriented approach makes a nifty starting point for this “origin tale” of a muchloved breakfast food. (recipe) (Picture book. 4-6)
OPEN ROAD SUMMER
Lord, Emery Walker (336 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 19, 2014 978-0-8027-3610-9
Reagan joins her best friend Delilah’s summer concert tour to escape some poor decisions and break some bad habits, finding romance and complication instead. When Reagan finds herself attracted to soulful musician Matt, romance seems inevitable—but the record company has hired him to pose as Delilah’s wholesome boyfriend. Reagan and Matt are both good-hearted characters suffering from emotional wounds. A victim of dating violence (described dramatically but not graphically in flashback), Reagan finds curbing her reckless impulses surprisingly difficult. Matt is reeling from his mother’s death and struggling to define himself as a person and artist after the demise of his famous band. Luckily, both have the classic supportive friend in Delilah, who shores them up emotionally and encourages their romance—even as she struggles with the pressures of her increasing fame. These characters are predictable, and the happily-ever-after ending is really never in doubt,
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but romance fans will undoubtedly still enjoy the developing relationships. Lord also deserves credit for plausibly explaining the lack of adult supervision: Their chaperone, Delilah’s 26-year-old aunt, is distracted by her involvement with a new tour boyfriend. Even without adult supervision, Reagan and Matt’s physical relationship is passionate but, refreshingly, restrained. Lord successfully adapts classic elements of adult romance novels into a love story gentle enough for younger readers. (Romance. 12-18)
A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR
Lucier, Makiia HMH Books (288 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-544-16450-5
A teen girl struggles to survive the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918. In her brother’s care since the much earlier loss of their parents, 17-year-old Cleo Berry longs for freedom and adventure, even as she languishes under the expectations of upper-middle-class society in Portland, Ore. When her brother and his wife leave for an anniversary trip, Cleo moves into the dormitory of her school. Already living under the constant dread of bad news from the World War I front, the students and staff of the school find themselves now facing a new threat, drawing closer each day—the dreaded Spanish flu. After the school is closed by the Portland Health Department, Cleo sneaks out and returns to her vacant family home. She answers a call from the Red Cross for volunteers and learns to overcome her fears as she fights to help educate the community and bring the sick to shelters. Lucier adopts a first-person narration, which is sometimes too formal and stilted (even given the historical setting), but she expertly weaves in historical details (including snippets from Sanger’s controversial birth control writings). Readers will be swept up in the story as Cleo builds friendships and manages to find hope amid disease and death. A notable debut. (historical note, further reading) (Historical fiction. 12-18)
TOUCAN CAN!
MacIver, Juliette Illus. by Davis, Sarah Gecko Press (32 pp.) $34.99 | $19.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-8774-6753-0 978-1-877467-54-7 paper There are so many things these colorful birds can do. Can you? Each two-page spread is a riot of color, depicting several iterations of Toucan in motion as well as various other fauna and flora that he encounters and engages in mischief with. A score of little birds in rainbow colors watches him dance and sing and 98
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bang a frying pan. Toucan also slides and swings and does the cancan (on a stack of cans). He also skips and trips and flips and flops. When an excited kangaroo shows up, with an even more excited joey in her pouch, Toucan is challenged to imitate kangaroo’s kung fu moves. Other wackily drawn creatures appear to dance and party with Toucan. There’s Ewan, an unidentified big-eyed burnt-orange animal with a striped tail who might be a kinkajou, and his imperious aunts Shanti and Tanya. There’s a panda, salamander, goose and gander, and also a panther...or two. The pages are positively crowded with creatures who all dance in a vivid tangle with Toucan. And who else can dance with Toucan? You can. MacIver’s simple text has lots of bounce and phonic crunch. Davis’ illustrations, besides being colorful, effectively communicate motion and fun. American audiences may miss descriptions of the exotic animals depicted; this New Zealand import has no backmatter. Read the book for its gleeful energy, but have one with antipodean animal descriptions on hand to answer questions. (Picture book. 3-6)
FLY AWAY
MacLachlan, Patricia McElderry (128 pp.) $15.99 | $10.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4424-6008-9 978-1-4424-6010-2 e-book Filled with little moments of quiet wisdom and gentle humor, Newbery winner MacLachlan’s story about family love soars. Lucy is the only member of her family who cannot sing. Everyone else—her father, her mother, and her younger sister, Grace—sings on pitch. Even her toddler brother, Teddy, who does not yet talk, sings—although only Lucy knows this, as Teddy sings to her secretly each night. But while Lucy cannot sing (she thinks), she is planning to be a poet, and as she and her family journey across the Minnesota prairie in an old Volkswagen bus and arrive at her aunt’s home on the Red River in North Dakota, she composes poems, hoping to write one for her father that is “as beautiful as a cow.” (Her father loves cows.) The story, told in first person by Lucy, is ostensibly simple. But in the hands of MacLachlan, simple becomes sparely elegant, and the narrative unfolds to reveal a world of secrets, strengths, fears, and aspirations both relinquished and recovered, with a frisson of tension that rises as the Red River floods. The climax, when it comes, is less of a nail-biter and more of a warm, cozy blanket of love and support—and readers won’t mind one bit. A story that never cloys, succeeding on all levels. (Fiction. 6-10)
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“The little whale (clearly a baby beluga but not named as such) is doing the work that toddlers do— exploring the world with mama nearby.” from breathe
BREATHE
Magoon, Scott Illus. by Magoon, Scott Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4424-1258-3 978-1-4814-0533-1 e-book A very young white whale swims into the wider world of the arctic seas, celebrating first adventures of the very young. Magoon’s digital art captures the colors and crisp, airy light of the Arctic setting; cartoon lines and wide eyes present creatures above and under the ice as friendly, rounded and smiling. Even the polar bear—seen against the sky through an ice hole as a dark shadow, possibly threatening—is fairly benign. The little whale (clearly a baby beluga but not named as such) is doing the work that toddlers do—exploring the world with mama nearby. The few words of the text speak both to whale baby and, by extension, to the listener: “Play all day // and swim, / and swim, / and swim. // Breathe.” This last (“Breathe”) appears on a double-page spread in which the young whale is surrounded by the vast sea, snowy mountains, and a pale, bright sun. Then a dive changes the palette from the pale blues and whites of the surface through greeny yellows and finally to dark: Here, what was perhaps an arctic whaler, stilled and slightly ghostly, sits on the seafloor. The simple adventure concludes with an anthropomorphic yet welcome invitation: “Most of all, love / and be loved.” Richly composed and sweetly appealing—just right for baby storytimes as well as one-to-one sharing. (Picture book. 6 mos.-3)
TARGET PRACTICE
Maihack, Mike Illus. by Maihack, Mike Graphix/Scholastic (176 pp.) $22.99 | $12.99 paper | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-52842-9 978-0-545-52843-6 paper Series: Cleopatra in Space, 1 This Cleopatra wasn’t born to rule over Egypt—she has a galaxy to save! Fifteen-year-old Cleo is playing hooky from her algebra lessons when she stumbles across a mysterious tablet that takes her on a one-way trip to the future. Upon her arrival, she learns that it’s her destiny to defeat the evil aliens who have conquered half of the Nile galaxy. Cleo is remarkably nonchalant about her change in circumstances, though she grumbles about enrolling in Yasiro Academy. “Light years from my home planet, millennia in the future, and a supposed savior of the galaxy… / and I still have to go to school?!” At least the curriculum includes target practice, where her old slingshot skills prove to be transferable. Cleo’s easygoing confidence makes her a likable, if not especially complex, heroine, but the real star of the graphic novel is Maihack’s art. The cinematic paneling during action sequences skillfully conveys Cleo’s vivacity and flair. Moreover, |
Cleo’s novel surroundings—which include talking cats, ray guns and even a flying sphinx—feel fresh and immediate to readers thanks to Maihack’s character designs and backgrounds, which manage to be winsome without being cloying. Offer this winning adventure to young fans of Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl (2011). (Graphic science fiction. 9-12)
THE RACE
Manceau, Édouard Illus. by Manceau, Édouard Owlkids Books (64 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-77147-055-1 It’s not about running. It’s not exactly about winning. But it is about a race—sort of. While the jacket blurb calls the protagonists “caribou,” the text refers to them as “guys” in this tale translated from French, which makes one wonder what the French word for “guys” is. So a guy paints a line on the ground, grabs a megaphone and then a pistol. It’s OK, the pistol shoots only a little flag that says “bang.” Six guys with black limbs and antlers, orange faces and bodies, and big googly eyes line up. No. 4 starts too soon. No. 5 tosses a banana peel over his shoulder to tangle up the rest of the participants, who, after receiving medical attention, enlist a truck and a kite to catch up. (“Mr. Banana Peel” finds himself on the wrong end of that kite.) No. 2 wonders why he is running so hard and stops, and next, he’s painting his little house and planting flowers. When No. 6 wins, readers see him on No. 2’s TV screen, while No. 2, in his hammock, looks sublimely content. There’s a bit of misdirection, as with the pistol, and a bit more reflection about who really wants to be in this race after all, so in the end, the story might be aimed more at adults than the children they are reading it to. The collage shapes are pleasing and funny, however, and the googly eyes and placement of the stick limbs convey a surprising amount of emotion. Add this winsome fable to the shelves of slightly odd picture books. (Picture book. 4-7)
ARCHIE TAKES FLIGHT
Mass, Wendy; Brawer, Michael Illus. by Gravel, Elise Little, Brown (112 pp.) $14.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-316-24319-3 978-0-316-24321-6 e-book Series: Space Taxi, 1 Archie Morningstar has been waiting for “eight years, eight months, and eight days” to ride along with his taxicab-driving father. But when the night finally arrives, the experience proves to be out of this world. Archie had been looking forward to seeing more of the city, but his father is no ordinary cabbie. He drives a space taxi, with fares all over the known universe. Archie serves as his father’s co-pilot for the night, helping him navigate wormholes, avoid asteroid fields
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“A treasury of anecdotes about this smart and mysterious bird— gathered over years from residents of northern Canada and Alaska and paired to evocative photographs.” from tulugaq
and work the taxi’s thrusters. But things get really interesting when Archie meets Intergalactic Security Force deputy Pilarbing Fangorius Catapolitus, aka Pockets, a talking space police cat who can shoot lasers out of his tail. Together, cat and boy take down a dangerous member of the evil organization BURP. Archie can hardly believe his luck when his father agrees not only to allow Pockets to live with them, but to take Archie on as his permanent co-pilot. Zany adventures, a wacky plot and plenty of slapstick humor make this a quick, enjoyable read. Simple illustrations and a trio of scientific definitions add to the narrative. A solid start to a new chapter-book series. (Adventure. 6-9)
THE FALCONER
May, Elizabeth Chronicle (384 pp.) $17.99 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4521-1423-1 Series: Falconer, 1 Steampunk fantasy based on Scots folklore. Aileana Kameron is haunted by the murder of her mother at the hands of the baobhan sìth, the last of her kind. Few in this version of 1844 Edinburgh know that the fae of folklore are real and about to launch an assault on humankind. But Aileana is a Falconer, a fae-killer, though she doesn’t know that until more than 100 pages in. She is being trained by the darkly beautiful fae Kiaran, who defends humans against his own kind, and she is protected by lesser fae Derrick. The tale unwinds in the first person, so readers learn much by Aileana’s talking about it. She invents and crafts her steampunk weaponry, including an ornithopter with bat’s wings in which she has mounted a swiveling crossbow. She fights off various orders of fae with or without Kiaran’s help, with or without the Seer Gavin, to whom she is semireluctantly affianced. Aileana repeatedly describes the horror of her mother’s death and the visceral satisfaction of slaughtering the fae but never allows readers to feel those things. Repetitive phrases about her boots sinking into wet grass and her not being able to breathe become distracting, as does her constant refrain about lying to everyone she knows. It ends in the middle of a battle, at a key moment. Readers may not be anxious for the next overwrought volume. (fae taxonomy) (Steampunk. 13-17)
TULUGAQ An Oral History of Ravens McCluskey, Kerry Inhabit Media (120 pp.) $24.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-927095-15-7
Plainly transcribed nearly word for word, the short entries preserve the repetitive and choppy quality of both casual conversation and ritual phrasing: “There is a story I can tell about the pregnant dog and the pregnant woman.” Along with more traditional stories of magic and transformation, contemporary comments or observations include one witness’s tale of a raven blowing out a whole town’s cable TV and others recalling how ravens stole balls from a golf course or “tricked” streetlights into warming up by covering the solar switches on top. The entries are loosely arranged by themes, like “Trickster” or “Doom and Gloom,” and most spreads include often artful color photos of ravens alone or in small groups. Though a sense of respect for the birds runs throughout, their taste for animal feces is also noted several times, and they are often depicted as pests or worse. McCluskey provides introductions and, for most, thumbnail photos of the contributors at the end. Closer to ethnology than storytelling but still a thought-provoking glimpse of how nature and myth mix. (Folklore. 11 & up)
TALKER 25
McCune, Joshua Greenwillow/HarperCollins (432 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-212191-2 978-0-06-212192-9 e-book Americans face a terrifying threat. Teen Melissa Anne Callahan lives in a not-too-distant America where dragons mysteriously arrived one day and started destroying towns (sometimes even eating humans). Her mother died in a dragon attack, so she doesn’t question the danger. After a late night of “dragon hunting” with thrill-seeking classmates, Melissa is accused of insurgency—just before her town is attacked, and she finds herself living among the insurgents and dragons she has been raised to hate. She soon realizes that the humans-vs.-dragons situation is not as clearcut as the government and the media had led her to believe. She also discovers that she is one of the rare humans gifted with the ability to communicate telepathically with dragons. McCune’s debut starts off with great promise, as readers get to know narrator Melissa and this terrifying world (an allegory for America’s treatment of “terrorists,” perhaps?). The story starts to unravel as the book moves from “Part I: Kissing Dragons” into “Part II: Reconditioning.” Ultimately, its early potential devolves into a chaotic mess, derailed by ambition (a trilogy’s worth of plot in just over 400 pages) and gratuitous dragon torture. Left with a score of largely unlikable, unengaging human characters, readers may reach the abrupt ending hoping that the dragons are the only survivors. Intense but unsatisfying. (Science fiction. 14 & up)
A treasury of anecdotes about this smart and mysterious bird—gathered over years from residents of northern Canada and Alaska and paired to evocative photographs. 100
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THE BIG BAD BLACKOUT
McDonald, Megan Illus. by Reynolds, Peter H. Candlewick (144 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-6520-3 Series: Judy Moody and Stink, 3
It’s hurricane season in Virginia, and Stink and Judy Moody are in for some dark nights. The Moodys are stuck in their house with no electricity when Hurricane Elmer strikes. What could be challenging turns into an enjoyable few days, especially when Grandma Lou joins the family with Gert, her kayak, and an assortment of animals she has taken in for friends who could not take them to the shelter. Losing power is nothing new to these hearty residents of the Virginia Beach area. Grandma is soon cooking food over a fire in the fireplace, and Stink is imagining himself a pioneer like his hero (and latest obsession), Abraham Lincoln. The nights are filled with board games played like musical chairs, switching games when the music from the old-time (presumably battery-operated) CD player changes, and listening to stories. Sometimes they read aloud, but the best part is telling stories. Whether it’s a story about a special chicken, a disastrous hurricane wedding or Judy’s Mr. Drybones story, everyone enjoys the time together. Readers of this fine series will enjoy the full-color illustrations and the little rain clouds above the page numbers. New fans can join in the fun—no need to have read the earlier books to enjoy this newest one. A cozy, comfortable book for a rainy night. (Fiction. 5-9)
SHOW’S OVER
Michalak, Jamie Illus. by WGBH Educational Foundation Candlewick (48 pp.) $14.99 | $4.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-7278-2 978-0-7636-7278-9 paper Series: Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman Ruff Ruffman’s second literary outing is much lighter than the first (Doggie Duties, 2014), especially in the science department. Whereas his first foray onto the page included many science facts and a cool experiment involving filtering water, this episode is a dud. The story is far-fetched, featuring an invitation to the Poodle Ball, a missing pair of fancy pants, a fax that cancels the show, a green vehicle, a trip to Australia and a dog-hating network owner; the science experiment in the backmatter only tangentially relates to a tiny part of the story: Using aluminum foil, readers construct boats of different shapes and test their carrying capacities and floating abilities with pennies in a bowl of water; in Ruff ’s tale, he, Blossom and Chet forget to add the submarine feature to their green vehicle, so they save it from sinking by tying pineapples all around it. Those who love the |
show love it for Ruff ’s tone of voice, Blossom’s sassy attitude and quiet intelligence, the many sound effects, and the cool things that the human guests get to do in exploring science and solving problems. Almost all of that is missing in print editions of the TV show. Rarely will a book review recommend watching TV over reading a book, but in this case, find the remote. (Fiction. 6-9)
V IS FOR VILLAIN
Moore, Peter Hyperion (336 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | May 20, 2014 978-1-4231-5749-6 978-1-4231-7907-8 e-book Being the nonpowered brother of a superhero could turn any good kid bad. Sixteen-year-old Brad Baron attends Monroe Academy for Powered Teens with the powerful children and siblings of other superheroes. Having no powers makes this a dangerous proposition, especially in Physical Training, a fact made all too clear when Brad is laid up for several weeks with shattered vertebrae. He’s moved (involuntarily) to the alternative program, and not only does he make a few friends, but also discovers teachers who aren’t jerks or hero-worshippers. However, his big, dumb brother, Blake, aka Artillery of Justice Force, thinks Brad’s new friends make him look bad. Blake’s attempts at meddling only serve to deepen Brad’s anti-hero sentiments. Brad and his friends form an alliance when he finally discovers his own latent telepathy, and they seek out connections in a world where telepathy is illegal. When they make a startling discovery about the origin of superpowers, what should they do with the knowledge? And will they survive any decision they make? Moore’s science fantasy takes place in a recognizable world, and young teens will identify with Brad and his cohorts. Well-crafted characters, moral nuance, and a tale with nice, believable twists make this a great addition to the teen-superhero genre. This is superhero fiction done right. (Fantasy. 12 & up)
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
Mora, Pat; Martinez, Libby Knopf (40 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 PLB | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-307-93181-8 978-0-375-97109-9 PLB An intergenerational ode to a positive United States immigration experience. Libby is proud of her great-aunt Lobo (which means “wolf ” in Spanish), who has just passed the United States citizenship test. On Thursday, Libby will lead her class in saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and on Friday, Lobo will recite the pledge to officially become a U.S. citizen. Lobo and Libby
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practice together, and Lobo shares her story. While Lobo’s nostalgic recounting of her immigration experience pairs well with Barton’s soft pencil sketches, the story of her family’s immigration reads a bit candy-coated as she describes her father’s desire for a “safer place” to raise his daughters and neglects to mention any hardships they may have faced. In the end, all goes well for Libby at school, and she is able attend the ceremony with Lobo and recite the pledge along with her great-aunt. Intertextual historical facts make this book a shoo-in for social-studies units on the United States, though they have been simplified for the audience. Libby’s teacher tells her class that Francis Bellamy wrote the pledge in 1892, but she neglects to point out that “under God” was added during the Eisenhower administration. While it is wonderful to see a book featuring Latina characters who are proud Americans, the promotion of idealized visions of life in the United States and the immigrant experience makes it a distinctly one-sided treatment. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-9)
BRAVO, CHICO CANTA! BRAVO!
Mora, Pat; Martinez, Libby Illus. by Carling, Amelia Lau Groundwood (32 pp.) $17.95 | $14.95 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-55498-343-8 978-1-55498-345-2 e-book A little mouse’s foreign-language skills save his family from a cat in this mother-daughter debut. Reworking a Cuban folk tale (available in another version by Antonio Sacre and Alfredo Aguirre as The Barking Mouse, 2003), the authors introduce opera-loving mouse Mrs. Canta and her large family. Mrs. Canta speaks Cricket, Spider and Moth, as well as several human languages, so when the youngest, Chico Canta, echoes her “Dulces sueños, sweet dreams,” she exclaims “Bilingual” in approval. But Chico speaks more than just two languages, as he proves when a family production of Three Little Pigs is nearly spoiled by Little Gato-Gato and he leads the audience in a loud chorus of “Bow-wow! Bow-wow! Bow-wow!” that averts the threat. Everyone cheers: “Bilingual!” (Mora explains in an afterword that the term was chosen to “move the story along” and invites adult readers to introduce a more accurate one when appropriate). Seeing the head of the Big Bad Wolf costume hanging from a nail like a trophy in one scene may give viewers a brief turn, but in general, Carling’s illustrations capture the well-told story’s sweetly spirited tone, with views of tiny mice in colorful costume scampering about and away from a much larger but obviously young ginger kitten. Food for thought for monolingual mouselings—not to mention their parents and teachers. (afterword) (Picture book/folk tale. 5-8)
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WATCH OUT FOR THE CROCODILE
Moroni, Lisa Illus. by Eriksson, Eva Gecko Press (32 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-877579-89-9
A redheaded pixie takes to the woods with her father in hopes of seeing cavemen and other wild things. “All Dad does is work,” says Tora, the pint-sized narrator. “He is a very boring father.” Gee, what does a guy have to do to cop a break? Take his wee one to the forest, for a start; in the green gloaming of the trees live great and fearful creatures, which are just Tora’s cup of tea. And if it turns out that their forest has more ants, squirrels and woodpeckers than hyenas and Bigfeet, then it is time for a little blue-sky thinking: That root is a boa constrictor (or maybe an anaconda), that hump of rocks is a crash of hippos, and that copse of birch trees is a tower of giraffes. (In the book, the congregation of giraffes is referred to as a flock, which may have something to do with the book having been originally written in Swedish.) All it takes is looking the right way, Tora tells her father, who is caught on his GPS or cellphone once too often. The artwork is deft and atmospheric, with a delicacy that lets the creative imagination loose. When it comes time for the father to show his stuff, he doesn’t let Tora down, boring as he is, with a water dragon. A water dragon “only eats fish fingers,” he assures her. An evocative nod to the power of lateral thinking and flights of fancy. (Picture book. 4-8)
SUNRISE
Mullin, Mike Tanglewood Press (546 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-939100-01-6 Series: Ashfall, 3 Survivors must rebuild society in the conclusion to the Ashfall trilogy. After Stockton’s invasion of Warren in Ashen Winter (2012), Warren’s residents take refuge at Uncle Paul’s farm. Determined to take back their town and unwilling to listen to teenagers who think the plan’s tactically unsound, Mayor Petty leads a frontal assault on Stockton. It ends badly, but that gives Alex the chance to lead a bold, unexpected counterstrike. Once Warren’s retaken, Petty disagrees with Alex’s argument that they need to fortify against future assaults and manipulates Alex into running for mayor against him. Dirty politics create hostility toward Alex’s family. They face abandoning more than just their farm for a defensible location. Their small group ingeniously battles long odds and starvation while creating their new home and greenhouse, necessitating daring stealth raids of Stockton’s stockpile—raids with terrifying stakes. Throughout the novel, every decision has consequences, and characters must
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“So cute. Who wouldn’t want one?” from if i had a raptor
constantly decide what they are willing to pay. Reluctant Alex’s leadership is presented as a burden rather than privilege, and his coming-of-age doesn’t prevent other characters from shining. As the small community’s population increases through new arrivals, everyone must learn not only trust, but how and when to forgive. The writing, even in transitory moments of peace, never lets readers forget that potential catastrophe lurks around every corner. A story about how hope is earned, as heart-pounding as it is heart-wrenching. (Speculative fiction. 14 & up)
IF I HAD A RAPTOR
O’Connor, George Illus. by O’Connor, George Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | May 13, 2014 978-0-7636-6012-3
Ten key events or technological developments are listed on the inside of the cover. Transportation buffs will enjoy the attention to detail in Lemanski’s elegant illustrations, but those steeped in the subject may also be irritated by stylistic inaccuracies in some of the drawings, such as the shape of the 1959 Austin Mini. Detailed descriptions keyed to each vehicle are included on the back of the poster. This has the obvious drawback of rendering the captions invisible if readers want to take advantage of the poster format to display on a wall; completists will wish that the descriptions had been positioned immediately adjacent to the illustrations. The relatively flimsy card-stock binding will likely not stand up to heavy use. Nevertheless, a valuable reference tool, a solid contribution to the literature of technology for teens and blissful eye candy for transportation enthusiasts. (Nonfiction. 6-14)
BEARS IN THE BATH
Who wouldn’t love to have an adorable, little (at first, anyway), fuzzy pet around the house? In a switcheroo that even catless readers will spot immediately, O’Connor opens with a small girl sporting a winsome smile and big, scribbly hair—crouching next to a carton labeled “Free Raptors.” Looking in the clean and simple illustrations like a blue dust mop with big eyes (and impressive claws), one “teensy and tiny” selection is carried home. There, it is lavished with affection as it sleeps all day, chases around madly at night and, even after growing to the size of a wolfhound, jumps on the bed early in the morning. And it remains, despite the way it steadily regards the oblivious young narrator with the same intent, inscrutable expression bestowed on birds temptingly perched outside the window, a hug-worthy “best thing ever.” The besotted little girl is just about as adorable as her raptor, with two enormous pom-pom ponytails framing her dark face. So cute. Who wouldn’t want one? (Picture book. 5-8)
PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES
Oxlade, Chris Illus. by Lemanski, Mike Big Picture/Candlewick (16 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-7121-1 Series: Design Line
Parenteau, Shirley Illus. by Walker, David Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-6418-3
These bears, returning in the third book in the series having conquered chairs and beds (Bears in Chairs, 2009; Bears in Beds, 2012), are in need of a bath. Jaunty rhyme is the order of the day as Big Brown Bear draws the bath for Floppy, Fuzzy, Calico and Yellow Bear. Each bear is quite filthy and in need of a bath. But before the bath, the bears have to do their traditional paw-dragging: “All four bears / back away. / ‘We don’t want / a bath,’ they say.” Grungy little ones will laugh at the antics of these jolly bears, who outsmart Big Brown Bear only to join him in the tub for a huge communal bubble bath. Wide swaths of white space highlight the pastel-colored bears and allow toddlers to notice how every detail in the text is shown in the illustrations. With large font and short phrases, each easy-to-read four-line stanza moves the story forward to its splashy conclusion. Children will be amused by the bouncy rhymes, which are easy for toddlers to grasp and eventually memorize. It’s nice to read strong verbs like smudge, trudge, scoop, wriggle and giggle in a book for toddlers, helping them build their vocabulary and adding interest for the adults who will no doubt read this many times. Splish! Splash! Everyone will look forward to a bath. (Picture book. 2-5)
This oversized book comprises not pages but a 6 1/2–foot-wide foldout poster, with illustrations of 100 iconic aircraft, spacecraft, trains, cars, bikes and boats. Vehicles range from the earliest mechanized transportation, such as the 1829 steam-powered Rocket, through cars such as the Bugatti Royale and the E-Type Jaguar to futuristic vehicles such as Virgin Galactic’s passenger-carrying SpaceShipTwo and the ENV fuel-cell motorcycle. The vehicles are arranged more or less in chronological order and have clearly been chosen for their special contributions to design or technological innovation. |
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“…everyone in town knows each other very well; Roberta’s entertaining comments on fellow Allagashians will ring true for village residents everywhere.” from the summer experiment
ACID
Pass, Emma Delacorte (400 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-74387-7 978-0-385-37241-1 e-book 978-0-375-99134-9 PLB A teenage fugitive unravels the truth about her past while dismantling a dystopian police state. Imprisoned for the murder of her parents by the Agency for Crime Investigation and Defense, 17-year-old Jenna Strong hones her fighting skills under the tutelage of the prison medic, Dr. Fisher. Just as an altercation with an inmate lands her in the infirmary, a riot breaks out, and Jenna finds herself at the center of a covert rescue mission that ends with her escape and Dr. Fisher’s death. Jenna’s rescuers give her a new identity, but it isn’t long before she finds herself in the cross hairs of ACID again as Max Fisher, the son of her old friend, runs into her not long before her cover is blown. The first-person narrative revs up quickly but slows considerably halfway through the book when Jenna is forced to make a critical and unpleasant decision. Pass draws an uneven portrait of a traumatized heroine; Jenna never regains the steeliness she had in prison after she’s reintroduced into society. She falls easily for Max, a wooden character happy to remain mostly in her shadow. Devoted fans of the genre may find intrigue in a walled-off future United Kingdom but will wish for a more dynamic heroine to deliver its revolution. A dutiful dystopia that never delves below its shallow surface. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)
THE SUMMER EXPERIMENT
Pelletier, Cathie Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (288 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-8578-3
After huge craft that might be alien spaceships appear in the skies above remote Allagash, Maine, 11-year-old Roberta investigates. Working with a backdrop of an actual reported abduction by aliens of four men in 1976, which adds a tantalizing level of reality, in her first children’s book Pelletier explores the possibilities. Allagash, a remote, seemingly ubersafe town, provides the perfect setting for a summer of exploration. Roberta makes tentative peace with her teasing older brother and learns to manage her grief after her beloved grandfather’s death, while her best friend, Marilee, begins to accept her father’s impending marriage—the ultimate confirmation that her divorced parents will never reunite. Amid this emotional turmoil, both girls freely roam the outdoor world, ultimately setting a trap for aliens. Roberta’s first-person narration is believably authentic, and the mysterious spacecraft sightings add a 104
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modicum of suspense that weaves enticingly in and out of common coming-of-age themes. When the girls finally experience an actual encounter, it’s something of a letdown; the mystery all dissolves into a not-very-satisfying, rather predictable climax. Altogether more amusing is the fact that everyone in town knows each other very well; Roberta’s entertaining comments on fellow Allagashians will ring true for village residents everywhere. Still, the science-fiction theme provides an interesting twist to a heartfelt depiction of a summer of emerging selfrealization. (Science fiction. 10-14)
THE COLOR BOOK
Pietromarchi, Sophie Benini Illus. by Pietromarchi, Sophie Benini Translated by Lagomarsino, Guido Tara Publishing (144 pp.) $21.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-93-83145-01-0 Verbosity and loose metaphor overwhelm a few pretty spreads and intriguing projects in this unfocused tribute to colors. Pietromarchi “would rather not have written any words at all” about color, she claims, but then she proceeds to talk up a blue streak. Positing that “[c]olor speaks for itself ” and can’t be explained verbally, she then employs copious words to take readers on a “color dance.” The color dance, despite being her core figure of speech, never makes sense. Textual muddles include vagueness (“color lets you travel, across…realms”), mismatches between text and pictures (a full spread waxing poetic about yellow but showing orange), and missed opportunities (“even…a small yellow door” is interesting, says a spread that shows no door at all). Instead of explaining how blue paint changes other colors, she explains how a (metaphorical) “blue feather” changes them. Readers willing to wade through the long-windedness (or peruse in nonlinear fashion) will enjoy fables about a hue’s mood and vibe, fancifully colored animals, sophisticated color-mixing exercises and a few lovely color scales. A sequence of “shrines of color” presents household and nature items divided by hue. The illustrations have a delicate style throughout—too delicate: Fighting to be noticed, bizarrely, are the colors themselves. Their visual reproduction is more often dry than juicy, and they drown in the rambling word clutter. Color explorations should be robust and clear; this one’s dull and oddly alienating. (Informational picture book. 7-11)
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NUMBER ONE SAM
“shreet” and “waaa.” The thundering roars and booms can all be heard as if readers were right there listening. Fame is fleeting, and Gilmore has been overshadowed by Sousa and then forgotten, but Potter brings his achievements into focus again. Lovingly evokes a lost time. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)
Pizzoli, Greg Illus. by Pizzoli, Greg Disney-Hyperion (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 13, 2014 978-142317111-9 There’s more than one way to be the big dog in the little bestiary. Sam is top dog when it comes to zipping his red roadster around the track. “He was number one in speed. / He was number one at turns. // And he was number one at finishing races in the number-one spot.” Like Sam, Geisel winner Pizzoli’s artwork is crackerjack, too, with pure cupcake colors, French curves, blocks of high-octane negative space and personable animal pals. Then comes the day that Sam doesn’t cross the finish line first. Fortunately, Sam proves not to be a poor loser, but his self-confidence sure takes a shellacking. He’s a wreck, figuratively. When the next big race comes up, he even forgets to wish his friend Maggie good luck. After a slow start, Sam takes the lead. “Sam would be number one again!” Whoa! Five yellow, bespectacled chicks are on the racetrack. Sam hits the brakes and gathers up the peepsters as his friends steam by to the finish line. No. 1 takes on a whole new meaning. Pizzoli’s story is a simple class act. Do the right thing—you can’t lose, ever. And most of the time, the right thing is no great philosophical conundrum but as clear as the checkered flag. A polished work, from the words to the finish on the race cars. (Picture book. 3-5)
JUBILEE! One Man’s Big, Bold, and Very, Very Loud Celebration of Peace Potter, Alicia Illus. by Tavares, Matt Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-5856-4
Patrick Gilmore was a mid-19th-century superstar who was the recognized initiator of the golden age of American band music. He played music all his life, first in Ireland and then in the United States. He led numerous bands throughout New England, and he was a bandleader for a Massachusetts regiment in the Civil War. He made his real mark on the music scene several years after the end of the war, when, filled with optimism, he organized a huge celebration—a peace jubilee—to remind the nation that it was united again. It was to be so big and loud and grand that it would involve hundreds of musicians and singers, church bells, anvils, cannon and a new venue large enough to hold it all. Potter employs a direct, accessible narration to describe the years of painstaking preparation and carefully builds anticipation for the main event. Words that represent sounds stand out in large bold type of varying designs; they are incorporated into Tavares’ illustrations, rendered in softly hued watercolor, gouache, ink and pencil. Instruments “toot,” |
THE SHARK WHISPERER
Prager, Ellen Illus. by Caparo, Antonio Javier Scarletta Press (288 pp.) $9.95 paper | May 1, 2013 978-1-938063-44-2 Series: Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians, 1 With help from an array of friendly wildlife, a band of summer campers stages a rescue and stymies a ruthless harvester of shark fins in this series opener. Twelve-year-old Tristan joins other newbie Seasquirts invited to a sea park in the Florida Keys and is delighted to discover not only that he can talk to sharks, but his new camp mates are endowed with similarly unusual abilities. These range from porpoiselike echolocation to hagfish-style “mucus deployment skills.” These are all quickly put to the test when a trio of older camp teens is captured by a gang of “finners” in the Bahamas. The hastily planned rescue features a massive poop attack from flocks of birds, a bit of lock picking by an intrepid octopus and exhausting treks over land and sea to evade thugs on jet skis. Though sometimes a little too human—sharks talk to Tristan in West Indies accents: “Mon, we no want to eat your bony butt!”—the sea life, along with reefs, bioluminescence and other marine wonders, is generally depicted by Prager, a marine scientist, in accurate, vivid detail. The story’s color and energy fade in the wrap-up chapter, which is largely explication, but overall, there’s more than enough action and humor to pull readers along. Some may feel that the climactic eco-revenge is carried a bit far, but it’s a splashy startup with a promising premise. (maps) (Adventure. 10-12)
CAPRICIOUS
Prendergast, Gabrielle Orca (352 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4598-0267-4 This verse novel follows a girl juggling two boyfriends and trying to cope with her rival at school. Sixteen-year-old Ella loves two boys. She’s sleeping with Samir and cares for him, but she also loves David. She insists David is just her good friend but knows that underneath, it’s really a romance, and she may even prefer David to Samir. Meanwhile, she
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tries to avoid Genie, a girl at her high school who hates her because of her own crush on Samir. Things with Genie come to a head when circumstances force her to agree to participate in a bikini carwash. Samir strongly disapproves, but Ella shows up in a vintage 1950s two-piece bathing suit that allows her to attract more attention than anyone else while showing far less skin. To retaliate, Genie and her clique take Ella’s clothes, leaving her stranded in the bikini behind a gas station for hours into the night. Eventually Ella must come to terms with her relationships with both boys and with the girls. Prendergast’s unrhymed verse not only tells the tale, but varies form and line length, the clipped rhythms capturing Ella’s emotional turmoil. The story touches on different religions with nuance: Samir is a devout Muslim; David is a Jew; Ella and her family are Catholic; Ella’s sister is dating a Mormon. Sensitive and compelling. (Verse fiction. 12-18)
HOW TO LOSE A LEMUR
Preston-Gannon, Frann Illus. by Preston-Gannon, Frann Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4549-1131-9
Wild adventure follows when some lemurs take a shine to a slightly wary boy. The boy is holding an ice cream cone, and the lemur clutches a red flower. Their eyes lock; the lemur’s smile says it all: “[O]nce a lemur takes a liking to you, there is not much that can be done about it.” The boy tries to slip away, even climbing up a tree, but he can’t shake the lemur, who manages to attract a few more. The boy hops on his bike, but he can’t elude the quartet of lemurs following on a bike of their own. In no time, the boy’s being hugged by several new pals who want to play. Still uncomfortable, he hops on a train, takes to the sky in a hot air balloon, jumps in a boat to cross the lake, climbs the highest mountain, and travels through the desert in the scorching heat, on a camel. And on every leg of this odyssey, the lemurs aren’t far behind...though they are hiding. When the boy decides that he has eluded the lemurs, he realizes that he’s far from home and doesn’t know how to get back. That’s where his determined new friends come in. Preston-Gannon’s lemurs are quite adorable. Each two-page spread is beautifully evocative, with basic shapes and shrewd use of white space. Simple but silly and satisfying. (Picture book. 4-6)
THE LOST STONE
Quinn, Jordan Illus. by McPhillips, Robert Little Simon/Simon & Schuster (128 pp.) $15.99 | $4.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4424-9691-0 978-1-4424-9690-3 paper Series: The Kingdom of Wrenly, 1 A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel. 106
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Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventureseeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text. A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)
CUCKOO!
Roberton, Fiona Illus. by Roberton, Fiona Putnam (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 10, 2014 978-0-399-16497-2 In something of a variant on Andersen’s “Ugly Duckling,” Cuckoo searches for someone who might understand him. When the adorable Cuckoo hatches, his family members (obviously not cuckoos) say, “Too-too-weet!” But all he says back is “Cuckoo,” which alienates him from the others. So he bravely leaves to find understanding. Pages of fruitless encounters with animals and people saying different things bring the young bird no closer to companionship, so he goes to school to learn others’ languages. Unfortunately, he hasn’t the gift for others’ gab and is stymied in his efforts. In fact, “Cuckoo was exhausted. His brain hurt from all the learning.” He heads to a rooftop to relax, and from his perch he hears someone calling, “Cuckoo!” It turns out that this call doesn’t come from another bird like him but from a toddler’s cuckoo toy. Lo and behold, the toy has just about worn out, and when it breaks, Cuckoo flies through the window to assume its place. With the dedication announcing “Based on a true story. (Sort of),” readers are invited to speculate about the intended meaning behind Cuckoo’s adventure, but this remains elusive. This is not Andersen’s bird finding his own kind, and Cuckoo’s ultimate role as plaything reads like The Velveteen Rabbit subverted. The endearing, digitally rendered art outshines the story. A sweet, if uneven, tale. (Picture book. 4-7)
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“Rockliff has created a clever fable characterized by ornate language, extraordinary characters and billowy atmosphere.” from the grudge keeper
THE GRUDGE KEEPER
Rockliff, Mara Illus. by Wheeler , Eliza Peachtree (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56145-729-8
“No one in the town of Bonnyripple ever kept a grudge. No one, that is, except old Cornelius, the Grudge Keeper.” So begins this original fairy tale that provides a literal illustration of the idiom “holding a grudge.” Three grudges are born in scene-setting vignettes: Minnie’s goat eats Elvira Bogg’s prizewinning zinnias. A schoolboy snatches the schoolmaster’s toupee. And tragically, clumsy Big Otto “stomp[s] on Lily Belle’s new shoes at the spring fling.” The grudges are actual pieces of paper that the angry, pinch-faced people hand over to a gentle old man named Cornelius. His house is jammed full with these scrolls, each one representing a hurt feeling. But one night, the wind begins to blow. Like a tornado, it rips through town, blowing out candles and flinging pies into the air. The next morning, the people of Bonnyripple storm up to Cornelius’ house with all their new complaints. But what has happened to all the grudges? More importantly, what has happened to Cornelius? Rockliff has created a clever fable characterized by ornate language, extraordinary characters and billowy atmosphere. “Tiffs and huffs, squabbles and quibbles—all the grudges had been tossed away, down to the last small scrap of pique.” Wheeler’s strong, witty ink-andwatercolor illustrations combine with the text to humorously demonstrate that “holding a grudge” is a bad thing. Wordplay and humor provide an effective vehicle for a valuable moral. (Picture book. 5-8)
EXTREME SURVIVORS
Roop, Connie; Roop, Peter Sterling (32 pp.) $9.95 | $3.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4549-0631-5 978-1-4027-7791-2 paper Series: American Museum of Natural History Easy Readers “Extreme” gets a broad definition (ticks?), but the first-rate photographs and easy-to-read commentary in this survey of animals adapted to harsh habitats will win over budding naturalists. Sixteen creatures ranging from hot-springs bacteria and the tiny but nearly invulnerable water bear to sperm whales parade past, sandwiched between an introductory spread and a full gallery of thumbnails that works as a content review. The animals are presented in an ordered way that expedites comparisons and contrasts of body features or environments. The sharply reproduced individual stock photos were all taken in the wild and include a mix of close-up portraits, slightly longer shots that show surroundings and more distant eyewitness views. The Roops present concrete facts in simple language—“Penguins have feathers |
and thick fat to keep them warm”—and vary the structures of their two- to four-sentence passages so that there is never a trace of monotony. Like its co-published and equally inviting title, Melissa Stewart’s World’s Fastest Animals, this otherwise polished series entry closes with a marginally relevant small-type profile of a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History. Just the ticket to spark or nurture early interest in the wonders of the natural world. (Informational early reader. 5-7) (World’s Fastest Animals: 978-1-4549-0633-9)
PLANT A POCKET OF PRAIRIE
Root, Phyllis Illus. by Bowen, Betsy Univ. of Minnesota (40 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8166-7980-5
Readers won’t find a definition of what a prairie actually is, but they will learn about the wealth of flora and fauna it contains—and how the loss of any of its life forms affects others tremendously. Even urban and suburban dwellers can help bring prairies to life again, if only in a limited way, by “[planting] a pocket of prairie / in your backyard / or boulevard / or boxes on a balcony.” Doing so would invite a host of birds, animals and insects to feast on typical prairie plants bearing wonderful names like “foxglove beardtongue” and “hairy mountain mint.” To this end, it helps that the author advises that certain plants can thrive in containers, while some plants must be planted in the earth, but this isn’t really a gardening book. Instead, it’s a fanciful celebration of possibility, as with the addition of each new plant in the hypothetical “pocket,” more prairie wildlife appears, till a bison and her calf are browsing in the grasses. The lively, simple text is poetic; the colorful illustrations of native creatures and plants are energetic. While some of the author’s supplemental text and a map refer specifically to Minnesota, she emphasizes that tiny “pockets of prairie” still exist in various—and unexpected—places elsewhere. This not-so-whimsical flight of fancy could well inspire a new generation of conservationists. (notes about prairies and prairie wildlife) (Informational picture book. 6-10)
CHENGDU COULD NOT, WOULD NOT, FALL ASLEEP
Saltzberg, Barney Illus. by Saltzberg, Barney Disney-Hyperion (48 pp.) $16.99 | May 6, 2014 978-1-4231-6721-1
In a twist on numerous picture books about little animals who are determined to stay awake, Chengdu the panda is trying his hardest to get to sleep. Droll illustrations accompany spare, lulling text, leading to Chengdu’s success and a humorous surprise near the book’s end.
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“The illustrations range from cartoons to heavily pixelated images, suited to the pseudo-multimedia book’s hilarious references to the special features the digital edition will have.” from game over, pete watson
The cover art is an immediate draw: The small panda’s oversized paws cling to a tree branch as his expressive, sleep-deprived face stares at readers, expertly matching the “could not, would not fall asleep” of the title. Initial pages establish a soporific mood, showing utterly relaxed, drowsily smudged pandas snoozing against a star-studded black sky, muted green bamboo branches the only spots of color. Large, softened white letters murmur, “It was late, and it was quiet, // and everyone in the bamboo grove was sleeping.” The next double-page spread consists of white space with only two wide-awake, black-masked panda eyes and the words, “Everyone except….” Of course, the page turn leads readers back to wide-awake Chengdu, staring plaintively from his moon-washed tree branch. Varied compositions and a couple of gatefolds add to the fun for readers as poor Chengdu tosses, scrunches and climbs his way to sleep…almost but, happily, not quite at the expense of his brother, Yuan. Little sleepyheads will love chanting along with the words, and no one can deny the appeal of the art. A bedtime winner. (Picture book. 1-5)
GAME OVER, PETE WATSON
Schreiber, Joe Illus. by Rash, Andy HMH Books (224 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-544-15756-9
An adventure of video games and spies. On “Brawl-A-Thon 3000 XL” release day, Pete Watson makes a terrible discovery: His mother’s borrowed his savings, leaving him without enough cash to buy the greatest video game of all time. To raise the money, he hosts an impromptu, unsanctioned garage sale. Desperate Pete puts out his dad’s ancient game console, a CommandRoid 85. The mysterious Bug Man quickly purchases it, and Pete is all set to buy his own game. But then his dad shows up at the video game store, upset about the sold console, but before he can question Pete as to its whereabouts, he is abducted by suit-clad goons. Shortly after this, the president of the United States holds a press conference, spouting gibberish. To find out how the president, his father and the CommandRoid are connected, Pete reunites with ex–best friend Wesley and Wesley’s sister, Callie. They’ve been on the outs since he catastrophically mishandled her discovery of his crush on her. Of course, by the time the conspiracy is unraveled, the only way to save the world is for Pete to win an epic, multilevel video game boss battle. The illustrations range from cartoons to heavily pixelated images, suited to the pseudo-multimedia book’s hilarious references to the special features the digital edition will have. A progressively silly, retro-geeky action story for the YOLO generation. (Science fiction. 8-14)
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ONLY EVERYTHING
Scott, Kieran Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 paper | $9.99 e-book May 6, 2014 978-1-4424-7718-6 978-1-4424-7716-2 paper 978-1-4424-7719-3 e-book Series: True Love, 1 Comedy, romance and chick lit mix with Greek mythology when Zeus sends Eros, daughter of Aphrodite, to Earth. In Scott’s universe, Eros is female, and she commits a serious sin by falling in love with Orion, who may be a constellation but remains mortal. When Zeus finds out, he banishes Eros to 21st-century New Jersey, demanding that she make three love matches or he will kill Orion—but he’s taken away her lovecreating powers. Since her mom had kept Eros’ forbidden liaison secret, Zeus banishes her too. He does put them in a nice house with a library and wine cellar, but he gives them no money. Aphrodite immediately occupies herself with drinking up the wine, but feisty Eros enrolls in high school, renaming herself “True Olympia.” Spotting Charlie, a shy boy who wants to play drums against his athletic family’s wishes, she matches him up with several girls who turn out to be completely incompatible, missing Katrina, the girl readers easily will see is Charlie’s true soul mate. Eros’ nonexistent fashion sense and her superconfident, in-your-face attitude provide plenty of chuckles, while Charlie and Katrina’s relationship drama keeps pages turning. Scott writes chapters from the viewpoints of “True,” Charlie and Katrina and treats the mythology lightly, with Percy Jackson–style irreverence. Charlie and Katrina are just the first couple; hooked readers can expect the fun to continue. (Chick lit/fantasy. 12-17)
A BUCKET OF BLESSINGS
Sehgal, Kabir; Sehgal, Surishtha Illus. by Tsong, Jing Jing Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $16.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-4424-5870-3 978-1-4424-5871-0 e-book Deep in the jungle, the animals are experiencing a drought. Monkey remembers the story his mother had told him about how “peacocks can make it rain by dancing,” so he climbs the mountain to find the bird. Peacock claims he needs water to make it rain; conveniently, Monkey now finds some inside a cave. Unbeknownst to him, the bucket he fetches to carry the water has a hole, and it leaks all the way back to Peacock. Not only do those drops change the landscape from brown to Technicolor, but when Peacock dances in response to the remaining drips, “buckets of rain” begin to fall. The illustrations are a combination of block printing and digital manipulation. While the monkey is awkwardly rendered, the textures of the landscape
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are pleasing, and some double-page spreads—in particular, the storm and the peacock’s dance—are striking. These do not compensate, however, for a contrived plot and lackluster writing; there is little to recommend this story despite the well-meaning provision to funnel a portion of profits to a clean-water charity. Books born to carry a message are burdened by that baggage; this is no exception. (authors’ note) (Picture book. 3-5)
FAR FROM YOU
Sharpe, Tess Hyperion (352 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4231-8462-1
This beautifully realized debut delves into the emotions of a girl recovering from drug addiction and grief, all wrapped up in a solid mystery. Sophie and Mina have been best friends since second grade. When they were 14, they were involved in a car accident that nearly killed Sophie, who became addicted to OxyContin during her recovery. Sophie has kicked her habit with the help of her bounty-hunter aunt and clings to each day that she stays clean. As the book opens, however, readers learn that Mina has been murdered. Since the murderer planted OxyContin in Sophie’s pocket, everyone, including Sophie’s mom and the police, believes that the girls were trying to buy drugs. Sophie knows the murderer will go free unless she uncovers a story that Mina was investigating for the local newspaper—but pursuing him will put her in grave danger. Sharpe writes in chapters alternating between scenes from the past and present as she moves the story forward. Within the mystery plot, she focuses mostly on Sophie’s battle against drugs and against those who refuse to believe her—and on an emotional secret the two girls shared. She doesn’t settle for simplistic, onedimensional characters, giving each flaws and virtues, strengths and weaknesses, from Sophie’s parents to her friends. An absorbing story full of depth and emotion. (Mystery. 14-18)
SECOND STAR
Sheinmel, Alyssa B. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $17.99 | May 13, 2014 978-0-374-38267-4
dead, but Wendy can’t believe it. Unable to deal with the grief, she becomes determined to find them and stumbles upon an almost-magical beach, with pure white sand and endless, perfect waves. There she meets Pete, who gives her a surfing lesson that feels like flying. Pete lives with his friends, including the jealous Belle, in an abandoned home on the nearby cliff, feeding them by theft. Living in another house on the cliff is Jas, Pete’s former friend, who has become a dealer in “fairy dust” and now poses a serious threat. Convinced Jas knows where her brothers went, Wendy crashes a party at his house, after which Jas teams up with her to try to find the missing boys. Sheinmel works her ambiguous fantasy with skill, staying mostly within the framework of the Peter Pan story until she pairs up Jas and Wendy. Readers familiar with the source will appreciate it most, but there’s enough meat to sustain those who are not; abundant emphasis on surfing lends the story a distinct atmosphere. An absorbing new look at a familiar tale. (Mystery. 12-18)
WHO’S IN THE TREE? and Other Lift-the-flap Surprises
Shuttlewood, Craig Illus. by Shuttlewood, Craig Sterling (24 pp.) $12.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4549-1193-7
Drollery for the diapered set: Distinctly out-of-place creatures lurk beneath glued-in flaps. Aiming for toddler audiences, Shuttlewood crafts very simple screen-print–style scenes with bemused, popeyed animals. On each spread, a single large flap imperfectly conceals an interloper—from a penguin in the titular tree to an octopus in a jungle setting, an elephant floating behind a cloud and a lion on an ice floe. Along with visual clues, the author adds a rhymed text with broad hints: “In ice and snow / who does not GO, / with mane so thick / and roar so LOW?” It’s all good fun, until a final gathering in a zoo finds the errant creatures disturbingly proclaiming: “WHO’S in this zoo / and just won’t do? / NOT US! / The odd one out is… / YOU!” Although the pig looks out at readers and encourages them to “join our crew,” this may well catch readers off guard. This is followed by a closing gallery with clear labels that make the accompanying “Did you guess the names of all the animals?” not much of a challenge. A cousin to Eric Hill’s Spot series, derailed by a problematic end. (Picture book. 1-3)
This retelling of Peter Pan set in the surfing community makes some of its own magic. Wendy Darling, just out of high school, can’t forget her twin 16-year-old brothers, John and Michael, who disappeared nine months ago. Police finally find their damaged surfboards, which convinces their parents that they must be |
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THE SUMMER INVITATION
intricate rules against upperclassmen-lowerclassmen interactions, and much of Charlie’s investigation involves navigating this complex and larger-than-life political terrain. A dark, well-constructed mystery with a strong voice. (Mystery. 14-18)
Silver, Charlotte Roaring Brook (192 pp.) $16.99 | May 20, 2014 978-1-59643-829-3
San Franciscans Franny Lord, 14, and her older sister, Valentine, 17, receive an invitation to spend a summer in their honorary aunt’s Greenwich Village apartment under the tutelage of Clover Leslie, a 28-year-old “sculptress” who acts as their chaperone and guide. Not a lot happens in Silver’s winsome, softly nostalgic novel of tone and old-school sensibility, but action is hardly the point. “Inner life” is what should be strived for in this virtually conflict-free story that’s set in the bon ton present yet has the soft glow of the past. This is partially since, except for a couple of allusions to email and New York City’s High Line, the lovely ladies don’t seem to live in the modern world at all and, strikingly for city folk cultivating cosmopolitan attitudes, maintain an old-fashioned, suspicion-free innocence. Valentine experiences romantic love and its consequences for the first time, and Franny, who narrates the book, not only receives her first kiss from “an admirer who interests” her, but cultivates a new discernment and perspective. She leaves home wanting to be a singer and returns something else, equally creative and exciting. This slender, slice-of-summer story may move at a languid pace, but it has charm to burn and will appeal to readers who appreciate a romantic aesthetic. (Fiction. 12-18)
HIGH & DRY
Skilton, Sarah Amulet/Abrams (272 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4197-0929-6 In a noir-flavored mystery, a harddrinking, tough-talking teen cracks a case and learns a lesson about getting— and getting over—the girl. Ever since Ellie Chen broke up with him, Charlie Dixon has been drunk and desperate. When he crashes Ellie’s choir mate’s party, flask in hand, his neighbor and ex-girlfriend, Bridget, drives him home. The next day, he learns from the police that a party guest overdosed on LSD, and Charlie himself is a suspect. Bridget offers him an alibi in exchange for his services in investigating a missing flash drive, and so begins a descent into the underground dealings at Palm Valley High. The goings-on—including drug dealing, sports betting and academic cheating—are seedy, and Charlie’s narrative voice is full of hard-boiled similes and gripes: “She looked like a sad girl in search of a tragedy. I could steer her toward mine, but it would cost her a finder’s fee.” Palm Valley High’s social tribalism has a similarly gritty-underground feel: To avoid bullying, students divide themselves into factions with 110
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CHEFS AND WHAT THEY DO
Slegers, Liesbet Illus. by Slegers, Liesbet Clavis (32 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1605371795
Where does the delicious food in a restaurant come from? When Mommy and Daddy take you to a restaurant, what happens, and where does the food come from? A chef “makes all that delicious food,” the book explains but not “all by himself ”(parenthetically, children are told that a chef might also be a woman). He wears special clothes. He has special tools: different kinds of knives and spoons and pots and mixers. He keeps fresh food, brought in every morning, in a cold-storage room. Sometimes chefs make up new recipes no one has ever tasted before. He puts them on a menu. The chef and his team work hard even before the restaurant is open. When the orders come in, their work really begins. Belgian author and illustrator Slegers’ full-page illustrations of smiling chefs going about their work feature bright cartoons that look much like the babies in her board books. The text, translated from the Dutch, can sound a bit robotic, and adult readers will likely have to explain a few words. However, food-related activities to try with a parent or teacher after the info-story are a plus. The percentage of American children who often visit restaurants of the type described may be relatively small, but blossoming foodies will enjoy learning about activity behind the scenes in a high-end restaurant. (Picture book. 4-6)
CLAUDE AT THE BEACH
Smith, Alex T. Illus. by Smith, Alex T. Peachtree (96 pp.) $12.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56145-703-8 Series: Claude
This early chapter book is often hilarious, but it should not be used as an instruction manual, as Claude the dog is not much of a role model. No matter what Claude the dog does, if a band of pirates invites them to search for buried treasure, readers should think twice before going with them. Even his sidekick, Sir Bobblysock, thinks this is a dubious proposition. And readers packing for a trip to the beach probably would not want to bring whipped cream, a lampshade or sticky tape. (The tambourine, however,
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“…the author’s gift for poetically intense language is on display everywhere….” from dreams of gods & monsters
is very useful.) Admittedly, Claude ends up having a terrific time. He saves a man from a shark, collects a hatful of gold and jewels, and looks very stylish with whipped cream on top of his head. But Claude is also the sort of dog who can pull off a beret and a red sweater. (Smith’s pink and gray, retro-modern illustrations are charming.) Most dogs wouldn’t look nearly as good. Readers willing to go with Claude’s flow will enjoy reading this third adventure on the beach or on a hidden desert island, as well as more pedestrian places. Readers who take it too seriously might end up like Claude, floating in the middle of the ocean, wearing baggy underpants (held together with sticky tape) and pursued by a shark—but they’ll be laughing. (Fiction. 7-10)
SEKRET
Smith, Lindsay Roaring Brook (352 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-59643-892-7 Cold War espionage smoothly blended with psychic romance. It’s 1963, and 17-year-old Yulia is a starved “ration rat” in Khrushchev’s Moscow. Her family, once high-ranking Communist Party members, has been on the run since her father vanished. Yulia thinks the mysterious psychic ability she uses in the black market is a secret until the KGB arrests her family. If she wants to protect her mother and brother, Yulia must join six other teenagers training for the KGB’s “psychic operations wing,” learning to smoke out dissidents and American spies. The teens protect their thoughts from one another—though not from their KGB masters—by filling their heads with subconscious music: the symphonic cellos and tympani of Shostakovich for Yulia, jazz improvisations for beautiful but dangerous Valentin, ancient Russian balalaika for Maj. Kruzenko. Yulia narrates with prose that ably reflects the sometimes-discordant cacophony of these disparate musical styles, as she seeks the simple melody that will explain family secrets and earn her freedom. Smith strikes an inexpert contextualizing balance, teetering between unexplained Russian and giving Yulia an outsider’s view of her own culture. Still, the Soviet setting (uncannily similar to many a sci-fi dystopian future) is a flavorful backdrop for psychic espionage. A sudden cliffhanger sets up this fast-paced thriller (full of blaring brass and pounding drums) for a sequel. (historical note) (Science fiction. 13-16)
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DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS
Taylor, Laini Little, Brown (528 pp.) $19.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-316-13407-1 Series: Declaration Trilogy, 3 Destiny and love commingle despite, it sometimes seems, the author’s best efforts to prevent them in this culmination to the 1,000-year war between angelic beasts and bestial angels. Taylor takes up the tale where it left off in Days of Blood and Starlight (2012). Mad, scarred angel Jael leads a shining, 1,000-strong Dominion to this world in search of the human weapons that will at last exterminate the despised chimaera. Meanwhile, back on parallel Eretz, blue-tressed Karou and winged Akiva concoct a desperate scheme to unite the remnants of the chimaera army with the Misbegotten—rebel seraphim. The teeming welter of betrayals, anguished sacrifices, abrupt reversals and revelations entails gut-wrenching choices (“Uncomplicated,” remarks Karou at one pass. “What’s that like?”). Despite this, not only does a fragile peace seem possible—albeit expedited by a previously clandestine third power bearing news of a much older, larger conflict—but the author metes out just deserts to the despicable characters while consummating the central romantic relationship (and several secondary ones) in discreet but fully satisfactory ways. Furthermore, the author’s gift for poetically intense language is on display everywhere, from chapter titles (“The Abyss’s Mad Gawk”) to general description: “Her heartbeat felt like cannon fire—doomful and deep and reverberating through her entire body,” etc. Delicious. Despite being speeded to resolution, an ambitious, gorgeously edgy drama lit up by its coruscating characters and prose. (Fantasy. 13 & up)
THE MERMAID’S SHOES
te Loo, Sanne Illus. by te Loo, Sanne Lemniscaat USA (26 pp.) $17.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-935954-35-4
Long after she’s back home in the city, a little girl dreams of her vacation by the sea. On the last day of her vacation, Mia finds a pair of swim fins on the beach. She thinks they are “mermaid shoes” and is very excited that they fit. She takes them back home with her, where the rumble of traffic reminds her of the murmur of the sea. Mia wears her fins everywhere, but kids on the playground tell her that she can’t be a mermaid without a tail. So Mia makes one out of one of her mother’s skirts. Now where should she go? The sea is too far away, so Mia rides her bicycle
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“Soft watercolors ease readers right into their celestial trip…, mapping a starry sky through full-bleed saturations of dark blues and plum purples, dotted with twinkling whites and citrus-y yellows.” from hopper and wilson fetch a star
to the zoo. She remembers a sea there. What she finds, behind the safety of glass, are sharks; no place for a mermaid. She tries the river—too deep and no big fish—and a museum, which has an impressive hall dedicated to the oceans. But it’s too dry. Mia returns home, sadly. Suddenly, she hears a familiar gentle murmur and, when she follows it, feels drops of water on her face. It’s her neighborhood fountain—and just where this little mermaid belongs. Te Loo’s loving paean to childhood imagination is told with refreshing directness and complete respect for her heroine. The many panoramic illustrations have a dreamy, joyful vibe that is greatly enhanced by masterful use of color and perspective. Genuinely sweet. (Picture book. 5-8)
BAD BYE, GOOD BYE
Underwood, Deborah Illus. by Bean, Jonathan HMH Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-547-92852-4
Underwood explores the range of emotions a child moving to a new place may feel with a spare, rhyming text that creates a framework for Bean’s evocative illustrations. An overbearing gray pall pulls readers into a young boy’s world of frustration, anger and hurt over moving. Pencil drawings with graphically stylized flat areas of color give detail to the four words of text per spread. “Bad mop / Bad blocks // Bad truck / Bad guy” (this last is the man loading the family’s belongings into the van). A car chugs through a changing landscape as the boy throws a tantrum, sleeps, brightens and hesitates. Bean effectively layers tones and imagery to depict the passage of time and bring forth the immediacy of a situation. As the boy enters his new house at night, there’s sensory overload, with light, shadows and the unfamiliar, creating an unsettling feel. But all ends well when a new acquaintance becomes a friend. Not every family or child may experience such negative emotions, but Underwood and Bean offer a potential tool for teaching empathy toward others who have made such a transition. This is a useful depiction of a family’s physical move, but the strength is in the emotional journey that’s expressed with a raw honesty. (Picture book. 4-8)
TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
van Hout, Mies Lemniscaat USA (32 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-935954-37-8
Twelve children’s songs are presented in this picture book with accompanying CD. The songs are mostly familiar tunes: “I’m a Little Teapot,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” “Old MacDonald” and so on. There are two exceptions. First is a tongue twister set to music: “Swan swam over the sea, / Swim, 112
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swan, swim! / Swan swam back again, / Well swum, swan.” The other is a satisfying little ditty: “My hat, it has three corners, / Three corners has my hat, / And had it not three corners, / It would not be my hat.” The sprightly illustrations feature two children, a large white mouse and, in some, an animate toy monkey acting out the songs with ebullience. In the teapot spread, the children are having a tea party in an upside-down table that is their pretend boat, with the toy monkey holding a teacup and the mouse perched on the prow with a telescope and a cup hanging from its tail. The pink-eared mouse wearing a blue dress appears in every scene. All of the images brim with amusing details (bugs, ants, Pinocchio). The female singers (one adult, one girl) on the CD have a leisurely lilt that is sure to have kids and adults singing along as they turn the pages. Most songbooks fall into two categories: either a traditional picture book with one song or a big volume with an assortment of songs. This effort hits a nice in-between note. (Picture book/songbook. 2-6)
HOPPER AND WILSON FETCH A STAR
van Lieshout, Maria Illus. by van Lieshout, Maria Philomel (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-0-399-25772-8
Hopper and Wilson, two stitched-up, stuffed toys (an elephant and a mouse), sit on their dock with their pet cactus looking at the stars and decide to bring one home for a night light. With their paper airplane flight-ready, filled up with lemonade for fuel, they blast off. Adult readers might scratch their heads, baffled, but most children will drift along with the velvety narration, nodding, eager to join the two buddies up there amid the constellations. Familiarity with their first far-fetched adventure, Hopper and Wilson (2011), might make the first few moments of this journey less bumpy. Soft watercolors ease readers right into their celestial trip, however, mapping a starry sky through full-bleed saturations of dark blues and plum purples, dotted with twinkling whites and citrus-y yellows. Paper textures surface occasionally when the watercolors thin out, adding varying depths and a cirrus quality to the outer-space atmosphere. A walk to the dark side of the moon brings an acutely frightening moment for both Wilson and any sensitive reader who’s been lost. Luckily, the buddies’ special star, the one they planned to take home, helps orient the little guy and direct him back to his friend. His tiny, mousy voice, Hopper’s huge, comforting hug and all that bruised blackness make their reunion poignant and personal. An amusingly absurd adventure that shines starlight on empathy and friendship. (Picture book. 4-8)
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SCREAMING AT THE UMP
Vernick, Audrey Clarion (272 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-544-25208-0 978-0-544-30669-1 e-book In a decided departure for baseballthemed novels, a middle schooler figures out that the game’s values are not always reliable guidelines for real life. Casey is delighted when his dad, who runs a New Jersey camp for aspiring umpires, puts him in charge of You Suck, Ump! Day—a training exercise in which everyone in town is invited to fill the stands and harangue the students while they try to call a game. On the other hand, his mom is definitely benched in his mind for getting a divorce, and he’s disgusted to discover that sixth-graders at his new school aren’t permitted to write for the paper. But then a truly publication-worthy scoop drops into his lap: It seems that one of the trainees is a former major leaguer who quit under a cloud of drug-use suspicion. Vernick laces her tale with humor, plus credible insights into the truly difficult art and techniques of umpiring, as she leads her aspiring journalist to make some good choices in the wake of a realization that people (parents included) should have more than one chance to get their calls right. (As major league umpires’ calls will be challengeable in 2014, the metaphor isn’t as strong as it might be...but that’s not the author’s fault, and young readers will still see her point.) Not a heavy hitter but worthy of a spot in the starting lineup. (Fiction. 10-12)
MYSTERY ON MUSEUM MILE
Wells, Marcia Illus. by Calo, Marcos HMH Books (256 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-23833-6 978-0-544-28972-7 e-book Series: Eddie Red Undercover, 1 A photographic memory and a best bud with OCD help a young sleuth nab a gang of art thieves in this effervescent debut. The pressure’s on: With his librarian father laid off, it looks like 11-year-old Edmund will have to transfer out of his exclusive prep school—until he leverages his spectacular memory and eye for detail into a part-time police gig staking out New York art museums threatened by the mysterious Picasso Gang in exchange for tuition. But not only is his relationship with crusty veteran Detective Frank Bovano, “a tough loaf of old and angry Italian bread,” on the rocks (particularly after the Taser incident), but the department is about to close the whole investigation down for lack of progress. Eddie Red is a smart, likable narrator with credible thought processes and an impulsive streak that drives the safety-minded adults around him |
crazy. Though the New York setting is sketchy at best, Wells outfits her voluble narrator with a lively supporting cast led by his close if relentlessly hyper friend Jonah, who comes up with the breakthrough insight, and a fluent plotline that leads to a bullets-flying climax. Calo provides accomplished, lightly caricatured portraits of all the main characters, plus a quick course in drawing faces at the end. A sure pleaser for Cam Jansen grads or anyone fond of knotty, lightweight capers solved with brainpower (and a little luck). (Mystery. 9-11)
QUEEN VICTORIA’S BATHING MACHINE
Whelan, Gloria Illus. by Carpenter, Nancy Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | $12.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4169-2753-2 978-1-4424-5885-7 e-book The Victorian era is often caricatured as a time of excessive modesty, and this buoyant, rhyming picture book highlights a royal example with affection and good humor. Queen Victoria longs for a summer swim, but even when she’s vacationing at her informal residence on the Isle of Wight, decorum prevents her from traipsing down to the beach in her bathing suit—it would expose her queenly knees! Her doting husband, Prince Albert, invents a “bathing machine,” a caravan of sorts in which his wife can change out of her corset and petticoats in privacy and be wheeled straight into the water: “You climb down the steps in perfect repose, / into the ocean right up to your nose. / No one will get so much as a peep, / except for the creatures down in the deep.” Jaunty Seuss-ian rhymes (most effective when read aloud with an English accent) tell the amusing true-life story, and gleeful pen-and-watercolor illustrations of the royal family—including nine busy children—spill into lively double-page spreads. In one Monty Python–esque scene, Queen Victoria is unceremoniously flipped into the Atlantic via catapult, one of her husband’s earlier queen-transportation solutions. The book’s crown jewel? The underwater queen blissfully blowing bubbles with the fish. A funny and intimate behind-the-scenes look at royal family life by the National Book Award–winning Whelan (Homeless Bird, 2000). (author’s note, photo of actual bathing machine, bibliography, websites) (Picture book. 4-8)
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HOUSE OF IVY & SORROW
Whipple, Natalie HarperTeen (368 pp.) $9.99 paper | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-212018-2
If being an adolescent already feels like a curse, try life as a modern teenage witch. Although 17-year-old Josephine Hemlock still grieves for her mother, who died from the Curse, she and her spunky grandmother manage to hide their witch identities from the rest of their small Iowa town. When popular Winn asks her out, Jo may finally reap the happiness she deserves. The light romance turns thriller, however, after her long-lost father, controlled by dark magic, appears unexpectedly in Jo’s female-only household. Questions about her parents’ relationship beget more questions about the events leading up to her mother’s murder and who may have stricken her with the Curse. And Jo may not be the only one in her high school with secrets. With the help of some unexpected allies (and a possible love-triangle interest), she may not only find her mother’s killer, but end the Curse for good and preserve her family line. As in Transparent (2013), Whipple pays attention to details (but doesn’t get bogged down with them) to create a magical, entertaining world that has the right amount of darkness to keep the story intriguing and the right amount of light to keep readers content. With unwavering BFFs, stolen kisses, red herrings and a variety of spells, there’s something for chick-lit, romance, mystery and fantasy fans alike. (Supernatural romance. 13-18)
A PATH BEGINS
White, J.A. Illus. by Offermann, Andrea Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (496 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-06-225724-6 978-0-06-225727-7 e-book Series: Thickety, 1 Nail-biting suspense is the hallmark of this long fantasy novel, from the terrifying prologue to the shocking epilogue. This pleasantly accomplished debut presents readers with a dystopian, theocratic society that fears and executes witches and magic users. The community lives on the island of De’Noran, where the habitable land is being devoured by strange forest called the Thickety. In the prologue, readers meet little Kara Westall, who is roused from her bed and dragged to watch her mother’s execution as a witch. Years later, Kara, now 12, is responsible for herself, her younger brother, Taff, and their father, crippled by depression. When Kara finds her mother’s grimoire in the Thickety and uses it, the already suspenseful narrative becomes nerve-wracking. The author’s storytelling chops show in how he ratchets up suspense, delivers believable characters (both good and evil), and reveals information slowly and only when absolutely necessary. There is a 114
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stunning climax and a seemingly perfect resolution. Readers will know, however, that nothing is perfect, and the epilogue confirms this fact while providing hope for a sequel. The spellbinding story, lashings of suspense and stalwart heroine will draw in fantasy fans and keep them reading until the bitter ending. (Fantasy. 11-14)
IN THE SHADOWS
White, Kiersten; Di Bartolo, Jim Illus. by Di Bartolo, Jim Scholastic (384 pp.) $21.99 | $21.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-56144-0 978-0-545-56145-7 e-book Teens square off against sinister immortals in an overstuffed muddle presented, Hugo Cabret–style, through an alternating mix of prose and wordless visuals. White’s prose, created in collaboration with Di Bartolo, puts generic elements and character types together for a slowmoving tale featuring a set of bored undying. They have gathered in a small Maine town in 1900 to move the caged demon that keeps them alive to a new hidden location, in the process menacing a clutch of teenage residents. The creators offer no historical background or specific agenda for the bad guys, aside from just continuing to live. They are pursued across the decades by Arthur, dedicated to their destruction. Di Bartolo’s wordless graphic panels chronicle that quest, which takes Arthur over continents and through the 20th century into the 21st. Readers are likely to find themselves more confused than enthralled. The graphic panels are interspersed in short, episodic sections from the very beginning so that readers will have no idea how they are connected to the text until links are supplied many pages later. Moreover, the art is drawn and colored in a loose, blurry way that makes recurring figures hard to recognize (Arthur has a facial scar, but that’s no help since he doesn’t acquire it until late in the prose story), and many discrete incidents are often so compressed that the graphic portion frequently feels more like a sketchy storyboard than a story. Ambitious but a failure both as a whole and in its parts. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 12-14)
FOUND
Yoon, Salina Illus. by Yoon, Salina Bloomsbury (40 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8027-3559-1 Bear finds a wonderful toy. Bear clearly loves the toy bunny that he has found sitting up against a tree in the forest, but he wants to help it return to its home. With a wagon full of fliers and the bunny secure in Bear’s backpack, he festoons the trees with posters and checks out a
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“What’s really nice about the story is that author Ziegler makes sisterhood seem almost magical.” from revenge of the flower girls
bulletin board filled with lost and found objects (some of which will bring a chuckle to adult readers). Alas, he returns home still worried about bunny. The following day, they happily play together and ride Bear’s tricycle. Into the cozy little picture steps Moose, who immediately recognizes his bunny, named Floppy. Bear has a tear in his eye as he watches Moose and Floppy hug. But Moose, wearing a tie, is clearly grown and knows that it is time to share and that Bear will take very good care of his Floppy. Yoon’s story is sweet without being sentimental. She uses digitized artwork in saturated colors to create a lovely little world for her animals. They are outlined in strong black lines and stand out against the yellows, blues, greens and oranges of the background. She also uses space to great effect, allowing readers to feel the emotional tug of the story. A winning tale about finding new friends. (Picture book. 3-6)
UNDERPANTS DANCE
Zapf, Marlena Illus. by Avril, Lynne Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 3, 2014 978-0-8037-3539-2
Parent Trap, move over. There’s a new story in town, and though it has much in common with the old story, this one has triplets. The girls, cutely though confusingly named Dawn, Darby and Delaney, are quite different. Confident Dawn, who plans to be president, is decisive; Delaney, the future speaker of the House, can neither sit still nor stop talking; and shy, physically brave Darby, who wants to be the chief justice, is a peaceful dreamer. Nonetheless, the youngsters, who take turns narrating the story in the first person, are hard to tell apart as they speak in much the same voice. It’s a charming voice though, and readers will be rooting for them from Page 1 (or the first fade in, as this begs to be made into a movie). What’s really nice about the story is that author Ziegler makes sisterhood seem almost magical. The plot, which is full of amusing hijinks and physical comedy, has a wingding climax, Lily’s bored bridesmaids add spice, and Burton’s overbearing mother is a horrid hoot. Cuter than a kitten and almost as much fun. (Fiction. 8-12)
SECRETS OF THE SEASONS Orbiting the Sun in Our Backyard
When it comes to prancing about in your undies, the mortification of an older sibling is just the icing on an already yummy cake. The pair of frilly pink panties featured in this title could star in their own book alone, but it’s hardly a one-joke wonder. Upon receiving the lacy lovelies, young Lily McBloom finds it necessary to choreograph a series of underwear dances to show her new knickers off. Unfortunately, her older sister, Marigold, is horrified by the youngster’s flagrant disregard of decorum and berates her at every turn. She’s hardly alone, yet every time an authority figure forbids one kind of underwear dance, Lily just comes up with another (ballet! the cancan!). And when Marigold hits on the perfect solution to the problem, Lily turns her previously forbidden underpants dances into strange but oddly acceptable overpants displays. Complementing the balanced, bouncy text, Avril neatly captures the delight of showing off a favorite article of clothing. These unmentionables are ready for their close-up. (Picture book. 3-7)
REVENGE OF THE FLOWER GIRLS
Ziegler, Jennifer Scholastic (240 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | May 27, 2014 978-0-545-56141-9 978-0-545-56143-3 e-book A superadorable story about 11-yearold triplets who conspire to foil their older sister’s wedding to the yucky Burton and reunite her with her true love, her old hunky boyfriend, Alex. |
Zoehfeld, Kathleen Weidner Illus. by Lamont, Priscilla Knopf (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-517-70994-8
Alice, who formerly discovered The Secrets of the Garden (2012), is back to explore the seasons with her friend Zack and her little brother, Pete (and, of course, the two intelligent chickens that provide expert commentary). When Zack brings Alice’s attention to the fact that sunsets are getting earlier, it is the start of the children’s yearlong exploration of the seasons. Humans in the story make observations about the sun, the seasons, the lengths of days, the changing weather and the activities of the animals around them, sometimes linking them to things they have learned in school. Meanwhile, Maisy and Daisy present readers with the nitty-gritty of the science, cleverly using flashlights and globes to explain the Earth’s movements simply and teaching kids about migrating birds, the solstices and equinoxes, and the fact that the seasons are opposite for the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Lamont’s pen-and-watercolor illustrations focus on the seasonal indicators that will be familiar to most readers—tracks in the snow, leaves on the trees, robins, migrating geese, etc. Daisy and Maisy may be the comic relief, but their simple diagrams and explanations are standouts. Incorporating both a story and solid science in an engaging way, this is an accessible and welcome addition to the sometimes-confusing reasons-for-the-seasons shelf. (Informational picture book. 4-9)
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“When the plague of wild beasts shows up about halfway through the story, it’s marvelous to watch. There are turtles and monkeys and butterflies and animals that are nearly impossible to identify.” from the story of passover
e a s t e r & pa s s ov e r roundup
a giant stack of matzo. Readers will admire Max’s creativity, no matter how they feel about unleavened bread. They may be less happy with the stilted dialogue. Max tells his sister, “A long time ago, the Jews were slaves in Egypt. When Pharaoh freed them, they had to hurry, hurry, hurry away with their bread on their backs.” Max’s zeal is charming, but readers may find themselves thinking, more than once: No child has ever said that sentence. Well-intentioned but, alas, as dry as matzo. (Picture book. 3-6) (This review was originally published in the Nov. 1, 2013, issue of Kirkus Reviews. We are reprinting it here for the convenience of our readers.)
THE STORY OF PASSOVER
Adler, David A. Illus. by Weber, Jill Holiday House (32 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2902-8
This version of the Passover story is designed for Jewish families and aspiring zoologists. The Red Sea is filled with snakes. When Moses parts the waters, long, striped serpents splash out of the sea, along with fish of every color: tiny purple ones and enormous red ones and a handful that are bright green. There are animals on almost every page of this book. Children who aren’t familiar with the story of Exodus might confuse the book for a bestiary as they flip through. The gigantic black cat of Egypt may even give them pause. When the plague of wild beasts shows up about halfway through the story, it’s marvelous to watch. There are turtles and monkeys and butterflies and animals that are nearly impossible to identify. Readers might even be forgiven for skipping past the text and just pointing to their favorite creatures from the zoo. That text is a straightforward retelling of the Passover story, and it’s entirely serviceable. If families need an introduction to Moses and Pharaoh, this book will certainly meet their needs, but Adler’s version doesn’t add much color or personality to the human characters, in contrast to Weber’s energetic paintings of the animals. This book will help families get ready for Passover, but they may need to take a trip to the zoo a day or two later. (Picture book. 4-8)
MAX MAKES A CAKE
Edwards, Michelle Illus. by Santoso, Charles Random House (32 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-449-81431-4
Edwards offers a story about Passover, but it might be a bad idea to read it during the holiday—particularly toward the end. It’s Mama’s birthday and the first night of Passover, and Max is intent on baking her a cake. Max’s dad is busy with the new baby, and he doesn’t have time to help. Max comes up with a novel solution: He stacks pieces of matzo into a huge pile and covers them with jam and cream cheese. He even finds a tiny candle and places it on top for his mother’s birthday. A piece of matzo—as Jewish readers will know—is a flat, tasteless cracker, which Jews eat on Passover as bread is forbidden during the holiday. The holiday lasts for more than a week, so as inventive as Max’s solution is, observant Jews may think: There is nothing less appetizing than 116
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THE FORGOTTEN RABBIT
Furstinger, Nancy Illus. by Lane, Nancy Gryphon Press (24 pp.) $16.95 | $16.95 e-book | Mar. 10, 2014 978-0-940719-19-4 978-0-940719-20-0 e-book Bella the rabbit narrates this earnest story about caring for pet rabbits in the home. Bella was born in a barn on a farm, part of a huge family of bunnies. The farmer sells the baby bunnies to a pet store, where a brother and sister choose Bella as an Easter present. The children play with Bella at first, but then they lose interest in her, and her cage is left outside without adequate food or water. Another girl, Rosalita, rescues Bella and takes her to a much better life in her house. Rosalita quickly wins Bella’s affection and then teaches her how to use play equipment in a rabbit-sized obstacle course. They go on to participate in a competition course with other rabbits, and Bella wins a ribbon for her performance. Though Bella’s transformation from nervous victim to confident performer is unrealistically fast, her story is touching and draws attention to the plight of unwanted pets purchased without adequate planning and preparation. Pleasant illustrations in candy-bright colors make Bella an appealing character, though she sometimes seems more like a toy bunny than a real rabbit. An author’s note gives more information about pet house rabbits and lists additional resources. Wearing its heart on its sleeve, this story has a mission, but it’s a worthy one. (Informational picture book. 4-8)
STONE SOUP WITH MATZOH BALLS A Passover Tale in Chelm
Glaser, Linda Illus. by Tabatabaei, Maryam Whitman (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8075-7620-5
A classic European fable goes to Chelm for Passover. A stranger arrives in Chelm, the folkloric town of noodleheads, and reminds its unwelcoming residents of the Passover custom: “All who are hungry come and eat.” The visitor insists
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that with only a stone and a large pot, he can make a delicious matzoh ball soup. Unimpressed yet willing to follow their own brand of logic, the townspeople bring forth water as the necessary initial ingredient. The stranger, cunning yet humble, boils the stone and produces a soup fit for himself, but for his hosts, perhaps a bit more might be needed? Salt, onions, garlic, carrots, celery and chicken are offered. However, Yenta, the wise woman, points out the lack of matzoh balls. The visitor promises that his stone can make matzoh balls “so big and heavy they’ll sit in your belly like rocks,” and, horrified, the cooks in Chelm provide their own matzoh balls, “so light they can almost fly.” The visitor’s culinary feat is now ready for the town’s communal Seder. A dark, almost gloomy palette of watercolors offers a drab late-wintry rather than budding-spring setting for its wide-eyed Eastern European peasants and their rabbiniclooking bearded visitor. Unfortunately, the looniness normally associated with Chelm is as muted as Tabatabaei’s illustrations. The missing ingredient for this conventional retelling is the characteristic foolishness of a Chelm-centered story. (Picture book. 4-7) (This review was originally published in the Dec. 15, 2013, issue of Kirkus Reviews. We are reprinting it here for the convenience of our readers.)
JESUS
Grün, Anselm Illus. by Ferri, Giuliano Translated by Watkinson, Laura Eerdmans (26 pp.) $16.00 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8028-5438-4
First published in Germany, this theologically confusing introduction to the life of Jesus is told through disjointed episodes that don’t have any connecting narrative to help the reader. The first few pages give short versions of key stories: Gabriel tells Mary she will have a child, the son of God, and this is followed on the next spread by the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Jesus goes abruptly from the manger to the temple, conversing with the teachers there. On the next page, Jesus has begun his ministry, but his baptism, a key event in his life and in the theological structure of Christianity, is omitted. Several of the parables and miracles of Jesus are retold, but the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer are not included. The conclusion is especially confusing, jumping from an account of the Crucifixion that clearly states that Jesus is dead to the empty tomb on the final spread with the concluding words, “Jesus lives and has triumphed over death!” Striking illustrations make excellent use of glowing light and varied perspectives, and the illustrations have enough appeal to somewhat offset the drawbacks of the text. The Life of Jesus, by Sophie Piper and Angelo Ruta (2013), and The Light of the World, by Katherine Paterson and François Roca (2008), are better introductions to the life of Jesus for a similar age group. (Picture book/religion. 4-8)
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SEDER IN THE DESERT
Korngold, Jamie Illus. by Finkelstein, Jeff Kar-Ben (32 pp.) $17.95 | $7.95 paper | $6.95 e-book Feb. 1, 2014 978-0-7613-7501-2 978-0-7613-7502-9 paper 978-1-4677-2431-9 e-book Expressive, beautiful color photography forms the visual storytelling accompaniment to this modern-day communal Seder in the desert in Moav, Utah. “Why is this seder different from all others?” Beginning with a slightly altered question from the traditional “Why is this night different…,” readers are taken through a re-enactment of the Israelites’ desert journey as participants in the Adventure Rabbi Program celebrate Passover. The program seeks to “[combine] the ancient traditions of the Jewish Seder with the inspiration of the Red Rock Desert.” Author and rabbi Korngold, spiritual leader of the program, simply and effectively demonstrates how the traditional concepts of the holiday are maintained through this unusual event, which emphasizes experiential learning. With stunning natural scenery as a backdrop, families hike, carry Seder necessities including a torah and Haggadot for children, and set a table on the sandy ground complete with the special ceremonial foods. There, they read, learn and debate the story of the Exodus, eat together, sing and dance. Before nightfall, they reverse their trip, closing with a campfire gathering. The focus of this distinctive approach is on examining how and why the Seder is celebrated rather than on retelling the familiar story. Lovely, different and yet familiar. (author’s note) (Picture book/religion. 5-8)
THE LITTLEST LEVINE
Lanton, Sandy Illus. by Keay, Claire Kar-Ben (24 pp.) $17.95 | $7.95 paper | $6.95 e-book Feb. 1, 2014 978-0-7613-9045-9 978-0-7613-9046-6 paper 978-1-4677-2432-6 e-book For little Hannah, being the youngest in the family is a vexing issue—until it is time for the Passover Seder, and one special honor is given only to her. Hannah continually laments that she is too small to reach the sink, join brother and sister on the school bus, and even light Hanukkah candles by herself. Grandpa tells her to be patient, as soon her holiday will come. Together, they spend many evenings after dinner in the study, learning something special that will be revealed to the whole family at the upcoming Seder. On the first night of Passover, Hannah takes much pride in reciting the traditional four questions as required by the youngest family member, finally delighted to be the littlest Levine. Generic watercolor drawings in pale spring hues place this intergenerational,
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observant family in a middle-class, suburban setting. The welldeveloped storyline provides enough intrigue to engage the littlest listeners and culminates pleasingly. This should be inspirational to little tykes who are expected to carry on with the tradition and need to understand their larger role in the Seder ceremony. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)
HERE COMES THE EASTER CAT
Underwood, Deborah Illus. by Rueda, Claudia Dial (80 pp.) $16.99 | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-8037-3939-0
An attention-seeking, nap-loving cat hatches a plan to become the Easter Cat so that he will be loved like the Easter Bunny. The text is arranged as a series of questions from an unseen authority figure. The silent main character, referred to only as Cat, answers the questions through gestures or expressions or by holding up posterlike signs. He magically produces signs, props, costumes and motorcycles in the manner of a cartoon cat, all in the service of his plan to become the Easter Cat. Eventually he meets the real Easter Bunny, who is exhausted from delivering all those eggs without any naps at all. Cat comes up with a new plan: He’ll drive a motorcycle (quite a spectacular Hog) with the Easter Bunny and a sidecar for deliveries and help deliver eggs while the bunny naps. Quirky colored-pencil illustrations complement the whimsical story, with a minimalist illustration on each spread facing a short question or comment from the narrator. The design uses an interesting, old-fashioned typeface and plenty of white space, creating a playful but sophisticated mood that plays on Cat’s contrary personality. After his success at assisting the Easter Bunny, Cat comes up with another idea for the final spread: He tries on a Santa Claus costume that just might predict a sequel. Utterly endearing. (Picture book. 3-6)
THE LEGEND OF THE EASTER EGG The Inspirational Story of a Favorite Easter Tradition
Walburg, Lori Illus. by Cowdrey, Richard Zonderkidz (32 pp.) $15.99 | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-310-73545-8
Fifteen years after its original publication, this sentimental story that explains the symbolism behind Easter eggs and their role in remembering the Resurrection receives new illustrations. The story of Thomas, who is whisked away in the middle of the night and deposited with the kindly owners of a candy store when his sister falls ill with scarlet fever, is done no favors by the new illustrations. Cowdrey’s pastel-colored illustrations harken back to an 118
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undefined, idealized past of wood (or coal) cookstoves and genuine penny candy. They are certainly cheery in palette, but the characters tend to stare out at readers with fixed, earnest expressions, and the little white dog that appears on most pages often looks downright creepy. The story is a long and disjointed one, devoting a whole spread to a hailstorm that does nothing to move the plot along and neglecting to explain to readers the reasons for Thomas’ exile (the notion of quarantine is never discussed). Children will naturally wonder why Thomas’ parents never come to visit him at the candy shop, and Cowdrey does nothing in the illustrations to fill this or other narrative gaps. They will also likely grow impatient before the connection between Easter eggs and the Easter story is explained. The layout, which crams the text into thin columns on the far edges of most double-page spreads, does little to help the pacing. Missable. (Picture book. 3-5)
interactive e-books GRIMSTONES
Asphyxia Illus. by Davidson, Jenine X Asphyxia $4.99 | Dec. 1, 2013 1.0.0; Dec. 1, 2013 In nine chatty letters, young Martha Grimstone introduces her peculiar family, describes the creation and hatching of three-legged little brother Crumpet, and fervently urges readers to write back. This epistolary narrative has been spun off from a puppet performance and comes with inset photos of Tim Burton–style papier-mâché puppets in elaborately crafted antique settings and animations that range from a circling ring of quail to words that drop to the bottom of the page with a crash. There are also several full-screen interludes in which Martha—moving and gesturing like a marionette—beckons eerily to viewers, dumps potion ingredients into a pot or has a tap-activated exchange with her alchemist grandfather Elcho. She chattily shares hopes and dreams (“You never know, one day I could be the Lady of the Strongest Intestines in the Whole World”) as well as a string of domestic disasters or oddball incidents. In doing so, she repeatedly invites her readers to respond. Responses might in fact be mandatory; in one setting, each letter after the first is locked until the day after an answering letter is composed on a preformatted “Write Back” page. This can be toggled so that Martha writes regardless of readers’ correspondence habits. There is no audio narration, but the app is supplied with sound effects and an optional background piano track. A pleasantly gothic pleaser for fans of Unfortunate Events. (series website) (iPad storybook app. 8-11)
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“At last, an answer to an age-old mystery.” from sos dinos in distress
SOS DINOS IN DISTRESS
Audois & Alleuil Editions Audois & Alleuil Editions $4.99 | Nov. 21, 2013 1.0.1; Dec. 10, 2013 A boastful young sleuth obliviously aids a group of disguised dinosaurs in this brisk and hilarious tale. Thaddeus Getsit-Wright, self-proclaimed “[p]rivate eye, mastermind and Rubik’s Cube genius since kindergarten,” sets out to discover what happened to the dinosaurs. He doesn’t notice, though, that he’s being cleverly led by a group of green, scaly creatures (including his personal assistant, Gladys) to a natural history museum, then an only-apparently-deserted dinosaur theme park and finally to a remote site where he finds one of the aforementioned Cubes. Or seemingly so, anyway, as solving it (readers can help by matching a set of drag-anddrop colored tiles) summons a flying rescuer to whisk the dinos away behind the clueless detective’s back. Not only can readers choose either French or English versions (the English one has optional, plummily accented narration), but there are animations aplenty. Swiping, tapping, blowing on or shaking many of the high-spirited cartoon scenes cause bubbles to form and pop, footprints to emerge from “dust,” a vending machine to mouth off, a gallery of nattily attired dinos to stand revealed in their underwear and further rib-tickling special effects. Other enhancements include a functioning compass and, at the top of each screen, a pull-down thumbnail index. At last, an answer to an age-old mystery. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)
LAND OF MISLAID
Boersen, Lisa Illus. by van der Jagt, Jort YipYip $3.99 | Dec. 20, 2013 1.0.1; Jan. 16, 2014
A missing peppermint sends a young girl and her grandfather on a journey to where missing things go in a strikingly illustrated but too-thin story. When Hannah asks her grandfather if he’s seen her missing candy in the family living room, he offers her a piece of licorice, as he has eaten the peppermint himself. Rather than confessing, Grandpa spins a tale of the Land of Mislaid, where lost objects go. Using items from the living room, such as teapots, a clock, and a salt-and-pepper set, Grandpa leads Hannah through outsized fantasies on the way to finding the missing candy. While the settings are fanciful, such as the “Twilight Peninsula, where lamps sparkled in the night,” character development seems to have been mislaid. Hannah and her grandfather have no personalities to speak of beyond the obvious (she is young and curious; he is willing to go to great lengths to entertain his |
granddaughter). Only the exaggerated visuals—giant heads and bodies with tiny limbs—give them life. The illustrations, convincing, animated miniworlds of gigantic fish and table-salty seas, are the primary reason to read the story, which presents so much text on most pages that whole paragraphs scroll right off the bottom of the screen. In the end, Hannah gives in to her grandfather’s elaborate, made-up story and accepts the licorice. Perhaps she was just tired of hearing his drawn-out story. (Requires iOS 7 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 3-8)
REX THE ROACH
Butterworth, Jeff Illus. by Butterworth, Jeff Software Results $2.99 | Jan. 14, 2014 1.0; Jan. 14, 2014 In this simple interactive odyssey, a little robot cockroach learns to listen to his mum and to say “Please,” after flushing himself down the toilet. Ignoring a parental warning as so many human children are wont to do (though likely not with the same consequences), Rex pulls the chain while he’s still sitting—and finds himself in a dingy alleyway. From there, a rude robot fly, an aggressive robot mosquito and other mechanical bugs send him sauntering on his way. Among other adventures preceding the final joyful reunion with his mother, he fixes a spider with a literal screw loose, pauses to play a chance-found electric guitar and, by asking politely, enjoys a quick ride on a saloon’s aptly named “Bronco Buck.” One or two flashing cues on each screen show where to tap to pull the chain, avoid the mosquito or otherwise move the action along. As jaunty music plays in the background, an optional narrator with a pleasant British accent reads the text in a measured way. Useful controls include a thumbnail index and separate volume-control sliders for the voice, the music and the humorous sound effects. A polished showing with spare but well-integrated animated effects and several silly twists. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 5-7)
TEMBO, THE LITTLE ELEPHANT Campos, Teresa BubbleBooks $2.99 | Oct. 15, 2013 1.0.1; Oct. 17, 2013
A newborn elephant takes his first steps on the African savanna, giving toddlers a gentle first step into the world of reading. The first in a series of colorful, multilingual primers for pre-readers, Tembo’s tale is rich in color, structure and simplicity. A baby elephant is born, takes his first steps, is introduced to the elephant herd, rolls in the mud, takes
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“The first in a series of colorful, multilingual primers for prereaders, Tembo’s tale is rich in color, structure and simplicity.” from tembo, the little elephant
his first shower, says goodnight to the stars with his father and falls asleep hugging his mother’s trunk. As he learns and grows, young readers discover the words associated with Tembo’s world: sky, cloud, water, ant, flower and moon. With narration in seven European languages, the app comes with a handy menu, a voice-recording option and three educational games that give the 12-frame story a healthy shelf life. The narration alone, in any language, adds a whimsy and depth to the simplicity of Tembo’s story. Readers can easily switch back and forth among languages, page by page, making this a compelling resource for practicing a second language while learning to read for the very first time. A first step for Tembo = one sweet step for new learners. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 3-7)
URKI, BEYOND THE FOREST
Coca, Mónica Illus. by Coca, Mónica PixelMoon $0.00 | Jan. 26, 2012 1.3; Jan. 26, 2012
A small troll found in a basket goes in search of his parents in this rough-cut series opener. In the story, little Urki negotiates a mountain, a maze and other obstacles with help from allies like sentient fuzzballs and fairies dispensing fairy dust. It’s related in a wordy English or, optionally, Spanish narrative that reads like a video game translated to prose—awkward prose at that: “Marlock’s sparkling eyes moved in the direction in which the little troll was pointing.” It even breaks suddenly between two chapters for a lengthy actual game. The monotonous (though optional) game features a hard-to-steer ball with which readers need to gather no fewer than 40 floating crystals while rolling through a maze. As far as in-story interaction is concerned, along with pulsing lights that don’t always move with the page turns, there’s a sparse assortment of animations; some design effects obscure sections of text. Furthermore, both the pages of story and the occasional full-screen cartoon illustrations jerk distractingly at the slightest touch. As an enticement to buy the sequel, the tale itself likewise jerks to an abrupt halt at an arbitrary point. Readers and gamers alike will be underwhelmed. (iPad fantasy app. 7-9)
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URKI AND THE ANSWER TO ALL QUESTIONS
Coca, Mónica Illus. by Coca, Mónica PixelMoon $0.99 | Dec. 21, 2013 1.1; Dec. 24, 2013
The happy conclusion to a diminutive troll’s search for his parents (Urki, Beyond the Forest, 2012) replaces some of the opener’s kinks in language and design with new ones. Offering smoother page turns than the previous episode—and lacking, for better or worse, its intrusive pinball-game extra—this continuation takes little Urki to the Temple of Answers. There, he learns that a certain evil sorcerer doesn’t even exist except as his own internal fears, so he goes back to where he started for a happy reunion and a perfunctory “final battle” with the requisite band of orclike Ghatnys. Readers can swipe to advance and tap an icon to return to the table of contents, but that’s it for interactive features. There is no audio narration nor, aside from faint rising glows and snatches of sound, any digital enhancements to the scatter of cartoon illustrations. Moreover, the wordy narrative, available in English or Spanish, not only still reads like a description of a video game, but along with a misspelled chapter head and some leakage from the Spanish text, the general quality of the writing takes a nosedive: “It was an enormous tower made up of thousands of small towers that were completely different”; “Suddenly, Cinzia came to a dead stop with no warning.” Inexpertly translated, sketchily plotted in spite of an inflated word count and endowed with interactive effects that are, by current standards, anemic: skip it. (iPad fantasy app. 7-9)
BABY COMES HOME
Luna Moth LLC Luna Moth LLC $2.99 | Jan. 15, 2014 1.0.3, Jan.30, 2014
When a new baby arrives, Dudley misses special time spent fetching and playing ball with his family in this brief, predictable tale. “Life [is] good for Dudley.” He takes long walks with his “parents,” plays ball in the park and sleeps in their bed. Everything changes when Baby arrives. Dudley misses playtime and walks, and his delicious homemade food has been replaced with kibble. Most of all, he’s confused why the new baby gets all the attention: “After all, she was loud and smelly!” With saccharine predictability, “Dudley learned that Baby was not just a house guest, but a new member of his family.” The characters are as plain as a vanilla wafer and never utter a word in direct dialogue (except for some jealous dogs in the park). The digital illustrations are inconsistent; Labradoodle Dudley is attractively drawn, but the human figures suffer from unnatural shading and coloring. Readers will be happier with
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a humorous approach like Emily Jenkins and Pierre Pratt’s That New Animal (2005) or catchy writing like Kathi Appelt and Kelly Murphy’s Brand-New Baby Blues (2010). It’s also not really clear who the audience is; most books that place pets in a new-baby scenario clearly aim to give children a nonthreatening character to relate to, but this app actually appears to be targeted to dogs. Unremarkable and uneven—steer clear. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)
FATHER FROST
Makarov, Vadim; Pumpkins and Pumpkins Vadim M $2.99 | Jan. 6, 2014 1.00; Jan. 6, 2014 Obnoxious and tone-deaf, this mess of an app will leave readers cold. An off-putting adaptation of a Russian fairy tale, this dismal story of an abused daughter, a weak-willed father and, of course, an evil stepmother, is ugly in nearly every way imaginable. When the stepmother demands that the father abandon his daughter, leaving her out in the cold to die, the family celebrates with a pancake dinner, and the stepmother beats the family dog. As if the generic, cheery-cartoon artwork and non-sequitur, sexist text weren’t bad enough (“A thunderstorm will pass, but a grumpy woman will torment you until she gets what she wants”), any hope of a somber tone is shattered by dozens of cutesy, anachronistic animations. The girl is eventually saved by a gift-bearing Father Frost. Very little about this tale makes sense; flaws in the adaptation and translation are compounded by illustrations that rarely match up with the text, which presents itself, one letter at a time, with maddening slowness. The writing is clunky, frequently missing punctuation, and the sound effects will give any parent reading along a deep migraine. The app’s greatest sin, however, is in turning every page, including the ones featuring child abandonment, into an extended seek-and-poke game, unlocking sometimes–glitch-y additional games that likewise do nothing to extend the story. Freeze-dried awful on a stick. (iPad storybook app. 5-9)
LOCHFOOT
Matthews, W. Scott Illus. by Matthews, W. Scott William Matthews $1.99 | Jan. 4, 2014 1.0; Jan. 4, 2014 This story about the spawn of Bigfoot and Nessie (aka the Loch Ness Monster) suffers from a dry storyline and a significant lack of interaction and ingenuity. The basic concept is clever: Two legendary, elusive creatures have made a family together. They have a son named Lochfoot, who is apparently still trying to come to terms with his |
obligation to make himself scarce in the world. He befriends Zach and Madi, kids who’ve wandered away from their family’s campsite, and that premise alone is rife with creative storytelling possibilities. Instead, this treatment deteriorates into a dull narrative that ends up at odds with the mysterious vibe the developer seemed to have been shooting for. For example, the app is accompanied by eerie electronic music throughout, but the female narrator sounds like she could be telling a story about a stuffed teddy bear, which kind of kills the spooky groove. The dialogue also detracts from the mystical mood, as the characters sound more like stereotypical American teenagers than daring kids or an enigmatic creature. There’s no interaction to speak of beyond turning pages; the animation is all automatic. When their worried parents ask where they’ve been after the kids return to the campsite, they lie about it in order to protect Lochfoot and his family. Understandable on one level; troubling on another. Great premise but, overall, a disappointing experience. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)
BIBO, THE LITTLE MONSTER
Poryagin, Vasiliy Vasiliy Poryagin $2.99 | Jan. 5, 2014 1.0; Jan. 5, 2014
This story about a little purple monster aims to demonstrate that outward appearance isn’t a good indicator of inward nature and character. One night, a large egg magically appears on a hill in the forest. When it cracks open, Bibo—a diminutive beast that’s so ugly he’s cute—pops out and launches his mission to find some friends. A snooty squirrel snubs him, as do a mouse, a bear, a rabbit and a fox. The voluptuous fox, which frolics in slow motion atop a cake, looks like she could moonlight as a burlesque dancer. She tells Bibo that he’s not friend-worthy since he’s too fat and needs to go to the gym. The superficial vibe is clear and altogether appropriate, but the dialogue and storyline that support the implicit lesson are mostly languid and thin. On the technical side, there’s animation and interaction on most pages, but they’re of garden variety—slight animatronic character movements, featureless activity pages, and things that bob, float and squeak when tapped. Bibo meets his female monster counterpart at the end of the story, and she befriends him “because nobody wants to be friends with me” (a pronouncement that conveys that selecting a friend may be as easy as settling for whom you’re stuck with). A shallow story about shallowness. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)
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ROLLING PEA
Sulima, Ivan KievSeaPirates $4.99 | Dec. 22, 2013 1.0.1; Dec. 22, 2014 A rousingly violent Eastern European folk tale laced with heroic exploits and treachery, kitted out with intricate, richly detailed illustrations. Best known in its Ukrainian version, “Pea-Roll Along,” the tale features a pea-boy with a big mace. He pounds a dragon into an iron threshing floor, goes on to trap and then kill a longbearded sorcerer in an underground kingdom, cuts off a piece of his own leg to feed a griffin and ultimately marries a princess. Despite rough spots in the translation (“Rolling Pea held up his finger and the mace struck his finger and a mace was chopped apart”), the story moves along briskly thanks to its plain language and steady focus on action. On the optional audio track a narrator provides a smoothly professional reading to which crisp sound effects and fanfares add well-placed flourishes. Along with one monochrome screen to color in and a game in which viewers use their own fingers to shatter falling maces, both the screens with text and the several wordless scenes offer numerous wheels, characters and natural features that move by themselves or respond to taps or tilts. Rolling Pea, feet invisible beneath huge green pantaloons, cuts a figure at once dashing and comical. A thrill a minute, epic in scope but not length, and embellished with visual and digital delights. (thumbnail index) (iPad folk-tale app. 8-10)
THE UNSTEALER
Wilson, Joshua Illus. by Wilson, Donna Joshua Wilson $3.99 | Jan. 9, 2014 1.0.0; Jan. 9, 2014
A spooky gentleman with a Salvador Dali mustache comes to clear away those pesky un’s that frustrate, anger and rob
us of our confidence. The writer/artist Wilson team—whom readers learn on the credits page were unintelligent, untalented and unlucky in love before the UnStealer came to the rescue—here produce a serious gem. The UnStealer steals and collects un’s: large, medium and small, upper- or lowercase, bold or italicized (all illustrated by a touch of the finger). He can make unsure and unfriendly and untrained into sure and friendly and trained with a swish of his butterfly net or a flick of his fishhook. A party with an unhappy clown, a woman who is undecided about her outfit and an unfriendly junkyard dog named Chompy all need the UnStealer to get back on track. The Wilsons have a merry time with wordplay—“under the feetkerchiefs and next to the gooey giggle gag, between the wiggly sticks and on top of his coo-coo kazoo”—and a good sense of internal rhymes. The art is sweetly drawn and sophisticated, with bleeding 122
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watercolors as dazzling as geological specimens—malachite, lapis, sulfur—and collages that create an exotic yet welcoming atmosphere. The interplay between user and application is surprisingly deep and frequently, er, unexpected. Everyone should have an UnStealer in the house. (iPad storybook app. 4-12)
WARLU SONG
Woodley, Michael–Adapt. Illus. by Sutu Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation $2.99 | Jun. 19, 2013 1.2; Aug. 14, 2013 A vision song passed down among Western Australia’s Yindjibarndi people, interpreted both verbally and visually in rousingly dramatic fashion by a comics artist. Typical of stories transmitted verbatim from traditional sources, the original lyrics read to a modern audience as a series of disconnected comments on the action: “The white ochre hill is frightened to see the red water worms… / …bound together like string, fleeing the banks of the river at Gaatharramunha.” Sutu (Stu Campbell) fills in the storyline’s blanks with sequential panels of jagged, magnificently strange figures aglow with pulsing digital light. Depicting a grizzled seer staring into a crackling fire, then suddenly embraced by a giant praying mantis and later riding an immense golden serpent as it twists through and around a tumultuous river, the art is a mix of captioned and wordless sequences. When matching text does appear, it can be toggled back and forth with a tap between the original Yindjibarndi and an English translation that the illustrator reads with low-voiced urgency. Along with a background note that traces the song from its first singer to those of today, extras include a video of a modern public performance by two Yindjibarndi elders (another recording of the song plays over the main story’s credits) and a presentation of the lyrics line by line, with vocalization and translation. Both an exciting spirit ride and a cultural artifact that is presented with careful respect and enough background for context. (iPad storybook app. 7-9)
This Issue’s Contributors # Alison Anholt-White • Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Sophie Brookover • Connie Burns • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Julie Cummins • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Lisa Dennis • Andi Diehn • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn • Omar Gallaga • Laurel Gardner • Judith Gire Carol Goldman • Melinda Greenblatt • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Julie Hubble • Shelley Huntington • Laura Jenkins • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • Joy Kim • K. Lesley Knieriem • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper • Susan Dove Lempke • Peter Lewis • Ellen Loughran • Lori Low • Wendy Lukehart • Joan Malewitz • Shelly McNerney • Kathie Meizner Daniel Meyer • Lisa Moore • R. Moore • Deb Paulson • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Melissa Riddle Chalos • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Mindy Schanback • Katie Scherrer • Mary Ann Scheuer • Dean Schneider • Hillary Foote Schwartz • Stephanie Seales • John W. Shannon • Karyn N. Silverman Paula Singer • Robin Smith • Karin Snelson • Rita Soltan • Jennifer Sweeney • Deborah D. Taylor Kimberly Whitmer • Monica Wyatt
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These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
Barrett, Violeta CreateSpace (148 pp.) $28.95 paper | Oct. 4, 2013 978-1-4840-9221-7
My Father, Humming by Jonathan Gillman...............................126 SUMMER AT THE Z HOUSE by Holly Zanville................................ 138
MY FATHER, HUMMING
Gillman, Jonathan Antrim House Books (92 pp.) $18.00 paper | $4.99 e-book Jan. 2, 2013 978-1-936482-37-5
In this memoir written in third person, a widowed woman finds comfort and solace from her new relationship with a feline friend. After losing her husband, Barrett (First Love: Just Once in a Lifetime, 2011) vowed to never allow herself to become attached to others for fear of experiencing more loss. She made no exception for animals. However, she found herself looking forward to seeing a little, orange-striped cat on her porch each morning. Living alone in the Ontario home she once shared with her husband, Barrett slowly began to welcome the companionship of the cheerful cat. Barrett tried to keep her emotional distance by only referring to him generically as “Cat” (perhaps a wink to Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s). Never before a “cat person,” Barrett foresaw no risk of attachment from simply feeding the cat. Yet gradually, she became more attached to the animal and found herself missing him when he was away. Subsequently, she began to domesticate the untamed cat. Perhaps since Barrett hadn’t been a cat person, she began the domestication process with leash training and field trips to the beach. In this story, she marvels at the cleverness and uniqueness of her cat but spares readers most of the mundane details about its habits; instead, in polished and clear prose, she focuses on how he affected her life, making for a more relatable story than most in the cat-book category. As Barrett’s bond with the cat developed, she also built connections with other cat owners, and though the pain of her husband’s loss remained, her loneliness abated, and her desire to connect with others was restored. The heartfelt story will, of course, especially appeal to those who cherish the companionship of cats or other animals, but Barrett’s underlying story of recuperation and the restoration of hope may resonate with readers who have also experienced loss. Color photos, most slightly manipulated with a painterly filter, round out the comforting book. A lighthearted, sincere story of appreciating the simple aspects of life after loss.
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The Scoop on Good Grammar
The Man Who Walked Out Of Isabelle
Blumberg, Margie MB Publishing, LLC (337 pp.) $9.99 e-book | Nov. 17, 2013 An overview of the basics of English grammar, written at a level appropriate for both adults and children. In this introduction to the fundamentals of grammar, Blumberg (Avram’s Gift, 2010, etc.) leads the reader through the proper usage of nouns, verbs, adjectives and punctuation. Each part of speech occupies a separate chapter, with each chapter’s examples and pictures centered on a theme. The chapter on verbs, for instance, is sports-themed, with tidbits about Arthur Ashe and figure skating mixed into explanations of tense and agreement; elsewhere, moments from classic movies and television provide structure to the chapter on capitalization. Blumberg’s explanations of proper usage are generally easy to understand, although the book’s reliance on colored and bold text can sometimes overwhelm rather than clarify. The book’s approach to grammar tends more toward prescriptivism, although it does allow for split infinitives and sentences that end in prepositions; some grammarians, however, might object to the book’s ban on “their” as a singular preposition. The book’s greatest strength is its abundance of examples for each principle Blumberg addresses, which are often easier to learn from than, say, a simple explanation of how parallel structure works. Though anyone looking for a refresher course will be satisfied, the book’s simple language and frequent pictures suggest that its target audience is young readers still learning the complexities of English. On the whole, Blumberg has done an effective job of writing on a level children can easily comprehend, although her attempts to avoid linguistic jargon occasionally have awkward results: “Affect (a psychological term) is pronounced a [as in cat] fekt.” Quizzes at the end of each section test readers’ mastery of the topics covered, and the book includes both endnotes and citations, as well as links to Web-based resources for further information on some of the informational asides, such as a biography of Emma Lazarus that accompanies photos of the Statue of Liberty. A thorough and useful adjunct to English textbooks and an effective reference tool.
Bourg, J. C. Three Greyhounds (784 pp.) $26.75 paper | $9.99 e-book Nov. 22, 2013 978-0-9910076-0-8
Bourg’s debut novel takes an epic look at French defeat in Vietnam and the entwined lives of the locals, soldiers and foreign nationals trying to survive in unstable times. Max Kohl, a German and a career soldier who grew up indoctrinated in the Hitler Youth, now finds himself in the French Foreign Legion. In 1954, he walks out of Isabelle, a remote area of the Dien Bien Phu province. Loc, a Tai who has sided with the French, leads Max out of the mountainous battlefield after the French are defeated by the Vietminh. The two become infamous and inseparable, navigating post-colonialism in Saigon and Laos. Max decides to no longer blindly follow the causes of those who employ him; instead, he leads his life by repaying the loyalty of others and protecting those he cares about. Max and Loc cross paths with Petru Rossi, a Corsican gangster focused on keeping his interests in the opium trade. Also in the opium and information businesses is CIA agent Tom Roche, who works with Max to help a mountain tribe escape to Laos. In turn, Max helps the Americans solidify their place in Vietnam through covert missions and violent encounters. In another third-person perspective, the book also follows Mei, who becomes a concubine for the French troops after being sold into prostitution by her father. Loc briefly crosses paths with Mei in Dien Bien Phu but isn’t reunited with her until after she is released from a communist labor camp. Bourg provides a detailed account of the battle that marks the fall of France in Vietnam as well as Max and Loc’s journey out of Isabelle. Many situations and characters are introduced, which Bourg capably manages, and character development is strong, particularly for a novel this heavily rooted in action. Most compellingly, Max changes from a hardened hired soldier to a loyal member of his makeshift family with Loc and Mei. A well-told story about finding new beginnings in the aftermath of defeat.
UNDELIVERABLE Demarest, Rebecca A. Manuscript Mar. 6, 2013
A debut novel that offers a heartfelt story of a father’s devotion. Since the disappearance of his 5-yearold son a year ago, Ben Grant’s life has spun out of control. The despairing father separated from his wife, developed a drinking problem and now spends every 124
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“With richly detailed descriptions, the writing is exceptionally crisp and likely to pull readers in as the students witness a voodoo ritual or spend a day working with garbage dump pickers.” from the dominican experiment
moment of his free time looking for new leads in his son’s case. At the same time, he acclimates himself to a new job as property clerk at the Atlanta branch of the U.S. Postal Service’s Mail Recovery Center—formerly known as the Lost Letters Office. Although this symbolism may be a bit heavy-handed, Demarest develops the Mail Recovery Center into a vivid setting full of intriguing characters and details, including Uncle Shem, an urn of long-unclaimed human cremains; Jillian, a harmlessly disgruntled worker who considers Uncle Shem her greatest confidant; and the manically charming Sylvia, Ben’s assistant, friend and romantic interest. Although Sylvia has a difficult past of her own—and a habit of stealing items from the recovery center—she becomes Ben’s only support in his ongoing search for his son, which is reinvigorated by his new access to government databases. But even Sylvia’s kindness can’t keep Ben from being consumed by his obsession, and when he uncovers new information that might pertain to his son’s abduction, he only becomes more unhinged. Demarest writes of Ben’s plight with sensitivity and pathos (“He couldn’t tell anymore how much was the alcohol and how much was sleep deprivation and the numbness that had started to settle over his heart and head”), but she counterbalances the heaviness of the material with the zany staff and goings-on at the recovery center; she also loosely structures the tale around the chapters of the fictional Property Office Manual. This compelling, well-written story is ultimately one of recovery, as Ben tries to accept what he can’t control and get his life back on course. Engaging, inventive and full of feeling, Demarest’s debut engagingly addresses what we lose when we lose someone we love.
The Dominican Experiment A Teacher and His Students Explore a Garbage Dump, a Sweatshop, and Vodou D’Amato, Michael James; Santos, George W. iUniverse
Two American middle school teachers offer an inside look at the Dominican Republic—one not revealed in travel brochures. “Imagine being a cocoa picker but never getting to enjoy a chocolate bar,” teachers Santos and D’Amato write. “Picture yourself working for a posh hotel where staying for just one night costs more than two months’ salary.” In this behind-thescenes account of their experiences leading students on “social justice” trips to the Dominican Republic, Santos and D’Amato present a travelogue of the developing Caribbean nation and its people, a starkly contrasting image of a country filled with natural beauty and plentiful resources as well as unseemly human struggles and extreme poverty. The book goes beyond the pristine beaches of a tourist guide to reveal life there as it really is. Difficult realities are exposed: the sex workers trade and the prevalence of HIV and other diseases; the scarcity of clean
water and lack of access to public education; strong attitudes of discrimination against Haitians and women; and the prevalence of sweat shops in “free trade zones,” where earning a living wage is but a dream. With richly detailed descriptions, the writing is exceptionally crisp and likely to pull readers in as the students witness a voodoo ritual or spend a day working with garbage dump pickers. The authors’ method of teaching social studies through cultural immersion will undoubtedly help students become aware of, and engaged in, matters of social justice. An intelligent, revealing look at uncharmed lives in the Dominican Republic.
THE KIDNEY SELLERS A Journey of Discovery in Iran
Fry-Revere, Sigrid Carolina Academic Press (254 pp.) $35.00 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-61163-512-6 Fry-Revere (The Accountability of Bioethics Committees and Consultants, 1993), the founder of a nonprofit bioethics think tank, goes to Iran to study the effects of legalizing compensation for organ donors. Many Westerners may be shocked to learn that, as untold thousands of Americans die while waiting to receive donated organs, Iran has so many people who want to sell their kidneys that they must get on a waiting list. Fry-Revere, the founder of the U.S.-based Center for Ethical Solutions, writes that “the United States is struggling with a problem Iran seems to have solved.” Her book aims to provide readers with “insights into the ethical complexities of living organ donation.” The book is partly a scholarly study of organ donation, partly a humorous personal history, and partly a poignant, in-depth look at Iran, following the author as she recounts her trip there and the emotional transformation she underwent. The author has impressive academic credentials, including teaching bioethics and law at the University of Virginia and George Mason University, but she’s also passionately connected to this book’s issue, which has affected her personally; her son lost a kidney to cancer at a young age. Her narration proves more than capable, as her intelligence and intriguing ethical sense bring her sentences to life. She also adds personal touches; in one paragraph, she describes U.S. State Department travel warnings regarding Iran, and in the next, she relates a nightmare she had, caused by these warnings. Throughout the book, however, kidney donation remains the central focus. She interviews Iranians who sold their kidneys so they could help their families while saving a life at the same time. The issue of economic injustice soon comes into play; Fry-Revere says that some people balk at the idea of selling human organs, believing that “the United States and other countries took a stand against exploiting the poor.” Her subject matter may be somewhat controversial, but her analysis is undeniably worth reading. A compelling case for an unorthodox solution to a widespread health care problem. |
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“Habermeyer may be preaching partly to the choir, but that choir is ready to sing and start playing instruments.” from good music brighter children
My Father, Humming
Gillman, Jonathan Antrim House Books (92 pp.) $18.00 paper | $4.99 e-book Jan. 2, 2013 978-1-936482-37-5
In this poetry collection, Gillman (The Magic Ring, 2000) considers his father’s slow descent into dementia. Gillman had a brilliant father who was an accomplished classical pianist and a distinguished mathematician known for his work in topology. But in the stark poems that make up this book, readers see the father’s confusion and weakness as Alzheimer’s steals his autonomy bit by bit. Even in the past, the two couldn’t always connect; music sometimes seemed like a barrier, part of the father’s autocratic distance. In “A House with Music in It, II,” the 12-year-old son tiptoes into the house where his father plays piano; shutting the door to his room, he prefers the radio and Chuck Berry. In the title poem, the narrator recalls how his father used to hum along while playing the piano, an indistinguishable drone: “One couldn’t tell / from listening to you drone / what piece it was, / all tuneless and the same.” Three poems engage with the haunting image of the parents’ twice-daily journey up and down stairs, something like divers: “Going down, / she has a rope, / tied to his belt, / wrapped around her waist,” which “will somehow stop him.” In one of the book’s most potent poems, Gillman sees his father, strapped upright in bed, “as if / fastened to / the piling of a dock” while the tide slowly rises, which powerfully conveys the slow, awful dread of waiting for someone to die. Sometimes, the poems edge into the prosaic, with too much explanation, more like a journal entry, perhaps: “It’s been hours / and I’m still angry / at what this brings back up: / how you imposed / your one right way / on everything we did.” Poems about connection appear as well. In “Requiem,” for example, the poet imagines lingering reverberations in the father’s music room, “lower and lower / till they have reached a place / ear can’t hear / but heart still knows.” Clean, spare poems that resonate.
Good Music Brighter Children Simple and Practical Ideas to Help Transform Your Child’s Life Through the Power of Music Habermeyer, Sharlene CreateSpace (462 pp.) $21.95 paper | Jan. 24, 2014 978-1-4841-5731-2
Habermeyer (Good Music, Brighter Children, 1999) updates her debut exploration of the importance of music in children’s lives with enlightening new information. 126
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After educator Habermeyer struggled to find a book on the benefits of music for children that included practical guidance for parents, she decided to write one herself. The result was a meticulously researched and crafted work—a blend of investigation, manual, textbook and inspiration—with careful scrutiny of the merits and implementation of music instruction. The updated edition brings in 21st-century scientific studies, laws and technological innovations, along with anecdotes about successful child musicians—all of which support the idea that music should be as fundamental to education as the three R’s. With a scientist’s eye and an artist’s voice, Habermeyer examines everything from the benefits of music for the developing brain to music’s ability to improve cultural awareness. “Music, like truth, is often felt before it is understood,” the book notes. Similarly, Habermeyer’s lucid writing tends to strike a chord before the reader has processed the wealth of data that supports it. Her book is never preachy or hyperbolic—it is instead well-reasoned and peppered with moments of science-backed epiphany—yet its effect is as moving as it is cerebral. It is also motivational enough to encourage many parents to sign their children up for lessons. And it provides tips and resources that can help, including lists of recommended books, DVDs and Internet sources, as well as clear explanations of which instruments might best suit children of different ages and personalities. It gives particular attention to the value of music in the lives of special needs children, a topic often slighted in books for a general audience. And it delves into important ancillary subjects, such as ways to support local arts or start an orchestra. This is an encyclopedic, invaluable resource for anyone who believes in music education. Habermeyer may be preaching partly to the choir, but that choir is ready to sing and start playing instruments. Even parents whose children are already taking lessons may find valuable recommendations. A magnum opus, fact-filled and inspiring, on the benefits of music.
BOON JUSTER or The Reason for Everything Hallberg, Garth The Reason for Everything, LLC Jan. 15, 2014
Hallberg plants seeds of doubt about the Apollo moon landings in this social satire about a fallen adman’s learning an astronaut hero, his deceased baseball teammate from high school, might have held a history-changing secret. Hallberg’s hefty narrative covers four minutely detailed days in the life of Tom “Trif ” Hammock, a down-on-his-luck New Yorker now in a disintegrating marriage to abrasive TV journalist Kate Miller. Hammock is flailing in his new career in cutthroat Manhattan real estate. His crucial assignment: Broker a hot property, the apartment of Lt. Col. Elijah “Boon” Juster, a recently deceased athlete and hedge fund spokesman—and also one of the last Apollo astronauts, famed for hitting a baseball
on the lunar surface. Juster attended school with Hammock and played alongside him in a legendary 1971 student baseball game, described in lengthy flashbacks, with participants who, 40 years later, recur in the present-day narrative. As Tom prepares Boon’s puzzling estate, he finds a secret stash of conspiracy material. Tom’s flirtatious co-worker Cerise keeps insinuating that the NASA moon landings were, in fact, staged hoaxes, and Boon was apparently about to reveal this before his fatal heart attack. Meanwhile, Kate won’t let up on Tom—not so much to give him hope about their relationship but more so to enhance her scandalous news report on Boon, who she suspects was party to high-level Wall Street chicanery. A typical genre novelist might be tempted to turn the search for Boon’s missing hard drive into Dan Brown–esque chases and gunfights. But not Hallberg, who pitches a comedy of manners, with a small cast of schemers in just a few locations—readers might imagine this as a stage play or a modest indie film—ruminating on love, loss, prestige, greed, baseball (including the game’s secret origins) and the struck-out American dream. Floating in a low-gravity, mildly tragicomic narrative of abandoned childhood innocence and nostalgia, the message is that in a Great Recession USA of middle-class downsizings, lapsed idols, lying presidents and cheating banks, the moon landing remains one thing Americans can point to with pride—so why not suspect it of being just another instance of government-military–corporate-media fakery? Though the plot includes scattered citations and websites for moon-landing skeptics, conspiracy obsessives looking for a direct j’accuse may be frustrated by the book’s mordant, Stendahl-like literary approach. An urbane think-piece of a novel on alleged moon-landing—and baseball and business and marriage—lies, not to be mistaken for a sci-fi thriller.
BANKING LITE
Harris, Bert CreateSpace (440 pp.) $19.99 paper | $9.00 e-book Nov. 15, 2013 978-1-4927-1185-8 In his debut memoir, Harris offers an insider’s look at the long-gone era of small-town banking while chronicling the shift to a less personal, more complex way of doing business. After launching his career with an entry-level position in a Colorado bank in the early 1960s, Harris soon moved on to become a National Bank Examiner. By his mid-20s, he was running his own bank in Greybull, Wyo. But the good times didn’t last. Harris sold the bank in the early 1980s and bounced from job to job, including owning a furniture store and serving as chief operating officer of a bank in Duluth, Minn., before finally landing in the small-business lending division of Bank of America. Harris is enthusiastic about his work, but it’s clear he’s disenchanted by the changes in the banking world. Anyone with an interest in banking will appreciate his observations on
the minutiae of lending and borrowing, and many of his stories earn a chuckle, such as a practical joke involving two friends and a fake marriage. In fact, he manages to recall the names and key characteristics of seemingly everyone he’s done business with over the years; either he has a remarkable memory or he kept voluminous diaries. Yet there’s not a lot of personality on display. Harris is a diligent worker and a dedicated family man, but he rarely shares his feelings. After his first wife dies of cancer, he describes an annoying phone call from the IRS the next day but doesn’t share how her death affected him on a personal level. He’s fired from two jobs, but other than some comments about feeling “betrayed” and “devastated,” the deeper effects those events had on him are left to the imagination. Still, Harris is a keen observer of human nature, and as a chronicle of small-town life and business, the book can be charming. In an era when many people bank with a huge corporation rather than a local institution, he reminds us that the new ways aren’t always better than the old. A thoughtful look at a vanishing corner of the banking industry.
13:24 A Story of Faith and Obsession Hickmon, M Dolon Rehoboam Press Mar. 25, 2014
Hickmon’s taut, gripping fiction debut journeys into a world of subversive rockand-roll, dark perversions and deep emotional scars. The novel opens with a scene of precisely described violence: A man named Andrew opens his front door late at night to find Chris Pesner, his girlfriend’s 14-year-old son. The boy then pepper-sprays him in the eyes, breaks his kneecap with a baseball bat and shoots him dead. The story jolts forward to show Detective William Hursel arriving at the scene of the equally grisly murder of Chris’ mother, and when he examines the boy’s room for clues, he finds lots of memorabilia of the iconoclastic heavy-metal band Rehoboam. Hursel realizes that the boy is devoted to the band, but when he questions Chris’ girlfriend, Gina, she sets him straight on his preconceived ideas: “He isn’t into drugs or devil worship or any of that,” she says. “He listens to Rehoboam because the lyrics are intelligent.” The narrative then follows Rehoboam’s leader, Josh Sebala, who has scars of his own from his harsh upbringing by his strict Baptist preacher father. Although he suffers from nightmares, he knows that he has it good: Rehoboam is a success, and he’s found the love of his life in a girl named Lindsey Leif. But the narrative steadily darkens; Josh gradually loses control of his life, and fugitive Chris gradually enters a dark world of sexual perversion and human trafficking. Through it all, Hursel doggedly moves from crime scene to crime scene in Chris’ wake. Hickmon weaves these separate plots together with an unforced ease, as when he |
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“The thoughtful, intelligent and altogether human narrative shows how lives can interweave even after death.” from four rubbings
effectively portrays Rehoboam’s struggling early years in welldeployed flashbacks. The narrative’s lean, unadorned prose becomes intensely involving as the plot hastens to its climax and Chris becomes linked in the press with the heavy-metal band he loves so much. A strange and effective debut novel about the powerful dynamics of father-son relationships and the casual violence of amoral subcultures.
FOUR RUBBINGS The Stone Witch Series, Volume 1 Hotes, Jennifer L. Booktrope Editions (372 pp.) $20.95 paper | $0.99 e-book Aug. 26, 2013 978-1-62015-163-1
Hotes’ (The Crystal Lair, 2013) Halloween tale tells of graveyards, unfinished business and seekers after the unknown. The four rubbings of the title are impressions on paper, made from grave markers rubbed with black chalk. A group of teenage friends, led by young Josie, go out on Halloween night to visit a purportedly haunted cemetery and to take rubbings from the headstones there. While Josie hopes for some contact with the spirit of her dead mother, her friends Casey, Blaze and Seth are drawn to other graves. They find themselves called by the mysteries of the people laid to rest there and the loose ends of their lives. The kids begin four personal journeys as they research what happened to the dead men and women behind the rubbings; perhaps they’ll find ways to bring closure to stories long left unresolved. The thoughtful, intelligent and altogether human narrative shows how lives can interweave even after death. Hotes masterfully brings her characters to life, both the living and the dead; each is vivid and involving. The supernatural is present, but it’s as subtle as a shadow on the moon. One of the most startling moments—when an eerie photograph crumbles—could just as easily be the result of a printer’s toner malfunction as the wrath of the angry dead. The characters connect to the world of the strange in ways that feel real—odd sensations, weird coincidences, chilling images and vague encounters. On a technical level, the text is clean and professional, with welcome poise: “I kick the glove compartment with my mud-caked boot and smile when I see the brown scuff I’ve left on his fancy Italian leather.” Although the book is the first in a series, the author makes sure that it’s quite satisfying on its own. Quality YA suspense set in a world full of fantastic possibilities.
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A Woman’s Tale of Golf Huber, Frances X. Paulo; Lee, Frank CreateSpace (214 pp.) $8.53 paper | Dec. 28, 2013 978-1-4827-1606-2
Huber’s account, in collaboration with PGA pro Frank Lee, of her comical attempts to master a sport that “epitomized absurdity.” Huber came late to golf. Her new husband assured her: “It’s a great sport for a married couple. Time together outdoors. Just the two of us.” This often hilarious account of her “journey into golf ” takes her from bumbling ineptitude beyond proficiency. Initially, she has a jaundiced view of the sport—“a heart-breaking exercise in which the rules and equipment and playing field are stacked against you, making a decent performance difficult and perfection impossible”—and struggles to even make contact with a ball. She has amusingly disastrous sessions with her coaches: “Think about turning around to shake hands with the person behind you,” Vinnie “King of the Swing” Russo says in instructing her how to swing a golf club. “What person?” she asks. A female coach introduces herself by announcing, “It takes someone with boobs to teach other people with boobs how to play golf.” But it’s only with the imperturbable Lee, a Korean-American, as her coach that Huber starts to make progress. “Golf like life,” he tells her. “Nothing always works.” As she proceeds on her journey, Huber has imaginary conversations with various fictitious companions, including Lawrence of Arabia. “Sand shots are simple,” he advises after she plunks a shot into a bunker. “Just take your normal swing.” Elsewhere, a father-and-son coaching team are “golfing Mozarts,” she writes. Huber’s wit and distinctive sense of the absurd—her husband describes her brainwork as a “cross between thoroughly literal and thoroughly imaginative”—bring her golfing journey alive. Huber also provides revealing glimpses of the “ghosts from my past,” taking readers back to an adolescence during which she suffered from depression, and she savors the beauty of a golf course’s “shorn lawns, raked traps, pruned trees and bedded-out flowers.” Still, she tells her husband, “If life were like golf, the human race would have died out centuries ago through mass suicide. Who could tolerate an existence so unfair? Life isn’t like golf in the least.” A well-laid sense of humor brings this golfing journey alive.
SHAKESPEARE’S DARK LADY: AMELIA BASSANO LANIER The Woman Behind Shakespeare’s Plays? Hudson, John Amberley (256 pp.) $34.95 paper | Apr. 30, 2014 978-1-4456-2160-9
Hudson’s first book is a scholarly examination of the ongoing debate about the authorship of the works of William Shakespeare. Hudson argues that an obscure but talented woman named Amelia Bassano Lanier—posited to be both Shakespeare’s “dark lady” of the sonnets and a “secret Jew”—was in the right place at the right time, and had the right skills and knowledge, to be the true creator of classics such as Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing. Regardless of one’s opinion on the subject of the Bard of Avon’s works and their provenance, this book is a smart, wideranging examination of the society and circumstances of the 16th and 17th centuries. Subjects covered include Shakespearean scholarship itself (and its methods), life in late Renaissance London and the British royal court, English theater, plagues, gender, religion, intellectual life and a great deal more. Hudson argues that Shakespeare’s plays, like Lanier’s work, are highly critical of Christianity, that they reflect her travels (including a journey to Denmark) and that Lanier—like Shakespeare—is said to have undertaken a brief career as a schoolteacher. That Lanier had so much of the same background as Shakespeare supports Hudson’s theory; that she had even more of the necessary background than the Bard did (as a musician, a law clerk, etc.) makes Hudson’s case even more compelling. Even if Lanier didn’t write the works of Shakespeare, she is a notable person in her own right. Exhaustively documented, with a lengthy bibliography and full index, the volume is clearly written and makes a deeply intriguing case for its thesis. Although many readers will take exception to its ideas from the very beginning (not everyone agrees that the generally known biography of Shakespeare makes him “superhuman” or his efforts “impossible”), Hudson’s historical sleuthing and careful speculation make the Lanier theory at least as plausible as most of the others (from Edward de Vere, Christopher Marlowe and Francis Bacon on down). With graphics that include a “knowledge map” of which candidates might have been able to write which plays and symmetry analyses of some of the major works, the book advances these ideas concisely and with great rhetorical conviction. Well-researched, fascinating and thought-provoking.
THE MAGICAL BATTERY PARK Lieberman, Linda Anderson CreateSpace (84 pp.) $17.99 paper | Nov. 22, 2013 978-1-4823-9110-7
In Lieberman’s debut novel, a grandmother relates the magical, historical adventure of her grandchildren visiting her in New York City’s Battery Park. Jessica, Meghan (12-year-old twins), and their younger brother, Zach, are visiting their Grammy in New York from their home in Colorado. Eager to do something fun, like visit an aquarium, the kids are disappointed when Grammy announces a more historical plan for their afternoon. Despite their initial reluctance, the children visit Castle Clinton in Battery Park and learn how the building was once a fort and, later, an aquarium. A trip to the SeaGlass carousel turns their history lesson magical, as the three children are launched into the past: They arrive in the aquarium that operated in Castle Clinton until it closed in 1941. The story mixes history with fantasy, giving the children talking animals as their guides to the old aquarium. The result is a lighthearted adventure in which the children are never in much danger—even the frightening animals aren’t a threat—and the facts the animals offer about the aquarium and its history are never too overwhelming. The story being told from the grandmother’s perspective is a bit odd, but Zach’s determination to rescue an animal in need will resonate with young animal lovers, and the sibling dynamic between the two twin girls and their younger brother has just the right balance of love and annoyance to feel real. The margins and chapter title pages are decorated with excellent, softly lined color illustrations by Soriano that perfectly capture the tone of the text. The vocabulary is approachable for confident chapter book readers, though a few new words— e.g., “aeration,” “electrolytes”—and concepts may have them looking for adult assistance. After the story ends, Lieberman offers two pages of historical details and a selection of real-life images of Battery Park’s once-famous aquarium. Readers may be left wondering why such a magical place closed down, and they may be inspired to look for places near their own homes that have served so many different purposes over time. This fun, educational fantasy introduces readers to New York history and should appeal to those fond of the Magic School Bus and Magic Tree House series.
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Interviews & Profiles
Marcus C . Thomas
An artist overcomes the odds to tell his own story in Flight of the Mind By Sarah Rettger
The first hint that Marcus C. Thomas’ Flight of the Mind: A Painter’s Journey Through Paralysis is unusual among self-published books comes from the pricing: The 12-by-12-inch linen-bound collection of Thomas’ paintings is available in three editions, which range from $95 to $450. Thomas’ story, which accompanies the paintings in a narrative written by Leslee N. Johnson, is also out of the ordinary and renders the artwork even more compelling. Thomas has been a quadriplegic since he was injured in a skiing accident at age 26, and he creates his paintings, many of them invoking themes of flight, with a paintbrush he holds in his mouth. “Monday to Friday, I’m always painting,” says Thomas, who has made his living as an artist for 130
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more than 25 years. With his wife, Annie GahaganThomas, he travels across the country to sell his paintings at art shows. Several years ago, he decided it was time to bring the highlights of his career together in a single volume. The result is Flight of the Mind, an elegant arrangement of paintings and words that captures one artist’s life in both images and narrative. Kirkus Reviews calls Thomas’ collection an “inspiring story on display alongside his inspired art” and notes that Flight of the Mind “will be right at home on many suburban coffee tables.” Flight of the Mind is available through Amazon and on the artist’s own website, but Thomas has made the bulk of his sales by making one-on-one connections with his customers. “The best method for selling is direct selling,” he says, a lesson he draws from his years attending art shows. Over the years, he has built a substantial mailing list and used it to let fans and past customers know when his work became available as a book. The personal experience of selling directly to people he meets is Thomas’ favorite part of selfpublishing his work. “The people that have enjoyed our story and enjoyed the book—it’s a wonderful feeling,” he says. “Most shows, I’ll autograph, personalize, get to know the people who are buying the book.” His website features comments from more than a dozen readers who have written to Thomas about how his work has affected them. One customer he got to know while selling his work at an art fair in his North Carolina hometown was actress Andie MacDowell, who wrote about meeting Thomas in Guideposts. MacDowell wrote that a painting of a hummingbird caught her attention: “Maybe that’s what captivated me about that
painting, the idea that things weren’t the way they were supposed to be, yet the unexpectedness of it all was what made it beautiful,” she wrote. She stopped to talk to Annie Gahagan-Thomas and shared the couple’s story with the magazine. Thomas gives his wife much of the credit for the book’s success. “It’s not possible without the help of my wife,” he says, and he uses the word “we” as much as “I” when he talks about his art and about the book. Gahagan-Thomas helps her husband manage daily life as a quadriplegic—before Thomas spoke about his work in a phone interview, Gahagan-Thomas had to set up his Bluetooth earpiece—and is also crucial to Thomas’ commercial success. “My wife has an incredible marketing mind,” Thomas says, and together, they make a career in the art world. The pair spent nearly two years getting Flight of the Mind ready for publication. “We decided it was time to put it together,” Thomas says. “We wanted to do it one time and do it right.” In addition to preparing the images, that meant hiring writer Johnson to write the accompanying text. In the end, the pieces came together the way Thomas wanted. “The flow of the pages, the text— it’s a lot of luck,” he says, but he is pleased with the finished product. “It’s quite humbling” but also “very rewarding” to see a quarter-century of his work bound together. The response from readers and reviewers makes it clear that Thomas is not the only one who finds Flight of the Mind a rewarding experience. Thomas sees publishing his art in book form as a way to reach a wider audience than he does through the sale of individual paintings, and he is open to the possibility of bringing out a second volume. “We’d like to follow up this book,” he says. “Maybe in another five years, depending on how this book sells.” Flight of the Mind took several years from conception to production, and Thomas has one key piece of advice for other artists who may want to publish their own work: Keep records. “A lot of artists just sell their work,” he says, without tracking the information that they will need to produce a retrospective or publish a collection. “There’s not a lot of documenting,” and then “they reach that point in their careers where they wish they had something to refer back to.” Thanks to the detailed archive of his own work that Thomas and Gahagan-Thomas have maintained, they were able to bring together the images he need-
ed to produce the collection. He hopes other artists will do the same and also “store that body of work somewhere where it’s accessible,” he says. “Without some kind of history, it’s not possible.” For now, Thomas continues to sell his book in person, traveling regularly to art shows, and through his website, though he is also looking into the possibility of working with bookstores. He continues to paint every day. He likes his symbolic paintings, he says, but does not claim a favorite from among his collection—at least, not yet. “I always say that my favorite is the one I haven’t done.” Sarah Rettger is a writer and bookseller in Massachusetts.
Flight of the Mind A Painter’s Journey Through Paralysis Thomas, Marcus C. Lydia Inglett Publishing (210 pp.) Price varies | Dec. 2012 978-1-938-41704-7
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SPEAKEASY DEAD A P.G. Wodehouse-Inspired Romantic Zombie Comedy
SEXUAL ENLIGHTENMENT How to Create Lasting Fulfillment in Life, Love, and Intimacy
Loebel, Vicky Pentachronistic Press (199 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Jan. 6, 2014
An aspiring warlock’s attempt to satisfy a demon’s wager is complicated by zombies and bootleggers in Loebel’s (Keys to the Coven, 2013) new novel. Clara Woodsen has a major dilemma on her hands. She’s organized a dance contest at the Falstaff Ninepin Fellowship, a witches’ coven that also features a saloon and bowling alley. The contest is part of the festivities celebrating the opening of the Hollywood Grand Hotel, and the main attraction is the actor Beau Beauregard. The promotion attracts some of the most glamorous movie stars of the 1920s, but a disaster threatens to ruin Clara’s plans. While the contest is in full swing, Beau lies in a hotel room on the verge of death from peritonitis. Desperate to save Beau’s life, and the contest, Clara decides to put her family’s supernatural powers to good use. With her cousin Bernard Benjamin as her assistant, she summons a demon named Hans to help save Beau. Hans agrees to help if Bernard teaches his genie, Ruth, to dance well enough to qualify for the contest finals. Beau’s life is spared, but he returns to Clara as a zombie. Can Clara use her powers as a warlock to cater to Beau’s needs and also win her wager with Hans? And will the unexpected arrival of bootleggers derail Clara’s plans? Loebel’s novel offers a frothy paranormal romance anchored by a well-developed setting and a clever narrative structure. Her re-creations of 1920s fashions and high-society parties, complete with references to newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst and actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, are vivid and lively, and the bootlegging subplot blends in seamlessly with the paranormal action. The chapters alternate between the first-person perspectives of Clara and Bernard, and this technique effectively explores the motivations of the lead characters and the consequences of their actions while also introducing a solid supporting cast. Between the zombies and the bootleggers, the action is a bit excessive; however, a robust sense of humor keeps the proceedings from going over the top. A briskly entertaining novel with a colorful setting and the right mix of humor and paranormal romance.
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Meuth, Elsbeth; Weaver, Freddy Zental BalboaPress (142 pp.) $11.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Nov. 19, 2013 978-1-4525-8543-7 In this guidebook for sexual awareness and enjoyment, the authors deliver narrative stories and explanations to help demystify sex and bring depth and meaning to readers’ sexual lives. Meuth and Weaver present compelling information about what it means to have sexual experiences that involve mental, emotional and physical engagement. Beginning with a foundation for sexual knowledge, the authors define sexual enlightenment as having two dimensions: The first revolves around “sexual life-force energy, which brings forth life in all that is alive”; the second “involves the human capacity to be self-reflective or aware of one’s own existence, particularly becoming aware and conscious of one’s life-force energy.” Sexual enlightenment also involves an integration of the mind and body, which produces an awareness of the self as it fits into the greater sexual force of the world. Written conversationally, the book dives into not only definitions of an enlightened sexual life, but also ways to strive toward awareness, including meditation, conscious breathing and “energy awareness,” which involves becoming aware of the sexual energy that moves around and through us. The book also presents a variety of passages that offer historical context for sexuality, such as the rise of Tantric sexual discovery and the ways in which Puritanism, Hinduism and other ideological institutions have conceived of the sexual experience. Movement and physicality are deeply connected to our emotions, the authors say, which have been trained by experiences, both good and bad. In order to move the emotional body away from anger, victimhood and other negative emotions that stunt sexual energy and life force, the authors posit that one “can make a conscious decision to shift out of this auto-emotional state of reaction and actually invent other interpretations by calling on your ‘witness state.’ ” For example, maybe that driver who cut you off was actually racing to be with his pregnant wife who has gone into labor; such reasoning (even if invented) should calm your senses, the authors say, and thus help return you to inner peace. Elsewhere, drawing from theories involving chakras and energy fields, the authors examine the physical body and the areas of the body that emanate sexual energy. Much like a touch from a lover can be arousing, a cool breeze or heat from the sun’s rays can excite the body, further encouraging the idea that creative, sexual energy comes from within, not from the validation and acknowledgment of others. These kinds of lessons and reinforcements make the book a valuable read for anyone seeking a deeper relationship with his or her sexual self. An informed, dynamic exploration of sexual history and energy.
Peas And Hambone Versus Flesh-Eating Zombie Gorillas Nichols, Todd SecretSquirrel Books (120 pp.) $5.99 paper | Nov. 9, 2013 978-0-615-87100-4
A boy and his dog face off against a horde of zombie gorillas in this actionpacked adventure by debut author Nichols. Peter, whose nickname is “Peas,” is an ordinary 10-year-old kid with an extraordinary dog named Hambone. The dog walks and talks like a human but only when he’s alone with Peas, and he gives Hobbes (of Bill Watterson’s famous Calvin and Hobbes comic strip) a run for his money. Snarky troublemaker Hambone is determined to get even with a gorilla who threw “dirt” at him, so he and Peter break into the zoo early one morning. As they try to determine which gorilla is Hambone’s nemesis, they stumble upon an evil plot: One of the gorillas (whom Peas nicknames “Evil Doctor Crazy Gorilla”) gives the other gorillas a smoky green potion that turns them into zombies. Peas and Hambone are the only ones who stand between humanity and the zombie gorilla incursion, aside from crazy Mr. Oswalt, who’s so obsessed with World War I that he pilots a Sopwith Camel biplane around the neighborhood, and the Mama’s Boys biker gang, which fights with foam swords and squirt guns. Peas, who’s seen a lot of scary movies, knows that where there’s a potion, there must be an antidote. Hambone, who suffered a “childhood trauma involving the movie King Kong,” has a serious hatred of gorillas and zombies, and he comes up with the plan that eventually leads them to the mad scientist’s lair. Peas and Hambone’s first outing, full of chase scenes, absurd combat, cross-dressing and gross-out humor, is a madcap adventure sure to appeal to fans of Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books and Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The vocabulary and pacing are well-suited to reluctant readers, and Nichols’ silly, coined phrases (such as “whup-butt” and “Oh-my-shnippies!”) are catchy enough that kids might adopt them. A clever series starter sure to leave readers wanting more Peas and Hambone adventures.
PHOENIX IN A JADE BOWL Growing up in Korea Oh, Bonnie Bongwan Cho CreateSpace (170 pp.) $10.00 paper | Oct. 16, 2013 978-1-4827-3860-5
A slim memoir about life in Korea from the mid-1930s through the Korean War and beyond. As a small child, Oh (co-author, The Korean Embassy in America, 2003, etc.) expressed dismay when kids teased her about her masculine-sounding first name, Bongwan, which
translates as “Phoenix in a Jade Bowl.” Her father explained that he didn’t want to impose gender restrictions on his eldest daughter; he wished her to be able to rise from the ashes like the legendary phoenix while also remaining grounded in the real world, like a jade vase. Oh’s affecting portrait of her family’s struggles begins in Seoul with Japanese colonialism—she was forced to salute Japan’s “Rising Sun” flag in school—but her father, an intellectual lawyer, retained pride in his heritage, refused to change the family surname and taught his children the Korean language. The author’s laconic, fast-moving prose offers memorably poignant moments, including an account of the death of her younger brother. Her mother eventually had seven children, and the author, barely into puberty, was forced to grow up quickly and act as a surrogate parent to her siblings during tough times. Fear and hunger permeate most of her memories; for example, Oh spent her 11th birthday standing in a rice ration line on V-J Day in 1945, when Korea was liberated from the Japanese. The family’s troubles didn’t end there, however; while they lived under American rule, Oh’s father was unjustly jailed, North Korean occupation ultimately began in the south, and the author was temporarily imprisoned in a North Korean “Volunteer Youth Corps” at a boarding school. One moving section depicts Oh’s migration as a war refugee during the “One-Four Retreat,” in which she and her siblings packed into an overly crowded train during a bitterly cold winter. Despite their hardships, Oh’s parents always emphasized education, and she eventually graduated as a valedictorian and was accepted into a mostly male university, paving the way for her later journey to America. A powerfully understated memoir that offers a glimpse into Korean history and a story of the strength of familial bonds.
Life on Altamont Court Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary Pines, Trent D TD Literary Tales (362 pp.) $16.99 paper | $6.99 e-book Nov. 11, 2013 978-0-615-83795-6
Pines’ debut memoir offers a lighthearted, entertaining tale about his time on Altamont Court—a small, suburban cul-de-sac in Morristown, N.J.—and the neighbors who became his surrogate family. The author repeatedly notes that he never envisioned himself having a white-picket-fence kind of life. However, that’s exactly what he got when he moved, with his partner, Ken, to Altamont Court, a quiet suburban neighborhood filled with zany, inquisitive and lovable neighbors. The memoir’s first section centers on Pines’ story of renovating a “half-million-dollar fixer-upper” home soon after he and Ken arrived in Morristown—a disastrous undertaking that’s similar to the one in the 1986 comedy film The Money Pit, which the author quotes |
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“Although JD’s musings are at times whiny and self-indulgent, he’s a relatable character throughout—flawed but trying to find purpose.” from long live the suicide king
throughout. The latter, and longer, section focuses on the couple’s life on Altamont Court after the renovation was complete and their relationships with their neighbors, including Karla, the outspoken matriarch next door; her tomboy daughter, Erin, who became Pines’ “faux goddaughter”; and Davin, Karla’s youngest son, who was “as honest and sincere as they come.” Ultimately, the stories here are simply amusing, at best, but the author’s voice and personality make this book highly entertaining. Pines is an honest, self-deprecating narrator (“Once we were boarded, I drugged myself with an Ambien, two Xanax, and two shots of vodka and woke up as we landed....Believe me when I say it’s in everyone’s best interest that I remain anesthetized on long international flights”), and reading his book feels like having a conversation with an old friend. This memoir is also notable for its real-life story of a committed gay couple living a peaceful domestic life, something rarely portrayed in the popular culture. A heartwarming memoir featuring funny stories of suburban life.
LONG LIVE THE SUICIDE KING Ritchey, Aaron Michael Courtney Literary Apr. 3, 2014
In Ritchey’s (The Never Prayer, 2012) powerful YA novel, a teenage boy flirts with death as he struggles to find meaning in life. Jim Dillenger—JD to his friends— lives an unremarkable upper-middleclass life in suburban Denver. He’s a gifted student, but he spends most of his time getting high with his apathetic group of friends. His parents’ crumbling marriage and the recent death of his grandfather have left him bitter and ready to end it all. He’s not great at keeping his suicidal aspirations a secret, and soon, the entire high school is betting on whether or not he’ll kill himself. It’s a powerful take on an all-too-relatable subject for teenage readers. JD is a typical snarky adolescent—he describes the school counselor as “spelunking down into middle-age”—and he’s unsatisfied by what he perceives as his mundane existence. He floats through life, lacking real connection to the people around him, until he finally meets an unlikely group of friends who try and pull him out of his malaise. This ragtag bunch includes an octogenarian neighbor with keen insight, a drugdealing dropout with higher aspirations, and a pair of Christian girls whose beliefs are, at first, highly offensive to the staunchly agnostic Jim. These richly drawn, beautifully complex characters, and the relationships they forge with JD, form the novel’s backbone. The first-person prose is acerbic, witty and at times achingly poignant. The novel deftly handles issues of religion, balancing JD’s cutting appraisals of what he perceives as hypocrisy with gentler voices that display the power of spirituality without seeming sanctimonious. Although JD’s musings are at times whiny and self-indulgent, he’s a relatable 134
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character throughout—flawed but trying to find purpose. His keen perceptions of others and their motives, coupled with his sensitivity toward underdogs, make him a character to root for. Overall, the subject matter may make this a dark read for younger teens, but it’s a story to which many will connect and in which they may ultimately find hope. A compelling tale of teenage depression handled with humor and sensitivity.
DRAGON QUEST
Ryan, Nora Illus. by Mitsui, Linda CreateSpace (142 pp.) $9.75 paper | $6.25 e-book Nov. 29, 2012 978-1-4792-9976-8 A misfit dragon’s uphill climb to graduate from Dragon Academy takes an unexpected turn in this fine children’s fantasy. When the young dragons of Frith, an island surrounded by a purple sea, aren’t playing “fizzbang” and eating barbecued gizzards, they’re hard at work at the Dragon Academy trying to master “Flight Theory, Flame Throwing and Dragon Code.” Student dragon Soot finds the classes especially challenging, as he was born with “a loose fire-spurter” and has trouble hitting targets with fireballs. Although he’s bigger than his classmates, sensitive Soot’s wings are smaller, making flight worrisome. A bully named Scorcher and his crowd make fun of Soot, but his wise teacher, professor Blaze, and his best friends “since dragongarten,” Ember and Spark, offer encouragement. Soon, odd things begin happening to Soot, involving the uncouth, slimy Glomgoyls—dragons who lost their abilities to fly after they ate or drove away local creatures known as shoggies. Soot’s adventure begins in earnest when he’s given his long-lost father’s quest pouch, containing an item that magically links the father and son. Could Soot’s missing father still be alive? Soot finds the answer during his final Dragon Academy test—a quest to find a giant spider’s web, shoggie eggs and a tiger lizard skin. During the test, he faces unforeseen dangers and makes discoveries that will change his life and the lives of all the dragons on Frith. By the book’s end, which hints at further adventures to come, Soot’s bravery and compassion are rewarded. Ryan (Marie’s Story, 2008, etc.), the author of a Caribbean-inspired trilogy for adults, deftly layers her debut children’s book with gentle but effective lessons in empathy and friendship. Throughout this light, lively fantasy, she offers colorful imagery, lightly spun with messages of compassion and respect for others. Illustrator Linda Mitsui’s simple black-andwhite drawings don’t quite reach the same level as the prose, but her chapter title designs add genuine charm. An engaging story of a sensitive dragon who finds his strength and courage.
KOREA, ARE YOU AT PEACE? Tales of Two Women Travelers in a Troubled Land
THE AGE OF COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS Discover Your True Identity & Accelerate Your Evolution
Simson, J.A.V. AbbottPress (198 pp.) $33.99 | $14.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Aug. 9, 2013 978-1-4582-1037-1
Simson (The God that Says I Am, 2010) intertwines a well-documented travel memoir with geography, history and culture. When biologist Simson was offered a contract to teach on American military bases in South Korea via the University of Maryland University College Overseas Division, she was excited to explore a culture much different than that of her hometown of Charleston, S.C. The end result is this compelling narrative in which Simson compares her modern-day experiences in South Korea to those of Victorian travel writer Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop. Both women were 63 when they began their journeys—Bishop in 1894, Simson in 1999—and though Bishop traveled with the aid of missionaries and Simson’s two-year stint involved navigating confusing streets in used cars, both women went home with a deep admiration for many of the people they met along the way. While Simson presents a condensed history of Korea’s troubled past and a vivid account of her trip to the Demilitarized Zone, she also offers many glimpses of her dayto-day life in places like Songtan and Taegu, including descriptions of Korean food such as a delicious pajeon (onion pancake). Of course, some culture shock is to be expected, and Simson describes the difficulties she encountered with the Korean language and weather-related problems, like the time her car broke down in a monsoon. The author writes that though neither she nor Bishop was fond of large Korean cities, they both reveled in the magnificent beauty of the countryside and mountains. (Generations ago, Bishop was able to explore the Diamond Mountains, now part of North Korea.) As in any culture, there are paradoxes, and Simson portrays them with a nonjudgmental but honest voice; for instance, the same people who drove recklessly and always seemed to be in a hurry were also industrious and quick to help her. Likewise, the same culture in which she saw women mistreated also held a deep reverence for its elders. Various religious influences—nature worship, shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity—are also briefly discussed with notable objectivity. Serious travel readers will appreciate Simson’s gentle, evenhanded presentation of a colorful, multifaceted culture.
Transform Publishing, LLC Transform Publishing, LLC (284 pp.) $15.99 paper | $12.99 e-book Jul.. 16, 2013 978-0-9895843-0-2
A call to awakening and personal evolution. Contemporary metaphysical thinking holds that we are in a time of accelerated personal and collective development, with desire spreading for more meaningful, conscious living. This work, by an unnamed author, speaks both to individuals who are just beginning to explore New-Age philosophy, as well as to readers who are already familiar with it. The structure is a continuous discourse, with numbered sections, meant to be read in the sequence presented. The format and reassuring tone gain the reader’s buy-in, as does the strategy of introducing topics, observations and suggestions that are commonplace or accessible before making assertions that are less known and increasingly challenging to mainstream concepts of reality. Many of the themes are easily understood—trust intuition, live with greater passion, steer clear of lower energies, and pay attention to the physical body, the earth, and the vibrational quality of food and water. Living a spiritual life is painted attractively and plausibly. Nonalarmist language (and well-crafted at that) presents positive developments as inevitable, from revolt against oppressive governments and institutions to activation of latent traits embedded in our DNA to contact with beings from elsewhere in the cosmos—some of whom, suggests the author, may be responsible for said encoding. The notion of alien presence, involvement and even experimentation on human beings may be new, and possibly off-putting, to many readers, except perhaps, followers of new-consciousness explorers such as David Wilcock. In the context of other similar, compassionate discussions, these concepts come across as neither far-fetched nor sensationalistic, however, but as worthy of consideration. Take what resonates and leave the rest, the author consistently counsels, while just as consistently giving the perceived contours of reality a gentle shake, again and again. Thirty steps to a new way of being, for individuals, humanity and the planet.
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“By smashing together the language of prayer and observational humor, Whitten is able to reveal the cracks and contradictions in modern life that tickle us as much as they trouble us.” from the book of extremely common prayer
GREYSON GRAY: FAIR GAME
ANGELESIS A Divine Incarnation
Tweedt, B.C. CreateSpace (340 pp.) $12.50 paper | $7.99 e-book Nov. 22, 2013 978-1-4936-5677-6
Tweedt’s (Greyson Gray: Camp Legend, 2012) preteen hero returns, this time combating terrorists that are planning an attack at the Iowa State Fair. It’s been less than two months since 12 year-old Greyson Gray foiled a terrorist plot in his previous adventure. He’s now under the protection of FBI Agent Kip, who guards Greyson against possible retaliation from Everett Oliver Emory, the notorious terrorist brother of the man whose plans Greyson ruined. The boy is allowed to attend the fair with his friends, but it’s not long before Pluribus, an antigovernment group with a possible connection to Emory, makes its presence known. There are four presidential candidates at the fair, which leads Greyson and his pals to expect the worst. This second book in Tweedt’s series has a similar plot to the first, in which Greyson fought terrorists at a sports camp, but a decidedly darker tone: Not everyone makes it to the end, and not everything is neatly resolved. Greyson, still sporting his trademark fanny pack, shows some new signs of maturity as he questions what, if anything, lies beyond death. There are some other familiar faces, including meek, stuttering Liam; twins Jarryd and Nick; and romantic interest Sydney. This time, Greyson has competition for Sydney’s affections in the form of Sam, the charming son of a governor. Jarryd, as in the previous book, provides comic relief even when he isn’t trying to do so; his text to Greyson to let him know he’s at the “rondayvoo” is particularly hilarious. But many new characters are just as memorable, including an unnamed assassin whose peeling skin (from radiation poisoning) is reminiscent of a snake’s; his creepiest moment comes when he asks Greyson, who’s watching Sam and Sydney on the dance floor, “Something troublin’ it?”—“it” meaning Greyson. The book’s final third is almost exclusively made up of action scenes, as it bounces among the perspectives of different characters, including Greyson, Kip, Greyson’s mom and Jarryd, while maintaining an impressive, tireless pace. Overall, this novel is both an improvement over the last installment and a fitting lead-in for the next in the series. Readers who liked Greyson’s first adventure will be more than happy with this latest outing.
VanOrsdell, John iUniverse (516 pp.) $26.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Sep. 20, 2013 978-1-4917-0649-7 An alien spacecraft approaches Earth— bearing some very strange tidings. The world of VanOrsdell’s immensely enjoyable fiction debut is completely normal—sports, weather, international tensions, billions of people going about their daily lives—when everything suddenly receives a gigantic, fundamental disruption: A large alien spacecraft announces its imminent arrival in Earth’s orbit and seeks to open communications with the United States, claiming to come in peace. American president Bryce and his advisers, including funny, charismatic young Peter Klein, frantically plan their approach, including whether to let space shuttle astronauts attempt to board the alien vessel once it appears. They’re also eager to control the story, but it inevitably breaks all over the world, allowing VanOrsdell one of his frequent flashes of irreverent humor when he lists some of the international headlines: “London: ‘Five Nude Aliens Spotted Outside Pub!’ Rio: ‘Space Beast Claw Prints Found On The Beach!’ And from Tehran: ‘Death To The Infidel Aliens!’ ” The aliens— three tall, glowing beings (“You could not pronounce our names,” they inform their human hosts, “and it would pain us to hear you try”)—want to assemble a committee of Earth representatives, including veteran Boston journalist Arthur Frayles, brother to the first lady and one of the book’s best-drawn characters. The aliens want to warn Earth of impending crisis and announce the advent of a divine being called the Holy Daughter. VanOrsdell moves his plot forward at such a brisk pace through terrorist threats, belligerent Russians, Peter Klein’s love life, etc., that readers will wonder how he’s going to further complicate an already complicated story. Some of VanOrsdell’s readers may be nonplussed by his aliens-areangels concept, but even the hardest to please will enjoy his exuberant, dramatic storytelling. A spirited new take on the old story of Earth making first contact with aliens.
The Book of Extremely Common Prayer Whitten, Nathaniel Vitally Important (128 pp.) $8.95 paper | Jan. 31, 2014 978-0-9774807-5-3
A humorist with an ear for social commentary uses the language of prayer to highlight the absurdity of the modern world. Veteran humorist and stylistic prankster Whitten (Do-It-Yourself Constitutional Amendment Kit, 2008, etc.) returns with a volume that is as much an experiment in style as a play for laughs. Having 136
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already set his sights on self-help culture and modern American politics, Whitten turns his perceptive eye to religion, particularly evangelism. Each page offers a humorous observation framed in the style and language of prayer. While not openly mocking, the book is far from reverent. Whitten’s stylistic choices are more for comic effect than commentary, but his subjects aren’t far from those of actual prayers—prayers of thanks, confusion, repentance and mourning, among others, all done up in his own comic language. Rather than getting the language of the devout, readers get a “Prayer for Paul McCartney to Retire Already” or, in one of the book’s funnier examples, a mealtime prayer that expresses thanks for the food while asking for protection from the growth hormones, pesticides and preservatives that were used to help create it. At their best, these jokey conversations with God are laughout-loud funny; at their worst, they approach the level of an awkward stand-up routine. What lingers about the book, however, isn’t the comedy. Through the course of the prayers, a character begins to develop that turns out to be much more than just witty. Despite the lighthearted tone he takes, readers can see in this supplicant a man who is baffled by his surroundings and trying quite desperately to find answers to life’s big questions. As they try to make sense of a senseless world, these mock prayers often don’t differ much from the genuine thing, which elevates Whitten’s latest entry above being simply a joke book. By smashing together the language of prayer and observational humor, Whitten is able to reveal the cracks and contradictions in modern life that tickle us as much as they trouble us. To his credit, the book spends as much time scanning the zeitgeist as delivering punch lines. These jokey prayers are likely to resonate beyond the smiles they produce.
down on her humble origins, and Harry Lewis, a Jew, who’s kept on the fringes by his religion. Vera’s organizational abilities and Harry’s financial skills provide them ways into the community’s inner circle, but they maintain an emotional distance from the elite, allowing them to connect with each other and to serve as the novel’s moral center. As West Iver accustoms itself to European refugees, air raid drills and the unfamiliarity of a world where the housekeepers have gone off to work in the munitions factories, the community does its best to protect its own and maintain a united front when tragedy leads to uncomfortable questions. Williams captures the ennui and isolation of an upscale suburb, along with the casual prejudice, social stratification and sense of duty that define the era. But the book, though overly long, isn’t entirely bleak, and the characters, particularly Vera and her daughter Jenny, grow in ways that will be both satisfying to modern readers and plausible within the limits of their world. A well-constructed novel of mid-20th-century New England that doesn’t intend to inspire nostalgia.
THE INVASION
K i r k us M e di a LL C
Williams, Jane CreateSpace (362 pp.) $12.00 paper | $9.56 e-book Oct. 14, 2013 978-1-4909-6252-8
# President M A RC W I N K E L M A N Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N Chief Financial Officer J ames H ull
In this novel centered on a private school, alliances shift and families change over the course of a decade in a New England community. Williams (Family Affairs, 1977) follows the adults and children of several families in the fictional Massachusetts town of West Iver from the 1930s to the close of World War II, with an epilogue that brings readers up to date on the characters’ evolutions through the second half of the 20th century. The residents of Parker Farm Road are connected by their WASP status, their committee work and, in particular, their connections to Parker Farm School; the narrative is bookended by two gruesome deaths on school grounds. Most of the principal characters are outsiders, including Vera Oliver, who’s married to a successful lawyer, though she knows her old-money neighbors look
SVP, Marketing M ike H ejny SVP, Online Paul H offman # Copyright 2014 by Kirkus Media LLC. KIRKUS REVIEWS (ISSN 1948- 7428) is published semimonthly by Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Road, Austin, TX 78744. Subscription prices are: Digital & Print Subscription (U.S.) - 12 Months ($199.00) Digital & Print Subscription (International) - 12 Months ($229.00) Digital Only Subscription - 12 Months ($169.00) Single copy: $25.00. All other rates on request. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kirkus Reviews, PO Box 3601, Northbrook, IL 60065-3601. Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, TX 78710 and at additional mailing offices.
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“There are no wacky plot twists here—just refreshingly genuine warmth and quiet observations of real-life moments among family members, be they human, canine or feline.” from summer at the z house
BULLET PROOF How to Arm Yourself for the Fight of Your Life Willis Jr., Philip Spirit Reign Publishing (181 pp.) $13.00 paper | Dec. 20, 2013 978-1-940002-31-6
A National Guard chaplain and Iraq War veteran reflects on his service to distill lessons of faith and life. In 1996, Willis was a new seminary graduate with few employment prospects when he signed up with the National Guard as a Chaplain Candidate. After he shipped off to basic training in Fort McCoy, Wis., he immediately began to change, at first by surrendering the standards of comfort that had guided his civilian life. Specifically, he learned how little he needed, which served to reinforce his Christian faith. That faith, and a personal bravery that Willis consistently downplays, made him the confidant of troops and commanders alike. “You can tell how a Command functions by how they use their Chaplain,” one commander tells him. After his unit was deployed, his experiences dealing with men and women fighting and dying opened his eyes to the hidden dimensions of sacrifice. Soldiers came to Willis with all kinds of concerns, and he sometimes had to walk a fine line between counsel and command: “It’s easy being the supportive Chaplain,” he writes, “but when you have to censure, rebuke, or reprimand someone, you can become unpopular in a hurry.” Alongside his men, he saw some of the worst the Iraq War had to offer, and as he relates stories of violence, boredom, treachery and fear, he also weaves in the history of chaplains in earlier conflicts. More prominently, he smoothly and thoughtfully provides biblical insights into his wartime reminiscences. Staying true to the tenets of his faith required courage, particularly in a military environment that thrived on secrecy. “There is nothing worse than an invalid Christian,” he declares at one point. “How many times have Christians witnessed wrongdoing and said nothing?” Ultimately, Willis’ principled stance strengthened his faith, although even he couldn’t escape the harsh realities of war, as he writes with simple eloquence: “You can never go back to what you left behind.” A stirring, thought-provoking memoir of faith in wartime and a must-read for the worried families of deployed Christian soldiers.
SUMMER AT THE Z HOUSE
Zanville, Holly Illus. by Stommel, Jon; Czekalski, Travis CreateSpace (40 pp.) $9.50 paper | Oct. 27, 2013 978-1-4819-5234-7 A little boy, his mom and assorted pets enjoy a summertime visit from Grandma in this warm chronicle of everyday family life, enlivened with vocabulary-rich text and quirky illustrations. When Grandma arrives for a visit, her engaged, caring presence makes the summer days more fun for Noah, his mom, and their animals, which include a dog named Pepper and three cats. Grandma turns dinner into a special occasion by writing descriptions of her feast (salad, roast beef, chocolate pudding) on a menu that Noah happily reads aloud before each course— a subtle underscoring of the author’s mission to encourage reading among her target audience. Grandma enjoys hearing about Noah’s creative day camp endeavors, which include crafting masks, making a totem pole and creating cartoons with clay figures (all beguilingly and colorfully imagined by illustrators Stommel and Czekalski). She also shares the family’s love for animals. The book is the third in a series of books centered on Noah, his mom and their growing collection of pets, each with its own distinct personality. Zanville (How the Dog Came to Live at the Z House, 2013, etc.), a veteran educator and a regular blogger about reading and literacy at zhousestories.com, offers vivid images throughout; for example, during the family’s trip to an aquarium, Noah observes “miniature jellyfish that looked like white parachutes with dangly tentacles” and “glowed in the lights of their dark tanks so brightly—it was like looking at little stars in the sky.” There are no wacky plot twists here—just refreshingly genuine warmth and quiet observations of real-life moments among family members, be they human, canine or feline. A well-observed, colorfully illustrated book about a close-knit family’s day-to-day life.
This Issue’s Contributors # Alana Abbott • Kent Armstrong • Richard Becker • Becky Bicks • Kathy Biehl • Allie Bochicchio Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Charles Cassady • Stephanie Cerra • Ian Correa • Steve Donoghue • Megan Elliott • Jameson Fitzpatrick • Lynne Heffley • Matthew Heller • Grace Labatt • Mandy Malone Ingrid Mellor • Sarah Rettger • Megan Roth • Sarah Smith • Jack Spring • Kevin Zambrano
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Appreciations: Dr. Seuss at 110 B Y G RE G OR Y M C NAMEE
Photo courtesy Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Some people are afraid of bats, and some people are afraid of cats. Some folks are afraid of flocks, and some folks are afraid of locks. And then some good souls are afraid of—well, there’s no neat rhyme for it, but anapestic rhythms. A classics professor I knew, for example, earnestly warned, “Listen for the anapest in tragedy. When you hear it, something very bad is about to happen.” Life imitating art and all, he refused to admit the anapest into his daily life, fearing that it would interfere with the normal workings of his heart. And as for listening to reggae, where the anapest is king—well, fuggedaboudit. Now, if you’re a metrician, you know that the anapest is made up of two short syllables followed by a long one: duh-duh-DUH. The heart beats in iambs, but it might indeed stop beating when the anapest is near, since the latter originated as a drumbeat for an ancient army on the march. (Through groves of larch. With tunics full of starch.) Which brings us to Theodore Geisel, who was born on March 2, 1904, making him 110. He lives forever, so we’ll use the present tense, even though most people know him only by his middle name: Seuss. Dr. Seuss. Geisel came to writing the children’s books that made him famous after a short but successful career in advertising. (Among other things, he helped popularize a DDT-like pesticide called Flit). Having reduced the messages beamed to adults to a level that children could understand, he was convinced that children need not in turn be talked down to or bored by earnest didacticism. Accordingly, he set to work imagining what might happen if children were in charge of things—“I’d make a few changes / yes that’s what I’d do,” says Gerald McGrew, the young hero of If I Ran the Zoo—and depicting a world where the grown-ups who are in charge make a hash of it. Consider Yertle the Turtle, who ordered the rest of his kind to stack up one atop the other so that he could survey his domain from the highest vantage point. Stacks of turtles are doomed to topple, learns Yertle—who, Seuss later said, was meant to suggest Adolf Hitler. And in what rhythm does Yertle pull off his brief victory? Why, the anapest, of course: And today the Great Yertle, that Marvelous he Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see. Not liking Hitler too early earned people the charge of “premature antifascism” back in the days of McCarthy, and Seuss fell under suspicion. By then, however, he had gained enormous popularity as a children’s writer. He seized the throne in the late 1950s and early ’60s, when his books flew off the shelves, subversively instructing American children not to accept creepy adult green eggs and ham or the evils of Scrooge-ism (beg pardon, Grinch-ism) while proving that complex tales can be delivered in a vocabulary confined to just 250 words. Be not afraid of reverse beats, then, or of skipping up streets. Get those Sneetches to pass a couple of stars this way, and raise your mug and your rug to the good Doctor on this happy day. Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor at Kirkus Reviews. |
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