Featuring 349 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen
KIRKUS VOL. LXXXII, NO.
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REVIEWS
Artist Matt Adrian moves from hipster craft fairs to big-time publishing. p. 136
CHILDREN'S & TEEN
The Madman of Piney Woods
by Christopher Paul Curtis The Newbery medalist blends comedy and tragedy in equal, expert measure for another unforgettable adventure. p. 85
NONFICTION
Theater of Cruelty by Ian Buruma A unique intelligence encounters the uniqueness of art and culture, and readers are the beneficiaries. p. 42
on the cover The tragedy that happened while Mira Jacob wrote her debut novel, The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing, helped her breathe new life into it. p. 14
FICTION
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell A war between immortals leaks into Thatcher's England in this deeply rewarding novel. p. 21
from the editor’s desk:
Changes at the Magazine B Y C la i b orne
Smi t h
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Look at the table of contents, on the opposite page: Starting with this issue of Kirkus Reviews, all of the magazine’s senior editors are writing columns about their own particular corner of the world of books. Our editors are respected and known in the publishing industry, but at least in print, they have for the most part been as anonymous as our reviews. That felt like something we needed to change. To become an editor at this magazine, a journalist must possess several aptitudes: a love for and broad knowledge of an entire range of books (nonfiction in all its forms, say) but also a dogged, detailed, almost microscopic ability to help our Claiborne Smith writers express themselves in the clearest, most engaging ways, all while never letting the daunting number of books we receive for review stress them out. So you might already sense that our senior editors Eric Liebetrau, Laurie Muchnick, Karen Schechner and Vicky Smith each have a world of expertise. But now you’ll hear from them directly. Their columns will reveal what they’re passionate about: books or writers who deserve more attention than a review alone can provide, trends they want to comment on, or developments in our industry they relish, abide by or can’t stand. Check out their first contributions on pages 6, 40, 78 and 130. If you like what we have to say (or think we should be returned to grade school), our email addresses are in the masthead on this page. We also begin a new, monthly feature in this issue, Shelf Space, with the encouragement of the American Booksellers Association, the leading trade organization of indie bookstores across the country. The first issue of every month, we ask indie booksellers about their jobs, their stores’ histories and what they believe in. We kick things off with legendary bookseller Mitchell Kaplan, the owner of Books & Books in Miami (among other locations). Kaplan is also the Read more about Books & Books in our new co-founder of the long-running Miami Book Fair. Shelf Space feature on p. 128. He shares a few memories in Shelf Space that made me laugh. We ask him about his favorite events at Books & Books, and he tells us about Christopher Hitchens’ famous wit. But he also remembers the time Lauren Bacall appeared at the store: “I guess another memorable time was when Lauren Bacall whispered to me that I was a ‘ham’ when I introduced her,” he says. “I think she wanted something more succinct so she could make it to Joe’s Stone Crab on South Beach before it closed.” We hope you like the new changes to the magazine.
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 Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N mkuehn@kirkus.com Editor in Chief C laiborne S mith csmith@kirkus.com Managing/Nonfiction Editor E R I C L I E B E T R AU eliebetrau@kirkus.com Fiction Editor L aurie M uchnick lmuchnick@kirkus.com Children’s & Teen Editor VICKY SMITH vsmith@kirkus.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Contributing Editor G R E G O RY M c N A M E E Senior Indie Editor KAREN SCHECHNER kschechner@kirkus.com Indie Editor RYA N L E A H E Y rleahey@kirkus.com Indie Editor D avid R a p p drapp@kirkus.com Assistant Indie Editor M AT T D O M I N O mdomino@kirkus.com Assistant Editor CHELSEA LANGFORD clangford@kirkus.com Copy Editor BETSY JUDKINS Director of Kirkus Editorial JIM SPIVEY jspivey@kirkus.com Director of Technology E R I K S M A RT T esmartt@kirkus.com Marketing Communications Director SARAH KALINA skalina@kirkus.com Marketing Associate A rden Piacen z a apiacenza@kirkus.com Advertising/Client Promotions A nna C oo p er acooper@kirkus.com
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contents fiction Index to Starred Reviews............................................................5 REVIEWS................................................................................................5 editor’s note.................................................................................... 6 On the Cover: Mira Jacob..........................................................14
The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.
Mystery.............................................................................................. 31 Science Fiction & Fantasy.......................................................... 37 Romance............................................................................................ 37
nonfiction Index to Starred Reviews..........................................................39 REVIEWS..............................................................................................39 editor’s note.................................................................................. 40 The lives of Stephen Crane.......................................................54
children’s & teen Index to Starred Reviews..........................................................77 REVIEWS..............................................................................................77 editor’s note.................................................................................. 78 Candace Fleming Meets the Romanovs..............................94 BOARD-BOOK roundup............................................................... 108 interactive e-books...................................................................127 shelf space.................................................................................... 128
indie Index to Starred Reviews........................................................ 129 REVIEWS............................................................................................ 129 editor’s note..................................................................................130 Matt Adrian’s Mincing Mockingbird.................................. 136 Appreciations: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hippie............... 147
J.K. Rowling returns with her second pseudonymous mystery, which pokes fun at the publishing industry. Read the review on p. 33. |
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on the web Photo courtesy Bader Howari
w w w. k i r k u s . c o m Check out these highlights from Kirkus’ online coverage at www.kirkus.com 9 Photo courtesy Robert Severi
Have you checked out Kirkus TV? If not, look for the Kirkus TV tab on our homepage. Every Monday, we feature a revealing short video interview with best-selling, intriguing writers. On July 7, catch our interview with trendsetting teen writer Maggie Stiefvater; we’re asking her about Sinner, which arrives after the conclusion of her Shiver trilogy. In Sinner, Cole St. Clair has returned to California and his music career. He’s teamed up with an Internet reality TV producer, Baby North, to star in a Web show ostensibly about the making of his new album. Baby’s a life destroyer who specializes in train wrecks—everyone is hoping to watch the now-clean Cole relapse into drugs, debauchery and selfdestruction. Join us as we talk to Stiefvater about crafting what our reviewer calls “a spectacularly messy, emotionally oh-so-human romance.”
9 And be sure to check out our Indie publishing series, featuring some of today’s most intriguing self-published authors. 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 Stephanie Mohan
Also this month, we ask writer Jacqueline Winspear about what it’s been like departing from her best-selling mystery series starring Masie Dobbs so she could publish The Care and Management of Lies, which our critic, in a starred review, says is a “sad, beautifully written, contemplative testament.” In The Care and Management of Lies, it’s July 1914, and the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, friends since girlhood, have become strained—by Thea’s passionate embrace of women’s suffrage and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to Thea’s brother, Tom, who runs the family farm. “Without questioning either the cause of the war or the dubious tactics employed, seemingly, to ensure maximum loss of life for minimal military advantage, these characters simply get on with it, reaffirming our faith in the possibility of everyday nobility,” our review states. Check out our interview with Winspear at kirkus.com.
Novelist Edan Lepucki has had one of the most auspicious launches of a debut novel in recent memory. Because of the standoff between Amazon and Hachette (Little, Brown, a division of Hachette, is Lepucki’s publisher), on The Colbert Report, Sherman Alexie encouraged readers to buy Lepucki’s debut, California, but to buy it from indie bookstores. We talk to Lepucki about the situation surrounding her post-apocalyptic, provocative novel, and about the novel itself, at kirkus.com this month.
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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. Submission Guidelines: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/submission-guidlines Subscriptions: www.kirkusreviews.com/subscription Newsletters: www.kirkusreviews.com/subscription/newsletter/add
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fiction FACEOFF
These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
Baldacci, David—Ed. Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $26.99 | Jun. 3, 2014 978-1-4767-6206-7
THE BETRAYERS by David Bezmozgis................................................ 6 GUTENBERG’S APPRENTICE by Alix Christie....................................8 TIGERMAN by Nick Harkaway..........................................................12 STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel................................... 20 ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE by Randy Susan Meyers.......................21 THE BONE CLOCKS by David Mitchell.............................................21 BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty...................................................22 COLORLESS TSUKURU TAZAKI AND HIS YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE by Haruki Murakami; trans. by Philip Gabriel..................................22 DE POTTER’S GRAND TOUR by Joanna Scott.................................. 24 MR. BONES by Paul Theroux............................................................. 26 LAST STORIES AND OTHER STORIES by William T. Vollmann..... 28 THE FORSAKEN by Ace Atkins........................................................... 31 THE DEAD WILL TELL by Linda Castillo...........................................32 THE SILKWORM by Robert Galbraith................................................ 33 THE BONE SEEKER by M.J. McGrath............................................... 35 STATION ELEVEN
Mandel, Emily St. John Knopf (320 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-385-35330-4
Dennis Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie, Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, Ian Rankin’s John Rebus and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher are among the popular sleuths who mix it up in this story anthology from the International Thriller Writers trade group. Editor Baldacci stages 11 collaborations between leading mystery writers. Some of the character pairings are logical: It’s easy enough for Rebus to travel from Edinburgh to London to collaborate with Peter James’ Roy Grace on an odd cold case— an ailing survivor of the 1960s gang wars between the Mods and Rockers wants to be tried for a murder he says he committed back then. But a humorous meeting between the eternally wandering Reacher and Joseph Finder’s Boston investigator Nick Heller is sheer happenstance. They end up in a Beantown bar seated on opposite sides of a nervous Joe whose life has been threatened by Albanian mobsters. Being that many of these authors have rather similar styles, blending them is less of a challenge than one might think. Ultimately, the appeal of the stories depends on the liveliness of the writing. Among the winners is a pairing of Jeffery Deaver’s forensic specialist Lincoln Rhyme (and partner Amelia Sachs) and John Sandford’s profiler Lucas Davenport (and Lily Rothenburg) on a case involving a sadistic sex criminal. Another standout brings together lesserknown figures: Raymond Khoury’s FBI man Sean Reilly and Linwood Barclay’s building contractor Glen Garber (used only once before). The other duos are R.L. Stine (bringing a fictional wild card to the party with Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy) and Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child; M.J. Rose and Lisa Gardner; Steve Martini and Linda Fairstein; Heather Graham and F. Paul Wilson; John Lescroart and T. Jefferson Parker; and Steve Berry and James Rollins. Promoting “face-offs” pitting one author against another makes no sense since the goal here is cohesion. That said, this anthology handles its concept well.
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blame it on the beach Photo courtesy Owen Thomas
For several years now, my summerreading dreams have been all about big families misunderstanding each other near the cold waters of New England. It began with a book cover. I know you’re not supposed to judge, but what could be more alluring than a picture of a woman lying on a beach, like the one on J. Courtney Sullivan’s Maine? (That long expanse of sand doesn’t look like New England, but that’s another story.) And the cover didn’t mislead me: I loved reading about the Kelleher family, three generations of sublimely difficult women spending the summer at their longtime beach retreat—which the matriarch, Alice, is planning to donate to the local church, unbeknownst to anyone. Her late husband won the place on a bet in 1945, after all, and she’ll do what she likes with it, no matter what anyone else has planned. Maine was published in 2011. Maggie Shipstead’s slyly funny Seating Arrangements fit the bill perfectly in 2012: The uber-WASPy Van Meter clan spends a long weekend at their summer house on an island off Cape Cod; daughter Daphne is getting married, and she’s—oops—seven months pregnant. Complexities ensue. This summer I was glad to find Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s Bittersweet, in which Mabel, a scholarship girl, is invited to spend the summer with her capricious roommate, Genevra, whose father is prone to saying things like, “It has been the Winslow tradition….” “Bittersweet” is the name of the family compound, and it’s a fitting one for that mysterious place, though certainly not for the experience of reading about it. —Laurie Muchnick Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor at Kirkus Reviews. (For more on judging a book by its cover, see Senior Indie Editor Karen Schechner’s column on p. 128.)
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THE BETRAYERS A Novel
Bezmozgis, David Little, Brown (240 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Sep. 23, 2014 978-0-316-28433-2 978-0-316-28436-3 e-book
An Israeli leader confronts the man who sold him out to the KGB decades earlier in a striking exploration of memory, patriotism, faith and duplicity from Bezmozgis (The Free World, 2011, etc.). As the novel opens, Baruch Kotler, a 60-something Russianborn Israeli politician, arrives in Yalta as damaged goods. His support of a Jewish settlement on disputed land has outraged the prime minister, one of whose lackeys attempts to blackmail him with photos of his young mistress. Refusing to back down, he pursues some peace and quiet with said mistress, Leora, in the rundown Crimean resort city he fondly recalls from childhood. (The novel is set in August, 2013, and none of the current political turmoil factors into the story.) The home the couple rents, however, is owned by Chaim Tankilevich, who years earlier reported the dissident Baruch to the authorities, leading to a 13-year gulag sentence. If the coincidence seems impossibly unrealistic, the conversations between the two men, and the depth of thought and feeling Bezmozgis brings to them, redeem any such concerns. Chaim has lived on the edge of poverty ever since his betrayal, while Baruch has come away from his ordeal a political celebrity hardly wounded by his affair with Leora. Who deserves esteem or contempt here? Who merits punishment? The debate between the two men is a nakedly allegorical one, connected to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute that lays a scrim over the entire narrative. (Baruch’s son is an Israeli soldier with orders to help clear the settlement.) Taking place over the course of one day, the novel offers no pat resolutions to entrenched arguments. But it gains a satisfying tension from its compression, of two men forced to settle accounts in some way about their past in a culture thick with long memories. Philosophical, provocative and nervy—an interior novel that manages to encompass a breadth of issues.
LAW OF DESIRE Stories
Blatnik, Andrej Translated by Soban, Tamara M. Dalkey Archive (130 pp.) $13.95 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-62897-042-5 A clutch of brusque, seriocomic and sometimes forbidding tales about lust, loss and betrayal by the Slovenian author (You Do Understand, 2010). Each of the 15 brief stories in this collection tends to be restricted to two people involved in conflicts that are either familial or romantic. In “Electric Guitar,” a teenage boy lives in
terror of his abusive father until his effort to electrify his accordion provides a serendipitous if mordant solution to his plight. In “Total Recall,” a woman ponders getting back at the man who rejected her by spreading a rumor that he has AIDS. And in “What We Talk About,” a man and woman conduct a brief and awkward flirtation away from their significant others, until the tryst turns violent. The general theme here is that people tend to be punished for pursuing their desires, an idea Blatnik can turn into fablelike comedy, as in “A Thin Red Line,” in which an explorer studying human sacrifice turns out to be an example of it. Or Blatnik can be harrowing and blunt with the theme, as in “No,” a two-page sketch that presages a rape. Blatnik is inventive at imagining a breadth of conceits that work within his narrow tonal range (darkly comic or just plain dark), though the more interior the story, the less successful it is: “Bastards Play Love Songs” is little more than two friends ruminating on the Rolling Stones and love gone wrong, and “When Marta’s Son Returned” is a thin sketch about a PTSD-stricken soldier’s return home. Contrary to the way the flash fiction of You Do Understand thrived on its exceedingly narrow constraints, these stories improve as they expand. The best of the batch, “Closer,” features a man struggling to explain his separation to his young son, and each distant phone call makes his isolation all the clearer. Taut storytelling, if sometimes a bit too high-strung.
WAYFARING STRANGER
Burke, James Lee Simon & Schuster (448 pp.) $27.99 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-1-4767-1079-2
A sequel to the Hackberry Holland trio (Feast Day of Fools, 2011, etc.) that’s also an unofficial prequel to most of Burke’s other 32 novels. Weldon Holland’s fate was sealed the day four strangers drove onto his grandfather Hackberry’s ranch and parked there as if they owned the place. After the ex–Texas Ranger had words with them, they drove off at their leisure, but not before Weldon recognized two of them as Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and fell hopelessly in love with Bonnie. The memory of her haunts him throughout his World War II service, and the echo of her he sees in camp survivor Rosita Lowenstein leads him to carry her first to the altar and then back to Texas. The happy couple is soon followed home by Weldon’s wartime buddy Hershel Pine, who’s convinced he has second sight about some things, like the application of Nazi technology to the oil pipelines he’s determined to build and his gift for picking gushers. The two hit up Weldon’s uncle Cody for a loan and go into business, and although Hershel overrates his gifts in some ways, he’s spot-on about enough to make the Dixie Belle Pipeline Company a success that will attract the attention of predatory investor Roy Wiseheart, who smilingly assures Weldon, “We’re more alike than you think,” and tempt Hershel’s wife, Linda Gail, to dreams of Hollywood and adultery. The postwar setting allows Burke to dramatize the
uncertain early days of big oil, but the characters, their volcanic conflicts and their implacable demons will be instantly recognizable to Burke’s many fans. Instead of focusing on the wages of long-ago sin, as he generally does, Burke (Light of the World, 2013) shows the sins actually being committed over several fraught years in the nation’s history. The result is a new spaciousness married to his fine-tuned sense of retribution.
WARBURG IN ROME
Carroll, James Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (384 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-547-73890-1 A well-paced thriller from longtime Vatican watcher Carroll (Crusade, 2004, etc.) set in post–World War II Rome, with the Catholic Church athwart a tangle of scandalous politics and incriminating deeds. “Sanctuary, Sister, is for the guilty. We may not like it, but there it is.” So remarks an American monsignor, Kevin Deane, who’s working to provide relief to Italian Jews, even as others in the Vatican are seeking to extend that sanctuary to their Nazi persecutors. Into this conflict comes refugee coordinator David Warburg, a confidant of Henry Morgenthau, who has warned him that “[o]nce Mark Clark captures it, Rome will be the nerve center and the escape hatch both.” If Morgenthau only knew how deeply tunneled that escape hatch was....Helping Warburg—or is she?—is a Red Cross worker named Marguerite d’Erasmo, who “came of age as if she were a nun” but who has hidden resources, to say nothing of secrets. Marguerite is a person of faith much shaken, for this is a time in which “the Madonna seemed indifferent to everyone but her Son,” while Warburg is a coolly efficient explorer of the surprising alleys his quest takes him down—not just the Vatican “ratline” that sweeps Nazis out of the path of the conquering Allies (Rome, as Warburg sees it, is “halfway between Vienna and Buenos Aires”), but also a complex storyline that finds highly placed elements within the Vatican opposing Jewish immigration to Palestine on the grounds that by doing so, they are helping to preserve the Holy Land, even as others are aligned with the revived cause of Zionism. Carroll blends a solid command of modern history with a sense for the varieties of evil that have inhabited it—not just the villains, but also the bureaucrats who have self-servingly helped them along and the apologists who have made the world safe for both classes of people. Though without the white-knuckle tension of Graham Greene’s The Third Man, a yarn that’s of a piece with it—and a worthy successor. (Author appearances in Washington, D.C, New York and Boston)
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“Christie masterfully depicts the time and energy required to print the first Bibles, a yearslong process of trial and error.” from gutenberg’s apprentice
BACK CHANNEL
Carter, Stephen L. Knopf (464 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-0-385-34960-4
Mutually assured destruction meets the dawning civil rights era in legal scholar/ novelist Carter’s (Yale Law School; The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, 2012, etc.) latest novel. Margo Jensen constantly has to prove herself, especially when she’s seated before someone like professor Niemeyer, who, though fearsome, teaches a course on conflict theory that is “among the most popular on the Cornell campus.” Margo, as her name suggests, is a woman, which lowers her categorically in the professor’s estimation. She’s also African-American, which seems not to faze him, certainly not when he helps recruit her to the cause of a nation scrambling to keep up with and beat the Soviets. So it is that Margo jets off to Bulgaria, where she runs afoul of the security apparatus but proves herself sturdy enough to serve as a very much behind-the-scenes intermediary between president and premier, world leaders tasked not just with running their respective countries, but also containing the war factions that clamor for a showdown. Carter is particularly successful at creating an atmosphere of nearly oppressive suspense: As the story unfolds, everyone, it seems, is implicated, even the snotty BMOC who pesters Margo to test the mattresses in the fallout shelter with him. And despite the unlikeliness of the scenario—half a century ago, an African-American traveling either behind the Iron Curtain or outside the kitchen of the White House would attract more attention than Margo does—Carter does a very good job of placing the reader as fly on the wall. We’re treated to all kinds of spectacles from that viewpoint, from Bobby Kennedy clashing with Curtis LeMay to spy vs. spy action in the field (“Ainsley hit him hard in the groin and, as he doubled over, harder in the chin”) that features a welcome veteran of other Carter adventures. The tale grinds too slowly at turns and runs a touch too long, but Carter delivers a satisfying historical thriller with some nice cliffhanging moments. (Author tour to Boston, Chicago, New York, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.)
GUTENBERG’S APPRENTICE
Christie, Alix Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $27.99 | Sep. 23, 2014 978-0-06-233601-9 Christie debuts with a literary exploration of Gutenberg and his printing press, which sparked a technological revolution—as well as the other men involved who were left in history’s shadows. 8
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Johann Fust, prosperous merchant of Mainz, Germany, gathered guilders and gold for Gutenberg. Peter Schoeffer, Fust’s ward who was training in Paris as a scribe, was called home to become Gutenberg’s apprentice—and watch over the mad genius. An orphaned peasant boy, cousin of Fust’s first wife, Schoeffer resented being drawn away from intellectual circles but came to see his chance to “raise again the…lamp of learning.” Schoeffer’s the primary protagonist, his interior journey from frustration to reconciliation to obsession with Gutenberg’s press deftly chronicled against the panorama of the 15th century—the jealous craft guilds, the iron hand and depraved greed of the church hierarchy, the free towns like Mainz controlled by the machinations of oligarchs called Elders. Schoeffer anchors the story, but Gutenberg flashes—megalomaniacal and duplicitous, with hair “wild and bristling to his shoulders… beard cascad[ing]…glinting here and there like twists of wire,” and “glowing, canine eyes.” Christie masterfully depicts the time and energy required to print the first Bibles, a yearslong process of trial and error, tinkering with ink and type, lines and paper, guilder after guilder spent without return, all against a catastrophic backdrop of plague, the fall of Constantinople, the violent superstitions of the peasantry, and a vested intelligentsia fearing the press would generate “crude words crudely wrought...smut and prophecy, the ranting of anarchists and antichrists.” Bibles, 180 in all, are printed in the strictest secrecy lest the press be seized “as a threat to the scriptoria whose proceeds kept the landed cloisters fat.” While rendered chronologically, with a second narrative thread about Schoeffer’s courtship of his first wife, the narrative is given texture through intermittent chapters in which Schoeffer, years later—worried that Gutenberg’s triumph was more corrupt than holy—relates his story to Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim. A bravura debut. (Author appearances in New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle)
SWEETNESS #9
Clark, Stephan Eirik Little, Brown (336 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Aug. 19, 2014 978-0-316-27875-1 978-0-316-27876-8 e-book A social satire raises spooky questions about food additives. “The brain is like the Amazon, Leveraux. Ten steps in and we’re lost.” So flavorist-in-training David Leveraux is told by his boss when he reveals his worries about the obesity and depression of the animals on whom he’s testing a new artificial sweetener, Sweetness #9. The boss explains that as these things go, cancer is easy. Other side effects are “like a scuttling sound on the jungle floor, something that shakes a bush or runs up a tree just moments before you can identify it.” That observation is the heart of the first novel by Clark (he’s also written a story collection, Vladimir’s Moustache, 2012), which will make you nervous about what you eat. Shortly after this
conversation, Leveraux is fired and committed to an institution. Then the novel leapfrogs from 1973 to 1998. Leveraux is out of the bin, back in the business and patriarch of a family raised on fake food. Things are not going well: His wife has weight problems, his son has stopped using verbs, and his angry, rebellious daughter is researching an article on food additives. In fact, every character may or may not be showing the depredations of a chemically based diet, and the problem may have originated with experiments in Hitler’s bunker. While the plot goes off the deep end, Clark’s wit never flags. Of his son Ernest, Leveraux observes, “Churchill once spoke of Russia as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma;...I might describe [Ernest] as a corn dog wrapped inside a slice of pizza stuffed in a Hot Pocket.” Of a rival company, Tanko-Shinju: “I’ve heard [it] translated both as ‘pink pearl’ and ‘two men commit suicide in a coal mine.’ ” Clever writing balances out the conspiracy theories, but the fictional treatment of this issue leaves readers wondering about the facts.
POWER PLAY
A COLDER WAR
Cumming, Charles St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-250-02061-1 978-1-250-02060-4 e-book An intriguing novel of espionage and deceit set primarily in current-day Turkey. “Spying is waiting,” observes one of two spies waiting for the Iranian exfiltration code-named HITCHCOCK. Their wait ends when they witness a Mercedes explode with the Iranian inside. Soon, the spy named Paul Wallinger is killed when his Cessna crashes. Evidence suggests he committed suicide, but could it have been murder? In London, disgraced SIS agent Tom Kell comes in from the cold to try to learn the truth about the mysterious deaths. Do the Brits have a mole in their midst? Do the Americans at Langley care a whit about the life of a British agent? Kell ponders these questions over
Coulter, Catherine Putnam (400 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-399-15734-9 Elite Washingtonians are bedeviled by scandals and murder attempts. Natalie Black’s fiance, George McCallum, Viscount Lockenby, was killed in a car accident that the British tabloids are intimating was suicide after Natalie suppos-
edly threw him over. Because her reputation as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s must be sterling, her longtime friend Secretary of State Arliss Abbott wants her to resign. But President Thornton Gilbert, also a college friend, continues to back her. When a drug addict tries to steal her car, Natalie fights back with the help of FBI Special Agent Davis Sullivan, who’s one of the few people who believe her accounts of attempts to kill her in both England and Washington. Meanwhile, Sullivan’s boss, Dillon Savich, and his wife, Lacey Sherlock, have major problems of their own when Blessed Backman, a killer they apprehended, escapes from a mental hospital vowing vengeance. Given Backman’s ability to hypnotize most people instantly, his chances seem disconcertingly good. Sullivan finds himself guarding Natalie’s daughter, Perry, a sportswriter who’s getting threatening messages, perhaps because of her mother’s problems. Sullivan certainly enjoys guarding Perry’s body, but her longtime friend Day Abbott, who wants to marry her, is much less happy, especially when he’s questioned after an attack on them. The special agents must race the clock to halt the murderous attacks before Natalie loses her job or her life. Coulter (The Final Cut, 2013, etc.) introduces new characters to her FBI series, reinforces old ones and provides plenty for them all to do. But the result, however action-packed, is less thrilling than her best. |
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many cigarettes—lots of smoking goes on in this story. Wallinger’s daughter, Rachel, also wants to know the truth about the “accident,” and she places herself in harm’s way to find out. The Russians, the Americans, the Iranians and the Brits all have a stake in this “game between spies” drama. Everything to Kell becomes “a clue, a tell, a signal—or a blind alley.” The plotting is solid if unexceptional—the twists and turns are unlikely to shock—and the characters are developed just deeply enough to do the job. On the other hand, the details are nicely done; for example the vivid descriptions of the Bosporus: “Kell went outside into the humid afternoon...smoking a cigarette as a rainbow arced across his shoulder towards the distant minarets of Aya Sofia.” Obviously this is Cold War fare, but what the “colder war” of the title is colder than is unclear. Colder than the McCarthy era? Colder than the Cuban missile crisis? Nah. Not a bad story, but it probably won’t leave readers breathless. Spy-vs.-spy fans might give it a try.
CATARACT CITY
Davidson, Craig Graywolf (384 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jul. 8, 2014 978-1-55597-674-3 Snowmobile chases, cigarettes and snub noses: Canadian novelist Davidson’s (The Fighter, 2007, etc.) latest is a down-and-dirty look at life on the quiet side of Niagara Falls. Canadians are reserved, polite and law-abiding, non? Not so. Davidson opens as if with a country song, as Duncan Diggs is preparing to leave prison after 2,912 nights, of which “two were the longest: the first and the last.” Even if the prison is glad to see him gone, and even if he makes a halfhearted vow to get things right this time, Dunk can’t help but be a screw-up; he’s a jailbird now—“a distance had settled into his eyes,” our narrator says—and about the first thing he does is look for fresh trouble. He finds it. How could he not in a town where everyone’s high on bath salts or malt liquor, where the only growth industries are bare-knuckle boxing and petty crime? Dunk aims to improve his lot with a slightly better class of criminal, a reservation rat who runs counterfeit cigarettes from one side of the Niagara River to the other, grabbing at whatever other illicit opportunities present themselves. If Dunk is somewhat one-dimensional and elements of Davidson’s storyline are predictable—of course his childhood friend is going to be a cop, of course they’re both going to have their eye on the same woman, of course things aren’t going to end well—criminal mastermind Lemmy Drinkwater is a fully rounded hoot. It stands to reason, too, that any character named Bovine is a font of comic possibilities, if not ones for the squeamish. The story goes on a few beats too long, especially its protracted conclusion. Still, the icy chase scene that brings things to a head is worthy of Hitchcock, and Davidson’s writing is assured and nuanced even while giving tough-guy noir a good working over. 10
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“It’s a big world out there,” our narrator tells us. So it is, and while you wouldn’t want to live in this corner of it, it’s well worth a visit.
THE GREAT ABRAHAM LINCOLN POCKET WATCH CONSPIRACY
della Quercia, Jacopo St. Martin’s Griffin (400 pp.) $15.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-250-02571-5 978-1-250-02572-2 e-book
In his fiction debut, della Quercia imaginatively steampunks a worldwide conspiracy confronting President William Howard Taft, a crisis that threatens the U.S. Curiously, Taft is “the single greatest underground boxing champion the world would never know of.” That avocation is facilitated by Nellie Taft’s willingness to run her husband’s administration; a look-alike automaton; and an 800-foot-plus flying machine, Airship One, capable of a fun trip across the pond so Taft can box four London toughs in one night. In a plot bracketed by Lincoln’s assassination and the sinking of the Titanic, Taft and company cope with a sinister superweapon fueled by cesium hydroxide, clues to which are incorporated in a pocket watch, “unlike any machine in history,” given to Lincoln by a Russian ambassador. The watch is brought to Taft by a worried Robert Lincoln, Abraham’s son. More characters are yanked from history, including Tesla (he gets good press), Edison (he doesn’t), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Machiavellian J.P. Morgan, and diabolical King Leopold II of Belgium, ravager of the Congo. Taft’s the most appealing character, 350 pounds of bon homme, passionately in love with Nellie, loyal to those who serve him, including the Cuban cigar–smoking Wilkie, Secret Service chief and bane of Nellie’s existence. There’s a Marx Brothers reference amplified by a Groucho-ism; an attack at the White House; an invasion of Yale’s Skull and Bones, “the greatest secret of the society: its lack of any particularly meaningful secrets”; an Airship One trip to meet Kurtz in the heart of darkness; and a rock-’em, sock-’em shootout aboard the Titanic. Highlighted by footnotes linking events to news reports in the archives of the New York Times, the narrative moves smoothly, a tale laced with dialogue often incorporating Tom Swift–ian charm and constructed so that techno-wizardry doesn’t overwhelm the story. A good-fun entry point into the world of steampunk.
“Goodwin’s latest is a pleasurable excursion into Downton-land complete with high-society weddings, lavish balls and an exciting, all-or-nothing horse-racing finale.” from the fortune hunter
GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT
Foster, Alyson Bloomsbury (304 pp.) $26.00 | Jul. 1, 2014 978-1-62040-356-3
Botany professor, mother, troubled wife, manic gardener—and now an astronaut? Foster’s crammed debut tracks the hectic life of Jessica Frobisher, a woman encountering crises of conscience, loyalty and the heart. Narrated in emails, most of them written from Jess to Arthur Danielson, her colleague at the University of Michigan and possibly her lover, this multithemed first novel packs a heavy fuel load but never achieves escape velocity. Jess’ full life and fraught marriage come under additional stress following a shuttle disaster at Spaceco, the commercial space flight company where her husband, Liam, works. The explosion kills two crew members and four passengers. Is Liam implicated in a systems-failure coverup? And what about the future of Spaceco now that tycoon Robert Kahn is suing the company for the death of his daughter, one of the passengers, who was pregnant and shouldn’t have been on board? Then there’s the ethical issue of charging $250,000 for a flight into space to enable thrillseeking members of the 1 percent to play astronaut for a day. Jess, meanwhile, works with endangered plants while Arthur is in Manitoba, Canada, researching global warming’s effect on at-risk subarctic ecosystems. This somewhat heavy-handed mix of politics, morality and personal relationships becomes even more complicated when journalists camp out at Jess’ house and a filmmaker arrives with an offer that might save Spaceco’s finances if he’s allowed to make a documentary about the events, including a space flight with Jess on board. Jess’ emails give voice to a smart, sardonic, abrasive, not especially likable character, but it’s hard to get involved in her emotional dilemmas, perhaps because of the hobbling narrative device. Even the story’s implosive conclusion has a low impact. An intelligent new voice in fiction yet not an especially persuasive one.
NEVER MIND MISS FOX
Glazebrook, Olivia Little, Brown (256 pp.) $25.00 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-0-316-24289-9
A seemingly stable marriage is threatened when a woman from the couple’s past reappears in Londoner Glazebrook’s second novel (The Trouble With Alice, 2013). When Clive fell in love with sophisticated, intellectually ambitious Martha during their senior year at Oxford, she clearly held the balance of power in the relationship. Besotted Clive brought her along on his bourgeois family’s Easter vacation, during which they
hung out with his 15-year old brother, Tom, and Tom’s platonic girlfriend, Eliot Fox, an enigmatic mix of willful audacity and vulnerability who charmed the whole family with her piano playing. When Eliot got dangerously drunk, Martha and Clive worked together to care for her. Years later, Clive is a successful lawyer and Martha has left behind her career to raise their precocious, socially awkward daughter, Eliza. When Eliot turns up as Eliza’s music teacher, Clive is thrown into a panic: Will she expose the secrets he’s kept from Martha all these years? Meanwhile, Martha has been chafing in her marriage and fantasizing about a life alone with Eliza. Soon, Eliot is ingratiating herself into Martha and Eliza’s lives, leaving Clive to squirm until he finally spills his guilty past to Martha. She is as disgusted as Clive assumed she would be. The two separate. Everyone, including Clive himself and even his mother, considers him a villain. Eliza’s schoolgirl crush on Eliot deepens, while Martha gets a great job offer and carries on a tempting flirtation. Whether or not Clive was ever as much at fault as he assumes, the question stops being is Eliot manipulating Clive’s family in vengeance against him? and becomes how far will she go to punish him? Although the hidden incident at the core is predictable and banal, Glazebrook creates an air of faintly comic menace that grows more intense as the novel proceeds.
THE FORTUNE HUNTER
Goodwin, Daisy St. Martin’s (480 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Jul. 29, 2014 978-1-250-04389-4 978-1-4668-4224-3 e-book The love triangle created by an heiress, an empress and an “Adonis on horseback” is delightfully dissected in the second historical romance (The American Heiress, 2011) from a best-selling British novelist. Described variously as shallow, unsuitable, a man with a past but without character, cavalry officer Capt. Bay Middleton is hardly ideal fiance material for a wealthy underage debutante in Victorian England. But he’s the one man to have captured the heart of Charlotte Baird, the shrewd, 20-year-old heir to the Lennox fortune who accepts his proposal after a handful of kisses and despite his bad reputation and inferior social position. Bay’s feelings for Charlotte are true—and unmercenary— but the captain also knows himself to be “unsteady,” which is why he asks Charlotte to elope with him instantly rather than wait a few months until she can marry without her brother’s approval. Charlotte’s refusal to behave improperly leaves Bay open to temptation, which arrives in the epic form of “the modern Helen of Troy,” Empress Elizabeth of Austria, holidaying incognito in England to escape the boredom of life at the Viennese court. Elizabeth, known as Sisi, is a spectacular (if aging) beauty with ankle-length hair whose fearless appetite for fox hunting is matched only by Bay’s. Forced to act as Sisi’s guide while hunting, Bay soon finds himself her lover too, a “secret” which sends ripples of gossip through the upper end of English |
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“Hands down, the best island farce since Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle half a century ago.” from tigerman
society. With its witty dialogue, intriguing research and cameo appearances by Queen Victoria and other royals, Goodwin’s latest is a pleasurable excursion into Downton-land complete with high-society weddings, lavish balls and an exciting, all-or-nothing horse-racing finale. Goodwin has hit on a winning formula—a sophisticated blend of money, class, history, misunderstandings among lovers, spirited women, and unpredictable but irresistible men—and is sticking with it.
GRETEL AND THE DARK
Granville, Eliza Riverhead (352 pp.) $27.95 | Oct. 16, 2014 978-1-59463-255-6
British newcomer Granville pits storytelling against the Holocaust in a pair of alternating narratives whose connection is obvious from the start. When Dr. Josef Breuer’s description of the young woman found nearly dead on the grounds of an abandoned Viennese mental hospital includes mention of a shaved head and “a line of inked characters” on her left arm, we know that she is somehow a concentration camp survivor, even though the year is 1899. Lilie, as Josef calls her, has “come to find the monster”—and we know who that is, even before she asks Josef to take her to Linz because “the monster will be too big by the time he comes to Vienna.” It’s also clear in the narration of an unpleasant girl named Krysta that we have moved into the Third Reich years. Krysta lives on the outskirts of a camp where her Papa performs medical experiments on the inmates; it’s about as plausible that she would strike up a friendship with one of these “animal-people,” a boy named Daniel, as it is that she would suddenly be placed in the camp herself after her guilt-stricken father’s death. Readers are basically waiting to find out how someone from the 1940s appeared in fin de siècle Vienna, and those who paid attention to the novel’s prologue will figure it out long before the author’s explanation in the last five pages. Granville creates an appropriately dark atmosphere, from Josef ’s distasteful attraction to the vulnerable Lilie to the gruesome fairy tales Krysta heard from their housekeeper, Greet, before she and Papa came to the “infirmary.” The author aspires to assert the power of imagination to help people cope with dire circumstances, but her setup is so blatant, her characters so predetermined, that her use of the Holocaust seems like a gimmick rather than a genuine effort to deepen our understanding. Dealing in fiction with a subject of such moral and physical enormity requires a level of rigor and care not achieved in this overly pat novel.
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I AM CHINA
Guo, Xiaolu Talese/Doubleday (368 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-385-53871-8 An unusual translation assignment offers a harrowing glimpse into postTiananmen repression in China. Iona is a London translator who’s been asked to look over a stash of Chinese letters and diary entries that have mysteriously made their way into a publisher’s hands. What she uncovers is a mix of dissident rhetoric and heartbreak that turns on one couple’s story. Jian, she learns, is a rock musician whose lyrics and writings riled Chinese authorities, who banished him from the country; he eventually lands in England, then heads to France. Mu, his lover, is a musician and poet herself, repurposing Allen Ginsberg’s poetry to register her own protest about her homeland, albeit while safely on tour in the United States. Over the course of almost a year, Iona pieces together the history of Mu and Jian’s relationship from the mid-1990s to the present. Guo generally restricts the perspective to Iona, a smart strategy in that it dramatizes her slow awakening to the politics and culture that barricaded Mu and Jian from each other. The downside is that she gives Iona little personality; apart from an interest in Chinese language and culture and the occasional one-night stand, her character is largely blank. As the novel deepens, though, the camera shifts more often to Jian’s and Mu’s points of view, underscoring the emotional turmoil that’s hard to register in letters and diaries and even more difficult to translate. There’s some stiffness to Guo’s prose, and some plot turns are too tidily machined. (There’s a needlessly delayed revelation about Jian, for instance, and a melodramatic near-miss between two characters toward the climax.) The strength of the novel is within Mu’s and Jian’s writings, which come in a variety of forms: brash manifestos, heartsick poetry, coded messages. Though Iona is little more than a bridge between the two, the story she’s stumbled over is an affecting one. A semi-epistolary tale powered by what’s repressed and unsayable.
TIGERMAN
Harkaway, Nick Knopf (368 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 29, 2014 978-0-385-35241-3 Imagine Superman in Grand Fenwick and you’ll have some idea of Harkaway’s (Angelmaker, 2012, etc.) brilliantly imagined latest romp. “It’s amazing being a superhero,” says Lester Ferris as the action winds down at the end of Harkaway’s latest. “It’s totally mad.” Ferris, aka the Sergeant, hasn’t been on Mancreu for long, but he’s lived
10 lifetimes there. Posted to a supposedly quiet patch of earth after long, soul-shattering duty in Afghanistan (“the Americans called it a Total Goatfuck”) and Iraq, he’s found himself on a spit of land out in the Arabian Sea that, thanks to climate change, is in danger of receding under the waves—but until that time is a convenient entrepôt for drug dealers, arms smugglers, pirates, spies, defectors, flimflam artists, multinational corporatists and all the usual suspects, not least of them numerous powers NATO and otherwise: “[V]arious interests,” writes Harkaway, “were making use of the lawless nature of the Mancreu waters for things they might not otherwise be able to do.” Mancreu’s hub is a cafe owned by a fine fellow named Shola, who’s mowed down by gunmen for no apparent reason. The Sergeant, aided— or perhaps not—by shadowy figures flying the stars and stripes and the tricolor, is at a loss until, visited of a night by a tiger, he takes on the superhero guise of the title, suggested to him by a comic-book–loving, lonely teenager helpfully named Robin. The ensuing showdown is full of in-jokes, knowing nods to the headlines and miscreant Belgians, which will please fans of Monty Python if not necessarily the good burghers of Antwerp. The cast of characters is straight out of a Milton Caniff cartoon, with names like Bad Jack, White Raoul and the Witch, but the burdens poor Mancreu has to bear, from land rape and gang war to toxic dumping and international intrigue, are thoroughly modern millstones. A hoot and a half, and then some: hands down, the best island farce since Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle half a century ago.
gets lost in their convoluted tellings. Only in the long title story does Hemenway communicate that pain powerfully. A mother discovers, to her horror, that she cannot muster unconditional love for her 8-year-old son, disfigured out of all recognition by a terminal brain tumor, and disappears on a long trip, leaving the boy’s father by the hospital bedside. That story shows Hemenway to be a true writer, bearing witness, something the other stories had concealed.
ELEGY ON KINDERKLAVIER
Hemenway, Arna Bontemps Sarabande (224 pp.) $15.95 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-1-936747-76-4
Violent deaths stud this debut collection, which has seven stories ranging from the U.S. through Iraq and Kenya to England. Many of the deaths happen in Iraq. “The IED” deconstructs the moment a soldier on patrol steps on an improvised explosive device and is blown to hell, while in “The Fugue,” the patrol leader decides that the remains of a girl—an innocent victim in a wrongly targeted house—must be burned. Back home in “The Half Moon Martyrs’ Brigade of New Jerusalem, Kansas,” there’s a small town with a high number of Iraq combat deaths. The teenage sons of the dead fathers invent a hazing ritual: They beat the crap out of the son of the latest casualty. This is far-fetched, ghoulish excess. The teenagers in “In the Mosque of Imam Alwani” are three humble Kurds, two of them set on fire when a shell explodes. They survive, though badly scarred. Six years later, their paths have diverged. One is a preacher while another is gay, having sex with the young worshipers at the mosque. The most bizarre story is “The Territory of Grief,” about a space colony the Israelis have established for those next of kin who are mourning victims of Mideast violence. The pain in these stories |
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Mira Jacob
The tragedy that happened while writing her debut helped the novelist breathe new life into it By Megan Labrise Jacob writes: “He’s fine,” Kamala said. “It’s not like that. You’re not listening.” “I am listening! You just told me he’s delusional, and I’m asking—” “I DID NOT SAY HE IS DELUSIONAL. I SAID HE WAS TALKING TO HIS MOTHER.” “Who is dead,” Amina said gently. “Obvious.”
Photo courtesy In Kim
The sentence that spurred Mira Jacob’s first novel never made it into the final manuscript. “ ‘Don’t encourage him,’ my mother said, as though I were capable of parting the barbed wire to lunacy while he crawled through,” she recites. “It all began with the question of what does it do to a family when your sympathy is for the least rational person?” That inquiry into insanity begat a dazzling debut. The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing is the bighearted saga of a modern Indian-American family that spans 1970s Salem, India, to 1990s Albuquerque, New Mexico. Late in life, talented brain surgeon Thomas Eapen begins talking to people who aren’t there. Wife Kamala urges daughter Amina, a photographer in Seattle, to report home immediately but not to worry about this alarming development. 14
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Jacob was born and raised in New Mexico. “We had the kind of family I describe in the book, the notblood-related relations, with two other families that were in our position, meaning they were also East Indian and nobody knew what East Indian was,” she says. “They all thought we were Hopi or Apache or Mexican.” She now lives in Brooklyn, where she cofounded Pete’s Reading Series, a popular assembly uniting premier authors with audiences. It seems she’s always been crazy for fiction. “It’s just this insane thing: a pact between a writer and a reader to live in an imaginary world together. I love that, the whole notion. The fact that you can have a new world floating around you just by opening a book will never cease to amaze me,” says Jacob, who acknowledges that the act of writing itself—pounding away at the keys night after night—represents a major leap of faith that can, at times, feel like a subtle form of insanity. It took a decade’s worth of diligent work, through jobs, moves, marriage and motherhood, to complete The Sleepwalker’s Guide. “The fact that I took 10 years: You don’t hear that story too often,” she acknowledges. “No one ever celebrates that story. It’s not sexy. But those things that you’re doing in your room alone
on weekends when you could be out being social or at least not worrying if you’re actually a writer, those things actually can amount to something. You’re not the next wunderkind, you’re just yourself. It takes a while, and that’s OK.” During that evolutionary time, The Sleepwalker’s Guide took a shocking turn: During her father’s threeyear battle with renal cancer, Jacob all but ceased writing. After his death, she began rewriting all the scenes in the book—with the father as her father. She shared her concern over this development with her husband, documentary filmmaker Jed Rothstein: “I think I’m losing it; I’m losing the book. I keep writing but the father keeps turning into my dad, and I can’t stop, and I know it’s the wrong thing to do. I think it’s against the rules of fiction,” she told him. “Whose rules are these? It’s your book. Are the scenes coming out well?” he asked her. She says she told her husband that she thought the scenes with her father were working well but that “it’s not his life…it didn’t happen to him.” “Sounds good to me,” he responded. “It was a sweet, great moment, a breakthrough,” Jacob admits. “So I just did it. For the next three years, every time I wrote a scene that had Thomas in it, I knew I was writing my dad.” The relationship between Thomas and Amina took on a depth and breadth that breathed new life into the narrative. While Thomas has a confirmed real-world counterpart, don’t mistake Amina for her creator. “I’m more of a shout-y bossy type,” Jacob jokes. “Oh yeah—no, it’s true—it’s terrible. I’m an extrovert, not a hanger back, so with Amina it was about having a lot of patience with that character, waiting for her to reveal herself. It was an exercise for me, having faith that she would move through this life in a certain way that was worth the story happening around her.” Life, as it happens to Amina, is often tragic. Among the multiple earthshaking events in her life is the teenage death of her older brother Akhil. “Like many people whose lives had formed around a particularly painful incident, [Amina] had grown used to providing ellipses around the event of her brother’s death to keep conversations comfortable,” Jacob writes. “At some point, the subconscious logic of this had spread to the rest of her life so that she rarely talked about things she had been deeply affected by. It wasn’t hard to do.”
Colorful, boisterous extended family and friends further enable her push to the periphery. “Amina was the counterpoint to a lot of difficult, strong personalities in the book, and she was so haunted at the beginning—she’d seen so many things that she’d been thinned out by life,” Jacob says. “Yet she had this brand of magic, her outlook and way of seeing things, that was really fun to develop. I loved what was going on with her internally, just watching her grow, watching her get layers, watching her understand things and be able to put it together.” A lot can happen over the span of 500 pages, and Amina’s evolution is absolutely enthralling. In that regard, Jacob handily meets her literary goal. “How fully and deeply are you going to get pulled into this world, how strong are you going to feel that hand urging you forward?” Jacob found herself asking her future readers while writing The Sleepwalker’s Guide. “I wanted to take readers’ hands and say, ‘You can trust me. We can do this.’ ” Megan Labrise is a freelance writer and columnist based in New York. The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing received a starred review in the May 15, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews.
The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing Jacob, Mira Random House (512 pp.) $26.00 | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-8129-9478-0 |
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THE BUTCHER
Hillier, Jennifer Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $25.00 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-1-4767-3421-7 Thirty years ago, Seattle Police Capt. Edward Shank put down a serial killer dubbed the Butcher. Edward’s bullet ended Rufus Wedge’s sorry life. But did the killings end? Hillier’s (Freak, 2012, etc.) third thriller fairly shudders with tension. Edward is ready to retire to an assisted living facility and give his grandson, Matt, the family home, a beloved Victorian in a posh neighborhood. An up-and-coming chef, Matt has parlayed his successful food-truck business into Adobo, the hottest restaurant in town, and the reality show networks are calling. The only trouble is that his girlfriend, Samantha, can’t understand why Matt hasn’t invited her to move in, too. After all, they’ve been together for three years. Pressuring Matt, though, isn’t getting her anywhere, and even their friend—well, really Sam’s friend— Jason is a little mystified. Certainly, Matt’s history of anger management trouble gives Jason pause. While Matt renovates the house and works late, Sam turns back to researching her latest true-crime book. This time, she has a personal investment. She’s convinced that her mother was killed by the notorious Butcher. Bored at the retirement home, Edward has become an invaluable sounding board. Like the Butcher’s other victims, Sam’s mother was raped, strangled and left in a shallow grave. Unfortunately for Sam’s theory, her mother was killed two years after Rufus Wedge’s death. Meanwhile, Matt’s contractor has unearthed a crate filled with gruesome artifacts. As Matt investigates the crate’s contents and Sam questions a mysterious informant, their romance unravels and the body count begins to rise. Hillier sends her reader into a labyrinth of creepy twists and grotesque turns. There’s no escape from the brutal truths exposed. The secrets of the past refuse to keep quiet in this disquieting, taut thriller.
THE ABDUCTION
Holt, Jonathan Harper/HarperCollins (464 pp.) $26.99 | Jun. 3, 2014 978-0-06-226704-7 When political activists in Venice kidnap a 16-year-old American girl and stream increasingly disturbing images of her mistreatment, Carabinieri captain Kat Tapo and U.S. Army investigator Holly Boland must unravel a web of
secrets to recover her. The girl, Mia, is the daughter of a U.S. Army major. The videos of her being stripped naked, slapped, sleep-deprived and worse are accompanied by quotes from official U.S. policy 16
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defining these actions as being within the scope of international law. When her abductors take over the popular, ultrasecret virtual world of Carnivia, a superdetailed 3-D simulation of Venice where people meet through avatars, it’s left to Daniele Barbo, the young and scarred genius who invented it, to devise a trap for them. At the same time, Col. Aldo Piola of the Venice police— the married man with whom Holly had an affair in the previous novel—is investigating suspicious human remains near the site of a planned American military installation. Ultimately, the case of the political kidnaping overlaps with the case of the old bones, pointing back to postwar plots involving the red threat, the Vatican and nuclear arms. Holt is in greater control of the plot than he was in The Abomination (2013), the melodramatic first installment of a trilogy, which revolved around American involvement in Bosnia. Here, he doesn’t stray too far from believability, tossing in interesting bits of history (and a quote from Noam Chomsky) and keeping the stories moving. Holt’s cyberunderworld doesn’t exert quite the fascination it did the first time, and the lead characters aren’t as engaging. But this stylish if overlong book holds out promise for a satisfying finale.
TAKE ME WITH YOU
Hyde, Catherine Ryan Lake Union/New Harvest (400 pp.) $14.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Jul. 22, 2014 978-1-4778-2001-8 978-1-4778-7001-3 e-book Hyde’s followers, who love the warmth and inspiration they draw from her work (Walk Me Home, 2013, etc.), won’t be disappointed by this latest effort. August is on his way to Yellowstone to go camping, but his RV has broken down, leaving him and his small part–Jack Russell terrier, Woody, stranded in a one-horse desert town. While the mechanic, Wes, works on the vehicle, the science teacher frets that he won’t have enough money to make it to the park. He’s not going for pleasure, although that was the original purpose of the trip; instead, he’s transporting some of his son’s ashes so he can sprinkle them around the park. He and Phillip, who was killed in the car accident that led to the breakup of August’s marriage, had planned the trip together. Now it seems as though the RV’s engine repairs will eat up most of his cash. Then Wes makes August an offer he can’t refuse: Finish your trip, but take my two boys with you, and I won’t charge you anything. The boys, 12-year-old Seth, and Henry, 7, will go into the foster system if Wes, who’s scheduled to serve 90 days in jail, can’t find an alternative. August refuses but finally relents, and what follows is a lifelong bond among a recovering alcoholic, a wise young boy who’s been forced to play the grown-up since his mom walked out, and sweet but silent Henry. Hyde’s books can be almost relentlessly uplifting, but in her case, that’s not a bad thing. She does it well and manages to avoid bringing religion, schmaltz or improbable outcomes into the mix, instead relying
BENEATH THE NEON EGG
on crisp, clean prose and a straightforward method of storytelling that has its own unique appeal. A story about good people doing their best to survive, combined with a message that will cause readers to close the book feeling a bit more hopeful about humanity.
ALIAS HOOK
Jensen, Lisa Dunne/St. Martin’s (368 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Jul. 8, 2014 978-1-250-04215-6 978-1-4668-3971-7 e-book Peter Pan grows up, unfortunately. Pity Captain Hook: The infamous pirate of Neverland is so misunderstood that playwrights and authors can’t resist trying to explain him. Now Jensen (The Witch from the Sea, 2001) has made him an 18th-century privateer whose exile to Neverland is the result of crossing the wrong voodoo lady. For centuries, he’s been trapped in time with the Lost Boys, tracking changes in the real world through the stories shared by new pirates when Neverland calls them home. Unable to die or leave, Hook has resigned himself to an eternity of Peter picking fights with him—until, against all the rules, an adult woman named Stella arrives on the island, and he begins to suspect there’s a way to leave after all. Though the relationship between Hook and Stella develops convincingly, not much else does. Seeing Neverland through Hook’s adult eyes is the most satisfying part of the book, especially when those eyes are turned on Peter; Neverland shines in Jensen’s descriptions, and her love for the world J.M. Barrie created is evident. However, the attempt to pair modern sensibilities and an antiquated story is uneasy, as for example in continuous references to “redskins,” a word that was not inappropriate in Barrie’s time but is quite jarring in this book. In addition, Jensen has overlaid the traditions of Neverland with a curious mix of voodoo and fairy magic, adding unnecessary complications. The story veers between adherence to and departures from the original text, never finding purchase on either path. In concept, this book is thrilling, and Hook and Stella are both fascinating characters, but on the page, much of the story is either flat or melodramatic. Peter Pan aficionados may enjoy this revisionist history, but there’s not much to offer the general fantasy or historical fiction reader.
Kennedy, Thomas E. Bloomsbury (192 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-62040-141-5
With this fourth stand-alone volume, Kennedy’s Copenhagen Quartet draws to a desultory close. Bluett, the protagonist, has much in common with the Kerrigan of Kerrigan in Copenhagen (2013), this novel’s predecessor. Both are Irish-American expats, long resident in the Danish capital. Both put away impressive amounts of alcohol. Kerrigan was a writer; Bluett is a translator of catalogs and such. Now 43, a young Bluett came to Copenhagen because it was a haven for jazz cats. Miles, Bird, Trane: These are Bluett’s gods. (It’s a shame the music’s energy doesn’t infuse this account of his life.) A young man’s passion also propelled him into marrying the Danish Jette. The marriage soon soured, but it did produce
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“The end of American civilization has come and gone, and a young married couple has fled Los Angeles to live in the wilderness.” from california
a boy and a girl, Bluett’s treasures, now grown and at university. Bluett’s divorce a year ago, in 1996, liberated him, yet he’s a lonely guy, at loose ends. His only friend is his neighbor Sam, another American translator. He likes Denmark, appreciates the generous welfare benefits, but is it really his home? Danes still seem cool, distant, unknowable. Kerrigan profiled the city as a rich cultural repository, proud of the legacy of Andersen and Kierkegaard. By contrast, this is a one-dimensional work focused on Bluett’s love life, which is all stumbles. He rekindles a relationship with an old flame only to ruin it through his arrogant inattentiveness, which he can’t acknowledge. Then Kennedy whips up some melodrama. Sam’s son finds him dead, a suicide after a cancer diagnosis. No, wait, that diagnosis never happened. Sam had left his assets to a Russian “dancer” at a clip joint who had bewitched him. Murder, then? But there’s no police investigation, and all Bluett’s sleuthing earns him is some cracked ribs. It’s a mess and offers little relief from the dreary solipsism that is the novel’s hallmark.
THE HOME PLACE
La Seur, Carrie Morrow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $25.99 | $14.99 e-book | Jul. 29, 2014 978-0-06-232344-6 978-0-06-232346-0 e-book A busy Washington lawyer returns home to sort out the details of her sister’s shadowy life and suspicious death. When Alma Terrebonne receives word that her younger sister has died, she flies back to her hometown of Billings, Montana, and ends up shouldering more responsibility than she anticipated. There are no easy explanations for what happened. Vicky left her 11-year-old daughter, Brittany, in the early hours of the morning, and her frozen body was found hours later. The police find some physical evidence suggesting it may have been murder. Alma’s investigation reaffirms what’s known around town: Vicky was a drug user who hung out with lowlifes and owed money to everyone; her own dysfunctional family, from her older brother to the aunt and uncle who raised her following the deaths of her parents, wasn’t immune. She even approached her grandmother about signing over mining rights to the family’s homestead to a seedy land agent, a man who threatens Alma when confronted. A part of the family for generations, the home place was built by her great-grandfather and represents to Alma comfort and memories of simpler and happier times. After law enforcement officers remove a drug dealer and remnants of a meth lab from the premises without taking standard safety precautions, Alma—apparently unconcerned about possible toxic contaminants—moves in with her traumatized niece. She plans to stay only a few days before turning Brittany over to her aunt and uncle’s care and returning to her job in Washington, but she becomes increasingly aware that her niece’s well-being is in her hands. During the course of their stay, she reignites a friendship 18
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with her high school sweetheart, Chance, and rediscovers longdormant emotions. She also learns the lengths people will go to safeguard themselves and others. In her sympathetic if somewhat uneven debut, La Seur entices readers with impeccable prose imbued with a blend of romance, nostalgia and suspense. There are plenty of enjoyable red herrings and tarnished characters, but some of the details lack credibility.
CALIFORNIA
Lepucki, Edan Little, Brown (400 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-316-25081-8 978-0-316-25082-5 e-book The end of American civilization has come and gone, and a young married couple has fled Los Angeles to live in the wilderness in Lepucki’s debut novel. Cal and Frida, alone in the woods, provide for themselves—but once Frida becomes pregnant, finding more of civilization’s refugees becomes important, especially since their only neighbors have committed suicide. They find an encampment surrounded by spikes and are invited to be candidates for the group. They will stay with the community, making friends and learning the ropes, until the other commune members vote on whether they should stay or leave. Soon they discover there are dangers even in this relatively secure place. They notice there are no children in the group, so they hide Frida’s pregnancy. Other unsettling details emerge as the couple tries to win the commune over—Frida by baking, Cal by serving as a member of the community counsel. The color red is forbidden. Surprisingly luxurious supplies arrive—but from where? The counsel is full of secrets, and the leader forbids Cal from sharing them with Frida. One character, thought to have died in a suicide bombing before Cal and Frida struck out for the wild, is miraculously alive at the commune, after the couple spent many pages grappling with his death. This is a misstep on Lepucki’s part, showing the reader that she isn’t above bending the rules, which makes it more difficult to feel real concern for Cal and Frida. They will never be in too much trouble; Lepucki won’t allow it. The chapters alternate between Cal’s point of view and Frida’s and are heavy on flashbacks that bog down an otherwise tense narrative of survival. This has the bones of an excellent book, but, sadly, an untenable amount of flab is covering them.
DEAR DAUGHTER
Little, Elizabeth Viking (336 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 4, 2014 978-0-670-01638-9
Agatha Christie meets Kim Kardashian in this sharp-edged, tart-tongued, escapist thriller. Author of two nonfiction books (Trip of the Tongue, 2012, etc.), Little makes her fiction debut with a stylishly written tale that plays off our culture’s obsession with celebrity scandal. “Janie Jenkins, the infamous Hollywood celebutante,” was known for her notoriety rather than for anything she ever did, until she was convicted of murdering her mother. From the preponderance of circumstantial evidence, it seems plain that she did it—or that she was framed. And though she had motive enough—there was little love lost between the two—her memories of that evening (like many evenings) are so hazy that she really isn’t sure whether she did it or not. Now, after 10 years in jail, Janie is freed on a convenient technicality, and she embarks on a secret mission to discover the truth—about her mother, about herself—while celebrity journalists and a particularly zealous blogger try to figure out where she’s gone. Says Janie: “It’s hard to maintain your innocence when so many people are so sure you’re not. It’s impossible when you’re not sure of anything at all—other than the awful, inescapable fact that you hadn’t particularly liked your own mother.” Her quest leads her (somewhat implausibly) to a town in South Dakota where five families have a long lineage from the days of gold fever. Amid this close-knit community, which is “like a Thanksgiving dinner that never ends,” Janie tries to discover who her mother really was, who her father really was, who she really is, and what her lawyer knows that she doesn’t. The town is like one of Christie’s closed rooms—someone who lives there holds the key to all the secrets, and that person may well be her mother’s murderer. Unless Janie is. This is breezy reading: nothing too deep or disturbing, and stronger on style than plot.
the marriage of Doug and Zee, which has been upended by financial concerns and unfulfilled career ambitions. Cashstrapped, they have moved to a house on Zee’s mother’s estate in order for Doug to finish his monograph on the poet Edwin Parfitt, who was luckily once a resident of the artist’s colony. But secretly, instead of doing his work, Doug is writing books in a formulaic middle-grade series for a couple of grand a pop. Zee, a Marxist theorist in the English department at the local college, is desperate to get her husband a job and sabotages the career of a curmudgeonly older professor in hopes that Doug will get his spot. Meanwhile, the owner of the estate, Zee’s mother, Grace, allows her second husband’s son, Case, and daughter-in-law, Miriam, to move into the guesthouse with Doug and Zee, further weakening an already fraying relationship. These guests of Laurelfield are complex, trapped not only by the estate, which has a complicated history and dark secrets of its own, but by their own problems and decisions; as Makkai explains, “They had come to Laurelfield to face their lives and their marriage and the end of the millennium. Any number of explosive things.”
THE HUNDRED-YEAR HOUSE
Makkai, Rebecca Viking (352 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 14, 2014 978-0-525-42668-4
Two married couples find themselves cohabitating in a guesthouse on the rich— and possibly haunted—estate of Laurelfield, once an artist and writer’s colony. In her sophomore novel (The Borrower, 2011), which starts in 1999 and rewinds in four parts through the decades to 1900, Makkai takes us on a tour of the house’s power over its owners and the artist residents of decades past. She first closely follows |
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“Mandel’s solid writing and magnetic narrative make for a strong combination in what should be a breakout novel.” from station eleven
Makkai strikes a smartly absurdist tone as her characters nervously await impending doom from the uneventful Y2K bug, but while the novel is both funny and smart at times, Makkai fails to make the estate the foreboding character it needs to be to both ground and uproot these privileged characters who can’t see how lucky they are and how self-absorbed their lives have become.
STATION ELEVEN
Mandel, Emily St. John Knopf (320 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-385-35330-4
Survivors and victims of a pandemic populate this quietly ambitious take on a post-apocalyptic world where some strive to preserve art, culture and kindness. In her fourth novel, Mandel (The Lola Quartet, 2012, etc.) moves away from the literary thriller form of her previous books but keeps much of the intrigue. The story concerns the before and after of a catastrophic virus called the Georgia Flu that wipes out most of the world’s population. On one side of the timeline are the survivors, mainly a traveling troupe of musicians and actors and a stationary group stuck for years in an airport. On the other is a professional actor, who dies in the opening pages while performing King Lear, his ex-wives and his oldest friend, glimpsed in flashbacks. There’s also the man—a paparazzo-turned-paramedic— who runs to the stage from the audience to try to revive him, a Samaritan role he will play again in later years. Mandel is effectively spare in her depiction of both the tough hand-to-mouth existence of a devastated world and the almost unchallenged life of the celebrity—think of Cormac McCarthy seesawing with Joan Didion. The intrigue arises when the troupe is threatened by a cult and breaks into disparate offshoots struggling toward a common haven. Woven through these little odysseys, and cunningly linking the cushy past and the perilous present, is a figure called the Prophet. Indeed, Mandel spins a satisfying web of coincidence and kismet while providing numerous strong moments, as when one of the last planes lands at the airport and seals its doors in self-imposed quarantine, standing for days on the tarmac as those outside try not to ponder the nightmare within. Another strand of that web is a well-traveled copy of a sci-fi graphic novel drawn by the actor’s first wife, depicting a space station seeking a new home after aliens take over Earth— a different sort of artist also pondering man’s fate and future. Mandel’s solid writing and magnetic narrative make for a strong combination in what should be a breakout novel. (Author tour to Boston, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and New York)
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GOODHOUSE
Marshall, Peyton Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $26.00 | Oct. 1, 2014 978-0-374-16562-8 Marshall’s debut imagines a nearfuture America in which the environment is degraded, the social fabric is unraveling, and foreign wars are neverending. Sound familiar? James is one of the young boys placed in the Goodhouse system when mandatory genetic testing reveals he has “certain biometric markers” common in violent criminals. Raised as wards of the state, James and his fellows are trained in “right-thinking” so they can be released at 18 to join society, though only those with Level 1 status will be fully assimilated. Meanwhile, they’re subject to the arbitrary, brutal supervision of proctors and class leaders. And recently, a group of religious fanatics called Zeros has been attacking Goodhouses, claiming the boys are unredeemable and must be killed: “Only then would the oceans teem once more with life…the weather normalize…would there be peace.” It’s a good setup, and Marshall gives us an appropriately troubled protagonist, haunted by memories of the deadly Zero attack on his former Goodhouse in Oregon. Relocated to Ione, California, James soon gets into trouble thanks to his encounter on Community Day with a civilian girl named Bethany; she’s contemptuous of the pieties James carefully utters and encourages him to break the rules. Far more dangerous than James’ attraction to Bethany is his tangled connection with her father, Dr. A.J. Cleveland, a researcher (and covert Zero ally) at the Ione Goodhouse who protects James only because he needs a guinea pig for his dangerous drug experiment. The plot moves briskly, with James and his friend Owen losing their Level 1 status and sinking into the Goodhouse depths while Zero activity becomes more aggressive, culminating in an attack on Ione. A cautiously optimistic ending offers some hope but shows this world still insecure and unjust. Well-plotted and written but lacking any truly original spark that would distinguish it in the increasingly crowded genre of dystopian fiction starring hard-pressed young adults.
DOLLBABY
McNeal, Laura Lane Pamela Dorman/Viking (352 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-670-01473-6 In the vein of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and The Help, McNeal’s touching coming-of-age tale brings to life Civil Rights–era New Orleans. When 12-year-old Ibby’s father dies in an accident, her no-good mother, Vidrine, hauls her across the country to live with a grandmother she’s never met: the tragic, eccentric and indomitable Fannie Bell.
Fannie’s big house in New Orleans is like nothing Ibby’s seen in Olympia, Washington; of particular note are the two black women, Queenie and her daughter Dollbaby, who work there. Soon, Ibby learns the Fannie Rules: Don’t ask questions, don’t unlock the doors on the second floor, and don’t talk about the past. Infractions send Fannie to the mental hospital for a “rest,” a not-infrequent event. Ibby begins private school and becomes friends with Dollbaby’s daughter Birdelia; though the same age, they live remarkably different lives in the segregated South. Dollbaby goes to lunch-counter sit-ins, her brother T-Bone goes to Vietnam, the Civil Rights Amendment is passed, and slowly, the old guard of the South gives way to hippies. The story wanders gently along: Ibby has a Sweet 16 party, an old tree falls on the house, nasty Annabelle Friedrichs accuses T-Bone of rape (this lie is easily revealed thanks to Miss Fannie’s cleverness), and though at times the plotting is overly episodic, with few natural transitions to link the scenes, McNeal’s portrait of a time and place is rich enough to mitigate the flaws. Slowly, a picture of Fannie’s past emerges, one that explains the frequent visits to the mental hospital and also her great generosity. At Fannie’s mysterious demise, final secrets are revealed—truths that will tug a tear from the hardest of hearts. Rich characterization makes McNeal’s debut a lovely summer read.
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE
Meyers, Randy Susan Atria (368 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-1-4516-7304-3 Meyers puts a Boston family overwhelmed by a tragic accident under the literary microscope. Maddy and Ben have been married for 15 years and have three children: smart-mouthed, somewhat bratty teen Emma; sensitive, intelligent Gracie; and Caleb, a quirky kid who can’t seem to keep his mouth closed. Their home in trendy Jamaica Plains appears to be in a constant state of flux, but Maddy, a social worker who’s in perpetual motion, doesn’t seem capable of taming the various components of her life. That’s driven a wedge between her and her short-tempered, controlling husband. An attorney with a father whose legacy proves impossible to live up to, Ben rages through life, while Maddy spends her time trying to put out the fires. The kids sap her energy, and the heat inside their big old Victorian—with ancient wiring Ben refuses to fix so the air conditioning can be upgraded—provides fuel for their fights. The morning after another argument, Ben has an angry encounter with a fellow driver and the resulting accident puts Maddy in a coma. Through most of the book, the family tries to adjust to their new normal, with mostly disastrous results. Meyers, who has a background working with victims of domestic violence, examines the effects anger and violence can have on family members, as well as the courage that can be born from
a new perspective and the lack of happily-ever-after in these real-life situations. The characters labor under intense pressure, and some crack while others rise to the challenge, giving Meyers’ tale both realism and a bittersweet quality that, in the hands of a lesser writer, could have ended up simply maudlin and contrived. Beautifully written, poignant and thought-provoking, this novel refuses to succumb to stereotypical reader expectations, making it even more memorable. (Author appearances in Boston, Connecticut, Denver, New York, Portland and Seattle)
THE BONE CLOCKS
Mitchell, David Random House (704 pp.) $30.00 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-1-4000-6567-7
Mitchell’s latest could have been called The Rime of the Ancient Marinus—the “youthful ancient Marinus,” that is. Another exacting, challenging and deeply rewarding novel from logophile and time-travel master Mitchell (Cloud Atlas, 2004, etc.). As this long (but not too long) tale opens, we’re in the familiar territory of Mitchell’s Black Swan Green (2006)—Thatcher’s England, that is. A few dozen pages in, and Mitchell has subverted all that. At first it’s 1984, and Holly Sykes, a 15-year-old suburban runaway, is just beginning to suss out that it’s a scary, weird place, if with no shortage of goodwilled protectors. She wants nothing but to get away: “The Thames is riffled and muddy blue today, and I walk and walk and walk away from Gravesend towards the Kent marshes and before I know it, it’s 11:30 and the town’s a little model of itself, a long way behind me.” Farther down the road, Holly has her first inkling of a strange world in which “Horologists” bound up with one Yu Leon Marinus and, well, sort-of-neo-Cathars are having it out, invited into Holly’s reality thanks to a tear in her psychic fabric. Are they real? As one strange inhabitant of a “daymare” asks, “But why would two dying, fleeing incorporeals blunder their way to you, Holly Sykes?” Why indeed? The next 600 pages explain why in a course that moves back and forth among places (Iceland, Switzerland, Iraq, New York), times and states of reality: Holly finds modest success in midlife even as we bone clocks tick our way down to a society of her old age that will remind readers of the world of Sloosha’s Crossin’ from Cloud Atlas: The oil supply has dried up, the poles are melting, gangs roam the land, and the old days are a long way behind us. “We live on,” says an ever unreliable narrator by way of resigned closing, “as long as there are people to live on in.” If Thatcher’s 1984 is bleak, then get a load of what awaits us in 2030. Speculative, lyrical and unrelentingly dark—trademark Mitchell, in other words.
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“Another tour de force from Japan’s greatest living novelist.” from colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage
BIG LITTLE LIES
COLORLESS TSUKURU TAZAKI AND HIS YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE
Moriarty, Liane Amy Einhorn/Putnam (416 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 29, 2014 978-0-399-16706-5 After last year’s best-selling The Husband’s Secret, Australian Moriarty brings the edginess of her less-known The Hypnotist’s Love Story (2012) to bear in this darkly comic mystery surrounding a disastrous parents night at an elementary school fundraiser. Thanks to strong cocktails and a lack of appetizers, Pirriwee Public’s Trivia Night turns ugly when sloshed parents in Audrey Hepburn and Elvis costumes start fights at the main entrance. To make matters worse, out on the balcony where a smaller group of parents have gathered, someone falls over the railing and dies. Was it an accident or murder? Who is the victim? And who, if anyone, is the murderer? Backtrack six months as the cast of potential victims and perps meet at kindergarten orientation and begin alliances and rivalries within the framework of domestic comedy-drama. There’s Chloe’s opinionated, strongwilled mom, Madeline, a charmingly imperfect Everywoman. Happily married to second husband Ed, Madeline is deeply hurt that her older daughter wants to move in with her ex-husband and his much younger, New-Age–y second wife; even worse, the couple’s waifish daughter, Skye, will be in Chloe’s kindergarten class. Madeline’s best friend is Celeste, mother of twins Max and Josh. It’s hard for Madeline and the other moms not to envy Celeste. She’s slim, rich and beautiful, and her marriage to hedge fund manager Perry seems too perfect to be true; it is. Celeste and Madeline befriend young single mother Jane, who has moved to the coast town with her son, Ziggy, the product of a one-night stand gone horribly wrong. After sweet-natured Ziggy is accused of bullying, the parents divide into defenders and accusers. Tensions mount among the mothers’ cliques and within individual marriages until they boil over on the balcony. Despite a Greek chorus of parents and faculty sharing frequently contradictory impressions, the truth remains tantalizingly difficult to sort out. Deservedly popular Moriarty invigorates the tired social-issue formula of women’s fiction through wit, good humor, sharp insight into human nature and addictive storytelling. (Author tour to New York, New Jersey, Chicago and San Francisco)
Murakami, Haruki Translated by Gabriel, Philip Knopf (352 pp.) $25.95 | Aug. 12, 2014 978-0-385-35210-9
Murakami (IQ84, 2011, etc.) turns in a trademark story that blends the commonplace with the nightmarish in a Japan full of hollow men. Poor achromatic Tsukuru. For some inexplicable reason, his four best friends, two males, two females, have cut him off without a word. Perhaps, he reckons between thoughts of suicide, it’s because they can pair off more easily without a fifth wheel; perhaps it’s because his name means “builder,” while all theirs have to do with colors: red pine, blue sea, white root, black field. Alas for Tsukuru, he “lacked a striking personality, or any qualities that made him stand out”— though, for all that, he’s different. Fast-forward two decades, and Tsukuru, true to both his name and his one great passion in life, designs train stations. He’s still wounded by the banishment, still mystified at his friends’ behavior. Helpfully, his girlfriend suggests that he make contact with the foursome to find out what he’d done and why he’d deserved their silence. Naturally, this being a Murakami story, the possibilities are hallucinogenic, Kafkaesque, and otherwise unsettling and ominous: “Gray is a mixture of white and black. Change its shade, and it can easily melt into various gradations of darkness.” That old saying about not asking questions if you don’t want to know the answers—well, there’s the rub, and there’s Tsukuru’s problem. He finds that his friends’ lives aren’t so golden (the most promising of them now hawks Lexuses and knowingly owns up to it: “I bet I sound like a car salesman?”); his life by comparison isn’t so bad. Or is it? It’s left to the reader to judge. Murakami writes with the same murky sense of time that characterized 1Q84, but this book, short and haunting, is really of a piece with older work such as Norwegian Wood and, yes, Kafka on the Shore. The reader will enjoy watching Murakami play with color symbolism down to the very last line of the story, even as Tsukuru sinks deeper into a dangerous enigma. Another tour de force from Japan’s greatest living novelist.
LAY IT ON MY HEART
Pneuman, Angela Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (320 pp.) $14.95 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-15-101258-9 Pneuman’s latest raises a tantalizing question about a 21st-century man of faith: How do you know if he’s a prophet of God or just in need of some lithium? 22
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Thirteen-year-old Charmaine lives comfortably in East Winder, Kentucky, a town notable for its churches, its seminary and the evangelical legacy of Custer Peake, Charmaine’s grandfather. Her father, David, is a prophet making a living writing spiritual tracts on fasting and ceaseless praying. That is, he was until last year, when he gave up his job to “live on faith alone” (with his mother, Daze, paying the mortgage and his wife, Phoebe, taking in sewing). Now he’s back from a monthlong trip to the Holy Land, and Charmaine, Phoebe and Daze are hoping he’ll return to work. Instead, arriving in robe and sandals, he goes into seclusion at the trailer he keeps down by the river. A few days later, he’s found wandering about naked and burned, from taking a bath in bleach. While he’s recuperating at a mental facility, Phoebe and Charmaine move into the trailer and rent their house to a family of sanctimonious missionaries. This is an inopportune time for Charmaine’s family to fall apart: She’s just starting middle school, her breasts have become embarrassingly large, and she has to ride the school bus with the country kids, who smoke and swear and don’t live in the light of the Lord. Charmaine wishes her story would end like A Wrinkle in Time—the daughter’s love rescues the father who disappears. Now on heavy medication, David no longer hears God. What does this mean for Phoebe, who has lived according to his visions, or for Charmaine, who believed her father anointed by God, not manic-depressive? In the narrative voice of a 13-yearold girl, Pneuman raises timeless questions about faith, sacrifice and parental folly. Both a compassionate and uncompromising comingof-age tale. (Author appearances in Lexington, Chicago and San Francisco)
EVERGREEN
Rasmussen, Rebecca Knopf (352 pp.) $25.95 | Jul. 10, 2014 978-0-385-35099-0 A malign stranger’s visit to a remote Minnesota log cabin in the 1930s will cast long shadows over a family in a fatalistic second novel. After her quirky debut, Rasmussen (The Bird Sisters, 2011) returns to the subject of siblings, this time via a fairy tale–flavored three-generation family portrait set in a forest wilderness. Evergreen is the tiny riverside community to which Eveline LeMay travels in 1938 to join her new husband, German immigrant and taxidermist Emil. Arriving dreamily in a rudderless boat, Eveline disembarks into a life of rural simplicity and hard labor, wrapped in the sweetness of a loving marriage. Soon after a son, Hux, is born, however, Emil is called back to Germany, to his father’s deathbed. The year being 1939, his return to Eveline will not be problem-free. Opting to stay on the land instead of returning to her own parents during Emil’s absence, Eveline discovers strength and local friendship but also suffers a traumatic rape which leads to the birth of a daughter, Naamah, whom Eveline
reluctantly decides to abandon at the door of Hopewell, a Catholic orphanage. Naamah’s cruel treatment at the hands of Sister Cordelia, the crazed nun in charge at Hopewell, leaves ineradicable scars on the child’s psyche; although she escapes at age 14, her behavior—even after Hux finds and rescues her, years later—is proof of deep-rooted damage. Rasmussen’s devoted storytelling lends grace to the proceedings, but there’s a sense of sketchiness, both in the story and the cast of one-note characters whose problems are largely wiped away in an overwhelmingly sweet conclusion. The delicate inventiveness that marked this author’s first novel is less apparent in her sentimental second.
RED JOAN
Rooney, Jennie Europa Editions (400 pp.) $18.00 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-1-60945-204-9 A World War II spy novel that delves into the complex reasons for betrayals of both country and friends. In 2005, an old English woman is being interrogated about her past when it’s suspected that she was a traitor to her country. The questions lead her to relive her life and her loves and the complex reasons for her actions. In the 1940s, the U.S., Canada and Britain are collaborating on the secret physics of the atom bomb. Joan Stanley is a student at Cambridge University, “educated in the religion of reason,” and attends meetings in support of the Soviet Union and the bright promise of a collective society. Sonya, a fellow student with panache and an eye for men, takes Joan under her wing, introducing her to her cousin Leo, a proponent of the Russian cause. Handsome, erudite Leo pursues Joan, romantically as well as ideologically. Because of her education in science, Joan is hired as a personal assistant at the laboratory in charge of the U.K. portion of the nuclear project. Leo asks her to smuggle secrets out for the Soviet government. The argument is for parity, deterrence. If Soviet Russia also has nuclear capability, the Allies would never use their own. But Joan is steadfast in her loyalty to her country, and she’s convinced that the threat of mass destruction is enough to end the war. Hiroshima changes everything for her and the world. Rooney elegantly presents a woman who was living a “calm and contented existence” when MI5 came knocking on her door. She has been found out after so many years, and the turmoil begins again in her life. Rooney has created a wonderful narrative structure in which the old woman’s memory is triggered by the interrogation; as Joan lives the past for us, she reveals most, but not all, to her questioners. This spy novel reveals itself at a calm pace through the memories of a loving woman. It is elegantly written and probes the value of loyalty to a meaningful life.
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TWO SOLDIERS
Roslund, Anders; Hellström, Börge Translated by Dickson, Kari Quercus (352 pp.) $26.99 | $14.99 e-book | Jun. 10, 2014 978-1-62365-135-0 978-1-62365-136-7 e-book A Stockholm suburb is being terrorized by a teenage gang’s calculated reign of firebombings and burglaries. After a beaten female cop is left to die in the trunk of an abandoned car, DCI Ewert Grens will break all the rules in his effort to nab the perpetrators. The crime wave, which has residents locking themselves in at night, is being directed from inside a maximum security prison by 18-year-old Leon. He’s having his “blood brother” Gabriel’s girlfriend, Wanda, regularly smuggle in pills as a mule. The gang, dubbed the Ghetto Soldiers, has no reservations about recruiting 12-year-olds to do its grunt work. Their intense hatred for authority is fueled by the violent mistreatment of their mothers by their fathers, but the moms don’t catch much of a break either. Down-in-his-cups Grens, who’s not unlike Henning Mankell’s Wallander, is haunted by an incident from 20 years ago involving someone connected to one of the teen felons. When Wanda becomes pregnant, the story takes a different turn and Grens’ past begins catching up to him. This book is no short haul, containing more than 600 pages of terse narrative and circular digressions. But while the seasoned team of Roslund & Hellstrom (Cell 8, 2011, etc.) is a bit facile in its blueprinting of plot, which involves a perfectly timed string of prison breaks, the authors are great at getting inside the heads of the young criminals. The austerity of their style also gains in existential power as you get into the heart of the story. A bleak but gripping tale of a teen gang running amok.
YOUR FACE IN MINE Row, Jess Riverhead (384 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 14, 2014 978-1-59448-834-4
A white guy has himself turned black through a total physical makeover in this disjointed first novel about racial identity, which follows Row’s two story collections (Nobody Ever Gets Lost, 2011, etc.). Two men, out of touch since they graduated from high school 20 years earlier, have a chance reunion on a Baltimore street. It’s Martin Wilkinson who stops Kelly Thorndike, because while Kelly doesn’t look that different, Martin is now unrecognizable. He tells Kelly he’s had “racial reassignment surgery” and is eager to go public about it. Kelly, who’s the narrator, is hollowed out by the loss of his wife (who was Chinese) and daughter in a car accident; he’s recently lost his job at a public radio station and agrees to help Martin 24
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tell his story. He visits Martin’s home and meets his wife, Robin. She’s African-American, a high-powered child psychologist at Johns Hopkins; the couple has two adopted children, but Robin doesn’t know her husband’s secret. Martin is less forthcoming about his black-market electronics business. So, why did he do it? The answer is elusive. The son of a gay, nonobservant Jew, he spent his 20s distributing pot on the college circuit. His momentous decision came after a weed and peyote blowout, making it seem an elaborate lark. That Martin is one slick operator becomes even clearer in the concluding section in Bangkok, where he had his surgery. He introduces Kelly to Silpa, his Thai surgeon, and talks about expanding the racial reconstruction business, projecting brands and franchises, patents and payoffs. This is full-blown speculative fiction, a drastic change from the previously realistic framework; then, just as disorienting, Kelly dislodges Martin with his own identity crisis. For all its considerable pretension, Row’s debut novel offers few insights into the formation of racial consciousness.
DE POTTER’S GRAND TOUR
Scott, Joanna Farrar, Straus and Giroux (256 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-374-16233-7 A dilettante, scholar manqué and artifact collector who may or may not be a member of the Belgian aristocracy reinvents himself in late-19th-century New York, embarking on a career as an international tour guide with the assistance of his devoted American wife. Arriving in New York in the 1870s, Armand de Potter is an ambitious immigrant who tries his hand at various business schemes before taking a position as a French teacher in an upstate girls school, where he impresses all with his erudition and patrician bearing. There, he meets his future wife, the genteel and competent Amy, whom he rechristens Aimée. The two found De Potter Tours, escorting wealthy American and British tourists to exotic locales, arranging all facets of the experience to minimize inconvenience for the travelers and enlightening them on the finer points of history and the former glories of fallen empires. Meanwhile, Armand seeks out looted antiquities and struggles to be recognized as a scholar and important collector by the academic establishment. His yearning for the approval and respect of high society, and his great fear of being exposed as an intellectual fraud, or worse, have tragic consequences. The story opens with a mention of Armand’s disappearance at sea in 1905, and the rest of the book sets about constructing the intriguing back story and sad aftermath of this calamitous event. Scott (Follow Me, 2009, etc.) builds the tale in layers, providing the perspectives of both the self-mythologizing Armand, who sees no escape from impending financial ruin and ignominy, and the perplexed Aimée as she attempts to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband and solve the mystery of his disappearance. Though his motives are carefully
laid out, Armand remains somewhat unknowable, perhaps by design; Aimée, with nothing to hide, is a more developed and fully realized character. Scott has crafted an understated, atmospheric historical novel as well as an artful mystery set in an era of steamer ships and steam trains, when tourism was new and world travel was a glamorous and sometimes-perilous adventure. (Agent: Geri Thoma)
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT
Shafer, David Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (432 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-316-25263-8 978-0-316-25264-5 e-book A droll, all-too-plausible contemporary thriller pulls a mismatched trio of stressed-out 30-somethings into underground guerilla warfare against a sinister conspiracy to own the information superhighway. On one side of the world, you have Leila Majnoun, an increasingly jaded operative for a global nonprofit agency struggling to do good deeds despite the brutal, stonewalling autocrats who run Myanmar (Burma). On another side is Mark Deveraux, a self-loathing self-improvement guru living a glamorous and debt-ridden lifestyle in the promised land of Brooklyn. Somewhere in the middle (Portland, Oregon, to be precise) is Mark’s old school chum Leo Crane, a misanthropic poor-little-rich-kid grown into a trouble-prone, substanceabusing and seedily paranoid adult. The destinies of these three lost souls are somehow yoked together by an international cabal of one-percenters who want to create something called “New Alexandria,” where all the information available (or even unavailable) online will be in their money-grubbing control, thereby making the recent real-life National Security Agency abuses of power seem like benign neglect. Shafer’s arch prose, comedic timing and deft feel for shadowy motives in high places are reminiscent of the late Richard Condon (The Manchurian Candidate), only with sweeter, deeper characterizations. At times, you wish he’d move things along a wee bit faster and make his menace more tangibly scary than it is here. But it’s also possible that Shafer is remaking the international thriller into something more humane and thus more credible than what fans of the genre are accustomed to. An edgy, darkly comedic debut novel whose characters and premise are as up-to-the-minute as an online news feed but as classic as the counterculture rebellions once evoked by Edward Abbey and Ken Kesey.
YOU’RE NOT MUCH USE TO ANYONE Shapiro, David Little A/New Harvest (224 pp.) $25.00 | Jul. 22, 2014 978-0-544-26230-0
What do you do when you start a blog that gains national attention and then feel as though you’ve moved beyond it? The answer for debut author Shapiro is, write a novel about it. The tale starts in New York City in 2008, when the narrator, named David like the author, meets a girl. After he graduates, he’s faced with a paralyzing question familiar to many: What now? He gets a job filing and starts a blog in his free time critiquing and responding to posts on the popular music website Pitchfork. He calls it Pitchfork Reviews Reviews. (In real life, Shapiro created a blog with the same name.) Things work out with the girl, and then they don’t. As the blog gains more and more attention, David is elated by its success even as he realizes that his newfound fame doesn’t solve his girl problems, family problems or money problems. Some of David’s struggles are achingly familiar: His parents want what’s best for him, but their ideas on the subject are very different from his. He tries to balance their desires (go to law school) with his own (he’s not always sure what they are). For the most part, though, the novel reads as a basic account of the events leading to the rise and fall of Pitchfork Reviews Reviews. The details of David’s life feel skin-deep and grow tedious without any deeper character exploration. “For a second, I wonder if I just use Pitchfork as a lightning rod for how disappointed I feel about almost everything in my life,” David tells us, “but that’s beside the point.” While it may be beside the point for the narrator, as readers we want more. While the writing has a certain wit, it’s hard to relate to a narrator whose novel dismisses most opportunities for emotional depth.
THE CATCH
Stevens, Taylor Crown (352 pp.) $24.00 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-0-385-34893-5 Stevens resurrects Vanessa “Michael” Munroe, her dangerous, androgynous antihero, for another dark adventure. Michael Munroe’s fans know she’s a woman who can pass for a man, but it’s a whole lot more complicated than that: Munroe is an informationist, someone who knows how to find and parse sensitive information. And she’s not simply learning what stock to purchase. Munroe deals in the kinds of information that get people killed. Like her author, Munroe grew up in Africa, and this story takes the reader to areas in and around Djibouti and the Somali coast as she ends up on an arms-laden |
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ship traveling through pirate-infested waters. When the ship is attacked and its international crew fights back, Munroe discovers the attackers are after the ship’s captain. She manages to escape with the injured man and commandeers a stolen boat. Once on shore, she stashes him in a hospital and contacts Amber, the wife of one of the men hired to protect the shipment, and attempts to work out a plan to recover the crew. Though the author never sufficiently explains why Munroe feels so compelled to help Amber, this is a small lapse. In the hands of any other writer, Stevens’ Munroe might sound a little too Ethan Hunt to wax believable, but she’s not. She’s a fierce, even vicious fighter, driven by demons that prevent her from claiming happiness. Fans of the series like that Stevens’ writing takes them to little-known places and offers glimpses into the day-to-day life of the economically developing world. Stevens continues her spare, gritty approach to storytelling, which has made Munroe one of the genre’s most compelling characters, in this latest installment of the haunted heroine’s troubled life. Readers will rejoice that their favorite female menace is back in business. (Author tour to Seattle, San Diego, Dallas, Austin and Houston. Agent: Anne Hawkins)
TOMORROW AND TOMORROW
Sweterlitsch, Thomas Putnam (352 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 10, 2014 978-0-399-16749-2
An addict searches for the missing virtual traces of several women—including his dead wife—in this gritty sci-fi thriller, set in an unpleasantly plausible near-future dystopia. Ten years ago, a terrorist nuked Pittsburgh, and poet John Dominic Blaxton has never gotten over the death of his wife, Theresa, and their unborn child. Now, he compulsively visits the Archive, a virtual recreation of Pittsburgh, both in his role as an insurance investigator of cold cases and as a grieving husband replaying encounters with Theresa, taking illegal drugs to enhance his memories. An arrest puts Dominic in the clutches of an unscrupulous therapist and a wealthy man who want him to find the digital remains of a woman who’s apparently being erased from the Archive. The title is an apt reference to a speech from Macbeth, which the doomed Scottish king delivers on learning of the death of his wife; it describes life as a “walking shadow,” which might refer to both the virtual Archive and the thin, grim substance of Dominic’s daily existence. It’s a testament to Sweterlitsch’s skill that he makes the reader feel Dominic’s grief for his wife and unborn daughter so powerfully; it still saturates him even a decade later, leaving him an utterly broken man, unable to get on with his life in any productive way. But Dominic’s destroyed mental state means that he’s not someone you really enjoy spending this much time with, although the conclusion offers a hint of redemption. Vividly and beautifully written but extraordinarily bleak. 26
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NOW AND IN THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH
Taylor, Patrick Forge (384 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Jul. 15, 2014 978-0-7653-3519-7 978-1-4668-2143-9 e-book This gripping thriller is about love and the Troubles—the love of a man and woman for each other, for freedom and for Ireland. Davy McCutcheon, introduced in Pray for Us Sinners (2000), is a bomb maker for the Provisional IRA. He’s deeply in love with Fiona Kavanagh, but he’s been sentenced to decades in the Maze prison. She immigrates to Vancouver and in time comes to love another man—but her love for Davy never dies. Then, after nine years, Davy and fellow inmates stage a prison break. Unlike some others, Davy decides he’s through with violence. All he wants is to reunite with Fiona, which will be a tough task indeed. Never mind that she may have moved on forever. He may not even make it out of Northern Ireland alive, because his comrades insist on using his skills for their dangerous plot to bomb a police barracks. The novel’s setting goes back and forth between Fiona’s Vancouver and Davy’s County Tyrone. Fiona now leads a peaceful life with a decent job and a good man, while Davy may be recaptured or killed at any moment. Both storylines are engrossing, but all the real action is with Davy. The killing, the weapons caches, the plotting and betrayal contrast sharply with the idyllic freedom of a peaceful and quiet Vancouver; the only common feature of both settings is the rain. Although this book is a sequel, it reads well as a stand-alone thriller/love story. Davy wants no part of killing anymore, but the choice may not be his. Can he find love and peace, or must he bomb his way to freedom? Taylor writes in rich physical and cultural detail, holding the reader’s attention right to the end. An engrossing tale nicely balancing war and peace. (Agent: Natalia Aponte)
MR. BONES Twenty Stories
Theroux, Paul Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (352 pp.) $27.00 | Sep. 30, 2014 978-0-544-32402-2
After more than 40 years of publishing short stories, Theroux has become a master of the form, with a deep capacity to engage, enchant and unsettle. There’s something almost quaint— and ultimately gratifying—about the manner in which Theroux’s stories rely on irony, circumstance and character motivation while retaining their inscrutability. It’s a quality shared by all the great modern storytellers, from Chekhov to Cheever, and Theroux, better known for his witty, idiosyncratic travelogues,
“From our perspective 70 years later, we’re accustomed to thinking of WWII’s outcome as being inevitable. Not so, says Turtledove.” from last orders
can claim their legacies as his own. What connect most of the 20 tales are characters getting even, getting back or just “getting theirs” at the expense of someone who may, or may not, deserve reprisals. In the case of “Rip It Up,” a chillingly prescient story of junior high outcasts collaborating on an explosive device to set off against their tormentors, the outcome yields disorienting, unexpected and ambivalent results. The same holds true for “I’m the Meat, You’re the Knife,” in which a writer returns home for his father’s funeral and uses the occasion to torment a former teacher, now a helpless patient in a convalescent center, with stories suggestive (but never explicitly so) about past abuses by the teacher against the student. Outside of “Our Raccoon Year,” a tale of an over-the-top war against nature that seems a miniature version of Theroux’s best-known novel, The Mosquito Coast, the macabre and absurd elements of Theroux’s stories are more affecting for being rooted in the commonplace and the plausible. Even the shoe salesman in the title story who appears to veer into the deep end by indulging in blackface minstrelsy is depicted as someone you might have known or heard about while growing up. Such characters seem so odd but true that, in the same way he makes exotic locales worth visiting, Theroux inspires you to wonder what you’re overlooking when encountering friends, neighbors and strangers alike. A versatile, prolific author asserts his pre-eminence in short fiction with an unassuming brilliance that almost makes you think stories will become popular again.
CHARLESTON
Thornton, Margaret Bradham Ecco/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $25.99 | $14.99 e-book | Jul. 29, 2014 978-0-06-233252-3 978-0-06-233254-7 e-book A woman’s dilemma—whether to forgo an international academic career for romance in her native Charleston—is the subject of Thornton’s debut. Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1990, is an insular world where a clique of founding families cherishes their heritage, clinging to antebellum ways while snubbing the tourists and newcomers who are fueling the city’s economic resurgence. It’s a world with which Thornton is, clearly, intimately familiar, and as a portrait of a city mired in the past, it works. What works less well is the story she sets against this headily atmospheric backdrop. Eliza, who, like the author, is an academic and a Charleston insider, attempted to escape her roots by moving to New York and then London to study art history. She has a liaison with Jamie, an upper-crust Englishman, but she has unresolved feelings for her childhood sweetheart, Henry, whom she left when he was unfaithful. His alcohol-fueled fling with an unbalanced Southern belle, Issie, resulted in an unplanned pregnancy and a hasty marriage and divorce. Devoid of motherly feeling, Issie has let Henry raise their son, Lawton, now 9, alone. On a visit home after a 10-year absence, Eliza is ineluctably drawn back to Henry. The only problem, besides a complete lack of narrative drive, is the absence of
believable chemistry between Henry and Eliza. The couple’s rapprochement is eked out in long scenes of walking and driving, calling on friends, trips to the beach and to tennis matches, etc., which unspool with excruciating slowness almost in real time. Not until Page 200 does trouble surface in the form of a newly maternal Issie, who finally triggers some dramatic tension. It’s telling that a subplot involving Eliza’s quest to authenticate a painting for an impoverished Charleston widow is more engrossing than the love story. The moving close can’t redeem this novel; most readers will have given up long before the end. (Author appearances in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Charleston, Savannah and New York)
LAST ORDERS
Turtledove, Harry Del Rey/Ballantine (416 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-0-345-52471-3 Series: War That Came Early Turtledove (Two Fronts, 2013, etc.) delivers the final installment—and there’s room for a maybe in there—of his series developing an alternate-history version of World War II. Without aliens interfering. From our perspective 70 years later, we’re accustomed to thinking of WWII’s outcome as being inevitable. Not so, says Turtledove. What if, for instance, the Spanish Civil War had dragged on? Imagine, then, a 1943 where fascist Nationalists backed by Nazi Germany wage trench warfare against Republican communists assisted by independently operating Americans and Europeans. Further suppose that in 1938, when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, Britain and France had allied themselves with Nazi Germany to battle the communist Soviet Union. By 1943, however, following an anti-fascist coup, Britain and France now face Germany across a western front entrenched in Belgium, while in the east, the Soviets push the Germans back inch by bloody inch. Avoiding European entanglement, the U.S. tussles with Japan in the Pacific, where, after a quite different Battle of Midway, American paratroopers find themselves stranded, forbidden to leave the island due to Japan’s active biological warfare campaign. In Münster, a churchman protests against Nazi treatment of defectives (though not Jews), prompting skeptical, war-weary Germans to revolt against the hated blackshirt overlords. The action switches among frontline soldiers and airmen on the European western and eastern fronts, the mid-Pacific, civilian Americans and German Jews, Ukrainian partisans and Czech snipers, German tank and submarine crews, and a gratuitous cameo from Albert Einstein. Disdaining broad brush strokes, Turtledove’s focus on the characters serves to fill out the big picture with patient, nitty-gritty detail. It’s all quite plausible, sure, and armchair warriors will have much to ponder. Some readers may find the conclusion messy and unsatisfying, but that’s part of Turtledove’s argument: War often is.
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LAST STORIES AND OTHER STORIES
WRITERS
Volodine, Antoine Translated by Rogers, Katina Dalkey Archive (120 pp.) $14.95 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-62897-040-1
Vollmann, William T. Viking (704 pp.) $36.00 | Jul. 14, 2014 978-0-670-01597-9
Vollmann (The Book of Dolores, 2013, etc.) turns his considerable intelligence and skill to a broad genre that doesn’t get much respect—namely, the ghost story. Not all the pieces in this collection are ghost stories as such, mind you; not everything here goes bump in the night. But the very title is suggestive of Vollmann’s intent: These are not his last stories, or so we hope, but instead the last stories of men and women who are soon to become dust. Vollmann’s omniscient narrator instructs us, early on, in what to expect, intoning, “[t]o the extent that the dead live on, the living must resemble them,” and adding, to the list of axioms, the observation, “[c]onfessing such resemblance, we should not reject the possibility that we might at this very moment be dead.” In the first story, a blameless young couple, newly married, find themselves mowed down by sniper fire in a grassy lot in Sarajevo. Says that narrator, having darkly admired the skill of the gunner and raised a speculation or two about the events, “everyone agrees that the corpses of the two lovers lay rotting for days, because nobody dared to approach them.” The two hapless Bosnians needed La Llorona, the ghost of Mexican folklore, to warn them away from dangerous places; she turns up in another story, in which Vollmann ingeniously retells her legend, noting her bad habit of stealing away innocent children: “So La Llorona kept little Manuel, who was quite fetching except for the fact that his face resembled a death’s-head.” Small wonder those calaveras are so prevalent south of the border. After traveling the world, Vollmann brings us to an America in which death has definitely not taken a holiday: A dying man, having seen much of death before, finally gets to have a conversation with the love he’d lost track of ages before; that closing story is long, pensive and, like the others here, utterly haunting. Exquisite: beautifully, perfectly imagined and written. Weird, too. A little heavy for the beach, perhaps, but perfect reading for the Day of the Dead.
A loosely concatenated series of seven stories, all focusing on writers in various and cunning guises. The opening tale introduces Mathias Olbane, a suicidal writer and former inmate at a penitentiary now plagued with oncoglyphosis, a rare illness whose manifestation is a “retraction of the scalp,” a condition that torments him. Convicted of being a member of a terrorist organization, despite his emphatic denials, Olbane served 26 years—and came out with plenty of material. “Begin-ing” plunges us into a Kafkaesque world in which a man is being tormented into making a confession about almost anything—“that he has contacts with parallel universes, with aliens, that since his birth he has been a double agent”—although he professes that his mind is completely empty. Bruno and Greta, his incredulous interlocutors, turn out to be sadistic, murderous and insane. “Acknowledgments,” one of the few stories with a lighter tone, is in fact a delicious sendup of a writer’s elaborate appreciation for all the help he received in completing his novel, but also included is a list of those who did not aid the creative process, those whose “malicious critiques, mean-spirited little reviews, and unpardonable silences carried substantial weight towards my books’ lack of success.” In the futuristic “The Strategy of Silence in the Work of Bogdan Tarassiev,” the narrator explores an author whose career spans a period from 2017 to 2053 and whose periodic silences raise cryptic issues about creativity. Many of Volodine’s writers inhabit a “post-exotic” world, in which they’re obligated to remember the atrocities and horrors of the 20th century—and to serve as repositories of a dark cultural memory.
PROTOTYPE
Waters, M.D. Dutton (368 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 24, 2014 978-0-525-95424-8 The sequel to Waters’ dystopian Archetype (2014) is set in a world where women are in scarce supply and cloning has a creepy, but increasingly important, role in society. Emma Wade Burke has managed to escape from Declan Burke, the richest man in America, who claims to be her husband; she’s fled to Mexico, where she hunts for her resistance-connected parents. But Declan’s obsession with Emma threatens the resistance, which fights against the components of society that allow women and female children to
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be treated as possessions. Within moments of making contact with a man she hopes might help her, Emma discovers Declan has offered a huge reward for her return and that plenty of takers exist. Emma returns to the resistance fighters’ headquarters and her true husband, Noah, the father of her child. But this Emma is a clone of the woman Noah married. His wife died, and many in the resistance movement don’t accept that Emma, the clone, is as much a human being as they are. After settling into everyday life around the facility, Emma decides she must resume the search for her parents, no matter where that might take her, even if it means walking back into Declan’s life. While Waters works hard to convince readers that Emma’s clone is every bit as human as Emma, the character herself emphasizes her differences by speaking in an oddly formal and stilted manner. Although billed as a futuristic story involving a dystopian society, the plot really centers on Emma’s tiresome swooning over both Declan and Noah. When she’s not daydreaming about Noah’s amber eyes or Declan’s lush lips, Emma proves to be an interesting-enough heroine, but those who are not up for a romance novel will find her dilemma tiresome. A good run at constructing an out-of-the-ordinary romance that never quite succeeds.
THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL
Wiggs, Susan Harlequin MIRA (400 pp.) $24.95 | Jun. 24, 2014 978-0-7783-1448-6
When writer Cormac “Mac” O’Neill comes to Bella Vista, Isabel Johansen struggles with her distracting attraction to him while she’s planning her sister’s wedding and preparing to open a destination cooking school. After nearly losing Bella Vista, the family’s idyllic haciendastyle home, and discovering a pile of family secrets—including Tess, a half sister she never knew about who wound up saving the estate—Isabel finally has the resources and support to pursue her dream of opening a cooking school. Completely updating her home to house the school and an elegant events venue, she and Tess have decided to launch the space with Tess’ wedding. It’s a busy summer, made even more complicated by the arrival of Mac, a nomadic writer hired to write their grandfather Magnus’ tragic and triumphant story, which includes his work in the Danish resistance during World War II. Mix in a young, pregnant beekeeper and an arrogant celebrity chef with whom Isabel shares a dark past, and the book has many satisfying elements, as well as the enchanting setting of Bella Vista, which “lived and breathed with the essence of life.” This novel is bestselling author Wiggs’ follows-up to The Apple Orchard (2013), which told Tess’ story, and though it’s compelling, it never achieves the same level of pitch-perfect authenticity. Isabel remains a domestic goddess, but her reasons for not letting Mac in for most of the book become less understandable the longer she fervently hangs on to them, and her abrupt about-faces in
the book’s last scenes on so many aspects of her life make us wonder why they weren’t so obvious much sooner. A satisfying, engaging read though lacking Wiggs’ typical effortlessness and buoyancy.
EMERALDS INCLUDED
Woodman, Betsy Henry Holt (288 pp.) $27.00 | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-8050-9358-2
The third in Woodman’s series about a Scottish expatriate living among other lovable eccentrics in a northern Indian village. It’s the early 1960s, and Jana Bibi (born Janet Laird), 60 herself, and her garrulous parrot, Mr. Ganguly, continue their harmonious existence in the bustling fictional hamlet of Hamara Nagar. India’s social ills are far from the foreground but surface in the back stories of two characters: Mary, Jana’s longtime housekeeper and cook, who ran away from an abusive arranged marriage in South India, and Tilku, an orphan boy, who was rescued by Jana. (Long widowed, she was married to a missionary and lost both her husband and two daughters to smallpox.) News from her son, Jack, now a successful Glasgow engineer, unsettles Jana’s routine of regular lunches with the town’s two movers and shakers, newspaper editor Rambir and resale merchant Ramachandran. Jack’s letter announces his engagement to Katarina, a Hungarian refugee, and the couple plans a spring visit. However, Jolly Grant House, the genteelly crumbling compound Jana inherited from her grandfather, is in no shape for visitors, nor, dare Jana hope, a wedding! The house needs a total overhaul, everything from such basics as a hotwater heater to new curtains and carpets. But Jana’s finances are strained not only by Tilku’s boarding school tuition, but by a local policeman’s frequent visits to extract ever more fanciful fines. Reluctantly, she pawns her prized emerald necklace and earrings to a local jeweler. Romance begins to burgeon elsewhere in Jana’s entourage: Mary and Jacob John, caretakers to Jana’s elderly friend Sylvia, have Catholicism and enthusiasm for Bollywood movies in common, and Jana herself wonders if anything could bloom between her and her travel writer friend, Kenneth. Further complications arise—Tilku is having trouble at school, and Katarina is, to Mary’s horror, a picky eater. But such crises are quickly resolved, as if Woodman were hesitant to let real life intrude on such pleasant fiction. A cozy nonmystery that will be welcomed by Woodman’s loyal following.
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CRAZY HORSE’S GIRLFRIEND
Wurth, Erika T. Curbside Splendor (400 pp.) $15.95 paper | Sep. 9, 2014 978-1-940430-43-0
A Native American adolescent in rural Colorado dreams of a life beyond the weary grind of her small town. Teacher and poet Wurth (Creative Writing/Western Illinois Univ.; Indian Trains, 2007) infuses her debut novel with impassioned teen spirit, but the pedestrian nature of the challenges it presents to its tough narrator leaves something to be desired. Sixteen-year-old Margaritte is Native American on her mother’s side, white on her father’s, and all kinds of pissed off about her lot in life. Between going to high school, working a drab job as a waitress, selling weed with her cousin Jake, and dealing with her alcoholic father and her mother’s denial, the kid has a lot of angst on her plate. She gets quite dreamy when she starts sleeping with a new boyfriend named Mike, a coke-addled jackass who cheats on her with one of her friends. As happens, Margaritte turns up pregnant, which is a bit clichéd for a character who gets stabbed in the first chapter during a drug deal. “I want to…I don’t know what I want!” shouts Margaritte at her boyfriend. “I don’t want to be a teenage mother! Another fucking Indian statistic. I don’t want my mother’s life.” The rest of the story trails out in kind of extreme ways. Margaritte’s cousin Jake is arrested when he assaults Mike in the hospital after an overdose. Margaritte is nearly killed when her father drunkenly runs the family into a ditch during an argument. There’s supposed to be some will-sheor-won’t-she tension over whether Margaritte will have an abortion, which feels like it came straight out of a freshman creative writing class. Margaritte has an interesting voice, and Wurth gives the environment a gritty patina, but there’s not enough of an emotional arc to warrant the drama here. An unsentimental but ultimately unconvincing play about an Indian girl navigating the teenage wasteland.
PARADE
Yoshida, Shuichi Translated by Gabriel, Philip Vintage (320 pp.) $15.95 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-307-45493-5 Five Japanese quarter-lifers disclose secrets and glimpses of their dark sides in a chilly slice of vérité from Yoshida (Villain, 2010). An assailant is roving the streets near the Tokyo apartment at the center of this novel, Yoshida’s second translated into English. But the residents have other things on their minds. Ryosuke is a college student trying to work up the nerve to make a move on a friend’s girlfriend. Kotomi is having an on-again, off-again relationship with a young actor who’s 30
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suddenly become a star. Mirai is a hard-drinking woman who’s spliced together a tape of rape scenes from various movies, a horrid inversion of the cheery climax of Cinema Paradiso. Satoru is a prostitute with a penchant for breaking into homes, and Naoki is a film buff whose concluding revelation clarifies much of the preceding story. Yoshida is cannily aware of the ways that people in their late teens and 20s play-act at personalities, taking on ideas and tossing them aside. (And, being originally published in 2002, the novel is a reminder that such narcissism isn’t a function of social media.) The downside of writing about such personalities in process, though, is that emotional footholds are hard for the reader to locate; Parade dedicates a section to each of the five players, but each has a quotidian flatness. The most intriguing of the group is Mirai, who’s the savviest about calling out the white lies and bragging of her roommates, but she’s oblivious to the reasons behind her own alcoholic self-annihilation. “The only way I can be a true humanitarian in Japan today is to be snide and disagreeable,” she says. Why so snide and disagreeable? Yoshida might argue that providing a pat answer would undercut the mood of alienation. But as it is, the book is dour and distant. A monochromatic sketch of emotional disconnect.
SAND AND FIRE
Young, Tom Putnam (336 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 10, 2014 978-0-399-16688-4
A Marine hero re-enlists to bring down a North African terrorist who’s been orchestrating a string of chemical attacks. Air National Guardsman Young (The Warriors, 2013, etc.) delivers the latest addition to his growing list of realistic military thrillers. The protagonist is a 6-foot-8-inch gunnery sergeant named A.E. Blount who is nearing retirement after bravely serving his country in a number of dangerous deployments. However, a quiet life with his wife and two daughters on their little slice of Carolina paradise is put on hold when an unusual terrorist modeled on the Barbary pirates of yesteryear initiates a series of sarin gas attacks. When duty calls, retirement can wait, and Blount finds himself once again at the tip of the American military spear. Recurring characters from previous Young novels—Army translator Sophia Gold and Lt. Col. Michael Parson—play supporting roles when they lead efforts to rescue Blount after a botched mission leaves the large Marine in the clutches of terrorists, where he faces imminent decapitation. Yet when Blount turns his formidable fighting prowess against his captors, it may be the terrorists who need saving. Rather than relying on crude violence and gratuitous action scenes, Young takes the time to offer the reader a window into the deliberative process of these military men and women of action. There are, nonetheless, hearty helpings of realistic shootouts and fistfights. A realistic portrayal of contemporary military action.
m ys t e r y THE CASE OF THE BLACK PEARL
Anderson, Lin Severn House (192 pp.) $28.95 | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8386-5
In a series debut, a private investigator escaping a mysterious past runs headon into a dangerous present during the Cannes Film Festival. The Englishman who renamed himself Patrick de Courvoisier is living a quiet life between cases on his French gunboat Les Trois Soeurs, anchored in the Old Port of Cannes. But he’s restless and ready for trouble, which obligingly finds him in the person of Camille Ager. She wants him to find her half sister, Angele Valette, the star of The Black Pearl, a film premiering at the Cannes festival. Angele and the eponymous pearl have been missing since the night of the film’s launch party aboard a lavish yacht. The yacht’s owner, Vasily Chapayev, is also a financial backer of the movie, and Camille says Angele was scared of him. After a magical evening with Marie Elise, a high-priced escort who was friendly with the missing starlet, Patrick’s warily romantic dreams are shattered when he finds her dead aboard Les Trois Soeurs. It’s not the first warning he’s received to stay off the case, and he fears that his missing French bulldog is another. But Patrick can’t linger aboard his own boat. Convinced he’ll be the first suspect in Marie Elise’s death, he gathers up the paperwork for three different identities, dives overboard, swims to shore and heads for a former comrade’s house to establish an alibi. A surprise meeting leads to a deal over the black pearl, a hint of even more expensive gemstones, and a risky plot for justice and vengeance. The enigmatic hero borders on opacity, and the writeby-numbers style Anderson (Picture Her Dead, 2011, etc.) favors is only partly offset by a fast-moving plot and the Cannois setting.
THE FORSAKEN
Atkins, Ace Putnam (384 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 24, 2014 978-0-399-16179-7
Cases both hot and cold force a Mississippi sheriff to confront issues from the past. For now at least, former Army Ranger Quinn Colson (All the Broken Places, 2013, etc.) is the sheriff of Tibbehah County. Hidden behind the county’s down-home atmosphere is a seething mass of corruption, drug dealing and violent crime.
Quinn and his sharpshooting deputy, Lillie Virgil, are under investigation for shooting a crooked sheriff and stealing money. Former sheriff Johnny Stagg remains Tibbehah’s political power. His legitimate business is vastly overshadowed by his income from drugs and prostitution, and he aims to get the all-too-honest Quinn removed from office. Stagg has hired a tough new bodyguard because his nemesis, Chains LeDoux, a crazed biker who ran the Born Losers, is about to be released from prison. Quinn himself is preoccupied by crimes committed before he was born. Some time after Diane Tull was raped and her friend Lori Stillwell murdered, an unidentified man was found beaten, burned and hanged. But Diane, who knows the dead man wasn’t the rapist, asks Quinn to right that old wrong and find whomever killed the nameless victim. Lori’s father, Hank Stillwell, was part of the Born Losers. So was Quinn’s father, Jason, who got sucked into the biker gang on a visit home from his job as a Hollywood stuntman. Quinn’s mother would never reveal why Jason left his family. Now Quinn must investigate the father he hasn’t seen since childhood for murder. Meantime, Stagg, the Born Losers, and rival black and Mexican drug lords continue to fight for control of the lucrative drug market. Atkins is at the top of his game in Quinn’s fourth appearance, filled with nonstop action and moral ambiguities. The sheriff’s many flaws only enhance his human appeal.
SHOTS FIRED Stories from Joe Pickett Country
Box, C.J. Putnam (288 pp.) $26.95 | July 15, 2014 978-0-399-15858-2
Ten stories—three never before published—from the best-selling creator of Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett (Stone Cold, 2014, etc.). Joe appears in three of these tales and has a cameo in a fourth. In “One-Car Bridge,” he delivers bad news to a mean millionaire rancher whose day is about to get worse. “Dull Knife” shows him investigating the death of a former women’s basketball star whose car plunged into an icy lake. “Shots Fired: A Requiem for Ander Esti” takes him into an innocuous sheep wagon from which shots have been fired at a visiting hunter’s car. And in “The Master Falconer,” he’s on hand to lend support and comfort to his friend Nate Romanowski, whose falcons have been seized by an Arab patron whose money Nate refused. The other stories are more wide-ranging. A pair of Czech visitors to Big Sky country try to get tough with a biopirate in “Pirates of Yellowstone.” A fishing expedition ends in predictable violence in “Every Day Is a Good Day on the River.” A kidnapped lawyer turns the tables on a disgruntled legal opponent in “Pronghorns of the Third Reich.” The short, heartfelt “Blood Knot” shows the last morning a teenage girl joins her grandfather to fish. The title character in “La Sauvage Noble (‘The Noble Savage’)” ships off to Paris with a Wild West show looking to get screwed, and |
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does so in more ways than one. And the fate of the incautious trappers in “The End of Jim and Ezra,” set in 1835, shows how little has changed in the years since. Box generally avoids whodunits and surprises; the title story’s subtitle gives away its principal revelation. But if you’re looking for rising tension played out against spectacular natural scenery, nobody does it better.
THE DEAD WILL TELL
Castillo, Linda Minotaur (320 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Jul. 8, 2014 978-1-250-02957-7 978-1-250-02956-0 e-book A pair of cold cases turns hot for an Ohio police chief with an Amish background. Painters Mill Police Chief Kate Burkholder is just settling into a romantic relationship with Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent John Tomasetti when two cases from the past throw their lives into turmoil. Tomasetti learns that one of the men who murdered his wife and children has gotten off on a technicality. His violent reaction is understandable but still disturbing to Kate, who thought he had put the past behind him; she has little time to ponder, though, when the gruesome killing of a solid citizen demands all her attention. No motive appears until the second and third murders reveal telling connections. All the victims were high school friends, and accusing letters they’d received suggest they may have been involved in the unsolved 1979 murder of an Amish family. Billy Hochstetler is the only survivor of that robbery attempt gone wrong. Soon after young Billy bragged to a friend about how well his family was doing in their woodworking business, several masked figures robbed and murdered his father and kidnapped his mother. While Billy tried to help his mother, his younger siblings—locked in the cellar by the killers—burned to death when a lantern overturned. Billy has finally married and is running a successful apple orchard, but his guilt is constantly with him. Two men who may have been involved refuse to admit to any connection. One is a preacher known for his good deeds, the other a town counselor who dislikes Kate but wants police protection. Although Kate is no longer Amish, her connections with the sect turn up information about the missing Mrs. Hochstetler that may be crucial. No one who picks up Kate’s stunning sixth case (Her Last Breath, 2013, etc.), a marriage of thriller and police procedural, will put it down unfinished.
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THE COMPETITION
Clark, Marcia Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (352 pp.) $26.00 | $12.99 e-book | $28.00 Lg. Prt. Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-316-22097-2 978-0-316-22098-9 e-book 978-0-316-40473-0 Lg. Prt. Ready for a fictionalized account of a mass shooting in a high school? Well, Clark is, though she comes a cropper in her attempt to rip another novel from headlines as painful as they are ubiquitous. At first, the massacre at Fairmont High seems to have followed a familiar script. The two masked gunmen, who started their shooting spree at a pep rally in the gym, roamed the halls, ducked into classrooms, murdered some 30 schoolmates and wounded many others, and ended up in the library, where their own bodies were found, balaclavas tossed aside, in an apparent mutual suicide. Unfortunately, the coroner tells LA Special Crimes prosecutor Rachel Knight and her buddy Detective Bailey Keller of the LAPD (Killer Ambition, 2013, etc.), the corpses weren’t actually those of the killers, who remain at large. Confronted by a murderous pair obviously inspired by the massacre at Columbine High but clearly determined to surpass it, Rachel and Bailey can think of nothing better to do than start interviewing teachers, administrators and students, angering the shocked, defensive parents of anyone they even suggest might be involved. Meanwhile, the killers take their act to other venues and write Rachel taunting letters that sound exactly like the work of a high school student. The result is to invoke the horror of Columbine and other recent mass shootings while insisting that the perps, who clearly believe they’re brilliant, come across as merely narcissistic, immature and hateful. Nor does it speak very highly of Rachel and Bailey that every suspect they think might be one of the shooters promptly ends up dead-end dead. An all-too-timely tale that makes you long for the day it’ll be outdated. Just the thing for readers whose appetites for stories of mass shootings haven’t been sated by the daily news.
THE BONE ORCHARD
Doiron, Paul Minotaur (320 pp.) $15.99 | $12.99 e-book | Jul. 15, 2014 978-1-250-03488-5 978-1-250-03487-8 e-book Just because you’re done with the past doesn’t mean the past is done with you, as former Maine game warden Mike Bowditch discovers when his field training officer is shot virtually before his eyes. Since parting company with the Warden Service two months ago, Mike’s been making ends meet by working as a fishing guide and acting as an informal live-in watchdog for
“Editors, agents and publishers all want to meet the detective, but only over lunches at fancy restaurants where he’s expected to foot the bill.” from the silkworm
Elizabeth Morse’s spread. All that changes when Sgt. Kathy Frost, his old mentor, and rookie warden Danielle Tate respond to Lyla Gammon’s frantic 911 call to find Lyla’s son Jimmy, a troubled Afghan war veteran, barricaded in the family barn with the horses and a gun. After Kathy acknowledges that she shot Jimmy dead when he drew on her, she herself is ambushed in her home, along with her beloved dog, Pluto. Mike, arriving on the scene just in time to get his windshield shot out and scare off the shooter, resolves to bring in the perp. As Kathy hovers in a coma between life and death, Mike gets down to business by doing what he does best: going head to head with everyone in sight, from his hopeless love, Stacey Stevens, to Kathy’s brother, Kurt Eklund, an alcoholic carpenter he finds passed out in her bed. And of course Mike always has time to antagonize his old nemesis Col. Duane Harkavy, the chief commanding officer of the Warden Service. The question of who shot Kathy Frost is less urgent than the question of how many more enemies Mike (Bad Little Falls, 2012, etc.) can make in the state of Maine before he burns a hole in the map and drops headlong through it.
BLIND MOON ALLEY
Florio, John Seventh Street/Prometheus (240 pp.) $15.95 paper | $11.99 e-book Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-61614-887-4 978-1-61614-888-1 e-book A reluctant shamus gets in deep with a crooked cop, an escaped convict and a twofaced woman he can’t get out of his mind. Philadelphia, 1931. Jersey Leo, who tends bar at a speak-easy called The Ink Well, becomes the toast of the town after rescuing a kidnapped boy. Jersey, also known as “Snowball” because he’s an albino with blond hair, learns that notoriety can have a downside when Aaron Garvey contacts him with a desperate plea. Jersey was Garvey’s only childhood friend. Now that he’s on death row for killing a cop, Garvey invites Jersey as the single permitted visitor for his last meal. Naturally, there’s a catch. The site of Garvey’s crime is a joint he owns called the Red Canary, run by his gal Myra Banks, who also dates all the way back to Jersey and Garvey’s childhood, when Jersey had a crush on her. Because Jack Reeger, the dead cop’s violent partner, is hassling Myra constantly and bleeding her for protection money, Garvey fears for her safety and wants Jersey to “send him a message”—that is, kill him. Jersey demurs but can’t resist checking out Myra at the Red Canary. Once Jersey lands on Reegers’ radar, he becomes a target as well. And the whole situation gets a major shake-up when Garvey escapes from prison. Jersey’s second caper (Sugar Pop Moon, 2013), which finds room for several quirky characters in its crannies, is hard-boiled enough to remind readers of Hammett and Chandler.
THE SILKWORM
Galbraith, Robert Mulholland Books/Little, Brown (464 pp.) $28.00 | $14.99 e-book | Jun. 19, 2014 978-0-316-20687-7 978-1-61614-888-1 e-book In her second pseudonymous outing as Galbraith, J.K. Rowling continues her examination of fame—those who want it, those who avoid it, those who profit from it. Cormoran Strike, Rowling’s hard-living private eye, isn’t as close to the edge as he was in his first appearance, The Cuckoo’s Calling (2013). His success at proving supermodel Lula Landry was murdered has brought him more clients than he can handle—mostly businessmen who think their lovers are straying and divorcing wives looking for their husbands’ assets—and he’s even rented a small apartment above his office near Charing Cross Road. His accidental temp–turned-assistant, Robin Ellacott, is dying to stretch her investigative muscles, but she has to deal with her fiance, Matthew, who still wishes she’d taken that better-paying job in human resources. Then odd sadsack Leonora Quine comes in asking Strike to find her missing husband, Owen, a fading enfant terrible novelist. Strike soon discovers that Owen had written a baroque fantasy novel in which he exposed the secrets of everyone he knows—including his editor, publisher and a famous writer with whom he had a falling out years earlier—and his agent had just sent it out for consideration. Rowling has great fun with the book industry: Editors, agents and publishers all want to meet the detective, but only over lunches at fancy restaurants where he’s expected to foot the bill. It’s no big surprise when Strike finds the writer’s dead body—though it’s certainly gruesome, as someone killed him in the same extravagantly macabre way he disposed of the villain of his unpublished book. As Strike tries to figure out who murdered Owen, the writer is splashed across the front pages of the tabloids in a way he would have loved when he was alive, while the detective tries to play down his own growing fame. Rowling proves once again that she’s a master of plotting over the course of a series; you can see her planting seeds, especially when it comes to Robin, which can be expected to bear narrative fruit down the line. It will be a pleasure to watch what happens.
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REST ASSURED
Gregson, J.M. Severn House (224 pp.) $28.95 | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8377-3 A foray into a holiday community turns out anything but restful for Chief Superintendent Lambert and DS Hook (Cry of the Children, 2014, etc.) of Oldford CID. Taking the concept of community policing to perhaps a new level, Bert Hook agrees to help his neighbor Lisa Ramsbottom find the source of the death threats pushed under her front door. But the unofficial investigation requires a trip to Twin Lakes Country Holiday Park, a community of vacation homes in sight of the Welsh hills. In addition to their house in Oldford, the Ramsbottoms own a unit in Twin Lakes, and it’s through the door of that unit that the offending missives have been poked. Once in the country, Lambert and Hook find anything but peace and quiet. Everyone at Twin Lakes seems to be involved in something shady. History teacher Elfrida Potts uses her vacation home for trysts with one of her students. George Martindale makes trips to local highway rest stops to retrieve mysterious packages. Richard Seagrave pretends dishy Vanessa Norton is his wife, while Michael Norrington isn’t actually Michael Norrington, but rather someone who’s left his dodgy past by the wayside. Twin Lakes’ near–full-time resident Debbie Keane makes it her business to ferret out her neighbors’ secrets, so when her husband, Walter, is killed, there’s no dearth of suspects. Still, Lambert and Hook have to tread lightly to solve a case well off their patch. Solid police procedure once again saves the day, as death doesn’t take a holiday.
GHOST MONTH
Lin, Ed Soho Crime (336 pp.) $26.95 | $14.99 e-book | Jul. 29, 2014 978-1-61695-326-3 978-1-61695-327-0 e-book The creator of the Robert Chow mysteries (One Red Bastard, 2012, etc.), set in New York’s Chinatown in the 1970s, turns to contemporary Taiwan for this ambitious, muddled tale of murder in a culture that sees itself as both the center of the world and overshadowed by its powerful mainland rival. In the seven years since Cheng Jing-nan last saw Julia Huang, he’s thought about her every day. After going through schools in Taipei together, the two departed for the U.S., Jing-nan for UCLA, Julia for NYU. Both of them ended up back in Taipei when Julia flunked out of college and Jing-nan returned to his father’s side during his last illness and then took over both Unknown Pleasures, the family’s food stand, and the mountain 34
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of debt his family had run up. But they didn’t end up together, although Jing-nan always intended to return to Julia the minute he was in a position to marry her. Now he’s missed his chance. Julia’s been found shot to death at the side of a highway in the scanty costume of a betel-nut girl, one step removed from a prostitute. Dazed with grief, Jing-nan seems like the most unlikely investigator ever. Nor is he the cleverest or the most resourceful detective. But his questioning of his old schoolmates gradually reveals unwelcome news about some of the people he thought he’d known best, including Julia herself. At the same time, his sex-first romance with music-store clerk Nancy Han, formerly the mistress of a disgraced financier, forces him to face some equally unsparing revelations about himself and the love he cherished for a woman he hadn’t seen since they graduated from high school together. The teeming Taipei setting and the tormented hero combine to create a furious energy that transcends a whodunit plot too mundane even to capture Jing-nan’s full attention. (Agent: Kirby Kim)
THE PALE HOUSE
McCallin, Luke Berkley (384 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-425-26306-8 A German officer pursues the deaths of comrades in arms during the fall of Sarajevo in 1945. Capt. Gregor Reinhardt has seen service in both the Great War and World War II. Now, he’s being transferred to the elite Feldjaegerkorps, which accepts only decorated soldiers. With his two Iron Crosses, Reinhardt is more than eligible. What makes him less so is his secret membership in a resistance cell, though his hopes of being effective are diminishing daily. En route to a posting in Sarajevo and on the trail of rumored deserters, Reinhardt and his subordinates find three burned bodies of Feldjaeger soldiers and about a dozen massacred civilians. When five more bodies with faces mutilated beyond recognition surface at a military construction site in Sarajevo, Reinhardt, who was a member of the Berlin Kriminalpolizei between the wars, is increasingly convinced that he’s looking at a coverup. Drawn into internecine wars of the Yugoslavian Partisans and the Ustaše (a powerful band of terrorists with whom the Nazis have an uneasy alliance), knowing that Nazi forces are planning to abandon the city, realizing that he’s been a pawn all his military life but determined to follow the investigation to its end, Reinhardt finds a clue in the missing soldbuchs, or soldier’s pay books, that points to corruption. At the center are the Ustaše headquarters in the Pale House and a Nazi penal unit with a growing number of foreign volunteers. Reinhardt’s ties to Suzana Vukíc, whom he knows from a previous case, lead him to a shadowy figure at the heart of Sarajevo’s resistance and to betrayal from all sides. As the city crumbles around him, he has one last chance to follow his own moral compass as he risks his life in a multilayered tale of war, political upheaval and fragile hope.
“The chills McGrath’s third Edie entry sends down your spine will rival those brought on by any Nunavut winter.” from the bone seeker
MARGERY ALLINGHAM’S MR. CAMPION’S FAREWELL
Although McCallin (The Man from Berlin, 2013) thoughtfully provides a cast list, navigating this convoluted wartime mystery is no easy task. The hero and his personal and professional conflicts, however, are well worth the effort.
THE BONE SEEKER
McGrath, M.J. Viking (400 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 28, 2014 978-0-670-78580-3
The murder of a teenager rocks a remote settlement in Canada’s high Arctic. Summer brings many changes to Ellesmere Island, on the northern edge of Nunavut. The ice thins, dovekies return to build their nests on the cliffs, and people flee inland to their summer campgrounds. Droves of unataqti (soldiers) swarm into Camp Nanook on maneuvers. Edie Kiglatuk (The Boy in the Snow, 2012, etc.) moved north from Autisaq to Kuujuaq at the beginning of the season to teach summer school. Her teaching stint ends when 15-year-old Martha Salliaq’s body is found in Turngaluk, known to the Inuit as Lake of the Bad Spirits. Now Sgt. Derek Palliser, the senior of the two members of the Ellesmere Island Native Police, needs Edie’s help. Although the government in Ottawa sees him as a Nunavut native, the Inuit consider Palliser, a Cree, to be qalunaat, an outsider. Edie serves as his pipeline to the people who can help him solve Martha’s murder, starting with the girl’s father, Charlie Salliaq. Although Edie is only half Inuit, she still has access to Charlie, whom she addresses as avasirngulik, in deference to his position as tribal chief. But Edie is plagued by doubts about her ability to help Derek solve the case, about her relationship with Chip Muloon, a researcher from the University of Calgary, and about how her role as deputy will affect her relations with the rest of the native population. Those doubts persist even after two unataqti are charged with Martha’s murder. Something in the speed with which Col. Al Klinsman seems willing to jail two of his own—and his hostility to Sonia Gutierrez, the Salliaqs’ lawyer—makes Edie think the case isn’t as simple as Camp Nanook’s commanding officer suggests. The chills McGrath’s third Edie entry sends down your spine will rival those brought on by any Nunavut winter.
Ripley, Mike Severn House (288 pp.) $28.95 | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8383-4
In his 22nd adventure, a gentleman detective takes on local politics and characters as eccentric as he is. When Albert Campion visits the picturesque East Anglian town of Lindsay Carfax, it’s purportedly to visit Eliza Jane Fitton, his wife’s niece. His ulterior motive, however, is to nose around the town at the request of his friend, CID Superintendent Charles Luke. The town’s mysterious governing body, the Carders, dates back to the late Middle Ages and pays homage to Lindsay Carfax’s heyday as a prosperous wool-trading center. Now it’s the tourists who get fleeced, as Campion discovers when he visits the antiques store that sells his niece’s paint-to-order landscapes and the shop of an 18th-century apothecary and his weatherforecasting apparatus, the Humble Box. But the quaint half-timbered buildings belie a more modern tragedy: Two archaeology students died from a drug overdose the year before during an influx of hippies. More recently, a schoolteacher became the latest Nine Days’ Wonder when he disappeared and reappeared the worse for wear, and Eliza Jane was hurt by a booby trap meant for her artist boyfriend. A visit to Campion’s Cambridge college further educates him about the wool business and the practice of owling, or sheep smuggling. But his real focus is on secret underground passages that everyone knows about and the secret Carders whose identities are equally open knowledge. Underneath what his wife calls an Idiot-in-Search-of-a-Village expression, Campion is shrewd enough to discover the truth in Ripley’s completion of a fragment left behind by Campion creator Margery Allingham’s husband, who wrote several Campion adventures in her name after she died. Ripley (Angels Unaware, 2008, etc.) is almost too successful in fulfilling the bespectacled detective’s ploy of making himself an ineffectual nonentity. Only toward the end of this meandering, fitfully amusing, resolutely twee story does Campion become more than a sad echo of an earlier age.
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ROLLOVER
Slater, Susan Poisoned Pen (250 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $6.99 e-book $22.95 Lg. Prt. | Jul. 1, 2014 978-1-4642-0294-0 978-1-4642-0296-4 paper 978-1-4642-0297-1 e-book 978-1-4642-0295-7 Lg. Prt. Insurance investigator Dan Mahoney (Flash Flood, 2002) gets more than he bargained for when he investigates a bank heist in Wagon Mound, New Mexico. Nothing makes sense about the break-in to the safe depository of First Community Bank. If whoever tunneled under the bank had turned left into the vault instead of right into the depository, they would have snagged close to $1 million in cash. As it was, the thieves were less interested in stealing valuables than in messing stuff about. The only item missing is Gertrude Kennedy’s Tiffany diamond-and-sapphire necklace, a family heirloom that dates from the time of the Titanic. Since the necklace is insured with United Life & Casualty, Dan is flagged to investigate, but before he even gets to Wagon Mound, he’s injured in a truck rollover that looks staged. The crash brings his favorite lady, Elaine Linden, to his side, and the two do their southwestern take on Nick and Nora Charles, with Dan’s Rottweiler, Simon, standing in for Asta. They hole up in a local boardinghouse, where Elaine rustles up bacon and eggs before sending Dan to tangle with stodgy bank manager Lawrence Woods. Dan also checks out the other safe deposit holders, including crabby Ernesto Romero, crabbier Miguel Sandoval and Doc Jenkins, an old coot who breeds prairie chickens and collects rare comics. When he finds Gertrude’s daughter keeping Jenkins’ books, things begin to look interesting. It still takes several more catastrophic near-misses for Dan to put this baby to bed. If Slater had continued the sequence, following the command “roll over” with “play dead,” we’d all save some time.
WORLD OF TROUBLE
Winters, Ben H. Quirk Books (320 pp.) $14.95 paper | $10.99 e-book Jul. 15, 2014 978-1-59474-685-7 978-1-59474-686-4 e-book Series: Last Policeman, 3 The end of the world won’t stop the last policeman from solving one more case. Would-be detective Hank Palace is driven by a sense of purpose long abandoned by a planet that’s gone crazy as the last days approach. Though he spent little time as an actual detective—after all, there’s no such thing as police, or even order, any more—Palace is the kind of guy who keeps at his job, even in the final days before asteroid Maia is predicted to collide with the 36
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Earth. Besides, the last case Palace has chosen is personal: He has to find out what happened to his younger sister, Nico, before everything comes to an end. During their last meeting, Nico claimed to be on the trail of a scientist who could save the planet. When Palace tried to call her bluff, she made a quick getaway, determined to find what she believed to be the truth. Now Palace attempts to retrace her steps, going through the remains of civilization from Massachusetts to Ohio armed only with Nico’s high school yearbook photo. Even Palace’s most loyal companion, his dog, Houdini, limps alongside him as if he knows that the end is near and that the two companions must find their own meaning in it. This final installment in Winters’ trilogy (Countdown City, 2013, etc.) is the weakest, marked by a falling off of both the writing and the story that made the first entry worthwhile. Perhaps the world lasted 14 days too long.
VENGEANCE IS MINE
Wortham, Reavis Z. Poisoned Pen (336 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $6.99 e-book $22.95 Lg. Prt. | Jul. 1, 2014 978-1-4642-0258-2 978-1-4642-0260-5 paper 978-1-4642-0261-2 e-book 978-1-4642-0259-9 Lg. Prt. 1967. Thimble-sized Center Springs, Texas, misses out on the Summer of Love but not, evidently, on one single other incident in this overstuffed shoot’em-up. Top Parker and his cousin Pepper, both 13, sense that life is passing them by. Pepper especially would love to get out of Center Springs for someplace more exciting. Little does she know that excitement is headed her way. Tony Agrioli, an enforcer for Vegas mobster Malachi Best, abruptly decides to retire to the country when Best orders him to execute not only a rival casino owner, but his whole family. Along with his brand-new pickup, Samantha Chesterfield and a safe they’ve liberated from Best’s home, he makes a beeline for Center Springs because his pal Cody Parker always spoke so highly of it. Tony’s arrival comes as quite a surprise to Cody, now the town’s top lawman (Burrows, 2012, etc.), and an even bigger surprise to Lamar County Sheriff Donald Griffin. The sheriff, who’d double-crossed Best himself in a deal to launder drug money by slipping into the mix some counterfeit currency he’d promised to pass for Best, naturally assumes that Tony has come looking for him, just as Tony assumes that Griffin in turn is gunning for him. In other hands, this mutual misunderstanding might serve as the engine for an extended comedy of crime. But Wortham is so busy investigating the murder of Tommy Lee Stark, keeping tabs on the many lovers of Karen Ann Reidel, and touching base, it seems, with every citizen of Center Springs that the only plot strand that holds his attention is the one that drives every able-bodied cast member with a firearm, including some imports from Kansas City and Dallas, to unload on everyone else. More wacky characters, complications, scandals and fatalities than a year’s run of your favorite tabloid.
r om a n c e
science fiction and fantasy
I ADORED A LORD
Ashe, Katharine Avon/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $5.99 paper | Jul. 29, 2014 978-0-06-222983-0
THE SEAT OF MAGIC
Cheney, J. Kathleen ROC/Penguin (352 pp.) $15.00 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-0-451-41776-3
Cheney follows her debut (The Golden City, 2013) with a killer sequel filled with magical sea people, both living and dead. Police consultant Duilio Ferreira is not surprised when his brother comes to him for help finding a missing girl instead of going straight to the police. In the Golden City, a richly drawn version of 1900s Lisbon in which the reigning prince has banished magical creatures, nonhumans have to keep a low profile. Like the brothers, the girl is a selkie: a seal person with an alluring scent and irresistible charm. When she turns up dead, Duilio and his police officer cousin, Joaquim, deduce that her killer has skinned her alive to harness the magical qualities of her pelt—and she’s not his only victim. It’s a clever spin on the police procedural trope of a predator who targets illegal immigrants, prostitutes or other women society neglects. And as the medical examiners get a good look at the unusual bodies that crop up, so do the readers through Cheney’s detailed descriptions of scales and tails in varying stages of decay. A medical journal called The Seat of Magic may shed light on the killer’s motive if Duilio and his crew can track him down without drawing attention to themselves, and an underground network of sympathizers who leak information to Duilio at great personal risk help underscore the growing unrest within the city that may be explored in future books. Meanwhile, the private detective turns up the heat with Oriana Paredes, the former spy for the sereia (or siren people), who’s masquerading as a handmaiden after being left for dead. Though she hates hiding her gills beneath a high collar, Oriana hopes to make Duilio her mate. Oriana is no wallflower: Sereia women court the men, not the other way around. Readers may want to bookmark the page where she shows Duilio her dorsal stripe. Intriguing and fun, the mystery unfolds like a socially conscious tour through a cabinet of curiosities.
When Ravenna Caulfield is forced by her elder sister to attend a house party, she encounters mean girls, a murder mystery and maybe the man of her dreams. Ravenna, the third of three orphan sisters who were taken in by a scholarly village vicar, has established herself in a lord’s household taking care of his many pets. But now that her sister Arabella is married, everyone but Ravenna feels that the position is unseemly for the sister-in-law of a duke. Arabella arranges for Ravenna to be invited to a house party in France that includes a Portuguese prince in hopes that she might win his hand, since Arabella believes in a fortuneteller’s promise that once one of the sisters marries a prince, they will know who their parents are. Animal enthusiast Ravenna would rather be anywhere other than a society party filled with scheming English ladies determined to win the hand of the spoiled royal, but her interest is piqued by the man’s half brother, Vitor Courtenay, who steals a kiss in the stable. Then, as a snowstorm moves in, she and Vitor are embroiled in solving a few mysteries, including a murder, a dognapping and some love affairs gone awry. But as they work through a castle full of secrets, the restless warrior and the enigmatic free spirit must also map a new road toward their own happy-ever-after, since it’s becoming clear that they are perfect for each other. Ashe continues her Prince Catchers series with two social outsiders who never knew they were looking for a soul mate until they found one; their romantic journey is filled with lively conversation, quirky mysteries, and a supporting cast that fleshes out the love story in smart, satisfying ways. Sparkling and witty, with tender romance and sizzling sensuality.
THE CAPTIVE
Burrowes, Grace Sourcebooks Casablanca (416 pp.) $7.99 paper | Jul. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-7878-5 Two battered aristocrats find solace in each other’s company. Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, has vowed vengeance on the Frenchmen who tortured him during months of captivity, giving him a purpose now that he has returned to society “a scarred, emaciated duke.” His wife and son died during his imprisonment, and |
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his 7-year-old daughter is struggling emotionally at his country estate. Gillian, Countess of Greendale, his wife’s recently widowed cousin, travels to London to cajole him back to the estate, convinced it will benefit both father and daughter to be together. Christian agrees, provided she will go with him to help care for the daughter he barely knows and run the household, since he must restore order to the duchy. Gilly, in a pragmatic, efficient yet somehow tender way, whips the household into shape and maneuvers Christian and his daughter toward health but balks when Christian wants to marry her. She has a few scars of her own. While Gilly and Christian contemplate life together, a shadowy enemy attacks them in a number of ways; as Christian hunts down their adversary, he’ll need to look beyond his own assumptions and thirst for vengeance to keep his new love safe and find peace. The popular, prolific Burrowes begins a new series with her signature mix of emotional intensity, lush storytelling and intelligent writing. Christian and Gilly face their traumas and self-doubts, while Burrowes subtly explores some universal and relevant truths about abuse, shame, love and forgiveness. Smart, compelling and captivating. (Agent: Steve Axelrod)
BREATHE INTO ME
Fawkes, Sara St. Martin’s Griffin (288 pp.) $14.99 paper | Jul. 29, 2014 978-1-250-04851-6 Lacey St. James has hit rock bottom; just as she decides she needs to make changes, she meets Everett, an intriguing stranger who helps her make more empowering choices. Lacey has an abusive boyfriend, an abusive family and abusive friends—and a much younger brother. In the past, she was the victim of a tragic incident that gave her a terrible reputation; she reacted by dropping out of school, working at dead-end jobs, partying with so-called friends who treated her badly and hooking up with awful men. On the night her boyfriend, Macon, practically rapes her, she goes out with Ashley, a “friend” who obviously doesn’t care about her at all. Macon shows up at the bar and tries to force her to have sex with some friends of his behind the building. Lacey escapes and comes to the conclusion that maybe she shouldn’t move in with him (you think?), and maybe her friends aren’t really quality people (really?). She meets Everett, a Very Sexy Guy, in the bar that night, and for some inexplicable reason he is wildly attracted to her. They become friends, then more, as Lacey tries to clean up her life. Everett is the moon and stars, until she (thinks she) finds out his Horrible Secret and, without asking any questions, drops him like a cement balloon. Until his dying sister (yes, really) comes out of nowhere and confesses The Truth to her, and she begs his forgiveness. Meanwhile, after years of poorly explained estrangement, Lacey picks up the phone and contacts people she should have called five years ago, who take steps to solve the dilemma of her abusive family and help protect her younger brother. 38
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Annoying forced drama and a heroine who will call her abusive ex-boyfriend on the cellphone she bought to avoid him when she needs a little help: Skip it.
nonfiction THE HALF HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism
These titles earned the Kirkus Star: THE HALF HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD by Edward E. Baptist............39
Baptist, Edward E. Basic (512 pp.) $35.00 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-465-00296-2
THEATER OF CRUELTY by Ian Buruma............................................ 42 ONCE A HUSSAR by Ray Ellis........................................................... 48 STUDY IN PERFECT by Sarah Gorham.............................................. 51
A dense, myth-busting work that pursues how the world profited from American slavery. The story of slavery in America is not static, as Baptist (History/Cornell Univ.; Creating an Old South: Middle Florida’s Plantation Frontier before the Civil War, 2001) points out in this exhaustive tome. It entailed wide-scale forced migrations from the lower East Coast to the South and West of the economically burgeoning United States. Following tobacco production along the Chesapeake Bay, slavery was embraced in the newly opened territories of Kentucky and Mississippi, where slaves were force-marched in coffles, separated from families, bought and sold to new owners, and then used to clear fields and plant indigo and the new cash crop, cotton. Although some advanced attempts to ban slavery—e.g., in the Northwest Ordinance— the newly hammered-out Constitution codified it by the ThreeFifths Compromise. In the name of unity, the delegates agreed with South Carolina’s John Rutledge that “religion and humanity [have] nothing to do with this question. Interest alone is the governing principle with nations.” Using the metaphor of a trussed-up giant body à la Gulliver, Baptist divides his chapters by body parts, through which he viscerally delineates the effects of the violence of slavery—e.g., “Feet” encapsulates the experience of forced migration through intimate stories, while “Right Hand” and “Left Hand” explore the insidious methods of the “enslavers” to solidify their holdings. Baptist moves chronologically, though in a roundabout fashion, often backtracking and repeating, and thoroughly examines every area affected by slavery, from New Orleans to Boston, Kansas to Cuba. He challenges the comfortable myth of “Yankee ingenuity” as our founding growth principle, showing how cotton picking drove U.S. exports and finance from 1800 to 1860—as well as the expansion of Northern industry. Though some readers may find the narrative occasionally tedious, this is a complicated story involving staggering scholarship that adds greatly to our understanding of the history of the United States. (30 b/w images)
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL by Ellen T. Harris..............................52 BIRD DREAM by Matt Higgins............................................................ 57 GETTING SCHOOLED by Garret Keizer............................................ 60 TENNESSEE WILLIAMS by John Lahr...............................................61 FACTORY MAN by Beth Macy.............................................................63 WHEN PARIS WENT DARK by Ronald C. Rosbottom...................... 69 EICHMANN BEFORE JERUSALEM by Bettina Stangneth................ 73 SOLDIER GIRLS by Helen Thorpe.......................................................74 GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL A Life with Friends
Harris, Ellen T. Norton (496 pp.) $37.95 Sep. 29, 2014 978-0-393-08895-3
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the cult of tom robbins EPILOGUE A Memoir
On my business card, you’ll find my favorite book listed as Another Roadside Attraction. Yes, the 1971 “cult” classic from the idiosyncratic Tom Robbins, who, for more than four decades, has been alternately beloved and ridiculed for his offbeat novels. I love Robbins and nearly everything he’s written (for which I have received my own share of ridicule). Ever since I first read Roadside in high school, I was hooked. And not just because he captured what was left of the free-wheeling, vibrant 1960s, a decade I wish I had experienced; he also showed a young reader the fantastic possibility of language stripped of limits. My tastes are catholic—I read everything from Shakespeare to sportswriter Bill Simmons—but Robbins will always remain a fixture. He has been accused of obscenity, misogyny, pseudo-intellectualism, communism and many other nasty -isms—and even, gasp!, not taking the duties of a novelist seriously. However, it’s obvious in the pages of his first memoir, Tibetan Peach Pie, that he takes his work as a writer—and more specifically, as a crafter of language that both advances and complements the story—quite seriously. LikeVonnegut before him, Robbins has always understood the necessity of humor and irreverence, of playfully drawing out certain universal truths, and our shared humanity, without relying on heavy-handed pathos. Sure, the Technicolor metaphors come swift and loud, but what impressively cockeyed celebrations of language and life, of acknowledging unadulterated joy as the gift that it is! Thought-provoking, hilarious and decidedly left of center, Robbins is pure literary crack, and Tibetan Peach Pie is a fitting series of reflections on a distinctive, and often undervalued, writing career. —Eric Liebetrau
Boast, Will Liveright/Norton (288 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-0-87140-381-0
Photo Jeff Corwin
A father’s secret past roils his son’s world. After his father’s death, Boast (Power Ballads, 2011) made two shocking discoveries: The man who had lived so frugally that his sons dressed in thrift-store clothing left him a large inheritance, and his father had been married before. In his mid-20s, the author learned that he had two half brothers. Since they could make a claim against their father’s estate, Boast needed to track them down and, his lawyer advised, work out a financial settlement to avoid going to court. Still living in the family’s native England, Boast’s half-siblings, Arthur and Harry, welcomed him warmly. Arthur, a gay, affluent art gallery owner in Brighton, was living with his partner; Harry, a BMW employee, had two children who were delighted with their new uncle. Boast, however, remained tense and suspicious, second-guessing everything he said and wondering if connecting with them had been a mistake. His self-absorption and bitterness make him a less-than-sympathetic narrator. When he returned to America, he was reluctant to talk about his family, avoiding questions like, “Where do your folks live? What do they do? Sisters, brothers?” Determined “not to be seen as damaged goods,” he affected “a studied, almost icy reserve.” Although they knew their father abandoned them, settled in America and had a new family, Arthur and Harry remained emotionally open. Boast wondered, though, if their friendship was merely a ploy to take his inheritance. “I’d discovered I not only wanted the money,” he writes, “but could hardly stand to give any of it away.” When he did make an offer to the men, however, they readily agreed. In this emotionally raw memoir, Boast reveals his hard struggle to redefine for himself the meaning of family. Intermittently engaging, but the author never deals with an essential question: What is an adult’s—including a parent’s—right to privacy?
MISQUOTING MUHAMMAD The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy Brown, Jonathan A.C. Oneworld Publications (400 pp.) $29.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-1-78074-420-9 978-1-78074-421-6 e-book
A scholar’s sincere attempt to elucidate the true teachings of the Quran. Eminently qualified to present the finer points of the Prophet Muhammad’s beliefs and teachings, Brown (Islamic Studies/ Georgetown Univ. School of Foreign Service; Muhammad: A
Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor at Kirkus Reviews. 40
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Very Short Introduction, 2011, etc.) continually asserts the magnificent tradition of Islam yet can’t quite get around the wellknown stumbling blocks—e.g., not allowing women to lead prayer and the concept of the martyrs’ multivirgin reward in heaven. Who speaks for Islam? The ulama, or the learned ones, and they have turned to three sources: first, the Quran, or the “unchanging record of God’s revealed words,” derived from oral teaching before being put into writing; then, the Hadith, or the sayings of the prophet, which have grown around the Quran and are more ambiguous, controversial and “amorphous”; and finally, the ideas of Sunni Islam (which Brown addresses rather than Shiite), or the collective consensus about law, ethics and dogma passed down for the generations of believers. Much like the mutable biblical canon, the Hadith corpus is contested, and scholars have declared many of them to be forgeries. What Brown does very well is underscore the cultural biases at work in denunciations of Islam—e.g., the Western perception of its excessive violence (jihad) and sexual perversion (the paradise of “72 virgins,” as well as the fact that Muhammad was in his 50s when he married the child bride Aisha, who was around the age of 10). The ulama, inheritors of classical learning, wrestled with reconciling reason and diversity with revelation, epitomized by the work of Shah Wali Allah, in the mid-18th-century Mughal Empire. Brown eloquently parses Islam’s rich interpretive tradition, but his nuanced sifting of meaning does not necessarily clarify or convince. A delicate delineation that invites a more intimate look at the sources.
parties and breakfasts of armadillo. Over many months, he observed complicated family ties, wary visits from neighboring tribes, hunting with blow darts, ritual healing, craftsmanship, sorcery, weddings and tribal law. When he renewed his research and revisited the communities in 2012, the Awajún had gained a political presence and militantly demanded to share the fruits of a booming Peruvian economy. Coffee farming had helped enrich the community, an entrepreneurial class was emerging, and the population continued to grow, yet there were many signs of a still-beleaguered community fearful of land invasions and susceptible to a broad range of religious influences such as millenarian groups and evangelicals. Ultimately, Brown questions the efficacy of the ethnographer’s traditional method of immersion as incomplete, yet, as he did, he urges submission in another culture’s ways to achieve a “self-distancing” and sense of humility. An unusual study, elucidating of a people and braced by both self-doubt and honesty. (21 halftones; 2 maps)
UPRIVER The Turbulent Life and Times of an Amazonian People Brown, Michael F. Harvard Univ. (312 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-0-674-36807-1
An anthropologist returns to the indigenous Amazon community of Awajún to observe startling changes since the mid-1970s and examine his own schol-
arly methodology. In this personal, bifurcated narrative, Brown (Anthropology and Latin American Studies/Williams Coll.; Who Owns Native Culture?, 2003, etc.) portrays the proud, combative Awajún as deeply defined by their struggle to remain autonomous against the “meddling” forces of a larger, modern culture. According to the author, their streak of aggression is unusual among Amazonian peoples; in a then-and-now juxtaposition, he closely observes the effects of their bellicosity in meeting contemporary challenges such as land and water rights. In the first part, Brown presents his fieldwork among the Awajún in 1976 as a kind of novice’s ethnographic diary, full of his insecurities and false starts (“a vortex of self-pity danced at the edge of my waking hours”) before he embedded himself within the tribe at Huascayacu and was heartily accepted, joining drinking |
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“A unique intelligence encounters the uniqueness of art and culture, and readers are the beneficiaries.” from theater of cruelty
THEATER OF CRUELTY Art, Film, and the Shadows of War
Britain and the bombing of cities, through the horrific stories of POW and concentration camps across Europe and Asia. Indeed, the events of the war “went counter to all previous notions of strategy, self-interest and concepts of human behavior,” leaving victims in shock and disbelief and often unable to convince others what had actually happened. Carpenter moves through the war by picking works of poetry and prose, in a variety of languages, that best illustrate both the “magical thinking” of many writers early on—e.g., the English authors Anthony Powell and Elizabeth Bowen—and the absolute need to bear witness to brutality that nearly lacked the language to tell it—e.g., in Jankiel Wiernik’s A Year in Treblinka. The war’s themes of authoritarian deception and disguise provided the fodder for works by Albert Camus, Arthur Koestler and Varlam Shalamov (“Lend Lease”), to name a few, while other writers employed metaphors and tropes of flight, animals and angels as a way to express the horror. Underscoring all of these bracing accounts is the basic need to leave a trace of oneself behind as life became precarious and death loomed everywhere, as the anonymous author of The Far Side of the Moon described when the iron doors of a train were shut, dislodging tiny pieces of paper: “From the gratings fluttered down showers of white scraps, atoms of paper on which were written names and addresses, last messages begging not to be forgotten, broken sentences and prayers.” Though erratically presented, this work of literary research should spur further study.
Buruma, Ian New York Review Books (425 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 16, 2014 978-1-59017-777-8 978-1-59017-812-6 e-book
Buruma (Human Rights and Journalism/Bard Coll.; Year Zero: A History of 1945, 2013, etc.) presents a series of essays on a variety of cultural subjects— simmering below all: war and destruction. The essays all originally appeared in the New York Review of Books between 1987 and 2013, though the majority are from recent years. (A couple appear under different titles.) Although there is a sensible organization—clusters of essays about film, World War II, pop culture, art and Asian affairs—it is not patent from the table of contents, which simply lists titles. As Buruma’s regular readers know, his is a comprehensive and even polymathic intelligence. Able to write with apparent ease and grace about a wide variety of subjects—the work of R. Crumb (Buruma calls him “undoubtedly a great artist”), the diary and global image of Anne Frank, the horrors of Hiroshima, the WWII films of Clint Eastwood, the work of Satyajit Ray and Alan Bennett, the career of David Bowie, the art of George Grosz, the architecture of Tokyo—Buruma displays a generosity of spirit that is often absent in the work of other cultural critics. Although he does take a potshot at Maya Angelou and has some dark words for others (most, like Hitler, are deeply deserving), the author generally focuses on strengths of artistic works and maintains a hopeful view of history, though he seems to find it increasingly hard to do so. Some of the pieces are reflections on exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art; some end with sad details about the death of an artist (Grosz choked to death on his own drunken vomit); others end with brave and/or wistful declarations—e.g., “truth is not just a point of view,” he writes in his essay on victimhood. A unique intelligence encounters the uniqueness of art and culture, and readers are the beneficiaries.
ECONOMICS The User’s Guide Chang, Ha-Joon Bloomsbury (528 pp.) $30.00 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-62040-812-4
The dismal science rendered undismally, even spryly, by economist Chang (Economics/Cambridge Univ.; 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, 2011, etc.). A certain online bookseller, news reports will tell you, is behaving monopolistically. That’s not strictly accurate: There are other places to buy books, but few are as powerful in the marketplace, so much so that publishers walk in fear of it. That makes the bookseller something between an oligopsony and a monopsony. Writes Chang, “Oligopolistic firms cannot manipulate their markets as much as a monopolistic firm can, but they may deliberately collude to maximize their profits by not undercutting each other’s prices— this is known as a cartel.” Conversely, he notes, oligopsonistic and monopsonistic firms were “considered to be theoretical curiosities even a few decades ago,” but they’re very real today— and more important than monopolies in shaping economies. In other words, it’s not your grandfather’s economic scene out there, far less Karl Marx’s. That makes Chang’s note on historical schools particularly important: He observes that most economic schools, from the right-leaning Austrians to the centrist Keynesians to the leftist Marxists, “all share a class-based vision of society.” He helpfully adds that no one school holds
WALL, WATCHTOWER, AND PENCIL STUB Writing During World War II
Carpenter, John R. Yucca/Skyhorse (304 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-1-63158-004-8
An examination of the seminal works of World War II, many of which opened eyes to truth by eyewitnesses. Civilians suffered most during WWII, by the millions, as professional translator Carpenter notes in this somewhat scattershot comparative study, from the first occupied Baltic states under the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, to the Battle of 42
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HARD CHOICES
a monopoly on the truth, though the free-market school has increasingly been proved out of touch thanks to the development of the idea of asymmetric information—in a situation when buyer knows something that seller doesn’t and vice versa, no market can be truly free. This leads Chang into the currently hot area of inequality, on which he takes a measured stance that won’t displease followers of Thomas Piketty’s recent critique of predatory capitalism. In the end, Chang urges readers to become “active economic citizen[s],” which, he adds, isn’t as hard as it might seem. Economics for the 99 percent who don’t know moral hazard from opportunity cost: lively, intelligent and readily accessible.
Clinton, Hillary Simon & Schuster (656 pp.) $35.00 | Jun. 10, 2014 978-1-4767-5144-3 Former Secretary of State Clinton tells—well, if not all, at least what she and her “book team” think we ought to know. If this memoir of diplomatic service lacks the preening self-regard of Henry Kissinger’s and the technocratic certainty of Dean Acheson’s, it has all the requisite evenhandedness: Readers have the sense that there’s not a sentence in it that hasn’t been vetted, measured and adjusted for maximal blandness. The news that has thus far made the rounds has concerned the author’s revelation that the Clintons were cash-strapped on leaving the White House, probably since there’s not enough hanging rope about Benghazi for anyone to get worked up about. (On that current hot-button topic, the index says, mildly,
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“An erudite group effort encapsulating a long, laborious struggle that continues today.” from feminism unfinished
“See Libya.”) The requisite encomia are there, of course: “Losing these fearless public servants in the line of duty was a crushing blow.” So are the crises and Clinton’s careful qualifying: Her memories of the Benghazi affair, she writes, are a blend of her own experience and information gathered in the course of the investigations that followed, “especially the work of the independent review board charged with determining the facts and pulling no punches.” When controversy appears, it is similarly cushioned: Tinhorn dictators are valuable allies, and everyone along the way is described with the usual honorifics and flattering descriptions: “Benazir [Bhutto] wore a shalwar kameez, the national dress of Pakistan, a long, flowing tunic over loose pants that was both practical and attractive, and she covered her hair with lovely scarves.” In short, this is a standard-issue political memoir, with its nods to “adorable students,” “important partners,” the “rich history and culture” of every nation on the planet, and the difficulty of eating and exercising sensibly while logging thousands of hours in flight and in conference rooms. Unsurprising but perfectly competent and seamlessly of a piece with her Living History (2003). And will Hillary run? The guiding metaphor of the book is the relay race, and there’s a sense that if the torch is handed to her, well…. (three 16-page color photo inserts)
so stridently for. Rebirthing the cause and continuing the good fight for gender equality, she writes, their efforts helped neutralize the stigma of LGBT visibility, “girlie feminism” and challenges to female reproductive rights in the 1990s. The authors’ comprehensive appreciation counters popular held myths by documenting the losses along with the progress, dispelling the imagery of the feminist as a “humorless, sexless reformer,” and, perhaps most profoundly, arguing against the belief that feminism is a marginal, minority-focused fight for equality when, to Cobble, Gordon, Henry and supporters nationwide, “it is a cause for everyone.” All three perspectives converge into a dramatic historical statement on the past and present condition of women’s rights and its power and omnipresence. An erudite group effort encapsulating a long, laborious struggle that continues today. (20 illustrations)
BOOKS THAT COOK The Making of a Literary Meal Cognard-Black, Jennifer; Goldthwaite, Melissa A.—Eds. New York Univ. (384 pp.) $30.00 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-1-4798-3021-3
FEMINISM UNFINISHED A Short, Surprising History of American Women’s Movements
A buffet of poems, stories, essays and recipes. Editors Cognard-Black (English/St. Mary’s College of Maryland; co-editor, Beyond Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Essays on the Writing of Harriet Beecher Stowe, 2011, etc.) and Goldthwaite (English/St. Joseph’s Univ.; The Norton Pocket Book of Writing by Students, 2010, etc.) organize this anthology like a cookbook, with literature and recipes that relate to a particular part of a meal, from appetizers to dessert. Each section opens with an entry from a cookbook; arranged chronologically, these may or may not have anything to do with the section that follows. “Starters,” for example, is introduced by an excerpt from Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery (1796), which offers “Directions for Catering, or Procuring the Best Viands, Fish, etc.,” such as “How to Choose Flesh” and how to roast mutton. An excerpt from Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (1896) is more relevant, introducing “Eggs” with instructions for boiling, scrambling and poaching them. The editors explain that the book “is deliberately organized so that readers can achieve their own equilibrium between the individual selections and their overall experience of the collection,” just as they might sample food at a buffet. For readers seeking some logic to their choices, the editors offer thematic reading menus: “Food and the Environment” features a piece by Terry Tempest Williams and a poem by Gary Snyder. “Love and Desire” includes a selection by Nora Ephron and an excerpt from Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (1987). Of the collection’s 49 pieces, 11 were written specifically for the book. Among the well-known authors represented by previously published work are James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Sherman Alexie and Maya Angelou. Laurie Colwin contributes a delightfully funny piece about three repulsive dinners;
Cobble, Dorothy Sue; Gordon, Linda; Henry, Astrid Liveright/Norton (256 pp.) $25.95 | Aug. 25, 2014 978-0-87140-676-7
Three distinguished academics offer a competent, compact history of the women’s liberation movement. Hoping to “set the record straight” in challenging former perceptions of American women’s activism, Cobble (History and Labor Studies/Rutgers Univ.; Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor, 2007, etc.), Gordon (History and the Humanities/New York Univ.; Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, 2009, etc.) and Henry (Women’s Studies/Grinnell Coll.; Not My Mother’s Sister: Generational Conflict and Third-Wave Feminism, 2004) condense a century’s worth of groundbreaking feminist lobbying into three densely packed sections. Cobble charts feminism’s early post-suffrage years from the 1920s to the 1960s, with a particular focus on the fiercely passionate social justice “gender pioneers” of the labor movement who fought for economic equality and civil rights. Gordon vibrantly chronicles the women’s liberation period through the “sex equality” decades of the 1960s to the 1980s, during which self-defined sexuality was championed alongside politically productive feminists’ organizations and sex-positive efforts. In the final section, Henry follows the movement’s progression through the millennial generation of women (and men) who employed the freedoms their predecessors fought 44
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Ntozake Shange chronicles her trip to Nicaragua to find the house where poet Rubén Dario was born and raised—and a recipe for “a very sexy little dish” of raw turtle eggs. Food lovers and cookbook collectors will savor this literary stew.
Tactics: The Politics of International Rivalry, 2006) has conducted massive research about secrecy versus disclosure in the United States but also in other nations, including France, England, Sweden and Greece. The author believes that policymakers (especially the president of the United States) should be able to practice secrecy, keeping vital information not only from its own citizenry, but also from other nations, especially during times of war. However, Colaresi maintains, since secrecy can hide incompetency and outright corruption, overseers (e.g., Congress in the U.S.) should be able to examine, in hindsight, the invocation of secrecy. Although the author offers case studies and anecdotes, a large portion of the book is theoretical; specialized language from the realm of academic research requires extraordinary concentration. Colaresi takes as a given that “national security” is a real concept that deserves secrecy, up to a point, and that deception is often necessary to fool nations rightly perceived as enemies of the deceiver. National security should never be invoked, however, to cover up venality. Freedom of information laws, as well as legislative committee hearings on completed foreign policy operations, are among the
DEMOCRACY DECLASSIFIED The Secret Dilemma in National Security Colaresi, Michael P. Oxford Univ. (384 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-19-938977-3
A scholarly treatise on the tension between government secrecy related to foreign policy issues and citizens’ trust in their government. Colaresi (Political Science/Michigan State Univ.; Scare
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IMPOLITE CONVERSATIONS On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion
partial solutions offered by Colaresi, who posits that no perfect solution exists in any nation. The book is certainly timely, as the author mentions secret drone attacks ordered by the U.S. president against alleged enemies overseas, leaks of classified information from within the National Security Agency, and additional contemporary controversies. Academic in tone—extensive appendices on research methods will probably make sense only to specialized scholars at the doctoral level—but an important examination of tensions that date back centuries.
Daniels, Cora; Jackson Jr., John L. Atria (320 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 30, 2014 978-1-4767-3911-3
Two accomplished black professionals alternate outspoken, provocative views that revolve around race relations in America. In frank, chatty conversations, these two Ivy League–educated authors and academics, longtime friends, trade barbs and buzzwords with earnestness, ire and sarcasm. Essence contributor Daniels (Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless, 2007, etc.), who was a business journalist at Fortune for a decade, teaches journalism and writes openly about issues of being a mother—e.g., promoting the uncomfortable notion of teaching daughters to enjoy sex and advocating a “mothercentric” workforce as the best way to tackle discrimination and inequality in the country. Cultural anthropologist and filmmaker Jackson (Communication, Africana Studies and Anthropology/Univ. of Pennsylvania; Thin Description: Ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, 2013, etc.) often plays devil’s advocate in their exchanges. He denounces jazz as a “black, middle-class response to the threat of racial inauthenticity, a trump card rejoinder to the equally problematic assumption that urban poverty is the only thing that legitimately comprises African Americans’ social realities,” and he proposes the establishment of a National Nigger Please Service, which would charge whites to say the N-word so that they could get it off their chests while also funding anti-poverty programs. Needless to say, there is plenty of tongue-in-cheek to these deliberate provocations, as well as lots of engaging reading. Jackson’s prickly essay “I Wish I Could Be a Republican” nicely skewers what he sees as the party’s prowhite, anti-intellectual, pro-gun and anti-Obama stance, declaring that having no shame is actually “quite empowering.” The authors underscore the stubbornly deep divide between black and white, as well as America’s truculent economic inequality, despite the gains of electing the first African-American president. Daniels is especially concerned about the diminishing prospects of social mobility, while Jackson, as a social scientist, sees racial bias as the root of many cultural fault lines. Lively discussion, occasionally sloppy prose and refreshing candor from two keen observers.
EDGAR ALLAN POE The Fever Called Living
Collins, Paul Amazon/New Harvest (144 pp.) $20.00 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-544-26187-7
The author of investigative books about literary and historical figures returns with a lean, swift life of the puzzling Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), whose life and death are as full of mystery as his
famous tales. Part of the publisher’s Icons series, Collins’ (English/Portland State Univ.; Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America’s First Sensational Murder Mystery, 2013, etc.) work adheres to the facts of Poe’s life and doesn’t even speculate much about Poe’s puzzling death—what was he doing in Baltimore? Why was he in the degraded condition he was in?—and avoids even commenting on some of the more bizarre conspiracy/murder theories (see John Evangelist Walsh’s Midnight Dreary, 2000). Collins begins with what, until recently, had been a tradition at the Baltimore cemetery where Poe’s remains lie: a midnight visitor on his birthday. Then the author proceeds quickly and chronologically through Poe’s life—the early death of his mother (and his father’s abandonment), his unofficial adoption by the Allans (cranky John Allan, a wealthy man, ignored Poe in his will), his boyhood years in England, his schooling (including the University of Virginia and West Point; he didn’t finish at either place), his early struggles as a writer, his battles with booze, his marriage to his 13-year-old first cousin Virginia Clemm and, of course, the composition of his famous works. Collins identifies some favorites: “Ligeia,”the three tales of ratiocination with detective C. Auguste Dupin (the forefather of Sherlock Holmes), the failed novels (one finished, one not) and “The Raven.” Collins also examines Poe’s quick trigger— he accused the puzzled and popular Longfellow of plagiarism. The author also praises Poe’s late works and spends some time on Poe’s reputation. Although Collins doesn’t provide much new information, the clean, crisp narrative presents the puzzling Poe as a deeply troubled and toweringly talented artist.
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“In the current climate of debate over national surveillance, Darnton’s vibrant history takes on particular relevance.” from censors at work
LANDSLIDE LBJ and Ronald Reagan at the Dawn of a New America
CENSORS AT WORK How States Shaped Literature
Darman, Jonathan Random House (496 pp.) $30.00 | Sep. 23, 2014 978-1-4000-6708-4 978-0-8129-9469-8 e-book
Darnton, Robert Norton (304 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 22, 2014 978-0-393-24229-4
Darnton (History/Harvard Univ.; The Case for Books, 2009, etc.) takes an ethnographic approach in this deeply researched comparative history, examining how censorship functioned in three authoritarian regimes: 18th-century monarchal France; 19th-century India under the British Raj; and 20th-century East Germany. The author’s surprising discoveries complicate the definition of censorship as repression by a ruling class in its effort to control social order. In Enlightenment France, censors acted as collaborators with authors, taking on the role of peer reader or copy editor to make a manuscript viable for royal privilege—i.e., an official stamp approving publication. These censors, often authors themselves, assiduously carried out their role, and authors often willingly revised their work. “Despite the occasional disputes,” writes Darnton, “censorship…drove authors and censors together rather than apart.” The British in India, in an effort “to understand the Indians, not merely to defeat them,” were intent on gathering information: “Everything was surveyed, mapped, classified and counted, including human beings….The catalogues of books belonged to their effort to catalogue everything.” By monitoring publications, they could detect signs of rebellion. Not until the British noted “explosions of nationalism” in the early 20th century did surveillance lead to police repression and legal prosecution. Authors, publishers and printers were arrested and tried according to newly created laws. In Germany, Darnton talked with two censors and had access to considerable archival dossiers. The censors claimed their job was to publish works that fit into the government’s overall plan: “Censorship as they understood it was positive. In some ways, it was downright heroic—a struggle against heavy odds to maintain a high level of culture while building socialism.” Dossiers reveal the details of that struggle: manuscripts purged of references to individualism; dire restrictions on travel, even within the country; and outright violence. Censorship in East Germany, as elsewhere, involved an interlaced system of authors, editors, bureaucrats, publishers and, not least, readers themselves. In the current climate of debate over national surveillance, Darnton’s vibrant history takes on particular relevance. (12 illustrations)
An intimate chronicle of the 1,000 days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, during which there was a sea change in the American electorate. President Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan both enjoyed huge election landslides, the former in his 1964 re-election bid as the standard bearer of the Great Society programs and the latter leading the conservative backlash in his defeat of Pat Brown as governor of California in 1966. In this sympathetic dual character study, former Newsweek correspondent Darman focuses on these two savvy politicians, who managed to capture the prevailing public mood and convince the voters that the best was yet to come—either for the progressive cause or the less-government-is-better platform, respectively—during a time of wrenching change in American society. Despite the prevailing shock and gloom that ensued after the assassination, LBJ, the depressed vice president largely ignored by Kennedy’s administration, was galvanized by a sense of duty and legacy, becoming the “Man-in-Motion” who effected a staggering number of progressive achievements in the spirit of the dead president: civil rights legislation, poverty alleviation and education reform, Medicare and voting rights, among others. In his accomplishments during his first 100 days of office, LBJ rivaled those of FDR. Soon after, however, everything began to unravel, sowing a sense of anxiety within the country: the racial confrontation on the Selma, Alabama, Edmund Pettus Bridge; escalation of the Vietnam War; and the Watts riots. Although LBJ had crushed Barry Goldwater, the conservatives gained new impetus in Reagan’s more appealingly packaged, moderate, yet still-hard-hitting anti-government speeches. The author masterfully conveys LBJ’s agony, as well as former actor Reagan’s free-wheeling spirit: He was the “Errol Flynn of the B movies” who had aged out of his previous roles and needed a new gig as an American hero. Ambitious, studious portraits pulled together nicely by Darman.
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THE BIG RATCHET How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis
THE VANISHING NEIGHBOR The Transformation of American Community
DeFries, Ruth Basic (288 pp.) $28.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-465-04497-9
Dunkelman, Marc J. Norton (352 pp.) $27.95 | Jul. 28, 2014 978-0-393-06396-7
A solid, cheerful scientific account of how humans have dealt with disasters throughout history. MacArthur Fellow DeFries (Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology/Columbia Univ.; Ecosystems and Land Use Change, 2004, etc.) emphasizes that progress in human history depended mostly on success in feeding ourselves. For thousands of years, hunter-gatherers ate well. The largely grain diet consumed after the arrival of agriculture 10,000 years ago was unhealthy, but its vast increase in quantity produced a population explosion, cities and civilizations. DeFries describes each subsequent advance as a “pivot” that inevitably overshoots, leading to “hatchets” (i.e., famine, drought, epidemics) overcome by advances (better ploughs, irrigation systems, sewers, fertilizers) that “ratchet” up our well-being but inevitably lead to further difficulties. Her first example of this process is the development of the potato, imported from South America after 1500. Nutritious and easy to grow, it became a staple, resulting in larger numbers of healthier Europeans. Readers are familiar with the 1845 potato blight that led to famine and depopulation, especially in Ireland. While historians usually stop there, DeFries points out that the blight still exists, but resistant strains and improved agricultural practices have restored production, even in Ireland. It wasn’t pretty, but human inventiveness applied to the potato led to a ratchet in our well-being. The Big Ratchet occurred during the second half of the 20th century when, thanks to pesticides, industrial farming, massive fertilizer use and genetic improvements, worldwide production of corn and rice nearly tripled and wheat more than doubled. Food is more abundant than ever, but other problems have emerged. “As long as civilization exists,” writes the author, “we will be grappling with how to hijack nature to feed ourselves.” An admirable history of human ingenuity that does not claim it will overcome such looming crises as overpopulation and global warming. (32 b/w images)
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A meditation on the evaporation of American exceptionalism. The nation’s perception of community is undergoing major reconstruction, writes journalist and Clinton Foundation senior fellow Dunkelman in this shrewd examination, which declares that America is “simply in the midst of a painful transition, and it’s not clear how things will turn out.” Through statistical data, academic articles and published references scrutinizing the evolution of America’s societal framework, the author sheds light on the interpersonal erosion occurring in American neighborhoods and the gradual fade-out of what French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville christened our collaboratively minded “townships.” Dunkelman casts wide comparisons between past and present levels of civic interactivity and patiently explores its evolving effect on how we communicate, with whom and how often. Utilizing a metaphor of Saturn’s rings, the author equates one’s “inner ring” as those they hold closest, with the “middle” and “outer” rings representative of less familiar and casual acquaintances. The author documents a dramatic cultural shift whereby more attention is paid to the “outer” and “inner ring” populations, with little to no advancements made in cultivating “middle ring” relationships. He blames the quick-hit interactions afforded by the digital revolution along with social networking and reprioritized social opportunities and motivations. Good or bad, Dunkelman resists taking sides and instead examines how affirmation has evolved into our target desire as individuals are reorganizing themselves into more homogenized and like-minded groups (e.g., Facebook friends), thus creating a dividing line that is increasingly polarizing. Particularly effective in enhancing his theories are numerous references to Robert Putnam’s brilliantly researched 1995 essay and subsequent book Bowling Alone (2000), which dissects American culture’s steady decline of social capital and makes an ideal companion volume. A thought-provoking, evenhanded yet inconclusive analysis on the nature and the future of community.
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“One man’s valiant story unearths valuable wartime details.” from someday you will understand
ONCE A HUSSAR A Memoir of Battle, Capture, and Escape in World War II
local artists continued to innovate and thrive throughout the next decade. The art that “percolated up from the streets of L.A.” did not adhere to any one school or ideology but instead arose “out of a public need for life-affirming culture and aesthetics.” Women, Chicanos and African-Americans enlivened the art scene by moving outside of the studio and into public spaces with performance art, graffiti and murals. Many artists, writes the author, “rejected commercialism, commodification, and formalism,” producing work that was often outrageous, provocative and “occasionally revolutionary.” The image of the artist, too, underwent radical change from “a maker of objects” and “a presence in the studio” to someone who enacted an idea intended to shock, or at least unsettle, viewers. In Five Day Locker Piece, for example, artist Chris Burden immured himself in a locker; in another piece, he lay under a pane of glass, in a museum, for several days. Kustom Kulture—the culture of hot rods—influenced many LA artists who came to be known as the Cool School; captivated by cars’ speed and freedom, they transposed the automobile’s slick finishes and “muscularity of form” into their works. Among the artists featured in this populous study are the feisty Judy Chicago, leader of feminist art; “wily, fast-talking” Allan Kaprow and “laconic” John Baldessari, both acclaimed teachers who inspired acolytes; and Dutchborn Bastian Jan Ader, who died in one ill-fated piece of performance art. With little money and rare critical support, the disparate LA community, Fallon argues, set the stage for the future of art. A well-researched, wide-ranging history that amply captures the confusion, contradictions and enormous energy of one triumphant decade.
Ellis, Ray Skyhorse Publishing (248 pp.) $24.95 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-62873-729-5
Not a reprint or a lost manuscript but a freshly written, top-notch memoir by a former British artilleryman now in
his 90s. Like most middle-class British youths, Ellis was less concerned with Nazism than the excitement of an approaching war. “A continual backdrop of international tension accompanied the years of my transition from boyhood to manhood,” writes the author. In 1938, after considering various services, he joined the Hussars, formerly elite cavalry but now artillery. Readers will share Ellis’ dismay at the abysmal state of his nation’s rearmament as he and his mates encountered squalid facilities, foul food (even before rationing) and guns that were usually too old to function. By early 1940, his unit moved to Egypt for a painful introduction to desert campaigning with another group of soldiers who remained disorganized and poorly equipped. Fortunately, the author’s baptism of fire occurred against the Italian forces, who were even worse off. A year later, the newly arrived German Africa Corps routed the British, and Ellis’ unit found itself trapped in Tobruk during the legendary ninemonth siege. Afterward, his unit advanced only to be wiped out in the April 1942 German offensive. During the fighting, most of his friends died. Ellis was captured and endured horrendous deprivations as a prisoner before escaping to live with surprisingly hospitable Italian peasants in Northern Italy until Allied forces drew near. Neither cynical nor nostalgic, the memoir is an engrossing account of life in the old British army, the actions of artillerymen in battle (exhausting and no less dangerous than infantry fighting), and the author’s experiences after capture, which required more moral fiber than battle. Readers will yearn for the sequel, Always a Hussar, not yet published in the United States. (26 b/w photos)
SOMEDAY YOU WILL UNDERSTAND My Father’s Private World War II
Feld, Nina Wolff Arcade (320 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-1-62872-377-9
A dying father’s wartime army box yields a wealth of lively detail about American intelligence work in POW and displaced persons camps within the ruins of Europe. Walter Wolff, who went on to found the furnishings maker Bon Marché, was a Jewish immigrant whose family made it to New York City in 1941, just in advance of the Nazi invasion of their country, Belgium. After attending the Dwight School in New York and becoming fluent in several European languages, Wolff was drafted into the U.S. Army in May 1943; he was not yet a citizen. The author, Wolff ’s artist daughter, knew little about her father’s wartime exploits until he gave her the letters he kept in a metal box shortly before he died and she was able to read the prodigious correspondence (often written in French or German) he kept with his mother and others while serving in the military. The author’s translations are mostly verbatim
CREATING THE FUTURE Art and Los Angeles in the 1970s Fallon, Michael Counterpoint (400 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-1-61902-343-7
The story of how, despite great odds, a viable art scene bloomed in Southern California. When the notable Ferus Gallery closed in 1966, Los Angeles lost its most prominent champion of contemporary art. However, as Fallon (How to Analyze the Works of Andy Warhol, 2010, etc.) shows in this panoramic survey, |
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and full of energy and punctuation. Starting at Camp Ritchie, in Maryland, Wolff and other “refugee soldiers” with useful language skills entered the short-lived Army Specialized Training Program located at several colleges—e.g., Virginia Tech, Yale—and at Camp Grant, in Rockford, Illinois, where Wolff was successively posted. There, he learned interrogation techniques and other types of psychological warfare. Yet the war was winding down, and time to get back to Europe and witness Germany’s debacle was growing short. So Wolff finagled a job through the Pentagon, first translating documents belonging to Mussolini, then moving into various displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria and vetting German war criminals—the latter proved to be a deeply satisfying task for Wolff. Along with Wolff ’s intimately chronicled accounts of the devastation from bombings and the homelessness of Jews and others, the accompanying photographs he took himself reveal stirring remnants of an apocalypse. One man’s valiant story unearths valuable wartime details. (60 b/w and 10 color photos)
appears to have begun), Fromartz includes step-by-step recipes for nurturing dough starters and for baking baguettes, flatbread, rye bread (which he learned to make in Berlin) and a loaf made from an artisanal grain, Turkey Red wheat. Richly detailed history and lively anecdotes make this book a consummate celebration of the deceptively simple loaf of bread.
BAD FEMINIST Essays
Gay, Roxane Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $15.99 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-06-228271-2 Essayist, novelist and pop-culture guru Gay (An Untamed State, 2014, etc.) sounds off on the frustrating complexities of gender and race in pop culture and society as a whole. In this diverse collection of short essays, the author launches her critical salvos at seemingly countless waves of pop-cultural cannon fodder. Although the title can be somewhat misleading—she’s more of an inconsistent or conflicted feminist—the author does her best to make up for any feminist flaws by addressing, for instance, the disturbing language bandied about carelessly in what she calls “rape culture” in society—and by Gay’s measure, this is a culture in which even the stately New York Times is complicit. However, she makes weak attempts at coming to terms with her ambivalence toward the sort of violent female empowerment depicted in such movies as The Hunger Games. Gay explores the reasons for her uneasiness with the term “women’s fiction” and delivers some not-very-convincing attempts to sort out what drives her to both respect and loathe a femalecentric TV show like Lena Dunham’s Girls. Although generally well-written, some of these gender-studies essays come off as preachy and dull as a public service announcement—especially the piece about her endless self-questioning of her love-hate relationship with the tacky female-submission fantasies in Fifty Shades of Grey. Yet when it comes to race-related matters (in the section “Race and Entertainment”), Gay’s writing is much more impassioned and persuasive. Whether critiquing problematic pandering tropes in Tyler Perry’s movies or the heavy-handed and often irresponsible way race is dealt with in movies like The Help, 12 Years a Slave or Django Unchained, Gay relentlessly picks apart mainstream depictions of the black experience on-screen and rightfully laments that “all too often critical acclaim for black films is built upon the altar of black suffering or subjugation.” An occasionally brilliant, hit-or-miss grab bag of popculture criticism.
IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT LOAF A Home Baker’s Odyssey
Fromartz, Samuel Viking (256 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 8, 2014 978-0-670-02561-9
Botany, culinary history and recipes from a bread lover. A few years ago, Fromartz (Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grow, 2006) combined his hobby of bread baking and his profession as a journalist when he set out to write about French bread for a travel magazine. Frustrated by the quality of his homemade baguettes, Fromartz eagerly donned a white apron at Boulangerie Arnaud Delmontel, one of the most famous bakeries in Paris. There, Fromartz learned the intricate process of mixing ingredients, letting dough rest, shaping loaves, slashing them swiftly with a razor and baking them to perfection. After his stint in Paris, the author returned home to Washington, D.C., where, he writes, no good bread could be found, and won a prize for his baguettes in a baking competition. His quest for fine bread, though, was not over. Visiting bakers, scientists and farmers, Fromartz learned about the many grains used for nourishment throughout history: spelt, barley, rye, millet, oats and varieties of wheat. He also practiced handling dough with flours that perform differently. Growing his own grains from seed, he learned about the risks to which all farmers are vulnerable: predators (his were mice and birds), disease and weather. White flour, he discovered, “has been prized since antiquity” as a representation of refinement and economic status. But though unenriched white bread lacks fiber and healthful nutrients, in ancient times, it also lacked “insects, rodent droppings, dirt, perhaps small stones and straw.” Besides imparting a history of grains and their places in culture over the past 105,000 years (when grain consumption 50
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“A contemplative, lyrical, splendid collection.” from study in perfect
THERE GOES THE GAYBORHOOD?
STUDY IN PERFECT
Gorham, Sarah Univ. of Georgia (224 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-0-8203-4712-7
Ghaziani, Amin Princeton Univ. (360 pp.) $35.00 | Aug. 10, 2014 978-0-691-15879-2
Essays and musings considering the elusive and evocative idea of perfection. In these tender, elegant essays, poet and Sarabande Books president Gorham (Bad Daughter, 2011, etc.) explores cultural, personal and philosophical meanings of the “slippery term” perfect. Ten short pieces consider such topics as “Perfect Tea” (Twinings Irish Breakfast, prepared in a microwave), “Perfect Sleep” (morphine-induced, following a C-section) and “Perfect Conversation” (fulfilling the definition of perfection as “That which has attained its purpose”): “I love you,” “I love you too.” A dozen longer essays elaborate on “the many permutations of this most hermetic and exalted concept” in the author’s life. In “Moving Horizontal,” a four-story Victorian, which had served the family perfectly as Gorham’s children grew up, suddenly feels claustrophobic; more perfect for a couple’s empty nest is an openplan modern house, filled not with souvenirs but with light. “The Changeling” is Gorham’s sister, born microcephalic, who becomes the center of the family’s life: Her mother embraced her role as an activist for the handicapped; her father sold lemonade to raise funds; a sister volunteered at state institutions. “Beckie was our wabi,” writes the author, “the distinctive flaw that made our family an exquisite paragon. This Japanese concept, with its sister sabi, guides us with three important principles: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” Gorham’s marriage surely was not perfect: “A Drinker’s Guide to The Cat in the Hat” juxtaposes the chaos wrought by Dr. Seuss’ wily protagonist with the impact of her husband’s alcoholism on the family. Wary after he underwent treatment, the author likens the possibility of his relapse to the cat, looming menacingly outside the family’s windows, “Raring to go and ready for FUN.” Fear during a daughter’s life-threatening illness, grief over her mother’s death, nostalgia for family gatherings in summers past: All lead Gorham to consider how perfection is interlaced with pain, desire and even sin. A contemplative, lyrical, splendid collection. (1 b/w photo; 4 illustrations; 1 chart)
Are gay and lesbian communities losing the safety-netted solidarity of their urban centers to gentrification? In an attempt to understand a contemporary, hot-button issue facing iconic gay neighborhoods in flux, Ghaziani (Sociology/Univ. of British Columbia; The Dividends of Dissent: How Conflict and Culture Work in Lesbian and Gay Marches on Washington, 2008) mines the roots of “gayborhoods” to understand where and why they began and the challenges they face. As homosexuality gains wider societal acceptance, are the “gay ghettos,” once considered bastions of organized solidarity, sexual freedom, and safety from anti-gay bigotry and violence, feeling the pinch? In a book rich with demographical statistics of same-sex-couple households, useful charts and personal interviews, Ghaziani delivers an unbiased perspective carefully weighing the consequences and the benefits of conformity for formerly homogenous gayborhoods countrywide. He documents how “post-gay era” singles and those married (with or without children) are opting for more mainstream districts without fear of ostracism. Yet, he counters, housing, employment and relationship discrimination continue to flourish in less-tolerant areas of the country, still creating a need for these protective spaces. Ghaziani focuses primarily on the Chicago area, which is considered a “vibrant sexual laboratory” facing the same gentrification and social identity issues as other highprofile gay enclaves found in San Francisco and New York City. The author also examines generational shifts, the evaporation of gay businesses due to the ease of Internet commerce and a decline in the significance of sexual orientation. He points to this conundrum as a double-edged sword and a trade-off: a consequence of conformity and a byproduct of the equality fought for through decades of derision. Encompassing more than just the diminishing homogeneity of gay ghettos, Ghaziani’s important work also demonstrates an appreciation for how the provocative past, present and future of gay culture continues to evoke impassioned rhetoric and opinion. (5 halftones; 2 line illustrations; 15 tables; 6 maps)
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VIOLINS OF HOPE Violins of the Holocaust— Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour
The magazine is now celebrating its 20th birthday, so when founding editor Gutkind (For the Love of Baseball: A Celebration of the Game that Connects Us All, 2013, etc.) and managing editor Fletcher went to pick a handful of wildflowers from this bounty to fashion this collection, they had plenty to choose from. Many of the pieces have an experimental quality in that they catch something elemental from an unexplored angle as they venture onto shaky ground. The spiciest take no pains to disguise the process of getting there: Readers share the sensory information coming in and witness the writer’s brain decoding and shaping the material, all subjective and unlike any other, making their own local color as both participant and observer and changing their way of being in the world. As a style, creative nonfiction has yet to be thoroughly pinned down; it remains simultaneously furtive and dodgy, versatile and as inclusive as a hug from Walt Whitman. Longtime New Yorker contributor Susan Orlean—who better to write the introduction?—makes important suggestions to writers considering creative nonfiction: “Don’t over-prepare. Be willing to jump into stories naked; you’ll listen harder and learn more authentically. On the other hand, do over-report. Follow bits of the story that aren’t quite on topic; you’ll probably find something unexpected and fascinating.” Other contributors include Sonya Huber, Gordon Lish, Toi Derricotte and Louise DeSalvo. In Vanity Fair, James Wolcott declared that creative nonfiction is “a sickly transfusion, whereby the weakling personal voice of sensitive fiction is inserted into the beery carcass of nonfiction.” This anthology proves otherwise. Whether inducing tears or raucous laughter, all the pieces are inviting, inquisitive and attentive—and sure to spark plenty of imaginations.
Grymes, James A. Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $15.99 paper | Aug. 12, 2014 978-0-06-224683-7
The cruelties of the Third Reich have been well-documented in countless Holocaust studies. This report contemplates the crimes of the Nazis from a special point of view. Grymes (Musicology/Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte) traces the histories of seven violins and their Jewish owners throughout the murderous German campaign. At first, talented musicians, barred from playing in Aryan orchestras or for Aryan audiences, were able to find a venue in Nazi-sanctioned Jewish Culture Leagues in several cities in occupied Europe. From those leagues, the renowned Bronislaw Huberman recruited members for his Orchestra of Exiles. The great violinist spent his energies delivering players from sure death to Palestine and the ensemble that became the famous Israel Philharmonic. Toscanini conducted the initial official performance, and a German violin remains from that concert. In Norway under Vidkun Quisling, a riot ensued when a Jewish virtuoso was scheduled to play an instrument once owned by national hero Ole Bull. Another violin accompanied its owner on a nearly six-year escape from Vienna, via Mauritius and prison, to Haifa. An Auschwitz violin survives from one of the several camp orchestras that marched prisoners to their tasks and back again. The violinists played, as well, for those headed to death and for the entertainment of their captors. (Primo Levi, for one, would never forget or forgive those mad voices of the labor camp.) Grymes interweaves the detailed stories of unremitting terror—some evocative of Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird (1965)—with accounts of the music and descriptions of the violins. Those recovered instruments are part of the Violins of Hope Project, a program founded by the esteemed Israeli violin maker Amnon Weinstein. A special Holocaust study of the unique link that violins, klezmer or classical, have continuously had with the Jewish spirit.
WONDER WOMAN UNBOUND The Curious History of the World’s Most Famous Heroine Hanley, Tim Chicago Review (304 pp.) $18.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61374-909-8
Hanley traces the long, strange existence of Wonder Woman, the world’s most famous female superhero and complicated feminist icon. Wonder Woman’s creator, psychologist William Moulton Marston, proves to be by far the most fascinating character in the narrative. An accomplished three-time Harvard graduate, co-inventor of the polygraph (which found an analog in Wonder Woman’s truth-compelling magic lasso) and developer of the still relevant DISC theory of human behavior, Marston was also a polyamorous bondage enthusiast who believed in the imminence of a shift in society toward matriarchy. His creation was intended to prepare young boys for their inevitable disenfranchisement—indeed, to make them happy about it. From this heady stew of high-minded theory and sexual kinkiness,
TRUE STORIES, WELL TOLD From the First 20 Years of Creative Nonfiction Magazine
Gutkind, Lee; Fletcher, Hattie—Eds. InFact Books (320 pp.) $15.95 paper | Aug. 12, 2014 978-1-937163-16-7
An engaging anthology of creative nonfiction from the editors at Creative Nonfiction magazine. 52
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Marston added a pastiche of Greek mythology tropes, and his Avenging Amazon was born. Hanley charts the many incarnations of the character over the decades, from bland post-Marston escapist twaddle to the disastrous attempts to make her “relevant” and hip in the mod era to Gloria Steinem’s successful campaign to return Wonder Woman to her girl-power roots and establish her as an icon of liberal feminism. At each stage, Wonder Woman was beset by bizarre tonal inconsistencies, muddled ideology and frequent editorial neglect or incompetence. Hanley identifies the character’s lack of a coherent, consistent core and, paradoxically, her strength as an icon. Simultaneously semiotically loaded and a blank slate, Wonder Woman is uniquely positioned to reflect whatever values her various constituencies wish to project. Hanley’s analysis is well-argued and richly supported, but he is prone to long digressions—e.g., his discussion of Marston’s cheesy erotic novel and a fixation on Lois Lane. Ultimately, though, the author offers a compelling and insightful consideration of a cultural icon that has endured and engaged with the culture for many decades without ever truly being known. A richly detailed, often surprising work of comic-book scholarship. (10 b/w photos, 34 4-color photos)
of whom were more assiduous about letter- and journal-writing. So, indirectly, we learn some about Handel’s reading, collecting (art, books about music) and his health, which featured some occasional “paralytic attacks” and a final blindness that ended his composing and playing. Harris also includes helpful timelines scattered throughout the text. Musical in structure, tone and emotional effect. (43 illustrations; 3 maps)
THE END OF ABSENCE Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection
Harris, Michael Current (256 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 7, 2014 978-1-59184-693-2
A personalized jeremiad against the state of constant distraction in which our benevolent technologies have ensnared us. Toronto-based journalist Harris argues that our full-time engagement with the Internet, smartphones and social media has robbed us of “absence”—the ability to withdraw from life’s dissonant demands, whether for personal growth, intellectual accomplishment or simple serenity. The author begins by noting that all readers born before 1985 are experiencing a moment akin to the invention of printing, in that no other generation will again experience nondigital society. He notes that ever since Plato, the old have groused about younger generations’ adaptations of technology for its convenience. Yet he cites studies suggesting that digital technology may affect the plasticity of adolescents’ developing brains, arguing that without absence, “our children suffer as surely as kids with endless access to fast food do. The result is a digital native population that’s less well rounded than we know they could be.” Harris examines the many aspects of contemporary life that have been quickly transformed by this constant digital engagement, ranging from the relentless nature of online bullying to the transactional sexuality encouraged by “hookup” sites like Grindr. He even suggests that the notion of expertise itself has been destroyed by the open-source nature of Wikipedia. Harris supports his discussion by engaging the work of technology writers and philosophers, plus some behind-the-curtain interviews with social media CEOs and personalities like Generation X author Douglas Coupland. Finally, Harris chronicles his experiment called “Analog August,” when he disconnected from the Internet and his phone entirely: “I wanted to remember the absences that online life had replaced with constant content.” Harris’ core argument regarding the values of technological disengagement feels valid, and his prose is graceful, but as a social narrative, the book becomes repetitive and less focused as it proceeds. A thoughtful addition to the bookshelf addressing the unintended consequences of a wired world.
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL A Life with Friends Harris, Ellen T. Norton (496 pp.) $37.95 | Sep. 29, 2014 978-0-393-08895-3
An author of scholarly works about George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) returns with a more general work about the prolific composer and his milieu. Harris (Emeritus, Music/MIT; Handel as Orpheus: Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas, 2004) notes from the beginning that Handel left few documents—letters, journals—about his personal life, so she elects to reconstruct the various worlds in which he moved. In this lushness of context, she argues, Handel will appear—and so he does. The author also elects to write her text in the fashion of a fugue; she presents themes (Handel’s life, the culture, his friends, his music) and revisits them continually—a very effective way of reminding readers about key points and people. Harris begins with family and then charts Handel’s quick rise in the music world (so little is known about his youth) and his decision to move to England, where he lived the majority of his life and endeared himself both to the royals and the commoners. She examines the vagaries of his financial situation (he did well, for the most part), his various patrons, the composition of his operas (which he stopped doing in 1741) and his sex life—did he have one? He never married, but most of his operas, notes the author, culminated with marriage. After his opera career, Handel shifted to oratorios, and Harris writes engagingly about Messiah, which he premiered in Dublin in 1742. The author tells us much about the lives of his intimates, some |
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Paul Sorrentino
A scholar devotes his life to tracking the several lives of Stephen Crane By Mark Athitakis Sorrentino, a professor of English at Virginia Tech and author of the new biography Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire (Harvard University Press), laughs at his innocence when, in the late ’80s, he figured that a writer with such a brief life would make for an easy study. “I thought, ‘I can knock a biography out in three years,’ ” he says. “That’s the book that just came out.” Crane’s brief but prolific career is just one barrier to a Crane biographer. Another is the sparseness of the record and the apocryphal stories that have followed since his death. The most influential biography of Crane, published in 1923 by Thomas Beer, is riddled with errors and overstatement, Sorrentino argues. And despite Crane’s constant writing for newspapers and magazines, he didn’t keep a diary, and his letters shed little light on his personal life. “Crane disappears at times in his life, and those sections are difficult to write about because you don’t know what he’s doing or where he is,” Sorrentino says. “He misdated letters, so you can’t always use the letter as a means of tracking down where he is in any particular time.” What Sorrentino has meticulously pieced together is a remarkable portrait of a writer whose concern for social justice often collided with his inability to realistically discern how physically punishing his adventures would be. (He died of tuberculosis, likely sped by ill-advised travel.) Born into a scholarly, religious family, Crane was a bright but haphazard student, dropping out of Syracuse University to become a writer. He was barely into his 20s when he wrote and self-published Maggie, an unsentimental novella about hardscrabble Bowery life. The novel sold poorly despite his best efforts—Crane paid people to read it on the subway to give the impression that it was a blockbuster. But it did attract the attention of William Dean Howells, the first of many leading
By the time Stephen Crane (1871-1900) died at 28, he had lived several writers’ lifetimes. In his early 20s he wrote two novels, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) and The Red Badge of Courage (1895), that remain perceptive studies of urban poverty and war. As a journalist, he covered rough-and-tumble New York as well as wars in Greece and Cuba. As a poet, his potent, imagistic verse presaged the modernists by decades. And he lived long enough not only to build that reputation, but to squander it with hackwork desperately produced to make ends meet. One critic, exhausted by his output, mockingly wrote, “The gayety of the nations / Would suffer not a whit / And life would be worth living still / If Stephen Crane would quit.” There are many Stephen Cranes worth writing about, something Paul Sorrentino knows well now. 54
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writers and editors who were impressed by his ambition. (Willa Cather and Joseph Conrad also praised his writing during his lifetime.) His next book, The Red Badge of Courage, made him a star. The novel was a potent vision of the Civil War that’s all the more remarkable considering that Crane was born after that war ended. But Crane struggled to make effective use of his fame and habitually overextended himself with editors and publishers. “Here’s this kid who becomes famous, and he’s still in his early 20s when he becomes a celebrity,” Sorrentino says. “He had a lot of life experience, but in other ways he was extremely naïve.” That naïveté extended to his personal life as well as his professional life. Crane was insecure about women throughout his life, Sorrentino writes, often keeping relationships at a distance or preferring the company of prostitutes. (Despite much speculation that Crane was gay—Edmund White’s 2007 novel Hotel de Dream is premised on that notion—Sorrentino found no evidence to back up the claim.) Crane’s secret life would scar him just as The Red Badge of Courage was becoming a hit. In the fall of 1896, Crane came to the defense of a prostitute named Dora Clark, whom he witnessed being wrongly arrested. Crane’s involvement led to a public trial that consumed acres of real estate in the New York papers. During the trial, Crane disclosed that he’d spent time at a brothel, and the ensuing scandal tarnished his reputation and hobbled his ability to find reporting work. Toward the end of his life, Crane had entered into a somewhat steadier relationship with his commonlaw wife, Cora. But Crane’s wanderlust was persistent: He went to Greece to report on the war with Turkey there in 1897, and against Cora’s wishes, he headed to Cuba the following year to write about the Spanish-American War. He remained incommunicado with her during much of that time, to the point where she feared him dead. Was the conflict all-consuming, or were there other women? Sorrentino suggests Crane may have had other relationships, but knowing Crane’s mind during this period was a particular challenge. “There are a lot of questions about why he was [staying in Cuba] and whether he was trying to run away from Cora,” he says. “I don’t have the smoking gun.” Though Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire is not a critical biography, Sorrentino says he’s hopeful the book
will elevate some lesser-known Crane works, including 1896’s George’s Mother (1896), a companion novel to Maggie, and the stories “The Third Violet” and “The Monster,” surprisingly contemporary-feeling takes on romance and race. “There are a number of ways in which Crane foreshadows what’s going to be called modernism and postmodernism,” he says. “Some of his techniques of writing, some of his shifting views of perception of reality, shifting perspectives, problematic endings of stories…his ambivalence is not the sign of a weak writer but a sensibility that differs from a lot of his contemporaries.” Sorrentino has led the Stephen Crane Society since 1992 and has dedicated his career to Crane studies. So finishing the biography has been at once a career capstone and a bittersweet moment. “I had a tear in my eye when I had to kill Crane,” he says. “Obviously I knew that scene was coming up, and I didn’t want my last chapter to be melodramatic, but it was very difficult to write that last chapter. I realized that in many ways I was saying goodbye to this person who has made my career.” Mark Athitakis is a writer in Phoenix and regular contributor to Kirkus Reviews. He serves on the executive board of the National Book Critics Circle. Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire was reviewed in the Apr. 1, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews.
Stephen Crane: A Life of Fire Sorrentino, Paul Harvard University Press (452 pp.) $39.95 | Jun. 1, 2014 978-0-674-04953-6 |
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“Personal storytelling at its most authentic and heartfelt.” from a cup of water under my bed
A CUP OF WATER UNDER MY BED A Memoir
2012, etc.) are interested not in what women wear, but why. To that end, they sent “an ever-evolving” survey to hundreds of women, asking a variety of questions—e.g., “What’s your process of getting dressed in the morning?”; “Do you ever wish you were a man or could dress like a man or had a man’s body?”; “How and when do you shop for clothes?” Respondents include artists, writers, scholars, critics, nurses and doctors, mothers and grandmothers, actors, businesswomen, athletes and others from all over the world. Some are famous: New York Times fashion critic Alexandra Jacobs, restaurant critic Ruth Reichl, actor Molly Ringwald and novelist Kiran Desai, who reveals the timeconsuming process of wearing a sari. Some flaunt attention-getting fashion choices: wearing silver Doc Martens; coloring their hair bright blue; buying a “florescent and hooker-ish” dress; altering a winter coat by trimming it with lace. One woman removes all tags and labels. “In some superstitious way,” she writes, “I feel like this allows the clothes to become more fully themselves….” Another uses clothes “as a way to cast a spell over myself, so that I might feel special.” Poems, interviews, pieces that read like diary or journal entries—all these responses help the editors fulfill their aims: to liberate readers from the idea that women have to fit a certain image or ideal, to show the connection between dress and “habits of mind,” and to offer readers “a new way of interpreting their outsides.” “What are my values?” one woman asks. “What do I want to express?” Those questions inform the multitude of eclectic responses gathered in this delightfully idiosyncratic book. (full color throughout)
Hernández, Daisy Beacon (200 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-8070-1448-6
A journalist’s account of growing up between cultures and learning to embrace both her ethnic and bisexual identities. Former ColorLines magazine executive editor Hernández (co-editor: Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, 2002) was raised as the first-generation American child of a working-class Colombian mother and Cuban father. For her, “everything real”—from family conversations to the observations of her beloved aunts to favorite TV shows—happened in Spanish. However, her family wanted their daughter to achieve more in life than they could, so learning English “to become white” and Americanized became the goal they impressed upon their daughter. Yet as Hernández came to understand, learning a language that was hers by nationality but not by ethnicity meant growing away from her family and adopting the attitude that she had “no history, no past, no culture.” The break was not easy; so much from her colorful dual heritage formed the bedrock of her identity. In her parents’ world, saints performed miracles, and cups of water could carry messages between the living and the dead. In that world, too, women married (or avoided) certain kinds of men. As Hernández grew into adulthood and sexuality, she fulfilled her parents’ desire to find a “gringo” boyfriend. At the same time, she discovered a desire for lesbian and transgender women. Her family castigated Hernández for her bisexuality but also lauded their daughter for finding middle-class success as a New York Times reporter. Striving to be true to herself as a queer (rather than queer and whitewashed) Latina, she eventually took a chance writing for a social justice magazine in San Francisco. Warm and thoughtful, Hernández writes with cleareyed compassion about living, and redefining success, at the intersection of social, ethnic and racial difference. Personal storytelling at its most authentic and heartfelt.
THE MYTH OF MIRROR NEURONS The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition Hickok, Gregory Norton (288 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 18, 2014 978-0-393-08961-5
The discovery of a class of brain cells called mirror neurons was embraced by an entire generation of scientists as the key to the neurological understanding of human social behaviors. But what if the fundamental assumption about these cells’ activity was wrong from the start? The behavioral characteristic of mirror neurons that generated such excitement is this: Neurons fire when a subject reaches for an object as well as when a subject observes someone else reach for an object. This simple but profound feature, which suggests a relationship between knowledge of self-actions and an understanding of the intentions of others, generated multidisciplinary theories about all kinds of human behavior and thought, from language to empathy. Hickok (Cognitive Science/Univ. of California, Irvine) understood the hype—if these claims held up, the mirror neuron theory of “action understanding” could revolutionize our comprehension of some of the
WOMEN IN CLOTHES
Heti, Sheila; Julavits, Heidi; Shapton, Leanne Blue Rider Press (512 pp.) $30.00 paper | Sep. 4, 2014 978-0-399-16656-3
A quirky anthology exploring the meaning of clothes. Forget Anna Wintour, Tim Gunn and the fashion mavens on What Not to Wear. Believer editor Heti (How Should a Person Be?: A Novel from Life, 2012, etc.), Believer founding editor Julavits (Writing/Columbia Univ.; The Vanishers, 2013, etc.) and Shapton (Swimming Studies, 56
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brain’s most compelling mysteries. However, the author was also wary, in part because the data that started the firestorm was the result of experiments on monkeys, not humans—a big leap to the nuanced human behaviors mirror neurons were purported to explain. When he dug deeper into the research, Hickok was not convinced that the hard evidence was there. He became a vocal critic of the cult of mirror neurons and began conducting his own research. The results are fascinating: New findings in behavioral science and neuroscience suggest mirror neurons have a vital role to play within a broader class of sensorimotor cells, which may lead to a new understanding of the brain within a computational theory of the mind. It’s an inspiring example of experimental science at work: The initial theory of mirror neurons may have had a false start, but it inspired an even more complex and interesting story that is just beginning to unfold. A bold look at one of the most exciting theories in neuroscience. (7 illustrations)
into Colorado’s Royal Gorge Bridge at 120 mph, punctuates the inherent danger. For anyone who finds these kinds of emotional and precise accounts of risk, ambition and victory irresistible, this is a must-read. A highflying, electrifying story of a treacherous sport in which every triumph is an eye blink away from becoming a disaster.
BOUTS OF MANIA Ali, Frazier, and Foreman— and an America on the Ropes Hoffer, Richard Da Capo/Perseus (288 pp.) $25.99 | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-306-82222-3
Former Sports Illustrated senior writer Hoffer (Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, 2009, etc.) turns in a sprawling piece on the “riotous roundelay” that was the battle of three boxers for the world championship. The author locates that competition within brackets of great historical events: the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the fall of Saigon and, in between, Kent State, when, in a curious turn of phrase, he notes that National Guardsmen killed four college students “for no real good reason.” That throwaway phrase is symptomatic, for while Hoffer certainly knows his story and his actors, he infuses it with a know-it-all casualness that can be grating at times. Would Ali, Frazier and Foreman really have been “athletic footnotes” in another era? Not likely: All three were staggering, scary, brilliant fighters, each in his own way, with Ali (whose conversion to Islam, Hoffer writes, might have branded him as a “religious kook” had he not redeemed himself by refusing to serve in the military) blessed with a devastatingly poetic wit atop it all. Hoffer’s sociology is suspect and too often heavy-handed. His account of the actual fighting, though, is immediate and arresting. The same holds for his portrait of the swirling sideshow that surrounded the three, with Ali delivering, for instance, “an unrelenting attack on Frazier’s intelligence,” Frazier responding with “classic menace” and Foreman coolly assessing the weird international arenas in which they were thrust. There’s not much here that can’t be found in the grand documentary film When We Were Kings, but Hoffer offers plenty of reasons why we should still remember, and esteem, the lethal trio for more than bucking the draft and hawking stovetop grills. Plimpton or Mailer it isn’t—not even Cosell. Still, fans of the sweet science should enjoy this shaggy yarn of a bygone contest and era. (8 pages of b/w photos)
BIRD DREAM Adventures at the Extremes of Human Flight Higgins, Matt Penguin Press (304 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 4, 2014 978-1-59420-465-4
The breathtaking highs and lifethreatening plunges of the most extreme stuntmen on Earth. Keep your mixed martial arts, parcours and BMX bikes; you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the point-of-view video of these free-flying pilots soaring in their homemade wingsuits over some of the most extreme terrain on the planet. In this riveting journalistic account, freelance writer Higgins chronicles the evolution of the sport from simple parachuting to BASE jumping (the acronym stands for building, antennae, span and Earth, which serve as launch points) to the development of these soaring, superherolike armored flight suits. The book is full of colorful characters but largely focuses on the contrasts between two of the most charismatic pilots, both of whom seek the holy grail of the sport: to land without using a parachute. The most famous is Jeb Corliss Jr., an adrenaline junkie who is most famous for a spectacular 2013 jump off China’s Mount Jianglang, popularized in a startling online video called “Grinding the Crack.” Despite being backed by multimilliondollar sponsors, Corliss can’t seem to avoid trouble—e.g., being imprisoned for a spoiled jump off the Empire State Building in 2006 or carving a good chunk of his leg off during a 2012 flight in South Africa. Corliss’ counterpart is Gary Connery, the do-ityourself British stuntman who famously doubled for the queen during the James Bond stunt at the 2012 Olympics. This is thrilling reporting, but Higgins responsibly never avoids the fatal risks involved, and neither do the pilots. A graphic account of the death of Corliss’ best friend, Dwain Weston, who slammed |
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“A noted historian offers a lucid overview of her changing field.” from writing history in the global era
WRITING HISTORY IN THE GLOBAL ERA
TRADITION! The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World’s Most Beloved Musical
Hunt, Lynn Norton (208 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-0-393-23924-9
A noted historian offers a lucid overview of her changing field. “History is always under construction,” writes Hunt (History/UCLA; Inventing Human Rights, 2007, etc.) in this study of the current state of historical writing. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, histories served the purpose of reinforcing national identity, telling a story meant to provide disparate ethnic groups, classes and regions with a common sense of their country’s past. By midcentury, however, new perspectives emerged, influencing research and writing: Marxism, which focused on class struggles; modernization, which investigated the transmission of knowledge and the conflict “between modernizing forces and traditional groups who are left behind”; the French Annales school, which examined society, social groups and economies; and identity politics, which looked particularly at women, minorities and immigrant groups. These four paradigms, the author argues, were undermined by cultural theories emerging from the 1960s to 1990s: Race studies, queer studies, gender studies and post-colonial studies served as critiques, insisting that “race, gender, and class could not be viewed as stable categories determined by biology, demography, or economics” but rather were “shaped by unstable systems of interrelationship created by shifting cultural values.” Beginning in the ’90s, many historians developed a new interest in transnational and global history, posing a challenge to redefine the boundaries of society. Historians thinking globally widen their scopes to consider the relationship of humans to the natural world, individuals’ psychology and the connection between biology and culture. Hunt offers some startling examples of global interactions—e.g., the desperate demand for Chinese rhubarb, used as a purgative in 17th-century Europe, which affected travel, economics and the transmission of medical knowledge from China to Europe. When tea drinking became a popular leisure time activity, it inspired importation of special cups, saucers and teapots and influenced the creation of meals as “important domestic activities” signaling refinement. In this incisive look at the history of history, Hunt asserts that globalization will inspire a new paradigm acknowledging the importance—and inevitably—of crossdisciplinary and collaborative inquiry.
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Isenberg, Barbara St. Martin’s (256 pp.) $26.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-312-59142-7
Half a century of sunrises and sunsets have passed since Fiddler on the Roof opened. It’s still playing to full houses somewhere, and theater journalist Isenberg (Conversations with Frank Gehry, 2009, etc.) expounds happily on why it remains such a satisfactory hit for all audiences. Who would expect a big Broadway musical about poor shtetl Jews to become such a big hit? Yet Fiddler, based on stories set in Czarist Russia by the popular Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, broke box office records. As Isenberg writes, many talented professionals contributed to its success. Playwright Joseph Stein kept writing and revising the book. Where producer Harold Prince found investors isn’t revealed, but the author notes how the show got its name, which reminded theatergoers that there would be music. Lyricist Sheldon Harnick and composer Jerry Bock wrote dozens of tunes and lyrics, but less than a third made it to opening night. The author also examines the casting process: For the lead role of Tevye, would they cast Rod Steiger? Walter Matthau? The star, of course, was a mad comic genius, the egocentric Zero Mostel, who loathed the difficult directorial genius, equally egocentric Jerome Robbins. The director didn’t like being Jewish and had to research appropriate customs. Despite indifferent opening reviews, Fiddler was an evergreen blockbuster, tugging on heartstrings across the world over thousands of road shows, community theaters and high schools. The popular 1971 film, under the guidance of Norman Jewison (not Jewish), starring Israeli actor Chaim Topol, with Isaac Stern fiddling, carried Fiddler’s reputation still further. For many of a certain age, the musical’s score is ingrained, part of the DNA. Isenberg’s readable, straightforward history—less a critical analysis than Alisa Solomon’s Wonder of Wonders (2013), which covers the same territory—is, with just an expedient hint of schmaltz, a loving tribute to a cultural phenomenon.
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DOCTORED The Disillusionment of an American Physician
Kahn (Into My Own: The Remarkable People and Events that Shaped a Life, 2006, etc.), born in 1927 (the heyday of the Yankees’ Murderers’ Row), a journalist during the Branch Rickey/ Jackie Robinson era, knew the principals personally. Numerous times throughout this important narrative, he alludes to his experiences with them during and after their active days in baseball. (In the early 1950s, Robinson, with Kahn’s participation, launched a short-lived publication, Our Sports, which focused on black athletes.) Kahn shows all the ugliness of the pre-Robinson era and the ugliness of many of the Hall of Famers’ experiences while with the Dodgers, especially during spring training travels in the Jim Crow South. Kahn names names—those players and others associated with the team who did not welcome Robinson (Dixie Walker and Carl Furillo) and those who were more welcoming (Eddie Stanky). Most came around, especially when Robinson’s myriad talents contributed to Dodger success. Kahn waxes lyrical in several places about Robinson’s athletic gifts, and he also has some harsh words for journalist Dick Young, whose writing he admired but whose views he often found offensive. But Kahn has almost nothing but kind words for Rickey, who orchestrated the signing and development of Robinson but who, later, was eased out of the Dodger organization by Walter O’Malley—who does not come off as an admirable character in this compelling drama. Along the way, the author offers much cultural and diamond history—the Black Sox scandal of 1919 (he quotes from The Great Gatsby), the tenure of commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the racial situation in Canada, where Robinson began his Dodger career. A gripping, informative blend of memoir and cultural history. (16 pages of b/w photos)
Jauhar, Sandeep Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-374-14139-4
The further education of a doctor. Cardiologist Jauhar (Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation, 2007) was nearing middle age and finding himself ever more impatient, indifferent, dismissive and paternalistic—everything he had abhorred in his idealistic youth—and his sense of integrity gnawed at him, as did the demands of his job. What will come as a surprise to many readers is that doctors, too, worry about their incomes, which aren’t close to Midas’ pocket change. Granted, it’s far more than many of us earn, but for many doctors, moonlighting helps pay the insurance coverage. When Jauhar had embarked on his medical school training, he had visions of entitlement dancing in his head—“They made more money and earned more respect than just about any other profession”; “Doctors largely set their own hours and determined their own fees”—but that was then; now he finds himself an overworked, underpaid cardiologist at a Long Island hospital. Although income issues come to dominate the book, Jauhar shows flashes of warmth and connection—“At one time, keen observation and the judicious laying on of hands were virtually the only diagnostic tools a doctor had. Today they seem almost obsolete”—and he writes with a nitty-gritty appreciation for hard work as he wrestles with moral quandaries and struggles to keep everything—home and work—intact. At times, the author seems to be arguing with the devil on his shoulder— shady big pharma money, collegial back-scratching, pure fraud in the ordering of excessive testing—as he strives to meet his quota of “Relative Value Units”—i.e., the values insurers place on medical services. A medical story about the loss of ideals and the corrections to course one makes as midlife and its responsibilities arrive, with insights into the overly complicated and often fraudulent state of health care today.
MARS UP CLOSE Inside the Curiosity Mission
Kaufman, Marc National Geographic (304 pp.) $40.00 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4262-1278-9
A vibrant telling, amplified by striking images and photographs, of the Curiosity mission to Mars. This is a National Geographic Society endeavor, and the society has a reputation for head-turning, worldview-shaking products; this one doesn’t disappoint. In clear language, science writer and former Washington Post correspondent Kaufman (First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, 2011) follows the scientific aspects of the project, including chemistry, mineralogy, climatology and geology, and he examines the important search for clear evidence of water through the probing of sedimentary layers, alluvial fans and rounded stones. As the Curiosity rover dutifully goes about its tasks, Kaufman follows the rover’s progress like a play-by-play announcer. The scientists, a number of whom are profiled in vestpocket biographies, all pursue their specific jobs with the fervor of zealots. Kaufman also provides a history of the two previous
RICKEY & ROBINSON The True, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball Kahn, Roger Rodale (304 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 16, 2014 978-1-62336-297-3 978-1-62336-298-0 e-book
The author of the classic The Boys of Summer (1972) and numerous other titles about the national pastime returns with a personal account of the fracturing of the racial barrier in Major League Baseball. |
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“A well-written, yearlong chronicle packed with humor, pathos and valued insights on nearly every page.” from getting schooled
A well-written, yearlong chronicle packed with humor, pathos and valued insights on nearly every page.
rover missions to Mars, which seem primitive compared to the clarity of the Curiosity’s relays, and there are a few dramas, which get milked for suspense—particularly when the main computer starts to behave like it has a mind of its own. Stealing the show, as is often the case when the NGS is at the controls, are the photographs sent back by Curiosity. Sometimes, the colors are enhanced for scientific purposes, but for the most part, readers witness the actual scenes, which are at once recognizable and utterly alien. The light is strangely different, the geology so primal it feels elemental, and the sky like something out of 1950s science fiction. It is just what you want Mars to be: weird. Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, provides the foreword. A totally gratifying account of the Curiosity mission.
BAND OF GIANTS The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America’s Independence Kelly, Jack Palgrave Macmillan (272 pp.) $27.00 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-1-137-27877-7
Journalist and historian Kelly chronicles the poorly trained but determined men who fought with George Washington and other commanders to free the North American continent from British rule in the late 18th century. In an oft-told but still inspiring saga, the author opens his popular history in 1754, as a young Washington was becoming seasoned in battles against French troops seeking to encroach on British territory. After that introduction, Kelly moves the action to 1774, as Washington commands a bunch of ragtag soon-to-be Americans against the British monarchy, which had lost favor due to high taxes, among many other transgressions. Kelly is fascinated by the details of specific battles, but he is wellaware that without finely wrought character sketches of those carrying out the fighting, military history can fall flat on the page. As a result, the author has carefully chosen his heroes and villains, using both primary and secondary sources to explain their paths to battle. A combination of psychobiography, lively prose and generous foreshadowing keeps the narrative moving from battle to battle, year after year, until the story ends in 1783. In the final chapter, Kelly looks back from the year 1824 at the remarkable victories of the revolutionaries; it was the 50th anniversary of the self-styled patriots’ encounter with the well-equipped British musketeers at Lexington Green. “Then began a celebration,” writes the author, “such as the nation had never seen: dinners, galas, speeches, salutes, parades, fireworks. At the Lafayette Ball…five thousand guests wandered through a fairyland dominated by thirty-foot-high transparencies showing Lafayette, Washington, and the marquis’ French estate at La Grange.” The hardships the patriots endured—lack of first-rate equipment, food, clothing and protection from severe weather, among other problems—were seared in the memories of the celebratory survivors and those who followed in the experiment of American democracy. A rousing account of bloody sacrifice.
GETTING SCHOOLED The Reeducation of an American Teacher
Keizer, Garret Metropolitan/Henry Holt (320 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 25, 2014 978-0-8050-9643-9
A high school teacher who became a full-time writer returns to the high school where he taught for years. Harper’s contributor Keizer (Privacy, 2011, etc.) chronicles his return to teaching at a rural Vermont high school 14 years after his departure. One of Keizer’s former students was now the principal, all the students now possessed smartphones, and teaching to the test was more common than before. Some phenomena had not changed, however: the motivated students, the indifferent students, the time-consuming lesson plans, the seemingly endless grading of essays, the individual crises of students at home and in the hallways, as well as the occasional classroom revolts that any teacher would have difficulty controlling. Keizer is a sometimes-sardonic, sometimes-maudlin, always entertaining guide to contemporary high school atmospherics. The paperwork he must complete about each student’s performance led him to conclude that it has become increasingly difficult to teach the actual educational substance of what the paperwork indicates should be measured by the curriculum. Keizer explains that even if teaching conditions were closer to ideal, many of the students come from homes where nobody previously has graduated from high school; thus, a higher education will not carry much value in the minds of older rural Vermont residents. Even though he often hoped for the school year to end, Keizer felt devoted to each student, knowing that the schoolwork was providing the acculturation that students lacked at home. The author never romanticizes classroom teaching, and he skillfully compares his own admittedly challenging daily tasks to the even more difficult tasks willingly undertaken by his wife and his adult daughter, who teach special needs children. “It’s fair to say that I have never gone to work in a school with what might be called purity of heart,” writes the author, “though much of what I know about purity of heart I learned there.” 60
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MIDNIGHT AT THE PERA PALACE The Birth of Modern Istanbul
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
King, Charles Norton (480 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-0-393-08914-1
Lahr, John Norton (736 pp.) $37.95 | Sep. 22, 2014 978-0-393-02124-0
A dense but smoothly recounted history of Istanbul’s transformation from parochial imperial capital to multinational modern city. A scholar of wide-ranging interests and nimble prose, King (International Affairs/Georgetown Univ.; Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, 2011, etc.) finds in the history of the Pera Palace—first established in 1892 in what was then a fashionable neighborhood of embassies on Istanbul’s European side of the Bosphorus—an elegant entree into Turkey’s complicated coming-of-age. Around the turn of the century, the city was choked by migration from the countryside, scarred by recurrent earthquakes and fires, and finally crisscrossed by a railroad, an extension of the glamorous new line of the Orient Express. Adapting the Pullman model, Belgian engineer Georges Nagelmackers instituted the European version of the sleeping car for luxurious accommodation on the long trip between Paris and the gateway to Asia, Istanbul. The Pera would offer a continuation of that modern European comfort. The first decades of the 20th century brought cataclysmic change to Istanbul, with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and occupation by multinational forces at the end of World War I. In this atmosphere, the hotel became the center of Allied administration and its nearby streets, “a shocking testament to Istanbul’s newfound libertinism.” This was not lost on Turkish officer Mustafa Kemal, who rallied the nationalists for a war of liberation, ending with the declaration of the Turkish Republic of 1924. Bought by a Muslim businessman in 1927, the Pera remained a beacon of cosmopolitan licentiousness between the world wars—within a city roiling with bars, alcohol, music and Western films—yet it eventually became part of a shift to a more Muslim, Turkish, homogeneous population that began producing its own popular culture. The emancipation of women, flirtation with leftist ideals, struggle to remain neutral in World War II and use as a transit point for the exodus of Jews posed unique challenges to this vibrant city. Staggering changes deftly chronicled by a seasoned historian. (32 photos)
The tormented life of a celebrated American playwright. When The Glass Menagerie debuted on Broadway in 1945, the opening-night audience erupted in thunderous applause. After 24 curtain calls, shouts of “Author, Author!” brought a “startled, bewildered, terrified, and excited” Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) to the stage. At 34, after a decade of failed productions, he had achieved the success for which he had been desperately striving. Arthur Miller called the play “a revolution” in theater; Carson McCullers saw in it the beginning of “a renaissance.” But praise could never quash the demons that haunted Williams throughout his life. In this majestic biography, former longtime New Yorker drama critic Lahr (Honky-Tonk Parade: New Yorker Profiles of Show People, 2005, etc.) delineates the fears, paranoia and wrenching self-doubt that Williams transformed into his art. “I have lived intimately with the outcast and derelict and the desperate,” Williams said. “I have tried to make a record of their lives because my own has fitted me to do so.” In stories, poems and such plays as A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Williams drew upon his stultifying childhood; his anguish over his sister’s mental illness; and his promiscuity and failed love affairs. Addicted to alcohol and a pharmacopeia of narcotics, Williams at one point sought help from a psychoanalyst; however, when the treatment forbade him to write, he fled. His self-worth, Lahr concludes, “was bound up entirely in his work” and consequently in how directors, actors and especially critics responded to what he produced. Feeling “bullied and intimidated” by others’ expectations, he projected onto them (director Elia Kazan, most notably, or his long-suffering agent Audrey Wood) “his own moral failure and turned it into a kind of legend of betrayal.” Lahr knows his subject intimately and portrays him with cleareyed compassion. Drawing on vast archival sources and unpublished manuscripts, as well as interviews, memoirs and theater history, he fashions a sweeping, riveting narrative. There is only one word for this biography: superb. (80 photos)
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THE BIG, BAD BOOK OF BOTANY The World’s Most Fascinating Flora
Levitin, who served as a studio musician and sound engineer before becoming a neuroscientist, stresses that evolution does not design things but, over millions of years, settles on systems that get the job done. The brain worked well enough for our Stone Age ancestors and has barely changed since then, during which it has been forced to absorb vastly more knowledge than ever before in human history. Critics of every expansion of information access (writing, printing press, TV, Internet, social media) warn that the information expansion has gone too far and will make us stupid. While disagreeing, Levitin admits that brains evolved to focus on one thing at a time and filter out distractions, but this “attentional system” is outdated when confronted with today’s avalanche of input. Memory is also unreliable; worse, we often refuse to believe it. Most Americans, President George W. Bush included, remember watching TV on 9/11 and seeing two planes striking the World Trade Center towers 20 minutes apart. This is a false memory, however; videos of the first plane didn’t appear until the following day. Levitin fills a third of his book with insights derived from neuroscience. In the remainder, he delivers advice for organizing your life by shifting the burden from neurons to the outside world. He provides imaginative suggestions involving filing systems, labels and multiple computers, as well as tactics to determine the usefulness (i.e., truth) of the excess of information in today’s media. A prolific genre of books covers this subject, but Levitin holds his own, and his examination of brain function stands out.
Largo, Michael Morrow/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $18.99 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-06-228275-0 978-0-06-228276-7 e-book
Largo (The Big, Bad Book of Beasts: The World’s Most Curious Creatures, 2013, etc.) offers an alphabetical guide to botanical oddities. The author succeeds admirably in his stated intent to provide a serendipitous mix of “fascinating folklore of the past, with descriptions, life cycles, advice on cultivation, and the benefits these plants provide.” Largo begins with artemisia absinthium, or absinthe, whose sap was used as a last-ditch remedy for tapeworms by Egyptians as early as 1500 B.C. In the 19th century, valued for its hallucinogenic and supposed aphrodisiac properties, it was added to spirits and became the favored drink of artists such as Vincent van Gogh. In a later entry, the author traces knowledge of the medicinal use of aloe vera—recognized for its anti-inflammatory and healing properties today—to an Egyptian papyrus dating back to 2000 B.C. Largo also relates how the black-eyed Susan, an American wildflower, was used by some Native Americans to treat earaches. Archaeological evidence establishes that the Chinese grew cannabis 12,000 years ago, and even the seemingly boring carrot has a fascinating history. Its name is based on its shape and is traceable to “the Indo-European root ker (horn), due to its hornlike appearance.” The carrot’s close relatives include coriander, fennel and parsnip, and “in ancient times, carrots were actually favored for its aromatic leaves and seeds,” not for the domesticated root we eat today. Largo has fun with garlic, the supposed “vampire killer” that was also thought to ward off bubonic plague. Near the end of the alphabet, the author informs us that the name of witch hazel—still used to soothe rashes—derives from the Old English word for pliant and bears no relation to witches. Zubrowka, an aromatic plant used to flavor Polish vodka, ends this romp through botanical lore. An entertaining, irreverent look at the ABCs of botany.
POLITICS IS A JOKE! How TV Comedians Are Remaking Political Life
Lichter, S. Robert; Baumgartner, Jody; Morris, Jonathan S. Westview/Perseus (288 pp.) $32.00 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-8133-4717-2 Political humor on late-night TV is serious business, as three academics show in this study. Listed as lead author, Lichter (Communication/George Mason Univ.; co-author: The Global President: International Media and the U.S. Government, 2013, etc.) is the director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, which has been tracking political humor on TV for a quarter-century, compiling a database of 102,435 jokes from 1992 through 2011. Why 1992? It inaugurated “the golden age of political humor”—partly due to the change in the mainstream media culture, which now felt free to report salacious details of private lives that might previously have been kept secret (giving JFK, FDR and others a comparatively free pass), and partly due to the variety and latitude afforded by cable. Perhaps most importantly, however, was the ascendance of “scandalizer-in-chief ” Bill Clinton, who “easily trumps his competitors as the all-time favorite target of late night comedians.” The academic prose by committee, augmented by graphs and charts, provides a jarring contrast with the edginess of the
THE ORGANIZED MIND Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload Levitin, Daniel J. Dutton (512 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-0-525-95418-7
Lost your keys or glasses? Blame your brain, writes Levitin (Psychology and Music/McGill Univ.; The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, 2008, etc.) in this ingenious combination of neuroscience and self-help. 62
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“A masterly feat of reporting.” from factory man
FACTORY MAN How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local— and Helped Save an American Town
jokes, many of them still very funny (if dated). There is some provocative conjecture on how the negativity of the jokes (which almost all of them are) affects the public perceptions of the politicians and the process as a whole, though the authors admit that their work “shows how difficult it is to sort out the relationship among news, jokes and candidate evaluations” and that “if the jokes follow from the news, then it may be the news that is having the real effect.” Yet this study could well serve as a resource for other cultural analyses written in a livelier fashion, and it should be required reading for political strategists whose candidates’ images are both shaped and reflected by TV humor. Astutely analyzed but dryly written. Not exactly a kneeslapper for the general reading public, though its insights will find their ways into the mainstream media.
Macy, Beth Little, Brown (368 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-0-316-23143-5
The story of one man’s fight to save American furniture manufacturing jobs in the face of a deluge of cheap Chinese imports. In this welcome debut, winner of the 2013 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award, Roanoke Times reporter Macy brings to life the rise of family-owned Bassett Furniture Company as the world’s largest producer of wooden furniture and John Bassett III’s epic struggle to keep his company in business amid unfair overseas business practices that forced many U.S. manufacturers to move their factories abroad. A brash, patriotic charmer fond of quoting George Patton (“When in doubt, ATTACK”), Bassett came from a long line of wealthy Virginians with “sawdust” in their veins. “The ‘fucking Chi-Comms’ were not going to tell him how to make furniture!” remarked one retailer. Drawing on prodigious research and interviews with a wide range of subjects, including babysitters, retired workers and Chinese executives, Macy recounts how Bassett, now in his mid-70s, mobilized the majority of American furniture manufacturers to join him in seeking U.S. government redress for unfair Chinese trade practices. The author’s brightly written, richly detailed narrative not only illuminates globalization and the issue of offshoring, but succeeds brilliantly in conveying the human costs borne by low-income people displaced from a way of life—i.e., factory jobs that their Appalachian families had worked for generations. Writing with much empathy, Macy gives voice to former workers who must now scrape by on odd jobs, disability payments and, in some cases, thievery of copper wire from closed factories. Her book is also a revealing account of the paternalistic Bassett dynasty, whose infighting was a constant diversion for everyone living in the company town. Ultimately, Bassett’s efforts saved some 700 jobs and his Vaughan-Bassett company, the nation’s largest wood bedroom furniture maker. A masterly feat of reporting.
A WORLD ELSEWHERE An American Woman in Wartime Germany
MacRae, Sigrid Viking (320 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 8, 2014 978-0-670-01583-2
An American woman’s marriage to a Baltic German noble in 1928 promised a fairy tale but ended in a nightmare of war. New York City–based author MacRae (co-author: Alliance of Enemies: The Untold Story of the Secret American and German Collaboration to End World War II, 2006) is the daughter of now-deceased Aimée Ellis of Hartford, Connecticut, a wealthy young orphan swept off her feet by a handsome descendant of the Teutonic knights once closely allied with the Russian czars; his elaborate name was Baron Heinrich Alexis Nikolai von Hoyningen-Heune. A polyglot with impeccable manners and education, Heinrich was ambitious as well as irresistible; he and Aimée met while on holiday in France in 1927, when Heinrich was studying international law and economics. Aimée had studied art in New York rather than attend college, and when the couple married the next year, she was several months pregnant. The couple made a home on a big farm in a town about 100 miles outside Berlin, during the painful period of crisis and unemployment in 1930s Germany. Heinrich had the right stuff for the rising new Nazi regime: military lineage, Aryan pedigree, an attachment to the land, and a large, growing family. Although thwarted in his professional ambitions and attempting to settle down as a gentleman farmer, he joined the Nazi party and was mobilized and eventually sent to participate in Operation Barbarossa, where a sniper killed him at Mogilev on July 23, 1941. Aimée, left pregnant with their sixth child, had to soldier on under terrible conditions, fleeing her town when it fell under the Russian sector; she eventually brought her children back to America in several trips. Using her parents’ letters written during this devastating time, MacRae does a fine job of portraying the fear and uncertainty felt by her mother, living in a strange land and torn by loyalties. One of the more curious World War II entanglements, deftly fashioned. |
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DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change
MY FAMILY AND OTHER HAZARDS A Memoir
Marshall, George Bloomsbury (272 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-62040-133-0
Melby, June Henry Holt (320 pp.) $25.00 | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-8050-9831-0
Readers seeking information on global warming will not find much here, but they would do well to dig into this lively, nonpolemical account of why the average person
The story of a girl, her family and the miniature golf course they owned. Miniature golf—or “putt-putt,” depending on where you’re playing—is one of those activities that can be hard to pigeonhole. It’s not quite a sport, per se, but it does have a professional association (the USPMGA, of course)—i.e., more than a game but not quite at the same level as bowling. Without a doubt, though, it is a family pastime, a place to take children on the weekend—until your family buys a miniature golf course, and then it’s your job. At age 10, Melby found herself thrilled to hear her father ask if they’d like to buy Tom Thumb Miniature Golf in Waupaca, Wisconsin. As is the case with many such amusement places, it’s one thing to visit them for a round of putt-putt; it’s another thing entirely to be personally involved with the upkeep of the course, the management of the customers (who don’t always recognize where the course ends and the owner’s personal residence begins), and the birds with their nests and their offspring and their cavalier approach to waste management. Melby has written for National Lampoon and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, which is a good indicator of the approach she takes in this witty memoir. Starting with a dryly cautionary few pages advising readers to never go to Wisconsin, each chapter is dedicated to a hole on the course. As the family goes from stumbling new entrepreneurs, the former owner having left no useful instructions, to fairly successful small-business owners, Melby and her siblings grow up. The ending of the book—the kids grown, the parents’ move to sell the course—leaves a wistful feeling, but like mini-golf itself, the story is a lot of fun and enjoyable to navigate.
pays so little attention. Veteran British environmental activist Marshall, founder of the Climate Outreach and Information Network, travels the world interviewing climate change deniers as well as those working on the problem. His conclusions are unsettling, to say the least. Emotional stories always trump facts, and climate change lacks the inflammatory features of, say, abortion, atheism or gay marriage. Why has it provoked fierce opposition from a minority and indifference from the general public? Marshall lists three main reasons. 1) It lacks salience, or a demand for our immediate attention. In the Stone Age, threats were nearby and obvious. Our brains evolved to give high priority to proximity—a nuclear power plant, an abortion clinic—while distant threats are a hard sell. 2) It seems controversial to most observers even though (thanks to the media) one side may feature scientists and the other cranks. 3) It demands immediate sacrifices (lower living standards, tiresome regulations) to prevent a future disaster. President Barack Obama’s speeches on the subject, while admirable and necessary, never include practical steps. Reversing global warming requires government action, so U.S. opponents are overwhelmingly conservative. Yet exceptions exist. Responding to an electricity shortfall after the Fukushima nuclear power disaster, the Japanese voluntarily cut power use and sweltered without air conditioning. After 9/11, Americans yearned to make a personal contribution as they did in wartime. The author closes with “Some Personal and Highly Biased Ideas for Digging Our Way Out of This Hole.” An insightful, often discouraging look at why climate control advocates have failed to get their message across and what they should do. Much of Marshall’s advice is counterintuitive (e.g., drop the apocalyptic rhetoric), but it rings true.
THE REMOVERS A Memoir
Meredith, Andrew Scribner (256 pp.) $24.00 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-1-4767-6121-3
A conventional coming-of-age memoir within a morbidly unconventional context. Amid the usual accounts of indierock obsession and adolescent sexual frustration, this memoir has more than its share of mysteries to resolve. The first is what exactly Meredith’s father did to lose his college teaching job—something involving sexual improprieties with at least one female student (but not more directly addressed until the memoir’s end and never totally clarified). The second is how the author, once a promising student and athlete, has ended up working with his 64
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“Any reader’s vocabulary is likely to grow after reading Merritt’s quirky wordplay, but edification is not the point; fun is, and Merritt and Chast deliver just that.” from 101 two -letter words
dad part-time removing the bodies of the recently deceased from their homes. “People ask how I got into the funeral business, the underlying implication seeming to be, Why would you possibly choose it?” he writes. “The answer is that I had not yet developed any choosing skills. I was a broke dummy just as startled as anyone else to find myself picking up bodies.” In between descriptions of his work life—how the bodies felt, how bad some of them smelled—Meredith describes how things weren’t much livelier at home, where his mother stayed with his father despite the scandal but refused to talk to him for more than a decade. Ultimately, everyone moved on, mother and father and sister as well as the author, who finally graduated after continually flunking out of college and earned the MFA that led to this debut. There was also a break from the death business, when the author worked in Beverly Hills, which featured memorable (for him) encounters with the likes of Angelina Jolie but where “crushed Sprite cans were touched more lovingly that year than were my genitals.” Meredith eventually came to terms with his father, with himself and with the possibility of making a deeper connection with live bodies than with dead ones. Most of what readers might find new or intriguing concerns the process of corpse removal.
about having male gay friends. One of her most touching essays is about the rise and fall of Betty Friedan, whom Merkin credits for lighting the fuse on the women’s movement. However, according to the author, Friedan’s personal flaws—and the rise of the more telegenic Gloria Steinem—occasioned her fall from power. Throughout, Merkin also comments in a variety of ways about her own appearance—her physical virtues, the effects of aging and the broken promises to herself. Essays that go down like candy but nourish like health food.
101 TWO-LETTER WORDS
Merritt, Stephin Illus. by Chast, Roz Norton (216 pp.) $19.95 | Oct. 6, 2014 978-0-393-24019-1
From “aa” to “zz,” a compendium of curious words. Scrabble enthusiast Merritt, songwriter and singer in the Magnetic Fields, had trouble remembering all the two-letter words so useful for the game. Making up rhymes helped, and before long, he had written poems for the 101 two-letter words allowed in the Scrabble dictionary. Illustrated by longtime New Yorker cartoonist Chast (Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir, 2014, etc.), Merritt’s literary debut is sly, silly and playfully absurd. Even a common word like “is” inspires Merritt to flights of poetic fancy: “ ‘Is You Is or Is You Ain’t / My Baby’; sold a million, / and not by being played at any / debutante’s cotillion.” For the esoteric word “os,” Chast’s rendering of an animated landscape accompanies this ditty: “Os: a spine of gravel dropped / by long-gone giggly glaciers / playing in their sandbox, leaving / scribbles and erasures.” Merritt’s Scrabble dictionary apparently includes cockney (“Oi,” meaning “hey there”), Scottish (“Ae” means one, “Bo” means friend), Egyptian (“ba” represents the soul), archaic spelling variations (“wo” for woe) and slang abbreviations (“bi” for bisexual). Merritt sometimes reaches for the unexpected meaning of a word: The common verb “go” becomes, instead, a noun: “Go: a subtle game of skill, / with stones of black and white. / One game can go on until / the middle of the night.” Chast aptly captures the mood of the rhymes with her characteristic unkempt, harried and often bewildered characters, both human and animal. For “Id: the source of primal drives,” her bug-eyed green monster is appropriately lustful; her rendering of Santa Claus (“ ‘Ho, ho, ho’ says old Saint Nick”) makes him look a bit debauched. Any reader’s vocabulary is likely to grow after reading Merritt’s quirky wordplay, but edification is not the point; fun is, and Merritt and Chast deliver just that.
THE FAME LUNCHES On Wounded Icons, Money, Sex, the Brontës, and the Importance of Handbags
Merkin, Daphne Farrar, Straus and Giroux (368 pp.) $27.00 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-374-14037-3
A veteran essayist for the New Yorker and numerous other significant publications returns with an eclectic collection of pieces, all of which feature her unique style and voice. Most of Merkin’s (Dreaming of Hitler: Passions and Provocations, 1997, etc.) pieces date from the previous decade, though she offers one from 1980 about Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald (she calls him “preeminently the poet of withdrawn promise”). Merkin includes book reviews, reflections on the sad stories of sadder celebrities (Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and others), self-revelatory reflections on personal appearance (lip gloss, pedicures), some accounts of her personal obsessions (the Bloomsbury Group, the Brontës), tributes to writers she’s admired (poet Anne Carson, W.G. Sebald, John Updike), and thoughts about fashion and some eminent actresses (Liv Ullman, Diane Keaton, Cate Blanchett). Merkin’s style is inevitably exploratory—these are “essays” in the word’s literal sense. Like Montaigne, she writes to figure something out, not because she’s already figured it out. She also has a fondness for the parenthetical observation; in her piece about Virginia Woolf, she has some lengthy examples of this—appropriate, for Woolf herself loved them. Some of Merkin’s essays are aimed directly at women (though curious men—and/or ignorant ones—will surely find them informative): a piece about handbags (she’s bought and returned many), another on flirting, another |
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CIAO, CARPACCIO! An Infatuation
influence electoral outcomes—putting corporations on par with individual people. Mutch identifies two cycles of election finance reform: the first beginning around the 1904 election of Theodore Roosevelt and the second, with the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon. Both, he shows, were driven by outrage over the role of money in politics. In the early 20th century, many feared the corrosive effects of large corporate financial contributions as undermining the notions of equality and democracy. Mutch quotes New Hampshire Sen. William Chandler, one of the founders of the Republican Party and cosponsor of federal legislation to bring financial transparency to the electoral process: “A republic is supposed to be individual government….But when corporations can furnish money to carry elections from corporate treasuries individualism in government is gone.” Over the decades, the fears have prompted only partially successful legislative efforts. After Nixon, two 1970s cases—Buckley v. Valeo and First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti—established money as a protected equivalent of human speech and permitted direct corporate funding of elections. “[T]racking changes in where campaign funds actually come from,” writes Mutch, “reveals that…today’s system differs only in degree from the Gilded Age system the first reformers tried to uproot.” An excellent discussion of election finance reform for policymakers and political watchers—though the audience may not include many general readers. (12 b/w halftones; 3 b/w illustrations)
Morris, Jan Liveright/Norton (160 pp.) $19.95 | Sep. 8, 2014 978-0-87140-799-3 A tribute to a neglected Venetian painter. Talented writers are able to share their complete joy or fascination with their subjects and make readers love them as much as they do. Morris (Contact!: A Book of Encounters, 2010, etc.) is an undeniably talented writer, and she has loved the 15th-century Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio (1460-1520) for years, when many others ignored him. In this brief yet entertaining book, she introduces us to a man she has held in close affection. The author draws our attention to richly presented details in the midst of his uncomplicated work: Carpaccio’s Dog, a fluffy, scruffy mutt; his turban, so exquisitely twirled around a red cap; and his buildings, rendered in the half-imagined style of a man who never traveled. However, Carpaccio compensated for his lack of exposure to various architectures, animals and peoples in his notebooks, in which he copied images of faces, figures and buildings from other artists, along the way developing his own purposeful symbolism. The excitement of finding a little bird in a shrub in the background of a painting sets Morris off to show us the power of Carpaccio’s work, especially his paintings of the Ursula Cycle and the Jerome Cycle, still in situ in the Venice institutions that commissioned them. The simplicity of this book reflects the artist’s easy, unforced style in both narrative and painting. The figures in Carpaccio’s paintings are plain, straightforward folk set in scenes the viewer can easily relate to. The illustrations of the painter’s works, shown both in their entirety and in sections, are edifying—if only the book were in a larger format. Nothing is quite as wonderful as reading about something the author so clearly, manifestly adores and wishes only to share her delight with us. (75 color illustrations)
CITY OF LIES Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran
Navai, Ramita PublicAffairs (320 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-1-61039-519-9 978-1-61039-520-5 e-book
A daring exposé of what really goes on under the noses of the morality police in this God-fearing city of 12 million. Many of these portraits of mostly contemporary Tehranis struggling against their country’s obsession with vice, public morality and political correctness are composite sketches. As such, British-Iranian journalist Navai protects the real identities of her subjects, who are as engaging as characters of fiction and reveal, frankly, the charade that living under Sharia law has become since Iran’s Islamic Revolution. “Let’s get one thing straight: in order to live in Tehran you have to lie,” writes the author in the opening. “Morals don’t come into it: lying in Tehran is about survival.” A brainwashed young member of the Western-backed terrorist group Mojahedin-e-Khalq (“Warriors of the People”) returned to the city of his youth after 20 years in America in order to assassinate Tehran’s former police chief; his plan resulted in devastating failure. A serious schoolgirl was encouraged by her parents to marry her charming older cousin, even though everyone knew he was a lazy philanderer. A young political activist was stalked
BUYING THE VOTE A History of Campaign Finance Reform Mutch, Robert E. Oxford Univ. (384 pp.) $34.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-0-19-934000-2
Independent legal scholar Mutch (Campaigns, Congress and Courts: The Making of Federal Campaign Finance Law, 1988) contends that the Citizens United (2010) Supreme Court ruling has reversed more than 100 years of electoral reform and overthrown long-accepted legal definitions of equality, democracy and free speech. The author contributes a broad perspective to the heated controversy provoked by the current Supreme Court and its decision that corporations can use their financial power to 66
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BLUE MIND The Surprising Science that Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do
by the judge who convicted his parents to hang in 1988; 15 years later, the judge desperately sought forgiveness and helped warn the activist that the Ministry of Intelligence was watching him. A prostitute turned to the more lucrative business of making porn movies, which were so popular in the Islamic state that she was duly exposed, imprisoned and hanged. Alcohol-running gangsters, martyrs, women arrested in belly-dancing class at the health club, a 13-year-old sold by her parents to a man in his 60s: These make up a deeply class-riven society in which sex is a rebellion and traditional values are circumvented at all costs. Navai offers sharply rendered portraits of the bleak situation but does not provide much reason why she, and others she portrays, would ever want to return to Tehran.
Nichols, Wallace J. Little, Brown (352 pp.) $27.00 | $12.99 e-book $26.98 Audiobook | Jul. 22, 2014 978-0-316-25208-9 978-0-316-25207-2 e-book 978-1-4789-7886-2 Audiobook
FREDERICK A Story of Boundless Hope
A lifelong ocean advocate and aquatic educator examines the biocentric and neurochemical wonderments of water. Passionately dedicated to oceanic sciences, marine biologist and California Academy of Sciences research associate Nichols presents fieldwork largely focused on scientific experiments measuring the human brain’s electrical response to water. He astutely examines how the ocean, the color blue and regular human interaction with water significantly affect mood, attitude and energetic productivity, and he explores our evolutionary connection to water and the ways it inspires creative flow. On a personal note, Nichols admits to his own attraction to the water’s edge initiated when he brought his 18-month-old daughter along on an oceanside coastal trek from Oregon to Mexico. Factors such as DNA, biology and physical well-being can predispose one to an attraction to water, he writes, and as his numerous studies suggest, we tend to be at our happiest when surrounded by a natural environment, whether swimming, surfing or simply bathing, and “riverbanks, beaches, and lakefronts” play a large part in this accumulated state of blissfulness. This postulate is further proved by the consistent demand for premium-priced oceanfront property across the globe. But as seductively pristine as these waters are, Nichols warns, they also carry risk and a downside, as evidenced by the devastation of Superstorm Sandy and the environmentally devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A true voice for environmental advocacy, Nichols promotes the “Blue Mind” approach to conscious ecological conservation and fosters the Earth-friendly, interconnectedness expressed through his Blue Marble Project. In the book’s thought-provoking introduction, Celine Cousteau admits to being as irresistibly drawn to water as her grandfather Jacques was, yet she previously resisted the need to “explain the magic.” She now realizes that Nichols’ unique fieldwork and scientific scrutiny is necessary “to restore the health of the world’s water systems.” A fascinating, fact-based report for aquaphiles and those at one with the tides.
Ndabaramiye, Frederick; Parker, Amy Thomas Nelson (240 pp.) $22.99 | Sep. 16, 2014 978-0-529-10119-8
A powerful Rwandan memoir of survival and transcendence, reduced to an oddly dry little book. In this debut memoir, Ndabaramiye, with the assistance of children’s book author Parker (My Christmas List, 2013, etc.), describes his personal experience in the Rwandan genocide and how he has rebuilt his life in the service of others like himself. In the immediate aftermath of the genocide, he was one of a busload of travelers captured by a terrorist militia. They commanded the teenage Ndabaramiye to kill his fellow prisoners with a machete. When he refused on grounds of his religion, he was forced to watch the rest of the group murdered by the militia, who then hacked off his hands and left him to be stoned to death by children. He escaped, found help and was treated by an experienced surgeon at an overwhelmed hospital. Without hands or a family able to support him, he despaired; however, through a fresh embrace of his religion, he found the will to recover. He was accepted by an American-run orphanage, and there, he learned to care for himself and to write, draw and teach. In time, he made connections that helped him co-found a community center and primary school to help other disabled people make the most of their abilities. Ndabaramiye has a solid evangelical Christian worldview, but this should not put off non-Christian readers; his resilience and dedication to the service of others is inspiring. Stories like these need no elaborate presentation, but the author’s calm, straightforward style sometimes slides into a bare-bones narrative that can obscure and distance the events, places and characters he describes. In addition, the book is marred by odd language constructions that do not serve the author’s purpose—e.g., a reference to how he and his partners “concepted a Learning Center.” An awkwardly written but genuinely inspiring memoir of a disabled Rwandan educator.
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LINCOLN’S BISHOP A President, a Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors
SHADOWS IN THE VINEYARD The True Story of the Plot to Poison the World’s Greatest Wine
Niebuhr, Gustav HarperOne (256 pp.) $26.99 | Jun. 1, 2014 978-0-06-209768-2
Potter, Maximillian Twelve (304 pp.) $27.00 | Jul. 29, 2014 978-1-4555-1610-0
Enlightening tale of Abraham Lincoln’s other war. In 1862, overshadowed by the Civil War, a dire conflict known as the Dakota War roiled the southern half of Minnesota. Journalist Niebuhr (Newspaper and Online Journalism/Syracuse Univ.; Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America, 2008) provides an intriguing examination of this chapter in American frontier history, focusing especially on the figure of Henry Benjamin Whipple (1822-1901). A transplant from New York and Illinois, Whipple was the first Episcopal bishop in Minnesota and immediately began crusading on behalf of Native Americans there. “He stated his goal simply: the Indians must be protected from corrupt government agents and rapacious traders, especially those who dealt in liquor and abused women,” writes the author. Throughout even the direst moments of the Dakota War and its aftermath, Whipple maintained that maltreatment at the hands of the American government had driven the Dakotas to acts of violence—and in many instances, quite grotesque violence. Niebuhr lays out the precipitant causes of the war—delayed annuities for tribes that had traded in land, leading to hunger and resentment—and chronicles its opening volleys. He also provides a detailed account of the war’s major engagements and its effects on white settlement. But the author always comes back to Whipple, seen by many as an Indian sympathizer, who nonetheless had profound influence on policymakers. His triumph was in convincing Lincoln to spare the lives of 275 Dakota captives (others were hanged for wanton brutality during the war). Niebuhr’s work sometimes feels choppy, bouncing back and forth chronologically and going over some of the same ground more than once. However, that does not lessen the fact that it provides a service by reintroducing readers to Whipple, an early proponent of minority rights, as well as to the Dakota War. A pleasant surprise for the average history buff.
True crime meets rare, expensive French wine. There’s not much actual poison in the narrative. In reality, the plot involved just one sick mind attempting to extort €1 million from one of the richest men in France. This book is much more a reflection of Potter’s exposure to Burgundy on assignment for Vanity Fair in 2011. His first taste of the heady wine was a 1999 La Tâche, which was worth hundreds of dollars per bottle. During his assignment, the author received personal guidance through the best wineries in the world by the vignerons, and he was shown the basic art of creating the “ghost in a glass.” The real star of the book is Aubert de Villaine, the proprietor of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. Growing up amid the vines, he produced wine of the greatest quality when others produced only quantity; he is the face and the driving force of Burgundy’s heritage. Through his eyes, readers see the rich history of wine production in this fecund area of the world, which has consistently produced what have been the most expensive wines in France for almost 300 years. “At auction,” writes the author, “a single bottle of Romanée-Conti from 1945 was then fetching as much as $124,000.” The Institut National des Appellations d’Origine codified the hierarchy of French wine in 1935, taking into consideration the history of the vines and the remarkable science and mysticism of terroir. Though Potter does explore this concept and provides a solid picture of Villaine and his top-notch wines, the true crime narrative doesn’t live up to the billing. The countryside backdrop is much more interesting that the supposedly hideous criminal plot, but the book may be useful as a guide to the wines of the Côte D’Or.
NAPOLEON The End of Glory
Price, Munro Oxford Univ. (400 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-0-19-993467-6
An exploration of the years between Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and his exile to Elbe. As Price (Modern European History/Bradford Univ.; The Perilous Crown: France Between Revolutions, 1814-1848, 2007, etc.) demonstrates, Waterloo was no more than an anticlimax to Napoleon’s career; it really ended when he left for Elbe. Ultimately, he was undone by confusing troop movements, too many generals leading lots 68
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“Even readers who do not share Rall’s politics will find his reporting powerful and convincing.” from after we kill you, we will welcome you back as honored guests
of different armies and a complex assortment of politicians, czars, kings and other leaders. Just about everyone in Europe was involved in trying to defeat Napoleon after his Russian debacle. The author clearly examines their varied objectives, from the restoration of the Bourbons to installation of a puppet government to regency led by Marie Louise, Napoleon’s wife and the daughter of the Austrian leader, Francis II. Some readers will have difficulty deciphering the maps, following the numerous different armies in battles and recognizing the constantly changing players—the biggest of which was Klemens von Metternich, who offered mediation after the Russian retreat. Price questions his motives, wondering whether he truly wanted peace or was laying a trap for Napoleon, who feared succumbing to a dishonorable peace, which he felt would cause the French to rise in revolt. His bête noire was being attacked by the mobs of Paris, and he famously said of public opinion, it “is an invisible, mysterious power that nothing can resist; nothing could be more changeable…but it never lies.” Napoleon’s frequent reports from Paris were expressly designed to keep tabs on opinion, but he often failed to listen. Taxation, conscription, censorship and the collapse of trade turned the people against him. A useful addition to Napoleonic history, but readers well versed in that history will follow the battles and diplomatic machinations better than those with a narrower scope of historical and geographical knowledge. (26 b/w halftones with an 8-page insert)
should be starving—yet millions are.” He argues that America’s longest war is unwinnable, since “Afghan resistance forces live there. We don’t. Sooner or later, U.S. troops will depart. All the Afghan resistance has to do is wear us down and wait us out…. All occupations ultimately fail.” Talking with Afghans and staying in their villages has allowed the author to understand their puzzlement and resentment at an occupying force with so many resources but so little expenditure in terms of infrastructure support in comparison with military spending. There’s a particularly telling photograph of a “children crossing” sign in which the caricatures are practically stick figures: “In Afghanistan, even abstract symbols are emaciated.” Even readers who do not share Rall’s politics will find his reporting powerful and convincing.
WHAT WOMEN WANT An Agenda for the Women’s Movement Rhode, Deborah L. Oxford Univ. (240 pp.) $29.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-0-19-934827-5
A thoroughly researched examination of the progress women in the United States have made toward gender equality and of the problems that still must be addressed. Rhode, the director of the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession, is the author of numerous books on gender and the law (Lawyers as Leaders, 2013, etc.). Here, she takes a broad view, looking first at the status of the women’s movement, probing the question of why the movement seems to have stalled and why women are reluctant to label themselves feminists. She finds that there appears to be a leadership vacuum, lack of coordination among women’s groups with different agendas, and fragmentation based on race, class and sexual orientation. The author’s interviews with women leaders prompt her to look closely at specific issues, including work, family, reproductive rights, violence and economic security, with a sideways glance at the subject of physical appearance, a seemingly minor but important issue. In the final chapter, “The Politics of Progress,” Rhode explores the question of how to create support for needed public initiatives. For that, she writes, a strong women’s movement is essential, and perhaps surprisingly, she reports that the presence of such a movement is a stronger predictor of the advancement of women’s rights policies than the proportion of women in legislatures. She cites research indicating that party affiliation is more important than gender—she notes the difficulties faced by moderate Republican women wanting to influence their party’s position on gender-related issues—and she urges women to support those candidates, male or female, who will advance women’s interests. Rhode sums up with a listing of the significant challenges facing the women’s movement if it is to become an effective agent for change. Despite the presumptuous title, this is a serious analysis, designed to inform and to provoke discussion and action.
AFTER WE KILL YOU, WE WILL WELCOME YOU BACK AS HONORED GUESTS Unembedded in Afghanistan
Rall, Ted Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 12, 2014 978-0-8090-2340-0 A political agenda can’t undermine the author’s credibility as an observer who gets close to the Afghan people and sees what otherwise goes unreported. As a cartoonist, alternative-weekly correspondent, and author of previous books on American imperialism and international intervention (Silk Road to Ruin: Why Central Asia is the Next Middle East, 2014, etc.), Rall lays his cards on the table at the beginning. His subject is “the war against Afghanistan” rather than “the war in Afghanistan”—“Like all choices of language, this is a political choice.” The author is not one of the reporters with big rolls of bills and accommodations at the best hotels, subsidized by major news organizations, nor is he embedded with the soldiers, a position he finds hopelessly compromised: “The Taliban are right: American journalism has been reduced to rank propaganda.” Through cartoons, dispatches and contextual analysis, Rall shares what he has learned through two trips to an Afghanistan that Americans rarely see and comes to conclusions that invite readers to share his outrage: “We have spent $229 billion here. Meals cost less than a dollar. No Afghan |
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WHEN PARIS WENT DARK The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944
SUCH GOOD GIRLS The Journey of the Holocaust’s Hidden Child Survivors Rosen, R.D. Harper/HarperCollins (288 pp.) $25.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-06-229710-5
Rosbottom, Ronald C. Little, Brown (480 pp.) $28.00 | $14.99 e-book $26.98 Audiobook | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-316-21744-6 978-0-316-21745-3 e-book 978-1-47895-390-6 Audiobook
Through the stories of three fortunate Jewish girls—one Polish, one French, one Dutch—the author reveals “hidden children” as an unexplored facet of Holocaust research. A versatile writer known for his Harvey Blissberg mysteries and other offbeat works (A Buffalo in the House: A True Story of a Man, an Animal and the American West, 2007, etc.), Rosen enters the lives of these three girls and others hidden at enormous peril during World War II. The three made their getaway from Nazi persecution with the help of Christians, and they were instructed in how to be quiet, obedient and confused about their identities. Five-year-old Selma Schwarzwald and her mother, Laura, were able to escape the Lvov ghetto in 1942 after husband Daniel bought them Christian identification papers before he was taken away and never heard from again. The resourceful mother grilled her fair-haired daughter on their new identities, as well as on the Catholic catechism, and fled to Krakow, then to Leming, where Laura, with her fluent German, found work translating for an SS man. Six-year-old Flora Hillel, at school in Nice, France, did not raise her hand in class in September 1943 when the teacher asked which children were Jews. Her fearful mother promptly deposited her in a Catholic monastery, where she received rigorous religious training and later lived with and was adopted by a French-Swedish couple and became Flora Hogman; she never heard from her mother again. Carla Heijmans moved around from one safe house to another with some of the remaining family members, much like the family of Anne Frank—except the Heijmans were not found out, and thus Carla carried the guilt of surviving when two-thirds of Europe’s Jewry did not. Rosen examines how the lives of these hidden children turned out; many survivors went into “helping professions” and never spoke of their experiences. The emotional toll of silence and victimhood, rendered through intimate detail and rich historical context. (16-page b/w photo insert)
An exploration of “what it would have been like to be [in Paris] under the German Occupation during the Second World War.” The City of Light passed the war years in a period of sustained urban anxiety, when lives were constantly disrupted and fear reigned. France’s army, “the uninspired being led by the incompetent,” surrendered to the Nazis in June 1940. Rosbottom (Arts and Humanities, French and European Studies/ Amherst Coll.) explains the interactions of the French and their occupiers in a way that illuminates their separate miseries. He makes us see that we can never judge those who lived during the occupation just because we know the outcome. If you think you might live the rest of your life under Nazi control, you do everything you can just to survive, feed your family and not get arrested. Who can judge what is accommodation, appeasement, acceptance, collaboration or treason? When they moved in, the Germans requisitioned all automobiles, rationed food, established curfews and cut back on power. The French police were merely German puppets, responsible for nearly 90 percent of the Jewish arrests. The members of the Vichy government were equally reviled. The author attentively includes German and French letters and journals that explain the loneliness, desperation and the very French way of getting by. Both during and after the war, the French seemed to be highly prone to denouncing their fellow resistors, neighbors, friends and family, but the Resistance was nothing like we’re shown in many popular portrayals. Instead, there was mostly quiet defiance, such as whistling when Nazis trooped by or printing anti-German and anti-Vichy tracts. The Resistance was only truly effective the few days before and after D-Day. Otherwise, the foolhardy deeds of a few young, disorganized men brought brutal reprisals and misery. A profound historical portrait of Paris for anyone who loves the city. (40 b/w illustrations; 3 maps)
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MAXIMALIST America in the World from Truman to Obama
THE DEMON’S BROOD A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty
Sestanovich, Stephen Knopf (402 pp.) $28.95 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-307-26817-4
Seward, Desmond Pegasus (400 pp.) $28.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-1-60598-618-0
An informed analysis of American foreign policy that reveals a cyclical pattern. Sestanovich (International Diplomacy/Columbia Univ.) served in high posts under Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan and is currently a senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. In this overview of the last 12 presidential administrations, he identifies two contrasting stances: maximalism, characterized by aggressive, expensive responses to international challenges; and retrenchment, efforts “to unwind a disaster and to put American policy on a more sustainable foundation.” Truman, Kennedy, Reagan and George W. Bush were maximalists, the author writes. Eisenhower, Ford, Johnson, Nixon and Carter undertook retrenchment, providing “a corrective to the other’s mistakes.” Clinton and George H.W. Bush were hybrids. In each case, “when retrenchment fails to rebuild American power, meet new challenges, or compete effectively, the maximalist reappears, ready with ambitious formulas for doing so.” No matter who was president, Sestanovich found vehement discord among advisers, in Congress, and in public discourse, as maximalists vied with retrenchers or, midstream, changed their positions. In 1948, for example, Truman’s advisers Dean Acheson and George Kennan were at odds, with Kennan believing the Cold War was “a temporary spike of tension” that could be resolved through compromise, and Acheson refusing to yield to Soviet demands. The author analyzes Kennedy’s decision-making about Russia’s presence in Cuba and Johnson’s about Vietnam, which resulted in the administration’s conclusion “that the United States would succeed only if it could run the show.” The Obama administration began with retrenchment, Sestanovich writes, but while Obama favors “innovative, low-cost, and small-footprint approaches,” among those innovations are forceful measures such as drones, surveillance and Special Forces strikes. As his title implies, Sestanovich believes in “productive maximalism” that acknowledges America’s imperative to “call the shots” to achieve “a satisfactory global order—secure, prosperous, and democratic.” This book gives ample evidence of the rocky road toward that goal. (12 photos)
Historian Seward (The Last White Rose: The Secret Wars of the Tudors, 2014) again serves up a neat, clear view of an English dynasty—this time, the Plantagenets. Turning to as many contemporary sources as possible, the author in particular initially quotes the chronicles of Matthew Paris and Roger of Wendover, monks of St. Albans, a well-placed monastery at the intersection of two of England’s busiest roads, who witnessed history unfolding. The author deftly covers 300 years of English history and more than a dozen kings, noting how, due to a “multicultural world” that is “embarrassed by patriotic history…the Plantagenets have faded from people’s memory.” Readers well-versed in Plantagenet history will delight in the efficient completeness of this narrative. The author covers most of the bases, although a bit more attention might have been paid to Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of history’s strongest women. Seward succinctly chronicles the successes and failures of these kings, from Henry II’s manic energy to Edward II’s complete uselessness to Henry V’s heroic victories over the French. The author also recounts the immense changes that took place in the world during the time period, beginning with Henry II’s accession in 1154 and ending with the great age of exploration that began in 1492, just seven years after the fall of Richard III at Bosworth. During that time, England twice gained and lost vast lands in France, fought the Hundred Years’ War against the same, and alternately subdued and surrendered to the Scots, Irish and Welsh. The bitter civil war between the Lancaster and York families finally ended with Henry Tudor’s ascension and unification of the families. Seward is a good author to turn to for ease in reading history; his writing style is quick, vibrant and delightfully pithy in its simplicity of phrase. (16 pages of color and b/w illustrations)
BEING MISS AMERICA Behind the Rhinestone Curtain
Shindle, Kate Univ. of Texas (232 pp.) $24.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-0-292-73921-5
The winner of the 1998 Miss America pageant tells the story of her year wearing the crown while offering an incisive history and analysis of an alwayscontroversial beauty contest. |
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“An observant argument for understanding a society through the drugs it uses.” from acid test
Stage actor Shindle was a junior at Northwestern University when she won the Miss America title. From that moment forward, she would no longer simply be just another talented and beautiful collegiate. As Miss America, she would “always carry the mantle—and, as it turns out, the baggage that comes with it—of Miss America’s complicated history” and become something more than herself. Part memoir, part exposé, Shindle’s book interweaves her experiences with an examination of a nearly 100-year-old institution. She discusses her early involvement with the contest as a volunteer and the way becoming Miss America became her “ticket to acceptance” among peer groups that once ignored her. At the same time, Shindle delves into the history of the pageant, which first began in 1921 when Atlantic City businessmen used it as a sexy gimmick to bring in post–Labor Day business. From there, it evolved into a national icon that celebrated contestants for their wholesomeness and beauty rather than their aspirations and political outspokenness. Shindle documents the growing pains Miss America faced in the aftermath of the social upheavals of the 1960s and ’70s and the way organizers struggled, often without success, to align the event with changing perceptions of American womanhood and stay culturally relevant. She argues that these difficulties continue even into the present, despite an emphasis on contestant involvement in community projects. Citing “mismanagement on both the staff and board levels” as the root of pageant problems, Shindle concludes that if the Miss America “brand” is to survive, it will have to “[develop] a lasting identity and [reject] the many temptations that run counter to that identity.” Though critical, this provocative book’s greatest strength is the author’s positive call to action to help Miss America “become something greater” than it is. (29 b/w photos)
Just take a pinch of psychedelic”—but Shroder skims over old stories about Ken Kesey, Owsley Stanley and Timothy Leary that have plagued authentic researchers for years. Instead, the author tells his complex story via three men: Rick Doblin, the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies; Michael Mithoefer, a former emergency room doctor whose interest in exploring his own mind led him to become a trauma psychologist; and Nick Blackston, a U.S. Marine whose war experiences are characteristic of the waves of soldiers returning from war with catastrophic PTSD. Occasionally, the stories are amusing: At one point, Doblin was being considered for an internship at the Food and Drug Administration. Upon being turned down, he thought, “Now I can still smoke pot and don’t have to wear a suit.” More often, they’re moving— e.g., Mithoefer’s assistance with a variety of patients, many of whom spoke on the record about their experiences, to discover what the doctor calls “inner healing intelligence.” Add to these stories a perceptive criticism of the failings of America’s war on drugs, and Shroder delivers an important historical perspective on a highly controversial issue in modern medicine. An observant argument for understanding a society through the drugs it uses.
MASS INCARCERATION ON TRIAL A Remarkable Court Decision and the Future of Prisons in America Simon, Jonathan New Press (256 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-59558-769-5 978-1-59558-792-3 e-book
ACID TEST LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal
A scholarly treatise on the case for American penal reform. Simon (Law/Univ. of California; Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear, 2008) offers an update on the American prison industry and applauds its more recent progression from the inhumanely overpopulated confinement of past decades to what he terms as an “ebbing” evolution toward more dignified treatment of incarcerated individuals. He chronicles prison history back to the 1970s and ’80s—decades of “extreme penology”—and looks at how California, amassing over 150 victims of serial killings throughout that era, became the epicenter of monstrous criminal activity with the only foreseeable solution being extreme incarceration. Simon astutely documents the sea change in prison reform simmering throughout the mid-1990s once community activists and prison specialists began rallying against the “unhinged and unchecked” “supermax” prisons fraught with overcrowding and largely dismissed chronic disease and mental illness issues. Significant litigation then sprung up, citing prisoners’ human rights violations against the state of California, supported with disturbing photographs of barbaric conditions. These cases all culminated in the pivotal 2009 case of Coleman-Plata
Shroder, Tom Blue Rider Press (448 pp.) $27.95 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-399-16279-4
A well-respected journalist offers evidence, both empirical and anecdotal, about the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic drugs. The late comedian Bill Hicks, prone to taking what psychedelic bard Terence McKenna called “heroic doses” of mushrooms, used to refer to the use of drugs as “squeegeeing open your third eye.” In this cleareyed account, former Washington Post Magazine editor Shroder (Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives, 1999, etc.) explores both the complex history of the issue and the current thinking on the use of LSD, Ecstasy and other psychotropic substances for healing troubled minds. Thankfully, the author only briefly touches on the usual tropes— there’s a thoughtful chapter on Aldous Huxley’s introduction to LSD, after which he wrote, “To fathom Hell or soar angelic, 72
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A MOVEABLE FAMINE
v. Schwarzenegger and the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Plata, which set population limits on prisons to preserve inmates’ Eighth Amendment rights. With mass incarceration’s attempt at “twentieth-century correctional modernism” and crime deterrence deemed a failure with marked human rights infringements, California was ordered to drastically reduce prison populations with reframed parole programs and, optimally, improved crimeprevention strategies. Simon makes an impassioned plea for prison reform grounded in human dignity, and he leans toward more broad-brush restructuring into smaller and more specialized correctional facilities. A sound, sobering report that’s more educative than eye-opening.
Skoyles, John Permanent Press (256 pp.) $28.00 | Jun. 1, 2014 978-1-57962-358-6
Ploughshares poetry editor Skoyles (Writing, Literature and Publishing/Emerson Coll.; The Situation, 2007, etc.) turns in a third volume of memoir, this one taking him to the wilds of Iowa and beyond. Stealing a page from his fellow poet Kenneth Rexroth, Skoyles calls this an “autobiographical novel.” In Rexroth’s case, it was at the lawyers’ insistence to skirt libel laws; perhaps Skoyles merely liked the ring of it, for there isn’t much actionable in these pages, even if there’s plenty of good if mostly inconsequential dish. Some decades ago, MFAs were comparatively rare and writing programs few. Enrollees aspired to sleep with Auden (or, if he were dead, some other British substitute), a faculty wife or maybe some untouchable classmate, for, writes Skoyles, “[w]ith women, we were sensitive, bearing the burden of witnessing our nation’s militarism, the savage effect of the Dow Jones on the poor, the illusion of the comfort offered by religion.” In short, everyone was on the make while seeking to make good poems (and stories and novels), all careerists “hell-bent to become poets.” Some did: Skoyles’ classmates included David St. John and Larry Levis. Some dropped off the face of the earth. Skoyles survived the politicking, knifeconcealing back slaps of the workshop and sexual shenanigans long enough to make his way through an interview (“Verna casually asked about my outside interests as she undid her scarf and shook out her raven hair”) to become a member of the workshopping professoriate—maybe not the carefree poet of his youthful dreams, but at least someone paid pretty well to analyze and write poems. Mostly entertaining but not terribly searching. Readers seeking a more exacting view of MFA literary careerism should turn to Tom Grimes’ Mentor (2010) and its predecessor, The Workshop (1999).
MY GRANDFATHER’S GALLERY A Family Memoir of Art and War Sinclair, Anne Translated by Whiteside, Shaun Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 16, 2014 978-0-374-25162-8
French TV journalist Sinclair carefully accesses a wealth of family archives in her study of the biggest art dealer in Europe until World War II, her grandfather Paul
Rosenberg (1881-1951). Rosenberg and his brother, Léonce, owned separate Parisian galleries; Paul concentrated on 19th-century French painters while his brother saw cubism as the culmination of all painting. It was Léonce who spotted the newest modern artists—in particular, Pablo Picasso. Eventually, in 1918, Paul took over as Picasso’s agent. Rosenberg and Picasso were inseparable, Paul effectively orchestrating Picasso’s career while Picasso established Paul’s reputation. He hedged his bets by carrying traditional art in his gallery separate from his exclusive relationships with Picasso, Braque, Matisse and others. The author uses her grandfather’s correspondence to paste together the story of their flight from Paris and the loss of more than 400 works of art to the Nazis when they took over his gallery. The building became the Gestapo-run Institute for the Study of Jewish and Ethno-Racial Questions; classical art was sequestered for “safe keeping” while the “degenerate” art of the modernists (“any art that…departed from the canon of what the Nazis considered traditional”) was sold or burned. Sinclair’s grandfather vociferously opposed the Nazi auction of the modern art, realizing that any profit the Reich received would “fall back on our heads [as] bombs.” The Rosenbergs fled to New York in 1940, and Paul remained in the forefront of the art world until his return to Paris and the fight to recover his artwork. The book shows the birth of modern art midwifed by a man we’d like to know better. Did Sinclair feel a need to protect some family history? Even so, she offers an intriguing window into the art scene of the early to mid-1900s.
ROBERT MORRIS’S FOLLY The Architectural and Financial Failures of an American Founder
Smith, Ryan K. Yale Univ. (368 pp.) $40.00 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-300-19604-7
Examination of the shocking fall of the richest man in Revolutionary America. Smith (History/Virginia Commonwealth Univ.) wisely focuses on the dizzying last few years of Robert Morris’ (1734-1806) life, from the height of his wealth and free-wheeling speculation in 1793, when he began planning an extravagant mansion for himself and his family in Philadelphia, |
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“A rigorously documented, essential work not only about Eichmann’s masterly masquerade, but also about how we come to accept appearances as truth.” from eichmann before jerusalem
to his incarceration in debtors prison six years later and penurious death in 1806. How could this disgrace have happened to the nation’s first “superintendent of finance,” appointed unanimously by Congress in 1781? Morris was an English immigrant who worked his way up as a merchant, becoming a partner in the trading firm Willing, Morris and Company at age 21. He was elected to Pennsylvania’s state assembly (and later, senate), and he was instrumental in building the republic’s navy, equipping the army, funding the states, stabilizing the currency, paying the government’s debts and establishing the Bank of North America. These and many other exalted tasks won him lifelong friendships with the leading Founding Fathers, such as George Washington, who dined with him in jail. A risk-taker with “an appetite for action,” Morris fell into the lure of land speculation, as many other leaders did, buying up millions of acres of land in upstate New York, as well as floating numerous industrial ventures. The clincher was his relationship with engineer and architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who had designed the layout of the new capital, Washington, D.C., before resigning in a sulk. Together, the two allowed their overweening ambition and sense of persecution to propel the erection of a grand mansion on an entire block of Philadelphia purchased by Morris. It was a gorgeous “folly,” doomed to incompletion and eventual dismantlement by the resentment of the republican masses. Sharply focused, wonderfully engaging documentation of the “ruins” of this American Ozymandias.
a man of importance, and at the end of the war, he reluctantly had to disguise himself among other displaced persons, eluding Allied capture and living for several years incognito in northern Germany as a chicken farmer. Successfully floating rumors that he had taken up with the Palestinian mufti, he threw Nazi hunters off his trail, and he was able to flee to Argentina effortlessly and with the aid of a ferocious coterie of exiled Nazis comfortably ensconced there. Stangneth masterfully sifts through the information from these lively social gatherings conducted at journalist Sassen’s home three years before Eichmann’s kidnapping by Israeli agents. A rigorously documented, essential work not only about Eichmann’s masterly masquerade, but also about how we come to accept appearances as truth.
THE WAR ON WOMEN IN ISRAEL How Religious Radicalism Is Smothering the Voice of a Nation
Sztokman, Elana Maryles Sourcebooks (336 pp.) $24.99 | Sep. 16, 2014 978-1-4926-0459-4
An exploration of radical Judaism’s treatment of women in Israel. Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance executive director Sztokman (The Men’s Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World, 2011) takes on the Haredi, a segment of Orthodox Judaism that rejects contact with the secular culture. The Haredi are growing in numbers and influence in Israel, and the role of women, both inside and outside of their community, is a major point of contention. The Haredi believe in strict rules of modesty and specific gender roles in the home and in worship. Sztokman presents instances in which these cultural differences have run into conflict with modern Israeli society. One example is where women may sit on public buses. The author documents the development of segregated buses around Haredi-dominated areas and how women who board them, often unknowingly, are subjected to verbal and physical attacks. Sztokman also explores issues of military service for women in Israel and how conscripted Haredi often refuse any contact with women as commanders, trainers or medical personnel. The author documents the ongoing fight for equality of worship at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where women have been abused and arrested for years for attempting to pray as men do. Sztokman labors to note that the arguments go beyond points of religious law or issues within Haredi communities themselves. Instead, she witnesses a growing desire among Haredi men to have total control over the society in which they live, and that includes a complete separation of the sexes in every way. “If one point becomes clear from this entire book,” writes the author, “it is how much separation from women is increasingly a key element of identity for religious men.” The tales of Haredi misogyny are often shocking, but they provide open avenues for reflection and discussion.
EICHMANN BEFORE JERUSALEM The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer Stangneth, Bettina Translated by Martin, Ruth Knopf (608 pp.) $35.00 | Sep. 8, 2014 978-0-307-95967-6
A riveting reconstruction of a fanatical National Socialist’s obdurate journey in exile and appalling second career in Argentina. Delving into a body of interviews Adolf Eichmann (19061962) made with pro-Nazi Dutch war propagandist Willem Sassen in Argentina in the late 1950s, German historian Stangneth reveals the chilling mindset of the unrepentant Nazi, later carefully disguised at his trial in Israel. Eichmann’s Argentine writings and interviews were not available to Hannah Arendt when she wrote her brilliant Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963). In it, she portrays the wretched former SS colonel on trial for his life in 1961 as “just a small cog in Adolf Hitler’s extermination machine” (his self-description), with none of the terrifying look of evil that an efficient engineer of the Final Solution should have displayed. Stangneth meticulously reveals how Eichmann was able to fool everyone, employing a cunning mixture of self-aggrandizement and opportunism, even during his early SS career in Austria when he was put in charge of Jewish affairs and was known as the “Czar of the Jews.” Eichmann was proud of being 74
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OUR GREAT BIG AMERICAN GOD A Short History of Our EverGrowing Deity
Sztokman is at her weakest when trying to tie these problems to larger, more global questions of women’s freedom, such as American Christian movements toward modest dress for teenage girls. Overall, a worthwhile and eye-opening study.
Turner, Matthew Paul Jericho Books/Hachette (256 pp.) $20.00 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-4555-4734-0
SOLDIER GIRLS The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War
Turner (Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost, 2010, etc.) surveys the American molding and remolding of God to fit our often curious convictions, a tradition as natively ingrained as “playing baseball, cruising strip mall parking lots, and popping antidepressants.” God is ambiguous and protean, meaning many things to many people—“Jehovah, Jesus, or Allah to believing in Nature, a ‘Spirit Mother,’ or some other grand presence that usually enjoys silence and book clubs”—writes the author in this engaging history that turns a penetrating eye on how God has been shaped to fit the varieties of faith in America, a land in which nearly 80 percent of us identify with a God. This brand of the divine began with the Puritans and their sui generis God—“a sovereign, doctrinally stout, damnation-prone deity”—celebrating a Calvinist embrace of our personal roles in education and enterprise (namely, worldly goods), which spawned Roger Williams’ reactive take on the protection under law of all religious sects. Jonathan Edwards promoted for his followers a God of glory, beauty and divinity, though also one “ready to toss their meaningless sin-ridden souls into a black hole of fiery torment.” Thomas Jefferson, unsurprisingly, magnified God’s ethical wisdom, yet there was also a God of slavery, as well as a Quaker abolitionist God. Turner’s writing has the quality of a primer, with clear language and ideas that are bandied about without getting bogged down in agnostic and atheistic approaches. The author also displays a playfulness that doesn’t obscure where he falls on doctrinal issues: “Evangelicals are quick to give Jesus the glory when your plan succeeds, but it is never Jesus’s fault when your plan fails. Because Jesus never fails. You do. Somehow, a large portion of America’s evangelicals have become convinced that this process is the ideal Christian life.” An energetic presentation of our complicated relationship with God, whom we have welcomed with “open arms, congressional protection, free speech, and tax-exempt status.”
Thorpe, Helen Scribner (384 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4516-6810-0
A journalist tells the absorbing story of how wartime experiences shaped the lives and friendships of three female soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Michelle Fischer, Debbie Helton and Desma Brooks were three Indiana women who had very different reasons for joining the National Guard. The teenage Fischer wanted money for college. Helton, a 30-something single mother, wanted “a means of submerging herself in a group she held in high esteem.” Brooks, a 20-something with no clear life goals, joined “on a dare.” Each expected to fulfill their service obligations in Indiana, but in the wake of 9/11, all three would get far more than they bargained for. Thorpe (Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America, 2009) follows Fischer, Helton and Brooks over 12 years and two life-changing overseas deployments. She explores how the women met and bonded despite differences in age, political affiliations and background. Fiercely competent and dedicated, they were treated as outsiders to a male establishment that too-often regarded them with a combination of amusement, suspicion, hostility and desire. Yet the women showed that they were no different from the males with whom they served: They drank too much, had affairs and felt equally diminished when fellow soldiers died in combat. The obstacles they faced at home—divorces, resentful children, reintegration into society as parents, daughters, wives and lovers—were no less formidable. When Brooks returned to Indiana with PTSD, Thorpe reveals the devastating impact that condition—which is not as much discussed among female soldiers—had on not only her career, but also her life as a struggling single mother of three. The women would disagree about the value of the time they spent swept up in unexpected wars, yet as Thorpe demonstrates, none would ever question the meaning of the unstinting love and support they gave to each other and gratefully returned. Intensely immersive reading.
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THE ROOMMATES True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters
the world of the 29-year-old artist in a country to which he returned home a stranger. It begins with him on vacation with friends, an idyll interrupted by the news that war has been declared and he has been conscripted into the army. “There had been no war in Hungary for almost seventy years,” writes the author. “This was the twentieth century! Europe at equilibrium in the era of enlightenment and democratic humanism. It seemed impossible that a dispute should be decided by fighting.” Though he declared war was “an anachronism,” it is the belief that the era of warfare was over that now seems quaint, and the soldier soon found himself in the midst of the unthinkable violence of the war. Badly wounded three months into his service, he was sent to the hospital and then home, a changed man in a world he no longer understood and where he could never again feel at home. “[S]uffering and the fear of death—indeed, death itself—look different from the perspective of the hinterland than they do to someone taking part,” he writes. Eventually, the author attempted to resume his life and return to his art among people who did not share his life-changing experiences. “I just wanted, like a humble little brook, to join in the great swelling flow of life,” yet, as his account suggests, neither he nor his art could ever be the same again. A personal footnote to the war’s exhaustive history that makes that history come alive.
Wu, Stephanie—Ed. Picador (288 pp.) $16.00 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-250-05145-5
Town & Country editor Wu compiles a wide variety of tales about “an incredibly universal ritual that we can all relate to.” At 27, the editor has shared living quarters with 20 roommates, and her curiosity surrounding the topic springs from the environments in which she has lived. In New York City, astronomical rents have forced young professionals and increasingly more members of the middle class to share housing—“the number of people residing in nonfamily households increased by more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2010. Throughout America’s biggest cities, rising rents and an increasing age of marriage have allowed people to embrace roommates long past college graduations and the early twenties.” The author separates the stories into the categories of Growing Pains, Freshman Year, Student Struggles, Adventures Abroad, Recent Grads and Young at Heart. The ages of the roommates range “from a non-relative newborn child to a seventysomething with a proclivity for nudity.” Technology has played its part in the situation, as well. Though a handful of the stories take place more than two decades ago, pre-Craigslist, many illustrate how social networks, smartphones and texting have made finding a roommate much easier. The collection covers a wide emotional range, from funny to poignant to bizarre. Wu includes recollections regarding creative bullies, an alcoholic genius, a suicide attempt, a recovering addict, a kleptomaniac, pot smokers, a passiveaggressive personality and a down-on-her-luck widow running an escort service out of her apartment. The living environments are just as varied, and they include a Mormon household, a former gang headquarters, a yacht, a vacation home and an RV. A fun, quick read that pulls back the curtain on the dramas, joys and quirky memories of living with roommates.
THE BURNING OF THE WORLD A Memoir of 1914 Zombory-Moldován, Béla Translated by Zombory-Moldován, Peter New York Review Books (144 pp.) $16.95 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-59017-809-6
A recently discovered manuscript by a Hungarian artist provides detailed memories of World War I, close to the ground and close to the front. Edited and translated by the author’s grandson, this memoir—likely never intended for publication— covers eight months that would shatter, topple and transform 76
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children’s & teen TRAIN!
These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
Abbot, Judi Illus. by Abbot, Judi Tiger Tales (32 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 4, 2014 978-1-58925-163-2
WADE AND THE SCORPION’S CLAW by Tony Abbott..................... 77 MORTAL DANGER by Ann Aguirre.....................................................78 THE ISLANDS AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Austin Aslan....... 80 QUEST by Aaron Becker.......................................................................81 HUG MACHINE by Scott Campbell.....................................................83 THE MADMAN OF PINEY WOODS by Christopher Paul Curtis......85 JESUS JACKSON by James Ryan Daley............................................ 86 BLIND by Rachel DeWoskin.................................................................87 EYES WIDE OPEN by Paul Fleischman.............................................. 88 POISONED APPLES by Christine Heppermann.................................91 BOMBAY BLUES by Tanuja Desai Hidier...........................................91 HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS by J. Patrick Lewis; illus. by Gary Kelley............................................................................. 96 KNOCKOUT GAMES by G. Neri......................................................... 98 NANCY KNOWS by Cybèle Young..................................................... 107
A train ride is a mind-opening experience for a young train lover. Little Elephant has a one-track mind, and that track has a train on it. No matter what his Mommy and Daddy try to discuss or do with him, it always comes back to trains. So one day, they take him on a real train ride. But when fellow passengers Cat, Penguin and Rabbit want to play with their own favorite vehicles instead of Little Elephant’s beloved train, can the trip be rescued? Abbot’s bright cartoon toddlers charmingly say only one word at a time (and even then, at most they say four different words in the entire book), and she imbues them with emotion by way of raised or lowered eyebrows and crossed or upraised arms. Little Elephant’s initial exuberance slowly turns to disappointment and then indignation. But after a surprise trip through a dark tunnel and a toy mix-up, the shouting match as to whose obsession is best (and Little Elephant’s stomping tantrum) changes to a deliciously riotous and melodious chant as the four new friends discover the joys of other forms of transportation: “Train—plane—digger—digger! Train—plane—car!” And the best part of the whole train ride? The new friends that Little Elephant has made, of course. While this isn’t guaranteed to lessen readers’ own obsessions, it sure is fun to read aloud. (Picture book. 3-5) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
BABY ANIMAL FARM by Karen Blair..............................................110
WADE AND THE SCORPION’S CLAW
TICKLE by Leslie Patricelli.................................................................120
Abbott, Tony Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (160 pp.) $3.99 paper | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-06-231472-7 Series: Copernicus Archives, 1
GARDEN by Lorena Siminovich........................................................122 OUT THE WINDOW by Cybèle Young................................................126
After successfully retrieving the first in a series of 12 Copernicus Legacy relics, the Kaplan family sets their sights on retrieving the second. Thirteen-year-old Wade Kaplan dreams of uniting the relics to rebuild Copernicus’ astrolabe, a time-travel device. However, any treasure hunting must take a back seat to the Kaplan clan’s first priority: retrieving Wade’s stepmother, Sara, |
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board books: give them some respect Photo by Lucy Weaver
It’s a truism that children’s literature, like children themselves within our larger society, tends to occupy a less-respected space in the world of letters than books for grown-ups. And within children’s literature, books for babies likewise tend to garner less attention than books for older readers—truly, board books are the Rodney Dangerfield of the literary universe. But I happen to love board books, which is why I am really happy that this, my first regular column, coincides with the summer edition of our semiannual board-book roundup. For babies, reading is a full-body experience. They put their books in their mouths; they stomp on them; they fling them across the room. Even when cuddled in a lap and experimenting with the miracle of the page-turn, babies give it their all. Knowing this intense engagement makes it all the more tragic to me that so many people overlook this particular art form. If we aren’t giving the very youngest readers the best that we can, what is that saying about our dedication to nurturing them into reading children and then reading grown-ups? Fortunately, though it’s all too easy to see the failure to understand the critical developmental moment that board books aim for, there are a lot of dedicated practitioners of the art out there. In this issue’s roundup on p. 108, you will see starred reviews of books by Lorena Siminovich, Karen Blair, Cybèle Young and Leslie Patricelli, pictured at left (yes! The Patricelli imp is back!). These and many other terrific board books in our roundup will take readers from literal infancy to the far reaches of toddlerhood. I hope you—and more to the point, your babies—find them as exciting as I do.
from her kidnappers. Neither of their goals will be easy. The evil Knights of the Teutonic Order will do everything they can to keep the Kaplans from finding either the lost relics or Sara. Wade, his father, his stepbrother, Darrell, his cousin Lily, and her best friend, Becca, must solve a series of riddles to reach both of their goals. Thankfully, whether it is deciphering code, researching obscure facts or tapping their seemingly endless stores of energy, the group members’ combined talents seem up to the task. This first in a string of novellas is intended to link each of the six full-length novels in the Copernicus Legacy series. Thankfully, reduced page count does not equal reduced quality. This fast-paced adventure features vivid settings, difficult brainteasers and likable characters. This series continues to deliver on its promise. Mystery and adventure with heart. (Mystery. 8-12)
MORTAL DANGER
Aguirre, Ann Feiwel & Friends (384 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-250-02464-0 A girl makes a deal with the devil— or something awfully similar—in this Faustian suspense tale. Seventeen-year-old Edie, the unattractive, nerdy daughter of brilliant physicists and the constant victim of popular bullies in her private high school, finally decides to commit suicide to escape her tormentors. An amazingly handsome young man named Kian stops her and offers her a deal: She will receive three favors over five years if she agrees to stay alive and later provide three favors to his employer. She takes the deal and asks first for beauty. Kian molds her face and body until she is truly beautiful. When she returns to her high school seeking revenge, however, Edie watches in horror as her former tormentors begin to suffer horribly. Meanwhile, a ghastly trio of ghosts threatens her, and she begins to understand that she has become a pawn in a supernatural game. She’s also fallen hard for Kian, but she can’t be sure he isn’t merely doing the bidding of his awful employer. Aguirre has confidence in her audience, never dumbing down her prose while always keeping her readers guessing. Edie makes an impressive heroine as she not only fights the increasingly dreadful baddies, but matures as a person, lifting the book beyond easy thrills. The story has a freshness and intelligence that puts it at the top of the genre. A standout trilogy opener. (Horror. 12-18)
—Vicky Smith Vicky Smith is the children’s & teen editor at Kirkus Reviews.
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“Enter: wyverns, a seemingly silent horn, undead assailants, flatulent trolls and one massive dragon.” from frostborn
FROSTBORN
Anders, Lou Crown (320 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-385-38778-1 978-0-385-38780-4 e-book 978-0-385-38779-8 PLB Series: Thrones & Bones, 1 An obsessive gamer and a sassy halfgiant affirm that power lies in being underestimated. As the heir apparent to a powerful farm in Norrøngard (think a fictional Norway), 12-year-old Karn is expected to comprehend bartering techniques (six ewes + six lambs = one cow). His predilection for Thrones and Bones (a traditional Norrønir board game) and disdain for a bucolic existence don’t invite any confidence from his father. Thianna is a 12-year-old half-giant and half-human (by way of her deceased mother). At 7 feet tall, she’s considered diminutive by giant standards and would “cut her human half out in an instant if she could.” When their fathers meet for several days of trading goods, Thianna and Karn strike up an unexpected friendship. Their need for an alliance is accelerated when nemeses from Thianna’s mother’s past surface, and Karn’s life is designated an obstacle by his Machiavellian uncle. Enter: wyverns, a seemingly silent horn, undead assailants, flatulent trolls and one massive dragon. A merging of comedy, action and suspense maintains a promising pace. As present as the lurking danger are two important messages: Focus your energy toward accentuating your strengths rather than regretting weaknesses, and always stand downwind from a troll. Future fans of Tolkien and George R.R. Martin can happily cut their serial-fantasy teeth on this first book of an eventual series. (map, illustrated guide to the Thrones and Bones game) (Fantasy. 10-14) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
can ascend further. But Felicia is obsessed with retrieving the memories the evil Morati stole from her. They tempt her with more memories until she realizes that every time she succumbs, a terrorist attack occurs, actually killing other Level Three inhabitants. The arrival of her old ally Julian, a rogue Morati, complicates her romance with Neil, who grows increasingly standoffish. As events become ever more alarming, Felicia finds herself manipulated into once again betraying her best friend, Autumn, whom she has found again in Level Three. At last, an exciting final battle brings events to rest and sets up the next book in the series. Appelhans maintains tension even as Felicia struggles with her romance but provides little recap of the previous book. She also gives readers a nice balance of characters, with distinct, varied individuals who offer some nuance, although one character radically changes attitudes toward Felicia several times with no warning. Fans will not lose interest. (Paranormal suspense. 12-18)
CHASING BEFORE
Appelhans, Lenore Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $18.99 | $10.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-4424-4188-0 978-1-4424-4190-3 e-book Series: Memory Chronicles, 2 This second book in the Memory Chronicles series continues the story of a girl in the afterlife trying to fight evil angels as she desperately seeks her own
stolen memories. Felicia can’t remember how she died. She thought it was in a car accident with her heartthrob, Neil, but she soon learns that’s not accurate. Having ascended to Level Three, Felicia and Neil will have to choose professions to follow until they |
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“Aslan’s debut honors Hawaii’s unique cultural strengths… while remaining true to a genre that affirms the mysterious grandeur of the universe waiting to be discovered.” from the islands at the end of the world
ONE DEATH, NINE STORIES
Aronson, Marc; Smith, Charles R.—Eds. Candlewick (160 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-7636-5285-2 The death of Kevin, at once charismatic and tortured, is at the epicenter of this collection of short stories by nine wellknown authors for teens, exploring the lives of his peers, acquaintances and family as it reveals how each of them is affected. A withdrawn 18-year-old is clamped firmly under the guiding wing of his uncle, a mortician, in the opening piece that begins an intricate weaving together of a host of seemingly unconnected characters. Many of the older teens in these vignettes are troubled, unable to make sense of their places in families that don’t understand or accept them and searching for belonging instead with their friends. Their experiences are sensitively portrayed, and they struggle with very real issues of ethnic and sexual identity. The overall tone is unrelentingly bleak, perhaps in part because the window offered into each of their lives is so brief. Some barely knew Kevin, and others cared for him deeply, even as they were hurt by his emotional unavailability, the stage for which was set when he was young by his father’s suicide. One story even concerns a character who didn’t know him at all, viewing the tragedy through the technological disconnect distinctive to modern social media. Complex and emotionally demanding, this collection aims for and will resonate with serious readers of realistic fiction. (Short stories. 14-20)
THE ISLANDS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Aslan, Austin Wendy Lamb/Random (384 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-385-74402-7 978-0-385-37421-7 e-book 978-0-375-99145-5 PLB Hope for a promising epilepsy treatment brought Leilani, 16, and Mike, her ecologist father, to Honolulu; when a global catastrophe plunges the world’s most isolated metropolitan area into chaos, they’re desperate to return to family on the Big Island of Hawaii—it won’t be easy. Lei—half-Hawaiian, half-white—still feels like an outsider three years after moving from California to Hilo. Nevertheless, her island heritage speaks to her and could be the key to understanding the cataclysmic technological disruptions changing the world. Satellite-based GPS and other electronic communications systems fail, and only well-heeled tourists can buy their ways home. To combat mounting chaos, the military herds those at large, including Leilani and Mike, into 80
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internment camps. Leilani’s seizures carry voices to her, while an alarming discovery makes her quest to unravel their message and escape from the camp increasingly urgent. Seeking home drains their dwindling resources but strengthens their trust in each other. Flashes of kindness and empathy provide respite from the chaos and cruelty. Anchoring the story, the powerful bond between father and daughter reminds readers that love is as potent as fear and greed. Aslan’s debut honors Hawaii’s unique cultural strengths—family ties and love of home, amplified by geography and history—while remaining true to a genre that affirms the mysterious grandeur of the universe waiting to be discovered. A suspenseful and engaging series opener made all the more distinctive through its careful realization of setting. (Science fiction. 12 & up) (This review was first published in the BEA/ ALA 2014 issue.)
WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS
Bassett, Kate Flux (360 pp.) $11.99 paper | Sep. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-4029-4 When Anna’s uncle—really, he was more like a brother—Joe died, so did her passion for words. On the one-year “deadaversary” of her “bruncle,” who grew up with her as a brother in the same household, Anna’s no closer to recovering from her grief than when Joe succumbed to his fatal illness. And practicing what she calls “coffin yoga” and channeling her inner Patti Smith with daily verses written on her arm is the closest she gets to the writer she once was. In this deliberate, thoughtful first-person narrative, a series of incidents jolts Anna out of her constant guilt and sorrow. Her grandfather’s unexpected accident and unfinished origami project give Anna a second chance at dealing with death on her terms. The discovery of some of Joe’s intimate secrets, including a letter indicating a relationship with someone other than his longtime girlfriend, offers an element of mystery to this work. Finally, the possibility of romance forces Anna to see beyond her own troubles and realize the needs of others. By reconnecting with the world, she may just find a way back to herself and her passion for writing. A contemplative look at redemption and relationships for readers with more literary tastes. (Fiction. 13-18)
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QUEST
Becker, Aaron Illus. by Becker, Aaron Candlewick (40 pp.) $15.99 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-7636-6595-1 On the coattails of Journey (2013), Becker gleefully expands and details his award-winning fantasyland, growing even more ambitious with his storytelling. When readers last saw the boy and girl protagonists, they were sharing a tandem bike; this adventure opens with the children sheltering from raindrops under a bridge, the bike propped up against the wall. Suddenly, a desperate king bursts through a door set into the base of the bridge. He charges the two young heroes with collecting the six magic crayons that will defeat his realm’s enemy once and for all. Supplied with a map indicating where the crayons are hidden, the kids find each one (the girl stores them in a crayon bandolier), leading to a showdown with the bad guy that ends with a brilliant, rainbow-hued win for the forces of good. Harold-like, the children use the crayons to draw themselves out of scrapes along the way. Broadening his palette, Becker fills his book with myriad colorful details that will reward sharp-eyed fans. At the same time, his ink and watercolors evoke different kinds of architectural wonders (everything from Atlantis to Chichén Itzá). Part Indiana Jones, part Avatar: The Last Airbender, this book proves to be more exciting than its Caldecott Honor predecessor, emphasizing adventure over evocative metaphor. Breathtaking in scope, consider this a wordless testament to the power of not just imagination, but art itself; picture books rarely feel this epic. (Picture book. 4-8) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
offered here; microbes and bacteria are introduced, though they are never fully explained. If nothing else, young readers can practice counting to 14 during the calendarlike spread depicting the average number of farts per day. Sentences proclaiming themselves “facts” are appended at the end, though some are debatable. Can the definition of “morning thunder” really fall under that category? A light, comic look at two bodily functions with high child appeal—but not noteworthy nonfiction. (Informational picture book. 4-8)
BELCHES, BURPS, AND FARTS—OH MY!
Bennett, Artie Illus. by Naujokaitis, Pranas T. Blue Apple (40 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-60905-392-5
The logical successor to Bennett’s previous “classics,” The Butt Book and Poopendous! (2010, 2012). This snicker-inducing topic will be difficult for kids to resist. Those wayward gasses are always escaping—children might as well learn their physiology. Breaking his windy subject into two sections (with farts getting the lion’s share of the attention), Bennett focuses on burps first. Loose, rhyming couplets make mention of trapped gasses and the fizz of soda. But readers will have to decipher a bit on their own as well. “Talk too much when chomping chow?” is a nifty way to make a rhyme with “cow,” but it does not lend itself to an immediate understanding that one can swallow air while chewing. The second part is dedicated to farts. Let’s face it, they are far more fun. Greenish-yellow puffs and smell lines abound. A bit more science is |
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CALVIN, LOOK OUT! A Bookworm Birdie Gets Glasses Berne, Jennifer Illus. by Bendis, Keith Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4549-0910-1
A starling gets spectacular specs. Something’s wrong at book-loving Calvin’s library: Words look blurry, and he trips over a chair. The librarian opines farsightedness, so Calvin researches it, then visits the optometrist. An eye test and a fitting later, Calvin proudly heads home sporting brand-new “spectacles, as he prefer[s] to call them.” Merciless teasing ensues from his scoffing flock, but Calvin doesn’t mind, recalling bespectacled luminaries he’s read about. Later, on a forest walk, he’s accidentally pinned under a huge rock. (His glasses don’t break.) Calvin remembers reading about how Archimedes once used mirrors to reflect sunlight and save lives. Applying this principle, Calvin reflects sunlight with his glasses and successfully sends a distress signal to which his flock responds. Afterward Calvin recounts his adventure and how his glasses effected his rescue. Surprise: All the birds want glasses, too, in order to be “cool like Calvin,” and now all migrate in their own spectacular spectacles, cool and happy. The book means well and aims to assure new young eyeglass wearers they’re smart and will be readily accepted into their own flocks. However, the story’s more obviously preachy than convincing. The specs-wearing greats Calvin remembers—Gandhi, Ben Franklin and John Lennon—will be way over preschoolers’ heads. The watercolor illustrations are quirky and lively; colored words set in larger capitals highlight dramatic story points. A tad didactic, but Calvin does look cool. (Picture book. 4-7)
HUMPHREY’S REALLY WHEELY RACING DAY
Birney, Betty G. Illus. by Burris, Priscilla Putnam (96 pp.) $14.99 | $4.99 paper | Aug. 28, 2014 978-0-399-25201-3 978-0-14-751485-1 paper Series: Humphrey’s Tiny Tales, 1
Humphrey, the classroom hamster, is back, this time in a new series for chap-
ter-book readers. Newly-independent readers are in for a treat with these stories of Humphrey’s adventures on the weekends. Each Friday afternoon, the suspense builds for the little hamster hero as he finds out where his temporary home will be. In this first outing, Humphrey goes home with Mandy (nicknamed Don’tComplain-Mandy-Payne) and makes friends with her pet hamster, Winky. Winky has a hamster car, propelled by a plastic hamster wheel, and Humphrey is impressed. He loves his own 82
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little ball, but it’s not nearly as fabulous as Winky’s car. When Mrs. Brisbane buys a car for Humphrey, the class decides to have a race day—Winky versus Humphrey, and Og, the class frog, versus George, the frog from another class. In the second story (publishing simultaneously), Humphrey’s Playful Puppy Problem, Humphrey goes home with Richie, who plans to use Humphrey in his science experiment. Humphrey has to fend off a too-loving puppy called Poppy and fix the experiment when the pup’s exuberance proves to be too much for it. Birney has created the kind of series that first- and second-grade readers will love. It’s set in school, the vocabulary is accessible, the font and spacing are generous, and the frequent illustrations tie the story together. New readers will be “HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY” to see this promising new series. (Animal fantasy. 5-8) (Humphrey’s Playful Puppy Problem: 978-0-399-25202-0)
COLORS VERSUS SHAPES
Boldt, Mike Illus. by Boldt, Mike Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-06-210303-1
Boldt (123 versus ABC, 2013) continues to mix things up; this time, colors and shapes audition to be the stars of a book. Team 1 consists of colors—blobs with arms, legs and faces. They are invited to take the stage first, but they’re interrupted by Team 2—white anthropomorphized shapes with big attitudes: “Clearly we’re going to win this contest….So you may as well just skip those fellas.” Well, them’s fightin’ words. The colors begin to show off, mixing primaries to make secondaries (blue and yellow combine, and green is the result—but all three still exist separately, which may puzzle readers). Meanwhile, two triangles make a square, the only combination; from there, they simply add angles and sides. The yelling escalates until red and octagon accidently collide. Cooperation leads to a colorful, wordless spread that showcases colorful objects built from basic shapes, though not all of them are easily individuated (the three sections of an apple-tree trunk, for instance); Stella Blackstone’s Ship Shapes (2006) did a much better job with regard to combining shapes into scenes. In the end, the judges (the stars of 123 versus ABC) give colors a 10 and shapes an A+, and obviously, they are both the stars of this book. Boldt’s digital illustrations are just as colorful and zany as those in his previous book, but readers may have some trouble following the numerous, crowded speech bubbles. Not nearly as much fun as the showdown between letters and numbers. (Picture book. 4-8)
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“Unadorned, hand-lettered text and deliberately muted watercolors increase the warmth of this adorable little fellow.” from hug machine
BEWITCHED IN OZ
Burns, Laura J. Capstone Young Readers (256 pp.) $12.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-62370-129-1 In an Oz where magic has been outlawed, a group of teens seeks to practice their talents freely. Zerie has superspeed, Vashti can levitate things, and Tabitha can make herself disappear. Later, they discover that Brink, that cute Ned Springer’s dorky little brother, can cast illusions. They practice in secret, as discovery would lead to submersion in the Water of Oblivion, Ozma’s penalty for the illegal use of magic. When the Winged Monkeys apprehend Tabitha to take her to Ozma, Zerie, Vashti and Brink head to Glinda’s palace with the fitful guidance of the Glass Cat in the hope that she will take their side. Burns’ foray into the Oz mythos is an uneasy blend of Baum canon and vapid teen series fiction. Burns’ introduction of a pair of sweethearts, one a Flutterbudget and the other a Rigmarole, is a real treat, and her sense of geography is as goofily arbitrary as Baum’s. But her protagonists are 16, somewhat older than Baum’s Dorothy, and one tiresome subplot involves Zerie and Vashti’s mutual crush on Ned; the question of who “likes” whom is plumbed so often the book begins to feel like a middle school cafeteria. The plot itself—teens fighting for self-actualization in the face of Ozma’s tyranny— rings inherently false, with insufficient back story to justify it. Only for readers who want to follow the Yellow Brick Road into Sweet Valley High. (Fantasy. 10-14)
HUG MACHINE
Campbell, Scott Illus. by Campbell, Scott Atheneum (40 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-4424-5935-9 978-1-4424-5936-6 e-book A feel-good ride, full of droll artistic asides and an abundance of caring. A little boy calls himself the Hug Machine. He is a squat little guy, with an oblong head and arms that would surely drag on the floor if he ever put them down. But that just means they are perfect for hugging. The Hug Machine wraps his arms around his family, neighbors, everyone he meets. He also hugs things that are hard (a rock), big (a bear), square (an ice cream truck) and spiky (a porcupine—while wearing adequate protection, of course). No one can resist his unbelievable hugging! Admittedly, the Hug Machine can look a tad forbidding while looking for his next cuddle recipient; his large eyes pop, and his arms stretch wide. But as soon as the hug starts, his face relaxes into a serene calm. With each hug, Campbell depicts him hilariously perched in the same position, as if he were perfectly inserted exactly where he should be. Unadorned, hand-lettered text and |
deliberately muted watercolors increase the warmth of this adorable little fellow. The story rests on a simple string of hugs and one plucky little hero doing his part to make the world a better place. In his first outing as an author, Campbell shines. (Picture book. 3-6) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
SLEEPOVER WITH BEATRICE AND BEAR
Carnesi, Mônica Illus. by Carnesi, Mônica Nancy Paulsen Books (32 pp.) $15.99 | Aug. 14, 2014 978-0-399-25667-7
In a gentle tale for the very young, a rabbit named Beatrice finds an ingenious way to share winter with her hibernating best friend, Bear. The first sentence, appearing over a winsome bear sitting in a carrot patch, announces, “Beatrice and Bear met on a clear spring day.” Little readers will squeal with delight when they comprehend the next page, which says, with great understatement, “They did not get off to a good start.” Bear looks down at an irate rabbit vainly trying to shift Bear’s large bottom off the squashed carrot plants. But the relationship improves. The story of their blossoming friendship continues, with sweetfaced Beatrice and Bear engaging in all sorts of human activities throughout spring, summer and fall. Beatrice’s naïveté will evoke chuckles when, after a friendly squirrel kindly explains that “hibernation” is not a place, Beatrice jumps to the conclusion that it’s a sleepover and rushes to “hibernate” with Bear. Very funny pictures, including one of Beatrice wearing a sleep mask, illustrate her inability to join Bear’s deep sleep. The squirrel again comes to Beatrice’s aid, helping her arrive at a “brilliant idea” (begging the question of why the squirrel cannot be a third, named friend). The illustrations are simple cartoons with watercolor washes, and they skillfully convey both the many anthropomorphic touches, such as Beatrice’s carrot-decorated blanket, and a subtle range of emotions on the best friends’ faces. Winningly sweet. (Picture book. 2-5) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
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“Along with continuing to tell his adventuresome tale in clearly drawn, easy-to-follow panels, Chantler spices up the plot with banter and major twists aplenty.” from pirates of the silver coast
ALWAYS, ABIGAIL
Cavanaugh, Nancy J. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (320 pp.) $12.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4022-9303-0 A sixth-grade girl has to decide between friendship and popularity. Winning a coveted place on the middle school pompom squad means popularity, cool guys and schoolwide fame. To list-loving protagonist Abigail, who narrates the story in the first person in a list format, it means the world. But, unlike Abigail’s two barely differentiated best friends, Alli and Cami, Abigail only makes alternate. Worse, Gabby Marco, “the number one outcast at Crestdale Heights,” is assigned to be Abigail’s partner for the friendly-letter assignment. Slowly, grudgingly, Abigail comes to both like and admire Gabby, and together, the two of them volunteer to read stories to kindergarteners, which they both enjoy. But after a bit of luck secures Abigail a permanent spot as a pompom girl, she has to decide if Gabby’s low position on the school totem pole makes friendship tenable. Gabby, though eccentric, is portrayed as all good, while the pompom girls don’t have an ounce of kindness or compassion among them. And unrealistically, Abigail’s choice is set up as a binary choice between pompom girl and everything it represents or Gabby and the kindergarteners, with no flexibility to move between worlds. Nonetheless, this kind of dilemma is very pertinent for middle school girls, and Cavanaugh largely handles it with tact and sensitivity, taking her heroine on a psychological journey from superficial to thoughtful. (Fiction. 9-13) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
PIRATES OF THE SILVER COAST
Chantler, Scott Illus. by Chantler, Scott Kids Can (96 pp.) $17.95 | $8.95 paper | Sep. 1, 2014 978-1-894786-53-9 978-1-894786-54-6 paper Series: Three Thieves, 5 In their fifth outing, former circus acrobat Dessa and her nonhuman companions take ship for the “dark island” of Astaroth—first with a smuggler and then with a pirate king (who isn’t exactly a king). Having holed up until Dessa’s broken leg heals, the trio continue their quest aboard the not-so-good ship Cutlass with proceeds from the sale of a horse stolen from their armored pursuer Capt. Drake in the previous episode (The King’s Dragon, 2014). That voyage quickly becomes a chase. After various misadventures, the Cutlass is overtaken by the fearsome and mysterious pirate king. He not only scoops up the fugitives and their prized map on the way to discovering just why the elusive island has 84
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always been so hard to find (hint: It’s not quite fixed in place), but turns out to have something in common with Dessa. Periodically the action cuts over to a city market where Capt. Drake buys a new horse, gets a tantalizing tarot forecast and learns something shocking about Dessa’s missing twin brother, Jared. Along with continuing to tell his adventuresome tale in clearly drawn, easy-to-follow panels, Chantler spices up the plot with banter and major twists aplenty. This rollicking serial adventure continues to please. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)
THE GIRL FROM THE WELL
Chupeco, Rin Sourcebooks Fire (304 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4022-9218-7
A Japanese ghost tries to fight an evil spirit that haunts a 15-year-old boy in this strange, Stephen King-like horror story. Okiku was brutally murdered 300 years ago at age 16 and has roamed the world ever since, killing child murderers. Murderers unwittingly carry the ghosts of those they have killed on their backs, making them easy for Okiku to spot. She’s chasing down a particularly nasty serial killer when she encounters Tarquin, the son of an American man and a Japanese woman. Now institutionalized, Tarquin’s mother inscribed strange tattoos on the boy, which act as seals to imprison the evil ghost inside him. The family travels to Japan after Tarquin’s captive spirit horribly murders his mother so they can scatter the dead woman’s ashes at a shrine. There, they meet some women who can try to free Tarquin from his spirit tormentor, but exorcisms aren’t easy. Chupeco bases her modern horror story on an old Japanese folk tale about a vengeful spirit named Okiku. She writes in Okiku’s formal, ghostly voice, requiring readers to piece together strange episodes that introduce not only Okiku, but also Tarquin and his family, only slowly revealing the severity of the danger Tarquin faces. They come together eventually to reveal the full story and, with their opacity, contribute to the book’s slowly mounting suspense. A chilling, bloody ghost story that resonates. (Paranormal suspense. 14-18) (This review was first published in the BEA/ ALA 2014 issue.)
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SPIRIT’S KEY
Cohn, Edith Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $15.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-0-374-30011-1 This middle-grade ghostly mystery delivers a timely message. Life on tiny Bald Island is fragile— but for 12-year-old Spirit Holden, who moved there with her father six years earlier, it is home. To the islanders, the Holdens will always be “dingbatters”—outsiders—but their superstitious natures appreciate Spirit’s father’s gift of second sight, since they believe it protects them from the harsh natural elements as well as the baldies—the island’s feral dogs. Even Spirit’s pet baldie, Sky, cannot sway the islanders’ belief that the dogs are evil. Cohn reflects on insular attitudes in an isolated region as she spins a story about fear of the unknown. When baldies begin turning up dead (including Spirit’s beloved Sky) and people fall sick, islanders begin blaming the Holdens. With the help of Sky, who returns as a sort of canis ex machina ghost, Spirit uncovers the secret to the baldies’ deaths, discovers her own power and convinces the islanders that superstition and narrow thinking are the real dangers. The story’s worthy theme of tolerance would be more effective if it were not trotted out quite so regularly, and the pacing often drags when action seems most dictated—a casualty of the same tendency to overexplain. Despite these shortcomings, however, this debut is an inventive story with a fresh setting and an upstanding moral compass. (Fantasy. 9-12)
CAN’T LOOK AWAY
Cooner, Donna Point/Scholastic (272 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-545-42765-4 978-0-545-63401-4 e-book Cooner explores the dark side of popularity. Sixteen-year-old Torrey has become slightly famous with her fashion video blog, winning a large following on YouTube. However, she’s haunted by guilt over the death of her little sister, Miranda, killed by a drunken driver as the girl walked away from Torrey after a fight. With the family’s abrupt move from Colorado to Texas, Torrey faces the challenge of becoming popular in a new school. She quickly identifies the queen bee of the school, Blair, and thanks to her fashion sense, scores a seat at the popular table. However, she also finds herself attracted to Luis, whom she quickly learns Blair deems unacceptable. Torrey tries to conceal her growing relationship with Luis and continues to deal with her own guilt over her sister. Worse, Torrey begins to appreciate her dorky cousin, Raylene, a girl who appears to be oblivious to the social rankings in their |
high school. Finally Torrey faces a serious question: Just how important is popularity if it means hurting people she likes? Cooner demonstrates solid knowledge of the high school social system, both characters and their motivations ringing true. The story allows readers to reach their own conclusions about the moral choices Torrey confronts without shoving the right decision down their throats. Insightful and absorbing. (Fiction. 12-18)
THE MADMAN OF PINEY WOODS
Curtis, Christopher Paul Scholastic (384 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Sep. 30, 2014 978-0-545-15664-6 978-0-545-63376-5 e-book Forty years after Elijah Freeman’s exploits in Elijah of Buxton (2007), 13-yearolds Benji Alston and Red Stockard become friends as Curtis revisits Buxton, Ontario, in a fine companion novel. Benji and Red don’t meet for 200 pages, their separate lives in 1901 related in alternating first-person narratives. Benji, an African-Canadian boy in Buxton, and Red, a white boy of Irish descent living in nearby Chatham, have fairly ordinary and free lives. Benji dreams of becoming the best newspaperman in North America; Red mostly wants to survive his crazy Grandmother O’Toole. Echoes of history underlie the tale: Benji lives in a community settled by former slaves; Red is the grandson of a woman haunted by the Irish Potato Famine and the horrors of coffin ships on the St. Lawrence River. Both boys know the legend of a mysterious creature in the woods, called the Madman of Piney Woods by Benji, the South Woods Lion Man by Red. And, indeed, this “madman” and his woods ultimately tie the whole story together in a poignant and life-affirming manner. Humor and tragedy are often intertwined, and readers will find themselves sobbing and chuckling, sometimes in the same scene. Though this story stands alone, it will be even more satisfying for those who have read Elijah of Buxton. Beautiful storytelling as only Curtis can do it. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-13)
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JESUS JACKSON
Daley, James Ryan Poisoned Pen (278 pp.) $10.95 paper | Sep. 1, 2014 978-1-9293-4506-9
When high school football hero Ryan Stiles is found dead at the bottom of a ravine, the only person not consumed by grief is his younger brother. Jonathan has reason to believe his brother’s death was no accident. While everyone around him goes through the many stages of grief, Jonathan can only investigate. The book works as parallel mysteries: On one track are the shady details of Ryan’s death, and on the other are the religious and spiritual questions brought up by his demise. Jonathan’s friend Henry and Ryan’s girlfriend, Tristan, help him solve the murder, while the mysterious “Jesus Jackson” helps Jonathan with his theological needs. Daley’s use of Jesus as a sounding board for Jonathan’s crisis of faith makes for the book’s most surreal and intimate moments. The author argues the necessity of faith regardless of where it is placed, a simple concept that is refreshed when delivered in such an unusual fashion. The book excels, sidestepping holier-thanthou rhetoric and addressing the pain of loss head-on as well as painting a wonderful depiction of a young man coming to terms with how he was raised and how he wants to lead his own life. The mystery element and minor romance are icing on the cake: well-executed and finely tuned, complementing the book’s major themes in all the right ways. Smart and sweet, comforting and moving. (Fiction. 12-16)
SUPER RED RIDING HOOD
Dávila, Claudia Illus. by Dávila, Claudia Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-77138-020-1
Ruby is an imaginative young girl who is always prepared to save the day with the addition of her red cloak. When her mom sends her on a mission to pick some raspberries for her snack (and get some much-needed time in the outdoors), she goes prepared with her flashlight and the cape that transforms her into Super Red Riding Hood (good thing, too, as a small snail needs rescuing). Before Ruby even gets to the woods, she starts singing, “Who’s afraid of the deep dark woods?” Her flashlight helps her overcome her fears of those dark woods when she spotlights various noisemakers, including an owl and a woodpecker. But after she fills her lunchbox with berries, a real threat looms (literally) in the form of a slavering, yellow-toothed, hugeclawed wolf that backs Ruby against a tree. He lunges, and Super Red Riding Hood uses all her skills, leaping, darting and climbing, to avoid him. By asserting herself, Ruby forces the wolf to back down, and it turns out—surprise—that he was just hungry after 86
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all; in a wildly contrived ending, they happily share her raspberries. In the rather unpolished, animation-influenced illustrations, the friendly wolf is only slightly less scary-looking than the ferocious one—savvy kids will wonder how those carnivore teeth manage the berries. This adds nothing to the myriad “Little Red Riding Hood” adaptations already on the shelves. (Fairy tale. 5-8)
SERVANTS OF THE STORM
Dawson, Delilah S. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4424-8378-1 A hurricane ushers in a flood of evil in Savannah, Georgia, and the only girl capable of seeing the truth fights to save the souls of her loved ones. After losing her best friend, Carly, during Hurricane Josephine a year ago, Dovey lives in a haze of antipsychotic medication—until the day she spots Carly in their favorite coffee shop, very much alive. Spurred by the sighting, Dovey ditches her meds, and it isn’t long before she’s seeing things no one else can: people with black, dead eyes and an unearthly-looking girl with fox ears. She follows one such creature to a run-down bar where she meets Isaac, a handsome stranger who lights her way down the rabbit hole of horror pulsing through Savannah: Demons are real, and Carly’s soul has been made a servant of one. Racing through a landscape thick with growing evil, Dovey sets off to save both her best friend’s soul and Savannah itself. Dawson draws an immersive, eerie setting and expertly unravels Savannah’s many dark secrets. Each skin-crawling demonic encounter couples with Dovey’s fighting spirit to propel the gruesome tale into an engaging page-turner. However, the swift ending provides little closure and will leave readers scratching their heads, wanting more. A standout, atmospheric horror tale derailed by its abrupt ending. (Horror. 14-18)
JACK
dePaola, Tomie Illus. by dePaola, Tomie Nancy Paulsen Books (40 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 16, 2014 978-0-399-16154-4
A new tale from dePaola is always a reason to cheer, and this riff on “Jack” tale variants will bring smiles. In this cumulative folk tale, Jack lives on a tiny farm with his grandpa. He tells his grandpa that he wants new friends and to live in the city, and off he goes. Along the way, he encounters a series of animals that join him on the journey—11 to be exact. Chick, duck, goose, dog, frog, pig, cow, cat, sheep, horse and owl (and a crow that’s unmentioned in the text but nevertheless makes a lot of noise) parade along behind Jack to the king’s
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“[Emma’s] increasing bravery parallels new understanding of her siblings and friends, and here the disability-as-metaphor trope actually works….” from blind
castle. When Jack requests a house in the city for him and his friends, the king says he has a perfect house, though it “might need some fixing up.” The decrepit, boarded-up building makes that quite an understatement, but Jack and company tackle the rehab with gusto. Voilà, a bright fuchsia house with a window for each of the animals. DePaola eschews a traditional happily-ever-after ending with tongue-in-cheek comments from an old man and old woman: He grumbles, “There goes the neighborhood.” And she chuckles, “It’s about time!” Repeated rubber stamps of each animal’s sound (and individualized colors) add zip (and noise) to dePaola’s signature style and palette. Adults who have been through the ordeal of a fixerupper may appreciate the ending more than kids, but everyone will enjoy the fun. (Picture book. 4-7)
BLIND
DeWoskin, Rachel Viking (416 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 14, 2014 978-0-670-785223 With traces of John Green’s Looking for Alaska (2005), DeWoskin’s first teen novel explores death and darkness. Blinded in a fireworks accident, Emma Silver has finally learned to find “shorelines” with her white cane and identify her six wildly different siblings by their breathing. Her rehabilitation is meticulously described, from learning to decipher braille to containing her panic. She’s spent a year she’d rather forget at the Briarly School for the Blind trying not to be a “poor blind kid” and finds the world has changed again upon return to her insular hometown: Claire Montgomery, a former classmate, is found drowned in an apparent suicide. As much to explore her fears after blindness as to talk about Claire’s death, she leads a group of somewhat two-dimensional classmates in philosophical discussions but feels—literally and figuratively— her best friend growing distant. Emma’s poetic, sensory narration heightens the typical teen angst of sex, cliques and growing apart. Flashbacks to her year at Briarly flesh out her frustration and fear of embracing a blind identity while raising hopes of an active life as a blind person. Her increasing bravery parallels new understanding of her siblings and friends, and here the disability-as-metaphor trope actually works—“Going blind is a little bit like growing up.” A vivid, sensory tour of the shifting landscapes of blindness and teen relationships. (Fiction. 14-18)
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MADAME TUSSAUD’S APPRENTICE An Untold Story of Love in the French Revolution Duble, Benner Kathleen Merit Press (224 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 31, 2014 978-1-4405-8116-8
The historical Madame Tussaud provides an unusual lens on the French Revolution. Sixteen-year-old thief Celie and her companion in crime, Algernon, make a precarious living stealing from the French elite. Both teens resent the aristocracy, believing that the rich caused the deaths of their families. By chance, Celie’s artistic talents come into play when she is arrested for stealing from Madame Tussaud; the famed waxwork lady, whose art is already one of the popular attractions in Paris, takes her in to make use of her skill at drawing uncannily realistic representations. Madame Tussaud is also the drawing tutor to the king’s sister, Madame Elizabeth, which brings the reluctant Celie into the last innocent days at Versailles. When the revolution begins, Algernon fights for freedom, but Madame Tussaud faces the guillotine. Duble’s writing flows smoothly, but her characters often seem muddled—motivations and emotions are spelled out, not felt. However, the history behind the story (such as the fact that Madame Tussaud was forced to make wax casts of the severed heads of the royals, including her friend Madame Elizabeth) is fascinating, and it propels the story to its somewhat hopeful end. Stumbles aside, an intriguing look at an ever compelling time. (Historical fiction. 12-16)
THE JEWEL
Ewing, Amy HarperTeen (368 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 1, 2014 978-0-06-223579-4 978-0-06-223580-0 e-book Rescued from poverty in order to help royalty, Violet Lasting grows to hate her gilded cage in this dystopian debut. Taken from her family in the Marsh— the farthest circle and lowest class of the Lone City—Violet has spent the last four years in the holding facility of Southgate. Not a criminal but a surrogate, Violet was born with a certain gene and the special power of Augury (transformative magic) and will help a royal woman…by bearing her child. The Duchess of the Lake buys Violet at Auction and begins to pamper and punish her, eager to implant a child that will win the ruling Electress and Exetor’s favor. Beautiful, purple-eyed and slightly rebellious, Violet balks at the idea of being a walking womb for a rich woman, but she cannot think of a way out. Mysterious
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“Despite its unflinching presentation of facts about myriad environmental concerns, the book manages to end on a note of hope for a new generation of activists.” from eyes wide open
beautician Lucien takes Violet as his symbol for a brewing rebellion and offers an escape, even as Violet falls for Ash, the hired companion for the Duchess’s niece. Ewing’s opener bears obvious similarities to The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale as well as countless other dystopian novels, with predictable rebellion and romance elements. Still, it offers a well-built world, an appealing heroine and an unusual blend of magic and science. Expect sequels. Fans not yet sated by the dystopian glut may enjoy this decently wrought, derivative mashup. (Dystopian fantasy. 14 & up)
RUPERT CAN DANCE
Feiffer, Jules Illus. by Feiffer, Jules Michael di Capua/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (32 pp.) $17.95 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-374-36363-5 A feline and his girl become a dancing duo. Mandy loves to perform jazzy moves for her cat, Rupert, who only watches in return. But when Mandy is asleep, Rupert puts on Mandy’s dance shoes and performs for himself. “Dancing was Rupert’s secret!” Keeping that secret is of paramount importance. Alas, Mandy awakens to see what she is not ever supposed to see, and Rupert hides under the bed, steadfastly refusing to come out. Mandy tries to entice him by demonstrating steps, but Rupert, like all cats, is “not meant for lessons. Cats are free spirits.” Finally, Mandy devises a plan that involves reverse psychology, meant to work on recalcitrant children—oops—cats, and a lasting partnership is the happy result. Feiffer has crafted an engaging tale of friendship, dance and cat psychology. The text appears on each page as captions under and alongside each drawing—it’s almost a graphic-novel format, minus the panels. The free-form illustrations, done in bright strokes of black, ginger, pinks and greens, swirl gracefully about the pages and pop off the white backgrounds. A happy romp for terpsichorean cat lovers. (Picture book. 4-7) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
EYES WIDE OPEN Going Behind the Environmental Headlines
Fleischman, Paul Candlewick (208 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 paper | Sep. 23, 2014 978-0-7636-7102-0 978-0-7636-7545-5 paper With simple, matter-of-fact language, an attractive layout and an abundance of references, this compact guide to addressing climate change is a must-read for millennials and for all who seek solutions to global warming. Fleischman begins with a personal story about noticing dead bees in his driveway and wondering about the cause. He uses this incident to emphasize the point that history—specifically history related to environmental issues—is happening all around us and is undeniably related to the choices made by both individuals and institutions. He clearly states the book’s goal early on: “to give you a foundation under your decisions.” The pages that follow—best read slowly and sequentially— represent a crash course in recent and ancient environmental issues, drawing from history, economics, psychology and sociology to pursue the stated goal. Readers are offered advice on how to analyze and interpret what they hear in person and discover through the media. There is a laudable restraint; even as the text relentlessly shows how human beings have created climate change, sources are also given to read “the most respected” divergent views. Despite its unflinching presentation of facts about myriad environmental concerns, the book manages to end on a note of hope for a new generation of activists. For high schools that assign one book for all students to read and discuss: This is the one. (source notes, bibliography, suggested resources, glossary, acknowledgements, image credits, index, website) (Nonfiction. 14-18)
A TALE OF LIGHT AND SHADOW
Gowans, Jacob Shadow Mountain (392 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 9, 2014 978-1-60907-872-0 Series: Tale of Light and Shadow, 1 Young lovers flee the clutches of a scheming emperor in this ponderous series opener. Gowans threads his tale with disguised Christian elements, though he’s no C.S. Lewis. Henry— master carpenter and peacemaker, stubbornly loyal to friends even after they betray him—dramatically rescues his drugged sweetheart, Isabelle, who has been sold to a sinister visiting ruler from an adjacent country by her despicable father. He then rides for the border with four contentious allies and a
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fortune in gold coins. The fugitives’ most persistent problems prove to be not their inept pursuers but their own moral failings. Amid constant arguments and sharpening suspicion, the gold begins to disappear, various members sneak away on mysterious errands, several harbor hinted-at secrets, and one turns out to be a traitor. Along with being light on suspense and ambling of pace, this epic features a poorly realized setting and a cast in which not only do certain minor characters show more facets than major ones, but the women do little aside from coming along, needing rescue or, following a climactic ambush, being paraded in a cage. The end leaves the company scattered, but the internecine conflict at least is resolved as two members beg to be forgiven their trespasses and at least one gets a kiss of peace. Occasional sparks of inspiration fail to kindle a sodden heap of anemic roles and tropes. (free prequel available for download) (Fantasy. 12-14)
THE LEAGUE OF SEVEN
Gratz, Alan Illus. by Helquist, Brett Starscape/Tom Doherty (352 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-0-7653-3822-8 Series: League of Seven, 1 Gratz works an unusual twist into the familiar teens-saving-the-Earthfrom-monsters trope: The protagonist is both archetypal hero and, at least poten-
tially, nemesis. Said twist adds major complications as this opener brings together the first three of seven young team members, each specifically typecast, destined to battle the Mangleborn—huge, unkillable monsters that previous Leagues of Seven have tackled at regular intervals down the ages. In an alternate 1875, a giant statue of Hiawatha stands in the harbor of the United Nations’ (rather than States’) New Rome, and technology is based on clockworks rather than electricity. An attack on his librarian parents and the secret Septemberist Society to which they belong leads 12-year-old Archie, his wind-up sidekick, Mr. Rivets, and two capable new friends into a desperate scramble to keep the insectile Mangleborn Swarm Queen from escaping her subterranean prison in Florida. Archie’s discovery that, like his doomed predecessors Heracles and Cú Chullainn, his special powers come with a dark side leaves him (not to mention his fellow League members) profoundly disturbed at the close. (Helquist’s illustrations not seen at time of review.) Action, banter and steampunk-style tech aplenty—plus truly icky foes inspired, the author acknowledges, by the creations of H.P. Lovecraft—make this an appealingly fast-paced trilogy opener. (Fantasy/steampunk. 11-13) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
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MAKING THE CUT
Gurevich, Margaret Illus. by Hagel, Brooke Capstone Young Readers (384 pp.) $14.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-62370-112-3 Series: Chloe by Design, 1 A teen fashionista enters a reality TV designing contest. Obsessed by fashion all her life and determined to become a designer, 16-year-old Chloe reacts with both exhilaration and fear when her favorite TV show, Design Diva, announces a series that will focus on teens, offering as prize an internship with a major designer. Encouraged by her family, her best friend and the owner of the local fabric store, Chloe works hard to create three original designs . As she succeeds in getting a spot on the show and then works through its challenges, she wavers between confidence and timidity. Complicating matters is the fact that her hometown rival, Nina, has also made it on the show, and Nina has been stealing Chloe’s designs since they were young girls. Does Chloe have a chance to win? Gurevich aims at middle schoolers, focusing on descriptions of Chloe’s designs, how she imagines them and how she fares in each stage of the competition. The arc of the show provides natural highs and lows, and the challenges that the young designers face feel typical of reality television, adding to the story’s realism. Greatly aiding the book’s appeal are the abundant fashion illustrations contributed by Hagel, allowing readers to envision nearly all the designs. Thrills and excitement for fashion fans. (Fiction. 9-13)
ANIMAL TEACHERS
Halfmann, Janet Illus. by Hudson, Katy Blue Apple (40 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 12, 2014 978-1-60905-391-8
Just like human children, animal babies from chicks to bear cubs learn lessons from adults around them. Spread by spread, the conversational text of this instructive title presents skills a dozen different young animals have to learn and connects them to readers. Two paragraphs describe the learning task: finding what’s good to eat; learning to swim, defend, feed and shelter oneself; learning to recognize and make particular sounds. Questions to readers follow. “Who sings to you?” the narrator asks after presenting information on penguins. Some shared skills may surprise. It takes time for elephants to learn to use their trunks for drinking, just as it does for children to learn to drink from a water fountain. Great apes learn tool use: Chimps crack nuts with stones, and orangutans gather leafy branches for umbrellas. Hudson’s realistic pen-and-watercolor illustrations show animal parents
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and their child or children in their natural environments. (The leafy endpapers are less relevant, showing an unlikely collection of unmentioned though recognizable birds and a few animals, some placed so far toward the edges they will likely be hidden by the cover flaps.) A final spread offers two to four additional interesting facts about each of the creatures described. Nicely connecting the child to the natural world, this would be a useful opener for a unit about animals as well as a title to share with young animal lovers. (Informational picture book. 4-8) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
THE TROUBLE WITH WEASELS
Harrell, Rob Illus. by Harrell, Rob Dial (288 pp.) $14.99 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-8037-4103-4 Series: Life of Zarf, 1
A Web cartoonist and graphic novelist (Monster on the Hill, 2013) climbs aboard the crowded Wimpy Kid bandwagon with this tale of a middle schooler who belongs to a despised minority: He’s a troll. With lots of telling and rather less showing (at least in the prose), Zarf (“rhymes with ‘barf ’ ”) introduces his bridge-dwelling family, nerdy buddies Kevin (porcine scion of the famed Littlepig clan) and Chester, and troll-hating archnemesis Prince Roquefort—pint-sized tyrant of Cotswin Middle School. Zarf wryly recounts his various misadventures in a mix of prose and, on every page, one to two cartoon line illustrations with added dialogue or punch lines. These occur on the way to rescuing Roquefort’s much more lovable royal father from a tasty marinade bath prepared by a colony of 7-foot-tall Snuffweasels and then facing a huge if, as it turns out, somewhat wimpy dragon. These and other challenges help Zarf get a handle on the berserker rage issues that haunt him and afflict his kind. Depicted with droopy pointed ears, a wild shock of hair and, often, a disgruntled expression, he makes an adequate stand-in for outsiders of any stripe. Standard-issue knockoff, with personal and racial issues presented in mildly provocative ways, some gross bits and a few amusingly tweaked folk-tale tropes. (Graphic/ fantasy hybrid. 10-12)
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UNDEAD WITH BENEFITS
Hart, Jeff Harper/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $9.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-06-220036-5 978-0-06-220037-2 e-book Series: Eat, Brains, Love, 2
Zombies Jake and Amanda head to Iowa for a hoped-for cure, psychic ex– government agent Cass in tow. As in the first book (Eat, Brains, Love, 2012), the narration alternates between underachiever Jake, kicking himself at his good fortune to have become beloved of the superhot Amanda, and insecure, maladjusted Cass, reluctantly acknowledging that her psychic attraction to Jake is both insane and hopeless. Iowa is something of a new Wild West, all access points barricaded to keep zombies (and the dwindling human population) in and humans out. Once on the other side, a series of misadventures separates the teens, forcing Cass and Amanda into an uneasy truce and sending Jake on his own into Des Moines, shambling after the mythic cure. Des Moines, under the control of zombie overlord Lord Wesley, consciously recalls the horrors of such catastrophically lawless zones as Mogadishu, though with a better soundtrack. Hart balances humor and heartbreak with expert precision, Jake’s slacker voice lending itself to some pretty funny reflections: “What if [Amanda and Cass had] been eaten? Or, well, what if one of them had eaten the other? And the noneaten one was all mad at me?” But Hart never lets readers forget that this is the zombie apocalypse, man, with all the spilling entrails that entails, and the emotions ring true. These zombies are so touchingly human it’s impossible not to love them. (Horror. 14-18) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
VERY LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
Heapy, Teresa Illus. by Heap, Sue HMH Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-544-28000-7
A sweeter-than-sweet retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood.” In this twist on the classic tale, Little Red Riding Hood is exactly that—little...very little. In fact, she is so young that readers may wonder why her mother would send a child whose grammar and vocabulary reflect that of a 3-year-old to venture out on her own to visit her Grandmama. So, off goes Very Little Red Riding Hood cloaked in a cat-ear hooded jacket. On the edge of a very safe-looking, light-colored, sparse wood, she meets a Wolf. The Wolf, bedecked in a furry coat and scarf, is quickly intimidated by the tot’s obstinate, toddlerlike demands. When they arrive at Grandmama’s—which is hard to distinguish from
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“Dense, lyrical, full of neologic portmanteaus and wordplay (‘magnifishence’; ‘candlecadabra’): This is a prose-poem meditation on love, family and homecoming (or not) posing as a novel.” from bombay blues
the woods since both have a white-space background—Grandmama shuts the door on the Wolf, but Very Little Red Riding Hood soon convinces her to let the Wolf in. Wolf is very wellbehaved—the real problem is Very Little Red Riding Hood, who has a meltdown. The Wolf coaxes her out of it using the traditional dialogue Little Red Riding Hood usually uses (“Oh, what big, wet eyes you have,” etc.). While Very Little Red Riding Hood’s agency is laudable, the incredibly feel-good plot (no consequences for foolish actions here!) and the bratty, baby-talking Red Riding Hood herself make this book one to pass by. (Picture book. 2-5)
POISONED APPLES Poems for You, My Pretty
Heppermann, Christine Greenwillow/HarperCollins (128 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 23, 2014 978-0-06-228957-5 A slim volume sharp as knives. Lacing traditional fairy tales through real-life perils, Heppermann produces short poems with raw pain, scathing commentary and fierce liberation. There’s no linear arc; instead, girls buck and fight and hurt. One poem takes the expression “You Go, Girl!” literally, banishing anyone with “wetness, dryness, tightness, looseness, / redness, yellowing, blackheads, whiteheads, the blues.” In a structure heartbreakingly inverted from “The Three Little Pigs” (and nodding to “Rumpelstiltskin”), one girl’s body goes from “a house of bricks, / point guard on the JV team” to “a house of sticks, / kindling in Converse high-tops,” until finally “she’s building herself out of straw / as light as the needle swimming in her bathroom scale. / The smaller the number, the closer to gold.” She’s her own wolf, destroying herself. Sexual repression, molestation and endless beauty judgments bite and sting, causing eating disorders, self-injury, internalization of rules—and rebellion. A hypothetical miller’s daughter says, “No, I can’t spin that room full of straw into gold. / …. / No, I can’t give you the child; / the child will never exist.” Gretel’s act of eating will literally rescue Hansel; Red Riding Hood reclaims sexual agency, declaring, “If that woodsman shows up now, / I will totally kick his ass.” Full of razors that cut—and razors to cut off shackles: a must. (author’s note, index of first lines, index of photographs) (Poetry. 13-17)
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BOMBAY BLUES
Hidier, Tanuja Desai PUSH/Scholastic (560 pp.) $18.99 | $18.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-545-38478-0 978-0-545-63387-1 e-book Series: Born Confused, 2 Long awaited, anticipated, likely to be debated: Dimple Lala is back. Hidier quietly revolutionized YA literature with Born Confused (2002), and this sequel indicates she’s intent on a repeat. Dimple, now in college and still with beat-dropping Karsh, heads to Bombay ostensibly for a wedding but really for so much more; still, perhaps, born confused, she is in search of home. Dense, lyrical, full of neologic portmanteaus and wordplay (“magnifishence”; “candlecadabra”): This is a prose-poem meditation on love, family and homecoming (or not) posing as a novel. Under the poetry lurks a simple story: a failing relationship and a dreamy but steamy affair; the pain of returning to a place where a loved one no longer lives. Dimple’s narration transforms mundane details into something more meaningful if less comprehensible—laced with the languages and cadences of India and set in the maze of Bombay (never Mumbai), there is a lot to decode and no glossary or map to help (a lack perfectly in keeping with the novel but frustrating nevertheless). Many readers may not persevere; those that do may stall out with the multiple false endings as Dimple stutter-stops her way to an ending—but, tragically, they’ll be missing out. Sankalp, a wish: that readers let the poetry and music transport them; it’s a journey worth making. (Fiction. 15 & up)
THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH
Holm, Jennifer L. Random House (208 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-375-87064-4 978-0-307-97436-5 e-book 978-0-375-97064-1 PLB
What would it be like if your grandfather turned up in your house as a 13-yearold boy? For sixth-grader Ellie, this leads to a recognition of the importance of the cycle of life and the discovery of her own passion for science. After her scientist grandfather finds a way to regain his youth, he’s denied access to his lab and must come to live with Ellie and her mother. Although he looks young, his intellect and attitudes haven’t changed. He still tells Ellie’s mother what to wear and when to come home, and he loathes middle school even more than Ellie does. There’s plenty of opportunity for humor in this fish-out-of-water story and also a lesson on the perils as well as the pluses of scientific discovery.
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“The sturdy, fast-reading free-verse poems—which sometimes shift into elegance—give a heavy sense of Matt’s anger and discomfort, as well as how he vacillates between decency and churlishness.” from rumble
Divorced parents, a goth friend and a longed-for cellphone birthday present are among the familiar details setting this story firmly in the present day, like Holm’s Year Told Through Stuff series, rather than in the past, like her three Newbery Honor–winning historical novels. The author demonstrates understanding of and sympathy for the awkwardness of those middle school years. But she also gets in a plug for the excitement of science, following it up with an author’s note and suggestions for further exploration, mostly on the Web. Appealing and thought-provoking, with an ending that suggests endless possibilities. (Science fiction. 10-14) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
TUT The Story of My Immortal Life Hoover, P.J. Starscape/Tom Doherty (320 pp.) $15.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 16, 2014 978-0-7653-3468-8 978-1-4668-1475-2 e-book
Being an immortal 14-year-old pharaoh isn’t all scepters and servants; there’s also the overthrowing of a homicidal cult— and finishing one’s homework. Shortly after Tutankhamun discovers that his uncle and trusted adviser, Horemheb, is part of the cult of Set, god of chaos, he also learns that Horemheb murdered the pharaoh’s family and means to kill him, too. After a struggle at knifepoint in Tut’s soon-to-be-tomb, an incantation from the Book of the Dead renders both nephew and uncle immortal, with only Tut managing to escape before the tomb is sealed. Flash forward 3,300 years to Washington, D.C. Tut is an eternal eighth-grader (“Why did I have to be fourteen? It was perpetual puberty”) and has been coerced into another year of school by his immortal guardian, Gil (as in Gilgamesh). When Tut finds evidence of Horemheb and Set’s cult in D.C., revenge becomes his obsession. Merging the voice of an outspoken contemporary 14-yearold with centuries-old expletives (“Holy Amun!”) renders Tut both comedic and devoted to his origins. Gods and goddesses abound (Horus is Tut’s one-eyed cat; Isis is a demented mortician), and at times the pages feel cluttered with deities who aren’t particularly important to the story. Plagues, pestilence and floods in D.C. as threats don’t feel all too threatening. Conversely, the tension between Tut and creepy Horemheb is a wellplaced and -paced plot driver. A pyramid history buffs and fantasy fans will delight in excavating. (Fantasy. 11-14)
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RUMBLE
Hopkins, Ellen McElderry (560 pp.) $19.99 | $10.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-4424-8284-5 978-1-4424-8286-9 e-book Almost six months after his younger brother’s suicide, a high school senior slogs through tangled resentment and guilt. Matt’s world has never been rich with happiness, what with his cold parents who retreat “to their separate alcohol-soaked / corners.” Dad bitterly rues the one-night stand that created Matt and forced the marriage; their house “is a sponge, / absorbing regret until it can hold / no more and disillusionment drips // through the bloated pores.” Now Matt shoulders his own crushing regret. Luke was three years younger—Matt should have protected him from the homophobic and religious bullies; he should have told adults how depressed Luke was, even sneaking Mom’s Prozac, which can be dangerous for teens. He definitely shouldn’t have been distracted by his girlfriend on Luke’s last, desperate day. Now that very girlfriend seems to be “trading [Matt] in // for Jesus.” The sturdy, fast-reading free-verse poems—which sometimes shift into elegance—give a heavy sense of Matt’s anger and discomfort, as well as how he vacillates between decency and churlishness. Themes of combat-induced PTSD, Christian fundamentalist bigotry, forgiveness, and foreshadowed violence integrate deftly. The climax surprises in the best way. Brief but explicit acknowledgement of the It Gets Better campaign (and why it didn’t help Luke) grounds the contemporary setting. Readers devour Hopkins regardless, but this is strong and worthy. (Verse fiction. 14-18)
SELF. DESTRUCTED.
Jacobs, Evan Saddleback Educational Publishing (254 pp.) $9.95 paper | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-62250-722-1 Series: Gravel Road In a sparse and simply written cautionary tale, Michael Ellis brings a gun to school to scare a girl who has rejected him. Events move quickly in this fast-paced narrative. One moment, Michael and Ashley are talking in the school hallway. A chapter or two later, they’re going on dates, and just shortly after that, Michael thoughtlessly insults Ashley’s taste in music, and she distances herself from him. The narrative hints as to what’s happening in Michael’s mind and why—insecurities about being from the poor side of town, impulsive anger Michael doesn’t entirely understand himself, a fixation on Ashley that readers may find troubling even though Michael does not—but immediate thoughts and actions rather than emotional analysis are the focus here. When Michael brings his father’s gun to
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school, he is arrested before any shots can be fired. The second half of the book shows Michael’s life in a juvenile-detention facility, where he largely keeps to himself, and then at Savage Continuation School, “a school for misfits.” A great amount of time elapses in relatively few words, and consequently, Michael’s life and emotional state seem to change somewhat quickly. Readers who discuss or analyze Michael’s journey, however, will find plenty to talk and think about. A readable and timely tale that covers a lot of ground. (Fiction. 12-16)
OUT OF THE TUNNEL
Jones, Patrick Darby Creek (104 pp.) $7.95 paper | $27.93 PLB | Sep. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-4471-3 978-1-4677-2126-4 PLB Series: Red Zone, 1 An uneasy story of entitlement gone wrong, first in a series about the players on an Ohio high school football team. Though the sport of football is taking some serious lumps today, there are still those who think the players possess a special mojo. As tight end, one of the elite, Brian Norwood is falling into that trap, and he is part of the hazing rituals the seniors wreak on the juniors, pranks that can turn into crimes. Jones writes with an unvarnished sense of being there and with a taste of the rightly judgmental. The white knight is Dylan, another potential member of the inner circle, who finds the rituals not just distasteful, but shameful, but Brian falls short. Peer pressure has sunk better men, but in the end, Brian doesn’t own his abominable behavior. If Jones had wanted this to be cinéma vérité, where the path is never straight and the mood is existential, then the story had to be much more subtle and the skies lower. As it is, Brian loses readers’ sympathy, and the point of the story is too grim for its essential cluelessness. Publishing simultaneously in the Red Zone series are Breakthrough, by A.L. Priest; The Option, by Herman Brown; and At All Costs, by Jones and Brent Chartier. Pungent but also sour. (Fiction. 11-18) (Breakthrough: 978-1-4677-2131-8 PLB or 978-1-4677-4472-0 paper; The Option: 978-1-4677-2128-8 PLB or 978-1-4677-4473-7 paper; At All Costs, 9781-4677-2129-5 PLB or 978-1-4677-4475-1 paper)
YOU ARE NOT MY FRIEND, BUT I MISS YOU
Kirk, Daniel Illus. by Kirk, Daniel Abrams (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 23, 2014 978-1-4197-1236-4
A sock monkey goes to the dark side, or as dark as a sock monkey can get, in Kirk’s dovelike tale of dawning self-awareness. |
Readers meet Monkey on the first page. It is a close-up of his face, and he has a grump on. “You took my ball— / just like that! // You wouldn’t give my ball back. You wouldn’t share.” That’s four pages of text. Monkey does not mince words. “I had to grab it when you weren’t looking! // Now I have my ball / and YOU cannot play with it anymore!” Indeed, “YOU cannot play with ME.” Period, as it were. So Monkey goes about pretending he is having a good time with his ball. He will play by himself, with new friends (a houseplant, a rock and a worm) and even with the big dog—though the dog doesn’t seem interested in playing. Kirk is all emotive and deliberate. Readers can feel the initial indignation and then its ebb as Monkey—and Kirk’s digitally collaged artwork gives him not only plenty of pathos, but lots of wooly texture—feels the sting of his friend’s absence. “Maybe I wasn’t a great friend,” Monkey comes to realize. Easy-peasy, Monkey. Kirk’s skillfully paced mix of vignettes, close-ups and long shots guide readers smoothly through this emotional odyssey. There are no bad sock monkeys, not even the one or two who have forgotten themselves for a second. (Picture book. 3-7)
FALL OF HEROES
Kraatz, Jeramey Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 30, 2014 978-0-06-209553-4 978-0-06-209555-8 e-book Series: Cloak Society, 3 Teenage superheroes square off against supervillain parents in this action-packed, if misleadingly (or at least metaphorically) titled, trilogy closer. In hiding since his dad, Volt, and evil telepathic mother (imagine having one of those), Shade, led the Cloak Society in a successful bid to crush the Rangers of Justice and market itself as the “New Rangers,” Alex and his mixed band of junior allies from both organizations make ready to strike back. The first step—rescuing original rangers Lone Star and Lux from an other-dimensional prison—turns into a public relations disaster, and nearly a real one, after the rescuees dismiss the young folk and charge into the fray on their own. So much for counting on grown-ups. As previously, Kraatz weaves together angst-y ruminations and multiple set-piece battles between bands of costumed fighters endowed with both high-tech weaponry and powers ranging from telekinesis to the ability to change into a mist. Of course, adversaries have time to exchange the customary threats or banter as they battle, and despite massive destruction of property, the actual body count is near zero. Afterward, along with discussing possibilities for sequels, Alex and his newly fledged team acquire preppy peacoats rather than flashy spandex body suits (so last-century). Dangers, debacles and superhuman feats galore, with a light brush of applied satire and enough resolution to serve. (Fantasy. 11-13)
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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES
Candace Fleming
With The Family Romanov, Candace Fleming leaves American history behind By Vicky Smith
Photo courtesy Michael Lionstar
Though her picture-book and fiction oeuvres are extensive and varied, Candace Fleming has made a name for herself in the world of long-form nonfiction with her works of American history. Such titles as Our Eleanor, The Great and Only Barnum and Ben Franklin’s Almanac have become fixtures, and in this context, The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia is quite a departure. When I asked Fleming what brought about her shift in focus, she traced it to school visits she’s made all over the globe. After presenting on the Lincolns or Eleanor Roosevelt, she found herself answering questions about Anastasia from curious students. Realizing this curiosity was likely prompted by the Disney film about the doomed grand duchess, Fleming de94
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cided this book would be her answer to those “seekers of truth [who] recognized there was” something underneath “that terrible, ridiculous” storyline that Disney presented. Having made the decision to venture offshore, Fleming found the project “unbelievably fun.” For all the exhilaration of the research, however, she faced challenges. She initially planned to zero in on Anastasia—“I knew the reader for that; I’d been talking to them”—but she found that Anastasia “was not particularly interesting. That’s a terrible thing to say, isn’t it? She…didn’t make any choices on her own.” Deciding to expand her focus to all five children, she felt confident she’d have a story, but she learned that “not one of those kids was particularly fascinating.” Pulling out further to include Nicholas and Alexandra, she was dismayed to discover that “wow, they were unbelievably dull—not particularly curious people at all.” Of course the events swirling around the Romanovs were fascinating, and Fleming uses the counterpoint between the essential blandness of her characters and the dramatic plot they unwittingly inhabited to tell a mesmerizing tale. “I ended up with these unbelievable, nagging questions.…Really, did Nicholas and Alexandra really have no way to change their fate? Was it inevitable, or were they just completely blind? Pretty soon that became the story to chase.” Having found her focus, Fleming then had to wrestle one of the most complicated stories of the 20th century into shape for readers who might be bringing little more than their familiarity with Disney’s version of Anastasia’s story to the book. In her books of U.S. history, Fleming had adopted a scrapbook-style approach, using sidebars and boxes to fold in snippets of information that complemented and expanded on her primary narrative. She and editor Anne Schwartz, with
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whom she’d worked on those earlier books, “went back and forth about the story’s structure a lot.” Acknowledging that the audience for The Family Romanov is rather older than her usual middle-grade audience, she wanted it to “look…and read like a novel,” even down to the decision to include the photos as an insert rather than interspersing them throughout the book. But beyond considerations of the book’s feel, in experimenting with her usual format, she found that “a sidebar would end up leading to a sidebar, and that would lead to another sidebar, or you’d have sidebars that were two pages long.” Feeling that that was more confusing than enlightening, she decided to keep “any context as close to the story as possible.” But that context is key, and Fleming was determined not to perpetuate the fairy-tale version of the Romanovs’ story. “The Romanov family fan base is huge out there,” she says. “You see it a lot: the perfect family, the loving family, the happily married couple, all that romance, but we ignore the realities—the truth about what was really going on.” To combat this, she took care to weave in contemporary accounts that give voice to the deep dissatisfaction that ran through Russia and led to the family’s overthrow. A traditional peasant lullaby reproduced in the book includes the lyric “I’ll make you suffer even more,” throwing the Romanovs’ insular indulgence into sharp relief. Nicholas’ and Alexandra’s willful ignorance got to Fleming at times. “Nicholas was told repeatedly…to pay just a little attention to what was going on with the majority of the people who lived in the country, and he didn’t. And he didn’t….There were times when I’d think to myself, ‘Alix, listen up!…Take your blinders off.’ I did that a lot.” This personal engagement with her subjects extended past the Romanovs to some of the supporting characters whose papers she read in the course of her research. When asked about the French ambassador, Maurice Paléologue, whose three-volume memoir includes great insights into the Romanovs and their government, she exclaimed, “Oh, isn’t he lovely? And so smart….He saw the revolution coming.” His observations made him one of many about whom Fleming mused later, “What would I have done without you?” All that primary-source research was “both a dream and a nightmare.” Many of the Russian nobles who wrote about the era were biased, of course, forcing Fleming to take their accounts with “a little grain of |
salt.” In addition to this, most of them wrote in Russian and then fled to France, so she was often working with different layers of translation and found herself sometimes choosing one translation for one purpose and a different one for another, depending on her narrative needs. (“I felt bad for her,” Fleming says of her copy editor, who had to ensure that this thicket of citations was consistent.) This brings Fleming back to her protagonists, the Romanovs. She often felt that she couldn’t really get to know many of her supporting characters, because she was reading a translation of a translation, “but…those really are the Romanovs’ voices, because they wrote to each other in English. That made a world of difference for me, because I really, really could hear them.” And that she can make us hear them, and all those other voices too, is what makes The Family Romanov such an achievement: What a story it is. Vicky Smith is the children’s and teen editor at Kirkus Reviews. The Family Romanov received a starred review in the June 1, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews. A shorter version of this feature appeared in the BEA/ALA section of the May 15, 2014, issue of Kirkus Reviews.
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia Fleming, Candace Random House (304 pp.) $18.99 | $21.99 PLB | Jul. 8, 2014 978-0-375-86782-8 978-0-375-96782-5 PLB
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FRAGILE DESTINY
Lazear, Suzanne Flux (456 pp.) $9.99 paper | Aug. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3986-1 Series: Aether Chronicles, 3 Set in both Victorian-era Los Angeles and the Otherworld, Noli’s adventures among the Fae continue. Minimal recap reminds readers that years earlier, Noli’s father had disappeared in San Francisco and that Noli spent the last book aboard the pirate steam-powered airship owned by her brother and his fiancee. Noli continues her romance with V, also called Steven and, in the Otherworld, Stiofán. When V’s little sister Elise, also called Ailís, escapes from pursuers into the Otherworld, the dark king, Ciarán, also called Kyran, enemy of the “earth court,” takes her in. There, she meets Aodhan, the little son of Creidmeamh, dead sister of the hunter Kevighn, who unites with Ciarán. While searching for Elise, Noli gets into a battle with V’s uncle, earth king Brogan, with unexpected results that Noli must learn to live with. Lazear’s imagination continues to bubble, creating a charming and dangerous fantasy world as well as an intriguing alternatehistory mortal world with her steampunk version of Los Angeles. That creative vision helps the book overcome pedestrian writing and standard plotting. The book’s minimal action is interrupted by numerous and lengthy episodes of domestic chitchat and bickering. Noli and V, in fact, spend much of the book at odds, despite their undying love for each other. Major plot points, such as reassembling the fateful Staff of Eris, await resolution in another sequel. Lazear’s fans have a high tolerance for convoluted nomenclature; anyone else will have given up on this series long ago. (Fantasy. 14-18)
HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS
Lewis, J. Patrick Illus. by Kelley, Gary Creative Editions/Creative Company (32 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-56846-246-2 A rare look at how music made a positive contribution to World War I. This picture book makes a striking first impression, opening with a double-page spread of sketched snapshots of 24 African-American soldiers that echo those in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival (2007). Each soldier, whether serious or smiling, gazes out at readers to introduce a story about all the ways the country for which they willingly fought still systematically discriminates against them even during wartime. Like these seemingly disconnected portraits at the beginning, episodic vignettes tell the story of how James “Big Jim” Reese Europe used music to motivate his 96
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troops under nearly insurmountable conditions; how the Harlem Hellfighters were often relegated to menial, “grunt work” jobs instead of being sent into battle, and how lynchings persisted at home despite their war efforts abroad. In the story’s most haunting image, the ship on which the soldiers sail passes through the ghostly images of slaves wearing neck shackles, reminding readers that the Middle Passage still affected these black men in 1917. The narrative gaps and Lewis’ focus on so many different individuals and situations make this a work that packs an emotional rather than an informational punch; it’s best when used to supplement a more extensive study of the Harlem Hellfighters. A beautiful book that tells a truth that needs to be told. (bibliography, notes) (Informational picture book. 10-16)
JUDY MOODY, MOOD MARTIAN McDonald, Megan Illus. by Reynolds, Peter H. Candlewick (208 pp.) $15.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-7636-6698-9 Series: Judy Moody, 12
Back again for her 12th outing, Judy tries to take the “moody” out of her name, with mixed results. Everyone knows that Judy has a tendency to sink into bad moods at the slightest provocation. Yet after she celebrates Backwards Day at school by cleaning up her act and becoming a calm, serene soul, the experience goes so well that she privately vows to keep it up for an entire week. To combat her mood swings, Judy throws herself into finger knitting, a craft that can effectively distract her from her anger. Unfortunately, this brand-new Judy is so strange and different that her friends are convinced she must be an alien from another planet. Worse, her finger-knitting project grows so extensive that it threatens to take over the house. Happily, Judy hits on the perfect solution to all her problems, successfully fulfilling her vow and ending up with the craziest math project of all time. The delightfully flawed Judy’s trials with being “good” will resonate with any child forced to summon a little self-control. Utterly appealing pen-and-ink art and situations readers can’t help but enjoy are evidence for why Judy’s adventures continue to be popular. Even new Moody fans will find diving into the series this late in the game a pleasure. (Fiction. 6-9)
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“The simple sentences of the text and charming pictures make this a good choice for reading aloud or early reading alone.” froms lola plants a garden
RABBI BENJAMIN’S BUTTONS
McGinty, Alice B. Illus. by Reinhardt, Jennifer Black Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $17.95 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-58089-432-6
This story will feel familiar to many readers, and some of them will find that oddly disconcerting. There’s a famous Jewish folk tale: A man’s coat is wearing out, so he tailors it into a vest and, as it gets even older, into a button. When that button finally wears out, he’s left with only the story. McGinty’s book reads like that folk tale turned inside out. A rabbi’s congregation buys him a vest with beautiful silver buttons. Over the course of a year, the vest becomes more and more timeworn, and as the rabbi eats delicious holiday meals, the buttons pop off, first one at a time and then two at once. But there’s a surprise: The congregation has collected the buttons and sewn them onto a brand-new vest, even more beautiful than the old one. The inverted story is charming, if a little slight, but it may seem familiar for another reason. The use of language is often trite and sometimes mawkish. The expression “A happy congregation is the sunshine of my heart” appears with variations throughout the book. The book’s less sentimental readers may find they prefer the earlier folk tale. But Reinhardt’s watercolor-and-ink drawings are strange and captivating. The rabbi’s beard seems to point in two directions at once. Every reader, sentimental or not, can enjoy the many holiday recipes at the end of the book. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)
LOLA PLANTS A GARDEN
McQuinn, Anna Illus. by Beardshaw, Rosalind Charlesbridge (28 pp.) $15.95 | $9.99 e-book | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-58089-694-8 978-1-60734-745-3 e-book Hoping to have a garden like the one in her poetry book, Lola plants seeds, waits and weeds, and finally celebrates with friends. The author and illustrator of Lola Loves Stories (2010) and its companion titles take their appealing character outside. Inspired by her favorite poem, the nursery rhyme “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” (repeated on the front endpapers), Lola chooses her favorite flowers from library books. Helped by her parents, she grows a grandly diverse flower garden, just right for a celebration with peas and strawberries from the family plot. Beardshaw’s acrylic illustrations show her garden in all its stages. They also show the copper-toned preschooler reading on her mother’s lap, making a flower book, a beaded string with bells and shells, a little Mary Mary doll and cupcakes for the celebration. Her bunchy ponytails are redone, and her flower shirt is perfect for the party. Not only has she provided the setting; she makes up a story for her friends. The simple sentences of the text and |
charming pictures make this a good choice for reading aloud or early reading alone. On the rear endpapers, the nursery rhyme has been adapted to celebrate “Lola, Lola, Extraordinary.” It’s gratifying to see Lola’s love of books leading her to new experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)
SEARCHING FOR SILVERHEELS
Mobley, Jeannie McElderry (304 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | Sep. 2, 2014 978-1-4814-0029-9 978-1-4814-0031-2 e-book A teen in a small Colorado mining town in 1917 investigates a local legend with surprising results. Thirteen-year-old Pearl helps her mother in the Silverheels Café and earns pocket money telling tourists about the legend of Silverheels, a beautiful dancer who selflessly nursed miners in an 1861 smallpox epidemic. When Josie Gilbert, a militant old suffragist, tells Pearl the real Silverheels wasn’t an altruistic heroine, Pearl reluctantly accepts Josie’s challenge: prove her wrong about Silverheels or distribute leaflets for the National Women’s Party. Pearl knows Josie irritates some of the locals—they find her criticisms of President Woodrow Wilson treasonous—and she’s determined to prove Josie’s wrong by questioning old-timers, looking at historical records and visiting Silverheels’ former haunts. But when Josie’s arrested during a public demonstration, Pearl discovers the real heroine of the Silverheels legend. Pearl’s lively narration reveals her transformation from an old-fashioned, romantic girl into a spirited, courageous champion. Mobley uses the legend of Silverheels to effectively “raise questions about the traditional roles of women and their sources of strength,” as she writes in her author’s note, against the backdrop of wartime Colorado. An engrossing, plausible story of several unlikely feminist heroines with a touch of romance and intrigue. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
I FEEL FIVE!
Murguia, Bethanie Deeney Illus. by Murguia, Bethanie Deeney Candlewick (32 pp.) $14.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-7636-6291-2 Fritz expects to feel totally different when he turns 5, but it turns out that 5
feels a lot like 4. He still can’t tie his shoes, snap, whistle or master the monkey bars. And not even one of his teeth wiggles. Self-assured pen, ink and watercolor illustrations produce vivid renderings of a young boy’s bounce, his tousled hair, bony ankles, fluttering superhero cape, inflated birthday expectation and subsequent
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“Kalvin may seem like every parent’s worst nightmare for their daughter, but the author draws him with a complexity that helps illustrate the larger themes being explored.” from knockout games
deflation. Fritz’s day plays out in soft watercolor scenes that make fine use of page turns, page composition and supremely crisp white space. Double-page spreads evoke tender feelings: an ecstatic leap from bed on his birthday morning (gold beams surrounding his lithe, lean body) and, especially, his sad sit-down beneath an apple tree (a foggy gray wash muting the entire playground). A new friendship (with a girl!) makes Fritz feel a little more 5, as well as a little blushed and bashful. Every child knows how it feels to squirm gleefully in the throes of a big buildup and also how it feels to stifle tears after a big letdown, making Fritz’s story universally appealing. Empathetic and sweet, this simply told, well-illustrated book helps not only with birthday bummers, but with negotiating many of life’s highs and lows. (Picture book. 4-6)
KNOCKOUT GAMES
Neri, G. Carolrhoda Lab (304 pp.) $17.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-3269-7
New girl Erica falls in with the wrong crowd in an exploration of racial tension in St. Louis. In the wake of her parents’ separation, Erica finds herself in a new city and new school. After showing off her skills with the camera her estranged father gave as a parting gift, Erica wins the attention of a boxing club called the TKOs and the affection of their leader, Kalvin. The TKOs play the horrific “Knockout Game,” in which kids assault total strangers with a single punch for no reason other than the adrenaline rush. Erica is enamored by the TKOs and their worldview, but as things get real, Erica makes moves to get out. The results are thrilling. At every fork in the road, Erica makes the wrong decision, but surprisingly, this only makes her more endearing. The book’s second half, detailing Erica’s struggles to escape the TKOs and Kalvin’s tightening grip, is even stronger than the beginning; it’s where the author’s meaty ideas and exciting action sequences blend together perfectly. Kalvin may seem like every parent’s worst nightmare for their daughter, but the author draws him with a complexity that helps illustrate the larger themes being explored. Neri’s main concern is the “post-racial” urban landscape, raising many talking points while letting readers come to their own conclusions. Harsh and relentless, a tough but worthy read. (Fiction. 12-16) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
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FIONA’S LACE
Polacco, Patricia Illus. by Polacco, Patricia Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (48 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-4424-8724-6 978-1-4424-8725-3 e-book When the textile mill in Glen Kerry, Ireland, is closed, Fiona’s family accepts passage to Chicago to work as servants for the family who paid their fares. Fiona spends the endless journey making lace as her mother taught her. She and her sister, Ailish, love the ofttold story of how their father met their mother, when she tied bits of her lace in a trail from the mill to her home so he could be introduced properly. Since the family gets no wages until they pay off their passages, the parents must take other jobs after hours, but Fiona’s lace finds a market, and the family is able to save toward buying land in Michigan. But one evening, when Fiona is making lace and her parents are out working, a fire (the great Chicago fire of 1871) breaks out near their tenement. Fiona and Ailish escape with the lace, which Fiona uses to mark a path so their parents can find them, just as their father found their mother. Polacco weaves her themes well: immigrant history, family lore, poverty and oppression, and hope for the future. The greens of Ireland are beautifully pictured, and the dun and gray of the Chicago tenements are brightened by the sweetness of the lace patterns and the girls’ red hair. Polacco’s large and multiethnic family yields up another fine story, this one in greens and grays, lace and fire. (Picture book. 4-8)
HOME
Prineas, Sarah Illus. by Cararo, Antonio Javier Harper/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 16, 2014 978-0-06-220957-3 978-0-06-220957-3 e-book Series: Magic Thief, 4 Gutterboy-turned-wizard Conn once again saves his beloved city from magical and other disasters while irritating friends and enemies alike. Showing signs that the well of inspiration may be running dry, Prineas continues or recycles plot elements from previous episodes, brushes contradictions aside and doesn’t even bother to come up with a new villain. Spurred by a string of wizardly thefts and a vague feeling that all is not right in Wellmet, Conn— as has been his practice—mulishly rejects the offered help of his friends and returns to his grubby roots for a solo investigation. While said friends exchange hand-wringing letters of concern (arbitrary parts of which are written in a runic code for readers to decipher), Conn discovers that his old nemesis, Crowe, is
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back from exile. The evil wizard brings with him magic cages that block some spells but not others, depending on the needs of the plot, and also a scheme to take over the government with a few well-placed bombs. As only Conn is aware, such blasts will actually destroy the whole city by upsetting its uneasily balanced magical underpinnings. Multiple chases, captures, escapes, conveniently overheard conversations and encounters with dragons ensue. Contrivances, filler and laboriously manufactured suspense stall a formerly nimble fantasy series. (map, cast list, menu) (Fantasy. 11-13)
IF YOU’RE READING THIS
Reedy, Trent Levine/Scholastic (304 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-545-43342-6 978-0-545-70049-8 e-book A moving study of war’s long-reaching effects on families. Mike Wilson’s father “had been dead seven years the day his first letter arrived.” How can this be? Who is sending them? His father died in Afghanistan on Aug. 28, 2005, and 15-year-old Mike, his mother and his younger sister have moved on with their lives, though his mother avoids the painful subject of his father. It’s difficult, though, to navigate high school without a father’s guidance, and this letter and those that follow are intended to help. Many contain a mission for Mike—get involved with a sport, ask a girl out, go to church, get your driver’s license, go easy on your sister, and be nice to your mother. The letters offer Mike an approach to succeeding in high school and a means of saying goodbye to his father, and they offer readers, along with Mike, a compelling mystery: How can a dead man send letters? Mike is a believable character, his first-person narration capably spun. A whole story constructed around letters intended to teach life lessons can’t help but feel didactic, though earnest and well meaning. Readers will anticipate each letter right along with Mike, and they may receive some good guidance about life along with him. (Fiction. 10-16) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
THE ONLY THING TO FEAR
Richmond, Caroline Tung Scholastic (288 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Sep. 30, 2014 978-0-545-62988-1 978-0-545-62989-8 e-book That 20th-century speculative-fiction staple, the what-if-Hitler-won-the-war alternate history, meets 21st-century special-girl dystopia. |
It’s been almost a century since the Axis powers divided a conquered North America among them: Japan in the west, Germany in the east, and Italy in the Dakotas. In the Nazi-controlled Shenandoah Valley, 16-year-old half-Japanese Zara is an Untermensch, a half-breed fit only for scut work. Though she works all hours as both a janitor and a farm girl, Zara desperately wants Uncle Red to allow her to join the Revolutionary Alliance, the anti-Nazi underground. But her uncle, still grieving the death of Zara’s mother in an Alliance mission gone wrong, is determined to protect her. Besides, he argues, it’s vital that Zara hide her Anomaly power—superpowers the Nazis developed in their death camps that allowed them to win the war. Only Aryans are allowed to be Anomalies; if the Nazis learn Zara can control wind with her mind, she’ll be headed to a dreadful fate. Along with an Aryan child of privilege who wants to join the rebellion, Zara must do the unthinkable and save the world. Though these Nazis are oddly restrained in their evil compared to the real thing (they haven’t tried to ethnically cleanse North America, for one), they make for believable dictatorial overlords. Overall, a satisfying and appropriately hectic action adventure with a perfectly likable if interchangeable (but for her biracial heritage) protagonist. (Dystopian adventure. 12-15)
HOMER HENRY HUDSON’S CURIO MUSEUM
Rock, Zack Illus. by Rock, Zack Creative Editions/Creative Company (32 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-56846-260-8 In Rock’s debut picture book, an eccentric bulldog named Homer Henry Hudson collects “bits and bobs” from around the globe, displaying them floor to ceiling in his museum of curios. Hudson takes great pride in his collection of riches, masterfully illustrated by Rock. These days, sidelined by an injury, this alliterative pooch keeps his museum “spick-and-span” and treats himself nightly to sushi dinner. He introduces museumgoers to his favorite exhibits, such as the Nóttlandian Stuffed Animal (a teddy bear), given as a token of gratitude from a young girl. Or his Humble Willow Root Cane, a twisted stick that mirrors his anguish at not being able to travel. But it’s his affection for the Manneken Mort of King Ingmar, a figurine wound with bands of the king’s life stories, that gets this bulldog wondering. Are his bands complete, or are there more? Rock’s illustrations are rendered in a subdued palette of watercolors, rich in earth tones and infused with touches of humble elegance. Young explorers will pore over the endpaper, title page and two-page spreads of museum space, drinking in each detailed treasure. Hudson’s droopy, liver-spotted mug is so realistic readers will want to scratch him behind the ears. Hudson claims, “Everything has a story.” And through his personal descriptions and musings over each artifact, he knows how to tell a good one. (Picture book. 8-12)
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MATZO FROGS
Rosenthal, Sally Illus. by Sheldon, David NewSouth (32 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-1-58838-302-0 Amphibian neighbors come to Minnie’s rescue when she accidentally spills all the matzo-ball soup she has prepared for Shabbat dinner and doesn’t have time to prepare more before sundown. Sol Frog, Mel Frog, Gilda Frog, Golda Frog, Dinah Frog and Barney Frog reside in a pond by Minnie’s house, and like the elves in the classic Grimms’ fairy tale “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” they decide to help the kindhearted woman while she is out helping a bedridden friend. With much fervor, jumping around and catapulting of ingredients into the soup pot, a fresh and tasty soup is prepared and ready when Minnie returns— a welcome surprise for her and her Shabbat guests. The lush greens of the anthropomorphic, bulging-eyed cartoon-style frogs dominate the palette and create a rollicking atmosphere for this celebration of the performance of mitzvoth. Kindness begets kindness, and “one mitzvah leads to another” as Jewish neighbors help one another in various ways. The story’s amusing arc with its altruistic message culminates with a sculpted matzo-ball frog left as a floating clue in the soup, prompting one more mitzvah in grateful acknowledgment. A Jewish audience will appreciate the overall significance of the concept and context; Gentiles will get a kick out of the kind frogs. (Picture book. 4-6)
PANTS FOR CHUCK
Schories, Pat Illus. by Schories, Pat Holiday House (24 pp.) $14.95 | Sep. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-3066-6 Series: I Like to Read
A beginning reader with a silly story that may or may not hold up to interrogation about anthropomorphic animals and story logic. Big Chuck is a woodchuck who enjoys playing with other backyard animals such as a chipmunk, mice, a rabbit, a raccoon and a chickadee. They play, running and climbing about until Chuck spies a rag doll on the ground and inspects its clothing. He decides he wants the doll’s pants for himself and tries to squeeze into them. The others are obviously correct when they tell him that he is too big and the pants are too small, but Chuck ignores their protests and tries to run and climb about, just as before. Humorous watercolors capture the physical comedy of the scenes, and he remains determined to wear the pants until his girth makes them burst at the seams, with text reading “Pop! Rip!” Depending on readers’ suspension of disbelief, it’s either funny or confusing that on the next page Chuck covers 100
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his backside in embarrassment as the other animals look away. None of them is wearing clothing, and he was likewise Chucknaked before donning the pants, so the internal logic of the story seems a bit off. Ultimately, since Chuck ends up smartly eschewing the pants at book’s end, the title even ends up seeming like a misnomer. (Early reader. 5-7)
FRANK EINSTEIN AND THE ANTIMATTER MOTOR
Scieszka, Jon Illus. by Biggs, Brian Amulet/Abrams (192 pp.) $13.95 | Aug. 26, 2014 978-1-4197-1218-0 Series: Frank Einstein, 1
Scieszka mixes science and silliness again to great effect. Frank Einstein, kid genius and inventor, is staying with his grandfather while his parents travel to Antarctica. That’s just fine with Frank; he and his sidekick, Watson, have inventing to do, and Grampa Al’s fix-it shop is the perfect place to do science. Frank is hoping to win the Midville Science Prize because Grampa won when he was a kid…and because the prize money will let Frank save Grampa’s shop from the bill collectors. Frank’s attempt to build a SmartBot fails, but overnight, a spark ignites the brain he’s created for the bot, and the next morning he finds two very different robots in his workshop. Now he’s got Klink, a smart, self-assembled robot who can learn, and Klank, who’s really into hugging. Frank doesn’t feel right entering Klink and Klank in the contest since they assembled themselves, but together with Watson, the four of them can surely some up with something great. Only evil, rival child genius T. Edison stands in their way, and he’ll stop at nothing. Scieszka launches a six-book series with a likable protagonist and a good supporting cast. Science facts are slipped into the story on nearly every page, and Biggs’ two-color drawings are the C12H22O11 on the cookie. Less wacky (and more instructive) than Scieszka’s Spaceheadz series—but just as much fun. (Science fiction/ humor. 8-12)
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SCHIZO
Sheff, Nic Philomel (272 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 30, 2014 978-0-399-16437-8 A teen with schizophrenia is getting better—isn’t he? Miles has a slew of meds that keep him just stable enough to function, if not enough for popularity. The medication keeps his schizophrenia under control, |
“[Paul’s] growing understanding of his role in the world is revealed through moments of self-awareness that are almost painfully unvarnished and at times also starkly beautiful.” from looking for jack kerouac
but it can’t do anything about his guilt and grief over lost baby brother Teddy. Teddy vanished (perhaps drowned, perhaps kidnapped) the day Miles’ hallucinations first manifested, and his family is saturated with misery, refusing to speak about Teddy and hiding all photographs of him. Miles is convinced he can fix his family’s dysfunction if only he can find Teddy, and he sets out on a disjointed, confused but passionate quest for his brother’s kidnapper. Meanwhile he negotiates relationships: with his best friend, who is careless with Miles’ safety when pressuring him to use drugs and alcohol; with his best friend’s girlfriend, the only person who actually looks out for Miles; and with his childhood sweetheart, who is both popular and a twofaced back-stabber. Miles’ mental health may not be improving as much as he thinks it is, and his quest culminates in disturbing revelations. Overly choppy prose attempts to represent Miles’ delusional state of mind but mostly serves to distract; still, this is a cleareyed, surprisingly hopeful look at the disorder. Given the grim reality of medical management of schizophrenia (and the bleakness of depictions of it in teen fiction), the cautious optimism of Miles’ life is most welcome. (Fiction. 14-17)
LOOKING FOR JACK KEROUAC
Shoup, Barbara Lacewing/Engine (202 pp.) $14.95 paper | Aug. 12, 2014 978-1-938126-47-5
Quiet contemplation reigns when recent high school graduate Paul uses a road-trip search for Jack Kerouac as a possible escape from the pressures of 1964 suburbia. Paul is increasingly disillusioned with his night shift at the mill and his girlfriend’s belief that their engagement is imminent. Breaking free from the yoke of expectations is difficult, especially in the wake of his mother’s recent death. Paul’s admiration for Kerouac’s On the Road sparks an unexpected friendship with fellow overnight-shift employee Duke, whose adventurous nature contrasts with Paul’s reluctance to rock the boat. Indeed, it’s Duke’s idea to run away to Florida to find Kerouac. Readers expecting a wild adventure story will find themselves disappointed. Paul’s cautious approach to travel helps the pair avoid excitement, and his reserved narrative style strips even a romantic interlude with a Weeki Wachee mermaid impersonator of any salaciousness. The pair’s experiences in Florida seem to further emphasize the dangers of impulsivity, as both Duke and Kerouac are revealed to have unstable lives that largely revolve around alcohol-fueled binges. But while Paul lacks a certain vivaciousness, his growing understanding of his role in the world is revealed through moments of self-awareness that are almost painfully unvarnished and at times also starkly beautiful. Ultimately though, a book whose title references Kerouac but lacks outrageous escapades may have difficulty finding its audience. (Historical fiction. 14-18) |
THE SWAP
Shull, Megan Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-06-231169-6 978-0-06-231171-9 e-book Seventh-grader Ellie O’Brien and eighth-grader Jack Malloy are given a surprising gift when they are suddenly able to literally view life through each
other’s eyes. Ellie feels lost and afraid following her parents’ divorce and a brutal dumping by her best friend. Jack’s life, dominated by his father’s regimented control and his overpowering brothers, feels claustrophobic. Switching minds gives each kid the opportunity to experience life on the other side while gaining perspective on his or her own. Navigating the world of fist-bumping and older brothers helps Ellie develop the mental toughness to fight her own battles. In Ellie’s life, Jack finds the parental acceptance and love that has been missing from his own. Alternating chapters offer each a chance to tell his or her story. The internal lives of both boy and girl come across as authentic and heartwarming. Unfortunately, when Jack and Ellie interact, it is often unclear who is who, which muddies what could be some of the most engaging passages. Occasionally clunky dialogue and a too-perfect ending are the only bumps in this otherwise engaging switch-up. Readers curious about how the other half lives will thrill at this view from the far side of the fence. (Fiction. 10-14) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN
Simpson, Dana Illus. by Simpson, Dana Andrews McMeel (224 pp.) $9.99 paper | Sep. 2, 2014 978-1-4494-4620-8 Series: Heavenly Nostrils Chronicles
A pink, bubble-gum bonbon of a tale spun of a likable, albeit self-centered, fourth-grader and her magical, self-obsessed, although sometimes-kind, unicorn. On a perfectly ordinary day, young Phoebe accidentally hits a unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils while skipping rocks. Unicorns, vain by nature, cannot help but become engrossed with their own reflections, and when Phoebe’s rock hits Marigold, she frees the mystical creature from her Narcissus-like state and offers to grant Phoebe a wish. Phoebe then wishes for Marigold to be her best friend. From then on, the two are inseparable, embarking on one adventure after another. Phoebe is often tempestuous and prone to whimsy (what fourth-grader isn’t?), whereas Marigold is often the straight man (or unicorn, as it is), taking our human expressions literally and
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“The riveting, ambitious plot and strong, moral-yet-fallible heroine are a winning combination.” from sisters’ fate
setting up a good deal of the comedic action. As seen in short vignettes, the pair make everyday events—like boring piano lessons or a skirmish with a mean girl—giggle-worthy by the addition of the egocentric unicorn. Clean lines, clearly delineated panels and sparse background detail keep readers focused on the characters, driving the story forward without distraction. Recommend this to fans of Jennifer and Matthew Holm’s Babymouse series and Frank Cammuso’s Salem Hyde. A sweet, spun-sugar confection just right for unicorn fans. (Graphic fantasy. 7-11)
MAGIC DELIVERY
Smith, Clete Barrett Illus. by Dziekan, Michal Disney-Hyperion (288 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4231-6597-2 A middle school con artist finds unexpected possibilities in…magic. Middle schooler Nick Stringer can make as much as $100 from his classmates for throwing a test or hacking a teacher’s computer. When the beautiful and wealthy Hayley Millard comes to him for help, Nick and best friend Burger’s negotiations include something even more valuable than money: an invitation to her Halloween party. Things take a strange turn when a delivery truck driven by what looks like a bear almost runs them down as they are riding home. They investigate, finding a truck filled with magical costumes. While wearing the gorilla costume, Burger finds he can swing from the roof. Nick’s robot costume comes with laser technology and the ability to fly. Curious, the boys return to the truck to find the school’s bullies have also discovered the magical cargo. It is up to them to save the town and the hapless delivery driver from magic gone haywire. Unfortunately, while the premise is quirky, the execution is less than masterful. The relationship between Nick, the good-hearted hustler, and Burger, the slack-jawed sidekick, holds promise, but any authenticity is lost in a sea of predictable humor and one-dimensional characterizations. The depiction of middle school dynamics, likewise, intrigues, but the magic angle almost intrudes on rather than enhances the tale. An unfortunate misstep from an otherwise solid author. (Fantasy. 8-12) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
SISTERS’ FATE
Spotswood, Jessica Putnam (368 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 14, 2014 978-0-399-257476 Series: Cahill Witch Chronicles, 3 Tensions between the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood, complicated by a prophecy, come to a head in the Cahill Witch Chronicles trilogy’s conclusion. Immediately following the events of Star Cursed (2013), Cate Cahill’s devastated. While she was liberating Harwood Asylum’s prisoners, the more aggressive Sisterhood faction succeeded in their devastating mind-magic attacks on the Brotherhood’s leadership. Worse, Cate’s own sister, in the name of protecting the Sisterhood, erased Finn’s memories of Cate. Additionally, Cate’s revealed to Maura that Tess is the prophesied oracle, a betrayal of her own. The sisters are just as fractured as the Sisterhood, now led by the Machiavellian Sister Inez, a compellingly rational villain. The Brotherhood’s in flux too, and the power vacuum produces a leader as ruthless as Inez. Inez is willing to sacrifice pawns (especially non-Sisterhood and nonwitch ones) to protect the Sisterhood (and her rule)—and the Brotherhood’s only too happy to help. Meanwhile, Cate makes contact with members of the actual Resistance—including a fugitive journalist—who are chiefly interested in promoting the common man, also oppressed by the Brotherhood. The alliance is timely; a terrible plague starts slipping through the city, and class distinctions greatly affect treatment. The tinderbox of oppression and power struggles create sparks enough for an explosive ending. Actions have real consequences, and the sisters’ believable dynamic leading up to the fulfillment of the prophecy is dead-on. The riveting, ambitious plot and strong, moral-yet-fallible heroine are a winning combination. (Fantasy. 12 & up)
THE DOLLS
Sullivan, Kiki Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $9.99 paper | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-06-228148-7 978-0-06-228149-4 e-book A variation on an increasingly familiar formula involving a Louisiana setting, voodoo or related magic, a star-crossed romance, and a protagonist conflicted about or unaware of her tremendous
inherited powers. When Eveny Cheval’s guardian, Aunt Bea, moves her from New York to her original hometown of Carrefour, Louisiana, on her 17th birthday, Eveny immediately and inexplicably finds herself involved with a circle of uber-glamorous, impossibly gorgeous, privileged teens known locally as the Dolls. She begins to slowly understand that her connection to them involves a deep family history and some strong magic. But big questions 102
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remain, such as whether her mother really committed suicide all those years ago, where her father might be and what are the true motives of a certain gorgeous boy sending very mixed signals. Oh, there is also a society bent on destroying Carrefour and its magic, a threat that never feels quite authentic, probably because readers aren’t convinced that the main characters and their dubious way of life are worth saving. There are enough mysteries to keep the pages turning, though many will see the final bit of treachery coming well before the big reveal. Only the most ardent fans of paranormal/romantic thrillers will be enthralled by this one and its inevitable sequels. (Supernatural thriller. 12-18)
A BED FOR KITTY
Surovec, Yasmine Illus. by Surovec, Yasmine Roaring Brook (40 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 23, 2014 978-1-59643-863-7 In this slight follow-up to I See Kitty (2013), Chloe’s new kitty has made herself at home, draping herself almost everywhere for her catnaps. Foreshadowing the theme of the book, the endpapers feature thumbnails of felines dozing on books and clothes, in bowls and shopping bags. Then Chloe asks, “Can I give Kitty her present now?” What is it? A bed for Kitty! But as much as Kitty loves sleeping, she is not interested in her bed. From one spread to the next, Chloe’s excitement changes from surprise to bewildered frustration to despondence as Kitty sleeps on the bag her bed came in, Chloe’s chair, the litter box (Chloe says “Eep!”), Mom’s favorite sweater and right in the middle of Chloe’s bed. The simple text will allow the book to serve some youngsters as an early reader. As before, the illustrations pay homage to the Hello Kitty aesthetic: black outlines, big shapes, matte colors. Chloe’s expressions are captured in pinprick eyes and a mouth indicated by a line or an O. Only when sad Chloe climbs onto Kitty’s bed does Kitty pay attention, stretching out right on top of Chloe. While cat lovers will respond to the “aww” factor here, this outing will not, unlike the first, stand up to repeated readings. (Picture book. 3-6)
DESMOND PUCKET AND THE MOUNTAIN FULL OF MONSTERS
Tatulli, Mark Illus. by Tatulli, Mark Andrews McMeel (240 pp.) $13.99 | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4494-3549-3 Series: Desmond Pucket, 2
Will monster maven Desmond Pucket get to ride the awesome, animatronicenhanced Mountain Full of Monsters roller coaster with dreamy Tina Schimsky? No. Mr. Needles, head of Cloverfield Memorial Junior High’s disciplinary office, has it in for Desmond, even on the field trip to Crab Shell Pier amusement park. Desmond and his best friend, Ricky, ditch Needles, but the guy comes back like a bad rash. Desmond ends up having to go on his dream ride with Mr. Needles—repeatedly. Then Desmond learns that the ride is scheduled for demolition at the end of the summer. He vows to raise money to save the animatronic monsters, but what can one kid do? What he does best: scare kids…for which their siblings will gladly pay cash. Will Desmond be able to raise enough to get the park’s manager to let him save the monsters from destruction? In a mixture of comic panels, doodlelike spot illustrations and text, Tatulli continues his chronicle of sixth-grade special-effects expert Desmond in a funny and cheerfully gross tale of perseverance and friendship that is realistic and wacky all at once. Other secrets come to light over the course of the story, and fans will rejoice that more adventures are on the way. The icing on the exploding birthday cake are the many pages from Desmond’s notebook with instructions on duplicating his scary successes. (Humor. 8-11) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
STOP, THIEF!
Tekavec, Heather Illus. by Pratt, Pierre Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-77138-012-6 In this frisky detective tale, Max, a farm dog, tries to catch a thief as the real perpetrators hilariously lend a hand. Someone is eating the crops, and Max must find him. Off the flappy-eared dog runs, ready to solve the crime. When he sees a bug chewing on a carrot leaf, the chase is on. Rabbit, pig, goat and the crows—seeing themselves as innocent bystanders—offer their help and sympathies. In his determination to apprehend the insect, Max misses some significant clues (like the green bean falling out of the goat’s mouth!). When Max chases the bug over the fence line, the animals pick the last of the crops for a party; then, worried the thief might return, they gobble the food up for safekeeping. Gouache on paper applied
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with different brush-stroke techniques creates texture and depth. The illustrations, done in a warm color palette, offer a nice feeling of light and color, and the stylized animals move through expansive, friendly environments under a bright, blue sky. The playful text also offers plenty of hints to readers, who will smile at the canine’s well-intentioned efforts. A lighthearted romp. (Picture book. 3-7)
DISAPPEARANCE AT HANGMAN’S BLUFF
Thompson, J.E. Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 2, 2014 978-0-06-210449-6 Series: Felony Bay Mysteries, 2 Intrepid sleuths and best friends Abbey Force, descendent of the former owners of Reward Plantation, and Bee Force, descendent of slaves on that same plantation, set out to solve another mystery in the South Carolina Lowcountry. When Abbey and Bee witness the kidnapping of Judge Gator’s beloved dog, they are determined to find and rescue him. Snooping around in search of the missing canine, they discover that something much bigger than dognapping is going on on Leadenwah Island. Despite repeated warnings from their guardians, the girls continue their investigations, making enemies of some very unsavory characters, discovering a dead body in a truck and finding themselves in mortal danger on multiple occasions. Bee’s grandmother has become involved in identifying and preserving slave graveyards on the island, a passion that becomes an important plot point in Abbey and Bee’s perilous adventures while simultaneously adding a bit of a philosophical air to this otherwise plot-driven page-turner. Grandma Em’s interest spurs the girls to research their family histories together for a school report, an effort that enables them to acknowledge the difficult past they share while expressing gratitude for their friendship and their futures. Nail-biting suspense, distinctive yet realistic characters and an abundance of local color will win this one lots of fans. (Mystery. 9-12)
MOE IS BEST
Torrey, Richard Illus. by Torrey, Richard Holiday House (24 pp.) $14.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2837-3 Series: I Like to Read
This series dares to make entertaining reads from short texts and familiar vocabulary. Repetitions of “Moe can...” are offset by contrasting images of a “little” monkey brother attempting to accomplish tasks better suited to his older siblings. Torrey takes adult caregivers on a reminiscent journey through the familiar chores and lores of home life as a kid even as he transports child readers from the bathroom sink to the outdoor basketball court. The older, playful siblings chide Moe’s overconfidence (“I am the best,” he says over and over) yet comfort him after countless missed baskets, helping him to realize he is the best at something: “trying.” The artwork lends as much simplicity as the language, stepping away from elaborate detail for a simple, streamlined palette digitally filled from the author’s illustration board. What readers are left with is a short anecdote of familial competition that delivers a quick but salient message. This lighthearted take on youthful determination and the value of continued effort successfully avoids undue complexity, allowing both message and story to reach their emergent-reader audience. (Early reader. 4-6)
FORGET ME NOT
van Laan, Nancy Illus. by Graegin, Stephanie Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 PLB | Aug. 5, 2014 978-0-449-81543-4 978-0-449-81544-1 PLB A delicate, perceptive look at an elderly loved one with dementia. Julia’s grandmother’s eyes sparkled like candles on a cake, and she always smelled like lilac and cinnamon whenever they cuddled up close. But lately, “ever so slowly, like a low tide leaving the bay, a change came along.” Julia’s grandma is becoming more and more forgetful. Van Laan gently takes readers through the different stages of dementia, from Grandma forgetting names (“she liked to scramble our names for breakfast instead of eggs”) and then events, forgetting where she parked, mixing things up in the kitchen and repeating herself to eventually wandering outside in a snowstorm and being unable to care for herself. Told from Julia’s perspective, the story is tinged with the little girl’s confusion and worry, but the ultimate tone is one of love and reassurance. Julia knows there is no cure but still hugs her grandma tight every time they visit. A soft palette of warm greens and yellows and the unmistakable blue of forget-me-not flowers blankets readers in a wash of grandmotherly comfort. Poignant but not overly sentimental—and actually quite light in some places—this quiet offering opens up a discussion of a condition that affects many. (Picture book. 4-8)
Veteran Torrey joins the stable of author-illustrators contributing to the I Like to Read picture-book series, crafting a family tale of persistence and confidence that serves as a timely lesson in a text explicitly aimed at the youngest budding readers. 104
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“Westerfeld clearly has a good time here, but he resists broad satire, focusing on Darcy’s coming-of-age as a writer who’s got the ‘juice.’” from afterworlds
STORM SIREN
Weber, Mary Thomas Nelson (320 pp.) $15.99 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-4016-9034-2 Series: Storm Siren, 1 A slave girl struggles to control her supernatural storm-bringing power in this series opener. Seventeen-year-old Nym causes lightning strikes that kill those who make her angry, but they also inadvertently kill innocents. Adora, a powerful noblewoman in the kingdom of Faelen, witnesses Nym’s power and buys her for use as a weapon in the ongoing war against Bron, which Faelen stands in imminent danger of losing. Even as Nym submits to her enslaved status, she remains defiant, especially when Adora orders her to work with a handsome trainer, Eogan, to learn to control herself. She and Colin, a boy who can cause earthquakes, work together. Nym also forms an attachment with Colin’s blind sister, Breck, working as a servant in Adora’s household. All of these characters come together in the final (for this installment) battle to save Faelen and one another. Weber builds a fascinating and believable fantasy world, inventing epithets (“Teeth of a pig, what the litches was that?”) and combining medieval and modern elements (a feudal system and antibiotics, for instance). Her characters’ paranormal powers work well, and she weaves in just enough mystery about each character that they all remain interesting. The story ends with a gutsy surprise that many readers will find unusual in this genre and that leaves them poised for the next volume. Inventive and entertaining. (Fantasy. 12-18)
AFTERWORLDS
Westerfeld, Scott Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (640 pp.) $19.99 | $10.99 e-book | Sep. 23, 2014 978-1-4814-2234-5 978-1-4814-2236-9 e-book Westerfeld offers two novels in one: the story of Lizzie Scofield, a teenager who escapes a terrorist attack by somehow crossing into the afterlife and develops a relationship with a “smoldering Vedic psychopomp,” and the story of 18-year-old Darcy Patel, who has just signed a contract to publish the novel Lizzie anchors. In alternating chapters, the two books unfold. The stillliving Lizzie pursues a relationship with Yamaraj, who protects newly crossed spirits from otherworldly predators, even as she negotiates her new powers to cross over and interact with ghosts, especially the little lost soul who haunts her closet. Meanwhile, Darcy decides to forgo college for the glamor of a writer’s life in New York City, struggling to revise Afterworlds and draft Untitled Patel as she watches her $300,000 advance vanish into agent |
commissions, rent, and fancy, foodie ramen. She also enters the tightknit, often bitchy world of YA writers, where she meets and falls for Imogen. Westerfeld clearly has a good time here, but he resists broad satire, focusing on Darcy’s coming-of-age as a writer who’s got the “juice.” Likewise, Darcy’s novel isn’t half bad, displaying a control that’s missing from far too many paranormal debuts. Readers who pay attention will see how Darcy’s learning curve plays out and how she incorporates and transmutes her real-world experiences into her novel. Watching Darcy’s story play off Darcy’s novel will fascinate readers as well as writers. (Fiction. 14 & up)
THANK YOU GOD
Wigger, J. Bradley Illus. by Jago Eerdmans (26 pp.) $16.00 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-0-8028-5424-7
Simplicity made plain and lovely carries a nondenominational prayer of gratitude for all that is. Jago’s images, “rendered in digital paints and photographic textures,” are striking and occasionally startling: Layers of color combine with multiple swirling lines, waves and textures to create very clear images of adults, children, animals and the natural world. The words are not flashy, eschewing sentimentality and didacticism. A child’s voice expresses thanks for family, for home, for food, for “new words I learned today, / … / for songs sung, / and for love whispered.” There is gratitude for the whole world, as well as its plants and animals, rain and sky, night and light. The human figures may represent one family or all families, as they gather around a table or at the seashore, with differing skin tones and hair textures and a variety of ages, from babies in arms to elders using canes. God is not defined or delimited in any way, so that any believer might find a way to prayer in these words. (Picture book. 4-7)
MYSTERY OF THE EAGLE’S NEST
Wight, Tamra Illus. by DiRocco, Carl Islandport Press (175 pp.) $16.95 | Aug. 21, 2014 978-1-939017-35-2 Series: Cooper and Packrat, 2
In the second eco-mystery in the Cooper and Packrat series, Cooper and his friends are on the trail of eagle poachers. Nature-lover and critter-defender Cooper Wilder works at his family’s business, the Wilder Family Campground, where he does odd jobs and, to his chagrin, cleans cabins and toilets. With the help of his best friends, Packrat and Roy, he also hides
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“Images repeat and transform from imagined glimpses through the windows of Cornell’s house to a view into the artist’s dreams and memories.” from mr. cornell’s dream boxes
geocache boxes throughout the campground for the campers to track and uncover. On a routine check of one of the boxes, Cooper finds himself pursued by two goofy suit- and tie-clad goons bent on stealing it from him. After losing them, he and Packrat open the box—but they don’t find the usual logbook and pencil. Instead, it contains a real eagle’s head adorning a ceremonial stick along with a pair of eagle claws and a handful of feathers. Knowing that the birds are a protected species, Cooper dives into the mystery. Wight ratchets up the threat level when the two men—as well as a series of additional suspicious-looking guests—check into the campground. The well-plotted story with spot-on kid dialogue will have readers alternately laughing and puzzling out the mystery; DiRocco’s simple black-andwhite illustrations neatly highlight both funny and serious moments. Alas, going without depiction is one hilarious scene in which one of Cooper’s friends attempts to distract the bad guys by burping through the alphabet. This mystery soars while the feathers and fun fly. (Mystery. 8-12)
A MILLION WAYS HOME
Winget, Dianna Dorisi Scholastic (256 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Aug. 26, 2014 978-0-545-66706-7 978-0-545-66707-4 e-book After the grandmother she has always lived with has a stroke, 12-year-old Poppy Parker faces tough tasks: She is asked to identify a murderer, and a dog she’s fallen in love with will be put down if she can’t
prove its worth. Poppy has never forgiven her parents for taking a job in Botswana and getting killed there. Her now-hospitalized grandmother is really the only parent she’s ever known. Through a series of bad decisions, the distraught girl becomes a vital witness in a murder case and is endangered because she told the armed robber her name. Detective Trey Brannigan removes her from the children’s shelter where she’s spent a week and a half and sends her to stay with his mother, Marti. Through her, she meets Carol, who runs the Spokane Animal Shelter, her wayward daughter, Lizzie, and Gunner, a German shepherd who bit a small boy. Angry Lizzie becomes a friend, and training Gunner gives Poppy something to do with her days while she waits, worrying about her Grandma Beth and whether she will be returned to the shelter if she helps the police capture the killer. There are harsh and scary moments and hard truths to be sad about in this modern family tale, but appropriately for the audience, it ends positively, both for dog and child. All the pieces come together for an emotionally satisfying read. (Fiction. 9-12)
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MR. CORNELL’S DREAM BOXES
Winter, Jeanette Illus. by Winter, Jeanette Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-4424-9900-3 978-1-4424-9902-7 e-book
A gentle homage to artist Joseph Cornell explores artistic inspiration for very young readers and listeners. Winter presents Cornell in the context of home on Utopia Parkway: caring for his brother upstairs, dreaming in his backyard, assembling his unique shadow boxes in the cellar of the house in Queens, New York, where artists and collectors eventually come to visit, as the author’s note reveals. Winter offers a look at a form of artistic expression within reach of her audience, explaining that Cornell was neither painter nor sculptor, yet he created “WONDERLANDS covered in glass.” She charmingly discloses that Cornell loved sweets and imagines child readers or listeners as one of the neighbors Cornell might have invited to a special exhibit of his boxes. Winter’s digitally rendered art is delicate and inviting. Images repeat and transform from imagined glimpses through the windows of Cornell’s house to a view into the artist’s dreams and memories. The plain outlines of his house are overlaid with images of a swan and a moon in one illustration, bright birds in another. She conveys the dreamlike quality of his work, even when strange or disquieting: “He remembered learning about stars, / and how the endless sky scared him.” Winter captures in two dimensions a great deal of the evocative nature of Cornell’s three-dimensional work in a way that will be intriguing for the very young. (Picture book/ biography. 3-7)
LITTLE PUPPY AND THE BIG GREEN MONSTER
Wohnoutka, Mike Illus. by Wohnoutka, Mike Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-3064-2
Little Puppy’s persistence wins him an unexpected friend. When the school bus departs, Little Puppy is left alone with his red ball and without playmates. Initial attempts to engage a man sleeping in a hammock, a group of big dogs and a cat provoke respective comments of “Too lazy. / Too mean! / Too boring.” When Little Puppy encounters the eponymous Big Green Monster, it is sitting on a bench reading a book, and even though the big dogs were intimidating, Little Puppy approaches the monster and tries to play hide-and-seek and tag. Undeterred by repeated rebuffs, Little Puppy dogs the monster as it tries to simply have some alone time with its book, and he even follows it back home. Ultimately, the monster softens a bit when Little Puppy licks its face, and the new friends
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end up curling up together for bedtime snuggles. Throughout, softly sweet, cartoonish illustrations depict the intrepid puppy and the big green monster, both of whom are quite cute in very different ways, with an emphasis on scale; that monster sure is big. Vignettes convey the slapstick of the interactions, while full- and double-page spreads emphasize emotion. This sweet story of new, unusual friendship is sure to elicit plenty of giggles. (Picture book. 2-5)
LULU IN HONOLULU
Wolf, Elisabeth Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (288 pp.) $6.99 paper | Aug. 5, 2014 978-1-4926-0487-7 The fabulous Hawaiian vacation Lulu dreamed of is in jeopardy after her parents’ movie goes over budget and their attention is needed elsewhere. Lulu’s director mom and actor dad promised they’d be home every night to spend time with Lulu and her older sister, Alexis, but the demands of the studio make it nearly impossible for their Hawaiian summer to be anything but a bummer. Lulu tries to improve the situation by helping her parents out on set and at home, but disaster strikes again and again. With her precocious and perky attitude, Lulu grates rather than endears, and the world she inhabits feels less like reality and more like an obnoxious children’s sitcom. It’s sweet that the youngster wants to spend time with her parents, but there’s no real urgency to her need for parental interaction: The pair are fairly present throughout the book, making Lulu seem spoiled rather than abandoned. Far more interesting are the book’s structure (the endeavor is written as a screenplay) and Hawaiian setting and culture, a culture Wolf is able to weave in effortlessly. Instead of feeling like a flimsy travelogue, the setting feels real and lived-in. It’s unfortunate her characters and scenario aren’t as well thought-out. Too cute to function. (Fiction. 8-12)
THE ORCHESTRA PIT
Wright, Johanna Illus. by Wright, Johanna Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (32 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 19, 2014 978-1-59643-769-2 A snake meandering into “the wrong pit” leads readers through this appealing introduction to an orchestra and its instruments—brass, wind instruments, strings and percussion. Children in simple uniforms perform in a sunken outdoor amphitheater framed by trees. The snake’s narration channels a child’s guilelessness, but there are sly bits, too. Coiling attentively before a cross-legged musician on a round rug, the snake quips, “That oboe is rather charming.” After presenting |
the violin, viola and cello in their respectively graduating sizes, the snake confesses, “I’m quite attached to the bass.” A page turn reveals a dramatic central spread: The sheepish narrator has swallowed the bass fiddle whole! Some performers quail at the snake’s presence, of course; a benign animal-control guy conducts a brief, fruitless search. Visual and textual clues reveal the adjacent setting (a zoo) by likening the music to animal sounds: As the brass section plays, the snake asks, “Is that an elephant I hear?” Wright simply depicts the adult conductor’s instructive movements: arms drawn in close for “Quiet…” and outstretched for “Loud!” Thinly applied acrylic paint in green, purple and brown reveals the canvas’ weave, while black ink contours and delineates instruments, kids and animals. Dots and dashes depict facial features, but varying skin colors and hair textures suggest a diverse, engaged community. Back at the right pit, the snake twists into a treble clef— a charming endnote. (Picture book. 3-6)
NANCY KNOWS
Young, Cybèle Illus. by Young, Cybèle Tundra (40 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 12, 2014 978-1-77049-482-4
Nancy is an elephant who has forgotten something, and she just can’t remember what it could be. She uses all the tricks she can as she struggles to come up with the missing information, but nothing works. She thinks of clothes, things with wheels, colors, things that fly, food, and all kinds of other odds and ends and ideas just out of reach. It is only when she relaxes and stops thinking about it that she remembers a play date at the park. The slight tale is charming, but it is merely the vehicle for a truly beautiful and unique visual tour de force. Young creates delicately worked, detailed illustrations of the things Nancy does remember and sorts them into a wide variety of categories shown within graphite-pencil outlines of Nancy’s elephantine body in front, back, overhead and sideways perspectives. She appears standing or rearing, sleeping or sitting. Things are remembered neatly or jumbled up; sights, sounds and smells are recalled, as well as places and objects, all in interesting juxtapositions. Each item is a tiny, intricate sculpture made with Japanese papers. Colorful shapes in abstract design and amazingly detailed, seemingly three-dimensional objects demand intense, close examination, and fingers will tingle with the wish to lift them off the page. It’s a work to be shared in wonderment and delight. Pure fascination. (Picture book. 3-10) (This review was first published in the BEA/ALA 2014 issue.)
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ECHOES OF US
Zhang, Kat Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Sep. 16, 2014 978-0-06-211493-8 978-0-06-211495-2 e-book Series: Hybrid Chronicles, 3 The struggle for hybrid rights goes very public in the conclusion to Zhang’s dystopian trilogy. In the aftermath of the Powatt bombing, Eva, Addie and their fellow fugitive hybrids are more notorious and hunted than ever. Nevertheless, when capture and arrest begin to seem inevitable, Eva and Addie, sisters who inhabit the same body, refuse to seek refuge overseas. Instead they strike a deal with Marion, an ambitious journalist who wants to air an exposé of hybrid institutions. Marion promises to arrange for the release of Addie’s beloved, Jackson, if the sisters go undercover to film the footage she wants. Zhang deftly portrays the horrors of institutional life, and her writing shines when she focuses on Eva and Addie’s sisterhood and their interactions with their family and friends. Their tense relationship with Bridget, a returning character from the series opener, What’s Left of Me (2012), is a highlight of the novel. The limits of Zhang’s worldbuilding and plotting, however, become apparent as the narrative focuses more on the public political fight for hybrid rights. Eva and Addie’s increasingly prominent role in the hybrid movement strains credulity, and much of the denouement seems improbable and overtidy. Though some fans of the characters may be satisfied, this finale doesn’t fulfill the promise of the series’ highly original premise. (Dystopian adventure. 13-17)
WHERE IS THE ROCKET?
Ziefert, Harriet Illus. by Barroux Blue Apple (40 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 12, 2014 978-1-60905-340-6
A mobile inspires a child’s dream of flying in a rocket. Vibrant cover art depicts a child peering through a round window. The same child is then shown tucked into bed beneath a mobile with stars, planets and a rocket with round windows; attentive readers will recognize this decoration from front endpapers. Ensuing pages show the child traveling through space in the rocket and eventually zipping around an earthly environment, too. Meanwhile, Ziefert’s text invites speculation by posing questions like “Where are we going?” and “Are we there yet?” This participatory approach is heightened when pictures use the book’s physicality to elucidate text—for example, “up…and on the left” is accompanied by a picture of the rocket moving upward. The text then employs direct address to ask, “What’s on your left?” Ultimately, dreamscapes recede to reiterate the 108
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image of the child in bed and the rocket dangling from the mobile. A concluding page of text resounds, “HERE!” heralding the return and then shifts to a closing interrogative stance, inviting readers to respond to questions like “What’s to your right? What’s to your left?” There’s an inverted echo of Goodnight Moon here, with the text resisting naming things in its realm and instead asking child readers to name things in theirs. An appealing goodnight book, though all those questions might suggest an earlier bedtime in order to accommodate them all. (Picture book. 2-4)
board -book roundup PETS
Abbott, Simon Illus. by Abbott, Simon Kingfisher (10 pp.) $7.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-7534-7156-2 Series: Pop and Play Paper engineering animates a bevy of domestic animals as the pages turn. A dog jumps over a fence, a goldfish splashes in a fish tank, a rabbit pops up from behind a gate, and more in this new Pop and Play offering. Abbott’s boldly outlined cartoons in highly saturated colors give the pets a lively and friendly air. The almost unnecessary text often captions the action with a fact about each animal (“Kittens like to play”) and includes one question or instruction per scene to engage readers (“Count the paw prints.”) The companion title, Under the Sea, features sea creatures and includes the same page-animating pop-ups: A dolphin leaps through the waves, baby and mother whales spout water, various sea creatures explore a shipwreck, and more. As in the first book, the playful art is more appealing than the pedestrian text, but its pop-up features are some of the best in the series. Particularly eye-catching are the octopus’ legs, which burst out of the book, and the clown fishes’ tails, which appear to wiggle when the book is manipulated. An enjoyable, affordable addition to this accessible series. (Pop-up/board book. 2-4) (Under the Sea: 978-0-7534-7155-5)
FIVE HUNGRY PANDAS! A Count and Crunch Book Barad-Cutler, Alexis Illus. by Poling, Kyle Cartwheel/Scholastic (10 pp.) $6.99 | Jun. 24, 2014 978-0-545-53183-2
Barad-Cutler offers an eye-catching introduction to counting forward and backward.
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“Barrett’s verse scans with a pleasingly jaunty rhythm. Pham’s… eye-catching patterns on the clothing and in the backgrounds infuse the scenes with a lively energy.” from pat-a- cake
The design of this novelty offering features a large window cut from its center, with five happy pandas peering in from the edges, their number and arrangement shifting as the pages are turned. Upon opening the book, one of the five pandas is moved over to the left-hand page, which reads: “1 hungry panda eats something yummy.” This leaves four pandas on the right-hand page, pictured above text that reads: “But 4 hungry pandas still need to fill their tummies!” This formula—pandas increasing on the left and decreasing on the right to the rhythm of short, snappy couplets referencing the number of pandas in each scene—zips along until the final spread. Here, the lefthand page shows all five pandas, as expected, reading “5 hungry pandas eat a yummy snack,” while the right-hand page shows only an empty window above the words, “Now 5 happy pandas are ready for their nap.” Aside from the problematic concluding rhyme, a bit of confusion is introduced when the final page mentions five pandas yet pictures none. The illustrations are cheery and bright and the black print, appropriately large and bold with the numerals printed in color. A generally pleasing primer on simple counting concepts for toddlers and preschoolers. (Board book. 2-4)
PAT-A-CAKE
Barrett, Mary Brigid Illus. by Pham, LeUyen Candlewick (16 pp.) $6.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-7636-4358-4 Moving on from baked goods, a diverse group of toddlers pat everything from an acorn to a puddle. “Pat a kiwi. Pat a peach. / Pat a plump tomato. // Pat a pickle, / cold and bumpy. / Pat a brown potato.” Barrett’s verse scans with a pleasingly jaunty rhythm. Pham’s stylized cartoons are done in a muted color palette; eye-catching patterns on the clothing and in the backgrounds infuse the scenes with a lively energy. The last two double-page spreads skillfully bring the energy down as a pair of brown-skinned siblings pat Mommy, Dad and each other before patting a pillow and teddy at bedtime. The sister book, All Fall Down, has a longer, rhymed text but the same buoyant energy and equally diverse cast. On the first double-page spread, a Caucasian boy and a girl of African descent stack a tower of alphabet blocks and joyfully topple them over on the verso as the text exclaims, “ALL FALL DOWN!” This pattern is repeated as gravity gets the better of a trio of tykes constructing a dam in a stream, a highchair-confined girl building a mountain of mashed potatoes, and an Asian family enjoying a game of “Ring-Aroundthe-Rosie.” In both books, some parents may cringe at little ones climbing a tree and cavorting around a stream unsupervised and patting a caterpillar (some varieties are harmful to the touch) in the lighthearted scenes, but youngsters will recognize the exuberance represented here as their own. With its companion title, a playful romp in a pleasetouch-and-explore world. (Board book. 18 mos.-3) (All Fall Down: 978-0-7636-4430-7) |
CLARE BEATON’S GARDEN RHYMES
Beaton, Clare Illus. by Beaton, Clare Barefoot (16 pp.) $6.99 | Apr. 30, 2014 978-1-78285-081-6 Series: Clare Beaton’s Board Books
This diminutive board book of garden-themed nursery rhymes is illustrated with sewn fabric scenes. Seven traditional nursery rhymes set in the garden are featured here, one to a spread. They range from well-known verses such as “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” and “Lavender Blue” to more obscure ones, like “Daffodil Song” and “I Had a Little Cherry Stone.” Beaton’s signature fabric illustrations are clearly meant to take center stage here. Each one is a scene carefully stitched and brought to life with small pieces of cloth and thread, lending them the old-fashioned charm of a sampler or quilt. Beaton’s style fits well with the traditional nurseryrhyme content, and adults will appreciate the creativity, skill and effort involved here. Little ones, on the other hand, may be less impressed by the illustrations—which are rather muted in comparison to the high-contrast lines and bold art that bring to life many of today’s board books—although they will certainly enjoy the rhythm and sounds of the selected verses. Beaton’s Animal Rhymes collects seven animal-related nursery rhymes with illustrations in the same distinctive style. The small size and detail-oriented pictures suit this sweet fabric bonbon to one-on-one sharing. (Board book. 1-4) (Clare Beaton’s Animal Rhymes: 978-1-78285-080-9)
GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS
Belle, Trixie; Caruso-Scott, Melissa Illus. by Lake, Oliver Henry Holt (26 pp.) $7.99 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-8050-9912-6 Series: Les Petit Fairytales The flaxen-haired tyke makes her infamous visit to the bears’ house in this simplified adaptation. The classic story is told with minimal text, one or two words per double-page spread. Goldilocks uses speech bubbles to describe the porridge, chairs and beds (“Too hot. / Too cold. / Just right”). The bears look bemused when they find the girl snoozing in Baby Bear’s bed, and they offer an amicable and winsome goodbye when she dashes off. The richly colored cartoons, likely created with the aid of a computer, present friendly-looking characters with oversize heads. The companion release is a stripped-down version of “Little Red Riding Hood” following the same format and style, right down to the sparkly heroine’s outfit and glittery letters employed on the cover. Youngsters unfamiliar with the story may need adult help to understand that the friendly, cross-dressing wolf has actually swallowed
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“Blair’s Helen Oxenbury–like crayon-and-watercolor double-page spreads and vignettes capture the endearing tots’ enthusiasm and energy.” from baby animal farm
Grandma, since all the readers see is a “Woodsman” examining the wolf ’s teeth and then sending the predator away in shame. Out of all the titles in the series, Goldilocks’ adventures are the most cogent and age-appropriate. (Board book. 2-4) (Little Red Riding Hood: 978-0-8050-9905-8)
Woof! takes readers on a similar tour of a welcoming backyard well-stocked with pets. The very simple text, easy-to-manage lift-the-flap fun, and the focus on farm animals and their sounds make this chunky offering a solid choice for babies and toddlers. (Board book. 6 mos.-2) (Woof! Woof!: 978-0-7636-6605-7)
BABY ANIMAL FARM
WHO CAN JUMP?
Blair, Karen Illus. by Blair, Karen Candlewick (16 pp.) $6.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-7069-6
A gaggle of tots meets various baby animals at the farm. This diverse group of toddlers encounters ducklings, chicks, kittens, a piglet, a calf and more. The gentle, predictable text is a rhythmic chant that captions their experiences: “Feed the lamb. / Baa, baa, baa. // Tickle the kids. / Maa, maa, maa.” Blair’s Helen Oxenbury-like crayon-and-watercolor double-page spreads and vignettes capture the endearing tots’ enthusiasm and energy. The baby critters are equally cute and cuddly in the art’s soft colors. While the picnic scene is a little unrealistic (how do these toddlers manage eating whole apples and pears?), it is nevertheless entirely engaging; Blair captures posture, balance and grasping hands deftly. This title is perfectly age-appropriate, with the right number of pages and just enough text for the intended audience. Here’s hoping these youngsters step out for another adventure very soon. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)
MOO! MOO!
Braun, Sebastien Illus. by Braun, Sebastien Nosy Crow/Candlewick (10 pp.) $8.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-7066-5 Series: Can You Say It, Too?
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Toddlers are introduced to a variety of animals that jump in this lift-the-flap offering. On each left-hand page, large, black, wavering letters ask the question “Who can jump?” A stationary animal is pictured on the right-hand page. When the good-sized, rectangular flap on the right is opened, it reveals the animal in the act of jumping, hopping or leaping into the air along with a simple sentence: “A cat can jump” or “A frog can jump.” The final pages offer a small twist; a little blond child decked out in red rain gear is featured jumping into a puddle, along with the words: “You can jump!” The cheerful mixed-media illustrations are what make this offering stand out. Thick lines, simple shapes and bold colors make the pictures especially toddler friendly. Companion volume Who Can Swim? is even more engaging, as it incorporates a bit of a guessing game. Only a small portion of each animal is depicted when the flap is closed, allowing little ones a chance to guess which animal will ultimately be revealed. Also, the flaps here are different shapes, adding some welcome variety and mimicking the fluidity of the water. Simple and sweet lift-the-flap fare that toddlers will love. (Board book. 6 mos.-2) (Who Can Swim: 978-0-7636-6752-8)
SPRINGTIME BABY
In this refreshingly simple lift-the-flap offering, friendly animals play hide-and-seek all around the farm. “Who’s that in the barn?” Eager little hands will lift the large barn-shaped flap to reveal “a friendly cow! Moo! Moo!” On the following pages, they’ll find a “noisy rooster” behind a bucket, a “hungry horse” behind some trees and a “woolly sheep” next to the hay. On the final spread, a “happy pig” hides inside a stall. For an extra surprise, the pig itself is a second flap concealing five adorable piglets. Parts of each animal appear behind the flaps—the back end of a cow, one horse’s hoof and a sheep’s ear, for example—providing little hints that will inspire kids to guess which creature is hiding there. The hidden animals all look cheerful and friendly, and the illustrations are a series of simple, idyllic farm scenes with lots of additional animals for kids to spot and identify, including birds, a ladybug, an owl, a spider, some mice and more. Publishing simultaneously, Woof! 110
Braun, Sebastien Illus. by Braun, Sebastien Candlewick (14 pp.) $6.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-7636-6753-5
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Broach, Elise Illus. by Doerrfeld, Cori LB Kids/Little, Brown (14 pp.) $7.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-316-23526-6 Broach rounds out her celebration of the seasons (Seashore Baby, 2010; Snowflake Baby, 2011; Barnyard Baby, 2013) with this cheerful ode to the wonders of spring. This time, the winsome toddler, still accompanied only by her little brown puppy, puts on her rain boots and eagerly heads out the door into the drizzly spring day. She makes mud pies, plays in puddles and discovers some wildlife: ducklings in the meadow, baby birds in the rose bushes and bumblebees in the flower beds. When she finally heads back inside, it’s to take a much-needed bath and drift off to sleep with her pup snuggled in beside her. The right-hand pages feature strategically placed flaps that reveal a key part of each pastel-steeped scene. The
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tiny adventurer is as adorable as ever, but the spare verse is not quite as nimble and elegant here as in the other titles—take, for example, “Mud pie baby / Messy hand // Puddle baby / Stomp and stand.” Nonetheless, fans of the previous volumes will certainly want this one to complete the set. This joyful lift-the-flap adventure will inspire little ones to head outdoors to see if spring has sprung in their neck of the woods. (Board book. 1-3)
cartoon cherubs with quizzical grins. Out of all the six different children, though, it is a shame that only one does not appear to be Caucasian. Church’s color palette is appropriately gentle and muted, with a variety of pajama-print patterns adding interest. The foil, star-adorned cover is sure to attract browsers. This is a sweet book; it’s a darn shame the children are so monochromatic. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)
JOJO’S FIRST WORD BOOK
TEN TINY TOES
Deneux, Xavier Illus. by Deneux, Xavier Twirl/Chronicle (60 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-2-84801-943-7
Church, Caroline Jayne Illus. by Church, Caroline Jayne Cartwheel/Scholastic (22 pp.) $8.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-545-53601-1 A playful exploration of the body for the littlest learners. This deceptively simple offering engages toddlers by asking them to participate in the fun by identifying various parts of their bodies and moving them about: “Touch your ears, make them wiggle. / Touch your belly, laugh and giggle. // Touch your mouth, open wide. / Touch your arms, wave side to side.” Periodically, the action is interrupted by a catalog of body parts in the form of a catchy refrain: “Mouth, ears, eyes, nose, // arms, belly, legs, / and ten tiny toes!” The brief, lyrical text, the opportunities for interactivity and the focus on a subject dear to toddlers’ hearts—themselves and all their glorious parts—make this a candidate for repeat readings. The illustrations feature a happy, shaggy-haired Caucasian toddler and his little teddy bear. The backgrounds are kept simple, focusing readers’ attention on the little one as he explores his body as the text directs. In a sweet conclusion, the toddler embraces his teddy, no body part to highlight here—only “a love that grows and grows.” Great fun for one-on-one sharing and a perfect toddler storytime selection. (Board book. 3 mos.-3)
This French import is an encyclopedic exploration of the world of a 2-year-old bunny named Jojo. On thinner-than-normal board pages, readers learn about Jojo and his family, Jojo’s house, his neighborhood and other places he visits, and various animals. Each section is divided by a tabbed page of thick paperboard. Deneux’s graphically simple and appealing cartoons on mostly white backgrounds in warm and inviting colors are the attraction here. Everyday objects are recognizable without being boring. The disjointed animal section is the least successful, and the spider and octopus as well as many insects have incorrect numbers of legs. The text, set in a difficult-to-read scriptlike type, consists of short sentences describing the scene (there is no story here) and captions just below the objects and animals. The whole package sports a thick paperboard “house” glued to the front cover, and a handle made of cord is fastened to the spine. These gimmicks undoubtedly triggered the choking-hazard symbol (indicating that the book is inappropriate for children under 3) found on the back of the book, despite the suggestion right above it that reads “Ages 18 months and up.” Here’s hoping Deneux can find a more developmentally appropriate package for his accessible cartoons. (Board book. 3-4)
TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH
Diesen, Deborah Illus. by Hanna, Dan Farrar, Straus and Giroux (12 pp.) $5.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-374-37084-8
Church, Caroline Jayne—Illus. Cartwheel/Scholastic (12 pp.) $6.99 | Jun. 24, 2014 978-0-545-51806-2 A sweet and sparkly version of the classic song. Young stargazers, one per double-page spread, look longingly at the heavens with their teddy bears or dolls in tow. The pajama-clad little ones are shown wide-awake in indoor and outdoor settings until the final scene, which depicts a tyke peacefully slumbering in a bed. One line of the song is shared per spread, nicely synchronizing the singing with the page turns. Church’s style, which she has employed in other versions of classic children’s songs, features bold black line drawings of |
This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers. Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What
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a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face. An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)
SNUGGLE THE BABY
Gillingham, Sara Illus. by Gillingham, Sara abramsappleseed (12 pp.) $12.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4197-1124-4
This interactive offering invites little ones to practice taking care of babies, playing with them, feeding them and putting them to bed. The left-hand pages describe what babies want and need, while the right-hand pages provide opportunities to experiment with caring for babies. The book begins, “Babies love to play! Sometimes babies like peekaboo. Other times babies like to make noise. I like to TICKLE my baby’s belly.” The right-hand page reads simply, “LIKE THIS!” and features a large illustration of a baby with a thin flap that lifts to reveal her belly for tickling. While the opportunities for interaction will engage children, they involve some rather flimsy movable parts and easily lost pieces that are designed to be removed entirely and placed back in their slots, including a bottle for feeding baby and a cutout of baby to tuck in her bed. To boot, the page that asks kids to close baby’s diaper and snap her onesie invites frustration, as it features tabs that won’t stay shut. The illustrations—heavy on blue, pink and yellow and featuring wide-eyed, red-cheeked infants—lend this title the feel of a vintage book of paper dolls, albeit ethnically diverse ones. An intriguing concept, but toddlers and preschoolers will need to be closely supervised if it’s to last beyond a single reading. (Board book. 2-4)
JESUS SAVES ME
Grant, Callie Illus. by Stowe, Jodie Graham Blanchard (18 pp.) $8.99 | Jan. 26, 2014 978-0-9854090-2-9 Series: Knowing My God
explaining what a shepherd does, how Jesus is a shepherd and that his followers are his “sheep.” On each facing page is a large photo illustrating the ideas in the text with images of sheep, shepherds and ethnically diverse children at play. The cover, as well as the first two and last two pages of the book, features amateurish cartoons of young children, likely composed on a computer, which jar startlingly against the photos. A note for grown-ups appears at the end describing how to share the book with children of different ages and encouraging parents to let the book grow “with your child.” This suggestion is helpful, since much of the text will likely go over the heads of typical board-book readers. Literal-minded toddlers may be confused by such assertions as, “You—and other people who believe in Jesus are His sheep!” The inferior book design and dense text do not serve this Bible verse well. (Board book. 2-4)
LITTLE SEED A Life
Grant, Callie Illus. by Etienne, Suzanne Graham Blanchard (24 pp.) $8.99 | Feb. 1, 2014 978-0-9854090-7-4
The life story of a seed is set in a biblical context. Readers are introduced on the first page to Little Seed, who will serve as the uninspiring and often hard-to-spot main character of this tale. It floats to the ground and is buried in the soil until winter arrives and the earth freezes. Lest readers worry about Little Seed at this point, they are offered the startling—for no religious or spiritual context has been thus far established—reassurance that “God gave Little Seed everything it needed. Its hard coat protected it. Little Seed was safe.” When spring comes, Little Seed’s softened shell splits open, and a sprout and roots begin to grow. At this point, the illustrations present several small seedlings, making it impossible to even identify Little Seed. When summer rolls around, Little Seed has become a sunflower that must reproduce in fall to fulfill its destiny. The final page spread attempts to tie everything together by offering a quotation referencing gardens and seeds from Isaiah 61:11. The illustrations, an unusual mixture of realism and impressionism, are plagued by inconsistencies. The permanent fixtures of Little Seed’s background, for example, seem to change from season to season, though presumably it remains rooted in the same spot. Lacking in consistency and coherence, this effort remains an interesting concept unsuccessfully executed. (Board book. 2-4)
An exegesis of John 10:14-16 for toddlers. The biblical text, which begins “I am the good shepherd,” is meted out in short lines on the right-hand side of each doublepage spread, written in type meant to look like a child’s handwriting. Below the Scripture on each spread there is a paragraph 112
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“This is a kinder and gentler savanna.” from a big hug for little cub
TOAST TO FAMILY
As realism is not the object here, these lions are cute, cuddly and toothless, safe for sharing a crib with baby. (Board book. 1-3)
Gross, Sandra; Busch, Leah Illus. by Gross, Sandra; Busch, Leah blue manatee press (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-936669-18-9 Series: Toast to Baby
A TREE FOR ALL SEASONS
The faces of a white-bread family—literally—are created on slices of toast with condiment features. Every member is introduced, one face per page, including pets, grandparents and cousins. Dad Toast has a large pat of butter for a nose, and squiggles of what looks to be apple butter make the mouth, eyes and eyebrows. The image of Brother Toast uses large panels of American cheese and squirts of red jelly to make a baseball hat, two beady eyes and a food-stained mouth. Bold text written in a brown type labels each family member and describes the characteristics of some (“Grandpa Toast, a bald head”). The family cat and dog meow and woof, and Grandma Toast utters the sole line of dialogue: “‘Hi, Honey!’” All of these images were made using kiln-formed glass. The back-cover blurb states that artists Gross and Busch make it their mission to introduce “young children to the wonderful properties of glass.” As talented as they are, why they chose to make a toast family is baffling. Few of the toast faces look appetizing, with cheese, jam, honey and a white substance (cream cheese?) all on one slice of bread. Many of the faces will be too abstract for young children—Teen Toast apparently has no eyes, Aunt Maude’s are odd splotches, and the honey-made mouth of one of the Toasty Twin Cousins is hard to discern. This is one breakfast to skip. (Board book. 1-3)
A BIG HUG FOR LITTLE CUB
Guittet, Maryse Illus. by Guittet, Maryse Twirl/Chronicle (8 pp.) $9.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-2-8480-1945-1
A year in the life of a tree. This cleverly designed novelty item is shaped like a tree; the trunk remains stable while the treetop forms the pages. Each subsequent page is bigger than the next, resulting in a layered front cover that reveals a slice of each page. In spring, the tree is covered with pink blossoms. A bird, ladybug and bee flit around its branches, and, out of place in the arboreal scene, a rabbit waits to be discovered behind a flap. Apples, a butterfly, dragonfly, caterpillar, fly, mouse and ants occupy the tree in summer, and this time, the flap reveals a worm munching a juicy apple. In the fall scene, the green background gives way to orange, against which individual leaves of red, gold and green stand out as well as a spider, snail and bird. Two flaps grace this page spread, concealing a squirrel and an owl. Readers will likely wonder about what has happened to winter, which has been given short shrift here— it’s pictured only on the back cover. Children will be attracted to the novel shape of this offering, but not much else about it stands out. Also, once the flaps have been lifted, they tend to stay open, preventing the book from closing properly. Skippable. (Board book. 2-4)
Grover, Lorie Ann Illus. by Kightley, Rosalinda Cartwheel/Scholastic (18 pp.) $7.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-545-53091-0
HIDE AND SEEK HARRY AROUND THE HOUSE
A day-in-the-life tale of a lion cub and his mother. From morning until night, the little wild cat enjoys pouncing, playing, exploring and preening while his momma looks on and offers a helping paw when needed. The youngster encounters a fellow cub and a couple of meerkats before hunkering down with momma for the night. Each double-page spread (on thinnerthan-normal board-book stock) provides a different view of the grassland setting in both bright and muted earth tones. Kightley’s paintings, which have the look of acrylic on canvas, are deft at capturing the sunny yellow cub and his playmate in motion. This is a kinder and gentler savanna. While the little feline appears to stalk a bird under his mother’s guidance, this feathered friend does not become a meal on subsequent pages. In gentle rhyming couplets meted out in one or two couplets per page, the first-person-narrator cub describes the action: “We run free. / So much to see. / Grasses sway. / I lead the way.” |
Harrison, Kenny Illus. by Harrison, Kenny Candlewick (22 pp.) $6.99 | May 13, 2014 978-0-7636-6602-6 Series: Hide and Seek Harry
A quick game of hide-and-seek with an enthusiastic but easy-to-find hippo. On the opening page, large, clear, black type reading “Harry is our best friend” appears beneath the image of a blondeheaded boy and a pig-tailed girl sitting astride a big gray hippo. We learn that Harry the hippo’s favorite game is hide-and-seek, but that he’s not very good at it. The subsequent illustrations make the point, depicting Harry attempting to conceal his bulk in a variety of easy-to-spot locations. For instance, he is shown sinking into a big tub of bubbles, cramming himself into the kitchen cabinets, snuggled in bed underneath the covers and crouched behind the doghouse. Luckily, the only thing Harry seems to like as much as hiding is being discovered by
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“The bold, contrasting colors and the simplicity and brevity of the text make this a great choice for infants and toddlers.” from honk, honk! baa, baa!
his friends, who embrace him in the final spread. Toddlers will enjoy outwitting Harry by quickly finding him in the bright, cheerful illustrations, and they will appreciate the culminating expression of friendship and affection. In Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach, the hippo takes his antics to the shore, futilely hiding, among other places, in the sand dunes, in a hammock and, most absurdly, behind a skinny palm tree. Not likely to be a longstanding favorite, but good for a brief bit of fun. (Board book. 1-3) (Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach: 978-0-7636-6603-3)
TICKLY TOES
Hood, Susan Illus. by Barroux Kids Can (24 pp.) $9.95 | Aug. 1, 2014 978-1-894786-52-2
scallop-edged, right-hand page is a little shorter than the one preceding it, leading to a surprise on the final spread. The blackand-white left-hand pages layer atop one another to form the body of a Holstein cow who says “MOO” as she sticks out her bright pink tongue. The mixed-media illustrations are cheery and child-friendly. The bold, contrasting colors and the simplicity and brevity of the text make this a great choice for infants and toddlers. A small quibble: The front cover prominently features the text: “lift the flaps,” which is misleading considering there are no actual flaps to be lifted; the final effect is built simply by turning the pages in typical fashion. A short and satisfying spin around the barnyard for babies. (Board book. 0-2)
SALLY AT THE FARM
Every milestone in a baby’s life calls for celebration. A mother and father tickle their baby’s tummy, sing songs, and offer treats and toys. They are met with only mild reaction, despite their charm and appeal, as depicted in Barroux’s signature illustrations. But when they wiggle and count and kiss his toes, this tea-colored baby laughs and squeals joyfully. Then: an amazing discovery. The baby pulls off those toe-confining booties, kicks and curls, stretches and reaches and grabs those toes! The tot glows with accomplishment and surprise and enjoys the whole endeavor enormously. Of course the proud parents encourage it all and beam with joy at this success. In an 8-inch-square format, Barroux’s large-scale, double-page spreads appear almost life-size, and the baby seems to be looking directly out at the readers. Rendered in acrylic and outlined in pencil, the deceptively simple cartoons perfectly match the action and convey all the emotions of this happy family. Hood’s bouncy, singsong rhymes beg to be read aloud as they speak directly to the baby in the story and to little listeners snuggled up for a bedtime story and perhaps a toe-tickling of their own. A lovely addition to the bedtime storybook shelf. (Board book. 1-4)
Huneck, Stephen Illus. by Huneck, Stephen abramsappleseed (20 pp.) $7.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4197-1030-8
The black Labrador of picture-book fame makes her board-book debut. Adapted from the book Sally Goes to the Farm (2002), the titular heroine enjoys a car ride, encounters various farm animals, and meets a new canine friend named Molly. Huneck’s vibrantly colored woodcut illustrations translate well to the smaller format whether on full- or double-page spreads. Most of the images will be easily recognizable to little ones who are still learning to identify farm critters. One or two sentences of very simple text are printed in a bold, black font against a white background on each spread to describe Sally and Molly’s antics. Sally in the Sand, an adaptation of Sally Goes to the Beach (2000), is an equally stripped-down version of the dog’s day playing in the sand and waves. While the ending is a bit abrupt, Huneck’s undulating lines are perfect for the seaside scenes. A playful romp that has lost little in its adaptation and miniaturization. (Board book. 18 mos.-3) (Sally in the Sand: 978-1-4197-1029-2)
WATER
HONK, HONK! BAA, BAA!
Hutton, John Illus. by Kang, Andrea blue manatee press (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-936669-20-2 Series: Baby Unplugged
Horácek, Petr Illus. by Horácek, Petr Candlewick (16 pp.) $7.99 | Jun. 10, 2014 978-0-7636-6780-1
This simple book of animal sounds concludes with a happy surprise. Each spread pictures a single animal against a divided background—black and white on the left and a solid vibrant hue—green, blue, yellow or red—on the right. The text is simple: “HEE-HAW, HEE-HAW says the donkey,” “BAA, BAA says the sheep” and likewise for the pig, cat and goose. Each 114
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The newest title in the Baby Unplugged series by pediatrician Hutton (Book, 2012, etc.) takes a toddler-friendly approach to its examination of the properties and virtues of water. In keeping with the author’s basic philosophy of encouraging active play and avoiding screen time before the age of 3, this title celebrates the rhythms of language while encouraging little ones to examine and explore the simple wonders of their
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world. Brief, rhyming verses, most of which scan well and read smoothly, convey a lot of information without coming across as too teacher-y or tedious: “Drop from clouds. Drip from sink. / Water to play. Water to drink. // Water is noisy. Water is quiet. / Water swirls and sprinkles—try it!” The computer-generated art creates a cheery, cartoon world filled with patterns, textures and children whose facial features are rendered with only black lines and circles. While the whimsical illustrations aren’t a perfect match for the text’s celebration of water—calling to mind as they do the plugged-in world of computers and television more than the wild world of nature—their joyful spirit is right on target. A sweet encouragement to play. (Board book. 1-3)
ORANGE, TRIANGLE, FOX
Jones, Sarah Illus. by Jones, Sarah blue manatee press (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-936669-21-9
An exploration of colors, shapes and animals. On the left-hand side of the page, against a solid background of the shade in question, a white shape with three words in its interior names the attributes being described: “purple heart bug” or “red square owl.” On the facing pages are Jones’ winsome animal drawings in what looks to be a watercolor wash in a pale shade of the featured hue. Each animal forms the shape that has been named—some more successfully than others. The hedgehog “circle” is actually an oval, and the blue jay’s rectangular form is more than a little forced, but the frog cleverly conforms to the star’s shape, and the turtle makes a convincing semicircle. The companion title, Bunnies Near and Far, also focuses on multiple concepts at once; a warren of rabbits demonstrates opposites and counting up to 10. The bunnies are quite adorably fluffy as they go for a ride in a carrot-shaped car or attempt to play guitar collectively. While the opposites are clearly presented (near/far and up/down), the critters are shown as big, white heaps of fur, thus making them difficult to count. A faint, extra bunny appears on the last spread, bringing the number of rabbits up to 11, even though the rhyming verse instructs readers to count up to 10. What this and its companion lack in clarity of concepts, they make up for in character. (Board book. 18 mos.-3) (Bunnies Near and Far: 978-1-936669-22-6)
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MY PUMPKIN
Karr, Lily Illus. by Marts, Doreen M. Cartwheel/Scholastic (12 pp.) $4.99 | Jun. 24, 2014 978-0-545-49332-1 A trio of monsters enjoy Halloween festivities in this pumpkin-shaped board-book offering. A fuzzy blue critter with horns, accompanied by a purple dinosaurlike creature and yellow beastie with pigtails, selects a pumpkin from a patch, carves it and takes it to a jack-o’-lantern contest. The rhyming text, with one line per page, is forced and doesn’t scan: “Pumpkin, pumpkin, big and steady, / Costumes and carving, time to get ready!” While the three central characters are appropriately toddler-friendly, monsters dressing up for Halloween is a bit of a conceptual stretch. The shiny orange foil cover and the bright orange pumpkins within are eye-catching, but the rest of the palette—pale blues, greens, grays and browns—causes some of the characters to fade into the scenery in Marts’ quirky cartoons. This slight slice of pumpkin pie will tempt few little trick-or-treaters. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
THE WHEELS ON THE BUS
Kenna, Kara Silver Dolphin (14 pp.) $14.95 | May 13, 2014 978-160710-920-4 Series: Play-Doh
A favorite kids’ song with a Play-Doh twist. This large-sized board book includes an easy-to-push blue button in the bottom right-hand corner of each page that, when depressed, plays the familiar, titular tune, encouraging kids to sing along. The words to one verse of the song are printed on each page spread: The wheels go ’round and ’round; the driver says, “Move on back”; the people bounce up and down; the baby wails, “Wah-wah-wah”; the horn beeps; the wipers swish; and finally, the wheels go ’round once more. The unusual illustrations depict figures made of Play-Doh against a digital outdoor backdrop. The requisite yellow bus is driven by a quirky-looking ostrich whose passengers are an assortment of animals, including a giraffe, a koala, a zebra, a mommy and baby bear, a monkey and more. The bus is shown rolling past office buildings, rows of houses and a playground as it makes its way through town. Unfortunately, the nature of the modeled figures means that the illustrations are extremely static; there’s no sense that these animals are going up and down at all, for instance. Companion volume Old MacDonald Had a Farm also features a recorded tune, one verse of the song per spread and plenty of cute clay critters. For Play-Doh lovers and little ones who can’t get enough of their favorite songs. (Board book. 2-4) (Old MacDonald Had a Farm: 978-1-60710-919-8)
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BABY LOVES TO BOOGIE!
Kirwan, Wednesday Illus. by Kirwan, Wednesday Little Simon/Simon & Schuster (30 pp.) $5.99 | $5.99 e-book | Jun. 24, 2014 978-1-4814-0383-2 978-1-4814-0384-9 e-book A baby and a bevy of animals demonstrate a variety of dance moves. With one sentence per page, the text is a mix of puns, jokes and rhymes that, while clever, will likely go over the heads of core board-book readers: “The apes like to orang-o-tango / and the sloths like to slow dance. // The kangaroos can boogaloo, / and the flamingo can flamenco.” Each critter mentioned is depicted in bright colors dancing in their requisite style against bold backgrounds. The goofy cartoons are not as successful as those in Kirwan’s earlier offering, Baby Loves to Rock (2013), but the tap-dancing woodpecker and the toucan doing the cancan are delightful standouts. As in the first title, a double-page spread appears at three different junctures, asking a variation of “But who loves to boogie?” in a graphic, bold display type floating in a disco setting. On the last two pages, readers learn that “Baby loves to boogie, woogie, / BOOGIE!” and three images of a Caucasian baby, likely the same child in as the companion title, bop across the page. Fans of Baby Loves to Rock will get a kick out of this infant’s moves, but the humor is still too adult to pretend this is a book for actual babies. (Board book. 1-3)
DADDY WRONG LEGS
Laden, Nina Illus. by Laden, Nina Chronicle (10 pp.) $6.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4521-1528-3
A split-page board book allows readers to mix and match the upper bodies and legs of animal daddies, a skeleton father and a human dad. The offspring of the fathers are shown nearby looking adoringly up to their progenitors. On one page, a banjo-playing papa frog is surrounded by tadpoles at his feet, and on another, a dad dachshund carries one pup in his arms and two more in a backpack. The word “Daddy” appears above each of the critters’ heads, and the lower portion of the page features a playful one-liner that often rhymes with the caption preceding it: “Daddy beary legs / Daddy scary legs.” The bifurcated pages allow readers to mix up the legs and torsos, and a solid color background aids youngsters who prefer to match instead. Young readers may find the first image labeled “Daddy wrong legs” a little frustrating, since neither the rooster top nor the alligator (or crocodile?) legs have a match. Laden’s intensely colored gouache paintings using thick, black lines are droll and playful. Budding zoologists 116
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should note that this book does not strive for realism but playfulness, at which it succeeds neatly. The split binding may pose problems for library circulation, but it looks sturdy enough for home use. Good, silly fun. (Board book. 2-4)
PEEK-A-ZOO!
Laden, Nina Illus. by Laden, Nina Chronicle (22 pp.) $6.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4521-1175-9 The follow-up to the long-lived and much-loved Peek-a-Who? (2000) is finally here. As with the first book, a game of peekaboo plays out through die-cut holes that allow readers a glimpse through one right-hand page to the next. Only a patterned coat, a feathered head or pair of eyes is visible through the hole. The words “Peek-a” and the partial image are an invitation to guess, and the page turn reveals the entire creature. The animals are typical zoo animals, and either their names or some attribute rhymes with the “Boo” (a kangaroo mommy/joey dyad, a cockatoo, a tiger that “mews” and a panda that chews on “bamboo”). On one of the final pages, part of a Mylar mirror is visible through the hole with a sign reading “Please feed the animal!” hanging below, clipped to what looks like bars on a cage. When the page is turned, a nearly full Mylar panel is revealed with the complete phrase “Peek-a / you, too!” now visible. Laden’s boldly colored gouache art, which has the look of prints, uses the signature style found in the original. While the first book executed this gimmick more successfully (there are only so many words that rhyme with “Boo”), this companion title is a welcome pairing. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)
BAA, MOO, I LOVE YOU! A Book of Animal Sounds Magsamen, Sandra Illus. by Magsamen, Sandra Little, Brown (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-316-13358-6 Series: I Love Learning
Farm animals greet each other with signature sounds. “The kitty says ‘meow’ / when she meets a cow. // The cow says ‘moo’ / how do you do?” The barnyard introductions continue as a horse, duck and pig hail one another in turn, until all of the critters return on the last page to tell readers, “I love you!” Magsamen’s flat cartoons are outlined with faux stitchery and filled in with a pleasing combination of muted earth tones and bright colors. Tabs with small icons of the animals appear at the top and the right side of the book to aid in turning the pages.
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“Manceau’s flat, Lois Ehlert–like graphics in a dark and highly saturated palette are eye-catching….” from presto change - o
A die-cut handle arches over the top of the book allowing for further page-grabbing possibilities for little hands. While the ending is a little sentimental and some of the rhymes a little forced, the simplicity is spot-on for the youngest readers. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)
PRESTO CHANGE-O A Book of Animal Magic Manceau, Édouard Illus. by Manceau, Édouard Twirl/Chronicle (20 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-2-8480-1944-4
Through the twist of paperboard flaps, objects are transformed. The action is on the right-hand pages. A man’s top hat reveals a bird hiding underneath; a salad bowl flips upside down to become a turtle. Across the spread, rhyming couplets describe the transformation. The majority of these paper-engineering magic tricks will enchant children, but some of these metamorphoses feel a bit forced; the clock that morphs into an owl requires the twisting of seven separate flaps and does not end up looking much like the nocturnal bird. Manceau’s flat, Lois Ehlert–like graphics in a dark and highly saturated palette are eye-catching, although the almost entirely black rocket/ penguin is too dark against a navy blue background. The poetry is also uneven, including some delightful lines mixed in with forced analogies and lines that don’t scan. The final two pages provide before-and-after pictures of each switch as a helpful guide. The back of this board book bears a large choking-hazard warning for children under 3, but since the verse is sophisticated and the manipulations require more dexterity than the average toddler possesses, the package is more appropriate for older kiddos anyway. While it’s a less-than-perfect offering, preschoolers who crave gimmicks to manipulate will enjoy giving this one a whirl, literally. (Board book. 3-5)
MY FIRST COLOR DOMINOES The Game of Color Discovery Manceau, Édouard Illus. by Manceau, Édouard Twirl/Chronicle (16 pp.) $13.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-2-848801-946-8
A graphically simple board-book–andgame combo. Inside the cardboard case nestles a set of 28 sturdy paperboard tiles and a 16-page book. The book is basic fare exploring various colors. On each double-page spread the color is written in all caps, and a series of usual-suspect cartoon and graphic images in said hue float about on the page. A couple of the choices seem a bit of a stretch, particularly the red-and-white |
European pedestrian-crossing sign on the “white” spread and a few blue objects that seem more aquamarine than true blue. The final double-page spread includes a rapid-fire presentation of several secondary colors, green, purple, orange, etc., and a simple visual equation shows readers how to create these colors with primary shades that were shown before. The domino game focuses on matching icons as much as matching specific hues. Each double-sided domino includes a bold image of one of the objects, animals or people found in the book. The rules, which are a simplified version of basic dominoes, are listed on the back of the book. A choking-hazard warning suggests that the product is not for children under 3, but the game aspect makes it appropriate for older children anyway. While the set is handsome, the book is more appropriate for toddlers while the dominoes are more befitting of children approaching 4, making it an incongruous package. (Novelty/board book. 3-5)
LOOK WHAT I CAN DO A First Concepts Book
McBratney, Sam Illus. by Jeram, Anita Candlewick (16 pp.) $9.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-7064-1 Series: Guess How Much I Love You
Little Nutbrown Hare explores colors, actions, shapes, numbers, sounds and the natural world on seven double-page spreads as his doting father looks on. Beyond the basic captions typically found in concept books, the text includes father-and-son dialogue that echoes Guess How Much I Love You: “Would you rather be a caterpillar or a frog?” asks Big Nutbrown Hare. “I’d rather be big like you,” the little one replies. Jeram’s lovely, soft watercolors appear to be a mix of illustrations recycled from other books in the popular series and original paintings. As a concept book, it is a mixed bag. The pages focusing on numbers are the most successful, with oversized numbers on the outsides of 10 flaps and pictures of dainty critters, from one bird to 10 ladybugs, to count on the insides. Less effective is the spread demonstrating colors; it utilizes flimsier flaps with blocks of the hue in question on the exteriors and almost-too-subtle-in-color illustrations of vegetation on the interiors. While the pages titled “Actions” effectively show the young hare engaging in a nice variety of movements (including sniffing and blowing), the “Shapes” section only introduces three shapes, and the geometric square looks a little out of place in this English wood. While this father-and-son relationship is lovely and their habitat delightful, in this case, neither is well-suited to teaching about a more conceptual world. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
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“Squiggly lines and floating graphics add interest to the spreads, and subtle embossing adds a textural element as well.” from baby bright
NOAH’S ARK
ALL ABOUT ME
McCombs, Margi Illus. by Fox, Lisa Little Shepherd/Scholastic (10 pp.) $7.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-545-60557-1
National Geographic National Geographic (24 pp.) $6.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-1-4263-1483-4 Series: Look & Learn
A very simple retelling of Noah and the Great Flood. In rhyming verse, God tells Noah (“a brave, good man”) to build an ark and gather the animals as a couple of unnamed members of his family help out. Five double-page spreads present the scenes from this section of Genesis, ending with the appearance of the rainbow as God says “No floods like this again.” While the text succeeds in highlighting the parts of the story of most interest to the youngest children, the verse has several hiccups. The boldly colored art, which looks to have been created digitally, includes a wide variety of critters in the scenes, including two clown fish jumping through the waves. Unfortunately, it falls down in presentation as some of the cartoon animals and backgrounds look quite detailed and crisp, while others are jarringly blurred. More enticing for little ones will be the shaped, die-cut pages. The top of the book is arched like the rainbow or, depending on the page, the ceiling of the ark, and the curve also acts as a handle for toddlers to grasp. The die cuts allow the animals to peek through subsequent pages, but some stray images, like the top of the ark or Noah’s head, show through in odd places. While the gimmick is fun, this ark doesn’t hold water. (Board book. 1-3)
An exploration of the human body through colorful photos. Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline. Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
BABY BRIGHT
MY FIRST BOOK OF WILD ANIMALS
Meredith, Samantha Illus. by Meredith, Samantha Tiger Tales (12 pp.) $6.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-58925-583-8 Series: My First Sparkly Book Simple graphics in black, white, green, yellow and gold foil introduce babies to a variety of animals and objects. Each page features one image with a caption in a bold, black type. Most of the objects facing each other across the spread are natural pairs (sun/hat and mouse/cheese), but a couple feel arbitrarily joined (balloon/bee and chick/tractor). The representations are clear and understandable for little ones learning to label the world. Squiggly lines and floating graphics add interest to the spreads, and subtle embossing adds a textural element as well. Baby Shine, another in the series, uses the same format to present additional paired images (socks/shoes and leaf/caterpillar), with embellishments in green foil this time. The width of the pages of both titles slowly increases as the pages are turned. This won’t assist little hands with page-turns as was probably the intention, but it does offer some tactile appeal. A genial and gentle offering for the youngest readers. (Board book. 0-1) (Baby Shine: 978-1-58925-584-5) 118
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National Wildlife Federation Imagine Publishing (22 pp.) $6.95 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-1-62354-029-6 Series: National Wildlife Federation Lions, tigers, bears and more for the youngest readers. A howling wolf, a herd of wildebeest and a stampeding rhinoceros are among the others shown on single- or double-page spreads accompanied by simple labels in a bold, high-contrast type. Many of the images, credited to a long list of wildlife photographers in the backmatter, are quite breathtaking, such as the eagle in flight and a dolphin leaping through the waves. Some pictures are strangely cropped, particularly the hippo, the tiger and gray whale, and unfortunately do not give little ones a sense of the entire animal. The companion book, My First Book of Baby Animals, is almost identical in form and structure, but it lists the name for each baby animal (kit, cub, calf, etc.) along with the animal’s name in the caption. Some of the same animals are repeated in both books, such as lion, panda, polar bear, elephant, kangaroo and gorilla. Several of the critters are shown with a parent; a cygnet rides on a grown swan’s back, and a foal is nicely framed by a full-size zebra.
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While full images of all of the animals would have been preferable, this is a simple and useful introduction with eye-catching images. (Board book. 6 mos.-2) (My First Book of Baby Animals: 978-1-62354-028-9)
SHABBAT IS COMING!
Newman, Tracy Illus. by Garofoli, Viviana Kar-Ben (12 pp.) $5.95 | $4.95 e-book | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-1367-2 978-1-4677-2433-3 e-book A Jewish family makes busy preparations as Shabbat (or Sabbath) approaches. The text consists of rhymed couplets describing the activities, all followed by the title line as refrain: “Friday’s here. / Jump and cheer. / Shabbat is coming.” A boy, a girl, their mother and father, one set of grandparents and a helpful family dog gather to complete such tasks as braiding challah dough, setting the table, tidying up and putting coins in a special bank. The final line announces that “Shabbat is here!” as the family gathers at the dining-room table, where two candles, wine and challah adorn the table. Parents looking for a book to provide specialized Shabbat vocabulary will have to look elsewhere (for example, the challah bread and the practice of making tzedakah, donations for the needy, are not named or even labeled within the art). Despite this minor quibble, the bouncy verse and Garofoli’s richly colored, slightly three-dimensional cartoons against canvas-textured background provide a compelling introduction to the weekly celebration. This playful depiction of a loving family gathering is a suitable introduction for observant families. (Board book. 1-4)
TEENY WEENY LOOKS FOR HIS MOMMY A Tiny Tab Book Nosy Crow Illus. by Ho, Jannie Nosy Crow/Candlewick (8 pp.) $7.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-7273-7
into place, and Dog and Pig are hidden once again. A determined Teeny finds many other hidden animals as he looks for Mommy in the flowers and the playhouse, behind the wall and in a tree before finally finding her behind a picnic basket filled with goodies. Companion title Bunny Boo Has Lost Her Teddy is filled with similar surprises and another comforting conclusion. The simple lost-and-found storyline, cheery illustrations and easy-to-manipulate tabs will make this interactive title a tot favorite. (Board book. 1-3) (Bunny Boo Has Lost Her Teddy: 978-0-7636-7274-4)
THE JELLYBEANS LOVE TO READ
Numeroff, Laura; Evans, Nate Illus. by Munsinger, Lynn abramsappleseed (24 pp.) $7.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4197-1162-6
A gang of four friends, each a different animal, finds books to enjoy at their
local library. Anna loves to read, Emily loves to dance, Nicole enjoys soccer, and Bitsy is an avid painter. While the nonreading friends are dubious, Anna requests they accompany her to the library. With the help of a friendly librarian who looks remarkably like Mother Goose, each member of the foursome finds a book on her favorite activity. Munsinger’s lively critters embody the simple text in detailed, pastel watercolor scenes. This title is a condensed and simplified version of a longer picture book (The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza, 2010), and little seems lost in the translation to board book. Why the transition was made is rather puzzling, as the content is more appropriate for those who have grown out of board books. The board-book audience of babies and toddlers is unlikely to be thinking about going to the library without a grown-up, and the preschoolers the story seems to be pitched to deserve the full-size illustrations of the original. Stick with the original picture book for a simple treatise on the power of literature. (Board book. 3-5)
WE’RE GOING TO THE FARMERS’ MARKET
This engaging, interactive offering features Teeny Weeny, an adorable little mouse in search of his mother. Four large, round tabs depicting different animals poke out of this sturdy little title from the top and side, providing an interesting profile and the promise of interactivity right from the start. Teeny Weeny first looks for Mommy behind a tree, but she’s not there. When the tab—easily grasped by little hands— is pulled out, readers find a cat hiding there instead. Teeny next checks for Mommy in a pirate ship. Pulling the tab here reveals a crocodile, but that’s not all; the motion also opens two portals in the ship, uncovering both Dog and Pig. Push Crocodile back |
Page, Stefan Illus. by Page, Stefan Chronicle (16 pp.) $7.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4521-1834-5
A trip to the local farmers market provides the ingredients for a feast. “To market, / to market, / we are on our way. // So many groceries to find, / on this warm sunny day!” The rest of the rhymed verse takes readers through a shopping excursion to buy eggs, cheese, veggies and more, to the kitchen to prepare them and,
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finally, to an impressive table covered with food on the final two pages. While Page’s art is graphically interesting, with boldly outlined shapes representing a variety of provisions against backgrounds with subtle patterns, some of the images may not read as food to the typical board-book readers, who are still learning to identify edibles. For example, a hunk of Swiss cheese is rendered with vertical, black lines running down one side, and pea pods are shaped like diamonds; a couple of vegetables and fruits may prove unrecognizable even to adults. The verse cleverly uses the first line and meter of the traditional rhyme “To Market, To Market,” but several of the lines don’t scan. The idea for this book is just right for the board-book set, but the art may prove too abstract for youngsters still learning to connect what they find on their plates to what they see on the page. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
TICKLE
Patricelli, Leslie Illus. by Patricelli, Leslie Candlewick (26 pp.) $6.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-6322-3 Patricelli’s mischievous, gender-indeterminate cherub claims to be tickle-proof, but readers know the giggles are inevitable. Dad (aka “tickle Monster”) finds all the places on this diaper-clad tot’s body that are ticklish, such as legs, feet and tummy (everywhere, in fact). Mom, a licking dog, and a playful kitty get into the act too in the one of the book’s central double-page spreads. When the youngster has had too much, the little one yells “Stop,” and the family kindly obliges and commences kissing, slurping and purring instead. In a final dare to readers and their grown-ups, the child boldly proclaims “I am not ticklish! / Are you?” In the companion title, Toot, the same half-naked toddler celebrates flatulence, declaring in the end that “All toots are funny!” No child is going to argue with that point. Patricelli’s trademark style of thick black lines on brushstroke-heavy backgrounds in jewel-tone colors are perfectly suited to her playful and irreverent subject matter. The young protagonist narrates both offerings in simple, direct sentences, and Patricelli fills the rest of the books with captions and sound effects galore (including “fart,” natch). Both titles are playful delights. Here’s hoping this cheeky tyke never grows up so young readers and their delighted grown-ups can enjoy more adventures (and misadventures, too). (Board book. 6 mos.-3) (Toot: 978-0-7636-6321-6)
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A KISSING HAND FOR CHESTER RACCOON
Penn, Audrey Illus. by Gibson, Barbara L. Tanglewood Press (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-933718-77-4
A sweetened, condensed version of the best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand. As in the original, Chester Raccoon is nervous about attending Owl’s night school (raccoons are nocturnal). His mom kisses him on the paw and reminds him, “With a Kissing Hand… / We’ll never be apart.” The text boils the story down to its key elements, causing this version to feel rushed. Gone is the list of fun things Chester will get to do at school. Fans of the original may be disappointed that this board edition uses a different illustrator. Gibson’s work is equally sentimental, but her renderings are stiff and flat in comparison to the watercolors of Harper and Leak. Very young readers will probably not understand that Owl’s tree, filled with opossums, a squirrel, a chipmunk and others, is supposed to be a school. Parents of toddlers starting school or day care should seek separation-anxiety remedies elsewhere, and fans of the original shouldn’t look to this version as replacement for their page-worn copies. (Board book. 2-4)
A SEED NEEDS SUN
Riggs, Kate Illus. by Dogi, Fiammetta Creative Editions/Creative Company (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56846-254-7 A seed grows into a flower as a variety of animals visit. The gentle text traces the plant’s life cycle: “A seed needs a hole. // Dirt needs water. // Roots need room.” The text advances spread by double-page spread until the final one reveals the yellow flower in full bloom: “A seed needs sun / to become a flower.” A cross-section snapshot of each stage of development in superbly detailed art charts the flower’s growth. A blue jay, a snail, a mole, a dragonfly, a toad, a couple of butterflies and a mouse visit the budding plant in turn. Frustratingly, none of the flora and fauna is identified, but Dogi’s images are lovely and lush and will undoubtedly pique the curiosity of budding botanists. Natural history made graceful. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
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“Combine the simple text—which incorporates apt, interesting vocabulary—with the appealing subject and dynamic illustrations for a guaranteed toddler treat.” from how fast can you go?
HOW FAST CAN YOU GO?
Riggs, Kate Illus. by Williams, Nate Creative Editions/Creative Company (14 pp.) $7.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-56846-253-0 This simple book about transportation will introduce toddlers to wagons, bicycles, cars, rockets and more. Each page features a hand-lettered sentence introducing a mode of transportation in a simple, yet descriptive way—from “A Wagon rolls on the sidewalk” through “A TRAIN clickclacks along a track” to “A Rocket roars way up high.” The digital illustrations—appealingly rendered in a color palette restricted to shades of black, gold and blue—convey a sense of motion and fun. The scenes are populated by a few, varied human characters (all apparently Caucasian), and most incorporate a goofy dog and smug-looking cat tagging along for the ride. The transportation tour ends with a challenge toddlers will readily take up—“How FAST can you go?”—illustrated with a full-out race scene; a girl speeds along on a bike, long hair blowing in the wind and kitty firmly ensconced in her basket, while a boy runs furiously behind her, arms pumping hard, eyes shut in concentration and eager dog at his heels. Combine the simple text—which incorporates apt, interesting vocabulary—with the appealing subject and dynamic illustrations for a guaranteed toddler treat. Great for a transportation-themed storytime or oneon-one sharing. (Board book. 2-4)
ONE, TWO PEEK-A-BOO!
Rusling, Annette Illus. by Saunders, Katie Tiger Tales (12 pp.) $10.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-58925-581-4 Series: Peek-Through Flap
Count a variety of animals and objects both above and below nearly full-size flaps on each page. “ONE big doghouse—who could be inside?” Under the flap, the workmanlike text reads: “ONE smiley dog, trying to hide!” Die-cut holes offer readers a peek of what is underneath, but these glimpses are rarely a help to would-be guessers. While the cheery cartoons present the world in muted tones, the page design is very busy, and there is no unity of image or idea across double-page spreads. The book continues the pattern of counting and rhyming until the last double-page spread, where a teddy bear encourages readers to count a multitude of objects arrayed in vertical lines. Companion title Red, Blue, Peekaboo! presents the colors in similar fashion. Above the flap, items of one featured hue are joined by other objects in the shade below (purple hat/umbrella and blue shell/whale). In both books, most of the objects and animals will be easily recognizable to tykes, and each page is labeled with the color or numeral in question. |
The flaps, which alternate between opening from the bottom or from the top, are sturdy enough for repeat use. While there are some enjoyable moments here, the overbusy design mars the entire effect. (Board book. 1-3) (Red, Blue, Peekaboo!: 978-1-58925-582-1)
WHAT’S IN YOUR PURSE?
Samoun, Abigail Illus. by Dion, Nathalie Chronicle (12 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-4521-1701-0
Peek inside five different purses, each one owned by a different member of the same family. Each double-page spread has a large flap, hinged at the top. This front flap opens from the bottom to reveal two or three smaller flaps representing various objects inside the tote, from Mommy’s compact with a Mylar mirror inside to the passport of a world-traveling auntie. The text is an invitation to open Grandma’s, Sis’ or even the protagonist’s purse as well as a series of questions to encourage readers to examine the contents more closely. “What year was Grandma born?” “What month did Auntie travel to New York?” Young readers may need help answering some of these queries, since several require them to read schedules and very small type. Although the cover purse is pink, it is refreshing to see that the purses these women carry are yellow, green and purple. The last page shows the five Caucasian women and girls of this family all out for a walk, each carrying her purse. The entire package is purse-shaped, with die-cut handles and a plastic snap for a closure, none of which will stand up to heavy-duty play. Unfortunately, a couple of things are already starting to look dated, particularly Sis’ flip phone. The purse-as-book gimmick has been done several times before, but this iteration of the novelty is more chic than tacky. (Novelty book. 4-6)
HOW HIPPO SAYS HELLO!
Samoun, Abigail Illus. by Watts, Sarah Sterling (22 pp.) $6.95 | Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-4549-0820-3
Intrepid Hippo travels the world, making new friends everywhere he lands. Simple declarative statements introduce children to greetings in eight languages. They learn that to say hello, Hippo “says ‘Bonjour!’ in France.” He says “Privyet!” in Russia, “Al Salaamu Alaykum!” in Egypt, “Namaste!” in India, “Ni hao!” in China, “Konnichiwa!” in Japan and “¡Hola!” in Argentina. Pronunciation help is provided in brackets below the primary text. Each illustration features Hippo greeting friends in a setting evocative of the particular country he’s visiting. For example, he sits at a cafe table with the Eiffel Tower in the background
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“An ingenious cutaway design separates the book into two distinct, connected pieces, creating a small book that sits nestled inside a larger one.” from garden
in France and perches atop a cheery elephant next to a fountain in a courtyard in India. Perpetually smiling Hippo is decked out in a green striped shirt and orange shorts and accompanied by a tiny, bright red bird. At the end, “Hippo’s Travel Map!” shows red stars marking all the places Hippo has visited as he waves jauntily from the old-fashioned plane he pilots across the page. In the companion title, How Gator Says Good-bye!, Gator visits the same countries Hippo does, only he is shown saying goodbye instead of hello, and the featured scene for each country is different. Simple text and charming illustrations make this an appealing introduction to some of the world’s many languages and cultures. (Board book. 2-5) (How Gator Says Goodbye: 978-1-4549-0821-0)
overwhelming message here—that mothers (and women and girls) are strong, vibrant creatures who possess many varied (and sometimes-conflicting) traits and talents—is clear: “My mommy can do anything she puts her mind to… / especially if someone tells her she can’t do it!” The simple, digital illustrations feature four rather odd-looking piggies built of simple shapes with sticks for arms and legs, perfect pink circles on their cheeks and chunky lines for smiles. Unlikely to win Peppa any new admirers, but her steadfast fans will be pleased as punch with this paean to Mummy Pig. (Board book. 2-5)
GARDEN
Siminovich, Lorena Illus. by Siminovich, Lorena Chronicle (10 pp.) $8.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-4521-2649-4 Series: You Are My Baby
HELLO KITTY, HELLO NEW YORK! Sanrio Illus. by Hirashima, Jean abramsappleseed (16 pp.) $7.95 | May 13, 2014 978-1-4197-1096-4 Series: Hello Kitty
The famous feline paints the Big Apple pink. She enjoys a ride on the Central Park carousel, a soft pretzel, kayaking near the Brooklyn Bridge and a subway journey with her friends. One locale is presented on each double page-spread. The blocky, white type spells out the cat’s signature greeting to the various landmarks: “Hello Grand Central Terminal!” Readers have to reorient the book vertically to view the Empire State Building. True to the brand, the book uses the familiar Sanrio style of thick, curved, black lines filled in with flat, cheery colors. Young Hello Kitty fans, whether NYC natives or tourists, will appreciate seeing their favorite character taking in the sights. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
MY MOMMY
Scholastic Inc. Scholastic (16 pp.) $7.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-545-46804-6 Series: Peppa Pig
SUMMER BEACH DAY
Peppa Pig, of British TV and Nick Jr. fame, celebrates all the wonderful things about her mommy. Peppa thinks her mommy, Mummy Pig, is the best and prettiest mommy in the world. She goes on to extol her virtues, observing that her mommy is graceful (most of the time) and serious (except when she is silly). She works “very hard at home… / and when she’s outside.” Here, Mummy Pig is pictured typing at a computer and then, decked out in firefighter gear, putting out the fire on a cooking grill with a hose. Mummy is also very smart and ready with hugs when the children are scared, and she always finds time to play. The perhaps 122
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Two books in one introduce youngsters to garden critters and their babies. An ingenious cutaway design separates the book into two distinct, connected pieces, creating a small book that sits nestled inside a larger one. On the first large page, a blue bird, perching on a branch against a soft pink background, says: “You sing a happy song in our leafy tree.” Open to the first page of the smaller book and more text— “You are my baby, little hatchling”—and an image of the baby bird appears. This pattern is repeated with colorful and happy-looking spiders in their webs, snails in the tall grass, squirrels digging in the dirt and bees buzzing about the flowers. Each striking double-page spread has a distinct design, making it easy for children to match the baby animals in the smaller book with the adults on the larger pages. Another volume in this charming series, Ocean, depicts octopus, sea horse, fish, turtle and whale pairs against marine backgrounds of blue and green. The clever book-in-a-book construction, appealing collage illustrations and focus on parent-baby pairs will make this one a favorite for shared reading and individual exploration. (Board book. 1-3) (Ocean: 978-1-4521-2650-0)
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Slegers, Liesbet Illus. by Slegers, Liesbet Clavis (12 pp.) $5.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1605371665 Series: Day to Day Board Books A toddler’s introduction to the beach becomes a vehicle to present some basic concepts and vocabulary. This small, square volume homes in on the elements most crucial to a happy day at the shore. A couple of sentences of text with one or two boldfaced terms appear at the bottom of each left-hand page. The items in bold are depicted above the text
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against a plain white background and then placed into some context in the fuller illustrations occupying the right-hand pages. For example, illustrations of a shovel and pail appear above the text: “This is my shovel and this is my pail. I’m using my shovel to fill my pail with sand. Look! My pail is almost full.” The right-hand page depicts a smiling pink-skinned toddler playing happily with the pail and shovel in a patch of sand. Other items introduced are the sun, the toddler’s swimming trunks and sun hat, shells, water wings, water and ice cream cones. The simple illustrations—featuring bold outlines, vivid colors, and the same cheerful tot—are a good complement to the brief, descriptive text, and together they make a helpful primer on the basics of beachgoing. Appealing nonfiction for the littlest learners. (Board book. 1-3)
BEST FRIENDS PRETEND
Strauss, Linda Leopold Illus. by Munsinger, Lynn Cartwheel/Scholastic (14 pp.) $6.99 | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-545-45171-0
This cheerful celebration of imagination introduces two little girls—the best of friends—who like nothing better than
to pretend. Each double-page spread features a different pretend scenario; the girls make believe they are ice cream-truck operators, princesses, superheroes, astronauts, explorers and finally, grown-ups. The pink, glittery cover depicts the girls in their princess finery, a choice that might lead readers to expect nothing but stereotypical ball gowns, dancing and tea parties in the pages that follow, yet most of the imaginary scenarios involve the girls’ performing active, gender-neutral or even traditionally masculine roles such as hunting scary monsters, flying through space and navigating a jungle river. In the end, when the girls play “grown-ups,” they see themselves as mothers who work outside the home and continue to value their relationship with each other: “Purses, cell phones, / high heels, too… / We’re busy moms / with lots to do. // We’ll go to work. / You’ll live next door! / And we’ll be friends / forevermore!” The rhyming verses scan well, and the appealing illustrations create a distinctive universe for each scenario, helping to bring each one to life. Toddlers and preschoolers will use these pretend ideas as a springboard to all sorts of adventures of their own conjuring. (Board book. 2-5)
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MY BOOK OF OPPOSITES
Teckentrup, Britta Illus. by Teckentrup, Britta Tiger Tales (20 pp.) $8.99 | Apr. 13, 2014 978-1-58925-586-9
An appealing but potentially confusing concept book about opposites. Cheerful animal characters help to present basic opposites such as big/small and fast/slow. Initially, it seems that the size of the print is supposed to help convey meaning—on the first spread “Big,” accompanying the picture of an elephant, is printed in enormous letters, while “Small” appears in diminutive type next to a bee, and in the second spread, “Loud” appears in large type next to a group of monkeys, while “Quiet” is printed in tiny letters next to a butterfly. The pattern doesn’t hold up, though, as the next page arbitrarily presents “Hairy” in large type and “Smooth” in small print. Confusion appears elsewhere as well; for example, the “loud” monkeys, with mouths closed, appear more serene than raucous. With an adult to help sort out the concepts, though, children will enjoy this title for its standout illustrations; bold, appealing animals are set in interesting positions on solid backgrounds that appear as though they might have been colored by crayon. A companion title, Counting, presents more adorable animals to illustrate numerical concepts and asks readers to identify and count them. Not the best for clarifying concepts but too visually striking to ignore. (Board book. 1-3) (Counting: 978-1-58925-585-2)
POTTYTIME FOR CHICKIES
Trasler, Janee Illus. by Trasler, Janee HarperFestival (24 pp.) $8.99 | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-06-227469-4
A pig, cow and sheep attempt to toilet train a brood of boisterous chicks. In lighthearted dialogue rendered in verse, the three Chickies tell each of their caregivers that they know what the potty is for and can use it independently. This assertion proves to be false, as the chicks splash in the water, play with the toilet paper and jump on the towels. With loving patience, their barnyard companions gently correct this behavior. After three wrong turns, the trio finally “tinkle” in the potty appropriately and enjoy some delighted praise. In the companion volume, Bedtime for Chickies, the threesome have a difficult time getting to sleep. They ask the cow for water, the pig for a trip to the potty and the sheep for a bedtime story. Their keepers are not quite as patient here and in fact fall asleep on the job. The chicks finally nod off, each one cradled in the arms of one of their caretakers. Trasler employs a shaky line to create bold, droll cartoons on flecked and muted backgrounds. The chicks are pleasing in their simplicity: round yellow circles with dots for eyes and sideways V’s for beaks.
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Spritely entertainment and gentle encouragement for toddlers. (Board book. 1-3) (Bedtime for Chickies: 978-0-06-227468-7)
DINNERTIME FOR CHICKIES
Trasler, Janee Illus. by Trasler, Janee HarperFestival (24 pp.) $8.99 | May 27, 2014 978-0-06-227470-0
be wary of masks, parents and caregivers should take pains to share this title with sensitivity. While Taro Gomi did this gimmick first and better (Peekaboo, 2013, in English; 1990 in Japan), this is a welcome addition to the growing number of board books that go masked. (Board book. 1-3)
NIGHT-NIGHT, PRINCESS
Van Fleet, Mara Illus. by Van Fleet, Mara Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (16 pp.) $14.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4424-8646-1
It’s dinnertime for those sassy Chickies (Bedtime for Chickies, 2014; Pottytime
for Chickies, 2014). Sheep, Donkey and Pig try to get the three little Chickies to eat a nutritious dinner, but the feisty yellow fellows have their own ideas. For instance, when presented with a noodle dish by Sheep, they respond: “We can’t eat this. It’s too drippy. / We want something chocolate chippy.” When Sheep convinces them to give it a try—“Just one pint-sized, pewee peck? / You might like it. You should check”—they change their tune and slurp it up. The same sequence occurs when Donkey feeds them Mexican food and Pig offers them veggies. Finally, it’s time for treats, and after protesting that they have no more room for goodies, the Chickies again acquiesce: “Well, maybe just one tiny taste. / We’d hate for it to go to waste!” The Chickies are bright yellow circles with simple yet incredibly expressive features, while their big-eyed animal caretakers are endearingly cartoonlike. Wobbly black outlines lend an air of instability and happy chaos to the effort. A lesson on being open to new foods that little ones will eat right up. (Board book. 1-3)
THE EYES GAME
Tullet, Hervé Illus. by Tullet, Hervé Phaidon (14 pp.) $9.95 | Feb. 3, 2014 978-0-7148-6689-5 Series: Let’s Play Games!
HAPPY ANGRY SAD
Tullet’s latest interactive creation turns an open book into a game of peekaboo. With an almond-shaped die-cut eye hole punched through each page, a mask for readers to wear is created across the double-page spread. Little ones and their grown-ups can don two human (both Caucasian) masks, as well as one cat, one robot and three aliens (or are they monsters?). Tullet’s bold colors are present here in his graphically simple and playful cartoons rendered with thick black lines. The minimal text consists of an appropriate greeting from the character in question (“Hello!” “Hey!” “Miiiiiow!”) and a simple, first-person one-liner for the mask wearer to repeat. The choking-hazard warnings that have plagued many of Tullet’s other board-book offerings are absent, a welcome change. As many toddlers can 124
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It’s long past time for bed, but a certain little princess is not one bit sleepy. The text describes, in pedestrian and sometimes-awkward rhyming verse, two sisters’ valiant efforts to ease their wideawake sibling toward slumber, including hugs and kisses, fairydust wishes, playtime and dress-up, dancing, a snack of milk and honey buns, a warm bath and wrapping her up in her soft blanket. Nothing seems to slow the princess down until the sisters put her in a comfy chair with a big stack of books, and the princess responds with a little yawn. Finally, they all drift off to sleep. The uninspiring illustrations, which feature lots of pinks and purples and silver glitter for the fairy dust, are partly rescued by a couple of interactive elements. The front cover depicts the three sisters in bed with the youngest sister holding a baby doll; it features a tab that, when pulled, moves the baby back and forth as though the girl is rocking it. The final page includes a large flap in the shape of pillows and blankets that when pulled back reveals the little princess sound asleep. The topic of getting reluctant little ones to bed is a perennial favorite, but the execution here is lackluster at best. Not worth losing sleep over. (Board book. 2-4)
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van Genechten, Guido Illus. by van Genechten, Guido Clavis (18 pp.) $12.95 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-60537-186-3 Series: Odd One Out A challenging exercise in sorting, categorization and identification. The book opens with a spread populated by 11 nearly identical polar bears and four questions: “Who is shy? Who is very shy? Who has a little snowflake on his nose? And who is going on a winter holiday?” Not only are readers likely to be somewhat perplexed at being asked to sort shy bears from very shy ones, they might well find the differences in the animals’ facial features too subtle to be meaningful. The bear with the snowflake on his nose and the one going on holiday—presumably the
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“The soft colors and the soothing, quiet-toned black-and-white photographs work well for the subject.” from rest
one with the hat on his head—are a bit easier to identify. Subsequently, readers are asked to sort angry from very angry rhinos, happy from very happy frogs, sad from very sad spiders and more. Each spread also asks readers to locate a creature wearing something specific or performing a certain action, and there’s always one going on a winter holiday. A simultaneously publishing title, 8 9 and 10, incorporates counting questions—asking readers, for instance, “Who is standing on 1 leg and who on 2?” and “Who has 2 humps and who has 3?” Though it’s not a board book, Not All Animals Are Blue, by Béatrice Boutignon (2009), covers similar ground far more successfully. Even the most patient and precocious of preschoolers will need lots of help with this one. (Board book. 3-5)
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Verdick, Elizabeth; Lisovskis, Marjorie Free Spirit (22 pp.) $6.99 | Jun. 1, 2014 978-1-57542-427-9 Series: Happy Healthy Baby In a dream of a book for new parents, soft black-and-white portraits depict babies getting ready to sleep. The close-up images of racially diverse infants, sometimes posing with a caregiver, fill each right-hand page. On the left, one sentence of gentle verse per page reads like a lullaby: “Tired baby, close your eyes. / Mommy sings a lullaby. / Sleepy baby, rest your head. / Day is done, it’s time for bed.” Floating alongside the text are line-drawn cartoons of little ones in repose on lavender backgrounds, with stars, hearts and bedtime paraphernalia swirling about. The soft colors and the soothing, quiet-toned black-and-white photographs work well for the subject. The companion title, Play, follows a similar format, but the images are appropriately active and bubbly, the verse is an invitation to engage, and the background color of the text is a sunny yellow. The babies show off 100-watt grins, and the occasional caregiver models engaged interaction. The last two pages of both books provide basic information for parents and caregivers on the respective importance of sleep and play. With its companion, this title should be a welcome addition to parent-baby routines. (Board book. 6-18 mos.) (Play: 978-1-57542-426-2)
FIRST NUMBERS
Beneath the numeral is a question asking what number comes next. The right-hand page features a photograph—a puppy in the case of 1—with the words “one” printed above it and “one puppy” printed below. Beneath that is a counting question that has an answer unrelated to the number featured—in this case, “How many eyes does the puppy have?” Adding to the frenetic feel of the pages are splashy backdrops to the images and some of the text. Another volume in the series, similarly cluttered but not quite as confusing, focuses on Machines such as tractors, snowplows and cranes. A photograph of the machine, its name and question—asking kids to identify color, for example, or locate a certain part—fill up the left-hand page, while the right-hand page includes labeled photographs of parts of the machine or related paraphernalia with another question printed beneath them. Designed to prompt discussion, these poorly designed titles will only perplex. (Board book. 2-4) (First Machines: 978-1-906714-62-8)
MY LUCKY LITTLE DRAGON
Wan, Joyce Illus. by Wan, Joyce Cartwheel/Scholastic (14 pp.) $6.99 | Jan. 7, 2014 978-0-545-54046-9
A baby’s attributes are compared to a variety of animals. “You are my lucky little dragon / my clever little snake / my happy little horsey / my snuggly little sheep....” Each page shows one heavily outlined, rounded and cuddly cartoon critter accompanied by a caption that presents the animal’s label in an animated display type. Wan uses the Chinese zodiac as an unnamed framing device and also offers up a monkey, a rooster, a pig and a puppy, covering most of the animals in their correct astrological order (she swaps the rat for a mouse and the goat for a sheep). The final double-page spread includes a heart-shaped Mylar mirror and states, “Baby, I’m LUCKY to have you!” Set against subtly patterned backgrounds, the bold, friendly animals pop off the page with energy. As with Wan’s previous offering Hug You, Kiss You, Love You (2013), the cover includes an unnecessary sparkly embellishment. While little ones will not get the analogies, they will be drawn to the playful images and loving message. (Board book. 3-18 mos.)
Walker, Rob Illus. by Walker, Rob Scribblers/Sterling (20 pp.) $6.95 | Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-907184-15-4 This busy board book mixes large numerals, photographs and counting questions to dubious effect. Each spread is laid out in a similar manner: A large, bold numeral along with its name occupies most of the left-hand page. |
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“Pull this chunky, square, accordion-folded board book from its slipcase to find a simple story that’s short on words but big on imagination.” from out the window
LITTLE PEAR TREE
GUESS WHAT?—FRUIT
Williams, Rachel Illus. by Bowers, Jenny Big Picture/Candlewick (12 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-7636-7126-6 An artful exploration of the seasons. Starting with winter, the gentle verse, composed of one abcb quatrain per page, describes a seed waiting to sprout. On the following pages, spring blossoms appear, summer brings fruit, autumn leaves fall, and finally, moon and stars illuminate the full-size tree on a winter night. The illustrations, which were created digitally but have a printlike look, are full-spread works in warm colors layered with organic shapes. Flowers, seeds, leaves, insects, birds, deer and other creatures appear between the images, and some of them are hidden behind leaf-, flower- and fruit-shaped flaps. On the verso of each flap, which may be too delicate for the youngest toddlers, a simple caption labels the revealed animal or object. The images are seamless whether the flaps are open or not. One of the cleverest reveals is a pear-shaped flap that shows the inside of the pear and its seeds in cross section. While not particularly accurate (if only pear trees really grew this fast), this is a lovely poetic encounter in both word and image. (Board book. 2-5)
RAINBOW CHAMELEON
Yonezu, Yusuke Illus. by Yonezu, Yusuke Minedition (24 pp.) $9.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-988-8240-61-6 Series: Guess What?
By lifting flaps, youngsters can transform fruit into animals. A yellow pear lends its shape to a newly hatched chick, a banana becomes a duck’s bill, and a pineapple laid on its side becomes an armadillo’s crosshatched back. The effectively superfluous text repeats the same refrain on the left-hand side of each double-page spread: “Is it an apple? Guess what? Lift the flap....” A fully formed and easily recognizable fruit appears below the text. Across the page readers can see another image of the fruit, but this time, it is bifurcated by the flap. Under the flap, a critter is revealed, along with the answer: “It’s a monkey.” The sister title, Guess What?—Food, follows the same formula to the letter, but here, a variety of foods such as Swiss cheese, a loaf of bread and green squash turn into the critters—a giraffe, a dog and a frog respectively. In both titles, some of the transformations are more successful than others. The red apple morphs into the alarmingly red ear of an equally red-faced monkey, for instance. The final two pages of both titles review all the animals and many of the foods. Yonezu’s style, utilizing a thick, clumpy black line and bold, flat colors, is eye-catchingly simple without ever becoming boring. Surprising and engaging. (Board book. 18 mos.-3) (Guess What?—Food: 978-988-8240-62-3)
Yonezu, Yusuke Illus. by Yonezu, Yusuke Minedition (14 pp.) $9.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-988-8240-59-3
OUT THE WINDOW
Leon the chameleon camouflages himself to escape from various predators as he searches for his friend Carmen. As readers pull tabs on several of the pages, a snake, a wolf and a crocodile appear. The action also causes Leon, whose body is a die-cut hole, to cleverly change color to match his surroundings with a sliding panel that slots the background hue and pattern into place, with only Leon’s yellow eye still visible. When Leon calls out to Carmen and expresses his love for her, the object of his affection blushes to a bright shade of pink (even though the text claims she turns red) so he can spot her. The duo finds a rainbow and plays the “rainbow colors game,” each changing to match the shades of the spectrum, which is effected with a spin dial. The cleverest moment occurs on the back cover when a chameleon develops vertical, black stripes to match the barcode. The simple, repetitive text clearly explains the action. While the pull-tabs and spin dials work smoothly when new, they are not likely to survive robust play since the pages are thinner-than-normal board-book stock. For as long as they last, the amusing gimmicks serve this clever and colorful tale well. (Board book. 2-4) 126
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Young, Cybèle Illus. by Young, Cybèle Groundwood (30 pp.) $12.95 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-55498-370-4
Pull this chunky, square, accordionfolded board book from its slipcase to find a simple story that’s short on words but big on imagination. On the first page, readers are presented with an unidentifiable small brown animal—a cross between a mouse and a bear?— bouncing a polka-dot ball. As the accordion pages unfold, they watch as the creature tosses the ball and it goes flying out of the window. Try as it might, the critter is too short to see out the window, though readers can tell that something dramatic is obviously happening right outside. The final fold instructs them that it is “time to turn around”; flipping the book, they will find an exotic parade featuring everything from an octopus to various types of birds to all manner of machines. Although not visible on most of the pages, the ball somehow makes its way through the crazy carnival and is tossed, in the final panels, back through the window into the waiting arms of its furry owner. Little ones will have trouble with both format and story, but older children will delight in stretching out the panels to the book’s full, considerable length and poring over its extraordinary scenes.
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This whimsical celebration of imagination is a reminder to constantly seek to broaden our horizons, for new wonders always await. (Board book. 3-5)
CREATURE COLORS
Zuckerman, Andrew Illus. by Zuckerman, Andrew Chronicle (10 pp.) $7.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4521-1668-6 This simple title features two toddler favorites: colors and animals. Each spread features a photograph of a vibrantly colored animal—a blue macaw, pink flamingo, red snake, brown sea horse, black bear, green frog, yellow canary, gray elephant, orange bird and white owl—their bold colors standing out sharply against a plain white background. The only text is the name of each color, printed in a shade that closely matches the featured animal in a clear, lowercase type. Babies and toddlers will enjoy learning to identify colors with the help of these striking animal images. Less successful is another volume in this series called Creature Numbers. This title sets up a familiar pattern, with present participles emphasizing animal antics: “1 kangaroo jumping,” “2 tigers playing,” “3 chimpanzees running,” and so on, until readers arrive at the jarring “6 sheared sheep.” The next page takes readers back to the original pattern—sort of: Instead of seeing seven sharks, as might be expected, they’ll see just one, with the text reading: “7 fins paddling.” Particularly troubling here is the fact that the fins are a bit difficult to identify and count. These flaws notwithstanding, little ones are likely to be mesmerized by the animals, here again in sharp focus against stark white backgrounds. For little animal lovers everywhere. (Board book. 6 mos.-2) (Creature Numbers: 978-1-4521-1667-9)
interactive e-books LITTLE GUB
Lytje, Dorte Illus. by Ehler, Eva Mentoria ApS $1.99 | May 5, 2014 1.3; May 5, 2014
spends part of his time with each parent and misses the other one when they aren’t together. When Dad misses Little Gub, he gets a “sore spot in his heart. / Then Dad remembered that he just missed Little Gub because he loved him so very much. Then the sore spot turned big, soft and warm again.” Readers may listen and read in Spanish, English and Danish. The illustrations are sweet and cheery, if bland, the narration is reassuring, and the background music is soothing. The story flows smoothly, but it lacks depth. Picture books such as Nancy Coffelt and Tricia Tusa’s Fred Stays with Me! (2006) tackle the issue with both more art and more specificity, creating an engaging story for children. Little Gub’s tale, on the other hand, comes across as purpose-driven instead of story-driven. This well-intentioned storybook app does not measure up. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)
CATCHING FIREFLIES
Paratore, Coleen Murtagh Illus. by Paratore, Coleen Murtagh Little Pickle Press $5.99 | Mar. 22, 2014 1.1; Apr. 28, 2014 Part journal, part writing exercise, this app aims to help young writers get in the habit of writing. An introductory letter read by the author explains that ideas are like fireflies; if they are not grabbed and set down in writing, they quickly “fly away.” With such excellent advice as the importance of dating each entry and circling recurring themes, the journal emphasizes each writer’s unique thoughts and experiences. Prompts, here called “spark starters,” encourage exploration of these personal experiences and help beginning authors understand how to write emotional and experiential scenes with an authentic voice. Although the lettering is oddly pale when typing entries and the developers didn’t tweak the wording of the original, print journal for this app (readers are encouraged to paste an envelope into the book to hold writing scraps and cards), overall, it transitions very well to the electronic format and is greatly enhanced by the unlimited space for writing. It also provides the freedom to make mistakes, especially helpful for beginning writers. Users could end up with a cache of ideas and a habit that could conceivably last a lifetime. (iPad writing app. 10-16)
This supersweet multilingual storybook app aims to help young children adjust emotionally to their parents’ divorce. Little Gub’s parents were very much in love when they had a baby. “But after a while mom and dad stopped loving each other as a couple. It was nobody’s fault—nor was it Little Gub’s.” In what is now a familiar situation for many children, Little Gub |
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Sh e l f Spa c e Q&A With Mitchell Kaplan, Owner of Books & Books By Karen Schechner In this inaugural edition of Shelf Space—a monthly feature highlighting indie bookstores across America—we talk to Mitchell Kaplan, the owner of Books & Books. Books & Books is a locally owned bookstore with three locations in South Florida and stores in Grand Cayman; Westhampton Beach, New York; and the Miami International Airport. Kaplan, a Miami Beach native, founded Books & Books in 1982 and is the cofounder of Miami Book Fair International.
What is Books & Books famous for?
After 32 years in the book business, I guess we’re most famous for still being here. Miami is always underestimated when it comes to the vibrancy of its literary culture, and it’s possible that we’re best known really for supporting and helping to build on traditions that came before us. We have three stores we own in South Florida, and the ambience, selection and service at each one are distinctive enough to be memorable. We also present almost 700 events per year, with roots that are very deep in the community. We’ve been instrumental in the founding and sustaining of the Miami Book Fair, and that has become a community treasure and sense of pride for all Miamians.
If Books & Books were a religion, what would be its icons and tenets?
No atheist bookseller should ever have to answer this question, but I’ll try. We would be the people of the “great, good place,” and our temple would be the bookstore that serves its community in the name of all the “great literary spirits” past and present. We would trade in “karma credits,” making sure we were able to ascend to the highest circle of bookselling by exposing our followers to brand new voices of all kinds, fostering a diversity of thought but, most importantly, doing whatever it might take to develop the next generation of readers, while at the same time acknowledging the literary elders whose shoulders we all stand on. Our icons would be the typewriter and the book, the illustrator and the designer, and the cup of coffee and glass of wine.
Which was one of your favorite all-time events and why?
My favorite events are almost too many to mention, but one that sticks out as most memorable was the evening we had Christopher Hitchens take on a rabbi, priest, Buddhist nun and evangelical pastor while promoting his God Is Not Great. He was extremely controlled and polite until the rabbi had the temerity to accuse him of perpetuating the “blood libel.” He took off his gloves, brought out the long knives and proceeded to carve each of them up one by one. It was masterful. I guess another memorable time was when Lauren Bacall whispered to me that I was a “ham” when I introduced her. I think she wanted something more succinct so she could make it to Joe’s Stone Crab on South Beach before it closed.
What are some of the highlights of Books & Books’ history?
We opened the first B&B in 1982 in a 500-square-foot space in Coral Gables, not far from the University of Miami. From the beginning, we specialized in all the arts and always have had a large selection of books on art, architecture, design and photography. Our second shop opened on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach in 1989 at a time when Miami Beach was having a very difficult time. I’m from Miami Beach, so it was particularly gratifying to open a bookshop across from where the Doubleday Bookstore of my youth used to be. In 1999, we moved the original store to a historic building with a significant courtyard and opened the Café @ Books & Books. In 2005, we opened in The Bal Harbour Shops, and just recently, we partnered with others to bring a Books & Books to the Cayman Islands; Westhampton Beach, Long Island; and the Miami International Airport. Karen Schechner is the senior Indie editor at Kirkus Reviews.
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indie THE RELUCTANT ARCHITECT Language, Art & Architecture
These titles earned the Kirkus Star:
Anderson, Keith CreateSpace (90 pp.) $19.99 paper | $7.99 e-book | Jul. 6, 2012 978-1-4782-0080-2
THE LEGENDS OF LYNQUEST by B.F. Hess.....................................139 THE ORPHAN BEAR by William J. Rewak......................................142
THE ORPHAN BEAR
Rewak, William J. CreateSpace (126 pp.) $11.00 paper | $6.00 e-book Mar. 14, 2014 978-1-4953-8216-1
A collection of paintings, sketches and poetic reflections about life and architecture. Anderson’s slender debut contains thoughtful observations, but it’s also pleasing to the eye. Sixty-five brief meditations, each accompanied by the author’s own artwork, examine the nature of architecture, landscapes and humanity. Showing an aversion for “commercially driven” modern architecture, the author asks, “[W]hat are we building and why?” Inspired by the pastoral vistas of his Montana home, much of Anderson’s art reflects quiet, rural themes, but they also address the ravages of technology on spirituality. Some paintings, such as “On Desert Afternoons,” are bold and sun-bright; others are ethereal and almost haunting, such as “On the Veil of Reality,” which depicts the shadowy figure of a cow next to a dark, apparently opulent building. With its whimsical hues of green and blue, “On Imagery I” seems to encourage readers to imagine objects floating in water. The accompanying one-page vignettes are presented with the concrete eye of a poet, and like small stones tossed into a lake, they create lasting ripples of thought. For example, in “On Island Lake, The Beartooths,” Anderson captures the peaceful simplicity of a camping trip: “[t]he stump benches, the roof of pine boughs, the discolored tin ware, the primitive circle of rocks surrounding the fire, the swaying of pinion pine as a half moon appears above the horizon.” Likewise, “On Work Benches and My Father” vividly describes a father’s bruised, cracked thumbnail guiding a chisel’s blade. Other reflections, such as the author’s tribute to his son, are also memorable. (There are a few distracting typographical errors, but they are not overly worrisome.) Anderson ends the book with a somewhat lengthy author’s note that reiterates his wary stance concerning technology and architecture: “I believe we, as a society, will continue to drill deeper into the physical world, placing all our faith in science and technology. And what we will discover at the end of that investigation is a world bereft of meaning.” A contemplative, often beautiful collection.
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judging a book by its cover Within Indie, we’ve had ringside seats to the ascendance of selfpublishing in terms of both quality and quantity; sales and traditional publishing have responded. Not only are there star-earning Indie titles (which means they’ll be eligible for the recently announced Kirkus Prize), but those books are wearing stop-andadmire covers. Kirkus Reviews called CB Anderson’s River Talk, a collection of short stories set in Maine, “triumphant,” and so is its cover—a nearly glowing scarlet barn that suits the rural material. The clean, Mad Men-esque graphics of Henry’s Re-entry, by Welcome Cole, evoke the storyline—a guy in free fall who’s struggling mightily to redeem himself. A hazy Instagram-esque photo of an off-kilter man facing skyward visually sums up the wistful, well-meaning Antón, whose “social life is punctuated by drug use and casual sexual encounters,” in Nicolás Casariego’s Antón Mallick Wants to Be Happy. And the silhouettes of Jacob M. Appel’s Scouting for the Reaper neatly blend the cute and creepy. – Karen Schechner Karen Schechner is the senior Indie editor at Kirkus Reviews.
LITTLE RAVENS
Bardessono, Frank CreateSpace (338 pp.) $15.00 paper | $9.99 e-book Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4936-4583-1 A harrowing sequel to the acclaimed The Kindness of Ravens (2012) that features a cast of broken, despairing characters. Three years after the events of the previous novel, antihero Daren has recovered from substance abuse and addiction and is now ready to save others. Through his work as a counselor at the Santa Crisca Residential Institute for the Developmentally Disabled, he meets devastating victims of abuse and bad luck. His unit is comprised of six teenagers who share an array of emotional disabilities. It’s a troubling caseload, but Daren calls upon his own losses and insights and manages to navigate their problems effectively. However, as he gets to know the staff members at the institute—Heather, Alex, Janet, Rebecca and Casey—their struggles soon consume him. As their compulsions, secrets and complications escalate, and Daren pursues his own flirtation with Casey, he also forms a bond with the sharp-tongued Tara Martinez (described as “a raven, lost, wanton, a shaggy aristocrat of a lonely ward”), who’s a victim of intense neglect and abuse. Her at-risk behavior has her headed toward a desperate future unless Daren and the staff can intervene: “What I know is, if we don’t save her, nobody will,” Daren says. His determination to keep Tara safe blurs together with his own needs; when he helps others, he helps himself. Bardessono has a sharp eye for detail and characterization, and he offers an insightful, elegant tale of human behavior and suffering. Through his depiction of Daren’s sensitivity and self-awareness, the story emerges as a multilayered commentary on how society fails its derelicts as they struggle to achieve their own actualization. Daren’s patients and friends provide a colorful backdrop to his tale of redemption. An intriguing novel about how emotional problems can serve as opportunities for growth.
THE PINNACLE A Memoir
Bingaman, H.W. Lulu (268 pp.) $35.99 | $17.99 paper | Sep. 23, 2013 978-1-4834-0113-3 In Bingaman’s stellar memoir, his boyish obsession with flight blossoms into a grueling but rewarding career with the U.S. military, leading him into the uncertainties of war. Bingaman returns to his Iowa roots in this collection of anecdotes, reminiscences, and breathtaking impressions of clashes and close calls among fighter pilots and their peers. 130
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Recounting first his time in England as an American airman in a NATO squadron, the narrative covers his time in Oregon, the Midwest and Vietnam, detailing the operations—particularly the idiosyncrasies and frustrations—of military programs and the officers that oversaw them. In the Cold War shadows cast by Eisenhower and Khrushchev, Bingaman changes locations multiple times, taking his family with him. In Vietnam, as the war unfolds, he finds himself caught between the dangerous requirements of his occupation and an American bureaucracy with strenuous demands but too little regard for the human costs. A careful combination of career savvy and compassion helps Bingaman keep his wits sharp as friends disappear around him and the political situation grows thornier; he manages to survive a war he judged to be “a complete misfortune” and in which the White House wasted arms, effort and men. Wellpaced and written in economical prose, Bingaman’s retelling of his past is at once richly personal and broadly historical, sacrificing neither breadth nor depth to convey specific bits of information as well as the zeitgeist of the time. In addition to several black-and-white photographs, there’s a profuse amount of technical vocabulary and jargon in the volume—e.g., “Don, as Kingpin three, leading our element, lost his wing man on startup, a ground abort, and I filled in as Kingpin four”—though it doesn’t derail the fundamental human interest driving this account of the formidable constitution and patience required of someone who aspires to high-level military service. A sensitive, astute contribution to the history of the armed forces.
TANGERINE FOR THE EXECUTIONER’S ROPE A Frank Fitzpatrick Novel Burgess, Robert X. Lost Horizon Press (178 pp.) $7.45 paper | Mar. 19, 2014 978-0-615-92281-2
A private eye travels to Las Vegas to find his missing friend and winds up investigating a murder in Burgess’ debut thriller, the first in a proposed series. Frank Fitzpatrick leaves the beaches of Florida for the glitz of Vegas when Candy Vogel, wife of Arthur, a mathematician and Fitz’s former co-worker, tells the PI that her husband vanished three days ago. It doesn’t take long for Fitz to see something’s wrong: Arthur was uncharacteristically fascinated by an eccentric artist calling himself Zsa Zsa, whose paintings seem to Fitz a jumbled mess; and Arthur recently had a heated argument with Eliot Waxwell, an affluent man who’s been financing Zsa Zsa. Fitz doesn’t get much support from the local PD—he’s responsible for a few corrupt Vegas cops being sent away—but he’ll need all the help he can get, as his missing persons case turns into a murder investigation and is further complicated by the presence of Wang, a notable Chinese shipping mogul, as well as the FBI. Despite its contemporary setting, Burgess’ novel exhibits some of the traditional elements of a classic detective
story: Fitz loves classic Hollywood films, still refers to comics as “the funnies,” and equates Candy with Marilyn Monroe and Maxine (Fitz’s erstwhile lover) with Jayne Mansfield. The narrative itself likewise recalls a pulpy dime novel: It dives immediately into the mystery and uses wordplay instead of cursing; e.g., more than one character tells Fitz to do something to himself that’s “anatomically impossible.” But the modern touches played against the conventional noir backdrop are what really set the book apart: Fitz uses a smartphone app to track someone and removes his cellphone’s battery to avoid anyone doing the same to him. And the disparities between Fitz and a classic sleuth give the protagonist much-needed distinction: He abhors cigarette smoke, doesn’t drink because he doesn’t like the taste of alcohol and prefers his Converse sneakers to “fancy shoes” that pinch his toes. The mystery isn’t hard to figure out, but there are copious suspects and red herrings, and readers will gladly join the charming PI as he diligently sifts through every one of them. Frank Fitzpatrick will lead this mystery series with ease, boasting the deductive skills of Philip Marlowe and the style of James Bond in high tops.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF INTERNET DATING, CONOR FITZPATRICK Cohen, Randal Neal CreateSpace (214 pp.) $12.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Apr. 17, 2014 978-1-4952-2504-8
Cohen offers an entertaining debut novel about sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll, and getting older. Conor Fitzpatrick is the widowed manager of a rock band in Los Angeles. He’s been depressed since his wife passed away unexpectedly nearly a decade ago, and he’s gotten in the habit of drinking too much and avoiding dating. But when his niece, Chloe, comes to town for an internship, she decides to get her uncle back on his feet by setting him up with an online dating profile. Cohen’s novel chronicles Fitzpatrick’s attempts to navigate the online dating world as he simultaneously tries to resurrect his stagnant career in the music industry. It also follows Chloe as she makes her way up from lowly intern to assistant at a prestigious motion picture production company. Cohen’s wonderfully entertaining book grapples with relevant issues, such as the difficulties of aging, the challenges of the entertainment industry and the ways that people cope with grief. There’s some beautiful, poignant prose here, particularly when Conor finally starts to come to grips with the death of his wife: “It’s been ten years, he thought. She’s not on vacation. She’s not doing errands. She’s gone. Gone....If he quit drinking to excess and embraced some semblance of a healthy lifestyle, he might live another forty years. How did he want to live them?” Cohen is clearly well-versed in both the music industry and online dating world, and he cleverly implements humorous allusions to |
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“Constain has crafted a lovely coming-of-age novel that pays homage to her family history.” from the keys to fanny
both. The book’s only weak points are its occasional spelling and grammatical errors, which detract from the otherwise compelling narrative. A fun read with a poignant message and tons of popculture references.
PANTHER IN THE HIVE Cole, Olivia A. Westbow Press (472 pp.) $18.00 paper | $2.99 e-book Mar. 31, 2014 978-0-9916155-0-6
In a future Chicago, when bionic chips have turned some humans into zombielike creatures, a young woman fights her way to possible sanctuary. Some 70 years from now, widening social inequality has divided those living in the States (what’s left of America after California secedes) between those who qualify for MINK health coverage and those who don’t—such as Tasha Lockett, college dropout and salesgirl for a high-end mall’s designer pet store. Without MINK, she can’t get a Chip, the tiny neck-implanted device that prevents and cures all ailments. But then comes the Change: One morning, everyone with a chip is suddenly transformed into a swaying, grunting, zombielike eater of human flesh. The Minkers, as Tasha calls them, are easy enough to kill—she dispatches her doorman with a nail file—but they’re everywhere. A scribbled note from Tasha’s sister in California, postmarked two weeks before the Change, reads “Get to South Side ASAP….Dr. Rio can help. Find him. Come to LA.” Armed with a kitchen knife and toting her Prada backpack, Tasha makes a dangerous journey through Minkerhaunted Chicago. When she learns Rio’s full plans, she realizes the battle is only just beginning. In the crowded field of dystopian/post-apocalyptic/zombie fiction, Cole doesn’t add much that’s new besides an interesting social-justice angle: Unusually for the genre, Tasha is of mixed race; Minkers tend to be white. Cole impressively plots Tasha’s growth: At first, she’s obsessed with fashion and style—at one point, she leaves a potential ally unprotected so she can do her makeup—but as life-and-death situations force her to reconsider priorities, Tasha can no longer answer a question such as “What’s so special about Prada?” except to conclude that “it was something to love, I guess.” Cole makes excellent use of her Chicago setting, and she brings out the spookiness of her premise with haunting images of ordinary people gone mindlessly bad. Despite a lot of action, though, the book moves somewhat slowly while leaving many questions unanswered, no doubt due to a planned sequel. Solid character development strengthens a familiar plot.
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THE KEYS TO FANNY
Constain, Sally Wahl CreateSpace (198 pp.) $12.00 paper | $6.00 e-book Mar. 5, 2014 978-1-4949-2878-0 In this debut historical fiction, young teen Fanny Tatch escapes from her shtetl near Kiev to embark on a new life in America. Rolling out strudels, 13-year-old Fanny Tatch feels like her life is rolling away, too. She’d like to receive an education like her brother, but she instead awaits another fate as a Jewish girl living in the Ukraine in the 1890s. Her father plans an arranged marriage for her, and worst of all, her mother is very ill. While visiting her dying sister, Fanny’s aunt Freda ignites her niece’s imagination with news that she and Freda’s much older husband, Avram, plan to immigrate soon to America. After Mama dies, Papa marries Ida, who schemes for Fanny to marry her oafish nephew. Then Avram dies, and Freda suggests that Fanny travel to America with her in his place. They quietly make their way out of the country, sliding past questioning Cossacks and arriving by ship in Manhattan, where Avram’s cousin Sophie and husband, Mendel, charge them room and board to stay in the couple’s Lower East Side apartment. Sophie also gets them jobs with her in the garment industry but becomes enraged when overseer Mike takes a shine to Freda and allows Fanny to work part time so she can attend school. Mendel also rather strangely withholds letters from Papa. These tensions ultimately drive Fanny and Freda out onto the streets, but it’s a blessing in disguise, as Fanny finds the keys to truly start their new lives. Constain, a retired teacher and school librarian, has drawn inspiration from her grandmother, also named Fanny Tatch, to develop this work of historical fiction. There’s a vibrant veracity throughout her smooth-flowing narrative, with Constain effectively conveying Jewish cultural details as well as Fanny’s wonder and engagement in learning. The story at times lacks nuance, though, with some rather one-dimensional villains and Cinderella-like turns of fortune. Overall, however, Constain has crafted a lovely coming-of-age novel that pays homage to her family history. A simple yet charming tale that captures the hopes and challenges of the immigrant experience for Jewish women.
DOWNTOWN TURNAROUND Cort, Daniel E. CreateSpace (198 pp.) $39.95 | Nov. 1, 2010 978-1-935530-01-5
Good planning and rehabbing can give old buildings and cities new leases on life, argues this savvy manifesto onurban redevelopment. Cort, a California real estate developer, specializes in buying distressed, decrepit old houses and buildings in bad parts of town, remodeling them with modern amenities while preserving their historic ambiance, and then renting or selling them for a profit. The result, he argues, is a thriving business model that also helps jump-start residential and commercial revitalization in blighted neighborhoods. He spotlights a number of his projects in the struggling city of Stockton, California, and the coastal town of Pacific Grove, which run the gamut: spruced-up Victorians, a renovated apartment building with ground-floor businesses that create an “urban village,” an abandoned factory that becomes a social services center, a derelict office building turned into a law library, an initiative to get municipal electricity from solar panels, etc. The subject of real estate development can be dry, but Cort manages to make his accounts of these projects both lucid and interesting as he explains aspects of creative financing for properties that lenders often see as bad investments or tax and subsidy concerns. Renovating to building code can be challenging, he says, though good tenants will enhance a building’s value; there’s also the consideration of selecting public art to be on display within the building. Along the way, Cort explains his urbanist and preservationist philosophies of redevelopment, which owe much to Jane Jacobs and James Howard Kunstler; he decries the sprawl that sucks businesses and tax base away from downtowns to the exurbs, and he extols the sustainability, liveliness and community values of dense, mixed-use inner-city districts. (The book’s many color photos of his projects show their considerable charm to good advantage.) Brimming with ideas and expert insights, Cort’s introduction to the subject of preservationist development will appeal to real estate professionals, planners, activists and anyone who cherishes neglected architectural treasures. An intellectually and visually stimulating guide to the kind of development that restores, rather than paves over, America’s civic tradition.
SCHISM
Dent, Brett Amazon Digital Services (287 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Jan. 25, 2014 Troubled psychic Adam Hutchens joins Hillview Research Institute to find answers and avoid jail, but he soon finds himself in danger when he discovers that the project isn’t exactly as advertised. When Hutchens accidentally kills his grandmother in a psychic fit, he becomes a research subject at the Hillview Research Institute. There, Dr. William Creighton heads a project that seeks to combine psychiatry and science to help those with dormant psychic abilities understand and control their powers. It turns out that Hutchens is capable of “remote viewing”; i.e., he’s able to leave his body and see into other rooms and places. Assigned to psychiatrist Dr. Gina Lindsay’s study group, Hutchens begins to untangle the psychological issues of his past that are impinging on both his powers and his happiness. Hutchens also undergoes lab tests with Dr. Craig Mueller, honing his abilities. As the patient settles in, he finds that he isn’t alone; his study group is made up of a number of other psychics, all dealing with their own issues. Among them are Annie, a clairvoyant, and Kevin, a mind controller. It’s not all group therapy and smiles though; rigorous tests in the lab and interpersonal issues make for a stressful working environment for everybody, not to mention that Creighton and Mueller seem to have their own agendas. The doctors are working to accomplish “transference,” giving psychic abilities to nonpsychics. The applications are endless, and as far as Creighton and Mueller are concerned, those ends justify all means. Debut author Dent has penned a psychic thriller that’s difficult to put down thanks to its intensity and its quick pacing. Though the moral ramifications of the issues at hand are only lightly sketched, the cast never slows down as the good and the bad race to accomplish their goals, neither side quite certain of the capabilities of the other. In turns intriguing, disturbing and exhilarating, this is a solid debut from an author who seems, like Hutchens, to be able to see things a little differently. An original thriller that really gets in your head.
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CROW CREEK
The Calamities
Drago, Thomas Gold Avenue Press (376 pp.) $13.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-615-98266-3
Dundore, Bruce Manuscript
In Drago’s debut novel, an insidious horror reveals itself in a small North Carolina town. The town of Crow Creek is experiencing two tragedies: In the dramatic foreground, a massive sinkhole has suddenly opened up on King Street, swallowing cars and businesses and very nearly some citizens; in the background, the town has seen an inordinate number of inexplicable suicides in recent years. The sinkhole, which naturally takes precedence, opens underneath the normal day-to-day lives of a well-drawn cast of characters, including loutish Stan “Krully” Krulikowski, a branch manager at Crow Creek Savings; and Sheriff Brad Gleason, who’s taking care of his father, the previous sheriff. (Drago writes of the old man’s decline into senility with memorable sensitivity.) Gleason is the kind of guy that others turn to in times of crisis, but his young daughter Maddie was one of the town’s suicides two years ago (“She drove up to Ninth Street on lunch break one afternoon, waited for a Southern Railways freight car, and ended her life. Plain and simple. Left her keys in the ignition with the car running”), and he’s as puzzled as everyone else in town about what’s driving so many people to take their own lives. Those deaths are regularly commemorated by the town’s enigmatic cleric, Pastor Aken, and Drago develops Aken’s darkness so skillfully that by the time readers actually meet the pastor in person, it’s no surprise that he’s the villain of the story. As Sheriff Gleason agonizes over hearing the disembodied voice of his dead daughter, the author grippingly weaves issues of faith and the afterlife into his bubbling plot. Drago’s major literary influence is fairly obvious; the small town of quirky locals, the dogged teamwork amid adversity, and the compelling, central figure of evil are very much Stephen King’s territory. However, Drago navigates this terrain with considerable skill and a good ear for dialogue and deadpan humor. A brisk, accomplished horror debut from an author to watch.
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From author Dundore (The Seduction Diet, 2011) comes a sci-fi novel about a bizarre future and one strange man. When John Smith awakes from a coma, he can’t remember much about his life. Suffering from erectile dysfunction, he also can’t achieve an erection without the aid of a mechanical device. His girlfriend, Marsha, doesn’t seem to mind. Living in a futuristic America that has been rocked by a series of calamities (ranging from plagues to nuclear attacks to a variety of inferior goods), the couple has weathered much worse. After a pack of steroid-enhanced coyotes attacks John, however, his subsequent loss of an arm puts a great strain on the relationship. Believing that his limb will simply grow back, John appears insane to nearly everyone but himself. Since he has no friends to bother with his belief in a regenerating arm (“I don’t have friends. I have doctors and a girlfriend, and those relationships are tenuous at best”), the burden of suffering through such imagination falls mostly on Marsha and John’s dog, Lassie. As fingers begin to emerge from John’s shoulder, the pending question seems to be: Just how crazy is John compared with the madness around him? With a future world that may be too on-the-nose for some (“ticketists” write tickets for all sorts of violations, professional sports have gone ultraviolent, and don’t even bother taking the Suri Cruise Cruiseway), the book nevertheless manages a deep creativity and empathetic protagonist. John may have lost an arm, but he isn’t one to complain about it; he’ll just grow another. Likewise, his relationship may not be one full of passion, but when the alternative is the bleakness of an outside world where packs of enhanced coyotes roam, who can blame John and Marsha for the time they spend together? Frequently sexual (one woman’s business card has a picture of her vagina on it), occasionally gruesome and dotted with spurts of genuine humor, the story culminates in a surprisingly sweet ending. Managing to be fun in spite of a bleak storyline, the novel is worthy of comparison to wacky/sad futures such as Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story (2011).
THE DOOMSDAY KIDS Liam’s Promise Folan, Karyn Langhorne K Squared Books (259 pp.) $12.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Mar. 26, 2014 978-0-6159-6608-3
In Folan’s (Breaking Point, 2010, etc.) latest YA sci-fi/dystopian novel, survival is key. While in his English class in Maryland, teenage Liam Harper gets the terse, frantic call from his mom, who works at the Pentagon: The apocalypse is imminent. After Liam hauls his sister, Lilly, out of her class, they race against time and survive a nuclear conflict. Together with his girlfriend, Amy, his school enemy Rod Wasserman, Lilly, her friend Elise and a handful of others, Liam must follow his “orders” and complete the 200-mile trek to the Mountain Place—a rural haven against disaster that was built by his obsessive father against the wishes of his pragmatic mother. Along the way, Liam and the diverse group of travelers face danger, hardship and challenges on the road, which change them from citizens to tough, capable survivors in a world destroyed by the forces of global warfare. Cut off from authority, the mostly adolescent cast must face doomsday without guidance. Their journey will not be without loss and suffering, and they cannot reach their goal without scars. Despite its easily recognized archetypes, the story is told without excessive melodrama and with pertinent details that are kept believable. The lightning-fast pacing wastes no time, and the mostly serviceable dialogue only occasionally descends to the stilted and mawkish with a few heavy statements: “We, too, have had to fight. And along the way, we have tried to save as many as we could,” a Muslim character says. A few typos mar this otherwise solid first entry in the teenagers-at-the-end-ofthe-world genre. A strong start to a post-apocalyptic series.
AN ADIRONDACK LIFE Freed, Brian M. Lulu (386 pp.) $21.79 paper | $8.99 e-book May 20, 2000 978-1-5872106-6-2
A teenage love triangle is the catalyst for murder in this mystery set against the backdrop of the Adirondack wilderness. Freed makes his stunning debut with a novel that is grand in scope but intimate in its execution. The story follows a trio of teenagers who meet in the tiny fictional community of Henoga Valley, deep within New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The two boys, John David and Jack, who have been friends since childhood, are both legendary local athletes. Their personalities, however, couldn’t be more different. John David is quiet and inclined to spend his
free time hunting, hiking and exploring the vast wilderness. Jack, on the other hand, is gregarious and known equally for his intelligence and charm. Into their lives enters Emily, a precocious girl with few friends who captivates both boys. At the end of their senior year, Jack is found stabbed to death, and John David is identified as the chief suspect after he flees into the woods, setting in motion a course of events that will not be completely resolved for another 15 years. The setup may sound familiar, but Freed proves himself to be both a subtle observer of his characters and a deft manipulator of plot. In this compelling novel, readers will need to hang on until the last few pages to fully understand what has happened. But what really sets this debut apart is the way its rich setting entwines with the lives of its characters. Readers will feel like they’re walking through the dense, damp, impossibly lush Adirondack wilderness, as Freed joins a proud tradition of writers who have found an aspect of the American character reflected in the local landscape. Dialogue is occasionally a challenge for Freed, but the other elements are handled so carefully that readers likely won’t care if these teenage voices sometimes feel inauthentic. A powerful, quintessentially American work from a debut writer whose skills extend far beyond his experience.
J.D.’S SCRATCH MATCH Gabriele, Mark Illus. by Jones, Mark Mirambel Publishing (32 pp.) $8.99 paper | Sep. 2, 2012 978-0-9856082-0-0
Some problems aren’t what you think they are, as this quietly humorous picture book illustrates. J.D.’s got a problem: There’s a mouse scratching in his wall, and it’s keeping him awake at night. First, he consults a pet-store owner, who offers him a cat to get rid of the mouse. But the cat starts scratching, too! After the next sleepless night, J.D. calls a dogcatcher. “Maybe the dogcatcher can help me. He catches animals all day long.” The dogcatcher has a fantastical robot— sure to please detail-loving young kids—and promises to rid J.D. of the mouse. But the robot makes scratching noises, too! J.D. flees the house in desperation, followed closely by the mouse, who wants to explain that he was just sweeping his home, not scratching, and is done making noise now. Problem solved—no cat or complicated robot necessary. It’s just absurd enough for young audiences to enjoy. Gabriele (Sofia’s Backwards Day, 2012, etc.) uses language that is natural, simple and a pleasure to read out loud. Jones’ illustrations suit the tenor of the story to a T and add quirky details, like the line of owls that grows outside J.D.’s window as the drama unfolds. The story isn’t entirely satisfying, however: As soon as J.D. picks up the cat, it looks pretty obvious where the book is headed: down the road of other funny, cumulative folk stories and songs (think “The House that Jack Built” and “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”). But J.D. tries just two scratch-eradicating solutions before his problem solves itself. Since three seems to be the magic number in |
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Interviews & Profiles
Matt Adrian
The quirky artist moves his work from hipster craft fairs to big-time publishing By Nick A. Zaino III
Matt Adrian owes his career success to a bunch of crows and abandoned fast food. In 2008, he was an artist trying to find a muse, doing figurative art and working with a company designing art for highend parties in Los Angeles. He found his inspiration walking through a parking lot, watching crows seemingly in conversation as they went after some french fries on the blacktop. “It seemed like they were much more intelligent than your common, everyday animal,” says Adrian. “They seemed to be very gregarious and trying to communicate about who got those fries. I found it fascinating. Then I just started noticing birds everywhere.” Now Adrian has his own small franchise, anchored by his new book, The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds, out June 12 from Blue Rider Press, an imprint of Penguin, though the first 136
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time his work was printed in book form, it was selfpublished. The book contains his paintings of birds accompanied by humorous profiles—killer owls, ducks in search of revenge for foie gras and finches declaring, “I’m three ounces of whoop-ass.” Adrian took a long, circuitous route to publishing a humor book. He had always wanted to try his hand at writing but thought he wasn’t very good at it. He was much more comfortable as an artist. After he saw those crows in the parking lot, he started painting and drawing birds, to the exclusion of other subjects. That was the beginning of a quick rise from sideline pursuit to full-time career. At first, Adrian’s paintings had pedestrian names such as Bird with Blue Wall, reflecting the focus on the simplicity of the representation of the subject and the surrounding negative space. But when Adrian went to sell his creations on the Internet, he found his titles wouldn’t work. As he began to list the titles, he says he thought to himself, “This is just boring. This is boring me to tears.” Indulging his desire to write, Adrian started to give the painting titles like Only My Reptilian Insanity Allows Me to View the Gravitational Field of the Earth Without Dying, and he started to create back stories for the birds. The next big change for Adrian arrived when he started listing his work on etsy.com, selling it as fine art and magnets with his strange titles. The online boutique marketplace was beginning to burgeon, and Adrian found the direct contact with an audience gave him confidence to explore the oddity of his newfound inspiration. “I got immediate response from people,” he says, “which I’d never had before as an artist. Before, I was just out in the wilderness, just failing miserably. I was able to have an audience for the first time, someone who was giving
me instant feedback. People would support it by immediately buying it.” Adrian believes he got into etsy.com at just the right time, when there were fewer sellers and less competition. That allowed him to stand out and establish his art as its own business, which happened to come at a time when he was reaching a creative peak. “Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to race home from my day job and write and put stuff online,” he says. In 2009, Adrian was able to quit his day job and support himself with his bird-related art. “It really happened quickly,” he says. “And I was surprised I was able to transition over to doing it full-time. It was scary at the same time, but I much prefer working for myself now than working for other people.” The Troubled Birds book started to take shape by accident, when Adrian began to write stories for the descriptions on his etsy.com listings. “It wasn’t originally intended as a book; it just kind of started out as me having fun listing them,” he says. “They started out as magnets, and we still do very well selling them as magnets.” Many of the images have a memelike quality, with a highly-focused image and a short, strange tagline, which is why they have sold well for Adrian as magnets and greeting cards, though their success is hard to predict and sometimes-puzzling. His best-selling greeting card is an image of a parrot with the caption, “You’re a whore and that makes me sad.” That makes Adrian laugh. “People requested it,” he says. “They liked this as a greeting card.” Adrian finally decided he would combine his art and words as a book when fans started telling him they would love to have a collection of the stories he wrote for etsy.com. But he figured no one would be interested in publishing such a collection. He decided that even if he had to print it himself and sell it out of the back of his car, “I want to get this out there,” he recalls. The first versions of Troubled Birds came from Adrian’s own printer and were stapled together and sold to fans. Adrian found the lack of oversight by a publisher inspiring. “It didn’t seem real,” he says. “So I was able to just kind of do whatever I wanted and not really worry about trying to impress anyone.” He could be as strange as he wanted to be. The last story in the collection, for example is “my attempt to write a story about chickens in the vein of Cor-
mac McCarthy,” he says. “It’s about chickens finding out that their eggs are being eaten.” The book was refined in different editions and the print quality improved. The book became something of an indie cult hit, getting distributed through bookstores and selling on Adrian’s website. “The sales had really been ratcheting up,” says Adrian. “I don’t necessarily know why, but right then Blue Rider took it on. It was good timing.” Adrian is happy to see Troubled Birds in the company of other Blue Rider humor books like The Diary of Edward the Hamster. The added attention should help his sales on his MincingMockingbird. com site for both his work and for his wife’s “Frantic Meerkat” line of art. Perhaps most of all, Adrian is happy to think of someone stumbling upon his unusual book at mainstream bookstores, not knowing what to make of it. “I’ve had the opportunity to see this at these hipster craft shows where we’ve sold our work,” he says, “just kind of watching people’s faces going from confusion to humor to where they’re laughing out loud. I like that idea of it being out in more places.” Nick A. Zaino III is a freelance writer based in Boston covering the arts for Kirkus Reviews, the Boston Globe, BDCWire.com, TheSpitTake.com and other publications.
The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds Mockingbird, The Mincing Blue Rider Press (64 pp.) $15.95 | Jun. 12, 2014 978-0-3991-7091-1 |
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“Enthusiasts of both philosophy and slick detective stories are sure to enjoy this probing inquiry into humanity’s darker impulses.” from the philosophical detective
literature (and the bare minimum needed for a cumulative story, right?), the book feels unfinished, like it got just two-thirds of the way there. In the end, J.D., the mouse and the cat tuck themselves in and go to sleep. And, like a little mouse scratching at the wall, there’s a niggling question: That’s it? No twist? No little wink at the reader? It’s too bad. It would have been a nice cap to an otherwise enjoyable book. Sweet, warm, friendly, unique and utterly readable.
WHEN TWO WOMEN DIE An Historical Novella of Marblehead, Telling of Two Murders Which Happened There, 301 Years Apart
Goodwin , Patricia Plum Press (162 pp.) $7.99 paper | $2.99 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-615-58724-0 Two women murdered in Marblehead, Massachusetts, 301 years apart—one in 1690 and the other in 1991—would seem to have nothing in common, but Goodwin ties both together in her novella. Goodwin (Atlantis, 2006) deftly toggles between both murders. The first involves an unknown English woman who was taken ashore by pirates in 1690 and savagely abused and murdered. The second occurred in 1991; a woman went for an afternoon’s sail with a neighbor who ended up killing her. In both tales, the author establishes a strong undercurrent of tension and horror, which upsets the daily activities—breadmaking in the 17th century and filmmaking in the 20th—of this normally placid coastal town. Marblehead is a palpable presence here; Goodwin infuses the book with the maritime influences of the area without turning it into a travelogue. Supernatural elements, used sparingly but effectively, occur in both storylines. In one, a character has prophetic dreams, and in the other, a woman can see into the future. Occasionally, and this is a minor quibble, Goodwin relies too heavily on dialect in the dialogue, such as: “Oooh, never will Lizzie ‘low my rise in w’ her’n, now t’is sticks n’ stones to break thy teeth on.” It makes the characters sometimes hard to understand. Usually, however, Goodwin’s prose is sharp and descriptive, invoking vivid word pictures: “Karen stepped over her, agile and light as a cat, with her long, coppery legs in frayed Patagonias.” Although it frequently switches back and forth between the narratives, the novel coheres. The result is a suspenseful book in which both stories hurtle to their tragic conclusions. A fast-paced, multilayered story of seaside murders separated by three centuries.
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THE PHILOSOPHICAL DETECTIVE The True Story of an Imaginary Gentleman Hartman, Bruce Swallow Tail Press (248 pp.) $12.95 paper | $0.99 e-book Jun. 2, 2014 978-0-9889-1812-2
A heady mystery for the literary set. In his latest outing, Hartman (The Rules of Dreaming, 2013) delivers a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel with an unlikely lead detective: a fictionalized version of iconic Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). The story takes place outside Boston in 1967, as recollected by narrator Nick Martin—an ailing elderly man who once spent a semester as Borges’ graduate assistant and amateur gumshoe sidekick while the author was a visiting lecturer. Shortly after the eccentric Borges’ arrival, a murder within Nick’s department is revealed to have a surprise literary twist, and he and the author team up to solve the crime. The murder turns out to be the first in a series of strange tragedies in the area, all with some sort of connection to literature or philosophy. The crimes fit in well with Borges’ latest academic fascination, Thomas De Quincey’s 1827 satirical essay “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts,” and Nick and Borges have long philosophic discourses at a local coffee shop, where they discuss the nature of reality as Nick pines for a beautiful waitress. “The world is crowded with illusionists,” Borges declares during one case, “trying to pass off an imperfect copy of something as the real thing.” Indeed, the world Hartman conjures certainly is crowded with illusionists. Although the prose is sometimes heavy with words that feel as if they were plucked from a thesaurus (“Inevitably the conversation gravitated to the purpose of our visit”), the author’s fine-tuned intellect and vivid reimagining of Borges make for a thought-provoking and compelling read. Plot points that might initially seem hard to believe are, more often than not, not quite what they seem, as Hartman’s story always stays two steps ahead of the reader. Enthusiasts of both philosophy and slick detective stories are sure to enjoy this probing inquiry into humanity’s darker impulses. Borges fans, in particular, will appreciate the book’s clever take on metafiction—not to mention the character’s sly quips: “Don’t the police in this country read Sherlock Holmes?” An intelligent, original detective novel.
“These magnificently imagined tales within tales show that debut author Hess knows and passionately loves classical fantasy.” from the legends of lynquest
THE LEGENDS OF LYNQUEST Search for Greatness & Secret of the Child & Tale of Two Faces Hess, B.F. CreateSpace (274 pp.) $11.99 paper | $10.25 e-book Nov. 25, 2013 978-1-4819-6453-1
This YA fantasy debut anthologizes three novellas in which heroes search for treasure to help stop an evil sorceress. Young Tobias lives in the cozy town of Summers Glen. One day, after escaping from some bullies, he encounters a strange old man who invites him to hear a tale about Lynquest the Great. “But those stories are just fairy tales,” Tobias argues, before he settles in to listen. So begins Search for Greatness, the first of three adventures detailing the life of Lynquest, a hero who starts out as a 12-year-old tanner’s son named Tiny. After the youngster removes a sword from a dragon’s hide, he and the creature become friends for life. Afterward, Tiny decides to test his manhood by traveling to the city of Salizar. His perilous undertakings soon raise his esteem in the eyes of Ironcrest Castle’s royalty. During these years, Tiny learns about a sacred scepter and four enchanted rings that are capable of uniting mankind. Every thousand years, however, a wicked sorceress named Salina attempts to gain control of the scepter and, through it, the world. Secret of the Child and Tale of Two Faces follow Lynquest and his friends as they fight to protect mankind. These magnificently imagined tales within tales show that debut author Hess knows and passionately loves classical fantasy. Tolkien himself might have been proud to have written these lines: “There is strength out here in the silence of nature. Here, a man’s thoughts can grow strong and tall like trees and his spirit is at peace.” The adventures are dense with mythic characters—such as Subakai the dragon and Queen Emily of the Eternal Rose—who accomplish equally mythic feats. In a thrilling sequence reminiscent of the 1967 film The Jungle Book, Lynquest and his boy companion, Sebastian, face enormous snakes known as Malice and Avarice. But for all the swashbuckling, Hess’ overall theme of hope remains paramount, for it is “[l]ike moonbeams on the surface of the water, so easily broken by a ripple but always returning.” Poetic fantasy tales that will mesmerize readers of any age.
THE FRAGRANT ONES Kimber, A.R. CreateSpace (364 pp.) $14.99 paper | $4.99 e-book Feb. 27, 2014 978-1-4948-1024-5
A debut novel in which two young women separated by centuries seek personal redemption. Kimber’s novel opens with idealistic but experience-hardened Jennifer attending the bedside of Jeb, the provocative avant-garde artist who’s been a kind of cult-messiah figure to her; now, Jeb is dying of AIDS. Jeb has accumulated many “disciples” in a life devoted as much to drinks and debauchery as to his art, and Jennifer finds herself in uneasy competition mainly with steely Vina, Jeb’s manager and representative. Both women come from sketchy, fragmented pasts, and both have presentday treasures: For Vina, it’s her young son, Kevin, and for Jennifer, it’s her late mother’s copy of The Fragrant Ones by R.F. Friedlander, inscribed with a verse from the Gospel of Mark: “I tell you the truth…wherever the Gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” In the narrative’s alternating chapters, readers get the story of this enigmatic “she”—a Jewish woman in the first century named Reumah, divorced by her husband and degraded into prostitution, then befriended by a charismatic rabbi who meets her at a well and fills her imagination with hope. After thus giving readers a New Testament reference point, Kimber goes on to skillfully weave a multilayered story, half in Jeb’s present-day world of art galleries, wine, and drugs and half in the New Testament world of Mary and Martha and Lazarus and Nicodemus. The plotlines are united both in their common examination of the nature of messiah-hood and in their intricate, satisfying portrayal of young women facing tough choices in an unsentimental world. “One religion was basically the same as any other,” Jennifer thinks. “Try hard. Worship something good and be a good person, whatever that means to you.” But the story’s grappling with the nature of faith—ranging from the savage cruelties inflicted on Reumah to the lies of convenience told by Jennifer—is far more complex than such easy formulas would indicate. An evocative depiction of the natures of womanhood and discipleship.
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RATS
SUPER LEXI
Klingler, Joe Cartosi LLC (454 pp.) $15.95 paper | $3.99 e-book Feb. 24, 2014 978-1-941156-02-5
Lesko, Emma Illus. by Winsor, Adam Red Leather Books, LLC (104 pp.) $5.99 paper | Feb. 9, 2014 978-0-9914310-0-7
In Klingler’s debut thriller, a female sniper tracks down a bomber who targets U.S. military interests. A motorcyclist leaves Alaska’s Caribou Motel at dawn. Using the name Arthur Tresuniak, the man drives at top speed toward the TransAlaska Pipeline. Once within range, he begins tossing metallic, rod-shaped devices along the pipeline’s structure. The dozens of devices, equipped with tire treads, antennae and explosives, are called Rats. Arthur detonates them after racing away. The resulting disaster (which, from above, resembles a “Firesnake”) causes the stock of major oil companies to plummet and U.S. President Mallor to panic over his chances at re-election. Enter Gen. Billy Williams and his sharpshooting love, Col. Claire Ferreti. They visit Alaska to investigate just who or what is behind the pipeline sabotage. There, they meet 12-year-old Billy Norton, an imaginative kid who happens to have found an undetonated Rat. After Williams has specialists study the device, he learns that the Alaskan bomber’s profile matches that of the Demon—a shadowy operative known only by the faintest digital trail. Tracing the Demon to the Chinese-Vietnamese border, Williams decides to send Claire after him. Klingler’s debut offers a deep logistical jungle sure to entertain buffs and newcomers to the techno-thriller genre. Throughout, he displays fierce writing chops: He describes the pipeline as “a scar from a knife fight Alaska lost.” Short chapters balance action and subterfuge with political thought targeted keenly at modern drone warfare. Petry, a man running for president against Mallor, tells his audience to strive for “A world where robots are producing, not destroying, our way of life.” A subplot follows the fate of young Billy, who, after seeing a Rat detonate, is silenced by trauma; the theme of children suffering the worst during wartime—and long after—propels the rest of the plot into suitably daring territory. A nuanced techno-thriller with both brains and brawn.
A grade school girl battles her fear of “staring eyeballs” in this fantastic series starter by debut author Lesko. Lexi isn’t a fan of loud noises and hates when people stare at her, so she tells her music teacher that she’d rather skip recess than be in the school music program. When her mother informs her that she doesn’t actually have a choice (“This was breaking news,” Lexi tells readers), she tries to come up with another way to get out of the program. Her eventual plan: to catch a leprechaun. Although Lexi claims to have no imagination, she does claim to have superpowers: Sometimes, she says, her wishes come true; if she can just perfect her tornado twirls, she thinks, she’ll be able to turn invisible. Lexi has a remarkable narrative voice, and Lesko captures her anxieties and phobias beautifully; Winsor’s evocative black-and-white illustrations perfectly match Lesko’s tone. Children and parents may wonder just what sort of disorder Lexi has that sets her apart from her fellow students. For example, if she breaks the rules, she gets “the feeling of barf ”; when she’s miserable and has “a feeling of ‘argh,’ ” she instinctively curls up under her desk and hides; and she seems to hear sounds louder than most other people. The book never provides a diagnosis, and readers may suspect Lexi would be hard to be friends with in real life. She’s a fascinating protagonist, however, and readers will enjoy her adventures and root for her to find a way out of the school program. Although her plans don’t always work out, her budding friendship with another student offers hope that she’ll have someone to lean on during future adventures. An excellent chapter book that’s perfect for middlegrade fans of Megan McDonald’s Judy Moody series and other books featuring spirited female narrators.
OULANEM A Fictional Conspiracy Majkut, Paul; Marx, Karl Nyx Press (374 pp.) $14.00 paper | $10.00 e-book Mar. 6, 2014 978-0-615-95993-1
Majkut (Asterion, 2014, etc.) offers a fresh take on the classic revenge tale inspired by the early writing of Karl Marx. Only partially completed in 1837, Marx’s verse-drama fragment Oulanem: A Tragedy comprises four scenes and seven characters. Majkut’s slow-burning conspiracy adds to that cast, builds on the scenes and imagines their trajectories, relocating the action from Italy to 19thcentury Austria following the dissolution of the Holy Roman 140
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Empire. Nihilistic philosopher Tillo Oulanem (who sees the world as “a detestable, viscous place populated by slugs”) has accepted an invitation to lecture at Innsbruck’s university. His arrival is heralded by Rudolf Pertini, a seemingly docile civil magistrate who offers lodging to Oulanem and his companion. But Pertini’s charitable demeanor belies his true intentions: He’s been waiting for years to exact revenge on Oulanem. By casting others of Innsbruck as pawns in his scheme, Pertini instigates Oulanem’s undoing. “Now, I set the minor characters in motion,” he says, “and, like grindstones in a mill, they will prepare the flour for my feast…I will set the table, prepare the final banquet, and serve only one guest, who will consume himself.” The pawns provide mostly engrossing story arcs of their own. There’s Albirich, a smug Viennese student of high standing who organizes trysts in an abandoned clock shop; Beatrice, a young woman whose menstruations lead to violent mood swings and, consequently, a laudanum addiction; Oulanem’s protégé, Lucindo, orphaned as a boy and determined to uncover his origins while he fights Albirich for Beatrice’s affections; and Benedikt Perto, a well-meaning (if hypocritical) priest and staunch combatant of apothecary methods of healing. These braided storylines produce an image of an insular town consumed by anti-Semitism, infidelity, political tension and superstition. While casual readers may feel bludgeoned by the heaps of Austrian history, most anyone interested in the political and social minutiae of everyday people will find these details enriching. In a novel written so well, and with such restraint, it’s easy not to feel Pertini’s steadily tightening noose until it closes as all is revealed—to great satisfaction—in the final act. An impressive denouement to Marx’s unfinished play.
WRANGLE
Martin, Jonnie CreateSpace (198 pp.) $8.50 paper | $6.50 e-book Feb. 26, 2014 978-1-4948-8731-5 In Martin’s debut novel, a divorced female rancher in 1970s Texas tries to start her life afresh but finds unexpected obstacles along the way. Shannon Murphy, the 39-year-old daughter of a successful realtor and horse racer, has recently escaped from an abusive marriage and is looking to build a new life. Her father, Todd, is ready to retire and remain in Houston instead of handling the day-to-day responsibilities of his ranch. Shannon is delighted by the opportunity to manage the ranch in her father’s absence, as she enjoys quiet, reflective time out in the country. She quickly proves herself to be a natural, deftly overseeing the stables and confidently navigating employee disputes and relationships. When she discovers that one of her father’s horses is talented enough to become a racing sensation, she relishes the possibility of taking her father’s ranch to new heights. (Along the way, Martin treats readers to subtle details about caring for racehorses,
choosing the right trainers and jockeys, and knowing when a horse should quit.) Everything seems to be moving in the right direction until Todd’s second wife, Dottie, is injured on the ranch. Todd blames Shannon for the accident, setting off a series of events that derails her new way of life. After abandoning her doting boyfriend, Shannon leaves the ranch to spend time soul-searching in the Davis Mountains of southwest Texas. On her journey, she begins to understand herself on a deeper level. As Martin tells Shannon’s engaging story, she gives it a sense of authenticity by weaving in rich historical and cultural elements. She delves into the difficult relationships between Mexican immigrants and ranchers, the struggles of isolated living in rural Texas, and the relentless financial competition and double-dealing among ranchers—all without slowing the action-packed narrative. She also effectively looks at the battles that families endure over misunderstandings. A fast-paced Southwestern family saga about fast horses and coming-of-age in middle age.
MACEDONIAN STORIES ABOUT PHILIP AND ALEXANDER Mitrev, Zan AuthorHouseUK (112 pp.) $18.24 paper | $6.78 e-book Dec. 17, 2012 978-1-4772-3924-7
A children’s introduction to the great Macedonian heroes Philip and Alexander. A long time ago in a far-away place, the Persians ruled the world, but the mighty state of Macedonia was well-regarded globally for their organizational skills, music and intricate styles of dancing, called oros. Life was told through these dances, and it’s through the oros that the reader meets Philip, the state’s young king (history knows him as Philip II). Later, the reader meets his son and successor, Alexander (known as Alexander the Great). There are four stories about each hero, with Philip’s section describing both the organization and triumph of his army (“The Power of the Oro”) and his sage wisdom (“The Mind Reigns”). Alexander’s tales pick up where his father’s leave off, demonstrating his growth into a wise general (“The First Battle”) and even wiser king (“Love Conquers All”). A love letter to his native country, Mitrev’s debut work is a beautiful vision of an ancient world. His regard for his birthplace is evident from his opening statement of the work until the last page. The reader can feel the author’s love for his country and his desire to bring the stories of his homeland to a new audience. The translation is well-done; the book’s original language is Macedonian, and the prose doesn’t have the choppy awkwardness that other works sometimes have when translated into English. The stories are simple enough for children to understand, with universal themes of empathy and strength, but they also offer a depth and sophistication that make them attractive to the grown-ups turning the pages. Beautifully detailed illustrations |
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“While he addresses subjects that are, by turns, serious and light, his gravitas is never ponderous, and his levity never lacks substance.” from the orphan bear
add gorgeous contrast and interest to the writing on the page, but color would have improved them further. A thoughtful, notable introduction to Macedonian lore for both adults and children.
THE WOUNDS OF THE DEAD Paralkar, Vikram Manuscript
A disgraced surgeon faces his greatest challenge—bringing the dead back to life—in this macabre, philosophical novel. Exiled from his big-city practice after his medical career was ruined by a trumped-up malpractice scandal, the protagonist of this dark tale spends his days overseeing a decrepit clinic in an Indian village, where he sews up minor injuries, dispenses vaccines, and seethes over the corruption of government officials in particular and mankind in general. Into his office one evening walks a schoolteacher, his wife and their son, each presenting ghastly wounds and an even stranger story: They claim to be undead victims of a robbery/ murder, and they need the surgeon to suture their wounds by sunrise, when life—and blood flow—will be restored to their mutilated bodies. Flummoxed but mindful of his duty, the surgeon, with the help of his terrified assistant, sets about treating his unusual patients, which steeps the novel in grisly but engrossing surgical procedure. His patients have no trouble conversing, even though they’re dead and, in one case, missing a larynx, so he spends much of his time talking to them about their odd predicament. Specifically, they discuss the dismaying experience of the afterlife—a bureaucracy that’s even more opaque and frustrating than India’s—and their views on morality and faith in a universe where angels exist but God may not. Paralkar is a talented practitioner of magical realism who combines dense, naturalistic detail with evocative metaphor and eerie atmospherics (“The sun was a bag of blood sliced open by the horizon”). For all its fantastical elements, however, there’s an existentialist gravity to the story that’s part Kafka and part The Brothers Karamazov—“You just pick a river and decide that its water is holy”—but its characters’ ruminations still carry a moving emotional resonance. The result is an unsettling meditation on life and death. A wonderfully creepy fable with real literary depth.
THE ORPHAN BEAR
Rewak, William J. CreateSpace (126 pp.) $11.00 paper | $6.00 e-book Mar. 14, 2014 978-1-4953-8216-1 Rewak’s (The Right Taxi, 2012) latest collection showcases the work of a skilled poet near the peak of his powers. The poet, a Jesuit priest, spent years as a university president, and readers could create a classics course by tracking down all the allusions in his exquisite verse. All the greats are here—Shakespeare, Blake, Sophocles, Wordsworth—filling and animating Rewak’s balanced lines. He also pays homage to more recent luminaries: A tribute to the late, great Ansel Adams, for example, praises the photographer’s ability to match weight with airiness: “All those mountains / with the tonnage of centuries / suddenly leap / in magic / how you’ve subverted / gravity to show us / the lightness of creation.” Rewak successfully conveys a similar tension in his own poetry. While he addresses subjects that are, by turns, serious and light, his gravitas is never ponderous, and his levity never lacks substance. On one page, he meditates on the old myth that Jesus crafted his own cross using the carpentry skills he learned from Joseph: “the home he built / stands on Golgotha / you could not know / how he would use / your gift.” Switching gears just a handful of pages later, the poet wonders at the meter an ant would use if he talked in verse: “He spoke, / at first, in accents Chaucerian—I sensed / a primordial de-bump… but then / changed to the chittering of a pious Pound.” Only a talented writer can pull off such radical shifts in topic and tone, and Rewak does it all in free verse that never devolves into the lazier cant of lesser stylists. Best of all, his poetry rewards rereading, as images that at first seem merely clever have a depth that only reveals itself the second or third time around. In a touching meditation on Psalm 46, he asks, “Forgive me, Lord, for being mundane.” A funny request, as Rewak never is. Masterful poems from a seasoned writer.
A MEETING OF CLANS Rollins, Kathleen Flanagan CreateSpace (344 pp.) $14.00 paper | Apr. 19, 2014 978-1-4949-8670-4
In Rollins’ sweeping Pleistocene epic, seafarers meet on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. This is the third in the author’s Misfits and Heroes series, which chronicles the grand migration of two groups—one from West Africa and another from across the Pacific—which land on opposite coasts of the isthmus. Rollins’ world is a raw, frightening place but also one full of beauty, mystery and portent. Her cast is made up of brutes and dreamers, as well as 142
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shamans, stone carvers, questers, herbalists and lovers. These ancient people show familiar emotions of longing, inadequacy, jealousy and envy, as well as some of the sunnier aspects of human nature. The two clans are drawn together when one of them discovers a carving in a rock wall behind a waterfall, interpreting it as a gesture of openness. But there are other, less-companionable types on the isthmus, including vicious imps, unbridled giants and terrifyingly painted warriors. Not all goes smoothly between or among the clans, which makes for some nasty encounters. What lifts the story out of its squabbles is Rollins’ talent for evoking a wild landscape where the strange and inexplicable lurk around each bend; for example, one character says, “After the mud, scorpions showed up—everywhere....We were stuck up in the rocks when we saw them coming toward us.” Magical moments abound, and they can be very sharp; a scene where a crow rebuilds a human skeleton is a fine example, as is one in which words float out of a character’s mouth as moths. However, Rollins’ storytelling has a plainspoken manner, giving it all a sense of believability, and she makes even the most pathetic characters sympathetic. Human failings—a lust for gold, narcissism, spousal abuse— are balanced by acts of kindness and forgiveness, and great forces, including angry mastodons, keep the humans in check. A fantasy tale that artfully blends the crude and the enchanted.
IF YOU WERE ME AND LIVED IN... AUSTRALIA A Child’s Introduction to Cultures Around the World
Roman, Carole P. CreateSpace (28 pp.) $9.99 paper | $0.99 e-book Mar. 26, 2014 978-1-4905-2239-5
In the latest installment of Roman’s (The Crew Goes Coconuts!, 2014, etc.) series—which previously examined India, France, Mexico and elsewhere—elementary age readers learn about the culture, geography and everyday lives of children in Australia. This entry in Roman’s series opens with a map showing the shape of the country, an explanation of how it got its name, its location on the globe and the location of its capital city. Roman then mentions the major cities. From there, readers learn about things important to kids, e.g., what Australian kids call their parents—“You would call your mommy, ‘mummy’ (m-uh-mee) and your dad would answer to ‘daddy’ (Da-dee), just like in America.”—and what games they play: “cricket (crick-it), an outdoor game played on a large grass field with balls, bats, and two wickets (wick-its), which are posts that serve as goals.” Roman also describes tourist attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef, and mentions that Australia’s currency is called the dollar, just like in the U.S. She even explains what a vegemite sandwich is—“dark brown vegetable paste [spread] onto white bread with some Western Star butter.” The story is lively and engaging, with pages of bright, colorful illustrations to help explain the
text and make it more educational and appealing to kids. For instance, the page about Dad grilling on the “barbie” shows a father cooking shrimp and steaks. In past volumes, the glossary/ pronunciation guide was located at the back of the book, but in this one, phonetic spellings are also sprinkled throughout the text—a distracting change, especially since some words, such as “daddy (Da-dee)” and “Jack (J-ae-k),” aren’t dramatically different in American English. Despite that, as with the other books in this enlightening and approachable series, this entry will help kids see the similarities and differences between their own lives and those of their peers around the world. Kids will easily and enjoyably learn the basics about Australian life and culture.
MONTANA IN A MINOR Russell, Elaine CreateSpace (170 pp.) $8.59 paper | $2.99 e-book Apr. 27, 2014 978-1-4949-5094-1
In this excellent YA novel, Russell’s (Across the Mekong River, 2012) teenage cellist heroine, Emily Lopez, uses music as her framework for dealing with the world. Smarting from a recent breakup, Emily is excited to spend the summer after her junior year touring Europe with her orchestra-conductor father, who’s promised to help her learn Saint-Saen’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in preparation for her August audition for Juilliard’s pre-college program. It’s actually a re-audition, since her first tryout was “only marginally less disastrous than the sinking of the Titanic.” Emily has trouble with anxiety and OCD; her habits include tapping her music stand three times with her bow before she plays. She’s devastated when her father calls off the trip, citing a busy schedule—a recurring theme since her parents’ divorce. Instead, Emily is forced to spend her summer in Montana at a ranch owned by her stepfather Marty’s dad. But once she gets there— and meets a dreamy half-Crow ranch hand named Breck—she starts to realize that she can build a life around music without letting it take over. Russell does a fantastic job creating Emily’s world, and the young girl’s voice is charming and plausible right from the start, when she rattles off her to-do list: “4. Learn Saint-Saens concerto pronto. 5. Forget Jordon exists. Correction—forget ALL boys exist. 6. Buy DVD—Yoga for Stress Reduction.” The characters who surround her are fleshed out as well, all with their own problems and strengths: Her stepgrandfather, Jake, who hides his fears about getting older under a cantankerous facade, is a particular delight. The chapter titles are musical terms—subito forzando, capriccioso, dolce—that serve as descriptions of events and subtle ways to underscore Emily’s worldview, steeped in music. The ending comes too soon, though, and readers will wish they had more time to enjoy the characters. Well-written and engaging YA.
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“Sees demonstrates a quiet sense of fun to go along with all the YA adventure and romance.” from nebula
NEBULA
Sees, L.A. Centauri Publishing Group (412 pp.) $14.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Mar. 17, 2014 978-0-615-93059-6 Debut author Sees delivers an exuberant YA sci-fi novel. Seventeen-year-old Ree Lindbergh is part of the 300-person crew of the starship Omega Centauri, patrolling the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. Their mission is to prevent further hostilities between humans and the shape-shifting Bufoanthroids from the neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Although Ree is happy enough spending her days in the company of her best friend, Zac, and dreaming of one day seeing the planet Earth, she’s still troubled. Every night she has nightmares about her dead mother, who was killed by Bufoanthroids on the day Ree was born. When Zac and his ship vanish, Ree undertakes a dangerous rescue mission. As she unravels mysteries and faces dangers, she learns the truth about her own past—and discovers feelings she’s never had before. The novel’s characters are well-developed and true to their types; Ree is a very relatable Everygirl with a far more interesting personality than, say, Twilight’s Bella Swan. Her firstperson narration and dialogue are clear and entertaining (“[T]he familiar smell of sweet saskatoon berries, tangy yet tart, reheated freeze-dried goodness, and hot, gooey pizza consumed my nostrils”). As befits a novel written by an educator, the prose is clean
This Issue’s Contributors # Adult Maude Adjarian • Stephanie Anderson • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato • Adam benShea • Amy Boaz Jeffrey Burke • Sara Catterall • Dave DeChristopher • Kathleen Devereaux • Allison Devers • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Julie Foster • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • Lauren Gilbert • Devon Glenn • Amy Goldschlager • Paul Lamey • Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Angela Leroux-Lindsey Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Elizabeth Lopatto • Janet Matthews • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Laurie Muchnick • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • William E. Pike • Gary Presley • Lloyd Sachs • Leslie Safford • Bob Sanchez • Michael Sandlin • Gene Seymour • Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon • Elaine Sioufi • Arthur Smith • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spe.ncer • Matthew Tiffany Claire Trazenfeld • Pete Warzel • Steve Weinberg • Carol White • Chris White • Marion Winik Children’s & Teen Kim Becnel • Elizabeth Bird • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Julie Cummins • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Elise DeGuiseppi • Robin L. Elliott • Brooke Faulkner Laurel Gardner • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • F. Lee Hall • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • Joy Kim • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Lori Low • Joan Malewitz • Michelle H. Martin PhD • Jeanne McDermott • Shelly McNerney • Kathie Meizner • Daniel Meyer • R. Moore • Deb Paulson • Rachel G. Payne • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Amy Robinson • Christopher R. Rogers • Mindy Schanback • Mary Ann Scheuer Dean Schneider • Hillary Foote Schwartz • Stephanie Seales • John W. Shannon • Karyn N. Silverman Robin Smith • Rita Soltan • Jennifer Sweeney • Gordon West • Kimberly Whitmer • Monica Wyatt Indie Alana Abbott • Paul Allen • Anna Perleberg Andersen • Poornima Apte • Kent Armstrong • Stefan Barkow • Richard Becker • Becky Bicks • Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Amy Cavanaugh • Stephanie Cerra Tricia Cornell • Ian Correa • Sara Lyons Davis • Lindsay Denninger • Steve Donoghue • Jameson Fitzpatrick • Jackie Friedland • Derek Harmening • Justin Hickey • Ivan Kenneally • Andrew D. King Peter Lewis • Collin Marchiando • Margueya Novick • Joshua T. Pederson • Judy Quinn • Russ Roberts Jack Spring
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and professional; the action scenes are a bit sparse, but the conclusion of the story promises more to come. The novel’s worldbuilding is pure, glorious space opera in the classic style: Starships warp away to patrol and invade entire galaxies, and characters listen to voice-activated radio broadcasts while discussing the history of the Worldwide Space Federation. There’s enough detail to establish the setting and flesh out the story, but the author leaves it open-ended enough that sequels are almost mandatory. Sees demonstrates a quiet sense of fun to go along with all the YA adventure and romance; notably, one particular line of dialogue (“If you want to kiss a frog and hope he turns into a prince…then go ahead”) underlines a running pun throughout the novel: The Bufoanthroids’ name appears to be a combination of the Latin bufo (“toad”) and anthropo (“human”). A charming tale of space-based adventure.
IN PAKISTAN Journeys in the Land Beyond the Headlines Shuman, James B. Markhor Press (228 pp.) $14.99 paper | Mar. 7, 2014 978-0-615-88117-1
A memoir of a couple’s trip to Pakistan that also looks at the birth of a modern Muslim nation. Shuman’s latest book (In Constant Fear, co-authored with Peter Remick, 1975, etc.) draws from his experiences as a reporter and editor for Reader’s Digest and his work in various U.S. government posts. Infatuated with Pakistan since the eighth grade, he took his first trip there in 1972. Shuman later longed to return, this time with his wife of only a few years, Elfie. But the country they found in 2007 was not the Pakistan of his younger years; instead, they saw a state caught in crisis, struggling to balance its entry into modernity with its sometimes-oppressive Islamism. The author aptly captures the nation’s fragility: “Pakistan is a nation on the edge, teetering between stability and chaos,” he told his wife. “It could go either way. But, if we stay out of crowds, we’ll be safe.” Much of his book reads like a travelogue, detailing the differences between major areas such as Islamabad and Peshawar and accounting for the myriad variations in the nation’s diverse cultures. Beneath the account of his and his wife’s meanderings, though, is the tale of a nation birthed out of war, struggling to fix its identity amid political tumult. Shuman and his wife met a well-known Pakistani judge, Javid Iqbal, who says that Pakistan has within itself the historical resources to become a prosperous republic—if it can resolve its internecine disputes: “The crucial question for modern Muslims in Pakistan is: What is an Islamic state?” Iqbal said. “Has it ever been established or is it only an aspiration?” The book does drag at times, as it largely describes what amounts to a couple’s vacation travel. However, its accessible description of Pakistan’s plight still provides plenty of drama. An edifying account of Pakistan’s history and potential future, folded into a road-trip story.
THE IMPOSSIBLE SHRINKING MACHINE AND OTHER CASES Einstein Anderson: Science Geek
PUDDLES FROM A DROOLING MIND ...a Quest for Meaning Through an Informed Faith
Simon, Seymour Illus. by O’Malley, Kevin StarWalk Kids Media (102 pp.) $7.99 paper | $6.99 e-book | Mar. 8, 2013 978-1-936503-05-6 A spunky young scientist with an affinity for corny jokes, experiments and the natural world investigates summer vacation and all the mysteries it brings. Adam Anderson, a middle schooler, is a scientific sleuth whose love for and skill in the subject have earned him the nickname Einstein. The name fits so well that even his veterinarian father, Matt, and journalist mother, Emily, use it—and in Simon’s (Our Solar System, 2014, etc.) engaging book, it’s easy to see why. Einstein educates readers and his little brother, Dennis, about the science behind everyday occurrences. When Dennis laments the sounds his chair produces as he pushes it back, his brother corrects him: “The chair’s not noisy….The sound is from the friction of the chair legs against the floor,” he says, and he then explains the concept of friction, which leads readers into the first mystery facing Einstein and his best friend and partner in science, Paloma Fuentes. Scheming classmate Stanley, who fancies himself the next wunderkind inventor, creates frictionless Rollerblades to “go farther and faster than anyone ever has.” Einstein and Paloma investigate and quickly repudiate this claim, saving others from wasting money on the noninvention. Other mysteries and riddles include a machine that shrinks objects to miniscule dimensions, a classmate’s howling dog whose affliction suspiciously appears when Stanley is nearby; a store that sells a bat’s egg, and a universal solvent. Clues and cases fill Einstein’s summer and capture the reader’s interest. Simon presents Einstein’s adventures and explorations in an accessible format: Each tale is a self-contained chapter that includes a scientific mystery, questions about its resolution, the subsequent explanation and a related experiment for readers to complete at home. The author thoughtfully formats questions and solutions on separate pages to allow space for readers to hypothesize before confirming the answer. The science is challenging, but Simon’s explanations keep the topics light and fun yet educational. Illustrator O’Malley’s scattered black-andwhite sketches work in concert with Simon’s robust descriptions to help visualize the action. Hopefully, this little Einstein isn’t done yet. A young scientist lives up to his nickname in this clever, accessible book.
Stemmle, Denis Joseph CreateSpace (278 pp.) $11.99 paper | $7.99 e-book Mar. 15, 2014 978-1-4961-0399-4
A series of personal reflections on the nature of faith in the modern world. At one point in Stemmle’s gently irreverent and highly entertaining debut, one of his fictional interlocutors refers to him as “already 90% atheist,” though readers might have their doubts. Happily married, comfortably retired and congenially inquisitive, Stemmle is deceptively modest and self-deprecating, but in one of his various “puddles,” he reveals extensive reading, not only of the Bible and the great documents of Christian theology, but also of more recent literature of biblical scholarship. In a series of well-paced, smoothly written chapters, he examines various aspects of modern Christian belief—the struggles against internal doubt (and external doubters), the ease with which people resort to one-dimensional labels, and the authority of the Catholic Church, among other things. Many of his conclusions are fairly commonsense, and he saves an extra amount of railing for the fault of righteousness, which he shrewdly says “replaces the search for truth.” (It’s a mark of the book’s winning self-deprecation that Stemmle doesn’t exempt himself from this failing.) He intersperses his philosophical and theological musings with plenty of personal anecdotes and family history, ending each K i r k us M e di a LL C # 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 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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“Sykes’ musings would serve as valuable fodder at a lively dinner party of sharp-witted wags, philosophers and comics.” from turnip juice & satisfaction
chapter with “Questions for Reflection and Discussion” that reveal a pedagogical impulse otherwise muted throughout the book. The highlight of his narrative comes in the sections in which Stemmle crosses swords with interview characters of his own invention—in fact, he puckishly reminds one of them, Arthur, that he’s invented—testing his knowledge and convictions against well-realized devil’s advocates; a fictional news anchor even has the four Evangelists as guests. The playful inventiveness of these sections highlights rather than obscures the essentially humanist heart of the book, expressed in many variations of Stemmle’s contention that an “informed faith is built on questioning and searching.” There’s a great deal here for readers of any faith to appreciate. A wide-ranging, ultimately quite charming personal manifesto of faith, humor and inquiry.
TURNIP JUICE & SATISFACTION Quite a Few Extraordinary Ways of Looking at Ordinary Things Sykes, D.M. CreateSpace (304 pp.) $14.99 paper | $7.99 e-book Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4923-4037-9
An entertaining collection of original aphorisms, irreverent quips and offbeat wordplay by new author Sykes. Borrowing the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain and the offbeat perspective of Jack Handey, Sykes provides hundreds of captivating, thought-provoking and occasionally puzzling reflections about everyday life. The book is organized into 14 chapters, some with biting titles (“Lawjerks & Lie-yers,” “Age & Dotage”), others amusing (“Love, Marriage & Other Reconcilable Differences”), and some reflecting a more jabberwockylike sense of humor (“Oddvice,” “Perplexplanations” and “Qwhystions”). Sykes perspicaciously studies the everyday as economically expressed in pithy sayings, epigrams and free-verse poetry. Some entries are wise and quotable: “Love your harness, and your load will pull you.” Others are silly: “If your enemies say you’re too big for your britches, the best thing to do is look good in tight pants.” However, the book is most engaging when Sykes uses that popular comedic construct: the paraprosdokian, a rhetorical device in which the latter part of a reflection is so unexpected that it causes the reader to reframe the first part. For example, Sykes writes: “The human capacity for delusion is amazing. Some New Yorkers, for example, actually believe they’re outdoors when they’re in Central Park.” Most of Sykes’ musings would serve as valuable fodder at a lively dinner party of sharpwitted wags, philosophers and comics. However, the intended ironies sometimes get lost in tangled declarations: “If you’re planning to bite the hand that feeds you…plan to eat the hand too, since hunger’s going to come back in either case long before dinner ever does.” Elsewhere, Sykes occasionally misses the mark 146
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when concocting new words—“reMorse Code,” “flaccid flagpoles,” “gymnauseum”—that don’t quite live up to Stephen Colbert’s “truthiness.” These few miscues detract from an otherwise exceptionally entertaining book. Witty, wise and full of insights.
QUEENS NEVER MAKE BARGAINS
Wright, Nancy Means Red Barn Books of Vermont (234 pp.) $15.95 paper | $2.99 e-book | Apr. 3, 2014 978-1-935922-47-6 Wright (Broken Strings, 2013, etc.) crafts a multigenerational tale centered on the women in one Scottish-American family. As the novel opens in 1912, Jessie Menzies has just graduated from high school in the small Scottish town of Leven. The festivities are short-lived, however, as she learns that her Aunt Grace has died in the United States, leaving behind a husband and children. In short order, Jessie travels there to help with the kids—a job that has her putting down roots in the Vermont town of Cherry Valley. Jessie starts teaching English to new immigrants and eventually forges a relationship with a Polish man, leading to a daughter, Grace, being born out of wedlock. The story is divided into four parts, and the first two trace Jessie’s story as she builds a life in the small town with assorted, lively friends and family. Victoria, one of the “babies” Jessie came to look after, narrates the third part, set mostly during World War II. Tired of life in small-town America, Vicky has an affair with a married college professor and becomes a pilot to help the war effort in Europe. The story of Grace, Jessie’s love child, makes up the last part of the novel. Allusions to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland surface throughout; Vicky, for example, with her sheer will and zest for life, is depicted as the story’s “Red Queen.” But while Lewis Carroll might have stated in that tale that “Queens never make bargains,” the author effectively shows how the Menzies women have no such luck. Constrained by the demands of family, time and place, even the one weapon they have—sexuality—often backfires. Yet Wright shows how they constantly adapt to unyielding situations and somehow manage to make their places in society. The novel ends just after the end of World War II, a celebratory time that made way for new beginnings; the story concludes with this ray of hope as the next generation gets ready to take over the spotlight. An often illuminating novel that lays bare the societal constraints faced by generations of women and the stark realities they bore with grace.
Appreciations: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Free Love, and Blisters B Y G RE G OR Y M C NAMEE
Photo courtesy Peabody Essex Museum
Labor befitting artists, not machines. No bosses. Free love. Born 210 years ago, on July 4, 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne took great interest in matters that today we associate with the 1960s and early ’70s, that era of backto-the-land aspirations and open relationships whose experiments fared just as badly as those of the Transcendentalists 120 years before. Many communes of the recent past failed because charismatic leaders proved themselves to have feet of clay, or, as in T. Coraghessan Boyle’s novel Drop City (2003), because freaks came along and made a hash of the original communards’ ideals. Too many layabouts contented themselves, in those pre-eminently sexist days, to put the “old ladies” to it. The places that did last, like The Farm, did so because everyone who stayed on did work at enterprises ranging from farming to midwifery to publishing.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wasn’t afraid of hard work, but he might not have quite expected the job he was handed when he appeared at the Brook Farm, a Transcendentalist commune on the then-rural outskirts of Boston: He was put to work tending to the manure pile. The Brook Farmers were inspired by the thought that by sharing their labor they could give themselves plenty of free time to engage in artistic pursuits, not quite reckoning with the reality that farm labor never ends. It didn’t take Hawthorne long to move off the farm and settle into a more comfortably bourgeois existence. After he left, and after the remaining communards began squabbling over such things as how to divide the workload and how to divide the bills (as will happen), Hawthorne wrote a cheerless novel called The Blithedale Romance, published in 1852. Blithedale is a utopian community that is Brook Farm in all but name, shunning “worldly society, where a cold skepticism smothers what it can of our spiritual aspirations.” At Blithedale, young Miles Coverdale puts a few blisters on his own hands while tilling fields and putting new shingles on barns. He finds himself caught up in the intense strangeness of a girl named Priscilla, who arrives in the company of his friend Hollingsworth and who seems not quite to belong. In fact, no one can quite figure out why Priscilla is there and who asked her to come. Miles and Hollingsworth begin to feud, at first over philosophical principles, then over just about everything there is to argue about, recruiting supporters and enemies. Priscilla wanders on- and offstage, influenced and repelled by Zenobia, the iron center of Blithedale. Priscilla and Zenobia share more than an interest in talking about women’s rights and “playing at philanthropy and progress,” and it is that discovery that sets the novel from a sort of dreamy utopia into territory verging on nightmare. Gregory McNamee is a contributing editor at Kirkus Reviews. |
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“A WRITER I’D FOLLOW TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
PETER MAY
“May is a masterful storyteller. He skillfully combines pathos and the themes of identity, lost love and family ties to create an exciting, page-turning thriller.” —The Irish Examiner
“The plot throbs with past and present passions, jealousies, suspicions and regrets; the emotional secrets of the bleak island are even deeper than its peat bog.” Sep. ’14 • 9781623658199 new new in hardcover • $26.99
—The Times
Winner of the Barry Award for Best Mystery Novel Aug. ’14 • 9781623659998 paper • $14.99
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