June 1, 2020: Volume LXXXVIII, No 11

Featuring 301 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's and YA books

KIRKUS VOL. LXXXVIII, NO.

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REVIEWS Bakari Sellers

The activist and CNN commentator reflects on his journey in My Vanishing Country. p. 58 Also in the issue: Brit Bennett, Connie Schultz, Samira Ahmed, and more

from the editor’s desk:

Delayed Gratification B Y T O M

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N

B EER

President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N

John Paraskevas

Is there a book you’ve been meaning to read for ages? It’s time to finally check it off your list.

That was the case for me with The Beginning of Spring, the 1988 novel by Penelope Fitzgerald, which has intrigued me for more than a decade now. I’ve read and loved other Fitzgerald novels—Offshore (1979), The Blue Flower (1995)— and the chapter about The Beginning of Spring in Hermione Lee’s superb biography of Fitzgerald made it sound awfully enticing: the story of an English family in Moscow in 1913 trying to carry on after the mother unexpectedly decamps back to England. Lee details how Fitzgerald’s careful research—on Russian “merchants, railway stations, ministries, churches, birch trees, dachas, and Tom Beer mushrooms”—is miraculously transmuted into a complete fictional world. Plus, there was Fitzgerald’s characteristic wry humor. How could I resist?

Apparently, I could. The Beginning of Spring was never finished. Or started.

Then, after a couple of weeks of sheltering in place, I saw Adam Morgan, editor-in-chief of the Southern Review of Books, proselytizing for the book on Twitter. (“I used to be a book critic, but now all I do is reply ‘Penelope Fitzgerald’s THE BEGINNING OF SPRING’ to literary question threads,” he wrote.) I confessed that I hadn’t read it and, after a friendly admonishment from Adam, agreed to finally remedy that.

First, I had to obtain a copy—a real paperback, thank you very much— from a local indie: Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn. When my package arrived in the mail, it felt like Christmas morning. I spent the next few days transfixed by the novel—its comedy, its wistfulness, its strangeness—and finished with an exhalation, as though I’d been holding my breath while reading it. Why had I procrastinated so long?

Others are clearly feeling the same now-or-never resolve. In March, author Yiyun Li and publisher A Public Space launched #TolstoyTogether, a virtual book club where members would read 12 to 15 pages of War and Peace every day for three months and share their observations with the hashtag on Twitter. This daunting Russian classic was clearly a bucket-list title for many readers; the club has remained popular and the online discussion lively.

I took to Twitter myself to ask, “During this shelter-in-place period, have you finally gotten around to reading a book you’ve always meant to read? Which one?” The response was overwhelming, and the answers revealing and entertaining: Moby-Dick (“I may just be done with it when this is all over”), The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro (“my white whale”), The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer (“after having owned a copy for 23 years”), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer (“I think I’m going to enjoy the fall quite a bit more than the rise”). Some titles showed up repeatedly: Middlemarch, The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Hunger Games and Harry Potter books.

A number of authors chimed in, too, with their own literary white whales: Thomas Beller (Bay of Souls by Robert Stone), Cherise Wolas (Proust’s In Search of Lost Time), Ryan Chapman (A Heart So White by Javier Marías), Peter Swanson (The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson), Sarah Weinman (George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda).

Now I’m scanning my shelves for other books I’ve foolishly put off reading and ordered two more Fitzgeralds, Innocence (1986) and The Gate of Angels (1992); I want to hold on to that feeling of a reading experience that is every bit as rewarding as I’d hoped it would be. There’s something about the moment we’re living in—the long hours at home, the awareness of mortality—that leaves so many of us thinking: What am I waiting for?

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contents fiction INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS............................................................ 4 REVIEWS................................................................................................ 4 EDITOR’S NOTE..................................................................................... 6 INTERVIEW: CONNIE SCHULTZ........................................................ 14 INTERVIEW: BRIT BENNETT............................................................. 22

The Kirkus Star is awarded to books of remarkable merit, as determined by the impartial editors of Kirkus.

MYSTERY.............................................................................................. 38 SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY..........................................................48 ROMANCE............................................................................................ 50

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nonfiction INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS...........................................................51 REVIEWS...............................................................................................51 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................... 52 ON THE COVER: BAKARI SELLERS...................................................58 INTERVIEW: MOLLY MCCULLY BROWN..........................................64

children’s INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS.......................................................... 99 REVIEWS.............................................................................................. 99 EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................. 100 INTERVIEW: LINDSAY LESLIE & ELLEN ROONEY........................106 BACK-TO-SCHOOL PICTURE BOOKS..............................................134

young adult INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS........................................................ 145 REVIEWS............................................................................................ 145 EDITOR’S NOTE.................................................................................146 INTERVIEW: SAMIRA AHMED......................................................... 150

indie INDEX TO STARRED REVIEWS.........................................................159 REVIEWS.............................................................................................159

Most readers who are active on social media are aware of Duchess Goldblatt, the acerbic yet warmhearted doyenne of Twitter. Now her admirers can get to know her still-anonymous creator. Read the review on p. 51.

EDITOR’S NOTE................................................................................. 160 SEEN & HEARD.................................................................................. 182 APPRECIATIONS: ANTHONY BOURDAIN’S KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL.................................................................183

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fiction These titles earned the Kirkus Star: THE NEW WILDERNESS by Diane Cook........................................... 11 THE PULL OF THE STARS by Emma Donoghue.................................12 THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI by Akwaeke Emezi................................. 13 ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE BOURNE EVOLUTION

by Brian Freeman.................................................................................. 15 CATHEDRAL by Ben Hopkins..............................................................18 ARIA by Nazanine Hozar.....................................................................18 WITH OR WITHOUT YOU by Caroline Leavitt................................. 20 I GIVE IT TO YOU by Valerie Martin...................................................23 TALKING ANIMALS by Joni Murphy................................................ 26 IMPERSONATION by Heidi Pitlor..................................................... 28 IN THE VALLEY by Ron Rash..............................................................30 WANT by Lynn Steger Strong..............................................................34 A HOUSE IS A BODY by Shruti Swamy.............................................34 VALENTINE by Elizabeth Wetmore..................................................... 37 THE TUNNEL by A.B. Yehoshua; trans. by Stuart Schoffman............38 EVERY KIND OF WICKED by Lisa Black...........................................39 FAIR WARNING by Michael Connelly............................................... 40 THE GEOMETRY OF HOLDING HANDS

by Alexander McCall Smith................................................................ 44 ARIA

Hozar, Nazanine Knopf (448 pp.) $28.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-524-74903-3

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TENDER IS THE FLESH

Bazterrica, Agustina Trans. by Moses, Sarah Scribner (224 pp.) $16.00 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-982150-92-1

A processing plant manager struggles with the grim realities of a society where cannibalism is the new normal.

Marcos Tejo is the boss’s son. Once, that meant taking over his father’s meat plant when the older man began to suffer from dementia and require nursing home care. But ever since the Transition, when animals became infected with a virus fatal to humans and had to be destroyed, society has been clamoring for a new source of meat, laboring under the belief, reinforced by media and government messaging, that plant proteins would result in malnutrition and ill effects. Now, as is true across the country, Marcos’ slaughterhouse deals in “special meat”—human beings. Though Marcos understands the moral horror of his job supervising the workers who stun, kill, flay, and butcher other humans, he doesn’t feel much since the crib death of his infant son. “One can get used to almost anything,” he muses, “except for the death of a child.” One day, the head of a breeding center sends Marcos a gift: an adult female FGP, a “First Generation Pure,” born and bred in captivity. As Marcos lives with his product, he gradually begins to awaken to the trauma of his past and the nightmare of his present. This is Bazterrica’s first novel to appear in America, though she is widely published in her native Argentina, and it could have been inelegant, using shock value to get across ideas about the inherent brutality of factory farming and the cruelty of governments and societies willing to sacrifice their citizenry for power and money. It is a testament to Bazterrica’s skill that such a bleak book can also be a page-turner.

An unrelentingly dark and disquieting look at the way societies conform to committing atrocities.

FLORENCE ADLER SWIMS FOREVER

Beanland, Rachel Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $25.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-982132-46-0

Bender, Aimee Doubleday (304 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-0-385-53487-1

The author revisits themes she explored in The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010) in her latest novel.

When Francie is 8 years old, her mother, Elaine, suffers a psychotic break.

Elaine’s struggles with mental health are nothing new, but this episode is severe enough that Elaine is institutionalized and Francie is sent from Portland, Oregon, to Los Angeles to live with her Aunt Minn, her Uncle Stan, and their new baby, Vicky. Twenty years later, Francie is still living in LA. She’s managing a frame store, but she spends her free time scouring yard sales for odd treasures she can sell online. Her relationship with her adopted family is solid, if fraught—Minn and Vicky are always looking for signs of Elaine’s illness in Francie.

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In a darkly comic debut, Beanland tells the story of a Jewish family on the New Jersey coast in 1934.

It begins with tragedy: Florence Adler, while working toward her ambitious goal of becoming the first Jewish woman to swim the English Channel, drowns off the coast of Atlantic City. Shifting ambitiously among seven different third-person perspectives, the novel explores the aftermath of the tragedy as experienced by three generations of the Adler family and those adjacent to it. Florence’s older sister, Fannie, is on bed rest as she prepares to give birth to her third child a year after having lost her second. The Adler family matriarch, Esther, decides it would be best to keep the tragedy from Fannie in order to minimize her risk of losing the baby. As the family fights against all odds to keep this huge secret, other issues are brought to light, from jealousy to hidden romances to shady business dealings. Remarkably, the plot feels coherent despite the seven points of view, but the novel falters thematically; it could have been a sensitive exploration of the sometimesabsurd lengths we’ll go to protect the people we love, but it turns into a diffuse attempt to do too much. The novel’s events take place in the shadow of the approaching Holocaust, but the author fails to engage meaningfully with it and so it reads like an afterthought. Perhaps Beanland thought writing a story about Jews set in the 1930s that doesn’t deal with that tragedy would be frivolous or insensitive, but the result of her half-baked approach is an “add-Holocaust-and-stir” effect that lacks emotional verisimilitude. In addition, some of the Jewish details in the novel are inconsistent. In this regard, it is reminiscent of the hit show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; also in this regard, the particularity of the setting may nonetheless be enough to buoy it, particularly for those interested in littleknown pieces of American Jewish culture.

A unique if occasionally overreaching novel for lovers of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

THE BUTTERFLY LAMPSHADE

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long reads, short reads In the early days of the coronavirus era, it felt like everyone who was lucky enough to be healthy and working from home was having a similar reaction: They were creating sourdough starters and regrowing scallions from the roots and catching up on lots of TV. But soon differences began to appear, especially in the realm of fiction. To wit: Some people, their attention spans shot, wanted short books that would enable them to escape their own brains for a little while without making too much of a commitment; others wanted to sink into a really long novel. Fortunately, there are great books out there for people with either preference.

If you want short, there’s Mary Gaitskill’s This Is Pleasure (Pantheon, 2019), a #MeToo story that felt ultratopical when it came out in November and now seems like an artifact from another time.

In it, our starred review explains, a successful book editor named Quin is accused of “engaging with women he meets, at work and elsewhere, intimately and sexually—toying with them, his friend Margot suggests, in a ‘vaguely sadistic’ yet ultimately harmless way.” The book is told from the perspectives of both Quin and Margot, and “Gaitskill’s willingness to ignore common wisdom and consider controversial and complex questions from different viewpoints is a true literary pleasure,” according to our reviewer.

Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer (Doubleday, 2018) is another quick read, “a dryly funny and wickedly crafty exercise in psychological suspense,” according to our review. Korede is a nurse is Lagos, Nigeria, but when we meet her, she’s cleaning up a bloody bathroom after her sister, Ayoola, who has killed one of her boyfriends (the third to meet this fate). And then a doctor at the hospital where Korede works—a doctor she has a crush on—asks for Ayoola’s phone number. As our 6

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review says, “Even your most extravagant speculations about what’s really going on with these wildly contrasting yet oddly simpatico siblings will be trumped in this skillful, sardonic debut.”

But maybe you’re looking for a long book to spend time with; and maybe you miss going to the theater, too.

Italian playwright Stefano Massini’s The Lehman Trilogy (translated by Richard Dixon; HarperVia, June 2) is a novel in verse that, like his acclaimed play, tells the sprawling story of the real-life Lehman brothers and their descendants, a family of Jewish immigrants who created a financial empire. “Expansive and intimate, sober and playful, Massini’s novel focuses less on arcane financial maneuvers and more on the outsized personalities of the Lehman family members who drove the company’s success,” according to our starred review.

Or perhaps this is the time to read Anniversaries, a three-volume, 1,720-page behemoth by East German writer Uwe Johnson, translated by Damion Searls (New York Review Books, 2018). Our review says: “Likened to Joyce’s Ulysses, it’s really a kind of Joseph Cornell box in words, a vast montage stretching from August 1967 to August 1968. The narrator, Gesine Cresspahl, lives in self-exile on the Upper West Side [of New York], working as a translator, trying to raise a daughter, Marie, by herself.

Gesine is too young to have been complicit in the crimes of the Third Reich, but she saw them unfold, enabled by those who stood by, some of whose uniforms have merely changed colors in the years since the war ended….A rich book to be read slowly and thoughtfully, from a writer too little known today.” I wish I hadn’t left my copy at the office the last time I was there.

Laurie Muchnick is the fiction editor.

Her relationship with her mother—maintained by phone and occasional visits—depends largely on how well Elaine’s medications are working. As she begins to revisit and work through what happened when she was 8, Francie withdraws from the world beyond this small circle. A reader’s capacity to appreciate this novel will depend on how much time they’re willing to spend inside Francie’s head. Francie is smart and interesting. She is an engaging protagonist. And she notes—or it feels like she notes—every single detail of every encounter she has.

Sentences like “At some point, Vicky got up to wipe down the table, and I watched all the last pieces of rice and blueberries connect to her sponge and gather together to fall into her hand” take up a whole lot of the first half of the novel. But the reader who sticks with this glacial pace will realize that Francie notices everything because her survival depended on noticing everything when she was a child. By the end, the book reveals itself as a meditation on memory, identity, and the sometimes-uncanny relationship between living beings and the inanimate world.

A novel with rewards for patient and sympathetic readers.

MAKE RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN

Buckley, Christopher Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 14, 2020 978-1-982157-46-3

Veteran Washington satirist Buckley skewers the Trump administration in a farce that imagines several all-too-credible political crises ahead of Election Day 2020.

In a parody of a White House memoir, Trump loyalist Herbert K. Nutterman writes from federal prison about his brief tenure as chief of staff. His first challenge is to deal with the fallout when a rogue government computer program called Placid Reflux threatens Vladimir Putin’s reelection bid. Also from Russia with bromance is oligarch Oleg Pishinsky, an old buddy of Donald Trump’s who is upset because Congress passed a law freezing his assets after he was implicated in the murder of a U.S. newspaper’s Moscow bureau chief.

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He wants the law repealed and brandishes a secret weapon: a thumb drive holding video of Trump in flagrante seriatim with 18 Miss Universe contestants. Trump tells Herb and Sen. Squigg Lee Biskitt of South Carolina (read Lindsey Graham) to engineer the repeal. As these narrative lines get tangled in various ways, Buckley, a former White House speechwriter, adds comic spin to recent events, providing a plausible view of the crude, jury-rigged, stopgap daily carnival that is No. 45 at work. The author can be witty and clever but also sophomoric and sexist. Seamus Colonnity (Fox’s Sean Hannity) makes a joke about something “going around like Wuhan coronavirus.” Greta Fibberson, the White House chief of communications, has “a balcony you could play Shakespeare from.” Herb can recognize the “Rubicon moment” that eventually lands him in prison while elsewhere thinking he should avoid a problem because “this was not a caca of my making.”

Buckley is a smart, entertaining observer, but the weak spots in his humor can leave a reader wincing.

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A PRIVATE CATHEDRAL

Burke, James Lee Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-982151-68-3

Burke wraps up the trilogy begun in Robicheaux (2018) and continued in The New Iberia Blues (2019) by taking a giant step into the past—actually, a Chinese box of criminal pasts.

“In the days before 9/11,” Detective Dave Robicheaux is working for the New Iberia Sheriff ’s Department. As usual, the felonies officially reported to the department represent only a fraction of his Louisiana parish’s seething passions. When Isolde Balangie, seeing Dave at an amusement pier where heartthrob singer Johnny Shondell is singing, tells him that Johnny is delivering her to his uncle Mark and that she thinks all the Shondells should be killed because the family burned her ancestor at the stake 400 years ago, Dave makes a noncommittal

A determined but pugnacious lower-class family strives to cling to its perch in an upscale suburb. the brother years

response and quickly regrets it. Whether or not he plans to keep Isolde as his personal plaything, wealthy Mark Shondell clearly has a finger in any number of unsavory pies, and during a semiofficial visit to his home, Dave ends up beating the tar out of him. His fury doesn’t seem to put off his old friend Clete Purcel, a private eye with an even shorter fuse, or Isolde’s mother, Penelope, who, whether or not she’s really Mark’s wife, keeps throwing Dave smoldering looks he returns with interest. The discovery of the dismembered corpses of two minions Shondell’s hired to follow Dave is only the first sign of the advent of Gideon Richetti, a time-traveling “revelator” whose deadly tango with Dave and Clete serves as the portal to a troubled past extending far before 9/11. Whether or not you buy the metaphor of reincarnation here, it goes a long way toward explaining the thread that links Dave’s 23 grandly repetitive adventures.

Not the best installment in this much-honored franchise, but the one that best explains its incantatory power.

THE BROTHER YEARS

Carter, Betsy Grand Central Publishing (336 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5387-6391-9 A sweeping intergenerational story of the intertwined lives of two people who find themselves staying briefly at the Neptune Inn in New Rochelle, New York.

Dillard Fox is a child, a young man, a middle-aged stepfather, and an aging man in this book. He is also a musician, a teaching assistant, a receptionist, a construction laborer, and a bakery assistant. Emilia Mae Wingo is a baby, a teen, a single mother, a middle-aged woman, and an aging grandmother. Apart from a stint as a hotel cleaner and helper in her teens—resulting in an unplanned pregnancy—she spends her life working in her parents’ bakery. Dillard is gay; Emilia Mae is not. The two marry

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Burke, Shannon Knopf (288 pp.) $25.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5247-4864-7

LOST SOULS AT THE NEPTUNE INN

A determined but pugnacious lowerclass family strives to cling to its perch in an upscale suburb.

As Willie Brennan, the narrator of Burke’s fourth novel, prepares to enter high school, he’s feeling ill at ease with his surroundings. He’s in open conflict with his smart, athletic, and bullying older brother, Coyle, who delivers regular beatings. His father is a taskmaster to his wife and four children while straining to make ends meet working multiple jobs. And though they’re hanging on in Seneca, a wealthy Chicago suburb, Willie receives constant reminders that he belongs to “the weird, poor family in the rich neighborhood.” In time, Willie will endure the ostracism and entitlement of his peers, bemoan dad’s ill-advised schemes to keep money flowing and maintain peace in the home, and do a stint in juvie. Burke wants to tell this story with a light touch while managing serious themes of class divisions and abuse, a circle he squares by having Willie tell this story from a nostalgic perspective. (The novel opens in 1979.) It’s not an entirely effective strategy; the conflict between Willie and Coyle seems to merit a darker treatment, mom and the younger siblings add little to the story, and some incidents are sitcom-simple (the time dad bought a boat, the time dad met Bob Seger…). Willie’s character has the virtue of being cleareyed and candid: He thoughtfully recalls how a climactic tennis match revealed just how much a rich kid can get away with and how dad’s head-down work ethic blinded him and his children to more complex social dynamics. Willie finishes his sophomore year wiser, if not exactly triumphant: “Almost despite myself, I had learned how to operate in that rich-kid world.” It’s all rich novel fodder but unevenly executed.

A seriocomic coming-of-age story that labors to balance the “serio” and “comic.” |

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one another because of their deep yearning for love and comfort and home and family. In the mid-20th century, these options are not available for Dillard with a man—though by the time he meets Emilia Mae and her daughter, Alice, his heart has already been broken by a secret relationship with Nick that ended abruptly and unexpectedly, leaving him unmoored. Emilia Mae, once a colicky baby, has grown up with the knowledge that her mother believes she was born with the devil inside her. It is Alice who binds Dillard and Emilia Mae together. In this sweeping tale that extends through much of the 20th century before ending in 1980s New York City, the reader meets Dillard’s and Emilia Mae’s parents, friends, and lovers and is given a deep, layered look at what events, people, choices, and secrets shape Dillard, Emilia Mae, and Alice into the complicated individuals they ultimately become.

A bittersweet tale that follows the twists and turns of love and loss and the painfulness and joy of life.

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BEHIND THE RED DOOR

Collins, Megan Atria (320 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-982130-39-8

Nightmares have been plaguing Fern Douglas. That’s bad enough, but when Astrid Sullivan, a woman Fern doesn’t know, starts showing up in the dreams, Fern has to wonder whether her nightmares might really be recovered

memories.

As a child, Fern lived just a few miles from Astrid, yet she doesn’t know anything about Astrid’s kidnapping though it was covered by the local and national news: Taken by a stranger, Astrid was kept for weeks and then mysteriously found near her own house, blindfolded and drugged but otherwise unharmed.

How can Fern have no memory of the famous story? Now, 20 years later, Astrid Sullivan has been abducted again. Fern has a

This ecological horror story (particularly horrifying now) explores painful regions of the human heart. the new wilderness

chance to investigate her weird connection to Astrid when she returns to Cedar, New Hampshire, to help her father, Ted, pack up before his move to Florida. Back in her hometown, Fern begins to read Astrid’s memoir, which sparks memories of having been with Astrid during her first kidnapping. Fern begins to track down people who might help her put the pieces together, including her best friend, Kyla, and Kyla’s scary brother, Cooper, who bullied Fern as a child. Meanwhile, Fern must once again navigate Ted’s “Experiments.” A psychologist specializing in the study of fear, Ted has used Fern since she was a child as a test subject, and now he is eager to interview her, hoping to use her newly recovering memories for his latest scholarly treatise.

Collins nimbly orchestrates Fern’s growing sense of terror as she slowly sifts in echoes of long-repressed sounds and sights.

Discovering who kidnapped Astrid and how Fern is connected makes for a tricky mystery. Even in the final pages, Collins avoids any expected resolution, leaving the reader deliciously unsettled and disturbed.

A dark psychological thriller riddled with twisted family dynamics.

even enjoying circumstances that overwhelm the adults around them. Cook also raises uncomfortable questions: How far will a person go to survive, and what sacrifices will she or won’t she make for those she loves?

This ecological horror story (particularly horrifying now) explores painful regions of the human heart.

THE WICKED SISTER

Dionne, Karen Putnam (304 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-735-21303-6

Fifteen years ago, Rachel Cunningham killed her parents. Or so she thought.

Rachel was only 11 when she shot her mother, watched her father turn his rifle on himself in their remote hunting lodge on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula,

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THE NEW WILDERNESS

Cook, Diane Harper/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $27.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-06233-313-1

In a dystopian future, a woman and her daughter leave behind the increasingly unlivable conditions of the allconsuming City, where most of the population is trapped, to join a survival study in the Wilderness State.

As part of the study, Bea and Agnes have been members of the Community since it began when Agnes was a “frail, failing little girl.” The Community, originally 20 adults and children before various births and deaths, travels the wild as a ragtag pack, rife with typical internal politics. Members carry their few possessions on their backs and eat what they can forage and kill by hand or bow, leaving no human traces in their wake.

They live according to the Manual, watched over from afar by the Rangers who make sure everyone follows the Manual’s rules.

Bea misses aspects of her urban life, however difficult it was, but her powers of psychological observation make her “good at this survival thing.” Agnes, whose “health cratered” from breathing City air—the reason Bea joined the study—is now vitally healthy, with a natural instinct for primitive skills. As she tells the grown-ups, “follow the animals.” The viewpoint shifts over time from prickly, tormented Bea, whose romantic loyalties are unclear but whose motherly protectiveness is fiercely all-consuming, to Agnes, who grows up in a world where natural order trumps human-made rules. The push-pull of ambivalent but powerful love between mother and daughter centers the novel.

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and then was found catatonic after having disappeared into the deep woods for two weeks. Now 26, she’s been in and out of psychiatric institutions, unable to come to terms with her terrible deed. The world thinks her father killed her mother, then himself: Rachel confessed, but no one believed her. One day, Trevor, an aspiring journalist, sits down with Rachel so she can tell her story and hopefully clear her father’s name. Then she plans to take her own life. But when Rachel catches a glimpse of the police report that says there’s no way she could have fired that rifle, she questions everything she thought she knew about that day, and the gaps in her memory take on an even more ominous hue. She checks herself out of the hospital, calls Trevor for a ride, and heads back to the lodge, where her older sister, Diana, and her aunt, Charlotte, have lived for years. Choosing to hide out in the lodge rather than reveal herself, Rachel searches for clues about her parents’ deaths and soon realizes that Diana, and their complicated relationship, may hold the key to everything. Interspersed with Rachel’s present-day narrative, her mother, Jenny, who was a wildlife biologist along with Rachel’s father, Peter, details the years leading up to her death and the

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distressing events that marked their otherwise idyllic existence.

Dionne has her locale down pat: It doesn’t get much creepier than a huge lodge filled with taxidermic animals where cell signals are scarce and dangers lurk in the surrounding woods. The characters lack nuance, though, and Dionne tends to clearly telegraph upcoming plot twists. Further, the book’s true villain does everything short of mustache twirling, and it’s not quite clear if readers should take Rachel’s earnest claim that she can talk to animals seriously. In the end, it’s all just a bit too much.

A melodramatic, ultimately disappointing endeavor.

THE PULL OF THE STARS

Donoghue, Emma Little, Brown (304 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 21, 2020 978-0-316-49901-9 A nurse in a Dublin hospital battles the ordinary hazards of childbirth and the extraordinary dangers of the 1918 flu.

Donoghue began writing this novel during the 1918 pandemic’s centennial year, before COVID-19 gave it the grim contemporary relevance echoing through her text: signs warning, “IF IN DOUBT, DON’T STIR OUT,” an overwhelmed hospital bedding patients on the floor, stores running out of disinfectant. These details provide a thrumming background noise to the central drama of women’s lives brought into hard focus by pregnancy and birth.

Julia Power works in Maternity/Fever, a supply room converted to handle pregnant women infected with the flu. The disease makes labor and delivery even more high risk than normal. On Oct. 31, 1918, Julia arrives to learn that one of her patients died in the night, and over the next two days we see her cope with three harrowing deliveries, only one of which ends well. Donoghue depicts these deliveries in unflinching detail, but the gruesome particulars serve to underscore Julia’s heroic commitment to saving women and their babies in a world that does little for either. Her budding friendship with able new assistant Bridie Sweeney, one of the ill-treated “boarders” at a nearby convent, gives Julia a glimpse of how unwanted and illegitimate children are abused in Catholic Ireland. As far as she’s concerned, the common saying “She doesn’t love him unless she gives him twelve,” referring to children, reveals total indifference to women’s health and their children’s prospects. Donoghue isn’t a showy writer, but her prose sings with blunt poetry, as in the exchange between Julia and Bridie that gives the novel its title.

Influenza gets its name from an old Italian belief that it was the influence of the stars that made you sick, Julia explains; Bridie responds, “As if, when it’s your time, your star gives you a yank.”

Their relationship forms the emotional core of a story rich in swift, assured sketches of achingly human characters coping as best they can in extreme circumstances.

Darkly compelling, illuminated by the light of compassion and tenderness: Donoghue’s best novel since Room (2010).

Vividly written and deeply affecting. the death of vivek oji

THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI

Emezi, Akwaeke Riverhead (256 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-525-54160-8 The author of the young adult novel Pet, a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award, offers another exploration of gender identity, this time for adults.

This book’s title leaves no doubt about the fate of its central character. Nor does the first chapter, which is one sentence long: “They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died.” Then the story moves into the past to introduce Vivek’s father, Chika, as he is about to meet Kavita, the woman who will become his wife and Vivek’s mother. The next chapter is told from the perspective of Vivek’s cousin, Osita. As the narrative moves around in time and from viewpoint to viewpoint, Emezi offers a richly textured depiction of

a middle-class community in Nigeria—one that includes several immigrants, among them Vivek’s Indian mother. In these early chapters, there is no sense of the tragedy that’s coming. The first hint of trouble ahead is when Vivek starts slipping into fugue states. Eventually, Vivek will explain that these were moments when the burden of living an inauthentic life became too much to bear. When Vivek lets his hair grow long and acknowledges his true sexuality, he experiences some relief from this stress, but new problems arise—including an aunt who thinks he’s possessed by demons and boys who throw bottles at him. He is only just beginning to express his true self openly when he dies. Only a handful of chapters—most of them very brief—are told from Vivek’s point of view. There’s something heartbreaking about the fact that his story can only be told by others, especially since some of them never saw him as he wanted to be seen. And Osita—who loved Vivek and knew him better than anyone— cannot say everything he knows. Even so, the novel ends on a note of hope.

Vividly written and deeply affecting.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Connie Schultz

THE PRIZEWINNING POLITICAL COLUMNIST (AND POLITICAL WIFE) MAKES A MASTERFUL FICTION DEBUT WITH THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN

By Laurie Muchnick Lylah Rose Wolff

We recently spoke with Schultz about the novel; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your novel?

It’s set in a small working-class town on the shores of Lake Erie, written by a woman who grew up in a small working-class town on the shores of Lake Erie. Of course, it’s a story about women over four generations, but it’s also about the men they love. I think the term working class only appears once. But to me, it means people who have hopes and dreams just like everyone else, who want more for their kids, who want more for their communities. And they try to get on that trajectory until the big problems come and they have no money to fix them.

And that’s when everything can fall apart. That’s the story of so many working-class families I know. And they’re diverse, by the way; I hope that came across in Erietown. It’s not just white people—I get really frustrated with that idea.

This book reminded me a lot of some of the feminist novels from the 1970s by writers like Marge Piercy and Marilyn French.

If you weren’t already familiar with Connie Schultz’s work as a political columnist—she won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 while at the Cleveland Plain Dealer—you may have gotten to know her in the past few years as one of the most congenial people on social media. Her Facebook page and Twitter feed feature her takes on the news along with pictures of her dogs, Franklin and Walter, her grandchildren, and her husband, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. The title of her 2007 memoir, …and His Lovely Wife, was a wry response to finding herself treated like an appendage during Brown’s first campaign following their marriage. Now Schultz has written a novel, The Daughters of Erietown (Random House, June 9), in which “the evolving role of women in middle America in the second half of the 20th century is illuminated by the story of one Ohio family, its secrets and failures, its hopes and dreams,” according to our starred review, which calls it “a masterful debut.”

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Well, I consider that a real compliment, because I’m very fond of their writing. I came of age in the ’70s. So I read The Women’s Room when I was in college, I have the first edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. That made it easy to do research—I just had to pull it off the shelf. I thought, if I’m going to focus on women in this novel, and I want to tell a story that spans a period of time, it makes sense for me to include a period of time that I knew well, but it’s amazing how much we don’t remember from our childhoods. You know those little pamphlets you can get about the year you were born? “Here are the top songs, here are the top....” I have one for every single year represented in the book. I found them on eBay, on Etsy, because I couldn’t get over how much I couldn’t remember.

What made you decide to write a novel?

I finally decided to get serious about it when I realized what was stopping me—and that was fear. I had to live what I’ve

always told my kids and what I’ve written, which is the only regrets you’ll have are the things you were afraid to try. I did a TEDx talk about four years ago about how women of my generation—I’m 62—are the first to really have large numbers who think we shouldn’t become invisible at the age of 50. So many of my friends have done these incredible things much later in their lives. Unlike our mothers did too often, we don’t have to feel used up. It’s “What do we do next?”

ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE BOURNE EVOLUTION

Are there any books that you love or books you used as models?

The Daughters of Erietown received a starred review in the March 15, 2020, issue.

Novelist Freeman nails the Ludlum style in the latest Jason Bourne adventure.

Without apparent motive, a man with no known criminal history or mental illness opens fire on a Las Vegas crowd and slaughters 66 people. More than a year later, a New York congresswoman is murdered, shot in the neck. The congresswoman had been about to expose a large-scale data hacking scandal in big tech. The suspect is an “ex-government operative gone rogue” code-named Cain. That’s the hero, Jason Bourne.

Fans know that as Cain, he was a professional assassin before a gunshot wound stole all memory of his past. Treadstone, his former organization, believes he’s out of control and wants him dead. Good luck with that, because “Bourne was a ghost. Impossible to kill.” So Bourne agrees to meet secretly with a journalist in Quebec City who has written about the Vegas killings and is investigating the congresswoman’s murder. Nothing goes right, of course. Later, Bourne agrees to find a connection between that killing and a mysterious organization called Medusa. What follows is plenty of well-plotted action of the bloodletting variety. The main threat to society is a software application called Prescix. People think it’s cool because it predicts what they’re going to do before they know it themselves. They don’t realize that it’s controlling what they’re going to do. That is plausible, scary stuff, but for a real scare meet the superb villain Miss Shirley. She warns people, “at all times when we are together to call me Miss Shirley.” That’s in every sentence, with violations punishable by a bullet in the throat, even if she’s just treated a guy to the best sex ever. The showdown between Bourne and Miss Shirley is one for the ages.

Freeman’s first Jason Bourne thriller is a treat for fans of the late Robert Ludlum.

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Well, start with Grace Paley, period. I can’t adequately convey what it’s like to be a working-class Protestant kid in Ashtabula, Ohio, who first started reading Grace Paley in high school and thought, Wow, our family has a lot more in common with a Jewish woman living in New York than a lot of the novels I’ve been assigned to read in class, which were mostly by male writers.

And A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. [From] the first time I read that, the same scene still stays with me now. It’s the scene in the doctor’s office, do you remember that? Francie and her brother are there, and the doctor is saying to the nurse, “Look how dirty they are. That little boy, he’s so filthy.” And when Francie gets up there, she essentially says, “You don’t need to tell me, we already know we’re dirty.” I mean, what she’s saying is, “I heard every word you said. I understand exactly what you think of us.”

I remember that feeling of being a working-class kid.

I remember my daughter had to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in college. She and I started talking about it, and I told her about that scene, and I realized it was not a story I had told her about my own childhood. I was so busy trying to make her feel confident in herself, and I wanted her to believe in all her options, that I hadn’t told her that I came to this in a different way. I came to it in part from having people judge me strictly on where I came from.

Freeman, Brian Putnam (416 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-0-525-54259-9

THE NIGHT SWIM

Goldin, Megan St. Martin’s (352 pp.) $27.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-250-21968-8

A podcast investigator covering her first present-tense criminal trial is thrown for a loop by a radical new development in a much older case.

Now that she has two successful seasons of Guilty or Not Guilty under her belt, Rachel Krall is ready to turn from reopening old cases to following one as it unfolds in real time. Champion swimmer Scott Blair is about to be tried for the rape and sexual battery of Kelly Moore, who attends the high school he graduated |

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from the year before. Prosecutor Mitchell Alkins and rock-star defense attorney Dale Quinn agree that the two teenagers had sex on the night in question, but they don’t agree whether it was consensual. So Rachel’s come to Neapolis, North Carolina, to attend the trial, prepare daily summaries of every twist and turn, and assure her listeners that every broadcast “puts you in the jury box.” As the trial proceeds through an unsparing barrage of she-said, he-said testimony, Rachel finds the objectivity she’s promised her listeners increasingly compromised by her growing sympathy for Kelly. A far more serious complication begins even before the trial with a furtive series of notes from Hannah Stills, whose older sister, Jenny, was raped, beaten, and drowned back in 1992. Certain that her sister’s assailant, who’s never been punished or identified, will be present in the courtroom, Hannah writes that she’s finally ready to reopen her own painful past and reveal knowledge about her sister’s last night that she’s never shared with anyone else.

But though Hannah begs for Rachel’s help, she fails to show up at every meeting she proposes, leaving Rachel to wonder whether she’s really a will-of-the-wisp—and incidentally, what

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these two assaults a generation apart could possibly have to do with each other.

Not as intense as Goldin’s blistering debut, The Escape Room (2018), but a remarkably strong contender for second place.

BEAR NECESSITY

Gould-Bourn, James Scribner (320 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-982128-29-6

A London widower who is having trouble supporting his son turns to dancing as a panda in the park.

With the unexpected death of his wife in her late 20s, Danny Malooley has been slowly falling further and further behind on his rent. Young parents at 17, Danny and Liz were very much in love and delighted in their son, Will, even though they struggled to make ends meet as he grew up. Fourteen months after Liz’s death, however, Danny finds himself with an 11-year-old son who hasn’t spoken since the accident, so far behind on his rent that his landlord has threatened to break his legs if he doesn’t pay up, unfairly fired from his construction job, and grasping at any opportunity to make money. The realization that street performers in the park earn enough to cover his rent spurs his decision to buy a deeply discounted panda costume all but destroyed by the hard-partying college student who last rented it. Standing in the park in a smelly costume does not garner the money he’d hoped—though, shock of shocks, his son actually starts talking after Danny saves him from bullies—so he decides to start dancing in the costume. And after a chance encounter with Krystal, a pole-dancer (a near-naked performer, not a stripper, she is keen to make clear), who subsequently makes fun of his lack of skills, Danny convinces her to teach him to dance so he can try to win a street performance competition with a purse so large he’ll be able to pay off his evil landlord. The platonic relationship between Danny and Krystal is refreshing.

The story hinges on the fast friendships formed on construction sites, between street performers, and in strip clubs—the latter reminiscent of the movie Magic Mike but without even a hint of voyeurism.

A well-written, speedy read that focuses on the love between a dad and his son and how it can lead to friendship.

Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss.

-John Milton, Paradise Lost LOCKDOWN

HUNTING GROUND

Stories of Crime,

Meghan Holloway

Terror, and Hope

June

in a Pandemic

9781947993983

MATTHEW HENSON AND THE ICE TEMPLE OF HARLEM Gary Phillips

June

July

9781951709174

9781947993860

THE SOUTHLAND

THE NINJA’S

Sung J. Woo

Johnny Shaw

BLADE

July

August

Tori Eldridge

9781947993952

9781947993969

September 9781951709099

THE LAKEHOUSE Joe Clifford September 9781951709105

POETIC JUSTICE

THE MAN IN

Andrea J. Johnson

MILAN

September

Vito Racanelli

9781951709082

October 9781951709112

Read different. Read independent. Read Polis Books. |

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SKIN DEEP

CATHEDRAL

Hopkins, Ben Europa Editions (624 pp.) $27.00 | Jan. 26, 2021 978-1-60945-611-5 This first novel by screenwriter Hopkins imagines a paean to the glory of God arising from the unholy muck of the Middle Ages.

By the year 1229, a lofty Cathedral— a bishop’s vanity project, always capitalized—is already in the works in Hagenburg, Germany. The Bishop’s treasurer is not enamored of the idea, opining that “a constant river of silver and gold flows into that damned hole, providing the wages of the idle, and paying quarrymen, foresters and glaziers for their so-called labour.” The bishop has just “passed into Glory,” the Lord Treasurer is abroad, the pope is dead, infidel hordes besiege Jerusalem, and “all is in turmoil and flux.” No wonder the Cathedral takes so long to build.

Meanwhile, young Rettich Schäffer is an apprentice stonecutter working on the Cathedral, wanting to buy his freedom from the bishop, so he borrows from a Jewish moneylender. The stories of Christians and Jews intertwine over the decades, with piety and decency largely absent from center stage. Surrounding the rising edifice in Hagenburg are degradations of every kind—“the siren calls of Temptation, Debauchery and Vice” and “the Magical World of the Goyyim. Sodom without cataclysm.” Hypocrisy abounds, as when Father Arnold chants over the bodies of dead bandits, because “God listens to what he says….The priest gets an extra sixpence for every Last Rite he gives. He was probably praying for a massacre.” Jews like Yudl ben Yitzhak Rosheimer privately regard the Cathedral as “the Abomination.” To him it is “just a pile of stones and vain idols, an excrescence of the sinful earth.” Well, it’s either that or “the finest Cathedral in the German Lands.” Across the decades, no one character dominates this story of ambition, vanity, and power. In the midst of a plague, a mother and child find cold comfort within the completed empty church as “the Witch of Winter rode the wind.”

A thoroughly engrossing, beautifully told look at human frailty.

ARIA

Hozar, Nazanine Knopf (448 pp.) $28.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-524-74903-3 An orphan grows up during decades of unrest in Iran.

Making an impressive fiction debut, Hozar creates a vibrant, unsettling portrait of her native Iran from the 1950s to 1981, a period beset by poverty and oppression, chaos and revolution. The tale begins in 1953, when a desperate new mother abandons her newborn in a garbagestrewn street in Tehran. While wild dogs scavenge through the trash, a man wandering through the neighborhood hears a muffled cry. Behrouz, an illiterate truck driver for the army, rescues the baby and impetuously names her Aria, for music that evokes “all the world’s pains and all the world’s loves.” Behrouz takes the infant home to his wife, Zahra, a hardhearted woman who resents her husband and balks at this new imposition and responsibility. In a culture rife with superstition, she is suspicious of the child, whose blue eyes, Zahra believes, “mean… the devil’s in her.” With Behrouz gone for weeks at a time, Zahra vents her anger at Aria, whom she beats and nearly starves. But as if in a fairy tale, suddenly the girl’s fortunes change: She finds herself in a new home, this time with an emotionally reticent woman who strives to do good works in order to atone for her privilege. As Aria later recalls, she had “a mother who left her, a mother who beat her, and a mother who loved her but couldn’t say so.” Aria goes to school, where her two closest friends are children whose parents hold drastically different views about Iran’s politics: The girl’s father is repeatedly arrested for being 18

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a communist while the boy’s wealthy family “sells the Shah his diamonds.” Cries of “Death to the Shah! Long live Khomeini!” portend the violent upheaval that changes the country’s—and Aria’s—future.

An engrossing tale that reveals a nation’s fraught history.

THE BOYS’ CLUB

Katz, Erica Harper/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $26.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-06296-148-8 The perils and pleasures—if that’s the right word—of a high-powered young woman working as a first-year associate at a major Manhattan law firm.

One of the key sentences in this debut novel is in the author bio on the last page: “Erica Katz is the pseudonym for a graduate of

Columbia Law School who began her career at a major Manhattan law firm.” Another is in the acknowledgments: “To everyone who sees ugly parts of themselves in these characters and wonders if I’m writing about them, I’m not. (But I am…).” Clearly the story of Alexandra Vogel’s life at Klasko & Fitch is grounded in experience and first-hand observation. It’s an intense, disturbing #MeToo story that takes the significant risk of making its main character neither innocent nor completely likable. The book opens with an excerpt from a transcript of a New York Supreme Court trial. The defendant is Gary Kaplan, whom we will come to know as the firm’s most important, powerful, and wealthy client. What the charge is, or exactly why Alex is called to testify in such detail about her experiences at the firm, will not be clear until very late in the book. Before that, we go with Alex on the wild ride that is an associate’s first year as she tries to impress the bigwigs in order to “match” with a desirable department. Towering above them all is Mergers and Acquisitions—the best, brightest, toughest, most important— so naturally Alex, a mega-achiever whose accomplishments include a world record in girls junior swimming, sets her sights on it. Almost immediately the furiously competitive situation changes her into something of a monster. Multiday work sessions alternate with exorbitant dining, drinking, and drugging, taking quite a toll on her relationships with her boyfriend and her parents. Meanwhile sexual tension is building between her and more powerful colleagues while her relationships with the few women in the firm are…poor. She doesn’t see the situation for what it is until late in the book, when nuance goes out the window; her awakening is rushed and less realistic than what’s gone before.

A knowing, nuanced #MeToo story from the world of corporate law, with juicy The Wolf of Wall Street–type action.

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU

Leavitt, Caroline Algonquin (288 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-61620-779-3

What if Snow White woke up and decided she didn’t much like Prince Charming?

Something like that happens in Leavitt’s latest novel. New Yorkers Simon and Stella have been a couple since the heady days when his rock band was almost famous.

Now in their 40s, he’s still chasing musical fame while Stella, a skilled and well-regarded nurse, supports them both and generally is the adult in the relationship. The night before they’re supposed to leave for a gig in California that might be his big break, they have a nasty argument, drink a lot of wine, and, despite Stella’s aversion to drug abuse, share an unidentified pill. In the morning, Simon wakes up and Stella doesn’t. Her coma lasts for several months. The middle section of the book alternates among Simon’s anguished guilt and devotion to caring for her, Stella’s hallucinatory experiences while comatose, 20

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“a both

deeply

satisfying

sensuously

novel,

vivid

remarkably poignant.”

and

— kirkus reviews (starred)

“anita

lahey

friendship

writes

and

loss

“evoking

about

nimbleness and grace.

with

both

her

comparisons

style

and

in

substance

John irving robertson davies in its assemblage of perceptive, to the work of

memoir brings back to life

and

what illness and death took away.”

richly

— elizabeth hay, scotiabank giller prize-winning author of

studies

detailed

... the

character life

of

a

late nights on air

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canadian city is revealed with verve and insight.”

— kirkus reviews

“while how to Die is a slim book, it offers some hefty insights, leavened with frequent, selfeffacing humour ... brilliant.”

available in bookstores and online now at www.biblioasis.com

— toronto star

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Brit Bennett

THE AUTHOR DISCUSSES HER SECOND NOVEL, THE VANISHING HALF, AND THE COMPLICATED MEANINGS OF RACIAL IDENTITY IN AMERICA

By Tom Beer Emma Trim

The novel opens in 1968 in Mallard, Louisiana, “a town that existed on no maps.” Is it based on a real place?

It’s based on a place my mother remembered from her childhood in Louisiana. She mentioned offhandedly a town of people who continually intermarried so that their kids would get lighter in each generation. It was really interesting to me, and I did some research into similar communities, sociological reports about these insular communities that were organized around the idea of light skin. So I was able to draw on some historical records, although I was more interested in writing toward memory and myth than I was in writing toward history.

Why did you decide to make Desiree and Stella twins?

Twins are naturally sort of metaphorical when you’re thinking about identity and this question of What makes me me, and what makes you you? So I knew that I wanted to have twins at the center of it and that they were going to live their lives on opposite sides of the color line.

As young girls they see their father lynched by a white mob. How does that affect them?

What does it mean to be black? To be white? Do these racial categories really exist, or are they simply social constructs? The Vanishing Half (Riverhead, June 2), the new novel by the author of The Mothers (2016), grapples with these and other questions through the story of Desiree and Stella Vignes, twin sisters in 1960s Louisiana. They are black—until the day Stella walks into a New Orleans office building to apply for a secretarial job and is taken for white. This act of passing will lead Stella to a new life and a break with her past—a move that will reverberate for all the characters, including Desiree’s and Stella’s daughters. In a starred review, Kirkus called it a “rich, sharp story about the way identity is formed.” Brit Bennett recently discussed the novel by videoconference; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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I think of that as the moment where they split—where they become very different people. They both witness this very traumatic and violent event, but they react to it so differently. Desiree keeps a lot of it inside and is able to put her head down and keep going. Stella turns it over and over in her head. She can’t really make sense of it; she’s a very logical person, and she needs things to make sense. But racist violence is inherently illogical.

As an adult, Desiree’s daughter, Jude, becomes romantically involved with Reese, who is a trans man.

Reese is actually a character from something completely different that I had been working on. I knew that part of the book would be Jude’s leaving Mallard and going to LA and starting over, and I knew that I wanted her to have this big love story. I started to think about Reese, and it felt like a good fit. I was really interested, thematically, in how Reese

is a counterpoint to Stella. Reese experiences these physical changes that actually affirm who he is, versus Stella, who does not change physically, and she ends up being a completely different person—mentally, emotionally, and psychologically.

It was so refreshing the way you handled Jude’s discovery that Reese is trans.

I didn’t want that to be a point of conflict or point of tension between them. I recognize, as a cisgender person, that so many cis writers write trans characters terribly. I had friends read it and give me feedback. But I knew that was a trope I wanted to avoid—I didn’t want it to be a reveal, I didn’t want it to be some type of gotcha moment. No—you know immediately, and then we’re moving on to the other things that are interesting about this relationship.

I was struck by how well rounded all your characters are—even spoiled Kennedy, Stella’s “white” daughter.

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Kennedy was one of my favorite characters to write—this character who wants to be a star on the stage and needs attention. People are surprised to hear me say that—like you said, she’s spoiled, she’s entitled. But I love writing characters who are different than myself. I was also interested in thinking about how she turned out to be this way and her really complicated relationship with her mother—[Stella] always keeps these walls between them, and [Kennedy] doesn’t understand why. I started thinking about how hard that would be, to grow up and think that your mother doesn’t like you.

and the reactions of Stella’s best friend, Libby, who is one of the doctors treating her. Libby had never liked Simon but is impressed with his dedication; unlucky in love herself, she’s drawn to him. Sparks fly, but their loyalty to Stella counters the attraction. Then the patient awakes, and, as can happen after comas, her personality is quite different. The old Stella was cautious and always played by the rules; the new one is restless, reckless, and emotionally distant. The only thing that calms her is art. Compulsive doodling turns into startlingly accomplished drawings—a talent she had never displayed before. People begin to commission her probing portraits; in the meantime, Simon, kicked out of his band because he stayed at Stella’s bedside, is a Lyft driver. And Libby keeps swearing she won’t see Simon anymore and then opening the door when he buzzes. Leavitt expands the characters with backstories that have a common thread: Stella, Simon, and Libby all felt severely rejected by their parents in childhood.

The upheavals in their lives caused by Stella’s coma and its aftermath lead to the exposures of old secrets, healed wounds, and surprising futures.

One character’s coma is only the first surprise in this satisfying story of middle-aged love.

I GIVE IT TO YOU

Martin, Valerie Nan A. Talese (304 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-385-54639-3

The Vanishing Half received a starred review in the April 1, 2020, issue.

Yes, the narrator of Martin’s new novel is a middle-aged American woman vacationing in Tuscany, but this prickly, uncomfortably relevant dive into personal and societal ethics is no escapist romance.

Creative writing professor Jan Vidor stays at Villa Chiara as a paying guest for the first time during the summer of 1983.

The villa’s owner is Beatrice, herself a professor at an unnamed American college. Beatrice’s last name, Doyle, comes from her failed marriage to a Cape Cod oysterman’s son she met while attending graduate school at Boston College, but she was born into a family of aristocrats who split their time between Florence and their country estate, Villa Chiara. During more visits together over the next 20 years, Beatrice shares tales with Jan, connecting family history to 20th-century Italian history, particularly the Fascist era. Jan sees the family’s central tragedy as the death of Uncle Sandro, a gentle romantic who spent much of his adult life in an insane asylum but died violently under murky circumstances outside the villa in 1943. Believing Beatrice has given her permission to use the family stories, Jan writes them into a book; chapters become a novel within the novel here. Jan’s narrative pits innocence (spiritual, idealistic Sandro) against evil (his Fascist, capitalistic, misogynistic brother Marco). Yet the changes she witnesses at the villa and in Beatrice over time reveal harsh realities about class and capitalism in Italy (and America). Beatrice, the novel’s true |

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central enigma, originally went to America to reinvent herself through education. She married but never took her workingclass ex-husband seriously and continues to have problematic relationships with her mother and her son, who paradoxically has chosen to live in Germany. Yet after spending most of her life in America, Beatrice remains an outsider there while her identity as Italian landed gentry seems to crystallize as the working-class locals her family has patronized for generations take financial control.

Martin parses personal and social politics with methodical care and a reserved tone reminiscent of Edith Wharton.

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ZO

Miller, Xander Knopf (368 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-101-87412-7 A picaresque romance set in contemporary Haiti.

Zo is a child when a professor tells him that, as a penniless orphan in the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, he might be “the poorest man in the Western world.” Zo is certainly poor, but he is enterprising, willing to do any work that pays. Eventually, he discovers that his capacity to divine what women need is, perhaps, his truest vocation. He’s working a construction job when he gets his first glimpse of his employer’s daughter. What follows is a story of star-crossed romance threatened by class and—eventually—the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010. Miller’s writing is vivid and engaging, filled with richly imagined scenes and fully formed characters. Zo is an easy protagonist to root for, and Anaya makes for a pleasingly complex foil and partner.

She is a real, contemporary woman while Zo—a poor orphan who grows into a man of prodigious strength and sexual prowess—is like a figure from legend. The knowledge that Miller is a white man from the United States writing about black people in Haiti may affect how some readers react to this novel. The depiction of Zo as a spectacular physical specimen—an indefatigable lover and superhuman laborer—becomes complicated when framed within the history of white people talking about black bodies. In a lengthy author’s note, Miller explains that he became acquainted with Haiti when he traveled there to work as an EMT in the aftermath of the earthquake he writes about.

He thanks numerous Haitians he got to know at that time. He asserts that he “is not a Haiti expert” while praising Haitian authors. The fact remains that Miller is a white man from the United States writing about black people in Haiti at a moment when authors, readers, publishers, and critics are talking about who should tell whose stories—and, just as importantly, who gets generous advances and the prestige of publishing with legacy houses. To the extent that this novel gains critical and popular attention, this is almost certainly going to be a factor in its reception.

This beautifully written debut lands in the middle of a debate about representation in American literature.

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WHY I DON’T WRITE AND OTHER STORIES

Minot, Susan Knopf (176 pp.) $25.00 | Aug. 5, 2020 978-0-525-65824-5

Minot’s first collection since 1989 begins with a story ironically titled “Why I Don’t Write.”

This doesn’t seem to apply to Minot herself, who has written six books since 1986, but it does suggest the psychic toll of being a writer in an age of Twitter-size attention spans and yawning cynicism.

“What do you do all day?” someone asks the narrator. The answer, both to this question and the one posed by the title, comes in the form of a disorienting collage of allusions to private heartaches, post-2016 political scandals, national tragedies, domestic chores, and pointed observations. (“Women writers without children: many. Women writers with children: few.”) The nine stories that follow are a mixed bag. The most successful show why sustained engagement matters, especially for a writer like Minot whose gift is for illuminating revelatory moments in characters’ lives rather than experimental fiction.

Sometimes these moments are tragic, as in “Boston Common at Twilight,” which explores a teenager’s ill-fated decision to follow a stranger, a woman, into the city to buy pot from her and, later, the heartbreaking consequence of his failure to stop blaming himself. Elsewhere, the stories turn on happy, though somewhat old-fashioned, epiphanies. In “Polepole,” a woman’s brief encounter with the maid of a married man with whom she’s just had a one-night stand in Kenya makes her determined to take better care of herself. Throughout, Minot is keenly aware of how men hurt women—as well as how women sabotage themselves. In “The Language of Cats and Dogs,” another standout, the protagonist recalls the moment her writing professor propositioned her. Rather than tell him off, she sits frozen in his disgusting car, embarrassed by his cheesy pickup line and ashamed as though she’s somehow to blame.

This collection’s best stories show us why Minot should resist irony and never stop writing beautifully about women’s lives.

TALKING ANIMALS

Murphy, Joni Farrar, Straus and Giroux (304 pp.) $16.00 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-374-53874-3 Murphy offers a satirical fable set in an alternate world peopled by all species of animals.

New York City is introduced as a “vessel for animals” in Murphy’s first chapter, a purposely grandiose history of the city in which 26

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readers will assume animal references—“herds,” “invasive species”—are metaphoric. They’re not, or only in the sense that the book is one giant metaphor, a 21st-century combination of Animal Farm and Aesop’s Fables. It’s also a political thriller about an unwitting government bureaucrat uncovering corruption— think Robert Redford in his Three Days of the Condor period except he’s a llama or alpaca. The alpaca would be Alfonzo, toiling in the basement of City Hall as second assistant to the nonexistent assistant to the nonexistent commissioner of records while also working on his Ph.D. Illicitly printing out his dissertation at work, he borrows office paper from his friend Mitchell, a llama who works on housing issues (a humorous tip of the hat to New York’s Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program). Better at office politics than his friend, Mitchell nevertheless feels caught between the needs of the poor and homeless versus the demands of landlords and the mayor, whom he hates. Alfonzo’s dissertation is rejected, in part because the scrap paper Mitchell has given him happens to have irrelevant facts and figures printed on the pre-used side. Meanwhile, right-wing radio is influencing land animals to blame sea animals “for every woe,” and Alfonzo finds a publication in his bag from the resistance movement SERF, the Sea Equality Revolutionary Front, a cause Mitchell’s lemur girlfriend, a barista, has been pushing. When Alfonzo learns his department is being closed, and the reason, he and Mitchell are spurred into action. Murphy packs a lot of issues—class, climate change immigration, vegetarianism, and more—into a familiar plot about malfeasance. She balances her poetic ruminations and dogmatic lecturing with a goofy relish for puns, from “The Five Burrows” of New York to the “freshly groomed” horse mayor to “Reading Rainboa” to radical “Bobby Seal.”

Weird yet engrossing and hard to forget.

THE WAY OUT

Piglia, Ricardo Trans. by Croll, Robert Restless Books (304 pp.) $20.00 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-63206-220-8 The late Argentine writer and Princeton professor continues his Emilio Renzi cycle of novels.

Renzi, an investigator-turned-novelist, returns as a visiting professor of literature at a leafy college in New Jersey while researching the Argentina-born British novelist W.H. Hudson. There he meets Ida Brown, a combative academic superstar who imagines herself outside the system while actually being the system: “Her salary was a state secret,” writes Piglia, “but it was said that they raised it every six months and that her sole condition was that she must earn one hundred dollars more than the highest-paid male (that’s not what she called them) in her profession.” Ida is working on Joseph Conrad, a friend of Hudson’s, and warns Renzi to stay away from her intellectual territory. Naturally, they fall into bed together, hiding their tryst by publicly pretending

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that nothing is going on. Everything comes full circle: Renzi is “interested in writers who were tied to some double identity, bound up in two languages and two traditions,” just as he himself is—and as Ida is, and the Russian widow across the hall, and other players in the novel. Things take an unanticipated bad turn when Ida dies, the victim of a letter bomb, which brings out the investigator in Renzi. He himself comes under suspicion, grilled by detectives, one of whom tells him grimly, “Nothing is irrelevant under these circumstances.” Whodunit? Conrad’s novel The Secret Agent figures in a sidelong way while the perp is a failed scholar of Dostoyevsky-an cast whom Renzi visits in prison: “When he moved, his footsteps clinked with a gloomy sound; he was detained, and for the first time the word took on its full meaning for me.” It’s all very bookish. The resolution of the story is nicely indefinite, though Piglia’s appropriation of the Unabomber and his manifesto seems a touch obvious, as are the faint echoes of Stieg Larsson.

An offbeat take on the campus novel, full of sex, intrigue, and marginalia.

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IMPERSONATION

Pitlor, Heidi Algonquin (336 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-61620-791-5

Ghostwriting for celebrity clients yields more drama than income for a desperate single mom.

“Let me guess: you live in Brooklyn….

You went to Vassar or maybe Oberlin….

You got your MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop….You shop at Whole Foods.” The feminist political powerhouse Lana Breban and her people think they know all about Allie Lang, who’s traveled by bus from her shabby rented house in Western Massachusetts to discuss the latest snag in their memoir project—but they have her all wrong. About the only things Allie shares with the bougie hipster they imagine her to be are liberal politics and feminism. Allie is a single mother by choice and is raising her son, Cass, almost completely alone

except for occasional help from her wandering hippie boyfriend and a nearly senile neighbor. Her last ghostwriting job, the memoir of a high-profile bro from the video game world, was to be so well paid she had planned a trip to Disney World with Cass—but then the book got cancelled due to an avalanche of sexual harassment allegations against its subject. Her cupboard is bare and the rent is overdue when she’s hired to write a book for Lana, a fierce advocate for women’s rights who’s on her way to elected office. The problem is, the book is supposed to be a warm and fuzzy memoir of motherhood, and Lana has been far too busy with her career to do much hands-on parenting at all. She has a staff for that. The heartwarming stories her agent, publisher, and political team are looking for simply don’t exist.

What’s Allie supposed to do, substitute her own experiences?

Pitlor’s third novel is set during the lead-up to and the aftermath of the 2016 election; she dryly and sometimes poignantly channels the zeitgeist through nuanced characters, settings, and just-right details.

Both the story and its resourceful heroine are fresh, intelligent, and charming.

THE BITCH

Quintana, Pilar Trans. by Dillman, Lisa World Editions (128 pp.) $14.99 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-64286-059-7 The lives of a disobedient dog and its melancholy owner grow entangled in this allegorical novella.

The first novel published in English by the Colombian writer Quintana centers on Damaris, who’s living in a coastal town with an oft-absent fisherman husband, minding the home of the Reyeses, friends of her family. When she’s offered a puppy from a litter, the dog is at once a balm for her loneliness and a reminder of it: Unable to have children, she names the dog Chirli, after “the daughter I never had.” Chirli is an emotional trigger, and Damaris is soon recalling her failed efforts through healers to get pregnant and a moment in her childhood as she watched the Reyeses’ son get

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LAKE LIFE

Poissant, David James Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $25.00 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-47672-999-2 After a terrible accident, secrets, shames, and fears emerge among six people sharing a last weekend at a lake house in this impressive debut novel.

A child slips off a boat and drowns in the deep water of a North Carolina lake.

It happens near the family vacation house that Richard and Lisa Starling, winding down careers at Cornell University, will soon sell, coincidentally on the birthday of a daughter who lived only a month. They’ve never told their sons about her. The elder is a heavy drinker awash in debt and upset that his wife is pregnant because they agreed to remain childless. The younger son takes meds for depression and anxiety after two suicide attempts. He hasn’t told his parents that he’s been jobless for two years or that he’s a pothead living off his boyfriend, a hot new artist in New York who has been mum about not finishing a painting in six months and struggles with his partner’s need for monogamy.

The parents, BTW, are dealing with a recent infidelity of their own. Poissant—author of the short story collection The Heaven of Animals (2014)—builds the narrative and the faceted theme of children lost and found through well-crafted scenes while making good use of the close third-person point of view, albeit with some cliché and overwriting. His gradual uncloseting of the sextet’s many skeletons—including the anathema of a vote for Trump—is cleverly handled, although he tends to offer pat answers where one might expect more complication. As for the ending, it won’t spoil anything to say Poissant makes some curious decisions in resolving this murmuration of Starlings.

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washed away by a large wave hitting a rocky shore. Every incident in this brief novel seems calibrated to show life’s tenuousness and violence: Humans and dogs die via gunshot, hatchet, and poison, and Damaris’ relationship with the dog frays as Chirli disappears into the nearby jungle, returning only to disappear again. Though the novel is short, Quintana patiently explores Damaris’ darkening mood, as Chirli’s untamed nature echoes its owner’s despair over keeping life under control: “Alone, totally alone, in a body that bore her no children and was good only for breaking things.” As Damaris’ and Chirli’s lives take increasingly tragic turns, their restless natures feel increasingly broadly symbolic of the difficulty of domesticating ourselves and others, even when it serves our best interests. In an author’s note, Quintana said she was inspired by seeing a female dog’s corpse on her first day on Colombia’s Pacific coast. “I thought, there is a huge story here,” she writes. “Huge” overstates things, but it’s an intense story despite its brevity.

A somber and sensitive dog-and-owner tale scrubbed clean of the genre’s usual sweetness.

JEAN-LUC PERSECUTED Ramuz, C.F. Trans. by Baes, Olivia Deep Vellum (152 pp.) $15.95 paper | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-64605-016-1

Cheerless novel of lost love and madness in the Alps.

Jean-Luc Robille is a giant of a man, blessed with a big baby who now sleeps soundly in a larch crib that Jean-Luc has lovingly crafted himself. His wife, Christine, is beautiful and willful, and no sooner is Jean-Luc out the door to visit a friend than she is canoodling with another man in their mountain village. When Jean-Luc learns of the affair, he confronts her, and she haughtily reminds him of what she said when he proposed to her: “I like Augustin better, and he’s asked me too, but his father is against it because I’m too poor, and I’ve had enough of being a servant in other people’s homes, so let’s get engaged if you’d like; but if Augustin wants to kiss me, I’ll let myself be kissed.” Published in French in 1908, Ramuz’s modernist novel was certainly shocking then, and if it seems a little staid now, it has the class-conscious bite of Marcel Pagnol’s Manon of the Spring. Things get more shocking when, after time has passed and Christine has supposedly been faithful, Jean-Luc learns that the affair has resumed. He throws her out and then, with the grim logic of a classical tragedy, terrible things begin to happen. It would be a spoiler to say just what, but suffice it to say that Jean-Luc descends into alcoholism and madness, wandering into the village wearing the helmet of a papal Swiss Guard and carrying a burden that, as the gendarmes chase him into the mountains, transforms the novel into a painful tale of isolation and woe that resembles nothing so much as Franken­ stein save that Mary Shelley’s monster had a richer vocabulary.

Plainly, even matter-of-factly written, the story is a downer but an affecting one that leaves readers wishing that Jean-Luc had had better luck.

Translated for the first time in English, Ramuz’s slender story will interest students of early European modernism.

IN THE VALLEY

Rash, Ron Doubleday (240 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-385-54429-0 Rash’s latest is a collection of 10 stories anchored by a novella featuring the ruthless Serena Pemberton of his best-known novel, Serena (2008), as she returns to the U.S. and resumes her reign of terror.

Though Serena has received the lion’s share of attention, the short story has always been Rash’s best genre. Several pieces collected here—mostly set in western North Carolina from 30

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the Civil War to the present—center on revenge that wants to see itself as righteous. Rash is expert at revealing the sword of vengeance’s double edge—how honed it is, how it cuts whomever wields it. In the excellent “Flight,” for example, Stacy, a wounded, justice-minded young park ranger, determines that she’ll have the better of a local who keeps tauntingly poaching trout. Another standout is “The Belt,” about an octogenarian Civil War veteran and his talisman, the lucky brass buckle that saved him in battle. His family has struggled mightily—that buckle’s luck has never seemed transferable—but old Jubal hopes the luck might extend, in one last moment of crisis, to his namesake grandson, a toddler. Perhaps best of all is “L’homme Blessé,” about a recently widowed art teacher summoned to a deep-country cabin where an old man, psychologically wrecked after World War II, lived out his days sheltered by his own art—a near-perfect re-creation of the drawings inside a French cave the shattered soldier had visited. But the title novella makes for the centerpiece. Unrepentant lumber queen Serena has returned home, where she needs to accomplish the impossible: clear-cut a last mountaintop forest in just days. To do

so—with the help of her conscienceless enforcer, Galloway, and his terrifying, spooky mother—she must bribe, cajole, intimidate, murder, perhaps even bend the rules of time, but there’s little Serena can’t do. Sure, now and again Rash tries to channel Cormac McCarthy and fails; a couple stories seem slight; and so on. But those are quibbles, not disfiguring flaws.

A brace of strong stories, and the novella’s a fine, suspenseful contribution to the thriving genre of Appalachian mayhem.

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THE RIVER HOME

Richell, Hannah Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $16.99 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-06-300160-2 Blessed with youth, love, and promise, Ted and Kit move into an idyllic country home, but years later their relationship has failed and each of their three adult daughters is burdened with a threatening secret.

“This is the place,” life model Kit tells playwright Ted when she first sees Windfalls, the gorgeous if neglected English farmhouse set above an orchard and a river in Somerset. But this picture-perfect setting becomes the backdrop to jealousy, postnatal depression, sexual violence, and arson in British author Richell’s latest novel, a family drama that follows simply delineated characters along clear grooves. Free-spirited Kit becomes a neglectful mother but a successful popular novelist; Ted’s early promise is

stalled by writer’s block until he finds release elsewhere. Oldest daughter Eve grows into a busy mother with an obsessive eye for detail. Middle sister Lucy is “ridiculously naïve and chaotic” while volatile Margot, who dropped out of school at 16, is “the Queen of Self-Sabotage.” A giveaway prologue hints too heavily toward Margot’s share of the family’s mysteries; meanwhile, Lucy and Eve are keeping their own secrets. But all will come to a boil during the tense days running up to Lucy’s suddenly announced wedding, to be held informally in a tent in the Windfalls orchard.

This, then, is the place where pain will finally be shared and the family chess pieces rearranged on the board. Richell’s uncomplicated tale-spinning, along with her devotion to lovely landscapes and boho-chic interiors, propels her narrative forward at a smooth pace, gliding over implausibilities to deliver a polished blend of romance, tragedy, and family feeling.

A brimming glassful of apple-scented summer escapism.

CHER AMI AND MAJOR WHITTLESEY

Rooney, Kathleen Penguin (336 pp.) $17.00 paper | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-14-313542-5

A World War I saga narrated by a homing pigeon and an American military officer, both real-life heroes.

On Oct. 4, 1918, Cher Ami, a British-trained carrier pigeon, flew a highly dangerous mission in France, delivering a vital message to headquarters from besieged American troops on the front lines. The bird, now stuffed and on display at the Smithsonian, tells her story on the centenary of her historic flight. Maj. Charles Whittlesey was a well-educated, mild-mannered Manhattan attorney who enlisted in the Army and served as commander of what came to be known as The Lost Battalion. From Whittlesey’s account, we learn how he and his men were trapped in enemy territory and cut off from supply lines for five hellish days, under attack not only from the Germans, but from American “friendly fire.” It was Whittlesey who wrote the desperate note that Cher Ami—though severely injured in flight—managed to convey. The major was a strong, well-respected leader, but he held himself responsible for the many deaths and disfiguring injuries in his regiment. Returning home from war, he withered under the glare of the hero’s welcome and sudden fame thrust on him. Rooney, author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (2017), has a lot on her mind here. Her well-researched novel touches on the folly of war (particularly this war), the sentience of animals, and—especially—survivor guilt and imposter syndrome.

Rooney’s writing has a delicate lyricism; particularly vivid are passages describing the horrific sounds (and smells) of battle.

The talking pigeon does give one pause: She’s hardly the first such creature in literature, but some of her observations, especially when she rails against human foibles, border on cute. Still, she injects humor and whimsy into an otherwise solemn story.

A curiosity but richly imagined and genuinely affecting.

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NEW FROM NEW DIRECTIONS

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"An understated, lyrical story of reading and resistance over the tumultuous generations."

"Adania Shibli takes a gamble in entrusting our access to the key event in her novel– the rape and murder of a young Bedouin woman–to two profoundly self-absorbed narrators – an Israeli psychopath and a Palestinian amateur sleuth high on the autism scale–but her method of indirection justifies itself fully as the book reaches its heart-stopping conclusion."

—Kirkus

"A splendid declaration of the love of literature, the only link between epochs and beings."

—Elle

—J.M Coetzee

NEW DIRECTIONS

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS SINCE 1936

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A wise, unflinching, and compelling novel about womanhood. want

THE QUEEN OF TUESDAY

WANT

Strauss, Darin Random House (336 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-8129-9276-2

Strong, Lynn Steger Henry Holt (224 pp.) $25.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-250-24753-7

A fictionalized version of Lucille Ball’s life, including a love affair with the author’s grandfather.

For decades, Strauss, the author of the award-winning memoir Half a Life (2010) as well as novels including Chang and Eng (2000), has been obsessed with the fact that his grandfather Isidore Strauss might have met Lucille Ball at a 1949 party thrown by Donald Trump’s father to celebrate the destruction of the Pavilion of Fun on Coney Island. The complicated concoction of memoir and fiction that has emerged from this spark of inspiration interweaves imagined scenes from Ball’s life on and off the set with imagined scenes from his grandfather’s.

Between these chapters, he slips in vignettes of what seems to be memoir, documenting his earlier attempts to bring attention to this passion project. The novel begins at Trump’s party, written up in a highly stylized, flashy prose style: “Hey, that’s your favorite celebrity over there. On the boardwalk, her white shoes scuffed black with sand. (If she’s not famous now, just wait.) She’s striding—confidenting—right into this party.” Before the night’s over, Desi Arnaz will have punched Isidore Strauss in the eye. What follows incorporates impressive research into the progress of Ball’s career—the author hopes to “remind people that Lucille Ball starred in America’s first big-time interracial love story; was the first powerful woman in Hollywood; that she owned more movie sets at one point than did any movie studio.” However, in addition to grafting his made-up story onto the facts of Ball’s life, he admits to monkeying with other details, which undercuts even the informational aims of the book. Mingling fictional characters with famous historical ones worked to brilliant effect in E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime and many similar novels since, but this feels more like a thought experiment than a compelling story. The jaunty narrator is not just omniscient, but presumptuous and intrusive, spending a good deal of time in the characters’ heads, confidently reporting their thoughts. In a scene in which Ball is having sexual intercourse with the author’s grandfather, Strauss has her meditate on why she likes him so much. “Really, it was the fucking. It’s hard not to love something you’re really good at. She was really good at that.” Oof. This odd book stands to anger Lucille Ball’s fans and bemuse Darin Strauss’.

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A deeply overwhelmed mother navigates the banality, joy, and turmoil of her life.

Strong’s second novel follows Elizabeth, a 34-year-old academic and mother of two, who finds herself living a life she never imagined. Elizabeth, who grew up in a well-off family, now teaches low-income students at a New York City charter school (a job she needs and likes but cannot seem to love) because she cannot find a full-time job in academia. On top of declaring bankruptcy with her husband, Elizabeth finds her day filled to the brim: She runs miles at dawn, raises her children, works multiple jobs, tends to her marriage, placates her cruel parents, tries to make rent, navigates her privilege, and rekindles a friendship with Sasha, her ex–best friend and the most formative relationship of her life. As they start to communicate again, Elizabeth thinks back on their decades-old relationship and where it went wrong. Strong taps into the intensity of female friendships and how overwhelming, all-consuming, and painful they can be: “I’d forget then, on the best days, that we were separate. Our words and wants and limbs would overlap.”

Strong writes womanhood with brutal honesty; exhaustion, love, desire, anxiety, and the devastation of unfulfilled expectations permeate every page. At one point, Elizabeth thinks about all the things she wants to confide to Sasha: “I want to tell her that I’m scared I’m too wore out, worn down, that this constant anxious ache that I have now isn’t about my job or kids or all the ways life isn’t what it should be, that maybe it’s just me, it’s most of who I am.” This moment captures the despair and agony of realizing not only how the world has failed you, but how you’ve failed yourself. Strong’s writing consistently distills bitter truths in understated yet penetrating ways.

A wise, unflinching, and compelling novel about womanhood.

A HOUSE IS A BODY

Swamy, Shruti Algonquin (208 pp.) $25.95 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-61620-989-6

Fear of loneliness, abandonment, and death propel these 12 stories set in the U.S. and India.

In this debut collection, time is temperamental. Reality bleeds into dreams, and these dreams later shape reality. In the first entry, the sublime “Blindness,” Sudha, an architect and newlywed, struggles with a husband who can’t (and won’t) understand her depression. A dream of an alternate life may

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A Syrian woman confronts a fictionalized version of herself. the frightened ones

be the only cure for her persistent “black feeling.” Disaster looms large, and quirky characters find themselves trapped in hamster wheels, spinning futures they have little control over.

In the stirring “Mourners,” Mark’s wife, Chariya, has died. His cousin Reggie as well as Chariya’s sister Maya help him parent his infant daughter while he stumbles through the cruelty of grief. “He holds his breath. He is so close to it, to feeling joy, the joy of the body. But it is moving away from him. He cannot reach it.” Swamy’s pulsating prose produces riveting narratives.

Her stories twist in subtle yet unexpected ways, and crucial revelations appear buried in the middles of paragraphs. This is certainly the case in the haunting “The Neighbors,” in which a play date takes a dark turn when a mother of two small children reveals a disturbing truth to another mother she’s only just met. In other stories, art serves as a space for solace and refuge amid chaos. “Earthly Pleasures” finds Radika visiting a museum’s Rothko painting whenever she feels alone. “It had a way of getting into me, the painting. The room filled and emptied several times. There were moments I felt as though I was falling in.” The fallible characters in Swamy’s ravishing book are always

falling into something and bravely grasping what they can on their way down in a frenetic attempt to pull themselves back up.

A dazzling and exquisitely crafted collection.

THE FRIGHTENED ONES

Wannous, Dima Trans. by Jaquette, Elisabeth Knopf (208 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 12, 2020 978-0-525-65513-8

A Syrian woman confronts a fictionalized version of herself.

Suleima, the woman who narrates this brief but intense novel, lives in Damascus. It’s the present day, more or less, and Suleima’s father has died, her brother is missing, and her mother spends each day reading the same page of an unnamed book. Suleima is reading a manuscript that Naseem, a former lover, has written; the woman who narrates Naseem’s manuscript resembles Suleima herself, and, in fact, her chapters alternate with Suleima’s own—it’s a novel within a novel.

Actually, the two women resemble each other so closely, and their voices have been rendered so similarly, that it quickly becomes difficult to differentiate between them. Wannous’ novel is made up almost entirely of memories and reflections narrated either by Suleima or her double; there is very little dialogue, and no other characters are given a chance to speak.

The effect is somewhat claustrophobic. That might be partly the point—the oppressive atmosphere of the novel resembles that of Assad’s Syria—but it also begins to feel self-indulgent and even tiresome, as Suleima describes her fears and dreams in long, lingering asides. Glimpses of another character’s point of view would have helped. Suleima and Naseem originally met in the waiting room of the therapist, Kamil, they both visited.

Kamil appears in the book from time to time, but always filtered through Suleima’s consciousness; he isn’t given much of a chance to speak for himself. Neither is Suleima’s mother nor any of the other minor characters.

In the end, the book feels like a missed opportunity.

LITTLE SCRATCH

Watson, Rebecca Doubleday (224 pp.) $22.95 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-385-54576-1

An ordinary day in an ordinary life rendered thought by thought.

The unnamed narrator of this debut novel is an Everywoman: She wakes up a little hungover; she hurries to be on time for a soul-crushing job; she scrolls through her Twitter feed with compulsive frequency; she loves but does not quite trust her boyfriend; she has recently been 36

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VALENTINE

Wetmore, Elizabeth Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 7, 2020 978-0-06-291326-5 The brutal rape of a Mexican American teenager on Valentine’s Day and its traumatic aftereffects on several Anglo women in 1970s small-town West Texas drive Wetmore’s searing, propulsive debut.

It’s Feb. 15, 1976, and Odessa, Texas, sitting on the oil-rich Permian Basin, is on the brink of another boom that will attract both prosperity and violence, especially against women. A cafe owner warns her waitresses: “Keep your eyes peeled for the next serial killer.” In a gritty oil town where casual misogyny and racism rule supreme, women’s lives are cheap. But 14-year-old Gloria Ramírez, raped and badly beaten by young roughneck Dale Strickland, who had picked her up at the Sonic drive-in, refuses to become another nameless victim. While her attacker lies passed out in his truck, Glory, as she renames herself, flees barefoot across the barren oil patch to Mary Rose Whitehead’s farmhouse. Her knock on the door changes both their lives. Shocked at the brutality of the crime and frightened by her confrontation with Strickland, who’d followed Glory to her house, the pregnant Mary Rose, who will

testify at the upcoming trial, moves into town with her 9-yearold daughter, Aimee Jo. With her husband staying at the ranch, she is further unnerved by threatening phone calls. Her neighbor on Larkspur Lane, retired teacher Corrine Shepard, mourns her late husband by drinking too much and fending off the overtures of lonely 10-year-old Debra Ann Pierce, who longs for the return of her runaway mother, Ginny. Glory holes up in a motel with her uncle; an encounter at the pool sets her on the path to healing. Through these alternating narratives, Wetmore tells a powerful story of female anger, a repressed rage against systematic sexism and racism ready to explode in a “surface blowout.”

Glory hopes her rapist “dies young.” Mary Rose’s seething indignation lands her in a holding cell. All this white-hot fury is brilliantly captured in a climactic dust storm that the author must have written in a fever pitch.

From its chilling opening to its haunting conclusion, this astonishing novel will resonate with many readers.

THE WEEKEND

Wood, Charlotte Riverhead (272 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-593-08643-8

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raped. At first the reality of this unsettlingly commonplace assault is cloaked in our narrator’s more long-standing anxieties, which take the form of intrusive thoughts literally intruding on the page from the right-hand margin. As a way of representing the cacophony of the character’s perceptions, British author Watson has created an unusual layout for her words, using not only the traditional left-hand justification but also right-hand justification and centered text as well as lots of negative space, different font sizes, and other typographical pyrotechnics. The physical form of the narrative reproduces the experience of the woman’s scattered thoughts, sensory responses, invasive memories, fears, hopes, untrammeled bodily uprisings, text messages, and internet browsing history, which overlap, interrupt each other, merge, and battle in the saturated “now” of the book’s overwhelming immediacy. The result is an unusual reading experience which relates both the mundane (every drip of the narrator’s morning shower, every step of her commute) and the revelatory (“When I write a diary…it was always there—the other—the performance of writing! I write thinking someone is looking in, translate my thoughts into something a little prettier, more heightened than my actual head…as if the diary isn’t even for me”). As the day wears on in a series of tea breaks and bathroom trips, the narrator’s efforts to mitigate the damage of her assault, her deep desire to return to a sense of normalcy, and her struggle to tell her boyfriend what it is that happened to her underscore the outrages of the everyday—a dissonant now that cannot be silenced or slowed.

A daring book whose innovations are balanced by the sad familiarity of its pain.

Three elderly female friends reunite to clear out the home of a fourth, who recently died, in a short meditation on relationship bonds and the wisdom— and other traits—accumulated over a lifetime.

Largely observing the classical unities of time, place, and action, Wood’s new novel plays out like a small theatrical drama, a chamber piece in which the three characters, both individually and as a group, confront the limits of their friendship. The time is Christmas, the place is Sylvie’s appealing but decaying seaside home in Bittoes, not far from Sydney, and the action spans the weekend during which Jude, Wendy, and Adele, friends for 40 years, meet to empty the place of Sylvie’s belongings. Fastidious, waspish Jude approaches the task efficiently; blowsy actress Adele (“so short and so bosomy”) responds chaotically; and widowed academic Wendy, accompanied by her decrepit dog, Finn, does what she can. Rigid and preoccupied, Jude is awaiting the arrival of her rich long-term lover, Daniel; artistically impoverished Adele is probably homeless now that her latest relationship seems to be ending; while Wendy is fending off the obvious need to have Finn put to sleep. Wood consistently compartmentalizes, and limits, the women—the thin one, the fat one, the pert one; the clever one, the artsy one, the bossy one—while unraveling their separate and overlapping pasts. The present is largely static until a big bang of a finale is set in motion. The novel displays wit, insight, and some astute social commentary, especially on the topic of age, but offers little in the way of engagement or surprises. Meanwhile poor, mangy Finn haunts the proceedings, an ever present specter of decline and mortality.

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m ys t e r y

THE TUNNEL

Yehoshua, A.B. Trans. by Schoffman, Stuart Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $24.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-328-62263-1

STAKE

Struggling with early-stage dementia, a recently retired engineer living in Tel Aviv volunteers his services for a military project in the Negev Desert that is threatened by unexpected human

complications.

Zvi Luria’s mental condition first makes itself known through the 72-year-old man’s inability to remember people’s first names—a failing that results in hapless social encounters.

With a boost from his loving, assertive wife, Dina, a respected pediatrician approaching retirement, Luria becomes an unpaid assistant to Maimoni, an admiring young engineer working in his old office. The future of a secret military road in the huge Ramon Crater is thrown into doubt with the discovery that a family of undocumented West Bank Palestinians is living in hiding on a hilltop there in an ancient Nabatean ruin. To protect the dwellers, Luria proposes carving a tunnel through the rock rather than demolishing it. When Dina becomes ill and is unable to keep tabs on her impulsively drifting husband, his grasp on reality weakens. Ultimately so does his opposition to “mixing personal matters and work.” In Escher-like fashion, the book spins out multiple versions of reality, including Luria’s, in which the light in the tunnel of his consciousness steadily recedes; his wife’s and children’s in attempting to understand what he is thinking and feeling; and the humiliating mock reality invented by the Palestinians in taking on Hebrew names to pass as Jews. For all its unsettling emotion and dark overtones, this is one of Yehoshua’s most spryly amusing efforts. The only first name Luria manages to remember—and keeps repeating— is the Arabic name of a young Palestinian woman who tells him to address her by her adopted name. His adventures with cellphones are priceless. Ultimately, the most important struggle is the one prescribed by his neurologist: “The spirit versus the brain.” Whether Luria knows it or not, his spirit is more than willing.

A quirky, deeply affecting work by a master storyteller.

Anderson, Kevin J. Severn House (256 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-9053-5 Dauntingly prolific Anderson steps away from his farcical series starring Dan Shamble, zombie PI, for a much more straight-faced search for vampires in Colorado Springs.

Back from his traumatizing service in the Bosnian War, David Grundy takes the name Simon Helsing as a cover for his newfound peacetime vocation: hunting vampires. Following up on a list of characters he considers suspicious mainly because they work at night, he drives a stake through the heart of convenience store clerk Mark Stallings and eliminates Douglas Eldridge, a fellow Bosnia vet, before a killing he didn’t count on sends him into hiding. Helsing’s only remaining ties are to Lucius, the head of the Bastion, a shadowy group dedicated to rooting out vampires wherever they can be found, and to Alexis Tarada, a freelance researcher whose website, HideTruth.com, does its impartial best to weigh the evidence for and against supernatural beings, evidence that Detective Todd Carrow, of the Colorado Springs Police Department, would reflexively brand as paranoid raving. Like Helsing, who shares his list of suspected vampires with Alexis, Carrow is willing to play along with her but only up to a point: “Vampires don’t have to be real, but the killer certainly is.” So although they might frame the question in different terms, all three leading characters would agree that the main questions here are whether there really are vampires and what we should do if there are.

Competent but unmemorable, especially by Anderson’s own standards.

THE FALCON ALWAYS WINGS TWICE

Andrews, Donna Minotaur (320 pp.) $26.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-25-019300-1

Sudden death competes for attention with Andrews’ trademark brand of comic bedlam at the Riverton Renaissance Faire.

The highlight of the festival is the Game, the semi-improvised period soap opera that climaxes most evenings in a duel between the Duke of Waterston, played by professor Michael Waterston, and his archrival, Sir George of Simsdale, played by George Sims, before continuing with new 38

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First-rate plotting and a compelling cast of characters. every kind of wicked

developments the next day. The lowlight is Terence Cox, a difficult actor whose issues include an awkward amatory history with another cast member; an attempt to blackmail another player; a spot of reckless horsing around that gets computer programmer Tad Jackson, the husband of ornamental blacksmith Faulkner Cates, fired from his job; and perhaps even antagonizing Gracie and Harry, a pair of peregrine falcons who’ve become one of the faire’s signature attractions. It’s lucky that when Terence is killed, inevitably by a period dagger to the back, Michael’s wife and Faulk’s most famous pupil, Meg Langslow, is on hand to help Riverton police chief Mo Heedles with the job of sifting through the dozens of suspects, beginning with two local actors both convinced they’ve been cast as Polonius in eccentric director Neil O’Malley’s new production of Hamlet. Although Andrews keeps the proceedings as light and brisk as a carnival, there’s more mystery than in Meg’s last several adventures, and Meg rises to the occasion till she’s cornered by not one but two independent candidates for the hoosegow.

Andrews deftly juggles franchise characters, newbies, red herrings, Renaissance tidbits, and murder most welcome.

A reality show turns deadly for an apprentice bread maker.

Ivy Culpepper so worships Olaya Solis, the creative spirit behind Yeast of Eden, that she works in Olaya’s shop, evidently without pay, just to learn the art of long-rise baking that creates artisanal loaves beloved by the citizens of Santa Sofia, on Southern California’s sunny shore. When Santa Sofia alum Sandra Mays wants to shoot the pilot of America’s Best Bakeries at Yeast of Eden, Ivy naturally urges her mentor to agree. What better way to bring attention to Olaya’s Bread for Life program, a baking course for immigrant women? Of course, Ivy doesn’t count on the series of challenges that threaten the production, from the bad blood evident between imperious Sandra and showrunner Mack Hebron to the hit-and-run that sends cameraman Ben Nader to the hospital, all culminating in the demise of Sandra, who’s pushed over and hits her head. But rather than throwing cold water on the whole reality show enterprise, Sandra’s murder only sharpens Ivy’s appetite. Like a patron tearing into one of Olaya’s olive-and-rosemary loaves, she shows nothing but enthusiasm for the hunt for Sandra’s killer—even going so far as to volunteer her skills at Crosby House, a women’s shelter where Nader also worked, in an attempt to ferret out who had a motive to harm Ben, Sandra, the production, or all three.

Standard cozy fare in an artisanal wrapper.

DI Tom Thorne’s 17th case, an agonizingly focused kidnapping, is a prequel to his first 16.

It’s 1996. John Major maintains erratic control as prime minister, Britain prepares to host the national football (i.e., soccer) championships, and Maria Ashton takes her eyes off her 7-year-old son, Josh, and his best friend, Kieron Coyne, during the few minutes Catrin Coyne has left them to use the facilities in a London park. When she goes looking for the two boys, Kieron has vanished. His disappearance sets in motion the wheels of justice, or at least aspirational justice, in the form of DS Tom Thorne; his dislikable boss, DI Gordon Boyle; and the members of the Major Incident Pool. There’s no way Kieron could have been kidnapped by his father, Billy Coyne, who’s serving a sentence in Whitehill Prison for assault and attempted murder. In the absence of such an obvious target, the unsupported account of a single witness, housing project manager Felix Barratt, leads Thorne to suspect, and Boyle to more than suspect, Cat’s peculiar neighbor Grantleigh Figgis. By the time the alibi Figgis claims has been confirmed, he’s already been murdered, and so has Dean Meade, the smarmy store manager who turns out to be Kieron’s biological father. So who is the man who’s holding Kieron prisoner, and how much tighter can Billingham turn the screws before his climactic twist?

Not as original or unsparing as Their Little Secret (2019) but expertly grueling in its more conventional way.

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DOUGH OR DIE

Archer, Winnie Kensington (352 pp.) $7.99 paper | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-4967-2441-0

CRY BABY

Billingham, Mark Atlantic Monthly (432 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-8021-4946-6

EVERY KIND OF WICKED

Black, Lisa Kensington (320 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-4967-2238-6 Forensic specialist Maggie Gardiner investigates a series of murders as baffling as they are terrifying.

The first victim looks like a run-ofthe-mill mugging: a young man shot to death in the Erie Street Cemetery. But his wounds aren’t gunshot wounds. And when Jack Renner and Thomas Riley, the detectives assigned to the case, identify the victim as Evan Harding, a Cleveland State student, Maggie can’t figure out what he was doing on Erie Street, which is far from the path between his part-time job at A to Z Check Cashing and the dorm where he lived with his girlfriend, Shanaya Thomas. A second body with similar wounds makes the case even more confusing. According to his driver’s license, the deceased is |

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Marlon Toner. But Marlon’s sister, Jennifer, points out that like her, Marlon is black, while the picture on the ID and the corpse who was carrying it are not. Jennifer has her own ax to grind: She’s pissed that although Marlon’s not the dead guy the police found outside West Side Market, someone’s prescribing her brother so many opioids that the next corpse might actually be his. Finding out that the detective investigating the West Side murder is her ex-husband, Rick, doesn’t really make juggling the two cases any harder for Maggie. Her relationship with Renner is even more complicated than her relationship with her ex. But as the bodies pile up, the interconnected cases become more personal for Maggie, who finds herself enmeshed in a maze of crimes as twisted as they are twisty.

First-rate plotting and a compelling cast of characters.

SHADOW GARDEN

Burt, Alexandra Berkley (368 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jul. 21, 2020 978-0-440-00032-7 After an accident, a rich doctor’s wife is recuperating at a condo set on the grounds of a lovely estate in Texas, but troubles arise when she starts asking questions.

As the novel opens, Donna Pryor is trying to settle in at Shadow Garden, where her physician husband, Edward, has settled her along with a housekeeper. “The truth is our marriage is over and Shadow Garden is my consolation prize,” she thinks. But why is the housekeeper sometimes distant, and why won’t Donna’s adult daughter, Penelope, return her calls? The story goes back in time, told from the viewpoints of Donna, Edward, and Penelope. Along with being a portrait of a marriage, it’s the story of parents who can’t or won’t admit to problems with their only child. Why do children get hurt around Penelope? When she stabbed a classmate in the arm with a fork in the school lunchroom, Donna told Edward, “She was in a mood, all those kids and the noise.” Aren’t they being good parents by explaining, excusing, and covering up her actions? But when something happens that should never be covered up, events spin out of control. Nothing is as popular these days as an unreliable narrator, but here the ambiguity is overdone. The author creates tension, but as actions are told, retold, refuted, and analyzed, the novel becomes one long waiting game.

Readers who enjoy uncertainty may find this entertaining, but others will find the structure unsatisfying.

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FAIR WARNING

Connelly, Michael Little, Brown (416 pp.) $29.00 | May 26, 2020 978-0-31653-942-5 A first-rate case for Connelly’s thirdstring detective, bulldog journalist Jack McEvoy, who’s been biding his time since The Scarecrow (2009) as Harry Bosch and the Lincoln Lawyer have hogged the spotlight.

The consumer-protection website FairWarning can’t hold a candle to the LA Times, where Jack once plied his trade. The real problem this time, though, is that the cops come to Jack rather than vice versa, as a person of interest who had a onenight stand a year ago with Christina Portrero, whose latest one-night stand broke her neck. In fact, Jack quickly discovers, Tina was only the most recent among a number of women who died of atlanto-occipital dislocation—several of them erroneously listed as accidents, all of them clients of the genetic testing firm GT23. Why would sending out your DNA for genetic information put you at enormously increased risk of falling victim to a brutal killer who calls himself the Shrike? The answer to the question of how “predators now can custom-order their victims,” which lies in the DRD4 gene, is guaranteed to make even the most hard-bitten readers queasy. Throughout his pursuit of the killer, the LAPD’s pursuit of him, and his unwilling partnerships with fellow journalist Emily Atwater and former FBI agent Rachel Walling, Jack works the case with a dogged professionalism, a mastery of detail, and a scarred but oversized heart that puts most of his police procedural cousins to shame.

Darkly essential reading for every genre fan who’s ever considered sending a swab to a mail-order DNA testing service.

THE DARKEST HEARTS

George, Nelson Akashic (256 pp.) $28.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-61775-822-5

Worlds collide when a rap star’s manager and a vigilante both have a beef with the same business mogul.

It’s a whole new world for D Hunter, an African American former bodyguard making his way as a talent manager from his hometown of New York to LA, a town that seems like home to no one. Though managing artists like Lil Daye is lucrative for D, the young Atlanta rapper may be more trouble than he’s worth. Not only does Lil Daye have wife Mama Daye at home, but, like other men on the brink of something big, he’s acquired a few extracurricular girlfriends along the way. One of them, Dorita, feeling taken advantage of, makes some demands on Lil Daye and D, then apparently disappears. The deal D is closing

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for Lil Daye with liquor-company owner Samuel Kurtz should cover whatever payday Dorita requests if Lil Daye has the sense to do what it takes to buy off his troubles. Kurtz is everything D hates about the business—cool, calculating, misogynistic, and maybe even worse to women; D himself respects and admires a strong woman, though his HIV-positive status has made dating tough. Unbeknownst to D, Kurtz is in the crosshairs of Serene Powers, the closest thing to a real-life superhero, who has a very specific job: meting out justice to enemies of women. Though D doesn’t know it, Serene’s vigilantism may be what keeps him safe when things with Kurtz and Lil Daye go south.

A showcase of different approaches to values, business, and hip-hop seen through a lens that feels personal.

SARAH’S LIST

Gunn, Elizabeth Severn House (192 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-9049-8 A Tucson cop catches a very strange case.

Sarah Burke and a new detective whose last name, Boganicevic, has been shortened to Bogey are sent to the scene of a murder at a high-end senior living home. A van used to transport residents crashed after the driver was chased down and shot dead by several men who’ve vanished despite being closely followed by the police. The discovery in the van of the driver’s bloodstained jacket with $8,400 inside makes Sarah wonder why a low-paid man would have a bundle of cash. The victim was not DeShawn Williams, the usual driver, who was in an accident the night before. The staff ’s decidedly mixed reactions to the replacement driver suggest that one man may have been mistaken for the other. Sarah and Jason Peete visit DeShawn in the hospital just in time to catch two men trying to remove him. Jason tasers one, but when the other tries to knife first Jason and then herself, Sarah’s forced to kill him, an incident that puts her on leave. Her housemates—her boyfriend, her depressed mother, and her drug-addicted sister’s very bright daughter—all attempt to help her deal with the trauma of killing someone. But even as Sarah, who’s known for her comprehensive lists, finds answers and crosses them off, more questions keep popping up.

A surprise ending and plenty of quirky characters add depth to this procedural.

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GHOST UPS HER GAME

Hart, Carolyn Severn House (224 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-9047-4

The rebel of the Department of Good Intentions bypasses the rules once more to help those in need.

Though Oklahoma-born Bailey Ruth Raeburn has often tried the patience of Wiggins, her heavenly boss, the redheaded rule breaker has a long and successful record of solving crimes back in her old hometown.

Assigning herself the newest problem in Adelaide, she drops down from heaven to see Robert Blair and Iris Gallagher standing over a dead body. Iris is holding a homemade sap but denies killing fundraiser Matt Lambert. Robert ditches the murder weapon while Bailey Ruth converses with Iris, that rare person who can see her and admire her fashion sense. Since Iris refuses to call police chief Sam Cobb, who’s worked with Bailey Ruth before, Bailey Ruth is forced to protect both Iris and Robert, a fledgling lawyer who’s the boyfriend of Iris’ daughter Gage, while researching Lambert, who, despite all the money he’s raised for Goddard College, is not universally beloved. Aided by her ability to go anywhere unseen if she desires or appear to people and take on any persona that suits the moment, she interviews everyone from Lambert’s family to his girlfriend and business acquaintances. Despite all her tips and hints to the contrary, the police chief targets Iris. So Bailey Ruth must be extra creative this time in winkling out the killer.

A charmer of a detective, a twisty mystery, and a feelgood story that’s balm for our troubled times.

DEATH WAITS IN THE DARK

Langley, Mark Edward Blackstone (208 pp.) $15.99 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5385-0777-3

A supreme blow to the life and sanity of his first love calls New Mexico not-quite-detective Arthur Nakai to the Navajo Nation for a second case.

The call comes while Arthur, who commanded the 6th LAR Wolf Pack Marine Battalion in Afghanistan, is attending the funeral of Sgt. Joshua Derrick, the 12th member of the Wolf Pack to kill himself since returning home. Arthur and the five surviving members are all struggling with PTSD. So is Arthur’s wife, Sharon, whose son was stillborn three years ago and who was rescued from a kidnapper by Arthur in Path of the Dead (2018). But their pain can’t compare to that of Margaret Tabaaha, an Iraq War widow whose twin 18-year-old sons, Tsela and Tahoma, have been shot dead by a sniper. Even though he’s still not a licensed investigator, Arthur can’t say no to his

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childhood sweetheart. So he drives out to Margaret’s home, gleans what information he can from Navajo Police Capt. Jake Bilagody, and begins asking questions on his own. As Sharon walks out on a Santa Fe therapist who specializes in PTSD and flirts incongruously with her husband in hopes of conceiving a second child, Arthur’s search for Tiffany Maldonado and Jennifer Peshlakai, the missing girls who’d walked out on the boys minutes before they were shot, turns out happily but not very informatively, and his confrontation with his old nemesis Elias Dayton, whose Desert Patriot firm supplies the equipment to keep frackers safe from environmentalists, chills his blood.

A disappointing mystery whose scene-setting and background details will still appeal to Tony Hillerman fans.

THE FINISHER

Lovesey, Peter Soho Crime (360 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-641-29181-1 Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond finds an intricate web of mysteries swirling around, and beneath, the city of Bath’s Other Half marathon.

Just as Spiro, an enslaved worker from Albania, is escaping the gangmaster dubbed the Finisher—because no one ever finds the bodies he’s responsible for—a complicated series of mischances makes schoolteacher Maeve Kelly resolve to enter the Other Half to raise sponsorship money she feels she owes the British Heart Foundation. Unlike Olga Ivanova, the burly Russian she recently rescued after a mugging, Maeve is no athlete, and her training regimen is tough. But not as tough as the challenge fellow runner Belinda Pye faces when, in the middle of the race, she’s chatted up and groped by Olga’s trainer, Tony Pinto, who’s recently been released from prison after serving 12 years for slashing the face of Bryony Lancaster, a teenage ex-lover who warned another woman about him. Concerned because Belinda’s disappeared after failing to finish the race, Diamond explores a nearby quarry—don’t call it a mine shaft—that seems a likely place to have hidden a corpse and is seriously injured moments after glimpsing evidence that his hunch was correct.

Nothing daunted, he summons the highhandedness that’s made him a legend and assigns dozens of coppers to search the elaborate system of quarries beneath the city’s surface in the hope of retracing his steps, setting himself up for an ugly confrontation with Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore when things don’t go quite the way he expected.

A witty, steadily absorbing procedural marked by Lovesey’s customary inventiveness and an unguessable solution.

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NO ROOM AT THE MORGUE

Manchette, Jean-Patrick Trans. by Waters, Alyson New York Review Books (192 pp.) $15.95 paper | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-68137-418-5

An ex-cop–turned–private eye gets involved in a murder and finds the woman who brought him into the case may be the killer.

Eugène Tarpon, the hero—if such a thing is possible in the nihilist atmosphere of this book—quit the police force after accidentally killing a protester. His attempt to make a go of it as a private eye has brought him to the brink of ruin, and he’s about to retreat from Paris to his rural hometown when a mysterious woman (in noir, is there any other kind?) asks him to investigate the murder of her roommate. When he turns up at the scene, the cops are already there, the woman has disappeared, and the detective finds himself the object of police interest. Manchette, who wrote this book in the 1970s, is widely credited with revitalizing French noir. The novel is driven more by plot than attitude, and its nihilism doesn’t preclude the possibility that people will act decently. At times, as when one person after another—potential clients and would-be tormentors—keeps showing up on the hero’s doormat when all he wants is to nap and enjoy a tin of cassoulet, the book takes on the escalating complications of a screwball farce. An extended kidnap sequence, in which the hero finds himself stuck between thugs and the bumblings of a group of radical leftists, is brutal and funny at the same time.

The plot sags a bit and the windup depends too much on pat psychologizing, but neither does too much damage to the fun.

If Marx, Freud, and Jim Thompson collaborated on a noir, this might be the result.

THE GEOMETRY OF HOLDING HANDS

McCall Smith, Alexander Pantheon (240 pp.) $26.95 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-1-5247-4894-4

Edinburgh ethicist Isabel Dalhousie’s 13th outing offers her an uncomfortable new role and another that’s already uncomfortably familiar.

Impressed by Isabel’s decisive reaction to the semipublic shaming of an asset-stripping capitalist, retired physician Iain Melrose approaches her with an unusual request. He doesn’t know her, he acknowledges, but they have mutual friends, and he’d appreciate it if she’d agree to serve as executor of his estate. It’s a big ask, because Melrose has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and he’s particularly concerned that a substantial plot of open land he owns outside Argyll be preserved by whichever of his cousins inherits it: Jack the artist,

Who murdered the philandering choirmaster? the music box enigma

Sarah the builder, or John the accountant. Shortly after reluctantly accepting this commission, Isabel realizes that the unfortunate history she has with Jack’s wife, Hilary, who served with Isabel as a juror in a lawsuit, complicates her task in unwelcome ways. Closer to home, she must deal with her niece Cat’s plans to marry the unsuitably leonine Leo, apply to the trust that supports both her and Isabel for the funding to buy a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and sell the delicatessen that offers Eddie, her fragile assistant, his only serious hope of employment. “Where were the boundaries of your moral responsibility for others?”

Isabel wonders, and wonders, and wonders some more.

The elegant resolution of both problems makes this the ethicist’s best in more than a decade.

THE CHRISTMAS FAIR KILLER

Meade, Amy Patricia Severn House (224 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-8989-8

Who murdered the philandering choirmaster?

Five days before the scheduled 1914 Hampstead Voices’ Christmas Concert, Lady Emma Fonthill and tenor Paul Seddon find Emma’s husband, Sir Aidan, sitting dead at his piano, a tuning fork sticking out of his head.

A flashback to two days earlier launches a series of sections structured as musical movements. Once the concert is sold out, Aidan feels emboldened to ask the music society’s dour young treasurer, Cavendish, to write him two blank checks for some “small expenses.” Later, during a visit to his young daughter, Daphne, Aidan places inappropriate hands on her teacher, Hattie Greene. Emma, who’s well aware of her husband’s “peccadillos,” spies on him regularly. Paul meanwhile confronts his sister, Anna, over the affair with Aidan that left her with a child. Composer Roderick Masters is furious that Aidan’s pronounced one of his Christmas pieces rubbish. Ursula Cavendish’s affair with Aidan enrages her husband, Charles. And then there’s colorful blackmailer Tiggie Benson. Aidan’s surprising changes of singing assignments and failure to pay his performers come to a head at the Voices’ final rehearsal, making him a nervous wreck and leading to his murder. And what of the music box anonymously delivered to Aidan? DCI Silas Quinn must deal with the breakdown of his heretofore faithful Sgt. Inchball before proceeding to the crime at hand. The case seems straightforward, requiring only a methodical questioning of witnesses. But the murder of one of his men makes the case personal for Quinn.

A crisp and clever whodunit with a juicy gallery of suspects.

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The spirit of Christmas present is marred by murder.

Letitia “Tish” Tarragon, chef and owner of Cookin’ the Books Café in Hobson Glen, Virginia, has been tapped to run a food stand at the local holiday fair. With plenty of help from her usual loyal work crew and weatherman Jules Davis, her old college pal, she’s turning out delectable food and drink. The stars of the fair are the members of the Williamsburg Theater Group, who are performing Twelfth Night and A Christmas Carol on a tight schedule. Tish offers to deliver food to the players, who are all living in trailers nearby, and her sympathetic ear soon has them baring their souls and complaining about Jenny Inkpen, the attractive young addition to the company. Justin Dange added Jenny to the group after he saw her busking in Savannah, but she dumped him for another group member who could promote her career even more effectively. When Tish discovers Jenny shot dead in her trailer, she uses the skills she honed in The Garden Club Mur­ der (2019) to help Sheriff Reade, who’s more than a little in love with her. The confounding discovery that Jenny Inkpen doesn’t exist forces the sheriff to scramble to discover the victim’s real identity while Tish continues to hear more of the secrets that make all the thespians suspects.

A foodie’s delight with lashings of Southern charm, theater lore, and a puzzling mystery.

THE MUSIC BOX ENIGMA

Morris, R.N. Severn House (224 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-8955-3

THEN SHE VANISHED

Parker, T. Jefferson Putnam (352 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-525-53767-0

A war vet–turned–private eye hunts for a fellow vet’s missing wife and a mad bomber to boot.

Rising political star Dalton Strait hires fellow Iraq War veteran Roland Ford to find his missing wife, Natalie.

The Straits are a notorious clan of petty criminals, but Dalton’s military record has helped him gain success in the California Assembly. Roland, who narrates in a relaxed first person, also gets a call from FBI Special Agent Mike Lark, asking for an assist in investigating the recent bombing of city hall by the so-called Chaos Committee. Uncertain whether Natalie has been the victim of foul play, Roland talks to people who know the couple. |

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Natalie’s sister Ash Galland describes them as happy. Even if there was marital discord, could Natalie leave her two sons? The complexion of the case changes when Natalie’s abandoned car is discovered, a plea for help scrawled in lipstick on the upholstery. Dalton’s sister, Tola, runs a marijuana business; their harddrinking granddad Virgil proudly shows Roland his collection of scorpions; neither seems concerned about the disappearance of Natalie, who blew through hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling and shopping. Seeking reelection against a formidable candidate, Dalton faces a further challenge: a controversial bill for veterans aid he’s sponsoring. When more bombings occur, Roland has to ask why. Since he didn’t serve in Iraq with Dalton, he consults Harris Broadman, who did and who presents a far darker picture of Dalton Strait. How do all these jagged pieces fit into a coherent puzzle?

Parker’s incisive character portraits and smooth, confident prose make his latest thriller taut and engaging.

UNDER PRESSURE

Pobi, Robert Minotaur (464 pp.) $26.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-25-029396-1

A series of stunningly high-casualty bombings in and around New York City drives the FBI once more to consult pattern-sensitive astrophysicist Lucas Page, whose people skills may need work but are still far better than the bomber’s.

The first explosion, at a Guggenheim Museum gala for eco-friendly Horizon Dynamics, destroys a billion dollars’ worth of art and 702 human beings without bringing down the iconic structure. That’s one smart bomb, observes Lucas, who quickly realizes that the weapon was a thermobaric explosion and enlightens Special Agent in Charge Brett Kehoe before the FBI’s crack team of investigators armed with endless computing power can do so. A delayed warning letter to a CNN anchor and a rapid succession of later bombings raise urgent questions about whodunit and why. A disconcerting number of the targets seem to be connected to William and Seth Hockney’s fraternal and financial partnership, which had recently purchased Horizon Dynamics. But as far as Lucas and Angela Whitaker, the intuitive FBI agent who worked with him in City of Windows (2019), can tell, the Machine Bomber, as the media dub the perp, seems intent on hurting Hockney Worldwide Enterprises instead of helping it. A violent confrontation that doesn’t happen to include a bomb kills Kehoe’s leading suspect, but Lucas, seriously injured but skeptical as ever, is eager to get back in the hunt even after Kehoe pulls him off it, and his uncanny concentration and tenacity pay off in a gripping denouement.

Nonstop thrills, especially for readers who want one last glimpse of New York’s landmarks before they’re incinerated.

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MR CAMPION’S SÉANCE

Ripley, Mike Severn House (288 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-8961-4

Albert Campion must work with a succession of three friends on the Metropolitan Police on a slow-motion case that takes more than 20 years to unfold and resolve.

Apart from her uncanny resemblance to Agatha Christie, Evadne Childe, the doyenne of British whodunits, is a generally unremarkable widow—her archaeologist husband, Edmund Walker-Pyne, was one of the first casualties of World War II—with a single remarkable talent: the ability to write novels that predict in uncanny detail some real-life crimes.

Her perverse gift first reveals itself in 1946, when The Bottle Party Murders provides a blueprint for the robbery and murder of Tony Valetta, the shady owner of the Grafton Club, who was killed weeks after she submitted her manuscript to Veronica Hatherall, her longtime editor at J.P. Gilpin & Co. Alerted to this outrage by his old friend Superintendent Stanislaus Oates, Campion talks to Rags Donovan, the Grafton cigarette girl who saw Evadne with Pierre Le Frog, the mystery man who introduced her to the club, ostensibly for the purposes of research.

Six years later, his conversation bears unexpected fruit when Rags is strangled on her way to a meeting with Campion shortly after she’s reported glimpsing Le Frog again—and shortly before Evadne’s latest novel, Camera Obscuring, predicts the particulars of another crime. Nettled, Campion sets a trap that involves a medium, a pearl necklace, and a long-dead imaginary cousin of his wife’s. As usual in Ripley’s pastiches, things don’t go exactly as he’d planned, and it’ll be another 10 years before the case is wrapped up.

Wicked fun, sedate yet intricately plotted—a highlight in the series.

A CHOIR OF CROWS

Robb, Candace Severn House (288 pp.) $28.99 | Jul. 2, 2020 978-1-78029-126-0

In the winter of 1374, a new archbishop, about to be enthroned in York, brings with him disharmony and death.

Having watched Ronan, the vicar of incoming archbishop Alexander Neville, exchange cloaks with a stranger, Brother Michaelo hears an angelic voice singing and then rescues a disheveled youth accused of pushing an unknown man off the chapter house roof and then killing Ronan. When Michaelo takes the youth to the home of local lawman Capt. Owen Archer and his apothecary wife, Lucie, for questioning, they discover that the youth is an exhausted young woman whose tale

A wacko theft launches a second case for a private eye who just can’t shut up. lucky bones

will entangle Archer, who, aside from his duties in York, is also a spy for Prince Edward, in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the powerful Neville family. At the cottage of Magda the healer, Archer meets the musician Ambrose, an old friend returned from years in the French court, who’s come to warn that Edward’s physicians have been slowly poisoning him. On Ambrose’s return trip from France he met and protected the woman posing as a lad, and it was Ambrose who exchanged cloaks with Ronan, muddying the investigation, since both men had murderous enemies. The young woman finally reveals herself as Marian, a nun stolen away from the life she loves. Hers is just a piece of the puzzle Archer must solve in an atmosphere of distrust and fear.

A mélange of medieval political plotting and returning characters sure to please fans of historical mysteries.

MURDER IN CHIANTI

After the death of his wife, Rita, Bronx homicide detective Nico Doyle starts a new life in the idyllic village of Gravigna in the Chianti hills in Tuscany, where Rita grew up.

A barking dog summons Nico into the woods near his new home, where he finds a man lying on the ground, a single shot to the head. Nico’s landlord, Aldo, calls the local marshall, expansive Salvatore Perillo. Since the corpse has no ID, Nico inherits a faithful dog, whom he names OneWag. There’s a fair amount of chatter about the murder and a soupçon of family drama at Sotto Il Fico, the restaurant Nico considers a second home. Tilde, Rita’s cousin, doesn’t approve of Gianni, Tilde’s daughter Stella’s boyfriend. Matriarch Elvira, who runs the restaurant with quiet authority, declares that the victim was American, disquieting Nico, who’s been careful to keep his Bronx background a secret. When Perillo, under pressure from prosecutor Della Langhe, learns of it, he and overeager sidekick Daniele press Nico for help. The discovery of the victim’s abandoned car, a bracelet traced to a jeweler, and a visit to a hotel reveal the man’s identity: Napa Valley vineyard owner Robert Garrett, born Roberto Gerardi in Tuscany but raised in California. Adding another wrinkle to the investigation is the news that Garrett was dying of cancer. Might this have been a mercy killing? Regular visits to the restaurant and to Rita’s grave punctuate Nico’s probe. The solution Trinchieri provides will surprise and satisfy.

An engaging procedural that introduces a delightful cast readers will want to spend more time with.

A wacko theft launches a second case for a private eye who just can’t shut up.

The shot that retired Sam Kelson from the Chicago PD in Trouble in Mind (2020) left him unable to lie or filter his thoughts, or sometimes even recognize himself in the mirror. Despite these disabilities, attractive business owner Genevieve Bower thinks he’s the one to recover all the knockoff Jimmy Choos that 1980s-music DJ Jeremy Oliver ended their nine-day fling by walking off with. (The client might have thought twice if she’d seen what Kelson did the moment their initial meeting ended.) Meanwhile, one-armed bookkeeper Marty LeCoeur, Kelson’s old friend, is being pressed by the brain trust at G&G Private Equity—wealthy Harold Crane, his cold-eyed daughter, Sylvia, and Chip Voudreaux—to do some creative accounting that will leave them even wealthier.

Marty won’t do it, but his nephew Neto, a young hacker who already has a record, is willing. Bad mistake. Moments before Neto completes the transaction, a bomb smuggled into the library where he’s working kills homeless Afghan War vet Victor Almonte and Amy Runeski, an unemployed mother suing for divorce, and sends Neto to the hospital with a dire diagnosis. Against every rule but that of formula fiction, the two cases turn out to be connected through a hush-hush thumb drive that was the real prize stolen from Kelson’s client. Can he avoid telling the many supporting crooks who press him for information exactly how much he knows for long enough for them to wipe each other out?

Wiley spins a florid plot as disinhibited, and ultimately as exhausting to deal with, as his hero.

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Trinchieri, Camilla Soho Crime (312 pp.) $27.95 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-641-29179-8

LUCKY BONES

Wiley, Michael Severn House (224 pp.) $28.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-7278-8982-9

CHOPPY WATER

Woods, Stuart Putnam (320 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-593-18829-3 Being president-elect of the United States is no bed of roses for former Secretary of State Holly Barker, who’s marked for assassination even before she takes the oath of office.

Retired Army Col. Wade Sykes, aka Watchman, and his white supremacist cabal, who’ve somehow managed to tolerate the presidency of Katharine Lee, have drawn a line in the sand since Holly was elected in the closing pages of Hit List (2020). Luckily, Holly has a secret weapon: her sometime lover Stone Barrington, the New York lawyer who survived his own targeting for death in the same installment.

The first attempt on Holly’s life, which appropriately takes |

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place during a secret vacation at Stone’s place in Dark Harbor, Maine, leaves six dispensable Secret Service agents dead but doesn’t muss Holly’s hair. So Sykes and company, nothing daunted, try again in a series of increasingly improbable locations. For all their pains, Holly, a longtime franchise character, is probably a lot safer than Elizabeth Potter, a brand-new undercover FBI agent who’s infiltrated Sykes’ inner circle without quite winning his unconditional trust. As she twists slowly in the wind, she notices that another Sykes intimate seems to be acting like a double agent too. Wonder how that will work out— especially given Stone’s bleak reflection that “it could be like this for the next eight years”?

Despite the allegedly high stakes, Woods delivers all the facile thrills of an unusually sedate video game.

A BEAUTIFULLY FOOLISH ENDEAVOR

Green, Hank Dutton (464 pp.) $27.00 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-5247-4347-5

A circuitous sequel explaining all the weird things that happened in Green’s An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018).

To recap: Spunky April May and her best pal, Andy Skampt, discovered an alien robot she named Carl, the first of many to appear around the globe. They roped in April’s ex Maya, a scientist named Miranda, and a few other like-minded folks to investigate the phenomenon while a professional troll named Peter Petrawicki caused trouble for now-famous April, leading to her apparent death by explosion. Unlike its predecessor, this sequel is narrated by a variety of April’s crew members until our hero is miraculously and inevitably resurrected, albeit with some very strange upgrades. It’s still pretty entertaining, but Green practically bends over backward to reverse-engineer his oddball scenario so it finally makes sense. The Carls created a planetspanning reverie, one which Peter is trying to re-create from a secret lab on a remote island, soon infiltrated by Miranda. Andy is delivered a MacGuffin in a magic volume called The Book of Good Times that can not only instruct him and his comrades on how to proceed, but also reads his thoughts and responds. His job is to infiltrate “The Thread,” a mysterious cabal seeking to manipulate a world forever changed by the Carls. To shorten a Blues Brothers–esque quote without spoiling things, Team April has millions of dollars, a huge online audience, virtually unlimited resources and access to the things they need, a lead with brand new superpowers and...a monkey? A really powerful sentient monkey who turns out to be not an alien but of a Byzantine earthly origin and who also happens to be at war with a doppelgänger that might just be the end of us all. Green’s debut was a better novel with a wildly intriguing setup, so it’s not surprising that getting things wrapped up is a bit of a twisty affair.

A satisfying sequel with likable characters, playful humor, and a prescient sense of the foolishness of modern life.

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science fiction and fantasy THE BIG BOOK OF MODERN FANTASY

Ed. by VanderMeer, Jeff & VanderMeer, Ann Vintage (864 pp.) $25.00 paper | Jul. 21, 2020 978-0-525-56386-0 A companion volume to The Big Book of Classic Fantasy (2019), Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s latest anthology—and last together, according to the introduction—explores modern fantasy and its evolution from the end of WWII to 2010 with a shelf-bending collection featuring 91 stories from some of the genre’s biggest luminaries, including Ursula K. Le Guin, George R.R. Martin, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, and J.G. Ballard.

The VanderMeers do an adept job of giving readers a comprehensive view of the narrative scope of fantasy—which they describe as “one of the broadest genres imaginable”—over the last six-plus decades with an impressively wide variety of stories. In addition to featuring iconic adventure fantasy works (Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story “Lean Times in Lankhmar”; “The Tales of Dragons and Dreamers,” a Return to Nevèrÿon story by Samuel R. Delany; and Michael Moorcock’s introduction to Elric of Melniboné in “The Dreaming City”) and classic “literary” short stories like Vladimir Nabokov’s “Signs and Symbols” and “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel García Márquez, the anthology also contains a conspicuous number of dragon-powered stories.

Finnish author Tove Jansson’s illustrated all-ages story “The Last Dragon in the World” includes her signature Moomins characters in a delightful tale about a tiny dragon, and Patricia McKillip’s “The Fellowship of the Dragon” follows five armed women as they embark on a perilous quest to find a missing harpist who has been allegedly imprisoned by a dragon. Many of the book’s strongest selections come from international fantasy, with translated stories from Mexican writer Alberto Chimal (“Mogo”), French author Manuela Draeger (“The Arrest of the Great Mimille”), and Belarusian writer Abraham Sutzkever (“The Gopherwood Box”).

This doorstopper of an anthology will surely entertain fantasy fans.

THE MAN FROM GRIFFINTOWN A Canadian man’s sudden, unexplained invisibility makes him a target for countries determined to abuse his new powers of stealth in this debut thriller.

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Markus’ book collects a trilogy, originally published in French, and the overall story is seamless and sharply paced, though generally somber. Book 1 is the strongest, as it focuses on Georges and learning the perks—and pitfalls—of his initially mysterious condition. The narrative becomes much denser by Book 2, as it expands to additional countries beyond Canada and to global concerns such as climate change. The final book organically shifts further toward SF, including a significant time jump and advanced artificial intelligence. The ending, however, introduces startling new elements that suggest a sequel more than they offer resolution.

“ A protagonist’s invisibility ignites a distinctive thriller jampacked with plot. ” — Kirkus Reviews “ I have recreated the invisible man and set his story in a future dominated by a new genus of Israeli robot. ” — MARKUS For information on publishing and film rights, email markus.auteur@gmail.com Facebook.com/Markus-197907044367282 |

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SAY YES TO THE DUKE The Wildes of Lindow Castle

James, Eloisa Avon/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $7.99 paper | May 19, 2020 978-0-06-287806-9

RECIPE FOR PERSUASION

Dev, Sonali Morrow/HarperCollins (448 pp.) $15.99 paper | Jul. 21, 2020 978-0-06-283907-7

A traumatized Indian American chef is pushed over the edge when she reencounters her teenage love in this modern-day interpretation of Persuasion.

Ashna Raje, daughter of Prince Bram of Sripore, is struggling to breathe life into her late father’s luxury restaurant. Once the most popular Indian outlet in Palo Alto, Curried Dreams is now running the risk of closure. Ashna needs money to save her father’s legacy and a job to keep her overachieving mother out of her hair. So when she’s offered a role on Cooking With the Stars, a reality TV show that pairs celebrities with professional chefs for a range of culinary challenges, Ashna decides to overcome her natural reticence and join the cast. But old wounds resurface when Ashna is partnered with award-winning international soccer star Rico Silva, her high school boyfriend. Since their relationship had been uncommonly intense, Rico and Ashna are still nursing scars from their painfully abrupt separation. With his return to her life, Ashna is forced to confront not only her painful past, but also her strained relationship with her mother, Shoban. As Ashna’s story unravels alongside her mother’s, the novel deftly unpacks some of the ways in which Indian women’s experiences of oppression have changed with time, though Dev details Shoban’s crusade against patriarchy with much more empathy and insight than her daughter’s. The second installment in the Raje Family series, following Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors (2019), is ripe with an insider’s understanding of Indian, specifically Maharashtrian, culture: luscious references to traditional food and attire jostle with bitter reminders of several deeply entrenched social and religious biases. As Dev swaps Austen’s Regency England for aristocratic India, she credibly builds a world in which social privilege insulates upper-class and uppercaste men from the consequences of their actions.

An endearing romance that sensitively depicts the poignancy of loss and reconciliation.

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A young woman with a nervous disposition draws the attention of a duke looking for a wife.

Although Viola Astley’s stepfather, the Duke of Lindow, loves her and claims her as his daughter, society doesn’t accept her as a proper lady. This judgement magnifies her own feelings of inadequacy; she knows she doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the Wildes, her stepfather’s raucous and rambunctious family. Viola wishes she could stay at home with her pet crow and cows instead of running the gauntlet of society functions that make her feel ill and vomit. When Viola’s stepsister Joan learns of her deep-seated fears, Joan tells her to have confidence in herself as a “Wilde Child.” Bolstered by this single pep talk, Viola miraculously sheds years of crippling social anxiety and decides to pursue her interest in a handsome young vicar. However, her plans for a late-night meeting are thwarted by Devin Lucas Augustus Elstan, Duke of Wynter. Devin has decided it’s time to marry and has his eye on Joan, the “real” Wilde daughter on the marriage mart. After Viola spars with Devin, he realizes that perhaps she’s the right match for him after all. Their courtship progresses without conflict and will please readers looking for high heat and low angst. Lavish descriptions of clothing and hairstyles are more fully developed than the characters—or their romance. The lack of conflict makes the late-stage misunderstandings and confessions seem silly and manufactured.

A subplot about whether or not medieval cycle plays based on Bible stories are appropriate fare for Christian audiences might be interesting to some readers, but it’s so divorced from the main romance arc that others might view it as filler Perfect for readers who like high wigs and low stakes.

nonfiction BECOMING DUCHESS GOLDBLATT

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Anonymous Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (240 pp.) $24.00 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-0-358-21677-3

BECOMING DUCHESS GOLDBLATT by Anonymous......................... 51 WAR AND PEACEKEEPING by Martin Bell......................................54 YOUNG REMBRANDT by Onno Blom; trans. by Beverley Jackson....54

EAT THE BUDDHA by Barbara Demick............................................. 68 ANDREA DWORKIN by Martin Duberman.......................................70 WHAT CAN A BODY DO? by Sara Hendren.......................................76 THE ARSONIST by Chloe Hooper........................................................79 BREAK IT UP by Richard Kreitner......................................................81 MONEY FOR NOTHING by Thomas Levenson.................................. 82 WE’RE NOT HERE TO ENTERTAIN by Kevin Mattson.....................85 THREE RINGS by Daniel Mendelsohn................................................ 86 WORLD OF WONDERS by Aimee Nezhukumatathil; illus. by Fumi Mini Nakamura............................................................87 REAGANLAND by Rick Perlstein....................................................... 88 THE BOOK OF UNCONFORMITIES by Hugh Raffles....................... 90 THE JOURNALIST by Jerry A. Rose & Lucy Rose Fischer..................91 GRASP by Sanjay Sarma with Luke Yoquinto...................................91 SITTING PRETTY by Rebekah Taussig................................................ 96 FLASH CRASH by Liam Vaughan...................................................... 96 EAT THE BUDDHA Life and Death in a Tibetan Town

Demick, Barbara Random House (368 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-0-8129-9875-7

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How does a fictional character write a real memoir? Very, very well.

Most readers who are active on social media are aware of Duchess Goldblatt, the acerbic yet warmhearted doyenne of Twitter, represented by a Frans Hals portrait of an elderly woman with a stiff muff around her neck. Over the years, she’s dispensed witticisms and advice to her 24,000-plus followers, many of them writers, without giving away any clues about the person behind the persona. When she finally met her No. 1 fan, Lyle Lovett (it’s a long story), he was shocked that she wasn’t “a little old lady or a gay man!” Now, Duchess Goldblatt’s admirers can get to know her still-anonymous creator, and perhaps the biggest surprise in this striking memoir is the fact that Duchess is a name (taken from a friend’s dog), not a title, though no doubt everyone will keep calling her “Your Grace.” The author created Duchess during a terrible time: She’d lost her job, her husband had left her, and she was tormented by the part-time separation from her young son. Duchess was a way for her to lurk online, but she soon found herself carefully crafting posts, responding to everyone who wrote to her, and finding solace in the community she’d created. The book is prismatic, moving among the author’s difficult childhood, the years after her divorce, and her growing relationships with people Duchess had befriended— only a few of whom, including Lovett, have ever met her. She wrestles with the questions of whether she and Duchess are two separate people and how Duchess makes friends so easily when she herself feels almost friendless. Lovett’s manager called what she’s doing “collaborative performance art,” and that’s an apt term for it; together with Duchess’ followers, she’s created a long-term fever dream of humor, compassion, wordplay, and dog photos.

A fascinating memoir by a 21st-century original.

A LAB OF ONE’S OWN by Rita Colwell & Sharon Bertsch McGrayne................................................................... 66

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channeling anxiety into graphic memoir “I don’t want to be dirty. Suddenly, I’m afraid to shake hands with people. I wash my hands all the time. Often I’ll finish washing and start again. My knuckles crack and bleed. ‘Dirty’ turns into ‘contaminated,’ a feeling that’s more abstract and insidious. Something just feels wrong, and that something clings to me all day. The only safe spot is the shower.”

When I first read that passage from Jason Adam Katzenstein’s graphic memoir about anxiety and OCD, Everything Is an Emergency (Perennial/HarperCollins, June 30), I experienced a visceral reaction.

The author and illustrator, it seemed, was channeling me—or at least the part of myself I’d grappled with on a minute-to-minute basis from my teenage years through my mid-20s. Long before the pandemic made hand-washing de rigueur, my daily trips to the sink registered in triple digits. In addition to the obsessive hand-washing, I showered at least three times per day, only touched door handles with a shirt sleeve (or even my foot if no one was watching), and had to wear specialized moisturizing gloves at night to ameliorate the pain and bleeding.

Reflecting on my experience as a young man diagnosed with OCD, I felt an immediate connection to Katzenstein’s memoir, which is a pleasing mix of text and cartoons that strikes just the right tone: accessible yet laced with enough gravitas, occasionally humorous but incisive in a way that makes others with the disorder feel less alone. The author effectively demonstrates the banality of the affliction, which “begins with a thought. The thought is distressing, and it plays over and over again, overpowering other thoughts, distracting me, sapping all of my energy.” That’s a fairly simple yet apt description of OCD and its ability to worm its way into every crevice of your consciousness and leave you frustrated and exhausted.

While I learned more than a decade ago that there were millions of others dealing with varying degrees of the disorder—and have read countless articles and books about OCD and its attendant difficulties—Katzenstein’s memoir brought back into focus a period Leah Overstreet

of my life I hadn’t considered in years. The book also embodies one of the primary reasons I enjoy reading memoirs: the power of another’s story to reveal thoughts and emotions that have long lay dormant, often bringing much-needed introspection or clarity.

For my part, the appropriate combination of prescription medication, therapy, unconditional parental love, and nourishing friendships buoyed me through the darkest moments of my OCD. And if anything can accelerate the process of immersion therapy for a germophobe, it’s living in New York City and riding the subway every day, which I did from ages 24 to 30. Years later, the urgencies of raising a toddler complicated matters (you can only exert so much control over what they touch or put in their mouths), but they also forced me to confront issues I thought were resolved, and I continue to work on ensuring they don’t adversely affect my son and others around me. Now, I’m blessed to be in a much more comfortable place, hopefully wiser and able to fully appreciate books that examine mental health issues while simultaneously avoiding jargon-laden didacticism and airy, self-help platitudes.

Especially in these high-stress, spiritually draining times, I continue to assert my belief in the significance and vitality of books that tackle difficult subjects in a manner that is both instructive and empathetic. Everything Is an Emergency is not as groundbreaking a graphic memoir as, say, Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? or Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, but it’s welcome nonetheless. Indeed, Katzenstein’s story could provide solace to any young person struggling with OCD. I know 17-year-old Eric would have embraced it with both raw hands.

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An illuminating study of the many ideologies and geographies at issue in the Civil War era. rebels in the making

DO WHAT YOU WANT The Story of Bad Religion

and industrial civilizations. “More recent research,” writes Civil War historian Barney, “has stressed the point that anxieties over the loss of slavery and racial control, rather than a defense of states’ rights, drove the South to secession.” That would explain why so many nonslaveholding Southerners rallied to the cause of a rebellion fomented by the planter class—and then not the older, more conservative members but the younger, aspirational pseudo-aristocrats. As Barney chronicles, the face of secession was different in different regions of the South. The lowland portion west of the Appalachians was a place where the wealthy were often deep in debt and the shareholder whites barely hung on, with the implication that there was nothing to lose by going to war. In New Orleans and other ports, fear of immigrants and “Know-Nothing” politics lent an even more fraught air to secession while in industrial cities such as Richmond, a surprisingly large number of free black workers were an important part of the economic mix. The current surge of populism has surprisingly many features in common with the tenets advanced 160 years ago: a clergy that encouraged reactionary politics while skirting the fact that they could not argue that slavery

Bad Religion with Ruland, Jim Hachette (336 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-306-92222-0

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An authorized band biography that attempts to provide long-overdue credit.

After persevering through four decades, an eternity by punk-rock standards, Bad Religion has “never been more popular than they are right now.” Devoted fans of the internationally popular band will embrace the narrative, which offers plenty of backstory on the splits and reunions of the two principal songwriters, Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz. It’s both a chronicle and critical guide to each of the band’s many albums and tours (nonfans will be overwhelmed by some of the detail). The biography—written with the assistance of Ruland, who co-authored the memoir of Black Flag and Circle Jerks founding member Keith Morris— also suggests why Bad Religion never achieved the sales levels or popularity of Nirvana or Green Day, whose influence on musical culture Graffin and company feel has been overstated, at least in comparison to their own. “ ‘People are finally filling in the chapter between 1983 and 1991,’ Greg said. ‘What happened? Two words: Bad Religion.’ ” From the beginning, the band has felt slighted, starting young as suburban teenagers from the San Fernando Valley, rising with the spread of punk culture, and then getting overshadowed by bands who sold more but perhaps didn’t have Bad Religion’s European reach or die-hard following. It’s an often fascinating story, especially regarding Graffin’s pursuit of his doctorate in evolutionary biology and Gurewitz’s progression to record mogul through his founding of Epitaph Records. There are also the expected stories of excess and addition, and the claim that “Greg and Brett were establishing themselves as the Beatles of punk rock” would be more credible if it didn’t come from the band itself. The text generally refers to the characters by first name only, an insider’s perspective that prevents much critical distancing.

The band has overcome a lot of challenges over the years, and this sufficient narrative documents every one of them.

REBELS IN THE MAKING The Secession Crisis and the Birth of the Confederacy Barney, William L. Oxford Univ. (393 pp.) $34.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-19-007608-5

A comprehensive history of secession as it played out across the Confederacy and the border states.

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WAR AND PEACEKEEPING Personal Reflections on Conflict and Lasting Peace

“promoted the material well-being of all whites” and a pretense on the part of politicians and their true-believer followers that they were merely following the enshrined Constitution. Whatever the case, the election of Abraham Lincoln made war certain, even when, as Barney notes, many parts of the South did not support slavery or the dissolution of the Union.

An illuminating study of the many ideologies and geographies at issue in the Civil War era.

Bell, Martin Oneworld Publications (336 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-78607-763-9

A veteran journalist looks back on decades of covering wars and peacekeeping missions around the world.

Bell, who has worked in more than 120 countries, lays out his resume in the introduction. “In a life of accidental episodes,” he writes, “I have been a soldier, a war reporter, a Member of Parliament, a UNICEF ambassador, a battlefield target, a war crimes witness, a writer, a poet, an ethics adviser, a lecturer and an incorrigible wanderer.” The book is a loosely linked set of essays on the lessons gathered from that vast experience, and his subjects include his time peacekeeping with the British army in Cyprus, reporting on the Croatian civil war, and observations on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whom he clearly admires, and Donald Trump, whom he does not. Bell also offers his views on land mines, which have become a scourge lingering in many countries after their local wars have ended, and the vicious civil wars in various African nations. In addition to the inevitable power of his eyewitness account of the history he has observed, the author brings to each of his topics an enviable (and often caustic) turn of phrase—e.g., in 1994, the U.N. headquarters in Bosnia was “a hotbed of cold feet,” and Prime Minister Boris Johnson “led the charge to the cliff edge” in his management of Brexit, which Bell considers a disaster in the making. The author is particularly vehement in his scorn for incompetent and dishonest reporting, especially when the reporter is more interested in building personal celebrity than in getting the story right. At every point, Bell offers colorful anecdotes and glimpses of real people, famous and otherwise, not all of whom are by any calculation admirable.

An engaging read by a writer whose front seat to modern history is matched by his sharp prose and forthright opinions. (b/w photos)

YOUNG REMBRANDT Blom, Onno Trans. by Jackson, Beverley Norton (288 pp.) $30.00 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-0-393-53179-4

A Dutch biographer and literary critic re-creates the textures of Rembrandt’s world.

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i belong to vienna anna goldenberg

A JEWISH FAMILY’S STORY OF EXILE AND RETURN

“Why would you return to a city that tried to murder you? Here is the story of one Jewish family that did . . . Blends history, biography, and memoir . . .

Well-researched, intimate, evocative look at some of the 20th century’s foulest days.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“A must-read for a new understanding of the Holocaust in Vienna.”

—Esther Safran Foer, author of I Want You to Know We’re Still Here

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“A suspenseful story of bravery, dignity, and the love of a city that withstands its bleakest chapter.”

—Anne-Marie O’Connor, author of The Lady in Gold “Forces us to reflect on what it means to try and live a ‘normal life’ in the throes of a political nightmare.”

—George Prochnik, author of The Impossible Exile

I Belong to Vienna by Anna Goldenberg Translated from the German by Alta L. Price New Vessel Press / Nonfiction / June 9, 2020 / Eleven black-and-white photographs Paperback / ISBN 978-1-939931-84-9 / 207 pages / $16.95 Distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution / orders@ingrampublisherservices.com

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Blom offers an assured, discerning biography. The author illuminates the esteemed artist’s early life, beginning in Leiden, where Rembrandt was born in 1606, and ending in Amsterdam, where he painted his “breakthrough” work, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, in 1632. Blom creates a multifaceted view of Leiden, which had emerged from political siege, famine, and plague to become Holland’s prosperous second city and was the place where Rembrandt grew up, studied, and worked until he moved to the Dutch capital in 1631. The son of a malt-miller, Rembrandt was restless, strong-willed, and ambitious; enrolled in the University of Leiden when he was 14, he left after two years, possibly because of religious strife besetting the institution. His parents supported his art apprenticeships in Leiden and briefly in Amsterdam, where he focused on history painting, copying his teacher’s works. Blom follows Rembrandt’s artistic evolution, honing a style of etching notable for its “looseness, bravura, and ostensible nonchalance” and experimenting with self-portraits “to see how different emotions, moods and temperaments were expressed in the face.” Included among more than 100 illustrations are many self-portraits, images that serve as “a kind of autobiography.” Along with social, cultural, political, and religious contexts for Rembrandt’s life, Blom details the nitty-gritty of making art, such as the complicated, time-consuming process of grinding pigments and improvising paint tubes from knotted pig bladders. As Rembrandt became increasingly well-known and admired, his work was purchased and commissioned by members of the court. The author notes, however, that he died alone and destitute; by 1669, his work had gone out of fashion.

A fresh, well-researched, nuanced portrait. (100 illustrations)

and the more renowned the school, the stronger the dislike for it: “Their rewards from the outside world…come almost entirely from their research.” If universities are to weather the coming financial and cultural storms, Bok suggests, they’ll need to retool to offer answers to real exigencies, such as the fact that employers (and donors) complain that students emerging with diplomas lack “soft” or “noncognitive” skills such as a willingness to work as a member of a team and observe basic social niceties. More to the point, Bok also argues that institutions must do more to teach beyond mere rubrics, touching especially on questions of ethics and civic engagement, and point the way to how students might acquire “wisdom enough to decide how to live purposeful, fulfilling lives” and prepare themselves for lifelong learning.

Whether faculties will want to take the time to produce “active and informed citizens” remains to be seen, notes the author, and such faculties tend to serve their own interests.

A useful though eminently debatable case for reform in the interest of teaching to today’s needs.

THE DEEP END The Literary Scene in the Great Depression and Today Boog, Jason OR Books (232 pp.) $20.00 paper | Jul. 9, 2020 978-1-935928-91-1

For writers of the 1930s, economic hardship was central to their work.

Journalist Boog, West Coast correspondent for Publishers Weekly, combines personal reflections about the challenges writers face today with a well-researched, sometimes digressive look back at writers of the “Crisis Generation,” who struggled during the Great Depression. “My book is dedicated to the stories of poets, novelists, and journalists who never made it” but whose dedication to telling stories of the downtrodden makes them worth remembering. They include poets Maxwell Bodenheim, Kenneth Fearing, and Muriel Rukeyser (“systematically excluded” from the poetry academy, according to Adrienne Rich); Cornell Woolrich, “grandfather of the hardboiled noir”; and Nathanael West, whose Miss Lonelyhearts had paltry sales when it was first published only to be acclaimed 50 years later, long after West died. The writers of the Crisis Generation identified with “workers of all kinds,” marching with them for jobs and fair pay. Unlike writers today, who Boog claims are “unorganized, broke, and easily manipulated,” those of the Crisis Generation saw themselves as activists, responding to and bearing witness to life in the 1930s. Many were given jobs through the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration; others supported one another through organizations such as the Raven Poetry Circle, which became a “home for struggling readers and writers,” and the American Writers Union, which lobbied for writers’ rights. “The writers in the 1930s,” notes Boog, “forced newspapers to pay a living wage, pushed publishers to establish more humane working conditions, rewrote

HIGHER EXPECTATIONS Can Colleges Teach Students What They Need To Know in the 21st Century?

Bok, Derek Princeton Univ. (232 pp.) $29.95 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-0-691-20580-9

Former Harvard University president Bok examines ways in which higher education can shape better citizens.

The author looks back over seven decades of teaching to examine where tertiary education is and where it’s going. It’s now said that students retain little information from the lecture format, with better results coming from active participation rather than passive reception. Though in days past, Bok’s charges at Harvard filled the halls to hear the likes of Stephen Jay Gould and Michael Sandel, such talented interpreters are rare. All the same, “at least half of college faculty continue to lecture extensively, especially in large college courses, despite persuasive evidence that active forms of problem-solving are more effective at helping students learn to think carefully and reason well.” Meanwhile, writes the author, altogether too many professors resent teaching, 56

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“Good history and a good read!”

— John Ferling, author of Apostles of Revolution

FOURTEENTH

The Forgotten Story

Gulf South

COLONY

During America's Revolutionary Era

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The British colony of West Florida is the forgotten fourteenth colony of America’s Revolutionary era. The colony’s eventful years as a part of the British Empire form an important and compelling interlude in our American history. For a host of reasons, including the fact that West Florida did not rebel against the British government, the colony has long been dismissed as a loyal but inconsequential fringe outpost. In Fourteenth Colony, historian Mike Bunn offers the first comprehensive history of the colony, introducing readers to the Gulf Coast’s remarkable British period and putting West Florida back in its rightful place on the map of colonial America.

“Fourteenth Colony will open many eyes to a startling historical omission just as it will force reconsideration of how we teach, and interpret, the American Revolution. Impressively researched, well written.”

— Samuel C. Hyde Jr., Leon Ford Endowed Chair, professor of history, Southeastern Louisiana University

Mike Bunn • November 3 • $27.95 9781588384133 • NewSouth Books |

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COVER STORY

Bakari Sellers A SON OF SOUTH CAROLINA—ONCE THE YOUNGEST BLACK ELECTED OFFICIAL IN THE U.S.—RECOUNTS HIS JOURNEY IN MY VANISHING COUNTRY

By Eric Liebetrau Chris Jenkins

Patrik Bass [senior editor at HarperCollins] and Judith Carr [president and publisher of Amistad]. When you’re 33, writing a memoir is a bit daunting. But I also realized that my life has been bookended by tragedy from Orangeburg to Charleston, and I had a story to tell from the perspective of being a child of the civil rights movement. My father wrote The River of No Return (1973), and I look at [my book] as being not the completion of that, but a continuation, the next chapters in that story.

I was particularly moved by the section on the Mother Emanuel tragedy. Can you tell me more about that time?

Bakari Sellers is an activist, politician, lawyer, TV commentator, and proud son of South Carolina. His personal history, recounted in My Vanishing Country (Amistad/HarperCollins, May 19), is both impressive and fascinating. As the son of civil rights leader Cleveland Sellers, who was injured during the Orangeburg Massacre of 1968, the author was imbued with an activist spirit early on. After achievement at Morehouse College and the USC School of Law, he won a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives at age 22, becoming the youngest black elected official in the country. When he lost the 2014 race for lieutenant governor, Sellers continued his crusading legal work and became a political analyst for CNN, where he garnered praise for his coverage of, among many other events, the 2015 Mother Emanuel shooting in Charleston. He recently spoke with Kirkus about the book; the conversation was edited for length and clarity.

For me, it was pain that I had never truly felt before—probably because I had a friendship with Clem [Clementa Pinckney, the state senator and pastor at Emanuel who was killed in the shooting]. I also know the value of the black church in our communities, and I can imagine [Clem’s] welcoming spirit when he let Dylann Roof into the church to pray with them.

Everyone was trying to figure out whether or not to go to church that Sunday. A member asked me if I wanted to come into church. I declined because I wanted to make sure the members had enough space, so we sat outside and listened to the sermon and the music. The recovery was a testament to the beauty of our state, and politically speaking, you don’t get any better leadership than Gregg Mullins [chief of police at the time] and Mayor Joe Riley.

Tell me about your hometown of Denmark, then and now.

How was the writing experience?

Denmark is a town marked by so much love and family. Everybody’s a cousin, everybody’s a brother or a sister. It’s a place where you can still leave your keys in your car when you go into the grocery store. But it also faces a lot of the issues that overlay most of rural America, especially throughout the South, where socio-economic divides have gotten larger and access to health care has disappeared. It’s kind of ironic that the book comes out now, when the pandemic is showing our true colors. We are able to see a lot of these disparities where

Difficult—I can’t lie. I wanted to write a political book during the age of Trump from the perspective of a young black Democrat in the South. But no one wanted to buy that book.

I find that surprising.

I got turned down probably 20 times. But I have that strong South Carolina spirit, so finally I just called up Tracy Sherrod, the editorial director at Amistad. She called me in to meet with 58

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people in rural communities and poor folks and black and brown folks are dying at very high rates.

Tell me about your work at the law firm.

Not only do we represent the citizens of Denmark in the water lawsuit, but we were lead counsel in a National Black Farmers Association lawsuit, representing black farmers against the USDA. I also argued in front of the South Carolina Supreme Court to find our domestic violence laws unconstitutional because they didn’t cover same-sex couples, and we won that argument.

the way books were sold in department stores, and convinced the government to create a federal bailout that put thousands of writers around the country back to work.” The author sees the Sunrise Movement, supporter of the Green New Deal, as a model for activism in “a world of inequality and catastrophe;” and he urges writers—and readers—to “rekindle the radical ideas” that distinguished the Crisis Generation.

A passionate homage to forgotten writers who speak to our own times.

What about your political career?

My political career’s not over. I will always do my best to represent Denmark in whatever way I can. We’re eyeing the 6th Congressional District, whenever that time comes. I was fortunate enough to find a home at CNN.

SUPERMAN’S NOT COMING Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It

What’s it like at CNN? Right now, we’re not talking politics as much as public health.

It’s not as busy, but that will change. I go from being on 15 to 20 times a week to slow moments like this. But you have to remember, I’m a kid from Denmark, 3,300 people; to be able to go on [TV] and talk to 1 million people, that’s pretty damn cool.

Brockovich, Erin Knopf (384 pp.) $29.95 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-524-74696-4

I often feel helpless and hopeless about the state of our country. You live these issues every day. Give me some words of encouragement.

First, I tell people to make sure you are trying to come out of this physically, emotionally, and spiritually stronger. Second, I remind people that you can’t eat a whole apple without taking the first bite. You can’t complete a whole journey without the first step. And you have to find something in your heart that gives you a burning desire to go forward. For me, those are my kids, thinking about creating an America where they can be free. That gives me purpose, as well as not letting my father and my mother down for all the sacrifices they’ve made in the past.

My Vanishing Country was reviewed in the March 15, 2020, issue.

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The legal clerk–turned-activist sounds the alarm on the global water crisis.

Two decades after the movie that made her a national celebrity, Brockovich urges readers to confront a scary reality: “We are amid a major water crisis that is beyond anything you can imagine.” She recounts her work on the case that inspired the Steven Soderbergh film, in which she helped take on California utility Pacific Gas and Electric, which had been accused of contaminating groundwater. The author offers an easy-to-understand guide to common water pollutants, including chromium 6, chloramines, and lead, and she shares stories of citizen activists in places like Martin County, Kentucky; Tonganoxie, Kansas; and Flint, Michigan. Of the last, she writes, “I called out the water problems…a year before it became a media frenzy.” Her book is filled with righteous anger directed toward corporations who “lie, cheat, sue, intimidate, falsify documents, and outright bully” and anyone who stands up to them. While Brockovich’s stories about her activism and condemnation of corporate greed are both interesting, the narrative’s real power comes from her clarion calls to regular citizens to get involved in the fight for safe water. “We are at a turning point,” she writes, “where we all need to fight before there’s not a drop of water left to drink.” The author doesn’t just traffic in platitudes; she offers several concrete suggestions for how people can gauge the safety of their own drinking water and stand up to corporations and politicians. Brockovich describes herself as “a foul-mouthed, short-skirted blonde woman from Kansas,” and her book showcases her authenticity, rough edges and all. While the prose could use some polishing, it serves adequately, explaining why the current water crisis threatens us all and how concerned people might go about changing it.

A convincing call to arms about the global water crisis from a sharp, plainspoken activist.

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A welcome addition to the math-for–lay readers genre, with the hope for more to come. pluses and minuses

PLUSES AND MINUSES How Math Solves Our Problems

Golf. Tennis. Boxing. Baseball. Basketball. Kareem AbdulJabbar. Larry Bird. Bill Walton. Arthur Ashe. Jackie Robinson. Roberto Clemente. Pete Rose and the rest of the Big Red Machine. Newspaperman and magazine profiler Callahan rounds the bases as he chronicles his close encounters with many of the most prominent athletes of the last half-century. Fans of the author will recognize the meandering yet readable storytelling style and some of the same characters from The Bases Were Loaded (And So Was I). A young Callahan commiserated with an elder Red Smith; at their best, these pieces recall that legend of the press box’s outside-the-lines approach, if not exactly his unassuming mien on the page. Certainly, this part-memoir, part-profile compilation reflects a time before social media, when athletes needed sportswriters. The underside of close, personal access is that writers who ingratiate themselves with sources sometimes cut deals about what makes it into print, which could raise questions about motive and veracity. The narrative spell is also periodically broken when Callahan includes long, sometimes-tinny quotes from athletes. Still, just as the best sportswriters put a topcoat on memory, allowing us to appreciate the plays and players more than when we first saw them, the author’s skill at showing public figures in private moments is evident, and he spares readers the usual arguments about who was the greatest to lace up a pair of sneakers. Particularly intriguing are Callahan’s portraits of Bill Walsh and Tiger Woods. In 2018, writes the author, “the new Tiger was a better guy. Standing on the practice green or striding down the fairway, he actually chatted with golf ’s brigade of good young players who, almost to a man, had been drawn to the game by him.”

Sports fans will find a smooth and pleasant ride on this trip back in time.

Buijsman, Stefan Trans. by Brown, Andy Penguin (208 pp.) $17.00 paper | Jul. 28, 2020 978-0-14-313458-9

Sharp answers to “the question about what [mathematics] is good for.”

The answers come from a young Dutch mathematician and philosopher of mathematics. While Buijsman notes that you may never use the formulas you memorized in high school, he also emphasizes that math is everywhere in modern society. In his first book, he seeks to give readers a solid grasp of some of the math areas involved, whether it’s the inner workings of a car’s cruise control, the rules governing opinion polls, or how Google Maps designs efficient routes. The author acknowledges that there are still small hunter-gatherer groups that have no number systems or measuring tools but who can still build boats, bridges, and houses and barter goods.

The importance of math surged with the growth of populations in cities and the expansion of agriculture and trade, which required the ability to reckon quantities of goods, levy taxes, and invent coinage. The author’s focus on the practical utility of math dictates three chapters on calculus, probability theory, and graph theory, but he also ponders a philosophically intriguing question: Why do findings from the most abstract areas of mathematics have remarkable relevance to aspects of the real world around us? Buijsman spares readers from too many detailed notations and equations, concentrating on the basic concepts, major innovators, and the games or puzzles that inspired the scholars. In graph theory, that involved whether or not one could traverse all seven bridges of the city of Königsberg, crossing each bridge only once. In 1736, Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler showed that this was impossible.

Today, graph theory has broad applications, not only in mapping software, but also in artificial intelligence, neural networks, cancer therapy, and the countless algorithms that drive internet searches or allow Netflix to make movie recommendations.

A welcome addition to the math-for–lay readers genre, with the hope for more to come.

BOUND BY WAR How the United States and the Philippines Built America’s First Pacific Century Capozzola, Christopher Basic (480 pp.) $35.00 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-1-5416-1827-5

The mostly painful history of the U.S. and its struggling ex-colony.

MIT history professor Capozzola writes that events in Cuba provoked America’s declaration of war on Spain in 1898. Few paid attention to its Asian colonies until the U.S. Asiatic Squadron, led by George Dewey, annihilated the Spanish fleet off its Philippines colony. American officials believed that an imperial power such as Britain or Germany would certainly take over if America didn’t. There followed a nasty war in which American forces (and locally recruited units) suppressed the Filipino independence movement. Capozzola notes that the American promise of eventual independence was sincere, and the colonial administration set up a local political infrastructure. This was done on the cheap, however, so Filipinos who benefited most

GODS AT PLAY An Eyewitness Account of Great Moments in American Sports Callahan, Tom Norton (304 pp.) $26.95 | Sep. 22, 2020 978-1-324-00427-1

A heavily credentialed and well-traveled sportswriter spins yarns about the old ballgames.

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A blend of music industry 101, hip-hop history, and memoir from the Wu-Tang Clan’s muse. the baddest bitch in the room

serviced Americans or came to the U.S. Racist immigration laws in the U.S. banned Asians, but the Philippines, as a colony, was an exception. Readers can skim the author’s account of World War II, which is largely unedifying. At the time, most Filipinos gave survival priority over resistance. Guerrilla activity slowly grew, but rival groups often fought each other, and many were little better than bandits. The most efficient, the Hukbalahap, were communists. At the end of the war, the Philippines was a devastated nation with no Marshall Plan to rebuild it. As a final insult, Congress, in an economic move, denied Filipino soldiers the GI Bill of Rights. The U.S. granted independence in 1946; supported Manuel Roxas, the collaborationist president under Japanese occupation who won the first presidency; and signed a pact granting 23 military bases free from local criminal laws and taxes. Capozzola convincingly argues that the nation remains a quasi-colony, impoverished and ill-governed. Its leaders understood that America favored nations threatened by communism and, later, terrorism. Even today, it hosts America’s “largest counterterrorist deployment outside of Afghanistan.” U.S. presidents have spoken highly of several despotic kleptocrats, led by Ferdinand Marcos. Today’s Rodrigo Duterte, a violent figure, is favored by Donald Trump.

An expert, disturbing history.

professionally as a woman of color. Unfortunately, aside from a vague mention of a black woman friend calling her out on her privilege, she doesn’t address being embraced and respected as a nonblack woman within a music culture that often objectifies and denigrates black women. This is a disappointing omission in an otherwise thoughtful and revealing story.

An intimate, entertaining, and engrossing read for hiphop fans.

THE RELIGION CLAUSES The Case for Separating Church and State

Chemerinsky, Erwin & Gillman, Howard Oxford Univ. (248 pp.) $24.95 | Aug. 28, 2020 978-0-19-069973-4

A dispassionate exposition in favor of the separation of church and state.

Noting that the current structure of the Supreme Court is tilted toward an accommodationist view of the First Amendment, which tends to side with conservatives and religious majorities, legal experts Chemerinsky and Gillman take the initiative to offer a differing view. “Our thesis,” they write, “is that the Constitution meant to create, and should be interpreted as creating, a secular republic, meaning that the government has no role in ad­vancing religion and that religious belief and practice should be a pri­vate matter.” The authors begin with an examination of how the framers of the Constitution viewed the relationship between church and state. Despite traditions to the contrary, they write, “the framers resisted strong pressure to declare that the American republic would formally be associated with Christianity. There is no doubt that they intended to create a government that was formally secular.” Though declaring themselves not to be “originalists,” the authors work from the assumption that the founders sought specifically to create a secular government and that such a government has served America best through time. They work systematically, first through the Establishment Clause and then the Free Exercise Clause, explaining the background to each clause and various court cases that have shaped the public understanding of them, before then examining their own separationist views regarding each. Chemerinsky and Gillman end with a counter to the argument that separation of church and state is often a guise for hostility to religion; instead, they write, separation is a means of protecting all religions. Written in what can best be described as a relaxed legal style, the book is largely accessible but will appeal most to attorneys and those intrigued by the Constitution and the Supreme Court.

A well-argued book geared toward those with an interest in the intersection of law and religion.

THE BADDEST BITCH IN THE ROOM A Memoir Chang, Sophia Catapult (320 pp.) $26.00 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-64622-009-0

A blend of music industry 101, hiphop history, and memoir from the WuTang Clan’s muse.

For decades as a manager, marketer, and A&R rep, Chang helped talented men tell their stories through hip-hop and R&B. Now it’s her turn to tell her story: How did a “Korean Canadian French lit major” end up working with a who’s who of heavy hitters in the music industry—and getting relationship advice from Method Man? From a chance meeting with Joey Ramone as a college student in the late 1980s to working with the Wu-Tang Clan, one of the greatest rap groups of all time, Chang has a storied history in the industry. Her love for hip-hop—the music and the artists—comes through loud and clear in this deeply personal memoir. Now in her 50s, she reflects on her experiences, including her stint as head of a marketing department at Atlantic Records just two years out of college and working with artists like A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Too Short, and Raphael Saadiq. It’s clear why Chang gained a reputation for being hard and no-nonsense, and that comes across in the narrative. But she also shows her more vulnerable side: enduring the highs and lows of love and loss, reclaiming her sexual confidence after the end of a 12-year relationship, and learning to embrace her Asian heritage. The author writes wisely about erasure and fighting to be seen 62

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Molly Mccully Brown THE POET, BORN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY, REFLECTS ON HER JOURNEY THROUGH THE WORLD IN A NEW ESSAY COLLECTION

By Kelly McMasters Kevin Gutting

second, In the Field Between Us: Poems, co-written with fellow Rudnitsky-winner Susannah Nevison, is also being published this month. Her “maniacal productivity,” as she calls it, is a topic that percolates throughout her work. That she is publishing these last two books during a pandemic seems strangely fitting.

“Being productive and achieving in really aggressive ways while being asked to stay still has been the unintentional mantra of my life,” Brown says. She is speaking with me from her childhood home near the campus of Sweet Briar College in Virginia, where her parents are professors. “With COVID-19, people are confronting the idea that being in a healthy body is inherently a temporary state,” she says. “But all of my work is deeply concerned with the fragility of the human body and the real danger of exceptionalism. We are always making calls on whose lives are worth saving and how much a life is worth.”

These ideas are woven throughout the 16 luminous essays in her collection, loosely structured around the year Brown spent in Europe as the Amy Lowell Scholarship for American Poets Traveling Abroad fellow. We move with Brown through her childhood in rural Virginia to the world’s oldest anatomical theater in Bologna, Italy, to grocery stores where strangers ask, “What happened, sweetie? You’re so pretty to be in a wheelchair!”

Primarily a poet, she started writing essays in college.

“I’d like to pretend it was out of this generous or political idea,” she says, “but at 19 a lot of what I was doing was writing to keep myself company.” She had little instruction in what her adult life would look like. “It isn’t that people who loved me didn’t want to be helpful, but often you are the only person in your community for whom these are truths,” she says. “There were limits to the ways in which they could keep me company in that experience.”

And so she went looking for company in books and culture. “But it was really hard to find,” Brown explains. There were plenty of narratives about fighting for a cure or facing death but nothing that answered her questions about beauty

When poet Molly McCully Brown started work on her newest book, Places I’ve Taken My Body: Essays (Persea, June 2), she was adamant that she did not want to write a memoir. “My sense was that unless you have some extraordinary distance, don’t write a memoir before you turn 30,” she says.

“Of course, that’s what happened,” she confesses. “It isn’t a linear memoir, but it is a memoir.”

Brown, however, is not your typical 28-year-old. She was born with cerebral palsy; her twin sister died shortly after birth. Places I’ve Taken My Body is her third book; her first, The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, won Persea’s 2016 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry. Her 64

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and sex and desire. “I thought, OK, you are 24 and this is the body you will have forever—altered by surgery, in chronic pain, these complicated disintegrations. I wasn’t finding that material, so I started writing it.”

At the beginning of her fellowship, for which the only requirement is that she not return to America for a year, she worries the gift of this time is wasted on her. In Bologna, she struggles with the city’s ancient cobblestoned streets, a flat tire on her wheelchair, endless searching for ramps, all in a language not her own. Although the book ends in London, she did ultimately return to Bologna.

Brown is glad she made it back even though she knew accessibility in that ancient city would continue to be difficult for her. After eight months abroad, she’d figured out how to live with a level of fear and difficulty she hadn’t previously.

“I think so many of the essays wear that difficulty and anger a little more lightly because they were edited after I returned to Bologna,” she says. “I figured out how to have the experience of my body in a space that didn’t just feel like it was a hundred shut doors.”

INFERNO A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness Cho, Catherine Henry Holt (256 pp.) $26.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-250-62371-3

Kelly McMasters is the co-editor of This Is the Place: Women Writing About Home and Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir From an Atomic Town. Places I’ve Taken My Body received a starred review in the April 1, 2020, issue.

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A publishing professional makes her writing debut with a memoir that details her experiences with postpartum psychosis.

As Cho notes, she and her husband, James, were two Korean Americans who never paid “attention to Korean traditions,” but as they planned for a trip across the U.S. to show off their infant son to friends and relatives, “the rules [of their culture],” which included a “hundred-day celebration” for their baby, suddenly mattered. Then, a week before the event, Cho experienced a harrowing break with reality. Not only did the author believe she was Dante’s Beatrice, responsible for leading her husband out of hell; she also believed her baby son had “devils’ eyes.” James took her to a psychiatric hospital. In the dream state of madness, she felt “removed from time,” and memories from childhood and adolescence intermingled with the present. It was as though she was caught in “an infinite loop” in which events, including a past abusive relationship, happened “again and again but with slight variations.” Cho’s sense of self fractured to the point where she could not recognize the faces of members of her husband’s family in pictures.

At the same time, the psychosis also seemed to bring her closer to the ancestors who fled North Korea at the beginning of the Korean War and sacrificed connections to loved ones they would never see again. Thinking of them, the author remarks that her experiences “felt so familiar, pre-written somehow,” as if the psychosis somehow replayed a kind of epigenetic trauma.

Cho also candidly describes the depression that gripped her in the months following her break. “I wondered if [my son] could sense it,” she writes, “this stranger who had taken his mother’s place.” Haunting and emotionally intense, this powerful memoir explores the hidden connections that tie families across generations, offering poignant meditations on the meaning of motherhood and identity.

A compelling look at a mysterious mental illness.

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An unforgettable tell-all that’s rife with details of insurrection, scientific breakthrough, and overcoming the odds. a lab of one’s own

ELIOT NESS AND THE MAD BUTCHER Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology

A LAB OF ONE’S OWN One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science Colwell, Rita and McGrayne, Sharon Bertsch Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5011-8127-6

Collins, Max Allan & Schwartz, A. Brad HarperCollins (576 pp.) $29.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-06-288197-7

One of the world’s most successful scientists reveals how systemic sexism in science has suppressed women and undercut scientific progress—but she is confident that positive change lies ahead.

In this beautifully written memoir, Colwell, a leading microbiologist whose many accolades include being the first female director of the National Science Foundation, exposes “a deep-seated bias against women in science [that] has been documented at almost every level, from Nobel Prize winners down to undergraduates.” While readers may not be surprised to learn that science is a male-dominated field, the stories the author recounts from her decades of experience as a researcher, educator, society president, and entrepreneur are shocking in their scope. She describes men wielding gender as a weapon and rigging the scientific system of recognition and reward against women based on unfounded theories of inferior intelligence and ability. One male professor told her, “we don’t waste fellowships on women” and that “the only degree you’re going to get is in the maternity ward of a hospital.” Rather than capitulate, Colwell persevered and achieved unrivaled success. In deliberate and often captivating prose, she describes time after time when she created opportunities for herself and for her female peers and students. She also tells the stories of other women whose determination, insight, and talent helped to chip away at the glass ceiling. “In the dozen years after my presidency [1984-1985],” she writes, “six women…became presidents of [the American Society for Microbiology]—more women presidents than the society had ever had before.” Colwell’s unshakeable belief that “more women equals better science” shaped her historic tenure at the NSF and informs her concluding chapter, a motivating collection of tips for aspiring scientists. Colwell’s grit and brilliance shine through on every page of the book, which is as much a call to arms as it is autobiography.

An unforgettable tell-all that’s rife with details of insurrection, scientific breakthrough, and overcoming the odds.

A sharp history of crusading detective Eliot Ness (1903-1957), a man who was vastly more complicated than the square-jawed hero of The Untouchables.

Ness began his career as a hard-charging special agent tasked with enforcing Prohibition in gangster-ruled Chicago.

As crime writer Collins and historian Schwartz chronicle, he ended up a heavy drinker with a heart condition, thrice-married and unhappy. Having moved to Cleveland to take the post of head of public safety, he’d been broken by “one case he could never publicly close—the monster who emerged to prey on the city’s weakest and most vulnerable even as Eliot Ness began cleaning up their town, a killer who made Capone seem benign by comparison, branded in the press a ‘Butcher’ for what he did to his victims.” And what he did to his victims—most of them marginal people whose disappearances didn’t excite much interest from the police—was horrific: The Butcher, “a killer who preyed on strangers, for reasons incomprehensible outside his own twisted pathology,” cut off heads and genitals, eviscerated and dissected, left torsos and arms scattered along the shore of Lake Erie. Finally, upon Ness’ arrival, the police began to take notice, but they never could quite piece together the serial killer’s pattern until a resident of a veterans’ convalescent home in Sandusky voiced his suspicion that the killer was a resident there. The cat-and-mouse game that ensued makes for a careening read that’s full of surprises, especially once the killer decided that he ought to take the opportunity to taunt his pursuer. Collins and Schwartz deliver a nimble, taut tale. More importantly, they offer a portrait of a complex crime fighter who believed in science and reason at a time when most officers smacked suspects around with a blackjack, a portrait set against a backdrop of ethnic and class collisions, labor unrest, and political intrigue.

Catnip for true-crime buffs.

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New Nonfiction from City Lights The Green New Deal and Beyond Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can

By Stan Cox

Race Man Selected Works, 1960-2015

By Julian Bond Foreword by Pamela Horowitz & Jeanne Theoharis Edited by Michael G. Long Afterword by Doulgas Brinkley

Foreword by Noam Chomsky

Paperback | 9780872867949 | $22.95 | eISBN 9780872867994 | 304pp

Paperback | 9780872868069 | $16.95 | eISBN 9780872868076 | 200pp

A Short History of Presidential Election Crises (And How to Prevent the Next One)

By Alan Hirsch

No Fascist USA! The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today’s Movements

By Hilary Moore & James Tracy

Paperback | 9780872868298 | $16.95 | eISBN 9780872868328 | 224pp

Paperback | 9780872867963 | $16.95 | eISBN 9780872868007 | 256pp

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“Weaning ourselves off high levels of energy use now is good practice for a future in which a weaning is going to happen, like it or not. Convincing, painful, and a long shot—but better than the alternative.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“The readability of Bond’s writings and the balance in the introductions make this an enjoyable, worthwhile, and essential volume that will appeal to a broad audience of readers interested in the civil rights movement and human rights overall, as well as to historians and political scientists.”

—Library Journal, Starred Review

“Written without sparing the fissures and blind misunderstandings, No Fascist USA! is a must-read for people who know little about this fugitive period and also for those who lived it.”

—CounterPunch

“A highly relevant study featuring much food for thought and prospects for change.”

—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

City Lights Booksellers and Publishers | citylights.com |

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Memorable voices inform a penetrating, absorbing history. eat the buddha

THE LAST LIBERTINES

The World Beyond Your Head, the author brings an easy and wideranging erudition to his subject—in this case, our relationships to our vehicles. The book might have been titled In Defense of Driving. Despite his mostly sober prose, Crawford’s “critical, humanistic inquiry” is ultimately a passionate appeal to the importance of the autonomous individual in the face of the dehumanizing pressure of automation. Driverless cars meet a worthy opponent in Crawford, who elegantly dissuades us from a future in which “the world becomes a techno-zoo for defeated people, like the glassy-eyed creatures in WALL-E, or like the lab rats who are raised in Plexiglas enclosures.” No matter how many lives you think could be saved by removing imperfect humans from the driving equation or how tempting you find it to turn your commute into more time looking at your phone, this book will have you pining for the freedom the open road has always represented. Crawford can get carried away, as in a too-detailed account (with diagrams) of rebuilding a Volkswagen engine, but his delight in his subject makes for an enjoyable reading experience even for the non-enthusiast. The text is yet more evidence for Crawford’s argument, now extending over three books, that paying attention to and placing ourselves in the material world brings a certain satisfaction that we neglect at our peril. Employing memoir, journalism, cultural criticism, and political philosophy—and never shying away from the contentious (“An Ode to Redneck Women”)—the author makes being human seem worthwhile.

Even if Crawford is fighting a losing battle, he fights it valiantly, even heroically.

Craveri, Benedetta Trans. by Kerner, Aaron New York Review Books (680 pp.) $39.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-68137-340-9 Wide-ranging history of a doomed generation of French aristocrats whose world would come to an end with the storming of the Bastille in 1789.

Craveri, an Italian professor of French literature, opens with Saint-Beuve’s famous observation, “It is always a beautiful thing to be twenty years old.” So it is, she allows, but especially for the young generation that came up around the time of the reign of Louis XVI. Some brilliant and some merely rich idlers, the seven historical figures she portrays as representative of their class had not just wealth and nobility at their command; they also took note, to varying degrees, of the Enlightenment ideals that were springing up around them. Four of her subjects were counts, two dukes, one a mere “chevalier,” but all understood, by Craveri’s account, that the meritocratic ideal of thinkers like Diderot mattered less than the accident of their birth. Some of the author’s characters hitched their fortunes to the star that was Marie Antoinette, the “ravishing, frivolous queen.” But then, the nobility as a whole tended toward the frivolous, given to intensely public displays of consumption, campaigns of gaining royal favor, court intrigues, and the usual affairs, all expressions of what the author calls “classical libertinism.” (She adds that the habit of the extramarital affair “played the role of corrective for a matrimonial institution indifferent to the wishes of its contracting parties.”) Craveri’s narrative is long, winding, and leisurely, as the author takes her time getting to the French Revolution and the arrival of the guillotine, which took some—but not all—of the aristocrats off the stage. Indeed, there’s a hint of Balzac to the prose, which has some nice moments, as when she writes of one social climber, “Julie was too proud to submit to the logic of caste that relegated her to the margins of society.”

For fans of Laclos and De Staël, an overstuffed portrait of a long-gone era. (20 illustrations)

EAT THE BUDDHA Life and Death in a Tibetan Town Demick, Barbara Random House (368 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-0-8129-9875-7

A portrait of one town reveals Tibet’s tragic past.

Demick, a reporter for the Los Ange­ les Times who served as its bureau chief in Beijing and Seoul, offers a vibrant, often heartbreaking history of Tibet, centered on Ngaba, which sits at 11,000 feet on the plateau where Tibet collides with China. The author made three trips to the town beginning in 2013, and she interviewed Tibetans in Ngaba and many others living abroad, including the Dalai Lama and an exiled princess, who spoke candidly about the culture, religion, and politics of the besieged region. Tibet has long been vulnerable to Chinese invasion: In the 1930s, Red Army soldiers, after ransacking farms and slaughtering animals, caused widespread famine. Desperate from hunger, they discovered that votive statues in the monasteries were sculpted from barley flour and butter and were forced into “literally eating the Buddha.” Demick chronicles decades of incursions, beginning in the 1950s, that resulted in cultural upheaval, economic hardship, and the deaths of about 300,000 Tibetans.

WHY WE DRIVE Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road Crawford, Matthew B. Morrow/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $28.99 | Jun. 9, 2020 978-0-06-274196-7

A philosopher stakes his claim to freedom and the open road.

What do driving cars and riding motorcycles have to do with philosophy?

Quite a bit, it seems, at least when Crawford is steering the discussion. As in his previous books, Shop Class as Soulcraft and 68

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THE DEATH OF THE ARTIST How Creators Are Struggling To Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech

Determined to sweep out religion, the Chinese demolished monasteries. Images of the Dalai Lama—or even mention of his name—incurred harsh punishment. Tibetans were herded into communes, where they could not even cook for themselves.

Schoolchildren were indoctrinated to believe that the Communist Party “had liberated Tibet from serfdom.” By 1968, protests arose, demanding the “dismantling of the communes, the distribution of livestock to the people, and the right to reopen the monasteries.” Not surprisingly, the Communists refused, directing militias to intimidate and persecute the activists. The protests, Demick writes, “established Ngaba’s reputation for rebelliousness,” which intensified in 2009, when Ngaba became notorious for self-immolations, “an unequivocal register of discontent.” Although many Tibetans are grateful for the economic growth and technology that the Chinese have brought, the loss has been tremendous. “I have everything I might possibly want in life,” one Tibetan businessman told Demick, “but my freedom.”

Memorable voices inform a penetrating, absorbing history.

Deresiewicz, William Henry Holt (368 pp.) $27.99 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-1-250-12551-4

In defense of artists of all varieties, most of whom face daunting challenges in making a living.

Cultural critic Deresiewicz astutely examines the state of the arts in contemporary culture, arguing convincingly that to be an artist is not to be a practitioner of a “secular religion” but instead a producer within a market economy. His book, he writes, “attempts to make visible…the two things that the arts have long concealed about themselves: work and money.” Drawing on articles, books, and essays by artists, scholars, and critics as well as 140 lengthy phone interviews with artists who work in

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A sympathetic, cleareyed portrait that gives Dworkin her due without smoothing over her rough edges. andrea dworkin

music, writing, visual art, film, and TV—he profiles 25 in detail— the author paints a vivid picture of the challenges involved in making art, finding an audience, and being self-supporting as an artist. Noting that the term “fine arts” dates to 1767, he traces the cultural identity of artists from Renaissance artisans supported by patrons to Enlightenment creators of art “as an autonomous realm of expression” to bohemians who defiantly rejected the marketplace, as if the very idea of money tainted the purity of their endeavors. Today, artists working in every genre must be constantly aware, self-marketing to audiences or finding intermediaries, such as agents, to market them. Most artists, Deresiewicz shows, earn subsistence incomes, with their biggest financial pressure coming from rent, both for living, working, and performing. The author examines a wide range of topics relevant to artists’ lives, including MFA programs; the rise of Amazon and possibility for self-publishing; opportunities in TV, which is “rolling in cash”; the dearth of philanthropic support of the arts in favor of projects with social impact; and the internet, which has made art accessible, offering “unmediated access to the audience” but also putting artists in competition with many others.

A savvy assessment of how artists can, and should, function in the marketplace.

position was misunderstood as a call for censorship when in fact what she advocated was the right of women who had been harmed by pornography to sue its purveyors—and their obligation to prove their case in court. Her response to free-speech absolutists gives a good sense of both her belligerence and her searching intelligence: “People have no idea how middleclassed and privileged their liberal First Amendment stuff is— how power and money determine who can speak in this society.”

These words resonate even more strongly today, and Duberman notes that after years of opprobrium, there is now “a modicum of acknowledgment of Andrea’s insistent bravery, her mesmerizing public voice, her generosity of spirit.”

A sympathetic, cleareyed portrait that gives Dworkin her due without smoothing over her rough edges.

THE COUGAR CONUNDRUM Sharing the World With a Successful Predator

Elbroch, Mark Island Press (272 pp.) $30.00 paper | Aug. 13, 2020 978-1-61091-998-2

A mountain biologist explores the lives of cougars, which are becoming ever more present in the places that humans tread.

Attacks by cougars—variously called pumas, panthers, and mountain lions as well—seem to be on the upswing, though Elbroch observes that domesticated animals such as dogs and cows are far more dangerous, to say nothing of venomous arachnids and reptiles. An obvious reason for this spike, writes the author, is that there are simply more humans and, after a long campaign to eradicate them followed by an equally intense effort to restore them, more cougars, too. More and more humans are also spending more time outdoors, which increases the likelihood of encounters. Elbroch takes readers on a tour of cougar biology and ecology, emphasizing how important the big cats are to the ecosystem—e.g., they feed mostly on deer, which can easily become too abundant in the absence of predators. More pointedly, the author spends much of the book examining management practices, arguing against unrestricted hunting on several grounds, including the fact that “killing a mountain lion [has] more than ten times the impact in determining the likelihood that there will be conflicts in an area as compared to adding one more live mountain lion to that same area.” Elbroch is particularly critical of trophy hunters, who, in the case of bears, “cause social chaos that increases infanticide for up to two years following the death of their trophy bear.” The effects on mountain lion populations are less well known, but all the same, the author concludes that nonlethal conservation is preferable to but does not necessarily rule out hunting, making hunters and biologists natural allies: “We need bridges, not divisions, among stakeholders.”

Policymakers, conservationists, and hunters alike will find this a useful, if sometimes controversial, handbook. (photos)

ANDREA DWORKIN The Feminist as Revolutionary Duberman, Martin The New Press (384 pp.) $29.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-62097-585-5

Veteran biographer and gay rights activist Duberman assesses the life and thought of the combative radical feminist.

Andrea Dworkin (1946-2005) was among the most controversial figures in the second-wave feminist movement, caricatured by her critics as a man-hating lesbian who believed all heterosexual sex was rape. Duberman, who knew her personally, paints a much more nuanced picture, pointing out that Dworkin lived for 40 years in a nonexclusive, occasionally sexual relationship with a devoted male partner and that she was ahead of her time in seeing gender as a social construct that denied the fluidity of human sexual behavior. His account of Dworkin’s childhood and youth depicts a precocious rebel with a deep commitment to social justice and a theatrical, confrontational personality that brooked no compromise or evasions.

When she was subjected to a brutal and humiliating vaginal exam after being arrested at a sit-in protesting the Vietnam War, 18-year-old Dworkin wrote to every newspaper in New York City describing her ordeal and the conditions at the Women’s House of Detention. It was the beginning of her lifelong battle to make the world face the fact that women were routinely mistreated and abused, culminating in her famous crusade against pornography. Duberman persuasively argues that Dworkin’s 70

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“A SUSPENSEFUL ACCOUNT OF TWO GHANAIAN REFUGEES’ QUEST FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM . . .

R E A D E R S W I L L B E E Q U A L PA R TS OUTRAGED AND INSPIRED

BY T H I S N OV E L I ST I C AC C O U N T. ”

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“ THE MOST I M P O R TA N T BOOK I’VE READ IN A LONG TIME.”

AVA I L A B L E N O W W W W. C O U N T E R P O I N T P R E S S . C O M |

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BRADBURY BEYOND APOLLO

NOT A NOVEL A Memoir in Pieces

Eller, Jonathan R. Univ. of Illinois (336 pp.) $34.95 | Aug. 16, 2020 978-0-252-04341-3

Erpenbeck, Jenny Trans. by Beals, Kurt New Directions (212 pp.) $16.95 paper | Sep. 29, 2020 978-0-8112-2932-6

The final installment of the author’s three-volume life of Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

Eller, director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana UniversityPurdue, creates an assured, meticulously researched narrative based on interviews, archival sources, and extensive knowledge of his subject’s oeuvre. Bradbury wrote his most famous works—such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Mar­tian Chronicles—from 1941 to 1962. By 1969, the year Bradbury designated as Apollo Year 1 in honor of the space mission, he “had become a cultural icon whose legacy would shine a light deep into the next century.” He also turned to other genres, including lectures, essays, poetry, plays, and orchestral pieces; collected past stories; and pushed for stage, TV, and film adaptations, efforts that sometimes failed because of his prickly relationships with producers and collaborators.

Though hailed by many for his lyrical prose, Bradbury could exasperate the scientific community. The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, for example, complained of an “unbridgeable gulf between his cosmology and the established science of the day” that made his participation with the museum untenable.

When he was invited as a speaker, he took assigned topics as nothing more than “an invitation to extemporaneous storytelling,” sometimes with regrettable results. As in his previous volumes, Eller traces Bradbury’s life in detail, noting every publication and project, and his views on a variety of topics: politics (he was a Reagan supporter, applauding the administration’s tax cuts and foreign policy), fear of flying (he “could not fly to Florida” to receive an Aviation Space Writers Association Award), and the Italian filmmaker Fellini (they shared “avoidance of revision and rational reflection in the midst of creation”). Assessing Bradbury’s legacy, Eller persuasively depicts him as “a visionary, asked over and over again to tell us why we desire to explore, why we should go to the stars, and what we might become when we get there.”

A well-crafted biography of a man who inspired “cosmic awareness in the everyday world.”

A memoir from one of Europe’s most original and accomplished writers.

German writer Erpenbeck has published a number of works of fiction, many garnering distinguished prizes and awards. In her first book of nonfiction, which she calls “a collection of texts,” she is “looking back for the first time at many years of my life, at the thoughts that filled my life from day to day during that time.” These essays, lectures, and speeches are organized in three parts: “Life,” “Literature and Music,” and “Society.” In the first, the author recounts her early years growing up in East Berlin, when she saw “soldiers on patrol” and the “barricades, the watchtowers, and the wall.” When she moved to another apartment, she could “read the time for my socialist life from this clock in the other world.” After the wall fell, she writes, “my childhood belonged in a museum.” In the second section, Erpenbeck begins with her literary models, especially fairy tales, which featured transformations that “expanded my reality like a drug.” She also discusses Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, and Edgar Lee Masters, whose taciturn poems made her “want to use language primarily to give shape to the gaps between the words, those mute spaces.” In Spoon River Anthology, she writes, the “pauses are part of the text, they may be the finest part.”

In this essay and one on her book The Old Child, Erpenbeck is revealing about her unique literary style: elliptical, restrained, unvarnished, and austere. In her exploration of her play Cats Have Nine Lives, she explains how writing plays taught her to excise unnecessary words: “Silence is essential, it is the inseparable shadow of what is spoken.” In the last section, Erpenbeck the activist is front and center. “Blind Spots,” a keynote speech, powerfully addresses borders, refugees from “shitholes,” and the “concept of freedom.”

An ideal introduction to the life and work of an exceptional artist.

BARNSTORMING OHIO To Understand America Giffels, David Hachette (272 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-0-306-84639-7

An Ohio native chronicles his road trip through his complicated home state, which has gotten only more complicated in the Trump era.

Giffels, a longtime Akron-based journalist, has no grand unified theory of Ohio to offer, no 72

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common denominator for a place that encompasses Deep South, urban, Midwestern, and Appalachian cultures and split political sensibilities. It is, he writes, “an all-American buffet, an uncannily complete everyplace.” But he also senses that the loose tethers connecting the state are further unraveling, so he hit the road to understand the fraying. In Lordstown, he found a factory town betrayed first by GM and then by Trump’s empty promises of revival. Giffels visited farmers struggling amid tariffs and punishing storms. In Elyria, a community pins its hopes on Amazon building a warehouse on the site of a dead mall; in Dayton, the opioid epidemic persists; in Cincinnati, relations between police and black residents remain tense. Throughout the book, Giffels tries to square these challenges with the fact that the state turned so eagerly to Trump in 2016. To that point, he finds a few lessons in the late Jim Traficant, the corrupt, pugnacious congressperson who still earned respect for a seemingly genuine compassion for the common man. The author’s efforts to cover multiple bases can feel breezy at times, and there’s little drama in his deep dive into the short-lived presidential candidacy of Tim Ryan. But Giffels also writes gracefully at every stop and actively seeks pockets of sunlight amid the gloom: a

boom in craft brewing, hard-nosed progressive activism, and a stubbornness exemplified by Robert Pollard, the Dayton-based frontman of the boozy but indefatigable band Guided by Voices.

In Ohio, writes the author, “struggle is a sort of birthright, and it has inspired energy and innovation in the generation that has followed the industrial decline.”

An affectionate, realistic survey of a state coming back from the brink.

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SYNCHRONICITY The Epic Quest To Understand the Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect

UNFIT FOR PURPOSE When Human Evolution Collides With the Modern World

Halpern, Paul Basic (320 pp.) $24.99 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-5416-7363-2

Hart, Adam Bloomsbury Sigma (365 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-4729-7099-2

Another attempt to explain quantum mechanics that sometimes succeeds.

A bedrock of science is that things happen for a reason. The window breaks after the rock strikes it, not before. Also, it doesn’t break because the stars are misaligned. This is the concept of cause and effect, writes physics professor Halpern, who begins with a history of science beginning with the ancient Greeks, who didn’t trust observation because human senses were imperfect. True knowledge, they taught, required deep thought. Aristotle explained a few things correctly but got many wrong. Once thinkers took observation seriously—Galileo was probably the first scientist—centuries of straightforward scientific explanations followed until the 20th century, when Einstein’s relativity muddled matter, energy, time, and space and then quantum mechanics proved that reasonable things such as locating a particle precisely are impossible—but the impossible happens routinely. Light changes from a wave to a particle and back again. Devoting two-thirds of his text to history, Halpern delves so deeply into quantum mechanics that readers unfamiliar with college physics will struggle. At this point, he introduces Carl Jung, the brilliant Swiss psychiatrist who both learned from and influenced physicist Wolfgang Pauli during 25 years of their relationship, beginning in the 1930s. Jung believed that humans share a collective unconscious revealed through religion, mythology, and art, with dreams playing a central role. That dreams rarely make sense stimulated Jung, who emphasized synchronicity, the idea that coincidences are connected provided one looks deeply enough.

Thus, it was no accident that Mark Twain was born and died in a year of Halley’s comet. The experience left Pauli fascinated by mysticism, numerology, and psychic phenomena without contributing much to his scientific acumen. Since synchronicity is unprovable, few scientists take it seriously. Halpern is no exception, but he presents it as a painful example of the difficulty of understanding phenomena that seem to lack cause and effect.

An intensely detailed investigation of modern scientific fields that defy common sense.

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How evolution has failed to equip human beings for the 21st century.

For readers puzzled about why they feel overworked, anxious, depressed, and mentally and physically worn down, Hart, an entomologist and science broadcaster, has an interesting hypothesis. The culprit may be a “mismatch between the world in which we evolved and the world in which we now find ourselves.” Many of the issues the author examines in this scientifically sophisticated but (mostly) readable, accessible treatise—gut health, chronic obesity, internet-induced social dysfunctions, media violence’s effect on our brains, stress overload, hyperaddictive personality disorders—have all been covered in various ways. What makes Hart’s approach intriguing is his framing of our modern-day ills as simple biological deficiencies: We have created a world that regularly pushes us beyond our naturally given physical and psychological limits. “Most worryingly,” he writes, “despite a very pressing need to solve the many environmental problems we have caused, evolution has left us selfish and without any sensible notion of the future.” What can we do about this discrepancy between our capacities as evolved beings and the challenges of the modern world? That’s a more uncertain matter. One area in which Hart’s study hits home is his terrifying hypothetical description of “microstressors” and how they can slowly kill us in barely noticeable ways. Less original—even when backed by peer-reviewed research from the scientific community—are the author’s assessments of how our brains react to the increasingly hyperviolent images the media constantly feeds us. Hart is unconvincing in his discussion of the long debatable idea that we’re becoming a more violent society and that those who experience greater exposure to violent images will be more prone to violence in real life. So what side of human nature will win out— our innate capacity for cooperation or our natural tendency toward selfishness? For Hart, it’s a toss-up.

An intermittently fascinating but inconclusive pop-science study.

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SUMMER READING FOR YOUNG SKEPTICS from bestselling author JAMES W. LOEWEN

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“[Loewen] argues that young people should not be deprived of hearing the incredible truth of American history. . . . An accessible, eye-opening invitation to look for hidden—and not-so-hidden—agendas in supposedly authoritative sources.”

—KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Every teacher, every student of history,

“Powerful and important . . .

every citizen should read this book.”

—Howard Zinn

an instant classic.”

—THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

“Brims with fascinating history.”

—LOS ANGELES TIMES

THE NEW PRESS www.thenewpress.com

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A nimble exploration of the ways our diverse bodies interact with the world around us. what can a body do?

THINK LIKE A FEMINIST The Philosophy Behind the Revolution

WHAT CAN A BODY DO? How We Meet the Built World

Hay, Carol Norton (224 pp.) $25.95 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-324-00309-0

Hendren, Sara Riverhead (272 pp.) $27.00 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-7352-2000-3

How—and why—do young feminists’ goals differ from those of their mothers and grandmothers? A philosophy professor has answers.

Despite its title, this energetic overview of several centuries of feminist thought offers few self-help tips until, late in the book, Hay suggests ways to deal with annoyances like “manspreading” and “mansplaining.” Instead, with a winning mix of scholarship and irreverence, the author lays out the philosophical underpinnings of feminism and how they have evolved through three waves: the first focused on female suffrage, the second on political and legal goals, and the third on the intersection of sexism and injustices such as “racism, classism, ableism, homophobia, or transphobia.” Hay traces women’s oppression partly to the unequal results of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden: Adam simply “gets kicked out of his parents’ basement and told he has to grow up and get a job” while Eve and her descendants were thrown “under a bus.” The author also shows the clashing responses that women’s predicaments have inspired in fervent theorists and activists—e.g., Aristotle and John Stuart Mill, “Angry Feminists” and “Girl Power Feminists,” “trans-inclusive feminists” and “trans-exclusionary radical feminists.” Hay doesn’t mention Gloria Steinem but sums up the impact of many other signal figures, including Mary Wollstonecraft, Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, Audre Lorde, Susan Brownmiller, Shulamith Firestone, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. Hay’s approach has its limits: Focused on theories born in capitalist economies, she takes too little note of the ideas of feminists outside North America whose support for socialist programs has helped their democracies race past the U.S. and Canada in achieving widely shared goals such as paid parental leave. Still, this book speaks to second- and third-wavers alike and could build worthy intergenerational bridges.

A lively compendium of what Gloria Steinem didn’t tell you about feminist ideas and why they matter.

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A granular inquiry into a fascinating question: “Who is the world designed for?”

Hendren, an artist and design researcher who teaches design for disability at the Olin College of Engineering, enthusiastically studies how both abled and disabled bodies confront the relative rigidity or flexibility of the built world and how disability derives in part by the (built) shape of the world, its rigid and scripted sense of what the body can do, and how it organizes space. “It’s the interaction between the conditions of the body and the shapes of the world that make disability into a lived experience,” writes the author, “and therefore a matter not only for individuals but also for societies.”

She dissects the prevalence of “average,” its physical and moral qualities and its false projection of cultural worth. Hendren sees the world as it might flex and bend to better fit a variety of interpretations of universal ideas. It’s about being adaptive, acknowledging how environments can be built to compensate for our bodily limitations or to refine our capacities. The aim, writes the author, is for “workhorse pragmatism” and “charismatic” presence. With intimacy, curiosity, and a bright sense of possibility, Hendren investigates the creation of elegantly designed prostheses from low-cost, readily available materials, devices whose social meaning does not preclude alternate possibilities of individual experience. She also considers the threedimensionality of sign language and its distinct sensory ecology.

Most pointedly, perhaps, the author investigates the concept of dependency. “Dependency and the care it requires,” she writes, “may be the most distilled definition of disability and also the most universal. Some scholars claim that disability may well be ‘the fundamental of human embodiment.’ The fundamental aspect? What a notion—that the universalizing experience of disability, states of dimensional dependence from our infancy through the end of life, might be the central fact of having a body, or rather being a body.”

A nimble exploration of the ways our diverse bodies interact with the world around us.

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RAVENNA Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

IRON EMPIRES Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America

Herrin, Judith Princeton Univ. (528 pp.) $29.95 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-691-15343-8

Hiltzik, Michael Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (448 pp.) $30.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-544-77031-7

The early life and times of an Italian city that sometimes threatened to overshadow Rome.

Ravenna, on the Adriatic coast near Venice and Bologna, served as an outpost in the days of the Roman Republic. When Visigoths and other outlanders descended on Rome, Ravenna seemed a promising stronghold, “partly because it was considered impregnable and partly because of its large port,” as emerita professor of classics Herrin writes. After the fall of Rome, it steadily gained importance, first as a center of Gothic power and then as a tributary city of Byzantium and an entrepôt with strong ties to the Eastern Roman empire. “This strength,” Herrin observes, “was rooted in its threefold combination of Roman law and military prowess, Greek education and culture and Christian belief and morality.” She examines each of these pillars in turn. Roman power steadily declined over the centuries until Alaric stormed the gates in 410 C.E., but Ravenna remembered the lessons of its rule, eventually establishing colonies of its own in many parts of the former empire, especially in Sicily. More powerful than any other institution was the church, so strong that rivalries with the papal headquarters in Rome were not uncommon.

Of particular interest to students of early Christian history is Ravenna’s emergence as a node of Arian worship—though, Herrin writes, eventually that “heresy” would be suppressed at the order of Byzantine Emperor Justin, “a symptom of the much greater intolerance that would later result in outright persecution of minorities.” The bonds with the Eastern Roman Empire would eventually break, but the centuries of affiliation explain why even today so many people travel to Ravenna to see Byzantine art, so widely destroyed elsewhere. Even in later medieval times, adds the author, “the mosaicked churches of Ravenna… continued to inspire transalpine visitors as they became monastic centres, ensuring their preservation while all around the palaces of secular power crumbled.”

Aficionados of early medieval history—and of course Ravenna itself—will learn much from Herrin’s work.

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A vigorously told history of the transcontinental railroad barons and the commercial and transportation

empires they forged.

Los Angeles Times columnist and reporter Hiltzik opens with a westward-bound Scotsman named Robert Louis Stevenson, not yet famous for his adventure tales, who took careful note of the emigrants aboard an early Union Pacific line and the contempt with which the railroad workers treated them. The great empire-builders among the railroad entrepreneurs—Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and J. Pierpont Morgan among them— “formed a continuum that for more than four decades…transformed America’s railroads from a patchwork of short lines waging constant self-destructive war with one another into a titanic enterprise that could justly be considered America’s first big business.” They also helped transform the U.S. into a continent-spanning, and then international, power. Few were models of ethical capitalism; as Hiltzik notes, Gould in particular was “a master of financial chicanery,” but at least he was an unostentatious and retiring sort, whereas others were flagrant in buying judges and politicians. The worse the capitalists became, the greater the strength of labor activism arrayed against them.

However, as the author observes, “the desire to counter the policies of the tycoons was hamstrung by the absence of instruments to do so”—until the crusading labor leader Eugene V. Debs came along. No matter, for the very White House was in the railroad owners’ pockets—the attorney general in Grover Cleveland’s Cabinet, who spent years as an executive with different railroad corporations, was paid more on the side by them than in salary by the federal treasury—until Theodore Roosevelt began his vigorous work on antitrust reforms. The story will be well known to readers versed in late-19th-century American history, but the rest will benefit from Hiltzik’s clear exposition of key episodes and players.

Students of the Gilded Age and its unraveling will value this survey. (27 b/w photos; 6 maps)

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A gripping true-crime chronicle in which the justice is both righteous and agonizing. the arsonist

THE ARSONIST A Mind on Fire

Hooper, Chloe Seven Stories (272 pp.) $18.95 paper | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-64421-000-0

A tactical breakdown of Australia’s catastrophic Black Saturday bushfires and the arsonist behind them.

In early 2009, two wildfires engulfed more than 450,000 hectares in the state of Victoria, ultimately leading to 173 deaths. In an engrossing report brimming with urgent detail and palpable suspense, Hooper diligently retraces the steps of those investigations. Dividing the book into three sections, the author brings together the findings of crime scene experts, forensic fire scientists, and arson squad authorities, all of whom meticulously scrutinized every possible clue left by a fire in which “burning birds fell from trees, igniting the ground where they landed.” A local suspect named Brendan Sokaluk was detained as the “firebug” arsonist, but establishing

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a method or motive proved to be difficult. Hooper fills in the other sections with the stories of stressed attorneys jockeying for litigious positioning and dramatic courtroom scenes but also the heartbreaking profiles of the fire victims. One recalls a truncated phone conversation with his son, soon after which he received a text message that read, “Dad im dead I love u.” In addition, Hooper delivers an evenhanded psychological assessment of Sokaluk. Vulnerable, volatile, and seemingly misunderstood, he endured a tortuous childhood and lived his life with undiagnosed and untreated autism. In the courtroom, the legal team struggled with Sokaluk’s defense strategy amid damning evidence from neighbors who’d witnessed the accused burning a towering bonfire in his backyard or sitting on his rooftop watching the flames from the wildfires in awe. Both pensive and revelatory in the closing pages, the narrative covers Sokaluk’s arson conviction, the community reaction, and the crime’s aftermath. Consistently riveting and never fuzzy on the details, Hooper’s book encompasses the specifics of the fire, its collateral damages, and the troubled mind behind the mayhem.

A gripping true-crime chronicle in which the justice is both righteous and agonizing.

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WHO WE’RE READING WHEN WE’RE READING MURAKAMI

Every historian hopes to stumble on records that alter understanding of the past. Through industry and luck, Kars, a historian of slavery, has done just that. Her discovery of neverused Dutch archives informs this tale of a previously unknown slave uprising on South America’s northern coast. Written in lively, detailed prose, the narrative offers fresh looks at slavery in the New World and, equally important, slaves’ efforts to free themselves from bondage. The “collective armed rebellion” along the Berbice River in today’s Guyana, then a Dutch colony, started in 1763. Although it eventually failed, the violent insurrection drew in native tribes, Spanish and Dutch forces from Europe, and colonists from neighboring settlements.

The incident is historically significant because the slaves who took independence into their own hands controlled an entire colony for over a year—something unprecedented until Haitian slaves began freeing themselves in 1791 in a successful 13-year struggle. The novelty of this book is the author’s presentation of the rebellion’s records: an incredible 900 slave testimonies previously unknown and unused until Kars unearthed them.

They contain the words and voices of the mutinous slaves, voices rarely captured with such fidelity and in such numbers in the archives of other insurrections. It’s these voices, and Kars’ skill in bringing them to life, that keeps the text from being a dry academic study. So, too, does the story’s classic tragic arc: dashes for freedom, alliances between slaves and Indigenous tribes, in-fighting and betrayals, heroic leaders, barbarities on all sides, and deflating defeat. Though the rebellion failed, the Berbice colony never recovered from the costs of defeating the uprising. It was a harbinger of things to come.

A riveting addition to the history of the search for freedom in the Americas.

Karashima, David Soft Skull Press (384 pp.) $16.95 paper | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-59376-589-7

A lively account of the many people involved in bringing Haruki Murakami’s writings to English-speaking readers.

Literature originates with an author’s imagination, but the final product is the work of a team of professionals, from agents and editors to marketing staff and cover designers. The task of bringing the work of an author who writes in another language to English-speaking audiences is even more complex. In this admiring work, first printed in Japanese in 2018, Karashima travels “back in time to tell the stories of the colorful cast of characters who first contributed to publishing Murakami’s work in English.” The vibrancy of those colors varies from person to person. Among the subjects are Murakami’s first translator, Alfred Birnbaum, an American who came to Japan with his family at age 5, got a job translating for Kodansha International, “one of the leading publishers of Japanese literature in English translation,” and translated A Wild Sheep Chase in 1987, when Murakami was unknown outside Japan; Elmer Luke, a Chinese American editor who, in Murakami’s words, “started the engine” when he sold his work to the American market; editors at the New Yorker, including former editor-in-chief Robert Gottlieb, who, Karashima argues, “may have been pivotal to Murakami’s career” by publishing his early stories; and later translators such as Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel. Parts of the book are extraneous; there’s little point in quoting someone whose response to a question about the U.S. publication of A Wild Sheep Chase is to say he doesn’t recall any details. But readers interested in Murakami will enjoy learning about the challenges and trade-offs involved in translation, from the different styles of his translators to his philosophical acceptance of the changes the New Yorker made to his work because that publication “has a large number of readers and they also pay really well.”

A fascinating glimpse into the inner workings of publishing.

THE WARDIAN CASE

Keogh, Luke Univ. of Chicago (288 pp.) $35.00 | Aug. 1, 2020 978-0-226-71361-8

Australian historian Keogh explores how a humble box made of wood and glass changed the course of world history.

In 1829, British surgeon and amateur naturalist Nathaniel Ward designed a case in which living plants could be kept alive for months at a time with little or no human intervention while being transported from one continent to another. Over the next century, thousands of these boxes were crafted and sent back and forth across the ocean many times, carrying plants for agricultural purposes, scientific study, and personal enjoyment.

Technologically, what came to be known as the Wardian case— though Ward never took out a patent or received any reimbursement for the invention, to his disgruntlement—was seemingly unremarkable. A wooden bottom held soil in which plants could be grown, and glass windows allowed in sunlight, prevented water loss through evaporation, and kept seawater from entering what was basically a terrarium. In this well-balanced,

BLOOD ON THE RIVER A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast Kars, Marjoleine The New Press (336 pp.) $27.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-62097-459-9

A microhistory of scholarly significance, this action-packed book enlarges understanding of the New World’s history in the era of international conflict on the eve of transformative Western revolutions.

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Richly researched, revelatory, disturbing, and essential to those wandering in the mists of American myth. break it up

thoughtful account, Keogh investigates both the positive and negative impacts of the cases, which contributed to science and food production but also allowed for the spread of many invasive species, including not just the desired plants themselves, but species that hitched rides in the boxes. Ample illustrations, including some in color, add visual appeal to the book. Though some may find it overly scholarly and wonder whether what is essentially a well-designed packing box deserves quite so many pages of study, the author carefully teases out the connections between this innovation and its multiple consequences. Along the way, he introduces some colorful characters, not least the debonair homebody Ward himself, with his “pleasant and caring disposition” and knack for networking and self-promotion.

Endnotes reveal the careful lengths to which Keogh has gone in his investigation and suggest many possible books for further information about the subjects he covers.

An in-depth study that will suit detail-oriented gardeners and natural history buffs. (color photos)

prayer in schools) to divide and conquer, the interference of Russia in our elections (yes, the Russians benefit mightily from an America in disarray), and the behavior of Trump, who has “certainly made those [cultural/political] divisions far worse.”

Richly researched, revelatory, disturbing, and essential to those wandering in the mists of American myth.

THE ERRATICS A Memoir

Laveau-Harvie, Vicki Knopf (224 pp.) $25.95 | Aug. 20, 2020 978-0-525-65861-0

BREAK IT UP Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union

Kreitner, Richard Little, Brown (384 pp.) $30.00 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-316-51060-8

A contributor to the Nation revisits American history, highlighting the many crises that nearly caused permanent fracture.

In his latest book, Kreitner effectively cleans the window that stands between us and our history—or what we have believed about our history. Beginning in 1620 with the arrival of the Pilgrims and ending with the election of Donald Trump— “the 2016 presidential election set off a volcanic upheaval unlike any since the one [Walt] Whitman welcomed in 1861. The next day, many Americans walked around as if in a daze, their faces the portrait of a divided nation”—the text highlights those moments, some no doubt unfamiliar to many readers, when colonies, territories, states, and groups within states considered rebellion and secession. Although the author discusses the most prominent of these, the Civil War, he focuses more on the little-known. He reminds us that the 13 Colonies did not gleefully unite against the British, that the Constitution did not arrive to universal acclaim, that we did not all leap enthusiastically into the War of 1812, that we have long feared and mistreated immigrants, and that there were numerous instances when our country was close to falling apart. Oregon, Washington, Texas, California, the New England states—these and other states have considered secession; in some cases, these efforts have been quite recent. Throughout, the author does an admirable job suppressing his own political views—until near the end, when he expresses his horror about the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, the GOP’s intransigence with Barack Obama and its use of cultural issues (abortion, gay marriage, |

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A Canadian-born educator’s account of an unexpected homecoming that forced her to come to terms with a dysfunctional family past.

Laveau-Harvie returned to Alberta from Australia after learning that a fall had landed her elderly, “mad as a meat-ax” mother in the hospital. The author’s concern was not so much for her mother, but more for her foggy-brained father, whom her mother had starved and turned against his daughters. Long disinherited by her parents, Laveau-Harvie knew that keeping her mother confined was the only way to save her father. As she began to assess the world her estranged parents inhabited in their filthy, isolated house on 20 acres, memories of her past life with them resurfaced. Most of the memories involved her mother. Though given to sometimes-outrageous exaggeration, she could make “anything sound reasonable. On her urging, Mormons have been known to consume alcohol.”

She also seemed to take pleasure in making both her daughters feel like “prey,” often repeating the refrain, “I’ll get you and you won’t even know I’m doing it.” The author and her sister both fled and made lives far away from home, but when her more conciliatory sister offered to move from her home in Vancouver, her mother suggested that “trespassing anywhere near them would be answered with a Kalashnikov.” For 18 months, the sisters traveled back and forth to ensure that their mother would be ruled incompetent and to see that their father received proper care. The home care specialists they hired—such as the “housekeeping slut,” the “gold digger,” and the “serial killer”— eventually made them realize that they would need to reforge broken ties and bring their father back into their lives. This riveting book explores family relationships—and the sometimesdevastating pain they cause—with a darkly humorous ferocity that is both remarkable and eloquent.

A poignant, unsparing, often poetic memoir.

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TWO TREES MAKE A FOREST Travels Among Taiwan’s Mountains and Coasts in Search of My Family’s Past

MONEY FOR NOTHING The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich

Lee, Jessica J. Catapult (304 pp.) $16.95 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-64622-000-7

Levenson, Thomas Random House (400 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-8129-9846-7

A family memoir that incorporates elements of environmental and colonial history and celebrates the subtle-

The story of government debt finance, which sounds boring but definitely isn’t.

Science writer and MIT professor Levenson reminds readers that rulers throughout history have taxed citizens to pay bills. During wars, this proved insufficient, so they borrowed from rich people and often didn’t pay it back. As a result, governments paid higher interest than private borrowers and sometimes found no lenders. Alternatives such as seizing church money created other difficulties, but unpaid soldiers wreaked havoc. Britain solved this problem around 1700 when clever men invented the joint-stock company, which would exchange government bonds for stock in their business. The bonds were collateral for loans that the company would invest, make a profit, and pay dividends. What could go wrong? Succeeding in business takes time and expertise, but joint-stock shares had value immediately. One could profit trading them, and savvy company owners, with insider knowledge (not then illegal) and a printing press, went to town. Levenson’s fascinating subject, the South-Sea Company, was not the first but the most memorable. In 1711, Parliament approved a plan to trade its bonds for South-Sea stock, which they believed would skyrocket because the company possessed exclusive trade rights in South America.

This trade never amounted to much, but few paid attention.

The company absorbed a great deal of government debt and satisfied both owners and shareholders until 1720, when—for reasons no one, including the author, can explain—stock prices shot upward during a buying frenzy and then collapsed. While historians often portray this as a scam, Levenson points out that it worked. Despite recriminations following the crash, British leaders understood that issuing bonds that buyers could trade or use as collateral was a superb way to borrow. Other nations did not catch on for another century, during which time Britain’s ability to raise immense quantities of money allowed it to “punch above its weight class” in wars against far more populous and wealthy nations.

An enthralling account of an economic revolution that emerged from a scandal.

ties of language.

Lee, a Berlin-based British Canadian Taiwanese author, began her journey and historical excavation after discovering her grandfather’s attempts at an autobiography, “just a series of fragments, circled and repeated—pieces of his life told to no one before, pressed to paper, and perhaps forgotten by him soon after writing.” The author grew up in Canada with her mother and grandparents, all of whom had relocated there from Taiwan. After she found her grandfather’s letters, written when the “Chinese Communist Party was formed,” Lee became increasingly drawn to the island that she had visited as a baby but never considered a significant part of her identity. This elegiac book, which smoothly incorporates historical and travel threads, was born from the desire to embrace her heritage.

With a doctorate in environmental history and an impressive grasp of botany and geology, Lee takes readers on a fascinating tour of the island and its past. Settled by the Dutch and Spanish, and then Chinese, in the 17th century, it was transferred to Japan in 1895 following the First Sino-Japanese War, and then back to China after World Wari II. Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist Party retreated there in 1949, and Lee’s grandparents arrived separately shortly thereafter. On the author’s engrossing tour, we are introduced to a landscape that is filled with colorful flora and fauna but is also subject to earthquakes, mudslides, and typhoons, all of which Lee describes in often poetic language—e.g., “the otherworld of the earthquake lake is a blackened shroud, but the quarter-mooned sky stretches light forever.” Chronicling her adventures in the mountains and along the shores, she comments insightfully on contemporary issues of politics, prejudice, and pollution as well as her efforts to master the language and bond with long-lost relatives.

A beautiful and personal view of an island—and an author—shaped by environment and history.

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Once he breaks his cartoonish character, Mania proves to be an impressive humorist with a voice all his own. born to be public

THE ABOLITIONIST AND THE SPY A Father, a Son, and Their Battle for the Union Lizzio, Ken Countryman (256 pp.) $16.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-68268-471-9

The story of two Civil War–era antislavery activists, father and son.

Spencer Kellogg Brown was just 19 years old when he volunteered to become a spy for the Union, having already served in the Army and then enlisted in the federal Navy patrolling the Mississippi River. Spencer, writes Lizzio, an anthropologist and popular historian, may have been driven by ambition, a desire for adventure, and “an impassioned abolitionist’s abhorrence of slavery” all at once. Certainly a factor, as well, was the example of his father, Orville, an earnest Christian from the so-called Burned-Over District of western New York, where religious fervor fueled sectarianism and abolitionism. Orville tried his hand at this and that before moving the family to Kansas, where the issue of whether the territory would join the Union as a free or a slave state was being put up to a vote that led supporters of both sides to stream in to cast ballots. In the case of one key vote, nearly 5.5 out of 6 ballots were for slavery, about which Lizzio observes, “since legal pro-slavery voters greatly outnumbered free-soilers, Missouri settlers would have prevailed easily in a free and fair election.”

The free-staters cried foul, and in no time the territory became the “Bloody Kansas” of the history books, with militias led by such firebrands as John Brown and his pro-slavery counterparts murdering opponents right and left. “John Brown has been described as a bit player in the Kansas conflict, yet the old broadswords man was anything but,” writes the author. “His massacre of innocent men on the Pottawatomie marked the moment when what had thus far been largely a political conflict turned violent.” The violence mounted to the point of civil war, whereupon Orville takes a back seat to Spencer in Lizzio’s fastpaced and lucid account.

A sturdy contribution to the popular history of the Civil War and especially its western theater.

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writing about soul music treats the genre as if it were trapped in amber. Though the music had a relatively brief moment of prominence on the charts in the late 1960s and early ’70s, it speaks to enduring elements of black experience that were often suppressed. To that end, the author’s guiding lights aren’t James Brown or Stax and Motown legends; rather, she spotlights the likes of Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, and Minnie Riperton, less-appreciated artists for whom “stylization of survival is conditioned by pain, often led by women, and driven by imagination, innovation, and craft.” Lordi shows how this attitude manifests through the artists’ song choices (often reinterpretations of pop hits by white artists), live ad-libs and false endings, and falsetto singing, which explores “how vulnerable it is permissible to be—how sexy, how extravagant, how cool and effervescent.” The author’s use of jargon is sometimes overly thick, especially when she tussles with the “post-soul” theorists who downplay the music’s themes of femininity and struggle. However, Lordi’s distinct takes on the genre are refreshing, built on close listening to artists like Riperton and Donny Hathaway and explorations of albums that reside outside the soul canon. (Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul and Aretha Frankin’s live gospel album Amazing Grace draw special attention.) The author’s argument for soul’s continuing relevance would be stronger with more contemporary examples, but she concludes with some brief but thought-provoking commentaries on artists like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monáe. They are, she writes, representative of what she calls “Afropresentism,” a mindset that is beholden neither to the past nor Afrofuturist fantasias but instead speaks to black struggles in the moment.

A knotty but worthy attempt to stoke new conversations about a genre sometimes dismissed as moribund.

BORN TO BE PUBLIC A Memoir Mania, Greg Clash Books (194 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-94486-669-3

The coming-of-age story of a flamboyant social butterfly and talented writer.

Writer, comedian, and screenwriter Mania is instantly recognizable, with a towering, gilded mane of bright blond hair and a biting, mischievous sense of humor. Behind the colorful facade is a rather keen and sensitive young man who channeled his fierce ambition into a comedic niche and conspicuous place in the public eye. True, he opens by characterizing the book as a “200,000 character Tweet” and occasionally punctuates the narrative with trifles such as “25 Tweets That Underperformed So I’m Immortalizing Them in This Book Out of Spite” or “Things I Was Advised Against Putting in My Book Proposal so I Put Them Here.” But for an ostentatious comedian with underlying anxiety and depression, Mania tells a surprisingly relatable tale of grit, sacrifice, and, eventually, self-acceptance.

THE MEANING OF SOUL Black Music and Resilience Since the 1960s

Lordi, Emily J. Duke Univ. (224 pp.) $25.95 paper | Aug. 14, 2020 978-1-4780-0959-7

An outline for an alternative history of soul music that emphasizes the intersection of blackness, struggle, and femininity.

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After relating the awkward story of losing his virginity, Mania delves into the gay nightlife scene in New York City circa 2010, a raucous tale filled with drag queens, failed relationships, and the politics of being a go-go dancer. There are also run-ins with minor celebrities, bitter reflections of what the author dubs “The Thankless Trifecta”—the universal misery of working menial jobs in restaurants, retail, and offices—and general thoughts on life in the big city, including dating tips and the many odd experiences that are part of daily life in NYC. Less dramatic is Mania’s rise to success. He characterizes himself as an “Internet Spectacle,” with a public persona dying for attention, but the truth is that he’s made it through hard work, writing mostly humorous essays and profiles for outlets like Vanity Fair and Electric Literature and now screenplays that include his award-winning debut, Deadman’s Barstool.

Once he breaks his cartoonish character, Mania proves to be an impressive humorist with a voice all his own.

the contributions of earlier generations of feminists or philosophers. Hopefully in her next book Manne will extend her range and build on the potential she showed in Down Girl.

A well-meaning but myopic view of sexual double standards in the U.S. and how they hurt women.

MY CAPTAIN AMERICA A Memoir Margulies, Megan Pegasus (336 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-64313-464-2

Episodic memoir recounting the close relationship between grandfather and grandchild—and an unusual grandfather at that.

Joe Simon, whom Margulies called “Daddy Joe,” was a legend in the comic-book industry; he created Captain America and many other characters, including an early take on Spiderman, to say nothing of a Mad simulacrum called Sick. For the author, Daddy Joe “was the man who loved to have a cigar every night, a fan blowing the smoke over a drawing table spattered with ink and paint and out his studio apartment window,” a man who could be counted on for both support and fun.

As she recounts, this became ever more important as her adolescent scorn for her parents and their one-bedroom apartment mounted and as her rebellion took a short-lived chemical turn (“I was already buzzed from the vodka, so the first two drags of the cigarette left me light-headed and queasy”)—though, as she cheerfully confesses, “I was not built, genetically, to be a bad girl.” The emotion runs fast and thick in such moments. For his part, Simon was always ready for adventure, and he emerges as quite a character. For students of pop culture, the best parts of the book find Margulies recounting such things as the creation of Simon’s first comic book (a Western) and the arrival of his bestknown character with a cover depicting the Captain punching Hitler square on the jaw, and this a year before America entered World War II. Margulies also has a nice take on Stan Lee’s appropriation of Simon’s creation to create his own Spiderman, a useful rejoinder to other accounts. There’s also a nice continuity in the author’s buying her daughter “an array of Captain America items” to connect her to her great-grandfather after he departed for what he called “the Great Art Department in the Sky.” Though sometimes overwrought, fans of comic book history will enjoy this affectionate look backward.

ENTITLED How Male Privilege Hurts Women

Manne, Kate Crown (288 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-984826-55-8

A Cornell University feminist philosopher takes aim at male privilege in the age of #MeToo. Building on the ideas from her previous book, Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny, Manne expands her critique of “himpathy,” her word for the sympathy given to “powerful and privileged boys and men who commit acts of sexual violence or engage in other misogynistic behavior.”

She’s likely to make few converts, though, with a book that preaches too heavily to the progressive choir. Manne draws on decades of studies showing that Americans judge women more harshly than similarly or less competent men, which may interest Gen-Z readers more than their elders, most of whom will be familiar with much of the research. A larger problem is the air of special pleading. Manne argues that many men have “an unwarranted sense of entitlement”—exemplified by mansplaining, male hostility in online “incel” (“involuntary celibate”) forums, and Brett Kavanaugh’s “aggrieved, belligerent, and, at times, borderline unhinged conduct” at his Supreme Court confirmation hearings—while women are often deprived of “their genuine entitlement” to things such as political clout and adequate pain relief from doctors. Without convincingly reconciling those two positions, the author’s polemical case also takes a shortsighted view of sexual double standards, genuflecting before recent feminist scholarship (from Patricia Hill Collins, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and others) and academic orthodoxies while ignoring landmarks like Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and Shulamith Firestone’s The Dia­ lectic of Sex. It’s striking that this book—appearing just before the Aug. 26 centennial of women’s suffrage—says so little about 84

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Fans of T.S.O.L., Fargo Rock City, Scratch Acid, and their like should rush to this invigorating history. we’re not here to entertain

TALKING UNTIL NIGHTFALL Remembering Jewish Salonica, 1941-44

WE’RE NOT HERE TO ENTERTAIN Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and the Real Culture War of 1980s America

Matarasso, Isaac Trans. by Matarasso, Pauline Bloomsbury Continuum (256 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-4729-7588-1

Mattson, Kevin Oxford Univ. (352 pp.) $27.95 | Aug. 3, 2020 978-0-19-090823-2

Three generations of a Jewish family centered in Salonica reveal their perspectives on the World War II German occupation, which decimated the religious enclave.

The primary elements of this unusually constructed text, “the first account of the Shoah available in Greek,” appeared in book form in 1948 in Athens, with the title translated into English as And Yet Not All Died. The author was Isaac Matarasso (1892-1958), a doctor who survived the German death camps through a variety of maneuvers, some of which he initiated, others of which can only be described as serendipity or blessed coincidences. As did so many others, Matarasso experienced horrific physical and psychological violence. According to his daughterin-law, Pauline Matarasso (b. 1929)—the translator of the present volume, which includes contributions from other members of the family as well as additional “more personal pieces” that Isaac wrote—he suffered in ways he almost certainly never fully revealed. Isaac divides his detailed, searing account into three chronological phases: the “partial toleration” of the Germans, aided by turncoat Greeks; the absolute oppression, marked by forced labor and deprivation; and the deportation to the concentration camps: “The Jews were herded like cattle into a concentration camp, where the full range of Nazi brutalities was brought to bear, ending with the deportation of about 46,000 Jews out of the city’s population of 50,000, crammed into cattle trucks.” Isaac’s son Robert (1927-1982) experienced some of the nightmare as a teenager, and his memories are included here in the form of passages from an uncompleted memoir he worked on decades after the invasion. Robert covers many of the same events as his father, but unlike Isaac, he wrote in a more intimate first-person voice. Some readers may be distracted by the fragmented nature of the narrative, but the resurrection and enhancement of the 1948 manuscript is a triumph.

A unique Holocaust memoir.

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In which Ronnie Raygun and corporate entertainment come in for a slagging, courtesy of three (distorted) chords and the truth.

If you wanted to get beat up in high school in the early 1980s, your best strategy would be to show up with your “hair cut into a spikey mess” and listening to punk rock—not the sellout punk of the decade before but truly antinomian acts like Black Flag, Millions of Dead Cops, and Jodie Foster’s Army. That cohort of musicians and their fans, writes Mattson—now a professor of history at Ohio University, then a denizen of the mosh pit— stood strongly against the prevailing politics of the time, with a president who “lived in a bubble of entertainment, who referenced Hollywood films to justify his policies.” The DIY ethos of second-generation punk extended beyond music to include filmmaking (Alex Cox’s Repo Man comes in for close analysis), publishing (with mimeographed zines the coin of the realm), art, and other endeavors. This was all in protest against not just Reaganism, but also a corporate culture that served up product instead of music—and whose vision of what youth was supposed to be, courtesy of the Republican-lite John Hughes, was an offense to actual young people. “It was like People’s Park,” Mattson writes, “create something yourself, lay the sod, and then defend it against those with power.” True, some of the leaders of secondwave punk found themselves being served up as product: Once Nirvana broke, for instance, MTV couldn’t find enough grunge bands to fill the hours. Still, writes the author in this consistently fascinating music history, we should remember the punk rock of the ’80s both for its creativity and “as a moment when kids saw themselves as creating their own culture, prompting them to think about the world differently”—not bad as aspirations go.

Fans of T.S.O.L., Fargo Rock City, Scratch Acid, and their like should rush to this invigorating history.

FORGOTTEN PEOPLES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Matyszak, Philip Thames & Hudson (288 pp.) $34.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-500-05215-0

Lightly worn but rich scholarship highlights this reader-friendly survey of the ancient past.

We know the winners of history: the Romans, the Golden Horde, Alexander |

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the Great. However, as Matyszak asks at the outset of this good-natured exploration of long-bygone times, “what do we know of the Bactrians, apart from their two-humped camels?

Or of the Samaritans, other than that one of them was good?”

That’s a pointed question, for, as he goes on to note, historians and archaeologists are recasting our understanding of early civilizations, adjusting chronologies and interpretations with each new discovery. A trustworthy general pattern emerges, however, and that is that one group conquers another group and grows in power until being conquered by a still more powerful neighbor. Sargon the Great, for instance, ruled Mesopotamian tribes and made of them “rulers of an empire that stretched from the headwaters of the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf,” an empire that would fall under the control of Amorites, people whom the Akkadians considered inferior. (We know one of them, Ammurapi, by his Akkadian name Hammurabi.) The Canaanites along the Mediterranean coast were variously Hebrews, Philistines, and Phoenicians, while the so-called lost tribes of Israel may never turn up, though Matyszak gamely ventures that, given the patterns of other historical migrations, their descendants may be scattered throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. The same holds for a people known to the Egyptians as the Shekelesh, the Sicels, who moved on to southern Italy and then conquered—without much violence, it appears—the nextdoor island that bears their name, Sicily. Each entry for peoples ranging in time from deep prehistory to the early Middle Ages includes handsome illustrations and maps, and the author’s text is accessible, sometimes playful, and never dumbed down.

Just the thing for initiates into the early history of Eurasia and North Africa. (maps and illustrations)

Originally, mothers were not welcome in the workplace; they were expected to maintain the home and raise the children.

However, some were forced to work due to economic hardships or widowhood. During both world wars, when many men were sent to the battlefield, women were needed to work. They took over a variety of roles previously filled by men, excelled in them, and enjoyed a newfound sense of independence and financial freedom. This made it difficult for many to return to their household duties when the wars ended, circumstances that eventually led to greater acceptance of women joining the workforce for “personal autonomy, professional achievement, mental stimulation, friendship and sociability, or to set a good example to sons and daughters,” which roughly represents the situation today. Readers may skim some of the plodding historical reports, but the book is a worthy addition to the literature on the social history of modern Britain.

An exacting, thorough tome for students of British history and women’s and labor studies.

THREE RINGS A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate Mendelsohn, Daniel Univ. of Virginia (112 pp.) $19.95 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-0-8139-4466-1

A father’s death inspires a son’s literary voyage.

If Mendelsohn’s previously acclaimed books The Lost (2013), a personal memoir about the Holocaust, and An Odys­ sey (2017), about his father’s joyous discovery of Homer’s book and death, are two rings, this is the third and final ring that interweaves and interlocks them together. Its “metamorphosis” began with lectures on the Odyssey at the author’s alma mater, the University of Virginia. He was frustrated as he tried to shape them into a book until a friend suggested he write it as a “ring composition… elaborate series of interlocked narratives, each nested within another in the manner of Chinese boxes or Russian dolls.” In the first of three sections, “The Lycée Français,” Mendelsohn tells the story of Erich Auerbach, a German Jew who secured a position at the University of Istanbul, where he wrote the influential Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, a “paean to the civilization of the continent he has just fled,” a study in which the author “seeks to understand how literature makes reality feel real.” In “The Education of Young Girls,” Mendelsohn discusses the massively popular The Adventures of Telemachus, an “imitative and inventive” narrative about Odysseus’ son written in the 1690s by the theologian François Fenelón. Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Thomas Jefferson were huge fans. In “The Temple,” Mendelsohn examines The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald, whose literary “meanderings,” just like Mendelsohn’s own book, “ultimately form a giant ring that ties together many disparate tales and experiences.” This luminous narrative, in which the tales of each of Mendelsohn’s

DOUBLE LIVES A History of Working Motherhood McCarthy, Helen Bloomsbury (560 pp.) $30.00 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-1-4088-7073-0

How the roles of mothers in the workplace have transformed from the mid-19th century to the present.

In this lengthy, meticulously researched book, McCarthy examines the cultural, social, and economic roles played by British mothers both inside and outside the workforce, beginning in 1840. “For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,” writes the author, “women’s worlds were shaped by a labour market founded on sexual difference, a welfare state which institutionalized the dependency of wives, and a wider culture which prized devoted mothering and housewifery as the apotheosis of femininity.” Her statement reflects the heart of this painstaking unveiling of each aspect of a mother’s life during the given time frame. Although the women she profiles left few written records, McCarthy makes a valiant effort to show their feelings and desires alongside the somewhat dry treatment of the relevant history.

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The writing dazzles with the marvel of being fully alive. world of wonders

WORLD OF WONDERS In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments

three chosen exiled writers appealingly intertwine, is about many things—memory, literature, family, immigration, and religion—and it ends where it began, with a “wanderer” entering “an unknown city after a long voyage.”

This slender, exquisite book rewards on many levels.

Nezhukumatathil, Aimee Illus. by Nakamura, Fumi Mini Milkweed (184 pp.) $25.00 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-57131-365-2

HOW TO BE A FASCIST A Manual Murgia, Michela Trans. by Valente, Alex Penguin (144 pp.) $15.00 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-14-313605-7

Italian novelist and politician Murgia channels the spirit of her ancient Roman compatriot Juvenal in this alternately mordant and glib satire of contemporary far-right movements.

The unnamed narrator is an overconfident, self-proclaimed fascist who aims to help others make converts to the cause—or to the “populism” that is “a cradle for fascism”—with the zeal of the senior devil who advises a junior devil in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. Advising sympathizers to learn from the Axis powers, “our historical role models,” the author’s anti-feminist, gay-bashing, Islamophobic narrator begins by describing the defects of democracy, including that it tends to frown on torture: “It still insists on rejecting violence as a way of doing politics, which makes as much sense as training tarantulas by only feeding them lettuce.” The narrator goes on to suggest how to recruit fascists and understand their leaders before ending with facile clickbait: a pop quiz called the “Fascistometer” that measures “your level of fascism.” Although burgeoning far-right movements are fair game, Juvenal-ian or other satire requires worthy targets. While some of Murgia’s— e.g., Holocaust deniers—deserve her barbs, others (people who think that “gender studies is ruining families”) lack a comparable moral weight and take throwaway jabs. A larger problem is that political realities are outrunning satire, and the author too rarely makes the imaginative leaps needed to reinvigorate them. Murgia can land a solid punch, as she does in a neo-Marxist skewering of rich pseudo-populists: “A real populist deals with everyone according to their needs: the poor receive some free fish every year; the middle class receive a fridge to store what’s left over; and the upper classes receive the pond where everyone will have to pay to fish.” Overall, though, she’s fighting below her weight.

A political satire that too often looks away from its worthiest targets and toward less important ones.

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A poet celebrates the wonders of nature in a collection of essays that could almost serve as a coming-of-age memoir.

The daughter of an Indian father and Filipino mother, Nezhukumatathil was often the only brown face in her classrooms, and she sought lessons from nature on how to adapt, protect herself, and conform or fit in but still be able to stand strong on her own. She shares those lessons throughout these frequently enchanting essays. Take the axolotl, from whom the author learned the “salamander smile”: “If a white girl tries to tell you what your brown skin can and cannot wear for makeup, just remember the smile of an axolotl. The best thing to do in that moment is to just smile and smile, even if your smile is thin. The tighter your smile, the tougher you become.” Nezhukumatathil’s investigations, enhanced by Nakamura’s vividly rendered full-color illustrations, range across the world, from a rapturous rendering of monsoon season in her father’s native India to her formative years in Iowa, Kansas, and Arizona, where she learned from the native flora and fauna that it was common to be different. The corpse flower guided the author when she met her future husband, helping her to “clear out the sleaze, the unsavory, the unpleasant—the weeds—of the dating world” and “find a man who’d be happy when I bloomed.” Nezhukumatathil isn’t only interested in nature as metaphor. She once devoted most of a year’s sabbatical to the study of whale sharks, and she humanizes her experience of natural splendor to the point where observation and memory merge, where she can’t see or smell something without remembering the details of her environment when she first encountered it. Among other fascinating species, the author enlightens readers on the vampire squid, the bonnet macaque, and the red-spotted newt.

The writing dazzles with the marvel of being fully alive.

THE ACCOUNTABLE The Rise of Citizen Capitalism

O’Leary, Michael & Valdmanis, Warren HarperCollins (336 pp.) $29.99 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-06-297651-2

Insights about how to restructure American capitalism to better benefit society.

O’Leary, a former economic policy adviser and founder of Bain Capital’s social impact fund, and |

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Valdmanis, the former managing director of that fund, join forces to evaluate an economy that is distressingly dominated by corporations “accountable to nothing but the bottom line.” Though the authors celebrate the prosperity achieved by a capitalistic economic system, they also note the downsides and present achievable methods to alter corporations’ “explicit amorality” in the interests of humanitarian efforts. After a short history of capitalism and the greed-based concept of fiduciary absolutism, the authors analyze the potential for corporations to channel their power toward more philanthropic and ethical consumer concerns. It won’t be easy. As they note, this purposeful restructuring will require a high level of commitment to employees, customers, and the communities they serve. Indeed, the corporate balancing act between profitability and humanitarianism has become one of the greatest challenges for corporate strategists. The authors also skillfully appraise the worthiness of divestment strategies and the rise of lucrative impact investing, which “straddles the worlds of philanthropy and private equity.” We meet a variety of enterprising CEOs, academics, investors, and business leaders— from startups to Fortune 500 companies—eager to share their blueprints for success. In the closing chapters, both persuasive and enthusiastic, O’Leary and Valdmanis outline three proposals for creating “corporations that reflect our values.” One of their case studies is Etsy, a company in which accountability is the lynchpin in an endeavor the authors describe as a journey to “build an economy that generates prosperity without peril.”

An illuminating teaching tool for readers new to the nuances of the American economic climate, as well as seasoned economists eager for an update, this is a trenchant text on how capitalism has warped over time—and why it is time for a much-needed structural change.

A sharp, ethically sound endorsement for capitalist reformation.

by law enforcement debacles like Waco and Ruby Ridge. Horrifying events like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing are rare in part because extremist groups resist the kind of collaboration that produces large-scale terrorist acts, Perliger writes. However, his study of databases cataloging far-right violence shows that the small-scale acts have increased since the turn of the century, particularly against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people. They’re getting deadlier as well: Since 2007, the number of casualties and injuries due to far-right violence has been on the upswing, as has the number of casualties per incident.

As an academic, the author covers this difficult territory from a certain remove; aside from chapter openings that depict the actions of the likes of Timothy McVeigh, he lets the data do the work. But Perliger is impassioned and cleareyed about how troubling the trends are, voicing concern that far-right ideology has infected mainstream politics, which in turn risks emboldening a new generation of radicals. He also seeks to challenge outmoded thinking that racists and other radicals are Deep South products. The risk is wherever disillusionment and misinformation can take hold.

A plainspoken and data-driven yet essential book for understanding the underpinnings of today’s domestic terrorists.

REAGANLAND America’s Right Turn 1976-1980

Perlstein, Rick Simon & Schuster (1,040 pp.) $37.50 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4767-9305-4

Following The Invisible Bridge (2014), Perlstein takes Ronald Reagan to the doors of the White House.

“Ronald Reagan insisted that it wasn’t his fault,” writes the author, the “it” in question being Gerald Ford’s loss to Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. That victory had been a squeaker: Carter came out of the Democratic National Convention 33 points ahead of Ford but wound up with only 50.08% of the popular vote in the end. Carter was well-meaning but hapless—and sometimes even arrogant in his apparent refusal to tone down his moralizing in favor of the sunny optimism that Reagan radiated. Yet, as Perlstein closely documents, Reagan’s every move was scripted, vetted by a powerful political machine. He knew exactly what he was doing when he gave Ford the most lukewarm of endorsements.

The author clearly charts political trends that began with the 1976 election and carried through to Reagan’s election in 1980, among them the rise of technocrats such as Donald Rumsfeld and the comparative decline of realpolitik practitioners such as Henry Kissinger. We are living with still other trends today— and a young but staggeringly mendacious Donald Trump figures in Perlstein’s pages—including the rise of the religious right and white nationalism and a replay of the culture wars of the 1960s, with Pat Buchanan calling Watergate “the climactic battle in a

AMERICAN ZEALOTS Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism Perliger, Arie Columbia Univ. (248 pp.) $28.00 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-231-16711-6

A scholarly exploration, bolstered by some original number crunching, of how the American far right gained a toehold in the mainstream.

The election of a full-throated xenophobe to the presidency, paired with news stories about the rise of the “alt-right,” have given the impression that violence from separatist groups in the U.S. is increasing. While that is true, notes Perliger, a professor who studies extremism and criminology, America’s history has long been littered with racist and separatist groups whose ranks swell or contract depending on the national political mood. A quick history lesson shows that groups like the Ku Klux Klan tended to garner more followers as more inclusive leaders and laws were enacted, and nativist groups have been emboldened 88

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WHAT GIRLS NEED How To Raise Bold, Courageous, and Resilient Women

political civil war that raged in this country for ten years” and a host of other Republican players devoted to crushing the rights of gay people and women. In fact, in this long but nevera-wasted-word account, much is depressingly familiar, including tax giveaways to the very rich and the political exploitation of what a Reagan aide called middle-class “discontent, frustration + anger.” Other moments seem at once distant and contemporaneous, from confrontations with Iran and North Korea to episodes such as Jonestown and the murder of Harvey Milk.

A valuable road map that charts how events from 40 years ago helped lead us to where we are now.

Porges, Marisa Viking (304 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-984879-14-1

How to raise girls so they have the best chance of achieving their “own success.”

Porges has experienced unquestionable success in her life: She flew missions for the Navy as a senior officer and “navigate[d] the politics of the White House and the drama of the Pentagon [to shape] U.S. counterterrorism and cybersecurity efforts under two presidents,” and she is now the head of an all-girls school outside of Philadelphia. In each of her many roles, she has encountered the discrimination so many women face when they interact with their male counterparts in the workplace and elsewhere. Here, the author gathers her hard-won tactics to help parents educate their girls about these depressingly timeless problems. “Every girl,” she writes, “should learn skills early on that empower her to be her best self…so that [they] grow into women able to apply grit, confidence, and bravery in real-world situations and effectively advocate for themselves wherever they may find themselves.” Combining case studies with her own experiences, Porges identifies core character traits that should be nurtured so that girls develop crucial skills for the modern, global world. Girls must stand up for themselves and ask for what they need and want; they must realize that competition can be a healthy endeavor and to not belittle their own skills for fear of upsetting others; they should be encouraged to use and expand their natural collaborative problem-solving abilities and be aware of the value of empathy, a good and oftentimes overlooked trait; they must be able to adapt to a wide variety of rapidly changing circumstances.

Although the book contains few groundbreaking insights, the author’s credentials are impressive, and she presents her arguments and tactics to teaching them in a conversational tone that allows readers fresh insights into deep-rooted issues that have plagued women for years.

Practical, persuasive advice for raising confident, dynamic girls prepared to tackle any challenge.

CRASH COURSE If You Want To Get Away With Murder Buy a Car

Phoenix, Woodrow Illus. by the author Street Noise Books (208 pp.) $16.99 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-951491-01-7

A British graphic novelist offers a highly stylized critique of driving and its tragic consequences.

In this “extensively revised and updated version of Rumble Strip, Phoenix’s 2009 book, he delivers a painfully shocking indictment of driving. While not the most conventional medium for this kind of societal condemnation, the graphic narrative is undoubtedly thought-provoking. Phoenix opens with a frightening analogy positing that anytime you go anywhere, there’s a grand piano dangling from a flimsy fixture above your head. Sure, the point is that driving presents a danger to almost everyone, but despite its minimalist aesthetic, it’s a powerful image. The author delivers on the subtitle’s promise with realworld examples of people who were run down, either by accident or on purpose, and the perpetrators went free. Along the way, Phoenix explores the psychology of driving, institutional racism, and road rage, “an indulgent, doting term, dignifying and excusing behavior that has no dignity and no excuse.” The author also examines many of the absurd rules that govern driving worldwide as well as specific, avoidable deaths, like that of activist Heather Heyer, who was struck by a car and killed during the 2017 white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Phoenix’s ruminations on the inherent human behaviors behind driving—that primal need to be first, to be in front, to be the fastest, etc.—are among the book’s most searing insights and should drive readers to analyze their own conduct behind the wheel. The author also describes his own near-death experience during what should have been a simple drive from London to Brighton. The author’s probing commentary, combined with its stark visuals, effectively stokes the complicated emotions its author intended to instill in his readers: “I wrote this book to make you mad.” Mission accomplished.

A keen and unapologetic consideration of how driving often brings out the worst in us.

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As panoptic and sparkling as the crystals contained in many of the author’s objects of study. the book of unconformities

SIGN HERE IF YOU EXIST And Other Essays

In geology, an unconformity is “a discontinuity in the deposition of sediment.” In his latest book, the author examines rock associated with specific places—e.g., the friable marble at the northern tip of Manhattan or the glittery gneiss of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland—as part of a quest to acknowledge that “even the most solid, ancient, and elemental materials are as lively, capricious, willful, and indifferent as time itself; and that life is filled with uncomformities—revealing holes in time that are also fissures in feeling, knowledge, and understanding.” That marble in New York City changed the lives of the peoples—from Lenape to Manhattanite—who have lived there as well as the topography of the island. Raffles delves into the history of the neighborhood to fashion a multihued story, but he always returns to the rocks. The author also explores the sandstone prevalent in the U.K.; magnetite in Iceland; the iron of a meteorite in Greenland; muscovite from many sources; and, in the Svalbard archipelago, “concreted blubber, a product of human geology, the residue of thousands of whales boiled in three-meter-wide copper cauldrons, the spilled oil congealing with sand, gravel, and coal in a rocky mass.” Each section is packed with vivid, entertaining tales, whether Raffles is discussing the enigmatic objects, obscure rites, the Scandinavian occupation of the Orkney Islands, or the geopoetics of megaliths.

Throughout, the author is “alive to the deeply archaic currents moving through and around me.” The text shimmers with rangy curiosity, precise pictorial descriptions, well-narrated history, a sympathetic eye for the natural world, and a deft, light scholarly touch. The mood is as unpredictable as next week’s weather, as Raffles remains keenly attuned to the politics and personalities that move the action along.

As panoptic and sparkling as the crystals contained in many of the author’s objects of study.

Quinn, Jill Sisson Ohio State Univ. Press (184 pp.) $19.95 paper | Aug. 28, 2020 978-0-8142-5592-6

A nature writer reflects on existential ideas while exploring backwoods landscapes near her Wisconsin home.

In this deeply introspective collection of essays, Quinn applies her scientific knowledge to local wildlife phenomena that have inspired her to reflect on spiritual and evolutionary questions. In the title essay, one of the standouts, the author investigates the life cycle of giant ichneumon (parasitic) wasps while pondering the existence of God in relation to evolution and natural selection, questioning how either may serve the possibility or assurance of an afterlife. In “Enskyment” she focuses on the vultures that roost near her church while considering the relevancy of religious teachings and practices. Throughout, Quinn’s parallel explorations are uniformly thought-provoking, effectively connecting often unrelated themes—though “Metamorphic,” her study of rock formations in relation to the expansiveness of human sexuality, doesn’t quite hold up to the rest. Though not interconnected initially, the final few essays loosely track the author’s experiences leading up to the adoption of her son, a process that “seemed at times rather cold-blooded. Mechanical. Deliberate. Too conscious.” Quinn demonstrates a graceful prose style, and her lyrical sense of discovery and wonder may draw comparison to writers like Annie Dillard. “There is much we cannot see, in the ecosystem and in ourselves,” she writes.

“Perhaps when we look both outward and inward, we need to use only the coarse focus and increase our field of view, because what at first appears blurry may be actually the truest version of a thing. We are more than the amalgam of genes and memes we imagine ourselves to be; we have pigeonholed the soldiers in the nature-nurture squabble too narrowly….We have been thinking of ourselves as persons, when we are more like the land. I see the pond; therefore, I see the muskrat. And the snapping turtle.

And me.”

Engaging, insightful musings at the intersection of natural science and spiritual exploration.

MY LIFE IN 100 OBJECTS

Randall, Margaret New Village Press (250 pp.) $24.00 paper | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-61332-114-0

The poet, feminist, and activist reflects on the objects that have shaped her life.

Inspired by Neil MacGregor’s A His­ tory of the World in 100 Objects, Randall (b.

1936) began looking at her life in terms of the objects that have shaped it. Often involved in struggles for social justice, she has lived a “turbulent, sometimes endangered” life. This thought made her realize that places, as well as objects, have made her who she is today. A prolific writer, Randall’s aim for this book is to journal her “life to date, through objects, places, and the moments in which these converge.” She continues, “objects and places come with their histories. Together they give tangible form to mine. And as they have done so, that task has super­imposed itself upon each individual item, imbuing it with a collective power that references identity, time, and place.” Her collection includes poignant

THE BOOK OF UNCONFORMITIES Speculations on Lost Time

Raffles, Hugh Pantheon (400 pp.) $30.00 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-0-8041-9799-1

Raffles uses stones as jumping-off points to create poetic portraits of various times and places.

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reflections on her father’s metronome; a portable typewriter in “a pre-digital era. We, not our phones, were expected to be smart”; her fake Mexican passport, which she purchased in 1969 while trying to make her way out of the country to Cuba; her Sandinista certificate; papers related to her 1984 U.S. deportation hearing; a Pentax camera and photographs she captured during her extensive travels around the world; a faded pair of Levi’s and turquoise earrings, which have “become part of my everyday uniform” at home in Albuquerque; and the gold wedding bands she and her wife gave to each other when they were able to legally marry after living together for 28 years. Each entry begins with a full-color photo, and interspersed throughout the collection are poems written to commemorate certain objects. Randall’s hope was to show us “how the objects and places that move us breathe their life into ours.” In this, she certainly succeeds.

A heartwarming celebration of the author’s compelling life.

outstanding memoir more than half a century after his death in a plane crash out in the field. This book sits well alongside The Mark, Street Without Joy, and other essential frontline reports.

Readers will feel as if they’ve been in the firefights Rose describes, an immediacy both thrilling and frightening.

GRASP The Science Transforming How We Learn

Sarma, Sanjay with Yoquinto, Luke Doubleday (352 pp.) $28.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-385-54182-4

Compelling advice on how to improve education.

Now centuries old, the complaint that schools are factories, taking in students as raw material and churning out a standardized product, no longer serves, according to MIT professor Sarma, who prefers the term winnowing.

A winnower blows air through unrefined matter, eliminating chaff, debris, and waste but also valuable material, producing a more homogenous end product. This baleful process began around 1900, when education theory and quasi-scientific methods ran off the track. The first intelligence tests were better at winnowing a subset of good learners than the previous methods (teachers’ opinions, personal connections), but they were based on the flawed notion that intelligence is fixed at birth, so “the main challenge facing schools was not to improve intelligence, but to separate the apt from the inept.” Tests also favored the privileged—e.g., “define regatta.” Sarma devotes parts of the book to the neuroscience of how the brain processes information and to psychology research that provides a solid basis for some educational strategies but has shot down more than one.

Describing education today, the author does not take sides in the interminable debate over whether students should “follow their own impulses in determining what to learn, or…stick to topics their instructors deem important.” Rather, Sarma identifies what doesn’t work (the idea “that most students require specialized education media depending on their supposed brain makeup,” a theory that “lingers zombie-like in education culture despite a wealth of evidence against it”), hopeful dead ends, and the best of current techniques. The author is most partial to Montessori schools—though he notes that “the name ‘Montessori” is untrademarkable, and the degree to which schools stick to Maria Montessori’s time-honed methods varies wildly”—and hightech, online programs, which are expensive and effective when a teacher is involved but cheap and ineffective without one.

Delightful as well as convincing in its plea that educators place learning over winnowing and access over exclusivity.

THE JOURNALIST Life and Loss in America’s Secret War

Rose, Jerry A. & Fischer, Lucy Rose SparkPress (350 pp.) $16.95 paper | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-68463-065-3

A thoughtful, revealing look at the early years of the war in Vietnam from one of the first reporters to cover it.

“Be careful….This can be a dangerous place for someone with an artist’s soul.” So a colleague warned Rose when he arrived in Hue in 1959 to teach English. The war between France and the Viet Minh was long over, and foreigners assumed the peace would hold between North and South.

Two years in, Rose was recruited as a stringer and discovered that his artist’s soul came in handy as he crafted tightly composed stories for publications including Time and the Saturday Evening Post. Early in the narrative, a bête noire emerges in the well-known journalist Stanley Karnow, who comes off none too well: “round-faced and pudgy…[with] the smooth, slickedback look of a used-car salesman.” Another bête noire was the South Vietnamese government, corrupt and repressive. It didn’t take long before secret police agents were following Rose. He became a model of levelheaded analysis and taut prose as he traveled across Southeast Asia, moving throughout the region before returning to Saigon as an adviser to the South Vietnamese government. His stories were among the most important in their time and remain so today in explaining America’s involvement in a war that, when he arrived, supposedly had nothing to do with the U.S. His easy familiarity with Vietnamese people, Green Berets, and American pilots led to one scoop after another. He was also astonishingly prolific, leaving “hundreds of pages in journal entries, letters, articles, stories, a partially completed novel, and miscellaneous notes, much of it exquisitely written,” that his sister, Fischer, used to weave together this |

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Bravely exposes the human cost of public and political indifference toward pedestrian safety. right of way

RIGHT OF WAY Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

Scholar, a professor of French who has written a book on Montaigne, among other subjects, returns with a brief, focused account of some specific changes and adaptations in English.

For the author, a key text is Marriage Á-la-Mode, a 1673 play

by John Dryden that contains numerous instances of characters employing French and effectively “satirized French with a forked tongue.” Although Scholar acknowledges that the Norman invasion of 1066 certainly began the transformation process, it is Dryden’s play, he believes, that accelerated the move and made many aware of the various social, cultural, and class meanings of French-into-English words. Throughout, the author notes the ambivalence of English speakers about French.

Does employing French indicate class, cultivation, and education? Or elitism? All of the above, argues Scholar, who also shows how the transference has affected art, music, and literature (he includes some reproductions of relevant paintings, such as Walter Richard Sickert’s Ennui (1917-1918). The latter half of the text illustrates the general pattern by examining three specific words: “naïveté,” “ennui,” and “caprice.” Scholar explores the history of each word—sometimes displaying a denseness and academic specificity that will dissuade general readers—and describes how it first arrived and how writers and other artists have employed it, from earlier centuries to the present. For the most part, the author alludes to writers and other artists whose names are generally well known, including John Le Carré, Virginia Woolf, William Shakespeare, and Richard Strauss. But others will ring bells only with the cognoscenti.

The author ends his volume with some reflections on emigration and immigration, discussing Donald Trump, Brexit, and the current hostile and divided political climate.

A well-researched, convincing account of how our language has welcomed foreign words—but not always their native speakers.

Schmitt, Angie Island Press (200 pp.) $28.00 paper | Aug. 27, 2020 978-1-64283-083-5

A surprising study of anti-pedestrian urban planning in America.

Most readers will be unaware that pedestrian deaths have skyrocketed since the 1970s; in 2018 alone, 6,283 pedestrians were killed trying to cross the street.

Former Streetsblog editor Schmitt takes us for an uncomfortable ride into the hard realities of why pedestrians are more unsafe now than they’ve been in decades. In a book that will sit comfortably on the shelf next to Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed, Schmitt provides an exhaustively researched study of the intersection of automobiles and pedestrians. The author uncovers a car-obsessed America whose civic planning is designed to discriminate against walkers while accommodating motorists.

Unlike, for example, many European countries, the motorist has more rights than the pedestrian in the U.S. Even worse, as Schmitt explains, thinly veiled racism and classism are at the heart of many of the traffic laws that essentially treat pedestrians as second-class citizens. Pedestrians hurt or killed by cars are often blamed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet the problem, Schmitt shows convincingly, is often the flawed road systems themselves. And it’s not just the engineers who design these systems, but also the politicians who allow poor urban planning to go unchecked. The narrative is a deft balance of anecdotal and informational content, emphasizing the real-life human tragedies caused by anti-pedestrian bias but also backing it up with statistical research. Most importantly, Schmitt debunks common assumptions that pedestrian deaths are either blameless random accidents or, more often, the result of laziness or inattentiveness on the part of the walker. In reality, the culprit is a sometimes-lethal combination of badly designed streets, increasingly larger vehicles on the road, poorly estimated speed limits, and a lack of crosswalks, among other infrastructural failures.

Bravely exposes the human cost of public and political indifference toward pedestrian safety.

HENRY KISSINGER AND AMERICAN POWER A Political Biography

Schwartz, Thomas A. Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (560 pp.) $35.00 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-8090-9537-7

A foreign relations expert reassesses Henry Kissinger’s central role in American foreign policy.

Overall, Schwartz, a professor of history at Vanderbilt, aims to remain “dispassionate” in his account of Kissinger during his years of real power under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. The author downplays some of the more “thundering moral pronouncements of condemnations” leveled at Kissinger over the years, such as his role in widening the Vietnam War into Cambodia and Laos, among others. Seeking to “reintroduce…Kissinger to the American people and to an international audience,” Schwartz is particularly fascinated by his subject’s courtly personality, his “intellectual brilliance, skill as a courtier,

ÉMIGRÉS French Words That Turned English

Scholar, Richard Princeton Univ. (224 pp.) $29.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-691-19032-7

A scholarly account of the numerous French words that have entered and remained in the English language.

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and Machiavellian maneuvering within and against the bureaucracy.” As a Harvard professor, Kissinger was chosen to serve as Nixon’s national security adviser, a position that Kissinger himself had helped devise as a way to bring “a more centralized and secretive approach to foreign policy…into the White House, something both [John] Kennedy and [Lyndon] Johnson had also sought to do.” Eventually, this “odd couple” complemented each other in setting policy: aiming to end the Vietnam War, navigate arms control with the Soviet Union, achieve détente with China as well as peace between Israel and the Arabs. As the author shows, all of these diplomatic projects were guided by “new realism” rather than ideology. Kissinger was Nixon’s “secret agent,” undermining Secretary of State William Rogers.

As Watergate hearings heated up in the summer of 1973, Nixon felt compelled to replace Rogers with Kissinger (“Nixon’s own Frankenstein monster”) in hopes of maintaining the focus on the president’s largely successful foreign policy. Using the era’s ample TV record as part of his presentation, Schwartz asserts that “it is not necessary to render a moral judgment on Henry Kissinger in order to learn from his career.” Many readers and historians will disagree, but the author provides a useful political biography for those interested in modern American history.

An elucidating, stick-to-the-record study for students of foreign policy.

regarding Hurricane Katrina was that “the optics were bad.”

The author writes about the Barack Obama victories, charting the subsequent rise of the tea party, a force that made the GOP increasingly angry and populist. Although the author mentions race as a factor a few times, he does not pursue it thoroughly.

The final chapters deal with the rise of Trump and the accommodations many in the GOP made. Seib also discusses those who abandoned him (George Will among them). The author chronicles Trump’s political and personal failures but recognizes that he has radically altered American politics.

Generously conceived, thoroughly researched, and guaranteed to please no one at the political extremes.

STRANGER FACES

Serpell, Namwali Transit Books (140 pp.) $15.95 paper | Sep. 29, 2020 978-1-945492-43-3 A set of essays reconsidering how we think about faces through the lens of films, books, emoji, and more.

Serpell is one of our brightest new fiction writers and essayists. Her 2019 novel, The Old Drift, which won both the Windham-Campbell Prize and Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, addresses colonialism with rare intelligence and sweep while her work for the New York Review of Books makes her a compelling voice on race and Africa in culture. This short book, based on her research, isn’t the easiest place to get to know her, but it’s rich with thoughtful considerations of the human face and how we look at it. In the case of Joseph Merrick, aka the Elephant Man, Serpell is intrigued at how his deformities inspire a host of metaphors, not all involving ugliness and horror. In Hannah Crafts, the cryptic author of the slave narrative The Bondwoman’s Narrative, Serpell finds a trove of subversions of expectations of black and white “faces,” from the narrator’s light skin and author’s plagiarism onward. In a concluding chapter, the author reconsiders the emoji’s role in culture and how the lack of common interpretations opens up the images to playful and nuanced interpretations. That plus two more essays on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man doesn’t add up to a cohesive thesis on faces. Serpell writes that she wishes to “shatter” conventional interpretations of the face, but she isn’t moved to assemble a new one from the pieces. Her discussion of fetishes drifts into academic jargon, and she is, by her own admission, overly obsessed with the role of a mop in Hitchcock’s classic. But in recasting the Elephant Man’s face as a thing of beauty (or at least one with its own aesthetics) and studying digital avatars for multitudes of expression (including blackface), she’s broken ground for further commentary.

A scholarly but engrossing meditation that challenges what we see in portraits—and in our mirrors.

WE SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING From Reagan to Trump— A Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution Seib, Gerald Random House (304 pp.) $28.00 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-0-593-13515-0

The executive Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal offers a recent history of the GOP and of Donald Trump.

Seib, who has an earlier work on the D.C. establishment, Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power (2008), looks favorably on Ronald Reagan and describes the forces that helped him achieve the presidency, which include the formation of the Heritage Foundation and the influences of Grover Norquist and Ayn Rand. The author praises Reagan for numerous accomplishments before moving on to the administration of his successor, George H.W. Bush. Seib sees both of these presidents as admirable men who did good deeds but had a few problems, not always of their own making. Next, the author charts the rise of Newt Gingrich, crediting his astute use and manipulation of media. Likewise, we see the emerging power of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and other conservative media commentators and outlets. The author also has numerous kind things to say about George W. Bush (“an instantly likable man with a quick mind and an air of self-assurance”), words that will no doubt surprise some readers. Seib calls the Iraq War a “misadventure” and argues that the primary problem for Bush |

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A book of justifiably righteous indignation at— and condemnation of—a monstrous program. separated

SEPARATED Inside an American Tragedy

This is a story about writing a book and the steps that Som took along the way in her transition from architect to hopeful author/illustrator. However, that wasn’t the most significant change the author experienced, as she details from an oblique perspective how she became a transgender artist. “Loath to draw myself,” she writes, “…I substituted Anjali, a cisgender Bengali-American woman in place of yours truly into these recollections.” The author proceeds to chronicle her life story through the voice of Anjali. Throughout, Anjali struggles with issues of both identity and gender confusion—e.g., being mistaken for a boy during an adolescent goth phase, she wonders, “What was I supposed to do? I wasn’t a gay boy but I didn’t feel quite straight either.” She earned a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard, left her job over a dispute about health insurance, and devoted herself to her vocation of comics while occasionally supporting herself with architectural drawings.

She traveled with her parents to India and, later, endured the deaths of her mother and then father. All the while, she was badgered by relatives to “find a nice Indian boy and get married.” Eventually, Anjali encountered a trans woman whose experience influenced her own, and she explored same-sex relationships without feeling the need to define herself as one way or the other. With a mixture of cartoon-bubble dialogue, boxed passages of narration, and full-color illustrations that show the precision of the drafting table and the meticulous approach of the author, Som and her creation seem to merge at the end, with the declaration, “after half a century…being at sea, I finally kind of know who I am.”

A rewarding narrative that presents identity as a puzzle for everyone to solve.

Soboroff, Jacob Custom House/Morrow (400 pp.) $27.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-0-06-299219-2

NBC News and MSNBC correspondent Soboroff takes a piercing look at a controversial immigration policy.

Separating migrant minors from their families has been a hallmark of the current administration—and, writes the author, “an unparalleled abuse of the human rights of children.” His narrative begins in June 2018 in Brownsville, Texas, where he toured a former Walmart that had been converted into a “shelter” to house some 1,500 migrant boys, many of them caught with their families trying to enter the U.S. By virtue of the administration’s vaunted “zero tolerance” policy, these children represent what Soboroff calls “an avoidable catastrophe.” His sketches of the detention centers are consistently affecting and haunting. As he noted at the time, “this place is called a shelter, but effectively these kids are incarcerated.” The policy of separation was foreshadowed in Trump’s blustery rhetoric during the 2016 campaign—but more by his lieutenant Stephen Miller, who loudly voiced “vitriol for undocumented immigrants.” It was up to Homeland Security head Kirstjen Nielsen to enact it, even after she was warned that family separations would constitute a violation of the constitutional principle of fair treatment. Miller’s faction won the day, and family separation became policy.

Startlingly, when a federal judge ruled against the policy and ordered the government to reunite detained families, Customs and Border Patrol admitted that it had planned to separate “more than 26,000 children between May and September 2018” alone. Naturally, the administration has denied the policy even as, Soboroff notes, the principals involved who remain in the administration are now the very people who are coordinating the government’s bungled response to COVID-19. And even though the policy has theoretically been terminated by executive order, thousands of migrant children are still detained in tent cities and other facilities across the border, in some cases without their families for years.

A book of justifiably righteous indignation at—and condemnation of—a monstrous program.

THE GOLDEN THREAD The Cold War Mystery Surrounding the Death of Dag Hammarskjöld Somaiya, Ravi Grand Central Publishing (320 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-4555-3654-2

A web of intrigue surrounds a mysterious plane crash that killed the U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld

in 1961.

On Sept. 18, 1961, Hammarskjöld died in a crash during a mission to the Congo to mediate a vicious war that had intensified since 1960. Journalist Somaiya, a former correspondent for the New York Times and contributor to the Guardian, among other venues, draws on interviews and government archives to create a tense narrative that reveals the “web of seasoned, brutal spies and assassins,” dirty deals, and ferocious hatreds that, he argues compellingly, led to the downing of the plane. Hammarskjöld, the author discovered, was caught in the crosshairs of geopolitical conflict. Russia hated him “as an agent of the West,” and the West hated him for “opening the door to Russia in the Congo.” The Congolese blamed him for the death of Patrice

SPELLBOUND A Graphic Memoir

Som, Bishakh Illus. by the author Street Noise Books (160 pp.) $18.99 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-951491-03-1 A tricky graphic meta-memoir about levels of profound transition—personal, professional, and creative.

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Lumumba, the Congo’s first prime minister, whom Hammarskjöld had tried to protect. The Belgians, who since the time of King Leopold had ruthlessly exploited the Congo and oppressed its populace, hated Hammarskjöld, as well, because he opposed the secession of a mineral-rich region from the rest of the country. After the crash, the wreckage was examined

by Rhodesians, who hated the U.N. Although the official verdict maintained that the crash had been an accident, over the years, “a band of ingenious devotees” disputed that conclusion.

Theories abounded: that there had been a hijacker aboard, that a mercenary plane had attacked it, even that Hammarskjöld caused the crash in order to commit suicide. Finally, in 2014, the U.N. appointed Mohamed Chaude Othman, a Tanzanian judge, to reexamine the case, and although logs—and the airport manager—had conveniently disappeared, his evidence, added to Somaiya’s research, led the author to conclude that the plane did succumb to an aerial attack, orchestrated by one or many of the parties that desperately wanted Hammarskjöld gone.

A vivid recounting of an international tragedy.

writing and come to the realization that happily-ever-after “wasn’t about being free from pain, but free enough to see more than pain.” In this sharp book, the author examines the history and culture of contemporary romance novels while grappling with the “thorny and perennially troubling relationship” fans and practitioners have with this lively genre.

A quirky and informative memoir.

THE ACT OF LIVING What the Great Psychologists Can Teach Us About Finding Fulfillment

Tallis, Frank Basic (336 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-5416-7303-8

An earnest attempt to expand psychoanalysis from an approach to mental illness to an explanation of the human condition.

Clinical psychologist Tallis writes that during the 1920s, Freud himself asserted that psychoanalysis was more than a medical specialty. He maintained that, besides treating psychiatric disorders, its ideas could “show how the mind functions, how minds relate to each other, and how minds operate within cultures. They can also…answer questions concerning ideal ways to live…that have been debated since ancient times.”

Freud was more prescient than he realized. The 20th-century psychoanalytic doctrines of Freud, Jung, and others, which emphasize the recovery of unconscious memories and primitive desires, have proven to have few practical insights regarding the treatment of severe mental illnesses, but they remain a major influence in literature and the arts. Tallis works hard to give them the benefit of the doubt and shows equal confidence in the two other major psychoanalytic schools: the humanisticexistential, which stresses autonomy, authenticity, and achieving personal growth; and the cognitive-behavioral, which aims to correct harmful learning experiences and dysfunctional beliefs. In a dozen lucid chapters, the author discusses human needs (security, acceptance, identity, sex) and the consequences when they are not met (adversity, inferiority, narcissism). The result is less a work of philosophy than a vivid history of the psychoanalytic schools, their often equally colorful founders (“they tested their theories by experimenting with alternative lifestyles and altered states of consciousness; they followed their patients into madness; they were like explorers, venturing into the unknown. And inevitably, some of them paid a very high price”), and their conclusions. Many have proven useful; others owe more to fashion than efficacy. Although not averse to research and amenable to the insights of neuroscience, Tallis accepts the tenets of psychoanalysis, such as the malign effect of modern life on mental health.

Less self-help than a lively and penetrating history of psychoanalysis.

THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER A Memoir of an Unlikely Romance Novelist Steinberg, Avi Nan A. Talese (272 pp.) $26.95 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-385-54025-4

A journalist offers insight into the romance genre while recounting his own unexpected transformation into a romance novelist.

Before New York Times Magazine contributor Steinberg began writing romantic suspense, he believed that only literary romances offered realistic “mirror[s] to society.” But neither Anna Karenina nor Madame Bovary could compete with the billion-dollar popularity of contemporary romance. Intrigued by the romance genre, Steinberg investigated Romancelandia.

He attended a genre conference and met colorful writers and hunky cover-art models like C.J. Hollenbach that made literary publishing seem funereal by contrast. Later, he learned about the Romance Writers of America “laws” that made the happily-ever-after ending “an inalienable right” for contemporary romance readers. Inevitably, Steinberg began reflecting on the way his skepticism about romance novels reflected his habit of “never taking love or happiness seriously.” Divorced and single, the author not only failed to understand women and relationships; he also had a distinct “aversion to intimacy.” Inspired by his conference experiences, Steinberg decided to pen his own romance novel and became an active member of a romance writing group. As he worked toward a commitment to writing Gothic-style Amish romances, he faced a commitment crisis in his personal life. An unexpected pregnancy forced him to confront his feelings and those of the woman he loved. The crisis strengthened their relationship and helped Steinberg find the “beating heart” of love that had been missing from his romance |

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A cleareyed, smart account that merits high rank in the library of computer crime. flash crash

SITTING PRETTY The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body

FLASH CRASH A Trading Savant, a Global Manhunt, and the Most Mysterious Market Crash in History

Taussig, Rebekah HarperOne (256 pp.) $25.99 | Aug. 25, 2020 978-0-06-293679-0

Vaughan, Liam Doubleday (272 pp.) $26.95 | May 12, 2020 978-0-385-54365-1

A disability advocate debuts with a collection offering potent rejoinders to ableism.

Tracing memories from childhood to the present, Taussig, who has a doctorate in disability studies, explores her life story and relationship with her body as well as attendant concerns of confidence, belief, and hope. Even though she grew up “after the passage of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act,” the author, who was paralyzed at age 3 following a lengthy, deleterious cancer-treatment regimen, faced many difficult situations related to her disability, from confronting lowered expectations at a youth camp to navigating awkward moments with friends and acquaintances. She investigates what accessibility really means and how it relates to housing, employment, and health care—“The older I got,” she writes, “the more I cringed at the bills my body created”—and she looks at dating challenges and the difference between finding marriage and finding love, exposing many of the mechanics behind traditional social scripts. Constantly questioning the damaging illogic of nonaccessible public spaces, Taussig confronts the insidious nature of “stigma, isolation, erasure, misunderstanding, skepticism, and ubiquitous inaccessibility.” Introducing many key themes of disability studies throughout the narrative, the author pushes for nuanced awareness and understanding of fluid rather than fixed needs, essential for a more effective intersectional approach to social solutions. Taussig goes beyond empty inspirational jargon, forcing readers to consider the value of the real-world improvements that can emerge from centering underrepresented voices.

An engaging, up-close view of the need for structural change regarding disabilities in this country, the text is a solid combination of theory and personal experience. “We should bring disabled perspectives to the center,” she writes, “because such perspectives create a world that is more imaginative, more flexible, more sustainable, more dynamic and vibrant for everyone who lives in a body.”

A fierce and fabulous revision to entrenched ableist scripts.

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That bit about hackers living in their parents’ basements? In the case of this fast-moving work of financial reportage, it just about fits.

When the FBI caught up with him five years ago, Navinder Singh Sarao, a veteran of boardrooms and trading pits, was living with his parents near Heathrow Airport. As then–Londonbased Bloomberg reporter Vaughan writes, Sarao had chalked up quite a career in just a few years, having made $70 million by gaming the futures market and helping precipitate “the most dramatic market collapse in recent history,” the Flash Crash of 2010. Sarao built a system of automated trading that requires some careful unpacking—a job that Vaughan does well, explaining the technique of “spoofing,” sending false signals for orders that are then canceled before they’re fully executed, leading other traders to follow as a herd and drive the market up or down. In a world of trading systems that are programmed to jump on the slightest market movement and to monitor and anticipate moves by other traders, spoofing has been defended as the modern equivalent of the “misdirection and gamesmanship [that] had been considered part of the cut and thrust of financial markets” back in the days of open-floor trading. Highfrequency trading verges on the same territory, and it’s this generally secretive, technology-driven approach that dominates a big chunk of the futures market. Still, as Vaughan writes, spoofing was harder to pull off in the old-school pits—where “serial offenders were liable to be taken outside and made to understand the error of their ways”—than it is on the computer screen. Sarao, a public enemy to the feds, turns out to be a verging-on-sympathetic character while the computer-driven market, where “trade speeds were now measured in nanoseconds,” comes in for thorough examination and is found wanting.

A cleareyed, smart account that merits high rank in the library of computer crime.

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CONSPIRACY TO RIOT The Life and Times of One of the Chicago 7

over American’s intelligence establishment. He explains that the CIA mainly consists of “two camps.” Analysts gather information on other nations, sometimes through spies but often by simply reading their newspapers. Their information is usually accurate, if often ignored; pressed to “predict the future,” they obey, but, of course, they “aren’t perfect and they often pay the price.” In the second camp are operatives, who “practice deception and seduction, enticing strangers to betray their countries.”

Whipple emphasizes that the CIA serves presidents who may ask for the impossible or the illegal, take credit for successes, and shift blame for failures. Thus, it’s accepted that 9/11 took the agency by surprise, although the author rightly points out that administration officials repeatedly ignored warnings of an imminent attack. Directors range from experienced intelligence officers to clueless politicos, technocrats, and ruthless zealots. Richard Helms spoke truth to power, warning Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon that North Vietnam wasn’t weakening, and then blotted his escutcheon by agreeing to spy on anti-war protesters. Allen Dulles thrilled Dwight Eisenhower by overthrowing supposedly hostile governments in Iran and Guatemala but then oversaw the disastrous invasion of Castro’s Cuba. William Casey greased the wheels of the Iran-Contra affair, which “almost sank Ronald Reagan’s presidency.” The best—according to Whipple: Leon Panetta, William Webster, Robert Gates, John Brennan—have been close to presidents but never partisan. Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes remains the best book about the CIA, but readers will not regret time spent on this readable journalistic account, which relies heavily on interviews with living directors and a surprisingly large number of surviving spouses, children, and associates.

This lively, opinionated history makes it clear that presidents and CIA directors sometimes deserve each other.

Weiner, Lee Belt Publishing (208 pp.) $26.00 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-948742-68-9

A defendant in the notorious Chicago Seven trial offers a candid view of the times—and the embattled present.

“We were about as famous as you could be before the internet, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram,” writes now-retired political consultant Weiner. The “we” in question included Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, and Bobby Seale, among others. Weiner traces the path that led him onto the Chicago streets in 1968, protesting at the Democratic National Convention and facing down police and National Guard troops. That path included a memorable time in Israel, where he “studied political philosophy, met Jewish and Arab members of their Communist Party, visited kibbutzim and Arab villages, and talked politics endlessly,” along with radicalization wrought by the Vietnam War. The trial clearly wasn’t meant to go their way: “The judge…was small, old, crinkled, bald, and absurdly supportive of the prosecution.” Given the likely outcome, the Seven were determined to turn the trial into a noisy critique that would in itself protest the war and celebrate the First Amendment. The judge, writes the author, clearly wasn’t amused. At the end of a trial that included visits by Dustin Hoffman and Nicholas Ray (who got Groucho Marx’s number to the defendants in the hope that he could be recruited to testify about satire), he threw the lot into jail for their endless acts of contempt. The denouement of the story is anticlimactic: family issues, job changes, an accommodation to the straight life. Still, in a book that should be shelved alongside Mark Rudd’s Under­ ground and Pat Thomas’ Did It! Weiner closes with a stirring paean to activism. “While a political life isn’t easy,” he writes, “and while frustration, anger, disappointment, fear, and confusion are sometimes pieces of it, I believe there is no more selfrespecting, fulfilling life to try to lead.”

A welcome addition to the library of the countercultural 1960s left.

SEARCHING FOR THE MESSIAH Unlocking the “Psalms of Solomon” and Humanity’s Quest for a Savior

Wilson, Barrie Pegasus (400 pp.) $29.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-64313-450-5

THE SPYMASTERS How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future

An emeritus professor of religious studies presents a treatise about—and apparently against—society’s concept of “messiah.”

Wilson devotes a large part of his latest book to debunking the idea that Jesus was a messiah, but he goes further by questioning the concept of any leader, real or fictional, as deserving of the title. The author does not offer a thesis for his work; he dives right into the life of Jesus, pointing out that he did not call himself a messiah and was not viewed as such by his contemporary followers. Only after declaring that Jesus was not a messiah does Wilson investigate the definition of the term. Using the Hebrew Bible, he admits that a clear definition of messiah is difficult to find; he settles on “a divinely designated leader who

Whipple, Chris Scribner (416 pp.) $30.00 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-982106-40-9

An expert chronicle of the CIA through the actions of its directors.

Focusing on individual personalities allows Whipple, a Peabody- and Emmywinning TV producer, to describe the influence they exerted |

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A fifth-row center seat for a perceptive look at a vital time on the Broadway boards. magic time

has been anointed—smeared with oil and singled out to perform a task, typically that of being a ruler or priest.” Seeking a more formidable definition against which to measure Jesus, the author turns to an obscure first-century B.C.E. Jewish text called “The Psalms of Solomon.” Interpreting this text quite literally, Wilson then develops a “job description” of a messiah, which is not applicable to Jesus in a significant way: He is not a literal king over a Jewish kingdom. After dismissing the Gospel writers as mythmakers, the author then explains how—but not why—Paul created a new religion about Jesus that ignored the teachings of Jesus. Wilson goes on to argue that modernity has looked for messiah figures in political leaders—his examples include Woodrow Wilson and Hitler—and in fictional characters like Batman. He concludes that we should each be our own messiah. Though not as sensationalist as Wilson’s How Jesus Became Christian (2008) or as melodramatic as The Lost Gospel (2014), this work is nevertheless insubstantial.

A poorly executed religious study.

Music, A Chorus Line, and many more. Now in his 90s, the author laments Broadway’s current state, with theatregoers “dressed as if they were about to go into a picnic” while herded “like refugees” to see jukebox musicals and Disney spectacles. Magic time in American theater, it seems, has vanished.

A fifth-row center seat for a perceptive look at a vital time on the Broadway boards.

MAGIC TIME A Memoir—Notes on Theater & Other Entertainments

Wilson, Edwin Smith & Kraus (312 pp.) $34.95 | $19.95 paper | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-57525-947-5 978-1-57525-942-0 paper

A critic’s expansive take on modern American theater.

From more than 50 years of experience as a playwright, teacher, director, and critic, Wilson has much to offer readers who care about the theater in the U.S. As a young man in the early 1950s, the author appeared headed to a career with a small coffee company in Nashville. But New York theater junkets with his parents to see landmark plays—e.g., Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Oklahoma!—had planted the idea of becoming a playwright. In 1954, that pursuit sent him to the Yale School of Drama, where, eventually, he earned a doctorate. George Bernard Shaw’s essays on Shakespeare, which Wilson researched for his dissertation, shaped his straightforward, lucid prose style, much in evidence here. After graduation, the author taught at Hofstra while also assisting a Broadway producer. The latter work found him working for British stage director Peter Brook in helming a film adaptation of Lord of the Flies. The film’s failure prompts Wilson’s illuminating observations on fundamental differences between film and theater, which he feels Brook couldn’t bridge. A brief stint teaching playwriting at Yale followed by a long tenure at Hunter College teaching theater yielded a text, The Theatre Experience (1976), that remains in print today. A golf outing with a Wall Street Journal writer eventually led to Wilson’s 23-year career as the paper’s theater critic. The assignment afforded him a look at what may have been the modern American theater’s final flowering, as evoked in Wilson’s articulate, entertaining reviews of stellar productions such as The Elephant Man, A Little Night 98

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children’s THE GIRL AND THE GHOST

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Alkaf, Hanna Harper/HarperCollins (288 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-06-294095-7

THE GIRL AND THE GHOST by Hanna Alkaf.................................. 99 THE CANYON’S EDGE by Dusti Bowling........................................102 THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE by Hayley Chewins...... 103

HIDE AND SEEKER by Daka Hermon.............................................. 112 HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN by Heinz Janisch; illus. by Maja Kastelic; trans. by David Henry Wilson....................114 THE FOREST OF STARS by Heather Kassner; illus. by Iz Ptica......114 PAOLA SANTIAGO AND THE RIVER OF TEARS

by Tehlor Kay Mejia...........................................................................122 THE RADIUM GIRLS by Kate Moore.................................................122 BIRRARUNG WILAM by Aunty Joy Murphy & Andrew Kelly; illus. by Lisa Kennedy.........................................................................122 THE MISSING by Michael Rosen.......................................................126 SHE WAS THE FIRST! by Katheryn Russell-Brown; illus. by Eric Velasquez........................................................................126 THE LAND OF THE CRANES by Aida Salazar................................126 THE EGG by Geraldo Valério.............................................................. 130 GIRL ON FIRE by Jeremy Whitley; illus. by Jamie Noguchi............. 131 THREE KEYS by Kelly Yang............................................................... 132 OUR FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR by A.E. Ali; illus. by Rahele Jomepour Bell............................................................134

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After the death of the village witch, her pelesit, a cricketlike trickster ghostfamiliar, must seek a new master who shares the witch’s bloodline.

Suraya, a lonely, impoverished child who is shunned by the local children and held at an emotional distance by her mother, embraces her pelesit inheritance, lovingly naming him Pink. Pink serves as Suraya’s friend and protector, but his retribution against those he believes have slighted Suraya is impulsive and malicious. Disturbed, Suraya extracts a promise from Pink not to hurt others, ever, unless she is in absolute danger. Pink soon breaks his promise when Suraya is bullied by other girls, but when she finally makes her first human friend, Jing Wei, Pink’s protectiveness takes a dangerously jealous turn. As Suraya struggles with the decision to cut Pink loose, darker forces remind them that Pink is not the only malevolent being around. Alkaf ’s middle-grade debut immerses readers in Malaysian culture and food as well as weaving in both Islamic elements and pre-Islamic views of ghosts and death. Though aspects of the novel embrace the disturbing and grotesque (which will delight many readers), its conclusion is grippingly heart-wrenching and speaks to deeper themes of family, trauma, and friendship. Suraya and her family are Malay Muslims while Jing Wei is Chinese Malaysian.

A fascinating, page-turning tale. (Supernatural adventure.

9-14)

FLIBBERTIGIBBETY WORDS by Donna Guthrie; illus. by Åsa Gilland........................................................................... 112

I’LL BE THE WATER A Story of Loss, Grief, and a Grandparent’s Love

THE WORD FOR FRIEND by Aidan Cassie...................................... 135 WE WILL ROCK OUR CLASSMATES by Ryan T. Higgins............... 138

Aspinwall, Alec Illus. by Wong, Nicole Tilbury House (36 pp.) $17.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-88448-776-0

DANBI LEADS THE SCHOOL PARADE by Anna Kim.................... 138 KINDERGARTEN HAT by Janet Lawler; illus. by Geraldine Rodriguez............................................................. 138 I GOT THE SCHOOL SPIRIT by Connie Schofield-Morrison; illus. by Frank Morrison.....................................................................143

A boy loses his grandfather but comes to realize his grandfather’s love never ends.

Joshua’s grandfather fills his life with wonder. Whether they’re digging in the dirt or eating ice cream, it’s always an adventure. But when Grandpa is admitted to the hospital,

NANA AKUA GOES TO SCHOOL by Patricia Elam Walker; illus. by April Harrison...................................................................... 144

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2020: a weird year for back-to-school books The calendar year may officially turn over on Jan. 1, but for children and those who live and work with them, “last year” is the school year that just ended, “next year” is the one that will begin in the fall, and summer is that halcyon time in between. It’s always felt odd to be covering back-to-school in late spring, even before school is out in much of the United States. But that’s when the books come out, so that they will be ordered and in place when families start thinking about it, so that’s when we review them.

If it seems kind of out of sync in regular years, it seems just bizarre this year, as school years peter out with distance learning and home schooling, and districts work to anticipate any number of alternative models for fall based on far too many unknowables.

And in between the unsatisfying end of this year and the who-knows-what beginning of next year is a summer possibly spent still pent up in the same spaces kids have been in since March.

In this context, a bevy of back-to-school books full of unmasked children and adults sitting together at tables and scrunched up in tight groups on the storytime rugs seems like science fiction, or maybe like those oldtime–y books that show kids bouncing in the backs of pickups or riding bikes without helmets. For kids who ache for lost routines and distanced friends, they could be a soothing reminder of a reality they eagerly hope will return. I rather wonder if back-to-school books in the summer mightn’t be a good thing this year. For those kids, here are some of our favorites. (You’ll find reviews of these books and more on p. 132.)

In The Word for Friend, by Aidan Cassie (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, June 16), pangolin Kemala and her mama have just arrived in a new country. Kemala is eager to start school until she walks into the classroom to hear everyone speaking a language she doesn’t understand. Kemala promptly rolls into a ball, gradually opening up when she makes friends Leah Overstreet

with an anteater named Ana. Cassie’s animals are perfectly adorable, but what’s really brilliant is her use of Esperanto as the language of Kemala’s new homeland, a strategy that puts most readers in the position of being new kids in Kemala’s class.

Patricia Elam Walker and April Harrison tell a different kind of immigrant story in Nana Akua Goes To School (Schwartz & Wade/Random, June 16). In this sweet tale, Zura is a little apprehensive about Grandparents Day at school, worrying that her American classmates will react badly to Nana Akua’s facial markings, not understanding their significance to the Akan people of Ghana. Together, Zura and Nana Akua plan an introduction to their customs, using Zura’s quilt and its Adinkra symbols as a vehicle. Harrison’s lovingly rendered collage art pulses with life and love.

In Kindergarten Hat,

by Janet Lawler and illustrated by Geraldine Rodriguez (Little Bee, June 9), Carlos, an enthusiastic young gardener, is worried about starting school. A well-timed letter from his teacher gives him a way to prepare, and he happily heads off to school with one of his daisies for her hat. When calamity strikes, her flexibility helps him over his distress. Carlos’ earnestness and anxiety are depicted with warmth and understanding, wrapping both him and readers in a big reassuring hug.

Share them as nostalgia or as aspiration. And here’s hoping that the 2021 back-to-school books can resume their usual duty: marking the turn of the year with reassurance of routine.

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Vicky Smith is a young readers’ editor. |

The sheer energy contained in these images guarantees that children will be as floored by the artwork as they are by the sweet rides. go, go, go!

GO, GO, GO!

Joshua begins to understand the frailty of life. Happily, Grandpa is released, and once again the two are able to fish together.

Only this time, Joshua finds he must ask the question percolating in his mind: whether Grandpa fears dying. In Grandpa’s response, Aspinwall offers a series of beautiful similes, allowing even young readers to understand how love can continue even after a person has passed. While feelings of pain, betrayal, and anger are acknowledged, it is a warm, embracing, and unbroken love that remains. As Grandpa likens Joshua and himself to two fishes in the lake, he explains that when he passes he will then become the water that surrounds the fish with love, always present if Joshua just looks with his heart. Delicate pen lines, light shades, and subtle watercolor washes lend to the text’s gentle approach to a difficult topic.

A comforting and meaningful addition to stories about loss and grieving. (Picture book. 6-8)

Barner, Bob Illus. bythe author Holiday House (32 pp.) $15.99 | Oct. 6, 2020 978-0-8234-4643-8 Series: I Like To Read

TOM BITES BACK

Banks, Steven Illus. by Fearing, Mark Holiday House (360 pp.) $13.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-0-8234-4615-5 Series: Middle School Bites, 2 Life goes on as usual—even when it’s anything but.

On the day before the start of middle school, Tom Marks was bitten by a vampire bat, a werewolf, and a zombie and had to adjust to a drastically altered reality: that of a Vam-Wolf-Zom, as related in series opener Middle School Bites (2020). But within the week, Tom must return to life as usual. The world of a middle schooler is rich and mercilessly tumultuous, rife with burgeoning crushes, Halloween protests, school-bus bullies, failed band practices, dances, and sibling rivalries—and, of course, mad scientists, moonlit transformations, and mysterious, centuries-old vampire girls guarding the secrets to your survival. With friends old, unexpected, and new by his side, Tom gears up to tackle challenges both banal and bizarre as they come flying (sometimes quite literally) at him. This sequel takes a more slice-of-life approach than its action-packed predecessor. The slower pace and almost episodic nature take some getting used to, especially in the first third, where exposition must balance the introduction of new characters and plot elements. Once the story hits its stride, however, it becomes not only enjoyable, but engrossing, adroitly juggling a larger cast and deeper dives into side characters’ psyches. The witty frankness of Tom’s narration consistently amuses, keeping readers firmly on his side as he grows as a person and in his powers.

Bloody good. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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A rainbow of brightly colored vehicles brings this newest entry in the I Like To Read series to Technicolor life.

Cars, trucks, boats, buses, and more are on wild display in this peppy, easy book. In each double-page spread, one type of transportation presents itself in wild array. The “Cars go” page, for example, yields one finned roadster with a Starry Night– esque paint job, some that seem dipped in every possible hue, and a couple on the subtler end that just sport a single color.

The art shows swirls, spots, splats, patterns, and gentle color gradations. The same treatment is applied to the other vehicles, most driven by dogs (the fire engines have all-Dalmatian crews, natch) in various attitudes of glee that communicate easily despite the cartoon simplicity of their renderings. In one double-page wordless display, all of the vehicles come to a screeching “Stop” (signaled on the page before) when a family of ducklings crosses with mama in the lead. Everyone safe? Then “Go. Go. Go.” The sheer energy contained in these images guarantees that children just starting to read will be as floored by the artwork as they are by the sweet rides. Though ideal for the earliest of readers, the subject material found here is bound to appeal to pre-reading vehicular enthusiasts as well.

Go, dogs! Go? This book kicks it up a notch. Drive, dogs!

Drive! (Picture book. 2-6)

BESS THE BARN STANDS STRONG

Bedia, Elizabeth Gilbert Illus. by Hickey, Katie Page Street (32 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-62414-980-1

A friendly barn on a family farm weathers weather, time, and change.

Pencil and crayons lovingly illustrate the story of Bess, a family barn raised “Beam by beam and board by board” by a farming family. Bess exudes comfort and stability to all the animals that take shelter beneath her roof, and she loves observing the cycle of life and its celebrations. But when the old farmer dies, a new owner raises a different barn made of corrugated steel and filled with “new-fangled machines.” Forgotten, Bess weathers quietly until the timely appearance of a savage storm gives her the chance to be a hero. There’s a marvelous mix of peppy text and bone-deep comfort at work within the language of this story. Paying homage to such classics as Virginia Lee Burton’s The Little House (1942) as well as more recent titles like School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex and illustrated by |

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Elements of the survival story and psychological thriller combine with strong symbolism to weave a winding, focused, stunning narrative. the canyon’s edge

THE CANYON’S EDGE

Christian Robinson (2016), Bess’ physical anthropomorphization is limited to little details, as when boards fall askew to resemble eyebrows. Visual treasures abound in the corners of the art, and children may enjoy figuring out which characters from the beginning of the book (most white, some people of color) change and grow by the story’s end.

Seasons come and seasons go, but cozy concepts like barns on farms will never ever die. (Picture book. 3-6)

Bowling, Dusti Little, Brown (240 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-0-316-49469-4

A girl’s birthdays mark parallel tragedies for her broken family unit.

Last year’s celebration at a restaurant ended in an unexplained public shooting, and Nora’s mother died. She and her father are still wrestling with their trauma, Nora with a confirmed diagnosis of PTSD. For this year’s outing, Nora and her father head into the deserts of the Southwest on a rock-climbing expedition. They descend into a 40-foot deep slot canyon, then hike along inside until a flash flood barrels through the canyon, washing away all their supplies…and Nora’s father. She’s left to survive this symbolic and living nightmare on her own. Thankfully, she can make continuous use of her parents’ thorough training in desert knowledge. Brief sections of prose bracket the meat of the story, which is in verse, a choice highly effective in setting tone and emotional resonance for the heightened situation. Bowling’s poems run a gamut of forms, transforming the literal shape of the text just as the canyon walls surrounding Nora shape her trek. The voice of Nora’s therapist breaks through occasionally, providing a counterpoint perspective. Nora is white while two characters seen in memories have brown skin. The narrative also names local Native peoples. Elements of the survival story and psychological thriller combine with strong symbolism to weave a winding, focused, stunning narrative ultimately about the search for healing.

An edge-of-your-seat read. (Adventure. 8-12)

IN THE DARK The Science of What Happens at Night Betik, Lisa Deresti Illus. by Holinaty, Josh Kids Can (48 pp.) $18.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-5253-0109-4

A quick survey picks out “wild and wonderful things that happen while you

sleep.”

Betik opens in the bedroom, with explanations of circadian rhythms, REM and non-REM sleep cycles, and current theories about why we dream. She then ventures outside for looks at the eyes of cats, owls, and tarsiers; shows how certain creatures use tongues, whiskers, and other organs to compensate for the lack of light; and describes how plant metabolism changes when the sun goes down. Then it’s time to look up: at auroras and lunar phases; at planets and twinkling stars; at constellations, comets, and meteor showers. On every page, limited applications of color serve to illuminate the accurately rendered plants, animals, and astronomical phenomena in Holinaty’s squared-off panels and insets. His creatures are drawn in expressive poses, and human figures, though stylized, show a diverse range of skin hues. Readers may need to stretch to see the way plants allocate stored energy to get them through each night as “plant math,” but overall the author’s facts are straight as well as flashy enough to stick. Young STEM-winders may be more comfortable with this than Lena Sjöberg’s equally broad but more atmospheric Bright in the Night (2019). Specialized vocabulary is identified in boldface, spelled phonetically, and contextualized within the narrative, and a glossary in the backmatter pulls it all together for easy reference and review. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 56.5% of actual size.)

Illuminating insights for nocturnal naturalists. (sources, index) (Nonfiction. 8-10)

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HAUNTED HOSPITAL

Chan, Marty Orca (144 pp.) $10.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2620-5 Series: Orca Currents A game of pretend ghost-hunting goes awry when four Canadian teens sneak into an old, shut-down hospital with a haunted past.

Xander and his friends Li, Omar, and Priya always play Spirits and Specters in the cemetery. As the Crypt Keeper, Priya creates missions, enhanced by spooky special effects, for the players, who hunt for evidence of the supernatural in exchange for experience points. However, the familiar setting no longer holds the thrill it used to for the group. Eager to up the intensity, Xander designs a new adventure for his friends at the abandoned George Wickerman Hospital. Rumors say that the ghosts of tuberculosis patients who died from medical experimentation still haunt the building.

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ONCE UPON AN HOUR

pace. Chan provides enough details about the setting to create a chilling atmosphere without halting the momentum. More than one source of suspense builds tension as the narrative progresses. Not only does the building hold mysteries and potential danger, but one of the characters also hints that she has a secret connection to the hospital too. Within this paranormal mystery, Chan explores the topics of homelessness and bias against homeless people. Although the characters receive little physical description, their names indicate cultural diversity, and dialogue reveals that Omar emigrated from Egypt.

An immersive, page-turning ghost hunt. (Horror. 9-14)

Choi, Ann Yu-Kyung Illus. by Kim, Soyeon Orca (32 pp.) $19.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2127-9

Learning the order of the Korean zodiac signs becomes a bedtime story to help a little girl learn how to tell time.

Yu-Rhee, a young Korean girl, looks at the puzzling, round clock face, wondering how her mother knows it is time for bed.

Mother tells her a story about a special group of animals and a compassionate mountain who plays an active role. The animals represent the 12 symbols of the zodiac. As the tale begins, an unnamed child struggles up a steep trail in search of the doraji plant to make a healing tea for their ill mother. Mountain takes pity on the child and asks the animals to help her. One by one, the animals give time-related excuses instead of providing assistance. “When the sun climbs the morning sky, I need to bask

THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE

Chewins, Hayley Candlewick (208 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-5362-1227-3

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In an enchanted house, three sisters face confusing dangers.

Years ago, Mamma and Pappa silently walked out of the large, formal, and daunting Straygarden Place, leaving their daughters a cryptic note: “Do not leave the house. / Do not go into the grass. / Wait for us. / Sleep darkly.” The silver grass outside looms taller than the house itself; always aggressive, it plugs the keyholes, blocks the windows, shakes the walls, and hisses words. It tries to get in. One day, eldest sister Winnow goes outdoors—and when she returns, nothing is the same. The house still nurturingly feeds and clothes the girls using magic, but Winnow sickens and begins to turn silver. Unable to talk, Winnow rages incoherently at middle sister and third-person protagonist Mayhap. The relationships among Mayhap, Winnow, and youngest sister Pavonine tip sideways with anger, bafflement, and terror. Even each girl’s personally bonded droomhund— a small black dog who squeezes physically into its girl’s brain when she needs darkness for sleeping—can’t provide comfort, and Winnow’s droomhund is impossibly missing. Why does the aroma of coffee make Mayhap feel like she’s smothering? Who’s the sudden fourth girl in the house, and what has she woven out of “dirt and bats’ lungs…the darkness of the sky and the silk of the moon…[and]…coffee”? Chewins’ prose is exquisite, her eerie concepts heart-wrenching. All characters are white.

Superb, spooky, and unforgettable. (Fantasy/horror. 10-14)

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KENNY & THE BOOK OF BEASTS

in its bright rays,” says Snake. Finally the animals do help, and the child achieves their goal. Each illustration is built from cutout drawings and pieces of tissue paper that have been placed into dioramas for a striking, three-dimensional effect. Natural shadows and the lines that support each element provide texture and perspective. The link between each animal and their associated time is tenuous, however, needing stronger visual cues to help young readers learn timekeeping. Unfortunately, as the journey plays out, the child is not as active a character as the animals, and the pacing plods up and down the mountain.

A curious premise with captivating illustrations that unfortunately lacks excitement. (Picture book. 3-5)

DiTerlizzi, Tony Illus. by the author Simon & Schuster (224 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 22, 2020 978-1-4169-8316-3 Series: Kenny & the Dragon A long-eared young hero takes on a witch bent on trapping rare legendary creatures in a magical book.

Not so much a pastiche of E. Nesbit’s short story “Book of Beasts” as an original novel with cribbed elements, this adventuresome outing regathers and expands the animal cast of DiTerlizzi’s 2008 reworking of The Reluctant Dragon (titled Kenny & the Dragon) for a fresh challenge. As if coping with a dozen baby sisters and tending the bookshop of his questing mentor, Sir George E. Badger, aren’t hard enough, Kenny Rabbit feels abandoned by his best friend, dessert-loving dragon Grahame—who happily recognizes the supposedly mythical manticore that springs from the pages of a grimoire as an acquaintance from olden days. Avid to collect magical creatures of all sorts, the book’s owner, sinister opossum Eldritch Nesbit, tempts Kenny into an ill-considered bargain. But once he sees not only the manticore, but Grahame too snapped up, Kenny joins allies, notably his redoubtable crush Charlotte the squirrel, in a rumbustious rescue that also frees a host of unicorns and other long-vanished marvels. Aside from the odd griffin or al-mi’raj (a horned rabbit from Persian lore and an outlier in an otherwise Eurocentric cast), everyone in the lively, accomplished illustrations, from Kenny’s impossibly adorable sibs on, sports amusingly anthropomorphic dress and body language.

This oblique homage to a now-creaky classic is lit by friendships, heroic feats, and exceptional art. (Fantasy. 9-11)

LET’S GET SLEEPY!

Cliff, Tony Illus. by the author Imprint (32 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-250-30784-2

A marmalade kitten and friends search a crowded cat world for a mouse named Sleepy.

When Mom cat asks what happened to Sleepy, this kitten knows she means the crowned mouse known as “Prince of the Night” and “Master of Dreams.” The kitten continues, “But where is he now? Where could Sleepy be? / Not here around us. He’s run away, free!” With a spread-spanning cry of “LET’S GET SLEEPY!!!” a bevy of kittens bursts out of the house to look, at first just around the neighborhood. Nope. There’s a parade going on in town, but the kittens don’t find Sleepy. The next “LET’S GET SLEEPY!!!!” hies the friends to “Sunny Sands Beach! Is this where he’ll be? / We’ll search and we’ll seek and ask friends that we meet.” The kittens’ search takes them to the mountains, a swamp, a cave, and even the moon…but they never find Sleepy. Readers will understand why, as each location presents a bustling scene in which Sleepy figures as a tiny Where’s Waldo–esque target amid teeming masses of bright-eyed, roundheaded anthropomorphic kitties (and the occasional dog, elephant, or pterodactyl). Each landscape is rendered in a muted palette dominated by ochre and gold, upping the difficulty. All the figures in each scene appear to have their own backstories, allowing young readers searching for Sleepy to make up any number of additional tales.

Only confirmed ailurophobes will fail to enjoy sharing these kitties’ day. (Picture book. 2-7)

FARM CRIMES! Cracking the Case of the Missing Egg

Dumais, Sandra Illus. by the author Trans. by the author Owlkids Books (48 pp.) $16.95 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-77147-415-3 Series: Farm Crimes

This graphic novel is precisely as obtuse as it should be.

The most famous—and possibly the dumbest—chicken joke of all time is, “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side.” It follows a classic formula. It treats something ridiculously obvious as a huge surprise. This chicken story adopts the same structure. A hen lays an egg and can’t figure out why it’s suddenly vanished, even though one of the clues is a broken eggshell. She even brings in “the world’s #1 goat detective,” Billiam Van Hoof, who takes a plane to reach the other 104

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The omniscient narrator uses snark, humor, and short chapters to keep this fun, enlightening adventure moving. the bickery twins and the phoenix tear

THE BICKERY TWINS AND THE PHOENIX TEAR

end of the farm. Some readers will lose patience once they realize the egg has simply hatched. Others will want to see how Dumais maintains the suspense. Arguably, she doesn’t. She just keeps adding more clues (a feather, teeny little footprints) until the pages run out. But the details along the way are hilariously confused: a signpost pointing to “unknown,” a map that’s accidentally drawn upside down. And the childlike illustrations are, for the most part, sweetly minimalist. One sequence consists of nothing but eyes glancing suspiciously at each other. But because every character is an extremely anthropomorphized animal, readers are treated to absurd touches like a cow wearing a black-and-white spotted dress. And many readers will enjoy feeling ahead of the game.

A shaggy dog story with chickens. What’s not to like?

(Graphic mystery. 5-10)

Elphinstone, Abi Aladdin (336 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-5344-4310-5 Series: Unmapped Chronicles, 2

Rude twins learn respect and how to be heroes.

Seventy years after the events of Casper Tock and the Everdark Wings (2019), readers are welcomed back to the alternate Earth known as the Faraway and the Unmapped Kingdoms that are the source of the Faraway’s weather. Twins Fox and Fibber Petty-Squabble, 11, have been rivals from birth, to the delight of their parents—the family motto is “do not be afraid to stamp all over other people’s feelings.” This comes to a head after the Petty-Squabble parents force the pair to present brilliant business plans to save the family fortune or be exiled to Antarctica. Fox, feeling the pressure,

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Lindsay Leslie & Ellen Rooney THE CREATORS OF DUSK EXPLORERS OFFER AN ODE TO TWILIT NEIGHBORHOODS AND CHILDHOOD PLAY

By Vicky Smith Mary Beth Huerta at Heart & Home Photography

How about you, Ellen? What did you feel when you got the manuscript?

Ellen Rooney: I connected with it for that reason. I was in a big family, so for me, it was usually my siblings and my cousins. I was the youngest of 20-some cousins. I think it was maybe extra magical for me because I was younger, and I could go out with the older kids. That’s what I tried to think about when I was putting together illustrations for the book.

Is this a specific neighborhood that you created, Ellen?

ER: I drew from my own neighborhood here in British Columbia. It’s a pretty working-class neighborhood. So I just did a lot of walking around with my sketchbook. [I also wanted it to feel like] it could span a range of times too, since we’re calling back to our childhoods. It was a push and pull between trying to ground it in something specific and also have it be recognizable to people from everywhere. I’m pretty far north.

So I was doing all this looking at the skies and how the sky

Lindsay Leslie

Gary Seronik Marcos Galvany

In their picture-book collaboration, Dusk Explor­ers (Page Street, June 2), author Lindsay Leslie and illustrator Ellen Rooney beckon readers to join a multiracial cast of kids as they romp through their neighborhood at twilight, catching frogs and fireflies, playing kick-the-can and hide-and-seek, “and pretend[ing] not to hear their parents’ the-sun-is-gone yell: ‘TIME TO COME HOME!’ ” Leslie’s rhythmic, propulsive text and Rooney’s vibrant mixed-media collages capture a magic that’s increasingly rare for today’s kids. Kirkus spoke with them both by Zoom, Leslie joining from Austin, Texas, and Rooney from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell us about your book.

Lindsay Leslie: Oh my gosh, this book is the book of my childhood. It’s a tribute to it, but it’s also a call to action for the children of today. So I had my feet planted in both those worlds when I wrote it. The strongest memories [from my childhood are of] when, after dinner in the summertime, I would run out the door and hope my neighborhood friends were out there to play with. And to just let our imaginations go and see where the evening took us. It was so magical to me.

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changes, and then I realized “Oh, that’s actually quite different for different people.”

One of the book’s strengths is how racially diverse it is.

I’d love to hear both of you talk about that.

LL: I had an idea in my mind, and I didn’t share it with Ellen until after [the book was finished], but I saw all kinds of kids.

I was so, so glad when Ellen took it the way that she did. I was more than happy.

ER: It was such an interesting project that way, right? Because the text is so open. I did talk to [our publisher] about it, and I think everybody was jelling on the same thing.

snatches Fibber’s briefcase and makes a run for an antiques shop, where a familiar face tells the twins that they’re meant to save the world from the inexplicable water crisis and defeat Morg, the evil harpy. The twins arrive in the Unmapped Kingdom of Jungledrop on a magical train (powered by junglespit) to learn they must find the elusive Forever Fern—a plant that can grant immortality or save an entire kingdom. An adventure that starts as a selfish race to make millions just may be the thing these siblings (who both appear white) need to heal their relationship and learn it’s OK to help others. The omniscient narrator uses snark, humor, and short chapters to keep this fun, enlightening adventure moving. Themes of respect for other humans and for nature are explained clearly and creatively, never condescendingly.

A satisfying second installment. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Lindsay, how long did it take you to get the text just right?

LL: This came flowing out of me, like gangbusters. I couldn’t stop myself. I just felt like, from the get-go, it had its intention and it kept it. It’s like a movie in my head, that’s how strong this memory is. And I was in it. I mean, I was so in it.

Does either one of you have a favorite spread?

WITCHES OF BROOKLYN

LL: This one just kills me [holding up scene of children catching fireflies].

ER: I think that was maybe the first one that I did in color.

LL: When I saw this one I just went, “Ohhhhhhh.”

ER: I just always liked that one [holding up the first full spread]. When you’re at the beginning of the adventure.

Lindsay, are you hoping to persuade some parents to let their children roam a bit more?

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Escabasse, Sophie Random House (240 pp.) $20.99 | $12.99 paper | $23.99 PLB Sep. 1, 2020 978-0-593-12528-1 978-0-593-11927-3 paper 978-0-593-11928-0 PLB Series: Witches of Brooklyn, 1 When a young girl comes to a new home, her family’s magical secrets are unveiled in this graphic-novel series opener.

When 11-year-old Effie’s mother dies, she is taken to live with her elderly, snarky, fashion-forward aunt, Selimene, and her partner, Carlota, in Brooklyn. Until Effie’s music idol, Tily Shoo, arrives with an incurable curse, Effie thinks her aunts are herbalists and acupuncturists. Secretly, they’re also witches!

Is Effie a witch too? Magic or no magic, Effie learns there’s power in finding one’s true self and that the path to happiness comes from serving others. The full-color illustrations mix warm earth tones and enticing pastels to create a realistic, comforting world. Clever embellishments, such as floor plans detailing the nooks and crannies of Selimene and Carlota’s house, expand the setting and encourage readers to linger.

Leaning heavily on speech-bubbled dialogue and avoiding narration, the text uses an assortment of fonts and line weights to convey emotion and develop characters in tandem with the illustrations. The relationships among Effie and her aunts are nuanced and distinct, with humor to spare. Effie’s backstory is vaguely constructed, but the specificity of her current story compensates for this minor flaw. Visual elements hint at Effie’s probably mixed (Asian/white) heritage; both aunts have gray hair and fair complexions. Supporting characters are depicted with a variety of skin tones and hair colors/textures, although specific cultural markers are seldom provided.

A mixture of everyday adventures and enchanting fantasy, this lighthearted story will delight readers. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)

LL: Yes, actually, I have a whole list of reasons why they should let their kids go outside, having been through those feelings of being scared as a parent to let your kids out. You kind of have to check yourself and trust your children. Because how will they learn what’s good in the gut when their parents are always telling them what their gut reaction should be?

Dusk Explorers received a starred review in the March 15, 2020, issue.

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Challenging the status quo can be intimidating but, as Nye proves, well worth the effort. nye, sand and stones

WEIRD, WILD, AMAZING! Exploring the Incredible World of Animals

an episodic narrative that highlights poignant moments and delves into characters’ thoughts. All the characters are presumed white. However artful, the book is not without flaws.

Characters repeatedly suggest that Henry’s institutionalization is particularly unjust because he is “smart,” an implicit comment on intellectual disabilities that is not adequately explored.

The author’s note detracts from the story itself, raising questions that wouldn’t need to be asked otherwise, such as why the author gave Henry the ability to speak when the man he is based on could not. A sequence of poems by the author’s mother-in-law that inspired the novel are included and contain an outdated portrayal of disability that is presented without context or commentary for readers.

An engaging, emotional read that tells an important story—with caveats. (notes on form and characters, acknowledgements) (Verse historical fiction. 10-14)

Flannery, Tim Illus. by Caldwell, Sam Norton Young Readers (256 pp.) $19.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-324-01543-7

The popular naturalist reaches for a younger audience with a mix of basic and oddball facts about more than 50 wild creatures.

With much reference to “poo and goo,” Flannery, whose books for adults include Europe: A Natural History (2019), ratchets down his usual level of discourse to focus on essentials: the “weaponized vomit” of turkey vultures, for instance, “Snot Studies,” and anatomical insights such as the special help that tree kangaroos get from masses of stomach worms in digesting their food. The entries, loosely organized by habitat, each also offer standard-issue observations on geographical range, typical diet, distinctive physical features, and, often, challenges posed by climate or environmental change. Along with an autobiographical introduction and personal notes about encounters with some of his wild subjects, the author tucks in glances at broad topics such as evolution, extinction, and scientific nomenclature too. Caldwell goes mostly for splashes of bright color and silly riffs in his illustrations, so naturalistic detail takes a back seat to a male blue whale in a lounge singer’s dress, courting scorpion and seahorse couples in ballroom garb, and like follies. Some readers may find this a bit long for a cover-to-cover read, but any who relish learning about a tree-climbing turtle or how moths “love pretending to be things they’re not, like hornets or eyeballs or lumps of poop,” will be well rewarded.

Better suited to dipping than diving, but a “fun book,” as promised. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

NYE, SAND AND STONES

Galbraith, Bree Illus. by Arbona, Marion Orca (32 pp.) $19.95 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-4598-2032-6

A young tot learns the importance of speaking out.

Two small islands exist side by side.

One is made of sand, the other of stones.

On the Isle of Sand, children scurry around constructing magnificent sand castles. The Isle of Stones, however, has elaborate catapults, ready to launch rocks at a moment’s notice. Every day, after the warning bell rings, the rocks fly toward the Isle of Sand and destroy the castle creations. The children on the Isle of Sand know to run when they hear the bell, so no one ever gets hurt.

And after each barrage, they dutifully roll the rocks back to be returned to the Isle of Stones, singing, “On the Isle of Sand, we build to the sky. / When the stones crash down, we never ask why.”

But one young child, Nye, does question the frustrating state of affairs. Adults can only murmur, “It’s just the way it is.” Nye has had enough! With eyes scrunched and hair in two puffballs that seem to explode off her head—mirroring her strong will—she gives the Isle of Stones an ultimatum (along with some helpful advice). Challenging the status quo can be intimidating but, as Nye proves, well worth the effort. People on the Isle of Sand have bright russet skin, and people on the Isle of Stones have yellow skin with blocklike features. A French edition with translation by Rachel Martinez publishes simultaneously.

A must for all budding nonconformists who wish to activate change. (Picture book. 5-8) (Nye de l’île de sable: 978-1-4598-2472-0)

ALL HE KNEW

Frost, Helen Farrar, Straus and Giroux (272 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-374-31299-2 A young deaf boy faces the horror of institutionalization in the late 1930s and ’40s.

This verse novel tells the story of Henry, who is born hearing and becomes deaf due to a fever at age 4. The school for the deaf erroneously labels him “unteachable,” and he is sent to an institution for the “feebleminded,” where the children face abuse and neglect. Henry’s story merges with that of Victor, a conscientious objector who works at the institution.

Frost depicts one grim reality of deaf/Deaf life in mid-20thcentury America in a way that is approachable for readers as she explores the rarely discussed story of conscientious objectors in World War II. The story is told in discrete poems, creating 108

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NAME TAGS AND OTHER SIXTH-GRADE DISASTERS

of a small set of rhymes—“bear,” “hare,” “pear,” “chair,” “fair,” “spare,” “share”—begs for textual rhythm, which is largely missing. The text sometimes has a forced quality (“I see lots of pears for me”) or an off-kilter casualness (“PICK went Bear”). The art highlights red, dark yellow, and olive green, making the setting autumnal. Bear’s and Hare’s bodies are filled in with nonspecific lines and shadings that are too vertical and horizontal to read as organic fur.

A crucial message awkwardly executed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Garrett, Ginger Carolrhoda (280 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-5415-9613-9

While coping with her parents’ divorce, a sixth grader inadvertently helps save her school’s art program and stands up to bullies.

Although forced to move across Atlanta and finish sixth grade in a new school because of her parents’ divorce, Lizbeth has a plan to become popular and break up her dad and his new girlfriend, Claire. Having to wear a nametag on her first day and being seated in a pod with the Weirdos are just the start of her plan’s unraveling. Lively episodes involving cheese, a SuperChicken graphic novel, an automaticflush toilet, and more help the lactose-intolerant, cosplayloving preteen recognize the mean-girl spirit in her class, that her podmates are genuine friends, and that Claire is as fierce as she is. They also balance the real-life anger and trauma Lizbeth experiences from the divorce. Seamlessly woven into the sixth grader’s woes are the bullying of Joseph, one of her new friends, and the potential loss of the arts program in her underfunded school. The author also smoothly depicts bullying differences between genders. A satisfying, climactic twist begins resolution to all of these problems while the linked storylines work together to keep any one dilemma from turning the book into an “issue” novel. Lizbeth presents white on the cover, and the book seems to assume a white default despite its Atlanta setting.

Disasters averted in this realistic yet amusing take on sixth grade life. (recipes) (Fiction. 9-12)

THE WRENCH

Gravel, Elise Illus. by the author Trans. by Simard, Charles Orca (32 pp.) $19.95 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-4598-2449-2 Bob—a cartoon character with a human body and a large, pink face that seems to merge a rabbit, a pig, and a badger—is repeatedly distracted from buying a wrench to fix his tricycle.

When a short bout of searching turns up no wrench, Bob goes to “Megamart, the ultra-giant, supersized megastore where you can find ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.” There, Mr. Mart, a blue-faced, mustachioed figure in a cowboy hat, persuades Bob to buy an absurd contraption called a “fridge-hat” instead. When Bob shows off his purchase to friends Pedro and Lucien, they ridicule him. A third friend, Paulette—whose pink tail pokes out from a green dress—reminds Bob about his mission to buy a wrench. (Like Bob, his friends are brightly colored anthropomorphic creatures.) Twice more, Bob goes wrench shopping, and twice more, similar episodes ensue, as gullible Bob buys musical pajamas and then a screaming machine. Each time he is confronted with his mistake, Bob stuffs his new purchase into his closet. The punchline wraps up a simple, silly tale that warns against the dangers of sales persuasion and conspicuous consumption. The writing is made for reading aloud with different voices, and the silliness and repetition will keep the youngest viewers entertained. Unfortunately, each time Pedro, Lucien, and Paulette react to Bob’s foolish behavior, the creatures’ reactions are both unkind and gender-stereotyped, the two male-presenting characters jeering and the female-presenting one demonstrating practicality. The illustrations are colorful and comical, in an offbeat palette.

Imaginative—but lacking heart. (Picture book. 3-5)

FAIR SHARES

Goodhart, Pippa Illus. by Doherty, Anna Kane Miller (32 pp.) $12.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-68464-048-5 Animals learn about true fairness.

A tree sports bountiful pears, and Hare wants to partake. Surely Hare can jump high enough to reach them? Alas, no—Hare leaps but comes down with nothing to show for it. Along comes Bear, but she can’t reach them either. Chairs are proposed, opening up the key philosophical question: Bear says it’s unfair if she herself gets only one chair while Hare gets two, but Bear only needs one chair to reach the fruit while Hare really does need two. Giving each animal one chair while leaving one spare (unused) is mathematically equal—thus satisfying Bear—but Hare, alone in not being able to reach pears, objects: “This doesn’t FEEL fair.”

Goodhart’s distinction between equality and equity is politically essential in myriad areas of life: “Giving everybody the same thing isn’t always fair” (spoken by a beetle). The repetition 110

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Madden’s mountain scenes feature broad lakes and rivers, wide blue skies, and precisely detailed flora and fauna. mountains

ALWAYS SO GRUMPY

unidentified, and conversely, the rare and large Titicaca water frog and some other creatures mentioned in the text are nowhere to be seen. Still, a sailboat beneath Fuji being the only sign of human occupation, readers are left to appreciate the natural wonders on display undistracted and to join the author in expressing, as she does at the close, a fervent desire to preserve them.

Quick but horizon-broadening flyovers, just the ticket for budding naturalists. (map, index, print and web resources) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Guendelsberger, Erin Illus. by AndoTwin Sourcebooks Wonderland (40 pp.) $10.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-7282-1620-1

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A surly, big-eyed hedgehog is having a bad day, and it’s up to readers to cheer them up.

The prickly hedgehog opens with the warning: “I am grumpy. I am crabby. I am not having a good day.” The hedgehog then suggests that readers tell a joke or make a silly noise, which elicits a smirk from the hedgehog but doesn’t work to chase away the sour mood. Each double-page spread includes a new demand that is generally unrelated to the previous one and, predictably, can’t improve their temper. Switching back and forth between actions that readers take independently of the book, like making a funny noise, or things readers should perform on the book, like shaking it, lends an inconsistent and awkward feel to the progression of the story. The interactive elements lack the engagement and cohesion of Hervé Tullet’s Press Here (2011) and other books in this style, reading like half-hearted suggestions from a character with no clear motivation other than being grouchy. The hedgehog finally requests a hug and an “I love you,” which seems to turn the bad mood around. The hedgehog exclaims, “Thanks for sticking with me, even when I wasn’t very much fun to be around.” This reminds readers that we all have bad days, but it might not be enough to make this book a pleasant experience.

Grumpy animals are sometimes better left alone. (Picture book. 3-6)

MOUNTAINS

Guillain, Charlotte Illus. by Madden, Chris Words & Pictures (64 pp.) $18.95 | Jul. 21, 2020 978-0-7112-4354-5 Series: World of Wonder A select world tour of major mountains and mountain ranges, with stops to marvel at distinctive formations and wildlife.

Guillain begins at the top—of Mount Everest, that is—with an explanation of how mountains are formed, then moves down its slopes, pausing for closer looks at a small, high-altitude spider, the “icefall” of Khumbu, a snow leopard on the prowl, and finally four types of butterflies found in Himalayan meadows. From then it’s on, in a mix of similar slow descents and quicker whistle-stops, to volcanoes in Iceland, the Alps, Mauna Kea (which is higher than Everest, counting the part underwater), the Andes, Mount Fuji, the Rockies, and finally the dazzlingly layered Rainbow Mountains in northwestern China. Along with distant but properly majestic views of snowy, rugged peaks, Madden’s mountain scenes feature broad lakes and rivers, wide blue skies, and, in most foregrounds, precisely detailed flora and fauna. Some of the latter go |

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This dark nail-biter weaves a creepy spin on a childhood game that quickly slips into a Stephen King–esque tale of horror. hide and seeker

FLIBBERTIGIBBETY WORDS Young Shakespeare Chases Inspiration

of paranormal page-turners. Characters default to white. Four of the tales were previously published in 1990s-era anthologies. In an afterword, Hahn explains why she writes ghost stories and includes one she wrote as a high school senior (reworked as “Trouble Afoot” for Bruce Coville’s Book of Monsters, II, 1996, and also reprinted here).

Unearthly tales sure to tingle the spines of fans new and old. (Horror/short stories. 8-14)

Guthrie, Donna Illus. by Gilland, Åsa Page Street (40 pp.) $18.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-64567-062-9

FASHION RULES! A Closer Look at Clothing in the Middle Ages

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.”

Literally chasing inspiration, young William runs through the streets, gardens, waters, and woods of Elizabethan England, in search of the flibbertigibbety words that flew in through his window one day and then escaped, in this whimsical, metaphorical ode to the language and plays of Shakespeare. Each spread features well-known phrases from a play, as the lad’s future characters—a multiracial group, in a nod to diversity in modern casting—stand on a balcony, ride in a carriage, or stir a boiling pot, as appropriate to their roles. Playful and idiosyncratic illustrations are full of action and energy and evoke the sense of a European fairy tale as they portray the determined boy’s seemingly unsuccessful search. At a loss for words, William finally returns home and reveals his plight to a local peddler he passed earlier—who, in addition to pretty ribbons, also happens to sell paper and pens, which might be just what young William needs to capture his elusive target. This cheeky, kid-friendly tale is full of creativity and humor and will work for many age groups on many levels—and it answers the age-old question of where authors find ideas (and words). Both William and the peddler present white.

A comic introduction to the plays and words of Shakespeare that’s lighthearted and sure to please. (author’s note, quotations with sources, bibliography) (Picture book. 5-10)

Hennessey, Gail Skroback Illus. by Sabin, Tracy Red Chair Press (40 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 1, 2020 978-1-63440-905-6

A clueless itinerant jester becomes a device for communicating medieval fashion.

After getting fired from his job as a jester for the king, traveling entertainer Bickford arrives in a new village hoping to find work. There, Bickford bumps into Trowbridge, a local, who takes the jester on a tour, pointing out the class differences and social roles to be discerned based on people’s attire, taking care to articulate the potential consequences of breaking the rules. “Those two women are wearing a conical hat called a henin…they are showing that they are very important women by the height of their hats,” Trowbridge lectures, and “It can mean death to anyone outside the royal class who dares to wear purple cloth.” The dialogue throughout is so expository as to feel hopelessly stiff, and the illustrations are likewise bland and posed. Very occasional insets offer further exposition. From a plot standpoint, it is mystifying that Bickford, traveling on foot even “for days,” should be so thoroughly unfamiliar with the mores in a community close enough to his place of origin to share his language. The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer, as well, as the serfs’ tatters would hardly have been considered “fashion.” Bickford and Trowbridge both present white; occasional figures in the background appear to be people of color.

The information is not uninteresting, but its delivery is far from compelling. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

THE PUPPET’S PAYBACK AND OTHER CHILLING TALES

Hahn, Mary Downing Clarion (192 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-0-358-06732-0

Twelve chilling tales from the grande dame of the ghost story.

A goodly number of Hahn’s 20-odd novels deal with the supernatural, especially spirits, and here she collects some of her shorter tales. Matthew skips school to enjoy the spring weather, which turns on him. Killing time in an arcade until he can go home, he sees a sinister stranger who then gets on the bus Matthew must ride home. Meeting Vince that dark night changes Mathew’s life forever (and he may well “live” that long). Jenny buys a haunted dress and solves a murder from the 1920s. In the title story, Jeremy, bullied by students and a particularly mean teacher, has the bad luck to end up with a cursed puppet…but even curses sometimes turn out to be beneficial. Two of the tales have sports themes, and others are historical spookers, so there is something for every fan 112

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HIDE AND SEEKER

Hermon, Daka Scholastic (320 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-338-58362-5

Justin and his friends play their last game of hide-and-seek at their friend Zee’s not-so-welcome–home party.

Zee had gone missing one week after Justin’s mother passed away just one year ago, and the party is celebrating his return. But the emaciated Zee is acting strangely, mumbling |

REVENGE OF THE LIVING TED

rhymes about a Seeker that will take them all. Shortly after the party, one by one, Justin’s other friends begin to disappear. It doesn’t take long for the remaining members of the crew to figure out that Zee’s strange behavior may be connected to the disappearances. Justin, Nia, and Lyric set out on a trail of clues and possible suspects, hoping to find their missing peers. No sooner do the details of the mystery begin to come to light than Justin, the last of the group, is unwillingly transported into the realm of Nowhere. In this parallel universe, the Seeker keeps children hostage, feeding off of their fears. This dark nail-biter, set in a small Tennessee town and featuring a largely African American cast (Lyric is the only white kid), weaves a creepy spin on a childhood game that quickly slips into a Stephen King–esque tale of horror. Can the children trapped in Nowhere gather as allies to evade the Seeker and get home?

A chilling debut—like the Seeker, a tale that doesn’t let you go. (Horror. 10-12)

Hutchison, Barry Illus. by Cosgrove, Lee Delacorte (208 pp.) $9.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-0-593-17430-2 Series: Living Ted, 2

ANIMAL HOMES

Holland, Mary Photos by author Arbordale (32 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 10, 2020 978-1-64351-750-6 Series: Animal Anatomy and Adaptations Children know that wild animals live outside, and this book offers them the opportunity to see where and learn how they live.

In Holland’s crisp photographs, readers will see animals and their habitats up close and in detail. Each image is bright and clear, revealing impressive amounts of texture. One can imagine the slick foam of the spittle bug’s home, the smooth coat of a black bear, or the coarse nubbling of bark. The very first spread presents a picture of a beaver with webbed feet and remarkably interesting claws that look like human fingernails; it appears as an inset over a full-bleed, spread-spanning photo of a beaver lodge in an autumn landscape. A few pages in, there is an equally striking shot of a bald-faced hornet and another of an army of tent caterpillars building silk. In total, the book covers 12 animals and insects and would be useful to bring along during a camping trip, a walk through a local park, or even a walk to a favorite neighborhood tree, so that children will have the opportunity to see and perhaps interact with some of the habitats of the animals around them. Four pages of backmatter encourage further engagement with the topic. Holland also carefully introduces new vocabulary to children, folding in such words as “burrow,” “drey,” and “snag” throughout, with explanations within the text.

This picture book is a pleasure to read and is sure to become the favorite of some future naturalist. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

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Lisa Marie and Vernon meet the mind behind the teddy-bear–animating contraption from Night of the Living Ted (2020).

The morning after the teddy-bear takeover, Lisa Marie and Vernon wake up to a world in which, aside from them, no one has any recollection of it. While they try to puzzle out why (and find a new birthday gift for Lisa Marie’s dad, since they’re too attached to Bearvis to give him up after their shared adventure), they are abducted by the exceptionally hairy inventor of the Stuff-U-Lator. Ursine Kodiak is a self-declared genius whose “mother was a Nobel Prize–winning physicist” and whose “father was a he-witch.” With his army of bears (and tanks and jets), he clearly wants to take over the world—though when he remembers to, he claims he wants to save it. Like all good mad scientists, Kodiak suffers from hubris, and he re-creates the brainwaves of the exceptional evil teddy, Grizz, as an artificial intelligence. Grizz, of course, quickly breaks free to become the main antagonist again. While there are definitely giggles, this sequel doesn’t maintain the joke density of its predecessor. Taking place almost entirely in Kodiak’s secret factory, it doesn’t have as much tension, either. However, the kids’ solutions—which include using Kodiak’s video-gaming bully bears against him and copious poop emojis—will amuse the audience.

Human characters are illustrated white; the epilogue sets up a third installment.

A middle-book step down; best seen as a bridge to the next book. (Science fantasy. 8-12)

NICE TRY CHARLIE!

James, Matt Illus. by the author Groundwood (48 pp.) $18.95 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-77306-180-1

Repeated attempts yield enjoyable rewards.

That’s apparently the moral of this Canadian import, in which Charlie, an itinerant collector, gathers stuff into his cart in his urban neighborhood and tries to reuse it. From her window, Aunt Myrtle spots a pie in a box on the sidewalk. Charlie wants to eat it but, reminded by Aunt Myrtle the pie’s not his, instead attempts to find the owner on his rounds. Charlie tries to help a girl retrieve her ball; he can’t, though he learns the pie isn’t hers. He fashions a birdbath from a tire—but the pie doesn’t belong to the birds nor to a kid who plays the tuba badly. Having failed to locate |

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JELLY ROLL

the pie’s owner, Charlie returns home. In a pat conclusion, Aunt Myrtle invites the community to gather for a pastry feast. This tale, narrated in present tense, meanders with Charlie; seemingly, its point is to keep trying. Fair enough, but some may feel it should also have strongly tried to dissuade readers from eating food found on streets, boxed or not. Loose, quirky, colorful illustrations, some in panels, depict broad overviews of a city; some are superimposed on photos of urban backgrounds.

Dialogue is often set in colored boxes. Brown-bearded Charlie presents white and is casually attired in a green ten-gallon hat and yellow boots; other characters are racially diverse. Aunt Myrtle is a black woman who uses a motorized wheelchair. (This book was reviewed digitally with 12-by-17.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.)

Nice try, but there’s not much here to encourage repeat reads, even with pie. (Picture book. 4-7)

Joyce, Mere Orca (120 pp.) $10.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2629-8 Series: Orca Currents

A girl forced together with a longstanding bully refuses to let him see her cry.

Jenny is excited to attend a weeklong leadership camp for eighth and ninth graders. As their culminating project, each group of four campers will present a “locally grown” stall at a farmers market. Jenny is intrigued by the theme since cooking is a passion of hers, bolstered by her father’s food-truck business. She feels “it would be too easy to make fun of the big girl who feels most at home in the kitchen,” so she keeps her love secret despite her healthy embrace of her size. When Jenny’s about to board the camp bus, she discovers that the boy who makes her life difficult at school, Austin, is also attending the camp. Years ago, he coined a rude nickname for her and continues to ridicule her. When it’s revealed that Austin is also in her project group, Jenny fears this week will be both miserable and fruitless. The narration makes clear the emotional and physical results of bullying, for both the targeted victims and those within the sphere of influence.

Working within a low page count, Joyce deftly endows each character (presumed white) with a rich inner life, even Austin.

As with other Orca Current titles, it requires only low-level mastery to decode, so struggling readers can easily access the mindful, satisfying tale.

A sweet success. (Fiction. 9-14)

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN The Journey of His Life Janisch, Heinz Illus. by Kastelic, Maja Trans. by Wilson, David Henry NorthSouth (48 pp.) $18.95 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-0-7358-4388-2

Traveling by coach across Denmark, an elderly Hans Christian Andersen recounts the story of his life to an inquisitive child, couching it as a fairy tale in which he learns to fly and inherits “the kingdom of letters.”

In this smoothly translated blend of biography and storytelling, Janisch uses Andersen’s own metaphor: The Danish writer called his memoir The Fairy Tale of My Life. Without weighting his story with specific detail (available in the author’s note), the author conveys a compelling sense of the man whose stories have been loved around the world and across centuries. Kastelic uses a variety of palettes and page designs to give this tale its wings. Both the journey and Andersen’s narrative are depicted mostly in panels—the present of the journey in light colors, the past in sepia tones. But the tales Andersen’s father reads to him as a boy and the stories the adult Andersen tells are brighter and shown in full pages. Repeated images of flight suggest that the writer-to-be escaped from a difficult childhood by immersing himself in the imagined world. In one striking spread the colors of the imagined world slightly bleed into young Hans’ arrival in Copenhagen. In another, storybook characters and even an elderly Andersen appear in a crowd scene of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Early on, readers see the shadow of Andersen’s wings, and, in a surprise conclusion, he shows he can still make his audience fly.

“A very special fairy story,” indeed. (Picture book/biography.

4-8)

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THE FOREST OF STARS

Kassner, Heather Illus. by Ptica, Iz Henry Holt (288 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-250-29700-6

A homeless girl’s arrival at a carnival triggers a series of suspicious mishaps.

Since her father “lost his grasp on the world” just before she was born and floated away out the window, 12-year-old Louisa has been protected by her ailing, heartbroken mother.

Like her missing father, Louisa’s “made of hollow bones and too much air,” causing her to float “like there were marshmallows under her soles.” Louisa worries people will discover she’s different and fears the wind will sweep her away. Alone and bereft following her mother’s death, Louisa flees to the Carnival Beneath the Stars, where being different is an asset. Quickly adopted by other runaway kids with magical talents who invite her to join them, Louisa reluctantly agrees to develop her own soaring act, hoping to attract her missing father. When a fierce storm and injuries plague the carnival, Louisa and her new |

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This sweet volume is sure to bounce off the shelves. bunbun & bonbon

THE CONSTITUTION DECODED A Guide to the Document That Shapes Our Nation

friends realize someone’s stealing the performers’ magic and set out to trap the culprit, with perilous consequences. Cast in lush, sensory language with recurring images of love bugs that feed on grief, dark shadows that obscure, and evil threads that bind, and populated by wildly imaginative characters, Louisa’s tale of loss and discovery proves irresistible. Black-and-white line drawings capture key scenes and depict Louisa as white.

Set in an unusual carnival, this original fantasy is a darkly engaging one. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kennedy, Katie Illus. by Kirchner, Ben Workman (208 pp.) $16.95 paper | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-5235-1044-3

Kennedy and Kirchner present young readers with an introduction to the U.S. Constitution and its amendments, offering a direct, simple “translation” of the original text.

An introduction explains why the Constitution is important before Kennedy launches into her project of presenting the Constitution in its original language and her accompanying paraphrasing and examples, organized by articles, sections, and amendments. Vocabulary words are identified in bold and defined at the bottom of each page and in a glossary. Boxes labeled “Did You Know?” and “Look Back” offer limited factual backstory about how or why a specific part of the document was created. “Constitution in Action” boxes explain how the document is used in practice and further explore how the government works. No overarching narrative ties all the text together. The complete texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation are included as further reading but without accompanying simplified versions. Contextual explanations are often vague, the two sentences discussing the freedom of speech not including any of its limitations, for instance. There is no explanation of how the Constitutional Convention was organized or of who participated. The cartoon illustrations depicting diverse but generic-looking figures wearing contemporary and historical garb and a sprinkling of anthropomorphized states are oddly incongruous with the seriously toned, straightforward text. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 83% of actual size.)

This effort will leave readers aware of the document but with little understanding of it. (glossary, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

BUNBUN & BONBON Fancy Friends

Keating, Jess Illus. by the author Graphix/Scholastic (64 pp.) $22.99 | $7.99 paper | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-338-64683-2 978-1-338-64682-5 paper A perky rabbit and a fancy candy become best friends in this cheerful graphic novel.

Bunbun, an all-white rabbit, has almost everything: “a delightful Bunbun nose, a winning Bunbun smile, a ridiculously cute Bunbun tail,” and so on. But the one thing Bunbun does not have is a friend! Enter Bonbon. Initially mistaken for a talking rock, Bonbon is a bouncy, purple, and effervescently cheerful anthropomorphic piece of candy. The pair immediately becomes fast friends as they discover mutual passions for bouncing and for all things fancy: fancy vocabulary whether or not they know the meaning (“like croissant”), music, food (“fancy french fries and fancy ketchup!”). This all leads them to co-plan a fancy party! The story is virtually conflict-free; the most tension-filled moment is when the duo comes across a snake whom they assume to be a predator but who in fact is just looking for friendship too and ultimately joins their party. Both Bunbun and Bonbon remain ungendered throughout; neither is referred to with pronouns. Thick lines, clear borders, bright colors, and a bold, highly readable san serif type make this title ideal for newly independent readers or younger children looking for a first graphic novel to share with a grown-up. The multitalented Keating’s debut graphic novel is perfect for fans of Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly and Heather Ayris Burnell and Hazel Quintanilla’s Unicorn and Yeti.

This sweet volume is sure to bounce off the shelves.

(Graphic early reader. 5-8)

ROSIE THE DRAGON AND CHARLIE SAY GOOD NIGHT

Kerstein, Lauren H. Illus. by Wragg, Nate Two Lions (40 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-5420-1848-7 Series: Rosie the Dragon and Charlie Charlie plans, prepares, and completes the steps to put pet dragon Rosie

to bed.

Charlie, a black child with a high-top fade, has had challenges putting Rosie to bed, so tonight Charlie is prepared with a plan—a long, intricate plan. First, there are supplies to gather: a drink of water (no sneaking juice into it, Rosie), a stuffed 116

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Though well-meaning, this vague profile doesn’t quite capture either Hawking’s groundbreaking career or his full humanity. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography.

6-8)

horsie (if they can find it), and a fire extinguisher, because—well, because dragons. Bathtime is a mess, but Charlie is at the ready with a towel. Rosie insists on wearing footie pajamas, which cause a dramatic overheating issue, so when the fan Charlie has set up doesn’t work, it’s time for that fire extinguisher. Charlie must wear a raincoat for protection when Rosie brushes her teeth. Finally, after a story, it’s time for Rosie to snuggle into bed while Charlie takes a relaxing bath to unwind—but of course, a post-bedtime emergency is inevitable. Rosie is a round-bellied, buck-toothed, bright pink dragon whose goofy looks are endearing; the cartoonish illustrations are busy, dramatizing the chaos that Rosie brings wherever she goes. Though it drags on a little longer than necessary, this humorous story is a sweet representation of caretaking and patience, with a parallel that can extend to older and younger siblings as well as to parentchild relationships, perhaps making young readers a bit more self-reflective and empathetic.

This dramatic bedtime tale is not for everyone but will satisfy many. (Picture book. 4-8)

PIA’S PLANS

Kuipers, Alice Orca (112 pp.) $10.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2378-5 Series: Orca Currents Pia strives to be the perfect student, sister, daughter, friend, and track star, but when Pia’s plans come crashing down, she is forced to learn a tough lesson in humility.

Pia carries the world on her shoulders, trying to hold everything together for her family while being a high achiever in school and extracurriculars. Ambition combined with strong perfectionist and control streaks have also left Pia incredibly anxious. It all comes to a head one fateful day. Seemingly everything that can go wrong does, starting with a tumble down the stairs and a probably sprained ankle. It is all downhill from there, as a longtime friendship teeters, an embarrassing accident leads to detention, and her aching ankle threatens to rob her of a win in her signature race, the 400 meters. Amid it all Pia grasps for control and anxiety soars, but a strong support system and sage advice help her to find balance. Simple vocabulary, short chapters, and quick pacing make this slice-of-life story a great highinterest, low–reading level option for struggling readers. The frank discussion of mental health and how the need for perfection and control can contribute to anxiety ring true while the advice of adults within the text is encouraging without being too preachy. Pia is depicted on the cover with pale skin, straight brown hair, and brown eyes.

A fast-paced, hi-lo tale sure to ring true for many. (Fiction.

9-14)

STAY CURIOUS! A Brief History of Stephen Hawking

Krull, Kathleen & Brewer, Paul Illus. by Kulikov, Boris Crown (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Sep. 22, 2020 978-0-399-55028-7 978-0-399-55029-4 PLB

A glance at the life of English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking Growing up in a bookish family, Stephen was always asking questions. At 12, he pondered the origin of the universe. At 17, he attended Oxford University, where he began losing control of his body. At 21, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neuromuscular disease, and given two years to live. Though his condition deteriorated, eventually requiring him to use a wheelchair and an augmentative communication device, he defied his grim prognosis by decades.

In 1974, his discovery that black holes leaked radiation earned him international acclaim and led him to write the bestselling A Brief History of Time. Active and inquisitive until his death at 76, he researched life on other planets and advocated for disability rights. Kulikov’s scratchy illustrations cleverly acknowledge Hawking’s research, turning such everyday objects as a spinning LP and spilled tea into eye-catching black holes. However, the authors’ lack of specificity blurs Hawking’s accomplishments; for instance, his “important university job once held by genius scientist Isaac Newton”—Cambridge University’s prestigious Lucasian Professor of Mathematics position—is unnamed.

Such down-to-earth details as Hawking’s family, humor, and penchant for parties are unfortunately eclipsed by cloying disability clichés declaring him “a triumphant life force, almost otherworldly,” whose brilliant mind was “trapped within his powerless body.” Kulikov depicts a seemingly all-white cast.

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WHISPERING PINES

Lang, Heidi & Bartkowski, Kati Aladdin (320 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-5344-6047-8 An unearthly, eyeball-stealing cosmic horror stalks kids.

Whispering Pines, Connecticut, is a strange town where the speed limit has a decimal point and school rules include bans on both chalk and the wearing of garlic. New-kid Rae wants a fresh start—a year ago, the middle schooler had confided in her best friend that Rae’s father was abducted by the government to cover up alien existence, only to be betrayed when her secrets were spread, leading to ridicule |

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Bold, bright colors, dynamic illustrations, repetitive refrains, and catchy, well-paced text make this book utterly rereadable. every night is pizza night

FISH OUT OF WATER

and ostracization. Her neighbor Caden is the school weirdo: His mother’s a ghost hunter, and his gift of paranormal empathy landed him in trouble in his younger years. Moreover, his brother has disappeared, and he’s responsible. While both kids navigate desire for friendship and connection as well as their places in complicated family dynamics, what brings them together is a mystery about something hunting kids and stealing their eyes— and its possible connection to a terrible adjacent dimension packed with horrors. The scary parts (aside from eyeballs, bodies, abominations, and the like) capitalize on sensations of wrongness, primal fears, being watched, and twisted games of hide-and-seek.

The third-person narration alternates between the two characters, and in addition to their plots (both the realistically nuanced family-and-friend storylines and the genre-specific pulpy thread), the town’s overflowing with red herrings to complicate the mystery and seed future Whispering Pines stories. One side character has a Japanese surname; otherwise characters default to white.

Perfect for reading under a blanket with a flashlight. (Hor­ ror. 8-13)

Levy, Joanne Orca (144 pp.) $10.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2659-5 Series: Orca Currents A slim hi-lo tackles toxic masculinity.

Fishel “Fish” Rosner doesn’t want to play water polo. Nor does he want to collect used sports equipment for his bar mitzvah project. What Fish really wants to do is learn to knit, but his grandmother won’t teach him, just as his mother and stepfather, Darren, won’t let him wiggle out of playing team sports at the Jewish Community Center when Fish would rather do Zumba. And when Fish tells his best friend, Seth, that he is joining the school knitting club, Seth responds by telling Fish that his interests are “weird” and “girly,” embarking on a campaign of relational aggression. Fish still desperately wants to incorporate knitting into his bar mitzvah project, and both his rabbi and a math teacher become his champions, affirming that all people may participate in all activities, regardless of gender identity. Fish is assertive and brave, outspoken in his critique of rigid gender norms. Readers will rejoice as he stands up to other boys and to his stepfather, contesting Darren’s shallow exhortation that “boys don’t cry” with tearful truth. He is a formidable ally to girls and women. Though brief, this text masterfully connects the toxic masculinity to its roots in deep misogyny, making Fish a hero people of all genders can stand up and cheer for.

All readers will appreciate this book’s nuanced messaging around gender roles and trusting yourself. (Fiction. 9-12)

I DO NOT LIKE STORIES

Larsen, Andrew Illus. by Sookocheff, Carey Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-77147-378-1

A grouchy reader finally finds an appealing topic.

“I do not like stories about waking up in the morning,” begins the light-skinned, dark-haired grump.

Once off to school, the child continues to enumerate every single kind of disliked story on the left side of the double-page spreads while the right-hand page shows the family’s cat having parallel experiences: upsetting a fruit cart when the child expresses disdain for stories about fruit, climbing a tree when the kid says, “I do not like stories about deep dark forests,” and reentering the apartment through a window as the child reviles “stories about going home.” Comic-book–style panels divide the action while the muted, blue-dominated palette and simple lines of the illustrations match the downcast tone of the story. The only break in the repetitive structure is when the kid says, “I do not like stories about monsters that hide behind closed doors,” and then, after a bewhiskered, spread-spanning “BOO,” says, “Just kidding! That’s no monster. That’s my cat.” The kid only concedes, at the end, the possibility of “lik[ing] a story about a cat.” The story has a pleasant, soothing rhythm, but it never manages to get anywhere interesting. There’s no insight into why the antihero is so pessimistic, and the cat’s side-plot adventures are too mundane to entertain or offer a counternarrative.

Anti-book books are tricky, and this one doesn’t quite pull it off. (Picture book. 4-7)

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EVERY NIGHT IS PIZZA NIGHT

López-Alt, J. Kenji Illus. by Ruggiero, Gianna Norton Young Readers (48 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-324-00525-4

A pizza-loving girl pits her favorite food against other multicultural offerings in her neighborhood to determine the best food ever!

At Pipo’s house, every night is pizza night. “Pizza. Is. The. BEST,” she says. “Peking duck?” her mother suggests, but: “Peking yuck,” Pipo avers. “French onion soup?” No! “French onion p….” Then her parents challenge her to try different foods, approaching the question scientifically. “I do not need to. I do not want to, but I will try other foods. I will do it for science,” she proclaims. Pipo visits her neighbors to gather “data.” First, she visits Eugene and tries Korean bibimbap. It smells stinky, and it tastes spicy! She loves it—but “is [it] better than pizza?” she wonders. Pipo goes on to sample Farah’s Moroccan tagine, red beans and rice in Dakota’s kitchen, and hot, juicy dumplings from Ronnie and Donnie’s food truck.

All these foods are new to her and very tasty! Through this |

around-the-world culinary journey in her own neighborhood, Pipo discovers that while pizza is best, “it’s not the only best.”

(Her recipe is appended.) Bold, bright colors, dynamic illustrations, repetitive refrains, and catchy, well-paced text make this book utterly rereadable. And while the theme is a little obvious, it may still help convince picky eaters to try new foods. Pipo has pale skin and straight black hair, and the cast is appropriately, robustly diverse.

A delightful culinary ode to the multicultural world we live in. (Picture book. 4-8)

stranger, it’s only a matter of time before he opens it and discovers the grisly contents: a severed finger. And this isn’t just any severed finger—this is the severed finger of a dark being intent on rebuilding himself and reclaiming the world for the forces of darkness. Suddenly, Jake finds himself up to his elbows in ghosts and ghouls. It’s a good thing he is one of the few who have the special ability to commune with the dead. With the help of Cora, a somewhat recently deceased spirit, and the long-dead undertaker Stiffkey, Jake does his best to outrun evil’s clutches and set things right. This series opener is delightfully spooky, complemented by scratchy black-and-white illustrations. Squeamish readers may not be up for this one: Each chapter heading boasts an image of a dead hand missing its pointer finger, for one thing.

But for readers itching for some adventure and some scares, this will certainly do the trick. They won’t be troubled by the slightly uneven pace and the serviceable but hardly revelatory subplot about Jake’s parents’ divorce. Jake, Cora, and Stiffkey are all rendered white—or livid, as the case may be.

A creepy romp. (Horror. 9-12)

THE POWER OF ONE Every Act of Kindness Counts

Ludwig, Trudy Illus. by Curato, Mike Knopf (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Aug. 25, 2020 978-1-5247-7158-4 978-1-5247-7159-1 PLB

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STINK AND THE HAIRY SCARY SPIDER

Words and pictures work together to show how, one by one, we can make a difference.

Ludwig’s text doesn’t tell a story so much as it delivers the straightforward message that even small acts of kindness can have a big impact. The narrative takes root in Curato’s illustrations, which expand on the text to depict a diverse group of children and their interactions. An opening frontmatter scene shows a white-appearing child with blond hair and blue eyes shouting at another person (words are represented by scribbles in a speech balloon), who appears to be a child of color. On the facing page, a crowd of kids rendered in grayscale are oblivious to the interaction, with the exception of one child with East Asian features who stands out in full color. On ensuing pages, the child who was shouted at cries while the tormentor stalks away and the bystanding child offers comfort. This act of kindness spurs others that eventually include all of the children coming together in full color to create a garden. Even the first, shouting kid from the frontmatter reappears with a flower to apologize. The garden prompts interpretations both literal and metaphorical as the children sit down at a table shaped like the numeral one to feast.

A good pick about caring for sharing. (Picture book. 4-7)

McDonald, Megan Illus. by Reynolds, Peter H. Candlewick (160 pp.) $14.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-5362-0920-4 Series: Stink

Stink returns to battle arachnophobia.

Judy Moody’s little brother, Stink, returns for another scientific adventure, this time battling his long-held fear of spiders. After crafting a jumping origami frog, Stink brings his project to the backyard to give it a test hop. Stink’s frog leaps out of sight, and while looking for it, Stink comes across a hairy, pink-toed spider. A timorous Stink seeks out Judy’s help to find his origami frog, and Judy does him one better: The siblings put in the work to cure Stink of his fear. Those familiar with the Judy Moody and Stink books will find more of the same here, with Reynolds’ broad, round illustrations accompanying McDonald’s charmingly optimistic characters. Newcomers will be able to slide in with ease; there’s no extensive backstory here to wade through— just some quirky kids dealing with a common fear. The reading level is pitched to those just beginning to dip their toes in the chapter-book pool. Judy and Stink are white, but there’s a bit of diversity in the supporting cast. The book includes origami instructions in its end pages.

More of the same, but here that’s a good thing. (Fiction.

7-11)

EMBASSY OF THE DEAD

Mabbitt, Will Illus. by Knight, Taryn Walker US/Candlewick (272 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-5362-1047-7 Series: Embassy of the Dead, 1 A case of mistaken identity leads to the summoning of a grim reaper.

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PAOLA SANTIAGO AND THE RIVER OF TEARS

suffering as the radium loosened their teeth, destroyed their jaws, ate away their bones, and caused lethal tumors. Even after the deadly aftereffects were documented, another company opened a dial-painting studio in Illinois with a similar outcome.

Although these young women’s lives often ended tragically early, their determination to achieve a legal victory against the negligent companies had lasting consequences: Both important laws that would protect future workers from unsafe employment practices and improve workers’ compensation laws and a better understanding of the medical outcomes of radioactivity exposure, which also helped end nuclear tests, resulted. The only discordant note in this sensitive presentation is a single unnecessary, pandering sentence: “Grace recalled that even her boogers became luminously green!”

A fine, moving, important work for young readers. (timeline, end notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-18)

Mejia, Tehlor Kay Rick Riordan Presents/Disney (368 pp.) $16.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-368-04917-7 A 12-year-old girl must leave behind her preconceived notions of what is real if she wants to save her missing friend.

Paola Santiago looks forward to summer days filled with daydreaming and “ponder[ing] algae or other fuel experiments” with her best friends, Dante and Emma, down at the riverbanks. Her mother has forbidden Pao from hanging out down at the Gila River, but Pao disregards her advice, as most of her mom’s warnings include folkloric elements, like the fabled La Llorona. Pao, a self-professed scientist, cannot fathom believing in things like ghosts that have “no scientific basis to them.” That is, until Pao and Dante wait in vain for Emma to show up at the river. Emma’s disappearance, along with those of many other young people in the area, leads Pao and Dante on a journey that will shatter the laws of physics and other scientific truths Pao holds dear. As the duo searches for Emma, they will encounter lands and creatures that Pao held to be fictitious, along with her mother’s beliefs, which Pao has often pushed away along with the connection to her Mexican ancestry. Mejia’s writing is fast-paced and engaging, as the colorful imagery places readers in Southwestern cacti fields and in the tumultuous mindset of an insecure 12-year-old.

For all its exploration of Pao’s internal landscape, there is action aplenty. Dante is Latinx, like Pao; Emma is white.

A new hero’s fantastic and fantastical debut—her next appearance can’t come soon enough. (Fantasy. 8-13)

BIRRARUNG WILAM A Story From Aboriginal Australia

Murphy, Aunty Joy & Kelly, Andrew Illus. by Kennedy, Lisa Candlewick (40 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5362-0942-6

A gentle, descriptive portrait of a lush and well-loved land.

Created by Joy Murphy Wandin Ao, Senior Aboriginal Elder of the Wurundjeri people of the Melbourne area, in collaboration with Kelly and Kennedy, also of the area, this #ownvoices picture book is one of a kind. Beginning with carefully painted endpapers that feature patterned stones and platypuses at the front and fish in waves at the back, the story follows the Birrarung (Yarra River) as it weaves its way from creeks to rivers, verdant bush undergrowth to valley pines beneath a pale blue sky, farmland to city. Animals identified with their Woiwurrung names are described in their various habitats: warin (wombat), marram (gray kangaroo), wallert (possum), waa (raven), and many others. Each layered spread features life of all forms— human, flora, and fauna—portrayed in a dynamic, vivid style.

Intricate dot- and line-based art punctuates the lush illustrations drenched in vibrant greens, earthy browns, and watery blues, immersing readers in Aboriginal art. Extensive backmatter features a spread-by-spread glossary of Woiwurrung words used in the book accompanied by a reminder that “The Woiwurrung language does not translate directly into English.” This text perfectly captures the intersection of culture and science, making this an excellent text for an elementary-level unit on animal habitats, artistic portrayals, and cultural depictions of ecology.

Wilam, home, takes many forms for a plethora of animals in this striking Aboriginal story. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

THE RADIUM GIRLS Young Readers’ Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark Moore, Kate Sourcebooks eXplore (352 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-7282-1034-6

Starting in 1916, young women in New Jersey were hired to paint the luminous dials of watches— with lethal consequences.

The young readers’ edition of The Radium Girls (2017) pulls no punches. As in the adult version, it describes in agonizing detail the diseases that destroyed the lives of young dial painters who were instructed to “lip point” their brushes with each dip of radium paint. They’d leave work literally glowing, having absorbed such a large quantity of the dangerous radioactive element that they’d been told was good for their health. Moore tracks more than a dozen of the girls through their extreme 122

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Knowing what will likely fascinate their audience, the authors adopt an engaging and casual tone but never sacrifice information for a joke. the screaming hairy armadillo

THE SCREAMING HAIRY ARMADILLO And 76 Other Animals With Wild, Wacky Names

opens the bottle, she unwittingly releases a genie, Zayn. Kiara is initially excited, as she hopes Zayn can help her take care of Matt, but the genie claims to be on vacation and refuses to grant her any wishes. Without the promise of magic, Kiara must summon the courage to stand up to Matt’s bullying once and for all.

Most of the characters are people of color: The protagonist and her family are Indian, Zayn is presumably Muslim, and Bai is Chinese; Matt is white. While Narsimhan’s dialogue does not always sound authentically childlike, the issue of bullying is portrayed realistically though resolved easily. Simpson’s cute cartoons in black and white are interspersed throughout the narrative, supporting the text and providing readers with some visual humor.

An important story about bullying despite the relatively simple resolution. (Fantasy. 6-8)

Murrie, Matthew & Murrie, Steve Illus. by Benbassat, Julie Workman (176 pp.) $14.95 paper | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-5235-0811-2

Would a rose by any other name taste as delicious as a chocolate dip damselfish sounds?

The sparklemuffin peacock spider, the headless chicken monster, the fried egg jellyfish, and the bone-eating snot flower worm are just a few of the distinctively named creatures explored in this informative, fun, and funny look at animal names. Through the lens of how and why animal species get their names—whether funny, fierce, magical, delicioussounding, or just plain weird—it highlights the features leading to these names while explaining the common and scientific naming process and exploring animal taxonomy.

In catalog style, each featured animal’s description ties its defining features to its common name with illustrations and photos. Text sidebars include scientific name, habitat, and a particular fact for each creature. Knowing what will likely fascinate their audience, like yeti crabs eating the bacteria that grows on their hairlike spines or unicorn fish eating other animals’ poop (not as magical a behavior as the name sounds), the authors adopt an engaging and casual tone, filled with humor that matches the book’s focus, but never sacrifice information for a joke. Included are extension activities on how readers might go about discovering a new animal species, a name generator that could keep one busy for hours, and resources focused on conservation.

Like its title, this is sure to be a scream. (glossary, further reading) (Nonfiction. 9-13)

GOODNIGHT MERMAID

Oceanak, Karla Illus. by Ogg, Allie Bailiwick Press (32 pp.) $17.95 | Sep. 1, 2020 978-1-934649-80-0

A glimpse under the sea at mermaid life and lore.

While the rhyming text does ultimately conclude with the mermaids all going to sleep, this picture book functions less as a goodnight book and more as a survey of mermaid life. Crisp-edged, unremarkable illustrations depict many mermaids (not just one as the title suggests, and also selkies and nymphs) with varied skin, hair, and fin colors cavorting underwater. “Her Majesty the Merqueen reign[s] over the deep,” and once she is introduced, the text shifts to say goodnight to all of the mermaids and their sea-life companions, concluding with the line “Goodnight blue wonder that gives life to our world.” This closing spread of the narrative shows an illustration of the Earth with its blue oceans from outer space, a smiling pearl of a moon to its left in the starry, black sky. Following this are backmatter pages, which are the highlight of the book. Under the heading “Mermaidology: Magical Facts Mermaid Lovers Love To Know” appear bits of information about these fantastic creatures. The last “fact” reads, “Mermaids take care of our miraculous oceans, but they need our help.” A concluding page delivers “The Mermaid’s Pledge,” which readers are invited to take themselves, “both hands over merheart.”

Sure to be a hit with mermaid fans. (Picture book. 3-6)

GENIE MEANIE

Narsimhan, Mahtab Illus. by Simpson, Michelle Orca (96 pp.) $7.95 paper | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-4598-2398-3 Series: Orca Echoes When 8-year-old Kiara Prasad finds a genie trapped in a bottle, she looks forward to wishing away her big problem at school: Matt, the bully.

Kiara recently lost her grandmother, and no one—including her grandfather visiting from India, her parents, and her best friend, Bai Leng—can ease her pain. To make matters worse, Kiara’s grandmother was the only one who truly understood how mean some of the other kids at school could be. While going through some of the odds and ends her grandmother left her, Kiara finds a bottle labeled Zayn Garam Masala; when she 124

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MAUD AND GRAND-MAUD

actually survived their journeys, even a pair of steppe tortoises looped around the moon and Enos (a chimp who, no doubt to the envy of many fellow astronauts, got away with throwing feces at a visiting politician because “he was a hotshot and good at his job”), whose 1961 Mercury capsule suffered multiple failures in orbit. Each visually crowded entry squeezes in a boxed mission profile and one or, usually, more period photos.

Resource lists at the end supplement frequent leads throughout to online research reports or videos. Human figures are, with rare exceptions, white.

Laika’s tragic fate notwithstanding, a generally triumphant tally of liftoffs, landings, and scientific insights. (glossary, websites) (Nonfiction. 9-11)

O’Leary, Sara Illus. by Pak, Kenard Random House (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-399-55458-2 978-0-399-55459-9 PLB During sleepovers with her grandmother, a young girl imagines she’ll be just like her grandmother one day.

On special weekends, Maud spends the night at her grandmother’s house, watching black-and-white movies, eating breakfast for dinner, and telling stories. Maud loves imagining the past, when Grand-Maud was a little girl, as well as the future, when Maud will become a Grand-Maud herself with a granddaughter to love. An ode to intergenerational relationships, O’Leary’s story unfolds in a series of short vignettes. The connections between past and present are strengthened as the two characters ask each other questions and explore the answers.

Maud’s love and adoration for her grandmother make up the backbone of this comforting book, perfect for a snuggly, bedtime read. Textured, sepia-toned backgrounds set off characters rendered in saturated colors. As the story drifts backward and forward in time, Pak’s illustrations provide a strong framework to help readers keep their footing. Grand-Maud is depicted with white hair and pale skin; in a photograph of her as a child, she has blond hair. Maud has straight black hair and presents Asian. When Maud speaks of the seven children she might have one day, she imagines them to have many different combinations of her and Grand-Maud’s physical traits.

This cozy book is as comforting as a warm quilt and a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night. (Picture book. 4-8)

PICTURE BOOK BY DOG

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Relth, Michael Illus. by the author Little, Brown (40 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 29, 2020 978-0-316-45886-3

With crayons and paper, Dog creates a book to show appreciation for the home and best friend that are finally in

its life.

In the illustrations, readers see Dog’s dangerous early life on the streets, the loneliness of the shelter, and the joy of finally having a friend and a home. There are several humorous moments in the story, as when Dog learns what “NOT to chew” and where “NOT to poo,” the latter complete with a handdrawn map indicating locations both in and outside the house.

However charming the story might be, though, the opening language poses a logical conundrum. Dog introduces itself and addresses readers in second person, saying: “and I made you this book.” From this beginning, the reasonable assumption is that the rest of the book will be directed to readers, as obviously the child who rescued Dog needs no introductions, but things change on the following page. Still in second person, Dog says: “I was lost before we met,” which is clearly Dog speaking to the child who found it at the shelter and took it home to become a part of their family. Readers will appreciate the sentiment but wonder just exactly how that “you” happened to shift. The illustrations vary the childlike style of Dog’s illustrations and a glossier look for life outside the book. The lucky child has brown skin and brown curly hair; Dog is a genial brown mutt.

A sweet story with a rather confused narrator. (Picture book. 4-7)

50 ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN TO SPACE

Read, Jennifer & Read, John A. Formac (90 pp.) $19.99 | Aug. 1, 2020 978-1-4595-0602-2 Series: Beginner’s Guide to Space

Two Canadian authors take an unusual angle on an international history of space travel.

What may stick with readers south of the border—aside from a jaundiced view of two Cold War powers “racing to get the first soldiers into space” and using animals in “sacrificial” roles to advance that agenda—is the sheer variety of animal astronauts. Following nods to the Montgolfier brothers and other pioneers, the authors go on in one- or two-page entries to chronicle purposes, courses, and outcomes for 50 missions, mostly from the space programs’ earlier days, in which monkeys and chimps flew for the U.S., Laika and other dogs for the USSR, cats (inexplicably) for France, and later on a great range of birds, bugs, fish, spiders, “ant-stronauts,” mice, and more…with and without human accompaniment. Most |

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THE MISSING The True Story of My Family in World War II

Shirley ultimately excelled in school, completing college and going on to become a schoolteacher before her work with community groups led her into politics. Approximately half of the story details Shirley’s childhood and youth, and the other half shows Chisholm’s transition from teaching into politics, focusing on how she gave a voice to the powerless. Russell-Brown’s text does a remarkable job of pulling together the threads of Shirley’s life to show how her experiences informed her life trajectory, ending on a note of triumph even though she does not win the presidential nomination. Velasquez’s watercolor illustrations are full of life, using texture and light to capture vivid and varied scenery, personalities, and emotion. An extensive afterword expounds upon Chisholm’s continuing legacy. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.8-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 61.2% of actual size.)

Important history made beautiful and engaging. (sources, credits) (Picture book/biography. 5-10)

Rosen, Michael Candlewick (128 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-5362-1289-1

Born in England just after World War II, young Rosen grew up hearing references about relatives who existed before the war but had disappeared by the time it ended.

There were great-aunts and great-uncles and their families who had lived in France and Poland. His dad knew their names and a bit about them. He assumed they died “in the camps.” At first the child Michael didn’t understand what that meant. As he learned more about the Holocaust, he became determined to find out about his lost relatives. He did extensive research, gathered small clues, and began to dig deeper, becoming consumed by the quest throughout his life. His account includes lots of disappointments and dead ends as well as some remarkable finds that led to information and some answers about missing relatives from both France and Poland. He provides photos and letters that bring these lost souls to life. Speaking in the first person, directly to readers, Rosen explains the unexplainable in simple but not simplistic language, presenting facts without sugarcoating them or underestimating children’s ability to comprehend. He includes poems, some written over many years and some written for this book, expressing his deeper feelings regarding his long search and its mostly devastating results.

He links history to modern-day hatreds and reminds his readers of the exhortation “Never again.” “Today; One Day,” a poem of pain and hope, makes a poignant close.

An important work that is immensely personal, powerful, and heart-wrenching. (foreword, family tree, photos, documents, bibliography, index, acknowledgements) (Memoir/his­ tory. 10-adult)

THE LAND OF THE CRANES

Salazar, Aida Scholastic (272 pp.) $17.99 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-338-34380-9 A fourth grader navigates the complicated world of immigration.

Betita Quintero loves the stories her father tells about the Aztlán (the titular land of cranes), how their people emigrated south but were fabled to return. Betita also loves to write. She considers words like “intonation,” “alchemy,” and “freedom” to be almost magic, using those and other words to create picture poems to paint her feelings, just like her fourth grade teacher, Ms. Martinez, taught her. But there are also words that are scary, like “cartel,” a word that holds the reason why her family had to emigrate from México to the United States. Even though Betita and her parents live in California, a “sanctuary state,” the seemingly constant raids and deportations are getting to be more frequent under the current (unnamed) administration. Thinking her family is safe because they have a “petition…to fly free,” Betita is devastated when her dad is taken away by ICE. Without their father, the lives of the Quinteros, already full of fear and uncertainty, are further derailed when they make the small mistake of missing a highway exit. Salazar’s verse novel presents contemporary issues such as “zero tolerance” policies, internalized racism, and mass deportations through Betita’s innocent and hopeful eyes, making the complex topics easy to understand through passionate, lyrical verses.

An emotional and powerful story with soaring poetry.

(Verse fiction. 8-12)

SHE WAS THE FIRST! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm Russell-Brown, Katheryn Illus. by Velasquez, Eric Lee & Low Books (40 pp.) $18.95 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-62014-346-9

This picture-book biography shows how Shirley Chisolm’s upbringing and talents led to her career in politics and her historic run for the U.S. presidency.

By the age of 3, Shirley was leading children twice her age in play. When finances were difficult at home in Brooklyn, her parents brought her and her sister to live with her grandmother in Barbados, where she experienced farm life and beaches and saw black people in all sorts of positions. Readjusting to New York at age 10 during the Great Depression was difficult, but 126

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Every element of the story is hilariously mundane. trouble in pizza paradise

OF SALT AND SHORE

superhero outfit. Every element of the story is hilariously mundane. The town motto of Deerburbia, USA, is “a place to live,” and the cartoon sound effects are often absurdly on the nose: “scary music” and “dolphin call.” The drawing style is so simple and stylized that, from a distance, some of the pictures might be confused for diagrams of single-celled organisms. Many of the main characters are white, but Deerburbia as a whole is more diverse, and Dolphin Girl’s sidekick and co-worker, Otter Boy/Keith, is black. The stakes are rarely higher than the fate of the titular pizza place. These superheroes are never epic. If the plot sometimes feels unfocused, that’s kind of the point.

Both underachievers and overachievers will be pleasantly bemused and amused in equal measure by this low-key adventure. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

Schaap, Annet Illus. by the author Trans. by Watkinson, Laura Charlesbridge (336 pp.) $16.99 | Oct. 13, 2020 978-1-62354-230-6

A young girl uncovers an incredible, terrifying secret inside a forbidding, ominous house perched on the edge of the sea.

Ever since Lampie’s mother died, lighthouse keeper Augustus has drunk himself into debt and hurls his anger at Lampie.

When a ship is wrecked, father and daughter are blamed for carelessly running out of matches to light the lamp. Augustus is imprisoned in his lighthouse, and illiterate Lampie must be a servant for seven years in the sinister Black House, rumored to harbor a monster. What Lampie discovers in the high tower room is not what she expects, but Lampie is her mother’s daughter, with resiliency to survive in the face of relentless cruelty and despair. The story is billed as a sequel to “The Little Mermaid,” but the ties to Han Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale are not apparent until well into it. However, elements of The Secret Garden and “Beauty and the Beast” are evident throughout, enticing readers hungry for new yet classic-feeling books. Translated from Dutch, the third-person narration moves seamlessly, transitioning from character to character, drawing parallels, and setting up juxtapositions that further illuminate the characters’ motivations and growth. Many of the adults in this book are damaged, mentally and physically, and this affects most cruelly the children in their lives. Characters seem to be assumed white.

Gritty and suspenseful, this atmospheric fairy tale will capture the hearts of sturdy middle-grade readers. (Historical suspense. 11-14)

ABSOLUTE HERO

Tripp, Valerie Illus. by Bowers, Geneva Under the Stars (192 pp.) $12.99 | Sep. 8, 2020 978-1-4263-3869-4 Series: Izzy Newton and the S.M.A.R.T. Squad, 1 Izzy Newton is anxious about starting middle school, but with a little help from her good friends, she conquers her fears.

Izzy’s best friends, pretty Charlie Darwin and adventurous Allie Einstein, are loyal and supportive, but Izzy doesn’t know what to think when she learns that Marie Curie, a former member of the trio’s circle of friends, is back from a year in Paris during which they fell out of touch. Izzy hopes to win Marie’s friendship back, but Marie is cold to them on the first day of school. The school building is cold too—the air-conditioning system is malfunctioning, making the school like a refrigerator inside. Izzy convinces her friends to help solve the mystery behind this, partly hoping that if the STEM club she’s proposed doesn’t draw Marie to them, this will. They are all passionate about science, and they form several hypotheses and do observations, but it isn’t until they resolve things with Marie that their efforts are successful. This series opener highlights diverse, sympathetic characters using their smarts and their emotional intelligence to solve scientific and social challenges.

Charlie has light-brown skin and speaks Spanish with her two moms, Allie presents white, Marie presents Asian, and new girl Gina Carver is black; Izzy is a winning black protagonist who steadily challenges herself and nurtures her friendships. Bowers’ half- and full-page grayscale illustrations add personality to the characters. Backmatter offers further information on the characters’ real-life inspirations and women scientists.

Wholesome entertainment for preteens, offering positivity without didacticism. (glossary) (Fiction. 9-12)

TROUBLE IN PIZZA PARADISE

Smith, Zach Illus. by the author Pixel+Ink (144 pp.) $22.99 | $12.99 paper | Oct. 6, 2020 978-1-64595-017-2 978-1-64595-018-9 paper Series: Dolphin Girl, 1

This graphic novel tries very hard not to be a superhero story.

There are at least nine flavors of Sea Cow–brand diet shakes, including B.L.T. and Cottage Cheese.

They are terrible, and they may cause “sweating, nightmares, or restless leg syndrome.” But Sea Cow, a supervillain who dresses in an animal costume, has a zombification weapon and plans to force people to buy her drinks. This makes her more ambitious than her opponent, Captain Dugong, who would rather watch cable golf than fight crime. Even the most heroic character, his daughter, Dolphin Girl, never bothers to change out of her 128

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Distributed by UTP Distribution

www.crwth.ca @crwthpress

$8.95 Ages 7-9 978-1-989724-07-1

$9.95 Ages 9-12 978-1-989724-03-3

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$9.95 Ages 11-13 978-1-989724-05-7

BECAUSE BOOKS MAKE US BETTER Can Sophie win over the not-shy-not-scared new girl at school?

There’s a new girl in Sophie’s Grade 3 class. Her name is Hailey, and she seems confident and fun.

Sophie is certain they should be friends.

Eileen Holland

Eileen Holland

CAN $8.95 / U.S. $7.95

Illustrated by

www.crwth.ca

Sophie_Trophy_Too_Cover_Final_Jan21.indd 1

Brooke Kerrigan

$7.95 Ages 7-9 978-1-7753515-7-3

$7.95 Ages 7-9 978-1-7753319-6-4

2020-01-24 11:35 AM

I wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet. Our plan should have worked. We shouldn’t be in this mess, under attack from all sides. Had the Oracle lied to us? No. The unthinkable was true. There had been a traitor in our midst all along.

Twelve-year-old Arthur and his best friend, Lea, declare war on Zeke and the Immortals, the swim team kids who torment all the other kids in Birch Bay. Using their video game network, Art and Lea gather a small crew of kids armed with paintball guns and shields made of trash can lids.

This is a smart, funny story that cleverly sneaks in a history lesson. The action scenes are epic and the characters really shine. — Arthur Slade A great read! You’ll feel like you’re with them in the battle.

Go, Spartans, go! — Eric Walters

THE THREE SPARTANS

Their mission is to maintain control of a fort in the woods. But the real prize is freedom from bullying and the knowledge they stood up for themselves — and their friends.

MCCANN

THAN

$7.95 Ages 7-9 978-1-7753319-3-3

Sophie Trophy Too

Sophie Trophy Too

Sophie Trophy

But every time Sophie tries to be nice to Hailey, disaster strikes. To make matters worse, Hailey makes friends easily with Sophie’s pals, Enoli and Brayden. Sophie feels left out, but does she give up? No! Sophie is determined to find a way to make Hailey her friend.

Holland

Holland

Sophie Trophy

$9.95 CAN / $8.95 US

ISBN: 978-17753515-4-2

$11.95 Ages 13-16 978-1-7753515-8-0

$8.95 Ages 13-15 978-1-7753515-1-1 |

$8.95 Ages 9-12 978-1-7753515-4-2

The Three Spartans.indd All Pages

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THE EGG

as she is, and in a particularly charming and satisfying moment, the two share their feelings and together enjoy the festival without stress. A secondary plot in which Thistle and his fairy community reconcile their different approaches to productivity ties in nicely with the book’s themes of emotional intelligence and community. The artwork is soft, friendly, and cheerful, with a candy-colored palette and aesthetic not far from the work of Rebecca Sugar’s, although with sketchier lines.

Readers will be delighted to pick up this sweet treat.

(Graphic fantasy. 5-8)

Valério, Geraldo Illus. by the author Owlkids Books (40 pp.) $18.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-77147-374-3 A crane’s search for a missing egg is unsuccessful—or is it?

In the opening scene, Valério’s signature cut-paper collage features a nest built of strips of different shades of brown, textured paper. Filling a double-page spread, the thin rectangles encircle the crane’s red legs, which, in turn, frame a pink, polkadot oval. The wordless story continues with the bird flying away just as a storm rolls in, the egg eventually spilling into the moving water below. A tearful quest does not yield the original specimen, but the parent finds another egg-shaped bundle and scoops it up with care. Back at the nest, a rosy-faced human baby emerges from the swaddling. Cherries and rocking lead to smiles, and when the graceful creature soars into the sky, child in tow, it joins a flock of other types of birds: One bears a pig, another totes a goldfish bowl. Still others carry children created from brown paper. They all thrill to acrobatics until evening descends and cuddling begins. This cheerful portrait of adoptive families is not weighed down with any pedantry. It simply shows that nurturing hearts expand with love when presented with opportunity. The artist’s bold palette, striking patterns, and humorous poses will provoke commentary about colors, shapes, and design as well.

Valério’s visual storytelling will excite the eyes and warm the hearts of viewers young and old. (Picture book. 2-6)

CATTYWAMPUS

Van Otterloo, Ash Scholastic (288 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-338-56159-3 Two preadolescent witches from rival magical families work together to reverse a hex gone haywire.

Magic is not to be performed in the McGill household, but when Delpha McGill finds the family spellbook hidden in a closet, she sets out to learn magic to pull herself and Mama out of poverty. Conversely, Katybird Hearn’s family secretly practices magic, but Katy’s own “conjure gift”—passed from mother to daughter—seems stuck. Born with XY chromosomes and androgen insensitivity, Katy is intersex; Katy knows she’s a daughter but worries that her ability might not fully develop.

The feud between the two families—the cause of which no one remembers—ended years ago, but the families, and the girls, maintain a polite distance. Everything goes cattywampus when an argument over a runaway outhouse(?!) leads to the resurrection of angry McGill and Hearn ancestors—warring as though they never stopped. The girls have to put aside their differences to make things right, or it will be the end of both families forever. The even, third-person narration switches between impulsive Delpha and levelheaded Katy, giving voice to each girl’s insecurities and triumphs as she tries to quell her doubts about her place in her family, and in magic. Colloquialisms and vernacular bring the Appalachian North Carolina setting to life.

Assume whiteness for most characters; classmate Tyler (who has a magical ability of his own) has two mothers, one of whom wears box braids. Katy’s 6-year-old brother is deaf, and the family uses ASL. A spirited debut. (Fantasy. 8-13)

CRABAPPLE TROUBLE

Vandorn, Kaeti Illus. by the author Random House (176 pp.) $12.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-9848-9680-3

Anthropomorphized-produce people prepare for a fairy food festival in this transitional graphic novel.

Callaway, an overalls-clad girl with a crabapple head that floats above her body, is nervous about the Forest Fairy Kingdom’s upcoming Summertime Fair. All her friends are great at creating tasty treats from their produce, but Calla catastrophizes about her potential contribution to the fair, to the point of literally losing her head from worry—it abruptly disassociates from her and rolls away! It’s not painful, but it is disorienting, and Calla is lucky to get help from a new fairy friend named Thistle, who helps her practice managing her anxiety. In order to distract herself from her worries, Calla practices keeping busy by helping her community and, in doing so, finds self-worth in ways beyond traditional productivity.

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Exploring racism, bias, and belonging, Whitley and Noguchi’s delightful, full-color graphic novel is almost exclusively female. girl on fire

THE KING OF JAM SANDWICHES

together. All the while, Jeremiah accumulates these experiences until he finally exclaims: “I’m tired of people hurting each other!

I’m tired of people shooting each other!” His parents recognize his deep frustration and encourage him to channel the energy, as they do, into actions that combine to create new realities: voting, marching, praying, organizing, and educating. For them, all these strategies show that change is possible and will come one day if we commit to them en masse. However, Waters conflates police violence, white-supremacist violence, and neighborhood violence into one simplified linear narrative. Although they all affect communities like Jeremiah’s, they demand different remedies, a critical understanding that’s not made explicit for young readers.

Morris’ simple, heartfelt illustrations reflect the book’s emotions.

Encouraging but simplistic, the book strives to offer dignity, agency, and hope for a new generation of black youth but doesn’t quite manage. (author’s note, discussion guide) (Picture book. 6-10)

Walters, Eric Orca (320 pp.) $12.95 paper | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-4598-2556-7 Two teen survivors of dysfunctional parenting build a supportive friendship.

Robert, 13, who’s endured his widower father’s violent mood swings and erratic behavior for years, barely remembers his mother. Robert’s dog is his companion and protector.

Robert likens his dad’s temperament to an elevator that rises high and drops low, with intermittent bouts of normalcy. He either ignores Robert or demands perfection. Robert’s meager lunches are jam sandwiches; his father’s hoard of nonperishable foods is off-limits. When new student Harmony, 14, in foster care while her alcoholic mother’s in rehab, lashes out at Robert, he wins her trust by covering for her. As their friendship progresses, Robert repeatedly rescues Harmony from sabotaging her chances for a stable, successful future. Robert himself, a top student who’s skipped a grade, is well liked and athletic. Recruited for the basketball team, Robert’s so valuable he’s allowed to miss practices and keep his part-time job. He feeds and cares for his father, whose severe mental illness (readers may identify bipolar disorder) goes unnamed and apparently untreated. While Harmony bears psychic scars from her upbringing, accomplished, self-reliant Robert’s already a winner; readers’ sympathies are wasted on him. Robert’s narration unfolds with wry, self-deprecating humor, showcasing his stoic patience (though little emotion) and masterful achievements.

What readers don’t see is the struggle to achieve his goals. His hero’s journey ended before this story begins.

An entertaining journey frustratingly underexposed. (author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)

GIRL ON FIRE

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Whitley, Jeremy Illus. by Noguchi, Jamie Papercutz (128 pp.) $19.99 | $12.99 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5458-0492-6 978-1-5458-0493-3 paper Series: School for Extraterrestrial Girls, 1 A studious girl’s regimented life is turned upside down when she learns she isn’t human.

Fifteen-year-old Tara Smith has always carefully followed her parents’ strictures—dutifully completing chores and assignments, routinely taking medications, and always wearing her mandated bracelet—even though kids at school call her weird. When she spontaneously combusts during class one day, she learns that she is a reptilian alien prone to impromptu self-immolation. She is assigned to the School for Extraterrestrial Girls, an all-girls establishment for aliens seeking to prove loyalty to Earth in order to remain there. Tara meets roommates Summer and Misako, who wear bracelets like Tara’s: This hides their true forms, showing only their human defaults. When Tara reacts badly to seeing Summer’s true tentacled form, she feels too ashamed to apologize. Tara then uncovers an uncomfortable truth about Misako: that her own race slaughtered nearly all of Misako’s lineage. She tries to hide this but is outed; how can she make things right with her roommates? Exploring racism, bias, and belonging, Whitley and Noguchi’s delightful, full-color graphic novel is almost exclusively female, and their characterizations, both main and secondary, encompass a varied spectrum of body types, skin colors, and cultural representations: Main character Tara has brown skin; Summer has light-brown skin and a tall, muscled physique; Misako has Asian features; and one professor is curvy and wears a headscarf while another dons a sari.

Engaging science fiction that is fiercely female-forward.

(Graphic science fiction. 9-12)

FOR BEAUTIFUL BLACK BOYS WHO BELIEVE IN A BETTER WORLD

Waters, Michael Illus. by Morris, Keisha Flyaway Books (40 pp.) $18.00 | Sep. 22, 2020 978-1-947888-08-1

One family navigates their young son through what seems to be an unending cycle of race-related gun violence.

Pastor, professor, and activist Waters draws on intimate family experiences in this attempt to answer many of the critical questions that have arisen over the past decade. Violence seems to be everywhere Jeremiah looks. On the computer is the story of Trayvon Martin; on the television, Michael Brown. In the paper is the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church. One night, the gunshots even ring outside Jeremiah’s home as the family gathers |

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Don’t miss this brave hero as she confronts anti-immigrant hatred in a timely historical novel. three keys

NIGHT WALK TO THE SEA A Story About Rachel Carson, Earth’s Protector

on the ballot. The author’s note highlights personal experiences with racism and provides additional information on this historic vote. The storyline expertly weaves together the progress and setbacks Mia experiences as her family continues to work, seemingly endlessly on the edge of poverty. Lupe reveals that her family is undocumented, creating a portrait of fear as her father is jailed. The impending vote has significant consequences for all immigrants, not just the Garcias, as racial threats increase.

With the help of a cast of strong supporting characters, Mia bravely uses her voice and her pen to change opinions—with family, friends, teachers, and even voters. The lessons she learns helping her friends become the key to addressing racism, as one wise friend advises: “You gotta listen, you gotta care, and most importantly, you gotta keep trying.”

Don’t miss this brave hero as she confronts anti-immigrant hatred in a timely historical novel. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Wiles, Deborah Illus. by Miyares, Daniel Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-5247-0147-5 978-1-5247-0148-2 PLB

In a simple tale based on Rachel Carson’s writings, the naturalist takes her great-nephew on a walk that reinforces the better parts of his emerging selfhood.

The story begins by stating that it is bedtime in Rachel’s cabin in the woods and a thunderstorm is brewing. On the next double-page spread, a little boy named Roger, dressed in Godzilla PJs, plays monster with a woman named Rachel whose relationship to him is explained only in the backmatter.

Roger is scared when the lights go out—although he will not admit it—and he is rude to Rachel when she tries to comfort him. Throughout the book, Roger’s all-too-human, childish behavior swings rapidly through phases of obstreperousness, fright, and tenderness while Rachel’s attitude and speech unwaveringly resemble the wise woman of fairy tales. Her didacticism works for any age of reader when she is discussing luminescent ocean life but not so well when she reminds Roger he loves and protects the wilderness. After the storm, Rachel and Roger walk through woods to the sea. Here the text is lovely and lyrical. The climax comes when Roger discovers a struggling firefly in the seafoam and Rachel helps him rescue it. The tale is slightly long for a bedtime read-aloud, making it apt for slightly older preschoolers. When illustrating natural phenomena, the art—like the text—is magical. The human depictions are sometimes awkward.

Doesn’t quite jell but worthwhile reading nevertheless. (biographical note, science note, further reading) (Picture book.

3-5)

SHARK AND BOT

Yanish, Brian Illus. by the author Random House (96 pp.) $9.99 | $12.99 PLB | Sep. 1, 2020 978-0-593-17335-0 978-0-593-17336-7 PLB Series: Shark and Bot, 1 It looks like the beginning of a beautiful (and unlikely) friendship.

Shark is a great white shark from Australia who has recently moved to the (unspecified, probably North American) neighborhood with his stuffed wombat, Batty. Bot is a Model R-2300 Cutting Robot who lives 0.185 miles from the park where they first meet. Neither is good at making new friends. Bot has a blade for a hand (makes fist-bumping problematic), and Shark is…well, a shark. No one thinks sharks and robots go together, but these two bond over a shared love for the Glo-Nuts graphic novels, which chronicle the exploits of a half-dozen pastries turned into superheroes by an explosion in an underground laboratory. When bullies invade the park and take over, Shark and Bot try to decide what to do: fight them? Ask them nicely to leave? Make their brains explode with hard math problems?

No…dance battle, of course! Will these two awkward new friends come out on top? Yanish kicks off this new graphicnovel series aimed at chapter-book readers with an enjoyable mix of goofiness and metafiction. Two Glo-Nuts episodes, rendered in a strikingly different color palette, appear between chapters. Pages on how to draw the characters and character bios close out this genial first outing.

A funny tale of awkwardness overcome in big, inviting panels. (Graphic fiction. 6-9)

THREE KEYS

Yang, Kelly Scholastic (288 pp.) $16.99 | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-338-59138-5 Series: Front Desk Sixth grader Mia Tang returns to battle racism in this thrilling sequel to the Asian/Pacific American Award–winning Front Desk (2018).

The Tangs, who emigrated from China when Mia was little, are now the proud owners of the Calivista Motel. Mia works the front desk along with her friends Lupe Garcia, who is Mexican, and Jason Yao, who is Chinese.

Her world quickly becomes clouded by the upcoming election, in which California’s Prop 187, which would ban undocumented immigrants from access to health care and public schooling, is 132

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This is Keith.

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I just need to work on my landing!

Max + Xam

“Clever fun carries a sweet feel-good message about real, true, loving friendships.”

ISBN: 9781786280879 Price: $17.99 Size: 9 ¾” x 9 ¾” Pages: 36 Age: 3-7

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TEST THIS BOOK! A Laugh-Out-Loud Picture Book About Experiments and Science!

At the beginning of the school year, teacher Ms. Gupta, who wears a bindi, tells the children the faces in this room will become their closest friends. Brown-skinned Musa can’t imagine it. But when the teacher says that everyone will share their favorite day of the year so they can all celebrate it together, Musa is elated. He shares Eid with his classmates. His mother comes in to help, wearing a hijab, and they serve the class foods from various cultures within Islam. “Everyone could see why Eid was Musa’s favorite.” When the other students share their favorite days, they are similarly received by the class: Mo shares Rosh Hashanah, with help from his family, two men wearing kippot who share his light skin and brown hair and a brown-skinned child with black hair;Moisés shares Christmas and Las Posadas; and Kevin shares Pi Day. At the end of the year, they have become good friends. This celebration of diversity and friendship includes lush descriptions of each holiday and can serve as an entry point for any one of them. Bell’s textured illustrations are festive and youthful, picturing a diverse, child-centered world. The endpapers are particularly intriguing, with quiltlike squares picturing various cultural symbols; further information on each of the four holidays appears in the backmatter.

The dual focus on friendship and diversity makes this choice a winner. (Picture book. 4-8)

Zong, Louie Illus. by the author Imprint (32 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-1-250-22580-1

A hands- and butts-on invitation to do science.

On the way to a basic version of the scientific method outlined in an appendix, Zong has lab-coated professors Bear and Frog urge readers to perform a series of “experiments” to find out if you can literally “do everything with books,” and then turn pages to observe the results. In the very simple cartoon illustrations the two researchers generally take a beating as they are shaken, turned upside down, bellowed at (“If you’re in a library, only yell a little”—whatever that means), and sat on. This last is a distinctly bad idea if the book’s being read on a tablet, and things go further awry when young readers/researchers are offered a lollipop—not to lick (which is theoretically feasible, if unsanitary) but as a reward which, being only an image, can’t be taken. What, there’s something books can’t do? Off scurry the two professors to modify their hypothesis. Scientific enquiry gets a more methodical showing in Camille Andros’ Charlotte the Scientist Is Squished! illustrated by Brianne Farley (2017), and budding experimenters eager to put their reading through the wringer will get more satisfaction from Dave Eggers’ Abner & Ian Get Right-Side Up, illustrated by Laura Park (2019), or Hervé Tullet’s inimitable Press Here (2011). (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 48% of actual size.)

Well meant, not thought through. (Picture book. 5-7)

ONE GOLDEN RULE AT SCHOOL A Counting Book

Alko, Selina Illus. by the author Henry Holt (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-1-250-16381-3

Readers count to 10 and back down again as they follow an elementary-age student through a typical school day.

“ONE backpack. / TWO teachers” sees the child (who has brown skin and hair in one long, brown braid) arriving, apple in hand. Smaller text in the illustrations directs readers toward other objects to count: “1 globe,” “2 pencils.” The kids listen to their teachers, explore the classroom, play with blocks. Then “TEN chickpeas line up” for snack, each child standing under their own charming, realistically childlike self-portrait. The diverse class includes a range of skin colors and hairstyles, a child who uses a wheelchair (and sits on the floor without it at times), one with hearing aids and an assistive listening device, one wearing glasses, and one in hijab. One teacher has brown skin and puffy brown hair; the other teacher presents Asian.

Recess, rest time, more learning, and yoga poses round out the day. Fascinating textures and colors, often supplied by collagedin bits of found paper (such as ticket stubs and old-fashioned date due cards) fill the pages, inviting readers to look closely.

Most of the items are easy to find and count. The characters are rendered in a naïve, folk-art style with two-dimensional stiffness, and one child’s missing front tooth is almost distractingly conspicuous. The final, titular message comes on the penultimate page and is posted on the wall along with a banner saying,

back-to-school picture books OUR FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR

Ali, A.E. Illus. by Bell, Rahele Jomepour Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jun. 30, 2020 978-1-4814-8563-0 Musa shares Eid with his new kindergarten classroom and learns about other students’ favorite days of the year as he makes friends with children from different backgrounds.

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The focus on a fundamentally global language spoken by creatures from diverse habitats conveys a utopian-yet-accessible vision in which no one is an outsider. the word for friend

“We are ONE community.” Backmatter includes the numbers from 11 to 20, with items to count for each.

Skills practice and a peek at the school day: a solid way to prepare. (Picture book. 3-6)

BUNNY BRAVES THE DAY A First-Day-of-School Story Bloom, Suzanne Illus. by the author Boyds Mills (32 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 18, 2020 978-1-68437-812-8

RAJ’S RULE (FOR THE BATHROOM AT SCHOOL)

Button, Lana Illus. by Aly, Hatem Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $17.95 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-77147-340-8

Author and educator Button offers a sympathetic treatment of a common but rarely depicted childhood anxiety.

Young Raj’s rule is to avoid the school bathroom at all costs.

To execute, this kid has strategies: no juice at lunch, no trips to the water fountain, no active play at recess, no laughing. Posture is critical. It all seems pretty grim, but Raj knows how to spin it: “Here’s a great game—squeeze your knees tight, / and don’t use the bathroom with all of your might.” Button’s verse is unexceptional, |

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THE WORD FOR FRIEND

Cassie, Aidan Illus. by the author Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.) $18.99 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-0-374-31046-2

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A small bunny uses every excuse to avoid the first day of school.

From an upper bunk, an older bunny peeks over the edge, excited: “Up and at ’em, Bunny Lump.” But the younger one isn’t having it. “I’m too tired”; “What if no one likes me?”; “My socks are too short”; “My tummy hurts.” The older sib has some solid suggestions, from packing a favorite stuffed animal to wearing something that will calm the jitters, like their own glittery shoes. But even this determined optimist concedes that “Sometimes you just feel like crying before you feel like trying.” As the duo joins their mother in the kitchen, the older sibling lists the things the younger one is already good at. Oddly, Mom never speaks, simply snapping a cellphone pic of her kids before a page turn sees them at the classroom door, the older sibling saying, “You’re a brave bunny. You can do this.”

The dialogue-only text is color-coded, red for the elder, who wears a skirt, striped tights, and sparkly mary janes in shades of pink and purple, and blue for the younger, in red Velcro sneakers, a tiger tail, tan shorts, and a blue “super shirt.” Mom’s in scrubs with green crocs. Faces and body language are expressive, though in one scene, oddly, the older sibling’s expression slips, looking sad or sleepy rather than cheerful.

Share with those who will be shepherding and calming their own younger siblings on their first days. (Picture book. 4-8)

but it gets the job done and even slyly prompts audience participation in a moment that will definitely spark giggles: “Steer clear of Kyle. He’s too funny—trust me. / That guy gets you laughing so hard you might….” A sneeze drives Raj to the bathroom in spite of everything, however, leading to unaccustomed comfort and the revelation that maybe it’s not such a bad place to do business after all. “I feel different,” Raj remarks and then proceeds to live dangerously, enjoying both juice and the water fountain, playing at recess, and even laughing at Kyle’s jokes. Aly’s cartoons depict Raj with brown skin and a puffy, dark-brown coif. Classmates are thoughtfully diverse, including some chubby kids as well as a couple who wear glasses and another who uses a wheelchair.

Sweet relief. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kindness is a universal language.

Kemala, an optimistic, talkative pangolin, has moved to “her new town” and anticipates meeting new friends. Her curiosity and interest in her new environment are tinged with anxiety and ambivalence about joining a new school because of “a language Kemala didn’t know.” With trepidation, humor, and help from anteater classmate Ana, Kemala discovers a connection through puppetry. Meanwhile, her hide thickens as she tackles Esperanto, the “foreign” language used among this assemblage of animal characters drawn from different continents. The focus on a fundamentally global language spoken by creatures from diverse habitats conveys a utopian-yet-accessible vision in which no one is an outsider. In featuring an echidna, a red fox, an owl, a raccoon, a skunk, and a numbat sharing the classroom with a pangolin, for example, while crafting Indonesianstyle shadow puppets of other animals (tiger, elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus, and penguin), the illustrations emphasize the power of imaginative role play. With everyone’s exuberant encouragement, Kemala overcomes her shyness and stage fright to find her new voice. A concluding note explains Esperanto and provides translations of the dialogue as well as offering further information on pangolins. Readers with familiarity with Southeast Asia may recognize Kemala’s name as Indonesian or Malaysian.

Delightful and heartwarming, this read-aloud performs like a welcoming embrace. Brava, amiko! (Picture book. 4-8)

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Quintanilla’s illustrations play up the other sharks’ big, pointy teeth and Walter’s roller coaster of excitement and disappointment/embarrassment. walter the whale shark and his teeny tiny teeth

WALTER THE WHALE SHARK AND HIS TEENY TINY TEETH

he finds in the school library may hold the key. Eventually, Charlie isn’t the only one making changes to gain new friends; the cats and dog are shown digging holes and playing with sticks during playtime. Dicmas charmingly captures the personality differences between cats and dogs; the former aloof and territorial, the latter excitable and outgoing. Readers may need to get used to Charlie’s off-kilter face, with one eyeball bulging in three-quarter view. For readers in Charlie’s position, it’s disappointing to see that not a single feline at Catford, neither student nor teacher, makes any overtures to Charlie until he works to learn their language. As both encouragement for ELL students and model for their classmates, it pales in comparison to Aidan Cassie’s The Word for Friend (2020).

This dog’s enthusiasm is catching, but the message is murky. (Picture book. 4-7)

Crow, Katrine Illus. by Quintanilla, Hazel Flowerpot Press (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-4867-1809-2

Walter feels out of place among the other sharks at school.

Walter’s been looking forward to school all summer, but a class photo has him in a panic: Everyone’s teeth are huge. How can Walter, with his “teeny tiny teeth,” make friends with the likes of Manny Mako and Greta Great White? The whale shark spends the morning worrying, but an idea strikes him at lunchtime. He scoops up some matching seashells to enhance his smile, but after one bite of his sandwich, they all come tumbling out. “Oh Mackerel!” His seaweed teeth are similarly unsuccessful, and his shrimp teeth flee (“SWIM for it!”) as soon as Walter opens his mouth to read aloud. Dejected, Walter heads home, where his mother waits with some reassurance: Walter doesn’t need teeth like the other sharks’ because whale sharks eat different food. (This important scientific fact is only hinted at in the plankton-and–chocolate chip cookies she serves Walter as an after-school snack.) “Having teeny tiny teeth doesn’t mean you don’t fit in. It’s what makes you special.” Quintanilla’s illustrations play up the other sharks’ big, pointy teeth (one precocious “sharky-gartener” even sports braces) and Walter’s roller coaster of excitement and disappointment/embarrassment. The other sharks laugh, seemingly at Walter’s expense.

The variably weighted, sans-serif typeface may make it hard for new readers to parse some letters.

A timely celebration of individual difference. (Picture book.

4-7)

I’M AFRAID YOUR TEDDY IS IN THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE

Dunn, Jancee Illus. by Nash, Scott Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-1-5362-0198-7

That social butterfly, er, teddy, is causing trouble again, this time at school.

The mischief-maker in question, a light-brown bear, has convinced his various buddies to sneak to school in their kids’ backpacks. Their reign of terror starts in the cafeteria, where they sculpt a sloppy-joe bear, play Frisbee with pizzas, and use spaghetti as wigs and fake mustaches. They tag the wall with condiments. They tie up the gym teacher with jump-ropes and sneak bubble fluid into the band instruments. Before making their pipe-cleaner escape from the art room, they invade the teachers’ lounge (readers will be in stitches at the wonders hiding in that sanctum sanctorum). But in the end, the suspects are lined up in chairs in the office of the principal, a brown-skinned woman who looks like she means business…until she remembers her own beloved childhood bear. Children will surely chuckle at the stuffed friends’ antics, which are just riotous enough that readers will recognize they are not to be emulated (one hopes).

The trip to the principal’s office (including the struggles of the vice principal, a white man, to control his laughter) may be accurate for first-timers, but those who make frequent visits are not likely to see the same treatment.

This teddy gang run amok proves that the principal is human, but their adventures are becoming one-note. (Picture book. 4-8)

A NEW SCHOOL FOR CHARLIE

Dicmas, Courtney Illus. by the author Child’s Play (32 pp.) $17.99 | $7.99 paper | May 15, 2020 978-1-78628-342-9 978-1-78628-341-2 paper Series: Child’s Play Library

Being the new kid can be hard, especially when you’re different.

Charlie, an exuberant golden retriever–esque dog, loves school and eagerly looks forward to his first day. But at Catford Primary, where he is the only dog among a sea of cats, things are very different from his old school. Charlie isn’t sure which bathroom to use or where his classroom is, and the classes (string theory?) go poorly. Playtime isn’t any better (apparently cats don’t like their butts sniffed). Charlie sulks at home that night, mystified that a dog with so many friendship awards could have failed to make a single new buddy. But the Dog to Cat Diction­ary 136

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WE WILL ROCK OUR CLASSMATES

pageantry. Enchanting illustrations dazzle—particularly through the diverse characters’ hair and facial expressions that detail individuals’ unique traits while celebrating the entire cohort. According to the author’s note, the story is inspired by the creator’s own “bicultural identity,” and the endpapers encapsulate an immigrant child’s journey: The poignant departure and the prosaic pleasures of new friends will resonate with readers of all ages.

Imaginative, irreverent, improvisational fun in kindergarten: Danbi shares a burst of “sweet rain,” complete with a rainbow. (Picture book. 4-7)

Higgins, Ryan T. Illus. by Higgins, Ryan T. Disney-Hyperion (48 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-368-05959-6 Series: Penelope, 2 Having learned We Don’t Eat Our Classmates (2018), Penelope the T. rex is now trying to rock them…in the school talent show.

Even though she’s the only T. rex in the school, Penelope at times feels overlooked. The other, human kids typecast her as the dinosaur in all their pretend play, but Penelope’s so much more: She reads and draws, and she longs to share her rock-’n’roll music with her classmates. But the first day of rehearsal—a day of elation, excitement, and plans—leads to disappointment and self-doubt. Her father’s pep talk helps her remember she is much more than just the T. rex everyone sees. And the next day, as she’s gathering her courage—Walter’s fishbowl is next to the sign-up sheet (readers of the previous title will get it)—some classmates ask to join her band, which is just the push she needs.

Higgins perfectly captures Penelope’s seesawing emotions, the highest highs and the lowest lows. The school is one of the most diverse found in picture books, with kids of all skin colors and ethnicities, several girls in hijab, a boy in a kippah, and kids using forearm crutches and a wheelchair. Hopefully the endpapers will serve as springboards for readers to declare and illustrate their own talents.

While not as riotously funny as Penelope’s debut, it comes with a much more meaningful message. (Picture book.

4-8)

KINDERGARTEN HAT

Lawler, Janet Illus. by Rodriguez, Geraldine Little Bee (32 pp.) $17.99 | Jun. 9, 2020 978-1-4998-0989-3

First-day jitters are conquered with gentleness, empathy, and a kind smile in this sweet back-to-school tale.

Carlos is anxious about the start of kindergarten, unsure of what to expect and full of what-ifs. Then his new teacher, Mrs. Bashay, sends a welcome letter with two important instructions: send “a photo of you doing something you love,” and bring a flower to add to her big flowered hat on the first day of school. After much deliberation, Carlos decides to share a photo of himself and his beloved garden. The same garden is the source of a big bright daisy to add to Mrs. Bashay’s hat on the first day of school. But then, disaster! En route to school the happy little daisy is accidentally dismantled, along with Carlos’ verve. What can Carlos contribute now? Fortunately, Mrs. Bashay is as warm and welcoming in person as she was in her letter, and with a little bit of flexibility, all is well. With a Latinx protagonist and a diverse cast of classmates, this book offers plenty of mirrors for new kindergarten students. Carlos presents as male, and it is refreshing to see a boy character depicted with such emotional complexity and tenderness. The story is brief, but there is much to love here, with its reassuring message that will encourage both enthusiastic and worried first-time students.

A practically perfect first-experience story, especially for anxious hearts and gentle spirits. (Picture book. 3-6)

DANBI LEADS THE SCHOOL PARADE

Kim, Anna Illus. by the author Viking (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-0-451-47889-4

All together now: Food, dance, and music combine for magic that transcends language barriers.

The charming cover of this read-aloud captures the Korean protagonist in a commanding pose, balanced on tiptoes, ready to perform. Still, Danbi feels anxious: “On the first day of my new school in America, my heart beat: Boom. Boom.” Her palpable turmoil builds as she tries unfamiliar activities, yet, by lunchtime, her nervous heartbeat evolves into drum rolls cueing Danbi’s creative impulses. Her classmates’ singular reaction to her traditional Korean lunch—“Wow!”—signals the transformative powers of Danbi’s favorite foods, exquisitely presented in tiered containers: “Yams in honey, crystal dumplings…rainbow drops, and half-moon rice cakes dipped in sweet sesame!” Classmates’ attempts to use chopsticks become comical antics; soon, Danbi is leading everyone through recess in spontaneous, triumphant 138

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THE COLOR MONSTER GOES TO SCHOOL

Llenas, Anna Illus. by the author Little, Brown (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-0-316-53704-9

A reluctant monster learns the ins and outs of school with help from his pal Nuna.

Monster doesn’t know what school is at first, and the items he wants to bring in his backpack will have readers giggling |

Connecting Kids with Animals and Nature!

Coming Fall 2020 Tails from the Animal Shelter: Whether it’s the Humane Society, a rescue service or another organization, these groups and their caring work remind us of how a loving home can change the life of a vulnerable animal.

978-1-53411-048-9 | $16.99

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More Animal Tales!

978-1-53411-054-0 | $16.99

978-1-53411-070-0 | $16.99

H is for Honey Bee:

Lions & Cheetahs & Rhinos Oh My!

A Beekeeping Alphabet

Animal Artwork by Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

sleepingbearpress.com 866.918.3956 |

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Martinez’s whimsical flights of fancy fill the illustrations to bursting. it ’s not a school bus, it’s a pirate ship

ALL WELCOME HERE

(and making lists of their own). Nuna straightens him out pretty quickly and drags him to school, literally, by one foot, where parents, kids, and teacher stand outside, all but three of the 14 with glum looks on their faces that can’t compete with Nuna’s “We’re going to have a really good time.” The school day unfolds as most do, with the typical first-day firsts and class activities, Monster getting up to minor trouble. Readers unfamiliar with his previous books may be confused as to whether the colorchanging Monster is one or several monsters, the crayonlike scratchings that fill him in ranging from green, gray, and yellow to several pages where he’s multicolored. Just before the school day (and the book) ends, it’s explained that he changes color based on his mood. Collaged elements give the scribbly, childlike illustrations some 3-D pop. Of the nine kids and their teacher, one is a child of color; the rest, including Nuna, are paper-white. One child and the teacher wear glasses. This book is a Spanish import, and U.S. readers may find it interesting to observe that this school includes a classroom of babies.

Leave this book to the monsters and choose a different one for your little one’s first day. (Picture book. 3-7)

Preller, James Illus. by GrandPré, Mary Feiwel & Friends (40 pp.) $18.99 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-1-250-15588-7

An energetic series of haiku celebrates the first day of school.

Some describe individuals: “Angelica” is “Like a red rocket / Flashing across a blue sky: / Her hair in the wind” as she runs to catch the bus. Some orient readers to their classrooms: “Name Tags” are “At every desk, / A chair with tennis-ball feet, / A place just for you.” Some capture the experience: In crowded “Hallways,” younger children watch as “A thick herd of cows / Tramples past, smelly and loud. / Fifth graders are tall.” The individual poems’ success as haiku vary.

Some, like “Hallways” and “Growing Up,” in which a mother bids goodbye to a fledgling kindergartner as a “small / Bird flies from its nest,” nail the form; others are more patterned, short narratives than anything else. Oddly, for a book that purports welcome, a mean-spirited streak surfaces. Student “Harold” is described thus: “Like a duck, one boy / Waddles down the hall, quacking. / Yikes, he’s in my class!” Another poem celebrates a “Prank,” in which an older child who knows the ways of a particular water fountain “smirks” while turning the knob to splash the face of the unsuspecting younger child. The kid laughs instead of crying, but it feels gratuitous. GrandPré’s busy, colorful paintings use primary colors to render this racially diverse school’s cheerfully chaotic first day.

Title notwithstanding, not the most welcoming of books.

(Picture book. 4-7)

SUPERHERO VS. SCHOOL

Long, Ethan Illus. by the author Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-68119-828-6

Long uses the superhero trope to get kids ready to face their first-day fears.

Scotty is a kid with a super imagination…superhero, that is. This little boy apparently sleeps in his super-suit, as that’s how his mother finds him on this momentous morning, telling him to get dressed. But as alternate double-page spreads show, Scotty is busy with the business of a superhero, saving the world from rogue robots and anthropomorphized school supplies (and the school itself) gone berserk. Can Scotty face his biggest nemesis and greatest fear? With friends, anything is possible. Though the scenes depicting Scotty and his friends battling the fanged school have comic-book verve, there’s not much takeaway for young readers, superhero aspirations or no. Puzzlingly, following their combined assault on the school, a page turn reveals it completely unmarked and intact. Any psychological process real-life Scotty may have gone through to grow comfortable with school is invisible. For kids already filled with worries, a book containing salivating, toothy school supplies with angry eyes and malicious grins may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Scotty and his mother present white; his classmates are diverse. For great tales of imagination taking on school fears, stick with Planet Kindergarten (2016) by Sue Ganz-Schmitt and illustrated

by Shane Prigmore or Super Saurus Saves Kindergarten (2017) by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Ned Young.

Superhero punch without a superclear message. (Picture book. 4-8)

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IT’S NOT A SCHOOL BUS, IT’S A PIRATE SHIP

Rapkin, Mickey Illus. by Martinez, Teresa Imprint (32 pp.) $18.99 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-1-250-22977-9 Series: It’s Not a Bed

Rapkin and Martinez build on the imaginative fun of It’s Not a Bed, It’s a Time Machine (2019) with this romp on a pirate ship that looks suspiciously like a school bus.

A cowering child in a red-and-white–striped shirt clutches a stuffed parrot as the school bus approaches. Mom says, “Don’t be scared. You’re the Master of Mornings. The Captain of Cool!”

A blue-toned interior shot of the bus shows the imaginary horrors the child envisions seated on the bus, all rendered in a childlike style: a pelican, a shark, a ghost, a skeleton. But everything changes when the driver announces it’s a pirate ship, not a bus.

The pint-sized buccaneer, who has pale skin and wavy brown hair, quickly makes a friend in Zenzi, a brown-skinned girl with curls in a topknot. The two exchange jokes, sing pirate songs, and apply sticker tattoos as the riders around them improvise |

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CHOO-CHOO SCHOOL

their own pirate gear, including a scribbled paper beard, a hook hand, and an eye patch. The protagonist’s nerves come back when they land at school, but with Zenzi, they can face anything. Martinez’s whimsical flights of fancy fill the illustrations to bursting. Some of what the children see seems based on reality—mermaids exercising with headphones—while others are more difficult to parse, opening the reading up to a dialogue.

Pair with Kindergarrrten Bus (2018) by Mike Ornstein and illustrated by Kevin M. Barry.

Imagination conquers fear yet again. Arrgh! (Picture book.

4-7)

Rosenthal, Amy Krouse Illus. by Yamada, Mike Candlewick (40 pp.) $14.99 | Jun. 16, 2020 978-0-7636-9742-6

Train cars attend their own school and learn their lessons.

Much of their day will be familiar to young readers just getting used to school: The principal tells them not to race in the “haul-way,” they practice the classroom rules and study subjects such as math, gym, music, and the alphabet. But everything is attuned to trains: “In gym we practice climbing. / We work together as a team. // ‘Chugga-chugga-choo YAHOO!’ / It feels good to blow off steam.” Tank Car shares juice with them after all that exercise, and Diner tells jokes during lunch. Caboose likes to sit in the back, and Sleeper “dozes off in class.” A quick toot wakes him up. Rosenthal’s rhythms and rhymes make for a smooth read-aloud, though observant readers may notice some disconnects between the text and the illustrations, especially whenever the context leads readers to believe the cars will be linked together in a train; the illustrations never show them connected, and readers will question how the cars that aren’t engines are locomoting. Among the faculty, three seem to be white and two people of color.

For budding railroad enthusiasts. (Picture book. 3-7)

RESCUING MRS. BIRDLEY

Reynolds, Aaron Illus. by Reynolds, Emma Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jun. 30, 2020 978-1-5344-2704-4

Well-meaning nature buff Miranda has a bad case of overgeneralizing.

Miranda Montgomery adores the Nature Joe Animal Show, admiring the way the brown-skinned wildlife expert rescues wild animals who are lost or in distress and returns them to their natural habitats. With her Nature Joe polo shirt and green shorts on and her brown billowing hair, Miranda enters the grocery store to find her teacher, Mrs. Birdley, far from her natural habitat: school. She makes several failed attempts to capture the wily Mrs. Birdley—who is oblivious—but an oversized trash can finally brings her the success she has witnessed Nature Joe accomplish with lions, lemurs, weasels, and more. With Mrs. Birdley locked safely away in her classroom for the weekend, Miranda walks home confident…until the next day, when she spots yet another adult from school browsing wares in the home-improvement store. From this book’s bright green cover to its lively endpapers, readers feel Miranda’s assurance that her task is just as important (and as right) as Nature Joe’s. Despite Miranda’s suburban locale, every few pages her imagination overtakes the scene and overlays it with an all-green habitat where she becomes the rescuer. Her facial expressions aptly convey surprise and disappointment when her traps don’t work as well as Nature Joe’s, but when she succeeds, her confidence is palpable. Both Miranda and Mrs. Birdley have light-brown skin.

A fun story for all the kids who think their teachers live at school, because where else would they live? (Picture book. 3-8)

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SCHOOL DAYS

Rotner, Shelley & Kelly, Sheila M. Photos by Rotner, Shelley Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) $26.65 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-5415-5776-5 Photos of diverse children give readers a peek at a typical school day.

Rotner and Kelly’s text provides a framework for the day from the perspectives of the children: “We meet on the rug to plan the day. / We check our jobs. / I mark the calendar. / I show the weather.” The photos show sights recognizable in North American elementary school classrooms: the gathering-area rug, the calendar, the job chart. Other pages are devoted to things kids are working on learning and subjects they enjoy, free-time activities they choose, specials classes and what they do there, lunch choices, recess, field trips, and how schools can differ—some have gardens; others might have class pets. Though almost every picture shows smiling faces, one spread is devoted to days that “don’t go right”—a teacher helps when a child’s feelings are hurt, and a nurse provides a bandage after a fall. Rotner’s photos are by far the big draw, each spread showing off two to five colorful pictures, many staged but still appealing.

The children here are diverse in almost every way—kids may be skinny, plump, or way taller than their peers and of many racial presentations. Hairstyles vary widely. There are a few children wearing glasses, but there are no other visible disabilities. |

If a school pep rally could walk and talk, this kid would be it. i got the school spirit

Kids who have never been to school will surely look forward to all the fun depicted here. (Picture book. 4-7)

CLOVER KITTY GOES TO KITTYGARTEN

Salas, Laura Purdie Illus. by Nakata, Hiroe Two Lions (40 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 14, 2020 978-1-5420-4246-8

A sensory-sensitive kitty’s first day of kittygarten is a disaster, but after a break, she’s ready to try again, with some

I GOT THE SCHOOL SPIRIT

Schofield-Morrison, Connie Illus. by Morrison, Frank Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $17.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-5476-0261-2

A great prescription for kids who tremble at the thought of their first day of school.

A young African American girl with deep brown skin, round cheeks, and an infectious smile spends her first day of school celebrating spirit in many ways. With her hair in two gigantic puffballs, she shows her school spirit with snazzy shoes (“STOMP, STOMP!”), her backpack (“ZIP, ZIP!”), and her “loud…clear” singing in class (“ABC, 123!”). Her spirit surfaces in |

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GRANDMOTHER SCHOOL

Singh, Rina Illus. by Rooney, Ellen Orca (32 pp.) $19.95 | May 5, 2020 978-1-4598-1905-4

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modifications.

Clover isn’t looking forward to kittygarten, and indeed, her first day is worse than she imagined. Salas’ word choices bring home to readers just how uncomfortable the situation is for Clover: “Sunshine glared”; “a bell…sounded like a GONG”; “Ms. Snappytail’s purrrrrfume stank.” Though readers will see the tender solicitations of Oliver as those of a perfect friend for someone with sensory issues, Clover is too distraught to notice. Her day ends with a (consequence-free) biting, spitting “hissy fit.” Clover stays home for the next three days; her mother doesn’t push. Oliver comes by twice, but Clover hides. It’s clear, though, that her desire for companionship will win out, and on Friday, armed with sunglasses, earmuffs, and her own mat for naptime, she returns to kittygarden. The day isn’t perfect, but by taking care of her specific needs, Clover survives with the help of her “calm, kind friend” Oliver. Readers and their caregivers will wish for backmatter that might provide additional guidance, whether for themselves or to help a friend, and it’s disappointing that Clover has no help in brainstorming solutions or getting through the school day. She seems very much on her own aside from Oliver, who is almost too good to be true.

Those with sensory issues or those attending school with them may learn from these kitties’ examples. (Picture book. 4-8)

onomatopoeic words on nearly every double-page spread, contributing to the high energy of the story. Morrison’s vibrant oil paintings, reminiscent of those by artist and NFL player Ernie Barnes, feature close-up perspectives of the little girl and everyone she encounters while they reveal lots of diversity both in her neighborhood and at school. She even has a black male teacher—a rare demographic in American elementary schools— who captivates his class during storytime. Like its predecessors, I Got the Rhythm(2014) and I Got the Christmas Spirit (2018), this picture book establishes a sentence pattern that persists, one that will help nascent readers predict what comes next. Each line begins with a personal pronoun and an active-voice verb— “I share,” “I breathe,” “we sing,” etc.—that exudes this protagonist’s enthusiasm for school.

If a school pep rally could walk and talk, this kid would be it. (Picture book. 4-8)

Inspired by a real-life school for older, illiterate women in western India, a picture book about women’s education and empowerment and the love between a grandmother and her granddaughter.

The story is narrated by a girl who tells of her aaji’s school: “She rushes through her chores so she can change into her uniform—a bright pink sari…. / Then I take her hand in mine and walk her to school.” When Aaji first learns to spell her name, she and her granddaughter do “a little dance”; both characters’ joy is evident on the page—and infectious. Similarly, readers will cheer when Aaji shows the “rude man behind the counter” at the bank that she can sign her name; he had always dismissed her, saying “people who gave thumbprints instead of signatures [had] to wait.” Aaji’s triumphant smile says it all. Crucially, Singh makes it clear that even though Aaji may be just now learning to read and write, the stories she tells the narrator at night are as vivid as any book’s. Rooney’s vibrant, multimedia illustrations complement the text’s exuberance and positivity, incorporating Marathi script into several spreads. An author’s note details the establishment of Aajibaichi Shala in 2016 by local schoolteacher Yogendra Banger, who wanted everyone in his village to be able to read and write—including women who were once denied this opportunity.

A spirited book about gender, age, rights, and the importance of education. (Picture book. 6-8)

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NANA AKUA GOES TO SCHOOL

upturned bucket while Mona dances. The final spreads cap this charming day. “School sounds fun!” Milo opines. “It is,” Mona agrees, adding, “And so is playing with you.” Yuly’s artwork uses bold primary colors and chunky shapes against a white background to keep the focus on the sibling interactions. Both children have pink skin; Mona has long red braids while Milo has scribbly brown hair and glasses. A black cat joins in on their adventure, and tiny details in the otherwise uncluttered, simple illustrations will delight. Short sentences and easy vocabulary make this one emerging readers can tackle on their own.

A tender tale just right for those returning to school to share with their own younger siblings. (Picture book. 3-7)

Walker, Patricia Elam Illus. by Harrison, April Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Jun. 16, 2020 978-0-525-58113-0 978-0-525-58114-7 PLB An open-hearted tribute to children with immigrant parents or grandparents.

Next Monday is Grandparents Day, and Zura, a brownskinned girl of African descent, has a problem. Though excited, Zura worries about her classmates’ responses to Nana Akua, who has facial markings—a tradition of the Akan people of Ghana that identifies their tribal family. Sometimes in public, people have made negative comments and stared. When Zura tells Nana Akua her worries at home, Nana pulls out Zura’s favorite quilt, adorned with West African Adinkra symbols, and makes a plan to help Zura’s classmates understand her facial markings. On Grandparents Day, Nana and Zura wear African dresses, and Nana explains her markings, comparing them to tattoos. She invites the children to choose an Adinkra from the quilt, each of which has a meaning (explained on the endpapers), and they and their grandparents enjoy the personal introduction to Adinkras Nana gives them. Harrison contributes spectacular collage art that surrounds Zura’s family with colors, patterns, and objects, such as an African drum, pottery, art, and black dolls, that connect them with West Africa. Harrison also illustrates a full page of Nana Akua’s face, gazing directly at readers. Her brown skin, full lips, gray eyebrows, tufts of gray hair at the edges of her head wrap, and her gorgeous purple, patterned fabrics all invite readers to see Nana Akua.

A wonderful springboard for cross-cultural understanding conveyed through deeply symbolic art. (glossary, sources, acknowledgements) (Picture book. 5-9)

PLAY DAY SCHOOL DAY

Yuly, Toni Illus. by the author Candlewick (32 pp.) $16.99 | Jun. 9, 2020 978-1-5362-0283-0

An elementary-age student shares what school is like with a younger sibling.

It’s the day before school starts again for Mona, who’s excited. When Milo asks what school is like, Mona briefly lists what goes on there while the two use the outside world to act the activities out. Mona pulls Milo in a red wagon to simulate riding a school bus. Milo practices reading and writing by weaving flowers into a chain-link fence to spell M-I-L-O. When Mona talks about learning science, Milo (and readers) looks closely at the denizens of the yard, and the siblings ponder a sunflower and some birds in the sky when the topic of math is mentioned. Art and music see Milo drumming with sticks on an 144

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young adult SKYWATCHERS

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Arcos, Carrie Philomel (368 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-9848-1229-2

THE WITCH’S HAND by Nathan Page; illus. by Drew Shannon..... 155 HEY JUDE by Star Spider..................................................................158

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A group of teen Skywatchers in Cold War–era Monterey, California, go missing after they see a strange light in the sky.

The teens are members of the Skywatch club, based on the real-life Ground Observer Corps volunteers who watched the skies, reporting any weird observations. One night Teddy, John, Caroline, and Bunny spot a mysterious light in the woods and follow it. They go missing for days and reappear one at a time with no memory of what happened. Except Teddy never comes back.

Weirdly, Bunny now has the ability to speak Mandarin, John is a piano virtuoso and a lethal fighter, and Caroline has gone from squeamish to administering competent first aid. Through flashbacks, the mystery of what occurred slowly unravels. The first half of the novel is evenly paced and well-plotted. The historical time period, astute character development, and suspensefilled writing will draw readers in. However, the latter half falls apart, weighed down by exposition, and this mélange of science-fiction tropes never quite coalesces. Time travel, parallel universes, and aliens are all bandied about as explanations for the group’s disappearance, but Arcos never lands comfortably on any of them. Scientific theories abound, and staggering infodumps make the novel difficult to slog through. The rushed ending doesn’t feel well earned and will leave readers unsatisfied. John is Japanese American, Bunny is Puerto Rican, Teddy is Italian American, and Caroline is white.

A failure to launch. (Science fiction. 12-adult)

AN EDUCATION IN RUIN

Bass, Alexis Tor Teen (384 pp.) $18.99 | Jul. 7, 2020 978-1-250-19595-1

THE WITCH’S HAND

Page, Nathan Illus. by Shannon, Drew Knopf (352 pp.) $25.99 | Jul. 14, 2020 978-0-525-64676-1 Series: The Montague Twins, 1

A boarding school student on a mission infiltrates the in crowd.

Collins Pruitt has relocated from Wisconsin to enter the Rutherford Institute, an elite California boarding school, as a third-year student. She has more on her mind than calculus and college applications, though. |

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books that explore what might have been As the U.S. heads into summer vacation, young people are facing a reality that diverges dramatically from what they originally dreamed of—whether that was a sleepaway or day camp, a job or internship, hanging out with friends, or just a break from school. Across the country there are ever changing guidelines and ongoing uncertainty, and after being stuck at home for months, many children and teens now face...being stuck at home for months. The gap between reality and what should have been feels unusually vivid.

Novels that explore the idea of parallel universes or alternate life paths might feel especially relevant to young readers right now.

In Margaret Peterson Haddix’s middle-grade series Greystone Secrets—The Strangers (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, 2019) and The Deceivers (April 7)—the Greystone kids (Chess, Emma, and Finn) and their friend Natalie discover a parallel world. First the Greystones’ mother disappears into it after learning of a family that has unsettling commonalities with their own. In the second volume, Natalie’s mother, too, goes missing, and the kids must now try to rescue both women. Exciting science-fiction adventure stories with an engaging puzzle element, the books also explore more serious questions around family and reality.

The Sal & Gabi series by Carlos Hernandez offers middle-grade readers a madcap romp through alternate dimensions. In Sal & Gabi Break the Universe (Rick Riordan Presents/Disney, 2019) and Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe (May 5), the Miami middle schoolers explore the multiverse and try to manifest a different reality, one in which Gabi’s premature baby brother survives. Although Sal loves his stepmother, there is something comforting, if chaotic, about visits from the various versions of the Mami Viva who show up when Sal opens portals, deliberately or accidentally. They offer temporary relief from painful memories of his deceased Mami Muerta but also show how unresolved his grief is.

In YA fiction, E. Lockhart’s Again Again (Delacorte, June 2) offers a poignant take on the what-ifs that so often accompany romantic relationships as well as family crises. Newly single Adelaide, a student at the exclusive prep school where her father teaches, spends the summer before her senior year exploring her relationships with Jack, the boy she’s daydreamed about since he wrote her a poem, and Toby, her brother, who struggles with opioid addiction.

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group than at her Baltimore public school. The novel sensitively charts different pathways for this thoughtful young woman.

Kevin van Whye’s Date Me, Bryson Keller (Random House, May 19) features two high school boys who spend a week exploring what life would be like if they were boyfriends. Kai is gay and closeted, and popular soccer team captain Bryson, the boy he has a crush on, has so far only gone out with girls as part of the dating challenge his friends set for him. When Kai gets up the nerve to ask Bryson out—and according to the rules, Bryson must accept—both boys learn a lot about themselves and one another.

As our review said, while it’s “deliciously heavy on fluff ” this novel “also delves into more complex subjects like faith, racism, and homophobia.”

The dream of escaping to a world where one’s problems do not exist is universal. Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron (Roaring Brook, 2019) is a haunting and evocative story about Brody, an Edinburgh teen weighed down by bullying from peers and by being closeted. He has a warm, loving family, but financial and other stressors take a tremendous emotional toll. A chance encounter leads him to a magical world that can only be accessed through doorways that appear around the world at certain times. In Everland, Brody can be his full self, completely accepted by others who find their way inside. The question is, should he choose to stay there?

Those seeking a diverting beach read (even if the “beach” is a lounge chair in the garden) can’t go wrong with Two Summers by Aimee Friedman (Point/ Scholastic, 2016), in which Summer Everett goes to France…or doesn’t. It all hinges on whether she answers her phone shortly before boarding a plane to visit her long-absent father. In the diverging storylines, Summer either answers the phone, learns that her father is canceling the visit, and stays in her quiet New York suburb—or carries on and has an Instagram-worthy (if emotionally intense) summer in the south of France. Both ways, Summer experiences romance as well as significant growth.

Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.

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The protagonists are alive with emotions and flaws, and their chemistry crackles off the pages. i kissed alice

PENULTIMATE QUEST

Collins’ beloved aunt, Rosie, has compelled Collins to attend Rutherford and gather intelligence on Jasper and Theo Mahoney, upperclassmen brothers and golden boys whose mother is in a secret relationship with Collins’ wealthy and influential investor father in order to get the Mahoneys out of crippling debt.

Soon, Collins finds herself in over her head, not just with Theo’s fast-moving and thrill-seeking group of friends, but with Jasper, for whom she’s quickly developing real romantic feelings—even as he is wrestling with potentially life-ruining secrets of his own.

Bass creates a vivid, evocative environment in both Rutherford and the coastal town surrounding it. However, the book is heavily front-loaded and wraps up abruptly, and it seems far-fetched that Collins would uproot her mostly happy existence on hearsay from her aunt without fact-checking with her father, with whom she’s supposedly very close. Whiteness is situated as the default for main characters; diversity in peripheral characters is signaled through names.

Well-written suspense overwhelmed by a flimsy premise.

(Thriller. 12-18)

Brown, Lars Illus. by the author & Glendining, Bex with Kantz, John Iron Circus Comics (340 pp.) $25.00 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-945820-50-2 On a mysterious island, three strangers-turned-friends find themselves in an endless loop of fighting monsters; can they find a way to break the cycle?

Harald, James, and Alma spend their days battling ferocious beasts in endless dungeons on an island they cannot seemingly depart. For the most part, the trio enjoys their group dynamics and the fighting, finding gamelike satisfaction in always having another foe to defeat. But soon, Harald begins to question the nature of their reality; could there be something more to this life than an interminable circuit of creation and destruction? Is there a way off this strange island? The trio finds that they must confront their lives and the choices they made prior to their

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I KISSED ALICE

Birch, Anna with Ying, Victoria Imprint (304 pp.) $18.99 | Jul. 28, 2020 978-1-250-21985-5 Two art students collaborate anonymously on a queer fan comic while clashing in real life over a prestigious scholarship.

To high school senior Iliana Vrionides, the Capstone Foundation Award represents opportunities that her affluent and well-connected peers at the Alabama Conservatory of the Arts and Technology take for granted. Iliana’s determination to win the award is intensified by her desire to beat her classmate and nemesis Rhodes Ingram who, in Iliana’s eyes, exemplifies the highbrow snobbery that art competition juries favor. Iliana often vents her frustration to I-Kissed-Alice, a friend she met on fandom database Slash/Spot and with whom Iliana co-authors “Hearts and Spades,” an Alice in Wonderland fan comic. Little does she know that I-Kissed-Alice is actually Rhodes, whose struggle with depression and familial pressure to succeed has rendered her unable to create artwork for school. As the deadline for the Capstone project proposal draws near, the animosity between Iliana and Rhodes comes to a peak even as they make plans online to meet in person. With a premise based on the “secret identity” trope, this novel could have fallen into cliché. Instead, it digs into the messiness of relationships colored by personal bias and misunderstanding. The protagonists are alive with emotions and flaws, and their chemistry as both enemies and allies crackles off the pages. Iliana is white, bisexual, and fat; Rhodes is white and queer.

Come for the rivalry, stay for the romance. (Romance. 13-18)

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Deftly explores friendship, privilege, grief, and crushing expectations, all with a twisty murder mystery. they wish they were us

DREAMING IN COLOR

arrival on the island. Brown’s clever mashup smashes genre constraints, rendering this akin to It’s a Wonderful Life told through a delightfully snarky gamer’s lens, absent Christmas but heavy on the monsters. The full-color illustrations add a rich cinematic quality to the already nuanced storytelling. At times,the storyline can be demanding, with its intricate plotting and frequent and dizzying temporal jumps, but for all of its seeming recapitulation and futility, a heartwarming (but decidedly not cloying) conclusion awaits and should satisfy even the most cynical readers. The three main characters appear white; secondary characters encompass a broader spectrum of skin tones.

Complex, challenging, and ultimately rewarding. (Graphic fantasy. 13-adult)

Florence, Melanie Orca (144 pp.) $10.95 paper | Sep. 22, 2020 978-1-4598-2586-4

A 14-year-old artist navigates her racial identity and anti-Indigenous racism.

Jen has brown skin like her Cree mother, but her older brother resembles their pale, redheaded Irish father.

Though Jen has a loving and supportive family, she wonders if her life wouldn’t be easier if she were light-skinned. Once she’s accepted to a prestigious arts high school, Jen thinks she’s finally found a place where she belongs.

But bigotry knows no bounds, and racist students accuse her of only getting in because of her heritage and mock the Indigenous influences in her work. When their racism manifests as destruction of property, Jen at first chooses not to tell any adults about the incident. Instead, she strives on her own to prove that she belongs at art school, possibly leading readers to believe the narrative is suggesting racism should be “overcome” by victims instead of putting the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the perpetrators. Jen gets a happy ending and, fortunately, is able to express herself through her art. The writing is sometimes clunky, but the representation of a contemporary biracial Indigenous girl is valuable. Rather than delving into the larger history of oppression of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the Scottish/Cree author offers a mirror to the sometimes painful emotions and everyday experiences of Indigenous teens of mixed heritage.

A rare and welcome reluctant reader title featuring an Indigenous protagonist. (Fiction. 12-18)

DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Carter, Brooke Orca (152 pp.) $10.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2381-5

“Heads or tails” might seem like an innocent question. But for Essie Tomasi, it’s a matter of life and death.

Identical twin geniuses Essie and Aggie are two sides of a coin. Aggie is preppy; Essie likes rocker girl bands and combat boots. Aggie is cheerful and open; Essie keeps her cards close to her chest, quite literally, as she’s struggling to hide a gambling addiction that’s growing more destructive by the day.

The increasingly severe repercussions of her addiction form the bulk of this story’s action. The gambling scenes show Carter in top form, drawing the reader into Essie’s lows and highs as she reads the room, stashes cards, and places bets. The adrenaline is almost palpable, and Essie’s first-person narration is redolent of teen sardonicism and desperation. When Essie gets dragged in too deep, finding herself weighing a debt she can’t pay against her own moral integrity, the stakes feel appropriately dire. The surrounding plots, including Essie’s burgeoning relationship with skater Dillon, her faltering relationship with her sister, and the pain of coming clean to her family, feel less developed.

Carter leans unapologetically into teen-novel tropes, leaving the supporting characters feeling somewhat less than threedimensional. That said, Essie’s supportive family members prove to be the true heroes of the story, as they go to extraordinary lengths to help her. The story moves along at a thrilling clip, sure to maintain readers’ attention.

A royal flush of a read for reluctant readers. (Thriller. 12-18)

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THEY WISH THEY WERE US

Goodman, Jessica Razorbill/Penguin (336 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-593-11429-2

Things haven’t been the same for high school senior Jill Newman since her best friend was murdered.

Three years ago, Graham Calloway confessed to killing his girlfriend, Shaila Arnold. Now he’s in a juvenile facility, and Jill is starting senior year at Long Island’s Gold Coast Prep without her dearest friend. Luckily, Jill has Nikki Wu, whom she’s grown close to since Shaila’s death; her sweet boyfriend, Henry; and, of course, the Players, an exclusive club that all but guarantees an easy ride to a successful future. Jill, an aspiring astronomer who attends Gold Coast on a scholarship, must help choose the next round of freshman Player recruits while also securing desperately needed scholarship money for college.

When Graham’s sister, Rachel, texts Jill with claims of Graham’s innocence, Jill reluctantly agrees to help. What if he actually |

WE THREE

is innocent? As Jill digs for the truth, she must come to terms with her own complicity in the Players’ culture of misogyny and casual cruelty and realizes that Shaila might have been keeping explosive secrets. Goodman deftly explores the complex nature of friendship, privilege, grief, and the often crushing expectations placed on teens, all of which dovetails neatly with a twisty murder mystery. Most characters seem to be white except for Nikki, who emigrated with her family from Hong Kong; Jill is Jewish. There is queer representation in the supporting cast.

A sophisticated and suspenseful debut. (Mystery. 14-18)

Harwood-Jones, Markus James Lorimer (168 pp.) $8.99 paper | $27.99 PLB | Aug. 1, 2020 978-1-4594-1471-6 978-1-4594-1473-0 PLB Three outcast teens fall in love at summer camp.

Jassie never wanted to attend performing arts camp, but her parents sent her anyway to encourage her to make friends. She dreads the prospect of a full month away from home until she meets Syd, a confident rebel, and Ams, a quiet, genderqueer musician. Initially, Jassie’s simmering feelings for both teens confuse her, but as the three of them open up to one another, mutual attraction draws them into an unexpected triad.

Each misunderstood in their own ways, together they find a new sense of belonging. Written in the first person, the story follows Jassie’s perspective. Her recent ADHD diagnosis surfaces as a

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Samira Ahmed

“WE HAVE TO BEAR WITNESS TO THE WRONGS OF HISTORY”: THE AUTHOR OF MAD, BAD & DANGEROUS TO KNOW ON HER PARISIAN/ OTTOMAN ART-HISTORY MYSTERY

By Laura Simeon Jean Lachat

How did you manage to evoke the sense of place so vividly?

Paris is the city I’ve spent more time in than any other except for New York and Chicago, where I live. America kind of romanticizes Paris. I wanted to present Paris as it is; there’s a danger in romanticizing things too much. I try to hit on places that aren’t the major tourist attractions, those tiny pockets of life that you don’t quite get if you’re just a tourist. And you can tell that I totally have a sweet tooth because I talk about pastries a lot!

I did ask French friends for help, but a lot of the geography I knew just because I’ve been there so much. I started with [Khayyam’s] stepping in dog poop because the very first time I went to Paris, when I was maybe 22 or 23, that was one of my early experiences too. French friends were like, we have this radar—it’s really just tourists who step in it!

Samira Ahmed’s Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know (Soho Teen, April 7) draws readers in with a dual timeline: In the present day, we follow Chicago teen Khayyam, spending the summer in Paris with her academic parents, and in the 19th century, we learn tantalizing details about Leila, a concubine hiding a dangerous secret. Khayyam meets Alexandre, a descendant of novelist Alexandre Dumas, and they soon dive into the mystery of Leila’s identity and a Delacroix painting that may have been owned by Dumas. Ahmed and I met over a video call to discuss the book; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Could you elaborate on the “history mystery” aspect of the story?

When I read “The Giaour” in college, I remember thinking, this is [Byron’s] grand epic poem. And it was all ostensibly about this woman—men battling to the death over her. But she literally has no voice in the story at all. And then in the series of Delacroix paintings that were inspired by Byron’s poem, her presence doesn’t exist at all; she’s erased, and I was thinking, I want to give her a voice. That’s something that we can do with so many things have been lost in history. That’s why Khayyam certainly exists, that’s kind of her purpose and what she struggles with.

I also was interested in my family’s history because we were immigrants; I was learning little dribs and drabs about what happened to India during Partition. A lot of things are lost during colonialism: Records are lost, histories are lost.

I remember at a pretty young age thinking, well if you are a black American and your family [members] were enslaved persons, how would you even know your last name? That’s referenced in the book: Dumas’ last name actually comes not from his patrilineal line but matrilineal. Dumas’ dad was rejecting Dumas’ grandfather; when he went into the infantry his dad didn’t want him to shame the name de la Pailleterie.

How would you describe the novel and its origins?

I love to straddle genres, and I think this book does that. I’ve been calling it my smash-the-patriarchy, eat-all-the-pastries history mystery. It actually came out of my bachelor’s thesis about Byron, specifically how Napoleon’s conquest in Egypt influenced Byron’s writing. Napoleon obviously had an interest in Egypt—because he wanted to conquer it. And the same with Byron—they were Orientalists. Dumas, Delacroix, Hugo, and Baudelaire would take hash, they would dress in Orientalist, Arab garb, meet at the Hôtel de Lauzun on the Île Saint-Louis [in Paris] and take hash. Even Dumas, who [was biracial and] faced pretty ferocious racism in his time, was participating in this Orientalist activity.

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We don’t even know if that was [Dumas’ grandmother’s] real name. Her son was the highest ranking black general ever in Europe—even to this day—and her grandson one of the greatest French writers, her great-grandson another, and we don’t know her at all.

How did you come to create Khayyam as a biracial French/Indian American Muslim?

I was a high school teacher in Skokie, Illinois, an extremely diverse place. Early on, one thing I was really noticing with some of my biracial students was this thing of, “Well, I’m half this and half that. And I’m not totally one and I’m not totally the other.” But we don’t have fractured selves. I just felt so much for Khayyam and for kids who are experiencing this, that they are really whole people. She is French and she is American and she is Indian. She can be all of those things, and how she decides to navigate the world with those pieces of herself as a whole, it’s really for her to decide. The whole #WriteHerStory concept is not just about Leila’s story, it’s also because Khayyam is trying to create the space for herself that she deserves.

concern, especially when she catches herself losing focus, but despite her insecurities, her partners ground her and praise her imagination. Romance drives the plot: The pacing of the relationship between Ams and Syd shifts abruptly from awkwardness to romance while Jassie’s feelings intensify through each of her interactions. Outside of the triad, few characters, including those who cause conflict, receive meaningful development. Even so, this hopeful love story with its idealistic happy ending provides important affirming representation for queer, polyamorous relationships. Jassie is South Asian and her family doesn’t eat pork, Syd seems to be white, and Ams is cued as Latinx.

A first love story full of sunshine. (Romance. 13-18)

One hot topic when we talk about history, especially personal family history, is how to deal with “problematic” ancestors and events. Khayyam and Alexandre handle this with great maturity.

WHAT GOES UP

Heppermann, Christine Greenwillow (176 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-06-238798-1

I had to have Alexandre speak to this: His eight-times greatgrandma was an enslaved person from Haiti. He literally said, “I’m related to a rapist.” So I do think that it’s really important to, at the very least, acknowledge it, because even if we’re not present at the time to bear witness, we have to bear witness to the wrongs of history today. That’s really the only way you can address institutionalized prejudice. I obviously have privilege and benefit from privilege. Asian Americans in this country have benefited from anti-blackness, from the whole model minority concept. This is a country literally founded on genocide and built on slavery. The least we can do as people living now is to acknowledge the wrongs of history because that’s the only way to really dismantle the structures that persist because of those things that happened in the past.

Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know was reviewed in the Feb. 1, 2020, issue.

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A teenage girl reflects on the months and moments that led up to a drunken night.

Jorie is a high schooler who loves science and has a penchant for the study of mushrooms. We meet her the morning after she got drunk at a party and passed out in the bed of a stranger. Jorie then spends the novel trying to understand where she is, with whom, how she came to be in this situation, and how to get out of it. We learn of Jorie’s mixed feelings toward her parents and her complicated relationship with them, her friends, and her recent ex-boyfriend as well as her budding relationship with her art, which springs from her love of mushrooms. Heppermann uses verse to deconstruct and build up plot points in a skilled manner and keeps the pacing interesting and unpredictable—albeit sometimes jarring— throughout. The format and use of metaphors serves the story well. However, elements of Jorie’s present-day state of being could have been delved into more deeply but instead were left unexplored. The novel presents seemingly high-stakes conflicts that are wrapped up with quick resolutions that therefore ultimately read as anticlimactic. An absence of physical descriptions makes characters’ races difficult to determine.

A quick and engaging read that may end up leaving readers just short of satisfied. (Verse novel. 12-18)

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A timely and well-paced story of personal discovery. displacement

THE MORNING FLOWER

complicated national history with explorations of cultural dislocation and biracial identity. As Kiku processes her experiences, Hughes draws parallels to President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban and the incarceration of migrant children. The emotional connection between Kiku and her grandmother is underdeveloped; despite their being neighbors, Ernestina appears briefly and feels elusive to both Kiku and readers up to the very end.

Despite some loose ends, readers will gain insights to the Japanese American incarceration and feel called to activism.

A timely and well-paced story of personal discovery. (photographs, author’s note, glossary, further reading) (Graphic historical fantasy. 12-16)

Hocking, Amanda Wednesday Books (352 pp.) $10.99 paper | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-250-20428-8 Series: Omte Origins, 2

Ulla continues the quest to find the identity of her parents; her missing friend, Eliana; and the location of the First City.

After Eliana’s kidnapping, Ulla and Pan set off to Fulaträsk in Louisiana, hopeful they’ll find more information about the cult of the Älvolk and the First City. Ulla learns that the troll she believed to be her mother, Orra Fågel, went missing 20 years ago during a mission to find the Lost Bridge of Dimma—the mythical bridge guarded by the Älvolk.

Then Ulla hears rumors of roaming philanderer Indu Mattison, an Älvolk from the First City who may be her father. Indu was last heard railing against Kiruna, which is located in the Arctic area of Sweden. This is their best lead yet; it could lead them to the First City. Pan is summoned back to Merellä, and Ulla returns with him, set on continuing her research. But it isn’t long before Ulla and her friends gain the final clues they need to set off to Sweden, where answers to Ulla’s identity bring more turmoil than relief. With fewer dives into deep lore, Ulla’s journey moves with steady purpose, though the clues she finds line up too easily to feel earned. True danger arrives in the climax, but it’s too little, too late.

Another winding quest with only intermittent bursts of intrigue and action. (glossary) (Fantasy. 16-18)

A MAP TO THE SUN

Leong, Sloane First Second (368 pp.) $24.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-250-14668-7

Teen girls chart their paths toward self-discovery and teamwork.

In a palm-fringed seaside city, an intimate friendship between Ren and Luna blossoms as quickly as it withers when Luna moves away and becomes incommunicado. Luna’s return two years later sparks the central conflict that plays out as Ren navigates challenging relationships at home, in high school, and as captain of their brand-new fiveperson girls basketball team. Confronting blatant misogyny, the team their new biology teacher scrapes together feels as ambitious an undertaking as the narrative scope of this characterdriven story. Stark glimpses of domestic discord, abusive adult behavior, smoking, drinking, self-harm, and body-shaming reveal the team members’ variously fraught personal circumstances and suggest compelling backstories that unfortunately remain underdeveloped. Stylistically and structurally similar to a comic book, this graphic novel’s visual vibrancy compensates for its scattered storytelling. From pastels signaling dawn’s promise to deep indigos of despair and energetic tones showing on-court action, the panels and palette assert attitude and grit. The pages’ shifting layout maintains a dynamic pace while the artwork conveys the intense—often conflicting—emotions inherent to adolescence and young adulthood. Leong concludes with a tribute to the inner light of her characters and to the power of friendship. The cast is ethnically diverse; Ren is black, and Luna has Chinese and Native Hawaiian ancestry.

Colorful illustrations highlight episodic narratives: This is a story obscured by its own diffused telling. (character sketches) (Graphic fiction. 14-18)

DISPLACEMENT

Hughes, Kiku Illus. by the author First Second (288 pp.) $17.99 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-250-19353-7 Time travel brings a girl closer to someone she’s never known.

Sixteen-year-old Kiku, who is Japanese and white, only knows bits and pieces of her family history. While on a trip with her mother to San Francisco from their Seattle home, they search for her grandmother’s childhood home.

While waiting for her mother, who goes inside to explore the mall now standing there, a mysterious fog envelops Kiku and displaces her to a theater in the past where a girl is playing the violin. The gifted musician is Ernestina Teranishi, who Kiku later confirms is her late grandmother. To Kiku’s dismay, the fog continues to transport her, eventually dropping her down next door to Ernestina’s family in a World War II Japanese American internment camp. The clean illustrations in soothing browns and blues convey the characters’ intense emotions. Hughes takes inspiration from her own family’s story, deftly balancing 152

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MEET OUR STARS!

H“Fiercely fantastical.”

H“Heartfelt.”

H“Unforgettable”

HBooklist HKirkus Reviews HShelf Awareness HSchool Library Connection

HBCCB HPublishers Weekly HThe Horn Book HSchool Library Journal

HBooklist HBookPage HThe Horn Book HSchool Library Journal

—Publishers Weekly

—Booklist

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H“Engaging.”

H“Beautifully told.”

HPublishers Weekly HBooklist HThe Horn Book HSchool Library Journal

HBCCB HBooklist HShelf Awareness HPublishers Weekly HShelf Awareness

—Kirkus Reviews

9781984813787; $17.99

—Kirkus Reviews

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HC: 9780525553915; $20.99 PB: 9780525553908; $12.99

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FIVE STARS!

FOUR STARS! 9780525555568; $17.99

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WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL

offers to help him with his essay entry on Winston Churchill, Danyal has to decide whose opinions he values and whether or not to speak up about the hard truths he learns. An entertaining mix of humor, teen drama, cultural references, and serious themes around colonialism, nationalism, and religious identity, Masood’s debut novel is a broadly relatable story that offers plenty of food for thought. Readers will root for Danyal as he evolves and proves he is more than meets the eye.

A charming teen romance with real substance. (Romantic comedy. 14-18)

Liang, Bridget James Lorimer (168 pp.) $8.99 paper | $27.99 PLB | Aug. 1, 2020 978-1-4594-1411-2 978-1-4594-1413-6 PLB

A Toronto teen questioning their gender finds friendship and support among other queer students at their new school in this feel-good, #ownvoices debut.

At Logan Osborne’s old school, their slight frame and feminine appearance made them a target for bullies. But when Logan, who is Chinese and white, transfers to Rosedale School for the Arts at the start of grade 11, they meet a group of friends who are openly queer and embrace Logan for who they are. There is Robin, who is white, bisexual, and trans; Micah, Robin’s Jewish boyfriend; Drew, who is asexual homoromantic; and Jennifer, who is Chinese/white/AfroGuyanese, fat, and queer. With their friends’ encouragement, Logan begins to ponder the reasons behind their discomfort with being one of “the guys”—are they trans? At the same time, they find themselves developing a crush on Kyle, an attractive tenor of Japanese descent who tells Logan about his two dads but is less forthcoming about his own sexual orientation. The book’s present-tense narration brings readers up close and personal with Logan as they process their thoughts about gender identity and gender presentation. Dialogue between the teen characters is authentically earnest, awkward, and funny, minus the occasional use of slang that may feel dated. Short chapters and simple, direct prose keep the pages turning and make the book accessible to reluctant readers.

Thoughtful and affirming. (resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

WILLIE O’REE

Mortillaro, Nicole James Lorimer (168 pp.) $8.99 paper | $27.99 PLB | Aug. 1, 2020 978-1-4594-1516-4 978-1-4594-1304-7 PLB Details the career of professional hockey player Willie O’Ree, who broke the color barrier as the National Hockey League’s first black player.

Raised in New Brunswick in one of only two black families in town, O’Ree always loved skating and hockey. He participated in numerous sports and at first played professional baseball before eventually being recruited to play ice hockey for the Boston Bruins.

Despite an injury on the ice that left him blind in one eye, O’Ree had a successful career. In the U.S., he experienced racism to a greater degree than in Canada. In retirement, O’Ree was able to have a broad impact when he was appointed director of the NHL’s Diversity Task Force in the 1990s. This short, accessible biography gives readers a view of what it must have felt like to grow up in O’Ree’s shoes. An interesting early chapter includes a history of black Canadians’ relationship to the sport. Mortillaro’s writing is appropriately fast-paced and engaging. Unfortunately, the language employed about race centers whiteness and risks leaving young readers of color on the outside looking in, for example the repeated use of the N-word and “slaves” rather than “enslaved people” as well as a description of segregationera race relations that appears to put black people’s mistrust of whites on an equal footing with white racism.

Fascinating history too carefully written for its radical subject. (author’s note, glossary, sources, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE

Masood, Syed M. Little, Brown (352 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-316-49235-5

California teen Danyal Jilani knows he is good looking, but is that enough to win over fashionable and vivacious Kaval Sabsvari, the girl he’s long had a crush on?

The Pakistani American high school senior’s looks and charming personality don’t impress his father, who is disappointed by his poor academic performance and desire to attend culinary school. But when he meets smart college freshman Bisma Akram through his parents for potential future marriage purposes, Danyal learns of her scandalous secret—one that has made other families decide she isn’t a suitable marriage prospect. Danyal is surprisingly picked as a candidate for the prestigious Renaissance Man competition by his private school’s history teacher, and he finally has a chance to prove he is worthy of Kaval’s affection. But after Bisma 154

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Redux’s thoughtful language, coupled with her openness about her own life and lessons learned, shows that she is anything but stupid. stupid black girl

THE WITCH’S HAND

a long-forgotten power. Meanwhile, former fire dancer Ash Nikau arrives in Deimos hoping to avenge her mother, defeat Ignitus, and save Kula from starvation and invasion. Pawns in a vast power struggle, the two champions predictably overcome enmity to become allies amid melodramatically escalating stakes. The co-written effort from Raasch and Simmons is colorful, gritty (literally, given the stone magic), and roiling with emotion, yet the repetitive mythology is underdeveloped, the worldbuilding an unexplained Greco-Roman mishmash, and the plot twists telegraphed. Resembling their manifested gods, Ash and Madoc have black hair; Ash has brown skin.

A self-righteous romance disguised as a gladiatorial slugfest and political thriller lacking much punch. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Page, Nathan Illus. by Shannon, Drew Knopf (352 pp.) $25.99 | Jul. 14, 2020 978-0-525-64676-1 Series: The Montague Twins, 1 An adventure set in a New England town in the summer of 1969, a time period well referenced in the art and text.

Twin brothers Alastair and Peter Montague are surprised when their summer activities move from rescuing the dog of Roger Bradford—business mogul and descendant of Port Howl’s colonial founders—to becoming embroiled in a mystery packed with action, suspense, and magic. The boys live with David, a professor; his truck-driver wife, Shelly; and the couple’s daughter, Charlie. After harrowing experiences involving a decrepit lighthouse and a robed, hooded figure with a clawlike hand, the three teenagers are determined to figure out what evil is lurking below the surface of Port Howl.

When David learns what they are up to, he enlists his protégé, Rowan, to help him reveal to the twins their unusual history— and to teach them and Charlie how to use magic responsibly.

Meanwhile, Bradford’s daughter, Rachel, engages two friends in scrying—with scary results. The full-color illustrations in nostalgic tones evoke classic comic book art. The artwork is emotionally expressive, enhancing the characterization. Humor and character development abound along with thoughtful musings as the novel skillfully entwines its subplots into a tale that ties up every loose end by the time the United States has had its first successful moon landing. One character’s coming out is handled sensitively. Main characters are white; Rowan and a secondary character present as people of color.

Riveting. (Graphic mystery. 12-18)

STUPID BLACK GIRL Essays From an American African y o u n g a d u lt

Redux, Aisha Illus. by McCarthy, Brianna Street Noise Books (160 pp.) $15.99 paper | Jun. 30, 2020 978-1-951491-00-0

An American African woman’s essays about her spirituality, sexuality, traumas, and journey to healing herself.

Redux is a first-generation American whose Muslim parents emigrated from West Africa and who has thus had to navigate multiple worlds growing up. She shares stories of herself as a child who experienced a celebration of black women’s beauty through the plentiful artwork in her house—thanks to her father’s being an antique art dealer— while later experiencing racism and colorism in a world insistent on telling her she was inferior. She uses her personal experiences and those of others close to her to highlight how these attitudes impacted her perspectives on spirituality, sexuality, womanhood, and blackness. She has sought to find the ways in which her multiple worlds overlapped and complemented each other for her own necessary healing from various traumas. She shares her revelations here to benefit all who may be interested in engaging. The sure-to-be controversial title—the inspiration for which is described in the first essay—may be what initially draws readers in. But Redux’s use of frank, sometimes-biting, but consistently thoughtful language, coupled with her openness about her own life stories and lessons learned, shows that she is anything but stupid. McCarthy’s illustrations—her visual responses to Redux’s words—add another layer for consideration to this thought-provoking work.

An important and eye-opening contribution to conversations about global identity politics. (Nonfiction. 14-adult)

SET FIRE TO THE GODS

Raasch, Sara & Simmons, Kristen Harper/HarperCollins (432 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-0-06-289156-3 Series: Set Fire to the Gods, 1 Two reluctant foes ally to fight for survival in this series starter.

After defeating the Mother Goddess who gave them their magical powers (energeias), the six gods (and their six countries) can now settle conflicts through their similarly powered gladiators in arenas. While some gods have retreated, Geoxus (geoeia, or earth and stone magic) and Ignitus (igneia, or fire magic) continue their quarrels. Once a street-brawling quarry worker and seemingly powerless “pigstock” due to his lack of geoiea, Madoc Aurelius takes to the arena to free his adoptive sister from his evil estranged father’s clutches. But with fame and fighting come the risk of exposing his true energeia, |

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A tribute to lovable losers, uncomfortable truths, and the will to move forward. the book of sam

THE SECRET RUNNERS

adolescence, all the while meditating heavily on themes of feminism and religious and societal judgement. The gritty realism of the propulsive mystery at times gives way to elements that feel both horrific and unrelentingly grim, but its winding path will hold the rapt attention of readers who favor the macabre. All main characters seem to be white. Jo’s and Savannah’s feelings for one another at times move beyond friendship, and they’ve dealt with some homophobic harassment.

A compelling, unpredictable, and uncompromisingly dark debut. (Thriller. 14-adult)

Reilly, Matthew Crown (352 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 18, 2020 978-0-593-12580-9

The end of the world is nigh—who will be able to survive the apocalypse?

Sixteen-year-old twins Skye and Red Rogers move to Manhattan with their rich mother and stepfather to attend the exclusive Monmouth School for the wealthy. At first their lives revolve around fitting in with the elite of New York. But then theories of an impending global apocalypse start to circulate just as the duo gets entangled in a plot that mixes the mysterious disappearance of three teen girls, time travel, and a range of caves under Central Park that only the Secret Runners, a group of privileged and affluent kids, are able to access. But after Skye joins them, she discovers the terrible truth about the future just as society starts to collapse all around her. Can the end of the world as she knows it be prevented? Reilly’s novel features trope-laden, vapid teen girls as well as a reductive attempt at examining class warfare in which the poor rise up like the uncontrolled, homicidal animals many of the wealthy believe them to be. The magic system, which mixes Mayan buildings in Manhattan that are activated by magical Native American gems yielded by the white descendants of Mayflower passengers, is appropriative and ill-conceived.

Depictions of neurodivergent characters and those with mental health struggles lack depth and nuance, coming across as othering. All main characters are white apart from one biracial (black/ white) girl.

Just say no. (Science fiction. 14-18)

THE BOOK OF SAM

Shapiro, Robert Dundurn (280 pp.) $12.99 paper | Aug. 15, 2020 978-1-4597-4675-6 A 16-year-old underdog wanders a highway through Hell on a not-quitehero’s journey.

A few pages into this first-person worldbuilding fantasy, Sam Sullinger is mortified by a candid photo album of humiliating photos shared online. Worse still: This isn’t unusual, as Sam’s life is defined by bullying. At school, ringleader Kyle McGee has tormented him since sixth grade; at home, his own father regularly belittles him. Two people have kept Sam afloat amid the anguish. Uncle Bear, his mother’s gay, worldly, wheelchair-using brother, captivated him with legends chronicled in The Books of Hell. Then there’s Harper James: smart, tough, and pretty, his lifelong defender and crush, and, in two weeks, off to Paris for a yearlong exchange program.

Worried he’ll lose Harper forever, Sam develops a plan to tell her how he feels. It backfires spectacularly. When Harper disappears into an all-too-real Hell, Sam realizes help isn’t coming and follows, hoping to petition Stolas, a slave-turned–liberating king, for aid. While Hell is indeed hell, it also subverts his expectations. Sam forms a romantically tinged alliance with teen badass Hollinshead; comes to see demons as people rather than deities; and, most importantly, realizes The Books of Hell sold him falsehoods, especially about Stolas. Can Sam locate Harper, defeat Stolas, and find a way home—or has he exchanged one hell for another? Excluding demons, characters are Canadian and coded as white.

A tribute to lovable losers, unlikely adventures, uncomfortable truths, and the will to move forward. (Fantasy. 14-18)

SOME KIND OF ANIMAL

Romasco-Moore, Maria Delacorte (384 pp.) $18.99 | Aug. 4, 2020 978-1-9848-9354-3

Fifteen-year-old Jo’s already strange world is upended when her history begins to unravel around her.

Jo never actually knew Jolene, the mother she was named after, having been raised mostly by her tough but caring Aunt Aggie in their economically depressed, opiateravaged Ohio town. Years ago, Aggie left her own religiously devout, abusive mother’s home, taking her niece with her. Jo learned early on not to talk about her sister, a feral girl whom she calls Lee and with whom she spends most nights running in the woods. Lee first appeared to her at the edge of the woods when Jo was 5, but no one else believes she is real. The novel weaves a complex first-person narrative that incorporates Jo’s family trauma with the secrets of the past and her current difficult experiences as she and her best friend, Savannah, navigate 156

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Emotionally layered with accurate insight into mental illness. hey jude

STRANDED

an appropriate, honest, and sensitive manner. The main characters each have a strong character arc that is explored to the fullest despite the short length and accessible vocabulary. The author’s passions for diversity and mental health come across.

Main characters are cued as white; Jack is brown-skinned and there is ample LGBTQIA representation. There are multiple mentions of suicide and suicide attempts.

An emotionally layered book with accurate insight into mental illness, ideal for reluctant readers. (Fiction. 14-18)

Shipley, Jocelyn Orca (120 pp.) $10.95 paper | Aug. 18, 2020 978-1-4598-2389-1 Six months after his girlfriend’s death, a young man tries to honor her life by making the most of his own.

Fate has not been kind to Kipp.

Hardened by a series of unstable and neglectful living situations and wracked with guilt over the death of his girlfriend, he’s determined to make something of himself, working tirelessly to get back on track after a stint in a youth rehabilitation center. Getting fired from his restaurant shift manager job after confronting an Islamophobic customer and losing his apartment in a single day, however, drag him to the pits of despair. An unexpected offer of shelter and employment from Reba, a former volunteer at the youth center, seems almost too good to be true, and Kipp jumps at the chance to redeem himself. But Reba is hiding secrets of her own, and Kipp soon finds himself battling not just for his livelihood, but his very life. The story is complex, with many interconnected parts—Kipp’s childhood, his relationship with his girlfriend, and his spiral into drug addiction and subsequent rehabilitation—although readers may wish for deeper character development. Events of the present day unfold at an engagingly brisk pace, even if the ending wraps up a bit too neatly. Kipp is a plucky and introspective narrator whose struggles will likely resonate with readers who will root for him as he works to right his rapidly crumbling world. Main characters seem to be white; important secondary characters are cued as Chinese Canadian.

A sensitive survivor story for reluctant readers. (Fiction.

12-18)

STAR DAUGHTER

Thakrar, Shveta HarperTeen (448 pp.) $17.99 | Aug. 11, 2020 978-0-06-289462-5

When half-star/half-human Sheetal Mistry accidently injures her father, she needs to ascend to Svargalok, the abode of the stars, to find him a cure.

Just shy of 17, Sheetal has brown skin like her human father, Gautam, and silver hair like her star mother, Charumati, but she has never truly known what it means to be a star. Her human, Gujarati family in New Jersey insists she hide her star heredity, as stars were once hunted by mortals for their silver blood, which has healing properties. As a result, Sheetal knows very little of her ancestry or what she is truly capable of. Following the accident that puts her father in the hospital, Sheetal and her best friend, Minal, go in search of Charumati for a drop of star’s blood to cure her father. Unfortunately for her, Nana and Nani—the Esteemed Patriarch and Matriarch of their constellation, Pushya, and Sheetal’s maternal grandparents—agree to save her father only if she wins a competition that will allow their family to rule over the other constellations. Loosely inspired by Neil Gaiman’s Stardust (1997) and Hindu mythology, Thakrar’s debut covers the lives of stars, an unnecessarily complicated romance, and a half-star’s journey toward self-discovery. Refreshingly, all the characters are Indian or of Indian origin. Despite the fascinating premise, however, several characters lack the luster and conviction which would have otherwise added much-needed depth and heart to the novel.

Great worldbuilding but not entirely satisfying. (Fantasy.

14-18)

HEY JUDE

Spider, Star Orca (112 pp.) $10.95 paper | Sep. 22, 2020 978-1-4598-2635-9 Penny’s life hasn’t been her own since she started caring for her sister, Jude, but everything starts to change when she meets Jack.

Their mother works night shifts as a nurse, leaving high school senior Penny to pick up the slack. Her life revolves around Jude, school, and work. Penny isn’t complaining, though; she loves Jude and recognizes how challenging it is for Jude to cope with her depression, particularly since it has been only one year since Jude attempted suicide. Penny seems to have it together until she meets cool, handsome Jack, who gives her butterflies all over. With everything going on in her life, Penny is torn between wanting to be there for her sister while also having a life of her own. The book talks about suicide, depression, gender, and sexuality in 158

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indie WHERE THE CREEK RUNS

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Abraham, Mary Greene Woods Publishing (353 pp.) $27.95 | $9.99 e-book | May 15, 2017 978-0-692-75923-3

WHERE THE CREEK RUNS by Mary Abraham...............................159 THE LANGUAGE OF CHERRIES by Jen Marie Hawkins................167 THE MAGICAL APPEARANCE OF EARTHWORMS

by N.A. Moncrief................................................................................ 172 PSI-WARS edited by Joshua Viola; illus. by Aaron Lovett...............179

Ed. by Viola, Joshua Illus. by Lovett, Aaron Hex Publishers (308 pp.) $2.99 e-book / May 12, 2020

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PSI-WARS Classified Cases of Psychic Phenomena

A debut novel traces the fortunes of a Mississippi family from the 1890s to the 1940s.

The McMolison family of Leaf Creek consists of Bill and Kate and their children, Katherine, Hannah, and Samuel. It is Hannah, the middle child, who carries the story. Early on, Samuel, while just a toddler, is accidentally killed by his brutal, demanding father, and this begins what might be called the McMolisons’ self-inflicted curse. Headstrong Katherine marries Stephen Neal, a preacher whom Bill can barely tolerate. But it is the dutiful Hannah who brings on the real disaster by falling in love with Thomas Stokes, son of Bill’s friend John Stokes. Bill and John are powerful, ambitious men whose word in their families is law. Young Thomas, a student at Ole Miss, is handsome, charming, and callow; Hannah, still in high school, becomes hopelessly smitten. From their one and only carnal encounter, she gets pregnant. The two fathers quickly come up with a plan: a quiet marriage followed by a quick annulment and the adoption of the infant, preferably by a couple far away. The day before a pair from Alabama is due to arrive, Hannah flees with her baby, Joseph, to Katherine and Stephen’s house in Hattiesburg. Bill swears to track them down.

Meanwhile, there are family secrets to be revealed.

One would think that Abraham, a talented storyteller, has several novels under her belt, such is the level of expertise shown here. Hannah is a wonderful character who goes against all of her upbringing to defy her father (something that Thomas hasn’t the guts to do). But even more remarkable is Bill. He is a brute and a hypocrite, but perhaps the saddest thing is his rock-solid conviction that his way is the best way, the unquestionable way. He can’t begin to understand that Hannah may not want to surrender her baby so that she can preserve the family and move forward as if nothing had ever happened. (By the way, he sees nothing wrong in being unfaithful to Kate—a man has needs, after all.) Honor—deadly, corrupting honor— is all. The author offers vivid details about this troubled family and the colorful Mississippi setting. Here is a description of the mayhem as Hannah’s puppy, Lost, romps in the bracken: “Brown, shiny bugs crawled over partially rotten stumps and along secret paths under the weeds. Grasshoppers jumped in every direction to avoid Lost’s big paws, and a bevy of birds flew upward from the bushes while chirping strong frustration

kid detectives Everyone loves a mystery—especially young readers. Teen and tween sleuths have been a staple of middle-grade and YA fiction ever since the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew began solving crimes (in 1927 and 1930, respectively), and boy detective Encyclopedia Brown cracked his first case in 1963. Here are a few notable whodunits for young readers that Kirkus Indie has reviewed: In the 2019 middle-grade chapter book Goldilocks, Private Eye by Greg Trine with illustrations

by Ira Baykovska, the familiar 10-yearold protagonist has her own detective agency. Her first client wants her to locate his missing grandparents, who live in the scary Black Forest. But why are bears living in the elderly folks’ home?

Kirkus notes that the author “skillfully mixes fairy tales and detective fiction with a coming-of-age story about braving danger to prove oneself.”

Fred Rexroad’s Whiz Tanner and the Olympic Snow Caper is part of an ongoing middle-grade series featuring the 12-year-old Whiz and his peer Joey Dent, who also run their own detective agency. In this 2019 installment, the boys are on a skiing vacation with their families when three Olympic medals, on display at their snowed-in lodge, go missing. Whiz and Joey, along with two other kids, must figure out the mystery.

“The briskly moving story shows solid sleuthing in the details of acquiring fingerprints, checking alibis, and eliminating suspects,” according to Kirkus’ reviewer.

The stakes are somewhat higher in Max Willis Foxton’s 2017 paranormal novel, A Very, Very, Very Old Mystery, in which 10-year-old New Yorker Jeremiah Morris and his 13-year-old sister, Phoebe, vacation in England. At their relatives’ estate, the kids encounter the ghost of an ancestor who invites them back in time to 1744 in order to solve a murder. Kirkus’ reviewer notes that the “author delights in spinning a yarn but enjoys just as much rendering a transporting period piece.”

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.

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at the intruder. The rabbits wisely and quickly moved deeper into the woods to get away from the activity.” Minute descriptions such as these are the rule, not the exception. Finally, the last chapters deliver deep satisfaction, chronicling the fates of the various players and bringing readers right up to the 1940s with a Dickensian conclusion.

An impressive tale of a fractured Southern family with richly drawn characters.

CONCRETE TO SALTWATER

Averill, Brian Photos by the author The Hesperium Group (192 pp.) $50.00 | Dec. 1, 2019 978-1-73337-370-8

Skateboarders and surfers defy gravity on a California beach in this vibrant photography book.

Averill, a photographer, surfer, and skateboarder, collects 10 years of his photos from the Venice, California, beach, which hosts an iconic surf culture as well as a thriving beachside skateboarding park (which, alas, is currently buried in sand because of COVID-19 restrictions). The setting offers a wealth of resonant visual juxtapositions. The ocean pictures feature surfers riding roughly 4-to-12-foot waves that curl into translucent green-blue pipes amid gorgeous beachscapes, where sea and sun mesh to drape the hills in a golden mist. The skateboard park is a riotous sea, frozen in stone, shaped in curves and undulations, and surfaced in perfectly smooth, gray concrete; it’s a terrain that looks simultaneously austere and sensuous through Averill’s lens. (A few photos cover excursions to grungier Los Angeles skateboarding sites, including a giant drainpipe and an abandoned swimming pool.) In part, the photos are an engaging fashion catalog; the surfers seem somewhat buttoned-down in their neoprene wetsuit uniforms, but the skateboarders feature a profusion of long hair and dreadlocks inside no-nonsense helmets and bulky padding on top of floridly tattooed skin, open to the sky. (Bridging the divide is a classic California tableau of a blond-haired woman in a bikini gliding along on a skateboard—while carrying a surfboard.) Still, there’s much commonality in the athleticism of surfers and skateboarders as they thread their ways along vertical surfaces and rocket off of them. Averill’s skateboard photos are particularly vivid in their portraits of elegant aerobatics; he captures the skaters high in midair, sometimes sideways or upside down, clinging nonchalantly—or not at all—to their flimsy boards. Their postures are crouched and twisted with spindly arms flung out for balance, yet poised and perfectly at ease. The result is a captivating vision of grace.

A striking collection of images that ably spotlight the balletic artistry of board sports.

REVENGE Tales Best Read in the Twilight Hours

AUTOMATED STOCK TRADING SYSTEMS A Systematic Approach for Traders To Make Money in Bull, Bear and Sideways Markets

Bachelder, Ross Alan Self (260 pp.) $4.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2020

Bensdorp, Laurens Lioncrest Publishing (206 pp.) $24.99 | $14.99 paper | $8.99 e-book Feb. 29, 2020 978-1-5445-0603-6 978-1-5445-0601-2 paper

An instructional manual focuses on setting up computerized trading systems that can manage the vicissitudes of the stock market.

Bensdorp starts his financial self-help book with a familiar observation: The stock market is notoriously unpredictable, and that volatility induces many investors to make poor decisions wrought by panicked emotions. As an alternative, he proposes the establishment of an automated trading system that doesn’t depend on accurate predictions at all since it is designed to successfully respond to whatever financial circumstances arise. Moreover, since the system runs independent of constant management, it eliminates the problem of emotional decisionmaking and the “psychological pain” of owning a plunging stock.

The author breaks down the basic options for readers, describing four basic styles of trading and seven different systems that can accommodate them. The core of his approach is to employ several “noncorrelated” systems that “combine different directions and different styles, that is, trade long and short and trade trend following and mean reversion.” In other words, the investor can benefit from a market of any variety, bullish or bearish.

In lucidly accessible terms, Bensdorp—“a self-taught trader”— explains the fundamentals of his methodology. His approach emphasizes a customized financial profile, one that clearly defines not only investors’ objectives, but also their tolerance for risk and willingness to patiently put in the time to set up the systems in the first place. The author’s counsel is unfailingly sensible and realistic: He cautions readers that this is a “get-rich-slow approach” that “does involve a good deal of effort upfront” and concedes that it could take “years of trial and error.” In addition, this manual is only for those “skilled with programming” since Bensdorp does not walk readers through that aspect of the systems.

A prudent guide for self-starting investors with plenty of time and programming abilities.

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In this short story collection, characters find themselves in eerie, disturbing, and revenge-fueled circumstances.

Brantley Feldpausch, in the particularly memorable “Daddy Longlegs,” is quite fond of the spiders at his New York farmhouse. But when he inadvertently kills a beloved arachnid during a shower, the spiders see it as outright murder and plot their vengeance.

Many of the tales here are equally dark, even when they don’t belong to the horror genre. In the case of “Soiled Utility: A Love Story,” a heart surgeon reluctantly falls for a maintenance worker at her hospital. It’s an unorthodox but romantic tale that takes an unexpectedly grim turn. Similarly, “Malapert’s Dilemma” is pure SF, following Valencia Malapert, of the planet Oxyplesbia, who may not be the only alien gathering information on Earth. Revenge, though a recurring theme, doesn’t propel every story. One example is the pre–World War II “Little Green Eye,” in which a radio show ultimately leads to an otherworldly—and terrifying—encounter for a Chicago retiree and his cat. Bachelder paints his tales with vibrant details: “The clapboards were warped and discolored from years of exposure to the rugged Vermont winters, and a portion of the roof over the wrap-around porch was caved in and near collapse.” At the same time, there’s a healthy share of gruesome imagery, like spewing vomit and cadaver-related acts. In the penultimate story, “The Doomsday Hour,” Reginald Conklin is a death row inmate in New Jersey. With his execution on the horizon, he can’t anticipate the surprising events unfolding in the prison, culminating in an especially gut-churning conclusion. This is unquestionably a collection readers won’t easily forget, with a cast that includes a freelance embalmer on the lam and a tankful of lobsters whose escape comes with retribution against a loathsome night-shift manager.

Vivid, pithy tales that are, by turns, amusing and appalling.

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THE MOST PERFECT JUSTICE Alexander McGillivray and George Washington Strive To Save the Creek Nation Bouler, Jean Lufkin Escambia Press (194 pp.) $3.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2020

SLAVES TO THE RHYTHM

Bouler tells the story of Alexander McGillivray and the attempt to save the Muscogee Nation in this history.

McGillivray isn’t a well-known figure in contemporary America. Born around 1759, the son of a wealthy Scottish trader and a half-French woman from a powerful Muscogee clan, he received an English education among his father’s relatives in Charleston, South Carolina. His knowledge of white society and the world of trade placed him in a unique position to lead the Muscogee people through a period of American encroachment on their territory.

At the time, the Muscogee (or “Creeks,” as the English called them due to the many waterways that crossed their land) controlled more than 60,000 square miles of what is now Alabama, western Georgia, and northern Florida. When the Revolutionary War began, the Americans seized the plantation of McGillivray’s father, a loyalist, so the younger man recommitted himself to Muscogee affairs, working as a liaison between the nation and the British government. Muscogee country was a crossroads during the war, with different towns inclined toward the Americans or the British and agents from Spain and France present in the territory. It was after the war that McGillivray’s leadership was most needed, however, as the victorious Americans looked greedily on Muscogee lands as a reward to be doled out to veterans of the Continental Army. Luckily for McGillivray, his counterpart in the American government—the recently elected President George Washington—was committed to justice for Native Americans. However, the utopian vision of McGillivray, Washington, and Secretary of War Henry Knox wasn’t enough to hold back the tide of American expansion.

Bouler writes with clarity and detail, re-creating a vanished world with which few modern Americans will likely be familiar. The portrait of the prewar Muscogee Nation—a polyglot community that combined traditional ways with those of new white settlers—is remarkable in its richness and contrasts: “Men in Little Tallassie wore headbands decorated with beads or a plume of feathers. They dressed in ruffled shirts and a flap pulled through a belt over their loins. Leggings and moccasins with a cloak of fine cloth completed their attire.” McGillivray, who changed his own dress depending on whom he was meeting on a given day, doesn’t fit the typical picture of a Colonialera Native leader, and Bouler doesn’t shy away from the fact that he lived on a plantation with 60 slaves. The author also does a wonderful job of showing the complex and varied interests of all parties of the period. It’s a short work—only about 100 pages of primary text—but the author manages to pack in a great deal about this undercovered chapter of American history. The story does not end happily, as the reader will likely suspect from the beginning; even so, Bouler leaves readers with new knowledge 162

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of a relatively unknown but important figure as well as a much better sense of Knox, a largely forgotten soldier and idealist.

A compelling story of the attempts to keep Muscogee land intact following the Revolutionary War.

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Connell, Terry Self (250 pp.) $14.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Feb. 7, 2020 978-1-4563-2834-4

A writer offers a recollection of growing up gay in the Philadelphia suburbs and a love story set amid the HIV/AIDS crisis of the early 1990s.

Connell ambitiously weaves together three narrative devices—a journal, a traditional memoir, and a timeline of the HIV/AIDS pandemic—but keeps them easily distinguishable through the use of different typefaces. Beginning in January 1993 and covering the final year of his partner Stephan’s life, the journal allows for a raw, immediate account of their relationship as it was tested by the exigencies of survival, with countless moments of tender intimacy and gut-punching reality. It’s an exhausting read—the audience can virtually feel the physical suffering—but the author does not shy away from chronicling the emotional turmoil either, as he wondered how much longer he could care for Stephan at home. Connell also presents vignettes in a refreshing, localized way; for example, he mentions a particular purveyor and flavor of Philadelphia’s famous “Italian water ice” that allowed Stephan to counteract the metallic sensation in his mouth. The sections featuring a more traditional memoir style begin with the author recalling a largely idyllic childhood in an Irish Catholic family. But with the onset of adolescence, his religious doubts and gay sexuality intertwined to complicate matters, becoming a recurring theme, especially regarding fraught relationships with his parents and several siblings. As Connell succinctly comments in the foreword, “It is one of my biggest confusions in life, to watch over and over how a beautiful and heartfelt faith can be so cruel in its expression.” Eventually, these memoir chapters pass the journal entries, ending a year after Stephan’s death, when the author began a new life in Boston.

Overall, the only drawback is that the project could use another round of editing. For instance, beyond the distracting spelling and grammatical errors and missing words, the Horsham Clinic somehow becomes the Ambler Clinic, and a reference to Bill Clinton’s election to the presidency (November 1992) appears in the journal, which ostensibly covers 1993. But the illuminating timeline, with content gleaned from cited sources, presents key dates, factoids, and quotations from the early ’80s through 1996, when more effective HIV/AIDS treatment options emerged—a vivid reminder of how medical workers and various communities responded to a health crisis in the face of governmental inaction.

An engrossing and unsparing look at a grueling journey of commitment and acceptance.

The novel effectively intertwines the protagonist’s past and present lives in a way that makes the tale a compelling read. vices/virtues

VICES/VIRTUES

CAPTAIN BAD BREAKER AND THE COTTON CANDY SHIP

De Soprontu, Beatrice Self (332 pp.) $12.99 paper | $1.99 e-book | Jul. 11, 2019 978-1-73319-500-3

In this children’s book, a dastardly ex-pirate gets his comeuppance from a savvy young ship captain.

The Bad Breaker Inn, standing on the rocky coast of Maine, may look impressive, but travelers who stay there often find that their possessions disappear. The innkeeper, Captain “Bad” Breaker, is rumored to be a former pirate; he certainly looks and acts the part, slipping a mickey into the drinks of any guests with something to steal. One day, an unusual new ship, decked out with rainbow-colored masts and fluffy pink sails, docks in town.

Breaker wants that vessel, and he’ll use “every last crooked, no good, very bad, and underhanded tool” to get it—and is sure of success when the ship’s captain turns out to be a little blond girl.

But there are no flies on Elaine Mermain and her crew. Not only do they prevail, they right a great wrong before putting out to sea again. There’s a lot to enjoy in this humorous tale, especially the descriptions of the key scoundrel. He uses a dog bone to pick his teeth, and his best friend is a skull called the “Head of Doom,” which he squeezes for luck. Faer and debut author Raven deliver exciting moments and a well-deserved fate for Breaker. (Raven is Faer’s 7-year-old daughter.) But the story also possesses a warm heart, as when Elaine shows mercy in triumph. Although the two main characters are pale-skinned, Elaine’s crew is “a motley but beautiful bunch…all sizes and colors,” with rainbow head scarves and a “fierce and furry” black cat companion. A minor problem is the tale’s inconsistent use of rhyme, which can lead to clumsy phrasing: “She and her crew were welcome every day. For free, they could always stay.” The digital illustrations by Capuyan are varied and energetic, offering many amusing details.

An original, funny, and satisfying adventure.

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A novel focuses on the double life of a Manhattan woman.

By day, Cristela Maria Davila is a leasing agent, showing apartments to prospective tenants, but in the evenings, she becomes dominatrix-for-hire “Mistress Clara.” She works at “Belle’s House of Unusual Pleasures,” a BDSM dungeon for customers wishing to indulge their kinkiest fetishes and participate in erotic role play.

Clara endured a rough childhood. Her impoverished single Venezuelan mother provided for her and her brother, Alex, through welfare checks and food stamps. The novel thoughtfully examines how that upbringing both affected Clara’s financial perspective and informed her perceptions of men. With chapter headings named for both vices and virtues, the book chronicles Clara’s devilish exploits alongside her co-workers at the dungeon—Virginia, Justine, Sin, and Daisy—all contributing unique intimate histories of their own. Through the interactive, colorfully described fantasy sessions with her clients, Clara begins to become empowered by her simulated dominance of the men who hire her. She separates herself from other classic service providers as her role play, while physical, hypersexualized, and arousing, remains strictly noncoital. In keeping Clara’s narration smooth and her personality curious, clever, and warm, De Soprontu tempers the more risqué scenes with a character who initially enjoys the extra income but eventually embraces the theatrical thrill of the spectacle. A story of sex, identity, and renewal, the novel effectively intertwines Clara’s past and present lives in a way that makes her tale a simultaneously compelling, intriguing, and effortlessly entertaining read. The provocative nature of the story will, naturally, appeal to readers of erotica, as the author never skimps on potent passages of steamy dialogue and racy scenes between Clara and her cohorts. Often their interplay expands outward to include threesomes and foursomes or activities that feature sex toys, clothing, and even food (readers won’t look at a snack cake the same way again). Yet through Clara’s intimately social interactions, De Soprontu imparts views on themes of poverty, class differences, race, identity, self-preservation, strength, and deliverance, all tightly bound within the intricate, acutely psychological opera of dominance and submission interplay.

A surprisingly introspective, appealingly spicy, and thoroughly original dominatrix story.

Faer, L.L. & Raven, E. Illus. by Capuyan, Salvador Xlibris Corp (26 pp.) $10.99 paper | $3.49 e-book Dec. 16, 2019 978-1-79607-812-1

THE CASE FOR CULTURE How To Stop Being a Slave to Your Law Firm, Grow Your Practice, and Actually Be Happy

Farber, Eric Lioncrest Publishing (242 pp.) $24.99 | $15.99 paper | $6.99 e-book Feb. 1, 2020 978-1-5445-0587-9 978-1-5445-0585-5 paper

A legal entrepreneur makes a case for establishing a strong corporate culture.

In his debut business book, Farber, the CEO and chief legal officer of Pacific Workers’ Compensation Law Center, shares |

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17 Great Indie B ooks Wo r t h D i s c o v e r i n g [Sponsored] THE DAR LUMBRE CHRONICLES

THE OTHER GLORIA

by Don Johnston

“In this debut novel, a California woman who’s escaped a controlling, abusive husband relives her past life when she was still under his thumb.”

“In a future socialist America, Houstonians face the vicissitudes of life as a rising political/religious movement predicts the imminent return of a vanished scientist as a medical messiah.”

by L.A. Villafane

A gripping tale about the reverberations of spousal abuse.

A clever extrapolation of today’s sociopolitical pathologies to the next century, with an uncommonly optimistic dose of medicine in the end.

SKILLS OF THE WARRAMUNGA

THE UNWINDING

by Greg Kater

“A novel sees a woman shunted through time and space as two universes go to war.”

“In this last installment of a trilogy, two Commonwealth Investigation Service agents embark on a rescue mission in the jungles of British Malaya.”

by Juliana Rew

A sci-fi romp that’s vast in scale yet thoroughly playful.

An enjoyable adventure set during the era of late British colonialism.

ANOTHER PLACE CALLED HOME

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

by Susan DuMond

by Susan Kraus

“In this debut memoir, a woman shares the traumas and triumphs of her seven years in and out of the foster-care system in upstate New York during the 1950s.”

“In this third installment of a series, a seasoned therapist gets involved in a college rape case.”

An articulate, painful, and touching journey that ends with an againstthe-odds victory.

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A richly textured and absorbing fictional exploration of campus rape culture and its many victims.

MESOPO

TROPHY KILL

by Eva Dietrich illus. by Ingrid Kallick

by R.J. Norgard

“A 12-year-old boy tries to save a world made of words in this middle-grade fantasy novel.”

“In this debut mystery series starter, a retired private investigator, devastated by his wife’s death, gets a new lease on life when a beautiful woman hires him to follow her fiance.”

Vibrant characters and prose energize this literary adventure.

An offbeat mystery story that builds a strong stage for future whodunits.

by Nancy Freund Bills

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IN THE GARDEN OF MISTRESS BLOOM

THE RED RIBBON

by Clé Curbo

“A debut memoir that recounts a woman’s tragic loss and hardwon survival.”

“A debut collection of short scifi that explores time and space with mischievous humor.”

A keeper of a book by a talented author.

An unconventional set of tales set in delightfully eccentric realities.

A BIRD IN THE DEEP

THE SINGLE TWIN

by James Krouse

by Sean Patrick Little

“A story of poor leadership in the U.S. Navy during World War II.”

“A pair of misfit private detectives ply their trade in present-day Chicago in this soft-boiled mystery.”

This well-written history draws connections to an iconic novel and illuminates the lives of World War II sailors.

A solid, well-constructed missing person case that features an appealing pair of quirky sleuths.

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17 Great Indie B ooks Wo r t h D i s c o v e r i n g [Sponsored] THE RETIRED DETECTIVES CLUB: SEE NO EVIL

THE DAUGHTER OF PATIENCE

by Shawn Scuefield

“A debut mystery tells the story of a crime-solving imam looking for answers in the shadowy underworld of Damascus.”

“In Scuefield’s (Short Days, Long Nights, 2018) mystery, two Chicago private eyes find that a missing girl in Louisiana may be connected to a string of disappearances.”

Readers will surely welcome a series that features these whipsmart sleuths.

SAVE OUR SHIP “A collection of 57 poems that sound alarms about current ecological, political, and cultural trends.”

A distress call that’s worth reading and heeding.

MAKE IT CONCRETE

by Miryam Sivan “A Jewish ghostwriter for Holocaust survivors becomes haunted by her mother’s silence regarding her own family’s experiences during World War II in this novel.”

An emotionally wrenching account of the battle between wounded reticence and a desire for truth.

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A deliberative, Syria-set detective tale that manages to address intriguing modern issues.

FAMILY IS NOT EVERYTHING

by Barbara Ungar

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by Hussin Alkheder

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by Anita Washington “A multistep self-help process for letting go of family-related emotional baggage.”

An affirming self-care journey.

THE LANGUAGE OF CHERRIES

Hawkins, Jen Marie Owl Hollow Press (330 pp.) $14.25 paper | $4.99 e-book Feb. 10, 2020 978-1-945654-45-9 A Florida girl and an Icelandic boy communicate without words in this cross-cultural teenage romance.

Sixteen-year-old budding artist Evie Perez is spending an unhappy summer accompanying her geologist dad on his temporary Iceland assignment, fretting that her best friend might be moving in on her boyfriend back in Miami. The one bright spot in the chilly, gray landscape is a cherry orchard that provides both succulent fruit and an inspiring setting for Evie to paint in.

An added attraction is 17-year-old Oskar Eriksson, nephew of Agnes, the Scottish woman who runs the orchard; he has a chiseled torso, tousled blond hair, gorgeous dimples, and an uncanny resemblance to a figure in Evie’s painting, right down to a runic tattoo. Oskar is silent and aloof, and Evie supposes he doesn’t speak English; she thus feels free to gripe about her woes, including her beloved abuela’s creeping dementia and her divorced parents’ plan for her to live with her estranged mom in New York. Oskar has his own secrets:

His parents and brother died in a car crash; his stutter makes him shy; and he speaks English perfectly. The two spend the summer processing cherries, dodging the odd earthquake, occasionally smoking marijuana, and edging toward passion. But their relationship is complicated by the mystery of Evie’s dream visions, which feature people from Oskar’s past. Hawkins weaves an atmospheric tale that plays Evie’s warmth against Oskar’s reserve and Agnes’ earthiness.

The novel alternates between Evie’s point of view, written in wellobserved, naturalistic prose with touches of magic, and excerpts from Oskar’s journal in lyrical blank verse. The latter captures Oskar as an awkward, occasionally rancorous adolescent (“It’s the American mentality / that triggers my upchuck reflex: / Take what you want— / when there’s a problem, / throw money at it,” he writes after Evie offers money when she’s caught with pilfered cherries) and as a poetic soul that many teen girls would find hard to resist: “I pick up the guitar / open up my veins / and bleed music / over the strings.”

Readers will root for the pair as they try to figure each other out.

A luminous YA love story with magnetic characters and literary flair.

BUCKING THE ARTWORLD TIDE Reflections on Art, Pseudo Art, Art Education & Theory

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lessons he’s learned from founding and running a law firm that, after some trial and error, has developed a strong sense of purpose, high employee satisfaction, and low turnover. The book takes readers through aspects of mission, self-awareness, hiring, and compensation, offering key insights that can also be applied to businesses outside of the legal field. Farber describes his mistakes as well as his successes, showing how, for instance, the firm’s original hiring process led to a weak staff, but it gradually improved as he learned to match the right person to the right job and ensure that new employees embraced the company’s core values. The book is well organized, with each chapter dealing with a different aspect of corporate culture and presenting concrete examples of successes and failures. Farber does a good job of explaining the seeming contradiction at the heart of his own company’s culture, which involved developing an extensive list of procedures and standards while also providing employees with the autonomy to put them into practice. He also provides a coherent explanation of why lawyers, steeped in a hierarchical and adversarial system (“Our thick skin projects an image of strength that, at first glance, seems at odds with vulnerability”), often have difficulty embracing a more effective workplace structure. Farber is open about the many other books that have shaped his understanding of business culture, and he does a good job of synthesizing and sharing those volumes’ lessons. The writing is strong throughout, and Farber displays an enthusiasm that makes for an engaging narrative. His willingness to discuss how he learned from errors, and improved his company as a result, keeps the book from devolving into self-congratulation.

An upbeat, engaging guide to improving a work environment.

Kamhi, Michelle Marder Pro Arte Books (351 pp.) $9.99 e-book | May 15, 2020 978-0-9906057-3-7

A collection of critical essays takes on art world trends.

In this volume of essays that Kamhi describes as “both a prequel and a sequel” to her work Who Says That’s Art? (2014), she gathers assessments of the contemporary art world’s failings written over a span of more than three decades. The essays, many of which were previously published on the author’s blog or in Aristos, the journal she coedits, include reviews of museum and gallery shows, critiques of education programs in public schools, and deep dives into the philosophical questions of how art is defined. Favorite pieces of art make appearances, as do works and artists that Kamhi holds up to withering criticism. She connects her views to Ayn Rand’s objectivism, with several of the essays exploring the philosophical underpinnings of art as humans have created and engaged with it since the days of cave paintings. Other offerings detail the author’s battles with educators, museum curators, and other figures of authority in the art world, bringing readers deep into her ongoing fight against mainstream critical opinions. The book’s tone is imperative and immediate throughout, and readers will be left with a clear sense of how and why art and the public’s understanding of it matter in the contemporary world.

Detailed notes, including both citations and comments, are included in the backmatter.

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throughout the volume (Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc, “like any abstract work—is not art, in part because it does not, indeed cannot, communicate, outside explication notwithstanding, fundamental human values, or ideas”), leaving readers with no doubts about her perspective. Even readers who disagree with the author’s take are likely to appreciate the book’s authoritative confidence and depth of knowledge as well as her strong and forcefully expressed feelings about the value and role of art.

There are occasional shortcomings in that largely comprehensive knowledge (for instance, Kamhi misses relevant historical allusions when she dismisses Dread Scott’s protest art). But on the whole, the author has a solid command of her subject and is skilled at presenting analyses of a primarily visual form through text. (The book does not include illustrations; readers can find links to images of the art mentioned at mmkamhi.com.)

Because the volume is a compilation of discrete pieces originally published in a variety of contexts over several decades, there are some repetitive elements. Careful readers will have no trouble keeping track of the artists Kamhi favors and despises, as they make many appearances throughout the text (“the vulgar triviality of Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons”). Although her contentions are not entirely persuasive to readers of different philosophical persuasions, they are solidly argued and thoughtfully presented.

The collection’s eloquent prose and well-developed point of view make it a thought-provoking and often enjoyable read even for those who disagree. Kamhi’s passion for her subject is undeniable and makes even the more technical aspects of the work accessible.

An illuminating, strongly opinionated, and enthusiastically acerbic critique of today’s art world.

GRAVENWOOD The Conjurer Fellstone Book Two Kaptanoglu, Marjory Self (258 pp.) $12.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Feb. 27, 2020 978-0-9994492-4-0

Three heroes seek an artifact that will reverse the effects of harmful magic in this medieval YA fantasy sequel.

Following the events of Dreadmarr­ ow Thief (2017), teenage Tessa Skye of Sorrenwood is under a spell of subservience and engaged to Lord Turth of Turthville as the new Lady of Fellstone Castle, where she now lives. Meanwhile, her friend Calder Osric lives with and watches over Tessa’s mother, Faline, outside the castle; she still believes herself to be a sparrow after having used the windrider amulet to change between human and bird forms. When Tessa stops visiting her mom—and doesn’t invite her to the wedding—Calder sneaks into Fellstone to investigate. He convinces the sexton’s son, Ash Kemp, who loves Tessa dearly, to help him break Turth’s hold on the girl. A blow to the head frees her, and the three ride to Blackgrove to ask the Conjurer Lord Queshire for assistance 168

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in opening the locked Conjurer’s Book of Incantations. The book, Tessa hopes, contains a way to cure her mother. In Blackgrove, Queshire instructs them to find the Gravenwood, an engraved tablet that can “undo the effects of a magical spell” and allow “someone with no conjuring ability to steal the powers of a conjurer.” Tessa agrees on the condition that Queshire train her in conjuring—and therefore the manipulative statesman has the desperate heroes right where he wants them. After a brief setup, Kaptanoglu puts her heroes straight through the wringer in this sequel; Tessa, Calder, and Ash are later separated and must survive imprisonment, pirates, and conniving relatives. Ash’s and Calder’s chapters are written in the third person, but it’s Tessa’s first-person chapters that truly shine. While she’s under the spell, for instance, she notes at dinner that Turth’s “scent was intoxicating, though the nearby platter of bacon might’ve had something to do with it.” Calder faces a deep emotional quandary because he fears that Faline won’t need him once she’s cured. An eleventh-hour twist emphasizes the elegance of Kaptanoglu’s plotting, and the final line will make readers eager for the next volume.

Grounded, likable characters with complex emotions anchor this excellent series installment.

DHARMA A Rekha Rao Mystery Kumari, Vee Great Life Press (302 pp.) $14.95 paper | $4.99 e-book Mar. 13, 2020 978-1-938394-42-3

An amateur sleuth investigates the murders of her father and her university mentor.

The star of this debut mystery is Rekha Rao, an Indian American art history professor caught in the middle of a violent nightmare. The Southern California–based story opens with Rao being unceremoniously notified by police about the heinous murder of her mentor, archaeology professor Joseph Faust. He was bludgeoned to death with a Hindu goddess statue possibly absconded from his excavation site in India. Rao is asked to assist in supplying information on a possible motive for Faust’s murder, but she’s still reeling from the devastatingly traumatic effects of the senseless killing of her own father, a physician bludgeoned to death in his clinic just three years earlier. That homicide became even more complex after a janitor was arrested for the crime. But when Rao insisted the accused was innocent and that police reopen the case, they refused. When one of her students is brought in for questioning and then arrested in connection with Faust’s murder, Rao knows she needs to work fast to find answers as various suspicions, accusations, and suspects (including Faust’s wife and his cross-dressing son) begin orbiting the criminal inquiry. Rao also becomes increasingly frustrated with the general pace of the police-led investigation and, against Pasadena Police Detective Al Newton’s advice, begins her own amateur sleuthing, which puts her directly in harm’s way.

Rao is an instantly likable character whose respect for her family

Lane’s yarn features rousing magical action set pieces. the scarlett mark

THE SCARLETT MARK A Medieval Romantasy Lane, Abby Self (324 pp.) $3.99 e-book | Apr. 21, 2020

A shape-shifting lord and a princess with snakelike powers battle a witch’s curse—and a potentially fatal attraction—in this debut fairy-tale romance.

Princess Scarlett of Velez and her sisters, Ruby and Rose, feel dispossessed because their younger half brother, Prince Lowell, will inherit the crown and gets all the attention of their father, King Rickard.

The bigger problem, though, is their stepmother, Queen Cynara, a wicked sorceress who frames Scarlett for Rickard’s murder-bycobra-bite. Sentenced to die poetically by another cobra bite, Scarlett survives and gets vaguely serpentine powers from the venom now flowing through her veins; Cynara then banishes her to Drum Manor, home of Lord Nicolai Graydon. Scarlett finds a gloomy, cobwebbed estate presided over by the preternaturally handsome and menacing Nicolai, who has his own history with Cynara: Sixteen years earlier Nicolai dumped her to marry an heiress, and she retaliated by annihilating the heiress with energy bolts and imposing a curse that causes Nicolai to turn into a black panther and tear out the throat of any woman who arouses him. Scarlett and Nicolai circle warily, each posing a sexily lethal threat to the other. Nicolai is indeed aroused by Scarlett, especially when he spies on her while she is undressing in her bedchamber; yet if he succumbs to his panther side and goes for her throat, her venomous blood will poison him. But Nicolai’s

butler says that Scarlett may be able to lift Nicolai’s curse if she can cage him and teach him the meaning of true love. Lane’s yarn, the first in her Reign of Blood and Magic series, sometimes bogs down in ruminative longueurs as characters brood on their predicaments, but it features rousing magical action set pieces and sorcery that’s engrossing and creepy. (Rickard, it turns out, isn’t dead but doomed to eternal consciousness in a paralyzed body, which Cynara props up as a statue while he experiences helpless pain and humiliation from the insults visited on his inert frame.)

Lane’s prose is sometimes rough—“Bon appetite”—but intense and evocative: “Round and round [Scarlett] went on the stone stairs, each step downward taking her closer to her final punishment….all too quickly she would fall silent, buried by wet mud in her grave.” The result is an imaginative fantasy that reprises the themes of “Beauty and the Beast” with feisty characters and richly intriguing witchery.

An entertaining romance for sword-and-sorcery fans.

SASHA AND HIS RED LEASH The Secret Diary of a Lucky Pup

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and her Indian heritage makes her a courageous, determined, reliable, believable, and humanitarian heroine for readers to cheer as she perilously attempts to piece together both crimes. “My goal to take care of all my dharmas was not a facetious one,” the protagonist reflects. Her undeniable attraction to the confident, handsome senior homicide detective creates some added romantic tension and another layer of intrigue to the narrative. Playing out over the course of just a few months, the story demonstrates Kumari’s uncanny knack for putting all of her characters and crimes in place and tying up loose ends in an economy of pages. Combining Hinduism, Hindu mythology, old jealousies and grudges, family melodrama, hidden secrets, and another death, the novel presents a winning recipe for an absorbing read. While the tale has many plot elements continuously spinning, the academic-turned–actress and author keeps a firm grip on the main plotline, which she skillfully and quite suspensefully brings to a boil once the perpetrator of Faust’s death is established and the race for justice moves into full swing. Though a newcomer to the mystery genre, Kumari establishes herself here as a writer with ingenuity. She presents a satisfying crime tale with appealing characters who embody vivid and unique cultural perspectives. Delivering a smoothly written, impressive series opener, the author is a new mystery writer to watch.

A polished, confident whodunit brimming with personality and the right amount of intrigue and mayhem.

Lapid, Yossi Illus. by Pasek, Joanna Self (25 pp.) $0.99 e-book | May 15, 2020

Author Lapid and illustrator Pasek launch a new rhyming picture-book series starring a playful puppy who wants to roam free.

Sasha, a small white canine, knows he’s “a very lucky pup,” but he hates his awful red leash, which he’s hidden and buried in the past. Sasha discusses it with his brown-skinned young owner, “Big Boss Bob,” who explains that the leash keeps Sasha safe. They visualize various hypothetical situations, and Lapid allows readers to weigh in on whether each one would require a leash. Finally, Sasha realizes the tether’s importance even if he still wishes for total freedom. Lapid and Pasek have already written two series together—the Snowman Paul books and the Yara’s Rainforest books—and Sasha has the same playfulness and verve as their previous protagonists. Pasek’s painterly illustrations mingle cartoonish and realistic features, always showing Sasha behaving like a real-life dog. Lapid’s simple, rhyming text offers few words on most pages, making the book very approachable for beginners, who will get the most out of the images of safe and unsafe situations. The book may also give parents a way to introduce discussions about why some human rules are required to keep children safe.

A book featuring a charismatic pooch and a likable owner that’s sure to attract young readers.

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DOGVERSATIONS Conversations With My Dogs

Leswick, David Photos by the author FriesenPress (144 pp.) $19.99 paper | $6.99 e-book Mar. 26, 2020 978-1-5255-5157-4

In this debut compilation of humorous conversations and colorful photographs, three adorable dogs say the darnedest things.

What canine lover hasn’t imagined what a dog would say if it could speak? Leswick, a photographer and family man, has always talked to his dogs. But after a smart but mischievous Brittany spaniel pup named Eva joined his family, he felt like he could read her mind. So, over time, he began sharing their conversations on the internet. When Eva was 2 years old, Bruno—a happy-go-lucky golden retriever—joined the family chats. Most recently, Agnes, a rescue pup of unknown lineage, came along to liven things up even more. Deciding that he needed to put his dogs’ adorable photos—and antics—in book form, the author assembled this fun-filled, browsable collection. Cuter than the cutest Facebook memes—Bruno wears underwear on his head because he’s a Jedi, and Agnes looks sweet even when she’s caught ripping a toy to shreds—Leswick’s canine photos are accompanied by “dogversations” he or other family members have had with the pups. There are no chapters in this slender beauty, but relatively short conversations have titles—for example, in “Laundry,” the author finds Eva lounging on the humans’ clean clothes.

Easy to read and comprehend (names are followed by colons to denote who’s speaking), these simple exchanges are squeaky clean and appropriate for the entire family. Lighthearted humananimal misunderstandings take center stage in several of the animals’ pithy quips. For example, in “The Great Flip-Flop Debate,” Bruno says the humans’ rubber sandals are meant to be chewed because flip-flop is a yummy-sounding name. Sometimes the situations are seasonal; for example, the dogs sing Christmas carols, and on Halloween, Bruno dresses like a ghost. But the family’s favorite season seems to be summer, and there are some lively scenes of the pooches in action at the lake.

A cute, fun frolic for tail-wagging fans.

FIREFLIES Poetry

Loftus, Richard Gilmore Self (123 pp.) $14.00 paper | Feb. 6, 2020 978-1-73136-048-9 Loftus, who previously wrote Dress Whites (2018), repeatedly marries the heady with the mundane in this sophomore poetry collection.

There are a number of paradoxes attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno. Perhaps the most famous involves the supposed impossibility of motion: To 170

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get to any point, one must travel half of the way to it. To continue one’s journey, one must then go half the remaining distance, or one-quarter of the original trip. This pattern continues, but because there’s no line so small that it can’t be bisected, one will never reach one’s destination. Loftus’ poem “Zeno’s Paradox” takes this arcane thought experiment and gives it flesh and blood, reimagining it in terms of a man waiting for a lover who will never arrive: “He waits. For her. To enter, shut the door. /... / She’s still walking—to the broken steps, / sagging porch and flapping door, / the table, couch, his brazen, smelly hold— / as fast as he may summon her, / as slow as I implore, / she will take forever.” Thus does the author recast the philosophical as the poignant, simultaneously offering a new take on Zeno himself. He does something similar in “Camus sur le Pont,” whose title alludes to the French novelist’s 1956 book-length reflection on responsibility and abdication, The Fall: “A body strikes the water / so different after dark, / as if an exit / were an entrance, / below, above, at once, / parting a black mirror, / a looking glass of stars.” Camus’ book is about a suicide on the Seine, but Loftus adroitly (and devilishly) shifts readers’ focus away from the falling woman to the water, which swallows the body impassively. These unexpected shifts in perspective are Loftus’ stock in trade, and they infuse his deceptively straightforward poetry with depth and texture.

Deeply thoughtful and satisfyingly unpretentious poems.

GHOST HUNTERS Bones in the Wall

McCauley, Susan Celtic Sea, LLC (178 pp.) $25.99 | $12.66 paper | $3.99 e-book Jan. 14, 2020 978-1-951069-04-9 978-1-951069-06-3 paper A bereaved boy discovers that he can see ghosts in this middle-grade novel.

Ever since 1900, when spiritualists “tore a hole” between the real world and the supernatural realm, poltergeists have come through the opening and plagued mortals. Like all children, 12-year-old Alex Lenard was tattooed at birth with a mark shielding him from “evil spirits.” His house in New Orleans is covered in pentacles and other signs of protection. Supernatural entities—and the arcane methods of keeping them at bay—are an everyday part of life. Alex is a star ghostball player at school. But on the way to the state championship, he is badly injured in a car accident. His mother is killed. Not only will the grief-stricken Alex never play again, the accident switches something inside of him. He develops psychic powers— a change thought to be impossible at his age. Alex doesn’t wish to see ghosts. His dad is staunchly anti-psychic, and going back to school will be hard enough for Alex without having his crazy aunt and his weird, paranormal-obsessed cousin Hannah move in next door. But what Alex wants doesn’t seem to matter. When he accompanies his aunt and cousin on one of their investigations, they uncover a spirit that needs putting to rest—and an evil entity hell-bent on stopping them. Backed by his Jamaican best friend,

McGraw employs an animated yet authoritative writing style enhanced by a rich sense of humor. shtick to business

Jason Anderson, Alex must either accept his new situation or risk losing everyone he has left. McCauley writes in the first person, past tense and tells a simple story at an effective pace. The worldbuilding is a bit clumsy at first—the early chapters repeat some information—but once over its teething troubles, the book moves smoothly from premise to execution. The dialogue is well handled. The ubiquitous nature of the spirits is a pleasing facet that stands out. But of course the true focus is on Alex’s loss and how he deals with it. Alex is an average but likable protagonist, and Hannah and Jason are able supporting characters. Young readers should find themselves deeply engrossed.

A straightforward but well-structured and absorbing supernatural tale of change and coping.

HIGHLAND CONQUEST

McCollum, Heather Entangled: Amara (384 pp.) $7.99 paper | Apr. 28, 2020 978-1-64063-747-4

McGraw, Peter Lioncrest Publishing (324 pp.) $19.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Mar. 20, 2020 978-1-5445-0807-8

A professor offers a novel approach that encourages emulating comedians as a way to make career and business improvements.

McGraw, a marketing/psychology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, knows a thing or two about comedy. He founded the Humor Research Lab and co-authored The Humor Code (2014). In this unusually engaging read, he turns his attention to the behind-the-scenes world of stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy. That would be intriguing enough, but McGraw takes it further, showing how comedians think and act and relating it to business in an effort to “revolutionize your work life— and beyond.” From the outset, the author makes it clear his goal is not to teach readers to be funny but rather to “think funny.” The book’s chapters address what comedians do that could be applied to a business setting. For example, “Step Out of the Stream” demonstrates how comics often take risks and break rules. McGraw illustrates his thesis beautifully with anecdotes about comedians and excerpts from their acts, followed by several examples of businesses that succeeded by taking risks and breaking rules.

“Cooperate to Innovate” serves to explode the myth of the solo comedian; here, the author relates the story of Merrill Markoe.

She crafted jokes and bits for David Letterman, whose television show won Emmys for outstanding writing. “Pretty good on their own, they became fantastic when they teamed up,” writes McGraw. The author delves deeply into cooperation as part of sketch and improv comedy, citing additional hands-on examples.

One of the more intriguing concepts he introduces is “complementation…the magic made when opposites come together, creating a sum that is greater than its parts.” McGraw again illustrates this idea with brief case studies. In addition to excellent examples from both comedy and business, the volume features two unique sidebars: “Shtick From Shane,” interspersed humorous short takes from stand-up comedian Shane Mauss, and “Act Out,” insightful observations from the author that perfectly highlight the comedy-business connection. Throughout the book, McGraw employs an animated yet authoritative writing style enhanced by a rich sense of humor.

Amusing tales and tidbits surprisingly pertinent to business professionals.

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A Highland warrior wins a battle but loses his heart in this novel.

Cain Sinclair has been raised to lead and conquer. His father, a brutal man who was rendered more unstable by the death of his wife, raised Cain and his three brothers as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And when his father dies in a heated battle with the Sutherland clan, Cain, the horseman of conquest, is more than ready to lead the Sinclairs and avenge the patriarch’s death. But this is easier said than done, as the chief of the Sutherlands and the person responsible for killing Cain’s father is the beautiful Arabella. In a game time decision driven by practicality and a good dose of lust, Cain decides that rather than kill Ella and beat the Sutherlands into submission, he’ll marry her instead to gain control of her clan. Predictably, Ella is not keen on her new role as a battle prize. Despite Cain’s efforts to woo her and her own feelings for him, she struggles to maintain her autonomy and win back her freedom, all while guarding a secret of her own. McCollum is a seasoned romance writer and knows her stuff. Does her latest novel break any new ground? No. Is it predictable? You bet.

But it sure is an enjoyable read. Cain is the classic leading man; his gruff exterior is just a front for a protective and chivalrous heart. Ella is a familiar romantic heroine: a beautiful, smart, and spunky match for her main squeeze. Their love match is easy to root for, as the two protagonists have survived brutal and broken upbringings, leaving them with scars both inside and out.

And while the plot moves right along, there are just the right number of steamy sex scenes to break things up a bit.

A bold laird and plenty of action and passion make for a perfect Highland romance.

SHTICK TO BUSINESS What the Masters of Comedy Can Teach You About Breaking Rules, Being Fearless, and Building a Serious Career

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STORYBOUND

McKay, Emily Entangled Teen (320 pp.) $17.99 | $7.99 e-book | May 5, 2020 978-1-64063-656-9 In this YA novel, a bookish teen embarks on a magical journey she’s previously only read about.

Edena “Edie” Allegra Keller is a superfan of fantasy novels, especially the bestselling The Traveler Chronicles series. For the teen, books provide the only consistency and sense of belonging in a life where her single mother moves them around after a violent incident perpetuated by Edie’s loving, schizophrenic father, who is now in a full-time care facility. Everything changes when Edie’s mother’s nursing job takes the two to Austin, Texas, which has a bookstore with an original Traveler Chronicles review copy. The work may contain clues as to why the last volume ended with hero—and Edie’s “book boyfriend”—Kane the Traveler’s unfortunate demise. When Edie visits the store that houses the manuscript, she’s thrust into the parallel dimension of the Traveler series, which isn’t actually fiction at all. But the books’ author was incorrect regarding many major and minor details, including Kane himself, who instead of a reluctant but noble changeling-turned-savior is a snarky antihero who refers to Edie as “Cupcake” (the image on her food-truck T-shirt). The two set out on a journey that reflects the series in cementing the hero’s royal destiny. Edie must reckon with every skill she possesses in a world that’s both familiar and full of surprises while learning long-held secrets about her hardworking mother and long-lost father—and fighting her attraction to Kane. YA and romance author McKay’s modern feminist take on the classic chosen-one narrative has a spunky, relatable heroine in Edie, who holds a black belt in taekwondo but can’t quite stand up to mean girl bullies in her new high school. Edie discovers her inner and outer strengths in the world of Kane and her favorite characters. Both Edie and Kane have conceivable, realistic character arcs in the fantastical setting, and their quippy banter is a highlight. Readers will find romantic escapism in the lovingly conceived world of Edie’s beloved books.

A fast-paced and feisty tale, perfect for anyone who’s ever had a book boyfriend.

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THE MAGICAL APPEARANCE OF EARTHWORMS

Moncrief, N.A. AuthorHouseUK (234 pp.) $28.82 | $17.23 paper | $4.99 e-book Jan. 13, 2020 978-1-72839-716-0 978-1-72839-715-3 paper Moncrief ’s debut memoir recalls the joys and sorrows of growing up in an Aus-

tralian country town.

“It was the late 1960s,” remarks the author, “but we were still living in what was effectively 1950s rural Australia.” Along with his older brother, Darren, Moncrief was raised in Tilburn, 30 miles outside of Melbourne. The memoir focuses predominantly on vivid memories from the author’s childhood in a quiet town where “everyone minded their own business and kept mostly to themselves.” Moncrief recalls journeys to a racetrack with his father, who trained horses, befriending a lizard that lived under the back step of the family home, and nursing an injured sparrow back to health. These sensitive recollections are interspersed with tales of cruelty and abuse. As a young boy, the author admits, he received so many bloody noses from his brother that one of his nostrils became “permanently blocked.” The memoir also charts the author’s coping with his parents’ divorce and grappling with adolescence. Each chapter is built around a particular person or event that left an impression on the author’s young mind. One, for example, discusses the author’s first sight of a pregnant woman and his father’s remarking, “pregnant women are beautiful.” This heavily anecdotal approach has the potential to grow tiring, but Moncrief avoids that by capturing a young boy’s naiveté in a satisfyingly amusing manner: “I couldn’t imagine what was wrong with her—that big, swollen stomach bursting forth from her body!” The author has the power to tug at the reader’s emotions—after his lizard was killed by a bully, he writes sorrowfully: “[I] pushed his little body into the crack from where I’d taken him the night before. ‘I’m so sorry, little mate,’ I said.

‘I love you so much.’ ” Moncrief puts a recognizably Australian stamp on the memoir by using Aussie vernacular, from “dunny” (toilet) to “chooks” (chickens). Tenderly evoking the minutiae of childhood while celebrating liberation from its horrors, this thoughtfully written, well-balanced book will encourage readers to reflect on their own upbringings.

Observant, affecting writing about an Australian childhood.

BEFORE TRUTH SET ME FREE

FAREWELL AND A HANDKERCHIEF Poems From the Road

Murray, Vanessa “Fluffy” Mill City Press, Inc. (282 pp.) $16.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Jan. 27, 2020 978-1-5456-7497-0

A volume offers poems by one of Czechoslovakia’s literary treasures.

In this new translation of a Czech classic, English speakers get a taste of one of Europe’s most underappreciated verse writers. Nezval was born in Moravia in 1900 and matriculated as a philosophy student, but his early experience with the Prague literary scene converted him to poetry and launched a remarkably prolific career. As Karen von Kunes writes in the foreword, one of the central hopes of Nezval’s school was the creation of a new “art of everyday life” that was “accessible” to the “simple man.” Kostovski’s translation preserves the clarity and simplicity of Nezval’s verse. The poet’s brief “Place du Tertre” is a good example: “My love, perhaps we both shall meet / When finally the world succeeds / To sit together chair to chair / On that one Parisian square.” Yet this seemingly straightforward quatrain yields more nuance the longer readers look. Best of all is the gnomic second line, which could logically attach either to the first—in which case the lovers will meet when the world “succeeds”—or the third, whereby the world prevails in sitting “together chair to chair.”

That the meaning of this second rendering is mysterious is in keeping with another of Nezval’s influences: French surrealism.

The poet knew luminaries like Breton and Eluard, and some of their enigmatic qualities seep into Nezval’s verse. Breton and Eluard, of course, are both from France, another of their Czech contemporary’s loves. Though this collection ostensibly describes a trip across Europe, the lion’s share is given to Paris.

Nezval writes of his arrival there: “You were Medusa when I dreamed about you / Now here I stand, a vagrant in prime / And the smallest bit that you’re able to give / Lulls me to sleep like a drinking man’s wine.” Yet if the City of Light is this intoxicating, so is Nezval’s verse, and readers will hope to get more in English soon. It’s a shame he’s been hidden for so long.

A vibrant collection that introduces an Eastern European master to the West.

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An African American woman navigates the pitfalls of urban poverty, the hip-hop industry, and the criminal justice system in this memoir.

Murray, known as Fluffy to her friends and family, was born in 1962 in New York City to a 23-year-old mother. She became a mother herself by the age of 16. Within a short time, three pregnancies, one ended by abortion, effectively put a stop to the author’s childhood, as she decided to drop out of high school to get a job. Largely alone, with only erratic help from her mother and outright interference from her baby daddies, the fiercely driven Murray completed her GED and a business school program in order to improve her life choices. Armed with these skills and star-struck over the sexy male stars of the emerging hiphop scene, she schemed and party-crashed her way into working at a rising rap record label. But job security was precarious in an entertainment industry too often based on personality, whim, and fleeting loyalties. The author soon found herself once again looking for a new life, this time in Georgia, where an abusive relationship started her on the road to a prison sentence. Through all of her adventures and ordeals, Murray maintained a cleareyed sense of her own strengths and weaknesses and a determination to resist life’s efforts to subdue her spirit.

The author’s take on the world is wry and perceptive, from her description of the dangers of white people “wilding out all across the south” to her increasing understanding of internalized oppression. The candid narrative of her personal struggles is grounded in historical events, as when she notes that her first baby was born in the same hospital where Malcolm X died.

While the suspense of her court sentencing and the indignities of prison life are described with vivid immediacy, readers may wish to know more intimate details about Murray’s own growth process, such as her evolving relationship with her children, which remains somewhat peripheral to the story. The end of the book promises a sequel that will continue to chronicle the author’s truth-seeking journey.

An insightful and frank account of a woman’s odyssey from hardship to self-esteem.

Nezval, Vitezslav Trans. by Kostovski, Roman Plamen Press (176 pp.) $19.00 paper | May 9, 2020 978-0-9960722-5-0

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AURORA’S ANGEL

Noon, Emily Bluefire Books (543 pp.) $17.99 paper | $7.99 e-book | Jan. 1, 2020 978-0-473-50513-4 In this fantasy debut, two shapeshifters form a bond that may change their world.

As Noon’s sprawling novel opens, readers find a mysterious woman named Aurora skulking through a mine that’s crawling with poisonous spiders. She’s hunting for valuable ethian crystals when she’s brought up short by the last thing she expects to encounter in such a dark, forbidding place: a beautiful song. Tracing the tune to its source, Aurora is enraged to find a cutter’s den: “A place of unimaginable horror, where shapeshifters were imprisoned while their bodies were systematically harvested for the high price their parts fetched on the black market.” Aurora lives in Nordarra, a region populated by many different, scattered clans of shape-shifters—merpeople, tiger-shifters, wolf-shifters, and avians, who can grow enormous wings out of their backs. These beings are presumably the descendants of the folks who came to Nordarra from the human world and were taught magic that allowed them to transform into shape-shifters. (Another theory is that those first human visitors were the servants of Nordarra’s original inhabitants and interbred with them.) In this realm, avians are frequently characterized as untrustworthy. It gives Aurora pause to discover that the song in the mine comes from a captive avian named Evie, but the two form a wary partnership. In exchange for Aurora’s dealing with the mine’s guards, Evie will fly them both to freedom. When Evie is injured and rendered temporarily flightless during their escape, the two are thrown into a close, earthbound struggle to survive—and to fulfill Aurora’s primal vow to track down all the parts of her father’s tiger form that were harvested by cutters years ago.

Noon handles the gradual unfolding of the story’s plots and subplots with a remarkably sure hand. Virtually none of debut novelists’ typical mistakes—clunky dialogue, incomplete concepts, and especially great blocks of undigested exposition— crop up in this book’s 500-plus pages. The political interplay of Nordarra’s various clans and factions is intelligently rendered as a backdrop for the tale’s central, most touching thread: Aurora’s and Evie’s (in reality, Evangeline Aquilar, oldest child of a powerful avian leader) gradually easing their personal and cultural barriers as their necessity-born friendship deepens into something more. The author has a straightforward, unadorned way of showing her characters clearly to readers, and it’s genuinely involving to watch Aurora overcome the lessons of her traumatic childhood in order to feel tender emotions again. The two women’s ongoing discovery of each other’s attributes is the story’s highlight. “You’re quite extraordinary and a little scary,” Aurora tells Evie at one point. “You’re like a kitten that looks all sweet and cuddly but you have sharp claws. Remind me never to cross you.” There are stretches in the narrative where Noon’s vivid personal revelation scenes almost overshadow the other 174

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pieces of the multifaceted plot structure, but these episodes are infrequent. The various levels of drama are usually kept in a balance that’s expertly maintained right through to the exciting (albeit, predictable) climactic scenes. The world of Nordarra—and the mechanics and psychology of shape-shifting—is drawn with an appealing intricacy that will make readers hope to return to this setting in future novels.

An impressive and confident tale of two women finding love in a realm of shape-shifters.

THE MEANING OF LIFE A Guide To Finding Your Life’s Purpose

Novosel, Nathanael Garrett Self (360 pp.) $29.95 | $19.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Jan. 1, 2020 978-1-948220-00-2 978-1-948220-01-9 paper

A broad-based, comprehensive approach to finding one’s purpose in life.

Figuring out the meaning of one’s life, writes consultant Novosel in his nonfiction debut, can feel too challenging to contemplate. To counter this type of thinking, he stresses that the insight necessary to begin a self-realization journey need not happen in a single, melodramatic flash—it can be a slow, gradual process. His book presents principles and some activities that aim to help make this process more concrete. Several chapters concentrate on big ideas, from “Emotions” to “Ethics” to “Belief,” and in all cases, Novosel reminds readers of their own agency: “You control your own destiny,” he writes. “Choice is a crucial component of finding your meaning in life because you ultimately decide what is meaningful to you.” In clear but substantial prose, he seeks to help his readers clarify what’s meaningful to them—and what isn’t and can’t possibly be. It’s not surprising, he writes, that people often use various crutches to manipulate these priorities, but he offers a warning: “Alcohol, tobacco, opioids, non-reproductive sexual activity, gambling, and other addictive substances and behaviors affect their emotions and trigger their brains’ rewards systems in ways that are not conducive to growth.” Novosel provides his readers with various “thought exercises” and writing assignments, and his tone throughout the book is one of reassurance as he tells readers of what they can achieve if they take stock of their emotions and self-destructive habits. His approach is also thoroughly secular and science-aware: “The result of human evolution,” Novosel writes, “is an unprecedented combination of genetics, instinct, and rational thoughts.” It’s an uncanny combination of elements that results in an unexpectedly uplifting book.

A richly thoughtful and offbeat self-help guide.

Scott-Clary is a talented writer who conveys her inner world in a way that’s cleareyed yet powerfully immediate. ally

THE FINAL PUZZLE An Untold Akbar-Birbal Story Ray, Juhi Bowker (288 pp.) $11.99 paper | $2.99 e-book Dec. 21, 2019 978-1-73339-178-8

ROAD SEVEN

Rosson, Keith Meerkat Press, LLC (300 pp.) $17.95 paper | Jul. 14, 2020 978-1-946154-29-3 An anthropologist and his sidekick investigate a mysterious video that may show a unicorn in this novel that blends an Icelandic adventure with magical realism.

Mark Sandoval’s alien abduction memoir was made into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Brad Pitt, and he plans to study otherworldly beings

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A debut novel envisions the rise of a famous figure from Indian history.

Mahesh Das is a well-respected Hindu singer and poet who has served in the courts of several kings. He now acts as the chief adviser to Padshah Akbar, the Mughal Emperor of Hindustan. When the emperor is given a partial star chart from his childhood, he turns to Mahesh to help him fill in the gaps. “The astrologer deliberately left it incomplete,” explains Akbar, “because he was concerned that the secret it held might put my life in jeopardy—that there were forces in the kingdom who would have murdered me, the crown prince at that time, if they knew the secret held in the chart.”

Mahesh must travel into the heart of the Mughal’s recent conquests—places where the emperor is not loved—in order to try to discover the missing secrets. Mahesh manages to track down the astrologer, but he is unexpectedly smitten with Radha, the man’s warrior daughter. In the dangerous world of 16th-century Hindustan, even love can lead to divided loyalty for a courtier of the emperor. How will Mahesh manage to complete his duty and earn the title bestowed on him by Akbar: Raja Birbal? Ray’s prose is lucid and flows at a conversational pace, evoking the legends and stories that gave rise to Birbal’s fame: “In the days following Mahesh’s return, Akbar could be seen at sunrise in the garden, facing the sun with closed eyes and folded hands, reciting the shlokas Mahesh had taught him. Standing bare-chested, clad in nothing but a dhoti, he would enthusiastically utter the Sanskrit prayers.” The author does a fine job weaving real events into the story, like Akbar’s conquest of Gujarat, but this attempt to affix fiction to history gives the narrative a somewhat jumpy, disconnected feel. The characters are a bit flat in a way that calls to mind old romances. But the time period is so richly rendered that readers won’t be too bothered by the less realistic aspects.

Fans of Indian history, in particular, will enjoy Ray’s inspired take.

A warm and engaging reimagining of an Indian legend.

further on a site visit to Iceland. Without revealing all of his aims, the self-described “renowned cultural anthropologist” and “famed cryptozoologist” enlists as his research assistant Brian Schutt, a headache-prone academic with a doctoral dissertation that’s stuck in creative limbo back in Portland, Oregon. Schutt is mystified by the geometric scarring that covers his boss’s body—a “cosmic roadmap” or perhaps “warning or prophecy,” Sandoval’s memoir had suggested. Once both men trek to the Icelandic town of Hvíldarland, they bond over their shared fascination with mythical entities, cryptic creatures, and historical lore. Sandoval soon reveals the expedition’s true purpose: to investigate a grainy video sent to Sandoval of what looks like a unicorn on a pumpkin farm. Though Schutt is more skeptical, the trip provides a timely escape from his messy family melodrama and a dire health diagnosis. As they dig deeper into the area’s mystical folklore and haunted forest, all of it becomes a terrific thrill for Schutt, a man “still doggy-paddling through his academic career,” and Sandoval, hoping to lay claim to discovering the elusive creature with droppings that consist of “a gleaming coruscation of granulated glitter.” As in his Smoke City (2017), Rosson offers crisp characterization and surprising twists.

Here he maps a magical journey through the wilds of rural Iceland and into a kaleidoscopic terrain filled with secretly active military bases and muddied body parts that sully what began as an innocent expedition into the supernatural. While the conclusion is disappointingly hokey and doesn’t quite measure up to the narrative mysticism and preternatural wonder preceding it, Rosson’s clever, swiftly paced story has more than enough to keep readers turning the pages and wanting to believe.

An engrossing and creative story of the wonders of the unknown with an Icelandic accent.

ALLY

Scott-Clary, Madison Self (476 pp.) $50.00 paper | Jun. 1, 2020 978-1-948743-15-0 A trans woman reflects on her changing identity in this revelatory memoir.

Scott-Clary, a computer programmer and the editor-inchief of publisher Hybrid Ink, recounts a long transition in the form of a dialogue between herself and an inquisitive alter ego named “ally.” She offers a complex and psychologically fraught story about “past me”: Matthew, a gay teen with an insensitive father and homophobic stepfather who immersed himself in the furry community and developed an aversion to messy, reallife sex, preferring phone sex or typing out fantasies with online partners. A stable relationship with a gay man developed into marriage, which included polyamory. Scott-Clary wrestled with bipolar disorder, tics and balance problems caused by medications, and a dissociative episode that led to a suicide attempt.

The author had gender reassignment surgery in her late 20s that made her feel more comfortable in her own skin. This book, which began as an interactive online writing project, is a multigenre work that includes poetry, snippets of fiction, artwork, and many original musical compositions. Most of the text consists of |

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autobiographical conversation, which meanders at times, especially in sections in which the author talks about her writing process. Still, Scott-Clary is a talented writer who conveys her inner world in a way that’s cleareyed yet powerfully immediate, from the helplessness of a suicide attempt (“It was like the rush of coming to your senses after a nightmare, the pulling forward and the re-anchoring, the flood of adrenaline in preparation for flight”) to her postoperative blossoming (“The first time I looked in the mirror and saw the trace of femininity. The softening of skin. The first ‘she’ on the street. The first ‘ma’am’ on the phone. Hell, the first time dressing feminine”). Scott-Clary isn’t afraid to take creative risks, and they pay off in an often engrossing portrait.

A fresh, daring exploration of lived experience.

ELECTED

Shay, Rori Self (266 pp.) $12.88 paper | $6.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2018 978-1-73204-790-7 This first installment of a YA SF trilogy introduces a teenage girl in North America’s post-apocalyptic future who must masquerade as a boy to serve as the absolute leader of an isolated realm.

In Shay’s dystopian tale, it is 2185, more than a century after climate change, mass extinctions, and nuclear war ravaged Earth. Surviving nations, facing shortages, infertility, and cancer cutting down populations, have agreed to “Eco-Crisis Accords” that pledge rollbacks on all that brought about civilization’s ruin. Now, they forbid electricity and other advanced technology, international travel, and representational democracy. Instead of parliaments and congresses, an “Elected” family serves 100-year terms, with men taking charge at age 18 to enforce the Accords. In struggling, cloistered East Country— which includes what used to be Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake Bay—first-person narrator Aloy and her dynasty occupy the White House, enjoying veneration, food, and no-longer-manufactured medication.

But there is a price. The girl’s heir-apparent brother, Evan, ran away, leaving the inner circle no choice but to disguise Aloy as a boy, complete with an arranged fiancee, Vienne. Dutifully, Aloy ascends to the office of Elected on her 18th birthday and prepares for the sham marriage to the lovely, faithful Vienne while also earning the respect of the populace by fighting rising discontent from a faction that demands restoration of industry. In addition, outsiders may be causing trouble on the border.

While there are plenty of intriguing ingredients in this YA herofronted novel, the story does take sexual elements, including the Sapphic, a bit beyond the usual PG-13 territory. (But nothing gets graphic, as it seems Aloy, while educated in everything else, has never been taught exactly how babies are made.) There are abundant incidents and crises packed into a fairly tight page count. It makes a bit of a difference that the antagonists—at least in this installment—are not Hunger Games–style sadistic elite castes or power-mad dictators. They are just people in 176

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extreme circumstances trying to do the morally correct things for the greater good to flourish, even when devotion to duty means deceit and cruelty (plus some evidently great sex). A big to-be-continued hangs over the finale.

This gender-fluid tale opens a dystopian series on a high note.

POETRY MOTION An LP Novel

Sheridan, Tom Self (164 pp.) $7.99 e-book | Jun. 18, 2020

In this final volume of a trilogy, a New Jersey mixed martial artist preps for his final fight while his son aims for distinction with his second rap album.

Now in his mid-40s, Tonio Franco will be stepping into the MMA cage one last time. His opponent is the current bantam and featherweight champ, Lenny “Linc” Carrera—his nickname is short for “Lightning in a Cage.” Franco travels cross-country with his friend/ trainer Joey, as the match is set in Los Angeles. Along the way is a stop in Las Vegas, near the residence of Randall Starks, the pedophile who years ago assaulted Franco’s then-teenage son, TJ. Now that Randall is out of jail after serving little—perhaps not enough—time, Franco plans to confront him with a Glock. TJ, meanwhile, is a 26-year-old rapper with a moderately successful debut album. The studio isn’t giving him much artistic freedom for his follow-up and pressures him into singing producer-approved lyrics. These include racial slurs for shock value. But TJ, whose orphan father’s origins are unknown, is “more Bieber than black.”

As Franco struggles with both the 155-pound weight requirement and his moral predicament concerning Randall, TJ fights to record songs steeped in art rather than commercialism. Sheridan once again skillfully showcases his “lyrical prose,” in which narrative descriptions occasionally boast vibrant rhymes and/or wordplay. Franco, for example, had “an angry young man past where he was more goodfella than good fella.” But the poetic story also involves thoroughly absorbing characters. Enhancing the protagonists’ main objectives are smaller dilemmas: TJ and Linc are pals; Franco finds himself attracted to Joey’s assistant coach, Khloei, while the competitor’s wife, Julie, is back home in New Jersey. Notwithstanding the serious drama, this bracing tale has a superb, consistent sense of humor, particularly in the footnotes that are more wisecracking than informational.

A smashing finale to an engaging, boldly written series about family ties.

AN IMPOSSIBLE LIFE The Inspiring True Story of a Woman’s Struggle From Within Siddoway, Rachael & Wasden, Sonja Self (311 pp.) $19.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Feb. 12, 2019 978-1-73361-940-0

KILLED IN BRAZIL? The Mysterious Death of Arturo “Thunder” Gatti Tobin, Jimmy Hamilcar Publications (112 pp.) $10.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Jun. 16, 2020 978-1-949590-26-5

This fourth installment of the Hamilcar Noir series examines the questions and controversy surrounding the 2009 death of a former world champion boxer.

Amanda Gatti discovered her husband, Arturo, dead on the morning of July 11, 2009. The couple had been staying at a resort in Pernambuco, Brazil, with their infant son, Arturo Junior. As the ex-boxer initially appeared dead by strangulation and there were no signs of a break-in, cops arrested Amanda on suspicion of murder. But they subsequently released her when the autopsy ruled the death a suicide. According to the report, Gatti hanged himself from the staircase using a strap from his wife’s purse.

The report further stated he’d hung there for hours before the strap broke and he fell to the floor, where Amanda found him.

But members of Gatti’s family and his friends refused to believe he killed himself. The former boxer, who retired two years before, had a reputation for not giving up in fights. He would take scores of punishing hits before coming back in a later round to secure the victory. The Gatti family asked for a second autopsy. Some members of the family filed suit over Gatti’s estate, as his will named Amanda the sole beneficiary. Gatti’s manager, Pat Lynch, hoped to prove that the death was not a suicide by hiring experts to investigate and reconstruct the crime scene. All the while, the feud between members of Gatti’s family and his wife persisted. And what happened to Gatti on that July night may be a question that lingers indefinitely.

Tobin’s debut book delivers a concise, well-researched truecrime story. His sources consist of TV interviews, Associated Press reports, journals, and numerous websites as well as his own interview with Kathy Duva, CEO of the boxing promotion company Main Events. Along with meticulous coverage of the death and its aftermath, the author spotlights much of Gatti’s career, from a title-winning match in 1995 to his final fight in 2007. Tobin’s kinetic descriptions of Gatti’s matches are akin to action scenes: “Ruelas saw his chance and snapped a series of uppercuts into Gatti’s chin, the last of which spun Gatti’s head. Wobbled, Gatti backed away with Ruelas in pursuit. But true to form, Gatti sought only enough room to answer back.”

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A debut memoir recounts a woman’s harrowing struggle with mental illness.

“I may have put in the hours to write this story, but she put in the years and lived it,” Siddoway remarks in the authors’ notes about her mother, Wasden. Written from Wasden’s first-person perspective, the book opens in 2007 in an emergency room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Wasden was almost 40 years old when her family began to worry about her mental health and her husband, Mitch, decided to hospitalize her. At the time, she believed that she was simply “overstressed” from supervising house renovations, dieting, and home-schooling three children.

But when asked the question “Do you want to die?” by a crisis worker, Wasden replied with a firm “yes.” The memoir tells of her involuntary admission to a psych ward, describing in detail the eight days of her stay, interspersed with episodes from her earlier life. She recalls the soporific effects of the antipsychotic pills she was administered: “They would torture me and save my life all at the same time,” making her feel “a type of sleepiness I had never experienced before.” The volume also skips back to 1999, when Wasden was self-harming with steak knives, and to 2000, when she was obsessing about losing weight. The close of the work examines her time as a recovering psychiatric patient, her lapses and perseverance, and the effects of some devastating family crises.

This is an elegantly written memoir that lays bare the progression of mental illness. It deftly pinpoints the moment when, as a young adult, Wasden began grappling with the responsibilities of daily life: “I don’t want to be an adult anymore. I don’t want to be pregnant. I don’t want to live in Michigan. I want to be a sixteen-year-old kid again.” This is juxtaposed with descriptions of later self-harm that are captured with unflinching clarity: “I reached up toward the steak knife on my desk—the only medicine I had to dull the agony. I grabbed it and started to cut the bottoms of my feet. It stung. The times the pain got bad enough to cut it felt like tidal waves were swallowing me, rolling me through an angry sea.” Keenly observant, with sharp, natural dialogue throughout, the book also recognizes the impact that living with someone with mental health issues has on others.

Siddoway’s outburst regarding her mother’s suicidal tendencies delivers a shuddering impact: “My whole life has felt like one sick game of jack-in-the-box. We’ve all been tiptoeing around the idea that you could disappear one day and never come back!”

The memoir would benefit from a more considered conclusion, although the authors do suggest that this work is part of a series, which would partially excuse its open-endedness. Nevertheless, the power of this story is that it allows readers to enter the mind of an individual suffering from a mental health disorder

and begin to understand her thoughts and actions. This erudite book could prove insightful for patients, caretakers, and therapists alike.

Illuminating, impactful writing about coping with mental illness.

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in the Brazilian authorities’ probe, like the specific place where Gatti’s body fell. But Tobin notes the problematic aspects of the crime-scene re-creation that do not convincingly point to murder. For good measure, the author addresses chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition stemming from a brain injury and to which boxers are susceptible. With symptoms like substance abuse and suicidal behavior, Gatti may have been affected by CTE. Nevertheless, Tobin astutely looks at the varying possibilities that would have led to Gatti’s death. Such an approach intelligently and respectfully piques interest in a real-life mystery that has left Gatti’s fans and family in need of both solace and satisfactory answers.

A work scrutinizes a puzzling celebrity case with precision and proficiency.

GLEEMAN’S TALES

Travagline, Matthew Manuscript (427 pp.) $3.99 e-book | Jun. 6, 2020 In the first part of Travagline’s debut SF duology, an itinerant entertainer in a post-apocalyptic, dark-age future keeps memories of the old world alive through storytelling.

About 1,000 years ago, an atomic world war broke out, creating recurring, yearslong nuclear winters around the

This Issue’s Contributors

# ADULT Colleen Abel • Maude Adjarian • Paul Allen • Mark Athitakis • Colette Bancroft • Gerald Bartell Sarah Blackman • Amy Boaz • Jeffrey Burke • Catherine Cardno • Lee E. Cart • Kristin Centorcelli Miranda Cooper • Dave DeChristopher • Melanie Dragger • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Anjali Enjeti Mia Franz • Michael Griffith • Janice Harayda • Peter Heck • Natalia Holtzman • Jessica Jernigan Tom Lavoie • Judith Leitch • Angela Leroux-Lindsey • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Michael Magras • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Clayton Moore • Laurie Muchnick • Christopher Navratil • Liza Nelson • Mike Oppenheim • Scott Parker • Deesha Philyaw • Jim Piechota • William E. Pike • Margaret Quamme • Carolyn Quimby • Stephanie Reents • Evelyn Renold • Michele Ross Lloyd Sachs • Bob Sanchez • Michael Sandlin • Michael Schaub • E.F. Schraeder • Lorraine Shanley Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Tom Swift • Charles Taylor • Steve Weinberg • Joan Wilentz • Wilda Williams • Marion Winik CHILDREN’S & TEEN Autumn Allen • Kazia Berkley-Cramer • Elizabeth Bird • Nastassian Brandon • Timothy Capehart Kristin Centorcelli • Ann Childs • Tamar Cimenian • Jeannie Coutant • Shelley Diaz Vale • Luisana Duarte Armendáriz • Brooke Faulkner • Eiyana Favers • Amy Seto Forrester • Ayn Reyes Frazee • Sally Campbell Galman • Laurel Gardner • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • Ana Grilo • Tobi Haberstroh Abigail Hsu • Julie Hubble • Ariana Hussain • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Danielle Jones • Betsy Judkins Hena Khan • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper • Lori Low • Wendy Lukehart • Kyle Lukoff Meredith Madyda • Pooja Makhijani • Joan Malewitz • Michelle H. Martin PhD • Sierra McKenzie Daniel Meyer • J. Elizabeth Mills • Lisa Moore • R. Moore • Katrina Nye • Hal Patnott • John Edward Peters • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Asata Radcliffe • Kristy Raffensberger • Amy B. Reyes • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Amy Robinson • Christopher R. Rogers • Leslie L. Rounds • Stephanie Seales • John W. Shannon • Edward T. Sullivan • Jennifer Sweeney • Pat Tanumihardja • Steven Thompson • Janani Venkateswaran • Tharini Viswanath • Yung Hsin • Lauren Emily Whalen • Kimberly Whitmer INDIE Alana Abbott • Kent Armstrong • Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Darren Carlaw • Charles Cassady • Michael Deagler • Stephanie Dobler Cerra • Steve Donoghue • Jacob Edwards • Joshua Farrington • Tina Gianoulis • Justin Hickey • Ivan Kenneally • Joshua T. Pederson • Jim Piechota • Sarah Rettger • Mark A. Salfi • Jerome Shea • Barry Silverstein • Emily Thompson • Lauren Emily Whalen

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globe. Civilization, of sorts, has made a slow, painful return, and regional warlords, kings, and guilds compete ruthlessly for power. In the land of Lyrinth in what used to be part of North America, Gnochi Gleeman is an “entertainer,” wandering from place to place, telling his tales of the “first age” world and its achievements. The vagrant guitarist with failing vision may seem unimpressive, but Gleeman is actually an accomplished blade fighter and schemer—a requirement for self-defense, as fanatic “Luddites,” opposed to the progress that brought ruin to mankind, are also a danger to him. But currently, Gleeman has greater concerns. He’s been forced to undertake a mission of treachery and assassination by a man named Jackal, who had his family kidnapped. A complication arises when Cleo, the runaway teenage daughter of an aristocrat, impulsively joins Gleeman, and he doesn’t have the will to force her away. Together, they find tenuous shelter with a “menagerie”—a traveling circus that’s actually a kind of mobile commando unit in disguise.

Travagline effectively keeps a lot of subterfuge under wraps and embeds key plot points in flashbacks; moreover, readers get an anthology of Gleeman’s titular tales that are woven into the tapestry of the larger narrative. They include everything from a sort of experimental-theater playlet (“God is a Dinosaur”) to a Civil War spin on Frank R. Stockton’s classic 1882 story “The Lady, or the Tiger?” to a World War II alternate-history tale in which Nazis gain an advantage in 1941. These lengthy asides do push the main plotline to the margins, and other elements, including magic, spirit animals, and psychic phenomena, intrude into Gleeman’s world, leaving a rather peculiar taste; readers may wonder: Was that really a talking white wolf or a piece of one of Aesop’s—or rather Gleeman’s—fables? The finale provides a cliffhanger that virtually severs the story in two.

A dense, knotty SF tale set in an age of neo-barbarism.

IT CAME FROM THE MULTIPLEX 80s Midnight Chillers

Ed. by Viola, Joshua Illus. by Smith, Xander & Nazarro, AJ Hex Publishers (316 pp.) $19.99 paper | Sep. 15, 2020 978-1-73391-775-9 A genre anthology offers creepy tales inspired by 1980s horror movies.

A high school horror cinephile goes to check out a rare, locally directed film at his town’s drive-in only to suspect that the space parasites in the movie might be real—and possessing the audience. Some high schoolers perform a dark ritual in order to save the theater where they all work from shuttering, but whatever they summoned turns on them instead. Two couples go on a double date to a movie night at a natural outdoor amphitheater—only to have the picture ruined when a severed human arm flies across the screen. Blood and guts are a lot less campy in real life, as the horror movie fans that populate these stories learn again and again. The theaters themselves frequently become places

The writing is sharp and concise, giving the entire collection a brisk, sometimes frenzied tone. psi-wars

PSI-WARS Classified Cases of Psychic Phenomena

Ed. by Viola, Joshua Illus. by Lovett, Aaron Hex Publishers (308 pp.) $2.99 e-book | May 12, 2020 Editor Viola’s latest anthology comprises 13 SF–flavored wartime tales.

Myriad characters in this collection sport psychic abilities, a common weapon in the seemingly endless wars. That’s the case with Keith Ferrell’s “Psnake Eyes.” Psoldiers spanning the globe battle one another and search for potential “multis”— those who have a combination of psychic talents. While most stories take place in an unspecified future, some are set during historical eras. Angie Hodapp’s 1917-set “Cradle to Grave,” for example, follows British agent Edith, a Sensitive whose current assignment somehow involves the psychic brother she hasn’t seen in years. Likewise, the titular character in Dean Wyant’s “The Visions of Perry Godwin” is a WWII sailor who may soon consider his precognitive Sight a curse. Given that characters are at odds or in combat, it’s unsurprising that stories herein are largely grim. The book opens with Warren Hammond’s particularly gruesome “The Calabrian,” in which Nazis have conquered Europe with one individual’s psychic ability. But as this skill requires a pristine singing voice, the story’s most disturbing component is how the Nazis force those who refuse to sing. The writing among the various authors is sharp and concise, giving the entire collection a brisk, sometimes frenzied tone. Some stories even feel like an action-laden scene from a lengthier

novel, like Betty Rocksteady’s “And When You Tear Us Apart, We Stitch Ourselves Back Together.” In it, someone has involuntarily separated Violet from her conjoined sister, Daisy. Though psychically gifted Daisy is gone, Violet tries accessing her like a phantom limb while the story merely hints at a grander, possibly worldwide war in progress. Even stories without discernible psychic elements entail psychological turmoil, including trouble with a VR–type device (Darin Bradley’s “Under the Lotus”) and a failed sleep-deprivation experiment (Gabino Iglesias’ “Awake”).

Lovett’s sensational, graphic-novel-style artwork accompanies and enhances each story.

Exceptional SF that enlivens, fascinates, and unnerves.

HELLO, FRIENDS!

Williams, Bola Illus. by Stevens, Daniel Pears Lane Publishing (34 pp.) $17.99 | $11.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Feb. 4, 2020 978-1-73444-840-5 978-1-73444-841-2 paper A boy says hello to his friends, who answer in their native languages, in this picture book from debut author Williams and illustrator Stevens.

Curly-haired, brown-skinned Daniel is getting ready to attend a neighborhood picnic with his dad. As they walk, Daniel encounters many friends, each time greeting them by name: His pal Zola responds in French; Mai greets him in Chinese; and others respond in other languages. Williams also depicts the kids sharing delicious, culturally appropriate foods. In Stevens’ colorful illustrations, each child wears modern, city-appropriate clothing, and some include nods to specific cultures: Zola, for instance, wears a beret; Koda, a Cherokee boy, has braids and a dream catcher necklace; and Yuki wears Japanese zori and a shirt with a Japanese character. As everyone joins together in the park, the children dance and play to the same music. The message of friendship across cultures resonates, and Williams has selected a wide variety of languages, which also include Swahili, German, and Spanish. The repetitive text invites young readers to chime in with every hello, and a pronunciation guide at the end offers useful guidance for parents reading aloud.

Children surrounded by diversity will find this book relatable; others may use it as a window into unfamiliar cultures.

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of genuine terror, as in Betty Rocksteady’s “Rise, Ye Vermin!” in which a cineplex employee enters a theater to find the audience composed entirely of corpses: “Dozens of women in various states of decay twitched and jittered. Jenn stumbled, jolting a fresh new pain through her broken jaw. She tripped into one of the aisle seats and fell into a woman with long, dark hair and a hat. The hat jostled and roaches poured out of her empty eye socket.” The anthology, edited by Viola, mixes stories by horror mainstays like Stephen Graham Jones and Steve Rasnic Tem with tales by relative newcomers, such as K. Nicole Davis. Many of the writers have Colorado connections, which leads to some entertaining uses of locations, like Davis’ “On the Rocks,” set in the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater. The book also features frightening illustrations by Smith and retro cover art by Nazzaro that will get any ’80s nerd’s nostalgia juices pumping. The blend of voices working within a loose framework gives the volume some stylistic variety (though it remains—like its source material—noticeably male-dominated). As with any anthology, some of the pieces are stronger than others, but all of them exhibit an understanding for the odd brew of ingredients that make ’80s horror movies so much fun.

An enjoyable horror anthology with a strong midnight chillers concept.

THE GODDESS TWINS

Williams, Yodassa SparkPress (208 pp.) $16.95 paper | May 19, 2020 978-1-68463-032-5

This debut YA novel sees two black identical twins discover their magical lineage.

In Cincinnati, Ohio, twins Arden and Aurora are about to turn 18 years old.

Their mother is Selene Bryant, a famous Jamaican opera singer who has retired to finally settle down with her daughters. When Selene is called to London for an emergency fill-in performance, Aurora is incensed. The teen decides to throw a “legendary” party, to which the bookish Arden is not invited. During the party, a handsome 21-year-old named Devin is drawn to Arden’s closed bedroom door. She soon begins to read his thoughts, realizing that “his want for me travels from his body into my own like waves in an ocean.” Soon the twins’ godfather, Leo, breaks up the party. He informs them that Selene has disappeared overseas. What the girls don’t know is that their grandmother Ghani has been empowered with immortality and a vision for justice by the Fates. Her husband, Ezekiel, hates the notion of powerful women as well as the institutional racism plaguing black men. He plans to steal the celestial power from his wife and their gifted children, then use it to help black men dominate society. Arden and Aurora sneak off to London, unaware that they’re embroiled in their family’s generational war.

Williams’ fantasy with a diverse cast introduces a few intense topics, like racism and female oppression, but doesn’t explore them at length. The story’s emotional weight comes mostly from the chapters narrated by Aurora, who believes she is the inferior twin unworthy of her talented mother’s love and that Selene has betrayed her daughters. In one bleakly revealing line, the girl says that men are “basically just mirrors who pay for the tickets to where I want to go.” Engaging characters—like the twins’ cousins Lilo and Liberty and the space-folding Aunt Kiara—help the

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protagonists, perhaps too well. Great swaths of plot open with each new meeting, and the powerful twins (along with readers) are told far more than they’re shown. Nevertheless, continuous revelations keep the optimistic tale humming, and the cast is in fine shape for a sequel.

Family bonds create the magic in this stirring fantasy.

THE CANDIDATE’S 7 DEADLY SINS Using Emotional Optics To Turn Political Vices Into Virtues

Wish, Peter A. Lioncrest Publishing (314 pp.) $25.99 | $15.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Mar. 10, 2020 978-1-5445-0729-3 978-1-5445-0727-9 paper An insightful look at politicians through a psychological lens.

As a syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe and a frequent national television and radio guest, Wish is known for being able to explain cutting-edge psychological concepts to mass audiences. He’s also served as a political consultant, most notably on future Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Romney seemed to Republican insiders to be a sure winner, as he was articulate, handsome, and unflappable; however, Wish saw that Romney seemed “too perfect” and thus failed to personally connect with voters. According to the author, voters aren’t driven by policy or polish but by emotion; for example, President George W. Bush’s numerous gaffes made him more likable to voters, who were drawn to his perceived authenticity. Using a blend of psychological theory and absorbing political anecdotes, Wish analyzes the “7 deadly sins” that are most often committed by politicians who fail to apply psychological know-how to voter outreach. Although the “sins,” such as being “too cerebral,” are morally neutral, their corresponding values, such as empathy and decisiveness, resonate with voters who are driven by “survival instincts” and “anger, enthusiasm, and anxiety,” Wish says. President Donald Trump commits some of Wish’s “sins,” but his success is due to his ability to tap into his supporters’ emotions. The author’s psychological insights will appeal to political junkies as well as anyone in a leadership position. His analysis of “the science of first impressions,” in-depth breakdowns (with charts) of body posture and “power poses,” and emphasis on the importance of storytelling have wide applicability. A gendered analysis is noticeably missing, however, which is surprising given contemporary conversations about misogyny and the failed presidential bids of several women candidates, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. For example, how do men respond to women who deploy “power poses”? And more importantly, how can women candidates use contemporary psychology to break political glass ceilings?

An engaging, practical guide to the psychological dynamics of electoral politics.

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION

Zienty, Joanne E. Self (426 pp.) $24.99 | May 1, 2020 978-1-73368-810-9

Despite a thoroughly gratifying conclusion, there are quite a few things left unresolved or unexplained—perfect fodder for a potential sequel.

Sharp characterization and vibrant prose enliven this futuristic tale.

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A teen in a dystopian world seeks vengeance against powerful, murderous officials who control the precious water in this novel.

Sixteen-year-old Merit lives in the Protectorate with her medic father, Eben. The walled area consists of six Regions surrounding the Great Lakes, which now contain much of the devastated world’s fresh water. The governing Galt Corporation, or the Hive, regulates the water and, therefore, the people. Any individual the Hive deems unsuitable is subject to severance, which is a bullet train ride to the land outside the Protectorate known as the Outlier.

This includes Merit’s mother, Serafina, who’s been gone a year.

When the teen’s Region, Illiana, experiences a longer-thanusual water outage, she and Eben share their stash of bottled water with others. But it’s soon clear that the outage is part of the Hive’s deadly plan for an entire District in Illiana. The Hive wants to use Eben’s skills elsewhere, but that would mean leaving Merit behind for severance or worse. So Eben helps Merit flee with the hopes that they will reunite later.

The Hive’s security force, the goliaths, manage to track her as she hides in the wilderness. Merit fortunately encounters a man who can teach her how to be a hunter—how to shoot and kill the goliaths trying to murder her. But taking them out won’t satiate Merit’s thirst for revenge. For that, she heads to Chicago to find “the man who turned off the water” along with the individual who gave the order.

Zienty’s worldbuilding begets a riveting, albeit frightening, future realm. The peril, for one, is unquestionable, as the tale begins in the midst of a four-year drought. Similarly, the totalitarian Hive is a formidable force, with an unsavory Illiana official named Tanner the most discernible representative.

The Hive aims for control in myriad ways, such as requiring hormone adjustments to ensure most citizens’ androgyny and outlawing books. The author avoids congesting the narrative with details by hinting at causal events. For example, it’s “Year 80,” with little indication as to which catastrophes prompted the implementation of Year Zero or how they may have affected other countries. Plot progression slows considerably in the latter half, as Merit’s goal of retribution remains the driving force. Nevertheless, the story moves at a steady beat as she faces goliaths and ultimately makes a number of allies.

This tale is certainly not lighthearted fare; Merit is unmistakably distraught over her decision to employ lethal means, and more than one likable character meets a sad, violent end.

Zienty beautifies the story with sublime writing, including Merit’s time in the wilderness: “Gnarled faces jut from the rock wall, brows caught in perpetual furrow, mouth drawn in eternal frowns, like a cluster of giant men frozen in a spell cast by some sorceress of stone, a sister to the Gorgon Medusa.” |

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Se e n & He a r d

By Michael Schaub The novel coronavirus pandemic has led Americans to develop some unlikely new celebrity crushes— among them Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The 79-year-old immunologist definitely has his share of admirers: Just do a Twitter search for “anthony fauci daddy” if you don’t believe us.

Journalist and author Sally Quinn, however, recognized the good doctor’s hotness long before the rest of us. Fauci was the inspiration for a character in Quinn’s steamy 1991 novel, Happy Endings, reports Washingtonian magazine.

Quinn told the magazine that the character of Michael Lanzer, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, was based on Fauci, whom she met at a Washington dinner. “I just fell in love with him,” Quinn said. “He was so different from most Washington people, because he’s so self-effacing. He’s not in it for the glory or the name recognition.”

In the novel, the character of Sadie Grey—the widow of an assassinated U.S. president—falls for Lanzer, who, inconveniently, is married. A reviewer for Kirkus was not enamored, calling the novel “laborious, stilted, and—perhaps worst of all—fantastically unsexy.”

Alex Wong-Getty Images

DR. FAUCI INSPIRED CHARACTER IN 1991 ROMANCE NOVEL

Kevin Mazur-Getty Images for Samsung

PORTUGAL. THE MAN TO SEND BANNED BOOKS TO STUDENTS

The rock band Portugal. The Man is offering to send banned books to students in Alaska. The State.

The band made the offer after hearing that the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board in Palmer, Alaska, had removed five books from its schools’ curricula.

The banned books are Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. The decision to ban the books rankled members of Portugal. The Man, which originated in the Mat-Su Borough town of Wasilla, KTOO News reports.

Eric Howk, who plays guitar for the band, said the ban had backfired, causing the books to “rocket up the charts” among young people in the Mat-Su Borough.

“Hopefully they get talked about, because that’s the whole point of having these books in the curriculum, is classroom conversation,” Howk said.

The band, known for their hit songs “Feel It Still” and “Live in the Moment,” said that students interested in getting free copies of the books should email them at sticksandstones@portugaltheman.com.

You have to be pretty special to have Oprah Winfrey curate a book club just for you. It would seem that Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, son of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, qualifies.

The charity Save the Children U.K. has posted a video on Instagram featuring Meghan reading Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld’s Duck! Rabbit! to her son on his first birthday. Some viewers of the video noticed that the book bore a sticker reading “Archie’s Book Club” that looked a lot like the sticker for Winfrey’s famous club. That wasn’t a coincidence.

In a story in O, the Oprah Magazine, Winfrey confirmed that the book was one of many she sent to Archie before he was even born. “I don’t know the baby’s name or the baby’s gender, but this baby will have enough books to last a lifetime!” she told Access Hollywood last year.

Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas–based journalist and regular contributor to NPR. 182

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OPRAH MADE ROYAL BABY ARCHIE HIS OWN BOOK CLUB

Appreciations: Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential at 20

B Y G RE G O RY MC NA MEE

CNN

Anthony Bourdain aspired to the kitchen early in life, after setting aside a childhood fondness for bologna sandwiches in favor of foie gras and filet mignon, his road-to-Damascus moment a perfect oyster he ate on a family trip to France. He also wanted to be a writer—so much so that after 20 years on the hot line he enrolled in a writing workshop led by Gordon Lish, the editor who shaped Raymond Carver’s best-known stories. Then he went off and wrote, producing in quick succession two noirish novels: Bone in the Throat, which our reviewer called “a fair appetizer but no main course,” and Gone Bamboo, which, well, we didn’t like at all.

Neither book sold. Discouraged, Bourdain thought about giving up writing. But then, taking seriously the “write what you know” mantra, he produced a book that changed his life, to say nothing of the lives of every literate haunter of restaurants. Kitchen Confidential, published in 2000, was in part a memoir, highlighted by a shaggy dog story in which, having seen a newlywed bride consummate the nuptials not with her husband but with a salty chef, he knew that the life of cramped quarters and greasy Danskos was truly for him.

Moreover, he delivered a set of instructions for diners that had the force of gnomic life lessons. Examine a restaurant’s bathroom, he counseled: If it’s dirty, even the tiniest bit out of order, then you can imagine what the kitchen must look like. If you have your wits about you, then you’ll never eat fish on Monday: The seafood market is closed on the weekend, so it was probably purchased on Thursday for service over the next three days—making the fish five days old. Still, he wrote, sagely, “Good food and good eating are about risk.” There’s a bad clam out there somewhere with all our names on it, which is no reason to give up eating spaghetti alle vongole. You take a risk every time you enter a restaurant, and as for eating a street taco or dirty-water hot dog from a cart: Remember, he urged, that “your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park.”

Bourdain was just as quick to dispense advice to would-be chefs that was no less Solomonic, advice that applies to all of us. Don’t start a project without the proper mise en place, he said, without everything you need being where you can easily and logically get at it—and know what you need beforehand. Be clean. Don’t make excuses.

Work harder. Learn to speak Spanish, the lingua franca of the restaurant world, no matter what kind of food is being cooked. “Be prepared to witness every variety of human folly and injustice,” he intoned—witness, but not necessarily accept.

Tony Bourdain is gone now, a fact that should break all our hearts. As I write, every restaurant in the land has turned into a takeout joint, dining in company being a no-no in a time of pandemic. But Kitchen Confidential lives on, a paean and homage to the chef within us, and the thoughtful eater, too.

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