January 01, 2012: Volume LXXX, No 2

KIRKUS v o l. l x x x, n o. 2

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1 5 j a n u a r y 2 0 1 2

REVIEWS

t h e w o r l d’s t o u g h e s t b o o k c r i t i c s f o r mo r e t h a n 7 5 y e a rs fiction

nonfiction

children & teens

Lauren Groff delivers an astonishing second novel filled with revelations p. 121

Winston Groom provides essential reading for Civil War buffs and a great overview of a key battle for neophytes p. 147

Multiple-award–winner Sonya Hartnett crosses from YA to chapter books, ably abetted by Ann James p. 183

in this issue: continuing series round-up kirkus q&a

Naomi Benaron discusses the inspiration for her novel, Running the Rift, and her connection to a central character whose desire to achieve greatness is set against the backdrop of the Rwandan conflict. p. 2468

in memoriam Bruce D. Allen (1937-2011) An incomparable book reviewer; he will be sorely missed.

w w w. k i r k u s r e v i e w s . c o m

featured indie

Mystery Science Theater 3000 veteran Mary Jo Pehl goes indie for her “do-over” book p. 2468

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

Kirkus Online: Trust the toughest critics in the book industry to recommend the next great read.

Visit KirkusReviews.com to discover exciting new books, authors, blogs and other dynamic content.

interactive e-books p. 111 fiction p. 115 mystery p. 131

science fiction & fantasy p. 137 nonfiction p. 139

children & teens p. 171 kirkus indie p. 211

Chairman H E R B E RT S I M O N # President & Publisher M A RC W I N K E L M A N Editor E L A I N E S Z E WC Z Y K eszewczyk@kirkusreviews.com Managing/Nonfiction Editor E R I C L I E B E T R AU eliebetrau@kirkusreviews.com

Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 B Y G RE G O RY MC NA M EE

Features Editor M O L LY B RO W N molly.brown@kirkusreviews.com Children’s & YA Books VICKY SMITH vicky.smith@kirkusreviews.com Kirkus Indie Editor P E R RY C RO W E perry.crowe@kirkusreviews.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Assistant Indie Editor REBECCA CRAMER rebecca.cramer@kirkusreviews.com Editorial Coordinator CHELSEA LANGFORD clangford@kirkusreviews.com

“It’s a mutual, joint-stock world, in all meridians. We cannibals must help these Christians.” So writes Herman Melville in Moby-Dick, published 160 years ago, a book Christopher Hitchens swallowed in great gulps, as he did whole libraries, fields and places.

Hitchens was better known, particularly among those who had not read him, for his celebrated gulps of alcohol, punctuated by endless cigarettes. And though in the end those trademark things were what killed him, last month, at the age of 61, they were unimportant in the larger scheme of things—except, perhaps, as warnings to the impressionable young. What is important is what remains of Hitchens: a body of polemic, independent scholarship, and contrarianism that will one day, it is reasonable to predict, rank alongside Swift, Twain and Orwell in the English-language canon.

As he relates in his bestselling memoir Hitch-22 (2010), Hitchens came to his bookishness naturally, as a defense against loneliness and bullying and as the court of first resort for a boy who had no use for sports. “I couldn’t even pretend to care about cricket or rugby or any of that,” he writes, later adding that while he wished that he had acquired a greater command of music and mathematics, the purpose of sports and games—except word games— eluded him all his life. He was a master of memorization, listing Jorge Luis Borges’s Funes the Memorious as one of his favorite fictional characters; indeed, one of the best moments of his fine memoir is his account of a visit to Borges during the hated years of Argentina’s military dictatorship, a visit in which the great fictionalist blessed him with something to carry around by heart forever.

His wanderings to the world’s trouble spots were as rigorous as any athletic regimen. Hitchens was a scourge of dictators, bullies and proponents of the politically expedient, and he was small-c catholic in his list of targets: Generals Galtieri and Videla, shamed following the Falklands disaster, were among them, but so was Henry Kissinger, who made common cause with dictators of every stripe around the world. Hitchens especially despised Kissinger, as all honorable people must, but Saddam Hussein came close to the top of his list, which led him to his controversial support for George Bush’s war in Iraq. A one-time man of the Left, Hitchens cheered the war as an example of internationalist intervention, reverting to his youthful socialism while being hoodwinked, like so many others, by neoconservative promises—and losing the goodwill of many readers in the bargain.

Hitchens had similarly little use for gods and the godly, whose pieties so often disguised ruthlessness. In his last years, he became the go-to guy for vigorous and eviscerating arguments against religion and for atheism. We must suspect that his time in the world’s worst places provided him with plenty of arguments against the notion of a beneficent supreme being, for, as he remarked, “Real history is more pitiless even than you had been told it was.”

The public forum and the history of our time alike will be the poorer for his absence. R.I.P., Christopher Hitchens, a cannibal of the most refined tastes.

R

Editor’s Correction: Please note that the January 1, 2012 issue did not contain the correct pagination. With the new year, the folio should have started with page 1. In this issue, January 15, the folio will pick up where the 1/1 issue should have ended. Consequently, this issue begins with page 109.

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This Issue’s Contributors Lucas Adams • Maude Adjarian • Kent Armstrong • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato • Michael Beeman • Josh Bell • Joan Blackwell • Terri Blicharz • Amy Boaz • Lee E. Cart • Derek Charles Catsam • Kelli Daley • Dave DeChristopher • David Delman • Kathleen Devereaux • Ameena Din • Ryan Donovan • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Paul Evans • Gro Flatebo • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • Sean Gibson • Faith Giordano • Christine Goodman • Michael Griffith • Anne Lawrence Guyon • Peter Heck • Stephanie Hlywak • Jeff Hoffman • Robert M. Knight • Paul Lamey • Ryan Leahey • Peter Lewis • Raina Lipsitz • Judith B. Long • Riley MacLeod • Joe Maniscalco • Melissa A. Marsh • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • Leslie Nipkow • John Noffsinger • Sarah Norris • Mike Oppenheim • Joshua T. Pederson • Jim Piechota • William E. Pike • Gary Presley • Karah Rempe • Erika Rohrbach • Cedric Rose • Melissa Ruttanai • Lloyd Sachs • Bob Sanchez • Rosanne Simeone • Arthur Smith • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Justin Stark • Kathy Stump • Catherine Torphy • Steve Weinberg • Rodney Welch • Carol White • Alex Zimmerman

interactive e-books ANOTHER MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK

interactive e-books for children

Callaway Digital Arts Callaway Digital Arts $0.99 | Nov. 23, 2011 1; Nov. 23, 2011

BLACK BEAR, LOON & WALLEYE A Fable from the Northwoods

In an equally rousing sequel to The Monster at the End of This Book (print edition, 1971; app version, 2011) Elmo drags a reluctant Grover through one page after another toward a second “monster.”

Blithely ignoring his blue buddy’s “Not again! I simply cannot handle another monster right now. I get very worked up by books about monsters,” little Elmo chivvies him along. Meanwhile, he coaxes readers with both specific instructions for proceeding and, if a tap or swipe is not forthcoming, a more imperative “Turn the page!” The episode was made for interactive and animated enhancements, and to the 1996 print edition the designers have added a full slate. These range from objects and figures that fly about or drop in and out of sight to stackable (and knock-downable) alphabet blocks, a simple color-matching game, gooey “glue” to spread around and, in balloon-enclosed dialogue, highlighted words that are links to audio clips of pronunciations or definitions. The two Muppets respond in unpredictable ways to repeated taps, and delayed comments or developments on nearly every page repay lingering a few moments before moving on. In the end, the two scare each other, and Elmo (predictably) campaigns for another go-round.

From Elmo’s opening tutorial to the closing ticklefest, a treat and a half for preschoolers and parents alike. (learning activities section for adult sharers, thumbnail image index) (iPad storybook app. 3-5)

Button, Sara Illus. by Lewis, P.A. Flying Word $3.99 | Nov. 19, 2011 1.01; Dec. 1, 2011

This two-for-one app includes an evocative Northwoods animal fable plus a companion song.

When three animal friends each wish to take on some aspect of the others, their wish is granted—”just the thought alone made their wish come true.” Black Bear finds himself in a coat of Walleye’s shiny scales, Walleye sprouts Loon’s wings and Loon sports Black Bear’s luxurious coat. As you might expect, things don’t turn out as they had hoped. Bear looks very flashy in his coat of scales, but it doesn’t keep him warm; Loon’s black fur coat feels makes her feel queenly, but it weighs her down; and Walleye loves flying, but he keeps bumping into things.

When the animals wish themselves back to their original states at the end of the day, they agree “to always appreciate each other’s gifts, but most of all to value their own.” The illustrations are quite lovely, and the panels can be manipulated for an interesting 3-D effect. The full-cast narration and the background sound effects are solid. The experience ends with the melodious “Waltz of the Northwoods,” which retells the story in song form. Navigation could be improved: There is no easy way to get to a specific page, and there is no pause option in the readaloud mode to allow viewers time to play with the graphics.

Attractive illustrations and the accompanying song help this app to rise above the ordinary. (iPad storybook and song app. 4-8)

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JUST ME

Cané, Raquel Illus. by Cané, Raquel Luis Parravicini $1.99 | Nov. 16, 2011 1.0; Nov. 16, 2011

A young bunny compares himself to the members of his family.

Bob the bunny doesn’t have his aunt’s nose, his sister’s legs or his brother’s musical talent. Bob is Bob, though readers never really learn much more about him than that. Beyond the obvious—that he’s a cute little rabbit wearing a blue-and-white striped shirt—he is defined solely by the |

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“Based on the picture book of the same name, this charming app is a flawless combination of music, sound effects, narration and interactive elements.” from pat the cat

characteristics he does not share with others. At the end of the story, he says to his mother (who smiles but still looks somewhat disappointed): “No, mom, no. It’s me, Bob. Just me.” The abrupt ending may leave readers wondering what prompted Bob to say such things. Was his mother hoping for someone else? Does she suffer from double vision, amnesia or dementia? The simple, uncluttered graphics are energized by vibrant colors and slight animation. A handful of pages offer modest rewards for tapping, holding, tilting or swiping the screen. The story, which offers no narration, is (optionally) accompanied by a classical piano piece that is lovely but can become somewhat intense in spots. The final page offers a cute “choose whom to photograph” feature, whereby readers can drag a frame down a line of family members and take pictures.

Bold colors, minimalist illustrations and the low level of interaction/animation makes the app just about right for the intended audience, so long as they aren’t hoping for concrete resolution. (iPad storybook app. 1-5)

NO DOGS ALLOWED

Fryer, Phil Illus. by Bourgonje, Chantal Tizio BV Nov. 22, 2011 1.0; Nov. 22, 2011

Moms can’t see them, and dads scare them away, but these mythical creatures are present at sleep or at play.

No-Dogs are six-legged, fluffy mythical creatures that make strange sounds, hide in trees, change their smell and play games.

Most of all, No-Dogs love and protect children, who always know they’re around. A soothing musical backdrop and Bourgonje’s fey illustrations set the friendly, calming tone, as children search for the No-Dogs, who hide very well... especially under the bed. Interactive extras are minimal but well placed.

Readers can clean up the “No-Dogs Allowed” sign, post their own pictures to the No-Dog Family wall and play ball with the No-Dog on the last page. Still, there are some holes here. The rhyme scheme takes a desperate turn at times (see/pee; mutt/ butt), and syntax suffers as well. The story falters in one major way. Readers are told that No-Dogs are “always your best friend whenever you’re good,” which begs the question: What if you’ve been not so good? Are the No-Dogs going to take their love and protection away? Later, they learn that No-Dogs smell like all your favorite things when you’re being good, but when you’re bad—look out! No-Dogs smell like dead fish.

Such fickle, conditional friends seem a bit unfunny for a feel-safe-and-loved bedtime story... even in a fairy tale. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)

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PAT THE CAT

Hawkins, Jacqui & Hawkins, Colin Illus. by Hawkins, Jacqui & Hawkins, Colin Brightside Mobile $2.99 | Oct. 22, 2011 1.0; Oct. 22, 2011 Based on the picture book of the same name, this charming app is a flawless combination of music, sound effects, narration and interactive elements.

The experience isn’t merely entertainment, but an excellent tool to help emergent readers identify and practice the sounds and letters that make up words that rhyme with “at.”

The star of this entertaining show is a very proper British cartoon cat, Pat, who wears a top hat and who, yes, is fat. “He’s even got fat feet!” says one of the endearing duo of caterpillars that move across the expansive white pages with satisfying clicks and bounce on top of each word as it is voiced. When Tat the Bat and Nat the Rat emerge from inside Pat the Cat’s top hat, more good-natured silliness ensues. The spot-on British narration and the droll, jazzy bass-line accompaniment round out this terrific app. There are a few well-chosen interactive features throughout, including a particularly helpful option for beginning readers to practice by easily recording and playing back their own voices. The only quibble one could possibly have here is with the humor at the expense of the overweight cat, but it is so good-natured (and such an obvious rhyme) that it can be overlooked.

This irresistible app gets everything right, proving that simplicity is sometimes best. (iPad storybook app. 2-7)

MY FATHER’S CLOTHES

LaLaFish LaLaFish $2.99 | Nov. 2, 2011 1.0; Nov. 2, 2011

Three fish contemplate what it means to wear their father’s clothes.

It’s a shame that this app is held hostage by one key component, because it has a whole lot going for it. Clean design? Check. Striking visuals?

Check. Decent technological interface, user-friendly navigation and strong audio? Yes, yes and yes. Sensible story? Not even close.

Though at first glance, it may appear that this story is about playing dress-up, it’s really about a heavenly father, and his clothes aren’t made of fabric and thread. They’re metaphors for spiritual fortification. Even if readers are religiously in sync with the story, they’re probably not going to emerge from the reading experience with anything but frustration and confusion. The concept was likely inspired by Isaiah 61:10, a Bible verse that references being clothed with garments of salvation and robes of righteousness. But without a working knowledge of Christian theology it would be difficult—if not impossible—to interpret that message. kirkusreviews.com

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At one point the text reads: “Your father’s clothes, we want them too! / How many pearls would they do?” Clearly, making a rhyme is more important than making sense.

There’s no point in listing the positives; the story itself is so appallingly illogical and poorly told this app should skip the rack and go directly to the thrift store. (iPad storybook app. 2-4)

Store developed by Loud Crow Interactive. While the story and illustrations are done in a standard-issue paper-book format with optional narration and nominal animation, the extras are what make this version stand apart. Four sets of games—including matching, a “Hide Peter” game, “Hungry Bunny,” which involves catching falling food, and a coloring option—are all expertly put together. But the stand-out feature is a set of four locations—the toolshed, the burrow, the wood and the vegetable garden—that readers can explore from the main menu or from within the story when a button for that area appears. The source material, of course, is always worth a read, but what in the hands of Loud Crow seemed revelatory (it set the standard for such adaptations), in this adaptation feels predictably by-the-numbers.

By taking a kitchen-sink approach, Penguin has made a fine, abundant app that easily earns its official status. But there’s a better app out there that makes reading the story even more enjoyable and that makes this one pale in comparison. (iPad storybook app. 3-8)

ROCK ’N ELEPHANT

Leshnick, Dorit Illus. by Leshnick, Dorit TabTale $0.99 | Nov. 6, 2011 1.0; Nov. 6, 2011

This paradoxically didactic, discordant picture book attempts to introduce children to Zen teachings.

When Elephant doesn’t show up for their daily playtime, Rock goes on an adventure to find his missing friend. Along the way, he meets up with such characters as Speck (a “pile” of sand) and Spark (a “fiery flintstone”) who try to comfort him with non-Western spiritual teachings like “Everything around you is changing every moment” and “Look around you, everything is right here.” Unfortunately, the didacticism gets in the way of the story and the text never finds its rhythm, abruptly switching from prose to a variety of rhyming patterns that simply don’t work: “Where could he be? / I miss him to pieces. I’m so lonely.” Rock is voiced by an adult adopting an annoyingly high voice and lisp, apparently in an attempt to sound like a small child. Each page features different sound effects or music, so every time a page advances, the soundtrack stops and starts, disrupting the continuity of the story.

The illustrations are serviceable, the navigation works fine and tips are available at the tap of a button Skip this “Rock” and check out the far superior Zen Shorts and companion books by Jon J Muth. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)

THE ORIGINAL TALE OF PETER RABBIT

Potter, Beatrix Illus. by Potter, Beatrix Penguin $4.99 | Nov. 24, 2011 1.0; Nov. 24, 2011

While it’s not the most elegant, magical app translation of Beatrix Potter’s most famous work, this expansive edition throws in everything it can to reproduce and enhance the original text.

Penguin Group, the owners of F. Warne, the original publishers of the distinctive, diminutive book, takes great pains in an opening screen to let readers know that this is “The Original Tale of Peter Rabbitâ„¢.” A little later, readers learn it is “The original and authorized edition.” It smacks of insecurity, given that there’s already a lovely, nearly perfect version in the App |

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BABOON BERT’S BARE BUM

Purple Friend Illus. by Bouthyette, Valerie Purple Friend $3.99 | Nov. 28, 2011 1.0; Nov. 28, 2011 Baboon Bert goes to camp, where he and his new friends embark on a revealing adventure in self-acceptance.

Baboons can’t help it: Their bums are bare. But new friends don’t always understand when one is different. In this iPad original, Bert the Baboon learns the hard way that what makes him different is also what makes him special... and important. Along the way, young readers enjoy an animated bonanza, with 21 pages packed with 200 interactive elements: Stars burst, the moon laughs, a parakeet dances, campfires glow and much, much more. Readers are likely to stay on each page long after the narration ends, just looking for them all. Auto-read and read-to-myself options are included, and there’s a helpful page-by-page index that lists all the bells and whistles on each, should readers want to know if they missed anything. Baboon Bert also packs four play-along extras: tic-tac-toe (which doesn’t seem to end when there’s a winner), pack Bert’s bag for camp, catch and count the mangos and solve the jigsaw puzzle (which is more difficult than it looks). Sound effects and character voices are lively and distinctive, giving the story a depth of engagement that the undistinguished prose and commercial-looking cartoon illustrations lack.

All bare, this iPad storybook is worth the trip, not only for all the interactive fun in tow, but especially for its message of diversity and acceptance. (iPad storybook app. 4-9)

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“It’s an outing antic enough to cause rough young salts to hoist their sippy cups in glee.” from jolly and roger’s misguided adventures

PLUG AND THE PADDYWHACKS

Scholar & Saint Scholar & Saint Aug. 5, 2011 1.1.2; Oct. 14, 2011

A surprisingly deep story about freedom and rebellion wrapped in a cuddly adventure featuring space creatures, this episodic app so far is on the right track.

Judging from the first four volumes of this monthly series (there are 10 chapters planned), the tale of Plug—an overgrown red furball—and his friends is rewarding. Beginning in the Plex, which appears to be a sterile space station that houses kids called Paddywhacks, it quickly shifts in the second chapter into an adventure in the wilderness. Plug and his friends, who have been groomed to leave the Plex when they reach a certain age, discover that their home is more prison than haven and that an old man named Mosely who helped them escape has the answers to their history and a bold plan to free others like them. It’s heady stuff in a story that at first seems too simplistic to be taken very seriously. The app stands out in several ways; pages can be scrolled each way horizontally, creating the feel of a larger canvas than what the screen can contain.

Plug’s multi-hued friends are distinct enough to warrant a set of bios included in the app, fleshing out each of their interests and back stories. And all the dialogue and text is conveyed in colored word balloons that stay out of the way of the detailed, exuberant artwork until pressed. When the origin of the Paddywhacks and the reason they’re in the Plex is revealed, it’s much more poignant and dark than readers may expect. It’s a credit to the developers that they’re not afraid to paint in bold strokes, aiming for an epic story with lots of characters and big themes. It helps, too, that the app has great sound effects and music, including songs inspired by each chapter that can be downloaded through iTunes. Especially for an app aimed at young readers, it’s a pleasant surprise that its subtext of loss and redemption is so resonant.

So what if it’s wrapped in an accessible, candy-colored package? (iPad storybook app. 4-12)

JOLLY AND ROGER’S MISGUIDED ADVENTURES Quest for the Dragon Tear

against Captain Eggbert and his lizard-turned–giant green zombie Lil’ Buddy to fetch three hard-to-get curse-breaking items—a Dragon’s Tear, Black Beard’s beard and Big Foot’s Ingrown Toenail.

Once Jolly lands atop the head of young pirate-wannabe Roger, however, and the two roar off aboard the souped-up flying boat Scully Bucket, the contest evens up. In a fine range of (often unpredictable) touch-activated flourishes, cannon fire, skeletons dance or light up, hilariously ugly monsters moan and rotting timbers groan. A moderately piratical-sounding narrator (joined on occasion by additional voices) supplies optional audio as the tale sails along to Dragon Mountain. After a double confrontation with an irritated but ticklish fire-breathing dragon and a pair of brutish but remarkably stupid rival thieves, the swashbuckling pirate hat and his attached pirate lad zoom away on their next quest. Stay tuned.

It’s an outing antic enough to cause rough young salts to hoist their sippy cups in glee. (iPad storybook app. 5-8)

HOW TO HIDE A DINOSAUR

Taylor, Donna Illus. by Williams-Ng, Stacey Demibooks $3.99 | Nov. 16, 2011 1.0; Nov. 16, 2011

A toddler-friendly invitation to lead a jolly green dino through a day of sliding, splashing and climbing fun.

“Sometimes dinosaurs like to come out and play. Can you help me hide mine along the way?” Led on by an occasionally rhymed narrative read (optionally) by a never-seen child, cheery Denny pops through a house’s roof with a “hello!” and goes on to skip stones across a pond, lumber up a slide’s ladder, try unsuccessfully to hide behind a truck or tree or other obstacle and so on—until a frothy tooth brushing and a final snuggle into bed. Occasional fish or, in one messy scene, floating spaghetti noodles will also trail behind a moving finger. Though the interactive features are both stiff and confined to one, or one type, per screen (and one screen has none), their simplicity complements the brightly colored cartoon art’s elementary look.

An assortment of easy-to-identify background noises and sound effects add further appeal to this slight but deftly designed delight for diapered dinophiles. (iPad storybook app. 1-3)

Silver, StephenRocco, Frank Illus. by Silver, StephenRocco, Frank Unicorn Labs $0.99 | Nov. 22, 2011 1.0; Nov. 22, 2011

The opening episode of a rollicking pirate yarn replete with bones, heaps of treasure and Yo-Ho-Hos. Transformed by a fabulously hideous Sea Witch into a talking skull-and-crossbones decorating a pirate hat, dashing buccaneer Jolly Jock Jenkins starts off at a disadvantage in a race 114

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fiction ME AND YOU

Ammaniti, Niccolo Translated by Doust, Kylee & Doust, Kylee Black Cat/Grove (160 pp.) $14.00 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-8021-7090-3 A boy and girl, family love and family secrets come together in Italian author Ammaniti’s latest (As God Commands, 2009, etc.).

The author elegizes adolescence fiercely and sympathetically. His 14-year-old hero, Lorenzo Cumi, is a great character, part Young Werther, part Kurt Cobain. In the city of Bernini and Michelangelo, Lorenzo is an artless rebel, diagnosed by a dim shrink with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Actually just alienated, he relieves boredom by bullying.

Busted, he retreats, like a Kafka character, into imagining he’s an insect; in his case, a sort of SuperBug. Success at soccer gives him new credibility with his schoolmates, and he fantasizes about an invite to a ski trip with the popular gang. It’s only a dream, though, so when trip time arrives, Lorenzo lies to his parents that he is going and retreats for a week to a forgotten cellar in his parents’ home. Bliss—and he won’t be missed. Solaced by Nutella, PlayStation and Stephen King novels, he’s living Introvert Idyll until his mom keeps calling his cell phone, demanding to speak to the mom who’s hosting the ski jaunt. And then an unlikely conspirator intervenes. Just in time to fake a convincing mom voice, Lorenzo’s long-lost sister Olivia stumbles into the bunker. Luscious at 24, Olivia’s just as cool, or even coldly confident, as the girl Lorenzo had once had a crush on, but there’s something now different about her. A fear in her eyes. Track marks on her arms.

And as this odd, intense Roman holiday unwinds, brother and sister begin to reconnect—and try to rescue each other.

Scary, lovely and at last a heartbreaker.

a somber turn with her latest, which opens with an exceedingly ugly period “after the Detonations,” a time when some people sicken and die from merely drinking the water and others’ faces simply melt away, where “death is sometimes measured” in the rasping coughs of the survivors who have breathed the nuclear winter. Tucked inside the safety of the Dome, where a privileged few are sheltered, young Partridge is safe. Impudently, though, he steals out into that world to find his mother, or at least find out why she refused to leave the city and take cover with her family. Out there, 16-year-old Pressia is trying to keep out of the clutches of the ugly fascist order that has come into power in a time of emergency. It’s a nasty bunch, given to playing games such as Death Spree, “used...to rid society of the weak,” as one of the impromptu band of resisters formed by Pressia and Partridge says, adding, “It’s really the only kind of sport around here, if you can call it a sport.” That band roams the countryside, gathering knowledge and skills, dodging the many, many baddies and bad circumstances that threaten to do them in, making a fine hero quest among the ruins wrought by both bombs and “the Return to Civility and its legislation.” Read between the lines, and the story acquires timely dimensions, though you need not do so to have good fun with the book. As fantasy novels tend to do, Baggott’s tome labors under heavy influences—not just Tolkien, the lord of the genre, but also Rowling, comparisons with whom are inevitable. William Golding’s and George Orwell’s and even H.G. Wells’ spirits hove into view from time to time, too. Yet Baggott is no mimic, and she successfully imagines and populates a whole world, which is the most rigorous test of a fantasy’s success.

It’s a bonus that the hero of the piece is a young girl, which ought to serve as inspiration for more than a few readers. Whether Baggott’s imagined world is one that you’d want to live in is another matter entirely, of course.

Damned Detonations!

THE NEXT RIGHT THING

Barden, Dan Dial Press (304 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-385-34340-4

PURE

Baggott, Julianna Grand Central Publishing (448 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 8, 2012 978-1-4555-0306-3 Us 99 percenters will live outside the gates come the future, and it won’t be pretty—especially once the nukes start popping.

Baggott (Girl Talk, 2001, etc.), author of fantasies and light comedies alike, takes |

A 12-stepping ex-cop goes on a grand tour of seedy Southern California to investigate his sponsor’s shocking overdose.

Randy, the hero of Barden’s busy but engaging debut, has a lot of the trappings of a noir hero in the Chandler and Hammett vein: a sixth sense for telling when somebody’s lying, women he’s trying (and failing) to do right by and a hot temper

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“Odd and oddly charming.” from smut

that alternately helps and hurts him. The chief distinction here is that Randy is a recovering alcoholic, which gives this story a healthy amount of verve and black comedy. Rather than sounding preachy or cowed, Randy has the bravado and attitude of a man who’s fighting hard for his sobriety. He’s distraught to learn that his AA sponsor, Terry, died of a heroin overdose, and solving the mystery leads him into the worlds of recovery houses, pot dealers, pornographers and drug-enforcement agents. The multitude of threads Randy follows bog down the story somewhat, especially because little distinguishes the various bad guys—one SoCal goon is as craven and greedy as any other. But the novel has some solid anchors in Terry, whom Randy fondly remembers as a font of tough love, Randy’s skeptical girlfriend Mary Pat and his daughter, Alison, who clarifies what the stakes are. More memorable than the plot or characters, though, is Randy’s voice. Like many people in recovery, he spends a lot of time working through past errors and regrets (a violent drunken beating that got him booted from the force is just one), and he can be sanctimonious at times. But he’s no cardboard AA spokesperson, and when he interacts with the young addicts slipping in and out of recovery, he underscores just how much of a struggle sobriety can be.

A slightly clunky thriller that succeeds on the emotional and physical muscle of its narrator. (Local author promotion in Indianapolis. Agent: Simon Lipskar)

WILD THING

Bazell, Josh Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown (240 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 8, 2012 978-0-316-03219-3 In this second novel from medical resident Bazell, former hit man Dr. Pietro Brnwa (Beat the Reaper, 2009) is lured into the woods to get the skinny on the cryptid haunting a Minnesota lake.

Bazell’s latest takes his hero into seriously unexpected territory. Pietro is still hiding out from his Mafia overlords as “Dr. Lionel Azimuth,” a physician on an exploitative cruise line. It’s not a great gig for a killer with a terminal fear of the water. Neither is the grass greener, as a reclusive billionaire hires Pietro to escort paleontologist Violet Hurst on a million-dollar safari in Minnesota. Their job is to rendezvous with local guide Reggie Trager, who promises his exclusive clientele access to the White Lake Monster, a critter coveted by cryptozoologists (think Nessie, this one dubbed “Aquabigfoot” by Violet). Naturally, chaos ensues. There’s the furtive county coroner who insists past victims were involved in “boating accidents.” Others include a maternal meth dealer, a pair of ambitious Chinese brothers and a pop star who wants to defend the Monster’s “animal rights.” The book is composed in Bazell’s propulsive, profanity-laden style, peppering startling violence with detailed footnotes that cover subjects like tooth reinsertions and human cryogenics. There’s also an elevator speech as to why Brnwa is still in so much trouble. Things 116

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take a bit of a weird turn when that Sarah Palin shows up as the government’s appointed referee for this evolutionary misadventure. Bazell is not unkind to the former Alaska Governor—she’s more loud window dressing than anything else. The book may throw off fans of the author’s debut, but props to Bazell for not cranking out an idle retread of Beat the Reaper.

A funny, unexpected journey for our hero that sets up the next installment with finesse. (Author tour to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco)

SMUT

Bennett, Alan Picador (160 pp.) $14.00 paperback | Jan. 3, 2012 978-1-250-00316-4 Kinky hijinks rattle teacups among the British bourgeoisie in the latest from Bennett (The Uncommon Reader, 2008, etc.).

The book consists of two stories, “The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson” and “The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes.” While no more a hottie than Margaret Thatcher, widowed, cash-strapped 55-year-old Mrs. Donaldson rents out a bedroom in her home to a young couple. Her daughter’s skeptical—”The first condom in the loo…and she’ll soon change her tune”—but student lodgers Laura and Andy are presentable. This proves crucial, when, behind on rent, they present Mrs. D. with barter—a presentation of themselves, feckless, doing the deed. My heavens!

Even more so, when she finds herself agreeing. But things have changed since hubby (“an unobjectionable man”) departed, and Mrs. D. is spreading her wings. For one thing, she’s taken a job at the hospital, enacting, for doctors-in-training, roles of ill patients, and when the part demands disrobing, she discovers a curious willingness. Soon she’s hooked on the in-house freak show; when L. and A. depart, she mourns its loss. She gets on with life, though, perhaps a tad wiser…and warmer. In Bennett’s next tale, Betty is smitten with fiancé Graham Forbes, dashing, doting and younger, but seems in no way wise to something awkward: He’s gay (he spends the night before his nuptials with a boy named Gary). The Forbes folks initially pooh-pooh the match (they suspect she’s Catholic!), but Graham, who’d married for money, in time startles himself by actually liking Betty: She’s sharp, funny and understanding, and, with his sweetheart, the novelty even of hetero-sex is nice. Eventually, Graham’s secret comes out—as do others (“Mr. Forbes still from time to time sleeps with his daughter-in-law and leads a vigorous fantasy life on the internet…”), but the Betty/Graham union continues satisfying. While the message in these bagatelles isn’t clear, it probably has to do with acceptance.

Odd and oddly charming.

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WHAT THEY DO IN THE DARK

Coe, Amanda Norton (320 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 19, 2012 978-0-393-08138-1 Whatever they do in the dark, Coe makes it clear there’s plenty of darkness in which to do it.

At the center of the novel is Lallie Paluza, a pre-pubescent star on the British telly in the mid ‘70s. Lallie is undeniably talented, doing an assortment of impressions as well as a kind of Vaudevillian farce in her popular sitcom, and some of her most ardent fans are about her age. Primary among these fans (it’s good to remember that “fan” derives from “fanatic”) are Pauline Bright and Gemma, who follow every show with breathless excitement. Pauline is a “bad” girl from the wrong side of the tracks. She comes from a family notorious for producing petty criminals, and she seems heading in the same direction, for she lies, fights, skips school and swears with abandon. Gemma, in contrast, comes from a more genteel family, but one that’s emotionally distant and dysfunctional (as Tolstoy might remind us) in its own way. Lalliefever gets unbearably intense when the girls find out that she will be coming to their bleak Yorkshire town to shoot a movie.

Not only do they hope to meet her, they also hope to get bit parts in the film. Coe switches narrators from the naïve and somewhat prim Gemma to a neutral, third-person voice that introduces us to an eccentric cast of supporting characters such as Frank, Lallie’s febrile and twitchy manager, who wonders what will happen to his own professional life when Lallie hits adolescence; Katrina, Lallie’s stage mother, who both protects and exploits her daughter; Vera, an aging actress who resents being upstaged by a 10-year-old; and Quentin, a sex-obsessed American producer who’s trying to decide whether Lallie would be right for a part in The Little Princess.

A rich novel that explores the “darkness” of social dysfunction both in 10-year-olds and in the adult world.

THE BOOK OF JONAS

Dau, Stephen Blue Rider Press (272 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 15, 2012 978-0-399-15845-2

In Dau’s debut fiction, Younis, a perceptive, observant boy in a nameless Central Asian land, is caught up in the war on terror.

His village has been destroyed, his family killed, and now he must remake himself as Jonas Iskander, refugee. A charity sends Jonas to live with the Martins, an evangelical family in Pennsylvania. There he attends high school, an outcast, haunting the library to seal himself “inside a bastion of knowledge.” There he is also bullied, |

until he finally responds to an ugly attac­k by beating the bully senseless. The school mandates counseling, and the psychologist pressures Jonas to explore the trauma that destroyed family and home. Emotionally trapped between past and future, Jonas only remembers “half dreams that flicker.” Later admitted to the city’s university, Jonas meets a beautiful pre-med student from India and befriends other refugee students. He also begins to drink to the point of blackout. As the psychologist pushes Jonas to uncover suppressed truths about an American soldier who saved his life, the young refugee’s fractured recollections lead the counselor to connect Jonas’ story with that of Rose Henderson, whose son, Christopher, went missing while in combat in Jonas’ home country. To Rose, trapped in a limbo of loss, Jonas reluctantly tells his story—of the attack on his village and of his mountain cave sanctuary where he was found by the soldier, “adding and subtracting, substituting what should have been said for what he fails to remember accurately.” While leaving one minor narrative thread dangling, Dau sketches Jonas brilliantly, empathetically, writing with spare, clear language in the third person, a point of view encompassing the distance necessary for emotional clarity.

Rich with symbolism, marvelously descriptive in language— ”the expression of a young boy playing poker with grown men”— Dau’s novel offers deeply resonating truths about war and culture, about family and loss that only art can reveal.

A literary tour de force.

THE HOUSE I LOVED

de Rosnay, Tatiana St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-312-59330-8

Amid Baron Haussmann’s demolition of her quartier, a woman refuses to leave her home in de Rosnay’s latest (Sarah’s Key, 2008, etc.).

During the reign of Napoleon III, his prefect Baron Haussmann embarked on a mammoth undertaking to modernize Paris. In order to construct the branching boulevard system Paris is now renowned for, entire neighborhoods of twisting cobbled alleyways and lanes were razed. The residents of these now-forgotten neighborhoods were displaced. For the aging widow Rose Bazelet, who has lived for decades in her well-appointed home on rue Childebert near the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, starting over somewhere else is out of the question. Rose’s house, in addition to being her refuge from her difficult childhood with an unloving mother, has been the repository of her great loves and most significant memories: Her beloved mother-in-law died there, her husband Armand grew senile and died there, her children (her own unloved daughter Violette and favored son Baptiste, claimed by cholera at age 10) were born there. When the citizens of rue Childebert are first notified of the impending “expropriation” of their street, they assume their proximity to the Church will save them, but it is not to be. The restaurateur, hotelier, chocolatier, bookshop owner and other local merchants, including the florist, Rose’s dearest

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friend Alexandrine, all vacate. Once peaceful, rue Childebert is now a wasteland of dust, falling rubble and clamorous demolition crews. Only Rose remains. Her belongings have been sent to Violette’s home in the country, but Rose has no intention of moving. Subsisting on the scavenged leavings brought to her by Gilbert, a clochard she once aided, she writes an extended letter to Armand, reflecting on her life, and attempting to parse her own motivations. All tends toward the revelation of a secret she has confessed to no one. De Rosnay’s delicacy and the flavor of her beloved Paris are everywhere in this brief but memorable book.

Replete with treats, particularly for Paris-lovers— indeed for anyone wedded to a special place.

THE STARBOARD SEA

Dermont, Amber St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-312-64280-8 978-1-4299-5097-8 e-book Troubled teenage boy hopes for a fresh start after transferring to a thirdrate New England prep school.

Blessed with a stunning oceanfront view and populated by an assortment of screw-ups from America’s wealthiest families, Bellingham is Jason Prosper’s last chance. At least it is if—like the other men in his very rich family—he wants to attend Princeton. Still mourning the loss of his best friend, Cal, who hung himself at their previous boarding school, Jason struggles with considerable guilt.

The boys were sailing partners and secret lovers, and Cal died after a falling out between the two. Ambivalent about even getting on the water without Cal, Jason quits the Bellingham sailing team after almost drowning a fellow student, Race, during a training exercise. He instead fixates on Aidan, a fragile redhead from California who the other boys have taken to calling “Hester” in reference to The Scarlet Letter. Aidan, who has reason to believe she might be the illegitimate daughter of movie star Robert Mitchum, has plenty of issues of her own, but she responds well to Jason’s kindness and the two begin a fledgling romance. But after a hurricane, she goes missing, and is found dead of an assumed suicide. Sensing that she would not have taken her own life, Jason attempts to retrace her last night—leading to several harsh discoveries and considerable soul-searching of his own dark heart (and ambiguous sexuality). Meanwhile, Jason’s estranged parents and shady financier older brother provide minimal emotional support. Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock-market collapse, Dermont’s confident debut novel almost works as a swan song for a lost gilded age. But her insular, sociopathic characters and emotionally removed 18-year-old narrator do little to engender sympathy—or interest.

Preppy murder mystery meets coming-of-age story— with lots of sailing. (Agent: Ethan Bassoff)

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THE VARIATIONS

Donatich, John John Macrae/Henry Holt (288 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-8050-9438-1 The title refers both to the Goldberg Variations and to “variations” in the priestly life of Father Dominic at Our Lady of Fatima.

Dominic has to adjust to the first variation after the death of his predecessor, Father Carl, a much-loved and wise old priest. Father Carl had looked out for Dolores, a troubled 16-year-old, both freespirited and erratic, but Dominic hasn’t the light and loving touch of Father Carl, who saw Dolores as “one of God’s special cases, given us to know Him better.” Dominic is instead simply bewildered by her wild, irrational outbursts. Meanwhile, Our Lady of Fatima is meeting the fate of many an aging urban Catholic church and is threatened with the wrecking ball, a move supported by the bishop but heroically (and quixotically) resisted by Dominic, who tries to drum up support through a lively blog on the Internet. Posting his thoughts and sermons online opens him up to considerable vilification, however, for he finds that there’s a great deal of hostility out there, much of it directed toward priests. Another narrative thread involves James, a talented young pianist taught by Signora Rosa, a septuagenarian piano teacher who gives her protégé cryptic, ethereal instructions in his approach to music. She persuades James to start writing a “biography” of the Goldberg Variations, a piece he feels an almost mystic attraction to. The paths of James and Dominic cross when the pianist becomes choir director at Our Lady of Fatima, and the narrative is further complicated when Dominic becomes romantically involved with Signora Rosa’s daughter Andrea, a divorcée with a 10-year-old daughter.

Donatich manages to avoid clichés in what could have been another trendy defamation of the Catholic Church, for Father Dominic emerges as a fully fleshed character, both tormented and lost. (Agent: Bill Clegg)

A PARTIAL HISTORY OF LOST CAUSES

Dubois, Jennifer Dial Press (384 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 20, 2012 978-1-4000-6977-4

He’s a Russian chess champion and would-be President; she’s an American facing terminal illness. Losing gracefully is a challenge for them both in this mildly piquant debut.

A chess prodigy from a humble home, Aleksandr Bezetov enrolls in Leningrad’s chess academy in 1979. The lonely young man falls in with three dissidents who put out a journal documenting arrests of fellow activists, and he distributes it, while

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“Faye crafts a top-notch historical thriller.” from the gods of gotham

racking up ever more chess victories. Then one of his companions is killed in an “accident.” The Party tells Aleksandr he can represent his country if he ends his agitprop; he does so with a clear conscience and wins the World Championship while still in his early 20s. (Here and elsewhere, Dubois appropriates the career highlights of the real-life champion Kasparov.) Meanwhile in Cambridge, Mass., a very different story is unfolding.

Irina Ellison is the daughter of a music professor and chess enthusiast with Huntington’s. He dies after 20 years of brain and body disintegration. The odds of Irina beating this inherited disease are only 30 percent. While still lucid, her father had written to Akeksandr, seeking advice on how to make a “graceful exit.” Irina finds the letter after his death. Now 30, she is determined to spare her loved ones (a barely glimpsed mother and boyfriend) the agony of watching her unravel. The obvious answer, suicide, is referenced but not fully considered. No, she will fly the coop, and maybe extract some ultimate wisdom from Aleksandr. Once in Russia, she admits “my quest was absurd.”

She’s right, of course. Dubois masks the absurdity by deflecting our attention to Aleksandr’s story (essentially, it’s been his all along). By now it’s 2006, and he’s heading up a coalition of anti-Putin forces, even though it’s a lost cause fighting a ruthless regime. He gives Irina a job, but (surprise!) no exit strategy.

Dubois’ impressive mastery of her Russian material makes one hopeful for a more credible story line next time around.

THE TIME IN BETWEEN

Dueñas, María Atria (624 pp.) $26.00 | Nov. 8, 2011 978-1-4516-1688-0

“You wore blue. The Germans wore gray.” So quoth Humphrey Bogart’s character in Casablanca, the tutelary spirit behind bestselling Spanish debut novelist Dueñas’ high-minded historical soap.

Rick Blaine was a soldier of fortune and a failed romantic. Sira Quiroga is a seamstress of fortune, a young woman who has just barely come of age when Franco and his fascist pals start mucking about in the roiled politics of 1930s Spain. Those who remember their history will recall that the generalissimo began his revolt across the waters in Morocco, then under Spanish rule, a place to which Sira has been swept by a dashing but ultimately dastardly lover, who maroons her in the land of the Moors without a centavo. But Sira is a woman of resources, and from the shadowy depths of the Casbah she works herself up into high society, like Larissa Antipova’s mom in Doctor Zhivago. Couturier and designer to the jet set—or perhaps better the Stuka set, given the era—Sira is well placed to hear the secrets of the fascists and their Nazi pals, learning along the way what she has always known—that no one is to be trusted, especially if they look and act like that man in the Dos Equis beer commercial. All is Horatio Alger with a lace mantilla until Sira starts getting wrapped up in the gossipy politics of the day, delivered with rhetorical flourishes worthy of Bizet: “They say Franco’s delighted with him because |

he’s endlessly recruiting warlike Moorish boys to him, to send to the front...He didn’t spend his whole life playing cards like the laidback Colonel Sáenz de Buruaga, who on the day of the uprising even gave the first orders from the casino terrace.” Very well, then: Such a worthy adversary requires worthy derring-do, and Sira, now hooked up with British intelligence—for by now we’ve gone from gothic romance to espionage thriller—is just the person for the gig.

Will Beigbeder, Franco and Uncle Adolf prevail, or will the good triumph? Well, you’ll just have to read Dueñas’ well-crafted but decidedly chick-lit effort to find out.

Middlebrow and breezy. A perfect beach read, if a touch off-season, unless you’re headed for Casablanca and its waters.

THE GODS OF GOTHAM

Faye, Lyndsay Amy Einhorn/Putnam (432 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 15, 2012 978-0-399-15837-7 Displaying the same gift for characterization that refreshed her retelling of the Jack the Ripper case (Dust and Shadow, 2009), Faye crafts a top-notch historical thriller.

This time around, she’s invented her own plot. In July 1845, Timothy Wilde is a successful bartender who’s accumulated $400 in silver—just about enough, he figures, to ask minister’s daughter Mercy Underhill to marry him. But the conflagration that sweeps through Manhattan that night consumes Timothy’s savings and disfigures his face. It’s the second time fire has upended his life; an earlier blaze orphaned Timothy and older brother Valentine when they were children, leaving them to fend for themselves on the city’s brutal, indifferent streets like so many other “kinchin.” (Faye makes savory use of 19th-century thieves’ slang throughout.) Timothy reluctantly becomes a “copper star,” so-called for the badge worn by members of New York’s newly created police force. Valentine, a stalwart of the city’s Democratic political machine, gets him the job, but tensions seethe between the brothers that seem to involve more than Valentine’s addiction to morphine. When Timothy stumbles across a young girl covered with blood, who leads him to the mass grave of 20 kinchin horribly disfigured apparently at the hands of a Catholic fanatic, political scandal and religious riot threaten. No one is precisely what they seem in Faye’s richly imagined, superbly plotted narrative, which delivers not one, not two, but three bravura twists as Timothy tracks the killer and tangles with a well-connected madam, Mercy’s anti-Catholic father and gangs of nativist thugs. The tough police chief and a doctor who has devoted his life to caring for New York’s neglected children are among those who aid Timothy’s quest, which concludes with a gruff, moving reconciliation and a sorrowful parting.

Faye’s damaged but appealing hero seems likely to have more adventures ahead, and they’ll be welcomed by anyone who appreciates strong, atmospheric storytelling. (Agent: Erin Malone)

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THE SCOTTISH PRISONER

Gabaldon, Diana Delacorte (448 pp.) $25.00 | $12.99 e-book | Nov. 29, 2011 978-0-385-33751-9 978-0-345-53349-4 e-book Vintage historical drama from seasoned veteran Gabaldon (An Echo in the Bone, 2009, etc.), another volume in her Lord John series.

Jamie Fraser, the star of the show, gets around, despite being confined to quarters—a nice estate in the Lake District, granted—for having chosen the wrong side during the Jacobite rebellion. Yet, proud Scotsman that he is, how could he have done otherwise? He’s the definition of dashing, though his spirits have been dashed at the death of his beloved wife. For their parts, Lord John and his brother Hal, loyal defenders of the crown, find they have need of Jamie when they set out to chase down a corrupt officer, “determined to bring Major Gerald Siverly to justice.” Siverly is a bad, bad man—think the Jason Isaacs character in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot—who doesn’t think twice about killing his own men for his nefarious ends; if he had a handlebar mustache, he’d be twirling it. Meanwhile, the Greys, morally ambiguous chaps themselves, have deeper and darker reasons to want to put Siverly down. What more could you expect from a fop who heads an organization called the Society for the Appreciation of the English Beefsteak? A historical drama wouldn’t be worth its salt without a grail, and Gabaldon obliges with a not completely cooked through yarn about an ancient Gaelic poem, a hidden treasure (with clues tucked away, of course, in an abbey) and a romp through the wilds of Ireland and Scotland. Gabaldon’s formula is as reliable as an old Flash Gordon episode: There are the requisite villains, sneaky and dastardly, and good guys who are very good. But the author also has a nice, sometimes bawdy sense of humor—one of those villains earns the sobriquet “that wee arse-wipe,” and some of the adult interactions in the story are very adult indeed. A bonus for longtime fans of the series: Unlike some of the earlier books, where they have been known to wander offstage, Fraser and the Greys are on hand for most of the action.

A not strictly chronological but thoroughly entertaining entry in a franchise that shows no signs of running out of steam.

OTHER WATERS

Gage, Eleni N. St. Martin’s (352 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-312-65851-9 Can goddesses walk among us? Can an entire family really be cursed? Can a modern woman find her inner goddess?

In her debut novel (following her 2005 memoir North of Ithaka), Gage tells the tale of Maya Das. She has it all: a promising career in psychiatry, a 120

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family chock-full of successful physicians, a supportive best friend and a loving boyfriend. So why can’t she manage to introduce her white boyfriend, Scott, to her Indian family? With her best friend, Heidi, and her residency-required therapist urging her to commit to her relationship and introduce him to the family, Maya is poised to assert her own independence. Yet the death of Dadiji, Maya’s grandmother, far away in India, sets in motion not only some soul-searching but also a possible family curse. As a child visiting India, Maya had witnessed a father beating his daughter, dressed as a goddess and forced to beg on the streets. Maya begged her grandmother to intervene with the surprising result that the young girl was brought into Dadiji’s home. Raised as a sort of servant slash inferior daughter, Parvati makes Maya and her older sister, Priya, uncomfortable. Indeed, Maya continues to wonder well into adulthood whether Parvati might actually be a goddess or have supernatural powers. Of course these wonderings conflict with her modern medical training, not to mention her family’s practical approach to life. So when Maya’s father discreetly calls to tell her Parvati has cursed the family, Maya is both dismissive and afraid. After her father’s heart attack, her mother’s hemorrhage, her sister’s miscarriage, her brother’s marital strife and her own personal and professional difficulties, however, Maya begins to take the curse much more seriously. A quest to India is in order. The journey offers Maya the chance not only to lift the family curse but also to assess her life, particularly her relationship with Scott and her own attitude towards her ethnicity.

Gage beautifully describes the waters that evoke the transformative moments of Maya’s journey. Yet Parvati, the curse-caster, remains mysteriously underdeveloped. A lovely read, but a missed opportunity to delve deeply into the superstitions that still lurk in our modern minds.

THREATS

Gray, Amelia Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $14.00 paperback | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-374-53307-6 A man struggles to deal with the death of his wife and the odd messages that appear in her wake.

Gray’s debut novel—following two short-story collections (Museum of the Weird, 2010, etc.)—feels like an oldfashioned gothic tale as rewritten by David Lynch or William S. Burroughs; in her hands an unassuming Ohio town becomes a bottomless repository of strangeness and dread. The hero, David, is a disgraced former dentist who attracts police and media attention after his wife, Franny, is discovered dead in their home under unsettling circumstances: She suffered violent wounds, but David did nothing, staying with her corpse until the authorities arrived days later. David is clearly broken mentally, and he grows more paranoid as he discovers vaguely threatening messages on scraps of paper hidden around their home. (A typical one reads: “I will cross-stitch an image of your future home burning. I will hang this image over your bed while

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you sleep.”) David’s efforts to resolve the mystery involve a local cop, one of Franny’s former co-workers and a regression therapist who happens to work out of David’s garage. But resolution isn’t really the point, nor is realism. This book is a mood piece about loss and the way the outside world becomes intimidating after an emotional anchor disappears. In that regard, it’s often a very affecting and disturbing book: Gray regularly refers to wasps in the garage, Franny’s ashes and a damp decaying house to evoke disorder and collapse, and her deliberately flat and unaffected sentences increase the tension. The book falters toward the end, as Gray tries to balance the oddness of her milieu with a sense of closure, making for a conclusion that doesn’t feel ambiguous so much as unfinished.

Still, a striking debut novel from a writer eager to shake domestic fiction out of its comfort zone.

ANOTHER PIECE OF MY HEART

Green, Jane St. Martin’s (400 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-312-59182-3

Married Bay Area woman tries to overcome a fraught relationship with her troubled teenage stepdaughter.

Mr. Right can come with big-time baggage, and that is certainly the case for interior designer Andi. Already in her late 30s when she meets and falls for divorced dad Ethan, Andi wants nothing more than to start a family of her own with him. A doting father to his two young daughters, Sophia and Emily, Ethan shares custody of them with his ex-wife Janice, a bitter, unreliable alcoholic.

Sophia, ten year’s old when the story begins, adores her cool new stepmom, but 17-year-old goth princess Emily is a different story. A master of manipulation and histrionics, Emily sees Andi as a major threat in a battle for Ethan’s love. She manages to twist her overly permissive dad around her little finger—to Andi’s dismay—and acts out by experimenting with drugs and sex. Struggling with fertility issues, Andi is secretly thrilled, though, when Emily is revealed to be 7 months pregnant from one of her random hookups. Hoping that Emily will give the child to her and Ethan, she is then crushed when Ethan insists Emily give it up for adoption. Emily has other plans, of course, and gives birth to a healthy boy, Callum. But motherhood turns out to be more than she can handle, and she runs off to Portland.

Andi is left to raise Cal as her own for three happy years, knowing in the back of her mind that Emily might someday return.

Away from home, Emily gets a job on an organic farm and manages to clean up her act. She also repairs her relationship with Janice, who has stopped drinking, and reconnects with her childhood pal Michael, who has grown into quite a hunk.

The two of them decide to move back to Mill Valley, with Emily insisting to an ecstatic Ethan and a skeptical Andi that she only wants to be a part of Cal’s life. But does she mean it, and has she really changed? Green (Promises to Keep, 2010, etc.) ramps up the |

emotional stakes by presenting both Andi and Emily’s points of view, even as her prose is a bit on the dull and repetitive side.

Topical family melodrama. (First printing of 250,000)

COVERT WARRIORS

Griffin, W.E.B.Butterworth, William E. Putnam (384 pp.) $27.95 | Dec. 27, 2011 978-0-399-15780-6 The latest military thriller from Griffin.

At a Mexican roadblock, an American Embassy SUV is stopped and its occupants murdered except for Colonel Ferris, who is kidnapped. A drug cartel wants one of its own released from the Florence, Colo., supermax prison, and President Clennenden secretly wants to exchange the convict for Ferris. Meanwhile, Clennenden fears a coup by the vice president. Is this paranoia or genuine treason?

POTUS misses no opportunity to earn the same contempt he lavishes on his subordinates, and he is accurately seen by some as a nut job. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you, so maybe there is something to his worries. The big issue, though, is whether it’s OK to trade a vicious murderer, who would surely kill again, for a hostage. It’s a good plot point, although the unrelenting nastiness of POTUS makes him look one-dimensional. And it’s irritating when half the characters are introduced by their height and weight, or when a character jokes, “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you,” time and time again. Worse is the action-stopping background information provided every time a new character appears. Moreover, listing the precise model number of every weapon and aircraft feels unnecessary.

More explosions and tighter writing would have helped.

ARCADIA

Groff, Lauren Voice/Hyperion (304 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-4013-4087-2 An astonishing novel, both in ambition and achievement, filled with revelations that appear inevitable in retrospect, amid the cycle of life and death.

As a follow-up to Groff ’s well-received debut (The Monsters of Templeton, 2008), this novel is a structural conundrum, ending in a very different place than it begins while returning full circle. At the outset, it appears to be a novel of the Utopian, communal 1960s, of a charismatic leader, possibly a charlatan, and an Arcadia that grows according to his belief that “the Universe will provide.” It concludes a half-century later in a futuristic apocalypse of worldwide plague and quarantine. To reveal too much of what transpires in between would undermine the reader’s rich experience of discovery: “The page of a book can stay cohesive in the eyes: one

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“A poignant debut about mothers, secrets and sacrifices.” from the underside of joy

sentence can lead to the next. He can crack a paragraph and eat it. Now a story. Now a novel, one full life enclosed in covers.” The “he” is Bit Stone, introduced as a 5-year-old child of that commune, and it is his life that is enclosed in these covers. Following a brief prologue, representing a pre-natal memory, the novel comprises four parts, with leaps of a decade or more between them, leaving memory and conjecture to fill in the blanks. At an exhibition of Bit’s photography, a passion since his childhood (documented in some shots), those who had known him all his life realized, “What they found most moving, they told him later, were the blanks between the frames, the leaps that happened invisibly between the then and the now.” The cumulative impact of this novel is similar, as the boy leaps from the commune and subsequently his parents, becomes a parent himself, deals with the decline of his parents and finds his perspective both constant and constantly changing: “He can’t understand what the once-upon-a-time Bit is saying to the current version of himself or to the one who will stand here in the future...worn a little more by time and loss.”

A novel of “the invisible tissue of civilization,” of “community or freedom,” and of the precious fragility of lives in the balance. (Agent: Bill Clegg)

CHILDREN OF WRATH

Grossman, Paul St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-312-60191-1

A thriller set in early 1930s Berlin.

People who can’t bear to read about violence toward children should skip this book; with sensitive stomachs may want to look elsewhere, too.

Berlin headlines scream about people being sickened by tainted sausages. Bags of bones show up in the city’s sewer system. Detective Willi Kraus quickly learns the bones are the remains of children—and young boys are disappearing from the city. His superiors take the spectacular murder case away from him because he is Jewish and hand him the case of the bad sausages instead. But Willi had won the Iron Cross in the Great War, and everyone knows his bravery is second to none. A father himself, he cannot—will not—ignore the boys and the bones, even though his insubordination imperils his career. Willi is intelligent, relentless, sympathetic and imperfect as he digs where no one else will go. He deals with Jew-baiting colleagues, frightened Gypsy boys, bloody slaughterhouses and deranged killers who seem to be warming up for the Holocaust. It doesn’t take much imagination for the reader to connect the murders and the sausages, and Willi does it.

The twists and the details are startling and macabre, fitting even for the horror genre. Grossman plumbs the lowest depths to which humans can sink. As the book hurtles to its conclusion, the reader can see that the terror is only beginning. The mad, mustachioed Hitler is on the ascendance, with his cadre of jackbooted thugs.

To call this book enjoyable or satisfying feels wrong, because the deeds are so ugly. But it’s terrifying and worthy. Human nature has never looked so raw.

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THE UNDERSIDE OF JOY

Halverson, Seré Prince Dutton (320 pp.) $25.95 | Jan. 17, 2012 978-0-525-95259-6

A poignant debut about mothers, secrets and sacrifices.

When Ella is suddenly widowed (Joe has drowned in a freak accident) she reacts as any young woman would—disbelief mixed with a frantic need to keep things normal for their two small children. But on the tail of grief comes disaster: she didn’t know their Italian grocery is nearing bankruptcy and the children’s mother has come to reclaim them.

Three years ago Ella stopped in a small Northern California town, met Joe and never left. Joe’s wife Paige had abandoned Joe and the children a few months prior to Ella’s arrival and sent a few letters begging him to move on. Joe and Ella married, and she became mother to infant Zach and toddler Annie. Now Joe is dead and Paige is back demanding her children. The store that Joe inherited from his grandfather (an Italian-American who was interned during World War II) is foundering, so to save the store, and in turn secure custody of the children, Ella decides to transform the grocery into a gourmet deli, serving the tourists who flock to Sonoma. In custody mediation it seems Ella will win (judges take a poor view on disappearing mothers), though Paige insists she has been writing and trying to see the children for years. When custody has almost been finalized in Ella’s favor, she finds the stack of Paige’s letters, hidden by Joe. The letters tell a different story: of Paige suffering from postpartum depression, of her dismissed fears that she might hurt the children, of running away to get help and hospitalization and, finally, of Paige writing to come back to her marriage and children and finding she has already been replaced. History must be revised for both of these women: Who are they to each other now? What kind of a husband did they have in Joe? Halverson avoids sentimentality, aiming for higher ground in this lucid and graceful examination of the dangers and blessings of familial bonds.

ENCHANTMENTS

Harrison, Kathryn Random House (336 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4000-6347-5 Harrison (While They Slept, 2008, etc.) brings her trademark interest in twisted family relationships to bear in this historical fiction about Rasputin’s daughter.

When the controversial monk— believed mad by some, a populist holy man by others—is assassinated in 1917, his favorite daughter Masha and her younger sister Varya have been living with their father in St. Petersburg attending school. Weather and political

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conditions make travel home to their mother in rural Siberia impossible. They are brought to live with Tsar Nicholay’s increasingly isolated family. Hoping that Masha has inherited some of her father’s magical healing powers, Tsarina Alexandra asks the girl to attend to 13-year-old Prince Alyosha, who suffers from hemophilia, a condition considered too shocking to reveal. Masha, whose great skill is riding horses bareback, has no healing ability, but she and Alyosha entertain each other with stories about her father’s rise from rural, illiterate farmer to itinerant healer to revered holy man, and about Nicholas and Alexandra’s doomed union. Masha adored her father and accepted his carousing and womanizing as his due, as did her better-educated mother. There is a gratuitous whiff of incest in Masha’s unnecessary denial that there was anything untoward in their relationship. More than a whiff of sexual energy hovers between Alyosha and Masha. Although five years her junior and sickly, he actively pursues her. They do not have intercourse, but Masha allows him favors, his hand roving as they tell their tales. Revolutionary winds are swirling, and the royal family soon finds itself under house arrest. Masha and Alyosha fantasize about escaping to Chicago, but life has other plans.

Harrison’s rococo prose fits her subject matter, but she adds little to Romanov lore while Rasputin’s story, written at arm’s length, never comes to life. (Author tour to Boston, New York, Minneapolis and San Francisco. Agent: Amanda Urban)

OUTSIDE THE LINES

Hatvany, Amy Washington Square/Pocket (352 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4516-4054-0 What if the best thing for an artist is to lose his creativity? What if the best thing for a father is to leave his family?

What if the best thing for a little girl is to lose her father? Who decides what’s best?

Hatvany (Best Kept Secret, 2011, etc.) explores the collisions between mental illness and societal expectations, artistic creativity and medical treatment, love and responsibility. David loves paints passionately, loves his wife Lydia and adores his daughter Eden. The demons of mental illness screech in his head, yet the price of silencing them is steep. Although self-medicating with alcohol dampens the voices, it does little for his impulsive behavior. Taking his prescribed lithium helps him stay inside the lines, behaving properly and making Lydia believe he is trying to get better. But the lithium destroys his creativity and deadens his emotions. Young Eden stands by her father’s side through years of depression, hospitalizations, jail, lies and self-recriminations. Given a final chance by Lydia to take his medication and get well, David fails again. But this time he is driven so deeply into self-loathing that he attempts suicide. Realizing how dangerous David has become to Eden’s well-being, Lydia finally drives him away from his family. Haunted by his absence, Eden spends her life searching for him, wondering what might have been. As she |

searches homeless shelters and soup kitchens, she meets Jack Baker. An advocate for the people who live outside the lines, Jack offers Eden the chance to understand her father’s world.

He also offers her the chance to find real love, anchoring her when she, at last, finds David. But after 20 years, how will father and daughter reconnect?

Although plunged into devastating losses as well as great joy, Hatvany’s characters suffer from a lack of emotional range and a predictable plot. (Author appearances in Portland, San Francisco and Seattle)

THE GOOD FATHER

Hawley, Noah Doubleday (320 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 20, 2012 978-0-385-53553-3

Dr. Paul Allen is at least trying to be a good father, though perhaps he crosses the line into paranoia when his son Daniel is arrested for assassinating Senator Jay Seagram, a promising presidential candidate. Dr. Allen is a brilliant diagnostician, able to sort through a welter of conflicting symptoms to reach to the heart of a patient’s disease, and he tries to apply these same techniques to the news of his son’s shocking arrest.

He also wonders to what extent he might bear some responsibility for Daniel’s disaffection, for the doctor and Daniel’s mother had gotten divorced when their son was quite young, leaving Daniel feeling unmoored and homeless. When he turns 15, Daniel elects to move from California to live with his father and stepmother in Connecticut, but he is never quite able to settle down. After starting at Vassar, he leaves after three semesters and starts to roam the country, changing his name and picking up odd jobs for a few weeks at a time and then moving on.

Eventually he and two veterans are arrested when they’re caught riding freight trains. After the assassination of the Senator, Daniel’s father becomes obsessed with previous assassinations and assassination attempts—and the novel is even contemporary enough to include the attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The doctor is convinced that Daniel could not have perpetrated such a devastating crime, even though Daniel has been caught on film and his fingerprints are on the weapon.

The novel ultimately becomes as much about a father’s quest for meaning and understanding as about a son’s political and social alienation—and Hawley delivers on the complex psychology of father-son relationships.

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h n a om i b e n a r on A: It allows me to tap into very different parts of the human soul. And to sympathize and empathize with very different types of people. When I am writing short stories these things just pop out into my stories, and I have a lot of science in my poems.

I have written a sonnet about Planck’s constant.

Science is very important in all my writing. Science is the ultimate form of poetry—elegant and tersely beautiful. It pulls an order out of what seems to be the chaos of the world.

A n awa r d - w i n n i n g fiction writer and poet, Naomi Benaron’s debut novel Running the Rift won the Bellwether Prize for fiction. Set in Rwanda—a country that Benaron says she felt a strong connection to upon first sight—the story follows Jean Patrick Nkuba and his dream of one day running in the Olympics.

Here the author discusses the inspiration for her novel and her connection to central character whose desire to achieve greatness is set against the backdrop of the Rwandan conflict.

RUNNING THE RIFT

Naomi Benaron Algonquin (384 pp.) $24.95 Jan. 3, 2012 9781616200428

Q: Can you tell me how your poetry writing affects your prose writing process?

Q: Was there a defining moment when you knew you had to write this book?

A: I start my writing day by reading poetry to get me in that mindset. I have a tendency to write my novels like a 400-page prose poem—a tedious, lengthy process that often doesn’t work and can take you away from flow of your writing.

But when it does work, it is a visceral feeling, and when I have a poem inside me it’s very visceral…when writing prose, that’s what I’d call being in the zone. I don’t feel it all the time, but when I do have it, that’s the best, and I know when I write those pages, I won’t have to edit so much.

A: There were several, actually, but one of the most vivid occurred on my first visit to Rwanda in 2002, when I was walking on the shores of Lake Kivu and my foot hit something hard. I bent down to see what it was.

It was a sacrum, and initially I thought it belonged to a cow, but then I realized it was human. When I bent down, I saw that there were bones everywhere: skull fragments, long bones, teeth. That was the moment when I knew I would have to write about the genocide. I would have to tell the story of the bones.

Q: Writing about another culture’s conflict is a huge responsibility. Did it ever cause writer’s block?

Q: Your main character, Jean Patrick, is an Olympic-caliber runner, and you write vividly about running here.

Tell me about that connection.

A: I recently attended a conference on genocide in Sacramento, and I wanted to say, “Stop. I can’t publish this book.” My talk was called, “Pitfalls of Appropriation: Rights and Responsibilities When Writing Fiction.” It’s hugely charged territory, a culture of victims and survivorship. In this paper I tried to wrestle with that. And the conclusion that I have come to is this: Not only do I have the right, but the responsibility to write about this. What gives me that is that the voices of the direct survivors—in fiction—are not here [in the U.S.]. Some people don’t know Rwanda is a country, and some presidential candidates don’t know that Africa is not a country.

A: Because Jean Patrick comes from this different culture, to make him a person I could know, I made him a runner because that’s something I understand, pushing and pushing until you want to die. I could also make him scientist—that transcends culture; and love transcends cultures. So I could make him someone I know and understand.

I also get some of my best ideas and lines running. If I get stuck, I say, “I’ve gotta go for a run.”

It’s being in the zone, especially when you’re working hard. You let down all those barriers between the different parts of your brain and things really come out.

–By Jessie Grearson

Q: But how do you keep the ideas that come to you when you’re running?

PH OTO © ER IK H IN OT E

A: I carry a cell phone, and I call myself and leave a voice mail. Sometimes I think if anything ever happened to me, those would be some really weird messages to listen to!

Q: You’ve lived a varied life—as a seaman, a geophysicist, a triathlete, women’s advocate. How does this variety play into your writing?

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“A provocative and keenly funny portrait of a rake with an agenda all his own.” from history of a pleasure seeker

MISTAKEN

Jordan, Neil Soft Skull Press (320 pp.) $15.95 paperback | Jan. 10, 2012 978-1-59376-433-3 The Irish filmmaker offers a doppelgänger novel about the entwined lives of two Dubliners, as his sixth work of fiction (Shade, 2004, etc.).

They’re the same age. They look almost the same. Yet their backgrounds are strikingly different. Kevin Thunder, the narrator, lives on Dublin’s impoverished northside, while Gerry Spain is from the well-heeled southside; the class antagonisms are raw. Kevin’s father is a bookie; Jerry’s is a lawyer, later a judge. Kevin’s rough-and-tumble schooling is far inferior to Jerry’s fancy private school. Their lives, however, will overlap for some 40 years, from their adolescence in the 1960s to Jerry’s death in his mid 50s (his funeral opens and closes the novel). Kevin finds himself being mistaken for Gerry: ejected from a store for shoplifting, approached invitingly by a girlfriend. Amid the confusion he has one dependable ally: his beloved mother, the caretaker of their building’s apartments. His father is often away, and Kevin is happy to replace him (there are Oedipal overtones).

Mother and son go swimming together until one day, alone, she drowns. Jordan is at his best depicting their tender solicitude and Kevin’s coming-of-age encounters with Gerry’s girls. His touch is less sure with Kevin/Gerry. They eventually meet in a series of edgy encounters. By now Gerry is an undergraduate at well-manicured Trinity, while Kevin’s at a trade school; Gerry, shy and insecure, uses Kevin’s name for his published stories. The ladies still get them confused. “Were we…the light and shade of the same person?” It’s the classic dilemma posed by the genre. Jordan plays with it, offsetting Kevin’s weak light against the increasingly dark, addicted, adulterous Jerry, but years pass before he ratchets up the tension.

The climax, flashy and camera-ready, involves impersonation and murder in Manhattan, but it seems less ordained than arbitrary.

An uneven work that is at its most authentic in its evocation of a time when Dublin was more large village than city.

THE SUGAR FROSTED NUTSACK

Leyner, Mark Little, Brown (256 pp.) $24.99 | Mar. 26, 2012 978-0-316-60845-9

Whom the gods would destroy, they would not only make mad but also molest, punish and celebrate, all in a day’s work.

The latest from Leyner (The Tetherballs of Bougainville, 2008, etc.) concerns itself with the lives, resentments, obsessions and childish rapprochements of the Gods. No, not That One, but a motley collection of drunken deities ensconced in the world’s tallest buildings, tapping mortal beauties and mainlining a drug called Gravy. Leyner |

immediately launches into a long introduction punctuated with asides like “Why Do Gods Like Having Sex With Humans So Much?” This stream-of-consciousness–laden gospel gradually reveals that the book itself is the eternal story of Ike Karton, a 48-year-old, anti-Semitic everyman from New Jersey (“Ike always keeps it simple and sexy,” echo the drug-addled bards who serve as the book’s Greek chorus). The story has been passed down and modified throughout history in a celebrity-riddled oral tradition that falls somewhere on the narrative scale between The Odyssey and TMZ. Alternately called “Ike’s Agony” and “T.G.I.F.” (not what you think), the story relates Ike’s travails and the mischief delivered upon him by the gods. The worst may well be El Cucho, largely called XOXO here, who is revealed to be “trying to ruin it by making it too confusing, by creating insoluble contradictions and conundrums, by essentially tying the shoelaces of the book together.” You, the reader, can help preserve the narrative’s integrity by chanting “Ike, Ike, Ike, Ike, Ike,” in the manner of either Popeye laughing or Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).”

Yes, really. There’s nothing quite like Leyner on a roll.

Anyone who’s still with us by now should embrace this earnest exploitation of the myths of the new world, complete with celebrity cameos.

HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER

Mason, Richard Knopf (288 pp.) $25.95 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-0-307-59947-6

An ambitious young raconteur coaxes the passion out of a desiccated family in turn-of-the-century Amsterdam.

British novelist Mason’s latest (The Drowning People, 2005, etc.) teases out the eroticism in a 19th-century game of cat-and-mouse without succumbing to the clichés that might earn it a Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Of his cunning protagonist, Mason writes, “The adventures of adolescence had taught Piet Barol that he was extremely attractive to most women and to many men.” He adds: “He was old enough to be pragmatic about this advantage, young enough to be immodest...” Piet is far more used to poverty and hardship than he is to the life of luxury in Europe’s La Belle Époque. But he is above all ambitious and trained to navigate the world of privilege by his late mother. So it is that Piet infiltrates the household of Maarten Vermeulen-Sickerts, one of the wealthiest men in Amsterdam.

Maarten’s sex-starved wife Jacobina hires Piet to tutor their son Egbert, a boy who becomes hysterical outside his own home.

Though playing a dangerous game—the image of a man walking a tightrope is threaded through the narrative—Piet loses no time in pursuing all pleasures, be it music, fine food, wealth or the charms of his employer’s wife. Throughout the novel Mason displays a sharp eye and a wit to rival Oscar Wilde.

A provocative and keenly funny portrait of a rake with an agenda all his own. (Select author appearances.)

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WHAT HAPPENED TO HANNAH

McComas, Mary Kay Morrow/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $9.99 e-book Feb. 7, 2012 978-0-06-208478-1 978-0-06-208479-8 e-book She left her hometown 20 years ago, and no one has heard from her since. Is she even still alive? What could have been so horrific as to not only drive her away but also keep her away for so long?

McComas (Necessary Changes, 2001, etc.) gives Hannah Benson an intriguing past to uncover. After her mother and sister have passed away, leaving her teenaged niece, Anna, in need of a guardian, Hannah gets a call out of the blue from Grady Steadman, her childhood sweetheart. Now sheriff of Clearfield, Va., Grady must persuade Hannah to come back for Anna. It could be a tough sell: Hannah has spent the last 20 years making a very safe life for herself, avoiding romance and even building a career in insurance. Little does Grady suspect that coming home will force Hannah to face the demons of her past: an abusive father, a dysfunctional family and a town that let it all happen. Of course, the reader can guess all this within the first few pages. Despite her misgivings, Hannah will do the right thing and return to Clearfield to take care of her family’s loose ends.

Despite the emotional damage inflicted by her abusive father, she will easily come to love again. With a last name like “Steadman,” of course, Grady will become the steady man in Hannah’s life as she confronts her demons. Her niece will eventually come to bond with her Aunt Hannah. And “what happened to Hannah” will be revealed over the course of the novel. Yet “what happened to Hannah” is so heavily hinted at that when it is revealed it comes as little surprise.

McComas has written a pleasing fairy tale that will satisfy many readers. But those looking for a more nuanced handling of the repercussions of childhood trauma should look elsewhere.

THE HEALING

Odell, Jonathan Doubleday (352 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 21, 2012 978-0-385-53467-3 When the daughter of a woman who has overdosed on a potion meant to induce an abortion comes into former slave Gran Gran’s care, she recalls the saga of plantation slaves to whom emancipation eventually came, an exodus for some while others remained rooted to the soil of their captivity.

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occasionally dressed up in the finery of a deceased daughter whose demise remains shrouded in the whites’ refusal to admit their daughter succumbed to a disease that afflicts slaves. The odd charade of Granada’s special treatment is a sticking point between Master Ben and his laudanum-addicted, unstable wife, who blames her husband for their daughter’s death. Enter Polly Shine, purchased at great expense for her renown as a healer in the hopes that she will save slaves from plagues that ravage the plantation. Shine needs an apprentice and sees something in Granada, despite the girl’s ill-placed affection for her white masters. Granada finds herself exiled from the plantation house, relocated to Polly’s quarters, the plantation hospital. The highspirited, mysterious and shamanistic Polly is feared and reviled for her strange ways until her undeniable healing powers gain her almost universal acceptance among the field slaves after she cures them of black tongue. But the latitude this earns her, unusual for a slave, is resented by some: the house slaves, a white overseer and Granada, who pines for her former comfort.

Polly overcomes Granada’s recalcitrance, cultivating the girl’s vision, a unique perceptiveness that is essential to her becoming a healer. Granada vacillates in her loyalties between her master and his house and Polly, who urges her to explore her origins and who gains, to some extent, Granada’s love and respect, despite the old healer’s acerbic tongue and unorthodox speeches about the coming of freedom. Granada cannot deny the increasing vividness of her dream visions, as well as the pull of her origins.

Plantation life is dangerous to body and soul, and Granada finds herself caught in a plot against Polly, torn between betrayal and self-discovery. Will she play Judas to her mentor? Will she ultimately obtain redemption and become a healer?

Odell (The View from Delphi, 2004) stirs lyricism and sentiment into a well-researched epic of slavery and emancipation that will endear itself to the spirituality inclined.

OATH OF OFFICE

Palmer, Michael St. Martin’s (384 pp.) $27.99 | $14.99 e-book | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-312-58753-6 978-1-4299-5043-5 e-book Is there something in the water making people around the nation’s capital commit crazy, unhinged acts?

After a respected doctor once disciplined for alcoholism and anger issues shoots several people to death and kills himself, it’s assumed he suffered a relapse. But his friend and sponsor, emergency-room veteran Lou Welcome, isn’t buying that and the mystery takes him all the way to the White House. In his 17th medical suspense novel, Palmer (A Heartbeat Away, 2011, etc.) draws on his experience helping doctors with dependency and mental-health issues. Unable to convince his superiors that his late colleague, Meacham, was fully recovered and not in need of psychiatric counseling, Welcome is suspended. After Meacham’s wife commits a strange, reckless act and a young man bizarrely causes

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himself physical harm in a trendy local diner, Welcome crosses paths with the First Lady, Darlene, whose husband has been acting with uncharacteristic rage. The First Lady has learned that the former agriculture secretary, a school friend of hers forced to resign after being videotaped in a motel room with a naked underage girl, was framed. The president orders his wife to stay away from him, but acting on the instructions of an unidentified source with knowledge of who did the framing and why, the First Lady becomes determined to clear the disgraced secretary’s name. Ultimately, Welcome and the First Lady team up against bad guys who will do anything to keep secrets.

This thriller raises compelling issues and features a likable hero, but the plot is dragged out and undercooked and the White House scenes ring false. (Agent: Meg Ruley)

THE TECHNOLOGISTS

Pearl, Matthew Random House (480 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 21, 2012 978-1-4000-6657-5

Brains and technology battle evil in Pearl’s (The Last Dickens, 2009, etc.) latest, an improbable but entertaining yarn of weird science.

Marcus Mansfield is trying to adjust to life as a civilian following years in a Confederate prison. He is a diffident and cautious fellow: “He did not volunteer for the war to be a hero, nor to change the world, either, but did think it was the best thing a man could do.” He also wants to be left alone, having applied for a night watchman’s job for the solitude and instead finding work in a dark corner of a machine shop, where he puts his talents to use designing things that are much ahead of their time. In a Boston scarcely bigger than a suburb today, he draws the attention of the head of a new school on the Back Bay along “surroundings that were grandly artificial, where the pupils would observe the way in which civil engineers could turn malodorous swamp...into a landscape of wide streets.” All this comes just in time for the chase at hand, for someone has in turn been sabotaging the shipping in Boston’s busy harbor, turning compasses upside down and sending freighters and schooners plowing into the docks at crazy angles.

It’s up to Mansfield and a team of proto-geeks at MIT to figure out what sort of devious soul would want to make like a whale and wreak Moby-Dick’s vengeance on the good brahmins of Beacon Hill—and while the answer, which takes a good long time in coming, isn’t in the least bit predictable, it also makes sense once it comes into focus. Marcus’ enthusiasm for the chase is delightful—”We’ll need Tech’s best physicist on hand, of course!”—as is Pearl’s appreciation for both 19th-century science and technology and affection for Beantown and its history.

Of appeal to fans of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films, as well as aficionados of a good adventure layered with batteries, transformers and navigational tools. (Prepub event in Boston. Tour to Boston, Western Mass., Portland, Maine, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco. Agent: Suzanne Gluck) |

THE STREET SWEEPER

Perlman, Elliot Riverhead (688 pp.) $28.95 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-1-59448847-4

An expertly told novel of life in immigrant America—and of the terrible events left behind in the old country.

Australian novelist Perlman (Seven Types of Ambiguity, 2004, etc.) seems perfectly at home in the streets of New York, with all their raucous diversity. Some of his characters are less at home; the story opens with an ugly clash between a Jamaican bus driver and a rider from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, each steadily refusing to understand the other. Perlman’s premise—that a Holocaust survivor might find common cause with a person suffering discrimination in this country—isn’t entirely original, but no matter; he spins a fine story. Lamont, supposedly rehabilitated after time in jail, has lost everything, but thanks to a trial program, he’s found a job as a janitor at a hospital. “He liked being able to ask someone from another department a question by simply picking up the internal phone, dialing the other person’s extension and beginning with, ‘This is Lamont Williams from Building Services,’ “ writes Perlman matter-offactly. It is perhaps not to Lamont’s advantage, being on probation and so fresh out of the pokey, to meet an old patient who urges him, “To hell with the rules.” The old man has reason to suspect notions of law and order, as Lamont gradually learns; he’s nursing powerful secrets. Such stuff is the stock in trade of an untenured history professor who is looking at the role of African-American soldiers in the liberation of the Nazi death camps. A step ahead of being fired himself, he finds a lifetime’s worth of study in what he learns. Perlman’s long tale, spanning decades, is suspenseful and perfectly told in many voices, without a false note. It deals with big issues of memory, race, human fallibilities and the will to survive against the odds.

A keeper: a story that speaks to the simple longing for freedom and peace, and to all the things that get in the way.

CAIN AT GETTYSBURG

Peters, Ralph Forge (432 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7653-3047-5

Action-packed treatment of one of the bloodiest episodes of the Civil War, rendered with all due gruesomeness.

Michael Shaara’s 1974 novel The Killer Angels, writes Peters (The Officers’ Club, 2011, etc.), is the gold standard of fiction about the Battle of Gettysburg, adding that it appeared in a time when regard for the military was low and “citizens had to be reminded that towering heroes wore our country’s uniform.” Or, perhaps better, our country’s, and another country’s, uniforms. Whatever

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“A realistic and resonate coming-of-age novel, chronicling a journey from grief to acceptance.” from red ruby heart in a cold blue sea

the case, Peters, a former military officer, is more reverentially disposed to the people who fight wars in a time when the culture seems worshipful of armed might. His version of Gettysburg, therefore, is vigorous, decisive, stern and otherwise populated by heroic figures. Regardless of the two authors’ respective attitude toward the business of killing, Peters is both historically accurate and a well-practiced storyteller. He also has a good sense of the language and culture of the time; when Robert E. Lee enters the scene, for instance, Peters’ prose becomes somber and portentous: “Still a mere John Churchill, he had seen to it that new shoes awaited his soldiers along his line of march. But Lee had men who had gone without shoes for months. At Chancellorsville, he had hoped for a Blenheim, but ended with a gory Malplaquet.” When Lee’s counterpart, George Meade, is on stage, Peters’ back-and-forth is snappier, suggesting Meade’s impatience; he even provides Meade with a motivation for success, for “fending off Lee would secure his family’s place in Philadelphia for generations.” Among the many strong points of Peters’ version is his attention to the immigrant players on the battlefield, the Polish and Irish and German soldiers from North and South who fought and died for their version of freedom.

Familiar figures—Chamberlain, Longstreet—are here too, but these overlooked characters add depth and diversity to the tale.

Literary readers will prefer Michael Shaara and Shelby Steele, and unliterary ones will want their Newt Gingrich.

But Peters’ novel holds up well, and it’s welcome in the vast library of books about the Civil War’s great turning point.

LONE WOLF

Picoult, Jodi Atria (480 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-1-4391-0274-9 Wolf expert languishes in a coma while his family debates his fate, in Picoult’s latest.

Luke Warren doesn’t dance with wolves, but he does practically everything else with them—eat raw meat, hunt, howl and endure bites to establish trust. Since he first befriended captive wolves in a small New Hampshire theme park, he’s sought to join the pack. In fact, Luke’s lupine family, not to mention the fruits of his passion—an Animal Planet series and bestselling book—have effectively supplanted his blood relations. His wife, Georgie, divorced him and is now remarried to a lawyer, Joe. Luke’s son, Edward, a gay man, fled for Thailand at 18, after his attempt to come out to his father had unintended consequences. Only daughter Cara remains faithful, even accompanying Luke on some of his wolf adventures. Now, however, Luke’s ex-family has been uncomfortably reunited by a tragedy: Driving home after rescuing Cara from a drunken teenage party, Luke crashes his car. Cara, 17, suffers a shoulder injury, but Luke sustains severe brain damage. Edward is summoned home—as the only adult next of kin, he must make medical decisions for his father. Luke lies in a vegetative state with little hope of recovery, and his license indicates he’s a willing organ donor. Edward wants to terminate life support—before leaving 128

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years ago he was given a handwritten directive indicating his father had anticipated just such a scenario and wanted no extraordinary measures. Cara insists her father will awaken. The alternating voices of the main characters detail how Luke’s human family broke up, and how he was able to ingratiate himself with wolves as an itinerant male, a “lone wolf” recruited by a pack to replace a lost member. The thoroughly researched wolf lore is fascinating; the rest of the story is a more conventional soap opera of hospital, and later courtroom histrionics.

Readers will care less about Luke’s prospects for survival than they will about the outcome for his wild companions. (Agent: Laura Gross.)

RED RUBY HEART IN A COLD BLUE SEA

Rogers, Morgan Callan Viking (320 pp.) $26.95 | Jan. 19, 2012 978-0-670-02340-0

In this debut coming-of-age novel, Florine Gilham, the young daughter of a lobsterman, and his free-spirited wife, learn the difficult lesson that life is mostly “getting on with it.”

It is the summer of 1963 on The Point, an isolated Maine fishing village. Florine will soon begin seventh grade. Leeman, her father, works his boat. Carlie, her adored mother, waits tables at the Lobster Shack. It’s a summer like any other, until Carlie disappears while vacationing. Carlie loves her husband, but he prefers the sea to traveling, and so Carlie’s annual getaway with her best friend, Patty, has become a tradition. Now, with Leeman able to climb out of the bottle only long enough to provide confused support, Florine rages against the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. Florine’s troubles grow when Stella, a clerk in the local general store and her father’s high school sweetheart, moves to comfort Leeman. Florine responds angrily, so much so that her father agrees to let her live with Grand, her grandmother and beloved community matriarch. Florine also has Buddy, Glen and Dottie, her adventurous contemporaries. The novel chronicles Florine’s life from prepubescence through high school, and her transformation from gangling precocious girl to a sexually aware, troubled young woman. Gradually, Florine learns about her mother’s abusive childhood, her father’s tortured anguish over her disappearance and his profound sense of helplessness. It is only Grand’s presence, her uncritical and accepting love, that provide Florine the refuge she needs to keep her sanity. Grand is beautifully, empathetically, realistically drawn. Florine is self-aware, compassionately sketched with a perceptive measure of immaturity as she stumbles toward reconciliation with the world only to again be derailed by tragedy. Rogers writes with a superb sense of place and period, delving deftly into true-to-life responses to unexplained loss. The novel’s resolution is deeply moving, albeit one perhaps better served by an altered sequence of events.

A realistic and resonate coming-of-age novel, chronicling a journey from grief to acceptance.

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THREE WEEKS IN DECEMBER

Schulman, Audrey Europa Editions (368 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Feb. 16, 2012 978-1-60945-064-9 Two Americans have life-altering experiences in Africa a century apart in this environmentalist adventure novel from Schulman (A House Named Brazil, 2000, etc.).

In December 1899, Jeremy arrives in East Africa from Maine to work as engineer in the construction of a railroad that will open Africa up to colonists. Jeremy, whose homosexuality is not spoken of but obvious, has never fit in at home, and he soon realizes the other white man at the project site will not accept him. But he falls in love with Africa. Soon he is involved in hunting two lions that have been terrorizing both the local population and his Indian laborers. His local guide and fellow hunter is Otombe, who picked up English living with missionaries as a child. In December 2000 another Maine native arrives in Rwanda. Max is a botanist hired to search out miracle beta blockers reputed to exist in certain hard-to-find vines that endangered Rwanda gorillas use medicinally. She has always been an outsider, partly because her professor father was black but mainly because she has Asperger’s Syndrome. Never comfortable with human interactions, she forms an almost immediate kinship with the gorillas. Schulman shifts between Jeremy and Max’s experiences. Jeremy becomes a hero for shooting one of the lions. Parting from Otombe without expressing his true feelings, he sublimates them in his sexual liaison with an African woman who reminds him of Otombe and bears him a child he takes back to Maine. Max’s idyll with her new gorilla family is threatened by the growing power of a violent cult of child soldiers from the nearby Congo called the Kutu. As the marauding Kutus approach, Max goes into hiding among the gorillas with a sense of both joy and impending doom.

Advocacy fiction—a little preachy and obvious but also genuinely passionate about both the cause of African wildlife and the sensory experience of Africa, which Schulman brings to tactile life.

rise. Carrick foils an apparent assassination attempt and finds himself finagled into Goldmann’s trust just as they hook up with the broker, mafia heavy Reuven Weissberg whose lineage, nihilism and innate distrustfulness descend from a survivor of the Sobibor extermination camp. As a pawn in the hands of the brusque, unorthodox Christopher Lawson, 38 years an officer with the Secret Intelligence Service, Carrick walks the high wire sans safety net, enduring ruthless tests by mafia thugs.

Meanwhile two disgruntled former Soviet soldiers excavate the weapon from its hiding place in a vegetable patch and set off in a decrepit car on a bizarre, often Quixotic odyssey, facing border crossings and inspections with the weapon hidden loosely under a tarp. The buyer, an Islamic militant operative known as “The Crow,” has lined up an expert to verify the device’s authenticity, a nuclear scientist let go from his position for family connection to the tribal areas in Pakistan. Themes of disenfranchisement breeding treachery and buried evils inevitably resurfacing permeate this latest, balletic thriller from Seymour (Walking Dead, 2008, etc.), whose sense of historical underpinnings, earned from years of covering terrorism as a journalist,

TIMEBOMB

Seymour, Gerald Overlook (432 pp.) $25.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-59020-699-7 Embedded as a driver in the London home of Russian money launderer Josef Goldmann, undercover officer Jonathan Carrick’s assignment is yielding no useful information.

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elevate this tale to the heights of the genre, offering sprung steel suspense and sobering depictions of a world tilting on its nuclear fulcrum from Cold War deadlock to post 9-11 volatility.

As the threat of nuclear terrorism looms, Carrick’s psychological state threatens collapse. Weissberg leads him to the site of one holocaust—will it become birthplace of another?

Intricately crafted and clocklike in its controlled release of psychological and geopolitical tension.

AGENT 6

Smith, Tom Rob Grand Central Publishing (480 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-0-446-55076-5 Political whodunit author Smith (Child 44, 2008, etc.) returns with more intrigue from behind the old Iron Curtain.

Actually, a good chunk of the intrigue occurs on this side of the Atlantic. Leo Demidov is a loyal functionary, a good servant of the state and its apparatus, “a decorated soldier recruited to the ranks of the secret police after the Great Patriotic War.” He is also sensitive to the Orwellian implications of his job, aware that open sedition isn’t always the thing to look out for; more important are the incomplete or insincere expressions of love for the Great Leader and the system. Naturally, under such a regime even the most loyal of servants falls under suspicion, and on that point some of Smith’s taut tale hinges on the introduction of some key players. One is an AfricanAmerican singer named Jesse Austin, transparently modeled on Paul Robeson, who, “unlike many Negro singers,” as one apparatchik dryly puts it, is unreligious—or better, “Communism is his church.” When Austin falls to an assassin in New York, Demidov’s wife, Raisa, traveling there on a cultural mission, is implicated, thanks in good part to a loyal cop on the capitalist side of the Wall, an FBI man who specializes in “nonlegal harassment” of suspected Communists and fellow travelers.

Demidov is stymied when his controllers deny him permission to dig into the truth—and, nonlegally, he takes matters into his own hands, which puts him in some of the more precarious corners of the world, not least of them Afghanistan. Smith’s tale spans years and continents, and the period details are exactly right even as he spins out an old-fashioned thriller that would do Ludlum and le Carré proud. The story is a little long, but it has a nicely creepy and—yes—Orwellian ending that amply repays the occasional detour in getting there.

A big book, in every sense, that’s sure to draw attention.

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TRIBULATIONS OF SHORTCUT MAN

Sturges, P.G. Scribner (240 pp.) $24.00 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-4391-9421-8

A marital swindle plunges Dick Henry, the man who slices through Gordian knots for a living, into a stew of other schemers, lots of them witless, some of them real sharpies, most of them with just as many boundary issues as him.

Even though the cancellation of his TV show has left her husband, Superior Court Judge Harry Glidden, flat broke, his movie-star helpmeet Ellen Havertine is not without her resources. Spotting the enormous puddle of cash in which aging developer Art Lewis is sitting, she hatches a plot to dope Lewis and marry him off to her sister, nurse Eileen Klasky, so that she can inherit $50 million when the old boy pops off. Unfortunately, Lewis’ latest girlfriend, exotic dancer Pussy Grace, has been so worried about his failure to return her calls that she’s prevailed on Dick Henry, the Shortcut Man, to join her in infiltrating his home in disguise. During their brief but eventful visit, Lewis really does die, and from that moment on it’s a race between Hangin’ Harry and his wife, who want to conceal the corpse until they can mop up any loose ends that might keep Eileen from claiming her inheritance, and Dick and Pussy, who’d just as soon avoid becoming loose ends. Yes, there are other wrinkles as well, from Dick’s continued attachment to Nedra Scott, the old flame who refuses to let any sharklike developers force her out of her rat-infested building, to Rutland Atwater, who takes BO to the level of the hydrogen bomb.

Just as funny as Dick’s debut (Shortcut Man, 2011), but more consistently plotted in the manner of all your favorite criminal zanies.

SPRING

Szalay, David Graywolf (272 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-55597-602-6 A precise portrait of a blurry affair.

The third novel (and American debut) by the Canadian-born Szalay, one of the Daily Telegraph’s Best 20 British Novelists Under 40, is a somewhat cold but nuanced and bracingly intelligent dissection of contemporary London life. James is a 30-something one-time dot-com megamillionaire now reduced to a meager middle-class existence with his dog, and reduced, too, to eking out a living via various iffy schemes, among them a shady business as a horse-racing tipster. Katherine, manager of a luxury hotel, is estranged from her husband, Fraser, an aging paparazzo who strayed with an underwear model, was exiled

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“A lightweight novel that’s paradoxically both earthy and frothy.” from so it goes

and now—perhaps a bit too desperately and adoringly for her comfort—wants his wife back. Szalay vivisects the awkward, tentative relationship that develops between Katherine and James, a sporadic companionship-with-benefits that is shadowed and complicated by the possibility of a resumption of her marriage to Fraser. She blows hot and cold, can be remote and enigmatic; he can seem needy and sex-obsessed. But both have appeal, too. James exudes a boyish sweetness and eagerness, and Katherine’s hesitation and unreadability have less to do with emotional remoteness or with being a belle dame sans merci than with her genuine grief and confusion about what happened to her marriage. Both lovers are prone to ruthless postmortem examinations of their every encounter, and Szalay provides a sharp and occasionally humorous portrait not only of these two people but of the mores of 21st-century romance among those for whom romance has had its old glamour grubbed up a bit by age, world-weariness and the demands of everyday life.

Subtle in its psychology, elegantly written, with lively and amusing minor characters—an impressive novel, but one with a slight morguelike chill.

A COMMON LOSS

Tranter, Kirsten Washington Square/Pocket (368 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Mar. 27, 2012 978-1-4391-7722-8 Australian writer Tranter’s sophomore effort (The Legacy, 2010) examines the complexities of friendship.

For the last decade, quiet, bookish Elliot and his former college buddies have met annually in Las Vegas for a “guys’ weekend.” But this year’s trip is different: Dylan, the heart and soul of the group, has died. Struck while riding a bicycle, the handsome Dylan, a former model and member of a successful Hollywood family, worked for a New York publishing house. Always the “fixer” of the group, Dylan could be counted upon to step in and set things right among the group’s members. His death has had a significant effect on the friends, each of whom had a secret relationship with Dylan, and on this trip the friends uncover one another’s hidden bonds. Elliot, now a college literature professor, remains emotionally scarred by a long ago accident involving the group. In Vegas he comes to the realization that his indebtedness to Dylan could also lead to his downfall when a previously hidden facet of his friend’s life comes to light. Tranter’s story takes readers along the often bumpy and uneven road of friendship and into the world of secrets that sometimes accumulate among longtime acquaintances. Elliot, the reticent observer of the group, is a well-drawn character.

Eventually, an unanticipated turn requires him to question what he knows about Dylan, the others and himself.

Tranter, whose writing is solid but occasionally verges into overly oblique territory, deftly explores a friendship that’s past its prime.

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SO IT GOES

Tucker, Michael Overlook (224 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-59020-735-2 Actor Tucker, best known for his work on L.A. Law, writes his first novel— about an actor who loses his beloved wife to cancer, though hints of a May-December romance are in the wings.

Herbie Aaron and his wife Annie have been a celebrity couple over many long years, but Annie is now facing her final curtain. Herbie deals with this in part by hitting the bars pretty hard, and in one he notices Olive, a bartender who’s a knockout but who’s also young enough to be his daughter. He tells Annie about Olive, and Annie insists on meeting her. When the inevitable happens and Annie dies, Herbie gets in touch with his agent to help Olive land a job—somewhat implausibly—as an actress, and despite the prodigious unemployment rate among professional actors, Olive lands a job in Uncle Vanya, albeit in Rochester rather than on Broadway. Meanwhile, Herbie copes by heading to South Carolina to play some golf and reminisce about the good times he had with Annie. While trying to master the intricacies of a game he doesn’t even like, he hires Billy (a woman) to improve his skill on the links, but because Billy is a lesbian, Herbie wisely senses the unlikelihood of romance from that quarter, though Billy’s sister Roxanne is another story. Every evening, however, he gets a phone call from Olive, who gives progress reports on her rehearsals with a hot-shot young director and a lead actor who seems to be having psychotic episodes—or is he merely an actor who pretends to have psychotic episodes to juice up his role as Vanya? By the end we’re led to believe that despite his loyalty to Annie, Herbie might in fact find a life with Olive.

A lightweight novel that’s paradoxically both earthy and frothy. (Agents: Jane Dystel and Miriam Goderich)

m ys t e r y COLD COMFORT

Bates, Quentin Soho Crime (384 pp.) $25.00 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-1-61695-054-5

Iceland’s financial crisis claims new casualties in venues considerably more homely than banks and corporate offices.

When Long Ómar Magnússon, convicted of murder a decade ago, breaks out of his minimum-security prison less than a year before he’s eligible for parole, everyone in Reykjavík’s Serious Crimes Unit—Sgt. Gunnhildur Gísladóttir, Officer Helgi

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Svavarsson and Officer Eiríkur Thór Jónsson—wonders why he’s suddenly in such a hurry to taste freedom. But everyone’s sure exactly what his plans are, and everyone’s right. Within hours, it seems, Omni has beaten Skari Óskarsson to a pulp and forced feeble-minded Kristbjörn Hrafnsson, aka Daft Diddi, to walk into a bank and rob it at knifepoint. But did Omni also kill his old lover Svana Geirs, a former TV fitness guru famous for being famous—or was she murdered by someone whose public profile was as prominent as her own? Gunna’s suspicions focus on a pair of dodgy financiers, a high-flying accountant and a new MP, all of whom have banded together to form a uniquely distinctive syndicate. The puncturing of the Icelandic economic bubble, however, has left Reykjavík awash in suspects who feel baffled, hurting and entitled to revenge, from Svana’s impetuous kid brother Högni Sigurgeirsson to ruined plumber Jón Jóhannsson. As more felonies surface, Gunna and her dogged colleagues make the rounds questioning the usual suspects and getting the usual lies. Even as the clock ticks down to the final pages, you have to wonder if they’re ever going to get to the bottom of this cesspool.

More routine than Gunna’s debut (Frozen Assets, 2011), but still required reading for anyone who wants a sense of how calamitous Iceland’s meltdown was—and what just might be in store for American police procedurals next.

SO DAMN LUCKY

Coonts, Deborah Forge (400 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-7653-3006-2

If Houdini were going to send a message from the great beyond, what are the odds it would land in Vegas?

Lucky O’Toole, Head of Customer Relations at Vegas’ glitziest hotel, the Babylon, is not having a good day. A visiting couple from the Midwest has gotten tangled up in a sex sling.

Her boyfriend Teddie has opted out of their relationship in favor of groupies and rock-star fame. And when the curtains are opened during a performance, Dimitri Fortunoff, a magician trussed up in a replica of Houdini’s Chinese Water Torture Cell, has vanished. Did one of the many other magicians attending the annual gathering of prestidigitators waylay him? Are they responsible for the threatening note he received? Who will replace him as the Masked Houdini at Halloween night’s performance? Or did Dimitri himself plan his disappearance in search of much-needed publicity? In between flirting with a handsome gaming control board member, swooning over the hotel’s delicious new French chef and witnessing the wedding of her parents at a drive-through chapel, Lucky (Lucky Stiff, 2011, etc.) tries to find Dimitri. The search takes her from subterranean storm drains to Area 51, the Air Force’s secure facility, which has become a mecca for UFO seekers, as she sorts through lies and puzzles set up to fool her by Dimitri’s assistant Molly and four members of the Magic Ring. Mentalists have their say. Kooks congregate to stare at the sky. Lucky, alas, becomes vulnerable to head whacks and the effects of serious liquor and coffee consumption.

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Like everything in Vegas, the plot is saturated with sex, booze and backgrounds that don’t bear scrutiny. But the Houdini code is intriguing, and Lucky’s the kind of gal who will make any heart beat faster.

RAT POISON

Duffy, Margaret Severn House (224 pp.) $28.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-7278-8098-7 The latest hair-raising adventure of the husband-and-wife team of Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley strikes uncomfortably close to home.

Patrick and Ingrid’s friend DCI James Carrick asks for help when his patch, the beautiful city of Bath, unexpectedly becomes the scene of bloody gang wars. Having made the move from MI5 to SOCA, the Serious Organized Crime Agency, the pair is well prepared to take on almost anything. The fearsome criminal known as “Uncle,” a master of changing identities, has been spotted in Bath, accompanied as always by his vicious minder, Joy Murphy. When the gang, always one step ahead of their pursuers, seek to confound them by having one of their local members accuse Patrick’s father, a vicar, of unseemly sexual advances, Patrick and Ingrid’s two oldest children, who fancy themselves detectives, mount a brisk counterattack. Matthew is caught checking out the local pub, whose publican, almost certainly involved in criminal activity, has the cheek to accuse Matthew of breaking and entering. An angry Patrick scares some of the low-level local muscle into revealing what they know, but Uncle is still on the loose. In the end, Patrick takes some dangerous chances and puts himself in harm’s way to catch up with Uncle. Only some last-minute intervention from Ingrid saves the family bacon.

Reliable veteran Duffy (Corpse in Waiting, 2010, etc.) serves up another tasty blend of thriller and police procedural with a touch of romance.

BLINDSIDE

Gorman, Ed Severn House (192 pp.) $28.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-0-7278-8025-3 Freelance political consultant Dev Conrad (Stranglehold, 2010, etc.) signs on to help another congressional campaign plagued by murder and other deviltry.

When liberal incumbent Jeff Ward’s father Tom persuades Dev to spend some time with his son’s flailing campaign, Jeff ’s speechwriter Jim Waters hasn’t yet been shot to death. And Tom can’t even identify the other problems. But it’s clear that trouble is afoot. Someone close to Ward is evidently leaking sensitive information to

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“The quiet English village of Prior’s Ford is happy to welcome a celebrity resident, but not so much another murder.” from mystery in prior’s ford

Rusty Burkhart, his millionaire right-wing challenger. David Nolan, the candidate’s lifelong friend and chief of staff, disappears almost the moment Dev first pokes his nose into the campaign tent. And Dev soon learns that Ward is being blackmailed over a steamy videotape starring him and a prostitute.

As Burkhart rises in the polls, Sylvia Fordham, high priestess of conservative consultants, crows over Ward’s vulnerabilities.

Dev quickly realizes that only Jennifer Conners, the Goth teen left to mourn Waters, shows any sign of emotional attachment to any of the leads; everything else, from the two women Ward chooses to flank him at the press conference Dev urges him to call over Waters’ death, to the sound bites the candidates hurl at each other during a debate, is delectably synthetic. In such an amoral world, nothing, it seems, can save the Ward campaign— unless of course Dev discovers that his opponent has fallen victim to the same blackmailer too. Perfect.

Another caustic indictment of electoral politics at its most American. No wonder it’s hard to muster much moral outrage when Dev, efficient as ever, identifies the blackmailer and the killer, who act just like everyone else.

ONE PERFECT SHOT

Havill, Steven F. Poisoned Pen (340 pp.) $24.95 | paper $14.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-59058-954-0 978-1-59058-956-4 paperback 978-1-59058-955-7 Lg. Prt. Undersheriff Bill Gastner of Posadas County, N.M., meets Estelle Reyes, the once-and-future undersheriff, in a welcome, well-wrought prequel.

The 18th entry in this sturdy series (Double Prey, 2011, etc.) begins with Gastner keeping the lid on a volatile population prone to impropriety, mostly homicide—a task that passed to Reyes eight novels ago, leaving Gastner to materialize from time to time as counselor, comforter and loving godfather to Reyes’ children. A 10-year trip to the past finds Gastner just as grizzled, potbellied, appreciative of a well-built burrito, and shrewd as a detective. Reyes, now 21, whom Gastner last saw when she was a tyke of 11, is the new department hire. Since she’s not Gastner’s choice, readers new to the franchise might well expect an outbreak of resentment. But Reyes proves irresistible: poised, respectful and extraordinarily pleasant to look at. She and Gastner click at once, a good thing indeed, since the freshly minted deputy has come on board just in time to help with a baffling murder case. Someone has fired a bullet into the middle of Larry Zipoli’s forehead while he was at work grading a county road, and the ballistics simply don’t add up. What unfolds is not so much a whodunit as a how-on-earth-did-it-get-done.

Gastner and Reyes charm from the get-go.

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MYSTERY IN PRIOR’S FORD

Hood, Evelyn Severn House (224 pp.) $28.95 | Feb. 2, 2012 978-0-7278-8091-8

The quiet English village of Prior’s Ford is happy to welcome a celebrity resident, but not so much another murder.

Cookbook author Laura Tylerr has purchased a cottage against her husband Allan Hunter’s wishes, for retired Chief Superintendent Allan is perfectly happy to do his writing at home in Leeds. Once they’re settled in, Laura is quick to join village activities, including the drama club run by former journalist Kevin Pearce. Many of the village residents are facing their own difficulties. The Ralston-Kerrs are trying to restore Linn Hall to its former glory with the help of garden expert Ginny Whitelaw, who adores their son Lewis, even though he’s trying to get flighty Molly Ewing to marry him. The Fishers run the local pub, and their widowed daughter Alison is in love with Ewan McNair, a struggling farmer who feels that he can’t afford to marry. Retired teacher Clarissa Ramsay, who loves the much younger Alastair Marshall, is encouraged by her American friend Amy Rose to pursue the relationship despite Clarissa’s fear of ridicule. Even village constable Neil White is separated from his wife, an ambitious police officer who puts her career first. Then Kevin Pearce is found strangled by a feather boa Laura had bought for use in the play the drama club is rehearsing. Kevin seems like an unlikely target for murder, but the police, along with the ever-curious Amy Rose, manage to find some suspects.

The first of Hood’s Prior’s Ford mysteries to be published in the U.S. (Scandal in Prior’s Ford, 2011, etc.) is more village romance than mystery, but it does draw you into the lives of the villagers.

GUNRUNNER

Ison, Graham Severn House (192 pp.) $27.95 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8095-6 DCI Harry Brock (All Quiet on Arrival, 2010, etc.) must skip his plum pudding when DS Don Keegan calls about a body found in a Jaguar XJ parked at Heathrow on Christmas morning.

Once Brock gets to Heathrow, the investigation moves like clockwork. His sergeant, Dave Poole, identifies the deceased as Kerry Hammond, owner of Kerry Trucking in Chiswick. Death kept her from flying to New York for a holiday rendezvous with her husband, realtor Nicholas Hammond. Kerry’s parents admit that their daughter turned into something of a good-time girl after the death of her first husband, Dick Lucas. Her cell phone log includes the number of nightclub owner Miguel Rodriguez, who admits having a fling

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with Kerry. So do Kerry’s secretary, Bryce Marlow, and Gary Dixon, a trucker whom Kerry’s manager Bernard Bligh sacked for bootlegging. When DS Tom Challis discovers a secret compartment in the Scania Dixon used to drive, Brock calls his old friend Henri Deshayes of the Police Judiciaire in Paris to put a tail on the Scania when new driver Bill Sharpe makes his next run to Marseille. Sharpe leads them to a warehouse in Cantard Street where workers offload the contraband. Even a warning from British Counter-Terrorism to go easy on Nick Hammond barely makes a dent in Brock and Hammond’s investigation, as they march in lockstep connecting the dots to the inevitable arrest of Kerry’s murderer.

Like a Christmas present from your granny, Ison’s latest is nicely wrapped but with no surprises.

LEFT FOR DEAD

Jance, J.A. Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4516-2858-6 An ex-detective is never too busy to help out a friend.

Ali Reynolds, former reporter and police officer, is busy creating a new garden in mystical Sedona, Ariz., and dealing with her parents’ sudden decision to sell their restaurant and house and move on to new adventures.

Then she receives a call from a former police academy classmate that another classmate has been shot and is in critical condition with his pregnant wife and two kids at his side. Ali heads for Physicians Medical Center in Tucson, where she also discovers her friend Sister Amselm, a patient advocate for an unidentified young woman found raped and badly beaten in the desert. Ali’s old buddy Jose Reyes is suspected of drug dealing, since drugs and money were found in his police car and home after he was shot in what he called a routine traffic stop on a deserted side road. Jose’s wife Teresa is trying to cope with the accusation, two frustrated little girls and an ex-mother-in-law who blames her for her son’s death and hints that she may try to get custody of the children. No wonder Teresa must have an emergency C-section, leaving Ali to deal with all the other problems. Sister Anselm realizes that her charge is not the illegal resident the border patrol dumped in the hospital, but a young girl whose family has been looking for her for years. Now she may be the key to catching a serial killer who tortures his victims before consigning them to the desert. It’s up to Ali to find out who’s framed Jose and help Sister track down a dangerous man.

Loyal fans and newcomers alike will be glad to join feisty Ali (Fatal Error, 2011, etc.) in her latest adventure.

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THIRD GRAVE DEAD AHEAD

Jones, Darynda St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $23.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-250-00154-2 An Albuquerque private eye’s professional success just might hinge on her status as grim reaper.

For years now, Charley Davidson has been helping her father, a retired cop, and her uncle, still on the Albuquerque force. As a teen, she saved Reyes Farrow from being beaten to death by the stepfather he’s now accused of killing. She’s afraid to sleep because Reyes, the devastatingly handsome son of Satan, haunts her with erotic dreams.

Approached by a doctor whose wife is missing, Charley senses that he has something to do with the disappearance. Assuring him that she’ll take the case, she investigates his past, which includes another wife found dead. Meanwhile, a biker gang wants her to discover who’s killing their guard dogs. When Reyes escapes from prison, carjacks Charley and tells her his stepfather is still alive, she senses yet another case to work on. As a portal for people to pass from life to death, Charley gets a lot of help from those who have not yet decided to pass over. Stressed to the max by her father, who wants her to quit investigating; Reyes, who tells her she still hasn’t uncovered all of her powers; and clients who may be planning to kill her, Charley just won’t give up.

Charley’s third paranormal case (Second Grave on the Left, 2011, etc.) features updates on the complicated relationships developed in the first two offerings. This time the mystery is stronger but still overshadowed by the ramifications of Charley’s day job.

A PERILOUS CONCEPTION

Karp, Larry Poisoned Pen (274 pp.) $24.95 | paper $14.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 Dec. 1, 2011 978-1-59058-973-1 978-1-59058-975-5 paperback 978-1-59058-974-8 Lg. Prt. When a veteran detective investigates a baffling murder-suicide, he uncovers a medical morass and some profound ethical questions.

Dr. Colin Sanford, an obstetric superstar at his hospital in metropolitan Emerald, Wash., is taken aback by the news that his colleague Dr. Giselle Hearn has been shot to death by James Kennett, the husband of one of his patients, in an apparent murder/suicide. Flashback to a year ago, when Sanford first meets Hearn, an expert geneticist somewhat restricted in her research because she works at a Catholic hospital. In 1976, the world of in vitro fertilization is nascent at best. Sanford’s patients

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“Warmhearted, satisfyingly inventive and almost too clever for its own good.” from heart of a killer

include James and Joyce Kennett, an infertile couple desperate for a child. Sanford, who has boundless ambition and, apparently, loose ethics, entices Hearn to work secretly with him on impregnating Joyce. Bernie Baumgartner, the veteran detective who’s investigating the Kennett killings, enters the story even as Sanford’s flashbacks continue. Sanford reluctantly admits to the reader that the process was not easy but reveals that Joyce gave birth to a healthy boy, whom she and James named Robbie.

There’ll be a spot of attempted blackmail by Hearn’s colleague Alma Wanego, and plenty of spicy goulash and tart opinions served up by Bernie’s Hungarian wife Irma.

Alternating first-person narratives from the self-important surgeon and the hard-boiled sleuth add texture to this series kickoff from Karp (The King of Ragtime, 2008, etc.).

Well paced and intriguing.

GUN GAMES

Kellerman, Faye Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $25.99 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-06-206432-5 A psychopath’s teenage son falls in love.

Lt. Peter Decker, LAPD, and his wife Rina, a grandma supplying kosher treats to the children and grandkids, have taken on the task of fostering Gabe, a 15-yearold piano prodigy, whose mom has abandoned him and whose dad, hit man Chris Donatti, has settled in Nevada to operate a chain of brothels. After a standoff with a posse of threatening school bullies led by Dylan Lashay, Gabe meets and falls for Yasmine, 14, a Persian Jew and opera aficionado. They keep their romance secret from her Orthodox parents, but text incessantly and meet every morning before school at the Coffee Bean. Decker meanwhile tries to discover why two teens at Bell and Wakefield prep school have committed suicide with stolen guns within six weeks of each other. When Dylan’s main squeeze, the sexually manipulative Cameron, approaches Gabe and he turns her down, her revenge includes bogus cries of rape and a kidnapping at gunpoint. Decker and coppers Dunn and Oliver swoop in and confiscate evidence that will not only support Gabe and Yasmine’s version of what went on but tie Dylan and his hotheads to at least one of the suicides.

Kellerman (Hangman, 2010, etc.) stakes out her claim as the mordant Judy Blume. If you’re not particularly engaged by the sexual arousal of pubescent first-timers, you can skip to the final vignette, which puts the focus back on adult misdemeanors.

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VICTIMS

Kellerman, Jonathan Ballantine (352 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-345-50571-2 A serial killer eludes a cop and a psychiatrist.

Even LAPD homicide consultant Alex Delaware, a child psychiatrist who labors hard not to be judgmental, is nauseated by the gory handiwork confronting his good friend Detective Milo Sturgis: a corpse with her guts strung about her like a necklace. And she’s only the first victim. There will be five in all, seemingly with nothing in common except their killer’s obsessive mayhem and the paper adorned with a large question mark slipped beside their bodies. Much theorizing by Alex and much legwork by Milo determine that the killer and his victims may first have collided at the now defunct Ventura State Hospital, where the mentally unbalanced were incarcerated and the most untreatable of the lot consigned to the Specialized Care Unit. But privacy issues prevent them from examining old patient files, and psychiatrists who could offer information waffle. As the bodies pile up, Milo loses favor with his bosses and Alex has to wonder if he’s misread some interviewee’s remarks. Slowly, the men arrive at the same conclusion: the serial killer has a partner.

Is one the mentor and the other the mentee? Did they bond at Ventura and begin their killing years later, after the closing of the hospital made revenge (for what?) possible? Clearly, an unraveling of the havoc will require a return to the Ventura site, with lingering aftereffects for both Alex and Milo.

Fans of this long-running series (Mystery, 2011, etc.) will get exactly what they’ve come to expect: a thoughtful Alex, a mildly sarcastic Milo and a well-constructed plot, although here the final sequences seem more in keeping with TV melodrama than Kellerman’s usual product.

HEART OF A KILLER

Rosenfelt, David Minotaur (304 pp.) $24.99 paperback | $11.99 e-book Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-312-59837-2 978-1-4299-5050-3 e-book A lawyer who’s never tried a criminal case suddenly finds himself with the world’s unlikeliest pro bono client: a woman convicted of murder who demands the right to end her life so that she can donate her heart to her dying daughter.

New Jersey doesn’t have the death penalty, so there’s no way Sheryl Harrison can be legally executed for the murder of her husband Charlie, even though she confessed at the scene six years ago. Once her request finds its way to about-to-be-fired

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associate Jamie Wagner, however, he’s so smitten with the woman who calls him “Harvard” that he instantly starts doing his best to make her wish come true. Jamie does get Sheryl taken off suicide watch, but the New Jersey State Prison for Women insists on keeping her alive despite her fervent wishes. There’s only one dim hope: that Jamie can get her original conviction overturned so that the woman he loves can go home and kill herself. After all, Newark police detective John Novack has never been entirely convinced of her guilt even though he’s the one she confessed to.

As these unlikely allies go forth on their quixotic mission, Rosenfelt presents tantalizing glimpses of the criminal mastermind they’re up against: domestic terrorist Nolan Murray, a computer hacker who’s prepared to cause high-casualty havoc throughout the nation’s tech-dependent transportation and energy sectors if his extortion demands aren’t met. What this monster has to do with Sheryl’s plight, and whether Jamie will be able to fulfill her wishes and bid her farewell, are questions Rosenfelt answers with all his accustomed dexterity (On Borrowed Time, 2011, etc.).

Warmhearted, satisfyingly inventive and almost too clever for its own good. Why isn’t Rosenfelt a household name like Michael Connelly and Jeffery Deaver?

science fiction and fantasy THE RUINED CITY

Brandon, Paula Spectra/Bantam (384 pp.) $15.00 paperback | $9.99 e-book Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-553-58382-3 978-0-345-53237-4 e-book Sequel to The Traitor’s Daughter (2011), Brandon’s well-plotted, intriguingly peopled fantasy whose setting, along with magicians called “arcanists,” resembles the medieval Italian city-state era.

Since the conquest of Faerlorn by neighboring Taerlezzi 20 years previously, Aureste Belandor collaborated with the occupiers in order to preserve his wealth and influence while maintaining restrained hostilities with his hated rival, Vinz Corvestri, an arcanist. Innesq, Aureste’s crippled younger brother, a powerful arcanist, is convinced that he and the realm’s mightiest arcanists must band together to meet the existential threat posed by the Other, an unimaginably powerful and incomprehensible intelligence that once inhabited the world and now apparently intends to make a comeback. Meanwhile, plague ravages the streets; worse, its victims don’t stay dead but become zombies apparently under the control of the Other, and the amphibian Sishmindri, once biddable slaves of the great houses, have revolted |

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against their masters. Jianna, Aureste’s daughter, kidnapped by Faerlornish rebels in the previous book, has fallen for physician and rebel sympathizer Falaste Rione. Falaste’s headstrong sister, Celisse, has sworn to assassinate the brutal Taerlezzi governor. Other complications include Grix Orlazzu, another potent arcanist, who wants nothing to do with Innesq’s gathering; Grix’s clockwork automaton, who considers himself superior to his creator; and Onartino Belandor, briefly Jianna’s husband, whom she thought—hoped—to be dead. Set forth in a dispassionate, gently sardonic style, the unpredictable narrative proves quirkily engaging—right up to the point where it cuts off abruptly, with no attempt to resolve anything at all. Cynical indeed.

Enjoyable, mostly, though even the most avid and forgiving fans will find it difficult not to be annoyed.

SONGS OF THE EARTH

Cooper, Elspeth Tor (480 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-7653-3165-6

Epic fantasy debut, and first of a series, concocted from standard fantasy elements.

For 1,000 years following a great victory against overwhelming odds, the warrior-scholar Knights of the goddessworshipping Eadorian Church have kept the peace—and condemned as a witch anybody who can work magic. For 10 years, orphan and novice Gair concealed his magic talents but then was discovered, tortured to reveal secrets he did not possess and condemned by the Elders to burn. At his trial, however, Preceptor Ansel, old and in failing health, commutes his sentence to branding and exile—to the outrage of an opposing faction within the church. With the help of wise old Alderan, who’s secretive but clearly magical himself, Gair escapes the persistent attentions of a witchfinder sent by Ansel’s opposition. Eventually they arrive on Penglas, an island in the distant west where Alderan and the Guardians of the Veil run a school for gifted individuals like Gair. Meanwhile, roving Gatekeeper Masen has learned that the Veil separating the world from the Hidden Kingdom is weakening, and hurries back to Penglas to warn Alderan. Gair, now that he no longer fears his own capabilities, embraces his exceptional powers and abilities. While a dying Ansel tries to hold on to his authority within the church, Gair and Alderan ponder the dwindling Veil and the approach of one of Alderan’s former students, Savin, a renegade of unrivaled might and malevolence. Odd that a goddess-worshipping cult has an all-male priesthood or even much of a congregation.

Still, the characters are believable and grow with their roles, the plot unfolds steadily and the writing conveys scenes and dialogue with impressive clarity, even to the rousing finale.

Cooper makes no great claim to originality, but the absorbing narrative and sheer quality of the production will keep readers impatiently awaiting the next installment.

(Agent: Ian Drury) science fiction & fantasy

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THE ORDER OF THE SCALES

Deas, Stephen ROC/Penguin (400 pp.) $25.95 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-0-451-46437-8

Third entry in the series (The King of the Crags, 2011, etc.), all of which previously appeared in the U.K., about telepathic dragons who after death are reborn with their memories intact.

These are not cute, lovable, compliant, Anne McCaffrey–like dragons, or wise, ancient, unfathomable, Le Guin–style dragons, but arrogant, cruel, savage, man-eating dragons, seething with rage and the urge to destroy. Other than that, almost everything going on here is mystifying if you haven’t read the previous books, and perhaps even if you have. Human factions, led variously by Valmeyan, Zafir, Jehal and Hyrkallan, each as devious and merciless as the next, have conspired, plotted, betrayed and ambushed in order to seize the title of Speaker— whatever that entails. Intermittent hostilities have degenerated into all-out warfare, as warriors mounted on war-dragons contend for mastery of the skies, their dragons tamed and controlled by means of potions brewed by the alchemists. But now the potions have run out and a new generation of feral dragons has arisen, fully cognizant of their long slavery and thirsting for vengeance. So, much as they hate and despise each other, the factions must unite against this existential threat. Other elements in this ferociously explosive mix include Kithyr, a blood-mage hired to steal the dragon-slaying Adamantine Spear by the Picker, an Elemental Man and agent of the mysterious Taiytakei, a people from across the ocean; and the adventures of Kemir, a wandering mercenary who’s somehow become attached to Snow, one of the awakened dragons. Both humans and dragons have personalities and obscure agendas. What they do is wildly unpredictable and always subordinate to sheer spectacle.

Startling, unremitting violence at a blistering pace, where who survives, wins.

group discover a wormhole that takes them even further into Sh’daar territory, where they’re able to finally confront their previously faceless enemy and learn the reasons behind the Sh’daar’s relentless assault. Douglas devotes most of the book to detailed but fairly lifeless descriptions of space battles, focusing on strategy over human interaction, and he has a tendency to get lost in minutiae. The book is chock-full of exposition, which is great for readers who missed the previous installments in the series, but gets irritating when Douglas is repeating the same bit of back story or techno-babble for the third or fourth time. Character development is virtually nonexistent—Koenig is upstanding and steadfast, and various crew members are lucky to get one discernible trait each. Fighter pilot Trevor Gray, who ends up captured by the Sh’daar, is the most fleshed-out character in the book, and his interactions with the aliens as he learns about their true motives are by far the most interesting passages. But Douglas rushes through the explanations to spend more time on military strategizing, and thus loses one of the only elements with the potential to set the book apart. By the time the story wraps up, Douglas has barely explored the complex history of the Sh’daar, but he’s explained the principles behind each of the fleet’s weapons numerous times. This is science fiction at its most uninspired.

The rote battle scenes crowd out both ideas and characters.

SINGULARITY

Douglas, Ian Harper Voyager (400 pp.) $7.99 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-06-184027-2 Series: Star Carrier, 3 The concluding chapter (Center of Gravity, 2011, etc.) in Douglas’ Star Carrier military science-fiction trilogy wraps up the story with workmanlike efficiency but few thrills or surprises.

Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig takes the star carrier America and a whole fleet of ships on an unauthorized mission, pursuing the alien Sh’daar into deep space, determined to end humanity’s decades-long war with the galaxyspanning empire. In a remote star system, Koenig and his battle 138

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nonfiction DRIVING MR. YOGI Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball’s Greatest Gift

MIRACLE FOR JEN A Tragic Accident, a Mother’s Desperate Prayer, and Heaven’s Extraordinary Answer

Araton, Harvey Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (256 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 3, 2012 978-0-547-74672-2 An exploration and celebration of deep friendship under the cloak of a baseball book.

Other than starring in Yankee pinstripes, though not at the same time, Yogi Berra and Ron Guidry wouldn’t seem to have much in common. The Hall of Fame catcher from the Italian ghetto of St. Louis and the pitcher young enough to be his son, from the Cajun swamp country of Louisiana, might not even seem to speak the same language, unless that language was baseball. Yet baseball isn’t the focus of this book about the transgenerational bond forged by the two men, a story that germinated in a New York Times spring-training column written last year by Araton (When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks, 2011, etc.). It’s the story of a younger player and the idol who became his best friend.

There is no talk of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, nor of salaries exponentially inflated since the two played.

There is little about games that mattered, since much of the book concerns the spring training rituals that annually reunite the two. It’s also the story of two genuinely likable, admirable athletes, though the nuanced portrait of Berra is pricklier than the cuddly caricature so often depicted. He adheres strictly to routines, from a rigid schedule to his rotation of restaurants and the meals he orders there. Guidry understands Berra well enough to know when to poke fun at him and when to protect him from the attention he most certainly doesn’t crave. Other indelible characters play a part—including George Steinbrenner, whose alienation of Berra and reconciliation with him proved key in the lives of both—but this is mainly the story of two buddies and the sport over which they have bonded.

A well-told tale if friendship with baseball as the backdrop.

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Barrick, Linda & Perry, John Tyndale House (220 pp.) $19.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-4143-6119-2

A mother’s searching memoir about how she and her family found their faith tested in the aftermath of a devastating car crash.

Baptist evangelical speaker Barrick had the perfect life. A Bible study leader, she was happily married and had two blessed children. Her son was a gifted athlete; her daughter, Jen, was a “straight-A honor student, varsity soccer player and nationally ranked varsity cheerleader” who loved God. But in 2006, tragedy struck when a drunk driver collided head-on with the car in which she and her family were riding. Her son escaped with bruises and scratches while Barrick and her husband suffered multiple fractures and severe lacerations. Jen was hurt worst of all and sustained life-threatening head injuries. Barrick and her husband struggled to come to terms with their now-shattered lives as Jen lay in a coma for over a month. Against all odds, she began to respond; even more amazingly, she started conversing with God in language that was perfectly intelligible. Like her mother and father, Jen recovered her health, but was even more profoundly changed by the accident than they were. Now braininjured and nearly blind, she was only able to regain normal speech with great effort, although her ability to speak to God unimpaired continued to astound those around her. Barrick admits throughout to longing for a daughter who could be “normal” again. But through Jen, she came to understand that her human desires were secondary to God’s plan, which was to give her daughter “her own special place in His world.” The author’s story is moving but will no doubt frustrate secular readers, as she remains silent about other neurologically based explanations for her daughter’s remarkable abilities and recovery.

Likely to appeal only to Christian readers.

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“Stellar cultural writing—Bissell has the knowledge and wit to earn his provocations.” from magic hours

AGORAFABULOUS! Dispatches from My Bedroom

Benincasa, Sara Morrow/HarperCollins (272 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-06-202441-1 A blisteringly funny yet affecting debut memoir about a young woman’s struggle to overcome panic disorder and agoraphobia.

Podcast host and award-winning comedian Benincasa recounts her adolescent devolution into a “full-on, obsessive, cowering, trembling agoraphobe.” She suffered her first panic attacks when she was 11 and was taking antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs to control her condition by the time she was 16. Her phobias continued to intensify to the point where even short trips to the hair salon became difficult for her. Benincasa, however, ignored the signs that her “weird problems” were getting worse until she got to college. During her junior year, she broke down completely. In the terrible omniscience born from madness, she woke up one day “knowing” that to leave her apartment meant certain disaster. The comedian then began a slow and painful surrender to the phobias that had dogged her from childhood. Her bed became her refuge, cereal bowls her toilets. Therapy, homemade smoothies, “Zentastic, organic, free-range, fair trade, sustainable, sage-scented self-help books” and the timely intervention of friends and family pulled Benincasa back from the edge of her agoraphobic abyss. But she continued to wrestle with her demons through college, teaching jobs and graduate school until she discovered, by accident, the healing power of stand-up comedy. “I subscribe to the notion,” she writes, “that if you can laugh at the shittiest moments in your life, you can transcend them.”

Fabulously quirky and outrageous.

MAGIC HOURS Essays on Creators and Creation

Bissell, Tom Believer Books/McSweeney’s (304 pp.) $14.00 paperback | Apr. 10, 2012 978-1-936365-76-0 A whip-smart, occasionally pugnacious collection of essays on culture from a wide-ranging critic.

In recent years Bissell (Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, 2010, etc.) has built a reputation as an expert on video games, culminating with the scattershot Extra Lives. Here he covers a wider swath but provides more coherence, in part because a more consistent theme emerges: the necessity of calling shenanigans on the artificiality of much of mass culture, and the difficult search for glimmers of integrity. In “Escanaba’s Magic Hour,” Bissell follows the filming of an indie movie in his 140

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hardscrabble Upper Peninsula hometown and cannily reveals subtle parrying between the townsfolk and the visiting filmmakers. In “Writing about Writing about Writing,” he demolishes the rhetoric of how-to writing guides, slapping the genre for its disingenuously upbeat declarations. In “Cinema Crudité,” he investigates the anti-genius of Tommy Wiseau, director of the contemporary camp classic, The Room. Bissell can tear into his subjects with a ferocity and brutal wit that recalls Dwight Macdonald, as when he writes about the would-be literary provocateurs of the Underground Literary Alliance or celebrated historian Robert Kaplan, whom he damns as an “incompetent thinker and a miserable writer.” Bissell’s more common tone, though, is that of the exasperated critic weary of conventional thinking, and he bookends the collection with pieces that drive that point home: “Unflowered Aloes” debunks the idea that literary greatness will always be discovered, and the closing interview with Jim Harrison is a lament for a dying working-class literary culture. Even the book’s weak spots are strong: A pair of New Yorker profiles on TV and video-game professionals feel relatively voiceless—a problem with the magazine’s house style that, ironically enough, Bissell calls out in an earlier essay.

Stellar cultural writing—Bissell has the knowledge and wit to earn his provocations.

THE MORMON PEOPLE The Making of an American Faith Bowman, Matthew Random House (352 pp.) $26.00 | Jan. 24, 2012 978-0-679-64490-3 978-0-679-64491-0 e-book

A comprehensive history of the popular religion bearing distinctly American roots.

Timed for release just as the cogs in the 2012 presidential election start turning, Bowman’s (Religion/Hampden-Sydney Coll.) study of Mormonism shows how this brand of Christianity has always sported a strong relationship with American politics and values, whether in sync or at odds with them.

Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith Jr., the “mercurial” upstate New Yorker and “seducer of biographers” who received visions and translated the “golden plates” on which were written the religious tenets revealed to him, the Mormon faith, according to Bowman, combines a “sacramentalism and priesthood reminiscent of Catholicism with a decidedly Protestant devotion to scripture and suspicion of trained clergy.” Writing to educate a readership unfamiliar with Mormon beliefs, the author claims that “Americans have admired Mormons for their diligence, their rectitude, their faith, and their honesty; they have feared them for their zealotry, their polygamy, and their heresy.” While many—including Mark Twain, who famously dubbed Smith’s Book of Mormon “‘chloroform in print’ “—were skeptical of its apocalyptic dogmatism and determinism in building a new Zion, others quickly took to the values that somewhat mirrored the

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expansionist society and followed Smith west. Some of Smith’s ideas, such as abstinence from tobacco and “strong drink,” were right in keeping with those of the 1830s American temperance movement; others, such as the notions that God had a corporeal body and sanctioned polygamy, proved less acceptable to society at large. Bowman paints a multidimensional portrait of a separatist movement riddled with fascinating dichotomies: a patriarchal religion at once embracing community and committed to worldwide missionary service yet sanctioning at various times in its history gross discrimination against women, those of African descent and homosexuals. The author also includes informative appendices of the church hierarchy, lists of Mormon scripture, past presidents of the church and other significant figures, and a bibliographic essay.

A thorough, stimulating rendering of the Mormon past and present.

GILDED LIVES, FATAL VOYAGE The Titanic, Her Passengers, and Their World Brewster, Hugh Crown (352 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-307-98470-8 978-0-307-98471-5 e-book

In time for the centennial commemoration of the sinking of the Titanic, a close look at the lives of the ship’s most privileged passengers.

Drawing on a wide range of material, Titanic expert Brewster explores the world of the wealthy passengers, especially the intricate network of complicated social connections and public scandals that often persisted onboard. Each chapter concerns a specific circle of high society, and the author looks at some of the biggest names of the era, including millionaire John Jacob Astor IV, presidential aide Archibald Butt, railroad president Charles Hays and future tennis champion Norris Williams.

Although rich in historical detail, much of Brewster’s narrative is couched in speculative prose—for example, passenger Charlotte Cardeza “may have instructed her maid to select her rose-colored Lucile evening dress from the eleven gowns she had with her”—at times stretching the reader’s credulity. Brewster rarely mentions those not directly involved with the rich and famous—the majority of the passengers on board—but he supplies an impressive amount of information, often directly pulling from firsthand accounts. The author vividly renders the collision, the sinking, the chilling wail of unseen swimmers calling from the cold water and the shipwreck’s aftermath.

Though overly concerned with the minutia of Edwardian society, Brewster delivers a welcome, interesting addition to Titanic-related literature.

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THE QUANTUM UNIVERSE (And Why Anything That Can Happen, Does) Cox, Brian & Forshaw, Jeff Da Capo/Perseus (256 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 15, 2012 978-0-306-81964-3 978-0-306-82060-1 e-book

Quantum physics describes how everything (not just subatomic particles) works, but even experts agree that no one truly understands it.

There is no shortage of popular introductions, but curious readers will not regret choosing this meticulous account

by British physicists Cox and Forshaw (Why Does E=mc2? (And Why Should We Care?), 2009). A particle can also be a wave of pure energy, and it can be anywhere in the universe at the same time. An electron moves from one orbit of an atom to another instantly, but one can never locate it precisely. Space cannot be empty; matter constantly appears and vanishes. If quantum laws do not forbid something from happening, it will eventually happen. These are facts; experiments confirm them. Writers often explain these in relentlessly nontechnical language that converts them into a magic show, but Cox and Forshaw will have none of this. Using ingenious pedagogical examples, they demonstrate that weird quantum phenomena make perfect sense. Thus, they convert a particle/wave to a clock whose time indicates the wave’s phase and whose hands turn counterclockwise as the particle/wave moves; the square of the hand’s length represents the probability of finding it in a particular spot. By following this analogy, they insist, formerly mysterious concepts such as wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle follow naturally. While the authors show real imagination, they are dealing with profoundly challenging subjects, and readers who do not pay close attention will find themselves reduced to enjoying the traditional magic show.

An ambitious explanation of the vast quantum universe aimed at readers willing to work.

THE STORY OF ENGLISH IN 100 WORDS

Crystal, David St. Martin’s (208 pp.) $22.99 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-1-250-00346-1

The author of The Stories of English (2004) and other volumes devoted to the nature and history of our language returns with a gem that sparkles with information about how English grows, changes, adopts and plays.

In the final sentence of his latest book, noted linguist Crystal (Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language, 2010, etc.), calls himself a “word buff ”—that’s a bit like calling Versailles a

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“A nicely optimistic look at a matter that usually brings out the darkest thoughts among prognosticators—if a touch starry-eyed, at least a dream worth nurturing.” from abundance

house. The author ably exploits a terrific idea—teaching 100 lessons about English by picking out 100 words from our history, telling us their origin story and showing us how they’ve changed and spawned. Roughly chronological—beginning in the fifth century, ending in the 21st—Crystal’s text begins with what may be the first written word in our language, raihan, the word for roe-deer, and ends with something awfully recent, twittersphere. In between are not just the stories of individual words but the stories of how words become words. Why do we sometimes spell yogurt with an –h? Has there always been a difference between disinterested and uninterested? Why do only poets use certain words like swain? Where did OK and gotcha and app and LOL come from? What about the meanings of muggle before J.K. Rowling? Crystal may have written the only book in recent history that mentions the spelling of potatoes but does not drag in poor Dan Quayle. Younger readers may be surprised to read that dude dates to the 19th century, that UFO has more than 20 different meanings and that unfriend has a history antedating Facebook. Throughout, Crystal highlights the playfulness of English and its refusal to take itself too seriously.

Snack-sized chapters with banquet-sized satisfaction.

(15 black-and-white illustrations)

SHOW DOG The Charmed Life and Trying Times of a Near-Perfect Purebred

Dean, Josh It Books/HarperCollins (416 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-0-06-202048-2

A lighthearted account of a year in the life of a show dog.

Dog shows may appear inscrutable to the outsider due to the amount of time and money devoted to promoting and showing animals that, to an untrained eye, appear equally attractive. Former Men’s Journal editor Dean’s major achievement is his effective demystification of this world.

The author demonstrates to readers how easily one can become invested, emotionally and financially, in the success of a show dog.

The author focuses on Jack, an Australian shepherd who enjoyed early success in the ring. However, when readers meet him, he is struggling to fulfill his potential. Dean also profiles Jack’s entourage—including his fretful but proud owner, Kimberly, his tough but effective handler, Heather, and many other strong personalities who inhabit the dog-show community—and ably explains the motivation behind dog shows: the recognition of dogs who are nearly flawless representations of the exacting standards of their breed. This recognition helps keep these breeds alive, but, writes the author, it also leads to cheating and overbreeding. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t seriously examine these problems, and he only mentions—but never develops—his provocative theory that dog-show judges are so influenced by the decisions made by other judges that once a dog gets on a winning streak, few judges want to be the one to break it.

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Light on investigative journalism, this book will be an amiable companion for those looking for a sympathetic and educational look at the dog-show community.

ABUNDANCE Why the Future Will Be Much Better Than You Think

Diamandis, Peter H. & Kotler, Steven Free Press (256 pp.) $26.99 | Feb. 21, 2012 978-1-4516-1421-3

Forget Club of Rome gloom and doom. If the future isn’t necessarily bright enough for shades, then, write high-tech pioneer Diamandis and science journalist Kotler (A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life, 2010, etc.), things are going to work out just fine.

The title speaks volumes. A tenet of capitalism is that resources are scarce, which justifies our scramble to get what we can. Yet, write the authors, “when seen through the lens of technology, few resources are truly scarce, they’re mainly inaccessible.” So drinking water is scarce and getting scarcer?

There’s a big ocean out there; what remains to be done is to develop some method to desalinate the ocean’s water “in the same way that electrolysis easily transformed bauxite into aluminum.” Of course, there is also a major shortage of fossil fuels—but no shortage of sunlight, and in fact more than 5,000 times as much solar power available as we could possibly use in our wildest dreams. It will bring some readers up short to contemplate the abundance that Diamandis and Kotler project in the face of the stark reality that there may well be 10 billion humans on the planet by the year 2050, but that doesn’t daunt the authors much, given the human talent for engineering our way out of trouble. Engineering is a major part of their program, as “the purview of backyard tinkerers has extended far beyond custom cars and homebrew computers, and now reaches into once esoteric fields like genetics and robotics.” What about the health-care crisis? Well, nothing a few generations of robotic surgeons can’t help, if not cure. Food crisis? Just 150 verticalfarm skyscrapers could feed all of New York City. And so on, to the point that there seems to be no problem that the authors find insurmountable, or even especially daunting.

A nicely optimistic look at a matter that usually brings out the darkest thoughts among prognosticators—if a touch starry-eyed, at least a dream worth nurturing.

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HENRY FRIENDLY, GREATEST JUDGE OF HIS ERA

Dorsen, David M. Belknap/Harvard Univ. (506 pp.) $35.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-674-06439-3 978-0-674-06493-5 e-book The improbable making of a brilliant jurist.

Hailing from a German-Jewish family in Elmira, N.Y., Friendly (1903–1986) became a top student at Harvard, editor of the Harvard Law Review, a clerk for Louis Brandeis and one of the few Jews in corporate-law practices on Wall Street. After three decades in private practice, Friendly resolved to change careers. With friends such as Felix Frankfurter and Learned Hand bringing his name to President Eisenhower’s attention, he was nominated and confirmed for the Second Circuit, based in Manhattan, in 1959. Dorsen, counsel to Sedgwick LLP, skates over Friendly’s early years as being solid but undistinguished, and organizes his meticulous biography around the judicial themes that Friendly and his fellow appellate judges took up over the decades: administrative law, securities law, federal court jurisdiction and grand jury procedure. Friendly exploded with writings during his tenure, not only in opinions but speeches and articles, and made an indelible mark on cases involving the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination and double jeopardy clauses, intellectual property and copyright, common law and railroad reorganization. He was highly respected by his fellow judges, and Dorsen writes that Friendly was cited in opinions only second as often as Hand.

Fairly conservative, cautious and occasionally creative, Friendly would likely have been a “swing vote” on the Supreme Court today, writes Dorsen, as well as a champion of the Legal Process School. Depressive and prone to eye ailments, he committed suicide at age 82.

A dense and lawyerly but sometimes illuminating biography.

THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS Food from My Frontier

Drummond, Ree Morrow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $29.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-06-199718-1 978-0-06-210075-7 e-book Bestselling cookbook author Drummond (The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels—A Love Story, 2011, etc.) returns with another compilation of mouthwatering recipes.

The recipes are designed to “win friends, influence people, garner marriage proposals, foster friendships, mend fences, and make you the most popular person in town”—or to fill the comfort-food needs of the non–weight-watching crowd. |

The average cook will have no trouble duplicating these easyto-follow recipes. Drummond’s step-by-step instructions are illustrated with photographs at each stage in the recipe, leading readers from beginning to end. Covering all types of meals from breakfast, lunch and supper to party foods, beverages and desserts, many recipes are similar to what our mothers might have cooked before recipes became more health and calorie conscious. Familiar dishes such as ranch-style chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches and fancy macaroni and cheese will appeal to the reader’s desire to cook hearty foods with a modicum of expertise, time and money being spent in the process. Drummond makes exotic-sounding dishes such as “Italian Meatball Soup,” “Caprese Salad” and “Honey-Plum-Soy Chicken” as simple as frying an egg for breakfast. Interspersed with the recipes are more photographs of the author’s life on her ranch. Some readers may delight in Drummond’s down-home way of speaking directly to the reader, while others may find the interaction a bit snarky and annoying.

A collection of basic recipes to guarantee a full belly and an empty plate.

ZONA A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room Dyer, Geoff Pantheon (192 pp.) $24.00 | Feb. 21, 2012 978-0-307-37738-8

A personal meditation on Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker—though, this being a Dyer (Otherwise Known as the Human Condition, 2011, etc.) book, it’s about plenty more besides.

Stalker is a relatively obscure entry in Russian director Tarkovsky’s oeuvre, but it’s exceedingly receptive to critical analysis. The film follows three archetypes—Writer, Professor and Stalker—in a mysterious and heavily guarded wilderness as they ponder the meaning of life. Dyer doesn’t provide a critical analysis of the film so much as a scene-by-scene walkthrough of it, just to see where it takes him—which is pretty far. He riffs on The Last of the Mohicans, Chernobyl, his affinity for particular brands of knapsack, the effect of aging on one’s enthusiasm for cultural consumption, and more. At his most far-flung, he recalls his squandered opportunities for ménages à trois. Such digressions are vintage Dyer: Inserted as footnotes or parentheticals, they sometimes go on for so long that it can be hard to recall the scene in the movie that prompted the comment in the first place. He delivers a few too many hokey puns, and he sometimes overreaches to argue for the film’s ongoing influence. (A claim that the film works as a 9/11 allegory is particularly forced.) The lack of a strong thesis is frustrating, and ultimately this is a lesser Dyer book. However, it gets over on his enthusiasm for the film and on his infectious admiration of Tarkovsky’s philosophical reach. The “room” at the center of

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MAKING BABIES Stumbling into Motherhood

Stalker represents our need to locate our deepest desires, Dyer explains, and in that context maybe talking about those failed three-ways was necessary after all.

A digressive but impassioned mash note to a film that defies easy summary.

INDIA A Sacred Geography Eck, Diana L. Harmony (560 pp.) $27.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-385-53190-0 978-0-385-53191-7 e-book

A far-reaching exploration of the spiritual geography and sacred spaces of India.

With its hundreds of disparate peoples connected by a shared conception of place, India is, in the words of statesman Jawaharlal Nehru, “an ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie [has] been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer [has] completely hidden or erased what [has] been written previously.”

The country is densely layered with places, events, markers and deities from the Mahabharata, the Rig Veda and other foundational Indian texts. Each of these sites, in turn, is connected to the others in a vast, complex network stretching the length and breadth of the land, from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean.

It is this mythical or spiritual geography that gives Hinduism its power and meaning and shapes how other faiths, from Sikhism to Christianity and Islam, are practiced there. Eck (Comparative Religion and Indian Studies/Harvard Univ., A New Religious America, 2001, etc.) explores the numerous holy rivers and pilgrimage paths of India, seeking out temples and shrines marking a particular place’s significance within the span of Indian cosmology. Explaining how the various gods in the Hindu pantheon are associated with certain regions and features of the landscape, Eck connects the Hindu legends to the physical geography of the country. In this way, every village, creek, ridge or copse of trees represents an identifiable moment, object or event in the Hindu scriptures. Pilgrims bring these associations to life by traveling the land on hundreds of set paths—e.g., from the head to the heart to the navel to the feet of Krishna—helping to develop, as they go, a united sense of Indian identity that transcends linguistic or cultural affiliations.

At times a bit dense for the casual reader, but Eck’s perseverance illuminates one of the world’s most mysterious and multifaceted countries. (10 black-and-white photos)

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Enright, Anne Norton (208 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 2, 2012 978-0-393-07828-2

A dryly humorous memoir/guidebook about pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood by the Man Booker Prize– winning Irish novelist.

Enright (The Forgotten Waltz, 2011, etc.) was married to her husband for nearly 20 years before they decided to have children. Having always assumed, vaguely, that she would be a mother, she first wanted to focus on her writing career. Divided into several-dozen short chapters, the book offers dispatches from the frontlines of first-time parenthood. Enright gracefully moves between straight facts, disarmingly funny admissions, her own unexpected revelations and experiences and conversational second-person directives. In “Babies: A Breeder’s Guide,” the author organizes the narrative into categories that include “Home Birth,” “Naming,” “Burps, Burp!, Burp!,” “Evolution” and “How to Panic,” to name a few.

Throughout, Enright displays a great sense of humor, calling to mind two similarly themed memoirs: Anne Lamott’s Operating Instructions (1993) and Rachel Cusk’s A Life’s Work (2002).

Enright’s conclusions are far more optimistic than Cusk’s, but she shares Lamott’s talent for drawing the reader fully into her writing with her frank and comic tone. She’s equally honest about the difficult, boring aspects of becoming a parent, although Enright’s humor works better than her seriousness. While she doesn’t shy away from revealing vibrant detail the traumas and upheavals involved in pregnancy and parenthood, it’s her talent for elevating otherwise menial complaints into universal truths that makes the book compelling. Fans of Enright’s novels and short stories, especially parents or those contemplating parenthood, will be interested in her perspective.

A winning and witty take on a well-covered topic.

LANGUAGE The Cultural Tool

Everett, Daniel L. Pantheon (352 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-307-37853-8 978-0-307-90702-8 e-book

Everett (Dean of Arts and Sciences/ Bentley Univ.; Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazon Jungle, 2008, etc.) challenges Noam Chomsky, arguing that grammar and language are learned.

The author begins and ends with images of fire, calling language “the cognitive fire.” After some obligatory comments about how he intends to be fair with his opponents, he soars off into his thesis about how language is a tool—one that we

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“Both heart-wrenching and deeply inspiring.

Imagine communicating with your daughter for the first time—at 10 years old.” from carly ’s voice acquire rather than inherit genetically, rather like a bow and arrow. Throughout, Everett endeavors to leaven his otherwise heavy narrative with anecdotes (especially about his years living with the Amazonian Pirahã) and with allusions to music and to popular culture—among others, he looks at Phil Spector, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Mick Jagger and the Lone Ranger and Tonto. The author dismisses the idea that there’s a “language gene,” and he explains linguistic terms like Zipf ’s Law, discreteness, contingency and recursion. He finds ways to chip chinks in Chomsky’s armor and dives gleefully into the controversy surrounding Benjamin Whorf, who maintained that our languages circumscribe our thoughts. Everett closely examines the Pirahã, noting that they have no words for numbers or colors, but mothers nonetheless know how many children they have. He pauses now and then for more extensive explanations of related topics, like cross-cultural ideas of kinship, noting that our (American) terms for first and second cousin (and the notion of “removed”) are disappearing because we no longer use them. The author grieves at the loss of any language, takes a shot or two at public schools for their failure to teach about dialects and notes how each language makes its speakers happy.

Readers’ eyes will sometimes sparkle with new insight, sometimes glaze at the dense exposition.

CARLY’S VOICE Breaking Through Autism

Fleischmann, Arthur with Fleischmann, Carly Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (400 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-1-4391-9414-0 The anarchy of lives dictated by autism, for both the autistic person and the immediate family, rawly detailed by

one such parent.

The first pages of this memoir/biography might have you convinced that Fleischmann has little more than a threnody to offer regarding life with his daughter Carly, who has severe autism and oral apraxia: “She made odd movements and sounds and covered her ears when it was noisy. She cried often. And she never, ever stopped moving. Never.” Through a series of neverending downbeats (“Always the incessant rocking. The rocking became the manifestation of everything I hated about Carly’s condition”), coupled with his wife’s diagnosis of lymphoma (“I was beginning to feel like Haiti. Or Sri Lanka. A place where natural disasters just start coming and don’t have the good sense to stop”), readers can’t help but sympathize with the author and his family. Fleischmann displays brutal, disarming honesty, though toward the beginning of the book some readers may wonder when enough is enough. But then something happens, and it becomes clear that the author has been quietly setting the stage all along: introducing Carly’s teachers, explaining the applied behavioral analysis technique they use with her, touching on every step forward and all the steps back. One day Carly |

started to communicate through her computer—haltingly but intelligibly—and her parents learned that she was not as oblivious as they thought when they were speaking rather frankly in front of her. To read along as she expresses her feelings in conversations with her father is almost as stunning as when she writes of life inside her autistic head: “It’s like being in a room with the stereo on full blast. It feels like my legs are on fire and over a million ants are climbing up my arms.” Is it any wonder she still has behavioral outbursts?

Both heart-wrenching and deeply inspiring. Imagine communicating with your daughter for the first time—at 10 years old: “I could be more than a caregiver: I could actually be her father.”

HELL ABOVE EARTH The Incredible True Story of an American WWII Bomber Commander and the Copilot Ordered to Kill Him Frater, Stephen St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-312-61792-9 978-1-4299-5682-6 e-book

The riveting true story of a World War II bomber pilot and the co-pilot who received orders to kill him.

At the beginning of the war, U.S. pilot Werner Goering was “an exceptional pilot” whose “nerves of steel, combined with his unwavering ability to make split-second decisions, saw his crew safely home, mission after grueling mission.” However, writes Sarasota Herald-Tribune staffer Frater, he was also the nephew of Hitler’s right-hand man and head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering. As a national-security precaution, FBI officials ordered his experienced co-pilot, Jack Rencher, to kill him if their B-17 was going down over Nazi territory. In addition to examining the friendship that developed between the two, the author packs the narrative with rapid-fire history and statistics about the 303rd Bomb Group, the growth of the U.S. Air Force and the overall tenor of the war. Frater captures the strength, fear and bravery of Goering and Rencher’s crew, but never fully explains the details of the men’s lives. The narrative is more a factual recounting of Goering’s career, which began as an untrusted pilot and continued for more than 20 years as a risk-taking spy during the Cold War, ending at a desk in the Pentagon. After the twists and turns in Goering’s many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation. Despite occasional repetition, the author delivers an exciting read full of littleknown facts about the war.

A WWII thrill ride.

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THE BAREFOOT BANDIT The True Tale of Colton Harris-Moore, New American Outlaw Friel, Bob Hyperion (304 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-1-4013-2416-2

Highly detailed account of a teenaged criminal who eluded law enforce-

ment for two years.

Travel journalist Friel became fascinated with Colton Harris-Moore when he and his wife relocated to the seemingly peaceful residential island of Orcas in the waters off Washington State. Harris-Moore, born in 1991, grew up on Orcas and knew its terrain intimately. By age 10 he was stealing from local businesses and homes. Caught occasionally, he served time in juvenile detention before starting a new crime spree focused on stealing and flying private airplanes, even though he had never completed pilot training. When Harris-Moore could not successfully steal an airplane, he stole pleasure boats and automobiles. As his brazen thefts spread to other islands and then to the mainland, law-enforcement agencies felt certain they could capture Harris-Moore. They were wrong. He often escaped on foot, outrunning police despite his insistence on going through life without wearing shoes (hence his moniker “the barefoot bandit”). Those bare feet and his height caused Harris-Moore to stand out, but he seemingly did not worry about disguising himself. The bulk of the narrative provides sometimesoverwhelming amounts of information about Harris-Moore’s crimes and his escapes. Friel also examines his subject’s haphazard home life, his loving but often inept mother, his unpopularity in school and his apparent desire to go through his young life as a loner. The author eventually became involved in the search to locate Harris-Moore, adding a mostly effective first-person element to the saga.

A remarkable crime saga that could have been 100 pages shorter. (Film rights optioned to 20th Century Fox)

THE KINGS’ MISTRESSES The Liberated Lives of Marie Mancini, Princess Colonna, and Her Sister Hortense, Duchess Mazarin Goldsmith, Elizabeth PublicAffairs (272 pp.) $26.99 | Apr. 3, 2012 978-1-58648-889-5

The story of the 17th-century version of the Kardashian sisters, but with the added touch of brains, literacy and class.

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life and turning their lives into international gossip. For Goldsmith (French/Boston Univ.; Going Public: Women and Publishing in Early Modern France, 1995, etc.) they were “arguably the first media celebrities,” and they received a suitably mixed reception: “admired by libertines, feminists and free-thinkers but viewed by others as frivolous at best and threats to civil society at worst.”

Born to the Roman aristocracy, they were taken to France by their uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, a savvy political operator with an eye to his own future, who hoped to marry them off. The elder Marie caught the fancy of Louis XIV, but his mother Queen Anne wouldn’t have it; Marie had to settle instead for the Italian price Lorenzo Colonna, who wasn’t about to let marriage keep him from other women. The younger Hortense drew the attention of England’s Charles II, then in exile. However, she ended up with Armand-Charles de la Porte de la Meilleraye, a bullying religious fanatic twice her age; the arrangement made her “the richest heiress and the unhappiest woman in Christendom.” After their escapes from their unhappy marriages, the sisters played an elaborate cat-and-mouse game across Europe as their incensed husbands appealed to the authorities, dispatched spies, made threats and attempted kidnappings. The sisters dodged their husbands, indulged their whims and wrote celebrity tell-alls, possibly another first. Though the narrative could have used a lighter authorial touch, the story moves along at a swift pace.

Goldsmith’s reserved, professional prose works against the rollicking nature of the tale, but the fascinating subjects make up for it.

REDEFINING BLACK POWER Reflections on the State of Black America

Griffith, Joanne--Ed. City Lights (200 pp.) $16.95 paperback | Feb. 15, 2012 978-0-87286-546-4

Anthology of interviews with notable black scholars, focused on the prospects for social justice in the age of Obama.

The book is a companion volume to the Pacifica Radio Archives, which has long documented “voices from the black freedom movement.” Journalist Griffith, who has been researching and presenting this material on BBC since 2007, describes the archive as containing “stories of African American struggle and triumph…for those who wish to listen and learn from the people who defined a movement,” including Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. Here she presents seven interviews with community organizers, legal scholars, academics and activists, attempting to capture a moment in which Obama’s presidency arguably obscures ongoing racial inequities, exacerbated by a weak economy and continued discrimination by law enforcement.

Griffith provides historical context in her conversation with Dr. Vincent Harding, a theologian best known for co-authoring Dr. King’s famous antiwar speech of 1967; Harding observes that the civil-rights movement was more accurately concerned with

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“Essential reading for Civil War buffs and a great overview of a key battle for neophytes.” from shiloh, 1862

“the expansion and deepening of democracy in America.” Legal scholar Michelle Alexander offers disturbing thoughts regarding policies of mass incarceration and the “War on Drugs” that visit disproportionate (and hypocritical) harm on black communities. Dr. Julianne Malveaux probes the racial aspects of the ongoing recession, grimly noting that “[Obama’s] employment legislation is just pathetic, frankly…they tiptoed around issues of black unemployment.” Ramona Africa, one of two survivors of the notorious 1985 bombing of the radical MOVE compound in Philadelphia, provides a unique perspective on police brutality toward African-Americans. Other notable participants include Temple University journalism professor Linn Washington Jr. and one-time Obama appointee Van Jones. Griffith concludes by wondering if progressives have been “lulled into a satisfied slumber” by Obama’s election, and whether Dr. King’s ambitions have been betrayed by this complacency.

Multifaceted discussions regarding the challenges faced by African-Americans during the Obama presidency.

SHILOH, 1862 The First Great and Terrible Battle of the Civil War

Groom, Winston National Geographic (512 pp.) $30.00 | Mar. 20, 2012 978-1-4262-0874-4

Stirring Civil War history from the author of Forest Gump.

Groom (Kearny’s March, 2011) presents Shiloh, fought on April 6-7 in western Tennessee, as a turning point in the war. The casualty count exceeded all previous American wars combined. After setting the stage, Groom takes the reader to Pittsburg Landing, the nearest town to the battle, a few days beforehand. Grant and Sherman had moved 48,000 troops into the area, and were expecting more. Against them were arrayed some 45,000 rebels commanded by Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard. But little of the commanders’ brilliance showed in the early fighting. Grant and Sherman, expecting reinforcements from Don Carlos Buell, were caught unprepared. Meanwhile, Beauregard either misinterpreted or disregarded Johnston’s battle plan, sending his troops in three consecutive waves rather than in three corps fighting abreast.

Add to that the utter greenness of the troops, many of whom had never fired their guns, and the difficulty of the terrain, and it is easy to understand the chaos of the first day’s battle. Driven back in the morning, the Union lines stabilized over a sunken road to repel successive rebel assaults. When Johnston was killed, Beauregard, after more fierce action, called his men off to await the morning. But it was too late—Buell, with 17,000 reinforcements, arrived on the field, leading the Union to victory. Groom follows individual soldiers and small units as well as the larger shape of the battle, and quotes extensively from primary sources, including memoirs by Henry Stanley, Ambrose Bierce and Lew Wallace. The author also looks at the battle’s |

impact on civilians, some of whom remained in their farmhouses while fighting raged over their fields. The emphasis on the human element gives the book a power that sets it apart from most military histories.

Essential reading for Civil War buffs and a great overview of a key battle for neophytes.

JAMES MADISON AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA

Gutzman, Kevin R.C. St. Martin’s (432 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-312-62500-9 978-1-4299-4100-6 e-book

Authoritative account of the public career of James Madison (1751–1836).

Son of a wealthy Virginia planter, Madison missed out on the American Revolution due to illness but played critical roles in the shaping of the new nation.

Besides working to remake monarchical Virginia into a republican society, he helped form the continental coalition that sent delegates from 12 states to Philadelphia for the Federal Convention in 1787. Short, cerebral and soft-spoken, he combined the strengths of a diligent scholar and an informed politician, bringing his studies of ancient and modern governments to bear as a leader in the movement to ratify the constitution.

Gutzman (History/Western Connecticut State Univ.; The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution, 2007, etc.) draws on primary sources to portray Madison as an adept nation-builder who drafted the Bill of Rights and fought for a strong federal government and the free exercise of religion. As co-author with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay of The Federalist editorials, he argued vehemently for ratification of the Constitution, often noting the applicability of historical lessons to present circumstances. “Every person seems to acknowledge his greatness,” said a fellow convention delegate. Gutzman analyzes Madison’s contributions to The Federalist Papers, notably his “ingenious” call for ratification in Federalist No. 10, his steps to guarantee religious freedom in Virginia and his important role as a close advisor to President George Washington. With the War of 1812, he became the nation’s first war-time president. His outgoing, politically connected wife Dolley Madison (“the Presidentess”) fostered the Washington social whirl, including the tradition of the Inaugural Ball.

A well-considered and -written biography of this gifted Founding Father’s many contributions to the early republic. (8-page black-and-white photo insert)

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ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14 One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

Harden, Blaine Viking (256 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 2, 2012 978-0-670-02332-5

The chilling story of a prisoner in North Korea.

Born in Labor Camp 14, the child of political prisoners, Shin Dong-hyuk spent 23 years imprisoned, initially with his mother and other families in cramped quarters with no running water, no furniture and little soap. For protein, there were insects and rats. For a while, there was school, one without books or real education. Nothing was taught about the outside world, other than that it was peopled by enemies. At age 10 Shin began mining coal for the love of the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il. As an adolescent he was tortured viciously in an underground cell, and then taken to witness the execution of his mother and brother. He was not affected by the spectacle; he did not grieve. They had spoken of escape, and Shin had reported them. After learning from older prisoners about other lands and the foods to be had there, he planned his own escape. Through a series of improbable events, he made it to China, South Korea and then America. His spiritual journey—still in progress—has not been easy. His is one man’s remarkable story of deliverance from a hidden land where fact-checking is virtually impossible.

Economist contributor Harden (A River Lost: The Life and Death of the Columbia, 1996, etc.), nevertheless, has done his research, and Shin’s adventure largely conforms to those of the few others who have escaped captivity. The text was completed before the Dear Leader’s death. Camp 14 has been in operation for half a century, and we can only suppose that the new, baby-faced Supreme Leader will continue the legacy of the dynasty.

A terrifying story of brutal captivity and unremitting misery and the difficult adjustment to subsequent life in a very different place.

HER MAJESTY The Court of Queen Elizabeth II Hardman, Robert Pegasus (384 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 15, 2012 978-1-60598-361-5

A courtier’s fawning portrait of the longed-lived, thoroughly modern monarch.

At 60 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. According to British royal biographer Hardman (A Year with the Queen, 2007, etc.), she has never been so well loved and appreciated by her people for he r many virtues. The author examines the success of her long reign in terms of her 148

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ability to confront the “anachronistic pantomime” of the hereditary institution and institute reforms (whether she liked it or not), as she was forced to do with Lord Airlie’s royal-efficiency controls put in place in the ’80s. The royal household resumed paying taxes, thus becoming self-sufficient and managing to prove to the British government its continued relevancy and independence. Hardman rehearses the highs and lows of the queen’s reign, from her triumphal accession in 1952 and world tour a year later, to the frequently abominable behavior of her wayward children, the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992 and aftermath of the death of Lady Diana. Things could only get better.

Since the ’90s, the palace staff has modernized, computerized, consolidated dining rooms, opened the pool and royal opera box to more democratic use and acquired an in-palace dairy.

The queen makes dizzying tours of her Commonwealth every year and has been served by a dozen British prime ministers, no longer choosing them herself. Except for a rare glimpse at her temper in an unguarded, human moment caught on film in 1954 (hurling shoes and curses at the fleeing Duke of Edinburgh, her husband), Elizabeth II remains in this stately portrait as enigmatic (or merely blank) as she ever was.

A reverential look inside the intricate workings of Queen, Inc.—likely to appeal mostly to British readers and royal watchers. (24 pages of color photographs)

THE FOREST UNSEEN A Year’s Watch in Nature

Haskell, David George Viking (260 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 19, 2012 978-0-670-02337-0

An extraordinary, intimate view of life in an old-growth forest.

“Can the whole forest be seen through a small contemplative window of leaves, rocks, and water?” This is the question Haskell (Biology/Univ. of the South) set out to answer by examining one square meter of old-growth Tennessee woods. Highly informative and entertaining, these short essays are dense with sensory details and deserve to be read slowly and carefully. The sights, smells and sounds of the forest permeate the pages, bringing readers face to face with a panoply of simple natural wonders: leaves, wildflowers, mosses, ferns, snails, salamanders, deer and more. Throughout an entire calendar year, Haskell scrutinizes this “mandala” of space, connecting the microcosm of birds, plants and animals in this patch of woods to the macrocosm of the outer world. This in-depth look into the natural biosphere emphasizes the idea that nothing—not even the small microbes that exist in the leaf litter— lives unrelated or unconnected to any other thing. What happens in this old forest is affected by and will in turn affect other parts of the planet. Even as Haskell discovered an “ecological and evolutionary kinship with the forest,” he also realized “an equally powerful sense of otherness...a realization of the enormity of [his] ignorance…[where] simple enumeration and naming of

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“An exciting and enlightening exposé of the war in Afghanistan, the dangers of concentrated power and the public’s need to know.” from the operators

the mandala’s inhabitants lie far beyond [his] reach.” Equally as informative as and far more enjoyable than any biology textbook, the book provides valuable insight and perspective on a world that is often missed in the bustle of modern society.

Exceptional observations of the biological world worthy of any naturalist’s library.

THE OPERATORS The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan Hastings, Michael Blue Rider Press (432 pp.) $27.95 | Jan. 5, 2012 978-0-399-15988-6

War correspondent Hastings vividly recounts his explosive 2010 Rolling Stone article that got Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal drummed out of Afghanistan.

McChrystal’s unchecked remarks caused his firing, but things might have gone down differently if the general had taken a lesson from Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. It happened in the spring of 2010 during a European trip the general made to bolster sagging support for the war. Hastings was invited along. The premise of the movie—a promising band experiences their downfall after the Rolling Stone reporter they accept into their circle writes an unflattering (though accurate) story about them—perfectly mirrors the situation in which McChrystal and his entourage would become embroiled. Like Almost Famous, Hastings’ astute war memoir is pitch-perfect in demonstrating the challenges that all diligent journalists face. If someone isn’t actively working hard to shut you down, they’re busy trying to co-opt you. In this case, a certified war hero and his hotshot staff were too confident in their ability to woo a puff piece out of a young writer. The author’s frank discussion of these subtler forms of coercion, continuously employed to undermine accurate reporting, is undoubtedly courageous.

According to Hastings, McChrystal and his highly accomplished cadre of elite military men operated in a bubble so thick, they foolishly believed they could mold not only a magazine profile to their liking, but also an entire country. As the situation in Afghanistan grows increasingly muddy, the author’s disciplined adherence to solid journalistic practices and his acute eye for sharp scene setting makes much of the chaos comprehensible. Hastings has definitely taken up the traditional banner of the intrepid war correspondent, but he’s simultaneously shot it through with iconoclastic holes; the effect is illuminating on many levels.

An exciting and enlightening exposé of the war in Afghanistan, the dangers of concentrated power and the public’s need to know.

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OUT OF MY LEAGUE

Hayhurst, Dirk Citadel/Kensington (410 pp.) $24.95 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-8065-3485-5 The journeyman pitcher/author of The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran (2010) returns with an account of his struggles to reach and succeed in the Major Leagues—and to find true love.

Hayhurst declares in an author’s note that he’s not interested in writing about “dirty laundry,” but there’s plenty of it on display. He offers grim portrayals of his father, mother and brother, as well as a dark portrait of a fellow minor-league pitcher he calls “Dallas,” who is, in a word, an asshole. Other characters also appear with various warts and imperfections—managers, pitching coaches, veterans who love to haze and others. About the only person who comes off consistently well is the author’s fiancée, Bonnie, whom he marries near the end. Hayhurst occasionally says some bad things and has a few locker-room tantrums, but for the most part he’s the Good Guy on a Quest.

Early on he indicates his strong religious beliefs, but they don’t appear much thereafter—oddly, not even during the painful period when he first pitched for the Padres, couldn’t find the plate and lost his confidence. The author also makes an enormous demand on reader credulity when he reports everything in pages of verbatim dialogue with characters speaking in full, well-organized paragraphs, even when they’re outraged. And the chapters end with something snappy, as if Neil Simon were whispering suggestions for curtain lines in their ears. Overall, though, Hayhurst creates forward momentum. Despite our reservations about the narrative, we want him to succeed on the mound, to marry well and to live happily ever after.

Extraordinary experiences rendered in mostly ordinary prose.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORK A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families Hirshberg, Meg Cadoux Greenleaf Book Group (260 pp.) $23.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-9839340-0-4

Can today’s nuclear family survive the demands of a two-career household?

Journalist Hirshberg knows firsthand and explains how it’s done. A columnist for entrepreneur-friendly Inc. magazine, the author consulted with more than 200 business professionals and their family members, investigating how the condition of their work-life situation affected domestic stability and what they’ve done to successfully achieve a satisfactory balance. Spliced throughout these stories is the engaging chronicle of her own 25-year “entrepreneurial marriage,” which began with

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laborious farm work and financial instability in the mid-1980s on her husband Gary’s then-struggling New Hampshire company, Stonyfield Yogurt (now a $370 million-dollar success). Hirshberg ably negotiates sticky subjects like borrowing business seed money from friends and family, angst-prone couples working together at the same company and how to run a home-based business with young children underfoot. She includes a colorful cast of driven entrepreneurs boasting effective reparative techniques, some as simple as turning off the BlackBerry during family time.

The author incorporates effective, applicable chapter summaries and fairly balances the many sugarcoated successes with the pitfalls of divorce, destructive egotism, jealousy and unfortunate illness. Hirshberg reiterates that the process is participative as both partners have an equal stake in the future happiness of both their businesses and their family lives, and that compromise and communication are key. This is especially evident in Gary’s introspective concluding essay reflecting on a marriage delicately weighted with equal parts corporate accountability, domestic maintenance and familial bliss-keeping. Easiest to overlook yet perhaps most important is the frequency of vacation breaks—a necessity, he suggests, that should be indulged regardless of cost: “Find economies elsewhere. Take those trips.”

An immensely beneficial, contemporary analysis of what makes modern-day working families really work.

THE START-UP OF YOU Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career Hoffman, Reid & Casnocha, Ben Crown Business (304 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-307-88890-7

A hugely successful Internet entrepreneur imparts the wisdom behind establishing and cultivating a successful

business career.

LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman opens with the commanding statement that “most people shouldn’t start companies.” He recommends that readers first create and invest in different avenues of entrepreneurial opportunities for their own careers and then allowing the business end to bloom from there. With co-writer and entrepreneur Casnocha, Hoffman offers strategies for adapting to the fluctuating conditions of today’s highly competitive trade- and technology-based employment marketplace. Noting that LinkedIn’s membership is now more than 100 million people, Hoffman delivers seven comprehensive chapters detailing the same skill sets that made his business such a booming success. These smatterings of advice delineate the importance of goals and calculated but sensible risk-taking.

But most importantly, Hoffman stresses the significance of the initiation, development and continual maintenance of genuine relationships within an established professional network. Cautionary examples of foibles by the city of Detroit are juxtaposed with success stories from online retailers Netflix, Flickr and 150

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Zappos. If Hoffman’s narrative reads a bit on the longwinded, repetitive side, his approach is enthusiastically direct, cleareyed and infectious. His largely referential text overflows with relevant source material, guided “invest-in-yourself ” encouragement and sage industry-insider smarts.

Motivational, mildly convoluted pep talk on career planning and the power of connections.

HOW IT BEGAN A Time-Traveler’s Guide to the Universe Impey, Chris Norton (400 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-393-08002-5

Popular cosmology writers rarely restrain their sense of wonder, but readers who tolerate the science-fiction scenarios scattered throughout this account

will not regret it.

Impey (Astronomy/Univ. of Arizona; How it Ends: From You to the Universe, 2010) writes that astronomers directly observe the past. Light from the nearest star, 25 trillion miles distant, takes about four years to arrive, so we see it as it was four years ago.

Modern instruments detect galaxies whose light has traveled since near the Big Bang 14 billion years ago. Eschewing the usual Ptolemy-Galileo-Newton-Einstein chronology, Impey begins nearby and proceeds to the end of the universe, which means he moves backward in time. Our solar system condensed from the same cosmic dust that formed the sun and stars. That planets form part of the natural order seems likely as the number detected orbiting other stars approaches 1,000. Stars form, age, collapse and explode, filling space with heavier elements that make life possible or disappear into black holes, a process that may emit more energy than an entire galaxy. Until the 1920s, the universe consisted of a single immense system of stars: our galaxy.

Then telescopes resolved innumerable hazy spots in the firmament as other galaxies; billions turned up. Subsequent disorienting discoveries revealed that galaxies are receding, carried away by an expanding universe whose matter is mostly invisible, propelled by newly discovered, inexplicable energy. These mysteries remain, despite the latest detectors which make out far-distant, immature galaxies present in a universe 1/20 its present age.

An astute tour of the cosmos by a skillful teacher. (75 illustrations)

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“Another celebrity drug memoir—but an honest, brave and funny one.” from guts

DROP DEAD HEALTHY One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection

Jacobs, A.J. Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 10, 2012 978-1-4165-9907-4

The bestselling author of The KnowIt-All (2004) and The Year of Living Biblically (2007) stretches the experiential journalist shtick to its limit with a cockamamie fitness quest to become the “healthiest man alive.”

Jacobs, an affable everyman with a ready supply of reliable oneliners, offers a moderately entertaining literary stunt. Some might spend 10 years or more dabbling in this or that fitness craze; the author runs the entire gauntlet in a period of months. One month he’s running bare-chested through Central Park like a caveman.

The next he’s eating off kiddie plates (to reduce portion size) and squatting over the toilet (to facilitate smoother excretions). The author tests a variety of differing health prescriptions but quickly settles into a rut of conflicting information, unsettled medical consensus and eye rolling from his wife. He dedicates each month to a different part of the body—the stomach, the heart, the teeth, etc.

By the end Jacobs has donned a bicycle helmet for simple walks around town in order to protect his fragile skull. Any hope of gaining a leg up on the Grim Reaper evaporates into a mist of futile perspiration. Despite his labors, the best advice the author offers is eat less, move more and try to steer clear of pollutants. Periodic visits to his 94-year-old grandfather (who has “the relentless energy and hearty build of Theodore Roosevelt”) are welcome detours, alleviating the drudgery and providing much-needed authenticity to an otherwise contrived exercise. The story of granddad’s long and rich life as a crusading lawyer (he helped bring “The Gates” art installation to Central Park) lends sharp perspective to Jacobs’ somewhat myopic quest. Maybe the goal shouldn’t be becoming the healthiest man alive, but to live life to the fullest.

Unobtrusive reading material for your next trip on the treadmill. (30 black-and-white photos)

GUTS The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster

Johnston, Kristen Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-4516-3505-8

Johnston, the comic actress best known for her role on 3rd Rock from the Sun, recounts the catastrophic medical crisis—and the alcohol and pill addiction that precipitated it— that led her to reevaluate her life and begin recovery.

The author’s voluble, bawdy prose style is immensely likable, and her rigorous honesty in recounting her lowest moments |

is admirable. Still, readers may question the need for another celebrity addiction memoir. Johnston herself repeatedly raises the question, lampooning the narcissistic impulse that plays a part in writing such a book, and the implied answer is that her good humor and lack of vanity encourages reader identification and distinguishes her offering from similar but more selfimportant works. She makes a strong case; her reminiscences of an alienated adolescence (Johnston reached her striking height of six feet early) and frustrating professional experiences are never less than amusingly candid and fleetly paced, ensuring the narrative of her nearly fatal descent into abject addiction and hard-won recovery never becomes a chore to get through, and her “best girlfriend telling it like it is” demeanor makes her struggle eminently relatable. Her descriptions of the trauma done to her digestive tract and the minimal comforts of her London hospital stay are vividly and memorably rendered, grounding her ostensibly frivolous tone in authentic pain and horror—there is surprising emotional resonance under all the jokey self-deprecation.

Another celebrity drug memoir—but an honest, brave and funny one.

ON AN IRISH ISLAND

Kanigel, Robert Knopf (336 pp.) $26.95 | Feb. 13, 2012 978-0-307-26959-1

A richly detailed biographical study of a group of early-20th-century intellectuals whose shared love for a dying insular culture helped save it from extinction.

Kanigel (Faux Real: Genuine Leather and Two Hundred Years of Inspired Fakes, 2007, etc.) displays his abundant erudition and narrative finesse in this story of how four European intellectuals—classicist George Thomson, British Museum curator Robin Flower and linguists Carl Marstrander and Marie-Louise Sjoestedt—found their lives forever changed by encounters with the people of Great Blasket Island, off the coast of Ireland. The four traveled to this remote island at different times and for different reasons. Thomson followed the suggestion of his friend and fellow Celtophile Flower and went to Blasket for the “Gaeltacht,” the Irish culture which had already enchanted Flower. Marstrander, a Norwegian, sought to examine the linguistic links that bound the Vikings to the ancient Celts. The sophisticated Parisian Sjoestedt sought the opportunity to study one of the most complex linguistic systems in the world. Although the islanders lived in “primitive” conditions, all four visitors became enthralled by the rich island culture. Interwoven among these overlapping, sometimes intersecting biographies are other stories, including that of playwright John Millington Synge, who went to the island to learn spoken Irish; and those of the men and women the four scholars befriended, loved and inspired. Thanks to their influence, dialect-rich folktales and life histories that would otherwise have perished found their way into Irish literary history.

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INSIDE APPLE How America’s Most Admired—and Secretive— Company Really Works

The portraits in this book are classic Kanigel: lively, sympathetic and thoroughly engaging. Yet what makes the narrative so affecting is the loss that permeates the text. As cultures like those on Great Blasket continue to be destroyed by the march of progress, so too are our connections to a simpler, more personally fulfilling way of living.

A mesmerizing interplay of lives and socio-historical contexts. (Author tour to Baltimore, Boston, New York, Philadelphia)

BEFORE THEY’RE GONE A Family’s Year-Long Quest to Explore America’s Most Endangered National Parks Lanza, Michael Beacon (224 pp.) $24.95 | Apr. 3, 2012 978-0-8070-0119-6 978-0-8070-0120-2 e-book

One family’s year-long adventure exploring the national parks of the United States.

Worried about the increasing evidence that global warming is affecting America’s national parks, Backpacker northwest editor Lanza crammed a year full of visits to 10 sites with his wife and two young children. Based on the premise that his children needed to see these natural wonders before the parks completely disappeared, the book is part family travelogue and part ecological observation. Scientists are not “talking about the distant future; they’re talking about ecological calamities and social breakdown on a scale unprecedented in human history, which many adults alive today will witness.” With this thought ever-present, Lanza writes with a bittersweet tone. He relishes his children’s joy as they discover these natural wonders for the first time and remembers his own first experiences. However, there is also a darker side to the narrative, as the author contemplates the sometimes-drastic changes that have taken place in the last 30-40 years. Glaciers that no longer exist in Glacier National Park, the erosion of shorelines as sea storms grow in strength, the death of Joshua trees in California’s Joshua Tree National Park—each site is under attack from events instigated primarily by humans. Although Lanza has opened the doors to this world to his children and readers alike, he offers no solutions to the current problems. His best advice: See what you can of these natural wonders before it’s too late.

Intriguing premise; decent execution—certainly of interest to environmentalists and other eco-minded readers.

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Lashinsky, Adam Business Plus/Grand Central (256 pp.) $26.99 | Jan. 25, 2012 978-1-4555-1215-7

Fortune senior editor at large Lashinsky wonders if the success of Apple can be replicated, or even continued, in the wake of the death of Steve Jobs.

The author writes clearly and efficiently but is repetitive in his analysis of this secretive cultural giant. “For years it was an article of faith in Silicon Valley that Apple should not be emulated,” he writes. Yet his narrative picks apart Jobs’ entrepreneurial philosophy and the company’s remarkable post-1997 trajectory—when it first revolutionized personal computing, then introduced the iPod and iPhone—in attempting to discuss such a strategy. One problem, as Lashinsky writes, is the company’s cultivated lack of transparency. The author seems to rely on secondary sources, and comments from current and former Apple employees are often unattributed. The basic narrative of Apple’s resurgence is well known: After Jobs left his own company due to corporate squabbling, it declined rapidly in the Internet era. Yet Jobs’ return in 1997 ushered in a season of risky corporate paring-down, followed by a string of success, starting with the iconic iMac. Jobs introduced compartmentalization and hyper-competitiveness to every aspect of the company.

For example, his annual “Top 100” meetings were pointedly exclusionary, which Lashinsky suggests is not the norm at such retreats. Apple as a workplace is portrayed as nearly monastic in employees’ willingness to sacrifice their personal lives, remain incommunicado and achieve the extreme interdepartmental cooperation Jobs sought, even at the end. Lashinsky describes Jobs’ successor Tim Cook as “a Mr. Fix-it who blended in but didn’t take no for an answer.” Among other late corporate innovations, Jobs quietly created a management-training program, Apple University, to “record, codify, and teach Apple’s business history.” Such points allow Lashinsky to support parallel assertions throughout—that Jobs’ management style may or may not be transferable, and that Apple’s special success may or may not endure once Jobs-approved projects pass through the pipeline.

A thorough but flawed attempt to penetrate a corporate icon’s blank white shell.

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JUMPED IN What Gangs Taught Me About Violence, Drugs, Love, and Redemption Leap, Jorja Beacon (240 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-8070-4456-8

Synthesis of memoir and polemical narrative from an expert on gangs, based on her research in the bloody trenches of

Los Angeles.

Leap (UCLA Department of Social Welfare) has spent years evaluating the various gang-prevention and -intervention programs that have evolved in California since the 1980s. She notes that her credibility among gang members, academics and law enforcement developed because “I am willing to go anywhere and talk to anyone to learn about gangs…I am doing something beyond conventional research.” Yet her personal life became even more fraught when she married Mark Leap, a LAPD commander who initially epitomized the straight-arrow, anti-gangster police archetype. While Leap questions the tumultuous nature of their relationship and her own motivations, she is compelled by a passion derived from sheer grief at the waste and violence inherent in gang life. These complexities frame the discussion of the myths and labyrinthine realities of black and Latino gangs in California. She notes that while popular culture has simplified the topic to “Crips and Bloods,” the pervasive violence associated with gang culture remains prominent, as do persistent social pathologies such as drug abuse and domestic violence. Yet Leap views the young “homies” she encounters as lost souls fleeing impoverished childhoods, noting that “there is no typical gang member.” Meanwhile, “the LAPD has combined suppression with street intervention,” and both approaches remain controversial, with ambiguous results. Leap relies on her intellectual open-heartedness and her personal connections to see her through the many dangerous situations she encounters. Like the documentary The Interrupters, she focuses on the “interventionists”—reformed gangsters who attempt to curtail street violence. Leap’s writing is vibrant and approachable; although her personalized approach at times causes a loss of focus regarding her broader sociological narrative of urban gangs, the narrative is suffused with the authenticity of hard-won expertise.

An impassioned, disturbing and not-terribly-optimistic account of a continuing American crisis. (Agent: Michael Murphy)

THE FOREVER FIX Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It

Lewis, Ricki St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-312-68190-6

Science journalist Lewis (Human Genetics: The Basics, 2010, etc.) examines the emergence of a new medical frontier.

The author opens in 2008, when 8-year-old Corey Haas’s attention was drawn to a hot air balloon and he cried out, “It hurts!” Just four days before he had been legally blind due to a mutation that prevented his eyes from processing visual signals; now for the first time in his life, the boy was experiencing the brilliance of full sunlight. Lewis takes readers through the tortuous process that turned young Corey into a poster boy for gene therapy nine years after the tragic death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger from a similar operation.

Gelsinger’s operation was intended to correct a mutated gene that affected his liver function. In both cases, the mutated gene was identified, and the boys were deliberately “infected” with genetically engineered viruses “sent into the body as microscopic ferries” bearing healthy replacement genes. Gelsinger, however, had suffered from an “unusual and deadly immunesystem response” to the virus. Both boys took part in experimental protocols with the informed consent of their guardians, who accepted the risk involved. Lewis chronicles the painstaking search for the specific genes responsible for genetic diseases, and she recounts the human stories behind each discovery, triumph and failure. A sidelight on this absorbing story is the development of rare genetic disorders in populations such as Jewish survivors of pogroms, whose gene pool suffered “the genetic consequences of serial strangulation.” The author also looks at the struggle to make genetic testing freely available to at-risk couples contemplating marriage.

A fascinating account of groundbreaking science and the people who make it possible. (8-page black-and-white photo insert)

EUROPE ON 5 WRONG TURNS A DAY One Man, Eight Countries, One Vintage Travel Guide

Mack, Doug Perigee/Penguin (272 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Apr. 3, 2012 978-0-399-53732-5

A clever idea for a travel book, executed engagingly though inconsistently.

Perhaps the first book by Minneapolis-based freelance writer Mack might best be considered a meta– travel book, a book about travel books, one in particular, and how it all but created the all-American practice of tourism while catering to it. The book that inspired this one is Frommer’s Europe |

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h c a i t l i n f l a n a g a n Former high-school teacher turned New Yorker staff writer Caitlin Flanagan dissects the harrowing world of female adolescence in her second book Girl Land.

Weaving her own recollections of adolescence with on-the-ground research and history, Flanagan’s portrait of this transitional period in a girl’s life is a fascinating study of how society itself has changed—and not always for the better.

Flanagan recently spoke with us about the pitfalls of modern feminism, what’s bad about the Internet and why your teenage daughter might be off sulking in her bedroom.

GIRL LAND

Caitlin Flanagan Reagan Arthur Little, Brown (224 pp. ) $25.99 Jan. 12, 2012 9780316065986

Q: You’re looking at milestones of female adolescence here.

Were there any aspects of this period that have changed so drastically it surprised you?

A: Almost everything! Look at menstruation. I’m 50, and it was maybe a few years before I was born that it was still considered dangerous. It’s a bittersweet feeling, the closer you are to giving life, the closer you are to potentially leaving your own. There’s still a sense that it’s a time of profound reckoning in the life of the girl. With boys, [puberty] comes with pleasure and sexuality. With girls, it’s blood.

We try to rush girls through things, and I feel sad and conflicted about that. The only positive is that girls’ reproductive health is not nearly as dangerous as it once was. But we’ve failed to give girls the quiet and space to figure out what that all means to them, like we once did.

Q: Are there other things that haven’t much changed at all?

A: What hasn’t changed is the enduring desire of girl to withdraw during this time, to withdraw into herself, into her room. Parents might be used to having a daughter who was such a chatterbox, their constant companion. It’s during this period that she retreats, goes into her bedroom and closes the door. That’s very constant. There’s an understanding that this is a profound and scary change for her in a way that it’s not for a boy. For girls, this period really affects the way they live, ends part of their lives. It’s really different for boys.

Q: Do you think that things have changed for boys in a similar manner? That their rites of passage have transformed in such a striking way?

Q: So how do parents address the challenges their daughters face?

A: I’ve suggested that there should be no Internet in the girl’s bedroom. And somehow it’s become the most controversial thing I’ve said! Whether it’s a smartphone or a laptop, Internet in the girl’s bedroom is a bad idea.

It’s not just the extreme images. A girl needs a break, to come home at the end of the school day and just tune out. School is a lot more complicated and dramatic for girls than it is for boys.

Their social lives are much more complex. They need a break after that, to be accepted on their own terms. They need space where they don’t have be pretty, don’t have to have the guy or sit at the right lunch table, where they can put their stupid old sweatpants and their retainer.

That smartphone, that Facebook, that Twitter doesn’t allow that—it’s coming in all the time, and it’s extremely anxiety provoking. It’s hard enough for adults to tune out, but terrible for adolescent girls. Parents give them these things, they have the right to say when and where and how they’re going to be used. They’ll have to deal with the fight that comes along with that. But it’s in their daughter’s best interest to draw boundaries, to have a least one space outside of that.

–By Karen Calabria

Q: You’re a vehement critic of modern feminism. You’ve said that “it’s shortchanged a generation of women.” How so?

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P HOTO © A N D R EW ZIN N

A: Life’s gotten a lot easier for boys. Ironically, what’s made it a lot easier for them was done in the name of misguided feminism.

A: The big thing I see on college campuses is that a lot of girls—the brightest and most capable who fought for admission at top schools, earned it on their own merits and have huge altruistic goals— are uncomfortable with a normal part of their lives.

They’re drinking to blackout with the intention of hooking up, going out and having extremely sexual encounters with boys they don’t know, or hardly know, that they barely remember the next day.

When I’ve talked to young women about their experiences, they often say, “It’s empowering, it’s our right, we can be as free as the guys get to be.” If having this kind of semi-anonymous sex is part of the freedom that these girls earned from previous generations, there’s something wrong with that.

Pornography, for example. Women watch it too. But the images you see on the screen don’t have anything remotely to do with the sexual response of women. Body parts are slammed together, the prerogative of the sexual desire is built around the male desire. How can that be anything that’s part of feminism?

on Five Dollars a Day, first published in 1957 and discontinued a half-century later as Europe on $95 a Day). The author found a copy at a book fair, bought it for a dime and discovered that it was something of a talisman for his mother, who used it on her own European travels before marriage. So the author decided to tour Europe using only this ancient, outdated book as a guide, ignoring all updates, successors and the advent of the Internet, doing his best to go, eat and stay where Frommer had advised (knowing that his expenses will extend well past $5 per day). The problem with this concept is that most of those places have closed over the years since the book was published, and the few that remain are either booked (by folks planning ahead with that pesky Internet), radically changed and/or out of Mack’s price reach. The author intersperses his travel adventures (which generally are no more unusual or entertaining than anyone else’s) with notes from his mother’s trip and some higher-concept musing about the impact of Frommer, the changes in travel in general and the changing notion of “tourist” from populist phenomenon to something of an epithet. In the process, Mack offers “cheers, too, to the beaten path; it’s beaten for a reason” and learns “to embrace the cliché.”

He writes of Frommer, “he was to travel as Julia Child was to food: the public figure who arrived at just the right cultural moment and said, with a light but nurturing tone, ‘You can do this. It’s not that hard. Here’s how.’ “ A genial companion for the armchair traveler.

ROLLING PENNIES IN THE DARK A Memoir with a Message

MacKinnon, Douglas Howard Books/Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $24.00 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-1-4516-0788-8

Political writer and former White House and Pentagon official MacKinnon (Vengeance is Mine, 2010) recounts his poor childhood with alcoholic parents in a forceful commentary about poverty.

At age six, the author saved his parents from a candle fire (the electricity was, typically, cut off) by tossing a toy bucket of water over the burning mattress on which they lay in an alcoholinduced coma. At eight, he and his siblings were abandoned in a car to succumb to hypothermia while his parents waited out the snowstorm in a bar. By nine, he ducked a shooting rampage by his mother; by 13, he had been stabbed in a gang fight; by 17, his family had been evicted more than 30 times. MacKinnon addresses his pain in a raw voice, with little forgiveness for his criminally neglectful parents. The author eventually fought his way out of poverty and into college, crediting intervening relatives, supportive teachers, love of reading and writing, faith and determination to save his siblings and himself. MacKinnon takes great pride in the fact that he never fell into a life of crime because of his roots and has no sympathy for those who have, a view that dominates later chapters. As a writer for the Reagan White House and director of communications for Bob Dole, |

MacKinnon hit his stride and honed his stance on poverty. For him, poverty is a moral issue that can only be solved by a collective commitment by legislators to truly understand the experience. The “message” portion of the book would be stronger if he offered a more specific plan for making this happen, and the vitriol he engages in while condemning enemies of the poor (the liberal media and teachers unions) is off-putting. The emotionally and politically charged writing is repetitive and lacks the sophistication and poetry of similar childhood horror stories by Mary Karr and Jeannette Walls. MacKinnon’s powerful example is consistently fueled by his desire to help others and by his laudable perspective that individuals must make use of their gifts despite the odds.

A combative addition to the literature of the war on poverty.

INNER RIVER A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality

Markides, Kyriacos C. Image/Doubleday (320 pp.) $15.00 paperback | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-307-88587-6

A scholar’s personal exploration of the mystical side of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Exploring mysticism first as an academic but then also as a believer, Markides (Sociology/Univ. of Maine; Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality, 2005, etc.) shares a variety of experiences that have most recently shaped his understanding of the subject. Much of the book revolves around Father Maximos, a respected monk at Mount Athos, a leading center of Greek Orthodox monasticism. Through multiple conversations with Father Maximos, the author shares monastic wisdom on a wide array of topics, including the seven fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

On one visit to Cyprus, Markides and his wife visited an aging novelist and engaged him in a lengthy discussion about the existence or nonexistence of an afterlife. In another chapter, the author chronicles his visit to St. Catherine Monastery at Mt. Sinai, where he viewed its ancient artistic and historical treasures and climbed the holy mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments. As a student of world religions and a sociologist, Markides sees Orthodoxy from a larger perspective: “I realized that what many Western intellectuals searched for in the ashrams of India and the lamaseries of Tibet—that is, an experiential pathway to the Divine—has been all along within the very heart of Christianity.” The author succeeds in providing a meaningful look at Orthodoxy and mysticism, but his use of extended dialogue is often forced. Nonetheless, Markides creates a useful collage of contemporary Eastern Orthodoxy, “an integrated system of spiritual practices within Christianity that can lead to a direct experience of God.” A flawed but worthwhile glimpse at a rich tradition.

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“Valuable and ready for immediate use.” from beyond the obvious

BEYOND THE OBVIOUS Killer Questions that Spark GameChanging Innovation

McKinney, Phil Hyperion (272 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4013-2446-9

In this bright, informative debut, McKinney, chief technology officer of HewlettPackard’s Personal Systems Group, writes that anyone can become an “idea person,” given the right approach and a willingness to work hard.

The most important thing is to ask the right questions— ”Killer Questions” that produce new insights into your customers, product and organization, and help trigger ideas. For example: What are the assumptions of my industry? What will my customers want in five years? Who uses my product in ways I never anticipated? Describing at length the kinds of questions that generate new information, McKinney warns that you must be prepared to defend your idea against in-house adversaries (“corporate antibodies”) who are comfortable with the status quo.

In a time when businesses need continuous reinvention to survive, many cling to obvious ideas that worked in the past. “Nearly all great ideas require nerve, vision, and guts to get in motion,” writes the author. To help readers identify and act on their best ideas, McKinney details a four-part FIRE program (Focus, Ideation, Rank, Execution), which hones in on the essential aspects of any problem or situation. As opposed to unguided and often fruitless brainstorming, FIRE uses questions to provide a logical and much-needed structure to focus ideation efforts, improve the quality of ideas, rank the ideas so that you know which ones to work on, and then execute the ideas. Offering vivid examples of how his approach has worked at HP and elsewhere, McKinney stresses the need to vigorously question conventional rules and assumptions to generate breakthrough innovations.

Valuable and ready for immediate use.

SOMETIMES THERE IS A VOID Memoirs of an Outsider

Mda, Zakes Farrar, Straus and Giroux (576 pp.) $30.00 | Jan. 3, 2012 978-0-374-28094-9 Acclaimed South African novelist, playwright and poet Mda (Cion, 2007, etc.) pens a memoir setting his experiences against the backdrop of a country in turmoil.

Both the author’s life and his narrative style are characterized by a sensorial roving through experience. Although he spent his early years in Soweto, Mda was forced to escape to Lesotho after his father was exiled because of his activism against apartheid. This change brought many adjustments 156

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for the young Mda involving his spoken language, local customs and the level of political awareness of his family and peers. Although his family was connected to power players in the anti-apartheid movement, including Nelson Mandela, Mda’s own peripatetic journeys of romance, rebellion and his search for an artistic calling often kept him feeling like an outsider, a theme repeated throughout the memoir. Mda’s eventful life is full of colorful characters, including childhood sweethearts, pedophile priests, shaman uncles and carousing artists. The structure of the narrative is challenging, as the author moves fluidly between the past and a point of relative present, and provides extensive commentary on both the details and the major events of his life. At nearly 600 pages, the book does contain some overwrought passages but is generally engaging.

A readable, insightful memoir by a major talent, particularly enjoyable for those already familiar with Mda’s body of work or with the cultural moments that helped to shape him. (8 pages of black-and-white illustrations)

PAX ETHNICA Where and How Diversity Succeeds

Meyer, Karl E. & Brysac, Shareen Blair PublicAffairs (304 pp.) $28.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-58648-829-1 A good-news book, based on serious research, about how traditionally hostile groups can overcome differences to live in harmony.

Meyer and Brysac, a married couple, have written previous books together (Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East, 2008, etc.) and separately. By examining “neglected oases of civility,” they break from the conventional wisdom that ethnic and religious strife are inevitable when perceived enemies share geographic space. These oases include Flensburg, a northern German city emerging from the Schleswig-Holstein region, the longtime border area contested by the warriors of Denmark; the Republic of Tatarstan in the former Soviet Union, where the Muslim majority and the substantial Orthodox Christian minority coexist peacefully; Marseille, France, where a population that is about one-quarter Muslim, an unusually high percentage for a European nation, mingles successfully with sizable Orthodox Christian and Jewish populations; the state of Kerala in India, a densely populated entity bordering the Arabian Sea, where Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities have practiced mutual respect; and Queens, N.Y., where more than 2 million residents speak 138 languages.

The authors on-the-ground reporting is impressive, especially given the built-in language barriers. Near the end of the book, Meyer and Brysac share 11 guidelines “promoting civility in diverse societies,” which include public grappling by government and private authorities with stereotypes of unpopular minorities; free reign of minority languages within the larger

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AMERICAN GENESIS The Evolution Controversies from Scopes to Creation Science

society; constructing housing to integrate diverse populations rather than segregate them; developing public libraries as community centers to overcome language and other cultural differences; empowering women as well as men; and harnessing popular culture to cross societal barriers.

A skillful rendering of an inspiring message.

THE SECRET SEX LIFE OF A SINGLE MOM

Moore, Delaine Seal Press (256 pp.) $17.00 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-58005-386-0 Chronicle of a stay-at-home mom’s failed marriage and salacious experiments with online dating.

First-time Canadian author Moore garnered attention for her personal blog IAmDivorcedNotDead.com, which led to this book on the same subject. In her frank, conversational voice, the author reveals the intimate details she shared with her husband, Robert, whose infidelity she partly blames on her losing interest in sex with him. After years of feeling numb, Moore felt a strong attraction to her married acupuncturist, with whom she undertook a yearlong affair. In the middle of his divorce, Moore separated from Robert, only to discover that her acupuncturist had been cheating on her and would, within weeks, be the father of his other mistress’ new baby.

Moore, along with two girlfriends whose marriages were on the rocks, threw herself into online dating and casual encounters. Her ensuing adventures included a visit to a swingers’ club, explicit e-mail exchanges with, among others, a man who demands that she reports all of her sexual escapades (she consents), and many experiments with dominant lovers. She did not enter a committed relationship with any of them, choosing instead to bask in her newfound sexual liberation. The title, however, isn’t technically true, since Moore is upfront about her conquests and pleasurable exploits, as well as, for the bulk of the book’s action, still legally married.

Her extreme honesty is engaging, but the seemingly endless stream of sexual details eventually blunts both the reader’s attention and appetite to continue reading.

The literary equivalent of frozen yogurt—neither rich nor healthy, and not particularly filling.

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Moran, Jeffrey P. Oxford Univ. (216 pp.) $29.95 | Mar. 7, 2012 978-0-19-518349-8

Moran (History/Univ. of Kansas; The Scopes Trial, 2002, etc.) provides a scholarly look at the antievolution “impulse,” focusing on the interactions of the social forces that animated, propelled and changed it.

The author employs an old-fashioned historiography— introduction, clearly stated thesis, chapters devoted to each aspect of the thesis, a generally impersonal tone, scholarly diction—but he does highlight some important aspects of the controversies that have raged since the Scopes Trial of 1925.

After some personal comments about his arrival to teach in Kansas and his alarm about that state’s decision about the teaching of evolution, he sketches the career of Charles Darwin and shows how Darwin’s revolutionary work was received both here and abroad. He notes the importance of women in the controversies here and shows how they became more deeply involved when the debate shifted to the public-school curriculum. He looks, too, at the involvement of evangelicals and summarizes the positions of notables like Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson and J. Franklyn Norris. Regionalism, he argues, was (and remains) an important factor. In some ways the South has felt once again invaded by the North, this time by rivers of scorn that have flowed from the pens of many Northern journalists. Moran examines how evolution threatened not just the “young earthers” who accepted Genesis as history but also those who believed in the divinity of Jesus.

Race has always been a factor, and the author notes the large percentage of African-Americans who believe in the literal truth of the Bible; he also explains how many were disturbed by the ape imagery that often accompanied debates about evolution. Moran ends with the continuing difficulties that science teachers and students face in American classrooms, where the issue remains prominent and divisive.

Important historical points that would glow brightly if illuminated by more narrative fire.

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“A miraculous journey of mother and son for whom music provided strength and nourishment.” from alice’s piano

ALICE’S PIANO The Life of Alice Herz-Sommer

WHY CALORIES COUNT From Science to Politics

Müller, Melissa and Piechocki, Reinhard St. Martin’s (368 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-250-00741-4

The harrowing tale of a Czech concert pianist’s survival at the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

At 108 years old in 2011, Alice HerzSommer is the world’s oldest living Holocaust survivor, residing in Jerusalem since the Communist regime forced her from her Prague home in 1949. In this novelistic reconstruction of her life by her friend Piechocki and journalist Müller (Anne Frank: The Biography, 1998, etc.), Herz-Sommer is portrayed as the stronger-willed of twin girls born to a mismatched Germanspeaking Jewish couple in Prague in 1903. From a young age she was determined to master the piano. Her older sister included her twin sisters in visits with other German-speaking Jewish friends who formed the intellectual literary Prague Circle—e.g., Max Brod, Oskar Baum and Franz Kafka. A student at the German Academy of Music after World War I, Herz became a notable concert pianist and teacher, married businessman Leopold Sommer and had a son, Stephan, by the time the Nazis marched into Prague in 1939. While many of her family emigrated to Palestine, the Sommers remained in Prague, only to see their lives drained bit by bit. First, Herz’s elderly mother was deported to Theresienstadt, after which she taught herself the Chopin Etudes out of despair; then the Sommers were deported as well in 1943. At the camp, Alice became a sought-after pianist for the many musical productions organized by the Free Time Organization, while Stephan was enlisted in children’s choruses. Herz would often play the Chopin Etudes in concerts for the inmates, while Stephan acted in the SS propaganda film made to show the world what a “ghetto paradise” the camp was. Meanwhile, transports continued, Leopold was deported to Auschwitz and Theresienstadt was rumored to be evacuated. However, Alice was allowed to stay, giving her last concert at the camp in 1945.

A miraculous journey of mother and son for whom music provided strength and nourishment. (Three 8-page black-and-white inserts)

Nestle, Marion & Nesheim, Malden Univ. of California (304 pp.) $29.95 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-520-26288-1

Nestle (Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health/New York Univ.; Pet Food Politics, 2008, etc.) and Nesheim (Nutritional Sciences, Emeritus/Cornell Univ.; co-author, with Nestle: Feed Your Pet Right, 2010, etc.) explore “calories in all their dimensions—personal, scientific, and political.”

Calories are abstract—”they cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted, and their biological functions are difficult for most people to grasp.” In the early chapters, the authors discuss the discovery of calories and their measurement, but these sections feel like a slog through the basement of an old natural-history museum. The remaining chapters read better, especially when the authors step away from their data-rich analysis and voice their concerns. Nestle and Nesheim devote several chapters to the physiological and political implications of inadequate calories, then introduce obesity and factors that conspire to prevent us from losing or maintaining weight. The human body does a great job of ensuring that it gets enough calories “but it is much less effective at knowing when calories are in excess.” The messages we receive about food often overpower our biophysical mechanisms to limit eating. In the final section, the authors examine the politics of calories. They argue that inadvertent responses to greater food production and competition in the food industry strongly promote the overconsumption of calories, including changes that “encourage eating in more places at more times of day in larger portions.” They also argue that the cause of today’s obesity trend is not less physical activity, as exercise rates have stayed the same since 1980.

A strong, rigorous overview of the calorie, its regulation and the politics behind food labeling and marketing.

(16 black-and-white illustrations; 9 line illustrations; 26 tables)

UPRISING How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street

Nichols, John Nation Books/Perseus (224 pp.) $15.99 paperback | Feb. 14, 2012 978-1-56858-703-5 An engrossing, informative take on the mass demonstrations that broke out in Wisconsin in early 2011 in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

As a political writer for the Nation and associate editor of Madison’s Capital Times, Nichols (The “S” Word: A Short History of 158

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an American Tradition…Socialism, 2011, etc.) covered the protests in Wisconsin from the beginning. Growing out of that coverage, this book is well researched and full of keen insights about the state of organized labor and the power of protest. Nichols makes no secret of his perspective on the protests: “I am not an unbiased observer, and this is not an unbiased account.” He is an unabashedly pro-labor progressive and longtime Wisconsinite with “a relative, living or dead, in every crossroads town from Green Bay to Grant County, from Mineral Point to Madison, from Owen to Oshkosh.” Though his sympathies are apparent, his overall tone is more philosophical than polemical; his aim is not to reiterate the demands of the Wisconsin protesters but to explore the implications of their protest. Nichols compares the events in Wisconsin to the 2011 uprising in Egypt and the Occupy Wall Street movement. He also provides important historical context, including discussions of Thomas Paine and James Madison, which sheds new light on the political struggles of today. Despite occasional repetition and high-flown rhetoric, Nichols is a capable and energetic narrator with a reporter’s knack for getting to the heart of the matter.

Richly detailed and inspiring—worth reading for anyone interested in organized labor, civil disobedience or the spirit of Wisconsin.

IN THE MEMORY OF THE MAP A Cartographic Memoir

Norment, Christopher Univ. of Iowa (264 pp.) $22.50 paperback | Mar. 15, 2012 978-1-60938-077-9

A biology professor’s memoir concerning maps, memory and the importance of the natural world.

Norment (Environmental Science and Biology/SUNY Brockport; Return to Warden’s Grove: Science, Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows, 2008, etc.) begins one dreary March day when, tired of grading papers, he pulled out a map of Mount Whitney, Calif., and began to ruminate about maps, boyhood, marriage, fatherhood and life in the outdoors. The author writes of his longtime passion for trails and highways and describes many experiences on the twisted, tangled trails in remote regions of North America and, eventually, of his life. Although an Edenic aura often glows around his accounts, the snake is present, too, in the form of a sexually abusive, alcoholic stepfather. Norment does not offer graphic descriptions of his boyhood trauma, but at various times the dark memories of abuse drip their poison on his prose. Roughly chronological (but with flashbacks), the narrative covers his boyhood wanderings in California, his childhood fascination with gas-station maps, his experiences following feral burros in Death Valley, his pleasant memories of working with Outward Bound and his hikes with his children and a lifelong friend, with whom he hiked, sans maps, in a remote area of Washington State. He writes eloquently about the allegorical aspects of maps and evinces a wide acquaintance with scientific |

and creative literature, alluding to Faulkner, Chabon, Vonnegut, Muir, Hugo, Shakespeare and many others.

A journey through life with a guide who knows the trail and its wonders and who delights in the unexpected vistas that elevation can offer. (10 maps)

HOW TO TEACH RELATIVITY TO YOUR DOG

Orzel, Chad Basic (368 pp.) $16.99 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-465-02331-8

Another quirky science primer from the author How to Teach Physics to Your Dog (2009).

Traditional popular-science books often feature a teacher answering a child’s naïve but astute questions. Orzel’s (Physics/Union Coll.) talking dog is original without being an improvement. Unlike quantum physics, which remains bizarre even to experts, much of relativity makes sense. Thus, Einstein’s special relativity merely states that the laws of physics and the speed of light are identical for all observers in smooth motion. This sounds trivial but leads to weird if delightfully comprehensible phenomena, provided someone like Orzel delivers a clear explanation of why, for example, a stationary observer sees clocks running slower (and so time passing slower) on a moving body. The faster it moves, the slower the clock. Clock and time stop cold at the speed of light, but only the outside observer sees this. Anyone on the moving object sees time passing normally. Having covered other experimentally proven space-time oddities (moving bodies also shrink), Orzel moves on to gravity, the province of general relativity—no less strange but understandable in his expert hands. Under Newton’s gravity, objects attracted each other magically across empty space. Einstein provided an explanation; massive bodies warp nearby space, so moving bodies follow the shortest path. Relativity is comprehensible but not simple; comic books have claimed to teach it, but readers discover that cheerful cartoons or animal humor don’t eliminate the requirement of reading, perhaps rereading, and reflecting.

Those willing to skim the cute teacher-dog exchanges will find themselves in the hands of a skilled educator.

(Black-and-white illustrations)

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“A fresh way to look at the challenges facing job seekers today.” from making good

MAKING GOOD Finding Meaning, Money, and Community in a Changing World

Parish, Billy & Aujla, Dev Rodale (256 pp.) $15.99 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-60529-078-2 978-1-60961-369-3 e-book

Two enterprising young activists explain why trying to change the world is the best career move you could pos-

sibly make right now.

The current unemployment crisis is enough to get anyone down, but Parish and Aujla are here to brighten the gloomy atmosphere. Where others see hopelessness, they see opportunity. This enthusiastic handbook urges the jobless and the underemployed to venture out, virtually skip the corporate world all together and embrace the power of “non-linear” career paths. Doing so, the authors write, will lead not only to greater personal fulfillment, but also broader societal change. The prescription boils down to acknowledging your passion, discovering a need and creating the job that you really want. The authors draw heavily on their own experience working in the areas of green energy and community organizing to illustrate their points. They also provide numerous exercises, each designed to aid others in devising personal pathways out of the jobless wilderness. Joseph Campbell urged his students to “follow their bliss.” Parish and Aujla are doing the same thing here, with the added benefit of reducing unemployment and hopefully spurring wider societal progress. There isn’t one right way to create your own job, of course, so the authors provide general rules, exercises and thought experiments to help individuals realize their true potential and value in the changing workforce. Unfortunately, their efforts to simultaneously address both career development and social change occasionally become unwieldy, resulting in choppy sections. Practical advice and earnest cheerleading more than make up for these shortcomings, however.

A fresh way to look at the challenges facing job seekers today.

THE SPANISH HOLOCAUST Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain Preston, Paul Norton (676 pp.) $35.00 | Mar. 5, 2012 978-0-393-06476-6

Chilling history of the class-fueled institutionalized violence perpetrated mostly by the reactionary Francoists during the Spanish Civil War. Scholar Preston (London School of Economics; We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War, 2009, 160

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etc.) uses the word Holocaust self-consciously but deliberately in this exhaustive treatment of the horrendous violence the Spanish waged against each other to annihilate mutually “undesirable” elements. The friction between the agrarian oligarchy and the landless day laborers and radicalized leftists had been escalating throughout the 1920s, culminating in the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931. However, the reactionary defenders of order, alarmed by the fall of the monarchy and breakdown in status quo, believed the new regime was a “Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevik conspiracy to take over Spain”—therefore violence against it was justified. While the Socialist leader Francisco Largo Caballero propounded revolutionary slogans that incited the hungry masses, the fascist Falange led by General Franco spoke repeatedly of the conspiracy masterminded by the Jews and international foreigners (the contubernio, or “filthy cohabitation”).

Preston concentrates on the systematic spread of terror and repression by forces of the right in specific areas of Spain; they moved from town to town, hunting out “reds,” often with the enthusiastic collaboration of the local landowning class. (During this time the poet Federico García Lorca was dragged out and shot.) The right-wing uprising particularly targeted leftist women, who had enjoyed new status and rights under the Republic. Using techniques of terror perfected against the Moroccan population, Franco and his hardened Africanistas moved to subjugate Madrid by slaughter, dismemberment and rape. Preston focuses on the staggering toll of the violence and the Francoist spin that stretches well into the present without proper reckoning.

A rigorous, scrupulously researched study. (16 pages of illustrations)

THE MARK INSIDE A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con Reading, Amy Knopf (304 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 7, 2012 978-0-307-27248-5

A look at the art of the con, based on the story of a man who fought back against the con artists who swindled him.

In 1919, J. Frank Norfleet, a 50-something Texas rancher, lost his wealth to a band of professional con men. Rather than swallow his losses or wait for the police to investigate, Norfleet decided to travel the United States wherever necessary to track down his swindlers and exact some sort of non-physical retribution. In a sometimes-dissonant mix of pop-culture and scholarly writing, Reading alternates among the Norfleet saga; the unreliability of memoirs, since she depends so heavily on Norfleet’s own published accounts; and the larger context of how scammers have operated throughout American history. Despite the uneven narrative, the book is fascinating because Norfleet’s quest seems both quixotic and inspiring. The prologue of the book is a con in itself, which Reading admits in the back matter.

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Otherwise, she writes, the book is entirely nonfiction, with every line of dialogue and atmospheric detail grounded in what she hopes is a reliable published source. Reading’s doctoral dissertation focused on strategies of deception in American autobiographies, providing her with insights into how a researcher might separate truth from lie, strict accuracy from exaggeration. Norfleet is not the only notorious character from the period that Reading vividly portrays. Several of the men participating in the con were well known at the time, as were some of the law-enforcement officers who eventually helped Norfleet attain a modicum of justice.

A worthwhile read for those interested in the underbelly of American history. (First printing of 40,000)

ROCKING THE PINK Finding Myself on the Other Side of Cancer

Roppé, Laura Seal Press (300 pp.) $17.00 paperback | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-58005-417-1

A cancer diagnosis almost derails a woman’s journey to rock stardom.

After more than 10 years as a corporate lawyer, Roppé finally listened to her heart, quit her job and began making music in earnest. Her dreams were put on hold, however, when her doctor gave her a devastating diagnosis of breast cancer. With the support of her steadfast husband and two young daughters, Roppé resolved to do whatever it took to beat the cancer and take the stage once more. The author provides several interesting stories, including a particularly detailed account of her work as an extra on Oliver Stone’s The Doors (1991), but many of her early anecdotes have little to do with either her burgeoning new career as a rock singer or her struggle as a cancer patient. For example, readers unclear on how to pronounce her last name will find several paragraphs discussing it. Even when directly discussing her cancer diagnosis, Roppé fails to adequately address how it temporarily derailed her musical aspirations. She is also quick to point out the positives in her situation, which can be inspiring, but she never explores the darker aspects of her battle. The later chapters begin with e-mails from her online buddy Jane, a fellow breast-cancer victim. Unfortunately for the author, Jane’s e-mails about her life are more open and engaging than the majority of the author’s narrative.

Some readers may find hope from Roppé’s successful battle with cancer, but her self-indulgent tone may leave unsatisfied.

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iDISORDER Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold On Us Rosen, Larry D. with Cheever, Nancy A. and Carrier, L. Mark Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-230-11757-0

A research psychologist argues that our overuse of technology and media is producing symptoms of serious psychological disorders.

An early student of how the Internet, mobile devices and other technologies affect human behavior, Rosen (Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn, 2010, etc.) notes that many individuals now interact obsessively with technology, cannot be without their mobile devices and must use them during meals, for fear that they will miss something.

This overreliance on gadgets and websites can lead to significant psychological problems, which the author calls an iDisorder. The new disorder combines elements of many psychiatric maladies and centers on our relationship technology. Much of his book consists of a discussion of common psychiatric disorders—e.g., communication disorders, ADHD, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, hypochondriasis, schizoaffective and schizotypal disorders, body dysmorphia, voyeurism and addiction) and the ways in which technology use either produces symptoms that match those of certain disorders or exacerbates already existing signs of a disorder. Often, the possible link between behavior and disorder is apparent: “all about me” rants on Facebook and narcissism, constant message-checking and obsessive-compulsive behavior, etc. Rosen draws on research, including his 2011 study of more than 750 individuals examining the level of a person’s psychological health and use of technology. The study found younger people were often “very anxious” in checking text messages, while few older people became anxious about their technologies. While aspects of iDisorder may affect any technology user, Rosen shows it is those who make compulsive, unusually frequent use of mobile and other devices who are most prone to adverse effects. He offers checklists to determine how technology is affecting you, and suggests balance and moderation in using gadgets.

A bit overstated, but a clear warning against becoming someone who brings a smartphone to the dinner table.

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THE JUJU RULES Or, How to Win Ballgames from Your Couch: A Memoir of a Fan Obsessed Seely, Hart Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (256 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 17, 2012 978-0-547-62237-8

Syracuse Post-Standard reporter/humorist Seely instructs fans on how to harness the awesome power of “Juju Rules” on behalf of their favorite teams, but primarily if their favorite team is the New York Yankees.

Baseball has ever been the go-sport for writers, and the Yankees—when someone’s not pining for the Brooklyn Dodgers of old—the evergreen team du jour. In that respect, Seely treads well-covered ground in describing the fusion of his pathological love of the Yankees with his comical juju-generating tactics, which range from selecting the right good-luck chair to “the lookaway,” wherein the seasoned juju practitioner looks away from the TV at the precise moment a ball is about to cross the plate in an effort to induce a strike or a hit. The author presents 27 rules, and while his good-natured humor abounds, the concept quickly loses its novelty. Woven through the juju rules, however, is a far more interesting narrative: Seely’s life story, beginning with his upbringing in upstate New York through his present-day life as a reporter. As he chronicles his unique relationship with his father (a fan of any team playing the Yankees), learning to appreciate the wisdom of Yankee announcer Phil Rizzuto while listening to games with his grandmother, pursuing the love of his life and commiserating with a comedic stable of Yankee-loving (and Yankee-hating) pals, genuine moments of pathos, heart and happiness emerge. It’s unfortunate that the juju gimmick obscures a fine addition to the hallowed library of baseball-centric memoirs.

Similar to most baseball games—a lot of dead time between meaningful moments, but those moments make it worthwhile.

HOUSE OF STONE A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East

Shadid, Anthony Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-547-13466-6

A nostalgic, bittersweet journey back to the Lebanese homestead.

As a war correspondent for the Washington Post covering the Israeli attack in Lebanon in 2006, Pulitzer winner Shadid (Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War, 2005, etc.), the child of Lebanese Americans who grew up in America, painfully encountered the home of his Lebanese ancestors in the town 162

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of Marjayoun. It was a once-fine house that had been long abandoned and was hit by an Israeli rocket. The author then resolved to take a furlough from his newspaper and reconstruct the house, which had belonged to his great-grandfather and where his grandmother had spent her first 12 years before the family migrated to America. Shadid traces the two sides of his family that converged at the end of the 19th century in Marjayoun, the Samaras and the Shadids, whose subsequent migrations reflect the strife among the Syrian Lebanese Shiite community with the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Suffering from his own divorce and separation from his small daughter, Shadid was often overcome by the “history of departures” witnessed by the house, the ruptures caused by loss and discord among the community of Christians, Muslims and Jews, and the tightly knit customs and rituals that kept things running. Shadid’s year became occupied with finding permission to build, securing willing contractors and artisans and befriending sympathetic characters among the often hostile, suspicious townspeople. Much of the narrative is a gentle unfolding of observation and insight, as the author reacquaints himself with the Arabic rhythms, “absorbing beauties, and documenting what was no more.”

A complicated, elegiac, beautiful attempt to reconcile the physical bayt (home) and the spiritual.

ALGER HISS Why He Chose Treason

Shelton, Christina Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 17, 2012 978-1-4516-5542-1

A vigorous reappraisal of the HissChambers espionage affair, leaving no doubt of Hiss’ guilt.

Retired U.S. intelligence analyst Shelton provides a systematic chronicle of the affair, introducing the events to a generation who, she suspects, knows little of that fraught era, when left-leaning academics and intellectuals flirted with Soviet Communism before the extent of Stalin’s totalitarianism was generally acknowledged. The book encompasses familiar biographies of Alger Hiss, a Baltimore-raised brilliant student of Johns Hopkins and Harvard Law School who went on to become a high-level U.S. intelligence officer, and Whittaker Chambers, a Columbia University dropout of exceptional writing ability who became a senior Time editor. By contrast and comparison, Shelton reveals how Hiss used his upper-middle-class German breeding, fancy education and good looks during his two perjury trials to discredit the more slovenly, dumpy Chambers. The two men, both committed New Dealers as many socialists were, met each other when recruited during the mid ’30s by the socalled Ware Group, a communist cell in Washington, D.C. As a high-placed government lawyer, Hiss had access to classified information and passed it to Chambers, who had the documents copied then delivered to his Soviet superior. However,

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“A colorful account of our early-21st-century faithlessness to principles we at least pretend to revere.” from rights at risk

Chambers’ crisis of conscience over Stalin’s crimes by 1938 prompted him to quit the party, going underground to save himself from assassination. Until the mid ’40s, Hiss’ activities were apparently known by many in the State Department and FBI, and Shelton confirms the fact (made unfashionable thanks to the subsequent “red scare”) that communists had indeed “infiltrated” many agencies of the U.S. government. The author makes a good case for the willful blindness practiced by all parties involved, delving carefully into the literature and documentation, and only glancingly wondering at Hiss’ elaborate need for lying rather than making a public case for “the eventual triumph of socialism.”

A solid look at the specifics of the case as well as a useful overview of the ideological debate gripping America.

RIGHTS AT RISK The Limits of Liberty in Modern America Shipler, David K. Knopf (400 pp.) $28.95 | Mar. 5, 2012 978-0-307-59486-0

A Pulitzer Prize winner resumes his well-reported account of the assault on our constitutional rights in a post-9/11 world.

In this companion volume to The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties (2011), Shipler turns to the First, Fifth and Sixth Amendments and the constitutional rights “routinely overwhelmed” during this, the sixth era in our history when liberties have been especially at risk. Citing national security or public safety, the executive branch has historically in times of national crisis chipped away at the Bill of Rights to deal with an immediate threat, leaving us impoverished for the long term. Shipler chronicles our current drift away from constitutional principles by taking us into interrogation rooms where suspects may, without being informed of their rights, fall prey to the manipulations and deceptive techniques of professional interrogators. He exposes the eagerness with which police and prosecutors embrace false confessions, notwithstanding the inaccuracies and contradictions they contain. He examines the criminal courts, where systemic flaws in our laws have diminished the right to jury trial, where the forfeiture of assets and the revocation of probation are too easily accomplished, where the right to effective assistance of counsel has been shortchanged. Frightened officials, after years of lax enforcement, have now mobilized immigration laws to target entire groups. We have also stifled free speech in our schools and universities, Shipler argues, where authorities regularly ignore Supreme Court precedents, choosing order and discipline over vigorous debate. The same impulse accounts for constricting the public square, where so-called free-speech zones and zealous police surveillance chill the right to petition for redress of grievances. No matter the issue, Shipler humanizes the discussion throughout, linking each topic to stories of real |

people silenced, marginalized, neglected, bullied, even brutalized by a government that should know better.

A colorful account of our early-21st-century faithlessness to principles we at least pretend to revere. (Author tour to Boston, New York, Washington, D.C.)

LOCAL DOLLARS, LOCAL SENSE How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street To Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity Shuman, Michael H. Chelsea Green (288 pp.) $17.95 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-60358-343-5

In an installment of the environmentally responsible publisher’s Community Resilience Guide series, an astute economist weighs in on a hot-button issue: how to keep local dollars invested in local businesses.

Shuman (The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition, 2007, etc.) offers real-time suggestions for investing hard-earned American money back into community-based businesses. In the introduction, musician and philanthropist Peter Buffett restates the importance of a return to the “fundamental aspects of human nature” to reverse what he believes to be the nation’s crippled socioeconomic structure. Shuman expands on Buffett’s beliefs by citing America’s broken investment system whereby money spent at local merchants becomes reinvested into large Wall Street corporations. He cites several “local-investment tools” as the building blocks in a plan to reallocate and redistribute capital back into communities that need it more than the “bandits of Wall Street.” After an outline of weak retirement investment returns, a stagnant economy and the bleak outlook for future retirees, the author advances highly practical arguments in favor of supporting locally grown foodstuffs, community banking, autonomous cooperative organizations and the adoption of a sustainable mindset. Shuman sensibly lays out the groundwork for a revamped economic platform with profiles of many viable, “green” companies and nonprofit alliances alongside intensively researched facts about banks, securities and recession-proof purchasing strategies. As his thesis deepens, however, the material becomes more applicable for more seasoned, jargonfriendly economists. Still, those emerging with a modicum of head-scratching will find Shuman’s galvanized eco-speak an intelligent voice in assigning a conscience to the process of how and where hard-earned dollars are spent.

An impassioned, forward-thinking plea for economic reform at the grassroots level.

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A FULL LIFE WITH AUTISM From Learning to Forming Relationships to Achieving Independence

Sicile-Kara, Chantal & Sicile-Kara, Jeremy Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $18.00 paperback | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-230-11246-9

For readers already knowledgeable about autism and Asperger’s syndrome, a hands-on approach to transitioning into adulthood.

Sicile-Kira (41 Things to Know about Autism, 2010, etc.) and her autistic son, Jeremy, join forces in this guidebook to help parents and their autistic offspring move beyond childhood and evolve into an adult life. Although special-education services exist for children with autism spectrum disorder, once a child reaches adulthood the lack of adult services becomes apparent. As the mother of a severely autistic child, the author understands the needs of caregivers and children on the spectrum alike to shift to a quality of life that provides independence for all parties. “To create the future that you and your adult child envision will take perseverance and work,” she writes. “But good quality of life and peace of mind is worth it.” Based on her research, Sicile-Kira has compiled the majority of available resources into an accessible handbook that provides information on topics such as romantic and sexual relationships, finding appropriate living arrangements for true self-sufficiency and acquiring and keeping a job. The author breaks each large, seemingly overwhelming undertaking into small, doable tasks. Bulleted lists sum up each chapter and help readers remain focused and on-track. Equally as effective are the short essays and “top ten tips for parents,” written

by Jeremy. His voice gives a personal, honest perspective on the daily life, expectations and hopes of someone with special needs who wants to become as integrated into adult society as possible.

Additional resources include reading material and websites for care providers and people on the spectrum.

A proactive method for raising an adult child with special needs.

STEINBECK IN VIETNAM Dispatches from the War

Steinbeck, John Univ. of Virginia (240 pp.) $29.95$29.95 e-book | Mar. 19, 2012 978-0-8139-3257-6 978-0-8139-3270-5 e-book A collection of the pro-war pieces filed from Southeast Asia for Newsday by the Nobel laureate not long before his death.

Editor Barden, a Vietnam veteran and professor (English/ Univ. of Toledo; editor: Virginia Folk Legends, 1991, etc.), mostly lets Steinbeck speak for himself in this motley collection of columns that the author framed in the form of letters to Alicia Patterson Guggenheim, the deceased editor and publisher of Newsday, whose husband was continuing in her stead. Barden 164

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sandwiches Steinbeck’s columns between an introduction and afterword and intrudes in the text with only a handful of parenthetical explanations—reminding us, for example, who Lurleen Wallace was. Between December 1966 and May 1967, Steinbeck filed pieces that sought to support the U.S. effort in Vietnam, to lionize the soldiers whom he met (and with whom he occasionally ducked incoming rounds), to expose the dimensions of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese violence against civilians, to chide the liberal media for ingesting without question the enemy’s propaganda and to urge other writers (he names Updike, Williams, Bellow, Albee and Miller) to travel to Vietnam to see the war firsthand. Steinbeck did not just sit in Saigon and bloviate; he went to various sites around the country and flew in helicopters and, in one case, the plane dubbed Puff the Magic Dragon, a night mission that frightened him, prompting him to write of mortality. He also offers some tactical suggestions that seem bizarre and naïve: dropping thousands of transistor radios (with earplugs) via paper parachutes over the countryside so rural people could hear the truth; training Saigon street urchins for espionage. Steinbeck’s positions later softened, but not in the pages of Newsday.

Sometimes Steinbeckian in texture and bite, but often tone-deaf, tendentious and surpassingly sad.

TASTE WHAT YOU’RE MISSING The Passionate Eater’s Guide to Why Good Food Tastes Good Stuckey, Barb Free Press (432 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-4391-9073-9

A thorough investigation of the sensation of taste.

As a professional food developer, Stuckey has to understand the how and why of taste in order to create new palate-pleasing food products. Here she leads readers into the science of what happens to food once it reaches our mouths, with taste being “only about twenty percent of the story. Food that tastes good also looks good, smells good, feels good, and sounds good.”

Using examples from her experiences at home, in restaurants and at work, Stuckey analyzes the “five building blocks of taste, “four [of which] are familiar to most people: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter” The fifth, umami, refers to the perception of a savory or meaty taste that makes soups and broths full-bodied.

Complex evaluations give readers a precise breakdown of each of these five types and how one sensation directly affects the other. Stuckey provides technical but readable discussions of such topics as orthonasal olfaction (nose-smelling taste) versus retronasal olfaction (mouth-smelling taste). To aid in understanding this specialized information, the author supplies readers with many flavor-related exercises designed to increase responsiveness to various foods. These include a simple test to determine the number of taste buds on one’s tongue, eating

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THE UNDEAD Organ Harvesting, The Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers— How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death

blindfolded or eating with cotton balls stuffed into the nose to block the sensation of smell. Seeking to launch a “culture of taste appreciation,” Stuckey writes that taste is “using all five of our senses to find the hidden joy in food and take the full pleasure out of every bite.”

A helpful, systematic approach to developing a discriminating palate.

Teresi, Dick Pantheon (368 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-375-42371-0 978-0-307-90711-0 e-book

FIRST PRINCIPLES Five Keys to Restoring America’s Prosperity Taylor, John B. Norton (224 pp.) $24.95 | Jan. 23, 2012 978-0-393-07339-3

Former treasury undersecretary Taylor (Economics/Stanford Univ.; Getting Off Track: How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis, 2009, etc.) looks to get back to the good old days “of economic freedom upon which the country was founded.”

These “first principles” are merely the ones of unrestricted free trade, meaning without pesky regulation and without government intervention or interference. Wave a wand and return to that, and voilà: “we can restore America’s prosperity and our confidence in the future.” It’s up to the worker who wants to be competitive to secure the skills and education necessary to the task, all a matter of incentives and rewards. But what if such a worker finds his or her job outsourced to Asia? To do anything in the way of protecting a job would be “interventionism,” while efforts to even out some of the turbulence of the socalled free market constitute dreaded and despised “short-term Keynesian discretionary” remedies. Taylor fair-mindedly notes that Republican and Democratic presidents alike have been more interventionist than less; readers who do not remember Richard Nixon’s experiments in wage-and-price freezes, for instance, may be surprised to realize how, well, socialistic they seem in today’s context. And the author is surely right to point out that the flaws in the banking system were far deeper than a mere bailout could fix, adding, “The extraordinary bailout measures that began with Bear Stearns before the panic were the most harmful interventions.” Yet Taylor’s neolibertarian prescriptions seem more dogmatic than helpful, his attacks on health-care reform a species of I’ve-got-mine privilege. His befuddlement at the thought that the Chinese government might jail vendors for selling nonorganic pork as organic (“there was no safety issue”) hints at a failure to connect with the world outside the pages of Ayn Rand, to say nothing of grasping the concept of truth in advertising.

Save the cost of the book and listen to a speech by just about any of this year’s crop of GOP candidates.

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Science writer Teresi (Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science—From the Babylonians to the Maya, 2002, etc.) claims that the rights of organ donors are being violated by the medical profession.

“In 2010,” writes the author, “there were an estimated 28,144 transplant operations in the United States”—with 111,530 candidates on the waiting lists as of June 2011. His stated purpose is to call attention to what he sees as a subtle shift in medical emphasis from saving lives to declaring patients dead prematurely in order to preserve their organs for the lucrative organ-transplant business. Like a real-life version of Robin Cook’s medical thriller Coma, Teresi paints a grisly picture of organ harvesting and raises uncomfortable questions: Is the donor actually dead rather than at the point of death? Might he or she be revived given time and proper medical attention? Might the donor feel pain during the process of organ extraction even though seemingly brain dead? Citing reports of out-of-body experiences, the locked-in syndrome portrayed in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and evidence that comatose patients who are apparently unresponsive are sometimes fully aware of conversations held in their presence, Teresi expresses skepticism about the medical definition of brain death. The author searches out experts, including, among others, “undertakers, cell biologists, coma specialists (and those who have recovered from coma), organ transplant surgeons,” in an effort to penetrate the boundaries between life and death. “The unborn, fetuses, have plenty of political clout,” he writes. “No one speaks for donors,” and the press has abdicated its responsibility for investigative journalism. However, some of Teresi’s writing verges on sensationalism—e.g., his lurid account of modern executions.

A provocative, if one-sided, examination of important ethical issues and the still-unresolved question of what constitutes death.

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“A perfect way to pass the time during the tournament’s endless TV timeouts.” from don’t put me in, coach

DON’T PUT ME IN, COACH My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench Titus, Mark Doubleday (272 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-385-53510-6

A walk-on leverages fortuitous friendships and a quick wit to enjoy the ride of a lifetime.

Overly enthusiastic, towel-waving benchwarmers are a staple of March Madness; they are not, however, media magnets. Grantland.com’s Titus, a walk-on at Ohio State University from 2006 to 2010, proved an exception when his “Club Trillion” blog—so named for the box-score line a seldom-used player logs when he plays but accumulates no countable statistics—became a national sensation. A solid high-school player who could have garnered scholarship offers from smaller schools, the author decided instead to follow some of his megastar AAU teammates—including future NBA players Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook—to OSU for the chance to experience college life at a major university. A gig as a student manager led to a role as a walk-on player when the coaching staff needed an injury replacement. Emboldened by his friendship with Oden, OSU’s marquee player, he became the team’s resident prankster, initially content to confine his hijinks to the locker room—until his junior year, when he began blogging about his antics, drawing attention from a local newspaper and, later, the notice of ESPN’s Bill Simmons, Titus’ idol and one of the most popular sportswriters in the country. An appearance on Simmons’ podcast led to an explosion in Club Trillion’s popularity, making him nearly as well known as teammate and national player of the year Evan “The Villain” Turner (so dubbed by Titus after several confrontations between the two). The application of the blog’s crude-yet-clever shtick to a book-length chronicle of Titus’ four years at OSU wears thin in later chapters, but the unique combination of snort-inducing hilarity and insider perspective makes this required reading for younger (or just perpetually immature) hoop heads.

A perfect way to pass the time during the tournament’s endless TV timeouts.

THE MODERN BOOK OF THE DEAD A Revolutionary Perspective on Death, the Soul, and What Really Happens In the Life to Come

Tompkins, Ptolemy Atria (304 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-1-4516-1652-1

Former Guideposts editor Tompkins (The Divine Life of Animals: One Man’s Quest to Discover Whether the Souls of Animals Live On, 2010, etc.) plumbs theories on mortality and the prospects of an afterlife.

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From a childhood dominated by gloomy nightmares and spectral visions of death, the author grew up with conflicting notions of life and the mystery shrouding the dead. He was guided by his father who favored karma over science and religion and believed the human soul preexisted the physical body; he often referenced “great early architects of new age thought” like Russian mystic Helena Blavatsky, American clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, and Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard. As a result, Tompkins’ own burgeoning mysticism took shape and developed into a pursuit that landed him a job writing articles for Guideposts, where he bonded with readers, embraced their otherworldly stories of life after death and transcended materialistic convictions. Following this short personal account, the author delves into a scholarly comparison of historical life-afterdeath belief systems. The discussion encompasses several books of the dead, including the ancient Egyptian belief in the immortality and divinity of the human soul and Tibetan theories of nonexistence. He also addresses a beguiling handful of related topics: residual postmortem consciousness, the concept of reincarnation, flying saucers, the American Transcendentalist philosophy of the regeneration (and perfection) of the self through consecutive lives and the largely overlooked studies of afterlife researchers. Perhaps most illuminating and convincing are the eerily beautiful true-life stories from those who believe they’ve experienced near-death events. Tompkins is a bright proponent, credibly arguing that personal life knowledge doesn’t halt with physical death, but instead continues into an otherworldly state of being that we’ve only begun to contemplate.

A fascinating, impassioned hybrid of memoir and divine supposition.

THE EMERGENCY STATE America’s Pursuit of Absolute Security at All Costs Unger, David C. Penguin Press (352 pp.) $27.95 | Feb. 16, 2012 978-1-59420-324-4

A compelling polemic wrapped in a shallow history.

Though it certainly has its virtues, the book is a temporal work that may become stale in the near future.

New York Times editorial board director Unger bases his arguments on sound principles—the United States has gone awry in its futile attempts to establish an impenetrable society safe from both interior and exterior threats. The author acknowledges the presence of a wide variety of global dangers, but he also recognizes that attempts on the part of the American government—especially the executive branch—to make the American state impermeable has led to substantial overreach. Unger shows how presidents starting with Franklin Roosevelt grasped what power they could under the auspices of keeping America safe, while at the same time holding on tight to what they inherited irrespective of whether or not previous dangers had receded. This process actually accelerated in the

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post–Vietnam War period when, perhaps paradoxically, the United States was at its most relatively powerful. Though mostly inarguable, the author’s case is not wholly original. Unger’s problem is not with his argument, but rather with his attempt to impose a historical apparatus upon it. The book is thinly sourced, allowing the author to dig only deep enough to confirm his viewpoint. However, readers who can look past these shortcomings will encounter an important perspective about opportunities missed and roads not taken. Unger writes clearly about the legitimate failings of American security policy, and his prescriptive final chapter in particular lays out possibilities for American practices going forward.

Though historians may not particularly value the book, Unger presents clear arguments about the futility of trying to make America invulnerable.

SUNDAYS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME Racing, Tragedy, and Redemption—My Life in America’s Fastest Sport

Waltrip, Darrell with Larkin, Nate Free Press (256 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4516-4489-0

NASCAR legend Waltrip (DW: A Lifetime Going Around in Circles, 2004) takes us onto the track, into the pits and behind the scenes of his racing career.

The author—a three-time winner of the NASCAR Series Cup and winner of the 1989 Daytona 500, a race he describes as NASCAR’s “Super Bowl”—was in the broadcast booth for the 2001 edition, cheering on his younger brother Michael, the eventual victor. That victory was overshadowed, however, by the death of driver Dale Earnhardt in a final-lap crash, and Waltrip’s chilling description of the race and its aftermath are the entry point into an exploration of the author’s life behind the wheel. The majority of the book covers ground familiar to readers of his previously published autobiography, including youthful car chases with the police, triumphs and failures on the track and his discovery of religious faith. Waltrip pays particular attention to his relationships with other drivers including Earnhardt, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough, and how their battles on the track often spilled into their personal lives.

The author also provides some fascinating background history on racing at Daytona, again emphasizing the dangers faced by the drivers, and the many injuries and fatalities that have taken place there and elsewhere on the racing circuit. In the end, Waltrip argues that only the death of the sport’s greatest star, Earnhardt, led to changes in NASCAR’s attitude to safety, and even then it took strong pressure from him and others to force the adoption of stronger measures by a culture that prizes the recklessness of its heroes.

An absorbing exploration of one of America’s most popular, and dangerous, sports that will be most appealing to NASCAR fans. |

AYN RAND NATION The Hidden Struggle for America’s Soul

Weiss, Gary St. Martin’s (272 pp.) $24.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-312-59073-4 978-1-4299-5078-7 e-book

Weiss (Wall Street Versus America, 2006, etc.) jumps headfirst into the complex socio-cultural maelstrom that was Ayn Rand, spotlighting her allies, enemies, nemeses and acolytes.

The author has been in the trenches of financial reportage since before Black Monday 1987, examining corruption, mob involvement, takeovers, bailouts, regulatory scandals and a long list of game-changing power plays in every corner of the stock market. Here the author looks at Rand’s immense influence on a variety of sectors of American life, especially politics and economics. If you thought her renowned novels Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead had been analyzed under every possible microscope, think again. Intrigued by a 1974 photo depicting Rand with Alan Greenspan and President Ford in the White House, Weiss embarks on a quest to excavate the oft-shifting strata of Rand’s political doctrine, Objectivism, which she deemed “a philosophy for living on earth,” starting with her infamous writings. The love-hate lens through which our society continues to view her self-interested, capitalist canon is, in Weiss’ dogged hands, meticulously eye-opening—yet it remains confounding to conservatives, libertarians and liberals alike. Anointing her “the godmother of the Tea Party,” Weiss argues that Rand’s influence on Greenspan, Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke and other major players in the contemporary financial and legislative landscape is significant; she suggests that the anti-government seeds she planted may now be taking root. Weiss writes, “[s]uch is the Ayn Rand vision of paradise: an America that would resemble the lands from which our ancestors emigrated, altruism confined to ignored, fringe texts, grinding poverty and starvation coexisting alongside the opulence of the wealthy.”

A scrupulous and sobering investigation, vital for our times.

TWO RINGS A Story of Love and War

Werber, Millie & Keller, Eve PublicAffairs (272 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-1-61039-122-1

A dramatic Holocaust memoir about young love and survival.

Though told in Werber’s voice, the book was written by Keller (Director of Graduate Studies/Fordham Univ.; Generating Bodies and Gendered Selves: The Rhetoric of Reproduction in Early Modern England, 2006). Werber’s son urged Keller to interview his mother and write about her experiences of World War

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“Disasters change people.

Wilson counts the ways, often effectively and affectingly.” from shadow of the titanic

II. After 60 years of reticence, the Long Island–based Werber revealed the entirety of her hardships, including the loss of a first husband whose existence she had theretofore kept secret from her children. Born in Radom, Poland, at age 14 Werber was forced to live in a small Jewish ghetto. A year later she was laboring in a factory, in conditions so brutal that mistakes cost workers their lives. “We were called the armaments workers,” Werber explains, “but really, we were slaves, half starving, beyond exhausted.” Within a matter of months, Werber’s brother was killed and her mother, grandparents and most of her aunts and uncles had been taken away. At 15, Werber fell in love with a Jewish police officer, Heniek, more than 10 years her senior, who got her a new job in a kitchen. The two married quickly in the hopes of escaping as part of a new German exchange with Argentina. Away from the ghetto when the first “exchange” happened, Werber learned that all of the German hopefuls had been shot. After witnessing many deaths, Werber survived many close calls, as well as time at Auschwitz. Liberated in 1945, Werber moved to Germany, where she met her second husband, Jack, to whom she was married until his death in 2006. Werber’s story is wholly engrossing, written with exceptional immediacy and attention to detail.

A deeply affecting addition to Holocaust literature.

OUR SUPREME TASK How Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech Defined the Cold War Alliance

White, Philip PublicAffairs (304 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-61039-059-0

In his debut, an independent historian revisits the genesis, occasion and aftermath of what Winston Churchill unhesitatingly called “the most important speech of my career.”

Returning from the July 1945, conference at Potsdam, where Stalin’s intransigence troubled him deeply, Churchill arrived in London to await election returns. The war-weary British public handed his Tory Party a resounding, surprise rebuke. Depressed over his electoral defeat, badly in need of rest and more convinced than ever of the iniquity and menace of communism, he contemplated a long Florida vacation. When an unlikely invitation to speak at a tiny Midwestern school arrived—a request made more attractive by President Harry Truman’s hand-scribbled endorsement and offer to introduce him—Churchill seized the opportunity to deliver an address he knew would command worldwide attention.

It was the biggest thing ever to happen to Fulton, Missouri’s Westminster College, still best known as the site of the talk Churchill called “The Sinews of Peace,” retitled by history the “Iron Curtain Speech.” With helpful annotations, White fully reproduces the address and reminds us that Churchill’s call for increased AngloAmerican solidarity in the face of Soviet aggression was not particularly well received, the last gasp, some said, of an old imperialist, a warmonger intent on poisoning whatever chance remained for 168

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cooperation with the Soviet Union. Today, we remember it as “one of the defining statements of the twentieth century.” White’s at his best painting the small scenes in the background of the event: Churchill’s construction of the speech as he sunbathed and painted, the whiskey and poker-fueled train ride with Truman to Missouri and especially the frantic preparations for the big day by Westminster and Fulton officials, including the charismatic college president who conceived of the long-shot invitation to a world figure who unexpectedly said yes.

A small slice of history charmingly retold.

SHADOW OF THE TITANIC The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived

Wilson, Andrew Atria (416 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4516-7156-8

A biographer joins others writers swimming in the centennial vortex of the Titanic, which sank on Apr. 14, 1912.

Wilson (Harold Robbins: The Man Who Invented Sex, 2007, etc.) begins with the screams of the dying and ends with the sigh of the last survivor, Millvina Dean (just three months old on the night to remember), who died at 97 in 2009. In between he tells the stories of some of the 705 survivors—from the well known (like White Star Line managing director Bruce Ismay) to those unknown, except to Titanic scholars. Ismay’s controversial story, told more fully in Frances Wilson’s How to Survive the Titanic (2011), sits in the middle of the text, surrounded by those who, for the most part, survived in more conventional, socially acceptable ways: They were women, children, necessary crew members—or just plain lucky. Among the latter: teenager Jack Thayer, who leaped from the sinking vessel and somehow found a rescue craft, went on to write a memoir but took his own life in 1945. Wilson tells some other survivors’ stories in considerable detail, including that of Madeleine Force Astor, whose wealthy husband died that night; of some honeymooners; of Lady Duff Gordon, whose co-survivors in a virtually empty lifeboat declined the chance to pick up others in the icy water; of silent-film star Dorothy Gibson, featured in the first movie based on the disaster, Saved from the Titanic, which appeared just four weeks afterward. The author has kind words for Walter Lord, whose 1955 A Night to Remember started a second wave of interest. Wilson’s storytelling skills are up to the task, but his psychological ones sometimes send him off into the land of stretched analogies—as when he observes that Lady Duff ’s stained kimono represents her stained character.

Disasters change people. Wilson counts the ways, often effectively and affectingly.

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STILL Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis

Winner, Lauren F. HarperOne (256 pp.) $24.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-06-176811-8

Duke Divinity School professor Winner (A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith: Anglican Religious Practice in the Elite Households of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, 2008, etc.) examines her struggle to keep her faith.

In a previous memoir, Girl Meets God (2002), the author detailed her religious conversion to Orthodox Judaism and then Christianity. A decade and a divorce later, she looks at her Episcopalian life post-conversion. Shaken by her failed marriage and her mother’s death, Winner found herself in what she characterizes as an unsettling “middle” moment, “when the things you thought you knew about the spiritual life turn out not to suffice for the life you are actually living.” Throughout this provocative memoir, Winner maintains her insistent deflection of the personal. She claims the book is neither a “manual for ‘getting through’ the middle,” nor a “defense of Christianity,” nor a memoir—”it is not consistently storied enough to count, by my lights, as a memoir.” Yet the book’s most poignant moments are those obviously gleaned from intimate self-reflection or personal experience. While these “notes” may not adhere to the tight chronology characteristic of many memoirs, they do outline a linear spiritual progression common to Christian belief. These kinds of introspective works only succeed when the authors own their doubts and inspiration, which Winner does here, try as she might to claim otherwise. Note, for example, this evocative passage on the plight of losing the ability to pray: “when you don’t know what you believe…prayer sounds like a barefoot hike from Asheville to Paris: it would be nice if you got there, you are sure there is a nice glass of wine and a nice slice of brie waiting for you at some café somewhere, but there is really no way you can imagine actually making the walk.”

Second-person posturing and Lady Macbeth protestations aside, an open, honest contemplation of a spiritual impasse. (Author appearances in Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Boston, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco)

THE END OF MONEY Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers—and the Coming Cashless Society

Wolman, David Da Capo/Perseus (240 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 15, 2012 978-0-306-81883-7 978-0-306-81946-9 e-book

Alternating between in-depth reporting and personal rumination, Wired contributing editor Wolman (Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde |

English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling, 2008, etc.) tries to figure out what a cashless society would mean and whether it is an idea whose time has come.

The author decided to live without spending cash for a year, but he does not develop that portion of the saga at length. Mostly he focuses on visionaries who are hoping, for a variety of reasons, to eliminate paper money and coins. Some of the advocates believe a cashless society would function more smoothly and reduce deficit spending. Others are more politically oriented, wanting to remove governments from printing/coining what has come to be called “money.” In Iceland, Wolman looks at whether or not the citizenry will actually put an end to the national currency. In England, he mingles with deep-thinking reformers who discuss how to achieve a digital cash economy. In economies mired in poverty, including much of rural India, Wolman notes how cash transactions make little sense. In many economic circumstances, writes the author, writing checks against a bank account is both illogical in theory and costly in terms of savings lost. As the narrative progresses, Wolman riffs on dirty money (literally, since bills and coins transmit germs), the successes and failures of counterfeiters, the techies who have turned their smart phones into banks and many other twists spawned by thinking about money as a physical object. The author mostly keeps his biases masked, but he leans toward the belief that physical money is in its twilight. He has plenty of thoughts about what could replace physical money, but he is wise enough to understand that he cannot imagine all of the unexpected outcomes.

An intriguing book on a topic that many readers have always taken for granted: the cash in their purses and wallets.

TRIGGERED A Memoir of ObsessiveCompulsive Disorder

Wortmann, Fletcher Dunne/St. Martin’s (256 pp.) $24.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-312-62210-7

Uneven but ultimately satisfying memoir of a young author’s OCD. Growing up in Massachusetts, comicbook fan and video-game aficionado Wortmann managed to keep his undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder relatively in check. That all changed, however, after high school when the pressures of higher education and encroaching adulthood conspired to undermine his efforts at health and happiness. Trapped in the confines of an increasingly tormented brain, the author spent his early days at Swarthmore College drinking too much and carrying on an ill-advised relationship with an equally disturbed young woman. He would not emerge from the OCD wilderness without a prolonged stay at a mental-health facility specializing in OCD. Wortmann writes eloquently about his battles with OCD, constructing dense, dramatic prose to convey even the tiniest observations. He goes on at length, for example, about the social dynamics of Swarthmore and even the divergent personalities of his beloved childhood pets. Yet there remains a certain distance attributable to the overly complex and self-indulgent

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“A wonderful treat for birders.” from the bluebird effect

narrative. Although evident, Wortmann’s anguish consistently takes a backseat to the next well-crafted (overbaked?) sentence.

The author has a background in comedy, which could explain the exactitude of his narrative, a possible comedic counterpoint to the distressing chaos of the subject matter. What’s lacking is a more vivid portrayal of Wortmann’s particular brand of OCD. Excessive hand-washing and compulsive checking are easy to depict. “PureO” compulsions—unseen rituals performed in the mind to fend off unwanted thoughts—are a lot tougher to relate. Unfortunately, readers end up with a far greater understanding of Swarthmore’s dating scene than the author’s unique type of disorder.

Many questions about the exact nature of Wortmann’s OCD rituals remain elusive, but his inspiring victories after successful treatment ring true.

THE BLUEBIRD EFFECT Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds

Zickefoose, Julie Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (368 pp.) $28.00 | Mar. 20, 2012 978-0-547-00309-2 Beguiling stories from a naturalist’s life with backyard birds.

“For most of my life, I’ve tried to fix broken birds,” writes painter and songbird rehabilitator Zickefoose (Backyard Birding, 2011, etc.) in this account of her rescues of cardinals, robins and more than 20 other bird species. For nearly 30 years the author has opened her bird-mother arms to the songbird of the moment, invariably an orphaned or injured nestling that must be fed every 20 to 45 minutes for several weeks. Over the years, as a regular contributor to Bird Watcher’s Digest and NPR’s All Things Considered, she has described her many encounters with these feathered creatures. The stories gathered here, accompanied by the author’s watercolors and sketches, convey Zickefoose’s strong affection for her charges and her ceaseless wonderment at the mysteries of their lives. “I live for the moment when my gaze meets a bird’s,” she writes. The birds are a disparate lot: the starlings with their imitations of car alarms and barking dogs; the potentially home-wrecking chickadees; the lean and sinewy ospreys; the barn sparrows that haunt the eaves of large home-improvement stores. Nothing is lost on author. She keeps a pair of binoculars in each room of her house and travels to beaches, salt marshes and the Central Flyway to observe the behaviors of these wild birds. Although possibly extinct, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is too beautiful to be gone forever, she writes, and the totemic vulture simply makes her smile. Describing her songbirds with a delicacy of words and brush strokes, Zickefoose makes learning about birds seem like the adventure of a lifetime.

A wonderful treat for birders. (120 watercolors; 194 blackand-white sketches)

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LOVE, FIERCELY A Gilded Age Romance

Zimmerman, Jean Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (320 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-15-101447-7

Zimmerman (The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty, 2006, etc.) examines the mysterious couple in John Singer Sargent’s famous painting Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes.

This “Gilded Age romance” is both a starry-eyed look at how the wealthy lived during the turn of the century and a love story full of highs and lows. The woman in the painting was Edith Minturn, nicknamed “Fiercely” for her independent streak, whose family made a fortune from shipbuilding, which it lost and regained. The man in the painting was her husband I.N. Phelps Stokes, who, though his family was in banking, was set on becoming an architect. The portrait that immortalized them was a wedding gift to the new couple, intended to show the new bride in all of her elegant finery. Instead, Sargent presented a portrait of young American vitality and, possibly, a feminist statement in a time when women were struggling for the right to vote. Zimmerman, like Sargent, sees something more in these two. She was a classic beauty who served as the model for the Statue of the Republic at the famous World’s Columbian Exhibition and became a devoted wife, mother and advocate for the poor. He was a talented builder whose dreams of affordable housing for the underclass were derailed by an obsessive desire to complete a massive study titled The Iconography of Manhattan Island. Their lives were big but not dramatic; they were the kind of people who would have inspired James and Wharton, but whose own stories seem mostly interior.

Zimmerman tells an intriguing history from the available evidence, but Sargent’s subjects ultimately remain out of reach. (Two 8-page black-and-white inserts)

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children & teens THE BATTLE BEGINS

Abbott, Tony Scholastic (112 pp.) $4.99 paperback | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-545-30831-1 Series: Underworlds, 1 Looking to feed the insatiable appetite of mythology-mad readers comes a new series that brings the legendary characters up close and personal, especially for four elementary students who face off against Greek and Norse monsters.

Owen realizes the day is unusual when his friend, Dana, gets sucked through the school floor while a voice hisses, “The…battle…begins…” Owen teams up with Jon and Sydney to rescue her, and, with the help of Bulfinch’s Mythology, they begin a surreal adventure with mythological beasts come to life. They discover that one of the entrances to the Underworld is in their school basement and that all the Underworlds, one for every branch of mythology, are linked. Moreover, the creatures are escaping.

Armed with the Lyre of Orpheus, which, when strummed, gives Owen the power of persuasion, they make a deal with Hades, who gives them a chance to find Dana. They do battle with the likes of Cerberus, Myrmidons and Loki. Hades, however, is a double dealer who ups the ante: They are forced do his bidding or lose Dana forever—which becomes the catalyst for the next installment. Intricate black-and-white sketches of mythical monsters and maps enhance this lean and lively tale.

A quest just right for readers on the cusp of Percy Jackson. (glossary) (Adventure. 7-10)

UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS New Adventures on Barsoom

Adams, John Joseph--Ed. Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4424-2029-8 Fourteen swashbuckling new adventures extend the exploits of John Carter and his descendants on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ version of the Red Planet.

Poised to catch any wave of interest (or at least publicity) that may come along with the release of the film John Carter, the collection features the eponymous Civil War vet and other |

characters from the original series facing a typical array of multilegged monsters, multi-armed warriors, defeated adversaries rising again and weird remnants of ancient science. Highlights include: Tarzan walk-ons in stories by Peter S. Beagle and S.M. Stirling; an account of a drunken thoat-lifting contest in Garth Nix’s hilarious “Sidekick of Mars” that somehow never made it into the canon; a tale from Chris Claremont that transplants Carter, Dejah Thoris and Tars Tarkas to Jasoom (Earth); and the valedictory “Death Song of Dwar Guntha,” (Jonathan Maberry) about one last great battle before planet-wide peace breaks out.

Written in prose that evokes the sweep of the originals (“And as the moons sailed through the black ocean of the sky, John Carter, Warlord of all Barsoom, sang of the last charge of the great Free Riders. And such a tale it was….”) and with a full page image of a well-armed (in more ways than one), often scantily clad figure in each, these pay fitting tribute to a gifted pulp writer.

Plenty of sword work and old-style action-adventure, with the occasional clever spin. (foreword by Tamora Pierce, story introductions, author bios, Barsoomian Gazetteer) (Science fiction short stories. 11-13)

JOJO THE GIANT

Barclay, Jane Illus. by Melo, Esperança Tundra (32 pp.) $17.95 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-88776-976-4

Could little JoJo possibly win the big race?

His mother, who works very hard as a mail carrier, always tells him that “Good things come in small packages.” But JoJo isn’t so sure. So, he’s careful to eat all his broccoli and drink his milk. JoJo has big dreams, and he wonders if he’ll ever achieve them. Bullies on the corner tease him about his size, calling him a “runaway shrimp!” When Smiling Sam’s Shoe Shop sponsors a big race, JoJo obsesses over the prize: a pair of red Rocket Racers. JoJo’s mother worries about how desperately he wants them; though well-worn, her plain brown shoes have lasted for years. At the race, a very tall boy named Tony hams it up for reporters. The starting gun’s fired; the runners are off in a blur of arms and legs. JoJo keeps up with Tony; the bullies in the stands taunt him with, “Go, Shrimp! Go!” It’s a sentiment that Tony laughingly echoes—just the incentive JoJo needs for a final burst of race-winning energy. He gives the shoes to his mother, who really needs them. Melo’s acrylics are bright and at their most interesting in those scenes when she plays with perspective—alas, not often enough.

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Barclay ably captures the affection of the central relationship, though, and the ending is a genuine surprise.

Heartwarming. (Picture book. 4-7)

LOSERS IN SPACE

Barnes, John Viking (448 pp.) $18.99 | Apr. 12, 2012 978-0-670-06156-3

Despite the campy title, Barnes (Tales of the Madman Underground, 2009) spins a space-travel tale with scientific and emotional substance.In 2129, most humans are economically comfortable, but the big money and cachet is in entertainment.

In hopes of gaining a fast-track to celebrity status, charismatic Derlock persuades a group of loser “moes,” including narrator Susan, to stow away on a spaceship bound to Mars. So begins an adventure filled with tense action, double-crosses, the rhythms of daily life in space and the evolution of characters from insecure teenagers to thriving (or not) members of a team.

Nothing is sugarcoated here—readers see deaths, murders and rampant sexism (most of the ways for girls to get famous involve videos of bouncing breasts)—and the author successfully balances the moes’ processing and grieving with their ultimate need to survive. The book begins with an explanation of hard science fiction and a promise that “infodumps” will be placed in skippable “notes for the interested.” Nevertheless, some dialogue is heavy with math and science particulars, and less scientifically minded readers may find themselves skimming conversations about the mass and acceleration of mud or the statistical likelihood of a distress call being received.

Overall, accessible, gripping and poignant. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

TRAITOR’S SON

Bell, Hilari Houghton Mifflin (256 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 20, 2012 978-0-547-19621-3 Series: Raven Duet, 2 The second in the Raven Duet (Trickster’s Girl, 2011) continues the tale of Raven the Trickster and the human partner in his quest to save Earth’s ecology from the destruction unleashed by eco-terrorists.

Sixteen-year-old, car-crazy Jase Mintok is picking up a client for his father’s law firm when he catches the medicine pouch tossed by Kelsa Phillips over the Canada/Alaska border. Almost immediately, he becomes the target of Raven’s enemies, attacked on the trip from the Canadian border to Anchorage. Raven presents himself here as a teenage girl—seductive, controlling and thoroughly irritating—and the developing relationship between 172

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her and Jase is awfully good fun. Alaskan geography is very much a part of this story: Its topology is crucial to the final conflict, which takes place on another plane of existence that mirrors the Alaskan forest. Tension mounts steadily as Jase comes closer to filling Raven’s quest. The exciting climax resolves Raven’s needs and helps Jase settle a serious family conflict. Although the two parts of the duet are complete in themselves, readers will be better off tackling these books in order.

Nonstop action, family strife, Pacific Northwest Native mythology and a likable hero combine in an unbeatable combination for fans of the fantastic. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

GUY LANGMAN: CRIME SCENE PROCRASTINATOR

Berk, Josh Knopf (240 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-375-85701-0 978-0-375-89775-7 e-book 978-0-375-95701-7 PLB Hilarious wit and serious gloom blend seamlessly as Guy wades through the year after his dad’s death.

Everything is slightly offbeat here, from Guy himself (a contemporary Jewish teen who cares about bubble baths but not music) to his late father’s literal-treasure-hunting past to the forensics required right in the middle of the realism. Francis Langman had a long, colorful life before he met Guy’s (much younger) mother, so Guy tries to write “Rules for Living”: The Francis Langman Story as a tribute and quote-preserver (“Death is part of life, but so is the clap…. Seriously, Guy, wear a rubber”).

Guy’s running inner monologue is sharply observational, sardonic, funny and sad. “Does replacing an ‘e’ with an apostrophe automatically make something sound more poetic? I lunch’d on school burritos.…” Best friend Anoop and other peers are freshly unusual, not recycled character types. Anoop corrals passive Guy into forensics club, and none too soon—a real death occurs at a forensics meet. Is someone trying to off Guy? The pals lift fingerprints and don golf attire to follow a hunch but instead find something surprisingly touching. It’s only too bad that Berk’s “rules for living” structure uses a stereotypical primitivetribe trope to contrast with complex first-world humans.

Realistic grief, humor, camp, crime investigation—and plenty of good boner jokes. (Fiction. 12-16)

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“Just label it F for funny.” from z is for moose

OVER IN THE FOREST Come and Take a Peek

Berkes, Marianne Illus. by Dubin, Jill Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $8.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-58469-162-4 978-1-58469-163-1 paperback Having already explored the ocean and jungle, planets, the Arctic and Australia, Berkes this time focuses her “Over in the Meadow”–derived lyrics on a temperate deciduous forest.

Readers are treated to a look at a forest habitat and its more familiar denizens, including beaver, turkey, woodpecker and ‘possum. As in her previous titles, there is a nice balance between math and the animal information. Berkes introduces children to the names given to baby forest animals, indicating them with italics—fawns, joeys, hatchlings, poults, chicks and kits. The number is set in a different color type, while the numeral is featured prominently at the bottom of the page. Dubin gives readers several opportunities to practice, illustrating both the baby animals and their tracks, both of which can be easily identified and counted. In addition, she hides another forest dweller on each page. Her paper-collage, colored-pencil and pastel artwork is filled with gorgeous textures that echo the natural world of the forest. Berkes rounds out the text with educational backmatter: a list of the hidden animals and a few facts, a section that reveals her artistic license, some forest facts, detailed paragraphs about each of the featured animals, the music and lyrics, notes from both the author and illustrator, activities to extend the book and resources for more information. Formulaic?

Perhaps, but none can argue with the educational value, nor the fun—what will she tackle next? (Informational picture book.3-8)

Z IS FOR MOOSE

Bingham, Kelly Illus. by Zelinsky, Paul O. Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-06-079984-7 978-0-06-079985-4 PLB A wry twist on an alphabet story makes for laugh-out-loud fun.

Poor Moose. He tries to get into the alphabetic act on every letter page from D to L, but Zebra, who’s directing the assemblage, insists it’s not his turn yet and that he must move off the page. When it IS time for M, Zebra decides to go with Mouse, and Moose flips his antlers—well, his lid. Zebra tries to console the despondent moose, telling him he can still be in the book even though the only letter left is Z. Solution? Z becomes “Zebra’s friend, Moose.” How perfect that Z-elinsky is the illustrator. His often-elegant style turns comedic here, with brightly colored borders framing each letter in a simple scene. The borders become a design device for Moose, as he pokes his head over the edges or stomps the scene within angrily. In others, |

Moose tries to camouflage himself, as when he squeezes behind an Ice-cream cone or hitchhikes a ride in the Kangaroo’s pouch.

Dialogue balloons express Moose’s eagerness, asking, “Now?” and declaring (mistakenly), “Here it comes!” Zebra, wearing a referee’s black-and-white striped shirt and carrying a clipboard, answers, “NO, not yet!” Kids who are learning their ABCs or have just learned them will find this hysterical, and it has great potential for storytimes.

Just label it F for funny. (Picture book. 4-6)

CRAZY CONCOCTIONS A Mad Scientist’s Guide to Messy Mixtures Brown, Jordan D. Illus. by Owsley, Anthony Imagine Publishing (80 pp.) $14.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-936140-51-0

A mad-scientist manual that satisfies both the senses and the intellect, this is sure to be a popular, if somewhat sticky, title.

While not many of the projects in this book will necessarily be new to readers (or their adult minions), they are well known for a reason, and Brown rounds out the fun with his humorous presentation, as well as the gross factor. But this is much more than simply messy fun. Brown provides solid scientific explanations and introduces great vocabulary and concepts. A comprehensive safety section kicks off the book, then it’s on to the action. In “Slime and Goo,” readers are introduced to the tactile wonders that can be created with cornstarch, Borax and white glue. “Totally Gross” allows children to explore their more mature sides with fake vomit, snot and blood. Baking soda, vinegar, Pop Rocks, Alka-seltzer, soda and Mentos are the featured ingredients in “That’s Gas-tastic!,” while “Crazy Colors” might entail a trip to the store for iodine and red cabbage (and perhaps a re-supply of food coloring). “Incredible and Edible” lets kids explore the chemistry that allows cakes to rise, cucumbers to pickle and Jell-O to glow. Finally, with his “Create Your Own Concoctions” chapter, Brown encourages readers to mix up their own recipes based on the rules within his seven challenges.

Owsley’s cartoon illustrations add more humor to the text, as well as helping children with the steps of the experiments.

Budding scientists and mess-makers alike are sure to concoct lots of fun. (Nonfiction. 7-14)

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BALLYWHINNEY GIRL

Bunting, Eve Illus. by McCully, Emily Arnold Clarion (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-547-55843-1 Maeve and her grandpa find an Irish bog mummy when they are out cutting peat.

Young Maeve narrates the story in free verse that incorporates dialogue.

The dialect is lyrical and captures the astonishment of the girl and her grandfather, who first believe they have found a murdered child, followed by awe when they are told it is a mummy: “I gasped. / A girl! / A girl like me, a thousand years ago / dead and dropped into this quiet place. / Who was she? / What had happened?” Despite a promise from the archaeologists to share all they learn, Maeve is uneasy when they take the mummy from the site. A police sergeant later visits, providing an update with scanty details about the mummy, belying the abilities of modern archaeological techniques and possibly disappointing youngsters excited to learn about the past. Enough information is presented so that Maeve identifies even more closely with the long-ago girl, increasing her ambivalence about the discovery.

Indeed Bunting, in an afterword, recounts the history of finds, stating that while some were handled with respect, others were treated as curiosities. McCully uses watercolor with pen and ink to create a moody landscape that reflects Maeve’s musings, including her final, fanciful vision of the girl walking on the bog.

To balance this perspective, pair this with Mummies, Bones, and Body Parts, by Charlotte Wilcox (2000). (Picture book. 6-10)

HALFLINGS

Burch, Heather Zondervan (288 pp.) $14.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0310728184 If this novel were a holiday, it would undoubtedly be New Year’s Eve—full of the promise of fun and romance, but a whopping disappointment in the end.

The first book of a planned trilogy begins with 17-year-old Nikki Youngblood running for her life, a pack of hellhounds gnashing at her heels. Luckily, three half-human, half-angel hunks are looking on and rush to her rescue. Though it is unclear why Nikki is the target of such nefarious forces (an issue that is never satisfactorily resolved), the Halflings assume responsibility for her protection and attempt to uncover the truth about dark and mysterious happenings in her Missouri town. Unfortunately, the balance between questions raised and answers given is maddeningly uneven. The narrative is riddled with clichés and clunky descriptions (hair “dancing in waves as if orchestrating a dance,” for example) that weigh the storytelling down. Even a good, old-fashioned love triangle can’t save the story from itself.

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Bad boy Raven’s lust for Nikki is at least in character, but it is nearly impossible to comprehend how the virtuous Mace could fall so hard, so fast and with so little explanation, especially when it could damn him.

In the end, readers will be left scratching their heads wondering what actually happened and, worse, whether they even care. (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)

LOVE AND HAIGHT

Carlton, Susan Henry Holt (192 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-8050-8097-1

It’s the end of 1971: prairie skirts, marijuana—and no Roe v. Wade.

Chloe and her best friend, MJ, drive to San Francisco to ring in the new year— and to get Chloe a legal abortion. Loaded up on Tab, they seek a decent women’s clinic while staying with Chloe’s wacky aunt Kiki, who enjoys public nudity, stores boxes in the oven and hangs ornaments from roach clips. But getting an abortion in San Francisco isn’t as easy as Chloe hopes. Even in the city of free love, psychiatrists can be anti-abortion activists in disguise. When she finally discovers a good clinic, 17-year-old Chloe discovers she needs parental permission. Chloe’s own fears and confusions play off against Catholic MJ’s; MJ adores her friend but hates the reality of terminating a pregnancy. Neither Kiki nor Chloe’s mother, still learning to negotiate the self-actualization of second-wave feminism with the responsibilities of parenthood, provide the kind of support Chloe wants. In the wild-and-crazy rock ‘n’ roll, aura-reading, yoga-filled, feathery environment of San Francisco, Chloe comes to terms with decisions only she can make.

Ultimately, Chloe’s story is not about abortion, but about a child becoming a young woman while rebuilding tenuous relationships with her loved ones.

A well-framed historical, with a wholly realized setting and believable, rich, likable characters. (Historical fiction. 14-18)

QUESTION BOY MEETS LITTLE MISS KNOW-IT-ALL

Catalanotto, Peter Illus. by Catalanotto, Peter Richard Jackson/Atheneum (40 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 978-1-4424-0670-4 An irresistible force meets an immovable object with hilarious results.

The superheroes that populate this town are no match for Question Boy. With his insatiable need to know, he can make Garbage Man, Oil Man and Wonder Waitress run for cover to escape his incessant queries. Then he meets Little Miss

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Know-It-All, who answers all his questions and then some, peppering him with one factoid after another until he is supine on the grass, seemingly defeated. Dizzy with victory, she starts to leave in triumph, when Question Boy raises the most unanswerable question of all, the all-purpose “Why,” screaming it over and over until she is driven to give the only possible response.

Used most often by exasperated adults, her answer settles the matter convincingly, at least for the present. Thus the contest is done, and to the cheers of the onlookers, the two rivals walk off together as friends. These precocious characters are instantly recognizable, and Catalanotto brings them to life with tenderness and humor in rapid-paced action and dialogue. The text, boldfaced and widely spaced, is set in the delightfully and appropriately named “CC Yada Yada Yada.” Extra-bright and colorful watercolor paintings of various sizes, shapes and perspective perfectly complement and enhance the tale.

Grownups beware. Youngsters might have their own questions and answers after this romp. (Picture book. 4-8)

EVERLASTING

Chandler, Elizabeth Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4424-0921-7 Series: Kissed by an Angel, 3 This third entry in the Kissed by an Angel series apparently is not the last, as it solves one mystery and wins a battle that leaves readers with another cliffhanger.

Ivy remains in forever-love with Tristan, who died in the first book but now inhabits Luke’s body. Tristan became a fallen angel when he illegally saved Ivy from death with a kiss in the second installment, but he doesn’t yet appear to be distressed by that development. The characters continue to rely on a real angel, rebellious and erratic Lacey, the most entertaining character in the book, who always comes through in a pinch. Meanwhile danger looms as Gregory, the evil spirit who was the original murderer, now possesses Beth, Ivy’s best friend, with fateful intent. Amid that tangle of characters the author presents an equally large population of friends. In this volume, the main focus is on clearing Luke’s name for murdering his girlfriend. Ivy and Tristan (as Luke) investigate.

Chandler picks up the pace from the last installment with a bit more suspense, especially in the Gregory/Beth and Tristan/ Luke combinations. Readers who began with the first installment will enjoy the continuing story, if they can disentangle the complexities of the plot and the natural and supernatural relationships. Others would do best by starting over from the beginning and paying close attention.

Complicated. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

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OPERATION MARRIAGE

Chin-Lee, Cynthia Illus. by Lyon, Lea PM Press (32 pp.) $14.95 | Feb. 15, 2012 978-1-60486-422-9

Wearing its heart on its sleeve, this message-driven text could attract likeminded readers but is unlikely to engage anyone beyond those already in the gay-

marriage-rights choir.

When Zach tells Alex he can’t be her friend because his dad says her parents aren’t really married, Alex seeks to defend her moms’ relationship while also fighting against Proposition 8.

Alex and her brother Nicky decide to launch “Operation Marriage” to inspire their moms to get married before the proposition’s passage, and Mama Kathy and Mama Lee decide to marry in haste. When Alex shares wedding photos at school, even Zach acknowledges her family’s special day. After Prop 8 passes a month later, Zach and his mother (she’s not homophobic like his dad) show up with a plate of cookies to offer apologies and support. All’s well that ends well, with homophobia neatly situated in one mean character who stands for all who voted to overturn equal marriage rights in California. Watercolor portraits of the characters do little to extend the story, instead documenting the characters and their struggle.

More editorial more than story, this title will situate itself as part of the early-21st-century movement toward same-sex marriage rights. (Picture book. 4-7)

DANCING WITH THE DINOSAURS

Clarke, Jane Illus. by Wildish, Lee Imagine Publishing (32 pp.) $12.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-936140-67-1 Each dinosaur has his favorite dance and really knows how to shake it!

The fang-tastic T. Rex serves as emcee, introducing a galaxy of dancing dinosaur stars. (He also does a mean tango.) The Duckbills favor disco, Steggy likes the Twist and the Raptors tap dance, complete with canes and hats. In all, 14 varieties of dinosaur step out, illustrated in bold full-page pictures. Tracey Triceratops, adorned with a sparkling gold necklace and matching shoes, does body pops. The Pachycephalosaurus brothers breakdance. Lily Dilophosaurus executes an elegant waltz, in a hot-pink gown and scarves for gesticulation. Patty Apatasaurus and her crew of three samba, careful to avoid the pile of poo she’s deposited(!). Maia Maiasaurus moonwalks in one white glove. Judges hold up scores that vary wildly. And every few pages, a small illustration in the corner of the page depicts a judge being snatched away by green claws. Wildish’s pictures are funny, but Clarke’s rhyming text is disappointingly minimal,

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relying on the tropes of reality-TV dance shows that many in the audience may not recognize.

Appealing enough, but adds little to the substantial dinosaur subgenre. (Picture book. 3-5)

THE WHISPER

Clayton, Emma Chicken House/Scholastic (320 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-545-31772-6 978-0-545-39326-3 e-book This sequel to The Roar (2009) finds twins Mika and Ellie and the other mutant children using their maturing superpower talents.

In a knockout science-fiction thriller, they attack the Wall that divides the poor multitudes in the North from the relatively few rich in the South. Mika explains at one pont: “We hear things you can’t hear… we call them The Roar and The Whisper. The Roar is the sound of emotion and The Whisper is the sound of thought.” Set in the not-so-far future in the British Isles and picking up right after the finale of The Roar, this story demonstrates thought turned into action. It extends readers’ comprehension of the twins’ world, providing knowledge of the characters and their superpowers, revelations about the origin of the Wall and details of the landscape of the South in greater depth than in the first book. The third-person narration alternates among the viewpoints of Ellie, Mika and Mika’s friend, Kobi, adding interest and suspense, while the well-developed plot, lots of new and creepy monsters and tightly maintained tension keep readers entertained. Heavy themes of economic marginalization are leavened by gadgetry and action.

Mixing science-fiction ideas with the tension of a thriller guarantees reader approval. (Science fiction. 10-13)

A TOUCH MORBID

Clifford, Leah Greenwillow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-06-200502-1 Angels and devils fight grim wars across the five boroughs.

Fans of A Touch Mortal (2011) are advised to reread before they pick up this sequel, as none of the myriad plot threads— some involving delusional, amnesiac or otherwise unreliable narrators—are revisited for forgetful readers. Instead, volume two leads right into a tangle of names: Eden is living with Az and Jarrod, who works with Zach and befriends Sullivan, and all of them distrust Madeline and hide from Luke while seeking Gabe and ignoring Kristen’s worsening mental illness... Somewhere in all of this is a paranormal adventure. Eden and allies are mostly Siders, living 176

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undead who remain immortal and forgotten after their suicides.

Eden and her beloved Az (the angel Azazel, caught in a limbo between heaven and hell) are seeking Gabe, Az’s best friend and the angel who Fell at the conclusion of this series’ first volume.

Inexplicable politics between Eden and the other Sider leaders prevents them from banding together against a common enemy: Luke, otherwise known as Lucifer. As if that weren’t bad enough, Heaven’s involved now, and neither celestial nor infernal forces seem to be looking out for the best interest of the Siders. Eden has her hands full keeping Az from Falling the rest of the way to hell, seeking Gabe and hiding her own deterioration.

Chaotic. (Paranormal romance. 14-16)

THE PENGUIN LADY

Cole, Carol A. Illus. by Rogers, Sherry Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $17.95 | Feb. 10, 2012 978-1-6071-8527-7

A parade of penguin species, overlaid by a veneer-thin storyline.

Starting with one Galapagos penguin and going on up to 10 Emperors, a succession of avian arrivals fills up the house of penguin-lover Penelope Parker—a “stout” redhead who wears only black and white in Rogers’ smooth-surfaced, increasingly crowded illustrations and, just like her surprise guests, “waddle[s] when she walk[s].” Depicted with reasonable attention to details of beak, crest and other physical features, the feathered interlopers snooze atop the piano, pose in front of the television or paddle about the pond in the yard until Penelope at last trucks them away to the zoo, then goes off to buy a dog. Several pages of penguin information (including a cogent note in the fine print that, no, “it isn’t possible… to have penguins as pets”) and discussion questions follow this predictable episode, supplemented by further resources available on the publisher’s web site.

A digital version with added features is also available.

A lightweight, undistinguished addition to the flock of similar penguin profiles. Some newly fledged readers may waddle its way. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

AFTER THE SNOW

Crockett, S. D. Feiwel & Friends (304 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-312-64169-6 Debut author Crockett’s poetic firstperson narrative depicts an adolescent’s coming of age amid wartime havoc and an unforgiving, possibly post-apocalyptic winter.

When Willo’s family vanishes from their wintry cabin, he sets out on his own to find them, leaving his home in the hills for the nearby town, which is undergoing

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“Following the progression of the seasons, these poems and their accompanying eye-popping spreads capture the essence of common animals, plants and phenomena….” from outside your window

a Nazi-like occupation. The war is a nebulous monster; though Crockett alludes to World War II, she never fully explicates the novel’s timeframe, which may frustrate some readers. Willo’s inventive argot is part–urban vernacular and part–forester twang, and though it offers no clues as to setting or time, it conveys exceptional metaphors that evoke nature and the elements.

People Willo has trusted betray him in the face of scarce food and the authorities’ hunt for a faceless resistance, but he perseveres, seizing opportunities to earn his bread and doggedly pursuing information about his father. On his journey he meets a young girl who turns out to possess unexpected significance in the political landscape, figuring even in his own legacy, a thing he discovers in his difficult search. Willo endures cruel brutality, but Crockett renders in him an intense psychological transformation that is authentic to his character and his circumstances, culminating in discovery of his own voice and vision.

A sentimental tale of hardships, resilience and firsttime experiences that illustrates a universal truism: Hope springs eternal in the young. (Fiction. 12 & up)

NIGHT KNIGHT

Davey, Owen Illus. by Davey, Owen Templar/Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-7636-5838-0 An upside-down colander becomes a knight’s helmet and a yawn becomes “ye olde yawn” when a small boy dreamer

gets ready for bed.

Every spread of this visually stunning British import is suitable for framing. Hip, stylized, beautifully composed cut-paper collages (dubbed “digital media” in the small print) evoke the rich ornamentation of any self-respecting medieval fantasy, all saturated in a warm palette of deep gold, burgundy, rusts and oranges on what looks like handmade paper. The 70-word text itself chronicles the boy’s bedtime ritual in the briefest, most perfunctory fashion: “For a knight like me, going to bed… / is a great adventure,” the boy begins. The armored knight gallops on horseback past paintings and a hat rack, down the hallway of his family home, which gradually transforms into a wild wood, complete with a fox. His pre-bedtime bath involves navigating the tentacles of a giant squid. (The touchstone to reality is the bathtub plug that doubles as an undersea anchor.) The boy knight brushes his teeth while hopping atop the snapping jaws of crocodiles. When he finally climbs into bed (up a turret, of course!) and turns out the lights, he concludes, “Though it has been a great adventure… / even a knight needs a good night’s sleep.”

A visual feast for very youngest fans of knights and castles. (Picture book. 2-4)

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OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW A First Book of Nature Davies, Nicola Illus. by Hearld, Mark Candlewick (108 pp.) $19.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7636-5549-5

Lyrically textured and illustrated glimpses of the natural world.

In this sweeping, comprehensive look outdoors, zoologist and noted children’s author Davies (Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable, 2011, etc.) here joins forces with the illustrative talents of British artist Hearld, a kindred spirit when it comes to drawing artistic inspiration from nature. Following the progression of the seasons, these poems and their accompanying eye-popping spreads capture the essence of common animals, plants and phenomena in ways sure to entice young readers to venture outside. Hearld’s powerful multimedia illustrations layer paper-cut animals and diverse flora with vibrant swathes of watercolor, ink and crayon, creating dynamic scenes to which children can readily relate, while Davies’ spare lyrics ground complex processes like the life cycles of frogs and dandelions and the formation of rainbows with relative clarity.

Some broader scenes encourage children to explore with all their senses and prove especially evocative, as in this moving image of what can happen during a snow-filled winter’s night: “In the morning, you’ll find the snow has kept a diary / of things that happened when you were asleep. / The animals and birds who ran about the garden / have left a snowy record of their feet.”

Over 50 poems, lustrous illustrations, a couple simple recipes and some advice for saving seeds combine to lend enough nature-related food for thought for many a sitting.

(Picture book/poetry. 3-12)

PETER AND THE SEAL

de Haas, Rick Illus. by de Haas, Rick NorthSouth (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-7358-4061-4

Peter and Leo’s second adventure requires several suspensions of belief that most readers will be incapable of managing.

The hot summer day leads Peter’s grandmother to suggest boating as a way to cool off. But Peter is no ordinary boy with a canoe or sailboat… he has a submarine. Sadly, his adventure ends when distraction leads him to ground the sub on a sandbank. His stash of food, lemonade and a sleeping bag see the boy and his dog through the evening, but Leo’s growling at sounds in the dark becomes unnerving for even the plucky boy, so they close the hatch to sleep and await the morning’s high tide. But they cannot ignore it when the submarine tips over. Venturing out, they find the titular baby seal, which they take in. When they arrive back at the lighthouse in the morning, the three meet Grandma and the mama seal on the jetty, a police vehicle behind

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“Father and daughter Feiffers deliver a bedtime book underscoring the notion that sometimes only pure exhaustion will lull a baby to sleep.” from no go sleep !

them. Strangely, the story ends there. If this had been an imaginary submarine trip, the lack of consequences would be understandable. But as written, Grandma comes off as irresponsible, while Peter is just a little too relaxed through the ordeal to be believable. The watercolor artwork lacks the humor found in de Haas’ previous work, and the dark nighttime scenes make it difficult to read the black text superimposed on it.

Ultimately, de Haas misses a great story—a boy with his own submarine!—while the story he does tell about a seal sinks. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE LITTLE YELLOW BOTTLE

Delaunois, Angèle Illus. by Delezenne, Christine Second Story Press (24 pp.) $15.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-926920-34-4

An earnest effort to shed light on the devastating effects of war on children.

Days after a village in an unnamed country is bombed, best friends Marwa and Ahmad are kicking a soccer ball when they come across a shiny yellow bottle. Ahmad picks it up, and the ensuing explosion injures both children. Marwa, the narrator of the story, heals completely from her injuries, but Ahmad has lost two limbs. When he’s visited by a man who’s similarly injured and living a full life with an artificial leg, Ahmad slowly regains hope. The illustrations are a blend of drawing and collage made to look like pages torn out of a child’s school notebook. Inexplicably, the two illustrations that graphically depict Ahmad’s injuries show the loss of limbs on different sides of his body. This well-intentioned but misplaced adult desire to expose injustices and laud the courage of children disfigured by landmines results in a weak story. There are no secrets about the direction the simplistic, didactic narrative will take, with a special message from Handicap International laid out opposite the title page. It’s harder to tell who the intended audience is for this book; it’s likely to appeal more to advocates of bibliotherapy than to children.

Likely to find its place on a few classroom shelves. (Picture book. 6–9)

FEVER

DeStefano, Lauren Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 12, 2012 978-1-4424-0907-1 Series: The Chemical Garden Trilogy, 2 The atmospheric worldbuilding, moral dilemmas and romantic possibilities of Wither (2011) never heat up in this, the second novel in the dystopian Chemical Garden Trilogy.

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Having recently escaped the compound where she was forced to marry, take on sister wives and ultimately become her evil father-in-law Vaughn’s scientific experiment in the name of finding a cure for the virus that kills off men and women at a young age, Rhine, along with former servant and love interest Gabriel, finds herself in trouble again. Plotting another escape from a heartless “First Generation” who runs a brothel out of an abandoned carnival site, continuing to evade Vaughn, picking up a malformed and mute girl and trying to find Rhine’s twin brother should be adventurous. And finally being able to communicate freely should bring out the intimacy between Rhine and Gabriel. Instead, the repetitive story, filled with too many similar dream sequences and nearly nonstop illnesses, falls flat, and readers may wonder at times if Rhine and Gabriel even like each other. Their constant running and hiding overshadow the interesting questions about the ethics of science, relationships, sexuality and power raised in the first book.

Readers who want to know more about the causes and effects of the mysterious virus will have to wait for the third installment, purposefully set up by another rushed ending. (Dystopian romance. 14 & up)

NO GO SLEEP!

Feiffer, Kate Illus. by Feiffer, Jules Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4424-1683-3 Father and daughter Feiffers deliver a bedtime book underscoring the notion that sometimes only pure exhaustion will lull a baby to sleep.

When the blue pajama’ed baby announces “No go sleep,” he means it. Page after page of reassurances from parents, the setting sun, the watchful moon, bunnies, owls and even a car driving by saying “Beep, beep, sleep, sleep” are all for naught.

The text’s lilting cadence coupled with the cool, nighttime palette might make readers expect the baby to acquiesce, but he’s not one to fall for such standard bedtime-book ploys. When the mommy says, “Please go to sleep,” in a left-hand illustration depicting her leaning over the crib of a calm but still wide-awake baby, the facing page shows baby simply and firmly responding, “NO!” Funny in and of itself after such a long build-up of gentle reassurances, the humor of this blunt refusal is enhanced by Jules Feiffer’s picture of the baby, no longer calm and wide-eyed, but downright irascible and rigid in his adamant, wakeful state.

But a page turn brings us to baby immediately closing his eyes anyway and falling fast asleep.

A clever, funny addition to the bedtime-book shelf. (Picture book 2-5)

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UNBEELIEVABLES Honeybee Poems and Paintings

Florian, Douglas Illus. by Florian, Douglas Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4424-2652-8 Florian (Poetrees, 2010, etc.) bestows yet another pleasing mix of punny poems and colorful collages that blend whimsy and fact.

The 14 poems introduce the roles of the queen, drones and workers and touch on such matters as anatomy, development from egg to bee, and even Colony Collapse Disorder. Spreads like “Swarm” epitomize Florian’s skill at combining pithy rhymes, well-chosen facts and playfully tongue-in-cheek pictures. “When it’s too crowded, then we form / A cloud of bees that’s called a swarm.” A three-sentence paragraph, offset in smaller type, explains why bees swarm, the role of scout bees and what happens after a new home site is found. The facing picture shows a veritable thunderhead of bees, dwarfing the sun and forest in its imperative to move house. Design is crisp: The text type, Neutra, sits in pleasing, contrasting colors against saturated pages of crimson, ochre-gold and grass green. Characteristically poking visual fun at facts, the mixed-media pictures present bees as cheeky girls and boys with red, kewpie-doll smiles. The queen sports a crown, scepter and cell phone, illustrating the couplet “My princely sons are known as drones— / Not one of those boys ever phones!” Meanwhile, those Belushilooking bad boys slouch and smirk in chunky medallions and sideways baseball caps.

Florian shines again here. (“BEEbliography,” websites for further inquiry) (Picture book/poetry. 5-8)

ISABELLA Girl on the Go

Fosberry, Jennifer Illus. by Litwin, Mike Sourcebooks (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-4022-6648-5 The impetuous Isabella returns (My Name Is Not Isabella, 2010), offering readers a whirlwind tour of the globe.

A leisurely day of helping her father with yard work becomes a glorious adventure for the pint-sized explorer. Fosberry’s tale unfolds as an afternoon-long conversation between father and child. With each request Isabella’s father makes for her assistance with a project, the imaginative tot saucily explains why she couldn’t possibly help. Isabella’s sandbox play soon becomes the work of an aspiring archeologist searching for lost tombs, while her tree fort becomes a Mayan temple, perfect for observing the constellations. Isabella’s father eagerly participates in his daughter’s whimsical game. His wry responses to Isabella’s grandiose proclamations are sprinkled with droll |

humor that will entertain readers both young and old. Fosberry adeptly captures children’s endearing ability to re-imagine their world through creative play. Litwin’s vivacious illustrations convey Isabella’s endless capacity for invention. His color-laden pictures illuminate Isabella’s imaginings, artfully transforming a commonplace landscape into the wonders of the world.

Informative end pages contain pictures and descriptions of the places featured in the text.

Isabella’s characteristic ingenuity blossoms in this creative tale that encourages readers to give their imaginations free rein. (Picture book. 4-8)

MUNCLE TROGG

Foxley, Janet Illus. by O’Kif Chicken House/Scholastic (224 pp.) $14.99 | $14.99 e-book | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-545-37800-0 978-0-545-40466-2 e-book Children who thought they could never identify with a giant may be surprised by this classically Dahl-esque

British import.

Muncle Trogg is the world’s smallest giant, and he may also be the smartest. He’s the only giant who isn’t afraid of little human schoolgirls. Actually, he’s the only giant who’s ever met one. Everyone else is terrified of the “Smallings” and their magic killing sticks. But Muncle goes to visit a human town for himself, to see if he could decipher the letters in their books of magic. Curious, open-minded and no bigger than a Smalling, Muncle is hated by every other giant. Even his brother likes to dangle him upside-down for fun. This, of course, makes him the ideal hero for a children’s book. Even the most rosy-spectacled readers will be astounded at how many feats of glory he pulls off in 224 pages. The many surprises are the book’s greatest strength, but also its weakness. The action sometimes feels haphazard. Just how did Muncle get from the floor show at a royal banquet to the bottom of a volcano in only a few chapters?

Then again, life is haphazard.

Anyone who’s ever felt like the world’s smallest giant will find something to like in this book and will enjoy being astounded on every page. (Fantasy. 7-10)

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TESSA MASTERSON WILL GO TO PROM

Though she misspells “Symbionese” and repeatedly awards FDR only three Presidential wins, in general Fryd presents reasonably accurate summaries of events and issues while giving all sides of the more muddled conflicts at least a nod. Additional cred is provided by a teen panel of editorial advisors.

Catnip for scandal junkies, with a bit of historical perspective stirred in. (index) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Franklin, Emily & Halpin, Brendan Walker (272 pp.) $16.99 | paper $9.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-8027-2345-1 978-0-8027-2359-8 paperback In a story unapologetically ripped from the headlines, a small-town highschool student starts a furor by announcing her intention to wear a tuxedo to prom and bring a same-sex date.

Lucas has always loved his best friend Tessa. But his grand, public invitation for her to be his prom date unexpectedly inspires Tessa to acknowledge what she has known in the back of her mind for years: She is a lesbian. In chapters narrated alternately by Luke and Tessa, readers experience Luke’s initial anger and Tessa’s growing self-confidence. Then it all hits the fan: Parents become outraged, students vandalize Tessa’s locker, the school board threatens to cancel prom and a media circus descends as the story becomes national news. Readers familiar with lesbian would-be promgoer Constance McMillen will recognize the sequence of events here, from the arrival of a supportive but brusque ACLU lawyer to the exclusionary private prom parents create after the school-sponsored dance is axed. And despite a few standout characters—Luke’s mom in particular takes a funny and surprising tough-love approach to her son—the book mostly reads as a dramatization of the 2010 news story.

An accessible, if not original, take on coming out and overcoming adversity. (Fiction. 12 & up)

SCANDALOUS! 50 Shocking Events You Should Know About (So You Can Impress Your Friends)

Fryd, Hallie Zest/Orange Avenue (224 pp.) $13.99 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-9827322-0-5

A gleefully explicit catalogue of the past century’s headlinegrabbing bad behavior.

Aimed at readers who don’t need to be told who Brangelina is but may be hazy on “twisted besties” Leopold and Loeb or even Monica Lewinsky, this edutaining survey presents a wideangle array of murders, sexual follies, controversial trials, race violence, political corruption and general envelope-pushing from the 1906 killing of Stanford White on. Each of the chronologically arranged entries opens with a capsule “Scoop” followed by a slightly fuller account under a “What Went Down” header. Along with a small black-and-white photo and one or two sidebar quotes, the author tacks on subsequent developments, sometimes-perceptive suggestions about “Why We Still Care” and a short roster of similar incidents in recent history.

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OLIVIA BEAN, TRIVIA QUEEN

Gephart, Donna Delacorte (288 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-385-74052-4 978-0-375-89940-9 e-book 978-0-375-98952-0 PLB One question can best sum up 12-yearold Olivia Bean’s life: What is worse than having a 5-year-old brother who is obsessed with gross trivia and sharing your house with your mother’s boyfriend?

The answer: losing your dad, too. Her dad’s move across the country with “Stella the Stealer” and her daughter, Nikki, Livi’s former BFF, throws Livi’s life into turmoil. Trivia-loving Livi desperately misses watching Jeopardy! with her dad, a nightly tradition that is not the same with mom’s boyfriend, Neil.

Despite his many promises to stay in touch, Livi’s relationship with her dad is nearly non-existent since he left. The chance to be on the kids-week edition of Jeopardy! seems to be the perfect opportunity for Livi to reconnect with her father. Can Livi find the confidence in herself to go for it? Gephart addresses Olivia’s situation with a combination of wit and poignancy that perfectly reflects Olivia’s determined yet vulnerable character.

As she struggles to reconcile her myriad feelings toward her new situation, Livi must decide what defines her and her family—questions only she can answer.

This tale will have readers cheering for the resilient, resourceful Olivia. (Fiction. 9-13)

WHO AM I?

Gervase, Phinn Illus. by Ross, Tony Andersen Press USA (32 pp.) $16.95 | $12.95 e-book | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-8996-5 978-0-7613-9003-9 e-book Two picture-book veterans offer a phoned-in collaboration that blows off not only the Big Question it poses, but the plot, too.

A puzzled hatchling chameleon actually has two posers: “Could you tell me who I am and where I come from?” he asks of a giraffe, an elephant and a succession of other jungle animals.

No, replies each, identifying itself in a patterned way—”I am

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“Good sloshy fun.” from split ! splat !

the cheetah and I am the fastest animal in the whole wide world, but I do not know what sort of creature you are.” A toothy crocodile at last promises enlightenment if only the little tyke will come closer…but just as he’s is about to climb on the croc’s nose, along comes Mama Chameleon to identify her little one as “my little baby chameleon, the most beautiful and unusual creature in the whole wide world!” and whisk him away to meet his many sibs. In his loosely brushed pictures, Ross adds an ingenious detail to the narrative by having the little one adopt the colors of each animal he questions, but he contradicts Phinn’s version of the climax (having the lizard clamber atop the nose of a croc whose mouth is closer to closed than wide open as described) and, in blithe disregard for internal logic, inexplicably sends the suddenly meek crocodile packing.

Why ask children to think deep thoughts when you can offer a superficial variation on the common “Where’s Mama?” theme instead? (Picture book. 5-7)

SPLIT! SPLAT!

Gibson, Amy Illus. by Bjorkman, Steve Scholastic (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-439-58753-2 Gibson’s second outing (Around the World on Eighty Legs, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, 2011) is an onomatopoetic praise song to rain and mud.

With a gentle spring rain falling outside, a little girl and her dog (and the mouse in their house) head out for an afternoon of messy wet fun, joining a couple of neighbors who are already frolicking. Togged out in rain jackets and boots and carrying umbrellas, the trio soon discards all to fully enjoy the experience. Jumping in puddles quickly turns to squishing mud between bare toes and, finally, to a watery mudslide involving their entire bodies. No doubt readers will relate to the fun depicted in the pictures, but it is Gibson’s language play that makes this such a grand read-aloud: “Splish / sploosh, / squash / squoosh, // oochy sploochy woochy woosh!” Björkman uses a spring palette in watercolors that are filled with splashes, splooshes and lots of splatters and smiles. But his characters look older than they should be for this type of rainy day fun…especially considering the wet and tremendously muddy trail the girl leaves from the front door to the bathtub. Still, the antics of the two dogs and the adorable mouse that mimics the children’s cavorting are sure to keep kids’ attention.

Good sloshy fun. (Picture book. 3-6)

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THE FLUTE

Gilmore, Rachna Illus. by Biswas, Pulak Tradewind Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Feb. 15, 2012 978-1-896580-57-9 With elements reminiscent of many different stories, this original tale features a beloved young girl named Chandra (moon in Hindi) who loses her parents in a terrible flood during monsoon season.

The Cinderella-like orphan is grudgingly taken in by her mean aunt and uncle, but she is denied adequate food and forced to work hard. Her only pleasure is playing her mother’s flute, put into her hands as her parents saved her from the raging river, but her cruel relatives take the little instrument.

Chandra, who never loses hope, hears the flute and begins to find a daily meal of rice, lentils and eggplant. As everyone else starves during the drought-ridden season, she is accused of using “unholy magic,” and her uncle purposely pushes her into the next monsoon’s floodwaters. Miraculously, the flute sounds again, and the girl follows its sound until a rope pulls her to safety and into the hearts of a new set of loving parents. The dramatic illustrations create a strong, rural south Indian setting, with their quick black lines, almost-solid black bodies and bold use of red and blue, with just a hint of yellow for the moon. A traditional tale’s comeuppance for (and possible forgiveness of) the evil relatives is missing here, though, resulting in a narrative that feels incomplete.

The thin story is mostly redeemed by the vigorous illustrations. (Picture book. 6-8)

THE SEA WOLVES

Golden, Christopher & Lebbon, Tim Illus. by Ruth, Greg Harper/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-06-186320-2 978-0-06-186321-9 PLB Series: The Secret Journeys of Jack London, 2 Young Jack London continues his supernatural adventures as the authors soup up London’s original The Sea Wolf to fit the current paranormal craze.

In this second installment of their new series, Golden and Lebbon use the major plot points of London’s 1904 adventure as a loose framework for a new story that features a teenage Jack fighting werewolves. Most of the names remain the same (but alas, they exclude Oofty-Oofty), although they switch a few— here, this ship is the Larsen and the captain is called Ghost. London and the brutal captain have philosophical arguments about the virtues of human versus animal nature. Of course, young Jack will wind up fighting the crew of werewolves and Ghost

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“Green’s signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire.” from the fault in our stars

himself. Whatever one may think of the worth of the authors’ concept, they produce an exciting tale that’s written with considerable oomph, and Ruth’s bold, charcoal drawings brilliantly capture the book’s action. However, their captain doesn’t linger in the mind as does London’s original Wolf Larsen, and their adventure, although suspenseful, pales against London’s efforts.

Yet their romance passages trump London’s antiquated romance subplot, with the introduction of a witch who captures young Jack’s heart. Certainly the writing quality here surpasses that of most paranormal adventures today. And perhaps it might win London a new readership.

An odd but well-executed idea. (Paranormal adventure. 10-16)

CROSS MY HEART

Gould, Sasha Delacorte (272 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $20.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-385-74150-7 978-0-375-98540-9 e-book 978-0-375-99007-6 PLB Sixteen-year-old Laura della Scala becomes dangerously embroiled in the secrets, scandal and political intrigue of 16th-century upper-class Venice as she seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s unexpected death.

Summoned home from the convent where she’s lived for five years, Laura discovers her beloved sister Beatrice has drowned, and her father expects her to marry Beatrice’s wealthy fiancé, Vincenzo. Still grieving for Beatrice, Laura’s pulled into the gossip and rivalries of Venetian society, in which everyone is “part of a scheme or a plot.” When Laura realizes her future husband is elderly, cruel and lecherous, she feels powerless to disobey her father. Desperate to avoid marrying Vincenzo, Laura betrays a confidence to join the Segreta, a powerful secret society of masked women who arrange for Vincenzo’s disgrace and exile.

Saved from the marriage, Laura feels indebted to the Segreta, but she also suspects they may be involved in her sister’s death. As she searches for Beatrice’s murderer, Laura falls in love with a penniless young artist with his own volatile secret guaranteed to rock Venetian society. Told in the first person, present tense from Laura’s perspective and set amid glittering ballrooms and dark canals, this richly atmospheric thriller stars a bold heroine who tackles murder, betrayal and revenge with contemporary gusto.

Enticing, exciting fare. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

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THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Green, John Dutton (272 pp.) $17.99 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-525-47881-2 He’s in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs. She’s fighting the brown fluid in her lungs caused by tumors. Both know that their time is limited.

Sparks fly when Hazel Grace Lancaster spies Augustus “Gus” Waters checking her out across the room in a group-therapy session for teens living with cancer. He’s a gorgeous, confident, intelligent amputee who always loses video games because he tries to save everyone. She’s smart, snarky and 16; she goes to community college and jokingly calls Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, her only friend besides her parents. He asks her over, and they swap novels. He agrees to read the Van Houten and she agrees to read his—based on his favorite bloodbath-filled video game. The two become connected at the hip, and what follows is a smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance. From their trip to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive Van Houten to their hilariously flirty repartee, readers will swoon on nearly every page. Green’s signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire. He takes on Big Questions that might feel heavy handed in the words of any other author: What do oblivion and living mean? Then he deftly parries them with humor: “My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched.”

Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue.

Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues to make it through Hazel and Gus’ poignant journey. (Fiction. 15 & up)

HOME IN THE CAVE

Halfmann, Janet Illus. by Bersani, Shennen Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $17.95 | Feb. 10, 2012 978-1-6071-8522-2

A young bat explores cave ecology, squired by a pack rat with a flashlight.

In the gossamer-thin fictional overlay, little Baby Bat meets a pack rat named Pluribus who, with an illogical “We can use my flashlight and follow the scent trails I’ve made from room to room,” sets off on a tour. After encounters with a bird, a snake and the teeming residents of the guanocovered floor (“Wow, I had no idea that so many animals depend on us for food!”) Baby Bat crawls back up to the ceiling with a new appreciation for his—or at least his poop’s—importance. Pale, realistically drawn but indistinct insects and other cave creatures

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swarm across Bersani’s low-contrast colored-pencil illustrations, and the info-load is further expanded by several closing pages of additional information and discussion questions (“Are bats good or bad?”). An e-book version with extra features is also available.

Bat lovers (or haters, for that matter) aren’t going to learn anything here that isn’t offered more clearly and with less anthropomorphism elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

OPEN WIDE! A Look Inside Animal Mouths

Ham, Catherine EarlyLight (32 pp.) $14.95 | $9.99 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-9832014-3-4 978-1-60734-088-1 e-book

Along with companion Step Inside! A Look Inside Animal Homes (also 2012), a visually captivating but politically flawed peek into the world of fauna.

Both chronicle a fascinating array of 24 animals from a good mix of classes. In Step Inside!, most pages include several photos, allowing a glimpse of both the animal and its home, although a more wide-angled view would have given a better idea of the home in its surroundings. In addition, some animals are grouped together (“reef fish”), and the “homes” described are not accurate for the entire group. Open Wide! is the better of the two titles, although many opinions are worked into the factual poems. While Ham no doubt provides a few interesting facts about both animal homes and mouths, the delivery is ultimately flawed, the content sacrificed to the form. With rhyme schemes that change within the poems, words that don’t quite rhyme, rhythm that falters and a dearth of punctuation, these animal poems are difficult to read at best: “A turtle’s mouth / Is different / It’s not like mine or yours / First off, it has no teeth / But extremely hard, strong jaws.” Backmatter features a picture collage of 10 additional animal mouth/homes and an index.

Ham’s information and photos would have been much better served with a strictly nonfiction, non-rhyming format. (Informational poetry. 4-7)

MARTHA, NO!

Hardy, Edward Illus. by Allwright, Deborah Egmont USA (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-60684-266-9 A sweet disposition combined with a penchant for mass destruction drives this sweet if mildly flawed tale of a nanny and her overly enthusiastic young charge.

Despite the girl’s mother’s warnings, Martha May’s latest nanny, Miss Harrington-Chive, is sure that the two will get |

along swimmingly. Instead, the older woman quickly learns that to take your eyes off of Martha for more than two seconds is to invite catastrophe. The story is regularly punctuated by the titular cries of “Martha, No!” as the child scales dino skeletons, digs tunnels and, ultimately, flies away with a clump of balloons—back into her mother’s waiting arms. Martha’s saving grace is that her chaos is inspired less by a desire to be naughty and more out of honest curiosity about the world around her.

Allwright is conscious of this fact from the get-go, her Martha charming in her innocence rather than her destruction. The art is a large percentage of the fun, encompassing everything from dramatic teacup balancing to brass-band hijinks. Everything works quite beautifully until the ending, which resolves by indicating that mothers of nannied children apparently hand them off to strangers on a whim rather than a necessity.

Still, a delicious tone and the perfect illustrator are sure to make this a beloved story in many a household (odd ending or no). (Picture book. 4-8)

SADIE AND RATZ

Hartnett, Sonya Illus. by James, Ann Candlewick (64 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-7636-5315-6

Sadie and Ratz, Hannah’s menacing hands, help her to handle her sibling rivalry in this piercingly intelligent foray into chapter books by much-awarded teen author Hartnett.

Hannah lives with her parents and her stick insect, Pin. She would like to have a real pet, but all she has is the disappointing Baby Boy, who is the object of Sadie and Ratz’s anger.

When he does the things little brothers do (going into her room, changing the channel or using markers), Sadie and Ratz wake up, jump onto Baby Boy’s head and rub his ears off. One day, the game is changed when Baby Boy starts acting like a crafty 4-year-old. He spills milk, writes on the wall and breaks a valuable timepiece but blames everything on his sister’s naughty hands. When Pin is found missing a leg after Hannah sends her hands on vacation, the parents start to see the truth. The tale is accompanied by warm, expressive gestural charcoal drawings on every page that add much to the story, drawing readers’ eyes to the characters’ real feelings. Ending on the hopeful note that Baby Boy’s hands and Hannah’s hands are going to be friends, this is one story of sibling rivalry that seems realistic. The kids might not be friends, but their naughty hands can be! For big sisters and Baby Boys adjusting to each other.

A real slice of family life, the sweet with the bitter. (Fiction. 5-8)

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THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK

Heard, Georgia--Ed. Illus. by Guilloppe, Antoine Roaring Brook (48 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-1-59643-665-7

Found poems can be found right here in a small anthology of original poems.

Found poems are exactly what their name implies: poems created out of words and phrases found in all sorts of places—on Facebook, in a thesaurus, in newspaper advertisements in magazines, on detergent boxes and signs in a hardware store. But, as the introduction cautions, “If you put a frame around any text and insert line breaks and stanzas—it won’t necessarily be a poem.”

It takes vision to see the potential of poetry all around us, and then it takes magic to elevate and deepen the language. The first lines of Heard’s opening poem, “Find a Poem,” define the finding poet’s process: “come across / chance upon / stumble on / discover / turn up / bring to light.” Aimed at young readers, with an eye to helping them learn to write their own found poems, the collection will be a handy guide to an accessible form. Not so easy will be getting students to understand what makes these poetry, and a bit of elaboration in the introduction would have helped make the case. But certainly in the spirit of helping young people play with language, this will be a welcome addition to every teacher’s writing toolbox.

Students may not be convinced these are real poems, but they’ll enjoy creating them anyway, whatever they are.

(Poetry. 8-12)

FRIENDS WITH BOYS

Hicks, Faith Erin Illus. by Hicks, Faith Erin First Second/Roaring Brook (224 pp.) $15.99 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-1-59643-556-8 Nervous, homeschooled by her absent and much-missed mom and saddled with three adored older brothers—and a ghost—Maggie starts high school.

Largely but not entirely left by her doting upper-grade sibs (who had “first days” of their own) to sink or swim, Maggie starts off in lonely isolation but quickly finds two great friends in Mohawk-wearing, multi-pierced, exuberantly logorrheic classmate Lucy and her quieter (but also Mohawk-topped) brother Alistair. Simmering complications soon reach a boil as Maggie discovers that Alistair and her own oldest brother Daniel have some sort of bad history and, on a more eldritch note, a woman’s ghost that Maggie had always been able to see occasionally in the nearby graveyard takes to floating into her house and right up to her face. Filling monochrome ink-andwash panels with wonderfully mobile faces, expressively posed 184

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bodies, wordless conversations in meaningful glances, funny banter and easy-to-read visual sequences ranging from hilarious to violent, Hicks crafts an upbeat, uncommonly engaging tale rich in humor, suspense and smart, complex characters.

Readers will definitely want to have, know or be Maggie’s brothers—but she herself proves to be no slouch when it comes to coping with change and taking on challenges.

(Graphic fantasy. 11-13)

SAME SUN HERE

House, Silas & Vaswani, Neela Candlewick (304 pp.) $16.99 | $15.99 e-book | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7636-5684-3 978-0-7636-5747-5 e-book A very modern cross-cultural story narrated by way of an old-fashioned penpal correspondence.

Meena, a new immigrant from India, lives in an illegal sublet in downtown Manhattan. River, who is of Irish extraction with a little Cherokee thrown in, resides in rural Kentucky. But their core experiences—living in the lower economic realm of the 99 percent, taking inspiration from their wise, nature-loving grandmothers, having fathers who work away from home and mothers who long for their husbands—are the same. During the course of the story, River becomes an environmental activist like his grandmother, trying to end a coal-mining technique that is polluting his community. Meena joins her school’s drama club, becomes more Americanized and mourns the death of the beloved grandmother she left behind in India.

The protagonists, who have clear individual voices, are an adult’s dream—polite, literate, studious and hard working—but kids should like them as well and identify with their struggles. In time, they become each other’s best friend and sounding board, supplying understanding and honest feedback. Because it’s a slice of life, a textured, life-ways comparison, there’s not a lot of narrative drive, and some arid patches may cause readers’ attention to flag.

Nonetheless, a finely detailed depiction of two separate worlds that demonstrates a deep well of shared humanity.

(Fiction. 9-13)

JOHN JENSEN FEELS DIFFERENT

Hovland, Henrik Translated by Bennett, Don Illus. by Kove, Torill Eerdmans (33 pp.) $16.00 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-8028-5399-8

John Jensen lives a perfectly ordinary, one would even say dull, life. So why does he “feel different”?

From the morning, when he munches on extra-fiber supercrunch cereal and brushes his teeth, to “when he’s sitting in the

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tax office working on cases” to his evening commute back home, he feels different. Maybe it’s the tail? Children will be all over the disconnect between text and images, because this Caspar Milquetoast of a protagonist is a crocodile living in a world (mostly) otherwise populated by humans. Even funnier than this is the obvious lack of interest everyone around him shows him, despite his intense self-consciousness (the man sitting next to him on the bus is actually sleeping). Nevertheless, John Jensen decides to try hiding his tail under his shirts to avoid notice.

But of course, “[w]ith your tail around your middle, you feel clumsy and it’s easy to lose your balance,” causing him to fall and attracting a lot of attention. The bruised saurian takes himself to the emergency room, where he is treated by… an elephant. A quick pep talk from Dr. Field makes John Jensen realize all the advantages of having a tail, and he celebrates Norway’s Constitution Day happily, just one among the throng. Kove’s childlike cartoons and their muted palette suit Hovland’s daffy fable to a T, matching its deadpan tone with bland innocence.

In between giggles, children will find much to think about. (Picture book. 5-9)

WANDERLOVE

Hubbard, Kirsten Illus. by Hubbard, Kirsten Delacorte (352 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $20.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-385-73937-5 978-0-375-89751-1 e-book 978-0-385-90785-9 PLB A tale of self-discovery slowly unfolds in this novel about a talented artist who falls for her travel companion as she backpacks in Central America.

Eighteen-year-old Bria defiantly embarks on a post–highschool graduation trip, quickly abandoning the tour group full of squares she’s with and uneasily throwing her lot in with globetrotter Starling and her surly, yet intriguing brother, Rowan.

Bria and Rowan eventually wind up on their own, both guarding their secrets mightily from the other. Bria is distinctive— embarrassed that she let her dreams of art school be sabotaged by a former boyfriend and self-conscious about appearing to be a naïve traveler, but also often tough and assertive. While these seemingly incongruous qualities make for interesting reading, her internal voice sometimes seems to clash with her dry, almost tartly down-to-earth outward persona, as when she thinks, “Tonight, I am the bohemian beach fairy of my fantasies.” Rowan, who is attempting to leave behind a sordid past that includes drug use and smuggling, is similarly complex. If the pacing drags at times, there are also some thrillingly romantic, smart and funny moments. Pencil drawings by the author embellish appealingly.

A thoughtful and meandering travel narrative, this will find an audience among readers willing to take the time to get to know characters whose motives they might not always understand. (Fiction. 13 & up) |

THE RUNAWAY

Huser, Glen Tradewind Books (196 pp.) $12.95 paperback | Feb. 15, 2012 978-1-896580-21-0 A teenage near-orphan comes of age in a Depression-era Chautauqua—a “weeklong extravaganza of entertainment and educational enlightenment” that traveled to towns that could cover the cost of putting on the programs.

When his father dies and his mother is severely injured in a car crash, 14-year-old Leroy “Doodelbug” Barnstable goes off to live with his Aunt Alvina and his cousins Virgil and Albert. But his cousins are abusive, and Leroy soon runs off. Leroy had lived a pretty ordinary life until that “topsy-turvy year,” and that Chautauqua summer is a life changer. Musicians, magicians, storytellers, comedians, actors and actresses perform all day long, and Doodlebug earns his keep by putting the artistic skills that are the source of his nickname to work in entertaining the little kids who arrived each day. Doodlebug gets to travel, meet new people and fall in love. The first-person narration lets readers in on his new experiences and feelings, and soon Doodlebug feels like an old friend, and the world of the Chautauqua circuit comes alive.

Intrigue, romance and fun leaven this tale of a good-hearted runaway boy beginning to find his way in the world.

This likable protagonist makes for a fine introduction to an era before movies and radio caused the Chautauqua to fade away. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 9-14)

INVASION OF THE DOGNAPPERS

Jennings, Patrick Egmont USA (200 pp.) $15.99 | $15.99 e-book | Apr. 24, 2012 978-1-60684-287-4 978-1-60684-289-8 e-book A rash of dognappings prompts a young sleuth’s obvious (to him) conclusion that space aliens are to blame.

Seeing several dogs suddenly vanish, leaving collars and leashes behind, 10-year-old Logan gallops over the understandable doubts of his friends and his open-minded single mom to organize an “Intergalactic Canine Rescue Unit.” Under its aegis, he stakes out his own aging and comically flatulent hound Bubba and cruises the ragged edge of a major grounding by haring off after supposed suspects without parental notification. Being the sort of author who could play his premise either way, Jennings (Guinea Dog, 2010; Beastly Arms, 2001) chucks in clues and red herrings galore but keeps readers in the dark—until, more than halfway through, Logan’s determined investigation brings him face to snout with the culprits and lands him penned, naked, among the missing canines. Rising ingeniously to the triple challenge of escaping, negotiating

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“Close-ups show the falcon’s sharp gaze, strong wings and fierce beak, all attributes alluded to in the brief, lyrical text.” from falcon

the return of the purloined pooches and keeping his clothes on (they keep disappearing), Logan proves a protagonist worth admiring—displaying a level of focus and dedication matched only by his long-standing, gonzo obsession with aliens.

Just another alien invasion headed off by solid detective work. (Science fiction. 10-12)

FALCON

Jessell, Tim Illus. by Jessell, Tim Random House (40 pp.) $17.99 | PLB $20.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-375-86866-5 978-0-375-96866-2 PLB Gorgeous artwork and an unusual subject will likely boost the appeal of this (literal and figurative) flight of fancy.

After starting with a single-page, sun-warmed portrait of a Tucson young boy, Jessell’s realistic paintings stretch across a series of two-page spreads to offer stunning vistas. Speaking in the first person, the boy describes how he would fly, what he might see and how other animals would respond, “If I were a falcon…” Close-ups show the falcon’s sharp gaze, strong wings and fierce beak, all attributes alluded to in the brief, lyrical text.

Shifts in perspective provide visual interest and amplify the impact of the prose, as when a blue jay and starling, viewed from below, peer warily up at the falcon flying high overhead. Cliffs, mountains, ocean waves and city skyscrapers loom large, and for the most part realism prevails, though there is just a touch of anthropomorphism (and humor) when the falcon dive-bombs startled pedestrians. The story then comes full circle, back to the boy, this time depicted running across the field, mimicking the falcon’s flight and wishing “Oh, if only I were a falcon…”

The initial rural setting and avian protagonist may be unfamiliar to some readers, but the author/artist’s admiration for the beauty of the natural world and the fascination of imagining another life shine through clearly. (Picture book. 4-7)

PARADISE TRAP

Jinks, Catherine Egmont USA (352 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Apr. 24, 2012 978-1-60684-273-7 978-1-60684-283-6 e-book Two vacationing families fall afoul of a deadly predator from Greek mythology.

Just arrived among the hordes of vacationers surrounding Diamond Beach, 11-year-old video-gamer Marcus is astounded to discover that the shabby, wheeled trailer his mother Holly bought for the outing sports a hidden staircase that leads down to a dark cellar. Stranger yet, the cellar has doors that lead to the opener’s dream vacation. These range from a fabulous amusement park for the young son of Coco, a 186

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childhood friend of Holly’s who follows Marcus down the stairs, and a rock club packed with celebrities for Coco’s moody teenage daughter to the idyllic beach resort of Holly’s childhood.

The disturbing discovery that each locale turns hostile toward anyone who wants to leave or isn’t having fun prompts Marcus to enlist the grownups in a rescue that becomes a running battle with the trailer’s former owner, Miss Molpe. This kindly old lady from Holly’s youth is in truth a clever and powerful childeating Siren who has lost her voice but still retains the ability to set elaborate magical snares for intended victims. She can also create vacations from hell, as Marcus and company discover before a narrow escape that (possibly) sends her to a fiery doom.

A breathless escapade, featuring several horror-show tropes leavened with hints of satire. (Fantasy. 11-13)

LAWN MOWER MAGIC

Jonell, Lynne Illus. by Dorman, Brandon Random House (112 pp.) $12.99 | $9.99 e-book | PLB $15.99 Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-375-86661-6 978-0-375-89673-6 e-book 978-0-375-96661-3 PLB The four Willow children attempt to tame an old-fashioned reel lawn mower with an enormous appetite for grass.

The family’s move to the country has been expensive, and money is tight. When the power mower dies, it seems that buying a new one will take precedence over buying a train ticket for Derek to go visit his old friends. Abner, Tate and Celia are fine siblings. Although they don’t want to play the games he likes, they’re willing to help their brother by using an old mower they found in the shed. The four of them, plus Celia’s stuffed rabbit, make a great team. Taking turns and then working together, they hang on desperately, steering the mower as it gobbles up the green and stopping it before it does too much damage to the vegetable garden or farmer Wopter’s alfalfa field. Short chapters and plentiful black-and-white illustrations (not seen), plus the suspense that comes with the realization that “Mowey” is out of control, will carry new readers along. This traditional family adventure provides a touch of magic and the satisfying sense that kids on their own can accomplish something.

Second in a promising series that began with Hamster Magic (2010) this is a good stepping stone to more challenging reading. (Fantasy. 6-9)

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BAD BOY

Jordan, Dream St. Martin’s Griffin (224 pp.) $9.99 paperback | $9.99 e-book Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-312-54997-8 978-1-4299-2689-8 e-book Tough and determined foster kid Kate, whose winning and often funny narrative voice made Hot Girl (2008) come alive, returns for a slightly flatter sequel.

After losing her loving foster parents for reasons beyond their and her control, Kate is sent to live in a run-down group home in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Despite the other girls’ instigating fights, Kate has her eye on the big picture (“No reason for me to pop off on these broads to gain respect. Been there, done that. Got me nowhere”). Still, her isolation makes her a target for Percy, the charming but controlling 19-year-old with whom Kate becomes involved. Their relationship unfolds almost as in an afterschool special on dating violence. Readers see warning signs (his purchase of a phone for her, persistent texting, ordering for her at restaurants), escalation and, ultimately, resolution, as well as a friend who names and observes the problem to give readers—though not immediately Kate—a framework for understanding what’s wrong. It is Kate’s pitch-perfect voice that raises the book above the level of a simple problem novel; once again, she is strong, vulnerable, witty and expressive in the face of misfortune and hostility.

An engaging follow-up with a worthy message. (Fiction.

12 & up)

BETTY BUNNY WANTS EVERYTHING

Kaplan, Michael B. Illus. by Jorisch, Stéphane Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 2, 2012 978-0-8037-3408-1

That boisterous Betty Bunny is back, and she’s just as much of a handful as she was in her initial outing (Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, 2011). This time Betty’s focused on choosing a toy at the store, but with so many choices, what’s a bunny to do?

Betty and her siblings are told that they can each select just one toy, and Betty at first chooses a little bunny doll. Then she quickly fills up an entire shopping cart with a towering stack of hilariously named toys, such as a Captain Gizmo Detective Kit. Her spree leads to a meltdown and a tearful trip home sans toy, but her understanding parents and siblings work with Betty to help her make an appropriate choice with her money on a return trip to the store. Kaplan’s perfectly paced text captures a young child’s intense emotions and limited reasoning, and the patient parents and slightly snide older brothers are real characters, as is the irrepressible Betty. Charming, large-scale illustrations in watercolor and ink are filled with details of toys |

and clothing, with understated colors and white backgrounds creating a fresh, contemporary air.

We don’t know everything about Betty Bunny yet, and her new BFF, the bunny doll she names Little Betty, might turn out to be a handful, too. More, please. (Picture book. 3-6)

I DATE DEAD PEOPLE

Kerns, Ann Illus. by Görrissen, Janina Graphic Universe (128 pp.) $9.95 paperback | $21.95 e-book PLB $29.27 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-8549-3 978-0-7613-8739-8 e-book 978-0-7613-6007-0 PLB Series: My Boyfriend is a Monster, 5 “I’ll never find a Mr. Darcy or a Heathcliff in this world,” moans Nora.

Maybe not in this world. Featuring a new family and an old house with a veritable platoon of supernatural residents, this latest entry in the tongue-in-cheek My Boyfriend is a Monster series hooks up a modern teenager and hunky, long-dead Thomas, who, it turns out, can manifest strongly enough to lock hands and lips. That’s the good news. Not so good: Two malicious poltergeists, a spectral moaner and a dark entity that can suck up both ghostly and living bodies, threaten to drive Nora and her family away entirely unless she can find a way to exorcise the lot. Except that the characters all sport oversized manga-esque eyes, the easy-to-follow black-and-white panels are drawn with a loose, expressive realism that effectively captures the plot’s droll and eerie turns. In the end, with a psychic’s help Nora does the deed even though it means Thomas’ departure, too—leaving her free for a budding new relationship with a (breathing) schoolmate.

Any resemblances to Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are surely coincidental. (Graphic paranormal romance. 12-14)

THE NEW PUPPY

Kertell, Lynn Maslen Illus. by Hendra, Sue Scholastic (32 pp.) $3.99 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-545-38268-7 Series: Bob Books, The Bob Books, long a staple in little square boxed sets for preschoolers, are now available in an early-reader format.

Big sister Anna and her brother Jack want a dog. Mom and Dad explain all the work a new dog will require. A trip to the Pet Shelter allows the family to pick out their new brown dog, Buddy. The two kids find their new canine friend has more energy than their house can contain. The easy solution—a trip to the park—tires out both Buddy and his

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new owners. Written by the daughter of the original Bob Book designers, this is sturdy and utilitarian. With both sight words and words that require basic decoding skills, these books are aimed directly at the young child who wants to pick up and read a book from start to finish. On the last pages are flash cards, ready to cut out, showing a word on one side and a picture and sentence from the book using that word on the other. Jack and Anna are drawn with a little more detail than their predecessors, including colored clothing and background. The friendly typeface is easy to read and clear. Kindergarten teachers and parents of children on the cusp of reading will find this series helpful.

Brand-new readers need very easy stories with familiar situations that they can read over and over. The Bob Books still deliver, even if they don’t have much pizzazz. (Early reader. 4-6)

EXPLORER The Mystery Boxes

Kibuishi, Kazu--Ed. Amulet/Abrams (128 pp.) $19.95 | paper $10.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0010-1 978-1-4197-0009-5 paperback An outstanding out-of-the box anthology from renowned comics veteran Kibuishi.

Kibuishi’s Flight series for adults (collected in Flight, 2011), spurred a spin-off, Flight Explorer (2008), a volume specifically written for a younger audience.

Both anthologies were strong on art but held no cohesive theme; this volume preserves the strong artistic stylization of its predecessors, but also employs a unifying theme—”what’s in the box”—throughout the slick and imaginative collection. The seven tales, from artists both established and up-and-coming, span the spectrum from a serious and moralistic tale of war and vengeance in “The Soldier’s Daughter” to seriously silly and fun alien hijinks in “Whatzit” to a dark and creepy yarn about doll that comes alive with a sinister purpose in “Under the Floorboards” to the light and sweet “Spring Cleaning,” replete with wizards and reunited love. This volume eloquently demonstrates how well short stories work in the comics medium and Kibuishi’s masterful chops as an editor. By cleverly applying the thematic catalyst to an already-winning formula, Kibuishi deftly fends off staleness. With eye-popping full-color art and palettes ranging from candy-colored to ethereal earth tones, this is both a visual feast for the eyes and a healthy helping of thought for the soul.

Superb. (Graphic short-story anthology. 7-12)

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ALLEGIANCE

Kluver, Cayla Harlequin Teen (496 pp.) $9.99 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-373-21043-5 Series: Legacy Trilogy, 2 A teen romance that delivers a softer, more innocent love story than the publisher’s well-known adult tomes.

The second book in the Legacy Trilogy, this text quickly introduces the forbidden love between Hytanica’s newly crowned Queen Alera and Narian of Cokyri, which took root in the previous volume.

Two major factors complicate this teenage love affair: Alera is married to King Steldor, and Narian has been forced to serve the Overlord of Cokyri, Hytanica’s enemy. This background sets the stage for Alera’s struggle with her role as queen and wife, which includes her lack of affection for her appointed husband and distaste for how women are unfairly treated, especially with regard to domestic violence. Alera’s attitudes may make sense to the modern reader, but they sharply contrast with the narrative’s medieval tone. Readers would benefit from reading series opener Legacy (2011) to understand the history of these two warring nations, Alera and Narian’s relationship and the mystical powers of Cokyri’s evil Overlord. Without this, many of the characters and their relationships to Alera blend easily and feel ill-formed.

A formulaic, quick (if hefty) romance that creates believable suspense as Alera determines whether her allegiance is to her lover or kingdom. (Romance. 16-18)

FREEDOM!

Le Gall, Frank Translated by Burrell, Carol Klio Illus. by Balthazar, Flore & Doo, Robin Graphic Universe (48 pp.) $6.95 paperback | $21.95 e-book PLB $29.27 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-8546-2 978-1-4677-0161-7 e-book 978-0-7613-7884-6 PLB Series: Miss Annie, 1 Miss Annie might just be a kitten, but she’s ready for adventure.

Four-month-old Miss Annie lives with The Dad, The Mom and young mistress Sarah—all of whom readers only see from the thighs down. Miss Annie defends her territory against potted plants and ventures on to The Dad’s desk despite stern warnings because pens and erasers are amusing. After all, there is little that a roll on the back and a purr can’t fix where humans are concerned. Miss Annie’s fondest wish is to go outside despite her mouse friend Keshia’s warnings of danger. When a window’s accidentally left open, Miss Annie leaps at the opportunity and meets old Zeno and beautiful Persian Rostropovna, who teach her about dogs and cars and invite her out to run

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C H I L DR E N

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What Makes a Great App B Y VIC K Y SMI T H

In looking at the year in apps and trying to decide which were among its best, I found it impossible to ignore the fundamental question: Just what makes a book app great?

First and foremost, it has to succeed on its own terms as a “book” (using the term advisedly in this electronic environment). Apps that started as books, such as Big Little Brother, by Kevin Kling, illustrated by Chris Monroe and developed

by Mighty Media, have a distinct leg up in this department. The story, of a little boy whose baby brother grows taller than he is, is an appealing one in its own right, charming on paper. A nonstarter of a story can’t wow as an app, no matter how fabulous its bells and whistles.

Those bells and whistles are mighty important, mind you—otherwise, what’s the use of the app? When applied to the already-successful paper story, the Wild About Books app, by Judy Sierra, illustrated

by Marc Brown and developed by Random House Digital, soars. The scorpion’s dialogue-balloon “stinging review” is static, on the page in the paper book; in the app, when a child taps the scorpion, its verdict is delivered in stentorian tones: “Pretentious.”

Perhaps most beguiling overall is the way the book “opens” on the iPad’s screen, each page’s scenery “popping up” to give a 3-D effect and literally beckoning readers in.

The interactions need to make sense within the framework of the story or book, too. Simply making characters wiggle when tapped isn’t enough. One stellar book for older children (and adults) is Richard Dawkins’ The Magic of Reality, illustrated by Dave McKean and developed by Random House UK. This app version of the 272page traditional book not only animates |

McKean’s illustrations and includes video clips of Dawkins, but it incorporates interactive “experiments” that further the book’s argument. One particularly enjoyable one involves the selective breeding of short-legged and long-legged frogs in little electronic petri dishes. Whatever you think of Dawkins, it’s an enormously effective enhancement of his book.

The developmental appropriateness of interactions cannot be stressed enough.

Lots of extraneous features on an app for very young children are wasted at best and actively confusing to toddlers and young preschoolers at worst. Bronwyn Callander’s daffy Frubeez apps, Treetop Ted and Hannah Habeebee McHats, demonstrate a keen understanding of this principle, delivering peppy rhyming texts, high-contrast illustrations and simple interactions that seem to channel a 3-year-old’s delight in silliness.

When an app incorporates multimedia elements such as video, it needs to do so in a way that makes it more than just a movie watched on an iPad (or, worse, just stills from a movie). William Joyce’s The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, developed by Moonbot Studios from his wordless animated short subject, combines traditional text with clips from the film and touch-activated features that involve children directly in this paean to printed books.

Above all, a great app needs to take advantage of its medium to surprise and delight. Atomic Antelope, which stunned tablet users with its Alice for the iPad in 2010, challenged itself to do more than repeat its success with its 2011 sequel, Alice in New York. Rather than simply applying its treatment to Through the Looking Glass, the developer chose to relocate the action of the classic in New York City, a simple textual change that, combined with the interactive enhancements, helps readers see an old book in an entirely new way.

A great app, like a great book, needs to understand its format. Loud Crow, which wowed us with its PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit last year continued wisely working with source material that is optimally sized for the iPad. Their collaboration kirkusreviews.com

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ALICE IN NEW YORK

Carroll, Lewis Illus. by John Tenniel Atomic Antelope $8.99 | Mar. 7, 2011 with Sandra Boynton on her Moo Media apps capitalizes on the happy congruence between the size of the iPad screen and that of an opened board book, retaining the “book-ness” of the experience even as it adds interactions.

There are more and more storybook or nonfiction apps that are organic to the iPad, built expressly to take advantage of the technology to deliver stories or information. Bobo Explores Light, by Craig Fusco, illustrated by Dean MacAdam and developed by Game Collage, is a terrific example of this, smoothly incorporating pull downs, interactions, narrative and illustrations to give readers an introduction to the science of light. They’re not all great, mind you, but when everything is working right, it’s tremendously exciting.

Watching creators grapple with the possibilities and limitations (there are some) of the iPad over the past year has been one of the most exciting parts of my job. They have shown me things I would never, ever have dreamed of, and I can’t wait for 2012. &

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the rooftops at night. Prolific French cartoonist Le Gall teams with debut graphic-novel illustrator Balthazar and colorist Doo for this first of two simultaneously published urban kitty adventures. In Rooftop Cat, Miss Annie gets a cat door, participates in a neighborhood cat fight with unfortunate results for Zeno and finds a male “friend” for Keshia.

A charming balance of cartoon and natural kitty-ness in full-color, eight-panel pages, this cat’s-eye view of life will induce purrs in feline fans everywhere. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

ALL FOR ME AND NONE FOR ALL

Lester, Helen Illus. by Munsinger, Lynn Houghton Mifflin (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 3, 2012 978-0-547-68834-3 Gruntly is a literal and metaphorical hog who serves as his own comeuppance in this gentle, if spirited, admonition.

“If there was a something, he wanted it all. All for himself.”

And not just all the toys and stuff; he wants the wool off Woolworth’s back, the feathers out of Cluck’s tail (“ ‘Cluck,’ Cluck said...She was a chicken of few words”). Comes the day of the treasure hunt, and Gruntly has visions of gold and silver dancing in his big, selfish head. He also has too much greedy energy running through his system to pay attention to the clues and so is thwarted in his quest for world domination of treasure. Cluck of Few Words provides the necessary minimum for Gruntly to get his rightful share. Gruntly is stunned by “his companions’ kindness and generosity,” and becomes a changed pig, a better pig. Team Lester/Munsinger are a success because they are simple, direct and elementally charming. Lester is all for the droll use of language—”then Cluck got down on her knees (or whatever chickens get down on”)—while Munsinger is majestic in the use of body language, and her piggy perp is always more a clown than a creep.

Given a name like Gruntly, there’s little to expect but greed, but this pig flies to higher ground. (Picture book. 4-8)

JODIE’S PASSOVER ADVENTURE

Levine, Anna Illus. by Topaz, Ksenia Kar-Ben (32 pp.) $7.95 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-5642-4

A Passover family picnic is preceded by a quick exploration of and discovery beneath the ground in the Old City of Jerusalem.

During the week of Passover, archeology enthusiast Jodie is eager to escort her visiting cousin Zach on a tour of the ancient Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which is famous for its strategic water passages. Zach is initially reluctant, and he imagines terrors as he 190

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enters the deep, dark and wet tunnel. “Evidence” of dragons, monsters and dinosaurs is logically explained away by Jodie as mold, shadows and chisel marks left on the walls by the tunnel creators. With the help of a flashlight, the cousins solve the “riddle of the middle” pointed out by Jodie’s father at the beginning of their tour. Opaque double-page illustrations move the story from outside the tunnel, where no clear entrance is indicated, through to a wall of markings, supposedly drawn from opposite directions, that show the original tunnel workings dug from two different points and meeting in the middle. Unlike predecessor Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig (2008), which wove together themes of bravery and resilience, this story has nothing at all to do with the titular holiday.

Ultimately, this attempt to show how archeology can provide answers to ancient history’s mysteries disappoints.

(Picture book. 5-8)

FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT False Apology Poems

Levine, Gail Carson Illus. by Cordell, Matthew Harper/HarperCollins (80 pp.) $15.99 | PLB $16.89 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-06-178725-6 978-0-06-178726-3 PLB A playful primer on insincerity for budding poets.

Taking as a springboard William Carlos Williams’ famous pseudo-apology, “I have eaten / the plums / that were in / the icebox […] Forgive me …,” Newbery Honor–winner Levine and illustrator Cordell unleash their darker sides in offering children several imaginative occasions for issuing false apologies.

One glance at the volume’s contents listing poems all taking Williams’ title “This Is Just to Say,” and readers instantly clue into Levine’s glib project, which she then explains and invites others to imitate some 20 pages into the volume—much, she admits, to her editor’s chagrin. While many a poet has spoofed Williams in similar fashion and chosen this found poem’s simple form to introduce children to imagistic self-expression (Kenneth Koch most memorably), what distinguishes Levine’s project is her clever use of the form to debunk famous children’s icons like Snow White, Humpty Dumpty and the Little Engine that Could to literalize common expressions familiar to young readers. Cordell’s signature spare line drawings prove particularly effective in conveying the latter, as in “While you were buying / doll dresses / I sanded off / your Barbie’s face […] Forgive me / her beauty / was only / skin deep,” while a girl comes screaming across the page spread as a delighted boy kneels intently over the scribbled-out, faceless doll.

Macabre, sometimes downright mean, this mischievous collection is sure to engage the devilish side of readers of all ages. (Illustrated poems. 6 & up)

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“It comes as a delight how much fun can be wrung from the words ‘moo’ and ‘hoo.’ ” from moo hoo

SWEET DREAMS

Lewis, Rose Illus. by Corace, Jen Abrams (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0189-4

Lewis (I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, 2000) pens 15 rhythmic quatrains designed to lull a child to sleep.

A mother readies a little girl for bed, promising a night of adventures. “Nighttime says a quick ‘Sleep tight’ / To the fading morning glories— / Then wakes up all the moonflowers / And listens to their stories.” Succeeding verses present woodland vignettes focused on mice, moths, crickets and other nocturnal creatures. Before the concluding tuck-in, there’s a six-page interstice about daytime, as Mr. Moon nods off: “Say good morning to Miss Sunshine / And the company she keeps.” The cadences sometimes bump, and sense is occasionally sacrificed for rhyme: “The butterflies have gone to sleep, / Their wings no longer flapping, / Making room for the nighttime moths, / Their soft gray wings now tapping.” Corace’s full-bleed watercolors often charm: Three nested owlets await mother’s return in a many-branched, stylized tree against a turquoise sky bright with stars. Creatures bear little relationship in size, either within or between the double spreads; the moon’s shadowed side shifts from right to left and back. The teal-and-sepia–dominated palette suits the subject. Contrasting large, opaque color fields with details of animal and plant life and playing visually with indoor/outdoor motifs like toy and real animals, the pictures try to do too much.

A pretty, sturdy-enough bedtime story, but not more.

(Picture book. 3-5)

UP, TALL AND HIGH!

Long, Ethan Illus. by Long, Ethan Putnam (40 pp.) $15.99 | Feb. 16, 2012 978-0-399-25611-0

A clever cast of avian characters conveys the meaning of several directional terms in this innovative lift-the-flap book that will appeal to babies and toddlers as well as children just beginning to read.

Long’s captivating illustrations use thick, black outlines and cartoon-style birds in bright shades of purple, green and orange. The book is divided into three short episodes that illustrate the concepts of tall/small, high/low and up/down. Each episode features three or more birds, with just a few words of dialogue in speech balloons using the simplest vocabulary. The bird groups each tell a tiny but complete story illustrating their concept, with birds flying up or floating up with balloons and, of course, coming back down again in various ways. A threequarter-sized gatefold flap at the end of each episode lifts up to extend the story in some humorous way related to the tall/high/ |

up concepts, with several unexpected twists and funny effects.

Though the volume has a regular hard cover and medium trim size, the pages are printed on sturdy coated paper to facilitate the handling of the flap pages.

This is a book with much to offer to children, from tiny babies who will laugh at the funny birds through preschoolers who will get the clever jokes to 5- and 6-year-olds who might find this a very first read-alone. (Picture book/early reader. 1-6)

THE STORM

Lorentz, Dayna Scholastic (224 pp.) $5.99 paperback | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-545-27643-6 Series: Dogs of the Drowned City, 1 If a dog wrote a book about the adventures of a dog, it would sound almost exactly like this, although some people might think the dog was exaggerating a bit.

It’s possible readers have never thought about what a dog would say if dogs could talk. But Lorentz, very credibly, creates an entire dog vocabulary. A vacuum is a floor-sucker. A television is a light-window. Afternoon is midsun. One midsun, the lightwindow shows a storm coming, and the dog is abandoned by his human family. By chapter two, the city is nothing but dogs, and the main character, Shep, has to find shelter, even if it means battling whole packs of wild canines. Lorentz moves from fight scenes to tidal waves at a pace that would leave White Fang or Bodger gasping. In fact, this trilogy opener sometimes resembles a television series, with wacky characters who argue and make up in the end. There are far too many of these characters, and cynical readers may start picturing the Happy Meal toys. But even jaded children will want to know what happens next, and there are some genuine surprises. Not every moment is plausible—can dogs really open locks?—but the story is never dull.

Even readers who don’t consider themselves dog people may start seeing the world from Shep’s point of view and turning the pages faster and faster. (Animal fantasy. 8-12)

MOO HOO

Lowery, Mike Walker (32 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 10, 2012 978-0-8027-2336-9 It comes as a delight how much fun can be wrung from the words “moo” and “hoo.”

Cow and Owl are young chums (and bear a keen resemblance to Frog and Rabbit, the spawn of Ryan and Lowery’s terrific first collaboration, Ribbit Rabbit, 2011). Being what they are, the words moo and hoo spin freely in their orbit and trigger like words depending on what they are doing. They fix things together: “Moo Hoo. Glue Shoe.”

They trick-or-treat together: “Moo Hoo. Boo! Boo!” Although

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“Required reading on a topic that can only grow in importance….” from black gold

Ryan fills in some narrative context, it is these tiny, rhymed sound-words that express the emotional range of the story, which is whopping in its brevity (aided and abetted by Lowery’s dear, spindly creatures, with their disarming gestures and primitive toys). When a young kangaroo enters the scene—”Who you?”

“Roo new”—Cow and Owl are standoffish. Roo wants to join in— ”Roo too?”—but no deal. “Roo blue.” It breaks your heart. Cow and Owl do see the error in their ways, and Kangaroo enters the fold. “Woo hoo!”

A winning display of finding the high ground and paved with particularly sweet verbal compression. (Picture book. 3-6)

THIEF’S COVENANT

Marmell, Ari Pyr/Prometheus Books (280 pp.) $16.95 | $9.99 e-book | Feb. 14, 2012 978-1-61614-547-7 978-1-61614-548-4 e-book Series: The Widdershins Adventures, 1 E r r a t u m : This review was originally printed in the January 1, 2012, issue with an error in the cited quote from the book. We herewith reprint the review with the corrected quote. Kirkus regrets the error.

Marmell, known for RPG manuals and tie-ins as well as adult fantasy novels, here ventures into the teen market.

In a narrative that jumps between “now” and the recent past, readers meet feisty teen thief Widdershins and her companion Olgun, a god not recognized by the church as one of the 147 deities worshipped in Widdershins’ world. Four years ago, Widdershins was Adrienne, a scampy street thief adopted into the nobility. Two years ago she was the sole survivor of a massacre (aftermath described in gory detail) that left the rest of Olgun’s worshippers dead and Adrienne wanted for the murders. Now, everyone is after her: the thieves’ guild, a surprisingly sympathetic City Guard and a mysterious figure called The Apostle who commands a truly demonic creature. This is classic fantasy, both embracing and mocking the genre. Some humor goes astray: Belabored quips and overwrought descriptions can read more like bad writing than skewered tropes (“…ambient sound thick enough to ladle into bowls and serve as a soup course…”), but the plot is relentless and the characters likable enough. And Widdershins’ journey from acted-upon victim to acting-upon protagonist is a classic adolescent journey.

For teens already reading adult fantasy but wanting something a bit more on their level, this hits the spot perfectly, flaws and all. (Fantasy. 13 & up)

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BLACK GOLD The Story of Oil in Our Lives

Marrin, Albert Knopf (192 pp.) $19.99 | PLB $22.99 | Jan. 10, 2012 978-0-375-86673-9 978-0-375-96673-6 PLB

Opinionated, cogent perspectives on the role of fossil fuels in human history.

Following a doubtless accurate claim that controlling the supply of oil and finding substitutes for the stuff “will shape much of the social, political, and military history of the twenty-first century,” Marrin opens with a petro-centric tale of wars. These range from an Egyptian conflict in the 4th century BCE to the War on Terror (“really the war for oil in disguise,” he suggests) and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. He also reviews the course of the Industrial Revolution (noting that automobiles were initially welcomed as being “cleaner, healthier, and safer” than horses), then goes on to analyze the hazards of our oil dependence, recap major oil spills and consider both the benefits and dangers of alternative energy sources. Well-surveyed territory this all may be, but the author’s beneficent portrait of John D. Rockefeller, his references to British “terrorism” in the Middle East and other heterodox views give it distinctive angles. Moreover, the urgency of his message that something has to change comes through clearly.

Required reading on a topic that can only grow in importance to readers who will be living that “social, political, and military history.” (endnotes, index, black-and-white photos) (Nonfiction. 11-14)

LET’S HAVE A TREE PARTY!

Martin, David Illus. by Manders, John Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-7636-3704-0

Grandpa Crow is having a party, and the whole forest is invited, throughout the day and night.

But this isn’t any old celebration— every childhood game imaginable is crammed into this tiny tree.

It starts with the animals playing Hide and Seek, then some practice counting, followed by Follow the Leader and Simon Says, with some pizza and ice cream thrown in for good measure. Children will delight in recognizing these games, but it’s enough to make one’s head spin. The rollicking, yet highly uneven rhyme scheme doesn’t help. Patterns begin and then break. Rhythms falter from the very start: “ ‘I’m having a party!’ shouted Grandpa Crow. / ‘Spread the word so our friends all know. / Come one, come all, and make merry with me. / What could be better than friends together at a party in a tree?’ “ The text livens up when the dancing and onomatopoeia beats drop in. But Manders’

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expressive animals, from slimy slugs to a mischievous raccoon shaking his booty, are the true life of this party.

Not to be a party pooper, but this bash requires too much extra work from the reader to make it a success. (Picture book. 3-5)

THE EDGE OF WHEN

Matas, Carol Fitzhenry & Whiteside (280 pp.) $12.95 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-55455-198-9 Published 30 years ago as a threevolume series, this effort is an updated version combined into a single novel.

Rising junior-high-schooler Rebecca witnesses the kidnapping of a classmate and while trying to help him, is transported by time machine to 2050, a dystopian, post–nuclear-apocalypse future in which the few survivors live underground. Damaged by radiation, they have resorted to kidnapping young teens from the past to provide for future reproduction. In a fast-paced series of often-suspenseful events, the pair return to their own time accompanied by teens Lewis and Catherine. In a second part, Rebecca follows time-travelers Mark and Jonathan to a different dystopian future, a commercedriven police state in which the pair are freedom fighters. Eventually, Rebecca ends up in her own time living side by side with another version of herself as she and her friends try to change the present in order to alter the future. The action and imaginative ideas will keep readers engaged, although the sometimes preachy, albeit worthwhile, message occasionally intrudes.

With numerous characters making brief appearances, Rebecca’s role serves to connect the various time periods, although the three parts of this effort still feel a lot like separate, related tales.

A thought-provoking and entertaining time-travel tale with a useful, even hopeful, message about personal responsibility. (Science fiction. 10-15)

LOLA READS TO LEO

McQuinn, Anna Illus. by Beardshaw, Rosalind Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $15.95 | paper $6.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-58089-403-6 978-1-58089-404-3 paperback

him a “soft book for his crib” when she meets him at the hospital, reads to him when he cries “to cheer him up” and shares theme-appropriate titles during diaper changes (a potty book), baths (a duck story) and naptime (a sleepy story). Although busy adjusting to parenting two children instead of just one, Lola’s mother and father reward her with a story at the end of each day since she is “the best big sister of all.” It’s refreshing to see this time-worn theme addressed in a story that just happens to be about a family comprised of people of color, as warm, acrylic portraits depict mother, father, Lola and Leo as a book-loving, close-knit joyful crew.

A welcome edition about a welcome addition. (Picture book. 2-6)

IZZY THE WHIZ AND PASSOVER MCCLEAN

Mermelstein, Yael Illus. by Hartman, Carrie Kar-Ben (32 pp.) $7.95 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-5654-7 Eager to help his overworked, stressed mother during the pre-Passover spring cleaning, a little boy invents a super vacuum-type machine that does more than a clean sweep.

Wearing a baseball cap and circle-shaped glasses, the roundfaced, google-eyed Izzy is a whiz at creating all things science in his room, which is filled with cookie crumbs and other leftover foods. While Mom takes a nap, Izzy promises to have everything neat, clean and free of hametz (foods unacceptable during Passover) by using his “Super-McDuper Passover McClean” machine. It works like a charm in his bedroom, where everything is eaten by McClean, whirled and swirled, washed and dried and then spit out and put back in place. But cleaning the living room becomes more complicated with a McClean malfunction that first swallows everything in sight and then, with Izzy’s tinkering, spits everything out upside down. “Izzy jammed on REVERSE. / And reverse did the trick! That McClean was so slick, / Turned the whole room right over and did it real quick.” Subdued watercolors create nevertheless zany illustrations to accompany the Prelutsky-style rhymes, presenting a confident and seriously earnest youngster working out his experimental mishaps to achieve a sparkling success.

A humorous if silly way to introduce the concept of removing any leavened foods from the home as part of preholiday preparation. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)

Bibliophile Lola has no trouble adjusting to her role as big sister in this warm slice-of-life story about a little girl welcoming her new baby brother.

While many new baby books are dominated by an older sibling’s jealousy over an attention-hogging infant, Lola delights in Leo’s arrival. Prior titles about this book-loving child (Lola Loves Stories, 2010, and Lola at the Library, 2006) set the stage for how she engages with Leo—through books, of course. She brings |

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THE STORYTELLER

Michaelis, Antonia Translated by Debbage, Miriam Amulet/Abrams (320 pp.) $18.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 978-1-4197-0047-7 The course of true love definitely doesn’t run smooth when it’s a relationship with a self-abusing and abused drug dealer.

Anna’s initial attraction to moody, secretive classmate Abel firms up when she sees his total devotion to his little sister Micha and, with her, becomes wrapped up in a multi-episode tale he spins about a young Princess on the run from scary pursuers. There are warnings aplenty: Her friends caution her, Abel is obviously struggling to get by while claiming that his absent-for-weeks single mother would be back any time and the murders of Micha’s violent, jailbird father and an insistent social worker. Nevertheless, Anna steadfastly sticks with him until, at last, he responds to her amorous advances by raping her—and confessing that he had been molested for years as a child. Anna finds her feelings for him unchanged, even after it comes out just how he had been supporting himself and Micha. Awarding Abel with the usual fate given fictive teens bearing so many inner (and outer) scars, Michaelis stirs snowy weather, Leonard Cohen lyrics, multiple corpses and an unusually rich array of lovable, hateful, loyal and treacherous supporting characters into a grim, bitter story that will leave all but the hardest readers shocked and sad.

An unsettling tapestry of ugly secrets, violence, suspense, twisted motives and love’s unfathomable ways. (Fiction. 14-18)

YOU CAN’T HAVE MY PLANET, BUT TAKE MY BROTHER, PLEASE! Mihaley, James Feiwel & Friends (256 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 10, 2012 978-0-312-61891-9

Shovels full of throwaway gags and silly aliens fail to lighten this overstuffed and entirely predictable debut.

Handed a planetary lease signed by Adam and Eve, 13-year-old Giles learns that since humanity has done a lousy job of caring for the Earth, everyone will be transported to the concrete wasteland of Desoleen to make way for new owners unless he removes all the trash and graffiti from Manhattan Island in 24 hours and adds five million leaves to clear the air. Fortunately he has allies—notably cute, blue-skinned lawyer (soon girlfriend) Tula and gelatinous genius inventor (and shoe fetishist) Melissa Sprinkles. The latter provides both deceptively tiny “flyplanes” with magic paint-removing rays and street-cleaning droids that replicate themselves 194

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into an army using the trash they pick up and then turn into giant trees. Unfortunately, purple hyperbrat Princess Petulance is hot to trot from her own despoiled planet and so stands ready to sabotage the clean-up in any cheating way she can.

Mihaley squeezes in sibling issues, the requisite bully (who ends up totally pwned by Giles’ new techno toys) and aptly named alien life forms like a “wino tree” before thoroughly contrived last-minute treachery is scotched thanks to hordes of children inspired to finish the makeover by Giles’ wheelchair-bound ecoblogger buddy Navida.

Not a total nonstarter, though the nonsensical premise fully qualifies as a literary lead balloon. (Science fiction/fantasy. 11-13)

DANGEROUS WATERS An Adventure on the Titanic Mone, Gregory Roaring Brook (240 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-1-59643-673-2

Patrick, an Irish lad, finagles his way on board the Titanic where he becomes a steward to book-collector Harry Widener and becomes embroiled in an intrigue revolving around Widener’s copy of Sir Francis Bacon’s Essaies.

The rare edition is said to contain, in code, a formula for great wealth. A pair of villains, as theatrically eccentric as any created by Willkie Collins, want the book. After failing to steal it, the thieves ask Patrick to procure the Essaies for them in return for a fee. In a sensible response that will echo readers’ reactions, Patrick replies, “Why not ask him [Widener] to borrow it?” For although the inequalities of class, wealth and education are running themes in the story, they do not provide adequate motive for theft. Nor is Patrick’s ensuing moral dilemma—should he steal the book to help his heroic brother, who has fallen ill while laboring on the ship?—entirely convincing. The pacing falters, and, although the descriptions are magnificent, that the action takes place on the Titanic is almost inconsequential except for the threat that the formula may be lost forever. Throughout, Patrick learns much about himself, his family and Bacon’s great secret.

The author’s note describing the real Harry Widener and his copy of Essaies may be one of the more gripping aspects of the book. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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“Shame on you, Gerald Morris, for treating the Matter of Britain with insufficient solemnity. (Snicker.)” from the adventures of sir balin the ill-fated

THE STALKER CHRONICLES

Moore, Carley Farrar, Straus and Giroux (240 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-0-374-37180-7

A high-school sophomore learns to manage her tendency to spy on the ones she loves.

Despite the use of the word “stalker,” which (even though the author explains it) puts a pathological spin on a character who is essentially just overanxious and far too curious, Moore’s initially hard-to-like protagonist, Cammie Bliss, goes through a believable journey and transformation. Narrating in the first person in an amusing tone that never reaches the level of funny, Cammie knows she goes overboard, but she just can’t seem to control herself. But when Toby, a handsome and interesting new boy moves into town and actually seems to like her, Cammie knows that it’s time to finally get a hold of herself. Her situation is complicated by her challenging home life; during the course of the novel her parents separate, and her father, who has difficulty communicating when the content is emotional, begins to spy on his family. After Cammie’s behavior nearly ruins her nascent romance with Toby—in a misguided and improbable attempt to discover the secret behind his leaving his last school, she goes through his garbage—she works to reform herself.

Notwithstanding the icky subject matter and cringeworthy heroine, the story realistically tracks Cammie’s psychological evolution, earning its feel-good ending. (Fiction. 12-16)

KASPAR THE TITANIC CAT

Morpurgo, Michael Illus. by Foreman, Michael Harper/HarperCollins (208 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-06-200618-9

Readers might be tempted to check the copyright date on this old-fashioned rags-to-riches tale that manages to turn a major historical disaster into just another incident in the narrator’s very full life.

The overall tone is decidedly nostalgic as Johnny Trott, a poor orphan who once worked as a bellboy at the swanky Savoy Hotel in London, tells his story. From the arrival (and untimely demise) of a talented Russian singer and her titular cat Kaspar through Johnny’s acquaintance with a mischievous young American girl, a stint as a stowaway on the Titanic, the well-known sinking of the great ship, life in the United States, the Great War and back (just for a visit) to the Savoy, Morpurgo crams in too much action with too little emotional depth. Stilted conversational styles reflect the formality of the day but serve to further distance readers. Kaspar, while realistically portrayed in his feline hauteur and self-absorption, has limited appeal and, like most of the other characters, seems to exist mainly to propel |

the plot. Foreman’s black-and-white illustrations have a pleasing variation of texture, the likely result of having been first rendered in watercolor. From small vignettes to larger scenes, they effectively capture the styles of the day and accurately reflect the action, but they can’t quite manage to enliven the text.

Surprisingly (and disappointingly) dull. (Historical fiction. 9-12)

THE ADVENTURES OF SIR BALIN THE ILL-FATED

Morris, Gerald Illus. by Renier, Aaron Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (128 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 3, 2012 978-0-547-68085-9 Series: The Knights’ Tales, 4 Prophecies. A young knight learns that they’re just not to be trusted in this fourth of the light-hearted Arthurian Knights’ Tales.

A seeress’ ominous prediction that he would grow up to be known as the noblest knight in England but bring misfortune to all his companions and deliver the Dubious…er, Dolorous Stroke weighs heavily on Sir Balin of the Two Swords—but, in the end, proves less accurate than his own mother’s prediction that he’d grow up to marry a nice northern girl. This last happens after much knightly questing, a certain amount of slaughter, plenty of side banter and fateful meetings with both Balin’s skeptical brother Sir “Oh, put a cork in it!” Balan and levelheaded Lady Annalise, the Questing Lady. Said banter shows off to excellent advantage Morris’ability to put a 21st-century spin on the ancient legends: “ ‘I bring this enchanted sword, seeking the one knight who is able to draw it from its sheath!’ ‘Stuck, is it?’ asked Sir Kay. ‘I used to have a sword that would do that,’ said another knight. ‘Have you tried jiggling the hilt?’ “ Renier liberally salts the short chapters with scenes of armored knights looking startled or vigorously clobbering one another.

Shame on you, Gerald Morris, for treating the Matter of Britain with insufficient solemnity. (Snicker.) (Fantasy. 9-11)

C.R. MUDGEON

Muir, Leslie Illus. by Hector, Julian Atheneum (32 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4169-7906-7 Young readers may not know beforehand what a “curmudgeon” is, but so many kids are creatures of habit they’ll sympathize with this hidebound hedgehog.

Charcoal-and-watercolor illustrations are softly colored in moss green, tree-bark brown, yellow ocher, pale blue and dusty rose, appropriate to the woodsy setting. C.R. himself is appealing; cute in spite of himself, with his pointy spines sticking up like recalcitrant hair, emphasizing his prickly nature. Reminiscent of

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Some are born to mayhem (Ivy + Bean come to mind), some achieve mayhem (Dav Pilkey’s George and Harold)—and then there’s Archie.” from i don’t believe it, archie !

Ereth the porcupine from Avi’s Poppy stories, C.R. is outwardly grumpy and suspicious of anything new. When Paprika the squirrel moves in nearby, she plants bright poppies, enthusiastically greets him—immediately assuming they’re friends—and cooks spicy food, the smell of which makes C.R. sneeze. It’s not until the tables are turned, and Paprika is subdued by a case of the “whooping whiffles,” that C. R. breaks out of his rut to care for her, realizing that, in fact, he has made a friend. As he learns to share his tastes with her, he even spices things up a little: adding salt to his celery soup, lemon to his dandelion tea.

This paean to the value of moderation, conveyed via a friendship story that will resonate with children, is just right for any kid who’s wary of new things, and maybe a bit shy. (Picture book. 4-8)

THE GIRL WHO OWNED A CITY

Nelson, O. T. Illus. by Jones, Joëlle & Lee, Jenn Manley Graphic Universe (128 pp.) $9.95 paperback | $21.95 e-book PLB $29.27 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-5634-9 978-0-7613-8750-3 e-book 978-0-7613-4903-7 PLB Just as ideologically unsettling—and patchwork—as ever, Nelson’s 1975 post-apocalyptic tale gets a noir graphic adaptation.

Seeing the danger in trying to live apart after a virus kills off every adult and adolescent, Lisa organizes a growing crowd of the less-aggressive surviving children into an armed militia. Declaiming dictatorially that the new community is her property because “if the city belonged to no one in particular…

Everyone would just squabble all the time,” she insists that it be run her way, by her autocratic rules. By the same token, when, after several increasingly violent skirmishes, the brutal Chidester Gang invades, she heroically confronts their hideously disfigured leader and through force of personality singlehandedly drives the bandits off. In the dark but sharply drawn art, Lisa’s scowling, angular features amply convey hardnosed determination as she draws crowds of worshipful followers and defeats the toughs by claiming the moral high ground.

Whether she merits it is a matter for discussion—but though this doesn’t equal Jennifer Armstrong and Nancy Butcher’s Fire-us series (not to mention Lord of the Flies) for credibility, the premise is a proven one for young audiences. (Graphic science fiction. 10-13)

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THE RISE AND FALL OF EL SOLO LIBRE

Nelson, Peter Illus. by Rao, Rohitash Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 17, 2012 978-0-06-201218-0 Series: Herbert’s Wormhole, 2 The three squabbling young time travelers introduced in Herbert’s Wormhole (2009) again save their future hometown from alien invaders.

Real ones, this time. A selective memory wipe has convinced Alex that the video-game monsters he and his buddies Herbert and Sammi had “killed” in the previous episode were real, and he’s bored by the subsequent lack of AlienSlayer action. Accordingly, he rashly makes a jeering interstellar phone call to the hostile Klapthorians to schedule an annihilation of Earth. Suffused with satiric line drawings as well as direct and indirect homages to Captain Underpants, the ensuing antics zigzag happily. They take readers from this time to the next century, from Merwinsville to the Moon on the way to a suitably titanic battle with not one but TWO giant Klapthorian Death Slugs. (OK, one’s a parade balloon, but still.) Ultimately Alex comes to realize that even with a Mexican wrestling mask and a new moniker (see title) he’s not going to get by without a little help from his friends. A fine supporting cast consisting largely of squidlike, Aussie-accented “G’Daliens” and a supercomputer aptly dubbed the SarcasmaTron provide additional yuks.

More lightweight farce, with a good chance of further sequels. (Science fiction. 7-11)

I DON’T BELIEVE IT, ARCHIE!

Norriss, Andrew Illus. by Shaw, Hannah David Fickling/Random (128 pp.) $12.99 | $9.99 e-book | PLB $15.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-385-75250-3 978-0-375-87476-1 e-book 978-0-385-75251-0 PLB Some are born to mayhem (Ivy + Bean come to mind), some achieve mayhem (Dav Pilkey’s George and Harold)—and then there’s Archie.

Whenever he walks out the door (usually on an errand for his long-suffering mother) mayhem awaits, ready to thrust itself upon him. Wildly improbable, exciting events attach themselves to Archie every single day. Luckily, Archie has Cyd on his side, the girl he rescues from a rogue piano and, later, a giant heap of gravel. Realizing the thrilling life her new friend leads, Cyd begs to be included in future adventures and quickly proves her worth. When Archie find himself glued to the library doors, Cyd fetches her nurse mum while Archie fortuitously foils a

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plan to replace the library with a parking lot. Sharply observant Cyd is on hand to explain when he’s mistaken for a kidnapping victim and when he’s accused of robbery that’s really the work of Big Barry Bolan and Fergus O’Donnell. (These very Irish names among a cast of mostly unnamed adults strike the book’s only sour note.) Hannah Shaw’s cheery illustrations deftly document the chaos (as in Katie Davies’ Anna and Suzanne books, Shaw’s gift for conveying feline moods is on display) and disapproving adults who invariably misunderstand what’s happening.

A winning American debut from this well-established winner of England’s Whitbread Award. (Fiction.7-10)

THE DESERTER

Ó Guilín, Peadar David Fickling/Random (448 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $20.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-385-75149-0 978-0-375-98936-0 e-book 978-0-385-75150-6 PLB Months after The Inferior (2008) left off, this sequel finds cannibal Stopmouth journeying from the primitive surface where he lives to the high-tech world of the Roof, abandoning his tribe to save them.

When Diggers close in on the Havens Stopmouth protects, he can’t wait any longer for Indrani to return with weapons. The tribe’s survival depends on Stopmouth’s traveling to the Roof ’s advanced civilization to retrieve weapons and his wife. The reveals about the world of the Roof—both from Stopmouth’s perspective and a new Roof-dwelling character’s close thirdperson point of view—answer questions previously raised about the nature of Stopmouth’s world while expanding into themes of morality and the nature civilization. The Roof is also endangered—a virus attacking nanotechnology renders society impotent, overcrowded and in crisis. The crisis inflames tensions between Seculars and Religious. The factions’ power struggle’s lynchpin is the missing Indrani, valued for a secret everyone needs to know—Stopmouth must somehow navigate this strange culture to get to her first. While sometimes disorienting through confusing plot points and lack of anchoring description, the rich characters and themes of moral ambiguity thrive in well-paced prose that encourages readers to overlook flaws.

Eventually, the stakes have been raised just about as high as possible, inviting strong-stomached readers to return for the next book to see how the characters go about fixing their worlds. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

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SUMMER OF THE GYPSY MOTHS

Pennypacker, Sara Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (288 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 24, 2012 978-0-06-196420-6 Desperate times call for desperate measures indeed when, one summer afternoon on Cape Cod, 11-year-old Stella finds her sole caretaker, her great-aunt Louise, dead in her chair.

Stella, who’s been abandoned by her mom, and Louise’s 12-year-old foster child Angel know the second they call 911 they’ll be hauled off by the authorities… and the thought of having to leave a good home for who knows where is too much to bear. So they bury Louise in the garden. The suspense escalates.

How long will Stella and Angel be able to keep Louise’s death a secret in a small community? Will dogs dig up the body? Will the girls be able to pull off the task of assuming Louise’s duties as manager of the Linger Longer Cottage Colony? How long can they survive eating relish, stale croutons and “Froot Loop dust”? The unfolding story is both deliciously intense and entertaining. Stella, an order-seeking girl whose oracle is Heloise (of hint fame), not only knows how to keep a corpse from smelling (Febreze), she employs old pantyhose and Crisco to keep the gypsy moths off Louise’s beloved blueberry bushes. Stella’s poetic, philosophical observations of the world are often genuinely moving, and tough-on-the-outside Angel is her perfect foil.

A suspenseful, surprising novel of friendship and family from the creator of the popular Clementine series. (Fiction. 9-12)

THE GLASS COLLECTOR

Perera, Anna Whitman (304 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-8075-2948-5

A 15-year-old Coptic Christian struggles to survive on the outskirts of modern-day Cairo.

As one of the Zabbaleen people who collect, sort and recycle the vast amounts of garbage generated in the capital, Aaron is at the bottom of Egyptian society. Yet, regardless of how the rest of the country may view them, the Zabbaleen live by a basic moral code: “Strive to do your best even in the worst conditions. Don’t steal. Don’t harm. Don’t lie.” Since his mother’s death, Aaron is finding it more difficult to follow this code. He lives at the mercy of his negligent stepfather, Hosi.

Dreaming of a more beautiful world, Aaron spends his days collecting glass from the alleys in the city and avoiding the blows and taunts of his stepbrother, Lijah. He navigates the narrow confines of his life, spending his little free time with his friends and trying to stay out of trouble. The wondrous bottles and aromas at Omar’s Perfume Emporium beckon to him, and he finds

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himself stealing bottles and hiding them in the village. Perera takes teen readers into a new world in this often-eloquent novel, if they have the patience to savor the rich descriptions and wait for the plot to pick up speed.

A novel of hope and redemption in the most unlikely of settings. (author’s note) (Fiction. 13 & up)

RIPPER

Petrucha, Stefan Philomel (432 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-399-25524-3 Has Jack the Ripper moved across the Atlantic to terrorize Gilded Age New York City?

For 14-year-old Carver Young, growing up as an orphan in 1895 New York isn’t easy, though it gives him plenty of opportunities to practice lock picking, sleuthing and eavesdropping. When he’s chosen as an apprentice by Pinkerton detective Albert Hawking, Carver finds boundless opportunities to learn the detective trade, especially when he assists Hawking on the hunt for a serial killer in New York City. Carver dives into the case, turning to Delia, his best friend from the orphanage, for assistance with research, as her adoptive parents have access to the archives of The New York Times. As the clues mount, Carver discovers the killer might be Jack the Ripper, and that Jack may have a clue to Carver’s parents. Petrucha does an excellent job developing historic New York as a character in the city, though a map or two would not be amiss. Well-rounded characters, both teen and adult, help to gloss over occasional lapses in the credibility of the dialogue. Pacing is smooth, blending coming-ofage with mystery and action.

While some may guess the plot twist, Petrucha nonetheless provides both a well-crafted romp through yesteryear’s New York and an enticing companion for it. (Historical mystery. 12-15)

MRS. NOODLEKUGEL

Pinkwater, Daniel Illus. by Stower, Adam Candlewick (80 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 24, 2012 978-0-7636-5053-7

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle meets Mary Poppins.

Pinkwater is renowned for peculiar premises, and here he delivers again.

Peering through a window and spotting a small house far below their new apartment, curious Nick and Maxine make their way down to the boiler room and out the rear exit. Waiting to welcome them at the end of a tidy garden is Mrs. Noodlekugel—a matronly sort with a distinctly PiggleWiggle–ish look in Stower’s loosely drawn illustration—who 198

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invites them in for apple cookies and tea. Joined by a multitalented talking cat named Mr. Fuzzface (who later takes a brief turn at the piano) and four not exactly blind but very farsighted mice, the children have a splendid time. After learning from their parents that Mrs. Noodlekugel will be their new babysitter, Nick and Maxine return the next day to make “gingermice” cookies that get up and dance before running outside to, their chaperone casually suggests, probably be eaten by crows. Written in mannered prose (free of contractions, except for the children’s dialogue), printed in generously sized type and liberally strewn with vignettes and larger illustrations, this ends abruptly and reads overall like the opening chapter of an episodic tale for newly fledged readers.

Good news, if so. It is, to quote the children’s reaction to the gingermice, “extremely entertaining—and weird.”

(Fantasy. 8-10)

THE ART OF MISS CHEW

Polacco, Patricia Illus. by Polacco, Patricia Putnam (40 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 12, 2012 978-0-399-25703-2

Art is a language, and the right teacher can change a life is the twin message of this personal story from the exuberant author/illustrator.

Polacco provides an unabashedly autobiographical account of a year in grammar school with the Irish Mr. Donovan, who understands that she needs additional time to work at written tests. He also introduces her to Miss Chew, an art teacher, and both immediately recognize Trisha’s emerging talent—although the Chinese Miss Chew hears her name as “Ther-esa” and calls her that ever after. It is Miss Chew who discerns Trisha’s talent at perceiving negative space and connects it to her difficulties in school: She sees words as patterns, not letters. When Mr. Donovan is called to Ireland upon the death of his father, the substitute will not allow Trisha extra time on exams and tries to keep her from art class. Right prevails—and Trisha gets to have a painting in the high-school art fair, even though she is so young.

Polacco’s pencil-and-marker art is full of color and movement, with its exaggerated figures and vibrant line. Her characters are always gesturing, caught in mid-sentence. Her first-person narration tells her tragedy and triumph in a very down-to-earth way, using the tone of the 11-year-old she was.

The paired lessons—of art as a crucial element in education and of the importance of recognizing different learning styles—come through clearly, leavened by Polacco’s use of color and gesture. (Picture book. 6-10)

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“…Resau’s skill in evoking an almost visceral experience of setting firmly anchors the story and allows it to expand leisurely to a satisfying end.” from the jade notebook

THE HOUSE AT THE END OF LADYBUG LANE

Primavera, Elise Illus. by Docampo, Valeria Robin Corey/Random (40 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $19.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-375-85584-9 978-0-375-95584-6 PLB Angelina wants a pet, any pet, but to her neat-freak parents, an animal in the house would be intolerable.

Angelina’s family has a long history of excessive neatness, but she seems to attract messes. Mother and Father Neatolini are not amused by Angelina’s apparent absence of neat genes.

When Angelina wishes on a star, a rather ditzy, hearing-impaired, magical ladybug tries to help. Unfortunately, she conjures up a pest instead of a pet. It comes equipped with kitchen utensils and magical ingredients and proceeds to cook up a storm of delightful confections, while making an enormous mess. Continuing to mishear, the ladybug adds carpenter bees, a pink widow spider and doodlebugs, all of which wildly decorate the house. The Neatolinis are appalled by the mess, but upon tasting the cakes and cookies, these obsessively neat people suddenly see the beauty in the new decorations and Angelina is allowed to keep her pet pest. Primavera employs vivid, descriptive language in a highly imaginative tale. But themes of neatness versus chaos, need for acceptance, desire for a pet and parent-child relationships all vie for readers’ attention, and the melange all culminates in an abrupt, contrived denouement. Docampo’s bright gouache illustrations, filled with appealingly stylized, exaggerated detail in large scale spreads, greatly enhance the text.

Pleasant and amusing, but not quite a hit. (Picture book. 4-8)

JO MACDONALD HAD A GARDEN

Quattlebaum, Mary Illus. by Bryant, Laura J. Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $8.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-58469-164-8 978-1-58469-165-5 paperback

Quattlebaum and Bryant follow up their successful Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond (2011) with new lyrics to the same song, while keeping the nature focus.

This time, Jo MacDonald and her cousin Mike make a garden. From digging the earth and planting the seeds, to watering, harvesting and enjoying the “fruits” of their labors, the two care for their garden habitat and the animals that visit it. Readers can tend their own imaginary gardens along with the pair, as the illustrations and text suggest motions to accompany the familiar tune. Careful observers can track the new plants and animals that arrive with each page turn and read more about them in the backmatter, which also includes some garden facts and tips, comprehension questions, activity extension ideas and a list of resources |

for gardening information specifically geared toward children.

Bryant’s watercolors reflect a childlike enthusiasm. While her whole-garden view allows readers to track the animals and plants that accumulate throughout the song, this also makes it difficult to spy the smallest ones. Second in the series, this title is not quite as strong as the first. The two-syllable “garden” slightly mars the rhythm of the song, while the verses are not as easy to predict, making it harder for audiences to sing along. Still, this is likely to be a popular spring and garden story time choice.

Get out the seed catalogs. (Picture book. 3-7)

THE JADE NOTEBOOK

Resau, Laura Delacorte (384 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-385-74053-1 978-0-375-89941-6 e-book 978-0-375-98953-7 PLB In this third in a series of novels focusing on Zeeta and her wanderluststricken mother, readers are immersed in the details of a lovingly described coastal town in Mexico and an action-filled mystery surrounding the poaching of ancient sea turtles that make their home there.

Zeeta’s decision to find her mom a job in Mazunte was no accident. Newly armed with a slew of hints about her father’s background following the events of The Ruby Notebook (2010), she is madly hoping that it might be his hometown. It quickly becomes apparent that she’s on the right track, and with her boyfriend, Wendell, by her side, she begins to fit together the pieces of the puzzle. Yet each answer uncovered seems to create more questions about her father’s complex past. As in previous installments, this latest depends on a variety of coincidences, but Resau’s skill in evoking an almost visceral experience of setting firmly anchors the story and allows it to expand leisurely to a satisfying end. Detracting here, however, is the appearance of characters that readers will likely spot as villains long before Zeeta does—disconcerting to those who have come to know the narrator as an astute observer.

Fans of the series may quibble with some points, but they won’t want to miss what is overall a graceful conclusion to Zeeta’s story. (Fiction. 12-18)

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“Small, comic-book–style panels convey the action, punctuated by breathtaking longshots of galleries and the streets and canals of Delft.” from the hero of little street

DARK EYES

Richter, William Harlan Razorbill/Penguin (384 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 15, 2012 978-1-59514-457-7 A drop-dead-gorgeous heroine, evil dudes with guns and a perilous race through the streets of New York City make for a page-turning read.

When sassy, streetwise runaway Wally (née Valentina) Stoneman’s fake ID is lost as a result of the brutal murder of a friend, she comes face to face with the mystery of her lost Russian heritage, her missing mother and priceless jewels that have ruthless thugs chasing her up and down the streets of Manhattan. Richter is a screenwriter, and the pages of his first novel for teens turn quickly. Readers will feel as though they are watching a fast-paced action movie, with its multitude of daring escapes, witty one-liners, touch of passion and slew of dead bodies. The characterizations feel more stereotypical than original, but it works. Readers will recognize many of them: the beautiful heroine, the do-gooder cop, the bad boy, the slimy murderer and his sidekick. Action takes precedence over literary quality, but the chase sequences are so slickly written that readers will most likely not notice the novel’s staccato sentence structure and wooden dialogue, or they’ll forgive it anyway. What they will notice is Richter’s scenically keen sense of New York City geography as Wally and her cadre race back from Coney Island to SoHo to the Upper West Side fleeing for their lives.

Full of thrills and screaming for a sequel. (Thriller. 14 & up)

THE HERO OF LITTLE STREET

Rogers, Gregory Illus. by Rogers, Gregory Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (32 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 27, 2012 978-1-59643-729-6 Rogers’ Boy (from The Boy, the Bear, the Baron, the Bard, 2004, and A Midsummer Knight, 2007) returns for another wordless metafictive adventure, this one centering on Dutch painting.

The action starts in modern-day Trafalgar Square, where the Boy dumps three other boys’ soccer ball into a fountain and then flees to the National Gallery. After some aimless wandering, he’s only a little astonished to find the scruffy little dog from van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait jumping out of the frame to play. The dog leads the Boy into Vermeer’s Young Woman Seated at a Virginal and then into the titular Little Street of 17th-century Delft, Holland. Since young readers are probably even less likely to groove on Vermeer than on Shakespeare, who figured in the earlier titles, the romp must depend upon plenty of slapstick to keep them engaged—and it delivers. Small, comic-book–style panels convey the action, punctuated by breathtaking longshots of galleries and the streets and canals of Delft. Boy and dog career 200

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along, tripping up pedestrians and smashing blue-and-white crockery before running afoul of a sinister butcher (who resembles a certain Bard). There’s nothing stuffy about this, despite its high-toned beginning: Rogers simply uses his own love of the art as a springboard for his endearing brand of foolery.

All’s well that ends well, as this frolic does, with a sublime comeuppance for all the bullies, then and now. (Picture book. 4-8)

A LEAF CAN BE...

Salas, Laura Purdie Illus. by Dabija, Violeta Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) $17.95 | $13.95 e-book | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-6203-6 978-0-7613-8847-0 e-book A leaf ’s various purposes are contemplated in this gentle celebration of nature.

Fresh leaves burst forth in Salas’ opening stanza, followed by two- to four-word couplets listing a leaf’s many functions. This pattern continues for fall and winter, allowing her rhymed verse to reinforce the cyclical nature of the seasons. What pours forth in free-association–like fashion is sometimes poetic (“Wind rider / Lake glider”), oftentimes purposeful (“Air cleaner / Earth greener”) and mostly playful (“Frost catcher / “Moth matcher”). Dabija’s soft, ethereal illustrations lend a warmth and vibrancy to the text. Her palette, dictated by the weather, is full of lush greens, sultry browns, golden yellows and dusky blues. Through heavy use of the computer, she layers textures into varied patterns and shapes, giving each illustration an organic feel. While this effect is skillfully used on the backgrounds, it is less effective on the primary objects, leaving people and animals to appear pasted in, rather than integrated into the artwork. Compositionally, the images are nicely designed, but since one does not visually lead to the next, they are more like tableaux than a continuous visual narrative. An addendum explaining the author’s word choices (what does she mean by “mouth filler”?) is included, as well as a suggested reading list and glossary.

Simple and pleasing, with classroom-discussion and read-aloud appeal. (Picture book. 5-8)

ME WANT PET!

Sauer, Tammi Illus. by Shea, Bob Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4424-0810-4 Although the setting is prehistoric, the parental excuses standing between the protagonist and potential pets will sound familiar to contemporary listeners.

A gap-toothed Cave Boy appears on the red cover, writing implement in hand; on the wall behind him are the drawings of the animals he attempts to bring home. Alas, the woolly mammoth is too big to fit in the family dwelling, the child’s father is allergic to saber-toothed tigers and the dodo bird is not potty-trained. It

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takes a buffalo stampede pummeling toward the baby dodo, an attempted rescue by the boy and a successful intervention by the larger would-be pets to convince the elders of the animals’ value.

Sauer’s bare-bones, Stone Age lingo (“Me sad,” says Cave Boy. “Want pet”) meshes nicely with Shea’s heavily outlined, primitive caricatures. His uncluttered, digital compositions sport bold color contrasts and pleasing patterns, offering a comprehensible but dynamic interpretation of this satisfying, circular tale. Readers may wish for a return to simpler times, if getting your heart’s desire could be guaranteed to come in triplicate.

This account of the age-old bond between animals and children is ideally paced for read-aloud pleasure. (Picture book. 3-6)

VARIOUS POSITIONS

Schabas, Martha Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (336 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-374-38086-1

Georgia’s first year at a prestigious Toronto ballet academy is fraught with conflicts arising from her parents’ disintegrating marriage and the blurred lines between her awakening sexuality and a most physical art form.

For the 14-year-old, the realization that her father, a married psychiatrist, had an affair with her mother when she was his student in college is one factor leading to her own obsession with her ballet teacher. Every touch in ballet class, meant as a correction to placement, is viewed as erotic. Spiraling downward, she photographs herself in the same pose as an online porn model, wraps the pictures in her thong and leaves them in his desk. Her family and the adults at the academy assume that she was the victim of a nonexistent exploitation, and Georgia is initially unable to voice an explanation or an apology. Another disturbing chain of events at the ballet academy leads a not-quite-thin-enough girl to anorexia. Schabas, in her debut title, does not include much detail about ballet class or rehearsal. Rather, she offers a penetrating glimpse into the troubled world of teen anxiety, compulsive behavior and peer pressure as seen through the eyes of a young woman with heightened sensory perceptions.

A thought-provoking look at femininity and sex, made all the more confusing by that ultimate contact sport—ballet. (Fiction. 14-18)

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THE APPLE TREE’S DISCOVERY

Schram, Peninnah & Davis, Rachayl Eckstein Illus. by Lee, Wendy W. Kar-Ben (24 pp.) $16.95 | paper $7.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-5130-6 978-0-7613-5132-0 paperback A familiar “star inside the apple” story is reworked to include the themes of self-worth and confidence, couched in a divine message.

Surrounded by large oaks, a lonely little apple tree looks up and sees the twinkling of stars, which appear to be hanging from the tops of the oak branches. With each passing season, she begs God for the same: “I want more than anything in the world to have stars. Then I would feel truly special.” Even as her own fragrant blossoms turn into tasty apples, little apple tree persists in her wish, while God encourages patience. It is only after God becomes exasperated and creates a hard wind that forces some apples to fall and split open, revealing their own internal “star,” that the little apple tree realizes and happily accepts her own attributes. Watercolor paintings of a saccharine forest environment with smiling critters and grinning tree trunks dilute the increasingly strenuous responses from God, who waits for some implied recognition of his overall message. And while the apple tree finally understands, children will require some follow through to completely comprehend the forced moral, which is spelled out in the afterword.

Strained. (Picture book/religion. 3-6)

THE NOT-SO-PERFECT PLANET

Service, Pamela F. Illus. by Gorman, Mike Darby Creek (120 pp.) $15.95 | paper $6.95 | $11.95 e-book Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-7919-5 978-0-7613-7923-2 paperback 978-0-7613-8736-7 e-book Series: Way-Too-Real Aliens, 2 Caving to the demands of his pesky little sister Maggie, aspiring fictioneer Josh’s second fantasy story features a world with mermaids and unicorns. Sort of.

The devil’s in the details, though, and just as in the series opener (Escape From Planet Yastol, 2011) the two find themselves stranded in an actual, newly made reality based on Josh’s tale but inhabited by toothy, twisted versions of the residents he has inexpertly envisioned. Furthermore, during the ensuing series of captures and escapes, Josh and Maggie are joined by no fewer than five different kinds of creatures, each of whom turns out to be a youngest child afflicted with bossy parents and scornful older sibs. The plot is no more than a set of loosely connected set pieces, but readers may

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find the burgeoning corps of somehow–familiar-sounding furred, scaled, winged, finny and even stone whiners amusing, and budding writers may take both Service’s indirect advice about verbal precision and her embedded examples of Theme, Composition, Character Development and Revision to heart. Gorman’s angular figures of grotesque aliens and their frantic-looking creator in various predicaments goose up the comic overtones.

The weak plot doesn’t really bear up under its instructional load, but there’s enough farce to keep the lessons well-greased. (Science fiction. 8-12)

EMBRACE

Shirvington, Jessica Sourcebooks Fire (400 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1402268403 Get ready, American paranormalromance fans. Published in Australia in 2010, Shirvington’s debut is smart, edgy and addictive—and sure to leave readers clamoring for the rest of the series.

Seventeen-year-old Violet Eden’s mother died in childbirth, leaving her to be raised by her detached, workaholic father. If it weren’t for her best friend Steph and her trainer (and secret love) Lincoln, Violet would be very much alone. But on her 17th birthday, everything changes. Though finally being kissed by Lincoln is a dream come true, Violet learns that their romantic involvement is forbidden because he and Violet are both Grigori—half angel and half human. They’re destined to be eternal partners in the battle against exiled angels on Earth, and romance would make things far too complicated.

Furious with Lincoln for keeping this secret, Violet pushes him away, making room for the dark and seductive Phoenix to take hold of her heart. As a reluctant and conflicted heroine, torn between her desire for normalcy and the awesome responsibility of her newfound power, Violet is a compelling and convincing narrator. The story is rife with action and romance, steering clear of overtly religious overtones that often complicate angel books.

A must-read for paranormal fans young and old. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

ARTICLE 5

Simmons, Kristen Tor (368 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 4, 2012 978-0-7653-2958-5 In an unimpressive dystopian romance, a girl flees a repressive institution with the soldier she once loved.

After a war whose details never quite emerge, the U.S. government authorized the Federal Bureau of Reformation, better known as the Moral Militia, to arrest any citizen in violation 202

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of the stringent “Moral Statutes.” Ember’s mom is arrested for violating Article 5—having conceived a child out of wedlock— and Ember is sent to a girls’ rehab where rule-breakers are punished with violence and those who try to escape are shot. Ember does escape, however, with the help of Chase Jennings, a friend who joined the Moral Militia years earlier, and most of the book chronicles the pair’s tense and treacherous journey in search of Ember’s mother and safety. That the two have feelings for each other is immediately clear, but drawn-out misunderstandings and a tedious unwillingness to communicate keep the two travelers at odds. Despite the book’s implicit critique of sexism (“[women]’s subservience” is mandated by the Articles), Chase is portrayed as knowledgeable, street-smart and in charge, while Ember is loose-tongued and impulsive, frequently requiring Chase’s assistance to get out of a scrape.

There are a few engaging action scenes here and there, but overall, it’s a disappointment for romantics, feminists and dystopia fans alike. (Dystopian romance. 12 & up)

EVERY DAY’S A DOG DAY: A YEAR IN POEMS

Singer, Marilyn Illus. by Sakamoto, Miki Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 15, 2012 978-0-8037-3715-0

A chronological collection of 30 short poems follows four canine pals and their young owners through a calendar year, in an earnest but uneven effort that tries too hard to please, rather like an overly enthusiastic Labrador.

The dogs and their owners enjoy seasonal activities and holiday celebrations over the year, with outdoor play in snow and sand and participation in obedience classes, a dog show and a parade. The poems are written in first person with one of the four dogs as narrator, and it is sometimes unclear which dog is speaking when all four dogs are shown in the illustration. The poetic formats are pleasingly varied in length and rhyme scheme and include a few gems such as haiku and parallel introductory and concluding poems. While some poems are sharply focused and cleverly rhymed, others don’t scan exactly or use rhyming pairs that stretch too far (don’tcha / won’tcha).

Busy, detailed illustrations follow the poems closely, depicting humorous interactions among the four dogs and cheery views of the four children who own the dogs. The illustration for a St. Patrick’s Day poem includes an oddly prominent wall plaque with a famous Irish phrase of welcome, but there is no translation to help readers.

These cute dogs and kids don’t break any new ground in the crowded field of dog-themed books for children. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)

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“A good-humored romp with a series-opening unresolved ending…” from buried

BURIED

Singleton, Linda Joy Flux (264 pp.) $9.95 paperback | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-7387-1958-0 Series: Goth Girl Mysteries, 1 Goth-girl teen with magical “finding” powers unravels the mystery of a dead baby in this first book in a new paranormal series.

The goth-tastic Thorn, from Singleton’s The Seer series, is forced to move from California when her father loses his job. Luckily, her minister mother finds a new gig. Only trouble is, it’s in Nevada, years-of-enlightenment from home. Thorn survives by befriending Rune, the one other goth at their ultra-conservative high school. When a random lost locket weirdly leads Thorn to a half-buried baby—OMG! She’s suddenly under suspicion. In defense, Thorn investigates contestants in the Nevada Bluff High Singing Star contest, while drama swirls around NBH-alum musician Philippe, the angel-wingwearing Amerie, the Cotton Candy Cowgirls and the mysterious vigilante dude who disguises himself as “the Grin Reaper.” Thorn believably struggles with her judgmental father and community disapproval of her controversial identity (“As a rule, I don’t follow rules”). Will the hullabaloo cost her mother her job? At a quick pace with layered plotting, narrator Thorn unearths her true self, coming to appreciate her own musical gifts and even her all-toohuman mother (“I’m a minister, not a saint”).

A good-humored romp with a series-opening unresolved ending; chances are good that goth mystery fans will be too buried in zany clues to notice. (Paranormal mystery. 12 & up)

BITTERSWEET SUMMER

Smith, Anne Warren Whitman (128 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-8075-0763-6

With her best friend away on vacation, her motherless, not-so-great friend Claire scheming to have their fourthgrade teacher, Ms. Morgan, marry her widowed father and her own mother putting her singing career above parenting, Katie’s summer is looking to be more bitter than sweet.

Katie’s 5-year-old brother Tyler desperately misses their mother, who’s permanently on tour and “seriously divorced,” and their father, loving as he is, can’t quite fill the void. On top of all her other difficulties, Katie learns that they may have to move before the summer ends. Although perfectionist Claire is entirely deserving of Ms. Morgan as a new mother, Katie is reluctant to promote matchmaking schemes, since she can easily imagine Ms. Morgan as her new mother instead. Third in a series, this effort makes reference to the other works (Tails of Spring Break, 2005, etc.) but nonetheless stands alone well. Katie’s first-person voice |

feels fresh and authentic. Her yearning—for a real mother and to not move—juxtaposed against Tyler’s poignant pathos, as he only checks out library books about babies and their mothers, builds “MOTHER-mouse caves” for pretend baby mice and confronts his wayward mom while she’s onstage, all add rich emotional depth to this tender, believable middle-grade book.

This satisfying novel is recommended for its realistic situations and nicely drawn, eminently human characters.

(Fiction. 7-10)

ERUPTION

Smith, Roland Scholastic $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-545-08174-0 Series: Storm Runners, 3 The third and concluding volume in Smith’s breakneck Storm Runners trilogy shifts the scene from a circus’ devastated winter quarters in hurricane-wracked Florida to the ominously active Mexican

volcano Popocatepetl.

As in the previous episode, Surge (2011), the action picks up with minimal recapping. Hardly has Hurricane Emily blown through than worrisome news that all contact has been lost with the Rossi Brothers’ Circus, on tour near Mexico City, in the wake of a major earthquake. This sends a crew headed by catastrophe experts Chase and his father John to the rescue. Smith immediately scatters his party over Popocatepetl’s shaking, landslide ridden slopes amid clouds of ash to discover human corpses, dead elephants and big cats, desperados, trapped refugees, dozens of badly injured villagers and (just to crank the suspense up another notch) an escaped tiger. Though the SEAL airlift that John eventually calls up to get everyone out of their various pickles is unalloyed deus-ex-machina (and can you say “international incident?”), at least it provides a tidy getaway to go with the resolution of several personal side plots.

A wild, roller coaster ride despite the credibility-stretching ending. (Adventure. 11-13)

QUEST FOR THE SPARK Book Two

Sniegoski, Tom Illus. by Smith, Jeff Graphix/Scholastic (240 pp.) $22.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-545-14103-1 Series: Bone, 2

The Bone universe proves that it can still expand without spreading thin.

As introduced in the previous volume (2011), The Valley, still under a nightmare sleep, awaits rescue from a motley crew of Bones, beasts, a boy and a brawny

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“A modest tale of a Bigfoot.” from larf

priest. Jumping right in where the action left off, readers discover that the Nacht’s evil power is strengthening. Tom and his crew are still seeking to reunite pieces of the Spark, and in this adventure, they face some of the most dire peril the group has yet encountered: giant bears and bees, a horrible airship accident and the trek to distant Lorimar, a forest spirit with magical powers. As they battle and overcome these obstacles hurled at them by the Nacht, it seems that they’re getting closer to waking the Valley—but does the Nacht have a plan that may sabotage the group from within? Sniegoski’s writing is strong and swift, and it properly propels the action needed to fuel such a broad crusade. However, those new to the series will want to read this series sequentially: The burst into action offers little back story, and many of the running jokes will be missed without it. An expected cliffhanger will leave readers clamoring for the final installment.

A nimble, expertly paced middle-grade adventure yarn.

(Fantasy/adventure. 9 & up)

LARF

Spires, Ashley Illus. by Spires, Ashley Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-1-55453-701-3 A modest tale of a Bigfoot.

Larf is one of those large, hairy, bipedal, apelike cryptids commonly known to humanoids as Sasquatch or Bigfoot. He is a retiring soul—as, evidently, are most Bigfeet. He lives deep in the northern forest with his pet rabbit, Eric, who is one of the more droll creatures—all deadpan, pop-eyed diminutiveness—to inhabit recent picture books. Larf thinks he is one-of-a-kind, but he reads that another Sasquatch is making an appearance in a nearby town. Fascinated, yet harboring the standard run of trepidations when about to meet a potential friend, he dons a minimalist disguise and shows up at the appointed time, only to learn that the Sasquatch is just a guy in costume (“It was all a BIG FAKE”). But someone else has appeared to meet that same Bigfoot, and, who knows, maybe there’ll be a Littlefoot in a baby carriage. Spires hits squarely a number of nails here—not least that people wouldn’t recognize a Bigfoot right under their collective noses—and her watercolorand-ink artworks fairly captures the far-north woodlands and the enjoyably kooky characters of her tale.

It won’t set your hair on fire, but it’s a story that exudes its own dry warmth. (Picture book. 3-7)

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KATE & PIPPIN

Springett, Martin Photos by Springett, Isobel Henry Holt (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 28, 2012 978-0-8050-9487-9 The true story, captured in intimate photos, of an old Great Dane and an abandoned fawn. Awwww.

Anthropomorphizing with gusto as he goes, the author places the crying fawn, “certain she had found a new mother,” next to the sleeping dog—who is “surprised” upon waking up, but aside from a quick sniff displays no visible reaction to her new companion. Pippin learns to negotiate a milk-bottle nipple and later a set of porch steps and frisks alertly about the photographer’s yard. At one point, she wanders into the nearby woods (“Kate and Isobel worried they might never see Pippin again”) and back, but grave and grizzled Kate seldom seems to move, aside from a couple of gambols in the grass, or even summon up the energy to open her eyes all the way. Nonetheless, the two plainly enjoy each other’s company, and the pictures underscore their closeness at rest or play. Next to a final headshot of the pair (dog and adult deer almost exactly the same size) the narrative properly notes that Pippin is a wild animal “but she and Kate remain the best of friends.”

Again, awwww. (Picture book. 3-6)

MORE

Springman, I.C. Illus. by Lies, Brian Houghton Mifflin (40 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-547-61083-2 Dramatic paintings add depth and foreboding to a lesson about excessive materialism.

Magpies are famous for collecting shiny objects, and this protagonist is a classic exemplar. At first, he stands in the bottom-right corner of a blank spread, downcast. Composition and expression display his isolated melancholy; the text murmurs, “Nothing.” A mouse gives him a marble, which sets the bird to collecting objects and building many nests to hold them. Text remains sparse: “A few, / several, // more / and more and more. // Lots.” The plot is simple: The collected objects become so numerous that a nest crashes to the ground, burying the magpie. (Mice unbury him; he’s uninjured.) The unsurprising moral is that two or three objects are, “Yes, enough” (though the magpie still needs the mouse’s persuasion to accept that lesson). Lies contrasts pale, faintly patterned backgrounds of handmade paper with forceful close-ups in acrylic and colored pencil. Large, dark areas inside the nests show stolen items— Lego, penny, toothbrush, binky, spoon—as identifiable but no longer shiny, emphasizing Springman’s message. The illustration of the crash is downright scary. This magpie’s leg-band goes unexplained; does it symbolize entrapment, civilization or the infinite danger (the numbers echo Pi) of hoarding?

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Young readers not overwhelmed by the visual intensity will chant the minimal text; older ones will note questions about accumulation, materialism, friendship—and how to decide what’s meaningful. (Picture book. 3-8)

THE EXTRAORDINARY EDUCATION OF NICHOLAS BENEDICT

Stewart, Trenton Lee Megan Tingley/Little, Brown (480 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2012 978-0-316-20022-6 Stewart fills in the back story on the narcoleptic genius founder of the Mysterious Benedict Society (2007), planting him amid fellow orphans in an old country mansion.

The leisurely, discursive tale takes young Nicholas— “a boy of whimsical mind, to be sure (though whimsy was not the half of it, nor even the beginning)”—into the financially troubled Rothschild’s End (“or ‘Child’s End, as it is often abbreviated”). There, along with the customary sets of brutal bullies, cowed children and myopically semi-competent staff, he encounters his first library, his first real friend and exciting hints of a lost treasure.

His search for this last is complicated by his affliction, which is triggered by any strong positive emotion, as well as the fact that he’s locked into a storeroom every night and also continually at risk from the aforesaid thugs. Being smarter than everyone else put together as well as mechanically gifted, though, he turns every challenge into an opportunity and by the end has found the treasure (which turns out to something much better than money), saved the orphanage and forced a truce with the bullies. More significantly, having seen kindness and compassion in action “[h] e might not know what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he knew with absolute certainty how he wanted to be.”

Admirable insight, despite being conveyed by a lad who comes across as more a super-precocious, psychologically astute preteen than a credible 9 year old. (Fiction. 11-13)

THE GRAVE ROBBER’S APPRENTICE

Stratton, Allan Harper/HarperCollins (288 pp.) $16.99 | PLB $17.89 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-0-06-197608-7 978-0-06-197609-4 PLB Stratton shows impressive versatility in a shift away from his intense teen fare—Chanda’s Secrets (2004), Borderline (2010)—to a playfully dramatic adventure with swashbuckling kids, mountain hermits, avalanche sledding and circus bears.

Infant Hans washes ashore in a wooden chest and is adopted by “a stumpy man of lumps and bumps”—a grave robber. Knobbe |

raises Hans to follow in his footsteps, though Hans can’t see the honor in it as much as the immorality and ickiness. Nearby, countess Angela (almost 13, like Hans) lives in a castle, developing high-level skill at dramatic play and marionettes. Skirting a forced marriage to corrupt Archduke Arnulf, Angela procures a potion from the sinister local Necromancer to make herself seem dead; she’ll be buried until Arnulf departs, then her parents will unbury her. But the Necromancer informs Arnulf, who kidnaps the parents, leaving Angela stuck in the coffin—until Hans unknowingly breaks in. Together they dodge peril and discover colorful comrades from forest to dungeon across the archduchy. Stratton’s prose is artistic, clever and funny as it shows that even the oldest tropes can feel fresh and cheeky and that wisdom fits fine next to grossouts like poop buckets. The only blot is the Necromancer’s blindness as a symbol of creepy evil.

It’s fun all the way as wit, daring and theatrical skills restore the archduchy. (Fantasy. 10-13)

DEMOLITION

Sutton, Sally Illus. by Lovelock, Brian Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7636-5830-4 Ode to a wrecking ball! And other heavy construction equipment.

“Grab your gear. Grab your gear,” begins the book, which offers 11 four-line verses in bold lettering, each in a two-page spread highlighting a different aspect of the demolition process. Workers get into their protective gear as the wrecking ball is moved into place: “Buckle, tie, and strap. / Safety jackets, boots and hats. / Zip! Stamp! SNAP!” The jaws of the excavator “Rip! Roar! CRASH!” And its basket works to “Ram the walls.

Ram the walls.” The mobile crusher grinds up broken concrete, and the industrial wood chipper shreds the wood: “Split and chop and chip.” One verse is dedicated to loading the truck with debris, another to building playground equipment on the excavation site. The final lines—”Join the fun. Join the fun... / Hip...hip... HOORAY!”—depict happy people using the park that has been designed and built on the demolition site. A final illustrated page offers some concise “Machine Facts” on both the vehicles and some of their components. The onomatopoeia in Sutton’s simple rhyming text is appealingly extreme, and it’s like a natural for listener repetition, though the verses could be more distinct from one another. Lovelock’s bright pictures—in ink, acrylic and colored pencil—are a solid match.

Smashing good fun for preschoolers of both genders.

(Picture book. 3-5)

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BARNYARD PURIM

Terwilliger, Kelly Illus. by Newman, Barbara Johansen Kar-Ben (32 pp.) $7.95 paperback | Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-7613-4514-5 The loud, chaotic celebration of Purim and its companion story is recreated in a farm-animal play that results in a surprising development.

After Farmer Max leaves to attend a Purim play, the animals decide to stage their own version. Chicken offers to direct, orchestrating Horse as the King Ahashuerus, Duck as the blushing Queen Esther, bearded Goat as Mordecai, cows as the mooing noisemakers and geese as the audience. Casting a somewhat sensitive Sheep as the evil Haman requires some explanation from Chicken as she retells the holiday’s story through her patient direction. “They aren’t mooing at YOU...They’re mooing at evil Haman.” Still fretting over her role, Sheep retreats off stage to dress in, yes, her wolf ’s costume, while a new character, Fox, suddenly appears on the scene with real evil intentions. Confusion quickly moves to realization, with Duck’s bravado leading a flurry of noisy animal antics to scare the fox away before Farmer Max returns with a basket of hamantaschen. Gouache cartoons of wide-eyed, long-lashed characters in muted browns, blacks and tans add enough charm to the required pathos of the text’s circumvented telling for this menagerie’s megillah.

Enjoyable fare for youngsters who already have a concept of the holiday. (Picture books/religion. 5-7)

OVER IN THE MEADOW

Thornhill, Jan--Adapt.

Illus. by Thornhill, Jan Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $7.95 paperback | $7.95 e-book Feb. 1, 2012 978-1-926973-06-7 978-1-926973-07-4 e-book The traditional song gets an unsuccessful seek-and-find makeover.

As in the original, children count from one to 10, following the animals in a streamside meadow habitat as they teach their babies a few needed skills. With only one glaring exception, the rhythms and rhymes fit the original tune, but readers won’t sing it through, anyway. They will be too busy scanning the spreads for the familiar objects that make up both the animals and their surroundings—green plastic combs stand in for grass, pretzels form the beaver lodge’s sticks and leaves become the owls’ feathers.

Unlike other books that use this method, however, the objects are digitally resized, taking away their size context and making them difficult to recognize, especially in comparison to one another. Further complicating matters is the fact that some of the objects have had parts cut off or their color changed. Overall, the artwork comes off as being overly digitized, a jarring contrast 206

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to the nature theme of the song. For pre-readers, a few rebus elements are included in each verse, but as they focus mainly on the featured animal, they seem extraneous. A visual listing of many of the everyday objects used in the scenes offer readers the chance to go back through the illustrations and find them.

Leave the song to Marianne Berkes, the seek-and-find to Joan Steiner and the team of Walter Wick and Jean Marzollo. (Picture book. 3-6)

BESSICA LEFTER BITES BACK

Tracy, Kristen Delacorte (272 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | PLB $19.99 Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-385-74069-2 978-0-375-89983-6 e-book 978-0-375-98961-2 PLB Sixth-grader Bessica’s new middleschool persona meets a host of problems, including mending a friendship damaged by mean text messages, facing a bully in her first outing as team mascot and coming to terms with her grandmother’s boyfriend.

Readers unfamiliar with The Reinvention of Bessica Lefter (2011) may find it difficult to get their bearings in her world. In that book, her habit of acting without thinking resulted in having to start middle school without her best friend but also won her a shared spot as a bear mascot for the school teams. This volume picks up where that left off, without much explanation. Rumor has it the opposing mascot in the first game will facebomb her.

Neither Bessica nor readers learn what facebombing actually is in this context until after the disastrous event, in which Bessica literally bites her opponent. Figuratively, she also bites her former best friend, Sylvie, not only through her phone but also through a well-meant but mean-spirited birthday present. The first-person narration barrels along, as Bessica would, with neither forethought nor reflection. After the fact, Bessica spends more time justifying her unthinking behavior than examining it. Without having met her in the first book, readers will not have gotten to know this preteen well enough to understand or care.

Start there. (Fiction. 9-13)

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

Wallner, Alexandra Illus. by Wallner, Alexandra Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-8234-1953-1

Susan B. Anthony worked to win women the right to vote her whole long life, but she did not live to see it done.

Wallner uses her flat decorative style and rich matte colors to depict Susan B. Anthony’s life, layering on details: Susan

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“…it’s a pleasure to see Willems at the top of his game, and The Pigeon suitably humbled.” from the duckling gets a cookie!?

catching snowflakes behind her parents’ house; working in her father’s mill (briefly) and then departing school when the money ran out; writing at her desk; speaking passionately in front of small groups and rowdy crowds. It’s a little too wordy and a little less than engaging in describing a life in which Anthony traveled alone, hired her own halls, spoke tirelessly about women’s suffrage, published, created forums where women could speak freely and was arrested for registering to vote. Her life-long friendship with suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton is touched on, as are the virulent attacks against her ideas and her person.

She died in 1906. Votes for women did not come to pass in the United States until 1920.

She said, “Failure is impossible,” and she was right, but unfortunately her steely determination does not come through in this book. (timeline, bibliography, source notes) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)

CRACKED

Walton, K.M. Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 6, 2012 978-1-4424-2916-1 In a debut novel utterly devoid of subtlety, a bully and his primary target end up as roommates in a hospital psych ward.

Although Bull has tormented Victor ever since elementary school, both come from unhappy homes. Victor is the child of the most exaggeratedly miserable and demanding rich parents imaginable: When he receives a perfect score on only one of three SAT test sections, his mother, unable to eat, asks, “how could you let those other scores happen ... to us?” In Bull’s somewhat less caricature-ish family, the grandfather is a violent drunk and the mother spends their food money on beer, but both are protective in their own way. Chapters narrated from each boy’s perspective allow readers to see the same situations through both Bull’s and Victor’s eyes, from an improbable run-in at the Salvation Army to the boys’ even more improbable stay in adjacent hospital beds.

The hospital is a far more nourishing environment than either teen’s home, and readers see both Bull and Victor open up in new ways during their time there. A poem central to the text suggests that mistreated people who feel empty can “fill / themselves / up,” but the healing here happens through others’ intervention rather than through internal change.

Well-meaning but ineffective melodrama. (Fiction. 12-15)

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THE DUCKLING GETS A COOKIE!?

Willems, Mo Illus. by Willems, Mo Hyperion (40 pp.) $15.99 | Apr. 3, 2012 978-1-4231-5128-9

Everyone’s favorite grouch of a fowl returns, though the spotlight is firmly fixed elsewhere.

Never content to be merely a supporting character, The Pigeon nonetheless takes a backseat in a story in which The Duckling asks for and receives a cookie with nuts. Incensed, The Pigeon proceeds to rant about the various items and impossibilities he has asked for over the years, ignoring point blank the fact that The Duckling got her cookie by asking politely.

At the end of the expected meltdown, the smaller bird reveals that she only got the cookie in the first place so that she could give it to The Pigeon. Flabbergasted (“Hubba— Whaa?!?”), our hero leaves with cookie in hand, and The Duckling reveals that her seeming sainthood—she shares slyness as well as color with Tweety Bird—may be a bit of an act. Even those who think they may have tired of The Pigeon’s antics will find much to enjoy in this familiar but different outing. The importance of politeness is evident, but its delivery is not didactic in the least.

Just as enjoyable as a read-aloud to a group or as a oneon-one lapsit, it’s a pleasure to see Willems at the top of his game, and The Pigeon suitably humbled. (Picture book. 3-8)

FARMER BOY GOES WEST

Williams, Heather Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $15.99 | Feb. 14, 2012 978-0-06-124251-9

The overextended Little House franchise at least takes a step toward gender balance with this carefully wrought sequel to Farmer Boy (1933).

Compressing time span and age differences but otherwise sticking closely to the historical record, Williams (a pseudonym for Tui Sutherland) sends teenage Almanzo Wilder and part of his family from their comfortable New York farm to a new start in Minnesota’s Spring Valley. Cast without nuances as a sturdy, reliable lad who loves his family, horses, farming and food (usually in that order) much more than going to school or even being indoors, Almanzo doesn’t so much develop as have experiences that explain his later character in the original series—getting over being shy around girls, for instance, by suffering an infatuation with a dazzling classmate that ends precipitately when he discovers that she doesn’t like horses.

Likewise, a cozy Christmas, a suspenseful box social, a relative’s (offstage) death and other events recall or presage incidents and situations in the canonical volumes. Along with physical oldendays details, the author tucks in attitudes that modern readers will (one hopes) find quaint, such as a visitor’s condescending

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“Each spread’s warmth, accessibility and kindliness make visiting a far-away century immensely pleasurable.” from kali’s song

reference to idol worship in India and a line about how “girls have to wait for boys to be brave” from Almanzo’s older sister Alice.

Safe, comfortable, respectful of its progenitors and wholesome as all get out. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 9-12)

KALI’S SONG

Winter, Jeanette Illus. by Winter, Jeanette Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 13, 2012 978-0-375-87022-4 Thousands of years ago, a boy chooses to use his bow for music rather than hunting, charming animals and eventually his tribe with hypnotic song.

Winter’s friendly folk-art illustrations offer an appealingly uncomplicated visual narrative, one as effortlessly expressive as the cave paintings Kali’s mother creates on their rock walls.

Trees, hunters, rolling hills and woolly mammoths appear with such unaffected clarity (thanks to generous spacing between shapes, figures and text) that they seem as authentic as realistic renderings. Children gain confidence interpreting pages so assuredly illustrated, and their feeling for Kali will grow as his life comes into focus. Winter’s rudimentary acrylic, pen and ink illustrations look a little like elementary-school dioramas (evergreens perch awkwardly on hillsides, frozen figures point with stubby fingers and mouths open, miniaturized hunting scenes seem almost silly), but her pictures (atop frayed, mottled handmade papers) brilliantly evoke primitive times. Each spread’s warmth, accessibility and kindliness make visiting a far-away century immensely pleasurable. Muted blues, browns and ruddy reds soften Kali’s world of hunting, caves and manly expectations, bringing him close to children as they lean close to listen.

After weeks of ditching hunting practice and instead playing his bow until stars “c[o]me close to listen,” the day of the big hunt worries Kali and his readers alike. When his music stills both mammoths and their hunters, Kali’s future changes forever.

Minimalism brilliantly brings a distant time near. (Picture book. 2-6)

JUST BEHAVE, PABLO PICASSO! Winter, Jonah Illus. by Hawkes, Kevin Scholastic (48 pp.) $18.99Feb. 1, 2012 978-0-545-13291-6

of critics discovers the visual power of African masks, eventually producing the surprising Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Winter charts the course of an artist determined to travel by his own compass. He depicts the young adult Picasso beset by critics on every side (including an unnamed wife—”Why can’t you keep painting beautiful pictures?”—though Picasso would not actually marry any of the women in his life until much later). Hawkes’ vibrant, full-bleed illustrations offer Picasso as a superhero of sorts, red cape included, dashing as his artistic muse might inspire, and faithfully reproduce a few familiar works. A bit of magical realism intrudes as Picasso floats through Paris and later when “Picasso expands himself to a height of one hundred feet” to face down his critics. A mere taste of the iconoclastic artist emerges, but an essential point is conveyed—that Picasso understood that art is more than the eye perceives as “real.”

An energetic and affectionate introduction to an artist who was always somewhat larger than life. (biographical note) (Picture book. 5-10)

THE SECRET KEEPERS

Yee, Paul Tradewind Books (144 pp.) $12.95 paperback | Feb. 15, 2012 978-1-896580-96-8 A lad with “yin-yang” eyes lays two troubled ghosts to rest in this San Francisco Chinatown tale.

Jackson is haunted. He is visited by the ghosts of both his older brother, killed in the previous year’s Great Earthquake, and an unknown young woman whose appearance scares off the moviegoers attending his struggling family’s nickelodeon. The boy therefore determinedly sets off to find out what the spirits’ unfinished business might be. Jackson’s investigation is prefaced by his experiences during the quake and punctuated with incidents of bullying and classroom taunting, a brief stint working in an opium parlor and collusion with an older cousin scheming to steal money and run away rather than be sent to China. The search ultimately leads to family revelations, the secretly buried bones of a young mother who died in childbirth and a ghostly “wedding” that precipitates an upbeat close. Though the story is well-stocked with specters and misadventures, it is hampered by choppy prose and a lack of distinct characters or sense of place.

A patchwork. (Historical fantasy. 10-12)

A terrific opening—a serene, classical landscape interrupted by Pablo Picasso’s exuberant burst through the canvas of this bucolic scene—leads into a simplified look at Picasso’s artistic development from adolescent prodigy through his 20s.

From Picasso’s “blue” period in Paris through his cheerier “rose” period, the young “Mr. Big Famous Art Star” still beloved 208

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DEAR FLYARY

Young, Dianne Illus. by Martz, John Kids Can (32 pp.) $18.95 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-1-55453-488-7 It may have a loose tarsnaggle, a sticky megalad and a hole in the flyjacker, but Frazzle’s Model 7 spaceship is positively flixsome.

A little alien—with his one great dewy eye, he’s a dear, cyclopean ant-head—gets a flyary (diary) for his dropday (birthday), which he duly fills with the joys and travails of his first spaceship. Same as it ever was: The spaceship works like a dream for a few months, then starts to give Frazzle the vapors when it starts make strange noises. Good old Wurpitz Hoolo, the whiz mechanic, assures him that Model 7s are known for their harmless, if odd boinks, piffles and ticks. Young lards the text with enough otherworldly words—noteymaker to exboom to peepered—to keep readers on their toes and to beef up what is essentially a story about remaining true to your old and trusty friends, in this case a spaceship that gradually turns from sleek sky-streaker to old jalopy (“But I still bigheart my little ‘rugger’ Model 7,” says Frazzle), despite the flash and dazzle of the new. Adding to the endearment factor are Martz’s illustrations, as shiny and color-shot as ribbon candy, from Hoolo’s classic mechanic’s shop to the traffic jam on the flyway.

There is much fun to be had sounding out words and guessing at their meaning and roots, as planet Harbat’s jabberwocky attests. (Picture book. 4-8)

FRESHMAN YEAR AND OTHER UNNATURAL DISASTERS

Zeitlin, Meredith Putnam (288 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2012 978-0-399-25423-9

Another goofy, sweet teenage girl pratfalls through her first year of high school in this winsome, if predictable debut.

Kelsey Finkelstein may live in New York City, but her life is far from that of Gossip Girl. Instead of high-stakes social politics and steamy hook-ups, Kelsey’s life consists of evading the nosy clutches of her interfering mother while trying to maintain strong ties with her three besties: Em, JoJo and Cassidy. Determined to “[r]evamp myself for a new era.

You know, like Lady Gaga,” Kelsey boldly tries out for JV soccer and the high-school production of Fiddler on the Roof, with decidedly mixed and humorous results. Her friends are a reliable support system, until Kelsey discovers that Cassidy is making out with her crush object Jordan, which causes the group to splinter. Luckily a cute school-newspaper reporter is waiting in the wings to heal Kelsey’s broken heart. While Zeitlin breaks no |

new ground here, Kelsey is a funny, likable heroine who experiences realistic school and relationship problems that any teenage girl will be able to relate to. The dialogue-heavy novel moves breezily from one disaster to the next, but because of its similarity to so many other chick-lit titles, is unlikely to linger longer in readers’ minds than the latest pop song before being replaced by something just as pleasantly appealing.

An undemanding and enjoyable diversion. (Fiction. 12-16)

k i r k u s r o u n d- u p continuing series DESTINY AND DECEPTION 13 to Life, #4

RALPH MASIELLO’S FARM DRAWING BOOK

Delaney, Shannon St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $9.99 | Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-312-62446-0 (Paranormal romance. 12-16)

MALLORY’S SUPER SLEEPOVER Mallory, #17

Friedman, Laurie Illus. by Jennifer Kalis Darby Creek (160 pp.) $15.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-0-7613-6072-8 (Fiction. 7-11)

THE SECRET OF ASHONA Erec Rex, #5

Kingsley, Kaza Simon & Schuster (528 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4169-7992-0 (Fantasy. 10-14)

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Masiello, Ralph Illus. by the author Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $8.99 Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-57091-537-6 paper: 978-1-57091-538-3 (Nonfiction. 5-8)

THE CASE OF THE DIAMONDS IN THE DESK Milo & Jazz Mysteries, #8

Montgomery, Lewis B. Illus. by Amy Wummer Kane Press (96 pp.)

PLB $22.60 | paper $6.95 Feb. 1, 2012 PLB: 978-1-57565-392-1 paper: 978-1-57565-391-4 (Fiction. 7-11)

LEFT, RIGHT, EMMA! I See I Learn

Murphy, Stuart J. Illus. by Tim Jones Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $14.95 | paper $6.95 Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-58089-472-2 paper: 978-1-58089-473-9 (Picture book. 2-5)

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PERCY LISTENS UP I See I Learn

T IS FOR TITANIC: A Titanic Alphabet

Murphy, Stuart J. Illus. by Tim Jones Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $14.95 | paper $6.95 Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-58089-468-5 paper: 978-1-58089-469-2 (Picture book. 2-5)

Shoulders, Michael & Debbie Illus. by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen Sleeping Bear (48 pp.) $17.95 | Jan. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-58536-176-2 (Nonfiction. 6-10)

SIR CUMFERENCE AND THE VIKING’S MAP Sir Cumference

Neuschwander, Cindy Illus. by Wayne Geehan Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | paper $7.95 Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-57091-791-2 paper: 978-1-57091-792-9 (Picture book. 8-11)

OCEANS About Habitats

Sill, Cathryn Illus. by John Sill Peachtree (32 pp.) $16.95 | Feb. 1, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-56145-618-5 (Illustrated picture book. 3-7)

LISTEN TO MY TRUMPET Elephant & Piggie

Willems, Mo Illus. by the author Hyperion (64 pp.) $8.99 | Feb. 7, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4231-5404-4 (Early reader. 4-8)

BROWNIE & PEARL GO FOR A SPIN Brownie & Pearl

Rylant, Cynthia Illus. by Brian Biggs Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (24 pp.) $13.99 | Feb. 21, 2012 ISBN: 978-1-4169-8633-1 (Picture book/early reader. 3-5)

This Issue’s Contributors # Kent Armstrong • Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Louise Brueggemann • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Rosie Colosi • Julie Cummins • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn • Diane B. Foote • Omar Gallaga • Judith Gire • Melinda Greenblatt • Lynne Heffley • Megan Honig • Jennifer Hubert • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Laura Jenkins • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Ellen Loughran • Lori Low • Wendy Lukehart • Lauren Maggio • Joan Malewitz • Hillias J. Martin • Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • Daniel Meyer • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Shana Raphaeli • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Melissa Riddle Chalos • Erika Rohrbach • Ronnie Rom • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Mindy Schanback • Dean Schneider • Chris Shoemaker • Karyn N. Silverman • Robin Smith • Karin Snelson • Rita Soltan • Shelley Sutherland • Jennifer Sweeney • Bette Wendell-Branco • Monica D. Wyatt

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kirkus indie Kirkus has been keeping an eye on selfpublishing for years, and we’ve never seen anything like the current boom. With the number of self-published titles now pushing 1 million per year, and independent authors utilizing new technologies to sell tens of thousands of copies of their work, the age of indie has truly arrived. Kirkus Indie brings readers the best works by independent authors, and we bring independent authors the crucial tools to get the word out about their books like no one else. We’ll give your book an unbiased, professional review, and then we’ll push that review into the world via our social-media properties, newsletters, website and expanding content. To learn more about Kirkus Indie and start promoting your title, please visit us online at kirkusreviews.com/indie/about.

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PREJUDICE UNVEILED The Myths and Realities About Islam

Amana, A.M. CreateSpace (293 pp.) $11.35 paperback | Oct. 14, 2011 9781463701123 Amana, a well-traveled and well-spoken layman, demystifies Islam.

In this passionate book, the author views Islam through non-Muslim eyes to debunk myths and cross over racial, religious and cultural stereotypes. He explains the history of Islam, through Muhammad’s revelation, the reception and compiling of the Quran and the spread of Islam while exploring current-day events involving Islam’s interactions with Western ideas, politics and practices. Each chapter begins with a particular misconception—that Islam universally endorses beating women, for instance, or that it is inherently anti-Christian—and unpacks this idea through intellectual, theological, political and personal reflection. While he is essentially a layperson academically and religiously, Amana has clearly done his homework. Numerous authoritative, well-cited sources back up the claims he makes, and he includes a hefty reading list to encourage further study.

Several appendices provide an overview of the Quran, English translations of certain passages, a chronology and questions for discussion. His argument is enhanced by his lack of academic affiliation; rather than seeking to further an institutional or intellectual agenda, he is a Muslim who genuinely cares about sharing the beauty of his faith with others. His enthusiasm and thoughtfulness shine through in his lucid, gentle prose; he has no ulterior motives other than bridging a gap in understanding that has been revealed by his world travels. Additionally, a brief but thorough SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) of Islam provides an interesting frame for both Muslims and non-Muslims to consider how all sides can address and rectify stereotypes and misunderstandings.

An eye-opening, inspiring read for Muslims and nonMuslims alike.

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“[T]he story is a winning one and should resonate with students who are tired of wizards and vampires.” from anteater-boy

ANTEATER-BOY

Ammerman, Dean Kabloona (263 pp.) $14.00 paperback | $9.99 e-book Nov. 12, 2011 978-0984682201 From first-time novelist Ammerman comes a sweetly standard tale of a ninthgrade nothing who gets shoved into the school spotlight.

If Judy Blume’s Peter Hatcher were in ninth grade, he would probably be friends with Zak Dale. Short, ordinary and seemingly invisible, Zak (or “Z,” as his friends call him) is accustomed to years of sliding through life without making waves. He keeps his head down and hopes that the teacher doesn’t call on him. But shattering a formaldehyde-and-sheepbrain-filled glass jar in the science room initiates a chain of events that causes Z’s invisibility factor to decrease—both for better (he receives classroom accolades and befriends hot newbie, Mia) and for worse (he’s hounded by bullies and gets reprimanded by the principal). This novel hits its stride in Z’s interactions with a particularly inspiring history teacher, and Miles, Z’s genius friend, lends interest with a unique science project that ends up shutting down school for the afternoon. However, transitions are jarring at points, character description bogs down the narrative and dialogue tends to be a bit stiff. There are also a few unnecessary subplots and unresolved issues; an incident of racial prejudice is never explained, a potential love interest disappears and the Dale family’s emotional electrician doesn’t spark any interest. The beauty of the book lies in the fact that it’s an old fashioned, tried-and-true, simple school story that could have taken place decades ago (if Ammerman had nixed the cell phones, of course). There are very few controversial issues within the text, making it an option for middle-schoolers.

Though it’s a tad formulaic, the story is a winning one and should resonate with students who are tired of wizards and vampires.

A good choice for readers looking for a quick, easy school story with a feel-good message.

MARY AND THE GODDESS OF EPHESUS The Continued Life of the Mother of Jesus

Bacon, Melanie CreateSpace (305 pp.) $13.95 paperback | Nov. 17, 2011 978-1450558372

Exotic customs, spiritual upheavals and personal growth surround Mary, mother of Jesus, in her new life in Ephesus in Bacon’s in-depth historical drama.

It’s been a year since Mary lost her son, Jesus, and grief still consumes her. Since Jerusalem is not safe, Mary has moved to Ephesus to heal and to assist John, her son’s devoted disciple, and his fledgling church within the Jewish Diaspora community.

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Though bewildered by the Greco-Roman society’s worship of Artemis, the goddess protector of the city, and by the people’s strange customs, Mary tries to find her niche in this world. She becomes the Judean guardian of the sacred spring and performs the purification ritual for the Jewish people. Yet she eagerly awaits her son’s return and prays to him every night, asking him for guidance as she navigates new friendships and unfamiliar sights. But it is the appearance of Paul and his claims of her son’s divinity that throws all that she knows into disarray. How can she reconcile her Jewish faith with Paul’s preaching and her admiration for the Greek religion she’s come to respect? For Mary, it’s a journey fraught with emotional turmoil, enlightenment and spiritual soul-searching—one that will lead to a startling conclusion. Bacon has certainly done her research, and the reader will be immersed in the rich history and customs of the biblical world. Her meticulous descriptions sometimes slow the narrative, though those who are fascinated by such detail will relish each one. But it is in crafting Mary’s character that Bacon shines as she adds another dimension to a woman known mostly for being Jesus’ mother. Also fascinating is the intimate glimpse into Paul’s ministry and how it was received by the different cultures. Mary personifies how many must have felt in hearing this bold new message that clearly conflicted with the Jewish faith.

Though the tradition of Mary in Ephesus is more myth than fact, this is nevertheless a fascinating account of what might have been.

LIKE A FEATHER

Beth, Berit AuthorHouse (299 pp.) $21.02 paperback | Oct. 11, 2011 978-1467001021 In her first novel, Beth tells a spectacular tale of lust and murder in the surprisingly not-so-sedate English countryside.

Anne is married to a highly successful neurosurgeon named Roger and resides in a beautiful mansion in the small village of Cumbria. Middle-aged with two grown children, Lene and David, Anne rarely sees either of her kids (though she speaks to Lene on a regular basis). Anne’s job in life and raison d’être is making sure her house is spic and span and that her husband is well fed. Because Roger spends a lot of time traveling to and from medical conventions, Anne often finds herself alone with her stalwart companion, Lucy, a black lab. One night when Roger is out of town, Anne takes Lucy for a walk and stops for a pint at the local pub. While enjoying her quaff, Anne is approached by an attractive young man, Chris Kennedy, who asks if he may join her. Anne’s acceptance sets her off on a life-changing journey and soon leads to a sensual tryst at Chris’ woodland cottage. Anne then learns of a spate of brutal slayings in and around Cumbria, and, as it turns out, the mutilated victims are all middle-aged women who have been killed with the same murder weapon—an elaborate hunting dagger. At this point, the story launches into a nonstop, chilling thrill ride,

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“Dzikowski has created a world complete enough to transport the reader back in time and a spunky protagonist whose emotional journey breaks the heart.” from searching for lincoln’s ghost

packed with murder, lust, mystery and enough excitement to send one’s heart palpitations into overdrive. It’s a unique, wellcrafted tale with elements to please fiction readers outside of the mystery and thriller genres. The only flaws are some awkward passages and occasional hard-to-understand verbiage that seem indicative of a non-native English speaker. The first few chapters can seem off-putting because of this language issue; however, if the reader hangs in long enough, the wildly evolving tale soon grabs hold and this minor issue is quickly replaced by the great desire to turn the next page.

An exciting, intense tale that overcomes its flaws.

A GIFT OF LOVE September 11, 2001

Claus, Dr. Illus. by Vassallo, Christopher Dr. Claus Publishing (30 pp.) $9.99 paperback | Jun. 12, 2011 978-1614970019 A gently told story of loss and love from a child’s perspective, written by a former grade school teacher who served in Iraq, dedicated to the memory of members of the New York City Fire Department “and all who fell” on September 11, 2001.

Written in simple, at times uneven, rhyme, this awkwardly illustrated but heartfelt story begins as an affectionate dad helps his adoring daughter get ready for her first day as a second grader. After a pancake breakfast, she tries on her dad’s FDNY helmet, proud that “My father is a fireman, and he is strong and brave. / There is not anybody that my daddy cannot save.” As she snuggles into his “barreled chest” while he has his morning coffee, we learn that mom is due for a meeting at the World Trade Center: “A house of steel and stone, / which has a matching tower and they stand boldly alone.” The little girl packs her lunch, her dad gives her his badge for show-and-tell and it’s off to school for a seemingly normal day. Then comes an announcement that buses have arrived to take the children home early. Dr. Claus handles what comes next with sensitivity, aware that young children would be confused and anxious, unable to interpret what was happening around them. When the little girl arrives home, she sees a crowd of adults gathered around the TV in the living room and wonders if it’s “a birthday surprise for Daddy.” Then her tearful mother takes her to a quiet room, holds her close and explains that “Four hijacked planes; it sounds insane; exploded on impact / Hurting innocent people in a terrorist attack.” She tells her daughter that Daddy was a hero who saved many lives that day, including Mom’s. When it turns out that he has left his daughter the present that he had promised her just that morning, that small surprise symbolizes a comforting “gift of love” in a time of profound loss.

Some verses should be reworked to scan evenly and the ragged cartoon illustrations are an unfortunate choice, but this children’s book by Dr. Claus, with its core message about the healing power of love, treats a difficult subject with great sensitivity, warmth and reassurance. |

SEARCHING FOR LINCOLN’S GHOST

Dzikowski, Barbara Wiara (160 pp.) $13.95 paperback | $8.99 e-book Oct. 6, 2011 978-0984030507 In her debut novel, Dzikowski explores the social and racial growing pains of mid-’60s America through the eyes of her plucky but impressionable sixth-grade heroine, Andi.

Orphaned at a very young age, Andi searches for proof of life after death in the hope of being reunited with her late parents. Along the way, she ventures across the invisible border between the white and black areas of her small town to befriend Ezra, wise owner of the bait shop and candy store, then teams up with her crush, John Malone, to hunt down the ghost of Abraham Lincoln—”living” proof of the afterlife—who is rumored to haunt their school auditorium. Dzikowski’s use of period detail adds texture and context to Andi’s world, from accounts of disciplinary “paddling” to the smell of fresh mimeograph ink and a gym class chorus of “Go, You Chicken Fat, Go!” Dzikowski incorporates history into her narrative without lecturing the reader, offering plenty of fresh, interesting Lincoln factoids. When Andi catches two male teachers in a compromising position, her bemusement is both age- and eraappropriate. The novel’s memorable supporting characters are carefully, quirkily drawn; schoolyard bully Bertha could easily be two-dimensional but garners understanding when readers learn her front teeth were demolished by a violent stepfather.

Dzikowski never sentimentalizes her central character, allowing Andi to have dark moments, but, on occasion, the author veers from Andi’s point of view into an adult voice, narrating at one point, “Mr. Banner scooped her off the ground as tenderly as a stillborn baby.” Dzikowski throws one too many social issues into the mix when Andi overhears John admit to being molested by a priest. Dzikowski should trust her considerable talent. She doesn’t need to justify the actions of her brooding preteen bad boy by giving him a tragic back story; her characters are believable products of a violently segregated society struggling toward tolerance. A prologue introduces readers to Andi and John several decades after novel’s end, adding a heavy note of dread that doesn’t serve Dzikowski’s subtle storytelling. But these are nitpicks, not glaring faults. In her first novel, Dzikowski has created a world complete enough to transport the reader back in time and a spunky protagonist whose emotional journey breaks the heart.

Dzikowski’s poignant, engrossing historical novel vividly parallels the last brutal days of segregation with the experiences of a small town girl coming of age in a racist society.

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THE DARKENING DREAM Gavin, Andy manuscript (394 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Oct. 13, 2011 978-1937945008 978-1937945015 paperback 978-1937945022 e-book

Vampires run rampant in Gavin’s debut supernatural thriller.

Teenager Sarah Englemann finds her life in 1913 Salem, Mass., turned upside down with the murder of a classmate—and his reappearance as a feral vampire. Drawn into an underworld of the occult, Sarah, with the help of her friends and a new classmate (a mysterious Greek named Alexandros Palaogos), must confront the forces of darkness in their town. These forces include Parris, a local pastor who is secretly a warlock, and an ancient, mysterious demon named Al-Nasir—together they search for Gabriel’s Horn, an instrument designed to bring about the end of the world. The teenagers struggle to stop their enemies in time, and they try to understand Sarah’s mysterious connection to Gabriel’s Horn. Before Sarah’s battle against the forces of darkness is over, there will be blood spilled, questions asked over who can actually be trusted, trips taken to other dimensions and all will be touched by tragedy. Gavin struggles early in the book, relying on awkward analogies that distract from the narrative flow, and veers into unnecessary explanations of the story’s events. But he finds his footing and these rough spots quickly even out as the author’s prose becomes clear and he gleefully transforms a story of teenagers battling vampires into something much more. The story turns into a mash-up of Greco-Roman mythology, Judeo-Christian imagery and the occult, making it a fresh take on the overdone vampire genre. Gavin’s writing also hints at a wonderfully twisted sense of humor, notable in one early scene with the beheading of a vampire that quickly turns comical as the young protagonists add “vampire killing” to the already stressful load of puberty. The action throughout is fast-paced and compelling, and the ending hits the right note, a brutal turn of events that strongly hints at a sequel—an enticing prospect.

A vampire novel with actual bite.

THE CRY OF HAVOC

Hennessy, John CreateSpace (433 pp.) $16.95 paperback | Aug. 15, 2011 978-0615527284 An epic journey across another world, the first book in a forthcoming series.

Tom Navo, believing he’s murdered his boss, somehow survives a swan dive from the roof of his office building. He’s not as fortunate after witnessing a robbery, and he awakens in a place called The Waiting Room, apparently in the afterlife. Tom’s ultimate endpoint is the planet Leterra, where his memories fade and he’s determined to return to his previously 214

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unmentioned wife and children. He delivers a letter to Shakara, who leads Tom to question the validity of his recollections. Appearing throughout the story are accounts by Ian Azikwe, whose details of the world’s history blanket the narrative without slowing its pace. Readers will recognize customary elements of fantasy in Hennessy’s debut novel. There are trolls, dragons, gnomes and leprechauns, and some of the strange terminology is a slight variation on known words—vire in lieu of sire, insooth in place of indeed, etc.

A glossary addendum of terms, characters and regions is included, but the book’s relatable qualities are ideal and will prevent readers from bookmarking the glossary. Some of the material, however, is regrettably derivative. Certain sentences begin with a verb, followed by the subject, like Yoda of Star Wars, and Tom is equivalent to Alice in Wonderland when he descends into a hatch and is aided by animals capable of speech. Hennessy succeeds with his ingenuity, including his original creatures, such as a gyrran (Tom’s friend and traveling companion, Bravis), a small horse with two horns, falcon wings and the tail of an eel; and Evolvueas, four-legged animals that walk upright and wear human attire; though sharks, the Marenifdae, also sport limbs. The few instances of humor are welcome and occasionally dark, such as Tom’s discussion with vultures as they dine on a bison carcass. A war between the Northern and Southern regions makes for a rousing conclusion, and an open ending is a clear setup for part two.

Endlessly imaginative in a world populated by foreign beings, though some readers may find the terrain a little too familiar.

I AM JANIE

Holt, Bob CreateSpace (383 pp.) $15.95 paperback | Nov. 29, 2011 978-1466392182 Despite enduring a troubled childhood and an unplanned pregnancy, a young woman not only makes amends for her past but finds unconditional love in this debut novel.

From the outside it appears that Janie is just another statistic—she recently gave her baby up for adoption and has little more than a high school diploma when she moves to Myrtle Beach, S.C. While living with three other girls in an old beach cottage, beautiful but broke Janie lands a job as a waitress.

Her future is bleak, or so it seems, until gorgeous Jerry Lambert comes into her life and sweeps her off her feet. Kind and caring, Jerry is understanding yet firmly encouraging, and it is only through his belief in Janie and his willingness to help her financially that she is able to accomplish more than she ever dreamed possible. As Janie obtains her real estate license, leaves her waitress job behind her and finds her way back to her estranged but loving family, Jerry’s love is unwavering. Jerry’s feelings for Janie are so strong that he even casts aside his meddling sister and risks his financial future to be with Janie. And as Janie overcomes her father’s untimely death, her precarious relationship with Jerry’s family and her own lengthy list of insecurities, she realizes that Jerry is truly her biggest champion

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“London’s book seems aimed at young adult readers, but it’s free of condescension and is wholly gratifying rather than stripped of components in an effort to achieve simplicity.” from prince albert and the doomsday device

in life and that with him by her side she can conquer anything.

Holt’s novel is straightforward and simple; he portrays the protagonist’s struggles honestly, and readers will find themselves relating to Janie’s resolve to succeed, all the while appreciating her determined efforts to redeem herself for past transgressions. While some will find the author’s writing style repetitive and rudimentary (no detail is spared about Janie’s daily routines, her meals, her movements, etc.), it’s clear that Holt has put his heart into this book. Readers who can look past the interminable, unnecessary details will find themselves moved by Janie’s candor and vulnerability.

While flawed, this modern-day fairytale may find an audience with readers who are determined to make a better life for themselves.

SMIRK A Novel

Jiambalvo, John CreateSpace (478 pp.) $18.00 paperback | Nov. 26, 2011 978-1466285088 A political satire that reimagines the first term of the Bush presidency.

A former heavy drinker turned buffoonish politician who comes from a powerful Texas family has just been appointed president. His name? Not George W. Bush, as one might assume, but Smirk, the title character of Jiambalvo’s novel, which savagely mocks the key players and deftly twists the main points of recent history. Smirk’s story is told by Bobby Bob Bob, also known as B3, Smirk’s former college roommate who has been made Special Assistant to the President for Media Relations. All the president’s men are here—including Dick Chummy and Kaiser Rover (affectionately dubbed “Shitcan”)—as are his challengers, “Democrack” Vice President Stiff and, later, Jack Kurtsey. The Twin Towers fall once again, and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are waged. But the world of B3 and Smirk, though familiar, is not our own—it’s more like a liberal’s nightmarish dreamscape. Public school students are trained to use automatic rifles and corporations help draft legislation that affects them. That time mission was accomplished?

Turns out it was all a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt complete with a clandestine pilot in control of the jet just off the coast of San Diego. At times wickedly clever, at other times brow-furrowingly tasteless, Jiambalvo’s book is ambitious, well-written and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. With the template essentially set for him, the author is free to lampoon without prejudice—and there is a lot from Bush’s first four years in office that are worth mocking. What’s surprising is how deftly and sensitively Jiambalvo handles the parts that still smart. In a beautifully poetic chapter that leads off the second section of the novel, B3 narrates the events of 9/11 without ever needing to mention the date.

That Jiambalvo can invoke true pathos in an otherwise bawdy picaresque is one his chief accomplishments. Though the story is familiar and the characters well-known, the novel never fails to find inventive ways skewer (and skew) the recent past.

A triumphant retelling of a troubling time. |

PRINCE ALBERT AND THE DOOMSDAY DEVICE

London, Clive ZOVA (296 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $0.99 e-book Jul. 23, 2011 978-0615510569 An urchin, a prince and the prince’s guards protect Victorian England from a threat to its monarchy in this debut novel.

In a small village in 1851, there are no parents, having been forced to abandon their children by order of the Queen. Jack, the oldest of the children, takes it upon himself to travel to London in search of his father, a metallurgist, like many of the village’s missing residents. The boy’s simple journey to the heart of England becomes a grand adventure, as he eventually must make his way on foot and with no money. Along the way, Jack befriends a French engineer named Jules and makes an unlikely ally in Prince Albert. The prince and the five guards who constitute the PRG (Prince’s Royal Guard) seek a device in the hands of Sir Derek Gilman, the secretary of the army, and his son, Sir Daniel, not fully aware of the clandestine group known as the Prime and its nefarious plot. An abundance of steampunk machinery takes center stage, some of it detailed and some pure enigma, including the device; its true design largely unknown. The PRG and even the prince himself display great strength and unfaltering spirit—one of the guards is Milena, a girl a mere 16 years of age—but Jack shines brightest, with the curiosity of a child and the courage of a giant. Author London’s book seems aimed at young adult readers, but it’s free of condescension and is wholly gratifying rather than stripped of components in an effort to achieve simplicity. The novel concludes by teasing a subsequent book with Prince Albert and Jack, both characters whose return would be most welcome.

Lyrically descriptive and unabashedly steampunk; the first of what promises to be a rewarding series of novels.

RESWYT

Mayer, David David Mayer (332 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Sep. 28, 2011 Egyptology opens the door to a magical dreamland in Mayer’s young adult fantasy novel.

Every child sleeps, but they aren’t all catching Z’s and counting sheep; some escape to a magical world where they fly as birds and run like horses. For thousands of generations, children have dreamt peacefully and drank from the sacred S’aakhu pool in freedom. They create homes, herd the hillside with pack mates and wake up feeling refreshed—that is until the evil Black Queen begins enslaving their dreaming minds. Harvesting the power of children and creating a bloodthirsty army of wolves, the Queen now controls the dream world. Opposing her as the only

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force of freedom, a band of bears led by Brummbar seeks the help of an insomniac teen named Sabine. Aided by a powerful amulet inherited from her grandfather, Sabine enters the dreaming world and joins the resistance. After a few near-death accidents, she learns how to wield her magic and free the enslaved children.

Nights pass and the longer Sabine lives in the dream world, the more she senses that she may know these talking beasts—perhaps in the waking world. Slow to start and bogged down by back stories of parental death and inner monologues, the narration builds in pace after the first 100 pages. Throughout the tale, familiar themes are woven into the text, including elements of the questing hero, love triangles, epic battles and magical medallions. But at times these well-known predicaments teeter on the edge of cliché. While Sabine is a sweet girl caught in teen-love tug of war, the reader at times may feel that she has heard this before.

Occasionally glimmering with delightful insight and historical detail, the book suffers from over-description in its opening chapters but succeeds in latter pages to create a mystical forest of speaking creatures and clashing swords.

WINGS OF LIGHT Knowing the Angels Who Guide You

Messenger, Charol CreateSpace (183 pp.) $18.95 paperback | Nov. 11, 2011 978-1461164036 Angels are made manifest in this spiritual guide.

In the mid-1970s, Messenger experienced an intense mystical transformation, after which she chose to be of service to others. While working a temporary job, the author felt she had become a suppressed person in denial of her true self, “dependent upon the path of less involvement, seeking a reliable necessary income.” Ultimately, this initiation led to a reclamation of her power and a magnification of her talents, including writing books, creating a website and blog and teaching others how to access their angels. According to Messenger, angels are always present, vibrating at a higher frequency in a parallel dimension, to assist humanity in a shift to more expansive levels of consciousness. As messengers of the divine, they are accessible 24/7. Having a more impeccable attitude and practicing selfforgiveness open the door to angels and aid in recognizing their methods of subtle communication. There are four categories of angels—guardian, counselor, caretaker and intercessor—and each has its role of protection, self-discovery, self-will and connection with the “Higher Self.” (“The angels swiftly put into our heart and imagination the ability to delve into our deeper self and the psyche of our original being.”) This is a quietly powerful book, emphasizing personal strength and inner knowing rather than fear, and its message of hope and reassurance is a warm, welcome cup of breakfast tea. Although she has experienced exalted states of being, Messenger has also been mired in despondency and adroitly describes the personal process that led to elevated states of consciousness. Her message is sincere, concise and 216

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nonjudgmental, regardless of one’s place on the path. Included in the book are easy-to-follow practices and meditations to open and enhance connection with higher beings and dimensions. A particularly persuasive chapter provides techniques for energetically locating a lost loved one. Another plus is information on universal laws, finding serenity, restoring spiritual resonance and realigning the “Self.” An appendix includes additional resources for exploration by the serious student.

Helpful, gentle, practical illumination for the spiritual seeker.

P.T.S.D.

Morin, Jr., S. Patrick CreateSpace (407 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $0.99 e-book Jul. 30, 2011 978-1461120032 A war veteran suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder is convinced that he’s a murderer but has no memory of killing anyone. U.S. Marine Gerry Burns turns himself in to the authorities, believing that his connection to five murdered people confirms that he’s responsible for their deaths.

He and his wife, Ashley, have moved to a small neighborhood in New England, where Gerry is attending college. Gerry has been diagnosed with PTSD since experiencing combat in Iraq, leading to violent episodes that he later cannot recall. His unease is compounded when people wind up dead following a confrontation with the Marine. Morin’s debut novel has a notably effective structure; the early revelation of the specific number of people killed helps retain suspense, as readers will have to speculate as to who the victims will be. There’s an abundance of characters—from the college, the neighborhood and Iraq— but each one is well defined, intensifying the reverberation of a person’s death. The murders, however, are incidental, as Gerry’s condition stands in the foreground. Much of the narrative is apparently Gerry telling his story to the police, but the past tense is occasionally disrupted by the present: “I had to tell him something to make him go away. I don’t want him staring at me and making me feel crazy.” It gives the impression that Gerry is not simply telling his story but is prone to reliving it as well.

Similarly, perspective will sporadically switch to other characters, like a scene in which, during one of Gerry’s outbursts, his first-person shifts to an omniscient view. Much like the protagonist questioning what is or isn’t reality, the reader will doubt the validity of Gerry’s account—or if he’s the only person telling the story. The ending is exceptional, one that resolves some of the plot elements but leaves the rest open.

An imposing first novel with a protagonist whose disorientation is so thoroughly illustrated that readers’ senses will smolder before it’s over.

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“[D]espite Norris’ erudition, his narrative never gets bogged down in pseudo-academic jargon.” from surprised by a paradoxical god

ANGLO FLEECING

Muriuki, M.K. AuthorHouse (224 pp.) $20.36 paperback | $9.39 e-book Sep. 8, 2011 978-1456787622 A clear-eyed account of rampant government corruption in Kenya.

In this era of worldwide government mistrust, when administrations confront a growing demand for accountability, it can be difficult to put corruption into perspective. But Muriuki, a former member of parliament in Kenya, details a convincing case for his government’s place at the ethical nadir. His telling is fictional, but inspired by real schemes plaguing the country: millions of dollars “disappear” in the labyrinthine government accounting network, promissory notes are paid for nonexistent goods and services and an ineffectual legal system dismisses culpability. As the title—referencing the Anglo Leasing group of shadowy companies at the heart of Kenya’s most notorious scandals—suggests, foreign nationals play a major role in swindling hundreds of millions of dollars from public coffers. But the root of corruption remains local. Joseph Mwamko, an unassuming yet enterprising Kenyan, personifies his country’s culture of corruption. He begins his career with honest, if naive, ambition, until forsaking morality upon reaching what he perceives to be the limit of success through integrity. After all, in the Kenyan government, immorality pays better. Even for the fictitious attorney general, the country’s ultimate investigator, corruption in the regime becomes inescapable: “Telling him to investigate anything was like telling him to investigate himself,” writes Muriuki. With selfsacrifice impossible, inquiries deflate for a bribe, legal proceedings collapse on a whim and the chicanery continues. Newfangled democratic ideals provide little relief because the elected government is merely “much more focused than the last one,” says Mwamko. His guile pilots the plot forward, parallel to Muriuki’s shrewd analysis of the scandal as it spirals into legendary proportions. Only in the end does facile dialogue slacken the tense complexity born from the expanding fraud. Otherwise, as with Mwamko, Muriuki’s composure pays off. Another round of copyediting and a deeper interest in the personalities behind the scandal would make for an even more cutting exposé. Call it “informed fiction.”

A noteworthy chapter in the study of corruption.

SURPRISED BY A PARADOXICAL GOD Finding Truth Masquerading as Contradiction Norris, Jim Otter Island (197 pp.) $11.99 paperback | Dec. 2, 2011 978-0615541297

Norris presents an approachable piece of theological reflection that challenges believers to embrace the unexpected complexity of the godhead. |

Sometimes God seems to contradict himself. In the gospels, the angels herald “peace, good will towards men,” but Jesus says that he comes bearing a sword. At other times, the god of salvation seems to ask that his creatures suffer great evils. And while the biblical character Job reminds us that God “can do all things,” sometimes the deity seems unable to carry out even the most obvious of tasks. These apparent tensions have driven many away from the Christian faith, but not so for Norris. In his book, Norris asks believers to embrace these contradictions and allow themselves to be led through mystery to a deeper, more satisfying spirituality. For Norris, these seeming contradictions are instead paradoxes, devotional signposts indicating not that our concept of God is unreal or unworkable, but that it’s too small.

Ultimately, Norris writes of a both/and God—a Yahweh who is almighty and vulnerable, just and merciful, stoic and empathetic, limited and limitless. And his book-length exploration of these dichotomies is intended to demonstrate how an appreciation of these paradoxes can both surprise and inspire. At the end of the day, Norris writes, “It’s just that sometimes truth has more than one side.” For a devotional writer, Norris is refreshingly well read; in developing his challenging portrait of God, he quotes some of the great theological and spiritual writers of the 20th century, among them C.S. Lewis, Victor Frankl, Dietrich Bonhoffer and Philip Yancey. And despite Norris’ erudition, his narrative never gets bogged down in pseudo-academic jargon. One only wishes that he had sustained that narrative for longer stretches. Perhaps aiming for digestibility, Norris breaks his book into dozens of small subheads that seldom run much longer than a page or two.

His argument would have rung truer had he let it flow.

A welcome testament to the intricate challenges of belief.

GROOM LAKE

O, Bryan MOBO Inc. (322 pp.) $24.95 | Dec. 1, 2011 978-0615200996 An experimental fantasy about government secrets, UFOs and the looming threat of America’s military-industrial complex.

Readers expecting a paranoid polemic about the mysterious and nefarious exopolitical goings-on at Area 51 will be surprised: this is a novel. Readers expecting a fantasy structured around the cultural ballyhoo surrounding Area 51 will be surprised: this story is all true—or at least this is what the author wants us to believe. Or does he? It’s a playful strategy and will deeply satisfy readers who love fringe culture (e.g., cold fusion, UFOs, remote viewing, et al.), but as the author directly addresses his readers, challenging them to figure out if the prefatory letter to his novel is authentic and if he might not be a black-ops hero disseminating an intergalactic revelation, the spell is preemptively broken by being so on the nose with the strategy of ambiguity. What is much more likely is that like so many self-proclaimed investigators and investigations into Area 51 and the shadow government, this novel is a bold, intelligently conceived piece of wish fulfillment

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h m a r y jo p e h l Mary Jo Pehl titled the introduction to her new self-published book of essays, Employee of the Month and Other Big Deals, “A Do-Over” because her first book, 2005’s I Lived with My Parents and Other Tales of Terror, wasn’t what she’d hoped it would be.

A publisher had approached the Mystery Science Theater 3000 star and writer about penning a book, and she jumped at the chance, not really knowing what would be involved and ultimately unhappy with her writing. Now, writing from a more honest place and with her Mystery Science Theater and Cinematic Titanic following behind her, she got her do-over by creating a better book through Amazon’s CreateSpace.

And more books may be forthcoming.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH AND OTHER BIG DEALS

Mary Jo Pehl CreateSpace (134 pp.) $11.99 paperback $3.99 e-book October 7, 2011 978-1466378025

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A: Yeah, of course. I tend to give other people the power assuming they know better what they’re doing than I do. For example, [the] book publisher, he must have known what he was doing, and my idea of publishing my book [was] that it would be one of those beautifully bound Penguin copies of something. I have this beautifully bound Moby Dick with this beautiful cover. And you just think that’s what your book’s going to look like.

Q: You had written before in other contexts. Was it tough when you sat down to write a book to translate those skills? Did those skills come in handy?

A: I feel like writing that book itself was a huge learning curve, when I look back on it. I was so eager to get that book published, and it was over the summer and autumn, and the publisher had wanted to get it released by Christmas. So I was thinking dollar signs. Oh, Christmas rush. The whole world will buy my book for Christmas. And I let that dictate how I wrote it—which was very quick and not very polished. Not long after that, I had an opportunity to do a mentorship with a writer in the Twin Cities, and that’s when I really sort of honed the craft itself, really accessing the heart of how I wanted to write and what I wanted to write.

Q: So was it easier this time around, or was it harder because you really had to dig in?

A: It was harder because I had to dig in, but it was easier because I felt more—confident might be overstating it. But I felt like I knew how to be truer to myself. It was like I knew my own mind better. I felt okay throwing out stuff that just wasn’t working. I felt much more confident about having it be a 120-page book rather than trying to make it a 250-page book that was kind of airy or light. Or not very choleric, I guess.

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A: [laughs] Right. Maybe it didn’t collapse so much as it shifted so I felt more confident self-publishing because I dare say that just doesn’t have the rap that it used to.

Q: People will sometimes get publishing contracts from larger houses after self-publishing. Is that something that you’d consider, or do you want to keep it as an inhouse industry?

A: Oh, no. Are you kidding? I would sell out in a minute. But that remains to be seen. What I think is so great and what makes me so excited is the idea that, if that doesn’t happen, I still have the means and the ways to do it myself, which might lend itself to more experimenting. That’s really exciting for me, the idea that, if it happens, great. If it doesn’t, I still get to do what I want to do.

Q: How would you compare the experience of writing an episode of Mystery Science Theater or Cinematic Titanic to writing a book?

A: Mystery Science Theater and Cinematic Titanic is all short form. That is more or less a call and response.

The movie sets up something either visually or verbally in its dialogue, and there’s a very limited amount of space to respond to that and make a joke on it. This is really developing ideas, and there’s an actual—there’s a narrative arc in there that Cinematic Titanic or Mystery Science Theater doesn’t really have in the joke script. So there’s a huge difference there. I have to be really conscientious about not writing in quips. I mean, quips and humor are in there, but hopefully they’re part of a larger story.

Q: Is Mystery Science Theater and Cinematic Titanic helping you get the word out about the book?

A: Oh absolutely. I think one of the reasons I decided to self-publish was that I wasn’t pleased with that first book, but I had a lot of really positive responses to it. So I started to think there was potential, and, as I say in the book, I really wanted a do-over, for my own sake. Just to make it right, just knowing what it could have been, what potential it had, what I wanted to try. And to your question, I knew that I would have somewhat of an audience, I knew that a lot of people would come along for the ride who were Mystery Science Theater fans and/or Cinematic Titanic fans. So I knew that there would be that, at least.

–By Nick A. Zaino III

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Q: When you wrote the first book, what were your expectations? Was it something you thought you’d be able to tackle?

Q: And by the time you gained that confidence, the publishing industry collapsed.

“Sands creates tension in small moments and haunting questions.” from not waving, drowning

and self-promotion. No problem for addicts of the fringe, but readers unfamiliar with the world of UFO/conspiracy should be advised this comes with the territory; in fact, were it not for such ingenuous personalities, there would be no fringe culture of which to speak. The hero of the narrative, which is addictively broken up with presumably fictitious essays and reports from operatives and officials in the know, is the strikingly named Ben Skyles, a USAP (Unacknowledged Special Access Project) operative. It is with his Byzantine journey through the shadow world that the author reveals his message. A deal has been brokered between the military-industrial complex and extraterrestrials, and nations have powers of control that would make even the fabulist teleplay writers of The X-Files blush. For this kind of book, an author’s selfimportance is finally not a hindrance but a benefit, and it’s more or less understood that the author is the real hero here. The narrative proper is engaging and fast paced, but again some of the spell of its climax is broken when the author can’t help but remind us just how diligent we must be in uncovering the truth about aliens and how lucky we have been to receive this particular revelation.

A dynamic work of fringe culture that will entertain and intrigue readers if not convert them to the UFO religion.

THE DISAPPOINTMENT ROOM Phelps, Dee Grimes, Buz manuscript (288 pp.)

Dec. 1, 2012

Phelps and Grimes’ debut tells the story of how Charles Knight, the heir apparent to Coffin Point, a large South Carolina plantation, was raised during the supposedly idyllic years before the Civil War. The tale centers on Madeline Knight’s decision to abandon her disappointing son to the care of Munday, the nurturing “Big House” slave. Munday becomes Charles’ surrogate mother, and her daughter, Helen, is Charles’ only childhood companion.

The authors skillfully weave in historical details about slavery, plantation life, national and regional politics as well as a little romance and intrigue. The Southern drawl and slaves’ Gullah dialect add authenticity, as does the presence of witchcraft and other cultural details about slaves and their privileged owners. Some strategic twists and turns hold the reader’s interest, and the characters—with the exception of the status-seeking, power-hungry Madeline—earn the reader’s empathy. Charles, Munday and Helen leave South Carolina for Boston, via wartorn Washington, D.C., where Charles confronts his long-lost mother. This bold step releases him to pursue freedom with his true family. The trio rejoices at their arrival in Boston, but racial segregation and second-class status dim their hope for freedom.

Despite his happy marriage to Helen, Charles remains enslaved by dreams of returning to Coffin Point. Their experience brings readers to a new understanding of freedom, nudging us to examine our own forms of slavery—to possessions, power and status.

Yet amid this serious thinking, it’s difficult to overlook some of the novel’s shortcomings. The timeline leading up to Ft. Sumter |

is mixed-up, and it is somewhat hard to believe Charles’ intimate knowledge of the Charleston Harbor given his sheltered upbringing. Straightening out these details and correcting some misspellings and syntax errors will make this enjoyable tale all the more engaging. Initially, the abrupt ending is disappointing, but upon reflection, readers will come to understand the brevity.

The period detail, poignant story and credible characters make this a pleasurable, satisfying read.

NOT WAVING, DROWNING Sands, Linda CreateSpace (224 pp.) $14.99 paperback | $2.99 e-book Sep. 26, 2011 978-1466409736

The lives of three women, separated by time and connected by loss, are woven together in unexpected ways in Sands’ debut novel.

The seductive Southern charms of Savannah, Ga., provide the backdrop for Sands’ tapestry of a novel that interweaves the lives of three women from starkly different eras. In August 2011, photographer and grieving widow Maggie Morris arrives in Savannah after her husband’s sudden death in a boating accident. While investigating his mysterious drowning, Maggie becomes entangled in the lives of several local residents.

One of these is a handsome, young lighthouse restorer who recounts the story of the famous Waving Girl—Savannah’s own maritime legend who greeted ships for over 40 years from the island home she shared with her brother. In alternating chapters, the novel flashes back to the 1890s, when a feisty newspaper reporter named Bobbie Denton, who also happens to be Maggie’s great-grandmother, meets the actual Waving Girl, née Florence Martus, while on assignment in Savannah. Flora’s story, told from an intimate point of view, centers on one day in 1940 when the 72-year-old woman lays to rest her dead brother, George, while recalling her life’s dark secrets. If this all sounds a bit complicated, it is. Sands writes with graceful lyricism about the longings and regrets that bind these disparate women, and the images of lonely lighthouses and windswept shores are often stunning. As a whole, however, the novel suffers from narrative interruptions, with the chapters alternating rapidly and often abruptly, and many threads becoming tangled as a result.

On their own, each woman’s story is rich and engrossing. In an ambitious novel spanning more than a century, Sands creates tension in small moments and haunting questions—many of which are not answered until the final pages. Despite the awkward narrative structure, there is plenty of Southern charm to keep readers hooked until the end.

Strong female characters and an evocative setting make this an enjoyable read.

kirkusreviews.com

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kirkus indie

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15 january 2012

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219

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