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REVIEWS
t h e nat i o n ’s p r e m i e r b o o k r e v i e w j o u r na l f o r mo r e t h a n 7 5 y e a rs
fiction
nonfiction
children & teens
★ Fabio Geda delivers an authentic, marvelous novel that borrows from oral history p. 995
★ Jim Dent pens a heartfelt bio of a Texas football star whose life was cut short by cancer p. 1016
★ A haunting, original American fantasy unfolds in Kelly Barnhill’s debut for children p. 1041
★ A Missouri summer camp is the setting of John Dalton’s odd but effective drama p. 993
★ A trip through one of the world’s least-known places is presented by John Gimlette p. 1020
★ Monica Brown and John Parra celebrate a Colombian librarian’s burro-back delivery p. 1042
★ Bella Pollen stands out with a moving, beautifully written story told on several levels p. 1001
★ Former Reuters writer Mary Gabriel offers a humanizing portrait of the Marx family p. 1018
★ Random House Digital makes Judy Sierra & Marc Brown’s Seuss tribute interactive p. 990
Michèle Halberstadt creates sweet music; Amy Hatvany reveals a secret; Eric Dezenhall makes a deal with the devil; Thomas Kaufman steals the show; Susan Wittig Albert helps solve a mystery; Pam Jenoff melds the past and the present; and much, much more v i s i t k i rku sre vi e ws. com f or f ull versions of f eatures, q & as and thou sa n ds of archived reviews
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.
f r om
interactive e-books p. 985 fiction p. 993 mystery p. 1003
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science fiction & fantasy p. 1011 nonfiction p. 1013
children & teens p. 1039 kirkus indie p. 1066
p u b l i s h e r
Dear Readers, After spending the last year revamping the print magazine and launching Kirkus Reviews into the digital realm, Bob Carlton is stepping down as Publisher. We are grateful for all of the direction and focus he has brought to Kirkus and wish him well as he moves forward. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles The Kirkus Editors, also known as the world’s toughest book critics, will continue to bring you up to date on the changes occurring at Kirkus Reviews and in the book industry in general. Don’t forget to visit KirkusReviews.com for new release information, editors’ picks, author Q&As, genre-specific blog content, author videos, Qrank-powered book trivia and signed book giveaways! As always, please send all comments and feedback to nextpage@ kirkusreviews.com. –The Editors
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Maude Adjarian • Joseph Barbato • Michael Beeman • Amy Boaz • Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Gary Buiso • Kelli Daley • Michelle Daugherty • Dave DeChristopher • Gregory F. DeLaurier • David Delman • Kathleen Devereaux • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • Faith Giordano • Devon Glenn • Amy Goldschlager • Christine Goodman • Michael Griffith • Peter Heck • Jeff Hoffman • BJ Hollars • Robert M. Knight • Paul Lamey • Judith Leitch • Elsbeth Lindner • Raina Lipsitz • Swapna Lovin • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Courtney E. Nolen • WM O’Neill • Jim Piechota • Christofer D. Pierson • William E. Pike • Gary Presley • John T. Rather • Cedric Rose • Lloyd Sachs • Michael Sandlin • Rebeca Schiller • William P. Shumaker • Rebecca Schumejda • Rosanne Simeone • Arthur Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Steve Weinberg • Carol White • Chris White • Joan Wilentz • Laura H. Wimberley
interactive e-books OZ
interactive e-books for children THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE
Aesop Developer: TabTale $3.99 | Version: 1.0 May 6, 2011
Bright, busy and oh-sobland cartoons positively festooned with touch-activated effects carry this newly rhymed version of the classic fable. No one’s going to visit this for the labored text. It sacrifices scansion to rhyme, pounds the moral home and ends on a trite note (“Tortoise and Hare remain friends to this day, / Enjoying the sunshine as they work and play”). At least it, along with the relentlessly chipper British narrator, can be switched off—unlike the sound effects and the brassy, short-looped musical track. Children are likely to care less about the plot anyway than the interactions. They can make the racers and many of the animal onlookers in the woodsy scenes leap and giggle, hiss, chirp, chuckle, nod, cheer, pant, flap wings, blink or (even Tortoise does this, and during the actual race, too) pop into and out of shells with a touch. In service to repeat visitors who may be less interested in the story than in the effects, a button visible on every screen in both the manual and the “Auto Play” options opens a menu with access to a strip of thumbnails to expedite fast navigation. That same menu, plus multiple links at beginning and end offer easy access to the publisher’s other titles in the App Store. Plenty of superficial child appeal, but the writer and the illustrator remain deservedly cloaked in anonymity. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)
Baum, L. Frank Illustrator: Denslow, W.W. Developer: Cunningham-Brown, Robert Developer: Boluga.com $2.99 | Version: 1.2; May 17, 2011 Based on Baum’s classic, this abridged version is a lackluster adaptation of the original. Although many pages are illustrated with Denslow’s original artwork, the story itself has been reduced largely to dialogue and consequently loses the transporting magic of Baum’s storytelling. The interactive features are awkward, minimal and too young for independent readers. The few pages that are interactive are difficult to maneuver because the movable parts simply don’t respond well to touch. Readers can put a key in a lock or oil the Tin Woodman’s joints only if they persevere. Other illustrated pages are animated but not interactive. Perhaps it’s an attempt to keep the old-fashioned feel, but this approach neither showcases the capabilities of this technology nor enhances the original artwork in the way Atomic Antelope’s Alice for the iPad (2010) does. The text is not read out loud, although music accompanies six pages, and some illustrations have simple sound effects. Antique-style buttons at the bottom turn the pages or bring up a page scroll. Ironically, when The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published, it was at the forefront of print technology, with color and pictures on every page. Since facsimile reproductions are available, readers are advised to click their heels together three times and buy a copy of the original book. (iPad storybook app. 7-12)
MOO, BAA, LA LA LA!
Boynton, Sandra Illustrator: Boynton, Sandra Developer: Loud Crow Interactive $2.99 | Version: 1.0 Apr. 19, 2011 The iPad adaption of Boynton’s bestselling board book surveys animals and the sounds they make. When anyone attempts to enhance and reformat a book that’s already sold more than five million copies, there’s some risk involved. What if it doesn’t translate well? Worse yet, what if it flops? Fortunately, Loud Crow Interactive and Boynton
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“Sans illustrations, decorations or even an option for audio narration this version of the folktale definitely charts its own course through the thickets of more fully featured apps.” from hansel and gretel bookidu
don’t have to worry about that. There’s no hint of a sophomore slump in this second installment of the Boynton Moo Media series. Much like its predecessor, The Going to Bed Book (2011), this app adapts the illustrator’s trademark creatures for iPad in a way few other developers can. The animals are fluid and pliable, which is no small feat given that they’re on a flat display. Readers can jiggle them, hurl them off screen, elicit animal sounds and in some cases make them sing (in a perfect inverted triad!). Melodic violin music accompanies the entire story, which is deftly narrated by Boynton’s son, Keith. In addition to the author’s simple yet charming prose there are little surprises sprinkled throughout that extend the wit that’s won countless babies and parents over in paper form. Boynton and Loud Crow deliver another excellent enhanced e-book that fires on all literary, technological and artistic cylinders. (iPad storybook app. 1-4)
ARTHUR TURNS GREEN
Brown, Marc Illustrator: Brown, Marc Developer: ScrollMotion $0.99 | Version: 1.2 May 5, 2011 Series: Arthur This adaptation of Brown’s newest Arthur story offers pretty much the traditional experience of reading a book; the interactive features that are the hallmark of this new generation of the “book” experience are somewhat limited. On the first page Arthur’s teacher assigns a project called the Big Green Machine. Arthur and his friends quickly start thinking of ways they can “help make the planet a better place to live.” A swipe to turn the page zooms in on each character as they come up with ideas both silly (eating more so there is less garbage) and sound (recycling old clothes) before entirely turning to the next page. This technique works well to integrate the illustrations with the story, successfully mimicking the way the eye moves around a picture. The words light up as they are being read, and the pages turn forward easily with just a swipe. Interactive features within the book are limited to optional selfrecorded text, on/off audio, page selection and optional automatic page turn. From the home menu, which is easily reached by the Arthur button in the upper left, readers can opt to “paint” the illustrations or do puzzles of varying levels of difficulty. Overall, Arthur would probably agree this app is a fine way to save paper and still enjoy a good read. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)
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BALLY, THE BALLOON DOG
Colecchia, Mara Illustrator: Rodriguez, Jorgito Illustrator: Parisi, Andrea Developer: iStoryApps Developer: Apps of All Nations $2.99 | Version: 1.0 Apr. 27, 2011 Bally meets up with three “real” dogs and through a series of events realizes that he’s different. Will he ever fit in? Bally the “bright blue poodle” (clearly lavender on the iPad screen) is tethered to a string and held by the balloon seller in the park. As he floats high in the sky, a gust of wind gives him a lift and he manages to break free. Thus begins his attempt to keep up with three real canines. Bally tries to dive into a fountain but can only float on the surface. He tries to lift his leg on a tree but nothing comes out (though apparently he can pass gas). He tries to eat a hotdog and ends up catapulting it on top of a hedge none of them can reach. It’s only when he retrieves the wayward hotdog that he is fully accepted as “one of them.” There are elements to this app that kids will enjoy: feeding hotdogs to pups; dropping dogs into a fountain; recording personal narration. But by and large, it’s about as limp as a balloon that survived last week’s birthday party. The story is weak and inconsistent, the writing is undistinguished and the implicit “moral” leaves the impression that usefulness equals value. A few bells and whistles fail to make this app soar. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)
HANSEL AND GRETEL BOOKIDU
Developer: Digital Book Production $1.99 | Version: 1.0 May 3, 2011 Sans illustrations, decorations or even an option for audio narration this version of the folktale definitely charts its own course through the thickets of more fully featured apps. The story is complete, presented in digestible blocks on the blank white screens in either German (the default) or a modern English translation. Readers can also select two sizes of type—though some pages will require scrolling with the larger option, despite generous margins. An optional soundtrack of ambient forest noises (or, occasionally, ominous music) adds considerable atmosphere. This is much enhanced by individual sound effects that are activated by touching either cartouches in the text or a large button at the bottom of each screen. Those effects range from quiet crackles, creaks and percussive tinkling to loud snores, over-the-top weeping and a particularly wild and delicious witch’s cackle. Though there’s not much to look at, there’s plenty to hear—which
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makes this particularly suitable for reading aloud in situations where visuals wouldn’t matter. Like an old-time radio drama, this rendition leaves plenty to the imagination. (iPad storybook app. 7-10)
HOW ROCKET LEARNED TO READ
Hills, Tad Illustrator: Hills, Tad Developer: Random House Digital $4.99 | Version: 1.0 Jan. 21, 2011
A digital version of a 2010 tree-book about a small dog set on the road to reading by a clever avian educator. Initially miffed at having his nap disturbed by a brisk, cheery yellow bird, Rocket soon falls under her spell. She reads stories and then shows him how to put letters of the “wondrous, mighty, gorgeous alphabet” together into simple words. After she flies away in the fall, he keeps up his skills by tracing letters in the snow and sounding out words (“C-O-L-D”; “M-E-L-T”) until Spring brings both “M-U-D” (smearable with a fingertip over the whole screen) and a joyful reunion. Rocket’s extreme cuteness in the bright, simple illustrations is underscored by touchactivated tail wags and fetching cocks of the head, along with other small animations. The (optional) narrator, actor Hope Davis, reads in a deliberate, even-toned way, and as she does, each word of the text is highlighted—and whether or not the “Read to Me” track is selected, she pronounces any word or letter on the screen that is tapped. Along with the story itself, the app includes an author’s bio with a slide show and two literacybuilding games for newly fledged readers. Some glitches need working out: The app is slow to load, continues to run when the tablet is locked and cannot be paged back from the final credits. Still, the added and interactive features are enhancements rather than distractions. In this form, it’s an even more heartwarming valentine to reading (and the teaching thereof) than the original printed version. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)
THE FROG PRINCE
Developer: iBigToy $1.99 | Version: 1.2 | Apr. 27, 2011 Though this version of the classic fairy tale gets decent marks for crisp, colorful graphics, any potential charm is buried beneath awkward navigation, bland storytelling and painfully slow narration. When it comes to “The Frog Prince,” picture books and elementary/intermediate readers abound. And with the advent of iPad |
technology, authors and developers would seemingly have unlimited potential to expand and enhance the storytelling experience, right? Perhaps, but you wouldn’t know it from this app. Apart from hair blowing in the wind, occasional objects that can be moved around (with no apparent purpose) and generic sound effects, there’s really nothing to set this apart from a traditional book. The story is offered in English and Chinese and has both a “Read to Me” and “Read It Myself ” option. For those trying to learn English, the incredibly slow narrative pace may be helpful. But native English speakers may feel as though they’re stuck behind someone driving 15 mph on a 55-mph highway. There’s one blatant syntax error, and phrases like, “No problem!” seem out of place in a traditional fairy tale. Most pages contain several blocks of successive text (readers have no control over scrolling speed), so when “Read It Myself ” is selected, the story must be read at the same snail’s pace as the app’s narrator. A visually appealing but significantly flawed adaptation. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)
HARRY HOLSTEIN HITS THE ROAD
Kennedy, Daniel E. Illustrator: Fluckiger, Kory Developer: Aug Dog Software $4.99 | Version: 1.0 Apr. 19, 2011 Low-rent animations, illustrations, audio and overall design provide just what this sketchy bovine cross-country tour merits. Inspired by television, naive Harry—repeatedly referred to as a cow, but male—sets off to see America in a sports car provided by his proud farmer. He meets along the way both “nice” people who, for instance, steer him away from a burger joint to a salad buffet and “not-nice” folk who rob him and refuse him service in a restaurant because they “didn’t like the looks of him.” Most of the latter incidents are only described, not illustrated in bland pictures. These, possibly trying for a 3-D effect but achieving only a clumsily layered look, float flat, broad-featured livestock and other cartoon figures over backgrounds that look like blurred-out photos. The audio tracks on most of the manually advanced pages play in a rigidly patterned sequence: a short sound effect or snatch of music, then the author’s low-key (optional) reading of the text followed by a single repeat of the sound. The minimal animations tend to be easy-to-miss items like a blink or a flash of headlights, and the sole touch-activated effect accompanies handfuls of snapshots of popular tourist sights (such as “Redwood Forest” and “Niagra [sic] Falls”) that can be flicked around. The app includes four short instrumental tracks that are uncredited and will only play on the “Info” page. This road trip never gets out of the driveway. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)
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HANDMADE MOTHER GOOSE
Adaptor: Kriel, Charles Illustrator: Kriel, Charles $0.99 | Version: 1.1 | May 7, 2011
A jumble of pastel pieces fails to transport or delight in this collection, seemingly created more for design-conscious app enthusiasts than child readers. Combining 12 Mother Goose rhymes into one iPad page is a bit of a challenge, but Kriel has done it by turning each bite-sized morsel into a button on the border of what appears to be a picture frame. Press on the button with the picture of a gawky lamb, and “Mary Had a Little Lamb” appears as a single-page illustrated piece. In some of the rhymes, words rotate, or objects fall or can be manipulated. The text can be read aloud by pressing a separate button with a picture of a parrot. The rhymes sometimes take longer to appear than they should, which might cause younger readers to keep pressing or to think that something’s wrong. More than one rhyme is incomplete, leaving off concluding lines, and, mystifyingly, “Ride a Cock Horse” omits the beginning. And though the illustrations and design, meant to evoke cut-outs, bygone cherub-cheeked characters and DIY crafts are striking, there’s something about the washed-out colors and lack of page turning that leave the reader cold. The app feels like a design experiment for the wrong audience, though it’s technically well made, with expert voice work and wellimplemented background music and effects. It’s a noble try that doesn’t give much new life to the familiar source material. (iPad nursery-rhyme app. 1-3)
ELMER’S SPECIAL DAY
McKee, David Illustrator: McKee, David Developer: Oceanhouse Media $2.99 | Version: 1.08 May 10, 2011 The patchwork pachyderm again finds a way to wage peace. Featuring appropriate audio effects, this digital version of the 2009 episode starts off with a noise issue when the elephants duding themselves up for Elmer’s special parade get a little overexcited. “That’s a bit of a racket your chaps are making!” complains Lion, echoed by a number of irritated animals. Elmer ultimately orchestrates amity by inviting everyone to join the elephants in decorating themselves in colorful patterns or splashes of color and marching in the grand promenade. (Elmer himself covers his patchwork with elephant-colored berry juice.) Per Oceanhouse Media’s usual style, there are no animations in the bright cartoon-style illustrations, but an artful use of shifts and close-ups compensates nicely for the lack. Along with a “no-hands” automated mode, the tale can be read on manual advance either silently or by a lively British narrator 988
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with running highlighted words. Not only will touching any word in the manual modes activate a pronunciation, tapping any of the animals, plants or even the sky brings an identifying label into temporary view. Better yet, those labels are pronounced, which allows children with busy fingers to create a cacophony of their own to go along with the rising tide of animal noises accompanying a final exuberant rumpus. This winner combines feasible problem solving, bug-free special effects, plenty of eye candy—particularly toward the end, when all the wildly decorated wild things are cavorting about—and easy navigation. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)
THE THREE PANDAS
Mih, Valerie Developer: See Here Studios $3.99 | Version: 1.2 | May 10, 2011 A modern take on “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” features a charming style of animation and a lovable family of pandas. The Panda Family takes a break from its breakfast of bamboo leaf porridge to take a walk in the bamboo forest. While they’re gone, a young girl named Mei Mei walks through the familiar home-intrusion routine that most children will recognize. She finds Baby Panda’s porridge to her liking, deems his chair most comfortable (but not before breaking it) and ends up in his cozy bed. What could have been a lazy retread with pandas and a distinct Chinese influence is instead made fresh with the app’s animations, which combine photo collages, a live-action actress portraying Mei Mei (in a red dress and black Mary Janes) and movement for the pandas when the reader “tickles” each of them, as the app advises. The app can be experienced in English and Chinese (in both the text and optional narration), and a portion of the proceeds from each app sale goes to Pandas International, which has partnered with the publisher. Except for two letters that are exchanged at the end bringing the pandas and Mei Mei back together for a happy ending, the story is not much different from what readers expect from a “Goldilocks” story. But the design is clever, and the visuals (along with the unfailingly adorable pandas themselves) make it worth a look. (iPad storybook app. 2-7)
BUSY BUNNIES
Developer: Newleaf Solutions $1.99 | Version: 1.0 Apr. 21, 2011 A winning playdate with brother and sister bunny takes readers from alarm clock to “lights out” via a very full day. Everyone knows that toddlers have energy to spare, and the Busy Bunnies are no exception. They wake up, jump on the bed, ride a tandem bike, play ball
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“Weighing in at just 12 pages, young Brian’s increasingly frantic quest for relief nonetheless gushes with hilarity.” from i really have to go !
and still find time for a quick outing in their sailboat. Illustrations are crisp, simple and uncluttered; interactive elements are potent but appropriately minimal. For example, each page has between one and three touch-activated motions with charming (and, in the case of a potty break, realistic) sound effects. Mattress springs “boing,” an alarm clock rings, bike horns and bells sound off and mommy bunny sneaks slurpy tastes as she stirs her carrot stew. After watering the garden, the bunnies take a bubble bath and are promptly hung out on a clothesline to dry. Once pyjama-clad (the Australian/British spelling of “pajama”) they settle sleepily in to bed and, when prompted, offer unlimited goodnight kisses, complete with bubble hearts. The book is so short and tidy it doesn’t seem odd that there’s no formal menu, but it would be nice to have the option of skipping to beginning or end without going through every page; this is a minor flaw, though. An adorable storybook app with a near-perfect balance between stimulation and simplicity. (iPad storybook app. 2-4)
SCOTT’S SUBMARINE
Parguey, Valentine Illustrator: Roussell, Matt Developer: Square Igloo $2.99 | Version: 1.0.1 May 13, 2011 Unusual interactive features and visual effects give this undersea jaunt a glossy digital sheen. Prefaced by two screens of instructions, the tale takes young Scott and his Japanese friend Aiko through ocean waters teeming with life to a sunken pirate ship, then into and out of the clutches of a goofy-looking giant octopus with googly eyes. Not only are the printed text and audio narration available in English, Spanish, French or Japanese (with the addition of an uncommon audio-only option), but both also come in two versions. There’s a short, simply phrased one recommended for toddler audiences and a more advanced option for preschoolers and older children. Rising bubbles aside, there isn’t much conventional animation, but the sub’s capture is signaled by successive whole scenes that shimmy back and forth, and the two explorers are once seen from a wavery subsurface view. The illustrations are done in a plasticky anime style, but sea life is rendered with reasonable accuracy; several scenes are revealed by scrolling down or sideways. Other features range from a disappointingly static “spot these items” game to amusing touchactivated sound effects on most pages. There is also a virtual camera that allows readers to take snapshots of any part of any scene to create an “album”—in which any shots of sea animals come with informational captions. Despite minor flubs in the English translation (“The crab is a crustacea [sic] with 10 legs”), this is a voyage worth taking. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)
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I REALLY HAVE TO GO!
Rempt, Fiona Illustrator: Smit, Noëlle Developer: Piccolo Picture Books Developer: Uniboek Het Spectrum b.v. $4.99 | Version: 1.1 Dec. 15, 2010 Bladder pressure drives a lad to desperate measures in this short but suspenseful import. Weighing in at just 12 pages, young Brian’s increasingly frantic quest for relief nonetheless gushes with hilarity. His ride from school is cut short by a flat tire, both the “toilet” and the “bathroom” at home are occupied, the neighbors can’t hear him and he gets a hostile reception from a prickly bush. At last a tree that a dog is also watering provides a spot for sweet relief—followed by public embarrassment when he turns prematurely to watch a parade marching into view. Originally published in 2009 in the Netherlands, this digital version offers both text and (optional) audio narration in five languages, plus word-by-word highlighting. The conversion isn’t seamless, as each urban scene (done, appropriately, in watercolors) takes up a screen and a half and has to be dragged from side to side to be viewed in its entirety. Still, navigation is easy. Brian is discreetly angled in the cartoon art, and a continuing track of music or quiet urban noises (enhanced by several touch-activated sounds and small animations in each scene) backs up a comically expressive narration. Look for winces of sympathy and steady streams of laughter from young readers. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)
ESSENTIAL RED RIDING HOOD
Developer: Robot Stampede $3.99 | Version: 1.1 | Mar. 21, 2011 A (somewhat) kinder, gentler “Red Riding Hood” with digitally enhanced, atmospheric old illustrations. Adapted from several unidentified versions (mostly Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation from the Brothers Grimm), the tale lets Grandmother and Little Red escape being eaten and places the Wolf ’s violent demise behind billowing clouds of dust. The audio features an expressive but not overly dramatic reading and a tasty assortment of growls and screams, as well as chirping birds, a working knocker on Grandmother’s door and other background sounds. (All of them, unfortunately, are switched off in silent reading mode.) The classic illustrations (likewise unattributed) from Gustave Doré and several 19thcentury contemporaries do not decorate every screen but as spot or full-page art share a common look and a strong sense of drama. Most are further livened up by swaying foliage or flowers, in addition to other small animations. There are also
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“Young mateys not ready for the original will get an eyeful, an earful and a taste of the timeless pirate adventure that awaits.” from treasure island
touch-activated sound effects, and falling acorns or flying insects will alter their course to follow a slowly moving fingertip. Viewers can fill Little Red’s playfully skittish basket (with a steaming pie and other wholesome food, not wine as in the original), and color in her cape in several scenes. Though toned down plot-wise and not as feature-rich as the Little Red Riding Hood Interactive Retrobook (2011) this version does preserve that classic look and feel—unlike more cartoony digital renditions or the laughably bad Bad Wolf (2011). Not definitive, but evocative and reasonably well designed. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)
WILD ABOUT BOOKS
Sierra, Judy Illustrator: Brown, Marc Developer: Random House Digital $4.99 | Version: 1.2 Feb. 15, 2011 Still the best Dr. Seuss tribute ever, Sierra’s rhymed 2004 tale of a librarian who gets all the animals in the zoo reading and writing is even funnier and more kinetic with digital flourishes. Though Molly McGrew drives her bookmobile into the zoo by mistake, she does such a fine job turning her animal audience on to reading and writing that by the end there’s nothing for it but to build a branch library on the grounds. Here, an uncredited but engagingly exuberant narrator reads it aloud while each word is highlighted. The bouncy, playful verses—“Raccoons read alone and baboons read in bunches. / And llamas read dramas while eating their llunches”—accompany 17 brightly colored tableaus, each composed of layers that pop into view and roll back and forth with tilts of the tablet. Along with automatic but undistracting movements, there are balloons and balls to lead with a finger; blinks, nods, hysterical laughter (from the hyenas) and roars that are induced by a finger tap; “stinging” comments from an ill-tempered scorpion—even the occasional stampede. The narration and the soundtrack can be switched off separately, and an index of thumbnail images provides repeat visitors with shortcuts to favorite pages. As apps go this one is a little slow to load, and the art’s tilt-induced rolling may induce queasy stomachs (particularly for readers in moving vehicles) if overdone. Otherwise a seamless adaptation of a modern classic, inventively enhanced, hilarious, a joy to read—particularly aloud. (iPad storybook app. 5-9)
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TREASURE ISLAND
Stevenson, Robert Louis Adaptor: Austin, Jaqueline Developer: Cyberia Media $3.99 | Version: 1.1 | Jan. 29, 2011 A rousing abridgment of the classic tale is buoyed by atmospheric sound effects and hearty digital surprises. Though not all of the 91 screens feature interactive effects, each is illustrated. These are usually multilayered and shadowy, and all are unfailingly evocative of the violent events, exotic locales and dramatic highlights young Jim describes in the overlaid narrative. Automated animations include moving strips of scenery and eerie fade-ins, among others. The frequent touch-activated features (each of which is cued by an inconspicuous icon) are an unusually diverse mix: Sliders cause figures to rise or fog to clear, spinners focus a spyglass or spin a skeleton around a compass rose, cannon fire with a tap. Three-dimensional looks are achieved with moveable scenes viewed through a window. The background audio is similarly varied, switching from a hornpipe to a melodramatic orchestral blare with a turn of the page or presenting a medley of creaking timbers, seagull cries, crashing waves and low muttering. A tap at any page’s bottom brings up buttons to turn the sound off, check a glossary or open a “Contents” strip of page-by-page thumbnails. Avast! Young mateys not ready for the original will get an eyeful, an earful and a taste of the timeless pirate adventure that awaits. (iPad storybook app. 8-11)
MIX/MATCH HD A PEPPERONI PRINCESS ??!!??
Developer: SyGem Software $2.99 | Version: 1.0 Apr. 5, 2011 A small number of images get the mix-n-match treatment in this digital equivalent
of a split-page board book. Lacking such amenities as an audio track, creator credits or even a title page, this no-frills app allows viewers to pair tops and bottoms of 12 painted, very simply rendered objects from a cake and a pot of geraniums to a truck, a pizza and a robot. A likewise splittable large-type text on the left side of each screen attempts to punch up the fun: “Wow! A very pretty […]” or “Choo! Choo! Let’s ride the […]” can be matched to “princess,” “spider,” “football” (soccer ball, which may cause some confusion in American toddlers not up on the Premier League) or some other option with a slide of the finger. The half-images are in a set order on their strips, so there is no randomizer option, which limits what fun the app offers. There isn’t even any sort of animation or other touch-activated effect. Reviewed with a price of $2.99, this bare-bones diversion is way overpriced. May spark moments of hilarity. (iPad board book. 2-4)
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UNDODA AND THE MIND’S EYE
Developer: Undoda Multimind Games Illustrator: De Smet, Yannick $1.99 | Version: 1.1 Apr. 19, 2011 A game-centric app offering an abruptly chopped off story about a heroic chinchilla aviator who opens a mystical portal between Easter Island and…San Francisco. On the “Storybook” track, young Undoda (pronounced “un-doo-da”), who has “a special gift to see the world in reverse,” befriends a rebel bird warrior named Amira. She flies him to the ruined city of Dow Nunder—inhabited only by talking animals, though presumably humans were there once—where he “reverse engineers” wrecked machinery into an aircraft. Back on Easter Island, Amira distracts a giant attacker while Undoda and his father unlock the secret of the Books of Was and Saw—joined together, they open a portal to Golden Gate (or “Gold Gate,” as it’s called earlier). The good guys escape through the portal and find that the past has changed—or, as Undoda opaquely puts it, “In the future, I was what I saw?!” Multiple typos muddy the text; these, combined with cramped and confusing screens, show that the designers’ focus was less on the story than on the trio of associated games in the “Free Play” option. Those comprise a matching game and two tilt-driven variations on pinball, all with an impressive nine levels of difficulty. Children can also opt for the “Adventure” mode, which is a hybrid with the games and story interleaved. The audio narration and New Age background music can be turned off separately. Handsome packaging, but with such a silly plot and limited slate of games, it’s far less than meets the eye. (iPad storybook/game app. 7-10)
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
Williams, Margery Illustrator: Zainagova, Rimma Developer: XIMAD Free Version: 1.1 | Apr. 29, 2011
This serviceable iPad version of the classic stumbles, primarily over some fixable mistakes. XiMAD Inc.’s version of the story, one of two takes on it currently available for the iPad, attempts to be as visually lush and inviting as Williams’ tear-jerking text. By that measure, it mostly succeeds. For 31 pages (including the title screen) it’s a lovely app, soft but precise, with the kinds of spring-loaded on-screen objects, tilt features and smartly integrated text that Alice for the iPad (2010) set the bar for shortly after the device debuted. But the elegance is lost whenever jarring, ugly pop-up ads appear in the free version of the app, covering the controls and interrupting the story. The ads aren’t for other children’s books or even toys (velveteen or |
otherwise); they’re primarily for PC utilities unlikely to appeal to this tale’s audience. Less forgiveable is a glaring problem late in the story: One paragraph of text is repeated from a prior page, and another paragraph is completely missing, pulling the stuffing out of an important story point. Other than those two major problems and, of lesser importance, a lack of options beyond turning the background music off, this adaptation works. At least it works much better than the Ruckus Mobile Media version in the App Store, a dated, unsatisfying rendition that this one easily bests. With some quick fixes, this one could become closer to Real and worthy of a young reader’s love. (iPad storybook app. 5-8)
NIGHTY NIGHT! HD
Wittlinger, Heidi Illustrator: Wittlinger, Heidi Developer: Shape Minds and Moving Images GmbH $1.99 | Version: 1.0 Apr. 14, 2011 This beautifully illustrated, warmly narrated story encourages readers to help put all of the farm animals to bed. Let’s face it: If a sleepy parent is trying to get a toddler to wind down and go to sleep, there are certain book apps to avoid at bedtime. This isn’t one of them. In fact, it may be a surprising ally in the effort to get little ones to bed. As the screen pans a tranquil nighttime countryside, crickets chirp and houses go dark as inhabitants turn out their lights for the night. But wait: All the lights are still on in the farmhouse. Can you help turn out the lights? Touching illuminated areas takes readers to the “bedroom” of each animal: a pig, a cow, a dog, a duck, a sheep, a hen (with two chicks) and even a pond full of fish. When the light switch is turned off in each environment, the animals settle down peacefully and go to sleep. The illustrations are truly stunning, and the animation and sound effects are both tranquil and charming. The one and only negative is that if readers leave the app in the middle of the “story,” they must return to that particular page the next time you open it; starting over isn’t an option. An enchanting way to transport toddlers and preschoolers to dreamland. (iPad storybook app. 2-4)
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DAVID ROBERTS’ EGYPT: Enhanced Version
interactive e-books f o r a d u lt s OUR CHOICE: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis
Gore, Al Rodale Developer: PushPop Press April 28, 2011 | $4.99 Al Gore’s 2009 book proves an ideal fit for an iPad app, one of the best that we’ve seen. Gore has been at the forefront of global environmental issues for the last 20 years. His An Inconvenient Truth (2007) famously warned that we are all in for big trouble if we continue our gas-guzzling, resource-squandering, overpopulating ways. Four years later, he seems right on the mark, even if deniers and critics have twitted Gore for living a tad unsustainably himself. Our Choice is less dire: Now that we’ve made our bed, Gore seeks a way to help us unmake it, announcing in a book-opening video that we are indeed in a crisis, but that this, like so many other crises, can be solved if good thinking is put to work. But there’s a lot of unsustainability to undo for that to happen. As the author provocatively notes in a chapter devoted to politics, “The United States is still borrowing from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.” Fully leveraging the possibilities of multimedia, this app weds Gore’s original text to his video and audio narratives, his voice warm and engaging, a far cry from the much-lampooned stiff speechifying of old. Still photographs, many of which unfold, and graphs and charts round out the illustrations. So rich is the text, in fact, that, depending on bandwidth, it can take many hours for the app to download—so best to have the iPad plugged in. The package as a whole repays thorough exploration. The only demerit is a lack of hyperlinking, joining Gore’s text to the mountain of supporting information that is available elsewhere on the Internet, all hinted at in the extensive back-of-book sources. A model for translating books to the small screen (iPhone as well as iPad), and at a bargain price.
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Roberts, David Sideways Inc. (248 pp.) $12.99 | March 29, 2011
An e-book version of a coffee-table book. Roberts, a Scottish artist of the 19th century, made his living and fame rendering sights in exotic locales as sketches and paintings that would be collected as lithographs in books. Much like the National Geographic of their day, his books gave readers back a vicarious journey around the globe from their armchairs. His most famous series were the ones he drew during a pioneering excursion to Egypt and the Near East in 1838–9 (he was the first British artist to make such a tour). This e-book presents a wealth of his Egyptian lithographs depicting mostly the sites of famous ruins—Luxor, Dendera, Karnak, Giza—as well as landscapes and cityscapes up and down the Nile, from Alexandria and into Nubia and Abyssinia. As thumbnails, some seem to be photographs, so exacting was Roberts’ technique. But this format enables readers to pinch and pull open the art, to inspect the high-resolution scans in great detail. Doing so reveals the precision of the artist’s hand and his subtle and fine sense of color. Every hieroglyph, every crack on the columns, every vein of pink marble reads clearly. The art is by far the most engaging element of the book. The text, based on letters and journal entries, is much less interesting (though well read by Simon Prebble). Those based on letters to his daughter have greater detail than the journal entries, many of which merely count the number of sketches undertaken that day. But even the letters remain mostly on the surface, categorizing movements of the day, sights seen, comforts and discomforts of the road, meals taken, plans for the next day—much like any ordinary tourist’s. Fittingly, Robert’s favorite adjective in his writings is “picturesque.” Best to let his art speak for him.
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fiction HOUSE OF HOLES A Book of Raunch
Baker, Nicholson Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $25.00 | August 9, 2011 978-1-4391-8951-1
Baker returns to the eroticism of his earlier Vox (1995) and The Fermata (1994) but kicks it up about a dozen notches. There’s no plot to speak of here— just couplings in every conceivable (and many inconceivable) way. Some characters recur from chapter to chapter, yet they’re fairly interchangeable, and Baker aims to disconcert readers with breezy surrealism. In the opening chapter, Shandee finds an arm on a field trip with her Geology 101 class, and this appendage quickly informs her (because it’s able to write) that it’s known as “Dave’s arm.” She discovers it can give considerable pleasure, the kind of sexual climax that all his characters seek. The title alludes to a kind of “portkey” that sucks characters through various holes (straws, the backs of dryers, putting greens) into a phantasmagorical alternative universe presided over by the formidable Lila. In this “house of holes,” suffice it to say that weird things are the norm: Reversible crotch transfers, for example, result in gender-bendering; women have sex with headless men; men hump holes in a sex field; we hear rumors of the Cock Ness monster; a character named Rhumpa visits the “pornmonster,” who grows bigger the more that porn is sucked out of the world...and these are just a few of the exploits coyly alluded to—others are even more graphic and bizarre. Even a put-together Dave makes an appearance toward the end. Baker explores a fine line between eroticism and pornography here, and were it not for his wit and verbal play, the latter would win out. (Agent: Melanie Jackson)
THE INVERTED FOREST
Dalton, John Scribner (336 pp.) $25.00 | July 19, 2011 978-1-4165-9602-8
An odd, absorbing follow-up to an award-winning debut distinguishes crucial degrees of humanity and affliction among the community at a Missouri summer camp where a convergence of staff and campers leads to tragedy. In a patient display of skill, Dalton (Heaven Lake, 2004) |
delivers an original drama set at Kindermann Forest Summer Camp in the Ozarks, owned and managed by Schuller Kindermann, whose idiosyncratic standards and wholesale dismissal of the 1996 camp counselors set events in train. Hastily hiring a new crew, including Wyatt Huddy, 23 and suffering from a facial deformity indicating Apert syndrome, Schuller omits to tell his replacement team that for the first two weeks the camp will be filled not by children but handicapped adults from the local hospital. With measured pace Dalton depicts the impact of coping with 104 variously disturbed patients on the under-equipped counselors and staff, including Christopher Waterhouse, a seemingly charming but possibly flawed counselor. When camp nurse Harriet Foster realizes Christopher’s true nature she calls on Wyatt for help, an action that will have consequences down the decades. Dalton’s expert control of his material is impressive. His conclusion, set 15 years later, tenderly resolves both the moral and personal aspects of the story. Dealing carefully with controversial material, this is a fully populated, humane yet largely unsentimental narrative of lingering impact. (Agent: Lisa Bankoff)
TRUE THINGS ABOUT ME
Davies, Deborah Kay Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (224 pp.) $14.00 paperback | July 12, 2011 978-0-86547-854-1
A young British woman watches her life unravel after a risky sexual encounter with an ex-con. It’s lust at first sight for the unnamed narrator of this unsettling novel, who just can’t help herself when a hunky, fresh-out-of-prison claimant enters the benefits office where she works. The two end up having a quickie in the parking garage, an unprecedented act that triggers something self-destructive in her. She tracks him down afterwards, and they embark on a highly dysfunctional affair characterized by his cruelty and her degradation. There are thrills to be had as well, but her obsession drowns out every other relationship in her life. Her loving parents and loyal best friend Allison try to snap her out of it, but it is no use. She slacks off at her job, makes a fool of herself on a blind date with a decent bloke and generally does everything she can to distance herself from the solid middle-class world she came from. Fitfully aware of the toxicity of her relationship (he disappears for weeks with her car, disrupts her grandmother’s funeral reception), the girl makes some feeble attempts at a normal life.
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“First novelist Drew draws a careful portrait of both social and family problems.” from daughter of providence
The ironic titles of each chapter read like daily affirmations suggested in a self-help book, and inject a creepy humor into the increasingly bleak proceedings. Her internal struggle over Mr. Wrong seems to jeopardize her very sanity. Naturally, something has to give, and although both reader and heroine know it will end badly, the shocking finish still comes as a surprise. With a distinctive, cliché-free writing style and a psychologically complex “victim,” this first novel from talented, award-winning Welsh writer Davies (Grace, Tamar and Lazlo the Beautiful, 2009) points to a promising future. Darkly sardonic exploration of sexual obsession.
THE DEVIL HIMSELF
Dezenhall, Eric Dunne/St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $25.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-312-66882-2 Dezenhall’s (Spinning Dixie, 2006, etc.) fifth novel takes a cast of characters from history—FDR, Walter Winchell, Meyer Lansky—sets the story during the bleak beginning of World War II, and adds a secret network of counter-spies who made their bones as gangsters. Recurring narrator Jonah Eastman is the grandson of Mickey Price, an old man who earned a fortune rum-running during Prohibition and went semi-legit with an Atlantic City casino. Eastman is also a college intern at the Reagan White House. His boss there knows his family background and wants Jonah to interview “Uncle Meyer.” Meyer Lansky was the reallife shadowy genius behind much mid-century U.S. organized crime. The Reagan Administration has discovered that Lansky and his cohorts—the “Ferret Squad”—helped root out Nazi undercover agents during WWII. The politicians are unofficially interested in Lansky’s story because there might be something valuable to be learned to deal with Islamo-fascist terrorists threatening U.S. interests. The novel shifts back and forth in time, presented as Eastman’s report-from-notes made as he interviewed Uncle Meyer in Miami, mortally ill with lung cancer. Alternate scenes follow Lansky in the 1940s. Some dialogue is rendered in slang, which is sometimes overdone. Along with the background of the uneasy alliance between the Italian and Jewish gangsters who dominated the criminal enterprises around New York City, there are interesting character snippets of infamous gangsters like Lucky Luciano (whose Sicilian ties aid in the Allied invasion of that island), and Albert Anastasia, a rogue homicidal maniac, and Bugsy Siegel, as deadly as Anastasia but prone to follow Lansky’s lead. The author also fictionalizes—dramatically narrates—the participation of reallife Lieutenant Commander Charles Radcliffe Haffenden, chief administrator of “Operation Underground,” a man ill-used as bureaucrats grist-milled history in service of politics. With “the fate of civilization rested upon a handful of weary sailors and patriotic crooks,” Dezenhall intrigues with well-imagined, little-known history. 994
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DAUGHTER OF PROVIDENCE
Drew, Julie Overlook (320 pp.) $25.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-59020-462-7
A period novel—set in 1934—that examines dark secrets in a fading Rhode Island family. The Dodges are well off (Old Money), though patriarch Samuel Dodge has been trying to reopen a family-owned textile mill that had been closed because of changing economic circumstances. His daughter, narrator Anne Dodge, is more interested in building boats with long-time family friend Ezra than in any business interests. A college graduate, Anne has yet to decide what she wants to commit to and is bitter that her Portuguese mother Inêz has run away from the family. Anne’s bitterness is somewhat sweetened when Maria Cristina, her 12-year-old half-sister, unexpectedly turns up. Anne develops a curious relationship with her sister—she’s in equal measure affectionate and irritated by her, especially when Maria Cristina constantly thrusts herself into every aspect of Anne’s life. And while there’s no doubt about the identity of Maria Cristina’s mother, the identity of her father is problematic—Ezra? Or perhaps even Samuel Dodge himself? Anne’s life becomes complicated when Oliver Fielding, a young and attractive entrepreneur, starts showing interest in investing in the mill as well as an interest in Anne. Further complications arise when a combination of social idealists and thugs protest Samuel’s plan to “exploit” local workers. First novelist Drew draws a careful portrait of both social and family problems.
DISASTER WAS MY GOD
Duffy, Bruce Doubleday (384 pp.) $27.95 | July 19, 2011 978-0-385-53436-9
Based on the life of the 19th-century enfant terrible of French symbolist poetry, Arthur Rimbaud, Duffy’s story opens up the poet’s psychological depths, emotional torments and sexual proclivities. The author alternates his narrative between vignettes of Rimbaud’s early life—growing up in the French provinces with a domineering and monstrous mother—and the last year of his life, ill and traveling back to France from Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) to get treatment for his cancerous leg. The novelist introduces us to Rimbaud’s early verse, received in enlightened and avant garde circles with both astonishment and éclat. We then learn of his move to Paris to meet (and for a while, live with) Paul Verlaine, whose 17-year-old wife on Rimbaud’s arrival is about eight months pregnant. The two poets begin a tempestuous and
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scandalous affair that flies in the face of conventional morality. While there’s plenty of dissipation to go around, Verlaine emerges as an even more debauched character than the younger poet, largely living on absinthe, wine, bitterness and envy. Their relationship climaxes in Verlaine’s wounding of Rimbaud, and the latter’s decision to give up poetry at the age of 20. The final journey Duffy chronicles is sad beyond belief, with the 37-yearold poet seeming about two decades older than his age, agonizingly making his way from Africa to France, hoping to reunite with his mother (who’ll have none of it) and with a younger sister who doesn’t even know he’s a writer. Because Duffy quotes Rimbaud’s poetry generously, this novel serves as a good introduction to his life and work.
IN THE SEA THERE ARE CROCODILES
Geda, Fabio Translator: Curtis, Howard Doubleday (176 pp.) $21.95 | August 9, 2011 978-0-385-53473-4
A nonfiction novel, recounted in part from contemporary oral history. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah (Enaiat) Akbari lives with his mother in Ghazni province, in Afghanistan, and neither one knows his life is about to change forever. One day the Taliban arrive at his school and tell the headmaster to shut it down, but he ignores—or perhaps defies—them. Two days later, the Taliban show up again, put the headmaster within a circle of students and shoot him. Thus begins Enaiat’s odyssey from his village, and he’s not to settle down again for five long and precarious years. Soon after the incident at his school, his mother gives her son three pieces of advice—don’t use drugs, don’t use weapons, don’t cheat or steal—and then she takes off, leaving Enaiat to fend for himself. He starts a pattern of relying on traffickers to get him across sundry borders, first to Pakistan, then to Iran, Turkey, Greece and, finally—at the age of 15—Italy, where he’s able to get asylum and start school again. Along the way he has various jobs, mostly selling wares on the streets or working illegally (and dangerously) on construction sites. He also relies on the kindness of strangers, a Greek woman, for example, who clothes him and gives him food and money. And while from an objective perspective Enaiat’s life is both unsafe and high-risk, he never loses his innate optimism or his buoyant pluckiness and ingenuity. One marvels that Enaiat has told his life adventure to Italian author Geda, and while the novelist has evidently shaped Enaiat’s story for publication, at its core is an authentic, open and marvelous voice of youthful exuberance.
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THE SILENT GIRL
Gerritsen, Tess Ballantine (336 pp.) $26.00 | July 5, 2011 978-0-345-51550-6
Paired for the 10th time, Rizzoli (homicide cop) and Isles (forensic pathologist) learn that in Boston’s Chinatown, revenge is a dish served sweet & sour. They find the hand first, neatly severed, on a quiet street in the heart of Chinatown. On a nearby rooftop, they find the rest of her: Jane Doe, young, auburn-haired, dressed in ninja black, completely gorgeous and, of course, extremely dead. It takes a while for Detective Jane Rizzoli and her Boston PD colleagues to identify her. As it happens, however, who she was and what she was up to turns out to be less important than where she ended—at the site of a small, innocuous Chinese restaurant called the Red Phoenix. Innocuous, except for the fact that 19 years earlier mass murder exploded on its premises. The cook, Wu Weimin, an illegal from China, suddenly berserk, pulled a gun, shot James Fang, a waiter, three customers and finally himself. Or so the story went. Now fault lines are becoming apparent. When Rizzoli finds herself eye to eye with Iris Fang, widow of the slain James, the holes deepen. Iris, Jane realizes at once, is extraordinary—and ferocious. In her 50s, the owner of a martial-arts academy, she carries herself like a queen, with something dark and resolute in her gaze that in the right circumstances could be terrifying. And she makes it clear that she has good and sufficient reasons for not believing Wu Weimin could ever have murdered her husband. Meanwhile, Dr. Maura Isles, preparing to conduct the post mortem on Jane Doe, has good and sufficient reasons for being distracted. Do these explain a developing rift in the long-standing, mutually appreciative team of Rizzoli and Isles (Ice Cold, 2010, etc.). In any event, is the rift irreparable? The ending is way over the top, the prose occasionally purple-tinged, but Gerritsen is a hardscrabble plotter, and much of what she does is compelling. (Author tour to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Las Vegas, Columbus, Washington, D.C.)
THE PIANIST IN THE DARK
Halberstadt, Michèle Pegasus (140 pp.) $22.00 | July 13, 2011 978-1-60598-118-5
In late-18th-century Vienna, blind piano virtuosa Maria-Theresia Von Paradis meets the now-legendary Dr. FranzAnton Mesmer, who seems to promise a cure for her blindness, her innocence and her state of dependency upon autocratic parents. Of course, cures have costs. This slim debut by Frenchwoman Halberstadt introduces us to a real-life contemporary of Mozart, the 17-year-old daughter
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of the secretary to her namesake, the Empress of Austria. MariaTheresia is a girl in a gilded cage, and she’s adapted brilliantly to it. She sees her blindness as simply a fact of her world, not as an affliction, and she resents and finally rejects her father’s relentless attempts to have it “repaired” by medical doctors. But when the charismatic Mesmer offers to take her into his care, MariaTheresa consents, in part because she feels outmaneuvered, in part because Mesmer has a suave erotic charm, but mainly because Mesmer’s treatment requires her to leave home for an extended period, and thus seems a step toward independence from her controlling father and shrill, unaffectionate mother. Mesmer does restore her sight—gradually, painfully, intermittently. And he and his patient fall in love. But sight is at best an equivocal good, she finds; gone are both her innocence and her musical talent, and sight introduces her, too, to the shabby games of ambition and power that men play. As the controversial Mesmer’s welcome in Vienna wears thin and rumors about the intimacies of his “treatment” of her swirl, Maria-Theresia’s father demands to bring his daughter back home, and Mesmer makes a decision to betray her in favor of his ambition. MariaTheresia sees that now is the time for her, too, to make a bold decision and choose her fate and future. A sharp, lyrical fable, perhaps a little too pat and Aesopian at times but poignant and plainspoken.
ALWAYS SOMETHING THERE TO REMIND ME
Harbison, Beth St. Martin’s (368 pp.) $24.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-312-59910-2 978-1-4299-8755-4 e-book
A harried events planner pines for the high-school heartthrob who got away, but is the feeling mutual? Erin Edwards works for a world-class luxury resort in Virginia, coordinating lavish weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties, like the Sweet 16 bash the hotel is hosting for Roxanne, the world’s brattiest teenager. Fielding Roxanne’s outrageous requests (helicopters, horses in the water park, a flock of eagles), Erin recalls her own much less entitled teenage years, overshadowed by her passion for Nate, her first lover. Although she went on to other loves and is the single mother of a daughter, she’s never found Nate’s equal in any man. Rick, her daughter’s best friend’s father, a prominent Washington, D.C., lawyer, has proposed and is waiting for an answer. There’s nothing wrong with Rick, except that he’s not...Nate. The book alternates between the mid ’80s, as the courtship of Nate and Erin charts its rocky course, and the present. Although ’80s Erin can’t tamp down her longing for Nate, she still chafes at the fact that they never have a real date—instead they hang out with his Animal House–eligible contingent of friends. Nate is Romeo without the flowery speeches or depth. In the present, Roxanne refuses to believe that her ex-boyfriend can’t be somehow forced to attend her party. Witnessing Roxanne’s self-delusion leads Erin 996
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to ponder if Nate shares her nostalgia for their past. Convinced he moved away long ago, she can’t resist revisiting Nate’s former home. But as she passes the house, who should appear but Nate, slightly more grizzled. They fall back into bed without so much as a word, but then she finds his wedding ring. Should she have just let sleeping Nates lie? Although there are some trenchant social observations here, Erin’s ever-churning ruminations and regrets begin to pall. Harbison makes a vivid case for Nate’s sexual prowess but fails to illustrate any other traits that would qualify him for soul-mate-hood. Readers will be casting their votes for Rick—and not the guy who got away.
BEST KEPT SECRET
Hatvany, Amy Washington Square/Pocket (352 pp.) $15.00 paperback | June 7, 2011 978-1-4391-9331-0 A divorced, alcoholic mother finds her way into a fairy tale in which the promise of her young son’s love helps her defeat naysayers and overcome her demons, finally. Like most women, freelance journalist Cadence feels pressure: pressure from her mother, her sister, her son, her ex-mother-in-law, herself. She must be a good mommy. She must be perfect. Overwhelmed, she begins drinking more each night. But now she has committed one of the worst mommy sins: She’s fallen into an alcoholic stupor in front of her 5-year-old son, Charlie. To the rescue come Martin, her cold, workaholic ex-husband, who whisks Charlie out of her life, and Jess, her capable younger sister, who plops her into the hospital’s psych ward. Set adrift from her son, unable to write through her wet brain, Cadence must begin a journey through detox, rehab and AA. Along the way, as in any good fairy tale, she confronts obstacles (the sneering Mommy Mafia), exposes family secrets (grandma used to drink, too) and endures trials (watching other people drink). Yet she also finds true friends and perhaps true love. With the help of her new friends, Cadence begins to see addiction not as a moral failing but as a coping mechanism. Whether we use food, drink, work or cigarettes, we all try to escape. As Cadence’s counselor points out, it’s just “Different behavior, same compulsion.” With some unsettling descriptions of despair, Hatvany keeps this potentially harrowing story lighthearted and hopeful.
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“A new star enters the firmament of Scandinavian thrillerdom.” from the hypnotist
YOU’RE NEXT
Hurwitz, Gregg St. Martin’s (416 pp.) $24.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-312-53491-2
In Hurwitz’s (They’re Watching, 2010, etc.) latest thriller, Mike Wingate learns it’s no fun to confront a bad guy who watches C-SPAN to discover the technique of water-boarding. Labeled Michael Doe by a jaded socialservices worker after being abandoned by his father, who many suspect of having murdered his mother, Michael spends 14 years under the neglectfully benign foster care of Couch Mother. He meets stoic Shepherd White, another youngster tossed into the nobodywants-these-kids jungle, who teaches Mike what matters in life are “loyalty and stamina.” Mike earns Shep’s undying loyalty by taking a rap for him just as Mike was ready to leave the system, saving Shep from a third strike. But that kept Mike from college. Shep became a safecracker extraordinaire. Mike became a laborer, then a foreman, then the developer of green housing. Mike also married Annabel, daughter of a lawyer who never learned to respect Mike. But life is good, complete with a beautiful little girl, Kat, who shares Mike’s trait of one brown eye, one amber. Mike is photographed shaking hands with the governor while celebrating Mike’s green development. Mike doesn’t realize it, but the distinctive eyes, identical to his mother’s, mean he has rights of inheritance to a multibillion-dollar industry. The “Boss Man” sees the photo and sends his killers. The action begins. Stolen cars. Knifings. Shootings. Mike slowly begins to realize why he is a target, and worse, why his daughter Kat is also in jeopardy. Enter Shep, with his underworld skills. What follows is a danger-filled trek around the Golden State. Along the way, Mike and Shep encounter a mystery surrounding an extinct Indian tribe; learn why Mike’s mother died and father disappeared; and battle William and Dodge, assassins for hire, to a bloody but sentimental conclusion. A thriller that grabs readers by the seat of the pants and gives them a Wow, what next! action thrill ride.
THE THINGS WE CHERISHED
Jenoff, Pam Doubleday (304 pp.) $24.95 | July 12, 2011 978-0-385-53420-8
Charlotte Gold, a Philadelphia attorney with an expertise in war crimes who escaped the big bad world of legal firms to work as a public defender, is talked into helping defend aged financier Roger Dykmans, who is being held in Germany as a Nazi collaborator. As she unravels mysteries from the past, she discovers important truths about herself. The younger brother of Hans Dykmans, a Schindler-like hero, Roger is an uncooperative client, leading Charlotte to |
search the dark mysteries of the past in Germany, Poland and Italy. Her partner on the case is the starchy Jack Warrington, younger brother of Brian, the slick lawyer who broke Charlotte’s heart years ago by leaving her for another woman when Charlotte was caring for her ill mother, but who shows up out of the blue to ask her to drop everything and go to Europe. Jenoff, a Holocaust authority herself (The Kommandant’s Girl, 2007, etc.), moves between past and present to trace the events leading to Roger’s arrest. His reticence is tied to his star-crossed love affair with his brother’s wife Magda, who would perish in a concentration camp. At the center of the mystery is a rare clock crafted by a Bavarian farmer in 1903 who sold it hoping to use the proceeds to save his pregnant wife from an earlier campaign against European Jews. The book boasts a sure grasp of period details, and shows a subtle hand in depicting the Nazis’ slowly intensifying threat. But the unlikely romance of Charlotte and Jack struggles to rise above standard romance-novel fare, and Jenoff ’s matching threesomes are a bit schematic. It would help if the men were more appealing. Still, a skillfully rendered tale of undying love, unthinkable loss and the relentless grip of the past on the present. (Agent: Scott Hoffman)
THE HYPNOTIST
Kepler, Lars Translator: Long, Ann Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (512 pp.) $27.00 | July 1, 2011 978-0-374-17395-1 A new star enters the firmament of Scandinavian thrillerdom, joining the likes of Larsson, Nesbø and Mankell. Kepler, a pseudonym for what the publisher describes as “a literary couple who live in Sweden,” continues in the Stygian—or, better, Stiegian—tradition of unveiling the dark rivers that swirl under the seemingly placid and pacific Nordic exterior. Scarcely has the novel opened when we find a scene of extreme mayhem: A schoolteacher and his librarian wife, pillars of their small Stockholm-area community, have been savagely butchered, and their young daughter, too, with a teenage son sliced to ribbons and left for dead. Enter Erik Maria Bark, a therapist and hypnotist called onto the scene by the supervising physician and a world-weary (naturally) police investigator, Joona Linna, who theorizes that the killer had waited for the father, a soccer referee in his off hours, hacked him into pieces, then headed to his house to dispatch the rest of the family, suggesting at least some acquaintance. “It happened in that order?” asks Bark, ever methodical, to which Linna responds, “In my opinion.” Both men are guarded, for both have been wounded in the past, and both are fighting battles of their own in the present. Their psychic conflicts are nothing compared to those that rage through the scissors- and knifewielding types they encounter in trying to get to the bottom of the crime, which takes them across miles and years. Kepler
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handles a complex plot assuredly, though the momentary switch from third- to first-person narration in midstream, as well as the shifts forward and backward in time, may induce whiplash. (They’re for a good reason.) Linna and Bark make a great crimesolving pair precisely because they puzzle each other so thoroughly—says Bark, for instance, “The patient always speaks the truth under hypnosis. But it’s only a matter of what he himself perceives as the truth.” To which Linna responds, “What is it you’re trying to say?” Indeed. What Bark is trying to say is that there are monsters hiding everywhere beneath the reasonable and rational, and Kepler’s book makes for a satisfying and scary testimonial.
BEFORE VERSAILLES A Novel of Louis XIV Koen, Karleen Crown (400 pp.) $26.00 | June 28, 2011 978-0-307-71657-6 978-0-307-71659-0 e-book
For every Dauphin a D’Artagnan, and for every Sun King a monster in the attic. Thus Koen’s (Dark Angels, 2006, etc.) Bourbon-laced exploration of a tangled time in the French past. Louis XIV was, famously, a strong believer in the divine right of kings—the right, that is to say, to do pretty much whatever they wanted to. In the case of this book, one of those things is to consolidate power in the wake of the all-too-welcome death of his father’s confidant and advisor, and now his, the Cardinal Mazarin, who lived a decidedly unchurchly life: “Reviled, feared, obeyed, Cardinal Mazarin was the most powerful man in the kingdom of France, first minister to the young king and lover, it was said, to the queen mother.” Another of those things is to sow a few wild oats, for Louis is still in his early 20s, though complicatedly married. Thus his dalliance with oo-la-la bumpkin Louise de la Baume le Blanc, which, to the delight of mademoiselle and roi alike, gets all hot and heavy: “The chemise was gone; she had no idea how, and he touched her breasts, and she closed her eyes.” Louis pleases Louise, apparently, for she now thinks of him as “a demigod, not only to her, but to all the kingdom.” But Louis, attentive though he may be, has bigger fish to fry, among them the quest to discover the identity of the weird kid in the iron mask who keeps turning up outside the city walls, as well as to crush another advisor for various effronteries and audacities. All in a day’s work for a king, but sometimes not easy for Koen to package neatly, since the exposition is often clumsy, as when she explains what the heck a dauphin is, anyway. That said, it’s a story that pretty well tells itself, largely based on historical fact, and with departures from the historically known that don’t seem too outlandish, iron mask and all. A step up from the usual genre romance, but only just; a literal bodice-ripper, and with swordplay, too.
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LOVE CHILD
Kohler, Sheila Penguin (256 pp.) $15.00 paperback | June 28, 2011 978-0-14-311919-7 Old family scandals are revisited by a South African woman in this seventh novel from the expatriate South African writer (Bluebird, or The Invention of Happiness, 2007, etc.). She’s the pretty daughter of a diamond appraiser in Johannesburg. He works alongside her father. They’re still in their teens, but it’s love at first sight. She’s a Christian, he’s a Jew, a huge problem. They elope in a borrowed Chevy and head for her father’s hometown, stopping only to make love at a hotel. She hopes the aunts she remembers so fondly will shelter them. Wrong call. The three maiden ladies are horrified by the scandal (it’s 1925) and call her parents. Her father arrives and ends their romance. Isaac leaves defiantly, Bill remains behind, her aunts’ prisoner. Kohler has featured Bill (her childhood tomboy name) before, in her 1994 novel The House on R Street. Nine months later, Bill gives birth and her baby is snatched away, sold to adoptive parents. This is the only dramatic episode in a limp novel, so it’s unfortunate that it’s cut up into pieces, sandwiched between events 10 and 30 years later. The scandal has stayed buried until 1956, when Bill discloses it to her teenage sons. In the interim, there has been a second scandal. In 1935, Bill is hired as a companion to a wealthy woman, a lonely alcoholic whose businessman husband is often away. Mark, the sexually voracious husband, pursues Bill, who insists he first divorce Helen before marrying her. After the marriage, the three continue living together in an improbable ménage. Then Helen dies, and Bill becomes a heavy drinker too. Had she ever loved Mark? Readers will find it difficult to tell from the distanced narration. As for the eponymous love child, don’t hold your breath; she doesn’t appear till the very end. Lonely women in hushed bedrooms form the dominant image in a disjointed work that, aside from that brief elopement, is also passionless. (Agent: Robin Straus)
TURN OF MIND
LaPlante, Alice Atlantic Monthly (320 pp.) $24.00 | July 1, 2011 978-0-8021-1977-3 LaPlante’s literary novel explores uncharted territory, imagining herself into a mind, one slipping, fading, spinning away from her protagonist, a woman who may have murdered her best friend. Dr. Jennifer White lives in the dark, shadowy forest of forgetfulness. She is 64, a flinty intellectual, competent and career-focused, but she has been forced to retire from orthopedic surgery by the onset of dementia. Her husband
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is dead. Her children—precociously intelligent and possibly bipolar Fiona, a professor, and Mark, an attorney like his late father, but only an imitation of that charismatic and competent man— are left to engineer her care. The novel opens with White at home, cared for by Magdalena, a paid companion. Fiona has control of her mother’s finances, a source of conflict with Mark, troubled by money problems and the hint of addiction. White’s own strobe flashes of lucidity reveal the family’s history. White’s closest friend, Amanda, was found dead a few days previously, a thing she sometimes understands. Four fingers from one of Amanda’s hand had been surgically amputated. Amanda, her husband Peter and Jennifer and James were close friends, but Amanda possessed an arrogant streak, a hyper-moralistic and judgmental attitude, aggravated by a willingness to use secrets to manipulate. Amanda was also childless and jealous, especially of Fiona’s affections. LaPlante tells the story poignantly, gracefully and artistically. Jennifer White, as a physician, as a wife, as a mother, leaps from the pages as a powerful character, one who drifts away from all that is precious to her—her profession, her mental acuity—with acceptance, anger and intermittent tragic self-knowledge. LaPlante writes in scenes without chapter breaks. White’s thoughts and speech are presented in plain text and those of the people she encounters in italics. Despite the near stream-of-consciousness, Faulknerian Sound and Fury presentation, the narrative is easily followed to the resolution of the mystery and White’s ultimate melancholy and inevitable end. A haunting story masterfully told. (Reading group guide online. Author tour to Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Iowa City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Toronto, Vancouver)
DOMINANCE
Lavender, Will Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $24.00 | July 1, 2011 978-1-4516-1729-0 Lavender (Obedience, 2008) takes on another puzzle-within-a-thriller, also set on a college campus. Dr. Alex Shipley was a member of a special class of nine hand-picked students chosen for a night course taught by a former professor and convicted murderer, Dr. Richard Aldiss. Aldiss, who has made the study of the reclusive author Paul Fallows his life’s work, stands convicted of killing two graduate students. He’s set to teach the class from prison, under the watchful eyes of his guards. Naturally, it’s no ordinary class: Aldiss has sprinkled clues throughout the course, hoping to lead one student on a journey; in this case, it’s the beautiful Alex. She was spectacularly successful. Not only did she unlock Aldiss’ puzzle and help him win acquittal, but now Alex has returned to Jasper College to solve the death of a former classmate whose murder is a disturbing replica of the grad students’ deaths. When the remainder of the nine still living come together in a |
spooky mansion replete with a dean who likes to wear makeup, it is soon clear that there are strange things going bump in the night. With more bodies turning up, Alex finds that the killer’s true intention may be more personal than she might have ever imagined. The story is twisty and turny, with all kinds of side roads, but it’s mostly The Big Chill without the humor or sympathetic characters. The premise of the class, the police’s fawning reliance on a professor to solve their case, the mystery of exactly who Fallows might really be and the cast of weird characters come together in a story that often calls for the reader to suspend all rational thought. With action that veers from the original Aldiss class to the present and back, Lavender manages to maintain the novel’s taut, sinister atmosphere from the first page to the last. But in the end, the story is unsettling, unsatisfying and unbelievable. Readers who loved Lavender’s first book will doubtless delight in this one, while those who did not will find her latest extremely tough reading. (Agent: Laney Becker)
THE ASTOUNDING, THE AMAZING, AND THE UNKNOWN
Malmont, Paul Simon & Schuster (400 pp.) $26.00 | July 5, 2011 978-1-4391-6893-6 In 1943, alerted to German scientific advances that could turn the tide of World War II, the U.S. government calls upon a group of noted young science-fiction writers to halt the Nazi threat by making imagined phenomena real. Malmont, whose Chinatown Death Cloud Peril (2006) turned noted science-fiction and pulp writers of the past into intellectual action heroes, returns with a lively tale involving “death rays,” secret underground crypts, vanishing objects and mysterious boxes. The writers, led by Robert Heinlein, include L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, Walter Gibson and Sprague de Camp. When their personalities and egos aren’t clashing, they bond together to investigate secret experiments by the late Nikola Tesla, legendary competitor of Thomas Edison in the so-called War of the Currents. Tesla was testing the long-distance transference of energy when he succeeded in zapping millions of trees in Siberia from the U.S. The writers’ pursuits take them from city to city and ultimately to a ship in the North Pacific where things have a way of suddenly disappearing. This book, the title of which was taken from the names of pulp journals, is as much a comedy of brainy errors as it is an adventure. Heinlein, whose tuberculosis ended his Navy career, must contend with the self-fixated Hubbard, who hadn’t yet entered his Scientology phase, and the insecure Asimov, who hadn’t yet written the first of hundreds of novels. The men all have women problems, Heinlein with his open marriage back in California, and Asimov with his lonely wife in Philadelphia. As close to parody as the novel gets, Malmont maintains a love for science fiction
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k i r ku s q & a w i t h a n n pat c h e t t State of Wonder
Ann Patchett Harper/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $26.99 June 7, 2011 9780062049803
Ann Patchett is the winner of the Orange Prize whose books include a memoir, Truth & Beauty, chronicling her friendship with the late writer Lucy Grealy, as well as such bestselling novels as Bel Canto and The Patron Saint of Liars. Her latest novel, State of Wonder, is equal parts medical thriller and adventure story as former surgeon Marina Singh is wrested from her comfortable life as a Minnesota pharmaceuticals researcher to undertake a mission in the perilous wilds of the Amazon. As Marina struggles to find her strongwilled former professor, Dr. Annick Swenson, her dangerous new surroundings teach her enduring lessons about both failure and redemption. Q: You possess such an obvious mastery of all the medical terminology in State of Wonder. Can you describe your research process? A: This was easy. My husband is a doctor, an internist, and luckily we have a lot of doctor friends. There were so many people for me to call along the way, and I could always say to my husband, “Under these circumstances, what is her blood pressure going to be? What weird anesthesia could they use for this surgery?” Q: What was the nature of your research where childbirth is concerned? A: My husband’s daughter, Josephine, is a labor and delivery nurse. I remember calling Josephine and saying, “What’s a birth defect you’re never going to see?” And she immediately said, “Sirenomelia.” Q: In another scene, a C-section must occur in a nonsterile environment with rudimentary tools. This is by far the most riveting birth I can remember in recent literature. Have you been present at a birth like this under similarly trying circumstances?
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A: Sure, but most of the powerful women I’ve known have also been incredibly loving. Grace Paley was a teacher of mine in college, and while there was nothing scary about Grace, I certainly put a dash of her into Dr. Swenson. You’d do anything she told you to do because she was a complete force of nature. Jane Friedman, the legendary publishing impresario, is like that too. I would follow Jane Friedman straight off a cliff. Q: Lastly, can you tip your hand a bit and let our readers know what you’re working on next? A: I was talking to my friend Julie Norcross, the former owner of McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Mich., this morning and she said, “The book is almost out! You can stop rearranging your sock drawer!” I really have been cleaning house for a long time. I’ve also been writing a lot of essays. I have an idea for a novel, but I’m not going to start it until book tour is over. It would break my heart to be writing a book and then have to stop to promote another book. –By Andrea Hoag
p h oto by me l is s a a n n p in n e y
A: I don’t have children and frankly the very easiest births look like trying circumstances to me. I was present 15 years ago for the birth of a friend’s child. That was very straightforward. While I was writing the book I wanted to see a C-section, and I asked a friend of mine who is an OB/GYN if I could come along and watch. She found a patient who was agreeable. It was probably a pretty average operation, although the baby did get stuck. I had no idea how physical C-sections are, so much pulling and tugging and sweating. My friend kept putting my hand inside the patient and saying, “There’s the head. That’s the ovary,” then she wrenched out this baby who looked like a thirdgrader. I made it almost to the very end of the closure before fainting. It was so embarrassing.
Q: After Marina finds Dr. Swenson and discovers the groundbreaking nature of the research being done, it becomes increasingly clear she is someone who is accustomed to getting her way, one to be both feared and respected. Have you had the experience of working with a person like her?
“A satisfying confection, equally good for beach and airplane.” from the wreckage
THE WRECKAGE
and its ability to bridge “what is known and what is about to be possible.” Like his role models, he never sells his story short. A larkish imagining of sci-fi greats becoming part of one narrative they can’t control. A fun novel, and an informative one in tracing the origins of the genre. (Agent: Susan Golomb)
THE SUMMER OF THE BEAR
Pollen, Bella Atlantic Monthly (448 pp.) $24.00 | June 1, 2011 978-0-8021-1974-2 García Márquez meets le Carré meets— well, A.A. Milne at times, with hints of William Golding at others. In her moving, beautifully written fifth novel, Pollen (Midnight Cactus, 2006, etc.) serves up an improbable mix that, on the face, seems as if it shouldn’t work. The main strand of narrative is something out of Cold War thrillerdom (whence le Carré): Letty Fleming’s diplomat husband, posted to Berlin a decade before the fall of the Berlin Wall, dies there, a victim of accident, murder or suicide—and, as their daughter Georgie notes, “In the matter of her father, the government had boxes to tick and files to close.” But which is it? The British government seems to think that Nicholas Fleming has turned traitor, leaking military secrets to the East Germans, which still doesn’t quite explain who relieved him of his life. A shocked Letty, with children in tow, retreats to the Outer Hebrides to sort things out, while the children attend to their own grief and confusion. In a fine evocation of young reasoning, Pollen has young son Jamie trying to make sense of it all, writing, “This much Jamie knew: his father had suffered an accident. He’d gone away for some time, then somehow—Jamie didn’t fully comprehend how—his father had got lost.” Jamie has a lively mind, even if sister Alba insists on calling him “retard,” and he is quick to spot an unlikely vision, namely a painted grizzly bear on a passing bus. This conjures up a conversation about grizzlies with Dad, an admonition from Mom that “there are no bears in Scotland” and, in good time, some reckonings with the grizzly himself, who is quite a smart and sensitive fellow. Magical realism and totemic bear in place (whence García Márquez and Milne), what remains is for all concerned to sort out the mystery that Nicky’s passing has given them—with a little flash of Lord of the Flies in store for Jamie, intentional homage or no. A sensitive and literate story told on several levels, all of them believable—if some of them improbable, too. (Agent: Kim Witherspoon)
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Robotham, Michael Little, Brown (320 pp.) $24.99 | June 16, 2011 978-0-316-12640-3 Taut, swiftly paced thriller involving big money, big business and big government, a promising trifecta that Robotham (Shatter, 2009, etc.) works to good advantage. Long retired from the Metropolitan Police and now widowed, Vincent Ruiz (last seen in Robotham’s Night Ferry) has seen enough of life to be world-weary—and now he’s got to see his daughter off into wedlock to a lawyer (“He votes Tory, but everybody does these days”) and, worse, buy a new suit in the bargain. Enter a femme fatale—or is she?—and a good clocking, in which Ruiz is relieved of his briefcase, containing rings and a comb that belonged to his late wife. But why? Ruiz theorizes that it’s a case of mistaken identity, but there’s something more to it than all that. Meanwhile, American journalist Luca Terracini is poking around in Baghdad, tracking the 18th bank robbery to strike that city in a few months, mostly relieving the vaults of American reconstruction funds in crisp green dollars. Generals, soldiers, guards, civil servants—no one seems to have the answers, though a judge speaks wisely when he says, “There is a war on, Luca. Perhaps you should ask the Americans where their money is going.” Well, their money, it seems, is winding up in London, where it most certainly should not be. Enter Ruiz again, indefatigable if easily bruised, and Robotham’s neatly constructed plot gathers speed and strength, an elaborate game of cat and mouse that involves some unusual suspects, and with explosions to boot. About the only thing to fault Robotham for in this neat thriller is an unfortunate allusion to a Brad Pitt film best left unmentioned. That desperate slip aside, a satisfying confection, equally good for beach and airplane. (Agents: Mark Lucas, Richard Pine, Nicki Kennedy and Sam Edenborough)
THE WEDDING WRITER
Schneider, Susan St. Martin’s Griffin (320 pp.) $14.99 paperback | June 1, 2011 978-0-312-67660-5 A debut novel that follows the professional and personal lives of Your Wedding’s new Editor-in-Chief Lucky Quinn and three colleagues who work at the glossy bridal magazine in Manhattan. The bridal magazine world is all a titter with the announcement of the end of two major publications, Tulle and Princess Bride, which leaves Your Wedding in the coveted top spot. Editor-in-Chief Grace Ralston briefly enjoys the limelight, until she is abruptly ousted by the publishers and replaced by her protégé Leigh “Lucky” Quinn, the magazine’s
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lead wedding writer. With Grace’s job in hand, Lucky is now under stress to increase advertising revenue and deal with the expectations of the art and fashion directors, Sara and Felice, who wielded power during Grace’s tenure. In addition to the office politics between the editors, Lucky must cope with the publisher, Jeff, whose attention borders on sexual harassment. With Lucky at the helm, dynamics shift, and each of the women must cope with their changing professional responsibilities in addition to their private dramas: Felice has a rebellious son with a suspected drug problem; Sara leads a lonely life outside of work; and former workaholic Grace is now suffering from depression. Schneider, a bridal-magazine editor and writer, gives readers a good view of what life is like in the world of tulle, taffeta and the quest for a fairy-tale wedding. Unfortunately, readers might find Lucky’s ascension unrealistic and unlikely. Although Schneider has an engaging way of telling the four women’s individual stories, readers may have a difficult time sympathizing with their struggles.
BURNT MOUNTAIN
Siddons, Anne Rivers Grand Central Publishing (336 pp.) $25.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-446-52789-7 Summer camps play a pivotal role in the life of a young Atlanta heiress. Thayer Wentworth has always been a disappointment to her mother, Crystal. Tomboyish, and too much like Crystal’s distrusted mother-in-law, Caroline, known as “Grand,” Thayer yearns for the life of the mind. In this Thayer resembles her father Finch, an educator, who died in an accident en route from a camp on Burnt Mountain. Grand, who refused to grant Crystal (a shopkeeper’s daughter) entree to Atlanta’s aristocratic Buckhead set, clearly favors Thayer over her more frivolous older sister Lily. When Grand moves into Crystal’s house after Finch dies, she grooms Thayer to inherit her father’s rarified legacy. First, there’s a counselorship at Sherwood Forest, an exclusive girls’ camp, where Thayer meets Nick Abrams, counselor at a nearby boys’ camp. The two fall madly in love and vow to marry, however when Nick departs for Europe, Thayer learns she is pregnant. Nick never writes or phones as he promised, and Thayer is tricked by Crystal into having an abortion. After a difficult physical and emotional recovery, Thayer attends Sewanee University at Grand’s urging, and there she meets and weds Celtic mythology professor Aengus. Crystal and Grand are no more thrilled about the Irish Aengus than they were about the Jewish Nick, however Grand is at least supportive. After a shocking betrayal (Crystal tells Aengus that the abortion left Thayer sterile), a permanent mother-daughter rift results. Grand dies, leaving Thayer and Aengus a rustic fieldstone house in a wooded Atlanta suburb. At first life is blissful, but then a local corrupt politician flatters Aengus into propagating Celtic lore at a boys’ camp (which churns out the Atlanta equivalent of Stepford Teens) that’s located, ominously enough, on Burnt 1002
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Mountain. Suddenly Aengus’ seemingly benign Celtic obsession turns into something menacing and Michael Flatley–like. Siddons is at her usual incisive best at skewering the mores of socially pretentious Southerners, and her prose is limpid and mesmerizing, but the grand gignol denouement beggars belief.
GET ME OUT OF HERE
Sutton, Henry Europa Editions (304 pp.) $15.00 paperback | June 1, 2011 978-1-60945-007-6 The latest creation from Sutton (Thong Nation, 2006, etc.) is a mad man in a mad world, obsessed with brand names and luxury but furious with cheap materialism and shallowness of life in London as the credit crisis of 2008 unfolds. When he isn’t wooing women who want nothing to do with him, Matt harangues retail clerks and managers as he attempts to return shoes, luggage, designer eyewear and other ill-advised purchases that he goes from fervently desiring to deeming faulty. He’s having cash-flow problems which he attempts to remedy by offering friends and family further “investment opportunities” in a murky business scheme he’s hatching with the North Koreans. Dumped by yet another girlfriend, Matt turns from disturbed to unhinged—his rambling internal rant follows increasingly sinister misadventures punctuated by ominous gaps in which the women he encounters, spies on and stalks disappear. Consumed with ire with others’ excess and jealousy over their seemingly endless credit, while he, broke and bashedup by violent incidents that are never fully elucidated is forced to cadge free meals from the friends and associates he compulsively mistreats and to steal cheap wine, he spirals downward into a paranoid, self-destructive loop. His narrative becomes elliptical and contradictory, rife with nonsensical digressions and digressions within digressions, usually on his purchase history and feelings on design, style and the lack of integrity in name-brand products. Very little happens, although there is a sort of progress to his decay. An image, contradictory to his deluded self-image and fantasy-life, begins to emerge from glimpses of his reflection and others’ shock and disgust at his increasingly bruised and scratched face, his wonky glasses and disheveled demeanor. Meant to be a satire, what little humor there is in his absurd turns of mind and in the juxtaposition of his delusional rants and pathetic reality soon wears thin, with little support from the weak plot and meandering language. But are Matt’s murderous thoughts just thoughts? For readers with a high enough threshold for meandering diatribes to make it to the end, answers to certain questions—e.g., what’s actually going on with Matt? will he ever manage to escape to North Korea?—aren’t much of a reward, given the larger question posed by a lack of story, entertainment or meaning: Who cares?
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“A captivating story of loss, forgiveness and ultimate redemption.” from close your eyes
CLOSE YOUR EYES
Ward, Amanda Eyre Random (272 pp.) $25.00 | July 26, 2011 978-0-345-49448-1
Lauren Mahdian believes her father “ruined everything, everything, everything” in Ward’s (Sleep Toward Heaven, 2004, etc.) literary novel. Lauren is just past 30, lives in trendy Austin, Texas, with her boyfriend, works as a real-estate agent and has one anchor in her somewhat neurotic life, her older brother, Alex. Lauren’s certain her father killed her mother, a murder that occurred when Lauren was eight and the family lived in New York. Alex, even though believing their father innocent, has been her pillar of emotional support throughout their life with maternal grandparents, through college and beyond. Their father, Izaan Mahdian, was an Egyptian immigrant, a writer, but a man whose Jewish-American wife, Jordan, was the family breadwinner. In the afterglow of a party, Jordan was killed by a blow to the head. Izaan was convicted of her murder and has spent two decades in prison. Lauren’s logic, and a shadowy memory, tells her Izaan is guilty, but her heart constantly reminds her that belief is counter to all that she knew and loved about her parents. The novel opens with Alex leaving for Baghdad to serve with Doctors without Borders. Alex is soon declared missing after a car bombing, pushing Lauren further toward collapse. The story grows more complicated when, in Book Two of the novel’s five, Sylvia Hall leaves her boyfriend at a Colorado ski resort and heads to her childhood home in New York City. Sylvia is 41 and pregnant, and she is linked to Lauren in a manner which Lauren cannot comprehend. Lauren is a realistic, sympathetic protagonist. Her relationship with her boyfriend and Sylvia’s relationship with hers eerily mirrors the relationship of Izaan and Jordan, but that remains symbolic rather than fully explored. Ward writes familiarly of Austin, and of New York City, and her writing, laced with literary prose, moves the narrative forward believably. A captivating story of loss, forgiveness and ultimate redemption. (Author tour to Boston, Nantucket, Cape Cod, New York, Houston, Austin, San Francisco)
THE HOMECOMING OF SAMUEL LAKE
Wingfield, Jenny Random (336 pp.) $25.00 | July 12, 2011 978-0-385-34408-1
Movie viewers who remember the 1991 tearjerker The Man in the Moon know what to expect from screenwriter Wingfield’s first novel, a rural Christian heartwarmer set in 1956 southern Arkansas. When he loses his latest pulpit, idealistic Methodist preacher |
Samuel Lake, his lovingly pragmatic wife Willadee and their three spunky kids move in with Willadee’s newly widowed mother Calla Moses on what used to be the family farm. Now Calla runs a grocery store on the front porch. Willadee’s brother Toy, a war hero who lost his leg saving a “Negro” soldier, has taken over the all-night bar Willadee’s father opened on the back porch before he committed suicide. Years ago, Toy killed the man he caught messing with his wife Bernice on the very night he came home from overseas. Everyone in town knows he did it, but the sympathetic local police never brought charges. Ironically, Bernice is still not so secretly in love with her onetime fiancé Samuel and hopes to steal him back from Willadee. Meanwhile, almost-12-year-old Swan Lake—her name’s ha-ha quality is frequently referred to but never explained—quickly gets into various scrapes with her brothers. Soon she becomes the angel/idol of little Blade Ballenger, whose sadistic, perverted father Ras is the evil counterpoint to the two versions of saintly goodness exemplified by Samuel, rigidly devout but never rigid, and Toy, a gentle warrior who protects those he loves at any cost. The early chapters’ high spirits darken when Ras knocks out Blade’s eye with a horse whip while beating him. Soon Blade is living at the Moses house under Toy’s particular protection, Ras is plotting vengeance, and the Lake marriage is in trouble thanks to a subtle nudge from Bernice. Expect not only rape but also kitten murder. Wingfield’s film experience shows in her flair for dialogue. But the simplistic division between good and evil characters and her apparent approval of righteous killing going unpunished may trouble some readers. Hefty helpings of corn-pone charm become leaden with down-home sanctimony.
m ys t e r y THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES
Adler-Olsen, Jussi Dutton (400 pp.) $25.95 | August 22, 2011 978-0-5259-5248-0 Great news for fans who feared that the formula that shot Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy to the top of international bestseller lists couldn’t be cloned: a big, leisurely Scandinavian thriller with dark hints of conspiracy, clunky descriptions, dozens of plot complications and the world’s most unnuanced villains. Five years after Danish stateswoman Merete Lynggaard vanished without a trace from a ferry crossing, Carl Mørck takes it upon himself to reopen the case. Despite the possible presence of an eyewitness, Merete’s unreachably brain-damaged younger brother Uffe, the mystery has long been dismissed as unsolvable
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by the Copenhagen police, who think Merete must simply have slipped off the boat for reasons unknown. But Carl’s in an unusually strong position to pick it up again. Banished to Department Q, his own personal cold-case unit, after a shooting left one of his best friends dead, another paralyzed and Carl himself with an incapacitating case of survivor’s guilt and rage, he can choose his cases, control his budget and call on police departments throughout Denmark for help. And he’ll need plenty of help, because the disappearance of Merete, who against all odds is still alive, held captive by a sociopathic family mad for revenge against the inoffensive minister, is only one of the problems he’ll face. His colleagues produce painful new leads on the shooting that annihilated his own team; he’s determined to put the moves on police crisis counselor Mona Ibsen, whose agenda emphatically doesn’t include his romantic overtures; and he can’t help growing suspicious of his remarkably talented new assistant, especially since he bears the name Hafez al-Assad. The trail to the truth is filled with authentically tedious loose ends and dead ends; the climactic confrontation with the monstrous malefactors is cathartically violent; and the final scene is unexpectedly touching. The English-language success of Adler-Olsen’s synthetic but sharply calculated debut, already a publishing phenomenon in Germany, Austria and its native Denmark, seems so assured that resistance would be futile.
THE DARLING DAHLIAS AND THE NAKED LADIES
Albert, Susan Wittig Berkley Prime Crime (304 pp.) $25.95 | July 5, 2011 978-0-425-24128-8
Fresh from their maiden voyage (The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree, 2010, etc.), members of the Darling Dahlia Garden Club solve a second crime. In the early years of the Depression, life in the small town of Darling, Ala., is a struggle even for gardeners who raise their own food. So Dahlia stalwarts Liz Lacy, Verna Tidwell and Bessie Bloodworth are grateful for the diversion provided by two new ladies who’ve moved into the home of the reclusive Miss Hamer. One is Miss Hamer’s niece Nona Jean Jamison, whom Verna recognizes as Lorelei LaMotte, the naughty half of the Ziegfeld Follies Naughty and Nice Sisters. Liz has her own problems when she learns that her overbearing mother has lost her house in the stock market crash and is planning on moving in with Liz. The ladies are sure there’s something up when Nona Jean goes to the beauty parlor and has her flowing platinum locks bobbed and died brown. A little judicious snooping reveals Nona’s connection with the notorious Al Capone. When one of Capone’s henchmen arrives in town looking for Nona and her friend, who’s remained sequestered in her room, the Dahlias know they’re in for trouble. These flowers of Southern womanhood are a lot tougher than they appear, however, and they have a plan to rid Darling of the hit man. 1004
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Not the most difficult mystery to solve, but still literate and well-researched, with recipes and cleaning tips appended.
BACK OF BEYOND
Box, C.J. Minotaur Books (384 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | August 2, 2011 978-0-312-36574-5 | 978-1-4299-7068-6 A second standalone from the chronicler of Twelve Sleep County Game Warden Joe Pickett (Cold Wind, 2011, etc.) takes a Montana cop deep into the wilds of Yellowstone National Park in the hope of protecting his teenaged son from a determined killer. The evidence says that Hank Winters died in a house fire shortly after downing several stiff drinks. But Cody Hoyt, an investigator for the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff ’s Department, doesn’t believe the evidence. Hank was Cody’s AA sponsor, and he knows that although he might have fallen off the wagon himself, his adamantine mentor never would have done so. If Hank didn’t drink from the uncapped flask found nearby, then someone must have planted it—and that rules out both accident and suicide. Kicked off the case, Cody still keeps working it with the help of his friend and colleague Larry Olson, who soon uncovers a nationwide chain of murders with a remarkably similar m.o. Even more chilling, however, is a clue that convinces Cody that the killer is headed to a backcountry expedition through Yellowstone Park, the very same place Cody’s son Justin has been taken by His Richness Walt Franck, the developer who’s engaged to Cody’s ex Jenny. As Cody laboriously makes his way closer to the park, dodging suspicious cops and murder attempts, Box keeps cutting away to the expedition organized by outfitter Jed McCarthy, whose party of a dozen amateur adventurers is methodically whittled away one by one. Can Cody, a refugee from the Denver PD who’s no great outdoorsman himself, catch up with the group and identify the killer in time to save his son’s life? Once again, Box provides the complete suspense package: unobtrusively slick detection, buckets of surprises and mounting thrills, all amid his trademark settings in the majestic high country. (First printing of 125,000)
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THE SAUVIGNON SECRET
Crosby, Ellen Scribner (272 pp.) $24.00 | August 16, 2011 978-1-4391-6388-7
Virginia wine grower Lucie Montgomery becomes involved in yet another murder. When Lucie goes to visit wine merchant Paul Noble to talk about getting a better price for her wine, Paul has nothing to say because he’s hanging from a |
beam with a bottle of Lucie’s wine and an unusual glass at his feet. Dinner at the house of Charles and Juliette Theissman, old friends of Lucie’s newly arrived French grandfather, involves her in an investigation of Charles’ mysterious past, including Cold War research on human subjects. A small group known as the Mandrake Society, whose members included Paul Noble, was involved, and now they’re dying one by one. Charles asks Lucie to check out the former owner of Rose Hill Vineyard in California to see if he was a Mandrake member now using a false name. Lucie, who’s going to California anyway to visit Rose Hill and taste some wine her former lover Mick Dunne plans to buy and perhaps see her winemaker and sometime lover Quinn Santori, reluctantly agrees. Quinn treats her to a romantic whirlwind tour of San Francisco, Sonoma and the Napa Valley while they join forces to investigate the past. Their relationship is fraught with tension and danger lurks. To her string of Wine Country cases (The Viognier Vendetta, 2010, etc.), Crosby adds another well-conceived mystery and the latest dispatches concerning Lucie’s troubled love life.
THE CUCKOO’S CHILD
Eccles, Marjorie Severn House (240 pp.) $28.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8032-1
The paterfamilias passes away, 1909. Wealthy mill owner Ainsley Beaumont succumbs to his fate after falling into the Cross Ings Mill dam, helped along by a stout cosh with a stone. The obvious suspects are his bad-tempered, widowed daughter-in-law Amelia and her twins Gideon, who’s eager to modernize the mill and improve its working conditions, and Una, who’s determined to follow Mrs. Pankhurst’s example and liberate women. But it would be premature to rule out Beaumont’s partners at cards, Whiteley Hirst, the mill manager saddled by debt, and Dr. Widdop, who knows many of the secrets of the local Yorkshire women. And of course there is the surprise inheritor of £15,000: Laura Harcourt, who had been in Beaumont’s employ organizing his library for only a week. Is the death connected to the fire 20 years back that gutted one wing of Beaumont’s home and killed his son? Does it have to do with a missive stashed away on a high shelf in his library explaining the plight of Benjamin Kindersley and Lucie Picard, one long gone, the other dead soon after childbirth? Laura’s meeting with handsome engineer Tom Illingworth on the moor brings Jane Eyre to mind. But there are enough marital infidelities and scandalous births, suffragette pamphleteering and trade union speeches to invoke a whole shelf of period fiction. Eccles (The Shape of Sand, 2005, etc.) so overstuffs her plot that one can only pity the poor inspector who must wade through all this pother on the eve of his retirement.
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THE HEIRLOOM MURDERS
Ernst, Kathleen Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (360 pp.) $14.95 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-0-7387-2758-5 A curator and a cop team up to solve a murder. Chloe Ellefson, collections curator for Old World Wisconsin, has worked with local cop Roelke McKenna once before (Old World Murder, 2010), but this time they have a much more difficult task. Their budding romance is suffering from the arrival of Chloe’s old lover from Switzerland. He had dumped her after her miscarriage but now he wants to make amends. Meanwhile, Roelke is called to the scene of Bonnie Sabatola’s suicide, but something does not feel right to him. Chloe’s friend Dellyn Burke, who is Bonnie’s sister, has asked Chloe for help with the vast collection of historic artifacts her parents had intended to leave to the Eagle Historical Society. Now Chloe feels obligated not only to help Dellyn separate the wheat from the chaff, but also to support her as she deals with her sister’s death. Dellyn jokingly suggests that perhaps they will discover the Eagle Diamond, which was dug up in the area and later stolen from a museum. Chloe’s research on the diamond indicates that it’s something of a will-o-the-wisp, but when she is brutally attacked in Dellyn’s barn she begins to suspect that it really exists. There is indeed an heirloom that is provoking murder, but it’s a lot more complex than a missing diamond. Complex characterization and a stronger mystery make Ernst’s second more likely to appeal to a broader audience than her debut, which got by largely on interesting historical tidbits still happily in evidence here.
BAD INTENTIONS
Fossum, Karin Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (224 pp.) $24.00 | August 9, 2011 978-0-547-48334-4 Norway’s Inspector Konrad Sejer is less an agent or character than a brooding presence in this slim, penetrating tale of a falling-out among conspirators. Jon Moreno’s childhood friends have signed him out of the Ladegården Psychiatric Hospital for only a weekend, but he doesn’t survive even their first night. Instead he falls out of their boat and into the lake called Dead Water. Philip Reilly, the big porter at Central Hospital, wants first to dive in after him and then, once all hope is gone, to call the police. But Axel Frimann, the advertising executive who’s always been the leader of the trio, easily talks him out of both ideas and into lying to Sejer and his sergeant, Jacob Skarre, when they do show up, exactly as if they’d committed some sort of crime. The investigation that follows is understated but pointed, especially after the diary Jon left
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“A widow faces familiar obstacles while trying to rebuild her life.” from life studies
behind makes it clear that he was indeed involved in something that had left him shattered and wracked by guilt. And the discovery of the swollen body of Kim Van Chau, found in Glitter Lake nine months after he disappeared from a party at which all three friends were present, provides an obvious foundation for those feelings. But what exactly caused Kim’s death, and what can Sejer do about it? Sejer’s questioning, the diary, an accident at Jon’s funeral, a kitten Reilly rescues from the woods—they all pave the way for a climax with strong echoes of Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale.
LIFE STUDIES
Gates, Nancy Gotter Five Star (244 pp.) $25.95 | August 17, 2011 978-1-4328-2529-4 A widow faces familiar obstacles while trying to rebuild her life. Liz Raynor lost her husband Peter to cancer. Financially secure but emotionally adrift at 55, she’s searching for a new purpose to her life. Because she’s always enjoyed painting, she rents a studio at the Sternberger Artist’s Center, where she can experiment, and makes a new friend in writer Rachel Levine, who has the studio next door. When Liz signs up for a class, her instructor Jay Kadlacek offers the distinct possibility of romance. The only fly in the ointment is the visit from Samantha Graves, a young woman who calls her house asking for Peter and bursts into tears when she learns that he’s dead. Liz tries to find out why her visitor needs to find Peter, but Samantha has little to say before Liz drops her off at a local motel. Weeks later, while she’s working at a homeless shelter, Liz runs into Samantha, who’s used up all her money and can’t find a job. The unspecified connection to Peter makes Liz decide to take Samantha in. That’s a good thing for her guest, because once she finds her a job, the pay still isn’t enough to finance a place of her own. Liz’s romance with Jay is hindered by Samantha and by Jay’s son Brian, a sulky teen on parole for a minor drug charge. Things go from bad to worse when Liz finally discovers Samantha’s connection to Peter and major troubles beset both Liz and Jay. Gates takes time out from her Tommi Poag mysteries (Death at Play, 2008, etc.) for a pleasant but pedestrian romance.
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THE DURHAM DECEPTION
Gooden, Philip Severn House (256 pp.) $28.95 | June 1, 2011 978-0-7278-6995-1
The Victorian fascination with spiritualism leads to murder in this second adventure for a newlywed couple (The Salisbury Manuscript, 2008). London law clerk Thomas Ansell and his bride Helen are dubious of the fashion for the occult, but they gamely attend a seance to see for themselves. Their skepticism only increases when the medium, Ernest Smight, is caught red-handed and arrested as a fraud. Helen regrets her harsh stance when she reads of Smight’s suicide, but her resolve is sharpened upon learning that her spinster aunt, Julia Howlett, has been taken in by one of these charlatans. By coincidence, Aunt Julia lives in Durham, where Thomas is sent to take an affidavit from Major Sebastian Marmont, a stage magician whose Oriental curios are the subject of dark speculation. Thomas and Helen head north to make Aunt Julia see reason and to formally record the truth about the Lucknow Dagger. Upon their arrival, Aunt Julia’s pet spiritualist, Eustace Flask, puts on an impressive show—so impressive that even when Major Marmont exposes Flask’s tricks, Julia maintains her faith in him. Whatever Flask’s skills, they aren’t enough to protect him. Helen finds his body with the throat slashed and, hysterical, is taken to gaol. She’s soon released after a parcel arrives at the police station containing an unsigned confession and the murder weapon: the Lucknow Dagger. Thomas must protect his client and his wife by getting to the bottom of the matter via a dashing last-minute rescue. Interesting depictions of magic shows and seances consistently upstage generic characters with weak motives.
A BEDLAM OF BONES
Hill, Suzette A. Soho Constable (254 pp.) $25.00 | July 19, 2011 978-1-56947-959-9
An English vicar is both a murderer and a detective. The Reverend Francis Oughterard led a life of rectitude until he strangled a parishioner. He escaped detection thanks to his dog Bouncer and his cat Maurice, who managed to cover up the crime. Since then his attempts to hew to the straight and narrow have been undermined by his involvement in any number of other illegal activities (Bones In High Places, 2010, etc.). This time out, a blackmailer is threatening his bishop. Years earlier this worthy cleric had a homosexual affair with Oughterard’s sleazy pal Nicholas Ingaza, who turned up trumps for him by providing him with an alibi for murder. Now he too is getting blackmail notes. Soon enough he presses the unfortunate Oughterard into
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service as a sleuth. When Freddie Felter, one of their favorite suspects, is shot dead outside the bishop’s house, Oughterard and Ingaza are tasked with disposing of the body. An unluckily placed police roadblock forces them to dump it in a neighbor’s garden, all too close to Oughterard’s home. Luckily, Bouncer, who had unwillingly shared the back seat with the corpse, manages to abscond with a notebook full of interesting tidbits that will help Oughterard identify the blackmailer. The muddled, murderous vicar takes a backseat to his clever pets and a startling ending.
STEAL THE SHOW
Kaufman, Thomas Minotaur Books (320 pp.) $24.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-312-54632-8 A wisecracking D.C. P.I. skirts the law in order to save his would-be daughter. With an eye to adopting Sarah, the Jamaican baby he recently rescued from a murder scene, Washington private eye Willis Gidney tries to follow the straight and narrow, a decidedly new path for him. He takes a class given by the local Adoptive Services and settles into a comfy domestic routine with computer whiz Lilly. So when a shady potential client named Rush Gemelli proffers a job that includes a break-in, Gidney declines...until he’s unexpectedly ruled unfit to adopt Sarah. With serious money needed to mountan appeal and time running out, Gideny changes his mind and takes the Gemelli gig, which involves breaking into a warehouse. Onsite surprises include a rottweiler and a pair of dim guards. Neither obstacle is much trouble—he superglues the guards together—but they set off warning bells for Gidney. Indeed, Gemelli uses the incident to blackmail him into the unpleasant job of working for his father, the choleric Chuck Gemelli, a former federal bureaucrat who currently runs the motion picture industry lobby (think Jack Valenti). Unfortunately, dad is not to know—Gemelli junior suspects fould play within dad’s office—so Gidney’s first hurdle is overcoming the resistance of the elder Gemelli and Longstreet, his justifiably suspicious security chief. Murder raises the stakes, the Sarah case hits snag after snag, and Gidney soon learns that he can trust no one. Kaufman packs Gidney’s second caper (Drink the Tea, 2010) with familiar elements, but keeps the twists and oneliners coming.
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DEATH TOLL
Kelly, Jim Minotaur Books (432 pp.) $25.99 | June 21, 2011 978-0-312-57352-2 DI Peter Shaw (Death Watch, 2010, etc.) deals with two cold cases, one of which is family business. Not far from his Norfolk home, 9-year-old Jonathan Tessier is discovered dead, a homicide victim. Two excellent detectives catch the case, and in due time seemingly crack it. They arrest Robert Mosse, a 21-year-old law student, who’s tried but eventually freed—a monumental speed bump for two fasttrack careers tainted by the possibility of fabricated evidence. The officers, DCI Jack Shaw and his partner DI George Mortimer, of the West Norfolk Constabulary, suffer deeply in the aftermath of what turns out to be the Tessier debacle. Shaw, humiliated and embittered, resigns from the force. Mortimer, reduced in rank, spends a painful period wandering the North Norfolk boondocks. Thirteen years later, in one of those tricky games Fate likes to play, Mortimer finds himself partnered with a younger Shaw, Jack’s son Peter, whose zeal to remove the Tessier taint matches his own. But there’s a second cold case on their plates, this one even older and, in a variety of curious ways, more pressing. Twenty-eight years ago, Nora Tilden was murdered and her husband duly convicted and imprisoned. Trickster Fate, though, has suddenly arranged to disinter her coffin, atop which rest bones of another color, a mysterious set belonging to a black man who until now no one had considered missing. Kelly writes impeccable prose and creates compelling characters, but the ungainly size of this novel will leave some readers feeling that the party just goes on too long.
STORM DAMAGE
Kovacs, Ed Minotaur Books (320 pp) $25.99 | December 6, 2011 978-0-312-58181-7 A New Orleans crime drama plays it by the book. Ex-cop-cum–mixed-martial artist Cliff St. James is offered a job he can’t refuse when his former friend Sam Siu’s daughter, Twee, offers him work as a private investigator. It’s not just that Cliff needs the money; it’s that Sam once told Twee that Cliff was the only person she could trust. Besides, Cliff feels as though it’s partially his duty, considering that Twee wants to hire him to investigate her father’s death. On the day of Hurricane Katrina, the NOPD found a body that looked like Sam’s, minus a face. But the evidence has mainly been washed away and the department inundated with bigger crimes since the storm. Cliff is fairly sure he can find the truth, although it quickly becomes clear that Twee is hiding more than she’s telling. Even her
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deceptiveness makes sense, since the closer Cliff gets to the truth, the more complex Sam’s life appears to have been. Soon Cliff is dealing with the CIA, the FBI, a gang of Vietnamese immigrants, a cunning drug lord and a lot more trouble than he bargained for. Thrown into the mix are Cliff’s need to bed every potential leading lady and a surfeit of Big Easy folk talk. Luckily, Cliff’s got a sort-of partner he can count on in straight-shooting Sgt. Honey Baybee, whose name may be the only dumb thing about her. Mired in a laboriously authentic voice, Kovacs’s return (Unseen Forces, 2004) is a slow starter that gains momentum in spite of its adherence to formula.
VISION IMPOSSIBLE
Laurie, Victoria Obsidian/Berkley (352 pp.) $23.95 | July 5, 2011 978-0-451-23406-3
A psychic helps her fiancé crack the case of the missing CIA whatsit. Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Dutch Rivers, FBI, is exactly what you’d expect: He speaks several languages, has extensive weapons training and is ready to do what it takes to protect his country. His fiancée, Abigail Cooper, is none of the above, and so is more than surprised to be rounded up by the CIA for a special mission. The agency is in trouble when a special drone is stolen—a drone programmed to see people’s unique auras. Originally intended to track our most deadly enemies, the drone could be a unique threat to world safety if it fell into the wrong hands. Abby’s psychic skills are key to the mission. Not only can she see the same auras as the machine, but her skills may give Dutch added protection. Before Abby can rattle off a handful of the reader’s favorite signature catchphrases, she, Dutch and CIA handler Agent Frost are off to the great white north on a mission of recovery. Abby is suddenly thrust into a world of weapons dealers, international espionage and real threats on her life. She’ll need more than psychic powers to make sure she and Dutch make it through alive. Fans of Laurie’s Psychic Eye series (A Glimpse of Evil, 2010, etc.) will notice the absence of some of their favorite characters in this latest addition. Natural pacing and humor offer compensation for a plot freighted with heavyhanded exposition.
13 MILLION DOLLAR POP
Levien, David Doubleday (320 pp.) $24.95 | August 9, 2011 978-0-385-53253-2
Indianapolis ex-cop Frank Behr (Where the Dead Lay, 2009, etc.) gets dropped into the middle of a case that promises to end his days as a bodyguard as well. 1008
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Frank never thought he was cut out for executive protection. The work is servile, and the Caro Group doesn’t pay him well enough to compensate for his issues with authority. But one problem with guarding local developer (and now Senatordesignate) Bernard Kolodnik never occurred to him: He might get shot at. The attack comes in a parking garage, and although Behr saves Bernie Cool’s life and earns his gratitude, his efforts on behalf of his agency and their client don’t get him any traction when he tries to find out who fired the shots and why. In fact, both Karl Potempa, the head of Caro’s Indianapolis office, and Shugie Saunders, Bernie’s political consultant, are actively thwarting the investigation he’s running in defiance of Potempa’s command (backed up by Lt. Gary Breslau of the Indianapolis police) to lay off. As Frank staggers along on his own, the forces who wanted Bernie dead bring in Welsh cleanup hitter Wadsworth Dwyer, who in turn calls on Rickie Powell, a good man with an axe, to cauterize the loose ends before Behr can trace them to the top. But even after Caro fires him, Behr turns out to have reinforcements of his own, especially after a horrifying call on Susan Durrant, his pregnant girlfriend, drags Indianapolis cop Eddie Decker, an ex–USMC sniper, into the fray. A professional-grade actioner that offers compelling evidence for Rickie’s dictum: “When pros lock up, everyone gets hurt.”
PAMPERED TO DEATH
Levine, Laura Kensington (304 pp.) $22.00 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7582-3847-4
Dieting can be murder, as a freelance writer finds out at the health resort from hell. Her neighbor Lance, who owes Jaine Austen (Killing Bridezilla, 2008, etc.) big time, springs for a stay for both the ad copywriter and her cat Prozac at The Haven, a fancy-schmancy spa up the Central Coast from their L.A. home. Slightly less fancy and definitely less schmancy than advertised, The Haven offers threadbare towels and even sparser provisions. Nine hundred calories a day leave the inner woman screaming for sustenance, and spa owner and diet Nazi Olga, who knows all the tricks, confiscates Jaine’s stash of turkey-onrye at the door. But worse than the cuisine is the company, from nonstop talker Cathy Kane, who saved up for years to afford this week of torture, to spoiled star Mallory Francis, who specializes in pushing Olga’s buttons. Even Mallory’s unhappy entourage—her sister Kendra, hairstylist Harvy [sic], former costar Clint Masters and ill-tempered Pekingese Armani—give Jaine the willies. Fortunately, someone puts a stop to Mallory’s endless requests for really fresh mangoes with a lethal seaweed wrap. Unfortunately, Mallory’s murder means that everyone has to stay put until the police solve the case. Not wanting to live on celery fizz or keep paying shifty chambermaid Delphine 30 bucks a pop for pastrami sandwiches forever, Jaine puts her sleuthing skills to work to find a killer before her appetite kills her.
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Levine offers a full menu of clues for the detectionstarved reader. But couldn’t wordsmith Jaine find some slicker means of interrogation than confronting her suspects with reasons for thinking they done it?
NO REST FOR THE WICKED
Main, Elizabeth C. Five Star (256 pp.) $25.95 | August 17, 2011 978-1-4328-2504-1 The murder of a con artist shakes things up in Juniper, Oreg. Jane Serrano, founder of the Murder of the Month Book Club, has already solved one murder (Murder of the Month, 2005). Now she must try again to keep a friend from going to jail. So many people in town have been taken by con artists that you’d think there’d be a whole slew of suspects when one of the scammers is killed. But the inept local lawman finds his No. 1 suspect in Jane’s friend Alix. It’s true enough that much-married Alix had bona fide reasons to dislike the victim, who just happened to be her first husband. But her particulars don’t exactly add up to a criminal background: She’s the owner of the Wedding Belle Bridal Shop, where Jane’s daughter Bianca and her dog Wendell work. (Wendell hires out as a ring bearer and is a big hit if Bianca can keep him away from the canapés.) Naturally, Jane is egged on to investigate by members of the book club, especially Minnie and Velda, who yearn to be detectives. Balancing her job at the bookstore, her romance with Nick, a lawyer who can be counted on to help Alix, and the time she spends investigating keeps Jane constantly on the go until the real murderer almost puts paid to her detective career. Main’s sophomore outing features some amusing characters, but Jane is still a clueless sleuth.
CLASSIC IN THE BARN
Myers, Amy Severn House (192 pp) $27.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8018-5
A chance encounter with a 1938 Lagonda V12 involves Jack Colby, Car Detective, in a case of murder. Enjoying a stroll along a bridleway, Jack notices the classic Lagonda in an old barn. As a car restorer and collector, he is tempted to check out the beautiful old lady, but is discovered by the owner Polly Davis, former TV presenter and widow, who urges her companion Guy Williams to move him along. Although Jack recognizes the car as the one in which Polly’s husband Mike was found dead, he still hopes to persuade her to restore it. Sure enough, Polly thaws enough to allow |
Jack to bring a picture to her for framing. But when he discovers her shot dead near the Lagonda, Jack, who already does work for the police helping to trace stolen cars, becomes both a suspect and a sleuth. Polly’s daughter Bea, a friend of Jack’s employee Zoe, asks Jack to take the Lagonda for restoration. The plot thickens when his shop is torched with the Lagonda inside. Luckily the car survives to be hidden away in another old barn. Rumors abound that Polly and Mike were involved in some illegal activity. A secret cavity built into the Lagonda makes Jack suspect that they were moving money or stolen artwork to the continent while visiting car shows. Jack, who already has money problems, realizes that he’s investigating a number of dicey people who don’t have his best interests at heart. The series kickoff by the prolific Myers (Murder on the Old Road, 2011, etc.) is very much in the tradition of Dick Francis—no bad thing.
UNDER THE DOG STAR
Parshall, Sandra Poisoned Pen (312 pp.) $24.95 | Lg. Prt. $22.95 September 1, 2011 978-1-59058-878-9 Lg. Prt. 978-1-59058-879-6
Dog fighting meets murder in the latest case for veterinarian Rachel Goddard and her boyfriend, Sheriff ’s investigator
Tom Bridger. Mason County, Va., has been repeatedly plagued by dogfighting rings, and now it seems another one is open for business. So Rachel won’t win any popularity contests through her determination to save a pack of feral dogs that has been harassing area farms. When the much disliked physician Gordon Hall is found dead with his throat ripped out, many jump to the conclusion that the dog pack is responsible, but evidence shows that only one dog accompanied by a handler did the deed. The highly dysfunctional Hall family is now led by the dying Mrs. Hall, who can hardly cope with her arrogant son Ethan, her wild daughter Beth and her adopted children Soo Jin, David and Marcy. All have been emotionally crippled by their hypercritical father’s impossibly high expectations. As Tom learns that family pets that have been disappearing were destined to be bait for fighting dogs, Rachel still struggles to capture the feral dogs before they are all shot. The problems would be hard enough for both Tom and Rachel even if they weren’t the subjects of murderous attacks. Parshall’s latest is more than equal to earlier series entries (Broken Places, 2010, etc.), with spine-chilling tension from cover to cover.
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mystery
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15 june 2011
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1009
FLY ME TO THE MORGUE
Randisi, Robert J. Severn House (192 pp.) $27.95 | June 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8015-4
In the sixth of Randisi’s current series (I’m a Fool to Kill You, 2011, etc.), Bing Crosby makes the Rat Pack scene. An iconic figure in the annals of pop, Crosby gets downsized here and nudged into the wings. True enough, he triggers the mystery, such as it is, but thereafter he does not much more than nudge the plot a bit through infrequent, mostly banal walk-ons. Seems Bing wants to buy a certain horse at a certain price. Seems the trainer on whose expertise he intended to rely has suddenly gone missing, giving rise to a need for ad hoc help. Enter Vegas’s Eddie Gianelli, casino pit boss extraordinaire, ever ready, willing and, no matter how complex the challenge, remarkably able to aid the Rat Pack and all its adjuncts. And if Eddie enters, can hulking Jerry Epstein, career muscle guy, fail to heed the call of friendship? Though they’re an ill-assorted pair of buddies, big Jerry always has the back of fast Eddie, who unfailingly returns the favor. Mutual support will soon be required, it turns out, when a hit man’s bullets make targets of them both. Meanwhile, Bing’s trainer goes from missing to dead, additional bodies are tagged and the ongoing question, never adequately answered, becomes: why all the gunplay and bloodletting just because a crooner wants to buy a horse for a song? The weakest entry in the series to date. Pass it up, dig out a cherished old album instead and spin a platter or two.
PROPERTY OF A LADY
Rayne, Sarah Severn House (256 pp.) $28.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8028-4
A haunted house holds past secrets that endanger present visitors. Americans Liz and Jack Harper are thrilled to inherit an old house in the tiny Shropshire town of Marston Lacy. They ask their British friend Michael Flint, a junior don at Oxford’s Oriel College, to check it out. When Michael takes several pictures of the imposing structure, called Charect House, he’s slightly unsettled by a figure he sees in an upper window. At this point, the diary accounts (circa 1988) of Dr. Alice Wilson, a Special Investigator for Psychic Research, begin to be woven into the narrative, along with the perspective of Nell West, a young widow new to Marston Lacy. Nell, who has a small antiques business in town, has been hired by the Harpers to help furnish the house. She visits Charect with her young daughter Beth, whom she has been careful to shield from the world. Upon discovering Wilson’s diary, Nell learns that the house’s name has been changed. 1010
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Once Michael and Nell’s paths cross, they begin a very muted flirtation. Beth begins having violent nightmares and one day vanishes from school. Beside herself, Nell rushes to the police station. At length, Michael finds a similar case from decades ago. Further research stretches all the way back to the late 19th century. Dark episodes from the past counterpoint Michael and Nell’s present-day attempts to save Beth. With this eighth novel (House of the Lost, 2010, etc.), which boasts a refreshingly retro flavor, Rayne spins eerie yarns within yarns like a latter-day Isak Dinesen or Wilkie Collins.
ONE DOG NIGHT
Rosenfelt, David Minotaur Books (320 pp.) $24.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-312-64799-5 Andy Carpenter, the laziest member of the New Jersey bar, is backed into trying a six-year-old case of arson and murder on behalf of a client who admits that he’s guilty. Whoever doused the building in Paterson’s Hamilton Village with napalm and set it aflame killed 26 people, most of them burned beyond recognition, in the process. The case has stuck in Lt. Pete Stanton’s craw, and he’s delighted to see fresh evidence that Noah Galloway, a prescription-drug abuser turned anti-drug counselor, lit the match. Nor does Galloway contest the charges; he merely insists that he never talked to Danny Butler, the state’s key witness. Faced with a client who says he’s probably guilty but disputes the evidence, Andy vows to repay Noah for rescuing Hannah, the golden retriever Andy later adopted as Tara, by fighting to exonerate him. The odds are long because Andy can’t cross-examine Butler, who’s been conveniently executed after his deposition; because Andy has no clear evidence against Noah’s guilt and no plausible alternative theory of the crime to offer; but mainly because Rosenfelt has elected to enlist against Andy’s team all the mighty powers of another nationwide conspiracy that could mean the end of the world as we know it (Dog Tags, 2010, etc.). The results will be heartwarming to dog lovers, absorbing to fans of courtroom byplay, and bemusing to readers who expect their international intrigue served up with more authority. The verdict: canny legal maneuvering in the courtroom and out; tiresomely repetitive foreshadowing of dire events to come; and unconvincingly inflated threats against the nation, as if the characters’ welfare didn’t supply enough rooting interest.
kirkusreviews.com
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A BAD NIGHT’S SLEEP
Wiley, Michael Minotaur Books (272 pp.) $24.99 | June 21, 2011 978-0-312-55224-4
The bent cops are straight, the straight cops are crooked, and ex-cop Joe Kozmarski (The Bad Kitty Lounge, 2010, etc.) must somehow figure out which is which, and who and when, in order to stay alive. Private eye Joe is minding his own business, which happens at the moment to be a stakeout assignment on behalf of one of Chicago’s more prominent property developers. Slippery thieves are battening on a variety of items vital to property development, and the long-suffering Southshore Corporation has finally hired Joe to catch them in the act. He doesn’t relish the gig, but his languishing bank account does. The November night is cold, and his beloved Skylark’s heater, on full blast, has commenced a serious attack on his attention span when suddenly Southshore’s installation experiences an explosion of cops, including among their number the very crooks Joe’s being paid to catch. For reasons that make perfect sense to him— unfortunately a minority view—he shoots one of them, rendering himself persona non grata to all the others. Now practically everyone in the Windy City has the leverage to make Joe do a variety of things he desperately doesn’t want to do. Fast, furious and fun. Readers who like them hardboiled will love this 22-minute egg.
science fiction and fantasy THE WATCHTOWER
Carroll, Lee Tor (400 pp.) $15.99 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-7653-2598-3 The second entry in Carroll’s urban fantasy trilogy begun with Black Swan Rising (2010). Unfortunately. First-person narrator Garet James, a New York City jewelry designer, has traveled to Paris in search of charismatic vampire Will Hughes, who stole Garet’s magical antique silver box. This heirloom is embossed with the same watchtower design as Garet’s ring, denoting her heritage—her female ancestors form a sort of anti-evil witch coven. Garet has also designed a watch patterned after an original owned by evil 17th-century sorcerer |
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Cosimo Ruggieri, but has added her watchtower motif. Later, as Garet learns to use her own magic powers, the watch will enable her to suspend time. Will apparently has vanished into the Summer Country, a magic realm where he hopes to become de-vampired. The book’s second narrative strand follows, in the third person, young Will, a poet and rake, to explore his origins in an unrecognizably bland Shakespearean London. Will falls for a fairy, the immortal Marguerite, Garet’s ancestor, and is outwitted by numerous evildoers including the immortal astrologer John Dee. All this, however, takes an eternity to develop. Foolish, blundering Will isn’t much of a hero, and Garet too passionless to be a suitable foil. The comic-book villains, shrieks and fountains of blood don’t help. Even Paris sounds dull. The few surprises come right at the end. The poetry, strangely, is far more palatable. Seemingly interminable, with a decent sonnet or two thrown in. (Agents: Loretta Barrett and Nick Mullendore)
THE STRANGER’S WOES
Frei, Max Overlook (416 pp.) $27.95 | June 1, 2011 978-1-59020-478-8
Max Frei, the cigarette-puffing gumshoe in an alternate, magical universe, is back in his namesake creator’s sophomore entry in the Labryinths of Echo series. Echo is a sprawling city-state in which Frei the character finds it very easy to get himself in trouble. Frei the creator (The Stranger, 2009) is a Russian born long ago enough to remember the good old days of the Cold War, and there are international intrigues and intrapalace coups enough to assure that there’s trouble to be had. With sidekick Sir Juffin Hully, Frei the character, a lazybones layabout by inclination, finds the start of it in a coming-out party of sorts hosted by one General Boboota Box, late a victim of food poisoning engineered by who knows who and therefore an intimate of the local outhouses—indeed, unlike the rest of the homes of Echo, which “had at least three or four bathing tubs,” the General’s abode has “a dozen toilets of various heights gurgling a discordant welcome to the visitor.” And who did this dastardly deed? Well, Echo is a world of all sorts of plots, a sort of Krypton with tobacco and the counter-universe’s equivalent of vodka. If you have the sense that a shaggy-dog story is in the offing, you’d be right—and what a dog, and what a tail wagging it. Frei the creator takes obvious goofy pleasure in constructing and populating a place in which rival magicians duke it out, good and evil are not always easily identifiable and are sometimes rolled up in the same person, and where a contraption called a “baboom” is enough to put the fear in your garden-variety brigand. It’s all a great romp, and never mind that the logic of the place seems a tad off and various threads of plot get lost amid the fun. As Juffin says, brightly, “this affair smells strongly of Forbidden Magic.” Just so—and a pleasure for those who like their fantasy with a measure of slapstick.
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DRAGON’S TIME
McCaffrey, Anne; McCaffrey, Todd Del Rey/Ballantine $26.00 | June 28, 2011 978-0-345-50089-2 978-0-345-52641-0 e-book Anne and Todd McCaffrey return once too often to the planet Pern, where humans ride telepathic dragons to fight a mindless alien menace. Illness and accident has robbed Pern of many of the planet’s people and dragons. Fiona, Weyrwoman of Telgar, her lovers, Weyrleader T’Mar and Harper Kindan, and Kindan’s other lover, the ex-dragonrider Lorana, seek desperately for a way to get the Weyrs up to fighting strength against the threat of Thread, the devouring alien spores that periodically invade the planet. The solution involves riding the dragons backward and forward in time, so frequently that it’s almost impossible to figure out just when anything is actually happening. Lorana, riding a borrowed dragon, even sacrifices her own unborn child on an apparently urgent mission to find help, a quest frequently interrupted by her meddling in the personal timelines of her friends. The best parts of the plot are pulled from previous, far superior books in the series. Small bits of action—devastating battles with Thread, a dragon-egg hatching gone drastically wrong—infrequently punctuate this histrionic soap opera, which, despite its incredibly relaxed attitude toward polyamory, is devoid of sex scenes. Readers may also question why they should bother trying to keep track of the interpersonal drama when the characters are so poorly sketched out that it’s tough to understand why we should care for them. A sadly inadequate exemplar of a beloved, classic series that is clearly long past its sell-by date. (Agent: Diana Tyler)
write. The manuscript describes a time ten thousand years in their future, wherein a hive-like community called Vox steers a continent-sized artificial island through one of the gateways towards poisoned Earth. Two individuals in particular are caught up in this odyssey: a young woman who, as part of Vox, is called Treya, but has an implanted personality, Allison Pearl, culled from ten-thousand-year-old records in order that she be able to communicate with Turk Findley, a pilot and drifter hurled from Sandra’s time into the future by the Hypotheticals. The problem with Vox, as Turk will learn, is that it’s a “limbic democracy” whose emotional core and compulsory guiding spirit, Coryphaeus, is insane. The problem here is that neither the bewildered characters nor inevitably frustrated readers have an agency to grapple with—humans are less than ants to the Hypotheticals, who entirely lack volition—so there’s really nothing to think about; you either accept the premise or you don’t. The disappointing upshot: a resounding so what?
VORTEX
Wilson, Robert Charles Tor (368 pp.) $25.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7653-2342-2 Wrapping up the trilogy (Axis, 2007, etc.), Wilson’s extravagantly peculiar yarn involving the Hypotheticals, a sort of galactic computer program composed of nanomachines that, for reasons imponderable, moved Earth four-billion
years into the future. Now, the Earth is choking on gases produced by burning the plentiful fossil fuels found on another world, part of a Ring of Worlds connected by hyperspace gateways set up by the Hypotheticals. In Houston, psychologist Sandra Cole ponders Orrin Mather, a seemingly inoffensive young vagrant swept up by social services. Police officer Jefferson Bose takes an interest for personal reasons, later explained, and because of the manuscript that Orrin carries and which the near-illiterate man clearly didn’t 1012
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nonfiction MISTRESSES A History of the Other Woman
IS MARRIAGE FOR WHITE PEOPLE? How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone
Abbott, Elizabeth Overlook (528 pp.) $30.00 | September 1, 2011 978-1-59020-443-6
A lively and nuanced look at gender roles as they have been revealed by the lives of concubines and mistresses over the centuries. Abbott (A History of Marriage, 2011, etc.) a former Dean of Women at the University of Toronto and now a research associate, begins this romp through history with a quip by British multi-billionaire Sir Jimmy Goldsmith, who said, “when a man marries his mistress he creates an automatic job vacancy.” The book has the irresistible fascination of celebrity gossip—the author tells the story of Alice Keppel’s affair as one of the mistresses of the famous womanizer King Edward VII, and the romance of her great-granddaughter Camilla Parker Bowles, now married to the current Prince of Wales—but it reveals far more than the foibles of the rich and famous. Abbott writes about the vulnerability of women in out-of-wedlock situations, beginning with the biblical story of Hagar, the bondwoman of Sarah, whom she calls “the first concubine to be named in recorded history.” The author relates this to the situation of Chinese concubines, who, as recently as the 20th century, were brought into families as lower-status second wives to provide male heirs. Abbott also looks at the abuse faced by female black slaves and Jewish women in Nazi death camps, and how the institution of marriage has often fostered out-of-wedlock relationships in which women were vulnerable even when they were willing partners. This was the case for the celebrated novelist Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot), who suffered social opprobrium for living in a common-law arrangement with her married lover George Lewes, whose wife had refused to divorce him. In the chapter “Mistresses as Trophy Dolls,” Abbott delves into the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe after she was discarded by JFK, as well as the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Full of fascinating details and illuminating insights.
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Banks, Ralph Richard Dutton (304 pp.) $25.95 | September 1, 2011 978-0-525-95201-5
A scholarly account of African-Americans’ encounters with the marriage gap. In his debut (Law/Stanford Law School), Banks explores the marriage gap between African-Americans and whites, concluding that fewer African-Americans marry and stay married due to “the changing conception of marriage, and the changing educational and economic positions of men and women.” Add to this the “numbers imbalance” between the wide array of eligible African-American females and an African-American male population in short supply—an unevenness Banks attributes to incarceration, interracial marriage and a lack of economic opportunities for black men. Banks argues that while many AfricanAmerican women seek out highly educated African-American men, these same men are statistically more likely to date women outside their own race, prompting the pool of prospective suitors to dwindle further. As a result of this imbalance, many AfricanAmerican men find little incentive to engage in a monogamous relationship: “Why cash in when you can continue to play?” The author writes that “[b]lack men maintain nonexclusive relationships for the same reason as other men: because they can.” Banks tempers his statistically driven arguments by weaving in intriguing personal interviews. This technique, both quantitative and qualitative in its approach, provides the groundwork for a brave and convincing argument—one that reveals a startling trend in the decline of African-American marriages. A triumphant work that demystifies the intersection between compatibility and color.
kirkusreviews.com
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nonfiction
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15 june 2011
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1013
AFTER TOBACCO What Would Happen If Americans Stopped Smoking?
Editors: Bearman, Peter; Neckerman, Kathryn; Wright, Leslie Columbia Univ. (544 pp.) $35.00 paperback | July 12, 2011 978-0-231-15777-3 Research studies of the effects of tougher U.S. anti-smoking policies. While adult smoking has decreased by nearly half since 1965, many Americans continue to indulge, regardless of health risks or increased medical costs. This unique compilation of exhaustive, peer-reviewed research, funded by a grant from the American Legacy Foundation, measures the potential social and economic ramifications of a tobacco-free society created via stringent government policy. The authors employ the “SimSmoke” simulation model to project tobacco-control effects through four scenarios: the “baseline” or status quo, where policies do not change; the Institute of Medicine scenario, which, among other things, proposes a $2 per pack excise tax increase to discourage smoking; a “high impact scenario” to reduce smoking rates even more dramatically by mandates such as nicotine reduction in cigarettes; and a “100 percent” scenario, which assumes that smoking ceased in 2006. Readers without scientific inclinations will find the plethora of graphs, tables and equations cumbersome, but the accompanying discussions clearly cover issues such as the economic impact tougher policy will create on tobacco manufacturers and their employees and states like North Carolina, where the highest acreage of tobacco is grown. As with most scientific research, human suffering is reduced to neat statistics. Key findings conclude that, among others, a “small” number of stakeholders—57,000 tobacco farmers and employees, 16,600 cigarette manufacturing employees, 6,200 tobacco store owners and employees, and 29 tobacco dependent counties—could suffer significant losses, yet the authors suggest government assistance in lieu of economic independence. Despite its flaws, the study is noteworthy, as it urges careful thought before policy implementation and examines many social ramifications—inequity for the seriously mentally ill, who may not be able to quit, race and class disparities and stigmatization of smokers. A provocative book worthy of a careful read.
A NEW VOICE FOR ISRAEL Fighting for the Survival of the Jewish Nation
Ben-Ami, Jeremy Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $26.00 | July 19, 2011 978-0-230-11274-2
A powerful argument for the importance of a new approach to solving the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. 1014
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Ben-Ami, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton and founder of the lobby group J Street, calls for a more open dialogue on Israel, claiming that the Jewish community is on a dangerous path that could lead to the destruction of the country. Beginning with the historical background on the creation of Israel and the important role played in it by members of his family, the author convincingly establishes his case that a two-state solution may be the only way to preserve Israel as a democratic homeland for the Jews. He recounts the failure of his father and others to persuade the international community to allow Jews to emigrate from Europe ahead of the Holocaust, and seems determined not to meet a similar fate in his mission to bring about a successful outcome to the Middle East peace process. Turning his attention to the country in which he grew up, the United States, Ben-Ami takes issue with the idea that any deviation from unwavering support for Israel’s government is tantamount to betrayal, insisting that “voices of dissent… may also have a critical message to convey—a message that can save lives and change history.” The author points to the historic liberalism of American Jews, questioning why their major organizations are unanimously right-wing when it comes to Israel, and attempting to show how a politically conservative and religiously orthodox minority has come to speak for a liberal, secular majority. Ben-Ami says he wants “nothing less than to rewrite the rules of American politics,” and of the American Jewish community’s conversation on Israel. His arguments, while controversial, are set forth in a passionate and articulate manner, and backed up by facts and clear-headed analysis—though the book’s singleminded focus leads to some repetition. Certain to provoke strong reactions from supporters and detractors, this is a must-read for anyone with a stake— or even an interest—in this difficult issue. (Author tour to New York and Washington, D.C.)
THE LAST TESTAMENT OF BILL BONANNO The Final Secrets of a Life in the Mafia
Bonanno, Bill; Abromovitz, Gary B. Harper/HarperCollins (400 pp.) $14.99 paperback | August 9, 2011 978-0-06-199202-5
The real story of Mafia life, from one who lived it. Bonanno (Bound by Honor: A Mafioso’s Story, 1999, etc.), the son of eminent Mafioso Joseph Bonanno and himself a long-serving consigliere to the family, sets the record straight about “this thing of ours,” calling out Hollywood’s inaccuracies about mob life and setting down the history of the mob from its inception in the feudal hills of Sicily to the organized gangsters that have long titillated the public imagination. The author asserts that the traditions and attitudes that would inform Mafia life in the United States originated in Sicily after centuries of invasions and disenfranchisement by legitimate governments, the attendant insularity, secretiveness and codes of honor serving as protection for a
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“An absorbing, multilayered account of the evolution of an enduring culture.” from across many mountains
cheated and abused people. These traditions came along with the Sicilian immigrants who settled in America and served a similar purpose, offering a mechanism for dealing with a confusing and often hostile new society. Bonanno copiously details the original families that dominated organized crime in American cities, detailing the summit meetings of the Mafia’s governing body and limning the well-known exploits of such famous gangsters as Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone, but his real brief is to dispel the myths about his way of life promulgated by popular culture. Bonanno’s chief complaint is the perception of the Mafia as a rigidly hierarchical body dominated by all-powerful dons handing down orders from on high; in the author’s view, participants in “his world” were largely autonomous, bound principally by shared attitudes and traditions. He is downright peevish on the issue, and his reminiscences are dryly actuarial and utterly without humor, making navigation of the many names, places and events a bit of a slog. Attempting to correct Hollywood myth-mongering, Bonanno swings too far in the other direction, rendering the exploits of shadowy, murdering criminals about as exciting as the minutes from an insurance convention. A serious, informative look at the Mafia from the inside, but fatally lacking in zest. (Agent: Frank Weimann)
ACROSS MANY MOUNTAINS A Tibetan Family’s Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom
Brauen, Yangzom Translator: Derbyshire, Katy St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $25.99 | $11.99 e-book | October 1, 2011 978-0-312-60013-6 978-1-4299-8792-9 e-book
The experiences of three generations of remarkable Tibetan women over the course of a century. Through the prism of her own life and that of her mother and grandmother, debut author Brauen illuminates a unique culture and its transformation under the repressive Chinese occupation of Tibet. Her story begins with the birth of her grandmother in the 1920s and concludes with the author’s career as an actress and her activities in support of Tibetan liberation. Her grandparents spent their early years as members of a secluded monastic community in Tibet. When their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled the country to escape Chinese repression, her grandparents followed with their two daughters. Although the Brauen expresses great respect for her grandmother’s spirituality, she is by no means uncritical of life in old Tibet, which, she writes, “was not a utopian Shangri-La, the blissful paradise on earth that people in the West like to conjure.” The family’s journey across the Himalayas was harrowing. When they arrived in India, they faced the brutal circumstances of life in a refugee camp lacking decent sanitary facilities, food and drinking water. Many died, including her father and younger sister. Her mother and grandmother were fortunate to find work with a Swiss-supported charity for Tibetan orphans, even though her mother could only attend school for a |
few years. When her mother was 17, she met Martin Brauen—the author’s Swiss father—who had come to India to study Buddhism. After a prolonged courtship, they married and moved to Switzerland, taking her grandmother with them. It was there that the author and her younger brother were born. In 1986, the family visited Tibet for a joyful reunion with relatives. While recognizing that her grandmother’s Tibet is inevitably changing, for her the Dalai Lama remains a cherished example of transcendent Tibetan spiritual values. An absorbing, multilayered account of the evolution of an enduring culture. (First printing of 100,000)
FUTURE SCIENCE Essays from the Cutting Edge
Editor: Brockman, Max Vintage (272 pp.) $15.95 paperback | August 9, 2011 978-0-307-74191-2 978-0-307-74324-4 e-book
A collection of essays by young scientists, describing the implications of their work for a general audience. Literary agent Brockman (What’s Next: Dispatches on the Future of Science, 2009) notes in an introduction that the various authors are at the stage in their academic careers when writing a popular book on their work would do nothing for their prospects for tenure or promotion. Thus this collection of essays, the majority of which focus on biological or social science. In “The Coming Age of Ocean Exploration,” Kevin P. Hand discusses the probability of finding life on several satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, which are believed to have oceans larger than Earth’s. At the other end of the scale of magnitude, William McEwan, working with synthetic DNA, explores the potential for creating molecular tools to combat viral infections. In several instances, two essayists take on similar topics: Daniel Haun and Joan Y. Chiao look at different aspects of human diversity, and Jennifer Jacquet and Naomi Eisenberger examine the biological roots of shame and rejection. Anthony Aguirre, in “Next Step: Infinity,” threads out the cosmological and philosophical implications to be drawn from the interplay of mathematics and physics, ending up with the probability that, in an infinite universe, there are infinite copies of Earth, with an infinite number of copies of every one of us. Other writers also explore the interplay of scientific research and philosophical issues. Joshua Knobe takes on the venerable mind-body problem and arrives at the conclusion that our tendency to ascribe complex mental processes to another is inversely related to our perception of their animal nature. Fiery Cushman, in “Should the Law Depend on Luck?” asks why our legal system differentiates between essentially identical actions by assigning different punishments to the drunken driver who hits a tree and the one who hits a child. While not all the essays are equally well written, the book offers a good overview of what’s happening in today’s laboratories. If Scientific American is your idea of a good read, this should be right up your alley.
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THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED A Portrait of the New India Deb, Siddhartha Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (272 pp.) $26.00 | September 7, 2011 978-0-86547-862-6
A frank look at modern India, told through the stories of its most hopeful and its most desperate people. After working undercover in an Indian call center as part of a journalistic assignment, novelist Deb (Creative Writing/ New School; An Outline of the Republic, 2005, etc.) asked himself a very simple yet loaded question: Who am I? Where do I fit in this modern-day India? It’s this query that spurred the author to begin his quest; over five years, he assembled a somewhat coherent portrait of this jumbled country of contradictions. The book tells the story of five different people, from a man Deb likens to Jay Gatsby because his wealth is tainted by the suspicion of his fellow Indians, to a factory worker who works a dangerous job with no benefits or compensation in case of injury. Each of his subjects comes from a different part of India, with dissimilar backgrounds and disparate fortunes; each has experienced hardship on some level. These stories are sometimes droll and always have at least a tinge of tragedy. Deb impressively chronicles the dichotomies that exist within India while keeping the narrative intensely personal. He puts a human face on horrific statistics that are so large as to be incomprehensible— e.g., from 2004 to 2005, “the last year for which data was available, the total number of people in India consuming less than 20 rupees (or 50 cents) a day was 836 million – or 77 percent of the population.” Though the book lacks an overarching narrative to tie these stories together, which can make it a difficult read at times, Deb briskly moves the story along. The author successfully argues his broad points about India’s status as a country of opposites while maintaining the reader’s personal connection with the people in it. With passion and grace, Deb deftly paints a vivid picture of the difficulties and dichotomies facing the people of today’s India.
COURAGE BEYOND THE GAME The Freddie Steinmark Story Dent, Jim Dunne/St. Martin’s (307 pp.) $25.99 | August 16, 2011 978-0-312-65285-2
Heartfelt biography of a Texas football star whose life was cut short by cancer. Inspired by interviews with coaches, teammates and friends and a 1971 autobiography, award-winning sportswriter Dent (Twelve Mighty 1016
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Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football, 2007, etc.) tracks Freddie Joe Steinmark’s early years and burgeoning career with the Texas Longhorns. From his childhood in 1950s Denver, Colo., Steinmark’s interest in sports flourished, carefully groomed and profoundly encouraged by his father, a self-made athlete turned cop who’d sacrificed a professional baseball career to raise his son. “A small child with fragile bones” yet dubbed “a born winner” by early mentors, Steinmark’s diminutive stature proved a surprisingly suitable match for his steely, fearless determination on the field. Dent budgets his narrative wisely, proffering equal parts sports achievement and personal accomplishment in tracing his subject’s incremental ascent to greatness as he earned the admiration of fellow teammates like star quarterback Roger Behler. As the Longhorns’ “golden boy” key safety, the “155pound peach-fuzz kid” exhibited drive and tireless perseverance on the gridiron, making him a respected letterman under Coach Darrell Royal. However, soon after a game-saving field performance, Steinmark suffered a crushing blow when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer that would eventually claim his life at 22. Dent also includes the story of Steinmark’s shyly romantic courtship of high-school sweetheart Linda Wheeler, an intensive love that endured throughout their tenure together at the University of Texas. The author also bolsters the biography with a fond foreword from current Texas head coach Mack Brown, who, to this day, continues to memorialize Steinmark’s legacy by bringing his photograph along to the team’s away-games. A superb work that paints the resilient athlete as a fierce competitor and an unforgettable sportsman.
THE MISSING OF THE SOMME
Dyer, Geoff Vintage (176 pp.) $14.95 paperback | August 9, 2011 978-0-307-74297-1 978-0-307-74323-7 e-book An idiosyncratic exploration of the meaning and formal remembrance of British participation in World War I. British novelist and critic Dyer (Otherwise Known as the Human Condition: Selected Essays and Reviews, 2011, etc.) describes this brief but challenging work as “not a novel but an essay in mediation: research notes for a Great War novel I had no intention of writing, the themes of a novel without its substance…” In this context, mediation refers to the filtering of experience through the eyes of another. Dyer argues that our perceptions of the WWI are shaped by impressions of the war presented through the literature and public statuary (and, to a lesser degree, photography) produced within 15 years of the Armistice. The dominant theme of these cultural works is not victory or glory, but sacrifice as a virtue in itself and its formal remembrance, and he believes this was evident even in works produced at the very beginning of the war. The theme of
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“An eye-opener of a report and a wake-up call that change is needed.” from haiti after the earthquake
sacrifice is an enduring “means by which the incommensurability of the Great War is acknowledged and expressed” long after sloganeering about the War for Civilization has lost its sheen. Dyer intertwines the story of his travels with two friends to visit monuments and military cemeteries of the Western Front with perceptive observations on statuary by Charles Sargeant Jagger, the poetry of Wilfred Owen and the literary criticism of Paul Fussell, among others. As he ponders the war solely through the lens of these works, the sacrifice of the dead becomes unmoored from the war’s military and political objectives, to which he makes no reference. As a result, the war sometimes seems disconcertingly to become an intellectual concept rather than a historical event, permitting Dyer to discuss it as though it might be a work of literary art made real. Yet the horrific facts keep pressing in upon the narrative, and Dyer displays a deep sensitivity to the reality and scale of the Great War’s human tragedy. An unusual but forceful interpretation of the ongoing significance of a war that has now passed beyond living memory. (20 photographs)
FANTE A Family’s Legacy of Writing, Drinking, and Surviving
Fante, Dan Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $14.99 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-0-06-202709-2
A tell-all of a turbulent, alcohol-infused life recounted by the son of a literary icon. In his memoir, Dan Fante (86’d, 2009, etc.)—the blacksheep son of writer John Fante—describes an unhappy childhood under the eye of his brooding father. After a few initial successes as a writer, John soon found himself sacrificing his art for a paycheck, writing one failed novel after another while supporting his family as a screenwriter. His son describes the seedy underbelly of the Los Angeles writing scene, recalling a father whose drinking, gambling and fury cast a long shadow over the family home. When the author became old enough to leave home, he began his adult life as a carny, surrounding himself with “dopers and drinkers, a dwarf, and a couple parttime hooker.” His downward spiral continued, and after further failings as a cab driver, vacuum-cleaner salesmen, street peddler, special investigator and part owner of a limousine service, Fante at long last found his true calling in his father’s profession. Yet beneath the writer’s struggles to subsist were his even greater struggles with alcoholism. “Booze was my first love,” he writes; on least two occasions, he attempted to detox by locking himself in motel rooms until the snake and insect hallucinations died down. But these remained temporary fixes. At the end of his life, John Fante asked his son to read over a manuscript. When the novice writer remarked that the work might not find a wide audience, the seasoned author explained, “If what I write is good, then people will read it. That’s why literature exists. An author puts his heart and his guts on the |
page.” It is a lesson Dan never forgot, and one that served him well in his own writing future. A vivid cautionary tale of a family’s struggles with words, rage and the bottle. (Author events in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York)
HAITI AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
Farmer, Paul PublicAffairs (464 pp.) $27.99 | July 12, 2011 978-1-58648-973-1 From the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and members of his team, a searing firsthand account of the earthquake and its aftermath. Farmer (Partner to the Poor: A Paul Farmer Reader, 2010, etc.) presents consequences of the outrage that U.S. law—e.g., the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961—makes it impossible to do what needs to be done in a country like Haiti. Relief and reconstruction funds cannot go to government agencies or to rebuild government infrastructure; instead, they must be funneled into NGOs. Haiti’s government, writes the author, is operating out of a small police station on a shoestring budget. More than 40 percent of government employees were killed, and 28 out of 29 ministries were leveled. Yet, under the ruling law, because of Haiti’s history of human-rights violations, the United States cannot contribute to rebuilding government infrastructure or paying public employees, including doctors, nurses and medical technicians. The NGOs and volunteers who receive the funds can’t discuss policy priorities, make laws or coordinate the scale of activity required, and they siphon funds into overhead and operating costs. Farmer has been involved in Haiti for 25 years, during which time he has warned policy makers about the country’s precarious position. Unfortunately, the results have been very close to what he was predicted for years—at least 2 million people are still displaced, one-third of the population is directly affected and cholera has become a major problem. Other contributors to this book include Edwidge Danticat, Evan Lyon and Dubique Kobel. An eye-opener of a report and a wake-up call that change is needed.
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“A saga as richly realized as a fine Victorian novel.” from love and capital
MANUFACTURING HYSTERIA A History of Scapegoating, Surveillance, and Secrecy in Modern America Feldman, Jay Pantheon (400 pp.) $28.95 | August 23, 2011 978-0-375-42534-9 978-0-307-37986-3 e-book
Penetrating account of xenophobia and the officially sanctioned persecution of minorities and the politically undesirable. Feldman (When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquakes, 2005, etc.) has his hackles up regarding the labyrinthine history of scapegoating and political repression in the Land of the Free, arguing that we tend to excuse or misunderstand this narrative, which actually tells the story of how the powerful keep the powerless in check. Beginning with the ugly lynching of a supposed German “spy” in an Illinois coal town, the author assembles a concrete narrative spanning the years from World War I through the Church Committee investigation of the 1970s, showing that governmental and private forces consistently ginned up “red scares” in response to social and labor unrest. Few remember, for instance, that Woodrow Wilson spoke of “the fine gold of untainted Americanism,” adding to anti-foreign suspicions before WWI. After the war, which saw the demise under pressure of the Socialist party, the expulsion of anarchists like Emma Goldman and attacks on the radical Wobblies, this patriotic fervor led to the first Red Scare and the Palmer raids, “a cynical and sordid manipulation of the American public by government and business leaders.” Improbably, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed to lead the growing Bureau of Investigation in 1924 as a supposed moderate, “a choice that would have devastating long-term consequences” for American civil liberties. Feldman argues that the federal government’s hostility to radicals and undesirable immigrants continued through WWII—most notoriously, via the internment of Japanese Americans. After the war, Joseph McCarthy witch hunts continued the hysteria— as one fired teacher recalled, “There were many wrecked lives.” Even as the country became more progressive, Hoover relentlessly pursued civil-rights and antiwar groups through the FBI’s notorious Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). Feldman is an attentive historian, unearthing many disturbing, forgotten examples of official malfeasance. (He only addresses the post-9/11 era in an epilogue.) An alternate history rife with violence and class oppression, presented with rigor and detail, though with a strident tone that renders it somewhat dry. (16 pages of black-and-white illustrations. Agent: Steve Wasserman)
LOVE AND CAPITAL Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution
Gabriel, Mary Little, Brown (768 pp.) $35.00 | September 14, 2011 978-0-316-06611-2 Former Reuters journalist Gabriel (The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone, 2002, etc.) offers a rich, humanizing portrait of the Marx family. The author strives mightily—and largely succeeds—in maintaining balance and perspective in her view of Karl and Jenny Marx and their family, long demonized by the Right and sanctified by the Left. Gabriel begins in 1851; the exiled Marxes were in London, enduring penury and near starvation as Karl struggled to do the research and writing that would later culminate in Das Kapital, the multi-volume work completed by his longtime friend, collaborator and patron, Friedrich Engels. Gabriel writes most enthusiastically about Marx’s wife, Jenny, a brilliant and lovely woman from a moneyed family who married Marx, uncomplainingly endured their decades of poverty, never lost faith in the significance of her husband and his work, delivered his children (some of whom died in childhood) and lived to see his work begin to achieve the recognition she had always believed it deserved. The author relies heavily on the massive Marx family correspondence to help her bring to life these most remarkable people. The three daughters who survived into adulthood were all highly intelligent, accomplished and unlucky in love. The author can barely restrain her disdain for Edward Aveling, the philandering (married) man who persuaded young Eleanor Marx to live with him, then betrayed and abandoned her. Her suicide followed not long after. Later, her older sister Laura would also took her own life. Gabriel gracefully achieves an impressive, challenging agenda: the joint biographies of the Marxes (parents, daughters), the career of Engels, the rise of socialism and organized labor, the theoretical background of Marxian economics and politics and the historical and economic contexts for all. A saga as richly realized as a fine Victorian novel. (16 pages of black-and-white photographs; 2 maps)
WRITING MOVIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!
Garant, Robert Ben; Lennon, Thomas Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $23.99 | July 5, 2011 978-1-4391-8675-6
in Hollywood. 1018
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A hilarious and helpful insider’s guide to launching a successful writing career
The co-creators of the TV series Reno 911 and such films as Night at the Museum Garant and Lennon take a gut-busting stab at the published world in their first book. Unapologetically designed as “a guide to writing hit movies that make you and the studio piles of money,” the authors offer invaluable advice that much of Hollywood would shudder to reveal. And they would know—the pair has grossed “$1,467,015,501.00 and counting at the box office.” Garant and Lennon take on the Goliath-like task of explaining the entire screenwriting process from pitching to selling, studio development to a practical guide to writing with a partner (which they swear will have “you writ[ing] twice as fast as you would without”). They emphasize the importance of both humor and practicality, both of which are imperative tools to a successful career working in “the Dream Machine.” The authors demystify the secretive world of screenwriting in Hollywood by offering tips on everything from sequels (“Never discuss the sequel before the movie comes out!”) to, arguably, the biggest question of all: “Why does almost every studio movie suck donkey balls?” Their answer: “Development Hell.” They even provide helpful hints on how to discern one’s importance to the studio, suggesting that “the easy way to tell what the studio’s opinion of you is where…they let you park.” The only compass readers will ever need to navigate the treacherous waters of filmmaking.
MY GREEN MANIFESTO Down the Charles River in Pursuit of a New Environmentalism
Gessner, David Milkweed (230 pp.) $15.00 paperback | July 1, 2011 978-1-57131-324-9
Gessner (Creative Writing/Univ. of North Carolina, Wilmington; Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond, 2007, etc.) argues that true environmentalism starts in our own backyard. The author debates the controversial views of Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, who contended in their 2007 book Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility that the environmentalism of the past—shaped by figures such as Rachel Carson—cannot not address global warming, and that doomsday scenarios about the end of the world can be so overwhelming that they induce passivity. While Gessner agrees that “the old guilt-ridden, mystical envirospeak just isn’t cutting it,” he suggests that the lives of Carson and Henry David Thoreau offer an effective alternative. A living example of the kind of effective environmentalism that he espouses is the work of his friend Dan Driscoll, a planner who began working for the State of Massachusetts 20 years ago. Driscoll conceived and directed a program to clean up the Charles River and plant native plants on its bank, transforming it from a repository for trash to a green pathway through Boston and its environs. Gessner writes about a 26-mile canoe-and-camping trip |
that he and Driscoll took down the Charles, savoring mornings when the river was covered in mists; they spent days paddling and watching the hawks and herons and other small animals— an unexpected and enchanting wildness in an otherwise urban area. In the author’s view, the first step in building an effective environmentalist movement is helping people fall in love with the natural world in their own backyards and recognizing their kinship with other animals. An engaging book with a serious message.
A FIRST-RATE MADNESS Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness
Ghaemi, Nassir Penguin Press (320 pp.) $27.95 | August 8, 2011 978-1-59420-295-7
Ghaemi (Psychology, Tufts Univ. Medical School; The Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model, 2009, etc.) insists that failed leaders are mentally healthy. The best crisis leaders, more or less, are crazy. The author demonstrates his scary thesis by thumbnail psycho-biographies of successful troubled leaders and a few flops who were, apparently, quite normal. Ghaemi’s standard diagnostic indicators include symptoms, genetic history, course of illness and treatment. Available medical history and mostly secondary sources serve as validators of mental illnesses in varying severity. General Sherman and Ted Turner, he finds, were hyper-creators. Churchill and Lincoln were depressive realists. Depressed empathy characterized Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. FDR and JFK, both chronically ill, were resiliently manic. In hard times, good politics are bipartisan and great politicians are bipolar. The depressed see life realistically, and the deranged are creative. Though readers may question whether the truly normal can achieve leadership, George W. Bush, for example, is a normal guy, writes the author in proof of his theory. Among the mentally healthy he places Richard Nixon, who failed in a crisis—one of his own making—because he saw the world clearly. For the most part, Ghaemi writes, Nazis, too, were normal folk. For his hypothesis to be taken seriously, the author was obliged to consider the quintessential psychopathic leader, Adolf Hitler, who was a charismatic leader who became crazy to excess. Ultimately, the author provides an unsatisfying diagnosis of the dictator, and he fails to examine, among others, Stalin, Hussein or bin Laden. A diseased mind, Ghaemi candidly admits, attracts stigma, but he insists that the essence of mental illness promotes crisis leadership. A diverting, exceedingly provocative argument—sure to attract both skeptical and convinced attention.
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“A wonderfully entertaining account of a journey through one of the world’s least-known places.” from wild coast
WILD COAST Travels on South America’s Untamed Edge Gimlette, John Knopf (368 pp.) $27.95 | June 24, 2011 978-0-307-27253-9
A wonderfully entertaining account of a journey through one of the world’s least-known places. Located in the northeast corner of South America and known collectively as Guiana, the nations of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are cut off from the rest of the continent by language and dense forests. With its history of slavery and civil wars, the region has left travelers from Evelyn Waugh to V.S. Naipaul unimpressed. Gimlette (Panther Soup: A European Journey in War and Peace, 2008, etc.), an insatiably curious storyteller, revels in the strange mix of people and traditions present in this “luminously lush and drenchingly fecund” world. Beginning in the 15th century, England, Holland, and France fought for more than 200 years over the sugar grown along the region’s 900-mile coast, leaving indelible imprints on these former colonies. Amid vivid descriptions of torrential rivers and golden grasslands that are home to some of the planet’s largest ants, otters and fish, the author recalls encounters with a stunning variety of intriguing characters: descendants of Scottish outlaws, Irish adventurers, Dutch conquerors and AfricanAmerican slaves; miners, monks, rebels, sorcerers and pirates. Gimlette began his three-month trip in Georgetown, a slavebuilt city of canals, then headed into the bush and explored the remains of Guyana’s chief claim to fame, Jonestown, where 900 members of a religious cult committed suicide in 1978. The government has considered reopening the site to promote “dark tourism,” he writes. Pushing on by foot, boat and air, the author discovered strange forts, slave hideouts, remote Amerindian villages and French prisons that once held Captain Alfred Dreyfus and Henri Charrière (author of Papillon). All the while, he writes, creatures of the impenetrable forest sing, copulate, stink, glow and eat each other. Colorful and immensely readable. (16 pages of photographs; 10 illustrations)
KILLING THE CRANES A Reporter’s Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan Girardet, Edward Chelsea Green (416 pp.) $27.95 | September 1, 2011 978-1-60358-342-8
From longtime journalist and producer Girardet (Afghanistan: The Soviet War, 1986, etc.), an insightful personal account of Afghanistan and its people from 1979 to the present. 1020
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The author’s career began with the Christian Science Monitor before the days when correspondents were embedded with the troops. He had to make his own way, and often did so on foot, hiking mountain ridges and valley trails accompanying guerrillas and medical-relief workers. During his long career, Girardet has met, befriended and been threatened by many key figures in Afghanistan’s recent history, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Ahmed Shah Massoud and even the recently assassinated Osama bin Laden. The author knows the country and its people, as well as some of its still-unresolved crimes—e.g., the Kerala massacre of 1979, during which the village’s 1,000+ males were killed in cold blood. Girardet chronicles the countless crimes that still demand redress, many of which predate those of the Soviet invasion, the Saudi- and Pakistani-funded religious war of the 1990s and bin Laden’s al-Qaeda. The author is concerned that corruption, criminality and religious fundamentalism have undermined the country’s potential, especially since the 1990s. With a long-view perspective, Girardet puts forward a view of a culture based on generosity and openness, a culture which he thinks has been wronged by misguided association with the fighting qualities of guerrillas and terrorists. Afghans have resisted every foreign invasion they have faced, and the author thinks this one will be no different. Girardet’s unique perspective will be both helpful and thought-provoking for readers seeking to understand what might be involved in an eventual peace settlement and independence.
STATE VS. DEFENSE The Battle to Define America’s Empire Glain, Stephen Crown (496 pp.) $26.00 | August 2, 2011 978-0-307-40841-9 978-0-307-88898-3 e-book
The perils of an expanding American hegemony by military means rather than diplomacy, as skillfully tracked by an
American journalist. In this timely, pointed study, Glain (Mullahs, Merchants and Militants: The Economic Collapse of the Muslim World, 2004, etc.) challenges the efficacy and wisdom of continuing an enormous, costly U.S. defense buildup abroad in the face of the flimsiest excuse for an enemy and where statesmanship would better be served. Since after World War II, American leaders, much like republican Rome, writes the author, “realized their founders’ dread by succumbing to the sirens of militarism and the costs of their rapture.” During the same timer period, the hawks have held sway over national leaders. Examples include: General MacArthur’s hyperbolic pronouncements of communist incursions, which neutralized the restraint preached by George Marshall; the co-opting of George Kennan’s theory of containment by Dean Acheson and others in forging the Truman Doctrine; the pernicious fear-mongering of Senator Joseph McCarthy that
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effectively cowed the Department of State. The Soviet threat (and communist China) would keep alarmists and neoconservatives frothing at the mouth through wars in Korea and Vietnam, fed by defense contractors, RAND Corporation analysts and nuclear-bomb fears—despite ample evidence that the Soviet Union was “sclerotic” and incapable of posing a serious existential threat to the U.S. The myth of Soviet superiority was barked by the White House, swallowed by the press, cheered by the Pentagon and carried the country through the pitiful collapse of the Soviet Union. However, our “enemy deprivation syndrome” was later filled by the Islamist terrorist threat. Desert Shield and consummate generals such as Colin Powell brought the “romance with the military” to primetime. The momentum of militarization has become unstoppable, Glain writes gloomily. In crisp, authoritative writing, the author sets down some scathing portraits, from MacArthur to Rumsfeld, and in a powerful conclusion, exposes the disequilibrium between the U.S. civilian versus military resources throughout the world and the continued “appeasement” by President Obama to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A work of smoldering focus and marshaled evidence that just might have found its publishing moment. (8-page black-and-white insert)
AMERICAN ANTHRAX Fear, Crime, and the Investigation of the Nation’s Deadliest Bioterror Attack
THE PRACTICAL PYROMANIAC Build Fire Tornadoes, One-Candlepower Engines, Great Balls of Fire, and More Incendiary Devices
Gurstelle, William Chicago Review (224 pp.) $16.95 paperback | June 1, 2011 978-1-56976-710-8
Guillemin, Jeanne Times/Henry Holt (320 pp.) $27.00 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8050-9104-5
A biosecurity expert revisits the insidious 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five and traumatized the nation. In the immediate wake of 9/11, national-security officials anxiously awaited a follow-up strike. The next blow, it appeared, took the form of deadly letters laced with anthrax, addressed to major media outlets and members of Congress. But the lethal letters and the panic they induced were not the work of al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein or other foreign enemies. It took the FBI years and hundreds of thousands of agent hours investigating and working with military, intelligence, health and science experts, to trace the outbreak to Bruce Ivins, a microbiologist employed by the U.S. Army to develop vaccines against germ warfare. His 2008 suicide precluded any prosecution, but it also spared the Army’s Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases an embarrassing trial that might have widely exposed its appalling culpability for a major security breach. The impressively experienced and credentialed Guillemin (International Studies/MIT; Biological Weapons: From the Invention of State-Sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism, 2005, etc.) takes all the strands of this complex story firmly in hand: the way the attacks unfolded in the offices of high-profile targets like broadcaster Tom Brokaw |
and Senator Tom Daschle; the postal workers randomly killed and infected; the efforts to decontaminate various premises and to inoculate those exposed; the disturbing findings of the Ivins investigation; the many wrong turns and false leads pursued by law enforcement; the difficulties of tracing this so-called Ames strain of anthrax to its source. Guillemin smoothly translates the science for lay readers, and she efficiently tracks the many lawsuits prompted by the attacks. Finally, she raises important questions about the current state of biosecurity in the United States. We’re too focused, she insists, on technological defenses against attack, still susceptible to insider terrorism and too lax about safety violations and the hideous consequences of sheer accident. A well-rendered account. Pair with David Willman’s The Mirage Man (2011) for all the details on one of the more curious and frightening episodes in American history. (Agent: Paul Bresnick)
Learn to play and build with fire—and not get burned. Gurstelle (Absinthe & Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously, 2009, etc.), pyrotechnic aficionado and professional engineer, releases a powderkeg in this book, which blends history and science education with fire-inspired DIY projects. Beginning with a well-researched examination of flames and heat, he provides simple exercises for readers unseasoned in the art of fire, offering tips that can be applied both practically and recreationally. Safety is of the utmost importance to Gurstelle, who enumerates a myriad of thorough and clear stated warnings and precautions. The author overlooks nothing (there’s even a guide to the proper use of fire extinguishers), but a section on burns and their treatment would make a welcome addition. Readers are urged to proceed with caution and begin by designing a simple flame tube—candles that produce long-sustained musical tones— before moving on to more complicated projects like assembling a propane-fueled flamethrower. Instructions are woven through with pivotal moments in the history of fire, from its discovery by cavemen to the scientific stylings of 19th-century chemist and physicist Michael Faraday. Gurstelle’s simply stated directions and easy-to-follow illustrations usher readers through more than 15 incendiary projects. The author renders otherwise dense and complicated scientific explanations imminently understandable.
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NEVER THE HOPE ITSELF Love and Ghosts in Latin America and Haiti
Hadden, Gerry Perennial/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $14.99 paperback | September 6, 2011 978-0-06-202007-9
Exciting, heart-wrenching dispatches among the poor and disenfranchised of Haiti and Latin America. Instead of embarking on a meditation retreat, Hadden suddenly got a dream job offer from NPR and was sent first to Mexico City, just as Vicente Fox was gaining election as president in 2000, then to Haiti, where pro– and anti–Jean-Bertrand Aristide factions were threatening to derail an important election. In succinct, polished chapters, the author recounts his attempts to cover the action, interviewing Fox and watching over time the unraveling of his promised “guest worker” programs sanctioned by the United States. Gradually, Hadden gleaned the more complicated, real story, involving corruption, drug smuggling and waves of perilous human migration to the north. To cover America’s war on drugs, the author dragged a terrified “fixer” with him on a dangerous expedition through the Darien Gap separating Panama from Colombia, through which shipments of guns passed—literally the same guns the U.S. had paid for (“same defects, same serial numbers, different fingers on the triggers”) to conduct previous Central American conflicts. American indifference and inattention both to Latin America and Haiti had sown deep poverty and resentment in the respective regions, and 9/11 did not soften feelings against their untrustworthy neighbor to the north. In Haiti, Hadden attended a ghastly all-night Voodoo ceremony intended to help get Aristide elected, and visited the Duvalier dictators’ former prison on the outskirts of Portau-Prince, where children pranced on the beach and gleefully showed the author human bones that remained from the time of abundant executions. While Hadden was chasing stories for the radio, he also lived in a haunted house in Mexico City, helped a Guatemalan fixer through personal trauma and fell in love with a young married French woman. Grim, sobering tales fashioned by a terrific writer brave enough to unearth the real story. (8-page color photo insert)
THE ACCIDENTAL CREATIVE How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice
Henry, Todd Portfolio (240 pp.) $25.95 | July 7, 2011 978-1-59184-401-3
consultant Henry. 1022
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With a few personal anecdotes and very little technical jargon, the author’s debut cuts right to the chase: Nobody, he writes, actually wants to create on demand. But by narrowing one’s focus to three priorities at a time while paying attention to seemingly unrelated creative impulses, Henry argues that imaginative sparks can grow into fully realized ideas if they are given a little structure and a lot of space. Too often, he writes, creative professionals play it safe to avoid getting fired, potentially missing great moments of inspiration while churning out a steady flow of mediocre work. It’s an idea that’s popular in the tech industry right now, but Henry’s tips will work even for professionals who don’t build prototypes. Much like Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way (2002), Henry peppers his self-help guide with creativity-enhancing exercises for readers to use in their daily lives. But he avoids the overly prescriptive—readers won’t have to navigate essay questions or flow charts. The author wins points by acknowledging that burnout comes from unrealistic expectations combined with energy-sucking meetings and nonstop e-mails. He adds value with simple methods for removing items from an artist’s to-do list that make setting priorities and managing time effectively seem more attainable. Readers will relate to Henry’s description of the creative process and learn to sustain creativity over time.
LITERARY BROOKLYN The Writers of Brooklyn and the Story of American City Life
Hughes, Evan Henry Holt (352 pp.) $16.00 paperback | August 16, 2011 978-0-8050-8986-8
An engaging survey of Brooklyn’s literary tradition from Walt Whitman to Jonathan Lethem. A pastoral village of 5,000 when Whitman arrived in 1823, Brooklyn was the nation’s third-largest city by the Civil War. In 1898, 15 years after construction of Washington Roebling’s iconic bridge linking it to Manhattan, Brooklyn became a New York City borough. A World War II boomtown, a pocket of depression afterward, a failing community by the ’60s and ’70s and conspicuously gentrified, culturally vital place today, Brooklyn, in all its incarnations, has proven a remarkably fertile ground for literature. In his debut, journalist and critic Hughes charts this tumultuous, two-century urban history through the lives and works of important writers who, for their own reasons and for a time at least, called Brooklyn home. Elegantly, the author slides in and out of eras, identifying the sometimes surprising geographical and spiritual connections among an impressive list of writers: Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Norman Podhoretz, Alfred Kazin, William Styron, Arthur Miller, Paul Auster, Truman Capote, Jonathan Safran Foer and more. Whether they used it as subject, setting, or inspiration, saw it as a refuge, hideout or merely as a patch of relative green convenient to Manhattan, these writers are part of a rich artistic procession Hughes
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“As readers will see, it’ll be hard to double-check Jacobsen’s reporting, so leaps of faith are required. But Jacobsen provides an endlessly fascinating—and quite scary—book.” from area 51
brings vividly to life. Hart Crane looked out the same apartment window from which Roebling oversaw the bridge construction. Prim, church-going Marianne Moore, who edited Crane, spent time in Fort Greene Park, probably unaware of Henry Miller, trying then to publish Crazy Cock, or Richard Wright, composing Native Son, occupying nearby benches. Hughes concludes with a quick scan of today’s thriving scene, every bit worthy, it seems, of the borough’s distinguished literary history. Wonderfully illuminating.
AREA 51 An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base Jacobsen, Annie Little, Brown (544 pp.) $27.99 | Lg. Prt. $28.99 CD $34.98 | May 17, 2011 978-0-316-13294-7 Lg. Prt. 978-0-316-17807-5 CD 978-1-609-41089-6
Weird doings are afoot, aliens are among us and so is Raytheon—all stories that figure in Los Angeles Times Magazine contributing editor Jacobsen’s supremely odd book on that most classified of American military installations. Acting on tips and leads by those who were there, the same kinds of fighter jocks and spam-in-a-can aeronauts that figure in Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff, Jacobsen set out a few years ago to uncover what could be uncovered about Area 51, the huge military/intelligence base in the desert of southern Nevada. Huge is right—it’s “just a little smaller than the state of Connecticut”—and it’s carved into subdomains so secret that one agency, whether the CIA or the Air Force or the Atomic Energy Commission, often doesn’t know what the next one is doing. Indeed, Vice President Johnson didn’t know about Area 51 until after he became president—and we can guess that Joe Biden hasn’t been briefed on the odd things that happen there. Famously, as Jacobsen notes, Area 51 has been associated with UFOs, and some of the earliest sightings thereof, beginning in 1947, have taken place in or near the facility. As for the spooky-faced aliens so beloved of X-Files fans and so feared by the Whitley Strieber fans in the audience? Well, the big news in Jacobsen’s book is…no, it’d be stealing her thunder, and perhaps inviting a probe, to say much in specific, except to say that the grays are real, if tinged red. Jacobsen’s expansive, well-written narrative takes in the sweep of Cold War history, from the Bay of Pigs to Francis Gary Powers to Joe Stalin to Vietnam to the Nazi doctors pressed into service by U.S. and USSR alike—and none of it is pretty. As readers will see, it’ll be hard to double-check Jacobsen’s reporting, so leaps of faith are required. But Jacobsen provides an endlessly fascinating—and quite scary—book. (32 pages of black-and-white photos. Agent: Jim Hornfischer)
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THE STOCKED KITCHEN One Grocery List... Endless Recipes
Kallio, Sarah; Krastins, Stacey Atria Books (352 pp.) $24.99 paperback | July 5, 2011 978-1-4516-3535-5
A low-stress, organized approach to getting dinner on the table in busy households. Kallio and Krastins present a new addition to the trove of quick-and-easy cookbooks. But theirs is more than a collection of short-cut recipes; it’s an entire “meal creation system.” The authors’ innovative approach involves serving up a master grocery list that includes all the ingredients needed for the book’s 300 recipes. With their list and tips for organizing your kitchen, creating a home-cooked supper is a no-brainer. The recipes are straightforward American fare and a bit on the uninteresting side (read: “kid-friendly”). But this book is designed for working parents, not wannabe chefs, and it does give busy families and new cooks an accessible alternative to take-out. One of the most useful sections is the selection of appetizers and dips, offering mix-and-match flexibility. The book abounds with timesaving suggestions, like how to quickly thaw frozen bread dough and how to present a dinner party with minimal effort. It even offers a glossary for the food novice: “Lemons—tart, yellow citrus fruit.” The meal creation, however, seems to lie solely in women’s hands, though the authors do mention that the master list will make it easier for poor old hubby to navigate the aisles of the supermarket. A pragmatic cookbook with none of the idealism of beautiful photographs or exotic ingredients—or even, for that matter, men in the kitchen.
BEN BEHIND HIS VOICES One Family’s Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope
Kaye, Randye Rowman & Littlefield (336 pp.) $26.95 | August 16, 2011 978-1-4422-1089-9
A mother wrestles with the advent of her son’s schizophrenia and its long, painful unfolding. Not quite 30 now, the eponymous Ben has weathered many storms within his mind and attempted to calm them with drugs and booze. By mother Kaye’s account, he’s normal in some ways—he “loves nature, children, fantasy video games, helping others, the Indianapolis Colts, Thanksgiving with the family, and vegetarian Thai food.” Yet it is in the nature of schizophrenia to overturn all that is normal, introducing terror into the lives of those who suffer from it—and those who live with them. Kaye details multiple episodes of madness requiring
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k i r ku s q & a w i t h d h a n i jon e s
The Sportsman: Unexpected Lessonsfrom an Around-The-World Sports Odyssey
Dhani Jones Rodale (280 pp.) $25.99 June 7, 2011 9781609611118
Dhani Jones is a professional football player, reality-TV star, sports analyst and men’s-fashion designer. In other words, he’s a hard guy to pin down. During two seasons on the Travel Channel’s Dhani Tackles the Globe, he challenged the international community at its own game and won some well-earned friendships and respect in the process. This summer, Jones is stepping into a different arena altogether with the release of his debut book The Sportsman, which we called “a thought-provoking adventure that’s part travelogue, part sports journal and even part fitness manual.” Here, Jones opens up about what it was like tangling with all those folks on their home turf and how he faced an even newer challenge—becoming an author.
spent about eight days in each place. When it’s all over, you still want to meet more people. You want to go and try more things and involve yourself in the culture just a little bit more. Q: Not every country you visited exactly welcomed you with open arms. You encountered some prejudice. How did you deal with that? A: I term it ignorance without education and without understanding. If one person is prejudiced and the other person doesn’t mind it, then you’ve created an opportunity. And with that opportunity comes a chance for change, or really, understanding. In Australia, I just kept fighting harder and harder to learn about the culture and the people and understand where they were coming from. In Switzerland, I just went about my business and in the end, I wouldn’t say I was celebrated, but definitely more people shook my hand after I was finished with my wrestling. Sometimes, with prejudice you have to learn how to fend it off and not be so confrontational and be openminded about what’s actually happening.
Q: How does writing a book compare to playing sports you’ve never tried before? A: All of it just takes time, thought and energy directed in the right place. Writing a book is hard. You have to gather a lot of information and devise a story line that brings it all back together. That’s probably the hardest part, and then outlining it. But working with a great guy like [co-writer] Jonathan Grotenstein, who understood my voice, made it not as difficult. There will be a lot more books after this.
Q: Is there one thing you’ve learned that unifies all people? A: We’re all inherently very competitive. But at the same time, we respect family to the highest order. And we’re adventurous. Everyone is always looking for adventure—in all directions. People want to know what’s going on in the world. If you give someone a little bit of information, they’ll run with it. They want to know more and more. That’s why education is so important. It creates this sense of adventure, this vision of what’s out there and you want to go seek it out and find it.
Q: Have you met people who’ve told you that they’ve gotten a passport and started traveling because of you? A: Oh, yeah. During one game last year in Pittsburgh—it was like third and goal—one of the guys on the other team kept bugging me, and I didn’t really want to speak to him. It turns out he just wanted to tell me that he really liked my show and that he was starting to travel a little more. So, when you hear stories like that from guys from other teams saying, “I appreciate you going on that journey because now I feel I can go on the journey too,” or just walking down the street and having somebody say, “Hey, Dhani, I really like your show, and I just got my passport,” those types of celebrations really make me excited.
Q: What do you think of reality television? A: I tend to like reality shows because I think people like to see reality personified. It’s always a little bit more. But at the same time, it gets into that age-old question of “does art reflect life or does life reflect art?” If you want to look at reality television, that’s art. It’s definitely a close, if not exact, comparison to life. All of it is quite entertaining and brings a perspective on the world that you might not have known about in the first place.
Q: What’s the one thing you wanted to tackle for the show but didn’t get the opportunity? A: We only went to 20 countries. I would have loved to have gone to 100 countries. It would have also been interesting to get more involved with the political authorities as it were. A lot of countries have very different types of governments than here in the States. So it provides a different perspective. I would have also liked to have spent a little bit more time in each country. Mostly, I only 1024
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–By Joe Maniscalco
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hospitalization, five times in 2003 alone, each of them calling for resourceful response; but, as she writes, no one in her family quite knew what to do or how to respond. Ben is in remission now, but, Kaye adds, there is no “cure” for schizophrenia, and even as Ben feels the weight of his illness, his “family feels isolated, stigmatized, and often very alone.” The author does not play the pity card; indeed, sometimes her prose can seem a touch too matterof-fact. She is eminently helpful, particularly in the matter of selfmedication, which so many of the mentally ill prefer to taking the medications that have been prescribed for them. And for good reason: In a table toward the end of the book, Kaye lists the many excuses for “medication noncompliance,” with entirely reasonable causes such as “they don’t like side effects (weight gain, sexual performance, sedated feeling)” and “fear of becoming medication-dependent.” The author’s wariness and weariness come through, but so does her optimism that, with adherence to his regime of medication, her son can one day hold a job, attend school and perhaps even live on his own. From a literary point of view, Kaye’s account pales next to Patrick Cockburn’s Henry’s Demons (2011), but it’s heartfelt and surely of help to those new to living with mentally ill loved ones of their own.
THE VOODOO WAVE Inside a Season of Triumph and Tumult at Maverick’s
Kreidler, Mark Norton (256 pp.) $25.95 | September 6, 2011 978-0-393-06535-0
ESPN: The Magazine sportswriter Kreidler (Six Good Innings: How One Small Town Became a Little League Giant, 2008, etc.) goes inside the sport and business of bigwave surfing, covering the 2010 Maverick’s Surf Contest on the coast of Northern California. Maverick’s is a geologic anomaly. About 20 feet below the surface is a ski ramp-like reef that gathers waves and brings them to a height of 50 or 60 feet, with enormous concentrated energy. Very few surfers in the world are skilled enough to ride such waves. A self-described “big dysfunctional family,” these big-wave surfers—with names like Twiggy Baker and Flea Virostko—will drop everything at a moment’s notice and go anywhere in the world where the waves are good. Maverick’s is perhaps the best of these surf points. Surfers had always come to Maverick’s informally, for only the thrill and calculated risk of the ride. However, Jeff Clark, the first to ride Maverick’s “liquid mountains” and generally acknowledged expert and guardian of the point, came up with the idea of a real contest with real money. He partnered with entrepreneur Keir Beadling, a marriage hardly made in heaven. While Beadling saw Maverick’s as a brand, Clark insisted that it was the wave and the camaraderie that still mattered most. Only for a few short winter months might the waves be adequate for a true contest; if the waves weren’t there, Clark could and would cancel the event. This |
made life difficult for Beadling in securing sponsors and underwriters, and the two soon parted ways. But the 2010 contest did occur, not without incident as waves wiped out the beach and the spectators and vendors gathered there. Kreidler expertly captures the personalities, flaws and strengths of the riders who challenged Maverick’s, and with laser-like prose describes what it is like to face such a possibly lethal challenge. He also provides a telling examination of what can go wrong when an untamed sport becomes the handmaiden of commerce. A finely crafted tale of the enigmatic world of big-wave surfers. (8 pages of photographs. Agent: Bob Mecoy)
TENSION CITY Inside the Presidential Debates, from KennedyNixon to McCain-Obama
Lehrer, Jim Random (224 pp.) $26.00 | CD: $30.00 September 13, 2011 978-1-4000-6917-0 | CD: 978-307-87844-1 978-0-679-60351-1 e-book Award-winning NewsHour anchor Lehrer (Super, 2010, etc.) discusses the televised presidential election debates he and others have covered. The author, who first moderated a debate between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis in 1988, reports that most candidates believe that elections are not won because a candidate performed well in a debate. However, a campaign can certainly be pushed toward defeat by a poor performance before the cameras. In Lehrer’s experience, such effects are not often brought about by “gotcha” questions, bloopers or flubs; what counts is how the camera reveals body language in that particular moment and circumstance. In America’s first televised debate, between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960, the camera showed Nixon’s sweaty face and stubble, so different from Kennedy’s healthy look—tanned and plumped up from his treatment for Addison’s disease. In 2008, as John McCain refused to respond or even look at his opponent, the hostility appeared almost palpable. In 2004, the camera caught images of an impatient-seeming George W. Bush, and in 2000 it focused on the condescending sighs of Al Gore. In 1992, George H.W. Bush was captured checking and rechecking his watch. Lehrer didn’t necessarily notice these defining moments as they were occurring, but rather looked at the debater as he answered the question. He was careful not to appear to fall into the trap of establishing rapport through eye contact. Though Lehrer’s recollections are nostalgic and often insightful, many readers may wish to learn more about how he puts his questions together and how that skill relates to other behind-the-scenes skills. A limited but entertaining peek at some of what goes on behind the curtain. (Author tour to Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco. Agent: Timothy Seldes)
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THE GIFT OF REST Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath
Lieberman, Joe; Klinghoffer, David Howard Books/Simon & Schuster (224 pp.) $22.00 | August 16, 2011 978-1-4516-0617-1 A Connecticut lawmaker finds inspiration in the Sabbath—and wants to share the love in this profound debut. Separation of Sabbath and state? Humbug! Lieberman makes no bones about his affinity for the Jewish Sabbath and its rich tradition as a weekly return to “freedom, redemption and salvation.” At the outset, he writes, “I love the Sabbath and believe it is a gift from God that I want to convince everyone who reads this book to accept.” The senator builds his case by blending religious reflection with personal history, recalling how when he’d arrive home from school on a Friday to a home redolent with “chicken soup, meat, or kugel (a sweet baked noodle dish),” it was hard not to look forward to the Day of Rest. He even echoes Proust: “When it comes to the Sabbath, we taste or smell or see or hear, and immediately we are transported to Shabbatland...with all its religious, mystical, and sensual meanings and memories.” But it’s not all ideology and sound bites, with Lieberman offering practical advice on how to keep the Sabbath and best elevate and isolate the special day from the rest of the week: “Try to make your Sabbath conversations different from that of the weekdays. Elevate your talk. Rather than gossip, discuss ideas. Seek peace with your spouse. Avoid talking about business.” The author deftly weaves his experience as an observant Jew on Capitol Hill into the readable exposition. Appealing for true believers and politicos alike.
WORDS TO EAT BY Five Foods and the Culinary History of the English Language
Lipkowitz, Ina St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $25.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-312-66218-9
Lipkowitz (English/MIT) cuts through the flesh to expose the culinary history of five foods and how the five senses assisted their evolution in the English language. The author engages readers in the introduction using an anecdote that demonstrates how our perception of words influences our appetites. Her initial response, as a New Yorker, when invited to a Labor-Day-Pig-Pickin’ in North Carolina was one of repulsion. “What I saw on that sticky September afternoon was a big dead animal sprawled belly up across a huge metal barrel drum,” she writes. “What I smelled, however wasn’t bad in fact, it smelled good, very good.” Lipkowitz goes on to explore the 1026
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origins of apples, leeks, milk and dairy, meat and bread in a mix of culinary and linguistic history that ranges from the shores of the Roman Empire to the modern kitchen of celebrated chef David Chang. She forces readers to take a closer look at the verb furor, meaning “to have pleasure” or “to enjoy” via Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights” in her deft dissection of original sin and the temptation of the apple. She delves into the medicinal value of the leek and how Hippocrates prescribed what some might consider a stinky weed as a remedy for nosebleeds. Lipkowitz also examines how milk progressed, “from the Latin word for breast, mamma,” to artisanal cheeses and crème fraiche. She also looks at why we prefer “tenderloins to entrails” and explores how bread made its way into the Lord’s Prayer. Includes illustrations and a smattering of recipes adapted for the modern chef. Brings a depth of historical and linguistic relevance to the table.
WARREN BUFFETT INVESTS LIKE A GIRL And Why You Should, Too Lofton, Louann Harper Business (272 pp.) $25.99 | June 21, 2011 978-0-06-156755-1
A debut author impugns Warren Buffett’s masculinity—in a good way—and asserts that feminine thinking like his is what leads to investment riches. Lofton, a managing editor at The Motley Fool, ascribes investor rashness and hubris to roaring male testosterone. Of course, this isn’t a problem for innately conservative, deliberate and never ruinously overconfident female investors—or, for that matter, the great sage Buffett who, as the title of this book would have readers believe, invests like a girl. This means, among other things, standing by your stocks during downturns and not bolting for the exit like the typical hair-trigger male investor. Moverand-shaker investors, if they are men, may and often do feel that they are geniuses until proven idiots; women, with Buffett-like humility learned over the millennia, are less likely to fall into this trap. The same could be said of Buffett, who famously remarked that if he had an IQ of 160, he would sell 40 points. Lest it appear that Lofton is merely expressing gender pride, she touches up her arguments with statistics and a pop-psychology veneer and ends with a series of interviews with a sampling of top female investors. Thankfully, the narrative tails off before delving deeper into errant male responsibility for much of what threatens humanity, including war and global warming. Lofton lays out sound feminine and Motley Fool–worthy rules for investment that men would be wise to heed— sure to be more popular with women than men.
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A BELLE IN BROOKLYN The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life
Lucas, Demetria L. Atria Books (336 pp.) $24.00 | June 14, 2011 978-1-4516-0631-7
An intermittently amusing memoir of the author’s life as a single woman living, working and dating in Brooklyn. Lucas notes in the introduction that while single white women have Sex and the City as a glamorous representation of living and working, single black women have, instead, a series of alarmist news reports about their dire and inevitable fate. The author attempts to correct this imbalance through a series of anecdotes depicting her life as an aspiring magazine editor in the Big Apple. Many of these stories consist of some variation of Lucas attending an exclusive industry party escorted by a handsome man who will fetch her free drinks and introduce her to other handsome men. Much like Sex and the City, Lucas’ life will be, for the majority of readers, an escapist fantasy rather than a realistic representation. Those looking to live vicariously through the author’s fashionable adventures or relish the sordid details of a gossip-worthy love life will be satisfied; readers looking for insight extending beyond Lucas’ personal experience will find scant material. Occasionally, the author presents a nugget of hard-won wisdom: She advises women that they will benefit from forgiving the occasional slip-up and “learn the difference between a good man who effs up and an effed-up man given to occasional moments of grandeur.” Readers will find very little advice that they couldn’t glean from the pages of a woman’s magazine—or their own common sense.
CAR GUYS VS. BEAN COUNTERS The Battle for the Soul of American Business Lutz, Bob Portfolio (256 pp.) $26.95 | June 9, 2011 978-1-59184-400-6
A former top GM executive and avowed gearhead warns against the advance of soulless number-crunchers clueless about the hands-on details of the car business. To Lutz (Guts: 8 Laws of Business from One of the Most Innovative Business Leaders of Our Time, 2003), it’s not rocket science: Design and build the cars and trucks that customers want, and the rest will fall into place. This was his job as a GM vice chairman from 2001 to 2010. At the table—if not running the meeting—when most of the big decisions came down, the author, now in his late 70s, was often appalled by youthful bean-counting MBAs with their 4.0 GPAs |
but no common car sense. What matters, Lutz argues, is having on board at least one automotive artist with the talent to design desirable new cars. The author’s talent, equally rare, was recognizing a good design, or a bad one drawn to bean-counter specs. His frequent criticism of the press is sometimes churlish, as when he alleges that unnecessarily harsh and ill-informed lefty journalism gave the Hummer H2—on which he signed off—an unjustifiably bad rep. He closes with the recognition that having a media-savvy, talking-head CEO is now a must and in the best interest of the business in which he worked for 47 years. The author also predicts GM’s battery-and-gas-powered Volt will dominate the highways of the future, and he includes close accounts of GM’s 2009 bankruptcy, government bailout and subsequent reemergence as a trimmed-down shadow of its former corporate self. Well worth the ride—if not necessarily the car.
WEEDS In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants
Mabey, Richard Ecco/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $25.99 | June 28, 2011 978-0-06-206545-2
British nature writer and popular BBC personality Mabey (Unofficial Countryside, 2010, etc.) cultivates an intriguing mix of natural history, botany and anecdotes from the frontlines of his own weed-infested garden. A weed is often defined as “a plant in the wrong place,” writes the author at the beginning of this loving and lyrical tribute to those he refers to as “botanical thugs.” He goes on to discuss how weeds originate, since the source of and paths traveled by various seeds can often be traced, much like a family lineage. Through his examination of the historical hows and whys of seed travel, the author artfully explains how these jet-lagged seeds can create unique gardens anywhere from marshy river banks to desolate, cracked parking lots. His engaging writing style transforms what might otherwise be a stodgy, uninteresting field guide into a literary stroll through an English garden. Mabey may be pro-weed, but his gentle voice is oddly persuasive, reminding readers that weeds are nothing more than “a plant growing where you would prefer other plants to grow, or sometimes no plants at all,” and “the victims of guilt by association, and seen as sharing the dubious character of the company they keep.” Throughout the ages, weeds have been both praised for their healing measures and feared for their “seemingly diabolical powers.” Regardless how their worth is perceived, none can deny the inspiration they’ve provided throughout the annals of history as important figures in history and literature. Shakespeare, for example, mentions more than 100 species of wild plant in his works. Mabey’s deft and spirited treatise on nature’s supervillains will have readers remembering A.A. Milne’s defense of weeds in Winnie the Pooh: “Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.” Transforms a much-maligned annoyance into a topic worthy of fascination.
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“Exceptional reimagining of Islam.” from allah, liberty and love
ALLAH, LIBERTY, AND LOVE The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom Manji, Irshad Free Press (272 pp.) $26.00 | June 14, 2011 9781451645200
Manji takes readers outside the boxes of “moderation” and “multi-culturalism” to boldly tackle the problems with modern Islam. In the wake of her 2005 book The Trouble with Islam Today and PBS documentary Faith Without Fear, the author looks toward an optimistic fix for Islam’s woes. She finds this remedy in the ancient Islamic practice of ijtihad, a “tradition of dissenting, reasoning, and reinterpreting.” Focusing on seven simple yet challenging lessons she has learned about reform, Manji urges readers—whether Muslim or not—to challenge those who hide behind social constructions like “moderation,” which perpetuate a culture of violence and intolerance. She makes it clear that Islam must be separated from Arab culture, which idolizes family and collective honor above individual integrity. Going further, however, Manji calls for a reinterpretation of Islam itself by Muslims to bring readings of the Qur’an into a 21stcentury context, decrying the Muslim fear of outside cultures while ignoring Islam’s own severe cultural problems. Muslims, she writes, must stop having “high defenses against the Other and low expectations of ourselves.” She also calls upon nonMuslims to stop wringing their hands over respect for another culture and to remember that certain things, such as honor killings, wife beating, etc., are simply and universally wrong. Throughout the book, the author quotes from e-mail communications with critics and allies alike, many of which echo the resounding hatred and striking fear that many Muslims live with daily. Her writing is emotive, penetrating and sassy. Readers of all backgrounds should be struck by her assertion that, “A sovereign Creator isn’t threatened by our self-knowledge; only the Creator’s uptight gatekeepers are.” Exceptional reimagining of Islam.
PEPPER The Spice that Changed the World: Over 100 Recipes, Over 3,000 Years of History
McFadden, Christine Absolute Press (256 pp.) $35.00 | August 1, 2011 978-1-904573-60-9
A complete guide to this complex, mysterious and often overlooked kitchen staple. It’s about time that pepper got its due. With all the fuss over the great varieties of sea salt, pepper has lately slipped into the 1028
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shadows. No longer. McFadden (The Chocolate Cookbook, 2009, etc.) provides a definitive explanation of all things peppery. She covers just about everything a cook would want to know about pepper: its history, where it grows, how it’s processed, how to conduct a tasting and where to buy the rarer varieties. McFadden adds to this an extensive set of recipes—from the classic Steak Au Poivre to the exotic Peppered Chocolate Truffles—designed to maximize the nuances of the different types of peppercorns. Carmelized Pineapple with Long Pepper and Lime Syrup, for instance, captures the sweet heat of long peppers, while the author’s recipe for Numbing Chicken Noodle Salad takes full advantage of the citrusy fire of the Sichuan pepper. Desserts are perhaps the most intriguing; the Pink Pepper Blondies combine lime, white chocolate and pink peppercorns for a bright yet delicately spicy flavor. Since pepper is traditionally consumed in hot climates to cool the body, McFadden includes a few icy summer treats, such as a refreshing version of the popular Indian beverage Nimbu Pani (lime, pepper, soda water and sugar) and a Devilled Chocolate Ice Cream, a delightfully unexpected combination of rich chocolate and white and black peppercorns. Lovers of pepper will rejoice over this combination cookbook and history lesson.
GRAND PURSUIT The Story of Economic Genius
Nasar, Sylvia Simon & Schuster (554 pp.) $35.00 | September 13, 2011 978-0-684-87298-8
A popular treatment of the emergence of political economics, as well as a discussion of the major unresolved issues still on the table today, such as the role of government in managing society versus the efficacy of the free market. Nasar (Journalism/Columbia Graduate School; A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr., 1998) begins her examination of the evolution of modern society, and the attempt by leading intellectuals to understand and shape the process, with a look at the Victorian era and the writings of Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Malthus and others. This was a time when the question of how to improve the deplorable condition of the British working classes—illustrated by writers such as Charles Dickens, whom Nasar cites—was hotly debated, with Malthus blaming the depravity of the poor and Marx predicting revolution. The author references the less well-known but influential work of economist Alfred Marshall, a champion of universal education and technology who argued against the notion that philanthropy and political economy were at odds and that progress was not possible without revolution. Nasar acknowledges the Fabian society as the first think tank, although the word “connot[ing] the growing role of the expert to public policy making wasn’t coined until World War II.” At the turn of the century, it was influential in shaping public policy in the direction
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SUGAR NATION The Hidden Truth Behind America’s Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It
of social reform, attracting such notables as Winston Churchill, then a liberal, to its ranks. Nasar gives a gripping account of the devastation in Europe after World War I, and the conflict since over how to resolve cyclical economic crises such as the depression of the 1930s and the current recession. This broad-sweep introduction adds an important historical dimension to current debates on the future of the American economy. (Agent: Kathy Robbins)
IT LOOKED DIFFERENT ON THE MODEL Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy
Notaro, Laurie Villard (240 pp.) $15.00 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-345-51099-0 978-0-345-52631-1 e-book Former humor columnist Notaro (Spooky Little Girl, 2010, etc.) gathers observations on the odds and ends of her transplanted life in a series of quirky domestic vignettes. Some pieces focus on the trials and tribulations of being the author. These include falling tragically in love with a shirt for which she was “the wrong size, wrong age, and had the wrong wallet”; living with a pill-popping alter ego named “Ambien Laurie” who would ritually—and, unbeknownst to the waking Laurie—gorge on snack foods and go on midnight online shoe-shopping binges; and dealing with a frank dislike of being hugged or touched. Other stories focus on the foibles of her equally neurotic family. In one, Notaro pokes fun at her mother’s e-mail forwards that “in e-mail code mean[t] ‘Forecasting World Destruction’.” In another essay, the author describes how in her mother and father’s cheerfully dysfunctional home, parents are parents, children are children and no one is safe from character assault. A few pieces more directly deal with Notaro’s attempts at coming to terms with Eugene, Ore., her new home, a city she sees as overrun by hippies, swingers, vegans and justice-seeking plant fairies who, “in the dead of night…delicately placed to deep green shrubs with brilliant red berries on either side of [her] door” to make up for the loss of two azaleas stolen by unrepentant tree thieves. Though clearly intended as funny, the book elicits only occasional laughter for the odd twists and turns the stories tend to take rather than for the actual subject matter. An uneven collection hampered by forced humor and a lack of cohesion. (Author tour to Portland, Phoenix and by request. Agent: Jenny Bent/Trident Media Group)
O’Connell, Jeff Hyperion (320 pp.) $24.99 | July 19, 2011 978-1-4013-2344-8
“[S]ugar has enslaved us,” writes health journalist O’Connell. “As a result, America’s most preventable disease, type-2 diabetes, has taken over.” When the author discovered that he was pre-diabetic in the fall of 2006, he was stunned. However, he knew that had no desire to become like his father, whose own untreated case of diabetes had led to a leg amputation and a “torturous demise.” Though lean and physically fit, O’Connell quickly realized that he was eating and drinking an over-abundance of sugars and their carbohydrate kin, found in fast foods and, less obviously, “healthy” ones like yogurt, pasta, Gatorade and whole wheat bread. The author’s timely and readable account of his four-year personal journey to recovery explores diabetes as a metabolic, endocrine and vascular disorder. Through exhaustive research, O’Connell unveils the ignorance and misinformation clouding this complex disease. Processed foods along with high-stress lifestyles, he writes, have created the conditions for diabetes—even among those not otherwise prone to it. Not one to shy away from controversy, the author highlights the disturbingly close and collusive relationship among health-care professionals, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and drug manufacturers, illustrating how no-nonsense, drug-free approaches to combating the disease have taken a back seat to money-making concerns. Most importantly, O’Connell offers practical suggestions for disease management, including the diet and fitness strategies that helped him regain control of his own life. Excellent reading for diabetics and anyone interested in understanding and/or managing diabetes.
PROTECTING YOUR PARENTS’ MONEY The Essential Guide to Helping Mom and Dad Navigate the Finances of Retirement
Opdyke, Jeff D. HarperCollins (240 pp.) $15.99 paperback | June 21, 2011 978-0-06-135820-3
Talking to elderly parents about managing their finances can be an emotionally charged task—especially if they are hesitant to relinquish information and control—but Opdyke (Piggybanking, 2010, etc.) offers sensitive, user-friendly advice for adjusting to those stressful parent-child role reversals. |
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The author, the man behind the Wall Street Journal column “Love & Money,” guides adult children through the many issues involved with juggling an additional household budget, from accessing bank accounts and safe-deposit boxes to obtaining forgotten CDs or pensions. Making parents’ money increase through investments or by finding banks/credit unions with higher interest yields is beneficial. For times when withdrawing from their nest egg becomes necessary, Opdyke discusses several scenarios—e.g., a Prudential Insurance study showing how, because of tax rates, it is cheaper over time to draw on an IRA instead of taking early Social Security. The author also digs into the morass of Medicare and Medicaid, including explanations of terms, such as the simple “benefit period” or the more complex “Medigap coverage,” detailed in simple language and illustrated with an intelligible table. Opdyke also provides a variety of resources and information for those debating home care versus assisted living or nursing homes—and suggestions for how to navigate the tricky terrain of that conversation. Regardless of the issue at hand, the author provides several respectful conversation starters for each step of this difficult process. He’s also wise enough to caution readers against what they shouldn’t say. Phrases like “you don’t understand” and “if you had listened to me instead of...” have offensive implications and can only complicate an already overwhelming process. A solid, informative reference.
OUTLAWS INC. Under the Radar and On the Black Market with the World’s Most Dangerous Smugglers
Potter, Matt Bloomsbury (336 pp.) $25.00 | August 31, 2011 978-1-60819-530-5
Engrossing examination of the role of ex-Soviet air crews in post–Cold War smuggling and global instability. London-based BBC Radio reporter Potter deftly summarizes the impact of the Soviet military’s sudden dissolution, which left a stockpile of useful military equipment at the disposal of black markets. One of the most significant was the Il76, “one of the biggest planes on the planet.” Ever since, these aging yet rugged planes, and the men trained to fly them, have been instrumental in facilitating both globalization of capital and brutal discord, particularly via their unique capacity for smuggling. His intermittent travels with “Mickey” and crew, veterans of the Soviets’ Afghan war, form the book’s overall structure. In Potter’s opinion, these hapless and evasive yet stoic and skilled aviators provide a ready metaphor for what happened to the world geopolitically after the USSR’s dissolution—as Mickey puts it, “we flew [an Il-76] down to Kazakhstan and, you might say, rebranded.” When faced with sudden privation, these ex–military men began transporting goods ranging from disaster aid and soldiers to drugs, weapons and blood diamonds 1030
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all over the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. Potter is fascinated by Mickey’s shadowy existence, which is both dangerous—there have been numerous suspicious crashes of Russian aircraft—and a key component of the so-called “grey market,” in which legitimate entrepreneurs and aid organizations interact with the transnational criminal syndicates that grew with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Potter shadows Mickey’s crew through Afghanistan, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Central America, the Congo and Uganda, at once entertained by the exploits and keyed in to their relevance to profound crises. The book reads more like a novel than straight journalism. The personalized narrative is taut and funny; Potter’s prose strains, often successfully, to be ornate and haunting in portraying the doomed, absurdist lot of the airmen—though he tends to repeat these tropes. An exciting yet disturbing look at a dark corner of current geopolitics. (8-page black-and-white insert)
LENINGRAD The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941–1944
Reid, Anna Walker (512 pp.) $30.00 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8027-1594-4
An illuminating chronicle of the greatest siege of World War II. Historian and journalist Reid (The Shaman’s Coat: A Native History of Siberia, 2003, etc.) turns her considerable investigative powers to Germany’s 872day siege on Russia’s important Baltic port, “the deadliest blockade of a city in human history.” The author recounts a woefully unprepared defense that would cost upwards of 800,000 lives inside Leningrad. The history of the siege has suffered from many revisions, with misinformation beginning as soon as the German army moved against Russia, when Stalinist propaganda was substituted for news. Even after Germany’s defeat, the narrative of Leningrad’s siege was rewritten by a victorious Stalin, declared one of the greatest victories of the Russian people, the atrocities of starvation, cold and war effectively whitewashed. Since the fall of Stalinism, different political factions have claimed the story as their own. Reid corrects this by allowing the people of Leningrad to tell the story in their own words, pulling information from a wide range of sources: the bleak diaries left by those who died inside the city, journals kept by members of the advancing German army and interviews with the remaining survivors. The political intricacies of Russia can often be overwhelming, and the shifting alliances inside and outside the city are easily confused. However, the personal histories Reid brings to life make the insufferable conditions in the city all too clear and correct the great injustice of the siege: the silencing of its many voices. They are all here, unearthed and brought back to life to tell the story of citizens caught inside the siege ring, reduced to the most desperate means of survival as they waited for spring. A pleasing combination of assured prose and firsthand accounts from inside the city’s walls. (16-page black-and-white insert; 6 maps. Author tour to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C.)
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“A bizarre and complicated history told with masterful control.” from inside scientology
INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY The Story of America’s Most Secretive Religion
THE TAKEDOWN A Suburban Mom, a Coal Miner’s Son, and the Unlikely Demise of Colombia’s Brutal Norte Valle Cartel
Reitman, Janet Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (464 pp.) $28.00 | July 5, 2011 978-0-618-88302-8
Thoroughly engrossing page-turner on the shape-shifting Church of Scientology and its despotic, possibly criminal hierarchy. Rolling Stone contributing editor Reitman based this debut on an award-winning article she wrote for that magazine in 2006 amid a flurry of media interest in the normally press-averse organization as it launched an antic publicity campaign featuring the world’s most famous Scientologist, Tom Cruise. For most of its 50-plus-year history, Scientology not only avoided attention; it viciously attacked anyone who dared come after it with every means, legal and otherwise, at its disposal. Some say it has even managed to get away with murder (or manslaughter), indentured servitude of minors, brainwashing and the stalking of apostates. So how did such a notoriously thin-skinned and anti-social belief system acquire any believers at all? Reitman delves into the pop-psychology, positive-thinking origins of the cult in the early ’50s in the mind of science-fiction hack, truthbender and would-be commodore of the planet L. Ron Hubbard. A complex, Ponzi-like structure of franchises and a catechism called the Bridge to Total Freedom requiring steep payment from pilgrims at every point along the way resulted in rapid financial growth. As the cult grew in size, its founder took to the sea, creating a society resembling a sci-fi dystopia, designed both to exalt himself and evade tax laws on the land. After Hubbard died an isolated and paranoid hermit, a young man named David Miscavige muscled his way to the top with the blunt aplomb of a Stalinist apparatchik, punctuating his ascendancy with consequent purges of perceived rivals. Reitman somehow manages to maintain an objective stance throughout the book. One of her sources is a charmingly (and surprisingly) independent-minded young second-generation Scientologist named Natalie, whom the author posits as representing an alternative, more recognizably human future of the church—if the top dogs don’t first succeed in blowing it all to bits. A bizarre and complicated history told with masterful control. (National author tour including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco)
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Robinson, Jeffrey Dunne/St. Martin’s (336 pp.) $28.99 | August 2, 2011 978-0-312-61238-2
A real-life Law & Order case, starring Romedio Viola, a detective from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Bonnie Klapper, a prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Robinson (There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute: A Revelation of Audacious Frauds, Scams, and Cons—How to Spot Them, How to Stop Them, 2010, etc.) won the cooperation of Viola and Klapper to document how they led the demise of a powerful business enterprise smuggling illegal narcotics into the United States and Europe. Simultaneously, the Colombian crime executives were operating small businesses across the United States to launder money so it could be sent back to Colombia without being confiscated by law-enforcement agents. The number of criminals is sizable, their names are often difficult to recall and the level of detail about each investigation into the role of each suspect (many of them Colombian nationals) tends toward massive. As a result, the narrative occasionally drags. The educational value of the book, however, is substantial, as Robinson explains the painstaking process of collecting evidence. Informants persuaded directors of the agencies involved in bringing down the Colombian business enterprise that desperate drug lords would consider it a smart business move to murder Klapper and Viola. As a result, for portions of the narrative, both Klapper and Viola are accompanied everywhere by government bodyguards. Klapper makes the best of the awkward and stressful arrangement, inviting the bodyguards to family dinners. Viola balks at the bodyguards, especially because he already carries a gun as a federal agent; his refusal to cooperate fully with his protective detail yields a few moments of humor in an otherwise grim text. When Robinson explains tactics like a quasi-insider, the narrative crackles with authenticity. One of the most unexpected findings is that at least on this one drug interdiction, agencies that frequently feud found common ground. An object lesson in what a couple of determined lawenforcement agents can accomplish, even when outnumbered by the bad guys. (8-page black-and-white photo insert. Agent: Mel Berger)
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SUPER MARIO How Nintendo Conquered America
Ryan, Jeff Portfolio (304 pp.) $26.95 | August 4, 2011 978-1-59184-405-1
A gaming journalist retraces Nintendo’s unlikely shaping of video-game history through a pudgy Italian plumber named Mario. In his debut, Ryan chronicles the surprisingly riveting history of Japanese video-game empire Nintendo, from their early coin-operated arcade-game days to recent innovations in game-system technology. More specifically, though, the author follows the professional career of Nintendo’s mastermind Shigeru Miyamoto and the often-riveting story behind the genesis of now-legendary pixilated plumber Mario, and the improbable success of Mario’s star-vehicle, Donkey Kong, whose oddball name came about from a happy accident in Japanese-to-English translation. For anyone who grew up in the ’80s with quarter-arcade games like Donkey Kong, the first half of Ryan’s book is an endlessly fascinating nostalgia trip. Placing Miyamoto’s creation in its cultural and chronological context, the author not only gives Nintendo’s full history, but also a detailed accounting of Nintendo’s early field of competition, especially with one-time giant Atari and later Sega, with its irreverent anti-Mario stance. Nintendo’s rise to importance would also be marked by big lawsuits, namely by Universal, who claimed they owned the rights to King Kong, and thus, Donkey Kong. It’s this historical element that Ryan thrives on, as well as the biographical aspects of Nintendo’s eccentric Japanese founding fathers. The author drives home the notion of Nintendo’s success being mostly due to its uncanny sense of resourcefulness. In the later chapters, however, the narrative slows, as Ryan gets too caught up in gamer shop talk. In his coverage of the ’90s and beyond, the author seems more concerned with the technological minutiae behind every new gizmo that Nintendo is responsible for and can’t retain the dramatic buildup that had given such heft to earlier chapters. Late stumbles aside, an effective and entertaining overview of the video-game industry’s history and Nintendo’s essential role in shaping it.
AN EMERGENCY IN SLOW MOTION The Inner Life of Diane Arbus Schultz, William Todd Bloomsbury (256 pp.) $25.00 | September 1, 2011 978-1-60819-519-0
A theorist of psychobiography offers an example of his favored approach in an exploration of a most perplexing figure, the edgy and controversial photographer Diane Arbus (1923–1971). 1032
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Arbus provides a promising canvas for Schultz, who’s also written about Truman Capote (Tiny Terror, 2011). He sketches the privileged childhood of Arbus, whose brother was poet Howard Nemerov (the talented siblings engaged in a little youthful sex play, says Schultz), and highlights the significance of an early memory of seeing a shantytown. The author moves briskly through her career, returning continually to the notion that as Arbus’ subject were often freaks, so she, too, was one. He dusts off the familiar notion that her photographs are generally about herself—she sought herself, reflected herself, found herself in others. Her final group of subjects—the mentally retarded—she found frustrating to work with, writes Schultz, because she could not elicit from them the interactions she found so essential. The author also focuses on Arbus’ sex life, noting how frequently she posed her subjects in their beds (including TV icons Ozzie and Harriet in 1971) and how she sometimes engaged in sex acts with the people she was photographing. She seduced her subjects, writes Schultz, sometimes in multiple ways. An exception was Germaine Greer; their session was a remarkable struggle of wills, which Greer won. Arbus had one failed marriage, a late-life affair that didn’t work out, countless sex partners, a battle with hepatitis, an odd course of psychotherapy and issues with cash flow—all culminating in the stress and depression that led to her suicide. Schultz writes in detail about her death and remains uncertain if she fully intended to kill herself. Though sometimes clanging with psychological jargon, a biography that wisely recognizes the ultimate mystery of every life. (Author appearances in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco. Agent: Betsy Lerner)
BURNED BRIDGE How East and West Germans Made the Iron Curtain
Sheffer, Edith Oxford Univ. (384 pp.) $29.95 | September 1, 2011 978-0-19-973704-8 An accessible, intriguing academic study tracking the building of the “wall in the head” between East and West Germany long before the actual construction in1961. Sheffer (History/Stanford Univ.) traces the demarcation between two adjacent towns in the middle of greater Germany, Sonneberg and Neustadt, connected by a naturally created road called Burned Bridge. Each became its own frontier and border town after the political delineations of World War II, largely through habit and ingrained mindset rather than physical restrictions. While the two German towns had always maintained their own personalities and friendly competition in the toy-making industry, after World War II, as per the zonal boundaries established by the victors, Sonneberg was incorporated into the Soviet zone, and Neustadt into the American. While the road of Burned Bridge had once served as the connection between the two, it now designated the “symbol of severance.” Gradually, two separate, mutually hostile societies grew within the respective towns,
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one dominated by the socialist political system, characterized by a tightly controlled economy and a censored, restricted society, the other offering democratic elections, a free market, abundant goods and services and free movement of citizens. While the border had been fairly porous immediately after the war, a growing black market and influx of refugees moving West exacerbated the tension, and both sides recognized the need for tighter controls. Through abundantly documented evidence, in the form of tidbits of small, daily social fabric delineating the ways the towns’ inhabitants assimilated this partition, Sheffer reveals how an uneasy postwar society created its own “living wall.” Especially chilling is the role of the Stasi—the East German Ministry for State Security—in the inculcation of neighbor spy watching and cross-border surveillance. A methodical study of one model experiment through which the entire mindset of the Iron Curtain can be viewed. (34 halftones)
UNSCREWED Salvage and Reuse Motors, Gears, Switches, and More from Your Old Electronics
Sobey, Ed Chicago Review (256 pp.) $16.95 paperback | June 1, 2011 978-1-56976-604-0
Sobey (How Kitchens Work, 2010, etc.) provides instructions for dismantling unwanted electronics and offers suggestions on how to repurpose what you mine. Wondering what to do with your old scanner? Unscrew it piece-by-piece, set the motors aside for future projects and use the remaining parts to construct a desk lamp, of course! Sobey, a master in the art of salvage, has the basics covered with instructions for how to start repurposing more than 50 of your most unwanted possessions, from joysticks to guitars to hairdryers. While the author’s intentions are noble, with increasing attention paid to conservation and sustainability, he falls flat with this guide. Sobey thoroughly covers the steps to taking apart the devices, but he fails to provide instructions on how to repurpose them, merely suggesting alternate uses in a lackluster and uninformative conclusion to each chapter. Guiding readers step-by-illustrated-step through stripping a discarded bubble gun for gears, springs and switches, the author then suggests that its pump be retrofitted into a small irrigation system for houseplants. But readers are left to their own devices to figure out how. Perfect for readers who like to take things apart to see what’s inside but useless for those with intentions of putting them back together.
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GROOVE INTERRUPTED Loss, Renewal, and the Music of New Orleans
Spera, Keith St. Martin’s (256 pp.) $25.99 | August 2, 2011 978-0-312-55225-1
Uneven, intermittently compelling series of portraits of New Orleans musicians. As the veteran music critic for the Times-Picayune (and a writer for a New Orleans music monthly before that), Spera would seem to be in a great position to provide a comprehensive narrative concerning the effects of the devastating hurricane on a city with such a musical lifeblood. Yet these 13 profiles, many of which have been expanded from newspaper pieces, might better serve as source material for a more ambitious book. The author plainly has access to subjects who trust him and an appreciation for younger styles of music (metal, hip-hop) that figure more strongly in contemporary New Orleans music than in most books about the city’s musical legacy. But some of the profiles are only tangentially related to Katrina and its aftermath, while too many others fall into a formulaic rhythm: opening anecdote, extended biographical chronology, effects on the subject of the devastation and destruction of Katrina. The chapters on Aaron Neville, Fats Domino, Jazz Fest director Quint Davis and formerly incarcerated rapper Mystikal are particularly pointed and revelatory. The chapter on the late cult icon Alex Chilton, however, is a missed opportunity, in which the author writes about how rare such an interview was and how articulate and intelligent the subject was, but then offers few quotes from that interview. The chapter on a recording session with Jeremy Davenport, a jazz lounge singer and trumpeter who may be well known in New Orleans but little known beyond it, does a fine job capturing the studio interplay but seems out of place given the book’s supposed focus on Katrina. “Katrina changed everyone, at least temporarily,” writes Spera, but his reporting barely scratches the surface of those profound changes. Six years after Katrina, too many of these pieces have a warmed-over feel.
HOW TO SHOOT VIDEO THAT DOESN’T SUCK 74 Tips to Make Any Amateur Look Like a Pro
Stockman, Steve Workman (224 pp.) $13.95 paperback | June 2, 2011 978-0-7611-6323-7
An often plodding but highly informative manual for fledgling filmmakers. Producer, director and screenwriter of Two Weeks (2006), Stockman adds “author” to his growing list of credits with this debut instruction manual. His simple-to-follow guide takes readers step-by-step through the film- and video-making process, complete with personal anecdotes (“A screenwriter friend of mine told
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me that he chooses a project by deciding whether or not he’d pay to see it in a theater”) as well as helpful tips to avoid often-overlooked elements of filmmaking (“Given the choice between shooting the picture right and getting good sound, directors always choose picture... [but] great sound pulls viewers in”). The author punctuates the chapters with incisive and complementary exercises granting readers more opportunity to reinforce each lesson, which run the gamut from lighting and scene composition to post-production editing and promotion. The narrative reads like a VCR manual at times—and the author tends to overexplain certain concepts—but the Stockman’ss attention to detail is impressive. Whether they’re aiming to shoot the next summer blockbuster or more entertaining home videos of their grandchildren’s ballet recitals, readers will go forth in good confidence that they have been rigorously instructed.
KEEP ON PUSHING Black Power Music from Blues to Hip-Hop
Sullivan, Denise Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review (256 pp.) $16.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-1-55652-817-0 A pleasing survey of soul music, from Lead Belly to Johnny Otis to Michael Franti to Louis Farrakhan. Say what? It’s not every history of African-American song that takes time to recall that Farrakhan, later famed as a Black Muslim leader and political activist, recorded several calypso albums in the 1950s. (Who knew, too, that actor Louis Gossett Jr. was once a Greenwich Village folkie?) Music journalist and Crawdaddy columnist Sullivan (The White Stripes: Sweethearts of the Blues, 2004, etc.) has a good eye for the little-explored detail, and she puts it to use in this digressive but generally impressive look at the role of music in the tumult and toil that was the era of the civil-rights movement. The author charts the much-related story of how the blues and its urban cousin jazz united to form rock, and then began “to converge in a powerful new strain of freedom music” delivered by the likes of Odetta, Richie Havens and Harry Belafonte and thence by thousands of artists of every ethnicity and description. Here, Sullivan’s subtitle does not serve her well, for more than survey the role of music in the civil-rights movement—itself a more adequate term than “black power,” even lowercase—Sullivan capably shows how black music fed into white music and white music fed back into the black source. For instance, she notes that soul pioneer Sam Cooke was so taken with Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” that “he decided he should write his own protest song”— whence the classic “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Dylan, of course, was strongly influenced by Odetta, who in turn was shaped by Lead Belly and Marian Anderson, and so on, a great river of music that continues to feed us today. There’s not much hard news for scholars of roots music, but for the rest of us, Sullivan offers a welcome exploration of how African-American popular music became America’s vernacular. |
IN THE LION’S DEN An Eyewitness Account of Washington’s Battle with Syria Tabler, Andrew Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review (240 pp.) $16.95 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-1-56976-843-3
An American journalist working in Syria provides an up-close, somewhat incomplete portrait of a tense country struggling to extricate itself from Lebanon amid U.S. sanctions during the mid 2000s. In this look into a highly censored, autocratic, secular society bedeviled by Islamist fundamentalists, Tabler chronicles his attempt to keep running an English-language startup journal, Syria Today, begun in early 2004 under the auspices of the young new Syrian president’s wife as part of a host of promised reforms when President Bashar al-Assad took office after the death of his longtime dictator father, in 2000. However, over the course of the decade, the NGOs patronized by Mrs. Assad were threatened continually when politics heated up as Syrian relations with Israel and the U.S. deteriorated, and Syria was forced to withdraw from Lebanon, which had essentially provided its economic mainstay. Tabler’s unique position as an American working to promote Syrian culture allowed him a keen perch from which to observe unfolding events. The American invasion of Iraq changed dynamics utterly in the region as Syria, sharing a border with Iraq, resisted American influence, even supporting “terrorist groups and the dying regime of Saddam Hussein.” Syria has flirted with Islamist terrorist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas, and openly supported Hezbollah, a thorn in the Israelis’ side; the Bush administration responded by imposing harsh economic sanctions. The suspicious bombing murder of Lebanese opposition leader Rafik al-Hariri was followed by the “battle of the protests” (the so-called Cedar Revolution) that eventually forced Syria out of the country in April 2005. Moreover, Syrian’s rapprochement with Iran caused enormous animosity with the U.S., when Iran was moving into the vacuum left by Washington. A singular, critical look inside this compelling Arab nation— although the book cries out for an up-to-date epilogue.
THE GOLDEN EMPIRE Spain, Charles V, and the Creation of America
Thomas, Hugh Random (688 pp.) $35.00 | August 9, 2011 978-1-4000-6125-9 978-1-58836-904-8 e-book
A densely packed narrative of the reign of Emperor Charles V, with emphasis on the conquest of those parts of Latin America allotted to Spain in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). This is the second volume in a projected trilogy, following Rivers of Gold (2005).
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Venerable historian Thomas (Eduardo Barreiros and the Recovery of Spain, 2009, etc.) recounts the story of the leading conquistadors (among them Cortés and Pizarro) who overthrew the empires discovered in Mexico and South America, as well as the leaders they defeated, such as Montezuma and Atahualpa. Part of the story involves military tactics—how the indigenous peoples were unable to resist the combination of horse and steel sword in the hands of trained fighters. Another part involves trickery, kidnapping and extortion under threat of death to secure access to gold. Atahualpa delivered thousands of pounds of gold and silver to buy his freedom, only to be killed. The conquering heroes were also everywhere at war with each other over the prospect of funding such unbelievable spoils, and there were heated debates about the indigenous populations, who were being massacred and enslaved. Were they human, or not? How should they be treated? Could they be educated? Thomas ably covers the debate between those who argued for the humanity of the Indians and those who thought them “bestial and ill-intentioned.” Ultimately, the Emperor’s appetite for gold and silver to finance his wars against the French and Lutherans and pay off his lenders undercut any noble intentions. The methods of slavery and expropriation ruled the day. Provides much to reflect on today its discussion about the political and military quest for control and dominance of raw materials. (Photo inserts; 28 maps; 5 family trees. Agent: Andrew Wylie)
WHY WE BELIEVE IN GOD(S) A Concise Guide To the Science of Faith Thomson, Jr. , J. Anderson; Aukofer, Clare Pitchstone Publishing (144 pp.) $12.95 paperback | June 1, 2011 978-0-9844932-1-0
A brief look at religion as evolutionary by-product. Psychiatrist Thomson (Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy/Univ. of Virginia; Facing Bipolar: The Young Adult’s Guide to Dealing with Bipolar Disorder, 2010) takes readers on a very quick tour of evolutionary theory as it relates to religion. His goal is to demonstrate “exactly how and why human minds not only accept the impossible but also have created cults of it.” He maintains that a number of psychological features, resulting from human evolution, have come together over the eons to create, perfect and perpetuate supernatural belief systems. Though the argument has its complexities, he writes, “[i] f you understand the psychology of craving fast food…you can fully comprehend the psychology of religion.” Just as humans now crave foods that were once hard to find (sugar, salt, fats), they also now crave a caretaker, as well as the sense of social belonging and order brought about through religion. But, Thomson cautions, too much of what we crave can be bad for us. While the author is not overtly anti-religious, he does make it clear that he believes religion in modern society is, on the whole, an impediment to humanity. What readers will not be able to ignore, however, is the contradiction Thomson poses to his own argument. He falls into the exact evolutionary trap he has described—of having to believe in something—with his 1036
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idolization of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin. He speaks uncritically of Darwin at every turn, begins each chapter with a Darwin quote that he pairs with a scriptural or otherwise religious phrase and speaks of him in such admiring prose that readers will come to see Darwin as the author’s own saint or deliverer. Mildly thought-provoking but unconvincing.
WHO’S AFRAID OF POST-BLACKNESS? What It Means to Be Black Now
Touré Free Press (288 pp.) $25.00 | September 13, 2011 978-1-4391-7755-6
A personal and scholarly dissection of race issues in modern America. In his latest work, MSNBC correspondent and Rolling Stone contributor Touré (Never Drank the Kool-Aid, 2006, etc.) offers a fresh take on what it means to be Black in America. In the opening scene, the author is preparing to skydive; prior to hurling himself from the plane, an African-American male informs him, “Brother, Black people don’t do that.” “I was breaking the rules of Blackness as they saw it,” he explains, segueing into the book’s primary question: What exactly are those rules? While Touré argues that “the number of ways of being Black is infinite,” he undercuts his claim pages later by admitting that he “never lived a typical Black experience.” If there are, in fact, an infinite number of possibilities of being Black, who is to say his atypical experiences weren’t among of them? With the help of an array of writers, performers, comedians, artists and intellectuals, among others, the author attempts to reach a consensus on what is typical or otherwise for African-Americans, as well as what Black identity means in the modern era. Yet despite the chorus of voices, the most powerful voice belongs to Touré. While his collected anecdotal evidence provides a necessary framework, his personal experiences with race ring loudest of all. A likely bellwether for America’s future struggles with race.
MUZZLED The Assault on Honest Debate
Williams, Juan Crown (224 pp.) $24.00 | August 1, 2011 978-0-307-95201-1
A plea to make the world safe for badmouthing Muslims against the big bad PC police of the Far Left. Self-described middle-of-the-roader Williams (Enough: The Phony Leaders, DeadEnd Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America—and What We Can Do About It, 2006, etc.), now a fixture on Fox News, was famously relieved of his duties as an NPR commentator after having confessed to getting queasy aboard planes in which
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certain passengers are “dressed in garb that identifies them first and foremost as Muslims.” Here, the author recounts that removal, generalizing from his experience to lament a world in which free speech is supposedly suppressed in the interest of political correctness. True enough, we live in a time when the gravest offense often seems to be to give offense in the first place, even though there are plenty of people—and plenty of them on Fox—who make good livings doing just that. Williams is not especially convincing in that generalization; to read this account, it seems he may just have had a toxic relationship with his boss, herself recently gone after a political misstep of a different kind. To be fair, he concurs that some Fox types, particularly the soon-to-be-gone Glenn Beck, are guilty of stifling and shouting and incivility, though this admission comes in a rather roundabout way: “So while my friends at Fox frequently and courageously expose the use of this tactic of political correctness by the Left, it’s important to remember that the Right plays this game too.” Most of the book is unobjectionable—sure, it’d be nice if we could all play nice and Al Franken wouldn’t roll his eyes at Mitch McConnell. Even so, much of the narrative is a long exercise in complaint about his bad treatment at the hands of NPR management, in which Williams
overlooks, it seems, the Ailesian right-to-work credo, which holds that all employees serve at the pleasure of their bosses and there’s no such thing as tenure or appeal. Who lives by the sword, after all... In the end, about the last thing the civil-discourse cause needs, namely more self-interested preaching to the choir.
THE 30-DAY SEX SOLUTION How to Build Intimacy, Enhance Your Sex Life, and Strengthen Your Relationship in One Month’s Time
Zdrok Wilson, Victoria; Wilson, John Adams Media (256 pp.) $14.95 paperback | June 18, 2011 978-1-60550-680-7
Real-life couple and practicing sex therapists come up with a plan to put readers’ tired old sex lives on the well-lubed track to paradise.
COMMAND INFLUENCE By Robert A. Shaines
“A well-told tale of ego and politics subverting justice and a military with a conspicuous lack of honor, set against the misery of wartime Korea.” “Shaines was still wet behind his law-school ears when hewas assigned to defend a second lieutenant serving in Korea, George Schreiber, who had been charged with premeditated murder. But before charging into that appalling situation, author Shaines wisely puts the war in Korea into perspective; despite the best efforts of writers like David Halberstam, that conflict remains a shadowy affair. Shaines draws it, assiduously and with conviction, as a murderous, corrupt enterprise . . .”
-Kirkus Reviews (editorial recommendation)
Available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble |
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Wilson and Zdrok Wilson, a former Playboy Playmate, Penthouse sex columnist and host of the weekly Sirius show “The Sex Connection,” offer a 30-day solution to remedy bedroom woes. While the authors acknowledge that most folks don’t have enough time or room in the budget to shop for role-playing gear and sex toys, their aim is to provide easily implemented suggestions to result in more heat between the sheets. They encourage readers to begin by signing the “Contract of Enhancement of Erotic Union,” proving their commitment to one another. They also suggest the likely uncomfortable task of informing friends and relatives of the month-long project they’re about to undertake, as a means of explaining why they’ll be harder to reach than usual for the next month. When the authors get around to outlining their program, there’s not much revolutionary material here: Post-coital cuddling is strongly encouraged, and readers are gently reminded, “Making out doesn’t have to lead to sex.” One of their more provocative suggestions: If readers find their libido heightened during a long car ride, the automobile’s hood is the perfect height to execute “The Stallion” position. Most memorable, unfortunately, might be the authors’ description of “armpit sex,” a bit of frottage suggested as an ideal way to break up the repetitiveness of oral sex: “By clasping her arms to her sides, a woman can create a moderately tight space in her armpits through which a man can thrust his erection.” Readers might well be cautioned to save that for day 31. A roundabout way of saying: Pay more attention to each other, lose the inhibitions and get it on already.
THE RULES OF THE TUNNEL My Brief Period of Madness
Zeman, Ned Gotham Books (288 pp.) $26.00 | August 4, 2011 978-1-592-40598-5
As an adventurous young magazine writer for Vanity Fair, Zeman traveled the globe in pursuit of compelling subjects; in this searing memoir, he turns his reporter’s gaze inward. With unflinching precision and a welcome dose of gallows humor, the author catalogues his lifelong struggle with depression and numerous attempts to combat it. When standard talk therapy in combination with various prescription drugs proved ineffective, Zeman turned to ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), the “method of last resort.” Formerly known as electroshock therapy and heavily associated in the minds of most people, including the author, with extreme physical pain and resultant loss of mental function, Zeman’s friends and family were deeply skeptical of ECT. While his mood briefly improved after the initial session, he soon entered the period of madness to which the book’s title refers. The author provides firsthand observations and original insights about clinical depression and its treatments, the well-documented link between creativity and mental illness and the powerlessness of friends and relatives in the face of this type of suffering. Zeman is a first-rate storyteller with a vast and glittering array of anecdotes from which to draw. 1038
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He is also a narcissistic man-child whose fawning self-descriptions and the gorgeous women he loved and left may try readers’ patience. There’s a fine line between employing irony for humorous effect and boasting, and Zeman often lands on the wrong side of it. As he does with his closest friends, he draws readers in with fresh, well-crafted tales of terror, anguish and occasional triumph, then drives them away again with arrogance, evasiveness and self-absorption. Despite a rushed ending and a difficult narrator, the book is an exact, revealing and intermittently moving portrait of a talented but struggling artist. (Agent: Richard Abate)
SEX ON SIX LEGS Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World
Zuk, Marlene Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (272 pp.) $25.00 | August 2, 2011 978-0-15-101373-9 A global sampling of the clever lives and loves of our six-legged friends. Zuk (Biology/Univ. of California, Riverside; Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us Who We Are, 2007, etc.) begins with an impressive array of the ways bugs benefit humans: They aerate the soil, dispose of dung, pollinate the majority of the world’s plants, provide bait for bigger prey and even control pests (good bugs eating the bad ones). That they represent 80 percent of all species and will no doubt outlive humans on this planet should give readers pause. How do they manage? In myriad ways, the author demonstrates. As for sex, readers may know about the cannibalism of lady mantises and how queen bees consort with drones, but Zuk also examines species where males produce giant sperm to out-compete rivals, conduct sperm wars in which a later-copulating male scoops out a previous lover’s deposits, pursue both long and short-term couplings and even engage in same-sex behavior. Parenting is also diverse, and provides Zuk with some of her most colorful examples. The tiny emerald cockroach wasp, for example, can sting a cockroach to stun it but not render it immobile, enabling the mother to lead the cockroach by its antennae to the nest to serve as food. Of particular interest (and some controversy) are studies indicating the existence of personality traits such as aggression or passivity, learning ability and communication in bugs. Zuk’s chapters, particularly on social insects, are rich in examples, but she invites questions on why there isn’t more research on genetics and insect nervous systems to fathom what’s behind all this complex behavior. Plenty of intriguing questions to ponder as Zuk informs adults in a droll style that may also turn on younger readers. After all, entomology is still a field that can begin, as it did for her, with venturing into the yard to collect stuff in a glass jar. (Agent: Wendy Strothman)
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children & teens LUNCH-BOX DREAM
Abbott, Tony Farrar, Straus and Giroux (192 pp.) $16.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-374-34673-7 In 1959 on a Civil War battleground tour, a white northern boy has his own prejudices shaken when he sees Jim Crow in action in a Joycean exploration that seems uncertain of its audience. Bobby (of indeterminate age), his Civil War–obsessed older brother, Ricky, and their mother take the scenic route on the way to deliver the boys’ grandmother and her car to her home in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, 9-yearold African-American Jacob leaves his sister and her husband in Atlanta to visit relatives in small-town Dalton, Ga., and he’s a little unclear about proper behavior around whites. When a combination of stress over marital problems and unnecessary, abject racial terror causes Bobby’s mother to total the car in Atlanta, they send Grandma south and, much to Bobby’s mortification, book a bus home. Bobby finds himself on the same bus with Jacob’s family on an emergency trip to find the boy, who’s gone missing, and Bobby’s worldview takes an epiphanic hit. The narrative shifts from Bobby’s perspective in a focused, third-person voice to the first-person accounts of a number of secondary characters. These voices, particularly those of the African-Americans, are mostly indistinct, their accounts seesawing from elliptical to expository. This, together with historical references that will likely slip past children and sometimes tortured syntax, derails prolific series fantasist Abbott’s (The Secrets of Droon) attempt at an autobiographical historical novel. A laudable attempt to address an unfortunately stilltimely subject, this novel feels more like a Modernist experiment than a children’s book. (Historical fiction. 9-12)
RACHEL SPINELLI PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE
Acampora, Paul Roaring Brook (176 pp.) $15.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-59643-548-3
New friends ease a young teen’s adjustment to his mother’s sudden absence. After Zachary’s mom abandons them, he and his father move to a small Connecticut town, where he makes friends |
with 14-year-old Rachel and her mildly mentally disabled older brother, Teddy. Teddy is a musical prodigy but less capable in other areas. Rachel has always vigorously defended him from local bullies, but her assiduous care has limited his ability to develop to his fullest potential. Juggling his growing friendship with Teddy and his increasing desire for a deeper relationship with prickly Rachel, Zachary also faces his unresolved grief and anger over his mother’s sudden departure. From a quirky pair of local restaurateurs to a pregnant teacher to Zachary’s loving father, each character is given a personality, and even those just lightly sketched come off the pages as real people. Realistic dialogue and poignantly amusing situations—Teddy steals his mother’s ashes from their resting place in a teapot in the family diner in order to “let her out,” leaving Zachary to try to save the day without hurting anyone’s feelings—all come together to gently flesh out a few months in the lives of people readers will savor getting to know. An outstanding, humane coming-of-age tale of loss, yearning and forgiveness. (Fiction. 10-14)
MR. AESOP’S STORY SHOP
Aesop Adaptor: Hartman, Bob Illustrator: Jago Lion/Trafalgar (48 pp.) $14.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7459-6915-2
“My name is Aesop! Once I was a slave. Now I am a free man. I have refreshments to sell and stories to tell.” This fresh approach to the classic collection makes a character of Aesop himself, talking to a fictional audience and directing questions to them, and is an effective context for the fables. In “The Crow and the Jar,” the crow can’t get his head far enough into the jar to reach the water, so he drops in pebble after pebble until it rises high enough for him to drink. Aesop has the children who are gathered around his storytelling stall in the marketplace collect pebbles and drop them in a jar to demonstrate. Moral: “Brains are sometimes better than brute strength.” An introduction explains what little is known about Aesop, an ugly man with a bald head and bandy legs who was a slave, and defines the form. The textured illustrations appear as if painted on handmade paper, varying in size and placement from a full page to a doublespread banner. Not every page has artwork, leaving all-text pages off-puttingly dense. Greek motifs are used throughout, and the morals appear as letters chiseled in stone at the end
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“Straddling the line between acceptance and disbelief, the naturalist leaves the question of Champ’s existence open for readers, reminding them that when science solves one mystery, another may appear.” from monster hunt
of each tale. Fable collections are plentiful (Jerry Pinkney’s Aesop’s Fables, 2000, and The McElderry Book of Aesop’s Fables, by Michael Morpurgo, 2005, for instance), but the storytelling device here works well as an engaging read-aloud. “Sticking to your goals may bring more success than being lazy with your talents.” (Fables. 5-9)
SECRETS OF TAMARIND
Aguiar, Nadia Feiwel & Friends (384 pp.) $16.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-312-38030-4
After rescuing their marine-biologist parents from a mysterious island in The Lost Island of Tamarind (2008), feisty siblings Maya, Simon and Penny encounter more amazing adventures as they return to prevent Tamarind’s destruction in this
hair-raising sequel. Since leaving Tamarind four years ago, Maya, Simon and Penny (16, 13 and 5, respectively) have lived quietly in Bermuda with their preoccupied parents, who worry about the Red Coral Project, a phony scientific study intent on ravaging Tamarind to extract the precious mineral ophalla. When Helix, their orphan pal from Tamarind, asks them to sail the Pamela Jane back to the island, Simon, Maya and Penny can’t refuse. Shocked to discover the Red Coral systematically destroying the island, they embark on an arduous quest. Eventually Simon assumes the hero’s role, following obscure clues hidden in three ophallagraphs, leading relentlessly to the Neglected Provinces, the Little Blue Door, the Mumbagua Falls, the Moraine of Lost Loved Ones and, ultimately, to Faustina’s Gate. Here, with Tamarind’s fate in his hands, Simon comes of age, “knowing his purpose is important and clear.” Replete with ecological warnings applicable to real as well as fantasy worlds and glossed with lush descriptions of imaginary flora and fauna, the rapid-fire plot bristles with danger. Like Simon, Maya and Penny, readers will find it hard to leave the magical world of Tamarind. (map) (Fantasy. 10-12)
AMERICAPEDIA Take the Dumb Out of Freedom
Anderson, Jodi Lynn Ehrenhaft, Daniel and Nouraee, Andisheh Walker (240 pp.) $24.99 | $16.99 paperback | July 19, 2011 978-0-8027-9792-6 978-0-8027-9793-3 paperback Sounding like a corny uncle knee-slapping his way through a civics textbook, or perhaps a high-school history teacher certain that name-dropping rock bands will make him seem hip, this fullcolor guidebook aims for edutainment but falls far short. 1040
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Despite the implication of the title, the subject matter is not comprehensive, instead covering a hodgepodge of topics from the Electoral College to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the Salem Witch Trials. In an attempt to enliven dry, disjointed infodumps, the authors crack constant, unfunny verbal and visual jokes that range from painfully dated (the chapter on dynasties in U.S. business and politics devotes most of a page to an aside about the TV show Dynasty, complete with a photograph of the cast) to downright tasteless (“Mexico sends us hardworking laborers, petroleum...and the irresistible two taco/ one enchilada combo plate”). Visual content also serves as a gag (a picture of an Afghan hound in the War on Terror section is captioned “Afghans are known for their distrust of outsiders and lustrous coats”). The brief conclusion takes a more serious turn by suggesting steps toward activism and pointing readers toward organizations working on a variety of issues. There are a few nuggets of helpful information here, but readers will be too busy groaning to find them. (Nonfiction. 12 & up)
MONSTER HUNT Exploring Mysterious Creatures with Jim Arnosky
Arnosky, Jim Illustrator: Arnosky, Jim Disney Hyperion (32 pp.) $16.99 | July 12, 2011 978-1-4231-3028-4
Stating that “[t]oday’s mystery could be tomorrow’s science,” a veteran wildlife observer ponders the existence of such legendary creatures as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. Arnosky’s introduction provides a scientific name for the search for animals whose existence is unproven—cryptozoology. In brief chapters, he discusses giant sharks called charcharodon, thought to be extinct; giant squids or kraken, only recently discovered in the ocean depths; Bigfoot and similar creatures that might lurk in North American forests; and the Loch Ness monster, a possible plesiosaur still surviving in Scotland. But the meat of this latest title is his description of an expedition with his wife and three grandsons to search the depths of Lake Champlain for “Champ,” a plesiosaurlike reptile possibly living in the waters between New York and Vermont. Realistic paintings spread across the gutters, bounded with a totemlike border made up of further relevant images in natural colors. For example, alongside an illustration of a silverback gorilla (thought to be imaginary until the 19th century), the border depicts a coelacanth and a Komodo dragon. Double-page spreads indicate changing sections. Straddling the line between acceptance and disbelief, the naturalist leaves the question of Champ’s existence open for readers, reminding them that when science solves one mystery, another may appear. This personal look at a popular subject is sure to please. (Informational picture book. 7-10)
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NO DOGS ALLOWED!
Ashman, Linda Illustrator: Sorra, Kristin Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | August 2, 2011 978-1-4027-5837-9
People with pets spell trouble—and opportunity—for a new sidewalk cafe. With the exception of a handful of exclamations from restaurateur Alberto, standing nervously outside in crisp white shirt, bow tie and long apron, the story is told visually in sequential panels, from one to four on every page. “Come in, We’re Open” declares a sign on the door, a chalkboard nearby says “Welcome!” and there’s an “Early Bird Special” sign in the window. When Alberto spots a little boy walking in his direction with a big dog, he panics and changes the chalkboard message to “No Dogs Allowed.” Crisis averted... temporarily. Then comes a woman with a gray cat, another holding a rabbit and, surprisingly, a couple on either side of a calm kangaroo. Each new animal (and there are several more) prompts a new version of the message on the chalkboard. Alberto notices that all these people with pets are hanging out at a nearby fountain and, worse, that he’s losing business to a vendor there with a cart. Thinking quickly, he whips up a big batch of cupcakes and changes the name of his restaurant from “Alberto’s City Lights” to “Alberto’s Critters Bistro.” Success! Ashman’s concept is both sophisticated and delightful, with reading and animal-identifying lessons tucked in. Sorra’s digital illustrations have bold distinct colors and crisp outlines. Offbeat and appealing. (Picture book. 3-9)
THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF JACK
Barnhill, Kelly Little, Brown (336 pp.) $16.99 | August 2, 2011 978-0-316-05670-0
A truly splendid amalgamation of mystery, magic and creeping horror will spellbind the middle-grade set. Jack has lived much of his life feeling invisible, beneath the notice of bullies, friends or even his family. Yet when his parents divorce and he’s sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Hazelwood, Iowa, Jack is shocked to discover that everyone in the town notices him. What’s more, some of them seem to want to kill him. As he befriends some of the local kids, Jack reluctantly looks into the town’s past and unravels the mystery behind why children have been disappearing there for decades and what his connection may be. This children’s debut beautifully evokes the feeling of otherness kids come to feel around their peers and at the same time creates an entirely original mythology. The mystery deepens with each chapter, revealing exactly the right amount with each step. Answers are doled |
out so meticulously that readers will be continually intrigued rather than frustrated. The result is the ultimate page-turner. An enticing read that is certain to keep both the hero and audience guessing at every carefully plotted reveal. (Fantasy. 9-12)
SHOEBOX SAM
Barrett, Mary Brigid Illustrator: Morrison, Frank Zonderkidz (32 pp.) $15.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-310-71549-8 All those who labor and are footsore, find relief with Shoebox Sam. Young Jesse and Delia follow their Saturday routine assisting Shoebox Sam, a generous shoe repairman who provides footwear for those less fortunate. The children tidy his shop while seeking information from the elusive shopkeeper. Just what is the history surrounding the beautiful dance slippers he lovingly displays? The business-turned–charitable establishment, located “on the corner of Magnolia and Vine,” has an old-timey feel, but Morrison keeps specific indicators of place and time out of his illustrations. Shoebox Sam models the golden rule to all who enter his doors. His young assistants occasionally falter, rudely pointing out the doughnuts consumed or the extra clothes carried by the disadvantaged. He gently rebukes them with gentle directness. “When you’re hungry, you eat.… When you’re cold, you cover up.” Light in characterization, the message-driven tale builds to its inspirational though rather inscrutable climax. Jesse’s narration reveals his respect for his beloved mentor. “He shines old shoes and builds new soles. He shines them up fine.” Creamy tones spread nostalgic warmth within soft-edged designs, though sometimes this softness results in a lack of clarity in characters’ expressions. Elongated African-American figures move against the backdrop of shoes and mahogany shelving in a pleasing visual dance. A heartfelt exercise in morality with occasional stumbles along the way. (Picture book. 4-8)
SQUISH RABBIT
Battersby, Katherine Illustrator: Battersby, Katherine Viking (40 pp.) $12.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-670-01267-1 Squish Rabbit spends his little life overlooked, unheard and occasionally stepped on (thus, his name). He needs a friend. The simple narration tells Squish’s story (abetted by his rebus-like pictorial speech bubbles), but the pictures do the heavy lifting. Solid black lines carve out the simplest, flattest rabbit figure imaginable, but somehow Squish’s deficit of
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dimensionality describes his huge heart and deep loneliness. His ears look a lot like his arms and legs, rounded-off extremities, while Squish’s tiny irregular eyes (one’s bigger than the other) miraculously convey a range of nuanced expressions. Children will certainly register his rage during a tantrum; Squish’s eyes squint, and his flailing, stumpy legs stomp and kick. Battersby’s expert, ample distribution of white space provides room on each page for readers to luxuriate in her impressive, evocative ink, watercolor and collage illustrations—and to absorb a small rabbit’s feelings. Rough papers and textured fabrics add depth, creating an almost tactile reading experience. When Squish and a new, real squirrel friend first make eye contact, however, they do it across an entirely white double-page spread that throbs with both suspense and hope. A face-to-face close up, revealing two sets of dissimilar eyes, seals the friendship. Minimal, moving and adorable, little Squish makes a big impression. (Picture book. 2-6)
A DEAL’S A DEAL
Blake, Stephanie Illustrator: Blake, Stephanie Random (40 pp.) $15.99 | July 26, 2011 978-0-375-86901-3 Blake follows her first picture book about Simon the Super Rabbit, I Don’t Want to Go to School (2009), with a disappointingly underdeveloped story about two friends and their toys. Perhaps something got lost in translation? Initially published in France as Donner c’est donner, the story opens with Simon, “a mischievous little rabbit,” going to visit his friend Ferdinand. He brings three toy cars, and the friends immediately start negotiating a trade. Simon’s favorite color is red, and since his cars are yellow, green and blue, he wants Ferdinand’s red one. He ultimately trades his three toys for Ferdinand’s one red car (Ferdinand maintains that it is “extraordinary”), both rabbits committing to the bargain: “A deal’s a deal.” Upon getting home, Simon’s little brother calls the red car “ugwy,” and then it breaks as soon as he plays with it. A suspicious and disappointed Simon devises a plan to reverse the trade, telling Ferdinand that he left something in it. Ferdinand falls for the trick and does end up finding something inside the car; a page turn tells readers that it is “A booger.” And that’s…it. Adults may find much to ponder about the art of negotiation; children after resolution will just find it mean spirited. While Blake’s vibrantly colored, childlike pictures are appealing, the text lacks a certain je ne sais quois. (Picture book. 3-5)
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WAITING FOR THE BIBLIOBURRO
Brown, Monica Illustrator: Parra, John Tricycle (32 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed | July 12, 2011 978-1-58246-353-7 978-1-58246-398-8 library ed Inspired by Colombian librarian Luis Soriano Bohórquez, Brown’s latest tells of a little girl whose wish comes true when a librarian and two book-laden burros visit her remote village. Ana loves to read and spends all of her free time either reading alone or to her younger brother. She knows every word of the one book she owns. Although she uses her imagination to create fantastical bedtime tales for her brother, she really wants new books to read. Everything changes when a traveling librarian and his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, arrive in the village. Besides loaning books to the children until his next visit, the unnamed man also reads them stories and teaches the younger children the alphabet. When Ana suggests that someone write a book about the traveling library, he encourages her to complete this task herself. After she reads her library books, Ana writes her own story for the librarian and gives it to him upon his reappearance—and he makes it part of his biblioburro collection. Parra’s colorful folk-style illustrations of acrylics on board bring Ana’s real and imaginary worlds to life. This is a child-centered complement to Jeanette Winter’s Biblioburro (2010), which focuses on Soriano. The book is perfect for read-alouds, with occasional, often onomatopoeic Spanish words such as “quiquiriquí,” “tacatac” and “iii-aah” adding to the fun. (author’s note, glossary of Spanish terms) (Picture book. 4-8)
RIPARIA’S RIVER
Caduto, Michael J. Illustrator: Pastuchiv, Olga Tilbury House (32 pp.) $16.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-88448-327-4 Children organize to clean up an algae-slimed swimming hole. A veteran environmental activist, Caduto presents a fictionalized case study in which four children, disgusted at the condition of their favorite pool, follow a mysterious woman named Riparia (“My name means ‘of the riverbank,’ ” she explains) upstream to discover the pollution’s causes. Runoff from a fertilized cornfield that goes right up to the river’s bank is one, and cow manure is the other—the barbed-wire fence allows a herd of cows to wade into the river, where they do their business. Following Riparia’s suggestions, the children persuade the farmer to let them move the field and fences back to set up a buffer zone, then enlist friends and neighbors to plant trees and wildflowers. Cut to two
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“Another smart, gossipy peek into the music industry with level-headed rising star Sunday Tolliver and her impulsive, self-centered cousin Dreya.” from doing my own thing
years later, and the pool is clean once again. The well-meaning text concentrates more on delivering message and information than telling a story, but Pastuchiv offers readers plenty to discover for themselves in her impressionistic paintings. Each river scene is generously populated with dozens of identifiable birds, insects and other wildlife—all listed at the end, though without a visual key. Heavy on worthy message, light on specific method. (Picture book. 7-10)
OTTO CARROTTO
Carrer, Chiara Illustrator: Carrer, Chiara Eerdmans (26 pp.) $15.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-8028-5393-6 Otto the rabbit demonstrates that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Trixie the rabbit wears only red shoes. Willie the rabbit is never without his blue roller skates. Not to be outdone, Otto decides on carrots. He will eat only carrots: “Raw carrots, cooked carrots, / fried carrots, baked carrots.” Otto’s enthusiasm is depicted in a series of thumbnail drawings, even as his family tries to reason with him. Careful readers will find the speech balloon that warns, “You’ll turn into a carrot!” This is no gentle exploration of food fixation such as those found in the classic Bread and Jam for Frances or Delicious! (2007), Helen Cooper’s friendly romp about a fussy eater. In Otto’s case, events take a decidedly ominous turn when his obsession changes him—literally: His ears become carrots. Trixie and Willie want to nibble them. Worse, his classmates dub him Otto Carrotto and surround him, each wanting a bite of his ears. Chaotic collage art captures the frenzied mood— even turning to white line on black at its darkest moment. Boldface text stresses the word repetition and helps set the pace as Otto decides no more carrots. While the tale’s not for sensitive youngsters, more sophisticated readers will appreciate the joke when Otto decides next on spinach, only spinach. (Picture book. 6-9)
DOING MY OWN THING
Carter, Nikki Kensington (288 pp.) $9.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7582-5558-7 Series: Fab Life
series are quickly brought up to speed on the cheating, infighting and family drama from previous volumes. This installment takes Sunday and the others to Barbados to film a new video. Sunday revisits her decision to put her music career first and her interest in studio engineer Sam second. New information surfaces about who swindled whom in the incident that demolished Sunday’s college fund. Sunday’s success pleases producer Big D and R&B diva Mystique, but Dreya resents her cousin and makes her feelings clear. The book explores some serious issues like relationship violence, but the overall tone is light and funny, not unlike the novel’s (fictitious) BET reality show about the teens’ summer tour. Juicy drama with constant twists, turns and bons mots and plenty of room for additional episodes. (Urban chick lit. 12 & up)
TRAIN TRIP
Caswell, Deanna Illustrator: Andreasen, Dan Disney Hyperion (32 pp.) $16.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-4231-1837-4 An exciting train trip from his suburban town to the big city for a visit with grandma proves to be enlightening for a young boy. This small child, dangling feet from his perch on the station bench, lunch bag in hand, experiences the thrill of traveling alone. His day begins with a warm greeting from a blue-uniformed conductor and continues with the “all aboard” whistle, the rush of the train’s mounting speed felt from a window seat, the special treat of being let into the engineer’s car to “sound the whistle” and the grand view of the approaching star-filled city skyline. Finally, the day-long trip culminates with his grandmother’s welcoming hug at the station. Gouache, Disney-esque cartoon drawings in understated colors provide a cheery, cherubic, wide-eyed cast of characters—complete with a rounded frontal view of a “little engine that could” smiling face. It’s definitely a nostalgic view of a contemporary adventure. How many young children would be permitted to travel alone these days? The succinct, rhyming text is created with sentences of no more than two to four words each, which gives an appropriately trainlike rhythm to the narrative and supports emergent literacy skills in toddlers. Little train lovers will be happy to travel along as this choo-choo rumbles along the tracks. (Picture book. 2-4)
Another smart, gossipy peek into the music industry with level-headed rising star Sunday Tolliver and her impulsive, self-centered cousin Dreya. The story opens soon after the explosive finale of All the Wrong Moves (2011), and readers new to the |
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“If young kids haven’t already learned to exclaim ‘Uh-oh’ over some mishap, it’s guaranteed they will after reading this entertaining romp.” from uh- oh !
DESERT ELEPHANTS
Cowcher, Helen Illustrator: Cowcher, Helen Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.) $16.99 | August 30, 2011 978-0-374-31774-4 Desert-dwelling elephants journey south through the “Elephant’s Doorway” toward Burkina Faso when the dry season begins in Mali. On their way they have their usual peaceful encounters with Tuareg, Dolon and Fula peoples and are surprised by a jeepload of tourists. Continuing her attention to the problems of coexistence between the natural world and man, Cowcher (Jaguar, 1997, etc.) introduces this small band of northern elephants that survive in the arid Sahel thanks to their 300-mile annual migration. Her text is simple, a straightforward description of their journey interrupted by three different kinds of human encounters. Striking watercolor paintings fill double-page spreads, providing an artist’s vision of the world of the elephants and of the people who live alongside them. A map of the elephants’ journey begins and ends the book, though no larger map puts these two countries in their African context for readers unfamiliar with the geography. A lengthy set of author’s notes adds information about the elephants, the African peoples mentioned, the importance of radio to desert peoples and the printed textiles shown in the illustrations. These notes, rather than the narrative, provide background for the pictures. Readers or listeners without previous experience with this part of the world may need that help to better understand the story. Visually appealing, but more likely to puzzle than inform. (Picture book. 5-9)
UH-OH!
DePalma, Mary Newell Illustrator: DePalma, Mary Newell Eerdmans (32 pp.) $14.00 | July 1, 2011 978-0-8028-5372-1 If young kids haven’t already learned to exclaim “Uh-oh” over some mishap, it’s guaranteed they will after reading this entertaining romp. The action begins even before the title page, when a young dinosaur kicks a couch pillow. In slow motion, it crashes into the building blocks of his siblings, and a series of childhood accidents ensues. He jumps onto a flowerpot that spills; gets a broom to sweep it up but knocks over a gallon of milk; uses a throw rug to mop up the floor; puts the rug in the dishwasher to clean it. Of course, he oversoaps the machine and bubbles erupt, dishes are broken, water floods the floor so high that he grabs onto a broken shelf and floats out the window. He picks up the pieces and returns to the kitchen, where his parents are mopping up. As punishment, he is sent to sit in the corner. 1044
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But—“uh-oh”—he finds a stick of gum under the rug, and you guessed it, bubble gum has him covered in the pink, sticky stuff. Since the term “uh-oh,” which is virtually the only text, appears only seven times, the humor relies on the lively watercolor illustrations to create the visual narrative. They comically animate each episode almost like cartoon strips. Other books with the same title are available—be sure to get this one too, with the impish, blue-spiked dinosaur, for bubbling good fun. (Picture book. 4-7)
ORIGINAL SIN
Desrochers, Lisa Tor (400 pp.) $9.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-7653-2809-0 A demon-turned-human, a lecherous succubus, an angelic—if bratty—brother, an “insanely beautiful” archangel; with all these mystical creatures in her life, no wonder Frannie’s overwhelmed. Frannie turned her demon boyfriend Luc into a human with her magical Sway in Personal Demons (2010). Now he’s living in his own apartment while barely resisting Frannie’s seduction attempts. Frannie divides her time between Luc, her summer job and her increasingly distant friends. Frannie and Luc’s dating is complicated by the constant presence of Matt, Frannie’s guardian angel, who was once her twin brother but died during childhood. Through alternating, brief first-person accounts, all three narrate the continuing saga of Frannie vs. Hell. Lucifer wants to punish Luc for his defection and gain control of whatever power turned him human; luckily, Hell doesn’t know about Frannie’s Sway. Meanwhile, Matt is distracted from his duties by uncontrollable feelings for Lili, a strange new girl in town. The protagonists pop in and out of Hell like there’s no tomorrow; secondary characters are merely damned for all time. The battle against Hell is punctuated by frequent steamy encounters: There’s “crippling desire,” lust that’s “totally raw and all-consuming” and characters who “sink into the sheets, into each other.” For all that sex, it’s a shame that the sexuality of all the girls other than Frannie is subject to disturbingly intense slut-shaming. Fans of sexy encounters between celestials and infernals will eat this up. (Paranormal romance. 14-16)
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HOCUS POCUS
Desrosiers, Sylvie Illustrator: Simard, Rémy Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-577-4 Insouciant bunny meets slow-witted bulldog in this nearly wordless romp. No sooner do Mr. Magic the magician and his canine sidekick stretch out |
for a snooze than a blue rabbit hops from the top hat on the nearby bureau. A bucket of veggies in the adjacent kitchen looks enticing—but there’s a problem: how to get past the sleeping dog? Very simply drawn and colored in an angular retro style, the figures in Simard’s unframed sequential panels display cartoonishly exaggerated expressions. These are perfectly suited to a chase that begins with the crunch of a stepped-on peanut and escalates into a kitchen free-for-all in which spilled milk and sprayed ketchup play major roles. Sound effects and speech bubbles that often contain nothing but single images or punctuation marks give a handy assist: “FLUMP!”; “[light bulb]”; “PBBTTTHH!”; “!?” In the end the bunny gets its carrot, and the poor dog definitely comes off second best. Like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon on paper, it’s all quick action and hilarious slapstick. (Picture book. 4-6)
FOLLOWING MY PAINT BRUSH
Devi, Dulari Adaptor: Wolf, Gita Illustrator: Devi, Dulari Tara Publishing (32 pp.) $17.50 | July 1, 2011 978-93-80340-11-1 A village girl in India follows her inclinations and becomes an artist, in spite of her upbringing in a very poor family. Devi, a woman from the state of Bihar, has illustrated her life story with Mithila folk-art paintings that employ bold patterns of parallel black lines, swirling shapes and intense solid colors. The straightforward text in Devi’s voice tells of her childhood and her hard work in the rice fields and the marketplace. Unschooled, she is doomed to be a cleaner in someone else’s home. When she finds work at an artist’s house, her creative yearnings find an outlet, and an artist is born. In an afterword, Devi is described as combining community traditions with modern themes, and her double-page spread of “Raju Ice Creame Wala” (“The Ice-Cream Man”) surrounded by eager children in traditional dress, under a spreading leafy tree with a highly decorated trunk, is the best example of this synthesis. The paintings, based on traditional floor and wall decorations, have been commercialized, but they also provide a way for rural women to make a living. Devi’s story has been put into written form by Wolf, but it is the paintings that stand out here. While it will be inspirational to young readers who may be exploring their own talents, this is probably of greater interest to adult folk-art lovers. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)
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UNDER THE MAMBO MOON
Durango, Julia Illustrator: VandenBroeck, Fabricio Charlesbridge (48 pp.) $12.95 | $9.99 e-book | July 1, 2011 978-1-57091-723-3 978-1-60734-278-6 e-book Durango’s ambitious, inventive poetry collection on Latino music and dance covers an enticing subject but ultimately tries to do too much. During the summer, Marisol helps her father run his music store. This store attracts a plethora of Latino characters, many of whom long for the music of their home countries. Marisol’s first-person free-verse poem frames 14 one-page poems, each titled after different characters. The book alternates between Marisol’s evening at the store and these other poems, which appear in duos and trios until Marisol’s own verse on the title mambo ends the collection. VandenBroeck’s illustrations also rotate, from black and white for the frame narrative to color (replete with grinning, rosy-cheeked characters) for the individual poems. The shorter verses vary in style and length, including free verse, rhymed and concrete poems. Musical styles range from mariachi to vallenato, while the dances cover everything from the cha-cha-cha [sic] to the tango. Adding to the wave of characters, musical styles and dances are Spanish words with few, if any, textual clues, although the author does discuss each style briefly at the book’s end. While a few poems allude to the tumultuous backgrounds of some of the styles, the author’s note glosses over colonization and slavery in Latin American history. Despite a few good poems and the much-needed subject matter, the end result lacks cohesion. (author’s note, glossary) (Poetry. 8-12)
LUZ SEES THE LIGHT
Dávila, Claudia Illustrator: Dávila, Claudia Kids Can (96 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-581-1
A young eco-activist spreads the word in this message-driven webcomic spinoff. Showing a realistic 12-year-old’s reluctance to change her ways and expectations, Luz at last sees the environmental light thanks to repeated large-scale power failures and her mother’s continued complaints about the prices of gas ($7.01 Canadian, which puts this story in a very near future) and of groceries that aren’t locally made. With help from friends like her comically highstrung new buddy Robert, a vegetarian and computer geek, and other neighbors, Luz goes on to convert a littered empty lot into a tidy, well-tended pocket garden/playground. Though the dialogue is anything but natural-sounding (“Good-bye, trashinfested lot, hello plant paradise! This is going to change the
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face of our street forever!”), Luz’s infectious energy comes through strongly both in her tendency to utter grand pronouncements and in the exuberantly exaggerated body language she and the other figures display in the author’s two-color cartoon scenes. Analytical readers may wonder where Luz gets all the free planters and playground equipment, or how she kept her mother in the dark until the park was a fait accompli—but internal logic takes a back seat here to inspirational rhetoric and the rewards of community organizing. A high-energy consciousness raiser, if not a practical guide to environmental issues and action. (Graphic novel. 8-10)
NIKKI & DEJA Election Madness
English, Karen Illustrator: Freeman, Laura Clarion (112 pp.) $14.99 | July 4, 2011 978-0-547-43558-9 Series: Nikki & Deja, 4 Best friends Nikki and Deja are back in a tale of school elections and friendship. Confident Deja is excited when Ms. Shelby tells the class that third graders will be allowed to run for student-body president, imagining herself in the role and doing everything she can to make it happen. Nikki is worried about the silent treatment her parents are giving each other, but Deja can only see as far as the election and appoints the reluctant Nikki as her campaign manager. After she insults Nikki, Deja is on her own to make posters and write the speech that has to be delivered in front of the whole student body. Deja’s self-absorption threatens to take over this slight story, making Deja less and less likable as the story progresses. It’s hard to see why Nikki remains friends with bossy Deja. She forces Nikki to hide forbidden candy; she tattles to her teacher about every little thing; she only thinks of herself. When Deja flubs her poorly conceived speech, though, Nikki steps in to help with the last day of the campaign, pumping a little life into it. Freeman’s occasional black-and-white illustrations capture the dramatic tension between the girls and Deja’s terror as she faces the microphone. While beginning chapter books with African-American characters are rare and usually welcome, this particular installment in a usually sunny series falls flat. (Fiction. 6-9)
RIP TIDE
Falls, Kat Scholastic (320 pp.) $16.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-545-17843-3 Ty, the underwater settler from Dark Life (2010), has to rescue his harvest, his parents and a slew of ragged surfs in this breakneck adventure. The other settlers think Ty’s parents 1046
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are crazy for their willingness to do business with “surfs”—the unwanted surfeit population who sail the oceans in floating townships and are notorious for raids, crime and untrustworthy behavior. Were the cynics right? Drift township kidnaps Ty’s parents and steals their crop of seaweed. While Ty searches for his parents, he finds signs that something bigger than the kidnapping of his parents is afoot: An entire township has sunk to the bottom of the ocean, its population left to die. Ty and his erstwhile girlfriend Gemma also learn a lot more about the politics of the settlements than they ever expected. Alas, despite Ty’s frequent brushes with moral complexity—perhaps the laws protecting the settlement help make things so bad for the surfs they have few ethical choices; perhaps sometimes he needs to look “at the consequences down the line” for society instead of at his own immediate need—the ultimate resolution is all too simple. Still, what with all the man-versus-crocodile cage fights and the boxing matches over pools of lamprey eels, moral complexity is hardly Ty’s first concern in this nonstop, cinematic, CGI-ready adventure. (Science fiction. 11-13)
MISS ETTA AND DR. CLARIBEL Bringing Matisse to America
Fillion, Susan Illustrator: Fillion, Susan Godine (92 pp.) $18.95 | July 25, 2011 978-1-56792-434-3
An affectionate, lively examination of the reciprocal relationship between a great artist and two great art lovers. Etta and Claribel Cone, unmarried sisters from a wealthy Baltimore family, “were born around the time of the Civil War” and became energetic, discerning collectors of modern art, particularly that of Henri Matisse. Claribel Cone was a doctor; Etta Cone managed her parents’ household. Both traveled extensively in Europe and, around the turn of the 20th century, fell in with Leo and Gertrude Stein. Informed by Leo’s adventuresome sense of aesthetics as well as their own daring tastes, they embraced the works of the young Matisse in 1905 and enthusiastically befriended him. Fillion sketches her characters neatly and swiftly, following the women over the next decades as they amassed what became one of the most significant American collections of modern European art. Though this is not a beginner’s text, she folds in economical explanations of early-20thcentury European art, cogently contextualizing Matisse and his contemporaries. Their account is lavishly illustrated in full color by reproductions from the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Matisse-inflected paintings by the author, who drew extensively on the Cone archive that is also housed at the museum. This appealing work stands as both a portrait of two unconventional women and a celebration of the possibilities of arts patronage. (author/illustrator’s note, bibliography, sources) (Biography. 10-14)
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“Readers who came for the adventure will be left pondering the fragile alliance between mercy, justice, duty and responsibility.” from the margrave
THE MARGRAVE
Fisher, Catherine Dial (384 pp.) $16.99 | August 9, 2011 978-0-8037-3676-4 Series: Relic Master, 4 The conclusion to Fisher’s sciencefantasy quartet satisfies, despite failing to answer a number of nagging questions. Embittered by the events of the search for the Coronet, Relic Master Galen drives his companions mercilessly to destroy the Margrave, the shadowy abomination behind the Watch. His scholar Raffi bears the brunt of Galen’s obsession, and—tortured by visions of the Margrave’s beckoning—breaks in both mind and spirit, falling into the clutches of the Watch. As Galen, Carys, the Sekoi and all their allies launch a hopeless attack upon the Watch stronghold, Raffi confronts the last twisted Relic of the Makers and must decide who needs rescuing most. Despite important roles for the other characters, this is very much Raffi’s story, as his failures and fears are outweighed by the openhearted compassion that allows him to accomplish for the world Anara what learning, cleverness and strength have not. In a surprising inversion of the standard tropes, the climactic deus ex machina (or perhaps more properly, deus machina est) leaves open most of the mysteries of the world and the Makers, while providing emotional closure to each character’s narrative arc. Readers who came for the adventure will be left pondering the fragile alliance between mercy, justice, duty and responsibility. (Science fiction. 11-16)
STAR TIME
Giff, Patricia Reilly Illustrator: Bright, Alasdair Wendy Lamb/Random (80 pp.) $11.99 | $14.99 library ed $4.99 e-book | $4.99 paperback August 9, 2011 978-0-385-73888-0 978-0-385-90755-2 library ed 978-0-375-89638-5 e-book 978-0-375-85912-0 paperback Series: Zigzag Kids, 4 Each slim volume of The Zigzag Kids series highlights one character among the diverse group of friends attending one afterschool program; in this fourth installment, Gina is convinced that she will be the shining star of the upcoming Afternoon Center play. As preparations for the play commence, Gina begins to worry that her talent for crying as loud as a hyena might earn her the wrong part. She also begins to fret that she’ll lose the lead to her glamorous friend Destiny. Ever undaunted, Gina decides perhaps she’ll create a singing role for herself. Now if only she could convince everyone to let her help write the play, too. The day of the play finally arrives, and, except a few minor mishaps, Gina and |
her friends give a stellar performance. Everyone fits perfectly into their respective roles, and they each have something, or even a few things, to offer. Amusingly drawn illustrations and Gina’s accidentprone antics, usually involving something goopy, add giggly humor to the tale. Giff gives voice to a vulnerable yet tenacious youngster who believes in herself. The sentences and chapters are short and active for transitioning independent readers, though with the rapid sequence of events the story sometimes feels fragmented. These amusing tales feel increasingly cozy as the reader comes to know each character one by one; fans of the Zigzag Kids will anticipate the next. (Fiction. 6-8)
THE GREAT BEAR
Gleeson, Libby Illustrator: Greder, Armin Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | July 12, 2011 978-0-7636-5136-7 Can a circus bear escape her day-today abuse? “Once there was a bear,” the simple narrative begins. Her life is one of drudgery and pain; she lives in a cage all day and at night performs for noisy crowds who throw stones and poke her with sticks. Then one night...high in the mountains...the crowd yells at her to dance. Cymbals crash and trumpets blast and stones strike, strike, strike. The bear stands very still, until finally she quiets the crowd with a tremendous roar. Pictures tell the rest of the story. The looming silhouette of the bear is seen against a background of brown dirt littered with articles left by fleeing townspeople. Beyond, a tall pole reaches to the night sky at one end of the street. Racing to the pole, she climbs higher and higher until, against a sky full of Starry Night stars, she jumps into the heavens. Greder’s darkly beautiful charcoal-and-pastel illustrations carry the weight of the storytelling—the people’s faces look crude and cruel—and are abetted by a unique design. At the beginning, minimal text is on every left-hand page along with sketchy drawings of the bear, while the right has full-color pictures. Near the story’s end, the pictures encroach on the lefthand pages, getting progressively larger until the text is gone. Subtle—yet spectacular and deeply moving. (Picture book. 3-8)
ONE MOON, TWO CATS
Godwin, Laura Illustrator: Tanaka, Yoko Atheneum (32 pp.) $16.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4424-1202-6
A city cat and a country cat prowl beneath the same dusky moon. “One moon. / Two cats / are not asleep. / Cats yawn, / cats stretch, / cats look, / cats LEAP!” City cat watches trucks on the streets below its window. Country cat wends its way past sleepy
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“After a year of avoiding reading … Charlie Joe is forced to spend his summer vacation writing a book about his poor choices.” from charlie joe jackson’s guide to not reading
pigs and ducks. Both groom and explore their separate landscapes until they see a mouse! They chase their mice across their very different territories. Just as each is about to pounce, lightning flashes—and it begins to rain. Both kitties return home in the rain, curl up and snooze into morning under the same sun. Godwin’s spare, rhymed verse lends itself to the hushed tones of a bedtime read. Tanaka’s muted, ochre-cast acrylics are a good match for the text, but, oddly she gives the cats humanlike eyes, which distorts the otherwise realistically depicted kitties. Even during the mouse chase, their eyes remain half-lidded, suggesting near-total exhaustion or, perhaps, an unseen romp in the catnip patch. Overall, though, cat fans will enjoy this sleeping and waking tale that starts and finishes on the end papers. (Picture book. 2-5)
SISTER MISCHIEF
Goode, Laura Candlewick (384 pp.) $16.99 | July 12, 2011 978-0-7636-4640-0
Hip-hop and rap, racial tensions, sex positivity, religion, coming out, even parental abandonment: At its low points, this reads like a checklist of hot-button issues. But beneath the politics and too many lists of hip-hop/rap artists lies a touching story of impossible first love between narrator Esme, who knows she likes girls, and good friend Rohini, who might like girls but whose family is too traditionally Indian for her to even consider openly questioning her sexuality. There is also an improbable but entertaining studentsagainst-administration subplot as the girls (Esme, Rohini, toughbut-beautiful Marcy and good girl Tess, who has fallen out with the A-list Christians) fight a recent ruling against any rap or “associated” apparel or materials at school. They create an alternative 4H (Hip-hop for Heteros and Homos) and hijack an assembly to drop some seriously intellectual beats. Highlighting the clutter of issues are frequent intrusions of a political, message-heavy adult voice. Do teen rappers, even white Jewish lesbians in the Christian heartland, really come up with lines like “We’re done with sex hypocrisy up in this here gynocracy”? Snappy dialogue, likable characters and an original concept make it hard to entirely dismiss this one, but the message overwhelms the good stuff. (Fiction. 14-17)
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DEEP ZONE
Green, Tim Harper/HarperCollins (272 pp.) $15.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-06-201244-9 Series: Football Genius, 5 NFL insider Green brings together his two heroes—Ty (Football Hero, 2008) and Troy (Football Champ, 2009)—in this gridiron mystery focused on teen football phenoms. The action takes place during a seven-on-seven tournament for middle-school athletes held during Super Bowl week. As often happens in Green’s tales, there are bad guys from the mob attempting to gain an illicit edge. Both Ty and Troy are targets of the D’Amico family, which requires that FBI agents play a role in guarding Ty while his brother, professional receiver Thane, recovers from a devastating knee injury. Ty is the featured character for the most part, but both Troy and Tate, a female friend, have a role to play. The football insights are the best part, as both professional games and seven-on-seven play are described in satisfying detail. All the other shenanigans are icing, and fairly non-essential icing at that. None of the fabulous lifestyle of limos, fancy hotels and big houses is hard to believe, but it distances readers from the characters, as do the overblown plot and inept cartoon mobsters. While mention is made of middleschool life, emphasis is on the game, and using real NFL famous names add spice. Acquaintance with the earlier titles is helpful, but Green recaps well enough that it’s not necessary. Football fanatic fare. (Sports fiction. 10-14)
CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING
Greenwald, Tommy Illustrator: Coovert, J.P. Roaring Brook (224 pp.) $16.99 | July 5, 2011 978-1-59643-691-6
Charlie Joe will do just about anything to avoid reading in this humorous cautionary tale for book-hating middlegrade students. Debut author Greenwald takes on the persona of Charlie Joe Jackson, a middle-school boy who hates reading. His avoidance techniques get him into serious trouble with his parents, his teachers and his friends. After a year of avoiding reading— paying off a friend in ice-cream sandwiches to read books for him and manipulating his friends so he won’t have to read for the all-important position-paper project—Charlie Joe is forced to spend his summer vacation writing a book about his poor choices. Charlie Joe’s insider knowledge of the inner machinations of middle-school cliques will make younger readers smile in anticipation, and his direct address to readers makes make him feel like an older buddy showing the way. Sprinkled into
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the narrative are “Charlie Joe’s Tips” to avoiding reading books, written on faux notebook paper, that serve as a little diversion from the plot. As amusing as this is, Charlie Joe’s voice is not consistent and occasionally jars with the intelligent, smart-guy sarcasm that characterizes most of Charlie Joe’s prose. That aside, slackers everywhere have a new, likable hero in Charlie Joe Jackson. (Fiction. 10-12)
ICE SHOCK
Harris, M.G. Walker (368 pp.) $16.99 | $8.99 paperback | July 5, 2011 978-0-8027-2303-1 978-0-8027-2302-4 paperback Series: The Joshua Files, 2 Following on the heels of Invisible City (2010), Harris returns with the second entry in the Joshua Files. Fourteen-year-old British-Mexican Joshua Garcia, still determined to discover how his father died, is back to a somewhat normal existence in Oxford, England. The arrival of a series of cryptic postcards from Veracruz, Mexico, and alarming new suspicions surrounding his father’s murder soon have Josh seeking out further clues about his nemesis, Simon Madison. Josh, beginning to doubt the motives of even his closest friends, ends up back in the hidden city of Ek Naab. Ixchel, a minor character in v becomes a major player, and she proves to be a valuable ally, especially when Josh unearths evidence of a secret death cult. Incredibly, between fulfilling his destiny as the last of a powerful Mayan bloodline and tracking down civilization-saving artifacts all over Mexico, Josh finds the time and the technology to update his secret blog. These blog entries chop up the narrative and distract from an already-complicated story. Nevertheless, with tighter writing and character development than the first, this book is one of the rare sequels that improve upon the original. Touches of science fiction and fantasy add flavor to the adventure and action, as do Borgesian allusions and a charming tale of two long-dead lovers. A good bet for the thrill-seeking middle-school crowd. (Adventure. 12-15)
BAD TASTE IN BOYS
Harris, Carrie Delacorte (208 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 library ed $17.99 e-book | July 12, 2011 978-0-385-73968-9 978-0-385-90801-6 library ed 978-0-375-89806-8 e-book A geeky girl gets the guy in this comic romp through a high school infested with zombies. Kate, who owns underpants printed with “I heart Science,” desperately wants to become a doctor, and she’s the student |
medical assistant for her school’s perpetually losing football team. She develops dark suspicions when she sees unmarked drug vials in the coach’s office, especially when Coach injects the players with his mystery medication. In short order, Mike, one of the players, apparently dies but lurches to life again and bites a chunk out of Kate’s lip. Harris draws on a wealth of zombie clichés as Kate watches the infection spread rapidly. Worse, the now-zombie coach attacks her even after his foot falls off, and her annoying but loyal little brother shows unmistakable zombie symptoms. But why hasn’t Kate succumbed? Can she find a cure? Meanwhile, Aaron, her secret heartthrob, confesses his love because of her brains (although Mike would like to eat Kate’s brains). But can the mad science teacher derail Kate’s medical-school dreams? And can Kate get the local health department to listen? Throughout, the author keeps the focus on laughs as Kate speeds through car crashes, tries to keep her dog from eating the coach’s foot and chases zombies as she wields syringes like six-shooters. A hilarious frolic, especially for fans of Shaun of the Dead. (Zombie humor. 12 & up)
TOO MANY FROGS!
Hassett, Ann Hassett, John Illustrator: Hassett, John Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (32 pp.) $16.99 | July 11, 2011 978-0-547-36299-1 It’s a modern-day plague of frogs. After a basement flood and the departure of the plumber, Nana Quimby’s kitchen is overrun with frogs, coming in larger and larger armies up the basement steps. Nana Quimby seeks advice from passing children by shouting her dilemma out her window: “Too many frogs!” Each child suggests containment. “Put the frogs in a goldfish bowl,” directs the first, and after that the children recommend in turn: cups, pots and pans, the sink, the washing machine, the bathtub. Chaos creeps in with each wave of frogs, and at last Nana Quimby is at a loss to contain the final million bumping in from the basement. The solution? Fill the basement with water. The thin tale is hardly the point, though, as it provides just the right amount of structure for a series of disarmingly funny scenes of busy children calling out advice and Nana Quimby determinedly containing frogs. Warm acrylics lend a delicious coziness to the scenes of froggy mayhem in Nana Quimby’s kitchen, and the text in Garamond looks wonderfully fey next to the odd and quirky lines of the illustrations. Young listeners will quickly memorize the story and then focus on everything else that is happening in proximity to Nana Quimby’s latest eccentric encounter with wildlife. (Picture book. 2-6)
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MEETING
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki Viking (335 pp.) $15.99 | August 4, 2011 978-0-670-01283-1 Series: Magic Next Door, 2 An everyday seventh grader has a secret alien best friend and a house full of magic-wielding mentors next-door. Maya never expected to recover from the death of her best friend Stephanie, but accidentally bonding with Rimi completely changed her life (Thresholds, 2010). Rimi is sissimi, a young alien who communicates telepathically with Maya and hides as Maya’s shadow—if a shadow could eat, move objects and draw. Not only is Rimi a wonderful new best friend, she’s introduced Maya to her neighbors in Janus House, where Maya is now learning to be a magical practitioner so that she can one day to travel to alien worlds. Maya’s adventures are sheer, joyful middle-school–meets-magic. She’s concerned about making friends at school, her art and piano lessons, meeting aliens after classes, the embarrassment when Rimi telekinetically makes her burp, having the best Halloween costume and a mean classmate who also has a bonded sissimi. Though Maya is often confused by the plethora of alien concepts she’s expected to understand (Rimi constantly uses undefined words), she finds her new responsibilities and friendships thrilling. The discombobulated mystery of who the bad guys are (presumably to be discovered later in the series) is almost incidental to the daily adventures of an ordinary girl with a shadow from another planet. Lovely worldbuilding, an appealing heroine and detail that’s refreshingly practical in its approach to the fantastic make this one stand out. (Science fantasy. 9-11)
THE HANDY PRESIDENTS ANSWER BOOK
Hudson, David L. Visible Ink Press $21.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-57859-317-0
A beefy contribution to presidential studies, the kind of resource from which one could easily build an interesting term report for school. Set amidst a wash of artwork and photographs is Hudson’s friendly but purposeful text: He’s got information to impart, and this is meaningful stuff everyone should know. He starts off in his most professorial mode, squiring readers through the creation of the presidency, explaining vetoes and pardons and the evolution of parties (including the Whigs, Anti-Masonics and Dixiecrats), as well as campaigns, debates and disputed elections. The long central section is comprised of vest-pocket histories of each president. Here, Hudson relaxes to a more avuncular style as he explores the early lives of the presidents, 1050
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their families and the work they did before entering politics, then goes on to note themes of presidencies and highlights, low points and singular occurrences in each career. The author concludes with a short blast of trivia to keep things light, but not game-show light. This is trivia that concerns cabinet posts and the Supreme Court and who closed the debtor’s prisons, though he does throw in the president who shot a hole-in-one and one strange switcheroo: “President Dwight David Eisenhower was born David Dwight Eisenhower. He switched when he went to West Point.” Which begs the question: Why, Dwight, why? A serious piece of presidential scrutiny. (Reference. 10 & up)
DEFIANCE
Jablonski, Carla Illustrator: Purvis, Leland First Second/Roaring Brook (128 pp.) $16.99 | July 19, 2011 978-1-59643-292-5 Series: Resistance, 2 A sharp follow-up to Resistance (2010) takes place one year after French teenager Paul Tessier joined the Resistance and helped his Jewish friend Henri
escape the Nazis. With the Germans still occupying France, Paul’s village has hit hard times; there are sudden arrests, dwindling ration coupons and a general sense of distrust and fear among his peers. The Tessier patriarch is still a POW, and with his absence, the family grows ever more apprehensive. Paul’s artistic talent lands him in trouble’s way after he uses them to aid the Resistance. This act of defiance hurtles his two sisters, Sylvie and Marie, into a dangerous search to locate Paul and bring him home safely when they suspect he’s taken to the woods to join a group of radical Resistance fighters hiding in the mountains. Sylvie and young Marie find themselves on an extremely perilous mission; they are two young girls very much in a man’s world—and war. Stylistically tighter than the previous volume, this offering has clearly plotted word balloons against a brighter, less scratchy background. Jablonski adds an author’s note with a terse history of Charles DeGaulle, a helpful addendum that provides depth to the historical scope. Paul’s tale does not resolve at story’s close, leaving readers waiting for the third and final volume. A crisp, edge-of-your seat historical tale. (Historical graphic fiction. 12 & up)
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“A young teen struggles to balance responsibilities she shouldn’t have to assume against the day-today travails of seventh grade.” from silhouetted by the blue
MY FAVORITE BAND DOES NOT EXIST
Jeschonek, Robert T. Clarion (336 pp.) $16.99 | July 11, 2011 978-0-547-37027-9
Guys with weird names, girls with creepy tattoos and a splintered universe form the core of this novel that’s so meta it loses itself to its own cleverness. Idea Deity (yes, that’s his real name) spends most of his life inventing the online world of Youforia, a rock-’n’-roll band that’s taken the Internet by storm, even though they don’t exist. He suffers from Deity Syndrome, a fear that he might exist only in the pages of a novel. Somewhere else lives Reacher Mirage, the lead singer of Youforia, a band that’s taken the Internet by storm, even though they’ve never recorded a song or an album. Neither knows the other exists. Both have girlfriends with strangely similar names and tattoos, and both are reading a hokey horror/fantasy novel called Fireskull’s Revenant with two warring characters who might hold a clue to their existence. Bizarre? Yes. Complex? Yes. Hard to follow? Absolutely. Jesschonek’s puzzling, if ambitious debut mashes too many characters, too many plots and too many oddities together, making it more of a hot mess than a cohesive narrative. Just when readers think they’ve wrapped their brains around what’s going on, he throws another curve ball. The back stories to Idea’s and Reacher’s lives aren’t revealed until the end, and by then readers might have already given up. Will the band get back together, or will the world end? Who cares? (Science fiction. 14 & up)
EMMY AND THE RATS IN THE BELFRY
Jonell, Lynne Illustrator: Bean, Jonathan Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (384 pp.) $17.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-8050-9183-0 Ten-year-old Emmy Addison returns with rodent pal Raston Rat to prove she’s a responsible kid who still has what it takes to outwit her former nanny, the devious Jane Barmy, in this fast-paced sequel to Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls (2008). Fresh from their unscrupulous ventures three weeks ago, when they were transformed into rats, shameless Jane Barmy and her besotted partner in crime, Cheswick Vole, resurface, intent on revenge. While vandalizing Emmy’s bedroom to frame her for irresponsibility, the dastardly duo learn Professor Capybara has developed patches embedded with kisses from Raston’s sister Sissy that can turn them back into full-sized humans. Together they steal Capybara’s formula, dupe Emmy’s parents into sending her to visit her great aunts in Schenectady |
and trick Sissy to go with Emmy to find her “Ratmom.” In Schenectady, bats “ratnap” Sissy, who’s forced to produce more patches while Emmy discovers her elderly great aunts barely surviving on their own. Using every transforming rodent trick (bites, kisses and reverse aging tears), Emmy and Raston crash a river-rat bar, scale a batty belfry and stow away on a train, attempting to rescue Sissy and save the aunts. The complicated, improbable but highly entertaining plot showcases brave, responsible Emmy and hilarious, irresponsible Raston. Bats appropriately swirl in the flip-book feature. Fans of Emmy and Raston will welcome their latest escapades. (Fantasy. 9-12)
SILHOUETTED BY THE BLUE
Jones, Traci L. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (208 pp.) $16.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-374-36914-9 A young teen struggles to balance responsibilities she shouldn’t have to assume against the day-to-day travails of seventh grade. Serena Shaw, a spirited middle-school student, is trying to keep her family together following the accidental death of her mother and the subsequent debilitating depression of her father, a noted illustrator. Her little brother is having problems coping with the change in their family. For a while, Serena thinks her father is just in a funk, and there are moments when he is able to work, but these are outweighed by days when he doesn’t get out of bed. Serena has always dreamed of getting the lead in her school musical, but this means more pressure as she works on the play and assumes more responsibility at home as her father slips deeper into “the blue.” She tries everything to reach her father, but his condition worsens with each day, culminating in an attempt to take his life. Finally, a family member steps in to help in the crisis. The portrayal of Serena is strong, showing both her maturity in handling her family problems and her normal seventh-grade insecurities. There are moments of great poignancy as Serena remembers her mother, who, though absent, is still an important figure. A compassionate portrait of an African-American family coping with grief and mental illness. (Fiction 10-14)
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RAMADAN AND ID-UL-FITR
Kerven, Rosalind Editor: Swallow, Su Evans/Trafalgar (32 pp.) $10.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-237-54123-1
Filled with color photos of Muslims all over the world fasting during Ramadan and then celebrating the fast’s end |
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k i r ku s q & a w i t h m a r y f i n n Belladonna
Mary Finn Candlewick June 14, 2011 9780763651060 $16.99
Mary Finn, author of Anila’s Journey, won a Parent’s Choice Gold Award and the Eilís Dillon Award for a first book in her native Ireland. Her new novel, Belladonna, was inspired by George Stubbs’ “precise yet ghostly” anatomical studies of horses. In a starred review, Kirkus praised it for being “as carefully and beautifully rendered as the anatomical studies that inspired it.” Here, Finn discusses the writing of Belladonna, which brings together Ling (Hélène), a circus performer, and Thomas, Stubbs’ fictional apprentice. Q: Could you explain how your love for George Stubbs’ studies of horses provided inspiration for this novel? A: This will sound daft/pretentious—take your pick—but it really was love at first sight, a proper coup de foudre. About four years ago, when I was working part time as a library assistant in the veterinary science library at University College Dublin, my own alma mater, I checked in an enormous, red, ancient-looking book, as big as a desk. I had to peek, of course, and there they were: George Stubbs’ studies for his Anatomy of the Horse, still important enough for a student to take out instead of a DVD on horse anatomy… I didn’t have even the ghost of a story hovering then, but the drawings had moved me. I read about Stubbs, I knew his paintings a little, and how he’d had to rusticate in a Lincolnshire village to make these anatomical studies. Later, in the inexplicable way these things happen, I had a vision of a girl hiding in a ditch, desperately seeking the return of her stolen horse. That was Ling. Thomas followed, and fortunately the love element grew to be more important than the actual anatomies. Q: You’ve set both of your novels in the past. Do you enjoy research? A: I love doing research. I studied literature and history of art in college, not history proper, so this is my assault on that precinct. I liked that I was again in the 18th century, though poor rural Lincolnshire did not have the glories—or the many accounts—that the pre-Raj India of my first novel had. You can get lost in research, however, and the time must come—or it won’t work—when you stop reading and Googling and simply take flight. Q: What was it like to create authentic-sounding speech from another time, or to capture Ling’s French-accented way of talking? A: I love this question! I really did pay attention to this matter, you see. I thought first of trying to write Lincolnshire dialect, do a Huck Finn, etc., but apart from the terrible hubris of all that, there was no way anyone would ever want to read what I might produce. It
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helps that Thomas was a lover of words, even though he obviously suffered with some form of dyslexia. He would definitely wish to produce a literate story. He loved Daniel Defoe being read out to him. So I decided I would keep his language as Anglo-Saxon as possible, rather than use Latinate words. In other words, the way ahead was to keep the language simple, which freed me somewhat from the dialect problem. Also, and this is really nerdy, but I enjoyed it, I used to check words in the online Oxford English Dictionary to see if they were current in the 18th century. If not, or if they were American/Irish/Australian, they had to go. In addition, my mother, though Irish, all her life had strange ways of saying things. We think her ancestors may have been 17th-century Cromwellian settlers from England. So, every so often I would throw in an old adage of hers, and they sounded authentic enough. As for the French, well, only le bon Dieu knows! I love French, though I’m no way fluent. I had everything checked by a young French teacher. I just hope Ling doesn’t sound like someone from ’Allo, ’Allo [a British sitcom set among the French Resistance]. Q: Do you miss your characters once the story’s over? Ling and Thomas became very real for me very quickly. I imagine that you might be quite attached to them? A: Oh, they do become very real! I haven’t begun to miss these friends, because they have yet to go forth, so to speak. I’ll tell you something about Thomas, the narrator. He describes his own appearance early on, self-disparagingly, of course. I made that all up about his height and his blue eyes and his monobrow. But I was flicking through a book of Stubbs’ paintings, and I found Thomas! Just as I’d described him (or he himself). It’s called Lustre with a Groom, and it’s Thomas to a T. I swear this discovery post-dated the writing. Later I put Ling in, dressed as a little jockey person from a painting. That was deliberate. Thomas was a gift, a good omen, perhaps. –By Jessie Grearson
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during Id-ul-Fitr, this entry in a British series has been minimally updated since its initial publication in 1997. The facts are generally correct in this mundane presentation, but some explanations are glossed over. Nowhere is it specifically said that Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic year, when the Prophet Muhammed received his first messages from the Angel Jibril (Gabriel), although the vision is described. There is no mention of Lailat-ul-Qadr, the Night of Power, an important observance, believed to be one of the last 10 nights of Ramadan, when Jibril appeared. A chart showing Ramadan dates for several years would be helpful to demonstrate the difference between the solar calendar and the lunar calendar followed by Muslims. Children would be interested in the Id fairs and carnival rides, and it’s a pity there is so little coverage—although two children’s paintings are attractive. The recipe for an Id pudding is useful, but where does the dish originate? The transliteration of the calligraphy for the Id card activity (also used on page borders) should appear in the text, along with its translation. Books on Islamic topics are sorely needed, but this title, which lacks even a resource list, just grazes the surface. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 7-11)
I SEE THE SUN IN AFGHANISTAN
King, Dedie Illustrator: Inglese, Judith Satya House (40 pp.) $12.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-9818720-8-7 Series: I See the Sun… A low-key picture of a child’s life in Bamiyan, at the moment one of the war-torn country’s quieter areas. Though present in a wistful, ex-soldier uncle who has lost his legs and the arrival of a family of cousins who have lost their home, the war seems far away to young Habiba as she describes a day’s routines. She rises before dawn to fetch water, enjoys a breakfast of khojur before helping to get the sheep to pasture and then continues on to an outdoor school. She introduces Aaba (mother), Aata (father) and other members of her family, shares an evening meal, then beds down with her cousins and reflects on how warm and safe she feels. “I am happy to be right here,” she concludes. Her narrative, in English and Dari (the local dialect, written in script), accompanies staid collages constructed from painted papers and fuzzed-out color photos and highlighted by the brightly patterned robes and head scarves worn by girls and women. Along with providing background information on setting and local culture, bilingual closing notes identify Habiba and her family as members of the ethnic Hazara minority, but, like other titles in the I See The Sun In… series, this is more about commonalities of feeling and experience than cultural differences. Informative, if earnest and overtly purposeful. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-8)
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WILDCAT FIREFLIES
Kizer, Amber Delacorte (528 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | July 12, 2011 978-0-385-73971-9 978-0-385-90803-0 library ed 978-0-375-89824-2 e-book Series: Meridian, 2 Adolescence is hard enough without having to save the world from death and
destruction. This sequel to Meridian (2009) opens three weeks after 16-year-old Meridian, a part-human/part-angel Fenestra, or “window” that helps dying souls pass on, and her protector/ boyfriend Tens saved a Colorado town from Nocti (evil spirits in human form that try to send souls to hell). They’re traveling the country, looking for fellow Fenestras, when Meridian feels drawn to Carmel, Ind. Fifteen-year-old Juliet, an unknowing Fenestra, has been living in this sleepy town at a center that doubles as an group home for the elderly and a foster-care home. The teens’ alternating viewpoints tell this hefty story, which, like many second novels in a series, builds on the first but ultimately leads up to a third. Meridian provides back story, uses her great-aunt’s journal to discover more about Fenestras and schemes to find Juliet and save her before she’s forced by Nocti to become one of their own. All the while she ponders her free will, her developing body and why Tens keeps putting off their first time having sex. Meanwhile, Juliet gives (over and over again) a look at her abusive situation—she’s constantly punished and must care nonstop for the residents—and her burgeoning Fenestra talents. Some of the day-to-day events may be hard to believe, but this is a book about angels and demons after all; fans will forgive. (Paranormal romance. 12-16)
WILDEFIRE
Knight, Karsten Simon & Schuster (400 pp.) $16.99 | July 26, 2011 978-1-4424-2117-2 Perhaps inspired by Rick Riordan’s phenomenal success, debut author Knight takes a more-must-be-better approach for this multiple-mythology mashup. Readers meet Scarsdale High sophomore Ashline Wilde in the school parking lot, where she’s just felled the classmate who stole her boyfriend. Ash will knock out an incisor before she’s done, and her sister Eve will do much worse. In the aftermath, Ash—like Eve, she’s a Jewish-raised, Polynesian-born adoptee—transfers to a prep school sequestered in the California redwoods. There, she and assorted peers learn they’re reincarnated deities, each from a different pantheon (Norse, Greek, Egyptian, Zulu and Polynesian)
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“Knowles’ fine ear for dialogue and her sensitive, nuanced portrayal of ordinary people’s mishandling of complex situations allow her to play with soap-opera conventions….” from pearl
called together to prevent Ragnarok, aka the End of the World. Just enough narrative infrastructure is provided to keep the plot moving. Breezily values-free, these deities mostly drink, flirt and fight, displaying buff bodies and handy superpowers, but Ash is troubled by dreams of a child, who may be her sister, and visited by Eve, who plays rough even by action-hero standards. When the dust clears, enough dangling plot threads remain to supply as many sequels as the market will bear. The Mighty Morphin Power Ranger ambiance and frenetically paced action scenes might have worked well in a graphic novel, but without art to supply missing emotion and nuance, the shallow, flat-footed prose, fueled by escalating violence, fails to engage. (Fantasy. 14 & up)
PEARL
Knowles, Jo Henry Holt (224 pp.) $16.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-8050-9207-3 A touching family melodrama about the corrosive nature of secrets and the cleansing power of honesty. Fifteen-year-old Pearl, known only as Bean, has her peculiar family figured out: Her mom, Lexie, is an emotionally distant but highly functioning alcoholic, while grandfather Gus is loving, gentle and ever-present. Bean and her lifelong best friend, Henry, both fatherless fans of Days of Our Lives, imagine grandly soap-operatic scenarios for their respective missing dads, though they both pine for the simplest information about them. Bean’s years of eavesdropping have gleaned just three key words: attacked, pregnant, Bill. When Gus dies suddenly, Bean grieves deeply, while Lexie is liberated: She dyes her hair and gossips late into the night with her best friend Claire and Henry’s reclusive mother, Sally. When Bean accidentally discovers that Lexie has a whopper of a secret and that her family’s emotional landscape is more complicated than she dreamed, the news sends shockwaves through her family and Henry’s. Can Bean reconcile her memories of Gus with Lexie’s experiences? Are Henry and Bean’s gothic fantasies truer than they had imagined? Knowles’ fine ear for dialogue and her sensitive, nuanced portrayal of ordinary people’s mishandling of complex situations allow her to play with soap-opera conventions without being crushed under their clichéd weight. (Fiction. 12 & up)
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THE DEATH CATCHERS
Kogler, Jennifer Anne Walker (352 pp.) $16.99 | August 16, 2011 978-0-8027-2184-6
Faced with the essential paradox of prophecy—if you see the future, can you change it?—14-year-old Lizzy Mortimer races to save the people whose deaths she foresees and prevent Doomsday in this uneven modern-day Arthurian tale. Like all the women on her father’s side, Lizzy sees her first “death-specter” at the age of 14. Understandably upset, Lizzy finds help from her aphorism-spouting, Creole spice–loving Grandma Bizzy. When feuding enchantresses from Avalon start appearing in the twee coastal town of Crabapple, Calif., searching for the Last Descendent, Lizzy uncovers the Arthurian origins of her “Hand of Fate” and the high stakes for her amateur sleuthing. Lizzy comes off as younger than 14, even when crushing on high-school senior Drake Westfall, and high-school issues such as bullying, learning disabilities and overbearing/abusive parents receive a heavy-handed treatment. Spunky Bizzy outshines less well-developed characters, but Lizzy begins to blossom in the last few pages. The novel is written as a make-up final paper for English class, with literary techniques—transitions, setting and climax—explained in each chapter, and this framing device distracts from the central action. Despite a robbery subplot and an increasing number of rules about Lizzy’s new “gift,” foreshadowing is rampant and the end predictable. Readers looking for rebooted mythology should stick with Rick Riordan. (Paranormal adventure. 10 & up)
WALKING HOME TO ROSIE LEE
LaFaye, A. Illustrator: Shepherd, Keith D. Cinco Puntos (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-933693-97-2 A Southern novelist looks to the Civil War’s immediate aftermath in this newly free child’s account of a weary search for
his mother. “War’s over. Government say we free. Folks be on the move. Getting the feel for freedom. Not me.” He joins the large number of ex-slaves who, “all hope and hurry on,” have hit the road in search of brighter futures, but young Gabe has a different goal: tracking down his sold-away and only living parent Rosie Lee. Keeping his goal before him like the fixed North Star, he travels for months from Mobile to the “worn-down toes of the Appalachian Mountains,” following vague leads from sympathetic listeners and offices of the Freedman’s Bureau, enduring hardships and disappointment. Applying paint in thickly brushed impasto, Shepherd views Gabe’s world and encounters from a child’s-eye height but gives the
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barefoot, raggedly clad boy a look of hard-won maturity that points to past sorrows and underscores the depth of his determination. His distinct voice will draw readers into caring about his quest and sharing the tide of joy that accompanies his ultimate success: “That night, I slept snuggled up tight with my mama, praying for all those boys like me searching for their mamas who be searching for them.” A deeply felt narrative, distilled from contemporary reports and documents. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-9)
EIGHT KEYS
LaFleur, Suzanne Wendy Lamb/Random (224 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | August 9, 2011 978-0-385-74030-2 978-0-385-90833-7 library ed 978-0-375-89905-8 e-book Elise must unlock her past to learn what she comes from before she can decide who she wants to be. Before starting middle school, Elise was content in her own world with Franklin. Now, playing with him has become a liability and opens her up to bullying. An orphan, Elise lives with her aunt and uncle, in whose barn are eight locked doors. On her 12th birthday, she learns her father left messages behind those doors for her. Readers know that Elise lost her mother the day she was born and her father three years later, making her convenient discovery one that stretches believability. The messages in each room read like cryptic, inspirational self-help: Know What You Come From; Believe; Treasure Your Life. Using first-person narration, LaFleur quickly sketches Elise’s descent into depression and her growing ambivalence toward Franklin, but her characterization lacks depth. Thus, when Elise betrays Franklin and shuns a new baby in the house, she appears unsympathetic. Elise is too self-aware when she questions her new habit of calling Franklin names: “… did the name-calling come from a part of me that hadn’t healed?” As readers might expect, Elise begins to make life better: She stands up to the bully, develops a new friendship and salvages the old one. This story of preteen angst contains many compelling, original moments that, unfortunately, do not combine for a realistic portrayal of blossoming maturity. (Fiction. 10-14)
CONSPIRACIES
Lackey, Mercedes Edghill, Rosemary Tor (352 pp.) $21.99 | $9.99 paperback | July 5, 2011 978-0-7653-2823-6 978-0-7653-1762-9 paperback Series: Shadow Grail, 2 Paranoid speculations prove to be sensible strategy in the second entry of this fantasy series. |
Spirit and her friends deserve a little downtime after defeating the Wild Hunt at Oakhurst, the elite boarding school for magical orphans. Instead, the winter holidays set off a new round of attacks. Spirit’s friends dismiss her warnings as a pathetic bid for attention and seem interested only in shopping and fashion. After all, the headmaster has recruited powerful alumni to take over school security, and the only one who shares Spirit’s forebodings is the new girl, with her crazy babbling about the eternal battle between Arthur and Mordred. Then the killings start... A nefarious anti-Hogwarts provides a compelling premise, undercut by sloppy worldbuilding and overreliance on brand-name-dropping. Spirit’s tragic life plausibly results in her constant anger and depression, but it doesn’t make for a likable protagonist. Her friends are shallow caricatures, and it’s hard to fathom their fierce devotion, aside from narrative compulsion. Although the potential for Yet Another Teen Love Triangle is firmly squashed, the tepid established romance adds little. The meandering pace, rife with disappearing subplots and convenient coincidences, builds to a climactic battle that is over in a scant few pages, with heavy foreshadowing of inevitable sequels. A diverting if trivial read; it could have been so much more. (Fantasy. 12-16)
WEIRD U.S. A Freaky Road Trip Though the 50 States Lake, Matt Fairbanks, Randy Sterling (128 pp.) $14.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-4027-5462-3
A tantalizing sampler of American roadside attractions, ghosts and spooky local legends for audiences not yet familiar with the TV show of the same name and its attendant series of stateby-state print guides. Shoveled haphazardly into thematic chapters, the several hundred stopovers range from old reliables like Roswell, Bigfoot, jackalopes and the Watts Towers to various art car shows, festivals like the annual Roadkill Cook-off in West Virginia and such undeservedly obscure locales as New Jersey’s Shades of Death Road and Maine’s International Cryptozoology Museum. The authors supply a paragraph or two of credulous commentary on each that includes specific places and people along with back story and, for the more elusive or supernatural oddities, locally gathered rumors and anecdotes. Small but sharp photos—or melodramatic Photoshopped images for the various specters—on every page add both atmosphere and additional credibility for readers who may have trouble believing in, for instance, the many giant fiberglass “Muffler Men” dotting the Midwest or all the buildings shaped like teapots, picnic baskets and various foodstuffs. Readers allergic to exclamation points may want to skip this one. A browser’s delight, packaged to fit small coffee tables. (Infotainment. 10-13)
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GRIN AND BEAR IT
the horse will find some clarification in the author’s note; lists of books and websites complete the package. Terrific for young horse lovers. (Picture book. 5-9)
Landry, Leo Illustrator: Landry, Leo Charlesbridge (48 pp.) $12.95 | $9.99 e-book | July 1, 2011 978-1-57091-745-5 978-1-60734-303-5 e-book
ELLA BELLA BALLERINA AND SWAN LAKE
Bear’s dreams of being a standup comedian are stymied by his stage fright in this chapter book for new readers. Bear knows what’s funny, from riddles to puns to plays on words, and he longs to make it in the big time at Woodland Stage. When he finally gets his big chance and all his buddies are in the audience to cheer him on, Bear freezes. He mumbles the words to his jokes, flubs the punch lines and eventually runs off the stage and into the forest, humiliated. His dreams crushed, Bear falls asleep in a puddle of his own tears. Lucky for Bear, though, he finds a new dream and some new friends along the way. Landry’s droll pencil-and-watercolor illustrations are filled with humorous graphic elements and little details that will encourage children to slow down and enjoy the text and the pictures. The seven very short chapters move along quickly, helping new readers gain confidence. With more words per page than generally seen in an early reader, this is an ideal bridge to slightly more challenging books. Everyone—Bear, friends and readers—will laugh in the end. (Early reader. 5-8)
RACE THE WILD WIND
Markle, Sandra Illustrator: Johnson, Layne Walker (32 pp.) $17.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-8027-9766-7
On Sable Island, off the Nova Scotia coast, a young stallion finds a home and his own band of wild horses, surviving in spite of winter storms and even hurricanes. Unlike the horses on Assateague and other U.S. barrier islands, the Sable Island herd of 300 has been left completely wild, protected by the Canadian government since 1960. Markle here introduces them to young readers with an imagined story. Purposely dropped off from a schooner, perhaps in the mid-1700s, the young horse, possibly bred for racing, spends his first year with a group of “bachelors,” learning to eat the sandand ice-crusted marsh grass and to find water in frozen holes. Come spring, he finds a band of mares and takes over as leader, fending off a challenger and surviving a monster storm by taking his band to shelter between the dunes. This simple narrative has been illustrated with glowing oil paintings on double-page spreads. Every scene will delight. The animals are shown in a variety of postures and activities: rearing to challenge gray seals or each other, knee deep in a marsh full of flowers, in fog and snow, galloping free, running from a storm and facing the sunset. Children perplexed by the unexplained abandonment of 1056
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Mayhew, James Illustrator: Mayhew, James Barron’s (32 pp.) $14.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7641-6407-1
Lovely little ballerina Ella Bella returns to the stage after charming audiences in performances of Cinderella and
The Sleeping Beauty. Ella still attends class with Madame Rosa, whose music box is now playing Tchaikovsky’s beautiful Swan Lake. She and her classmates, including one boy, listen to the story and pretend that they are baby swans as they move to the music. When class is over, Ella stays on stage and in her imagination becomes part of the drama as dancers perform the ballet. A prince has fallen in love with an enchanted Swan Princess named Odette, but he is tricked by an evil sorcerer into declaring his love for her lookalike, Odile. Ella Bella tries to warn him of the duplicity, but to no avail. However, in this version, all ends happily for the royalty. Ella Bella leaves the theater and dances home with her mother—hopefully to return to the stage in another ballet. As in Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella (2009) and Ella Bella Ballerina and The Sleeping Beauty (2008), Mayhew’s simple storytelling and delicate watercolors in blues, pinks and lilacs meld together to tell the tale of the much-beloved ballet and evoke its timeless mystery and ethereal qualities for young audiences. Curtain calls for Ella Bella and the whole troupe. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-7)
TEDDY BEAR MATH
McGrath, Barbara Barbieri Illustrator: Nihoff, Tim Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | $7.95 paperback $6.99 e-book | July 1, 2011 978-1-58089-283-4 978-1-58089-284-1 paperback 978-1-60734-314-1 e-book Riding on the wave of her successful Teddy Bear Counting (2010), McGrath once again brings out the colorful teddy-bear counters to teach kids mathematical concepts. Here, though, with its focus on so many different mathematical ideas, McGrath’s latest is too overpacked to achieve it all. Of the sections, graphing is the strongest, using both words and artwork to explain how to graph the bears and read the finished graph. From there, it is downhill. While she nicely
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“Readers for whom spooky encounters and brushes with violence suffice in the absence of rich characterization and fool-proof logistics will race through the pages.” from possess
illustrates the fact that 2x10 and 10x2 are equal, McGrath fails to explain what is going on in either multiplication or division. Students without the book’s 47 bears may find themselves confused. If not, they will almost certainly be by the end, when ordinal numbers are presented. “For the six [bears] that are left / slowly follow each word: / the fourth bear goes first, / the fifth second, the third third!” The breezy rhyming verses that worked well for a younger audience and the simple concept of counting are not suited to either the older audience of this text or to the more complex concepts, which require more explanation than is given. Nihoff ’s hand-drawn digital illustrations nicely match the text, the bears assuming different poses only when it won’t distract from the learning. Considering the many awesome math concept books that are on the market, this is one to skip. (Informational picture book. 6-8)
SPACE TOURISM Machines of the Future
McMahon, Peter Illustrator: Mora, Andy Kids Can (40 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-368-8
A buoyant but slapped-together look at current and future efforts to get more people into space. This brief survey includes a quick history of space flight, mentions of and quotes from several astronauts or actual space tourists and enticing glimpses of space hotels, a space elevator and possible tourist destinations on other planets. Unfortunately, this enticing subject is bogged down by incomplete explanations and occasionally misleading claims. Readers will be unenlightened by the author’s non-explanation of zero gravity and perhaps actively confused by the introduction of the term “microgravity.” Further, one section implies that Bigelow Aerospace is simply in the space-hotel business (a claim denied on the company’s site) rather than the more complex commercial venture it is. Mora’s bland painted representations of the space shuttle, SpaceShipOne and other craft don’t measure up to photos and commercially produced graphic images easily found elsewhere. Five low-tech projects seek to complement the material, ranging from a doable cardboard centrifuge to a challenging multi-stage balloon rocket and a “space vacation plane” so complex that all the instructions had to be moved to an online site. McMahon’s enthusiasm for his topic may get readers off the ground—but not into orbit. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
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POSSESS
McNeil, Gretchen Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $17.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-06-206071-6 Debut author McNeil redefines the fallen-from-grace tradition in this paranormal tale of warring angels, demonic possessions and first loves. In the wake of her father’s murder, Bridget Liu hears the voices of departed souls and performs exorcisms with two of the priests from her parochial high school. Porcelain figurines thrash about and shatter under the influence of otherworldly entities in a doll shop, where Bridget begins to understand benevolent spirits are trying to reach her amid a cacophony of evil. The unlikely assistance of her 8-year-old brother sheds light on the muddled messages they transmit, and even tougher to believe is the ease with which Bridget scores a visit with her father’s killer, a schizophrenic psych-ward inmate to whom the specters direct her. Their convoluted warnings about the ill intentions of a priest don’t leave much room for surprise, despite a planted red herring. Weak character development among supporting cast members such as Bridget’s school friends undermines any sense of loss when one turns up dead, though Bridget’s blossoming romance with a baseball player from another school flutters the heartstrings appropriately. Readers for whom spooky encounters and brushes with violence suffice in the absence of rich characterization and fool-proof logistics will race through the pages. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)
TRAFFIC PUPS
Meadows, Michelle Illustrator: Andreasen, Dan Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $15.99 | July 12, 2011 978-1-4169-2485-2 A menagerie of small stuffed animals comes to life in a little boy’s room, with three diminutive dogs turning into traffic police officers on motorcycles. Other little animals drive cars around the room, illustrating common traffic mishaps. The canine cops patrol pretend roadways around the bedroom, giving out traffic tickets to a speeding mouse and toad, cautioning a goose who runs a red light and sorting out a collision between a bear and a pig. The short, punchy text written in rhyming couplets uses just a few words per page to describe the traffic flow, with lots of action words and concluding exclamation marks revving up the plot. The illustrations, in oil paint on cotton canvas, have a dreamy quality, with muted hues and a mottled effect in the solid backgrounds. Though this complements the imaginary nature of the premise, it’s an odd contrast with the pithiness of the text, which calls out for vibrant primary colors. In a clever conclusion, the final page shows the
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“A fitting tribute to a tough and resolute woman.” from the bravest woman in america
toy vehicles parked on the floor around the bed, with the animals seated in rows with innocent faces. The little boy who owns the toys wears a puzzled expression—he’d left the cars in a shopping bag in the story’s opening illustration. Preschoolers who like to act out imaginary dramas with toy cars and trucks will enjoy these petite pretend police dogs. (Picture book. 3-5)
THE BRAVEST WOMAN IN AMERICA
Moss, Marissa Illustrator: U’Ren, Andrea Tricycle (32 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed | July 12, 2011 978-1-58246-369-8 978-1-58246-400-8 library ed A girl who loves the sea becomes keeper and protector of those on the water. Ida Lewis’ father was the lighthouse keeper of Lime Rock, off Newport, R.I., and he took her with him, teaching her to light the lamps, to polish the lens and to row. When she was 15, her family moved to a house on the tiny island, and in the next year she and her mother took over the work when her father became ill. At 16, Ida rescued four boys, pulling them from the water and rowing through the wild sea to bring them to safety. U’Ren’s watercolor, ink and acrylic paintings make the sea as rich a character as Ida, her father and the lighthouse are, waters now sleek, hard sapphire, now greeny and bubbling, now whitecapped and dangerous. An author’s note relates that eventually Ida got the title as well as the work of lighthouse keeper and that she continued to save folks from the water even into her 60s. Ida died in 1911, before women got the vote, but her heroism was recognized by Congress and the press during her lifetime—Harper’s Weekly, the New York Tribune and Putnam’s Magazine all called her “the bravest woman in America.” All that’s missing is a little bibliography. A fitting tribute to a tough and resolute woman. (Picture book/biography. 5-9)
FREDA IS FOUND
Murphy, Stuart J. Illustrator: Jones, Tim Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $14.95 | $6.95 paperback $6.99 e-book | July 1, 2011 978-1-58089-462-3 978-1-58089-463-0 paperback 978-1-60734-304-2 e-book Series: I See I Learn Murphy’s I See I Learn visual learning series continues with two new titles for children that focus on the cognitive skill of name writing and strategies to stay safe when lost. When Freda’s attention wanders to the toy store window, she stops to look, but her class keeps walking toward the firehouse. 1058
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Lost, Freda must use all she has learned to help her teachers and classmates find her again. She stays calm, gets help from an adult and is able to tell that adult about herself—full name, address, phone number and school and teacher names. A final flow chart presents readers with these steps, and questions to the readers focus on “What if…” The scariness of being lost is ameliorated somewhat by the fact that most of the illustrations show the class within sight of Freda. In the simultaneously publishing Write On, Carlos (2011), Carlos asks his mom for help in learning to write his name. Over several days, readers can see that his practice is paying off as he progresses from being able to write “Car” to proudly writing his full name on paper, in sand and with chalk while his supportive friends watch. An alphabet chart at the bottom of many pages highlights the letters used to form the names, while the final question section asks readers what names they can write. The bright illustrations clearly show both the effort that Carlos is expending and his imperfect practice pages. Solid series additions that teach useful skills and the power of practice. (Picture book. 3-5)
JACK BLANK AND THE SECRET WAR
Myklusch, Matt Aladdin (544 pp.) $16.99 | August 9, 2011 978-1-4169-9564-7 Series: Jack Blank, 2
Myklusch squanders much of the promise of series opener Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation (2010) with this unwieldy middle volume. Intercepted messages indicate the mysterious Rüstov will spring some nefarious surprise upon the Imagine Nation (a land populated by “superheroes, ninjas, androids, and aliens”) in just five days, putting a deadline on young Jack’s efforts to counter the invader’s insidious computer virus. Some traces of the inspired whimsy that animated the earlier episode remain: Jack invents “Nuclear Knuckles” to crank up his fighting prowess for instance, and he encounters Lorem Ipsum, a texting teenaged superhero whose power compels her victims to speak only faux-Latin gibberish. Neither they nor occasional bursts of comics-style hyperviolence are enough to rev up a labored, wandering plot that eventually culminates in a climax featuring lots of standing around for talky explanations and exchanges. (An explosive closing twist is described only in retrospect.) The fluid prose style may carry patient readers through, though familiarity with the first volume is a must; even veterans may need reminders of Jack’s background, the significance of a certain major character who turns out to have been only temporarily killed off in the previous episode or even why the Rüstov are considered a threat. Myklusch promises a closing, or at least a next, volume in 2012. The wheels are grinding, but they haven’t quite fallen off yet. (Fantasy. 11-13)
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TORN
same cool, earthy palette (Big Bear Hug, 2009, etc.). Fans of Bear and Moose’s tales will find the same understated (and slightly quirky) humor here. Great bibliotherapy for any inattentive busy beaver. (Picture book. 3-7)
O’Rourke, Erica Kensington (336 pp.) $9.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7582-6703-0 A disrupted magical prophecy pits fate against choice in O’Rourke’s debut. Maura “Mo” Fitzgerald wakes up in a hospital room to face a handful of impossibilities—namely, that she has witnessed the murder of her best friend, Verity Grey, and that said murder was committed by evil, supernatural creatures. Rocked out of complacency, Mo discovers that Verity was not only living a double life as a powerful magic user called an Arc, but had been the prophesied key for preventing a magical disaster on par with a nuclear meltdown. Mo isn’t fated—or qualified—to save the world, but she finds herself falling into Verity’s role as well as the arms of a mysterious, handsome Arc whom she suspects of having been romantically involved with Verity. She struggles with grieving, her family’s shady ties and a protective bodyguard, all the while trying to figure out whom she can trust in a destiny not meant for her. The romance is on the less-developed side, but the male lead makes up for it in dark charisma. While some of the plot twists are predictable, and the shadowy consortium of villains is ill-defined, the novel shines when Mo deals with the implications and ramifications of her role as a substitute for the chosen heroine. The admirable ambition of this novel makes up for its uneven patches. (discussion questions) (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)
THE BUSY BEAVER
Oldland, Nicholas Illustrator: Oldland, Nicholas Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-749-5 Beaver might be busy, but it’s his carelessness that earns him the ire of his erstwhile woodland pals. Beaver leaves trees half-chewed. His dams leak. He’s always chawing through more trees than he needs for his projects. Once he was thinking so little about his work that he dropped a tree right on Bear’s head. He’s even been so distracted that he chewed Moose’s leg, thinking it was a tree. One day, Beaver becomes the victim of his own lackadaisical work habits when he fails to notice that the tree he’s chewing on is falling in his direction. He wakes immobilized in the hospital with any number of injuries; all he can do is stare at the ceiling. His convalescence allows him to see what he’s wrought with new eyes: His friends are bandaged, the forest is a mess and he’s left a family of birds homeless. Beaver embarks on a rigorous rehabilitation program to see if he can make things right. Canadian artist Oldland returns with a third woodland fable cast in the |
THE RITES & WRONGS OF JANICE WILLS
Pearson, Joanna Levine/Scholastic (224 pp.) $16.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-545-19773-1
Who better to study adolescent behavior than Janice Wills, a budding anthropologist and teenager herself? In this laugh-out-loud debut, the highschool junior’s first-hand observations, under the guise of field notes to the editor of Current Anthropology, center on her North Carolina town’s most anticipated annual event: Melva’s Miss Livermush Pageant. Janice is certain that entering and observing this competition, which “celebrates everyone’s favorite pork liver–based processed meat by marching twenty young women in ridiculous dresses across a stage,” is her ticket to a published article. (Yes, livermush is a real food!) As Janice prepares for this awesome event (“and by awesome, I mean cheesy and fantastic”), her best friends help her realize that she’s been using her role as anthropologist to judge from the sidelines rather than participate in the world around her. And when she tries to find a pageant escort, she discovers that for all of her time observing, she has no insight into the patterns of adolescent male behavior. All along the way, she imparts amusing quips on high school’s taxonomy of students and the small-town South, occasionally illustrating her observations with frequently hysterical diagrams, pie charts and graphs. Although one of her prospects secretly confesses to being bisexual (seemingly taboo in this town of traditions), its impact is glossed over. Nevertheless, the characters add to the light yet solid story’s charm. Serve to readers who like their chick lit with a side of humor. (Fiction. 14 & up)
ON YOUR OWN A College Readiness Guide for Teens with ADHD/LD
Quinn, Patricia O. Maitland, Theresa E. Laurie Illustrator: Ische, Bryan American Psychological Association/ Magination (128 pp.) $14.95 | July 15, 2011 978-1-4338-0955-2 This slender volume provides advice for teens with ADHD and learning disabilities on successfully making the transition to college.
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Advice books abound, some more readable than others. This work should be numbered among the “others.” Starting with a discouraging caveat—only about 50% of teens with ADHD/LD will either still be enrolled in college or have graduated after five to six years—this effort has readers complete a self-assessment test. It includes topics such as Organizational Skills, Self-Knowledge, Daily Living Skills and Time Management Skills. Based on the results, readers are given advice on learning ways to manage in college. Teens should analyze their results, write goal statements and action plans, track their progress and evaluate and modify their plans. Each topic from the test has a chapter of advice, followed by a list of pertinent websites. In the Daily Living Skills section, the advice on laundry begins, “First concentrate on washing. No matter how you choose to instruct yourself, you need to learn about washing first.” While all the advice is probably worthwhile, the format is dry, sometimes condescending and often monotonously repetitive. It’s difficult to imagine busy, college-bound teens having the time to attempt the development of so many action plans and so much list-making. A ho-hum advice book that’s long on lists and short on appeal. (Nonfiction. 16-18)
FALLING FOR HAMLET
Ray, Michelle Poppy/Little, Brown (368 pp.) $17.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-316-10162-2 Ophelia lives to whine another day in this mediocre MTV treatment of Hamlet. Ophelia’s been on again, off again with hot Prince Hamlet of Denmark since they were tweens. They have cautiously started up their relationship again a few short months after a tabloid published pictures of Hamlet with another girl. But just as Hamlet heads off for his second year at Wittenberg College, his father dies unexpectedly, throwing the whole country into an uproar. Hamlet starts acting strange, Ophelia worries about him, his mother Gertrude marries his uncle Claudius and, well, you know the rest. The only differences are that this time Ophelia fakes her own drowning and scores a guest spot on an Oprah-like talk show, and the final group demise takes place on a lacrosse field. At worst, this watered-down prose version that combines Ophelia’s first-person voice with police transcripts and scenes from the talk show is almost certain to offend Shakespeare purists; at best, it seems superfluous. Had Ray played more fast and loose with the original, the result might have been soapy, campy fun. But by staying so close to the actual plot and taking the language down to the lowest denominator (“Screw you, Horatio”), all she does is beg comparison with The Bard, a contest very few (if any) authors can hope to win. Unnecessary. (Fiction. 14 & up)
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AGGIE GETS LOST
Ries, Lori Illustrator: Dormer, Frank W. Charlesbridge (48 pp.) $12.95 | $9.99 e-book | July 1, 2011 978-1-57091-633-5 978-1-60734-297-7 e-book In three short chapters filled with many short words, readers will recognize a child’s trauma about a lost pet. Ben, whom readers have met before in the Aggie and Ben series, is a conscientious person to his little dog, Aggie. He takes good care of her, feeds her, gives her large quantities of attention and affection and shares the bed, which he thinks is his and she knows is hers. But on her walk in the park, Aggie chases the red ball that she usually returns to him and doesn’t come back. She is lost. Ben and his parents do everything they can to find their special friend, posting signs, searching, asking others— to no avail. After a terrible night, the boy returns to the park, where they again encounter friends, to resume the search. Mr. Thomas, who is blind, suggests that Ben use his ears to locate her. Eureka! He hears her howl, she is found and everyone is happy. Despite her bad breath and, worse, the stench of something Aggie has rolled in—a not uncommon habit of pups—all ends well. Art in pen, ink and watercolor shows the characters and their emotions clearly in a faux childlike drawing style. Anyone who has worried about the loss of a special friend will understand the feelings involved with great sympathy and empathy. (Easy reader. 4-7)
THE WARRIOR SHEEP GO WEST
Russell, Christopher Russell, Christine Sourcebooks (240 pp.) $6.99 | August 1, 2011 978-1-4022-5925-8 Series: Warrior Sheep, 2
Dotty Ida White’s equally daffy rarebreed sheep return for more fleecy (mis) adventures. Sheltering from the rain in the barn, the five rare-breed sheep who saved the world (at least in their own minds) from Lambad the Bad (Quest of the Warrior Sheep, 2011) hear a threatening message from Ida’s laptop (currently serenading the chickens with Internet music). Red Tongue threatens rams, ewes and lambs everywhere. Of course, matronly, busybody ewe Sal remembers mention of such a beast in the traditional “Songs of the Fleece.” Red Tongue will come out of the west, where the hottest winds blow, to devour sheep everywhere; only a band of brave warriors can save the eweniverse. Meanwhile, Ida and her great-grandson Tod are invited to take their sheep to a conference of RHUBARB: Rare, Humble, Unwanted, Beautiful, and Rare Breeds in…the American Southwest (imagine that!) The conference is not what
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“This highly atmospheric debut crackles with tension and has a shivery horror tang.” from the near witch
it appears. Red Tongue is (of course) not what the sheep think it is…everyone gets a bit more adventure than they bargained for! The Russells, a British husband-and-wife writing team, trot out their brave-but-foolish fleecy heroes for another preposterous romp full of wild coincidences, evil scientists, mad magicians and enough misunderstandings for three novels. Fans of Brit humor will enjoy, but gird your suspension of disbelief; it’s going to get a workout. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)
VILLAIN SCHOOL Good Curses Evil
Sanders, Stephanie S. Bloomsbury (240 pp.) $15.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-59990-610-2 Some people just make terrible villains. Take young spellcaster Rune, for example, stuck in Master Dreadthorn’s School For Wayward Villains because he just doesn’t have the knack for real evil (and also because the principal is his father). Possible redemption—with a chance to be promoted from Rogue to Fiend—comes along in the form of an assigned Plot. But despite recruiting a Henchman, kidnapping a princess and fomenting rebellion in a kingdom of his choice, Rune keeps looking like a Hero despite his best efforts. Sanders endows her surly narrator with a colorful cast of allies, such as overachieving vampire classmate Jezebel Dracula (“Mistress Smartyfangs,” as Rune calls her), and rivals led by a seemingly innocuous roommate who bakes cookies that scream fetchingly when chewed. Other characters include Muma Padurii, owner of a certain very enticing gingerbread house deep in spooky Forgotten Forest. Characters in place, the author lays out a quest that looks more like a stumbling rush of happy coincidences and culminates in both a startlingly successful Plot and a whirl of revelations about Rune’s father and family. Amusing fare for readers who aren’t quite up to more sophisticated halfhearted antiheroes like Artemis Fowl or Catherine Jinks’ “Evil Genius” Cadel. (Light fantasy. 10-12)
THE ONE AND ONLY STUEY LEWIS Stories from the Second Grade
Schoenberg, Jane Illustrator: Evans, Cambria Farrar, Straus and Giroux (128 pp.) $16.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-374-37292-7 Stuey Lewis is filled with angst about reading, Halloween, soccer and one annoying classmate in this big-hearted tale of second grade. |
Stuey is a regular second grader. That means he worries about everything. Stuey’s dad no longer lives with them, brother Anthony is a soccer prodigy and a bossy classmate keeps him on edge. These anxieties formed the core of linked short stories, told by Stuey himself, which chronicle the changes his second-grade year brings. Stuey’s best friend Will is a “reading monster,” which makes Stuey feel bad that he is not yet ready to plow through a pile of chapter books. He keeps waiting for the reading light to turn on, but it isn’t happening fast enough. How can Stuey possibly measure up to Anthony if he goes out for “bitty league soccer”? It’s even worse when he realizes the awful Lilly is on his team! Natural dialogue and believable school situations capture the drama of second grade, gently showing readers that things will get better. Occasional black-and-white illustrations add another humorous touch that new readers will appreciate. By the time the year is over, Stuey is no longer feigning illness to get out of school and is even looking forward to another year with beloved teacher Ms. Curtis, who is moving up with this winning class. Stuey’s fans will be crossing their fingers for a sequel. (Fiction. 6-9)
THE NEAR WITCH
Schwab, Victoria Hyperion (288 pp.) $16.99 | August 2, 2011 978-1-4231-3787-0
This highly atmospheric debut crackles with tension and has a shivery horror tang. Lexi’s late father taught her that witches are as good, bad and various as humans, so she trusts the witch sisters who live at the edge of her village; unlike most of the sullenly insular villagers, she doesn’t blame a lurking stranger when children start disappearing. Each night, a village child hears the wind singing a tune and climbs out the window to play on the moor, vanishing before morning. Early on, the text is highly descriptive of the setting, dedicating almost too many words to the heathery moor hills and the wind that “sang me lullabies. Lilting, humming, highpitched things, filling the space around me so that even when all seemed quiet, it wasn’t.” Soon, however, the wind and moor descriptions become retroactively crucial, weaving themselves into the content of the plot. As a mob mentality unfolds in the village, tracker Lexi works harder and harder to defend the stranger and find the children. Part mourning and healing tale, part restless ghost story, the strengths here are Lexi’s sophisticated characterization (strong, sad, fiercely protective) and the extraordinary sense of place. Set in an undefined past, this will appeal to fans of literarily haunting vibes and romance; readers who love it will go on to Wuthering Heights. (Fantasy. 14-18)
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“The author creates a completely believable character in Liza, who often reverts to childlike emotions only to learn the hard way that cold reality takes precedence over even dearly held wishes.” from tunnel vision
TUNNEL VISION
Shaw, Susan McElderry (272 pp.) $16.99 | August 16, 2011 978-1442408395 Danger dominates the life of a 16-yearold girl who sees her mother murdered and tries to escape the same fate. Liza merely walks through a tunnel at the wrong time. The killers she passes mark her for death, but they miss and shoot her mother instead. After a second attempt on Liza’s life, the FBI moves Liza and her dad into the witness-protection program. All might be well, except that the FBI appears to have no control over journalists, who make Liza’s disappearance into a national tabloid story. All might still be well, except that Liza refuses to dye her flaming red hair and keeps losing hats. Shaw tells her story through the eyes of a young girl who undergoes serious trauma and tries to cling to her past even as she fears the killers. Liza wants to settle into a normal life with her dad even if they can’t return home, but she finds it difficult to trust anyone she meets. Could wild coincidences really be coincidental? The author creates a completely believable character in Liza, who often reverts to childlike emotions only to learn the hard way that cold reality takes precedence over even dearly held wishes. Kudos for the unexpected double ending, both illusory and realistic, giving readers a choice. An emotional roller-coaster ride through adolescent angst and thriller suspense. (Thriller. 12 & up)
SPELLBOUND
Shultz, Cara Lynn Harlequin Teen (352 pp.) $9.99 | June 21, 2011 978-0-373-21030-5 paperback Upper East Side prep school meets fairytale-romance escapism in Shultz’s debut. In the wake of a series of family tragedies, Emma Connor escapes her wicked stepfather to live with her wealthy aunt in New York. She’s the new girl at a small, posh private school. Having already had her fill of drama, Emma is content to remain invisible—until she lays eyes on rich, handsome Brendan Salinger. Emma crushes on him as only a teenage girl can, desperate for signals that he returns her feelings. But stranger things than the hottest and richest guy in school paying her attention are happening— streetlights die above Emma’s head, and she dreams a warning from her dead twin brother. With the help of a classmate who is a practicing witch, Emma learns that not only are she and Brendan fated to be together, but they are also doomed by a curse. Aside from dealing with vicious cliques, lies and rumors at school, Brendan and Emma must find a way to break the curse before it claims her life. The 1,000-year back story of the 1062
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curse is more fairy tale than historical, but then again, so is the love story. Emma’s witty, charming narration makes her engaging and easy to relate to. The familiar characters and tropes reincarnated into this story make for delicious brain candy for romantics. (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)
NERD GIRLS The Rise of the Dorkasaurus Sitomer, Alan Lawrence Disney Hyperion (230 pp.) $16.99 | July 5, 2011 978-1-4231-3996-6
Wise-cracking eighth-grader Maureen is the self-described “anti-cool” heroine of this droll tale of a talent-show showdown. When Maureen impetuously foils the nefarious lunchtime plot of the ThreePees, the reigning triumvirate of the “Pretty, Popular, and Perfect” crowd, a unique alliance comes together. Suddenly Maureen becomes an unwilling co-conspirator with fellow social misfits Allergy Alice and Beanpole Barbara to wrest talent-show victory from the ThreePees. With a keen eye, Sitomer portrays the callous social hierarchy of middle school. Although Maureen wields her often self-deprecating humor as a shield, Alice and Barbara, along with readers, see the girl behind the bravado. In their bid to take a stand, a fragile friendship forms among the trio. As tensions increase, the girls’ histories are revealed: Maureen struggles with her feelings over her father’s long-ago abandonment, and Alice harbors a devastating secret. Despite her somewhat abrasive humor, Maureen remains a likable character. Unfortunately, the ThreePees remain flatly one dimensional, never breaking out of their stereotypical roles. Even though the story’s resolution is slightly contrived, readers will be cheering for these girls as they bravely go forth, proudly proclaiming their nerdiness. (Fiction. 11-13)
SHEILA SAYS WE’RE WEIRD
Smalley, Ruth Ann Illustrator: Emery, Jennifer Tilbury House (32 pp.) $16.95 | July 1, 2011 978-0-88448-326-7 Right along with a nosy young neighbor, children get an eyeful of a family’s sustainable lifestyle. Regarding the responses of his little sister’s friend (see title) with amusement, the big-brother narrator models green living. He helps his parents plant a backyard garden and carry fresh produce from a farmers’ market rather than going to the grocery store. The family cuts the lawn with a hand mower, they hang up the wash rather than chucking it into a drier, they heat the family room with a wood stove and cool it with a ceiling fan
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rather than using more energy-intensive appliances. Looking skeptical but plainly beguiled, red-haired Sheila takes it all in, just as readers will. Smalley never delivers an explicit message here, and by showing rather than telling, she makes these practices look all the more appealing and doable—idealized though they are in Emery’s painted views of lush gardens, cozy indoor scenes and hardworking but ever-smiling adults and children. A good-humored guide to environmentally responsible behavior, all the more convincing (and refreshing) for being indirect. (Picture book. 6-8)
THE JEWEL AND THE KEY
Spiegler, Louise Clarion (464 pp.) $16.99 | July 11, 2011 978-0-547-14879-3 Addie dreams of becoming an actress but only finds success when she discovers a way to travel through time to a Seattle theater of 1917. The theater, the Jewel, is derelict in Addie’s own time, but in 1917 it’s a vibrant institution run by a determined woman and her handsome, talented son, Reg. Addie immediately falls for him and gets swept up in some of the issues of his day. The city police work to bust a union, America is entering into World War I and, most immediately, a union member is accused of murder after a violent demonstration. In her own time, Addie is also dealing with her best friend Whaley’s determination to enlist to fight in an unpopular (but coyly unspecified) war, the aftereffects of an earthquake and her inability to find a place in her school’s theater clique. Characters abound, a full set for each time period, but few are more than lightly sketched. A strong anti-war theme, diminished by the vague nature of the conflict, infuses both stories but ultimately just distracts from the disjointed plot. Too much is going on, and a predictable denouement that attempts to draw all the threads into cohesion falls flat. Save this for time-travel enthusiasts; others may find it less than timeless. (Fantasy. 11-16)
BUSY BOATS
Steggall, Susan Illustrator: Steggall, Susan Frances Lincoln (28 pp.) $15.95 | July 1, 2011 978-1-84780-074-9
houses. There is no plot device to match the train ride in Stegall’s earlier Rattle and Rap (2009), but the simple rhyming text is filled with action verbs that fill the book with sights and sounds and movement. Seagulls screech, engines shudder, cargo boats groan, rescue boats race by and row boats bob. Whether seen on land or aboard a boat, people are busy working or traveling or watching the action. Steggall is a master of torn-paper technique and renders scenes of remarkable depth and perspective in brightly colored detail, capturing a defining the essence of the life of the harbor. This kind of scene may seem foreign to landlocked young readers, and even American harbor rats may notice that this British port is not exactly like home. But they will be enthralled with the bustle and charm and will examine the pages over and over again, discovering more with each perusal. Beguiling and visually compelling. Sail away! (Picture book. 2-7)
STORIES FOR A FRAGILE PLANET
Steven, Kenneth Illustrator: Ray, Jane Lion/Trafalgar (48 pp.) $16.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7459-6157-6 This lovely British collection contains retellings of 10 traditional tales from around the world, revised to emphasize living simply and in peace and harmony with the Earth and its animals. Some of the stories are revisions of familiar tales (Persephone and Demeter, the Tower of Babel and “The Fisherman and His Wife”), while others are less familiar. “The Hunter and the Swan” (from the Far East), “The Saint and the Blackbird” (from Britain) and “The Panda’s Tale” (from China), among others, teach kindness to animals. In “Maha and the Elephant,” from Thailand, elephants warn humans of a coming tsunami. Not surprisingly, in more than one tale human greed is contrasted with caring and generosity. The words flow smoothly and make for fine reading aloud. Ray’s charming illustrations, many with her trademark intricate stylization, are an excellent complement to these gentle, nature-loving tales. Unfortunately, although the tales are briefly attributed to regions (Africa, South America) and countries (Thailand, Greenland), no specific sources are cited. Readers looking for a story collection with environmental themes and minimal didacticism may find what they want here. (Folktales. 5-10)
The harbor contains a surprising variety of fascinating boats of all sizes. Everywhere you look there are fishing boats, cargo boats motor boats, ferries, tourist boats and more. Along the sea edge are huge cranes and storage facilities. In quieter, more picturesque spots, there are shops, cafes and quaint |
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THE WORLD CHAMPION OF STAYING AWAKE
Taylor, Sean Illustrator: Liao, Jimmy Candlewick (48 pp.) $15.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7636-4957-9
Little Stella stuffs a month of adventure into a single bedtime. Dad announces that it’s time for bed, and she sets to work getting her three favorite toys to sleep. Cherry Pig, Thunderbolt (a plush mouse) and Beanbag Frog all declare they’re wide awake. Gathering them, Stella lays them gently on her pillow and lifts them into the air, “dream[ing] the pillow into something.” They dream an ocean, the pillow a ship rocking on the waves. Cherry Pig imagines herself snuggling on a haystack in the loft; she’s asleep. Thunderbolt and Beanbag Frog, however, remain awake and full of energy. Stella puts them in a box and, pushing it across the floor, says it’s a train. Mouse and frog are transported to the midnight run; Thunderbolt imagines them riding magic horses through the air; he’s asleep too. “Starship balloon” proves the way to make Beanbag Frog sleepy. She carries them all to bed and follows their lead. Taylor makes each of the toys’ dreams a poem, which nicely counterpoints the simple main story, though some of the images both in the verse and pictures seem arbitrary. Liao’s watercolors are bright, and all the characters look adorable. The ample white space in book’s design invites readers in and transitions the characters from reality into their imaginations. Pleasant if unexceptional. (Picture book. 3-5)
MY DIARY The Totally True Story of ME!
Tibo, Gilles Illustrator: Bisaillon, Josée American Psychological Association/ Magination (40 pp.) $12.95 | July 15, 2011 978-1-4338-0958-3
This private, off-limits diary of a young girl records ideas and feelings that she doesn’t want to reveal to anyone else, turning readers into instant voyeurs. The fictional Marilou writes narrative and simple poetry in a convincing voice. She includes things that make her sad or happy, disappoint her or make her proud, thoughts about friendship and solitude, examples of courage and fears and feelings about growing up, life, war, death, peace, hope and sharing with the world. Two common events prompt many of her musings: the death of her red goldfish and her parents’ announcement that they are expecting another child. These short entries are presented in a variety of handwritten printing styles (no script) and taped in a scrapbook, leaving plenty of white space on each page. They are accompanied by slightly surreal images, usually filling a single page but sometimes spilling over the gutter. Done with a variety of media, some illustrations look like 1064
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watercolor paintings enhanced with crayon and some collage, others are more textured with brushwork visible. First published in Canada in French, this was shortlisted for a readers’ choice award in Atlantic Canada. No translator is credited. The U.S. publisher, an arm of the American Psychological Association, suggests shared reading to prompt discussion; some readers may prefer to maintain the illusion of learning someone’s secrets, responding to them without adult interference. (Picture book. 7-10)
THE ART COLLECTOR
Wahl, Jan Illustrator: Bonnet, Rosalinde Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $15.95 | $9.99 e-book | July 1, 2011 978-1-58089-270-4 978-1-60734-298-4 e-book A pure and simple appreciation of art—and of loving it. Oscar is both a tiny boy and an art collector. His first purchased piece is “an old etching” of a stream and waterwheel; he pulls weeds to afford its price—$1—and to replace the cracked glass and old frame. Sitting on his rocking horse, he gazes at the etching, never bored. Over time, he acquires portraits, stilllifes and landscapes, representational and abstract pieces, many paintings and at least one woodcut. He cherishes each one. Slightly older, he sits reading “Art News,” bedroom walls covered in art; when he leaves for college, he carefully packs everything against breakage. The collection grows “until a museum had to be built to hold it.” Readers will share Oscar’s enjoyment via Bonnet’s rendition of the pieces themselves, pleasurably variant in content and vibe, and via the calm cheerfulness of her illustrations. In acrylic paint, pencil and collage, she makes Oscar’s world still but alert, visually joyful but never cluttered. Some adults may cringe that Oscar’s original impetus to view art (rather than create it) is frustration at his own inability to draw representationally; however, it’s his admiration for GreatGranny’s chicken portrait in crayon (in contrast to his own) that spawns an admirable lifelong passion. Art needs fans and collectors as well as creators, and this will encourage some new ones. (Picture book. 4-7)
COLORES DE LA VIDA Mexican Folk Art Colors in English and Spanish
Weill, Cynthia Cinco Puntos (32 pp.) $14.95 | July 1, 2011 978-1-933693-82-8 Series: First Concepts in Mexican Folk Art, 3 Following Opuestos (2009), Weill introduces colors with mixed success in the latest book in her bilingual First Concepts with Mexican Folk Art series.
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Using animals handcrafted by Oaxacan artisans, the author showcases 14 different colors, from typical primary and secondary colors to neutrals and metallics. The book presents young readers to a few colors (such as turquoise, gray, gold and silver) not found in most color concept books. Two pages are dedicated to each color; English and Spanish words for the color are on the left page, faced by one or more animal artworks on the opposite. Made from wood, ceramic, tin or papier-mâché, the featured animals range from ordinary giraffes and polar bears to fantastical winged creatures. While the folk art in the other books in the series popped from pages of contrasting colors, the animals here fade into backgrounds too similar to their representative colors. In some cases, this design decision merely lessens the beauty of the unique, colorful objects. In other instances, the various tints and shades may confuse young readers; purple wooden rabbits look almost black, and a band of ceramic animal musicians appear tan on their brown page. The last page presents a gorgeous pair of multicolored pigs. Even with its design flaws, the book remains a good choice for bilingual storytimes and conversations about color. (Picture book. 3-7)
THE SUMMER OF HAMMERS AND ANGELS
Wiersbitzky, Shannon namelos (156 pp.) $18.95 | July 1, 2011 978-1-60898-112-0
Angels in the form of members of the First Congregational Church of Christ come to Delia Burns’ rescue after lightning strikes her house, leaving her mother in a coma and Delia trying to do the long list of repairs left by the inspector who has condemned her home. Set in Tucker’s Ferry, W.V., this idealized picture of smalltown cooperation recalls a simpler time. There are no electronic devices beyond the television in the corner of her mother’s hospital room and no chain stores with computerized inventories. There is also little supervision of the children: hard-working, resourceful Delia, her flighty friend, Mae, and mean Tommy Parker, who turns out to be both helpful and handy with tools. Delia’s age is never given, but the first-person narration reflects her innocence and naïveté. Thanks to summer Bible camp she knows something about religion. She wonders about the efficacy of prayer and the existence of angels. She hasn’t gone regularly to church like the Parkers, neighbors who take her in after the lightning strike, but her conversion is swift. After two weeks of porch carpentry, ivy-pulling and screen-mending, she’s ready to ask for help, which arrives in true feel-good fashion. The heartwarming conclusion is an unlikely miracle, but it is entirely in keeping with the flavor of this nostalgic story, which will leave readers hungry for fried chicken and Coke from glass bottles. (Fiction. 9-13)
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THE BABYSITTER MURDERS
Young, Janet Ruth Atheneum (336 pp.) $16.99 | July 26, 2011 978-1-4169-5944-1
Dani adores Alex, so why is she thinking about killing him? Once a random thought crosses Dani’s mind, she can’t get rid of it—even when it’s completely contrary to her nature. She lives in fear that she’s blurted out inappropriate sexual thoughts about her teacher or rude remarks about her best friend’s newly revealed lesbianism. Worst, though, are the thoughts of harming the little boy she babysits. She decides to quit her babysitting job, and—responsibly, she thinks—does so in person. Alex’s mother hears only that Dani’s thinking about killing Alex and calls the police. Dani’s committed no crime, so she’s not arrested, but word gets out, and Dani falls prey to the smear tactics of a vigilante group called Protect Our Kids. Under a therapist’s treatment, Dani learns to deal with her rare type of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Her attempts to heal backfire when Alex’s mother overreacts again, tricking Dani into a confrontation with Malcolm, a creepy guy with his own obsessions. The somewhat shallow plot is offset by alternating points of view; the detached tone of seamlessly interwoven snippets from online chatrooms, blogs and newspaper editorials effectively demonstrate modern parental fears that danger lurks everywhere. Teens who feel misunderstood will relate to Dani’s struggles to maintain her reputation in a society that tends to view them with suspicion. (Fiction. 12 & up)
This Issue’s Contributors #
Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Sophie Brookover • Louise Brueggemann • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Julie Cummins • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Carol Edwards • L. • Omar Gallaga • Judith Gire • Ruth I. Gordon • Melinda Greenblatt • Linnea Hendrickson • Megan Honig • Jennifer Hubert • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Laura Jenkins • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • K. Lesley Knieriem • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Joan Malewitz • Hillias J. Martin • Jeanne McDermott • Kathie Meizner • R. Moore • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Shana Raphaeli • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Karyn N. Silverman • Meg Smith • Robin Smith • Rita Soltan • Jennifer Sweeney • Deborah D. Taylor • 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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THE NAME OF THE RIDER Brooke, Michael M. Brooke (424 pp.) $29.95 | September 1, 2011 ISBN: 978-0986823206
Creeping schizophrenia takes the reins of a young doctor’s mind in this subtle psychological mystery. Simon Felsper, a medical student in London during the 1950s, has a preternaturally soothing bedside manner that makes him a favorite with patients. He also has, according to a psychiatry lecture he attends, the symptoms of a schizophrenic—an obsession with good-luck rituals; an authoritative voice in his head whom he dubs One; a penchant for biblical-sounding pronouncements like “You are the chosen one”; and a feeling that he is the target of a vague plot by one of his classmates, an aristocratic rake with the deceptively harmless nickname of Badger. When he is exiled to San Francisco after a run-in with Badger, Simon’s medical practice swells along with his sense of destiny. Convinced by One’s declarations that he is an enlightened soul, Simon believes that he can cure vague pains and malaise just by laying on his hands—and soon a devoted following of patients agrees. Yet he can’t shake the influence, real or imagined, of Badger, whose tentacles extend to a senior colleague and a high-priced call girl whom Simon is seeing and eventually entangle Simon in a murder. The author makes this odd, potentially claustrophobic story into an entertaining, slightly satirical novel of manners with noirish overtones, as Simon’s sensitive, grandiose perspective plays off the prosaic, crass outlooks of the people around him in a symphony of mutual incomprehension. Brooke tells the yarn with a dry wit, sharp-eyed prose and a knack for vibrant characterizations. (Badger, a confection of bluster, bonhomie and sly malice, is indelible.) The author is also a neurologist, and one of the book’s manifold pleasures is its well-observed portrait of the medical culture of 50 years ago, when authoritarian doctors treated patients with exquisite disdain. Brooke gives us a shrewd, absorbing study of a sensitive soul drawn into paranoid delusions that may not be so far-fetched. An entertaining tale of an off-kilter mind coping with shady surroundings, told with literary flair.
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A CHILD OF RAPE
duVal, John Jon duVal (524 pp.) $2.99 e-book | April 28, 2011 ISBN: 978-0972594752 A densely plotted, gay coming-of-age novel starring the talented Erik, whose lengthy history is half hard-boiled Jim Thompson mayhem and half Martha Grimes youthful fantasia, heavily laden with crime, war (both international and domestic), alcoholism and, ultimately, personal triumph. DuVal’s debut begins in 1928 with an identity change for shadowy Klaus Altman, whose ties to the Philadelphia mob forces him to go undercover as Max Anders, protector of Galena Baldwin. No angel herself, the promiscuous 14-year-old Galena finds herself pregnant. She blackmails sexually ambiguous Max into marriage and they run away together, largely to escape the unwanted attentions of her stepfather and the Mafia, and live unhappily ever after. When Erik is born, his red hair instantly sours any maternal feelings Galena might have had; she loathes her child on sight, as he is a constant reminder of the man who raped her. For a time, a boozy calm ensues as Max, Galena and precocious Erik negotiate various forms of a separate peace. And there’s music, by way of Erik’s eccentric grandmother. But then the sordid past catches up with them; sexy, sinister Trouper Pete, another of Galena’s ersatz protectors, makes things more difficult, as does the charmingly evil Det. Weakly. Bodies turn up and liquor, lies and debauchery take their toll. As Erik’s home life disintegrates, his sexuality burgeons; he takes up with wise young Allen at university and even more complexities of the sexual, familial and social sorts arise. Ultimately, in an utterly unbelievable (but delightful) twist, Erik’s dream to become an orchestra pianist/conductor comes true while he serves in the Army during the Korean conflict, via yet another change of identity. Though duVal’s incredibly intricate plotting and frequent narrative shifts require close reading to follow, his loving concern for even the most troubled of his characters and their twisted relationships are the real payoff; Galena may be a manipulative harridan, but she’s a fascinating wreck whose every action enthralls. And son Erik could charm the pants off, well, anyone he likes. A rollicking, complex read.
THE MAGIC OF FINKLETON Hilton, K.C. CreateSpace (184 pp.) $9.99 paperback | April 26, 2011 ISBN: 978-1456570293
Hilton tells a creative tale of a magical rural village in England. Uncle Harry Finkle is an elderly man who keeps the village of Finkleton running smoothly; each farm receives exactly the correct amount of rain for the crop |
grown in its field. Finkleton has never had a bad crop or an unsuccessful business, and nobody ever wants to sell land to outsiders, however desperately the interlopers want to buy. After an unexpected incident, three resident children named Jack, Robert and Lizzy inherit their Uncle Harry’s general store, as well as all its secrets. As the children make discoveries, they find it necessary to keep secrets from their parents, thinking that it’s in their best interest. Hilton writes this tale in a clean, smooth and straightforward manner. Although more mature audiences will easily discern the plot’s movement, there are enough surprises to keep all readers interested. The book moves along smoothly from beginning to end, with realistic portrayals of sibling disagreements, as well as solidarity, throughout the book; conversations and arguments between the siblings suggest Hilton is savvy about familial politics. The author provides little depth to certain characters, notably the parents, though as the central focus of the book, the children are more richly constructed. Setting details are sparse, with the exception of three rooms in the basement of the general store in which most of the book’s action takes place. The author introduces magical artifacts such as hourglasses, scrolls and weathered maps with a perspective that is fresh and unique. Children and young adults alike will relate to the protagonists and may learn some moral lessons as the children decide to use the magical talismans for the good of the town, and not merely for their selfish desires. A solid, simple read that encourages altruism while remaining lighthearted.
THE ENOCH FACTOR: The Sacred Art of Knowing God McSwain, Steve Smyth & Helwys (238 pp.) $21.00 paperback | May 1, 2010 ISBN: 978-1573125567
A bold take on Christianity, religious pluralism and the search for God. McSwain (The Giving Myths, 2007) examines Christian faith with an unofficial Buddhist perspective. He sees the search for God as a death of the ego and a letting go of attachment. He is refreshingly against Christianity as the only path to God and opposed to the interdenominational politics and pettiness and backstabbing rampant in many churches. Rather, he looks to Jesus, as well as numerous other religious figures, for guidance along a path that he believes is not so much searching for God but clearing away illusions to realize that God is already found. His take is vaguely related to the biblical figure of Enoch, who appears only briefly in the Bible and this book—a fact that makes the title somewhat confusing. The book is a little unfocused, jumping from story to story and thought to thought. McSwain liberally sprinkles his prose with quotes and utilizes large block quotes from a wide array of spiritual and popular thinkers. While these quotes add context and support to the original content, they quickly become frustrating roadblocks to the flow of the text and cause
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k i r ku s q & a w i t h e l i s a b e t h s t e v e n s Author, artist and critic Elisabeth Stevens comfortably wears a number of hats, sometimes simultaneously. The former art and architecture critic for several regional and national periodicals boasts an impressive publishing résumé that includes poetry, fiction, drama and monographs. Also a widely exhibited artist, she has melded her writing and art in two livres d’artistes released under her own imprint Goss Press. A facsimile edition of one of these, Sirens’ Songs, a collection of evocative poetry, by turns contemplative and sensual, recently received a Kirkus Star. Sirens’ Songs
Elisabeth Stevens BrickHouse Books $18.00 paperback February 2011 978-1935916031
featured Mother, a mythic female with fortitude and a sense of humor in dealing with the disasters of everyday life. As the poem ends, Mother offers helpfully: “If you can’t cope, / call me. / Just ask for Mother, / I clean up.” Q: Your publishing history is quite varied and lengthy. How much experience do you have with small presses and indie publishing? A: All of my 14 books—15 when Impossible Interludes: Three Short Plays is published by BrickHouse Books—are from small press or independent publishers.
Q: Even within a single collection, your poetry covers so much ground in terms of voice, mood, form and topic. Where do your poems originate?
Q: The traditional publishing opportunities for booklength poetry—never mind illustrated books of poetry—are few and far between, making indie publishing particularly attractive to poets. As an author who has published extensively through both traditional small presses and independent publishers, do you see any drawbacks to indie publishing that other poets and writers should be aware of?
A: Where do my poems come from? Like my etchings, my poems and my stories “arrive.” There is a knock at the door. A stranger is waiting—an “uninvited guest” demands my attention. Q: You describe yourself as an “author-artist,” and Sirens’ Songs is a beautiful integration of poetry and original illustrations. How do the textual and visual intersect when you are writing?
K i r k us M edi a L L C # President M A RC W I N K E L M A N SVP, Finance J ames H ull SVP, Marketing M ike H ejny SVP, Online Paul H offman # Copyright 2011 by Kirkus Media LLC. KIRKUS REVIEWS (ISSN 0042 6598) is published semimonthly by Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Road, Austin, TX 78744. Subscription prices are $169 for professionals ($199 International) and $129 ($169 International) for individual consumers (home address required). Single copy: $25.00. All other rates on request. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kirkus Reviews, PO Box 3601, Northbrook, IL 60065-3601. Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, TX 78710 and at additional mailing offices.
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A: Today, indie publishing meets the needs of an ever-growing number of writers, and that’s good. However, there are disadvantages. The first problem is distribution. In my case, Eranos and Sirens’ Songs are essentially artworks that belong in museums, academic libraries and specialized private collections. As I can’t afford to advertise, I have relied upon personal contacts to place these books in collections at The Baltimore Museum of Art, Harvard, Brown and Princeton Universities and the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. A second and even more daunting problem for indie publishers is reviews. The fact that the Sirens’ Songs Facsimile was published in 2011 in paperback by Baltimore’s BrickHouse Books has made it possible to send out a few review copies. Yet, as a former art critic for the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Trenton Times and Baltimore Sun, I know that it is never possible to review as many books as one would like. Today, the decline of print journalism only exacerbates the problem. Fortunately, Kirkus has widened the possibilities by offering Kirkus Indie reviews for indie-published authors. There are no easy answers, and, in my case, the only answer I see is to keep writing poems and creating etchings.
A: I “see” my poems as pictures—settings and situations that demand to be described, and, when feasible, illustrated. Just because I “see” what I write does not mean that I understand it, however. Sometimes works contain messages hidden even from myself. Q: So, in your experience, poetry can be revelatory for the poet as well as the reader? Is there a particular example of a poem that took you through a journey of discovery? A: In Sirens’ Songs, I thought the poem “Nobody’s Baby” was about the end of a love affair. I wrote and rewrote it—I work on poems for years—and finally created the etching of a battered baby doll washed up on a beach. Only then did I realize that the poem echoed long-forgotten childhood terrors. Q: Is the writing process, then, about seizing control of those memories? Or about learning to accept and move on? This seems to be a question, by the way, that many of your female narrators—strong and perceptive women who are beset by obstacles and their own mistakes—face in your poetry. A: In the last poem in Sirens’ Songs, “Envoy: At the Tideline,” I simply “cast my works on the water” and “let the tide take everything.” This may seem to be passive surrender, but false loves, failed marriage, tragic misunderstandings and the inevitable passage of time are not necessarily fatal. My previous book of not-so-light verse titled Ragbag |
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–By John Pope
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“A tour de force in breadth and depth.” from the insurgency in chechnya and the north caucasus
the author to seem overeager to validate his argument. This is perhaps not without reason, as his argument stems from a brief, unprompted revelation that he experienced one day while sitting on the couch. It can be hard to understand how such a small, spontaneous moment could give birth to a systematic theology and its attendant practices, but McSwain grounds the ensuing book in a variety of religious traditions and a truly goodhearted intention to help people be closer to God. Given all the quotes and McSwain’s doctorate in ministry, he could better cite his sources, especially in regard to which translation of the Bible he is quoting. Overall, though, McSwain has no ulterior motives or self-aggrandizing sentiments, just an earnest wish to express his views and to share his ideas and experiences with others. Christians tired of church politics and proponents of interfaith practices will draw inspiration from this wellintentioned text.
A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM: The Visitor Pielke, Robert G. Altered Dimensions (226 pp.) $14.95 paperback | May 25, 2010 ISBN: 978-1936021239
A historical fantasy starring a visitor from the 22nd century and Abraham Lincoln. On a crowded train in 1849, a most anachronistic meeting takes place between the future 16th president of the United States and a curious looking man from Baltimore circa 2163 A.D.; Edwin Blair offers Lincoln a cash gift, makes an appointment with the future commander in chief for 14 years later and, in a flash, transports himself to 1863 Washington where he marches to the White House and calls in his favor. Blair hails from an apocalyptic future brought about by an alien invasion and his mission is to convince Lincoln and a select few members of his cabinet to use the inevitable confrontation at Gettysburg as cover for annihilating this race of extraterrestrials before they grow too strong. Why not pick a time with nuclear warheads instead of Griffen guns, and supercarriers instead of ironclads? Because that wouldn’t be any fun. More technically, Blair explains that if you assault the alien vessels with modern weaponry, they explode and the radius of devastation stretches for miles. But, really, it’s a happily contrived excuse for a witty, ludicrous, knowing and engaging science-fiction/historical novel. There’s something deliciously self-conscious in Pielke’s thoughtfully rendered character study of the Great Emancipator being weaved into the broader scenes of a 22nd-century historian holding forth on time travel and aliens while attempting to convince Lincoln, and by extension the reader, of the novel’s tongue-in-cheek premise. In the prose and loving period detail, the novel has charm in abundance. The smells of 19th-century America are a surprising and convincing detail as Blair plods along the streets and fields of ancient America, and he is constantly attempting to adjust his lexical choices to the period, with amusingly overwrought |
results. Pielke manages all this with great admiration for the period and its language. But Civil War buffs beware—it’s all in good fun and it’s only possible to be so deferential when aliens are tossed onto such hallowed historical ground. An exciting, enticing first entry in a planned series.
THE INSURGENCY IN CHECHNYA AND THE NORTH CAUCASUS: From Gazavat to Jihad
Schaefer, Robert W. Praeger (307 pp.) | $59.95 $48.00 e-book | February 18, 2011 ISBN: 978-0313386343 Schaefer’s debut is an in-depth critical assessment of the Russo-Chechen conflict that reflects a deep understanding of counterinsurgency in general and how it relates to that region specifically. Although the Russian government officially declared an end to the Second Chechen War in 2009, the insurgency in the North Caucasus is far from over, according to Schaefer. In clear, layman-friendly prose, he argues convincingly and meticulously that Russia’s strategy failures stem from a vital misunderstanding of the nature of Chechen resistance; the Russian government’s insistence that Chechen rebels are less resistance fighters than they are mere terrorist criminals is a misinterpretation that, in Schaefer’s view, has led to the misapplication of counterterrorist tactics that not only failed to quell the Chechen resistance movement while the war was on, but have allowed it to regroup in the last two years. Schaefer, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces, wields his military and foreign policy expertise handily, building his arguments from the rudiments up so that casual readers can easily follow while also scoring insights that ought to make this work indispensable to more interested actors and observers. He provides invaluable context by explaining the nature of insurgencies and terrorist acts, details the long history of regional power struggles (and particularly the protracted hostilities between Russians and various North Caucasian ethnic groups) and analyzes the extent to which certain Islamic sects have shaped the conflict and motivated insurgents’ causes. At root, Schaefer’s argument is that the Russian approach, in deviation from Western standards, puts too little emphasis on political strategies to combat the insurgency, instead relying on vastly superior firepower in an attempt to break the Chechens, who have been waging a campaign without an end-game strategy and are destined to fail as long as Russia’s interest in the region remains strong. Whether or not Schaefer’s conclusions are persuasive, his reasoning is honest, well-researched and refreshingly free of partisan rhetoric. A tour de force in breadth and depth.
kirkusreviews.com
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kirkus indie
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15 june 2011
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1069