April 01, 2011: Volume LXXIX, No 7

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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 ★ The Butcher’s Boy is back in the latest adventurepacked thriller from Thomas Perry p. 537 ★ The perpetrator of a hitand-run is at the center of John Burnham Schwartz’s latest p. 538 ★ Jojo Moyes wins big with a cleverly constructed, cliffhanger-strewn tale of heartache p. 536

nonfiction ★ David McCullough returns with another gorgeously rich, sparkling book p. 566 ★ The richness of reading is celebrated by Nina Sankovitch in a rewarding, fun book p. 574 ★ William C. Davis offers a significant book about a big moment in American history p. 552

children & teens ★ Kids receive a spectacular tour of the natural world in 32 pages thanks to Jim Arnosky p. 582 ★ Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm introduce a onecelled hero in their new graphic series p. 593 ★ Dynamic photo collages bring childhood songs to the urban streets in Nina Crews’ latest p. 586

i n t h i s i s s u e : m o t h e r’s & fat h e r’s day r o u n d - u p

R.T. Raichev plots murder; Gary Braver gets tunnel vision; Cricket McRae shares some wine; Cynthia Riggs heads to Martha’s Vineyard; Fred Lichtenberg pens his first novel; Sarah Gardner Borden plays games; Steven Pressfield looks into the future; and 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

interactive e-books p. 529 fiction p. 531

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mystery p. 540 science fiction p. 545 nonfiction p. 549

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children & teens p. 581 kirkus indie p. 614

p u b l i s h e r

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

Dear Readers, In our previous issue, we announced the launch of our redesigned, more userfriendly website, complete with featured reviews, engaging lists, video content and Facebook integration.

On March 11, Kirkus embarked on yet another exciting venture with the first annual Pubcamp@sxsw, a dynamic session about the current state and future of both print and digital publishing, which we broadcast live on our site. The event took place as an officially sanctioned part of South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, and featured bestselling business-book author Guy Kawasaki, Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Rick Levine and Scott Dadich of Condé Nast, and more—in addition to more than 150 attendees.

To experience some of what was discussed at PubCamp, we invite you to • view full video of the event at: kirkusreviews.com/pubcamplive • view a summary of the Tweets from the event at kirkusreviews.com/storify/ • view live sketches of the conversation at projeqt.com/soupiset#gsi0ci6556q Sarah Wendell is also an integral part of the Kirkus Book Blogger Network, which Kirkus launched on March 11 at PubCamp. The Kirkus Book Blogger Network will feature only the best blogging in a variety of genres, all curated under the watchful eye of Kirkus editors. We will be pulling all of the top literary bloggers and aggregating them into one easy-to-use source. Unlike other networks, it will be edited by human beings— people knowledgeable in each category.

The Kirkus Book Blogger Network (kirkusreviews.com/blog) is currently comprised of 11 bloggers covering the categories of romance, children’s literature, SF & Fantasy, Gardening, Mysteries/Thrillers and Young Adult Books. Many more bloggers and categories are in the offing, and will be added in the coming months.

“When looking for books to read and buy for others, avid book readers turn to other readers more frequently for ideas and recommendations,” says Wendell, the first blogger to be selected for the network. “Collecting reader voices into one easy location is a savvy move for Kirkus. They understand that the reader must be part of any conversation about the future of books.”

With much more to come in the next few months, we will continue to be the source for informed discovery of books on the web.

—Bob Carlton

Features Editor M O L LY B RO W N molly.brown@kirkusreviews.com Children’s & YA Books VICKY SMITH vicky.smith@kirkusreviews.com Kirkus Indie Editor P E R RY C RO W E perry.crowe@kirkusreviews.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Editorial Coordinator REBECCA CRAMER rebecca.cramer@kirkusreviews.com Contributing Editor G REG ORY Mc NAME E # for customer service or subscription questions, please call 877-441-3010 Kirkus Reviews Online www.kirkusreviews.com Print indexes: www.kirkusreviews.com/ book-reviews/print-indexes Kirkus Blog: www.kirkusreviews.com/blog Advertising Opportunities: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/ advertising-opportunities Submission Guidelines: www.kirkusreviews.com/about/ submission-guidlines Subscriptions: www.kirkusreviews.com/ subscription Newsletters: www.kirkusreviews.com/ subscription/newsletter/add This Issue’s Contributors Maude Adjarian • Mark Athitakis • Joseph Barbato • Tina Benitez • Amy Boaz • Julie Buffaloe-Yoder • Gary Buiso • Christina Cintron • Kelli Daley • Michelle Daugherty • Dave DeChristopher • Adrianna Delgado • David Delman • Kathleen Devereaux • Ryan Donovan • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Michele Elliott • Julie Foster • Peter Franck • Bob Garber • Sean Gibson • Christine Goodman • Michael Griffith • Peter Heck • Jonathan Hiam • Jeff Hoffman • BJ Hollars • Robert M. Knight • Paul Lamey • Rebecca Schumejda • Judith Leitch • Angela Leroux-Lindsey • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Carey London • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Robert Milby • Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Gabriella M. Cebada Mora • Liza Nelson • Courtney E. Nolen • Sarah Norris • WM O’Neill • Jim Piechota • Signe Pike • William E. Pike • Gary Presley • John T. Rather • Erika Rohrbach • Naftali Rottenstreich • Lloyd Sachs • Arthur Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Kristin Thiel • Claire Trazenfeld • Mark Tursi • Steve Weinberg • Carol White • Joan Wilentz

interactive e-books interactive e-books for children TRON: LEGACY The Complete Story

Developer: Disney Publishing Worldwide Applications (150 pp.) $8.99 | Version: 1.1 This digital souvenir of the movie contains a fair amount of bells and whistles but provides little actual satisfaction. Predictably, there is a slide show of scenes from the recent movie and a cut from the soundtrack (plus the option to buy the entire album on iTunes). A manual-advance 150-”page” storybook version features painted-over or otherwise altered stills. It is captioned with brief blocks of eye-glazing prose that will make any young action-movie fan feel justifiably cheated: “Suddenly, Sam’s opponent threw his disc! Sam barely dodged in time as the razor-sharp disc whizzed past him.” The feature that perhaps best utilizes the technology is a five-minute animated “Motion Comic” (part one of a fuller story, evidently; “episodes 2-6 coming soon”). Even this, though, disappoints.

Abbreviated to the point of incoherence and cut off at an arbitrary point, the story is presented in panels of unsophisticated, melodramatic original art. These drift and shift in sync with an audio track that is not always audible over the background music.

Indeed, the unvarnished comic is the weakest link here. The entire app is purely ephemeral, of interest only to completist collectors of Tron-abilia. (iPad movie spinoff. 10-12, adult)

THE PENELOPE ROSE HD

Developer: Mobad Games $6.99 | Version: 1.0 A good-looking but thin tale about a fairy who gives all the roses their colors. A rudimentary plot links 24 elaborately decorated forest tableaus populated with an array of both mundane and magical |

creatures. Constructed in several layers that move slightly as the tablet is moved to provide a 3D effect, the scenes are viewed in landscape orientation that locks after the app loads. “A garden full of clear roses had its charms but there were issues,” declares a sweet-voiced (optional) narrator. “Bunnies were always hippy hoppity hopping right into bushes resulting in ouchy thorns stuck in their unlucky rabbit feet.” Eventually little fairy Penelope takes care of the traffic hazard by gathering colors from the rainbow and elsewhere to paint the semitransparent flowers.

She is joined in different scenes by small animals that grunt or giggle when touched, semi-hidden, pointy-hat–clad pixies that leap up and other game-like animations. Voicing options include a full reading, single touched words or swiped phrases. A table of contents, the text hide/reveal and all page turns are activated by arabesque “buttons” in the corners. Pretty art and a diverse array of interactive features help to compensate for looped background music that quickly waxes monotonous. Moreover, a screen between each page for (optional) hints about upcoming animations prevents any sort of flow. Definitely ambitious but a bit clunky in the end. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)

PENELOPE THE PURPLE PIRATE

Author: Northway, Melissa Illustrator: Johnson, Paul Developer: PicPocket Books $1.99 | Version: 2.3.1 Low (apparently) of budget and bland (certainly) of content, this digital tale follows a child on an imaginary voyage to an island where she and her companions dig up a treasure chest, take a few glittery souvenirs and sail home to bed. Her pals include a trio of animals with piratical disabilities: a dolphin with an eye patch, a turtle with a peg, er, flipper and an octopus with a hook on one of its tentacles. The art is utterly free of animation beyond occasional sparkles and features flat cartoon views of the fixedly smiling Penelope (and her animal shipmates) in static poses. The optional voice track, read by a child, is as wooden as the writing—which runs to lines like, “‘Let’s just take a few goodies,’ says Penelope ‘and leave the rest for the next adventurous pirate.’”

The sparse assortment of less-than-exciting touch-activated sound effects range from sand being shoveled or a tiny splash to a very brief dolphin chirp and a cheery “Ahoy!” It’s glitchy, too: When the word-highlighting feature is turned off, some of the text disappears even though it’s still read aloud. Supplementary material includes review questions, activities and facts about

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“In retelling Aesop’s fable about a fearsome lion, an act of kindness and the rescued mouse who returns to repay it, this app modernizes the presentation but wisely eschews unnecessary features.” from the lion and the mouse hd

octopi, sea turtles and dolphins. After even casual exposure to the plethora of better-designed, more feature-rich apps currently available, children will likely greet this effort with a (to quote Penelope) “Yaaawwn.” (iPad storybook app. 5-7)

THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

Developer: Nosy Crow $7.99 | Version: 1.0 This, the umpteenth app based on the familiar tale, rises far above most of its brethren. In this cheery, abbreviated version, all three pigs survive—and so does the wolf, who falls into a pot of boiling water but then rockets back up the chimney and runs off howling. The brightly colored, flat, cartoon-style piglets and their unkempt pursuer (the latter driving a delivery van) float through a sunny woodland setting, paced by narrative lines and side comments written in British idiom. “I only want to come in for a chat,” wheedles the wolf; “I’m puffed,” puns a running piglet. Both dialogue and narrative themselves float over sprightly background music. Though both the animation and the transitions are sometimes stiff, each scene offers a healthy dose of hidden animals, figures that can be flipped or moved back and forth, variable dialogue, changeable angles of view and other features. These are activated by touches, swipes, tilting the tablet and even blowing on the screen (readers can help the wolf huff and puff). A cast of British children reads the basic narrative and the touch-activated dialogue with great expression. Opening with buttons to select a silent text, an interactive “Read and Play” option or a slightly less feature-rich rendition that advances on its own for group showings, this engaging and versatile app is equally suited to single or collective viewing.

It amply shows that this old dog—er, pig—can still learn new tricks. (iPad storybook app. 5-7)

THE LION AND THE MOUSE HD

Developer: Stepworks Company $0.99 | Version: 1.0

Neatly balancing between too complicated and too simple, this app packs an abundance of cuteness into a deceptively minimalist package. In retelling Aesop’s fable about a fearsome lion, an act of kindness and the rescued mouse who returns to repay it, this app modernizes the presentation but wisely eschews unnecessary features. Two unobtrusive white arrows on the lower corners of the screen control page turns (and “ding!” when pressed), but other than that, there’s only beautifully textured illustrations, animation that’s lively but not 530

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overwhelming and some charming voice work and sound effects.

The optional narration is read by a young British girl who overenunciates winningly. The deliberate reading enhances the story of interspecies friendship, as do the unexpectedly effective growls and “squeak, squeak!” audio effects that are played when the titular characters are touched. When the Mouse frees the Lion from a hunter’s net and he falls down to the ground, the background scrolls as readers follow his downward trajectory. It’s effective without being too showy. The admirable use of restraint sets the story apart from so many cartoons and animated book apps. The illustrations, including extreme closeups of Mouse’s potato-like skin, are reminiscent of Eric Carle’s collage artwork. “A little kindness is never wasted, Your Majesty,” the Mouse tells the Lion at the story’s conclusion. Neither is a little bit of thoughtful, well-executed storytelling—truly adorable. (iPad storybook app. 2-8)

HANSEL & GRETEL

Developer: Yasmin Studios Free | Version: 1.5

Not unlike creepy-eyed dolls that never seem quite as cute as they’re meant to be, there’s something a little off about this adaptation of the Brothers Grimm tale. All the elements are there: the wayward kids, the mean stepmother, the breadcrumbs left behind in the woods, the witch and her candy-laden house. But the illustrations and animation seem too clean and happy for a story that ends with a woman burning to death in her own home. In fact, the grinning faces of Hansel and Gretel, toting bags of treasure on their backs as they walk away from the burning house is enough to give any parent pause before choosing this app for a bedtime story. Not that the app’s eerily cheery approach is the only problem. The sound mix is uneven, with music overpowering the narration. The sound effects are generic (at least one of the character’s audio cues is identical to those featured in another app by the same developer). And the on-screen text is too small; on one page it doesn’t fit on the screen, requiring readers scroll to catch the last line.

Readers can also reposition characters and objects on the screen, moving them from place to place by dragging them with a finger, but it’s a feature that seems to exist just because, not to add any value to the story. If this app got lost in the woods like Hansel and Gretel, it isn’t likely it would be missed. Quick, somebody scoop up those breadcrumbs. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)

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fiction THE LAND AT THE END OF THE WORLD

THE STORM AT THE DOOR

Block, Stefan Merrill Random (368 pp.) $25.00 | June 21, 2011 978-1-4000-6945-3 e-book 978-0-679-60510-2

Antunes, António Lobo Translator: Costa, Margaret Jull Norton (256 pp.) $24.95 | May 23, 2011 978-0-393-07776-6

This semi-autobiographical novel about Portugal’s war in Angola was originally published in 1979.

That war, Portugal’s doomed attempt to hang on to its African colony, lasted from 1961 to 1974. It was conducted ineptly by the Fascist regime of dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. The unnamed narrator, a doctor, was conscripted in 1971. He presents us with three selves. The first is the thumbnail sketch of a child and young man who is the product of right-wing youth movements and Catholic ritual. A loner, he is the prisoner of melancholy. That word permeates the novel.

The second self is the 20-something doctor unwillingly at war, living in a desolate, hellish series of barracks in Eastern Angola.

The PIDE (secret police) agents are fearsome. Antunes challenges himself (and the reader) by describing the scene in dense paragraphs of run-on sentences. What should be incantatory too often becomes monotonous. Moments of relief are few: on leave in Lisbon with his wife and daughter, back in the bush in the arms of Sofia, his African washerwoman; here, the white oppressor granted absolution by his magnanimous black victim is a disappointing stereotype. The narrator becomes radicalized, cursing the Fascists who have sent him on this fool’s errand; yet for him the greatest horror is lacking the courage to protest, even as a PIDE agent inflicts torture, even after learning that they have abducted Sofia. We see the result in the narrator’s third self: the doctor in Portugal several years later, an empty shell. He is talking to a female companion, a late-night bar pick-up. (These moments alternate with the Angola scenes.)

He invites her home but is unable to satisfy her; no surprise there. It’s also no surprise that he’s separated from his wife and alienated from his daughters; the author’s grim determinism has foreclosed different outcomes.

More effective as an indictment of colonial war than a psychological study.

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Through fiction and the imprecision of memory, a writer examines the challenging relationship between his grandparents.

After garnering raves and sales for his first novel, Block (The Story of Forgetting, 2008) once again delves into that murky area between lost love, memory and deeply held melancholy. This round, the author builds his story largely on the true-life history of his grandparents, who found themselves at an impasse when his grandmother had his grandfather committed to a mental institution. The novel opens on Echo Cottage, as the writer contemplates his steely-eyed grandmother, Katharine Mead Merrill, in 1989. At 69, Alzheimer’s has started to chip away at longheld memories. Then the story lurches forward to July of 1962, finding the grandfather Frederick Francis Merrill in a drug-induced stupor at the Mayflower Home for the Mentally Ill, where he has been incarcerated for a long history of drinking, bad behavior and, finally, flashing two old ladies on a New Hampshire back road. Block examines, through cautious language and nearly imperceptible sympathy, the events that have brought the couple from here to there. And it is true that Katherine is in an awful state. “Katherine is a mother of four, with a husband in a mental hospital,” Block writes. “The winter is coming, and the money is running out.

Her marriage has failed, everyone knows it, and she has no real friends. Her relatives have turned against her husband first, and now they are turning on her too. She can no long be anything other than what everyone plainly sees her to be.”

But there is sympathy to be unearthed for Frederick, too, as Block expertly captures the frustration and personal devastation wreaked by his grandfather’s depression, equally hard on him as it is on his family. As he suffers in the institution he dubs “Horrorland,” Katherine begins to reconsider her responsibility for her husband’s condition.

A sad but elegantly told story punctuated with photos, letters and a verisimilitude that elevate its fictional ambitions.

(Author tour to New York, Boston, Austin, Dallas, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle. Agent: Bill Clegg/William Morris Endeavor)

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“Brashares offers what may or may not be a closing novel to her popular Traveling Pants series.” from sisterhood everlasting

GAMES TO PLAY AFTER DARK

Borden, Sarah Gardner Vintage (336 pp.) $14.95 paperback original | May 3, 2011 978-0-307-74090-8 A first novel about marriage.

Told from Kate’s perspective— mostly while she’s in her 20s and 30s but also her early teens—the book moves from her lust-at-first-sight drunken meeting with Colin right into their wedding.

After some spot-on interludes of a marriage, the narration continues its chronological roll through the eventual birth and early childhood of Kate and Colin’s two daughters, dipping at irregular intervals back to Kate’s first sexual experiences and, interestingly, her father’s awakening to it. “He does not want Kate to become this sort of woman: a wife. He anticipates better things for her…Anything less will hurt him, expose him, and generate shame: his and hers.” Kate understands this strange bifurcation as she watches her daughters grow up. This is a complicated subject, one that Borden tries to untangle through lovely writing, smart and bawdy humor, the elevation of ordinary detail into extraordinary meaning and characters who are sharply honest even when they’re telling each other, and themselves, lies.

If a phrase or scene jars, push through, as those bumps are few in this novel—this is a page-turner that will both haunt and spark discussion.

SISTERHOOD EVERLASTING

Brashares, Ann Random (368 pp.) $25.00 | June 14, 2011 978-0-385-52122-2

Having turned to adult fiction (My Name is Memory, 2010, etc.), Brashares offers what may or may not be a closing novel to her popular Traveling Pants series.

Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood (2007) ended almost a decade ago as Lena, Carmen, Bridget and Tibby completed their freshman year of college. Now approaching 30, the four friends have hit troubled waters, individually and as a group. In fact, they are barely in touch with each other. In San Francisco, Bridget avoids committing to sensitive immigration lawyer Eric (whose patience is the book’s great mystery). Lena lives alone in self-proclaimed poverty and isolation in Providence, where she also teaches at RISD, but her heart still belongs to her lost Greek love Kostos. With a weekly gig on a TV police drama, Carmen’s acting career has taken off and she is engaged to an ABC executive nobody else likes. The three have not heard much from Tibby since she moved to Australia with her boyfriend Brian several years ago. Then out of the blue, Tibby sends tickets for a reunion on the Greek island of Santorini, where they have already shared so much. Lena, Carmen and Bridget 532

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are thrilled as they gather. But tragedy strikes: Tibby drowns before she sees them, and the women suspect suicide. Devastated, they return to their separate lives and stop communicating. But Tibby has left each a mysterious package with a letter asking for another gathering on April 2. Her force of will influence her friends to make the right decisions to find happiness.

Carmen must find a way to be true to herself. Bridget must find purpose in her life and get over her fear of commitment. Lena must find a way not to fear love. The ending leaves just enough romantic wiggle room for one more installment.

“Pants” fans who have grown up with the girls and love them will no doubt overlook the improbabilities, unrealized characters and plot manipulations to make this a bestseller.

TUNNEL VISION

Braver, Gary Forge (384 pp.) $25.99 | June 1, 2011 978-0-7653-0976-1

From Braver, a novelist unafraid to amp up the creepiness, a disquieting glimpse at science’s efforts to prove there is indeed life after death.

Zack Kashian, a grad student with a gambling problem, should have been wearing his helmet when he crashed his bicycle, catching the wheel on a pothole in the darkened street. Weeks later, with his mother by his bedside and Zack’s doctors pessimistic that the young man will ever come out of his coma, Zack’s future looks like it will be a series of nursing homes coupled with aroundthe-clock care. Then Zack starts talking, but what he says confounds everyone who hears him; Zack recites the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the original language used by Jesus. Only problem is, Zack doesn’t speak Aramaic, has never studied it and isn’t particularly religious. That doesn’t matter to the throng hoping for a faith healing that flocks to see him after a video of the incident is posted on YouTube. Frightened, Zack’s mother has her son moved to another room and placed under guard to avoid the crowds. One day, without warning, her patience pays off and Zack awakens, shaky and uncertain, but on the road to recovery. Meanwhile, a disturbing number of homeless individuals have been found dead, mostly as a result of suicide. In each case, toxicology reports reveal the presence of a deadly toxin found in the puffer fish. How do these incidents relate to the experiments in which Zack has become involved? Zack soon learns he must trust one of the team members or run the risk of never resolving the greatest sorrow of his young life. Braver, who specializes in fiction that pushes the reader closer and closer to things that go bump in the night, succeeds with a scary, well-crafted read, although at times the story gets lost in rivers of scientific explanation.

An original story that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s at times a disturbing and difficult read, but the well-paced final segment will please adrenaline junkies.

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THE QUEST FOR ANNA KLEIN

Cook, Thomas H. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (352 pp.) $27.00 | June 21, 2011 978-0-547-36464-3

Edgar-nominee Cook (The Last Talk with Lola Faye, 2010, etc.) plays the spy game in this mystery adventure.

Soon after 9/11, Paul Crane, a young think-tank researcher, interviews Thomas Danforth, an elderly New York City resident who believes he has information relevant to defending America against fanatics. Danforth wants the meeting because Crane wrote an article demanding a revenge-filled response to 9/11. Crane is skeptical, but Danforth unfolds a tale that begins in 1939, when he ran his father’s import business.

With the war imminent, Danforth was lured into an anti-Nazi conspiracy by his college friend, Robert Clayton. Other characters enter, including Ted Bannion, a disillusioned Spanish Civil War loyalist, and Anna Klein, a mysterious and beautiful young linguist. Captivated by Anna, Danforth accompanies her to Europe, where, with Bannion’s help, she intends to organize Spanish Loyalists interned in France into an anti-Nazi force.

That scheme fails. The three then decide Danforth will pose as an art dealer seeking Hitler’s paintings. The plan is assassination, but the Gestapo intervenes. Bannion takes cyanide. Klein, by now the object of Danforth’s passion, is captured. But because of his father’s connections, Danforth is simply deported from Nazi Germany. The narrative regularly shifts from the interview to Danforth’s adventures in the abattoir that was Europe in the 1940s, where he sought to learn Anna’s fate. Clues hint Anna was a double or triple agent, and Danforth is eventually sent to the Soviet Union to determine her identity. There he’s taken for a spy and sent to the gulag for 12 years. As the story unfolds, Danforth pushes and prods the callow Crane toward understanding the complexity of moral choices, the shadows that obscure love and loyalty and the perils of cause becoming obsession. Absent one minor point, Cook’s plot is as captivating as his characters. It’s rendered in an often ear-pleasing literary style— “the sewer’s most pernicious flotsam”— and laced with dozens of intriguing historical anecdotes.

A knight errant, a labyrinth of deceit, a sure bestseller.

THE FIRST HUSBAND

Dave, Laura Viking (256 pp.) $25.95 | May 16, 2011 978-0-670-02267-0

The heroine of Dave’s newest post-feminist chick-lit romance (The Divorce Party, 2008, etc.) must choose between the quiet life offered by her new husband and the fast lane her former lover represents.

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dumped by longtime live-in boyfriend Nick, an up-and-coming movie director, she meets Griffin at the chichi L.A. restaurant she frequents—talk about romantic fantasy: Annie’s career as a monthly travel columnist pays well, apparently demands little time or difficult travel and is never seriously endangered—and where he is temporarily the chef. It seems to be love at first sight, although Annie’s best friend Jordan, who also happens to be Nick’s sister, calls Griffin “Rebound Guy.” Three months after they meet, he proposes. They marry in a Vegas chapel on their way across the country to Griffin’s western Massachusetts hometown, where he is about to open his own restaurant—Annie’s job with a New York paper also allows her to live anywhere. But Williamsburg requires a lot of adjusting on Annie’s part. Griffin’s genius brother Jesse and his 5-year-old twins move in with the newlyweds because Jesse’s wife has thrown him out for impregnating the MIT professor guiding his doctorate program. The twin’s art teacher turns out to be Gia, until recently Griffin’s girlfriend of 13 years, whom Griffin’s mother makes clear she’d much prefer as a daughter-in-law.

Then Nick shows up from his new base in London to win Annie back; she turns him down, but she feels stirrings. When the new Rupert Murdocklike owner of her paper offers her a job in London, Griffin encourages her to try it out. Soon she’s settled in London in a fantastic apartment, the company is grooming her for a new dream job, the publisher’s dashing son is wooing her and Nick is just a call away. What’s a girl to do?

A lightweight romance posing as something realistic and psychologically profound.

MOGUL

Dean, Terrance Atria Books (336 pp.) $15.00 paperback original | June 14, 2011 978-1-4516-1192-2 Is the hip-hop community ready for an openly gay producer? Conflicted rap impresario Aaron “Big A.T.” Tremble is about to find out.

In spite of an undeniable attraction to men, young Brooklyn-born wannabe A.T. learns quickly to keep his sexuality under wraps. His first male lover, George, was a basketball teammate who encouraged him to keep up a straight façade in public.

But A.T.’s hopes for a more open relationship were dashed when George went away to college. His heart broken, A.T. decides to channel his passion into making music. His big break comes when he meets music legend “Pop” at a party. Unbeknownst to the eager hopeful, Pop is head of the “family,” a powerful group of down-low gay black men working in the music industry. They support each other and collaborate, while keeping their private lives secret. The family can make or break a career, and there is a casting couch. Pop is instantly impressed with A.T.’s drive, among other things. Their physical connection cools quickly, but Pop’s mentoring steers A.T. into phenomenal success. He starts his own “Change Up Records” label and signs rapper Jerome “Tickman” Taylor as his first artist. The two easily fall in

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“The latest, very short novel from the French Echenoz profiles the eccentric genius of electrical engineering, Nikola Tesla.” from lightning

love, realizing A.T.’s desire for a deep connection. But he heeds Pop’s advice, and both guys stay in the closet. A.T. also meets Jasmine, a beautiful girl with ambitions to be with a high-profile man. He is attracted to her, and they become a couple, even though his heart belongs to Tickman. Jasmine gets pregnant and moves into his apartment, but A.T. continues to see Tickman, even after his baby girl, Tiffany, is born. Jasmine knows something is up, but suspects her man might have other women on the side. A.T., to his credit, really wants to come clean with her, but he is afraid of losing everything. Eventually, a senseless act of violence and some compromising photos make his decision for him, and he steps bravely into unknown territory. Livened up by its many explicit sex scenes, Dean’s (Hiding in Hip Hop, 2008) fiction debut is filled with clichés and under-written characters, but its gossipy premise will be compelling to some.

Taboo-busting portrait of a hidden world behind the music.

NETSUKE

Ducornet, Rikki Coffee House (128 pp.) $14.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-1-56689-253-7 A psychiatrist’s erotic desires run amok, bringing ruin to many lives.

The novel, an amalgam of erotica and tragic romance with clear literary aspirations, begins with an italicized section describing the main character running in a park, godlike, exuding a sexual magnetism that allows him (in his 60s) to seduce with a glance a much younger woman running past him. They enter the woods for an immediate tryst, which the author describes in pornographic, philosophical and mythological language. The narrative switches to first person to describe the unnamed psychiatrist’s compulsions to seduce his patients, as he operates two separate “cabinets” (offices), one called “Drear” for his mundane clients and the other “Spells” for the ones with whom he is sexually involved. The doctor’s inner monologue oscillates between confident narcissism (he is allpowerful, perhaps even doing therapeutic good through these affairs) and awareness of his decadence and impending doom.

He longs to be caught, and death is in the air alongside the ubiquitous sex. Moreover, he has a compulsion to leave clues— verbal and otherwise—for his wife Akiko (the collector of the titular netsuke) to find. He is able to sustain his affairs with myriad patients and strangers until he meets David, a new patient whom he immediately designates for Spells—he’s attracted to him as a man—but no, David is a woman named Jello, a drag queen. Inevitably, it all comes crashing down as lovers and wife become aware that the doctor has been very busy.

No reader will be impoverished for having skipped this one.

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LIGHTNING

Echenoz, Jean Translator: Coverdale, Linda New Press (144 pp.) $19.95 | June 1, 2011 978-1-59558-649-0 The latest, very short novel from the French Echenoz profiles the eccentric genius of electrical engineering, Nikola Tesla.

It follows two other fictional treatments of real people: Ravel (2007) and Running (2009), about the Czech runner Zátopek. Tesla (1856-1943) is called Gregor here. His early days as a Serb in southeastern Europe are dealt with briskly. He’s “precociously unpleasant,” and from the start his projects are large-scale, even grandiose. He’s 28 when he leaves for America and is hired by Edison as a troubleshooter; he invents a generator for alternating current which Edison embraces though refuses to pay him for. Soon after, the majority shareholders of his own company stiff him after his invention of an arc lamp. Clearly, Gregor is no businessman. He goes to work for Westinghouse, Edison’s rival, at Western Union; his lectures on alternating current draw huge audiences and make him a celebrity. Yet he remains intensely private and has extraordinary quirks.

He is obsessed by the number three. He is beset by phobias: germs, hair, jewelry. Women adore him, but he stays celibate, reserving his affection for pigeons. Yes, dirty old pigeons— only with them is there real communication. This is a wholly unsentimental portrait of a freaky inventor. Our sympathy is not required; all Echenoz requires is our attention, which he secures through his lapidary prose, buffed to a high gloss in this excellent translation. The omniscient narrator shows Olympian detachment coupled with wry humor. Gregor’s ups and downs continue. He lives large at the Waldorf, but his latest patron J.P. Morgan turns him loose after Marconi appropriates his patent for radio, the result of a dirty trick perpetrated

by Gregor’s nemesis, a nobody called Napier. This key development is merely outlined, a disappointment for readers hungry for dramatic flourishes. At the end of his long life, all Gregor has are his pigeons, and even they will turn on him.

By design, a novel of surfaces. They glitter, but don’t expect more.

EXILES

Groner, Cary Spiegel & Grau (288 pp.) $25.00 | June 7, 2011 978-1-4000-6978-1 A man and his adolescent daughter indulge their status as refugees from American society by fleeing to remote Kathmandu.

It’s not exactly high adventure, but Groner shines a unique light on a remote, exotic land in his self-confident and culturally rigorous debut

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novel. His tale of a doctor and his beloved daughter takes a modern-day bent on Seven Years in Tibet and shows the country’s turmoil with a palette that is as affectionate as it is startling. The story finds Peter Scanlon, an American cardiologist and long-suffering divorcee, dropping into far-flung Kathmandu Valley with his teenaged daughter Alex in tow. Their back story is a bit convoluted— Peter’s ex-wife is an addict, and Alex has taken on a protective role around her long-suffering father. Peter is in-country to take a year as a physician at a local teaching hospital, but his gig disappears.

Instead, he takes on a role at a small local clinic treating the most ravaged of the country’s impoverished citizens. Despite their selfimposed exile, the pair finds comrades. Peter befriends another physician and duels with Mina, a hot-tempered local nurse. Meanwhile, Alex finds an abiding friendship, and possibly more, with Devi, a local girl who vacillates between an interest in Buddhist teachings and a loose connection to the local rebels. Peter also butts heads with a local pimp, forcing him to buy a young girl in order to save her from human traffickers. These struggles accent the abiding love that Peter has for his daughter and his heartache at her emergence into adulthood. “She had started her slow walk away from him, and even in her presence he missed her,” Groner writes. “What he faced now was not her physical mortality but the first of the small, unavoidable deaths that lay before it.” With worse to come, even the most jaded reader will be on the edge of their seats as the author carries the story home.

A fast-paced but emotionally resonant story about the bonds that hold fast when we’re far from home.

TWICE BORN

Mazzantini, Margaret Viking (464 pp.) $26.95 | May 16, 2011 978-0-670-02268-7 The siege of Sarajevo is both subject and backdrop in this multilayered love story from Italian Mazzantini (Don’t Move, 2004, etc.).

Gemma leaves her comfortable apartment in Rome (and her understanding husband Giuliano) to visit Sarajevo with her son Pietro because an exhibit commemorating the siege will include photographs by Pietro’s father Diego. Sixteen years earlier, Gemma escaped war-torn Sarajevo with infant Pietro while Diego remained behind and later died. Now as middle-aged Gemma uses the visit to repair her relationship with Pietro, whose extreme adolescent disaffection has unnerved her, she also confronts her youthful past. Graduate student Gemma first met and fell in love with Diego, a bohemian photographer from Genoa, while visiting Sarajevo in the 1980s. Poet and Sarajevo tourist guide Gojko, himself more than half in love with Gemma, threw the two together. After many upheavals, including Gemma’s marriage and divorce from a conventional Roman businessman, the two lovers found passionate, if temporary happiness. They desperately wanted children, but Gemma learned she could not conceive, and Diego’s police record ruled |

out adoption as an option. They decided to look for a surrogate.

While they were back in Sarajevo on what they thought would be a vacation, Gojko put them in touch with a young musician named Aska who wanted money to escape. Unfortunately, the unrest was beginning by then and the doctor they paid to implant the eggs disappeared. Gemma pushed Diego and Aska to conceive “naturally” but then was besieged by guilt and jealousy—just as Sarajevo was besieged and torn apart; Mazzantini brings the Bosnian civil war to violent life. Looking back, Gemma still wonders if she exchanged Diego for her baby. Only now, learning the truth of Pietro’s conception, does she begin to understand the full magnitude of loss that occurred, and the horror as well as the redemptive power of love.

Too bad the overly packed novel’s repetitiveness may lose some readers because Mazzantini’s depictions of love, maternal and romantic, are powerfully raw.

THE MERMAID GARDEN

Montefiore, Santa Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (432 pp.) $24.99 | May 3, 2011 978-1-4516-2430-4 An Englishwoman with a mysterious past struggles to hold on to a country hotel.

In 1966, Floriana, a girl from a tiny Tuscan village, discovers a walled garden and an attached villa belonging to a wealthy industrialist, Beppe, who allegedly has Mafia connections. Scaling the wall, Floriana is soon befriended

by Beppe’s son, Dante, and the family dog, Good-Night. Cut to 2009: Marina, who with her husband Grey and a few loyal retainers transformed a Devonshire mansion into the charmingly rustic Hotel Polzanze, fears that mounting debt may force them to sell the place. Grey’s adult children, Jake and Clementine, have never warmed to Marina since she broke up their father’s first marriage when they were youngsters. Clementine in particular has been in a sulk since family finances forced her to return from travels in India to take a dull office job. Egged on by her officemate Sylvia, she dates a lager lout she doesn’t really care for. But when handsome Rafa, an Italian-Argentinean painter, arrives at Polzanze to give art lessons to elderly guests, Clementine is utterly entranced.

By 1971, Floriana has grown into a beautiful young woman, and when Dante returns from his college studies he vows eternal love.

However, Beppe will never approve of his heir-apparent’s marriage to a lower-class girl whose father is the town drunk; instead he pressures Dante to court Costanza, daughter of an impoverished count. But when Dante and Floriana have an ill-advised tryst, her resulting pregnancy will create an embarrassment that Beppe must eliminate in the traditional Mafia way. The British and Tuscan narratives alternate, leaving readers to wonder how, exactly, they intersect. Aside from the obvious clues—Marina is so secretive her stepchildren call her “Submarine,” and Rafa did not come to Polzanze by chance, but by design—it is to the author’s credit that she manages to prolong the puzzle until the not-so-bitter end.

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An absorbing plot conveyed in woefully clichéd language: Montefiore’s hearts are always swelling, filling or leaping.

A YOUNG MAN’S GUIDE TO LATE CAPITALISM

Mountford, Peter Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (320 pp.) $15.95 paperback original | April 12, 2011 978-0-547-47335-2 In Mountford’s debut, set in mid-last-decade Bolivia, a young man posing as a freelance journalist tries to unearth insider information for a hedge fund while negotiating political and financial intricacies (nimbly) and moral shoals (less so).

Ivy-educated 20-something Gabriel de Boya has opted out of penny-ante financial journalism for a high-stakes, high-stress, preposterously well-paid gig as a rapacious hedge fund’s man in Bolivia. He knows he’s being tested. If he doesn’t demonstrate his value quickly and dramatically, he’ll be fired. So when a left-wing indigenous candidate, Evo Morales, is elected president, Gabriel sees and seizes an opportunity; despite growing admiration for Bolivia and real affection for his new girlfriend, Morales’ press liaison, Lenka, he’ll exploit the romance to learn how seriously to take the president-elect’s rhetoric about forcibly nationalizing industry, specifically gas companies. Depending on how his bold and tricky plan works, this stratagem may make Gabriel millions or land him in jail. Both of the book’s settings—desperately poor but proud La Paz, the world’s highest-altitude capital, and the world of go-go high finance, a realm about which Mountford clearly knows his stuff—are well rendered. The author is especially good at conveying the visceral and intellectual thrills of stock speculation/manipulation. But the human backdrop gets short shrift; minor characters (which would be everyone except Gabriel) often seem contrived, stereotypical and two-dimensional. That lapse has repercussions for the rest of the novel, making it seem more like an apologia for Gabriel’s greed and narcissism than a gimlet-eyed exploration of a young man’s questionable choices. Gabriel brilliantly games the financial system, but he’s less successful at gaming the moral calculus.

A smart, intricate, fast-paced—but flawed—debut by a skilled writer. (Author tour to San Francisco, Seattle, Portland)

THE LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER

Moyes, Jojo Pamela Dorman/Viking (400 pp.) $26.95 | July 11, 2011 978-0-670-02280-9 A prize-winning, cross-generational love story of missed connections and delayed gratification hits a seam of pure romantic gold.

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Star-crossed is an understatement for the ill-fated love between trophy wife Jennifer Stirling and hard-drinking journalist Anthony O’Hare in British writer Moyes’ cleverly constructed, cliffhanger-strewn tale of heartache in two strikingly different eras. Jennifer and Anthony meet in the South of France in that strait-laced time just before the 1960s blew social conventions apart. Jennifer, married to a powerful businessman whose fortunes derive from asbestos, is a Grace Kelly look-alike, beautiful and seemingly blessed with a perfect life. But as the story opens with her attempts to reconstruct her existence after post–trafficaccident amnesia it becomes apparent that her marriage has a cold heart compared to recently experienced passion. Held back by convention and fear, she hesitates to grasp her first chance at happiness. Later, other and larger impediments stand between the two lovers whose commitment finds expression in letters which come to light again 40 years later in the library of a relocated newspaper. Journalist Ellie Haworth, involved with a married man, is moved by the words and starts to piece the story together, in the process coming to a different understanding of what love really means.

A nicely judged sense of period and the author’s full-blooded commitment lend heartfelt emotion to simple characters in a tour de force of its kind.

SIXKILL

Parker, Robert B. Putnam (304 pp.) $26.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-399-15726-4 The mysterious death of a star-struck young woman who struck a star’s fancy provides the basis for Spenser’s valedictory outing.

One minute Dawn Lopata was alive in her hotel-room bed, the next she was dead, somehow strangled while she was in the bathroom. At least that’s the story Jumbo Nelson tells. Since it’s not much of a story, his movie studio hires Rita Fiore’s Boston law firm to dig deeper, and Rita hires Spenser to do the real digging. The job’s not easy, because among all of Spenser’s checkered clientele (Painted Ladies, 2010, etc.), Jumbo is the most repellent, a truculent brat who cares about nothing but his own oversized appetites. It’s no surprise when he fires Spenser and Rita, leaving Spenser to work the case pro bono and giving him the potential to irritate some very influential people. The only bright spot is Jumbo’s Cree bodyguard, Zebulon Sixkill. On their first encounter, Spenser and Z sniff around each other; on their second, Spenser thrashes Z. But Spenser breaks the mold when Z turns up asleep outside Spenser’s office door, and Spenser takes him in and starts the one-time college-football star, whose back story is presented through a series of awkward flashbacks, on the road to redemption. As luck would have it, the road winds through some familiar areas: serving as a sparring partner, passing on crucial information about Dawn Lopata’s last moments, backing up Spenser’s play against the local thugs hired to beat him up, and cutting back on the

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“A smoke jumper who puts her life on the line every fire season has more to fear this year than fire.” from chasing fire

sauce so that he’ll be sharp enough to help deal with the inevitable tough guys from Hollywood who regard Jumbo as a cash cow whose value has to be maintained no matter what.

By no means as substantial or resourceful as Parker’s best, but a treasurable demonstration of the bromide that “life is mostly metaphor”—at least to the peerless private eye and his fans.

THE INFORMANT

Perry, Thomas Otto Penzler/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (336 pp.) $27.00 | May 5, 2011 978-0-547-56933-8 Twenty years after a trio of lowlifes forced him out of retirement (Sleeping Dogs, 1992, etc.), the Butcher’s Boy is back.

When you’re a professional killer who works freelance, your employers are likely to include a large number of nasty guys. So it’s not clear to Perry’s nameless hero, who started calling himself Michael Schaeffer when he moved to England and settled in Bath as the husband of Lady Margaret Holroyd, which of his former associates sent the three men who inadvertently flushed him out of hiding and then tried to kill him. He has no trouble tracing the three to midlevel New York capo Michael Delamina, whom he kills on page two. In order to identify Delamina’s boss, however, he has to consult his old nemesis, Elizabeth Waring of the Justice Department. Taking a leaf from Hannibal Lecter’s playbook, he urges her, “Tell me, and I’ll tell you something.” When Elizabeth fingers rising under-boss Frank Tosca as Schaeffer’s next target, he gives her some juicy information on an old Tosca murder in return. But although “he had never failed to accomplish his goal when all it entailed was killing someone,” her news comes too late to help. By the time Schaeffer kills Tosca, the ambitious under-boss has convened a sit-down in which his counterparts from across the country have agreed to join his vendetta against the Butcher’s Boy—a goal Tosca’s death only makes them more eager to pursue. For her part, Elizabeth is so determined to bring Schaeffer into the Witness Protection Program as the ultimate informant that she’s willing offer him a series of unauthorized deals, which of course he spurns. Schaeffer is squeezed between two collective adversaries with virtually unlimited personnel and resources. On the other hand, only Schaeffer is the Butcher’s Boy. Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry’s relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it.

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THE PROFESSION

Pressfield, Steven Crown (304 pp.) $25.00 | June 14, 2011 978-0-385-52873-3

This military thriller, which begins in 2032, concerns “Gent” Gentilhomme, a mercenary whose honor and bravery are severely tested.

America contracts its overseas combat to Force Insertion, the “military-contracting superfirm” run by James Salter, an ex-General who has the love and loyalty of men like Gent. A conventional military still operates America’s aircraft, drones and satellites, but “the dirt belongs to the mercs.” At issue—aside from oil—are the mutual respect and growing conflict between Salter and Gent as their diverging values become evident. Is there an “intersection of Necessity and Free Will,” as Salter believes? Is there a line a mercenary cannot cross, as Gent believes? Can America’s democracy continue to exist without gasoline costing $40 per gallon? These are fundamental questions in this dystopian thriller. Though a mercenary, Gent is a loyal American who wants to do right by his country. Powerful interests take exception to his actions, so he faces towering and mortal odds. Meanwhile, the men are tough and the women, including Gent’s journalist wife, are sexy and tough. She has her own agenda, which is to write a story about Force Insertion with or without Gent’s help. It’s a recipe for marital strain. Pressfield’s impressive research shows throughout this novel, whether in describing weapons systems and military transports or in placing the reader inside Dubai’s 2,800-foot-tall Burj Khalifa. References to consolidated news firms such as Trump/ CNN convey a sense of the not-too-distant future.

A book that paints an all-too-plausible future in which America outsources its dirtiest jobs. Let’s hope Pressfield’s research tools didn’t include a crystal ball. (First printing of 70,000)

CHASING FIRE

Roberts, Nora Putnam (480 pp.) $27.95 | April 1, 2011 978-0-399-15744-8 A smoke jumper who puts her life on the line every fire season has more to fear this year than fire.

A member of the Missoula smoke jumpers since she was 18, Rowan Tripp is tough and gorgeous, proud to be a member of a close-knit team that fights fires all over the West.

But last year her partner was killed in a bad jump, and now his girlfriend Dolly is blaming his death on Ro. When Dolly sprays Ro’s room with pig’s blood, she’s fired from her cooking job on the base, stepping up their enmity. Although Ro takes comfort from her new relationship with rookie Gulliver Curry, an erudite Californian with a penchant for firefighting, she’s shocked

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to find Dolly’s charred body at a fire scene. Dolly’s latest lover is the next body found. Just to make matters more personal, someone (Dolly’s father?) takes a shot at Ro and Gull. The fiercely independent Ro is surprised at the trouble she’s having in adjusting to a relationship that is about more than sex and dealing with the fact that her legendary father has suddenly fallen for a smart, sexy grandmother. When they realize that someone’s putting the team in jeopardy by sabotaging equipment, Ro and Gull resolve to catch the killer.

Popular, prolific Roberts (The Search, 2010, etc.) delivers hair-raising smoke-jumping sequences along with the obligatory thrills, sex and a mystery even the greenest armchair sleuths will be able to solve.

NORTHWEST CORNER

Schwartz, John Burnham Random (304 pp.) $26.00 | July 26, 2011 e-book 978-0-679-60511-9

In this sequel, 12 years have passed since the fatal hit-and-run at the center of Schwartz’s Reservation Road (1998), and the focus turns from the father of the victim to the perpetrator of that crime and his long-estranged, now-grown son.

Former lawyer Dwight Arno served 30 months in prison for fleeing the scene after the car he was driving struck and killed his son Sam’s second-grade classmate. Dwight is building a tentative new life in California managing a sporting-goods store and dating Penny, a literature professor. He has had no contact with Sam for years. So he’s unprepared and a little thrilled when Sam, a college senior and varsity baseball star, suddenly shows up at his doorstop.

Dwight feels he has been given a second chance at fatherhood, however strained the peace between them remains. Then Sam’s mother Ruth, who had already divorced Dwight before the accident and has recently left her second husband after a brush with breast cancer, informs Dwight why Sam has fled to California: He badly injured another boy in a bar fight, the boy is in critical condition, the university has expelled Sam and criminal charges may be brought. Ruth is fiercely protective of Sam. Soon she arrives to take him home to Connecticut. Dwight follows. Sam, horrified by his own capacity for violence and deeply confused, turns for support to Emma, the surviving sister of the boy Dwight killed; although their parents know nothing of their long-term relationship, the two understand each other’s pain. Ruth and Dwight struggle to find a common ground, while Penny realizes that learning the truth about Dwight’s past does not stop her feelings for him. Schwartz (The Commoner, 2008, etc.) uses a minimalist approach. The tone of the brief chapters is matter-of-fact, sometimes harsh. The characters, Sam and Dwight especially, are damaged souls capable of damaging others. But readers will grow to care deeply about whether and how their lives can be redeemed.

Stark and deeply effecting. (Author tour to Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Agent: Amanda Urban/ICM) 538

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THE OREGON EXPERIMENT

Scribner, Keith Knopf (352 pp.) $26.95 | June 17, 2011 978-0-307-59478-5 e-book 978-0-307-59678-9

An East Coast couple grows increasingly entangled in the political and emotional lives of Oregon radicals.

As the third novel by Scribner (The GoodLife, 2000; Miracle Girl, 2003) opens, Scanlon and Naomi are a married couple heading west under a cloud of anxiety. Scanlon is an academic who specializes in anarchist and secessionist movements, but a much-derided journal article has shut him out of teaching jobs at first-tier universities.

Naomi, for her part, is worried about her pregnancy and unhappy to be living in a fogbound Oregon college town. But there are upsides: The clean air appears to have revived the acute sense of smell she lost in a car accident, which ended her career as a perfume designer, and Scanlon has plenty of source material for his research. Indeed, as Scanlon becomes increasingly involved in one such movement he’s eventually appointed its leader—which on top of being bad form academically puts him in the awkward company of Sequoia, a tempting Earth goddess type. Naomi, meanwhile, struggles to manage the new baby while growing closer to Clay, a young, brooding and sometimes violent anarchist.

Scribner realistically captures the nature of secessionist movements, but he leaves room for humor, usually at Scanlon’s expense: He’s routinely put into humiliating situations with his skeptical department chair or academic colleagues, and sweats over his attraction to Sequoia. And writing about Naomi gives Scribner’s prose an interesting degree of sensual detail; she captures a surprising amount of information through smell. Still, the book feels overwritten, full of dry subplots and scenes packed with needless detail. Eventually, the plot strains credulity: Scanlon’s academic colleagues hardly bat an eye that he’s lost his objectivity in leading the anarchist collective, and the collective is largely oblivious that they’re thesis fodder. The author resolves the many plot threads, but requires a contrived ending to get there.

Scribner has done his homework on everything from radicalism to perfumes, but in service to an overly schematic plot.

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WALKING TO HOLLYWOOD

Self, Will Grove (448 pp.) $24.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8021-1972-8

In a disturbing fictional memoir mixing hallucinatory travelogue with satire, British writer Self (Liver, 2009, etc.) riffs excessively on friendship, art, cinema, proportion and death while hiking across California and England.

The author’s perverse, intellectually acute, darkly playful |

vision is both a delight and an overload in this latest literary ramble, a sprawling monologue illustrated with grey photos and broken into three parts. “Very Little” introduces Self ’s childhood friend Sherman Oaks, a dwarf who becomes an artist of international stature, famed for monumental sculptures modeled on his own body. Next comes “Walking to Hollywood,” a blur of episodic mania in which a post-therapeutic but still psychotic Self, observing that the movies have died, sets off to track down the killer. Walking to London airport and then from LAX, played by actors Pete Postlethwaite and David Thewlis and filmed by a crew of Jeffs, he meets other figures played by actors and enters cinematic scenarios such as CGI action.

The third section, “Spurn Head,” a melancholy ode to decay and amnesia, and an homage to W.G Sebald, traces Self ’s walk along 40 miles of Yorkshire coast famed for its erosion and chosen because it mirrors his own imagined cerebral decline from early-onset Alzheimer’s. Despite humor, it’s a desolate journey along the edge of things falling apart.

An onslaught of invention, wit, mental-health consideration and caustic, often self-indulgent commentary—exhilarating and exhausting. (Agent: Jeffrey Posternak/The Wylie Agency)

THE RESERVOIR

Thompson, John Milliken Other Press (368 pp.) $15.95 paperback original | June 21, 2011 978-1-59051-444-3 A novel based on a true story that incorporates a bit of history and a touch of the Southern Gothic tradition.

In 1885 Virginia, Tommie and Willie Cluverius have grown to manhood together in the house of their Aunt Jane only to choose far different paths in life. Willie loves the rich land and the peaceful pace of farm life. Tommie seeks the vibrancy of Richmond, a day’s ride away. The two were shaped by a family tragedy, the death of a younger brother, Charles, drowned as a boy. Their mother then descended into despondency and drink, and the father became lost and inept, leaving no place for the boys except with their widowed, childless aunt. But Aunt Jane soon gave refuge to Fannie Lillian Madison, a distant cousin to the young men, a girl fleeing a troubled home life. Stolid, hardworking Willie develops a quiet, protective love for Lillie. Out of lust or simple entitlement or sibling rivalry, Tommie toys with Lillie’s affections even as he progresses through college, through law school and into a partnership in a law practice. The situation is made worse by Lillie’s unremitting passion for Tommie and Tommie’s ambition to marry Nola, the only daughter of a prosperous landowner. Lillie becomes pregnant, and, after a secret rendezvous with Tommie in Richmond, she is found dead in a city reservoir. The author writes compellingly about the bond between Willie and Tommie, and his portrayal of the social mores of the post–Civil War South is believable. Thompson also draws the land and people persuasively. Despite one or two minor |

anachronisms, the narrative flows seamlessly, even throughout Tommie’s arrest and trial and the story’s uncertain resolution.

Characters are especially well-drawn: Willie’s love of the land, Lillie’s fearful need to be nurtured and protected, Tommie’s self-centered drive toward recognition.

An engaging mystery novel rendered as Southern literature.

IN THIS LIGHT New & Selected Stories

Thon, Melanie Rae Graywolf (256 pp.) $15.00 paperback original | May 24, 2011 978-1-55597-585-2 An unsettling group portrait of victimized young women whose survival on the margins of American life is its own best, or worst, reward.

Boasting three new stories and selections from Girls in the Grass (1991) and First, Body (1997), this overview captures Thon at her tough, unremittingly intense, unflinching best. In settings ranging from Native American Montana to blue-collar Boston to a Georgia plantation in the 1850s, we are ushered into a bleak world of hard backseat sex and trailer-park traumas, unreported killings and numbing Vietnam flashbacks, heartless punishments and backcountry skirmishes that wouldn’t be out of place on Elmore Leonard’s Kentucky-set F/X series, Justified. “You have to believe something’s going to happen” says the protagonist of one of the earliest stories, Iona Moon, but what happens in this book never lives up to her vision of bright lights illuminating the night. “Father, Lover, Deadman, Dreamer” is about a teenage girl who drunkenly runs over a Native American man and is forever haunted by efforts to conceal the crime. “Heavenly Creatures” is a multipart mini-epic about three half-siblings with different fathers and a mother in prison for fencing stolen bicycles. In “Punishment,” a young female slave who witnesses a rape kills the baby she is brought in to nurse. Thon writes in short, jabbing, bruising sentences, never letting up on her verbal attack. Her words can be fiercely poetic or streaked with mysticism. If there’s a drawback to her stories (she also has written four novels), it’s that her thin-hipped, flat-chested girls are largely interchangeable. Only the source of their psychological scarring changes, ranging from incest to drug dependence to missing and/or alcoholic fathers and mothers. But that doesn’t diminish the boldness or originality of this increasingly impressive body of work.

Bluntly powerful but deeply nuanced stories from a unique voice in American fiction.

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“Rollicking postmodern romp, by the late cult-favorite novelist and essayist Wallace (with help from an editor), through the bowels of the IRS.” from the pale king

THE PALE KING

NAZARETH, NORTH DAKOTA

Wallace, David Foster Little, Brown (560 pp.) $27.99 | April 15, 2011 978-0-316-07423-0 Rollicking postmodern romp, by the late cult-favorite novelist and essayist Wallace (with help from an editor), through the bowels of the IRS. Leave it to Wallace (Infinite Jest, 1996, etc.) to find fascination in the workings of a tax audit. Yet, with its mock-Arthurian title, his novel explores the minds and mores of the little men in the gray flannel suits, or at least their modern gray-souled counterparts. The story of the making of the novel is at least as interesting as the book itself: It was assembled, writes editor Michael Pietsch, from “a green duffel bag and two Trader Joe’s bags heavy with manuscripts,” working from multiple drafts and notes and various other clues, but with no certainty that Wallace intended the book to have its current, somewhat lumpy shape. Neither would Wallace, obsessive perfectionist, allowed some of the sloppinesses and redundancies in the present version to stand. Thus it deserves its title-page rubric “An Unfinished Novel,” and thus it should be thought of less as the last word by the late writer—and certainly more manuscripts will be extracted from the vaults and published—than as a glimpse into his mind at work. And what a mind: Wallace was nothing if not thorough, and his tale of accountant Claude Sylvanshine, heroic traveler on bad commuter airlines and dogged reader of spreadsheets, is full of details, facts and factoids assembled over years of study and rumination.

There’s something of the author, perhaps, in Claude, but then there’s something of him in the other characters, too, and it would be a mistake to read this as roman à clef. All of Wallace’s intellectual interests come through: the notes and asides, the linguistic brilliance, the fact piled atop fact, the excurses into entropy and, yes, autobiography (“Like many Americans,” reads one note, “I’ve been sued...Litigation is no fun, and it’s worth one’s time and trouble to try to head it off in advance whenever possible.”) Does it add up to a story? Not always.

But there are many moments of great beauty, as with this small passage: “Drinion looks at her steadily for a moment. His face, which is a bit oily, tends to shine in the fluorescence of the Examination areas, though less so in the windows’ indirect light, the shade of which indicates that clouds have piled up overhead, though this is just Meredith Rand’s impression, and one not wholly conscious.”

Unfinished or no, it’s worth reading this long, partly shaped novel just to get at its best moments, and to ponder what Wallace, that excellent writer, would have done with the book had he had time to finish it himself.

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Zurhellen, Tommy Atticus Books (212 pp.) $14.95 paperback original | April 15, 2011 978-0-9845105-6-6 Zurhellen’s debut is a collection of loosely linked monologues and stories (two of them previously published) in search of a story line.

It’s being touted as the story of a contemporary Messiah, and that may have been the author’s original intention. The chapters (or stories) have biblical titles; a possible Son of God is glimpsed at the end; Satan makes brief opening and closing statements. But these are fragments embedded in a hodgepodge of stories spanning close to 30 years (1983-2010). The first introduces Roxy, an alcoholic waitress, and her husband Dill, staying at a motel outside Bismarck, N.D. Dill, an ex-con, reveals he’s on the lam. Roxy finds a baby outside their door. Unable to conceive, she appropriates it, naming it Sam. After Dill shoots the alleged father dead, Roxy takes off with Sam in their stolen van. That’s too much action jammed into too small a space. Zurhellen next brings on a new set of characters in the small town of Nazareth, N.D., dominated by the veteran sheriff, Severo Rodriguez, a brutal and corrupt official and Zurhellen’s most successful characterization; but even this episode is marred by abrupt viewpoint switches (a recurrent problem) and a botched climax.

Severo is set to burn down an illegal roadhouse, apparently with his older son inside, but we only learn the outcome much later. And so it goes: with each time shift, a mess of new characters, none of them developed. Roxy’s cousin Betsy has a miracle baby, Jan, who cures his father’s stroke. Sam is a miracle baby too, for Roxy stops drinking after “adopting” him. Yet mother and son never have a heartto-heart, and it is the preacher Jan who dominates the final section, conducting river baptisms and dunking cousin Sam. Might one be the Messiah and the other his messenger? Don’t expect pat answers.

A raw talent, not yet ready for prime time.

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m ys t e r y HISS OF DEATH

Brown, Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie Brown Bantam (240 pp.) $26.00 | May 3, 2011 978-0-553-80708-0 e-book 978-0-553-90808-4 The Browns, human and feline (Cat of the Century, 2010, etc.), roll out another rambling tale.

Mary “Harry” Haristeen has had her share of troubles, so she thinks it’s her |

“Pornographic canvases paint a town bloody.” from hunter’s world

turn to give back by gathering her group of womenfolk together to organize the Central Virginia Hospital’s 5K Run for Breast Cancer Awareness. With her friends Susan Tucker and BoomBoom Craycroft by her side, Harry feels good about what she’s accomplishing, even if she is the group’s resident tightwad.

When Harry finds fellow organizer Paula Benton dead next to a hornet, she’s as shocked as everyone else. While the poor nurse was allergic to bees and afraid of needles, she would never have been too scared to give herself a shot if it would save her life. En route to figuring out what’s so suspicious about Paula’s death, Harry gets some surprising news from the hospital and finds that she may need more help than she’s ever asked for. With her stalwart husband Fair by her side, Harry must face up to unexpected personal challenges. Luckily, she’s got the company of a few good animals (though “familiar” might be more precise than “good”). Mrs. Murphy, sassy Pewter, Tee Tucker and the rest of the gang are back to make sure no harm comes to their favorite human. Can they help protect her from her biggest threat while helping her solve the mystery to boot?

More likely to appeal to fans of sermons and Harry’s personal life than to mystery mavens.

CRUNCH TIME

Davidson, Diane Mott Morrow/HarperCollins (480 pp.) $26.99 | April 5, 2011 978-0-06-134815-0 Yet another murderer in Aspen Meadow, Colo., meets his (or is it her?) match in caterer Goldy Schulz (Sweet Revenge, 2007, etc.) and her detective husband Tom. Goodhearted Goldy is happy to hire her old friend Yolanda Garcia, a topnotch chef fallen on hard times. Yolanda’s left her rich but abusive boyfriend, and her rental house has burned to the ground.

So she and her abrasive aunt Ferdinanda move in with private eye Ernest McLeod and nine beagle puppies apparently rescued from a puppy mill. Goldy takes them all into her home when Ernie is murdered but ignores hints from Tom that Yolanda may be hiding some sort of relationship with the mysterious Humberto Captain, who shares her Cuban heritage. Instead, Goldy concentrates on the cases Ernie was investigating in order to get a handle on who could be a threat to Yolanda. Puppy mills, adultery and a fortune in gems stolen from a Cuban family are all on the list. Despite Tom’s firm warnings, Goldy uses culinary bribes to get people to talk to her. But danger lurks behind every slice of coffee cake.

Davidson’s fans will not be disappointed with the usual lavish appended recipes. This time, though, the tale is overlong, with too much attention to food and a chaotic mystery. (Author tour to Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Naples, Sarasota, Tampa)

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CLUTCHES AND CURSES

Howell, Dorothy Kensington (304 pp.) $22.00 | June 1, 2011 978-0-7582-5330-9

For a vacuous valley girl, what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. Haley Randolph would never leave sunny California.

It’s got all her best buds and the greatest shopping ever. When Holt’s, the downscale department chain Haley works for, asks seasoned employees to head out to Vegas to help open a new store, Haley says no. Her sort-of boyfriend Ty Cameron’s family owns Holt’s, so she can’t be forced to go, and anyway, she’s this close to finding her new obsession: the Delicious bag. So when Haley’s former beauty-queen mother demands Haley’s presence at a hellacious spa week, Haley’s as surprised as anyone to find herself suddenly demanding to go to Vegas. Setting up the new store sounds way boring to Haley, so BFF Marcie Hanover arranges for Haley to meet old friend Courtney Collins via Facebook. Courtney’s apparently working on a handbag business, so Haley agrees to hang out with her, but when Haley gets to Holt’s, she discovers Courtney’s body in the fitting room.

Now Haley’s a suspect in another murder, a stranger in a big city, and she still can’t find the bag of her dreams. What’s a girl to do?

As much as she tries to stay out of trouble, Haley is a magnet for all things mysterious. Luckily she can count on her new Vegas BFF Maya to have her back while she tries to sort out everything else. Can our girl stay out of trouble long enough to get in one good shopping trip?

Howell’s voice almost comes off as a satire of herself (Purses and Poison, 2009, etc.)—a little more compassion would make this series a lot more fun.

HUNTER’S WORLD

Lichtenberg, Fred Five Star (264 pp.) $25.95 | May 18, 2011 978-1-59414-960-3

Pornographic canvases paint a town bloody.

Chief of Police Hank Reed, who heads a force of four in tiny Eastpoint, earned his law-enforcement chops as a homicide cop in New York’s Suffolk County. That turns out to be fortunate, since no one can remember when murder last reared its head in sleepy, selfregarding Eastpoint, now suddenly transmogrified into a killing field. It all begins with the shocking demise of local celebrity John Hunter, whose syndicated advice column has long been must reading in Eastpoint and far beyond. A suicide, it’s ruled at first, complete with a farewell note, however murky and irrelevant. But the suicide theory goes out the window when Hank stumbles on Hunter’s cache of lurid oils, featuring the deceased

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and an astonishing array of the town’s most presentable married females in poses calculated to enrage their husbands. As news of the porn paintings circulates widely—discretion appears not to be one of Hank’s strengths—certain leading citizens become aggressively defensive, insisting that only harm can result from an ongoing investigation. Friends, neighbors and the town’s good name are at risk, and they’ll have Hank’s badge if he doesn’t back off. But as the body count peaks, so does Hank’s determination. Undaunted and unaided, he walks Eastpoint’s mean streets, doing what a lawman’s got to do.

A derivative first novel with few saving graces.

BET YOUR BONES

Matthews, Jeanne Poisoned Pen (320 pp.) $24.95 | paper: $14.95 Lg. Prt.: $22.95 | June 1, 2011 978-1-59058-899-4 paper 978-1-59058-901-4 Lg. Prt. 978-1-59058-900-7 Will the bride walk down an aisle of lava?

In planning her second wedding in Hawaii, Claude Ann hasn’t anticipated a few minor distractions. Dinah, her BFF and maid of honor, is still feeling guilty about the little lie that propelled Claude Ann into her first marriage. Her daughter from that union, egged on by her ex, has turned into a Biblethumping brat who considers her a harlot. Her ex has jerryrigged a bucket of blood to douse her when she opens her closet.

Her new husband’s daughter resents her, his son gives their marriage a year at best and the groom has had to borrow heavily from her to stay solvent until he cashes in on a major real-estate deal that may collapse at the insistence of his first wife’s sister that the land contains the bones of an island king and ought to be protected. Meanwhile, the earth is rumbling mightily and streams of lava are inching down the mountain. Can anything else go wrong? You bet. The groom’s son-in-law is murdered in a manner that eerily recalls the fate of an archeologist hired to vet the land; one of his business partners learns that he’s lost almost everything in Bernie Madoff ’s Ponzi scheme; his bride’s antique Beretta is stolen; and certain of his past indiscretions come to light, including a charge of rape. There’ll be more seismic tremors and a confrontation beside a lava bed before the happy couple exchanges vows on a tropical beach.

The overstuffed plot is slowed down by a tutorial in Hawaiian myths and the career mishaps of Dinah (Bones of Contention, 2009).

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SOUL SEEKER

McCarthy, Keith Severn House (240 pp.) $28.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7278-6987-6 Pathologist John Eisenmenger and Beverley Wharton, now an Acting Chief Inspector, meet a serial murderer even more task-obsessed than they are.

It’s hard to raise the gruesome stakes in this highly regarded series, but McCarthy (Corpus Delicti, 2010, etc.) does his best from the get-go with a Gloucestershire farmer’s discovery of the severed head of an elderly builder who was dying of cancer before someone used a guillotine to speed him on his way. The next discovery is a headless body that Beverley Wharton would assume to be Dominic Trelawney’s if it weren’t female. It’s followed by the appearance of a corpse with a mismatched head.

As if these finds weren’t ghoulish enough, interpolated chapters provide vivid, nightmare-inducing accounts of the victims’ last moments after they’ve each been abducted by some sort of mad scientist who seems intent on studying their physiological reactions as they die. Retired police officer Len Barker would stand ready to link the slaughter to the estate of retired bank CEO Wallace Parker if a stroke hadn’t left Barker unable to stand, or speak. As Beverley tangles with an unsupportive superior and an inspector who hates both Beverley and her own sorry life, the bodies of victims of both sexes and all ages pile up, electrocuted, strangled or suffocated. What, if anything, do they all have in common, and how long will the carnage continue?

McCarthy’s fans will know that not every cliffhanger is likely to be happily resolved. The unwary are duly warned.

WINED AND DIED

McRae, Cricket Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (288 pp.) $14.95 paperback original | July 1, 2011 978-0-7387-2334-1 A thrift-store bargain turns sinister for Washington State soapmaker Sophie Mae Ambrose and her police-detective husband Barr.

After Barr picks up some used minicassettes for his recorder, their housemate’s teenaged daughter Erin, whose bump of curiosity leads her to listen to the tapes, finds that they contain a therapist’s notes indicating that one of her clients may be planning a murder. Barr, already knee-deep in a difficult case in Cadyville, has no time to follow up the clue, but Sophie Mae, who’s had success before as an amateur sleuth (Something Borrowed, Something Bleu, 2010, etc.), dives in despite Barr’s stern warnings.

Although the therapist isn’t available to confirm the import of the discovery because she’s died young of a massive heart attack, the tapes identify the possible target as a member of

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“A caterer juggles three mysteries: one old, one new — and the third both borrowed and blue.” from the body in the gazebo

the Swenson family. That wealthy clan is involved in Grendel Meadery, a company that makes and exports various types of honey-based mead. Both the family and the company are headed by tough-minded Dorothy, who rules her four grandchildren with an iron hand. When Dorothy’s grandson Quentin dies of a massive heart attack, the police take notice, but it’s still up to Sophie Mae to figure out who hates the Swenson family enough to kill.

McRae’s series has covered a wide range of craft projects.

Her latest offers a tutorial on mead and a dash of soapmaking, all wrapped around a credible mystery.

GARDEN OF THE DEAD

Neiderman, Andrew Severn House (208 pp.) $27.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7278-6978-4

Veteran Neiderman (Angel of Mercy, 1994, etc.) tangles an inoffensive gravedigger in a web of accusations that spiral into murder.

Randy Quinn is a man of simple tastes. He’s never attended college, never left his upstate New York hometown and never—except for his continued, unrequited attraction to Evelyn Kitchen, his high-school crush—dreamed of a future more fulfilling than keeping Sandburg Cemetery in apple-pie order for his bosses, Jack Waller and Richard Valentine. His amatory interest in divorced waitress Scarlet Moore hardly rises to the status of romance. The biggest recent development in Randy’s life is the return of Barry Palmer, his best friend in school, from a disastrous marriage in the Southwest.

During a night of decorous carousing, Randy offers Barry a job at the cemetery and then watches his life go up in flames. During a chance return to the office with Scarlet after their date the following night, he realizes that someone has disturbed the grave of Matthew Kitchen, whose son Stuart, Evelyn’s twin, insisted be buried with his expensive jewelry. Instead of calling police chief Lou Siegman, Randy, in the first of many remarkably stupid miscalculations, decides to dig up the grave with Scarlet’s help in order to see whether the old man is still attired in his finery. What he and Scarlet discover will make him think twice about having hired Barry—but not, evidently, about much else that he takes for granted but shouldn’t.

A perfectly reasonable premise for a thriller undermined by a goodhearted hero too dumb to be true.

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THE BODY IN THE GAZEBO

Page, Katherine Hall Morrow/HarperCollins (272 pp.) $23.99 | April 19, 2011 978-0-06-147426-2

A caterer juggles three mysteries: one old, one new—and the third both borrowed and blue.

If only Faith Fairchild’s life could be as simple as her recipes. (Who’da thunk anyone would need an entire page of directions to explain how to sauté some potatoes with sage?) But no sooner does her best friend, Pix Rowe Miller, leave town than Pix’s elderly mom confides that unbeknownst to her children, Ursula Rowe had a wastrel brother, Theo, who was murdered in the eponymous gazebo one summer at Martha’s Vineyard.

Meanwhile, old sourpuss Sherman Monroe accuses Rev. Thomas Fairchild, Faith’s husband, of pilfering $10,000 from the Minister’s Discretionary Fund. Finally, a rather pixilated Pix calls from Hilton Head, where she and her husband Sam are helping their son plan his big fat South Carolina intermarriage by consuming inordinate amounts of champagne. She lays on Faith (The Body in the Sleigh, 2009, etc.) the news that, in college, she downed a considerable amount of punch and slept with the bride’s father, Dr. Stephen Cohen—and now he doesn’t even remember. Faith juggles the three puzzles while dispensing Gunpowder Punch at the library and Fruit Breakfast Puffs at the Uppity Women’s Luncheon Club, all the time pining for her native New York, as Page reminds readers every other paragraph.

Even for a minister’s wife, the devil’s in the details. Page’s persistent lack of precision (Faith goes to New York to eat a pastrami on rye with an egg cream—two Big Apple treats not known to be served together) undermines her authenticity.

A SPARK OF DEATH

Pajer, Bernadette Poisoned Pen (222 pp.) $24.95 | July 1, 2011 978-1-59058-905-2

A professor becomes a suspect in a shocking 1901 murder.

Ever since his mentally unstable wife committed suicide at a dinner party, Prof.

Benjamin Bradshaw has devoted himself to bringing up his son Justin. He’s moved to Seattle, settled at the University of Washington and hired the competent Mrs. Prouty as a housekeeper. Now his life may be ruined by the murder of his colleague Prof. Oglethorpe, a man he had no cause to like. Oglethorpe was found electrocuted, apparently by a machine built in a university lab that was soon to be used in a demonstration for President McKinley. Bradshaw is certain that he must solve the murder to save his own life. His task is made both more difficult and more likely to be successful by Oglethorpe’s unpopularity. His students despised

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him, his wife secretly did much of his work, and he was involved in a dishonest business deal with Henry Pratt, a friend of Bradshaw’s who left for Alaska on the day of the murder. When Henry’s niece, Missouri Fremont, arrives on the scene shortly after her uncle’s departure, Bradshaw, feeling compelled to take her in, finds himself strongly attracted to her. Getting pushed almost to his death on a visit to the Snoqualmie Falls Power Plant redoubles his efforts to find the killer.

Pajer’s series kickoff presents a good mystery, a clever detective and a fascinating look at the early days of electrical power.

MURDER AT THE VILLA BYZANTINE

Raichev, R.T. Soho Constable (224 pp.) $25.00 | March 22, 2011 978-1-56947-914-8 A messy beheading sends bantering sleuths off on another investigative romp.

Renowned mystery writer Antonia Darcy and her husband Hugh Payne, a retired major, barely know their glamorous neighbor, aging actress Melisande Chevret. All the more reason to accept an invitation to the birthday party that she’s throwing for herself at her grand residence, Kinderhook. For Antonia, the party is a study in social awkwardness by the many inappropriate comments of surly teenager Moon, the daughter of Stella Markoff, a Bulgarian emigré. The matronly Stella is working with renowned writer Tancred Vane on a biography of Prince Cyril, the brother of the late King Boris. Other guests include Melisande’s mousy sister Winifred, her fiancé James Morland and playwright and raconteur Stanley Lennox. The plot thickens when Morland throws Melisande over for Stella, then darkens considerably when Stella is beheaded in Tancred Vane’s home, the Villa Byzantine.

Knowing the reputation of the Paynes, Morland visits Hugh (Antonia is away in America) to ask for help, which is readily supplied. When Antonia returns, the sleuthing accelerates, punctuated with droll and often inspired exchanges between the couple. Also in the mix are Morland’s athletic sister Julia Henderson and a strange elderly spinster named Miss Hope, who tells fanciful tales of royal Bulgaria and seems a magnet for trouble. A second victim hastens Antonia’s path to a solution.

Antonia and Hugh’s sixth whodunit (The Curious Incident at Claridges, 2010, etc.) again wraps an intelligent mystery in a warm cloak of delightfully arch dialogue.

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THE BEE BALM MURDERS

Riggs, Cynthia Minotaur Books (304 pp.) $24.99 | May 3, 2011 978-0-312-58179-4

Another adventure for Martha’s Vineyard’s oldest sleuth.

Victoria Trumbull’s boarder Orion Nanopoulis has started laying a fiberoptic network across the island. He’s big on plans but short on cash, and his troubles only grow when one of his potential investors is found murdered in a cable ditch. Angelo Vulpone may have had mob connections, but his two sons, convinced that his death was not a mob hit, hire Victoria, 92, to ferret out the truth. It seems that Orion has been bamboozled by sly Dorothy Roche, who with the help of a young venture capitalist is trying to hijack the company. Another possible investor who has a past history with Vulpone also wants a share in the company. None of the suspects are quite who they claim to be. So Victoria welcomes the skills of a young computer hacker the Vulpone brothers have provided to help her winkle out the murderer.

Another valentine to the beauties of Martha’s Vineyard and the wintry Victoria (Touch-Me-Not, 2010, etc.), who solves the featherweight mystery as handily as any 92-year-old.

MISS MINCHIN DIES

Rowlands, Betty Severn House (192 pp.) $27.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7278-6990-6

The death of a middle-aged spinster competes with the murder of a teenager for the attention of DC Sukey Reynolds (A Fool There Was, 2009, etc.).

When Councilman Patrick Hewitt’s daughter Daisy goes missing, folks in Over Hampton can’t help comparing her disappearance to that of Valerie Deacon 20 years ago. Both girls vanished on their way to school, leaving as usual in the morning but never returning home. At the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, DCI Leach has most of his force looking for Daisy, so there’s little time to spare when Doctor Hogan calls to demand an investigation into the death of Adelaide Minchin, one of his patients. Still, Hogan can be a “right old—” as his receptionist Flo Appleby points out, so DS Greg Rathbone sends Sukey Reynolds to see him. Hogan looks down his nose at the young female DC. But luck is on his side. As he insists there was no reason for Miss Minchin, who was healthy as a proverbial horse, to keel over dead in her bathroom, Sukey has one of her famous hunches.

Agreeing to investigate, she looks back into the row that began when Miss Muriel Minchin passed over her siblings and left her cottage, Parson’s Acre, to her cousin Adelaide. After police discover the body of a young girl—not privileged Daisy Hewitt but

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“The violent death of his old cop mentor calls Mike Hammer back to New York.” from kiss her goodbye

her impoverished classmate Sharon Swann—buried under a pile of bricks, the murder investigation takes precedence. So Sukey looks into Miss Minchin’s death on her own, with help, luckily for her, from handsome journalist Harry Matthews.

An excellent puzzle that takes perceptiveness, logic and Sukey’s intuition to solve.

an all-too-realistic drunk. What happened? There’s no easy answer, but even someone as little given to introspection as Conway understands that a corrosive father-son relationship augurs negative consequences. And Conway’s was a doozy. Enter the Barnburners, a serious AA offshoot for serious alcoholics.

Because he credits them with saving his life, Conway willingly becomes the Barnburners’ go-to guy. His reputation for heavy lifting makes it natural for Barnburner Tander Phigg to call on him in his hour of need. Conway doesn’t like Tander or care much for the spurious feel of Tander’s deal, glossed over though it is. But saintly or shiftless, a Barnburner’s a Barnburner. So Conway saddles up, begins asking the relevant questions and is soon knee-deep in murder, mayhem and the kind of bad-seed malevolence that heedlessness makes doubly dangerous—all complicated by a father-son relationship almost as dysfunctional as his own.

The protagonist is so strong, engaging and fully realized that he dwarfs the surrounding cast. Still, a promising debut.

KISS HER GOODBYE

Spillane, Mickey and Max Allan Collins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (288 pp.) $25.00 | May 25, 2011 978-0-15-101460-6 The violent death of his old cop mentor calls Mike Hammer back to New York and more of the same death-dealing intrigue he first made his specialty in I, the Jury 64 years ago.

According to Capt. Pat Chambers, all the evidence indicates that Insp. Bill Doolan, retired and facing the end stages of cancer, shot himself in the heart. But Mike (The Big Bang, 2010, etc.) isn’t buying it, and it’s not long before new evidence bears him out. A waitress is killed in a senseless mugging only a few blocks from Doolan’s funeral. A friendly hooker who has dinner with Mike is struck by a hitand-run driver who was obviously aiming for her companion.

The waitress’s ex-boyfriend, who supposedly left town years ago, turns up dead. What can an aging private eye do? “I was older. I was jaded. I was retired,” reflects Mike. “But I was still Mike Hammer.” Naturally, he’s lionized by everyone in the Big Apple, from rookie Congressman Alex Jaynor to kinky ADA Angela Marshall to reformed crime-family scion Anthony (“don’t call me Little Tony”) Tretriano, to hot Latina chanteuse Chrome, who sings in Anthony’s club, to Alberto Bonetti, the druglord whose son Sal Mike killed in self-defense. Sal will be followed into the great beyond by over two dozen souls, most of them sent hither by Mike.

Working from an unfinished novel by the late Spillane, Collins provides the franchise’s trademark winking salacity, selfcongratulatory vigilantism and sadistic violence, topped off with a climax that combines the final scenes of two of Mike’s most celebrated cases.

science fiction and fantasy NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 2011

Editor: Anderson, Kevin J. Tor (416 pp.) $17.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-7653-2842-7 As voted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: 15 stories, three poems and two appreciations, plus listings of all the other awards from 2009— although the year appears to be flexible, since several of the works first appeared in 2008.

The best of a spiffy bunch: Paolo Bacigalupi’s novelette “The Gambler,” a devastating critique of future journalism and the modern cult of celebrity; to prove it was no fluke, Bacigalupi also grabbed the prize for best novel. Another novelette, Ted Kosmatka’s “Divining Light,” is a wrenching exploration of the counter-logical domain of probability and quantum theory—and an extraordinarily difficult feat to pull off. Kage Baker’s brilliant feminist steampunk “The Women of Nell Gwynne’s” won for best novella: a last hurrah from this versatile, uniquely talented and now sorely missed writer (she died in 2010). Elsewhere, Kij Johnson’s “Spar” (best short story) describes a human woman and an alien who, literally, absorb one another. Eugie Foster’s “Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” won for most pointlessly extravagant title—well, no, but it did win best novelette, and imagines a future in which compulsory magical masks tell the wearer who they

PURGATORY CHASM

Ulfelder, Steve Minotaur Books (288 pp.) $23.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-312-67292-8

Fathers and sons, American style.

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10 Can’t-Miss Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2011 B Y A M Y G O LDSC HLAGER

2011 offers a bumper crop of fantasy and science fiction—even Stephen King is in on the action with a recently announced time-travel epic about a teacher’s attempt to stop the JFK assassination that’s scheduled for this fall from Scribner.

particularly the joy she experiences discovering new books and other people to talk to about them. (Tor, January)

THE WISE MAN’S FEAR Patrick Rothfuss

Additionally, the year also promises the usual healthy dose of witches, vampires, werewolves, zombies and steampunk. For those looking for a change from the usual fare, here are some titles to keep in mind.

AMONG OTHERS

OTHER KINGDOMS

Richard Matheson

Jo Walton

Jo Walton’s Among Others plays it both ways—it’s a fantasy about the redemptive powers of science fiction. Set in 1979–80, the novel is, says Walton, a “mythologisation of part of…[her] life.” A magical battle with her mother, an insane witch, damaged 15-year-old Morwenna’s leg and killed her twin sister Morganna. Placed in her estranged father’s care, Morwenna is forced to leave Wales and enter an English boarding school. Confused by the social rituals and afraid of facing her mother again, she finds comfort, strength and even friendship through the SF paperbacks she loves. All SF fans will instantly get what Morwenna is about, 546

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Patrick Rothfuss burst on the fantasy scene in 2007 with the international bestseller The Name of the Wind. His follow-up furthers the training, rivalries and romances of Kvothe, actor, musician, arcanist (magician) and assassin. “The Name of the Wind was the story of a young boy, but The Wise Man’s Fear is the story of a young man,” says Rothfuss. “There’s a big difference there.” Buying the book also supports a good cause—Rothfuss wants to use some of the proceeds to help actor Nathan Fillion buy the rights of the canceled SF TV series Firefly. (DAW, March)

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Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve likely seen the movie version of one of Richard Matheson’s iconic novels (The Incredible Shrinking Man, Somewhere in Time, I Am Legend, etc.) or one of his classic Twilight Zone episodes. As his editor, Greg Cox, says, “Richard… [is] the most famous author in America who…[isn’t] a household name.” Like Somewhere in Time, Other Kingdoms is a star-crossed romance between two lovers from different worlds. In 1918, wounded American Army veteran Alex White takes up the curious legacy left him by a dying comrade, and finds himself in a charming English village whose woods are kirkusreviews.com

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inhabited by a lovely but dangerous witch and the denizens of the Middle Kingdom, also known as faeries. It’s as accomplished and tragic as anything Matheson has ever written, and he’s not done yet. The author recently turned 85 and, says Cox, has almost completed his next novel. (Tor, March)

THE QUANTUM THIEF Hannu Rajaniemi

We’ve already given The Quantum Thief a starred review, calling it “wholly spellbinding: one of the most impressive debuts in years.” Thief Jean le Flambeur faces an eternity of virtual torture in Dilemma Prison unless he accepts a job from the enigmatic Mieli, who brings him to the mobile city of Oubliette on Mars, where, as it happens, le Flambeur has stashed some of his memories. As le Flambeur seeks his freedom and the return of his true self, a clever detective is seeking le Flambeur.

Hannu Rajaniemi, a Finn living in Scotland, is clearly one of those disgustingly brilliant people whom you could hate if you didn’t admire him so much—at the age of 30, he has a doctorate in string theory, runs a think tank in Edinburgh that specializes in A.I., and has written a critically acclaimed novel in a language other than his native one. Definitely someone to watch. (Tor, May)

EMBASSYTOWN China Miéville

Those who favor the more literary end of the science-fiction spectrum always sit up and take notice when China Miéville publishes a book, which, thankfully for

his fans, appears to occur yearly. Embassytown takes place in another of the author’s richly detailed locations—this time, it’s a far-future city on the planet of Arieka, shared uneasily by humans and its native species, the alien Hosts.

The arrival of a new group of humans exposes just how, well, alien, the Hosts’ methods of thinking and communicating are; that profound difference leads to a peculiar sort of addiction and, ultimately, to civil breakdown within both species. (Del Rey, May)

DANCING WITH BEARS

Michael Swanwick Michael Swanwick joins Miéville at the literary end of speculative fiction (actually, he was there first). As such, Swanwick ruefully admits, “there’s been a perception that my books are good for you, like broccoli or calculus.” Therefore, his publisher would like to stress that Dancing With Bears is a fun read, a “swashbuckling adventure” set in a “Postutopian future,” where machines are myth but biological sciences have advanced beyond our wildest imaginings. In previous short-story appearances, the con artists Darger and Surplus (a genetically modified dog) planned to target the Duke of Muscovy (Moscow), but somehow, they never quite managed to get to Russia. Their first novel begins with their arrival in Muscovy in the retinue of the Caliph of Baghdad’s ambassador. Unfortunately, their schemes are complicated by an incipient revolution as well as the perilous gift borne by the ambassador, the Pearls of Byzantium.

(Night Shade, May)

A DANCE WITH DRAGONS George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin recently announced that, finally, he’s nearly done writing the oftpostponed A Dance With Dragons, book five in A Song of Ice and Fire, a massive, multi-stranded and marvelously cynical epic chronicling the battle for the Iron Throne of Westeros. Given that the book incorporates story threads cut from the previous volume when it grew too huge, readers will be especially happy to hear from

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characters that they haven’t heard from since book three, particularly Tyrion, the much-maligned dwarf falsely accused of murdering his royal nephew and who actually did kill his monstrous father during his escape from the dungeon; and Daenerys, a pretender to the throne of Westeros who’s set up shop on a distant island, where her dragons and former slave subjects are becoming dangerously restive. As the months tick down to July (with the assistance of a countdown clock on the author’s site), anticipation will only increase, particularly after HBO’s adaptation of book one, A Game of Thrones, debuts in April. (Bantam, July)

THE LAST FOUR THINGS

Paul Hoffman

English writer Paul Hoffman attracted notice from both sides of the pond with the first volume of his bleak alternate-history fantasy trilogy. The Left Hand of God followed the adventures of 15-year-old Thomas Cale, a supernaturally gifted tactician trained in all the arts of war by the Redeemers, priests bound on conquest.

At the end of the book, we learned that the Redeemers don’t simply want to rule: They want to bring on the Apocalypse, and Cale is apparently destined to get things rolling. In volume two, The Last Four Things, the Redeemers’ plans continue, and the young man must decide if he will act in accordance with them. Cale is a strange mix of bruised innocence and pragmatic brutality; recently spurned by his noble lover, his opinion of humanity is probably not too high right now. He’s just so odd and so conflicted, and the story is written in such stark terms, it’s tough to know whether he’ll choose doom or salvation. (Dutton, August)

such as World of Warcraft with the purpose of collecting virtual gold and sundry other valuable objects, which are then sold for real money to wealthy Americans and Europeans anxious to advance in the game without doing all the grunt work. If that seems too fantastic to be real, consider that the New York Times Magazine covered this very topic in 2007. (HarperCollins, September)

THE KINGDOM OF GODS N.K. Jemison

N.K. Jemison recently picked up a Nebula nomination for her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the first in a trilogy concerning a world—actually, a universe—pulled off-balance by the tempestuous loves and hates of a trio of gods, their divine and semi-divine children, and the humans whom they’ve anointed to rule. Book three in the series, The Kingdom of Gods, focuses on Sieh, the ancient trickster god-ling who has always found his power in manifesting as a child. Now, for some reason, he’s maturing, causing him to lose his powers and forcing him to face the problems of an adult, which, Jemisin says, include “love and betrayal, fractious parents, getting a job.” These new responsibilities fall on Sieh just as the entire social order of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms seems poised to collapse. Obviously, complications (and, no doubt, an incredibly gripping story) ensue. (Orbit, October)

README

Neal Stephenson

In the now-classic Snow Crash, Stephenson was one of the first people to explore social interactions in the virtual world. His latest, Readme, evaluates the economic implications of virtual life; in particular, the practice of “gold farming,” whereby Chinese sweatshop employees play multiplayer online adventure games

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“Chicks are awesome, declares editor Caine in her introduction to this anthology of 13 original stories.” from chicks kick butt

are and what to do (scholars will note that Jack Vance did it science fictionally nearly 50 years ago). Will McIntosh characterizes his “Bridesicle” as a love story, but it’s only that in the last paragraph; the rest is horror. No less worthy contributions come from Saladin Ahmed, Michael A. Burstein, N. K. Jemisin, James Patrick Kelly, Michael Bishop, Richard Bowes, Rachel Swirsky, Neal Barrett Jr. (Author Emeritus) and Joe Haldeman (Damon Knight Grandmaster).

For readers who like their fantasy and science fiction short and punchy.

CHICKS KICK BUTT

Editor: Caine, Rachel Editor: Hughes, Kerrie L. Tor (320 pp.) $14.99 paperback original | June 1, 2011 978-0-7653-2577-8 Chicks are awesome, declares editor Caine in her introduction to this anthology of 13 original stories in the supernatural/urban fantasy mode.

Some of the contributions read less like short stories and more like excerpts from longer works in progress: Susan Krinard’s tale of a world where the Norse gods and villains, banished after Ragnarök, return to wreak havoc; Nancy Holder’s promising but tantalizing tale of the Great Hunt and the secret society that defends against it; and Elizabeth A. Vaughan’s violent and rather abrupt sword and sorcery tale. Others are additions to previously established series: Rachel Caine’s tale of a Weather Warden, her Djinn lover and a brash newcomer teaming up to foil terrorists; a Night Tracker yarn from Cheyenne McCray; and a Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator story from Carole Nelson Douglas.

Also on the agenda: Karen Chance’s half vampire, half human “dhampir” tackles Chinese gangsters; Rachel Vincent’s inexperienced young werecat fights off some bigoted hunters; Lilith Saintcrow’s vampire on a mission pausing to rescue a tortured werewolf; in 1937, P.N. Elrod’s nightclub dancer with a vampire boyfriend outwits an ancient predatory vampire; in Jenna Black’s unusual world, white-hat demons possess humans to their mutual fun and profit, while defeating religious-fanatic extremists intent on burning the possessed alive; Jeanne C. Stein’s chief vampire must battle the creatures of her past; and L.A. Banks’ vampire power struggle. These chicks kick butt indeed, though one could have wished for more subtlety, and only Black’s yarn shows any signs of true originality.

Generally flat, possibly reflecting overly narrow editorial requirements.

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EMBASSYTOWN

Miéville, China Del Rey/Ballantine (368 pp.) $25.00 | May 17, 2011 978-0-345-52449-2 e-book 978-0-345-52185-9 A new venture into science fiction from the talented British author (Kraken, 2010, etc.) best known for his extraordinary steampunk-style fantasies.

Avice Benner Cho returns to her childhood home, the remote planet Arieka, after many years of working in the immer, a weird hyperdimension that permits passage among the stars. Arieka’s indigenous Hosts have a remarkable, entirely biological technology and maintain a bubble of human-breathable atmosphere above Embassytown. The Ariekei have two speaking orifices and utter their language through both simultaneously; for them, language, thought and reality are inseparable, hence they cannot understand the speech of individual humans, tell lies or speculate.

The only way they can express things that haven’t happened is by performing a ceremony in which a human is declared a “simile,” an honor for which young Avice was chosen. The Ariekei hold contests to see which of them can come closest to uttering an untruth; by human standards, their efforts are laughable. Humans, however, developed Ambassadors: clone-twins so alike in appearance, thought and experience that when they speak simultaneously, the Ariekei can comprehend them. Then Embassytown’s overlords send a new type of Ambassador, EzRa, dissimilar in appearance and thought.

Somehow, they can speak and be understood—yet the Ariekei don’t react as expected. Instead, they show every sign of being intoxicated by EzRa’s speech; not only that but they turn out to be hopelessly addicted. As their civilization begins to crumble, Avice must team up with Bren, a former Ambassador whose clone-twin died, to unravel a most unpleasant conspiracy. Much of this is far too formidably dense and complex to be summarized, and Miéville further blurs matters with a difficult, almost hallucinatory narrative structure. Conceptually, though, it’s utterly astonishing.

A major intellectual achievement that, despite all difficulties, persuades and enthralls. (Author tour to New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Seattle, Portland. Agent: Mic Cheetham/Mic Cheetham Agency)

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nonfiction REASONABLE ATHEISM A Moral Case for Respectful Disbelief

Aikin, Scott F. and Robert B. Talisse Prometheus Books (265 pp.) $20.00 paperback original | April 1, 2011 978-1-61614-383-1 An investigation into the moral value of atheism for the faithful set.

Aiken and Talisse (Pragmatism: A Guide for the Perplexed, 2008) return with a philosophical text that examines the importance of a logical approach to atheism. With simple language and easy-to-understand references, the authors attempt to convince an audience of believers that “atheism is a morally and intellectually responsible position.” Believers, whom the authors assume regard all atheists as immoral individuals, are asked to consider atheists in the same light as they do those who embrace a religious belief different than their own. With an academic approach and a title unlikely to attract their desired audience, the authors may find their arguments, however sound or logical, falling on deaf ears. Several of the issues raised, including a discussion of conversing about religion in mixed company, are well reasoned, but the third section of the book is the most interesting, exploring the ties between religion and the modern U.S. political system. The book includes two appendices: one that ponders “The Problem of Hell,” and the other, a religion and morality test designed to broaden the reader’s scope of all forms of religion, atheism included.

Although it may ultimately fail to attract its intended audience, an intriguing view of the complexities of modern atheism.

THE CONVERT A Parable of Islam and America Baker, Deborah Graywolf (256 pp.) $23.00 | May 13, 2011 978-1-55597-582-1

A Pulitzer Prize finalist delves into the fascinating life and letters of a young Jewish woman who converted to radical Islam and moved from suburban New York to Pakistan.

In 1962, 28-year-old Margaret Marcus left her parents’ secular Jewish home to live in Lahore in the Muslim household of idealogue and Islamic political leader Maulana Mawdudi. In Pakistan, Marcus changed her name to Maryam Jameelah and |

penned expressive letters to her parents describing, during the next three decades, her newfound identity, community and the motivations behind her conversion and all-consuming embrace of Islam. Jameelah went on to write not only letters— the archives of which Baker (A Blue Hand: The Beats in India, 2008, etc.) came across in the New York Public Library—but an enormously popular set of books criticizing Western materialism and exalting life lived according to the laws of the Koran.

Baker’s account unfolds chronologically through Jameelah’s letters, included in the book, as well as various articles she published in American magazines. Despite Jameelah’s unwavering, outspoken disdain for Western secularism, she faced mounting obstacles in her new life, all of which the author examines as a platform to explore the broader subject of how radical idealism manifests itself. Jameelah eschewed what she viewed as the miserably misguided popular values of her native country, but this opposition did not tamp out her love for and connection to her parents. On this note, Baker, who corresponded and finally met with Jameelah in her home, opens the door to the vital questions of how radical Islam has impacted the world, and what part converts such as Jameelah have played.

An important, searing, highly readable and timely narrative.

THE SCIENCE OF EVIL On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty

Baron-Cohen, Simon Basic (240 pp.) $25.99 | June 1, 2011 978-0-465-02353-0

Fresh, compelling analysis of the human capacity for cruelty, and how redefining evil in terms of empathy can reveal new psychological insights.

Baron-Cohen (Developmental Psychopathology/Univ. of Cambridge; The Essential Difference: The Truth About the Male and Female Brain, 2003, etc.) has spent 30 years researching autism and its neurological relationship with empathy, defined as the ability to identify another’s thoughts or feelings and respond appropriately. Historical examples of evil, such as Nazi torture, can be examined in light of this “empathy quotient,” and the author argues that everyone lies somewhere on the “empathy spectrum.” Baron-Cohen explores the complex interplay between social and genetic factors that results in an individual having a high or low level of empathy. Low or zero levels can result in cruel or hurtful behavior, though not always; a variety of factors, including early-childhood

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parenting, affect individual behavior. The author suggests that modern psychiatry, which identifies “personality disorders” as borderline, narcissistic or psychopathic, can reconceptualize these categorizations by instead classifying them as examples of zero degrees of empathy. Doing so would encourage new social and scientific approaches to diagnosis and treatment options, and may have long-term effects on how societies treat affected individuals. Baron-Cohen raises and effectively parses tricky ethical and biological questions (Should a person with zero empathy serve prison time for a crime he doesn’t understand was wrong? Is there an “empathy gene”?), backing up his arguments with scientific research. He also makes a point to declare his book an attempt to “restimulate discussion on the causes of evil by moving the debate out of the realm of religion and into the realm of science.” Biological and psychological factors, not religious belief, he argues, determine cruel behavior. Only by examining the roots of those factors can we begin to understand empathy, which he calls “the most valuable resource in our world.”

Baron-Cohen’s theory is exhilarating in its implications.

A refinement was added in the 1980s by Alan Guth, who postulated a period of rapid inflation following the Big Bang as a solution to several problems, notably the shortage of magnetic monopoles. Barrow brings the discussion up to date by noting that observations in the 1990s forced cosmologists to propose dark matter and dark energy, two entities detectable only by their effects on normal matter. Most recently, some cosmologists propose that we inhabit a small corner of a multiverse, in which multiple universes with different laws coexist.

The author covers the various possibilities clearly, with math kept to a minimum, occasionally offering his own speculations to enliven the account.

A solid overview of the evolution of cosmology, with illuminating coverage of the current state of the art. A useful complement to Roger Penrose’s Cycles of Time (2011). (112 illustrations)

INFINITE REALITY Avatars, Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution Blascovich, Jim and Jeremy Bailenson Morrow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $27.99 | April 5, 2011 978-0-06-180950-7

THE BOOK OF UNIVERSES Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos

Barrow, John D. Norton (304 pp.) $26.95 | May 9, 2011 978-0-393-08121-3

A guided tour of conceptions of the universe, from the beginnings of modern science to the present.

After a brief look at the cosmological ideas of the ancients, Barrow (Mathematical Sciences/ Cambridge Univ.; 100 Essential Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know: Math Explains Your World, 2009, etc.) moves on to the more rigorous formulations arising once Newton’s gravitational theory became part of the astronomer’s vocabulary.

Both the time scale and the amount of space that theory needs to account for expanded radically over the course of the 19th century, until Edwin Hubble’s discovery of the expansion of the universe presented cosmology with a key data point. Even Einstein had to adapt his original idea of a static universe to Hubble’s observations by adding a fudge factor to General Relativity, the infamous cosmological constant. By that point, others were calculating what kinds of universe Einstein’s laws permitted. After Karl Schwarzschild pointed out that the universe need not conform to Euclidean geometry, alternative models proliferated: Willem de Sitter, Georges Lemaître and the Russian mathematician Alexander Friedmann found ways to tweak the known variables to find possible universes.

But the expansion of the universe implied a beginning, a position developed in the 1940s by George Gamow and his associates, now known as the Big Bang. Observations reinforced the idea, and the insights of quantum mechanics began to illuminate the early moments following the initial explosion.

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Enthusiastic exploration of how virtual reality is impacting human consciousness, perception and social interaction.

Humans have been engaging with virtual realities since the dawn of storytelling, write the authors, experiencing them as printing, theater, radio and film and other mediums. Blascovich (Psychology/Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) and Bailenson (Virtual Human Interaction Lab/Stanford Univ.) focus on digital-technology–based immersive virtual reality, 2-D and 3-D environments that the mind buys into and responds to as “real”— although the authors are clear in their distinction between “grounded” (the natural or physical world) and virtual realities.

While they provide an illuminating introduction to the processing cycle that generates today’s virtual realities, and an overview of appropriate social theory used therein, they hit their stride with their discussions of shaping and using avatars: digital representations of ourselves. The experiential possibilities of avatars are vast: “virtual worlds offer an unprecedented opportunity to separate people from the physical identity, and to roleplay in a variety of manners.” Virtual classrooms help eliminate such problems as overcrowding and lack of direct teacher contact. Creating an avatar is also a step toward immortality: Your biological self may not be present, but future generations can engage with your likeness, where 3-D digital modeling sculpts your face and body, motion-capture technology acquires your gestures and soon-to-be artificial-intelligence technology will frame your personality traits and idiosyncrasies. On the downside, there is the spooky idea of someone pirating your avatar; indeed, the authors introduce a number of serious virtual-reality pitfalls, from over-identifying with your avatar to privacy violation through tracking. And there is a serious weakness

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“Intending to highlight ‘forgotten chapters of American history,’ the inaugural volume in the American Portraits Series reanimates the heady histrionics of eccentric stock broker and corporate executive Jim Fisk.” from the murder of jim fisk for the love of josie mansfield

THE CORNER OFFICE Indispensible and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed

with the lack of touch in the virtual world—yet behold forthcoming teledildonics, “sexually stimulating devices that can be controlled by others via the Internet.”

A sweeping presentation of virtual reality’s ability to create new and multiform experiences and perspectives—likely to beguile more than a few skeptics. (Illustrations throughout)

THE MURDER OF JIM FISK FOR THE LOVE OF JOSIE MANSFIELD

Brands, H.W. Anchor (224 pp.) $14.95 paperback original | May 31, 2011 978-0-307-74325-1 Overlooked Gilded Age crooked financier Jim Fisk receives a compelling historical exhumation.

Intending to highlight “forgotten chapters of American history,” the inaugural volume in the American Portraits Series reanimates the heady histrionics of eccentric stock broker and corporate executive Jim Fisk during his zenith in the mid 19th century. The narrative begins with Fisk’s funeral procession through the streets of Manhattan, lined with mourners both personal and professional. As his girlfriend many years prior, buxom showgirl Josie Mansfield grew weary of the “spectacle” and business cunning that garnered Fisk many lucrative associations, including partnering in 1868 with slick entrepreneur Dan Drew and tycoon Jay Gould, who, altogether, managed to seize control of the Erie Railroad from formidable Wall Street kingpin Cornelius Vanderbilt. Together with duplicitous politician William Tweed, Fisk was already embroiled in lawsuits and Mansfield had fallen for handsome associate Edward Stokes. Wanting his money but not him, she and Stokes attempted blackmail with personal letters incriminating him in illegal mischief.

Brands (History/Univ. of Texas; American Dreams: The United States Since 1945, 2010, etc.) takes particular joy in unfolding the high-profile courtroom melodrama in the second half of the book with seemingly verbatim exchange of emotional testimony cresting with the imbroglio of Fisk’s violent murder at Stokes’ hand. The author makes liberal use of photographs, journalistic accounts, summaries of court proceedings and trial transcripts, all offering “blow-by-blow and word-for-word coverage” of the key players. With swift prose and exacting detail, Brands transports readers back in time to an ostentatious era rooted in swift industrialization, avarice and corruption, in which men like Fisk thrived—and ultimately perished.

A wonderfully creative beginning to what promises to be a revitalizing history series.

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Bryant, Adam Times/Henry Holt (272 pp.) $25.00 | April 1, 2011 978-0-8050-9306-3

In his debut, New York Times Sunday business columnist Bryant explores the qualities that separate successful CEOs from the rest of the pack.

In a series of interviews, the leaders of industry speak offthe-cuff about what it takes to make it to the top, and the lessons they learned after arriving. The author includes the advice and observations of 75 CEOs and corporate executives, including Timberland’s Jeffrey Swartz, Harvard University’s Drew Gilpin Faust and Yahoo’s Carol Bartz. Leaving behind spreadsheets and bottom-line issues, Bryant’s interviewees focus on the personal attributes that brought them to their current positions.

As each speaks about the qualities they look for in others, a window opens onto how they see themselves and their roles. There are plenty of career-planning tips up front, but most interesting are the later sections of the book, which detail the day-to-day experiences, surprises and coping strategies that make up the business lives of a unique and extraordinary group. Almost universally unanticipated by these CEOs is how their every move effects their employees, like how the way they dress can result in imitation or how a momentary facial expression may lead to a flurry of assumptions. The corner offices Bryant visits are filled with people who have learned the importance of the smallest details of communication.

An interesting view of life in the most coveted corporate suites, seen through the eyes of those who occupy them.

THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE A Chronicle of a City Wilding Burns, Sarah Knopf (272 pp.) $25.00 | May 17, 2011 978-0-307-26614-9 e-book 978-0-307-59659-8

Examination of a 22-year-old crime that resulted in wrongful convictions of five adolescents.

Burns became knowledgeable about the so-called Central Park jogger rape case while studying at Yale University, from which she graduated in 2004. On Apr. 20, 1989, the battered body of a young professional female turned up in the park. Though she was near death after a savage beating and massive blood loss, she survived. In Central Park that night, a group of more than 30 adolescents had been committing lesser but still serious crimes involving violence against men and women. New York City police began focusing on some

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of the members of that larger group, and decided quickly that probably eight of the young males had participated in the rape.

Only one of the youths charged with the crime was age 16 at the time, and police interrogated him without adults present.

The interrogators extracted a confession of sorts from the 16-year-old, and used questionable tactics to gain partial admissions of guilt from four others under age 16. A jury convicted three of the youths during one trial, and two other youths at a separate trial. All served hard time in juvenile or adult correctional facilities despite evidence that never added up if looked at dispassionately. Burns reveals astoundingly incompetent police work. Only two days before the infamous sexual assault, another woman had been assaulted in Central Park in a similar manner. Furthermore, the actual perpetrator attracted police notice right away but never underwent meaningful questioning.

If he had not finally confessed while in prison, the five wrongfully convicted defendants might never have seen their reputations cleared. Burns’ examination is especially powerful because she moves beyond the specific crimes to examine the poisonous combination of police tunnel vision, over-aggressiveness by prosecutors, inept defense attorneys, inaccurate journalists and portions of society so racist that the inability to detect lies infected an entire city.

A superb addition to the growing literature of wrongful convictions. (8 photographs; 1 map. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh/William Morris)

THE ROGUE REPUBLIC How Would-Be Patriots Waged the Shortest Revolution in American History

Davis, William C. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (416 pp.) $28.00 | April 20, 2011 978-0-15-100925-1

Davis (History/Virginia Tech; The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf, 2005, etc.), presents a significant study of an obscure but highly revealing moment in American history— the declaration of independence by American settlers of the oftdisputed Territory of West Florida in 1804.

So much of the political conflict during the Federalist period involved territorial control. Nowhere was this more overt than the first American “Southwest,” which at the time included what is now Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and the westernmost parts of Florida. The fluctuation of colonial ownership throughout the region reflected the larger geopolitics of European power struggles, even as the Louisiana Purchase should have settled any remaining disputes. Regardless of who controlled this vast wilderness, it was home to a pragmatic population of settlers, speculators and frontier opportunists, who lived equally comfortably live under Spanish, French or American jurisdiction—until it became uncomfortable. Thus was the case with the brothers Kemper—Nathan, Reuben and 552

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Samuel—who became involved in a failed business arrangement with an Ohio politician John Smith. When Smith ended his arrangement with the Kempers, whom he had hired to manage his mercantile endeavors in Spanish West Florida, a Spanish court ordered the surrendering of the Kemper property and their removal from the territory. The Kempers contemptuously defied the order, in part because they believed the finalization of the Louisiana Purchase would render the decision moot. A series of standoffs with militia eventually led to a full-on insurgency of American settlers against the Spanish rule, resulting in a very brief period of nationhood.

Not only does Davis cast a bright light into these murky corners of our national past, he does so with a grace and clarity equal to the best historical writing today.

THE NARROW ROAD A Brief Guide to the Getting of Money Dennis, Felix Portfolio (240 pp.) $25.95 | April 14, 2011 978-1-59184-373-3

Maxim founder and self-made millionaire Dennis takes readers down the narrow road to riches. Only a few will get there.

It is refreshing to read a “get rich” book that doesn’t promise pots of gold while working from home in a bathrobe. The author begins by lamenting that too many readers thought his previous book, the satiric How To Get Rich, was an inspirational work. This lead to a repurposing of the material, which, Dennis writes, intends to tell the fierce truths and consequences involved with the acquisition of riches. In that sense, it delivers as a wake-up call for daydreamers and an honest perspective for real entrepreneurs. The book is broken into 88 short chapters, which glance at a variety of subjects, such as “motive” and “status.” Some readers, however, will not enjoy the author’s tonguein-cheek style, and the tone can often feel condescending.

Dennis offers plenty of sound advice, but much of it is obvious, such as his suggestion that “wealth cannot confer happiness.”

More specific examples from the author’s remarkable life would have made those truths powerful for readers. Dennis is at his best when equipping readers with practical business tips, such as common startup errors and his emphasis on frugality.

For readers who are looking for “success” in terms of vast amounts of money.

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“Cheeky and informative, but may leave readers wondering whether this writer will ever know what he wants to be when he grows up.” from beaten, seared, and sauced

BEATEN, SEARED, AND SAUCED On Becoming a Chef at the Culinary Institute of America

Dixon, Jonathan Clarkson Potter (272 pp.) $24.00 | May 3, 2011 978-0-307-58903-3

A former odd-jobber and Martha Stewart Living staff writer records the highs and lows of studying at the Culinary Institute of America.

Just before turning 38, Dixon decided to veer from his aimless career path and pursue cooking, the passion of his youth, as a vocation. So he and his girlfriend boxed their urban life and moved to scenic Rhinebeck, N.Y., where he embarked on the two-year Associate of Occupational Studies program at the nearby Culinary Institute of America (CIA)—a place “like Disneyland for cooks.” Knowing at the outset that he never wanted to own his own restaurant, Dixon’s fears that his latest desire to become a chef was yet another form of vocational “escapism” and “indulgence” were only heightened upon meeting his classmates, many barely out of high school—as one notes, “my parents wanted me to come here instead of juvie”—others possessed of the same focus and drive as famous CIA alumni Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz. “The Muslims may have ninety-nine names for God,” writes Dixon, “but at the CIA, there was pretty much just one: Keller.” Filled with engaging journalistic details as his studies move from theory to practice, Dixon’s acerbic account makes the CIA program sound like two years of protracted fraternity hazing, with 16-hour days and boot camp–like ego annihilation for weeks on end, coupled with an emphasis on collective success or failure in the kitchen. Throughout, the author waffles between self-doubt and confidence, gaining as much culinary knowledge—“For every end result, there are a dozen different ways to get there”—as personal introspection: “I knew I was too pigheaded to flourish in a situation where ceding control to others was required to truly learn and succeed.”

Cheeky and informative, but may leave readers wondering whether this writer will ever know what he wants to be when he grows up. (Agent: David Larabell/David Black Literary Agency)

COOKING FOR GRACIE The Making of a Parent from Scratch Dixon, Keith Crown (224 pp.) $22.00 | May 10, 2011 978-0-307-59187-6 e-book 978-0-307-59189-0

New York Times writer Dixon (The Art of Losing, 2007, etc.) chronicles his labors with the different phases of new parenthood and his endeavors to keep his family fed. |

With the arrival of a new baby, Gracie, the author realized that he had to modify his cooking habits and routines. “I must adapt, or we’ll do without,” he writes. “Soon I’ll have to learn to cook all over again.” Eventually, his defeat turned into tagliatelle with braised veal and gremolata pesto, short ribs with carrot-rosemary puree and chickpea minestra with fennel salad and chive oil. Though many of the recipes sprinkled throughout the text may seem daunting for some readers, the author also provides simpler recipes like salads and less-complicated pastas dishes. Dixon ably pulls readers into the kitchen with him, and conveys all the defeat, doubt, loneliness and trepidation that the author and his wife experienced as new parents. When bread and water seemed like the only option for the sleep-deprived father, Dixon rallied, creating delicious concoctions like ginger scallion rice with fried egg, spaghetti with anchovies, walnuts, mint and bread crumbs and black bean soup with bacon and cumin. The narrative also examines the challenges of preparing food under extreme circumstances, and Dixon proves to be a relentless, dedicated learner and doting father.

An enjoyable journey through parenthood and then back to reality, though somewhat unreasonable in its culinary expectations, particularly for new parents. (Agent: Ellen Levine/ Trident Media Group)

HOME DAIRY WITH ASHLEY ENGLISH All You Need to Know to Make Cheese, Yogurt, Butter & More English, Ashley Lark/Sterling (136 pp.) $19.95 | April 1, 2011 978-1-60059-627-8

Somewhat dry but easy-to-follow guide to the mysterious world of homemade dairy products.

The latest addition to English’s Homemade Living series (Keeping Bees with Ashley English, 2011, etc.) joins the ranks of countless new titles that invite readers to forego the suburban supermarkets for their kitchens instead. After a brief overview of the deliciously active role of dairy throughout human history, the author jumps right in to the tools of the trade. Readers unfamiliar with mesophilic cultures and curd knives need not fear; the English’s spirited, encouraging tone will soon have readers believing that they, too, can produce the cheddar they so eagerly reach for in the refrigerated aisle. “I love the self sufficiency and empowerment I feel when I take a humble gallon of milk and create something entirely different. It’s...part science, and part magic,” home cheesemaker Claudia tells the author in one of the many sidebars that appear in the manual. These inserts, often biographies of other members of the DIY dairy revolution, could have upped the entertainment value of the book had they been peppered with clever anecdotes and quips on the challenges of making your own cheese. But English is no slouch at demystifying the intricacies of home dairy; from the simplicities of churning out your own delectable butter to

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pressing your very first gouda, the author covers it all in clean, unpretentious, step-by-step instruction.

Excellent for those looking to take a slight step off the grid.

CHANGING PLANET, CHANGING HEALTH How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do about It

Epstein, Paul R. and Dan Ferber University of California Press (368 pp.) $29.95 | April 4, 2011 978-0-520-26909-5

A comprehensive read on climate change, its environmental and health impacts and the actions that can be taken against it—as seen through a health professional’s eyes.

Malaria and cholera in the Chesapeake Bay? Don’t panic!

The bacteria that cause these two diseases doesn’t naturally exist in the Mid-Atlantic states. They’ll only appear and begin wreaking havoc if water temperatures rise. The climate is changing around the planet as a result of scientifically proven global warming, and an increase in epidemics with outbreaks in new areas is just one of the dozens of forecasted health crises. Epstein (Center for Health and Global Environment/ Harvard Univ.) has spent the better part of his medical career as an environmental activist, raising awareness in an effort to inspire change through his work with United Nations, insurance agencies and fellow health-care providers. Here, Epstein teams up with Science magazine’s Ferber, and through expressive and simplistic prose, the authors present the adverse impacts climate change will have on human health. Deadly heat waves, drought and famine will result in increased asthma and allergies; instances of Lyme Disease are also expected to increase.

This is no time for hand-wringing, the authors write. They urge a change in lifestyle and industry standards, and they provide suggestions and talking points for policymakers.

A harrowing look at the road ahead that should urge immediate, proactive change.

FORTY BEADS The Simple, Sexy Secret for Transforming Your Marriage

Evans, Carolyn Running Press (176 pp.) $14.00 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-7624-3928-7

A creative catalyst for remedying an ailing sex life.

When Evans was facing a particularly arduous period in her marriage, she knew she needed to do something to reignite her love life. She decided to offer her husband sex on a daily basis for 40 straight days, marking each one off 554

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with the drop of a Venetian bead into a mason jar. Thus was born the Forty Beads Method, an approach that “assumes a disparity that often exists between the male and female libidos and offers a way to close the gap.” Evans’ observations about sex and marriage and advice for other couples who want to try this at home are laced with attention-grabbing anecdotes and humor. When she explained her plan to her husband, she writes, he “looked at me as if I were Venus, the Goddess of Love, sailing into the bedroom on a clamshell.” But she makes unsubstantiated and sweeping generalizations about men throughout the text, most notably in “Sex: The Deal,” in which she writes, “Men love sex and for most of them, it’s their favorite thing in the whole world.”

She employs limited scientific evidence to justify her oversimplified views. And while the author invites homosexuals to try this method, she fails to suggest any possible modifications to the heterosexual approach to her program. Also includes guidelines for creating a supportive community of Beaders.

For women who need help dealing with the sexual power struggles of their relationship.

CABIN FEVER A Suburban Father’s Search for the Wild Fate, Tom Montgomery Beacon (224 pp.) $24.95 | June 7, 2011 978-0-8070-0096-0 e-book 978-0-8070-0097-7

A suburban father marches to the beat of Henry David Thoreau.

After rereading Walden in middle age, Fate (English/Coll. of DuPage; Steady & Trembling: Art, Faith, & Family in an Uncertain World, 2005, etc.) emulated his literary hero by building a cabin in the wilds of southwest Michigan. He then began the search for balance and a closer connection to nature, which he recounts in these delightful personal essays. A father of three in suburban Chicago, Fate could not isolate himself in his cabin like the hermetic Thoreau. So he conducted his quest while fully engaged with the daily rounds of life in a high-tech, material culture. Inspired by awareness of the most ordinary things—a backyard bird feeder, a bowl of lake glass, the death of the family cat—each essay explores some aspect of human experience, following Thoreau’s “invitation to a new kind of vision, to the joy of enough in a culture of more, to a deliberate life.” The author watches children lost in play and wonders when he lost his own faith in the present moment. Taking a cue from “Mr. Self-Reliance,” he attempts to trim the elm trees on his property, fails miserably, and realizes that Thoreau’s barebones way of living clearly “isn’t nearly enough for me.” With each foray into the workaday world, Fate comes closer to understanding how he might achieve balance in his hectic modern life.

Quiet, beautifully written reflections on nature and the mindful life, laced with the thoughts and writings of Thoreau.

(Events in Chicago and southwest Michigan)

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“From King Lear to George Washington to Tiger Woods, the author’s varied examples of vying interests ask readers to repeatedly reconsider the meaning of loyalty in their own lives.” from loyalty

LOYALTY The Vexing Virtue

Felten, Eric Simon & Schuster (320 pp.) $25.00 | April 26, 2011 978-1-4391-7686-3

Wall Street Journal columnist Felten (How’s Your Drink?: Cocktails, Culture, and the Art of Drinking Well, 2007, etc.) explores the ambiguous aspects of loyalty.

Has the concept of loyalty changed over time? And how does one navigate the often paradoxical terrain of competing loyalties? The author’s take on what he’s rightly termed a “vexing virtue” is a refreshing investigation of a concept often oversimplified. Through philosophical queries, powerful stories and case studies that will set readers pondering for hours, Felten asks us to consider how loyalty is exhibited in a multitude of situations. Politics, religion and parenting all get the loyal treatment—as does warfare. Should a Marine, under the banner Semper Fi, who is witness to an atrocity committed by his brother in arms remain faithful or speak out righteously against him? What will readers make of Agamemnon of Greek legend, asked to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to turn the tides for Troy? Was he a cruel parent or loyal to his gods and his soldiers? Many of us aren’t faced with such dramatic or tragic choices, but Felten’s point is that we’ve all faced the conflicts posed by questions of loyalty. From King Lear to George Washington to Tiger Woods, the author’s varied examples of vying interests ask readers to repeatedly reconsider the meaning of loyalty in their own lives.

Like this book, loyalty is a difficult but essential virtue.

MEASURE OF THE EARTH The Enlightenment Expedition that Reshaped the World Ferreiro, Larrie D. Basic (320 pp.) $26.99 | June 1, 2011 978-0-465-01723-2

A sophisticated work tracing the arduous mid-18th-century international expedition to the Latin American equator to determine the “figure of the earth.”

The reigning scientific debate of the Enlightenment concerned the shape of the earth—was it round or flat at the poles? France’s Academy of Sciences, founded by Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1666, had relied on Descartes’ theory of vortices and believed strongly that the earth was elongated at the poles. On the other hand, Isaac Newton postulated daringly that due to the force of gravity, the earth bulged out at the equator and was flattened at the poles.

The two camps needed to prove decisively who was correct.

French mathematician Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis was |

convinced Newton was right and aimed to organize a geodesic mission to the equator in order to measure the length of latitude to prove it. He enlisted French mathematician Pierre Bouguer, chemist Charles-Marie de la Condamine and astronomer Louis Godin on a mission to equatorial Peru, newly accessible due to a Bourbon Compact with Spain. The Geodesic Mission to the Equator invited several Spanish scientists as well and set out in 1735 on what was deemed a three- or four-year mission. It actually lasted nearly 10, involving unbelievable delays, money squandered disgracefully by their leader Godin, long periods of separation, native hostility, war with Spain, a rival expedition to the Arctic Circle and innumerable hardships. In the end, the mission was remarkably accurate, proving the earth was oblate and that Newton was right, and influencing subsequent expeditions by Alexander von Humboldt, Darwin and others.

Ferreiro’s fascinating, absorbing journey involves some complicated explanations, and she lays them out patiently for general readers. (8-page black-and-white insert)

SPEAKING OUT A Congressman’s Lifelong Fight Against Bigotry, Famine, and War Findley, Paul Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review (320 pp.) $26.95 | June 1, 2011 978-1-56976-625-5

Former Illinois Republican Congressman Findley (Silent No More: Confronting America’s False Images of Islam, 2001, etc.) reflects on the time he served in office—1960 to 1982—and the lessons he learned over the years.

The congressman reminds us of the time when bipartisanship was the rule not the exception. As a middle-of-the-road Republican, he was a fiscal conservative but also active supporter of civil-rights legislation. Although he started off as a hawk, he became a proponent of ending the war in Vietnam.

An admirer of Eisenhower, Findley also respected JFK and his measured approach during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Raised in a small town in Illinois, the author began his career as a reporter while still in high school—ultimately becoming the owner and publisher of the Pike County Republican—and his first taste of politics was during the 1936 election, when he supported Alf Landon against FDR. Astonishing today, the author writes that his first election victory cost “slightly less than $21,000, all paid in full the day before voting.” In 1973, Findley, who was part of a congressional group visiting the Middle East, met Yasser Arafat and became concerned about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

This was a transformative experience. “I became convinced Palestinians had legitimate grievances against our government,” he writes. Overlooking all other relevant geopolitical issues, including the Cold War and the oil crises, the author writes that since the Kennedy Administration, “all U.S. Presidents have done the bidding of Israel’s lobby, and the Congress has done

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EPIGENETICS The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance

the same,” resulting in “religious bias in foreign policy” and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A serviceable overview of a distinguished career, somewhat marred by the author’s occasionally extremist views. (16-page black-and-white insert)

BOTTLED LIGHTNING Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy

Fletcher, Seth Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (272 pp.) $26.00 | May 18, 2011 978-0-8090-3053-8

The future is all around us, goes the techie adage; it’s just not evenly distributed. And so it is with a certain battery, writes Popular Science features editor Fletcher, that could change the world.

What was it those guys in Star Trek were always hunting for?

Ah, yes: dilithium, the stuff with which to keep their starship tanked up. Here on Earth we have lithium, with veins of the mineral scattered across the deserts of Bolivia and Chile. The author opens with an account of a “concept car” from General Motors, the Chevrolet Volt, revealed just a few years back with the idea that “electrification of the automobile had finally arrived thanks to a critical enabling technology: the lithium-ion battery.” The problem, as Fletcher notes, was that the batteries were there theoretically, “within sight yet not within hand”— that is, lithium batteries were in use, to be sure, in things such as cell phones and cameras, but just hadn’t quite scaled up to car size. Was GM just trying to project a green image? Perhaps. But, Fletcher argues, when the technology matches up with reality, big changes could await us in the form of a comparatively inexpensive, comparatively abundant and certainly comparatively clean fuel source. The author provides an entertaining, surprisingly eventful history of human efforts to harness energy in the form of battery power since the days of Alessandro Volta, focusing closely on latter-day genius and evangelist John Goodenough, who worked on lithium oxides beginning in the 1950s but whose breakthrough invention went begging for a license—“not for any good reason,” notes Fletcher, except that it was unorthodox.

Fast-forward 50 years, and the unorthodox is the commonplace.

Who will benefit, though? That’s a matter that remains to be settled once a variety of international scientists get around to conjuring up lithium-based fuel out of—yes, thin air.

A fine, readable work of popular science, sometimes verging on science fiction. (Agent: Larry Weissman/Larry Weissman Literary)

Francis, Richard C. Norton (224 pp.) $25.95 | June 13, 2011 978-0-393-07005-7

Science writer Francis (Why Men Won’t Ask for Directions, 2003) sets out to dethrone the notion that genes are the “directors” of the “plays” that are our lives, orchestrating our development and determining our risk for disease and sundry physical and behavioral traits.

Yes, genes are important, writes the author, but they are subject to regulation by forces that can turn them on or off, sometimes for a lifetime, sometimes across generations. These forces can come via the cell housing of the genes, other parts of the body or the environment, in each instance initiating the actions of chemicals that bind (or unbind) one or more parts of a gene, preventing (or activating) its transcription. This is an “epigenetic” process—epigenetics is the science that studies the ways in which DNA can undergo long-term regulatory changes that do not involve mutations of the genes themselves. To illustrate, Francis provides a dizzying array of examples, which can be distracting. Do we really need the entire plot of The Deer Hunter to explain how each character’s presumed early-life stress determines reactions to combat? The point is that stress, particularly chronic stress in utero, can reset an individual’s stress barometer to ultrasensitivity, with unhealthy long-term consequences.

Other early-life examples include the effects of maternal malnutrition and the bizarre consequences, including shrunken testicles, resulting from long-term anabolic steroid use. But it’s not only hormones that affect gene regulation. Epigenetic processes can occur randomly and sometimes be reversed. There is also the phenomenon of imprinting, by which offspring can vary dramatically depending on whether the genes activated derive from the father or the mother. Emerging cancer studies also indicate that epigenetic events may spur progression as well as spontaneous remissions.

In his zeal, Francis provides a primer of a new science that will please some readers; others may want—and can expect— more in-depth accounts to come. (18 illustrations)

PLASTIC A Toxic Love Story

Freinkel, Susan Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (320 pp.) $27.00 | April 18, 2011 978-0-547-15240-0 An informative treatise on our complicated and dependent relationship with plastic.

Early in the book, journalist Freinkel (American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and

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“The author charges that technologies designed for military and prison uses, such as fingerprinting, have found their way into schools with little understanding of their need, effectiveness or impact on students.” from lockdown high

Rebirth of a Perfect Tree, 2007) tracks her use of every plasticized object she touches, from toilet seat to light switch to fleece sweatshirt, wondering, “How did my life become so permeated by synthetics without my even trying?” The author examines plastic via a study of eight everyday objects: comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle and credit card. Each chapter details the innovations and innovators that allowed us to progress technologically as plastic replaced the ivory comb, the wooden chair and even human body parts.

Though Freinkel does her best to create a lively exploration, some sections of the narrative get bogged down. The evolution of the plastic chair, for example, doesn’t exactly make for compelling history. However, the author provides an engaging chronicle of the alacrity with which the plastic industry developed—today, “more than one million Americans work directly in plastics.” Freinkel’s argument that, due to our obsession with plastic, we “are facing frightening intimations of ecological collapse,” gives the book an urgency that will be appreciated by scientists, industry leaders and environmentalists alike—especially in a country where the average individual consumes more than 300 pounds of plastic each year.

General readers may find the narrative overly scientific at times, but Freinkel presents a balanced, well-researched investigation into a controversial and versatile human creation.

CHASING CHILES Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail

Friese, Kurt Michael; Kraft, Kraig; Nabhan, Gary Paul Chelsea Green (224 pp.) $17.95 paperback original | April 1, 2011 978-1-60358-250-6 Three self-described “gastronauts” plumb climate change through the piquant prism of chile peppers.

The journey is the destination as the earnest trio launch their “spice ship” throughout the United States and Mexico to learn how shifting weather patterns have been affecting the noble pepper’s destiny—and the fate of those who rely on the crop. The authors—a chef, an agroecologist and an ethnobotanist—rely on listening (and, of course, eating) during their oneyear odyssey, harvesting anecdotes to better understand the global dilemma. “We had a hunch that climate change wasn’t just out there—in the polar ice caps and in receding glaciers— but in here, in our food system,” they write. On their travels, the authors meet men like Fernando Niño Estudillo, a spice trader in Sonora who describes his recent quandary: “I’ve been ten years in the business; most years I drive truckloads of chiltepines to Tijuana myself. Only this last year has the wild chile crop ever failed me...I didn’t even make a single trip to the border.” But it’s not all serious—the trio relishes chiles, after all.

In Florida, as they prepare to dig into a jar of datil peppers in white vinegar, they write, “We smiled at one another like old |

junkies who have just discovered that someone left a couple of joints in their midst.”

The occasionally florid writing notwithstanding, the book provides well-crafted regional recipes and edifying passages about the surveyed chiles.

LOCKDOWN HIGH When the Schoolhouse Becomes a Jailhouse

Fuentes, Annette Verso (320 pp.) $26.95 | May 30, 2011 978-1-84467-681-1

An investigative reporter looks at American public schools and finds that excessively harsh discipline policies are criminalizing student behavior and establishing a school-to-prison pipeline that unfairly targets minorities.

Bay Citizen online editor Fuentes writes that the zerotolerance policy had its origins in the White House’s war on drugs in the 1980s and was given a boost in 1994 by the Gun Free Schools Act and in 2001 by the No Child Left Behind Act. The latter’s sanctions against schools that do not demonstrate achievement through standardized testing has led to charges that school authorities are suspending and expelling students who test poorly. The 1999 Columbine shootings heightened the public’s perception of the risks of violence inside schools, and many states and localities responded with high-tech security measures and surveillance systems. The author charges that technologies designed for military and prison uses, such as fingerprinting, have found their way into schools with little understanding of their need, effectiveness or impact on students. Fuentes also looks at the practice of student drug testing, the arguments of those in favor of testing as a deterrent and the questions being asked by those who question its value. She takes a dim view of those profiting from zero-tolerance policies: ex-cops who become school safety consultants, manufacturers of surveillance and drug-testing equipment and certain companies running alternative schools for students suspended from regular public schools for behavioral problems. There is a movement afoot, Fuentes writes in her final chapter, to oppose the trend toward heavy policing of schools, and she reports on the measures being taken in school districts in New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York as they look for other ways of handling discipline and promoting positive behavior.

Examples of zero-tolerance policies taken to absurd levels are attention-grabbing, but the real story, spelled out here with clarity and a touch of anger, is a disturbing one that should concern members of school boards, principals, teachers and parents.

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The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli

Lisa Abend Free Press $26.00 March 22, 2011 9781439175552

In The Sorcerer’s Apprentices, Lisa Abend, Time magazine’s correspondent in Spain, chronicles the rarefied world of arguably the most acclaimed chef in the world, the Catalan master Ferran Adrià.

The author follows 35 of the chef ’s stagiaires (unpaid apprentices) in the kitchen of elBulli, Adrià’s restaurant in Roses, Spain, which has been named the best restaurant in the world five times by Restaurant magazine. In a book that Kirkus called a “slowmotion gastronomical feast and a rare chance for gourmet enthusiasts to witness the creative process behind some of the world’s most innovative cuisine,” Abend gives readers backstage access to one of the most exclusive and mysterious professional kitchens on the planet.

A: Yes, I’m in touch with all of them. Adrià will keep doing what he has always done, which is to push the boundaries of cuisine. He’ll just be doing it under the auspices of the new elBulli Foundation, rather than within a restaurant.

The big question is what becomes of Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch. They are two of the most talented chefs I know, and each could, if he wanted, be running a top restaurant anywhere in the world. But they’re both incredibly loyal to Ferran, and have spent their entire careers working at elBulli. They’ve both decided to stay on with the Foundation, but I do wonder if, at some point in their careers, they’re not going to want more recognition for what they do.

Q: From your experiences with the stagiaires, what do you think is the most difficult part of apprenticeship at elBulli?

Q: What else is on the horizon for Adrià? Can we possibly hope he opens a restaurant in the U.S. at some point, or is focused on the instruction part of the industry?

A: Mastering the tedium. Apprenticing in a kitchen always requires tedious labor—there are a lot of carrots that need to be chopped—but at elBulli, it seems worse than in most. In part, that’s because of the work itself: many of elBulli’s most striking dishes can only be made because the chef has lots of free manual labor at his disposal. He can make his corn risotto, for example, only because he has 15 or 20 young cooks who will stand there for an hour squeezing out the tiny germ from each kernel. But I think there’s also a bit of cognitive dissonance for many of the stagiaires. They arrive knowing that ElBulli has the reputation for making the most exciting food in the world, but quickly learn that they’re not, in general, doing exciting things; they spend their days shucking oysters and peeling pistachios.

A: Ferran and his brother Albert (it’s primarily in the latter’s hands) have just opened a new, and very innovative cocktail-and-tapas bar in Barcelona.

If it’s successful (and how could it not be?) they’ve discussed opening more in other cities around the world. But that’s a long way down the line.

In the meantime, Ferran will work on getting the Foundation underway in 2014. He’s also just signed on to teach at Harvard, this time in a more sustained manner.

Q: For those of us who unfortunately can’t afford to travel to Spain to visit elBulli, do you have recommendations for restaurants in the United States that could at least come close to approximating the experience?

A: It sounds ridiculous to say, I know, but there is no restaurant that approximates elBulli. Ask anyone who’s been there: it truly is a unique experience.

Q: The term “molecular gastronomy” gets thrown around quite a bit these days, especially in relation to Adrià and his former apprentices. What do you think of that term?

Q: Do you have plans for another book?

A: Yes, I’m tossing around a few ideas. None of them have much to do with food, but all of them are, in one way or another, about Spain. I’ve been coming to Spain for the better part of my adult life, and remain as fascinated by it as ever.

–By Eric Liebetrau

Q: Do you still keep in touch with Adrià and chefs Xatruch and Castro? What do you think we can expect from them after the elBulli closes to the public?

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PH OTO by C é s a r lu c a s a b re u

A: Like most people (including Ferran Adrià) who are serious about food, I’m not crazy about it. For one thing, it seems so inexact; as Gaël Vuilloud, one of the apprentices I write about, says, “What does that even mean? All food is made up of molecules.” As a phrase, it also seems to carry a disproportionate number of negative connotations. But I recognize that it serves a function. Unfortunately, there’s not a great, universally agreed-upon alternative. A Spanish journalist named Pau Arenós came up with “techno-emotional” to describe that style of cooking, but I’m not crazy about that either. I tend to go with “avant-garde.”

MR. SPEAKER! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man Who Broke the Filibuster

HANKIE COUTURE Handcrafted Fashions from Vintage Handkerchiefs

Greenberg, Marsha Running Press (184 pp.) $15.00 paperback original | April 5, 2011 978-0-7624-4017-7

Grant, James Simon & Schuster (448 pp.) $28.00 | May 10, 2011 978-1-4165-4493-7

Biographer and financial expert Grant (Mr. Market Miscalculates: The Bubble Years and Beyond, 2008, etc.) takes the measure of “Czar” Reed, the Gilded Age

giant of the Congress.

The great John Singer Sargent painted him; the peerless Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpted him. Both felt obliged to apologize for not quite capturing the essence of Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902), the powerful House Speaker. Of the Sargent portrait, the inveterately sardonic Reed remarked: “I hope my enemies are satisfied.” Where artistic geniuses before him have faltered, it seems churlish to censure Grant for failing to give us the man in full, particularly as he writes with great verve about the political issues that dominated Reed’s era. The author effectively demystifies economic arcana—protective tariff, gold standard, bimetallism, etc.—to breezily instruct readers in the intra-Congress, parliamentary maneuvering and mastery of the rules for which the Speaker is best remembered, even to account for Reed’s unlikely late-life apostasy on issues like women’s suffrage and imperialism. Solving the private Reed, though, poses a difficult problem for Grant—indeed, for any biographer looking to pierce the legendary imperiousness that both attracted and repelled colleagues and constituents. Reed’s massive frame, opaque gaze, formidable intellect and lacerating wit kept contemporaries at arm’s length. He was respected, even feared, but never loved. Notwithstanding his fiercely partisan party service, fellow Republicans preferred the likes of the charismatic and thoroughly dishonest James G. Blaine or the amiable, relentlessly ordinary William McKinley for the presidency. Incorruptible in an era notorious for corruption, Reed, nevertheless, was no earnest reformer in the mode of, say, Democrat Grover Cleveland. He was a fatalist about the business cycle and about mankind, and had “no interest in instructing the impure.” He loathed humbug and grandiloquence, severe handicaps for a politician. Asked in 1896 about his chances for the presidential nomination, Reed responded, “They could do worse—and probably will.”

Flawed, yes, but likely to become the standard biography, at least for now. (16-page black-and-white insert. Agent: Flip Brophy/ Sterling Lord Literistic)

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Vintage handkerchiefs receive new life as couture fashion for dolls.

Now that the handkerchief has gone the way of the leisure suit, vintage handkerchiefs can be found in abundance at garage sales and thrift stores. Such a windfall of brightly colored, retro-chic patterns led fashion designer Greenberg to create hundreds of miniature dresses out of them. Designed for Barbie dolls—literally—these dresses are at times clever, romantic and whimsical, and Greenberg is obviously a talented and patient seamstress. But what was the author to do with so many dresses lining her sewing room on their tiny hangers? Sell them on eBay, of course. Hankie Couture, as her line of dresses is now known, is apparently popular among collectors. Impressive as they are, creating a book based on them presents more of a challenge. Each page features a doll dressed in a particular Hankie Couture fashion, set in a tableau featuring furniture (also crafted by Greenberg) and other accessories.

These tableaux are accompanied by short platitudes describing the Southern Belle-ish “Hankie Couture Woman”—e.g., “A Hankie Couture woman goes to bed each night with a smile in her heart.” The book may have kitsch appeal, but it’s not ironic enough to be marketed as such, nor is it written for children, who might want to learn to sew doll clothes.

Limited appeal for serious crafters.

NO BIKING IN THE HOUSE WITHOUT A HELMET

Greene, Melissa Fay Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (368 pp.) $26.00 | May 3, 2011 978-0-374-22306-9 The prodigiously cheering reflections of a mother gathering a large brood of children, both biological and adopted.

Greene (There Is No Me Without You: One Woman’s Odyssey to Rescue Africa’s Children, 2006, etc.) is the kind of person most engaged when there is a thick scrum of children underfoot. So when her eldest of four prepared for college, the author began to feel empty-nest syndrome, and she and her husband considered adoption. This was in the 1990s, a faraway time Greene recalls when her computer has to do “squat thrusts” to warm up before connecting to internationaladoption sites on the Internet. After finding a boy in Bulgaria, she traveled there to investigate. Upon meeting him, she began to realize the heavy significance of the adoption process: “If I had thought this was a free look, a check-this-one-out, a no risk

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“A visceral, darkly lyrical narrative that reads with the immediacy and rawness of an open wound.” from i wore the ocean in the shape of a girl

trial with the possibility of a full refund, I was wrong. It is not permissible to dabble in that way in someone’s life—especially a child’s.” Fortunately, the author and the boy formed a bond, and he became a member of the family, as did girl and three boys from Ethiopia in subsequent years. Greene is a writer of emotional impact. Whether she is describing the lands she visited to gather her children or the days that followed back home in Georgia, her words are flush with humanity and all the messiness and comedy that humanity trails in its wake. She goes the distance, which is a beautiful thing to behold, even as she plots her escape from all that she has called down on her head, for these are orphanage kids with plenty of baggage in tow. “I don’t think our plan is working. We’re getting all the pain of empty nest anyway,” she complained to her husband at one point.

Eventually, an enveloping sweetness and involvement swept away all but what is elementally grand about being a parent and nursing a parent.

An upbeat chronicle of a life that has been lived on the bright side of the road, its ruts beveled by naked love. (36 blackand-white photographs. Reading group guide)

I WORE THE OCEAN IN THE SHAPE OF A GIRL A Memoir Groom, Kelle Free Press (224 pp.) $27.00 | June 7, 2011 978-1-4516-1668-2

A critically acclaimed poet’s account of her anguished descent into alcoholism and self-destruction.

When Groom (Five Kingdoms, 2009, etc.) gave birth to her one and only child at 19, she was already in the fierce clutches of alcohol dependency. Through a series of impressionistic, loosely chronological recollections, the author describes the early experimentations with drinking that evolved into fullblown addiction. Shy and socially awkward, the author—who took her first drink at 14 and had the first of many blackouts a year later—saw alcohol as liquid empowerment. It was, she recalls, a “potion that chang[ed] me, [made] me unafraid.” The greater her need for alcohol became, the more out of control her life became. Groom was increasingly drawn into questionable friendships, unhealthy relationships and life-threatening situations—extreme inebriation led her to be gang-raped and almost murdered. Her pregnancy was the eye in the increasingly violent storm of her life. But soon after she gave her son to her aunt and uncle, she became overwhelmed by a profound guilt that exacerbated a propensity toward self-mutilation. After one particularly gruesome cutting episode, Groom went to a rehabilitation center. As she recovered from alcoholism, she began to struggle with the trauma of losing her son, first to adoption, then to infantile leukemia. Wracked with self-hatred, she cycled in and out of school and moved from one low-paying job to another. Eventually, she gained the courage to embark on a twodecades-long journey to learn about her son and understand 560

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why he became ill. The language of this brooding and obsessive memoir is exquisitely compressed, yet beneath the taut imagery and diction are palpable, powerful surges of emotions.

A visceral, darkly lyrical narrative that reads with the immediacy and rawness of an open wound. (Author tour to Boston, Miami, New York)

THE LAST GUNFIGHT The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral— And How It Changed the American West Guinn, Jeff Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $27.00 | May 17, 2011 978-1-4391-5424-3

An absorbing, meticulous account of the famous O.K. Corral gunfight as it

really happened.

In books, movies and TV series, Wyatt Earp has been portrayed as an American frontier hero who, along with his brothers and his friend Doc Holliday, faced down evil cowboys in the 1881 Tombstone, Ariz., gunfight immortalized in John Ford’s classic My Darling Clementine (1946), starring Henry Fonda. In fact, writes 2010 Edgar Award finalist Guinn (Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, 2009, etc.), the traditional rendering of the celebrated shootout has skewed our understanding of frontier history. The gunfight did not occur in the O.K. Corral, but rather in a nearby vacant lot. Nobody knows exactly what happened during the shootout—we can only piece together “most likely scenarios” writes the author— but it certainly was not a classic confrontation between good and evil, as described by many writers. Drawing on papers and interviews, Guinn places his complex and nuanced story firmly within the context of the evolving Western frontier, where gold and silver began attracting prospectors, miners, and con artists in the 1850s. When the Earp brothers arrived in 1879, the nascent mining town of Tombstone had about 900 residents.

Virgil Earp became police chief. Wyatt, a sometime lawman, played card games in local bars. Their brawling dentist friend Doc Holliday also gambled. Describing the many social, political and other forces that set the stage for the gunfight (including new edicts regarding arrests and carrying guns), Guinn details the historic events of the cold afternoon of Oct. 26, 1881: drunken outlaw Ike Clanton’s wild threats against Wyatt Earp and Holliday; Virgil’s attempt (together with his brothers and Doc) to disarm Ike and his cowboy buddies; and the 30-second exchange of gunfire that left three cowboys dead.

Just the facts—and still a great story. (16-page black-andwhite insert; 2 maps. Agent: Jim Donovan/Jim Donovan Literary)

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MY YEAR WITH ELEANOR A Memoir Hancock, Noelle Ecco/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $24.99 | June 7, 2011 978-0-06-187503-8

A charmingly candid memoir of the year a young journalist spent conquering her deepest fears.

In 2008, Hancock was on a beach in Aruba when she learned that her nearly six-figure blogging job had become a victim of the Great Recession. Shocked and confused, the newly unemployed pop-culture journalist promptly downed two shots of Jack Daniels and “adopted a large family of piña coladas.” Unable to find a job upon her return to New York, she had to face the unpleasant fact that “to tell people that you do nothing is like saying ‘I am nothing.’ ” She attempted to devise a “one-year plan,” only to find herself paralyzed into inaction by increasing anxiety and self-doubt. Then one day, and quite by chance, she came across a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt scrawled across a café menu board: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” These simple words changed Hancock’s life. Not only did she decide to take the advice literally and apply it to each of the 365 days that followed her upcoming 29th birthday; she also set herself the task of reading all of the former first lady’s major writings. If Roosevelt, who began life as a painfully shy child, could grow into a self-confident woman remembered for her extraordinary courage, then Hancock could easily move beyond her own fears, no matter how primal or idiosyncratic. During the next 12 months, the author swam with sharks, jumped out of airplanes, embalmed dead bodies, confronted ex-boyfriends, kicked a 10-year sleeping-pill habit and climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Pushing her limits, Hancock reconnected with the ballsy, irreverent person she had once been. More importantly, her exercise in overcoming fear allowed her to return to living her life with a renewed sense of purpose and proportion.

Inspired, white-knuckled fun from start to finish. (Author appearances in New York City)

THE BROKEBACK BOOK From Story to Cultural Phenomenon

Editor: Handley, William R. Bison/Univ. of Nebraska (416 pp.) $24.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-8032-2664-7 Brokeback Mountain—film or phenomenon?

Editor Handley (English/Univ. of Southern California; Marriage, Violence and the Nation in the American Literary West, 2002, etc.) culls a selection of articles grappling with the import and impact of Brokeback Mountain, the “gay cowboy” movie that portrayed the doomed relationship between Wyoming |

ranch hands and, for a time, dominated cultural conversation.

The pieces run the gamut from jargon-heavy academic evaluations to personal testimonies, and include an interview with Annie Proulx, whose short story formed the basis for the film.

A few points recur: Was Brokeback a gay narrative or a universal love story? How authentically did the filmmakers portray the rough-and-tumble Wyoming milieu? Was the film a watershed moment for the portrayal of gay life on film or a cynically calculated sop to traditional values? Who’s cuter, Heath or Jake?

The essays grapple with these questions to varyingly compelling degrees. Readers without a background in gender studies may balk at the more densely academic essays, rife with lit-class lingo like “queering the landscape” and much ado about “paradigms.” For the Brokeback enthusiast, the book offers much to savor, as the pieces are uniformly passionate and chockfull of contextualizing information and analysis, but the general film fan will likely find this all a bit much to take on.

A diverse consideration of a landmark film, but repetitive and hampered by too many ivory-tower harangues. (13 illustrations)

FEATHERS The Evolution of a Natural Miracle Hanson, Thor Basic (336 pp.) $26.99 | June 1, 2011 978-0-465-02013-3

When a vulture feather accidentally dropped at his feet as he watched the birds fly overhead, field biologist and conservationist Hanson (The Impenetrable Forest, 2000) felt called upon to choose feathers as the subject of his next book.

In this wide-ranging study of our feathered friends, the author also looks at the many uses of feathers throughout history, from featherbeds and down quilts to arrows and pens, and as a fashion statement “in fans, dusters, boas, floral arrangements, and in the fringes of cloaks and shawls,” as well as women’s hats. In fact, feathers were the highest-value cargo carried on the ill-fated Titanic. As far back as 30,000 years ago, our ancestors recorded their fascination with birds in cave drawings. The discovery of Archaeopteryx, a crow-sized fossil with feathers and the skeleton of a reptile, just two years after the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, was the beginning of a centurylong controversy over the evolution of birds, with a consensus reach only recently. It is now generally accepted that birds have evolved from meat-eating dinosaurs. Hanson recounts the many disputes over the evolutionary development of feathers and conundrum of how landed creatures gained the ability to fly, and he explains how even half-formed feathers would have conferred an evolutionary advantage to winged dinosaurs (insulation, protection from insects and thorns, greater maneuverability and sexual display)—all of which play the same function for modern birds and have been adapted for human use.

A delightful ramble through the byways of evolution and

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the wonderful world of birds. (30 black-and-white photographs.

Author tour to Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C.)

ALICE’S COOKBOOK

Hart, Alice Lyons Press (192 pp.) $19.95 paperback original | April 1, 2011 978-0-7627-7018-2 A cookbook filled with recipes to nourish a busy lifestyle.

Stop eating prepackaged pasta because you have no time to cook, writes the author. Don’t miss all the jokes at the dinner party because you are sweating it out over the stove.

Food editor Hart thinks spending time with friends and family is made great by sharing a fantastic meal. To pull this off, the author prepares most meals early. “This advance prepping is my way of picking a path through life’s vicissitudes, with sanity somewhat intact and delectable food on the table,” she writes in the introduction to her debut cookbook. Hart follows that up with easy-to-follow menus and recipes for seasonal lunches, portable breakfasts and parties, among other occasions. She breaks down exact prep time, as well as how long a recipe can be refrigerated. The author has even manipulated recipes so that multiple items can be in the oven at the same time and temperature. The recipe for Quick Damper Bread Dipping Sticks, meant to be cooked over a campfire, includes tips on how to transport prepped ingredients to the wilderness. The author’s menu for an Autumn Sunday Lunch for Six includes Carmelized Baby Roots, Feta and Sweet Lemon Dressing; Slow-Roasted Red-Currant and Thyme Lamb Shoulder; Glazed Cabbage; Giant Yorkshire Pudding; and a Pear and Almond Tarte Tatin.

To this feast, Hart folds in as many time-saving tips as possible and provides a minute-by-minute break down of how to get all of the dishes on the table by 2 p.m.

For readers too busy to cook or those simply seeking fresh and tasty ideas.

BOLIVAR The Liberator of Latin America

Harvey, Robert Skyhorse Publishing (432 pp.) $26.95 | June 1, 2011 978-1-61608-316-8

The great liberator Simón Bolívar (1783– 1830) receives a colorful treatment by an admiring British journalist.

Harvey (The Fall of Apartheid: The Inside Story from Smuts to Mbeki, 2002, etc.) sees in Bolívar’s evolution the epitome of the Romantic hero. He was a spoiled son of Venezuela who seized sobering ideas from his enlightened tutor and from far-flung travels to Europe, and, after a terrible 562

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clash with adversity, he joined the rebel movement against the Spanish oppressors of his homeland. Harvey examines Bolívar’s later greatness from his early revolutionary seeds. He was born to an independent-minded family from northern Spain that broke off from the Castilian state in the late 16th century to migrate, and Bolívar grew up within a charmed life in Caracas and demonstrated early on an ungovernable spirit. His formative experiences included being tutored by the unorthodox Simón Rodríguez, steeped in Rousseau’s Emile, his ill-fated young marriage (his bride died after less than a year) and witnessing the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, whom Bolívar had worshipped before he proved to be a “hypocritical tyrant.”

Inculcated in the Spanish criollo system of feudalism, Bolívar had also soured on the oppressive Spanish reign that had denied his family a certificate of pure blood; he grew to abhor what he witnessed as the exploitation of Latin American resources and people “to satisfy the insatiable greed of Spain.” Harvey ably weaves the context around Bolívar’s daredevil vision to challenge the powerful Spanish empire built by central authority, the church and military. Later in life, Bolívar displayed the ruthlessness, daring and literary eloquence that would ultimately liberate millions of enslaved, illiterate South Americans and inspire a continent—as well as create a troubling legacy of authoritarianism that would wreak bloody havoc after him.

An energetic, satisfyingly florid narrative that captures the passion and frenzy in this extraordinary life. (24 black-and-white illustrations. Agent: Gillon Aitken)

PRAYING FOR STRANGERS An Adventure of the Human Spirit Jordan, River Berkley (336 pp.) $24.95 | April 5, 2011 978-0-425-23964-3

Southern writer Jordan (The Miracle of Mercy Land, 2010, etc.) commits herself to pray for a stranger every day as an ambitious New Year’s resolution.

With two sons serving in two separate wars, a call for selfless prayer seemed the only remedy for what would otherwise become obsessive worry. In each chapter, the author finds a new stranger, a life lesson and the same prayer. Jordan’s clumsy prose, formulaic structure and overt repetition dulls the effects of a collection of inspirational anecdotes that run into each other as the book progresses. An array of quotes from immensely diverse sources introduce each chapter, but only serve showcase the lack of versatility in Jordan’s storytelling. Readers are continually reminded that Jordan is a well-established writer, going as far as to state that, “for a Southern novelist, being a tad different can be just part of the badge of being a great writer.” Unfortunately, the humility of a great writer and the integrity of true prayer and compassion are absent from what would otherwise be a truly inspirational concept. Jordan’s colorful language and good intentions only pummel weary minds with a single point.

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BERLIN 1961 Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth

Heart and intent, unfortunately, are not the saving grace for a book that contradicts itself.

Commendable intent, inspirational concept, poor execution.

Kempe, Frederick Putnam (608 pp.) $29.95 | May 10, 2011 978-0-399-15729-5

INNOCENT SPOUSE A Memoir

Joynt, Carol Ross Crown (288 pp.) $25.00 | May 10, 2011 978-0-307-59209-5 e-book 978-0-307-59212-5

Following her loving husband’s unexpected death, TV producer Joynt came face-toface with her mate’s secret life. The fallout decimated her once comfortable life, flinging her into a decade of financial and emotional misery.

The author fell deeply in love with Howard Joynt in 1977.

As the night assignment editor for the NBC News Washington, D.C., Bureau, she had a successful career, and Howard was a rich, charming, sophisticated restaurateur. They soon married, Joynt abandoned her career and the couple retreated to a large estate in the Virginia countryside. Unknown to the author, her husband possessed a dark side that soon emerged. Chronic depression fueled his rages, followed by physical abuse. After much grief, they entered counseling, salvaging their marriage.

Ten years into their marriage, they moved back to Washington, restarting their professional lives. Joynt became a producer for Nightwatch; her husband shouldered the day-to-day management of his legendary restaurant, Nathans. For the next decade, their lives were grand. But in 1997, a month after a sailing vacation to the Caribbean, Joynt’s husband died, and the author’s comfortable life disintegrated. Due to her husband’s fraudulent financial dealings, Joynt discovered she now owed the IRS $3 million in back taxes. “The reality he left us was not enchanting and not safe, but dangerous and frightening,” she writes. The author recounts the misery of the next ten years dealing with the messy details of her long battle with the IRS; her valiant attempts to turn Nathans into a moneymaking enterprise; her constant struggle to retain her demanding job as a producer with Larry King Live; and the joy of raising her son.

Excellent recounting of the author’s lost decade, during which she rebuilt her life, became self-sufficient and found peace following her husband’s deceit. (First printing of 50,000.

Agent: Laney Becker/Folio Literary Management)

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A tale of missed opportunities just might have ended in nuclear war.

Former longtime Wall Street Journal editor Kempe (Father/Land: A Personal Search for the New Germany, 1999, etc.) recounts a curious series of episodes in which the Russians appeared to be bearing olive branches, the Americans arrows. When John F. Kennedy came into office, Nikita Khrushchev made unexpectedly conciliatory gestures—for instance, he allowed Radio Free Europe to be broadcast behind the Iron Curtain, released American fliers who had been shot down while spying in Soviet airspace and even published Kennedy’s inaugural address in Pravda. Kennedy, however, mistrusted Khrushchev, who was “vacillating between his instinct for reform and better relations with the West and his habit of authoritarianism and confrontation.” Given this suspicion, Kennedy failed to encourage the Soviet leader’s good moments.

Meanwhile, Khrushchev faced a difficult problem. He had defanged his most dangerous rival, Stalin-era secret policeman Lavrentiy Beria, but still faced considerable opposition from hardcore Stalinists—and competition from Mao’s China, which was jockeying for position as the world’s leading communist power. He was also embroiled in a bad situation in East Germany, which seemed in danger of collapsing in the wake of his post-Stalin reforms and which was serving as a gateway through which other Eastern Europeans could easily escape to the West. The climax of the difficult year 1961, as Kempe demonstrates, was the building of the Berlin Wall following one misreading of Soviet cues after another on the part of the Kennedy administration. In the end, Kennedy had to swallow his pride and accept the fact of the wall, which “had risen as he passively stood by.” That failure notwithstanding, Kempe concludes that, ultimately, Kennedy was able to regain advantage with his successful handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year.

A bit too long, but good journalistic history in the tradition of William L. Shirer and Barbara Tuchman. (2 black-and-white photo inserts; 1 color-printed endpaper. Author appearances in New York and Washington, D.C. Agent: Esther Newberg/ICM)

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“A memoir by a courageous psychiatrist and National Book Award winner whose life’s work has been the study of why fundamentally decent individuals commit evil acts.” from witness to an extreme century

BLOOD AND SMOKE A True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and the Birth of the Indy 500

THE HEART OF THE REVOLUTION The Buddha’s Radical Teachings on Forgiveness, Compassion, and Kindness

Leerhsen, Charles Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $26.00 | May 10, 2011 978-1-4391-4904-1

On the centennial of the Indy 500, controversy still reigns over who won the inaugural race, as this lively account of a tumultuous event makes plain.

History comes alive through the research and prose of Leerhsen (Crazy Good: The Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America, 2008), formerly the executive editor of Sports Illustrated. The early days of auto racing ignited plenty of controversy—whether it was even a sport, whether it should be allowed (it seemed far more dangerous than bullfighting, outlawed in the States) and whether, as the New York Times wrote in an editorial headlined “Slaughter as a Spectacle,” the races “bring out the very worst of human nature by providing a most barbarous form of excitement…They are an amusement congenial only to savages and should be stopped.” If such controversy didn’t already give this book enough of a charge, the characters do, led by the entrepreneurial racetrack co-founder “Crazy” Carl Fisher, whose own wife characterized her impulsive, adulterous, reckless spouse as a “lusty and incomprehensible personality.” Then there are drivers such as Barney Oldfield, “the Daredevil Dean of the Roaring Road” who “didn’t have an altruistic bone in his body, but he had a very low threshold of boredom, and plain-vanilla racing excited him as much as it did the average citizen.” For years, plain vanilla appeared to be the only alternative to banishment, as the fledgling sport succumbed to offering a series of short races, much like horse racing, rather than the longer ones that would be more likely to push drivers to destruction and even death. “Which was, of course, why a lot of people came to the auto races,” writes Leerhsen. “Not to see death, exactly, in most cases—but to spend some time luxuriating in its titillating possibility.” And a surprising number of those most titillated were women, as the macho sport proved quite the chick magnet, and anything that suggested strategy was dismissed as “weakness, even femininity.”

By the time the big race rolls around, Leerhsen has already spun a fascinating tale. (8 pages of black-and-white photos. Agent: Kris Dahl/ICM)

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Levine, Noah HarperOne (224 pp.) $15.99 paperback original | April 1, 2011 978-0-06-171124-4

Noted American Buddhist teacher Levine (Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries, 2007, etc.) takes a no-nonsense approach to the basics of the Buddha’s teachings in this practical volume geared toward an audience of unfamiliar seekers.

The author encourages the reader to become one of the “1%ers,” who seek to live and encounter life in a very different way—both for their own good and for the good of others. A key basis to this lifestyle is to embrace compassion, which the author defines as “the experience of caring about pain and suffering— ours and others’.” Levine writes of the difficulties he faced in learning compassion after a youth filled with violence, drug abuse and crime left him struggling with anger. But through the Buddha’s teachings of forgiveness and kindness, the author gained inner peace and was able to transform his life. “There is hope for external transformation only if the internal revolution is firmly grounded in loving-kindness,” he writes. Levine touches on specific teachings such as karma and tonglen, and provides a step-bystep guide to meditation as further help to the reader. Despite his didactic approach, the author has a tendency to reinforce the stereotype of American Buddhism as a spinoff of hippie culture.

Frequent references to acid trips and bong hits—as well as the occasional expletive—not only give the book an earthy feel but often devalue the Buddhist religion and its teachings.

Hard-boiled, sometimes irreverent look at the Buddha.

WITNESS TO AN EXTREME CENTURY A Memoir Lifton, Robert Jay Free Press (448 pp.) $30.00 | June 14, 2011 978-1-4165-9076-7

A memoir by a courageous psychiatrist and National Book Award winner whose life’s work has been the study of why fundamentally decent individuals commit evil acts.

In 1958, after serving in Japan as a military psychiatrist, Lifton (Psychiatry/Harvard Medical School; Superpower Syndrome: America’s Apocalyptic Confrontation with the World, 2003; etc.) had the opportunity to interview American servicemen captured during the Korean war by the Chinese, who “had managed, at least temporarily, to gain considerable control over [their] minds.” In his discussions with the soldiers, and with missionaries and Chinese intellectuals who had fled the mainland and were living in Hong

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“Lowe writes, ‘I…genuinely like people.’ His memoir will make readers believe him—and like him back.” from stories i only tell my friends

Kong, the author recognized that at another level, this same thought-control process that had been inflicted upon the entire Chinese population over decades. This was the subject of his first book and became the catalyst for a shift in his life from his intended career as a Freudian psychoanalyst to becoming what he calls a “psychohistorical researcher”—part of the informal but influential group of social scientists that included Erik Erikson and David Riesman. Lifton writes that it was his work with Hiroshima survivors that “was the shock that permanently changed [his] way of relating to the world.” It became his prism for judging “conflicts between nations and groups, political violence of any kind, and even psychological struggles of individual people.”

It also informed his studies of the participation of German doctors in the extermination of Jews in concentration camps, the My Lai massacre of civilians by U.S. troops in Vietnam and the more recent examples of the use of torture by U.S. soldiers against enemy combatants—all of which exemplify how average people can be led by circumstance to commit atrocities.

A call for a moral awakening by a deeply compassionate chronicler of our times.

STORIES I ONLY TELL MY FRIENDS An Autobiography

Lowe, Rob Henry Holt (320 pp.) $26.00 | CD: $29.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8050-9329-2 CD 978-1-4272-1227-6

Lowe presents a well-modulated actor’s memoir.

Whatever readers’ impressions of the actor, he understands them: “There is just no way anyone is likely to take a nineteen-year-old as pretty as I was seriously,” he writes.

“Even I wouldn’t…People looked at me and made a judgment. It’s the way of the world. I do it too, sometimes.” Lowe doesn’t strain to be taken seriously here, though neither does he follow the kissand-tell conventions of the actor’s memoir nor the descent into hell of the recovering alcoholic’s. Instead, Lowe presents himself as a Midwestern guy very much aware that he won the genetic lottery; who became obsessed with acting at a young age as an escape from his dysfunctional family; enjoyed (mainly) the perks that came with his emergence as a teenage pinup; suffered career reversals that let him (and the reader) know just how little control an actor sometimes has; and ultimately found serenity as a devoted husband and father: “(I’m) like most American men. In love with my wife, living in a normal town, and blessed beyond imagining with two precious, beautiful, and inspiring babies.”

The author goes into great detail about the making of The Outsiders, St. Elmo’s Fire, About Last Night and The West Wing, reinforcing the impression that his acting credits don’t come close to matching the level of his celebrity. Lowe is discrete about his romantic relationships and the extent of his partying with what would be dubbed the “Brat Pack,” opting instead for understatement (e.g., “Charlie Sheen is also one of a kind”) or general appreciation |

(“Jodie Foster should be any actor’s role model. She is certainly mine”). He treats the infamous sex tape that all but derailed his career so obliquely that the rare reader not aware of it will have little idea what he’s talking about.

Lowe writes, “I…genuinely like people.” His memoir will make readers believe him—and like him back. (16-page color photo insert. First serial in Vanity Fair)

I’M OVER ALL THAT And Other Confessions

MacLaine, Shirley Atria Books (224 pp.) $22.00 | April 5, 2011 978-1-4516-0729-1

A stale, disjointed collection of observations from a Hollywood legend.

With her latest release, Academy Award–winning actress MacLaine (Sageing While Age-ing, 2007, etc.) won’t remind readers why she’s been so successful entertaining others. What begins as a memoir laid out in brief, anecdotal chapters on all that the author is “over” and “not over” rapidly descends into a jumbled mash-up of her personal beliefs on everything under the sun.

Ranging from politics (“Terrorism is just a convenient excuse for those in power to gently instruct us to go quietly into that good night”) to good lighting (“You want the camera high and the key light low”), MacLaine jumps from subject to subject with such a rapid-fire pace that readers barely have a chance to keep up with her. The author is well-known for her humor, which makes an occasional appearance in this volume—“I am appalled at the number of people who are famous for doing absolutely nothing but being seen at parties”—and she provides brief moments of insight: “The studios don’t like to take risks anymore...They seem to be reflecting the fear experienced everywhere...these days.” But the author’s strengths are offset by sections in which the author displays a lack of humility: “Those of us in show business sometimes call people who are not in show business ‘civilians’ because they don’t understand what is takes to be loved by being ‘really’ real...[we lead] civilians to water but never let them drink.”

A book in midlife crisis.

ETHICAL WISDOM What Makes Us Good

Matousek, Mark Doubleday (272 pp.) $25.95 | May 24, 2011 978-0-385-52789-7

A bestselling memoirist tackles fundamental questions regarding good and evil and the impulses that guide human behavior and emotions.

O: The Oprah Magazine contributor Matousek (When You’re Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living,

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“A gorgeously rich, sparkling patchwork, eliciting stories from diaries and memoirs to create the human drama McCullough depicts so well.” from the greater journey

2008, etc.) explores a variety of anecdotal evidence and testimony from thinkers in diverse disciplines—psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, religion—in an attempt to explain why people make certain moral choices. The narrative is largely parabolic with numerous stories that offer moral quandaries and often shocking human behaviors. Early on, the author draws on the research of neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran (The Tell-Tale Brain, 2010, etc.), who argues for the existence of mirror neurons, which enable us to show empathy toward others by partially feeling their emotions via a neurological correspondence or mirroring of another’s actual feelings. Later, Matousek relates the Buddhist notion of “Hungry Ghosts” (i.e., people with an insatiable ego) to help explain phenomena like greed, envy and materialism in American society. In one compelling chapter, the author looks at the work of psychologist Erich Fromm and the notion of “group narcissism,” whereby loyalty to a group can devolve into blind and dangerous “us-versus-them” prejudice. In another anecdote, he relates the story of a young child exhibiting psychopathic behavior like hanging a cat and taking delight in his mother’s reaction. The author’s straightforward and colloquial approach to complex ethical questions is refreshing, and the numerous parables are fascinating. However, Matousek makes frequent sweeping generalizations and other fallacies that become a major distraction. Ultimately, the idea of “what makes us good” deteriorates so much so that the more interesting question becomes “why are we evil?” The author begins the book with the premise that each human being is born with a “moral organ” that guides behavior. Though meant figuratively, it’s a distracting non sequitur that leads him on a slippery slope of unwarranted assumptions and a host of generalizations.

An entertaining though logically dubious examination of the origins and manifestations of moral behavior.

THE GREATER JOURNEY Americans in Paris McCullough, David Simon & Schuster (544 pp.) $37.50 | May 24, 2011 978-1-4165-7176-6

An ambitious, wide-ranging study of how being in Paris helped spark generations of American genius.

Not content to focus on a few of the 19th-century American artists, doctors and statesmen who benefited enormously from their Parisian education, award-winning historian McCullough (1776, 2005, etc.) embraces a cluster of aspiring young people such as portraitist George Healy and lawyer Charles Sumner, eager to expand their horizons in the 1830s by enduring the long sea passage, then spirals out to include numerous other visitors over an entire eventful century. In the early period of trans-Atlantic travel, American tourists were truly risking their lives over the weeks of rough sailing, but novelist James Fenimore Cooper, widowed schoolteacher Emma Hart Willard and young medical student Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. all knew their education 566

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was not complete without a stint in the medieval capital. For many of these American rubes, exposure to the fine arts, oldworld architecture, fashion, fine dining, museums and teaching hospitals proved transformative, and the knowledge they gained would define their professional lives back in America.

The year in Paris artist Samuel Morse painted his extraordinary The Gallery of the Louvre would provide the climax of one career and segue into another—as inventor of the electric telegraph.

The revolutionary upheaval of 1848, the advent of the Second Empire and the massive redesign wrought by “demolition artist” Georges-Eugène Haussmann changed Paris profoundly, some said for the better, while the Americans continued to arrive: sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne and painter Mary Cassatt, among many others. For some, like John Singer Sargent, who had been brought up traversing European capitals, their time spent in Paris would reveal what made them quintessentially American.

A gorgeously rich, sparkling patchwork, eliciting stories from diaries and memoirs to create the human drama McCullough depicts so well. (Three 16-page 4-color inserts; 2 endpaper maps. Agent: Morton Janklow/Janklow & Nesbit)

MANSTEIN Hitler’s Greatest General

Melvin, Mungo Dunne/St. Martin’s (656 pp.) $37.50 | June 7, 2011 978-0-312-56312-7

The victorious siege commander of Sevastopol garners a formal, meticulous new study.

Melvin, a British major general (Royal College of Defense Studies, London), emphasizes Erich von Manstein’s (1887–1973) operational skill as well as his problematic ethical decisions while commanding assaults on the Eastern Front during World War II. Born to an aristocratic East Prussian family with a strong military tradition, Manstein was schooled at the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps, trained as an officer in Berlin’s War Academy and wounded during World War I. He amply absorbed the “twin punch of defeat and deprivation” suffered by the Germans after the armistice, believing as many did that the Versailles Treaty was a “shameful Diktat.” Manstein became one of the rising stars in the quietly expanding Reichswehr between the wars, and was swept up into the general euphoria of Hitler’s rise to power, though he did reveal contradictory positions by composing a letter in 1934 protesting the ban on the employment of Jewish officers. A member of Hitler’s General Staff during the years of 1935–38, when Germany undertook breathtaking modernization and plans to build a “storm artillery,” Manstein was posted to command in Silesia, then enlisted in the invasion of Poland. He was key in forming the “triumphant invasion plan in the West,” though he claimed in his considerable late-life memoirs that he was not consulted in planning the ill-fated Operation Barbarossa. Nonetheless,

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he spearheaded the siege attacks on Sevastopol, Stalingrad and Kursk, to ferocious Russian resistance, and his mounting frustration with Hitler’s leadership prompted him to tender his resignation several times. The “scorched earth” policy he implemented upon retreat and other crimes committed by the Nazi leadership gained him conviction at trials in Nuremberg and later Hamburg; he served eight years but was largely rehabilitated by his memoirs and work in bolstering the Bundeswehr during the Cold War. Too thick for casual readers lacking a strong interest in European history, but Melvin provides a fair, thorough reappraisal that carefully considers Manstein’s military prowess while challenging his moral amnesia. (16-page color photo insert, 16-page black-and-white photo insert)

THE LAST PLACE YOU’D LOOK True Stories of Missing Persons and the People Who Search for Them Moore, Carole Rowman & Littlefield (224 pp.) $39.95 | May 16, 2011 978-1-4422-0368-6

A guided tour through the perplexing realm of missing persons.

Moore is a professional writer who also spent 12 years as a police officer. She thought she knew a lot about the missing-person phenomenon until she started talking with family members of the missing and attended a conference on missing and unidentified persons. The number of missing adults across the United States at any given point hovers around 40,000, an admittedly rough estimate. When children are included, the number at least doubles. Using case studies, Moore goes broad more than deep, examining almost every imaginable angle: police-agency procedures when receiving a missing-person report; procedures which are too often insensitive and outdated; advances in forensic technology, especially DNA and dental records, which sometimes mean a higher rate of cases solved; abductions of children by a biological parent feuding with the other biological parent; the unique challenges of searching for missing persons who are mentally ill; missingperson cases that cross international borders; the usually devastating, permanent impacts on family members searching for loved ones; how to prove foul play when no physical evidence emerges; and heroic searchers who are unrelated to the missing person by blood, including those at organizations such as Project Jason, the Charley Project, Cue Center for Missing Persons, the Center for Hope and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, among others. The author’s case studies, usually treated in a page or two, can create a dizzying effect, but they are appropriate to her arguments.

By nature depressing, but shot through with rays of optimism.

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THE FUTURE OF NONPROFITS Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age

Neff, David J. and Randal C. Moss Wiley (272 pp.) $45.00 | May 3, 2011 978-0-470-91335-2

Debut authors Neff and Moss tackle the sustainability of nonprofits through one encompassing keyword: innovation.

Drawing on the authors’ experiences as digital-media strategists on the business side of nonprofits, this enriching guidebook not only describes how these organizations can survive the future but how they can thrive in it. This book, the authors write, will “provide you with a blueprint to recreate the way that your organization fulfills its mission.” Neff and Moss advocate the importance of developing “a culture of innovation,” offering a variety of creative, digital techniques and business models that can be tailored to fit every nonprofit’s needs. They reference websites of organizations that employ cutting-edge “innovations” to the benefit of their mission, as well as other more conservative (read: offline) initiatives that have worked in the past. This sturdy, informative guide is written in straightforward prose paced like a spirited novel, and each chapter is summarized at the conclusion for quick review.

The authors’ writing style and clarity makes this an effortless read for any nonprofit staffer, no matter their level. However, the tone is slanted toward executives, and the book includes a section with guidelines on how to staff organizations with the best people. Appendices include information about job descriptions and quizzes.

Innovation, innovation, innovation—a solid, somewhat repetitive technology guide for nonprofit organizations.

THE CAPTAIN The Journey of Derek Jeter

O’Connor, Ian Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (400 pp.) $26.00 | May 16, 2011 978-0-547-32793-8

An account of the charmed life of New York Yankee icon Derek Jeter that’s as short on salacious revelations as it is long on adulation.

If Jeter’s life hasn’t been perfect, it’s come pretty close. Notwithstanding some troubling childhood encounters with racism, the handsome, charismatic, biracial Jeter managed to combine the hardworking mindset of his grandfather with the loving positivity of his parents to turn himself into the best baseball prospect—not to mention the biggest Yankees fan—ever to emerge from Kalamazoo, Mich.

After being drafted by those same Yankees, the highly touted prospect shot through the minor league ranks and went on to win rookie of the year in Major Leagues, an honor that would

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h n e i l s t r au s s He wrote one of the most iconic rock biographies of all time with The Dirt. He laid bare the truth to many a talented pickup artist in The Game.

And he’s covered some of the greatest musicians in the world for Rolling Stone, the New York Times and many other publications. Neil Strauss is one of the most prolific biographers working today. So, his next book took a natural turn—a collection of the most telling moments behind more than 3,000plus interviews he’s conducted during his career.

Here, Strauss talks to us about Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead, the art of the profile piece and Britney Spears.

EVERYONE LOVES YOU WHEN YOU’RE DEAD Journeys Into Fame and Madness

Neil Strauss It Books/ HarperCollins $16.99 paperback original March 15, 2011 9780061543678

rock, and that I was just gonna go off on this guy.

It turned out that I really, really liked him. He was really smart, and he knew exactly what he was doing, and that turned into the first book. I just interviewed Howard Stern for a Rolling Stone cover, and the guy is just so different off the air.

You get to see people with their masks off.

And then there are those whose music you like, like Lauryn Hill, who turns out to be very unlikable.

Q: Any excerpts you wanted to use but couldn’t?

A: I had a rule where I didn’t put something in there based on how famous a person was. I put them in based on how good their answer is. A lot of people I interviewed I really liked as artists, say Stevie Wonder to Iggy Pop to probably at least a hundred others, but if it wasn’t something that someone who had never heard of the artist before could read and find interesting, it wouldn’t make it in.

The only thing that didn’t make it in, for legal reasons, was a letter from Phil Collins, hate mail I received at the New York Times that ended with him saying, “Fuck you, Neil.” Actually, “Neil, fuck you” were the last words. There were a couple “fuck yous” in there...The letter was just really this two-page, handwritten, extensively detailed letter—it was really something else.

Q: What was the idea behind putting together the collection?

A: The original plan was to always do an anthology of my favorite pieces—one was on the death of Kurt Cobain, in one I spent six months underground as stand-up comic and so on. When I do a book, I look at everything else out there similar to make sure I’m not doing something that’s been done before.

I looked at all the anthologies I could…and anthologies are hard to read front to back. By the time you’re done, you’re sick of that voice. So I completely scrapped that idea and tried different approaches and played around with it. Then I thought why don’t I just pick the best part of each experience, the part where you really see the person? That’s all anyone cares about. So I picked what’s most interesting as a human being, and that’s always interesting.

It was a big mistake. It was supposed to be threemonth project, and it ended up taking two years.

Q: You just did a Wall Street Journal piece about those who are most famous have a strong conviction to God or the idea that they’re supposed to be famous. Any other qualities that the highly successful and/or famous share that you’ve found?

A: In bands and groups, there’s usually one guy who’s incredibly in it with an insane mono-maniacal drive for success in the band, and he’s going to drag that band, sometimes even kicking and screaming, to the top of the pop charts…

Sometimes it’s hard to separate qualities they take on after getting successful versus the qualities they had originally. One thing I noticed is that people who are at the top and felt they deserved it, as much hubris as that is, often stayed there longer than those who got to the top and had doubts. Other examples in the book, like Jack White saying “we don’t belong here,” and obviously the White Stripes just broke up. Jewel said, “Why me? It’s not fair I got successful in five years,” and at that moment she had her second top 10 single. Since then, she’s done eight albums and not had another top 10 single. One has to have some sense of deservedness and worthiness once one gets success. It’s a scary thought that Britney Spears has been around longer than the Beatles, had a longer career than the Beatles…

Q: Since your earlier days doing magazine pieces, how have profiles changed?

A: Longer profile pieces are a dying art, that’s the point of the book. It’s not the same anymore. Back when I wrote my favorite pieces in there, I got so much access to the musician, I spent a week to a month with them, traveling through multiple cities, I’d go on tour. I really got inside their world.

A Rolling Stone cover story was the only way they could communicate who they were to their audience…Now, it’s not necessary. They’re on Twitter, put updates on Facebook. They don’t need us anymore to communicate with their audience.

Q: Did you find yourself liking people you didn’t think you would? Disliking folks you admired?

A: Yeah, and vice versa. In fact, my whole [book] career started with Marilyn Manson. I thought this guy was a big phony, that it was just goth 568

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Other Books by Neil Strauss: The Game

It Books $35.99 Sept. 6, 2005 9780060554736 How to Make Love Like a Porn Star

Co-author with Jenna Jameson It Books $16.99 Jan. 5, 2010 9780060539108 The Dirt

HarperCollins $16.99 July 9, 2002 9780060989156

And that’s another commonality—people who were raised and didn’t have unconditional love from at least one parent are the ones who get involved in big-time scandals, who really become public spectacles once they get famous, because they just don’t have that grounding and that stability. They’re less able to handle it, they’re so needy for that love, they start doing stupid things.

That’s your Courtney Loves, your Britney Spears, that’s your Paris Hiltons and all that.

Or Johnny Cash. I love that part of the interview when he talks about being in the hospital and he has that near-death experience and says it was indescribably beautiful, and woke up alive and was disappointed. That’s somebody, when they move on, you know, one can say they made their peace with it versus the Ike Turners and the Rick James’s, who never made peace with themselves.

That’s one thing from all these interviews, the one thing I realized about life—you’re handed a certain set of baggage from your parents, your situation from growing up, etc., and if you can get past that baggage and become yourself in this lifetime, then you’ve done a good job.

P HOTO C OURT ESY O F the au tho r

Q: The dedication is for people who are gone—who were some of the saddest to you personally who’ve died?

A: There are two examples in the book, both sides of people dying. Obviously it’s sad when anyone dies, but there’s a guy like Rick James whose last words in his interview were “my resolution is to leave that cocaine alone.” Then he dies with all these drugs in his system…He never beat the demons that were haunting them.

Then there’s John Hartford, the bluegrass player, who wrote “Gentle on my Mind.” He knew he was sick, he knew he was going to die, and he was like, “I’m just going to play the fiddle and get better at it until I can’t play it anymore.”

He knew there was a choice involved, knew he was in control, knew how he was going to spend his last days.

Neil Strauss’ three favorite rock bios of all time: 1. Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys by Steven Gaines 2. Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga by Stephen Davis 3. Before I Get Old: The Story of The Who by Dave Marsh

–By Molly Brown |

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presage bigger things to come. ESPNNewYork.com writer O’Connor (Arnie and Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf ’s Greatest Rivalry, 2009) ably chronicles that rise and those bigger things, including five World Series titles to date, as well as the astonishing list of A-list starlets Jeter dated along the way (while miraculously minimizing his tabloid presence), and his strange relationship with superstar rival/teammate Alex Rodriguez.

Though Jeter’s cooperation was limited to a few locker-room interviews, it quickly becomes apparent how much the author reveres his subject, a man whose on-field talent is apparently matched by his off-field integrity, impish sense of humor and ability to charm children. The only real dirt O’Connor can dig up is Jeter’s inability to forgive those who slight him, no matter how innocuously, and even that revelation reads like a wellqualified job candidate’s rehearsed response to the standard interview question about one’s greatest weakness. Still, there’s something refreshing about an icon who actually lives up to his billing as a nice guy, hard worker and great teammate, even if it seems odd to tell his story while it’s still unfolding.

Not unlike the Captain’s public persona—polished and well put together, but a bit bland. (8-page black-and-white insert. Agent: David Black/David Black Literary Agency)

THE READING PROMISE My Father and the Books We Shared

Ozma, Alice Grand Central Publishing (288 pp.) $24.99 | May 31, 2011 978-0-446-58377-0 Reading really was fundamental for a father and daughter team who made it their nightly ritual for eight straight years.

The author’s name—an amalgam of characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and L. Frank Baum’s Oz series—illustrates her profound passion for reading bookshelves of literature from childhood to well into adolescence. In 1997, plucky, headstrong Ozma and her father, an elementary-school librarian, began reading aloud to each other for 1,000 consecutive nights. Dubbed “The Streak,” it began when the author was in third grade and lasted 3,218 nights. Ozma’s father, a firm believer in the limitless power of books, was overjoyed (and pleasantly surprised) when they’d achieved their initial goal of 100 nights. But then Ozma determinedly upped the ante to 1,000 as their readings graduated from James and the Giant Peach to Shakespeare and Harry Potter. There were stringent “rules” to follow: They had to read for at least 10 minutes, before midnight, preferably in person, and books only—though “anything from magazines to baseball programs would do” in a pinch. Those days, Ozma fondly recalls, incorporated a playful and deeply unifying pastime shared with a man who became not only an interactive parent and friend, but a shoulder to lean on when inconvenience and calamity impeded their endeavors. But nothing could stop them—not the funeral in honor of her pet fish, nor her Dad’s 570

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laryngitis, nor the painful, physical separation of her mother, who moved out, nor her older sister’s absence as a foreignexchange student. While all were painful memories that Ozma evokes with a hushed despondence, “The Streak” continued unabated until the author moved away to college, majoring in English, almost nine years later.

A warm memoir and a gentle nudge to parents about the importance of books, quality time and reading to children. (Agent: Jennifer Gates/Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency)

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE The True Story of Two Sisters, Tons of Treats, and the Little Shop that Could Park, Frances and Ginger Park Dunne/St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $23.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-312-65293-7

Two Washington, D.C., siblings, disillusioned with life and love, join forces to realize a sweetly successful venture.

In the early 1980s, a time the Park sisters recognized as one of “luxury and excess,” Frances (“Francie”) and Ginger (“Ginge”) opened their dream boutique sweetshop mere blocks from the White House. Though life became bittersweet since their beloved father passed away a few years prior, both women write of a steely resolve, a dedication to family and a passion for chocolate they’d inherited from their hardworking Korean parents. Becoming chocoholics “long before it was a diagnosis,” the sisters parlayed this lifelong adoration into a joint business plan, agreed on a name (based on a delectable double-chocolate brownie recipe) and set forth making “Chocolate Chocolate” thrive in the nation’s capital. But the road to profitability proved arduous as mouthwatering taste-tests failed to buffer a series of dilemmas including tedious location scouting, a contractor’s shoddy workmanship, bomb threats, a near-disastrous grandopening party and months of flagging sales. With patience and diligence, Francie, Ginge and their doting mother eventually began to develop a steady, eccentric clientele of chocolate lovers. Sales flourished, bolstered by whimsical holidays and a flood of media attention, and the girls even managed a few dating adventures. Despite the experience of a string of Koreaninspired children’s books (The Have a Good Day Café, 2005, etc.) and a novel between them, their memoir develops a surprisingly rambling quality and boasts a generic narrative voice lacking the intimacy of a first-person perspective. Still, the Park sisters’ cheery adage remains the definitive take-away: “There are times when only chocolate can make a bad day better.”

Smooth, soft-centered confection that goes down with a smile. (Agent: Mollie Glick/Foundry Literary + Media)

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“Foodie anecdotes add spice, and there is even a splash of food history. But it is the authors’ tricks-of-the-trade advice that adds most to this perfect Mint Julep of a book—and yes, that recipe is here, too.” from just married & cooking

JUST MARRIED & COOKING 200 Recipes for Living, Eating, and Entertaining Together

Parkhurst, Brooke and James Briscione Scribner (352 pp.) $28.00 | May 1, 2011 978-1-4391-6998-8

Based on the premise that newlyweds often don’t have a clue how to use their wedding-registry kitchen-ware, this scrumptious debut cookbook tackles the ins and outs of cooking as a couple.

Real-life couple Daily News columnist Parkhurst (Belle in the Big City, 2008) and chef Briscione (winner of the Food Network series Chopped) reveal not just their own expertise but an endearing empathy for kitchen novices. The authors open with a section that covers kitchen-equipment essentials, advice on how to organize a kitchen drawer, pair wine with food and set a table for events ranging from backyard barbecues to champagne brunches. Next up, easily mastered yet delicious and even quite sophisticated for all occasions. Sidebars provide tips on preparing unusual ingredients that would otherwise stump amateurs. How else to make the beurre noisette on which their recipe for Autumn Vegetable Puree depends? Throughout the book, Parkhurst and Briscione build culinary confidence and embolden even the most timid greenhorn to take the plunge with dishes like Broccoli Rabe and Ricotta Bruschetta and Bourbon Cured Trout. Cooks content to stick with the triedand-true will find new twists on old classics—e.g., Brooke’s Best Lemon Bars. Foodie anecdotes add spice, and there is even a splash of food history. But it is the authors’ tricks-of-the-trade advice that adds most to this perfect Mint Julep of a book—and yes, that recipe is here, too.

An exciting, essential volume that delivers on every front.

MY KITCHEN Real Food from Near and Far

Parle, Stevie Lyons Press (192 pp.) $19.95 paperback original | April 1, 2011 978-0-7627-7034-2 Recipes from Sri Lanka, India, Ireland and a myriad of other countries and regions are interspersed with cooking techniques and personal stories of the author’s travels.

In his debut cookbook, Parle takes the knowledge he has picked up in kitchens all over the world—including London’s River Cafe and New York’s The Spotted Pig—and guides home cooks through recipes such as Keralan’s Pollichattu, a heavily seasoned white fish covered in coconut. Using the right mix of spices, he writes “the flavor of a dish suddenly takes on tangible authenticity, becoming immediately Moroccan, Kashmiri, or Sri Lankan.” The author maximizes the bounty from home gardens and gives pointers on how to make the best tomato |

sauce—it’s all about the ratios. Sprinkled throughout the book are his tips on how to make your own coconut milk or the best way to serve porcini mushrooms as an appetizer. However, some readers may find trouble sourcing many of his ingredients.

But the search for them can often be rewarding: “Truly good cooks try to educate themselves about food all the time. And a trip to a new part of town to rummage in an ethnic market can be inspiring as a vacation.” To find ingredients for his Malaysian Breakfast, like dried anchovies, Parle suggests a trip to the local Thai or Indian market. Recipes are divided by month, geared to make the most of seasonal ingredients.

A voyage for the palette of any eager cook.

FAR AND AWAY A Prize Every Time

Peart, Neil ECW Press (260 pp.) $29.95 | paper: $19.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-77041-058-9 paper 978-1-77041-059-6

From one of rock’s most revered drummers, ruminations on motorcycling, drumming, the joys of fatherhood and the exquisite pleasure of simply enjoying the journey.

As the lyricist for Canadian progressive hard-rock trio Rush, Peart’s (Roadshow: Landscape with Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle, 2007) inimitable way with words is well-known to the band’s fan base, if occasionally derided by music critics. What many may not know, however, is that the self-described “leftleaning libertarian” is equally adept at translating his philosophy into prose, as evidenced by this book, in which he continues to chronicle his unique method of getting to work—eschewing the company of his band mates in favor of motorcycling between concert venues—as a means of exploring the world around him and his place within it. Despite having experienced tremendous tragedy in recent years (including the deaths of his daughter and first wife), the author evinces such tremendous joy in discovering new off-the-beaten-paths, relishing a second chance at fatherhood, and in the simple act of learning, that it’s easy to forgive some of his more awkward attempts at humor—even those missteps tend to come off as oddly endearing, conveying a rare and unselfconscious genuineness. Perhaps the book’s best and moist poignant chapter is “The Best February Ever,” in which the author describes the bucolic setting surrounding his sanctuary in Quebec. His description of nights spent alone sipping Macallan before a roaring fire while losing himself in great books and days spent cross-country skiing over an unbroken winter landscape while focusing on simply appreciating the heart-breaking majesty of the world around him will instantly transport readers to a more relaxed state of mind—and quite possibly drive hordes of peace seekers northward.

Not without potholes, but a ride well worth taking for those who seek the journey more than the destination.

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CYCLES OF TIME An Extraordinary New View of the Universe Penrose, Roger Knopf (304 pp.) $28.95 | May 9, 2011 978-0-307-26590-6 e-book 978-0-307-59674-1

Award-winning physicist Penrose (The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe, 2006, etc.) challenges current theoretical models of the Big Bang.

The author reprises the discovery of the Doppler shift by Edwin Hubble, which established the fact that our universe was expanding at an increasing rate, and he explains how this allowed astronomers to extrapolate backward to a moment approximately 14 billion years ago “when the matter of the universe would have to have been all together at its starting point.”

In 1964, the observation of the cosmic background radiation allowed scientists to elaborate a detailed model of the evolution of the universe, beginning in the fraction of a second after an explosive Big Bang. Penrose points out that this picture is problematic because it appears to violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Except for minor violations, entropy—a measure of disorder—always increases over time. At the instant of the Big Bang, entropy would be extremely high, then energy would be decreased as the universe entered its expansionary phase, elementary particles formed and gravity kicked in. The author suggests that what is called the Big Bang was not an explosion but a transition point from an earlier cycle of the universe. To resolve this theoretical conundrum, he suggests that in the far-distant future, stars and galaxies will be compressed into tremendously massive black holes that will clump together and ultimately disappear leaving only cosmic radiation in their wake, after which a new expansionary cycle will begin.

A controversial but intriguing theory that will challenge readers but is well worth the effort. (98 line drawings by the author. First printing of 75,000)

THE SINNER’S GRAND TOUR A Journey Through the Historical Underbelly of Europe

Perrottet, Tony Broadway (304 pp.) $15.00 paperback original | May 10, 2011 978-0-307-59218-7

A travel journalist’s search for pornographic relics, subversive texts and sinful sites becomes the itinerary for his family’s European vacation.

Victorian elites once sent their sons on the Grand Tour.

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delights. Perrottet’s quest for enlightenment heads in a more saucy direction. Having tackled similar bawdy topics in his previous books (Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped, 2008, etc), the author was mesmerized by collection of sexual oddities housed in the British Museum, including ancient Roman phallic jewelry and amulets depicting athletic coital positions. With his family in tow, Perrottet began tracking down the “forbidden historical fruit” scattered across Europe.

Starting their vacation along the gloomy Scottish coastline, the author visited the Beggar’s Benison, a sex club founded in 1732.

As his wife and sons longed for sunshine and swimming pools, the family slowly navigated toward sunnier locales with stops in Paris, the French countryside, Lake Geneva, Venice and the Vatican. They finally landed in Capri, where “[i]t was as if the soil itself were irrigated with sin. The brilliant light, the crystalline water, the languid heat, all cried out, carpe diem.” Throughout, Perrottet humorously recounts his travails at tracking down the location of luxurious Belle Époque brothels; his thrill at securing a spot with a secret tour of Casanova’s prison cell; and his successful wrangling with Vatican authorities for a glimpse of Raphael’s Bathroom of Love. In Lacoste, the author gently and persistently pestered Pierre Cardin, the owner of the Marquis de Sade’s home, into allowing him a visit into the infamous rake’s dungeon. Perrottet layers his narrative with tantalizing historical research, funny family complications and slightly acerbic comments regarding contemporary Europeans.

A well-researched, amusing recollection of one family’s offbeat holiday trek to the naughty nooks of Europe. (Agent: Henry Dunow)

ADOPTION NATION How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families—and America

Pertman, Adam Harvard Common Press (352 pp.) $16.95 paperback original | April 4, 2011 978-1-55832-716-0

In an updated edition, journalist turned adoption advocate Pertman presents a modern take on adoption and how it’s changing American families.

Consider Kelly, a 6-year-old girl who was given up by her birth mother only later to appear as the flower girl in her wedding. Kelly’s story, and that of her mother Donna, are far removed from the scene that unfolded for Sheila Hanson in 1961, when she was denied even a glimpse of her baby before he was given up for adoption. Pertman provides more than facts and resources for adoptive parents, although those are here as well. The book is a comprehensive discussion of adoption, ranging from international adoptions, attitudes toward adoption and open adoption. The author is careful not to paint a falsely rosy picture. Adoption regulations are inconsistent, and currently, only nine states allow broad access to birth records. Racist attitudes about international and interracial adoption won’t go away overnight, if ever. And while the Internet has made

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BULLPEN DIARIES Mariano Rivera, Bronx Dreams, Pinstripe Legends, and the Future of the New York Yankees

adoption easier, there are also many online scams. Pertman doesn’t sugarcoat the problems, but he also shows the immense joy of this untraditional means of building a family. The author, an editor at Adoption Quarterly, writes in a style that is easy to read, even when the stories are heartbreaking. His honest presentation will be of great help to readers sorting through a maze of emotions and potential pitfalls.

A valuable learning experience for anyone, especially the adoptive parent.

AT THE DEVIL’S TABLE The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel Rempel, William C. Random (368 pp.) $26.00 | June 21, 2011 978-1-4000-6837-1

Jorge Salcedo’s clandestine transition from a notorious drug cartel’s head of security to a DEA informant.

Investigative reporter Rempel’s debut offers a behindthe-scenes look at a never-before-told story—the secret plot to assassinate drug lord Pablo Escobar, recounted by the man hired to do it. After eight years interviewing Salcedo, Rempel pieces together his source’s unbelievable story, one in which two rival Columbian drug cartels—Pablo Escobar’s Medellín and the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers’ Cali—waged a war for trafficking supremacy. When Salcedo met the godfathers of the Cali cartel, he was given a clear assignment: “We want Pablo Escobar dead.” Driven by his own anti-Escobar views, as well as the promise of incalculable riches, Salcedo accepted, though the task was not without its problems. After a downed helicopter halted the hit, word of the attempt was soon leaked, causing Salcedo to fear for his life. Rempel’s book reads like an actionpacked blockbuster, complete with a cast of hot-headed, shortfused drug lords and their trigger-happy underlings. Ultimately, Escobar was not killed by Salcedo’s hit squad, but by the Bloque de Búsqueda, a special-operations unit within the Colombian police force. Believing his services no longer necessary, Salcedo attempted to back out of the cartel, though his resignation was refused. One of the bosses crisply informed him, “You are one of us. You are family”—making it clear that there was no escape.

Salcedo’s desperate attempt for an exit strategy provoked him to turn against the cartel, serving as a DEA informant and jeopardizing his life in the process.

A fast-paced, heart-racing nonfiction thriller, occasionally bloated by excessive drugs, blood and bullets.

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Rosen, Charley Harper/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $25.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-06-200598-4

A look at the performance of the New York Yankees’ relief pitchers during the 2010 season, featuring interviews, game recaps and anecdotes.

Sportswriter and longtime Yankees fan Rosen (The First TipOff: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA, 2008, etc.) argues that “no team player in all of sports is more on the spot than a relief pitcher.” With this informal diary of the Yankees’ 2010 bullpen, he attempts to give these athletes more of the spotlight.

The bulk of the narrative consists of game-by-game recaps of the Yanks’ season, with Rosen assigning an A-F letter grade to each relief pitcher’s outing. Interspersed with these are statistics and historical factoids about the position and interviews with players, coaches and scouts. The latter elements are the highlights of the book, in particular the profiles of the team’s pitching coaches, who offer a little-seen perspective and grant real insight into the peculiar life of the bullpen inhabitant. Coverage of training camp and a visit to the Yanks’ Triple-A club in Scranton for a game against the Pawtucket Red Sox provide additional color. Rosen also includes some personal reminiscences from a lifetime of following the team, from saving his pennies to go to games as a child, to his humiliating tryout to be a Yankee pitcher himself. His love for the game, and the team, is clear, and this spares the book from being just a dull compendium of statistics and game summaries.

Rosen provides final grades for each of the relief pitchers used by the team during the regular season, (the bullpen as a whole rates a C+), along with analysis of the Yankees’ 2010 playoff failure and predictions for the upcoming season and beyond.

Contains elements of interest to the serious baseball fan, but this one is for Yankees die-hards only. (16 black-and-white photos. Agent: Helen Zimmerman)

NEVER TOO LATE A 90-Year-Old’s Pursuit of a Whirlwind Life Rowan, Roy Lyons Press (240 pp.) $19.95 | April 1, 2011 978-0-7627-6376-4

A lifelong magazine journalist files a striking travelogue of life, inspiration and encouragement for fellow retirees, equally intriguing for anyone who appreciates intellect and wit.

Rowan (First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Best Friends, 2009, etc.) employs simple yet sophisticated prose, as well as an

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“This celebration of the richness of reading will reward anyone who loves to read.” from tolstoy and the purple chair

amazing capacity for detail and memory, in this chronicle of his personal experiences, relationships and globetrotting. Details of the author’s breathtaking and sometimes dangerous career— from dodging bullets on the front lines of the Korean War to unforgettable audiences with world leaders, American presidents and celebrities, are interwoven with the stuff of real life— including his battle with cancer, his passion for jogging and more than 50 years of marriage to wife Helen. Despite his entry into the nonagenarian register, the author never lost his edge or his hope and thirst for knowledge, proving that one man or woman’s life can influence and even change history, regardless of age. His account proves that with dogged determination, even those with reduced mobility—a natural consequence of old age—can adapt and discover new interests and joys. His prose is poetic and replete with colorful literary and philosophical quotes from renowned writers and thinkers. Rowan has a keen eye for detail, and his experiences, as he so aptly writes, are no “manual for growing old gracefully.”

This book is more than memoir; it will serve as inspiration to anyone who fears loss or stagnation in old age.

TRAVELS WITH GEORGE IN SEARCH OF BEN HUR and Other Meanderings

Ruffin, Paul Univ. of South Carolina (184 pp.) $29.95 | May 15, 2011 978-1-57003-986-7

Ruffin (English/Sam Houston State Univ.; New and Selected Poems, 2010, etc.) offers a collection of personal essays that read like script ideas rejected by the

Farrelly brothers.

Though the author boasts a fairly impressive Southern Lit CV—founding director of Texas Review Press, founding editor of the Texas Review and 2009 Texas State Poet Laureate—most of these essays are just offensive and miss the mark. They find great humor in excessive drinking—Ruffin devotes an entire piece to his history with alcohol and lubricates others—and many of the essays celebrate a sort of arrested adolescence, especially with women. The author ogles teenaged waitresses and watches a mosquito probing a thigh of “a beautiful young woman” sitting next to him at a reading—guess what the probing reminds him of? Ruffin dismisses women who don’t turn him on, including one waitress to whose apparently unsavory looks he devotes an entire paragraph. The author also displays an infantile pleasure in the body’s waste products; One essay is entirely about our multiple uses of the word shit; another records his mother’s (!) eccentric practices with her used Kotex.

Throughout, the author oddly reveals a disdain for the Southern and Southwestern people whom he putatively celebrates.

One mean-spirited essay ridicules the doggerel written by some law-enforcement officers at a convention—a bit like a martialarts expert’s flattening some eager movie fan in line to see The Karate Kid. Ultimately, this collection reveals the author’s 574

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inability to know what’s important and what isn’t. An interminable essay about a flight in a cargo plane features pages of ain’t-goin’-nowhere-in-particular dialogue and crude comments about women’s body parts.

Essays for the drunk and disorderly. Ruffin should stick to poetry and fiction—see The Man Who Would Be God (1993) or Jesus in the Mist (2007).

TODAY WE ARE RICH Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence

Sanders, Tim Tyndale House (304 pp.) $19.99 | April 1, 2011 978-1-4143-3911-5

Business consultant, Today Show regular and former Yahoo! exec Sanders (The Likeability Factor, 2009, etc.) offers advice for building confidence through the prism of his grandmother’s teachings.

Taking the title from a phrase the author’s grandmother used after helping a man who was down on his luck, the author weaves between a mixture of sound advice and bits and pieces of his grandmother Billye’s own story, which is by far the most interesting element of the book. Billye raised Sanders after the author was abandoned by his mother at a young age. Years later, when Sanders was depressed after the murder of his father, he began to reflect on the many teachings of Billye, whose confidence and spirit have served him as an inspiration throughout life. Divided into two sections, Part II of the book outlines seven principles for building confidence. Some of the jargon Sanders folds into his writing, like “Readers are Leaders,” is typical selfhelp fare. But the book shines when Sanders incorporates Billye’s sage witticisms and examples from her life—including the “Nut and Shell Exercise,” which can be usefully employed when dealing with criticism. A section on how to “Exercise Your Gratitude Muscle” uses Billye’s strong faith and upbeat fight against cancer as a template for expressing appreciation.

An uneven effort that, despite its shortcomings, will motivate some readers.

TOLSTOY AND THE PURPLE CHAIR My Year of Magical Reading

Sankovitch, Nina Harper/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $23.99 | June 7, 2011 978-0-06-199984-0

This celebration of the richness of reading will reward anyone who loves to read.

This is a far better book than one might expect from the categories into which it seems to fall. It initially seems like a book in which the

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author commits to reading the encyclopedia, the Bible or some other exhaustive work, only in this case the challenge is to read, and review, a book per day for a full year. Yet the impetus fits this into a separate category of mourning memoirs, for it was the death of the author’s sister that inspired her regimen. Ultimately, the results transcend categories, comparisons and matters of marketing, because what Sankovitch has accomplished in her first book is not only to celebrate the transformational, even healing, powers of reading, but to give the reader a feeling of reading those books as well, through the eyes of an astute reader.

Her choices are eclectic, international, unpredictable (even by her), the main mandate being that each is manageable enough to be read in a day. Avoiding the tedium of a diary, the author deals with the books thematically in chapters that focus on love, death, family, even the joys of reading, as she skillfully interweaves a memoir of growing up in a bookish immigrant family and developing a complicated, loving relationship with her oldest sister. After cancer claimed her sister at the age of 46, Sankovitch plunged into relentless activity—“I was scared of living a life not worth the living.” But hyperactivity failed to ease her mourning, so on her own 46th birthday, she dedicated herself to reading, not as a simple escape, but “as an escape back to life.”

Intelligent, insightful and eloquent, Sankovitch takes the leader on the literary journey, demonstrating how after “trying to anaesthetize myself from what I’d lost…I’d finally stopped running away.” As a bonus, even the well-read reader will be inspired to explore some of the books from this magical year.

(Agent: Esther Newberg/ICM)

EVA SCRIVO ON BEAUTY The Tools, Techniques, and Insider Knowledge Every Woman Needs to Be Her Most Beautiful, Confident Self

Scrivo, Eva Atria Books (352 pp.) $35.00 | April 5, 2011 978-1-4391-6471-6

An inside look into the beauty business with easy-to-follow tips for amateurs.

Scrivo’s book is packed with information on hair, skin care and makeup techniques. Along with promoting a healthy lifestyle, the author and host of the weekly radio show “Beauty Talk” educates and instills a spark in women searching for their own sense of style. Helping the disgruntled cosmetic consumer discern between what works and what doesn’t, Scrivo suggests products to best accomplish the consumer’s desired results. Her lessons on improving body image are sprinkled with charming family anecdotes and relatable narratives. Her personal story of accomplishment and growth is inspiring and will be especially stirring to readers hoping to rise in the ranks in the highly competitive fashion industry. The individual stories of her clients that shatter traditional definitions of beauty are liberating, as are her refreshing views on beauty regardless of age. Scrivo occasionally goes into extensive detail, and entire sections may |

go over the head of novices, particularly the section on hair coloring. Regardless, readers will come away with much useful material and will be infected by her overarching message: You alone hold the key to how beautiful you feel.

One-stop shopping for advice on improving your outward appearance—a must read for beauty-school hopefuls.

THE OLD MAN AND THE SWAMP A True Story About My Weird Dad, a Bunch of Snakes, and One Ridiculous Road Trip

Sellers, John Simon & Schuster (208 pp.) $14.00 paperback original | May 3, 2011 978-1-4165-8871-9

The swamplands of southern Michigan receive a surprise visit from a blogging Manhattan journalist and his feisty elderly father.

Early on, Sellers (Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, 2007) admits to a distinct abhorrence for “unnecessarily daunting” outdoor activities. Leaving the pleasurable confines of his home meant exposing himself to treacherous environs teeming with bugs, the horror of sharks and quicksand and “the constant menace of ickiness.” Also low on his to-do list was spending time with his quirky, estranged father Mark, a stuttering, antisocial former Lutheran pastor turned herpetologist who drove his long-suffering wife to divorce him after 19 years). In a farfetched effort to somehow rekindle a father-son bond, Sellers voluntarily accompanied his 70-yearold dad on his yearly three-day excursion to the Michigan swamps [25] in search of the “endangered copperbelly water snake.” It would be the longest amount of time they’d spent together in well over two decades, he confesses. The hundredmile road trip into the quagmire is surprisingly rife with honest revelations for both the author, who bemoans his father’s frail appearance yet respects his “consuming passion,” and Mark, who emotionally argues the negative perceptions of snakes in popular culture and the escalating “suburbanization” of land he’d once surveyed. After their initial trip was cut short, Sellers, though recognizing his father’s physical limitations, embarked on a second swamp voyage—only this time much better prepared (less kvetching!) and at peace with his co-pilot. As the author relates memories of a bittersweet childhood, their swamp escapades reveal a deeper meaning. Throughout, Sellers tests the bounds of the relationship with honest attempts at harmonizing with a father who’d become a stranger. With the swamp trips painstakingly accomplished and this heartfelt, Hollywood-ready narrative written, the author would do well to simply hug his father and stay put indoors.

An unconventional, funny and touching family adventure.

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TREASURE ISLANDS Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens

Shaxson, Nicholas Palgrave Macmillan (272 pp.) $27.00 | April 1, 2011 978-0-230-10501-0

An attempt to uncover the dirty secrets of offshore banking.

Under the aegis of secrecy, the profits of some of the world’s most prominent corporations currently mingle with the dirty money of gangsters, despots and terrorists. Largely indifferent to the origin of this capital, most low-tax jurisdictions are instead keenly interested in getting a “cut of the action.” Shaxson’s (Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil, 2008) story of offshore banking is nothing short of Shakespearean, a drama full of secrecy, treachery and corruption in which wealthy countries, companies and individuals collude to horde wealth in a complex global network of largely unregulated tax havens. To realize this end, they install corrupt leaders, exploit indigenous populations and, ultimately, deny both developed and developing nations of vital tax dollars. There is much here that should generate outrage. While the author does an admirable job of both arguing the consequences of offshore banking and providing a succinct history of the practice, his tone and style often work against his intentions. Overt declarations of outrage and heavy-handed moralizing suggest that readers may not be up to inferring the “right” conclusions on their own. Shaxson also too easily reduces the players in the drama to simple victims and villains. There is little nuance to his presentation, a fact underscored by his reluctance or refusal to acknowledge a position counter to his own—as tenuous as such a position may be.

A potentially compelling look at a pernicious financial practice ultimately undone by the author’s tendency to condescend.

UN AMICO ITALIANO Eat, Pray, Love in Rome

Spaghetti, Luca Penguin (256 pp.) $15.00 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-14-311957-9 A Roman tax accountant befriends a heartbroken American journalist with heartwarming results.

In 2003, when Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert nursed a broken heart with a triple-destination journey abroad, her first stop was Rome, where a mutual friend surmised that she and Spaghetti (his real name) would hit it off. Spaghetti’s endearing threepart narrative begins with his colorful Italian childhood, wrestling with a surname that begged for mockery and nurturing a love for professional soccer and folk music (James Taylor). He then details time spent immersed in American culture during 576

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a “dream” trip to Manhattan and a lengthy but magical crosscountry excursion to the California coast by train in 1995. The final section chronicles his “extraordinary” friendship with Gilbert in Rome. An accommodating host, Spaghetti enriched Gilbert’s three-month stay by steeping her in Italian culture as they toured Rome “inch by inch” on a scooter. Gilbert’s easy smile and big-hearted compassion was returned by Spaghetti, who brought folkloric history, breathtaking scenery and a love of spectator sports and food to the table, especially dramatic descriptions (recipes and glossary included) of traditional “fettuccine al ragu” and 190-proof homemade limoncello, which could “cut your legs off at the knees after your second tiny glassful.” Part memoir, part informative guidebook, Spaghetti’s anecdotes are plentiful and immensely entertaining. He shares his “personal pasta ranking system,” in which “rebellious” bucatini earns first place but proves a “natural sauce catapult,” notes the ever-present “mocking, humorous tone” of the typical Roman personality and demonstrates an uncanny ability to present classic Italian landmarks and histories with the charm and passion of a seasoned tour guide. The author’s literary voice is undeniably warm and welcoming as both friends engaged in a cross-cultural exchange—a “different kind of love” that has been fondly immortalized in Gilbert’s bestselling book.

An enticing entrée of sweet amity and savory memories.

THE ORDER OF DAYS The Mayan World and the Truth About 2012 Stuart, David Harmony (272 pp.) $24.00 | May 17, 2011 978-0-385-52726-2

Highly concentrated amalgamation of doomsday-theory debunking and Mayan ethos.

A leading Mayanist scholar and Mesoamerican art professor (Univ. of Texas), Stuart began appreciating Maya culture at an early age during trips to jungle ruins with his parents, lifelong experts.

Staunchly dedicated, the author has collected field research and documented the evolution of native kingdoms predating the Mesoamerican civilization—present-day southern Mexico and northern Central America—and the classic eras that established it, along with deciphering much of the coded Maya hieroglyphic script. He expounds on this research in dense, informative chapters about how the Maya society developed into a deeply mystical, animistic collective, invoking their notions of timekeeping and day-naming, cosmology and science. Also relevant to the author’s research was how their 260-day calendar was intricately designed and calculated and what the Maya people considered cosmic “deep time.” Stuart adroitly dispels common misconceptions that put the Mayan culture in an “exotic”, “alien” light to outsiders, which, to him, constitutes a “major cultural misunderstanding.” Though he appreciates the enthusiasm of the “guru” mentality, the author

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“An acerbic, witty guide to journalism that, if used, would get you fired.” from write more good

openly dismisses the recent ominous hype cultivated by New Age writers like John Major Jenkins and others who’ve analyzed the Maya calendar and its perceived dire consequences for the world at large. This is “complete nonsense,” the author writes, and he goes on to dispense a vast and illuminating chronicle of the Maya people and their fascinating cultural significance.

While much of Stuart’s scholarly interpretation borders on textbook analysis, even he confesses that a healthy amount of his personalized conjecture might be viewed as “half-baked” at its early developmental stage. The author deeply examines the core beliefs and the intricate written languages of the Maya civilization and seeks to convey a better understanding of not only its culture and history, but how it correlates to the overblown media buzz about the Earth’s hypothesized demise in 2012.

Chockablock with facts, graphs and illustrations—supreme fodder for specialists but somewhat impenetrable for the casual reader. (Author interviews in Austin)

THE HORSE THAT LEAPS THROUGH CLOUDS A Tale of Espionage, the Silk Road, and the Rise of Modern China Tamm, Eric Enno Counterpoint (512 pp.) $30.00 | May 1, 2011 978-1-58243-734-7

A complicated, ambitious travel adventure through modern Inner Asia, tracing the 1906–08 trek by a Russian spy commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II. The account of the secretive two-year journey undertaken

by Baron Gustaf Mannerheim was not published until 1940, when it was highly admired by Hitler. Journalist Tamm (Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist Who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell, 2004, etc.) only discovered Mannerheim’s Across Asia from West to East recently, and embarked on his trip in 2006 to retrace the baron’s arduous ethnographic journey through the last years of the Qing Dynasty, when modern currents were eradicating the old order—not unlike the cataclysmic changes shaking China to this day. In 1906, Russia was reeling from its humiliating defeat by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War, and enlisted Mannerheim, an officer in the Imperial Army, to undertake the mission through the Asian provinces to gather information on all aspects of Chinese reforms, defensive preparations, politics, colonization and the role of the Dalai Lama (whom Mannerheim got to meet), all in preparation for a possible Russian military incursion. Like Mannerheim, Tamm is intensely curious about the role of China on the world stage, and pursues similar questions about what kind of China will emerge from these wrenching attempts at modernization. Tramping from St. Petersburg to Peking proved a mind-boggling trajectory, penetrating myriad ethnic pockets, Mannerheim by caravan, Tamm by airplane, train, bus and car. Each man encountered all manner of suspicious or friendly people, mishaps and |

illness. Along the way, Tamm read Mannerheim’s diary—“aloof, impersonal and even churlish at times”—to gain a deeper understanding of this singular character.

A well-edited work chronicling a truly inspired journey, leaving readers hopeful about Chinese progress as well as full of questions.

WRITE MORE GOOD An Absolutely Phony Guide

The Bureau Chiefs Three Rivers/Crown (272 pp.) $13.00 paperback original | April 5, 2011 978-0-307-71958-4

An acerbic, witty guide to journalism that, if used, would get you fired.

The Bureau Chiefs, the team behind the Twitter feed @FakeAPStylebook, have finally figured out a way to get paid as journalists: Adapt the hilarious Twitter account into an all-encompassing stylebook of the ridiculous.

But instead of simply hitting print on their browser page and handing it to a publisher like so many other Internet sensations, the authors have put serious effort into this collection, which includes more than 90 percent original material. They’ve simplified how to report crime, politics and the supernatural, among other typical journalism beats, with advice such as, “Use ‘disgraced politician’ on first use, ‘expert political analyst’ on later mention.” The authors embrace the comforts of mobile technology and encourage other journalists to do the same. War reporters are instructed to stay cozy under their sheets, so they won’t lying when they tell their editors they are “embedded.”

Other sage witticisms include proper use of the term “World War,” which should be employed when describing “conflicts involving countries on at least three continents. For largescale battles against clones, killer tomatoes, or a fifty-foot woman, use ‘attack’ instead.” The authors also highlight the proper way to cite sources, the fine points of grammar and media law and each chapter comes with its own glossary of terms.

Funny tips and quips celebrating the dying art of journalism and the shamefully low standards imposed on media types thanks to the Internet.

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BETTER BY MISTAKE The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong Tugend, Alina Riverhead (304 pp.) $25.95 | March 17, 2011 978-1-59448-785-9

Sometimes belabored debut examines why making mistakes and learning from them is better than always trying to be perfect. |

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Covering what seems like familiar ground despite the book’s counterintuitive title, New York Times consumer columnist Tugend argues that the childhood admonition to learn from our mistakes is culturally undercut by another, more powerful message: Errors are dreadful, can bring punishment and must be avoided, concealed or never discussed. This tension, the author writes, often leads to the risk-adverse tendency to stick with the known, and causes trouble in schools, cockpits and operating rooms, among other places. Remedies range from parents taking care not to unknowingly instill an error-avoidance mindset in their children to simple pre-flight and pre-op checklists that keep flight crews and surgeons from making the same oversights that may have caused past accidents. Well-selected excerpts from studies and interviews with experts provide the book with depth, but only in the conclusion does the full force of Tugend’s prose emerge in a strong finish, in which she vividly evokes the profound importance of apologizing. Elsewhere, as in a lengthy consideration of gender bias in how mistakes are perceived, the author verges on being silly. We must strive, she writes, to “create a world in which it is safe for both men and women to make mistakes.”

Thoroughly researched but low-wattage illumination.

STAN MUSIAL An American Life

Vecsey, George ESPN Books/Ballantine (400 pp.) $26.00 | May 10, 2011 978-0-345-51706-7 A deeply admiring, fawning biography of the great St. Louis Cardinal.

Longtime New York Times sports columnist Vecsey (Baseball: A History of America’s Favorite Game, 2006, etc.) wears glasses with deeply Cardinal-colored lenses throughout his anecdotal record of the Hall of Fame left fielder/first baseman, whose spectacular career—which included a .331 lifetime average and a record 24 All-Star selections—ran from 1941 to 1963. Readers who want details about Musial’s personal life will have to wait for a more rigorous treatment, as will fans who want thorough descriptions of specific games and seasons. But those who want repetitious pages about the wonders of the character of Stan the Man will find their appetites quickly sated. Vecsey narrates chronologically, but there are numerous brief interchapters highlighting moments in Musial’s life, generally designed to establish his sainthood qualifications—his acts of kindness and comments from adoring fans and former teammates. Rarely does the author say anything negative (Musial once refused to sign an autograph), but, otherwise, it’s trivia and treacle. Vecsey even ends with a personal memory of Musial’s warm hand after a recent handshake. The author celebrates Musial’s great 1962 season (he hit .330) but neglects to mention his subsequent year (.255)—or to note that in his final five seasons he hit over .300 only once. Repeatedly, Vecsey laments Musial’s inferior position to Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams in most fans’ minds, attributing it to Musial’s self-effacing goodness.

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the author notes that Musial went to his St. Louis restaurant the night of the JFK assassination because he realized “his buddy had been gunned down, and the world needed to see Stanley.”

Rather than a journalist’s or a biographer’s disinterested analysis, the author offers a fan’s notes. (Color insert. Author tour to New York and St. Louis. Agent: Esther Newberg/ICM)

A MAN FROM ANOTHER LAND How Finding My Roots Changed My Life

Washington, Isaiah and Lavaille Lavette Center Street/Hachette (272 pp.) $24.99 | April 1, 2011 978-1-59995-318-2

In the search for his heritage, a former Grey’s Anatomy star finds a greater purpose.

After a DNA test revealed ancestral links to Sierra Leone, Washington finally felt he is able to connect to a part of himself that had evaded him since childhood.

Chronicling his journey from the rough streets of Houston, Texas, to the silver screen and beyond, the actor lays bare his transformation from Hollywood insider to philanthropist and activist. His travels to Sierra Leone, originally undertaken to discover his roots, resulted in his transformation into an outspoken crusader against diamond mining. Washington skirts erratically from topic to topic, cursorily touching on a multitude of issues in both the African-American community and Sierra Leone, providing the reader with no real understanding of the causes he so doggedly supports. The language is often trite and oversimplified, and the story line jumps around erratically. There’s also a litany of name dropping, with folks as diverse as Obama, Oprah and Ossie Davis making appearances here, among many others. Though the author hints at the salacious details of his Hollywood career, including the controversial incident that led to his dismissal from Grey’s Anatomy, none are given due attention, leaving the reader unsatisfied. Washington lays the framework for a follow-up, and readers can only hope he’ll expose a richer, more vulnerable self the next time around.

A quick read that creates more questions than it answers.

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ENGINEERS OF THE SOUL In the Footsteps of Stalin’s Writers

Westerman, Frank Translator: Garrett, Sam Overlook (320 pp.) $27.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-59020-087-2

A former Moscow correspondent for a Dutch newspaper conducts a literary travelogue revealing a remarkable geography and a strange, fraught alliance |

when the pen was not as mighty as the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union.

“Engineer” was the Soviet profession of choice when Stalin designated his cadre of writers “engineers of the soul,” purveyors of instruction and inspiration to the reading proletariat. Social Realism, in narratives that were not exactly fiction and not quite fact but always orthodox opinion, extolled socialist hydraulic engineering and the correct means of production. Heroics, history and hydraulics were aligned in the patriotic service of the Motherland. The arbiter of the works of the Red army of writers was Maxim Gorky, the Father of Soviet letters and chief of the Union of Soviet Writers. Brigades of hacks were dispatched to distant construction sites, and popular titles included Cement, Energy and The Hydroelectric Plant—those were novels, not to be confused with the purportedly factual The Great Waterways of the Soviet Union. One book, authored by a collective, celebrated the hopeless reconfiguration of Kara Bogaz, a salty bay of the Caspian Sea in what is now Turkmenistan. Westerman (Ararat: In Search of the Mythical Mountain, 2010) aligns the chronicles with the facts and locales to unearth the truth beneath the fanciful tales. The author examines the sad example of Konstantin Paustovsky, who wrote of the salt flats of Kara Bogaz from a distance. It was the era of the NKVD, Kremlin show trials and the Orwellian Ministry of Truth, and tons of offending texts were pulped.

An insightful history of the lives, times and works of some authors now virtually forgotten in the West, and a valuable addition to the study of Soviet letters.

DIARY OF AN ECO-OUTLAW An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth

Wilson, Diane Chelsea Green (256 pp.) $17.95 paperback original | May 17, 2011 978-1-60358-215-5 In her down-home, sassy style, an environmental activist tells of her latest battles against polluting corporations.

Longtime CodePink activist Wilson’s sequel to An Unreasonable Woman: The True Story of Shrimpers, Politics, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas (2005) continues the saga of her direct actions against those who raise her ire. Still outraged by the 1984 Bhopal disaster caused by Union Carbide (now a division of Dow Chemical), she chained herself to a 75-foot oxide tower at Dow, where she hung a banner reading “Dow Responsible for Bhopal.”

Removed and arrested, she writes vividly of her treatment and the grim conditions at the county jail. Out on bond, she headed off in search of Warren Anderson, Union Carbide’s chief executive at the time of the Bhopal disaster, first in Vero Beach, Fla., and then in Bridgehampton, N.Y.—a largely futile adventure, but one that she relates with great gusto. Wilson also proudly describes her noisy protest at a Texas fundraiser attended by then–Vice President Dick Cheney, where, disguised as a Republican donor, she screamed “Corporate Greed Kills” repeatedly |

until being thrown out, arrested and jailed. That she has deep skepticism of the EPA’s criminal investigators is shown in her rather rambling story of working with whistleblowers who have inside information about hazardous conditions and cover-ups at Formosa Plastics, a local chemical plant. Perhaps her most dramatic public action was her appearance at the Senate hearings where Tony Hayward, then chief executive of BP, was testifying about the Deep Horizon oil spell. She poured a half-gallon of Karo syrup (which resembles crude oil) over herself before being removed and arrested yet again. At the book’s end, the author is in Taiwan, attempting to present CodePink’s negative Black Planet Award to the family heading Formosa Plastics.

A folksy memoir from a gutsy, determined, well-connected gadfly who can write up a storm when not storming the barricades.

THE CLAMORGANS One Family’s History of Race in America

Winch, Julie Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (400 pp.) $30.00 | June 1, 2011 978-0-8090-9517-9 A slow retracing of the roots of one of America’s earliest—and most racially diverse—families.

Winch (History/Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston; A Gentleman of Color, 2003, etc.) explores real-estate tycoon Jacques Clamorgan’s rise to prominence in St. Louis in the late 18th century, as well as the entangling aftermath of the land and children he left behind. “This is a tale about money, land, power, and the nation’s obsession with race,” writes the author—all of which she explores within the single Clamorgan family line. The family was full of colorful characters, such as the biracial Apoline Clamorgan, the daughter of Jacques, who employed sexuality as a tool for her own advancement; and Louis, Apoline’s son, who used his street smarts to become “a man of prominence” throughout St. Louis. Of the many branches of the twisted family tree, the story of Cyprian Clamorgan, Apoline’s youngest son, proves most captivating. Though he easily passed for a white person, his primary power was unrelated to race, but in his ability to swindle. Cyprian’s varied schemes pegged him as a notorious fraud who regularly spent time in the courtroom, earning a number of enemies along the way. Yet perhaps the most engaging aspect of the Clamorgan story isn’t what the family was, but what they might have been. Winch notes that if Jacques’s vast land claims had been recognized, St. Louis might be called Clamorganville today. Likewise, with the proper schooling and connections, the gun-toting, scheming Cyprian might have become a governor or a “leading African-American writer, challenging the nation of the post–Civil War to examine anew its understanding or race.”

A tale well worth telling, though the stilted pace may limit the book’s appeal to general readers. (16 pages of black-and-white illustrations; 12 family trees)

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“Oprah-sanctioned relationship expert dishes on the decline of her own marriage.” from love shrinks

LOVE SHRINKS A Memoir of a Marriage Counselor’s Divorce

Wolf, Sharyn Soho (256 pp.) $22.00 | May 3, 2011 978-1-56947-936-0

Oprah-sanctioned relationship expert dishes on the decline of her own marriage.

Wolf (This Old Spouse: Tips and Tools for Keeping that Honeymoon Glow, 2007, etc.) may be a bestselling self-help author, frequent talk-show guest and marriage counselor to the stars. However, she’s also a woman who’s been married and divorced four times, but is still grappling to stay in the ring. The author offers a disclaimer right from off the bat—the first line reads, “This is the story of a marriage counselor who couldn’t keep her own marriage together.” Wolf goes on to detail the ironies of being a woman well-known for her whiz-bang relationship tips simultaneously wiling away her time in a sexless, dead-end marriage. So begins an investigation of not only her own background, but those of her husbands and her parents as well. The author uncovers a number of painfully repressed childhood memories which afford the wisdom that most of her marriages were doomed to hurtle straight off a cliff from the get-go. Wolf turns to her patients for answers, mining their individual situations for comparisons to her own, and seeks solace while counseling them through their shared dysfunctions.

Blending a conversational tone with tight, fast-paced prose, the author doesn’t shy away from her flaws, resulting in a book that is touching, humorous and familiar.

nation’s origins. Wood rejects the temptation to take sides among history’s combatants. Rather, the historian’s task, he writes, is to examine why they “thought and behaved as they did,” understanding that ideas, while important, are subordinate to passions driving social change, that they are always constrained by the facts on the ground and frequently entail consequences that no one, not even their sponsors, could foresee. With these stipulations and with genuine modesty—in postscripts to most of these essays, Wood frequently offers second thoughts about pieces composed years ago—he covers such topics as the disconnect between the sometimes lurid rhetoric accompanying the more prosaic reality of the Revolution; the Founders’ fascination with the rise and fall of Republican Rome; the unique radicalism shared by Jefferson and Tom Paine; the conspiratorial interpretation of events that flourished in the 18th century; the era’s sincere fear of monarchism on the one hand, mob rule on the other; the ideal of disinterestedness versus the competing interests unleashed by messy democracy; the peculiar awkwardness of the republic’s first decade; and the origins of our unique constitutionalism and our sometimes misguided political evangelism. It’s difficult to conjure another writer so at home in the period, so prepared to translate its brilliant strangeness for a modern audience.

Sound, agenda-free analysis, gracefully presented. (Agent: Scott Moyers/The Wylie Agency)

THE IDEA OF AMERICA Reflections on the Birth of the United States

Wood, Gordon S. Penguin Press (400 pp.) $29.95 | CD: $29.95 | May 16, 2011 978-1-59420-290-2 CD 978-0-14-242939-6 A Pulitzer and Bancroft Prize–winning historian offers deeply contemplative essays from a career devoted to studying the Revolutionary Era. If, as Wood (History/Brown Univ.; Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, 2009, etc.) asserts, the Revolution “is the most important event in American history, bar none,” it follows that arguments over its ideology, the doctrinal core of the nation’s creation, become critical, not just to contemporary politicians and activists looking to the past for legitimacy, but even—and more regrettably—to generations of historians bent on imposing their own era’s preoccupations.

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children & teens ITSY MITSY RUNS AWAY

Allen, Elanna Illustrator: Allen, Elanna Atheneum (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 3, 2011 978-1-4424-0671-1

Itsy Mitsy may be teeny tiny, but she has BIG issues with bedtime. Donning a dinosaur playsuit and driving goggles and straddling her trusty tricycle, she declares definitively, “No more bedtime. I’m gone.” Each time she heads for the door, though, Dad asks a simple question that complicates her runaway plan, leading her to gather up more and more stuff to take along.

These necessities (food for Mister Roar the dinosaur, Puptart the guard dog, a lamp so the doggy can see) quickly accumulate, piling up into a catchy chorus that repeats throughout. “She packed a lamp / to light up her pup / to bark at the beasts / to guard the snack / that she had packed / for friendliest dinosaur, / Mister Roar.” Each additional item offers another opportunity for readers to giddily recite Mitsy’s litany. Whether on a lap or in storytime, children will feel the pull of loose rhyme, pleasing momentum and mounting ridiculousness. Soon Mitsy’s got the whole house on her little shoulders and Dad teetering on top. Varied layouts, full of effective flourishes (ornate Victorian speech bubbles, round and rectangular inset scenes, reappearing imaginary bedtime beasties) highlight Mitsy’s panache and her father’s gentle manipulations. The irresistible tug of clever language combines with visual pizzazz to make this runaway story a runaway hit. (Picture book. 2-6)

RUSSELL’S WORLD A Story for Kids About Autism

Amenta III, Charles A. Illustrator: Pollak, Monika American Psychological Association/ Magination (40 pp.) paper $9.95 | $14.95 | March 1, 2011 paper 978-1-4338-0976-7 978-0-4338-0975-0

Likable young Russell puts a face on autism. Amenta’s experience with his own son (now grown) shapes this heartfelt approach. This child craves routine and rituals and struggles to relate to his younger brothers. Similarities between Russell and his siblings reveal emotional depth, though, occasionally, earnest simplifications lead to vague statements. (“Not all kids with autism have a hard time learning. Some are really smart |

and a few are even extraordinary!”) Focusing on Russell’s experiences, the book avoids sweeping generalizations while fairly outlining the condition’s complexities. The objective tone describes oddities in behavior through nonjudgmental language. Notably, the book eschews discussion of the controversy surrounding the diagnosis. A lengthy author’s note encourages families to seek professional support, but it does not include a list of recommended, current resources. Vivid mixed-media spreads include black-and-white childhood photos and display a hodgepodge of household objects and crayon scribbles; each element vies for control of the cluttered mind. Though Russell remains nonverbal, his expressive eyes depict each intense reaction. Busy spreads reveal his isolation and frustration as he fights for control. Supportive without sugarcoating, this realistic account of a disorder that affects so many contains at its core a raw emotional heart. (Nonfiction. 6-9)

THE VERY FAIRY PRINCESS TAKES THE STAGE

Andrews, Julie and Emma Walton Hamilton Illustrator: Davenier, Christine Little, Brown (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 3, 2011 978-0-316-04052-5 The mother-daughter team offers a follow-up to the popular The Very Fairy Princess (2010). This time, spunky Gerry believes she is a shoe-in for the starring role of the crystal fairy in her ballet studio’s spring performance. To her chagrin, another dancer, Tiffany, is selected for the coveted role, and Gerry is cast as the Court Jester. Even though her costume is not to her liking, Gerry does her best, but she stumbles around on stage, tripping, stepping on toes and, worst of all, losing her sparkle. She gets it back when she saves the day by offering her very own tiara to Tiffany when hers is smashed on stage. It’s a cute-enough story, but it is Davenier’s ink-and–colored-pencil illustrations that really steal the show. They, more than the text, demonstrate Gerry’s lovability, delightful awkwardness and indomitable spirit. In one memorable spread, Gerry’s facial expressions change from exuberance to devastation to a steely smile as she trips her way across the stage while audience members chuckle behind their hands. Captivating artwork aside, the authors make this princess fare more palatable than most by emphasizing that Gerry’s claim to princesshood is her sparkle, which turns out to be more about her self-confidence and self-expression than a frothy dress or gleaming tiara. (Picture book. 3-7)

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HORTON HALFPOTT Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, the Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset

Angleberger, Tom Amulet/Abrams (224 pp.) $14.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8109-9715-8

A positively gleeful historical mystery farce. Trouble really begins around Smugwick Manor, ancestral home of the Luggertucks and current resting place of the Luggertuck Lump (world’s largest and ugliest diamond), when M’Lady Luggertuck instructs her lady’s maid, Crotty, to loosen her corset a bit. What follows is a general loosening all around. Usually this wouldn’t affect Horton Halfpott, lowliest of kitchenboys, since he doesn’t like breaking rules (a good thing, since the business end of Miss Neversly’s cooking spoon is known to impart lethal corrections, and he meets it often enough even when he doesn’t break rules). When the newly loosened M’Lady plans a costume ball to make a match for her snooze-inducing nephew Montgomery to the comely and amazingly well-off Celia Sylvan-Smythe, events are set in motion that involve a missing Lump, Shipless Pirates, M’Lady’s evil weasel of a son, Luther, and, of course, our hero Horton. Is he up for some derring-do? Angleberger’s second (The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, 2010) is a satirical homage to Dickens by way of Pratchett and Snicket. Short chapters, a fast pace and plenty of linguistic and slapstistic humor will have young readers hoping that a sequel is planned. The scribbly pen-and-ink chapter-heading cartoon illustrations are just icing on the cake—or pickle éclair. A romp from start to finish. (Humor. 8-14)

THUNDER BIRDS

Arnosky, Jim Illustrator: Arnosky, Jim Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-4027-5661-0 A baleful osprey holding a rainbow trout in its talons glares at readers from the cover of this elegant introduction to predator birds, Arnosky’s latest exploration of the natural world. With oversized pages and four foldouts showing accurately depicted, sometimes life-size images, the artist and famed wildlife watcher introduces eagles, hawks, vultures, owls, herons and pelicans. He begins, appropriately, with a bald eagle, shown at half its actual size, and a meticulous, full-sized drawing of an eagle foot. Inside the first gate-fold, the osprey, wing outstretched, shares space with comparable heads and silhouettes—a golden eagle, red-tailed hawk and peregrine falcon. With only a few paragraphs of text for each bird family and plenty of extended captions, the book economically yet thoroughly covers a great deal. Full-bleed paintings in acrylic 582

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and white chalk pencil include many close-ups, showing heads, eyes and beaks. Sketches show the separated tips of wing feathers and feathered feet that allow owls to fly silently, the heron’s forward-facing eyes and the pelican’s expanding throat pouch.

In an afterword, the author reminds readers that these birds can be seen in American refuges and sanctuaries today and provides a list of some he and his wife have visited in their research.

“Nature’s flying predators are magnificent creatures,” the author writes, and this is a deserved celebration. (bibliography, metric equivalents) (Informational picture book. 6-10)

AT THIS VERY MOMENT

Arnosky, Jim Illustrator: Arnosky, Jim Dutton (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-525-42252-5

With a gentle rhythm, unforced rhymes and near rhymes and perfect pacing, this bedtime story encourages children to think, dream and wonder about the lives of animals in the wild. Arnosky takes his readers and listeners through a day. Beginning with the moment of waking up, he matches the child’s possible activities to those of an animal. Brushing teeth? “A toothy shark / is circling a reef.” Drinking water from a fountain? “Someplace in the forest / a deer drinks from a pool.” Eating your peas? An owl, a beaver, a rattlesnake and a blue jay are eating too. From raccoons that live in his woodshed to a black bear with cinnamon cubs photographed by a friend in Yellowstone and lions from his dreams, this prolific author-illustrator draws on long experience of nature-watching, drawing, painting and imagining to produce beautiful doublepage spreads showing animals in their natural habitats. A band of bighorn sheep walks a narrow mountain trail. A finback whale surfaces, not far from seals on rocks off the Maine coast.

A semi-palmated plover perches on an alligator’s gaping jaw.

While the focus animal is clear from the lines on the page, readers with some knowledge will be able to identify other species in these realistic images. In an afterword, Arnosky explains his connection to each animal. Children lucky enough to encounter this book will feel connected, too. (Picture book. 4-8)

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COMPULSION

Ayarbe, Heide Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $16.99 | May 3, 2011 978-0-06-199386-2 A compelling entrée into the claustrophobic world of an OCD teen. On the field, in the hallway and to his one good friend, Luc, Jake is Magic Martin, quirky but respected star soccer player.

Only his sister, Kasey, now a high-school |

“Austen fans who wish her characters would get up off their settees and risk an adventure will enjoy Bradbury’s smart, feisty heroine…” from wrapped

freshman, knows the truth about his family: Money is tight, their mother is mentally ill and their father is running on a constant low boil. And no one but Jake knows that he is constantly at war with the “spiders” in his brain, battling their encroaching, strangling webs by obsessively monitoring and manipulating numbers. The author immerses readers in Jake’s anxious reality. Each short chapter begins with the time, the digits of which add, subtract, multiply or divide into a prime number (“OK”) or don’t (“Fuck”). Tiny, mundane actions—tapping the beak of a lawn flamingo, touching a grandfather clock—become fraught with tension. The author deftly illustrates the impact of Jake’s obsessions without relying on exposition; readers see through Jake’s eyes the paramount importance of maintaining the “magic” and through their own eyes the hours upon hours lost to counting and tapping. The climax is both inevitable and gripping, and, although Jake longs for the day the spiders retreat for good, the conclusion that he must instead learn to cope with their presence comes as a relief to both readers and protagonist.

Taut, suspenseful and well-realized. (Fiction. 14 & up)

HAILEY TWITCH AND THE CAMPGROUND ITCH

Barnholdt, Lauren Illustrator: Beaky, Suzanne Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (144 pp.) $6.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-1-4022-2446-1 Series: Hailey Twitch Hailey Twitch’s excitement turns sour when her teenage sister’s demanding friend joins the family on a weekend getaway. Even the second grader’s not-so-imaginary sidekick Maybelle faces challenges at the family campground. Desperate to retain her magical abilities, the spunky sprite exerts her powers with unintended consequences. This series entry maintains a wellrealized child-centered perspective through every humorous magical snafu. (Arcade games run amok, and the bossy friend’s hair turns green.) Hailey’s realistic worries address her jealousy and self-doubt as she initially emulates her sibling’s behavior.

When her sister takes part in a forbidden exploration, Hailey’s thoughtful response demonstrates substantial growth. Hailey also reveals her growing maturity as she empathizes with her favorite classmate. “Now I know how Addie Jokobeck feels when she is trying to get me to listen to lots and lots of rules. It feels like a very big frustration.” The youngster’s energetic voice rings true despite an overabundance of exclamation points.

Wispy cartoon sketches depict outraged expressions and sheepish grins. A cliffhanger sets the stage for the next installment.

This wholly satisfying trek embodies the a typical Hailey-ism: “very fun and funny.” (Fantasy. 6-9)

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Bradbury, Jennifer Atheneum (320 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-1-4169-9007-9 An 1815 parlor diversion leads to a fizzy, frothy caper. Agnes is a Regency debutante with an inquisitive mind, a nose for trouble and some not-insignificant feminist objections to the process of finding a husband. When she pockets the trinket she finds among the linens at her neighbor’s mummy-unwrapping party, she unwittingly sets off a series of catastrophes will that include burglaries, violent attacks and murder. Her guilt drives her to investigate the mysteries surrounding the mummy and the party guests, drawing her into a tenuous partnership with a British Museum janitor while at the same time dodging the advances of Lord Showalter, the party’s host and the most sought-after suitor in London. The secrets she uncovers have consequences both personal and political, giving her quest a heightened urgency. Bradbury weaves Egyptology, Napoleonic conquest and a flirtation with the supernatural into a spy thriller that is a marked departure from her 2008 debut, Shift. The story is steeped in the historical details of the period, even as the author’s note outlines the liberties taken with the timeline. Austen fans who wish her characters would get up off their settees and risk an adventure will enjoy Bradbury’s smart, feisty heroine (who is herself an avid reader of A Lady). (Mystery. 12 & up)

TINK

Bredsdorff, Bodil Translator: Dyssegaard, Elizabeth Kallick Farrar, Straus and Giroux (144 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-374-31268-8 Series: Children of Crow Cove, Book Three A lyrically quiet celebration of community from Denmark. Continuing where the Danish titles Crow-Girl (2004) and Eidi (2009) left off, Bredsdorff’s newest translation returns to the peaceful Crow Cove, where a mismatched band of friends and relations are trying to start a new life.

Young Tink, blaming himself for allowing the food crop to be destroyed by livestock, finds and rescues an old drunk named Burd with a violent past. There are people in Tink’s community who ran away just to get as far as they could from this man, yet it is through Burd that Tink learns to fish and discovers that there is more to a person than their worst qualities. More than just a story of survival, this is a tale about creating a community and settling down where you are safe and loved. There is no denying the author’s acuity for lyrical language. Readers would be well advised, however, to make a point to read the previous two books in the series should they wish for the revelations made

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“Captures exactly and sweetly a developmental ideal for both child and parent.” from tweak, tweak

throughout the book to have any kind of an impact. It’s a lovely story, but without the requisite background knowledge it will fail to carry the proper weight. Readers who make the investment in reading the two prior titles will find themselves well rewarded. (Fiction. 9-12)

BITTER END

Brown, Jennifer Little, Brown (368 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-316-08695-0 The anatomy an abusive relationship.

At 17, Alex still mourns the mysterious accidental death of her mother years ago and yearns for affection or even just more than a trailed-off half-sentence from her emotionally absent father. She feels invisible and unimportant, except to her best friends since early childhood, high-achieving Bethany and earnest goofball Zack. When Cole, a dreamy transfer student, lands in Alex’s tutoring classroom and starts flirting with her, asking to read her poetry, then asking her on a date, Alex is swept away on a cloud of romance. But when Cole starts isolating her, pinching her and then punching her, Alex begins living the nightmare of an abusive relationship. Brown (Hate List, 2009) tackles another taboo but much-discussed topic with authority and authenticity, and she doesn’t let her victim completely off the hook. Every time Cole crosses a line—physically or verbally—readers will root for Alex to break up with him. They will read on with disappointment and sympathy as she forgives him again and again before finally breaking up with him after an especially violent confrontation. It’s a little cheap to write a motherless girl, desperate to be lavished with affection, as the victim here, as if only a girl with deep-seated emotional problems would get sucked into an abusive relationship. Still, readers will be enthralled, horrified and ultimately relieved when Alex gets the mostly happy ending she deserves. (Fiction. YA)

TWEAK TWEAK

Bunting, Eve Illustrator: Ruzzier, Sergio Clarion (40 pp.) $14.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-618-99851-7

Little flying through the air to the shock of the frogs below.

“No,” says Mama, “because you are not a frog. You are a little elephant. But you can stomp your foot and make a big sound.”

“Like that, Mama?” “Just like that, my little elephant,” and the picture shows Little making quite a fine STOMP, STOMP! As they walk, Little imagines climbing an acacia tree like the monkeys, flying with a very anthropomorphic and beruffled butterfly and singing like a bird, only to learn what elephants do instead. Mama praises her for asking questions, so she can learn and grow to be “a big, strong, smart, beautiful elephant”—just like her Mama, suggests Little Elephant. In a nice touch, it is Little who leads Mama back home, past all the animals they saw on their walk. Captures exactly and sweetly a developmental ideal for both child and parent. (Picture book. 3-5)

PIRATE HANDBOOK

Carretero, Monica Illustrator: Carretero, Monica Translator: Brokenbrow, Jon Cuento de Luz (32 pp.) $14.95 | May 1, 2011 978-84-937814-8-4 A bland introduction to the pirate life manages to suck all the fun out of the subject. Likely to please only overprotective parents, this field guide tucks such provisions as, “The crew is your family, and you must look after them and love them,” into the Pirate Oath.

It also claims that pirates “only steal from people who’ve got more than they really need,” and insists that male and female pirates “respect each other equally.” Similarly, though the watercolor illustrations are replete with hooks, peglegs, eye patches and like standard gear, many of the pirates on display sport inoffensive personae like “The Smiley Pirate,” “The Hunky Pirate” and even a grandmotherly “Pirate Captain’s Mum.” The translator lets a lookout shout “Land Ahoy!”—which only children who have never read another pirate book will accept. Production standards are equally careless, as a word is misspelled in the Pirate Vocabulary list (the “Pirat” flag), and there’s a blank space on the treasure map where a coded message is supposed to be.

Shelve in Davy Jones’ locker. (Picture book. 7-9)

THE GODDESS TEST

Carter, Aimée Harlequin Teen (304 pp.) $9.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-373-21026-8

Elephant mother and daughter enact an ages-old parent-child ritual. This book presents a pretty and friendly world, in which Mama Elephant is blue, Little Elephant is white and rosy, the sand is peach and every animal wears an expression of contented amusement. When Little Elephant goes for a walk with Mama, she holds on to Mama’s tail and tweaks it twice to ask a question. Little sees a frog jumping and wants to know, “Can I jump?” Readers turn the page to a spread of 584

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Propelled by its high concept—ancient Greek deities, reality TV plot—this romance-series debut starts promisingly but soon sinks into a queasy blend of genres with cardboard characters and interchangeable deities. Manhattanite Kate Winters, 18, has relocated to Eden, |

Mich., where her ailing mother wants to live out her last days in her hometown. At her new school, Kate encounters two instantly besotted guys and one jealous mean girl, Ava, who abruptly dies in a freak accident on the way to a party she’s manipulated Kate into attending. Enter the mysterious Henry, aka Hades, who offers to restore Ava to life if Kate will take his ex-wife Persephone’s place.

Having inexplicably bonded with vapid Ava, Kate agrees, although it means spending six months a year in the underworld. Her light sentence is carried out in a halfway house between worlds, where she enjoys dressing up, being waited on, taking Greek Deities 101 and falling for the tortured Henry. But it’s not all guys and parties; Kate must pass seven pantheon-administered “tests” in order to win the prize (Henry and immortality); if she loses, Henry will fade. That plus agonizing over whether he loves her occupy her abundant spare time. Better takes on this familiar paradigm abound. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

but his family isn’t ready. There are pies to be baked and animals to be brushed. But this book’s really all about the rhymes. Many classic children’s books have succeeded entirely on a bouncy rhythm and a handful of clever rhymes, but the words here don’t bounce. The scansion seems, just faintly, wrong: “Hurry, Mama! Please, let’s go! / Let’s go to Derry Fair! / I want to ride the giant swing / That flies high / in the air!” A clever musician, with a little time, could make them catchy. For readers without time or the ability to improvise tunes, the real joy is in Tyler’s hide-and-seek illustrations. The watercolor-and-ink images are rendered in muted greens and browns, like spring, and they contain every toy or pet a preschooler might want. Children reading the book on their parents’ laps will search each page and say, “There’s a sheep! There’s a duck! There’s a hot-air balloon!” Even the homely interiors and details will fascinate. These pictures are more likely to stick in their heads than any of the couplets.

(Picture book. 3-7)

THE DAY DIRK YELLER CAME TO TOWN

EPIC CLIMBS

Casanova, Mary Illustrator: Hoyt, Ard Farrar, Straus and Giroux (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-0-374-31742-3 It takes one ingenious little boy to defuse a threat that has a whole town quaking in its boots. Larger than life, dangerous outlaw Dirk Yeller looms into town bigger than his horse, terrifying even the tumbleweeds. He’s lookin’ for who-knows-what to stop his itchin’ and twitchin’ and jumpin’ and rattlin’. Only one small boy, the narrator of the tale, stands up to Dirk and leads him to, of all places, the public library. There, he is charmed by Miss Jenny, who helps him find just the right book, even though he isn’t a “real strong reader.” Lost in reading, he’s cured of his itchin’. As the sun sinks low and closing time nears, Dirk Yeller rides off with a saddlebag of books, promising to come back—not to cause trouble, but to get more books (and to see Miss Jenny).

The sandy-hued illustrations are packed with details and humor.

The antics of a cat and some mice provide a silent visual subplot, and both human and animal expressions will tickle readers. Hoyt’s marvelous caricatures are worth thousands of words, making this hilarious tall tale not only a plug for books and reading but an outsized winner. (Picture book. 4-8)

HURRY DOWN TO DERRY FAIR

Chaconas, Dori Illustrator: Tyler, Gillian Candlewick (36 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7636-3208-3

Cleare, John Kingfisher (64 pp.) $19.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7534-6573-8 Series: Epic Adventure In a helter-skelter scrapbook format, Cleare, a veteran mountaineer, profiles five of the world’s most renowned mountains—K2, the Eiger, the Matterhorn, Everest and Mount McKinley—and identifies some of the major historical expeditions to their summits. Top-to-bottom views of each peak are provided via single, double or (for Everest) wall-poster-sized triple foldouts. Along with those, dozens of smaller captioned photos, maps, images or realistic reconstructions depict noted climbers of the past, local wildlife, old- and new-style climbing gear, wind and weather patterns, climbers’ camps, glaciers and rugged landscapes. Likewise, each peak receives an introductory passage of dramatic prose (“Mount McKinley is a colossal, icy complex of ridges, spurs, buttresses, and hanging glaciers,” forming “a crucible of particularly evil weather”). This is accompanied by assemblages of captions and commentary in smaller type that detail its challenges and the often-unhappy history of climbers who faced them. The level of detail is specific enough to include views and comparisons of the actual routes up each mountain, and readers are expected to be clear on the difference between a cirque and a serac, or a “technical” and a “nontechnical” climb. Armchair climbers who can weather the random-feeling arrangement of pictures and the overall absence of narrative flow are in for thrills. (Informational browsing item. 11-13)

Just how long can it take to get ready to go to the fair? Some stories need to be set to music. The plot of this picture book is simple enough: A boy wants to go to the fair, |

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ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE

Clipston, Amy Zondervan (246 pp.) $9.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-310-71981-6 In this Christian chick-lit effort, car repair paves the way to emotional healing. High-school junior Emily and her father have just moved in with her wealthy aunt and uncle and their two children. Several months previously, Emily’s mother died of cancer, and hospital bills have pushed them to the brink: Emily’s father has lost his car-repair business and their home. Emily, given to dramatic sighs, unexpected tears and prickly angst, has not been able to talk to God since her mother died, her emotional distress amplified by being recently dumped by her boyfriend. While she enthusiastically rejects nearly every kind overture offered to her, next-door-hunk Zander easily breaks through her barriers, since the two of them share an intense interest in auto repair. This activity provides Emily with solace but horrifies her critical, fashion-focused aunt. While cheerleader cousin Whitney is initially portrayed as shallow, she tries hard to relieve Emily’s suffering, as do the minister and youth-group leader at their church. Emily’s egocentric, first-person narration sharply limits the focus, leaving other characters little room to develop.

A lack of suspense, a predictable outcome, a nondescript setting and a surfeit of soul-searching on Emily’s part, as she writes long letters to her mother in her journal, all contribute to a largely vanilla-flavored tale of loss and, not surprisingly, redemption.

(Christian chick lit. 10 & up)

IF I COULD FLY

Cofer, Judith Ortiz Farrar, Straus and Giroux (208 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-0-374-33517-5 Sixteen years after the publication of the Pura Belpré–winning An Island Like You (1995), Cofer returns to the characters of her New Jersey barrio with an affecting treatment of one girl’s comingof-age. Doris wakes up one morning not that long after her quinceañera to find her mother gone. Claribel, a singer with a heart condition, has returned to her own mother in Puerto Rico, leaving Doris home with her usually-absent musician father. Left mostly to herself, Doris acts out: She wears Claribel’s glamorous but inappropriate clothing to school, she lets her grades slip and she’s rude to her father’s new Jewish– Puerto Rican girlfriend. Doris’ usual sources of peace have been disrupted. She still cherishes the pigeons on her apartment building’s roof, but one is injured. She cares for the pigeons with her aging former babysitter, but Doña Iris is increasingly senile. She reunites with an estranged school friend, only to 586

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find herself the suspect in a shooting. In mellifluous prose liberally sprinkled with Spanish, narrator Doris tries on personalities, trying to make sense of herself. Is she a singer, a psychic, a pigeon keeper? Is she a friend or a daughter, a New Jerseyite or a Puerto Rican, a neighbor or a dreamer? An extemporized highschool musical appropriately provides a gently chaotic climax.

A familiar story of mother/daughter relationships delivered lyrically, simply and inspirationally. (Fiction. 11-15)

THE NEIGHBORHOOD SING-ALONG

Crews, Nina Illustrator: Crews, Nina Greenwillow/HarperCollins (64 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-185063-9 A hop, skip and a jump away from The Neighborhood Mother Goose (2003), Crews once again places classic nursery fare in the middle of bright, bustling Brooklyn streets. This time, however, she sets her sights on songs—34 of them, to be exact. Photos of joyful, ethnically diverse children found in playgrounds, parks and cozy home settings infuse well-known tunes (and some forgotten favorites) with warmth and energy. Many scenes are quite literal: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” shows youngsters playing baseball in the park. Others have a playful twist: “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” has a boy gleefully jumping atop the “old man” in bed (i.e. Daddy), with an appropriately rain-splotched window in the background. “London Bridge” is in fact a bridge built with wooden blocks, and “Alouette” shows a boy racing towards pigeons—the urban equivalent of a lark if ever there was one. Crews also offers familiar digital effects: “Miss Mary Mack” has elephants high in the sky, while “I’m a Little Teapot” shows a rather large teapot with tiny children climbing on it.

Sheet music is not included, but an author’s note points readers to other books and online resources for help with the tunes.

A collection that begs to be sung in all neighborhoods—city stoops or country front-porch swings alike. (Picture book. 3-6)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A BROKEN HEART

Culbertson, Kim Sourcebooks Fire (304 pp.) $9.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-1-4022-4302-8 Overachieving Jessa looks forward to her drama class’ trip to Italy until she finds her boyfriend wrapped around a new squeeze in the costume barn. Alas, all of them will be on the trip. Jessa decides to go anyway, armed with 20 envelopes from her best friend. The envelopes contain instructions for activities intended to repair Jessa’s confidence and, perhaps, wreak

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“The boy-and-dog partnership here is mildly appealing, but what really makes it stand out are the deftly folded-in gun lessons and easy acceptance of the way of life they accompany.” from wild life

revenge on the offending ex-boyfriend. However, as time passes and the instructions do nothing but cause more difficulty, Jessa begins to take her own road to recovery, finally focusing more on her own faults than on her boyfriend’s. Culbertson balances the story between teen angst and a nice Italian travelogue, as Jessa begins to find her own way out of her despair. Her characters stand out as individuals, although she saves time by fitting some peripheral characters neatly into stereotypes. The tour director with her frog-on-a-stick signpost adds some local color.

The author has a flair for evocative descriptions, with phrases like “the world’s lovely sherbet colors, its gauzy, shifting clouds like wraiths” helping readers to see Italy. As Jessa reads A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, readers may be enticed to try it too. The major strength here is in the literary quality of the writing, although teens may be more interested in the characters’ relationships. (Fiction. YA)

THE GREAT HAMSTER MASSACRE

Davies, Katie Illustrator: Shaw, Hannah Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (192 pp.) $12.99 paperback original | May 3, 2011 978-1-4424-2062-5 Fans of Ivy and Bean will enjoy meeting their counterparts across the Pond: best friends and next-door neighbors Anna and Suzanne. Together, the girls sow happy chaos in their English village, along with Anna’s little brother, Tom, Joe-down-the-street and assorted human and animal enablers. Anna, the narrator, has her heart set on a new pet. Their current one, New Cat, acquired to replace the more accommodating Old Cat (victim of a sad mishap), is fierce and unfriendly (handlers are advised to wear gardening gloves).

A successful wheedling campaign and coincidental sad family event produce results: two hamsters, both certified (wrongly) as female. Ere long, a blessed event ensues. Like life, novels unfold while the characters—Anna, in this case—are busy making plans, and Anna’s fountain of ideas convincingly tracks the busy 9-year-old mind down to the smallest, delightful detail. Inspired use of simple words, straightforward syntax and effective repetition make this a top pick for slow or reluctant readers. The art is clever, but the cartoonish style with limited affect might mislead readers expecting a Captain Underpants experience. Be warned: Under the plot’s frothy surface lie serious depths (hint: Look at the title). An auspicious debut, with a sequel (The Great Rabbit Rescue) waiting in the wings. (Fiction. 8-12)

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WILD LIFE

DeFelice, Cynthia Farrar, Straus and Giroux (192 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-374-38001-4 A rare boy-and-his-gun story that accepts a hunting culture instead of demonizing the tool. Both of Erik’s Reservist parents are being deployed to Iraq. Erik wants to stay in upstate New York with a friend whose father has been helping them get their Hunter Safety Certificates and dreams of living like the pioneers, camping out and shooting game for food. By contrast, being sent to North Dakota to live with farming grandparents last seen nine years ago when he was three just sounds ghastly, though of course that’s exactly what happens.

Once there, Erik finds the complete emptiness of the prairie landscape boring. While Oma is friendly and kind, Opa, known as Big Darrell, is intimidating. A room belonging to an uncle who died in Vietnam hints at the source of Big Darrell’s gruffness, but it doesn’t explain his rejection of a dog that Erik helps rescue from a porcupine attack. As his inevitable disgruntlement leads Erik to attempt life in the wild, readers are treated to a modern-day anti-survival adventure. The inevitable mishaps and how Erik copes provide some adventure, but he returns so easily that readers may feel cheated. Sturdily conveyed, the lessons are telegraphed on each page. The boy-and-dog partnership here is mildly appealing, but what really makes it stand out are the deftly folded-in gun lessons and easy acceptance of the way of life they accompany. (Fiction. 8-12)

FLIP-O-STORIC

Drehsen, Britta Illustrator: Ball, Sara Translator: Lindgren, Laura Abbeville Kids (22 pp.) $15.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7892-1099-9 Sturdy split pages allow readers to create their own inventive combinations from among a handful of prehistoric critters.

Hard on the heels of Flip-O-Saurus (2010) drops this companion gallery, printed on durable boards and offering opportunities to mix and match body thirds of eight prehistoric mammals, plus a fish and a bird, to create such portmanteau creatures as a “Gas-Lo-Therium,” or a “Mega-Tor-Don.” The “Mam-Nyc-Nia” places the head of a mammoth next to the wings and torso of an Icaronycteris (prehistoric bat) and the hind legs of a Macrauchenia (a llamalike creature with a short trunk), to amusing effect.

Drehsen adds first-person captions on the versos, which will also mix and match to produce chuckles: “Do you like my nose?

It’s actually a short trunk…” “I may remind you of an ostrich, because my wings aren’t built for flying…” “My tail looks like a dolphin’s.” With but ten layers to flip, young paleontologists will run through most of the permutations in just a few minutes,

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“[The] tale draws its grace from the fine, detailed portrait of immigrants making their way in a new world.” from racing home

but Ball’s precisely detailed ink-and-watercolor portraits of each animal formally posed against plain cream colored backdrops may provide a slightly more enduring draw. A silhouette key on the front pastedown includes a pronunciation guide and indicates scale. Overall, a pleasing complement to more substantive treatments. (Novelty nonfiction. 6-8)

BILLIE THE UNICORN

Drouhard, Brianne Illustrator: Drouhard, Brianne Immedium (40 pp.) $15.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-59702-024-4 Billie learns that adventure isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in this tired reiteration of a very old theme. This unicorn’s cornfield surroundings appear lackluster compared to the “mystical forest” where her cousins Rhubarb and Smudge abide. Her magical relatives create spectacular garden scenes, but Billie’s best attempts to beautify the world yield only corn. Intrigued by rumors of the queen’s luscious landscape, she’s tricked by the evil monarch and kept hostage until she gains self-confidence.

Drouhard’s background in animation is apparent in fantastic, rainbow-sparkly spreads; the treacherous royal makes for a charismatic aggressor behind her cold castle walls (recalling an Alice in Wonderland whimsy, Tim Burton–style.) Striking facial expressions complete with doe eyes, elfin ears and buck teeth suit the overall aesthetic, though these unicorns do not look remotely equine. Unfortunately, earnest-yet-vague word choices lead to a flat presentation: “Rhubarb and Smudge took care of the woods in their own special way.” Heavy-handed dialogue does nothing to relieve the formulaic plot. “Just be yourself, think about what you like, and the magic will do the rest!” gushes Rhubarb. The trite resolution jars. Even this unicorn family’s mystical gifts are unable to support this clunky narrative. (Picture book. 4-8)

CHARLIE THE RANCH DOG

Drummond, Ree Illustrator: DeGroat, Diane Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-199655-9

readers not-so-subtle clues about the personality of the dogs involved. They see Suzie running and herding the cattle, lugging baskets of vegetables and generally keeping the ranch in shape while Charlie rests his eyes and sleeps. But one day Charlie finds himself without his sidekick and actually proves himself to be a valuable farmhand. Young readers will chuckle at the unabashed, obvious humor and will especially enjoy finding the hidden, unnamed chipmunk buddy on every page. Rather bafflingly, Drummond, mostly known for her Pioneer Woman blog, provides an unexpected recipe for lasagna as backmatter. This incongruity aside, Charlie’s tale is an agreeable if ephemeral one.

(Picture book. 2-6)

RACING HOME

Dueck, Adele Coteau Books (192 pp.) $8.95 paperback original May 1, 2011 978-1-55050-450-7 A deliberate look at Norwegian immigrants on the Canadian prairie recalls Sarah, Plain and Tall for a slightly older audience. When 12-year-old Erik’s mother remarries, she promises him that they’ll stay close to his grandparent’s Norwegian farm. Instead, within a year, Erik’s taciturn stepfather, Rolf, has taken them first to Minnesota and then to the wilds of Saskatchewan, ostensibly in search of his brother, Lars. Erik dislikes Rolf and feels uncomfortable on the flat Western prairies, so different from home, but he loves farming and he works hard to help Rolf build a new home. Soon Erik discovers what Rolf told his mother but not him—he has a son from his first marriage, raised by his brother after Rolf ’s wife died, and it’s really Olaf, now nearly grown, that Rolf traveled all this way to see. Olaf resents Rolf and seems to be headed for trouble, and Rolf seems uncomfortable around him, but as the year progresses so do the characters. Erik comes to admire Rolf ’s hard work and persistence and Olaf ’s generosity; they begin, slowly, to feel like a family. A subplot about thieving cowboys and a horse race doesn’t add much to the story, but it doesn’t hinder it, either. This tale draws its grace from the fine, detailed portrait of immigrants making their way in a new world. (Historical fiction. 9-13)

RRRALPH

Charlie, a long-eared, nap-loving basset hound, provides a highly filtered view of his life on the ranch. As he tells it, he and his sidekick, Suzie, are in charge. His bouncy, short-eared friend seems to be some sort of a terrier—all energy—and is always a few steps ahead of her buddy. Charlie, well, he is a basset hound, perpetually in search of the next meal and a quiet place to sleep. He has to keep the cows in their places, help Mama with the garden, catch fish and, of course, sniff the steps. Like Gloria, of Office Buckle and Gloria fame, Charlie’s perceptions are quite different from reality. His down-home dialogue coupled with expressive watercolors give 588

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Ehlert, Lois Illustrator: Ehlert, Lois Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 24, 2011 978-1-4424-1305-4 What would it be like to have a talking dog? Well, believe it or not, Ralph, the button-eyed, white-and-black puppy, actually can talk. When he arrives at |

his new home, the narrator asks, “What’s your name?” Ralph responds with an energetic “RRRALPH RALPH.” Readers might not get the joke at first, but when Ralph disappears, the unseen narrator asks, “Hey, Ralph! Where are you?” This brings the response, “ROOF ROOF.” Though the trick quickly reveals itself, the questions to canine continue, allowing the young readers and listeners a chance to riddle through the answers. The query, “Ralph, what’s on that tree,” allows children to think, “Leaves? A bird? Branches? Bark? BARK!” Yes, bark. Ehlert’s collages invite close inspection. Ralph is made of textured paper for his body, buttons for eyes, a soda-cantab nose and a zipper for teeth. The oversized font on supersaturated shiny paper makes this an especially good book for shared reading. Even from the back of the room, children will be able to read along. The color-coded font allows for easy readers theater, too. Bold and bright, filled with kid-pleasing riddles and collage illustrations, this is a perfect offering for new readers and storytime. Will these young readers want to create a sequel? Yip! Yip! (Picture book. 4-8)

HOW THINGS WORK IN THE YARD

Ernst, Lisa Campbell Illustrator: Ernst, Lisa Campbell Blue Apple (40 pp.) $14.99 | May 1, 2011 978-1-60905-009-2 From birds and their nests to a hose and sprinkler, this attractive informational title presents 21 familiar objects that might be found in a young reader’s suburban yard. Clear, clean cut-paper illustrations in pleasingly unsaturated colors are laid out in double-page spreads on a background of colored graph paper. The minimal text is presented will in digestible bits. Acting as an example of a bird, a robin’s body parts (eye, beak, feathers, etc.) are labeled, and a few fast facts (they “communicate with each other by singing,” for example) are given. The range is surprisingly varied: animals such as snails, fireflies and ants; tools and toys such as a ball, a wagon and a bubble wand; dandelions, clouds and puddles; even rocks and dirt. Occasionally parts of humans are depicted; their skin colors vary. Ernst has a clear sense of what her young readers might notice and wonder about. She also helps them make connections. A caterpillar page is followed by one on a butterfly; acorn is followed by squirrel. Some, like clouds and puddles, appear on the same spread. The definitions and explanations are clear and simple, and the author sometimes suggests an activity: making a dandelion chain, catching fireflies, painting rocks, even jumping in puddles! A beguiling invitation to curious young readers and listeners to explore both the pages of the book and the world outside their doors.

(Informational picture book. 4-8)

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SIDEKICKS

Ferraiolo, Jack D. Amulet/Abrams (320 pp.) $16.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8109-9803-2 The author who made a splash with The Big Splash (2008) takes the “costumed superheroes” genre out for a joyride, and anyone who comes along will never read comics the same way again. Six years as Bright Boy, sidekick to crime-fighting superhero Phantom Justice, has left Scott a teenager with no life, no friends and revealing yellow tights that show the news cameras every bit of the involuntary hard-on he gets after heroically rescuing a beautiful victim. Then another seemingly devastating development: He and arch-nemesis Monkeywrench (Dr. Chaotic’s sidekick) both lose their masks in battle, and Monkeywrench turns out to be not only a girl, but one he knows from school. This leads to a giddy, liberating romance, as well as cool costume makeovers and sensational publicity after the cameras catch some of that love action. It also earns them death sentences from their respective employers, who turn out to be very different from their public images and not at all willing to be edged out of the limelight by supporting characters. Scott’s present-tense narration keeps pedal to the metal from start to finish, and readers will be quickly won over as the two superstrong, super-fast, super-likable protagonists face both inner conflicts and a Dark Knight–ish villain as deeply psychotic and scary as he is super powerful. Look for more twists than a pretzel factory and a possible sequel. (Superhero fantasy. YA)

HIDDEN

Frost, Helen Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (160 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-374-38221-6 From the award-winning Frost comes a wildly imaginative, thought-provoking novel in verse that centers on the unlikely friendship that arises between two teenage girls as a result of an accidental kidnapping. Darra Monson’s father, an abusive, unemployed mechanic, steals a minivan, not knowing that 8-year-old Wren Abbott, daughter of the local school superintendent, lies hidden in the back. Told entirely from her perspective, Wren’s unwitting capture and eventual escape comprise the first third of the story before the narration switches to Darra, who relates how her father is caught and imprisoned, all the while blaming Wren for his arrest. Though from opposite sides of the tracks, Darra and Wren’s paths cross again six years later at summer camp, where the 14-year-olds see each other for the first time. Slowly the two begin to unpack that uninvited trauma. After breaking the ice and overcoming Wren’s nearly drowning Darra, the two begin to

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talk, and Frost’s lyric narrative resolves movingly by alternating between the two protagonists. Frost’s tale exhibits her trademark character development that probes the complexities of intimate relationships. Here Wren’s touching statement, “I was a happy little girl / wearing a pink dress,” eventually leads to Darra’s private admission to Wren: “None of it was our fault.” Both tender and insightful, this well-crafted, fast-paced tale should have wide teen appeal. (notes on form) (Poetry. 10-16)

RUBY RED

Gier, Kerstin Translator: Bell, Anthea Henry Holt (336 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-8050-9252-3 A contemporary English teen discovers she possesses a gene enabling her to travel into the past in this riveting first volume of the Ruby Red trilogy.

Sixteen-year-old Gwen lives in London with her mum’s eccentric family. Her cousin Charlotte’s the expected carrier of the family timetravel gene that has been passed along the female line since the 16th century, so Gwen’s totally unprepared when sudden vertigo morphs into uncontrolled time travel working her as the gene carrier. Apparently her mum falsified Gwen’s birth date to protect her from the Guardians, the old, powerful and dangerous secret society obsessively watching over the time travelers and protecting the chronograph, a device for negotiating time travel. To the Guardians, Gwen is the Ruby, the crucial last link in their Circle of Twelve, while 19-year-old Gideon, her handsome fellow time traveler in the male line, is the Diamond. Together Gwen and Gideon are expected to complete the Circle and solve an undefined mystery involving Count Saint-Germain, a malevolent time traveler from the 18th century. As she narrates this fast-paced puzzler, Gwen convincingly conveys the bewilderment, fear and excitement of a teen rooted in the present but catapulted from her schoolgirl routine into the past. Bell’s deft translation captures an engaging heroine with a cell phone and a sense of humor, an emerging romance and a complex, unresolved time-travel mystery spanning four centuries. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

THEN

Gleitzman, Morris Henry Holt (208 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2001 978-0-8050-9027-7

narrator Felix and companion Zelda, 10 and six respectively, fleeing from a death-camp–bound boxcar. In the course of their flight there is always the danger of being turned in to the Nazis for a reward, as well as the imminent peril of being shot or starving to death. Taken in by a Polish woman, the children have a home, but danger is everywhere, especially for Felix, who is tormented by a sadistic boy determined to strip him to see if he is circumcised. If he uncovers a Jew, the boy will claim a reward, and Felix, Zelda and Genia, the farm wife, will be shot. Throughout, Felix takes comfort in the humorous tales of his favorite author, Richmal Crompton, a British writer. These references provide necessary light moments in a book that shows the passage of the children from innocence to terrible reality: There seem to be no happy endings for Felix.

Despite all the grinding misery and the moments of sheer terror, Felix retains his humanity, and a reader surely must walk with the protagonists on their long and tortured journey. (Historical fiction. 10 & up)

WHEN BOB MET WOODY The Story of the Young Bob Dylan Golio, Gary Illustrator: Burckhardt, Marc Little, Brown (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 3, 2011 978-0-316-11299-4

Golio (Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix, 2010) produces another sensitively written, meticulously researched picture biography, this time capturing the intense ambition of the young Bob Dylan.

Born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota in 1941, Bob’s coming of age as a small-town Jewish boy trod the converging paths of the folk, blues and rock scenes. Bob challenged authority by listening to and playing music that bucked his family’s and community’s status quo. The chance to meet his hospitalridden hero, Woody Guthrie, forms the text’s dramatic hook: Bob hitch-hiked east to connect with his hero and his own complex musical destiny. Golio acknowledges Dylan’s penchant for self-invention without disparaging it; his high-road approach lends the narrative a distinct kind-heartedness. (In a thoughtful note, the author articulates his approach to teasing out what “rang true” from contradictory research on Dylan and his peers.) Burckhardt’s accomplished acrylics combine a warm, Americana-soaked palette with heroic compositions: In one spread, a Woody Guthrie record rises like a sun. Quotations sprinkled throughout the text are scrupulously annotated. Well done. (afterword, sources & resources) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

Sequel to the searing Once (2010), this tale of young people trying to survive in Poland during World War II is equally powerful. This title picks up where the first book ended, with 590

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“The group spends their days wandering the city, improvising thoughtful, random acts of art that they hope will touch those around them.” from page by paige

POPULAR

Grosso, Alissa Flux (312 pp.) $9.99 paperback original | May 8, 2011 978-0-7387-2799-8 Everyone knows that high-school senior Hamilton Best throws the best and most exclusive parties. Suddenly someone is beating her to the punch by posting anonymous guest lists to her own party.

This queen of popularity is certain it’s one of her clique and that she’s plotting her downfall. Who could it be? Olivia, chosen back in kindergarten, but now tired of always being second in charge; Nordica, a meek underclassman rescued

by Hamilton; Zelda, a freak who’s tolerated because of her association with Hamilton; or bitchy Shelly, the only one to become a member on her own accord? Alternating chapters reveal their true feelings for and conspiracies toward Hamilton. Readers may wonder why five such antagonistic girls would even remain friends, especially when Hamilton’s loner boyfriend, Alex, comes between them. (Hamilton thinks he’s grown distant, Zelda has a crush on him, Olivia refuses his stealthy advances and Shelly’s ready to steal him out from under Hamilton.) Even their dialogue sounds stilted at times (“From where does this sudden sense of altruism spring?”). But readers who stick around for the second part of this debut, narrated by Alex, will discover the girls’ shocking true identities, how Hamilton is indeed overthrown and Alex’s mysterious role in it all. An interesting ending makes the inconsistent path worth the ride. (Fiction. YA)

PAGE BY PAIGE

Gulledge, Laura Lee Illustrator: Gulledge, Laura Lee Amulet/Abrams (192 pp.) $18.95 | paper $9.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8109-9721-9 paper 978-0-8109-9722-6 A sweet coming-of-age graphic novel about an artistic introvert. Sixteen-yearold Paige Turner (a product of writer parents, though that still doesn’t forgive the somewhat cruel moniker) is a recent transplant to Brooklyn from rural Virginia. Lonely and aloof, she decides to take her passion—art—to a new level and follow the rules that her grandmother (also an artist) lived by. Paige luckily falls in with a group of similarly artistic kids, and they become a tight circle. In this bunch, Paige meets Gabe, a handsome young writer whose love for the written word rivals her love for art. The group spends their days wandering the city, improvising thoughtful, random acts of art that they hope will touch those around them. In a story-within-a-story, readers are made privy to Paige’s sketchbook, exposing with her innermost thoughts, even as they join her quest for identity and belonging. Paige’s sketches are soft and expressive, and Gulledge does an admirable job of providing |

insight into Paige’s musings, creating a very intimate ambiance for this well-fleshed-out character. The artist masterfully commands her piece, creating a cohesive and fluid work that cascade smoothly along. Teens are sure to relate to this wallflower who blooms—gloriously. (Graphic fiction. 13 & up)

STAR OF THE SEA A Day in the Life of a Starfish Halfmann, Janet Illustrator: Paley, Joan Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-0-8050-9073-4

An introduction to the ochre sea star, a Pacific coast variety. Halfmann appropriately focuses on sea stars’ more amazing adaptations—sticky tube feet, a stomach that can be extruded from its body and the ability to regenerate its rays. Children follow along as one sea star uses the night’s high tide to reach the shore, where the mussel beds and her next meal lie. Along the way, she uses her tube feet to right herself after a wave flips her, works to pry apart some mussels, eats her fill and narrowly escapes a hungry seagull. Unfortunately, the author misses some great opportunities to introduce vocabulary.

Backmatter includes a diagram of a sea star, resources for finding out more, a four-word glossary and two pages of extensive additional information about sea stars. Paley’s beautiful artwork consists of collages of hand-painted papers of watercolor blends and textures. While the colors and textures are truly evocative of the ocean setting, the illustrations fall a bit short in terms of scientific detail. The text mentions (without naming) the madreporite, the opening in the top of the starfish that allows it to take in water and power its tube feet, but the light-colored, offcenter circle that marks this spot is missing in the illustration.

This combines with the lack of scientific vocabulary to keep this from being a solid resource, but it could serve to spark further interest.(Informational picture book. 5-8)

FLY TRAP

Hardinge, Frances Harper/HarperCollins (592 pp.) $16.99 | May 31, 2011 978-0-06-088044-6 Another city unwittingly admits the forces of chaos and widespread panic through its gates in this doorstopper sequel to Fly by Night (2006). Those forces being young orphan Mosca Mye (a “clench-jawed scrap of damp doggedness”), silver-tongued poet/con man/ex-spy Eponymous Clent and Mosca’s beloved but psychotic goose Saracen, readers are in for a rare treat. In full flight after having played a significant role in turning the port of Mandelion into an independent city governed by republic-minded “radicals” in the previous episode,

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“Hodgman looks back humorously at her 1960s childhood in the Rochester, N.Y., area, recalling incidents that pained her at the time or seem embarrassing in retrospect.” from how to die of embarrassment every day

the trio enters the aptly named town of Toll in hopes of escaping across the only bridge over the mighty Langfeather River. Escalating complications rapidly ensue as Mye and Clent discover to their horror that they’re trapped within the secure walls of a town that’s being taken over by the sinister Locksmith Guild.

Toll is a thoroughly dysfunctional town, in which the streets are literally rearranged every dawn and dusk to underline a sharp separation between the smug and prosperous daytime population and the despised, fear-plagued nighttime one. Hardinge once again creates a strange original society that reflects our own in provocative ways. She also has a gift for well-turned prose and shows a sure hand in crafting suspenseful plots. Readers will be thrilled she again gives this winning trio a chance to show their better natures while surviving (often causing) trickery, betrayal, fires, riots and social upheaval. (Alternate world fantasy. 11-13)

A GAGGLE OF GOBLINS

Harper, Suzanne Greenwillow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-199607-8 Series: The Unseen World of Poppy Malone, Vol. 1 A new series focuses on the adventures of four kids whose parents are professional paranormal investigators.

Protagonist Poppy is logical and practical; her older sister Franny, vain; her older brother Will, lazy; and her younger brother Rolly, mischievous. They all find their folks exasperating, and Poppy finds her siblings so as well.

Oddly, it is Poppy, the grounded one, who finds herself tracking down actual paranormal creatures: goblins. Their parents are distracted by exploring ley lines under their new home, preparing for an onslaught of vicious vampires chasing one of their colleagues and trying to make contact with a potential Dark Presence that Mrs. Malone senses in the house. These are all red herrings, for readers as well as Mr. and Mrs. Malone; the real story is the goblin troupe that kidnaps Rolly and leaves a goblin doppelganger in his place, after having observed the boy’s extraordinary talent for getting into trouble. Poppy is likable and a good problem-solver, and the plot moves along swiftly. Unfortunately, the secondary characters, especially the siblings, are completely one-dimensional. Franny is so annoying that even reading about her becomes so; the same goes for Will.

Rolly’s tricks are funny, and he might make an interesting character if we get to know him a little better in subsequent stories.

Needs a little more development all around. (Fantasy. 8-11)

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400 BC: THE STORY OF THE TEN THOUSAND Helfand, Lewis Illustrator: Singh, Lalit Kumar Campfire (72 pp.) $9.99 paperback original May 31, 2011 978-93-80028-61-3

Despite plenty of spattered blood and armored warriors sporting the oversized thews of Conanlike barbarians, this fictionalized graphic rendition of Xenophon’s Anabasis fails to give the renowned retreat much life or drama—or even to tell a coherent story. The narrative of foot soldier Eustachius opens with the realization of the Greek mercenaries that they’ve been suckered into taking on the entire Persian army and then follows the core that survives the battle of Cunaxa (and the death of Cyrus, their employer) on its more than 1,000-mile march through hostile territory back to Greece. It is brought to grinding halts first by an overlong flashback to peaceful times and later by a lurid but superfluous dream. Not only does the soldiers’ relentless bickering form a distracting backdrop to the exhausting marches and costly battles, but much of the visual action is squeezed into small inset panels where it shares space with boxes of wordy dialogue and commentary. Furthermore the art looks sketchier in some panels than others, and the characters (particularly when their faces are obscured by wraparound helmets) tend to look alike. Fans of Frank Miller’s epic 300 (1999) may be lured by the similar title, but will come away disappointed. (Graphic novel. 12-15)

HOW TO DIE OF EMBARRASSMENT EVERY DAY

Hodgman, Ann Photographer: Hodgman, Ann Henry Holt (224 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-8050-8705-5 Hodgman looks back humorously at her 1960s childhood in the Rochester, N.Y., area, recalling incidents that pained her at the time or seem embarrassing in retrospect.

There was the way she bragged about her reading before she knew better, the fourth-grade nickname (Hampton Schnoz) bestowed by a classmate she’d asked about her appearance and the total lack of athletic ability that left her at the bottom of the climbing ropes. She includes poems from her “bird sequence,” written in third grade. Not all events are mortifying. Some just reflect what it was like to be young at the time. There is the longed-for Petunia the Climbing Skunk from F.A.O. Schwartz that she didn’t get for Christmas, a lovely description of birthday-party entertainments that includes Spiderweb and the Kim Game and the scary school-bus driver who threatened his

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misbehaving passengers with a rifle. Some anecdotes are very short; others go on for several pages. Occasional photographs of herself and her husband, as well as both their families back to their grandparents, will help readers picture these children from long ago. There is no hint of the larger political turmoil of the time. Rueful, funny and nostalgic, this will ring true to parents and grandparents and may be even more appealing to them than to a child readership—whose impression of the 1960s will be very different. (Memoir. 9-12)

SQUISH, SUPER AMOEBA

Holm, Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm Illustrator: Holm, Jennifer L. Illustrator: Holm, Matthew Random (98 pp.) $6.99 paperback original PLB: $12.99 | May 24, 2011 978-0-375-84389-1 PLB 978-0-375-93783-5 Series: Squish, Vol. 1 The hilarious misadventures of a hapless young everylad who happens to be an amoeba. Countering the (perceived, at least) girliness of their Babymouse series, the talented Holms turn to the microbial world for new graphic material. Like his revered comics hero, Super Amoeba, blobby Squish is determined to “do what’s right.” This turns out to be relatively easy when it’s his mooching buddy Pod suckering him into switching lunches or his relentlessly cheery classmate Peggy the paramecium (her every utterance trailed by a line of exclamation points!!!!!) begging him to come over after school to meet her new slime mold Fluffy. It’s a lot harder when brutish bully Lynwood callously envelops and begins to digest the seemingly doomed Peggy for a snack. The siblings draw it Babymouse-style in thick lined cartoon panels with garish green highlights and dialogue balloons.

Plenty of helpful arrows point out significant anatomical details (“Pseudopods”) or offer snarky side comments. The episode zips along to a climactic ugly (but just) surprise for Lynwood, then closes with an easily doable prank/science project involving a moistened slice of bread. If ever a new series deserved to go viral, this one does. (Graphic novel. 7-9)

THE QUITE CONTRARY MAN A True American Tale

Hyatt, Patricia Rusch Illustrator: Brown, Kathryn Abrams (32 pp.) $16.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8109-4065-9

“Un-American!” One day, four men with scissors try to ambush Beard, but he fights them off. Then these men have the nerve to go to court and blame Beard for attacking them. The judge issues a $10 fine, and, when Beard refuses to pay it, they put him in jail for a year. Beard’s tearful family visits him every day, and he complains about the conditions in letters to the editor. When Beard’s year in jail ends, he again refuses to pay his fine. The frustrated sheriff and jailer come up with a unique solution, one that’s sure to surprise readers as much as Beard. It’s based on a true story; Hyatt includes a generous historical note. The compression demanded by the picture-book form is felt in Hyatt’s prose, but she cleanly lays out a morality tale that could prompt a healthy civics lesson. Brown’s arch illustrations, in watercolor with pen and ink, nicely capture 19th-century New England. This will do until a full Beard Palmer YA novel comes along. (Picture book. 6-9)

THE CHALICE OF IMMORTALITY

Kirov, Erica Sourcebooks Jabberwocky $7.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-1-4022-1503-2 Series: The Magickeepers, Vol. 3 Thirteen-year-old Nick Kirov has a sort of wizard’s Bar Mitzvah in this, the third outing in the Magickeepers series. His desperate search for a fabled magical chalice that will save the life of his father, bespelled during an attack by the evil Shadowkeepers, takes the young visionary from the (sadly defunct) Liberace Museum’s warehouse in his hometown Las Vegas to Stratford-on-Avon, then to a climactic showdown in a Russian ice cavern with the evil Rasputin. As in past episodes, the parade of historical figures continues in visions and flashbacks, because in its long history the life-giving chalice passed through the hands of such luminaries as Shakespeare, Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart.

Nick’s relentlessly entrepreneurial uncle Crazy Sergei puts in occasional appearances for comic relief, as well. By the end, Nick has (seemingly) vanquished Rasputin, saved his father, buried the dangerously intoxicating chalice in a deep hole and, and keeping with an unusually specific Prophecy, been elevated to Prince of the Magickeepers. “You,” his uncle Theo informs him, “became a man.” After its strong start in The Eternal Hourglass (2009), this series has been treading water, but fans may still be willing to take a dip. (Fantasy. 11-13)

What shall we do with the contrary man? Joseph Palmer’s long golden beard is the pride of his family and the bane of the small Massachusetts town where he lives.

It flows all the way down to his belly and “from elbow to elbow,” earning him the nickname Beard. But people jeer, calling him |

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TILL DEATH DO US BARK

Klise, Kate Illustrator: Klise, M. Sarah Harcourt Children’s Books (144 pp.) $15.00 | May 1, 2011 978-0-547-40036-5 Series: 43 Old Cemetery Road, Vol. 3 The third installment in this cheery little series set in the town of Ghastly adds several new characters: siblings Kitty and Kanine Breth and a dog loud enough to wake the dead. Once again, the sisters Klise deliver their story through letters, newspaper articles, notes and transcripts, all illustrated with M. Sarah Klise’s delightfully imaginative drawings. Seymour finds a dog, which everyone knows was owned by the recently deceased Noah Breth and which Seymour intends to keep. The dog, “Secret,” barks all night, however, disturbing even ghosts. Shadow the cat disappears, while Olive and Ignatius begin squabbling. Attempting to restore harmony, Seymour takes Secret and leaves. Meanwhile, the greedy heirs of Noah Breth arrive to squabble over his fortune. Rare coins keep turning up all over town. Everyone looks for Seymour and Secret. As always, the authors keep readers giggling with the clever, usually death-related names invented for their characters (M. Balm, Fay Tality and Mike Ondolences). Phrases turn nicely as well: During a written and rather heated conversation between Ignatius and Olive, she writes, “I refuse to continue this conversation if you’re going to raise your font at me.”

Good, merry fun dances on every page, with bubbling humor for child and adult alike. (Humor. 8-12)

BEAR WITH ME

Kornell, Max Illustrator: Kornell, Max Putnam (48 pp.) $15.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-399-25257-0 Owen’s world is perfect until his parents decide to add a bear to their family. “It started off just right. I had mom and a dad and my own set of blocks. I had everything I needed.” His parents bring home a huge, brown bear named Gary who invades Owen’s perfect life and territory. Gary takes up Owen’s parents’ time, plays with his toys, ruins his markers and swing and keeps him up all night with his overwhelming snoring. It takes a while for Owen to adjust to this enormous change, but like children everywhere with a new sibling or other addition to the family, he learns to appreciate and even love the interloper. The droll illustrations, in which Owen and Gary appear to have been cut out and glued into a suburban subdivision, put the new brothers at the center of the action. Despite the cartoon style, emotions are clear. Owen’s eyes, near tears, zero in on Gary’s fearful expression at their first meeting; the two smile at each other while sharing blocks.

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Gentle, wordless pages explore their developing friendship and invite readers to provide the narration. The only misstep is the use of colored text rather than quotation marks to show speech, which could be an unnecessary impediment for new readers. Nevertheless, a sweet and refreshing spin on the old new-sibling plot. (Picture book. 2-8)

THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING

Krishnaswami, Uma Illustrator: Halpin, Abigail Atheneum (272 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-1-4169-9589-0

Hooray for Bollywood. Eleven-yearold Dini is not pleased at all at the prospect of leaving Takoma Park, Md., and her best friend Maddie to live in a small town in southern India for two years. But though she knows it’s ridiculous, bakvaas, as Indians say, she wonders if she might get to meet her idol, Dolly Singh, Bollywood film star.

Dini and Maddie are devoted Dolly fans. And, in a series of events as wonderfully convoluted and satisfyingly resolved as any movie plot could be, she does. The fast-paced tale introduces and manages to connect an Indian-American family, a postal worker from Mumbai, a movie producer and his erratic star, a car mechanic, a tea plantation owner, a local baker and assorted monkeys—all coming together for a grand finale party and dance. Set in imagined Swapnagiri (which means Dream Mountain), this high-energy concoction is thoroughly believable and entertaining. The story is told in a third-person present-tense voice that rings true to its protagonist, who sees her life as a movie script. Though Dini and Maddie are halfway around the world from each other, they communicate through cell phones and computer chat, keeping up their friendship while making new ones. Full of references to Bollywood movie traditions and local customs, this is a delightful romp with a fresh setting and a distinctive and appealing main character.(Fiction. 9-13)

THE ROYAL TREATMENT

Leavitt, Lindsey Disney Hyperion (272 pp.) $16.99 | May 3, 2011 978-1-4231-2193-0 Series: Princess for Hire

This breezy sequel to Princess for Hire (2010) continues a middle-school girl’s dream come true: She’s magically transformed into various princesses and lives their lives for them while the real princesses take a vacation. Thirteen-year-old Desi wants to keep that glamorous and well-paying job, but she finds dealing with her

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“A thoroughly delicious romp from the author of Ella Enchanted (1997).” from a tale of two castles

magical employers almost as difficult as the work. She realizes that she herself has some magical ability and that it isn’t all supplied by the agency. She also hopes to meet wonderful Prince Karl again, although she knows the agency can fire her if she becomes personally involved with a royal. Meanwhile, Desi has been cast as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the joint middle-/high-school play, and she’s learning that she has real talent. She’ll need it on her next major assignment, when her princess becomes involved a major, highly publicized scandal, then refuses to return to her real life. Will Desi be stranded impersonating a rich and glamorous celebrity for the rest of her life? And what about that adorable Prince Karl? Leavitt keeps the story dancing along with breathless, wish-fulfillment glee. Desi’s character stands out with her unsinkable confidence, but adult characters often act more like middle schoolers than the kids do. It’s a lively if lightweight romp that will please many young girls with glamorous dreams. (Fantasy. 8-12)

A TALE OF TWO CASTLES

Levine, Gail Carson HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | PLB: $17.89 | May 10, 2011 978-0-06-122965-7 PLB 978-0-06-122966-4 A thoroughly delicious romp from the author of Ella Enchanted (1997).

Before Lodie leaves the island of Lahnt, her mother warns her to beware ogres, dragons and “the whited sepulcher” (a villain who appears virtuous) in the big town of Two Castles; she inevitably meets all three, encountering danger and friendship where least expected. Lodie’s parents send her away to become a weaver, but the girl plans to become a “mansioner” (actor), like her brother Albin. When she cannot secure a free apprenticeship, she finds herself working for the enigmatic dragon Masteress Meenore, a food vendor and amateur detective. Lodie soon employs her imitative and observational mansioning skills—and Meenore’s lessons in “deduction, induction, and common sense”—to investigate thefts and threats at ogre Count Jonty Um’s royalty-crowded castle. When local prejudices and political intrigue throw the court into an uproar, Lodie must solve the many mysteries or face execution. Fairy tales and classic myths are cleverly woven into the story, but the gritty medieval conditions—poverty, hunger, lice and cruel nobles—provide the dramatic tension and realistic motivation for the adventurous and intelligent Lodie. The plot is winningly unpredictable, the characters easy to relate to, the humor subtle and the action well-paced. Newbery Honor–winner Levine has once again breathed new life into old stories. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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MERCY

Lim, Rebecca Disney Hyperion (288 pp.) $16.99 | May 17, 2011 978-1-4231-4517-2 From Australia, a series opener in the relatively new fallen-angel subgenre of paranormal romance. Mercy is a disembodied soul in limbo between Heaven and Earth, except when she awakens in a human body—in essence, “soul-jacking” them.

Here, Mercy inhabits Carmen, who, Mercy slowly pieces together, is a shy, awkward teen with a show-stopping soprano on her way to a regional high-school concert. She’s about to meet the family that will host her during her stay. From the moment Mercy meets the Daleys, her supernatural senses signal something is wrong, and she quickly learns that their teenage daughter, Lauren, also a soprano, was abducted several years before. Soon Mercy finds herself torn between helping Carmen find her voice and solving Lauren’s mystery with the missing girl’s twin brother, Ryan. Interwoven throughout are visits to Mercy from otherworldly spirits, who warn her of danger in her dreams. This component feels hokey and distracts from the otherwise satisfyingly frenetic pace of the main mystery. Mercy’s present-tense narration bounces back and forth between colloquial (“I chugalugged eight bourbonspiked colas in one sitting”) and overwrought (“sweat breaks out upon [Carmen’s] skin, drenching the pristine white sheets on which we lie”). This thriller has a creepiness that keeps the pages turning, but it also manages to avoid graphic details, leaving much to readers’ imaginations. In the end, it doesn’t really elevate itself from the pack. (Paranormal thriller. 13-16)

EXPLORERS: REPTILES

Llewellyn, Claire Illustrator: Bull, Peter Kingfisher (32 pp.) $10.99 | April 1, 2011 978-0-7534-6499-1 Series: Explorers

Two new entries expand the subject diversity of the Explorers series, marked by their short paragraphs of information, extensive index, labeled pictures and panoramic scenes. Carole Stott’s concurrently published Stars and Planets is a very generalized introduction to space, focusing on the stars, moon, planets, space travel, astronauts and robotic space technologies. This title, the stronger and more in-depth of the two, focuses on four groups of reptiles: snakes, crocodilians, lizards and turtles and tortoises. Using a wide variety of examples across the four groups, Lewellyn teaches children about reptiles’ diets, habitats, predators, defenses, adaptations, births and interactions with humans. Unfortunately, the flaws of previous titles continue in these, to varying degrees. “What is it?” thumbnails still ask readers to identify objects from their

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h d o r e e n c r on i n Doreen Cronin has authored many children’s picture books, including the Caldecott Honor–winning Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type, illustrated by Betsy Lewin, and the beloved Diary of a Worm, illustrated by Harry Bliss. Here, Cronin discusses her latest book, Trouble with Chickens, a noir-type mystery chapter book illustrated by Kevin Cornell that features a hard-boiled canine detective, J.J. Tully.

Q: You have a lot of fun thinking up wacky characters— cows that type, a diary-keeping worm and now a canine detective. Where do all these characters come from? And how did J.J. Tully find you?

the trouble with chickens

A: I wish I knew! The character of J.J. Tully was really interesting, because he was secondary. The first character I had in mind was the villain—Vince the Funnel. Vince was inspired by a drawing of a dog wearing one of those Elizabethan collars—and I thought it was hilarious. So who is a great foil for a canine villain? A search-and-rescue dog!

Doreen Cronin Illustrated by Kevin Cornell Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins $14.99 March 1, 2011 978-0061215322

Q: This mystery draws on, and gently mocks, a lot of gumshoe conventions. Do you enjoy the detective genre yourself?

A: I hadn’t really read any detective books until I started to do the research for Trouble with Chickens. Then I read authors like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. It’s such a distinct style and I loved it. Then, of course, it was time to watch some old movies. I never understood the Humphrey Bogart “thing” until I watched a few of his movies backto-back. Now I get it!

The thing I love most is the flawed hero. Now, J.J. is not quite as flawed as the hard-boiled detectives in the genre, but he’s not perfect, and he’s not always pleasant. He’s also not particularly happy about his current circumstances—he misses his search-and-rescue life. Hanging around with pet chickens is really not his thing.

full-time writer? And did your publishing success impress the lawyers?

A: My writing process at the time was to cram in writing time when I got home from work at 11 p.m. and then again on the weekends if I wasn’t at the office. My writing process now is to cram in writing time after my kids go to sleep—and again on the weekends...I’ve never been a particularly disciplined person—but I’m definitely getting better at managing my time and trying to balance the Mom/Writer thing.

Did it impress the lawyers? [Laughs] I think it might have confused them more than impressed them.

Q: Can you tell me about writing this book? Many people assume that children’s books are easy to write, but I know that’s rarely the case.

A: It took a fair amount of research to get the noir pace and tone. Then it’s all about the rewrite. The first rewrite, the 12th rewrite and the 63rd rewrite.

I’d been so picture-book oriented, that it really felt like a tremendous amount of actual writing.

Don’t get me wrong, picture books aren’t easy, but a chapter book? All that dialogue? Completely new to me and challenging.

Q: Can you tell us about any books in progress? Is J.J. Tully currently at work on another case?

A: J.J. is definitely at work on a new case—with some new characters. I have been fine-tuning that one for a few months now, and Kevin has done some great character sketches.

–By Jessie Grearson

Q: What was your reaction to the book’s illustrations— did these characters match those in your imagination?

PH OTO C OURT ESY O F A n d re w G otte s ma n

A: Kevin Cornell’s illustrations are hilarious—especially how he managed to make the chicks so quirky and appealing but not overly cute (which I think is hard to do with a baby chicken). I will confess that when I saw the original sketch for J.J., I asked Kevin to make him a little more handsome. I think he did a great job!

Q: You had a career as an attorney before this. I believe that you wrote Click, Clack Moo when you were still practicing. What’s your writing process like these days as a 596

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“Loth’s illustrations carry the weight of the offbeat story, featuring rich colors, beautiful compositions and a cinematic sense of movement; a spectacular double-gatefold conveys Clementine’s wonder as she orbits.” from clementine

close-up views; in most cases these objects can be found in the larger artwork, although they are not named. Color-coded icons are meant to link similar topics within each book, but the connections between pages may not be immediately obvious to readers. These connections are only spelled out in detail in a section of backmatter entitled “More to explore,” where children can also learn a few more facts about each topic. Illustrations vary between stunning photographs and rather stilted-looking digital images. An OK beginning for children just discovering their individual interests. (Nonfiction. 7-10)

CHAMELIA

Long, Ethan Illustrator: Long, Ethan Little, Brown (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 3, 2011 978-0-316-08612-7 A headstrong little chameleon enjoys bucking the crowd until she learns moderation. Chamelia loves to stand out at school, while all the other chameleons happily blend in. They can’t believe her crazy clothes: Who wears a leopard-print pillbox hat to lunch, a sequined shift dress for sports and a feathered helmet on scooter rides? Chamelia’s fabulous frocks and cute obliviousness to her sometimes estranging individuality make her an endearing, original character. When selfexpression causes Chamelia to let down classmates on the soccer field, in the choir and on the stage, her parents suggest that by working hard both you and your team can shine. Short sentences prompt children to look at facial expressions and illustrative details for plot development and humor. A striated collage of wild fabrics on the endpapers cues readers to look for more photographs of real fabric patterns in Chamelia’s wardrobe. This clever incorporation of actual textiles, as busy and vibrant as Chamelia herself, invigorates intentionally muted illustrations—the other chameleons are all rendered in faded pastels, while Chamelia really pops. Readers might remark that Chamelia’s immediate willingness to step out of the spotlight seems out of character, but then again, she is one unique lizard. (Picture book. 3-6)

CLEMENTINE

Loth, Sebastian Illustrator: Loth, Sebastian NorthSouth (32 pp.) $14.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7358-4009-6 A scientific-minded snail enters the Space Race. When she sits on the branch of her favorite tree, the little snail looks just like the ripe orange fruit hanging from it; that’s why she’s called Clementine. She loves everything round, including tires, billiard balls and... the moon. In fact, it’s her dream to glide gently over the moon’s surface. Clementine shares this dream with her best |

friend Paul (an earthworm who occasionally wears pince-nez) and they team up on the project, with a telescope, various tools and numerous diagrams. There are also trial runs with a trampoline and a slingshot. In short order, Clementine is blasting off into outer space with a red rocket strapped to her shell. She orbits the Earth, amazed and delighted to discover that her world is round like her beloved moon. She lands unhurt in the village pond. It takes her six weeks to get home (she is a snail), and faithful friend Paul is there to welcome her with some congratulatory balloons. The observant and deliberate snail is the perfect embodiment of a young scientist. Loth’s illustrations carry the weight of the offbeat story, featuring rich colors, beautiful compositions and a cinematic sense of movement; a spectacular double-gatefold conveys Clementine’s wonder if she orbits. The book ends with a little science lesson about the Earth. Gently inviting. (Picture book. 3-6)

THE FAT LADY SINGS

Lovett, Charlie Pearlsong Press (184 pp.) $15.95 paperback original e-book: $9.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-59719-030-5 e-book 978-159719-031-2

This dynamic theater story stars Aggie, a girl whose enthusiasm, mad talent and diva qualities lead her astray.

Steamed that she doesn’t get the lead in the school’s production of Hello, Dolly and convinced it’s because she’s fat, Aggie writes a roman à clef musical. It features two girls, the fat one an undisguised Aggie, the thin one suspiciously similar to the girl playing Dolly, Cynthia of the recent boob job. Aggie’s friends (techie Suzanne, ever-loyal Elliot and lyricist Cameron) support Aggie’s hostility toward Cynthia despite knowing it’s unfair: Cynthia’s nice and actually deserved the lead because of her singing skill. They mount a major production of Aggie’s show that, astonishingly, succeeds. Aggie’s almost failing math, Cameron comes out to his parents (and it goes badly) and Aggie resents the parental support that Karl, her father’s partner, gives Cameron—Aggie’s possessive of her stepfather’s attention. The prose, sometimes unpolished and forced but always infused with warmth, brims with musical-theater references. Unlike most arcs about fat teens, this one never equates emotional growth with weight loss; Aggie’s refreshingly non-symbolic fatness is just part of her. Like Elphaba in the song that Cameron rewrites, Aggie tries defying gravity—and succeeds, musically, socially and romantically. Given the ratings of Glee and the emerging popularity of teen lit combining queer themes and musicals, this should be a hit. (Fiction. 13 & up)

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“[R]eaders who like their adventures with heavy doses of plot twists and tomfoolery will be smitten.” from the glorious adventures of the sunshine queen

GIRL WONDER

Martin, Alexa Hyperion (304 pp.) $16.99 | May 3, 2011 978-1-4231-2135-0 A solid debut captures the social maelstrom that is high school. Charlotte, 17, lands in an awful public high school when her family moves to the Pacific Northwest. Worse, instead of going into its accelerated program, she’s placed in low-level classes instead, because of a math disability. Unable to make friends, she watches a rebellious, wealthy girl with flaming hair who’s been kicked out of all the best schools yet aces her advanced classes with no effort. Charlotte becomes a regular sidekick to Amanda, the “girl wonder,” gaining entry into high-school society. Charlotte also can’t resist Neal, the hunky leader of the debate club, and signs up for the team even though she learns that she’s terrible at public speaking. Spectacular debater Amanda joins too, and it becomes clear that she and Neal have a past. As Charlotte becomes more involved with Neal, however, she worries that he won’t commit. If Charlotte can’t keep up with the debate team and doesn’t trust her new friends, can she live without a social life? And why should she even try for college? Martin keeps readers involved with her distinctive, colorful and believable characters and by placing Charlotte in a fractured but realistic family life. The prose moves along nicely, mixing Charlotte’s introspection with active scenes. Amanda may be wonderful, but Charlotte is the one who shines. Insightful—and entertaining too. (Fiction. 14 & up)

THE GLORIOUS ADVENTURES OF THE SUNSHINE QUEEN

McCaughrean, Geraldine HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | May 17, 2011 978-0-06-200806-0

A companion to the achingly effervescent prairie epic Stop the Train! (2003).

The adventure begins with a bored 12-year-old girl named Cissy Sissney in a small Oklahoma town in the 1890s. Cissy’s boredom comes to an abrupt halt when a diphtheria outbreak forces her and her friends Tibbie and Kookie to flee town in the care of their current school teacher. They hope to take refuge with their beloved former teacher, Miss Loucien, who has become part of a touring theater group. The little band of travelers locates the troupe on a dilapidated paddle wheeler, and, little by little, they become trusted members of a dysfunctional family of actors and performers of every stripe. As The Sunshine Queen steams down the Missouri River, the crew tries to make a living by stopping at various towns to put on shows. Unfortunately, they find trouble much more often than money, and high jinks always 598

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ensue, leading to the troupe’s attempt to rescue Miss Loucien’s brother-in-law from being unjustly executed. The plot involves strategically placed rumors, a private train and a daring impersonation of Queen Victoria and her advisors. This one has a bit of a Huck Finn feel, and those readers who like their adventures with heavy doses of plot twists and tomfoolery will be smitten.

(Historical fiction. 10-14)

MAL AND CHAD The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever!

McCranie, Stephen Illustrator: McCranie, Stephen Philomel (224 pp.) $9.99 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-399-25221-1

Shy, geeky preteen Malcolm’s efforts to hide his super-intelligence repeatedly fall afoul of mishaps involving a series of spectacular inventions in this web comic crossover. With one such device Mal teaches his dog Chad to talk, and his “Yum Sauce” makes even dog food delicious. Unfortunately, those are about the only times anything goes right, as his jet-powered backpack blasts a hole in the roof, his (single) mom comes home unexpectedly while he and Chad have shrunk themselves to the size of ants with a “Mini-Mega-Morpher” and a time machine made from a junked elevator nearly strands both the adventurous pair and crushworthy classmate Megan back in dinosaur times. Meanwhile, he’s demolished in gym class by Megan’s famous “Flaming Dodge Bomb.” In mulling over a “What do you want to be when you grow up?” assignment, he ultimately concludes that what he wants to “be” is different from what he’ll want to “do,” and it’s too soon to tell about either. Like the art in the original pen-and-ink editions of Jeff Smith’s Bone comics (1995-2004), McCranie’s heavy lined cartoon panels feature expressively drawn figures and easy-to-follow sequencing but look unfinished sans coloring. Still, boy and equally irrepressible dog make an engaging pair, and, along with witty writing, there’s plenty of action both physical and emotional. Sequels will not be amiss. (Graphic fiction. 10-12)

MONKEY A Trickster Tale from India McDermott, Gerald Illustrator: McDermott, Gerald Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-15-216596-3

Monkey wants some mangoes and Crocodile wants some monkey—and neither is about to give up in this traditional Indian trickster tale. McDermott’s bright and funny text coupled with his equally colorful and lively collage illustrations ably depict the mischievous, nimble primate and his greedy

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reptilian foe on a glowing background of energetic orange. In an effort to reach the island where the mangoes grow, Monkey accepts a ride from Crocodile and in mid-journey discovers that Crocodile is craving a snack—him! Can Monkey escape?

Using his wits, he explains that the monkey heart Crocodile so craves is hidden on shore in a tree—one that, as it turns out, the croc cannot possibly climb. Next, stealthy Crocodile sees that Monkey has discovered a path of rocks that leads to the island. After gathering a load of mangoes, Monkey scampers back only to recognize a suspiciously green rock that is able to speak when prodded. But Monkey still needs to get back home. Can he outmaneuver Crocodile a second time?

Readers will laugh out loud at Monkey’s escapades and sigh in relief when he manages to get to safety. This final volume in McDermott’s sextet of trickster tales is as full of kid appeal and entertaining as the rest and, like them, will power many an energetic read-aloud. (Picture book/folktale. 5-10)

YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME

Meehl, Brian Delacorte (416 pp.) $17.99 | PLB: $20.99 e-book: $17.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-385-73909-2 | PLB 978-0-385-90771-2 e-book 978-0-375-89715-3 Home-schooled 16-year-old Jesus freak Billy Allbright leaves his overprotective mom to embark on a geocaching treasure hunt through the western United States. His aim? To uncover the truth about his dead Mark Twain–scholar father and to locate a valuable manuscript Twain supposedly penned as the sequel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. References to the classic run (amok) from the obvious—a lovable, gay, African-American major-league baseball player sidekick named Ruah—to more subtle ones that connect religion, gender and love. Despite some roadblocks, Meehl spins a complex, thought-provoking plot in which the duo’s spiritual journeys mirror their physical hunt. The meat lies in their heady conversations on the road.

These platitude-filled interludes on religion and sexuality go on for pages, however, and may cause readers to skip to get to the action. Characterizations occasionally feel uneven, especially when Billy makes references to things like SparkNotes and technology that neither his mother nor his background would allow.

Meehl also occasionally stumbles over language: Billy’s dad leaves clues in the form of hokey, clunky, rhyming couplets that link Twain’s work to the hunt. Still, the work’s ambition is admirable, and readers who have grown tired of the supernatural and the dystopic will be thrilled to sink their teeth and their brains into reality. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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TRUTH & DARE 21 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness

Editor: Miles, Liz RP Teens (384 pp.) $9.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-7624-4104-4 Truth-telling can be dangerous, as anyone knows who’s traveled the angstfilled terrain of adolescence. With remarkably few exceptions, the short stories in this collection exemplify the best of the form, drawing readers immediately into the lives of characters who confront the hard truths of alienation, love, trauma and sex. Some are humorous, like Sarah Rees Brennan’s “The Young Stalker’s Handbook,” about two girls’ comical encounter with a goodlooking boy in a fast-food restaurant, and the editor’s own contribution, “Scrambled Eggs,” told entirely in Tweets. Others are unsettling, like Sherry Shahan’s “Iris and Jim,” a vividly weird story of love between two anorexics, or Matthue Roth’s lush and startling “Girl Jesus on the Inbound Subway,” about a Russian-American boy in Philadelphia who follows a girl from the train. Saundra Mitchell’s “The Last Will and Testament of Evan Todd” is the powerful story of a boy reclaiming his life after an icy drowning. A girl auditioning for school play finds success where she least expects it in Heidi R. Kling’s “Headgear Girl,” while Emma Donoghue’s “Team Men” gives the Biblical story of David and Jonathan a modern twist as two soccer players explore their homosexuality. Fans of Ellen Wittlinger and Gary Soto will be pleased to find them included in this edgy anthology for teens who dare to face the sometimesugly truths of life. (Short stories. 12 & up)

WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN

Moore, Jodi Illustrator: McWilliam, Howard Flashlight Press (32 pp.) $16.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-979974-67-0

Doesn’t every child want a dragon?

Well, “[i]f you build the perfect sandcastle, a dragon will move in,” and in this funny and creative riff on cause and effect, that’s exactly what happens. At first, things are perfect: You have a friend to play with, a permanent bully deterrent, a built-in marshmallow toaster and an ever-present raft. But then things start to get complicated. You have to feed the dragon and clean up after him—and no one will believe you when you explain that the dragon is the one to blame. Was that a dragon-ish cackle coming from inside the sandcastle? Be careful what you wish for! Colorful, cartoony illustrations brim with humor as they depict this animated boy and the impish dragon who may or may not entirely exist. The deadpan text is sure to illicit giggles as it captures the conundrum of an imaginary friend with a child’s eye and provides a gentle acceptance of

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the mild misbehavior that sometimes accompanies imaginative play. Oh, well. Maybe it’s time to get rid of the dragon, as long as you are polite about it. But if you build another perfect sandcastle, perhaps he’ll come back (with friends) tomorrow. A sandy complement to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. (Picture book. 4-8)

EPIC VOYAGES

Mundy, Robyn and Nigel Ruby Kingfisher (64 pp.) $19.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7534-6574-5 Series: Epic Adventure Here is an instance of book design being as exciting as the subject matter, and this subject matter is pretty wild stuff: the legendary and legendarily hellacious voyages of Ferdinand Magellan, James Cook, Ernest Shackleton, Thor Heyerdahl and Francis Chichester. A main body of text describes these maritime adventures, while a galaxy of artwork (with well-fleshed-out captions) orbits about the page: maps, archival illustrations, photographs and paintings. The overall effect is thrumming and busy but not frantic. The text is intelligently written and allows the miraculous nature of each voyage to propel the story forward. The extended captions are the color commentary, adding bright bits of information that round out the picture: the first sighting of St. Elmo’s fire, the importance of the spice trade to exploration, why it is difficult to shave on a sailboat. The selection of artwork is excellent: handsome, moody engravings; lively watercolors by the participants; photographs of Heyerdahl’s crew catching sharks by the tail; and a great picture of Chichester’s boat all roughed up in the heavy weather of 50-foot seas. In addition, fold-out pages range from a rather natty cutaway view of Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV to Cook’s navigational triumphs; the one for Shackleton billows into six full pages of icy misery. Just the ticket for armchair explorers. (Nonfiction. 10-14)

WE ARE AMERICA A Tribute from the Heart

Myers, Walter Dean Illustrator: Myers, Christopher Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $16.99 | PLB: $17.89 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-052308-4 PLB 978-0-06-052309-1

protesters, soldiers and performers. “We were willing to die to forge our dream” writes Walter Dean Myers while Chris Myers paints snarling dogs attacking civil rights protesters and colonial patriots throwing tea into Boston Harbor. Juxtaposed with this are the opening line to the Constitution and King George’s words granting independence. In another tableau, a slave shows his terribly scarred back, Indians lie dead at Wounded Knee and Japanese-American citizens stand behind barbed wire, but Americans learned to “light the darkness with the blazing torch that is the Constitution.” Backmatter credits each quotation and identifies the people in each painting. The poetry and the paintings will be an excellent jumpingoff point for discussions. Readers will take every opportunity to pause and reflect and trace their fingers along the glorious artwork. Stunning. (Picture book/poetry. 8 & up)

SHINE

Myracle, Lauren Amulet/Abrams (376 pp.) $16.95 | April 1, 2011 978-0-8109-8417-2 When her gay best friend is brutally beaten in contemporary Black Creek, N.C., a withdrawn teen tracks his assailant. Different from other kids in their ignorant, poverty-stricken, backwoods community, 16-year-old Cat and 17-yearold Patrick have been “kindred spirits” since childhood.

Growing up with a drunken father, a well-meaning aunt and an older brother she no longer trusts, Cat was “full of light and life” until one of her brother’s “gay-bashing redneck” friends “messed” with her. For three years, Cat has blinded herself to everyone, including Patrick, convinced her “entire existence meant nothing.” But when Patrick’s beaten and left for dead at the convenience store where he works, a gasoline nozzle protruding from his mouth, an angry, guilt-ridden Cat knows she must open her eyes and “look straight into the ugliness and find out who hurt him.” Cat describes her relentless, determined investigation in the first person, proceeding day by day over a period of two and a half weeks, allowing readers to gradually absorb the complex, twisted relationships, shocking evidence, disturbing memories and gritty atmosphere. Motivated to solve the horrific hate crime, Cat eventually uncovers the truth in a cliffhanging climax in which she confronts fear, discovers that love is stronger than hate and truly “shines.” Raw, realistic and compelling. (Fiction. 14 & up)

The Myers team shares their heartfelt and stirring vision of an America flawed but filled with promises and dreams.

Like weavers connecting warp and woof, father threads lofty words and son paints seamless pictures. Each double-page spread contains a brief poem and usually a quote from a relevant document or person. A mural rendered in pastels spans both pages. Homage is paid to young people; Native Americans; immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia; laborers, 600

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“The War of 1812—it’s one of those topics many Americans flunk when asked to please explain what it was all about, though they just might get the year it started right.” from the town that fooled the british

THE EMERALD CASKET

Newsome, Richard Walden Pond Press/ HarperCollins (368 pp.) $16.99 | May 17, 2011 978-0-06-194492-5 Series: The Archer Legacy, Vol. 2 They may have (apparently) lost round one in trilogy opener Billionaire’s Curse (2010), but 13-year-old Gerald and his squabbling twin sidekicks Sam and Ruby aren’t giving up. Here they get a taste of the luxury an estate worth £20 billion brings while jetting off to India in high style to claim a second magical artifact before (presumed) murderer and all-around bad guy Mason Green can reach it. Laying broad hints that All Is Not as It Seems—or, as several characters repeatedly whisper, “Nothing is certain.”—Newsome again crafts a lighter-than-air caper. It’s all heavily dependent on contrived clues, blundering or oblivious adults, chaperones who consistently vanish just before attackers arrive, conveniently spotty communications, lurid visions and massive gems that evidently sit around for the taking. The pace never lets up, though, and along with learning a bit more about the 1,600-year-long secret that Gerald’s family has been charged with keeping, the young folk survive multiple kidnappings, escapes, chases and lifethreatening mishaps. Inevitably they face off with Green again, here inside an ancient Indian temple prone to sudden massive floods. Fans of 39 Clues–style adventures will be swept along. (illustrations not seen) (Adventure. 11-14)

THAT’S HOW!

Niemann, Christopher Illustrator: Niemann, Christopher Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-201963-9 Bold, brightly colored graphics, big, brushed letters and patent silliness catch the eye but perhaps not the imagination.

A little girl asks a little boy, “How does a truck work?” The boy says, “Let me think,” as they both regard a shiny red panel truck. On the next page, a silhouette cutaway of the truck is shown, with a supine lion turning the gears with his toes. “That’s how!” he says. The girl responds, “Wow!” And so it goes. The girl asks a question, the boy thinks about it, the visual shows some very odd animals providing the engine for a pink airplane (birds with fuchsia feet), a steamroller (a parrot tickling some highly amused bears), a train (a kitchen full of monkeys). Finally, the girl asks about a bicycle, but before he can answer, she climbs aboard, puts on her helmet and rides off. “Wow!” he says. Ink drawings and digital shapes make for a smooth, cartoony surface. It all feels sexist and gender-divisive, even though the girl makes the final—correct—point. Young readers might admire the boy’s powers of invention (the pink |

bunny manipulating the green lizard inside the backhoe is really quite something), but they might also wonder both why he pontificates so and why she bothers to ask. A nifty concept doesn’t quite make it in execution. (Picture book. 5-7)

I COULD BE, YOU COULD BE

Owen, Karen Illustrator: Barroux Barefoot (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 21, 2011 978-1-84686-405-6

What would you like to be? To a little boy and girl everything and anything is possible. They joyfully throw themselves into every fantasy. They can be kings or queens making all the rules. How about being a fierce dragon or a parakeet, or maybe a chimpanzee? Clowns, space aliens, astronauts, ponies—there’s no limits to the imagination here. Of course, “the best thing I could ever be …is me!” Owen celebrates make-believe with simple rhymed text in abcb form that begs to be shouted in rhythmic singsong. Barroux’s double page spreads are rendered in acrylic and pencil in the brightest of hues, with large bold-face type in varied musical styles that complement the action.

The cartoonlike style captures the fantastical nature of the children’s games. They are just as joyful and creative when they are just being themselves, playing outdoors, reading and drawing. The children are depicted as Peanuts generic, which only enhances their universality. Endpapers continue the fun as the children fly off in rockets to the clouds. An afterword gives instructions for making masks and make believe. A great read-aloud for both parents and teachers and sure to spark great ideas and “what-ifs.” (Picture book. 2-7)

THE TOWN THAT FOOLED THE BRITISH

Papp, Lisa Illustrator: Papp, Robert Sleeping Bear Press (32 pp.) $16.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-58536-484-8 Series: Tales of Young Americans The War of 1812—it’s one of those topics many Americans flunk when asked to please explain what it was all about, though they just might get the year it started right. So, as the conflict’s 200th anniversary bears down, readers can thank the Papps for bringing a thoroughly enjoyable fictionalization of a true incident of the war to the shelf. The story concerns the town of St. Michaels, Md., home to shipbuilders who were caught in the sights of the British military. “For weeks, the British had been snaking their way up the Chesapeake harassing villages and burning towns. And now it seemed they had chosen their next target.” Young Henry Middle’s father is in the militia, charged with facing the British troops. Night is

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“The treacherous housecat’s mannerisms resemble a feline Dr. Evil; his cunning smile and crossed legs exude a delightfully awful menace.” from those darn squirrels and the cat next door

falling, rain is lashing and Henry sets out to bring his father two lanterns, which sparks a brainstorm in the commander of the militia that saves the town from bombardment. The Papps have created good atmosphere: chaos and foreboding, the skies lowering, the British warships ghosting through the night. The artwork is highly heroic, the characters radiating auras as if they’d been stung by St. Elmo’s fire. Readers might wish that the endnote more thoroughly explored the origins of the war. Still, this can’t help but expand readers’ understanding of our second war of independence. (Picture book. 6-10)

SAVING AUDIE

Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw Photographer: Muñoz, William Walker (40 pp.) $17.99 | PLB: $18.89 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8027-2272-0 PLB 978-0-8027-2273-7 What happens to the dogs when dogfighting rings are broken up and the trials are over? Typically, the dogs are put to sleep, thought to be too dangerous to re-enter society. Because of the wide publicity of the Michael Vick case, animal activists were able to work to rescue all but one of his dogs; this is the story of one that survived. The little black pit bull puppy, later named after World War II hero Audie Murphy, thrives in his foster home. Soon he goes to live with a family that wants to train him for agility competitions. Audie needs surgery on his bad knees though, so not only does he still need to learn how to be a safe and social dog, he also has to recover from an operation. Audie goes through Canine Good Citizen classes and does so well he eventually helps train other dogs. He also excels in his agility training once his knees have healed. Color photographs chronicling Audie’s journey are placed on vibrantly colored pages; Muñoz captures the dog’s personality in frame after frame. Patent’s text is straightforward, expertly providing just the right level of background and choosing kid-friendly details to illustrate Audie’s experiences. Ample backmatter provides further background and resources. Audie’s inspirational story is a case study in rehabilitation, one sure to appeal to animal loving children. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

CAMP K-9

Rodman, Mary Ann Illustrator: Hayashi, Nancy Peachtree (32 pp.) $15.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-56145-561-4

except for Lacy, a tall poodle who tries to intimidate everyone.

She steals Roxie’s bunk in the Mutt Hutt and, when the two are Splash pals together, manages to overturn their canoe. The next day, her mean pranks continue; she disrupts the craft table, leaves her pooch pouch out for others to trip over and crashes into the Frisbee players. Later, Lacy doesn’t show for Pup Paddle Time at the pond; reluctantly, a search party is formed. They find Lacy in the Mutt Hutt, clinging to her blankie. The shocked silence that follows is broken when Roxie bravely confesses her blankie secret. Soon every other pup follows suit—”Best friends rock both night and day / Camp K-9 pups, yip yip hooray!” Roxie’s present-tense narration contains all the right details of both activities and feelings. Hayashi’s clean pictures, in watercolor, pen and colored pencil, have a gentle look, apt for target audience. This empathetic tale should calm the nerves of all novice campers-to-be. (Picture book. 4-7)

THOSE DARN SQUIRRELS AND THE CAT NEXT DOOR

Rubin, Adam Illustrator: Salmieri, Daniel Clarion (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-547-42922-9

Squirrels, watch out; there’s a new cat in town. These pesky rodents perpetually annoy ornery Old Man Fookwire, shooting through his mail slot and finishing his crossword puzzles. The cunning critters lose their mischievous edge when Little Old Lady Hu moves in next door, though. Her delectable desserts are no compensation for the vicious pet she brings into the neighborhood. She’s adamant that her “cuddly honey bunny” Muffins wouldn’t harm a fly, but this antagonistic feline is far from kind. His outrageous tactics win him numero uno status among the resident animals; he’s even successful in administering wedgies to the mortified squirrels. Fed up with the harassment, the victimized critters form an alliance to thwart this backyard bully. The droll narrative shines in its details. Quirky expressions depict outrage and delight (“Great googley-moogley!”); trenchant language captures personality (Muffins “was a real jerk”). Salmieri’s illustrations provide the perfect counterpoint. The treacherous housecat’s mannerisms resemble a feline Dr. Evil; his cunning smile and crossed legs exude a delightfully awful menace. Watercolor, gouache and colored pencil spreads provide a light background for each comic interaction. This sassy sequel to Those Darn Squirrels! (2008) lets readers feel the thrill of putting bullies in their place. Great googley-moogley, indeed. (Picture book. 5-8)

Can skittish Roxie keep her big secret from fellow summer campers? Riding the bus with a variety of canine breeds (all in bright yellow T-shirts), long-eared Roxie looks nervous. She’s afraid the others will tease her if they find out she’s brought her blankie, hidden in her pooch pouch. All are nice and helpful 602

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PIG KAHUNA

Sattler, Jennifer Illustrator: Sattler, Jennifer Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $14.99 | PLB: $15.89 | May 1, 2011 978-1-59990-635-5 PLB 978-1-59990-636-2 Surfer pigs rise above aphorisms. The world is full of treasures. Concern for a friend trumps personal fears. Sometimes little brothers know best. Imagination is everything. Any of these might be the message behind this offbeat adventure, but none quite captures its goofy charm. Fergus and his baby brother Dink are anthropomorphized pigs—pink, plump and extremely expressive. They enjoy searching the beach, where they find interesting seaweed, oddly shaped rocks and bits of shell. Then they discover something extraordinary: a gleaming surfboard. Fergus is reluctant to ride it (he’s afraid of the water and what “lurking, murky ickiness” might be hiding in it) but they manage to have fun anyway, tap-dancing across it, using it as a pretend boat and even giving it a name—“Dave.” In a scene sure to give some parents fits, Fergus leaves Dink by the water’s edge to fetch some ice-cream cones. That’s when Dink decides that Dave should be returned to the ocean. Attempting to rescue his friend, Fergus discovers just how fun surfing can be. Sattler’s bold, bright paintings add emotion and humor. They also carry some parts of the narrative, as in an almost wordless double-page spread that accompanies Dave’s first appearance. The briskly paced text, meanwhile, offers alliteration and deadpan humor. Together words and pictures create an utterly engaging picture-book experience—eye-catching, thought-provoking and just plain fun. (Picture book. 4-7)

TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”— wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

CITY NUMBERS

Schwartz, Joanne Photographer: Beam, Matt Groundwood (60 pp.) $18.95 | May 1, 2011 978-1-55498-081-9 The team that gave us City Alphabet (2009) takes on urban numbers in the same inventive way, still holding readers at a slight emotional distance. Beam takes pictures. He sees numbers everywhere: painted on Dumpsters, printed on cardboard, burnt into metal, carved in stone. This book is not for children just learning their numbers. Instead of presenting a simple 1-20 sequence, it starts with a row of zeros, continue with 1/2, find 2.5 percent in neon in a loan-office window, double-O seven in a metal road plate, 18 kg on a bag of garden rocks. Schwartz adds the utterly clear and utterly brief text: each number spelled out and a description (“Eleven / Spray-painted on cement. / Sidewalk”). The photographs are gritty and textured, always showing the odd angle or the slant light. The numerals as they are printed are a dropped-out image on a white ground: The number nine is the translucent, iridescent blue of the vinyl sticker on a storefront; the final image of a cardboard barcode reflects the same worn and stained paper. Like the first, this is more an artist’s book than one for little children, but it does effectively invite readers to enjoy close and repeated examination of the form, shape and whimsy of numbers. (Picture book. 10 & up)

SMELLS LIKE TREASURE

Schneider, Josh Illustrator: Schneider, Josh Clarion (48 pp.) $14.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-547-14956-1

Selfors, Suzanne Little, Brown (416 pp.) $15.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-316-04399-1

Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly.

James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since |

It has been three months since Homer Winslow Pudding (Smells Like Dog, 2010) discovered the meaning of the initials L.O.S.T. and learned the truth about his treasure-sniffing pooch Dog. Homer and Dog are off on another adventure when the boy receives a letter that says, “Your time has come.” The vague message could only mean one thing: that finally the secret society of L.O.S.T. (Legends, Objects, Secrets, and Treasures) is offering Homer the chance to take the seat of his beloved treasure-hunting uncle, Drake Pudding, and become a professional treasure hunter. Familiar characters make an appearance, including the giant Zelda and pink-haired Lorelei, who challenges Homer for Drake’s chair. Lorelei and Homer are given a challenge that, if Homer loses, will change

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the course of his life forever. The author weaves in enough details of the earlier book to refresh readers’ memories in this droll, satisfying sequel. The suspense of the challenge—will Homer’s knowledge of maps and treasure hunting enable him to best Lorelei?—will keep readers turning the pages. The truth about the great treasure hunter Rumpold Smeller, whose treasure Uncle Drake spent his life looking for, is revealed in alternating chapters. There is plenty of rip-roaring fun here; fans will applaud Homer and Dog’s return. (Adventure. 8-12)

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Shakespeare, William Adaptor: McDonald, John F. Illustrator: Kumar, Vinod Campfire (22 pp.) $9.99 paperback original | May 17, 2011 978-93-80028-59-0 A graphic-novel treatment of Shakespeare that fails miserably where others have succeeded. In this brutally savaged graphic adaptation of the play, the Bard’s lines have been transformed into conversational banality (“How is it going, Shylock?”; “That goes for me too!”) within often-misplaced dialogue balloons. Astonishingly, there’s nary a mention of Jews, leaching all the power from Shylock’s “Has not a Jew...” speech (“And why has [Antonio] done this? Do I not have eyes like everyone else...”). Actually, just about all of the set speeches are nearly unrecognizable: “The quality of mercy is not strained” becomes “You don’t need to have a reason to show mercy.” Visually, the floridly dressed Venetian figures in Kumar’s showy illustrations just stand about in panel after panel, gesturing awkwardly and looking past one another’s shoulders. Portia’s taste for revealing, off-theshoulder gowns may give adolescent gawkers pause, but as an invitation to read the original or see it performed here’s sure proof that all that glisters is not gold. A closing set of riddles is offered as an activity link to Portia’s three boxes in the play.

Skip. (Graphic adaptation. 12-14)

THE BERLIN BOXING CLUB

Sharenow, Robert HarperTeen (400 pp.) $17.99 | PLB: $18.89 | May 17, 2011 978-0-06-157968-4 PLB 978-0-06-157969-1 The historically freighted match between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling forms the backdrop for this compelling coming-of-age novel. Fourteen-yearold Karl Stern has never considered himself Jewish. His father is an atheist, his mother an agnostic. He grew up in a secular household, has no religious background and even has a 604

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religiously neutral name. But in 1934 Berlin, with the rise of the Nazis and the newly entitled bullies at school, Karl is Jewish. He gets beaten up and, eventually, expelled from school.

Enter Max Schmeling, heavyweight champion of the world, who offers Karl boxing lessons in exchange for a portrait from Mr. Stern’s art gallery. Karl’s journey to manhood, from 1934 to 1938, is a rough one for a Jewish boy in Nazi Germany, but Sharenow weaves a colorful tale from the cultural context of the mid-1930s: the Holocaust, Kristallnacht, degenerate art, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Picasso and Matisse. Besides being an up-and-coming boxer, Karl is a cartoonist, and his cartoons and drawings add visual depth to the novel, effectively delineating Karl’s growing sense of himself and his purpose, inspired by his beloved Action Comics hero, Superman. A brief author’s note continues the story beyond 1938, relating the postwar friendship between Schmeling and Joe Louis. A fine one-two punch with the author’s previous powerful work, My Mother the Cheerleader (2007). (sources) (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE WILL GROW?

Shea, Susan A. Illustrator: Slaughter, Tom Blue Apple (38 pp.) $16.99 May 1, 2011 978-1-60905-062-7

Shea’s children’s-book debut is a clever, rhymed test of kids’ notions of living and nonliving things that’s great for both lap and group sharing. “If you look around you’ll see, / Some things grow, like you and me… / Do you know which ones will grow? / Think, then answer yes or no.” What follows is a terrific interplay of rhyming questions and cunningly designed gatefold illustrations: “If a calf grows and becomes a cow, / can a shovel grow and become…/ a plow?” The left side pictures the cows, while the right-hand page shows a huge shovel and pail. A flip of the fold reveals the corner of the shovel becoming a part of a truck-mounted plow. Other rhymes include duck and truck, bear and chair, cat and hat, goat and coat, towel and owl, snake and cake, pig and rig, fox and clock and kangaroo and you.

The final two pages summarize the answers, still keeping the rhythm and rhyme. Slaughter’s illustrations bring pop art to mind: vivid reds, blues, yellows and greens, few details, simple backgrounds and blocks of color. Many of the objects are cutpaper silhouettes against a painted background. Between its allure as an audience-participation read-aloud and its numerous classroom uses (living/nonliving, analogies, rhymes, spelling rules, baby animal names, creative thinking…) clear a space on the shelves for this one, even though it may never be there for long. (Picture book. 4-8)

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“The design is whimsical without overwhelming, giving it a breezy quality.” from secret world of whales

I’M A SHARK

Shea, Bob Illustrator: Shea, Bob Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-199846-1 This shark is the bravest thing in the ocean, or so he’d like readers to believe.

His underwater companions question his bravado by posing hypothetical scenarios. Shark unwisely reveals his arachnophobia through hilarious imaginary situations involving a squid, the dark and a growling bear. Witty banter begs for audience participation as Shark’s puffery escalates. “I’m not afraid of the dark— / the dark is afraid of me! / Dark heard I was coming and ran!” Kids will respond when they see Shark working hard to cover up his fear (“If I saw a spider, I would swim away / as fast as my fins would take me. / That’s not scared—that’s smart”), and his friends reveal their own complicated anxiety. Thick, dark crayon strokes convey both Shark’s powerful physique and his endearing vulnerability. Both surprisingly understated and hilariously exaggerated, Shark’s relative size correlates with his shifting confidence.

Bold, uncluttered mixed-media spreads emphasize this predator’s sharp-toothed, goofy grin. Intriguing design elements demonstrate the full extent of Shark’s true worries. Though he claims to love scary movies, the reality shows him quivering behind a tub of popcorn while a young fisherman’s smug expression dominates the silver screen. There will be no need to fear for Shark’s enduring popularity; here he proves he’s one refreshing delight. (Picture book. 4-8)

THE SECRET WORLD OF WHALES

Siebert, Charles Illustrator: Baker, Molly Chronicle (112 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8118-7641-4

Straightforward text explores many facets of whale knowledge, from myths and legends to modern efforts of preservation and protection.

The history of whale hunting describes the astonishing array of products made from whales. Ironically, for years much of what was known about these massive mammals was learned from their hunters. In more recent times, scientific research continues to fascinate, as new discoveries are made by people interested in protecting whales. The whale’s brain is remarkably similar to that of a human, for instance, and scientists now know that whales communicate, use tools and have selfawareness—all factors that help in their conservation. While hunting is banned in most regions nowadays, whales face a new threat: sonar, air guns and other disruptive man-made noises in the oceans. Siebert makes very clear why whales are valuable and are in need of safekeeping. A portion of the proceeds from |

the sale of the book will go to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Baker’s simple line drawings show texture and detail, while the palette accurately reflects the animals in nature. Photos and archival illustrations with captions supplement the artwork. The design is whimsical without overwhelming, giving it a breezy quality. Its use as an academic resource is limited by an absence of backmatter, but it is still an engaging and worthy read and may well spur further exploration. (Nonfiction. 7-12)

I’LL BE THERE

Sloan, Holly Goldberg Little, Brown (400 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-316-12279-5 “Making a connection to a person can be the scariest thing that ever happens to you.” This truth hits especially hard now that Sam Border, currently known as Sam Smith, has met Emily Bell.

Sam has never known many people. His father took Sam and his younger brother Riddle away from home when they were little, never to see their mother again, and ever since they’ve lived a life on the run. Clarence Border, their father, is a born liar and a cruel and abusive man, and Sam has taken on the role of protector of Riddle, who seems to be autistic. Mr. Bell, a music professor, discovers Sam’s gifts as a musician and Riddle’s skill at drawing, talents that become important to the tale. Sloan, a film writer and director (Angels in the Outfield and Made in America), has fashioned a cast of memorable characters with compelling stories and relationships, but, curiously, has neglected a basic scriptwriter’s tool, dialogue, in her debut young adult novel. Too often, she violates the old writing teacher’s advice: Show, don’t tell. Too much explaining, too much going on, an overreliance on incomplete sentences and an unwieldy accumulation of subplots undermine a good story. (Fiction. 12 & up)

THE MIDNIGHT GATE

Stringer, Helen Feiwel & Friends (384 pp.) $17.99 | May 10, 2011 978-0-312-38764-8

Continuing where Spellbinder (2009) left off, Belladonna, and her Paladin, Steve Evans, are stuck in regular school now after all their adventures. There’s still the ghost Elsie for entertainment, but life seems somewhat dull after saving the world. When given a parchment by the apparition of a monk at a monastery with clues about a threat to all mankind, the games begin for the duo again. As before, the matter-of-fact tone and world-weary attitude contrast nicely with the evil and other-worldly forces. In a narrative full of words with capital

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“The story is so successful in making the absurd seem obvious that readers may wonder why they didn’t think of it themselves.” from can hens give milk ?

letters, Belladonna and Steve must unravel the clues, battle against the return of the Dark Times and go to the House of Ashes and find the Queen of the Abyss for help. It’s All a Bit Much. Belladonna is placed with a suspect foster family when her ghost parents disappear along with her live grandmother.

Steve’s mum has vanished since the close of the first book, but Steve seems unconcerned. There’s a lively struggle to save the world on the eve of the Day of the Crows, though, when spaces between the Nine Worlds are closest together and it takes Words of Power to succeed. Best reserve this one for those enamored of the series opener and fans of British-flavored fantasy. (Fantasy. 9-13)

CAN HENS GIVE MILK?

Stuchner, Joan Betty Illustrator: Weissman, Joe Orca (36 pp.) $19.95 | February 16, 2011 978-1-55469-319-1

West Virginia to hear and see a legendary fiddler. As the family draws closer geographically to the boy’s new mentor, the narrative gently moves back and forth from their initial meeting to the boy’s family “putting down roots / in the next county over.” The pair shares farm chores as well as hours of musical tutelage and accompaniment. Seasons pass, then years: At the elder’s deathbed, the now-teenage youth murmurs, “ ‘I’ll do just like I promised, / I’ll teach folks all your tunes. / There’s a part of you that / will always be around.’ / Passing the music down.” Root’s sun-dappled watercolor-and-gouache illustrations lovingly depict rural West Virginia’s farms and fairs along with the respectful interplay between a twosome knit together by a deep-seated commitment to musical folkways. Sullivan’s notes, on Melvin Wine and Jake Krack and the tunes, round out a lovely, resonant offering. (resources) (Picture book. 5-8)

DESPERATE MEASURES

An original tale takes readers to that nexus of foolishness, the village of Chelm. Shlomo and Rivka have “five children, twelve scrawny hens, one rooster and not much money.” So they use simple logic: A cow gives milk because she eats grass, so if they feed grass to their hens, the hens will give milk. This is, of course, a Chelm story. Chelm, for those who don’t know, is a village from Jewish folktales, populated by the most foolish people in the world. Stuchner is completely at home with the almostlogic of Chelm. (It may seem paradoxical to write a new traditional folktale, but it’s very much in the spirit of Chelm.) As in the best of the traditional stories, every step of the villagers’ thought process makes perfect sense. Readers might even find themselves thinking, “Why shouldn’t hens give milk? It’s only fair.” Children will have a great time looking for the flaw in the argument. There are a few lulls, but Stuchner carries the gag through to a very amusing last page, in which Shlomo imagines a goat trying to hatch an enormous egg. Weissman’s illustrations help to sell the joke: The goat just looks so content up there on top of her egg. The story is so successful in making the absurd seem obvious that readers may wonder why they didn’t think of it themselves. (Picture book. 4-8)

PASSING THE MUSIC DOWN

Sullivan, Sarah Illustrator: Root, Barry Candlewick (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-7636-3753-8

Summers, Laura Putnam (256 pp.) $15.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-399-25616-5

Three parentless children strike out on their own in order to stay together.

Thirteen-year-old Rhianna Davies and her twin are very different; Rhianna is taller, likes to swim and attends special classes at school. Vicky likes class hunk Matt, is 47 minutes older and is (according to Rhianna) quite bossy. The girls and their 10-year-old troublemaker brother Jamie have been in foster care since their mother died of cancer two years previously and their father went away to help refugees (according to Vicky). When their current foster mother has to go to hospital, well-meaning Mrs. Frankish, their social worker, determines to split them up in order to replace them. They decide to make a run for Great Auntie Irene’s house in the country instead.

The trip is difficult, especially once the authorities start looking for them, and the surprise at its end is not pleasant. They may have reached their planned destination, but their quest for a home is far from over. British author Summers’ debut was well-received in her native land and is likely to be here as well. Vicky and Rhianna narrate alternating chapters, and both have realistic and distinctive voices. Their page-turning trek across the countryside sags a bit at the end, but readers will most definitely hang on to find out what happens in the credible and happy ending. (Fiction. 9-12)

Sullivan reverently celebrates a musical apprenticeship that spans generations in this poetic narrative based on a real-life relationship and punctuated by the titular phrase. A boy with a penchant for “old timey” music travels with his violin and his parents from Indiana to 606

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CHEW, CHEW, GULP!

Thompson, Lauren Illustrator: Krosoczka, Jarrett J. McElderry (32 pp.) $14.99 | May 24, 2011 978-1-4169-9744-3 As four youngsters manipulate and maneuver the food and drink set before them, swirling and scooping playfully take center stage. In isolated scenes and small-group settings, the children devour each offering with gusto while a small label accompanies each featured snack. The emphasis here is on the eating process instead of the snacks ingested. Many actions depict the actual manner in which items may be eaten (popcorn popped into a mouth or the crunch of teeth on a carrot). A few connections are a little on the flimsy side; the words “prod it” depict a young boy poking a single tomato, hand on hip and one eye closed.

Typography varies dramatically to accentuate each pointed beat. “Sip it. / Nip it. / Pick it. / Lick it. / Nibble it. / Crumble it. / Jab, jab, / POKE!” Often-monosyllabic text rhythmically flows into clipped phrases to complete each strand. Though the children portrayed cross racial boundaries, there’s no global emphasis (chopsticks are absent, for instance). Similar in stature and ability, the children approach each action with joy, though, occasionally, vacant wide-eyed stares stunt expressiveness. Simple background design creates a soothing pattern.

Not a lot of food for thought, but an enthusiastic, fast-paced feast nonetheless. (Picture book. 2-4)

TUMFORD THE TERRIBLE

Tillman, Nancy Illustrator: Tillman, Nancy Feiwel & Friends (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-0-312-36840-1

A well-intended morality tale. “In the wee little village of / Sweet Apple Green, / in the tiniest cottage you’ve ever seen, / lives a cat causing trouble, / within and without… / a cat named Tumford… / Tumford Stoutt.” He lives with Georgy and Violet, who have nicknamed him Tummy. Whenever Tumford gets in trouble, he refuses to say he’s sorry and hides instead. Vi and Georgy hope to break him of this habit, so they make him promise that he will apologize if he makes a mess. In return, they’ll take him to the fair. Of course, a mess occurs; though he hides at first, Tumford decides to please his human parents and apologize. In the painted photocollage illustrations, Tillman’s Tumford, an obvious child stand-in, wears a fixed yellow stare readers will have a hard time warming up to. Fans of her at-times-cloying previous efforts will likely not mind this precious tale and its didacticism. Even they may have trouble with the uneven scansion and occasionally awkward rhymes in this fable that seems to counsel apologizing to please others and make yourself feel good rather than because you mean it. |

Stick with the genuinely kid-friendly likes of Samantha Berger’s Martha Doesn’t Say Sorry (2009). (Picture book. 3-6)

THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND IN A SHIP OF HER OWN MAKING

Valente, Catherynne M. Illustrator: Juan, Ana Feiwel & Friends (256 pp.) $16.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-312-64961-6

In this modern fairytale, an insouciant, “somewhat heartless” 12-year-old girl from Omaha visits Fairyland and accepts a quest to rescue its inhabitants from the rule-mad Marquess. September’s father’s in the army, and her mother works a factory shift. When the Green Wind arrives at her kitchen window and invites her to Fairyland, the “ill-tempered and irascible” September eagerly accepts. Soon she’s flying on the back of the Leopard of Little Breezes, while Green Wind warns her she may be “ticketed or executed, depending on the mood of the Marquess,” if she tramples on any rules. Also, she must be prepared to make sacrifices and she must never tell her true name. After solving a puzzle, September passes into Fairyland, encounters myriad fantastical creatures and meets her soon-to-be helpers, a red dragonlike Wyvern and a blue jinnlike Marid. When the Marquess co-opts her to retrieve a magical sword from the deadly Worsted Wood and holds the Wyvern and Marid hostage, September sacrifices everything to save her friends. Told by an omniscient narrator who directly engages readers, the densely textured text deftly mixes and matches familiar fairytale elements, creating a world as bizarre and enchanting as any Wonderland or Oz and a heroine as curious, resourceful and brave as any Alice or Dorothy.

Complex, rich and memorable. (Fantasy. 10-14)

AFTER MIDNIGHT

Viehl, Lynn Flux (336 pp.) $9.95 paperback original | May 1, 2011 978-0-7387-2632-8 Series: Youngbloods, Vol. 1 Viehl (Dreamveil, 2010) marks her debut for teens with this, the first in a trilogy. Trick Youngblood aims to settle with his younger siblings, Cat and Gray, in Lost Lake, Fla. Cat is glad, especially after she learns, no thanks to her brothers, that the farm is an inheritance from her late parents, about whom she knows little. This is one of many secrets her brothers are keeping. Cat has one, too: Jesse Raven. Inexplicably drawn together, they meet nightly, with Jesse braving the garlic-laden, iron barb wire surrounding the farm (“pest control” according to Trick).

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Predictably, when their families uncover the bond, they conspire to keep Cat and Jesse apart. Readers will identify with never-been-kissed Cat, who narrates the story. Jesse, while romantic, is strangely lifeless, as are many of the characters.

An eternity passes before Cat realizes that Jesse is a vampire, and the revelation of Cat’s lineage (part Van Helsing–part vampire) is anticlimactic. Instead, the action depends on a bullying episode at school, which spins on an anachronistic portrayal of a mentally ill classmate. Several threads are left unexplored, such as the inbred abilities of the siblings and the bad blood between the clans—all, no doubt, to be revealed in future books. The youngest Twilight fans with a taste for chaste romance will devour this; others will find their hunger unsated. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

DREADNOUGHT

Walden, Mark Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $16.99 | May 24, 2011 978-1-4424-2186 Series: H.I.V.E., Vol. 4 Those young villains-in-training are back, facing their biggest challenge ever, in this, the fourth in a series that is showing signs of tiring. H.I.V.E. (the Higher Institute of Villainous Education) is doing what all schools do, sending their students on a field trip—but they never anticipate that the kids’ll be kidnapped by a rival faction of villains intent on taking over the world their way. Otto Malpense and his friends must swing into action, outwitting electronic surveillance and out-thinking grown-ups who are well financed, well prepared and totally ready to kill the president and plunge the planet into an entirely new brand of modern warfare. The students’ mentors are also back: Assassin Raven swashbuckles her way past an old enemy, while Doctor Nero and Commander Diabolus Darkdoom must discover and conquer a saboteur, as well as a mysterious new society of criminals known only as “The Disciples.” This time around, readers will find that it’s still fun to root for the bad guys …but perhaps not as much as it used to be. Readers will hope the next outing focuses more on answering questions about how the characters are developing and less on action, action, action—and the more sophisticated among them will be happy to move on to more complex antihero antics when they discover Catherine Jinks’ Evil Genius. (Thriller. 8-12)

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THE CELLAR

Whitten, A. J. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (288 pp.) $8.99 paperback original | May 2, 2011 978-0-547-23253-9 A zombie teenage romance loosely associated with Romeo and Juliet, written under a pseudonym by a romancewriter and her teenage daughter. (Their previous attempt, 2009’s The Well, had Hamlet connections.) The tall, gorgeous stranger who moves in next door manages to bring 16-year-old Heather out of a depression following her father’s death in a car accident she caused. Though all the girls are swooning over mysterious Adrien St. Germaine, he zeroes in on Heather, volunteering to play Romeo opposite her in the school’s production. Only Heather’s 17-year-old sister Meredith is suspicious of him and his decrepit “mother” Marie. Are her visions of worms and beetles behind Adrien’s ever-present sunglasses and glimpses of coffins and corpses in the St. Germaine cellar real, or are they just symptoms of her deteriorating eyesight and grief over her father? Is she also imagining that Sam, Heather’s old boyfriend, likes her the way she likes him? The horror tale is told in alternating voices: Meredith’s teenage commentary and ruminations and a third-person narration filtering the thoughts of Heather (as she falls under Adrien’s spell) and Adrien (as his determination to possess Heather forever triggers a zombie war, starting in his creepy cellar and culminating on the set of Romeo and Juliet). The disgusting living dead meet suburban high-school students in this B-movie of a book.

(Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

ZOOMER’S SUMMER SNOWSTORM

Young, Ned Illustrator: Young, Ned Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | PLB: $17.89 | May 1, 2011 978-0-06-170092-7 PLB 978-0-06-170093-4 A cold snack on a hot day turns into a gleefully over-the-top winter fantasia.

One steamy summer afternoon, Zoomer the pup asks to make a snow cone, and, yes, he’ll clean up when he’s done. And he does…but it’s what happens in between that will capture readers’ imaginations. Zoomer takes advantage of an overflowing snow-cone machine to change summer to winter. Armed with only a shovel, he begins by carving a snow duck but quickly escalates to a menagerie that includes dinosaurs, a whale and a dog Sphinx. Then it’s a cocoa break in the fantastic castle of Zoomarctica. Meanwhile, his stick-in-the-mud older twin brothers just want to practice baseball. Their incredulous looks and complaints turn to delight, however, when Zoomer crafts an amusement park out of the snow. A rumbling tummy

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“…the steamy atmosphere of Calcutta is palpable and the confrontations between the twins and their malevolent nemesis truly terrifying. Perfect for readers who value mood over all else.” from the midnight palace

ends the fun on a high note when his request for chili raises his parents’ eyebrows…until they look outside. Relying on his exuberant illustrations to make Zoomer’s world come alive, Young improves on his somewhat-uncertain debut (Zoomer, 2010). The palette really emphasizes the contrast between the cold, blue snow and the vibrant colors of summer. Summer (and maybe winter, too) will never again be the same with Zoomer around. (Picture book. 3-8)

MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES

Zadoff, Allen Egmont USA (304 pp.) $16.99 | e-book: $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-1-60684-036-8 e-book 978-1-60684-256-0 Drama begets drama in this examination of relationships set against the backdrop of a high-school theater production. When his father died after a late-night car crash, Adam Ziegler withdrew from his friends and started fearing total darkness. His life is all about the catwalks in the school theater, setting up the lights for the current production, hiding from the domineering director and avoiding the actors that control the school’s social structure.

However, he finds that he can’t resist Summer, a new actress who takes the lead after a sudden accident eliminates the former star. As he and Summer begin flirting, Adam finds himself at odds with the stage crew’s unwritten rule that keeps actors and technicians apart—and under suspicion when other problems befall the production. Zadoff frames Adam and Summer’s relationship roughly on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a rather effective vehicle for the romance. Overall characterization is a bit weak, with director Mr. Apple’s overthe-top moments grating the most, followed closely by prima donna actor Derek’s smarmy behavior. Adam’s attempt to hide from his friends inadvertently locks his personality away from the readers as well, though flashes of both humor and sadness leak through his shell. Though not a Broadway sensation, this mostly solid tale ultimately appeals. (Fiction. YA)

THE MIDNIGHT PALACE

Zafón, Carlos Ruiz Translator: Graves, Lucia Little, Brown (304 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2011 978-0-316-04473-8

Fraternal twins face a frightening destiny in this Indian melodrama set in 1932 Calcutta. Brought together by their grandmother Aryami Bose for the first time after a life spent apart, 16-year-old twins Sheere and Ben learn that a vengeful childhood friend |

of their father’s named Jawahal murdered their parents. The evil agent tried to finish off the entire family, but Aryami saved the infants by separating and hiding them. Jawahal swore to return when the twins were 16 and complete the job.

But exactly who or what is the fiery man who seems to be able to materialize at will? And what did the twins’ parents do to make Jawahal so angry? The only clues the brother and sister have are their dead father’s detailed journal and recurring visions of a flaming train that plunges through solid walls, destroying everything it touches. The newfound siblings will have to travel to the heart of the fabled city to discover Jawahal’s real identity and the truth about their family’s troubled history. Though the villain’s motives and origins are muddy and the secondary characterizations thin in this sensationalistic gothic tale, the steamy atmosphere of Calcutta is palpable and the confrontations between the twins and their malevolent nemesis truly terrifying. Perfect for readers who value mood over all else. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

GRANDMA’S WEDDING ALBUM

Ziefert, Harriet Illustrator: Gudeon, Karla Blue Apple (40 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2011 978-1-60905-058-0 Following a game of make-believe, a grandmother shows her grandchildren her wedding album.

Grandma’s personal narrative is not much more than a device to introduce a simplified explanation of the ceremony. Given how fascinated children are by weddings, Grandma misses a golden opportunity to share intriguing tales about the roots of some of the most common customs she mentions, such as the flower girl and the bouquet-toss. Nor does she illuminate any family traditions that the next generation may want to embrace. While Grandma recounts the vows she and Poppy took promising to be best friends, thus hinting at what lies at the heart of marriage, the emotional depth of the experience remains unplumbed. The accompanying folk-art illustrations are as cheerful as a greeting card but do not offer additional perspective on the story. Pages are designed to replicate spreads in an album; each features a repeating border and a box of text containing an identical, repeating image of Grandma with the children. Although the narrative is lacking in cultural details, the book includes an appendix of wedding traditions from around the world—this does not, however, extend to new rituals such as commitment ceremonies. Readers desiring a more flavorful depiction of the celebration might prefer Uncle Peter’s Amazing Chinese Wedding, by Lenore Look (2006), or Weddings,

by Ann Morris (1995). A disappointingly bland treatment of an always-popular subject. (Picture book. 5-8)

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k i r k u s r o u n d-u p m o t h e r’s & fat h e r’s d ay I LOVE MY MOMMY

Andreae, Giles Illustrator: Dodd, Emma Disney Hyperion (32 pp.) $12.99 | February 22, 2011 978-1-4231-4327-7

A SUITCASE SURPRISE FOR MOMMY

Andreae and Dodd team up to create a winning read-aloud for the very young. As it is for most babies and toddlers, mommy is the center of this towheaded tot’s universe. Andreae uses lilting verse as the young narrator takes readers through a typical day with mommy.

The title begins with pure adoration: “I love my mommy very much, / She’s great to cuddle, soft to touch.” Soon mother and child are engaged in wiping a nose and tickling toes, singing songs in the car, holding hands, learning to pee, splashing in the tub, reading stories and ending the day with hugs and kisses. Dodd employs her signature style, using thick black lines and saturated bright colors. Her characters and objects fill the page, giving the reader a sense of intimacy. A judicious use of what appears to be red sponge paint adds playful texture in the scene showing the child eating “yummy” but messy spaghetti. In addition, readers can enjoy some interactive fun spotting the child’s purple toy, which is cleverly included on every spread. The large format and warm tone make this truly perfect for little ones. (Picture book. 0-3)

YOUR MOMMY WAS JUST LIKE YOU Bennett, Kelly Illustrator: Walker, David Putnam (32 pp.) $16.99 | March 1, 2011 978-0-399-24798-9

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Cora, Cat Illustrator: Allen, Joy Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | March 1, 2011 978-0-8037-3332-9

Iron Chef and debut children’s author Cora obviously understands the challenges of the working mom. Here she addresses a son’s anxiety when his mother prepares to travel for work.

Mommy announces an upcoming trip, and Zoran is upset at the thought of missing her so much. She comes up with an idea: Zoran should choose “something special of [his for her] to take” on her travels so that they may “both feel better.” So begins a search for the perfect item for Mommy to pack. A favorite truck is too big, and a remote-controlled robot is too noisy. Zoran is about to despair when Mommy cheers him up: “…no matter how high I fly or how far away I travel, my heart stays home with you.” This inspires Zoran to choose a sweet picture he drew at school for his Mommy. She assures him she will keep it with her throughout her journey, and all seems amazingly well. Allen successfully depicts the vacillating moods of Zoran as well as the constant loving nature of Mommy with softened bright colors in gouache and pencil.

The appeal of this well-intentioned effort is limited to those experiencing a similar situation; others will find little to entertain young readers. (Picture book. 3-5)

LITTLE CHICKEN’S BIG DAY

This slight story opens with a grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter gathered around a family photo album, in a book that replicates the formula used in Your Daddy Was Just Like You (2010). The grandmother begins to remember all the ways her daughter and granddaughter are alike: “Your mommy was born bright-eyed and fuzzy-topped. Just like you.” Bennett’s comforting refrain, along with the measured text, creates a soothing rhythm that pairs nicely with Walker’s muted acrylics. Certain vignettes wonderfully capture less-endearing 610

moments of childhood, such as when the grandmother remembers her daughter’s tantrums, when she “pestered and poked, stomped and spit… / On those days she was sent to TIME OUT.” However, the nostalgic tone is occasionally burdened by overly cute language: “Most days your mommy was my sweet potato—doll face—poopsie…” As in the companion title for fathers, Walker misses the opportunity to draw a visual connection between the little girl and her mother, who grandmother says was so much like her—a shame. Even though most young children enjoy hearing what their parents were like when they were little, there is not much here to excite the preschool set. (Picture book. 3-5)

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Davis, Jerry Illustrator: Davis, Katie McElderry (40 pp.) $14.99 | April 19, 2011 978-1-4424-1401-3

A close-up of a neon-yellow chick beckons from the bright-blue front cover. On the first page a very large, handlike wing pushes open the door to reveal sleepy Little Chicken. Then it comes: “Rise ’n’ shine!”

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“Dads are often elevated to superhero status in the eyes of their kids, but Long turns this concept on its ear with hilarious results.” from my dad, my hero

Ominously, Big (mama) Chicken continues to bellow out exclamatory commands to her tiny chick. The usual parentgiven directives are issued at a rapid pace: “Wash your face!

Brush your teeth! Get dressed! Finish your food!” Little Chicken looks up and answers, deadpan, “I hear you cluckin’, Big Chicken.” Off they go, with Little Chicken scampering in untied red sneakers while Big Chicken briskly marches forth in red heels and white handbag with orders to “Follow me!” and “Stay close!” But Little Chicken becomes mesmerized by a teeny purple butterfly and loses track of mama. Even as he begins to quake, Big Chicken appears on the next spread, melodiously clucking her child’s name. Once reunited, the pair happily heads home. The Davis team boldly plays with the use of white space (or sometimes blue or green) and strong black lines to propel the visual storytelling. Proportions and angles change as the story progresses to reflect Little Chicken’s understanding and appreciation of his mother’s watchful words. Be sure to share with willful toddlers and rambunctious preschoolers—they will easily relate to Little Chicken. (Picture book. 1-4)

BLUE-RIBBON DAD

Glass, Beth Raisner Illustrator: Moore, Margie Abrams (32 pp.) $14.95 | May 1, 2011 978-0-8109-9727-1

A celebration of a dad’s return.

A young squirrel announces to his mother, “My dad is coming home soon, / And with just five hours to go, / I’m planning for a big surprise. / He’s the best dad I know!” Glass’ sing-song text alternates between a countdown of the hours until father returns and detailed descriptions of all the wonderful things he and his dad do together. As the little squirrel industriously works on a surprise gift for daddy, watchful mother squirrel is nearby preparing a cake for the upcoming celebration. It all adds up to a warm portrait of a loving family that shares traditional activities at the pool, the barbershop and at home. Moore’s soft, bright watercolor-and-ink illustrations help round out what is stated in the rhyming quatrains. At five o’clock sharp, dad is home to enjoy his family and be awarded, as per the title, a special glittered-andglued blue ribbon. (A fun extra: Readers are invited to punch out the provided blue ribbon at the back of the book.) It’s a little hard to tell whether this dad has been away on a trip or is just coming home from work, which keeps this book from packing much emotional punch. This sweet but not special title is fine to share for Father’s Day or when a daddy is about to return from a trip. (Picture book. 3-5)

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DADDY ADVENTURE DAY

Keane, Dave Illustrator: Ramá, Sue Philomel (32 pp.) $15.99 | March 1, 2011 978-0-399-24627-2

A young boy narrates a special time spent with his dad.

Daddy Adventure Days have some rules: there’s no reading the newspaper or calling work. There are perks, too: Surprises often happen, and the narrator “always get[s] a lot of great stuff.” Today’s Daddy Adventure Day is dedicated to going to the boy’s first big-league baseball game. But things don’t start out too well for dad: He is woken way too early by the thumping of a baseball rolling down the stairs, and he’s grouchy about missing his paper and not being able to call the office. The contrast between the hyper-excited boy and the laid-back dad provides gentle humor. Ramá’s saturated watercolors and collage skillfully depict the boy’s many happy moments, such as his wide-eyed wonder as he gazes upon the “green checkerboard” field, his surprise at being given a caught foul ball and his utter contentment as he and his dad lay on the couch at the end of the eventful day.

Keane’s classic pairing of a father-son relationship and baseball will be best shared one-on-one. As a blueprint for fatherson fun, it’s not a bad one. (Picture book. 3-5)

MY DAD, MY HERO

Long, Ethan Illustrator: Long, Ethan Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (32 pp.) $12.99 | April 1, 2011 978-1-4022-4239-7 Dads are often elevated to superhero status in the eyes of their kids, but Long turns this concept on its ear with hilarious results. Choosing a cartoon style and humor equally reminiscent of both Mo Willems and Garfield of comic-strip fame, Long first introduces an idealized dad on the cover, dressed in tight blue superhero garb complete with red cape and showcasing pumped-up muscles.

But the inside story shows a dad lacking any real superpowers. Formatted in comic-book panels and illustrated with what appears to be the classic Ben-Day dots technique (think Roy Lichtenstein), this title aims at the funny bone. Captions narrate the action from the son’s droll point of view. The book opens with dad tripping over building blocks since he “cannot leap tall buildings in a single bound” and struggling to open a jar of pickles since he obviously “does not have super strength.”

But after the son comes to the end of his amusing list of what dad is unable to do, readers can laugh equally hard at dad’s attempts to be the best father possible. Parents will chuckle with empathy at dad’s comedic, stretched-thin patience as he spends quality time with his son. All ends well with a big hug and no doubt that this dad is “really super…/ and definitely” a “hero.” (Picture book. 3-6)

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“Who knew the favorite topics of baseball, dinosaurs and father-son relationships could come together in such a winning combination?” from tyrannosaurus dad

TYRANNOSAURUS DAD

Rosenberg, Liz Illustrator: Myers, Matthew Neal Porter/Roaring Brook (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-1-59643-531-5 Who knew the favorite topics of baseball, dinosaurs and father-son relationships could come together in such a winning combination? Rosenberg and debut illustrator Myers pull it off in this impressive collaboration. Human boy Tobias eagerly awaits Elmwood Elementary Field Day, when the big game will be played. He would love for Dad—who just happens to be a Tyrannosaurus—to go, but he is always working. In not-so-subtle ways Tobias reminds his hulking father how important this is to him, but the dinosaur remains absorbed in the newspaper, swamped with paperwork and glued to his laptop. Field Day arrives, and Tobias goes alone. All seems well until the dreaded Chickenbone Gang comes, demanding to play ball. Tobias is about to take on the head bully over a rules dispute when “an unexpected voice” thunders, “I’LL UMP!” The reptile’s level-headed problem-solving and firm yet fair presence save the day. “ ‘What made you come today?’ asked Tobias. ‘Family first.’ Tyrannosaurus Dad said. ‘Work can wait.’ ” Rosenberg’s well-paced dialogue and succinct descriptions result in a most engaging read. Myers’ oil paintings truly amaze. Faces gain an almost three-dimensional expressiveness, and the spreads are rich in scene-setting detail. His reluctantly kind Tyrannosaurus is cleverly portrayed as a larger-than-life creature with a mean countenance but a warm heart. Sounds like many dads out there. (Picture book. 4-7)

BABY BADGER’S WONDERFUL NIGHT

Saunders, Karen Illustrator: Kolanovic, Dubravka Egmont USA (32 pp.) $16.99 | May 10, 2011 978-1-60684-172-3

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LEAP BACK HOME TO ME

Thompson, Lauren Illustrator: Cordell, Matthew McElderry (32 pp.) $15.99 | April 26, 2011 978-1-4169-0664-3 Veteran picture-book author Thompson teams with Cordell to create a deceptively simple instant classic.

Little frog and his mother share a warm lily-pad embrace on the cover. Then comes the action: “Leap frog over the ladybug. Leap frog over the bee. / Leap frog over the prickly clover, / then leap back home to me!” As the little amphibian takes each ever-more-ambitious jumping adventure, his mother happily welcomes him back. The rhyming text creates a loving refrain that young ones will enjoy repeating. Sound effects for alternating excursions add to the interactive fun, as frog goes, “PLIP! … SPROING! … WHEEEEE! … WHOOSH!” over clover, splashing beavers, rocky hilltops and roaming clouds.

Cordell works his magic with pen, ink and vibrant watercolors to not only perfectly complement the text but also show little frog’s growing confidence and sheer glee at each accomplishment as the day progresses. Mama frog patiently awaits her little one with smiles, crayons, a storybook, dinner and, finally, another hug as he does a “Leap frog over the sun. / Leap frog as high as you please. / Leap frog out to the farthest stars… / when you leap home, here I’ll be.” A sure delight to present to a preschool group or share one on one. Hop to it and make sure this is on your shelf! (Picture book. 2-4)

BABY’S FIRST YEAR

Saunders makes her debut with a tender story about how Papa Badger helps Baby Badger get over his fear of the dark. As the sun goes down, the young one becomes afraid. Papa tells him, “The night is wonderful.

Let me show you.” When Baby worries about getting lost in the dark, Papa points out that the bright North Star “will always guide you back home.” And so the conversation continues, with Papa pointing out the magical qualities of the night while Baby begins to feel more safe and full of wonder.

Kolanovic’s palette of pastels in a soft spectrum of blues and greens, accented with luminous yellow for the moon and stars, has a soft, cozy feel that further creates a sense of calm security. When the palette gradually changes to pinks and yellows, the sun has come up, signaling bedtime for the nocturnal 612

badgers. (Logically minded children will wonder how it is that an animal that typically stays up all night comes to be afraid of the dark.) This story, perhaps too quiet for some, succeeds in showcasing a charming father/child relationship and is a good choice for a cuddly storytime with a preschooler struggling with nighttime fears.(Picture book. 2-4)

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Walton, Rick Illustrator: Church, Caroline Jayne Putnam (32 pp.) $15.99 | March 1, 2011 978-0-399-25025-5 Would this book be best as a gift for new parents, a title to prepare an older sibling-to-be or an interactive offering to share with a group of antsy toddlers or preschoolers? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” Walton’s latest celebrates the many milestones a baby experiences during his first year. With rollicking verse full of familiar words begging to be read aloud, the narrator builds excitement and allows young readers to successfully guess the end of each rhyme with a dramatic page turn. Who could resist, “A little mouth, a little

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chin. / And what’s that there? A little grin? / It opens up a Baby mile. / See happy Baby’s very first… // …SMILE!” Church ably illustrates the vibrant fun with a style similar to Emma Dodd’s in Giles Andreae’s I Love You Mommy (2011), using bright, summery hues outlined with strong black lines. The word for each “first” is supersized and exclaimed in bright capitals to further accentuate the delight in Baby’s new accomplishments.

Readers will enjoy anticipating the first kiss, laugh, crawl, tooth, book, steps and word; they are invited to capture each of these special moments by utilizing the poster on the back of the dust jacket. Even though sweet books on new babyhood abound, this stands out as a fresh addition. (Picture book. 0-4)

This Issue’s Contributors #

Kim Becnel • Elizabeth Bird • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley • Sophie Brookover • Louise Brueggemann • Timothy Capehart • Louise Capizzo • Katie Day • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis • Carol Edwards • Diane B. Foote • Judith Gire • Ruth I. Gordon • Linnea Hendrickson • Megan Honig • Jennifer Hubert • Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Lauren Maggio • Joan Malewitz • Hillias J. Martin • April Mazza • Jeanne McDermott • Daniel Meyer • Lisa Moore • R. Moore • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Lesli Rodgers • Erika Rohrbach • Leslie L. Rounds • Dean Schneider • Chris Shoemaker • Meg Smith • Robin Smith • Jennifer Sweeney • Jessica Thomas • Monica D. Wyatt • Melissa Yurechko

“...an engrossing, well-paced thriller that will keep your heart rate up....”

—Kirkus Reviews

“This is an exceptional piece of fiction.”

—ForeWord Clarion Review (Five Stars)

Awarded a Kirkus Star What if the ultimate treatment for cancer was closer than we realize? A silent revolution has been unfolding recently in the science of natural medicine, bringing us so close to the answer—far too close, for some.

This provocative story follows Chromogen employee Annika Guthrie on her journey to help terminally ill patients in a major drug trial. She secretly gives them a cocktail of natural supplements—but when it starts working too well, her world begins to fall apart.

Annika quickly realizes she is working against someone far larger and deadlier than she had ever imagined.

Now available at Amazon.com |

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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 SCHOOLMASTER SPY: Moravec’s War: Book One James, Xavier Granite House (636 pp.) $29.95 | October 2, 2009 ISBN: 978-1595289032

A Czech spy-chief battles the rising Nazi menace in this engrossing thriller.

Major František Moravec has no experience as a spy when he’s summoned to an important post in Czechoslovakia’s military intelligence branch. But he does have a shrewd mind, a self-effacing manner that hides a maverick streak, a disillusioned knowledge of human motives and, rarest of all in the low, dishonest decade of the 1930s, he has more than a shred of honor. While he struggles to navigate Prague’s cynical bureaucracy and whip his underlings into shape—including an amateur pornographer and an 83-year-old agent who refuses to file reports—he faces an intelligence nightmare: a surging Nazi Germany that is covertly manipulating German nationalist groups in the Sudetenland with an eye toward adding that Czech territory to the Reich. Moravec relies on a troubled asset, a GermanCzech-American schoolteacher with a clouded past and a bitter grudge. And he has a whale—or maybe a piranha—of a nemesis in Gestapo chief Reinhardt Heydrich, the epitome of cunning, cruelty and corruption with a cold eye trained on the Sudetenland while fighting murderous turf battles with Hitler’s other satraps. (The scenes of Nazi factional infighting are a tour-deforce of blood-curdling fun.) This first installment of Xavier’s Moravec’s War series, based on real-life figures and events, has everything—subtle characters, a great hero, a mesmerizing villain, tense intrigue and action and stylish, psychologically acute prose. It’s also a rich evocation of pre-war Mitteleuropa, steeped in the atmospherics of high-society soirées, beer-hall rallies and train-station assignations amid a mood of encroaching, unstoppable tragedy. As Moravec strains to perceive the threats to his country despite the deepening gloom, Xavier’s tale reads like a John le Carré novel transposed to a geopolitical jungle that’s far grimmer than the Cold War. A fine, gripping page-turner infused with a deep historical sensibility.

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TRAIN OF CONSEQUENCES Jarvis, Tom iUniverse (202 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paperback $9.99 e-book | November 2, 2010 ISBN: 978-1450266222 Paper: 978-1450266239

Fed up with their traumatic lives, two distraught teenagers run away from home but find that life on their own is not what they expected.

Shelton Cole and Richie Kemp are two de facto brothers that have been having a rough go of it lately. Shelton’s family was recently devastated by the loss of their older son John. Since then, Shelton’s parents, consumed by their grief, have behaved as if Shelton doesn’t exist. Richie hasn’t had it any easier—his father was incarcerated as a mobster in New York City, and he and his mother fled to New Hampshire in search of a new life.

Unfortunately, all Richie found was an alcoholic, abusive stepfather. Finally the boys, bound by their sense of alienation at home and school, take action—Richie beats up the school bully in a public fight and then commits an even more shocking act at home the next morning. Panic-stricken, he steals his stepfather’s car, and Shelton and Richie strike out for Mexico. At first, the open road and the romantic life of hoboes is fun for the two. Unfortunately, their trip ends even more nightmarishly than their escape from home began. Fast-forward 15 years, and Shelton is back in New Hampshire to reconnect with Richie at their “30 year caucus.” Jarvis does a nice job of staggering the present-day action—Shelton as an adult—with flashbacks from the boys’ teenage years. His humane rendering of teenagers in crisis presents Shelton and Richie as sympathetic characters that draw in the reader, and concern for the pair will pull the reader through the book despite some slow sections. Entertaining and heartfelt, Jarvis’ tale would work particularly well for young adult readers, though it might be too dark for some.

A thoughtful and empathetic book about young men in crisis—well worth a read, especially for teenagers.

DOG IQ: DESIGN 1.0: A Story of Dogs and Computers

Lightstone, Alexander CreateSpace (140 pp.) $12.50 paperback | $6.70 e-book December 1, 2010 ISBN: 978-1456391799 An engineer dad uses to technology to give the family dog a voice.

The Singer family’s golden retriever Samson the Second, better known as S2, tends to wander. One day, 7-year-old Ginger proclaims, “Daddy, give him a cell phone so he can call when he is lost!” This seemingly silly idea gets Jim’s creative juices flowing. As an engineer, Jim thinks about what it |

might be like if he could communicate with S2 remotely, using a small computer attached to the dog’s collar. Singer ponders the idea and it quickly becomes something of an obsession. He uses three weeks of vacation to develop, design and build a prototype of the device. During a family meeting, one of the children comes up with a name—TADS (“TAlking Dog System”). The story unfolds, demonstrating the impact TADS has on Jim, the upheaval it causes his family and the manner in which S2 copes with his new status as a canine celebrity. Along the way, the reader learns in small doses about human-canine interaction, how computer technology could some day apply to communicating with animals and the ins and outs of the patent process.

The most compelling aspect of the fanciful tale, however, is the fact that Jim devises a system that not only allows him to talk to S2, but allows S2 to “talk” as well, through movements S2 makes that trigger a voice simulation. While a “talking dog” may stretch the suspension of disbelief, it does add an element to the story that allows for intrigue and bursts of humor. S2 even exhibits a somewhat devious mind of his own. The book has an authentic flavor as Lightstone depicts the trials and tribulations of developing TADS. A nice touch is the closing excerpt from a “speech” given by a VP of the fictional company that launches TADS, making the system seem all the more real.

While the story is light on plot, it is an entertaining, lighthearted tale that reinforces man’s remarkably close relationship with dogs.

NEON DREAMS

Mufson, Marilyn Kindle eBook (431 kb) $9.99 | July 21, 2010 The grinding tribulations of a promising young woman breaking from the bad habits sewn by her upbringing.

Mufson introduces readers to Rebecca Plotnik, home after college, in the early 1960s, living with her parents in Las Vegas. Her dreams of an acting career in New York City are busily thwarted by her discouraging mother, her gamblingaddicted father and her insecurities. Neon may be blinking in the streets, but Rebecca’s world is pure noir, a shadow land of enfeeblement, asymmetry and an identity in vertigo, freighted with the banality of her everyday woes and the desperation of finding the right somebody to lift her from her emotional flux and head eastward. A biting, chromatic portrait of Las Vegas in the ’60s alternates with Mufson’s sure hand that allows Rebecca to make one bad choice after another, falling for men who are too good to be true—one with charm enough to coax a hungry dog off a meat wagon, another not “merely handsome. He was Art.”—but just this side of believable to make us fall for them as well. She is also artful with the quality of the book’s creepiness—when her father introduces Rebecca to his gang, she says, “I pictured convicts breaking up rocks…I felt like a stripper in a graveyard”; her drop-dead-gorgeous boyfriend Alex’s relationship with his mother is a mix of Oedipus,

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h k a r e n c a n t w e l l A: I’ve found that to be especially helpful. Because I have my main website and then I have that sort of other blog, which is the one you’re talking about, Fiction for Dessert. And I actually started that a long time ago as my original blog, even before I had a website. And, yes, as I started connecting with a lot more independently published authors through the Kindle Boards and other venues, I started finding that it was nice to feature their work on my blog. First off, it was easier for me—I wouldn’t have to come up with something to blog about. And I was finding books I really enjoyed and I thought people would like to know about them as well.

Karen Cantwell tried to take her manuscript Monkeys in My Tree on the traditional route to publication, querying agents and publishers, and eventually entering it into Amazon’s 2009 Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. When she reached the semifinals but didn’t land a publishing contract, she took the feedback she had received, did some rewriting, including changing the title to Take the Monkeys and Run. Eventually Cantwell went back to Amazon, self-published through Kindle and has now sold nearly 28,000 e-books since June 15, 2010.

Q: A post on the Adventures in ePublishing blog featured a list of authors who had sold over 1,000 e-books in a one-month period, with the top sellers, which included you, ranging from 5,000 to a whopping 100,000 copies.

Those are some big numbers.

Take the Monkeys and Run

Karen Cantwell Kindle Direct $0.99 June 15, 2010

Q: Do you have advice for independent authors on how to navigate the Kindle Boards?

A: I think it depends on where you’re at in the publishing process—find those discussions that work for you. When I first went on the Kindle Boards, I found out about them through an interview Joe Konrath had done with Karen McQuestion. And she mentioned that that was how she initially started finding readers. She went and she introduced herself. And so that’s what I did.

I focused on those threads that were informational for me just coming into self-publishing. And any threads that had to do with self-promotion, whether someone was offering a guest blog opportunity or offering information on other ideas for self-promotion…Then as you grow and you start getting more information and figuring out really how to navigate your way through it.

A: It’s a phenomenal trend that is just—it’s that snowball effect where you’re just going to see more and more and more people buying e-books and reading them. And Amazon started the trend by making it so easy to publish e-books and sell them.

It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

Q: How did you choose to publish through Kindle?

A: At that point, I didn’t even know if somebody could self-publish on Kindle, so I did a little googling and that’s when I came across Joe Konrath’s blog. He has a lot of information on there and that’s what sent me on the direction of finding—I had somebody format [the book] for me, I had somebody design the cover for me. Once you have a formatted file, it’s very easy to upload. And to start selling. Actually, since then, I have, myself, published a second [e-book], a short story compilation, which all I did was take a Word document and convert it to HTML and upload it. And that came out fine. It came out beautifully.

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P hoto C o urt esy O F th e au tho r

A: The reason I did the short story compilation was specifically to keep readers having more of Barbara Marr, who is the main character in Take the Monkeys and Run. Because I planned for that to be a series and didn’t have the second book out, I wanted to have a way for readers to still get a bit of her and some of her humor. I find that’s a good way to keep readers interested. I really saw the short story compilation more as a promotional effort, if you will. And then I use my website to communicate with readers.

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A: I started at $2.99. And I was selling okay at that rate. But I wasn’t selling tons. And I saw that some people were selling their books at 99 cents. And then that was a way they could promote it again.

So I decided to give it a try. My whole intention was to go back to $2.99, but I started selling so well at 99 cents, and when you sell well and people read the book, then I started getting good reviews.

And that just kept the flow going for making more sales. So I never did experiment with going back to $2.99. Now what I consider is that the 99-cent book is sort of my promotional book. “Try this book, if you like it, the next one will be $2.99.”

That’s my plan for my book. And so I’ll make more money, hopefully, off the second book. I mean, I’m doing OK now. I’m making more money now than I was before, trust me.

Q: What’s important to keep in mind when you’re engaging your readers?

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Q: What’s your attitude toward pricing your books?

sunglasses and a vodka martini or three (winningly, Alex’s siblings have figured out his degenerate ways—“So bohemian,” says Rebecca. “Gets pretty boring after a while,” says Alex’s step-brother.) Rebecca may be enslaved to fattening foods and her mother’s admonitions, but she is also a smart cookie, with a worldly eye that knows the difference between Middlemarch and Marjorie Morningstar, and Mufson lets Rebecca’s English professor nail her to the cross—“You may have done your best to turn in a shitty paper, as you called it, but your writing still showed promise—a series of brilliant starts that went nowhere.”

A deftly crafted tale of an absorbing character in dire straits; readers will be pulling for Rebecca Plotnik.

MISFITS & HEROES: West from Africa

Rollins, Kathleen Flanagan CreateSpace (442 pp.) $20.00 paperback | November 4, 2010 ISBN: 978-1453755037 Rollins tells an epic tale of ancient conflict, migration, spirit-world mystery and love.

The story is set in 12,000 BCE in the forests and on the grassy steppes of West Africa. From the get-go, Rollins establishes a lovely, haunting tone: “It was the smell that had brought him here, to this village, the complicated, heavy smell of men and women and children.” Naaba is an outcast and a wanderer, and in this village he will find a like soul in Asha, who has a deep affinity for the watery realm, but has so far had her yearnings thwarted. They quit the village and set out to find a home. They move through a world in flux— “There were powerful places in every community: certain hills or lakes or trees that held special energy… but this was different somehow; it was a deliberate manipulation of that power.” These early humans learn that power can be diabolical and that the gods of the proto-myths, once protective, could be just as cruelly fickle, happily killing humans “not for anything they’d done, but only because the gods found it entertaining…. [I]t was a difficult balance, to acknowledge the power of the gods and yet maintain the importance of individual life.” A dynamic tension runs through the quest, a push-pull of forces—cooperative captives, murderous love, surprising intersections of principal players—as Naaba and Asha move forward, still following their noses, through a number of different communities that Rollins draws with detailed color, and the pair gather a cast of characters around them, fashioned with panache by Rollins into breathing entities with unforeseen weaknesses and unexpected strengths.

They also learn to sail and ride a hellacious storm to the Antilles. The variety of settings—brutal war scenes, sporting contests, mysterious happenings in sacred places, the spookiness of what lies beneath the ocean’s surface, island biogeography—are meticulously plotted, the language precise but not prim, with an intriguing contrapuntal melody between |

the cadenced formality of Dashona, the storyteller within the text, and the liquid nature of Rollins’ narrative.

The kind of dangerous book that makes you want to remove most of your clothing, climb in a dugout and just start paddling.

A POINTED DEATH: First in the Pointer Mystery Series

Russell, Kath CreateSpace (352 pp.) $14.24 paperback | $6.99 e-book August 24, 2010 ISBN: 978-1450563093 The new novel by Russell (Deed So, 2010) is the first in a promised mystery series that takes place in the “wacky” world of biotech.

Embezzler Roger Chen did not single-handedly bring down entrepreneur Nola Billingsley’s dot-com business, but he did hasten its demise. Nola hardly wishes him well, but she never wanted to find his dead body in San Francisco’s Fort Funston— especially not with his severed head several feet away. On the bright side, her gruesome discovery brings her in closer contact with investigator Bob Harrison. But it also results in the inevitable clash as she insists on investigating the murder herself. As feisty, intelligent and well-respected Nola works as a consultant in the small world of biotechnology, she learns that Roger had his hands in many pies, or at least the funds of many start-ups.

With both her romance with Harrison and her consulting business blossoming, Nola delves deeper into the incestuous world of biotech companies, learning that they are more closely linked than even their CEOs imagined; one hacks into the systems of several competitors. Nola is a fun, honest and intelligent 40-something heroine, with a live-in octogenarian mother and jealous short-haired pointer to keep her from getting bored— and from getting any privacy with her new lover. With just the right mix of action, intrigue, romance and the chick-lit distractions of cocktails, dinners and shopping, the book is a fun, fastpaced read. Russell is a skilled writer who doesn’t give herself enough credit when she calls her book “silly” in the acknowledgements. It may not be great literature, but it is an engrossing, cozy read, reminiscent of the many mysteries featuring spunky female amateur sleuths that the New York houses used to churn out. As proof of Russell’s writing abilities, she makes biotechnology almost comprehensible.

A fulfilling read for both mystery and chick-lit aficionados.

kirkusreviews.com

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kirkus indie

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1 april 2011

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