July 15, 2011: Volume LXXIX, No 14

KIRKUS v o l.

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REVIEWS

t h e nat i o n ’s p r e m i e r b o o k r e v i e w j o u r na l f o r mo r e t h a n 7 5 y e a rs

fiction

nonfiction

children & teens

★ Irish novelist Sebastian Barry delivers a masterful novel filled with bittersweet passages p. 1185

★ Astrophysicist Adam Frank delivers a phenomenal blend of science and cultural history p. 1213

★ Susan Campbell Bartoletti & Holly Meade give an enchanting peek at life on the Ark p. 1237

★ Carson Morton tells the vibrant tale of an art thief who snatches a famous masterpiece p. 1202

★ Peter Van Buren serves up laugh-out-loud stories about America’s failures in Iraq p. 1231

★ Kimberly Brubaker Bradley unflinchingly imagines Thomas Jefferson’s slave family p. 1239

★ A harrowing voyage across Hell is at the center of L. Jagi Lamplighter’s exciting novel p. 1204

★ Multi-talented author John Berger defies pigeon-holing in his latest profound work p. 1206

★ African-American history comes to monumental life in Kadir Nelson’s capable hands p. 1260

Jeff Abbott thrills; Clare O’Donohue solves a puzzle; Sebastian Stuart kills; Nicholas Kilmer fools around; Mary Janice Davidson plays with vampires; Alex Shakar shines; Maureen Carter poses a question; Frederick Ramsay charms; and much, much more v i s i t k i rku sre vi e ws. com f or f ull versions of f eatures, q & as and thou sa n ds of archived reviews

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

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interactive e-books p. 1181 fiction p. 1185 mystery p. 1198

science fiction & fantasy p. 1204 nonfiction p. 1205

children & teens p. 1235 kirkus indie p. 1274

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

Let’s Get Physical

BY D EB O RAH

KA PLA N

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

Much of the discussion of teen sexuality in teen paranormal and science-fiction romances has focused on the genre’s purported purity or filth. Are these new romances thinly veiled abstinence education, or are they pornography? But sex in these romances has never been as simple (whether simply smutty or simply prudish) as its detractors want it to be. Though the romances may appear formulaic, they range from joyfully sex-positive to harshly punitive.

Critics of these romances, in one direction or the other, will often focus on the presence or absence of sex, but it’s equally important to consider the paranormal and science-fiction heroines’ attitudes. Consider the Twilight series, which concerns many with its domestic violence–like patterns and Bella’s suicidal obsessiveness. But despite the series’ flaws, Bella is never passive. As the physical aggressor, she wants sex and is going to get it. Marriage is irrelevant to Bella; a meaningless ceremony seems scarcely a concession at all. After three books of bosom-heaving abstinence, Breaking Dawn rewards Bella’s pro-sex persistence.

Not all the paranormal and science-fiction romances reward successful sexual aggressors. Julia Karr’s XVI (2011) and Lisa Desrochers’ Original Sin (2011) both feature secondary characters, friends of the heroines, who are curious about experimenting with their own sexuality. In both books, the friend is multiply raped and then murdered. Other entries in the current crop of the genre romances focus less on punishing sexual aggressors than on exploring some Platonic ideal of abstinence. Heroine Dana of Jenna Black’s Faeriewalker series is manipulated into a deal with the villainously sexy Erlking: She promises him her virginity. Since this sacrifice would give him magical abilities to wreak havoc, poor dear Dana chooses perpetual abstinence instead. Sadly, it never occurs to Dana to explore the limits of her new restriction.

Exactly what, one wonders, constitutes magical virginity?

Meghan Cox Gurdon’s recent Wall Street Journal article attacking contemporary YA fiction recommends that young women read Betty Smith’s 1943 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Smith’s classic is often cited as a safe, clean book, but the reality is hardly so simple; the book depicts premarital sex, attempted rape and an aunt employed in a condom factory. Similarly, sexuality in the paranormal and science-fiction romances is not so simple as it first appears. Some romances depict characters who actively choose to abstain from sex and yet are shamelessly sexual. Others depict characters who are sexually active but make sex look dangerous and characteristic of poor judgment. The sexuality of YA paranormal and science-fiction romances is messy, complicated and hard to pin down—just like the sexuality of real-life young adults.

for more re vi e ws and f eatures, vi si t u s on l i n e at k irkusreviews.com

Lifestyles Editor KAREN CALABRIA kcalabria@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 • Amy Boaz • Bill Brikiatis • Julie BuffaloeYoder • Lori Calabria • Dave DeChristopher • Gregory F. DeLaurier • Adrianna Delgado • David Delman • Kathleen Devereaux • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Julie Foster • Sean Gibson • Devon Glenn • Amy Goldschlager • Christine Goodman • Robert M. Knight • Paul Lamey • Rebecca Schumejda • Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Angela Leroux-Lindsey • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Raina Lipsitz • Carey London • Joe Maniscalco • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Carole Moore • Clayton Moore • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth • John Noffsinger • Courtney E. Nolen • Sarah Norris • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • Christofer D. Pierson • Gary Presley • John T. Rather • Lloyd Sachs • Bob Sanchez • Susan Sebanc • Rosanne Simeone • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Tom Swift • Claire Trazenfeld • Steve Weinberg • Rodney Welch • Carol White • Chris White

interactive e-books HERO OF THE RAILS

interactive e-books for children FRIDA’S WORLD

Brito, Maria Gabriela Illustrator: Martinez, Natali Developer: Patuto Press Developer: Gramercy Consultants $0.99 | Version: 4.0 Apr. 8, 2011 Colorful and accessible, this brief biography of Frida Kahlo paints the artist’s vibrant life using broad brushstrokes that smooth over her tragedies and highlight the creativity in her life.

Readers can follow along in either English or Spanish with the pleasant female narrator, who proceeds at a reasonable, though somewhat quick pace as each word in the appropriate language is highlighted in red. In several situations in the English version, the narrator at times inserts random articles before words—for example a stray a or an before a noun—which may throw off readers following closely. Soft watercolor illustrations present a friendly, cartoonish Frida with her trademark unibrow and flare for bright colors. The text concludes with a short note about Kahlo’s legacy but does not offer any further resources for an inspired reader. By default, traditional Mexican folk music accompanies the text, which can become tedious; readers may want to seek out the mute option. Navigation from the main menu is intuitive and features a coloring book, which lets users tap their inner artists by coloring select scenes from the book.

An entertaining, introductory journey through Frida’s world that introduces readers to an artistic legend and encourages creativity. (Biography. 7-9)

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Developer: Callaway Digital Arts $0.99 | Version: 1.0 May 13, 2011 Series: Thomas & Friends

Thomas fans are in for a treat, as this app delivers the same predictable experience they relish in video and book form, gently augmented with interactive enhancements.

The story is set into motion when speedy Spencer arrives on the island of Sodor for the summer to help build a house for the Duke and Duchess. In an ill-advised race with Spencer, Thomas runs off the tracks into the bushes, where he discovers a mysterious abandoned engine named Hiro. While Thomas and his friends do their best to help the old engine, Spencer learns that it is better to be a friend than a show-off. Enhanced with user-friendly interactive features, this app has multiple touch animation, video, puzzles, painting activities and matching games. Even the functional aspects are fun; the navigation bar swings up and down like a railway gate, for instance. The help button has clear and thorough instructions, so even the least tech-savvy adult can easily navigate. The text is read by familiar voices from the TV series and can be paused while children play with the interactive features on every page.

A solid, interactive reading experience for kids who are more inclined to watch a video than to pick up a book. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)

THE PRINCE WITH FIVE HEADS

de Wolf, Barbara Illustrator: de Wolf, Barbara $4.99 | Version: 1.0 May 17, 2011 A prince who keeps losing his interchangeable heads annoys his royal mother to no end in this droll original tale.

Having lost his original one under mysterious circumstances, the prince now sports a whole array at will from a mischievous naughty head to a sad one, plus a happy one that doubles as a football (for soccer). When he loses the latter one too, he not only gets a new permanent head at the behest of his mom, the Queen of Clean, but a friend as well—a lonely princess who finds the latest loose noggin and hunts down its original owner. A menu accessible from

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“With the thumbnail page scroll and the ability to turn wooden text and narrative off, kids can easily navigate and enjoy what this app has to offer.” from the shoemaker and the elves

every screen with a tap both allows readers to skip to any page and to choose among 10 languages for the text and six for the (optional) audio narration. A broad range of automatic sound effects linked to figures, bubbles, smoke from the Queen’s vacuum-cleaner car and other animations joins a jaunty music track. Both sound effects and music accurately reflect the general air of de Wolf’s informally drawn and colored cartoon art. Other features—like a free-floating brown virtual crayon that goes with the prince’s angry head and a chance to outfit the prince with over a dozen different heads at the local head doctor’s—serve the tale rather than distract from it.

Good-humored fun, driven by an innately hilarious premise (well, to children anyway) and well-designed, inventive special features. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES An Interactive Children’s Book

animations in the flat and simple cartoons, plus the odd sound effect or other feature that will reluctantly respond to being touched or dragged. Single taps on the bottom corners will usually turn pages; a double tap at the bottom of any page pauses the narration and also opens a ribbon of thumbnail page images for easy navigation. The tale is available in English, Spanish, Czech and Slovak—read aloud by pleasantly expressive narrators who, however, will keep going even when the menu’s “Read Me” button is set to “Off.” Presented in several sizes, the text is simply written but so long that it spills over into several interpolated screens of generic forest scenes. Though readers will enjoy pulling Little Red and her grandma out of the wolf’s stomach, the weightless stones on the next screen won’t stay put in his belly unless held there, and the fact that he survives at all will likely be a disappointment to many.

There are currently at least 40 digital versions of the story available. This one needs a whole lot of work to bring it up to serviceability. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

RIKKI TIKKI TAVI

The Brothers Grimm Developer: TabTale $3.99 | Version: 1.0 May 13, 2011

This classic tale of karma, retold in rigid rhyme and re-tooled with a different moral than the original, will enchant more with its activities than with its storytelling.

While there is passing mention of his generosity on the first page, the Grimms’ humble shoemaker who shared his good fortune with those less fortunate is nowhere to be found here among the musical shoes and creaky shelves. This shoemaker sells his shoes “for a lot of cash” and says, “if I work hard...I will be rich”—even though it is clear that he’s not the one who is making the shoes!

Illustrated in warm hues, every page is rich with touch animation, and the real charm of this app lies in the variety of interactions it offers. Kids can toss around all the tools in the shoe shop, open doors and windows, light and extinguish candles and even clear away cobwebs. All of the characters, right down to the mice in the corner, move and play, sigh, snore and even dream. The musicalshoes keyboard is tuned to sound great no matter how it is played, and many pages have features that respond to tilting the iPad. With the thumbnail page scroll and the ability to turn wooden text and narrative off, kids can easily navigate and enjoy what this app has to offer. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)

Kipling, Rudyard Adaptor: Pearson, Ashley E. Illustrator: Pearson, Ashley E. $0.00 | Version: 1.0 | May 16, 2011 A free and unabridged but bugridden and under-featured edition of Kipling’s classic animal tale.

After an opening view of mongoose and cobra facing off that is free of any author or illustrator attribution, readers are plunged into the rhymed prologue and subsequent story. They are unlikely, however, to get more than halfway through the 70 pages before the app crashes. Along with providing a leafy frame to each screen, Pearson highlights random words in the text and adds occasional stiff, stylized animal figures by way of illustrations. Though some of those figures drift in sluggish response to a touch or a tilt of the screen—as do an occasional brick, wineglass or flutter of leaves— most of the pictures (even those that are full screen in size) have not been animated. There is no audio track, nor menu, nor bookmark feature nor, except for a link on each page to the beginning, quick way to navigate backward or forward.

Nothing short of massive redesign can give this any sort of appeal to would-be readers. (iPad storybook app. 8-11)

MONKEY MIND A Captivating Bedtime Story for Children

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

Developer: iAdverti s.r.o. $1.99 | Version: 1.0 | Dec. 4, 2010 A sweet if anemic version of the tale, with custard and butter in Little Red’s basket and a wolf that staggers off moaning at the end with a belly full of rocks.

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Lee, Phoebe Illustrator: Ross, Pamela Boullier Developer: Red Piston $2.99 | Version: 1.0 | May 11, 2011 A low-rent road to quick inner serenity with drifty Japanese style flute music to speed the way. |

Invisible to his mother but plain to see most of the time in Ross’ amateurishly painted domestic scenes, a monkey embodies young Jeremy Jones’ restless thoughts and physical clumsiness. It causes trouble for Jeremy until his mother plays a “calming audio story” (actually hypnotic rhymed directions for focusing on breath control, presented separately on the scanty app’s 10th and final page) at bedtime. One hearing enables Jeremy to show the monkey to the door the next morning and to keep it distant thereafter with quiet activities. Neither scattered rhymes and part rhymes nor the audio narrator’s increasingly deliberate and breathy reading enhance the brief prose main text. Along with stiff, poorly placed animations in most scenes, a touch anywhere brings forth a bizarre spurt of green and purple leaves. Readers who make it to the end of the app are unlikely to be inspired to follow the link to plunk down more money on the printed book.

Far short of zen-sational. (iPad therapeutic app. 6-8)

COYOTE’S TALE

Lee, Ruby Illustrator: Joseph, Robin Developer: Skyreader Media $2.99 | Version: 1.3 | May 27, 2011 A select set of quiet yips, howls and giggles, plus the occasional blink or twitch of a nose, add fetching notes to an abbreviated trickster tale with Latin American antecedents.

Locked in portrait mode and framed in two or three sequential panels per screen, the illustrations feature a sinuous, sinister-looking coyote and a canny young rabbit with outsized ears.

The coyote diverted from his nighttime dinner plans when his intended prey, the aforementioned rabbit, points out a tempting round of moon-shaped “cheese” in the nearby pond.

Releasing Rabbit on the promise to return with bread for the upcoming meal (as if), in dives Coyote—only to realize too late that he’s been suckered by his own greed. A slide-up menu not only reveals a strip of thumbnail page images but allows the touch-activated sound effects, auto advance and a spirited, three-voiced narration to be independently switched on or off at any point. Though the pages are a little slow to load, this version of the 2009 print edition makes a smooth leap into the digital domain, and both newly independent readers and those who haven’t yet struck out on their own will enjoy seeing Rabbit’s cleverness in action.

A good-humored version of a traditional tale, sans source note but rounded off with a parent-pleasing page of discussion questions. (iPad folktale app. 6-8)

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SPLISH! SPLASH! SPLOSH!

Ricci, Gina Illustrator: Ricci, Gina $1.99 | Version: 2.4 Apr. 23, 2011

A simple story that reads more as a loosely rhyming poem introduces Sophie and her reluctant cat, Sam, who take to the outdoors, splishing and splashing in puddles galore in order to prove that even a rainy day can be enjoyable if you are with your best friend.

At first glance, this text does not appear to take advantage of the iPad platform, but an introductory note points out that tapping or “petting” Sam generates a soft, mechanical purr and that tapping the puddles makes a splashing noise. Curious readers may also uncover several other hidden sounds that will surprise and delight. By default, the text is narrated by a young girl with a British accent, but users have the option to mute narration as well as to choose whether or not to enable the corresponding red highlighting of each word. Each page features a blue background with falling raindrops that streak across the page, including across the text, which causes Sophie to stand out in her bright red galoshes and raincoat. The story concludes with a series of questions that re-engage readers by challenging them to identify and count such elements in the story as umbrellas and whiskers.

It’s restrained enough that it may well inspire a few toddlers to take to the puddles themselves after a read or two, and that’s not all bad. (iPad storybook app. 2-4)

OOBIE’S SPACE ADVENTURE

Seward, Rob Developer: VHS Design Free | Version: 1.0.1 May 12, 2011

A little orange spud travels through space in a flying saucer in this diverting, yet too-short story of interstellar adventure.

Oobie, a small, round blob with a tuft of purple hair, takes off from a planetary platform and is soon sailing through the cosmos, scoping out brightly colored planets, a friendly moon and even ricocheting comets and bouncing asteroids. The story’s 10 pages contain minimal text. Oobie’s encounter with our brightest star only reads, “and the Sun...” But the pages are competently narrated, and the navigation couldn’t be clearer or less cluttered: There are just two page-turning icons and a home button to get back to the main menu. Sound effects like echoes of space boulders banging together or the whoosh of a space warp aren’t exactly educational (the vacuum of space would preclude sound design, no matter how well done), but along with the simple colors and minimalist illustration style,

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the app seems ideal for the youngest readers. A theme song for the app at the end is disarmingly unpolished, but very cute.

It’s puzzling that the best feature in the app, a “Playground” mode in which readers can fling Oobie around the screen and hear him speak (mostly in grunts or to cry “Ouch!” during midspace collisions) is separate from the main story. Oobie reacts like a glob of slime, and it’s great fun to play around with the physics of his body and to watch him float among the stars (which can be played as musical notes).

Oobie’s space adventure ends far too soon, but the playground is an especially clever plaything in an app that will please many would-be astronauts. (iPad storybook app. 2-6)

ZANNY Born to Run

Sloane-Bradbury, Pamela Illustrator: Garwood, Allison Developer: Extra Special Kids $2.99 | Version: 1.02 May 26, 2011 Series: Extra Special Kids A hyperbolic portrait of a lad who operates only at top speed is paired to a bug-ridden recognition game.

Depicted with fixed, wide eyes and a maniacal grin in Garwood’s cartoon illustrations, Zanny dashes with a touchactivated “Wahoo!” through the house and a cloud of thrown breakfast cereal, then past slower children and various animals who exhaust themselves trying to keep up. Ultimately, watched over by fond parents, he zooms along to a total crash at bedtime. Each scene features both automatic and touch-activated animations and sound effects. There is also a disappearing menu that includes a strip of page images and on-off switches for the auto-advance, the unobtrusive background music and the forcibly cheery audio narration. The less-than-inspired rhymed text runs to lines like “Swifter than a cheetah / even when he’s sick. / Quick Quick Quick, Quick Quick Quick Quick.” The app also includes a “Feelings Game” designed to provide practice in identifying facial expressions—but that provides disappointingly ambiguous choices in several cases.

Aimed at children with spectrum disorders, but likely to miss that audience—or any other. (iPad therapeutic app. 5-7)

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THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES Developer: TabTale $3.99 | Version: 1.0 May 27, 2011

A rhymed version of the Hans Christian Andersen tale is thickly swaddled in an array of touch-activated animations

and sound effects.

Accompanying a singsong, forcibly rhymed narration, cartoon scenes feature a portly Emperor, courtiers with foolish faces and, as the requisite skeptics, both a bright-eyed commoner lad and a gloomy imperial basset hound. These and other figures, many recycled with unchanged postures from scene to scene, can be made to utter grunts, chuckles, cries of dismay and other sounds. Readers can also, with a touch, flick them from place to place or run the clothes-horse Emperor through a skimpy wardrobe of fancy garb. Despite cries that the Emperor “is not wearing anything upon his skin,” he appears at the climax in a full and discreet set of underclothes—and then joins the two con-men in the finale to wave jovially and say, “Bye Bye!” Along with links fore and aft to the publisher’s other offerings, children can opt for an audio reading, for phrase-by-phrase highlighting and for either auto or manual advance. The jolly music and background noises play regardless.

Like the anonymous illustrator, Andersen’s name is nowhere to be found here. Just as well. (iPad storybook app. 5-8)

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fiction ADRENALINE

Abbott, Jeff Grand Central Publishing (416 pp.) $24.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-446-57517-1 In Abbott’s latest (Trust Me, 2009, etc.), the spy who has everything loses all but his cloak and dagger.

Sam Capra is a CIA golden boy, a special agent in the midst of a glittering career. In addition, he has a beautiful wife; she, too, is a CIA fast tracker. He adores Lucy, she adores Sam, and they are both prepared to adore the child they have on the way. In fact, Sam lives a kind of clandestine idyll, until the day, in a puff of high explosive smoke, every atom of it vanishes. Sam is in the CIA’s building in London, at a meeting, He gets a phone call from Lucy. Clearly, it’s bad news. Pertaining to her? About their baby? She refuses specifics, implores him to meet her outside, begs him to leave the building at once.

She sounds desperate. Ignoring the elevator, he races down six flights, catches a glimpse of Lucy seated next to a man in the front seat of a car parked some distance away. It registers with him—indelibly—that the man’s face is dramatically scarred. But that’s all. Moments later the building explodes. Soon enough, there’s Sam undergoing intense—and enhanced—CIA grilling, being asked repeatedly, “Are you a traitor or a fool?” In other words, why is Sam Capra alive when so many good colleagues have been blown to bits? Did he collude with Lucy in some vile and traitorous conspiracy? Or was he merely her dupe? Because at this point Lucy’s guilt has become a CIA given, and only Sam is willing to defend her. To do that, however, he has to track her down and learn from her what there is that’s defensible. But to do that he must first find a way to escape former friends.

Begins brilliantly but diminishes to ordinary when character-driven gives way to body-count–driven.

THE GOOD MUSLIM

Anam, Tahmima HarperCollins (304 pp.) $25.99 | August 2, 2011 978-0-06-147876-5

In the free-standing second installment of her planned trilogy about Bangladesh, Anam (A Golden Age, 2008) transfers her focus from a mother who sacrificed so much before and during the |

war for national independence to her children, grown and at odds in the revolution’s painful aftermath.

The narration shifts between the mid-1980s, when disillusioned Bangladeshis find themselves under the rule of a corrupt dictatorship, and the ’70s, when the war has just ended. In the ’70s, Maya, studying medicine, is first stupefied, then enraged by the changes in her brother Sohail. Her protector as a child, then a socialist intellectual and heroic soldier, Sohail gradually withdraws into narrow religious faith. The philosophically opposed siblings goad each other until Maya leaves. In 1984, after seven years away, Maya returns to her mother’s home from the rural community where she’s been practicing medicine. Sohail, now a religious leader with a growing following, has become even more entrenched and inflexible. Although his wife has recently died, he is too busy tending to his devotees to pay attention to his small son Zaid. Neither in the ’70s nor ’80s does Maya know or understand what Sohail experienced as a soldier that has made the safety of rigid belief so attractive. But when her mother becomes seriously ill, Maya herself finds solace, however short-lived, in praying with the cloistered women devoted to Sohail. At the same time, she is drawn to political activism and to Sohail’s seemingly cynical old friend Joy, who has spent time in the United States. And she is intermittently concerned about Zaid, a troubled child starving for affection. Then Sohail, genuinely concerned in his own misguided fashion, decides to send Zaid away to a fundamentalist madrassa. Even after the crisis that ensues, Sohail remains more than a scary fundamentalist while Maya finds a way to recover from her own mistakes.

Throughout the novel’s extremes of violence and tragedy, Anam always allows the ultimate humanity of the characters to shine through.

ON CANAAN’S SIDE

Barry, Sebastian Viking (272 pp.) $24.95 | September 8, 2011 978-0-670-02292-2 A masterful novel filled with the bittersweet ruminations of an 89-year-old woman as she reflects on her rich life while contemplating death.

The latest from the award-winning Irish novelist (The Secret Scripture, 2008, etc.) and playwright takes the form of a first-person narrative by Lilly Bere, who has lived most of her life in America since emigrating from Ireland in the wake of World War I, after she and her fiancé were targeted by the IRA. Lilly largely recounts her life through the

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men who have defined it: the father who raised her, the fiancé whom she followed into exile, the mysterious American husband who wooed her after her fiancé’s murder, the son who became a walking casualty of war, the grandson she mourns over the 17 days that provide the novel with its structure, the present from which her memory takes flight. Surprises abound, as the novel proceeds from the intimacy of a bereaved woman’s recollections to a meditation on life, death, identity and America that achieves an epic scope and philosophical depth.

It also sustains a page-turning momentum, leaving the reader in suspense until the very end whether this novel is an extended suicide note, a confession or an affirmation of life’s blessings and embrace of its contradictions, as those various strains show the possibility of becoming one. As Lilly writes, “I am dwelling on things I love, even if a measure of tragedy is stitched into everything, if you follow the thread long enough.” She finds her experience and identity profoundly shaped by America, a prism that puts her native Ireland in fresh perspective: “People love Ireland because they can never know it, like a partner in a successful marriage.” Through her extended contemplation of “the gift of life, oftentimes so difficult to accept, the horse whose teeth we are often so inclined to inspect,” Lilly reveals herself to be a woman of uncommon sense and boundless compassion.

A novel to be savored.

SAND QUEEN

Benedict, Helen Soho (304 pp.) $25.00 | August 2, 2011 978-1-56947-966-7 This bleak novel explores the horrendous impact of the Iraq war on women, both soldiers and civilians.

Based on research conducted for her nonfiction study of women serving in Iraq (The Lonely Soldier, 2009, etc.), Benedict’s fictional portrayal alternates the accounts of Kate, a young specialist stationed at Camp Bucca near Umm Qasr in Iraq, and Naema, a medical student whose family flees to the region after the catastrophic invasion and looting of Bagdad in 2003. Kate is one of three women in a barracks housing 33. Her worst enemies are not Iraqis (derogatorily known as hajjis) but her sergeant, Kormick, and another soldier nicknamed Boner. They sexually assault Kate (the exact nature of the assault is never revealed) on the day she is transferred to another detail, keeping watch in a guard tower overlooking the prison camp at Bucca. Shortly after Naema’s family moves in with her grandmother, American soldiers arrest her father (crippled by torture under Saddam) and preteen brother. Naema goes daily to the camp, where she encounters Kate, who bucks authority to try to get information regarding Naema’s relatives. The kindness of Kate’s comrade Jimmy is so unexpected in this snakepit of a milieu that love between the two, though it exacerbates Kate’s dilemma, is inevitable. As the pressures on Kate mount (her tough, seemingly invincible bunkmate is raped by Kormick and Boner, and 1186

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Kate’s attempts to file charges are laughed off), she revenges herself on the Iraqi detainees, who also single her out for torment because she is a woman. When, mistaking him for one of her prisoner-harassers, she brutalizes Naemas’ father, her spiral of self-destruction accelerates. The enormity of the problems— the woeful inadequacy of soldier’s equipment, the heat, the IEDs, the yawning gap between the mission of “liberation” and the chaos inflicted on Iraqis—that Benedict attempts to pack into such a brief space overwhelms the novel, fragmenting the storytelling into vivid but regrettably sketchy segments.

A flawed but unforgettable testament.

FEAST DAY OF FOOLS

Burke, James Lee Simon & Schuster (448 pp.) $26.99 | September 27, 2011 978-1-4516-4311-4

Hackberry Holland’s third appearance, and Burke’s 30th, brings back sociopathic killer Preacher Jack Collins (Rain Gods, 2009, etc.), but this time surrounds him with so many seriously bad guys that he can scarcely get the sheriff to take his phone calls.

Danny Boy Lorca, visionary and drunk, has a wild story to tell. He witnessed a coyote pursuing two fleeing men and shooting one of them to death. The discovery of DEA informant Hector Lopez’s corpse confirms the first part of Danny Boy’s story.

What’s become of the surviving fugitive? It seems clear that the coyote was either Antonio Vargas, aka Krill, or his enthusiastic sidekick Negrito, and scarcely less clear that the man on the run is Noie Barnum, an enigmatic ex–federal employee whose knowledge of certain military secrets makes him the Holy Grail sought by the FBI’s Ethan Riser, self-anointed citizen soldier Temple Dowling and Russian porn dealer Josef Sholokoff, who plans to sell his to al-Qaeda so that their members can pump him dry. But why has he taken refuge with Preacher Jack, and which of his pursuers will end up with the Grail? Before the answers to these tangled mysteries finally surface, Hackberry will rescue one of his deputies, R.C. Bevins, from darkest Coahuila; continue to fend off romantic overtures from another, Pam Tibbs; and fight his way through dozens of the kinds of conversations of the sort that Burke does better than anyone else, in which two men of action (or women of action, like homesteader/mystic Anton Ling) lunge at each other with fighting words while talking past each other completely because they’re really fighting themselves.

The dialogue scenes, along with the action sequences, the South Texas landscape and the indelibly conflicted characters make you want to give Burke a medal; the tangled plot, which lurches from one great sequence to the next without going anywhere but the grave, is the price you pay for these deep pleasures.

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“...a refreshing take on an aspect of and time in American history that are too little known.” from among the wonderful

AMONG THE WONDERFUL

Carlson, Stacy Steerforth (464 pp.) $24.99 | August 2, 2011 978-1-58642-184-7

Talky historical novel about the business of the freak show business.

It never amounts to a tour de force, but Carlson’s debut does a creditable job of bringing 1840s New York to life—the language is right, the clothing correct, the mundane details of ordinary encounters just so. Trouble is, much of the novel concerns encounters very far out of the ordinary, with required lashings of willingly suspended disbelief that venture into the realm of magical realism, always a difficult genre for an American to pull off. The setup is promising: A staff taxidermist at a New York natural history museum, Emile Guillaudeu, is required to remake his collections to suit new owner P.T. Barnum, who has little use for the stuffed owls of old and is intent on crafting the cabinet of curiosities that would make his name. The transformation is not easy, and not eagerly awaited by every member of the public, either; says one protestor against the scheme, “Barnum’s Congress is an abomination! It must be stopped!” Alas for Guillaudeu, the rubes require constant entertainment, and so his glass cases are out in the hallway and strange bits of living creation are in. Enter Ana Swift, a giantess, who would rather be anywhere else but playing her part in the freak show to earn her keep. Ana is self-aware, smart, concerned for the well-being of her fellows as they’re jostled by crowds and robbed by management—a case in point being the so-called Aztec Children, who, as their keeper puts it, were “malnourished and frightened” but were kind enough to lead him “into the jungle to the site of their former glory,” revealing urns of gold so abundant “that Cortés himself would have been jealous.”

Both Guillaudeu and Swift, then, are on a collision course with the elusive Barnum, the Godot of the piece—and when the crash comes, it does so, of course, tragically.

Carlson serves up a nice commentary on the entertainment racket, and with carefully crafted prose that too often goes on just a beat too long. Still, a refreshing take on an aspect of and time in American history that are too little known.

THREE MAIDS FOR A CROWN A Novel of the Grey Sisters

Chase, Ella March Broadway (432 pp.) $15.00 paperback | $9.99 e-book | August 2, 2011 978-0-307-58898-2 paperback 978-0-307-58899-9 e-book

Amid the turmoil of the final days of King Edward’s reign, who will succeed to the throne? His Catholic half sister Mary, |

his Protestant half sister Elizabeth or perhaps someone else with a little Tudor blood running through her veins?

With her second foray into alternative historical romance (The Virgin Queen’s Daughter, 2008), Chase explores another intriguing mystery: How did Lady Jane Grey and her two sisters react to the political machinations that imprisoned them?

Chase sets the fates of Jane, Katherine and Mary Grey against a field of political and personal ambitions. The Duke and Duchess of Suffolk scheme to maneuver their daughters into politically advantageous positions in the hopes of drawing nearer to the throne. With conspirators Northumberland and Pembroke, they marry scholarly Jane to Guilford Dudley, Northumberland’s son, positioning her as a direct threat to Queen Mary.

They marry beautiful Katherine to Henry Herbert, Pembroke’s son. They set Mary, with her twisted spine and unsightly face, as decoy, unwittingly reassuring Mary of the Suffolk family’s love despite their treachery. Edward soon dies, Jane is set up as queen for nine days, and Mary escapes the conspirators’ clutches to snare the throne for herself. Thus, the three wagered maids begin to tumble to ruin. The political machinations could easily overwhelm the novel, but Chase keeps the narrative reins firmly in the Grey sisters’ hands. She allows the Grey sisters to tell the story using a kind of snapshot technique, letting each woman tell different parts of it. Jane tells the harrowing details of being forced to wed a man she does not love, to wear a crown she does not want, and to accept beheading for the treason she did not intend. In turn, Kat tells the tale of betrayal, as she is married and set aside, and trust, as she secretly marries for love. Mary tells the tale of the forgotten sister who, too, finds love by putting aside social expectations.

Each sister’s story reveals the competing desires that both invite love and provoke jealousy. (Agent: Andrea Cirillo)

THE OPPOSITE OF ART

Dickson, Athol Howard Books/Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $15.99 paperback | September 13, 2011 978-1-4165-8348-6 paperback A novel of metaphysical and aesthetic mystery.

Sheridan Ridler is something of a jerk—a womanizing, dope-smoking, selfcentered artist, nurturing himself and his genius but odious when it comes to human relationships. When gallery owner and art agent Talbot Graves realizes that Ridler’s canvases, which he’s been selling for impressive profits to the likes of Zero Mostel, would be even more valuable were the supply limited, he decides to off the artist. But what starts out as a planned murder becomes a freakish accident when Graves’ car bumps Ridler into the Harlem River. Although Graves is certain Ridler is dead, the artist emerges bruised but reborn—in his temporary watery grave he’s seen “the Glory,” an evanescent image of transcendence that he now longs to paint. He disappears for 25 years, traveling the world (Mexico, Rome, Istanbul, Paris), and

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eventually hooks up with a seedy little circus run by the symbolically named Esperanza. During this time, Ridler seeks out works of other artists who have tried to convey the ineffable, and he paints furiously, trying to capture this same Mystery.

When his frustration peaks, he anonymously mails paintings to Suzanna and to Graves, apologizing for his previous behavior and hoping that their forgiveness will give him another glimpse of the Glory. But when Graves discusses this new gift with Emil Lacuna, incongruously a cold-blooded killer and a collector of Ridlers, Emil knows that the value of his collection will diminish impressively if new canvases hit the market, so he murders Graves and stalks Ridler. Complicating the narrative is Gemma, Ridler’s daughter by Suzanna, though Ridler doesn’t know of her existence—she’s an art expert who authenticates the new Ridler canvases and then goes on a quest to find her father.

Dickson raises, but doesn’t answer, fascinating questions about personal transformation, religion and aesthetics.

NEXT TO LOVE

Feldman, Ellen Spiegel & Grau (320 pp.) $25.00 | July 26, 2011 978-0-8129-9271-7 Sincere, at times piercing, Feldman’s (Scottsboro, 2008, etc.) latest tracks the experiences of three women, best friends since kindergarten, whose fortunes are shaped by what World War II did to their men folk and their world.

Opening in Postmistress territory, Feldman’s looping saga goes on to span two decades of seismic change as experienced in a small town in Massachusetts during the war years and their aftermath. Sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and consumerism all play their parts, sometimes too dutifully, yet there’s no denying the searching sensitivity of much of the prose as individual fates are played out. Babe Huggins is the central female who escapes her bad neighborhood by marrying respectable history teacher Claude. Millie marries Pete and Grace marries Charlie and then all the men go off to fight, leaving the women to support each other, work and wait. Babe is relatively lucky; Claude comes home again although it will take him more than a decade to heal his invisible wounds. Millie and Grace face different struggles, but all three find themselves coping with the damage done to them, their partners, in-laws and children by war and history. And an understated ending delivers the knowledge that the cycle is far from over.

Conventional in shape and content, this nevertheless affecting tribute to the “greatest” generation is elevated by its empathy for the women left behind. (Agent: Eva Talmadge)

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DAMAGE CONTROL

Hamilton, Denise Scribner (384 pp.) $26.00 | September 6, 2011 978-0-7432-9674-8 The creator of hard-nosed journalist Eve Diamond (Prisoner of Memory, 2006, etc.) tries something considerably more soft-boiled in this tale of an L.A. crisis manager whose latest assignment forces her to confront ghosts from her troubled past.

Years before she ever met her ex-husband, Steve Silver, and her cancer-stricken mother came to live with her, Maggie Weinstock was lifted up to heaven by her high-school classmate Anabelle Paxton. Through Anabelle, she got a glimpse of the storybook world that included her impossibly handsome brother Luke, her edgy artist mother Miranda and her father, California Senator Henry Paxton. But all that changed the evening someone slipped Maggie and Anabelle some Rohypnol. Estranged for years over the events of that fateful night, they’re thrown together again when the Blair Company, the pricey PR firm Maggie Silver works for, is called in by Paxton’s handlers after Emily Mortimer, the senator’s young media director, is found strangled in her Koreatown apartment.

Along with the obligatory flood of revelations about Emily’s sexual dalliances and drug possession and senatorial brother Simon Paxton’s relation to them both, Maggie keeps turning up connections to long-hidden skeletons in the Paxton family closet, which is in important ways her closet too. As unlikely new suitors—dishy plastic surgeon Rob Turcotte, her Blair associate Matt Tyler, even diffident Luke himself—swarm around her, Maggie, whose hobby of collecting perfumes will provide a pivotal clue, realizes that her suspicions are focused increasingly on her all-too-efficient colleagues. But murder will win out, even if it’s Maggie’s own.

Don’t be scared. Hamilton’s take on the career-womanin-distress formula is considerably gentler and glossier than Eve Diamond’s adventures.

IRON HOUSE

Hart, John Dunne/St. Martin’s (432 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | July 12, 2011 978-0-312-38034-2 978-1-4299-9031-8 e-book In Hart’s latest (The Last Child, 2009, etc.) a vengeful ex-orphan tracks fellow former orphans, asylum not on offer.

Michael and Julian, brothers, abandoned as babies, lead lives of mounting desperation in a prototypically grim orphanage tucked away in the North Carolina high country. Iron Mountain Home for Boys has long sped past hardscrabble on its way to Dickensian, and the brothers have endured every manner of

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unkindness known to unprincipled orphanage management.

Michael, 10, physically and temperamentally suited to vicissitude, can cope with Iron House’s horrors. Sensitive, painfully vulnerable Julian can’t. He falls victim to a particularly nasty quintet of bullies, who catch and torment him whenever his older brother is occupied elsewhere. Suddenly, events take an even darker turn, and Michael is forced to flee, leaving Julian unprotected. But not for long. Enter the elegant and very rich Abigail Vane, wife of U.S. Senator Randall Vane, who not only plucks Julian from Iron House but nurtures him lovingly all the years it takes for his career to blossom. When it does, Julian is an A-list, bestselling author. Meanwhile, Michael, too, finds a benefactor, though of a considerably different stripe.

Respected almost as much as he’s feared, Otto Kaitlin is the powerful, high-profile rackets boss who recognizes in Michael a kindred spirit and takes him under his wing. Counseled by Kaitlin, Michael becomes an adroit, unregenerate killer, hell bent on a brilliant gangster future. But then Michael falls in love with a good woman, and all bets are off. Will he now seek some sort of redemption? Will the brothers finally reunite?

Will Iron House be revisited so that the brutish five can get a well-deserved comeuppance? The plot twists and turns supply a full measure of answers, few of them unpredictable, most of them engulfed in gobs of gratuitous violence.

Two-time Edgar Award winner Hart, after three firstrate outings, is not at his best in what amounts to a soap opera for the macho set.

SECRETS OF THE WOLVES

Hearst, Dorothy Simon & Schuster $24.00 | August 2, 2011 978-1-4165-7000-4 Big wolves fight small wolves over the human threat to the natural world in an aficionados-only second serving of The Wolf Chronicles series.

Hearst (Promise of the Wolves, 2008) makes a muddy job of introducing new readers to the next episode in her proposed trilogy, with opening chapters clotted with references to earlier events and continuous infighting among wolf and other groups. Our heroine in this prehistoric landscape is the mixed-blood youngwolf Kaala—possibly the wolf of legend, destined to save or destroy wolfkind—who has won the right to spend a year trying to make the humans and wolves of Wide Valley learn to live peacefully together. First Kaala and her fellow wolves must win the humans’ trust, which they do with gifts of meat and joint hunts, aided by a girl whose life Kaala has saved and who can speak to the animals. But there are other plots afoot. The Greatwolves are driving most of the prey animals out of the valley in a strategy to create a war for food. Kaala, uncovering more Greatwolf secrets, tries to persuade her pack to follow her, but ends up alone, wounded, captured and braced for volume III. |

An interminable eco/fantasy/anthropomorphic/historical stew with more political debate than Capitol Hill. Perhaps young adult readers will enjoy the wolfish empathy.

HOT PROPERTY

Kleier, Michele Kleier, Samantha Kleier, Sabrina HarperCollins (352 pp.) $24.99 | August 30, 2011 978-0-06-1127663 Billed as a roman à clef, this first novel by the Kleier trio (who star in HGTV’s reality show Selling New York) seems more of a recitation of trendy brand names, trendy shops and restaurants and the trendy New York City residential real estate coveted by Big Apple movers-and-shakers.

The lightweight narrative chronicles the adventures of the Chase family, Elizabeth, the mother, and Kate and Isabel, daughters who work with their parents at Chase Residential, “a wildly successful boutique agency.” The authors (mother and daughters) are real-life Manhattan residential brokers. They know multimillion-dollar locations, and they know people willing to bid above asking price for the view: “After irritating Elizabeth for months with his indecision and almost daily phone calls, the exasperating Bart Schneider finally opted to buy.” They know co-op boards want to see financials and will demand dogs take the freight elevator. The Chases also recite every brand name coveted by those who earn seven figures, from Jimmy Choo to Badgley Mischka. The plot is minimal.

Kate worries about an on-again/off-again relationship with a can’t-find-himself boyfriend. Teddy Wingo, a womanizing, highproducing Chase broker, conspires to join a rival firm. Then there is Isabel’s enigmatic client, Delphine, the trophy wife of a count, but any reader not bedazzled by Möet Chandon will decipher that mystery before the next power lunch at Balthazar.

Much of the narrative moves via cell phones or chauffeur-driven Mercedes, or while shopping at Saks or Bergdorf or over a lunch of pollo patanato at Sette Mezzo. Countless names are dropped— everyone from Billy Joel to Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones—and doubt Page Six fans will be amused to see doppelgängers in cameo appearances.

Ungaro, Chanel, Nina Ricci, Poggenpohl and Sub-Zero do not great storytelling make.

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THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD & EVIL

Kleier, Glenn Tor (416 pp.) $24.99 | July 1, 2011 978-0-7653-2377-4

In this religious thriller, Proof of an Afterlife has been found, but powerful forces of Dan Brownian proportions don’t want you to know the Truth.

Ex-priest Ian Baringer is a marked man. Protectors of the Truth want him dead because he won’t stop his NDEs, or Near Death Experiences, which take him to see the whole gamut of Afterlife possibilities. His goals are to Know the Ultimate Reality and to visit his parents in the deepest part of Hell, where they were condemned for the unforgivable sin of sacrificing their lives for Ian’s when he was a child.

But insidious forces—holy hit men—are determined to stop Ian from Knowing instead of Believing. (And von of de vurst villains talks like zis, vich is annoying.) Kleier apparently loves the shift key, because he capitalizes any word of possible significance, such as Faith, Know, Truth, Believe and, even, a few times, It. He’s also inserted footnotes referring to illustrative images the reader can find on Kleier’s website, which have a neutral effect on the story. Sharing the stage with Ian is the gorgeous Angela Weber, who serves both as Ian’s love interest and as a rational foil to his cockamamie schemes. “She didn’t speak Faith, he didn’t speak Reason,” Kleier writes. As Ian meets fire-breathing monsters and blissful angels, the reader needs to suspend a whole lot of disbelief. But—and how to write this without spoiling the story?—the ending is a cheat.

If you’re willing to imagine that Hieronymus Bosch once peered into Purgatory and painted what he saw and that Ian Baringer could do even better, Kleier’s latest thriller is an entertaining read. For others, it may be like passing through Purgatory. (Agent: Al Zuckerman)

THUNDER OF HEAVEN

LaHaye, Tim Parshall, Craig Zondervan (368 pp.) $24.99 | June 28, 2011 978-0310326373

Bad Arabs, steely-jawed Christians, evil Russkies, signs and portents from the Holy Land: LaHaye and Parshall, skilled packagers of prophecy, serve up Pat Robertson’s worst nightmare.

LaHaye (Luke’s Story, 2009, etc.), of course, has made a worldly fortune serving up visions of the end times with his Left Behind series, which one might have thought would offer the last word on the subject. But no: He left out some important twists on Revelation, namely a Russian-Islamic alliance that “only looked like a historic game changer,” a “global religious 1190

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coalition for climate change” (evil, natch), and some inconvenient volcanic activity to pepper up the air while the forces of evil descend on Israel. Apart from that, it’s business as usual: The government is busy putting the mark of the beast on good Americans in the guise of a “biological identification tag,” and stalwart servants of Jehovah bearing biblically charged names such as Joshua Jordan (and, in the interest of gender balance, his daughter, who one wishes were named River) do their best to thwart Old Nick—and, for that matter, the Romanians. The story is predictable, the research loose, the errors many: There’s no such thing as a lieutenant major, not in this man’s army; neither is there a Dali Lama, unless the Tibetan Buddhists have appointed a cleric to oversee surrealist art; and bad old Islamicists would doubtless prefer to be grammatically correct when committing themselves to divine victory, Allah Ackbar. But no matter: This is no exercise in infallibility, but instead a by-thenumbers, fill-in-the-blanks genre thriller with all the usual cliches (“something grabbed her attention like a slap in the face”) mixed up with the first stirrings of the apocalypse.

Readers who like that sort of thing will like this. As for the others, well, you don’t need to be a fundamentalist to enjoy the end-days mayhem, but it probably helps. Suspending disbelief does, too.

THE LANTERN

Lawrenson, Deborah HarperCollins (400 pp.) $25.99 | August 9, 2011 978-0-06-204969-8 In her homage to Daphne du Maurier, British journalist Lawrenson moves Rebecca’s characters and plot from early-20th-century England to presentday Provence while retaining the basic story of a naive young woman adoringly in love with an older man who won’t discuss his former wife.

Like Rebecca’s unnamed narrator, the shy young translator nicknamed Eve begins her narration by acknowledging it has been her choice “to stay with a man who has done a terrible thing” before recounting her story. After a brief whirlwind romance, Eve’s lover Dom, who has made a fortune selling his business and now devotes himself to music, has whisked Eve away to Provence. Instead of Manderly, Eve finds herself at Les Genévriers, a crumbling hamlet they plan to renovate. Eve knows Dom has been married before, but he refuses to talk about the marriage although he reluctantly acknowledges that his wife Rachel died. At first Eve is content not to know more, until she realizes Dom lived in Provence before with Rachel.

Sabine, a local woman who was Rachel’s friend, describes Rachel as a beautiful, charming and talented journalist. Sabine (think a chic Mrs. Danvers) warns Eve that Rachel once stated that Dom might kill her. As Dom continues to stonewall concerning his past with Rachel, Eve’s suspicions grow. She Googles Rachel and reads her articles. Encouraged by Sabine, she also begins researching an unsolved mystery Rachel was

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looking into: the disappearance of Marthe Lincel, who went blind while growing up at Les Genévriers, became a famously successful perfumer in Paris, then suddenly vanished. (Lawrenson adds a second, mostly skippable layer of narration from Marthe’s sister Bénédicte, whose spirit actually does haunt Les Genévriers.) The mystery surrounding Rachel’s death offers a contemporary twist that modifies the gothic romance spirit of moral ambivalence.

Lawrenson is marvelous at bringing across the sensory, sensual richness of Provence, but she never captures the delicious psychological creepiness of the original; instead, Eve comes across merely as a girl with too much time on her hands. (Reading group guide online)

A MAN OF PARTS

Lodge, David Viking (432 pp.) $26.95 | September 19, 2011 978-0-670-02298-4 At his best when he artfully blends comedy and pathos (Deaf Sentence, 2008, etc.), Lodge returns to the fictional biography genre that didn’t serve him particularly well in Author, Author (2004).

At least, unlike Henry James (the earlier novel’s protagonist), H.G. Wells had an eventful life rife with political controversies and a tangled variety of love affairs, as well as bestselling books ranging from early sci-fi classics such as The War of the Worlds to popular nonfiction like The Outline of History. The books are conscientiously covered; indeed, the novel reminds us just how influential and famous Wells was from the 1890s through World War I. But his romantic life is the main focus here, as the writer looks back from the vantage point of 1944 on his tumultuous relations with a parade of independent young women who worshipped him as a titillating socialist/feminist bad boy. They offered sexual excitement while wife Jane provided domestic comforts at home.

His straitlaced comrades at the Fabian Society were appalled

by Wells’ open espousal of free love—especially in the several cases where their daughters took him up on it—and resistant to his desire to make the Society more populist and aggressive. He eventually parted ways with the Fabians, just as he did with his youthful lovers, though his turbulent relationship with Rebecca West lasted the longest and produced an understandably neurotic son. The character sketches are sharp, particularly of West and of fellow Fabians George Bernard Shaw and Edith Bland (better known as children’s novelist E. Nesbit), and Wells’ uneasy friendship with Henry James is hilariously expressed in fulsomely insincere letters on both sides. (Its rupture after Wells publishes a cruel satire of James’ baroque style is surprisingly moving.) Yet Lodge’s well-written book doesn’t offer any unusual insights that justify making this straightforward narrative of Wells’ most prominent and productive years a novel rather than a biography.

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THE POSTMORTAL

Magary, Drew Penguin (384 pp.) $15.00 paperback | August 30, 2011 978-0-14-311982-1 paperback One man blogs civilization’s slow, terrifying decline after a cure for aging is discovered.

In 2011, an Oregon scientist discovered the precise genetic location of the trigger for aging, clearing the way to bring a halt to growing old. In 2019, when Magary’s debut novel opens, narrator John Farrell is one of the growing number of people who’ve surreptitiously signed up for the illegal “cure.” He’s an easygoing attorney who hasn’t paid close attention to the religious and political furor the cure has caused, but that changes when his roommate is killed in a terrorist attack on the office of a doctor delivering the treatment. At first this brave new world seems mildly comic: John helps set up term limits for married couples who didn’t anticipate that “till death do us part” might take well over a century, and he considers what the cure means for sports records. But in the decades after the cure is legalized, the planet becomes rapidly overpopulated and the story turns dystopian, with John becoming an “end specialist” who helps euthanize people who find deathlessness a grind. Magary is blogger for the sports sites Deadspin and Kissing Suzy Kolber, and the blog format serves him well in the early sections of the novel: It allows him to integrate newspaper articles that set the scene, and he gives John an engaging, quick-witted voice. Trickier for the author are matters of deeper characterization and tone: John’s romantic entanglements and heartbreaks are swallowed up by the events around him, and the closing chapters make ungainly shifts between apocalyptic realism and Grand Guignol horror scenes. In a way, he’s imagined this milieu all too well, making the reader more interested in the world’s end than the people trying to survive it.

Magary has created a smartly realized vision of a planet that’s hit the skids, but it could use more interesting residents.

ANGEL

Marrow, Nicole “Coco” Hayden, Laura Forge (304 pp.) $25.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-7653-2709-3 Marrow, arm-candy wife to rapper/ actor Ice-T, and co-author Hayden, who teamed up with presidential daughter Susan Ford on her novel, ask readers to suspend their belief in what’s real and what’s not in this fantasy/romance.

Angela Sands is the “Angel of the Hudson.” She received her nickname after surviving a harrowing plane crash into the Hudson River that killed everyone aboard but her and a tiny baby.

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“Literary language, more introspection than action, much exposition, intelligent speculation about the human condition, all woven through sophisticated storytelling.” from we others

After rescuing the infant, Angela herself needs help getting to dry land and finds it in the guise of reporter Dante Kearns, who is shooting a story on a nearby ferry. Dante jumps into the water to save Angela, and the two begin a relationship that starts as reporter/subject but ends up evolving into something much more interesting. Angela has a perplexing problem: She can’t remember anything about her past. She also has some disturbing talents: With the exception of Dante, she “hears” men’s thoughts; she involuntarily devolves into their ideal woman; and she has both super strength and a voracious sexual appetite. After the plane crash, airline executives dump Angela into a mental-health facility, where she starts remembering things about a former life, even as she thwarts a rape plot by two workers. After leaving, she reestablishes her friendship with Dante, and the two begin to work through her issues, which include homelessness, unemployment and murky memories of the recent murder of a wealthy socialite. Together, Marrow and Hayden have constructed a universe in which evil corporations get away with abusing victims and no one finds a woman who can change shape at will more than a passing oddity. Rather than a cohesive tale that propels the fanciful story along in a logical sequence, this is a collection of loosely strung-together situations that allow the protagonist to show her dark side.

An inconsistent and unsatisfying narrative that offers neither compelling characterization nor believable situations.

The upshot: A pointless plot delivered in humdrum prose.

(Author events in New York and Los Angeles)

WE OTHERS

Millhauser, Steven Knopf (400 pp.) $27.95 | August 23, 2011 978-0-307-59590-4 Literary fiction old and new from one of the contemporary masters of the form.

Much of this collection has been selected from previous works, including stories from The Knife Thrower (1998) and The Barnum Museum (1990). Settings range from the contemporary to the indefinite to the historic. “A Protest Against the Sun” is modern enough to feature a character in Goth-like dress and a teenage protagonist so introspective and sophisticated as to seem coequal to her parents. Conversely, “Eisenheim the Illusionist” is set “when the Empire of the Hapsburgs was nearing the end of its long dissolution.” Millhauser’s latest work opens the book. In the first new story, “The Slap,” readers enter a bucolic suburban community where a nameless man has begun to slap people at random. Clad in a bland trench coat, the man may be striking out against self-absorption and self-satisfaction, or he simply may be unstable. He slaps. And then he stops. Readers are left to dream why. The second new story is “The White Glove”: Emily and Will, teenage partners in a deep platonic but not yet romantic relationship, are confronted by an odd disease that ends with Emily covering her hand with a white glove. Like much of Millhauser’s work, “The White Glove” 1192

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touches upon the surrealistic and resonates with metaphors and allegories. A shorter piece is “Getting Closer,” six pages of exposition delving into a youngster’s reluctance to end the sweet anticipation of summer’s beginning. “The Invasion from Outer Space” offers near science fiction without robots and dying planets.

“People of the Book” is a religious allegory complete with a virgin birth. Meanwhile, “The Next Thing” imagines a faceless corporation that builds a giant underground warehouse store—alluring and mysterious, a bizarre Sam’s Club submerged—only to take over the town above for its own executives.

Literary language, more introspection than action, much exposition, intelligent speculation about the human condition, all woven through sophisticated storytelling.

HENRY VIII: WOLFMAN

Moorat, A.E. Pegasus (416 pp.) $15.95 paperback | August 15, 2011 978-1-60598-198-7 paperback The second monarch of the Tudor dynasty gets his wolf on in 16th-century London.

Yes, it’s another literary sideshow attraction, this time from journalist Moorat (Queen VictoriA: Demon Hunter, 2009), who has a freewheeling infatuation with letting demons loose on the British Royal Family. The novel opens on an alreadytransformed Henry VIII, all feral senses and blood lust, pounding toward his castle to devour a Queen. But which one of his lordship’s ill-fated brides is about to feel the fatal bite of her husband’s ravenousness? To find out, Moorat hurls the reader back a few bygone years. In one of the few turns from the King’s true history, Katherine of Aragon has finally borne Henry a son, Prince George. But in horrible moments, a band of Wolfen led by the malevolent Malchek has torn through the castle, devouring the child, infecting Henry and earning his kingly wrath. Following is a whole lot of nonsense about shape-shifting demons from ancient Greece at war with mankind and each other, not to mention the interference of the Holy Church of Rome and its demon-hunting arm, the Pretektorate, who are in league with Henry’s advisor, Sir Thomas More. There are some fun moments, especially for followers of Henry’s bloody history, either historical or Showtime’s over-the-top soap-operatic version. But there’s also a jarring clash between the savagery of the ‘horrid bits,’ the Python-esque humor of the supporting cast (there’s even a “Graham the Wolfman,” who jousts with an agitated More) and Henry’s dubious embrace of his lupine condition. “He was drunk. He was a wolf. Life was good,” Moorat proclaims during Henry’s first joyful, intoxicated romp through the woods. Things get increasingly serious as the narrative leaps toward a massive engagement between Henry’s army and a hairy army of invaders, with Lady Jane Seymour in the mix. Whether readers will find barmy fun or a load of bollocks will largely swing on their affection for this particular transgression into royal history.

A right royal howler, in more ways than one.

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ANGELINA’S BACHELORS

O’Reilly, Brian O’Reilly, Virginia Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $15.00 paperback | August 9, 2011 978-1-4516-2056-6 paperback An utterly delightful debut novel from cookbook author and TV cookingshow producer O’Reilly.

When Angelina’s husband suddenly dies of a heart attack, she is devastated.

When she loses her job a few days later, she’s in real trouble. To escape her worries, she dives into the thing that has always brought her comfort—cooking. As a young woman, she had planned on culinary school, but her mother’s, and then father’s, terminal illnesses rerouted her dreams. Still, she’s a world-class amateur and treats her close-knit South Philly neighborhood to the results of her recent grief. One fan is Basil Cupertino, neighbor Dottie’s retired brother, who’s recently moved in. Basil—escaping his sister’s almost deadly cooking—makes Angelina a proposition: He will pay her handsomely for breakfast and dinner six days a week.

Trying to hold poverty and depression at bay, Angelina agrees.

Word spreads through the neighborhood, and soon Basil and Dottie’s handsome nephew Guy (escaping the seminary) joins in, as does young Johnny from across the street, the discerning Mr. Pettibone, the elderly Don Eddie and his driver Big Phil, and Jerry, who’s known Angelina forever. Her bachelors are treated to exquisite fare, and also company—the motley crew make a companionable dinner club in Angelina’s home. One night, feeling tired and faint, Angelina gets bittersweet news: After years of trying, she is four months pregnant. The thought of raising a child alone is terrifying, but the bachelors help out, and soon Angelina’s grief is replaced with the somber joy that her husband will live on. There are some mishaps along the way, including the city trying to shut her down, but Angelina triumphs when her long-lost dream of owning a restaurant becomes a reality. Filled with more than 20 (fairly complicated) recipes for Angelina’s gourmet fare, the food is only half of the novel’s winning ingredient—O’Reilly’s keen ear for the neighborhood swells lends a charming, timeless quality to the tale.

Light comedy and good food make a winning combination.

DAMNED

Palahniuk, Chuck Doubleday (256 pp.) $24.95 | October 18, 2011 978-0-385-53302-7 As the provocative novelist probably intended, reading this book is hell.

Through 11 previous novels (Tell-All, 2010, etc.), the author who first achieved notoriety through the movie adaptation of his Fight Club debut (1996) has |

continued to mix edgy humor with sharp social commentary while flirting with taboo. Yet his latest isn’t particularly funny, insightful or powerful. Its narrator is 13-year-old Madison—who tries her best to keep secret her full name: Madison Desert Flower Rosa Parks Coyote Trickster Spencer. She has the voice of a typical teenage girl, one who is precocious and a little overweight. But she is dead. And her parents are obviously patterned on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (actually more the former than the latter), whose relentless self-promotion includes a series of high-profile adoptions, and who do their best to keep their daughter stuck in time, well short of puberty. Or did, because now that Madison is dead, she is beyond their reach—in hell.

The author’s creative imagination in conjuring the realm of eternal damnation falls considerably short of Dante’s. Telemarketing comes from hell. So does porn. It has rivers and lakes of bodily secretions. It spawned TV and the Internet. It is remarkably easy to become consigned there, making the reader wonder what might possibly be required to gain entry into heaven.

Madison is there because of a fatal marijuana overdose, or at least that’s what she says at the start. Almost all lawyers, journalists and celebrities are there. It is not a metaphor for life on earth: “What makes earth feel like Hell is our expectation that it should feel like Heaven. Earth is Earth. Dead is dead,” writes Madison. Each of the 38 short chapters begins, with a nod toward Judy Blume: “Are you there, Satan? It’s me, Madison.”

The novel sustains a consistency of narrative voice, but there is little plot or momentum, until it climaxes at the end with a power play, identity transformation and O. Henry–ish twist, followed by the most frightening of all possible promises: “To be continued…” (Author tour to New York, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, New Orleans, Kanas City, Dallas, Portland)

GLASS

Savage, Sam Coffee House (210 pp.) $15.00 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-1-56689-273 paperback Edna reviews her life and relationships through free association and through the concatenation of objects that drift into her view.

Savage is not interested in the linear unfolding of the events in Edna’s life but rather in the meanings that have accreted to them as she introspectively mulls them over and tries to make sense of things. She’s been asked to write a preface to her late husband’s out-of-print novel, so she sits at her typewriter reviewing her childhood and their life together. On many days, she makes no progress on the task of writing, but she does allow herself the freedom to dip into the richness of her memory. From the past we learn of the strained relationship between Edna’s mother and father, the mother eventually running out on the family and remarrying. From the present we learn of Edna’s devotion to typewriters and the difficulties of finding a suitable ribbon, of the antipathy she has for taking care of her neighbor’s pet rat,

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h j e n n i f e r w e i n e r THEN CAME YOU

Jennifer Weiner Atria (352 pp.) $26.99 July 12, 2011 9781451617726

Hard to believe, but a decade has passed since Jennifer Weiner broke onto the literary scene with Good in Bed, employing her abundant wisdom and unflagging wit to tackle modern women’s issues head on. Nine bestselling novels later, Atria celebrates that momentous occasion with the 10thanniversary release of that book featuring the beloved and beleaguered Cannie Shapiro.

Weiner’s latest novel, Then Came You, features a quartet of female protagonists exploring the many sides of surrogacy with great insight and the author’s trademark humor. We caught up with Weiner in Los Angeles, where she’s co-writing and executive producing the new sitcom, State of Georgia.

Q: The last time we talked was in 2008, when Certain Girls was about to come out. What have you been up to?

A: Since Certain Girls, Best Friends Forever [2009] came out, which was my first No. 1 New York Times bestseller, and here we are in 2011, and I have a TV show—State of Georgia—that I co-created, which is premiering on the ABC Family network on June 29, and then Then Came You coming out in July.

Q: So do you sleep?

A: [Laughs] No, the sleep doesn’t suffer. It’s the housework and parenting that sort of go to hell.

It’s interesting because I wrote my first book when I was working full-time and didn’t have kids, and there was something about just having a couple hours—snatching time in the morning or after a workday—that really worked for me for that book.

And now I’ve just started writing something new, and again it’s working nine to five or six on the show and then coming home or getting up early, and it’s kind of the same energy. After basically 10 years of being a full-time novelist, where I had about four or five hours a day to sit with the computer, having one, two or three tops is an interesting experience. I don’t know if I recommend it to anyone else, but it seems to be working for me so far.

Q: Tell me your impressions of L.A. You’re an East Coast girl…

A: Yeah, I’m an East Coaster. It’s sort of what everyone says is true—the weather is fantastic and the traffic is awful, but the thing I love most is being in a writers’ room. I’d never done that before. When you’re a journalist, you’re doing stories by yourself.

When you’re a novelist, you’re doing books by yourself. But when you’re writing a sitcom, you’re in a room where seven people are pitching their best jokes, and I love that. When I go home to write fiction and get to the point where I need something

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funny, it’s like OK, where’s my writers’ room? Where are my jokes? Where are you people?!

The other thing about L.A. is that it’s the best place to people watch and eavesdrop in the entire world.

Q: Even better than New York?

A: Better! Because you get actress horror stories.

You’ll just be sitting there, having a coffee and guaranteed somewhere else in the coffee shop there’s going to be a screenwriter who very ostentatiously has Final Draft® up on a laptop and is working on a movie. Or it’s an actor talking about a bad audition, or something that happened at a party or Chateau Marmont. It’s great to be there and just sit around and listen to and look at people.

I kind of love that, I have to say. In Philadelphia, the eavesdropping is just not as great.

Q: Your humor often comes across in your descriptions— a couple examples from the new book: “Scott-the-doctor, who had the good looks and personality of a dried booger…my mother’s place looked like a Cracker Barrel had thrown up in her living room.” How do you translate that kind of comedy into a sitcom?

A: [Laughs] You put it like that, and I wonder why I haven’t won any writing awards! Well, it’s all in the language. It’s all about writing dialogue that’s vivid and descriptive, and definitely you can do so much with props and wardrobe—you don’t have to spend a paragraph describing how a girl looks and what she’s wearing—you just put her in an outfit and put her on camera.

That’s very refreshing, but basically one of the only arrows left in your quiver is dialogue and the words that people say. I’ve had a lot of fun writing jokes, but just how the characters talk is vital—the words they use and how they say them. You use your words as they say.

Q: What made you decide to take on surrogacy in Then Came You? A: There was a big article in the Times a couple years ago about a woman around my age who had been struggling to maintain a pregnancy—she could get pregnant, but she couldn’t stay pregnant—and she and her husband hired a gestational surrogate. I think everybody who read the piece probably remembers the pictures. There was a shot of the woman and the baby and a sort of uniformed nanny, I don’t know if she was African-American, a dark-skinned woman in a uniform and a fancy white lady in her estate in the Hamptons.

And then there was a picture of the gestational surrogate who was literally barefoot and pregnant,

“I always want my readers to be entertained— that’s the first thing. I want this to be an involving, breathing, vivid book that takes them out of their lives while they’re reading.” from then came you

sitting on the porch of her non-Hamptons house in Pennsylvania. I remember thinking: This is amazing: there’s so much going on in terms of gender, in terms of class, in terms of one woman hiring another woman to do a physical bit of business she can’t perform, and how easily that could slide into one woman hiring another woman to do something that she just doesn’t want to do.

The article talked about how the woman agonized over not being able to stay pregnant, but once she had the surrogate, she was like: This is kind of fantastic: I can go skiing, I can go to wine tastings, I can go to the Super Bowl. And I thought, Oh man, slippery slope.

Eventually we’re going to get to the point where there are women with whom it’s not that they can’t get pregnant, but that they just don’t want to. They don’t want to spend the summer in a maternity bathing suit; they don’t want to deal with stretch marks—they’re just going to hire somebody else to do it just like they would hire someone to do their floors. That fascinated me, and that’s why I wanted to write the book.

P HOTO BY A N D R EA C IP RI A N I MEC C H I

Q: It’s been 10 years since your first novel. What for you is most memorable about Good in Bed? A: I remember wanting to write about a woman having the experience of opening up a magazine and seeing a story about her body, and just that feeling of her punched-in-the-gut devastation. I think that these days you’d probably come across something like that on the Internet as opposed to a magazine, but I remember just really wanting to capture physically what that kind of heartbreak felt like.

Because it’s not just the appearance of it or the humiliation of knowing that everyone you know is going to see this, but the fact that the guy writing it was someone who used to love you and who you used to love, and just knowing with complete, ineradicable certainty that the article’s publication meant the relationship was dead. I worked really, really hard on that piece to put the reader in that girl’s body at that moment, and I think it worked.

And then you have the body-shape stuff, which I think has only gotten worse in 10 years on the Internet, where it’s just sort of common sport to be looking at pictures online and critiquing people and holding women up to impossible standards— whether it’s how fit you look, or how quickly you’ve lost the baby weight, or how good you look in your wedding gown.

You know—all of that and the air brushing and photoshopping that goes on. I’m always telling my daughters, who, at ages three and eight could really care less, that she really doesn’t look like that. And I’ll show them un-retouched images and point out how they changed her, and my daughters are

like Mom! But I want them to be critical consumers of the culture and to understand that not even the most beautiful 19-year-old model on the most beautiful day of her life wakes up looking like the girl in the Victoria’s Secret ad. It takes a village to get that image of a woman looking like that.

Q: What do you hope readers will take from Then Came You? A: I always want my readers to be entertained— that’s the first thing. I want this to be an involving, breathing, vivid book that takes them out of their lives while they’re reading. But if there’s something I want them to think about, it’s the issue of how women treat each other and how we judge one another. Everybody in this book is guilty of judging one another: Bettina instantly makes assumptions about her new stepmother; India instantly makes assumptions about Annie. I think the takeaway would be that people are more than they seem.

There it is.

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of her reminiscences of travels with her ambitious pharmacistturned-novelist husband Clarence. While Edna sees herself primarily as a “typist,” she’s actually a writer-manqué who tends to see life in literary and pictorial ways. About Brodt, one of her co-workers, for example, she opines that he “was not a communicative person; ‘a phlegmatic and awkward taciturn man’ is how I might begin to describe him, were I writing a story.” Of course, the irony is that Edna is writing a story, and she finds herself at the still point of this turning world.

An engaging study of both the quirks and the depths of personality.

LUMINARIUM

Shakar, Alex Soho (448 pp.) $25.00 paperback | August 23, 2011 978-1-56947-975-9 paperback Virtual and “real” reality intertwine in unpredictable ways in this ingenious novel; to his credit, Shakar’s approach is more philosophical than sci-fi.

George and Fred Brounian are identical twins, and despite their genetic identity, George is clearly the more brilliant of the two, a visionary who has grown up on video and computer games. One side effect of his background is that he’s motivated, by the defects of reality, to transform games into something more vivid than reality itself, so in the late ’90s he gets the idea for a simulation called “Urth” and wishes to make it a form of “purer existence,” realer than real. Just when he has the financial angels lined up, 9/11 comes about and the financing vanishes, but then the “Military-Entertainment Complex” begins to show untoward interest in the possibilities that George has raised. George, however, wants to use computer gaming as a different form of social engineering, to “steer players toward constructive and nonaggressive behaviors…rather than amassing and plundering and hoarding their resources.” Fred is more pragmatic businessman than innovator, and he sees the worth of his brother’s creative genius.

Also joining them is Sam, their intense younger brother, with an overly deep investment in the avatars of the games George and Fred develop. But George has recently lapsed into a coma, and Fred starts getting some odd e-mails that seem to come from some ethereal world—“Avatara” is their subject line, and they’re signed “George.” As a form of therapy, Fred begins to visit alternative worlds and has dream visions induced by Mira Egghart, an experimenter with whom he becomes sexually involved.

Shakar succeeds in a delicate balancing act here, securing the novel simultaneously (and paradoxically) in real, virtual and supernatural worlds.

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THE TASTE OF SALT

Southgate, Martha Algonquin (288 pp.) $13.95 paperback | September 13, 2011 978-1-56512-925-2 paperback A master at portraying the hurdles faced by upwardly mobile African-Americans, Southgate (Third Girl from the Left, 2005, etc.) focuses her third novel on a marine biologist trying to escape her heritage.

Growing up in black working-class Cleveland, Josie and her younger brother Tick were raised to excel by their parents, a nurse and a factory worker with a highly sophisticated love of literature. Both kids received scholarships to attend private school, but by the time Josie began to study marine biology at Stanford, her father’s quiet alcoholism had destroyed her parents’ marriage. Although he’s been sober for years, Josie has never forgiven him. Now in her late 30s, she is wrapped up in her seemingly perfect life researching marine mammals at Woods Hole, where she lives with her gentle, loving scientist husband Daniel. When her mother asks her to return briefly to Cleveland to bring Tick home from the rehab center where he’s been in treatment, Josie obliges. But she avoids becoming involved in her brother’s recovery. Despite a dream job as a trainer for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tick fell prey to alcohol and cocaine addiction. His wife has given up and left him, but now that he’s clean again, the Cavaliers offer him a second chance. He moves in with his mother and begins to attend AA meetings. Back in Massachusetts, Josie walls herself off from her feelings for Tick and her parents, and also Daniel, who can’t help being white or loving Josie more than she allows herself to love him. Instead she falls into an affair with newly arrived researcher Ben, who happens to be the only other African-American at the lab. Then Tick turns up at her doorstep in desperate need.

Declaring the novel is Josie’s narration, Southgate uses some creaky machinations to allow other points of view.

Thoughtful if small in scale, the drama’s ambivalences and ambiguities remain almost too low-key to build readers’ interest before the tragic if unsurprising climax.

THE FUNNY MAN

Warner, John Soho (288 pp.) $24.00 | September 27, 2011 978-1-56947-973-5 The sardonic tale of a hapless comic who rockets to fame with an idiotic gimmick only to find his life in worse turmoil—especially after emptying a gun into a guy on the street, for reasons left unexplained until the end.

Warner, a writer-editor associated with McSweeney’s, makes his fiction debut with a novel about a character referred to only as the funny man—not the Funny Man, but the lower-case kind.

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“While the reader may ask—why?—the journey to the answers is remarkable, nuanced and coy.” from bed

The funny man’s shtick is to deliver impressions and one-liners with his fist shoved deep into his mouth. His ticket to greater fame is a movie so awful—a bunch of hand-in-throat outtakes—that audiences mistake it for something brilliant. The funny man loves all the money and celebrity and limo sex, but it doesn’t make him any less pathetic. His wife leaves him when a publicity-seeking actress claims she had sex with him during filming, comes back after he falsely fesses up and then leaves him again when he insists on the truth. His lawyer’s genius strategy to plead him not guilty by reason of celebrity is a nonstarter. And then there’s the obligatory blow to the crotch the funny man suffers, in a batting cage. Redemption comes, sort of, in the form of the one-time tennis star he has been smitten with since detecting she was beaming him private messages in her TV ads. Much of the book seems beamed from the past as well.

Warner’s cultural commentary is passé when not obvious, and in going after a George Saunders–type absurdism, he isn’t especially funny or clever (the protagonist’s fondness for Kick in the A$$, a reality show he invents on which volunteers get booted in the rear for money, is indistinguishable from Warner’s). Warner also should note that no comic would use “You dirty rat,” the most famous line James Cagney never actually uttered, in a Bogie impersonation.

It’s certainly possible to write a hilarious novel about a bad comic, but Warner never breaks through the smug sensibility of his debut to transcend his subject.

FIGHTING IN THE SHADE

Watson, Sterling Akashic (330 pp.) $15.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-1-936070-98-5 paperback The coming-of-age tale of a boy who becomes a man through the savage rites of high-school football. Honor, loyalty, even life and death form the core of this wrenching story, while sport is the mere shell.

A newcomer to town, Billy Dyer tries out for the Spartans in the Gulf Coast city of Oleander, Fla., in 1964. He is relentless in his hitting and blocking, all the brutal fundamentals of the game.

Only Sim Sizemore stands between him and a varsity slot, but Billy rebels during the team’s bizarre Mystery Night ritual, and Sim suffers a horrible injury. With Billy taking Sim’s place, the Spartans win game after game and appear headed for the state championship. Winning matters above all else to many of Oleander’s citizens, and Billy’s fierce drive and talent hold the key. But will he spill the secrets of Mystery Night and destroy Oleander football? Important men accuse Billy of off-field actions that dishonor the team and push him into a Faustian bargain that allows him to continue playing. Billy lives with his divorced and hapless father, whose desperate troubles intertwine with Billy’s. Many people fear Billy for what he knows and might do; many more admire him as long as he wins on the gridiron—but God help him otherwise. But the plot goes beyond football. Do rich men own |

Billy the way they own his father? Do they own the city itself?

The climactic scene appears slightly contrived, written with a movie in mind, yet it brings the novel to a satisfying conclusion.

Watson has given poor Billy Dyer more trouble than any teenager should have to bear. Readers will certainly root for him, but they had better not count on a warm-andfuzzy ending.

BED

Whitehouse, David Scribner (256 pp.) $24.00 | August 2, 2011 978-1-4516-1422-0 The story of two brothers at odds over how to live their lives.

U.K. journalist Whitehouse’s debut is a morbidly funny and unusual story about a man who decides to demonstrate his dissatisfaction with the modern age. The life story of Malcolm Ede is narrated by his unnamed brother. As a youth, Mal was a handsome, charming boy with a lovely girlfriend named Lou, and an emerging dark side. “An outsider on his own terms, he was free to build his own rules around him, rules no one but him could ever hope to understand,” we’re told. “It felt as though this was his day, and that he didn’t want it to end. As if he knew that growing up was dying, not death itself.” And so it is that at the age of 25, Mal retreats from the traditional path of work/spouse/ children. He goes to his titular bed, for good. The novel opens on Day 7,483, as Malcolm lay dying from a dramatic (and purposefully ghastly) metamorphosis. Over the course of 15 years, the former golden boy has eaten himself into a gargantuan state of sloth, growing so large he can’t be removed from the house.

His overly indulgent mother protects him for her own deviant reasons, while the boys’ father nurses wounds from a long-ago mining accident. Meanwhile, Mal’s brother nurtures a secret passion for Lou, whose misguided affection lingers long after Mal’s connection to the world has been severed.

While the reader may ask—why?—the journey to the answers is remarkable, nuanced and coy. (Agent: Cathyrn Summerhayes)

THE WAY

Wolf, Kristen Crown (368 pp.) $25.00 | $25.00 e-book | July 12, 2011 978-0-307-71769-6 978-0-307-71771-9 e-book In this intriguing debut novel the author imagines the life of Jesus, recast as a woman.

Partially inspired by Elaine Pagels’ scholarly The Gnostic Gospels, Wolf creates an alternative understanding of Jesus, as a non-deity healer

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who espouses a spiritual connection to a feminine earth. The novel opens with Anna as a tomboy devoted to her mother Mari and frightened of her father Yoseph, a tyrannical adherent to the new religion. The old religion (Mari was a follower) promoted gender equality and valued the role of women as regenerators of life. Few are left who practice the old ways, but those who do, like Nazareth’s Zahra, are both revered for their ability to heal, and shunned. When tragedy befalls Mari, and Zahra is stoned to death, Joseph disguises Anna as a boy and sells her to a passing band of shepherds. But this is no ordinary group of men; it is led by Solomon (Zahra’s son, who was told of a special child) and Judas, Guardians of The Way. It is Solomon and Judas’ duty to one day take their new shepherd to the Sisters. Meanwhile, Anna, who knows nothing of The Way or Solomon’s connection to Zahra, renames herself Jesus and lives quite happily as a boy, with her new best friend Peter. As Jesus grows older and stronger, he becomes a skilled shepherd. Solomon sends him on a journey, knowing he will be “captured” by the Sisters.

Anna is among them for years where they live a monastic life recording spiritual and medical knowledge, practicing a kind of telepathic communication and preparing the chosen few to become Awakeners, women who dangerously set out to spread The Way. But the times are hostile to women and a massacre destroys their whole society, save Anna and two others. The three venture out, now with Anna as the man Jesus, who has a message for the world.

Wolf cleverly uses the story of Jesus to create an alternate ending to the Crucifixion, in which the Sister’s message of peace is perverted, but her insertion of a kind of New Age philosophy somewhat diminishes an otherwise fascinating idea. (Agent: Susan Golomb)

m ys t e r y CALL ME PRINCESS

Blaedel, Sara Pegasus Crime (320 pp.) $25.00 | September 17, 2011 978-1-60598-251-9 Assistant Detective Louise Rick’s second case, and the first to be published in the U.S., pits her and the Copenhagen Police Department against a particularly nasty serial rapist.

Susanne Hansson leads a sheltered life that would be even more sheltered if her insinuating, domineering mother had anything to say about it. It’s only natural for her to look for love online, and when she brings home a man for an after-dinner drink, she has every reason to expect that he’ll continue to act like a gentleman. Instead she gets bound, gagged, beaten and raped by her date, who turns out to have 1198

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given her a false name and address before vanishing into cyberspace. Swinging into action, Louise and lead investigator Henny Heilmann have greater success linking Susanne’s assailant to at least one earlier rape—the two-year-old case of Karin Hvenegaard, a day-care teacher who still hasn’t recovered from her attack—than rehabilitating the victim, who swallows a bottle of Tylenol in an attempt to escape not so much her traumatic memories as her relentlessly smothering mother. The investigators are even less successful with the next victim, realtor Christina Lerche, who’s found dead on her bedroom floor. Stung by her suspicion of the new man her best friend, journalist Camilla Lind, has found online, and the defection of her live-in lover Peter to his pregnant co-worker, Louise creates a profile on the sinister site nightwatch.dk in hope of staking herself out as a Judas goat for the rapist.

Middling detection, salty but occasionally clumsy English prose (no translator is credited). What makes this latest Scandinavian import special is Baedel’s success in evoking her women’s nagging fears about unfamiliar men, unfaithful lovers and bullying mothers.

NAUGHTY IN NICE

Bowen, Rhys Berkley Prime Crime (336 pp.) $24.95 | September 6, 2011 978-0-425-24349-7 Nice is nice if you’re not a murder suspect.

Lady Georgiana Rannoch is about to be banished from her London home to the family castle in Scotland when Her Majesty the Queen saves her by paying her fare to France in the hopes that Georgie, an experienced sleuth (Royal Blood, 2010, etc.), can retrieve a valuable snuffbox the Queen suspects has been stolen by the nouveau riche Sir Toby Groper. Georgie’s brother and his tiresome wife Fig are staying with her relatives, who relegate Georgie to a camp bed in the library. Luckily for Georgie, she’s already met a distant relative and Coco Chanel on the Blue Train. The good news is that Chanel wants Georgie to model for her. The better news is that the ladies are staying with Georgie’s much-married mother, who’s left her boring German lover behind for some quality time in her Nice villa. Now for the bad news. When Georgie falls off a catwalk, she loses the valuable necklace lent by the Queen and now has two priceless items to recover. Ensconced in her mother’s villa, which overlooks Groper’s home, Georgie spots his body in his swimming pool and is promptly arrested by the French police. Luckily, her latest beau, the Marquis de Ronchard, provides a lawyer and bail so that Georgie can continue her hunt for the killer.

Georgie’s latest adventure is charming and lighthearted as ever, though the 1930s setting carries ominous hints of the future.

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A QUESTION OF DESPAIR

and Helewise, with help from Meggie, must put their talents to solving the crime so that Ninian can return home.

Not the best Hawkenlye mystery (The Joys of My Life, 2009, etc.), but the well-conceived story and historical detail continue to please.

Carter, Maureen Severn House (224 pp.) $28.95 | July 1, 2011 978-1-78029-000-3

The clash between an investigator and a reporter hampers a gritty kidnapping case.

Karen Lowe is in full hysterics when police respond to a call that reports her crying and screaming on a Birmingham road. The teenager is barely able to explain to DCI Sarah Quinn that Evie, her 6-month-old daughter, has just been abducted. Karen is convinced that she’ll never see Evie again, but Quinn is certain she can find Evie if only Karen will open up. Not noted for her bedside manner, Quinn can’t even get the father’s name out of Karen. The hard, jaded Quinn soon finds she also can’t rely on her department for reliable backup since it seems clear there’s a press leak to Sarah’s nemesis, determined, underhanded reporter Caroline King. While King will stop at nothing to get the scoop, her tactics may be getting in the way of the formal investigation, inciting even more of Quinn’s ire. The two have a murky past that neither has fully confronted, but their separate investigations may be permanently stalled unless they can somehow collaborate.

Something’s got to give, but neither woman wants to be the one to give it, until it becomes clear there may be more lives at stake.

This series debut from the chronicler of DS Bev Morriss (Death Line, 2010, etc.) features characters that are tough to relate to but a grim plot that may appeal.

THE ROSE OF THE WORLD

Clare, Alys Severn House (240 pp.) $28.95 August 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8023-9

In a battle between King and Pope, the people are the losers.

England, 1210. Now that King John has been excommunicated, his men are collecting ruinous amounts from religious orders, churches are closing and people everywhere are feeling the withdrawal of charity. Certain that Hawkenlye Abbey is on the King’s hit list, Abbess Caliste fears for the future. Helewise, the former abbess, has moved to Josse d’Acquin’s manor, where he lives with Meggie, Geoffroi, and his adopted son Ninian, all offspring of his former love Joanna, the mystical follower of the old religion. When Helewise’s granddaughter Rosamund disappears, an intensive search eventually discloses that she has been taken by one of the King’s men. Even worse, another man is found dead in the course of the search. Although King John returns Rosamund to Hawkenlye, Josse’s troubles have only begun, for Ninian is suspected of the killing and must flee to France. Once more, Josse |

THE WILD HOG MURDERS

Crider, Bill Minotaur Books (272 pp.) $24.99 | July 5, 2011 978-0-312-64149-8

Welcome to Blacklin County, Texas, where hogs run wild, and murder hogs the spotlight.

Wild hogs—big, fast, evil-tempered 300-pounders—are endemic to Blacklin County and anathema to Sheriff Dan Rhodes, who’s had issues with them in the past, always to his detriment. He yearns for a permanent disconnect. But when the stolen car he’s pursuing is also being chased by a furious porker, what can a self-respecting lawman do, especially if he’s interested in re-election? He must rise to the challenge. As Rhodes puts it, “That’s why they pay us the big bucks”—a mantra he learned the hard way. And so it goes in Blacklin County, and has gone for 18 novels (Murder in the Air, 2010, etc.). The ill-fated car thief’s narrow escape from death by enhanced pig is only temporary, it turns out. He’ll soon enough meet his maker with a bullet in his chest, followed by more corpses. The egregious Milton Munday, a radio talk-show host with an avid audience, takes note, warns of a murder spree and wonders snidely if Sheriff Dan is up to keeping his constituents safe. Enter a celebrity bounty hunter seeking publicity, a has-been biker seeking revenge and a pair of edgy animal protectionists seeking enemies.

Clearly it’s business as usual in Blacklin County, land of the relentlessly eccentric and the colorfully homicidal.

Forget the wayward plotting and enjoy laconic, sardonic Sheriff Dan at the top of his game.

A GOOD DAY TO PIE

Culver, Carol Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (312 pp.) $14.95 paperback | August 8, 2011 978-0-7387-2378-5 paperback A small-town mystery proves that even a harmless piece of pie can be deadly.

Hanna Denton is ready for peace and quiet when she moves back to her hometown of Crystal Cove, Calif. Her one promise of excitement is her decision to take over The Upper Crust, her Grannie Louise’s pie shop, in the hopes of refining the shop’s old recipes. Even Grannie is set for relaxation, having left The Upper Crust to move into the posh retirement community Heavenly Acres. Life is easy as pie for the two until Grannie’s bridge nemesis, Mary Brandt, dies right after eating a slice of

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“Lots of grisly bits, but still fits comfortably within cozy confines.” from kissing the demons

Cranberry Walnut Cream Pie. Brand-new Police Chief (and Hanna’s old school crush) Sam Genovese immediately suspects poor Grannie of having eliminated Mary, who, after all, was her biggest competition at the bridge table. Now Hanna has to balance running the shop with trying to clear Grannie’s name. Her task is made easier

by Mary’s many enemies—the old girl was a bit of a troublemaker— but Hanna must figure out which of them had the most to gain by Mary’s death. All the while, Hanna tries to run interference between her Grannie and Sam, hoping that she can get to the bottom of things before her former heartthrob puts Grannie away for good.

This debut mystery from Culver (Rich Girl: A BFF Novel, 2008, etc.) will have cozy fans lining up for a second helping.

UNDEAD AND UNDERMINED

Davidson, MaryJanice Berkley Sensation (304 pp.) $25.95 | July 5, 2011 978-0-425-24127-1

Back from hell, a vampire queen assembles a motley crew to save the future.

In the latest dispatch concerning Betsy Taylor, Davidson’s vampire-queen heroine (Undead and Unappreciated, 2005, etc.) wakes to find herself in a Chicago morgue, toe tag and all. After reassuring herself that she’s still alive, or at least still undead, Betsy heads back to the mansion that’s her home base to reunite with her ragtag group of supernatural friends, only to discover that something is extra-abnormal.

Apparently, Betsy returned from her latest sojourn in hell to some sort of time-traveled alternate universe where everything she knows and thinks she knows will be tested: who her friends are, what her purpose is, who’s living and who’s dead for good. In addition, she suffers a fate worse than undeath when she discovers that her shoe closet is full of clogs. Worst of all: Betsy hasn’t made this journey alone, and her cosmic hitchhiker’s intentions are anything but benevolent. Will the vampire queen manage to rally to protect her friends, or will her road to hell be paved with good intentions?

Davidson (Me, Myself, and Why?, 2010, etc.) writes in a jocular voice with teenage attitude (think of a YA novel for mature audiences). Readers are likely to be divided between love ’em and leave ’em by an installment with too much back story for newbies to sink their teeth into.

GARDEN OF SECRETS PAST

Eglin, Anthony Minotaur Books (304 pp.) $24.99 | August 16, 2011 978-0-312-64836-7

A retired botanist turned amateur sleuth is called upon to investigate a murder at a stately home.

When a body is discovered on the grounds of Sturminster Hall, Dr. Lawrence 1200

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Kingston is at first inclined to reject the plea of owner Francis Morley, the sixth Earl of Ramsbury, with whom he has had prior unpleasant dealings. But the chance of solving a puzzling crime and a very large emolument convince Kingston to sign on. The murdered man was a professor of archaeology and art whose body was found near a monument with a mysterious coded message that had never been solved. As if that isn’t mysterious enough, another coded message was found on the body. At length Kingston is contacted by Tristan Veitch, who’s amassed a great deal of information on the Morley family. Kingston’s chance to learn much from this promising source, however, is cut short by Veitch’s death by poisoning. When Veitch’s sister Amanda allows him to search the house, he finds what the police missed: a dog-tag computer drive that holds Veitch’s notes. Now it’s up to Kingston to crack an encrypted puzzle, a task that puts his life at risk.

Eglin’s mysteries (The Trail of the Wild Rose, 2009, etc.) are always full of interesting botanical and historical tidbits. His latest is reminiscent of Sayers’s Have His Carcase, right down to the long-winded explanation of how to solve a difficult cipher.

KISSING THE DEMONS

Ellis, Kate Creme de la Crime (224 pp.) $28.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-78029-001-0

Did the house do it?

Over a century ago, 13 Torland Place, Eborby, North Yorkshire, housed five dead bodies. Despite his protestations of innocence, Obediah Shrowton was judged guilty and put to death. Ever since, the house has seemed, well, inhospitable. Even worse, a pair of girls went missing from a wood behind the house 12 years back, and the current tenants, four student roommates, have been squabbling ever since they moved in. When one of them, Petulia Ferribie, turns up dead, DI Joe Plantagenet and DCI Emily Thwaite (Playing with Bones, 2009, etc.) must decide where to put the blame: on the house or on a more corporeal suspect. Among their human choices are a governmental nabob with nefarious ties to the long-missing girls; the landlord, who has a gruesomely dead sister lurking in his history; and the couple next door, who share sexual proclivities best not discussed in polite company and a penchant for skulking around in attics. Further complications include a batch of dead women whose killer also mutilated them in ways that deprived them each of a different sense: touch, hearing, taste, smell. Thwaite must balance her investigating with family time while Plantagenet must deal with his dead wife’s sister, who accuses him of murdering her. Before all comes to a rousing if not exactly convincing climax, an exorcist will be called in, that sister-in-law will be abducted and archives housed in a tome covered in human skin will pop up.

Lots of grisly bits, but still fits comfortably within cozy confines.

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A BALI CONSPIRACY MOST FOUL Inspector Singh Investigates

Flint, Shamini Minotaur Books (304 pp.) $24.99 | July 19, 2011 978-0-312-59698-9

A terrorist bombing masks a coldblooded murder...until Inspector Singh arrives.

Skittish suicide bomber Jimi prepares to drive his white Mitsubishi into Bali’s popular and rather hedonistic Sari Club. Cut to dour Inspector Singh examining the wreckage of the club with brusque Bronwyn Taylor of the Australian Federal Police, whose vigor exacerbates Singh’s already bad mood. Singh is overfond of his creature comforts, and knows that his bosses in Singapore love having him out of their hair. But he has no experience dealing with terrorist crimes, let alone scattered body parts. Meanwhile, bored, beautiful Sarah Crouch commiserates with her fellow idle Western visitors, the Yardleys and the Greenwoods, about the absence of her husband Richard. Little do they know that the couple is on the verge of divorce. Singh is inappropriately excited to find a bullet hole in the head of one victim, identified as Richard Crouch, and more than happy to investigate a certified murder.

Non-grieving widow Sarah definitely goes to the top of the list of likely suspects, though Karri and Tim Yardley certainly arouse suspicion, as do a mismatched missionary couple named Nuri and Ghani who’ve come to godless Bali to build a religious school.

Singh’s second case (Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder, 2010, etc.) is a solid, traditional whodunit with great chemistry between Singh and Bronwyn, a more in-your-face Archie Goodwin to Singh’s Asian Nero Wolfe.

POLICE AND THIEVES

Hunt, James Patrick Five Star (240pp.) $25.95 | September 21, 2011 978-1-4328-2507-2

Cool-headed, cold-hearted Baltimore mechanic Dan Bridger, who just wants to be left alone to ply his trade as a professional thief, goes on the offensive to avenge the murder of his brother a continent away.

Seth Bridger wasn’t like his brother. When he was gunned down in a parking lot, he was enrolled part-time in law school, employed as a probation and parole officer whose offenders—he called them clients—ungrudgingly respected him, and keeping steady company with fellow student Elaine Ogilvie. Even though Bridger had long lost touch with the kid brother he left with an abusive father when Bridger struck out on his own, Elaine’s phone call brings him running. The survivors do not bond. Nor do the Seattle police welcome Bridger’s interference, Det. John |

Wilkening, because he’s a lazy time-server who just wants the case to go away, and Sgt. Dean Coates because he killed Seth himself to protect a deal for a monster stash of Ecstasy the men of Coats’ Special Investigative Unit had stolen. With an impressive array of enemies carrying badges and willing to use deadly force arrayed against him and his only real ally, Seth’s friend and colleague Chris Rider, Bridger might seem to be outnumbered and outgunned. But readers who devoured his debut (Bridger, 2010) at a single gulp will know better.

Fast, efficient and violent in all the right places, though not as gripping as Hunt’s very best dead-eyed actioners (Get Maitland, 2011, etc.).

SUMMER SESSION

Jones, Merry Severn House (240pp.) $28.95 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7278-8044-4

A drug trial raises suspicions of a veteran when her town is overrun by violence.

When Iraqi veteran Harper Jennings’s husband, Hank, takes a tumble from the roof of the Victorian house they’re rehabbing, her PTSD flashbacks hit an all-time high. Harper, whose students in Cornell’s archaeology department call her “Loot,” begins to relive the ravages of war all too regularly while walking to and from her classroom. That’s a particular shame because her teaching is the one thing that keeps her together while Hank is off doing speech rehab at the local hospital. Although Harper is able to visit Hank daily, it’s hard for her when the only person she feels comfortable confiding in can’t string two words together in exchange. Things take a turn for the worse when one of Harper’s students takes his own life during her class. As if that isn’t trouble enough, Harper is violently attacked, and only her combat skills keep her alive to investigate further. When she discovers a mysterious set of drug trials, she’s sure that they’re somehow connected to the violence. The police and trial doctors investigating aren’t persuaded, especially when all the outrages seem linked more closely to Harper. Violence seems to have invaded the small town where Harper once felt safe, and she’s not sure who to trust or what is real, from her students to local doctors— including those meant to watch over Hank.

A moderately complex plot paced like entries in Jones’ Zoe Hayes series (The Borrowed and Blue Murders, 2008, etc.) but with less comic relief.

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“A world-class art thief snatches a world-famous masterpiece from under the noses of its guardians in 1911 Paris.” from stealing mona lisa

A PARADISE FOR FOOLS

Kilmer, Nicholas Poisoned Pen (294 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paperback $22.95 large print | September 1, 2011 978-1-59058-934-2 978-1-59058-936-6 paperback 978-1-59058-935-9 large print Not content with writing one prequel showing how dogsbody Fred Taylor met his boss, Beacon Hill art collector Clayton Reed (Madonna of the Apes, 2005), Kilmer presents a second showing how he met his ladylove, librarian Molly Riley.

The meeting is ordinary—while his boss is out of the country at a wedding, Fred goes to the reference desk to follow up on a phone request for information—but the immediate effect isn’t. After meeting Molly, Fred, suddenly feeling in need of a haircut, stops by CUT-RATE-CUTS, where he overhears a conversation between Claire the stylist and Kim the receptionist and realizes that the mind-boggling new tattoo-in-progress he’s glimpsed on Kim’s back is evidently based on a hitherto unknown painting that just might be of serious interest to Clay Reed. Patiently and ingeniously, Fred stalks the painting, gathering scraps of information about it from the artist, Arthur Pendragon (né Schrecking); Sammy Flash, his colleague at A Fine Line; his mentor, Harley Kenzo (né Petersen); and Zoltan Zagoriski, who taught him art history at Nashua Central High.

Although all these worthies are equally closemouthed about the possible inspiration for Kim’s tattoo, Fred knows he’s onto something when two of them die shortly after their conversations with him. Can Fred (A Butterfly in Flame, 2010, etc.) beat out nefarious New York dealer Lexington Orono for the prize before the rest of his unwilling informants are as dead as the Italian Renaissance?

Not much here for whodunit fans. The main interest—and properly so, as Clayton Reed might sniff—is in tracking down that painting and feasting on dialogue as distinctive in its way as Elmore Leonard’s.

STEALING MONA LISA

Morton, Carson Minotaur Books (352 pp.) $24.99 | August 2, 2011 978-0-312-62171-1

A world-class art thief snatches a world-famous masterpiece from under the noses of its guardians in 1911 Paris.

Parisian art students believe that La Joconde belongs up on the wall in the Salon Carré of the Louvre. Vincenzo Perugia believes that La Giaconda belongs in Italy where it was painted. But although he was born a marquis, Eduardo de Valfierno is a democrat at heart and believes that everyone—particularly every rich American—deserves his own Mona Lisa. So 1202

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he recruits Perugia, along with skilled pickpocket Julia Conway and a grown-up street urchin named Émile, to swipe the Leonardo masterpiece. Once the papers report it missing, he can sell half-a-dozen forged versions to wealthy industrialists whose mansions line the banks of the Hudson River. He takes a detour, though, to Rhode Island, because he can’t resist peddling one of his bogus Monas to Joshua Hart. Ever since meeting the crass industrialist in Buenos Aires, where he sold him a copy of La Ninfa Soprendida, Valfierno has been entranced by Hart’s beautiful wife Ellen. Armed with an authentic-looking da Vinci supplied by a talented painter named Diego, Eduardo sells Hart something a little less than he bargains for. But in return, Eduardo gets a little more than he bargains for, ending up back in Paris to face a series of disasters, both natural and manmade.

Like La Joconde, Carson’s debut novel is set in an elegant frame—a newspaper reporter wrests the amazing story from a dying Valfierno—that still isn’t as finely crafted as what lies inside.

THE DEVIL’S PUZZLE

O’Donohue, Clare Plume (288 pp.) $14.00 paperback | September 27, 2011 978-0-452-29737-1 paperback Archers Rest, N.Y., is planning a big anniversary celebration. Will a body found buried in a backyard attract tourists or scare them away?

Amateur sleuth Nell Fitzgerald, of Someday Quilts, is dragooned into putting on a quilt show for the anniversary festivities by her grandmother Eleanor. But that’s the least of her problems. When a body is discovered in Eleanor’s backyard, Nell’s boyfriend Jesse Dewalt, the Archers Rest Chief-of-Police, has to investigate. The corpse has obviously been there for a long time, but Jesse still has to count Eleanor as a suspect. Eleanor worked for Grace Roemer, a wealthy elderly lady, whose house Eleanor bought for a dollar when she died. A little investigation reveals that Grace’s son Winston thought someone was taking advantage of his mother. Instead of acting on his suspicions, he seems to have gone off on a trip to South America and hasn’t been seen since. So Nell must put up with annoying suggestions from the ambitious mayor and the bossy lady helping to run the celebration in addition to pressure from a young Roemer relative who obviously thinks Eleanor did the deed.

O’Donohue (A Drunkard’s Path, 2009) provides a nicely assorted group of suspects to keep you guessing along with Nell.

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ROGUE

Ramsay, Frederick Poisoned Pen (272 pp.) $24.95 | $22.95 large print | July 1, 2011 978-1-59058-902-1 978-1-59058-903-8 large print A volatile small-town sheriff will stop at nothing to find the person responsible for putting his fiancé in a coma.

On a rainy October night in Washington, D.C., Ruth Harris wraps her car around a telephone pole and ends up in the hospital in intensive care, comatose and hooked to an IV. Keeping vigil at her bedside is fiancé Ike Schwartz, sheriff of nearby Picketsville, Va., and his CIA pal Charlie Garland. Ike’s instincts tell him it wasn’t an accident. But as a rural lawman, he gets no respect from city cops and has to do all the legwork himself. Charlie’s influence gets Ike a look at the accident report, and he finagles his way into the yard where the car’s being held to examine it. He quickly decides that his initial presumption of foul play was spot-on, and it’s a short leap to the conclusion that Ike and not Ruth, who works for the Department of Education, was the real target. Unfortunately, it’s election time in Picketsville, and Ike faces a formidable opponent in Jack Burns. So it falls to his politician father Abe to get him elected while he works the case. Like Ruth’s recovery, Ike’s progress is slow. Her temporary replacement, Dr. Scott Fiske, rubs Ruth’s hard-working assistant Agnes the wrong way. When Charlie’s investigations reveal that Scott Fiske doesn’t exist, Ike’s finally caught a break he can follow up on.

Suspense builds slowly in Ike’s fifth procedural (Choker, 2008, etc.). Its low-key charm particularly rewards readers already familiar with the characters.

FLASH AND BONES

Reichs, Kathy Scribner (320 pp.) $26.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-4391-0241-1

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Spider Bones, 2010, etc.) commemorates Race Week in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C., by a close encounter with a barrel filled with asphalt and bones.

In the 12 years since two aspiring NASCAR drivers, high-school student Cindi Gamble and her older boyfriend Cale Lovette, vanished the same evening, their trail has gone cold. Cindi’s brother Wayne, a jackman in Sandy Stupak’s pit crew who’s certain that his sister never would willingly have left a home so close to the Charlotte Motor Speedway, thinks the bones found in a nearby landfill are his sister’s. But Tempe doubts it; she doesn’t even think they’re Cale’s. The news of a much more recently missing person, Ted Raines of the Center for Disease Control, brings a pair of FBI agents, who promptly seize the paperwork and the |

body of Tempe’s John Doe shortly after it’s tested positive for the deadly poison ricin. When will they return the corpse? Never, because (oops) it’s been accidentally cremated. With a dearth of leads in the present, Tempe, together with Det. Skinny Slidell and Cotton Galimore, the Speedway security chief who once led the investigation into the couple’s disappearance, comb through past testimony, trying to figure out exactly who really did see Cindi and Cale last and who’s lying about seeing them. Meanwhile, Tempe’s not-quite-ex-husband Janis Petersons dumps a stinker of a domestic problem on her when he begs her to chat with his twinkie fiancée, the deliciously empty-headed Summer, about the countless wedding details he can’t be bothered with.

Reichs plots conscientiously but uncompellingly, dialing down the suspense except for the cliffhanger, dare-youto-stop-now chapter endings she just can’t wean herself from. (Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh)

MAMA SEES STARS

Sharp, Deborah Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (336 pp.) $14.95 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-0-7387-2698-4 paperback Sparks fly when Hollywood comes to Himmarshee.

Mace Bauer has taken time off from her regular job to work as a horse wrangler on a movie set. Of course, Mace’s mama and her two sisters (Mama Gets Hitched, 2010, etc.) are right there to help out, watch the movie stars in action and find the widely unpopular executive producer dead at the horse corral. Even after Mace’s on-again/ off-again boyfriend, sexy Cuban detective Carlos, arrives on the scene and takes over the case, Mace can’t help feel curious about whodunit. There’s a good deal of tension on the set as actors angle to beef up their parts and publicity. Mama ups the ante, and incidentally shows her own star quality, when she lands a small role in the movie. Mace, meanwhile, is distracted when her high-school squeeze turns up as cattle wrangler and pays her enough attention to make Carlos jealous. Then she’s nearly killed by flying glass when a huge light explodes. Nor is she alone in her travails. Toby, the sexually confused teen heartthrob, is almost run over in the parking lot, and leading man Greg Tilton barely escapes being poisoned by a tuna sandwich.

Although Mace’s sleuthing puts her life in danger, it’s her love life that gives her sleepless nights.

Sharp combines a workmanlike mystery with an amusing tale of life and love in the kind of Florida town that tourists rarely see.

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“It’s sad but satisfying to bid goodbye to the colorful Prospero family. What’s next, Lamplighter?” from prospero regained

DEAD BY ANY OTHER NAME

Stuart, Sebastian Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (264 pp.) $14.95 paperback | October 1, 2011 978-0-7387-2317-4 paperback

A dead singer/songwriter looking for a comeback is at the center of this second case for a Hudson Valley psychotherapistturned–antiques dealer and her big, happy, dysfunctional, non-biological family.

Janet Petrocelli (To the Manor Dead, 2010, etc.) is delighted to offer Natasha Wolfson, an “ex-semi-name” singer, $5,000 for the jewelry and junk she’s unloading in connection with kick-starting her life at 29. But her pleasure in the transaction turns sour when Natasha is found dead at the bottom of Platte Cove. Det. Chevrona Williams, of the New York State Police, is satisfied that her death was an accident, or maybe suicide while of hippy-dippy mind, since Natasha seems to have been a keen proponent of better living through chemistry. But Janet, for reasons best known to her, is convinced that Natasha was murdered and that it’s her job to identify the killer. It’s true that Natasha’s parents, pop psychology gurus Howard and Sally Wolfson, her Czech boyfriend Pavel and Pavel’s wealthy landladies, mannish Lavinia Bump and her sister Octavia, to whom Pavel instantly transfers his affections, all seem sufficiently unbalanced to have pushed Natasha off a cliff. But then so do the series regulars, from Janet’s caterer friend Abba Turner to her pal George, a gay nurse who’s always in the throes of an unwise passion, to Josie Alvarez, the teenager who helped out in Janet’s Planet until she was spirited away by a mean-spirited pair of foster parents.

The mystery and its solution, sketched out rather than worked out, are mainly a pretext for introducing you to some amiable misfits, some exotic pets and Janet’s supremely gossipy narration.

science fiction and fantasy

GHOSTS BY GASLIGHT

Editor: Dann, Jack Editor: Gevers, Nick Harper Voyager (400 pp.) $14.99 paperback | September 6, 2011 978-0-06-199971-0 paperback Seventeen all-new tales emulating, or re-creating, the ambience of classic Victorian supernatural suspense.

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history is the favored, sometimes quite imaginary, but by no means exclusive venue. The standouts: Peter S. Beagle’s typically lyrical and brilliant conjuring of ghostly voices in an alternate-world past.

Gene Wolfe, in inimitable style, gives us a murderer who’s brilliantly duped by a vengeful not-quite-ghost. Lucius Shepard weighs in with a creepy tale of a ghost-trapping machine, obsession and incest. John Harwood writes a lethal manuscript. Laird Barron describes devilish sprits, some in human guise, roaming the wilds of Washington State. From Jeffrey Ford comes a fine tale from the early career of Cley, his splendidly deluded Physiognomist. Paul Park offers an eerie, jangling tale of New Orleans wherein nothing is what it seems and, indeed, seems to deny that anything ever could be. And John Langan’s effervescently titled “The Unbearable Proximity of Mr. Dunn’s Balloons” conjures up some oozily nasty alien vampires. Elsewhere, Robert Silverberg offers a perfect Kipling-esque period piece without surprises; James Morrow’s ghost-trapping metal shroud falls apart from illogic; Terry Dowling describes a demonic mummy; Garth Nix offers an imaginative but overdone Sherlock Holmes pastiche; plus, a time-travelling succubus (Margo Lanagan), a ghostly alien invader (Sean Williams), a machine that cures mental illness (Richard Harland), a ghost in a mirror (Marly Youmans) and, with a decidedly modern sensibility, the ghost of a murdered poet (Theodora Goss).

Clever and often impressive work that succeeds, mostly, in being more than a mere exercise in nostalgia.

PROSPERO REGAINED

Lamplighter, L. Jagi Tor (384 pp.) $25.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-7653-1931-9

In the final installment of a trilogy (Prospero in Hell, 2010, etc.), the centuriesold children of The Tempest magician Prospero undergo a literally harrowing voyage across Hell.

Lilith, the demonic Queen of Air and Darkness, plans to execute Prospero in a few days. Unfortunately, his rescuers—his daughter Miranda, her eight bickering siblings, her erstwhile childhood companion Caliban and Mab, a wind spirit incarnated in a human body—are scattered all over Hell. The questions that torture Miranda as she struggles to her father surpass the illusory torments she encounters. Can the Prospero family reunite and work together as of old, or will their habitual mistrust, untold secrets and hidden allegiances tear them apart? What accounts for Miranda’s utter obedience to the slightest of her father’s wishes?

Is her beloved, the Elf Lord Astreus, irrevocably lost within his demonic alter ego, Seir of the Shadows? Who is Miranda’s mother?

Possible answers come thick and fast as this richly imagined book hurtles through penultimate climax after penultimate climax, toward a somewhat predictable but entirely well-deserved happy ending. As Miranda, once cold-hearted and almost entirely oblivious to social cues, blossoms into a long-delayed emotional maturity, so too will the reader warm toward her and her peculiar, prickly relatives.

It’s sad but satisfying to bid goodbye to the colorful Prospero family. What’s next, Lamplighter? (Agent: Richard Curtis)

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nonfiction THE GREAT SEA A Human History of the Mediterranean

ISLAM WITHOUT EXTREMES A Muslim Case for Liberty

Abulafia, David Oxford Univ. (816 pp.) $34.95 | October 1, 2011 978-0-19-532334-4

Akyol, Mustafa Norton (224 pp.) $25.95 | July 18, 2011 978-0-393-07086-6

Abulafia (Mediterranean History/ Cambridge Univ.; The Discovery of Mankind: Atlantic Encounters in the Age of Columbus, 2008, etc.) provides a “history of the Mediterranean Sea, rather than a history of the lands around it.”

In this massive companion piece to The Mediterranean in History (2003), the author looks at the role played by trade, as opposed to physical migration of populations, in diffusing cultures and religion, as well as that of naval warfare and conquest.

Abulafia weighs in on the dispute over the origins of the Etruscans who preceded the Romans and built the first cities in Italy.

Had they migrated from the east, as Latin writers such as Virgil and Cicero supposed, or were they indigenous to the region?

For the author, the important question is “how their distinctive culture came into being in Italy”—the diffusion of objects, standards of taste, religious cults, etc. The author looks at five distinct stages in the culture of the Mediterranean: 22000 to 1000 BCE, when progress was punctuated by a series of natural disasters; 1000 BCE to 600 CE, which encompasses the great cultures of antiquity and the rise of Judaism and Christianity; 600-1350, during which the Roman Empire fell and Islam rose; 1350-1830, dominated by the Ottoman empire and the Crusades; and 1830-2010, featuring the expansion of the British empire whose acquisitions stretched from Gibraltar to Suez in the modern period. Abulafia writes in a popular style with an eye for interesting sidelights on history, such as the backdating of the Trojan War by Homer and Virgil, and quirky asides about modern Mediterranean culture.

Whether or not readers agree with the author that the Mediterranean “has played a role in the history of civilization that has far surpassed any other expanse of sea,” this comprehensive, scholarly study contains much food for thought. (40 halftones)

A Turkish journalist recounts the history and fluctuations of Islam with grace and style.

Akyol charts the course of the early tribes of Islam, fixed and unevolving, to the strict regimes and terrorist struggles of modern times. Laying the foundation with Muhammad’s vision of the Qur’an and the subsequent battles it has inspired between traditionalists and rationalists, the author investigates a religion rooted deeply in individual freedoms and pragmatism. Islam, as espoused by the Qur’an, granted rights to women and slaves and was once anachronistically progressive; however unorthodox his views, Muhammad struggled and persevered for the expansion of the Islamic faith. As centuries passed, the Qur’an and its core message of intellectualism and individualism gave way to political interests—as is the case in most faiths. Akyol’s account of the permutations and adaptations of Islam exhibit the strength of the message at its heart and the strong force conspiring to oppress and rewrite its fundamental message. Informative at every turn, the author lifts the veil on the beautiful truths and harsh realities of a faith at war with itself, and ever-evolving in its interpretations and executions. Akyol ends with a call for a more secularized Arab world (perhaps underway now as revolutions spring through the region) as a way to preserve the true legacy of Muhammad’s teachings and propel Islam out from the shadows.

A full-color view of the spectrum of Islam, a religion too often regarded in black-and-white terms.

MARGARET SANGER A Life of Passion

Baker, Jean H. Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (368 pp.) $35.00 | November 8, 2011 978-0-8090-9498-1

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A sympathetic biography that seeks to clear the noted birth-control pioneer’s name of the charges of elitism and racism, which have darkened her reputa-

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“A deceptively brief volume offers profound meditations on art, the creative process and so much more.” from bento’s sketchbook

Feminist historian Baker (History/Goucher Coll.; Sisters: Lives of America’s Suffragists, 2005, etc.) tells both Margaret Sanger’s (1879–1966) personal and public stories. Born to a large, poor Irish family, Sanger transformed herself from middle-class housewife to internationally renowned sex educator. Although trained as a nurse, she left school before earning a degree and consequently worked primarily as a midwife in New York’s Lower East Side. It was the death of a young woman from a self-induced abortion that impelled her to take up the cause of women’s rights to contraception. Baker chronicles her early years as an activist, mingling with bohemian intellectuals and developing her skills of writing, organizing and fundraising.

For her forthright language on sexual matters, she was charged in 1914 with violating the Comstock anti-obscenity laws. The charges were later dropped, but Sanger was imprisoned briefly in 1917 for opening a clinic and disseminating forbidden information. Into her account of Sanger’s years of activism, the author weaves the story of her several debilitating illnesses, her two marriages and numerous sexual alliances, her encounters with the famous (e.g., Havelock Ellis and Mahatma Gandhi) and her gradual displacement as leader of the birth-control movement. Baker ably illuminates the time period, making clear the attitudes that Sanger confronted and the political and religious forces that were arrayed against her. She acknowledges Sanger’s support of eugenics but asserts that Sanger was being pragmatic, requiring allies and finding many in the then-popular eugenics movement. Baker also asserts that to label her as racist is an unjust tactic of pro-life groups and that, in her day, Sanger, who opposed segregation, was more racially tolerant than most Americans.

A wealth of information about the birth-control movement and the dedicated woman who was long at the center of it. (8 pages of black-and-white illustrations)

WHEN WE WALKED ABOVE THE CLOUDS A Memoir of Vietnam Barnes, H. Lee Univ. of Nebraska (320 pp.) $29.95 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8032-3448-2

Novelist and short-story writer Barnes (English/College of Southern Nevada; Minimal Damage: Stories of Veterans, 2007, etc.) offers a moving memoir of his time at war in Vietnam.

As a young man in 1963, the author was adrift, doing OK in college but without real purpose, emerging from a troubled childhood that left him confused and insecure. A letter from his Draft Board and subsequent enlistment in the Army quickly changed all that. He became, perhaps much to his own surprise, a member of the elite Green Berets, and soon enough found himself in Vietnam. Stationed at Tra Bong, a remote Army outpost surrounded on three sides by forested mountains, Barnes’ life was at first boring and routine, and he captures expertly the 1206

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humdrum nature of war: beer and bad coffee, rats and diarrhea, darts and cards, heat and insects, dumb officers and flawed but brave comrades. Then, on a routine patrol gone wrong, four of his own and a large number of Vietnamese and Montagnard tribesmen were killed. As he lifted a buddy’s decomposed body off the ground, both a hatred for the enemy and the stupidity of the war emerged. He began his own patrols and learned he could do what few Americans in his outfit could: aptly climb the treacherous mountains and survive in the unforgiving jungle as well as the natives. He learned to trust the jungle, and despite the heat and leeches and danger that seemed omnipresent, he felt more alive than he had before or since. Nearly 50 years later, Barnes writes that “Vietnam is the only thing in my life that isn’t fiction.” In the grand scheme of things, not much happened at Tra Bong; “the life of a trooper out here meant little, except to those who were out here.” But with sharp and unsentimental prose, Barnes makes it matter a great deal.

A war remembrance of beauty and unadorned brutality.

BENTO’S SKETCHBOOK

Berger, John Illustrator: Berger, John Pantheon (176 pp.) $28.95 | November 8, 2011 978-0-307-37995-5 e-book 978-0-307-90692-2

A deceptively brief volume offers profound meditations on art, the creative process and so much more.

Berger has long been difficult to categorize—philosopher? art critic? essayist? novelist?—and his latest defies pigeon-holing even by the standards of this Britishborn writer who has long lived in France. Let’s start with the title, which alludes to a long-rumored but never-found sketchbook by the philosopher Spinoza, to whom Berger refers affectionately as “Bento” (the nickname for Benedict) and whom he excerpts liberally. In fact, dozens of passages from Spinoza’s Ethics, accompanied by drawings from Berger (perhaps channeling Spinoza) and others might give this the appearance of an illustrated abridgement of that work. Yet Spinoza is more of a springboard, as Berger delves deeply into the processes of making and responding to art, of thinking and being, of narrative and history, of the essence of humanity. Taking inspiration from the possibility of a Spinoza sketchbook, the author “began to make drawings prompted by something asking to be drawn.” In the process, he began to focus on what he drew and why he drew, connecting the creation of art to everything from philosophy to politics to religion. Each of the prose pieces—some as short as a paragraph, few longer than a couple of pages—is self-contained, yet this volume isn’t exactly a collection of essays, for none are titled and all are thematically interconnected as well. Whether he’s extending an analogy that compares making a drawing to riding a motorbike or discusses storytelling in a manner that could apply just as well to drawing (“In following a story, we follow a storyteller, or, more precisely, we follow the trajectory of

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a storyteller’s attention, what it notices and what it ignores…”), he makes such interaction and interconnection seem central to the human condition.

Berger’s readers will see with fresh eyes.

SOME OF MY LIVES A Scrapbook Memoir

Bernier, Rosamond Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $28.00 | October 11, 2011 978-0-374-26661-5

Legendary art lecturer and L’OEIL magazine founder Bernier (Matisse, Picasso, Miró—As I Knew Them, 1991) collates jampacked brief sketches of her long, eventful life.

As a roving fashion editor for Vogue from 1945 onward, the author met all the modern artists of the time, in music, design, photography and painting. She was one of the few journalists invited into the studios of Picasso, Matisse and Louise Bourgeois, and she depicts these prickly personalities with a startlingly freshness and intimacy. Bernier’s fortuitous career path was due partly to her peripatetic upbringing and family ties. Born in 1916 to an English mother and American Jewish lawyer from Philadelphia who was steeped in music, Bernier attended English boarding school and Sarah Lawrence College.

She befriended musicians like Aaron Copeland and his disciple Leonard Bernstein early on, while living in Mexico after college and during her first marriage. Bernier got offered three jobs at Vogue at once, mostly by accident and knowing the right people.

She admitted to Edna Chase that she knew nothing about fashion, to which the redoubtable editor replied: “My child, I know a fashion editor when I see one.” Tracking stories in Paris meant helping Horst photograph Gertrude Stein and her poodle; getting fabulous discount clothes from Balenciaga’s tailors and others; and being asked to interview Coco Chanel when she staged her postwar comeback in 1954. Each vignette is riveting with particulars. Bernier’s later years were notable for her marriage to English art critic John Russell and successful career as a “professional talker,” roaming the world giving lessons in art history.

An inimitable life captured with spirited, winning immediacy. (16 pages of black-and-white illustrations)

THE FOXFIRE 45TH ANNIVERSARY BOOK Singin’, Praisin’, Raisin’

Editor: Best, Cari Editor: Green, Joyce Editor: Foxfire Students Anchor (608 pp.) $18.95 paperback | September 6, 2011 978-0-307-74259-9 | e-book 978-0-307-74487-6

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A combined scrapbook, best-of anthology and nostalgic look backward celebrating the homespun birth of the Foxfire empire.

Empire isn’t far from the mark, for in the 1970s, the Foxfire series of books edited by the since-disgraced Appalachian teacher Eliot Wigginton and his students became bibles for back-to-the-landers, especially in the South, and sold by the armload. Wigginton began the project as a practical way to get his students interested in writing, and so he put them to work going beyond the confines of the exclusive school and into the mountains of northeastern Georgia, gathering stories from and about the lives of local people. As the current crop of editors note at several points, that was precisely the time of Deliverance, which was emphatically not good press for the area, though it had its uses—as banjoist Wallace Crowe recalls, “Although it was bad on one hand, it was good for bluegrass music because now if someone hears the banjo, that’s what they are reminded of.”

Foxfire and its successor volumes did much to redeem Southern Appalachia from dark images of toothlessness and fallen logs.

As with those volumes, this anniversary commemorative offers both theory and practice, the latter ranging from how to live on practically nothing to the fine arts of tying knots, building sleds, caning a chair and raising azaleas from seed. Highlights abound, including an interview with an agriculture inspector who warns of faux-organic stuff on the market, a profile of a local who recalls, “You either moonshined or you sold corn to moonshiners,” and a slew of truly scary ghost stories that would do M.R. James proud.

Every school needs a Foxfire project of its own. Here’s a blueprint and instruction manual, as well as ideal bedside reading for those seeking the simple life. (Illustrations and photographs throughout)

NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN How I Went From Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur

Blair, Ryan with Yaeger, Don Portfolio (256 pp.) $25.95 | August 4, 2011 978-1-59184-403-7

With veteran co-author Yaeger (with Rex Ryan: Play It Like You Mean It, 2011, etc.), millionaire entrepreneur Blair tells his compelling story: a troubled street kid overcomes a broken home and a drug-addled father to amass a vast fortune before the age of 30.

As tantalizing as that history is, however, the author never really digs into it here beyond referencing his time as a somewhat incongruous Southern California gang-banger. Readers hoping to learn exactly how a scrawny white kid from a formerly stable middle-class life transformed himself into a hard-edged hoodlum—only to renounce it all—will be somewhat disappointed. Rather, Blair provides a course in Entrepreneurism 101

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with a rather vague and ill-defined human-interest back story for inspiration. Nonetheless, the author’s experience growing small companies and then selling them to larger ones is insightful. In addition to outlining the intricate issues involved in creating a thriving business, he also provides thoughtful commentary on the psyche required by newly minted titans of industry. Could you fire a friend? How about carry a mountain of debt on your back without any clear means of repaying it? Blair asks some seriously tough questions while also illuminating would-be tycoons about the cutthroat nature of the environment they hope to conquer. His candid recounting of his own failures is easily the most enlightening and potentially beneficial part of the book.

Readers may never attain the author’s heights, but his advice should help nascent entrepreneurs skirt at least some of the pitfalls ahead.

MY LIFE, DELETED A Memoir

Bolzan, Scott Bolzan, Joan Rother, Caitlin HarperOne (304 pp.) $25.99 | October 4, 2011 978-0-06-202547-0

Following a head injury, Bolzan, a former NFL player and successful executive, lost all recollection of his past life. His memoir traces his frightening struggle back from feeling completely lost and alone to building a new life with his family.

After slipping in the hospital emergency room, the author suffered a concussion and had no recollection of who he might be, nor that the attractive woman at his bedside was his wife and the teenagers beside her, his children. His doctors advised him that his memory should return in a couple of weeks, but it didn’t happen. He also suffered from debilitating headaches, severe depression and a short attention span. He lost part of his vision in one eye, had trouble retaining new information and understanding abstract concepts. Bolzan struggled to support his family and keep his business running, finally realizing it was impossible: “I wanted to scream, ‘I’m not okay, and I’m scared!’ ” Despite what his doctors said, the author constantly battled his panic and feelings of isolation. The author constantly prodded his family for clues about his past life and personality; occasionally, what they told him caused embarrassment. With the help of his wife and daughter, the author slowly ventured back into the world, first on short neighborhood excursions to the grocery store. Bolzan began relating to his family in new ways.

During an Internet search, the author located the Brain Injury Association of Arizona, and he soon began reaching out to others to share his story.

While tugging at your heart, this courageous recovery narrative should also be a useful reference for professionals working with individuals suffering from brain injuries.

(Author appearances in Arizona)

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PROPHET’S PREY My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints

Brower, Sam Bloomsbury (352 pp.) $26.00 | October 11, 2011 978-1-60819-275-5

A private investigator exposes the horrors of a fundamentalist Mormon

sect.

First-time author Brower knows the Mormon faith better than most because of his heritage. But he knew almost nothing about the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints until stumbling on their practices after accepting a seemingly routine case as part of his private-investigator business based in Cedar City, Utah. The fundamentalists, led by a supposedly divine prophet named Warren Jeffs, illegally practiced polygamy. Brower, however, did not develop his investigation around the multiple-marriage culture. Instead, he became engaged far beyond helping his original client due to the dominance of the fundamentalist leaders over the women, including girls who had not reached adulthood. The author concluded that no religious doctrine could justify what looked like rape and incest. Furthermore, Brower learned about financial irregularities that, in his opinion, qualified the FLDS as an ongoing criminal enterprise as objectionable as the storied Mafia. Partly because of the author’s moral outrage and shoe-leather doggedness, lawenforcement agencies in Utah, Arizona and Texas, among other locales, began criminal investigations. Jeffs lost his liberty after a rape-related trial in a Utah courtroom, but an appellate court overturned his conviction on technical grounds. As Brower completed his manuscript during early 2011, the ultimate legal fate of Jeffs remained uncertain. The next trial is scheduled to occur in Texas on felony child-abuse charges. Brower documents how the seemingly all-powerful Jeffs has deteriorated physically and mentally while in prison. No matter what the verdicts in cases filed against Jeffs, he and his followers, numbering in the tens of thousands, have damaged countless lives.

The author wisely focuses significant sections of the narrative on the victims.

An excruciatingly detailed, nightmarish saga demonstrating the sometimes inexplicable power of human evil.

(16-page black-and-white insert. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky)

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“This engaging tale will leave many reaching for their Graham Greene.” from chasing the devil

THE FATAL GIFT OF BEAUTY The Trials of Amanda Knox

CHASING THE DEVIL A Journey Through Sub-Saharan Africa in the Footsteps of Graham Greene

Burleigh, Nina Broadway (352 pp.) $25.00 | August 2, 2011 978-0-307-58858-6

Powerful assessment of a tragic crime and its disastrous aftermath.

The 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher in the university town of Perugia, Italy, at first seemed scandalously comprehensible: The victim’s amoral American housemate, Amanda Knox, bewitched two Italian men into a “sex game” gone bad. Journalist and Elle contributing editor Burleigh (Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, and Forgery in the Holy Land, 2008, etc.) argues that Knox and her equally naive boyfriend became unwitting scapegoats to a fumbled investigation and a volatile mix of Italian gender issues and local mores (she adeptly portrays Perugia as a gritty, conservative region with a tangled history). Although authorities quickly convicted Rudy Guede, a troubled local, they then successfully prosecuted Knox despite a near-total lack of credible evidence, other than her strange outbursts and writings. “The scenario presented by the prosecution was not very plausible,” writes the author. “The two students did not behave like guilty people…[but] were guilty of callous, blithe, and stupid behavior.” It was this that damned them from the Italian perspective, but Burleigh establishes that Knox’s adolescent self-indulgence was both typically American and reactive to a seamy European hedonism that is both moralistically condemned and economically tolerated. The author writes in a colorful, amped-up style that’s also thoughtful and detail-oriented, capturing how this cross-cultural milieu spawned a murder case in which all involved—the Italian authorities, the feckless youngsters, the media—look awful. Burleigh establishes much background information, allowing her to plausibly indict a “labyrinthine judicial bureaucracy lacking any official public face or any rules of transparency.” She notes that in Italy, the police often sue defendants for slander, and “defense witnesses…are not sworn in, and they are presumed to be lying.” Ultimately, she argues, Knox simply made a more fascinating villain than Guede, despite his burglaries and damning forensic evidence. Her devastating conclusion shows how actual physical evidence supports Knox’s alibi and suggests that the disturbed Guede acted alone.

Burleigh’s propulsive narrative and the many unsettling aspects of the case make this a standout among recent true-crime titles. (15 black-and-white photographs; 2 maps)

Butcher, Tim Atlas & Co. (336 pp.) $26.95 | September 13, 2011 978-1-935633-29-7 An award-winning British journalist retraces the young novelist Graham Greene’s 1935 walk through Sierra Leone and Liberia.

At 30, Greene was looking for “a smash-and-grab raid into the primitive” when he set out on the jungle trek recounted in his travel book Journeys Without Maps. His entourage included his cousin Barbara and 26 porters, three servants and one chef.

More than 70 years later, Butcher (Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart, 2008) made his way through the same remote backcountry in the wake of civil warfare that he had covered recently as African correspondent for the London Telegraph.

Like Greene, he is attracted by the thrill of danger, but he also sought to understand the modern evil that has fostered child soldiering and violence over “blood diamonds” in the region.

Accompanied by a friend’s son, Butcher found many villages unchanged since Greene’s visit, which is occasionally recalled by village elders. In Sierra Leone, he visited Freetown, once the “Athens of Africa,” now poor and corrupt, and a transit point for Colombian cocaine barons moving drugs into Europe.

Greene based his novel The Heart of the Matter on his own stay in Freetown, whose seediness informs much of his fiction. In Liberia, Butcher met war victims, rice farmers and others, and discovered communities where secret societies worship the devil. While vividly describing the beauty of landscapes and the ugliness of derelict shantytowns, the author weaves in stories of freed slaves who settled both Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the tensions between settlers and indigenous people that have shaped the histories of both places. At journey’s end, Butcher has a new understanding of Greene the adventurer, whose own trek sparked the novelist’s lifelong love of Africa.

This engaging tale will leave many reaching for their Graham Greene.

LOST IN AMERICA A Dead-End Journey

Buzzell, Colby Harper/HarperCollins (272 pp.) $24.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-06-184135-4

Life derails a commissioned meditation on Kerouac from a young American writer.

On assignment from his publishers to reappraise On the Road in the age of Obama, Buzzell (My War: Killing Time in Iraq, 2005) admits that while he adored Kerouac |

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as a teenager and has several copies of the book, including a first edition, after a tour in Iraq, he had lost his passion for it.

More to the point, he was distracted by two personal events: his mother’s terminal illness and the birth of his son. At loose ends, in mourning and frankly wanting to postpone the responsibilities of married life and fatherhood, Buzzell decided to make a journey all his own, starting in San Francisco and following his whims to discover America on his own terms. His travels took him to Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Denver, Omaha, Des Moines and, most enduringly (and endearingly) to Detroit before he winding up almost by chance in New York City. Along the way, he drove and lost money on an ice-cream truck, cleared land with a chainsaw for a new Safeway, sold used items at a Salvation Army and engaged in a lot of drinking and spending time in flophouses, his preferred mode of lodging. For nearly half the book, the narrative is as rootless and random as the author’s wanderings at first. Buzzell was amusingly unimpressed with himself, and he lets the reader in on his self-doubts about the project at hand every step of the way. It’s only in Detroit, where he openly assumed the role of writer, that he truly found his footing as a witty, fearless, sharp-eyed chronicler of America in decline. Time, Inc.’s purchase of a “safe house” in an upper-class enclave for its reporters to cover Detroit’s devastation reminds him of Baghdad’s Green Zone, where American reporters idled in high style between jaunts into the wrecked city to cover the war. Besides being intensely self-aware, Buzzell exhibits a Henry Miller–like talent for the memorable character sketch, and Detroit gives him plenty of subjects.

A slow starter with a strong finish.

THE END OF MOLASSES CLASSES Getting Our Kids Unstuck– 101 Extraordinary Solutions for Parents and Teachers

Clark, Ron Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $23.00 | July 26, 2011 978-1-4516-3972-8 Inspirational, easy-to-follow insights on how to grow smarter, healthier children and communities.

High-energy educator Clark (The Excellent 11: Qualities Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children, 2005, etc.) opened the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta to serve lowincome students at a variety of achievement levels. His philosophy struck a chord with none other than Oprah Winfrey, who helped launch him and his program into the mainstream—and was the keynote speaker at the academy’s first graduation. Here, Clark revisits the lessons he learned in establishing his academy, as well as those he picked up throughout his own teaching career. Implementing just a few of these tips, he writes, will lead to invigorated classrooms filled with children who are excited to learn. These range from the obvious, such as “be patient” and “listen,” to the more difficult, such as not giving students 1210

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second chances on tests and teaching parents how to properly tutor their children. “Children like adults who are dynamic and full of life,” Clark writes. “They want to be around someone who makes them laugh and who shows a passion in all they do.”

By providing that kind of leadership, parents and teachers can cultivate a generation of children actively engaged in their own education. Heartwarming success stories pepper the advice, as well as testimonials from parents whose children have benefited from the author’s work.

Those expecting to find a biting commentary on the state of education will be disappointed, but this timely resource can make school a motivational and fun community.

TRAUMA My Life as an Emergency Surgeon

Cole, James St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $25.99 | October 11, 2011 978-0-312-55222-0

A candid look at the life of a trauma surgeon who has served as a reserve officer with the US Special Operations Command, as well as the urban trenches

of the United States.

After 20 years on the job, Cole explains why he considers himself privileged to work in such a demanding career. He writes that “trauma surgeons…thrive on taking patients who are dying in a dramatic fashion and exhaust their own energies to give their patients the chance to live.” His patients have ranged from the elite to the homeless, from soldiers to drug-pushers and from the youngest to the elderly, all of whom received his best efforts as a surgeon. Despite his commitment to giving his best to every patient, he admits that only after suffering the miserable experience of providing emergency front-line care under conditions of desert warfare in Iraq could he connect emotionally with the lives of “social derelicts, deviants and bums.” His training as a resident surgeon was grueling—continuously on-call, sleep-derived, taking meals on the run and even once spending 26 consecutive hours in the operating room treating an elderly diabetic with damaged arteries. A high point came when he assisted in brain surgery on a 4-year-old who had been shot while playing on the street. It looked like a hopeless situation, but a year later, smiling and alert, the boy walked into the hospital with his mother to thank the doctors. Cole provides a satisfying bird’s-eye view of operations in progress, revealing the difficult split-second, life-or-death decisions that surgeons must make.

An engrossing—if sometimes disturbingly graphic— story of the author’s evolution from a newly minted MD to an expert trauma surgeon. (20 black-and-white photos)

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WE ALL WORE STARS Memories of Anne Frank from Her Classmates

Coster, Theo Translator: de Jager, Marjolijn Palgrave Macmillan (224 pp.) $24.00 | September 27, 2011 978-0-230-11444-9

A handful of classmates relegated to Amsterdam’s Jewish Lyceum during World War II offer poignant, haunting memories of “Annelies.”

During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, all Jewish children were forced to attend special schools—in the case of the author and Anne Frank, their families chose the Jewish Lyceum. Of the nearly 500 boys and girls at the school, only half survived the war; while in the Netherlands overall, the author cites 80 percent of the Jewish population were killed, twice the percentage of Jews in Belgium and France, thus undermining the myth about Dutch benevolence toward the Jews. The author, then 13, was known as Maurice and was cited by Frank in her diary as “one of [her] many admirers, but he’s a rather annoying kid.” He remembers how his schoolmates began to stop showing up for class—for example, by the spring of 1942, labor roundups for children as young as 16 were instituted and many families had gone into hiding, such as the Franks and the author’s own dispersed family. However, many others operated under a “ghastly delusion” that in Nazi labor camps they would at least avoid hunger and illness. (Coster was taken to a farm in Vaassen and passed off as a visiting nephew.) In a joint book and film project, Coster managed to track down several surviving classmates for reminiscing, revealing stories as freshly searing as when they first occurred. Several of the survivors who had also ended up in Bergen-Belsen, like Anne, actually spoke to her there, and were impressed by her conviction to survive the war. All speak of Anne’s vivacity and spirit, although they reveal some resentment of her singular fame. Details reveal the enormous pressure on the children in hiding to be quiet and not make trouble, and the absolute lack of professional help after the war in easing the emotional trauma.

The moving lore around the life of Anne Frank remains inexhaustible and eternal.

FALLING FOR ME How I Learned French, Hung Curtains, Traveled to Seville, and Fell in Love

David, Anna Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $14.99 paperback | October 11, 2011 978-0-06-199604-7

Single and suffering from the lack of a serious relationship, this 30-something author and TV personality enlisted the pre-feminist advice of |

the original Cosmo Girl. Her candid memoir details one woman’s search for love in the wired 21st century.

Though happy with her career, David (Bought, 2009, etc.) heard her biological clock ticking loudly and realized her life was devoid of eligible male companionship. After stumbling across a copy of Sex and the Single Girl, a romantic how-to book written in 1962 by Cosmopolitan former editor, Helen Gurley Brown, David embarked on “Gurley-afying” herself: “What if I tried every last suggestion she gave for becoming more feminine and meeting men?” With that approach in mind, the author jumped into redecorating her drab apartment, learning to cook and dressing more attractively. She strove to develop a “richer inner life” and worked on what were the “less-than ideal parts of myself.” In between her self-improvement episodes, David lays bare her life. The author analyzes her family travails, failed relationships and past substance-abuse problems and discusses how this messy combination laid the foundation for her current dearth of male companionship and lackluster personal life.

David tried online dating, began cooking meals at home, traveled alone for fun and actually took a pottery class instead of just talking about it. “By pushing myself to follow Helen’s instructions for living,” she writes, “I’ve discovered just how simple it can be to change who I always thought I was.” David captures her escapades and social encounters with a snappy writing style and keen observation of the mating rituals of urban professionals approaching middle age.

The author’s shtick is sure to appeal to women who are stymied by a similar situation, while others may find David’s romantic quest a bit tedious at times—but still worth a quick glance.

A CLUTTERED LIFE Searching for God, Serenity, and My Missing Keys

Dinnerstein, Pesi Seal Press (256 pp.) $17.00 paperback | August 23, 2011 978-1-58005-310-5 An affecting and humorous account of one talented woman’s search for organization and meaning.

Dinnerstein, who recently retired as a language-skills teacher at CUNY where she worked for more than 30 years, had an office infamous for heaps of boxes, a home cluttered with mementos and a head-turning car full of junk—including several pieces of lumber she intended to return to Home Depot someday. But a chance meeting with an old acquaintance on the eve of her 50th birthday caused the author to rethink her unorganized life and ask herself why she had spent a lifetime hoarding broken pottery, unsorted nails and buttons and unused furniture. What she discovered surprised her; she’d been “searching for God” the entire time. Enter “The Holy Sisters,” a group of offbeat friends and fellow spiritual seekers, who helped haul away the author’s excess physical and mental

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baggage. Even after an epiphany when struggling to recall why she kept a bowl with a broken lid for years, she still had a hard time letting go, as each object was attached to a memory, pleasure or future hope. Dinnerstein’s revelations amass like slowly unearthed jewels through writing, therapy and even Clutterers Anonymous. A poignant visit with her mother, an unexpected home purchase and the trauma of 9/11 combine in a breathtaking journey that delivers kabbalistic wisdom.

Patience for a hoarder’s personality is required, as the ups and downs of the quest, while realistic, are often tedious. However, hanging onto the author’s smooth-flowing voice is easy, and there is nothing junky about what she discovers beneath the rubble.

AMERICA’S QUARTERBACK Bart Starr and the Rise of the National Football League

Dunnavant, Keith Dunne/St. Martin’s (368 pp.) $25.99 | September 13, 2011 978-0-312-36349-9

An admiring tribute to Bart Starr, who led the Green Bay Packers to NFL Championships in the 1960s and to easy victories in the first two Super Bowls.

Journalist Dunnavant (The Missing Ring: How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football’s Most Elusive Prize, 2006, etc.) feigns no objectivity, offering a throwback 1940s-era sports biography that seems to have slipped through a time warp. The narrative begins with the observation that the efficient, stolid Starr has been underrated and then moves to his early life in the mid ’30s. Born to a militaristic father, Starr grew up in a home characterized by competition. Starr’s father encouraged his sons to compete with each other, favored Bart’s brother (who died in boyhood of tetanus) and only grudgingly came to deem worthy the athletic accomplishments of his surviving son. Dunnavant credits the elder Starr’s harsh household for Bart’s moral and athletic growth and throughout rails against the permissiveness of the ’60s. Continually, the author inserts Wikipedian updates on American culture in various years and decades, a technique that soon grows wearisome—as does his fondness for single-sentence paragraphs that seem designed to emphasize but instead add only white space to the narrative. Dunnavant dutifully and unremarkably chronicles Starr’s progress as a player through high school, the University of Alabama and the Packers—at each stage no one expected that he would excel—noting his assiduousness, praising his character (his devotion to his wife, his philanthropy) so often that he sounds like a doting press agent. The author tries to sugarcoat Starr’s later problems as a head coach and GM and, fittingly, ends with the words “thunderous ovation.”

A fawning fan letter. (8-page black-and-white photo insert)

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THE DYSLEXIC ADVANTAGE Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain

Eide, Brock L. Eide, Fernette F. Hudson Street/Penguin (304 pp.) $25.95 | August 18, 2011 978-1-59463-079-8 Groundbreaking theory for the positive potential of dyslexia.

Although dyslexia is often perceived as a barrier to reading, learning-disabilities experts the Eides (Visual Spelling, 2009, etc.) offer uplifting information about the advantages of the dyslexic brain. The authors contend that successful dyslexics thrive not in spite of their brains but because of its unique chemical components. These, they write, produce many notable abilities—e.g., three-dimensional spatial reasoning; better perception of metaphors, analogies and paradoxes; and strong recall. In addition to prominent people with dyslexia—including John Lennon, financial guru Charles Schwab and novelist Anne Rice—the Eides document the achievements of everyday people, like Sarah Andrews, whose dyslexia gave her a powerful 3D-imagery system tailor made for a flourishing career as a geologist. Readers learn that dyslexia is much more than a reading impairment; it is a “different pattern of brain organization and information processing.” The book clearly details the strengths and trade-offs of the dyslexic brain, as well as ways to foster its advantages. For example, a child with strong imagery ability is distracted by math problems with superfluous imagery, but educators can learn to present the same math problems to the child in a different way. Of particular note are ideas for thriving in the workplace and a list of careers that are a good fit for people with unique and talented brains.

Good advice and encouraging analysis for dyslexics, parents, teachers or anyone interested in the endless possibilities of the mind.

RIGHTS GONE WRONG How Law Ignores Common Sense and Undermines Social Justice Ford, Richard Thompson Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $26.00 | October 4, 2011 978-0-374-25035-5

A law professor argues against the harmful misuse of our civil-rights laws.

If instances of outright discrimination today are relatively rare, we have the 20th-century’s civil-rights movement and the laws it inspired to thank. Ford (Law/Stanford Law School; The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse, 2008, etc.) forthrightly acknowledges this monumental

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“Hubble Fellow Adam Frank delves into the complex relationship between time and culture and concludes that culture and cosmology—even the Big Bang—are linked inextricably together. from the end of the beginning

achievement, but asks if those laws are now being stretched too far to cover every type of unfairness or slight. In an increasingly ambiguous and complex social landscape, are we doing more harm than good by insisting every injury or grievance amounts to a civil-rights violation? Ford enlivens his discussion with numerous, colorful example of rights gone wrong, cases where the laws are being abused to the detriment of genuine social justice. For example, Google fires a veteran Internet pioneer, deeming him a poor cultural fit. He sues, claiming age discrimination. A fan sues a Major League Baseball team after being denied the Mother’s Day goodie bag distributed to all females. Another man files suit to be a waiter at Hooters; still another repairs to court against a Manhattan nightclub for its ladies’ night promotion. All claim sex discrimination. A Harvard medical student, already granted an extra eight hours to complete a licensing exam because of her ADHD, demands still more time for a breast-pumping break. The organized San Francisco bicyclists who disrupt traffic, the Million Man marchers, the Promise Keepers, plaintiffs, protesters, even the Jena Six criminal defendants—all vigorously assert their “civil rights” and all, writes Ford, injure the social compact that recognizes a corresponding duty for every right. To view every instance of disparate treatment through the lens of discrimination—at the expense of common sense, civility and pragmatic problem-solving in the public interest—is to encourage the moral poseurs, narcissists, absolutists and extremists among us and to invite a host of outrageous, unintended consequences for those the laws were intended to help.

A crisp analysis of the limits of our civil rights laws and a prescription for how to move beyond them.

AMERICAN CRISIS George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781-1783

Fowler Jr., William Walker (352 pp.) $27.00 | October 1, 2011 978-0-8027-1706-1

Contrary to prevailing belief, winning the Battle of Yorktown was not enough to win the War for Independence. Fowler (History/ Northeastern Univ.; Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763, 2005, etc.) examines how the young country was held together until the formal cessation of hostilities in 1783.

Debts, revenue raising, military expenditure and pensions, political faction, international intrigue—the author pulls together the threads of this period into a fast-paced presentation of what was necessary to win the peace. Though Cornwallis’ troops were imprisoned after his defeat, the Redcoats were not about to leave. Savannah, Charleston, New York City and Penobscot Bay were still under occupation, and George III’s troops and mercenaries continued to present a serious threat. |

Even more so, as Fowler documents, because of the combination of near bankruptcy and factional stalemate which, under the quorum and unanimity rules of the Articles of Confederation, rendered the Continental Congress impotent. The regular army bore the brunt of the political crisis. On one hand, every new indication that peace was at hand made it more difficult to keep the command together against desertion. On the other hand, Congress lacked the revenue to provide the financial resources which would enable Washington and his officers to secure the domestic front. Britain’s commander in chief in New York was reporting regularly on the prospects for dissolution of the U.S. Army and the potential to recover his colonial possessions by taking advantage of internal strife. Fowler’s narrative builds to a dramatic climax on in March 1783, when Washington and his staff outmaneuvered potential mutiny and revolt and secured unity on the question of pay and pensions. After that, British withdrawal, loyalists and other issues could be dealt with.

Solid history on the war after the war. (8-page black-andwhite insert; 2 maps. Appearances at historical societies in New England and New York State)

THE END OF THE BEGINNING Cosmology, Time, and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang Frank, Adam Free Press (320 pp.) $26.00 | September 27, 2011 978-1-4391-6959-9

Hubble Fellow Adam Frank (Astrophysics/Univ. of Rochester) delves into the complex relationship between time and culture and concludes that culture and cosmology—even the Big Bang—are linked inextricably together.

Time, writes the author, can be thought of as both “cosmic time” and “human time.” Material engagement with the physical world necessarily is affected by cultural invention; from ancient civilization to Microsoft Outlook, time is “entangled” with mankind. In addition, even as entanglement shifted from the day/night dichotomy of hunter-gatherers to the sophisticated atomic clocks we use today, our interaction with time relied on the cosmos—movements of the earth, sun and other stars remain the basic elements on which our notion of time is built. As human consciousness grew more sophisticated, so did our manipulation of time. Clocks, telescopes, radio, GPS and e-mail are all examples of how cultural invention and cosmic time are interwoven and mutually articulated. Maintaining a conversational and enthusiastic tone and accessible vocabulary, the author surveys the implications of this “braiding” of time and culture in terms of quantum physics, and introduces several alternatives to the Big Bang ex nihilo. String theory, multiverse models, brane cosmology and other fields may yield answers about the creation of the universe, and are also implicitly theories of (space)-time. Depleting reserves of oil and energy, too, indicates the need for a renewed approach toward resources

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THE ANATOMY OF ISRAEL’S SURVIVAL

and time. Ultimately, Frank argues that recognizing our place in the ongoing narrative of the creation of cultural time and cosmic time—moving beyond the cosmology of the Big Bang (of which “ours” may be one of many)—is what will allow mankind to enter a new, global era of time and culture.

A phenomenal blend of science and cultural history.

WINNING THE WAR ON WAR The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide Goldstein, Joshua S. Dutton (400 pp.) $26.95 | September 15, 2011 978-0-525-95253-4

A surprising study that suggests warfare is decreasing and growing less intense, coupled with a strident defense of peacekeeping and the United Nations.

Goldstein (School of International Service, American Univ.; The Real Price of War: How You Pay for the War on Terror, 2004, etc.) writes that most people believe “wars are getting worse all the time,” based on daily coverage of atrocities and misunderstood (but oft-repeated) statistics. “In fact,” he writes, “worldwide, wars today are measurably fewer and smaller than thirty years ago.” The author suggests the general public misses the significance of the post-Cold War decline of interstate wars, and focuses on isolated horrors in troubled, impoverished regions like the Congo, instead of perceiving how warfare is becoming less lethal overall. He supports this claim by providing an overview of the conflicts that have “cooled” since 1980, such as the “dirty wars” of Central America and other proxy conflicts between the superpowers, as well as depicting a zone of continuing violence that stretches from Iraq and Afghanistan through Somalia and Congo, which he terms “midsized” wars. Goldstein points out that the lethality of the two World Wars has distorted our historical memory; in fact, societies were exceptionally violent prior to the 19th century. Still, he argues that the complex downward trends he tracks are due principally to the influence of the UN and its peacekeeping endeavors. Thus, he presents a compact narrative of the UN’s post-WWII foundation and the unexpected influence of early leaders like Dag Hammarskjold, “the ideal of an independent, activist secretarygeneral” prior to his death in the field, as well as a lengthy examination of the organization’s clearest successes and failures. The UN’s first peacekeeping mission began in the Congo in 1960, in the chaotic aftermath of colonialism; since then, it has had both defused conflict successfully, as in Namibia and Cambodia, and suffered humiliating setbacks, as in Rwanda and Bosnia. Goldstein writes in an alert, clearly argumentative fashion, but barrages readers with long, somewhat repetitive chunks of analysis.

Optimistic, useful history of diplomacy as counterweight to brutality.

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Goodman, Hirsh PublicAffairs (288 pp.) $26.99 | September 6, 2011 978-1-58648-529-0 Chronicle of the existential insecurity that has tipped Israel’s fall from grace, and a strong plea to quit its role as occupying power to the Palestinians.

As a senior associate at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, former journalist Goodman (Let Me Create a Paradise, God Said to Himself: A Journey of Conscience from Johannesburg To Jerusalem, 2005, etc.) is both a devoted citizen of Israel and well-meaning critic deeply concerned about the future of his country. In these pointed essays, he examines the Arab-Israeli cycle of conflict that has plagued Israel from its founding, when a country of largely Holocaust survivors defeated a hostile consortium of Arab states against all odds in 1948 so that the survival motto of “never again” became the national mantrA: “paranoia was seen as a national value, great freedoms were afforded the security organizations, generals were Israel’s soccer stars, and the secret service, the silent heroes of the day.” Hubris dogged the new nation, swollen with the world’s Jewish refugees, while the remnants of ragged, resentful Palestinians were used by Arab states as pawns in striking at Israel. “Myopic” leaders like Golda Meir could not envision equal treatment for the Palestinians, and the assassination of Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin helped derail the peace process, soon followed by revenge attacks, suicide bombs and four years of the Second Intifada. Goodman sees Ariel Sharon’s decision to shed Gaza and its Palestinians in 2005 as a necessary excision of a “cancer” eating away at Israel’s moral center, not to mention the economic drain. The author considers the threat to Israel’s north, the toll of bad press on Israel’s image, its relationship with the United States (and very powerful AIPAC lobby), the prickly issue of Jerusalem and, finally, the essential democratic structure of the young, vital country. In short, Israel cannot sanction another collapse of peace.

Tapping into his access to the defense structure, Goodman does a solid job depicting Israel’s “ball of thorns.”

(Author tour to New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto)

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FRENCH CLASSICS MADE EASY A 10-Minute Soufflé, a Contemporary Bouillabaisse, a Lighter, Quicker Cassoulet– 250 Great Recipes Simplified for the Modern Kitchen

Grausman, Richard Workman (432 pp.) $15.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-7611-5854-7 |

Traditional French cooking reimagined for the contemporary American kitchen.

The title of Grausman’s (At Home With French Cooking, 1988) latest might strike readers as a bit of an oxymoron—“easy” is a relative term when it comes to mastering French culinary techniques. Yet the author has tackled this often intimidating cuisine and made it much more accessible to the American cook. He draws upon his years as a teacher to understand where a novice cook’s confusion might arise, and whisks those fears away with clear, step-by-step instructions. He shares timesaving tips and amends even the most sacred French recipes to make them more palatable to today’s cooks. Grausman does not, however, compromise the integrity of the recipes. You still need fish heads for Bouillabaisse, and while he has cut back on certain health-compromising ingredients like salt, there’s still plenty of cream and butter. The author takes technique seriously, and he provides numerous instructional asides and illustrations. Dessert is not an afterthought, but rather an 86-page section of tempting recipes, including pastries. Complex without being complicated, there are plenty of meals presented that lend themselves to quick yet elegant dinners. The Chicken with Riesling is flavorful, rich and creamy, and easy enough to prepare on a busy weeknight. And then there’s the soufflé. With Grausman as a guide, anyone can produce this lighter-than-air treat. And yes, it cooks in just 10 minutes.

Classic French cuisine for everyone, from beginners to professionals.

THE GRACE OF EVERYDAY SAINTS How a Band of Believers Lost Their Church and Found Their Faith

Guthrie, Julian Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (288 pp.) $25.00 | August 18, 2011 978-0-547-13304-1 A d ramat ic D a v id v s . Goli ath account of a church under siege by its own power structure.

San Francisco Chronicle journalist Guthrie begins with the unexpected 1994 closure of St. Brigid Catholic Church, a beautiful landmark built more than a century ago by Irish immigrants in one of San Francisco’s busiest areas. The closure did not make sense—the magnificent Romanesque building had survived earthquakes, fire and both World Wars, and boasted 21 active parish groups and nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in funds—but the Catholic leadership ordered it closed nonetheless. Along came the faithful—people like Lily Wong, a blind woman who knew the exact number of steps it took to get from her house to St. Brigid’s—and their vigilant struggle to have the church reopened. Guthrie’s exhaustive research and interviews with more than 75 parishioners delve below the surface, and allow her to paint a striking portrait of their struggle and strength. Led by unlikely saints such as Father O, an offbeat |

priest who waved a white towel while urging parishioners to not “throw in the towel,” they kept a candle burning and petitioned for a decade to save their beloved St. Brigid. The odds seemed insurmountable and faith-shaking. Some of the people, like Carmen Esteva, originally held church officials’ decisions in godlike reverence; she later became the group’s spiritual leader.

Through myriad twists and turns, Guthrie’s smoothly written narrative uncovers powerful church secrets—and a pillar of community faith.

Engaging proof that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

MOONLIGHT ON LINOLEUM A Daughter’s Memoir Helwig, Terry Howard Books/Simon & Schuster (240 pp.) $25.00 | October 4, 2011 978-1-4516-2847-0

A sometimes plodding, sometimes inspired chronicle of a daughter’s transient childhood.

Helwig begins and ends her meandering memoir at her mother Carola’s gravesite, a place where redemption and closure temper jagged memories of years spent shouldering the burden of caretaking her five younger sisters while her truant mother succumbed to mental illness. A “ravenhaired, hazel-eyed beauty,” Carola became a child bride in 1948 at 14 in sleepy Glenwood, Iowa, giving birth to the author a year into her marriage while making ends meet writing jingles for grooming products. At 16, Carola suffered a nervous breakdown trying to juggle two daughters, farm life and marriage, so she divorced her husband and moved the family to Colorado to stay at her mother’s house. It wasn’t long before Davy, an oil driller, fell in love with and swiftly married her, bringing about third daughter Patricia. Helwig nimbly conveys her confusion when, at age 6, Carola inexplicably dumped her and sister Vicki off at their biological father’s country home back in Iowa for the summer. Those “idyllic” months on the farm would turn into years before Carola returned, ushering them through an endless succession of cities, schools, the birth of two more girls and the adoption of cousin Nancy. As Helwig chronicles her unorthodox upbringing, her narrative suffers from a surfeit of detail and exposition that alternately decorates yet dilutes her cheerless childhood. Still, in growing up devoid of traditional parental affection and support, the author’s depiction of her life and her mother’s downward spiral toward parental fatigue is frank, and this sincerity refreshes the frequently rambling prose. Bearing the increasingly physical punishments and continually caretaking for her younger sisters while Carola drank at local bars, Helwig sadly reminisces on becoming “swallowed up by the grown-up world.” However, “for a few precious moments,” she reflects, “we actually felt like a normal family.”

A painful purging of demons that is more cathartic for the author than readers. (Agent: Claudia Ballard)

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“Vintage Hitchens. Argumentative and sometimes just barely civil—another worthy collection from this most inquiring of inquirers.” from arguably

THUNDER DOG The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog & the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero Hingson, Michael Flory, Susy Thomas Nelson (256 pp.) $22.99 | August 2, 2011 9781400203048

The story of a four-legged superhero named Roselle, who led her owner out of the ruins of the World Trade Center.

Hingson’s remarkable relationship with guide dogs began long before the events of 9/11. Growing up blind, the author came to rely on their dedication, loyalty and courage at a very young age. Guide dogs helped him navigate through grade school, college and his first jobs. It was a beautiful but stormshy Labrador retriever with a golden coat who would help save his life. The chilling account of how the two worked in tandem to safely descend 78 floors and 1,463 steps, while simultaneously helping others remain calm, is truly awe-inspiring. A decade has not muted the horrors of 9/11, and Hingson and co-writer Flory do a magnificent job of relating what it was like in the aftermath of the attack. That account alone would have been a worthy and important endeavor. But the authors go beyond that, offering both an illuminating look at the realities blind people face every day and the astounding capabilities of seeing-eye dogs. Seamlessly weaving the narrative between the extraordinary exodus from the burning towers and Hingson’s fascinating life is a savvy literary device that only enriches the tale.

A tragic, inspirational and enlightening memoir.

ARGUABLY Essays

Hitchens, Christopher Twelve (776 pp.) $30.00 | CD: $34.98 | September 1, 2011 978-1-4555-0277-6 CD 978-1-61113-906-8 A new collection of essays from Hitchens (Hitch-22: A Memoir, 2010, etc.), his first since 2004.

Whether on the invasion of Iraq or the merits of Vladimir Nabokov’s fiction, master controversialist Hitchens has an informed opinion. Here he gathers a hefty helping of work over the last few years, published in venues such as the Atlantic and Vanity Fair. Sometimes his pieces concern passing matters, though they are seldom ephemeral themselves; more often he writes about what he wishes to write about, topics that require weighty but not dense (and usually not heavy-handed) consideration. On Gore Vidal, for instance, Hitchens gets in a lovely zinger worthy of Vidal himself: “The price of knowing him was exposure to some of his less adorable traits, which included 1216

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his pachydermatous memory for the least slight or grudge and a very, very minor tendency to bring up the Jewish question in contexts where it didn’t quite belong.” Hitchens balances old interests with new discoveries; he was one of the first to write at length about Stieg Larsson, for instance, whose death by “causes that are symptoms of modern life” he endorses. He also turns to his longstanding fascination for the totalitarian mind. He characterizes Adolf Hitler as holding opinions that are “trite and bigoted and deferential,” while “the prose in Mein Kampf is simply laughable in its pomposity.” Hitchens revels in theoretical questions and in stirring up trouble: His pieces on religion seem calculated to offend as many believers as possible, which is of course the point. Still, he is also practical, offering up some fine advice on how to argue points over a Georgetown dinner table or down at the local watering hole—just say, “Yes, but not in the South?” and, he avers, “You will seldom if ever be wrong, and you will make the expert perspire.”

Vintage Hitchens. Argumentative and sometimes just barely civil—another worthy collection from this most inquiring of inquirers.

LOVE FOR GROWN-UPS The Garter Brides’ Guide to Marrying for Life When You’ve Already Got a Life Jacobs, Ann Blumenthal Lampl, Patricia Ryan Rabe, Tish Harlequin (240 pp.) $16.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-373-89236-5

The three women who collaborated on this book celebrate how “grown-up dating is different from dating in your twenties—in a good way!”

The Garter Brides, comprised of TV producer Jacobs, magazine columnist Lampl and children’s-book author Rabe, don’t shy away from the difficulties that accompany finding love later in life, but they herald the benefits as well. “First, you’re a lot wiser about what you want in a relationship,” they write. “Second, there’s only one rule: it should be fun.” Those looking to find companionship should start off by looking inward and asking the right questions, they write. Many of those questions, such as “How are you approaching dating?,” might seem fairly elementary, but the trio’s personal narratives add an appealing dimension to an otherwise routine exercise. Above all, the authors highlight how an ability to recognize and express what you want comes with age.

Women with a ticking biological clock wondering how to navigate the thorny issue of children should take comfort when Rabe confesses, “somehow I managed to wait until our second date to ask him if he’d be willing to have more kids.” The authors include practical guidance for dealing with partners that come saddled with highly involved family members, exes and friends. Tips on how to move in together, merge finances and plan engagements and weddings are particularly useful.

The authors ably demonstrate that it’s never too late for love.

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THE OTHER BARACK The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father Jacobs, Sally H. PublicAffairs (336 pp.) $27.99 | July 12, 2011 978-1-58648-793-5

A pioneering, full-scale biography of President Obama’s father, a promising but troubled man.

Boston Globe reporter Jacobs puts her investigative skills to work in following the elder Obama’s trail across continents and years. He was the son of a cook who worked for the British colonists of his native Kenya, from a Luo family that was early to convert to Islam; he was also at the forefront of his nation’s push for independence and, at least for a time, favored by the new socialist regime of Jomo Kenyatta. Obama Sr. was, Jacobs writes, “a man of brilliance, one whose probing intellect enabled him to soar above his peers in the scrubby tropical bush in which he was raised.” Yet he failed to live up to his early promise; sent to Harvard to study economics, he did not complete his degree, and on returning to Kenya he was unable to hold down the jobs he was offered, jobs that came with a considerable degree of influence and authority. The problem, it seems, was that Obama Sr. had a great fondness for alcohol; just so, he was a devoted pursuer of women, often married and often divorced, possibly bigamous and seemingly not much concerned with the children he fathered—including the future president who bears his name.

Obama was clearly charismatic, just as clearly riddled with flaws; his political enemies put those shortcomings to good use, and Jacobs explores the conspiracy theories surrounding his death in an automobile accident. That curious end seems fitting, in a way, casting an enigmatic shadow over a man who was in life “a baffling mystery to many with whom he had lived and worked, including his disparate tribe of children.”

A thorough study of a subject who is hard to pin down— a welcome, evenhanded addition to the lively literature surrounding President Obama’s genealogy. (Agent: Jill Kneerim)

SOCRATES A Man for Our Times

Johnson, Paul Viking (240 pp.) $25.95 | October 17, 2011 978-0-670-02303-5

Acclaimed historian and biographer Johnson (Humorists: From Hogarth to Noel Coward, 2010, etc.) offers a short celebration of the life and influence of the Athenian philosopher.

An unapologetic fan, the author faces, as do all who write of distant times, the insurmountable problem of uncertainty.

Socrates wrote nothing we know of, so we must rely on the |

records and testimony of others—generally a risky business.

Johnson argues that Plato’s dialogues are initially reliable, then less so as Plato became more fond of his own ideas. Johnson chides Plato repeatedly—even compares him with Victor Frankenstein—for putting into the mouth of Socrates words that more properly belonged in his own. At other times, the author resorts to phrases like “I suspect” and “I assume” to keep his argument flowing. Johnson highlights numerous Socratic principles, most notably the separation of the body and soul, Socrates’ devotion to the law (he would not attempt to escape it, even when it meant his own safety), the immorality of revenge, the need to educate women and the corrosive desire to possess things. He notes that Socrates dearly loved Athens and Athenians, enjoyed wandering the streets and engaging people of all sorts in discussions about the meaning of apparently ordinary things. Socrates knew that clarity was essential in human discourse. Johnson also notes that Socrates’ use of humor and irony were certain to be lost on many—and were techniques disastrous to his own defense at his trial. The author also points out similarities between ancient Athens and today—e.g., our love/ hate relationships with celebrities.

A succinct, useful exploration of life in ancient Athens and of the great philosopher’s essential beliefs.

LUNCH WARS How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children’s Health

Kalafa, Amy Tarcher/Penguin (400 pp.) $17.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-1-58542-862-5 Two Angry Moms filmmaker Kalafa arms health-conscious parents with the know-how to take back their school cafeterias.

Most readers are already convinced that the highly processed, minimally nutritious goop sitting atop their child’s lunch tray must be replaced with real food. But how? The author’s well-researched book has the answers. As anyone who has even contemplated taking on the Byzantine institution that is the National School Lunch Program knows, the odds of actually upending the system are slim. The predominance of obsequious clods at the levers of power and the lack of adequate funding make any change seem almost impossible. Junk-food conglomerates have long ago succeeded in casting kids in the role of nascent consumers—and the choices they offer are all bad.

Buoyed by extensive case studies that both inform and inspire, Kalafa’s how-to guide covers all the bases from networking with local organic farmers to writing successful RFPs (Request for Proposals). Whether the overall goal is simply to bump some greasy fries off the school menu or to have a totally new kitchen installed for from-scratch cooking, no lunchroom revolutionary should be without this battlefield manual. The good news is that, nationwide, parents and other concerned citizens are

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SEX ON THE MOON: The Amazing Story Behind The Most Audacious Heist In History

Ben Mezrich Doubleday (320 pp.) $26.95 July 12, 2011 9780385533928

A: I’m not, really. I’m a controversial author. Every time I write a book, there’s going to be journalists who attack me for not being perfect, but I lay out in the editor’s note every time: There’s no hoax going on, no trick here. I’m very straightforward about it. I write in a very cinematic style. But the amount of research I have is enormous. I have thousands of pages of court documents. I have the tapes of when they took down with Thad. I understand the controversy. I just go at it head on. This is how I write. But you’ll have John Stewart’s fake history of America at No. 1, and I’ll be at No. 3 and people are nervous about my book?

Ben Mezrich loves it when the nerds win. The Boston-based author seems to specialize in books where the hyper-intelligent take on the system and, using nothing but their brains and tanker-sized loads of bravado, manage to recalculate the odds. That was the case with his nonfiction debut Bringing Down the House, following a group of students as they mastered the art of counting cards. And it was definitely at the core of The Accidental Billionaires, the story that became the foundation for the film The Social Network.

Mezrich’s latest, Sex on the Moon, is no different— geek gets a job at NASA, finds a loophole in the system and walks out with potentially billions of dollars in moon rocks. Except this time the system strikes back.

Q: A lot of your work ends up in Hollywood. How do you deal with someone else putting their stamp on your stories?

Q: How did you hear about Thad Roberts, the main subject in Sex on the Moon, and what made you think this was a story worth telling.

A: It’s definitely an interesting process. You sell your process and give up control of it to someone else.

You can still consult, but they make the movies. But I have some really good guys that I work with like Kevin Spacey and Scott Rudin. And each movie I’ve done is very different. People make the movie they want to make…you aren’t the lead guy anymore. As an author, that’s hard to accept. You walk on set and you stand behind the camera and you have nothing to do. That’s pretty wild, but it’s also great.

A: It came out of the blue. This kid was in NASA and in a co-op program [college students work for a semester at NASA headquarters] there. He falls in love with a girl there and to impress her he breaks into this vault and steals moon rocks…He did something foolish, almost like a college prank in his eyes, and the federal government just buried him for it.

When he got out of prison he reached out to me.

He contacted me through a buddy of mine in Colorado. He said, “Hey, this kid wants to talk to you.” I flew out there and met with him. He fascinated me.

Coincidentally, I had wanted to do something on NASA. But there was that moment. I literally met a guy who just spent seven years in a federal prison. I was a little scared. But he was really nice.

Q: I hear Sex on the Moon is already in the works as film as well with Easy A director Will Gluck attached.

A: Yep. It will have the same producers as The Social Network, and Sony Columbia will release it.

I’m psyched to work with everyone again.

Q: Do you have to even find these stories anymore?

Q: Finally, I need to ask you about this: You represented Massachusetts in the 2000 Sexiest Bachelor in America Pageant. Done any pageant work recently?

A: Every book since Bringing Down the House has been people calling me. I get 20 to 25 tips a week. I have a phone that I call “The Crazy Phone” where people can contact me. In the last couple days there have been two ideas that I’m looking into that might be another book.

A: I was Mr. Mass. It was a show on Fox. We had to do a walk with banners. It was just one of those funny things. My wife, who was my girlfriend of the time, saw an ad in Cosmo and entered me. Then all of the sudden I’m doing this thing. It was funny. I was the palest man to ever appear on television.

But I was also in People magazine in 2004. I was the author in the sexy magazine issue. That was my Pulitzer.

I always dreamed about that. And it showed that I was pretty sexy for a few years there—I’m still sexy.

Q: That’s a good position to be in.

Q: You’re the George Clooney of authors.

A: That’s better than what Facebook called me— the Judy Collins of Silicon Valley. I’ll definitely take being called George Clooney over that.

Q: You’ve taken a lot of criticism for the way you write, but how are you any different from Tom Wolfe following Ken Kesey?

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–By Jeff Inman |

P HOTO BY T RAC Y A IG UI ER

A: It is. Sometimes you parachute in and parachute out—see if there’s something there and then be willing to abandon it. But look for certain elements. It’s got to have this adrenaline to it, and it’s got to have some really smart people involved in it.

It can’t be just a caper story.

THE GREAT A&P THE STRUGGLE FOR SMALL BUSINESS IN AMERICA

scoring victories in the battle to bring nutritious, whole food to the school-lunch menu. You can too.

Painstakingly researched and detailed blueprint for building a better school lunchroom today.

THE PERSISTENCE OF THE COLOR LINE Racial Politics and the Obama Presidency

Kennedy, Randall Pantheon (336 p.) $25.95 | August 16, 2011 978-0-307-37789-0 e-book 978-0-307-37980-1

The bestselling author of Nigger (2002) explores the racial issues surrounding President Obama’s election and administration.

Obama’s historic election proves that race, by itself, is no longer a disqualification for even the highest office. It does not, however, signal any kind of post-racial era, writes Kennedy (Law/Harvard Univ.; Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal, 2008, etc.) in this handy compendium of the racial concerns Obama so adroitly handled during the campaign and of the race-tinged issues arising during his first two years in the White House. As a candidate, Obama quietly courted blacks by his ready self-identification, notwithstanding his mixed-race heritage, as proudly African-American, by his marriage to a strong black woman, his church affiliation and his espousal of a liberal Democratic agenda. He attracted white voters by seeming to float above racial considerations, by calmly assuring them of his good will, his patriotism and his allegiance to the nation as a whole. Kennedy teases all this out, and he provides a short electoral history of blacks, a discussion of the “race card” charges during the 2008 campaign, a commentary on the racial dimensions of the lamentable “beer summit” and the Sotomayor Supreme Court nomination and a moving, first-person description of the meaning and symbolism of the inaugural. Avowedly center-left but still an “unembarrassed” admirer of the president, Kennedy retains sufficient objectivity to properly appraise the much-acclaimed “A More Perfect Union” speech, Obama’s answer to the controversy aroused by the inflammatory Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the Illinois senator’s longtime pastor. No, it was not a second Gettysburg Address, nor comparable to the “I Have a Dream” speech. Rather, it was the effective response of an extremely nimble politician to a campaign crisis. It contained nothing novel for anyone even “passably familiar with basic information about black-white race relations over the course of American history.” Kennedy’s critique may be similarly assessed: nothing especially new here, but all of it well said.

A carefully calculated, sober discussion of why race will continue to haunt American politics.

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Levinson, Marc Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (384 pp.) $27.00 | September 6, 2011 978-0-8090-9543-8

An examination of how the A&P food stores dominated American retailing decades before Wal-Mart.

Levinson (The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, 2006, etc.) delves into the origin and growth of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, known informally at “the A&P.” It began as a little tea shop in New York City in the mid 1860s, the brainchild of businessmen George Gilman and George Huntington Hartford.

But as the shop grew into several and then many, with far more diverse merchandise than tea, the Hartford family became identified as the scions of the A&P, eclipsing the Gilman name and accumulating massive personal wealth. Throughout the narrative, Levinson demonstrates how innovative retailing strategies and price-cutting to force out mom-and-pop competitors hurt local economies while simultaneously making food more convenient and affordable to purchase for individual consumers. The end result, the supermarket, counted as the fourth retailing revolution through which the Hartfords guided the A&P. In the 1890s, they had altered a tea company into a grocery-store chain.

In the second stage, just before World War I, they changed the grocery business from a haphazard enterprise of uncertain profitability into a large-scale operation with costs and prices carefully monitored. The third stage began in 1925, as they instituted the concept of vertical integration to benefit from economies of scale and raise profit margins by increasing sales volume.

Mom-and-pop businesses, championed by Texas Congressman Wright Patman, fought the increasing domination of the A&P, and President Roosevelt’s antitrust lawyers also sought to diminish the giant retailer’s oligopoly. But it was not until the deaths of the Hartford brothers that the A&P began a decline that Levinson considers surprisingly precipitous. The decade of the 1960s sealed the company’s unhappy fate, as other supermarket chains, plus Wal-Mart, became ascendant.

A well-conceived, lively history with obvious contemporary relevance. (16 pages of black-and-white illustrations)

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“Not a complex or innovative writer, Lithgow nonetheless emerges as genial, gentle, generous, grateful, self-deprecating and proud but never arrogant.” from drama

LUCK AND CIRCUMSTANCE A Coming of Age in Hollywood, New York, and Points Beyond Lindsay-Hogg, Michael Knopf (304 pp.) $26.00 | September 20, 2011 978-0-307-59468-6

A famous director recalls his boyhood and working life as the son of the beautiful Warner Brother’s movie star

Geraldine Fitzgerald.

At age 15, Lindsay-Hogg knew exactly what he wanted out of life. Following his first stint in the theater in 1956, when he spoke one line in The Taming of the Shrew, he set his sights on a career in theater, film and television. After querying his mother on possible stage names, she casually mentioned how some people thought Orson Welles was his real father. His mother denied it, but just enough to create a mysterious script for the author’s life. True to his dream, the author forged a career in the entertainment world where recurring hints of his connection to Welles resurfaced at odd times during his life. In the ’60s, he directed a British rock ’n’ roll show and developed an unusual technique for filming the bands. He went on to work with many of the greats, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes. Lindsay-Hogg began working for BBC television during the ’70s, “working with the stars of the time on dramas written by equally stellar playwrights.” The author’s story is a riveting insider look at popular culture, from his boyhood in Santa Monica, while his mother was under contract to Warner Brothers, through his direction of The Normal Heart in 1985.

Lindsay-Hogg’s descriptive vignettes reveal tasty tidbits about the famous musicians, actors and cultural icons of the time.

An unusual story of a life lived among a galaxy of stars, told with enough insight and intelligence that even those who dismiss celebrity memoirs should enjoy this jaunt through the glitz. (29 illustrations. Author tour to Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco. Agent: Judith Ehrlich)

DRAMA An Actor’s Education

Lithgow, John Harper/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $26.99 | October 1, 2011 978-0-06-173497-7 In a tribute to his father and to his profession, the celebrated stage and screen actor rehearses his early career, cheerfully describing his successes and honestly recording his failures, profes-

sional and personal.

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aloud to him a story by P.G. Wodehouse, a story they both had loved when John was a child. A smile came to his father’s face, and the author believes this helped his recovery for another 18 months. (Later, we learn that the story—“Uncle Fred Flits By”— became the centerpiece of Lithgow’s one-man show Stories by Heart, a work he still performs regularly.) The author records fondly the peripatetic lifestyle of his childhood. His father, a theatrical nomad, traveled extensively, teaching, starting theater companies and festivals and mounting productions, especially of Shakespeare (one of the author’s life-long loves). His father never stayed anywhere long (his ambitions always exceeded his budgets—and, perhaps, his talent, though the author is far too kind to say so). Lithgow struggled through school—not with his studies (he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard) but with his uncertainty about whether to be an artist (painter) or actor.

The latter won, of course, and Lithgow tells us about his school performances, his studies here and abroad, his tours and travails and his breaks in New York and Hollywood. He writes admiringly of his first wife—their marriage fractured when he commenced a number of torrid affairs during what he recognizes as a very late adolescence—and his subsequent 30-year marriage with his second wife, Mary.

Not a complex or innovative writer, Lithgow nonetheless emerges as genial, gentle, generous, grateful, selfdeprecating and proud but never arrogant. (Black-and-white photos throughout)

THE END OF CHRISTIANITY

Editor: Loftus, John Prometheus Books (436 pp.) $21.00 paperback | July 26, 2011 978-1-61614-413-5

In this unabashedly polemical collection of 14 essays, atheist commentator Loftus continues the diatribe he began against the Christian faith in Why I Became an Atheist (2008) and The Christian Delusion (2010).

The basic argument he and his contributors—including Robert Price, Hector Avalos and Richard Carrier—use to debunk Christianity is what he calls the “Outsider Test for Faith,” which asks people to evaluate their own religious faith “with the same level of skepticism they use to evaluate other faiths.” By applying the strictest logic to the literal word of the Bible, the essays demonstrate why 2,000 years of Christianity is more than enough. Christian beliefs in such things as miracles, Immaculate Conception and the Resurrection are “absurd and bizarre.” The Bible is an outdated text that represents “norms, practices and a conception of the world very different from ours” and “endorses everything from genocide to slavery.” As a work set down by humans, Christian Scripture is “fantasy literature” and the biblical God “nothing more than a memorable old monster.” The central doctrines pertaining to hell and repentance are dangerous for the way they “intimidate people into belief ” and offer justification to the unscrupulous to perform

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unspeakable acts of cruelty. Taken together, the essays show how Christianity should not be used as the basis for notions of right and wrong; science, offers a much better foundation for a system of morality. The arguments advanced against Christianity are not new, but Loftus’s book is admirable for its bluntness and single-minded drive toward the belief that science—itself a human construct and thus as subject to flaws as religion—is mankind’s saving grace.

Provocative but not earth-shaking.

CARTEL The Coming Invasion of Mexico’s Drug Wars Longmire, Sylvia Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $26.00 | September 27, 2011 978-0-230-11137-0

Overview of the war on drugs being fought without relief in Mexico and the United States.

In her debut, Longmire is a longtime analyst of drug trafficking, advising government agencies on the realities and solutions that might mean a few victories along the porous, violence-ridden U.S.-Mexican border. The author covers a lot of material in a relatively brief book, sometimes giving the text the feel of linked encyclopedia entries. Still, the prevalence of breadth over depth is no major shortcoming, since Longmire offers fresh insights into almost every facet of the war on drugs.

She makes a convincing case that within the United States, the violence stemming from illegal substances has caused more injuries and deaths than generally acknowledged by law-enforcement agencies. Those casualties are in addition to the dangers of ingesting contaminated narcotics sold and purchased illegally.

Mexican drug organizations have established sizable marijuana growing fields within national parks and forests throughout the United States. When law-enforcement officers or unsuspecting civilians enter the fields, their lives might be endangered by trigger-happy Mexican criminals determined to protect their lucrative cash crops from detection. The most frequent danger from infiltrated marijuana fields seems to be concentrated in California. Longmire demonstrates, however, that potential free-fire zones have cropped up in North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee and other states far from the Mexican border.

Switching aspects of the drug war chapter by chapter, Longmire explains why law-enforcement agents have been mostly unable to halt the flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico.

Legalization of currently illegal substances will never serve as a panacea, writes the author, but strategic legalization might alleviate some of the violence.

One-stop shopping for basic knowledge about U.S.Mexican narcotics diplomacy.

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LIFE GETS BETTER The Unexpected Pleasures of Growing Older Lustbader, Wendy Tarcher/Penguin (256 pp.) $25.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-58542-892-2

In a society where growing older elicits “over the hill” birthday cards, eminent psychotherapist and geriatric expert Lustbader (Univ. of Washington; What’s Worth Knowing, 2004 etc.) unveils the pleasures of aging.

This book germinated during a bus tour in New Zealand, when the author told a group of 18- to 24-year-olds that “these are the worst years of your lives.” Many of the young travelers, depressed and uncertain, were relieved to hear that life gets better after their 20s. Blending memory with pearls of wisdom, Lustbader illustrates the bounties of a life welllived. Sure, aging brings physical aches and pains, but it also bestows self-acceptance and true self-knowledge. As the body moves closer to death, “the mirage of power and money fades.” In its place comes contentment and a true appreciation for human relationships. Time may ultimately cause loss, writes the author, but “to grieve is to experience a relationship.” Lustbader is quick to caution, however, that aging does not automatically bestow wisdom, as one woman in her late 40s realized after grief caused her to break years of sobriety, an action that culminated in the loss of her job. Further, old age does not stop productivity. At 89, Carmen Herrera sold her first painting. The author also pinpoints the significance of gratitude, generosity and courage with the tale of a 71-yearold woman who, when told she was going blind, hosted a party and gave away her most treasured belongings: her books. To her surprise, friends offered to visit her weekly to read aloud.

According to Lustbader, it’s knowing what is meaningful that makes for a peaceful transformation. The key is hope.

Much-needed wisdom about aging.

ELIZABETH AND HAZEL Two Women of Little Rock

Margolick, David Yale Univ. (256 pp.) $26.00 | September 27, 2011 978-0-300-14193-1

An event of racially charged intimidation, captured on film, has lasting repercussions for two women.

Margolick spent 12 years researching the interlocking histories of Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery, two students—black and white, respectively—who simultaneously attended Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School in the 1950s. Eckford, a smart student with lawyerly aspirations, was strictly raised in a squat, crowded house. Massery, the daughter of a wounded World

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“A championship effort by two men who can rightfully lay claim to having written the book on ESPN.” from those guys have all the fun

War II veteran, was brought up poor but hopeful and easygoing, and she frequently played with black children as a girl. Though “Little Rock in the Eisenhower era was a racial checkerboard,” writes the author, its looming high school still became the first Southern institution to become desegregated, which sent Eckford, along with eight other school board–selected black student “trailblazers” (the “Little Rock Nine”), into predominantly white classrooms. This fact incensed the 15-year-old Massery, who, backed by 250 angry, prejudiced white citizens, severely bullied Eckford, an action that was captured and immortalized on film by newspaper photojournalist Will Counts. Massery remained remorseless as the fallout from her actions included denouncement from both segregationists and the general public. Eckford, together with her integrated classmates, would go on to endure years of abuse in school. Margolick’s impressively thorough examination is unique among other Central High exposés in that it incorporates updated material culled from media sources including interviews with eight of the school’s nine black students and statements in Eckford and Massery’s own words. Both of these women, he writes, were unenthusiastic about revisiting their ordeal, even to simply set the record straight—which the author accomplishes with graceful tact.

Decades later, Massery’s atonement and redemption manifested in an amicable but disappointingly short-lived friendship, joining Eckford as she accepted presidential accolades and while antagonistically interviewed on Oprah. The narrative concludes with the pair’s discordant severance. “At this point,” he writes, “only Photoshop could bring them together.”

Riveting reportage of an injustice that still resonates with sociological significance. (33 black-and-white illustrations)

TAKING A STAND The Evolution of Human Rights

Méndez, Juan E. Wentworth, Marjory Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $27.00 | October 1, 2011 978-0-230-11233-9 A man who knows whereof he speaks makes painfully clear the meaning of the abstract term “human rights.”

Méndez, currently the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Torture, was imprisoned in Argentina for 18 months and tortured so severely that he begged his captors to kill him. Released in 1977 on the condition that he leave the country, he now lives in the Washington, D.C., where he has long been an activist, heading several human-rights organizations. With the assistance of activist and poet Wentworth (The Endless Repetition of an Ordinary Miracle, 2010, etc.), Méndez examines the uses of arbitrary detention, torture, disappearances, rendition and genocide in countries around the world. Along with the usual suspects— Argentina, Bosnia, El Salvador, Rwanda, Sudan (the list is long)—the United States also comes under scrutiny, with the Bush administration getting especially bad marks for policies 1222

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initiated during what it defined as the War on Terror. Méndez is also disappointed in the Obama administration’s reforms, but notes that in America, independent nongovernmental forces such as investigative journalism and organizations like Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union are working to expose and correct violations of human rights. In the chapters on law, justice and accountability, the author traces the development of international agreements, such as the Rome Statute of 1998 establishing the International Criminal Court, and credits the UN for its work in mediation, conflict resolution and peacekeeping missions. What is needed, he argues, is the political will to build mechanisms for detecting and preventing crimes against humanity, and thus far he finds that developed democracies are falling short. His topic is sober, and Méndez treats it as such, writing of horrific events with little emotion, even when he was personally involved.

A fact-filled, well-researched analysis. A good companion to Kathryn Sikkink’s The Justice Cascade (2011). (Agent: Kimberly Whalen)

THOSE GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN Inside the World of ESPN

Miller, James Andrew Shales, Tom Little, Brown (764 pp.) $27.99 | May 24, 2011 978-0-316-04300-7

The massive, eagerly anticipated oral history of ESPN. Journalist Miller and Pulitzer Prize– winning TV critic Shales (Live from New York: An Uncensored History of “Saturday Night Live,” 2003) chronicle the unfathomable growth of the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports.” In 1979, the entrepreneurial father/son tandem Bill and Scott Rasmussen hatched a hair-brained business plan: a 24-hour cable “entertainment and sports programming network”—or, as it came to be known, ESPN. The improbable rise from fly-by-night operation in the backwater of Bristol, Conn., to the world’s most powerful sports brand is an epic tale, replete with scandals and skeletons the authors dutifully cover. Many of these will be old news to fans of blogs like Deadspin that are dedicated to bringing down the ESPN juggernaut, but it’s the cutthroat negotiations with partners and sponsors, the ingenious (and occasionally disastrous) attempts to innovate and the ongoing clash of conservative company policy with flamboyant on-air talent that will hook readers. The interviewees—who include former chairman Steve Bornstein, current president George Bodenheimer, fan favorites Chris Berman, Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, and dot-com star Bill Simmons— range from closely guarded to bluntly self-interested in their commentary, requiring the authors to find the right mix of breadth of opinion and storytelling acumen—a balance they strike with admirable consistency over the course of nearly 800 pages. Inevitably, repetition creeps in as subjects hammer home the same themes, and the authors sometimes shift topics when more commentary

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MAKING AN EXIT From the Magnificent to the Macabre–How We Dignify the Dead

is called for on the prior one. These are minor quibbles, however, in a definitive account that not only manages to offer insight into a pop-culture phenomenon’s seemingly impossible success (sometimes in spite of itself), but also highlights how that success irrevocably altered the cable landscape.

A championship effort by two men who can rightfully lay claim to having written the book on ESPN. (8 pages of black-and-white photos. Agent: Sloan Harris)

ONE SMILE AT A TIME How an Accidental DoGooder Helped Change the Lives of Millions of Children and Their Communities

Mullaney, Brian Claxton, Eve Hyperion (256 pp.) $23.99 | August 1, 2011 978-1-4013-2392-9

The extraordinary tale of one man’s journey from the towers of Madison Avenue to the cave dwellings of China and beyond, bringing hope and joy to more than 700,000 disfigured children and their families.

Mullaney, the co-founder of Smile Train, discovered his true calling when he set out to remove the stigma of disfiguring cleft lips and palates from the world’s poorest children. With his partner and backer Charles Wang, the author set about forming an international network of committed doctors, nurses, social workers and member hospitals to ensure that reconstructive surgery would be made available to children previously hidden behind closed doors and curtains in the most remote parts of the planet.

One in 700 children are born with a cleft in the United States, but most are repaired within the first year of life. Not so in places like China, Afghanistan, India and various countries in Africa, where parents cannot even afford the carfare to bring their children to a hospital for this relatively simple 45-minute procedure. In these countries, the children are seen as cursed, marked by the devil or full moon, or the result of some misdeed by the mother. In a conversational tone, Mullaney captures the enthusiasm and commitment that has transformed the physical and emotional lives of children who are able to smile in public for the first time.

A valuable, uplifting book that goes to show it only takes one person with a laser-sharp focus and a determination to confront all obstacles to make an enormous difference.

Murray, Sarah St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $25.99 | October 11, 2011 978-0-312-53302-1

A father’s last wishes prompt a memoir examining how humans deal with death and the dead.

Financial Times contributor Murray (Movable Feasts: From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eat, 2007) uses her father’s story as the unifying theme.

He wanted to be cremated after his death, his ashes put in a cardboard box and distributed to the winds in the graveyard of the church of St. Mary Magdalene in West Dorset, England.

The author writes how his wishes were fulfilled, and the story becomes a centerpiece for discussing some of the traditional celebrations and rituals that accompany death around the world.

Murray brings an uncanny eye for detail, incongruity and wit to the narrative, as she chronicles her visits to Iran, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Ghana and elsewhere. The stories of her exotic travels—traditional ceremonies in Bali, where a royal prince was cremated together with huge and richly decorated paper cows and dragons; and the “seated” burials of the Sagada mountain people of the Philippines—offer stark contrast to the simplicity required to fulfill her father’s request. Murray also discusses the technical means associated with funerary practices and their history, such as the way the 600,000 casualties in America’s Civil War contributed to the growth of a business embalming corpses, and how cremation developed as the alternative to burial in the UK. The global riot of activity and information always yields thematically to a quiet return to the contrast with the old graveyard in the Dorset countryside—and the recognition that perhaps to have one’s final wishes respected might just be enough for anyone. (10 black-and-white photographs)

CODE TALKER

Nez, Chester Avila, Judith Schiess Berkley Caliber (320 pp.) $26.95 | September 6, 2011 978-0-425-24423-4 A firsthand account of how the Navajo language was used to help defeat the Japanese in World War II. At the age of 17, Nez (an English name assigned to him in kindergarten) volunteered for the Marines just months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Growing up in a traditional Navajo community, he became fluent in English, his second language, in government-run boarding schools. The author writes that he wanted

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to serve his country and explore “the possibilities and opportunities offered out there in the larger world.” Because he was bilingual, he was one of the original 29 “code talkers” selected to develop a secret, unbreakable code based on the Navajo language, which was to be used for battlefield military communications on the Pacific front. Because the Navajo language is tonal and unwritten, it is extremely difficult for a non-native speaker to learn. The code created an alphabet based on English words such as ant for “A,” which were then translated into its Navajo equivalent. On the battlefield, Navajo code talkers would use voice transmissions over the radio, spoken in Navajo to convey secret information. Nez writes movingly about the hard-fought battles waged by the Marines to recapture Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and others, in which he and his fellow code talkers played a crucial role. He situates his wartime experiences in the context of his life before the war, growing up on a sheep farm, and after when he worked for the VA and raised a family in New Mexico.

Although he had hoped to make his family proud of his wartime role, until 1968 the code was classified and he was sworn to silence. He sums up his life “as better than he could ever have expected,” and looks back with pride on the part he played in “a new, triumphant oral and written [Navajo] tradition,” his culture’s contribution to victory.

A unique, inspiring story by a member of the Greatest Generation.

SMOKING EARS AND SCREAMING TEETH A Celebration of Scientific Eccentricity and Self-Experimentation Norton, Trevor Pegasus (400 pp.) $25.95 | October 1, 2011 978-1-60598-254-0

Grab a mug of hydrochloric acid and prepare to meet some of the wackiest and wisest people in the history of science.

Norton (Underwater to Get Out of the Rain: A Love Affair with the Sea, 2006, etc.) combines bygone vignettes and biographical sketches in this batch of essays, which bounce through the centuries, landing on tales both repellant and important. Given the book’s title and chapters that include “He Came, He Sawed, He Chancred” and “Sniff It and See,” readers will discover early that this is no stuffy treatise. Norton’s customary wit and verve—he calls early surgeons “practical men with saws” and humans “a walking menagerie of horrors”—amplify his remarkable subjects, which include: John Hunter, who intentionally inserted syphilis into cuts in his genitalia; Claude Barlow, who purposely jeopardized his own life by swallowing flatworms; and Werner Forssmann, who stuck a catheter into his own heart. Among the most memorable is Frank Buckland, a short man who ate any critter that crawled and could identify bat urine by taste.

Norton’s at his best when he fleshes out these eccentric figures.

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for Mach 1, despite the story’s familiarity. At times, the author shoehorns in too much detail, but readers will likely forgive Norton’s choice to err on the side of inclusion, given the liveliness of his prose, the preposterousness of his stories and the surprising ties he makes to current events.

Though some chapters (e.g., “A Diet of Worms”) shouldn’t be read over breakfast, Norton conveys more than just a carnival of the grotesque; he also introduces forgotten and under-appreciated scientists whose curious curiosity saved lives.

THE FRIAR OF CARCASSONNE Revolt Against the Inquisition in the Last Days of the Cathars

O’Shea, Stephen Walker (304 pp.) $26.00 | October 1, 2011 978-0-8027-1994-2

A Franciscan Brother stands up to the inquisition in Southern France, and the inquisition backs down!

The Dominicans, “the hounds of the Lord,” were the leaders in the conflict between Catholic Orthodoxy and the Cathars. O’Shea’s third book on the subject (Sea of Faith: Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World, 2007) reinforces his reputation as an expert on medieval France and shows how much he has expanded his knowledge of the Cathars’ philosophy and practices. The Albigensian “heretics” came to life in reaction to the technocratic institutionalism of the church. They sought heaven through a life of poverty and new, vernacular interpretations of scriptures, rejecting the wealth and spiritual remoteness of the Catholic Church.

Looking upon the church as the enemy, they denied all the sacraments and the cross as anything but an instrument of Roman torture. After the Albigensian Crusade failed to eliminate the Cathars, the Dominicans used the inquisition to complete their total annihilation. From their beginnings in the early 13th century, the inquisitors accused, tried and convicted those denounced as heretics. Once condemned, all lands and possessions were confiscated and their families were left in penury. Those not executed were confined in “the wall,” a prison in Carcassonne where they were tortured and starved to the end of their lives. This prison was the tipping point for Brother Bernard Délicieux, who used his great rhetorical gifts to convince the king’s magistrate to secure a personal audience for him with Philip the Fair. Délicieux’s formidable powers of persuasion convinced the king to take steps against the Dominican abuse, but he did not free the prisoners of the wall.

Délicieux enjoyed support from the king, his magistrates and certainly from the Franciscan Order as he continued his fight to eliminate the inquisition—but the deviant inquisitors. His status was so great that his Order appealed to him to calm rising tempers in Carcassonne.

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WHY READ MOBY-DICK?

O’Shea’s thorough research and effortless writing exposes the political and economic side of the inquisition and its irreversible damage to the Catholic Church. (8-page color insert. Agent: Chuck Verrill)

PUSH HAS COME TO SHOVE Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve–Even If It Means Picking a Fight

Perry, Steve Crown (272 pp.) $25.00 | September 13, 2011 978-0-307-72031-3

A leading agitator for reform of the American school system outlines what needs to be done now, and why.

CNN commentator Perry (Raggedy Schools, 2009, etc.), a former school principal in Hartford, Conn., has been on the front lines of education reform since the 1990s. He calls himself a “functionalist”—i.e., “In my mind, if it works it’s right”— and endeavors to employ functionalism in all of his projects.

Secondary schools work if their students are qualified in the way their certificates represent, he writes, and are properly prepared for college. More than $2.5 billion is spent yearly in remedial education at the college level, repeating what should have been accomplished before they arrived on campus. Perry examines the responsibilities of teachers and teaching, parents and parenting, administrators and superintendents and the teacher’s unions (“the worst thing that ever happened to education”). The author’s first priority, however, is the children. He is a strong opponent of those who contend that funding disparities between inner-city and suburban districts are a cause of the failures in the system, and he insists that schools and school districts fail because of low expectations and poor teaching skills.

He argues that teachers who do not like their students cannot teach them, because the students will not trust the teachers.

He discusses how he finds and recruits teachers who will match his outlook, and what he expects from parents. Throughout the book, the author displays an admirably action-oriented approach, with plenty of advice for parents and others on how to get involved effectively.

Perry views his “functionalist” approach to education as a part of what needs to be done for the country to succeed. Many of his arguments are controversial, but they are crucial to the debate.

Philbrick, Nathaniel Viking (140 pp.) $25.00 | October 13, 2011 978-0-670-02299-1

A slim celebration of the elements of a literary masterpiece—and its moody, obsessive author.

In his 2000 book, In the Heart of the Sea, historian Philbrick (The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of Little Bighorn, 2010, etc.) detailed the wreck of the Essex, a whaling ship that would become the model for thePequod in Herman Melville’s 1851 classic, Moby-Dick. Having read the novel more than a dozen times, he’s inspired to undertake a brief study of what he feels makes the book so enduring. (However, it took a while to earn classic status, as he points out; a flop when it was first published, the book didn’t earn the esteem of critics until after World War I.) The diversity of the crew and Melville’s respect for each character anticipates decades of debates about racial tolerance, writes the author, and its interest in matters of religious truth, demagoguery and free enterprise ensure that American readers today can find resonances with contemporary social and political issues. But Philbrick isn’t simply hunting for proof of the novel’s ongoing “relevance.” He praises Melville’s acute understanding of “the microclimates of intimate human relations,” takes a close look at some of the novel’s more powerfully poetic passages and honors the Melville himself, who was plagued with self-doubt while writing the book. Melville’s letters to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne—which Philbrick argues are essential to understanding Moby-Dick—reveal the novelist to be struggling with the composition of the novel as well as the spiritual concerns he addressed in it. Philbrick constructs the narrative in brief chapters, often no more than a couple of pages, and his literary analysis is sometimes thin.

However, he doesn’t want to dwell long on the book’s contents, but rather motivate readers to discover the book for themselves.

On that front, mission accomplished: Philbrick is an enthusiastic salesman for a sometimes daunting novel.

SLOW GARDENING A No-Stress Philosophy for All Senses and Seasons Rushing, Felder Chelsea Green (240 pp.) $29.95 paperback | July 1, 2011 978-1-60358-267-4

Achieve gardening nirvana by employing basic principles and a don’t-worry-behappy attitude.

All too often, gardeners make the mistake of becoming preoccupied with what the neighbors might think instead of designing gardens for their own pleasure.

Rushing (Tough Plants for Southern Gardens, 2003, etc.) cautions |

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gardeners against falling into this trap; plant perfection, he writes, especially cosmetic perfection, is not obtainable—so why even try? If something doesn’t work out, just throw it in the compost pile and plant something else. It is this attitude that sets this book apart from other gardening how-to books.

Embracing the author’s gardening philosophy will allow readers to savor their time out in the dirt. Rushing’s bit-by-bit approach is likely to encourage gardeners of all enthusiasm levels. The author includes enlightened strategies gardeners should practice in order to achieve optimal results, including tips for how to make their own compost—or at least keep a pile of leaves that will eventually turn into compost. He suggests reducing the size of the lawn and several varieties of low-maintenance plants. As for pests? Avoid the pesticides and opt for pest-resistant plants instead. When it comes to fertilizer, Rushing advises for quality over quantity.

The author’s slow and natural approach should strike a chord with those who are tired of quick-fix alternatives in the backyard.

THE SUMMONS OF LOVE

Ruti, Mari Columbia Univ. (192 pp.) $22.50 | August 1, 2011 978-0-231-15816-9

Canadian professor Ruti has love all figured out and explains why it’s worth the trouble.

Some yearn for invulnerability, viewing love as a threat; others search for the soul that will make them complete, at times losing themselves in the process. Ruti (Critical Theory/Univ. of Toronto; A World of Fragile Things: Psychoanalysis and the Art of Living, 2009, etc.) posits a rational argument for the love relationship as stimulation for personal growth, encouraging acceptance of its impermanence yet offering tips for its survival. The author makes a “contemplative rather than prescriptive” case for love as she challenges popular contemporary theories, taking on Marshall Rosenberg’s “non-violent communication” as well as Eckhart Tolle’s philosophy of living in the now.

She argues that the past is an active component of the present within every relationship, and without conscious effort, the lover is doomed to repeat the same mistakes. Backing her assertions by citing the philosophies of psychological heavies like Freud and Heidegger, the book tends toward academic and lacks any revelation about the author’s personal history. However, Ruti transcends the textbook label by eloquently examining familiar feelings in scientific language filled with romance. Her illustration of passion in technical terms proves amusing but accurate: “…we meet a person who, for reasons that may remain enigmatic, resonates on a frequency that we find precious beyond calculation.”

A psychological look at love relationships and their pragmatic benefits that cleverly blends scientific language and romantic concepts.

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COUNTERSTRIKE The Untold Story of America’s Secret Campaign Against al Qaeda

Schmitt, Eric Shanker, Tom Times/Henry Holt (320 pp.) $26.00 | August 16, 2011 978-0-8050-9103-8

Spectacular events such as Osama bin Laden’s assassination make headlines, but this book makes a case that intelligence (both tactical and cerebral) leads the battle against international terrorism.

Nearly a decade into the war on terror, “American forces are racking and stacking terrorists like cordwood,” but making little progress. Acknowledging this, New York Times correspondents Schmitt and Shanker review events after 9/11, focusing on government and military counterterrorism experts who convinced administration ideologues to switch gears. Despite President Bush’s belief that terrorists, welcoming death, could not be deterred, these experts insist that they craved respect from colleagues, successful actions, admiration and contributions from the Islamic world, and progress toward the millennium. Although these provided successful deterrence tactics, time-honored “winning hearts and minds” efforts have persuaded few Muslims of American benevolence. While the 2007 troop surge gets credit for suppressing Iraqi insurgents, a bonanza of documents and computers seized in several raids provided specific targets. Ignorance made 9/11 possible; today, supercomputers and thousands of analysts struggle with the avalanche of data as we monitor cell phones, e-mails, websites and other communications worldwide. All this attention has “dumbed down” terrorist networks which now favor smaller attacks, locally planned. America remains at risk, mostly from disaffected individuals, but the authors emphasize that the greatest barrier is persuading people that terrorism, like crime, can never be eliminated.

Unlike other nations, America reacts to even failed plots with outrage, recriminations, denunciation of the current administration and demands for more protection.

A mildly reassuring argument that, after an expensive and massive effort, terrorism seems on the decline. (Agent: Bonnie Nadell)

UPCYCLING Create Beautiful Things With the Stuff You Already Have

Seo, Danny Photographer: Levy, Jennifer Running Press (224 pp.) $18.00 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-7624-4179-2

Interior designer Seo (Simply Green Giving, 2006, etc.) produces an idea book on how to grant junk a second life using his crafty “MacGyver-meets-HGTV” skills.

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“A blockbuster of a story, especially today with Medicare potentially on the chopping block.” from blood feud

The author has long been fascinated by trash. In junior high, he filled his school’s display cases with garbage he’d collected around the building in an effort to draw attention to the longevity and abundance of human-generated waste. Seo now makes his living “upcycling”—i.e., turning one person’s garbage into another’s eco-friendly functional item—and he opens with some helpful advice on what tools are most essential for accomplishing this task. He then offers nearly 100 upcycling ideas, arranging them into sections for decorating, entertaining, gifting, kid-friendly and nature-oriented projects. For each, the author provides a list of supplies and simply stated directions.

A few of the more adventurous projects will require some time and effort to gather the materials needed, such as the WineCork Bath Mat and the Carpet-Sample Patchwork Rug. Most others call for items that readers likely already have, such as the Soda-Can Sequined Tote Bag or the Bathroom-Towel Picnic Blanket. There is enough variety in taste, functionality and skill level for most everyone to find a project to attempt. What is lacking, however, is a dedicated section expounding Seo’s philosophy and methodology in project design; such information would have been useful in inspiring newcomers to discover their own upcycling opportunities.

A solid resource for the eco-conscious, as well as the crafty.

BLOOD FEUD The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever Sharp, Kathleen Dutton (434 pp.) $27.95 | September 20, 2011 978-0-525-95240-4

How two giant pharmaceutical companies defrauded the public, flouted government regulations and ignored patient safety in their cutthroat competition.

In this hard-hitting exposé, investigative journalist Sharp (Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood: Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire, 2004, etc.) tells the shocking story of how Amgen and Johnson & Johnson partnered to commercially develop a seemingly miraculous anti-anemia drug that would reduce the need for blood transfusions. They conspired to push the drug through the FDA’s licensing process without establishing FDA-mandated safety standards while battling ferociously between themselves for market share—secretly selling the product at steep discounts, fraudulently encouraging customers to bill Medicare at full price and using various under-the-table means to give kickbacks to doctors who prescribed the drug. Although the original license specified the drug’s use for patients suffering kidney failure, J&J encouraged its use for cancer patients in therapy and started a marketing campaign to encourage doctors to raise the prescribed dosage.

Mounting evidence of dangerous side-effects—blood-clotting, rampant spread of cancers and the sudden death of professional |

athletes who used the drug to enhance their stamina—were disregarded. Sharp artfully weaves in the riveting story of a highflying salesman at J&J who feared he would be scapegoated for the criminal activities mandated by his bosses. Once rewarded with lavish holidays and other perks, he experienced the dark side of the American Dream when he was fired and blackballed, but he decided to fight back and become a whistle blower. The author unveils how the FDA’s regulatory process has been systematically defanged beginning in the mid-1990s when direct TV advertising to the public was allowed. Since then, funding for the agency has decreased and corruption has flourished.

A blockbuster of a story, especially today with Medicare potentially on the chopping block. (Agent: Lisa Urbach Vance)

WESTMORELAND The General Who Lost Vietnam

Sorley, Lewis Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (416 pp.) $30.00 | October 12, 2011 978-0-547-51826-8

A military historian’s harsh take on the career of the general most associated with America’s most controversial war.

An Eagle Scout, First Captain at the U.S. Military Academy, a combat veteran of World War II and Korea, Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, Superintendent of West Point and, just before his retirement from the military, he served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1965’s Time magazine Man of the Year, he addressed a Joint Session of Congress in 1967. Married for more than 50 years, he fathered three children. By almost any measure William C. Westmoreland’s life (1914–2005) and career would be deemed successful. But he’ll be forever defined by his tenure as commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam, where his strategy of attrition and his search-and-destroy tactics failed utterly to daunt the enemy and frustrated Americans at home who detected no progress in the war. Under Westmoreland’s leadership, “the light at the end of the tunnel” never dawned.

Although Sorley (A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and the Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam, 1999, etc.) treats every aspect of the general’s life, the bulk of the biography deals with the Vietnam years and the various controversies surrounding Westmoreland’s command: his failure to properly arm and train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, his obsession with body counts, his manipulation of the order of battle, his surprise at the 1968 Tet Offensive. Handsome and humorless, Westmoreland had a penchant for self-promotion, for playing to the press and for disguising stalemate as progress. In these respects, not to mention his successive requests for more troops, he resembles no one in our history more than Union Gen. George B. McClellan, although Westmoreland was, by all accounts, a decent man, more the tool than the antagonist of his civilian superiors. Westmoreland spent the 30 years of his retirement defending his actions in Vietnam,

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SATISFACTION Erotic Fantasies for the Advanced & Adventurous Couple

but his reputation never recovered. He authored a tendentious memoir, ran an amateurish and unsuccessful campaign for South Carolina’s governorship and ignominiously settled a weak libel suit against CBS. The general’s defenders will have their hands full answering Sorley’s blistering indictment. (Two 8-page blackand-white inserts. Agent: Peter Ginsberg)

EVERY STEP YOU TAKE A Memoir

Soto, Jock Harper/HarperCollins (240 pp.) $24.99 | October 4, 2011 978-0-06-173238-6

Acclaimed dancer Soto—a principal for the New York City Ballet for 20 years (1985–2005)—writes about his career, his Native American heritage, his homosexuality, his passion for cooking, his struggles to find a family and his discovery of love.

Now a teacher at the School of American Ballet, the author is not a talented writer—few pages pass before the clichés begin arriving (he was “determined to hit the ground running” and to avoid “falling between the cracks”)—but as his story, a true nowhere-to-somewhere tale, gathers momentum, it achieves a narrative power and an essential sweetness that is never cloying or annoying. The son of a Navajo mother and a Puerto Rican father, Soto recalls dancing native steps with his mother before he was 5. After seeing a ballet on the Ed Sullivan Show when was about 10, he fell permanently in love with the art. His parents— to their eternal credit—encouraged his passion (his macho father, though skeptical, drove him to countless lessons in the Southwest). It was soon evident to his teachers that his was no ordinary talent, and his career accelerated at warp speed. By his mid-teens, he was living on his own in New York City, working ferociously hard at the NYCB, developing relationships—colleagues, choreographers, lovers—and fashioning for himself an record. He has few unkind things to say about anyone and praises heavily his mentors (Balanchine, Robbins, Martins) and dancers (Heather Watts, Wendy Whelan). His kindest words are for his partner, Luis Fuentes. We learn, too, about his efforts to reunite his mother’s family, to exorcise a disturbing ghost and to find peace once his dance career ended.

A powerful story, affectionately told, about the demands and dimensions of personal and professional success. (8-page black-and-white photo insert. Agent: Heather Mitchell)

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Steffans, Karrine Grand Central Publishing (272 pp.) $24.99 | August 10, 2011 978-0-446-55320-9

A collection of highly explicit sexual fantasies for audacious couples.

Without inhibitions, Steffans begins by reminding readers that “a man will either marry the woman who will fulfill all his sexual fantasies or cheat on his wife with her.” This bold statement lingers as she goes on to share blunt sexual scenarios coupled with advice often bordering on dicey and irresponsible. She juxtaposes what could go awry with each fantasy, further adulterating any excitement. When guiding readers through the creation of an escort fantasy, the author suggests the woman might become upset by insensitive exchanges that could occur during the act. To remedy this, she suggests the woman go out and spend the money that was part of the prop in retaliation. “He accused you of being a whore. You may as well take the payday that comes along with it,” she writes. At times, Steffans’ anecdotes can be quite amusing, but, sadly, this isn’t her intention. Each chapter includes how-to advice with Vixen Tips, such as those that append the chapter on swinging, which advise that it might not be a good sexual fit for partners if one of them is “a germaphobe.” There is scarce mention of how to protect against STDs, a rather irresponsible approach to sex from someone who preaches the gospel of enlightened sexuality.

Proves that reality usually trumps fantasy.

PROJECT REBIRTH Survival and the Strength of the Human Spirit from 9/11 Survivors

Stern, Robin Martin, Courtney E. Dutton (256 pp.) $25.95 | August 18, 2011 978-0-525-95226-8

Eight individuals and how they rebuilt their lives in the aftermath of 9/11.

Psychoanalyst Stern (The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life, 2007) and journalist Martin (Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body, 2007, etc.) combine their skills in this companion to Jim Whitaker’s documentary Rebirth, which will premiere on Showtime on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The authors feature a diverse group, including Nick Chirls, who was 15 when his mother Catherine died in the Cantor Fitzgerald offices on the 104th floor; Larry

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Courtney, who made history when New York State recognized his marriage to his longtime partner Gene, who worked on the 102nd floor; Joe Keenan, a New York cop who worked at the Fresh Kills recovery site, where all the material from Ground Zero was processed. The contributors’ accounts open up the warmth and resilience that they shared and used to empower their outreach to others. Stern and Martin situate their contributors within a context informed by ongoing, current work in the medical and psychoanalytical professions on grieving, resilience and coping with loss. The eight contributors participated with the project over time, so the account reflects what these individuals and others like them endured, and also how the country rose to their assistance, as relief and medical programs were shaped to deal with the tragedy and new realities.

The authors note that “the film…will eventually be housed at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum located at Ground Zero.” A fitting complement to and extension of that film, this thoughtful and uplifting collection will also stand on its own.

UNTIL THE FIRES STOPPED BURNING 9/11 and New York City in the Words and Experiences of Survivors and Witnesses

Strozier, Charles B. Columbia Univ. (304 pp.) $26.95 | September 1, 2011 978-0-231-15898-5

Psychoanalyst Strozier (History/John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst, 2001, etc.) assembles a scattershot account of 9/11 and its social significance, the release of which is timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

The book draws on interviews with those who witnessed the events of 9/11 firsthand, the author’s own account of these events and reported statistics about the physical destruction and environmental damage wrought by the disaster.

Many books have been written about 9/11, and many have incorporated the accounts of eyewitnesses. Strozier’s book theoretically provides the added benefit of an experienced psychoanalyst’s interpretation and analysis of such accounts.

Unfortunately, the author’s conclusions are generally less valuable and insightful than they are obvious—9/11 tapped into people’s fears of apocalyptic nuclear disaster; 9/11 was more traumatic for New Yorkers than it was for Iowans—or irrelevant (Strozier lengthily chronicles his feelings about his son’s stalled career as a chef). Further, the prose is jargon-heavy and often feels forced—e.g., “My discussion of the traumatic meanings of 9/11 in this context of the zones of sadness does not try formally to locate my analysis in the academic or psychoanalytic literature on trauma.” Strozier watched the events of 9/11 unfold from the relative safety of Greenwich Village, and he did not lose anyone with whom he was close. Despite |

his repeatedly asserted desire to show sensitivity toward those who suffered more than he, readers may find it difficult not to find his book self-indulgent.

Slapdash and unilluminating.

REPROBATES The Cavaliers of the English Civil War Stubbs, John Norton (576 pp.) $39.95 | September 19, 2011 978-0-393-06880-1

Part history, part gossip, vastly erudite and mostly tedious work dealing with the heirs of Shakespeare and their part in fostering the English Civil War. Initially, the term Cavalier indicated a well-dressed gallant, but that designation quickly deteriorated into a pejorative illustrating a petulant, disdainful, violent-minded dandy. Stubbs (John Donne: The Reformed Soul, 2007) focuses primarily on the lives and works of poet John Suckling and William Davenant, Shakespeare’s godson. These two in particular were witnesses to an age of prodigals and playboys. Stubbs shifts between Suckling and his contemporaries throughout the first half of the book, interjecting the politics and explanations of the works of James Howell, Henry Jermyn, Thomas Hobbes and Inigo Jones, as well as a wealth of contemporary poetasters. Even as he bounces around among authors, artists Van Dyck and Rubens, and the “evil ministers” Laud and Wentworth, Stubbs artistically weaves in the history of the players and their times and especially the deep hatred of everything “papist.” At the same time, he assumes that readers know the basic story of the Scottish Rebellion and the English Civil War. There is quick mention of the battles at Edgehill, Marston Moor and Naseby, but only as asides leading to the eventual beheading of Charles I and the restoration of Charles II. A highly detailed, scholarly work—not for general readers.

THE LOCAVORE’S KITCHEN A Cook’s Guide to Seasonal Eating and Preserving Suszko, Marilou K. Ohio Univ. (260 pp.) $32.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-8214-1938-0

Riding the crest of ever-evolving food trends takes some real ingenuity. This carefully configured cookbook manages to chart the course in an unexpectedly old-fashioned way.

For those not in the know, locavore is a newly minted word used to loosely describe one who purchases and eats foodstuffs grown, raised and produced exclusively within a 100-mile radius of home. It’s a pretty tall order, one within

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“More support, if any were needed, that Trillin is a leading humorist, even if some dust clings to a few of the essays and poems.” from quite enough of calvin trillin

the expertise of food-savvy Suszko (Farms and Foods of Ohio, 2007). In her hands, it’s just a palate-pleasing turnaround from making do with supermarket food from anywhere to preparing, eating and preserving unadulterated local fare, season by season, as our ancestors did. In the process, locavores boost a growing niche in local economies by patronizing farmers’ markets and getting to know the passionate new crop of young produce-raising, baking and cheese-making artisans nearby. A wide variety of spectacular recipes showcase the stars of each season, from Spring Asparagus Frittata and Roasted Strawberries with Cornmeal Poundcake to Chicken Pesto Cheesecake and Farmhouse Chowder for winter. The author offers valuable advice on how to choose, store and cook a long list of locally available items to the most delicious advantage. As a bonus, she takes the mystery out of freezing meat, poultry and vegetables, and her instructions on canning fruits make success a real possibility. Easyto-follow tutorials explain how to make your own applesauce, Raspberry Lime Jam, butter, sauerkraut, Crème Fraiche and herb-infused vinegars.

As Suszko demonstrates, sometimes staying ahead of the foodie pack means going back to one’s culinary roots.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DRESS What I Learned in 40 Years About Men, Women, Sex, and Fashion Tiel, Vicky St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $26.99 | May 29, 2011 978-0-312-65909-7

Like the mini-skirt she is known for inventing, 40-year fashion veteran Tiel bares it all on sex, love and Elizabeth Taylor.

“Life itself is the party” in the author’s debut—and what a delicious romp it is. Her memoir reads like all of the juiciest bits of your favorite gossip magazine, pushing back the curtains of an over-the-top life among the who’s who of the ’60s-’80s, including the original Hollywood power couple, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Readers will frolic along with Tiel as a 17-year-old sassy Greenwich Village “it-girl” who called herself “Peaches LaTour.” Later, as a French couture designer, Tiel summoned the gall to tell legendary designer Coco Chanel with a smile, “I am you—when you were young.” Much like the redleather catsuits and hot-pink caftans for which she is known, Tiel’s tour through the past is fun, flirty, flattering and, above all, revealing without being sleazy. She recalls, with great affection, Taylor and Burton’s “private, intense love and eternal interest in each other,” Miles Davis’ “preference for Jewish girls as lovers” and her father’s sage advice to never “marry for security,” and that “if you make your own money, you never have to eat shit from a man.” The author rounds it out with additional tidbits, such as Sophia Loren’s pasta recipe and Edith Head’s life lessons.

An enjoyable confection.

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QUITE ENOUGH OF CALVIN TRILLIN Forty Years of Funny Stuff

Trillin, Calvin Random (368 pp.) $26.00 | September 13, 2011 978-1-4000-6982-8 e-book 978-0-679-60480-8

Some of the best pieces of the esteemed humorist’s long career.

Trillin (Trillin on Texas, 2011, etc.) is best known for his writing on food and politics, and there’s a feast of both in this collection of four decades of work. In “Missing Links,” an essay on the Cajun dish boudin, he reveals a deep knowledge of regional cuisine while delivering wry takes on his culinary obsessiveness. In “Eating With the Pilgrims,” he condemns bland Thanksgiving fare and lobbies for spaghetti carbonara as a replacement dish. As for politics, the book includes plenty of his light verse on legislators, mostly skewering Republicans. On Tom Delay: “Corruption’s in his DNA. / It dominates his résumé.” On John Boehner: “Can anything be said for Speaker Boehner? / Yes. Others in the party are insaner.”

But Trillin has held a range of interests throughout his career, and the book makes room for his critiques of high finance, satirical pieces about Jewish culture and self-deprecating pieces on his failures as a househusband: “A man who has a cross-indexed list of what’s in his basement is not a little too well-organized, he’s hateful.” His late wife Alice, the subject of his 2007 memoir, About Alice, makes regular appearances in the book, often as a forbearing housewife. Trillin is a topical humorist, which means many jokes haven’t aged well—why was Dick Lugar worth making fun of back in 1995? But the tone is always bright and genial, and gags about car alarms and corruption are deathless.

More support, if any were needed, that Trillin is a leading humorist, even if some dust clings to a few of the essays and poems. (Author tour to New York, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Agent: Bob Lescher)

ARCTIC OBSESSION The Lure of the Far North Troubetzkoy, Alexis Dunne/St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $25.99 | October 1, 2011 978-0-312-62503-0

A boisterous survey of those answering the Siren call of the North Pole.

Troubetzkoy (A Brief History of the Crimean War, 2006, etc.) proceeds roughly chronologically as he follows dozens of explorers making their way to the Arctic in search of fame, fortune, discovery, adventure or territory. He starts with the Greek Pytheas, who claimed to have gazed upon Ultima Thule in 325 BCE, though the only account burned with the Library of

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Alexandria. The author tenders much cultural, historical, political and geographical detail, but not at the expense of drama, romance and manliness. Of the Vikings: “Drink, women, and song were embraced with the same fervor as war, pillage, and slaughter.” Of Dutch navigator William Barents: “One wonders at the mould from which these early Arctic intrepids were formed—exceptional people they were.” Then there was Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen sleeping off the Arctic night: “We carried this art to a high pitch of perfection…sometimes as much as 20 hours’ sleep in 24.” Troubetzkoy makes excellent use of diaries and notebooks to convey period flavor and a sense of immediacy, as well as to showcase some dazzling writing, of which George Kennan’s description of the aurora borealis is a real gem. But the author wisely lets the extraordinary adventures speak for themselves, ushering along Sebastian Cabot seeking a northeast trade route to Cathay and Martin Frobisher looking to the northwest. There are the great tragedies of Henry Hudson, John Franklin, Jens Munk and a worshipful company of others, as well as the endless, ruinous attempts to discover a Northwest Passage. Troubetzkoy also intelligently discusses the effects of global warming on the fauna and flora, as well as modernization on the indigenous peoples. Bickering over mineral and oil rights is now standard fare at international conferences.

Colorful enthusiasm draped over a thorough treatment of Arctic exploration. (20 black-and-white images)

WE MEANT WELL How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People

Van Buren, Peter Metropolitan/Henry Holt (288 pp.) $25.00 | September 27, 2011 978-0-8050-9436-7 Laugh-out-loud stories about how the United States failed to rebuild Iraq.

After 2005, the State Department suddenly received orders to reconstruct the country. In the loop after years of neglect, it scrambled to find qualified personnel but never succeeded.

The main criteria seemed to be a willingness to live in Iraq for a year at a salary of $250,000 and three paid vacations. A career Foreign Service bureaucrat with a daughter requiring college tuition, Van Buren volunteered. After a hasty “Islam for Dummies” orientation (“dudes kiss, no serving bacon, no joking about God”), he flew to Iraq, collected his helmet, body armor and armed guards (mandatory when off base) and set to work.

The author’s hilarious vignettes do not conceal his outrage.

“The more projects the better” mantra trumped inconveniences such as market research. A clothing factory opened and quickly closed in the face of far-cheaper Chinese imports. Researchers doubted Iraqis would pay double for fresh chicken what they currently paid for the frozen Brazilian variety, but American contractors built a chicken-processing facility anyway—and |

proved the researchers right. Easy, feel-good projects were popular, producing cheerful photos of troops giving free stuff to happy kids, while avoiding sullen Iraqi adults observing from afar. Long-term development proved difficult because Iraq’s government refuses to assume salary and maintenance costs once American contractors finish, leaving the nation dotted with empty school, clinics and other facilities. A few moving essays reveal a desperately unhappy nation, but mostly this is a delightful companion to Richard Galli’s classic Vietnam heartsand-minds satire,Of Rice and Men (2006).

One of the rare, completely satisfying results of the expensive debacle in Iraq.

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY Coco Chanel’s Secret War

Vaughan, Hal Knopf (304 pp.) $27.95 | August 16, 2011 978-0-307-59263-7 Tenacious digging into secret wartime records reveals a worsening case for the legendary French designer.

That Chanel took a German officer as a lover during the French Occupation is not news—his status allowed her to keep her luxury apartments in the Ritz Hotel during the war and pass freely among restricted areas.

Yet the extent of her collaboration has been vigorously denied for years. Questioned before a French tribunal right after the war, Chanel was swiftly released by the beneficent intervention of Winston Churchill, her old friend, and warned to get out of town. Relocated to Switzerland, she was soon joined by the very German lover in question: Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage, an agent for the German military espionage service, who had been stationed in Paris since the mid-’30s to build a Nazi propaganda network in France. Roving journalist and diplomat Vaughan (FDR’s 12 Apostles: The Spies Who Paved the Way for the Invasion of North Africa, 2006, etc.) sifts through the shifting lives of Gabrielle Chanel, born in 1883 to a poor mother and itinerant father, and farmed off to a Catholic orphanage by age 12. She continually remade herself, from seamstress to café singer to mistress of rich, worldly men, who set her up in business. Her most influential paramour (for her postwar career) would prove to be the profligate Bendor, the Duke of Westminster, and Churchill’s good friend. Together, Bendor and Chanel could indulge their anti-Semitic, pro-German views.

Cooperating with the Nazis helped free Chanel’s nephew from a German POW camp, while the newly instated Aryanizing of Jewish businesses promised the chance to wrest her lucrative perfume firm from the hands of the Wertheimer family, to whom she had sold it years before. Well rendered by Vaughan, the details grow continually more sordid, from Chanel and Dincklage’s trip to Madrid and Berlin to try to influence highlevel British circles in 1943, to Chanel’s drug addiction.

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SURPRISED BY OXFORD A Memoir

A sorry story of war-time collaboration, exacerbated by the lack of reckoning during her lifetime. (74 photographs.

First printing of 50,000)

DENG XIAOPING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF CHINA

Vogel, Ezra F. Belknap/Harvard Univ. (874 pp.) $39.95 | September 26, 2011 978-0-674-05544-5 A thorough picking-over of Deng Xiaoping’s record and accomplishments, setting him firmly as the linchpin linking an antiquated authoritative thinking to modern growth and acceleration.

With Deng’s accession to preeminence in 1978, China was still very much in the throes of closed thinking and hostility to the imperialist West, reeling from internal wounds inflicted

by Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution and choked by centralized control. In this well-considered and -researched study, Vogel, former director of Harvard’s Asia Center, portrays the whole remarkable character: from early student worker in France in the 1920s turned communist revolutionary, fired by imperialist humiliations and determined to help build a rich and strong China; to Mao’s capable tool in constructing a coalescent communist base and, by turns, Mao’s builder, finance minister and foreign and general secretary during the ’50s and ’60s.

Indeed, Deng proved to be Mao’s indispensable “implementer,” to the extent of supporting Mao’s attack on outspoken intellectuals during the Hundred Flowers period and obediently carrying out Mao’s disastrous Great Leap Forward. Yet Deng’s reservations would render him purged and disgraced twice by Mao: during the early Cultural Revolution, then again in 1976, when Deng’s efforts at consolidation and reform (encouraging Western support, learning about modernization of industry and science and reviving higher education) were “placed in cold storage” because he was suspected of designs to seize power and restore capitalism. Under Mao’s successor Hua Guofeng, then as premier in his own right, Deng’s reforms in science, technology and education proved the impetus for the modernization that would propel China forward. His willingness to seek Western expertise and open to other countries, “emancipate minds,” encourage initiative and meritocracy and create special zones for attracting foreign investment have produced today’s economic juggernaut, yet his firm grip on the Communist party line also resulted in the tragedy of Tiananmen in 1989. Deng’s policy of staving off democratic reform by economic growth may last only so long.

Vogel meticulously considers all facets of this complex leader for an elucidating—and quite hefty—study. (40 halftones)

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Weber, Carolyn Thomas Nelson (384 pp.) $16.99 paperback | August 9, 2011 978-0-8499-4611-0 Memoir of a literature professor who converted to Christianity in the halls of Oxford University.

Coming home for the holidays, Weber (English/Seattle Univ.) had a handsome young man with a jewelry box in his pocket waiting for her at the gate. Most girls would be excited, but not the author.

As her ex–fiancé-to-be awaited her arrival, Weber found herself confiding to a concerned stranger that she’d been thinking about someone else: Jesus. It’s an inauspicious beginning for a conversion story, inciting the same adverse reaction in readers as the author’s agnostic friends—nice, well-educated girls do not break up with their boyfriends and become Christians.

But a lot has changed since Weber began her graduate studies at Oxford, an establishment where semesters with names like “Michaelmas” and “Hilary” frame a touching narrative of friendship, love and faith. There, the author was just as often inspired by Keats and the Beatles as she was by the Gospel.

Weaving lines of poetry, philosophy and scripture into her narrative, Weber grasps at the meaning of life in the pages of great works of literature and overcomes her own childhood cynicism.

Ultimately, a boy she refers to as TDK (i.e., tall, dark and handsome) won her heart and encouraged her to convert. When normal, 20-something trials ensued, notably a visit from a Georgia Peach in designer stilettos who threatened to steal her crush, the author’s new faith was put to the test. The delicately crafted moments when Weber’s faith allowed her to think more clearly and walk more gracefully through her life are, much like her romance, worth the wait.

Well-written, often poignant and surprisingly relatable.

ALL MY PATIENTS KICK AND BITE More Favorite Stories from a Vet’s Practice

Wells, Jeff St. Martin’s (256 pp.) $24.99 | October 1, 2011 978-0-312-66812-9

Follow-up to All My Patients Have Tales (2009).

Veterinarian Wells returns with another collection of warm, humorous tales of the animals he treats and the people who own and care for them. He introduces us to a cross section of critters who come through his office, or who he has to visit. The author doesn’t just deal with dogs and cats, but also sheep, goats, llamas, cattle, horses, donkeys and mules, most of which require outpatient visits. The stories are as much about

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“A fascinating personal treatise on racial identity and complicated father-son dynamics.” from my long trip home

the human owners as about the animal patients; for pet owners, Wells provides insight into a vet’s view of the world. The phrase “he’s never tried to bite anyone in his life” has special meaning for them, and the author includes a story of a group displaying and discussing their wounds and scars. Dealing with the unexpected—llamas who don’t want their nails trimmed, teenagers looking to get high on feline distemper vaccine, a herd of Scottish Highland cattle trying to protect a calf from the vet—makes for some high-tension reading. And then there are the owners, reluctant to upset the vet with fears of what might happen. Wells includes tips, perhaps not practical for everyone, but entertaining, how Vicks vapor rub obscures smell and helps ewes adopt, not reject, orphaned lambs. There are also moving stories of difficult births and life-saving efforts in nighttime winter snows. Wells weaves in the struggles of his own life and marriage with his wife’s successful fight against recurrent cancer, and their adoption of an orphan from Korea.

Good-natured, inviting animal tales. (20 black-and-white line drawings. Agent: Jacques de Spoerlberch)

MY LONG TRIP HOME A Family Memoir

Whitaker, Mark Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $25.99 | October 18, 2011 978-1-4516-2754-1

A heavily detailed and highly readable account of the author’s lineage.

Seasoned journalist Whitaker reports the history of his parents’ lives. Now managing editor of CNN Worldwide, the former NBC Washington bureau chief and former editor of Newsweek, the author decided, one year to the hour after his father’s death, to write this book.

The structure is largely chronological, beginning with his parents’ meeting at Swarthmore in the mid ’50s, when his father, Syl, was one of the only black students and his white mother, Jeanne, taught French. Despite Syl’s adultery, they were married for six years and had two sons, Mark and his younger brother, Paul, until Syl asked for a divorce. An estimable expert on Nigeria, Syl was asked to start Princeton’s first African-American Studies program, though he was eventually fired because of his drinking. In and out of his sons’ lives, often failing to pay child support, Syl weathered numerous trips to rehab, and his alcoholism derailed what might have been a stellar career. He never stayed at any college for too long, due in no small part to the problems that resulted from his womanizing.

As a boy, Whitaker struggled to forgive his absences. His anger, manifested itself as compulsive eating, anorexia and long periods of being out of touch with his father. The author chronicles how he made peace with his father, despite his many failings, and how he built for a fulfilling marriage and career. It’s difficult to follow the many names and threads, especially in the first half, but the writing comes across as honest and wholly engaging.

A fascinating personal treatise on racial identity and complicated father-son dynamics. (16-page black-and-white insert. Agent: Lynn Nesbit) |

OINK My Life with Mini-Pigs

Whyman, Matt Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $24.00 | September 20, 2011 978-1-4516-1828-0

Being a stay-at-home dad, the father of four children and the primary caregiver for an assortment of pets, including two mini-pigs, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this intrepid British author lived to tell the tale.

Whyman (Goldstrike, 2010, etc.), whose fiction tends toward dark tales of adventure and mayhem, also writes advice columns for young people. In this humorous chronicle of a year in the life of a London family transplanted to a rural suburb, the author describes his misadventures as a stay-at-home dad responsible for the care of two adolescent daughters, a young son and daughter, a ferocious Canadian sheep dog, assorted chickens, a cat and the two pigs. Adding mini-pigs to the family had seemed to be a fun idea. Whyman explains that reportedly the pigs were highly sociable and were “one of the smartest species on the planet after humans, chimps, and dolphins.” The expectation was that they would be easy house pets, but reality proved otherwise. Although they were smaller than ordinary pigs, they quickly grew too large to keep in the house. Not easily house-trained, the pigs ate the remote controls on the video-game console and raided the kitchen looking for food. Despite protests from his children, Whyman insisted that they be kept outdoors, but containing them created another set of problems as they raided the hen house for eggs, dug up the lawn and broke through fences. According to the author’s account, his series of mishaps ended only when he took the advice of a helpful local farmer and accepted that his pets were indeed barnyard animals. They ultimately became less destructive, but they did not evince empathetic or other qualities characteristic of chimps and dolphins.

While the author successfully milks his account for laughs, animal lovers may be disappointed. (15 black-andwhite photographs. Agent: Jason Bartholomew)

VERDI’S SHAKESPEARE Men of the Theater

Wills, Garry Viking (240 pp.) $25.95 | October 17, 2011 978-0-670-02304-2

One genius interprets another: English to Italian, words to lyrics, immortal drama to overpowering opera.

In his latest, Wills (History/Northwestern Univ.; Outside Looking In: Adventures of an Observer, 2010, etc.) proves once again that he isn’t just a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, full-time public intellectual and Catholic apologist who is fluent in Greek and Latin. In examining how the Italian

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composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) turned three Shakespeare plays into classics of his own, the authors demonstrates how an adaptation can both analyze and interpret its source of inspiration. Wills finds that these two creative dynamos, separated by two centuries, had much in common; both were as productive as they were pragmatic, each tailoring their work to the actors or singers who were available. Although Verdi could not speak English, he perfectly grasped Shakespeare’s complexities.

The duets of Macbeth underscore the intent of the devious and deviant Lord and Lady: “[Macbeth] and his wife talk past each other, not to each other, hiding from each other, and each hiding from him- or herself. It is all there in the music.” With Otello, Verdi and his librettist Arrigo Boito turned a fiercely pessimistic play into a nihilistic one, in which Iago sees himself as the devoted servant of a cruel God. With Falstaff, he created virtually a new play, piecing together the larger-than-life character from the Shakespeare’s history plays and his lesser comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. Just as Verdi “gave cosmic reach to Otello’s music,” writes the author, “he turns Falstaff into a force of nature, an earth-daimon.” Wills isn’t afraid to plumb the subterranean depths and the delicate infrastructure of these works.

While the book has an enormous amount to teach devotees of either Shakespeare or Verdi, opera fans in particular will enjoy the author’s close and illuminating attention to backstage history, as well as words, music and phrasing.

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children & teens MYSTERY MATH A First Book of Algebra

Adler, David A. Illustrator: Miller, Edward Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-0-8234-2289-0

Adler and Miller have once again turned out a thorough explanation of a math concept in a neat package (Fractions, Decimals, and Percents, 2010, etc.).

This time they tackle the much-feared topic of algebra, starting with the basics and working up from there. Throughout, Adler introduces and then consistently uses mathematical vocabulary. He begins with a balanced seesaw as a simile for an algebraic equation, then leads readers from simple equations (4 + X = 5) that they can solve just by looking at equations in which they have to perform each of the four orders of operation. Easy-to-understand mathematical notations guide readers through the solution to each problem, which are originally posed as word problems involving two children, Mandy and Billy, and Igor, the caretaker of a haunted house. The Halloween theme echoes the idea of algebra as the solving of mathematical mysteries, and Miller’s digital artwork ups the ante with a palette strong on blacks, dark blues and lime greens. Bats, black cats and skeletons abound, and Igor himself has green skin à la Frankenstein’s monster. Backmatter includes instructions on making a balance scale and weights from common household materials.

A solid foundation for beginners or re-teaching tool for those who are struggling. (Math picture book. 6-10)

HOOTENANNY! A Festive Counting Book

Ainsworth, Kimberly Illustrator: Brown, Jo Little Simon/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $12.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4424-2273-5 There’s a party tonight at the old oak tree, and one, two, three, four, five dancing owls bathe, put on special shoes and hats, collect their instruments and climb up to join the fun.

Mixed-media illustrations feature cartoon owls with a variety of clothing and accessories. Extending across each doublepage spread, they show each bird preparing and then joining the group. Appropriate numbers appear as the group enlarges. |

Drawn on natural brown paper with colored pencils and painted with gouache in trendy colors, some images show the owls’ cozy homes, and some feature a background of an evening sky fading from pink to purple to deep blue. On the last spread, the numbered owls are framed by lights as if on stage. Each of the rap-beat couplets that count off the owls is introduced with a separate explanatory line that stops the flow: “A party’s not a party without a happy tune. / 3 cool owls have got the beat. / Now they’re ready to hit the street.” Adults who try to read the book aloud may find it hard going, although the repetition of the “Hootenanny, hootenanny” chorus between each segment will invite listeners to chant along. This jazzy offering doesn’t quite fit its audience. Even if familiar with folk festivals, children just old enough to begin to associate numbers with objects will find that easier to do without these elaborate extra details.

Give this party a miss. (Picture book. 3-5)

TRAPPED How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert

Aronson, Marc Atheneum (144 pp.) $16.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4169-1397-9

On August 5, 2010, 33 miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in northern Chile’s unsafe San José mine, setting off a story that captured the attention of the world, “from experts on outer space to drill bit manufacturers from Pennsylvania, from nutritionists to camera crews.”

Leave it to Aronson to set the context for the event by going back in time 40 million years to the “great dance of the shifting continents” and the rise of the Himalayas, the creation of the polar ice caps and the formation of the Nazca Plate. This last pushed itself under the continent of South America, where cracks, crevices and deep veins hold treasures of gold, silver and copper. No one would ever come to the lifeless deserts of northern Chile if it weren’t for the mines, which help supply the 16 pounds of copper the average American uses in a year. The rescue of the miners after 69 days was a story of hope, prayer and technological skill. Photographs, maps, diagrams and a wild range of literary references, from Merlin to Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Hephaistos, enliven the volume. The author uses these familiar touch points to help tell a complicated story, blending them with such highly technical information as mining machinery to keep his narrative flowing.

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Aronson’s first work about a current event may leave readers feeling claustrophobic, but they’ll be inspired by this modern-day tale of survival. (source notes, list of interviews, websites) (Nonfiction. 9-14)

MAYHEM

Arthur, Artist Kimani Tru (256 pp.)

Price ( Paperback ): $9.99 | July 19, 2011 ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-0-373-22993-2 Angry, tormented and lovestruck Jake narrates this third installment of Arthur’s (Manifest, 2010) Mystyx series.

Like his fellow Mystyx, Sasha, Lindsey and Krystal, Jake has magical powers that stem from the Goddess Styx and is poised to take a fundamental role in the struggle between Light and Dark. Which side Jake will choose, however, is uncertain, and a sinister but compelling voice inside his head keeps urging Jake to embrace his anger and fight for the Dark. Meanwhile, Jake’s feelings for Krystal intensify, and two rich bullies target Jake with verbal and physical aggression. Most nuanced here is Jake’s family: His mother is missing under mysterious circumstances, and his father, aware of the Mystyx legacy but in denial, is believably strained and muddled when he talks to Jake about the family’s powers. Jake’s descent into Dark power is handled well, and the portrayal hints at relationship violence without deeply exploring the issue. Some of the text feels awkward and unpolished. A few but not all chapters begin with epigraphs from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the verb tense repeatedly slips between present and past and too many lines of dialogue come with lengthy back story or a repetitive explanation of why the character said what he or she did.

An engaging if occasionally clunky story for readers who have followed the adventures of the Mystyx thus far; those new to the Mystyx should start with Book One. (Paranormal adventure. 12-16)

I HAD A FAVORITE DRESS

Ashburn, Boni Illustrator: Denos, Julia Abrams (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-4197-0016-3

A sprightly, modernized and girly version of the Jewish folktale “The Tailor,” which also formed the foundation of Simms Taback’s Caldecott-winning Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.

An unnamed girl recounts how every Tuesday, her favorite day, she wears her “favoritest” dress. Until the day she finds her dress is too short! Mama says, “Don’t make mountains out of molehills, make molehills out of mountains.” Snip, snip, the dress becomes a new ruffly shirt to wear on Wednesday. When the shirt becomes 1236

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too tight in the sleeves, snip, snip, it becomes a breezy tank top, then a cool skirt, then a tassely scarf, a pair of socks and a pretty hair bow, finally ending up as scraps and bits. Heeding her mother’s advice, she turns the snippets into a piece of art that she can enjoy year-round. The digitally collaged mixed-media illustrations of watercolors, graphite, colored pencil and needle and thread are what give the story its bounce and flounce. Breezy in style, they smartly stitch each scene of alteration as the not-so-little girl sashays through the days of the week and the seasons.

A charming interpretation of an old story that will speak to young fashionistas. (Picture book. 4-8)

CITY OF ORPHANS

Avi Illustrator: Ruth, Greg Richard Jackson/Atheneum (368 pp.) $16.99 | September 6, 2011 978-1-4169-7102-3 An immigrant family tries to survive crime, poverty and corruption in 1893 New York City.

Earning enough money to cover the rent and basic needs in this year of economic panic is an endless struggle for every member of the family.

Every penny counts, even the eight cents daily profit 13-year-old Maks earns by selling newspapers. Maks also must cope with violent attacks by a street gang and its vicious leader, who in turn is being manipulated by someone even more powerful. Now Maks’ sister has been wrongly arrested for stealing a watch at her job in the glamorous Waldorf Hotel and is in the notorious Tombs prison awaiting trial. How will they prove her innocence? Maks finds help and friendship from Willa, a homeless street urchin, and Bartleby Donck, an eccentric lawyer. Avi’s vivid recreation of the sights and sounds of that time and place is spot on, masterfully weaving accurate historical details with Maks’ experiences as he encounters the city of sunshine and shadow. An omniscient narrator speaks directly to readers, establishing an immediacy that allows them to feel the characters’ fears and worries and hopes.

Heroic deeds, narrow escapes, dastardly villains, amazing coincidences and a family rich in love and hope are all part of an intricate and endlessly entertaining adventure. Terrific! (author’s note, bibliography) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

WHITE WATER

Bandy, Michael S. Stein, Eric Illustrator: Strickland, Shadra Candlewick (40 pp.) $16.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-7636-3678-4 Young Michael’s desire for refreshment at the whites-only water fountain teaches him about truth and the power of imagination.

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Narrator Michael normally accepts the familiar trappings of the Jim Crow South—giving up a seat at the bus stop and on the bus and drinking from separate water fountains. When Michael drinks from his assigned fountain, he finds the water warm and nasty. Next to him, a white boy drinks for a long time, convincing Michael that the white water is superior to his.

Michael cannot stop thinking about that delicious white water and comes up with a way to taste it for himself. When reality hits—the same pipe feeds water to both fountains—Michael begins to wonder what other lies he has believed. Strickland’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations extend the story, visually demonstrating the similarities between these two boys. Michael’s grandmother and the white boy’s mother both hold their hand to their foreheads in the heat; the boys sit at the bench with their legs extended the same way; they leave the bus through different doors but their bodies move with the same motion; their drinking stances are identical. Inspirational in tone, this is a strong introduction for young listeners and readers to the American Civil Rights movement.

Michael’s examination of the myths that rule his world should inspire modern readers to do the same. (Picture book. 4-10)

NAAMAH AND THE ARK AT NIGHT

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell Illustrator: Meade, Holly Candlewick (32 pp.) $16.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7636-4242-6

The animals march along two by two in most Noah’s Ark stories, but Noah’s partner is often missing altogether. In this unusual interpretation of one of the most popular Bible stories, it’s Noah’s wife who is the star as she sings the arkful of animals to sleep.

The story begins with the great storm and flood waters surrounding the ark at night. The animals “pace and roar and growl,” and Noah has nightmares, but his wife, Naamah, sings all night long, soothing and petting the restless animals. In an intriguing author’s note, Bartoletti explains the origins of the name Naamah as well as the Arabic poetic form used as the text’s structure. This format uses couplets that all end with the same word, with each ending word preceded by a rhyming word. “She sings for moon to fill the night; / She sings for stars to thrill the night.” The text has a lovely, soothing effect, with the repeated ending words and a lilting cadence that effectively suggests a comforting lullaby. Meade’s watercolor collage illustrations match the dramatic pacing of the text with varied perspectives and humorous views of the sleeping (or prowling) animals. Several striking spreads show Naamah and a pair of the largest animals in stark silhouette shapes against a speckled gray background that suggests the night sky.

This captivating interpretation creates a remarkable partner for Noah, who uses her special talent in a memorable way. (Picture book. 3-7)

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THE VERY LITTLE PRINCESS: ROSE’S STORY

Bauer, Marion Dane Random (128 pp.) $12.99 | Price ( Library Ed ): $15.99 Price ( e-book ): $12.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-375-85692-1 ISBN ( Library Ed ): 978-0-375-95692-8 ISBN ( e-book ): 978-0-375-89822-8 Rose finds a china doll abandoned in the attic in a tale that builds on the themes found in The Velveteen Rabbit.

Rose is a difficult child, so clumsy at home that her mother never entrusted her with the doll and so dreamy at school that she is called weirdo. Amazingly, the doll comes to life when Rose’s tears fall upon her. Although the doll, Regina, is demanding, she becomes the companion Rose desperately needs. However, Regina requires constant attention lest she once again fall into a deep sleep, a heavy responsibility for a child who longs to be out exploring. Readers will readily identify with both the needy Regina and the easily distracted Rose. For as Rose blossoms, she frequently forgets the doll and sheds many guilty tears over her—a situation many youngsters will recognize. In the most original scene, the doll brings Rose closer to her beloved big brother, for he, too, played with the doll in his youth and becomes Rose’s partner in finding a home for her. In this prequel to The Very Little Princess: Zoey’s Story (2010), Bauer uses a warm and confidential, if sometimes intrusive, storyteller’s voice. Sayles’ black-and-white pencil drawings tenderly capture Rose.

This early chapter book sets up the premise for Zoey’s story and, more importantly, prepares children for the sometimes prickly task of growing up. (Doll fantasy. 6-9)

THE SNIFFLES FOR BEAR

Becker, Bonny Illustrator: Denton, Kady MacDonald Candlewick (32 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-7636-4756-8 Series: Bear and Mouse Adventures Volume: 4 Bear is sure no one could possibly be as sick as he is.

Bear has a miserable cold. His throat hurts, his snout is sore and red and he has retired to his chair to wallow in his misery.

Enter Mouse, who is determined to make everything better.

He is unrelentingly cheerful as he reads to Bear, sings to him and makes him soup. Bear is completely unappreciative and makes pronouncements about his weakness and trembling, and the “gravity of the situation.” He even dictates his will. After a long restful sleep, he feels much better, but now it is Mouse who is ill and Bear who provides care and sympathy. Bear is very much a diva, and Mouse is patient and kind. Becker employs a lively mix of dramatic, over-the-top dialogue, with a plethora of descriptive language to set the tone. Denton’s watercolor, ink

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and gouache illustrations are just right as they depict Bear in all his suffering glory. The double-page spread at the center, showing Mouse dragging a weak and helpless Bear up the stairs, is hilarious. This funny, gentle homily about friendship and selflessness begs to be read aloud with young readers acting out the parts.

Bear and Mouse are the 21st-century Damon and Pythias—kids who haven’t met them yet will be happy they’ve encountered them now. (Picture book. 3-6)

THE WHITE CITY

Bemis, John Claude Random (400 pp.) $17.99 | Price ( Library Ed ): $20.99 Price ( e-book ): $17.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-375-85568-9 ISBN ( Library Ed ): 978-0-375-95568-6 ISBN ( e-book ): 978-0-375-89312-4 Series: The Clockwork Dark Volume: 3 With The Clockwork Dark series drawing to a close, author Bemis has saved the best for last.

Readers are plunged into the action as Buck is captured and comes face to face with the evil Grevol, a.k.a. Gog. At the same time, Ray and Jolie are attempting to find his sister Sally as she desperately seeks their father, hoping he can help complete their task. Other members of their band, including Conker, son of John Henry, are headed to Chicago, the site of the 1893 World’s Fair, and an ultimate showdown with Gog, his all-powerful Machine and the Darkness he uses to control those who do his bidding. Bemis continues to connect larger-than-life characters of American folklore to new adventure. As he concludes the series at the point where the country is set to embrace a mechanized modern society, the heroic figures battling the evil Gog are forced to face what might be a losing battle. “And the world ahead, it would change. That was inevitable, just as the Magog had said. But it wasn’t inevitable that it would be a world that would turn people into the ashen-faced slaves that Grevol desired. Mankind might still hold on to its humanity.”

With a plot as intricate as the Machine at its center and a page-turning pace, this unique, ambitious American fantasy comes to a satisfying end that would please even John Henry. (Steampunk. 9-12)

KING JACK AND THE DRAGON

Bently, Peter Illustrator: Oxenbury, Helen Dial (32 pp.) $17.99 | August 18, 2011 978-0-8037-3698-6

Gentle, unassuming rhyme tells the story of Zack, Caspar and King Jack, who make a glorious fort in Jack and Caspar’s backyard out of a cardboard box and other tried-and-true materials. As she did so memorably in We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Oxenbury alternates black-and-white vignettes of the “real” goings-on with gorgeous, full-bleed single- and double-page spreads of the fantasy action. Her palette and composition of these fantasy scenes (and the lumpy miens of the beasts) recall Max’s sojourn among the wild things, but this is no retread of either classic. The children—preschooler Jack, his toddler brother Caspar and pal Zack—are happy playmates consciously indulging in make-believe. Reality and fantasy merge at the end of the day when “a giant came by and went home with Sir Zack” (a parental hand drags the protesting little boy off) and “another giant came and took Caspar to bed” (he is unceremoniously carried off in the crook of Mommy’s arm). Does King Jack have the starch to defend the fort by himself? Who needs starch with a Mommy and Dad like Jack’s?

Sure to be read aloud again and again, this testament to imaginative play exudes warmth. (Picture book. 3-6)

ANIMALOGY Animal Analogies

Berkes, Marianne Illustrator: Morrison, Cathy Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $16.95 | Price ( Paperback ): $8.95 September 5, 2011 978-1-60718-127-9 ISBN ( Paperback ): 978-1-60718-137-8

Fauna are used to teach children about analogies.

Each spread presents readers with a phrase, “this is to this, as that is to that,” accompanied by illustrations emphasizing that relationship. “Beaver is to build, as spider is to spin.” From the tiniest ants to the mightiest lions, animals of all sorts are compared by size, sound, way they move and how they are classified.

Most are solid analogies, although Berkes sometimes sacrifices word choices to make verses rhyme, and the analogies suffer. A few are not quite pathetic—“Rabbit is to nibble, as skunk is to dig”—and several seem to be worded backwards: “Amphibian is to frog as mammal is to moose.” Extensive backmatter encourages readers to further explore analogies with questions and activities that lead them to think creatively about the ways in which the animals were compared in the text. Morrison’s artwork is detailed and realistic, especially when it comes to the smaller species, each feather, fin and hair standing out in relief, though the pictures do not always fully illustrate distinctions.

Flawed, but it fills a niche that is otherwise almost empty. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

A trio of children spends the day playing in their fort, defending it from dragons and beasts, before reality intrudes at nightfall.

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“A big, serious work of historical investigation and imagination; the tale has never before been told this well.” from jefferson’s sons

SURVIVE-O-PEDIA

Borgenicht, David Smith, Molly Walsh, Brendan Epstein, Robin Illustrator: Gonzalez, Chuck Chronicle (144 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8118-7690-2 From “Airplane Crashes” to “Whitewater” and “Woods,” an alphabetical tally of hazardous situations with (usually) a few coping strategies.

The sixth “Junior Edition” in the Worst Case Scenario franchise gathers abbreviated or rewritten versions of 63 natural hazards covered in the adult volumes but probably new to the intended audience. Each gets a spread of photos and lighthearted cartoons of young folk in extremis, which accompany briefly described scenarios, background explanations, general safety tips and common-sense behaviors. Not much of all this is intended to be seriously helpful—for one thing, the format doesn’t lend itself to quick reference, and for another, the likelihood of any readers running with the bulls in Pamplona, surviving an asteroid collision or encountering a gorilla in the wild is low. Furthermore, victims of sudden amnesia are advised not to seek medical help but just wait, as it’ll go away in 24 hours, a method of cracking open coconuts with a pointed stick is actively dangerous and the only suggested strategy for dealing with killer whales is to “keep your distance.”

Mild amusement for armchair travelers, offering (as the intro puts it) “all of the adventure with none of the stitches.” (Browsing item. 10-12)

JEFFERSON’S SONS

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker Dial (368 pp.) $17.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8037-3499-9

It was a secret everybody knew at Monticello: Thomas Jefferson was the father of Beverly, Harriet, Madison and Eston Hemings, and their mother was Sally Hemings, a slave owned by Jefferson.

Most people now have a vague idea of this story and the issues it raises about Jefferson, the author of the words that founded a nation: “All men are created equal.”

Bradley offers the first fully realized novel for young readers and tells it from the points of view of Beverly, Madison and another enslaved boy on the plantation. The characters spring to life, and readers will be right there with Beverly when his mother scolds him for referring to Master Jefferson as “Papa.” Readers may wonder why, when three-quarters through the novel, the point of view shifts from Beverly and Madison to Peter Fossett, a slave but not one of Jefferson’s sons. But this additional perspective becomes crucial to the wrenching conclusion of this fascinating story of an American family that represents so many |

of the contradictions of our history. The afterword is as fascinating as the novel, telling what later happened to each of the characters, and a small but excellent bibliography will lead readers to books and websites for further study.

A big, serious work of historical investigation and imagination; the tale has never before been told this well. (Historical fiction. 9-14)

FIRST KILL

Brewer, Heather Dial (320 pp.) $17.99 | September 20, 2011 978-0-8037-3741-9 Series: The Slayer Chronicles, 1 The other side of Vladimir Tod’s world.

Cecile’s death at the fangs of a vampire galvanized her brother, 10-year-old Joss McMillan, to join the Slayers, even though Abraham, his uncle and the most respected slayer currently active, had serious doubts about Joss’ ability to kill the beasts. Now 13, Joss is heading to Rhinecliff, N.Y., to begin his slayer training with the community there and prove his abilities to his doubting uncle. As the brutal training regimen commences, Joss must focus on his desire for vengeance and his will to power through the training and begin hunting for the monsters that haunt the night. This companion novel to Brewer’s Vlad Tod series (Twelfth Grade Kills, 2010, etc.) provides a simple entry point into the opposite side of the vampire world—those tasked with killing the undead. Joss’ emotional journey is an odd one; the conflict between nurturing Sirus and borderline abusive Abraham sets up an uncomfortable model of emotional health. Most secondary characters are underdeveloped, providing a modicum of training and little else, but it’s not about the characters, after all. Action flows seamlessly into drama, and a betrayal comes after a series of clever misdirections.

Closing with a threat from a mortal enemy, Brewer’s narrative provides a compelling back story for Vlad’s fans to sink their teeth into, with more to come. (Paranormal adventure. 10-14)

QUEEN OF HEARTS

Brooks, Martha Farrar, Straus and Giroux (224 pp.) $16.99 | August 2, 2011 978-0-374-34229-6 An absorbing and quietly moving coming-of-age story about a French-Canadian teenager during World War II who contracts tuberculosis, along with her younger brother and sister, and is confined to a local sanatorium for long-term care just before her 16th birthday.

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“It’s the second week of December, 1941, and my world as a normal person has just ended.” Raised on a farm on the Canadian Prairies in Manitoba, Marie-Claire Côté always thought of herself as healthy as a horse (and something of a daredevil). Now, with a TB lesion on her right lung, she must adapt to day-today life at “the San,” to “chasing the cure.” She’s smart, angry, speaks her mind and is tremendously worried about her siblings, particularly her beloved brother Luc, who is the most ill. Her uncommonly cheerful roommate, 17-year-old Signy, a wealthy girl from Winnipeg who was diagnosed with TB when she was 12 and is as “thin as a skeleton,” declares “it’s fate that I found you and you found me.” As their relationship shifts, readers will be caught up by the choices Marie-Claire makes.

It’s a testament to Brooks’ fine and empathetic writing (Mistik Lake, 2007, etc.) that she’s able to bring vividly and compassionately to life the parallel/alternate world of what Marie-Claire calls “TB exiles” and create an emotionally rich, stirring story about loss, friendship, love and healing. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

PIRATE BOY

Bunting, Eve Illustrator: Fortenberry, Julie Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-0-8234-2321-7 While reading a book about pirates, Danny considers sailing away with them. But what if he wants to come home?

As he reads with his mom, little Danny wonders aloud what it would be like to be a pirate. From the comfort of his couch, his questions persist. “What if I don’t like it on the pirate ship? And I want to come back home?” With steadfast love, his mother answers every “What if…?” with confident answers that reassure the young boy. Danny considers many logical barriers to his rescue, including the dangers of the ocean and the possibility that the friendly pirates may want to keep him. His mother’s answers, however, involve the magical element of a bottle filled with “magic spray.” She metaphorically shrinks the problems with a few pumps of a handle. These “Alice in Wonderland” solutions seem unjustified given Danny’s reasonable questions. Luckily, the colorful full-spread illustrations simplify the nonsense and provide a mood of happy security throughout the story. Fortenberry’s playful illustrations freely borrow from cartoon conventions; the adorable Danny expresses no doubts about his security through two little dots for eyes.

A sweet Runaway Bunny book for the pirate set. (Picture book. 4-8)

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THE PRICE OF LOYALTY

Castan, Mike Holiday House (160 pp.) $17.95 | August 15, 2011 978-0-8234-2268-5

When peer pressure draws seventh grader Manny into a gang with his Latino friends, he must make difficult decisions.

Life in elementary school was simple compared to the first weeks at Orbe Nuevo Middle School. MexicanAmerican Manny and his childhood friends have inexplicably formed the Conquistadors. In quick succession, his friends are shaving their heads, tagging bridges, starting fights and looking for trouble. Manny, conflicted by an inner dialogue that rarely matches his actions, shaves his head but manages to stay on the periphery of the book’s prejudice, violence and profanity. Soon, his friends have talked him into buying marijuana on credit from another student. Within months, the other boys have switched from “herb” to meth. A final fight leaves two boys hospitalized and forces Manny to decide who his friends really are.

Conveniently, Castan supplies a girlfriend and a new AfricanAmerican neighbor. In this heavy-handed treatise against gangs and drug use, the debut novelist perpetuates the same negative images that Latino teens face daily in the media. The text is an onslaught of Latino caricatures: gullible, unemployed women cooking in the kitchen, abusive, alcoholic men running illegal businesses and young adult males serving time in prison. For a realistic and well-written novel with similar themes, try Victor Martinez’s Parrot in the Oven (1996).

Insurmountably flawed. (Fiction. 12-15)

THE BEGINNING OF AFTER

Castle, Jennifer HarperTeen (432 pp.) $17.99 | September 6, 2011 978-0-06-198579-9 SAT prep and prom dreams consume 16-year-old Laurel’s life, but all that changes the night her brother and parents are killed in a car accident.

At first Laurel denies her pain, burying it beneath school work, a new crush and plans for the summer, but seemingly random things begin to crack her façade.

A crumpled corsage, a half-gallon of milk and the absence of her brother’s favorite junk food all threaten to unglue her.

At the insistence of her grandmother, Laurel finally seeks the professional help that she needs. Complicating matters is her emotionally charged relationship with David, the son of the man responsible for her family’s death. Together they navigate the uncharted waters of the “after” that follows the tragedy. Laurel is generous, self-centered, loving, cold, hopeful and cynical—in a word, she is real. Castle expertly guides

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“Exquisite storytelling plus atmospheric worldbuilding equals one stunning teen debut.” from witchlanders

the narrative through the various stages of grief, refusing to shrink away from even the most difficult areas, where life and death collide. Readers may grow impatient with the slow-moving and sometimes too introspective story, but the fine writing makes up for what the story lacks in energy.

An honest look at grief that is both achingly real and powerfully hopeful. (Fiction. 12 & up)

THE GRAY WOLF THRONE

Chima, Cinda Williams Hyperion (528 pp.) $17.99 | September 20, 2011 978-1-4231-1825-1 Series: Seven Realms, 3 Secrets are revealed, oaths sworn, alliances forged and hearts broken in the third volume of this epic fantasy tetralogy.

The former gang leader Han Alister, recalled by the clans after a scant year of wizard training, is less interested in their political agenda than in his kidnapped friend Rebecca, resorting to a desperate magical gamble to save her life. But Rebecca is not only tough, smart and fierce; she is actually secretly Princess Raisa, heir to the queendom near political collapse and forbidden to Han by birth, duty and law. While the Seven Realms make war among themselves, every faction and class in the Fells is set against the others, and only Raisa has a chance at uniting them—at the cost of abandoning all her personal hopes and dreams. Despite the lack of overt action, the eddy and flow of complex political and personal intrigues is riveting, and Chima navigates with graceful ease through multiple viewpoints and intricately realized settings united only by a subtle current of magic. Every character is both likable and flawed, written with such clear-eyed compassion that it impossible not to sympathize with all their competing goals.

Indispensible for those already committed to the series; those who aren’t should go back to the beginning and start.

(Fantasy. 12 & up)

WITCHLANDERS

Coakley, Lena Atheneum (416 pp.) $16.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4424-2004-5 Exquisite storytelling plus atmospheric worldbuilding equals one stunning teen debut.

Ryder wants to harvest his family’s hicca before the chilling arrives in Witchland, but now his mother, a rebel witch addicted to a mind-altering flower, has thrown the bones and seen a vision of an assassin in the mountains. Meanwhile, along the border of the Bitterlands, Falpian hopes to find his |

own magic as he mourns the loss of his brother and awaits an assignment bestowed by his father. As these two distrustful strangers begin to share each other’s dreams and find a magical connection through music, enemies from their rival, warring lands—with radically different religious systems—have been stirring up trouble. In Witchland, this trouble takes the form of gormy men, pretend creatures normally used to frighten young children, which have come to life. When Ryder’s and Falpian’s destinies collide, they use their burgeoning knowledge of magic to destroy the gormy men and expose evil Witchlander forces.

But their mission is not as straightforward as it may seem. Both young men grapple with loyalty and their faiths and experience how fear and secrets have shaped religion and culture. A sequel to this thought-provoking fantasy is certain, as is a broad fan base.

The rich language will enthrall female and male readers alike—if the latter can look past the extremely feminine cover. (Fantasy. 12 & up)

BENJAMIN BEAR IN FUZZY THINKING

Coudray, Philippe Illustrator: Coudray, Philippe TOON/Candlewick (32 pp.) $12.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-935179-12-2 Benjamin Bear deals with life in his own straightforward way.

When Benjamin’s friends goldfish and canary both express a desire to see “what’s under the sea,” Benjamin comes up with a way to grant their wish: He puts goldfish in canary’s cage and canary in the up-ended goldfish bowl full of air. Both enjoy their trip. When Benjamin can’t quite bring himself to leap off a cliff wearing his hang glider, he enlists an unfriendly dog to chase him over the edge. When friend fox won’t play tennis with him, Benjamin lobs the ball at fox’s head…and it comes right back, just like in the game. In single-page skits of two to seven panels each, Benjamin solves problems and entertains himself and his friends with inimitable style and seriousness. Toon Books continues its new (and award-winning) series of early readers in graphicnovel format by introducing American audiences to Coudray’s eccentric Benjamin Bear. In France, he’s known as Barnabé, and he’s starred in 12 collections for young readers since 1997.

Courdray’s droll vignettes in a muted palette will be the perfect enticement for those with a visual sense of humor who are just starting to read.

A visually formatted joke book to inspire thinking as well as laughs. (Graphic early reader. 4-6)

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WILLY

De Kockere, Geert Illustrator: Cneut, Carll Eerdmans (32 pp.) $14.00 | August 1, 2011 978-0-8028-5395-0 In this fine, low-key parable, Willy the elephant sports all elephant particulars: floppy ears, stout legs, dinky tail, general bigness.

He is drawn by Cneut as if made from artful cement though maybe a little fragile, like an old fresco. “He had two huge ears that flapped in the wind. And in between was his head…” De Kockere’s text is artful, too, and gently, mildly eccentric: “He stood like a mast. That came in very handy when you needed someone to hold something—a clothesline full of laundry, for instance.” Willy is comfortable in his elephantness; he knows how best to deploy his ears and tail and trunk and size: “Sometimes he was called on to come and push with that enormous body of his. A child who didn’t want to go to school, or a car that stood in the way.” The other characters in the story are drawn in hot colors—reds, some yellows—on fields of white along with gray Willy and with the same strange, haunting delicacy. But it is the unexpected turn that De Kockere takes at the story’s end that is the showstopper. Suddenly we are all Willy, in one great inclusive hug; maybe we, too, have stout legs, ears that flap in the wind, general bigness or “a little something somewhere, with a ridiculous little brush at the end.”

Readers will be inspired to think of Willy: These aren’t defects, they’re worthy attributes, capable of delivering something good. (Picture book. 4-8)

LLAMA LLAMA HOME WITH MAMA

Dewdney, Anna Illustrator: Dewdney, Anna Viking (40 pp.) $17.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-670-01232-9 Series: Llama Llama, 5

Proving once again that she understands the preschool set, Dewdney shows what life is like when first Llama Llama and then Mama get sick.

When Llama Llama’s feeling “just not right” turns into a full-blown sickness complete with aches, sneezing, fever and sore throat, Mama sends him back to bed (wearing red pajamas, of course) and administers the inevitable yucky medicine. The listless boy struggles to occupy himself, but Mama saves the day with a book, after which he takes a curative snooze. But after lunch the tables turn—Llama Llama is feeling better, but Mama now has the sniffles: “Llama Llama, red pajama, / sick and bored, at home with Mama.” Luckily, he’s still in that delightful preschool stage where helping out is a favorite playtime activity, and he has learned how to care for sick people from a master.

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what Mama needs. While his actions are sweet and endearing, it’s the togetherness that sets both on the road to recovery.

Dewdney’s artwork is the ideal foil to her rhyming verses—her characters’ bleary, sick expressions alone are sure to elicit giggles and knowing smiles.

A worthy addition to the Llama collection, just right for readers’ own sick days. (Picture book. 3-6)

UNFORGETTABLE

Ellsworth, Loretta Walker (256 pp.) $16.99 | September 27, 2011 978-0-8027-2305-5 Fifteen-year-old Baxter Green has synesthesia; he hears voices as colors, textures or sounds.

And he never forgets anything. He’s never forgotten his homework, never lost a library book, never lost a shoe. He remembers every day of his life as if it just happened, even kindergarten and a little girl named Halle with daffodils in her voice. When he and his mother move to Wellington, Minn., to hide out from his mother’s criminal exboyfriend, who used Baxter’s memory for a credit card scam and went to prison, Baxter hopes to hide his unusual powers, fit in and never again be known as The Memory Boy. But Halle happens to live in Wellington now, too. Baxter doesn’t let on that he knows her and remembers everything about her, not wanting Halle to think him a freak with a weird superpower. A lot is going here—an exploration of synesthesia and memory, a crime story, an environmental drama, family relationships and a sweet, earnest love story with a nod to The Great Gatsby. But everything works, and, ultimately, it’s all of these things together that lead to Baxter’s transformation into a boy who doesn’t have to make himself invisible to fit in.

It’s a sweet love story, where holding hands with Halle, a kiss and being loved for who you are enough to make Baxter’s world anew. (Fiction. 11 & up)

SECRETS OF THE CROWN

Epstein, Adam Jay Jacobson, Andrew Illustrator: Chan, Peter Illustrator: Acedera, Kei Harper/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $16.99 | September 6, 2011 978-0-06-196111-3 Series: The Familiars, 2

This series’ second installment is a spiritless conglomeration of fantasy tropes.

Human magic is kaput, so the three loyals (human children) stay home while “the Prophesized Three” familiars—Aldwyn, Skylar and Gilbert—take center stage, journeying to fulfill their

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“Fagan believably captures the delicate balance of friendship in the very young and lets the story pay out with welcome complexity.” from ella may and the wishing stone

destiny. Skylar’s an illusion-casting blue jay, Gilbert a tree frog who occasionally sees visions in puddles, Aldwyn a telekinetic cat descended from a tribe “whose mental powers extended beyond that of mere telekinesis, to firestarting, mind control, and astral projection.” Except for the fact that Skylar flies and Aldwyn walks on all fours, they barely show animal traits; it’s easy to forget that these protagonists are animals at all. What’s harder is to think of any fantasy motifs that don’t appear. Danger is frequent but never actually dangerous (lose a finger? No worries, it’ll regenerate a couple pages later). Protective magic is overly convenient, solutions are too easy and a supposed surprise turncoat is telegraphed all along by his name, which starts with the syllable “Mal.” Even cartoon physics works here, sadly without irony or winks: An illusory bridge over a chasm “can even fool gravity and the laws of nature” as long as the familiars “don’t question its existence.” Frequent double-description makes the pace drag (“He felt drops of water running down his face. He was crying”).

This dull string of clichés offers nothing to invest in.

(Fantasy. 7-11)

TOUCH OF FROST

Estep, Jennifer Kensington (384 pp.) $9.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-7582-6692-7 paperback Series: Mythos Academy, 1 In this series opener, Estep adapts Greek and Norse mythology to encompass contemporary teenage warriors training to duke out ancient rivalries.

Gwen Frost’s psychometry leaves her little in common with magically gifted Valkyrie, Spartan and Amazon students at Mythos Academy. When she survives a crime that renders a classmate dead in a pool of blood, she resolves to uncover the murderer, whom administrators readily conclude is an enemy serving an evil god seeking world domination. On a hunt for clues, Gwen demonstrates an aptitude for breaking and entering, blackmail and espionage, and leverages her gift of touch to descry secrets. Despite ingenious worldbuilding, Estep follows many common conventions: Gwen’s mother has recently died, and Gwen is the poor girl among rich kids at a new school where she hides in corners. Her blanching at nude statues or using overly childish aphorisms feels incongruous, given Gwen’s casual attitude about the sex lives and illicit party habits of her peers; however, Gwen earns teen cred when she befriends a popular girl and asks out her crush.

Fortune wildly favors her in some close calls with undecipherable foes, and, again following a popular paradigm, Gwen conveniently learns of her unique legacy at the very moment when she bravely steps into the big shoes her predecessors have left her.

Fast-paced, edgy and imaginative enough. (Urban fantasy.

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ELLA MAY AND THE WISHING STONE

Fagan, Cary Illustrator: Côté, Geneviève Tundra (32 pp.) $17.95 | August 9, 2011 978-1-77049-225-7

Friendship is hard.

Ella May comes home from the beach with a pretty stone she thinks is magical. She makes a wish on it, and it comes true! Friends Manuel and Amir and Maya come to see her new wishing stone. Ella May declares it too special for them to hold; they set off to find their own. All rush to show Ella May, who rejects them. Nobody stays for lunch, and Manuel calls her mean. He returns pulling a wagon that holds his “amazing machine” (made of a cardboard box), designed to turn ordinary stones into wishing stones. He only charges a penny! The stones of Maya and Amir emerge with telltale stripes, like Ella May’s.

Both make wishes, for a pony and a moonwalk. Sudden rain washes away Manuel’s work, and Maya and Amir again stand disappointed. Feeling guilty and thinking quickly, Ella May rushes into her house and returns with a solution standing for an apology: With a broom and box and bit of ribbon, she fashions a pony for Maya and pulls similar makeshift magic for Amir. Friends again, the four play hopscotch, using their stones as markers.

Fagan believably captures the delicate balance of friendship in the very young and lets the story pay out with welcome complexity. Côté’s illustrations are simple without being cartoonish, demonstrating the same warm understanding of childhood.

Thoughtful and touching. (Picture book. 4-7)

GOBBLE, GOBBLE

Falwell, Cathryn Illustrator: Falwell, Cathryn Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paperback September 1, 2011 978-1-58469-148-8 978-1-58469-149-5 paperback After discovering a flock of turkeys in her yard in the spring, Jenny continues to watch them throughout the year.

With a simple text, mostly rhyming couplets, the young nature watcher describes the turkeys’ appearance and behavior as they nest and raise their young in the woods nearby. She notes particularly how they walk and fly. “Toms strut and puff to look their best.” In a departure from her previous straight collage work (Scoot, 2008, and others), Falwell augments her multimedia (cut and torn paper and found natural materials) images with overlaid block prints. Leaf prints add further texture. These charming illustrations also show other animals, including deer, chickadees, cardinals and squirrels. Plants and trees are recognizable as those of the author-illustrator’s Maine world, and seasons are indicated with a vignette underneath the text: apple blossoms, dandelion flower, red leaf, snow flake. Images of turkeys slipping

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“[Gerstein’s] acrylic illustrations are in harmony with his verses; sharp black lines and rich colors that spread outside their outlines, giving a dreamy yet vivid effect.” from dear hot dog

on the frozen ground and the child’s imagined vision of them sliding down snowy hills add humor. The book concludes with “Jenny’s Journal,” straightforward exposition offering more facts about turkeys for older readers. As she’s done before, the author includes suggestions for artwork and other activities. An “Animal Tracks” puzzle provides an appealing conclusion.

Not just for Thanksgiving, this should be a welcome addition to nature shelves all year round. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

STICKMAN ODYSSEY An Epic Doodle

Ford, Christopher Illustrator: Ford, Christopher Philomel (208 pp.) $12.99 | August 4, 2011 978-0-399-25426-0 Volume: 1

This may be a book that’s better on the second reading.

In medias res is a dangerous trick to play on unsuspecting readers. In the first six pages of this graphic meta-goof on The Odyssey, our stick-figure hero, Zozimos, nearly drowns, gets lost in a jungle, is captured by golems and gets thrown in jail. The pace never really lets up over the 200 pages of the book, as he tries to find his way home to Sticatha. Readers may feel as though they’re flipping channels on a remote, and every channel is showing an action movie.

There’s too much medias, too much res and not enough time spent developing the characters. Ford almost seems afraid to let them sit down and just talk. Some readers may need to page through the story a second time to realize that Zozimos is sort of charming, and a few turns of phrase are quite funny (“By Hades’ pajamas”). It would be easy, though, to get distracted

by Zozimos’ many selfish actions and his refusal to listen to anyone else. Early in the book, King Marnox says, “The way I see it, everything that happened was your own fault for being a shortsighted jerk.” It’s hard to disagree. A few leisurely pauses here and there might have given readers more opportunity to sympathize with the main character.

A nifty concept that never really quite leaves the conceptual stage. (Graphic novel. 11-14)

THAT PUP!

George, Lindsay Barrett Illustrator: George, Lindsay Barrett Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-06-200413-0 A pleasant golden retriever puppy finds a stash of acorns in her backyard as well as a new friend in this super-simple tale suitable for toddlers moving from board books into real stories.

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The unnamed female puppy is sniffing the fall breeze when she catches an intriguing scent, digs furiously and finds her first buried acorn. She digs up a total of ten acorns in different locations in her yard relating to the fall scene, such as a pile of leaves and a pumpkin patch. In each illustration the squirrel who buried the acorns is watching, but partially hidden behind leaves or fence or wheelbarrow. When the squirrel confronts the puppy about the acorns, the dog agrees to change her game from “find the acorn” to “put back the acorn.”

The final pages show the two animals working together to replace the acorns in their hiding places in the yard. The short, easy text is set in large type with just a sentence or a few words per page. Though the plot seems slight at first, there is a real story here about taking things that don’t belong to you and putting things right after a misunderstanding, right on target for younger preschoolers. Gouache illustrations of the appealing puppy and concerned squirrel use simple layouts and lots of white space to convey the amusing antics of the puppy, decked out in a red polka-dot bandana that provides a bright contrast with the pumpkins on the cover illustration.

Short, sweet and satisfying. (Picture book. 2-5)

DEAR HOT DOG Poems about Everyday Stuff

Gerstein, Mordicai Illustrator: Gerstein, Mordicai Abrams (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-0-8109-9732-5

As the subtitle indicates, poetry and pictures about everyday stuff.

The title poem contains all the virtues of the collection.

It’s lyrical yet accessible (“You are so fragrant, / plump, and steamy”), poetic (“snug as a puppy / in your bready bun”) and more than a little mischievous (“I squeeze the sunny / mustard up and down / your ticklish tummy”). There is mischief as well in some of the presentations. The four stanzas of “Summer Sun” travel downward in rays. “Water” requires readers to turn the book 90 degrees for a vertical two-page poem against a blue background, illustrated with submerged kids in swim fins.

Other highlights include “Pillow” (“My pillow sleeps / all day, / dreaming it’s / a cloud”), “Books” (“Books! / All sizes, all colors, / whispering, / ‘Come inside! / Come inside!’ “), “Crayons” (“My crayons pop / up in their box, / hands raised”) and “Light” (“Where do you go / when it’s dark? / Back into lightbulbs / when I turn them off?”). Anthropomorphism is a running theme—a particularly apt one for young children; Gerstein infuses humanity into a toothbrush, shoes, a bowl, a kite, leaves and an ice-cream cone. His acrylic illustrations are in harmony with his verses; sharp black lines and rich colors that spread outside their outlines, giving a dreamy yet vivid effect.

Twenty-two poems in all; an attractive and highly approachable introduction to poetry for young readers.

(Picture book. 4-7)

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THE MEANING OF LIFE...

AND OTHER STUFF

Gownley, Jimmy Illustrator: Gownley, Jimmy Atheneum (160 pp.) $10.99 paperback | September 6, 2011 978-1416986126 paperback Series: Amelia Rules!, 8 A standout graphic-novel series continues on its well-thought-out path.

Precocious preteen Amelia McBride returns in a relatively somber eighth volume, in which she encounters her first adolescent existential crisis. Though she spends her days as Princess Powerful hanging with her superhero friends, G.A.S.P. (the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals), young Amelia is growing up and now straddles the line between angst-ridden adolescence and her fading carefree childhood.

For the first time in her young life, she realizes that nothing is permanent, and not everything is fair: Her parents’ marriage has dissolved into divorce; her friend’s father is fighting in Afghanistan, which affects their relationship; her school’s principal treats her unjustly and even her beloved rock-star Aunt Tanner, whom she counted on for support, is now on tour. Though it is a slender volume, Gownley does not shy away from tough topics, presenting them in a way that is both approachable and understandable to kids. Reminiscent of an illustrated Alice McKinley, Amelia is growing up with her readership and taking them along on her often bumpy voyage. With all of the tribulations Amelia must deal with, she paints an accurate portrait of what preteens must deal with and how fast they sometimes have to grow up.

Well done; here’s to the next installment. (Graphic fiction. 9-13)

THE TRAP

Grant, Michael Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $16.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-06-183368-7 Series: The Magnificent 12, 2 This series continues as unlikely hero Mack, accompanied by bullyturned-bodyguard Stefan and spunky Jarrah, try to find the remaining 10 members of the Magnificent 12.

With only 35 days before the evil Pale Queen’s 3,000-year banishment ends and unthinkable terror begins, the apparition of ancient Grimluk sends them to China, where frightening creatures commanded by Nafia assassin Paddy “Nine Iron” Trout repeatedly attempt to kill them. Rapid action and death-defying adventures lead the trio into a hidden dragon world where Xiao, a shape-shifting dragon girl, joins them as the third in their quest. On to Germany they go, dodging the queen’s daughter Risky’s attacks, and discover annoyingly logical Dietmar, the fourth. In a most unwelcome twist, the group learns that old wheezing Paddy “Nine Iron” has an enthusiastic |

apprentice, Valin, who is the fifth. All the while Mack occasionally receives texts from Golem, who sincerely tries to pass as Mack back home with comically disastrous results. Whew!

Where the first book was an exciting, fun-packed fantasyadventure in which all the humor and action dovetailed nicely, the sequel feels a bit overdone. Readers may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of new characters and befuddled by several hard-to-follow action sequences.

That said, Grant’s talent for quick dialogue and vivid descriptions still shines and will have fans eager for book three. (Fantasy. 10-14)

DARK PARTIES

Grant, Sara Little, Brown (320 pp.) $17.99 | August 3, 2011 978-0-316-08594-6 This debut dystopian novel manages to turn an overused plot into a quick, entertaining read.

In a land of the future in which a Protectosphere encapsulates its dwindling population of citizens, who all look similar, 16-year-old Neva Adams throws a party completely in the dark. While it’s meant to bring out her peers’ differences and serve as a last hurrah before starting their assigned jobs, it becomes the impetus for Neva to discover what’s happening to all the disappearing young women and ferret out the truth about life before and beyond the Protectosphere. But there’s one more complication brought out by the dark party: She falls for Braydon, her best friend Sanna’s boyfriend, and realizes she’s no longer in love with Ethan, her own longtime boyfriend, who changed after being arrested by the authoritarian government.

In this edgy and evenly paced first-person adventure, Neva uses her position in the office of her father, the Minister of Ancient History, to dig for information, but she doesn’t know whom she can trust with it—secretive Braydon, evasive Ethan, her seemingly demure mother or a host of anonymous citizens who claim to be helping her—especially when Sanna becomes one of the missing, and there’s a chance to escape the Protectosphere.

True fans of dystopia will find more original and thought-provoking storylines elsewhere, but less exacting readers will enjoy it. (Dystopia. 12 & up)

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“This much-needed title stands out for its comfortably familiar presentation of material adults sometime find difficult to share with young children.” from who has what ?

HOOKED

vividly, and her characters stand out as varied and real. Although the undefined political repression of the Unified States fades in this book, the tension of a police state remains. The Away people live without electricity in crude huts, but they live freely.

As they make their way to their new life (including, one hopes, Nipper) readers will be waiting for them.

Another absorbing, suspenseful and imaginative effort in this excellent series. (Dystopia. 12 & up)

Greenman, Catherine Delacorte (288 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | August 9, 2011 978-0-385-74008-1 978-0-385-90822-1 library ed 978-0-375-89888-4 e-book Thea Galehouse, adrift and undermotivated, is a junior at Manhattan’s Stuyvesant High School when she meets senior Will Weston and makes him the center of her world.

Halfway through senior year, she gets pregnant, to the dismay of her divorced parents and Will, now a Columbia freshman. Walking away from the abortion her mother arranged and rejecting adoptive placement, Thea resolves to raise her child with Will. At first reluctantly supportive, Will feels increasingly overwhelmed, although the couple’s affluent parents smooth their path. Thea begins to crochet bikinis, to explore and develop talents of her own, as she weathers the challenges of unplanned motherhood and gains insight into her own professionally high-functioning, but otherwise clueless parents. If Thea’s voice, wry and detached, sometimes belies her actions (her instant passion for Will and irrational choices), it’s always smart and appealing. Greenman knows her world inside out, but it’s a narrow one: Here, access to first-rate medical care is a given—including safe, legal abortion—and teen parents can rely on generous housing and financial safety nets from their own parents.

What keeps this strong debut on course is its accumulation of myriad, closely observed details, the building blocks of fiction that delineate character and bring an imagined world, narrow or not, to life. (Fiction. 14 & up)

AWAY

Hall, Teri Dial (240 pp.) $16.99 | September 15, 2011 978-0-8037-3502-6 This worthy sequel to Hall’s The Line (2010) continues to build a dystopian world rich with suspense and moral choices.

Rachel enters “Away,” the wild area on the other side of the “Line,” the border of the repressive “Unified States.”

Life has evolved in Away, even producing such new animals as the terrifying baern and a marvelous, clever sheep-cat named Nipper. There, Rachel meets Pathik, a possible romantic interest, and others of his family and group, many of whom have a supernatural ability. Rachel rescues her father, long thought dead, from a rival camp. Indigo, Pathik’s grandfather and leader of their camp, decides they should relocate to an island that may offer real safety, continuing the suspense and setting up the next sequel. Hall tackles morality in the use of the characters’ supernatural gifts. Indigo, for example, can kill with his mind, but should he, and will he? Her dystopian world comes across 1246

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MAXFIELD PARRISH Painter of Magical Make-Believe

Harris, Lois V. Pelican (32 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-1-4556-1472-1 The generous (if selective and unfocused) array of pictures don’t quite compensate for a vague, sketchy accompanying narrative in this biography, the first about the influential painter aimed at young people.

Visuals dominate on the page. Harris adds to large photos and samples of Parrish’s adult work an elaborately detailed dragon he drew at age 7, a letter from his teens festooned with funny caricatures and a page of college chemistry notes tricked out with Palmer Cox–style brownies. Rather than include “Daybreak” (his most famous work) or any of Parrish’s characteristically androgynous figures, though, she tucks in semi-relevant but innocuous images from other artists of places Parrish visited and—just because in his prime he was grouped with them for the wide popularity of his reproduced art—a Van Gogh and a Cézanne. Along with steering a careful course in her account of Parrish’s private life (avoiding any reference to his lifelong mistress and frequent model Sue Lewin, for instance), the author makes only a few vague comments about the artist’s distinctive style and technique. In the same vein, she passes quickly over his influences, reduces all of his book-illustration work to one brief mention and closes with the laughable claim that he was the first artist in history who “created for more than a few.”

Once a household name and worth knowing at least for that, Parrish deserves more than this cursory onceover.

(Biography. 7-10)

WHO HAS WHAT? All About Girls’ and Boys’ Bodies

Harris, Robie H. Illustrator: Westcott, Nadine Bernard Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-7636-2931-1 Series: Let’s Talk About You and Me, 1

A family outing to the beach provides the opportunity for a discussion of the similarities and differences between boys and girls.

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In a conversation between a pair of mixed-race preschoolers securely strapped in their car seats, Nellie’s play on the words “everybody” and “every body” leads Gus to wondering about body parts. Their beach visit provides an opportunity to see a variety of people and puppies, to itemize all the parts that boys and girls and dogs have in common (head, cheek, belly button, tummy, toes, etc.) and learn about those that are different. Harris (It’s Not the Stork!, 2006, etc.) matter-of-factly combines common childhood language—“opening where poop comes out”—and anatomically correct terms such as vagina, penis and scrotum. The children’s parents explain interior organs (appropriately placed boxes reveal what’s inside) while applying sunscreen. Some information is conveyed in text, some in speech balloons or labels. Westcott’s digital cartoonlike illustrations show different compositions of families representing a wide range of ages, races and nationalities.

They include a very pregnant mother in a bathing suit, as well as, appropriately shaded by beach umbrellas, a woman discreetly nursing a baby and a man giving a bottle to his.

This much-needed title stands out for its comfortably familiar presentation of material adults sometime find difficult to share with young children. (Informational picture book. 2-6)

MIDNIGHT ZOO

Hartnett, Sonya Illustrator: Offermann, Andrea Candlewick (208 pp.) $16.99 | September 13, 2011 978-0-7636-5339-2 In a bombed town, two gypsy boys discover a zoo where abandoned animals teach them the meaning of freedom amid war’s chaos.

After witnessing their Romany caravan, including their parents and uncle, callously demolished by soldiers two months earlier, 12-year-old Andrej and his 9-yearold brother Tomas flee with their baby sister into what seems to be the European countryside of World War II. Trusting no one, they travel by night to avoid soldiers and civilians who hate them because they are Roms and “different.” Even though “fear beat inside Andrej like a dark, angry bird,” he tries to appear “calm and undaunted for Tomas, as if the precarious life they lived was unexceptional, and held no terrors at all.” When the boys find a mysterious zoo with a talking lioness, bear, wolf, chamois, eagle, boar, seal, llama, monkey and kangaroo, they share their meager food and stories with these fellow war victims. Helplessly trapped, the animals long for freedom but fear the unknown as Andrej tries to release them. Written in lyrical, spare prose, the plot encompasses a single night in which doomed animals and brave boys cling to hope in a world that makes no sense. Blackand-white spot art highlights animals and key scenes.

An evocative story about unusual war victims whose enduring belief in goodness brings true freedom. (Fable. 10 & up)

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HOW TO ROCK BRACES AND GLASSES

Haston, Meg Poppy/Little, Brown (304 pp.) $17.99 | September 5, 2011 978-0-316-06825-3

In a morality tale with all the breeziness and exaggeration of a teen movie, an eighth-grade mean girl loses her status and becomes only slightly less mean.

The lead in the school musical and the host of an advice segment on the school’s TV channel, Kacey Simon starts at the top.

Then a failure to care for her new purple contacts and a fall at her friend Molly’s boy-girl birthday party doom Kacey to the ultimate in loser accessories: glasses and braces. Saddled with a braces-related speech impediment along with her geeky new look, Kacey finds herself at the bottom of the pecking order.

Molly and other former friends circulate a YouTube video mocking Kacey’s lisp, and, somewhat unrealistically, the drama teacher immediately removes her from the school play. Luckily (and, one might argue, undeservedly), two outcasts support the fallen queen of mean. Paige, a student-government enthusiast, helps Kacey with a plan to regain her popularity. Zander, an indie rocker who wears, to Kacey’s horror, skinny jeans, grudgingly accepts Kacey as his band’s lead singer. Despite the book’s ostensible stance against meanness, Kacey regains her social standing largely by bullying and manipulating her old friends, and the notion that glasses and braces must always spell social ruin is left unquestioned.

Fun, but true geeks will notice that popularity still wins in the end. (Fiction. 12-14)

A POOR EXCUSE FOR A DRAGON

Hayes, Geoffrey Illustrator: Hayes, Geoffrey Random (48 pp.) $12.99 | $3.99 paperback $14.99 library ed | August 23, 2011 978-0-375-87180-1 978-0-375-86867-2 paperback 978-0-375-96867-9 library ed Fred learns how to be true to himself and still be a dragon.

When Fred leaves his parents for the first time, his plans to be a ferocious dragon hit a snag. First Mrs. Green, the frog, mocks his roar as being like a meow, so, though Fred is supposed to eat humans, he gobbles her in one gulp. The princess thinks Fred’s fire looks like a candle, and a tiny bird is not afraid of him. They too meet in Fred’s tummy. Turns out, three’s a crowd for Fred’s stomach, and his intestinal pain leads him a solution that works for him and his crowd of helpers and new friends.

Designed to encourage confident reading, the story alternates between long pages of text and highly illustrated pages with few

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words. Cartoon illustrations, especially details like the dragon’s red eyes and the giant’s warts and earring, help the newly independent reader follow the story, providing lots of visual cues which add the humor. When human John Little voluntarily walks into Fred’s open mouth and extricates his complaining contents, the illustrations turn energetic, with flying critters filling the air. New readers will love the humorous pictures and stay for the engaging tale.

Freed captives become new friends, teaching this fellow that there are many different kinds of dragons. (Early reader. 5-8)

I AM TAMA, LUCKY CAT A Japanese Legend Henrichs, Wendy Illustrator: Jaeggi, Yoshiko Peachtree (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-56145-589-8

This quiet retelling of a popular legend will have limited appeal.

The plot is straightforward, and the cat narrator pleasant if not especially engaging. The qualities of compassion and generosity that are gently demonstrated and the theme of virtue rewarded are undeniably laudable. Unfortunately, readers and listeners will likely feel distanced not just by the time and place of the story (Japan several hundred years ago) but by the formal language, lengthy text and limited, low-key action. A poor monk adopts a stray cat. The monk also cares for the physical and spiritual needs of the people in the surrounding area to the best of his abilities and (very) limited resources. The cat’s habit of raising one paw in a beckoning motion eventually brings good fortune when a rich samurai who happens to be passing is saved from a falling tree during a fierce storm. Like the text, the pictures fail to generate much interest. Jaeggi’s lovely watercolors reflect the serene tone and evoke the exotic setting, and her use of panels echoes traditional Japanese artwork. Depictions of the cat in its characteristic pose seem awkward, but other pictures show flashes of sly feline charm and add some humor and movement. Overall, however, the illustrations have a static feel that weighs down the already slow story. Koko Nishizuka and Rosanne Litzinger’s The Beckoning Cat (2009) tells the same story but with greater success.

Superficially attractive but ultimately misses the mark. (author’s note) (Picture book/folktale. 6-9)

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WITH A NAME LIKE LOVE

Hilmo, Tess Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (256 pp.) $16.99 | September 27, 2011 978-0-374-38465-4 Hilmo creates a family, a town and a mystery that readers won’t soon forget.

In July of 1957, the Love family rolls into the tiny town of Binder, Ark. Reverend Everlasting Love, his wife Susanna and their daughters Olivene (called Ollie), Martha, Gwen, Camille and Ellen set up camp so Reverend Love can preach for three evenings before they load it all up again and head to the next small town down the road. Such is the life of an itinerant preacher’s family. But there is something different about Binder, Ark., something strange enough to cause the family to stay a while longer. Ollie meets a boy named Jimmy, whose mother is in jail for killing his brutish father. Jimmy insists she didn’t do it, but everyone else in town is convinced she did. Poor Jimmy could certainly use a friend. The Love family, particularly Ollie, cannot abide the injustice, but what can they possibly do to help? And just how long will they stay in Binder, anyway? There is, after all, a boarded-up church in the center of town needing a preacher, and Ollie, for one, would sure love to stay put for a good long while. Hilmo relishes her small-town setting and develops her characters with affection. Readers will become caught up in events as firmly as Ollie is.

A story about the meaning of home, justice and love, beautifully told. (Historical fiction. 9-12)

DAMNED

Holder, Nancy Viguié, Debbie Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (544 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 paperback August 30, 2011 978-1-4169-9804-4 978-1-4169-9805-1 paperback This trilogy’s second act (Crusade, 2010) delivers less romance and more violence, but neither plot nor characters

develop much.

Vampires have achieved world domination, but despite high-profile mass murder (the story opens with the running of the humans in Pamplona), little notice is taken. While life (contemporary consumer culture) goes on “under the fang,” pockets of resistance survive, including the Salamanca-based team of jet-setting first responders now led by American Jenn, mentored by mysterious Father Juan and supplemented by an Israeli and a Palestinian (united against the vampire threat).

From Spain, their dismal itinerary takes them to rural Russia, Montana’s dustier corners and Las Vegas, somewhat improved

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“A cozy self-contained ending depicts the security found in hearth and home—or, in this case, the cool comfort only the linen-closet floor (and a snuggle with your closest friends) can provide.” from toys come home

by undead takeover. The derivative plot drinks deep from the Buffy gene pool; clichéd cultural labels serve as characterization. Long orgies of killing are interspersed with chaste, romantic interludes garnished by unrequited love—lust is strictly of the blood variety. Weapons range from high tech (Uzis) to oldfashioned (wooden stakes, teeth and fangs). The novel achieves life only in scenes of detailed violence, vivid, breathless descriptions of pain and death.

Characters ostensibly serve some vaguely spiritual higher good, but as the body count mounts, the ecumenical blather proves to be a fig leaf covering a near-pornographic celebration of all the ways we kill. (Horror. 14 & up)

DOT

Intriago, Patricia Illustrator: Intriago, Patricia Margaret Ferguson/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (40 pp.) $14.99 | August 30, 2011 978-0-374-31835-2 Unexpected bright spots and laughs roll right over the uneven text in this concept piece.

In bold yellow on a glossy blue background, a clean shape introduces itself: “Dot.” Next are “Stop dot” and “Go dot,” predictably red and green. A “[l]oud” Pac-man–esque dot sits across from its “quiet” counterpart, which is similar but has a tiny mouth. A dot missing a jagged bite is “yummy,” while its partner, similarly bitten but with the bite lying nearby as if spit out, “tastes bad.” Weaker pairs glean definition only through heavy-handed contrast. Some dots are abstract: A shy dot’s mostly missing, as if hiding behind a white square, but because the background’s also white, the square must be inferred. The delightful bits are Intriago’s mid-book leaps away from her own setup. Out of the blue, photographed human hands appear to poke a hard and a soft dot, and “Got dots”—a Dalmatian photo—contrasts with “Not dots”—a zebra. These diversions are surprisingly funny. The weakness here is text, which vacillates between rhyming/scanning completely and not, with one glaring miss: “Stop dot / Go dot // Slow dot / fast dot” yearns to swap “slow” and “fast” for the rhyme.

Verse wonkiness leaves an opening for youngsters to “read” to their adults by simply naming dots—no harm there. (Picture book. 2-4)

TOYS COME HOME Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic

Jenkins, Emily Illustrator: Zelinsky, Paul O. Schwartz & Wade/Random (144 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | September 13, 2011 978-0-375-86200-7 978-0-375-96200-4 library ed 978-0-375-89345-2 e-book Who could imagine the introduction of a self-conscious stingray could lead to such great things?

How toys StingRay, Lumpy and Plastic learn to share their Girl’s living quarters (and her affection) forms the plot of this humorous, bittersweet precursor to Toys Go Out (2006) and Toy Dance Party (2008). Owning her role as the “Actual Day of Birth Present,” StingRay fights for her place among a group of peculiar playthings, which are all bossed about by pompous walrus Bobby Dot. StingRay saves sleepy Sheep (sans its ear) from thistles, and Lumpy outwits an aggressive feline houseguest. Bobby Dot’s unintentional sacrifice comforts his beloved child but brings about a fate of Velveteen Rabbit proportions—a dryer, sneakers and dry-clean–only stuffed animal clearly do not mix.

Life’s brutal realities are spotlighted with a gleaming authenticity (“Because now StingRay knows something she really and truly did not know before. A life can be over”). Character-driven episodes unfold in six fully realized chapters; Zelinsky’s softly shaded pencil drawings showcase pivotal moments, revealing each individual idiosyncrasy (narcoleptic Sheep included) during this eventful year. A cozy self-contained ending depicts the security found in hearth and home—or, in this case, the cool comfort only the linen-closet floor (and a snuggle with your closest friends) can provide.

This enjoyable trio deserves its rightful place away from the confines of any toy chest. (Fantasy. 6-9)

NOCTURNE

Johnson, Christine Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (368 pp.) $16.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-4424-0776-3 In this follow-up to Claire de Lune (2010), a teen everygirl turned werewolf is torn between her newfound role as a member in a pack of the centuries-old loupgarou and her friends in the human world.

Struggling to conceal the secret, Claire feels the strain in her relationships with her boyfriend and best friend and is eventually commanded by her mother,

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the pack leader, to carry out a grisly task to prevent exposure.

Her inner turmoil drives the novel, and the third-person narration nicely sketches in the details of her character—particularly evocative are the vivid descriptions of sensory experiences when she is in wolf-form. Also appealing is that gossip and school dances take on a realistic level of all-consuming importance for Claire and her peers, even as she leads another life as a supernatural creature. However, while many readers may be satisfied with the happy ending, it may feel too contrived for others. This may be especially the case if they have read the earlier installment and see that abrupt resolution of conflict seems to be a common thread in what looks to be the beginning of a series that needs to be read successively.

In the end, this light supernatural romance may not stand out in this now-ubiquitous genre, but it is a solid story with an undeniably likable heroine. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

LEVI STRAUSS GETS A BRIGHT IDEA A Fairly Fabricated Story of a Pair of Pants Johnston, Tony Illustrator: Innerst, Stacy Harcourt (32 pp.) $16.99 | September 12, 2011 978-0-15-206145-6

A tall-tale version of the invention of blue jeans by a New York peddler who came late to the California gold rush but saw a need and filled it.

Johnston’s fanciful embroidery of the scraps of actual facts known about the origins of Levis begins with the report that at the discovery of gold, miners “rushed so fast, they lost their pants.” By the second spread, with miners working in their long johns or, discreetly, “in the vanilla,” listeners will be thoroughly hooked. The humor is broad and the language inventive, yet reminiscent of the times. Panning bits of clothing rather than gold sets the miners to “gnashing their clashers.” “Dang!” says Levi Strauss. Later, everyone has been outfitted with a new set of tent-fabric pants but refuses to take them off to wash them: “The whole of California stank….” Strauss obligingly sells them all a second pair. This humorous text is set on double-page illustrations painted with acrylic on old blue jeans whose texture shows through. Seams become part of the picture, the base of a covered wagon or, later, the Golden Gate Bridge. Strauss and his brothers are easily distinguishable from the full-bearded miners. An author’s note provides some actual facts to distinguish them from the “pure-dee fabrication.”

A “pure-dee” delight for storytime. (Picture book. 4-8)

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HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE

Kapchinske, Pam Illustrator: Rogers, Sherry Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paperback | August 10, 2011 978-1-60718-130-9 978-1-60718-140-8 paperback Kapchinske’s picture-book debut is a fact-toting trip through several food chains.

After a snack of a little green beetle, a snake slithers along: “He sang, ‘Hey diddle diddle—I’m feelin’ fine. / Call me cold-blooded, but I’ve got a spine.’ / A hawk looked down a tweetin’ a tune / and said, ‘I’d like some breakfast soon.’ ” The second food chain consists of a frog and a bass, while the last begins with a caterpillar that is eaten by a lizard and ends with a bobcat. The forced incorporation of so many facts comes off as didactic at times, although they will serve to teach readers about the various species. While the verses sometimes falter in their rhythms, which are based loosely on the titular nursery rhyme, the beat is nonetheless rollicking and will likely have readers and listeners alike tapping their toes. Extensive backmatter includes more information and questions that will deepen children’s understanding of food chains and animal classification and adaptations. Rogers’ digitally illustrated animals are slightly cartoonish with too-bright colors and anthropomorphized expressions and body language. Most offputting, this injects human emotions into what is a natural cycle in the animal world.

In a niche that includes elegant, realistic and natural offerings, this is cute. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

IF BEAVER HAD A FEVER

Kettemen, Helen Illustrator: O’Malley, Kevin Marshall Cavendish (32 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-7614-5951-4

“Mama Bear, Mama Bear… / If you were a doctor / in charge of the zoo, / what would you do / if Gnu had the flu?”

As Little Bear asks his Mama what she would do for a series of animal ailments, she answers him in rhyme while he draws a huge picture with crayons of the cure. “If Chimp came to see me, / and his foot had a pain, / I’d tell him to walk / with a big candy cane.” Little Bear draws a dressed chimp complete with bowtie walking with a red-andwhite striped cane. Other supposed problems are: What if Deer couldn’t hear, Meerkat got too fat; Fox got chicken pox; Goat had a sore throat; Weasel had measles. The speculation ends with Little Bear himself. She replies, “I’d puppet a story. / I’d tootle a tune. / I’d huff and I’d puff you / a big red balloon. / …

I’d fix all your favorites— / cookies and soup— / and when you got better, / I’d let out a WHOOOOP!” The rhymes have some hiccups, but the rhythm carries the story. The appealing illustrations (made with art markers, colored pencils and crayons)

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“The engaging childlike acrylic paintings with crayon, pencil, tissue paper and other collage elements show the busy crowded American streets of Elliot’s city, the traditional buildings of Kailash’s riverside village…” from same, same but different

accessorize Mama Bear’s doctor garb with stethoscope and pearls. Little Bear’s drawings are a clever device, especially as they’re exactly like child-drawn crayon drawings.

Youngsters will find the silly answers funny and be reassured that Mamas can always fix everything. (Picture book. 4-7)

SAME, SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Kostecki-Shaw, Jenny Sue Illustrator: Kostecki-Shaw, Jenny Sue Henry Holt (40 pp.) $16.99 | September 13, 2011 978-0-8050-8946-2

Although today’s kids usually communicate through texting or email, Elliot from the United States and Kailash from India use pictures and a few simple sentences to exchange information about their lives.

Their teachers facilitate the snail mailing of pictorial letters, just as the author-illustrator did when she visited Nepal, which provided the inspiration for this book. The title, also used as a refrain throughout the book, is a popular saying in India and Nepal, heard by Kostecki-Shaw when she traveled there. Elliot and Kailash explore their similarities and differences, concluding that their lives are “Different, different but the SAME!” The engaging childlike acrylic paintings with crayon, pencil, tissue paper and other collage elements show the busy crowded American streets of Elliot’s city, the traditional buildings of Kailash’s riverside village, the taxis and buses in the States and the taxis and camel-pulled carts in India. The English alphabet is reproduced on wide-ruled notebook paper and the Hindi alphabet (unfortunately unidentified) on a small slate, and both typical American pets (dog and fish) and a whole farmyard of Indian animals appear. Both kids live unusually low-tech lives (no computers or cell phones in sight), but they each enjoy learning about their pen pal’s world.

Purposeful, but saved from didacticism by the sheer exuberance of the illustrations; the accessible text introduces the idea of traditional two-way communication and demonstrates just how small our world can be. (Picture book. 5-7)

BIG WIG A Little History of Hair Krull, Kathleen Illustrator: Malone, Peter Levine/Scholastic (48 pp.) $18.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-439-67640-3

This “little history of hair” entertains largely with hair-brained ideas about how humans tame their tresses.

From the grooming habits of our ape ancestors to currentday hair care, the anecdotal format moves chronologically through time. In between, readers learn various ways of keeping |

locks free of bugs, soft and styled in the current fashion. How about a bird cage on your head? Maybe lilac dye is more your style? Despite many tries (including pigeon poop and camel pee), no one seems to have come up with the perfect cure for baldness. From the beehive to the moptop to the comeback of the Mohawk, it appears that history and hair weave together even as fashions pervade popular culture. Gouache illustrations border on the surreal, often highlighting the comedy that is described in the text. The paintings also accurately display the time periods, settings and techniques for each vignette. Cleverly named “Hair Extensions” do exactly that, extend each snippet with just a little more story. The author’s note explains a lifelong fascination with hair; Krull produced her first book about hairdos at age 10. Includes a list of sources that note those titles especially for young readers and those best for picture research.

This braiding of history, humor and hair positively poufs. (Informational picture book. 8-12)

BIOMIMICRY Inventions Inspired

by Nature

Lee, Dora Illustrator: Thompson, Margot Kids Can (40 pp.) $18.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-467-8 From Velcro fastenings to man-made marshes for wastewater processing, many modern innovations have sprung from observation and imitation of the natural world.

In topically organized double-page spreads, Lee describes shapes and structures, materials and designs, as well as systems for exploration, communication, rescue and delivery. Each spread offers a general introduction to its subject, set on a painted background, usually a natural scene. The canvas base of these acrylic paintings provides an interesting texture. Three or four specific examples, each with illustrative vignettes, follow or sometimes precede the general explanation. These topics range widely and include medical marvels, new power sources, biological computers and robots. Although this has the shape and look of a picture book, the relatively extensive text is clearly aimed at upper-elementary-school readers. It offers fewer specific examples than Phil Gates’ Nature Got There First (2010), but its explanations are clearer and it includes a strong ecological message: The most important natural model is the sustainable ecosystem. Through biomimicry, humans can learn to live in balance on the Earth as well. The author provides no sources or suggestions for further exploration, though her short descriptions are sure to lead readers to want to know more.

An intriguing collection of invention, engineering and scientific advances and potential developments for readers who like to know a little bit about a lot of things. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

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IN TROUBLE

Levine, Ellen Carolrhoda Lab (208 pp.) $17.95 | $12.95 e-book September 1, 2011 978-0-7613-6558-7 978-0-7613-7946-1 e-book Teen pregnancy long before 16 and Pregnant.

It’s 1956, and Jamie’s best friend Elaine is “in trouble,” code for those teenage girls who begin wearing loose clothing and then suddenly disappear to live with a mysterious “aunt” for a while. Jamie is concerned for Elaine, but she also has problems of her own. Her father has just returned home after being jailed for his refusal to name names during the McCarthy hearings, and Jamie’s relationship with him is still fragile. She’s also hiding a secret equal to Elaine’s: While staying in New York City with her older cousin Lois, she was date raped by one of Lois’ friends and is too ashamed to tell anyone what happened. But when Jamie realizes that she’s skipped a period, she suddenly finds herself in just as much “trouble” as Elaine. Now she has to make a choice that Levine makes abundantly clear was much harder for teenage girls in the ’50s than it is today. Daring subject aside, the author breaks little new ground in this typical problem novel (a stand-alone continuation of 2005’s Catch a Tiger by the Toe). The dialogue-heavy prose, short length and alwaystimely topic will attract reluctant readers, and the familiarity of the form will carry them through.

Valuable insight into a time when abortions were illegal and pregnant teenagers were hidden away instead of filmed for a reality TV show. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)

YOU HAVE SEVEN MESSAGES

Lewis, Stewart Delacorte (304 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 library ed $17.99 e-book | September 13, 2011 978-0-385-74028-9 978-0-385-90832-0 library ed 978-0-375-89904-1 e-book

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NOT INSIDE THIS HOUSE

Lewis, Kevin Illustrator: Ercolini, David Orchard (40 pp.) $16.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-439-43981-7

Young Livingstone Columbus Magellan Crouse is intent on exploring the great outdoors—and adopting a pet in the process.

When his mother refuses to let him keep some insects inside their home (“Livingstone Columbus Magellan Crouse, / I’ll have no bugs inside this house! / I’ll say it once. Won’t say it twice. / To speak again will not suffice!”), he moves on to bigger and progressively less appropriate choices of animal. Will his mother ever say yes? Jaunty, rhyming text along with colorful and appealing illustrations describe the boy’s efforts as he attempts to bring home a succession of animals, including a mouse, a pig, a moose, an elephant and even a whale, all accompanied by humorously horrified reactions from his increasingly shell-shocked mother. Perhaps a bug won’t be such a bad pet after all! While the rhymes are sometimes a bit predictable and bumpy, the text still saunters along, accompanying the charming digitally enhanced ink-and-paint illustrations.

A fine choice for any child who would like a pet, with a crafty lesson about the power of perseverance. (Picture book. 4-7)

BOYFRIEND SEASON

When 15-year-old Luna finds her dead mother’s cell phone, she embarks upon a quest to learn the truth about her death and, in a larger sense, her life.

The cell has seven messages on it. Each contains a clue that opens a door to a different aspect of her mother’s life, which in turn forces Luna out of her comfort zone and into the wider world. As Luna continues to plumb the mystery, she learns not only that truth can be illusive but that there can be many truths.

Although the story is somewhat repetitious, it’s a strong idea and the book contains various delights. Yet much of the material doesn’t ring true. For example, it seems unlikely that Luna 1252

would be befriended by a grown-up model (Luna’s mother was also a model) or that she’d get a gallery to showcase her photography. It’s not because these events lack rationales or can’t happen; it’s because they are not set up in a way that readers will find credible. On the other hand, the love story element shines, and the book offers a nice window into the life of privileged New York youngsters, refreshingly filled with protective and involved adults.

Dull spots and credibility issues surrounded by good moments, realistic romance and psychological insight make this a mixed bag for teenage girls. (Fiction. 12 & up)

London, Kelli Dafina/Kensington (256 pp.) $9.95 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-0-7582-6127-4 paperback In loosely connected, overlapping stories, three African-American teen girls in Atlanta navigate relationships with family, community and the boys and men in their lives.

Santana, a fly girl well known for her proud attitude, the designer clothes she steals from department stores and her hustler boyfriend Pharaoh, insists that Pharaoh isn’t cheating, but deep down, she isn’t sure. Dynasty, mortified by her mentally ill aunt and continually harassed

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“The Little Tractor That Could… gets another chance to shine when a violent weather event requires a daring rescue.” from otis and the tornado

by Rufus, her former best friend, meets a dreamy boy who helps her out of a tight spot, but she wonders if he has ulterior motives. Patience, the devoted daughter of a hypocritical, high-profile Christian minister, finds herself in a secret romance with a notorious teen rapper. The girls narrate alternating chapters, and each girl changes substantially and believably over the course of her story. The author has a clear message for readers about the importance of language and education: Dynasty studies a dictionary religiously in hopes of attending an Ivy League college, and Santana, after learning a few life lessons, decides to expand her vocabulary and divorce herself from “hood grammar.” Less convincing is Santana’s reversal on shoplifting, which comes only after she gains a legal means of acquiring expensive fashions.

Even with a few false steps, the relatively complex relationships and refreshing variety of teen voices will engage readers. (Urban fiction. 12-16)

OTIS AND THE TORNADO

Long, Loren Illustrator: Long, Loren Philomel (40 pp.) $17.99 | September 8, 2011 978-0-399-25477-2

The Little Tractor That Could introduced in Otis (2009) gets another chance to shine when a violent weather event requires a daring rescue.

Standing out against neutral-toned bucolic backdrops plainly modeled on Thomas Hart Benton’s farmscapes, Otis and his livestock friends delight in games of Follow-theLeader—all, that is, except the penned-up bull, who greets all approaches with snarling hostility. When the winds rise and a tornado threatens, Otis hustles the animals to a dry gully… then hears the bull’s frightened bellow. Bravely racing—“putt puff puttedy chuff ”—out into the storm, Otis breaks down the gate and, just in time, leads the terrified bovine bully to safety.

Fronting Otis with an expressive face and depicting the angry bull from low angles to give him massive, monumental presence, Long once again places anthropomorphic figures with distinct identities in large-scale settings that have an antique look but a timeless feel. The simply told narrative likewise has a classic air: “Soon the horse would trot to the lead with a ‘Neigh, neigh,’ as his hooves clip-clop-clip-clopped.” The episode ends with a traditional resolution too, as discreetly used color highlights expand in the final scene to a brightly sunlit view of Otis leading friends—including the reformed bull—in a fresh parade through flower-strewn fields.

Technically accomplished art plus uncomplicated characters, plot and theme (depressingly timely) add up to a likely crowd pleaser. (Picture book. 5-7)

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THE SNOW QUEEN

Reteller: Lowes, Sarah Illustrator: Miss Clara Barefoot (64 pp.) $9.99 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-1-84686-662-3 paperback This much-abridged recreation of the famous tale by Hans Christian Andersen is smoothly told, following the original structure of seven short chapters, while leaving out numerous details and the Christian ele-

ments of the original.

Characters (a wolf) and incidents (a final confrontation between Gerda and the Snow Queen) have been added. Because of the elision and truncation of incidents from the original story, Gerda’s quest is less immediate and heart wrenching, and the motivations of many of the characters she meets are harder to understand. For example, it is not clear that the old woman with the magical garden tries to keep Gerda with her because she has always longed for a daughter, nor is the precarious situation of the outlaw’s daughter, who, in the original, sleeps with a knife at her side, apparent. The sophisticated, surreal and dreamlike illustrations created through mixed media, including manipulated photographs of dolls, flowers and paper constructions, often charmingly spill over onto the pages of text.

The small, novel-like format (5.5 x 8 inches) will most likely appeal to reluctant or recently independent readers, who might be encouraged by this simple retelling to seek fuller versions of the tale. (Fairy tale. 8-10)

DUST & DECAY

Maberry, Jonathan Simon & Schuster (528 pp.0 $17.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4424-0235-5 The zombie attacks are bigger, better—and gorier—in this nearly non-stop action sequel to Rot & Ruin (2010).

With a quick recap of events from the first novel, this account picks up seven months after 15-year-old Benny Imura and his “closure expert” stepbrother Tom rescued “Lost Girl” Lilah, killed ruthless zombie hunter Charlie Pink-eye and witnessed the only jet since First Night turned the dead into monstrous zombies. Since the brothers’ return to their fenced California town, Tom has been training Lilah, Benny, Benny’s girlfriend Nix and Benny’s best friend Chong to battle zoms in the manner of Japanese warriors. They need these skills as they set out into the surrounding lawless terrain to find the jet.

Their journey is interrupted, however, by Preacher Jack and White Bear, who have taken over Pink-eye’s territory, reinstated Gameland (gladiator-style arena games that pit children against zoms) and promulgated bizarre religious beliefs. When not trying to survive any one of these perils, the teens continue to

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h l i n c o l n p e i r c e A cartoonist whose comic strip Big Nate debuted in 1991, Peirce nabbed a sizable audience of preteen readers with his first book-length story, which plans comic-strip panels and regular prose; Big Nate: In a Class by Himself enjoyed a healthy stay on the New York Times bestseller list. Peirce’s work is featured on the website Poptropica and has garnered over a million hits. Here, Peirce discusses Big Nate On a Roll, his third book in the six-book series.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about writing the Big Nate series?

BIG NATE ON A ROLL

Lincoln Peirce HarperCollins (224 pp.)

Aug. 16, 2011 $12.99 9780061944383

A: Comic strips have always been my first love, and I was a little concerned that working on a story that took me six or seven months to complete might feel like a grind. But I absolutely love it. It’s enormously satisfying to work your way through a story arc and realize, maybe halfway through it, that all the pieces are actually going to fit together.

I also really like the format, the way the books look. I told my editor that I wanted to write the kind of books I would have loved reading as a kid, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I hope that when kids open a Big Nate book and see all the artwork, all the comic-strip symbols and language, the endpapers…that they’ll think, “This looks like a fun book to read.”

Q: What was it like to start writing a book-length story after writing a comic strip? What kind of mental adjustment, or adjustment to your writing process, did creating the books require?

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Q: Do you think there’s something inherently funny (or inherently awful) about middle school that makes it such fertile comic ground?

A: Yes. It’s inherently funny and inherently awful.

I made Nate a sixth grader because, in my own life, sixth grade was the most eventful year imaginable.

By a mile. Sixth grade, in most school districts, is the first year of middle school, and that’s a year when everything changes. Instead of having one classroom teacher, you have a different teacher for each subject. You have to get yourself from classroom to classroom. You have to carry around notebooks and backpacks. You have a locker. You’re sharing space with older kids, seventh and eighth graders, and you’re worried that they’re going to stuff you into a garbage can or something. You play intramural sports, go to school dances. The sixthgrade boys start to notice the sixth-grade girls, who in turn are noticing the seventh-grade boys. So every day has the potential for great triumphs or crushing humiliations. It’s hilarious. It’s horrifying.

Q: Big Nate’s a world-class doodler, which shows up in his schoolwork. Is this an autobiographical element?

A: Oh sure, absolutely. I was always drawing comics as a middle and high schooler. That was my identity—the kid who drew comics. And I felt supported in that, which isn’t necessarily the case for all kids when they find something they enjoy doing. My parents, although neither of them really read comics, were always encouraging. And my high school Latin teacher was probably my biggest booster.

He’d let me draw comics on his blackboard before class, and then he’d only erase them when he’d used up every other inch of space on the board.

My early cartooning efforts show up in the comics Nate draws in the books. He draws comics about his teachers and classmates that have no real subtlety to them—they’re unvarnished. That’s the way I saw things at age 11. And in fact, some of Nate’s comic creations, like “Doctor Cesspool,” actually feature characters I invented in middle school. That’s the part of the books I enjoy the most. When I’m creating Nate’s comics, that’s when I feel like I’ve climbed into the way-back machine. People sometimes ask, “How do you get into the mind of an 11-year-old boy?” and my answer is always the same—I never left.

–By Jessie Grearson

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P H OTO BY J ES S IC A G A N D O L F

A: It’s the same, and it’s different. I’ve always enjoyed telling stories; it just so happened that the ones I’d been telling for the past 20 years were only four panels long. But having such a long history with the characters from the strip, I felt confident that I could tell a longer story. No matter how long a story is, it’s got to have a beginning, middle and end.

The question, at least at first, was: How do I manage the logistics? Do I try to write the whole book in one fell swoop and then send it to my editor? How much artwork should I try to fit on each page? What’s the page count per book, the word count per chapter? Stuff like that. I was apprehensive. I had no idea what I was doing.

So I said to Phoebe [my editor], “How about I just write a chapter with some rough artwork, and you tell me if you think I’m on the right track?”

And it worked so well that we’ve continued along in that same way. I write the books a chapter at a time and send them to Phoebe one chapter at a time. For the first book, I knew exactly what I wanted the story arc to be. But for the subsequent books, I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants. I’m

about to start chapter four of book four, and I have no clue what’s going to happen.

“… who can resist a tale with a snotnosed boy?” from the boy from the dragon palace

contemplate the meaning of First Night and love in an uncertain time. Their terrifying situations stimulate more debate on the true nature of humans, while a host of savory secondary characters adds to the thrill.

A cinematic ending with lingering unanswered questions and plenty of zombies still lurking in the unknown sets the scene for the next installment. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

ALWAYS A WITCH

MacCullough, Carolyn Clarion (288 pp.) $16.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-547-22485-5

How does one go about saving one’s family from history?

Tamsin Greene, now the Keeper of the Domani that controls the magical power of the evil Knight family, thinks her troubles are over. She has known of her magical Talent for a few months now, and she enjoys no longer being the only non-witch in her very Talented family. And didn’t she manage to put an end to the evil Alastair Knight’s plan to thwart the Domani? But when a mysterious stranger intrudes and the mystic book that contains her family’s chronicle is suddenly blank, she realizes that her troubles are not over. Back she goes to 1887 to infiltrate the Knight family mansion and stop Alastair from warning them about the not-yet-made Domani.

She gets herself hired as a new lady’s maid to the then-powerful Knights, where she waits for Alastair and begins to discover their secrets. As with Tamsin’s first outing (Once a Witch, 2009), neither plot nor setting astound, but Tamsin is a perfectly likable narrator, and it doesn’t hurt that the dreamy Gabriel uses his time-traveling Talent to appear on the scene. The Upstairs, Downstairs–style details of the Knights’ household intrigue, and they make effectively chilling villains.

Readers unfamiliar with the first book should check it out before they tackle this one; that background under their belt, this proves to be an enjoyable magical adventure.

(Urban fantasy. 12 & up)

THE BOY FROM THE DRAGON PALACE

Reteller: MacDonald, Margaret Read Illustrator: Yoshikawa, Sachiko Whitman (32 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8075-7513-0

luck IF he makes the boy shrimp every day with vinegar and sugar. Though the little boy has “the snottiest nose you ever did see,” the man takes him home and prepares the shrimp. The boy snuffles it down, blows his nose hard three times—and the floor is covered with gold! The greedy man then wishes for a larger house, servants, a cook, treasure chests and so on, until he has everything he could possibly want. Disgusted with the snot-nosed boy’s blowing, he sends him back to the sea, and, of course, all of the riches disappear. The digitally enhanced, watercolor collage art is typically Japanese in setting, clothing and the wide-eyed (and grubby-faced) boy’s black topknot.

The text is nicely repetitive and includes satisfyingly disgusting nose-blowing effects that children will love.

MacDonald’s lively retelling of this folktale is bound to fascinate kids; after all, who can resist a tale with a snotnosed boy? (source note) (Picture book/folktale. 4-8)

WAITING FOR THE MAGIC

MacLachlan, Patricia Illustrator: Bates, Amy June Atheneum (160 pp.) $15.99 | September 13, 2011 978-1-4169-2745-7

Pet lovers know that their nonhuman friends are magical beings imbued with preternatural wisdom, and anyone who’s experienced the special bond between humans and animals firsthand is fortunate indeed.

Mama promptly adopts four dogs and a cat when Papa leaves her and their children, 10-year-old Will and 4-year-old Elinor, who’s a natural at magic from the get-go. Readers soon discover that the animals regularly speak to each other and to some of the humans, telepathically. Greek-chorus style, they also comment sagely and often comically on the family’s travails.

According to the author’s epigraph, only “the young, the old, the brave, the honest, the joyful” understand the magic, and gradually more family members are revealed as able to join in on the “conversations.” The real magic is not only that animals can speak but that they can effect real change in a family—and ultimately save it. MacLachlan shows how this family grows and heals in touching and charming ways, yet she doesn’t shy away from some of the honest emotions surrounding parental separation. She balances some tough issues with sweetness and humor, and there’s a happy, satisfying and cathartic ending, proving that magic is closer than one thinks and is worth the wait.

An endearing testimonial to interspecies family relationships. (Fantasy. 8-12)

This Japanese variant of “The Fisherman and His Wife” features a poor flower seller and a snot-nosed boy.

When no one buys his flowers, a poor flower seller casts them into the sea for the Dragon King, who lives under the water. A beautiful lady rises up from the waves with a boy in her arms as a thank you. She tells the man he will bring him |

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TEN FOR ME

Mariconda, Barbara Illustrator: Rogers, Sherry Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paperback | August 10, 2011 978-1-60718-074-6 978-1-60718-085-2 paperback Rose and Ed learn much more than expected on their butterfly hunt.

Rose sets out with a copy of Butterfly Field Guide for Young Explorers and Ed with just his net. “That first day out, it wasn’t much fun / ‘cause Ed netted ten and I netted none! / How many in all? Let’s add them again! / “Well, 10 + 0 is 10,” Ed said. “10 + 0 is 10!” Each day is seen as a double-page spread of the duo hunting in field and garden. As Rose’s totals grow, Ed’s shrink. The totals in the text are mirrored in a tally of “Butterflies Captured and Released” in the illustrations. Each spread also features a snippet from Rose’s book with a butterfly fact: “Question Marks and Red-spotted Purples are attracted to barnyard smells!” By tale’s end, Rose nets 10 to Ed’s zero, and they discover that over the 11 days they have caught an equal number…except for Rose’s surprise chrysalis (that’s been busily going through metamorphosis through each picture). Educator Mariconda and Rogers (Sort It Out!, 2008, etc.) reteam for an excellent rhyming tale that doubles as math lesson and triples as a butterfly-biology primer. Four pages of realistically illustrated butterfly/math activities for older readers follow the story.

An essential purchase for elementary teachers and libraries looking for cross-curricular books. (Picture book. 5-10)

MY BEATING TEENAGE HEART

Martin, C. K. Kelly Random (288 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | September 27, 2011 978-0-375-86855-9 978-0-375-96885-6 library ed 978-0-375-89925-6 e-book A teenage ghost seeks to help a griefstricken living boy.

While Ashlyn Baptiste is hovering in the ether wondering why she can’t remember life, Breckon Cody is sulking in his room, wondering why he wants to live. As Ashlyn invisibly engages with Breckon’s life, she begins to recall snippets of her adolescence: orange juice, roast-beef sandwiches, a friend’s betrayal of a devastating secret. She watches as Breckon begins to abuse sleeping pills, breaks off connections with his friends and starts injuring himself in attempts to avoid the pain and guilt he feels over his sister’s accidental death. With her limited influence, Ashlyn tries to save Breckon, even as she wonders why no one was able to save her. Dividing the narrative between Ashlyn and Breckon, Martin brings the same exquisite writing style to this narrative as to her previous 1256

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works (One Lonely Degree, 2009, etc.). However, overwrought emotions and too-familiar paranormal themes drag down the narrative. Breckon’s moping reaches cartoonish levels quickly, and the revelation of Ashlyn’s mystery is soap-opera–esque rather than emotionally meaningful. Martin’s mastery at depicting real-life scenarios is tainted by the otherworldly element, a needless nod to an all-consuming trend.

Beats only with a dull pulse. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

TEN LITTLE CATERPILLARS

Martin, Bill Illustrator: Ehlert, Lois Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $17.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4424-3385-4 Move over very hungry caterpillar—10 little caterpillars have arrived.

Martin’s posthumous release rests in illustrator Ehlert’s capable hands, resulting in a picture book that delivers on his reputation as a master of engaging, rhythmic, rhyming text as it presents some of Ehlert’s best work to date. Arresting jacket art introduces 10 little caterpillars munching on a verdant, heart-shaped leaf against a white background. Open, white backgrounds of interior spreads allow the collages’ vibrant colors to stand out in clean, visually dynamic spreads that invite readers to pore over the flora, other creatures and the caterpillars themselves who populate the pages. Each caterpillar from the jacket gets its own spread, with one climbing a cabbage head, another carried off to school in a jar and another falling into the sea. The 10th caterpillar, however, becomes a butterfly in a satisfying, if predictable, culmination of the verse. But wait—there’s more! Concluding pages identify each caterpillar in sequence, provide readers with information about what they eat and reveal the kinds of moths and butterflies that result from their metamorphoses.

Equal parts counting book, nature book and ideal readaloud fodder, this is a beauty of an offering from a familiar team. (Picture book. 2-6)

HELP ME LEARN NUMBERS 0-20

Marzollo, Jean Illustrator: Phillips, Chad Holiday House (32 pp.) $15.95 | September 1, 2011 978-0-8234-2334-7 Marzollo’s latest math title is a rather utilitarian counting book combining mediocre rhymes with I Spy–like objects to count.

The sometimes clunky verses seem to revolve around words that rhyme with numbers rather than on reader appeal.

“This number loves / to rhyme with eleven. / How many are you? / We are ____ (seven)…Can you tell me / where to shelve

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““In equal parts philosophical and wryly humorous, this magical tale will satisfy both fans and new readers alike.” from 13 gifts

/ Mr. Rooster? / Box ____(twelve).” All the answers are numbers, making it easy for children to count the items or identify the numeral or match the rhyme so they can participate in the reading (although the rhymes from 13 to 19 are all identical).

The endpapers encourage readers to practice skip counting, while backmatter emphasizes the importance of practicing math early in childhood. Antique toys and unusual found objects lend a layer of interest to the photographs. From small blown-glass animals and old-school Matchbox-like cars to monster finger puppets and wooden peg people obviously painted by children, these are objects that are not seen every day. While the rhymes leave Phillips little room for creativity in his book debut, he does incorporate some interesting textures by using different materials for his bases.

Not the most exciting, but it may just find a spot on the shelf since it goes beyond 10. (Math picture book. 2-5)

MOTION, MAGNETS AND MORE The Big Book of Primary Physical Science Mason, Adrienne Illustrator: Dávila, Claudia Kids Can (128 pp.) $18.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-707-5

Mason has crafted what could easily be adopted by primary classrooms as their sole physical-science textbook.

It is divided into four chapters that start readers off with the easy and familiar and work up to some larger science concepts, introducing and defining proper vocabulary along the way. “Touch It!” has readers exploring the materials that surround them—their composition, texture, mass and properties.

In “Build It!,” readers learn about various structures: their uses, how they are joined and how they can be strengthened.

“Change It!” teaches children about matter and its states, while the final chapter, “Move It!,” focuses on forces, motion, gravity and friction. Short sentences, simple vocabulary and only a few paragraphs per page make this accessible for even the youngest of science explorers, while the 19 activities scattered throughout will deepen their understanding and hold their focus. Backmatter is aimed at parents and teachers and features a paragraph of ideas corresponding to each spread of text so that the knowledge can be extended. A table of contents and index are also included. Dávila’s charming digital illustrations depict rosy, round-faced multiethnic children in a variety of settings exploring the world around them. Bright colors and the amusing asides of anthropomorphic animals are sure to keep readers’ interest.

Gathering in one place the physical-science concepts typically presented to primary children, this is ideal for the youngest scientists and explorers, a worthy addition to school and library collections. (Nonfiction. 4-7)

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13 GIFTS

Mass, Wendy Scholastic (352 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-545-31003-1 A rash decision involving attempted theft of a school mascot sets into motion a series of life-altering events for nearly– 13-year-old Tara.

Mysteries abound as readers return to Willow Falls in this third installment of the series. Years of constant relocation have caused the reclusive Tara to avoid forming friendships. She also longs to understand her mother’s mystifying need to continually move. Banished to her aunt’s house for the summer, Tara soon finds herself embroiled in another mishap. Mass revisits familiar ground with a plot that loosely follows the formula of her previous novels, 11 Birthdays (2009) and Finally (2010): The protagonist is on the cusp of a birthday and must go through a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment guided by the enigmatic Angelina. In payment for her misdeeds, Tara must complete a curious scavenger hunt before her 13th birthday but soon discovers she requires the help—and maybe even the friendship—of others. Tara’s quirky personality invigorates the familiar plot. Mass skillfully resolves mysteries while perpetuating Willow Falls’ mystique. Readers will be eager to discover the outcome of Tara’s quest.

In equal parts philosophical and wryly humorous, this magical tale will satisfy both fans and new readers alike.

(Fiction. 9-13)

EYES IN THE MIRROR

Mayer, Julia Sourcebooks Fire (224 pp.) $9.99 paperback | August 1, 2011 978-1-4022-4040-9 paperback Stoned, Dee’s attractive male friend Jamie suggests the existence of an alternate universe, and later the 16-year-old finds it by stepping through a mirror.

On the other side, she encounters Samara, her alter ego. Where Dee is a good student and rarely steps off the straight and narrow, Samara, an unhappy loner since her mother committed suicide three years before, savors cutting herself, an act that’s vividly depicted a few times throughout the narrative. Told in these two girls’ voices in alternate chapters, their stories interweave when they inexplicably decide to swap places for a day or two.

Samara encourages Jamie’s sexual advances, and Dee tells Samara’s father about her cutting, leaving both teens with new issues when they return to their own worlds. While Samara must deal with therapy, Dee faces greater trials. Though these push her off her college-track, she adjusts with remarkably minor angst. The quality of writing is uneven, too often telling rather than showing and never managing to generate sufficient suspense to move

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PILOT & HUXLEY The Next Adventure

the tale forward. Both Dee and Samara are described in detail, yet remain stock characters—good teen and troubled teen.

Others are more superficially developed. While the concept is intriguing, the paranormal aspect is overshadowed by the less compelling reality-fiction component.

Ultimately, this average debut effort never rises above the masses in either overcrowded genre. (Paranormal/reality fiction. 12 & up)

THE INCREDIBLE LIFE OF BALTO

McCarthy, Meghan Illustrator: McCarthy, Meghan Knopf (40 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed | August 9, 2011 978-0-375-84460-7 978-0-375-94460-4 library ed Every dog has his day, but Balto’s life is comparable to an early 20th-century movie star’s.

McCarthy’s coverage begins in Nome, Alaska, in 1925. Dr. Welch presides at the bedside of a diphtheria-stricken child and follows up with a desperate telegram for the serum needed to prevent an epidemic. While Balto’s legendary role in braving a blizzard to deliver the antitoxin in record time is dramatically portrayed, the author’s primary interest lies in recounting the rest of the Siberian husky’s story. Balto went on to star in a film about the relay race that prefigured the Iditarod. He stayed at the Biltmore in Los Angeles, rubbed elbows with famous actors and posed for a sculpture in New York’s Central Park. When the canine’s fortunes changed, he performed in vaudeville until a Cleveland businessman (and schoolchildren) paid for his transfer to a zoo. Employing the style established in her previous historical investigations (ranging from Charles Atlas to bubble gum), the author selects child-friendly details, explains challenging words in context and re-creates period documents and settings. Her signature acrylic caricatures, identifiable by oversized eyes, convey a sense of attentiveness in keeping with the narrative. The predominance of snow and gray light creates a mood of remote desolation; the palette brightens to warm greens at the conclusion.

An intelligent read-aloud for those not quite ready to tackle the existing independent readers. (maps, author’s note) (Picture book/biography. 5-8)

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McGuiness, Dan Illustrator: McGuiness, Dan Graphix/Scholastic (64 pp.) $7.99 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-0-545-26845-5 paperback Series: Pilot & Huxley, 2

It’s surprising that a book with zombies and talking celery isn’t quite goofy enough to work.

Santa Claus hates you and wants you to die. 364 days a year, he’s a tyrant who forces children to fight to the death in an enormous coliseum. Once a year, on Christmas Eve, he travels across the dimensions to Earth, where his entire personality transforms, and he becomes a jolly gift giver with a bag stuffed with candy canes. Pilot and Huxley have the bad luck to meet him on December 23rd. To get home on his world-hopping sleigh, they’ll need to defeat Bruto the giant elf and Rudolph, who’s armed with a rocket launcher. Luckily, Huxley has a bowl of noodles. All of this is very silly. It’s the Simpsons’ fault it doesn’t work. Kids who’ve grown up on Captain Underpants and Shrek and Family Guy will recognize the formulA: Sarcastic comment, self-referential joke, ridiculous occurrence that our heroes take perfectly in stride. In spite of the familiar pacing, some of the jokes are right on target. PILOT: “But isn’t Limbo supposed to be like an empty, blank place where lost souls roam forever?”

TALKING STRAWBERRY: “…It seemed like a waste of good real estate, so we all moved in.”

The book is full of inspired nonsense. It’s just too easy to see who inspired it. (Graphic novel. 7-9)

WHAT IF EVERYTHING HAD LEGS?

Menchin, Scott Illustrator: Menchin, Scott Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7636-4220-4

An extended flight of fancy can take your mind right off your troubles.

An exhausted little girl just cannot bring herself to walk home, even though there are cupcakes waiting for her when she gets there. The girl asks her mother why the house can’t walk to them instead of the other way around. Her mother replies because if that happened, then the cupcakes might have legs too and decide to run away! The girl begins to imagine what it would be like if everything had legs, like apples, worms, rakes, leaves, cars and snails. If rocks had legs, they “wouldn’t roll.

But rolls could rock!” The illustrations on this particular page spread are particularly funny; the rock and the roll are realistic, photo-collage images with cartoonlike legs protruding from them. If toys had legs, continues the girl, they would surely put themselves away, toothbrushes would squeeze the toothpaste

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“The furies are reinvented in eerie modern form, wreaking havoc in the lives of a group of teens in a fictional Maine town in this spine-prickling debut, first in a planned trilogy.” from fury

and bubbles—why, they would boogie-woogie, of course. Once the mother and daughter arrive at home and cupcakes are served, the girl puts forth a new question: What if everything had ARMS? The brightly colored, mixed-media illustrations are interesting, even though not all share the same inventiveness as the rock/roll spread.

An amusing tale that may spark readers to embark on their own imaginative journeys. (Picture book. 4-8)

FURY

Miles, Elizabeth Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $17.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4424-2224-7 The furies are reinvented in eerie modern form, wreaking havoc in the lives of a group of teens in a fictional Maine town in this spine-prickling debut, first in a planned trilogy.

Talented poet Emily has been increasingly attracted to her best friend’s boyfriend, Zach, and is swept into an illicit winter vacation hook-up with him. Soon after, she begins to encounter a perfect, tiny blond girl with a terrifying smile everywhere she goes. Meanwhile, image-conscious football star Chase encounters an ethereally beautiful girl who says she and her two cousins are newly back in town after moving away years before. He’s instantly, uncharacteristically smitten and pursues her as an addict would a drug, putting himself in vulnerable positions he’d never have previously allowed. Plentiful foreshadowing will tip off most in the audience about the otherworldly nature of the trio of newcomers, creating an ongoing sense of dread for the characters that will spur readers on, but it may frustrate them as they wait for the other shoe to drop.

Scares are plentiful throughout, including such tried and true tropes as a near corpse springing to life with a grin.

The nod to Greek mythology may suggest a gothic tale, but this novel reads more like a screenplay for a modern teen horror movie—deliciously chilling, if a bit obvious at times. (Horror. 12 & up)

THOMAS JEFFERSON FOR KIDS

Miller, Brandon Marie Chicago Review (144 pp.) $16.95 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-1-56976-348-3 paperback More than anything, Thomas Jefferson wished to be remembered for the Declaration of Independence, the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and the founding of the University of Virginia—this book muddies those waters.

Miller offers a thorough and methodical overview of Jefferson’s life and political career, from his early years, college at William and Mary, and on to a life that parallels all of the major events of the |

emerging nation—the Continental Congress, the American Revolution, Republican and Federalist debates, two terms as president, the Lewis and Clark expedition and the various ways Jefferson remained committed to his nation even in retirement. The presentation is especially forthright about Jefferson’s ownership of slaves and his fathering of children with Sally Hemings. However, the flaw in this volume, and the For Kids series as a whole, is how the discussion of serious historical issues such as the Alien and Sedition Acts, judicial review and the creation of a national bank is undermined by silly “interactive” activities—making fresh grape juice, baking macaroni and cheese and gathering a leaf collection. One page has a solid discussion of Virginia planters who “enjoyed comfortable lives on the labor of slaves,” while the opposite page encourages readers to play a board game called “The Royal Game of the Goose.”

Still, the volume offers the chance to delve into Jefferson’s life and be inspired by the range of his interests. (acknowledgments, timeline, places to visit, websites, bibliography) (Biography. 9 & up)

ALL YOU DESIRE

Miller, Kirsten Razorbill/Penguin (432 pp.) $17.99 | August 9, 2011 978-1-59514-323-5 Series: Eternal Ones, 2 Haven Moore and Iain Morrow’s Italian escape (The Eternal Ones, 2010) is cut short when a crisis pulls them back to New York City and into the orbit of the Ouroboros Society.

While Iain had been taking Haven to historic sites to jar memories of the past lives she shared with him and her best friend Beau Decker, Beau makes some discoveries of his own courtesy of a hot guy on Facebook claiming to be his soulmate.

But shortly after flying up to New York to visit his mystery man, Beau disappears, leaving only a cryptic text message for Haven.

Despite the risk that Adam Rosier might find her—and learn that Iain is still alive—Haven and Iain hop a plane to the city so they can search for Beau. Incidental characters from the first novel are used to optimum advantage as a host of related subplots support the novel’s tension. Adam transitions from blanket evil into a richer character and true enigma, even as ancient enemies of his secretly move against him. Haven finds herself needing him— and needing to get close to him—putting both her and Iain in difficult positions. The previous novel’s witty narrative voice only returns for the last act of the story, slightly undermining the story line with the most at stake in a quick wrap-up.

A multi-layered mystery with (mostly) rounded characters. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

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PEARL VERSES THE WORLD

Murphy, Sally Illustrator: Potter, Heather Candlewick (80 pp.) $14.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-7636-4821-3 In this poignantly illustrated novella in free verse, a young girl reckons with the loss of her grandmother.

Australian artists Murphy and Potter team up here to depict the story of Pearl Barrett, a budding poet and loner whose loving household—consisting of her mother, grandmother and herself—gets rocked to the core when she finds her granny “doesn’t remember who we are.” Though Pearl feels “[w]herever I am / no one sees me” and “my poems don’t rhyme / and neither do I,” such feelings of isolation only intensify as she wrestles with sadness, fear and anger on learning her mother is contemplating moving Granny to a nursing facility.

When her failing grandmother dies, Pearl learns the important lesson that, through loss, one may not only find compassion but community. Potter’s evocative pencil-and-wash drawings, with their excellent renderings of facial expressions and mood, wonderfully complement Murphy’s thoughtful narrative in depicting the emotions of a scene. Altogether, the tale has much to offer in terms of grappling with personal identity as well as the death of a beloved.

A tender, therapeutic treatment of loss, perfect for children dealing with the baffling complexities of adult dementia. (Poetry. 8-12)

HEART AND SOUL The Story of America and African Americans

Nelson, Kadir Illustrator: Nelson, Kadir Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (108 pp.) $19.99 | $20.89 library ed September 27, 2011 978-0-06-173074-0 978-0-06-173076-4 library ed In an undertaking even more ambitious than the multiple-award-winning We Are the Ship (2008), Nelson tells the story of African-Americans and their often central place in American history.

Directly after the prologue, the narrative begins with the U.S. Capitol, built by slaves and freeman before Nelson steps back and shows the intricate ways American and African-American history were intertwined from the earliest days of the country’s founding. Using an unnamed female narrator, Nelson fashions a unique mode of storytelling that is both historical and personal.

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citizens able to fully participate in American life following the Civil Rights Movement. As with any work by this talented artist, the accompanying illustrations are bold and arresting. The dramatic oil paintings heighten the dignity of this story, whether they are of well-known historical figures, common folk or landscape. With such a long time period to cover, the careful choices Nelson makes of which stories to tell make this a successful effort. While there is little room for historical nuance, Nelson does include the way events such as World War I and the fight for woman suffrage affected the Black community.

This intimate narrative makes the stories accessible to young readers and powerfully conveys how personal this history feels for many African-Americans. (Nonfiction. 10 & up)

GHETTO COWBOY

Neri, G. Illustrator: Watson, Jesse Joshua Candlewick (224 pp.) $15.99 | August 9, 2011 978-0-7636-4922-7 Twelve-year-old Cole has messed up one too many times, and now his mother has taken him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with his father, whom Cole doesn’t know.

Turns out Philadelphia isn’t much like Detroit. It’s the ’hood all right, but there are horses and stables and cowboys, right in the city. His father and his community of cowboys are continuing a tradition of urban cowboys dating back to the Civil War, maintaining stables and taking on kids to teach responsibility and provide an alternative to gangs and street life.

But Cole doesn’t buy it: “You guys is funny. We in the city, with cars and computers and stuff, and you think you back in the Wild, Wild West!” Gradually, though, Cole finds he has a way with a horse named Boo, and in taking care of Boo he finds a new life for himself. It’s a fascinating glimpse of a culture most readers will not have heard of, and the author’s note leads to Neri’s website, with many links to articles and videos on the subject. Watson’s illustrations in pencil, ink and acrylic add a satisfying visual dimension.

Cole doesn’t ride off into the sunset here, but he does, at least, ride off to a better future. (Fiction. 10-14)

A MONSTER CALLS

Ness, Patrick Illustrator: Kay, Jim Candlewick (224 pp.) $16.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-7636-5559-4 From a premise left by author Siobhan Dowd before her untimely death, Ness has crafted a nuanced tale that draws on elements of classic horror stories to delve into the terrifying terrain of loss.

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When a monster in the form of an ancient yew tree crashes through his bedroom walls after midnight, calling his name, Conor is remarkably unperturbed—“Shout all you want,” he says. “I’ve seen worse.” Indeed he has, in a recurring nightmare of someone slipping from his grasp, a nightmare whose horror he keeps to himself. Daily life is intolerable, as everyone from teachers to bullies treats him as though he were invisible since his mother began chemotherapy. The monster tells Conor three stories before insisting that Conor tell one himself. Asserting that “stories are the wildest things of all,” the monster opens the door for Conor to face the guilty truth behind his subconscious fears. Ness brilliantly captures Conor’s horrifying emotional ride as his mother’s inevitable death approaches. In an ideal pairing of text and illustration, the novel is liberally laced with Kay’s evocatively textured pen-and-ink artwork, which surrounds the text, softly caressing it in quiet moments and in others rushing toward the viewer with a nightmarish intensity.

A poignant tribute to the life and talent of Siobhan Dowd and an astonishing exploration of fear. (Fiction. 11-14)

HAND BOOK

Newman, Jeff Illustrator: Newman, Jeff Simon & Schuster (40 pp.) $15.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-4169-5013-4 Through simple drawings of hands in action, Newman deftly illustrates both the progress of a person’s life and the cyclical—and hopeful— nature of the human condition.

“One hand. / Two hands. / Two hands clap.” So begins this rhyming, universal tale about a child learning to live. He eats and swings, washes and waves, falls and gets up. As a teen, the boy studies and types; as a young man he soul-searches and jobseeks, feels defeat and accomplishment…and finds love. Newman’s two-word sentences, woven with his spontaneous, expressive drawings, lead to affecting phrasing that’s poignant and stirring.

The line drawings, done in ink (or marker) with solid colors filling out the forms of the hands, are in an Al Hirschfeld– or Jules Feiffer– style of caricature or editorial illustration. Loads of white space allows the artwork to breathe; after one powerful pause, Newman returns to his opening lines, where childhood begins again, and the struggles and joys of life are reaffirmed.

A lovely tribute to growing up that will endearingly mature with its readers. (Picture book. 3 & up)

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MIMI

Newman, John Candlewick (192 pp.) $15.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-7636-5415-3 A family struggles to get back on track after a bereavement.

“Monday—149 days since Mammy died,” heads chapter one, conveying the shape of Mimi’s world. Mimi walks through her days leaning on routine: “Monday is Granny’s day,” when she visits Granny and Grandad after school; Tuesday it’s one aunt, Wednesday another. Older siblings Sally and Conor meet her there, and they converge back at home for the evening, where Dad nightly burns a pizza that Mimi tosses to the dog. Grieving dysfunctionally, Dad barely registers his kids besides scorching supper for them. Mimi does no homework; tooth-brushing is ignored. Newman’s simple, uncluttered narration skillfully reports action more than emotion, even when the action is crying. Buoying the vibe is ongoing humor—would a goth kid enjoy burnt food because it’s black? Why is the pregnant teacher having “contraptions” in class? Mimi seeks connection to Sally via reading Sally’s hidden diary, which Sally accusingly addresses to a certain younger-sister spy. Missing Mammy (and Dad, although he’s right there), Mimi confronts a school bully and processes her own wish “that I hadn’t gotten slanty eyes.” However, readers are secure that this extended Irish family considers (adopted, Chinese) Mimi to be 100% their own beloved girl.

Unassuming prose does the trick for this sad and funny tale with a warm ending. (Fiction. 8-10)

THIS DARK ENDEAVOR The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein Oppel, Kenneth Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $17.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-4424-0315-4

When his identical twin Konrad falls ill, 15-year-old Victor risks life, body and soul to try and find a cure in this prequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Printz Honor–winner Oppel (Airborn, 2004).

Though Victor has always felt an unreciprocated sense of sibling rivalry toward his brother, he will do anything to save Konrad. His parents trust in new medical treatments, and his cousin Elizabeth Lavenza prays to God, but Victor starts studying occult books in the secret library of his family’s excessively gothic Swiss chateau. Seeking ingredients for the Elixir of Life, Victor, Elizabeth, Konrad and their friend Henry Clerval embark on a quest “all the more glorious for being full of dangers and terror.” Victor’s umpteen narrow escapes provide a welcome distraction from a somewhat incestuous and laboriously developed love triangle.

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The author gestures toward big issues—religion, women’s rights, class inequality—but focuses primarily on extensive action sequences. Victor too often describes himself in relation to Konrad, but he develops into a complex and troubled character as the inevitable conclusion draws near. A subplot involving a crippled alchemist and his pet lynx steer the story more toward horror and fantasy than Enlightenment-era science fiction.

A dark and dramatic back story for Shelley’s tormented creator. (Gothic. 12 & up)

DAMAGE

Parrish, Anya Flux (264 pp.) $9.95 paperback | September 8, 2011 978-0-7387-2700-4 paperback Inventive science fiction doubles as paranormal romance in this thrilling suspense tale.

Dani, afflicted with juvenile diabetes, spent much of her childhood in a hospital, where she had an imaginary friend, Rachel. Rachel loved to play at first, but then she tried to kill her. By the time Dani turns 15, Rachel has disappeared, but someone else may be trying to kill her in a staged bus accident. Seventeen-year old, rebellious Jessie saves her, but Jesse also has a terrifying imaginary foe, a fire-breathing dragon. As the two teens run from the accident, both Rachel and the dragon reappear, and although invisible, both can inflict real damage. Dani and Jesse learn that they were in the hospital at the same time and realize that an experimental drug may have caused their predicament, now even more dire as both the imaginary foes and real criminals pursue them. Part sci-fi, part romance, part crime thriller, these different elements weave together into a heart-pounding chase story that vibrates with danger. Rachel, especially, comes across as a unique creation that could stand alongside a monster from Stephen King. Dani and Jesse convince readers of their humanity, drawing them into the story completely. A nifty surprise ending caps it all.

Imaginative suspense makes this one stand out. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

PRAIRIE STORMS

Pattison, Darcy Illustrator: Rietz, Kathleen Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paperback August 10, 2011 978-1-60718-129-3 978-1-60718-139-2 paperback

blot / out the sun.” June sees “Puffy morning clouds build and build all afternoon until thunder clouds tower high. Flash!

Boom! The white tailed doe and fawn both flee, helter-skelter toward a tree.” Skunks endure dust storms. A cougar shelters from hail. A prairie chicken digs for roots after a blizzard. Each double-page spread presents a different prairie beast and a different weather event for each month. Pattison’s text is descriptive and refrains from anthropomorphizing; however, it ends abruptly, giving this more of the feel of a list than a cohesive tale. Rietz’s watercolors of realistic animals in various areas of the grassland habitat are a good match. Six pages of activities and quizzes on animals, weather, habitats and seasons follow December’s spread.

Best for classrooms or school libraries looking to plump their science collections. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

SWEETLY

Pearce, Jackson Little, Brown (320 pp.) $17.99 | August 23, 2011 978-0-316-06865-9 An uneven retelling of Hansel and Gretel swaps witches for werewolves.

Eighteen-year-old Gretchen and her older brother Ansel are on their own after their father dies. Still mourning his death and the disappearance of Gretchen’s twin sister, who went missing when they were little, the siblings end up in the town of Live Oak, where they meet Sophia, a lonely chocolate maker. She offers to take them in, and they both fall a little in love with her.

Gretchen can’t understand why the townspeople hate Sophia so much—until she learns that local girls disappear every year after Sophia’s annual chocolate festival. Gretchen becomes determined to find out the truth and discovers the candy maker is hiding a secret that concerns a lost sister of her own and a covert pack of werewolves in the nearby woods. Gretchen must confront both the wolves and her troubled past to escape Sophia’s needy reach. Though the concept is clever, bumpy transitions, sluggish pacing and lackluster prose stifle the story’s potential. The introduction of the werewolves comes suddenly and without explanation, and no one in Live Oak seems to have any knowledge of them except Gretchen’s new boyfriend Samuel. Readers may also be unprepared for the bloody, brutal ending, which is an abrupt change from the rest of the novel’s moody, introspective tone.

Not Pearce’s best. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

A passel of prairie wildlife weathers a year of storms.

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“Peirce’s third Big Nate chapter book, starring Big Nate (from the comic strip of the same name), is the slickest of this series of hybrid comics-and-text chapter books.” from big nate on a roll

BIG NATE ON A ROLL

Peirce, Lincoln Illustrator: Peirce, Lincoln Harper/HarperCollins (224 pp.) $12.99 | $14.89 library ed | August 16, 2011 978-0-06-194438-3 978-0-06-194439-0 library ed Series: Big Nate, 3 Sixth grader Nate Wright needs a new skateboard…but more than that he needs to beat perfect Artur at SOMETHING. Artur has a nifty foreign accent. Artur has Jenny, the girl Nate likes. Artur charms adults and kids alike, and Nate can’t stand it. What makes it double awful is that Artur is such a nice guy. Infuriating. But Artur IS to blame for Nate’s losing his skateboard…indirectly. Artur dripped paint in Nate’s eye, causing Nate to knock over the ladder Artur was on. Nate got detention (Artur didn’t), and Nate had to hurry on his skateboard to get to Timber Scouts. In the hurry, Nate was clothes-lined by a lady and her poodle, and his board sailed into the river. There is a chance he can win a new board by selling (dorky) wall hangings door to door for Scouts. He just has to beat the new kid in the troop…Artur! Peirce’s third Big Nate chapter book, starring Big Nate (from the comic strip of the same name), is the slickest of this series of hybrid comics-and-text chapter books. Nate’s an artistic, realistic, funny narrator. On a roll indeed!

Plenty of Nate’s homemade comix and panels from his life pepper the story; fans will cheer at the announcement of the fourth volume at the end. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-11)

BLOOD WOUNDS

Pfeffer, Susan Beth Harcourt (256 pp.) $16.99 | September 12, 2011 978-0-547-49638-2 A psychodrama about tangled families never quite gets off the ground.

Willa’s life swerves into the headlines when her biological father kills his present wife and two of their children before disappearing. Willa’s blended family has provided her with wealthy stepsisters—thanks to their jet-setting mother—along with a stepfather. The disparity between the luxury that Alyssa and Brooke regard as their due and Willa’s own limited means suddenly seems like just the tip of their differences as Willa discovers more about her mother’s first husband and her estranged family in the sudden glare of the media spotlight. Willa’s preferred method of dealing with anger and fear is to cut herself, letting physical pain mask her emotional hurt. Suddenly she needs to know more about her past and this frightening man who is her actual father, and her insistence on this upsets her entire extended family. With a determination Willa hasn’t shown before, she returns to the small town she left behind |

at the age of four. The influence of money in decision making is explored, along with odd legalities about inheritance in a bizarre situation. Unfortunately, the ethical question of whether to accept a benefit from a major crime is more interesting than much of this lurid plot. Willa is supposedly a quiet, accepting 16-year-old, but she never acts that way after the first few pages.

Intriguing topics and situations can’t quite breathe life into these somewhat flat characters. (Fiction. 12 & up)

THE GAME OF TRIUMPHS

Powell, Laura Knopf (288 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | August 9, 2011 978-0-375-86587-9 978-0-375-96587-6 library ed 978-0-375-89774-0 e-book

A stranger’s plea for help draws an orphaned teen into a most unusual game, in which life and death are the least of

the prizes.

Cat has always been a loner, which plays nicely off her young and outgoing croupier aunt/guardian. But when she stumbles onto The Game, played with the major arcana of the Tarot in both the real world and a parallel plane, she finds secrets from her past waiting to draw her in. After a slow start with a bit too much exposition, however well integrated, adventure takes over.

Cat reluctantly allies with three other “chancers” (bystanders drawn into the game but forbidden from making moves): geeky, eager Toby; classy, rich Flora; and tough guy Blaine—all of whom have something or someone they want from the game. Together they decide to take the whole thing down by releasing the Fool, an otherworldly power at the heart of the game. As they tread the narrow path between trust and secrets, friendship grows. By the end of the first of this duology, page-turning action and a showdown with the rulers of the four suits will leave readers breathless, if disappointed that the conclusion doesn’t resolve the mystery of Cat’s past.

Original and engrossing; readers will definitely want to play. (Urban fantasy. 12 & up)

FALL MIXED UP

Raczka, Bob Illustrator: Cameron, Chad Carolrhoda (40 pp.) $17.95 | $13.95 e-book | September 1, 2011 978-0-7613-4606-7 978-0-7613-6215-9 e-book This rollicking fall frolic is sure to arouse a chorus of hearty negatives in every audience as children race to point out the mistakes in both the text and the illustrations.

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Raczka has taken all the quintessential elements of fall and turned them topsy-turvy. From the staple treats of candy corn and caramel apples to the antics of the animals, nothing is sacred (or correct), including the holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving: “Neighbors give stuffing and / drumsticks for treats. / Families give thanks / for a bounty of sweets.” But silly as the rhyming verses are, they need Cameron’s zany illustrations to truly make them come alive. After all, some of the mix-ups defy even the most active of imaginations: “Bears gather nuts. / Geese hibernate. / Squirrels fly south in / big figure eights.” Digital paintings with photo-collage elements draw readers’ eyes through the scenes, in which bears bend trees down to the ground with their heavy weight and squirrels with balloons tied around their waists soar through the sky. But the laughs don’t stop there—Cameron includes at least one wrong thing on each spread that is unrelated to the text. Observant readers just may spot them all.

A true celebration of fall certain to be a winner with teachers and children alike; here’s hoping that the rest of the seasons will follow. (Picture book. 4-8)

BELLE, THE LAST MULE AT GEE’S BEND

Ramsey, Calvin Alexander Stroud, Bettye Illustrator: Holyfield, John Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | September 13, 2011 978-0-7636-4058-3

The Civil Rights Movement had many heroes, but none as unusual as Belle.

It’s a hot summer’s day outside a small country store, and a little boy awaiting his mother is surprised to see a mule munching up a garden full of collard greens. An elderly woman invites him to sit next to her on the store bench and shares her memories of Gee’s Bend in 1965, when mules carried the African-American citizens on wagons the long way ’round the river to vote.

Martin Luther King, Jr. had spoken to them, and his inspiration kept them going even when white men blocked the ferry. A few years later, in April, 1968, two mules from the town pulled his coffin in Atlanta. One was Belle. This small snapshot of the protest movement pays homage to both the determination of ordinary folk and the power of Dr. King’s words. Holyfield’s intense acrylic paintings, in blues, yellows and browns, evoke the heat and the drama. The extraordinary quilts for which the town is famous have their place of honor, too. A solid choice for parents and teachers who are introducing the 1960s to young children.

An intergenerational story filled with heart and soul. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)

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A LITTLE BITTY MAN and Other Poems for the Very Young

Rasmussen, Halfdan Illustrator: Hawkes, Kevin Translator: Nelson, Marilyn Translator: Espeland, Pamela Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-7636-2379-1

A charming collection of poems finds an American audience in a splendid translation.

Though unknown to the vast majority of American readers, Rasmussen (1915-2002) was a beloved Danish poet, known both for his human-rights writings as well as nonsense verse for children. A sweet compendium of the latter is translated here by the award-winning Nelson and Espeland and animated by Hawkes’ dynamic, colorful acrylic-and-pencil renderings, effectively capturing the playfulness of Rasmussen’s verse in both sound and image. As he explores life’s many processes, activities and imagined situations, Rasmussen’s delightfully warped sense of humor is in full view. It ranges from potty humor—“Feet are to jump on, / drums are to thump on. / Tiptoes to snoop on, / and potties to poop on!”—to outright silliness—“The elf puts on his winter coat […] and then, before he goes, / puts on an empty ice-cream cone / to insulate his nose.” But the poet also does not shy away from more serious subjects, such as the cultivation of friendships, using a light touch to convey his pacifist message: “Those fierce grown-up soldiers / who shoot guns and fight / should learn from us children / to fight a war right. / First, fight with toy guns. / Then, if your war won’t end, / you tickle your enemy / into a friend!”

Children of all ages will be charmed by this collection that demonstrates that poet-translators often make the best ambassadors. (Picture book/poetry. 3-7)

CLEAN

Reed, Amy Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $16.99 | August 19, 2011 978-1-4424-1344-3 An affecting drama about five teenagers in an upscale rehab facility for drug addiction.

The story begins with the arrival of Olivia, an anxious rich girl who abuses diet pills. She is placed in a counseling group with four other recognizable characters: an emo goth girl, the angry son of an abusive father, a Christian homeschooler and a hypersexual girl with low self-esteem. Olivia, Eva, Jason, Christopher and Kelly take turns narrating, sometimes in straight prose, sometimes in alternating journal paragraphs on an addiction-related theme. Each chapter is short, and some have no single narrator; facilitated group sessions appear as

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“A fantastical and funny story features the unlikeliest of friends.” from the clueless girl’s guide to being a genius

transcripts, and a few chapters are poemlike pastiches of the five teens’ words. The author handles complex issues deftly and honestly, from family dysfunction to attempted rape. Interactions between the teens feel genuine, and the story is aware both of its rarefied setting (“The only things you have going for you are race and money and the fact that someone cares enough about you to get you help,” no-nonsense counselor Shirley lectures) and the statistical likelihood that one rehab stint will not end the teens’ struggles with addiction.

The hard-hitting scenarios and abundance of white space make this a perfect suggestion for Ellen Hopkins fans. (Fiction. 14 & up)

AMERICUS

Reed, M.K. Illustrator: Hill, Jonathan First Second/Roaring Brook $18.99 | $14.99 paperback | August 30, 2011 978-1-59643-768-5 978-1-59643-601-5 paperback A well-intentioned study of bookbanning in the heartland.

Americus, Okla., is just like any other small town in AmericA: Its middle and high schools teem with bullies and airheads, and its library has a waiting list 38 patrons long for the newest book in the Apathea Ravenchilde series. In this cultural wasteland, young teens Neil and Danny are best friends and fellow Apathea fans. When Danny’s mother discovers him reading that “unholy filth” and he tells her he’s gay, she sends him packing to military school and begins a campaign to ban all eight books. It’s the details that make this graphic novel work, not its plot. Lonely Neil loves his single mother, but he’s as itchy and awkward as any young teen. Secondary characters in the community, from the supermarket manager who lives next door to city councilors to some cool girls at the high school, develop sweetly and credibly. But the primary combatants are sadly one-dimensional.

Danny’s mother is a Bible-thumping caricature, and Charlotte, the sympathetic YA librarian, is herself more a cool-librarian type than a fully fleshed human being. As a profile of a book challenge, it’s not bad, though oversimplified. But as a full story, it is lacking. Artistically, too many of Hill’s characters look alike, which further contributes to the story’s problems, though the interstitial scenes of Apathea’s saga delight.

This will change no minds, but its heart is in the right place. (Graphic fiction. 12 & up)

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THE CLUELESS GIRL’S GUIDE TO BEING A GENIUS

Repka, Janet Dutton (224 pp.) $16.99 | August 18, 2011 978-0-525-42333-1

A fantastical and funny story features the unlikeliest of friends.

Thirteen-year-old math genius Aphrodite Wigglebottom believes that anyone can be a math whiz. She sets out to prove her theory by teaching an eighth-grade remedial math class. The students initially reject their teenage teacher, but Aphrodite slowly wins them over, both by knowing her stuff and by her willingness to use whatever means necessary to get her students’ attention, including literally gluing them into their desks. She even convinces them to compete in a math contest against the smartest kids in school. Aphrodite might know an awful lot of math, but she soon discovers that there is a lot about being 13 that she doesn’t know. Enter Mindy Loft, terrible at math but an expert at makeovers, baton twirling and, well, at being 13. The two girls narrate in alternating chapters, telling a lighthearted, funny and often bizarre saga of middle-school mayhem. Underneath the drama, though, is a gentle, uplifting message: Even though we can’t explain how or why some friendships form, the best of them help us to understand ourselves and change us in fundamental ways.

Equal parts silly and endearing, this one will appeal to fans of Wendy Mass and Megan McDonald. (Fiction. 8-12)

I’M HERE

Reynolds, Peter Illustrator: Reynolds, Peter Atheneum (32 pp.) $15.99 | August 16, 2011 978-1-4169-9649-1 Eloquent, fanciful text and illustrations that sparkle with clarity combine to perfectly portray a solitary boy’s flight of imagination.

Alone in the schoolyard, the young protagonist sits apart from the others, but he is quite present. “I am here,” he says.

Happy to examine the details of the world around him, he is fine—until a piece of paper falls right into his lap, ready to be transformed. He folds the paper into an airplane, which then flies higher and higher, bringing him on a journey above the playground, clouds and sky, then back down to be caught by his schoolmates. The repeated refrain, “I am here,” reinforces the boy’s sense of himself in the world, even though he is alone, and his unique point of view is both distinct and easy to understand.

Clean, appealing illustrations are distilled to their essential elements, focusing purely on the boy and allowing viewers to add their own details. In the end, the airplane sails to someone else— perhaps a new friend—who kindly returns it to the boy. This was written with autistic children in mind but encompasses a

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wider subject; any child who is isolated, introverted or simply self-contained will find something of him- or herself to recognize and appreciate here.

Overall, an excellent selection, replete with warmth, originality and the promise of good things to come. (Picture book. 3-7)

I’M ADOPTED!

Rotner, Shelley Illustrator: Kelly, Sheila M. Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 15, 2011 978-0-8234-2294-4 This introduction to adoption for very young children stands out in its clear, accessible approach to a topic that many adults may still find difficult to address, despite increasing societal openness.

Engaging, full-color photos portray kids and parents of varying ethnicities and families of varying compositions. The process of adoption is explained in simple language that children understand: “Parents who want to adopt get help to find just the right child. . . “; “Sometimes adopted children look different from the other members of their families.” Presenting adoption as an intentional decision, rather than only as a second-choice option for people who can’t conceive biologically, is refreshing, as are the sensitive acknowledgement of a birthmother’s possible sadness and the honest discussion of reasons why an adoption plan might be made. Unfortunately, birth fathers aren’t mentioned at all, possibly leaving children to wonder about the existence of such a person.

Both domestic and international adoption are addressed, making this suitable for all kinds of adoptive families. The photo album– like design, with pictures covering most of the page, a clean white background and a brief text in a large typeface, adds to the appeal.

A valuable resource to help explain their backgrounds to adopted children or to introduce the concept to anyone wondering about adoption. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

BROWNIE & PEARL GRAB A BITE

Rylant, Cynthia Illustrator: Biggs, Brian Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster (24 pp.) $13.99 | August 23, 2011 978-1-4169-8634-8 Series: Brownie & Pearl In this latest installment of Rylant and Biggs’ picturebook series, Brownie and Pearl do lunch and invite readers to join in the fun.

Fans of this perfect preschool fare will once again delight in the series’ playful treatment of the everyday activities. Here, the pair feels a bit peckish and heads to the kitchen for stringy cheese, apples, crackers and milk. Pearl is a kitty who plays with her food—rolling the apples and batting the string cheese about 1266

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like so much yarn. Meanwhile, “Brownie likes to bite her saltines into shapes,” and she nibbles one cracker into the letter P for Pearl. Biggs’ boldly colored, digital art is presented in clean, clear compositions that make good use of white space (and minimal backgrounds in some scenes) to highlight the playful action of the story rather than the domestic setting. The use of white, however, is perhaps most effective in the pleasing final spread showing both friends licking off thick milk mustaches.

The short, carefully crafted sentence can also support beginning readers in their efforts to decode text.

A satisfying addition to a consistently strong series.

Bon appetit. (Picture book/early reader 3-6)

REACHING

Sadler, Judy Ann Illustrator: Mitchell, Susan Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-456-2 This tribute to a loving family will undoubtedly resonate with many doting

parents.

First Mama, then Daddy, then other besotted relatives “reach” for Baby with lots of love. Cuddling, tickling, hugging, reading and playing punctuate their interactions in a rhyming text that delivers a mood of happiness and security as it asserts how important Baby’s family is. The antepenultimate spread states, “Baby is reaching for everything new,” with spot art depicting him reaching for assorted things. This sets the stage for a satisfying, if rather cloying and adult-centered, conclusion showing Mama and Daddy putting Baby to bed with the assurance that, although “Soon Baby will reach for the moon and the stars… For now you’re still ours!” A mobile of a moon and stars hangs above the crib, asserting Mitchell’s skill at extending text as it echoes the prior page’s night sky. Details like this and the pink stuffed dog (unmentioned by the text) who accompanies Baby throughout the book assure visual interest as the soft watercolors match the text’s gentle tone. A further nice illustrative touch shows readers an extended family that just happens to be multiracial.

Ultimately a book that many new parents will reach for as they revel in their love of baby. (Picture book. 1-3)

DRAWING FROM MEMORY

Say, Allen Illustrator: Say, Allen Scholastic (64 pp.) $17.99 | September 1, 2011 978-0-545-17686-6 Exquisite drawings, paintings, comics and photographs balance each other perfectly as they illustrate Say’s childhood path to becoming an artist.

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“The appealing character, lively pictures and mild suspense make for a warm family story that shows the fun of having a pet and provides a strategy for learning to read that youngsters will eagerly embrace.” from reading to peanut

Although its story overlaps with The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice (1979), this visual chronicle is a fresh new wonder. It opens with a soft watercolor map of Japan on the left, framed in a rectangle, while on the right is a delicate, full-bleed watercolor of Yokohama’s seashore and fishing village, with two black-and-white photographs pasted on: Say as a child, and the stone beach wall. The early arc takes readers from Say’s 1937 birth, through family moves to escape 1941 bombings and then Say’s nigh-emancipation at age 12, when his mother supported him in his own Tokyo apartment. The one-room apartment “was for me to study in, but studying was far from my mind… this was going to be my art studio!” The art table’s drawer handle resembles a smile.

Happily apprenticing with famous cartoonist Noro Shinpei, Say works dedicatedly on comic panels, still-lifes and life drawing. Nothing—not political unrest, not U.S. occupation, not paternal disapproval—derails his singular goal of becoming a cartoonist. Shinpei’s original comics are reproduced here, harmonizing with Say’s own art from that time and the graphic-novel–style panels, drawings and paintings created for this book.

Aesthetically superb; this will fascinate comics readers and budding artists while creating new Say fans. (author’s note) (Graphic memoir. 10 & up)

READING TO PEANUT

Schubert, Leda Illustrator: Haley, Amanda Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-0-8234-2339-2

Learning to read can be an adventure, as this determined little girl and her pup demonstrate.

Lucy wants to learn to read and write, but don’t ask why: It’s a secret. She gathers up the necessary materials and, with help from her parents, draws pictures of the words she wants to know on sticky notes and writes the appropriate letters underneath.

Colorful, energetic acrylics show Lucy and her ever-present pup Peanut in motion over the next few weeks, labeling various people and objects, often to comic effect. (Peanut enjoys munching on paper. Is this his way of learning to read, too?) After a lot of hard work, Lucy is ready. Eyes shining with enthusiasm, on Peanut’s birthday she makes a special cake with help from Mom, and she has an even bigger surprise for her beloved dog—a card she’s made all by herself. The appealing character, lively pictures and mild suspense make for a warm family story that shows the fun of having a pet and provides a strategy for learning to read that youngsters will eagerly embrace. A strong choice for school or home reading.

Nicely captures the excitement of learning to read and write, complete with the feeling of accomplishment that ensues. (Picture book. 3-6)

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THE VOLE BROTHERS

Schwartz, Roslyn Illustrator: Schwartz, Roslyn Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $15.95 | September 15, 2011 978-1-926818-83-2

These critters are so hungry, they could eat a cat...or his dinner.

The rodent twins wake up in a drain pipe, craving some food. Both they and a large passing cat smell something enticing and rush to check it out. A slice of pepperoni pizza lies at the end of the curling odor trail, inside a garbage can; the cat seizes it. Disguised in a paper bag (with convenient eye holes), the voles distract the cat and make off with the slice. But before they have a chance to dig in, the plot thickens. A crow swoops down to steal the pepperoni, and a parade of red ants snaggles the slice. When the voles protest, they find their paws under ant attack! Getting something to eat seems impossible...until they spot a half-eaten doughnut, with frosting! Before they can get to it, there’s that cat again, who scoops them up, one in each paw. The sound of a dinner bell gets the cat’s attention, and the voles escape. They land right in a strawberry patch, just the right spot for dinner. There’s not much to Sanchez’s story, but her illustrations are delightful, displaying a pitch-perfect sense of comedic timing in her comic-book–influenced illustrations.

The vole brothers (who look like a cross between monks and Cousin Itt) could easily be mischievous tots, not incidentally the ideal audience for this playful adventure. (Picture book. 3-5)

LET’S COUNT TO 100!

Sebe, Masayuki Illustrator: Sebe, Masayuki Kids Can (24 pp.) $16.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-55453-661-0

While the 1000+ tiny images herein may seem overwhelming at first glance, Sebe’s latest is actually a great lesson in counting and in grouping by tens…all wrapped up in a seek-and-find format filled with amusing characters.

The youngest children will find plenty to pore over in the packed spreads, each filled with 100 easily discernible animals (and, in one, children). Clever color, pattern or placement differences divide each large group into smaller groups of 10, making them easy to count, whether by ones or by tens. Sebe’s two-dimensional cartoon animals are very simply drawn with the barest of details, which makes the ones exhibiting personality stand out all the more. His busy scenes are full of whimsy and tiny details that are easily overlooked if children turn the pages too quickly. Indeed, rewards await those readers who are patient enough to look at each and every animal, as there are seek-and-finds on each page, as well as one in the back. The very observant may even notice the ways in which each spread

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connects to the one before it and the one that comes after. A final spread combines 10 animals from each of the previous spreads for one last set of 100.

Painless counting practice hidden in a seek-and-find format—what could be better? (Math picture book. 3-7)

ESCAPE FROM PLANET YASTOL

Service, Pamela F. Illustrator: Gorman, Mike Darby Creek (112 pp.) $15.95 | $5.95 paperback $11.95 e-book | September 1, 2011 978-0-7613-7918-8 978-0-7613-7921-8 paperback 978-0-7613-8185-3 e-book Series: Way-Too-Real Aliens, 1

Josh Higgins, boy author, finds out what happens when he really lives in the world he created.

After winning a local young-writer award, Josh is struck with writer’s block and loses hope that he can be a two-time winner. Adding to his misery, kids from school make fun of him, and his little sister Maggie has to step in to protect him. When aliens invade Maggie’s play rehearsal and drag the siblings to Yastol, Josh realizes that the planet he invented is both all too real and filled with something these blue, stick-of-gum–shaped, noodly-armed aliens want: aafth, a purple stone, flecked with silver. This stone fuels their weapons and spaceships, and these greedy aliens come equipped with a machine that forces Josh and Maggie to take them to Yastol. A quick pace—punctuated with the siblings’ spats, creatures with polka dots, slavers, deserts, bird droppings and Josh’s frequent references to his original story—moves this volume along nicely. Every time Josh faces a new villain or challenging environment, he wishes he has written his story differently, allowing young readers to ponder the act of making a story.

Readers ready for longer chapter books will enjoy having some science fiction to choose from and welcome further adventures. (Science fiction. 8-12)

CLEOPATRA’S MOON

Shecter, Vicky Alvear Levine/Scholastic (368 pp.) $18.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-545-22130-6

Following in a parent’s footsteps is never easy…especially when your parents are Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

From the little known about the lives of Cleopatra Selene and her two brothers, taken to Rome after the deaths of their parents to live in the emperor’s compound, Shecter has written an entertaining but ultimately thin first novel. The 1268

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first-person narration follows Cleopatra Selene from age 7 to 16 as she grows politically savvy, falls in love and sets her own course. The author has written nonfiction books for children about this era (Cleopatra Rules!, 2010, etc.), and here the historical context and characters are well drawn. The sadistic family plotting in Octavianus’ compound makes for intriguing storytelling, and Cleopatra Selene’s loneliness, terror and ultimate bravery are well developed. Yet she’s just not believable as a brainy 25th-century-BCE princess, exhibiting a 21st-century naïveté (especially regarding espionage) and the subtlety of a school bus. Conversations with her beloved introduce the audience to philosophical concepts of Stoicism, free will and women’s rights, but there’s almost an avoidance of issues of slavery and sovereignty, for all their essential part in the plot.

Readers will enjoy what is still a romantic and exciting story, but with the tease of such rich material they’ll miss the meatiness of such storytellers as Katherine Sturtevant, Megan Whalen Turner or Robin McKinley. (character list, author’s note) (Fiction. 10-14)

A LONG LONG SLEEP

Sheehan, Anna Candlewick (352 pp.) $16.99 | August 9, 2011 978-0-7636-5260-9

Sleeping Beauty wakes up to a future world where everyone she ever knew is gone.

Dramatic disasters, diseases and technological advancements have passed during Rosalinda Fitzroy’s decades of sleep.

In her new role as long-lost heiress to the interplanetary business empire UniCorp, she faces a new world without her family or boyfriend. History lessons hit too close to home at school, and she fails to connect with anyone but Bren, the son of top UniCorp officials and discoverer of her stasis tube, and Otto, the result an unethical UniCorp experiment. The science-fiction elements here are tantalizing but under-explored and under-utilized. Before Rose can fix the mistakes of her parents’ company, she needs to fix their parenting mistakes. Rose’s first-person narration paints the picture of a girl too accommodating and self-deprecating for her social position. Gradually, her quirks are explained through the mystery of her placement into stasis. Futuristic slang words jar, and the passages don’t always mesh well—the all-too-possible descriptions of what went wrong while Rose slept are chilling but not always well-integrated into the story, and the breaks from Rose’s point-of-view into that of a mysterious second character are forced. Assassination attempts against Rose feel tacked on to bump up the tension, though they are eventually tied into her emotional story arc.

Thoughtful but uneven. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

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“Smiley’s pristine, graceful prose and thoroughly real characters make this a novel to savor.” from true blue

LIBRARY LILY

Shields, Gillian Illustrator: Chessa, Francesca Eerdmans (26 pp.) $16.00 | July 8, 2011 978-0-8028-5401-8 This gentle read presents a rosycheeked child, brand-new library card in hand, dazzled by the array of choices surrounding her on the shelves.

“There were fat books, thin books, great enormous square books, old books, new books, and furry-touchy-feely books.” The title’s large trim size invites the listener inside the venerable building too, as do the vivid colors and whimsically shaped and decorated volumes. The protagonist earns her moniker when people notice her total absorption in the literary life. Lily is never without a book, and her tastes run the gamut from “rare lesser Amazonian” snakes to ghost stories. Her mother finally prods her to play in the park, where she meets the tree-climbing Milly, who hates reading.

As their friendship develops, they come to appreciate the thrill of discovery in each other’s realms. The thick, layered brushwork of the backgrounds and characters contrasts with the bits of cutpaper collage and simple shapes outlined in pencil to present a visually stimulating world—inside and outside the books. While there are no surprises here (nor cell phones, nor iPads), and not enough action to entertain rambunctious listeners, Chessa’s depiction of the interplay between the stories on the pages and those enacted by the girls is both clever and heartwarming.

Shields stops short of preaching, but it is “the choir” who will most appreciate the message. (Picture book. 4-7)

MULTIPLY ON THE FLY

Slade, Suzanne Illustrator: Hunter, Erin E. Sylvan Dell (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paperback | August 10, 2011 978-1-60718-128-6 978-1-60718-138-5 paperback

and for those not in the know, the soldier ants appear to have only one pair of eyes rather than the five eyes of the math problem. Backmatter includes extensive information and questions to help readers learn more about insects. A final page provides a multiplication table as well as a breakdown of each problem from the text.

In trying to do too much, this title may leave readers with too little. (Math picture book. 8-10)

TRUE BLUE

Smiley, Jane Knopf (304 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | September 27, 2011 978-0-375-86231-1 978-0-375-96229-5 library ed 978-0-375-89416-9 e-book Smiley continues the story of Abby Lovitt and the horses on her family’s California ranch in the 1960s.

When family friend and fellow stable-owner Jane sells Abby a horse for the change in her pocket, Abby is thrilled. True Blue, a gorgeous and personable gray, seems full of potential. But he comes with literal baggage—trunks of saddles and bridles and, most spookily, his dead former owner’s boots. Abby shoves them out of sight, but she can’t ignore Blue’s own spookiness—he leaps and shies away from things no one else can see.

Soon Abby is convinced that she, too, sees a ghost woman riding him. Meanwhile, Abby breaks her wrist, and an incident at her church brings her father’s relationship with her estranged brother to a head. Abby has already learned how quickly things can go wrong—but now she learns that, sometimes, everything can also be put right. Readers who have been with this story from the beginning will enjoy watching narrator Abby continue to grow; newcomers will want to go back and start at the beginning with The Georges and the Jewels (2009).

Smiley’s pristine, graceful prose and thoroughly real characters make this a novel to savor. (Historical fiction. 10 & up)

Rhyming verse presents buggy word problems that can all be solved using

multiplication.

With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance a buggy beat— / tappin’ with six furry legs. / How many dancing feet? / 4 x 6 = ?” The 11 multiplication facts, seemingly randomly chosen, each include one of the numbers from one to 11. While no doubt good practice the first time through, it precludes repeated readings and incorporates only a smattering of facts. Hunter, with specialties in entomological and botanical illustration, truly makes the text come alive. Her insects are realistically detailed and seem ready to crawl right out of the pages. But while they are fascinating to look at, they are not always the easiest to use as counters in answering the problems.

The ladybug spots and walking stick parts are too small to count, |

TANTALIZE Kieren’s Story

Smith, Cynthia Leitich Illustrator: Doyle, Ming Candlewick (192 pp.) $19.99 paperback | September 1, 2011 978-0-7636-4114-6 paperback A graphic adaptation of Leitich Smith’s werewolf-vampire-culinary thriller from a new point of view.

In this retelling, illustrated by the capable Doyle, readers are privy to teenage werewolf Kieren’s viewpoint, whereas the original novel was told through the eyes of his love interest, Quincie. In a somewhat alternative Austin,

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Texas, werepeople and vampires mingle in everyday society.

Kieren, a werewolf-human hybrid, is at a crossroads in his adolescent life: He must leave human society to join a wolf pack, though he is in love with his best friend, Quincie, a tragically beautiful human orphan. When a rash of murders and disappearances hits too close to home, Kieren is suspected, who resolves he will try to unearth the real killer and save Quincie from whatever evil lurks in their midst. Though fans of the original might enjoy hearing the tale from Kieren’s perspective, readers unfamiliar with the novel may feel a bit left out; the segues between scenes can be abrupt and confusing, and some details are quickly glossed over, giving this adaptation the feel of a book-to-movie type of condensation, in which previous knowledge of the prose is an utter necessity.

In a densely populated teen-lit landscape of werewolves, vamps and unrequited love, this doesn’t stand out, but it will likely find its readership. (Graphic supernatural romance. 13 & up)

BIGGER THAN A BREAD BOX

Snyder, Laurel Random (240 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 library ed $16.99 e-book | September 27, 2011 978-0-375-86916-7 978-0-375-96916-4 library ed 978-0-375-89998-0 e-book Twelve-year-old Rebecca realistically deals with the fallout of her parents’ separation, aided (surprisingly) by a magical bread box.

Rebecca’s mother, fed up with her husband’s lackadaisical attitude, abruptly moves out, taking the teen and her toddler brother from their home in Baltimore to live with their grandmother in Atlanta. There, Rebecca discovers a magical bread box. Almost anything she wishes for immediately appears in it. Initially, this seems like the answer to all her problems: She can wish for attractive clothes to make herself more popular in her new school, or for money that might ease her parents’ problems, or even for the perfect birthday present for her mother, although she continues to seethe at the woman’s self-focus. But not surprisingly, the magic comes with a significant catch, as magic often does. The discoveries Rebecca makes about herself and her relationship with her parents are achingly authentic.

While the bread box provides a nice infusion of fantasy, this tale is as much focused on Rebecca’s maturing understanding of her family’s problems as it is on magic. Her appealing first-person narration rings true, and the characters around her are also believably portrayed, creating a tight tale with broad appeal.

Elements of magic add to this enjoyable coming-of-age tale of family problems and personal growth. (Fantasy. 10-14)

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THE ONLY ONES

Starmer, Aaron Delacorte (336 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 library ed $17.99 e-book | September 13, 2011 978-0-385-74043-2 978-0-385-90839-9 library ed 978-0-375-89919-5 e-book One afternoon, nearly everyone in the world disappeared, leaving Martin Maple and a village of kids to try to survive long enough to find them again.

After Martin’s father leaves on a trip, Martin notices the rest of the island’s population seems to have vanished as well.

Because he’s only ever had his father and one single friend, Martin learns about the world and self-socializes through reading books before setting off to the mainland to find out if he is truly alone. He finds the last town believed to exist, the newly named Xibalba, populated by the children left behind. Although the third-person narration closely follows Martin, a somewhat self-involved child who finds other people to be mysteries, the rich side characters come alive through their distinct traits and abilities. And Martin has an ability of his own: machinery.

After spending his life at his father’s side learning how to build a machine that he doesn’t know the purpose of, Martin decides he will build one that will save them all. The stakes are real for the kids trying to survive in the remnants of civilization; actions have consequences. Not every question is answered, but the story is so dependent on the asking that it works.

Both literary and engaging, this is the kind of book readers will want to return to for new discoveries. (Science fiction. 10-14)

CAVEMAN A B.C. Story

Trasler, Janee Illustrator: Trasler, Janee Sterling (32 pp.) $14.95 | August 2, 2011 978-1-4027-7119-4

A madcap, prehistoric, alphabetic adventure à la Fred Flintstone.

With one word for each letter, the tale opens with a woollybearded man chasing a squirrel who’s running for an ACORN. But a BEAR chases the man back toward his CAVE, where a DINOSAUR chases all three and EATS the acorn, causing the squirrel to FAINT. Then the man rushes to a call for HELP from an armadillo-like creature frozen in a big hunk of ICE, but he’s unable to KICK it open. When the sun MELTS it, the armadillo becomes the man’s pet, but more trouble lies ahead.

The cartoon illustrations enact each situation in one continuous comic scenario. The shapes are simple with few details; the google-eyed, misproportioned man wears a zigzag flounce, for instance. The word choices successfully develop the prehistoric

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“Bootman’s gorgeous paintings bring out the resilient character of the city even as he depicts the devastation it suffered.” from a storm called katrina

premise except for X, which is an X-RAY of the man when he’s struck by a lightning bolt, but kids raised on Saturday-morning cartoons will just laugh at it. Q is for QUIET, and Z is for the usual ZZZZ for sleeping.

Kids will giggle at this clever ABC (note the B.C. in the subtitle) and will gleefully narrate the action out loud. F stands for FUN here. (Alphabet picture book. 4-7)

A STORM CALLED KATRINA

Uhlberg, Myron Illustrator: Bootman, Colin Peachtree (40 pp.) $17.95 | August 1, 2011 978-1-56145-591-1 A heartrending story of a New Orleans family’s experience through Hurricane Katrina.

Ten-year-old Louis Daniel goes to sleep hugging his brass cornet close as the winds of Hurricane Katrina begin to howl and rattle the house. In the morning, the family realizes that the levee has broken, and the water is quickly rising. They begin to make their way through the wreckage to the promised safety of the Superdome, with Louis Daniel and his mother riding on a piece of someone’s porch as his father pulls them along past a plastic Christmas tree, an eager puppy that they cannot rescue and something that is probably a body in the water. The family makes it to the Superdome, but they eventually find themselves separated. Louis Daniel is sure he has to do something to find his father, but what? And what will happen to the family after they leave the Superdome? And to the friendly dog Louis had to leave behind in the rushing waters? Bootman’s gorgeous paintings bring out the resilient character of the city even as he depicts the devastation it suffered. However, it is through the body language and the emotion in the faces of the mostly African-American cast of characters he creates that Bootman most precisely articulates what it was like to live through such a harrowing experience.

Simple, affecting prose and intricate, inspired paintings make this one worth sharing for sure. (author’s note).

(Picture book. 9-12)

BREADCRUMBS

Ursu, Anne Illustrator: McGuire, Erin Walden Pond Press/ HarperCollins (336 pp.) $16.99 | September 27, 2011 978-0-06-201505-1 In this contemporary version of The Snow Queen, fifth-grader Hazel embarks on a memorable journey into the Minnesota woods to find her best friend Jack, who vanishes after a shard of glass pierces his eye. |

Adopted from India as a baby, fantasy maven Hazel has always felt “she was from a different planet.” Hazel tries “desperately not to disturb the universe” at Lovelace Elementary, where she doesn’t fit in with anyone except Jack, the only person she knows with a real imagination. Together they’ve grown out of “Wonderland Arctic space-people tea parties” into “superhero baseball”—until the day Hazel pelts Jack with a snowball, glass enters his eye and he disappears with a mysterious woman resembling the Snow Queen. Uncertain if Jack’s really changed or something fey’s afoot, Hazel enters the woods to find “an entirely different place,” populated by creatures from the pages of Hans Christian Andersen. As Hazel discovers she doesn’t know the ground rules, the third-person narrator engages readers with asides and inter-textual references from the fairy-tale canon. And like a fairy-tale heroine, Hazel traverses the woods without a breadcrumb trail to save a boy who may not want to be saved in this multi-layered, artfully crafted, transforming testament to the power of friendship.

More than just a good story, this will appeal to lovers of Cornelia Funke as well as Andersen. (Fantasy. 8-12)

MEENA

van Mol, Sine Illustrator: Wijffels, Carianne Eerdmans (26 pp.) $17.00 | August 1, 2011 978-0-8028-5394-3 Christa, Klaas and Thomas have concluded that their portly, grey-haired neighbor is a witch.

They yell nasty comments and draw an arrow pointing toward her door with that very label so others are forewarned. Encountering a regular visitor, they ask the girl: “Did the witch put a spell on you so that now you have to visit her all the time?” Van Mol’s language and characterizations ring true. Despite the child’s explanation that Meena is her grandma, the friends watch in horror as the woman empties a bucket of red liquid into the gutter. A key dangles from her stained apron; tiny legs poke out of her pocket. When accentuating a character or object, Wijffels employs painted and cut paper, cheerful buttons, thread and other media in layered, compositions; the supporting roles are rendered in single-color outlines. The white backgrounds offer a pleasing foil for the emotionally-charged images: the bubbling red liquid (later revealed to be cherry-pie filling), the looming, forest-green shadow of apprehension as Thomas prepares to deliver the climactic message. The endpapers depicting a sidewalk portrait of “Grandma Meena” (and her pie) follow an episode in which the children face and overcome their fear, although, realistically, not all at once.

This Belgian import offers a provocative look at the trajectory between snap judgments and hateful behavior— when both are fueled by fear. (Picture book. 4-7)

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BAKE SALE

Varon, Sara Illustrator: Varon, Sara First Second/Roaring Brook (160 pp.) $16.99 paperback | August 30, 2011 978-1-59643-419-6 paperback Varon returns with another strange and charming graphic work that touches on the theme of her terrific Robot Dreams (2007), namely: how fine friendship can be, and how surely it leads you down a twisty road of joys and melancholy.

Here the main characters are Cupcake, a cupcake, and Eggplant, an eggplant (this is a world of animated foodstuffs). Cupcake runs a bakery and plays in a band with Eggplant. Eggplant has plans to travel to Turkey to see his family and, to Cupcake’s envy, meet Turkish Delight, the world-renowned master of confections. Cupcake pulls double shifts at bake sales to save up enough drachmas to go along with Eggplant—losing his place in the band when an angry avocado takes on a new potato because Cupcake is too distracted—but then hands over the cash when Eggplant loses his job and his funding falls through. Varon loads the tale with all manner of idiosyncratic touches—a slice of bacon knocks the cherry off Cupcake’s head, which is replaced by a blueberry; a great scene in a Turkish bath finds Cupcake’s wrapper peeling—which gives a soft, unpredictable feel to the proceedings. The colors are lovely, low-key renderings, and the format has a decided two-dimensionality.

An offbeat story about the sacrifices made for friends, about the very everydayness of such acts and the pitfalls and pleasures in their wake. (Picture book. 6 & up)

DRAGONBREATH No Such Thing As Ghosts

Vernon, Ursula Illustrator: Vernon, Ursula Dial (208 pp.) $12.99 | August 18, 2011 978-0-8037-3527-9 Series: Dragonbreath, 5

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BEAR’S LOOSE TOOTH

Wilson, Karma Illustrator: Chapman, Jane McElderry (40 pp.) $16.99 | August 30, 2011 978-1-4169-5855-0

Wilson and Chapman continue this popular series that began with Bear Snores On (2002).

Bear has invited his friends for lunch, when “something wiggled, and it wobbled…something moved when he chewed!

It was… / Bear’s / loose / tooth!” In full-bleed spreads with a palette dominated by blues and greens, Chapman ably portrays Bear’s concern over this dental dilemma as well as the genuine empathy and determination of his many animal friends when they try to help remove the tooth. On several pages Bear looks right at readers as he reacts to his predicament, bringing them immediately into the story. After Hare, Mouse, Wren, Owl, Badger and others all fail at prying it loose, Bear “used his tongue and…gave a little nudge” until it falls out. A fairy comes as Bear sleeps and leaves “blueberries where Bear’s tooth had been!” Wilson keeps young readers engaged with rhyming text that keeps the gentle action flowing.

Though it is light on specific information about how and why teeth are lost, most children will enjoy relating to Bear in his latest oh-so-cozy adventure. (Picture book. 3-6)

ACROSS THE GREAT BARRIER

Adventure-magnet Danny Dragonbreath and his nebbish sidekick Wendell have no idea what trick-or-treat has in store for them…

The first horror: Wendell’s costume consists of two pie tins, one emblazoned with a plus and another with a minus…he’s a hydrogen atom. He’s hoping the pity candy will offset the embarrassment. The second horror: Danny’s dad has volunteered to take Christiana Vanderpool along. Christiana is an official Junior Skeptic (who doesn’t believe that Danny’s a real dragon). The third horror (though far from the last): Big Eddy and his pack of lizard goons lurk. Danny and company feel safe enough with parents nearby, but then Big Eddy dares Danny to go into the local haunted house. What can a young dragon do? The trio gets locked in the 1272

house, and the horrors begin to mount. Pictures change from crying clowns to flowers, mysterious thumps echo down dark halls, floors collapse, ghostly visions appear…will they survive the spectral onslaught—but, more importantly, will they escape with their candy collections intact? Vernon’s fifth hybrid text-and–graphicpanels tale extends Danny’s search for adventure (and Wendell’s search for safety). Plenty of gags and one-liners similar to previous outings, in two-color panels and short chapters.

Fans will enjoy the spooky outing, newbies should start with earlier volumes for maximum fun. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 5-9)

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Wrede, Patricia C. Scholastic (352 pp.) $16.99 | August 1, 2011 978-0-545-03343-5 Series: Frontier Magic, 2 Eff, now a young woman, has overcome her fear that she is fatally unlucky; now it’s time for her to figure out who she’s going to be (Thirteenth Child, 2009).

Her staggeringly talented twin brother is off to college back east, but Eff, despite her newly discovered magical potential, is disinclined to follow. She begins working at the local land-grant college’s menagerie of creatures, both magical and ordinary,

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from the other side of the Great Barrier Spell. Her intelligence and expertise with animals make her an ideal assistant for an expedition beyond the Barrier, and off she goes into this dangerous, beckoning territory, observing, thinking and growing ever more confident. The other primary members of the expedition, Professor Torgeson from New Vineland, and Washington Morris, the Aphrikan-Columbian circuit-rider magician, provide sturdy support to both Eff and the narrative. Eff is entirely fresh: She has no Destiny, cannot be summed up as “plucky” and discovers herself and her world slowly and naturally.

In conceptualizing her Frontier Magic series, Wrede made the controversial decision not to populate her Columbian continent with indigenous peoples. Readers uncomfortable with this will find no hasty palliative change; readers less sensitive to the issue will find themselves grateful for every minute they spend with the deliberate, observant and loving Eff. Splendid worldbuilding and deliciously complex characterization continue to be the hallmarks of this standout fantasy. (Steampunk. 12-18)

k i r k u s r o u n d-u p continuing series QUARTERBACK SEASON: A Fred Bowen Sports Story

T IS FOR TUTU: A Ballet Alphabet

CIAO!: On the Runway, #6

YOYO THE WARRIORS’ TRIAL: Vermonia, #5

Rodriguez, Sonia & Kurt Browning Illus. by Wilson Ong Sleeping Bear (48 pp.) $16.95 | Aug. 15, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-58536-312-4 (Nonfiction. 6-10)

Bowen, Fred Peachtree (144 pp.) paper $5.95 | Aug. 1, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-56145-594-2 (Fiction. 7-12)

Carlson, Melody Zondervan (196 pp.) paper $9.99 | Aug. 1, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-310-71791-1 (Christian chick-lit. 12 & up)

Illus. by the author Candlewick (208 pp.) paper $7.99 | Aug. 1, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5610-2 (Manga. 9-12)

JUST GRACE AND THE DOUBLE SURPRISE: Just Grace, #7

Harper, Charise Mericle Houghton Mifflin (176 pp.) $14.99 | Aug. 1, 2011 ISBN: 978-0-547-37026-2 (Urban fiction. 13 & up)

This Issue’s Contributors # Kim Becnel • Marcie Bovetz • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley • Louise Brueggemann • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Julie Cummins • Dave DeChristopher • Lisa Dennis • Carol Edwards • L. • Brooke Faulkner • Diane B. Foote • Omar Gallaga • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • Melinda Greenblatt • Linnea Hendrickson • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Julie Hubble • Jennifer Hubert • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Betsy Judkins • K. Lesley Knieriem • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis • Nina Lindsay • Lori Low • Wendy Lukehart • Lauren Maggio • Joan Malewitz • April Mazza • Jeanne McDermott • Daniel Meyer • Lisa Moore • R. Moore • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Shana Raphaeli • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Erika Rohrbach • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Mindy Schanback • Dean Schneider • Chris Shoemaker • Karyn N. Silverman • Paula Singer • Meg Smith • Robin Smith • Jennifer Sweeney • Deborah D. Taylor • Monica D. Wyatt • Melissa Yurechko

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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 GHOSTS OF WATT O’HUGH

Drachman, Steven S. Chickadee Prince (196 pp.)

July 22, 2011 ISBN: 978-0578085906 Watt O’Hugh tangles with love, danger and high adventure in Drachman’s engaging tale of Western science fiction and amazing fantasy.

On the surface, Watt O’Hugh’s beginnings mirrored many who dwell in a time of poverty and strife. Born in 1842, the young man’s existence could have been chalked up to a textbook stereotype, like a New York City Oliver Twist. Were it not for his special abilities, his could easily have been a story that would fit nicely into a work of prose dashed off by Nathaniel Hawthorne or Ralph Waldo Emerson. O’Hugh’s life veers from normalcy, however, when he learns the ways of magic and embarks on a journey throughout Earth’s history. In a pompous literary world ripe with mundane characters, Drachman pens a standout lead in the character of Watt O’Hugh. The cool hero’s tale is told in charming, romping detail, from the magical adventurer’s poor childhood in the Five Points and the Tomb, to his notorious, gun-toting dalliances in the Wild West and his wilder exploits through time itself. Were it not for a few lurid scenes of romance and a humble allotment of expletives, the book’s firstperson narrative would surely win over a younger audience as well. O’Hugh’s singular name, derived from the words “what” and “who,” adds to the character’s simple charm. Time travel proves to be an enduring ingredient for fiction authors; from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series and Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, to Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Stephen King’s The Langoliers, the uses for jumping in and out of the present never fails to develop a story to a slam-bang conclusion. Adding legitimate historical figures, such as the esteemed author Oscar Wilde, to the fictional mix builds levels of believability to the time-traveling romp’s fast-paced flavor.

While occasionally too expeditious in the telling, this introductory tale of a planned trilogy often has the fleeting pace found in many of the historic Western pulps authored in the 1800s.

Fast-paced, energetic and fun; a dime novel for modern intellectuals.

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PERMANENT TEMPORARY

Fedcamp, Joseph Hillfield and Company (247 pp.) $23.50 paperback | January 23, 2009 978-1847285089 A man chooses freedom over stability in an uncertain job market and gains a unique perspective on working in America.

After four years spent in a go-nowhere communications job in Columbus, Ohio, Fedcamp is fed up and opts out of the traditional nine-to-five grind to take on a string of temporary and freelance employment opportunities. For Fedcamp, no job is too small, no task too ludicrous and even in a climate where job security is revered, his motivation and open-mindedness offers him the possibility to do the unthinkable—work outside the system and become the eponymous “permanent temporary.” Fedcamp’s book is his firsthand account of this undertaking as he travels the country, taking on numerous roles in pursuit of a paycheck and avoiding the mundane trap of unsatisfying drudgery in the late ’90s and into the new millennium. The author presents his story as social science but it reads like a memoir, as much a list of the author’s grievances in his various professions as it is a chronicle of the professions themselves. While these criticisms are valid (the sheer amount of corporate culture’s incompetence assures that), the digressive, often lecturing tone invokes more sympathy for its targets than ire for their wrongdoing, undercutting much of the hopeful enthusiasm the book generates. Still, there are loads of great tips and lessons to be found here, from navigating office work and coworker dynamics to the importance of managing one’s time and the satisfaction inherent to income-based tasks in our society. It’s in the social-science department that the book comes up short, with too many of its conclusions based on a single person’s anecdotal evidence and no supplemental studies or other accounts that might solidify the conclusions as fact. The writing is straightforward in style, repetitive but engaging, and for a book told as nontraditionally as the work philosophy it espouses, it never loses its way, remaining entertaining throughout.

Memoir as social commentary, but far more of the former than the latter.

MINDWARP, A NOVELLA: …And Other Strange Tales Hébert, Richard AuthorHouse (180 pp.) $14.95 paperback | $9.99 e-book April 15, 2011 ISBN: 978-1456743888 e-book: 978-1456743871

This scintillating collection of a novella and eight short stories uses offbeat character studies to wrestle with snaky issues of identity and self-knowledge. |

Hébert’s loquacious, usually anonymous narrators are obsessed with penetrating the riddle of the people around them. In “Mindwarp,” a nameless writer battens for inspiration on Guy, a working-class barfly who is almost elemental in his beaten-down ordinariness. Things get complicated when Guy begins an affair with the feisty, appealing Yolanda; the couple pushes back against the writer’s determination to “warp” their reality into a fictional celebration of heroic failure—until the writer himself seems to become the unstable, increasingly desperate creation of his own story. Quirky, opaque figures abound in other stories; “Ana, Always,” about a Yugoslavian youth’s efforts to fathom the tragic mystery of a middle-aged woman, is a meditation on family and exile, while “Stephen,” the weakest piece, gives us a maudlin tale of a boy and an injured rabbit who become martyrs to real estate development. “Silence,” a somewhat affected tale about a guilt-burdened war veteran who acquiesces in his wife’s affair with an ex-comrade, finds power in the evanescent fracturing of its hero’s personality. Only in “Azazel,” a comic gem about a mythical desert herdsmen who tends the world’s scapegoats until the powers that be decide he needs a ritzy California estate in which to receive humanity’s atonement, do we meet a man who thoroughly knows himself.

The author delights in mind games; the title novella is as much a commentary on the conundrums of fictional representation as it is a fiction. Fortunately, Hébert’s writerly conceits are rescued by the quality of his prose; his deadpan realism, mordant wit and acute powers of description ground his flights of abstraction in the soil of experience.

A beguiling blend of high-concept narrative and oldschool literary chops.

THE SHAKE

Nicolai, Mel CreateSpace (248 pp.) $12.95 paperback | $2.99 e-book September 27, 2010 978-1453748831 A philosophically inclined vampire turns gumshoe and investigates an unsolved murder.

Century-old vampire Shake has lived anonymously in central California for decades, in large part because of his rules of thumb concerning his victims—“eat and run,” and never get emotionally involved. But after sucking dry his latest “donor”—the severely depressed, 28-year-old widow of a murdered cop—his curiosity gets the best of him and he searches through the woman’s belongings. When Shake finds news clippings and photographs concerning the officer’s unsolved homicide, particularly a picture of a local real estate tycoon with the word “bloodsucker” written on the back, he decides to investigate. His motivation has absolutely nothing to do with the humans involved, but rather Shake’s curiosity. “For me, a certain fascination for the complexities of chance, awe before the world’s infinite contingency,” he muses, “was probably as close as I ever got to finding

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k i r ku s q & a w i t h jo h n n y t ow n s e n d

MORMON FAIRY TALES

Johnny Townsend Booklocker.com $17.95 paperback $2.99 e-book January 1, 2011 978-1609105945

K I R K US M E DI A L L C # President M A RC W I N K E L M A N SVP, Finance JA M E S H U L L

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A: It’s not that I aim to make people squirm. It’s just that I see the world differently. For example, I’m part of a Facebook group of missionaries from my mission in Rome. The stories they tell are universally happy, fun, wonderful stories. That’s great. I had some of those, too. But no one, and I mean no one, seems to remember the missionary who wanted to go home, was told that he couldn’t leave and so hired a prostitute so he could force his way home. No one remembers the missionary who tried to commit suicide. No one remembers the missionary who paid for his mission by being a loan shark, or the missionary with a suitcase full of porn. I listen to the other former missionaries and I think, “Were you guys even there? Why do you remember only the warm, fuzzy stories?” All of it was my experience, and I find no dishonor in being honest about it.

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Q: If you could ask and answer one and only one question about your work, what would it be?

A: Does this story help you understand others or yourself better, and thus live a better life? This seems to me one a main purpose of life, so why would I write anything I didn’t hope pointed in this direction? I don’t believe in being didactic, but I do believe there is a certain morality to my stories.

–By Holly Welker |

P HOTO BY L A R RY GR A H A M

Q: Mormons expect their art, including literature, to be faith-promoting and uplifting. While an orthodox Mormon probably wouldn’t find your work uplifting, I can imagine that another sort might. Is this something you’re trying to achieve?

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Q: You often discuss topics that make many Mormons uncomfortable. Is this deliberate?

Q: Take us through your process of creating a character and figuring out what conflict he or she will face.

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A: One reviewer said he couldn’t tell if I was Mormon or not, meaning that I didn’t seem to be either an advocate or an attacker. Part of me still believes in several Mormon principles, and part of me believes other things. Ultimately, I believe there is a god, and that he/she/it wants something good for us and will try to help us attain that. Part of the way we do that is by becoming more humane and understanding, and that is what I hope my books help readers achieve as well.

A: I’ve published many individual stories and essays in the mainstream fashion, but short story collections aren’t popular projects for most publishers, and that’s what I produce. I grew tired of publishing only one or two stories per year when I am very prolific, so I decided to start publishing my work. I’d love have a gifted editor help polish the stories, but I just have to do the best I can on my own.

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SVP, Online PAU L H O F F M A N

Q: Do you feel your work promotes some sort of faith? If so, what kind?

Q: Mormonism has been an increasingly significant topic in popular culture over the last two decades, from Angels in America to Big Love to The Book of Mormon musical currently taking Broadway by storm. Given this, why did you take the self-publishing route with your short story collections?

A: I get ideas anywhere I can. I read an article about two women switched at birth. I thought, “How would that affect a Mormon family where the kids are ‘sealed’ to the parents?” I read another article about a bitter divorce, where the husband demanded his ex-wife return the kidney he donated to her. I thought, “How can I make such a horrible thing be something a sympathetic character does?” Jesus is seen as asexual in most of Christianity, yet Mormons believe he is married, which would entail a sex life. If there is indeed plural marriage in heaven, why would it be wrong for a woman to set her sights on marrying Jesus, and fantasize about him now? I saw a report about a person who suffered a brain injury that drastically changed his personality, from a great guy to a real bitch. Did his spirit or soul change, too?

SVP, Marketing MIK E HEJ N Y

A: I do want my stories to be uplifting, but the demand that Mormon stories be faith-promoting is irritating. A person’s belief can’t, and shouldn’t, rely on my being able to tell a faithpromoting story. People need to be in charge of their own faith, as well as strong enough to handle exploration and thought, which I hope I encourage. I am trying neither to build nor destroy. I am trying to make people think.

Thinking shouldn’t be a danger to faith.

Johnny Townsend’s tenth self-published shortstory collection, Mormon Fairy Tales, which Kirkus called “gorgeous, intimate,” takes its name from Townsend’s practice of treating Mormon theology and belief literally, pursuing ideas to their logical conclusion, at which point, Townsend says, “they turn into something very illogical.” His stories sometimes seem to be a form of speculative fiction, as he speculates on how the rest of history and the afterlife will play out if Mormon theology is true. Here, he discusses his approach to exploring the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through fiction, and the frustrating Mormon expectation that art should provide tidy, wholesome answers instead of posing messy, confusing questions.

a guiding context for myself.” What Shake finds at mystery’s end, however, leaves him anything but contented. Although the vampire element is obviously significant, the book is more a thinly veiled noir mystery. Nicolai’s writing is contemplative but lean and stylish, his characters cynical, the tone decidedly unsentimental. The protagonist references Zen master Aitken in one passage, remarking, “the point isn’t to clear up the mystery, but to make the mystery clear.” It’s a quote that exemplifies this intriguing narrative blend of philosophy and crime fiction. While the author doesn’t expand the vampire mythos in any significant way, he creates a story that succeeds on numerous levels—one that is simultaneously thought-provoking and relentlessly entertaining.

An utterly readable fusion of vampire fiction and labyrinthine whodunit powered by a highly intelligent narrative containing deep existential speculation and numerous philosophical references; Anne Rice meets Dashiell Hammett at a Zen Buddhist monastery.

UNCERTAIN JOURNEY Rouman, James Peter E. Randall (199 pp.) $20.00 | May 16, 2011 ISBN: 978-1931807890

An illegal immigrant struggles to find a home in America in this moving tale of loneliness and belonging.

Seeing no future for himself in communist Albania, 21-year-old Rejep Etaj crosses the border into Greece, a clannish place where he finds only one friend—Eudoxia Athanasiou, a young Greek-American expat who is herself something of a refugee from family expectations. Shipping out on a freighter, he follows her to her home in New England; she helps him settle, and an ambivalent romance struggles to grow in the face of her bigoted mother’s disapproval and the precariousness of Rejep’s status as an undocumented alien. Rouman provides a quietly realistic yet nerve-wracking take on the practicalities of an immigrant existence. Rejep’s fate hangs on surmounting prosaic challenges such as getting past Eudoxia’s answering machine when he washes up in New Hampshire and mastering the complexities of a janitorial job given to him by a Hungarian-immigrant building manager who admires Rejep’s moxie and sees him as a readily exploitable worker.

But the author also vividly illuminates his hero’s conflicted soul. Rejep is proud of having a job, but the menial labor makes him feel like a caged animal; he relishes the exhilaration of leaving Albania for the wide world, but longs for the close-knit village life he left behind. Although he feels isolated, he is awash in a sea of immigrants who are trying to construct communities for themselves, which always entails the exclusion of others whom they see as different. The end of that process is the hermetic anomie of the well-off nativeborn Americans in the condominium where Rejep works, a place where people live cheek by jowl yet rarely venture into |

a neighbor’s life. Writing with a limpid prose and a shrewd sympathy for his characters, Rouman finds universality in the travails of an iconic outsider.

A subtle, absorbi ng por tra it of the i m m ig ra nt ex perience.

THE LAST KING OF THE MAYA

Talon, David David Talon (413 pp.) $19.99 paperback | $4.99 e-book March 23, 2011 ISBN: 978-1450760072 When a Mayan god threatens to wreak havoc on Earth, a young man and his friends must confront their shared destiny.

Young Juan Guerrero has a fighting spirit inside him that he calls his Wolf. His grandfather Manuel was teaching him how to use his powers, but when an armed gang, including several odd members completely covered in black robes, came to the Guerrero’s small village in Mexico and murdered Manuel, Juan’s Wolf took charge of his body. When the dust cleared, most of the gang was dead, the rest were on the run and Juan was in a jail cell. Dr. Gottschalk, an archaeologist at a nearby temple complex to which Juan’s family had a longstanding connection, bails Juan out after he agrees to act as a sort of bodyguard to the doctor’s son Mark. Juan and Mark develop a close friendship, one so close that it is barely threatened by the appearance of Kat O’Riley, a spirited graduate student working at the site. Soon, Mark and Juan have intense feelings for Kat and she for them, but this doesn’t sit well with Mark’s mother, who has plans for her son and Eleanor, a grad student who has had her eye on Mark for some time. Meanwhile, bad things are happening in and around the site, things that seem to hint at a deeper destiny for Mark, Kat and Juan, as well as Juan’s Wolf. Talon’s novel is steeped in a deliciously dark supernatural atmosphere and full of tense action sequences intercut with scenes of lighthearted youthful palling around. While some expository sequences belong on the cutting room floor, for the most part the plot is compelling enough to keep the reader interested. Some of the youthful banter feels forced, but there is more than enough well-wrought action and wonderful creepiness to counteract the rough bits.

A gripping, macabre action story only occasionally marred by slow spots.

kirkusreviews.com

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kirkus indie

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15 july 2011

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