February 01, 2014: Volume LXXXII, No 3

Featuring 336 Industry-First Reviews of Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's & Teen

KIRKUS VOL. LXXXII, NO.

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REVIEWS

CHILDREN'S & TEEN

A Matter of Souls

by Denise Lewis Patrick Eight astonishing short stories examine the complexity of African-American reality. p. 112

NONFICTION

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

by Roz Chast A top-notch graphic memoir that adds a whole new dimension to readers’ appreciation of Chast and her work p. 54

on the cover

Debut writer Pierce Brown's new novel Red Rising is set on Mars but has political echoes back on Earth. p. 14

FICTION

Kinder than Solitude

by Yiyun Li Who poisoned her? The whodunit is less mysterious than the entwined fates of three teenage friends in this novel of unsettling yet impressive insight. p. 39

INDIE

When I Found You

by Catherine Ryan Hyde The author of Pay It Forward ventures into indie territory. p. 138

Also in this issue: Baseball picturebook roundup p. 127

a note from the editor

Kirkus Hires Laurie Muchnick as Fiction Editor B Y C la i b orne

Smi t h

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 Chief Operating Officer M E G L A B O R D E KU E H N mkuehn@kirkus.com

I’m thrilled to share some great news with you all: Kirkus Media has hired Laurie Muchnick as the new fiction editor of Kirkus Reviews. Laurie’s integrity and passion for books are highly regarded throughout the industry and perfectly aligned with the purpose and energy of this magazine.

Laurie has been writing and editing book reviews for more than 20 years, most recently at Bloomberg News. She started her career at the Village Voice Literary Supplement and then moved on to become the book editor of Newsday, where she remained for almost 14 years before joining Bloomberg in 2007. She currently serves as the president of the National Claiborne Smith Book Critics Circle. Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe and many other publications. She has also been a judge for the Los Angeles Times Prizes for Fiction and First Fiction and will be a fiction judge for the upcoming Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

This news follows the resignation of Elaine Szewczyk as fiction editor. We’re grateful to Elaine for her years of service to the magazine, dedication to our industry and endless love of great books.

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Laurie’s going to be reading—and writing about—a lot of fiction for Kirkus; my February is filled mostly with nonfiction books. One of the nice things about my job is that I’m expected to read widely and across many genres, but give me a book about literary history or film history and everything else slides a little lower on the pile of books on my nightstand. Susan Cheever’s slim new bio, e.e. cummings: a life, is out this month. Cheever met Cummings when she was “a miserable seventeenyear-old junior with failing grades” after the modernist poet spoke at her high school north of New York City. She and her father drove him back Laurie Muchnick home to Manhattan after the lecture. She was nonplussed at the time but has now delved thoughtfully into the story of Cummings’ life. At a time when writers are vibrantly reimagining forms of nonfiction, biography is still “the last bastion of conventional nonfiction,” Cheever told me recently. “As a form, it’s ripe for change and experimentation, so I wanted to push it a little and see if I could make it more about story and less about facts.”

New York Times writer Dave Itzkoff does such a good job of sticking to the facts in Mad As Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies that he uncovers all kinds of revealing insights into the making of that frenzied, prophetic 1976 film. Some of that detail is gossipy (Faye Dunaway sent a bill for an almost $1,000 wig that the film’s producer had to delicately refuse to pay), but other tidbits illuminate why Network remains a timely, fascinating thing to watch, like the fact that Paddy Chayefsky, the screenwriter who fought tirelessly to get the film made, positioned himself right by the action of every shot just so he could ensure everything went right. (Screenwriters usually never get close to the action.)

My interviews with both Cheever and Itzkoff will be on the Kirkus site this month.

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

Editor in Chief C laiborne S mith csmith@kirkus.com Managing/Nonfiction Editor E R I C L I E B E T R AU eliebetrau@kirkus.com Fiction Editor L aurie M uchnick lmuchnick@kirkus.com Children’s & Teen Editor VICKY SMITH vsmith@kirkus.com Mysteries Editor THOMAS LEITCH Contributing Editor G R E G O RY M c N A M E E Senior Indie Editor KAREN SCHECHNER kschechner@kirkus.com Indie Editor RYA N L E A H E Y rleahey@kirkus.com Indie Editor D avid R a p p drapp@kirkus.com Assistant Indie Editor M AT T D O M I N O mdomino@kirkus.com Editorial Assistant CHELSEA LANGFORD clangford@kirkus.com Copy Editor BETSY JUDKINS Director of Kirkus Editorial P E R RY C RO W E pcrowe@kirkus.com Director of Technology E R I K S M A RT T esmartt@kirkus.com Marketing Communications Director SARAH KALINA skalina@kirkus.com Marketing Associate A rden Piacen z a apiacenza@kirkus.com Advertising/Client Promotions A nna C oo p er acooper@kirkus.com

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This Issue’s Contributors

Elfrieda Abbe • Maude Adjarian • Mark Athitakis Joseph Barbato • Adam benShea • Amy Boaz • Lee E. Cart • Derek Charles Catsam • Dave DeChristopher • Kathleen Devereaux • Bobbi Dumas • Daniel Dyer • Lisa Elliott • Kirk Reed Forrester • Julie Foster • Peter Franck • Bob Garber Michael Griffith • Jeff Hoffman • April Holder Laura Jenkins • Robert M. Knight • Paul Lamey Louise Leetch • Judith Leitch • Angela LerouxLindsey • Peter Lewis • Elsbeth Lindner • Georgia Lowe • Joe Maniscalco • Don McLeese • Gregory McNamee • Chris Messick • Carole Moore Clayton Moore • Liza Nelson • Mike Newirth John Noffsinger • Mike Oppenheim • Jim Piechota • Christofer D. Pierson • Gary Presley Sean Rose • Lloyd Sachs • Leslie Safford • Michael Sandlin • Rosanne Simeone • Linda Simon • Elaine Sioufi • Arthur Smith • Wendy Smith • Margot E. Spangenberg • Andria Spencer • Matthew Tiffany Claire Trazenfeld • Pete Warzel • Carol White

Cover photo © Joan Allen Photo

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contents fiction

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

Index to Starred Reviews............................................................5 REVIEWS.................................................................................................5 Pierce Brown dreams of Mars................................................14 Mystery..............................................................................................39 Science Fiction & Fantasy......................................................... 44 Romance........................................................................................... 46

nonfiction Index to Starred Reviews......................................................... 49 REVIEWS.............................................................................................. 49 Finally, a parenting book that’s not about children............................................................................. 64

children’s & teen Index to Starred Reviews......................................................... 81 REVIEWS.............................................................................................. 81 Cokie Roberts remembers the founding mothers........98 roundup: baseball picture books.......................................127 interactive e-books.................................................................. 128

indie Index to Starred Reviews.........................................................131 REVIEWS..............................................................................................131 Catherine Ryan Hyde’s hybrid career................................138

Simon Schama returns with an artfully woven, multifaceted story. Read the starred review on p. 74.

Appreciations: Scott O’Dell................................................... 147

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on the web w w w. k i r k u s . c o m

Photo courtesy Ana Gunselman

The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating is Carole Radziwill’s deliciously smart comedy about a famously widowed young New Yorker hellbent on recapturing a kind of passionate love she never really had. Claire Byrne is a quirky and glamorous 34-year-old Manhattanite and the wife of a famous, slightly older man. Her husband, Charlie, is a renowned sexologist and writer. Equal parts Alfred Kinsey and Warren Beatty, Charlie is pompous yet charming, supportive yet unfaithful; he’s a firm believer that sex and love can’t coexist for long, and he does little to hide his affairs. Claire’s life with Charlie is an always interesting if not deeply devoted one, until Charlie is struck dead one day on the sidewalk by a falling sculpture...a Giacometti, no less! Once a promising young writer, Claire had buried her ambitions to make room for Charlie’s. After his death, she must reinvent herself. “Real Housewives of New York regular Radziwill returns with a glib, comic, probably autobiographical novel about a young Manhattan widow looking for love in all the wrong places,” Kirkus’ reviewer writes about The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating. Look for our interview with Radziwill this month at kirkusreviews.com.

Check out these highlights from Kirkus’ online coverage at www.kirkus.com 9 Photo courtesy Michael Lionstar

First Glen Duncan gave us his monstrously thrilling, genre-reinventing The Last Werewolf: the tale of Jake, a werewolf with a profoundly human heart who is considering bringing to an end the timeless legend of his kind. Then came Talulla Rising: Jake’s werewolf lover, mother to newborn twins, is on the run from those who want her destroyed. By Blood We Live, an erotic love story that reveals the final battle for survival between werewolves and vampires, and one last searing—and brilliantly ironic—look at what it means to be, or not to be, human, arrives this month. Kirkus writer Matt Lewis interviews Duncan on our site in February. The Werewolf trilogy is vigorous, funny, sexy and necessary at a time when so much genre fiction is drowning in melancholy vampires and self-serious teen dystopias, Lewis writes. The books share a great deal more DNA with James Bond and the John Landis classic An American Werewolf in London than they do with any of the current vampire fiction to which they are awkwardly compared.

9 And be sure to check out our Indie publishing series, featuring some of today’s most intriguing self-published authors. Each week, we feature authors’ exclusive personal essays and reported articles on how they achieved their success in publishing. It’s a must-read resource for any aspiring author interested in getting readers to notice their new books.

In 1962, James Meredith became a civil rights hero when he enrolled as the first African-American student at the University of Mississippi. Four years later, he would make the news again when he re-entered Mississippi, on foot. His plan was to walk from Memphis to Jackson, leading a “March Against Fear” that would promote black voter registration and defy the entrenched racism of the region. But on the march’s second day, he was shot by a mysterious gunman, a moment captured in a harrowing and now iconic photograph. What followed was one of the central dramas of the civil rights era. In the span of only three weeks, Martin Luther King Jr. narrowly escaped a vicious mob attack; protesters were tear-gassed by state police; Lyndon Johnson refused to intervene; and the charismatic young activist Stokely Carmichael first led the chant that would define a new kind of civil rights movement: Black Power. Aram Goudsouzian’s Down to the Crossroads is the story of the last great march of the King era and the first great showdown of the turbulent years that followed. We ask Goudsouzian about his new book this month.

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fiction BITTER EDEN

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Afrika, Tatamkhulu Picador (240 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-250-04366-5

BITTER EDEN by Tatamkhulu Afrika...................................................5 THE PLOVER by Brian Doyle..............................................................10

First published in Britain in 2002, shortly before the author’s death, Afrika’s autobiographical novel of life in a World War II German POW camp is a nuanced psychological portrait of the bonds—platonic and sexual—men create for survival.

In language that is pleasingly dense, filled with the starts and sideways glances of the narrator’s mind, Tom Smith begins his story when he meets Douglas at a North African POW camp; the two Brits worked in Division Headquarters, and now, Douglas has latched on to Tom with the desperation of a stray pet. Though a loner, Tom allows the friendship: These partnerships are a necessity in the camps, where illness, starvation and violence can be repelled only with the help of a loyal mate. But Douglas irritates—he is maternal and fusses, and chatters and tidies, and though back in England Douglas is married, there is something of the wife about him that Tom cannot abide. The taboo of homosexuality—the accusations, the denials, the flaunting and acquiescing—is a primary concern of the novel, as gay and straight and all that lies in between struggle in close quarters and constant deprivation.

After a harrowing sea journey to Italy (in which Douglas nurses a debilitated Tom), a society develops in the Italian camp.

With Red Cross rations (including cigarettes), there are things to barter, so gamblers get rich in their gaming huts, Douglas and Tom run a laundry, openly gay Tony creates a theater that stages Shakespeare. Then arrives Danny, a rugged boxer whose masculinity reflects well on Tom, in a way that Douglas’ possessive fussiness does not. Tom breaks with Douglas and becomes Danny’s “mate,” a word suffused with all the things needed to remember one’s own humanity. When the prisoners are transferred to a camp in Germany (more brutal but better run), relations plunge into a final crucible.

What begins as an unforgettable account of prisoners of war ends as something surprising: a love story.

RED NOW AND LATERS by Marcus J. Guillory................................19 OFF COURSE by Michelle Huneven....................................................22 NO WAY BACK by Matthew Klein.................................................... 26 ALL OUR NAMES by Dinaw Mengestu...............................................32 THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS by TaraShea Nesbit........................... 33 THE VISITORS by Patrick O’Keeffe.....................................................34 KINDER THAN SOLITUDE by Yiyun Li..............................................39 GLASS HOUSES by Terri Nolan..........................................................43 ALL OUR NAMES

Mengestu, Dinaw Knopf (255 pp.) $25.95 Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-385-34998-77

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5

“Berenson...clearly knows his spycraft, and his knowledge of the inner workings at Langley adds an additional layer of detail.” from the counterfeit agent

THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT

NOTORIOUS

Berenson, Alex Putnam (384 pp.) $27.95 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-399-15973-2

Brennan, Allison Minotaur (336 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-250-03505-9 978-1-250-03504-2 e-book

In this newest John Wells novel from Berenson (The Night Ranger, 2013, etc.), the superagent tries to foil a plot to force the U.S. into a war with Iran.

John Wells’ girlfriend responded to his marriage proposal with a counteroffer: Stop doing work for the CIA, or it’s over. Unfortunately for Wells’ love life, Vinny Duto—who recently traded his post as CIA director for a seat in the Senate—chooses that moment to call and ask for a meeting. He’s gotten a tip from a former associate that someone—allegedly a CIA case officer—is out to assassinate a station chief. Meanwhile, the agency station in Istanbul has been talking to an anonymous source who claims to be a Revolutionary Guard colonel. The source mentions an attack on a CIA station chief and insists his fellow Iranians are behind the plot. When the attack happens, the agency takes the source’s next claim—that the Iranians are planning to smuggle enriched nuclear material into the U.S.—very seriously.

But Wells, Duto and Wells’ former boss, Ellis Shafer, aren’t sure.

Unfortunately, Ellis is on the outs at the agency, and as a freshman senator, Duto doesn’t have any sway at Langley anymore. If the three of them are going to figure this out, they’re going to have to do it without the agency’s help. Fans of Berenson’s John Wells series will happily find more of the same here. Wells gets himself out of scrape after scrape using his considerable brains and brawn, while Ellis Shafer lets loose his usual array of dry zingers. But as always, Berenson sets this series apart by doing his homework. The locations are meticulously researched and exceptionally well-realized. Berenson also clearly knows his spycraft, and his knowledge of the inner workings at Langley adds an additional layer of detail. The dialogue is occasionally wooden but less so than most novels in the genre. And in a series first, the novel’s end leaves plenty of loose threads dangling, allowing copious room for a sequel.

Another well-crafted entry in Berenson’s excellent John Wells series.

New York Times best-selling author Brennan (Maximum Exposure, 2014, etc.) explores murder among the rich and arrogant in an exclusive California enclave.

Maxine Revere is the illegitimate daughter of one of the heirs to a great California fortune.

Beloved by her great-grandmother, who left her a fortune even though her own mother abandoned her, Max doesn’t have to work, but she does anyway. And, since Max is also tall, willowy and drop-dead gorgeous, it only follows that she would be an investigative journalist with her own nationally televised show and four true-crime books under her belt. When Max returns to her hometown to attend the funeral of a good friend, she stirs up a hornet’s nest by digging into two apparently unrelated murders, one of which took place more than a decade prior to her friend’s death; she takes it upon herself to reopen the investigation and stumbles across the second murder. Throw in a hot male detective who rings all of her bells, a gay former Special Forces assistant bodyguard, a dysfunctional but extremely good-looking and rich family and more cast members than the phone book, and the constantly smug Maxine spends the majority of the time justifying putting her own life and those of others in danger while she plays amateur sleuth—that is, when she’s not flaunting her wealth, good looks or power. The first few chapters of this book will either draw readers in or send them packing: Brennan introduces more than 15 characters by name in the prologue and first two chapters alone. Brennan’s infodump style and tendency to linger over the perks of being Max Revere will do little for readers who demand substance over window dressing.

A story that probably won’t attract any new Brennan converts but will likely find favor with her hardcore fan base.

THE WEIRDNESS

Bushnell, Jeremy P. Melville House (272 pp.) $16.95 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61219-315-1 The devil went down to Brooklyn, looking for a little help from some hipsters.

In a story that can’t decide at all whether it wants to be parody or horror, this debut novel by Bushnell shudders to an unpredictable end. Our hero is Billy Ridgeway, and he’s a giant loser. A wannabe novelist who works at a sandwich joint in Brooklyn, he can’t even carve out enough privacy to hook up with his sort-of-girlfriend, Denver. His life is thrown 6

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for a loop when he returns to his ratty apartment one morning to find Lucifer Morningstar himself sitting on his couch, ready with a PowerPoint presentation of his pitch to Billy. The devil, it turns out, needs Billy to steal a powerful talisman, the Neko of Infinite Equilibrium, from a nearby warlock named Timothy Ollard, in return for a lucrative book deal. “Just walk into the horrible tower and get the stupid cat and give it to Satan and everything could be different. You could get your book published.

You could save the world,” Billy muses. Added to the mix is the Northeast Regional Office for the Right-Hand Path, an international conglomerate of witches and warlocks. This is all played for arch comedy in the vein of Christopher Moore or S.G. Browne, but there’s something off-putting about the execution of Billy’s deity-riddled adventure. First of all, Billy and his poet/filmmaker/actor buddies are all frivolous urban clichés with no real substance. Secondly, Bushnell’s plot stays focused on the back-stabbing Brooklyn literary scene, with a denouement that centers on a disastrous literary reading and a rivalry with a smartass critic. (This is long before Billy and a companion are transformed into sex demon wolf things, mind

you). It’s imaginative in some ways, but a plethora of deus ex machina tricks reveal that there’s not much heavy lifting going on behind the curtain.

Exactly the sort of novel a literary blogger would write.

Proceed with caution.

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GEMINI

champing at the bit to live a little more on the wild side. Ironically, being sent to an elite boarding school in Switzerland is her big chance. At L’Evier, she meets Olympia Stanislopoulos, who quickly initiates her into the dark arts of smoking, drinking and sneaking out to meet boys. Sexually curious, Lucky is eager to practice “almost.” Soon enough, Lucky is kicked out of school, angering Gino, who ships her off to another school, where the shenanigans resume. Lucky stews over her crush on Marco (her father’s driver), Gino indulges in an affair with a movie star (the delightfully named Marabelle Blue), Dario begins a potentially dangerous affair, and Olympia drags Lucky into more trouble.

Despite all the (not particularly explicit) action, Lucky’s tale has a fairly flat plotline. Part of the trouble in building tension lies with Lucky’s own gimlet-eyed stoicism. She is, indeed, her father’s daughter, and nothing will distract her from her ultimate goal of becoming Gino’s successor. Even the potentially catastrophic arranged marriage to a senator’s son is met with bemused calculation rather than horror.

Even the staunchest fans of the Santangelo family may be disappointed with this rather thin addition to the saga.

Cassella, Carol Simon & Schuster (352 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4516-2793-0 In a new mystery from Cassella (Healer, 2010, etc.), the lives of a doctor and her critically injured patient intertwine in unexpected ways.

When the unconscious patient is brought into Dr. Charlotte’s intensive care unit, very few facts are known. The apparent victim of a hit-and-run along a rural Washington road, “Jane Doe” lapsed into a coma after emergency surgery and was airlifted to Charlotte’s hospital in Seattle. No family member has come forward to identify or make decisions for this Jane, and the police have no clues. Meanwhile, other characters take up the narrative in alternating chapters. Raney tells the story of her teenage friendship in the small town of Quentin, Wash., with Bo, a rich Seattleite whose parents have offloaded him with an aunt while they divorce. Eric, Dr. Charlotte’s new boyfriend, has, after a long apprenticeship, become a recognized author of upmarket science books; he’s currently contracted to write about in vitro fertilization. Now the stories of the three narrators intersect, as do the issues Cassella starkly delineates: the impact of poverty and class on health care choices, particularly when children are involved. Raney has a young son, Jake, who may or may not be Eric’s child, and Jake too suffers from a congenital neurological condition, in his case, undiagnosed and untreated. Despite the potential ruination of her own future with Eric, Dr. Charlotte embarks on a determined quest to solve the puzzle of how this Jane Doe found herself in her present condition.

Readers may well overlook Cassella’s frequently interjected bromides about love (“Is it a room inside your soul that opens when your lover enters?”) since this engaging medical mystery makes far more compelling points about economics and sociology. (Agent: Kim Witherspoon)

THE OPPOSITE OF MAYBE

Dawson, Maddie Broadway (320 pp.) $14.00 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7704-3768-8

Dawson’s second novel (The Stuff that Never Happened, 2010) is a delightfully witty story of a 44-year-old first-time mother-to-be.

Rosie and Jonathan are beloved by their friends, although they dance to their own awkward beat. They’ve stayed unmarried for 15 years, have escaped the stickiness of children and remind themselves they like things just the way they are—until Jonathan gets an offer to help open a museum dedicated to teacups. Jonathan, whose favorite word is “no,” is now saying yes to San Diego and to something that sounds like an adventure. But Rosie likes Connecticut, her friends and teaching ESL; furthermore, she can’t imagine building a life around the star power of porcelain.

And then there’s Soapie, Rosie’s 88-year-old grandmother, who raised her and has recently been forgetting things. However, Soapie insists she doesn’t need a nurse since, surprise, she has Tony and George to help. Tony is a nice young man who has moved in to mix cocktails, garden and pick Soapie up off the floor, and George is Soapie’s geriatric lover. Rosie plans for the move to San Diego (Jonathan is going with or without her) but at the last minute decides not to go: She’s had enough of Jonathan’s myopic selfishness. He drops her off at Soapie’s on his way out, and two weeks later, Rosie discovers she is pregnant.

Everything seems impossible to handle (including Jonathan, who insists on an abortion), and Rosie would implode if not for Tony, who is kind, goofy and the most sweetly optimistic person Rosie has ever met. Tony has his own problems—his wife left him for her best friend, and now the two mommies won’t

CONFESSIONS OF A WILD CHILD

Collins, Jackie St. Martin’s (304 pp.) $26.99 | Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-250-05093-9

Collins (The Power Trip, 2013, etc.) returns with the story of her beloved Lucky’s teenage years.

Growing up in the lap of luxury isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Despite living in a palace replete with tennis courts and servants to attend to her every whim, Lucky realizes that she and her brother, Dario, are just prisoners in a posh jail. Certainly her mobster father, Gino, wants to keep his children safe (after all, their mother was murdered in the swimming pool), but at 15, Lucky is already 8

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“A timely, realistic thriller about the governance of online information.” from buzz

MY WISH LIST

let him have shared custody of his son, Milo—but he is still by Rosie’s side. Tony may be just the guy for her. Then Jonathan calls from San Diego, begging her to join him so they can be a real family.

A messy, funny, surprising story of second chances.

Delacourt, Grégoire Translated by Bell, Anthea Penguin (176 pp.) $15.00 paper | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-14-312465-8

BUZZ

Money can’t buy happiness for an introspective housewife who wins the lottery.

This is the first novel to appear in English by French author Delacourt, who was recently in the news after being sued by actress Scarlett Johansson for using her image in another novel.

The Wish List details the inner life of Jocelyne, a 47-year-old wife in a small French town. Her family includes a stillborn baby, two grown children, and her husband, curiously named Jocelyn, a middle manager at a Häagen-Daz factory who drinks too much beer and dreams of luxuries like a flat-screen television. Jocelyne also has her own career, running a fabric shop and composing a very successful blog about sewing and knitting. She claims happiness,

de la Motte, Anders Emily Bestler/Atria (469 pp.) $16.00 paper | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-4767-1291-8 The second book of a trilogy from former Swedish policeman and IT security specialist de la Motte (Game, 2013) features a computer whiz and his bodyguard sister continuing their struggle with an ominous Game Master.

As the story opens, we find slacker/daredevil Henrik “HP” Pettersson in exile from his home country of Sweden due to his attempt to bring down a mysterious social media game. While hiding out from the far-reaching fingers of the dangerous Game Master, and partying his way through Southeast Asia and the Middle East, HP becomes romantically involved with a Swedish millionaire on holiday in Dubai. However, after she goes missing, HP is accused of murder and must return home, where he vows to find those responsible for his ex-lover’s death. At the same time that HP’s personal mission takes him undercover in an IT company focused on controlling the flow of online material, his older sister, Rebecca, is faced with an internal investigation into her leadership of an elite security team and into her personal life.

The distinct challenges facing both siblings develop into an elaborate maze that coincidently reunites brother and sister. Although HP and Rebecca must overcome individual trials, they also find that they share common enemies and that their highly specialized skills make them a formidable team against an increasingly amorphous technological leviathan. To complicate matters, an old family friend offers his services to help Rebecca in exchange for contacting HP about a covert task, thus setting the stage for a follow-up novel. Although the story suffers from some gaps, de la Motte uses his industry knowledge to offer a believable story.

A timely, realistic thriller about the governance of online information.

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THE LIE

with her simple descriptions of everyday pleasures, only exposing her fears to her stroke-addled father. Everything comes tumbling down when, at the urging of two younger friends, Jocelyne buys a lottery ticket and wins over €18 million, a fact that she keeps secret from everyone, hiding the check in a wardrobe. “It’s only in books that you can change your life,” she advises. “Wipe out everything at a stroke. Do away with the weight of things. Delete the nasty parts, and then at the end of a sentence find yourself on the far side of the world.” At the heart of Jocelyne’s anxiety over her new fortune is a kind of quiet hysteria, steeped in the fear that if she gives her husband the objects that he covets, he will no longer want her. As Jocelyne’s secret is finally uncovered, this domestic novel reveals itself as one the late novelist Josephine Hart might have written.

A best-seller in its original language, this dastardly little novel focuses on love, desire and what we stand to lose when we win.

Dunmore, Helen Atlantic Monthly (304 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8021-2254-4 Orange Prize winner (A Spell of Winter, 2001) Dunmore, whose prolific output ranges from grim realism (The Siege, 2002) to spellbinding fantasy (The Greatcoat, 2012), offers the heartbreaking internal struggle of a young soldier adjusting to life at home after World War I. Daniel has returned to the ingrown, rigidly class-conscious Cornwall community where he grew up. Since his mother died while he was overseas, he moves to the isolated farm of Mary Pascoe, an ailing old woman. By the time the novel opens, Mary has died of natural causes after telling Daniel he can have the farm. Following her wishes, he has buried her on her land. The problem is that he hasn’t reported her death to the authorities.

And the longer he waits, the harder it is to tell anyone, even Felicia, the younger sister of his best friend, Frederick. Frederick and Daniel always considered themselves blood brothers despite their differences in class and intellect. Frederick grew up with Felicia in a big house full of books that Daniel devoured as a child even after dropping out of school at 11 to support his already ailing mother. Giving up the scholarship he deserved, Daniel worked as a gardener while Frederick, a terrible student who could barely read, went off to boarding school. But their friendship persisted. When war came, Frederick became an officer. Daniel, a gifted marksman, chose not to become a specialist and found unexpected camaraderie in the company of other enlisted men. Now, despite the moments of respite, even joy, that Daniel experiences with Felicia—who has suffered her own losses—Daniel is haunted by memories of Frederick and unwarranted guilt. From the first page, Dunmore shares Daniel’s inner life, building an increasing sense of dread while exposing the tragedy of great promise thwarted by forces beyond Daniel’s control.

Dunmore’s crystalline prose is almost too good; the pain she describes is often unbearable to read, yet the emotional power resonates, and Daniel is impossible to forget.

THE PLOVER

Doyle, Brian Dunne/St. Martin’s (320 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-250-03477-9 978-1-250-03478-6 e-book Doyle (Mink River, 2010, etc.) sets off with Declan O’Donnell, he of “flinty soul” and “salty confidence,” sailing along the 45th parallel across the wide Pacific.

In near stream of consciousness, wave upon wave of words tumbles out in long, beautifully rendered, description-packed sentences, running on and on, as Declan, captain of the Plover, “a roomy coffin,” skims across water two miles deep and weighing “about eighty quintillion tons.” The narrative is rife with allusions, symbolism and metaphor, as Declan first encounters the Tanets, a tramp freighter/pirate ship/smuggler captained by amoral Enrique. Declan next tires of 45th parallel weather, bears south and finds an isolated island. There, he’s met by his Oregon friend, Piko, who knew Declan would stop there, even if Declan did not. Beloved wife dead of cancer, Piko boards the Plover with Pipa, his brain-injured, paralyzed daughter, who’s still “sending her large spirit out exploring in ways and realms she has not yet tried to explain.” Pipa chirps, whistles and peeps, and birds flock to the little boat. The Plover is again stopped at sea by the Tanets. Enrique needs a navigator and shanghais Piko. Declan follows, rescues Piko, and then finds that Enrique’s mysterious, giant, androgynous crewman, Taromauri, has slipped aboard the Plover. Taromauri is searching for her sea-swallowed daughter.

Shadowed by a single gull, “one of the thirteen...one of the shining ones,” a spirit of life’s energy focusing on Pipa, the Plover’s crew gains a boy from northern forests; Tungaru is “minister for fisheries and marine resources and foreign affairs,” exiled because of his utopian politics. After a fiery confrontation with the Tanets, Declan and company sail “[f]ree as air” on “[t]he continent of the sea.”

A rare and unusual book and a brilliant, mystical exploration of the human spirit.

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ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

he writes of the Sicilian capital, devastated by war and then terrorized by Mafia blood baths. Since all boxers have nicknames, the boy becomes known as Poet, a reflection of his sensitive, literary side, which will distinguish him from the brutishness surrounding him. Throughout the novel, the men are exceedingly macho, the women exaggeratedly sensual: “[H]er mouth, dripping with lipstick, prominent, fleshy, a living invitation to sin. When she swung her hips down the street, men went home with sprained necks….

Heads of households went head over heels for her. Between her legs, months of hard-won savings were abandoned. Her cleavage was strewn with the wreckage of mortgages.” Though the price for such a woman is a comparatively straightforward transaction, the protagonist learns that “everything has a price, not even death comes for free, you have to pay for it with your life.” Though it can be a struggle to keep the narrative strands straight and see how they connect, a virtuoso climax ties everything together.

The over-the-top clichés seem to come with the fictional territory as the novel explores just what it means to be a man.

Enia, Davide Translated by Shugaar, Antony Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $28.00 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-374-13004-6

This Sicilian novel encompasses a multigenerational family—against a backdrop of war and the Mafia—as it tells the story of how a boy becomes a boxer and a man.

This debut by an Italian novelist with previous playwriting experience shows the maturation of a 9-yearold boy into a champion-caliber boxer, following in the footsteps of the father he never knew and the uncle who has trained him.

It’s also a story of sexual awakening, as the protagonist’s lifelong attraction to a girl he met when she was 9 becomes complicated by his involvement with her friend. The first-person narrative leaps around chronologically while rarely straying far from Palermo, where Enia was raised. “Palermo has always been a powder keg,”

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“Edgy writing in an unnerving collection of short fiction.” from inappropriate behavior

INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR Stories

from pure imagination. Farish works best when he is left to his own devices. “Ready for Schmelling” is a strange and humorous account of life in a large corporation that touches the absurd and hints of Kafka. He mixes farcical comedy in “The Thing about Norfolk” with true anguish in the disappointment of small-town life in “Mayflies.” Violence haunts these pages, and insanity is the ghost in the machine. The titular story is almost a tour de force on the state of young American families facing unemployment, medical costs, the inability of social institutions to handle specific human problems, and the anxiety of coping with a behaviorally disturbed son in the face of all these obstacles. Almost. Its penultimate section is a steady barrage of questions about life and substance in America that generates frightening momentum as it moves over several pages. Stop there. It loses its punch with the actual ending.

This collection of stories is intriguing but misses as standout fiction through uneven writing and trying too hard to be oddly curious. (Author tour to St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Ann Arbor, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver, Boulder, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle and Portland)

Farish, Murray Milkweed (224 pp.) $16.00 paper | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-57131-107-8

Edgy writing in an unnerving collection of short fiction.

The title sets the tone for these stories, as each confronts some facet of inappropriate behavior, whether in the reader’s opinion or in the judgment of posterity. Several of the stories focus on historical figures before they gained their notoriety, people we would most likely not want to encounter in daily life. Lee Harvey Oswald is here, as is John Hinckley Jr., the attempted assassin of President Ronald Regan. David Ferrie, the odd informant tied by some to the JFK conspiracy, also makes a visit in the hallucinations of a damaged high school girl. Though well-done, the best of the lot are those created

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PILLAR TO THE SKY

threesome comes to terms with the tangled relationships.

Stephanie isn’t quite sure what first attracted her to the older man, but over the last 18 months, Robert has become someone she imagines marrying. When his wife, Kathy, shows up at her Boston condo, and then Robert drops by moments later bearing Christmas gifts for his mistress, Kathy fights for Robert, saying she has never stopped loving him and wants him back. Stephanie surrenders, telling Robert to go back to his wife. And he does. Furious and heartsick, Stephanie travels to Wisconsin to spend Christmas with her large family. While there, she comes to terms with the dire circumstance she’s in: single and pregnant. Robert’s side of the story is filled with a juggler’s anxiety as he tries to patch up both relationships (he calls Stephanie endlessly, even going to her empty condo to find her) while trying to decide what he really wants: his loyal wife and two teenage kids or the better version of himself he can be with Stephanie. When Kathy’s turn comes, her story is filled with the sadness of betrayal and the growing evidence that Robert is still in contact with his mistress. Although dissecting an affair in a split narrative can be

Forstchen, William R. Tor (400 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-7653-3438-1

Unhappy with America’s moribund space program at a time when the world is desperate for new energy sources and technology, visionary rocket scientist Gunther Rothenberg devises a controversial supertower that stretches up some 23,000 miles.

A one-time cohort of Wernher von Braun, Rothenberg sells his grand scheme to a pair of gifted interns: Gary Morgan, a Navy aviator’s son, and Eva Petrenko, a Ukrainian aerospace engineer on exchange from Moscow. Overcoming their mutual antagonism, they fall in love and take charge of the program, convinced the world’s economic and environmental futures are at stake. Years later, their daughter, Victoria, becomes an outspoken partner, challenging skeptical purse-controlling senators while striving to reawaken people to the glories of which NASA is still capable. The tower—actually two towers, including a base and a weight-bearing component—becomes reality thanks to a self-starting Silicon Valley billionaire who pours his money into building the structure on the tropical Pacific island of Kiribati, which he controls. The project runs into problems, including militant Russians, competitive Chinese (whose scientists develop the special nano thread the pillar requires) and Parkinson’s disease, which affectingly overtakes Gary. There are tense moments, but Forstchen—known for his doomsday thriller, One Second After (2009), and the war novels he’s cowritten with Newt Gingrich, including Pearl Harbor (2007)— devotes himself less to action spectacle than reflections on America’s great tradition of progress. His storytelling is a bit too measured, but his characters are nothing if not passionate.

With its various weaknesses and attributes, the pillar becomes a character itself.

Unlike some of the futuristic novels to which it will be compared, Forstchen’s work is as convincingly told as it is diverting.

THE CONSEQUENCES

Freedman, Colette Kensington (352 pp.) $15.00 paper | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-7582-8102-9

Freedman’s (The Affair, 2013, etc.) new novel picks up where her previous left off: Now that the wife has confronted the mistress, can a marriage survive?

Told in three narratives—the mistress has the first third, the husband, the middle, and the wife closes out the novel—the story covers a few days during the Christmas holiday as the unhappy |

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Pierce Brown

The young writer’s new novel is set on Mars but has political echoes back on Earth

By Joe Maniscalco young generation feel toward the country and those pulling the levers of power.

“I’m not trying to make a statement with Red Rising,” the Pepperdine University grad says. “I just think it echoes a lot of the dissatisfaction that many people feel with those who make the decisions based on their own self interests, rather than what is in the best interests of society. It’s people being selfish.”

Red Rising is the story of a color-coded future society on Mars in which a subterranean revolutionary fights to free his people from the grip of a ruling class of lavish surface dwellers. Although it’s Brown’s first published novel, he actually penned no fewer than six books before Red Rising, which his publisher has high hopes for.

Those moments of feverish literary production were a fond period for Brown, one that he looks back on as an invaluable learning process that began in his childhood as an adventure-loving kid playing in woodlands across America, building forts and daydreaming about what other exploits Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo might have had “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”

Brown’s mother worked in television. “So we bounced around quite a bit—Denver, North Carolina, Iowa, Arizona, Texas, Seattle,” he explains. “I basically grew up in the woods.” Making full use of the $100 his dad would give him to spend at the local Army surplus store, as a boy, Brown spent hours digging holes and setting traps while his burgeoning imagination flew far and wide. “The entire time I was ruminating on what I had read,” Brown says.

“I’d try to make up more stories based on my favorite characters. That’s what really made me a writer.”

Moving around so much also made Brown the odd man out at schools where already well-estab-

Photo Courtesy Joan Allen Photo

Three years ago, with an explosion of brilliantly pulsating stars hanging closer in the night sky than he had ever seen before, Pierce Brown found his head swirling with thoughts of Greek tragedy and science fiction as he and a band of college buddies carefully picked their way through the ice-encrusted Cascade mountain range of Washington state.

“I had about two months before starting a new job,” the 25-year-old Red Rising author recalls. “I knew I had time for one more book before finishing college and turning myself over to the ‘real world.’ ” Six hours after successfully descending the mountain, Brown got to work on the Mars-centric trilogy that he says invokes the disillusionment many of his 14

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lished hierarchal structures regularly made mincemeat out of perennial newbies like him. Those experiences echo throughout Red Rising. “Red Rising focuses on the power relationships that people have,” Brown says. “A lot of times, I faced bullies—or the ‘big dogs’ at school. What I wanted Red Rising to be is not necessarily an indictment on bullies, but it reflects my experiences and attitudes that I had with bullies growing up. A lot of times, you had to beat the bullies at their own game. But the difficulty is not becoming the bully yourself.”

Red Rising is already being compared to Suzanne Collins’ extraordinarily popular Hunger Games franchise. Brown says that he saw the book on shelves when it was first published but never read it. In fact, he became much more concerned that someone might think he was trying to rip off 1984, Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World.

“Being compared to The Hunger Games is daunting,” Brown says. “It’s also a massive compliment.”

Bu the two stories are different, he insists. “The characters are different as well, in terms of what drives them and how they approach problems.”

Comparisons with The Hunger Games aside, Brown’s Red Rising does nicely align with the current literary zeitgeist connected to all things Martian (Andy Weir’s debut novel, The Martian, a thriller about an astronaut abandoned on the red planet, is being published next week, for example).

“I loved the movie Total Recall,” Brown says. “And I had a telescope as a kid that my dad got me, and I would always look at Mars. It’s the next step. It’s the next planet we can go to.”

The discordant duality involved in the red planet’s immortal namesake also fascinated the author. In Greek mythology, Ares, the god of war, was scorned, Brown points out. But in Roman mythology, Mars was revered and associated with military honor. “Seeing the deity in two different lights like that interested me,” Brown says. “And, to be honest, Mars is the ‘red planet,’ and my main character Darrow belongs to the ‘Reds.’ So it worked out well.”

While the dystopian politics of Red Rising draw easy parallels to today’s dysfunctional political landscape, Brown—who majored in political science and economics and once worked on Dino Rossi’s failed bid for the U.S. Senate—says he isn’t trying to make a political statement, and he doesn’t like it when authors push their political opinions on readers.

“I have always been frustrated with absolutes,” Brown says. “It really bothers me that in our country, you have to be one or the other. It makes little sense to me. I vote both ways. I vote for the person.”

According to Brown, neither side battling it out in Red Rising has a “monopoly on facts.” “The politics in Red Rising show that both sides deal in absolutes,” Brown says.

Coming out of the gate with a highly acclaimed debut novel is one thing, but not many pull off a trilogy. But trichotomy has always had a mysterious allure for Brown. “One of my most favorite series ever is The Lord of the Rings,” Brown says. “It’s one of the most perfect stories ever told. I grew up on trilogies. And I’ve always revered the number three.”

While he’s ambivalent about the United States government’s ability to land an astronaut on Mars anytime soon, the sci-fi writer hopes that in some small way he’s bringing Mars to us. “With Red Rising, I wanted readers to see that there are other worlds out there and places to escape to,” Brown says. “If it can do that, then I’ll be happy with the book no matter how many copies it sells.”

Joe Maniscalco is a journalist living in Brooklyn.

Red Rising was reviewed in the Nov. 15, 2013, issue of Kirkus Reviews.

Red Rising Brown, Pierce Del Rey/Ballantine (400 pp.) $25.00 Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-345-53978-6

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ACTS OF GOD

illuminating (and done with brilliant wit, as in Julian Barnes’ Talking It Over), Freedman too often repeats scenes, offers clunky comparisons (Kathy’s sister and Robert’s friend are having affairs) and lacks new insights into the world of extramarital affairs to make the narrative experiment worthwhile.

Familiar ground that’s been done better before.

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Gilchrist, Ellen Algonquin (256 pp.) $23.95 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-61620-110-4 Disaster becomes the impetus for renewed faith in goodness, love and spiritual uplift in these 10 stories about kindhearted Southerners from Gilchrist (A Dangerous Age, 2008, etc.).

In the title story, Hurricane Katrina is a sideline disaster. An elderly couple, beloveds since high school in homespun Madison, Ga. (in reality, a town of restored quaintness full of retirees and tourists), is left on their own when their caregiver stays home to deal long distance with her evacuated son. Driving home from the grocery store, the octogenarians have a fatal accident, but the aftermath turns into a celebration of expanding connections. Similarly, in “The Dissolution of Myelin Sheath,” an ailing woman’s suicide influences

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“An original office comedy that dots all the I’s and crosses all the T’s...” from terms & conditions

her daughter’s therapist to appreciate life more. More elderly lovers appear in the sketch “A Love Story” and in “Jumping Off Bridges into Clean Water,” which skims nearly 50 years of another devoted relationship. Five teenage volunteers at the site of a tornado find the level of goodness in their lives permanently raised after they find a living baby in “Miracle in Adkins, Arkansas.” Ditto the accounting instructor in “Collateral,” who finds herself a husband after her stint in the National Guard in post-Katrina New Orleans. Equally charmed are the lives of two gay paramedics from Los Angeles who happen to be vacationing in the Big Easy when the hurricane hits in “High Water.”

In “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” three Southern ladies (former sorority sisters) on their way to a vacation in Italy are delayed at Heathrow Airport during a bomb scare and share life stories with others stuck over free drinks and hors d’oeuvres in the first-class lounge—the sense of privilege, taken for granted by the author, may grate on readers. Rhoda Manning, a character from Gilchrist’s previous fiction, reappears in “The Dogs” to stir up her neighbors against uppity new move-ins with misbehaving mutts. The volume’s first hint of diversity appears in the final story, about a black child saved by kindly white plantation owners in 1901.

Overly sentimental.

truth about how happy Old Frank really was in the first place.

As Franklyn starts remembering things and connecting the dots about his lonely life, he begins assembling an act of rebellion that will find readers rooting for this unusual protagonist to make a clean getaway.

An original office comedy that dots all the I’s and crosses all the T’s: Think a dash of Office Space, a pinch of Palahniuk and a glance at Regarding Henry.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Glancy, Robert Bloomsbury (272 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-62040-643-4

A contract lawyer with a traumatic brain injury tries to decide whether to piece together the shattered fragments of his old life or simply start a new one from scratch. It’s a lot funnier than it sounds.

New Zealand–based public-relations director Glancy pulls off a terrific bit of comic timing in this debut novel about a lawyer who teaches all the scoundrels in his life to read the fine print. Franklyn Shaw is a lawyer who has recently suffered a horrific car accident that has led to traumatic synesthesia and selective amnesia. “The accident had smashed my separately labelled jars—Sad, Happy, Mad—into a sloshing chaos of wild fluids,” he tells us. “I wanted to laugh, cry and scream all at once, all the time.” To maintain control over his mixed-up life, Shaw meticulously footnotes his observations throughout the book, and they’re hilarious, relating which incidents were merely fantasies and not real or making admissions about bitter criticisms he claims not to mean. We meet Franklyn’s wife, Alice, a once soft-bodied writer who has become a supersevere careerist. Franklyn saves much of his scorn for his older brother, Oscar, who holds the reins at the family law firm and makes a sport out of scorning Franklyn. His little brother, Malc, retains Franklyn’s affections, but we only know him from email missives relating his backpacking adventures overseas.

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SEDUCING INGRID BERGMAN

and criticizes Bergman’s every move, even pulling her home from her own Academy Award celebration. Invited to entertain the American troops in Europe, Bergman longs to escape, even though it means leaving her young daughter, Pia, behind. From across the lobby—crowded with the starlet’s admirers—of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, Capa glimpses Bergman’s radiantly beautiful face. Emboldened by his friend—future novelist Irwin Shaw—Capa invites Bergman to dinner, and she surprisingly accepts, setting in motion a whirlwind affair. As in any romantic film, they linger at cafes, dance cheek to cheek, stroll along the Tuileries Garden, steal kisses behind her chaperone’s back and stormily declare their love impossible. After all, Capa thrives on the adrenaline rush of covering war zones, and eventually, Bergman will have to return home. But if their affair becomes public, she may have little to return home to, for a disgraced Bergman is an unemployed Bergman. Greenhalgh sometimes awkwardly shifts between first-person narration, revealing Capa’s thoughts, and third-person narration, speculating on Bergman’s. The magnitude of the liaison,

Greenhalgh, Chris St. Martin’s (272 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-250-03496-0 978-1-250-03497-7 e-book

Amid the waning days of World War II, Ingrid Bergman meets the dashing war photographer Robert Capa.

Poet and screenplay writer Greenhalgh’s (Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, 2009, etc.) novel evokes a world of glamour and danger.

Traveling from battle to battle, Robert Capa still grieves for his business partner and fiancee, Gerda Taro (nee Pohorylle), who died in Madrid documenting the Spanish Civil War. Alcohol and gambling, however, keep those feelings tamped down. The acclaimed star of Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Gaslight, Bergman leads a quiet life in a chilly marriage to Petter Lindstrom. Lindstrom controls

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“A genre-crossing, pensive, peripatetic novel

by Israeli author Grossman.” from falling out of time

however, doesn’t daunt him; he captures it just as a besotted photographer might capture a starlet’s true gaze.

A cleareyed, unsentimental, yet romantic treatment of a clandestine romance.

1980 Texas, and the language and dialect change with place. In Louisiana, Haitian French flows beautifully, “ancient and powerful,” not dark or ominous like the tough talk of the ghetto kids on a steamy street where murders are woven into the fabric of the neighborhood. Ti’ John is schooled in the ways of the Creole healers by his father, John Frenchy, who has a way with horses, dice and women. But knowledge of the past crosses into the mystical as the Burning Wood Man, an uncle hanged in 1953, appears as a dark guardian for Ti’ John’s education. There is a great rhythm in this novel—in language as well as action. When the healers speak, it is from a place deep in the earth. When the street kids speak, it is in the immediacy of growing up and exotic hopes: red Now and Later candy, cars, girls, drugs, and, in Ti’ John’s case, a future that his mother has worked and prayed for. There is poetry in the ways of the Creole Boudreaux family history, in the voodoo and zydeco, and in a young man going off to college.

Elegantly balanced, dense and ripe, Guillory’s novel illuminates things alien to most, and although ugly and hard at times, it brings hope, no matter the dark secrets of family.

FALLING OUT OF TIME

Grossman, David Knopf (208 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-385-35013-6

A genre-crossing, pensive, peripatetic novel by Israeli author Grossman (To the End of the Land, 2010, etc.).

Grossman’s previous novel described a walk across the scorching Judean desert in quest of peace. The walking continues in this book, a blend of verse, drama and prose that recalls Karl Kraus’ blistering Last Days of Mankind (1919) in both subject and form. Where Kraus described the self-immolation of Europe in World War I, Grossman ponders a world in which “[c]old flames lapped around us,” a world caught up in formless, chaotic conflict about which we know only a few things—especially that people, young people, have died. The “Walking Man” goes in quest of the lost, but, leaving his home and village, he manages only to encircle it in an ever-widening ambit. Says “The Woman,” “You / circle / around me / like a beast / of prey,” but he is searching, not hunting, his circling an apparent effort at exhaustiveness. Others join him, the predator-prey metaphor working overtime: One woman likens her spirit to “a half-devoured beast / in its predator’s mouth.”

In the end, Kraus gives way to a modernist verse reminiscent of Eliot: “We walk in gloom. / Across the way, on gnarled rock, / a spider spins a web, spreads out his taut, / clear net.” The lesson learned from such observations? Perhaps this: Though death is final, the fact of death continues to reverberate among the living, awed and heartbroken.

Rich, lyrical, philosophically dense—not an easy work to take in but one that repays every effort.

RED NOW AND LATERS

Guillory, Marcus J. Atria (352 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4516-9911-1

A masterful debut novel about a young man reckoning with his family on the tough streets of Houston in the 1980s.

Guillory balances the details of the 1980s with post–Civil War history to bring continuity to the Creole-speaking, culturally steeped Boudreaux family, living in the “hood” that is South Park, Houston. Ti’ John, short for Petit John, fully John Paul Boudreaux Jr., narrates life in a well-intentioned family where mother is a devout Catholic and father is a riotous character hard to forget. Time bounces sensuously from 1870s to 1940s Louisiana to |

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THE KINDRED OF DARKNESS

into learning karate from him, and Tina makes him her lover, quickly integrating the impressionable Clyde into their large clan of cousins and followers. But there is more to the Smalls than meets the eye, and it’s not simply the fact that Tina Louise sells Amway. They’ve launched a war on everyone they consider an enemy, and in their book, a lot of people and groups fall into that category. Soon, Clyde is knee-deep in violence, and there’s no looking back, and what he finds out about himself, and the subsequent direction his life takes, is fodder for Harvkey’s pen.

Harvkey is clearly a talented writer, but his subject matter is disheartening. Not everyone will want to climb inside the head of someone as clearly out of control as Jay Smalls, and those who do might find the story more depressing than the reality upon which it is based.

Well-written, but readers will struggle to care about the fates of Clyde, the Smalls or any of the other characters.

Hambly, Barbara Severn House (256 pp.) $28.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8342-1

On the eve of World War I, a couple fights to rescue their daughter from a vampire’s clutches.

Lydia Asher is struggling to finish writing an article about radium and dealing with her tiresome relatives when she learns that her baby daughter, Miranda, has been abducted. The kidnapper is Lionel Grippen, the master vampire of London, who forces Lydia to find the lair of Damien Zahorec, a rival vampire recently arrived from Eastern Europe. Grippen, who has been a vampire since 1555, has killed upward of 30,000 people over the centuries, and he considers one more life nothing but a means to defeat his rival. Lydia summons her husband, James, home from Venice and begs help from Don Simon Ysidro, a vampire who’s made himself her lover in the dreams and illusions he creates in her mind. While Ysidro, Lydia and James search for Zahorec’s lairs and for various editions of The Book of the Kindred of Darkness, an American mine baron is buying up copies for a sinister plan involving his own daughter. In a quest that takes them from the depths of old Roman baths to a fortress built on a remote Scottish crag, James and Lydia are pitted against an even more powerful vampire. Avowed series hero James (Magistrates of Hell, 2012, etc.) is more pallid a character than his centuries-old quarry, and his Oxford-educated, scientifically minded wife is too vain to wear her glasses even when she’s hunting vampires in the dark.

Although Hambly’s fans may enjoy returning to her carefully constructed and lavishly detailed world, the uninitiated may be less enthralled.

UNTIL YOU’RE MINE

Hayes, Samantha Crown (368 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8041-3689-1

Told from the points of view of three women whose lives intertwine, Hayes (Someone Else’s Son, 2011, etc.) sets her new novel in Birmingham, England, and spins out a plot that twists and turns from beginning to the end.

While the idea isn’t new, and sometimes Hayes’ writing tends toward clunky, she scores a hit in this sometimes-discomfiting story of a very pregnant woman, a mysterious nanny involved with another woman who wants a baby, and a police investigator whose marriage and personal life are on the rocks. Claudia is a Royal Navy officer’s wife. A submariner, James leaves for long deployments, and Claudia has grown used to being apart.

But this time, she’s ready to deliver a baby and is left alone with James’ young twin sons by his first marriage. They hire a nanny, Zoe, a woman with perfect references. However, Zoe is not only not named Zoe, she’s a total fabrication who is desperate in real life to please the unbalanced woman with whom she once lived. And Lorraine, a police detective and mother of two girls, has partnered with her cheating husband, Adam, also a detective, to investigate cases in which pregnant women are attacked and their babies cut from their wombs. Each woman takes turns recounting the events that propel the story forward, with Claudia and Zoe speaking in first person and Lorraine in third person, which sometimes seems odd but manages to work. Hayes builds suspense gradually, adding layer after layer to her tale until the ending, which delivers both frantic, page-turning pacing and a surprise ending. However, readers may find the story contrived in places—particularly where the stories of Lorraine and her husband intersect with the other two—and may ultimately feel a bit manipulated by the author rather than entertained.

Fewer red herrings would have made this a better read, but Hayes’ tale succeeds despite them.

IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS

Harvkey, Mike Soft Skull Press (240 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-61902-294-2

For his debut novel, Harvkey gathers together an odd band of malcontents and down-on-their-luck types in this tale of a man who believes he has run out of options and the people who offer him one.

Clyde Twitty is a man on the downswing. He’s lost a job and most of his pride and lives with his elderly mother in a depressed area of Missouri. The day-to-day struggle of trying to hold on to their little home, which is also the base of his mother’s beauty salon business, has left the young man as worn and disillusioned as his old uncle Willie, who lives in a mobile home with his ancient dog. But then Clyde meets the Smalls family: patriarch Jay, an odd man with a pushy personality; Jan, his big-busted wife; and Tina Louise, their teenage daughter. Jay bullies Clyde 20

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“Hicks’ prose is clear and unflinching, and while, as a result, there are many difficult-to-read scenes, this is as it should be.” from the commandant of lubizec

THE COMMANDANT OF LUBIZEC

about the sacrifice of one’s dignity. The protagonists are Robert and Jacob, two Polish refugees living day to day in the stark early days of the Jewish state. Robert is the brains of the duo, a ruthless manipulator who plans his scams like Shakespearean dramas; Jacob is the beautiful boy who is starting to question his place in this dark world. “The worst part is that I have to feel ashamed twice….Both before and after the act,” Jacob says.

“You’ve got no choice,” Robert responds. “That’s why you’re so tragic. Oedipus plucked his eyes out so he wouldn’t have to see the world. Think in similar terms.” Their modus operandi is defrauding wealthy American women visiting the newly formed country, fueling their binges of drugs, alcohol, violence and vice.

Had this been written in America at the same time, we would call it noir, in the vein of Jim Thompson with a touch of Kerouac’s spontaneity. Somehow, Hlasko gives it a more barren, mournful tone, though, and a host of literary influences make this a must-read for scholars of the period. The author was a dissident who raged against conformity, and it’s easy to see the influences of Chekhov and Dostoevsky at play, but the novel most closely resembles The Stranger in both tone and character.

Hicks, Patrick Steerforth (256 pp.) $15.00 paper | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-58642-220-2 A heart-rending novel about a Nazi death camp that didn’t exist—but could have.

Hans-Peter Guth is a devoted family man, the type who takes his kids camping, gets on the floor to play soldiers with his son and talks to his daughter about the book she’s reading. He’s also a mass murderer, responsible for the deaths of—by his own estimation—a million Jews. Guth is commandant of the Lubizec death camp in Poland, where trainloads of Jews are unloaded, stripped naked, shaved, then crammed into gas chambers. Of course, Guth himself never lays a finger on anyone—he leaves that to his sadistic guards—but he certainly runs the show, trying every day to mass murder more and more efficiently. Meanwhile, the few that the Nazis keep out of the gas chambers to serve as slave labor eke out a miserable and short existence, treated like animals and devoid of hope. Hicks, author of several poetry collections (Finding the Gossamer, 2009, etc.), tells the story of the fictional Lubizec as if it were a historical account, complete with footnotes and quotes from future fictional documentaries, to devastating effect. Of course, most of the things that happened in Hicks’ fictional camp happened in the real death camps, but Hicks’ documentary style not only adds a layer of realism to the story, but also allows him to comment on certain inherent problems with books on the subject. For instance, Hicks repeatedly underscores the sad fact that tales of the Holocaust tend to focus disproportionately on the Nazis since they were the ones keeping records and since exponentially more of them survived to tell what happened in the camps. Hicks points out that each and every one of the millions of innocent people who died in the camps are the ones whose stories actually deserve to be told. Hicks’ prose is clear and unflinching, and while, as a result, there are many difficult-to-read scenes, this is as it should be.

Thought-provoking and gut-wrenchingly powerful.

KILLING THE SECOND DOG

Hlasko, Marek Translated by Mirkowicz, Tomasz New Vessel Press (138 pp.) $15.99 paper | Mar. 3, 2014 978-1-939931-11-5

Two rough-and-tumble Polish grifters scam an American widow in 1950s Tel Aviv.

An eclectic novel, this gut punch by the late Polish writer Hlasko (The Graveyard, 2013, etc.) is very much an artifact of its times, but it’s a fascinating fusion of styles and rhythms from the Beat period and a moving play |

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OFF COURSE

A moving introduction by British novelist and journalist Lesley Chamberlain lends insightful context to both this dark, spare novel and the novelist’s own tragic arc.

A cheerless morality play that is as piercing and compelling as its Western contemporaries.

Huneven, Michelle Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (304 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-374-22447-9

THE MUSEUM OF EXTRAORDINARY THINGS

An extended, excruciating romance with a married man derails a California graduate student in Huneven’s latest (Blame, 2009, etc.).

In the fall of 1981, Cressida Hartley moves up to her family’s weekend cabin in the Sierras with the hope of finishing her Ph.D. dissertation, even though she’s grown increasingly unenthusiastic about pursuing a career in economics. A lighthearted fling with the owner of the local lodge introduces her to the close-knit, not to say gossipy, community of year-round residents, who are censorious when Cress embarks on a dangerous relationship with Quinn Morrow, a married carpenter. He’s still reeling from the suicide of his father 10 months earlier, and Cress is the first person to notice. Sylvia, Quinn’s wife, is fragile and always needs to be sheltered; Quinn is yearning for someone who will listen to him.

Huneven creates a detailed, moving portrait of two people who initially think they can have a no-strings affair but are drawn into something much more serious and damaging. Quinn leaves Sylvia, goes back, leaves again, goes back again; Cress ignores her dissertation, takes a job waitressing and waits around for him to make up his mind, alarming her friends and family with her deteriorating emotional and physical state. Huneven’s wellwritten narrative is emotionally credible, although Cress’ passivity becomes frustrating in the novel’s final third: She is reduced to the role of a mistress, waiting haplessly for occasional visits, as several years fly by. The final pages show her finishing her dissertation, embarking on a freelance journalism career and rebuilding her life, without ever losing “the feeling that a part of her had been left behind, as if her soul were invisibly married to Quinn.” The painfully sad ending suggests that he may have felt the same, but it didn’t do either of them any good.

Sensitive, reflective and uncomfortably true to life, with a wonderfully rich cast of supporting characters.

(Agent: Jin Auh)

Hoffman, Alice Scribner (384 pp.) $27.99 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-4516-9356-0

A young woman grows up in her father’s eponymous Coney Island museum at the turn of the 20th century in Hoffman’s (The Dovekeepers, 2011, etc.) novel.

Watched over by her beloved but acid-scarred family housekeeper, motherless Coralie lives a seemingly idyllic early childhood with her intellectual father above the “museum” he runs but doesn’t let her visit. Then, on Coralie’s 10th birthday, in 1903, her father not only escorts her through the exhibit for the first time, but he also puts her on display as “The Human Mermaid.” Born with webbed fingers, Coralie, an expert swimmer, spends her days in a tank wearing her mermaid suit. At first, she loves the work, in what her father staunchly denies is a freak show, and becomes close to other members of the exhibition, particularly the “Wolfman,” with whom Coralie’s housekeeper falls in love. But as business flags, her father arranges special showings, during which adolescent Coralie must swim naked for invited male audiences. By 1911, her father, a Fagin-like villain who hopes to milk rumored sightings of a sea monster, sends Coralie into New York’s waters at odd hours disguised as the monster. On one of her nightly swims, Coralie comes ashore, discovers a young man with a camera at a campfire and is instantly smitten. Eddie Cohen, the son of an Orthodox Jew, has left behind his ethnic and spiritual roots to become a photographer. Motherless like Coralie, Eddie has also been employed in phony magic, in his case, finding missing persons for a fake seer. Their love affair and Coralie’s rebellion against her father play out in a changing New York City as seen through Eddie’s photographic lens.

Hoffman displays an obvious affection for the city, as well as for those society would deem freaks, but readers looking for an evocative, magical take on the immigrant experience would be better served by Helene Wecker’s The Golem and Jinni (2013).

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COINCIDENCE

of Thomas Post, a young London professor specializing in the mathematics and philosophy of coincidence, and the most current frame watches Thomas as he tries to make sense of Azalea’s life with his friend and adviser in the academic community. The Isle of Man story is as wistful and charming as its setting suggests, while the sections involving Thomas Post are largely an enjoyable audit of coincidence science. But the Uganda scenes, as hinted at by the map at the beginning of the book, are the heartbeat of the novel— vivid and suspenseful even before the arrival of Joseph Kony. This is by no means a traditional thriller, but Ironmonger whips readers between frames in whirlwind fashion and is a judicious withholder of information, so the suspense stays taught throughout, and the game of connect-the-dots is always afoot. The two protagonists could be more fleshed out; Azalea herself has a touch of Manic Pixie Dream Girl about her, and Thomas is every inch the bumbling academic. Additionally, the narration can be heavy-handed at times, but this tale is not a character study—it’s a feat of cleverness.

Weighty topics are seamlessly woven into this fast, captivating read.

Ironmonger, J.W. Perennial/HarperCollins (256 pp.) $14.99 paper | Feb. 18, 2014 978-0-06-230989-1 Ironmonger (The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder, 2012, etc.) spins another nimble tale set on two continents, this one exploring the impact of coincidence by following a woman whose life is saturated by it and a man who studies it for a living.

The book begins with the case of Azalea Ives, found at a county fair in England, wandering alone, at age 3. The trajectory of Azalea’s life turns out to be one of strange events and coincidences that begin before her birth, extend into her 30s and, she fears, may bring her life to an early end. One frame of the novel describes her ancestry on the Isle of Man, while another digs into her early years as the adopted daughter of missionaries in Uganda. A third follows the relationship that develops when she seeks the counsel

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“Another brilliant novel from Just: wise, introspective and full of humanity.” from american romantic

AMERICAN ROMANTIC

FOG OF DEAD SOULS

Just, Ward Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (288 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-19637-7

Kelly, Jill Skyhorse Publishing (272 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-62873-772-1

The latest from Just (Rodin’s Debutante, 2010, etc.) considers the toll that a life lived upon the great stage of international politics can take on a man of substance.

Harry Sanders is from a family of Connecticut liberals, the moneyed FDR types, those with Marsden Hartley paintings, Killim rugs and Regency tables at which congressional representatives, generals and financiers dine and debate. In the period before American troops arrive en masse, Harry serves with the State Department in Vietnam. Not yet 30, Harry’s asked to undertake a not-quite-official mission. It goes awry. Mired in disinformation, Harry’s stranded in the jungle, injured, forced to kill. Once the “war turned into an ironist’s feast, a smorgasbord of contradictions and false hopes,” Harry becomes damaged goods, but State owes him, and so comes a lifetime of assignments to Paraguay, Africa, Norway. There’s a comfortable, even loving, marriage to May, but Harry forever remembers Sieglinde, a German woman with whom he had an affair in Saigon. May is warm and welcoming, though never quite of a place, forever shadowed. Sieglinde is haunted by World War II’s bloodletting and by Germany’s history. Minor characters, especially Harry’s ambassador mentor, fascinate and shine with veracity. The narrative follows Harry, albeit with a significant but short detour with Sieglinde (an episode where her character is broadened). Just writes without quotation marks, but the narrative’s beautifully descriptive story is easily parsed, growing especially intense when Harry is trapped in the jungle and later when he is assaulted by grief. Just offers instances of wry, sardonic observation—as when Harry dismisses Che Guevara as a motivator of female Viet Cong—while also delivering striking imagery, exampled by his description of the jungle as wearing “the tortured face of one of El Greco’s saints.

A godforsaken face, morose and resigned.” Just is sometimes cynical in his appreciation of diplomacy and existential in regard to God, but Harry, as much a realist as a romantic, is a man astride the American century.

Another brilliant novel from Just: wise, introspective and full of humanity.

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Kelly (Sober Truths, 2013, etc.) presents the story of a woman whose path in life takes an unexpected and vicious turn when she becomes the victim of a brutal crime.

Ellie McKay holds a doctorate in French literature and teaches at a college in Pittsburgh. Her boyfriend, Joel Richardson, is a handsome and well-regarded trauma surgeon. The couple seems an unlikely target for a vicious assault, yet Ellie awakens to find Joel dead and herself beaten and raped by an unknown assailant, and survival suddenly becomes her primary goal in life. At first, Ellie thinks she’s trying to survive only the emotional and physical damage she’s suffered, but soon, it becomes apparent that the psychopath who perpetrated the assault is still tracking her. As more details emerge from a police investigation, Ellie takes to the road to forget about her experience. She goes to Paris, but upon her return, other events force her to leave again. When she travels to New Mexico, she meets Al, a handsome but lonely rancher who proposes as soon as they meet. She accepts, and a new chapter in her life begins—or does it? The person who savaged her in the first place is still out there, somewhere, and it doesn’t look like he’s giving up. Kelly’s heroine is a refreshing 60-yearold woman portrayed as an intelligent, desirable individual, and the men in Ellie’s life are also attractive, mature men; this age bracket is sorely neglected in much of modern literature.

Although the title is fairly enigmatic, and there’s the occasional clumsy passage, this is a solid book. Told mostly in alternating chapters that trace the genesis of the crime and Ellie’s flight to New Mexico, as well as her present-day marriage to Al, readers will find Kelly’s work engaging.

Fresh, compelling writing throughout, although the ending seems a bit hurried and contrived.

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THE LIE

insists on being called, is being secretly held for attempting to smuggle a large sum of money into Israel. After telling police the money was to build a house for his mother, he tells Dahlia that it was planted on him by “stinking Jews.” After viewing video footage of her soldier son, Ari, being tortured, Dahlia will stop at nothing to get Edward to tell her where 20-year-old Ari is being held. In a matter of pages, the Israelis mount an intricate, highly risky, Entebbe-like scheme to snatch Ari out of Lebanon. While aspects of this story call out for fuller or more rounded treatment, the novel gains an urgency and readability from its succession of one- and two-page chapters and overall brevity. Dahlia—who, in the wake of a failed marriage, is having an affair with an American CNN reporter—is a magnetic presence throughout. In an extraordinary scene, she goes through protesters’ tents outside the Knesset to find Erika and orders her to submit to a blood test to determine if she is a suitable kidney donor for her brutalized grandson.

The lie in the title, which readers may be onto well before it is fully revealed, provides a powerful and unsettling finale.

Kestin, Hesh Scribner (240 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4767-4009-6 In this taut novel, the dark complexities of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict hit home for a hard-edged female human rights attorney when her soldier son is kidnaped by Hezbollah.

Dahlia Barr, a 44-year-old beauty whose defense of Palestinians has made her an object of derision for many Israelis—including her extreme activist mother, Erika—unexpectedly is tapped by the Israel Police to serve as an arbiter in regard to interrogation methods. Among her first cases is that of Mohammed Al-Masri, a Canadian political-science professor (and CNN contributor) who was a schoolmate of Dahlia’s when he was growing up in Israel. Dahlia is still close to his mother, whom she regards as an aunt. Edward, as he now

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“...Klein builds a mountain of suspense, only to coat it with oil so that every time readers think they have it all figured out, they’re sliding back to square one.” from from no way back

NO WAY BACK

Creeping up on his 25th birthday, John is a long-time employee of Human Resources, Inc., a shadowy firm that employs broken youngsters and soul-damaged orphans as assassins. Their gig is to infiltrate the highest levels of corporate malfeasance as interns, disappear into the machine and whack the target.

“If you’re going to do this, you can’t ever try to justify it,” Lago warns. “You are the bad guy, and that is your role. Without you, there is no benchmark for judging bad guys. We are the yin.

Civilians are the yang.” It turns out that John’s last assignment from his boss, “Bob,” just before mandatory retirement kicks in, is to infiltrate an exclusive law firm and ferret out which of the three partners is selling the identities of turncoats in the Federal Witness Protection Program to the highest bidder.

Along the way, he falls madly in love with Alice, an entry-level associate who may also have other motives for working at the firm. It’s a propulsive, well-written black comedy that apes a variety of other killer comedies, ranging from Josh Bazell’s Beat the Reaper to the film Grosse Pointe Blank, while also exploring tender subjects like what happens to children who are raised without parents. Believable dialogue, a whip smart and cynical central character, clever reversals and an entertaining amount of bone-crunching violence help wrap up this nasty package with a pretty little bow.

An entertaining, ferociously violent romp about a morally bankrupt killer trying to find his way home.

Klein, Matthew Pegasus Crime (384 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-60598-544-2 Klein’s dark thriller snaps a picture of a man commissioned to prevent the collapse of a Florida software company, but the outcome is anything but what it portends.

Jimmy Thane has a checkered past. A failure at work, fatherhood and marriage, he recognizes that the job opportunity he receives from an old buddy might well be his only chance at redemption or, if he fails, his ticket to hell. His mission: to turn around a failing software company called Tao Software LLC. When Jimmy reports to work as the new CEO, he’s greeted by an indifferent receptionist and a mostly absent staff. Also missing is the former CEO, who simply disappeared one day. Jimmy soon finds that law enforcement is interested in finding out what happened to him, but he has other issues to deal with first. Libby, his wife, seems sullen, almost hostile. Jimmy is certain it has something to do with their son’s death, which occurred on his watch. However, that doesn’t explain the other anomalies he’s finding along the way, including the sudden interest in Tao’s software products by a large bank, despite initial indifference, a large deposit to his personal checking account and a secret in the attic of what appears to be an abandoned house. Add in a shadowy Russian mobster, some troubling questions for which there seem to be no answers and the people trying to discourage Jimmy from doing his job, and Klein builds a mountain of suspense, only to coat it with oil so that every time readers think they have it all figured out, they’re sliding back to square one. Jimmy isn’t a particularly sympathetic character, but he’s interesting, and the decidedly odd reactions of those around him only add to the justifiable perception that something isn’t quite right.

Infused with pacing worthy of the earlier works of Dean Koontz, Klein’s crafted a tale as tightly wound as a watch spring.

THE FRANGIPANI HOTEL Stories

Kupersmith, Violet Spiegel & Grau (256 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8129-9331-8

In Kupersmith’s debut collection, old men shape-shift into serpents, ghostly women lap at bath water, mute twins frighten their own father, a deathly ill man hungers to hear his driver’s story, and all have a price to pay.

The ghosts of Vietnam haunt the pages of this collection, and as characters tell each other tales, the act of storytelling becomes dangerous, for the past feeds upon the present. As the grandmother in “Boat Story” tells of a strange encounter during a storm, she questions whether one can ever escape the past, because escaping the storm must surely have come at a price. The best of these short stories, such as “Little Brother” and “The Red Veil,” are indeed disturbing. Set in the titular Frangipani Hotel, “Reception” deftly mixes humor with horror. The narrator, Phi, runs the desk because his English is fairly good. Once owned by Phi’s father and two uncles, the hotel now belongs only to his uncle Mr. Henry; Phi’s father committed suicide a few years after Phi’s other uncle drowned under mysterious circumstances. With his crazy ideas for boosting business (including a weird plastic fountain and mustard-yellow uniforms), Mr. Henry both exasperates and amuses his nephew.

One day, however, Phi discovers a strange woman living in an

THE INTERN’S HANDBOOK

Kuhn, Shane Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4767-3380-7

Never trust anyone under the age of 25: That cute-as-a-button intern just might be trying to blow your brains out.

Couched as a piece of evidence in an FBI investigation, this debut novel by B-movie screenwriter Kuhn is an inventive, profane and violent comedy that strongly recalls Duane Swierczynski’s office farce Severance Package (2008). The narrative is disguised as an assassination manual written by one John Lago, the real purpose of which is to confess his sins.

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RULES FOR BECOMING A LEGEND

officially unoccupied room. She exacts promises that set in motion a catastrophic collision between present and past, man and woman, America and Vietnam. Other tales are less successful, omitting links that would explain startling metamorphoses. In “Skin and Bones,” for example, an overweight girl is sent to visit her grandmother. She knows full well it’s really fat camp, and she’s willing to tell her story to a masked woman in exchange for delicious sandwiches. Her story may come at a cost, but Kupersmith’s tale leaves a lot of loose ends dangling.

At her best, Kupersmith writes lyrically haunting tales; she’s a writer to watch.

Lane, Timothy S. Viking (352 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 17, 2014 978-0-670-01488-0

Lane’s debut novel is a doom-andgloom tale about the travails of two high school basketball stars, a father and son.

Columbia City, Ore., is a small river town near the ocean, and it lives and breathes basketball. In 2007, in the school gym, alone in the dark and in his underwear, the 16-year-old Jimmy Kirkus is hurling himself against a brick wall. By the time he collapses, he’s covered in blood. This opening scene is both hook and fulcrum for a novel that spans 22 years and skips around chronologically. Back in 1985, Jimmy’s father, Todd, is a sensation on the court. Unable to deal with the pressure, Todd gets drunk before the championship game and is suspended. Then his

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HOUSE OF GLASS

Japanese-American girlfriend, Genny, tells him she’s pregnant, and in a drunken confrontation with the cops, Todd busts his knee; all his NBA dreams are over. Todd is not an attractive character (brash in victory, self-pitying in adversity), but he does marry Genny. Tragedy strikes when Todd falls asleep on the beach and their small daughter drowns. The town starts talking about the Kirkus Curse. It’s a regular gossip factory, as Lane stresses tiresomely; the mythologizing does the family no favors. Genny has two more kids, Jimmy and Dex. When Jimmy, on the first day of kindergarten, shoots nine baskets in a row, the grapevine hums: A new legend is born. Not until he’s 15, freshman year, does it fall apart; taunted by an opponent, he runs off the court crying, and suddenly he’s Jimmy Soft, until the wall incident, when he’s Kamikaze Kirkus. Now what? A suicide watch? Intensive therapy? No way. Todd yanks him out of the hospital. But with his team gunning for a state title, damaged Jimmy has a chance to return to the top of his game.

What might have been a savage indictment is instead a morally confused, ineptly plotted debut.

Littlefield, Sophie Harlequin MIRA (304 pp.) $14.95 paper | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-7783-1478-3 Littlefield (Garden of Stones, 2013, etc.) draws facts from a true crime to create a novel about vicious intruders who invade an upper-class family’s home in Calumet, Minn.

Jen and Ted Glass appear to have the perfect life: They live in a big house in a nice neighborhood where Jen volunteers at her children’s schools, attends Zumba classes and occasionally has a girls’ night out with her friends. But Ted was laid off from his job as a global management executive six months ago, and he’s yet to find a new position. Jen’s tried to be patient, but she’s become suspicious of Ted’s frequent absences and lack of results, and they often find themselves arguing. Adding to the tension is the sullen behavior of 15-year-old Livvy, who’s involved in an ongoing rivalry with her ex-boyfriend’s new love interest, and 4-year-old son Teddy’s selective mutism. When two intruders invade their home, lock the family in the basement, ransack their house and force Jen to go to the bank the next day to empty their accounts, Jen and Ted assume the men will take the loot and the family’s valuables and leave. However, the criminals remain in their home while Jen is forced to access other investments. When the older thug, Dan, drops nuggets of information about the family that only an insider would know, Jen (who’s also having disturbing dreams) suspects their captivity is more than just a random occurrence. Dan’s partner, Ryan, worries the couple even more with his instability and increasing interest in Livvy, who defies the brutes. Knowing he must take a stand, Ted takes heroic actions to save his family. Littleton pens a mechanically sound narrative by altering the family structure and adding her own twists to elements of the source material. But readers who recall the brutal attack suffered by a Connecticut family in 2007— and who empathize with family members and the lone survivor who must cope with very genuine memories every single day— may find it difficult to cast aside the true story and embrace the author’s fictionalized version.

While a solidly constructed book, certain headlines deserve respect and distance, and some may consider Littleton’s account exploitative.

I PITY THE POOR IMMIGRANT

Lazar, Zachary Little, Brown (256 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-316-25403-8

A complex tale involving Meyer Lansky, Las Vegas, an investigative reporter and the murder of an Israeli poet.

Lazar (Evening’s Empire, 2009, etc.) brings all these elements—and more— together as he jumps across decades and intercalates different narrators. At the center of the novel is Meyer Lansky, not the brash young gangster but, rather, the elderly, frail and even pathetic figure who petitions the government of Israel, where he wants to live out his last years, for citizenship. His request is denied, and he’s returned to the United States. We learn about Lansky’s relationship with his mistress Gila Konig, a cocktail waitress, and Lazar also gives us tantalizing glimpses into Lansky’s connections to Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano. Back in New York, Gila becomes a Hebrew teacher but quits after an ugly confrontation regarding her experience in Bergen-Belsen. One of her students, Hannah Groff, eventually grows up, becomes a reporter and goes to Israel to investigate the death of writer David Bellen, who was both a poet and a belletrist. One of his long essays, like the novel entitled Pity the Poor Immigrant, is an extended meditation on several books involving Las Vegas and Jewish gangsters, specifically Meyer Lansky. (It’s a sign of Lazar’s verisimilitude that the books his fictitious poet reviews are in fact real books.)

Hannah both develops and pursues an interest in Gila, who, it turns out, had a relationship with Hannah’s father.

The connections Lazar makes here are complex and artful, though at times bewildering even to discerning readers.

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BAD TEETH

when Jack, her husband of 30 years, eloped with his bookkeeper.

Mimi would be happy to smoke, drink and dance to Frank Sinatra songs in the privacy of her own apartment, perhaps in the company of her rather handsome building superintendent, Dick Duffy. Her eldest daughter, Cassandra, would prefer to move her to an assisted living facility. Mimi actually has six daughters, most of whom avoid her. Although Cassie calls every morning promptly at 8 a.m., Celestine and Ruth Anne rarely call, Siobhan and Delilah have been scarce ever since they helped Jack hide assets during the divorce, and Malvina has moved far away to the Bronx, never calling or visiting. But now Mimi’s grandnephew needs her help to make a genealogical chart. The third of seven daughters—the Glorious Sheehan Sisters—Mimi has little desire to recall growing up impoverished, and her MRI shows ominous black spots on her brain. Worse, her sisters remember events rather differently. After Mimi finds her mother’s blue pendant hidden away in her closet, she begins to recall not only her beloved mother, who died in childbirth, but also her stepmother, the glamorous yet sinister Flanna Flanagan.

Yet the memories of her sister Fagan, just 5 years old when their mother died, remain flitting shadows. The key to the past may well lie with Siobhan, a scholar of Irish folklore.

A mostly charming story of feisty women reconnecting and healing old wounds, but this has a few uncomfortably disturbing secrets at its core.

Long, Dustin Little A/New Harvest (320 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-544-26200-3 An American translator listlessly pursues a Tibetan author across four connected narratives in the second novel from Long (Icelander, 2006).

His name is Judas and he’s the default protagonist, the only character to appear in all of the book’s four location-defined sections: Brooklyn, Bloomington, Berkeley and Bakersfield. In his mid-30s, Judas has fled a failed relationship in Berkeley, and here in Brooklyn, at a party for an obscure literary magazine, he sniffs for clues about Jigme Drolma, a Tibetan author rumored to be a hot commodity. What is undeniably hot is SOFA, a protest group begun in Berkeley, which “is about changing the entire fabric of ideaspace.” Peekaboo references to SOFA pepper the novel, including the reveal that its founder, Viv LaRevolution, is Drolma’s half-Chinese son. While in Brooklyn, Judas begins a couple of relationships, evidence that he’s “just as competitive, lustful and petty” as all the other literary types swimming in their small pond. Then he’s off to Bloomington, Ind., to visit the Tibetan Cultural Center, where his host is Adam, a creative writing teacher who has written about SOFA. Next up is Berkeley, where we meet Thomas (Sino-American, Judas’ former roommate) and Selah (Korean-American, Adam’s ex), UC students who steal from their workplaces: bookstore and bakery (more B-words!). Last stop is Bakersfield, where Selah’s current boyfriend, a SOFA activist and drug dealer, plies his trade. This final section is chaotic, involving drugs, cops and a murder, while Judas begins to suspect the muchbuzzed-about Drolma of plagiarism. Long lards his dialogue with the language of today (dude, totally, whatever, etc.), which quickly grows tedious. And ultimately, the book’s lack of plot isn’t what’s bothersome, but rather the feebleness of the satire and the accumulation of in-jokes.

Doodling, not art.

A LIFE APART

Marlow, L. Y. Broadway (400 pp.) $16.00 paper | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-307-71939-3 A forbidden interracial attraction spans decades of secret involvement and some surprising attachments to reach a place of forgiveness.

Experience tells Beatrice Dobbins that, in pre–civil rights America, no good will come of a friendship between herself and a married white man. Yet there’s an undeniable attraction between Beatrice and Morris Sullivan, the sailor whose life Beatrice’s brother, Robert, saved during the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941. Robert was killed later in the raid, and Morris wrote Beatrice a letter of condolence, the beginning of a long correspondence between the black trainee teacher—originally from Mississippi—and the husband of Agnes and father of Emma, all living in Boston. Friends, family and Beatrice’s own sense of rectitude keep the couple apart for 15 years, but in the 1960s, they meet again, and their love is declared and consummated. In her second book, Marlow (Color Me Butterfly, 2007) displays an emotional sensitivity that lends heart to her story, but there’s a tendency toward melodrama and some tiring vacillation among the characters, especially the undercharacterized Morris, who moves back and forth between the needs of his two different families, seemingly unable to choose between them. The passing of the years brings shocks,

MIMI MALLOY, AT LAST!

MacDonnell, Julia Picador (288 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-25004154-8

Nearly 60 years ago, little Fagan Sheehan was sent back to Ireland, away from her sisters, father and stepmother.

Whatever happened to Fagan?

MacDonnell (A Year of Favor, 1994) returns with her sophomore novel, following Mimi Malloy, a 68-year-old woman recently pushed into retirement. She was also pushed into divorce 15 years ago, |

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“A former BBC crime reporter, McBeth crafts a twisty tale in this debut novel that abounds with stalkers, secrets, betrayals, missing persons and grainy CCTV images.” from precious thing

PRECIOUS THING

achievements and unexpected late reconciliation.

Extreme events, big issues and complicated feelings are sometimes beyond the scope of this overlong, simply told tale, but Marlow deftly tugs the heartstrings throughout.

McBeth, Colette Minotaur (288 pp.) $24.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-250-04119-7

IN PARADISE

TV journalist Rachel Walsh has been summoned to a press conference to cover the disappearance of a young woman.

It’s all standard operating procedure until she sees the poster of the missing woman: Clara O’Connor, her best friend.

Blue-eyed, brown-haired, beautiful Clara met red-haired, green-eyed, awkward Rachel in high school, when Rachel, the new girl in town—the new girl for the fifth time in her life— took an empty seat next to her in English class. Soon, the two were inseparable. Yet even in those early days, their relationship was tainted with mutually inflicted damage. To escape the humilities of gym class, Clara convinced Rachel that they should break each other’s wrists. It’s a bond that helped Rachel survive her mother’s alcoholism and the mean girls’ taunts.

After high school, after Rachel’s mother’s death, they lost touch.

Rachel went off to school, and Clara committed herself for psychiatric treatment and then traveled the world. Now in their late 20s, Rachel and Clara have reconnected. Rachel has made a good life for herself; she has a good job and a loving boyfriend.

Although she’s a bit jealous that Clara has become friends with two of the girls who bullied her in high school, Rachel musters up the confidence to meet them all for drinks. At the last minute, though, Clara cancels, claiming to be ill, so Rachel’s on her own with the erstwhile mean girls. She leaves early, still hoping to crash at Clara’s, but no one answers the door. Clara’s disappearance is just the first of many mysteries. A former BBC crime reporter, McBeth crafts a twisty tale in this debut novel that abounds with stalkers, secrets, betrayals, missing persons and grainy CCTV images.

A darkly fraught friendship lies at the heart of this spellbinding thriller.

Matthiessen, Peter Riverhead (240 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-59463-317-1 The peripatetic Matthiessen (Shadow Country, 2008, etc.) ponders Auschwitz decades after the Holocaust, in a novel that’s philosophical, mordant and surprisingly romantic.

Clements Olin is a 55-year-old professor of Slavic literature with a specialty in works by Holocaust survivors. That interest has been an abstraction for him for much of his career, but as he visits the Nazi camp for a two-week spiritual retreat in 1996, his understanding becomes more emotionally concrete. Clements is one of 140 pilgrims there, and the agenda includes a mix of tourism, meditation, and evening dinner discussions that inevitably turn into heated arguments about God, anti-Semitism, patriotism and man’s capacity for evil.

Chief among the instigators is Earwig, who rains contempt upon the visitors, whom he considers “soft and runny as oneminute eggs.” Clements is tolerant of the man’s profane reprimands—he’s the necessary point of entry for Matthiessen’s musings, after all—but the professor has other things on his mind. First of these is learning what happened to his mother, who lived near the camps and may have been sent there; second is Sister Catherine, a young nun whose spiritual unsteadiness serves as a magnet for Clements’ own spiritual and romantic anxieties. Matthiessen handles these threads gracefully and without a studious reverence for his novel’s difficult subject; Earwig is the book’s comic relief as well as its angry id. Even so, In Paradise as a whole feels overly formal; the framing device of the retreat makes the philosophizing feel potted (today, the perils of patriotism, tomorrow, the complicity of the Catholic Church, and so on) and Clements’ emotional longings, constricted. A burst of spontaneous dancing on the retreat gives the book a similarly surprising lift, but it’s quickly back to hand-wringing and self-loathing.

An admirable, if muted, minor-key study of the meaning of survivorship.

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DEATH IN VENICE, CALIFORNIA

McCabe, Vinton Rafe Permanent Press (192 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 21, 2014 978-1-57962-352-4 McCabe’s literary fiction debut reimagines Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, setting it in glimmering Southern California.

With novels and a bit of poetry to his name, Jameson Frame is a writer, PBSfamous rather than a celebrity best-seller. Heir to an Upper East Side townhouse among other trifles, Frame wants not for money. Out for a walk one November day, “yet another cold, gray morning in a long string of cold gray mornings,” Frame contemplates Herman Melville: “I quietly take to the sea.” Those |

musings end with a decision to fly to Venice, Calif. McCabe writes no heavy, dense drama; his gift is constructing intriguing characters to remodel Thomas Mann’s original Death in Venice. In flight, the staid, prissily refined Frame meets Tobin, an effeminate man processed by plastic surgery, and his boytoy, Kyle. In Venice, Frame encounters Elsa and Vera, exotic bohemian housemates fond of Tarot and wine-and-marijuana infused parties, and Chase, a skateboarding nude-and-underwear model, the “perfection of the human form.” Frame’s lured from his circumscribed life by Venice’s sun-drenched hedonism, and any pretense that Frame’s appreciation of Chase is purely aesthetic fades away as Chase becomes “the object of his love and lust.” In this homoerotic paean, there’s much symbolism—Frame’s first purchase after arriving at the luxurious hotel is a pair of $300 sunglasses from a beach kiosk, as if this new world blinds him with “the sheer volume of possibilities.” Later, with Vera’s, Elsa’s and Chase’s encouragement, Frame’s plied with Masculane, Botox and “tumescent liposuction” to set off his new wardrobe of baggy, long swimsuits, matching hooded jackets and soft leather flip-flops. Chase operates a website for “Chasers,” men who subscribe to his erotic “art,” and he entices Frame, ever self-flagellating in his comparisons, to film erotic video episodes for the Chasers—beguiling debauchery that promises more than Chase is capable of giving.

An engaging allegorical pursuit of the mirage that is beauty’s transcendence.

enthralls and disturbs Henbane’s downtrodden townsfolk, learns the real nature of her job: Crete plans to force her into prostitution. Enraged that she prefers his brother Carl, Crete rapes Lila and inflicts a festering bite, then holds Lila captive in her garage room until Carl intervenes, eventually leading to an intersection of past and present. McHugh’s evocation of the rugged setting and local speech patterns starkly reveals the menace lurking beneath Henbane’s folksy facade. However, a misguided authorial attempt to find the good in Crete only muddies the novel’s moral waters, since nothing can mitigate or redeem the evil he inflicts.

An accomplished literary thriller.

IN THE MORNING I’LL BE GONE

McKinty, Adrian Seventh Street/Prometheus (308 pp.) $15.95 paper | $11.99 e-book Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61614-877-5 978-1-61614-878-2 e-book In the third volume of McKinty’s (I Hear the Sirens in the Street, 2013, etc.)

Troubles Trilogy, a disgraced Irish cop seeks redemption and an IRA terrorist.

In 1984, Sean Duffy’s career in the Royal Ulster Constabulary has taken a downward slide from detective inspector to sergeant to enforced retirement. He’s lost in a haze of hash and booze when two agents from MI5 offer him the chance to regain his former rank of inspector if he’ll find Dermot McCann, an escaped IRA leader who was Duffy’s schoolmate. McCann’s family refuses to help Duffy since he’s an Irish Catholic who had once begged to join the Provos and is now in the Special Branch of CID—he’s a traitor to the Republican cause. But Dermot’s former mother-in-law, Mary Fitzpatrick, secretly offers him an exchange. She’ll give him Dermot if he can discover who killed Lizzie, her youngest daughter, four years ago. The local police concluded that Lizzie broke her neck in an accidental fall when she was alone in her father’s pub, which was locked from the inside. The pathologist who did the post-mortem, however, had his doubts that her death was an accident. The further Duffy pursues the case, the more deeply entangled he becomes with the family, especially McCann’s ex-wife, and the more frustrated he gets with the lack of evidence supporting the murder theory.

As new waves of violence rend Northern Ireland, Duffy’s hopes of making good on the deal with MI5 are looking increasingly bleak, until a break in the case points to the killer—and leads Duffy to a crime with further-reaching implications. The selfdestructive maverick cop may be all too familiar a hero, but Duffy’s divided loyalties reflect the struggle for independence and the hope of reconciliation.

A grim reminder of the brutality, uncertainty and fragility of life in Northern Ireland in the 1980s.

THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD

McHugh, Laura Spiegel & Grau (320 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-8129-9520-6

A teenager investigates a friend’s murder and learns much more than she bargained for.

McHugh’s debut interweaves two parallel stories, set almost two decades apart. We begin with Lucy, who relates that the dismembered body of her school friend Cheri, a mentally disabled 18-year-old who had been missing a year, was found near a creek outside the remote town of Henbane, in the Missouri Ozarks. Approximately 18 years earlier, Lila, a young Iowa woman who has just aged out of foster care, is placed by an agency in a job with Crete Dane, who owns Dane’s, a restaurant/general store, and a lot of other Henbane real estate.

Lila’s job is supposed to include room and board, but the room is a stifling one in Crete’s garage, the food is intermittent, and Crete withholds most of her pay. Back in the present, Lucy, 17, has just taken a summer job with her uncle Crete.

Mostly, her duties involve waitressing at Dane’s, but when she and another teenager, Daniel, are assigned to clean out a remote trailer in the woods, the teens notice obvious signs of a struggle and something else: a necklace that Lucy had given Cheri. This discovery sends Lucy and Daniel on a quest to find Cheri’s killer. Meanwhile, in the past, Lila, whose beauty both |

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ALL OUR NAMES

VISIBLE CITY

Mengestu, Dinaw Knopf (255 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-385-34998-7

Mirvis, Tova Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (256 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-544-04774-7

What’s in a name? Identity of a kind, perhaps, but nothing like stability, and perhaps nothing like truth. So Mengestu (How to Read the Air, 2010, etc.) ponders in this elegiac, moving novel, his third.

Himself an immigrant, Mengestu is alert to the nuances of what transplantation and exile can do to the spirit. Certainly so, too, is his protagonist—or, better, one of two protagonists who just happen to share a name, for reasons that soon emerge. One narration is a sequence set in and around Uganda, perhaps in the late 1960s or early 1970s, in a post-independence Africa. (We can date it only by small clues: Rhodesia is still called that, for instance, and not Zimbabwe.) But, as in a V.S. Naipaul story, neither the country nor the time matter much in a tale about human universals, in this case the universal longing for justice and our seemingly universal inability to achieve it without becoming unjust ourselves. The narrator, riding into the place he calls “the capital,” sheds his old identity straightaway: “I gave up all the names my parents had given me.” Isaac, whom he meets on campus, is, like him, a would-be revolutionary, and in that career trajectory lies a sequence of tragedies, from ideological betrayals to acts of murder. The region splintering, their revolution disintegrating, Isaac follows the ever-shifting leader he reveres into the mouth of hell. Meanwhile, Isaac—the name now transferred, along with a passport—flees to the snowy Midwest, where he assumes the identity of an exchange student, marked by a curious proclivity for Victorian English: “I remember thinking after that first afternoon that I felt like I was talking with someone out of an old English novel,” says the caseworker, Helen, with whom he will fall in love. Neither Isaac can forget the crimes he has witnessed and committed, and the arc of justice that each seeks includes personal accountability. Redemption is another matter, but both continue the fight, whether in the scrub forest of Africa or at a greasy spoon somewhere along the Mississippi River.

Weighted with sorrow and gravitas, another superb story by Mengestu, who is among the best novelists now at work in America. (Author tour to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.)

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Anyone who has spent time in Manhattan or watched Hitchcock’s Rear Window will recognize the voyeuristic pleasure that jump-starts Mirvis’ (The Outside World, 2004, etc.) third novel, as a bored young mother stands at her apartment window watching across-the-street neighbors in their living room, unaware that the two families’ lives will soon intertwine.

While her lawyer husband, Jeremy, works all hours at his high-pressure firm arranging large real estate development deals, lawyer-turned–stay-at-home-mom Nina is going a little nuts.

Trapped in her Upper West Side apartment with 3-year-old Max and baby Lily, Nina spends lonely nights watching a couple reading together in what looks like companionable silence in the building across from hers. Then one day, the couple is replaced by a young woman in a leg cast who argues, then makes love with a young man, aware that she is being watched. The young woman is Emma, who has moved back in with her parents—art historian Claudia and therapist Leon—while her broken ankle heals and she decides how to get out of her engagement. Running into Claudia on the street, Nina recognizes her former professor, who never encouraged her. Nina’s friend Wendy, who presents herself as a perfect mommy, turns out to be one of Leon’s more unhappy patients. Avoiding involvement with his wife and daughter, Leon spends his happiest hours moving his Volvo to obey parking rules. Leon and Nina meet in the neighborhood coffee shop and begin a flirtation. Meanwhile, Jeremy faces a professional crisis that will impact everyone.

(The author’s previous fictions were explorations of specifically Jewish communities, and while Mirvis makes only passing mention of Jeremy’s Orthodox upbringing, there is no mistaking her characters’ ethnicity.) It becomes clear that how people appear in the tableaux created by window frames and how they are in real space can be very different.

This dark, witty, if slightly overstructured comedy about deceptive appearances evolves into a moving examination of intimacy’s limitations.

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“Nesbit artfully accumulates the tiny facts of an important historical moment...” from the wives of los alamos

NIGHT IN SHANGHAI

THE WIVES OF LOS ALAMOS

Mones, Nicole Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (288 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-547-51617-2

Nesbit, TaraShea Bloomsbury (240 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-62040-503-1

Mones’ breathless and enlightening account of an African-American jazzman and his circle in prewar Shanghai.

In 1936, weary of America’s race barriers against black musicians, Thomas Greene is lured to Shanghai by jazz promoter Lin, adopted son of Du, boss of a crime syndicate that controls most of Shanghai’s commerce, including its nightclubs.

Hired as a bandleader, Thomas, used to a life of squalor, suddenly finds himself ensconced in a mansion, attended by servants. A classically trained pianist, Thomas cannot really play jazz, as the musicians under his direction soon realize; however, his diligence in learning improvised riffs from sheet-music transcriptions wins them over. From afar, Thomas admires Song, an educated, multilingual young woman who accompanies Du as a translator. In fact, she is the kingpin’s indentured servant.

A clandestine communist, Song spies on Du’s operations and dreams of escaping to the northern cave enclave where the party’s leaders are planning campaigns against both Chang Kai-shek’s Nationalists and the Japanese, who already control much of northeast China. When the Japanese finally invade and occupy Shanghai, the city’s nightlife diminishes. Du flees to Hong Kong, Thomas and his band members disperse, and Song, after an impassioned tryst with Thomas, leaves for the north. By 1939, Thomas is scratching out a living playing with David, a Jewish violinist. Their chamber concerts in local hotels attract many members of Shanghai’s émigré Jewish community, now 25,000 strong, thanks to the efforts of Chinese consul Ho Feng-Shan to issue exit visas from Austria. Rumors of a Japanese sneak attack on America, pressure from Berlin to eliminate Shanghai’s Jews and Lin’s involvement in a daring scheme to resettle 100,000 more Jewish refugees in China keep the suspense mounting until the end.

The sheer historical gravitas of this ambitious book often threatens to submerge the individual struggles of the three principals, but perhaps Mones’ point is that, as stated in Casablanca, “the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” (Author tour to Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles)

The scientists’ wives tell the story of daily life in Los Alamos during the creation of the atomic bomb, in Nesbit’s lyrical, captivating historical debut.

There is no one single narrator. Rather, readers follow a collective “we” as they are uprooted from their varied lives in 1943 to follow their husbands to a makeshift city 7,200 feet above sea level in windswept, barren New Mexico.

(Nesbit’s unusual style is reminiscent of Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic, about another set of women living behind barbed wire in World War II America—Japanese-American women before and during their internment.) The wives arrive in Los Alamos as individuals, with relationships and beliefs that Nesbit captures alongside their growing, shared realization that they are no longer in charge of their own futures—and, in the case of foreigners, even their own names (the Fermis become the Farmers). While the husbands and a few women scientists spend the bulk of their time in the “Tech Area,” the wives, many highly educated with abandoned careers, cope with their new domestic realities: badly built identical houses, water shortages, limited schooling, boredom, gossip. But they also ride horses and collect pottery. And the husbands must be somewhat attentive since pregnancy is rampant. Uncomfortable social realities become exposed, as well as racism and snobbery toward the local Native Americans and the nonscientist workers. The wives also become distrustful of the members of the Women’s Army Corps stationed at Los Alamos. By 1944, this cauldron of manic energy bubbles over in bouts of drinking and partying. There are rumors of musical beds. The women are all half in love with “The Director” (Robert Oppenheimer). But, by 1945, the mood darkens. An ominous secrecy heightens until the bomb is finally dropped. Individual women—like tough Louise, weepy Margaret, charismatic Starla and difficult Katherine—are less characters to follow than touchstones to keep the reader grounded as time passes in this insular world.

Nesbit artfully accumulates the tiny facts of an important historical moment, creating an emotional tapestry of time and place. (Author tour to Denver, Boulder, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Los Angeles and Seattle)

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NOTHING PERSONAL

thousands of Hong Kong dollars to get revenge on her philandering husband. Doyle’s most important connection is to Dao-Ming, a call girl with a proverbial heart of gold, the only truly human relationship Doyle is able to establish. His preoccupation—and at times his obsession—is the game of baccarat. We learn that each hand is inherently short, and the drama emerges from the enormous sums won and lost on the turn of a card. We witness Doyle’s status change radically from loser to winner; since a “natural nine” is the best possible hand in baccarat, Doyle becomes something of a celebrity when he starts putting together hand after hand of these nines—and the proprietors of the casinos develop an understandable interest in this increase in his “luck.”

With his fortune mounting, Doyle plays one final hand—and decides to bet everything on the outcome.

Osborne masterfully recreates the atmosphere of casinos as well as the psychology of baccarat players—and leaves readers eager to try their luck at the game.

Offit, Mike Dunne/St. Martin’s (352 pp.) $25.99 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-1-250-03542-4

A morally conscious business school graduate enters the cutthroat environment of 1980s Wall Street.

Former trader Offit tells the story of Warren Hament’s journey out of business school and into the amoral abyss of top-tier investment banking. After finding his way into Columbia Business School, Hament’s strong interpersonal skills and quick intelligence land him a premier job on the “Street.” In his new job, he finds crass, unhappy and unscrupulous co-workers whose only priority is making as much money as they possibly can. Within this environment, he struggles with his own moral compass and finding a route to his sense of self. Nonetheless, he is able to navigate the ethically ambiguous maze of his new job to achieve an unprecedented level of success in sales. During his meteoric rise to the top, Hament transitions from a naïve financial apprentice to a cunning manipulator of the politics of big business. Outside the office, he leaves a romantic relationship with his corporate-climbing classmate to find amorous bliss with a former model who now owns a rental-car company in Los Angeles. However, a series of unsolved deaths begins to blur the lines between his romantic and business lives. Along with the subsequent homicide investigations, the discovery of an immense fortune adds tension to an already taut storyline.

Offit’s familiarity with the characters, language and investment products allows him to deftly tell a coming-of-age story that will appeal to financial wizards and investment neophytes alike.

An entertaining, well-developed work of Wall Street fiction.

THE VISITORS

O’Keeffe, Patrick Viking (288 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 13, 2014 978-0-670-02463-6 A young Irishman immigrates to the States and finds he can’t escape family and friends—or enemies.

James Dwyer narrates the story, from his growing up in rural Ireland to his job in a Dublin pub to his move to the States, working as a housepainter and as a baker. The drama in his life primarily involves family and his family’s acquaintances.

His father is a plainspoken farmer, and James definitively does not want to follow in his dad’s vocational footsteps. His father’s best friend is Michael Lyons, and it’s the Lyons family with whom James’ life gets most intertwined. Michael’s son Kevin is a few years older than James and something of a bully as they’re growing up. While an adolescent, James witnesses a sexual act between Kevin and James’ sister Tess, and later, love relationships get even more complicated when James falls in love with Kevin’s sister Una. The novel opens mysteriously when an old man named Walter knocks on James’ door in Ann Arbor, claims to have seen a woman lying in the street and uses that as an opening to start a conversation with James. We find out that this is no chance encounter but rather that Walter is actually a messenger from Kevin, now living in upstate New York and doing well financially by buying houses, fixing them up and then reselling them at an impressive profit. James reluctantly makes the trip to see Kevin, who wants James to read Michael’s old journals, which contain revelations about both families.

O’Keeffe closely observes human interactions and conveys his narrative largely through glistening dialogue that has the feel of Celtic folk poetry.

THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER

Osborne, Lawrence Hogarth/Crown (272 pp.) $25.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8041-3797-3

The titular “small player” of Osborne’s (The Forgiven, 2012, etc.) new novel gambles at the casinos in and around Macau— and exclusively plays the high stakes game of baccarat.

Doyle, our narrator and frequently known as “Lord Doyle”— especially when he’s coming off a winning streak—has attained his money dubiously; he’s an English lawyer who embezzled a pile of cash from a vulnerable and trusting older woman. Doyle doesn’t dwell on this part of his past, however, instead fixating on the smoky rooms and betting parlors of Macau, where he’s surrounded by other equally obsessed gamblers. We meet an intimidating woman known as “Grandma,” who every night drops 34

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“Parrett’s writing is exquisite in its simplicity and eloquence, and her narrative is heart-rending.” from past the shallows

PAST THE SHALLOWS

and morally conflicted. He also has a woman he’s in love with— Sophia—who might in fact have been the voice he heard the night he murdered Nana Alia. (In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov is morally “rescued” by Sonia, whose real name is Sofia.)

Rassoul makes the difficult decision to return to the scene of the crime, something he knows he should not do. Also, as a result of his traumatic experience, he loses his voice and is forced to communicate by writing down notes. And while Rahimi frames Rassoul’s experiences through a third-person recounting, Rassoul also keeps a journal of his activities and thoughts, and Rahimi offers generous glimpses into Rassoul’s mind with this first-person account. The parallels to Dostoevsky’s novel are striking, as, like Raskolnikov, Rassoul has issues with his landlord; he first confesses his crime to Sophia; and he has a relatively clueless mother. One irony is that, in Kabul, violence is so pervasive that people are being killed almost indiscriminately, so one more “murder” shouldn’t make a difference, right? But it does.

Rahimi does a masterful job both in echoing Dostoevsky and in updating the moral complexities his protagonist both creates and faces.

Parrett, Favel Washington Square/Pocket (272 pp.) $15.00 paper | Apr. 22, 2014 978-1-4767-5487-1 Australian Parrett’s first novel, an understated and beautifully penned story set on the Tasmanian coast, gives voice to two brothers as their lives are influenced by unpredictable forces.

Long after the death of their mother, young Harry and his older brother Miles live in the family home and suffer at the hands of their abusive father, an embittered man who harbors a dark secret and spends his evenings in a drunken stupor. The boys’ eldest brother, 19-year-old Joe, shares a passion for surfing with Miles, but he no longer lives at home and plans to leave the area after clearing out their late grandfather’s house. Miles, at 13, is forced into a hardscrabble existence helping his dad eke out a living on his fishing boat.

His father is mired in debt, no longer has a valid license and has no scruples about fishing in protected waters. And when the only man on the boat with any sympathy for Miles’ plight is injured, Miles must endure his father’s cruelty alone. In contrast, Harry, younger than Miles by four years, gets seasick and thus far has been spared the same torture: Free to roam when his dad is out on the boat, he retains an innocent nature and ebullient spirit. When Harry searches for a stray puppy he spied on the way home from a friend’s house, he stumbles across the shack of a man ostracized for his deformities. Harry discovers that George, who rescued the puppy, is a kind, empathetic person, unlike the brute others believe him to be. When Miles and Harry run away after a particularly vicious evening with their father, they find a safe haven in George’s house—but both soon return home to their inevitable destinies. Parrett’s writing is exquisite in its simplicity and eloquence, and her narrative is heart-rending.

This poignant story resonates.

A KILLING OF ANGELS

Rhodes, Kate Minotaur (336 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-250-01431-3 978-1-250-01430-6 e-book Dr. Alice Quentin is back, and she’s involved in another series of murders, this time in the financial world.

Police investigator Don Burns, who at last sighting (Crossbones Yard, 2013) was Quentin’s foil at the London Metropolitan Police, is newly single and has slimmed down, toned up and quit smoking. Now he’s knocking on Alice’s door because the Met has a case they can’t solve without her. This time, someone is killing off individuals associated with the Angel Bank, leaving behind a picture of an angel and a sprinkling of white feathers with each body.

Alice, a psychologist, is brought in to assist. Soon, she is neck deep in the investigation and flirting with a new romance, but first she must move past her aversion to relationships. As the murderer keeps racking up kills, Alice’s wandering, drug-addled brother, cold and withdrawn mother, and requisite beautiful and zany best friend are brought in to spice up the frequently plodding story. Many of the secondary characters are over-thetop, most notably an officer assigned to the case who dislikes her on sight and comes across as a cartoonish, sneering Snidely Whiplash. While the prose is adequate, the author often opts for the obvious over the subtle. The fact that London is in a heat wave, which is incidental to the story, is mentioned repetitively, as is a case from the author’s previous novel, which is often referenced but never explained. Readers will find it difficult to sympathize with Alice when she elects not to report a patient who physically attacked and is now stalking her. Though the

A CURSE ON DOSTOEVSKY

Rahimi, Atiq Other Press (221 pp.) $14.95 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-59051-547-1

In war-torn Kabul, an admirer of Dostoevsky imitates Raskolnikov’s murder of Alyona Ivanovna in Crime and Punishment—and suffers similar moral torment and self-loathing.

At the beginning of Rahimi’s narrative, Rassoul, the “new” Raskolnikov, kills Nana Alia. But before he can steal her money, he is scared off by the sound of a voice.

As he runs away, he injures his ankle and curses Dostoevsky for having his “perfect crime” hindered by this unforeseen event.

Like Raskolnikov, Rassoul is highly intelligent, self-reflective |

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THE MIDNIGHT ROSE

glimpse of London caught in the grips of a financial downturn and filled with a population trapped in its sweltering environs proves interesting enough, not everyone will find that the setting redeems the lackluster plot.

A so-so outing that won’t win Dr. Alice Quentin additional literary followers.

Riley, Lucinda Atria (496 pp.) $16.00 paper | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4767-0357-2 Stretching from Darjeeling, India, to Dartmoor, England, the latest romantic saga from a popular British novelist confidently blends multiple storylines, large helpings of tragedy, a fairy-tale villain and some startling plot twists.

“My child, I remember,” begins Indian Anahita Chavan’s 300-page letter to her lost son, whose mysterious life is the central thread of Riley’s (The Lavender Garden, 2013, etc.) fourth novel. The daughter of a healer, Anahita inherited her mother’s gifts, including an element of second sight that has convinced her for 80 years that the son she bore in 1919, and whom everyone believed dead at age 3, is still alive. Upon Anahita’s death, it falls to her great-grandson Ari, a successful Indian IT entrepreneur, to read her manuscript and follow its trail to Astbury Hall, a country house in England. Now, in 2011, the hall is being used as the location for a movie starring American screen favorite Rebecca Bradley. Uncannily, Rebecca bears an extraordinary likeness to Violet Astbury, the American heiress whose grandson Anthony now presides over Astbury Hall’s slow decline.

Anahita’s tale of love for Donald Astbury, a World War I officer, and the birth of her son, twinned with Rebecca’s presentday involvement with a substance-abusing Hollywood hunk, is engrossing until the closing chapters, when both women’s stories lurch into Hitchcock-ian melodrama.

Riley continues her run of solid, if earthbound, love stories, but this one derails close to its conclusion.

GOLDEN STATE

Richmond, Michelle Bantam (288 pp.) $15.00 paper | Feb. 4, 2014 978-0-385-34328-2 On the day Californians cast a groundbreaking vote, a doctor is confronted with situations that compel her to contemplate her past, present and future in Richmond’s (The Year of Fog, 2007, etc.) contemporary novel.

Dr. Julie Merrill’s having a bad day, and it’s a real doozy. The document officially ending her marriage to husband Tom has just been signed, her pregnant sister, Heather, has gone into labor across town, her Jeep’s been vandalized while Californians swarm to the polls to vote on secession, and she’s injured her foot. To top it off, a veteran suffering from PTSD—whom she once considered a friend and confidant but who then turned into a frightening stalker—has resurfaced, and he’s now holding some of her fellow workers hostage at the VA hospital. The story takes place during the course of one day and teeters back and forth between past and present as Julie hobbles to Heather’s side at the VA hotel, tries to maintain a phone conversation with the gunman to keep him from harming people, and reflects upon her humble beginnings and broken marriage. At the core of Julie’s life is an event that’s caused years of estrangement between the sisters, destroying Julie’s solid marriage and triggering Heather’s enlistment in the Army and deployment to Afghanistan. But when Heather shows up pregnant and asks for help, Julie can’t deny the bond that exists between them. Richmond creates an exciting premise and uses an unusual approach to develop the plot. Rather than a narrative that reflects a sense of urgency and tension produced by the hostage-taking and secession scenarios, Julie’s past and her relationship with the other characters are scrutinized as the clock ticks. It’s an interesting and sometimes-disturbing study exploring how a person’s anticipated path can change and examining the choices people must make in order to move forward.

Skillfully written.

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FALLEN BEAUTY

Robuck, Erika New American Library (352 pp.) $16.00 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-451-41890-6 Robuck follows her portrait of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald’s turbulent marriage (Call me Zelda, 2013) with another stormy literary portrait—Edna St. Vincent Millay and her relationships with both men and women.

In this novel, the narrative voices are presented antiphonally, alternating between Millay (called by her nickname, “Vincent”) and Laura Kelley, owner of a dress shop in the small town near Millay’s Steepletop estate. In 1928, when the novel opens, Millay is already an established poet and in an open marriage with wealthy Dutch businessman Eugen Boissevain—though “open” is perhaps an understatement: Both Millay and her husband encourage each other to take on lovers, and for Millay, this meant women as well, including the poet Elinor Wylie. In contrast, Kelley has had one brief sexual escapade, on her 19th |

“...a quick, deft, promising first crime novel.” from the girl with a clock for a heart

THE CAIRO AFFAIR

birthday, and now, as a single mother, is raising her daughter, Grace, in a small and generally unforgiving small town near Steepletop. While Kelley is struggling to survive economically, especially once the townspeople turn their backs on her, Millay and Eugen live a profligate and free-spirited life with friends and lovers. One day, Eugen spots Kelley and knows instinctively that Millay would enjoy wooing her, and much of the rest of the novel is taken up by Millay’s advances, sometimes subtle and sometimes conspicuous. Although Kelley, whose brother-in-law has already been seduced by Millay, is not ready to engage in even more scandalous behavior, Millay is a source of lucrative dress orders that Laura finds hard to turn down. So they play an amatory game of cat-and-mouse. But for as captivating as Millay can be, her relationship with Eugen lacks drama, rendering the book less compelling than Robuck’s earlier portrayal of Zelda and Scott.

Well-written and insightful, with Millay in particular a fascinatingly complex character.

Steinhauer, Olen Minotaur (416 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-250-03613-1

In the new novel by the well-traveled Steinhauer (An American Spy, 2012, etc.), the death of an American diplomat in Hungary sets wheels spinning across North Africa.

Sophie Kohl hasn’t been the best of wives. But when her husband, Emmett, is shot in a Budapest restaurant, her reaction is swift and visceral. Instead of flying his body home to Boston, she bolts to Cairo, the scene of diplomat Emmett’s last posting. There, she seeks help from her former lover, Stan Bertolli, in unraveling the drama that led to Emmett’s end. Opinion is mixed. Emmett’s colleague and Stan’s boss, Harry Wolcott, thinks the dead agent sold out his country to Zora Balaševic, who has dirt on him from the youth he misspent among disaffected Serbians in Novi Sad. Stan has more faith in the deceased rival for Sophie’s affections. He helps her track down Jibril Aziz, a CIA analyst from Langley who recently appeared in Cairo asking for escort into Libya. The creator of Stumbler, a long-dormant blueprint for the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi, Aziz is convinced that someone has revived his plan at the worst possible moment: just as the Libyans stand poised to rid themselves of the dictator. As the Egyptians cope with their own version of the Arab Spring, more contestants vie for the Betrayal of the Month prize, and the body count climbs. In the end, it’s a question of which will win out: misguided nationalism or plain old greed.

Could easily dispense with a third of the pages in this le Carré wannabe.

SHE EFFIN’ HATES ME A Love Story

Savage, Scarlett Skyhorse Publishing (264 pp.) $16.95 paper | Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-62636-556-8

Savage (Narcotic Nation, 2013) reframes her award-winning play, She F*&%ing Hates Me, into novel form, as three generations of Appelbaum women face their tribulations with family jokes and wry wit.

After divorcing her deadbeat, musician-wannabe husband of 18 years, Suzanne has come home to plan her next move.

Recovering alcoholic Ava is delighted to have a second chance to nurture her daughter; after all, she spent most of her first chance pickled. Ava is less delighted, however, with her new next-door neighbor, Buddy, her late husband’s wartime comrade and erstwhile business partner. Blaming Buddy for the collapse of their Irish pub is easy, as is blaming him for her alcoholism.

Both women are apprehensive over the arrival of Suzanne’s daughter, Molly, who has a big announcement to make. Afraid that 18-year-old Molly is pregnant and following in her mother’s footsteps, Suzanne is determined to hate Molly’s companion, Brandon. But Brandon turns out to be irresistibly charming, despite his many piercings and tattoos; Buddy turns out to be more than a pest; and Molly’s news is a true surprise. As Suzanne and Molly cope with their new statuses, Ava faces the truth about her past (and maybe a future) relationship with Buddy.

Heavy on dialogue and character observations that often read like stage directions, the play’s ghost rather charmingly haunts every scene. Indeed, each chapter is carefully constructed with a few characters essentially placed center stage while others often eavesdrop and plot their reactions.

Nicely retains the sophisticated, urbane spirit of its theatrical origin.

THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART

Swanson, Peter Morrow/HarperCollins (304 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Feb. 4, 2014 978-0-06-226749-8 978-0-06-226751-1 e-book

In Swanson’s debut crime thriller, a sedate man encounters the mysterious woman who ignited his passion years ago—and now plunges him into the depths of noir.

George Foss is the accountant for a well-heeled old Boston literary magazine, and he lives a staid and quiet life: Red Sox on the tube, a cat, a low-heat semiromance with a co-worker. But one night in his local bar, he spots his long-lost first love from college, a woman whom he knew as Audrey. Her real name, he’s since discovered, is Liana Decter. In the novel’s most affecting and effective scenes, we see George, a lovelorn college freshman, head to Florida after “Audrey’s” suicide is reported over |

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Christmas break. He gets himself clumsily, boyishly embroiled in the mystery surrounding that death—only to discover that Audrey/Liana is not the corpse. By the time George retreats northward to resume his freshman year, she’s suspected in two murders and has disappeared for good. Or not quite—it is Liana in the neighborhood pub, and soon, she’s pressed her loyal sap into service as a go-between in returning some stolen money to a wealthy and shady man with whom she’s been involved. George recognizes that she is that most durable noir trope, the belle dame sans merci, but if anything, the knowledge only enhances her appeal. Soon, he finds himself several coils of intrigue—and levels of danger—out of his depth. The pace is fast, the prose mostly smooth, and the plot genuinely twisty. But the characters aren’t quite fully fleshed; George is sometimes too one-note in his role as helplessly enamored milquetoast, and Liana—who has great potential, possibly to be explored in the sequel this book points toward—is a little too purely a femme fatale, with the emphasis—as usual—on the second word rather than the first. We know her almost exclusively by her effect on men.

Seemingly pre-measured for the movies, sometimes to its detriment but often to good effect; all in all, a quick, deft, promising first crime novel.

counteract Dorkin’s attack and find out more about the other person in Amy’s life, Cyrus also cares for certain four-legged patients with puzzling symptoms and, by extension, members of the patients’ two-legged families. Trout, a staff surgeon at the Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, Mass., once again hits the mark with a wholesome, heartwarming story that ends on an optimistic note. He creates a homey community full of compassion, charm and humorous characters typical of many small towns. No doubt many animal lovers are panting in anticipation of the next Bedside Manor installment.

Pawsitively delightful.

DON’T START ME TALKIN’

Williams, Tom Curbside Splendor (250 pp.) $15.95 paper | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-9884804-4-5

Williams (The Mimic’s Own Voice, 2011) hits the road with bluesmen Brother Ben and Silent Sam. “[S]moking dynamite and drinking TNT,” Brother Ben makes magic moaning the blues and slide-fingering a beat-up guitar. Ben, the last “True Delta Bluesman,” works with sideman Silent Sam Stamps, who wrings a blues harp till it cries like his hero, Sonny Boy Williamson. Brother Ben is Wilton Mabry, his real identity employed as the name of the pair’s parsimonious manager. Silent Sam is Peter Owens, a Big Ten cum laude graduate, middle-class boy captured by the blues wailing on Detroit radio direct from the Delta. In the year 2000, working to keep the Brother Ben legend alive with a 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham and thrift store two-for-a-dollar polyester flares and iridescent shirts, the duo leave Los Angeles and wander coast to coast playing roots music. Brother Ben’s fans bring him pints of Old Crow, but Ben prefers steamed vegetables, green tea, brown rice and his Volvo.

For talkative, curious Peter, Silent Sam’s also an act, all shuffle and jive, yas suh, while worrying “[t]hat the act doesn’t ruin how much the music means to me.” While this is a road-trip story, it’s also a more profound experience—a sometimes-sardonic, sophisticated take on race in America, on fame, on mostly white artistic wannabes and acolytes co-opting black experience. There’s the Canadian investor replicating a Delta juke joint in Las Vegas; and Audrey and April, attempting to bed every circuit-riding blues musician; and the poseur rappers, N2K Posse, sampling Brother Ben for their hook. With allusions to cultural touchstones from Elvis to Robert Johnson, from Cosby to Oscar Wilde, Williams’ metaphorical tale addresses the dualities African-Americans navigate in the American cultural maze while also dealing with the truths we all tell ourselves and the truths we let others see.

Part elegy, part master-student story, part road-trip Americana, Williams riffs on the dichotomy between appearance and reality.

DOG GONE, BACK SOON

Trout, Nick Hyperion (256 pp.) $14.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4013-1089-9 978-0-4013-0598-7 e-book

In the second of his Bedside Manor series, Trout (The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs, 2013, etc.) highlights another week in the life of the newest veterinarian in Eden Falls, Vt. Dr. Cyrus Mills isn’t used to dealing with live animals—or people, for that matter—and he’s barely had time to get his feet wet at the helm of his late father’s practice when a crosstown rival starts nipping at his heels. A client has defected after seeking emergency treatment at Bedside Manor, and Guy Dorkin, the office manager of competitor Healthy Paws, plans to put Cyrus out of business once and for all by arranging an informational open house with freebies and a presentation by gorgeous veterinarian Winn Honey. But Dorkin’s barking up the wrong tree as far as Cyrus is concerned. Rather than rolling over and playing dead, Cyrus is determined to stand his ground—and he has several helpful supporters: his mentor, who’s not opposed to a little covert snooping; a young, grateful computer geek; the editor in chief of the local paper; his busybody receptionist; and some very appreciative customers. But more worrisome than his business challenges is Cyrus’ personal life. He’s in the doghouse after a disastrous first date with Amy, the waitress at the local diner, and he’s discovered he might be facing some serious competition for her affection. While juggling plans to 38

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WHAT’S IMPORTANT IS FEELING Stories

The catalyst for Beijing-born Li’s (Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, 2010, etc.) unsparing novel, set partly in 1989, partly some two decades later, is 15-year-old Ruyu, a contained, empathy-free orphan raised by two religious women and sent to relatives in Beijing in preparation for college. The Beijing family has an older daughter, Shaoai, and lives in a community that includes Moran and Boyang, who are in the same school and grade as Ruyu and show her their city. Moran, optimistic and kindly, has always hoped for a future with Boyang, the clever son of academic parents. Shaoai, 22, is a rebel whose involvement in a recent democratic protest will shortly lead to punishment: expulsion from university, her future ruined. Shaoai is hostile to Ruyu and sexually molests her. After a visit to the university laboratory where Boyang’s parents work, Shaoai falls seriously ill from chemical poisoning and will suffer 21 more brain-damaged years. But who poisoned her? Opening with Shaoai’s death, Li tracks the three erstwhile friends, now scattered across the U.S. and China, each isolated in a different way. The whodunit is less mysterious than their interconnected fates.

Li’s chilly, philosophical storytelling offers layers of unsettling yet impressive insight into family legacies and cultural dynamics. (Agent: Sarah Chalfant)

Wilson, Adam Perennial/HarperCollins (224 pp.) $14.99 paper | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-06-228478-5 Wilson (Flatscreen, 2012) delivers a 12-story collection detailing the existential struggles of modern youth.

The millennial generation populates nearly every story, beginning with “Soft Thunder” and “The Long In-Between.” Disaffected protagonists appear in the first—semislackers in a garage band share the same damaged girl—and in the second, where a young woman follows her female professor to New York City. (This second tale is the only one told from a female perspective, but it’s a distinction difficult to discern; male or female, the collection’s young protagonists always seem mired in an existential swamp.) Nevertheless, Wilson crafts artful literary phrases—“my dreams are on the surface; when I wake I only rise inches” or “music mixing with all the dust and soot in the pipes as it came up through the grates. By the time it reached me, it sounded condensed, congested.” The most powerful story is “We Close Our Eyes,” narrated by teenage Zach. His mother is dying of cancer; his father seems distant and disinterested; and his younger sister is seduced, then shamed by an illicit sex tape. Around this implosion hovers Father Larry, a priest whose husbandlike attention to Zach’s mother befuddles the boy. “Tell Me” finds supercilious college boys conned by an addict. Wilson’s stories are city stories, many seemingly set in and around Boston, but the title story takes place at a Texas movie location and is narrated by a young film school graduate. Here again, Wilson does yeoman work with characters, from Monica, a young leading lady already seduced by celebrity’s seamier elements, to Felix, hypercrazed writer-producer. The remaining stories—“Sluts at Heart,” “America Is Me and Andy,” “The Porchies” and “Milligrams”—also speak to millennial agitation at the edge of maturity, where reality is tackled with drugs, alcohol and sardonic contempt.

Bleak First-World angst, delivered with style.

m ys t e r y BROKEN TRUST

Baker, Shannon Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (360 pp.) $14.99 paper | Mar. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3425-5 Baker (Tainted Mountain, 2013, etc.) presents the second adventure of a Western accountant who tries to build a new life after her marriage ends tragically.

Nora Abbott is fighting off panic on Colorado’s Mount Evans when she meets Petal, a woman who looks like an elf in dreadlocks and ragbag clothes. Petal not only helps Nora down the mountain, but also tells her that she’d be a natural to succeed the recently vanished financial director for Loving Earth Trust in Boulder. Although Nora has an MBA and good qualifications, the murder of her husband a year ago has left her shaken, full of self-doubt and prone to visions of a kachina—a Hopi spirit.

When the trust’s executive director, a former classmate of Nora’s, offers her the position on the spot, she can’t believe her luck. On the second day of the new job, she realizes why she was hired: She’s supposed to give false projections to the trust’s board. Instead, she reveals that Loving Earth is operating in the red due to the beetle-kill project of Sylvia LaFever, Loving Earth’s hotshot scientist. When Nora’s missing predecessor turns up dead on the trust’s grounds, Sylvia is the first suspect, even though she tries to put the

KINDER THAN SOLITUDE

Yiyun Li Random House (336 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-4000-6814-2 The lives of three teenage Chinese friends, irreversibly altered by the horrible, lingering poisoning of an older girl, are the subject of the bleak yet penetrating novel from PEN/Hemingway award winner Li. |

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“Not as surprising or carefully structured as Bingham’s striking debut, but his remote, unquenchable heroine makes her stand apart from every one of her procedural brothers and sisters.” from love story, with murders

WHERE MONSTERS DWELL

blame on Nora. While Nora tries to make sense of Sylvia’s project and the role of a father-and-son team from Ecuador, she has to keep haunting memories, her overbearing mother, and a handsome, overprotective rancher at arm’s length. A Hopi friend is receiving warnings from a man who supposedly died 150 years ago. Will they come too late to save Nora?

No wonder the hapless heroine is so overwhelmed that she makes decisions she knows are bad: Baker throws her into a vortex of corporate greed, Hopi mythology, speculative science, exaggerated characters, muddled flashbacks and one preposterous incident after another.

Overstuffed.

Brekke, Jørgen Translated by Murray, Steven T. Minotaur (368 pp.) $24.99 | $11.99 e-book | Feb. 11, 2014 978-1-250-01680-5 978-1-250-02604-0 e-book Brekke’s big-boned debut thriller, spanning two continents and 500 years, delves into the unholy connections between a pair of monstrous killings in Norway and the U.S. Efrahim Bond’s tenure as curator in Richmond’s Edgar Allan Poe Museum is abruptly ended when someone knocks him out with a crowbar, flays him alive and only then administers the coup de grâce. Across the sea, librarian Siri Holm begins the first day in her new position at Trondheim’s Gunnerus Library by discovering the flayed corpse of Gunn Brita Dahle, her predecessor, inside a double-locked vault that’s heretofore been used only to store rare books. The two cases are clearly linked, but neither Richmond homicide detective Felicia Stone nor Chief Inspector Odd Singsaker, just back on the job after surgery to remove a brain tumor, has any clue that they are. Singsaker, who seems especially at sea, interrogates Gunn Brita’s archaeologist husband, reminds Gunnerus security chief Jon Vatten that he was once suspected of killing his own vanished wife and son, and allows himself to be seduced by another suspect. While the two sorely tried cops toil on unaware of the big break that will bring Felicia to Trondheim, Brekke provides increasingly disturbing flashbacks to the creation of the Johannes Book, a 16th-century collection of aphorisms and medical information bound in human skin, which figures in both murders. The sleuths are sympathetic and the atmosphere suitably sinister, but far too many of the shivery complications turn out to be red herrings. Agatha Christie, whose example is noted at several points, would surely have disapproved.

Grim and tense, but readers will want more payoff.

LOVE STORY, WITH MURDERS

Bingham, Harry Delacorte (400 pp.) $27.00 | Feb. 18, 2014 978-0-345-53376-0

A pair of murders five years apart forms the basis of a fact-based sophomore case for DC Fiona Griffiths, of the South Wales CID, that’s just as intense as her first (Talking to the Dead, 2012).

Since Fiona is on hand to discover Mary Jane Langton’s severed leg in the late Elsie Williams’ chest freezer, she feels a special attachment to the victim, who disappeared in 2005. But her colleagues soon challenge her privileged position by turning up not only other sections of Mary’s corpse (though it’s reserved to Fiona to find her head), but, even more disturbingly, a hand and other body parts more recently associated with Ali el-Khalifi, a lecturer at the Cardiff School of Engineering whose expertise turns out to have connected him to a more sinister sideline. As everyone runs around trying to connect the two murders under Operation Abacus, which the cops promptly nickname Operation Stirfry, Fiona, shunted onto the Khalifi investigation by imperious, ill-tempered DI Rhiannon Watkins, is the only one to sense the more pressing connection between Khalifi’s murder and the suicide of Mark Mortimer, who slit his wrist with a piece of a broken bottle after he was jailed as the most inept drug smuggler in Welsh history. In fact, it’s Fiona, whose Cotard’s syndrome prevents her from feeling all kinds of emotions and sometimes even sensing feelings in her own body, who has what it takes to close the case and deliver some of the most memorably staccato narration in the genre.

Not as surprising or carefully structured as Bingham’s striking debut, but his remote, unquenchable heroine makes her stand apart from every one of her procedural brothers and sisters. (Agent: George Luca)

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THE MASTER OF KNOTS

Carlotto, Massimo Translated by Woodall, Christopher Europa Editions (144 pp.) $15.00 paper | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-60945-180-6 Unlicensed private eye Marco Buratti, the Alligator (Bandit Love, 2010, etc.), tracks a missing wife down a rabbit hole even darker and dirtier than his usual haunts.

It’s hardly a surprise that Varese sales representative Mariano Giraldi’s wife has vanished. Ever since he divined Helena Heintze’s sexual preferences—bi and submissive—and began to hire her out as a bondage model, she’s been tangled with some seriously rough trade. Now, she’s evidently been kidnapped by the Bang Gang, a group of predators that blackmails women into making violent BDSM films that |

“...the shaggiest detective currently working in the field.” from resurrection

DEAL KILLER

sometimes escalate to the point of no return. Though Buratti’s not noted for his high moral tone, he draws the line at snuff films. So do his buddies, drug trafficker Beniamino Rossini and fat ex-gangster Max the Memory. Together, they pile up casualties as they pursue Helena’s ties to Jay Jacovone, a snuff producer tight with the Miami Mafia; to Marisa Guarnero, a schoolteacher blackmailed into making BDSM videos; and to a slave calling herself Sherazade, who seems poised to become the next victim of the Bang Gang and their leader, the Master of Knots. Their task is rendered both more difficult and easier when their client disappears along with Antonina Gattuso, aka Barbie Slave, the lover Giraldi had inveigled into joining him and Helena in their dark frolics.

As usual with Carlotto (At the End of a Dull Day, 2013, etc.), there’s no suspense, since the characters are never in danger—they go straight from being fine to being dead—and Buratti wraps up the case with a scandalous lack of fuss. But the author shows a sure grasp of the double lives of BDSM devotees for whom unmasking would mean calamity.

Doudera, Vicki Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (336 pp.) $14.99 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3429-3 The death of a Russian businessman provides a pretty puzzle in Doudera’s (Final Settlement, 2013, etc.) newest Darby Farr Mystery.

Realtor Darby Farr has come to New York City to spend some time with her boyfriend, British journalist Miles Porter, who is currently teaching a course at Columbia University. When Miles is approached

by Alec Rodin, a wealthy Russian who may be with the Federal Security Service, a nasty argument erupts over Natalia Kazakova, Miles’ student and Alec’s fiancee. The marriage, arranged by Natalia’s wealthy father, is not at all to the prospective bride’s liking. Soon after Alec, in vain, urges Miles to destroy all copies of a paper written by Natalia that he claims would be very dangerous to publish, Alec’s body is discovered in an alley, pierced by several sword thrusts. As one of the last people to have seen Alec alive, Miles is a suspect. Although Miles and Darby just want to enjoy some time together and explore the city, their involvement in the investigation becomes inescapable. Several of the case’s major players live in the same upscale building in which Miles sublets an apartment, and tensions run high. Natalia has a very protective bodyguard. Her father and Alec haven’t always seen eye to eye. A real estate agent who lives in the building is still furious with Alec, who caused her to lose the commission on Natalia’s penthouse apartment. A lawyer stuck in a smaller apartment is equally desperate to get the penthouse. An elderly lady who lives in the building with her nervous French maid may be the source for Natalia’s paper, which has roots in pre-revolutionary Russia.

With a little help from the lawyer’s nanny, Darby and Miles put the pieces together.

Darby’s fifth offers up a twisty mystery, plenty of suspects and a touch of romance.

A FLAME IN THE WIND OF DEATH

Danna, Jen. J. with Vanderlaan, Ann Five Star (308 pp.) $25.95 | Apr. 18, 2014 978-1-4328-2809-7 Witches are suspected of murder in modern-day Salem, Mass.

State Trooper Leigh Abbott and forensic anthropologist Matt Lowell have barely recovered from the horrors of their first case together (Dead Without a Stone to Tell It, 2013) when they’re called on to work an arson-cum-murder. Leigh, one of the few women in a man’s world, infuriates a colleague when she lands a case involving badly burned remains in an antiques shop thanks to Matt’s refusal to work with anyone else. They discover that wealthy Moira Simpson was stabbed with an athame, a ceremonial witches’ knife, and her tiny dog, beaten to death before the fire was set.

Moira had once been involved in a coven, and the knife was part of a set custom-made for her. Her son Flynn suffers from fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, in which any injury, even as small as an injection site, turns to bone. Moira, who never had to work, spent her life caring for her son and taking up a succession of hobbies.

An alarmist newspaper story suggests that witches are responsible for the murder, and the next murder/arson raises the stakes when a firefighter dies. The victim, Moira’s former priest, was killed with her boline, a work knife that was part of the missing set. Matt, who’s romantically involved with Leigh, must help her cope with a series of anonymous letters hinting that her father, killed in the line of duty, was a crooked cop. Given that there’s still one item left in Moira’s ceremonial set, who’s the next target?

A tricky mystery rich in intriguing suspects and forensic detail.

RESURRECTION

Haas, Wolf Translated by Janusch, Annie Melville House (224 pp.) $14.95 paper | Jan. 28, 2014 978-1-61219-270-3 A pair of Americans dead on a ski lift provides the case that launched Austrian detective Simon Brenner (The Bone Man, 2013) into his wobbly orbit.

Just because his new supervisor has hastened his departure from the police, that’s no reason Brenner can’t continue to investigate the deaths of elderly Ted Parsons and his wife, Suzanne, aboard the chair lift in the ski resort of Zell. After all, he’s the leading authority on the case, despite his lack of results. So when the Meierling Detective Agency needs |

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someone to provide a report for the wealthy couple’s insurance company, they naturally turn to Brenner. And in less time than it takes to tell it—for everything in Haas’ world, like Tristram Shandy’s, takes much longer to tell than to happen—Brenner is raising questions once more about the alibi Lorenz Antretter supplied for his uncle Vergolder, the Parsons’ son-in-law.

Brenner pores over a series of pseudonymous letters outlining the disastrous consequences if the three enormous dams above Zell should break, marvels at the beer-drinking dexterity of a handless German visitor, dodges a pesky reporter from the Pinzgauer Post, lusts after schoolteacher Kati Engljähringer and recalls the time he took police secretary Anni Bichler home five years ago. (Her post-coital verdict: “Frankly, your apartment doesn’t have any atmosphere.”) There’s a serious conspiracy beneath all this tomfoolery, but it’s buried mighty deep, and it’s truly amazing to see Brenner finally put the pieces together, even with the help he gets from an obliging lift operator and a sixth-grade student.

Add a narrator whose rapid-fire monologue piles additional layers of digression atop Brenner’s own circumlocutions, and you have the shaggiest detective currently working the field.

grab bag of cross-dressing royalty, progressive women, missing heirs and international intrigue is laden with modern overtones and teasing hints from previous installments.

Devlin’s love for his heroic wife is the book’s saving element, just as she is the saving of him.

WHO THINKS EVIL

Kurland, Michael Minotaur (320 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Feb. 4, 2014 978-0-312-36545-5 978-1-4668-4739-2 e-book In Kurland’s (Victorian Villainy, 2011, etc.) latest tale of Professor James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes once again takes a back seat to his historic nemesis as they battle sinister assassins to keep Victoria on the English throne.

The plotters are too subtle to target the Queen directly.

Instead, they’re implicating her beloved but wild grandson, Prince Albert Victor, in a series of outrages they’re actually committing themselves. Hence Baron Renfrew, whom all parties concerned believe to be the prince, disappears after stabbing and disemboweling Rose, née Elsbeth Hooten, one of the young ladies who entertain gentlemen of means at Mollie Cobby’s establishment. The same grisly fate befalls Istefan, a boy whose career at the Château d’Espagne is cut short by the ministrations of a client code-named Peccavi. Mathilde von Tromphe, the prima donna of Covent Garden Opera House, is lucky to escape a third assault with her life. Moriarty, late of Midlothian University, now of Newgate Prison, is released by a coalition of well-placed lords and Home Office types determined to clear Albert Victor’s name before Scotland Yard claps the cuffs on his royal wrists. The man immortalized by Holmes as the Napoleon of Crime springs into action, questioning witnesses and making lightning inferences in a way strongly reminiscent of his great adversary. Meanwhile, Albreth Decanare, the self-styled Earl of Mersey and Last Plantagenet, along with the shadowy powers behind him, plots to destroy the reputation of the Saxe-Coburgs so completely that Mersey, suitably married to an eastern European princess, will ascend to the throne. Holmes turns up in the late innings to lend encouragement even more surprising than his logistical support. Mainly, though, this is Moriarty’s show.

A preposterous, entertaining farrago.

WHY KINGS CONFESS

Harris, C.S. Obsidian (352 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-451-41755-8

In Harris’ (What Darkness Brings, 2013, etc.) ninth Regency adventure featuring Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin seeks the murderer of a French physician.

When surgeon Paul Gibson finds Damion Pelletan’s body in a seedy section of London, he’s horrified to see that someone has cut out Pelletan’s heart. The dead man’s companion, Alexandrie Sauvage, is also a physician, but her extended swoon makes her little help in the investigation Gibson launches with his friend Sebastian St. Cyr. The two are an unlikely combination: Gibson is a one-legged, opium-addicted son of poor Irish Catholics, and St. Cyr is Viscount Devlin, the Earl of Hendon’s heir.

But they both once wore the king’s colors, and as civilian comrades, they spare no effort to find the murderer. Pelletan was the personal physician of a diplomat who, it’s rumored, is part of a delegation to negotiate peace between Napoleon and the prince regent. The failure of this plan, however, would seriously benefit certain parties, including a wealthy Scots arms dealer and the Bourbons in exile in England. Devlin is also suspicious of the motives of his ruthless father-in-law, cousin to the prince regent and the real power behind the throne. While Devlin tries to make sense of the connection between Pelletan and the French royal family, he worries about his beloved social-activist wife, Hero, who is nine months pregnant and facing a difficult delivery. The person who can best help her is Alexandrie Sauvage—and she’s vowed to kill Devlin. This 42

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“Nolan continues what promises to be a long and lovingly crafted saga about the strains and gains of love and loyalty.” from glass houses

KILLER PHYSIQUE

the wrong horses had put him deeply in debt to loan sharks, who proceed to rebuff Harry’s bullheaded approach to interrogation before throwing him out on his ear. The trail to the ambassador’s killer winds past his sad-eyed widow, Hilde, and his daughter, Runa, currency dealer Jens Brekke and embassy dead-ender Ivar Løken, African-American parking attendant Jim Love, and Woo, a freelance goon. To keep up with this colorful crowd, Harry must strong-arm suspects, break into their premises to conduct illegal searches and fend off every prostitute in town.

Perhaps the most original touch in this early, well-wrought adventure is the most depressing: Despite Bangkok’s wellearned reputation for moral and official corruption, the most repulsive cockroaches Harry finds are consistently Norwegians.

McKevett, G.A. Kensington (320 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-7582-7654-4

A private eye passes the time before meeting her new in-laws by probing a death even the medical examiner thinks is the result of natural causes.

Having started her road to wedded bliss with the honeymoon from hell (Killer Honeymoon, 2013), private detective Savannah Reid waits anxiously for the arrival of her new husband’s parents. To pass the time, Savannah takes up her old friends Ryan Stone and John Gibson’s offer to attend the Hollywood premiere of their friend Jason Tyrone’s latest movie. Although McKevett never reveals exactly how the friends know the hunky actor, the two are crushed to find him dead the next morning in his hotel room. San Carmelita’s medical examiner, Dr. Liu, peers down from atop her stilettos long enough to rule the death accidental. Certainly Tyrone’s body bears the marks of massive steroid use. But Savannah refuses to believe that such a healthy young man could have done fatal damage to his body in such a short time. So she and Dirk begin to question those closest to Tyrone: his co-star, Alanna Cleary; his ex-lover Thomas Owen; even his limo driver, Leland Porter. Is Savannah on the trail of a killer?

Or is she just putting off the drudgery of getting the house ready for the impending visit of Dirk’s parents?

Like Savannah, McKevett seems a mite distracted, and her untidy 19th Moonlight Magnolia entry shows it.

GLASS HOUSES

Nolan, Terri Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (408 pp.) $14.99 paper | Feb. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3635-8 An investigative journalist deals with her inner demons while helping her cousin deal with a much more concrete threat.

Still reeling from her brutal kidnapping (Burden of Truth, 2013), Birdie Keane accepts a therapeutic regimen few would tolerate: no booze, regular exercise, healthy eating and publishing a series of investigative reports that expose her late father for the dirty cop he was. As her family offers support, her cousin Thom reveals that he’s fighting for his professional life. Lt. Lance Craig, his boss, refuses to take him off a murder investigation even though Craig knows that keeping Thom as lead investigator will make the case impossible to prosecute. Twelve hours before Jelena Shkatova reported finding her former foster parents and their latest charges shot to death in their beds, she and Thom met in a bar and went out to his car to consummate their hookup. Why his boss keeps him on a case after he admits sleeping with a suspect is just one of the questions Thom can’t wrap his mind around.

So his cousin helps him, using her computer skills to probe for motive and opportunity for what’s turning into a series of latenight assassinations. Is it germane that all the victims lived in rent-stabilized homes that charged far less than Los Angeles’ overheated housing market would typically command? Did foster dad Dominic Lawrence’s work as a city attorney put him in someone’s cross hairs? As Birdie helps Thom, her new love, Ron Hughes, helps Birdie cope with the ghost of Matt Whelan, the man she still pines after.

Nolan continues what promises to be a long and lovingly crafted saga about the strains and gains of love and loyalty.

COCKROACHES

Nesbø, Jo Translated by Bartlett, Don Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (384 pp.) $14.95 paper | Feb. 4, 2014 978-0-345-80715-1 Following the debut (The Bat, 2013) that took Harry Hole to Australia, this second case (originally published in 1998) takes Harry to Bangkok, filling the final gap in the Norwegian cop’s 10 best-selling adventures to date (Police, 2013, etc.).

Bjarne Møller, Harry’s Crime Squad boss back in Oslo, insists that he’s just the man to help U.S.-born Bangkok Homicide Inspector Liz Crumley investigate the stabbing of Atle Molnes, Norwegian ambassador to Thailand, while keeping a lid on the fact that his body was found in a well-known brothel— and that he was murdered. At the same time, Møller and Secretary of State Bjørn Askildsen don’t tell Harry any number of facts highly material to the investigation. So Harry and Liz have all the fun of following evidence that suggests Molnes was having an affair with a receptionist in his office, that he was interested in child pornography and that his fondness for backing |

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BROOKLYN GRAVES

island community. Hermes Diaktoros, the enigmatic “fat man” (The Doctor of Thessaly, 2012, etc.), is also present, to the surprise of the priest, who prides himself on knowing all the locals.

Hermes charmingly gets to know the community and arranges a reunion with his lovely old friend Kara Athaniti, an art historian who makes the unwelcome discovery that an icon in Father Linos’ church is actually a fake. While taking a swim, Hermes and Kara hear some of the locals’ stories of chicanery concerning valuable objects, and lights appear from time to time inside the allegedly deserted Aphrodite. When an icon painter named Sotiris is murdered, it’s convenient that Hermes is a crack, if unconventional, investigator and that Kara is also on hand. It almost seems as if the fat man were prescient. The church custodian and his gardener brother become key sources for the information Hermes needs to crack the case.

The fourth of Zouroudi’s projected Seven Deadly Sins mysteries is much like its hero: droll, expansive and leisurely.

Stein, Triss Poisoned Pen (246 pp.) $24.95 | $14.95 paper | $22.95 Lg. Prt. Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4642-0217-9 978-1-4642-0219-3 paper 978-1-4642-0218-6 Lg. Prt. In the second book of Stein’s (Brooklyn Bones, 2013, etc.) Erica Donato Mysteries series, a grad student and mother wrestles with a puzzle related to her history work—only to find more questions that hit closer to home.

Between her responsibilities for her teenage daughter, Chris, and her work as a graduate student, youngish single mother Erica Donato has her hands full. When her research supervisor makes her an offer she can’t refuse—working as an assistant to snooty, pretentious Dr. Thomas Flint in his work on the history of the Tiffany studio—Erica is excited to learn something new but also dubious that the project will ever be credited to her. That turns out to be the least of her concerns.

She and co-researcher Ryan, a youngster in the field, uncover what appears to be a chain of irregularities in the design and keeping of an older Tiffany window. While this mild drama is unfolding, Chris has some upsetting news of her own: Dima, the father of her childhood friend Alex, has been murdered, his body discovered outside his home. Erica, who is close to Dima’s wife, tries to guide grieving widow Natalya through police procedures as best she can, though she’s hampered by the fact that Natalya’s Russian background gives her a rather different idea of what the police are for. Suspecting that Dima’s shady brother might have had something to do with her husband’s death, Natalya urges Erica to investigate. After agreeing, Erica soon has her hands full with another investigation and another dead body. Savvy readers will see the connection between plots A and B from the start.

Offers promising developments for Erica and Chris, but readers will find little to work with.

science fiction and fantasy DARK EDEN

Beckett, Chris Broadway (400 pp.) $15.00 paper | $9.99 e-book Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8041-3868-0 978-0-8041-3869-7 e-book Like Daniel F. Galouye’s Dark Universe or Jack Vance’s The Blue World, Beckett’s (The Peacock Cloak, 2013, etc.) newest is a story of survivors in an alien environment who have more or less forgotten their origins.

Planet Eden has no sun. In its place are huge trees pumping hot water up from subterranean volcanic rivers, which power the ecology. Both flora and fauna make their own tiny lights (but why wouldn’t they adapt to the perpetual dark by evolving different senses or capabilities?). Two humans, Tommy and Angela, were stranded here, and now, six generations later, have incestuously bred a large family plagued by genetic disorders, held together by a deteriorating law and oral culture, which remembers without understanding such terms as lecky-trickity and Rayed Yo. Family members long for the bright sun of Earth (but how would they know? All lights on Eden are dim and feeble) and, since they believe Tommy and Angela’s three companions returned to Earth to bring help, cling to the spot where the Landing Veekle will touch down, even though the valley they inhabit is too small to accommodate the growing population and starvation looms. Young John Redlantern wonders what

THE LADY OF SORROWS

Zouroudi, Anne Little, Brown (288 pp.) $25.00 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-316-21784-2 978-0-316-21783-5 e-book Who better than an iconoclastic detective to solve the murder of an icon painter?

A lengthy prologue set in 1863 presents a lost suitcase full of unspecified but priceless cargo aboard an unnamed ship. In the present, on the remote Greek island of Kalkos, the cruiser Aphrodite slips unassumingly into a dock, attracting the attention of charismatic Father Linos Egiotis, whose Holy Church of the Lady of Sorrows seems to be the hub of the 44

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lies beyond the ice-covered mountains that confine the valley and attempts to persuade the family’s female rulers that they must migrate or die. In a bold yet calculated act, he destroys the circle of stones that mark the landing spot and is exiled for his trouble. John, though, has his supporters, including love interest Tina Spiketree, Gerry (who follows John like a dog), and club-footed, highly intelligent Jeff. Thus the stage is set for a parting of ways, exploration, conflict, murder and the erasure of accepted truths. The narrative unfolds via several first-person accounts, which allows Beckett to develop a perspective on his archetypal main characters. Absorbing if often familiar, inventive and linguistically adept but less than fully satisfying— there’s no climax, and a sequel seems assured. Despite all this, the book was extravagantly praised in Beckett’s native U.K. Enjoyable but no blockbuster. (Agent: Michael Carlisle)

THE BURNING DARK

Christopher, Adam Tor (336 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-7653-3508-1

Space-horror yarn from Christopher (The Age Atomic, 2013, etc.).

With Earth desperately trying to defend its colonies from attack by alien machines gigantic enough to chomp entire planets, Capt. Abraham Idaho “Ida” Cleveland scored a notable success by heroically destroying one of these “Spiders.” As a result, he acquired a robotic knee and was pensioned off, his last assignment to oversee the decommissioning and deconstruction of a superannuated space station in orbit around a “toxic” purple star in the remote depths of space. But Ida finds strange occurrences plaguing the U-Star Coast City. The station’s Commandant Elbridge has unaccountably vanished. Computer and communications problems are rife, thanks to interference from the nearby star. Worse, the station’s complement of marines (but what are they doing there?) believes he’s lying about his exploits—of which there seems to be no record in the official Fleet databases. And the empty corridors echo with odd noises and baffling shadows. Ida’s only friend is Izanami, a mysterious blue-eyed Japanese woman who seems to be some sort of medic. So Ida builds himself a space radio and proceeds to probe the forbidden wavelengths of subspace—where he picks up a transmission seemingly from a female Russian cosmonaut who lived a thousand years ago. So far so…not good, but OK. But in a situation where either everybody is in denial or uninterested in asking pertinent questions, or even in pursuing a rational course of action, readers are entitled to a sense of frustration. And the anticipated flood of gory action fails to materialize. Instead, things drone on, becoming ever murkier and less absorbing.

We are reminded of Doc Ostrow’s dying gasp in the classic movie Forbidden Planet (1956): “Monsters, John.

Monsters from the Id.” (Agent: Stacia Decker)

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THE PILGRIMS

Elliott, Will Tor (448 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-7653-3188-5 Series: Pendulum Trilogy, 1 The first entry in the Pendulum fantasy trilogy, from the author of The Pilo Family Circus (2006).

Eric Albright, an apathetic 26-sixyear-old London journalist, writes a column his colleagues consider to be a joke. His only friend, Stuart “Case” Casey, is a drunk who lives under a nearby railway bridge.

One day, while on his way to play chess with Case, a small red door appears under the bridge. To Eric’s surprise, a gang of weirdos emerges and robs the nearby news agent. When the door later reappears, Eric and Case go through and find themselves in Levaal, a land dominated by a huge, white, dragon-shaped castle.

The castle’s proprietor, Lord Vous, has ambitions to transform himself into an immortal. Vous dreads the Shadow, a being he believes haunts him and which might not even be real. Vous’ chief servant is the Arch Mage, the most powerful of a group of wizards who, if they overuse magic, risk cooking themselves from within. Only a handful of Free Cities are not yet under Vous’ control, and luckily, Eric and Case fall in with a band of warriors who resist Vous’ growing power. In Levaal, Eric and Case are known as Pilgrims, for reasons unclear, though they can understand the language of all the peculiar creatures that live there—such as the Invia, mysterious beings resembling angels. One of the Invia gives Case a magical necklace and asks him to go spy on Vous, which, in exchange for a drink, he’s happy to do. Where is this going, and does it all add up? Answers are uncertain; the characters talk the talk but don’t have a real presence, and the narrative is mostly aimless. Still, it’s inventive enough, not to say puzzling, and sets forth in prose of great clarity; this may be enough to tempt readers to return for future installments.

Not altogether convincing but it has its charms. (Agent: Lyn Tranter)

TURTLE RECALL The Discworld Companion...

So Far Pratchett, Terry; Briggs, Stephen Harper/HarperCollins (464 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-06-229255-1

From Pratchett (Dodger’s Guide to London, 2014, etc.) and collaborator Briggs: the fourth incarnation of the Discworld Companion, which is essentially an encyclopedia of a fictional world—perhaps the most popular and deservedly acclaimed fantasy creation of them all.

This edition references all the Discworld’s 40 books and includes interviews with Pratchett, an essay on how he deals science fiction & fantasy

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“...Anderson pens an emotionally touching story of second chances and new beginnings set in the Wild West of the 1880s.” from walking on air

with readers and fan mail, a section on the often mind-boggling difficulties of translating Discworld books (with their ferocious tangle of puns, jokes, culture-specific references and social commentary) into other languages, and a set of instructions for playing the card game “Cripple Mr Onion,” which various unsavory characters are very keen on. But the main event is, of course, the A-Z of places, people and things large and small that have at one time or another graced the pages of a Discworld yarn. Did you know, for instance, that Discworld operas include The Barber of Pseudopolis, Die Flabberast, La Triviata and The Ring of the Nibelungingung? What of Dark Clerks (“little men in black suits and bowler hats”) or Brother Jape (“a soul like cold boiled string”)? One thing leads to another, and the shorter entries lead naturally to extended meditations on such important characters as Lord Vetinari, the Machiavellian ruler of Ankh-Morpork, Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch, the meddlesome witches Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax, skeletal Death, and, yes, the Death of Rats (he also does gerbils, mice and hamsters).

Won’t do you much good if you haven’t read any of the Discworld books. But then, if you haven’t—why haven’t you?

powerful clue: Back in the past, Toby and Peter collaborated to develop “Consensus,” a worldbuilding virtual-reality game—to which the Lockstep bears a remarkable similarity. Unfortunately, this intricate, logical and fascinating construction lacks particularly well-defined characters and narrative force. It also seems to take decades to inch its way to a resolution.

A disappointing effort that, if shorter and considerably tighter, would have sat happily on the YA shelf.

r om a n c e WALKING ON AIR

Anderson, Catherine Signet (432 pp.) $7.99 paper | Feb. 4, 2014 978-0-451-41833-3 One cold Christmas morning, a lonewolf gunslinger is shot down in Random, Colo.; he receives a second chance when two angels send him on a mission to convince another lonely soul to trust in him and fall in love.

Gabriel Valance is considered the best gunslinger in the West, which makes him an automatic target for every man eager to take his title. Gabe is definitely not a pure soul, but he does live by his own unique moral code, which is perhaps why, when he is gunned down one sleepy Christmas morning in an unfair challenge, two angels take pity on him and give him a second chance. Tasked with convincing a beautiful hat maker hiding from an abusive past to fall in love with him, helping her trust in other people again, Gabe realizes that, in guiding her toward life-affirming faith and human connection, he is changing his own outlook as well. Trouble is, he only has 30 days to fulfill his assignment, and the closer he gets to success and his divine reward, the more he realizes he wants to stay on Earth. Best-selling romance author Anderson pens an emotionally touching story of second chances and new beginnings set in the Wild West of the 1880s. Valance and Nancy are both lonely, wounded characters who’ve learned to be suspicious of nearly everyone around them, but as they come to trust and open up to each other, they find a whole new set of souls desperate for love and attention, until soon enough, they’ve created a small community vital to the town’s heart.

Sweet and heartwarming, complete with a little Christmas magic, romance and a light message of divine forgiveness.

LOCKSTEP

Schroeder, Karl Tor (352 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-7653-3726-9 Far-future family power struggles from the talented Schroeder (Ashes of Candesce, 2012, etc.).

With Earth dominated by a handful of trillionaires, the only road to financial success is to colonize one of the solar system’s remote worlds. For 17-year-old Toby McGonigal and his family, this is a very real possibility thanks to Toby’s mother’s invention: a flawless hibernation device. Following an accident in space, Toby is alone, forced to enter cold sleep to await rescue.

But when he revives, he’s astonished to find himself on a flourishing, inhabited planet—one of thousands in the galaxy—and to learn that 14,000 years have passed. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, so-called because its citizens exist mostly in cold sleep, with brief waking cycles that are carefully synchronized.

This approach is engineered to surmount the challenges of intergalactic life: Travel between stars takes decades or centuries, and the resources required to sustain waking populations are used up far more quickly than they can be accumulated.

Toby soon grows suspicious of the motives of his hosts—especially when he learns that the empire is owned and ruled by his brother Peter and sister Evayne, both of whom see Toby’s return as a threat to their power and would like nothing better than to quietly murder him. With the help of Corva, one of a community of professional stowaways who’ve developed a hibernation technique independent of the cold sleep beds invented by Toby’s mother and controlled by his siblings, Toby must understand the structure and operation of the Lockstep. He has one 46

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THE DARK AFFAIR

was a girl—begins to seek a husband in earnest and asks for his assistance, he can’t help but think she is looking for aid from the wrong quarter. Grace is the most unconventional girl he’s ever known and has grown into a stunning beauty. When she convinces him to help her, he is unnerved to find himself hugely attracted to her and not thrilled with the idea of any other man claiming her. For her part, Grace has watched her childhood crush turn away from society and nearly every person who loves him. She hopes that drawing him into her cause will reconnect him to his family and friends and the more mundane joys of everyday life he has missed out on since the deaths of his family members. And as Lovingdon comes out of his shell of grief and pain, Grace must admit that the new version of the duke, combining his young sweetness and his older sensuality, is very potent indeed; if she’s not careful, she just might fall under his spell. Best-selling romance author Heath (The Last Wicked Scoundrel, 2014, etc.) spins an emotionally touching tale of a spiritually wounded duke and the extraordinary young woman who saves him—while bringing some modern sensibilities to the couple’s trials and tribulations.

A sparkling, emotionally powerful historical romance that satisfyingly deals with physical and spiritual damage.

(Agent: Robin Rue)

Claremont, Máire Signet Eclipse/NAL (320 pp.) $7.99 paper | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-451-41801-2 Lady Margaret Cassidy has survived the horrors of the Irish Famine and the Crimean War, but navigating marriage to an opium-addicted lord in order to save her troubled brother may be the most difficult experience she’s yet faced.

Due to a ravaging drug addiction and his self-destructive behavior, Viscount Powers has ended up in an insane asylum. In desperation, his father has hired Irish aristocrat Lady Margaret to save his son. Renowned for her ability to help addicts crack their dependencies, Maggie is willing to accept the assignment, until the earl attaches the preposterous stipulation that she marry the viscount as well.

Despite the money and influence such a union will bring her, Maggie is happy to throw the offer in his face, until he hints that he might also be able to help her brother, who is on the run after attacking an English soldier for yet another indignity against his people. Only agreeing to the marriage under duress, Maggie is shocked to discover that she genuinely likes both Powers and his father, and as Powers moves closer to health, she must admit her attraction to her new husband—an unwelcome reality since marrying an English lord has created tension with her brother and the violent Irish patriots he has taken up with. Claremont tackles a number of grim elements of Victorian society in the third installment of her Mad Passions series, gripping readers with details of the era’s harshest realities while steering her characters toward the redemptive powers of forgiveness and love.

A dramatic, darkly complex story from a bold new voice in romance.

BLOSSOM STREET BRIDES

Macomber, Debbie Ballantine (336 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-345-52884-1

Spring is in the air on Blossom Street, and the baby-blanket window display at A Good Yarn might just change a few lives in bright, unexpected ways.

While she helps couples choose perfect symbols of their love and commitment, jewelry-store saleswoman and diamond specialist Lauren Elliott has been waiting years for a proposal from long-term boyfriend Todd. But the baby blanket in the window of A Good Yarn makes her question everything: Her younger sister is happily married and newly pregnant, which makes Lauren feel like she’s squandering precious time. Breaking it off with Todd leaves her open to a new, whirlwind relationship with Rooster, the man she suddenly feels she’s been waiting for all along.

Unfortunately, her dear friend and boss, Elisa, disapproves of her hasty life changes, and since Elisa is estranged from her own daughter—who is unexpectedly pregnant—she takes some frustration out on Lauren. Lauren has a new friend to confide in, though: Bethanne, the woman she met at A Good Yarn the day she met Rooster, and Bethanne is also the wife of Rooster’s best friend, Max. Bethanne has a few challenges of her own, what with an ex-husband who is making trouble for her marriage and turning their daughter against her, even as their son shares the good news that his wife is pregnant. Through everything, A Good Yarn continues to be a safe haven for women across Seattle, and Lydia, the owner, always has a shoulder to lean on or an

WHEN THE DUKE WAS WICKED

Heath, Lorraine Morrow/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $7.99 paper | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-06-227622-3 For years, the Duke of Lovingdon has lived a debauched life, so when childhood friend Lady Grace Mabry asks him to help her find her own true love, he resists; friends or not, he can’t think of a worse person to guide her in matters of the heart.

After losing his beloved wife and child, the Duke of Lovingdon stepped outside the bounds of proper behavior and onto the path of a rake. Years later, he sees no reason to change his ways: Emotional distance and an assortment of women keep his needs satisfied and his heart protected. So when Lady Grace Mabry—daughter of family friends and his shadow when she |

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“Sands easily holds the reader’s attention with the right mix of sexual tension and romantic misunderstanding...” from vampire most wanted

A PERFECT LIFE

ear with which to listen. It’s spring, and new beginnings, new births and new opportunities are all around.

Fans will happily return to the warm, welcoming sanctuary of Macomber’s Blossom Street, catching up with old friends from past Blossom Street books and meeting new ones being welcomed into the fold.

Steel, Danielle Delacorte (320 pp.) $28.00 | Jul. 15, 2014 978-0-345-53094-3

A highly successful woman ponders romance with a younger man.

Steel (Until the End of Time, 2013, etc.) returns with her latest romance. Blaise McCarthy is our heroine. With huge green eyes, red hair, fine features and a fantastic figure, Blaise could easily pass for a woman in her 30s, even though she is practically pushing 50. With stark exposition, Steel outlines a life littered with romantic troubles. Her first husband, a cameraman, died while covering news from an unspecified war zone; her second husband, a venture capitalist 22 years her senior, gave her a beloved daughter, but they soon drifted apart from each other; her next serious relationship crashed and burned when she discovered that charming Andrew Weyland had no intention of ever divorcing his wife. Luckily, her daughter, Salima, thoughtfully understands that Blaise’s job as a renowned television journalist must take precedence over time together. Blinded by juvenile diabetes, Salima still lives with a personal caregiver on the grounds of the Caldwell School in Massachusetts. It’s a perfect life, if you disregard the loneliness of coming home to an empty apartment and limiting love to dinner dates with billionaire Saudi oil executives. It’s a perfect life until Salima’s caregiver dies, the Caldwell school is shut down under quarantine, and Salima is sent home with Simon, her gorgeous, new, very male caregiver. And then there’s the arrival of Susie Quentin, the beautiful, younger new anchor jockeying for Blaise’s job. Forced to take Salima and Simon into her home, Blaise must not only endure disruptions to her routine, but also face the fact that she is strongly attracted to Simon. But could he possibly want an older woman who may not be able to give him the family he wants?

The novel’s predictability will likely delight Steel’s diehard fans, but it won’t win any new ones.

VAMPIRE MOST WANTED

Sands, Lynsay Avon/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $7.99 paper | Feb. 18, 2014 978-0-06-207817-9

Sands’ (One Lucky Vampire, 2013, etc.) newest Argeneau Vampire novel follows Basha, who has lived on the fringes of society, trying to avoid the powerful family searching for her while unwittingly setting up a showdown between the child she raised as her own and her newfound life mate.

Basha has sought to live her centuries-spanning life in the shadows, safe from powerful men she can’t trust. Lost at birth and kidnapped as a child, Basha endured every kind of torture, then sought freedom in the life of a wanderer, constantly reinventing herself in order to maintain her independence and protect her only child. But in hiding for all of her adult life, most recently in a circus as a fortuneteller known as Divine, Basha has clearly missed some vital information and has perhaps created ties with enemies of the Argeneau family. Someone is acting brutally against humans, and Marcus Notte is sent to find Basha, the beloved long-lost niece of Lucian Argeneau. But in the centuries since anyone has seen her, has she truly become attached to a gang of rogue murderers? Marcus can’t deny that Basha is hiding something, but every instinct tells him she’s a nurturer. Unfortunately, he’s also pretty sure she’s his life mate, complicating his feelings toward her as well as his investigation into what she’s been up to. This latest episode of Sands’ highly popular Argeneau Vampire series fleshes out the ancient history of the superhumans from Atlantis and pits two drifting souls against each other, seemingly keeping their happily-ever-after out of reach. A little trust, a little blistering attraction and a few scrapes they’ll have to survive with each other’s help just might put them on the path to lifelong delight. Sands easily holds the reader’s attention with the right mix of sexual tension and romantic misunderstanding plus a clever, engaging overarching history that offers an intriguing backbone to the series.

Sexy and captivating, mingling darkness and humor.

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nonfiction A CLIMATE OF CRISIS America in the Age of Environmentalism

These titles earned the Kirkus Star: CAN’T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT?

by Roz Chast..........................................................................................54

Allitt, Patrick Penguin Press (336 pp.) $29.95 | Mar. 24, 2014 978-1-59420-466-1

THE HEATHEN SCHOOL by John Demos........................................... 57 A MAN CALLED DESTRUCTION by Holly George-Warren...............59 PETE ROSE by Kostya Kennedy...........................................................63 ON THE CANCER FRONTIER by Paul A. Marks; James Sterngold.................................................................................... 68 THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA by Mark Perry.........72 THE GRAY NOTEBOOK by Joseph Pla................................................72 THE STORY OF THE JEWS by Simon Schama...................................74

THE HEATHEN SCHOOl A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic

Demos, John Knopf (352 pp.) $30.00 Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-679-45510-3

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A wide-ranging history of the American environmental movement.

Allitt (American History/Emory Univ.; The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History, 2009, etc.) offers a readable account that will provoke and displease many environmentalists. Few of the issues facing the nation—from overpopulation in the 1950s to air and water pollution in the ’60s to genetically modified foods in the ’90s to climate change today—warranted the accompanying moods of crisis, which were “usually disproportionate to the actual danger involved.” Most problems were manageable, but they were exaggerated due to media sensationalism, environmental scientists seeking recognition, the needs of a growing environmental establishment and the beneficial effects of crises on environmental groups’ memberships. “When the nation mobilized the political will it was effective in providing remedies,” writes Allitt, celebrating actions on pesticides, toxic dumps, endangered species and other issues. However, he overlooks the fact that to mobilize political will, environmental groups had to fight for attention, waging information campaigns and sounding alarms, often in the face of strong, well-financed opposition, so that the public would eventually demand legislative action. Allitt’s things-willtake-care-of-themselves view, based on sympathy with counterenvironmentalists’ ideas, informs his book. He covers major individuals and controversies over six decades, showing how Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson created constituencies for mainstream environmentalism—a mass movement by 1970— and Edward Abbey inspired activists. Highly politicized issues pitted critics, who viewed green advocates as selfish elitists, against environmentalists who saw opponents as cynical and greedy. Allitt notes Congress passed 28 major environmental laws in the decade before 1980, when President Ronald Reagan began dismantling many regulations and sparked a conservative counterenvironmentalism. Allitt dismisses the “false” claims of impending catastrophe associated with climate change, which he deems “another real but manageable problem.”

An optimistic book that downplays the clamorous work of environmental groups and attributes progress to the institutions of democracy and capitalism.

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DRAGNET NATION A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance

BROOKLYN BOUNCE The Highs and Lows of Nets Basketball’s Historic First Season in the Borough

Angwin, Julia Times/Henry Holt (304 pp.) $28.00 | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-8050-9807-5

A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist describes today’s world of indiscriminate surveillance and tries to evade it.

Angwin (Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America, 2009), who spent years covering privacy issues for the Wall Street Journal, draws on conversations with researchers, hackers and IT experts, surveying the modern dragnet tracking made possible by massive computing power, smaller devices and cheap storage of data. Such data sweeps, including increased police surveillance, gathering of information by private companies, and federal interceptions of phone calls and Internet traffic, constitute “a new type of surveillance: suspicionless, computerized, impersonal, and vast in scope.” Alarmed that personal data can and will be abused, Angwin conducted a yearlong experimental effort to make tracking her own information harder. With growing paranoia, she sought to evade tracking of her phone calls, online shopping, social media connections and other activities that might lead to impersonation, financial manipulation and other abuses. She used alternate identities and disposable cellphones; eschewed the search engine Google (which stores data) for DuckDuckGo (which does not); abandoned Gmail for Riseup, a privacy-protecting email service; unfriended 600 Facebook friends; and approached the nation’s 200 data brokers to try to gain control of her data. She encrypted many personal messages and made restaurant reservations using a credit card in the name of muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell.

The entire exercise was exhausting, fascinating, obsessive and only partly successful: Angwin avoided most online tracking, concealed her true identity in making sensitive purchases and convinced some friends to share encrypted messages. Realizing that she doesn’t want to live in the world she has built of “subterfuge and disinformation and covert actions,” she calls for new laws to make data handlers accountable.

A solid work for both privacy freaks and anyone seeking tips on such matters as how to strengthen passwords (make them longer and avoid simple dictionary words).

Appleman, Jake Scribner (288 pp.) $25.00 | Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-4767-2675-5

In his full-length debut, veteran NBA reporter Appleman chronicles the Nets’ first season following the franchise’s move from New Jersey to Brooklyn.

Since their 1967 inception as the New Jersey Americans, the Nets have always lived in the shadow of the Manhattan-based Knicks, bouncing around different home arenas in New Jersey and Long Island. Despite winning two titles in the ABA and reaching the NBA finals twice in the early 2000s, they are perhaps remembered most as the team that traded away Julius “Dr. J” Erving. But with a brand-new arena, the Barclays Center, in ultrahip downtown Brooklyn, native son and superstar rapper Jay-Z in the owners’ box (next to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who bought the team in 2009), and a talented cast of players led by star point guard Deron Williams, the franchise is ready to turn the page on its history of disappointments. The author was there every step of the way through an up-and-down season that included a coaching change and a seven-game firstround playoff loss to the Chicago Bulls. Despite his access, however, Appleman fails to deliver a coherent story, with disorienting leaps backward and forward in time, awkward gonzoesque riffs and attempts at self-deprecating humor that feel strained. At times, the book has the feel of a beat writer’s hurried postgame dispatch at the deadline, stretched to the length of an NBA season. The author successfully conveys the feeling of futility that seems to follow the team but often leaves out basic details, as if forgetting that readers were not there as well.

He ends with an account of the 2013 acquisition of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry.

Hard-core Nets fans—if they exist—might appreciate the behind-the-scenes scoop on their team, but other readers may find the disorganized narrative frustrating.

UPRISING A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother’s Daughter

Armstrong, Sally Dunne/St. Martin’s (288 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-250-04528-7 978-1-4668-4398-1 e-book

A Canadian journalist and human rights activist chronicles the acts of empowerment undertaken by women and girls across the globe against inequities and acts of brutality, which have been perpetrated against them for decades.

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“Thorough, intelligent and respectful, but more bite would have released more of Updike’s blood.” from updike

After 25 years of reporting on the dehumanizing conditions confronting females around the world, Armstrong (Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: The Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women, 2008, etc.) sensed a shift in attitudes concerning their rights.

“Until recently,” she writes, “the oppression and abuse and second-class citizenship that we endured were seen as women’s immutable lot in life, dictated by culture and religion. Now that treatment is seen as symptomatic of a failed economy, the consequences of sidelining half the world’s population.” The author highlights the attitudes and actions taken by leaders, policymakers, Nobel Prize winners and countless individual women and girls intent on creating change. She also confronts the crime of rape, noting that it “continues to be the ugly foundation of women’s story of change.” Citing brutal cases and staggering statistics from around the world—e.g., “in Kenya a girl child is raped every thirty minutes; some are as young as three months old”—Armstrong exposes horrid acts of violence coupled with little or no punishment for perpetrators. She also devotes a chapter to religion, exploring how, in nearly every religion, modern fundamentalists continue to cling to antiquated rules and practices. Armstrong exposes the truths surrounding the cultural contradictions that support honor killings and female genital mutilation, and she decries the cycle of poverty that keeps women underemployed, delaying a country’s economic and social advancement. “The changes I describe in this book are not about the triumph of women over men, Western values over Eastern, or one religion over another,” she writes.

“They’re aimed at solving the world’s most intractable problems—poverty, conflict, and violence.”

Women of all persuasions will appreciate Armstrong’s in-depth, passionate exploration of this important topic.

academic record and his matriculation at Harvard, where he earned a spot on the Harvard Lampoon staff and where he displayed the astonishing work ethic, creativity and precocity that would—while still in his 20s—earn him a staff position on the New Yorker and a lifelong publishing relationship with Alfred A. Knopf. Begley also shows us how Updike repeatedly mined his own experiences, populating his fiction with people like those in his own social circle (including his wives and many lovers).

Perhaps too frequently, the author summarizes and explicates numerous of his works (including Updike’s poems and essays) and throughout displays a patent admiration, even affection, for his subject. He suggests that Updike’s conservative social positions (on civil rights, on Vietnam) were sometimes born of a desire to be contrarian rather than of actual conviction.

Thorough, intelligent and respectful, but more bite would have released more of Updike’s blood. (16-page b/w photo insert)

UPDIKE

Begley, Adam Harper/HarperCollins (560 pp.) $34.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-06-189645-3 A sympathetic, full-meal-deal biography—life, literary works, reputation—of John Updike (1932–2009), who was considered by many to be the most talented of his generation.

Former New York Observer books editor Begley (Certitude: A Profusely Illustrated Guide to Blockheads and Bullheads, Past and Present, 2009, etc.) erects his formidable edifice on a sturdy foundation of research and convention. He interviewed the relevant relatives and friends, trod the ground in Pennsylvania (Updike’s state of birth and youth), Massachusetts and elsewhere, and read all the works of Updike’s most prolific career. Begley begins in Berks County, Pa., and shows us Updike’s town-and-country boyhood, a time filled with reading and drawing and observing. His father was a public school teacher (see Updike’s The Centaur); his mother, a homemaker and writer (she published in the New Yorker—like her son and grandson—and wrote novels). We see Updike’s stellar schoolboy |

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THE PROMISE OF A PENCIL How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change

Braun, Adam Scribner (288 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4767-3062-2

The founder and CEO of the nonprofit Pencils of Promise explains the secret of his success: reliance on social media and “cause marketing.”

In 2008, Braun left his career as a management consultant to devote himself to global education. His first plan was to build schools for impoverished children in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Encouraged by his initial success, he expanded his goal.

“I wasn’t just interested in building one school anymore,” he writes. “I wanted to build a movement that changed people’s perception of charity.” In 2013, PoP built its 100th school, in Ghana. The author credits his upbringing for his remarkable success. Although he was raised in an affluent environment, he was never allowed to develop a sense of entitlement. While an undergraduate at Brown University, he joined the Semester at Sea program. His near-death experience during a ferocious storm at sea and the poverty he witnessed backpacking in Asia altered his life. “I now knew my life had a purpose,” he writes.

The author’s choice of a name for the nonprofit was inspired by an experience during his travels; he asked a boy what he would choose if he could have anything he wanted. Despite Braun’s prestigious Wall Street job, by his 25th birthday, his life felt empty, so he took on an after-hours project to fundraise for a Cambodian school. Then, with help from a wide circle of friends, he decided to strike out on his own and raised $25,000 to build a school in Laos. He solicited practical and financial support from personal friends and a growing Facebook group, and he was able to elicit backing from the business community.

The author skillfully weaves together his personal memoir and the professional challenges he faced.

Informative and inspiring but somewhat marred by a self-congratulatory tone.

A FEW SECONDS OF RADIANT FILMSTRIP A Memoir of Seventh Grade Brockmeier, Kevin Pantheon (208 pp.) $24.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-307-90898-8 978-0-307-90899-5 e-book

A portrait of the author as a seventhgrader who’s a little more sensitive but otherwise not much different than most.

In his acknowledgements, novelist Brockmeier (The Illumination, 2011, etc.) categorizes this as an “odd little memoir-novel-thing,” which serves as an apt description. It is a 52

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coming-of-puberty account of the seventh-grade school year, one that finds friends turning to bullying, acquaintances becoming friends and girls remaining unattainable. “Kevin is good with stories and always has been,” he writes of the protagonist of this narrative, the only character who is fully developed; he’s as self-conscious as most adolescents are during a stage of such tumultuous change. He has spent the summer with his father and returns to the home he shares with his mother and brother to find that everything has changed: music, slang, activities, allegiances. Of course, that will all change and change again, and those he considered his friends will ridicule him the most, finding “the softest tools they can use to hurt him,” a milder form of what would now be recognized as bullying. “He has always been the kid who cries too easily and laughs too easily,” writes Brockmeier, but “he is trying hard not to be him anymore, that kid.”

The pivotal chapter takes the nonfictional form of magical realism, anticipating Kevin’s future, putting his (then) present crises in perspective and offering him a choice that could change the course of his existence. Otherwise, it’s a book about coming to terms, accepting that “it’s too late for you to become a different person. You’ll never be tall, and you’ll never be strong.” But he will become a writer, which is what he was even back then.

Often charming, occasionally moving, but mainly a book about not much that hasn’t happened to pretty much everyone and which pretty much everyone has survived.

MORAL IMAGINATION Essays

Bromwich, David Princeton Univ. (376 pp.) $27.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-691-16141-9

A collection of (mostly) recent essays that range in focus from moral philosophy to American history to book reviews to op-ed.

New York Review of Books contributor Bromwich (English/Yale Univ.; Skeptical Music: Essays on Modern Poetry, 2001, etc.) begins with some scholarly essays addressed to a scholarly audience, but in his final section, he offers a collection of pieces—liberal in politics (anti–Bush/Cheney, antiwar, pro–Edward Snowden)—aimed at more general readers.

Some heroes emerge in the early essays, among them Abraham Lincoln (“Hatred of violence and love of liberty are clues to Lincoln’s political character”), Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. The author argues that a moral person must have imagination, especially to see the needs of strangers as clearly as the needs of friends. One particularly strong piece (“The American Psychosis,” 2002) views Emerson as a “moral psychologist” and has kind and erudite words for Henry James’ “The Jolly Corner” and Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Bromwich follows that with a sharp piece about Americans’ obsession with celebrity and finds useful illustrations in the work of James, Nathanael West, Franz Kafka and others. In another piece, he chides Americans for |

self-delusion (we fail to see our own violence, imperialism and hypocrisy). In a review of Terry Eagleton’s Holy Terror (2005), Bromwich notes that terrorism and war are on the same continuum and observes, “Man is a self-justifying animal.” The final pieces blast the war in Iraq, the privatization of the military (Blackwater, etc.), the writing of William Safire, the government’s employment of euphemism and the disappointing failure of Barack Obama to control the excesses of the National Security Agency. The author sees Snowden as a hero of sorts, manifestly not a traitor.

Bibliophiles, scholars and concerned citizens—all will find provocation and enlightenment here.

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THE EMBRACE OF UNREASON France, 1914-1940

Brown, Frederick Knopf (368 pp.) $28.95 | Apr. 4, 2014 978-0-307-59515-7

The author of Zola (1995) and Flaubert (2006) once again demonstrates his profound knowledge of French history, its people and their psyche.

Brown’s Soul of France: Culture Wars in the Age of Dreyfus (2010) showed France’s struggle from the revolution into the Third Republic. Here, the author digs even deeper in the fight for minds beginning with the effects of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The rise of xenophobia after the loss of Alsace-Lorraine was as much an indication of antiSemitism as anything else. The Third Republic, with its revolving door of ministers, only exacerbated the rise of extremists.

Maurice Barrès, a dedicated Boulangist, was radicalized by the

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“A revelatory and occasionally hilarious memoir by the New Yorker cartoonist on helping her parents through their old age.” from can’t we talk about something more pleasant?

Panama Canal Company scandal and the Dreyfus Affair, and he blamed the Jewish syndicate. Together with Charles Maurras, he founded Action Française, a monarchist newspaper that attempted to destroy every political adversary with slander campaigns. As editor in chief, Léon Daudet completed the unholy trinity devoted to yellow journalism, using fear as the weapon of choice. His youth organization, the Camelots du Roi, was only one of the militant leagues that turned demonstrations into blood baths. The onset of World War I further fed the young intellectuals’ fears and obsessions, and Joan of Arc became their symbol of patriotism. Men like Pierre Drieu, who marched to war with the works of Nietzsche in his knapsack, and André Breton led the surrealists in their quest for the annihilation of being. Brown explores all the great and complicated minds of this period, including socialists, communists, fascists, royalists and radicals. Francophiles will love this book, but the roiling currents of philosophical and political ideas may daunt some readers.

Read this illuminating book to see frightening similarities to the early years of the 21st century. The lies, innuendo, invented evidence and baseless arguments are all too familiar. (51 illustrations)

CAFFEINATED How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us

Carpenter, Murray Hudson Street/Penguin (288 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 13, 2014 978-1-59463-138-2

Having opined on caffeine for various publications, including the New York Times and Wired, Carpenter delivers a compelling compendium of facts and figures on this “largely unregulated drug.”

The author readily admits his addiction to the stimulant.

While his favorite caffeine delivery system is coffee, others prefer sweet sodas, high-octane energy drinks, or caffeine-laced gum, pills or gels. “What few of us are willing to admit,” he writes, “is that the essence of our longing is this bitter white powder.”

Carpenter blends intriguing historical episodes with interviews, accounts of treks to caffeine-related locations and a multitude of test results. The author’s barrage of facts and statistics is initially intriguing but eventually leaves readers buried within the aggregation of data. More gripping are Carpenter’s accounts of the long-running corporate marketing tactics designed to underplay caffeine’s ability to cause panic attacks, insomnia or anxiety—not to mention addiction. The author details the military’s ongoing search for products designed to keep soldiers “amped up” with caffeinated foods—e.g., a caffeinated apple pie in a package resembling a toothpaste tube. Carpenter uncovers other bizarre applications as well, such as caffeine-infused pantyhose that are marketed with the promise of weight loss.

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of Maryland’s School of Public Health. Refused access to the world’s largest synthetic caffeine factory in China, Carpenter notes that the industry is far from transparent; inspections are rare, and conditions are not always sanitary. “Just three Chinese factories exported seven million pounds of synthetic caffeine to the United States in 2011,” writes the author, “nearly half of our total imports.”

Carpenter’s entertaining narrative dissects caffeine’s circuitous route into consumer culture and its tenacious hold on the human mind and body.

CAN’T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT? A Memoir Chast, Roz Illus. by Chast, Roz Bloomsbury (240 pp.) $28.00 | May 6, 2014 978-1-60819-806-1

A revelatory and occasionally hilarious memoir by the New Yorker cartoonist on helping her parents through their old age.

Few graphic memoirs are as engaging and powerful as this or strike a more responsive chord. Chast (What I Hate, 2011, etc.) retains her signature style and wry tone throughout this long-form blend of text and drawings, but nothing she’s done previously hits home as hard as this account of her family life as the only child of parents who had never even dated anyone else and whose deep bond left little room for this intruder in their midst. Yet, “the reality was that at 95, their minds and bodies were falling apart,” and these two people who had only relied on each other were forced to rely on a host of caretakers, their daughter in particular, and to move from the Brooklyn apartment that had been home for half a century into a series of facilities that provided fewer and fewer amenities at escalating expense. Chast rarely lapses into sentimentality and can often be quite funny, as she depicts mortality as “The Moving Sidewalk of Life” (“Caution: Drop-Off Ahead”) or deals with dread and anxiety on the “Wheel of DOOM, surrounded by the ‘cautionary’ tales of my childhood.” The older her parents get, the more their health declines and the more expensive the care they require, the bleaker the story becomes—until, toward the end, a series of 12 largely wordless drawings of her mother’s final days represents the most intimate and emotionally devastating art that Chast has created. So many have faced (or will face) the situation that the author details, but no one could render it like she does.

A top-notch graphic memoir that adds a whole new dimension to readers’ appreciation of Chast and her work.

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THINGS I SHOULD HAVE TOLD MY DAUGHTER Lies, Lessons, & Love Affairs

KITTY GENOVESE The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America

Cleage, Pearl Atria (320 pp.) $23.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4516-6469-0

Cleage (Just Wanna Testify, 2011, etc.) reprints journal entries chronicling her tumultuous life in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Do us all a favor,” said her nowgrown daughter. “Burn them up and be done with it.” But the author wants to share the decades in which she discovered her vocation as a playwright, poet and novelist while remaining deeply engaged in political activism, as a speechwriter for the first black mayor of Atlanta, and as a feminist grappling with marriage, motherhood, divorce and subsequent sexual freedom.

Entries from the early 1970s in particular plunge us back into a time when a substantial number of young Americans, including African-Americans such as Cleage, honestly believed either a revolution or a fascist takeover was imminent. The great virtue of this seemingly unedited journal is that it gives a vivid sense of a real life’s varied nature, with an entry about how women can serve the revolution followed by the author’s comments on the film Women in Love. (She’s an avid moviegoer, fond of French New Wave and Hollywood alike, and her musical enthusiasms run from Bruce Springsteen to Peabo Bryson.) The drawback is that there are absolutely no notes in the text to do anything as basic as identify “Daddy” (Cleage’s father, prominent civil rights activist Bishop Albert Cleage) or the last name of her first husband, Michael (Lomax). Cleage apparently thinks everybody knows all about her public life, and she comes across as selfinvolved, even within the context of a journal. (The solipsism is leavened by some poignant letters from her dying mother and a couple of tough professional memos to Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson.) She’s also ruthlessly candid: about her professional ambitions; her jealousy of more successful writers, especially if they’re also female and black; her unabashed indulgence in marijuana and alcohol; and her multiple love affairs, often with married men. Readers won’t always like her, but they should know her very well after 300 pages of unmediated effusions.

A warts-and-all self-portrait rendered in juicy, robust prose.

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Cook, Kevin Norton (288 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 3, 2014 978-0-393-23928-7

The infamous myth-shrouded murder of Kitty Genovese (1935–1964) receives a much-needed re-evaluation.

The brutal, senseless murder of Kew Gardens resident Genovese went down in history as what magazine journalist and Cook (Titanic Thompson: The Man Who Bet on Everything, 2010, etc.) calls a “crime that lasted forever.” It lasted “forever” both in the sense that Genovese’s death was slow and painful from multiple stab wounds and in the psychological repercussions of the case, which would reverberate throughout academic and popular-culture circles for decades to come. The controversy that became front-page news and began to overshadow both victim and killer over the years was how 38 bystanders could have witnessed psychopath Winston Moseley stab young Genovese to death and not intervene in any way, thereby leaving her to die alone only a short walking distance from her apartment.

Cook’s main agenda is myth-busting while also exploring the ways in which society has collectively learned lessons from those same myths about the 38 passive bystanders. But as we find out through Cook’s prolonged analysis of the case, Genovese’s murder was not quite the lonely death it was made out to be. Nevertheless, the author cites instances of how both criminals and victims of crimes learned from these long-perpetuated “bystander” untruths, as he eventually arrives at some well-founded conclusions on this controversial subject. Cook’s breathless pacing and painstaking research manage to make his minibio of Genovese sound more interesting that it should: He frames her own fairly quotidian existence (other than her attraction to women, which was definitely not quotidian in 1964) in the bigger picture of the important social changes that were taking place in New York City and in America as a whole in the early 1960s. The author’s game-changing contribution to the Genovese case pushes past mere sensationalism into previously unexplored territory.

An engrossing true-crime tour de force. (16 pages of photos)

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LIFE IN MOTION An Unlikely Ballerina

Copeland, Misty with Jones, Charisse Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (288 pp.) $24.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4767-3798-0

A celebrated African-American ballet dancer’s account of her unlikely rise to stardom.

Home was a relative term for Copeland. Her mother left her father when she was 2 and took the family from Kansas City to Southern California. There, they moved in with a man who was an alcoholic. Several years later, the author’s mother took her children and moved in with another man who ruled the family home with a stern, and sometimes brutal, hand. In this new environment, Copeland, who loved to perform, discovered that she could also “instantly do moves that it might take others months to achieve.” She began to teach herself gymnastics and, in middle school, became the drill team captain. Encouraged to take ballet classes at the local chapter of the Boys and Girls Club, Copeland learned basic ballet movement with astonishing rapidity. “I began hearing a word over and over again…that would follow me, define me,” she writes. “Prodigy.”

But as her dancing flourished, her home life began to crumble.

Soon, she, her mother and siblings had moved into a crowded motel room. A ballet teacher brought Copeland to live with her and prepare “for the career that was looming for [her].” Under pressure from her increasingly outraged mother, the courts forced the woman to return the girl to her home. By then, Copeland’s talent had brought her media attention and offers to attend schools sponsored by prestigious dance companies. One, the American Ballet Theatre, eventually became her permanent home. As Copeland learned, however, her dream to dance ballet and become a soloist for the ABT came at a high price, both physically and emotionally.

Copeland’s depiction of the drive that pushed her to succeed in a white-dominated art form is inspiring, but she often overplays her narrative hand to the point where self-assurance comes across as smugness or arrogance.

Interesting but self-congratulatory reading. (8-page 4-color photo insert)

HERE WE ARE NOW The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain Cross, Charles R. It Books/HarperCollins (192 pp.) $22.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-230821-4

Routine assessment of Kurt Cobain’s cultural influence.

Editor of the now-defunct Seattle music magazine The Rocket at the height of the city’s music scene in the 1990s, Cross (Led Zeppelin: Shadows Taller than Our Souls, 2009, etc.) has written several 56

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biographies of local heroes, including the best-selling and critically acclaimed Cobain life story Heavier than Heaven (2001). In this slim book, the author sets out to make the case for six areas in which Cobain’s influence was most strongly felt: music (primarily rock, not surprisingly, but also hip-hop); popular culture and media; fashion; the cities of Seattle and Aberdeen, Wash. (the depressed community where Cobain was born and raised); the ways addiction and suicide are prevented or treated; and his legacy among family and peers. The divisions among these areas are not always sharp, and in many cases cited by the author, Cobain can’t be credited solely or even primarily. For instance, though the phenomenon called grunge takes up a major part of Cross’ attention, he admits that Cobain never considered himself part of that alleged movement, the name of which was popularized by Mark Arm of the Seattle band Mr. Epp and the Calculations. Also, was it Cobain or Nirvana as a whole that was responsible for practically inventing the category of alternative rock for record stores and radio stations? It was, however, undoubtedly Cobain who, with his dirt-poor taste in thrift-shop cardigans, Army surplus plaids and generic ripped jeans, influenced a whole generation of fashionistas like Marc Jacobs and Hedi Slimane. Every so often, fashion resets with a new grunge period of anti-style, and Cross convincingly argues that we have Cobain and his widow, Courtney Love, to thank for that.

A perfunctory accounting that reads like a stretchedout Sunday supplement article.

THE HORSE LOVER A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs Day, H. Alan with Sneyd, Lynn Wiese Bison/Univ. of Nebraska (264 pp.) $24.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8032-5335-3

With the assistance of literary publicist and author Sneyd, rancher Day (coauthor, with sister Sandra Day O’Connor: Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest, 2002, etc.) delivers a lively report of his four years tending 1,500 unadoptable wild mustangs.

When Day embarked on a project to release a large herd of wild mustangs that had been rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management, it was uncharted territory. The author had recently acquired 35,000 acres of undulating grassland prairie in southern South Dakota that he felt was ideal for turning out the horses to roam. In a warm, salt-of-the-earth manner—“Good luck had stuffed itself in my pocket long ago, and adventure had been my friend since I was old enough to scramble on the back of Chico...trying my five-year-old darnedest to keep up with the big cowboys”—Day recounts how he was able to get the BLM, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Congress to support the program. Soon, he found himself with a rambunctious collection of mustang rejects. Day passionately explains what it is like to learn ranching in the Sand Hills and how to tame the wild horses, which, under their normal conditions, would prefer to have |

“A slow-building saga that delivers a powerful final wallop.” from the heathen school

little to do with humans—e.g., when Kevin Costner dropped by to see if Mustang Meadow Ranch would be suitable for filming part of Dances with Wolves, upsetting the horses in the process: “A few horses started pawing the ground. They began to vibrate like a hive of irritated bees, their heads now alert, their tails swishing….Within a minute, the herd was stampeding.” There was an ugly finale to the project but not before Day brought to life the ranch and its wild array of flora and fauna.

A fresh, occasionally biting report from the early days of a mustang sanctuary. (b/w photos)

WISE LATINAS Writers on Higher Education

De Leon, Jennifer Univ. of Nebraska (240 pp.) $25.00 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8032-4593-8

This aptly named collection of essays lives up to its title, a reference to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s quote that a “wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Don’t be put off by the subtitle, which suggests dry academic reading; these personal essays are full of learning and life. Contributors from different backgrounds and generations, including Sandra Cisneros, Ruth Behar, Joy Castro and Iris Gomez, preside over these pages with a wide range of concerns, including alienation, isolation and sexuality. In her introduction, essayist De Leon, a Boston schoolteacher, sets the tone with a tribute to her mother, a housekeeper from Guatemala who worked tirelessly to be sure her daughters went to college.

Indeed, one of the common threads in the book is the idea of parental sacrifice for the betterment of children. The flip side can be a sense of loss and alienation­­ that comes from opening up cultural gaps within families. In “Stories She Told Us,” Daisy Hernández tries to bridge the chasm between what she learns in the classroom and the hardships faced by her mother, who came to America from Colombia. She shares feminist ideas with her mother, thinking this knowledge will save her; eventually, however, she realizes, “[a]ll the things I’m trying to tell her, have been trying to teach her about, all these things that I needed words for, my mother already knows.” Julia Alvarez, whose family fled the Dominican Republic under political duress, writes of her early academic alienation in America, when what was taught and how she was supposed to learn did not include “my ways of perceiving and moving in the world.” In the wonderfully imaginative “WhiteGirlColorlessAfriPana,” Gail M. Dottin ponders identity in a funny/sad/philosophic dialogue with herself.

The abundance of high-quality material makes the book hard to put down. While it focuses on Latina experiences, the emotional truths these writers express have a broader resonance.

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THE HEATHEN SCHOOL A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic Demos, John Knopf (352 pp.) $30.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-679-45510-3

A carefully constructed study—featuring a chilling denouement—of the disruptive effects of “civilizing” mission work among indigenous peoples.

Demos (Emeritus, History/Yale Univ.; The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-hunting in the Western World, 2008, etc.) manages a sly, significant feat in this historical study/personal exploration. As part of a grandiose scheme to redeem and improve the status of “savages” such as American Indians, the early Americans devised a “heathen school” in Cornwall, Conn., for some of the exemplary members of various ethnic groups, beginning with five Pacific Islanders brought to the shores by trade ships. The Hawaiian native Henry Obookiah proved the most famous immigrant, having arrived around 1809, eager to be educated, Christianized and sheltered with Yale faculty.

Eventually, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sponsored him, along with the other Hawaiians, for the Foreign Mission School, inaugurated in 1817. The school was run by philanthropic donations, and it taught a mix of English, arithmetic and geography, for the eventual purpose of conversion and evangelization. Gaining new students from some of the Indian nations, East Asia and elsewhere, the school helped undermine some of the stereotypes about the intelligence of “pagans” and served as a model experiment as well as a tourist attraction. However, the seeds of its success, namely assimilation and acculturation, also led to its downfall, as the “scholars” attracted white women partners and, thereby, scandal amid a deeply racist America. The two success stories, involving Cherokee scholars John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, both married white women and moved to the Cherokee Nation, gaining important leadership roles that, ultimately, steered the nation’s fate toward removal and thereby invited the men’s own violent demises. In “interludes” alternating with his historical narrative, Demos chronicles his visits to the places involved—e.g., Hawaii, Cornwall—in order to impart a personal commitment to this collective American tragedy.

A slow-building saga that delivers a powerful final wallop. (8 pages of color illustrations)

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THE SECRET LIFE OF SLEEP

Duff, Kat Beyond Words/Atria (256 pp.) $24.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-58270-468-5

An investigation of the many mysteries of sleep, a subject that “opens a Pandora’s box of bigger questions of consciousness and unconsciousness, remembering and forgetting, body and soul, and reality itself.”

Though sleep has often been the subject of clinical studies and pharmaceutical research, its cultural history is rarely thoroughly explored. Mental health counselor Duff (The Alchemy of Illness, 1993) delves deep into the human experience of sleep to reach a better understanding of its causes and effects. Historically, it’s interesting to note that even basic sleep patterns have changed significantly since industrialization: Before time was managed so tightly in order to accommodate the modern workday, people slept in two chunks rather than one long sleep. As a result, more pressure is put on that overnight slumber—common wisdom today is that eight hours is the minimum required for an alert, productive morning—which, in turn, has led to widespread dependence on pharmaceutical sleep aids. The author weaves captivating anecdotes with scientific data, detailing how brain activity alters during sleep, relaxing reality-bound inhibitions and often leading to moments of great insight. Duff argues that everyone dreams, whether those experiences are remembered or not, and that these nocturnal mental adventures have a big effect on the decisions we make while awake. History is rife with narratives of breakthroughs occurring within dreams, further evidence of how profoundly sleep influences creativity.

The author’s multidisciplinary approach and relatable writing is a breath of fresh air, and her enthusiasm for her subject echoes how many of us feel—we love to sleep. By understanding the mechanisms that make sleep possible, our symbiotic relationship with this nightly ritual has the potential to dramatically improve.

Full of unique insights and surprising facts, this book brings to the fore an entire world that exists behind closed eyes.

EARTHQUAKE STORMS The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault Dvorak, John Pegasus (352 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 12, 2014 978-1-60598-495-7

A thoroughly rewarding explanation of earthquakes built around the famous San Andreas fault, which runs the length of California.

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result of exploding underground gases, volcanism or a wrinkling of the Earth’s surface as it slowly cooled. Much of their enlightenment occurred in California, and the author turns up half a dozen intrepid, eccentric and largely unknown geologists (Grove Gilbert, Andrew Lawson, Charles Richter, Harry Fielding Reid) whose insights began to converge after the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In the massive studies that followed, scientists could not fail to notice the long San Andreas fault, a crack in the Earth’s surface soon found to extend the entire length of the state. No one doubted that movement along this fault had occurred during the quake since roads, pipes, rails and fences that crossed the line had shifted as much as 20 feet and always in the same direction. This was considered an effect, not a cause of the quake, and the few perceptive observers who disagreed were dismissed. It’s a rule of science that facts mean little in the absence of a good theory to explain them. This finally arrived in the 1960s with plate tectonics, which asserted that vast, floating segments of the Earth’s crust are creeping horizontally past each other. One segment often sticks fast against its neighbor; pressure builds over decades until it breaks loose, producing one or a series of quakes. “[T]he San Andreas Fault and its many subsidiary faults are slowly tearing California apart,” writes the author, “so that much of what is California today will be transformed into a collection of islands that are destined to be rafted northward across the Pacific.”

Although almost entirely focused on California, this is a fine popular primer on the subject, lucidly written and no more technical than necessary. (8 pages of photos)

YOUNG WIDOWER A Memoir

Evans, John W. Univ. of Nebraska (200 pp.) $19.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8032-4952-3

Wallace Stegner fellow Evans (Creative Writing/Stanford Univ.) mourns the untimely death of his wife.

The author’s wife, Katie, died horrifically at the age of 30, killed by a bear during a walk in the Carpathian Mountains near Bucharest, Romania, and the author was there to witness her death. Katie had been athletic, bright and beautiful, and she worked in public health, while her husband taught English. She and Evans had met in the Peace Corps in Bangladesh, and during their seven years together, they lived in Chicago, Miami and Bucharest.

Evans recalls their brief life as a couple in flashbacks, eschewing chronology. Though he vividly recounts the circumstances of Katie’s exceptional death, this is the author’s story, a memoir of grieving and consolation, of trying to define a young widower’s public face and private essence. “I have three soft-cover notebooks in which I wrote daily accounts of my life during that year,” he writes. “The journal is a matter of will and record. I wanted to survive grief. I feared I would lose, with time, the intensity of my reactions.” Evans takes us with him through the |

“A thoroughly reported biography illuminating the life and work of one of the more mystifying and influential cult figures in rock.” from a man called destruction

many elements of the tragedy and aftermath: the funeral, the family relations, the therapy, the insurance settlement and the banking arrangements. Often, the heartfelt support of family and friends was insufficient to assuage the survivor’s guilt or the wrenching pain. The emotional narrative is a study in loss, a confession and a search for meaning. The year after Katie died, the writer lived in a room in the back of the house of his sisterin-law and her family in Indiana. “My time in Indiana evolves in stages: grieving widower, live-in uncle, surrogate,” he writes. “I am less often the interloper….Vulnerable and partially present, I live in small incidents of grief that bring us together.”

An urgent, palpably emotional account of coping with extreme grief.

WHERE NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball Feinstein, John Doubleday (384 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-385-53593-9

One of the doyens of the sportswriting world takes on the national pastime with a frenetic road trip to minor league clubhouses and fields where true baseball is played.

Longtime sports journalist (Washington Post, Golf Digest, etc.) Feinstein (Foul Trouble, 2013, etc.) chronicles his tours of the farm clubs for a season to uncover real life in the old ballgame. It’s where erstwhile pitchers get injured too much and agile outfielders can’t bat much better than .200. All the participants—players, coaches, managers, broadcasters, umpires and groundskeepers—want to get sent up from the minors to the major league. Some may have been there before; all dream of being called up once or once more. There, the pay is much better—the lowest paycheck is about five times the highest in the minors—and life is good, as well, with decent hotel stays, better clubhouses and travel by charter planes instead of lengthy bus rides. That’s nice, though clearly, the attraction is simply proof of superior ability to play the game. “The most poignant stories in sports are never about the multimillionaires who make their games look easy,” writes the author, “but about the guys who love their games, even though they often fail while playing them.” For most journeyman athletes, far more likely than making the jump to the big leagues is being sent down or released (baseball for “fired”). Feinstein focuses on the careers of two managers, two outfielders, two pitchers, a designated hitter and an umpire through the 2012 season in the International League, but his roster is crowded with many others who wear many different uniforms during the summer. Ultimately, the narrative loses some focus as the wandering athletes, in loving servitude to the game, come and go and come again in these pages.

A kaleidoscopic insiders’ story of baseball as played by the Durham Bulls, Buffalo Bisons, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Norfolk Tides and others like them. |

BUMPOLOGY The Myth-Busting Pregnancy Book for Curious Parents-to-Be Geddes, Linda Simon & Schuster (416 pp.) $14.99 paper | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4516-8499-5

A compilation of advice on pregnancy, birth and infants.

When London-based journalist Geddes discovered she was pregnant, she began “obsessing over what this jelly bean–shaped blob (which already showed signs of extraordinary wit and intelligence) was doing in there.” In order to answer the many questions she now had regarding pregnancy, labor and the care of newborns, the author dove into scientific journals, newspaper articles and the brains of doctors to sift the data and scads of conflicting reports. The result is this assemblage of 150 questions and answers. The many topics include eating (“How dangerous is it to eat Camembert and blue cheese?”; “Do pregnant women really eat coal?”; “Can unborn babies taste what Mom is eating?”), concerns about the growing fetus (“Can a baby detect its mother’s mood?”; “Do unborn babies dream?”; “How do fingerprints develop?”); labor; C-sections vs. vaginal births; the pros and cons of a home delivery vs. a hospital birth; and the physical and emotional aftereffects of labor on the mother. In the section on newborns, Geddes covers pacifiers, breast-feeding and bottle feeding, the significance of the color of baby poop, infant sleeping habits and whether one can influence the gender of a child. “Having a baby can be one of the greatest joys that life bestows, but it is hard work,” writes the author. “We can do without any unnecessary guilt, anxiety, and doubt.” Geddes addresses the multitude of concerns any woman experiencing pregnancy for the first time may have and offers solid, no-nonsense answers, effectively alleviating much of the guilt, anxiety and doubt any new parent may face. She also includes a helpful glossary for readers unfamiliar with the many new terms they will encounter, including, among dozens of others, bilirubin, hindmilk, syntocinon and ventouse.

Straightforward, stress-reducing answers to the most common pregnancy and post-pregnancy questions.

A MAN CALLED DESTRUCTION The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, from Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man

George-Warren, Holly Viking (384 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 24, 2014 978-0-670-02563-3

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Few musicians have ever experienced a career trajectory and musical progression quite like Alex Chilton’s (1950–2010).

At the age of 16, he enjoyed (if that’s the word) not only his biggest hit, but “the biggest hit single ever recorded in Memphis” with “The Letter” as the lead singer of the Box Tops. Though he was little more than a hired voice, he subsequently established his creative bona fides in Big Star, a band so influential that it all but invented indie rock. That band suffered from a series of recording-label disasters that prevented it from reaching its popular potential at the time, but Chilton subsequently proceeded to confuse his fervent fan base (which increased, along with his influence, as bigger bands such as R.E.M. paid homage) with solo recordings that ranged from abrasively noisy and raw to lounge lizard-y (including “Volare”). It may be hard to find the common denominator, but veteran rock journalist GeorgeWarren (Public Cowboy No. 1: The Life and Times of Gene Autry, 2007, etc.) connects the dots, showing how it all fit together: his Southern upbringing in a family that was patrician, artistic and permissive, his early mood swings, his later suspicion of the music business and rejection of the adulation that belatedly came his way. He became a true bohemian, bedeviled by alcohol, drugs and a penchant for tempestuous romance. He even took an extended hiatus from music to work as a New Orleans dishwasher (and later live in a tent). But he came to terms with his life and legacy before his death at 59, and “he died a happy man,” perhaps the most surprising twist for such a complicated musician and man.

As an artist who “left behind…many lifetimes of brilliant music, a legacy that will inspire generations to come,” Chilton receives the biography he deserves.

THE REMEDY Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis Goetz, Thomas Gotham Books (320 pp.) $27.00 | Apr. 7, 2014 978-1-59240-751-4

The story of a pair of unlikely heroes who crossed paths in Berlin in 1890 and forever changed the landscapes of medi-

cine and literature.

In the late 19th century, tuberculosis was an incurable scourge that killed indiscriminately and ravaged populations; for decades, it was the leading cause of death in Europe and the United States. The origin of the disease was a complete mystery, as was its uncanny ability to travel from one person to another. One young country doctor in Germany, Robert Koch (1843–1910), became determined to apply new theories of microbiology to his study of TB. His great breakthrough, that “germs” are isolatable bacteria that have infectious properties, profoundly changed the field of medicine. Meanwhile, another young country doctor, Arthur Conan Doyle, followed news of Koch’s discovery from England. A moonlighting writer, Doyle 60

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traveled to Berlin when Koch announced a demonstration of a “cure” he’d devised from his laboratory research. Doyle’s disappointment was acute; while Koch’s germ theories were revolutionary, his remedy was bunk. Doyle pulled no punches in his takedown of Koch’s remedy, but what he learned about Koch’s methodology and earlier success left an indelible impression on his fiction. The idea of scientific detective work inspired Doyle to give up medicine and pursue literature full-time, and the character Sherlock Holmes—with his signature “science of deduction” technique—was born. Atlantic correspondent Goetz (The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine, 2010) weaves these two narratives through a history of medical best practices, a fascinating period marked by improved hygienic practices and the possibility of new vaccines. Koch’s legacy remains robust (he was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1905 despite his remedy gaffe), and his great accomplishment is a tenet that Doyle held dear in his stories: There exists a possibility of defense from any attacking agent, so long as the right clues are uncovered.

A beguiling real-life medical detective story.

THE IMPROBABILITY PRINCIPLE Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day

Hand, David J. Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (288 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 11, 2014 978-0-374-17534-4

Enlightening and entertaining explanation of why extraordinary events are to be expected.

Former Royal Statistical Society president Hand (Emeritus, Mathematics/Imperial Coll., London; Statistics: A Very Short Introduction, 2008, etc.) is an erudite but utterly unpretentious guide to the often confusing and counterintuitive subject of probability and its underappreciated complement, improbability.

He explains why we should not be surprised, for example, when some people win lotteries or are hit by lightning multiple times, despite the odds against either event happening to any single person even once being vanishingly small. Chapter by chapter, Hand pieces together the threads of what he calls the “Improbability Principle,” showing that if something can happen, given enough time and enough opportunities (according to the law of very large numbers), it will happen. But he also reveals that extraordinary events which, in theory, are highly improbable or even impossible, usually prove, upon closer inspection, to have “probability levers” that raise the odds they will happen: Roy Sullivan was struck seven times by lightning, which would seem fantastical if you didn’t know he was a forest ranger. “The Improbability Principle tells us that events which we regard as highly improbable occur because we got things wrong,” writes Hand. “If we can find out where we went wrong, then the improbable will become probable.” Without taxing casual readers with strenuous math, |

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the author coolly examines many fascinating examples of the unlikely, including odd coincidences—as when actor Anthony Hopkins found a copy of the book his next film project was to be based on in an empty seat on a subway train and learned weeks later that the copy belonged to a friend of the book’s author who was preparing an American edition—hot streaks in sports, ESP research, C.G. Jung’s accounts of synchronicity, and even the origins of life and the universe.

Ably and assuredly demystifies an ordinarily intimidating subject. (6 b/w illustrations)

UGANDA BE KIDDING ME

Handler, Chelsea A Chelsea Handler Book/Borderline Amazing® Publishing/Grand Central Publishing (272 pp.) $27.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4555-9973-8 Further globe-trotting adventures of the scandalous talk show host.

TV host and author Handler (Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me, 2011, etc.) returns with another chronicle of bad behavior, this time focusing on her various fabulous vacations to such exotic destinations as Africa and Switzerland. Her shtick remains intact: an unapologetic stream of calculated outrageousness, including casual near-racism, abuse heaped on friends and family, overindulgence in various intoxicating substances, sexual frankness and scatological misadventure (“Mixing Metamucil with vodka will be successful in helping you go to the bathroom, but your timing should be strategic if staying with a friend. Once you clog someone’s toilet, they have a hard time remembering anything about you other than you clogging their toilet”). The results are fitfully funny, though the author’s grotesque sense of privilege and entitlement begins to grate; though this tone is certainly also part of Handler’s highly polished comic persona, readers not blessed with the TV star’s wealth and coterie of pampering enablers may begin to resent her petty complaints and blithe disregard for consequences. The bulk of the narrative concerns Handler’s safari expedition in Africa, and the author’s observations, when not actively offensive, are amusing.

Handler is particularly adept at realizing her characters: Her traveling companions, safari guides and resort staffers emerge vividly drawn, and her ear for distinctive and telling dialogue is well-honed. She is less successful maintaining interest when going on about her dogs, a common pitfall of overly involved pet owners. The highlights of the book are a riotously funny set piece in which our heroine evacuates into her bathing suit while perilously far from appropriate restroom facilities and a reproduced email exchange between Handler and a pathetically delusional suitor. This material is by turns gross, mean and compulsively funny, which sums up the appeal of the book when Handler is on her game.

Fans of Handler’s outrageous persona will find much to enjoy; the unconverted will remain so. |

MFA VS NYC The Two Cultures of American Fiction

Harbach, Chad–Ed. Faber & Faber/n +1 Foundation/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $16.00 paper | Feb. 25, 2014 978-0-86547-813-8

A cast of literary professionals offers an entertaining bounty of experience, opinions and advice.

Novelist Harbach’s (The Art of Fielding, 2011) 2010 opinion piece in n+1, the magazine he founded, made a splash with its critical analysis of ever-expanding MFA programs, the enduring hub of New York City publishing and the potential each of them holds for aspiring writers. The editor’s shrewd if pessimistic essay launched what he calls “a kind of jointly written novel— one whose composite hero is the fiction writer circa 2014”—in which perceptions from a wide spectrum of struggling authors, skilled teachers, students, agents, editors and publicists comingle with essays from best-selling literary luminaries. George Saunders offers a 15-point “mini-manifesto” on the challenge of creative writing programs, while Providence College English professor Eric Bennett discusses the nuances of his time spent at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Alexander Chee’s lively autobiographical entry on his life and experiences at the Workshop segues marvelously into a discussion of how New York City absorbs and transforms published authors like Sloane Crosley, who identifies the business of publishing as being “so blessed and so cursed at the same time.” Sterling Lord Literistic agent Jim Rutman contributes tales of the slush pile, while Trident Media Group agent Melissa Flashman offers her perspective on the delicate balancing act performed by agents and publishers on behalf of productive authors. From these dispatches, the outlook for beginning writers is less than sunny, but poet Darryl Lorenzo Wellington’s eye-opening confessional on judging manuscripts for Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award does hint at a “publishing revolution.” Collectively thought-provoking and provocative, this first publication in a new partnership between Faber & Faber and n+1 inches readers further toward understanding the often complex, political machine that transforms an idea into a published product. Other contributors include Elif Batuman, Caleb Crain, Keith Gessen and Lorin Stein.

Essential insights, masterfully assembled, on the precarious state of American publishing.

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BIGGER THAN THE GAME Restitching a Major League Life

Hayhurst, Dirk Citadel/Kensington (340 pp.) $14.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8065-3487-9

A revealing yet occasionally tedious, seasonlong account of a major league pitcher on the outs.

Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Hayhurst (Out of My League, 2012, etc.) began what would be his final season in 2010 training “like a beast” and anticipating the publication of his book, The Bullpen Gospels, on opening day. However, he had to win over skeptics who believed anyone who wrote from the inside violated the locker room code and therefore could never be trusted as reliable. Furthermore, talking to the press corps during spring training to garner publicity for his book caused teammates to question his motives, particularly a cocky, malicious pitcher who nicknamed him “Media,” and encouraged several teammates to turn against him. Hayhurst wanted to prove he belonged, but he started the season relegated to the training room on the 60-day disabled list with an arm injury— and it only got worse. The combination of prolonged pain and social ostracism made him panicky, and the author admits, “it was a delicate balance of trying to get healthy physically and not unraveling mentally into some anxious, why-am-I-not-healthy mess.” Rarely does an athlete admit publicly to feeling anxious, afraid or depressed, but Hayhurst candidly shows readers that he was fraying both emotionally and physically. (One line sums it up nicely: “Arm pain can make your whole life hurt.”) However, the author draws out his emotionally honest story with unnecessary, lengthy accounts of interactions with coaches and trainers, as well as intimate conversations with his wife. Several chapters devoted to his rehabilitation program lend no insight or deeper understanding of his pain.

A flawed yet unique, personal story of an athlete’s anguish at the end of his career.

THE SEA INSIDE

Hoare, Philip Melville House (384 pp.) $27.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-61219-359-5 Do we come from the sea? Hoare’s (The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea, 2010, etc.) absorbing book may well lead you to think so.

Could not man have come from the sea in search of the bounty of tidal beaches? Anyone who has an affinity, indeed a need, for the water will understand the author’s desire to swim every day near his home in Southampton, England, where “it is never not beautiful.” “At low tide,” he writes, “the 62

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beach is an indecent expanse laid bare by retreat, more like farmland than anything of the sea: an inundated field, almost peaty with sediment, as much charcoal as it is sludge.” No matter what country or continent he visits, the author makes a point to swim and become a part of that sea. He’s fearless as he leaps into oceans near and far to commune with any swimming mammal that may be near; whether whales or a superpod of 200 dolphins, the mammals of the sea circle him, inspect him and accept him. His travels and his meandering, humorous writing take us from the Isle of Wight to the Azores, Sri Lanka, and the nearly primeval Tasmania and New Zealand, and Hoare delivers delightful descriptions of sea creatures and shore birds, bemoaning animals newly and nearly extinct. This is not a book following the geography of the sea; nor is it a history of sailing. It is an attempt to establish and examine the oneness that the Maori have understood for years: There is no difference between life on land and life in the sea. While the author may digress occasionally, readers will relish his writing and devotion to nature and likely won’t begrudge him a bit of family history here and there.

A beautifully written memoir/travelogue with readable diversions into philosophy.

AUTISM BREAKTHROUGH The Groundbreaking Method that Has Helped Families All Over the World Kaufman, Raun K. St. Martin’s (352 pp.) $25.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-250-04111-1 978-1-4668-3726-3 e-book

The director of Global Education for the Autism Treatment Center of America chronicles how his parents pioneered a new treatment for autism after receiving a grim prognosis of his condition.

In 1974, doctors informed Kaufman’s parents that their 1-year-old son was so severely autistic that he ought to be institutionalized. He was unresponsive and transfixed by inanimate objects and repetitive activities. The parents rejected this advice and, fortunately for the author, decided to go it alone, relying instead on their own experiences as professional educators. Kaufman explains their approach. As they saw it, their primary task was to develop a relationship with their son. They spent hours sitting with him, imitating his behavior patterns, including hand flapping and rocking. Gradually, they built a foundation for communication, and their son began to respond.

They created games to use as learning experiences, and in just five years, the author writes, he was on the road to full recovery and able to attend school. In 1976, his father, Barry Neil Kaufman (No Regrets: Last Chance for a Father and Son, 2003), wrote Son Rise, the first of his many self-help books. Then the Kaufmans opened the Autism Treatment Center to share their methods. (Their children, including the author, now run the center.) Avoiding the techniques of behavior modification, the |

“A remarkable book about a fascinating, vexing figure.” from pete rose

methods promoted by the center help parents understand how repetitive behavior patterns give autistic children an illusion of control—autistic children deal with sensory overload by shutting out their environments. The center offers motivational tools and training for parents and caregivers on how to structure an emotionally safe environment in which children can experiment with new social skills. Kaufman includes links to training guides and three appendices.

An innovative, alternative approach to creating a childcentered environment that directly empowers parents and caregivers. (14 charts; 6 diagrams and graphs)

PETE ROSE An American Dilemma

Kennedy, Kostya Sports Illustrated Books (352 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-61893-096-5

A reflection on the meaning of legendary baseball player Pete Rose.

Rose is Major League Baseball’s alltime hits leader, as well as the leader in games played and at-bats. He holds nearly 20 records and was one of the hardest working and most beloved players during his playing days. Yet, due to the fact that he gambled on baseball while he was a manager with his former team, the Cincinnati Reds, he is officially banned from baseball and is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. “Even now,” writes Sports Illustrated assistant managing editor Kennedy (56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, 2011, etc.), “25 years into his exile, he remains a figure who stirs uncommon passion, righteousness, indignation.” Were this book just a biography of “Charlie Hustle,” it would be a fine one.

But more importantly, Kennedy explores not only Rose’s life and career and his ignominious fall from glory, but also the complexities and conundrums surrounding his ineligibility and his character. Rose’s detractors and supporters alike will find evidence here to both confirm and challenge their biases. Kennedy is a graceful writer who interweaves traditional biography with myriad explorations of the puzzle that is Rose: his affinity for gambling and his waywardness with money, his up-and-down relationships with women and his children from his marriages, and his sometimes-tawdry post-baseball life. Kennedy tends toward discursive divergences that usually build a larger picture, though occasionally he is like an interesting man at a party who tells wonderful stories but interrupts himself to tell an even better tale. Nonetheless, most of the time, he weaves magic in these pages. Rose may not deserve as nuanced a biographer as Kennedy, but baseball fans certainly do.

A remarkable book about a fascinating, vexing figure.

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THE RISE OF SUPERMAN Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance

Kotler, Steven Amazon/New Harvest (256 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4778-0083-6

Every kind of human performance— a record-breaking athletic feat, a major scientific breakthrough, a stunning jazz solo—is made possible by tapping into an elusive and extraordinary state of consciousness called “flow.”

In action and adventure sports, in particular, athletes can be described as “flow junkies.” These men and women surf waves as tall as skyscrapers, climb sheer rock faces without equipment and parachute onto remote mountainsides for the thrill of skiing where no one has been before. All these pursuits are as dangerous as they are electrifying, and all of these athletes say that they rely on the “flow state” to succeed—even that, incredibly, the flow state itself may be the ultimate goal. Flow Genome Project co-founder Kotler (A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life, 2010, etc.) argues that flow is more than just the key to death-defying performance; it’s also the secret to everyday happiness and fulfillment—and that mastering the state of flow is within reach for anyone. However, top action and adventure athletes may be the singular connoisseurs of the flow state: They have acknowledged the powerful effects of flow for years, and cultivating a flow state is a significant piece of their training. Kotler spent more than a decade interviewing and reporting on these athletes, analyzing their behaviors and motivations, as well as investigating how cutting-edge technologies enable a neurological breakdown of the flow state. The author describes a state where the fear of death disappears, blurring the line between possible and impossible. If a mastery of flow can be accomplished without an environment of extreme physical risk, a paradigm shift of enormous consequence may occur— even, as one high-performance athlete suggests, “the next stage in human evolution.”

A thrill ride of a book, empowering in its implications of what any individual can achieve.

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Jennifer Senior

Instead of asking how parents affect their kids, the seasoned journalist asks how kids change their parents

By Kirk Reed Forrester

Photo courtesy Laura Rose

Parents of America: Yes, you’re a busy bunch. In fact, right this minute, you’re probably changing a diaper, driving car pool to taekwondo or trolling through your kid’s Facebook page before she comes home from play practice. But listen up. This is important. Grab a highlighter and a stiff drink while you’re at it. You’ll want both as you read Jennifer Senior’s book, All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood.

Most parenting books examine the effects of parents on their children. Senior, a contributing editor at New York magazine, seeks to “swing the telescope around” and examine the effects of children on their parents. (Spoiler alert: It’s a sobering one. But that’s why you have the drink.)

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in 2006 when she was assigned a story for New York on the burgeoning academic field of positive psychology, which analyzes what makes people happy. While reading Stumbling on Happiness by the social psychologist Dan Gilbert, Senior ran across a stray reference that mentioned that having kids doesn’t necessarily improve a person’s happiness. In fact, Gilbert wrote, parenthood compromises happiness.

“That just struck me as whackadoodle,” says Senior.

“At that time, I wasn’t yet a mother, and all I wanted was a kid. I’d just started dating the guy that I eventually married, and I remember thinking, ‘There is no way that statement can be right—that makes no sense.’ ” In 2008, Senior had a son. In 2010, she wrote an article for New York interrogating Gilbert’s theory. The piece went viral, garnering over 700 comments and over 34,000 likes on Facebook. Even though the topic had intrigued Senior on a personal level for years, neither she nor her editors at the magazine were prepared for such an overwhelming response. “It was mad. The funny thing is, I’ve worked much harder on other stories,” she says now. “I did a recent feature on John Boehner, and it only got about 100 likes on Facebook.

I worked for months on that thing! Then this [parenting article] came from a fairly organic place, and it took off like a rocket.”

The article, of course, was a mere jumping-off point for the book, which digs deep into the research of leading economists, historians, social scientists and psychologists to trace how society has dialed up the heat to make parenting the pressure cooker it is today.

Senior parses out the inevitable, biologically induced challenges of being a parent (like being sleep-deprived) along with those that are more modern and more culturally mediated (like being hyperscheduled). Along the way, she offers up a parade of delightful cameos by |

less predictable parenting gurus such as Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, Margaret Mead and Christopher Hitchens. (Pitiable parents, writes Hitchens: “Their hearts are running around in someone else’s body.”)

The portrait Senior renders in All Joy and No Fun isn’t a pretty one—it’s one of parents in a frantic race to prepare their (increasingly coddled) children for a world they themselves can’t anticipate, while the middle class continues to narrow and wheeze, making the stakes for each child’s success that much higher.

All Joy and No Fun is animated by portraits of real parents telling their stories from the trenches. Readers will feel the exhaustion of a Minneapolis mother of three trying to keep her photography business afloat between Cheerios meals and toddler meltdowns. They will sense the anxiety (and competitiveness) of Houston parents at Cub Scout registration, attempting to add yet another activity to the scheduling labyrinths of their 7-year-old sons. (“He has Skype lessons for Indian classical music once a week…and voice lessons twice a week, and piano and soccer and language lessons on the weekend…”). Readers with young children will shudder at the stories of teenage terror shared by a group of Brooklyn moms over coffee, though readers with teens themselves will no doubt nod their heads in empathy. (When soon-tobe-parents fantasize about raising children, there must be an evolutionary reason their thoughts skip over the door-slamming, curfew-busting, Internetporn–searching, shoplifting years of adolescence.)

Not all the stories in the book are horrifying; many make the heart soar. Senior takes pains to articulate the transcendent joy that comes with being a parent and has no shortage of fodder, even among the most frazzled families. But she is careful to draw a distinction between the meaningful role of “being a parent” and the increasingly bewildering job of “parenting.”

Initially, it felt awkward to gain access to the intimate domains of her subjects’ family lives, recalls Senior. “There was something very weird in the opening moments of being in those families’ homes.” But the writer was willing to do what it took to make subjects feel comfortable, whether that meant being a silent presence, “like the family dog,” or getting in on the action. One 3-year-old boy in Minnesota took a shine to Senior (who was homesick for her own 3-year-old boy back in New York), and in no time, they were playing Lego and dancing together. “I didn’t mind including myself if it made it easier,” says Senior. “So we very |

quickly had this game where Abe would wrap me in a blanket and pretend I was a hot dog.”

Asked why she felt it was important to bolster her data-driven research with the voices of regular parents, Senior says, “I think that in social science, research can only take you so far. A lot gets lost in the numbers.”

“It’s something I got a lot of push back on from the social scientists,” Senior continues. “I mean, Dan Gilbert has this argument with me a lot.” Senior will assert that a moment of transcendence between parent and child—an embrace, a dance—is hard to quantify on a scale of one to five. “Dan’s answer would be, ‘No, it’s a five,’ ” laughs Senior. “But some moments are so deep and so profound. I mean, a diet book will get a five on Amazon and so will War and Peace. Not all fives are the same thing. As long as you’re using instruments that have numbers, I believe you’re not going to get at that joy that almost makes your stomach hurt.”

And when you’ve got joy that makes your stomach hurt, who needs fun anyway?

Kirk Reed Forrester is a freelance writer based in Houston who loves books, movies, music, gardening and running. In her spare time, she takes care of her two young daughters.

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood Senior, Jennifer Ecco (320 pp.) $26.99 Feb. 1, 2014 978-0-06-207222-1

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THE ETERNAL NAZI From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim

MY GENTLE BARN Creating a Sanctuary Where Animals Heal and Children Learn to Hope

Kulish, Nicholas; Mekhennet, Souad Doubleday (320 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-385-53243-3

An elusive Nazi doctor who escaped justice receives a thorough scouring by two journalists.

Former New York Times Berlin bureau chief Kulish (Last One In, 2007) and Washington Post and Daily Beast reporter Mekhennet helped break the story of Aribert Heim’s (1914–1992) eventual whereabouts and demise. Using information from Heim’s son, who spent the last days of his father’s life with him in Cairo, where he died of cancer, the authors admirably fill in many of the details of this fugitive Nazi. Heim, an Austrian doctor with the Waffen-SS who had been camp physician at Mauthausen and elsewhere, had lived in shadowy exile under an assumed name mostly in Cairo for 30 years, supported by the rents of a Berlin apartment house he owned, forwarded by his sister and other supporters. The authors underscore how many war criminals simply flew under the radar. For example, Heim, though apprehended by the Allies, passed from one detention camp to another and was finally released after three years; his incriminating role at Mauthausen was somehow wiped from his record and did not dog him during the 1950s, when he set up a practice as a gynecologist in Baden-Baden. Indeed, while he claimed to have been a victim of circumstance, a reluctant joiner of the Nazi party, eyewitnesses claim that he was a distinctive murderous authority at Mauthausen, beginning in 1941, where he was notorious for killing Jews and others too weak to live by injections of gasoline into the heart. He also performed vivisections and was known to decapitate victims and display the boiled skulls as trophies. He was conspicuous by his tall, athletic build and eerily genial manner. The authors trace over many decades the vigilant research pursued by German detective Alfred Aedtner, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and others in exposing the deeds of this criminal.

Haunting, doggedly researched but ultimately anticlimactic. The lack of decisive closure to the case tinges the outcome with bitterness.

Laks, Ellie Harmony (288 pp.) $25.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-385-34766-2

How one woman’s childhood dream to save animals came true.

For Laks, the world of animals was always more real than that of humans. She didn’t understand the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of babysitters, but surrounded by animals and nature, she found solace and meaning.

“The force that drove me to be with animals defied all reason,” she writes. “I was compelled to have them near me no matter what.

I began feeling little whispers deep inside—not in words, just in knowing.” This drive continued into adulthood, through three years of crack use, and ultimately pushed Laks to become an animal rescuer. She started out small and quickly discovered a huge world of animals in desperate need of salvation. Dogs, cats, goats, pigs, horses, rabbits, chickens—Laks’ Gentle Barn filled with one animal after another, which she brought back from the brink of euthanasia, disease and neglect, nursing the animals with a combination of unconditional love and respect and healthy foods and supplements. Knowing how happy the animals made her feel, Laks opened her barnyard to at-risk kids, foster children and the general public, teaching people how to read animal body language and show respect to their fellow creatures. The overwhelming response was positive for animals and humans alike. Despite financial setbacks and a failed marriage, Laks remained true to her animals.

In the process, she found new love. Her stories of animal rescues, oftentimes from desperate and horribly filthy circumstances, are filled with the sensitivity and kindheartedness she shows her animals. Her honesty and success stories open the door to the world of animal care and cruelty, forcing readers to contemplate the lines among animals as pets, objects and food.

Descriptive and sensitive stories of one woman and the animals she rescued from abuse and death.

A SOLDIER ON THE SOUTHERN FRONT The Classic Italian Memoir of World War I Lussu, Emilio Translated by Conti, Gregory Rizzoli Ex Libris (288 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-8478-4278-0

The recovered memoir of a brave Italian soldier in World War I. A lieutenant in the Sassari brigade of the Italian infantry, Lussu (1890–1975) waited 20 years to publish his memories of World War I in the Asiago Plateau, fighting the Austrian offensive. It is 66

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“The National Journal’s managing editor investigates ‘the largest and worst incidence of a poisoned water supply in history.’ ” from a trust betrayed

a story of trench warfare in 1916, but more importantly, it is the story of the men who fought and their derision of their commanding officers. They felt the enemy was not the Austrians but rather the men behind them giving orders that could only get them killed.

The author’s memory is vivid, and the characters demand it. He writes of a general who demanded a different kind of definition of victory—not, “do you have enough supplies?” but a philosophical discussion. Gen. Leone, a pure wacko, demanded men wear body armor he had specially brought. Of course, when he sent them into battle, the armor was absolutely worthless. Another officer couldn’t understand why Lussu didn’t drink, something everyone in that army did—all day long and especially before a battle. The author writes about a war of maneuver to save lives rather than a war of position that would cost them. Regardless, the fact that they succeeded to take Monte Fior only to abandon it left them mostly in the same position throughout the conflict. These men were surely cannon fodder, and a short mutiny was the precursor to a much more serious revolt. One company abandoned their position in a cave that threatened to collapse, and their leader ordered the execution of every 10th man.

Lussu’s philosophy of war was born in the days he lived through and wrote about. Like so many soldiers, he was against it, and most readers will be persuaded to agree with him.

491 DAYS Prisoner Number 1323/69 Madikizela-Mandela, Winnie Ohio Univ. (264 pp.) $21.95 paper | $17.99 e-book Mar. 15, 2014 978-0-8214-2101-7 978-0-8214-4492-4 e-book

Journals and letters reveal a stark picture of brutality and injustice.

In 1969, five years after Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage, Winnie Mandela was rounded up with other anti-apartheid activists and jailed for 16 months. The journal she kept during her imprisonment forms half of this book; the other half consists of letters

by Nelson to his wife, daughters, relatives and prison officials.

Throughout, the author documents sadistic maltreatment: a diet consisting mainly of insect-infested porridge, filthy cells, and, for many prisoners, daily beatings. Bright lights made it impossible to tell day from night; prisoners exercised for 10 minutes three times a week; visitors were rationed. Solitary confinement was unbearable. “Being held incommunicado,” writes the author, “was the most cruel thing….I’d communicate with the ants; anything that has life. If I had lice I would have even…nursed them.”

Despondent, she decided to commit suicide by progressively weakening her body—she did not want the shame of suicide to put her family in jeopardy. But her attempt resulted, instead, in severe illness and recurring hospitals stays. By the middle of her incarceration, she was taking 12 pills per day for various ailments.

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unfamiliar with anti-apartheid history may find some names and references confusing. Nelson Mandela’s letters, on the other hand, are richer in detail and carefully crafted. He clearly knew that others besides the recipients would read them, and he calculated their effect. “My sense of devotion to you,” he wrote to Winnie after her arrest, “precludes me from saying more in public than I have already done in this note which must pass through many hands. One day we will have the privacy which will enable us to share the tender thoughts which we have kept buried in our hearts during the past eight years.”

Taken together, these documents afford a chilling perspective on the Mandelas’ personal and political struggles.

A TRUST BETRAYED The Untold Story of Camp Lejeune and the Poisoning of Generations of Marines and Their Families Magner, Mike Da Capo/Perseus (320 pp.) $27.50 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-306-82257-5

The National Journal’s managing editor investigates “the largest and worst incidence of a poisoned water supply in history.”

Its coastal perch, rivers and swamps, tangled forests and humid climate made 152,000 undeveloped acres in North Carolina perfect for the establishment, in 1941, of an advance-force training base. From Camp Lejeune, the Marines would practice landings that culminated in heroics in foreign wars. Over the decades, however, the base also became a dump for diesel and gasoline, cleaning solvents, chemical weapons, gas cylinders, insecticides, waste oil and battery acid, pesticides, grease and mercury. Burn dumps for garbage, pits containing industrial waste, construction debris, ordnance and mortar shells all dotted the landscape and bubbled into a toxic stew that seeped into an already precarious water supply. Magner (Poisoned Legacy: The Human Cost of BP’s Rise to Power, 2011) chronicles the resulting catastrophe—heartbreaking stories of infant deaths, a wide range of grisly birth defects and an alarming array of cancers— by interleaving his narrative with intimate portraits of affected Marines and their families. Nearly as shocking, though, is his tale of the Marine Corps’ slow awakening to the problem, its unconscionable foot-dragging, its unwillingness to answer questions or to study the adverse health effects linked to the chemicals found in the water. Only the persistent, organized efforts of “a highly motivated group of former Marines,” Lejeune victims whose lives were capsized, first by the Corps’ negligence and then by its indifference, led to action that culminated in a 2012 federal law authorizing medical care to Lejeune Marines and their families. Efforts to broaden that statute, as well as a variety of lawsuits, continue.

A fast-moving, smartly detailed story of an environmental disaster compounded by the Corps’ broken promise—“We take care of our own”—to the men who served and suffered. kirkus.com

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“On a level with Lewis Thomas for its clarity and verve in presenting the science of the cell and the ability of cancer to assume multiple guises.” from on the cancer frontier

ON THE CANCER FRONTIER One Man, One Disease, and a Medical Revolution

Marks, Paul A. and Sterngold, James PublicAffairs (272 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-61039-252-5

Former Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center president and CEO Marks delivers a panoramic view of developments in cancer research and treatment over the last 40 years, from both the researchers’ and administrators’ perspectives.

In this boldly presented argument, written with the assistance of Wall Street Journal senior business writer Sterngold (Burning Down the House: How Greed, Deceit, and Bitter Revenge Destroyed E.F. Hutton, 1990), Marks passionately explains how best to pursue a course of action to control cancer’s tenacity.

Cancer is protean, individualistic, complex, elusive and efficient.

“The truth,” writes the author, “uncomfortable and inconvenient as it may be, is that medical science has never faced a more inscrutable, more mutable, or more ruthless adversary.” Thus, understanding its biology, as well as its ability to shape-shift between patients, is vital, and we must also remember that as long as cell division is how we propagate and survive, cancers will develop, for that, too, is how they work. It’s not surprising that Marks calls cancer “the existential illness.” This excellent elementary grounding in cancer’s workings allows readers to appreciate the importance of, say, the differences between empirical and mechanistic methods of developing treatments; why seemingly random advances in molecular biology and genetics are potentially valuable (“basic research has been the engine for most of the successes in the war on cancer”); why flexibility in research is critical to its creativity and innovation; and why a close coordination between the lab and the clinic, the diagnostic and therapeutic programs, researchers and doctors, is so essential. Marks also interweaves his own story into the changes in cancer medicine: his particular research interests against the background of the politics of medicine and how to “not throw too much money at the false promise of quick cures.” Most importantly, we must translate scientific insights into therapies.

On a level with Lewis Thomas for its clarity and verve in presenting the science of the cell and the ability of cancer to assume multiple guises.

DINOSAURS WITHOUT BONES Dinosaur Lives Revealed by Their Trace Fossils Martin, Anthony J. Pegasus (368 pp.) $29.95 | Mar. 12, 2014 978-1-60598-499-5

Paleontologist Martin (Environmental Sciences/Emory Univ.; Life Traces of the Georgia Coast: Revealing the Unseen Lives of Plants and Animals, 2013, etc.) has written textbooks, but this is his first work for a popular audience, and his choice to use humor as an educational tool meets with mixed results.

Everyone has seen their bones, but it turns out that dinosaurs also left behind nests, tracks, trails, burrows, tooth marks, feces, skin and intestinal contents. These have become valuable enough to produce ichnology, a subspecialty of paleontology that studies trace—i.e., not bone or teeth—fossils. A pioneer in the field, Martin delivers an expert, if overly effervescent, account of what trace fossils reveal about their environment as well as dinosaur social behavior, movement, quarrels, sex lives and care of their young. Their tracks are everywhere. Any ichnologist worth his salt can use a single footprint to identify the dinosaur, while a collection of prints reveals its height, weight, stride length, speed and perhaps tells a story. A famous site in Australia seems to show a herd of small dinosaurs fleeing a predator. Experts agree that reptiles in the Mesozoic used the same survival strategies as they do today. They built nests and laid eggs in them; dozens of both have been turning up for decades. They dug burrows whose first example was discovered only in 2007, complete with its fossilized inhabitants. An impressive amount of behavioral and dietary information is revealed in their abundant coprolites (fossilized feces), not-so-abundant stomach contents, and the rare preserved vomit and urinary deposits.

Most scholarly attempts at comedy, including this one, make for a painful experience, but readers who can tolerate the relentlessly glib, jokey prose will learn a great deal about these fascinating, long-dead creatures.

MONEY The Unauthorised Biography Martin, Felix Knopf (336 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-307-96243-0

What is money? If you think you know the answer, then you may not have thought hard enough about it, a problem that kings and commoners alike have shared throughout history.

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nonetheless have value. Their system matches the symbolic abstraction of money with a concrete basis for it. However, writes investor/economist Martin in this improbably lively account, that concreteness no longer underlies our modern economy: “The vast majority of our national money—around 90 percent in the US, for example, and 97 percent in the UK— has no physical existence at all.” So is money merely symbolic?

By one measure, perhaps. But Martin seeks a deeper understanding, relating money especially to power: If on one hand it served as an instrument of rule for sovereigns, it also reined in those sovereigns as something even mightier than they. By that light, as one medieval philosopher formulated it, money “is not the property of the sovereign but of the entire community that uses it.” Martin expands on this provocative idea, suggesting that money is a system for allocating economic risk “by making a simultaneous promise of stability and freedom.” All this talk can get quite heady, and that’s not to mention the ancient Chinese proverb that “the fish is the last to know water”—i.e., those of us who use money are so deeply steeped in it that it’s hard to think about, let alone answer the more important question: How much power should money have to govern our lives?

Refreshingly free of jargon and long on ideas—including the thought that if it’s money that got us into our current mess, it’s money that can get us out of it. (19 illustrations.

First printing of 75,000)

THE HUMOR CODE A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny McGraw, Peter; Warner, Joel Simon & Schuster (256 pp.) $26.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4516-6541-3

A freelance journalist and a professor hop around the globe cracking and waxing wise about humor.

McGraw (Marketing and Psychology/ Univ. of Colorado) and former Westword staff writer Warner both contribute to the content, but the voice belongs to Warner, who employs the first person throughout—and tries (sometimes successfully) to show us what a funny guy he is. At the beginning, the authors provide an origin story (how the two met) and describe how they decided to team up to explore the world of humor.

McGraw heads the Humor Research Lab, a research project at Colorado, and he has developed a theory that humor is based on what he calls a “benign violation”: Something seems wrong, threatening, whatever—but isn’t. As the two hopped, skipped and jumped around the country and the world, they didn’t discover much to invalidate his theory. The authors mix memoir and discussions of academic research throughout, and they made some interesting journeys and scored some major interviews (one with Louis C.K., who seems less than thrilled with the opportunity).

Among their visits, discussions and interviews: Las Vegas, a comedy club in Los Angeles, the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest, a comedy writer in New York, Tanzania (where, back in 1962, there |

was a laughter epidemic in a school), Japan, Denmark (where the Muslim political cartoons ignited fiery protests abroad), Israel and Palestine, where the intrepid researchers explored perilous places that will both amaze readers and inspire their admiration.

The authors also chronicle their trip to the Amazon in the company of the actual Patch Adams and a group of healing clowns, as well as a jaunt to Canada, where McGraw performed at a comedy festival and did…OK. He bombed a year earlier in Denver.

A brave attempt to blend research, memoir and humor, but the result is not always smooth.

GRANDMA GATEWOOD’S WALK The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail Montgomery, Ben Chicago Review (288 pp.) $26.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61374-718-6

A journalist’s biography of the unassuming but gutsy 67-year-old Ohio grandmother who became the first person to walk all 2,050 miles of the Appalachian Trail three times.

When Emma Gatewood (1887–1983) first decided she would hike the A.T., she told no one what she planned to do—not even her 11 children or 23 grandchildren. Instead, she quietly slipped away from her home in May 1955 and began her walk at the southern terminus of the trail in Georgia. Accomplishing this feat—which she often described as “a good lark”—was enough for her. Tampa Bay Times staff writer Montgomery tells the story of Gatewood’s first hike and those that followed, interweaving the story with the heartbreaking details of her earlier life. He suggests that this woman, who eventually came to be known as “Queen of the Forest,” was far from the eccentric others claimed she was. Instead, Montgomery posits that this celebrated hiker used long-distance walking to help her come to terms with a dark secret. At 18, Gatewood married a man she later discovered had a violent temper and an insatiable sexual appetite.

Despite repeated beatings over 30 years, she remained with him until he nearly killed her. Afterward, she lived happily with her children for almost 20 years. Montgomery suggests that an article in National Geographic may have been what first inspired Gatewood to hike the trail. However, as her remarkable trek demonstrated, while the A.T. was as beautiful as the magazine claimed, it was also in sore need of maintenance. Gatewood’s exploits, which would later include walking the Oregon Trail, not only brought national attention to the state of hikers’ trails across a nation obsessed with cars and newly crisscrossed with highways; it also made Americans more aware of the joys of walking and of nature itself.

A quiet delight of a book.

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SURVIVORS OF SLAVERY Modern-Day Slave Narratives

Murphy, Laura T. Columbia Univ. (384 pp.) $30.00 | $29.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-231-16423-8 978-0-231-53575-5 e-book

First-person testimonies that probe the continued chilling practices of forced labor worldwide.

Mindful of the use of the word slavery as reference to the uniqueness of African victims of the transAtlantic slave trade, Murphy (English/Loyola Univ. New Orleans; Metaphor and the Slave Trade in West African Literature, 2012) nonetheless insists that slavery by any other name remains intractably a crime against humanity. This includes forced labor, chattel slavery, debt bondage, forced sex work, child labor, military conscription and forced fosterage. With as little editing or “packaging” as possible, the author represents each category by numerous narratives as documented by NGOs, investigative journalists or government transcripts. The narratives offer the raw details by real people, most of whom have now been freed from oppression; many now work for activist organizations like Free the Slaves (as does the author), the names of which appear in an appendix. For example, Helia Lajeunesse, a native of Haiti, was orphaned very young and taken in by a neighbor who abusively forced her to do all the housework without schooling or pay, a cycle repeated in subsequent households; Lajeunesse’s inability to leave underscores the exploitative nature of a “false familial structure.” The author includes many narratives of young women from Eastern Europe or East Asia forced into the sex trade as young as their early teens: Lured by the promise of legitimate work, they were raped and beaten, confined and forced into punishing work schedules that led to sickness and death. Ultimately, they were “disposable,” treated as “flesh” by vicious and unscrupulous men who thought only of their monetary value. Like 19th-century slave narratives, many of these accounts reveal moments of silence or deflection due to the painful memories evoked.

An “open condemnation” of modern slavery that builds powerfully by testimony.

ILLEGAL Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant

N., José Ángel Univ. of Illinois (128 pp.) $19.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-252-07986-3 978-0-252-09618-1 e-book

A memoir from a decent man living in the shadows, evading questions and telling lies, presented here anonymously since to reveal his identity would mean to risk arrest and deportation.

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A volume in the Latinos in Chicago and the Midwest series, N.’s story is one of isolation, sorrow and anger. When he crossed the Mexican-American border as a teenager, he had only a ninth-grade education, and he did not speak English. In Chicago, where he had relatives and got work as a dishwasher, he learned English, earned a high school equivalency diploma and went on to major in philosophy in college and earn a master’s degree in Latin-American literature. N. writes movingly of growing up in Guadalajara, of the family there he cannot visit, of his estrangement from the Latino community in Chicago, and of the personal humiliations he experienced and the deceptions he practiced to keep his well-paid, white-collar job. He could not let his co-workers discover that he lacked legal documentation of citizenship, that he could not vote or travel. Eventually, his fake social security number cost him his job, and by the end of the book, he has become a stay-at-home father dependent on his American wife. N. is still a young man, so what his future holds is another story yet to be written. While this is primarily a rather dignified personal story, between the personal passages, the author also writes angrily about the failure of the United States to reform its immigration laws. President Barack Obama comes in for especially harsh criticism, having raised hopes that have yet to be fulfilled. N.’s style often has a stilted quality, perhaps the result of his acquisition of English through formal means, but he gets his message across clearly.

An utterly believable close-up picture of one illegal immigrant’s life in the United States.

THE BURNING SHORE How Hitler’s U-Boats Brought World War II to America

Offley, Ed Basic (320 pp.) $27.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-465-02961-7

An authoritative work on the awful, early effectiveness of German U-boats in disrupting shipping traffic off the east coast of the United States.

Having written previously on the Battle of the Atlantic (Turning the Tide, 2011, etc.), military reporter Offley focuses on a short, early period of World War II—in particular, one lethally effective U-boat that caused massive devastation along the rich hunting ground of the North Carolina coast. During the course of the first six months of 1942—a period the Germans blithely referred to as der Glückliche Zeit, or halcyon days—a cluster of German U-boats marauded along the U.S. Atlantic shore, strangling the shipping lifeline to Britain, sinking scores of Allied merchant vessels, totaling more than 1 million tons of cargo, especially oil, and killing thousands of seamen. As part of a major expansion of his U-boat force, Vice Admiral Karl Dönitz, using the newly refurbished bunker at Saint-Nazaire and other occupied French ports as launch pads, resolved to sever Atlantic maritime trading routes, which fed British fighting power. The Germans drew on their experience from World War I while taking advantage of |

“As the author reveals in these charming essays, nature is imbued with enticing mysteries, and trees can be agents of salvation.” from limber

American inexperience and ill-preparedness in the first days after the confusion of Pearl Harbor. Lt. Cmdr. Horst Degen’s U-701 made three patrols during this period, the last encompassing a mine-laying operation in the Chesapeake Bay and numerous sinkings of oil tankers near Cape Hatteras, before U-701 was hit fatally by Lt. Harry Kane’s aircraft depth chargers on July 7.

Offley brings up the other factors that came into play for the U.S. Navy, such as the breaking of the Enigma code, interservice rivalry, taking advice from the more seasoned British, and garnering the necessary higher-level support for a convoy escort system and more effective patrol bombers.

A knowledgeable overview and exciting re-creation of the final U-701 attack and defeat. (22 b/w images; 4 maps)

THE SOIL WILL SAVE US How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet

Ohlson, Kristin Rodale (272 pp.) $23.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-60961-554-3 978-1-60961-555-0 e-book

Ohlson (Stalking the Divine: Contemplating Faith with the Poor Clares, 2003, etc.) welcomes readers to the kingdom of soil and—if it is healthy—its trillions of life-sustaining microorganisms.

The author has a clear storytelling style, which comes in handy when drawing this head-turning portrait of lowly dirt. But dirt—or soil, if you prefer—takes on character in Ohlson’s hands, and readers will soon become invested in its well-being, for soil is a planetary balancer, and from its goodness comes the food we eat. The author examines soil’s role in countering our greenhouse-gas problem, noting how healthy soil sequesters carbon.

Indeed, by the end of the story, it doesn’t seem far-fetched when a group of scientists tell her that “if only 11 percent of the world’s cropland—land that is typically not in use—improved its community of soil microorganisms as [the scientists] did in their test plots, the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil would offset all our current emissions of carbon dioxide.” But what is particularly captivating is the process whereby healthy soil goes about its work; when one understands the process, many puzzle pieces fall into place and readers can judge for themselves the various claims.

The interplay between plants and soil—plants “leak” carbon and other nutrients into the soil and are fed by teams of creatures that eat and excrete minerals near the plants’ roots—is complex yet elegant and discernable. Along the way, the author touches on other subjects—genetically engineered crops, farming activities around the world, the use of leftover skim milk as a fertilizer, and the interdependence of urban planning and soil health—to provide background and local color.

Ohlson ably delineates this promising situation: Vital soil may well help address climate change, but it absolutely will provide for “more productive farms, cleaner waterways, and overall healthier landscapes.” |

LIMBER Essays

Pelster, Angela Sarabande (152 pp.) $15.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-936747-75-7 In this debut collection of essays, trees evoke lyrical reflections on the intimacies among humans, plants and animals.

Pelster (Creative Writing/Towson Univ.) takes her title from the Burmis tree, a limber pine that grows in her native Alberta, Canada. “Limber pines,” she writes, “are named for the ways they bend in the harsh winds and grow in curves around it; they slither their roots along rock faces until they find cracks they can slip into and drink from.” The tree’s ingenious capacity for survival and its eventual death after 600 years occasions an essay on the 10,000-year history of its habitat. Observing tree frogs leads Pelster to think about the connection of language to experience. The word “frog,” she notes, comes from the Latin meaning “to jump.” She wonders “how it was decided that the jump was the trait to name this animal after and not the croak” or “the bulgy eyed-ness.” “Language,” she says, “sprouts legs like a tadpole and morphs meanings without a trace of the old in the new.” In “Portrait of a Mango,” the author considers not only the fruit’s characteristics, but also the legends surrounding it.

The pigment Indian Yellow, a favorite of Vermeer, for example, supposedly was made from the urine of cows fed only mango leaves and water. The cows died young of malnutrition, and the production of Indian Yellow was banned. In “How Trees Came to Be in the World,” Pelster traces life from the Big Bang to the advent of trees on the planet. Primal organisms, she writes, “worked together to become complex cells….How they imagined themselves into a thing that had previously not existed is a mystery, but there it is.” Once a student at a Bible college, Pelster decided that faith “is not the domain of religion alone.”

As the author reveals in these charming essays, nature is imbued with enticing mysteries, and trees can be agents of salvation.

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“Pla (1897–1981) is considered one of the greatest writers of Catalan language, and this beautiful translation lets English readers glory in the quiet strength of his words.” from the gray notebook

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA The Making of Douglas MacArthur Perry, Mark Basic (384 pp.) $29.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-465-01328-9

In a study of quiet authority, Perry spotlights the presumptuous commanding general at the moment of his evolving maturity during the Pacific theater and apotheosis in the Philippines.

Working by comparison and contrast as he has done in previous works on George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower (Partners in Command, 2007) and Ulysses Grant and Mark Twain (Grant and Twain, 2004), Perry draws Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) in sharp relief against the actions and policies of Franklin Roosevelt, who recognized his rival’s power and perversity and privately called him the most dangerous man in America. Roosevelt admired the war hero and Army chief of staff, inherited from Hoover’s administration, and mistrusted his motives and ambition, but Roosevelt resisted dismissing him, as recommended by his New Dealers. Instead, he shrewdly employed him as a foil to his Republican opponents.

While Perry is not blind to MacArthur’s overriding character issues—including arrogance, vanity and paranoia—the author does suggest that the general has been judged overwhelmingly by his strong-arm tactics, his leadership obtuseness after the Pearl Harbor attack and his later confrontation with President Harry S. Truman—and also underappreciated for some of his actions during his wartime command in the Pacific, namely the coordinated land, sea and air assault of Operation Cartwheel.

“Exiled” to the Philippines yet providentially situated in 1940 when chaos was unleashed in the Pacific, MacArthur nonetheless underestimated the Japanese threat and overestimated the Philippines’ troops. His “dilatory” response on the morning of Dec. 8, 1941, led to the Clark Field debacle and the “dooming” of the Philippines. Perry impressively moves through each of the seminal arenas of the Pacific war.

A majestic overview with an engaging sense of the nuance of character. Thankfully, Perry doesn’t become mired in familiar biographical detail. (24 b/w images and 5 maps)

THE INVENTION OF NEWS How the World Came to Know About Itself

Pettegree, Andrew Yale Univ. (456 pp.) $35.00 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-300-17908-8

From imperial messenger and town crier to Citizen Kane: a vigorous history of the rise of the news business.

Who needs news, anyway? Well, writes Pettegree (Modern History/Univ. of St. Andrews; The Book in the Renaissance, 2010, etc.), first there is the potentate, who needs to know the doings in the far corners of the realm. Then there’s the merchant, who needs to know conditions in distant markets, the better to buy low and sell high. The author first examines such fledgling news enterprises as the couriers of European rulers and entrepreneurs, who, it can be surmised, were not always trustworthy, given the advantage they found in controlling what news was released and when. He then turns to such pioneers as the curious (in both senses) Cologne burger Herman Weinsberg, who kept dossiers on his relatives and neighbors: “It was only after his death that his appalled family members discovered that he had memorialised all their doings in an expansive chronicle of their lives and times.” Weinsberg also gathered accounts of political events, noting the importance of what emerged as a significant theme in Pettegree’s book: the integrity of the teller. The author takes a refreshingly broad view of what constitutes journalism— he includes medieval balladeers in the mix, for “singing ballads was a powerful part of information culture”—and of the genealogy of problems that any old-school newspaperperson will recognize: from the proper balance of ads to editorial copy to making decisions on what to run and what to spike and, as always, reaching audiences whose members might not always have appreciated that they needed the news that was on offer.

Was the newspaper an instrument of liberation or control? Can any news be trusted? Is the free flow of information essential to a democracy? Learned and well-written, Pettegree’s book ventures fruitful answers.

THE GRAY NOTEBOOK

Pla, Joseph Translated by Bush, Peter New York Review Books (704 pp.) $19.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-59017-671-9 Pla (1897–1981) is considered one of the greatest writers of Catalan language, and this beautiful translation lets English readers glory in the quiet strength of his words.

At age 21, the author decided to change his style of writing—a little less flowery but not quite journalistic—and he began this diary, which begs to be read slowly, calmly and multiple times. At the

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beginning, he strikes a humble, self-deprecating chord regarding his writing. “If these jottings do escape the flame,” he writes, “perhaps one day a distant relative or curious individual with time on his hands will deign to glance their way.” The first half takes place in the countryside, just north of Barcelona, in 1918. Pla’s law classes in Barcelona have been suspended due to the outbreak of influenza. In the comfort of his family home in Palafrugell or wandering about their farm, he watches, feels, smells and hears all that is beautiful in his Catalonia. The author’s writing is not just about description—that’s too simple a word. He masterfully conveys the actual mushroom-y smell of the earth, the odors, the colors in the egg-yolk sky and the taste of spring in Muscat grapes. His lyrical stories capture the soul of his people: of Gervasi, who blew a conch shell every day to mark dawn, noon and dusk; and of Roldós, the pianist who played Bach at the silent movies. In the second half of the book, the narrative moves to Barcelona as classes resume. Pla chronicles his discovery of the circles of men who talked late into the night, the old defending what is, the young, what ought to be. The author examines boardinghouse life, describes how different shoes squeak and worries if understanding Nietzsche is a step forward or backward.

A classic. Readers who travel to the Costa Brava will truly feel what Pla has written.

YOUNG MONEY Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street’s Post-Crash Recruits

Roose, Kevin Grand Central Publishing (320 pp.) $27.00 | $12.99 e-book | Feb. 18, 2014 978-0-446-58325-1 978-1-4555-7232-8 e-book

It’s not all beer and skittles on Wall Street. After all, writes New York business and technology reporter Roose, a budding Rockefeller needs to be able to “write a coherent memo to your boss after your third or fourth Jäger Bomb.”

When they’re not imbibing Jäger or Red Bull by the gallon, the eight young Wall Streeters whom the author profiles are working around the clock—literally, in one instance, a stint of “110 hours in a row, without setting foot outside the building.” One hopes the boss was appreciative, though, by Roose’s account, the young people who have flocked to Wall Street are often badly used, caught up in power struggles among middle management and little appreciated. The author often takes an offhand, anecdotal approach; sometimes the effect is too breezy, but at other times it captures the daily indignities to which the junior capitalists are subjected. On the other hand, as he recognizes, no one made them take the gig. The better part of the book is sociological in nature: Roose examines the trends that have governed the world of finance since the great collapse of 2008, which exposed not just weaknesses in financial governance, but also the fundamental whiteness and maleness of the |

system, to say nothing of the disproportionate representation of graduates of Wharton. To gauge by his observations, the culture of Wall Street was once a strange cocoon now laid open: Until the crash, even a loser could count on lasting two years before being let go, but now, among youngsters anyway, the atmosphere is one of fear and uncertainty—just like in the rest of the economy, in other words. It is instructive to note that after the bloodletting that followed the collapse, only a few of his subjects remain in high finance, while most Wall Street firms are having trouble recruiting the best and the brightest.

Of particular interest to young people contemplating a career in investment banking and trading, though with plenty of discouraging news.

SELECTED SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Roosevelt, Theodore Hutner, Gordon­—Ed. Vintage (384 pp.) $16.95 paper | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-345-80611-6

An eclectic collection from the highly literate and scholarly president of

the United States.

Editor Hutner (English/Univ. of Illinois; What America Read: Taste, Class, and the Novel, 1920–1960, 2008) had a difficult task: selecting representative samples from among the mountains of Roosevelt’s publications. Some selections are unsurprising— from his opening essay on “The Strenuous Life” to his account of the taking of San Juan Hill (with two different descriptions of brains leaking from head wounds)—but there are also some welcome surprises. In a 1903 speech at the New York State Fair, he declared his solidarity with the common man in an allusion to The Three Musketeers—“All for each and each for all”—and passages from his 1910 speech at Osawatomie, Kan., seem lifted from a progressive op-ed piece from last week’s New York Times. Frequently, Roosevelt urged workers to organize—and then be reasonable. He argued for control of trusts, for women’s rights (wives, he said, should be partners, not servants) and for equal treatment of blacks. His racial ideas, though (as the editor notes), were progressive for Roosevelt’s time—not ours.

He praised the performance of black soldiers in Cuba but also notes that “of course” they need white officers. In addition, he had kind words for the Indian warriors we slaughtered. Also included is a long 1912 speech about the necessity of historians to write with the imagination of the novelist (a dictum he did not always manage to follow), a sanguinary piece about the pleasures of shooting grizzly bears, the expected stuff about keeping fit and being virtuous (he sounds sometimes like a gung-ho Boy Scout leader), and the necessity of maintaining a war-ready army and navy.

Intriguing pieces, unobtrusively and skillfully edited, that form both a time and a timeless capsule.

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“Witty, nimble and completely in his element, Schama fashions a long-planned ‘labor of love’ that nicely dovetails the biblical account with the archaeological record.” from the story of the jews

MOTHER OF GOD An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon Rosolie, Paul Harper/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $25.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-225951-6

In his first book, naturalist and explorer Rosolie chronicles his many thrilling experiences since 2006, when he first traveled to a research center located in a primordial jungle region of the Amazon basin, now threatened with unregulated development.

Now running Tamandua Expeditions to support conservation initiatives, the author was then an 18-year-old college student searching for volunteer opportunities to work with a conservation organization. During a college break, the author seized on an opportunity to spend a month at a jungle research center in southeast Peru, serving as an assistant in recording observations of the species inhabiting the area: spider monkeys, jaguars, crocodiles, a wide variety of snakes and more. This was the first of many trips to the center, which became his spiritual home. During his college years, he commuted back and forth from New Jersey to the Amazon; over time, he became an accomplished guide. Back home again, he worked to raise donations for the research center, which was a hand-to-mouth venture, and he also arranged ecotourism expeditions and volunteer groups to work at the center. Rosolie describes his deepening understanding of conservation and the issues involved in protecting natural ecosystems against would-be developers, loggers, mining interests and poachers. First and foremost, however, this is a gripping adventure story packed with plenty of adrenaline-filled encounters with massive snakes, intimidating jaguars and other creatures. On one occasion, the author was carried downriver while grasping the back of a gigantic anaconda “as thick as a small cow and easily well over twentyfive feet long…the mega-snake of legends.” As the author writes, “[a]dventure in its purest form is raw discovery. The draw to see what’s around the next bend becomes hypnotizing; I was drawn forward by the powerful tide of the forest.”

A vividly written narrative of an amazingly diverse world still to be explored, whose destruction, as Rosolie wisely notes, would be a devastating loss for humanity. (16page color insert)

FROM POMPEII The Afterlife of a Roman Town Rowland, Ingrid D. Belknap/Harvard Univ. (328 pp.) $28.95 | Mar. 17, 2014 978-0-674-04793-8

Rowland traces the history of Pompeii (Architecture/Notre Dame Univ.; Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic, 2008, etc.) since the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

A lifetime of trips to the ruins of that buried city have shown the author how it has changed since that time, through years of both neglect and excessive restoration. It was generally forgotten until the 16th century, when clues began to emerge as to its exact location. Artifacts from Herculaneum were found first near the wells of Resina by adventurous explorers, who were lowered 65 feet to explore the subterranean structures first hinted at by a canal dug in the 1590s. Lukas Holste’s theory that Pompeii was located beneath the hill at Cività wasn’t confirmed until the mid-1700s, and the site and city languished through the years until Giuseppe Fiorelli began top-down excavation in the 1860s. Fiorelli injected plaster into the oddly shaped bubbles to produce the casts of those who died centuries earlier. The patron saint, San Gennaro, whose blood liquefies each year on his feast day, is highly revered, and it is true that when his blood remains dry, catastrophes arrive— e.g., earthquakes, eruptions, even bombing during World War II. Bartolo Longo came in as a reformer in the 1880s and built New Pompeii with a church, schools and housing for those who lived in these “badlands.” In addition to the history, Rowland also discusses famous visitors to the site. Mozart was more affected by the castrato voices he heard in Napoli, and Freud deduced that the psyche was surely a similar archaeological site to be excavated.

Those visitors are not nearly as interesting as those who excavated it and the city itself. Rowland provides abundant photographs, but many readers will wish for more about the everyday life of Pompeii. (40 halftones; 1 map)

THE STORY OF THE JEWS Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD

Schama, Simon Ecco/HarperCollins (512 pp.) $39.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-053918-4 Witty, nimble and completely in his element, Schama (History and Art History/Columbia Univ.; Scribble, Scribble, Scribble: Writing on Politics, Ice Cream, Churchill, and My Mother, 2011, etc.), in a book tie-in to a PBS and BBC series, fashions a long-planned “labor of love” that nicely dovetails the biblical account with the archaeological record.

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Indeed, as this densely written effort accompanies the visual story, the author fixes on a tangible element (such as papyrus, shard or document) in each chapter as a point of departure in advancing the early history of the Jews. For example, a missive in papyrus by a father to his missionary son from an island in the Upper Nile circa 475 B.C. illustrates the thriving expat Jewish community in Egypt, despite the dire “perdition” narrative about Egypt being written at the same time by the first Hebrew sages in Judea and Babylon.

The remains of early synagogues in Hellenized Cyrenaica and elsewhere, built in a classical Greek temple style, with graphic mosaics, reveal how the Jews were intimately situated in their crossover surroundings. The inscriptions and excavations at Zafar (in present-day Yemen) attest to the Judaic conversion of the Kingdom of Himyar in the late fourth century, evidence that “the Jews were far from a tenuous, alien presence amid the ethnically Arab world of the Hijaz and the Himyar.” In the long litany of persecution and suppression, climaxing but scarcely ceasing with the destruction of the Second Temple in A.D. 70, the Jews had to scatter, taking their words with them, and the Torah was later enriched by the “picayune” codifications of the Mishnah and Talmud, all as a way “to rebuild Jerusalem in the imagination and memory.” Schama is relentless in faulting the break between Christianity and Judaism as the spur to the subsequent phobia against the “pariah tribe.”

A multifaceted story artfully woven by an expert historian. (Author tour to Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.)

OVERWHELMED Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time

Schulte, Brigid Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux (368 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-374-22844-6

An examination of how to change how you use your time.

“You can’t manage time. Time never changes,” writes Washington Post journalist Schulte. “There will always and ever be 168 hours in a week.” So the question remains: How do we manage time so the sense of being overworked, of dealing with never-ending responsibilities and the endless need to check the flood of information constantly available doesn’t swamp us? Through careful, extensive research, the author explores the multiple levels where humans waste time and offers concrete advice on how to reclaim those lost moments. Today’s workplace is still built around the outdated notion of the “ideal worker”—usually a man who can devote concentrated hours to the task at hand—and doesn’t take into account the millions of women now juggling a full-time career with family life. Schulte advocates for a new system that provides flexibility in hours, |

paid maternal and paternal leave, and consideration of the desire for more freedom and leisure time. Women constantly multitask, coping with the multiple demands of housework, cooking and child care, which often leaves them feeling fragmented, exhausted, and with little or no time for themselves. This arena must become more balanced, writes the author, with both parents assuming equal responsibilities in all departments. Regarding leisure, Schulte looks to the Danes, who have one of the best ratios of work-to-vacation time in the world; they average a 37-hour workweek and six weeks of paid vacation, and long hours at the office are actually frowned upon. Backed by numerous examples, Schulte’s effective time-management ideas will be helpful in stamping out ambivalence and will empower readers to reclaim wasted moments, so life becomes a joyful experience rather than a mad dash from one task to the next.

An eye-opening analysis of today’s hectic lifestyles coupled with valuable practical advice on how to make better use of each day.

THE PAT BOONE FAN CLUB My Life as a White AngloSaxon Jew

Silverman, Sue William Univ. of Nebraska (248 pp.) $18.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8032-6485-4

A series of riveting essays about growing up Jewish in a Gentile world by the accomplished memoirist Silverman.

Having written haunting memoirs about being sexually abused by her father throughout her childhood (Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, 1996) and her subsequent sexual pathology (Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey Through Sexual Addiction, 2001), the author returns to another troubling theme that caused an early self-splintering.

Moving between the Caribbean and New Jersey as her father pursued high-powered jobs as a government official and banker, Silverman fixated on Pat Boone as a kind of immaculate other, a talisman that would keep away all the unpleasantness from her life, such as an abusive father, stifling Christian community and Russian refugee grandmother with her strange shtetl ways. Comparing herself to a gefilte fish (not even a real fish but a “ball floating in jelly, stuffed in fish skin….All evidence of its fishness—its true identity—gone”), Silverman addresses readers in missives between chapters, imparting cohesiveness to the discrete, elliptical essays. For example, in the first essay, she writes of tracing her finger over an arresting photograph in Life magazine depicting Boone and his happy family of four daughters on a tandem bike; she was fascinated by the photo’s “whiteness,” how its “immaculate universe was safe, far away from my father’s all-too-real hands, hands that hurt me at night.” In “Endless Possibilities of Youth,” the author discusses how, as a young adult, she was told of the suicide of her Christian rival, which plunged her into a maelstrom of memory kirkus.com

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WALKING PREY How America’s Youth Are Vulnerable to Sex Slavery

about their fickle high school boyfriend, the first of many nonJewish men she was attracted to and who couldn’t quite accept her Jewishness.

A masterly stylist continues her uncompromising examination of the inner life.

TRYING NOT TO TRY The Art and Science of Spontaneity Slingerland, Edward Crown (336 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-7704-3761-9

How an ancient Chinese philosophy applies to the strictures of modern life.

Slingerland (Asian Studies and Chinese Thought/Univ. of British Columbia; What Science Offers the Humanities: Integrating Body and Culture, 2008, etc.) introduces broad strategies for attaining and instilling the ancient Taoist art of wu-wei (“no trying”), a clear unselfconsciousness of the self. Developed by early Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, Laozi and Xunzi, wu-wei induces de, the simultaneous harmony of the mind, body and spirit, producing a calm outward posture that’s palpably reassuring and trusting to others. The author presents the many ways to achieve de, as detailed by early Chinese philosophers, and he discusses how this uncontrived state brings a new understanding and valuing to one’s life. Slingerland lucidly addresses the power of developing a “cultured spontaneity” and accessibly explains how the need to shut off our minds and bodies can be challenging in an age when smarter and faster is the status quo.

Further, he explores the lives and work of five “thinkers” who taught their philosophies during the upheaval of the Warring States period in ancient China and what modern culture can learn from the practice of wu-wei. Richly fortified with Daoist parables and anecdotes, the narrative offers examples of the history and consistent effectiveness of wu-wei, including the author’s own attainment of it while penning this book within the coveted “writing zone.” Delivered via clever and convincing explanation, Slingerland advocates for the adoption of wu-wei into daily life, and in doing so, true contentment and serenity should follow. “In addition to helping us get beyond strong mind-body dualism,” he writes, “the Chinese concepts of wu-wei and de reveal important aspects of spontaneity and human cooperation that have slipped through the nets of modern science.”

A studious and fluent appeal for the benefits of a sound mind.

Smith, Holly Austin Palgrave Macmillan (256 pp.) $27.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-137-27873-9

An unvarnished account of one woman’s painful “journey from victim to survivor,” as she came to understand the “dynamics of commercial sexual exploitation, especially child sex trafficking.”

In this debut, Smith, a public advocate for trafficking victims, begins in 1992 with her own experience. At the age of 14, she was briefly a prostitute before being rescued by the police. Since she was manipulated rather than subjected to violence, she was shamed by the false belief that she had chosen to be a prostitute.

Only in 2009, three years after her marriage, did she feel able to reveal her story and give testimony before Congress. She blames the media for objectifying sexuality and creating an environment in which an estimated 100,000 in the U.S. are victimized annually. Smith describes how one afternoon, she was walking through the mall when a young man approached her. They flirted briefly, and he slipped her his phone number, asking her to get in touch.

She describes her vulnerability to his approach. She was socially insecure. Both of her parents were alcoholics, and before the age of 10, she had been repeatedly abused sexually by a cousin. In her eagerness to have a boyfriend, she responded to his come-on and agreed to a meeting. As it turned out, he was profiling her for a pimp, and it was the pimp who met her—accompanied by a prostitute, there to show her the ropes. Their approach was nonthreatening, and they suggested that, in the future, she might have a career in modeling. Many unhappy children, writes the author, “are lured into trusting their traffickers” due to their lack of self-esteem. In the aftermath of the experience, although she finished college and had a successful career, Smith struggled with depression and substance abuse.

A powerful voice on behalf of young people who should not be stigmatized but need support from schools and communities to protect them from predators.

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

Stone, Douglas; Heen, Sheila Viking (368 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-670-01466-8

A guide to taking the bad feedback with the good and learning from what we’re told.

As Harvard Law School lecturers Stone and Heen (co-authors: Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, 1999) note early on, there have been countless books 76

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on the management side of the feedback equation: how to be a good boss and effective leader, delivering feedback to employees that hits every nail on the head. While it’s often a shell game to drive employees to be better while also not burning them out, surprisingly little attention has been focused on being an effective recipient of feedback. Enter Stone and Heen with a well-rounded consideration of “the science and art of receiving feedback well.”

As they write, both of those disciplines are required to receive feedback in productive ways—not only in the workplace, but in personal life as well. The authors examine therapy and neurology as two of the avenues through which we can locate and address the blocks to feedback; thoughts can cause emotions, emotions can cause thoughts, and feedback from someone in a position of authority can trigger the fight-or-flight response. For their purposes, the authors equate emotions with feelings, and one of the responses is to dismantle the distortions that come from the feedback filtering through our emotions. The applications of just this idea itself are wide-ranging, and the authors do an excellent job of constraining the applications to feedback usefulness while also exploring some of the other ways we can define what “feedback” consists of in our lives.

With a culture increasingly focused on the individual and the self, this book on developing the ability to accept and utilize the input of others constructively deserves a wide readership.

THE THING WITH FEATHERS The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human Strycker, Noah Riverhead (256 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 20, 2014 978-1-59448-635-7

Birding associate editor Strycker (Among Penguins: A Bird Man in Antarctica, 2011) backs up his claim that “[b]ird behavior offers a mirror in which we can reflect on human behavior.”

The author pinpoints experiments beginning in the 1970s that examined the amazing memory of nutcrackers, which were able to survive cold winters at high elevations by stashing pine seeds in the ground. Surpassing the memory skills of most humans, “[i]n one fall season, a single nutcracker may store tens of thousands of pine seeds in as many as 5,000 different minicaches, which he will retrieve in winter.” Strycker writes about how bird fanciers puzzled over this feat, since the birds left no obvious signs of how they did it. By a process of elimination, an ornithologist designed an experiment that demonstrated how the nutcrackers oriented to landmarks in the environment to build three-dimensional mental maps. Even more intriguing are magpies, which join the select company of humans and great apes, elephants, dolphins and orcas in recognizing their own images in mirrors. Seemingly, this is an indication of self-awareness and a capacity for qualities such as empathy. What, then, asks the author, can we say about pet dogs, which fail to self-recognize in |

mirrors yet do demonstrate empathy? Referencing the behavior of Antarctic penguins, which only jump into the ocean in groups to avoid the seals that feed on them but are calm in the presence of humans, Strycker weighs in on the nurture/nature debate and concludes that, for us and penguins, “emotion itself is innate, fear of particular things is regulated by experience.” The author speculates that the behavior of fairy-wrens, a species that sometimes assists feeding nonrelated birds, serves as an expression of altruism in nature, and he attributes the abilities of homing pigeons to the intelligent use of sensory clues.

A delightful book with broad appeal. (b/w illustrations throughout)

CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND OTHER DANGEROUS IDEAS

Sunstein, Cass R. Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $26.00 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4767-2662-5

Supposedly controversial essays from an allegedly dangerous man.

Harvard Law School professor Sunstein (Simpler: The Future of Government, 2013, etc.) is one of America’s premier public intellectuals, a prolific writer of scholarly works as well as books and essays for a broader engaged public. His legal and political writing and his embrace of behavioral economics drew the attention of the Obama administration, which appointed him administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. It was this perch and Sunstein’s visible record of publications that caused Glenn Beck to call Sunstein “the most dangerous man in America,” a title that the author not only does not declaim, but embraces. This collection gathers 11 of his essays, many of which originated as articles in legal journals. Sunstein addresses a wide range of topics, including conspiracy theories (“Why do people accept conspiracy theories that turn out to be false and for which the evidence is weak or even nonexistent?”), the rights of animals, marriage rights, climate change, and legal and political theories such as minimalism and the idea of trimming, which effectively involves trying to steer clear of extremes in the shaping of policy and law. Even when the author addresses putatively liberal causes—climate change or the establishment of “a new progressivism”—he writes nothing that could be construed as dangerous. He is a careful thinker and clear writer, and even if one disagrees with his conclusions, it is difficult to categorize his writing as particularly extreme; indeed, most of his conclusions fall near the center. In another generation he would probably fit into the “Vital Center” of American history and politics.

Sunstein seemingly never runs out of ideas. Many of them are solid, some of them are debatable and a few are even provocative, but calling them “dangerous” says more about the bankrupt state of our current civic dialogue than it does about the author and his ideas.

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TRAPPED UNDER THE SEA One Engineering Marvel, Five Men, and a Disaster Ten Miles into the Darkness

MEDICINE DOG The Miraculous Cure that Healed My Best Friend and Saved My Life

Swidey, Neil Crown (432 pp.) $26.00 | Feb. 18, 2014 978-0-307-88672-9

Sprawling account of a preventable tragedy during the gigantic cleanup of Boston Harbor.

Boston Globe Magazine staff writer Swidey (Journalism/Tufts Univ.; The Assist: Hoops, Hope, and the Game of Their Lives, 2008) tackles an obscure topic with precision, looking at the littleknown field of commercial diving and its otherworldly environs.

In 1999, a small crew of divers was recruited to solve a minorseeming problem; after nearly a decade of tunneling deep under the harbor, the mammoth Deer Island sewage-treatment tunnel was completed, except for the removal of 55 “safety plugs” that had protected the tunnel builders from flooding prior to the removal of the tunnel’s ventilation system. At this point, there were so many construction corporations and governmental entities involved that, after extensive disagreement on the best way to remove the plugs, the task was subcontracted to two small diving companies and a socially awkward whiz-kid engineer who considered himself an expert in hazardous dives. Yet, the engineer foisted upon the divers a jury-rigged air delivery system that a state police investigator later thought resembled “an eighth-grade science fair project gone horribly wrong.” Two divers died, and three more barely escaped from the tunnel’s airless atmosphere. In the prologue, Swidey sketches the flash-point moment when the divers’ system failed and then skillfully builds suspense, showing the development and gradual unraveling of the complicated plan. The author leisurely builds his characters’ back stories, contrasting the ambitions and eccentricities of both roughneck divers and the hard-charging “suits” who were simultaneously under court order to finish the project and determined to minimize their liabilities. Remarkably, despite investigators’ recommendations, neither the cocksure engineer (who “had shown willful disregard for the lives of the divers”) nor anyone else was held liable for the deaths. Swidey delves enthusiastically into the minutiae of law, diving, public works and worker safety under extreme circumstances. The complicated narrative sustains interest despite occasional meandering.

A story of infrastructure told on a human scale and a trenchant reminder that the modern metropolis comes with high risks and savage costs.

Szabo, Julia Lyons Press (240 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-7627-9644-1

One woman’s frank medical memoir about saving her dogs and herself.

As the New York Post’s “Pets” columnist for many years, Szabo (Pretty Pet-Friendly: Easy Ways to Keep Spot’s Digs Stylish and Spotless, 2008, etc.) is well-known for her deep compassion toward animals, dogs in particular. Over the years, she has spared no expense or veterinary procedure to ensure the longevity of her many canine companions. Szabo filled her life with dogs that provided the love and support she needed while she dealt with an embarrassing and lifestyle-hampering medical problem, a perianal fistula, and an abusive husband with whom she was regrettably deeply in love. Little did she realize, though, that when she had dog stem cells injected into her beloved pit bull, Sam, to cure his osteoarthritis, this would lead her on a global journey to find a cure for her own debilitating health issue. When Sam rebounded after his Vet-Stem injections, Szabo began an intensive study into the whole concept of stem cell research and discovered that the United States was far behind other countries when it came to the use of this breakthrough technology in humans. For a dog, cat or horse, stem cell injections were an expensive but available procedure, but for a human, the options were limited. In honest, sometimes-graphic prose, the author describes her crippling bouts of inflammation from her fistula, the way she used a healthy diet to limit flare-ups and the endless joy she received from her many dogs while searching for a cure. Szabo persevered and discovered the California Stem Cell Treatment Center, where she had her own stem cells (found in her body fat) injected into her fistula and bloodstream and rediscovered the joy of a normal life.

A gutsy, consciousness-raising book about fistulas, dogs and stem cell therapy.

THE NEXT AMERICA Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown

Taylor, Paul PublicAffairs (288 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-61039-350-8

An incisive survey of vast recent changes in American society and the ever-wider generation gap between baby boomers and millennials.

In this well-written, data-rich book, Taylor (See How They Run: Electing the President in an Age of Mediaocracy, 1990, etc.), executive vice president of the Pew Research Center and a 78

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former Washington Post reporter, examines the demographic, economic, social, cultural and technological changes that are reshaping the nation. His key focus is on the problem of generational equity: “[A]s our population ages, how do we keep our promises to the old without bankrupting the young and starving the future?” Furthermore, he writes, the generations are “divided by race, politics, values, religion, and technology to a degree that’s rare in our history.” Some 76 million boomers are aging, worried about retirement and lamenting that they aren’t young anymore.

The 80 million millennials (born after 1980) are empowered by technology, coddled by parents, slow to embrace the responsibilities of adulthood, and comfortable with racial, ethnic and sexual diversity. At the same time, both groups face money troubles: Older Americans lack retirement savings, and young people have dismal job prospects. Yet the generations are highly interdependent; they are each others’ children and parents, with 40 percent of millennial men (and 32 percent of women) living in their parents’ homes in 2012. With the helpful charts and graphs, Taylor tells these generational stories against the larger background of a nation that is growing older, more unequal, more diverse, more mixed racially, more digitally linked, more tolerant, less married, less fertile, less religious, less mobile and less confident. He examines everything from intermarriage, the graying workforce and the gap-widening digital landscape to the new immigrants whose striving drives the growth of the country. Taylor is confident pragmatic Americans will avoid an intergenerational war and that the societal changes recounted here will ultimately compel reform of the social security and Medicare systems to provide for tomorrow’s retirees.

An authoritative report and required reading for policymakers.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S SURPRISE ATTACK A New Look at the Battle that Decided the Fate of America Tucker, Phillip Thomas Skyhorse Publishing (656 pp.) $29.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-62873-652-6

A historian offers a blow-by-blow recreation of George Washington’s 1776 Christmas crossing of the Delaware and the capture of Trenton.

Washington’s shocking victory over the Hessian garrison occupying Trenton gave teeth to the Declaration of Independence, greatly enhanced his own and his discouraged army’s reputations, sobered public opinion in Britain and fueled hope that France might intervene to aid the struggling young nation. As he charts the icy river crossing, the arduous march to Trenton and the vicissitudes of the urban battle that followed, Tucker (Barksdale’s Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, 2013, etc.) appears to have missed no detail: the varying intensity of the snow, sleet and wind; every feature of the topography; the positioning of each cannon; the nuances of the |

attack and the counterattack. He’s out to explode some myths, especially the supposed incompetence of Hessian commander Col. Johann Rall and the holiday drunkenness of his troops.

Tucker also highlights overlooked aspects of the fight, such as Washington’s distinctively American battle plan (employing guerrilla tactics of frontier warfare and anticipating artillery tactics perfected by Napoleon), the unusually varied composition of the Continental Army and the crucial roles played by some of Washington’s top lieutenants, particularly artillery commander Henry Knox and mariner John Glover, who supervised the crossing. As the story unfolds, Tucker supplies numerous minibios of battle participants—some names that would loom larger in our history (Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe) and others (the rakish Tench Tilghman, French and Indian war hero John Stark) now mostly forgotten. Although marred by far too many repetitions, hackneyed locutions and a tedious insistence upon his various theses, Tucker’s account brims with colorful information—about the delicacy of Washington’s military maneuver, the double envelopment, about a female sniper firing on the enemy, about “the solid Hessian wall…of walking muskets”—that vivifies this pivotal episode in American history.

Of most interest to military historians and Revolutionary War buffs. (20 b/w illustrations)

MISTER OWITA’S GUIDE TO GARDENING How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart

Wall, Carol Amy Einhorn/Putnam (304 pp.) $25.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-399-15798-1

Serendipitous life lessons from an unexpected source.

Though she admittedly lacked the green thumb (or the inclination) necessary to beautify the environs of her home, 52-year-old Wall enlisted the aid of her neighbor’s gifted Kenyan gardener. Giles Owita, an unassuming landscape artist outfitted with a “coiled energy” and a “navy work suit with bright white leather tennis shoes,” not only beautified Wall’s yard; their seemingly innocent relationship opened her eyes to international culture and nature (“Giles broke me—cured me—of my dread of flowers”) and expanded her capacity for bliss. His arrival in her life was a timely one, as the author and her husband, Dick, had endured a year shaken by tragedy and illness. A breast cancer survivor, Wall had begun the heartbreaking ordeal of relocating her elderly parents to an assisted living facility, and her three children all suffered medical and developmental maladies. Throughout their many seasons together, Wall and Owita embarked on a cross-cultural exchange of histories, ideas, warm wisdom, respect and reinvigorating landscapes. Through her neighbor, the author discovered Owita’s surprisingly extensive horticultural education and a series of mutual commonalities, including familial strife and a cancer diagnosis. The pair, along kirkus.com

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“Reading between the lines, White is recommending much more— and therein lies controversy, especially when it comes to military spending. A book that deserves much attention.” from america’s fiscal constitution

with Owita’s wife, Bienta, grew ever closer within a unique friendship that Wall, in consistently articulate, affably crafted prose, compares to “a river that sometimes split into two separate streams, but always came back together again.” Subtle changes began to transform Wall’s outlook on life, and gradually, the author allowed herself to appreciate the grand spectacle of her lush backyard oasis. Owita not only performed an aesthetic miracle on Wall’s property, but he also educated, enlivened and transformed her life and surroundings in graceful, heartwarming and rewarding ways.

A pleasure to read. Wall’s bittersweet story of human kindness has universal appeal.

HA! The Science of When We Laugh and Why

Weems, Scott Basic (288 pp.) $26.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-465-03170-2

Books analyzing humor are an extensive genre and invariably humorless.

Despite a generous selection of jokes, few readers will laugh their way through this latest effort, but they will not be bored as neuroscientist Weems eschews philosophy in favor of hard science.

Many animals laugh, but only humans joke. Appreciating a funny story is a complex cerebral activity that, according to high-tech scans, activates brain regions identical to those we use when solving problems. “Although traditional jokes are now rare thanks to humorists like [Lenny] Bruce,” writes the author, “humor remains alive and well because it’s a process, one that reflects the times and needs of its audience.” Both humor and problem-solving require insight, creativity, psychological health and intelligence; in fact, writes Weems, “the smarter we are, the more likely we are to share a good joke.” Surprise is essential in humor. We laugh at a story that abruptly reveals an incongruity, but this requires a mature brain with vast experience of the world and one that works obsessively to find patterns in the messy, ambiguous information that bombards it. Young children and those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders often cannot tell a joke from a lie. That computers lack creativity and can’t handle ambiguity turns out to be wrong; they are already churning out mildly funny jokes (“What kind of murderer has moral fiber? A cereal killer”). So far, their range is limited, and they have no ability to appreciate humor, but this may improve in time.

Many readers will squirm at the obligatory account of the author’s effort at stand-up comedy, and they may roll their eyes at his earnest, if scientifically impeccable, advice for using humor to fight disease, make friends and influence people, but most will enjoy this stimulating overview of what researchers have learned about why we laugh. (6 b/w figures)

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AMERICA’S FISCAL CONSTITUTION Its Triumph and Collapse

White, Bill PublicAffairs (576 pp.) $35.00 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-61039-343-0

Looking to beat up on George W. Bush some more? There’s plenty of ammunition in this chronicle of the collapse of federal fiscal discipline during the previous administration.

The federal government is no stranger to debt, writes former Houston mayor and Texas gubernatorial candidate White.

But by virtue of “informal but well-understood rules, an unwritten constitution,” the government, from the end of the Revolutionary War through 9/11, borrowed during severe downturns to make up for lost revenue and then promptly balanced the budget. It also borrowed to expand national borders, as with the Louisiana Purchase, and in times of war—though it also financed war with new and expanded taxes. That ended in 2001, when, for the first time in American history, the Bush administration took the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq off the books and financed them strictly by debt, which flies in the face of all fiscal wisdom. Moreover, the Bush administration even pressed to lower taxes; only John McCain and two other Republicans, White notes, “opposed cutting taxes during war” by voting against a Bush-fomented bill that did just that. Writing in vigorous, plain English, the author turns a few falsehoods on their heads while making his argument—e.g., Franklin Roosevelt did not sink the nation into debt through federal spending in the Depression; the Social Security trust is sound; it would not harm the economy to balance the budget. White’s battle is certainly uphill, given that both parties have become accustomed to staggering levels of debt that he warns are unsustainable. However, rather than merely argue in the abstract, the author undergirds his case by recommending specific steps to alleviate the crisis, including, among others, establishing solely tax-financed budgets and putting bonds up for national election.

Reading between the lines, White is recommending much more—and therein lies controversy, especially when it comes to military spending. A book that deserves much attention.

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children’s & teen NOT IN LOVE

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Adderson, Caroline Illus. by Clanton, Ben Kids Can (132 pp.) $15.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-55453-803-4 Series: Jasper John Dooley, 3

NOT IN LOVE by Caroline Adderson; illus. by Ben Clanton...............81 DEATH SWORN by Leah Cypess......................................................... 89 EARTH STAR by Janet Edwards..........................................................91 SHARE by Sally Anne Garland............................................................93 HAVE YOU HEARD THE NESTING BIRD? by Rita Gray; illus. by Kenard Pak............................................................................. 96 GO! GO! GO! STOP! by Charise Mericle Harper.................................97 FIREFLY JULY by Paul B. Janeczko; illus. by Melissa Sweet.............102 THE VERY TINY BABY by Sylvie Kantorovitz.................................102 CAN YOU SEE ME? by Ted Lewin.....................................................105 AT HOME IN HER TOMB by Christine Liu-Perkins; illus. by Sarah S. Brannen...................................................................105 POOR DOREEN by Sally Lloyd-Jones; illus. by Alexandra Boiger...................................................................106 SHOE DOG by Megan McDonald; illus. by Katherine Tillotson......108 A MATTER OF SOULS by Denise Lewis Patrick............................... 112 AT THE SAME MOMENT, AROUND THE WORLD

by Clotilde Perrin................................................................................ 113

The trouble with girls is that they are prone to falling in love—and then they want to get married.

That can be a real issue if you are an early grade schooler like Jasper John Dooley, and an energetic, overbearing girl like Isabel decides she loves you. It makes it almost impossible to play dragon slayers during recess. The situation grows grimmer when Jasper’s mom arranges a play date for him at Isabel’s house.

While Isabel doesn’t want to sit around brushing her hair as he had expected, and her trampoline turns out to be great fun, his visits—he returns for the trampoline—further convince her that he’s in love, too. Instead, Jasper is embarrassed and frustrated. Based on a misguided story from his beloved grandmother, Jasper decides that if he dips Isabel’s hair in jam (since ink is unavailable), maybe she’ll lose interest. Unsurprisingly, the plan does not go well. Adderson perfectly captures the trials of early childhood, and with brief text and a simple vocabulary, she breathes full life into her cast of characters, from Paul C., new to the school and hiding behind a library book at recess, to Ori, Jasper’s best friend, whose common-sense approach is hilarious, and even to Isabel, a bit wild but fully recognizable.

Another chapter book that will readily brighten the day of emergent readers—or adults offering an extended readaloud. (Fiction. 5-8)

THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY

THE RIVER by Alessandro Sanna....................................................... 117

Andreu, Maria E. Running Press Teens (336 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7624-5192-0

THE RIVERMAN by Aaron Starmer..................................................120 THE ONE SAFE PLACE by Tania Unsworth..................................... 123 OUTSIDE THE BOX by Karma Wilson; illus. by Diane Goode.........126 SPROUT HELPS OUT by Rosie Winstead...........................................126 BASEBALL IS . . . by Louise Borden; illus. by Raúl Colón............... 127

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M.T. is not what her wealthy, suburbanite friends think of as an immigrant: She has pale skin and blondish hair, and she’s an overachieving student who is in the National Honor Society. But there is much that she is hiding.

M.T. is undocumented, brought to the United States from Argentina by her parents when she was a child. The family lives in constant fear that they will be discovered and deported, sent

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back to a country M.T. barely remembers. As senior year progresses, and her friends make their plans for life beyond high school, M.T. feels like she has no future. She can’t get a driver’s license or a legal job, and college is an impossible dream. She narrates in the present tense, describing how the weight of her secret and her feelings of desperation permeate her life. The things that bring her joy—academics, friendships, first love— turn to reminders of a life just out of reach. However, M.T., like many undocumented youth, is resilient and determined to rise above her circumstances to make a life in the only country she has ever known as home. Drawing from her personal experience (as she explains in her author’s note), Andreu has crafted an empathetic yet gritty narrative; readers will ache for M.T. as they are let into her secret life.

A timely and powerful portrait of the American dream deferred. (resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

THE NIGHTMARE DILEMMA

Arnett, Mindee Tor (384 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-7653-3334-6 Series: Arkwell Academy, 2

In a fast-moving and easily digestible magical school story, Destiny “Dusty” Everhart, a teen who can enter others’ dreams, investigates an attack on a mermaid classmate.

Nearly all the students at Arkwell Academy are magickind, from seductive sirens and hot-tempered rage demons to fairies and dryads. Since Dusty and her friends helped break The Will, a spell that restricted the use of magic, in The Nightmare Affair (2013), magical altercations among students of different species are beginning to break out. Paul, Dusty’s former boyfriend and minion of the villainous Marrow in the previous volume, has been released from jail, and Dusty is worried about seeing him again. Meanwhile, Dusty and her close friend Eli search the latter’s dreams for clues about magical attacks on classmates and stubbornly refuse to discuss the few smoldering kisses they’ve shared. There’s plenty of action to keep readers engaged, and frequent exposition—in the form of narrative asides and dialogue— helps readers keep track of the many characters and rules of magic. The prose is more serviceable than artful, and some lines are downright clunky (“As if in contrast to my bleak mood, the weather outside had taken a pleasant turn toward nice”).

Nothing too deep, but good fun for fans of romance, fantasy and magical boarding school escapades. (Fantasy.

12-18)

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ABBY SPENCER GOES TO BOLLYWOOD

Bajaj, Varsha Whitman (256 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8075-6363-2

Thirteen-year-old Abby Spencer learns that the father she’s never met is a Bollywood superstar and travels from Houston to Mumbai to meet him.

Abby has been stonewalled by her pie-shop–owning single mother when she’s asked about her dad, but hereditary concerns about a bad allergic reaction bring the matter to a head. Rather incredibly, Abby’s father, Naveen Kumar—a really nice guy who just happens to be the Brad Pitt of India—immediately accepts the situation and invites her to come to Mumbai to meet him and his loving but ailing mother. Besides the establishment of the likable Abby’s mostly smooth relationship with Kumar’s household and entourage, the rest of the story involves Abby’s reaction to India, her nascent romantic relationship with handsome Shaan and her difficulty remaining mum about the fact that she’s Kumar’s daughter. Unfortunately, nice is great in a girlfriend, but for characters in a novel, spice is necessary, and there’s not enough of it in Bajaj’s pleasant but bland firstperson cross-cultural tale. Nevertheless, readers will want for Abby what she wants for herself—to find her place in her two families— and should be touched and satisfied by the story’s ending.

Culturally intriguing but dramatically dry, this story showcases the glamour and grit of Mumbai and gives readers an entertaining glimpse of backstage Bollywood. (Fiction. 9-13)

SNORING BEAUTY

Bardhan-Quallen, Sudipta Illus. by Manning, Jane Harper/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $17.99 | $18.89 PLB | Mar. 5, 2014 978-0-06-087403-2 978-0-06-087405-6 PLB A mouse in his house—which is also Sleeping Beauty’s castle—attempts to get a full night’s sleep before his wedding but is stymied by the great wracking snores of the princess herself.

Mouse eagerly lets a prince named Max in, but the prince does not fancy kissing a snoring Beauty. Together, man and mouse hold her nose, pour water on her and tickle her feet to no avail. In desperation, Mouse puckers up and kisses her himself, and she wakes in time to get a kiss from Max. All this is illustrated in splashy watercolors that integrate a wide array of onomatopoeia to represent snoring (“SNOOOOGA-SNOOOOOM,” “KA-RENCHHHHH”); human and mouse physiognomies both sport very long noses.

Mouse’s (and Max’s) eventual success is short-lived: Mouse discovers after their double wedding that he has not escaped the sounds of snoring after all. What is clearly intended to be silly is, alas, not light enough to make the grade. Max is not interested in anything but

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“An excrement—er, excellent—read.” from behold the beautiful dung beetle

Beauty’s crown and castle, Mouse is revolted by kissing a human, and the treatment of Beauty while she is sleeping borders on the cruel if not unusual. It’s all presented in rhyme (ABCCB) in a typeface that is pretty but not as easily read as it might be.

Snore. (Picture book. 4-7)

BEHOLD THE BEAUTIFUL DUNG BEETLE

Bardoe, Cheryl Illus. by Marks, Alan Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $16.95 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-58089-554-5 978-1-60734-762-2 e-book Despite its slightly unsavory habits, this important beetle deserves a chance to shine.

Bardoe eases into discussing dung by mentioning that an animal, somewhere in the world this very second, is “lightening

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its load.” Beetles flock to one dung pat by the thousands, sometimes getting there a mere 15 seconds after it was dropped. There are three different types of dung beetles—dwellers, rollers and tunnelers—and as Bardoe nonchalantly describes, each “has a different way of enjoying the poop.” From rolling smooth balls of dung (and performing acrobatic moves to transport it) to getting into fights to catch the fancy of a mate, these tiny beetles are quite entertaining. Each double-page spread contains text in two fonts: The larger-type text is chatty and informative, while the smaller provides more detail. Both sets are immensely readable. Golden watercolor sunsets and vast open plains surround the text. Compelling close-ups show deep tunnels and every part of the beetle. The exalted tone of the title and cover illustration of a dung beetle in a triumphant, legs-to-the-heavens stance may seem a bit excessive at first. But no doubt by the end, readers will find it difficult not to join in the adulation.

An excrement—er, excellent—read. (appended facts, beetle diagram, glossary, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 5-8)

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“Even very young children will have no trouble seeing and counting the passengers as they come and go….” from my bus

MY BUS

Alas, fails to shed light on the all-too-common issue of bullying and its impact on the emotional lives of teens.

(Mystery. 12­-15)

Barton, Byron Illus. by Barton, Byron Greenwillow/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-06-228736-6 In an elemental bit of grouping and number play, Joe the bus driver picks up and drops off animal passengers on his route.

By switching narrators, Byron passes up the chance for a neat segue from My Car (2001), which ends with motorist Sam leaving his car to drive off in a bus. Still, he has a lot of fun even with a different narrator. One dog, two cats, three more cats and finally four dogs board in succession, then depart in mixed groups of three for further trips in a train, a boat and a plane (the last dog goes home with Joe). The very simple illustrations are done in Barton’s characteristic style, in opaque, mostly primary colors with minimal detailing. Even very young children will have no trouble seeing and counting the passengers as they come and go—though more reflective viewers may be confused by Joe’s claim that “I drive my bus to town,” as all of the scenes show only rolling green hills with widely separated houses. In what can be read as a deft bit of humor, the cats and dogs sit peaceably (if on opposite sides of the bus) and, like commuters everywhere, stare glassily off into the distance rather than make eye contact with one another.

A pleasant ride, dissonance between the actual and described setting notwithstanding. (Picture book. 2-5)

COLD CALLS

Benoit, Charles HMH Books (288 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-544-23950-0 Three teens blackmailed into bullying behaviors team up to discover who’s behind it.

Eric has been receiving anonymous calls from someone who blackmails him into playing a series of pranks on a boy at school that he doesn’t even know. At the end of a community course for accused bullies, he discovers that two other teens, Shelly and Fatima, have gotten similar calls from the creepy, computerized voice of an anonymous caller who threatens to reveal their secrets. In Eric’s case, it’s an incriminating photograph of his ex-girlfriend that will be posted to the Internet unless he keeps quiet and does what he’s told. The kids have only a few days to discover who’s behind the blackmailing before a countdown ends, forcing them into one last act of bullying. The complex reasons that Eric, Shelly and Fatima have for keeping their secrets are understandable and drive the action, but the blackmailer’s motivation is far less interesting. The unraveling of the mystery is moderately suspenseful, but readers are likely to move from “what could be going on?” to “is that all?” as the intrigue devolves into a tepid denouement.

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THE SWAMP WHERE GATOR HIDES

Berkes, Marianne Illus. by Baird, Roberta Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-58469-470-0 978-1-58469-471-7 paper This exploration of the creatures of the Florida Everglades is delivered in a familiar, cumulative House-that-Jack-Built style.

The swamp scene begins with a simple bit of algae and expands bit by bit as the clever verse grows to include a bobcat, a vole, an egret up high in a nest, a grazing deer, a rumbling bullfrog and a “snake / who slithers around / past the turtle / taking a snooze / ignoring the duck / who paddles in ooze / under the algae / that carpets the swamp / where gator hides.” Gator finally reveals himself as he makes a grab for a sunfish, who scoots away just in time. Poor Gator. “Who will he have for lunch today?”

The realistic illustrations have a stiff and somewhat amateurish quality, but they are appealing nonetheless, featuring deep greens and browns with accents of blue and purple. Children will enjoy spotting the alligator hiding in each page spread and learning more about the swamp and its inhabitants through the notes that follow the story.

A pleasing introduction to the swamp appropriate for individual exploration or sharing with a group or class. (author’s & illustrator’s notes, further resources) (Picture book. 3-8)

MAFIA GIRL

Blumenthal, Deborah Whitman (256 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8075-4911-7 Enjoyable, straightforward high school drama despite the Mafia princess framework.

Gia wants to be a normal middleclass 17-year-old girl, with normal high school drama and normal friends and normal relationship woes. But her father is the capo di tutti capi, “the Boss of all Bosses.” So she’s driven to her extremely ritzy private school every day by Frankie with the Glock, and when she’s pulled over for speeding by the most gorgeous cop ever, her dad’s million-dollar lawyer bails her out.

Still, for the most part, she manages “normal”: She works hard to get straight A’s, resents her parent-mandated after-school job and runs for student-council president. Sure, Gia’s family drama involves cops coming after her dad, but everything’s going to be

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fine, right? When everything isn’t fine, Gia will still survive, as she has fantastic friends who will always be there for her. An unsettling, discordant romance with a police officer—where the age and power differential are never addressed—only weakens Gia’s otherwise strong characterization and development.

Despite all the wealth, Vogue photo shoots and designer clothing, mostly a down-to-earth slice of life; more Kody Keplinger than Gossip Girl. (Fiction. 13-16)

SMASHER

Bly, Scott Blue Sky/Scholastic (256 pp.) $16.99 | $16.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-545-14118-5 978-0-545-63359-8 e-book A robot girl transports Charlie from medieval Europe to a futuristic Los Angeles with the explanation that only he can save the world.

Almost all of Charlie’s family has been killed for their ability to harness the Hum, a mysterious force that gives the wielder unimaginable power. Charlie has been taught that the Hum is to be used with love, but in LAanges the Hum is being used to terrible effect by Gramercy Foxx, a ruthless genius focused on world domination. When Charlie and his robot friend, Geneva, discover Foxx’s animalexperimentation lab, where he is attempting to alter a computer virus to infect human DNA, they know they must stop him no matter the cost. It is not until Charlie returns to his time and discovers Foxx’s true identity that it becomes personal. The fast-paced plot, supersaturated with technology and complex puzzles, is warmed by Geneva and Charlie’s unlikely friendship.

Foxx is the consummate villain, preying on children and animals without remorse—a predilection that is not soft-pedaled in the text, particularly with regard to animals, which will put readers squarely in Geneva and Charlie’s court.

An unusual premise vibrates with a combination of science and magic. (Fantasy. 8-12)

SOFIA’S STOOP STORY 18th Street, Brooklyn

Bohrer, Maria LaPlaca Illus. by Johnson, Steve; Fancher, Lou Blue Marlin (32 pp.) $17.95 | Feb. 10, 2014 978-0-9885295-2-6 A richly sentimental picture of a Sunday gathering from the author’s youth.

In present tense, Sofia recalls sitting on the stoop with her six cousins listening to Uncle Frankie’s tale of the time he met Carl Furillo. As he regales the gathering, she’s repeatedly called away to fetch cheese and other ingredients from local shops for Nana’s meatballs. Though she uses effectively evocative names |

and cadences in speech, Bohrer gives Nana an accent that is overwrought to the point of parody: “Bella mia, go downa to D’Amico’s Bakerya, get two loaves o’ Italiano breada, fresh Italiano breada, make sure isa fresh. And, we needa some cannoli for desserta.” When everyone’s finally called in for dinner, Nana promises to save Sofia “braciole and a nicea sweet sozeecha” while Frankie stays outside to fill the little girl in on the parts of the story she missed. Johnson and Fancher incorporate glimpses of old news items and handwritten recipes into loosely brushed scenes of the stoop, neighborhood and an antique kitchen, but aside from Uncle Frankie’s plaid pants, the setting has a timeless quality. It is capped, as is only proper, with a mouthwatering meatball recipe.

Though a little heavy on the ethnic flavoring, the memories are as rich and savory as Nana’s homemade sauce. (afterword) (Picture book. 6-9)

THE HERE AND NOW

Brashares, Ann Delacorte (256 pp.) $18.99 | $10.99 e-book | $21.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-73680-0 978-0-307-97615-4 e-book 978-0-385-90629-6 PLB In a stark departure, Brashares, of Traveling Pants fame, returns with a lightning-paced sci-fi time-travel romp that, much like a cinematic blockbuster, offers intrigue, romance and a healthy dose of implausibility.

After blood plague ravages her world, Prenna James emigrates with a group of refugees, known as travelers. However, it’s not where she ends up, it’s when. Her community tries to assimilate into a society decades in the past, with stringent rules about how they must conduct themselves in the time natives’ society. Predictably, Prenna falls in love with Ethan, a handsome time native—one of the gravest offenses a traveler might commit—and quickly learns that her tightly knit authoritarian community may indeed be harboring secrets. Brashares’ worldbuilding is solid, and she handles the time-travel elements with a fluid, cinematic ease. Unfortunately, she relies too much on dei ex machina to propel Ethan and Prenna forward. Cars, money and opportunity pop up with uncannily good timing and convenience, helping the time-crossed lovers right the wrongs of the past. Those willing to overlook such shortcuts will surely be swept into the whirlwind romance and breathlessly turn pages to discover if there truly is a possibility for a better future.

This quirky tale of love and time travel demands that readers totally suspend disbelief to enjoy some of the more contrived plot elements. (Science fiction. 13-16)

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SECRETS OF THE APPLE TREE A Shine-a-Light Book Brown, Carron Illus. by Nassner, Alyssa Kane/Miller (36 pp.) $12.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-61067-243-6

Secret life under, in and around an apple tree can be revealed when light shines through the pages of this interactive, flawed book.

“Many animals live around the tree. Can you see who the bird is about to grab?” The author suggests that readers use a flashlight or hold the page up to a light to discern what might occupy the plain green area in the middle of the page. Luckily, if this proves awkward, or the right-sized light isn’t available, the answers to the questions posed on each colorful right-hand page are revealed in the black-and-white silhouettes on the next page (in this case, earthworms). The bird takes one of the earthworms to her chicks in a leaf-covered nest. A toad hides in the leaves, a lizard shelters under stones, and a moth is camouflaged on the trunk. In one unfortunate page turn, a paper-wasp nest is inaccurately revealed to be a honeybee hive; compounding the problem, the bees are called bumblebees. (Bumblebees are shaped differently and normally nest on or under the ground.) A paragraph of further information about each animal described is provided at the end. These generalizations leave readers with facts to be unlearned later: Though butterflies fold their wings to hide their bright colors, moths do not; birds that nest in trees often eat seeds as well as the enumerated slugs, snails, insects and fruits.

Very young book lovers might be intrigued by the peekaboo game but will be better served by a more accurate representation of the natural world. (Picture book. 4-7)

GOODNIGHT SONGS Illustrated by Twelve AwardWinning Picture Book Artists

Brown, Margaret Wise Sterling (28 pp.) $17.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4549-0446-5

It’s a treasure trove: one dozen previously unpublished lyrical songs illustrated by the likes of Jonathan Bean, Carin Berger and Melissa Sweet.

In an introduction, estate editor Amy Gary explains how she found a trunk in Brown’s sister’s barn filled with unpublished manuscripts with Brown’s handwritten notes along with musical scores of her words. They were written in 1952, the last year of her life, when she was traveling in France for a book tour and under contract to create songs for a new children’s record company. Brown’s intent was to capture the spirit of a child’s world in her songs as she had done with her stories. As the opening to “The Secret Song” demonstrates, the simple rhymes have Brown’s trademark charm: “Who saw the petals / Drop from the rose? / ‘I,’ said the spider. / ‘But nobody knows.’ / Who saw 86

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the sunset / Flash on a bird? / ‘I,’ said the fish. / ‘But nobody heard.’ ” Each song is presented on one double-page spread, each illustrated by a different artist (uncredited until an ending recap), in a rather staid book design that does not rise to meet the buoyancy of the lyrics.

Nevertheless, children will enjoy the whimsical scenes, and adult mavens of children’s literature will appreciate and delight in the background of the discovery. (CD) (Picture book. 3-5)

HANDLE WITH CARE An Unusual Butterfly Journey

Burns, Loree Griffin Photos by Harasimowicz, Ellen Millbrook/Lerner (32 pp.) $21.95 e-book | $29.26 PLB | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2542-2 e-book 978-0-7613-9342-9 PLB

Beautiful butterflies on view in museums and gardens across North America begin life on farms in Costa Rica.

In words and pictures, an experienced author-illustrator team explains the stages of butterfly metamorphosis that allow these popular insects to be raised at El Bosque Nuevo in the Costa Rican forest for the butterfly garden in the Museum of Science in Boston. This large, square album perfectly complements primary-grade butterfly studies. Crisply reproduced photographs show butterflies in all their stages, the greenhouse and other farm buildings where they are bred and grown, farm workers tending the caterpillars and collecting and packing the pupae, and finally, a child in Boston watching an adult butterfly emerge. A relatively simple text explains the insect’s life cycle and the production process. Some science vocabulary—exoskeleton, pupa, molt—is defined in context. Only in the two-page backmatter (still aimed at the child reader) does the author use the word metamorphosis. There, she also connects the changes in butterflies to the stages of other insects. There’s a map early in the narrative as well as a concluding glossary and appropriate suggestions for further reading and research. Sadly, the intriguing photographs of pupae on the front endpapers and adults on the back aren’t labeled.

Despite this miscalculation, an otherwise valuable addition to any classroom library. (bibliography, index) (Informational picture book. 6-10)

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“This simple story is accompanied by paintings that employ a sense of magical realism; Chagall-like figures have occasionally upside-down heads and are posed against three beautifully textured backgrounds.” from thea’s tree

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT

Cabrera, Jane Illus. by Cabrera, Jane Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-3050-5

Cabrera transmutes the simple children’s song into a participatory singalong with a nod to wildlife diversity.

A girl puppy (she has eyelashes and wears a dress) and a boy kitten (he wears a shirt and shorts and has no visible eyelashes) row, row, row that little boat down a green river through a jungly setting. The first verse is the familiar one, and as the pages turn, they meet different animals, all with cute childlike faces and each paired with a verse that encourages animal noises from the audience. “Row, row, row your boat / Closer to the shore. / If you see a lion smile, / Don’t forget to roar. / ROARRR!” In addition to the smiling lion, the rowing pair encounters swimming mice, a monkey (“OO, OO, AH, AH!”), an elephant, a crocodile, a tiger and singing doves (“COO!”). As it gets dark, puppy and kitten see mommy dog on the shore, and “wearily, wearily, wearily, wearily,” they “snuggle up and dream.” Thick impasto acrylics and clear colors with many shades of green underscore the dedication to Earth’s “disappearing forests,” though the illustrations make no attempt to create a recognizable, specific habitat.

It may seem like a heavy message for this familiar nursery song; on the other hand, the original “life is but a dream” has philosophical and theological implications galore. Music and all the verses are appended.

Sweet, if freighted. (Picture book. 3-6)

JEREMY STONE

Choyce, Lesley Red Deer Press (216 pp.) $12.95 paper | Mar. 15, 2014 978-0-88995-504-2

Just like a geode, Jeremy Stone appears unremarkable on the outside, while his inner life shimmers with the complexity of glittering crystals.

Being the quiet new kid at school and the only Native American inspires other dichotomies: a folded-up note from a sympathetic classmate that gets intercepted by “the cruel ugly fucks who think they run the world.” The outside reads, “Loser” and “Welcome to Hell,” but inside, in beautiful cursive: “Don’t let the bastards get to you. Caitlan.” Caitlan becomes a touchstone, if a troubled one. Meanwhile, Jeremy imagines spiritual advice on survival from Old Man, his deceased grandfather: “Don’t say too much. / Don’t feel too much. / Don’t reveal who you are. / Don’t stay in one place too long.” Choyce’s novel traverses the difficult landscapes of identity, depression, violence, parental struggles, substance abuse, bullying, cutting and suicide with the brilliant accessibility of free verse, which may have particular appeal to |

reluctant readers. Jeremy’s shamanlike gift to navigate between real and spirit worlds leads him to conclude that “what is real to us / is what we believe is real.” Few would disagree, though readers’ journeys to that conclusion become difficult in the final third of the book, as the account loses focus and begins to meander.

Despite a disappointing ending, an intricate story that opens up the universe of troubled silence. (Verse/fiction. 14-18)

THEA’S TREE

Clay, Judith Illus. by Clay, Judith Karadi Tales (28 pp.) $15.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-81-8190-297-9 Although Thea has grown up in an ugly brick city without trees, flowers or plants (is it in Europe or North America?), her parents remember trees with fondness.

Mama remembers “trees to climb, trees to hide in, trees to sit under and dream.” Papa has happy memories too, more specific to India: “picking mangoes and guavas and neem leaves to eat.” When, miraculously, Thea sees a falling leaf, she follows it into a dreamlike adventure. High above the Earth, she meets a talking tree with white leaves who can tell that Thea doesn’t want to grow a tree just to cut it down for firewood or paper pulp. The tree gives Thea a seed to plant with directions to “give it water and love and conversation.” A tree that lives on for generations is sown, giving great happiness to Thea and her descendants. This simple story is accompanied by paintings that employ a sense of magical realism; Chagalllike figures have occasionally upside-down heads and are posed against three beautifully textured backgrounds. The text is printed over delicate, beige leaf prints that embellish the pages.

With its droll paintings and fablelike story, the book will appeal to those whose tree-hugging instincts and good wishes for the Earth’s future are intact. (Picture book. 4-7)

THE FLEA

Cohen, Laurie Illus. by Béal, Marjorie Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-77147-056-8 A tiny flea with size issues gets mad rather than wiser in this terse and unsatisfying fable.

Fretting that he’s so small, a flea hops atop a pea, then an apple, then to progressively higher vantages until he’s floating on a cloud. When a bear on the ground, hearing him boast that he’s big, tries to set him straight (“You’re high up in the air. That’s different. I’m big…”), the enraged flea jumps down into his fur to wreak itchy vengeance. The bear concludes that the flea is indeed

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“The characters are nameless and therefore universal, and as conveyed totally in dialogue, the soft-edged message hits home with childlike simplicity.” from starring me and you

big—“A big nuisance.” Like the minimal text, Béal’s illustrations are stripped down to essentials. The pea is a green dot floating on the white page, and successive perches are likewise portrayed as very simple geometric or organic shapes. Even readers willing to go with the flow may wonder how the flea, a chubby black oval topping out at (a magnified) 1 mm. in the first picture, can still be a visible dot on a huge skyscraper and then a remote cloud. Not to mention what became of any moral.

Too rudimentary to be more than a joke with a mildly amusing punch line. (Picture book. 5-8)

STARRING ME AND YOU

Côté, Geneviève Illus. by Côté, Geneviève Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-894786-39-3 Series: Piggy and Bunny

The two animal friends, a pig and a bunny, from Me and You and Without You (2009, 2011) are back in a return engagement as they attempt to put on a play, but will their emotions get in the way?

An orange sheet clipped to a clothesline becomes the backdrop as the pig says: “Where are you? The stage is ready. Let’s put on a play!” “ I’m too shy,” answers the bunny. The pig replies, “So? I’M shy, too!” So begins an exchange of feelings on opposite pages in point-counterpoint style. On verso, the bunny says, “[W]hen I’m scared, I freeze like this”; ears and tiptoes crossed, the bunny holds its front paws up to its chin and gazes, wideeyed, out at readers. On the opposite page, the pig says, “Oh, when I’M scared, I SCREAM like this,” arms out, head back, mouth wide open and tail jagged with fright. The pig wants to play pirates on a shipwreck, but the bunny wants to sing a duet dressed as sunflowers. This causes a rift in the friendship that goes from mad to glad. The characters are nameless and therefore universal, and as conveyed totally in dialogue, the soft-edged message hits home with childlike simplicity. Though there are no quotation marks, the consistent placement of dialogue on the page and differentiating typefaces keep readers on track; the bunny’s sunflower bonnet and pig’s pirate hat work nicely as unifying design elements (down to the endpapers).

Third in a series, the book easily stands alone. Among all the picture-book friendship stories, this one stands out for the younger set. (Picture book. 2-5)

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THE ROCKABILLY GOATS GRUFF

Crosby, Jeff Illus. by Crosby, Jeff Holiday House (32 pp.) $15.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2666-9 From the first glimpse of the slickedup pompadours and hot rods of the Rockabilly Goats, readers will know that they are in for a good time with this rock-’n’-roll interpretation of a classic tale.

The three goat rockers—Billy Lee, Billy Joe and Billy Bob— are all on their way to a gig at Nanny May’s Shimmy Shack when a grumpy old troll fishing for his dinner gets in their way. One at a time, the goats play their guitar, bass and drums, respectively, filling the pages with onomatopoeia (“DOONG, DOONGA, DOONG, DOWNG, DOWNG!”). To conquer the troll, they scoop him up into one of their trucks, take him to the Shimmy Shack, fill his hungry belly with barbecue and then win him over with their groovin’ tunes. This picture book lives up to the excellent wordplay in the title with a whimsical storyline that keeps a solid beat. The amusing and expressive language makes this book an excellent choice for reading aloud, and the bright colors, exaggerated expressions and spot-on fashion details in the illustrations perfectly complement the text. The energy of the book will appeal to a broad audience—especially to music lovers.

A snazzy, music-themed twist on a classic story that both children and adults will enjoy. (Picture book. 3-6)

CATCH A FALLING STAR

Culbertson, Kim Point/Scholastic (304 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-62704-7 978-0-545-62705-4 e-book When a movie company comes to shoot in a picturesque California town, the movie star’s manager pays a local girl to pose as the star’s girlfriend in this heartfelt romance.

Seventeen-year-old Carter happily works in her family’s small cafe in Little, Calif. Although she’s a talented dancer, she has no ambition to leave her beautiful town, and she certainly doesn’t care about movie stars. Carter’s brother, John, has become a compulsive gambler, plunging the family into debt, so despite her disdain for Hollywood, Carter can’t resist the large sum of money troubled teen star Adam Jakes’ manager offers her. Naturally, as they spend time together on their mock dates, Carter begins to fall for Adam, who turns out to be a nice guy despite his drop-dead-handsome looks and Hollywood background. As an actor familiar with the trials of artists, he gives her some insight into the reasons she stopped dancing. Meanwhile, Carter’s star-struck good friends, who don’t know about

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the ruse, struggle to understand her emotions and actions as they gaze on stars in the night sky, with one friend writing a stargazing blog that integrates Carter’s experiences with both types of stars. Culbertson writes with sensitivity and sympathy, crafting an entertaining but perceptive character study.

Written with a sure hand and keen insight. (Romance.

12-16)

DEATH SWORN

Cypess, Leah Greenwillow/HarperCollins (352 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-06-222121-6 978-0-06-222123-0 e-book A teenage sorceress without magic attempts to solve a murder in a cave full of killers. What could possibly go wrong?

Deemed expendable due to her rapidly dwindling power, Ileni is sent to the Assassins’ Caves to teach magic—and secretly to investigate the sudden deaths of the previous tutors dispatched there. Resigned to her task (and likely murder), Ileni despises the assassins and all their works yet is also reluctantly drawn to the unexpected grace and even joy in their lives, as well as their selfless dedication to a greater purpose. Cypess has a talent for bringing freshness and depth to tired tropes; her lyrical prose and understated imagery evoke the claustrophobic caverns and the unbearable stress of everpresent danger. Ileni, with her complex blend of intelligence, arrogance, longing, despair and determination, is an exceptionally vibrant heroine. While her delicately passionate romance with her assassin bodyguard appears uncomfortably close to Stockholm syndrome, it also encapsulates the constant tension between popular perceptions of assassins as awesome and sexy superninjas and as callous, mercenary, bloodthirsty thugs.

As her constricted surroundings paradoxically result in a more nuanced appreciation of the wider world, Ileni gradually learns the difference among those things worth killing for, worth dying for and worth living for.

A thoughtful exploration of identity and responsibility wrapped in a twisty, suspenseful mystery and set in a gorgeously realized fantasy world. (Fantasy/mystery. 12 & up)

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Czukas, Liz HarperTeen (336 pp.) $9.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-06-227239-3 978-0-06-227241-6 e-book One teen’s prom night splits in two directions.

Seventeen-year-old Heart LaCoeur (who’s already planning to change her “porn star” name upon turning 18) has plans to attend the dance with friends as part of “the No Drama Prom-a Crew.” Unfortunately, fate (in which she does not believe) inserts itself in the form of two last-minute dates: her French-class conversation partner, Ryan, and her brother’s football teammate, Troy, recently dumped by his girlfriend. With the flip of a Chuck E. Cheese token, the first-person narrative splits in two. In the “Heads” version of reality, she is Troy’s date and the odd girl out among the jocks and cheerleaders. In the “Tails” version, her date is gay Ryan, who has come out only to her. The night plays out in various hijinks before the split narratives collide in a somewhat predictable, but still satisfying, romantic conclusion. In her debut, Czukas gives readers a glimpse of a genuine comedic voice and surprisingly well-developed characters, but much of the book’s promise is lost, victim of its own contrivance, in a choose-your-own-prom adventure without actual choices. Some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments are scattered throughout the unevenly paced narrative. This may work for readers seeking a cute and frothy prom-night romp, but anyone looking for something more substantial will be disappointed.

Great characters in search of a less gimmicky narrative.

(Fiction. 13-18)

HOPE IS A GIRL SELLING FRUIT

Das, Amrita Illus. by Das, Amrita Tara Publishing (28 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-93-83145-02-7 Das debuts with illustrations done in a distinctive Indian style paired to a brief meditative text—part memoir, part artist’s statement, part rumination—on women’s personal journeys.

Sparked by a workshop assignment, the artist recalls her own childhood and, on a certain train trip, encounters with two young women. One travels alone to find work; the other, disabled but composed in the face of jeers, sells fruit from a cart.

Centered on each spread (and sometimes losing a little in the gutters), the art, done in the Mithila folk tradition, offers large, often multiple scenes of, mostly, women in flat-perspective rural or urban settings, delineated in wavy lines and contrasting patterns. Though strongly stylized, the activities in which these

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figures are engaged are easy to identify, and they range from traditional farm or domestic work to riding a scooter, painting, using a computer keyboard or just sitting in quiet thought.

“A girl’s life is hard,” Das reflects. “If you dream for a moment, you’re asked why you’re twiddling your thumbs.…No one lets you forget that you’re born a girl, not a boy.” Still, she takes heart from the two chance-met women and ends with: “I want to be brave, and different.”

“We’re all in this together,” Das writes, “lost, but not quite.” Older, Western children and teens may well feel they’ve found an unexpected comrade. (afterword on the art) (Picture book. 11-16)

I SAID, “BED!”

Degen, Bruce Illus. by Degen, Bruce Holiday House (32 pp.) $14.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2938-7 Series: I Like to Read A book written for new readers seems more like fare for the toddler set.

The unnamed protagonist is a boy who resists his stern mother’s titular directive that he go to bed. Pictures depict her exasperation as she drags him down the hallway and then as she tries to get him out from under his bed. In a very abrupt mood shift on the facing page, she is then pictured sitting and smiling while reading aloud from a chair beside his bed. Playful colored pencil–and-graphite illustrations are anything but sleepy, and their busyness may prove overwhelming for emergent readers attempting to decode text. Furthermore, while the words themselves are simple enough to inspire confidence and independence, the bedtime-angst theme seems better suited to a younger audience. This concern is only somewhat mitigated when the art takes a fantastic turn, sending the boy and his teddy bear flying off on an adventure, as this part of the story is rather disjointed. They sail in a bed that has become like a boat and then encounter alien children who are also resisting bedtime. Then, the boy and teddy bear recognize the moon children’s bed as their own, and they seize it and take it back home. Their appetite for fun satiated, they then decide to go to sleep, too.

A mixed bag of a book. (Early reader. 5-7)

HIPPOS CAN’T SWIM and Other Fun Facts

DiSiena, Laura Lyn; Eliot, Hannah Illus. by Oswald, Pete Little Simon/Simon & Schuster (32 pp.) $17.99 | $5.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Feb. 4, 2014 978-1-4424-9352-0 978-1-4424-9324-7 paper 978-1-4424-9325-4 e-book Series: Did You Know?

Smooth segues provide the cement for this high-wattage, if less-than-carefully illustrated, set of animal facts.

Oswald’s cartoon images of popeyed, well-caffeinated creatures crank up the visual energy to frantic levels. Unfortunately, at the outset, they contradict the author’s correct observation that hippos’ noses are placed on the tops of their heads. In another misstep, both illustration and a thought balloon misleadingly suggest that bats can recognize a passing 747 with echolocation (their range is much, much smaller). For the most part, though, DiSiena and Eliot’s revelations are both accurate and just as detailed as they need to be to keep and hold attention. They glide from the hippo’s titular lack of buoyancy (they walk along river bottoms) to the surprising fleetness of sea turtles. From there, it’s on to jellyfish, which don’t actively swim but do flash with bioluminescence—just like fireflies. So it goes, until the parade of facts circles neatly back around to blue whales (“actually the largest animals that have ever lived”) and a closing assurance that “unlike hippos…blue whales sure can SWIM!” Though the authors supply no supportive references or leads to further information, they do tuck in an additional “Fun Fact” about each of the 14 animals at the end. A companion, Chickens Don’t Fly and Other Fun Facts, publishes simultaneously.

The pictures are a weak link, but younger readers and listeners will happily take this quick dive into the sea of random knowledge. (Informational picture book. 5-7) (Chickens Don’t Fly: 978-1-4424-9353-7; 978-1-4424-9326-1 paper; 978-1-44249327-8 e-book)

JACK THE CASTAWAY

Doan, Lisa Illus. by Stevanovic, Ivica Darby Creek (152 pp.) $17.95 | $13.95 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-1076-3 978-1-4677-2421-0 e-book

All Jack Berenson wants is to go to school like a normal sixth-grader and come home to parents who work regular, old 9-to-5 jobs, but life with Richard and Claire Berenson is anything but normal.

When the two whisk their son off to the “undiscovered Caribbean” in hot pursuit of their next get-rich-quick scheme, Jack quickly finds himself stranded on a desert island with little 90

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“Edwards shows that speculative fiction needn’t be dystopic, conspiracy-filled or love-triangled to be riveting and satisfying.” from earth star

more than a bird named Loco, a few bags of potato chips and a box of Spider-Man Band-Aids. Incredibly, there seems less reason to be concerned for Jack’s welfare than for his flighty, accident-prone parents, who are safe on the mainland. Readers will be charmed by Jack, whose flair for checklists and selfpreservation is both humorous and endearing. Middle-grade readers who tend to leave their socks on the floor will surely be intrigued by a kid whose first order of business upon being shipwrecked is to do laundry. While at first Jack’s parents do seem alarmingly uninterested in their son’s well-being, they gradually warm up to their role as parents. By book’s end, the threesome even agree upon a set of family rules designed to save lives and still allow room for a bit of adventure.

Readers who are list makers should make sure this series opener is included. (Adventure. 8-12)

THE WORLD SERIES Baseball’s Biggest Stage

Doeden, Matt Millbrook/Lerner (64 pp.) $23.95 e-book | $33.27 PLB | Mar. 1, 2014 Series: Spectacular Sports 978-1-4677-2543-9 e-book 978-1-4677-1896-7 PLB A condensed history of the World Series is filled with information and selected highlights.

Although there had been a series in 1903, the first officially recognized World Series occurred in 1905, in the early years of what is considered the modern age of baseball. Since then, there have been thrills and spectacles, heroes and goats, and games that have reverberated through the years in memory and controversy. Doeden presents the Fall Classic’s basic history as well as chapters spotlighting special games, players and individual moments, balancing long-ago events and players with those of recent years. All of them are interesting and informative, but no criteria are given concerning the selections. Every fan will find some favorites and also experience disappointment that some special ones are left out. A final chapter speculates on the future of the World Series and of baseball itself. Text is composed in accessible, conversational language and carefully arranged with clear headings in red display type announcing the player or the date and the teams involved, all augmented by period action photos and statistics. There are also sidebars, framed on a grassgreen field, offering further information about the dead ball era, the Commissioner’s Trophy, Shoeless Joe Jackson, the Curse of the Bambino and more.

Endlessly fascinating and a sharing opportunity for children and adults who love the game. (statistics, source notes, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-16)

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THE SOWING

dos Santos, Steven Flux (432 pp.) $9.99 paper | Mar. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3540-5 Series: Torch Keeper, 2 Following The Culling (2013), Recruitturned–Imposer trainee Lucian “Lucky” Spark observes the Trials, a yearly competition in which horror-movie–esque situations determine which competitor’s loved one dies; his position may be new, but it is still potentially deadly.

Lucky takes advantage of his new, privileged position as Trials winner to gain access to munitions and locations for sabotage and terrorist attacks against the regime he serves. Still a guileless hero, Lucky isn’t the stealthiest insurgent—his primary antagonist, Cassius, sees through him, and he runs afoul of the organized resistance. After straightening things out, they send him to assassinate Cassius and the prime minister, but when the time comes, a terrible, surprising choice botches the mission (as in the first book, choices again are a major theme). As punishment, Cassius sends Lucky and his fellow Imposer trainees back to the Trials—this time as Incentives who will be killed if their Recruit places last in a contest. Lucky must find a way to escape and save as many fellow hostages as possible. Although the prose revels in gore, readers are spared psychological horror, as most imperiled characters lack necessary development for emotional attachment. In the final act, a series of double crosses (and even triple crosses) and plot twists comes so fast readers won’t have time to ponder implications and motivations.

Frequently baffling and uneven; only for readers already invested in Lucky. (Science fiction. 13-16)

EARTH STAR

Edwards, Janet Pyr/Prometheus Books (277 pp.) $17.99 | $11.99 e-book | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-61614-897-3 978-1-61614-898-0 e-book This far-future science-fiction sequel skips tired genre tropes to offer a fresh and thrilling adventure about hazardous archaeological excavation, a mystery in the sky and a potential threat to all of humanity.

It’s 2789. People portal between planets in seconds, often many times per day—except the Handicapped, like Jarra, whose immune systems can survive only on Earth. After her recent life-threatening work helping rescue the crew of a crashed spacecraft (Earth Girl, 2013), she plans to continue studying prehistory by excavating sites of long-dead cities. But before the next dig begins, Jarra and boyfriend Fian are whisked off to a military base and inexplicably sworn in as officers. An unidentified alien sphere is hovering above Africa. Are the aliens hostile? Is their technology superior or archaic? Jarra’s

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“Although readers may disagree with Kit’s take on morality, nevertheless they can watch her with fascination and even some sympathy as she commits her flawless crimes.” from dear killer

skills, intelligence and courage are both exciting and believable.

She evacuates Earth’s Handicapped residents to underground caverns; she solves puzzles about the sphere; she grapples with layers of anti-Handicapped hatefulness; and she becomes a hero again—all due to smarts and hard work, not destiny. Explosions, serious injuries, death and suspense mesh with fizzy romance that includes some sparkling gender-role reversal. Nitty-gritty archaeology details are vivid, and easy slang creates color (“Twoing” is dating; “amaz” means amazing). Edwards shows that speculative fiction needn’t be dystopic, conspiracy-filled or love-triangled to be riveting and satisfying.

Amaz—simply amaz. (Science fiction. 11-16)

STARTING FROM SCRATCH What You Should Know about Food and Cooking

Elton, Sarah Illus. by Kulak, Jeff Owlkids Books (96 pp.) $18.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-1-926973-96-8

For young people beginning to take an interest in cooking, Canadian food writer Elton offers an overview of the world of food, a context for kids’ adventures in the kitchen.

“So why do we taste different flavors?” “Why are Mexican foods spicier than French foods?” “What is a healthy diet?”

These and many other questions are answered in a lively, colorful and matter-of-fact introduction to the culture of food.

Topics include the science behind cooking and eating, the global need for sustainable farming, and the day-to-day needs of shopping, stocking a pantry and cooking. Some statements are obvious—we can’t live without food, knives can cut you, clean the dishes and pots after the meal—but what will make the volume of interest to young readers are the eye-catching art and the many fascinating tidbits of information. Cats can’t taste sweet things; a clothespin on the nose not only prevents the smelling of food, but tasting; in 1491, nobody in Europe knew what a tomato was. Three useful appendices offer basic recipes, an approach to pairing foods, a guide to doing measurements and conversions, and a brief but well-selected list of excellent cookbooks.

A lively and informative introduction to food, great for browsing while avoiding shopping or dreaming up the next meal. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

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DEAR KILLER

Ewell, Katherine Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (368 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-06-225780-2 978-0-06-225782-6 e-book This unusual and absorbing debut looks at a serial killer through the eyes of the killer herself.

Seventeen-year-old Kit has been trained by her mother from an early age to kill by hand and leave no clues; she takes great pride in the name she’s earned from the police: the Perfect Killer. She enjoys her high school philosophy class, where they discuss “moral nihilism,” a code she feels she understands. She calls herself a serial killer, but she operates as an assassin, taking requests for murders from letters addressed to “Dear Killer” stashed in a shabby London restroom. It’s all good, until classmate Michael asks the Perfect Killer to take out another, Maggie. Kit wrestles over which she ought to kill: Michael, who clearly deserves it but whose death has not been requested, or Maggie, who has become her only friend. Further complicating matters is her growing friendship with the detective assigned to her case. Although readers may disagree with Kit’s take on morality, nevertheless they can watch her with fascination and even some sympathy as she commits her flawless crimes. Even as tension rises, Kit’s moral struggle holds center stage and builds to her final choice.

Unfortunately, though the book is nominally set in London, poor worldbuilding keeps readers from rooting themselves there; Kit’s school, in particular, might as well be in Dubuque.

Chilling and fascinating at the same time, despite flaws.

(Suspense. 13-16)

PROFESSOR WHISKERTON PRESENTS STEAMPUNK ABC

Falkenstern, Lisa Illus. by Falkenstern, Lisa Two Lions (32 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4778-4722-0

Here’s another ABC book that takes an unusual theme and manipulates the device for a very sophisticated audience.

Picture-book-age children will not be familiar with the term “steampunk,” which is best known as a subgenre of fantasy and science fiction. The label typically features fantasy worlds powered by steam and clockwork and retro-futuristic inventions, often in a Victorian-style setting. Falkenstern takes that construct and adds two adorable mice, dressed in Victorian clothing, who use gadgets and found objects to invent machines, mostly using everyday tools. A is for Anvil; M is for Monkey wrench; P is for Periscope; Q is for Quartz; W is for Windsock; X Marks the spot; Z is for Zeppelin. Though there is no narrative as such,

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savvy readers will wonder what the various contrivances are leading to, if anything. The last page reveals the answer, as the mice float off on the zeppelin that they have contrived to build.

The intricately detailed illustrations are quite fascinating and eye-catching, with the mice sporting French cuffs and bow ties, and one wears a red vest and derby hat. The disparity between format and content begs the eternal question, though: Who is the audience for this book?

Though just a context-void bagatelle for actual children, perhaps teen and adult steampunk enthusiasts will take a look. (Picture book. 12 & up)

DAISY’S BIG NIGHT

Feder, Sandra V. Illus. by Mitchell, Susan Kids Can (112 pp.) $14.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-55453-908-6 Series: Daisy, 3

Back for a third outing, grade-schooler Daisy, a serious collector of words, discovers the joy of poetry.

Daisy is thrilled to be invited by a neighbor to a poetry party.

Not yet a poet herself, she brings along her lists of favorite words. The other poets—all adults—warmly welcome her and help her to see that her word lists are already poetic. With that encouragement, she begins writing her own poems in a few different forms. Daisy is also concerned about what kind of project she can put together for an end-of-school-year showcase. As she grows more comfortable with poetry, she realizes she can create the perfect display, although her project—a “word cafe” where she shares her favorites along with some poetry—seems a trifle elaborate for her age. Although Daisy encounters very little strife and few challenges, her enthusiasm and Feder’s gentle storytelling provide a pleasant combination. Mitchell’s blackand-white illustrations, one or two to each brief chapter, feature round-eyed people with circular cheek highlights, simple yet appealingly cheerful. Pages are uncluttered, with largish font generously leaded, and she utilizes a manageable vocabulary for those recently transitioned to chapter books.

Pair this quiet charmer with Eileen Spinelli’s slightly more challenging, free verse Where I Live, illustrated by Matt Phelan (2007), for an even broader exploration of poetry. (Fiction. 6-9)

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HOW TO MAKE A PLANET A Step-by-step Guide to Building the Earth Forbes, Scott Illus. by Camden, Jean Kids Can (64 pp.) $17.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-894786-88-1

A boy who looks like he’s visiting from a digital cartoon film provides stepby-step instructions so his friends can build a planet just like the one we inhabit.

From a bang-up beginning to finishing touches (including human beings) and some suggestions for planet care, this lighthearted approach to the origins of the universe, the Earth and its inhabitants covers 13.7 billion years of development in 64 pages of short, snappy prose. Lively design, liberal use of comicstyle illustrations, text presented in small plates (usually a single paragraph with a heading) and frequent time checks make this information easily digestible. Each step covers four to six pages.

The author also introduces big numbers, small particles, and long time and distance scales. He covers star life and planet formation, even including the most common theory about the origin of our moon. Timelines at the beginning and near the end will help readers get a sense of the whole. Distilling this much science is a challenge, and space permits the exploration of only a few alternate theories. There are points on which specialists may disagree, occasional oversimplifications and omissions, and facts overtaken by new discoveries. (The book was first published in Australia in 2012.) But overall, the content is sound and likely to provide a solid structure for further learning.

A lively and original approach to a complex subject. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

SHARE

Garland, Sally Anne Illus. by Garland, Sally Anne Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-1-77147-005-6 Mom says it’s important to share, but it’s not always easy.

When a younger bunny cousin comes to visit, he wants to have everything his older cousin has and to do everything she does. Her mother keeps reminding her to share, so she lets him play, with disastrous results, as he is rough and careless. She tries to stay out of his way and play other games or read a book or watch television, but he follows her everywhere and gets involved in every activity until she just can’t stand it anymore. Won’t he ever stop plaguing her and leave? At the end of the day, when he hugs and thanks her, she realizes her mother is right: He copies her actions out of admiration. Morality tales are often pedantic and stiff, but Garland employs bouncy rhymes and a sweetheart of a bunny to get her

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point across. Even Mom’s offstage voice encourages rather than scolds. Visually appealing type winds its way through the largescale cartoon illustrations, which feature patterned background wallpaper and lots of pink and green eye-catching details. Bunny and her little cousin are full of life, with facial expressions and body language that match every emotion. Young readers will empathize with both characters and will want to read it over and over.

A warm, cuddly tale and a total delight. (Picture book. 2-6)

THE EDGE OF THE WATER

George, Elizabeth Viking (448 pp.) $18.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-670-01297-8 Series: Edge of Nowhere

Best-selling mystery writer George continues her series for teens set on Whidbey Island in Washington state with this mystery about an unusual seal connected to the Celtic selkie myth.

The first volume in the series, The Edge of Nowhere (2012), focused on Becca, a girl with the power to understand some of the thoughts of others around her. This story also includes Becca and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Derric, but the main character this time is Jenn, a bitter 15-year-old from an impoverished, dysfunctional family. Jenn is just beginning to question her sexual orientation, but many are already convinced she is a lesbian, and she is the target of relentless homophobic bullying (that evidently goes without consequence). Jenn befriends a marine biologist named Annie who rents a trailer near Jenn’s home and employs Jenn as an assistant. Annie is bisexual, and she tries repeatedly and inappropriately but unsuccessfully to interest Jenn in exploring sex with her. Troublingly, the text does not seem to question the stereotypes it exploits, from the predatory gay adult to Jenn’s slight frame and short haircut; Jenn’s sexual questioning is not resolved. The actual mystery revolves around Jenn’s and Becca’s involvement with Annie and other adults in a long, complicated search for an unusual coal-black seal that returns to the island every year.

Too long, too many characters, too many subplots and far too many trendy ingredients stirred in just for effect.

(Paranormal mystery. 12 & up)

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YOU CAN’T HAVE TOO MANY FRIENDS! Gerstein, Mordicai Illus. by Gerstein, Mordicai Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2393-4

Gerstein tones down the violence and ramps up the humor in this reworked version of an old tale: A year after the king “borrows” his prizewinning jelly beans, Duck the gardener marches off to get them back.

Singing as he goes—“Quack, quack, quack! / Quack, quack, quack! / I’m off to get my jelly beans back!”—Duck picks up Dog, Lady Ladder, Babbling Brook and a nest of wasps along the way. And don’t they come in handy when the king, depicted in Gerstein’s buoyant cartoon illustrations as an ill-tempered little brat, plops Duck down amid a crowd of hostile turkeys, then into a well, then into a hot oven! When the wasps at last drive the king and his equally surly mother away, a search of the castle turns up not jelly beans (as “of course the king had eaten them”), but only a lot of unwanted precious gems. However, disappointed Duck arrives back home to find the king waiting with a tearful apology and an entire pink dump truck full of jelly beans. May he stay for lunch? Of course (see title). A mixture of blocks of text and dialogue balloons carries the action along with verve. A note cites “Drakestail,” from a 19th-century French collection, as the story’s source.

A rib-tickling variant on a tale not often enough retold.

(Picture book. 3-7)

I SPY IN THE SKY

Gibbs, Edward Illus. by Gibbs, Edward Candlewick (32 pp.) $14.99 | Feb. 1, 2014 978-0-7636-6840-2 Series: I Spy… (Gibbs)

Another title in this author-illustrator’s charming I Spy… series (I Spy on the Farm, 2013, etc.), this time featuring some easily identifiable, recognizable avians and some perhaps not so much.

The series’ familiar, child-friendly format is maintained: A die-cut “spy hole” on the right-hand page of each spread (and also incised on front and back covers) offers a tantalizing glimpse of the featured creature. In this instance, what’s revealed is a portion of the wing of a colorful denizen of the skies. Each left-hand page allows a peek at the particular bird’s own eye. With clues provided about each bird, such as coloration, eating habits or flight, young readers have opportunities to guess and to learn simple facts about birds at the same time: “I spy with my little eye… / something with black feathers and big wings.” “My head can change color,” adds the bird, which is revealed to be a condor with the turn of the page. Gibbs’ digital illustrations are bold and crisply outlined, dramatic in their

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“Everything works out, and some of the jokes are actually funny….” from flip & fin

up-close views and, depending on the bird in question, vividly colored; vague hints of natural settings are shown. On the final page, children are challenged with the question, “What can you spy with your little eye?”

Fun to use with preschoolers and younger elementary students in storytimes and as a springboard to encouraging children to observe their environments more closely.

(Picture book. 3-6)

SHINOBI

Gibsen, Cole Flux (312 pp.) $9.99 paper | Mar. 8, 2014 978-0-7387-3911-3 Series: Katana, 3

line. When Flip and Fin play superheroes, though, Flip’s jokes improve—must be the cape. He keeps practicing. When Joke Day arrives, the big kids tell great jokes…but even with his cape on, Flip gets stage fright until Fin helps out from the audience.

Then all the sea creatures have a joke-a-thon. Gill’s tale of finny, fraternal support is a fine fable. Everything works out, and some of the jokes are actually funny (though the audience at Joke Day laughs hysterically at the banana/orange knock-knock joke without the necessary setup). Numberman’s watercolor illustrations are inviting, expressive and silly in their cartoon, saucereyed exaggeration. The fishy facts at the close are a plus.

Particularly good for kids not ready to move beyond nonthreatening shark stories. (Picture book. 5-7)

ARCHIE’S VACATION

Rileigh, a beautiful reincarnated samurai, is starting a new life in the finale to the Katana trilogy, which tones down the action even as it ramps up the supernatural suspense.

Rileigh, sassy and courageous, has now graduated from high school and is reunited with Kim, with whom she’s been in love for over 500 years. However, before she and Kim can begin a normal life as contemporary older teens, their powerful nemesis, the murderer Sumi, is back to get what she’s always wanted: Kim. Sumi performs a ritual that enables her to switch bodies with Rileigh. Rileigh is horrified to find her psyche and soul trapped within the body of the woman she’s loathed for centuries, and her ki is weakening by the moment. If she can’t find a way back into her own body quickly, she will be stuck forever.

With Kim by her side, she begins a fraught journey to regain her identity and convince her fellow samurai that she is Rileigh, though in the wrong body. Adding dimension to the tale, the engrossing flashback chapters to 1400s Japan detail Sumi’s heart-poisoning history in the hands of a cruel kidnapper.

A swift tale of romance for the young teen with a warrior heart. (Paranormal romance. 12-15)

FLIP & FIN We Rule the School!

Gill, Timothy Illus. by Numberman, Neil Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $14.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-224300-3

Gordon, Domenica More Illus. by Gordon, Domenica More Bloomsbury (32 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-6196-3190-8 Archie, that styling, designing dog, is back, this time preparing for a little holiday (Archie, 2012).

At the beginning of this nearly wordless book, readers see big dog Archie and his terrier buddy start to pack. Clothing goes in first. A nap brings on inevitable dreams—of bad weather, hunger, illness, sports—which then leads to the bane of travelers (and their suitcases) everywhere: overpacking.

How will the ice cream, clothing, vitamins, goggles, windbreaker and everything else find a spot? The handwritten text includes even more: “Shark cage! Submarine? Blow-up Loch Ness Monster.” A double gatefold opens to the sight of everything, from Thermos to wellies to sunscreen bursting out of the suitcase in one dramatic BANG! This leaves Archie with a brilliant idea: just put on layer after layer, fill his yellow, manypocketed trench coat and head to the beach with suitcase safely closed. There is not much plot here, but there is lots of action and humor. The terrier watches Archie with interest and joins human readers in seeing the silliness of Archie’s predicament. After all, all the little pup needs is a ball. Judging from the final picture, both dogs have all they need.

Dog lovers, travelers and fans of Gordon’s felted animals will find this amusing. Bon voyage! (Picture book. 2-5)

These twin sand sharks just love a good joke.

Flip and Fin are on their way to school when Flip tries out a joke on his brother: “What did the sawfish see?…He saw fish!”

Ouch. Fin tells his twin that with Joke Day coming up at school, Flip is going to need a lot of practice to measure up. At school, while Fin builds a sandcastle with Swimmy the jellyfish, Flip tries out a joke on Molly the anglerfish. He forgets the punch |

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“This charming and unusual nature story contributes something new to the overstuffed field of bird-related picture books.” from have you heard the nesting bird?

STEADFAST

Gray, Claudia HarperTeen (352 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-0-06-196122-9 Series: Spellcaster, 2 All’s not well in Captive’s Sound; the ancient evil Nadia and friends believed they’d vanquished has not only survived, their efforts have made it stronger than ever (Spellcaster, 2013).

Having seen Nadia’s powers, the One Beneath intends to claim her, and Elizabeth, His loyal servant, vows to bring Nadia to Him, at any cost. On Nadia’s side are her friends: Verlaine and Mateo, her Steadfast, who boosts her powers. After Nadia refuses to become her apprentice, Elizabeth—with chilling, casual indifference to consequences—proves how far she’ll go to change her mind. Nadia’s friends offer support, but Mateo’s handicapped by intensifying visions, a family curse, while Verlaine struggles to be seen at all. Among the few who notice her is Asa, Elizabeth’s demon, whose complexity deepens the story.

Verlaine’s curse embodies every teen’s nightmare: to live unloved and unnoticed; her stubborn courage has a touching grace. As the series evolves, the rules of witchcraft and the beliefs of its practitioners are coming into focus, but intriguing mysteries remain. Witches and Steadfasts are always women, yet Mateo is a Steadfast and possibly more. Who and what constrained the One Beneath? What are Nadia and her allies willing to do, or refrain from doing, to stop Him? The eternal conflict between ends and means keeps the tension taut and the plot humming. Stay tuned. (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)

THE LITTLE RAINDROP

Gray, Joanna Illus. by Kolanovic, Dubravka Sky Pony Press (28 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-62873-821-6

Little Raindrop journeys from cloud to sea and back again.

This is the water cycle, but it’s a simplistic telling that lacks any scientific vocabulary and stars an anthropomorphized water droplet with a face, hands and feet. Little Raindrop’s adventure begins as he falls from a cloud “[o]ne dark and stormy day,” but by the page turn, there’s enough sunlight to have made a rainbow, which Little Raindrop falls through, enjoying the colors along the way. Landing in a depression on a rock, his journey continues when other drops (nonanthropomorphized) accumulate enough to make his puddle overflow.

Joining a stream, he sees all kinds of animals and chases the sticks the children toss in the water. When his stream joins a river, Little Raindrop avoids the sharp rocks of the waterfalls; in the sea, he meets dolphins. Coming to rest on the sand, 96

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“Little Raindrop got hotter and hotter, until the warmth of the sun drew him up into the air,” still in the shape of a raindrop, where he joins other smiling droplets in a gray cloud. Kolanovic’s illustrations have the gritty look of crayon drawings.

Little Raindrop’s surroundings match his small size; while the background details are simple, the animals he encounters all sweet—cloyingly so. Fortunately the wellspring of intellectually respectful titles on the water cycle is far from dry.

Even the youngest children don’t deserve this degree of dumbing down. (Informational picture book. 4-6)

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NESTING BIRD?

Gray, Rita Illus. by Pak, Kenard HMH Books (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-544-10580-5

Two children wander through the countryside listening to calls of common birds and wonder why the nesting robin alone does not make a sound.

The calls of common birds—mourning dove, woodpecker, starling, sparrow, swallow, crow, cardinal, chickadee, catbird, blue jay, the onomatopoeic whippoorwill and wood thrush— are notated with pleasing accuracy, well enough to allow a child to identify them in nature, even as the children in the book encounter them. Finally, sounds of tapping, cracking and breaking shells emanate from the robin’s nest. Cheeping and peeping are heard, and the long silence is broken by the newborn baby robins. The male robin’s song is sweetly transcribed as “Cheerily, cheer up! My tree makes syrup! Syrup so sweet!” This charming and unusual nature story contributes something new to the overstuffed field of bird-related picture books. Gray’s simple rhymes and accurate bird calls are attractively complemented by Pak’s textured watercolor-resist illustrations in soft greens, browns and grays. Each bird is humorously but accurately depicted. A final “Word with the Bird” in Q-and-A format explains in detail why the robin is silent while hatching her eggs and answers many other useful questions, including the role of the father bird and what happens to the babies after they leave the nest.

As welcome as the robin in springtime. (Informational picture book. 4-7)

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WELCOME TO DOG BEACH

Greenwald, Lisa Amulet/Abrams (272 pp.) $15.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-1-4197-1018-6 Series: Seagate Summers Series, 1

A characteristically sensitive exploration of the emotional life of preteens from Greenwald.

Eleven-year-old Remy relishes her summers on Seagate Island with her best friends, Micayla and Bennett, and begins her first-person, present-tense story emphasizing her resistance to change.

By summer’s end, she has moved to an acknowledgment that change can be positive, even becoming an agent for change on her beloved island. Remy’s grandmother, a year-round Seagate resident, died three years ago, but the death of Grandma’s dog, Danish, occurred more recently. Remy discovers a way to grieve for Danish with her first real summer job, as residents happily use her dogsitting expertise. Meanwhile, Remy slowly adjusts to the warm welcome Bennett gives to new kids on the island, eventually relinquishing her label of “the downers” for twins Calvin and Claire and even figuring out a way to honor the twins’ grandfather at an annual Seagate celebration. The book starts out slowly, but readers who continue with the story will find reward as they become familiar with an endearing protagonist, her human and canine friends, and the other residents of Seagate Island. The gentle humor and acceptance of the strong emotions that can arise from fairly benign situations—particularly in the world of preteens—are evocative of Beverly Cleary’s novels, with a comfortable injection of 21st-century technology.

Remy’s quiet tale of change and growth marks a promising start to a new series. (Fiction. 8-11)

DANGEROUS

Hale, Shannon Bloomsbury (400 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-59990-168-8 Fairy-tale–telling Hale tackles straightup science fiction in a tale seemingly tailor-made to forestall complaints about lovelorn teen heroines and all-white casts of characters.

Maisie Danger Brown (really), smart, home-schooled, one-handed half-Paraguayan daughter of scientists, has always dreamed of being an astronaut. When she sees an ad for a space camp competition from Bonnie Howell, the woman who built the world’s first (and only) space elevator, she can’t resist. And she wins! Space camp is electrifying, especially charming Wilder—Maisie knows it’s just hormones and an immature brain, but it feels good. Then Howell takes the strongest team (Maisie’s) plus Wilder on a ride into space, and the five teens end up infected by nanotechnology tokens of |

extraterrestrial origins. Whew! Cue a dark, superherolike tale: Friends die, adventures are had, kisses are exchanged, the Earth is saved. The tale is choppy at times and weak on worldbuilding, with surprisingly thin characterization—but girl power abounds, and the pages keep turning. The romance that Maisie resists and recognizes as mostly just a hormonal rush is endearing and happily doesn’t quite overshadow saving the world or her family, although it sometimes comes close.

A change of pace that largely succeeds, showing that Hale’s range is wider than her readers might have expected.

(Science fiction. 12-16)

GO! GO! GO! STOP!

Harper, Charise Mericle Illus. by Harper, Charise Mericle Knopf (32 pp.) $16.99 | $19.99 PLB | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-375-86924-2 978-0-375-96924-9 PLB Little Green and Little Red learn the power of two simple words (Go! and Stop!) as they direct a construction site’s workflow in this entertaining tale that will leave readers raring for more.

A cheerful green ball discovers he can speak: “Go!” Overjoyed, he rolls into town and shouts his only word from the top of a crane, mobilizing construction vehicles to work. They happily tow, dump, scoop and lift to Little Green’s repeated “Go!”s.

But when there’s no end to the going, mayhem ensues—until Little Red arrives to yell, “Stop!” After some delightful trial and error, the duo of disks finds a groove. A bridge is built, and Little Yellow arrives just in time to join the other two on the new traffic light. Digital illustrations done in a primitive style effectively introduce basic concepts, such as opposites, traffic symbols and word meaning. The adorable characters, construction setting and primary palette will appeal to the younger set, while beginning readers will proudly help with the recognizable words (in whispers and shouts) as directed by Little Green’s and Red’s cues.

A wonderful read-aloud and a lighthearted and lively celebration of action words. (Picture book. 2-5)

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INTERVIEWS & PROFILES

Cokie Roberts

In her new picture book, the journalist and pundit resurrects the lives of women who’ve been largely forgotten

By Laura Jenkins

Photo courtesy ABC News

When Cokie Roberts read Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies to her granddaughter for the first time, the 8-year-old kept asking the same question.

“Why?” Though some might expect the granddaughter of a prolific and distinguished political commentator to be an American history whiz, Roberts was actually grateful that her young progeny needed clarification.

“I have a place [in the book] where women went to war because they were too poor to stay home,” says Roberts. “They couldn’t work.”

“Why couldn’t they work?” the young girl wanted to know.

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Apparently, kids who were born in the 21st century have a hard time fathoming a world where women couldn’t do things like vote, acquire a paying job or hold public office. It’s understandable why that concept might be particularly confusing to Roberts’ offspring.

The daughter of a former Democratic congresswoman, the late Lindy Boggs, Roberts is probably best known as an award-winning broadcast journalist and pundit who is a regular on NPR and ABC News. Her late sister, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, was once the mayor of Princeton, N.J. Given that Lindy was born before the 19th Amendment was passed, you might say that the Roberts women are “Exhibit A” for how much difference 100 years can make. Not that Roberts has anything to prove.

“I don’t want to come across as [tendering] some feminist creed,” says Roberts. “It’s not. It’s just telling the story.”

The story she’s referring to is the collective experience of colonial women and the roles they played in America’s founding. Her 2004 book, Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation, explores the lives of women who were indirectly involved in the events that led to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. In Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies, Roberts has adapted the 2004 volume for children ages 8-12. Caldecott Honoree Deborah Goode provides illustrations for the project.

The book gives voice to the lives of colonial women who significantly helped shape America yet have not often populated the text of traditional history books.

For example, Roberts believes John Adams was “basically supportive of women” but that one substantial reason for that was his wife, Abigail.

“John Adams did write very explicitly that he thought that when you found a man of accomplish-

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ment, that you almost always found by his side an accomplished or worthy wife or mother,” says Roberts.

“But he would [also] say something really stupid, like, ‘Here I am in France! The women here are really beautiful and accomplished.’ Abigail was at home trying desperately to make ends meet while he’s off on diplomatic missions, and she would write back instantly and say, ‘Well, we’d all be accomplished too if we had better education.’ So she was always on the case.”

The subtitle of the book comes from Abigail’s request that her husband, the second president of the United States, “remember the ladies.” And many would agree that’s something colonial history at large has done a poor job of. Roberts explains that in part, that’s due to a shortage of primary sources; women weren’t considered important, and thus, their letters and diaries were often discarded or stashed in obscure places. Still, just because the women haven’t gotten much contemporary airtime doesn’t mean they were passive or absent in the founding process.

“Esther DeBerdt Reed organized this incredible fundraising drive at a time when morale could not have been worse,” Roberts explains. “It was 1780; the British were winning and the French hadn’t arrived yet. The soldiers didn’t have any pay, shelter or sufficient clothing.”

Reed, whose husband was the governor of Pennsylvania, raised more than $300,000, the bulk of which was ultimately used to buy linen shirts for the soldiers.

Roberts tells a number of similar stories in the book. Mercy Otis Warren wrote plays and poems that criticized the loyalist governor of Massachusetts; Deborah Read Franklin ran the U.S. Postal Service; and Eliza Lucas Pinckney managed three plantations and is largely credited for the commercial success of indigo, which became South Carolina’s most profitable crop before the Revolution. Quite often, women inherited their “jobs” from husbands or fathers who were busy fighting, lawmaking or on diplomatic missions. Did the men ever take credit for what the women around them accomplished?

“I’m sure that they did,” surmises Roberts. “It’s even possible that Eli Whitney stole the cotton gin from Catharine Littlefield Greene. I don’t know enough to weigh in on that, but MIT has an inventions website where they give her credit.”

Goode’s drawings present soft, playful cameos of the women who often buoyed the Founding Fathers; |

Roberts’ meticulous research and lively storytelling paint a long-overdue portrait of colonial women who were strong, courageous and had healthy senses of humor. Reading about their lives raises the question of how today’s female politicians might be perceived in a couple of centuries.

“I think people will be surprised that it’s taken us so long to elect a woman president,” Roberts reflects.

“When my daughter said that to her sons when they were younger, they said, ‘Oh, get outta here.’ They didn’t believe her. But I also think that to the degree that people learn about something below the level of president—which is unusual—they will be impressed with the women who are serving now, particularly the women who have been secretary of state.”

Today, only about 20 percent of the members of Congress are female. But Roberts is grateful for the progress that has been made.

“For most of my life and [while] covering Congress, there were never more than two women in the Senate.

So that’s a big change.”

When asked how the men in Washington view their female counterparts today, Roberts says she believes that “the politicians, by and large, are the most modern of men.” Given that we live in an age of greater gender equality, does she lend any credence to the old adage, “Behind every great man is a great woman”?

She pauses, as if formulating a stately answer.

“Well, it sure helps!”

Laura Jenkins is a writer and photojournalist.

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Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies Roberts, Cokie Illus. by Goode, Diane Harper/HarperCollins (40 pp.) $17.99 | $18.89 PLB Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-06-078002-9 978-0-06-078003-6 PLB

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ALIEN ENCOUNTER

Harper, Charise Mericle Illus. by Harper, Charise Mericle Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (208 pp.) $12.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-8050-9621-7 Series: Sasquatch and Aliens, 1 In this stretched-out series opener, two lads do little more than hang out for chapter after chapter between encounters with (putatively) an almond-eyed alien and a sasquatch while the author hints at hidden doings.

Morgan first meets manic new buddy Lewis when the latter is snagged on a high tree branch by his underwear (“That’s a killer wedgie”). The 9-year-old narrator continues in a mix of chatty prose, comical line drawings, lists and acrostics to introduce his (seemingly) typical family and small town.

Highlights are provided first by a terrifying brush with an (apparent) extraterrestrial and then a later glimpse of a big, furry figure. In between the sightings, Morgan joins Lewis, who has just moved with his (supposed) parents into a fixerupper motel down the road, in chewing over their experiences and poking mild fun at the foibles of their older and younger sibs. Meanwhile, Harper folds in such oddball discoveries as the motel’s stolen road sign buried deep in the woods and a secretive neighbor’s surprisingly elaborate underground workshop. Clues or red herrings? Only future episodes will tell.

Lots of tantalizing setup plus not quite enough plot fails to equal a story that stands on its own. (Fiction. 8-11)

REBEL BELLE

Hawkins, Rachel Putnam (352 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-399-25693-6 This paranormal chick-lit comedy finds a queen-bee high school girl from Alabama gaining superpowers that require her to protect the boy she’s disliked all her life.

There’s no accounting for the title, which has virtually nothing to do with the book’s content, but laughs will be flying as fast as ninja kicks when the too-good-to-be-true student-body president, head cheerleader and 4.0 student with the Perfect Boyfriend finds herself transformed into a Paladin in the bathroom while waiting for the announcement that will crown her homecoming queen. Seventeen-year-old Harper just wants to get into a great college, marry longtime boyfriend Ryan and become the second female governor of Alabama. So being attacked by her scimitar-wielding history teacher comes as a surprise, but suddenly she can fight back with style. Now, though, she finds herself compelled to protect David—superdork, her rival for valedictorian and the bane of her existence since kindergarten.

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Worse, she must protect him to the death, an event that may occur, as the dreaded Ephors, guardians of the oracles, do not want a male oracle. Alas, David is that oracle. As the two spar, however, they also find themselves attracted to each other, a condition Harper strongly opposes. Comedy ensues. The story itself stands up as decent paranormal suspense, but it’s the snarky humor that gives it legs.

Plenty of merriment, even for Yankees. (Paranormal comedy. 12-16)

TROLL SWAP

Hodgkinson, Leigh Illus. by Hodgkinson, Leigh Nosy Crow/Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-7101-3 Family...is right where we belong.

Most trolls are messy and mucky and like scaring people. The hairy troll named Timothy Limpet is different; he’s “nice and polite and tidy.” (The other trolls don’t like him.)

He looks like a crazy quilt: His head is a big blue ball, his cupshaped body has green polka dots, and his limbs sport colorful stripes. Meanwhile, there’s a little girl named Tabitha Lumpit, who’s brash and messy and loud and acts altogether like...well, you know. One day, Tabitha and Timothy, not looking where they’re going, literally bump heads. Each immediately sees that the other is quite different from what one would expect, and they get an idea—to switch places. Tabitha goes to stay with the trolls, and Timothy moves in with Tabitha’s parents.

At first, everything works out well. Then Mommy and Daddy start to miss Tabitha, just as the trolls begin to miss Timothy, and both Tabitha and Timothy find being with people just like them is kind of boring. They decide to swap back and “go home, where they belonged,” and everybody lives happily ever after. Hodgkinson’s story, while hardly revolutionary, is satisfying. Design elements add much appeal, with childlike stylings and exaggerated perspectives. In a nifty touch, the text in dialogue bubbles is neatly typed for the “nice” characters and looks like clumsy block lettering for the “mucky.”

Appealing. (Picture book. 3-6)

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“A series of gatefolds serves to reinforce the sense of expansiveness of soil and, later, blue sky, as the seed-turned-sprout grows into a towering, daisylike flower.” from rooting for you

ROOTING FOR YOU

Hood, Susan Illus. by Cordell, Matthew Disney-Hyperion (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4231-5230-9 A flower-to-be, looking like a green pea and behaving just like a human preschooler, voices its fears about its inevitable transformation.

There’s the dark. (“You never know / who might be digging… / …in the DARK.”) There’s the equally scary-seeming light looming above. With bona fide impediments like rocks and spiders popping up, young readers should develop real empathy for the little plant during its complex transit. A bespectacled worm offers encouragement and reassurance, flanked by ants and beetles. “There are friends to feed you, / friends to weed you, / and friends indeed who / really need you!” A series of gatefolds serves to reinforce the sense of expansiveness of soil and, later, blue sky, as the seed-turned-sprout grows into a towering, daisylike flower. Cordell uses a flat, matte color palette of browns, greens, worm-pink and sky blue, with thick black line for details. He preserves the plant’s personality throughout its growth spurt, successively using the same pale green hue and facial expressions for the seed, sprout and the flower’s center.

Hood’s rhyming text is charming, but the final gatefold, a full three pages tall, must be folded away and turned before its verse can be concluded on the final spread—a slight detraction from the flow.

As sweet and benign as a summer daisy. (Picture book. 3-5)

ON A SCALE FROM IDIOT TO COMPLETE JERK

Hughes, Alison Illus. by Hughes, Alison Orca (144 pp.) $9.95 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4598-0484-5

Can a scientific study explain jerk-ish behavior, and will it earn J.J. a passing grade?

After establishing that jerks existed in prehistory using cave paintings and throughout history using folk tales and children’s literature, eighth-grader J.J. Murphy explains the need for a scientific study of jerk-ishness and delineates the methods he’ll use, like “looking at things in a sciencey way.” He explains (kind of) general science terms as well as his own study-specific jargon and creates a scale he calls the Jerk-OMeter, which runs from “normal” through “idiot” to “complete jerk”; he includes a nice scientific illustration of the meter. He then goes on to pose scientific questions: Can young children be jerks? Can the really, really old be jerks? (Only 6-year-olds and up, and definitely yes, respectively). He examines jerks in the family, in sports, in school and in the professional world to reach the conclusion that jerks have always existed and always |

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will and that we can use scientific studies to identify and avoid jerks and their jerk-ishness. Canadian Hughes’ debut is constructed around the conceit that it is the actual science project that J.J. turns in. Though his voice rings true, the device wears thin quickly. With no through story to sustain it or continuing characters beyond the narrator, it’s an occasionally amusing collection of anecdotes.

Though it attempts Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it achieves lengthy science report. Skippable. (Fiction. 9-12)

I HAVE A FRIEND

Inglese, Judith Illus. by Inglese, Judith Satya House (40 pp.) $17.95 | Feb. 28, 2014 978-1-935874-22-5

Staid pictures make a poor match for a child’s free-flying introduction to an imaginary friend.

In contrast to the art, which displays the drab palette and static compositions common to earnestly therapeutic titles, young Henry’s imaginative portrait of his friend “Vladimir” abounds in colorful details. Vladimir lives in Iceland—or sometimes next door—celebrates his birthday every day, likes the same foods as Henry, and owns an airplane and a forklift. He also has various pets including a dog named Hoss, who is big enough to scare wolves and “stays with me at night when it is very dark....” In her photo-collaged, mixed-media illustrations, Inglese gives Henry and his watching mother faint but realistic features, whereas Vladimir is drawn as a cartoon figure, changeable of size and apparent age. In the final scene, he snuggles down next to Henry, along with Hoss (a live dog, it turns out) and the other pets, who are plush. Though Inglese admirably acknowledges the real importance of toys and imaginary friends in children’s lives, Vladimir is an anemic alternative to, say, wild things, Calvin’s tiger, Hobbes, or even the likes of Kevin Henkes’ Jessica (1989).

Aims high but misses. (Picture book. 5-7)

PROMISE OF SHADOWS

Ireland, Justina Simon & Schuster (384 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4424-4464-5 978-1-4424-5357-9 e-book A reluctant Harpy discovers her destiny in an elaborate Greek-mythology– based fantasy.

As the book opens, readers learn that Zephyr’s sister, Whisper, was killed for her forbidden romance with Hermes; Harpies are vættir— partly human, therefore lesser—and are not permitted to intimately fraternize with full gods, called Æthereals. In retaliation, Zephyr killed Whisper’s Æthereal executioner—a supposedly |

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“[T]he story line doesn’t coddle readers but acknowledges feelings, both good and bad.” from the very tiny baby

impossible act—and has been sentenced to eternity in the worst part of the Underworld, Tartarus (where the weather is crappy—literally). Zephyr’s forbidden, dark power enabled the kill and, she learns, marks her as the prophesied Nyx, a champion of “shadow vættir,” who maintains balance and protects vættir from Æthereal tyranny. Knowing the Æthereals will surely kill her soon, Zephyr escapes Tartarus with the help of Cass, her enigmatic friend and protector (who everyone they meet says is a liar and betrayer), Tallon, an attractive childhood friend, and his brother, Blue. They form a ragtag team to keep her alive so she can thwart a terrible plot against the vættir. The romantic plot is the least successful element of this characterdriven story. Far more compelling are Zephyr’s struggles to accept herself as a hero, considering she’s failed her Trials to become a Harpy warrior. The complicated worldbuilding piles on the jargon, but Zephyr’s narration hooks readers with snappy, hilarious one-liners.

A dark, slyly funny read. (Fantasy. 13 & up)

WHEN THE WIND BLEW

Jackson, Alison Illus. by Barrette, Doris Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-8050-8688-1 A follow-up to If the Shoe Fits (illustrated by Karla Firehammer, 2001) finds the old woman—not so old but cheery and buxom—and her many children solving a few dilemmas for other nursery rhyme denizens.

The footwear that is their home is quite a fancy shoe, with a lamp affixed to the end of its curled tip. The opening spread sets up the entire story with its panoramic view of shoe, tree with “cradle and all,” fields, town, castle and hill with well atop. The wind rocks the cradle so wildly that the wee tot is tumbled out onto the shoe, to be gently caught by the children, who try right away to put baby and cradle back. The tree from which it fell is now festooned with mittens, and the children soon find the desolate, mittenless kittens. As they go along, they find Mary’s lamb, Bo Peep’s crook, Jack’s candlestick, and Jack and Jill’s pail (among other items) and eventually restore them to their rightful places. It is all told in verse rhymed with grace—verve, even— and illustrated with soft, ballooning figures. The many children of the shoe have round heads and button features, and each is clad in the garb of various and sundry nations and ethnicities.

Perspectives swoop and change with the rhythm. There is a moral about “examin[ing] the cost / Of constantly grasping for things that are lost,” but it doesn’t much get in the way.

Children who know the nursery rhymes will enjoy seeing them in a new context, and children who do not can enjoy the rollicking action anyway. (Picture book. 4-7)

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FIREFLY JULY A Year of Very Short Poems Janeczko, Paul B.–Ed. Illus. by Sweet, Melissa Candlewick (48 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-4842-8

Choosing from works spanning three centuries, Janeczko artfully arranges 36 elegant poems among the four seasons.

With each poem’s relationship to its season often subtle or tangential, Janeczko avoids the trite repetition flawing some seasonal poetry collections. The initial poem, by Cid Corman for “Spring,” lauds a dawn scene: “Daybreak reminds us— / the hills have arrived just in / time to celebrate.” Emily Dickinson’s poem shimmers in the “Summer” section: “The Moon was but a Chin of Gold / A Night or two ago —/ And now she turns Her perfect Face / Upon the World below….” (The moon’s presence shines throughout, in eight poems.) Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, whose published 2003 collaboration is represented by two poems, offer this autumnal musing: “What is it the wind has lost / that she keeps looking for / under each leaf?” The winter poems are snowy, but they are also laced with fog; nature scenes alternate with depictions of a subway, a rusting truck, harbor boats and more. Sweet’s effervescent mixed-media collages include signature elements like graph paper and saturated pinks; the large format engenders some expansive compositions, such as one showing the curve of the Earth near an enormous, smiling full moon. Inventive details abound, too: The last spread shows a child asleep under a crazy quilt that incorporates motifs from all four seasons—a perfect visual ending.

Scintillating! (permissions, acknowledgments) (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)

THE VERY TINY BABY

Kantorovitz, Sylvie Illus. by Kantorovitz, Sylvie Charlesbridge (32 pp.) $14.95 | $6.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-58089-445-6 978-1-60734-737-8 e-book Just because a book fills a need, that doesn’t guarantee its quality; fortunately, this book both addresses premature birth and succeeds marvelously.

Like any big brother–to-be, Jacob is conflicted when he hears about his family’s upcoming arrival. Sure, he’s excited, but teddy bear Bob, clearly Jacob’s externalized id, is unafraid to bring up potential problems. Bob’s worries are utterly forgotten, however, when the infant arrives far too early, and the grownups’ fear communicates itself to Jacob. As time wears on, Jacob feels abandoned; all his parents and grandmother think about is their preemie. Reminiscent of the straightforward honesty of a Robie H. Harris title, the story line doesn’t coddle readers kirkus.com

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but acknowledges feelings, both good and bad. From conversations about what’s going to happen (“Is the baby going to die?

Grandma didn’t know”) to anger toward the baby itself (a black page contains just an image of Jacob and the words “I wish the baby would die”), Kantorovitz draws on personal experience to give a rounded view of the situation. Images are laid out like snapshots in a family album, drawn in the faux-naif style of Jacob himself, and his childlike narration is printed in a typeface that emulates a child’s handwriting. This filter helps to blunt the potential horror even as it honors Jacob’s emotions and experiences.

A laudably candid effort, unafraid to treat its readership with the utmost respect. (Picture book. 2-7)

FURIOUS JONES AND THE ASSASSIN’S SECRET

Kehoe, Tim Simon & Schuster (336 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4424-7337-9

The teenage years are usually a time of self-exploration, but for Furious Jones, it’s a time to explore his family history.

Furious (yes, that’s his real name) has been living with his chief-of-police grandfather in peaceful Connecticut since his mother’s recent shooting death. When he hears that his father, a famous author of best-selling spy novels, is giving a speech in New York City, Furious slips away to be there. Hoping to reconnect with the only parent he has left, he instead witnesses his father’s murder, in a manner uncannily like his mother’s. It turns out his mother had been an assassin for the CIA, and Furious’ father’s books were based on his mother’s exploits. Now the family has been targeted by the mob, and it appears the CIA may not have their best interests at heart, either. Furious has no choice but to go on the run when his grandfather too is murdered: It’s clear that Furious is next. Working from clues planted in his father’s last book, the 12-year-old heads to the small town in the Midwest where his mother was gunned down, there to begin his quest for revenge. Credibility and questions of morality take a back seat to action as Furious dashes from one plot twist to the next, sparing little time for introspection.

Readers caught up in the action will not mind the gaps.

(Thriller. 8-12)

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THE WINTER HORSES

Kerr, Philip Knopf (276 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-385-75543-6 978-0-385-75545-0 e-book 978-0-385-75544-3 PLB Kerr, well-known for his best-selling World War II thrillers for adults (A Man Without Breath, 2013, etc.), enters YA territory with a compelling but ultimately flawed tale of saving the last Przewalski’s horses from Nazi invaders.

Elderly Max has been caretaker of the Ukrainian nature preserve Askaniya-Nova all his life, from its inception by a gallant German baron at the beginning of the century through torture and destruction during World War I and even now, as the Nazis invade. Max initially believes the Germans will, like his former master, be kind to him and the animals in the preserve, particularly the small herds of Przewalski’s horses, some of the last on Earth of a very ancient breed. Meanwhile, Kalinka, a 15-year-old Jew orphaned by a German pogrom, has escaped to the steppe and makes friends with two of the remarkable horses, who are renowned for both their wildness and their cunning. Fast-paced action and interesting history (Askaniya-Nova still exists; the horses have been restored there) keep readers turning the pages, but the distant, omniscient point of view will prevent them from becoming truly engaged in the characters’ plight. Flat dialogue often sounds as though it’s coming from a tour guide, not a Russian peasant, and the abrupt ending doesn’t fully satisfy. Though marketed for teens, it reads more like an adventure for children.

A worthwhile-enough read for kids particularly interested in history and/or horses. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

HOT DOG! ELEANOR ROOSEVELT THROWS A PICNIC

Kimmelman, Leslie Illus. by Juhasz, Victor Sleeping Bear Press (40 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-58536-830-3

When the first official visit by a British royal to the United States since independence is scheduled in 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt hosts an all-American picnic.

Fancy White House dinners for heads of state usually are too formal to allow for hot dogs on the menu, but for the first lady, the iconic American sausage is a favorite. She chooses the Roosevelt estate at Hyde Park as the perfect venue, planning it to the last detail with picnic staples of baked beans and, of course, hot dogs. Undeterred by the scathing commentary from across the country, Eleanor persists, creating a memorable afternoon that launches a long-lasting relationship between the once-warring nations—especially important during this period of impending |

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war and economic upheaval. Caricature drawings capture the essence of the personalities and behaviors of the four main participants, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, while adding a sense of reality and amusement to the historically little-known episode. Kimmelman’s straightforward storytelling incorporates some basic explanatory facts and deftly brings this bit of Americana to life. An author’s note provides further context along with a statement that quoted correspondence can be found at Hyde Park; it is silent, however, on the authenticity of the Roosevelts’ dialogue.

A captivating introductory piece for budding history buffs. (Picture book. 7-12)

HANDS ON! MATH PROJECTS

King, Andrew Flowerpot Press (160 pp.) $12.99 paper | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-77093-890-8

Lots of hands-on games, activities and challenges allow readers to learn and practice some valuable math skills and concepts.

Six chapters, each with its own table of contents, explore numbers, fractions, patterns, math facts, shapes, and points and position. Each double-page spread offers readers a simple introduction to a concept, such as number codes, Carroll diagrams, probability or tessellations, as well as a game or activity to cement or extend the learning (these are classified as easy, medium or hard). For the most part, the numbered steps are easy to follow, though occasionally page layout may prove confusing. While the projects mostly use common household materials, some are much more complicated than they need to be; complex drawing and cutting may intimidate children, especially when faced with the perfect examples in the photos. There are other flaws amid the fun. Some of the language is awkward (“take turns to throwing die”); one game instructs kids to cut out diamond shapes, but the picture shows a cut diamond gem; and some things are assumed instead of explained—“five-a-side soccer,” for instance. Other titles publishing simultaneously include Hands-On! Science Experiments, Hands-On! Nature Projects and Hands-On! Art Projects.

Though there is a lot in one place, it’s not quite on par with Marilyn Burns’ Brown Paper series or David A. Adler’s popular books; still it may be useful to those who work with kids in a teaching capacity. (Math activity book.

6-12) (Hands-On! Science Experiments: 978-1-77093-891-5; HandsOn! Nature Projects: 978-1-77093-892-2; Hands-On! Art Projects: 978-1-77093-893-9)

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LOOK AND SEE A What’s-Not-the-SameGame Kontzias, Bill Illus. by Kontzias, Bill Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2860-1

In a set of side-by-side scenes made with scads of small toys, buttons, stones, plastic letters or craft materials, Kontzias invites viewers to spot which items have been moved or removed.

The components in each pair of photographed scenes are thematically related, from dinosaurs in one to colored pencils, seashells, toy vehicles, or birds and blocks in others. Design fumbles make these tests of visual memory and counting skills even more challenging. “Answers” at the end are only partial, as they identify the changes in each pair of photographed tableaux but not their locations within them. Moreover, though each spread offers a hint (“0 things are new, 11 are gone, 0 moved”), along with the difficulty of keeping the tallies straight—there are 28 changes on one spread!—the terminology isn’t always consistent. A toy gorilla’s arm that goes from partially to fully visible is designated “New,” for instance, whereas seashells that are turned over count as “Moved.”

What’s “not-the-same” as any given I Spy title? Not much. (Picture book. 5-8)

UPSIDE DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Lamana, Julie T. Chronicle (320 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4521-2456-8

As Armani Curtis’ 10th birthday approaches, so does something far more ominous—a threatening storm in the Gulf of Mexico called Katrina.

Armani’s family, residents of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, doesn’t have much in the way of material comforts, but they certainly have a strong and happy family, at least until Katrina blows in. During Armani’s birthday party, the family is informed that the mayor has ordered an evacuation, but lacking the means to escape New Orleans, they must simply hunker down until the floodwaters force them to the roof. First, Armani’s beloved grandmother dies, and then her father and brother are swept away by the floodwaters. When the rest of the Curtis clan makes its way to the Superdome, Mama must seek help for her sick baby boy, leaving Armani to get her two little sisters to a shelter until the family can be reunited. A couple of false notes notwithstanding, Lamana goes for and achieves realism here, carefully establishing the characters and setting before describing in brutal detail, beyond what is typical in youth literature, the devastating effects of Katrina—loss kirkus.com

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“Debut author Liu-Perkins’ infectious curiosity shines in this exploration of a Han dynasty burial chamber excavated in 1972.” from at home in her tomb

CAN YOU SEE ME?

of multiple family members, reports of attacks in the Superdome, bodies drifting in the current and less-than-ideal shelter conditions.

An honest, bleak account of a national tragedy sure to inspire discussion and research. (Historical fiction. 8-14)

TOXIC HEART

Lawrence, Theo Delacorte (368 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-385-74162-0 978-0-375-98643-7 e-book 978-0-375-99014-4 PLB Series: Mystic City, 2 Averting the vindictive intent of a greedy family while longing for the affection of an absent paramour can give a revolutionary girl heartburn.

In this sequel to Mystic City (2012), Aria Rose continues her evolution from clueless debutante to political activist. Bombs, kidnapping and torture are par for the course as the battle for power wages between wealthy denizens of the Aeries and mystic rebels in Manhattan’s decrepit Depths. Aria has renounced her lush life in order to help the mystics and their leader (her dreamy boyfriend, Hunter) establish equality. Though far-removed from dinner parties and servants, Aria remains a media darling, with allies and adversaries alike watching her every broadcasted move.

When she discovers that Hunter has manipulated their private online conversations for propaganda purposes, Aria realizes she is merely a pawn that opposing sides are grappling to possess and resolves to find a solution herself. Aria has traded her confusion from Book 1 for determined self-empowerment this round, intensifying the narrative. Resilient though she may be, she has a fair amount of fumbles and self-doubts, maintaining her character’s plausibility. Intense action and kick-ass characters will thrill fantasy and action fans. And the aerobic pace endures to an ending that will have readers clamoring to know what becomes of Aria and the revolution she has unwittingly fueled.

An electric, futuristic fantasy with loads of action, heartbreak and one delicious gold-lamé cat suit. (Urban fantasy/science fiction. 14 & up)

Lewin, Ted Illus. by Lewin, Ted Holiday House (32 pp.) $14.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2940-0 Series: I Like to Read

Sharp-eyed readers are invited to spot various animals in the Costa Rican rain forest.

Lewin, an intrepid world traveler, once again displays his skill at depicting mammals, birds and reptiles in their natural habitats. Camouflage is the unspoken theme. A toucan feeds in the trees, its rounded back visually echoed by the fruit he is feasting on. A vine snake slithers up a tree trunk, its sinuous length blending in with the branches. A spectacled caiman pokes its mottled head up from a cluster of lily pads. A howler monkey stares out from dark branches, while many feet below, a land crab skitters across the forest floor. A great potoo perches on a tree branch, its feathers perfectly emulating the texture and color of the bark. But then, surprise! A red poison dart frog is eye-poppingly visible. Simple declarative sentences encourage emerging readers to explore and, at the same time, develop a kinship for these creatures who “are still here.”

Lewin uses watercolors to brilliantly showcase the play of light and dark in the dense foliage. Sunlight shimmers, shines and fades into darkness. A pictorial guide identifies each of the animals by name.

An inviting exploration of a beautiful biome for budding nature lovers. (Early reader. 2-6)

AT HOME IN HER TOMB Lady Dai and the Ancient Chinese Treasures of Mawangdui

Liu-Perkins, Christine Illus. by Brannen, Sarah S. Charlesbridge (80 pp.) $19.95 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-58089-370-1 978-1-60734-725-5 e-book

Debut author Liu-Perkins’ infectious curiosity shines in this exploration of a Han dynasty burial chamber excavated in 1972.

The “best preserved body in the world.” This honor goes to no ordinary mummy. It belongs to the remains of one Chinese woman known as the Marchioness of Dai, or Lady Dai. Buried beneath two hills called Mawangdui, Lady Dai’s tomb held three nobles: the marquis Li Cang, his wife, Lady Dai, and apparently one of their sons. As archaeologists dug through layers of white clay and charcoal, they uncovered more than 3,000 “astonishingly well-preserved” artifacts. Most amazing of all was Lady Dai’s body. After being buried for almost 2,200 years, her skin remained moist, her joints were movable, and her finger- and toeprints were still discernible. Other rare finds included an |

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“Rendered in pencil, watercolor, gouache and colored pencil,the fluid illustrations effectively rely on light and arresting perspectives to highlight Doreen’s precarious situations.” from poor doreen

elaborate silk painting called a feiyi and the oldest and largest stash of silk books ever discovered in China. Based on 14 years of extensive research, the author’s storytelling is clear, inviting and filled with awe, as if she’s right there alongside the dig experts.

Fictionalized vignettes of Lady Dai’s life that introduce each chapter add charm and perspective. Artifact photographs and illustrations heighten the fascination. In particular, Brannen’s illustration of Lady Dai’s chamber of multiple, nested coffins demonstrates the creative ingenuity of these ancient embalmers.

Move over King Tut. Lady Dai is in the house. (historical note, author’s note, glossary, selected bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

POOR DOREEN A Fishy Tale

Lloyd-Jones, Sally Illus. by Boiger, Alexandra Schwartz & Wade/Random (40 pp.) $17.99 | $20.99 PLB | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-375-86918-1 978-0-375-96918-8 PLB

A clueless fish owes her escape from a fisherman and a great blue heron to sheer dumb luck in this “fishy tale.”

A little round fish in a kerchief, Miss Doreen RandolphPotts wends her way upstream to visit her cousin when she spies a dragonfly “darting, / dancing deliciously above her.” Thinking she’s found a “lovely snack,” Doreen unknowingly swallows the fisherman’s lure as he rapidly reels her in and tosses her into his bucket. Gleefully assuming she’s on an “outing,” Doreen’s equally oblivious when the heron snaps her up and flies off.

Thanking the heron for escorting her on her journey, Doreen asks if he’s an egret, prompting him to open his beak to correct her. Suddenly “plunging and plummeting” through the air, unflappable Doreen’s thrilled to be “FLYING” and eventually falls back into the stream and swims on, unaware of her close calls. Laced with panicky warnings from the narrator alerting Doreen to her impending mortal danger, the alliterative text tracks her perilous journey in humorous detail while its typographic placement visually follows her up, down and across double-page spreads. Rendered in pencil, watercolor, gouache and colored pencil, the fluid illustrations effectively rely on light and arresting perspectives to highlight Doreen’s precarious situations.

Ignorance equals bliss in this amusing, cleverly executed tale. (Picture book. 4-7)

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OUT OF THE BOX

Long, Ethan Illus. by Long, Ethan Blue Apple (72 pp.) $12.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-60905-366-6 Series: Scribbles and Ink Cardboard boxes may never seem dull again.

Back from their last high-energy artistic adventure (The Contest, 2013), best friends Scribbles and Ink go to town with imaginative play, fighting and reconciling along the way. Ink, a mouse, places an online order. His package arrives moments later (thanks to “super speedy express delivery”) in a plain, brown, cardboard box. Ink wants only the cheese inside; Scribbles, a cat uninterested in cheese, politely requests the box itself. In Scribbles’ mind, the box could be anything from a sandbox or box kite (hee) to the Boxistar Galacticat. Fashioning the box into a pair of overalls, he models them for Ink, who feels a sudden burning need to try them on. Possessiveness and rivalry creep in; Ink employs some antagonistic cartoon physics—painting a hole on the floor, into which Scribbles falls—and a tug of war for the box rips it plumb in half.

Of course they make up, and a “box-tastic…box-i-licious” feast ensues. The real star here is the box, which, whether plain or decorated or ripped or transformed, stands out as a rivetingly realistic photograph in a world that—except for Scribbles’ pencils and Ink’s brush—is otherwise entirely drawn and painted.

Corrugated cardboard has never looked so alluring.

The perfect choice for after a move or whenever boxes are handy. (Early reader. 5-8)

PRETTY SLY

Ludwig, Elisa Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-206609-1 978-0-06-206611-4 e-book Series: Pretty Crooked, 2 Suspense rules in this sequel to Pretty Crooked (2012), as Willa goes on the lam to find her missing mother.

This fast-moving chase picks up in the middle of the action as Willa, on probation and fresh from juvie after her thefts in the first book, discovers that her mother has gone missing and an intruder has ransacked her home. The safe stands empty of her mother’s money, and Willa finds hidden away the paintings that her mom had said she sold. Despite her probation, she and almost-boyfriend Aidan steal a car and take off in search of her mother. Willa uses her housebreaking expertise to find accommodations. They promise to repay everything they take, but Willa finds that successfully pulling off crimes gives her a rush that has become an addiction. Soon, she and Aidan learn that they have become the lead story in the kirkus.com

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national news; young people are rooting for them, but the police are closing in. Ludwig tries to mitigate the fun of Willa’s crime spree by having Willa frequently reflect on its wrongness, but the emphasis is on action, not morals. The rapid-fire sequence of near misses and clever capers easily sets up the next sequel.

Crackling-good adventure. (Thriller. 12-16)

ALWAYS EMILY

MacColl, Michaela Chronicle (288 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4521-1174-2 Reimagined as detectives, the Brontë sisters kick-start their writing careers by solving a mystery in this detailed if dubiously grounded novel.

Having lost their mother and several siblings at an early age, the remaining Brontë siblings deal with grief in their own ways: Prim Charlotte grudgingly shoulders responsibility for her family; eccentric Emily runs wild on the moors; reprobate brother Branwell drinks and falls into bad company. Both Charlotte and Emily enjoy writing—Charlotte writes fantasy bodice-rippers, while Emily tends toward the darker stuff—and find sudden inspiration in the strange occurrences in their little town of Haworth.

Despite their differences, the teenage sisters unite to solve the (much-belabored) mystery of a madwoman, a long-lost heir and unscrupulous Freemasons. Already familiar with death, the girls also get to experience love, albeit briefly. Sharing narrative responsibility, Emily and Charlotte are distinctive and well-drawn characters, though their depictions are somewhat complicated by the mixture of real biographic details, literary hagiography and modern free-spiritedness. MacColl works hard to connect the real-life Brontës’ books to an imagined source in a fictional adventure, blending quotes from Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights with her own historical fantasy.

Equal parts gothic melodrama and Nancy Drew derring-do. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

ON KIKI’S REEF

Malnor, Carol L. Illus. by Hunner, Trina L. Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-58469-476-2 978-1-58469-477-9 paper Hatched on a sandy shore, a green sea turtle swims to sea, makes her home in a coral reef where there are “lots of surprises,” and when fully mature, returns to her home shore to lay eggs for a new generation.

Without anthropomorphizing in any way, Malnor uses the turtle’s experience to introduce the inhabitants of a coral reef, from the polyps who secrete the hard coral structure through |

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fish that make their homes there to tiger sharks, the top predator in that ecosystem. Each spread offers a two-level text: a short narrative and a rhyming, summarizing couplet. Watercolor illustrations are accurate enough for easy identification—even of the author as she dives in the reef. A “Featured Creatures” appendix provides further explanation for each spread, introducing the most important inhabitants. The thumbnails in “Illustrious Additions” identify other creatures shown in the paintings. A world map shows where coral reefs can be found, and there is a page of teaching suggestions and further sources.

What distinguishes this simple introduction is its breadth and accuracy. Important concepts are included but, appropriately for the age, there are no tragedies.

Readers and listeners will come away with an appreciation for the complexity and interdependence of the coral reef world. Kiki’s reef is the place to be. (Informational picture book. 4-9)

ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT EERIE

McAlpine, Gordon Illus. by Zuppardi, Sam Viking (192 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 17, 2014 978-0-670-78493-6 Series: Misadventures of Edgar & Allan Poe, 2 The psychically linked twins lay a pair of New Orleans ghosts to rest while surviving a new threat to their lives in this second episode.

Preteen pranksters Edgar and Allan are visiting the Big Easy to co-star in a movie about their eponymous multi-great–uncle.

There, they encounter the specters of the Du Valiers, a loving couple murdered in 1814 by Jean Lafitte’s brother Pierre and unable to pass on until their killer is exposed. Fortunately, the twins have help in new friends Em and Milly Dickinson—multigreat–nieces of another illustrious writer—and also coded clues leading both to the pirate’s revealing diary and a fabulous hoard of hidden treasure. Unfortunately, the Poes’ strangely intelligent cat, Roderick Usher, is (again!) kidnapped…this time by the ill-intentioned mother and daughter of the opener’s mad scientist, Professor Marvel. No fears, though: Break-ins to a certain mausoleum and the local pirate museum lead to a spate of rescues, arrests and revelations that, ultimately, put everything right. Scribbly pen-and-ink vignettes along with occasional interludes featuring the original Poe and Dickinson laboring in office cubicles in the Great Beyond while fretting over their living descendants add further diversions.

A lightweight gumbo of jokes, codes, treasure, history, mystery and assorted literary references. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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HIT AND RUN

McClintock, Norah Darby Creek (240 pp.) $8.95 paper | $20.95 e-book $27.93 PLB | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2611-5 978-1-4677-2612-2 e-book 978-1-4677-2605-4 PLB Series: Mike & Riel Mysteries, 1 Bad seed wars with good in an orphaned teenager who finds out that his mother’s death wasn’t an accident.

Originally published a decade ago in Canada, this series opener set in Toronto hooks Michael—a troubled teen surrounded by poor companions and role models— up with his history teacher, quiet ex-cop John Riel. Four years after the loss of his loving, hardworking mother, Mike’s life seems to be going down the tubes thanks to failing grades, a breakup with his girlfriend and sudden unemployment following an arrest for a minor theft. The electrifying discovery that his new teacher had been in charge of his mom’s never-solved case, though, leads to new questions and clues that implicate both the uncle who is his sole remaining family member and a pair of shady associates. It also leads to an initially hostile but growing mutual attachment that culminates, following a second sudden death and nearly a third, in Mike gaining a steady new foster father. Look for more role modeling and crime solving in two sequels that publish simultaneously: Truth and Lies and Dead and Gone.

The rescue of an at-risk adolescent with light and dark sides takes center stage, but the unfolding mystery adds a dramatic subplot. (Mystery. 12-14) (Truth and Lies: 978-146772613-9 paper, 978-1-4677-2606-1 PLB; Dead and Gone: 978-1-46772615-3 paper, 978-1-4677-2607-8 PLB)

SHOE DOG

McDonald, Megan Illus. by Tillotson, Katherine Richard Jackson/Atheneum (40 pp.) $17.99 | $17.99 e-book | Mar. 25, 2014 978-1-4169-7932-6 978-1-4169-8588-4 e-book An irrepressible dog can’t resist falling into the same type of mischief over and over again, until something surprising changes his pattern.

This small, wiggly pup bounces upward as a silhouetted woman enters the animal shelter. He longs for a home “warm as soup / and cozy as pie,” full of nose kisses and tummy rubs. And oh, how exciting—the woman takes him home! “That very day, / Shoe Dog chewed through / five high heels, / four flip-flops, / three sneakers, / two boots, / one wing tip.” Scolding—“ ‘BAD DOG!’ / She, Herself said”—and punishment—no petting or access to the Big Bed—see him lying forlornly in a gray-blue 108

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space, subdued. But each time new shoes arrive, he tracks down and rips into the fresh box, chomping every shoe with gusto.

Consequences ratchet up mildly, but Shoe Dog never learns impulse control as such; instead, unexpectedly, he meets a shoe he’d never, ever chew. Finally he’s welcome “on the Big Bed / in the Land of Upstairs,” curling up blissfully with his new shoelove. Tillotson uses thick black lines for Shoe Dog’s scribbly, coiled-spring body, smudging charcoal inside his shape to give him substance; scraps of pink and beige mark his pointy ears and muzzle. Motion lines show how he scampers and bounds.

The visual angle varies, and shoe-box tissue paper flies through the air.

Totally ebullient. (Picture book. 3-7)

LEAVING CHINA An Artist Paints His World War II Childhood

McMullan, James Illus. by McMullan, James Algonquin (128 pp.) $19.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-61620-255-2

Internationally acclaimed illustrator McMullan (I’m Fast, 2012), best known for Lincoln Center Theater posters and picture books with his wife, reflects on his childhood in China and wartime journeys in search of home.

Young McMullan, a nervous boy and grandson of missionaries, is born in Cheefoo, China, in 1934. He enjoys a comfortable lifestyle due to the family businesses, including an orphanage and embroidery exports. Soon, World War II dawns, and the Japanese army invades the town, causing the boy and his parents to flee to Shanghai. There, his father joins the British army, while he and his mother set sail for America. In two-page spreads, prose on the left opposite illustrations on the right, memories are recalled with vivid clarity and a quiet strength. The author’s subdued but elegant drawings set the most reverent tones. Tender scenes, such as the author playing next to a rectangle of sunlight while his father bends over the piano or his fascinated examination of brush strokes on Chinese scrolls, illustrate how little moments really do have the greatest impact. Painful and terrifying recollections take shape, as well: his failure to become a “strong little fellow” in his father’s eyes, a bomb scare aboard a passenger freighter or his ineptitude at boxing. These experiences, both extraordinary and ordinary, intertwine to create a memoir that resonates. (Finished, full-color art not seen.)

A poignant glimpse into an artist in the making. (Memoir.

12-16)

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UNTIL DADDY COMES HOME

Metivier, Gary Illus. by Rath, Robert Pelican (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 14, 2014 978-1-4556-1890-3

Muddled intent and sloppy sentiment turn this soldier’s daughter’s vigil into a gooey slog.

Having parted from her uniformed father at a school sendoff ceremony, young Ashley keeps him in her thoughts with a daily ritual: She throws a kiss to the flag following a private pledge—“I love you always, near or far. / We’ll do our parts / and keep strong hearts. / I throw a kiss to where you are.” She also makes silly flashcards (one features a head and a paper bag labeled “Bag-Dad”) and drawings to send as the seasons go by.

Then one day in class, her eyes filled with “missing-Daddy tears,” she throws the kiss—and her father is there to “catch” it, setting off a joyful surprise reunion as her classmates cheer in the background. Cast in a thick golden haze, Rath’s illustrations offer frequent views of a waving American flag behind vaguely delineated figures with clumsily drawn facial features. With no discernable justification aside from general boosterism, a tribute written for older readers to the work of the USO and particularly one of its posts in Illinois has been tacked on after Ashley’s narrative.

A superficial jumble next to Suzanne Collins and James Proimos’ Year of the Jungle (2013), Jill Biden and Raúl Colón’s Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops (2012) and the many other more acute takes on this essential theme. (Picture book. 7-10)

CHASING THE STORM Tornadoes, Meteorology, and Weather Watching

Miller, Ron Twenty-First Century/Lerner (64 pp.) $24.95 e-book | $33.26 PLB | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2546-0 e-book 978-1-4677-1284-2 PLB

Recognizing the appeal but emphasizing the difficulties, a veteran science writer offers a window into the world of scientists and lay enthusiasts who follow violent storms, particularly tornadoes.

Introducing his subject with a look at a day in the life of a storm chaser, Miller goes on to explore it in greater depth in an accessible, informative narrative. He explains how tornadoes are formed, discusses climate change and its probable connection to the increase in extreme weather events, describes the work of meteorologists and others who watch the weather (either officially or as part of the National Weather Service’s volunteer corps of recorders and spotters), and concludes by suggesting ways readers can prepare to become storm chasers themselves. He includes instructions for assembling a weather emergency kit and constructing homemade weather-watching |

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instruments; the excellent suggestions for further reading and Internet research will be particularly useful for students.

All this is packaged in a slim, attractively designed package in which the text is broken up by sidebars providing definitions, explanations and short bios as well as photographs and colorful diagrams. Pair with Joseph B. Treaster’s Hurricane Force (2007) or other titles about hurricane hunters for a broader vision of storm study in this country.

A serious look at a dangerous pursuit. (Nonfiction. 11-16)

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT

Mlynowski, Sarah Delacorte (320 pp.) $17.99 | $10.99 e-book | $20.99 PLB Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-385-73738-8 978-0-449-81415-4 e-book 978-0-385-90662-3 PLB

Welcome to the worst fear of the anti-vaccination movement: A group of teens develop telepathy from flu shots.

Homeroom 10B at New York’s Bloomberg High School is a pretty typical collection of sophomores. Olivia is extremely shy, outgoing Cooper and pretty Mackenzie are the golden couple, Tess has a crush on her friend Teddy, and Pi would do anything to be top of the class. But a contaminated flu shot lets the 22 students hear everyone’s thoughts, leading to a wealth of welcome and unwelcome discoveries. Mackenzie has cheated on Cooper, Tess learns that Teddy likes someone else, and Pi can steal answers from her competition during tests. This newfound ability and the need to keep it secret knit together the members of 10B in unexpected ways. But when the truth comes out, and the Centers for Disease Control announces they have an antidote that will remove the telepathy, what will the selfnicknamed Espies do? The multiple characters are remarkably distinctive, and the plot moves along briskly, combining family drama, complicated romance and friendship turmoil into a compelling view of teen dynamics. When the group comments like a Greek chorus on one character’s thoughts or actions, it’s somewhat jarring, but that’s a minor quibble.

Overall, a solid, comical sci-fi romp. (Science fiction. 12-16)

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“Were it not for Alice’s bracing honesty (if only with herself) about her crises of confidence and her devotion to Harvey, she might come across as only a rather unpleasant and manipulative girl…” from side effects may vary

CAVE-IN

Monninger, Joseph Scholastic (208 pp.) $5.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-545-56352-9 978-0-545-56353-6 e-book Series: Stay Alive, 2 With this second book in the Stay Alive series, youngsters will see a formula emerge: A group of children in the care of mostly ineffective adults are in a remote location when disaster strikes.

To signal the severity, someone dies; another is critically injured; a third risks everything to get help. Meanwhile, the person who delivered them to the site conveniently dies before communicating the coordinates. In this case, the setting is Maine’s Hog Island Ledge, where six students and two teachers camp for five days. A bizarrely destructive earthquake (Maine is hardly a hotbed of tectonic activity) hits while the group is exploring the island’s Civil War–era fort, trapping them. As in series opener Crash (2014), the book is broken into three parts, each starting with a survival tip. Part 1 describes the cave-in; 2, the desperate dig-out; 3, survival without food, water or means to communicate. Readers may question why a quake causing significant damage on an island that is visible from the mainland and the site of one of the region’s most recognizable landmarks would not spark media coverage, parental concern and subsequent search. And as in the first book, there is no before or after for this crew, only the catastrophe and how they cope.

Thus, although the pace is brisk, the characters are one-dimensional and hard to care about, especially the selfish Sandy, who never changes or gets her comeuppance.

For a more gripping and nuanced portrayal of individuals pushing and pulling together, try Fallout by Todd Strasser (2013). (Adventure. 8-12)

EVERY LAST DROP Bringing Clean Water Home

Mulder, Michelle Orca (48 pp.) $19.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4598-0223-0 Series: Orca Footprints

You turn a tap. The water flows: clean and, if not abundantly, at least steadily.

You are the lucky one in two humans.

Mulder’s book will make readers stop and calculate. Not only does half the world’s population not have a ready water supply, but often what they do have is filthy—perhaps contaminated with microbes and arsenic—or plain poisonous. This account is particularly handy, as it goes back to the beginning, to the water cycle and the humans harvesting water: how it has been collected and distributed throughout history. The great 110

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Middle Eastern and European aqueducts, the deep wells, dew nets—truly feats of engineering marvel. It moves through the Middle Ages and, with them, the real start of water contamination and the spread of water-borne disease. Lavishly illustrated with everything from woodcuts to photographs, the book is far from downbeat and scolding. Much is being done to source and purify water, and much is also being done to work on the sanitation issue. Mulder writes with a clean, no-nonsense style that demonstrates that people have finally come around to realizing that only 1 percent of the water on Earth is potable and we must be careful of this resource.

Informative, attractive and alarming—readers will think twice before leaving the water running as they brush their teeth. (Nonfiction. 8-12)

SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY

Murphy, Julie Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (336 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-06-224535-9 978-0-06-224536-6 e-book A teen faces mortality—and then the possibility of life after all.

Alice has spent the last year convinced she will die of acute lymphocytic leukemia, but now she’s in an unexpected remission, and the fatalism that earlier freed her from any scruples she felt about completing the more extreme items on her Just Dying To-Do List won’t serve her well if she’s going to live. In chapters that alternate perspective between Alice and her steadfast, loving not-quite-boyfriend, Harvey, Alice exacts revenge on her ex-boyfriend, Luke, and her chief nemesis, Celeste. Her dramatic flair and creativity in these endeavors—including a re-enactment of the pig’s blood scene from Carrie—are as chilling as they are entertaining. Alice’s ballsy triumphs over the people who’ve caused her grief box her into an untenable cycle of revenge and payback. Were it not for Alice’s bracing honesty (if only with herself) about her crises of confidence and her devotion to Harvey, she might come across as only a rather unpleasant and manipulative girl obsessed with having the last word before she dies. Instead, readers will, like Harvey, see Alice in all her complexity. Unlike most teens-with-cancer novels, Alice’s story ends on a note of hard-won redemption and possibility.

Readers will turn the last page wanting to know where the next chapter leads. (Fiction. 15-18)

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PLASTIC, AHOY! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Newman, Patricia Photos by Crawley, Annie Millbrook (48 pp.) $22.95 e-book | $30.60 PLB Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2541-5 e-book 978-1-4677-1283-5

Student researchers spend three weeks on a small ship investigating plastic residue and its effect on ocean water and marine life in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Straightforward organization introduces the students— Miriam Goldstein, Chelsea Rochman and Darcy Taniguchi— the problem, the 2009 Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition, daily life on the research vessel and the scientific method: observe, develop hypotheses, design experiments. There are explanations of the North Pacific Central Gyre, the particular patch of the Pacific where plastic accumulates; the students’ individual research interests in rafting organisms, phytoplankton, and the chemistry of both plastics and surrounding water; and the scientific tools they used. Realistically, although Darcy comes home with observational data, her subsequent research follows another path. But the author describes some of Miriam’s and Chelsea’s continued experiments, seeking to answer questions their observations raised.

Finally, the author suggests ways to reduce the use of plastics that might end up in ocean waters, oceangoing creatures and our bodies as well as on our beaches. Sidebars and text boxes add information. Photographs taken on the expedition help tell the story, and the book’s design is appealing and appropriate.

A sobering introduction and solid demonstration of science research in action. (source notes, glossary, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 10-15)

THE MIRK AND MIDNIGHT HOUR

Nickerson, Jane Knopf (384 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-385-75286-2 978-0-385-75289-3 e-book 978-0-385-75287-9 PLB The author of Strands of Bronze and Gold (2013) returns to both Mississippi and fairy-tale retellings in this Civil War version of “Tam Lin.” Seventeen-year-old Violet Dancey has recently lost her twin brother to battle. Despite the war, she feels a sisterly connection with Laney, a slave who grew up alongside them. Perhaps that’s why Violet feels compelled to assist Amenze VanZeldt, a free black girl, while shopping in town. The act begins an apprehensive relationship with these Africans, who practice |

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the conjuring spirituality of hoodoo (as opposed to the religious practice of voodoo). In this atmospheric story in which darkness houses mysteries, the VanZeldts seem to glide like shadows rather than walk as humans. Fateful events keep Violet and the eerie family connected, most notably the discovery of a wounded Union soldier. As a secret romance evolves between Violet and this Yankee who makes her question slavery, the VanZeldts furtively heal him. Tension builds as their reasons for keeping the soldier alive become clearer. With rich imagery and imaginative subplots driving the storyline, the loose “Tam Lin” connection doesn’t really arrive until the end. The author is careful not to generalize all African-Americans, offering a wide variety of characters—black and white. With an inexplicable magic of her own, the ever-resilient Violet is a force against the VanZeldts’ deadly rituals.

Far from the typical Civil War romance. (Historical fantasy. 14 & up)

THE PRINCE’S BREAKFAST

Oppenheim, Joanne Illus. by Latimer, Miriam Barefoot (32 pp.) $16.99 | $9.99 paper | Mar. 31, 2014 978-1-78285-074-8 978-178285-075-5 paper One young prince with a picky palate tours the world with his parents in search of the right ingredient that will make eating an enjoyable treat.

Desperate to encourage their son to eat a good breakfast, the king and queen launch a culinary world trip. Alas, Indian rice cakes, Mexican tortillas, Chinese congee and even fresh African fruit are all spurned by the stubborn prince with a repeated “No, not I.” Just as they begin the trek back home, the royal family is approached by an energetic old man in Zambia, who offers the solution in the form of a red, tomato-based condiment: ketchup.

The finicky young royal eagerly accepts the sauce and downs his ketchup-soaked breakfast from then on. This oh-so-American solution to a familiar child-rearing dilemma may not be nutritionally preferred by more discriminating appetites, but who’s to account for taste when getting kids to eat well is the ultimate goal? Brightly hued, amusing, cartoon-style drawings in acrylic paints and watercolor pencils provide international verve to complement the rhyming verse. The accompanying CD is narrated by Hugh Bonneville.

The king’s evident enjoyment of every new flavor as unfamiliar foods and their names are introduced makes this effort worth sampling for those fussy little diners. (Picture book. 3-5)

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HOW THE WEST WAS DRAWN Women’s Art

Osmundson, Linda L. Pelican (32 pp.) $16.99 | Feb. 15, 2014 978-1-4556-1878-1

Another in this author’s series of titles about Western topics, here she profiles 13 little-known female artists.

A good reproduction of a painting or sculpture on one page faces text opposite beginning with a handful of simple questions that are then answered. Georgia O’Keeffe leads off, of course, with her “Cow’s Skull” painting. The author asks, “Why would a skull stand for the West?” Jessie Benton Evans’ “Granite Mountain near Phoenix” highlights impressionism and perspective. Malvina Hoffman’s bust of a Jicarilla Apache includes the query “Would you like to meet this person? Why or why not?”(a good question to consider when examining this very powerful visage). There is no index or bibliography, although both the introduction and the concluding “Fascinating Facts” note the paucity of information about these artists—a situation she could have helped to remedy by including sources. She also notes the difficulties these women faced in learning and practicing their art. The writing is simple and occasionally awkward; Osmundson is a docent by profession, and she strives primarily to teach in these pages.

Though imperfect, nevertheless a worthwhile gathering of mostly otherwise-unsung artists. (Collective biography.

7-13)

JASMINE AND MADDIE Pakkala, Christine Boyds Mills (192 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-62091-739-8

Can two seemingly opposite girls become friends?

Jasmine and her recently widowed mom move to Connecticut for a fresh start. As an eighth-grader living in a trailer park in an affluent community, feisty, hurting Jasmine encounters the painful pecking order of middle school. She meets wealthy, spacey, still-dressing-like-alittle-girl Maddie, who on the surface appears to be as different as possible from sarcastic, belligerent, chip-on-her-shoulder Jasmine. Jasmine has lost her gram, dad, home and dog. She angrily uses her fists, easily lies and readily resorts to stealing. Maddie, a middle child who fears she compares unfavorably to her older sister, doesn’t make the soccer team and loses her best friend, who does. Maddie also resorts to lies and theft. This friendship story is marred by contrivances. The ease and frequency of the girls’ lying and stealing seem improbable, and in the span of three weeks at the beginning of school, each realizes she needs a friend. Poems interspersed throughout (both famous poems and ones penned by the students) and the message that poetry 112

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is cool are engaging touches, although the extemporaneous student poems seem far too polished to be credible.

While no new ground is covered in Pakkala’s novel, the spot-on cover will entice readers who will identify with the pain of middle school, enjoy the well-developed secondary characters and applaud the girls’ growth. (Fiction. 10-14)

A MATTER OF SOULS

Patrick, Denise Lewis Carolrhoda Lab (192 pp.) $16.95 | $12.95 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7613-9280-4 978-1-4677-2402-9 e-book Eight short stories with long memory cut to the quick—all the more as they could be true.

Patrick’s tales from the distant and not-so-distant past shed fresh light on interracial and intraracial conflicts that shape and often distort the realities of African-Americans. The youthful characters possess passion and purpose, even if they remain misguided or too proud to live safely within their historically situated habitats. In one story, “Colorstruck,” Hazel absorbs everything Miss Clotille, her light-skinned, middle-class Negro employer, has taught her: how to say etiquette instead of manners and teal and magenta instead of green and purple, and to wear shoes in public. Living in the shadow of Clotille and her five fair-skinned sisters, Hazel believes that blackness will impede her upward social mobility. She loses her job and nearly loses her life by placing her faith in “Beauty Queen Complexion Clarifier…guaranteed to brighten, lighten and heighten your natural beauty!”

As the visage of the “ideal Colored woman” floats through this tale, it illuminates the multifaceted sources of self-hatred and enmity within black families around skin color. The plots and characters change from one story to the next, but each one artfully tells a poignant truth without flinching.

Shocking, informative and powerful, this volume offers spectacular literary snapshots of black history and culture. (Short stories. 12-18)

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“The pictures, in pencil and digital color, fill the tall oblong shape of the book dramatically. Details are telling….” from at the same moment, around the world

ASK ME

Pauley, Kimberly Soho Teen (304 pp.) $17.99 | $9.99 e-book | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-61695-383-6 978-1-61695-384-3 e-book A girl’s unwanted oracular powers mean she can’t make friends or even go out in public, as she cannot stop herself from answering any question she hears.

Aria, 17, is the latest in a long line of oracles, beginning with the original Erythraean Sibyl in ancient times. Her grandmother also was an oracle, although the gift— curse, as Aria sees it—skipped her mother. If she hears any question, from any source, even as she walks down her crowded high school hallways, she must answer, normally with a cryptic statement or rhyme. Telling unpleasant and unasked-for truths to anyone within earshot makes Aria a pariah, although popular Jade treats her with compassion. When Jade’s found murdered, Aria finds herself caught between Jade’s two boyfriends, Will and Alex, both suspects in the case. Warned away from each boy by the other, Aria, who can’t understand her own prophecies, nevertheless finds herself drawn to Will and tries to work with him to uncover the truth. Although readers probably won’t have too much difficulty in discerning who the real killer might be, Pauley keeps the pages flipping. She paints a fascinating portrait of Aria, both her insecurities and eventually her courage.

By giving readers occasional glimpses into the mind of the killer, she raises the stakes for Aria.

A well-written character study and thriller all in one.

(Paranormal suspense. 12-16)

AT THE SAME MOMENT, AROUND THE WORLD

Perrin, Clotilde Illus. by Perrin, Clotilde Chronicle (36 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4521-2208-3

Published first in French in 2011, Perrin’s elegant construction looks at children and young people around the globe eastward from the Greenwich meridian.

At 6 a.m. in Dakar, Senegal, Keita is helping his father with his catch of fish.

“At the same moment,” goes the refrain, it is 7 a.m. in Paris, and Benedict is drinking his hot chocolate before school. The moment unfolds with Yasmine in Baghdad, Lilu in the Himalyas, Chen in Shanghai, Allen and Kiana in Honolulu, and so on. The children range in age from newborn, like Diego in Lima, Peru, who is born there at 1 a.m., to teenagers, like Sharon and Peter kissing goodbye in San Francisco at 10 p.m. The pictures, in pencil and digital color, fill the tall oblong shape of the book dramatically. Details |

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are telling: A little red-beaked bird appears on most of the pages; the Frenchman striding along with his briefcase is smoking a cigarette; in Dubai, Nadia is watching yet another huge building go up; Pablo’s dreams in Mexico City take shape with Aztec symbols. A lovely foldout world map places and names all these children. A brief but excellent description of time zones and timekeeping closes the volume. Who knew that India and China both have only one time zone across their huge expanses?

A very fine working of story, information, art and culture. (Picture book. 5-9)

UNDERWORLD Exploring the Secret World Beneath Your Feet

Price, Jane Illus. by Hancock, James Gulliver Kids Can (32 pp.) $18.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-894786-89-8

A scattershot but revealing dig beneath our planet’s surface, illustrated with a mix of photos and schematic cutaways.

The book opens with a cross-section of the Earth’s crust showing multiple geological processes, from fossil-strewn continental plates sliding together to columns of rising magma (rendered, oddly, in magenta). The tour goes on past subterranean sights from prehistoric and Pompeian remnants to natural caves and cave life, tombs, urban infrastructure and underground cities, and other structures. Price adds introductory paragraphs and explanatory captions to each busy spread. The captions are numbered on some spreads, which compensates, at least in part, for the way the photos are often slapped down over or next to the drawings without much regard for visual unity or logical progression. Topical coverage and level of detail are likewise unsystematic—the naked mole rat gets one full spread while all other burrowing animals are crowded onto another, for instance. Of major city undergrounds, only those of Paris and Tokyo get a look, and a closing spread on the future of building beneath the surface suddenly moves…to Mars.

Sheds plenty of light into dark places, but best for flipthrough browsing, as the tunneling goes in arbitrary directions. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)

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“The strongest, most believable scenes in this cinematic book take readers firmly into the realm of the fantastic, with their vivid descriptions of such wonders as a living, breathing book….” from lost children of the far islands

LOST CHILDREN OF THE FAR ISLANDS

Raabe, Emily Knopf (288 pp.) $16.99 | $10.99 e-book | $19.99 PLB Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-375-87091-0 978-0-307-97497-6 e-book 978-0-375-97091-7 PLB

The first sentence grabs readers right away: “On May 23, exactly one month before Gustavia and Leomaris Brennan’s eleventh birthday, their mother became terribly, mysteriously ill.”

The promise of the sentence is fulfilled as Gus, Leo and their selectively mute little sister, Ila, discover and battle the source of their mother’s illness, simultaneously learning of their own magical powers. Filtered primarily through Gus’ point of view, the third-person narration is full of action, with cliffhangers ending most chapters. In a nice feminist touch, Gus is the active twin; Leo, the bookworm. The children are whisked away from their parents to help the Móraí—their ancient, powerful uber–great-grandmother—defeat a monster who has already wreaked great havoc on the Atlantic coast. Plot, characters, Celtic folklore and many magical elements—especially surrounding the servant called “the Bedell”—are reminiscent of works by P.L. Travers and Susan Cooper. Divergence from these classics lies in the supernatural abilities of the children (and the Bedell) to become other animals and to use this power in their quest. The strongest, most believable scenes in this cinematic book take readers firmly into the realm of the fantastic, with their vivid descriptions of such wonders as a living, breathing book and swimming and communicating as seals. In contrast, some of the realistic scenes are awkward and clichéd. Appropriately interspersed scientific facts are an added plus.

A mostly strong magical adventure in the grand tradition. (Fantasy. 8-11)

HERE COMES DESTRUCTOSAURUS!

Reynolds, Aaron Illus. by Tankard, Jeremy Chronicle (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4521-2454-4

“Stop throwing around buildings that don’t belong to you. You’ve been brought up better than that, you naughty monster!” But when the uproar turns out to have been just a search for a misplaced teddy bear, the scolding changes to repentance (“You could have used your words. But, still. Sorry I yelled”) and ends with a hug. Also, after a “GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW,” a general tidying up. The silliness of the premise is nicely amplified by the mixed-media illustrations, which feature disastermovie perspectives and lots of rubble.

A familiar interchange, featuring a less-ferocious-looking cousin of the tempestuous T. Rex of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur vs. Bedtime (2008) and its sequels. (Picture book. 2-4)

GOING PLACES

Reynolds, Peter H.; Reynolds, Paul A. Illus. by Reynolds, Peter H. Atheneum (40 pp.) $15.99 | $11.88 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4424-6608-1 978-1-4424-6609-8 e-book Imagination soars—quite literally—when a little girl follows her own set of rules.

Every year Oak Hill School has a go-kart race called the Going Places contest. Students are given identical go-kart kits with a precise set of instructions. And of course, every single kart ends up exactly the same. Every one, that is, except Maya’s.

Maya is a dreamy artist, and she would rather sketch birds in her backyard than get caught up in the competition. When she finally does start working, she uses the parts in the go-kart box but creates something completely different. No one ever said it had to be a go-kart. Maya’s creative thinking inspires Rafael, her neighbor (and the most enthusiastic Going Places contestant), to ask to team up. The instructions never say they couldn’t work together, either! An ode to creativity and individuality to be sure, but the Reynolds brothers are also taking a swipe at modern education: Endless repetition and following instructions without question create a culture of conformity. Hopefully now, readers will see infinite possibility every time the system hands them an identical go-kart box.

Not astonishingly go-out-and-buy-it-at-graduation inspirational, but all it takes is one seed of change to be planted.

(Picture book. 4-8)

A parent/caregiver—unseen after a glimpse at the beginning—translates a “terrible twos”–style tantrum into a moviemonster rampage.

As it turns out, it’s all just a failure to communicate. As a Godzilla-like monster emerges from the ocean in Tankard’s thick-lined cartoon scenes and proceeds to wreak havoc amid skyscrapers, the now-unseen narrator scolds every action. The amused tone of the narrative—“Wipe your feet, Destructosaurus! For crying out loud, you’re tracking seaweed and dead fish all over the tourists”—turns annoyed as the rampage continues: 114

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ANIMAL KINGDOM

Rogers, Simon Illus. by Blechman, Nicholas Big Picture/Candlewick (80 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-0-7636-7122-8 Series: Information Graphics, 1 With scattered exceptions, the trendy “infographics” approach stops at the title in this haphazard ramble past animal types and extremes.

The book is printed on stiff stock and features edge tabs bearing icons to denote each section’s subject—not always well-chosen ones: Dog faces mark both the chapter on dogs and one on animal senses in general. The coverage begins with Darwin and ends abruptly (sans index or other backmatter) with a highly select gallery of canine breeds. In between, it offers equally select surveys of animal habitats, physical characteristics, family life, defense mechanisms and other topics.

The writing sometimes reads like a bad translation: “A hippo can extend its mouth to 180 degrees.” The snippets of text are placed around or within intensely hued images that are mostly solid, stylized animal silhouettes, but unlike the ingeniously designed graphics in Margaret Hynes and Andy Crisp’s Picture This! Animals (2014), here the art is seldom arranged or scaled to impart information in a visual way. Aside from, for instance, a toothbrush “graph” comparing the numbers of various creatures’ teeth or silhouettes running around a marked speed gauge, Blechman’s illustrations just place animals in decorative groupings or next to conventional lists and bar graphs.

Flashy at first glance, routine at second and subsequent looks. (Nonfiction. 11-13)

STRANGE SWEET SONG

Rule, Adi St. Martin’s Griffin (336 pp.) $18.99 | $9.99 e-book | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-250-04816-5 978-1-250-03634-6 e-book Boarding school drama and paranormal romance collide in this promising debut.

Sing da Navelli, daughter of a worldfamous conductor and the late, legendary soprano Barbara da Navelli, arrives at the prestigious Dunhammond Conservatory determined to find recognition for her own talent. Surrounding the conservatory is a dark forest, shrouded in mystery and rumored home of the Felix, a fantastical beast whose tears become wishes. Sing is drawn to the forest and to the off-putting yet strangely attractive Nathan Daysmoor, an apprentice at the conservatory. The main narrative revolves around campus life and rehearsals for the Autumn Festival. The opera Angelique is the centerpiece of the festival, and Sing’s dreams are crushed when she is cast as the understudy to the |

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title role. Rule weaves parallel narratives through the novel, following Nathan’s back story and the motivations of the Felix as she collides with humanity. Sing herself begins as a largely unlikable and shallow character but will grow on readers who have the patience to slog through the slow first half of the novel.

Uneven pacing, underdeveloped secondary characters and a bloated main narrative put too much focus on teenage cattiness, while the Felix mythology and Sing’s relationship with Nathan are more interesting and original. Although not perfect, the second half is a compelling read.

The end is worth the sometimes-perilous journey. (Fantasy. 13-17)

BEAR AND BEE TOO BUSY

Ruzzier, Sergio Illus. by Ruzzier, Sergio Disney-Hyperion (48 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4231-5961-2 Series: Bear and Bee

Bear and Bee learn that things aren’t very much fun without a friend to share them with.

In their second outing (Bear and Bee, 2013), Bear and Bee’s new friendship is tested as Bear tries to entice Bee into doing his favorite things with him, while Bee is busy with chores.

Despite such diversions as rolling down the hill, climbing a tree and splashing in the pond, Bee’s chores (watering plants, cooking, sweeping) take precedence over spending time with Bear, a situation sure to be familiar to children who have similarly busy parents. Bears sums it up neatly when he remarks, “Oh Bee….

Having fun is not as fun without you.” Repetitive refrains will get listeners participating and help new readers build confidence: “Come and….You will love it!... // “No thank you….I’m too busy to….” The shoe is on the other foot after Bear falls asleep and Bee wants to gaze at the moon with him. Unsurprisingly, Bear’s too busy. But Bee’s clever compromise is a happy resolution for both friends. Throughout, the simple illustrations captivate (and sometimes stun) with their Seuss-ian colors.

Though a tad didactic and not as sweet as the first, Ruzzier’s second in the Bear and Bee series offers young readers an important lesson that goes down easy. What will be next for the two friends? (Picture book. 3-5)

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LITTLE LOLA

Saab, Julie Illus. by Gothard, David Greenwillow/HarperCollins (32 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 22, 2014 978-0-06-227457-1 What kind of adventure will Little Lola have?

Little Lola wakes up early one morning. That is part of the plan, delineated in a to-do list. She must stretch, hide, read the paper, play games and have an adventure! Finding pink glasses, a pert little outfit and a backpack, she decides to board a school bus. When she gets to school, she’s excited; everything and everyone has a place. She practices writing and arithmetic. She practices painting and playing, singing and sharing. She loves everything about school, but she loves storytime and show and tell best of all. She thinks she has the best thing for show and tell…but the mouse she presents scares everyone, and the classroom erupts in chaos. Lola puts everything back (some rather out of place), and all the children say goodbye, and they hope to see her tomorrow. This debut for husband-and-wife team Saab and Gothard will be a good addition to the off-to-school canon.

The spot and full-bleed watercolor illustrations have a retro, Scarry-esque look, complementing the declarative text that bubbles over with Lola’s enthusiasm. Little listeners uncertain about going off to school might find solace in Lola’s excitement.

The duo promises further adventures for their little clothed kitty—she’s off to a good start. (Picture book. 4-6)

THE BIG FIX

Sacks, Nathan Darby Creek (112 pp.) $7.95 paper | $20.95 e-book $27.93 PLB | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2163-9 978-1-4677-24074 e-book 978-1-4677-1459-4 PLB Series: Bareknuckle Corruption is everywhere in 1870s New York City, and George Choogart wants to be the journalist who exposes it.

George arrives from England with a job offer from the New York Times and, as a test of his skills, is assigned the task of finding a story so new as to be unfamiliar to the editor. He thinks he has found it in Lew Mayflower’s Woodrat Saloon, where he goes undercover as a fighter to learn more about illegal bareknuckle boxing matches. Politician Big Jim Dickinson finds fighters there for use in his secret and very crooked matches.

Although George is in the thick of the intrigue and danger, it is female reporter Holly Quine who gets the scoop. Sacks nicely captures the chaos of the time and place and weaves a fastpaced, action-packed tale. Detailed descriptions of the brawls and bare-knuckle fights make up the bulk of the text. Several peripheral characters, while quite colorful, appear to have little 116

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purpose. In the end, George leaves New York and heads west, thus paving the way for a series of tales set in the Woodrat with new fighters and their back stories and penned by different authors. Publishing simultaneously are The Giant, by Jonathan Mary-Todd, Fighter’s Alley, by Heather Duffy Stone, and Lightning’s Run, by Gabriel Goodman.

Lots of action and low page count should propel reluctant readers along. (Historical fiction. 11-15) (The Giant: 978-1-4677-2161-5 paper; 978-14677-1457-0 PLB; Fighter’s Alley: 978-1-4677-2164-6 paper; 978-1-4677-1460-0 PLB; Lightning’s Run: 978-1-4677-2162-2 paper; 978-1-4677-1458-7 PLB)

ALICE FROM DALLAS

Sadler, Marilyn Illus. by Hoyt, Ard Abrams (40 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4197-0790-2

Grab your cowboy hat and boots and saddle up for one rootin’, tootin’ story featuring Alice from Dallas.

Dallas, Pa., that is. Every day Alice rides her pony (the wooden kind) to school and entertains her class with tales of the Wild West. She reckons she’s “the only cowgirl in all of Pennsylvania.” That is, until Lexis, a “real” cowgirl from Texas, comes to town and treads on Alice’s turf. There’s bound to be a showdown between the two girls—at noon, of course, on the playground. While Lexis acts out a stagecoach holdup and throws a lasso better, Alice challenges by dancing a sprightly Texas two-step. When Lexis tries to show her up by duplicating the twirling moves, she falls down and hurts her foot. The next day, Alice feels guilty and visits Lexis to say she’s sorry. Each girl acknowledges the other’s skill, and it turns out that two cowgirls are better than one. The comic watercolorand-ink illustrations don’t miss a beat in capturing the amusing rivalry that turns into friendship. Pigtailed Alice sports plaid shirts and jeans; blonde Lexis is a sparklier sort—a rhinestone cowgirl, if you will—who dresses down with a Lone Star T-shirt.

The clever ending is a yee-haw moment that will rope in readers as quick as tumbling tumbleweeds. (Picture book. 4-8)

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“Nearly all of the paintings are landscape sections with reeds, stands of poplars or small silhouetted figures of local residents in the foregrounds and vivid, changeable skies blending into the misty river behind.” from the river

THE RIVER

Sanna, Alessandro Illus. by Sanna, Alessandro Enchanted Lion Books (110 pp.) $22.95 | Feb. 27, 2014 978-1-59270-149-0 An Italian illustrator makes his U.S. debut with an impressionistic record of an annual cycle along the Po River.

In hundreds of long, narrow, quickly brushed watercolor panels stacked horizontally four per page, Sanna follows a four-season round. Nearly all of the paintings are landscape sections with reeds, stands of poplars or small silhouetted figures of local residents in the foregrounds and vivid, changeable skies blending into the misty river behind.

Along with depictions of broad natural rhythms, each seasonal chapter contains several mininarratives—wordless, aside from a few allusive remarks at each section’s opening. They range from preparations and responses to a flood in “Autumn” to a sagra (holy day) carnival in “Spring.” In “Summer,” a melodramatic physical encounter between a plein-air painter and an escaped tiger turns metaphorical at the end. Other visual bonbons for attentive viewers to catch include parallel falls of snowflakes in winter and flower petals in spring, the Nativitylike birth of a calf and even glimpses—twice!—of elephants.

Along the lines of Blexbolex’s Seasons (2010), an immersive visual experience that richly rewards patient attention. (afterword) (Picture book. 6-9, adult)

THERE WAS AN OLD SAILOR

Saxby, Claire Illus. by Allen, Cassandra Kids Can (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-77138-022-5

With its catchy cumulative cadence, this nautically themed remake of the classic children’s rhyme about that old woman who swallowed a fly is a natural for reading aloud.

The old sailor swallows a krill and then swallows a jelly to eat the krill, and he works his way up, with mounting absurdity, to the final swallow—a whale. The illustrations are adeptly rendered in gouache and pencil; the round modeling of the sailor juxtaposed against the flat, stylized sea is particularly effective. With each spacious double-page spread, the pictures show the sailor’s determination—at once farcical and disconcerting—to swallow the darn creatures. Depending on what strikes readers as funny, the illustrations may either delight or cause queasiness—or both. By the end, the sailor burps everything up, and they all continue on their merry ways. The final spread depicts the sea creatures previously swallowed in the story and gives a sentence or two of child-friendly factual information on each. Though this type of backmatter is a common-enough feature in picture books, |

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here following farce with fact feels a little odd and may serve to deflate the fun rather than enhance it.

An aptly silly narrative and offbeat illustrations make this a successful new spin on an old classic. (Picture book. 3-7)

SWAMP CHOMP

Schaefer, Lola M. Illus. by Meisel, Paul Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-8234-2407-8 The names of several animals that might inhabit a cypress swamp, along with a plethora of verbs, adorn pages full of brightly colored animals, plants and water.

The opening double-page spread depicts a half-submerged alligator, a generic wading bird, other aquatic life, a lurking, half-hidden mammal, and insects flitting about; the text reads, “In the swamp…water ripples.” The final spread, similar but also purposefully including a fish in another wading bird’s mouth, says, “Water ripples in the swamp.” In between are close-up, cartoonlike depictions of various critters, each glossed with a few words: “Dragonflies swoop. Dip. // Crayfish crawl. Carry. / Bullfrogs wait. Lay.” (It is unclear what, if any, are the objects of the transitive verbs. Carry minnows? Lay eggs?) Later, more active watercolor-and-ink drawings show animals eating other animals, with phrases such as “Bullfrogs pounce. Gulp.” There is a nice interruption of rhythm when the alligators emerge on land with a sudden “Alligators CHOMP!” It is unclear until the endnote that the text and illustrations are attempting to show a cypress swamp food chain in action.

The illustrations invite children to take their time finding animals and figuring out their activities; the text would sparkle equally if the author had played more with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration. (Informational picture book. 2-4)

SPLAT! Starring the Vole Brothers

Schwartz, Roslyn Illus. by Schwartz, Roslyn Owlkids Books (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-1-77147-009-4 Series: Vole Brothers

Who knew that pigeon poo could be so much fun?

The Vole Brothers are blithely walking down a road and singing a lilting “Tum ti tum ti tum” when out of nowhere, a pigeon flaps by, so close its feet nearly touch the tops of their heads.

The bird unloads his white goo right on one of the vole’s heads, causing his brother to laugh, first a “Tee hee hee,” then a “Ho ho ho.” Mirth stops when the soiled brother throws the pigeon poo onto his brother, where it lands with the titular “SPLAT!” Now it’s the other brother who laughs, with a different set of syllables. The newly splatted vole flings off the poo, and it lands |

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“Shinoda’s use of Skeleton as a literary device is brilliantly done and never overdone; his interactions with Clare are silent but full of meaning.” from learning not to drown

on the very pigeon that triggered the problem in the first place.

Question marks and exclamation points appear above the Vole Brothers’ heads, until they burst into a “Woo-hoo” of joy. They wave a buoyant goodbye to the pigeon, but they don’t notice that banana peel….Close call. Schwartz’s minimal text consists entirely of exclamations and sound effects, ideal for very young aspiring readers, who are also the ideal audience for poop humor. The ink-and–pencil-crayon illustrations are simple and bright, effectively carrying the narrative along with a heaping helping of slapstick.

Even the most straight-laced will be hard-pressed not to laugh. (Picture book. 2-5)

100 HUNGRY MONKEYS!

Sebe, Masayuki Illus. by Sebe, Masayuki Kids Can (24 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-77138-045-4

Sebe is up to some monkey business with his latest counting escapade, following 100 hungry monkeys as they search for food, take a nap, narrowly escape a monster who turns out to be a new friend, have a campfire singalong and bed down for the night after a very busy day.

Young readers are sure to sympathize with the hungry monkeys who groan, cry and complain about their empty bellies, and their body language will be familiar to all those adults who have dealt with a famished child. As in his previous two counting outings, Sebe rewards patient readers who are slow to turn the pages with seek-and-find games on every page (and another at the back of the book). Humorous asides from various monkeys combine with questions for readers to answer using the busy illustrations: “Which monkey is biting a tail?” “Where is the baby monkey?” These questions challenge color, food and animal recognition, vocabulary knowledge, and of course, counting skills. Unlike Let’s Count to 100! (2011), the monkeys are spread willy-nilly across the pages with no effort made at organization or grouping, so counting each spread of 100 is a challenge indeed. Too, the similar-looking monkeys get a little old after just a few page turns, their expressions and body language often off-putting.

Not Sebe’s best, but fans will want the complete collection. (Picture book. 4-7)

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THE EDGE OF FALLING

Serle, Rebecca Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (304 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-4424-3316-8 Wealthy high school junior Mcalister “Caggie” Caulfield seeks relief from grief over her younger sister’s death by entering into a dangerous relationship with a mysterious boy.

After her little sister drowns in the pool at her family’s beach house in the Hamptons, Caggie wants to die too, to the point that she contemplates jumping off the roof at a friend’s party in Manhattan. A schoolmate named Kristen saves her at the last minute but nearly falls herself. Caggie actually ends up pulling Kristen back and is credited as a hero, which only makes her feel worse. In her grief, Caggie spurns the attentions of her best friend and devoted boyfriend, but she finds a kindred spirit in Astor, a tall, dark and damaged new boy at school who recently lost his mother to cancer. But what Caggie comes to realize about her relationship with Astor is that “[d]arkness stacked on darkness just makes it that much harder to find the light.” After another nearly fatal disaster with Astor at the beach house, Caggie is forced to confront the falsehoods she has told her family and friends and let go of her guilt over her sister’s death. Though Caggie makes a point of telling readers that her paternal grandfather called people like her “phony,” almost nothing is made of the connection to Catcher in the Rye, and it serves merely to make Caggie’s tale suffer by comparison.

Flat secondary characterizations and humdrum dialogue won’t keep teens from relishing this histrionic tale of love, death and lies. (Fiction. 12-15)

LEARNING NOT TO DROWN

Shinoda, Anna Atheneum (352 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4169-9393-3

Shinoda’s first novel introduces readers to 17-year-old Clare Tovin and her Family Skeleton.

Clare’s 29-year-old brother Luke has been in and out of prison for most of Clare’s life. Skeleton is the silent, Cuban cigar–smoking, brandy-drinking specter of Luke’s crimes, a constant reminder of Clare’s shame at having a criminal for a brother. When Luke announces that he is being released early from his most recent incarceration, Clare begins to hope that maybe this time it will be different; maybe Luke will change, and Skeleton will go away for good. Her controlling mother defends Luke at every turn, claiming that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Clare finds unexpected allies in her crush, surfer-boy Ryan, her other older brother, 20-something Peter, and even Skeleton. The heartbreaking first-person kirkus.com

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narration alternates between past and present, and Clare eventually discovers the big brother she adores is guilty of crimes far more violent than repeated theft to fund his alcohol and drug habits. Shinoda’s use of Skeleton as a literary device is brilliantly done and never overdone; his interactions with Clare are silent but full of meaning.

A thought-provoker that will leave readers contemplating the line between family loyalty and self-preservation.

(Fiction. 14-18)

SNOW DOG, SAND DOG

Singleton, Linda Joy Illus. by Golden, Jess Whitman (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-8075-7536-9

An imaginative little girl named Ally adores dogs but can’t have one of her own due to her allergies.

After a snowstorm, Ally makes a dog sculpture out of snow.

Snow Dog comes to life and follows Ally home, staying till the spring thaw. Then Ally creates a new dog out of flowers and leaves from her backyard, and Flower Dog stays till summer. On a beach vacation, Ally invents Sand Dog, and in the autumn, Leaf Dog. Each dog starts as a static sculpture and then immediately morphs into a realistic dog with hints of its origin, such as leafshaped ears and a tail shaped like a crooked twig. The boundaries between imagination and reality are creatively blurred in the pictures, as the realistic dogs each play with Ally, following her faithfully and engaging in seasonal activities. Charming illustrations in a loose, playful style bring the dogs to life, whether they are real or not. An open-ended conclusion shows Ally drawing all her dogs at play and Snow Dog returning with the first snow of the winter, even as the text indicates the other dogs also return. A final, unnecessary page gives directions for making a dog sculpture out of common household items.

Ally is a clever and creative character that kids with similar afflictions will relate to. (Picture book. 3-7)

STRIKER

Skuy, David Lorimer Press (216 pp.) $19.95 | $12.95 paper | $9.95 e-book Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4594-0512-7 978-1-4594-0513-4 paper 978-1-4594-0514-1 e-book Thirteen-year-old soccer player and cancer survivor Cody is determined to get back on the field.

Having completed treatment, Cody longs to regain his equilibrium, both at home and on the soccer field. While an opportunity to try out for the Lions—a team just moving up to the division he played in before he got sick—seems ideal, Cody |

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encounters several obstacles. His goal to play soccer is challenged by his mother’s apprehensions, his own qualms about his post-recovery soccer abilities and several relentless bullies on his new team. Skuy subtly explores the emotional aspects of Cody’s recovery, portraying family dynamics in the wake of a child’s critical illness and addressing Cody’s struggles to establish new friendships after his illness. He also presents the issue of domineering sports parents, whose enthusiasm for their child’s success sometimes eclipses good sportsmanship. The tension builds as several star players clash with Cody and his fellow substitutes on the team. Despite the taunts of the bullies, Cody quietly perseveres with the support of several new allies. A key soccer tournament gives Cody and his friends the chance to prove themselves. Invigorating, detailed game descriptions capture the kinetic energy of soccer while illuminating the skills and strategies essential to the sport.

Skuy adeptly combines exhilarating sports with a thoughtfully engrossing storyline that will inspire readers.

(Fiction. 10-14)

THE ONLY ALEX ADDLESTON IN ALL THESE MOUNTAINS

Solheim, James Illus. by Ebbeler, Jeffrey Carolrhoda (32 pp.) $17.95 | $12.95 e-book | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-0346-8 978-1-4677-2400-5 e-book

An improbable coincidence spawns a deep friendship.

When Alex Addleston arrives for her first day of kindergarten, she’s pleased to find a desk with her name on it. But there’s a boy sitting there, and he’s wearing an identical name tag. He even looks quite a lot like Alex. What the female Alex finds in the male Alex (and vice versa) is a best friend and sidekick. The duo gathers blueberries in the daytime and lightning bugs at night. They do everything together, finding frogs and turtles or pretending to be robots or astronauts. In the summer, Alex the boy goes on a trip to Chicago to see his grandma; when he returns, he learns that Alex the girl has left for Africa with her father. That night, both lie staring up at the stars, he on Flatt Mountain and she in a Kenyan savanna half a world away. Six years pass, with many separate adventures for each. And one night, while both are out catching fireflies, they meet again.

And it’s like they were never apart. Solheim writes gracefully, but his apparent message is undermined by a disjointed story full of gaps that will puzzle youngsters—why, for instance, do the two children apparently forget each other after one page turn? Extraneous details further muddy the waters.

Sweet but altogether odd. (Picture book. 5-9)

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LITTLE BENGUIN

Spagnol, Estelle Billon Illus. by Spagnol, Estelle Billon Holiday House (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 15, 2014 978-0-8234-2934-9 Manifestly good intentions and charming illustrations can’t rescue this high-concept, lead-footed tale, burdened with wince-inducing subtext.

Hatched from the happy, mixed-species union of penguin (dad) and rabbit (mom)—Little Benguin greets the world—only to be instantly rejected. “Because Little Benguin was unusual, people were afraid of him. And because people were afraid, Little Benguin was alone.” Unispecies age mates jeer at his looks; his self-esteem plummets (“I am an alien. I am a monster”); his parents worry uselessly. He longs to be “normal.” When a hungry wolf shows up, Little Benguin leads him away, using superskills—running, swimming—his mixed-species heritage has given him. Throughout, the plot relies on dated, offensive plant- and animal-breeding stereotypes. Grateful fair-weather friends throw a party in his honor. (Disconnected from the grim content, the sunny art seems to have wandered in from a different story.) Questions are begged: Why is it assumed that being mixed will prompt universal rejection? What if the wolf hadn’t shown up? Why is it up to Little Benguin to prove himself acceptable to the majority? Who gets to define what is “normal”? Tackling xenophobia, racial and otherwise, in a picture book is a worthy goal, but replacing negative with positive stereotypes doesn’t achieve it.

Skip the dated allegory and seek out Arnold Adoff and Jacqueline Woodson instead. (Picture book. 3-5)

FROG FREAKOUT

Sparkes, Ali Illus. by Collins, Ross Darby Creek (88 pp.) $7.95 paper | $20.95 e-book 27.93 PLB | Apr. 1, 2014 978-1-4677-2170-7 978-1-4677-2417-3 e-book 978-1-4677-2111-0 PLB Series: S.W.I.T.C.H., 7 Midway through this 14-volume British series, mad scientist Petty Potts follows her favorite experimental subjects, twins Josh and Danny Phillips, to summer camp with a new bodytransforming concoction.

At this point, the storyline is just treading water. Having contrived to lift her buddies’ confiscated video games from the mean camp counsellor’s lockbox, reckless Charlie inadvertently drops the box’s key into a pond. Fortunately, Petty Potts has just arrived on the scene with a spray bottle of AMPHISWITCH, (the last syllable is an acronym for “Serum Which Instigates Total Cellular Hijack”), and in no time, the three children have been changed into small frogs. To the twins, who have been 120

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repeatedly turned into bugs in previous episodes, it’s all routine, but Charlie delightedly leaps into her new identity. Thanks to a hungry heron, she nearly croaks too, but following a narrow escape and froggy horseplay, the key is recovered and the games returned in the nick of time. Moreover, the physical effects turn out to be temporary—more or less. Collins supplies plenty of line drawings featuring wide-eyed children and amphibians.

Sparkes tucks in a little natural history (as a frog, Danny discovers that insects “[taste] good! Like Cheetos”) and closes with a reading list, along with a lead-in to future misadventures.

Not much of a leap, plotwise, but it should hop off shelves where the series has spawned fans. (Fantasy. 7-9) (#8 Newt Nemesis: 978-1-4677-3234-5 paper, 978-1-4677-3233-8 PLB, 978-1-4677-3235-2 e-book; #9 Lizard Loopy: 978-1-4677-2172-1 paper, 978-1-4677-2112-7 PLB, 978-1-4677-2419-7 e-book; #10 Chameleon Chaos: 978-1-4677-2169-1 paper, 978-1-4677-2113-4 PLB, 9781-4677-2416-6 e-book; #11 Turtle Terror: 978-1-4677-2173-8 paper, 978-1-4677-2114-1 PLB, 978-1-4677-2420-3 e-book)

THE RIVERMAN

Starmer, Aaron Farrar, Straus and Giroux (320 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-374-36309-3 Series: Riverman Trilogy, 1 When a classmate asks him to write her biography, 12-year-old Alistair Cleary never dreams the story will “change everything.”

Growing up in Thessaly, N.Y., in 1989, Alistair’s a good kid who hangs out with Nintendo-obsessed pal Charlie. His enigmatic classmate, neighbor Fiona, announces she’s chosen him to write her biography because he will “dig up the story beneath the story.” Fiona tells Alistair she can travel to a parallel world called Aquavania, where “stories are born” and children with imagination create their own unique worlds.

However, the mysterious Riverman is causing children to disappear, and Fiona fears she’s next. Convinced Fiona’s bizarre story hides something bad in her real life, Alistair’s determined to protect her and unearth the truth. But what is the truth, especially when Fiona vanishes after warning Alistair about Charlie and swearing him to secrecy? Alistair’s firstperson voice lends immediacy and realism to a haunting story, progressing in intensity from October 13 through November 20, as he discovers people are not who they seem to be and reality is much more than he imagined.

Lines between reality and fantasy blur in this powerful, disquieting tale of lost children, twisted friendship and the power of storytelling. (Fiction. 10-14)

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“Quirky illustrations,…simple text, and recognizable, even mildly suspenseful situations, all combine to make this a chuckle-inducing read for those just advancing into chapter books.” from morgan on ice

MORGAN ON ICE

Staunton, Ted Illus. by Slavin, Bill Formac (62 pp.) $14.95 | $5.95 paper | $4.95 e-book Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4595-0289-5 978-1-4595-0290-1 paper 978-1-4595-0291-8 e-book Aldeen cruises through life like a monster truck: She crashes into everyone and has little concern for how her take-no-prisoners attitude affects people. So when Aldeen invites Morgan to accompany her and her grandmother to Princesses On Ice and his mother says he has to go, he’s less than thrilled.

Immediately, the third-grader starts plotting ways to avoid the skating show; these reach an added level of desperation when his friend Charlie invites him to a monster-truck show that turns out to be at the same time as the dreaded skating show. Morgan attempts a variety of poorly thought-out schemes, including attempting to foist Aldeen’s invitation off on a classmate and trying to convince her that he has a disease that makes him secretly scared of watching skating. Morgan’s dad keeps advising him to “Man up” and deal with his misfortune, but in the end, Aldeen’s grandmother elects to take them to the truck show instead of the skating event, and it turns out to be…boring! Quirky illustrations, (including a funny and inviting cover that makes this an easy sell), simple text, and recognizable, even mildly suspenseful situations, all combine to make this a chuckle-inducing read for those just advancing into chapter books. Morgan’s own ice-skating misadventures further enhance the mix.

An amusing combination of grade school frustrations and slightly screwball responses. (Fiction. 6-9)

I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS

Strand, Jeff Sourcebooks Fire (256 pp.) $8.99 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4022-8455-7

Survival camp? How can you not have bad feelings about that?

Sixteen-year-old nerd (or geek, but not dork) Henry Lambert has no desire to go to Strongwoods Survival Camp. His father thinks it might help Henry man up and free him of some of his odd phobias. Randy, Henry’s best friend since kindergarten, is excited at the prospect of going thanks to the camp’s promotional YouTube video, so Henry relents. When they arrive at the shabby camp in the middle of nowhere and meet the possibly insane counselor (and only staff member), Max, Henry’s bad feelings multiply. Max tries to train his five campers with a combination of carrot and stick, but the boys are not athletes, |

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let alone survivalists. When a trio of gangsters drops in on the camp Games to try to collect the debt owed by the owner, the boys suddenly have to put their skills to the test. Too bad they don’t have any—at all. Strand’s summer-camp farce is peopled with sarcastic losers who’re chatty and wry. It’s often funny, and the gags turn in unexpected directions and would do Saturday Night Live skits proud. However, the story’s flow is hampered by an unnecessary and completely unfunny frame that takes place during the premier of the movie the boys make of their experience. The repeated intrusions bring the narrative to a screeching halt.

Without that frame, this would have been a fine addition to the wacked-out summer-camp subgenre. (Fiction.

12-14)

LIV, FOREVER

Talkington, Amy Soho Teen (280 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-61695-322-5 A ghost story set at a posh boarding school hits plenty of buttons for schoolconspiracy and romance fans.

Sixteen-year-old Liv has had a difficult life in a series of foster homes. Now adopted, she still seeks escape and thinks she’s found it when she wins a scholarship to attend New Hampshire’s uber-exclusive Wickham Hall. Upon arrival, she immediately realizes that, as a scholarship student, she won’t fit in with the bluebloods that have populated the school for generations.

As usual for the genre, the school has an elite secret society, the Victors. It also has ghosts, spirits of various girls who were murdered on campus over a span of many decades. When the same fate befalls her, Liv begins, as a ghost, to investigate the mystery of the deaths, which somehow may be tied to the Victors. Through her friend Gabe, who can hear ghosts, she finds a means to communicate with her new heartthrob, Malcolm; he’s a Victor, but he appears to love her. Can the trio fully trust one another, and can Liv not only solve the mystery, but convince the police as well? While the narrator-as-ghost adds an interesting twist, the book remains primarily a mystery surrounding the school’s secret society. The romance elements come across as bittersweet, of course, considering the fact that Liv’s dead.

Average, but satisfying enough for paranormal fans still engaged by the genre. (Paranormal mystery. 12-16)

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“Terrell-Deutsch writes with simplicity and a compassion for her characters that will resonate with readers.” from running scared

WICKED LITTLE SECRETS

Taylor, Kara Dunne/St. Martin’s Griffin (304 pp.) $9.99 paper | $7.12 e-book | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-250-03360-4 978-1-250-03361-1 e-book Series: Prep School Confidential, 2 This complicated sequel to Prep School Confidential (2013) continues this series set in yet another hyperexclusive prep school as Anne tries to solve some mysteries left over from the opening installment only to encounter more intrigue.

Intrepid 17-year-old sleuth Anne just can’t let go of an unsolved mystery she thinks may be related to the murder of her roommate, which occurred in the first book. Thirty years ago, scholarship student Matthew Weaver disappeared. His body was never found, and the investigation went nowhere.

Anne keeps finding clues, however, that point to murder by at least one of the school’s illustrious, wealthy alumni, possibly including her boyfriend’s father. As Anne delves deeper, she begins to uncover unpleasant information that may put her in danger. Along the way, old and new relationships evolve, making the romance elements of the novel a bit different from the genre norm. Taylor stuffs the story with characters that mostly come across as believable, and she includes enough romance to satisfy readers looking for it while keeping the mystery complex enough to challenge. Though familiarity with the first book is assumed, she provides enough background to allow new readers to follow the action, and a nifty surprise will whet their appetites for the third book.

A solid investigative mystery. (Mystery. 12-16)

THE ODD ONE OUT A Spotting Book

Teckentrup, Britta Illus. by Teckentrup, Britta Big Picture/Candlewick (32 pp.) $14.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-0-7636-7127-3

In this classic take on a hunt for the odd one out, Teckentrup creates elegant Escher-like wallpapers of prints depicting a varied selection of interesting animals.

Creatures depicted include bats, camels, seals, tortoises, ostriches, pandas, rhinos, monkeys, flamingos, fish, lemurs, penguins and butterflies. Rhyming verses on the left-hand page of each spread challenge readers to spot the difference in the full-page repeating patterns of animal prints on each righthand page. The final spread conceals a new animal among all the by-now familiar ones. Subtle coloration and textures and thoughtfully chosen background colors give the pages a handprinted feel, in spite of the repetitive nature of the illustrations. Trying to spot the odd one out will keep children busy 122

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for quite a while, as some of the puzzles are hard to spot. (Even grown-ups may have a hard time finding the “silly lemur” looking at his own nose!) The wallpaper-pattern format determines the size of the illustrations, thus limiting readership to individuals or smaller groups.

Although the verses tend toward doggerel rather than fine poetry, and are at times grammatically questionable, the very young and their adult readers will improve their differentiation skills while having fun spotting the odd ones out. (Picture book. 2-5)

RUNNING SCARED

Terrell-Deutsch, Beverley Red Deer Press (176 pp.) $12.95 paper | Mar. 15, 2014 978-0-88995-503-5 An absorbing middle-grade story of a boy trying to come to terms with his father’s death.

Sixth-grader Gregory takes the long way home from school every day to avoid passing the Jiffy Mart where his minister father died in a car accident. Gregory was in the car at the time, which further intensifies his anxiety. His friends Matt and Teisha try numerous schemes to help Gregory face his fears, but nothing works. Meanwhile, Gregory’s schoolwork has begun to suffer badly except for math, the one subject that fascinates Gregory. Even worse, news has come down that Gregory’s school will be closed, his favorite teachers might lose their jobs, and the bus for the new school will stop at the dreaded Jiffy Mart. Hoping to forestall this, Gregory gets involved in a student effort to convince the authorities to keep the school open. During their door-to-door campaign, the friends meet an eccentric elderly lady and a girl who has lost her dog, bringing them together. Finally, Gregory realizes that he must conquer his fears on his own, even as he begins to understand the worth of his new friends and his own efforts. Terrell-Deutsch writes with simplicity and a compassion for her characters that will resonate with readers. The promotion of math as fun stands out as an added bonus.

Insightful and sensitive, a solid character study. (Fiction.

9-12)

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HUNG UP

Tracy, Kristen Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster (208 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4424-6075-1 In a narrative rendered entirely in voice mails, text messages and transcribed phone conversations, James and Lucy gradually go from strangers to romance.

Lucy starts it off by calling what she thinks is the customer-service number of a company she’s ordered a plaque from, but it’s actually James’ new phone number. The company is defunct, and the order Lucy placed with such care is never going to arrive. Both Lucy and James live in Vermont and go to high school; Lucy’s in Montpelier, and James lives in Burlington. Once they get past the initial confusion, their conversations are full of teasing, casual and funny. As the back and forth continues, more serious subjects gradually arise, and eventually they become confidants, more candid with each other in this mediated relationship than they might be in person. However, each of them has something that they hide from the other that their friends already know.

And each does something that the other might consider unforgivable. How the friendship heals while the characters remain true to themselves is conveyed in the continuing encounters.

Appealing characters stand out in a quick read that is a lighthearted look at how real friendships develop, grow and deepen. (Romance. 12-16)

THE ONE SAFE PLACE

Unsworth, Tania Algonquin (304 pp.) $16.95 | Apr. 29, 2014 978-1-61620-329-0

A group of orphans uncovers a sinister plot in this chilling and engrossing tale filled with detailed, sharply drawn characters.

Sometime in a future rife with climate crisis and brutal polarization of wealth, Devin buries his beloved grandfather and sets out to find someone to help him maintain the farm on which he’s grown up. In the city, he struggles to find enough food to live on until he meets a clever, street-wise girl named Kit. When Devin is invited by another boy to the Gabriel H. Penn Home for Childhood and insists that Kit be included too, the pair is initially delighted at the abundance of food and other comforts, but they rapidly begin to see that something terrible underpins the home. There are many familiar tropes here, the dystopian setting and the uncanny perfection of the orphanage among them. Yet Unsworth’s use of unadorned but vivid language—such as her description of Devin’s mind in a moment of panic being “battered by fear and confusion like a bird beating its wings against the bars of a cage”—is incredibly effective. |

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Likewise, the straightforward third-person narration and the gradual resistance that builds among the children to the unique horrors at the home are convincingly well-paced.

A standout in the genre’s crowded landscape. (Dystopian thriller. 10-16)

MINDSCAPE

Vaughan, M.M. McElderry (320 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4424-5203-9 Series: Ability, 2 The mental escapades continue in this sequel to The Ability (2013).

After saving the prime minister in the series opener, Christopher Lane and his cohorts return to their exclusive Myers Holt Academy to continue honing their Abilities before they turn 13. Unlike his peers, Chris has trouble relishing the fun of complex telekinetic exercises, solving difficult crimes and even trying to play practical jokes on their least favorite teacher, for amid the playful fantasy and spying adventure is a darker side to the story. Chris is certain that he keeps seeing Ernest Genever, whose twin brother died in the first novel and whose mother is now serving hard time, all because of him. At once wracked with remorse and afraid for his life, Chris can’t convince either his friends or administrators of this; they all think his guilty mind is playing tricks on him. As much as Chris wants to track down Ernest to make amends, the surviving twin wants to track down his brother’s killer to seek revenge. Much like the previous novel, the varying extrasensory peeks into characters’ minds prove to be more surprising and engaging than catching thieves or even a potential murderer. The author resolves lingering issues from the first book but leaves just enough of an opening for a sequel.

For readers who enjoy magical “science.” (Fantasy. 9-13)

SAVING BABY DOE

Vigilante, Danette Putnam (240 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 20, 2014 978-0-399-25160-3

A middle-grade novel that chronicles the problems a boy and his friend encounter after finding an abandoned baby.

Thirteen-year-old Lionel Perez and his best friend, Anisa Torres, live in Brooklyn. One day, while playfully trespassing in a nearby construction site, the pair discover an abandoned baby in a Porta-Potty. The resulting uproar leads Lionel’s worried mother to force him to take daily piano lessons over the summer from their neighbor, Miss D. However, despite his mother’s precautions, Lionel becomes involved with some |

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neighborhood boys who sell drugs. Though he knows this is a bad idea, Lionel feels it’s the only way he can provide for the baby, whom he plans to kidnap and care for. While Lionel’s farfetched plans are obviously doomed to fail, readers may wonder at the level of naïveté he exhibits in forming them in the first place. The real challenge comes, though, when Lionel discovers the baby’s mother and must make the hard decision whether to tell or keep this knowledge a secret. Vigilante’s second novel (The Trouble with Half a Moon, 2011) is a quiet story with pacing that sometimes lags and characters whose decisions may leave readers confused. However, its vibrant setting and threedimensional cast may entice readers who can suspend their disbelief and excuse the many random occurrences.

Overall, a fairly appealing tale of urban friendship. (Fiction. 10-14)

THE MOUSE AND THE MEADOW

Wallace, Chad Illus. by Wallace, Chad Dawn Publications (32 pp.) $16.95 | $8.95 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-58469-481-6 978-1-58469-482-3 paper An inquisitive field mouse ventures from his nest for the first time and encounters various creatures—big and small, friend and foe—all while learning and teaching readers about the habitat of a meadow.

Wallace uses digital media to create photorealistic spreads for his rhyming adventure. The focus is on one particularly charming mouse whose curiosity leads him to have informative conversations with the likes of a web-spinning spider, an industrious bee, a caterpillar beginning its transformation and a wise box turtle. “The mouse gave his attention to the turtle’s candid words, / Which warned the mouse of hidden snakes and predatory birds. / So far he was fond of all the dwellers in this ‘hood, / That is until he came upon a patch of rotting wood….”

In dramatic scenes, a sinuous snake and a fearsome owl come close to harming the little rodent. But there are tender, rosyhued moments in which he shares a furry rabbit’s burrow and wondrous ones in which the mouse first discovers a group of fireflies. Most impressive is the perspective—always from the mouse’s big eyes. As the mouse’s adventures come to a close, the tiny creature meets up with another of his kind who promises friendship and perhaps a bit of romance at the close.

Stiff verse aside, the book has undeniable child appeal. (notes, suggested activities) (Picture book. 5-8)

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PICTURE ME

Weber, Lori Lorimer Press (162 pp.) $19.95 | $12.95 paper | $9.95 e-book Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-4594-0509-7 978-1-4594-0510-3 paper 978-1-4594-0511-0 e-book Three middle school girls, loosely connected by their various roles in a school bullying incident, narrate the sto-

ries of their lives.

Krista stops attending school and develops a dangerous addiction to diet pills after mean-girl Chelsea posts unflattering photos of Krista around their school. Frustrated by the school’s lack of visible advocacy for Krista, her sole friend, Tessa, creates a series of posters that highlight Krista’s talents—and her absence. Tessa’s campaign successfully engages the school community, providing Krista with much-needed support. Interspersed with the scenes related to bullying are explorations of each girl’s life outside of school: Krista and her father’s reliance on fast food while her mother works, Tessa’s grief over her father’s death during military service in Afghanistan, and Chelsea’s involvement with an abusive drug dealer in an attempt to fill the emotional void created by her selfish mother. Unfortunately, these girls sometimes feel like stock characters, but they do so only because they so accurately represent the reality of many teens’ lives. Middle school readers, in particular, will connect with multiple moments in the story, which ultimately offers some hope that Krista will recover with support from friends and health professionals. Chelsea’s fate is much darker and includes a frightening scene suggesting she is being sexually exploited by the drug dealer.

The characters’ unhappiness and hopes will resonate with many readers. (Fiction. 10-14)

STELLA’S STARLINER

Wells, Rosemary Illus. by Wells, Rosemary Candlewick (32 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 25, 2014 978-0-7636-1495-9

Wells’ winsome animal characters are charming, as always, but her latest effort lacks coherence and depth.

The casual, colloquial tone suits the simple tale beautifully. Stella, a fox child, lives a happy life, secure in her parents’ love and seemingly unaware of her straitened circumstances.

She loves her small, shiny trailer home, enjoys spending time with her mother and looks forward to her father’s weekly return on Sundays. Then some unfriendly weasels point out her poverty. Saddened, Stella tries to keep her emotions hidden, but her mother teases the truth out of her. Unfortunately, instead of allowing Stella to sort things out herself, Wells decides to solve her problems geographically. Stella’s kirkus.com

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“Ava is a winning protagonist, a little too articulate for her age perhaps, but she and Pip grow psychologically in realistic and convincing ways.” from ava and pip

dad hooks up the house trailer and hauls it to another, more welcoming (and tropical) locale, where the new neighbors greet Stella and her home with awe and enthusiasm. The abrupt ending may leave listeners wondering exactly what happened. They’re also likely to be confused by the contrast between scenes that suggest a mid-20th-century rural setting and the inline skates and baggy pants sported by the weasels. Overall, however, the variously sized mixed-media illustrations are captivating, featuring lush forests, starry nights, expressive faces and delightful details.

Fans of Wells’ work will likely embrace Stella’s story, but some may wish she’d been allowed to confront her problems rather than just running away from them. (Picture book. 5-8)

AVA AND PIP

Weston, Carol Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (224 pp.) $15.99 | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-4022-8870-8 Weston sums up her new diary-style middle-grade novel when lively 10-yearold Ava writes that she hopes someday to write a book about “a good kid who does a bad thing and sometimes feels invisible, but who helps her sister find her voice and ends up finding her own.”

Ava, a budding writer and class-A speller, is outgoing and chatty. Her sister, Pip, who turns 13 during the story, is so shy she’s virtually silent. When Pip’s birthday plans for a girls sleepover are derailed by new classmate Bea’s boy-girl party, Ava pens a story maligning her as an entry in a library writing contest. Ava’s “word nerd” family revels in language, particularly palindromes and homonyms. In fact, they pepper the narrative, so much so that their use at times undercuts the material’s narrative flow. Besides delighting, Ava learns that words can influence feelings and reputation. After Bea recognizes herself in the story, Ava realizes her mistake and sincerely apologizes. In a refreshing plot twist, instead of staying mad, Bea teams up with Ava to aid Pip in coming out of her shell. Ava is a winning protagonist, a little too articulate for her age perhaps, but she and Pip grow psychologically in realistic and convincing ways.

“Helping others helps you too” is Weston’s essential message, and her story ably illustrates the point. (Fiction.

8-12)

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THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY

Wexler, Django Kathy Dawson/Penguin (384 pp.) $16.99 | Apr. 15, 2014 978-0-8037-3975-8

Being a Reader comes with significant challenges in this fantasy filled with ever-changing library stacks, enchanted books and talking cats.

Late one night, 12-year-old Alice Creighton stumbles upon her father in conversation with a threatening fairy. Next thing she knows, her dad is off to Buenos Aires on a steamer ship that mysteriously goes down in a freak storm. Now an orphan, she is sent to live with her uncle Jerry, aka Geryon, who happens to have an unusual and off-limits library that harbors a coveted book and creatures that may explain what really happened to Mr. Creighton. There, she meets the boy Isaac, a Reader, who has the power to enter books and interact with the creatures within them, and discovers that she’s a Reader, too. She is also given the opportunity to apprentice herself to Geryon, which she takes in a desperate effort to find her father. Alice proves to be an active and intelligent heroine who adeptly pulls compatriot and rival Isaac out of more than one potentially fatal challenge. Vaguely reminiscent of Harry Potter, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Inkheart all rolled into one, it’s good fun, if a tad light on character transformation and sagging a bit in the middle.

Working in the grand tradition of children’s fantasy, Wexler’s off to a promising start. (Fantasy. 10-14)

THE TITANIC LOCKET

Weyn, Suzanne Scholastic (208 pp.) $6.99 paper | $6.99 e-book Apr. 29, 2014 978-0-545-58842-3 978-0-545-58843-0 e-book Series: Haunted Museum, 1

Spectral voyagers practically outnumber the living ones on a re-enactment of the Titanic’s cruise in this ghost-happy series opener.

A visit to a creepy museum just before boarding a replica of the famous liner leaves sisters Samantha and Jessica saddled with a locket salvaged from the original ship that keeps coming back despite their increasingly frantic efforts to get rid of it. Worse yet, they begin to notice sudden chills, scratching and whimpering sounds in the walls and a weirdly mutable number on their cabin door. Frequent encounters with supernatural figures (some historical, such as John Jacob Astor’s dog, Kitty) escalate until Jessica is nearly drowned in the bath by a poltergeist, Samantha is trapped in the elegant ballroom with dancers who rot before her eyes, and both sisters are forcibly possessed |

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“It may be convoluted as hell, but Whaley’s signature cadence and mad storytelling skillz are worth every page.” from noggin

by the spirits of former passengers with personal scores to settle. Weyn ratchets up the eeriness by pairing off several of her living characters with strangely similar dead ones and quickly builds to a stormy climax that the sisters narrowly survive thanks to timely intervention by a powerful medium. After that, it’s smooth sailing—at least until the next episode.

Mild goose bumps for readers who prefer their ectoplasm served up in buckets. (Horror. 8-10)

NOGGIN

Whaley, John Corey Atheneum (352 pp.) $17.99 | Apr. 8, 2014 978-1-4424-5872-7 The madcap story of a boy who loses his head and finds it again.

In the not-too-distant future, 16-yearold Travis Coates loses his head once—literally—after a deadly bout with cancer left him for dead. His head, cryogenically frozen as part of an experimental process to bring cancer victims back to life using donors, is the only thing that’s left of him until he wakes up with it attached to the body of Jeremy Pratt in the Saranson Center for Life Preservation five years later. From there on out, Travis’ life gets just as crazy as Whaley’s bizarre setup.

Lots of changes have taken place in five years, and Travis soon finds himself losing his head again, in the figurative sense. He has to drag his best friend back out of the closet, discovers terrible secrets about his parents, and pursues his old girlfriend, who is now 21 and engaged to another, great guy, to readers’ cringeinducing embarrassment on his behalf. Readers will recognize the Printz winner’s trademark lovable characterizations in Travis’ newfound BFF Hatton, who dubs him “Noggin” on his first day back at school. They’ll also recognize the poignantly rendered reflections on life, love, death and everything in between. Weird?

Yes. Great? Not quite, but it’s pretty solid. It may be convoluted as hell, but Whaley’s signature cadence and mad storytelling skillz are worth every page.

A satisfyingly oddball Frankenstein-like tale of connectivity. (Fiction. 14 & up)

OUTSIDE THE BOX

Wilson, Karma Illus. by Goode, Diane McElderry (176 pp.) $17.99 | Mar. 11, 2014 978-1-4169-8005-6

A charming, gorgeously illustrated children’s collection of light verse.

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darker reaches. From typographical play to concrete poems, Wilson pulls out a number of visual poetic stops in inviting readers to “think / outside / the box” and ponder humorous cautionary tales on the perils of fibbing, snitching and sibling rivalry, alongside wildly concocted romps through the imagination. A number of memorable creatures emerge from these pages— for example, “Horace Hippopotamus,” who “ate more than he oughtamus,” and a miffed ladybug, who admonishes: “Stop calling me lady. / Please. I’m a dude!” Awkward situations are celebrated in poems such as “Wishy-Washy,” where the speaker blows out birthday cake candles while silently imploring, “I wish Evan liked me!” Alas, “right then Evan picks his nose, / which turns his finger green!”; horrified, the speaker cries: “Relight the candles… / My first wish was a huge mistake. / I need to trade it in!” Here, as throughout the volume, in but a few strokes, Goode’s pen deftly realizes the moment: the offending finger prominently up Evan’s nose, the speaker’s heart-shaped wish wafting from the birthday candles’ smoke, jaggedly rent in half.

At once affirming, silly, and poignant: a stunning visual and poetic compendium on growing up. (Poetry. 8-11)

SPROUT HELPS OUT

Winstead, Rosie Illus. by Winstead, Rosie Dial (32 pp.) $16.99 | Mar. 20, 2014 978-0-8037-3072-4

Big sister Sprout happily takes on any domestic duty (babysitting, housecleaning, laundry, dishes), but she leaves merry mishaps and minor misbehaviors in her wake.

Ironic narration, primly positive and perky, allows playful pictures to reveal how much (or little) Sprout really helps around her house. She brushes her teeth without being reminded and then takes care of the forgetful dog’s teeth, for instance—with her mother’s toothbrush. She conscientiously does the laundry after getting dirty—but her baby sister needs to rescue the cat from the washing machine! Simple sentences imbued with wide-eyed innocence work alongside illustrations showing Sprout’s misguided household management to winning comedic effect. Winstead’s breezy pencil, gouache and watercolor illustrations suit Sprout’s comfortable household, with its charming wallpapers, art supplies and scattered toys.

Her mother, an artist, paints peripherally; a cat, dog and fish swirl at Sprout’s side; drawings and notecards flutter on the walls and floor. Pale colors and white space convey the mellow vibe, which doesn’t seem shaken even by mud disasters, a flooded kitchen or broken lamps. Only her baby sister seems truly alarmed; mother appears in open-mouthed shock only once at the close of the book. One gets the sense somehow that she shouldn’t be that surprised, as Sprout seems the teensiest bit wise to the mischief she makes.

High, sly entertainment for troublemakers and helpers alike. (Picture book. 3-6)

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baseball picturebook roundup BASEBALL IS . . .

Borden, Louise Illus. by Colón, Raúl McElderry (48 pp.) $17.99 | Feb. 18, 2014 978-1-4169-5502-3

Baseball is more than a sport; in Borden’s unabashed celebration, it embodies the essence of the social, historic and emotional fabric of our nation.

Baseball has played a part in wars, social upheaval, urban and suburban development, immigration demographics, business conglomerates and investment swindles. It is also myth and mystery and the stuff of the American dream. People who love the game feel it in every sense, and to them, the minutiae are as elemental as the heroes, the great plays and the spectacle. Borden attempts to capture all of it in a lovely evocation of everything that is conjured up when a devoted fan hears the words “baseball is....” She employs deceptively simple language and the briefest of phrases filled with instant imagery that mingles past and present, spectators and players. Readers see, hear, smell and taste every aspect of the game. Nothing is forgotten or minimalized. The ballparks, the souvenirs and the hot dogs are all here from the major leagues to Little League. Colón’s exuberant colored-pencil illustrations are lovingly matched to the text and bring it to glorious life. The game is seen from every perspective on double-page spreads that incorporate vignettes in frames of every shape as well as a gatefold with the likes of Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente.

Love of our national game shines in every word and picture. A grand slam. (Picture book. 7-10)

KNUCKLEBALL NED

Dickey, R.A. with Karounos, Michael Illus. by Bowers, Tim Dial (32 pp.) $17.99 | May 1, 2014 978-0-8037-4038-9 A major league knuckleball pitcher pens a cautionary tale about self-esteem and standing up to bullies.

Ned is a very nervous baseball who worries about navigating his first day of school. He is clumsy and unsure of himself, always wobbling and bumping into everything. Strangely, at times he can float and glide. All the other kids know what kind of baseballs they are, but Ned has no clue. The Foul Ball Gang taunts him and calls him names, but Connie Curveball, Fletcher and Fiona Fastball, Sammy Softball and the others befriend him.

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the fastballs unsuccessfully launch themselves up to get them, spinning madly all the way. When Ned tries, he twists and turns and floats through the branches without spinning and deftly grabs the shoes, triumphing over the gang. He is a knuckleball and proud of it. Although story and prose are more than a bit unsubtle and stiff, Dickey, with an assist from Karounos, creates a sweet, sympathetic character and presents an earnest, heartfelt message. Bowers’ multilayered technique, employing acrylic, watercolor and color washes, produces illustrations that are lively and charming, giving the baseball characters surprising life and substance. Young readers will clearly understand the intent even if they are unfamiliar with the various pitch names and characteristics.

Well-intentioned but not quite a winner. (Picture book.

3-6)

JOY IN MUDVILLE

Raczka, Bob Illus. by Dibley, Glin Carolrhoda (32 pp.) $17.95 | $12.95 e-book | Apr. 1, 2014 978-0-7613-6015-5 978-1-4677-0953-8 e-book

Will there ever be joy in Mudville now that mighty Casey has struck out? It is the day after that awful game, and now there is a chance for redemption.

But it’s not really about Casey. He actually redeems himself when he hits a home run that puts the team ahead, but the Mudville pitcher falters by walking three straight batters in the ninth inning with two out. They don’t need Casey right now; they need a solid relief pitcher. In comes Joy, a female rookie pitcher whom the crowd greets with mistrust, boos and catcalls. Her technique is extremely unusual. She variously emulates a football snap to the quarterback, a tennis serve and a basketball dribble and jump shot. Finally, Joy kicks a bunt back to home plate for the out to save the game. And the crowd goes wild. Raczka’s sequel echoes Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s original, which appears in full following the victory.

Although many of his lines are choppy, and unfortunately, the rhymes are too often tortured, the repartee between the whining batter and the umpire is delightful, as is Joy’s highly imaginative, definitely rule-breaking pitching style. In Dibly’s bright illustrations, the umpire steals some of the spotlight, as his attire and mannerisms match Joy’s other-sport pitches, and all the characters’ expressions and actions are perfectly suited to this very odd game.

The old ball game is still great fun. (Picture book. 5-9)

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interactive e-books

THE STREAK How Joe DiMaggio Became America’s Hero Rosenstock, Barb Illus. by Widener, Terry Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills (32 pp.) $16.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-1-59078-992-6

THE ANIMALS OF MOSSY FOREST

Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak is considered one of the greatest feats in baseball and the one least likely to be replicated.

Everyone expected Joltin’ Joe to pound out the hits, but as the consecutive games mounted up, the excitement built as well. The year 1941 was a difficult time, and people needed something to cheer about. “That one perfect summer” was the last summer of peacetime. All eyes were on DiMaggio each time he came to bat, and newspaper headlines screamed the daily tally. Rosenstock’s game descriptions capture the momentum and let readers see and feel the events as if they were at the games. Along with play-by-play for some of the key hits, there’s some fascinating information about DiMaggio’s proud and determined character, as well as some lesser-known events.

His favorite bat, “Betsy Ann,” was stolen during the streak, later recovered and then broken. Widener’s expansive, double-page illustrations, rendered in acrylic on bristol paper, in earth tones of green and gold, are larger than life, elongating DiMaggio as he takes his stance, rounds the bases or grips his bat. Each occurrence of the hit count and the word “streak” stands out from the rest of the text in heavy red display type.

DiMaggio’s remarkable hitting streak is freshly presented for a new generation of fans. (afterword, author’s note, statistics, source notes, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Ball, Alexandra The Flavour $0.99 | Sep. 21, 2013 1.1.0; Dec. 3, 2013

A simple yet solid seek-and-find for toddlers and preschoolers.

The point of this no-frills app is to find the animals that live in Mossy Forest. There are 10 critters in all, each hidden somewhere in the landscape on the home screen. Some creatures are easier to locate than others. The fox, the mouse and the owl, for example, are peeking out from their respective hiding places. The butterfly, however, is camouflaged as a flower, while the bunny could pass for a stone. Once an animal is located and tapped, readers are zoomed in to a screen that fully reveals it, and if narration is turned on, kids are heartily commended by the plummy-voiced British narrator for finding it.

Afterward, touch the “back” button to return to the landscape so the rest of the animals can be discovered. Once they’ve all been found, readers are encouraged to uncover them again. And again.

The interactions are slight and modest: Owls jump, the frog eats a fly, and the hedgehog rolls up into a ball. There’s another screen that doesn’t seem to serve much purpose other than counting to 10 by tapping the different animals. Narration is up to BBC standards, and the musical accompaniment is splendid (both are optional). The only thing that drags this app down is the time between touch and response; it’s moderately sluggish.

A serene and enjoyable way to hone fine-motor and observation skills. (Requires iPad 2 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 1-5)

SOUNDS IN THE HOUSE

Beckstrand, Karl Illus. by Jones, Channing Customizabooks $3.99 | Oct. 3, 2013 1.0; October 3, 2013

A terrified dog catalogs the strange noises in its home in a bilingual English/ Spanish app.

Narrated by a big-eyed hound who resembles Garfield’s long-suffering Odie, this slight mystery begins with a lengthy pronunciation primer on the Spanish language. Though the app doesn’t explicitly force readers to switch between English and Spanish text and narration, its first page begins in Spanish, and a large button that enables toggling between the two tongues is featured on every page. Those who take the hint will find a cute series of pages made of mostly simple sentences (“The clock ticks. A moth taps my window.” / “El reloj hace tic tac.

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“Pre-readers will delight in Olivia Tennet’s engaging narration and the spot-on sound effects.” from my friend barlow

Una polilla golpea contra la ventana”) in either language. The unnamed dog quivers in fear, comically freaking out at the sounds of a mischievous cat, moaning water pipes and a creaking tree outside. The dog gets the last laugh, however, when it scares its human owner; a loud “Boo!” it turns out, is just as scary in Spanish or in English. Cartoon illustrations throughout are simple, with unobtrusive animations activated by taps. The narration and text are handled well, and the story is suspenseful without ever getting too intense for younger readers.

For bilingual readers, those studying either language or anyone who likes stories about scaredy-cat dogs, this nofrills app may sound about right. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)

SABER-TOOTH TRAP

Bentley, Dawn Illus. by Reaveley, Trevor Oceanhouse Media $1.99 | Dec. 10, 2013 2.3; Dec. 10, 2013 Series: Smithsonian’s Prehistoric Pals A prehistoric saber-toothed cat roams in search of his next meal in this introduction for preschoolers.

Based on a 2005 book-and-CD kit, this app provides basic information in a solid, if not particularly exciting, package.

“Saber-Tooth Tiger opens his mighty jaws and lets out a powerful roar. His two long saber teeth are an awesome sight.” The sabertoothed tiger encounters dire wolves, a mastodon and a massive Harlan ground sloth. The gory details of the hunt are kept off-screen, making this story well-suited for preschoolers. The Oceanhouse Media platform delivers clean navigation, highquality text support for developing readers, and good narration and sound effects. Readers can listen to the story read aloud or try to read it by themselves, tapping on individual words if they need assistance. Although there is no animation, the app effectively uses the original illustrations, supplementing the narration with dramatic sound effects. Adults will appreciate that they can easily turn off the sound effects in the easy-touse options feature. Readers can also record their own narration. The backmatter is narrated, providing young readers with access to further information about Smilodon, the species of saber-toothed cat in this story—a nice touch.

This straightforward app will appeal to young readers fascinated by the prehistoric period. (iPad informational app.

4-8)

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MY FRIEND BARLOW

Hamilton, Chris OddBot $1.99 | Nov. 21, 2013 1.0; Nov. 21, 2013

A tiny bird extols the many talents of his canine buddy in this tail-wagging story for young pups.

Finch, an adorably articulate bird, can’t say enough great things about his buddy, Barlow. This “very smart dog” does all the things you’d expect. He can speak, sit, jump, “lay” down (ouch), roll over, run in a circle, dig a hole and chew a shoe.

But that’s just the beginning of Barlow’s talents. He can read a book, do a puzzle, stack blocks, build a doghouse, sing, dance, ride a scooter, make his own dinner and more. Best of all, toddlers can join in the fun, tapping to initiate the action on each colorful page.

Pre-readers will delight in Olivia Tennet’s engaging narration and the spot-on sound effects. Be sure to listen for the wind as Barlow rides his scooter, Finch flying behind, as well as the sound of Barlow’s flower growing. Exciting interactive features include an artist’s easel on which readers can “paint” and save their work, a piano keyboard and bath bubbles to pop, allowing young ones to test their own artistic and counting skills. The story may well double as a bedtime favorite, as Barlow’s busy day culminates in dinner, bathtime, pajamas and sweet dreams that set paws a-twitching.

Whether furry or feathered, pre-readers may discover new skills of their own with this interactive clever-pup tale. (iPad storybook app. 1-5)

DOKI CHRISTMAS DISCOVERY FAMILIA STORYBOOK

LivoBooks LivoBooks $3.99 | Nov. 27, 2013 1.0; Nov. 27, 2013

Doki the dog and his animal friends decorate a batch of holiday games and puzzles.

Each of the 11 screens presents a different activity—from dragging bulbs to decorate a Christmas tree to plunking out “Deck the Halls” on a keyboard with prompts, coloring a drawing of Santa Claus and breaking a piñata filled with touch- and tilt-responsive candy. The cartoon illustrations are accompanied by a wooden, all-caps text (“IN MEXICO THEY HAVE A VERY FUN CHRISTMAS TRADITION!”) with highlighted words, tap-activated revocalizations and an audio narration that can be switched off or replaced with a personal recording (future updates will include Spanish and Portuguese versions).

Children can also save their coloring page and, using the camera function, incorporate selfies into a sendable digital card.

The international “tour” of Christmas customs is superficial at best, but the interactive activities won’t be beyond even diaper-clad digerati. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad holiday app. 2-4) |

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STEPHEN HAWKING’S SNAPSHOTS OF THE UNIVERSE

Random House Digital Random House Digital $4.99 | Dec. 12, 2013 1.0; Dec. 12, 2013

A moderately challenging survey of selected physical principles and astronomical phenomena, conveyed through “experiments” that are actually ingeniously designed interactive games and demonstrations.

Title notwithstanding, Hawking’s direct contributions are limited to a few voice-overs in embedded short videos— including one funny clip in which he sits beneath a tree lecturing about gravity as virtual apples fall all around. The general content covers eight topics addressed in his popular works (purchasable here through multiple links), including the physics of orbits, relativity, bent space and, of course, black holes.

Each topic, opened by one of a row of icons on a bottom ribbon, features a general statement of principles, expanded explanations behind a “Why?” button, and an activity. In “Building a Solar System,” readers can launch planets into orbit but must aim carefully to prevent catastrophic collisions. The graphics all respond briskly to tapping, touching or tilting, and most of the activities escalate in difficulty, video-game style. Though there is no audio narration except in the inset featurettes, the app features a full slate of electronic sound effects, as well as background music. Along with a clear picture of how our understanding of the universe has evolved from Democritus’ atoms to string theory, readers will come away with a firmer handle on some of the basics of physical mechanics both celestial and earthly.

An able presentation, much enhanced by high-quality digital content. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad nonfiction app.

11-14)

Action-oriented viewers can also blast away at a sea monster’s tentacles, guide a pirate ship past various floating dangers—or not, which results in loud, spectacular explosions—and, with a fingertip, “hack” at increasingly heavy cascades of fruit hurled directly at the screen by a crew of gibbering monkeys. Ultimately, Isabel rescues an admiring prince, saves her ship and forces a rival pirate captain to walk the plank. Avast! Off to the next adventure. Young salts can skip the storyline entirely, thanks to a strip index that provides access to the game screens alone; they can also move on to appended sets of jigsaw puzzles and sticker albums, though most of these last are locked away behind a pay wall.

The bright colors, unusually vigorous animation and variety of digital games will spark many a “Yo Ho Ho!” (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

STRANGEBEARD

StoryToys StoryToys $3.99 | Nov. 14, 2013 1.0.0; Nov. 14, 2013

Buckling swash to the max, doughty Princess Isabel sets out on a pirate adventure positively awash in tap- and tilt-activated action.

Screens of setup narrative are read (optionally, and in any of four European languages) in scenery-chewing, piratical voices. These alternate with interactive scenes played out with cartoon figures rendered in supersaturated colors.

These pop up into view on an illustrated page and remain until a tap on the “next” arrow abruptly sucks them back out of sight. Relatively sedate activities include dressing Isabel in an appropriate disguise or assembling a jigsaw treasure map.

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This Issue’s Contributors # Alison Anholt-White • Kim Becnel • Elizabeth Bird • Marcie Bovetz • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley Sophie Brookover • Louise Brueggemann • Connie Burns • Timothy Capehart • Ann Childs • Julie Cummins • GraceAnne A. DeCandido • Dave DeChristopher • Elise DeGuiseppi • Lisa Dennis Carol Edwards • Brooke Faulkner • Laurie Flynn • Omar Gallaga • Laurel Gardner • Judith Gire • Carol Goldman • Melinda Greenblatt • F. Lee Hall • Heather L. Hepler • Megan Honig • Jennifer Hubert Shelley Huntington • Kathleen T. Isaacs • Laura Jenkins • Betsy Judkins • Deborah Kaplan K. Lesley Knieriem • Robin Fogle Kurz • Megan Dowd Lambert • Angela Leeper • Peter Lewis Lori Low • Meredith Madyda • Joan Malewitz • Hillias J. Martin • Michelle H. Martin PhD • Jeanne McDermott • Shelly McNerney • R. Moore • Deb Paulson • John Edward Peters • Susan Pine • Melissa Rabey • Rebecca Rabinowitz • Kristy Raffensberger • Nancy Thalia Reynolds • Melissa Riddle Chalos Lesli Rodgers • Erika Rohrbach • Ronnie Rom • Leslie L. Rounds • Ann Marie Sammataro • Mindy Schanback • Katie Scherrer • Mary Ann Scheuer • Dean Schneider • Stephanie Seales • Karyn N. Silverman • Robin Smith • Rita Soltan • Jennifer Sweeney • Bette Wendell-Branco • Gordon West Monica Wyatt • Melissa Yurechko

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indie The Biology of Luck

These titles earned the Kirkus Star:

Appel, Jacob M. Elephant Rock Productions, Inc. (234 pp.) $16.00 paper | $12.99 e-book Oct. 7, 2013 978-0-9753746-8-9

THE BLACK PHOENIX by Allan Kemp............................................. 136 Sutro’s Glass Palace by John A. Martini............................... 140

A novel within a novel spanning one eventful spring day in New York.

There’s nothing special about Larry Bloom, a city tour guide, aspiring novelist and loser in love. As the novel begins, he laments that “there hasn’t been a civil rights movement for the nondescript and homely people of the world.” On the flip side is the object of Larry’s affection, Starshine Hart, whose physical beauty shines.

Larry has written a novel for and about Starshine, from her perspective, an imagined narrative about the day he will reveal his love for her as well as the existence of his book and—with luck—the fact that it is to be published. Everything hinges on the contents of the letter from Stroop & Stone, Publishers, which Larry picks up in the book’s opening pages and tucks away to open later. At first, the structure of Appel’s (The Man Who Wouldn’t Stand Up, 2012, etc.) novel—the purportedly realtime adventures of Larry interwoven with chapters from Larry’s book—seems a familiar approach in emulation of John Irving (The World According to Garp, 1978), Kurt Vonnegut (Mother Night, 1961, Slaughterhouse-Five, 1969, etc.) or Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin, 2000). What’s different here, though, is that the “real world” action and the fictional events of Larry’s novel are taking place on the same day and that all of the events and musings from each narrative thread will somehow have to come together at day’s end, in a real-world conclusion, when Larry and Starshine have their date. To read the book—to separate out the “fact” of Larry’s story from the “fiction” of the book about Starshine and to realize that all we learn of Starshine is filtered through Larry’s romantic and novelistic ambitions—is to undergo an exercise in what Appel describes, in the question-and-answer section at the end of the book, as postmodern romance: “hyper-aware, ambivalent, fragmented.” Interwoven plot points—things Larry couldn’t possibly have known about in order to have written about them in advance—further stress the fact that readers’ understanding of time, cause and effect is fragmented and partial at best. Still, Appel’s clever, evocative prose deftly navigates the story’s witty dialogue, high drama and only occasionally overblown imagery.

An inventive exploration of the place where love, chance, expectations and ambitions intersect in the city that never sleeps.

THE BLACK PHOENIX

Kemp, Allan CreateSpace (316 pp.) $11.60 paper $4.99 e-book Oct. 17, 2013 978-1-4929-9667-5

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“Debut author Arden offers readers a full plate of Southern gothic atmospherics and sparkling teen romance.” from the casquette girls

OVERDOSE

leads to an even more surreal event, in which a convent’s shuttered window explodes, showering Adele with debris. After a large metal stake rolls near her and she grabs it, a supernatural talent begins to awaken within her. Later, she reconnects with friends and meets newcomers Gabe and Niccolò Medici, who search New Orleans for missing relatives. At home, she uses her strange new control over metal to discover the hidden diary of Adeline Saint-Germaine, her 18th-century ancestor. The diary speaks of European girls traveling to America with royal dowries in wooden boxes; the girls also used witchcraft to keep vampires at bay. Gradually, Adele sees connections among New Orleans’ high murder rate, her uncanny abilities and Saint-Germaine’s tale. Debut author Arden offers readers a full plate of Southern gothic atmospherics and sparkling teen romance in a patiently crafted tale that will best reward careful readers. Adele is a strong, sensible protagonist who’s just vulnerable enough: “His hand swept my neck as he delicately picked up the thin silver chain, following the tightly woven links all the way down to the two charms dangling at my waist.” Her winning characterization is topped off with subtly drawn superpowers: “Careful not to let them clink on the glass [of the jar] and bring attention to what I was doing, I smiled as a dime did a swan-dive to join the pirouetting nickels.” Best of all, Arden’s insights regarding her fragile city color the narrative with tragic realism: “Everything we drove past—an abandoned supermarket, a dilapidated bank, a gym, a hamburger chain, a laundry mat, a pizza joint, a housing project—everything had that same distinct mark of the Storm left on it: the water line.”

Satisfying teen entertainment but also a cathartic, uncompromising tribute to New Orleans.

Apseloff, Glen Self (295 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Dec. 2, 2013 In Apseloff ’s (Dying to Remember, 2013) latest medical thriller, a clinical drug trial turns deadly and a doctor goes on the run to track down her would-be killer.

Dr. Emily Morrison is a pharmacologist in charge of testing a controversial new contraceptive drug. But just before the clinical trial of BN-882, a letter bomb sent to Emily’s office explodes, severely injuring Janice, her office manager. While Emily wants to stay at Janice’s side in the hospital, she has to deal with her soon-to-be-ex husband, fight with the dean, who wants to relocate the clinical research program, and keep the drug trials running smoothly. When the first subject in the BN-882 test dies soon after the trial begins, Emily is concerned about the safety of the drug, but, working with pathologist Neville Phillips, she discovers that the woman was killed by a toxic chemical used for lab work. Emily also learns that someone has attempted to poison her with the same chemical, and then an assassin turns up, with Emily clearly his target. With help from Neville, who believes her even though the police are suspicious, Emily goes on the run from her assassin and develops a plan to trap him and discover who’s behind the plot against her. Apseloff ’s own experience as a doctor is evident in the meticulously described lab setting, which brings readers into the story without getting stuck in overwhelming detail. The resolution is satisfying, with various subplots tying into the primary narrative, and the plausible motive and plenty of hints and red herrings dropped throughout will keep readers guessing. A number of minor characters are introduced for the sole purpose of being killed within a few pages, but the main characters are more engaging and well-developed.

An intriguing thriller set against a backdrop of clinical drug tests and medical research.

GOD ON TRIAL A Short Fiction

Bebawi, Sabri CreateSpace (212 pp.) $9.95 paper | $0.99 e-book | Nov. 8, 2013 978-1-4912-1203-5

THE CASQUETTE GIRLS

Distressed by the state of the world, a man decides to prosecute God. The unnamed main character in Bebawi’s (A Dream Is Just That, 2011) novel vividly recalls suffering from a severe fever during his otherwise pleasant childhood in “the exotic, confused, and utterly blurred world of Egypt.” He also remembers how, decades later, as a California-based English teacher on vacation in Paris, he experienced an inexplicable seizure in his leg that ended as quickly as it began. The seizures continued with increasing frequency, frustrating the man and worsening his lifelong insomnia to the point where he feared he’d start hallucinating (other people count sheep when trying to sleep, Bebawi writes, but his protagonist “counts the number of wars that have taken place before and after his birth”). While watching and reading news of a world seemingly falling apart— among many topical issues, the exile of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden gets a good deal of attention—and in his

Arden, Alys fortheARTofit Publishing (428 pp.) $24.99 | $14.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Oct. 31, 2013 978-0-9897577-0-6 Set in a storm-ravaged New Orleans, this evocative paranormal romance pits teen heroine Adele against suave ghouls.

Back from Paris and home in New Orleans, high school junior Adele is glad to be away from her coldly distant mother. The city she knew, however, has been destroyed by a superstorm. Adele and her father must adjust to a water-damaged—and frequently nightmarish—reality. Exploring their house, she’s attacked and severely scratched by a crow. Then one night, near her indefinitely closed school, she finds a corpse. This chilling episode 132

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nervous, hyperstressed, “semi dream state, he feels the need to impeach God.” Specifically, he’ll try God in absentia before the Human Rights Council for crimes against humanity. He cites the Torah and the Old Testament as being “the original texts of bloodbath”—i.e., retribution and violence toward others—and moves on to the Quran, in which he finds God clearly inciting acts of terrorism. As the man’s obsession picks up momentum, his wife, friends and colleagues understandably become worried for his sanity. His project grows increasingly elaborate as he tallies up the “atrocities against humanity” that this unseen entity has committed, ranging from wars to plagues and famines, and he finds little evidence that these offenses have decreased in number even in the allegedly more peaceful New Testament. “God’s nature,” he concludes, “always has been vindictive, abusive, and violent.”

Through mysteries and well-laid legal wrangles, the novel accelerates toward a fascinating, surprisingly spiritual climax. There’s a great deal of food for thought here, for believers and nonbelievers alike, and it’s all presented in a fluid, gripping narrative.

A man’s arraignment of God for crimes against humanity becomes a passionate investigation of faith.

take long for the NHL to come calling. However, the 20-year-old quickly realized that the dream of playing for his favorite NHL team was a lot different than reality. Paradoxically, at the height of his professional career, young Boucha found himself lonely and depressed, with his marriage to his childhood sweetheart sinking fast. Meanwhile, the NHL of the 1970s that Boucha—the Detroit Red Wings’ Rookie of the Year for the 1972-73 season—describes was a rough-and-tumble, egocentric assemblage of personalities, where individual stats trumped team victories and helmets only impeded the flow of impressive manes.

A compelling sports memoir from an intriguing athlete with a lot on his mind and even more in his heart.

THE HOUR OF PARADE Bray, Alan CreateSpace (312 pp.) $15.00 paper | $10.99 e-book Nov. 15, 2013 978-1-4904-6322-3

In Bray’s debut novel, two soldiers from opposing armies in the Napoleonic wars forge a friendship haunted by secrets and complicated by their mistresses.

Following Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz in 1805, the Continent was temporarily at peace. During this lull, Russian hussar Alexi Ruzhensky is living in Munich with his lover, Marianne; however, his seeming leisure conceals a deadly purpose: He’s been tasked by his father to seek revenge for the death of his younger brother, killed in battle by French officer Louis Valsin. But when Ruzhensky actually meets Valsin and the Frenchman’s beautiful, intelligent mistress, AnneMarie, he finds himself delaying vengeance for companionship and perhaps even love. In both style and content, Bray’s novel strongly echoes European novels of centuries past; Ruzhensky is obsessed with the title character of Rousseau’s 1761 epistolary novel, Julie, and this book provides epigraphs for every chapter, while Bray’s dynamic battle scenes owe a debt to Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Similarly, Bray’s prose, packed with simile and rich description, has a consciously old-fashioned feel to it: “The flower seller’s stand overflowed with delicate blooms—big carmine and yellow roses packed in tight rows, the symmetric layers of velvet petals presenting themselves like vain, human faces, aware of being admired.” The style is a wise choice since the novel almost feels as if it were written at the same time as the events it chronicles, helping to immerse readers in Bray’s story. He also succeeds in creating four fleshed-out central characters, especially the women, who could easily have become mere pawns to be moved around by the male-dominated society of the time. But while Marianne and Anne-Marie are both financially dependent on their lovers, they have histories and desires of their own, bringing them into conflict with the choices made for them, a plight paralleled by Ruzhensky’s obedience to his father and Valsin’s military ambition.

Well-researched and well-crafted, like a forgotten classic found on a dusty shelf alongside Stendhal and Hugo.

Henry Boucha, Ojibwa Native American Olympian Boucha Sr., Henry Charles Henry Boucha, Ojibwa, Native American Olympian (482 pp.) $19.95 paper | $9.99 e-book Nov. 3, 2013 978-0-615-71744-9

The favorite son of Warroad, Minn., an NHL Hall of Famer, provides a thoroughly warm and engaging account of what it was like reaching for the highest echelons of professional hockey and what he found once he arrived.

Long before an opposing player from the Boston Bruins effectively ended his NHL career with a stick to the eye in 1975, Henry Boucha dedicated his life to the coldest game on Earth.

This is Boucha’s personal, affecting story of stuffing oversized ice skates with newspaper and using homemade hockey sticks to bat around crushed soda cans until his young ears literally almost fell off from frostbite. “I can close my eyes and see it as if it was yesterday—a bright, crisp, clear night with a million stars shining down on the Warroad River,” he recalls, “and the streetlights glistening on the ice as you glided around, and the sounds of your steel blades on the ice as you skated.” The purity of such transcendental moments is rendered all the more sublime when juxtaposed with the ugly racism and personal tragedies that also profoundly impacted Boucha, a Native American. Despite those magical times on the ice, he was often maligned, marginalized and made to feel inferior because of his proud heritage. A tragic series of devastating house fires also claimed the lives of some of the dearest people in the young hockey star’s life. Nevertheless, he persevered, steadily rising through the ranks of amateur hockey, absorbing the wonder of it all as he went on to win a spot on the 1972 Silver Medal U.S. Olympic hockey team. After that, it didn’t |

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Writers in Wonderland Keeping Your Words Legal

GLYPHIC

Chiaia, Ralph-Michael Coatlism Press (118 pp.) $9.99 paper | Nov. 7, 2013 978-0-9802073-5-4

Camp, Kathryn Page KP PK Publishing (342 pp.) $15.95 paper | $5.99 e-book Apr. 29, 2013 978-0-9892504-1-2

A psychedelic, verse picaresque in the vein of Carlos Castañeda.

Chiaia’s (Ten Poems and Ampersands, 2011) novella in verse commences in a fever state, his narrator racked by dengue fever—a fitting start for poetry that may best be described as feverish. Readers might suspect that Chiaia’s economy of language has less to do with literary austerity than with the need to write quickly and sparely to keep up with an ambitious, demanding muse. In vigorous and angular verse, Chiaia unspools the journey of his weakened narrator, suspended between two destinies as he makes his way from life with his fiancee in Mexico to a search for a shaman-teacher amid the Mayan pyramids of Guatemala. Neither path is without complications—“she just called / mind spinning with / pause on the phone / & / regret // I’m not coming back, I told her. / She told me she was late”—and Chiaia animates the narrator’s disquiet with powerfully visceral vignettes: The bus “stops in a small town called Zunil / I get off. The bus shakes to a stop / like a wet dog / I don’t stray too far. / I am scared. / I have that feeling like an uncooked potato / in the gut.” Driven by a linguistic curiosity awakened in a chance moment during his adolescence, the narrator has quit his job and leaves behind his pregnant fiancee in hopes of becoming a Mayan daykeeper, an “aj q’ij / devoter of self / to time / day / & sun.” Doing so requires a somewhat indulgent psychedelic peyote and ayahuasca trip as well as a sobering confrontation with the late 20th-century massacre of the Mayans. The cycle of illness comes round—“My hands are / bound. My elbows are sore. Like / dengue all over again”—but the narrator, now more enlightened, understands that “[w]hen the past goes wrong / without hope / the future needs something, it / will come back now until // the ticks will get tocked / the spins will get spun / the tocks will get ticked.”

An experience both entrancing and frustrating, Chiaia’s verse novella is both liberating and, at times, oppressively patriarchal.

His verse is lightning fast, clear and unencumbered, but the story can be murky and tangled, not sure if it wants to be an encomium for an ancient people, a philosophical treatise on the nature of time, an exposé of the Guatemalan genocide, or just a swaggering, self-absorbed adventure.

A wild trip that gets lost—but it wants to.

A guide to the rights and responsibilities of writers, whether they are not yet published, self-published or traditionally published.

In this handbook for writers, Camp (In God We Trust, 2006) draws on her legal background and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to cover a broad range of issues of which every writer subject to U.S. law should be aware. After a foreword and introduction, the book begins with an explanation of the copyright system: what can be copyrighted, how to obtain a copyright and what protections the law offers copyright holders. Camp cogently explains the difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism, an often confusing topic, with samples of several works involved in recent accusations of plagiarism; she cites case law in nontechnical language to demonstrate the definition of fair use that courts have come to accept.

The book leads readers through the elements of a publishing contract and identifies areas of frequent dispute—e.g., the definition of an acceptable manuscript. While copyright and contracts make up the bulk of the book, other sections address the financial aspects of a writing career, the benefits and drawbacks of incorporation, and defamation. Camp relies on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for the book’s structure, with quotations from Carroll’s work serving as thematic epigrams for each chapter; the living chess game, for instance, sets the stage for the discussion of contracts. Adding a touch of whimsy to what could be a dry subject, the quotations and accompanying blackand-white illustrations by Tenniel (which were used in the original editions of Carroll’s works) also serve as an object lesson, as Camp explains that they are in the public domain and can thus be used freely thanks to the expiration of their copyrights.

With its clear explanations of complex topics supported by easy-to-follow actual and hypothetical examples, this book has the potential to be a useful reference tool for writers who want to understand both their own rights and their responsibilities to other content creators.

A comprehensive, usable explanation of contracts, copyright and other key legal concepts that all writers need to understand.

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Driving to Perfection Achieving Business Excellence by Creating a Vibrant Culture

WRITTEN IN RUBERAH Age of Jeweled Intelligence Greenaway, P. Christina Self (376 pp.) $14.95 paper

Fielkow, Brian L. Two Harbors Press (252 pp.) $26.95 | $9.99 e-book | Jan. 7, 2014 978-1-62652-507-8

The conflicts of an ancient mystical kingdom erupt in the modern world.

At the beginning of the latest novel from Greenaway (Dream Chaser, 2009), cataclysm is engulfing the ancient magic city of Az’Rayelle in the kingdom of Ruberah, but its headstrong princess, High Priestess Li’ram, can think only of her love for Da’krah, prince of the Emerald Kingdom—and of the power they both sought to exercise over the magic forces that guard their realm against the Dark Master, ruler of the underworld. Li’ram hates herself for her irresponsibility and exacts a promise from the sacred River Spirit that one day, far in the future, her soul be given a chance to redeem itself. When the book’s action shifts forward thousands of years, we find another headstrong young woman, 15-year-old Princess Tamara, rebelling against her duty. When she defies her people’s customs in order to befriend two giants, her father sentences her to a most unusual punishment: “You will be a river,” her father says, “A river made of your own tears, and you will fill this divide for all time to be.” But since Greenaway’s narrative tells us the “history of everything that has ever happened on Earth resides in the Cycles of Time,” it’s no surprise that the story jumps forward another few thousand years to the present day, in which young American lovers Mitch Devere and Miriam Lewis are driving to an inn in Cornwall when Miriam has a mystical vision. An ethereal Tamara, who is watching the couple, senses Miriam has the aura of Ruberah. Tamara has sworn not to use her sorcery to directly change the actions of others—their destinies are their own to set—so she can only watch and meddle while Miriam becomes a focal point not only for the resurgent memories of long-lost Ruberah, but also for the reawakening desire of the Dark Master to gain control of Ruberah’s ancient powers and rule the world. Although they are deeply entangled in these ancient dramas, Miriam and Mitch (who’s carrying the spirit of Da’krah, though he doesn’t know it) are also the focus of a sorcery-fueled romantic-triangle plot of their own, which is energetically handled. Greenaway juggles the many strands of her lushly descriptive book with ease, managing to bring all of these characters, from all their separate time periods, together in a rousing climax that invests just as much energy in high fantasy as modern romance, with winning results.

The richly imagined story of a modern woman bearing ancient responsibilities.

Entrepreneur Fielkow urges fellow business leaders to harness the ultimate competitive weapon: company culture.

For Fielkow, building a company culture isn’t a touchy-feely exercise but a “hardcore business proposition.” A lawyer-turned– corporate executive, Fielkow bought the trucking firm Jetco Delivery in 2006 and set out to transform it into a world-class company. In his view, Jetco’s competitive advantage isn’t superior technology or having more trucks on the road. What sets Jetco apart is a culture based on well-defined values, employee empowerment and a commitment to excellence. “An excellent culture occurs when people and process are in harmony with the company’s vision and values,” he writes. Fielkow argues that too many leaders think culture is an undefinable entity or, worse, a waste of time. In fact, he says, culture is a “strategic choice” that yields a measurable return on investment. To make his case, Fielkow shares his successes and failures in establishing Jetco’s culture, cleverly summarized by the mantra “Driving to Perfection.” Written in a succinct, amiable style, the book is a treasure trove of ideas on how to build a culture without spending a lot of money. Far from the superficial notions of culture often found in company brochures, Fielkow advances a sophisticated view of culture that permeates every aspect of business, from employee compensation to mergers and acquisitions. He spotlights a broad range of topics—leadership, communication, hiring, teamwork, accountability, etc.—and challenges many conventional business practices. For example, Jetco chooses to focus on its employees rather than blindly following a “customer-first at any price” policy. Jetco’s culture ensures workers are well-trained and empowered to take care of customers, which keeps them coming back with repeat business. Fielkow makes clear his distaste for lengthy employee handbooks, so he keeps his chapters brief and equipped with easy-to-skim lists. While culture-building may be inexpensive, Fielkow doesn’t promise quick fixes. Developing a vibrant culture demands effort, and once achieved, it must be relentlessly guarded against complacency.

A smart, comprehensive guidebook steeped in the rough-and-tumble realities of business.

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“In poetic fashion, the book highlights the religion of Mother Nature and prods modern-day unbelievers to examine their own creeds.” from silhouettes and seasons

THE BLACK PHOENIX

In searching for her family’s lost history, Kroll becomes particularly interested in her great-uncle Benjamin, whose striking portrait captivates her. He’s her beloved grandmother’s brother, though her family is unaware of his fate. After years of searching, she discovers that he died at Auschwitz in 1943, but the fact of his death doesn’t provide closure; on the contrary, it sparks her curiosity. She becomes determined to uncover as much as she can about Benjamin and his family. Her quest takes her to Paris, where Benjamin was living when he was captured by the Nazis; Poland, where she tours Auschwitz; and Israel, where she’s moved to tears at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial.

Kroll’s prose is eloquent and evocative, and her writing is admirably self-aware. At times, she acknowledges that her family might think she’s obsessed with a ghost, and she wonders if she is, in fact, too rooted in the past. But the goal of her writing is both clear and incredibly important. Benjamin’s life story—his normal prewar life, his family’s separation and his time in a concentration camp—is, like many real-life narratives, a paradox: remarkable and riveting without being terribly original. Yet the point of Kroll’s work isn’t to put forth an untold or unusual story; she tells Benjamin’s tale “to elevate him from a mere number—the number tattooed on his arm in Auschwitz.” In doing so, she realizes that she’s helping, decades later, to “negate the Nazi doctrine of dehumanizing their victims.”

A detailed examination of a Holocaust victim’s life and a considerate, thought-provoking look into why Holocaust narratives are important.

Kemp, Allan CreateSpace (316 pp.) $11.60 paper | $4.99 e-book Oct. 17, 2013 978-1-4929-9667-5

Kemp’s debut fantasy-thriller takes place in a world ruled by supernatural beings threatened by a looming horde of lost souls in the heart of Atlanta.

Seven years after the “supernaturals” took the world from the humans, Mutt, a half-breed—his mother’s a witch, his father’s a werewolf—seems to prefer solitude. But he finds himself party to an imminent war between the surviving humans, many hiding behind the walls of Fort Buckhead, and the vampires, led by the queen, who’s upset that Mutt refused an offer to join her clan. Everyone, however, is menaced by Dead Town, an ever-expanding region of black magic from which most don’t return. The devastated lands—half the human population is gone—feel dystopian, and Kemp meticulously establishes this new world with searing details: a precarious truce between the supernaturals and humans; frequent orgies, for both indulgence and procreation; and complex villainy featuring Mutt’s vamp friend Darryl, who’s seemingly reluctant to partake in violence against humans, and a powerful wizard who holds no allegiances. Mutt may not be the most sympathetic protagonist (he’s isolated himself even from his family), but he’s certainly unique: He’s the only werepanther, at least in this book, and for guidance, he has a rare earth spirit: Ed, a talking cat. Mutt can also communicate with the ghosts that populate Dead Town. His exceptionality is why the vampires want to turn him and why he’s enlisted by the queen to find a way through Fort Buckhead’s hefty defenses and trace the wizard or witch who’s likely responsible for creating Dead Town. Kemp fills his book with intense scenes, like the gripping battle with Mutt and his pseudogirlfriend Celeste, and plenty of mystery, including the ominous and recurring phrase “The Black Phoenix shall rise again.” There’s humor too; it’s easy to forget that Ed’s a cat, until he laps up his vodka. Some questions in the story are left unanswered, though a sequel should resolve those issues.

An exquisitely detailed, fantastic realm of wizards, witches, vampires and werecreatures that’s begging for a series.

Silhouettes and Seasons Essays and Images of a Personal Nature Larizzio, John C. Dog Ear (188 pp.) $14.95 paper | Oct. 15, 2013 978-1-4575-2270-3

Poetic personal essays and reflections on life, featuring nature as a teacher, theme and metaphor.

LaRizzio (Hey Milkman!, 2011) presents his personal observations on many of life’s key moments, using the idea of nature as a recurring theme. With the studied eye of a landscape painter, he offers deeply personal takes on the seasons, wildlife, modern-day living, sunrise and sunset, the sounds of nature, the art of writing, a place called Mt. Laurel, and the rain, snow and wind, among many other topics. He divides the work into several chapters by year of composition, beginning in 1994 and continuing through 2000, and further organizes the pieces by season and month. He includes black-and-white photographs throughout, giving a sense of both a journey and a journal.

LaRizzio assumes the voices of such great transcendentalist writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and he proves to be an able naturalist and philosopher himself: “We are living life at an isolating distance,” he writes, contrasting the beauty of nature with the artificial lives of the modern era. Many first-person observations resonate: “I step outside

A STONE FOR BENJAMIN Kroll, Fiona Gold Iguana Books (98 pp.) $11.99 paper | $3.99 e-book Oct. 24, 2013 978-1-77180-007-5

Kroll comes from a close-knit Jewish family in postwar London, and in her debut memoir, she traces her ancestors’ migration from Eastern to Western Europe before World War II. 136

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into the brittleness of the evening air and absolve myself from the oppressive claim of the office. The darkness is pervasive, pouring its heavy chill into the empty spaces that dominate the winter-laden land”; “I’ve come to know the snow as crystallized silence.” Like a book of watercolor sketches, each essay displays LaRizzio’s maturing skills as a descriptive narrator. The occasional overuse of alliteration (“Man surrenders himself to prayer, practice, and preach; to sermon, solemnity, and psalm”) is easily forgiven as the author migrates to rhymed poetry and re-emphasizes his central theme: “I surrender myself to the ethereal breeze, the dawn’s subtle tease that romances the flowers and dances the leaves. I celebrate the liturgy of the morning damp.” In poetic fashion, the book highlights the religion of Mother Nature and prods modern-day unbelievers to examine their own creeds.

A finely introspective work for lovers of nature and Thoreau.

will give them a good taste of Shakespeare’s world and the desire to explore it more fully when they are older.

One of the few books about Shakespeare that children and adults can equally enjoy sharing.

BEYOND THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET Lieberman, Layne WorldRD LLC. (280 pp.) $29.95 paper | Dec. 9, 2013 978-0-9891812-1-1

Cheese, chocolate and wine do have a place in a healthy lifestyle—that’s what this debut author and registered dietitian says we can learn from Europe’s longest-lived populations.

For decades, Americans looked to the traditional diets of people living around the Mediterranean as a model for healthy living—maybe not following that model but definitely chattering about it in books and media coverage. Lieberman, who spent two years living in Geneva, writes that there are plenty of lessons to be learned from other countries in Europe. Switzerland, Italy and France have some of the longest average life spans in the world, as well as low rates of obesity, heart disease and other markers of ill health. The book examines each country one by one and lays out the government’s official dietary recommendations, akin to the U.S. food pyramid, along with detailed descriptions of a typical day in the eating life of its citizens. Much of Lieberman’s background and advice will be familiar to anyone paying attention to the news: Americans are fat and getting fatter; we’re among the fattest people in the world; we eat a diet far too high in processed foods, sugar and fat; we snack too much and generally consume far too many calories. But Lieberman’s descriptions of the daily eating habits of her chosen European countries are downright inspiring: Lives marked by pleasurable outdoor exercise; a focus on local, organic foods so satisfying that they discourage overindulgence; regular leisurely sit-down meals that trump Americans’ predilection for on-the-go snacking; and, of course, daily indulgences in delicate portions (a square of good dark chocolate, a scoop of gelato, a single biscotto alongside a cup of coffee). It all sounds too romantic to be true, but Lieberman has lived it and brings an infectious enthusiasm to her writing.

She concludes each chapter with a list of actionable tips for a European makeover of stateside eating habits and concludes the book with 70 pages of simple recipes, heavy on the whole grains, veggies and lean meats.

While not a game-changer, this book repackages familiar diet advice in a friendly, inspiring and practical format.

THE DOLLIES Scenes from Shakespeare Leech, Kitty The Home Press (32 pp.) $24.95 paper | Nov. 1, 2013 978-0-9849133-7-4

Costume designer Leech (The Dollies Put On a Play, 2009, etc.) has created engaging tableaux of scenes from a variety of Shakespeare plays for the picture-book crowd.

Each spread features a photograph of the actors—18-inch dolls—in richly detailed dress against luscious backgrounds on the right, with a quote from a play on the left. The first spread portraying Romeo and Juliet on the balcony will surely draw the youngest readers into the beautiful world Leech and her talented team have created. The charming photo shows a caped Romeo climbing toward Juliet, in period dress and snood, whose balcony appears to be made from an oversize flowerpot with real-looking climbing ivy; dramatic clouds light the night sky in the background. The text reads simply: “O Romeo, Romeo!

Wherefore art thou Romeo?” with speaker, play, act and scene noted. Since the text is entirely penned by Shakespeare, the author’s contribution is in the selection. Tantrum-prone youngsters are likely to relate to Katharina’s speech from The Taming of the Shrew: “Nay then, do what thou canst. I will not go today; no, nor tomorrow, not ’til I please myself.” However, Falstaff ’s lines from Merry Wives of Windsor may first alarm and then confuse young readers: “They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall die. I’ll wink and couch; no man their works must eye!”

The spread showing young Hamlet holding poor Yorick’s skull, seemingly freshly dug from a woodland grave, may stir up some questions. Young readers will also be fascinated by the three witches from Macbeth and delight in the musicians from Twelfth Night and Titania and Bottom’s flowery bower from Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the scene showing Prospero engaged in secret studies, the detail in his scarf, robe and scepter is remarkable.

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Interviews & Profiles

Catherine Ryan Hyde

The best-selling writer finds new life in a hybrid publishing path

By Sarah Rettger the creation of the Pay It Forward Foundation, Hyde continued to publish but encountered a problem familiar to successful writers: Sales of her subsequent books, while “not abysmal,” did not meet publishers’ expectations. “The more seasoned authors, they just go straight to sales figures,” she says, acknowledging that “it’s a high-end problem” to worry about the high bar set by Pay It Forward.

But it’s nonetheless a problem that’s had a substantial impact on her career. Doubleday “put a lot into Love in the Present Tense,” Hyde says about her 2006 novel, but U.S. sales were disappointing. When the U.K. edition was published by Transworld, though, it was a Richard & Judy Book Club selection, an endorsement comparable to Oprah’s Book Club. “All at one time, I got dropped by a U.S. publisher, and everything just exploded in the U.K.” Hyde found herself sending American readers overseas in search of her latest books.

The evidence that American readers were still interested in her work, even if publishers were less enthusiastic, drove Hyde to work with her agent, Laura Rennert of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, to publish her own books in the United States. She self-published When I Found You in 2011, two years after Transworld published the U.K. edition. “Indie [publishing] turned out to be just an amazing way” to sustain a writing career, says Hyde, who has been a full-time writer since 1998.

One of the strengths of indie publishing, Hyde says, is “the fact that you are able to control your own price point.” An author can benefit even when the price is lowered to zero: When Hyde briefly offered When I Found You for free in early 2012, she saw 81,000 downloads of her book over five days, which sent her to the top of Amazon’s popularity rankings.

When publisher after publisher told author Catherine Ryan Hyde that her new novels just weren’t right for American readers, she almost took them at their word. “When a couple of editors said this was a little slow, a little subtle, a little deliberate for U.S. readers, I believed them,” she says. Transworld published her novel When I Found You in the United Kingdom in 2009, but no one bought the book’s U.S. rights.

Hyde landed on the best-seller lists in 1999 with her novel from Pocket Books, Pay It Forward, which became the hit movie the following year starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, which in turn created the pop-culture pay-it-forward phenomenon. After the wide-ranging success of the book, which inspired 138

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(“This was back when Amazon algorithms were such that a free download counted the same as a sale,” she explains, noting that free downloads are now counted differently.)

Offering copies of her novel for free not only sent Hyde to the top of the ranking (though she ceded the top position on Amazon’s chart after the free promotion ended, her books continue to be highly ranked), but it also gave her a new angle for reaching out to potential readers. Letting people know that they could download a book for free or at a discount is “a very different experience from saying ‘buy my book,’ ” she points out. “Everybody likes a bargain.”

Readers who bought her free and discounted books returned to buy other titles, and since her marginal costs are limited, “I don’t lose money when I discount promotionally,” Hyde says, adding that since she began self-publishing, she has not gone longer than two months without offering promotional prices for some of her titles.

Hyde’s promotional success brought her to the attention of Amazon Publishing, which contacted her soon after. Amazon reissued When I Found You under its own imprint in 2013 and is scheduled to publish two new books from Hyde this year. “They very much know what they’re doing,” Hyde says, and she has nothing but praise for her relationship with Amazon.

While she works with Amazon Publishing on some of her titles, Hyde has also continued to bring out her works through Andrea Brown, using CreateSpace to produce paperback editions of some titles while offering others as digital exclusives. Some of her titles are U.S. releases of books published traditionally in the U.K., while others are new digital editions of out-of-print books whose rights have reverted to Hyde. (Hyde chose to release her previously published books only as e-books since used copies of the previous editions are easily available.) “The concept of out-of-print being out-of-print forever,” Hyde says, is one of the most exciting aspects of the blend of traditional and indie publishing due to the fact that an enterprising writer can reissue past titles. “It really changes the game.”

As the author of several collections of short stories, Hyde also sees an opportunity for bringing her less commercial work to readers’ attention. “Even if I did have a traditional publisher, they were not par-

ticularly interested in my story collections,” she says, but she is happy with the results of her self-published collections. “They don’t sell the way my novels do, but they do sell,” she says. “At this point, I’m as hybrid as you get.”

In addition to her planned Amazon Publishing releases, Hyde, who is also an amateur photographer, is working on a collection of 365 photographs on the theme of gratitude. The collection will be published at some point in the near future, but “I’ve learned not to announce dates in advance,” Hyde says. Although she found few surprises when she began self-publishing, she did find that “the process takes longer than you think it will” and is appropriately cautious in promoting her work before its release.

Sarah Rettger is a writer and bookseller in Massachusetts.

When I Found You Hyde, Catherine Ryan Amazon Publishing (400 pp.) $14.95 | Apr. 23, 2013 978-1-611-09979-9

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“Martini...offers many lively anecdotes from newspaper accounts, court documents and other sources to bring this past wonder to life.” from sutro’s glass palace

Sutro’s Glass Palace The Story of Sutro Baths

ending successfully surprising or unexpectedly poignant. Several common themes appear—death, government and authority, smoking—giving the collection a cohesive, complete feel.

In “The Black Tornado,” a man’s deceased father visits him in the form of a tornado; the dead convene at a bowling alley for a meet and greet in “Johnny Heart Attack”; and “Ghostlike” follows a spirit who leaves notes in a shopping mall. Elsewhere in the collection, an authoritarian regime takes over a retirement community and builds a wall. In “Government Psychic,” a government-hired psychic works at the DMV, and “Bullets Have No Effect” features a criminal who receives a lethal injection but just won’t die. The straightforward, short sentences can grow tiresomely simple, as in “To Tell About It,” when a reporter who interviews people about near-death experiences explains his job saying, “I put out ads. I talk to people. I talk to people who know people. I meet for coffee, for dinner, over beers. I bring my voice recorder. I ask people how they almost died, and they tell me,” but the author succeeds at telling tales that pack either a salient message or uproarious punch line (sometimes both). Matthews’ collection is ideal for those who are able to willingly suspend disbelief and enter a world that is quirky, ugly and uproariously entertaining. It’s also a good choice for those who like their musings on mortality served with black humor and irony.

An eccentric collection of fantastical, funny and puzzling tales.

Martini, John A. Hole in the Head Press (140 pp.) $22.95 paper | Jan. 31, 2014 978-0-9761494-6-0

Martini relates the history of a now-defunct California attraction in this lavishly illustrated volume.

At the western edge of San Francisco, visitors will find a curious set of ruins at Ocean Beach which, from above, look something like a flooded ice-cube tray carved into the hillside. From 1896 to 1966, the Sutro Baths were an important city landmark: a lavish complex of pools, bleachers, changing rooms, restaurants, exhibits and displays. It was built of glass, iron, wood, and reinforced concrete, and its water was supplied directly by the ocean. Older city residents, like the author, will remember ice skating “in the cavernous former bathhouse” and peering through “gaps in the painted-over windows into the closed section of the building, where I could see a labyrinth of half-drained swimming tanks and endless bleacher seats marching toward the ceiling.” This fine book tells the story of how Adolph Sutro, a German-born businessman and politician, conceived and built the Baths, their eventual decline (mostly due to the high cost of maintenance) and plans for their future. Sutro, who served as mayor of San Francisco for a short time, did nothing by halves; he told a reporter in 1894 that a “small place would not satisfy me. I must have it large, pretentious, in keeping with the Heights and the great ocean itself.” In addition to swimming, the complex offered contests, “band concerts, trick diving exhibitions, acrobatic acts, May Day celebrations, and animal acts.”

Martini tells this story clearly and well, providing not just period photographs, but also new architectural illustrations which greatly illuminate the Baths’ complicated structure. He also provides contemporary photos of the now-skeletal ruins alongside artist’s renderings of the complex when it was first built, which may help readers relate the past to the present day. Martini also offers many lively anecdotes from newspaper accounts, court documents and other sources to bring this past wonder to life.

A beautiful resource about a mysterious San Francisco landmark.

THE EXECUTION CHANNEL A Political Fable

McCord, Michael CreateSpace (218 pp.) $14.99 paper | $2.99 e-book | Jul. 13, 2013 978-1-4839-8335-6 In a very recognizable dystopian nearfuture, a man confronts an unthinkable catastrophe.

In McCord’s debut novel, the current events of the morning newspaper have been morphed and extended into a future that seems all too likely: devastation wrought on the American coastal range by massive hurricanes, violently divisive politicians, devastating new plagues and widening social stratification. McCord’s satire teeters hilariously on the border of the absurd, characterized in the person of Texas governor Lawrence Bowie (anointed by the Real American Party), an outsized parody of any number of recent American politicians. “Do facts matter?” he asks at one point. “Of course they don’t, especially when they contain seeds of moocher political agendas. Facts are for girly-men and do-gooders who care about such trivial distinctions.” The archnemesis of Bowie and the RAP is incumbent president Burt Octavian, an “illegitimate president who is a Black Muslim plant that suckled at the breasts of terrorists and has resurrected the Black Panther Party to kill law-abiding white patriots.” The book’s main character, television producer James Bravtart, is entangled in the escalating violence of this

This Is Where It Gets Interesting

Matthews, John H. Six Slug Books (202 pp.) $12.00 paper | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-615-64475-2 Matthews’ marvelously entertaining debut short story collection is equal parts hysterically zany and forebodingly dark.

Matthews presents the best of his short-form work in a debut collection that is as funny and witty as it is scary and menacing. Nearly all of the stories have a fantastical bent, and each contains an 140

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EMPIRE’S PASSING Imperium Succession Saga #1

warped future in which political parties elevate Atlas Shrugged to a religion and TV networks reap riotous ratings with shows like Foreclosure Justice, The Real Homeless of Malibu Beach, and the show of the title, The Execution Channel, on which public executions are broadcast 24 hours a day. The book’s headlong farce bogs down in its third act when the Rand-ian musings tend to get too much stage time, but even this doesn’t much blunt the fierce intelligence behind the story. And The Execution Channel’s meteoric success (and the success of sister programs like Final Justice Live) brings the whole narrative back into focus and plays in the background of the book’s many thriller-style plotlines.

And rollicking through the whole thing is Gov. Bowie, making outrageous quips to the press and constantly invoking the wisdom “Mama Bowie” handed down to him as a boy.

A pointed and very funny mockery of our current cynical age.

Morris, Joseph Self (372 pp.) $15.99 paper | $3.99 e-book | Jul. 27, 2013 978-0-9887759-0-9 When Earth is destroyed, a young emperor must question what it means to be human as he fights to save the interplanetary community.

In the year 2937, there has been peace for 600 years, but now the Goth Alliance is waging full-on interstellar war. When an attack by the Goths destroys Earth, capital of the star-spanning Imperium empire, Duke Michael Landsman of New Meyer loses his father and succeeds him as emperor. While the Imperium possesses the force and weapons technology to defend themselves against conventional attacks, the Goths have a secret weapon. The Goth Alliance leader, the High Priestess of the Goddess Nearyahn, threatens to break through Imperial defenses from within their own minds: She exerts parasitic control over humanoid thoughts and feelings by using their sexual appetites to insert splinters into their brains. Meanwhile, the Passimians, a race several billions of years old that exists outside of traditional timelines, have identified humans as a Chosen race with the potential to join them outside of time; their assistance just might be the secret weapon Duke Michael needs to save his people—but it won’t come without making some difficult choices. In his debut novel, the first in the Imperium Succession Saga, Morris sets the tone when Earth is destroyed in the first chapter. Yet while the well-developed characters and fast-paced narrative quickly draw readers in, the sheer quantity of characters and the story’s complexity are likely to confuse and leave some readers behind. The novel is built on the solid foundation of current scientific technologies and innovations, and the well-researched parallels to Earth’s history bring a rich literary depth that distinguishes this novel from some of the pulpy space sagas out there. Military and political geeks will enjoy the depth in which the Imperial governmental structure is described as well.

A richly woven space saga that will leave sci-fi fans anxious for the next installment.

A BUSTLE IN THE HEDGEROW Miller, Ben Krac Publishing (357 pp.) $2.99 e-book | Sep. 25, 2013

In Miller’s debut, an FBI agent looking to leave the bureau for a career in politics gets pulled back in when a killer uses cryptic messages to toy with investigators.

“This one feels bad,” Special Agent Jackson Byrne says when two similar murders suggest that a possible serial killer is targeting young girls and leaving notes for authorities to find. A friend of Jack’s late father is doing a good job of convincing the agent to make a run for a U.S. Senate seat. But his recent fame, sparked by solving a high-profile kidnapping-murder and writing a book about it, may postpone Jack’s political aspirations—especially since the killer’s plan seems contingent upon Jack’s working the case. This nail-biter teems with suspense and competently manages two murder mysteries in one: the FBI’s current case and the much-publicized investigation from the previous year. The latter, its particulars only gradually brought to light, unfolds via flashbacks and snippets of Jack’s novel. Even a lengthy chapter, in which Jack criticizes child-protection laws, is perceptive and absorbing, despite the fact that it digresses from the narrative. Miller provides a first-person account of the killer, who’s so scrupulous with his “work” that seemingly trivial behavior, like watching a spider crawl across the ceiling, is profoundly unsettling. Other characters offer ample support, chiefly Special Agent Heath Reilly, a socially awkward fed who desperately wants to be the lead investigator. With regard to the young victims, the novel circumvents potentially unpleasant moments by concentrating on the tension derived from anticipation and uncertainty rather than any visceral imagery.

An unrelenting debut thriller that reads like the work of a pro.

THE NEW ART OF DYING How To Personalize the Most Important Decisions For Yourself and Your Loved Ones Murdock, Diane Burnside The Murdocks, LLC (204 pp.) $14.95 paper | Feb. 9, 2014 978-0-9892003-0-1

This thoughtful guide presents an informed discussion of modern-day issues related to dying.

Sooner or later, there’s death—of friends, family and, ultimately, yourself. Murdock, a health |

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“Perceptive and honest, Newton manages to be profound without being abstruse.” from londinium poeta

policy consultant, deals with this inevitability in a well-balanced book that’s practical without being preachy. She covers the personal side of death, including family background, religious beliefs, values and attitudes, along with the medical care, palliative care and legal choices one needs to make. Her explanations of death-related documents, such as living wills and advance medical directives, are particularly helpful. Equally instructive is a section she entitles “What Are the Problems?” where Murdock addresses both internal and external problems associated with dying—“internal, in which control is often within your reach, and external, where the problem is out of your control and something you have to accept.” While her categorization of the specific internal versus external problems is admittedly subjective, the terrain she covers is essential. For example, Murdock writes about the importance of informed consent, the discrimination same-sex couples may face, the cost of care at the end of life and the potential for family disagreement (“too many stories about dying are a result of longstanding family dissonance, conflict, and dysfunction”). The author lays out each topic clearly, offering an unbiased perspective, writing in an unemotional voice and referencing research where appropriate.

The last section of the book, “Learning from Other People’s Experiences,” is a powerful collection of four stories of dying that demonstrates the end-of-life decisions people and their families must make. In addition to a comprehensive bibliography, Murdock includes a useful selection of resources for “consumer discussion about dying and for advance care planning.”

The author also developed “My Health Care Wishes,” a mobile app that acts as a central repository for advance care planning.

Deftly written, highly informative and contemporary; opens the door to much-needed dialogue around a sensitive subject.

make-believe; it is magical / and comical, silly and daring.” Like Bukowski, whose influence is unmistakable, Newton is most interested in the social divides and tensions that define the city, with a clear sympathy for the ordinary, workaday resident. London is a place where the “Princess waved/smiled/gestured” at a narrator taking a walk and is the place “where cats and / such can look upon a queen,” but it’s also the place where narrators stumble across absurdly petulant and oblivious royal correspondence, where the social pressures weigh so heavily that those who fail are apt to fall “thru the modern world to a stone- / age period in full view of everyone” and where death is “shocking, raw and / untold.” Despite London’s many charms and majesties, Newton resists the allure of topographical verse. London is too perilous: “The taxis— / a heavy black mass running / across my paths, across all / the ways of my days. / Quiet and ugly, ugly and / dangerous; tearing past my / shins as I slip past.” It’s also confusing, as the traveler looking for Talbot Gardens finds when a local points him to Talbot Court, Talbot Road, Talbot Avenue and Talbot Crescent before admitting, “Sorry, can’t help anymore.” At least for those readers confused by all the specific references, Newton provides an arbitrary, but helpful, set of notes.

Perceptive and honest, Newton manages to be profound without being abstruse. Though stylistically unremarkable, this is clear-voiced and self-aware poetry that any city dweller will appreciate.

Jim Morgan and the Pirates of the Black Skull Raney, James Matlack Dreamfarer Press (342 pp.) $12.38 paper | $2.99 e-book Nov. 22, 2013 978-0-9858359-3-4

Londinium Poeta Verses from the Inner City 1980-2000

Young Jim Morgan returns to seek a powerful talisman and retribution against a malevolent pirate in Raney’s (Jim Morgan and the King of Thieves, 2012)

Newton, Stuart emp3books (88 pp.) $11.99 paper | $9.99 e-book Aug. 1, 2009 978-1-907140-04-4

YA adventure sequel.

Jim and his fellow orphan tweens, Lacey and the three Ratt brothers, are elated to finally have a home when Jim’s lost estate, Morgan Manor, is finally returned to him. But when the house is destroyed, Jim wants vengeance against those responsible: Count Cromier and his vicious son, Bartholomew, who’ve also stolen a map that Jim’s father gave him. The map shows the way to the Treasure of the Ocean, a trident that gives its wielder amazing power. The book is a quick-paced pirate tale with elements that may seem derivative to some readers. However, most will enjoy the genre essentials, such as the aforementioned treasure map, mermaids—or, in this case, merpeople—and a kraken attack. The author prudently relegates the more overt pirate traits to the elderly MacGuffy, Jim’s friend who has an eye patch and speaks in pirate-talk (“Then we’ll be seein’ ye in the mornin’ ”). Raney acknowledges but doesn’t patronize younger readers by providing understated explanations of some terminology, such as “crags” and “harpies.”

(The latter are a trio of bird-women who nearly steal the novel with

Short, free verse poems on the psychological and sociological complexities of life in London.

Wendell Berry once suggested, “If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.”

In this tightly focused collection, Newton (Tales out of School, 2009, etc.) seeks to demonstrate the difficulty of knowing either half of that conditional. With a nod to Dickens’ famous opening, Newton launches his tour of self and city with dichotomous uncertainty: “London is old and new, good/bad, / great and small…/ It is rich and poor, work/play, dull and / vivid.”

Later, he suggests that “LA is the city of angels, Paris the city of light; / London is toy town, with puppet rulers/ raggedy / dolls/ tin soldiers / upon painted sets…set in / motion by clockwork 142

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The Smartest Sales Book You’ll Ever Read The Truth About Successful Selling

their comical bickering and horrifying, persistent craving for “man flesh.”) Even some rather heavy-handed symbols are nonetheless entertaining. For example, Jim carries a blackened rose stem, symbolic of his desire for revenge, that enchants and poisons him, and Cornelius, a talking raven, occasionally sits on Jim’s shoulder as the manifestation of his conscience, asking if he’s sure about his next move. The story’s images range from funny (Cornelius bellylaughing with his wings against his stomach) to unsettling (a harpy’s drool collecting on Jim’s cheek). Raney virtually guarantees a third book in this ongoing series with a cliffhanger and, earlier in the book, one character’s ominous farewell.

A YA adventure that will likely charm many readers, regardless of age.

Solin, Daniel R. Silvercloud Publishing, LLC (277 pp.)

Mar. 3, 2014 978-0-9860478-0-0

The latest in lawyer and investment adviser Solin’s (The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read, 2009) Smartest series, this one geared to improving sales.

Solin seems to stretch the definition of sales to its broadest limits by suggesting that lawyers are, in essence, salespeople.

Don’t many lawyers depend on reputation, referrals and success in past cases? This claim aside, and despite the highly readable book’s brassy title, Solin says that a healthy sense of limitations is more likely to bring sales success than unbounded, often unfounded self-confidence. Studies show, he says, that people with slightly lower self-esteem prepare better and are less prone to the perils of overconfidence. He savagely debunks self-help gurus who preach that visualizing success will magically make it happen. That’s hokum, he opines. There’s no substitute for the hard labor needed to get to the top or anywhere near it, and many at the top are only there due to the fact that they worked harder and longer. Solin makes all his points with wonderful clarity and bolsters them with references to studies and reports, ending most chapters with a “What’s the Point?” box that summarizes the preceding material so there can be no doubt about what he’s trying to convey. His holistic approach seems to transcend the mere improvement of sales; since, as studies show, happier people are better salespeople, the author whizzes through what it takes to be a happier, more relaxed and effective human being. Convinced by research he did for the book that a secular form of meditation is relaxing and focusing, he awards the subject an entire chapter. Elsewhere, he emphasizes the crucial importance of empathy and making an emotional connection with customers. In his mind, successful salespeople are never data-dumping pitchmen, but rather question-askers and careful listeners who refrain from interrupting; they couch all they say with extreme sensitivity for what their prospective customers want out of the deal. Practicing empathy, Solin says, not only improves a salesperson’s ability to execute this sales technique, but makes for overall personal happiness.

Good counsel, solid and concise, and not just for selling.

Double Rainbow at Full Moon Surviving the Collapse of Zimbabwe

Sim, B.A.K. Agio Publishing House (284 pp.) $16.95 paper | $5.99 e-book | May 3, 2013 978-1-897435-90-8 In this novel set in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, a Danish former diplomat and her Canadian husband cope with hardships as the country’s economy collapses in the wake of Robert Mugabe’s disastrous land reforms.

As a seasoned diplomat, Bodie has lived all over the world and experienced many cultures. Since the 1990s, she and her husband, Clyde, have been in Africa, mostly in Zimbabwe. Clyde, who runs a plant that produces agricultural carts, is currently recovering from lung cancer. But unfortunately for them, the president of the country, Robert Mugabe, recently embarked on a campaign of discriminatory land reform, which led to international sanctions, resulting in the collapse of the country’s economy. Clyde and Bodie must endure the subsequent hyperinflation, food shortages, power outages and the harassment of whites. Yet through it all, as she goes from place to place searching—sometimes in vain—for the basic necessities, she and her friends and acquaintances meet and talk and share drinks and generally do what they must to maintain some semblance of a normal life. Bodie’s story unfolds as a series of episodes, ranging from the poor treatment her sick, white piano teacher received at the hospital to the kidnapping of her husband. Through it all, Bodie and Clyde look for a way out without completely giving up on the business they’ve worked so hard to build. Told in the first person, Sim’s novel unfolds in crisp, matter-of-fact prose.

She has a keen eye for cultural differences, and she presents life in Zimbabwe in clear detail. Her character sketches bring the people suffering under Mugabe’s rule into sharp focus, the only exception being Clyde, who never seems to come fully to life in the way other characters do. But that’s only a minor quibble in this otherwise excellent and informative book.

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“As the world within a world builds in complexity, readers will wonder if any canvas is large enough for Spilman’s imagination.” from sansablatt head

SANSABLATT HEAD

COMMON CORE A Story of School Terrorism

Spilman, Joan CreateSpace (312 pp.) $11.95 paper | $6.99 e-book Oct. 11, 2013 978-1-4826-6895-7

Spring, Joel Phoenix Books (188 pp.) $9.95 paper | $5.00 e-book Oct. 23, 2013 978-0-615-87354-1

A teen unlocks the secrets of a mysterious wooden head in this whimsical YA fantasy.

At Boyle Middle School, seventhgrader Alec Mulroon lives to annoy his classmates and teachers. Hurling insults and fake vomit, he acts out for the attention he doesn’t get at home. His father is deceased, and his mother travels the world, concerned mainly with her tan. She does mail Alec presents, like bicycles and baseball mitts, that his caretakers, Wallace and Miranda Bairton, would have loved as children. Still, Alec resents his mother’s attempts to buy his affection. Then, incredibly, in the mail he receives a carved wooden head, which soon begins talking to Alec in private, calling itself Sansablatt and telling him fanciful bedtime tales about a place called Quelle. There, wizards known as Skylls fly through the air and summon anything they wish through Calling Doors; there are also Swarthy Giants and a feisty General in Chief named Eugenia McPherson McNutt.

After hearing several tales about the magical realm—and one startling secret about Sansablatt’s origin—Alec is sure he’s destined to visit Quelle. But what awaits the teen if the fabulous stories actually come from his own restless mind? Author Spilman’s playful story will have readers racing for the answer.

And even before the magic begins, fiendishly animated prose casts a spell: “Beneath the [head’s] glare he detected a gleam, beneath the gleam, a twinkle, and finally, finally, beneath that, what could only be described as a wink.” When Spilman fully unleashes her imagination, the result is often splendid chaos: The “belch, released from his stomach where it had been rolling and boiling all morning, now took on a life of its own.” But perhaps this novel’s most miraculous feat is the way it finds tenderness amid the cacophonies of silliness: “Alec already knew that Sansablatt was quarrelsome, impatient, and demanding. He also knew that he couldn’t live without him.” As the world within a world builds in complexity, readers will wonder if any canvas is large enough for Spilman’s imagination.

A masterfully weird adventure, likely to leave fantasy lovers in awe.

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A novel of intrigue centered on standardized school testing.

Spring (American Education, 2013) starts his over-the-top satirical novel with two plot twists to hook readers: First, the U.S. secretary of education keels over dead at his podium while giving a speech to a group of education officials in Dayton, Ohio. Second, an explosion rocks the Booker T. Washington Charter School in Cincinnati, which investigators later trace to a small storage room. The day before, two teachers had been in that room, industriously changing students’ answers on federally mandated Common Core standardized tests.

The teachers commiserated about how traumatic students found the tests—and how poorly the tests’ manufacturer, Brightstone, designed them. During the investigation, the FBI exposes connections among the Cincinnati school system, Brightstone, and Kiwi, a China-based tech company that manufactures computers and tablets loaded with Brightstone testing materials. (There are frequent references to the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, but they’re never presented in an exploitative manner.) Kiwi is also pioneering a series of robot teachers to replace humans; they would “scurry around the room, giving positive reinforcement with silicone kisses and hugs.” As suicides mount at Kiwi’s China production plant, Brightstone executives huddle in their boardroom—their expensively tailored suits serving as shorthand for their general villainy—and gripe about the “crazies and teachers” complaining about Common Core (“You always have crackpots like that whining about something”). The high-spirited, engaging plot eventually branches into governmental conspiracies, financial misdeeds and international skullduggery—mostly involving scheming Chinese businessmen intent on using Kiwi technology and Brightstone greed to make a killing in the impending global robot-teacher market. The real enemy throughout, however, is the Common Core agenda itself—a stance that educators may find drolly entertaining but may somewhat limit the novel’s appeal.

A sharp, tongue-in-cheek adventure set in a world of testing run amok.

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GERONIMO THE FROG

to use the trip as an opportunity to learn more about her. As he wistfully reads through his mother’s old notebook, Jake uncovers clues as to what really happened to her. She was inspecting a recently discovered mural—believed to have been painted by Mary Cassatt—and shortly after she began expressing doubts about the work, she was hit by a drunken driver. Her notes, however, indicate that there may have been something more sinister at work in her death. Jake, Julie, Ben and their new friend, Natalie, set out to learn the truth about Jake’s mother and about the Cassatt mural. During their search, tidbits about the 1893 World’s Fair, Chicago’s architecture and the science behind Jake’s gadgets are woven smoothly into the story. Meanwhile, the kids explore the historic city, get to know residents of a local retirement home, hoodwink the strict dean of their camp, and navigate the ups and downs of teenage life. Jake is a likable and sympathetic hero—intelligent but impulsive, easygoing and funny with his pals but a little nervous with girls.

His friends are well-developed, creating a fun cast of secondary characters as well as a strong support system for Jake. Many scenes are set in famous Chicago landmarks, including a thrilling chase sequence in the Museum of Science and Industry and a suspenseful moment in Macy’s Walnut Room that kicks off the story’s action-packed climax. It’s not necessary to read the first Jake McGreevy book in order to follow this one, but readers who enjoy Jake’s Chicago adventures will likely want to pick up the earlier novel as well.

A rollicking, fun mystery with a young, charismatic hero.

Stein, Matthew Illus. by Long, Taillefer CreateSpace (58 pp.) $15.99 paper | Nov. 22, 2013 978-1-4825-3565-5

Stein’s (When Disaster Strikes, 2011, etc.) debut picture book introduces a daring frog who risks everything to save the swamp he loves.

Geronimo is a bold frog who grew up on stories about the brave Native American warriors of the Big Cypress Swamp in Florida. He’s never allowed himself to be held back by his size; as a young frog, he delighted in leaping out of trees and terrifying his brother and sister while shouting “Geronimo!” in honor of the ancient warrior whose stories inspired him. Even being sent to bed without his horsefly stew never deters him from following his irrepressible dreams. When a gang that has wild parties and leaves their garbage everywhere threatens his swamp, it’s Geronimo who steps up to lead the other animals in a mission to save it. It’s not easy, and the gang captures Geronimo. But his leadership has inspired the team of animals; they find bravery where they had none so they can save their leader. After the courageous rescue, it still takes both ingenuity and the recruitment of outside help for Geronimo and his friends to save the swamp for good. The brilliantly colored illustrations are full of life and energy. Geronimo is a dynamic force, and his energy and appeal seem to leap off the pages. Stein balances several instructive moments for kids. Tiny Geronimo’s ability to save a swamp from a bunch of aggressive, mean humans shows kids that they, with perseverance, can triumph, no matter how daunting the opposition. In addition, the illustration of a heron with plastic around its neck vividly depicts the impact that littering has on the environment—another good lesson for kids. These lessons, however, do not distract from the pure joy of the adventures of Geronimo and his animal friends. The text flows well when read aloud, and it’s just challenging enough to keep the interest of children who have moved beyond very basic picture books.

A thoroughly enjoyable tale of bravery, imagination, friendship and triumph.

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Vogel, Sean MB Publishing, LLC (176 pp.) $9.95 paper | $4.99 e-book Nov. 21, 2013 978-0-9850814-5-4

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Fifteen-year-old Jake McGreevy stumbles into an art-world mystery in Vogel’s (Celtic Run, 2012) middle-grade novel, the second featuring teen gadget buff Jake McGreevy.

Jake and his two best friends, Julie and Ben, take a holiday trip to a performing arts camp in Chicago. Because his art historian mother died 13 years earlier in Chicago, Jake also plans

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The Whiskey Creek Water Company

FRAIDY CATS

Wilson, S.S. Real Deal Productions Incorporated (188 pp.) $9.99 paper | $5.99 e-book Nov. 13, 2013 978-0-9827222-9-9

Walker, Jan Plicata Press (336 pp.) $16.00 paper | Sep. 8, 2013 978-0-9848400-5-2

Walker’s (Romar Jones Takes a Hike, 2012, etc.) Depression-era novel offers a microcosm of small-town 1930s America.

The tale opens in November 1932 as the citizens of Burke Bay, on the banks of Washington state’s Puget Sound, prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving. Seeking work and a chance to cash in on the area’s lucrative distilleries, a dapper Farley Price arrives in his fancy automobile with his timid wife, Eleanor, and their young daughter, Hannah. They’re soon welcomed by the well-respected Helmer and Ebbe Persson, who hire Farley to harvest turkeys. But when Price’s violent drunkenness and underhanded business plans threaten the community’s stability, Burke Bay residents rally to protect Eleanor and Hannah. Several subplots add dimension to the main story, including schoolteacher Maeva Swanson’s rocky relationship with longtime beau Axel Jenson as she bucks tradition and asserts her independence. Thirdgeneration distiller Orval Blevins, in particular, is a truly memorable character; Walker deftly reveals his story as Blevins struggles to balance his desire to continue his family’s traditional livelihood with his wife’s demands that he adjust to the post-Prohibition marketplace and devise a suitable business for their son, Theodore, to inherit. A quirky pair of bachelor brothers, Hauk and Lang Nordlund, around whom two love triangles develop, help bring the story to its resolution. The close-knit Scandinavian community of Burke Bay could be nearly any ethnic enclave facing the challenges of prolonged unemployment, economic uncertainty, and intergenerational conflict and acculturation. But Walker’s characters and keen observations bring the town alive, leaving readers with a deep understanding of the people and the challenges they faced during a tumultuous era. The author also intriguingly shows how the production and consumption of alcohol influences individual people, families and the community at large.

A solidly researched, artfully written novel that’s both entertaining and educational.

Two street-smart alley cats steal the spotlight from Dr. Frankenstein and his creation in this amusing, imaginative take on the classic monster tale.

Wilson (Tucker’s Monster, 2010)—the writer behind a number of fantastical films, including Short Circuit (1986) and Tremors (1990)—paints a rich portrait of the German village of Dunkelhaven circa 1810. The guides are Rolf and Hermann, a pair of refined and resourceful felines who unwittingly trigger a series of chance encounters that bring readers deep inside the world of Frankenstein, the maniacal, brilliant young doctor obsessed with returning life to the dead. Desperate to secure transport to a catworshipping island, Rolf and Hermann agree to steal Frankenstein’s watch (or “tick-tock,” in animal parlance). The heroes are subsequently present during all the grisly, decisive moments that form the Frankenstein mythos, from the digging up of corpses to the stealing of brains and even the iconic “It’s alive! Alive!

Aliiiiiiiiive!” moment of rebirth. In addition to humor stemming from both the tangled plotline and the cats’ refined manners— “I note that we have been wet more than we have been wet in the rest our lives,” Rolf says, to which Hermann responds, “Yes, I want that to be noted”—the novel’s playful self-awareness helps buoy the action. Early on, Wilson informs readers that his version is actually more authentic than Mary Shelley’s original: “A young woman named Mary something, pretending to the title of ‘novelist,’ wrote a different and much embellished version of the story.

Since then there have been about a billion books, movies, plays, and comics based upon it. Ours is the true account. Trust us.” The novel carries a similar sense of the whimsical into its vocabulary, which is refreshingly broad, as when the initially carefree cats explore their environs: “As Rolf and Hermann padded comfortably from hedge to rose bush to topiary elephant, a cornucopia of delightful smells flitted around them like olfactory butterflies.”

Also, despite targeting a younger demographic, this story maintains an all-ages appeal by not speaking down to its readers.

Like Frankenstein, this novel creates something unique by stitching together odds and ends, then applying a few healthy doses of creative electricity.

This Issue’s Contributors # Anna Perleberg Andersen • Kent Armstrong • Becky Bicks • Loren Bienvenu • Stephanie Cerra • Tricia Cornell • Nancy Day • Steve Donoghue • Justin Hickey • Molly Labell • Isaac Larson • Joe Maniscalco Chris Messick • Julie Nilson Chyna • Jon C. Pope • Jackson Radish • John T. Rather • Sarah Rettger Jessica Skwire Routhier • Stephanie Rowe • Barry Silverstein • Jack Spring • Kathy Stump

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Appreciations: Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins B Y G RE G OR Y M C NAMEE

If you stand atop the headland that the Spanish explorers called El Malibu, to the north and west of Los Angeles, and look to the south, you may be able to see the hint of a little island through the haze.

Two hundred years ago, in 1814, the people who lived there were massacred. They were killed not by Americans or Europeans, that old familiar story, but by other Native people—granted, Aleuts in the employ of a Russian fur company. With that act of violence, the Nicoleño people, the people of San Nicolas Island, disappeared from history.

But not quite. One of them, a young woman whom later Spanish missionaries called Juana Maria, hid from the killing. The Aleuts left, occasionally to return. Her brother, who also escaped the massacre, soon fell victim to a pack of feral dogs, one of whom Juana Maria tamed.

That dog was her only company for the next two decades, during which Juana Maria lived alone on San Nicolas, a real-life Crusoe.

From passing ships, rumors reached the mainland about Juana Maria, a bedraggled apparition dressed, barely, in blue-green cormorant feathers. Authorities hired a fur trapper to explore San Nicolas, and eventually, he found her living in a cave, its mouth protected by a palisade of whale ribs, and took her to the mainland. Juana Maria—who reportedly was delighted by the crowds of people and the sight of horses—lived only two months more before dying of some unspecified illness, and she was buried in an unmarked grave. Her cormorant dress was lost in the Vatican Museum, while others of her things, housed in a San Francisco museum, were burned in the fires that followed the earthquake of 1906.

Juana Maria’s is but one of countless tragic stories of that time and place. It would have been forgotten had a writer named Scott O’Dell, who specialized in historically based stories intended for teenage readers, not discovered it. In 1960, his novel Island of the Blue Dolphins was published, with Juana Maria now bearing the name Karana.

O’Dell exercised creative license with parts of the story, since Juana Maria did not live long enough to tell it in any detail herself: He imagined, for instance, that Karana found a sort of Friday in an Aleut girl about her age, and he gave her Merlin-like abilities to communicate with animals, from devilfish to otters and shorebirds. There is a quiet sorrow to the book, particularly when Karana’s dog, too, finally dies, leaving her bereft: “I could feel his heart beating, but it beat only twice, very loudly, slow and hollow like the waves on the beach, and then no more.”

O’Dell’s book became an immediate hit, and more than a half-century later, it remains in print. Fifty years ago, it was made into a film; the studio bosses seem not to have liked it much and didn’t give it much support, but it, too, enjoyed commercial success. Given the clean-scrubbed pieties of the day, the film removed some of the grittier realities that O’Dell subtly portrayed. The book retains its power—and the movie is ripe for a remake.

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RANDOM RECOMMENDS Staff Favorites from Kelly

RECOMMENDS

Donal Ryan The Spinning Heart: A Novel

A chorus of voices from a small Irish town in the wake of Ireland’s recent economic boom, bubble and collapse. In each captivating chapter, the reader is introduced to a different person from the town.

From Bobby, to Lily, to Vasya to Seanie and others, the reader is exposed to just enough of each person to understand how their own personal disillusionment and heartbreak connect them all together at this one particular moment in time. A stunning debut.

978-1-58642-224-0 | $15.00 l 25,000 Steerforth Press l TR

E 978-1-58642-225-7

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Erica

Elizabeth

RECOMMENDS

RECOMMENDS

Krista

RECOMMENDS

Andy Weir The Martian: A Novel

Laura McHugh The Weight of Blood:

Peter Heller The Painter: A Novel

I’ll only admit to being a Trekkie to certain circles and clearly my librarian friends make the cut! And while I don’t read widely in sci-fi, The Martian instantly caught my interest. Apollo 13 meets Castaway in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller.

This debut novel is a pageturner to the very end, I alternated between cheering and holding my breath as each character, from our stranded astronaut to his shipmates and the ground crew on Earth, put together smart, heroic efforts to bring one of their own home alive. All told in an authentic voice, with plenty of laughs and irony to relieve the tension.

Deep in the Ozark Mountains, Lucy Dane is struggling to come to terms with the disappearance of a mother she never knew, as well as the recent murder of a classmate. As she digs deeper into both mysteries, she discovers a chilling secret that will make her question the meaning of family. Told from varying points of view, the reader, along with Lucy, pieces together the details of these two disappearances that happened decades apart.

Filled with strong character development, atmosphere, and suspense, this is the perfect read for both mystery lovers and book clubs.

Art, murder and Peter Heller …that creates a must read. In his second novel, the New York Times bestselling author of The Dog Stars revisits the pain, beauty and rage of a life spent in isolation. Heller tells the story of Jim, an artist who shot a man, served his sentence, and then chooses a quiet life of painting and fishing in Santa Fe. This humble life is turned around when Jim sees a local menace, Dell, violently beating a horse.

Compassion for the animal drives Jim to attack Dell and days later murder him in cold blood.

The Painter has a wide, engaging, exciting cast that make this an achingly beautiful and wildly suspenseful tale about an artist trying to outrun his past.

978-0-804-13902-1 | $24.00/$28.00C 60,000 | Crown | HC

E 978-0-804-13903-8

A Novel

978-0-8129-9520-6 | $26.00/$31.00C 100,000 | Spiegel & Grau | HC | March

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] AD: 978-0-804-19152-4

978-0-385-35209-3 | $24.95/$27.95C 75,000 | Knopf | HC | May

E 978-0-385-35208-6

] CD: 978-0-804-19045-9 ] AD: 978-0-804-19046-6

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RECOMMENDS

Cristina Henríquez The Book of Unknown Americans: A Novel This novel gives voice to the many immigrants that come to live the American dream, but don’t always find it. Focusing on the story of the love between a Panamanian boy and a Mexican girl, living in an apartment block of immigrant families like their own, we see these unknown Americans as we never have before. Truly eye-opening and destined to become a classic. For fans of Sandra Cisneros. Young Adults will be interested as well.

978-0-385-35084-6 | $24.95 75,000 | Knopf | HC | June 978-0-385-68073-8 | $29.95C Bond Street Books | HC

E 978-0-385-35085-3

] AD: 978-0-8041-9145-6 ] CD: 978-0-8041-9144-9